Your “job” as an Entrepreneur or a High Performer is to create ripples of disturbance and disrupt the status quo.
When you come home, your job as a human is to return to peace.
The two forces must be in equal and opposite measure. The more disruption you cause, the more peace you get to lean into.
Work hard, play soft.
That’s why Elite Entrepreneurs are always seeking harmony in their lives. Too much energy expelled (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual) in their work lives means the harmony is disrupted in their personal lives.
The result is burnout.
The “yet to discover this” entrepreneurs love to pontificate about hustle, “stuff down your emotions, it’s not about purpose, it’s about money”… are the ones that, unless they have an equal and opposite measure of energy in their personal lives, they are the ones that suffer.
For example… How much of this rings true with you?
Being hyper-stressed at work means they have to sleep as soon as they come home ‘cos they’re exhausted and miss out on family life.
They bring disruption home with them and cause arguments in their relationships.
Or they make everything about getting more and never feel fulfilled and never switch off.
Being intentional and knowing which end of the spectrum you are in at any one time is key.
Be deliberate with your disruption and be deliberate with your peace.
Why are so many Entrepreneurs burning out physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually?
The unmet need of uncalibrated Entrepreneurs is the force they put into their business to achieve something. They are attached to an outcome to give them something aka an unmet need.
And that unmet need follows them home cos it is universal.
→ Why are you hustling so hard? Unmet need of_________
Needing more money, power, status or to needing be seen and loved creates a disruption in every part of their life.
They go hard at work cos they want to achieve something but that unmet need follows them home ‘cos work will not give them the thing they are chasing.
The result is an imbalance of energy (push, hustle, feeling unfulfilled, brain fog, exhaustion) trying to get that unmet need fulfilled via their work.
I have seen this over and over again in the clients that I work with. They hustle hard for a few years and get what they think they want (money, power, status, attention) only to realise that they are doing it for another reason.
→ In next week’s Deep Dive. I’ll be introducing the SUCCESS QUADRANT to you and once you understand this, it’s GAME OVER for struggle and GAME ON for turning your Potential into Performance. You don’t want to miss this.
→ The opposite of the hustle, the hidden side effect of “waking up”. If you’ve had a dark night of the soul, had a MAJOR setback or are coming back from healing some sh!t, then this is what the Gurus don’t tell you.
Now back to it…
How do Elite Entrepreneurs and High Performers operate without burning out?
First, they know they are burning out.
The symptoms are;
• Physical – Exhaustion, brain fog, hyperactivity, working longer hours, lower productivity, scrolling when working…
• Emotional – On a hairline trigger with people, acting up to get attention, feeling resentment, overgiving, people-pleasing, more doom scrolling…
• Mental – No creativity, unable to make decisions, no focus, negative mindset and attitude…
• Spiritual – Apathy, no direction, feeling unfulfilled, giving up easily, relying on logic instead of integrating intuition…
When you know you are in danger of burnout then it’s time to stop and ask why you are doing the thing you are doing.
You transmute the unmet need into a feeling.
- More money → Unmet need is safety → How can you create the feeling of safety?
- More power and status → Unmet need is control → How can you create the feeling of control (you can’t, you create the feeling of surrender and the belief that you can handle everything)
- More attention → Unmet need is to be seen and loved → How can you see yourself and love yourself FIRST?
Create the baseline feeling then build on that feeling until it overflows.
The overflow eventually turns into pure joy which can also be called FUN.
Then you ask…
“Wouldn’t it be FUN if we created something that did X?”
Remember that feeling?
Lean into that feeling of joy FIRST then apply/bring that energy into your business.
- The need to have more money, transmutes into creating value in business for their customers in a way that’s FUN for the Entrepreneur.
→ Fun drives out fear.
- The need to have more power and status, transmutes into feeling influential to have more impact.
→ Influence drives out control.
- The need to be seen and loved, transmutes into seeing and loving themselves first and then sharing the love with others.
→ Self-love drives out the need to be loved by others to feel whole.
For example…
Fun for an Elite Entrepreneur it could be deep work and problem–solving, it could be organising their team for a new project launch, it could be sharing their knowledge through content.
Whatever the action is, the feeling behind it gets to be Joy and Wholeness FIRST.
They feel the feeling first and then share that feeling via their business or work.
It’s what the woo-woo crowd call being “high vibe”. We get into a state of Joy and Wholeness and operate in the state.
The destructive, disruptive and disturbing force is when they go into their business in order to GET something to give them that feeling.
They are in a “low vibe”. They feel sad, anxious, tired, and scarce… and it comes through in their work.
Bad decision-making, being short with people, producing substandard work product.
That unmet need then automatically bleeds into their personal lives. The lack, scarcity, and hustle is always “on”. They don’t switch off.
Maybe the woo-woo crowd are on to something… just sayin’.
The whole point of life, Entrepreneurship and unlocking your potential is to become whole FIRST.
To have everything you need and share the overflow.
The wholeness comes from harmony between the opposing forces of push and pull and knowing when to apply each force. Not straying too far in one direction only to fiercely snap back. Hustle to burnout is an example.
Elite Entrepreneurs are the ones who have harnessed this understanding of harmony and peace.
How to apply this to your life
Where is there disharmony in your work?
- Where is there disharmony in your personal life?
- Where is there disharmony in your work life?
- Where are you pushing too hard from? Maybe a place of lack and need?
- Are you being intentional or are you on autopilot? Get into the present.
- Ask – Which mode am I in? Action or resting? Go or flow?
- What is the reason behind why you are doing it? Then ask the same question over and over again until you hit the point of “oh wow, that’s WHY I’m doing this”.
- And as always, be kind to yourself.
This article was first shared on the UNCOMPROMISABLE Substack by Carolynne Alexander. You can sign up and join us here → https://uncompromisable.substack.com/
