Working Hard vs. Working Smart...Maybe We Should Just Work Easy...

So the 4th of July was AWESOME for me this year. I went to Coney Island with one of my best friends, sat on the beach for hours and talked about life, laughed, and went out for dinner afterwards. The only work I was doing on the 4th of July, was desperately trying to get a tan... Am I a bronze goddess yet? If red is the new tan, then Yes, Yes I am!

I will now rewind to the 4th of July 2011.

I sat in my apartment, by myself, trying to figure out what I could do to be *productive*, freaking out because everyone was at the beach instead of sending emails, and instead of slowing down with them, I chose to stay inside and drive myself crazy for not being *productive* enough.

A year later, I recognize that I have made huge strides. 

Sometimes the real challenge is in learning when to stop challenging ourselves.

What opens the door for success? We hear things all the time: Hard Work, Dedication, Motivation, Perspiration, Perseverance... Sometimes I feel like I've hit a plateau. Sometimes, especially when I have a day like today - where I have about 2 hours between appointments, and end up accidentally walking 60 blocks in Manhattan - I feel guilty, like I'm not doing enough. But now I'm learning to stop and breathe.

Maybe it isn't about working hard. Maybe it really is about working smart and realizing that part of working smart, is omitting the things that you would define as "busy work", asking yourself, 

"What is the root cause of this? Am I working toward a greater purpose here, or am I simply working to distract myself from something that is so much smaller than I am?"

One of my favorite books is The Music Lesson by Victor Wooten. In the book, Victor writes about a teacher he had, who told him to "Try Easy".

Maybe it's time to stop trying so hard to get results. Maybe we should define what the result looks like to us, and just maybe the work that we have to do will come to us out of inspiration... and not out of stress.

Something I'm thinking about now is

Do I want my accomplishments to come as a result of my stress? 

Just some food for thought :)

Love,

Devyn

www.devynrush.com

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