Hustle vs Alignment

Whew, 2019 was a doozy, wasn’t it?

Did you experience an insane amount of “Growth Opportunities” like I did?! I mean, wow. I am so totally not the same person I was at the start of 2019.

But I don’t hate it.

Growth is such a good thing. It helps us become the people we need to be to live the story written for us. We cannot turn the page to a new chapter until we finish the process of reading the rest of the chapter we are on. (Of course we can try to skip it, but we will find ourselves missing things to help us understand the next chapter. And then we’ll find ourselves flipping back to see what we missed anyways.)

I think 2019 was my “Flipping back” year. I knew I was missing some really important things and I needed to pause and figure that out. But that didn’t happen until, oh, the 3rd or 4th quarter of the year?

I spent the rest of 2019 chasing the hustle. If you have a small business or are a dream chaser like me, you know what the hustle is.

It’s on every #motivationalmonday meme and on t-shirts and on the lips of every motivational speaker.

While the hustle isn’t necessarily bad, it doesn’t mean it’s good either.

I chased that hustle, hard, for the better part of the year and I got to a point where I was literally spinning my wheels. What had worked to get me where I was, was no longer working. And the things I saw other people doing that was “Taking them to the next level” just didn’t fit me or my beliefs.

I love y’all, but I am not buying a stack of cards to help me “manifest” what I want in my life. (I just don’t believe in that stuff, I’m sorry. I believe in speaking truth and life! Just not that I can speak what I want and it will happen. That’s not how it works in the Kingdom of God.)

Because the truth is, I have spent my whole LIFE chasing what I thought I wanted, and when I started to get it, it didn’t satisfy. Something was off…it didn’t feel right.

And that was the same thing that was happening to me this year.

I was seeing some success, but it was costing me a lot more than I wanted to admit. I was becoming focused on something I actually didn’t care about, but wanted to care about. So I pressed on. I hustled on.

But the piece I was missing was alignment.

Somebody bigger than me has a book written about me. (And no, I don’t believe it’s a pre-destination kind of thing…I think of it more as a Good and Perfect Plan that I can choose to align with or not.) And in that book is a life I couldn’t dream up if I tried to!

I believe the things I was pursuing in 2019 are good and are in my book, but not the way I was pursuing them.

Hustle causes us to focus on the thing. Alignment helps us focus on the One who wants to bless us with the thing, in His time and in His way.

Hustle causes us to focus on the thing. Alignment helps us focus on the One who wants to bless us with the thing, in His time and in His way.

Hustle is what I can do for me. Alignment is what He can do in and through a surrendered/submitted me.

If we lose sight of the Father, we lose sight of ourselves. We begin to chase a version of ourselves, but it’s not exactly who we are created to be. It’s the me WE want us to be. And eventually that’s going to crumble. It doesn’t matter how much success we see — that just means we have more to lose.

But if we keep our eyes on the Father and only step when He does, we will not only see success, but we will see it aligned with our destiny, which is far more powerful than any hustle by ourselves can be!

Now let me say this, I still believe there is a time and place for hustle. There is a time and place for nose to the grind, get the work done, set the goals, achieve the goals. I am so totally not against that! I just believe that the goals need to be aligned.

Instead of sitting down with a piece of paper and thinking about what I want to achieve, it’s asking the Father, “What would you have me achieve this year?” It isn’t always a 6 figure income. Sometimes it’s more patience. Sometimes it’s hustling hard after healing from years of stored up grief. But whatever it is, it is the next step to achieving our dreams.

If who we are inside isn’t ready for a dream come true, then it will never satisfy and it will never be enough. We will always need the hustle. And there’s always the chance that we will blow up the dream come true because who we are isn’t strong enough to sustain that kind of growth/platform.

So this new year, I am chasing after alignment. I am submitting my hustle to be more laser focused on the things He would have for me this year. It might not be all that glamorous, but it will be exactly what I need and it will satisfy.

And it will bring me peace in the process. (Instead of the anxiety and the constant need for movement that the hustle brings.)

2019 = The year of Hustle.

2020 = The year of Alignment.

So here’s to more time in my prayer journal than in my dreams and motivational journals.

Here’s to more time in my prayer chair than at my desk.

Here’s to more tangible, hands on loving versus a fake attempt at love just to continue pursuing the hustle.

And here’s to becoming more of the REAL me in 2020.

Care to join me?

P.S. If you’ve been spinning your wheels and are ready to fully enter your own story, I am launching a special e-mail only series for the month of January called “31 Days of Entering Your Story” and I would love for you to join me! It will be an e-mail a day with a few bite-sized/digestible questions/thoughts for you to begin fully entering your own story. This means learning to accept your life as is, so that you can be poised for change and growth! But we can’t grow until we fully embrace who we are and where we are. Are you ready to join me? Sign up below to join my e-mail list and then you’ll be ready to go! 🙂

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