Are you are hard worker?
[00:00:00] Hello, everyone. Welcome back to the Productivity Genius podcast. I'm Kelly Fifield, and today we're diving into a question, Are you a hard worker? It's a label like so many of us wear with pride, myself included. But what does it truly mean? Like, is there a potential downside to this identity?
if you're tuning in, chances are you view yourself as a hard worker, and I think that's fantastic.
And I'm not here to suggest you abandon that title.
I love defining myself as a hard worker. I'm very proud to define myself that way.
But I want to take a moment to reflect on the broader implications of what we define as hard work. So picture this, when you think of yourself as a hard worker, what is your proof? Like if someone were to say to you, are you a hard worker? And then you were to describe to them what makes you a hard worker, what would you say to them?
What is the evidence for your hard work. Maybe you pull long hours, maybe [00:01:00] you always deliver projects on time, or you're always switched on, you're dependable, you're the go to person. And how about other people? We all know someone we tag as like, they're the pinnacle of hard work, but then again,
who is not a hard worker in your book? Can you think of people in your personal life that you think of as like the opposite of a hard worker? What behaviors make them not a hard worker?
when I was thinking about this, I noticed that a big part of what I equated to hard work involved sheer time investment. Yep, hours and hours. And coming from someone like me, a time management aficionado, That's saying something, right? You know that I don't want to see you working tons and tons of time.
That is my goal, to help you eliminate the hours. And yet, this identity that I cling to and that I love as a hard worker. For me is very much [00:02:00] tied to the number of hours. I work or at least it was I'm working on that identity but for my whole life time working would certainly be one of the factors I would use to Prove that I was a hard worker Now if you google the term hard worker it spits out a definition a person who tends to work with energy and commitment Diligent.
That sounds about right, but it's the energy component that got me thinking, are we burning ourselves out in the name of hard work? if working hard and investing all of this energy in the end isn't healthy for you, Is it actually worth it?
If you got all of the things done and accomplished all of the things and yet you wound up sick or something like that, would it be something you would be proud of still? recent studies have linked overwork and stress to health issues, including autoimmune diseases.
Our bodies, though advanced, haven't [00:03:00] evolved quick enough to handle the stresses of today's world. There's just so many things that our body experiences in a day that our bodies just haven't had time to evolve into. just think about the amount of visual information we're asking your body to process in a day. You know, Not that long ago the sun would drop and maybe a few years back We would have candles but before that maybe there was a fire or whatever But there just wasn't all of this light and all of these things to take in the amount of energy our brain uses to process What we are seeing is a lot of energy
Sure, there were stresses two centuries ago, but life was vastly different. There were fewer technological distractions, there was no relentless race against time, and there was far less information that our brains were asked to work on each day.
And sure, you see all the influencers on [00:04:00] Instagram, or TikTok, or wherever, preaching all about grinding 24 7, and they have the money or the abs to prove it. But where are they a year or two down the line?
Are they generally thriving, or have they burnt out? Like, you notice, you don't see these people for a very long period of time, not sure that has to do with algorithms and novelty and all of those things, But unfortunately, I think you see more and more these people who are on top of the world wind up Really burnt out or sick from all of the extra stress they've put on their body
So, am I suggesting you abandon hard work? Absolutely not. I personally love setting those big, hairy, audacious goals, but what I'm asking you to consider is redefining hard work. Certainly, if there's one area that I think you could really make a difference in.
of course, is time. Let's try to separate the number [00:05:00] of hours we work from our judgment of whether we worked hard or not.
For me, hard means discipline in my working hours. challenging underlying beliefs, and facing those emotionally taxing tasks head on. It means working smart, not just hard.
It doesn't need to be painful or extremely taxing.
Remember, as much as we work towards our dreams, the end goals Won't magically make everything perfect. There are still gonna be challenges. Even when you hit those amazing goals, it's not like your life is all of a sudden going to become perfect. Life isn't going to be better. Then you may have some different things, but there are still going to be negative things going on.
