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07: Hustle vs. flow culture and finding your happy medium

• Lucy Bedewi

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The business world is really divided on how we can achieve success. Is it in hustle culture where you work nonstop, take ice baths, ignore body cues, and sacrifice everything for the longer reward? Or is it flow culture where you sit on a beach all day and make epic amounts of passive income while drinking a margarita? 

There has to be an in-between, some sort of balance. And guess what?! There is. So let's dig into this binary system of you're either hustling or flowing and find out where's the line, the toxicity (yep, spicy!) and the happy medium.

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Lucy Bedewi: [00:00:00] It's almost like hustle started to be demonized. The idea that if you're working really hard and talking about it and talking about your discipline and showing up.

Lucy Bedewi: Well, then you're part of the problem. And now what's cool is how little you can work, how much time you can take off sitting at the beach with a margarita while you're still bringing in a ton of passive recurring revenue. And the truth is, the vast majority of people are so far from the truth, no matter how it is portrayed online. So, let's dig into this binary system of you're either hustling or you're flowing, and where's the line, where's the happy medium? Hi there, Lucy here. You are listening to the bold founder where we inspire you to go bigger in your messaging, marketing mindset, and moves while finding a joyful middle ground between intense hustle and easy flow. This should be the flagship episode of the podcast, but I gave it a little time because [00:01:00] I knew it was going to be a spicy one.


So I needed to warm up with a few more episodes first, because we are talking about. Hustle culture versus flow culture and where is the toxicity in both of them? But also where is the magic in both of them? And how can we find that beautiful happy medium that lets us actually reach our goals without burning ourselves out?

I have some hot takes that are definitely against Instagram founder culture. So Hop on in at your own risk and let's have this conversation and hopefully a really grounded way that gives you some new perspectives on what it means to hustle, run a business and reach your goals.

Lucy Bedewi: It really feels like sometimes the business world is divided on what success looks like. I'm not talking about outcomes because I think all of us will have different goalposts, but I think we can all agree that a successful business is one that's making an impact on the world, one that's bringing in profit, and one that lights you up and [00:02:00] is something that's aligned with your values.

Lucy Bedewi: I think if you kind of hit those three, you know, we can go back to that IKI guy. It's not a perfect parallel, but we can all agree that, okay, that person's doing pretty well, but where we're really divided is, you know, In the process of how that happens or what it takes to make that happen, because for so long hustle was almost worn as this badge of honor.

Lucy Bedewi: Did you wake up every single day? Did you do the thing for nine hours? Did you get your workout in? Did you say no? Did you sacrifice? Did you put yourself through temporary pain for extraordinary long term gain? And we used a lot of these words to especially describe holding on to toxic jobs for many, many years, even decades or more than decades.

Lucy Bedewi: So this was kind of the norm. And I think whenever you have something that is it. bringing this narrative, then it's only natural that we want to swing the pendulum to the completely other side. So then it's [00:03:00] almost like hustle started to be demonized. The idea that if you're working really hard and talking about it and talking about your discipline and showing up.

Lucy Bedewi: Well, then you're part of the problem. And now what's cool is how little you can work, how much time you can take off sitting at the beach with a margarita while you're still bringing in a ton of passive recurring revenue. And the truth is, I mean, I'm sure some people have that. I mean, we have this four hour work week and I, no doubt in my mind that some people are doing that.

Lucy Bedewi: But the vast majority of people that is so far from the truth, no matter how it is portrayed online. So, my inspiration for this episode is, let's dig into this, let's dig into this binary system of you're either hustling or you're flowing, and where's the line, where's the happy medium? And then I want to move this episode into what are some of the three. I guess it sounds a little intense, but some of the three pillars that I live by to [00:04:00] ensure that yes, of course I'm a founder.

Lucy Bedewi: I have hustle moments, but also that I am prioritizing my mental health and creating a life and business that works for me. So come on in and I'm excited to explore this topic because I think it's going to be a really juicy one.

Lucy Bedewi: When it comes to hustle culture, I'm sure you can pull up a few images in your mind. For me, when I think of hustle culture, I think about extreme discipline, doing everything right, even rest is productive because they're like, I'm resting, but I'm going to go lift weights. And I'm like, who, who categorizes that as resting?

