Explore some of the leading components of a living a balanced and healthy zen hustler life.
We are hustlers. We are sharp motivated people that innovate fast, create businesses and scale for massive growth opportunities. We seek our own path in life, not waiting for someone to hand it to us... and we know it will take hard work to go beyond average to attain our ambitious dreams!
We embrace zen. As a way of living a careful balancing act of living and being mindful of the present moment with compassion for ourselves and others. We strive for a calm mind with insightful clarity, so that we may remain in the creative productive flow.
Energy Flows
“Where our attention goes... our energy flows!”
For entrepreneurs and zen hustlers, one key is to watch where our energy is flowing out. This flow can be put into two buckets; draining out or building up. Simply put is what you are doing now draining your energy or building up your energy. If you can look at your everyday tasks you want to focus on those activities that can increase your energy. The activities that are draining to your energy, are ones to watch out for… as they can deplete you over time and a decent signal this is not your strongest foot forward. This helps you stay focused and maintain productivity also.
For example, for this author, I often struggle with completing video editing projects, even though it is a core area of my multimedia marketing business. I build energy and are very excited to shoot the videos, but usually have a stack of backlogged editing projects still living on my hard drives, waiting for urgency to get completed. My client projects take priority over personal projects especially ones without a defined deadline or deliverable, but projects that are open and creative… some are still not completed to date!
I find my energy even thinking about these uncompleted edits, feels depleting and I procrastinate to delay this activity. The odd part is that once I am actually start performing the task of video editing, I feel good, comfortable, dare I say excited to be cutting up to complete a video I already shot. There is something for me to learn about what is the deeper reasons for my procrastination. I have thus tried to outsource this component of video editing (since I know myself) and that task had other challenges associated with it too. We all have areas of life that relate to this... what are your depleting tasks?
I learned more about this energy flow concept while researching how to improve one’s public speaking techniques. If you find that writing increases or decreases your energy, it can guide you as a writer. If speaking depletes your energy than it is an indicator that it is an area for personal growth, or find another way to communicate to the masses, blogging perhaps?
By understanding which activities in your life increase or decrease your energy, it can guide your daily actions for increased productivity, offer insight into new methods of communications and even wider scope ideas about the direction of your work/career!
Actions + Reactions
“All that we control are our actions and reactions.”
We like to think there is a lot in life that we truly control, but in the end, it is simply our actions and reactions. When you can get really clear about this, it can be quite liberating and expansive to your worldview. When looking at the actions we can take in life, I rely on the...
BE > DO > HAVE
This is a Landmark Education model-concept-tool for personal transformations. If you first focus on WHO you want to BE in this life, it sets the tone for all continuous steps to take. Powerfully choosing the person to become is the first step in this process, sadly most of us this it is the last step… “One day I will BE wealthy.” Especially concepts like wealth and abundance mindsets are the first part of the process. Create a personal mantra for your BE... it often starts with, "I am _____. " (insert the value, role or characteristic you so desire).
Next, we move onto the DO phase… these are the real actions (performed with integrity) we need to implement that is congruous with our bigger goals in life. Thoughts and ideas are nice, but life requires our real world actions to have an massive impact.
The last phase in this process is HAVE, and this one is all about acceptance, acknowledgement and gratitude. Do you have the career you so desire, the impact your seek, the wealth or abundance you sought to create? On this phase you accept the life you created with humility and honestly, recognizing the changes that are now clear.
We control our reactions. Yet we often operate in the subconscious not freely choosing how we react to the world. The good news is that we can certainly train ourselves to deal with a variety of circumstances, and do our best to manage our negative reactions. When you have true control or moderation of your reactions to what life can throw at you... then you have real power! It is in our reactions that we can build trust and stability, or further destroy opportunities for growth/learning, impact relationships, crush deals or break commitments. How do you react to challenging circumstances?
Gain Perspective
“Personal insight is the window into the soul.”
Ever notice how dam easy it can be to see solutions or problems for others.. but not for our own life? Self-clarity and insight is an invaluable asset and skill to possess. By first doing the personal work... introspection, self-development, communication, and dozens of other methods... we can gain some perspective in our own heads.
This way when life sends you yet another challenge, or we create one consciously or not, we can step back and see how to 'choose' to respond. As above, we can only choose our actions and reactions, this window of perspective allows you to be an impartial viewer of your own life.
Personally, it allows me to see how I may have created some of these challenges, accept responsibility and watch my reactions to it all. From this new vantage point, it can open up space and time... two key ingredients that allow you to powerfully choose a new action or decision. Being reactive is simply not a powerful strategy in life.
The opposite of ‘perspective’ is living in the constant action/reaction phase of life… and it can feel well outside your realm of personal control. In life, this often looks like external blame, mounting fears, and disappointment all around (no, thank you). By stepping back and looking at the big picture, you see the beach instead of being worried about sand in your pants. You can look ahead, look back and know you have overcome situations like this already. This confidence is real, it is about your past and what the future holds for you.
“Fear of the future causes us to lean against and cling to the present…while faith in the future renders us perceptive to change.
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For those of out there attempting to live the Zen Hustler lifestyle... these are our core traits that can make all the difference.
What are some of your top traits that guide you and make you feel whole? Please share them with us.
Jared Brick - founder of zenhustlers.com
