Crushing It in Hustle Mode

I flew out to San Francisco last week for 24 hours. I wanted to stay longer, but my husband was out of the country, and my cat 16-year-old cat needed his medicine.

So I got on a plane, flew through a blizzard, met a guy who works for The Shins at an airport bar who invited me to a show and it wasn’t creepy, landed in San Francisco, went to bed, woke up, spoke to HR ladies about feedback, did SoulCycle, took a meeting and then took a shower (in that order), and flew home on the red-eye.

It was pretty exhausting, but I’ve inadvertently found myself in hustle mode. I fucking hate hustle mode, by the way. It’s awful. Who lives like this? My god, nothing stresses me out more than not having control of my calendar and acquiescing to other people’s schedules. That’s no way to work! That’s how savages work!

Unfortunately, I’m a savage until I move from pre-revenue to revenue. I’ll be getting my hands dirty for the next few years since it’s not like building a software company takes 21 days and then you dive into a swimming pool of money. Long story short: I’ll be hustling for awhile.

If I had kids, I would complain even more about hustle mode because whining is my favorite thing to do when I’m not crushing it. I commend my friend Sabrina for kicking butt and taking names on her entrepreneurial journey.

And, speaking of complaining, whizzing around the country delivering keynotes and having meetings is exhausting. If I learned anything from my earlier careers (plural), it’s that travel can wear me down. I already think my life is hard for no reason, and I can’t tolerate SSRIs or anti-anxiety medicine. So I’ve made a commitment to myself: intensive cardio six days a week.

I’m happy to report that, so far, the commitment is holding up. I’ve had to do some weird things like forewarn people that I’m arriving at their offices in workout clothes and sweaty armpits, but, at this moment, nobody has died from my body odor.

And the good news is that my friends are joining me on this crazy journey. Both Sarah and Jennifer are doing Orangetheory. Sarah-Beth and my niece are my SoulCycle sisters. My friend Dominique ran up a skyscraper with me. I’ve got my pilates and yoga practice, which makes me stronger and is helping me reconnect with my core, and I’ve picked up my running routine.

At some point, I need to take a look at my diet and align my fitness goals with my dietary restrictions. Wait, I don’t have to do that. I never have to do that. Nevermind. That’s a horrible idea. I’m in hustle mode. I’ll eat whatever the hell I want.

Whether I like it or not, I’m in hustle mode. I have goals, I have dreams, and I have a future that requires my full attention. And the only way I can manage all the chaos and the noise is to sweat and grunt my way through a workout.

When I want something, nobody works harder than me. It feels good to have a fire in my belly, again, along with pizza and ice cream. Thankfully, cardio will help on a lot of levels.