Lucy Bedewi: I think of cold showers and like, long work days and telling your family and friends like, Hey, I'm not going to be able to go out tonight. And I also think of a big, I'm putting things on hold that are important to me because I'm sacrificing for my goals. And I tried to talk about this in a relatively neutral way, even though you probably heard some of those bullet points and [00:05:00] thought, well, I don't want that.

Lucy Bedewi: But I did have a hustle season and I want to honor that girl because I think if I didn't have a hustle season, I wouldn't be sitting where I am today With a completely reasonable work schedule being able to visit my aunt in scotland and not have to take time off work And not having to use my two weeks to do so so My hustle season was I just graduated college.

Lucy Bedewi: It was in the pandemic and I I knew I wanted to start my own business. I knew I wanted to travel. I knew I didn't want to be chained to someone else's hold on my time. So I took about 90 days and completely locked myself in my childhood bedroom. I emerged for a couple meals here and there, but it really was me working 16 hours a day to get this business off the ground and learn everything I needed to learn about copywriting and marketing myself and getting myself out there.

Lucy Bedewi: And I was so visible and I was on Facebook groups and trying a bunch of things and experimenting. And my mom was actually leaving fruit at [00:06:00] my door. So I feel so blessed that I was living with my family at the time. I had no expenses, so it gave me that freedom and that flexibility to do that. I know not everyone can just put everything on hold and work for 16 hours a day because you have all their responsibilities.

Lucy Bedewi: And I feel so fortunate that I was able to be selfish at that time. And you know, selfish has such a negative connotation, but I was able to just pour into this goal that I had with zero expectations. diffused focus and it let me grow and scale at a rate that most would call unrealistic. So the reason I wanted to talk about that hustle season is because it did happen and it was incredibly beneficial for me.

Lucy Bedewi: And I think if we are living in a time that is demonizing that hustle and demonizing that going all in on your goal and saying no to people and prioritizing yourself, that's not healthy either. But then let's look at the other side of the spectrum. So there's flow culture. And I think [00:07:00] this is really common in online service based businesses.

Lucy Bedewi: This idea of how little can you work? I only worked two hours today and I made 10 K or you take two weeks off a month because you want to create this work life balance that has never been available to people before. Or maybe the idea that. You're showing that you're watching Netflix because you barely work.

Lucy Bedewi: And then that's put on your stories. And then that's the flex is look, I'm not working, but my business is still working. And there's parts of this that are absolutely beautiful. And I love that we're moving away from that overworking hustle all the time culture. But at the same time, there's so much gaslighting.

Lucy Bedewi: I mean, it's a strong word, but that's really what it is because it's oftentimes not true. If it is true in the moment, so for example, just to give a tangible, a tangible showing, I moved into flow culture with my business, My Right Hand Woman, when I was working in [00:08:00] a startup, and then I only had about five hours to devote to my business per week.

Lucy Bedewi: Don't get me wrong, those were incredibly efficient five hours, and I was able to maintain my business. But I definitely took an income dip. And I feel like these are the things that don't get talked about because we say things like, I only work five to 10 hours a week and I'm still making the same amount of money.

Lucy Bedewi: It's like, well, no, you, you might be taking an income dip, but no one's going to talk about the income dips. Everyone's going to talk about the month where you just made a ridiculous amount of money. And it wasn't true in the sense that. I didn't just get to wake up and work a little bit of time and still bring in clients.

Lucy Bedewi: It's because I had been putting pedal to the metal for the last three years that loosening up for a year to try a different endeavor wasn't gonna kill me, but it's that constant showing up that made it possible for me to move into this flow state temporarily. So now that we've kind of defined, in my words, maybe you have a different [00:09:00] definition of what is hustle culture, what is flow culture, where is that happy medium?

Lucy Bedewi: The reality is anything worth having takes work. But also, working for the sake of working won't make you successful. So we take these two lines, And we put them both in our head that are kind of saying somewhat contradictory things. That's where I think the magic is between hustle and flow. So here's a tangible example.

Lucy Bedewi: Oftentimes I'll use working out because I think it's a really good parallel to working on your business because they both have very similar processes when you're trying to hit a goal. You're probably asking yourself, maybe you're starting a new fitness program or you're, you're curious, what should I do to move my body?

Lucy Bedewi: And you're thinking, should I go on the two hour walk or should I take the 30 minute hit class? You can take the 30 minute hit class and then you're doing 30 minutes instead of two hours. But you still have to show up every day for [00:10:00] whatever form of movement you choose. So the idea is you don't have to show up and do.