So in my opinion, it's just not worth . Living a struggle every day. And beating yourself up physically and [00:06:00] emotionally to rush and grind to a point where you're not even going to be blissfully happy. It's going to feel pretty much the same way when you get there.
So why not approach the journey in a way that's sustainable and a little bit more enjoyable.
If you don't believe me about it not being better there, then maybe this will work for you. When I think about how much money Scott and I make now, if you had told me 22 years ago, like when we just had Scotty, if you had told me then how much money we'd be making now,
I would be like, what? Oh my gosh, do we have yachts and mansions and all the fancy things? I would think, holy crap, we are living large at that point. And now Scott and I have a great life, we do have nice things, but we were so happy when we were living in a two bedroom, 900 square foot [00:07:00] house with a newborn, and we're still so happy.
And we had problems then, and we have problems now. The way that we feel, even though we now make probably 10 times as much money. We really don't feel much different. We don't feel 10 times better because we have 10 times the money. and when I think about it in that way, it makes it clear to me that even if I could like say grind, like let's say I said this year, if I like just grind like crazy and push, push, push myself, I could hit all of these big goals.
It just wouldn't be worth it to me to live a whole year. Miserably and maybe unhealthy, to get to those goals because I know it's not going to feel all that much different. Sure, hitting the goals would be great, but just like when you buy that new car and you have the new car smell and it's so amazing.
A few months later, it just feels like your car [00:08:00] and after hitting your goals, yes, it's awesome. You should enjoy it. You should celebrate it. But once you kind of live into that goal, it's probably not going to feel much different. And if you're like, well, then what the heck is the point? It's a good thing to ask.
Like, do you really want to be going after those goals? For me? Yes. I want to stretch. I want to grow. I love chasing goals. I love achieving them and I love growing that's why I go after them But now I'm much more mindful of the way that I go after them. It's not worth Sacrificing my current life for some future life.
That's gonna be just about the same So I'm encouraging you to think about the way that you're doing it Not to slow down, not to make smaller goals. You don't have to slow down. I'm not suggesting that you do. But I think the answer is thinking a little harder. Being more intentional. Really looking at what you're doing in [00:09:00] your hours and deciding, is this next hour going to get me closer to my goals?
What am I achieving? Where am I spending my time? Am I happy with that arrangement?
and if you're like me and you're a parent, and one of your motivations is your kids and providing for your family, remember that your kids are not only going to benefit from whatever you provide for them, but also I, I think even more so, they're going to benefit from, or maybe What it would the opposite of benefit from suffer because of the example that you're setting for them They're learning the values that you have in work As they watch you not necessarily from the way you talk about it, but from what you do every day And I know my kids for a lot of their early lives once I went back to work I stayed home with them when they were little little but initially when I wasn't very good with time management They [00:10:00] saw that mom was working all of the time I hope now to give them an example of someone who's achieving a lot But not sacrificing her life for it.
I want to be an example of success, but also balance, self love, self care, and a happy calm life.
Now, if you're still grappling with managing your time, just stick with me. It might seem completely insurmountable now, with to dos and responsibilities, everything piling up. But together, step by step. As you listen to the podcast, as you try different strategies, we'll carve out a life and a schedule you'll adore. as we wrap up this episode, think about this. How do you define hard work and how could you tweak that definition to benefit both your goals and your wellbeing? Your goals don't have to suffer. When you consider your well being, [00:11:00] you can create a schedule that is kinder to your body, your mind, and all of those things, and gets you closer to your goals.
You can get there faster, more efficiently, while also taking care of yourself.
if you ask your brain really good questions, like how could we get to our goal faster while spending less time on it? Remember you're in control.
There are so many ways you can think about your schedule and how you use your time.
Now come back next week, because next week we're going to dive into that really freaking annoying task that you absolutely dread. You know the one, that thing at work that you just absolutely hate.
I'm going to arm you with strategies to tackle it effectively. So until then, take care, think about what you want hard work to mean, and I hope you have an amazing week.
