The internet will make you rethink everything about your life. Your job, your parenting, your personal style. If you absorb too much of it, you will feel like you are failing at intentional living too. “YOU HAVE TO BE ALIGNED”. But then you see coaches and gurus laying on beaches, telling you to “rest more” and “reject hustle culture and REST”. If you are like me, you might stop and think…how? How did they get on that beach?

The fact is that for most of us, a season of hustle is going to be required in order to enjoy a season of rest. Unless you were born into wealth, married into wealth, or you are just incredibly lucky, you have to hustle from time to time in order to enjoy that deeply intentional rest. Slowing down requires either sacrifice or hard work. Do you want to vacation? Have all of your bills paid? Occasionally buy new clothes or go out to eat? You are most likely going to have to work for it.

When you are hustling for something with no end in sight, you end up in burn out mode. When you can zoom out and look at your work as “seasons of hustle”, you can hustle intentionally, knowing there is an end game.

Let’s breakdown our seasons of effort.

Alignment – A phase in which we get clear on our why. We dream, we plan, we breathe and rest. We can envision the whole picture. This is the season in which we envision what our future might look like.

Hustle – In our hustle seasons, all of the dreams that we envisioned during our alignment season start to become a reality. We put our heads down and hustle. Because we allowed ourselves to experience a season of alignment, we can immerse ourselves in the hustle. The hard word. The longer hours. Knowing that we are working for something that we are passionate about. We are able to enjoy this hustle season because we see the end result on the horizon. It is not an endless loop of hustle, it is a season.

Rest – We reached a goal or a benchmark. Now we enjoy the fruits of our labor. We can afford to stop and breathe. We are proud of the hard work that we did to get here.

You see, the internet is a blessing and a curse. We spend our time scrolling and watching and reading, and suddenly we feel less than. But you are not bad because you are in a season of hustle. You are not “unaligned” or “toxically hustling” or “promoting hustle culture”. If you feel like you are, then stop. Find a way to integrate alignment into your hustle season. Determine your end game and enjoy the hell out of your season of rest when it arrives.

If you are looking for more ways to get intentional and connect with other women that are dedicated to intentional hustle, check out Beyond Boss Insiders.