Lucy Bedewi: I mean, you, you can, and I still think there is magic in that showing up for 10 hours straight, not leaving your chair, just being so in the zone of your goal. But you don't have to do that to be successful. You can show up. You can prioritize. You can be really productive. You can cut out those tasks that are just tasks for the sake of busy, but you have to show up and you have to create.

Lucy Bedewi: Those systems and those structures that allow you to prioritize and be strategic. So I want to kind of move from this, speaking about this as a concept and talk into some of the three areas that I personally focus on when I'm trying to find balance between hustle and flow. The first one is friction.

Lucy Bedewi: And we are founders. We have a lot to do and some days are going to be jam packed, but I [00:11:00] always like to ask myself, am I doing tasks that are moving the needle? Am I actually moving forward or am I doing something that's keeping me from what I actually need to do? And this is going to take getting really honest with yourself because you might think I'm doing so many things, but why am I not?

Lucy Bedewi: Why am I not making sales? why is my marketing not cutting through the noise? And I think if you're having things that are going on that are really intense and you feel like there's a block or there's an obstacle or a hurdle in your way, you're not moving forward. You're stuck at this block, but you're still running circles around that hurdle because you're trying to break it down.

Lucy Bedewi: So there is. A magic in the idea of slowing down to speed up, especially if there's a lot of friction in your business, it means that something is not working. And then the last question I like to ask when it comes to friction is, am I doing something that feels hard? And the thing is there's two types of hard.

Lucy Bedewi: There's hard because [00:12:00] something's new and it's uncomfortable. And then there's hard because It's not the right work or the right solution you should be pursuing. And you have to go back to the drawing board before you just keep hamster wheeling on with where your mind is. So let's take sales for an example.

Lucy Bedewi: Maybe you're really good at sales. And if you are really good at sales, then this example is probably not going to apply to you, but. If it's your first sales call with someone where you're talking about what you're selling for the first time, it's going to be hard. You're going to sweat and you're going to be thinking to yourself, Oh my gosh, I have no idea what I'm talking about.

Lucy Bedewi: I'm sure they see right through me. I'm stumbling over my words. I'm completely rambling. And you know, it's just gonna, the self talk is going to amplify from there, that's normal because it's something that you're doing and it's new. Then you have hard as in it's not the right worker solution you should be pursuing.

Lucy Bedewi: You've gotten on 10 sales calls and no matter how hard you try to be in your abundance, they're going to buy, we're going to be a chill person selling. You just feel like you're being so [00:13:00] pushy. They are on the defense. You feel like you're going into complete like car salesman mode and even though you tell yourself, Oh, I'm just going to show up and I'm going to explain the transformation and the benefits.

Lucy Bedewi: I just like, can't sell this for the life of me. That is friction that you need to pay attention to because obviously the strategy is not working. If you talk to 10 people who you perceive to be your ideal client and they don't want what you're selling, it's Just getting on more sales calls is going to honestly just knock your self esteem down a couple more pegs So in that scenario, I would say the friction is telling you you need to get out of the hustle You need to get out of the grind you need to Think about okay is product market fit not there is the price point wrong?

Lucy Bedewi: Where can you optimize before you can go back to just working? The next area I really want you to focus on is just this umbrella of mental health. And this is going to be kind of the spicier, juicier section of the episode because [00:14:00] there's a lot of Content out there on mental health and there should be there should be more awareness of what people are going through in the workplace Specifically founders because it is stressful and there is a lot of anxiety and there's lows and there's highs and there's emotional Resilience and regulation that has to happen so all of the Opinions in this podcast are going to be mine about mental health.

Lucy Bedewi: By no means am I a professional. Um, but these are just kind of the things that I think about. So when I think about my mental health, when I'm navigating hustle and flow, I think the line is what you can handle and what someone's. hustle period and what their capacity for handling is might not be yours.

Lucy Bedewi: And it's just getting really brutally honest about where you are in your life. What can you handle? And at what point do you start to feel like you're moving in a direction towards burnout? So when you are starting a business, there are going to be moments when [00:15:00] You have to show up when you're tired.

Lucy Bedewi: You have to show up when you're sad. You have to show up when you're sick. And I had to write an entire site in a day to deliver on an offer that I had in the early days of my business. And I got broken up with the morning of, and I still did it. And I'm not telling you these things to, again, put that badge of honor on.

