5 Hacks for a Healthy Hustle

What is a healthy hustle? When you hear the word “hustle,” what happens in your body?

Do you tense up, clench your teeth and feel yourself shutting down?  Or, does your heart start pumping excitedly and do you feel energized to do the dang thing?

Interestingly enough, we all react differently to the notion of the hustle, especially in network marketing.  While some people love the hustle and grind, others feel disengaged and turned off by the mere mention of the word!

Regardless of where you fall on the spectrum of the hustle, like anything, there are ways to do it well and there are ways to take it to unhealthy levels.  That’s where we come in!  It’s our goal to help guide you towards the healthy hustle.  A magical place where you are working hard to crush your goals, but also working hard to protect your peace and your personal life.

Don’t be fooled.  Mastering the balance isn’t easy by any means.  It takes intentional and focused effort to work hard and rest easy, too.  We have a few healthy hustle hacks for you as you navigate your network marketing journey and figure out what feels best for YOU!

Boundaries are a girl’s best friend.

When we first started out in direct sales, hustle was the buzzword of the season.  Hustle equaled the grind, the grind equaled success, and success is what we were all aiming for.  Unfortunately, when you’re really focused on your goals, it’s easy to slip out of alignment when it comes to a healthy hustle VS an unhealthy one.  Our boundaries tend to be the first things to disappear when the hustle takes over.

We forget things like:

• You don’t have to have your phone with you in the shower.
• You’re allowed to eat a meal sitting down.
• You don’t have to be sending messages while your kids destroy your house.
• Your team doesn’t have to have 24/7 access to your ear.
• You and your husband aren’t in an open marriage with your iPhone.

Friend, if any of these hit home with you, it might be time to have a talk about boundaries.

Boundaries are the limits that you set around your time, your mind, your heart, your family– anything that is near and dear to you and deserves to be protected.

Sometimes as women, we are afraid to set boundaries for fear of making people angry or letting people down.  But, let us drop one of the best pieces of wisdom on you that we have ever heard:

“The only people who get upset with you for setting boundaries are the people who benefitted from you having none.”

If you have been looking for permission or a sign to start setting clear boundaries around your precious life, consider this to be it.  Now that we got that part out of the way, read on for some practical tips on how to set these boundaries for a healthy hustle.

“No” is allowed into your vocabulary.

We hear from women all the time that they feel “mean” or “rude” if they tell someone “no” when it comes to something that is being asked of them.  As women, we are often conditioned to be available, willing and ready to help at the drop of a hat.  But, let us say this: you can be a kind person with a beautiful heart and still say “no” to things that don’t align with your best interest or your priorities.

Learning when to say “no” is a vital part of setting boundaries.  This comes up specifically in network marketing because as leaders, we are often in communication with our teammates.  We are taught that great leaders are present and available! While this is true to an extent, there are ways to be a great leader and still say “no.”

If you have a teammate who is constantly calling without warning, needing a pick-me-up or to complain, you don’t have to answer if it’s not a good time for you.  It’s truly as simple as that.  And you may be thinking, “but she’ll get mad if I don’t answer!” or “what reason do I give her?”

Lovely, the truth will set you free.  Send a quick text and say, “Hey _______!  I saw that you called.  I’m not available to chat right now.  I can talk to you __________ or __________” and give two options to pick from that work for you.  If she wants to talk badly enough, one of them will work for her as well.

Here’s another little nugget for you: “No” is a complete sentence.  You don’t have to provide a reason for opting out of an event, for not being available for a call, for anything.  Part of having a healthy hustle is being confident enough to set clear boundaries and say “no” when you need and want to.  Period.

Time block yourself from burnout.

You know that here at Chic, we are huge advocates of time blocking.  So much so that we created our very own Chic Influencer: Chic Your Time Blocking Planner.  This planner is so valuable because it allows you to plan ahead and intentionally schedule your work time and your play time.  Nothing says “healthy hustle” like a well-laid plan!

When you go into your days and weeks completely blind to a plan, you let your hustle up to fate.  You throw caution to the wind and think, “I’ll get it all done somehow!”  Truthfully, maybe you do get it all done!  But we dare to ask: what did you give up, miss out on or ignore just trying to hustle it all into place?

Time blocking allows you to have control over your joy, your fun, your boundaries and your schedule.  When you are intentional and clear about when you will be working and when you will be with your family, you free yourself from the hustle.

If time blocking feels too “intense” for you, we challenge you to try it for just one week.  Grab a piece of paper, break down your days and start to fill your commitments in this order:

1. Your joy!  What makes you happiest?  Block that off!
2. Your non-negotiable family time.
3. Any appointments and meetings for the week that are set in stone.
4. Personal business blocks of time.
5. Team business blocks of time.
6. Personal time for workouts, reading, anything fun that you do alone.

When you look at everything laid out in front of you, we are willing to bet that you relax a bit.  The hustle feels a lot healthier when you can actually see the plan in front of your face.  Truth bomb time: no one “whoopsies” themselves into success!  It takes intentional and focused effort to reach success, and time blocking is a huge part of this!

Make sure your goals align with your heart.

Did you ever find yourself hustling toward a goal, accolade, rank advancement or trip in your company?  We are guessing the answer to that is a resounding yes!  Now, upon reaching that goal, what did you feel?

If you felt accomplished, happy or fulfilled, then those feelings indicate that you were most likely in alignment with your hustle and your track to success. However, if you felt exhausted and unfulfilled upon reaching the goal, signs might point to the notion that the goal was out of alignment with what you truly value.

One of the quickest ways to turn a healthy hustle sour is to be working towards goals or rewards that truly don’t mean anything to you intrinsically.  We encourage you to get quiet with yourself and think about whether what you’re working towards is in alignment with what you believe and desire.

Ask yourself where you want to go in your company, and how you want to get there.  If the answer doesn’t look like everyone else’s answer, then that is okay.  There is more than one way to define success.  There are multiple roads to get there.  Knowing your own heart and route is indicative of a healthy hustle.

Know when to hold ’em and know when to… delegate.

Friend, if your hands are too full of all of the things that you need and want to control in your business, it’s going to be really hard to stay healthy.  We are huge advocates of delegation!  This means taking a look at all of your business tasks and figuring out which are the ones that only you can do.  Then decide which are the ones that can be passed on to a virtual assistant, a social media manager, or someone else that you hire to help along the way.

One of the most valuable keys to a healthy hustle is delegating your tasks to the right people at the right time.  To hear more about when and how to delegate in your business, we encourage you to check out Episode 165 of our Make Chic Happen Podcast: Delegation and Automation.

It’s time to take a step back and evaluate your hustle.  Get quiet, grab a notebook and write down these three questions:

• What is my relationship with my work?
• Am I working in a healthy way that feels good?
• Do I have boundaries with my work and my team?

Based on your answers and the hacks in this blog, we hope that you’re able to navigate your way toward a healthy hustle!  We believe that you can’t build a healthy business without grind, sacrifice or discipline, but like anything you do, if you let the pendulum swing too far, things get unhealthy.  You do have the power to recalibrate and refocus that hunger in a healthy way!

As always, please feel free to reach out to us at support@chicinfluencer.com with any questions or for assistance.  We have a plethora of free and paid resources, and our trained team is ready to point you in the direction of what will work best for you!