The beginning of a business is a lot like the beginnings of new love. You can’t spend enough time together, being a part feels like agony, and all that you see is… possibility.

It’s a wonderful phase. I loved that phase.

It comes with some hazards, though. Friends and family feel neglected, past priorities can be forgotten, and sleep is a necessity for other people, but not you.

But then one day it all catches up. You miss your friends, you miss sleep, and you begin to reminisce over past interests you no longer have time for.

It is in this moment that you choose to either, slowly burnout or continue to burn-on. Only this time, if you choose the latter, you make a silent promise to do so a little more responsibly.

For years I hustled. I forwent sleep, showers, snuggles with my husband, playing with my kids. All in the name of hustle. Too much, I forwent way too much.

I have learned that hustling is often misunderstood. Just because Instagram says “this is what success looks like”, doesn’t actually mean the people posting have ever experienced real success. Hustling becomes hurtful when it is associated with never resting and never rebooting. This is a recipe for disaster.

Disaster in marriages, friendships, parenthood, and even the one thing you’re devoting everything to. Because all of that guilt from all of those other areas of your life eventually channel into resentful, angry, and burnt-out feelings toward your business.

I’d like to think I’m a bit of an expert on this. I did it all wrong in the early years, trusting the wrong sources for what success should look like. I thought success equaled busy, but I didn’t clarify for myself what busy meant.

Now I define success as a sense of contentment. Not idleness, nor lack of passion, or curiosity, or disinterest in finding better. But rather, success is waking up and loving who and where you are, while simultaneously looking with eager anticipation toward what can still be.

I’ve come to believe in the short-term hustle. (I can’t quite remember if I coined that name or heard it somewhere but it doesn’t matter). The short-term hustle is the need to go above and beyond for a limited amount of time that has a specified ending date.

Launch time. Website Revamps. Branding Overhauls. Product Creation…

These will all most likely need the short-term hustle, but the key is to set boundaries for your hustle-happenings. Boundaries that those you love can count on.

Business is an adventure. Sometimes we get it right; sometimes we don’t. But that’s what I love about it. I make mistakes, but I also get to own them and that means I can grow in the aftermath. This gives me the freedom to own my bliss.

This month, now that your annual goals have been set, I’d like to challenge you to go back through each goal and ask yourself WHY.

Why do you want it?

Once you’ve prioritized your goals, you’ll have the clarity of knowing that what you’re working toward… Will, in fact, give you more of what matters most to you.

If you need some help building your growth map and getting the clarity you crave, check out our success mapping worksheets HERE!