Welcome to the Anything But Average podcast where I will teach you how to create a coaching business one step at a time. I’m Lindsey Mango, a life coach passionate about helping you create the life of your wildest dreams by creating a coaching business. Let’s get started.
Hello welcome back to another week and another episode of Anything But Average. Guys, how are you? I hope you’re having a beautiful week. I was literally just thinking about how I start the podcasts with the same line every time. I think I do, there may have been a time where I had like a brain fart and I didn’t.
But I was thinking about how I used to like lip sync with the beginning of some of my favorite podcast episodes and I wonder if some of you guys do that. And I was thinking maybe I’ll just throw a little wrench in it and say something totally different at the beginning.
Anyway, we are actually packing, in the middle of packing I decided to come up here and record this, for Orlando. We are headed on our first family trip, it’s actually for business, but Chris and Eva are coming. We’re going to be gone for seven days. It’s our first plane ride with Eva, so wish me luck. By the time this episode comes out, though, we will already be home.
But guys, packing for a plane ride with a baby? I feel really good actually, I’m not super overwhelmed. But it’s just amazing how many things you have to think of. I was actually cracking up because when you travel with a baby I think sometimes it’s like you think you won’t have access to stores.
And I keep having to remind myself once I get there, I’m like, oh, we can always Instacart, or Amazon, like order things. It’s not like we’re going to get there and we are stuck and if we don’t bring everything we need, then we’re screwed. My brain likes to convince me of that. So maybe I’m over packing a little. I probably have like 10 times the amount of diapers that I need. But hey, we’re going to be well prepared.
All right, so today what I wanted to talk about was the difference between hustle and hard work. And it was so funny because I actually went into the Dropbox because I thought I had already recorded this. And I think I had recorded two podcast episodes in one day and the second one, it feels like I tried to record and it didn’t quite work out. And so I don’t actually think I recorded this one.
And it’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about recently because I think that there’s this whole culture out there, this anti-hustle culture. And I definitely talk about that in terms of not having to grind and hustle in order to create the results that you want in your life and in your business.
And I saw something online and it kind of triggered me in my own head, like someone was saying like work really hard until you get the life that you want. And my brain started to be like, oh my gosh, am I not working hard enough? And I recognized what voice that was and I quieted it. And I reminded myself of what I know and what I’m going to talk about today.
But I thought it was really fascinating because I think it can be kind of challenging when you’re online and there’s some people saying like, grind and work until you get to your goal. And then there’s this other group of people who are like anti-hustle, and you don’t have to grind, and it can be easy, and it can be flowy, and it can be fun. And you don’t have to hustle.
And I think sometimes that can create this like push/pull. And as I’m saying this I feel like it’s possible I’ve talked about this in another episode, but I feel like hearing things multiple times is super valuable. And maybe I haven’t, maybe this is just mom brain, so who cares. But I was just thinking about how it can kind of pull you back side to side where you’re like, “Oh my gosh, I need to work harder.” And then you’re like, “Wait, no, it can be easy and it can be fun. And I don’t have to hustle.”
And I wanted to share my thoughts on the difference between hustle and hard work. And when, I mean you can call it whatever you want, but I’ll explain kind of the difference in definitions to me and how to use it for you. How to use hard work for you to create amazing results. And if you like to hustle, by all means. But how to understand the difference between hustle and hard work and what to do with that.
Because again, I see some people kind of they either think I have to push the gas down all the way or I have to completely let off the gas and just like sit back. And, of course, just like everything, the answer to create a life that blows your mind, to create a business that blows your mind, the answer is in the middle, and that’s what we’re going to talk about today.
So what’s the difference in my mind between hustle and hard work? And again, these are just words, I mean, you can look them up in the dictionary. But I’m going to kind of define them based on my own perspective and lens and I think that will shed light on how to use it for you.
So hustle, to me, is when you are trying to make up for something that feels deficient within yourself or in your life through achievement. Through achieving a goal, through hitting a business milestone, through signing clients, through fixing your body, your physical appearance, all of these different things.
It’s like where you feel like you’re not good enough, your life isn’t good enough, you’re not impressive enough. You’ll hear that kind of same idea, like something’s not blank enough. And the feeling is lack, insufficiency, unworthiness. And that drives forward this overcompensation and I think of it as hustle. This like gripping, forceful action that either does one of two things.
It either pushes you to burnout, and overwork, and overdrive yourself until you can’t take it anymore. Or it causes you to constantly be chasing a new goal or a new thing. Like maybe you achieve the thing and you move the goal line and you’re just chasing this moving target at all times because it never feels like enough.
