Busyness Won’t Help You Reach Your Goals. Here’s What Will
An ode to two of the most overlooked components of true success
I’m a woman in my thirties, a proud mama of a very vital 2-year-old, 9 months pregnant, a homemaker, and on a journey to starting my own business.
Somewhere in between the multiple roles we all juggle and what they demand of us, lie our dreams and aspirations.
Making space to work on them isn’t easy, but there comes a point in our lives in which the desire to make something happen becomes so pressing, that we can’t help but get to work.
This, usually, comes at the expense of our rest.
We can’t fall short on our parenting duties, we can’t skip chores or errands, and we certainly can’t quit our daily jobs to work on our dreams, right?
But sleep, spare time, hobbies, and rest in general — on the other hand… We can always squeeze in more stuff in between tasks.
If there’s something I learned in the past year, though, is that pushing rest to the bottom of your priority list is the most counterproductive thing you can do.
Here’s why.
Busyness won’t help you reach your goals
There is a moment in everyone’s journey in which we feel so driven and full of energy that we can work on our goal 24/7.
Just like falling in love, though, there comes a time in which the initial explosion of energy fades and leaves space for a more sustainable and stable way to approach things.
It’s inevitable. When this moment comes, we are called to acknowledge what our capacity allows and find ways to work with what we have rather than trying to push ourselves to burnout.
Do you know what tempers with your ability to be productive, efficient, and resilient when hardships arise?
- Not getting enough rest
- Filling your schedule to the minute
- Never really unplugging
- Not cultivating joy and fulfillment in your life
When we are tired, we can’t function at the top of our abilities.
A clear and productive mind (and body) needs rest as part of a healthy routine.
This is reason enough to incorporate rest as part of your strategy rather than considering as a waste of time to be avoided with plenty of caffeine and stimulants of choice.
Rest and play are key components of true success
Just like sitting on the couch reading books all day won’t get you closer to reaching your goals, neither will ruining your mental health by jumping between tasks all day every day.
The solution is a healthy balance of doing and being:
- Taking action and spending time enjoying the present moment
- Working hard, but playing and resting as well
- Planning and strategizing, but also allowing self-compassion and flexibility to have their role in the picture
- Cultivating grit and grace
The people who can accomplish the most while being happy and satisfied human beings are those who allow themselves to enjoy life while working on their goals.
They know that they’re useless when they’re resourceless, and so they prioritize filling their own cup to be able to pour into their loved ones’ and into their projects.
Besides, making our dreams come true can be a long journey. If it’s not sustainable, we will quit before reaching the finish line.
Flowing instead of forcing
Prioritizing rest doesn’t mean being slower in reaching your goals.
It means being 100x more efficient when you do get to work on them and having a fulfilling life that goes way beyond your personal achievements.
This is the difference between flowing and forcing, where flowing means working with what we have to move toward our goals more easily, by harnessing our intuition, inspiration, and creativity.
It means being better able to find creative solutions to the obstacles we’ll find along the way and cultivating the resilience to keep going no matter what.
It’s not going to be all joy and ease.
Cultivating a sense of happiness and completeness in the other areas of our lives will help us better face and overcome the inevitable hard times.
Have a look around and what the hustle culture is doing to people. Burnout and exhaustion are all around us.
Adrenal fatigue is a plague and one weekend or a two-week vacation is not enough to undo the damage it causes.
Real, long-lasting happiness and success can’t exist without a good use of our resources. And that, inevitably, includes allowing ourselves all the rest we need.
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