Lucy Bedewi: not prioritizing myself, but it's just the reality of you're not going to be high vibe every day, but you're still going to have to show up. You don't have to show up and give 120 percent and be the most productive person on the planet, but you have to show up. you're going to have to show up when you don't feel like it.

Lucy Bedewi: And I often show up at three in the morning because there's a couple of things that I want to take care of. And maybe I'm in a weird time zone because I made the decision to travel and run my business. And my commitment to showing up even when it's hard is why I'm living in the [00:16:00] business that I'm living in.

Lucy Bedewi: I think that often doesn't get talked about. we hear the narrative of I'm feeling tired so I'm gonna take the day off. And I'm gonna get to that part because that's important too. But I don't think we hear enough of the narrative of I had a terrible head cold but I was in the middle of launching something so I just I just had to show up.

Lucy Bedewi: I just had to do three hours of work and I went through eight boxes of tissues and I still showed up sounding like a rhino, but here we are. And it's those moments that really, I think, shape who you are as a founder. But at the same time, I do want to talk about the flip side. I mean, often I'll do extra work on the weekend because I'm like, I need a slower week.

Lucy Bedewi: I need to take some time off. I need to move from six hour work days to three hour work days or from eight hour work days to four hour work days. So I'm going to work a Saturday because I want to give myself that flexibility to just take some deep breaths this week and do other things that don't involve work.[00:17:00] 

Lucy Bedewi: I also guilt free turn my phone off when I'm with my friends. I'm a big believer in I'm either working So I'm putting in the work. I'm productive. I'm doing the things I need to do or I'm not working I'm not going to be that person who's on call for emails 24 hours a day like been there done that There's very little gain that comes to my business when I do that so I do give myself that freedom to you know, we're either we're going hard or You I'm probably at a speakeasy with some friends, enjoying my email, um, enjoying my email, oh my gosh.

Lucy Bedewi: Tell me you're entrenched without telling me. Enjoying my evening. I also make it a point to tackle the hard things, the tough projects, when I'm healthy, motivated, and strong. I don't know. Force myself into those really intense brain problems when I'm having a hard day. And I also give myself grace when not every day looks the same in terms of productivity.

Lucy Bedewi: And I think I mentioned that in the beginning, but if you can give 50 percent give 50 percent and that's a hundred percent. And there's going to be days you set out to have a [00:18:00] really productive day and you only designed a few newsletters and that's the day and that's okay. I also take time off, unapologetic time off, when I want to go on a trip with people and I want to unplug for seven to ten days.

Lucy Bedewi: I delegate to my team. If you don't have a team, then there's, there's systems you can put up in place like, autoresponders or using different customer, systems to alert people that you're off the grid. And there's ways. There's always ways to take time off. And the thing about businesses is they are a marathon.

Lucy Bedewi: They're not a sprint. So if you need 10 days or you need a month to reset, recharge, your business isn't going to go anywhere. And, and give yourself that space to do that. I think at the end of the day, if you're down really bad, of course mental health comes first. And I would never say the contrary. But I also think that There are times you're gonna have to push through when things are uncomfortable and you can tell yourself You know what?

Lucy Bedewi: I'm gonna push and I'm gonna make up for it later. I'm gonna really go for it I'm feeling [00:19:00] a little bit tired I think I got about two or three more weeks in me and then I think I'm gonna I think I need a break and it's not pushing yourself to burn out. it's just pushing yourself sometimes outside of your comfort zone because you know that that little extra push That extra 10 that most people won't go Is the reason why you will be successful

Lucy Bedewi: The last area I want to focus on in this podcast is seasons So I saw a quote somewhere and it really stuck with me. It said you can do it all You can accomplish everything your heart desires But not at the same time. And I think that's so true. I mean, you could be all in prioritizing or focusing on something or being hyper focused on an area, but inevitably, if you do that, other things in your life are going to fall.

Lucy Bedewi: And that's okay. I mean, I think we need to stop glamorizing the idea that perfect balance is the goal, because it's so incredibly hard to achieve. But, It's just noticing what season am I in? What am I focused on? What [00:20:00] am I really dialed in on? So I've really fallen in love with the idea of seasons because it gives you this permission to pour into your life and business at different rates at different times.