Because when you’re trying to make up for an inefficiency or a deficiency within yourself, it doesn’t matter what happens externally. Even if you get that immediate high of achieving or accomplishing the goal, it’s like a black hole that never gets filled. And that is unuseful action, that is overdrive, over action to try to prove something to the world, to yourself for you to feel a certain way.
And again, it’s like a black hole that’s never filled. And that type of hustle and that type of hard work, call it what you want, I’m calling it hustle on this episode, isn’t useful. It doesn’t help you produce the life or the results that you want.
Now, on the flip side of this, hard work, and I know I kind of used that interchangeably but we’re talking about hustle versus hard work. Hard work is where you work hard, the actions you take are, you know, maybe you’re getting up early to get a workout in. Maybe you’re really pushing yourself in your business.
Maybe you’re practicing something over and over and over again until you like really nail it. Maybe you’re figuring out how to sign clients in a new and different way. Maybe you are really putting yourself out there for dating and you’re just like really working hard at it.
To me, it’s when you take action, and like very driven and motivated action from a place of the opposite of deficiency. Not really, I don’t want to say efficiency, that’s not really the word. But like from a place of being full, from a place of being whole would be the best way to describe it. Like hustle is where you are coming from a place of not being whole. Hard work is coming from a place of being whole.
So it’s like you’re not seeking some external validation or some external goal so that you can feel good enough, worthy, whatever it is. You already believe that you are good enough, worthy, and all of those things. And because of that you are driven and motivated forward to create more.
You are driven and motivated forward to create better health, to create more money, to create more success, to create more clients, to create a happier marriage or a happier relationship, or to find your soulmate. It’s coming from this place of overflow.
And to me hard work comes from this energy that feels like it can’t be used up. It’s just like have you ever worked really hard at something and you feel invigorated by it, you feel energized by it? That is the kind of hard work that propels amazing results forward and propels you forward in a way that’s maintainable over time.
And that’s how you create and hit goals. That’s how you feel energized and get shit done. And that’s how you create the life that you really want. And so the difference can be subtle, but the best way to tell the difference is how you’re feeling when you’re taking action.
What feeling is motivating the action? Does it feel like force? Does it feel like you are shaming or beating yourself into action? Or does it feel like desire? Now when I say desire, I think sometimes people think that means like, oh, it’s just like flowy, and perfect, and easy. That doesn’t mean that the actions aren’t uncomfortable. That doesn’t mean, again, that you’re not working hard, right?
I push myself in my workouts and it’s just because I like the feeling of pushing my body. I push myself hard in my business because I want to help more people, because I want to create more money because I just desire that.
Now, my brain loves to go wobble back and forth between hustle and hard work, and that’s where I get to manage my mind. That’s where I get to address where I start to feel deficient or, I don’t even know deficient is the right word, but where I start to feel a lack of worthiness and I’m trying to use that as the motivator. Because I know that only gets me either up and down like yo-yo high/low results. Or that gets me to a place where I’m just always seeking external validation that never feels like I can feel the way that I really want.
And that’s not what’s going to create the life or the business that I want. So I think a powerful way to evaluate it for yourself is what’s motivating this action? And that doesn’t mean don’t take the action. That means getting clear on the reason behind it and deciding is this actually going to serve me? If it’s not, then we need to find a new reason to take action.
And I’ll tell you guys from experience, sometimes my brain, like I said, I got I triggered when I read this thing the other day, or maybe that was this morning, mom brain. And my brain was like, “Oh my God, you’re not working hard enough.” That’s not a good reason, like you’re not doing enough, to work harder.
I have to connect back to why my goals matter. Why the life that I’m working on building matters. Why from this place of overflow, from this place of like, I am worthy as I am and I love my life as I am and I’m in 100% charge of creating the feelings that I have no matter what I have externally. So why do I want to work harder?
Why do I want to push myself? Why do I want to challenge myself? Why do I want to lean into the discomfort? Because just because you want it, just because it’s coming from desire doesn’t mean that there isn’t going to be discomfort and growth.
But your reason why is like this constant motivator, this constant fire that pushes you forward day after day. Instead of, again, I think the hustle is like this match that you light, it lights up for like a split second, and then it burns out really, really quickly. This is actually something we work on in my mastermind.
I will tell you guys just to give you a quick update. The mastermind was scheduled to open up August 31, we’re making some slight adjustments on that timing so just stay tuned. Make sure you’re following me on Instagram @lindseymango_.
I love you guys. I will talk to you next week, bye.
If you’re ready to take this work deeper and create your own coaching business, join us in Anything But Average where I will walk you through the step by step process to become a coach, start your coaching business, and start signing clients. Go to lindseymangocoaching.com/anythingbutaverage and I will see you on the inside.
