Traditional time management advice all boils down to the same core idea: DO MORE.

If you could be more efficient, you would get more done and win!
If you could cut out the distractions, you would get more done and win!
If you could be more organized, get to inbox zero, and prioritize with the objectivity and neutrality of a Japanese factory robot, you could finally, FINALLY, do more and win.

And yet, my experience with doing MORE through efficiency is that it just breeds more to do… more to keep track of, more to juggle, more to try to fit into your schedule. When it comes to doing Great Work, the hard truth is that you actually need to do less. 

Much, much less.

#Truthbomb To make progress on your Great Work, you need to make space for it. 

Think of it like this: Instead of trying to model yourself after a highly efficient and uber-optimized robot, model yourself against the very best version of you. 

• The you who has head space to be innovative, creative, and insightful
• The you who creates an ecosystem of support around her, so most non-critical tasks can be off-loaded, outsourced, or delegated
• The you who says no to the good, so she can say yes to Great Work

Hustle—the relentless pursuit of greatness, characterized by “pushing through weakness” to “do whatever it takes” to persistently pursue “critical” opportunities—sounds like a good idea until you’ve lived it.  

If you’ve experienced the exhaustion, burnout, and joint pain that sits on the other side of “whatever it takes,” however, you already know that hustle can have major consequences.

And yet—what other option is there?
When you survey the landscape of advice, hustle is everywhere.  

Do more. Work harder, faster, better.  Then, someday, when you have a seven-figure income and a Tesla, you can relax and work two days a week.
Much of the procrastination I see in women wanting to do their Great Work is tied up with the worry that the only way to succeed is to hustle… and they DO. NOT. WANT. TO.

#Truthbomb: Hustle Is NOT the only way—or even the fastest, most effective way—to do Great Work.

When I stopped the hustle for good by learning how to strategically manage my time and prioritize my Great Work, I discovered a shocking truth.
I made more progress, got more traction, and made more money than I ever did when I was racing against the clock hustling.
This new way of being involves rewiring old stories and letting go of fear-based habits.

If you lean into it, you will blow your own mind.

When you are an ambitious, self-directed person, it feels somehow empowering to take the blame for everything that happens in your life and business.  

Ironically, it can feel easier to solve the problem when the problem is you, so we accuse ourselves of being the problem:

• I am too all over the place.
• I’m such a procrastinator!
• I’m too easily distracted.

And let’s be honest, these examples are probably nicer than how you are talking to yourself. Maybe it sounds more like, “I wish I wasn’t so unbelievably lazy. I don’t know why I can’t get my shit together long enough to just f-ing do it already.”

First of all, don’t talk to my friend that way.

Second, this kind of tough love, self-flagellation—while it feels like the epitome of taking responsibility—is a massive, inefficient distraction. If it continues, it will keep you stuck right where you are.

#Truthbomb: If you want to do Great Work, you need to accept that you—exactly as you are right now—are good enough.

When we stop cross-examining ourselves, trying to figure out where we’ve failed ourselves, we can instead create a workflow and time management strategy that will work.

Know this: There is no “right way” to be productive, manage your time, or set up your calendar. There are a million ways, and you can make one of them right for you. 

Here’s my promise to you: If you start looking for your strengths, leaning into your natural tendencies, and optimizing your time to your energetic patterns, you will uncover a capacity for productivity that will outstrip anything you could have forced yourself into.

If you’ve been an ambitious, entrepreneurial person for long, I’m willing to bet that you’ve tangled with burnout.

If you’re lucky, maybe you’ve just boarded the merry-go-round of exhaustion. You know the one: You let things go a bit too far, become mildly cynical and unhappy, then recover just enough to over-work again. Round and round you go.

But perhaps you’ve slid allllll the way into full-scale burnout.  

Exhausted. Miserable. Cynical. Desperate. 

The kind of burnout that makes your body hurt, drives you to wonder if you are depressed and need help, and pushes you to consider quitting your job or business with nothing to fall back on.

That kind of burnout is extremely painful, and it can take a long while to recover, reignite your passion for life and work, and feel happy again. 

Here’s what I know from experience:

When you’ve recovered from burnout, you will do ANYTHING to avoid experiencing it again. And then you hear the voice of your Great Work calling.  The work you’ve always wanted to do, calling you to give it a try and make it a priority.

But you’re scared. What if it’s not possible to do Great Work without sacrificing your health, happiness, and relationships?

#Truthbomb: You can do Great Work without sacrificing everything else

There’s a reason that this is the subtitle of my book. In fact, one of the primary objectives of my Great Work is to empower people like us—people who know we have work inside of us that can change the world and leave a legacy of impact behind us—to do our Great Work without looking around every corner for burnout. 

The key is to learn how to trust yourself again. Trust that you will manage your time, your mind, and your workflow so that even if you have to work hard sometimes, you won't ever allow it to develop into burnout.

“If it was meant to happen, it would have happened already.”“Most people in that space are half my age.”
“I should have done this before I had kids.”
“I can’t work that hard anymore.”

There are a lot of arguments for why you are too old to do what you’ve always wanted to do. And none of them are true.

No one—old or young, new or veteran, expert or novice—is called from the inside to do work that isn’t meant for them.  

#Truthbomb: If your Great Work is calling to you, then it is MEANT for you, just as you are.

Your Great Work is meant to be done by you, NOW. It’s a distraction to focus on what might have been had you done it earlier. What isn’t a distraction is to remember that everything you’ve done so far has prepared you for this moment. 

You know who you are.
You know what you believe.
You’ve (mostly) moved through trying to prove yourself through people-pleasing.
And you are a kick-ass, super-knowledgeable expert in your field!!   

You’ve forgotten more than some people will ever know, and we need your help. Don’t deny us your amazing wisdom, life experience, and compassion.

There’s still time.