You Can’t Do it All — Defeating the Myth of the Grind

Search online for motivational videos or advice on how to succeed and one idea will present itself to you over and over again.

Grind.

You’ve probably heard this plenty of times in the last few years. “If you want to succeed, you’ve got to grind.” What does that even mean?

Essentially, grind is the idea that the only thing you need to succeed is hard work. Not successful yet? Work harder. Sacrifice more. Sleep less.

While hard work and sacrifice are necessary to create success, it takes more than grind to achieve your goals. In fact, sacrificing health, mental well-being and relationships is more likely to lead to failure than any kind of success.

The idea of grind may sound good, but it’s a myth.

“The Grind” doesn’t work

Don’t get me wrong, there’s a time and place for working hard. Success requires sacrifice, and that may include waking up early or staying up late. It might mean giving up nights out with friends, or pinching pennies for awhile.

But it shouldn’t mean driving yourself into the ground, sacrificing your health and relationships. That’s not how you build long-term success.

So yes, starting and growing a business requires grind. But creating a lasting, sustainable endeavor requires much more.

The problem with the grind

While hard work is necessary, the “cult of hustle” has a dangerous flip side — burnout. Simply put, our minds and bodies are not designed to grind for extended periods of time. Sure, we can manage the occasional late night or early morning to meet a deadline, and we can deal with a few days of eating poorly and missing exercise — although we all work better well-rested, well-fed and well-exercised. If we consistently shortchange our health and wellness for the sake of the grind however, eventually we all crash and burn.

Burnout doesn’t typically happen overnight, but if you’ve been pushing yourself hard for long periods of time, you probably recognize some of the symptoms.

- You dread going about your day.

- You’ve grown apathetic about things that used to excite you.

- You never feel well-rested.

- You start to feel detached, cynical or unmotivated.

Do any of these sound familiar? If so, you should think about changing the way you do things. If you try to push past these symptoms, burnout only gets worse. Aches and pains, frequently getting sick, loneliness, dissatisfaction and a loss of motivation are all common symptoms of full-fledged burnout.

How do I fight burnout?

Burnout can lead to serious mental and physical health problems, so what can you do if you think you’re headed that way? Here are a few tips that can help you.

1. First and foremost, give up the grind! That doesn’t mean let your business fall apart, or give up your entrepreneurial dreams. It means changing the way that you tackle challenges and deal with stress. Stress is inevitable, but burnout isn’t.

2. Don’t isolate yourself. A lot of people begin withdrawing when they’re stressed or have a lot of work to do. It’s an understandable action, but humans are largely social creatures — even those of us who are introverts need some kind of social contact. Talk to friends or family, even just briefly, to vent and help relieve your stress. People often worry that this will burden the people that they care about, but loved ones will be happy to lend an ear.

3. Take time away from work. That’s the big one that people are really afraid of. It’s important that you don’t spend 24 hours a day working, or even thinking about work. You absolutely must make time for yourself, to take care of your health and mental well-being.

You may be wondering how you can give up the grind and take time away from your work, without sacrificing forward momentum. It’s scary for some people, but there’s really only one thing that does the trick.

Delegation

You have to learn to delegate. Lots of people find this challenging, but if you want to ensure sustainable, long-term growth, you have to come to terms with the fact that you can’t do everything. By accepting this, and learning to trust and rely on others, you free yourself from having to manage every detail. Instead you can direct your focus into growth related tasks.

What tasks should I delegate?

Every business is different, and no one knows the ins and outs of your company the way that you do. Take a look at how you spend your time and ask yourself, “Is it vital that I handle this particular task, or is my time and energy better spent elsewhere?” If your answer indicates that you could put your efforts to better use elsewhere, it’s time to consider delegation.

No two businesses are the same, but we’ve discovered that one of the best places to start delegating is copywriting. Almost every business needs written content — be it in the form of website copy, blog posts, newsletters, ads or even ebooks — but not everyone can generate that quality content quickly and efficiently. We all have different strengths and weaknesses.

Are you spending significant amounts of time or effort creating written content for your business? If so, you’re not alone! This is one of the most common tasks that business owners or managers want to delegate to someone else. So what’s stopping them?

The two fears of delegating copywriting

While most owners and managers want to delegate copywriting, they have two fears that stop them. The first is the fear of poor quality. Some people worry that if they assign anyone else to write content for their business, the quality will suffer. They’re afraid that the tone won’t feel natural or that the message won’t adequately match their expectations.

The second fear is about expense. They’re afraid that hiring someone to write copy, even on a freelance basis, will cost the business more than it will earn.

Neither of these fears is entirely unfounded, but we have a solution.

Copywriter Today can handle all of your copywriting needs

The fact is that most businesses don’t need a full time copywriter — the majority don’t generate enough content on a daily basis to warrant bringing someone on staff. This leaves an owner or manager in a sticky situation. They want — and need — to delegate the writing to someone else, but they don’t need to hire a full time copywriter.

Copywriter Today is the solution. We have a team of experienced, dedicated writers — all based in the US — ready to take on whatever writing challenges you provide. Worried about quality? That’s perfect, because we only want to write for people that expect the best work. That’s why every order begins with a one-on-one call between you and a project manager. You let us know exactly what you want, and we’ll assign the perfect writer to your project.

Concerned about cost? We offer a number of different packages to suit your needs — whether you need a lot of writing, or just a little, we’ve got you covered at an affordable price.

Still unconvinced? Then let us write a free 400 word article, just to show you exactly how we do things. We’re confident that you’ll love the results. Sign up for a kick-off call today to claim your free article, and find out how awesome it feels to delegate all your writing tasks to Copywriter Today.

Quit the Grind

Whether you have writing you’d like to delegate to us or not, remember that burnout is very real — nobody can do it all alone. Don’t sacrifice your health and relationships in service to the grind. Help your business evolve past that by learning to delegate and focusing on tasks that will lead to long-term, sustainable growth.

And when you’re ready, don’t hesitate to claim your free article from Copywriter Today.