‘How are you?’ – I asked a coach I know from various conferences and Twitter.

“Busy, busy” – she answered with a strained smile. Like being busy was a good thing.

And she wasn’t the only one with that answer that day.

Because only successful people are busy, right?

No one wants to be the lazy loser. No one wants to be idle.

I read a blog yesterday, where a successful coach announced that yes, she is not taking any customers that month, but she will up her exercising regime to make sure she is busy.

And I see more and more of that bullshit everyday.

I’m sorry. Was that too harsh?

Are you insane?

This might seem like a strange question, but hear me out.

You are here, because something is not working.

If things were working ok, you would be sipping fancy drinks on your private island of bliss, not reading yet another my exceptionally brilliant blog post. The solution is pretty obvious then – and you don’t even have to pay my extremely reasonable consulting fee.

You have to start doing things differently.

After all, doing things the same way over and over gain and expecting different results is a true definition of insanity.
So, let’s stop the insanity of doing things all day long and not getting anywhere.
There are only 3 things you need to have successful business – decent business strategy, proper branding and a courage to do things differently.

FOCUS. COMMIT.HUSTLE

Yes, hustle is integral part of being entrepreneur. And yet I’m writing this article on a blog focused and committed to growth hacking and entrepreneurship and I’m urging you to stop hustling.

Stop. Breath. Think.

To many startup owners and coaches and freelancers I know are in this mode of constant hustling, of being in motion, trying new things out, endlessly looking for a miracle break.

Some of you are flat broke, some of you are successful in terms of money or recognition or simply surviving another day.

Hustle become a badge of honor just as being busy.

But being busy is not exactly the same as being productive.

Hustling is not the same as being successful.

And it’s not the semantic distinction, it’s a difference between living the life you love and where you enjoy everyday and you work, because it fulfills something in you – and creating a business that suck the life out of you, with constant stress and nothing to show for it.

Hustle is essential part of entrepreneurship. But you cannot hustle all the time.

At some point you will break – and the business you love will become the very thing you hate.

So stop hustling. Take a break. Put your life in focus.

What do you want your days to look like?

Days bleed into weeks, weeks change into months and before you know it, years go by.

Take care of your days. Make sure you allow some life in.

I love hustle just as anyone else. It gives me a thrill.

For entrepreneurs, hustle is the ultimate drug. That’s why we do it.

Just admit it.

Because we are not in it for the money, fame or long hours spend agonizing over blog post titles.

Hustle is  why we work evening, and early mornings and weekends and it’s why we see great startup ideas everywhere.

So I’m not dissing the hustle.

But hustle without strategy is just an endless rollercoaster of work and busyness and a cheap thrill and you ultimately pay for that ticket.

Hustle works for now. Hustle doesn’t have time to build foundations.

The best test I know, to check if you are in hustling or business building business, is to think what would happen if you just hopped on a plane to a cabin in the woods, with no phone or internet.

….

So?

Do you have a business or a hustle?

Did you build a business or do you just employ yourself to do the hustling?

You are allowed free weekends, time with your family and friends, beach holidays and mountain trekking, even if you are entrepreneur in your early phase. It’s a matter of strategy and proper planning.

My point is, in this article that gets entirely too long, as my Facebook friends are eager to point out (you know who you are!), is that you have to stop the hustle to create strategy that allows you to live the life on your terms.

It’s not going to happen by default.

But if you are still hoping, that if you just work a little bit harder, things will sort itself out – do you really want a life that happens by default or would you rather create life that is tailored made for you, the soul and hustle and all things nice?