Lucy Bedewi: So it's cool when you know your business is natural cycles. If you're a little bit newer in business, you might not know that quite yet. But for me, I know I have really chill June and Julys. And then November comes and Black Friday is just around the corner and I am running around like a crazy lady trying to get everyone their ads and copies and sales pages before the holiday season.

Lucy Bedewi: So usually June and July, I will go on those dream holidays, I'll learn a new skill, and I will take radical amounts of time off. and sometimes I will look at the amount of work that I work in these months, and maybe I logged 40 to 50 hours for the month. So those two hour days happen, they happen in my chill season.

Lucy Bedewi: And then come early November, I am locked in an Airbnb, I'm ordering Uber Eats for every meal, I'm relishing in the occasional coffee date with a friend [00:21:00] when I go outside and see the sun like a total vampire, and I'm making my accountant really proud of me. So the idea is, these are two very different seasons, but I hope it illustrates that there You have permission to not be in perfect balance all of the time, because some seasons you're going to be pouring into yourself other seasons, you're going to be all in on deepening the love with the people around you and being present with them because isn't that what life's for?

Lucy Bedewi: And then another season might be just this crazy hustle season where you think. Oh my gosh, that person's out there getting their nails done, like, haven't been outside for a walk couple weeks. And I'm being dramatic on purpose, but I also want to To kind of give this caveat that I wouldn't take seasons to the extreme I think this is a really easy concept to look at and think okay.

Lucy Bedewi: This is the season. I'm gonna hustle I'm gonna tell my family and friends that I am not available for the next two months But if you're unreachable to your friends shutting out people who [00:22:00] matter ditching your hobbies or routines That's not healthy either. I mean I talked about my one hustle season for 90 days and and I did that once But I think anything once if you're in the position to do so is fine.

Lucy Bedewi: But I think if This is becoming your thing like everyone knows that okay This person's unreachable for four months out of the year split up into two two month seasons That's a lot of your life that you are choosing To deprioritize things that are really important your work is important, but these other things are also just as important so even in my busiest seasons I can always spare a couple of hours and You know, everyone's going to have different boundaries and I think it's important to know your time boundaries and know what you're capable of giving, but there should always be space for you to give.

Lucy Bedewi: If you are in a space where the world is just revolving around all of the things on your to do list, your to do list is too packed. You need to make a hire. You need to create new structures, new [00:23:00] systems, or you need to have a difficult conversation with a boss or someone at work because don't think there's a time and a season for that kind of energy, truthfully, ever.

Lucy Bedewi: Your goal is to maintain relative balance each day. But the purpose of this section of the episode is forgive yourself for not having perfect balance every day. And let yourself ride these seasons of sometimes, you're not going to be able to cook meals that are healthy, or you're not going to be able to go to your friend's four day wedding, you know, and that's just, um, That's just realistic.

Lucy Bedewi: I'm a big believer in if your friend gets married once and go to the wedding, but let's say maybe you're in your late twenties, it's wedding season, and this is an acquaintance who's getting married in Zimbabwe and you can't spare the plane ticket just to make my example a little bit more applicable.

Lucy Bedewi: It's really embracing that fluidity is what I want to get at, but at the same time, not compartmentalizing your year in a black and white [00:24:00] way, because ideally you want to have all of the things that fill your cup all of the time, just in different proportions. Because when you're completely compartmentalizing and you're saying, well, I'm going to make this my work season, I'm going to make this my off season.

Lucy Bedewi: Well, then we're moving into a world where someone is in a really demanding job. They're working crazy hours every single day. And then they think, okay, I'm going to make up for it with two weeks in Bali. and we all know that it doesn't work like that for our mental health, for our relationships, for all the things that are important to us.

Lucy Bedewi: We just can't exist at that frequency of not giving ourselves what we need. Right. Relatively often, because that's dangerous, and I want you to live a life that feels really full and wonderful. And yes, there are seasons, but yes, there is time every single day. And it's time that you have to intentionally carve out to make sure that you are not losing yourself in any one area of your life. So as we wrap up this episode, I hope you enjoyed this hopefully [00:25:00] nuanced view of hustle versus flow. These are my opinions when it comes to it, but maybe you had a takeaway or are thinking about something in a new way. If so, I would love for you to leave a review of this podcast.

Lucy Bedewi: If you enjoyed it, follow me over @lucy.bedewi ,  L U C Y .  B E D E W I on Instagram. And please DM me any takeaways you had from this episode. I'm so excited to keep the conversation going and thank you for listening.