Yes, Your Self-Care Matters

August 29, 2020 3 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

There are two types of people: Those who love the sand and those who don’t. I happen to be in the willing-to-get-a-tattoo-of-the-waves-as-my-ode-to-loving-them-so-much type of person.

That was, if I wasn’t already in my mid-40s and didn’t understand that any tattoo is going to change shape between now and the next decade. But I digress.

The beach is my family’s jam, so we headed back a second time mid-summer for a mini-vacation to celebrate my oldest hitting double digits, have a goodbye celebration for my folks who are headed back to New York after staying with us since February and a moment of rest after my recent book launch. Because moments are meant to be celebrated, rest is required, and time off is essential.

You see, I don’t agree with the famous rabble-rousers who share memes along the lines of, “You’ve got to hustle and grind 24/7.”

They yell from the rooftops how we are supposed to sacrifice all things in order to make our business dream come true. But at the end of the day, if you sacrifice your relationships, your health, your friendships and your community connections, what was the point of “hustle and grind” in the first place?

Back when my first edition of The No B.S. Guide to Direct Response Social Media Marketing came out, I was in work-hard-all-of-the-time mode. I had two young kids and was balancing that with running an agency, speaking at conferences and meeting a lot of fans. My immune system was at an all-time low, and my exposure at an all-time high.

Related: The Indecent Crete Proposal

The day after my book released and we hit best-seller status, I ended up coming down with a virus, which turned into pneumonia, which put me in the hospital for months. I spent the holidays in the hospital. I missed time with my kids. Time in my business. Time in general. Pushing too hard cost me so much in the end, and it’s a lesson I will not repeat.

Since then, I get enough sleep. I exercise. I work less. I celebrate. I pause.

I still hustle. I still work hard. I still do the things many won’t so I can reach those that others can’t. Just not 24/7. And not at the detriment to everything else. And guess what? Our company continues to grow. Segmenting my work into more time-specific chunks has actually made me more productive. So what about you?

The thing is, I am not preaching at you to change how you do you, boo. I just want you to know that when I didn’t do it the right way, the consequences weren’t so hot.

The hustle-and-grind culture may be popular, but it isn’t productive. And the good news is, you get to decide how your schedule and work-life balance play out. That isn’t up to anyone else except you.