This week’s question from our portal “Ask Us Anything” comes from Holly.
My question has to do with this idea of hard work. Last week, we did a written affirmation and I’ll be honest—I didn’t fully believe in it. I started doing it and amazing things have happened. I’ve gotten new clients, which I wasn’t expecting.
The result is… now I’m overwhelmed with the amount of work I have. I’m not complaining, but I’m really, really busy and working long hours. It’s like, “Well, you asked for this and now you’ve got to produce the results.” Is this me doing too much hard work?
You’re now reaching the point where you need help. This problem is showing you that you need help.
You need to leverage yourself, and the efforts of other people.
It’s funny—I’ve had this experience. Steph has had this experience. Most business owners we’ve met have had this experience where… when they started their business, they weren’t thinking about, “Who and when do I need to hire people to leverage myself and the company?”
They were only thinking about what they needed to do and the challenges they needed to overcome in the present moment.
When we break that down, we find an underlying belief that was developed in childhood that said:
“Do it yourself.”
“Why would you pay somebody else to do something you could do yourself?”
That’s a working-class mindset that controls our perception and our awareness, so we don’t see it.
Regarding your question, the idea is not for you to work harder—it’s for you to work smarter.
How can you now start to leverage what you do? What needs to be leveraged?
Steph has a saying:
“The answer is who, not how.”
When you have a problem, ask yourself, “Who can help me fix this problem?”—not, “How can I fix this problem?”
This is about leveraging the efforts of other people. That can be done in various ways. It could be done by hiring an employee, a contractor, or someone donating some time to help you.
