2146: Hard Work and Mindfulness Can Co-Exist by Jenny Lee of Hello Brio on Work-Life Balance

[00:00:00] This episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows. Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales, using automation, analytics and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result? Less time spent on operations, more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter most. Learn more at Accenture.com slash Spotify.

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[00:00:54] This is Optimal Work Daily. Hard work and mindfulness can coexist. By Jenny Lee of Hello Brio.

[00:01:05] A lot of mindfulness experts and minimalists preach that mindfulness is about saying no, staying unbusy, do nothing and rest, enjoy doing nothing, stop shoulding all over ourselves. At face value, all of these ideas seem so simple, so easy. They're all super true.

[00:01:26] A lot of self-discovery and peace can come from slowing down, being mindful, and learning to say no. But what about doing work you love? Drive to do things. The urges to get done. It's not all black and white. There's nothing wrong with hard work. Over the weekend, I was taking a break from toddler wrangling and was scrolling through Twitter whilst the monster napped. I came across this simple tweet from the minimalists. Quote,

[00:01:54] There's nothing wrong with hard work as long as it doesn't get in the way of life's more important areas. Health, relationships, passion. End quote. It moved me so much that I shot up from my cozy spot on the couch to hand letter it right away. By lettering quotes, I find they sink into my brain better. Just like how copying notes while studying puts the ideas into your muscle memory.

[00:02:15] Anyway, I really needed to hear this. The quote was so eloquent. It made me feel like there can be a balance between hard work and a real mindful life. Mindfulness. Being in the moment. Mindfulness may not seem prevalent on this blog since I don't really talk about it too much here. Overall, I'd like to be a zen master, but in reality, I'm just working towards it.

[00:02:38] All of this is to say, lately I'm erring on the side of being in the moment and prioritizing relationships and relaxation over pumping out work. My previously undying work ethic. In the past, I've always had side hustles. And I mean hustles. Before Beans, I had my various full-time day jobs. At night, I would also be working extremely hard to try to turn my personal passions into a full-time career.

[00:03:03] In 2015 and 2016, the plan was for me to start to generate income through my business so I could be a stay-at-home mom. I couldn't imagine being a mom any other way, so I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to try to make my dreams a reality. During those times, I was constantly working, taking notes about how to work better, thinking about working, talking about working, and then working some more. Any downtime I had was lived at an extreme.

[00:03:31] I was either working hard, or I was zoned out in front of the TV, probably with an embarrassingly large carb-heavy snack. Even friend time made me anxious, because I felt like I should be doing something more quote-unquote productive in order to reach my goals. During my deep declutter, I scanned in a lot of my old notebooks in order to digitize them. In those solo scanning parties, I relived those times when I was furiously taking notes and making lists and illustrating charts and drawing out idea webs

[00:04:01] in order to organize my thoughts and undying list of to-dos that I wanted to accomplish that month or that week or that minute. It was insane. I clung to every single one of those passions and accomplishments as if they defined me as a person. I worked like that up until Beans was born, and a little bit after. The crash. Unfortunately, a few weeks after Beans was born, things turned literally insane.

[00:04:27] I haven't talked about this before in a public forum, nor will I go into too much detail here. But in summary, I was diagnosed with postpartum psychosis. It was the worst thing to ever happen to me. It landed me in the hospital a few times, and then I spent a year plus on heavy medication and treatments. It was terrifying, and we didn't even know such a thing existed until it was happening. Very long and painful story short, it zapped me of my energy.

[00:04:54] I went from a results-driven momtrepreneur to a sloppily pajama-shrouded sloth who binge-watched every season of Grey's Anatomy in one year. I was a miserable person. I was lost. It changed me for the worst. I felt horrible, I acted horrible, and it ended my relationship with Beans' dad. The Recovery While mindfulness was an interest to me before the illness happened, it became a necessity for me after it. I moved out after the breakup.

[00:05:23] I made a conscious effort to see my friends and parents more. I got a job out of necessity. I did, however, constantly think about my side projects, as said job made me miserable. But I wasn't in a rush to start hustling again. I didn't want to force myself back into extracurricular activities that might overwhelm me. Over the past few months, I've slowly come back into myself. My friends agree I've recovered from the zombie-like state that I'd been in for over a year. Above that, obviously I started this blog.

[00:05:52] I started lettering again. I started seeing the wonderful, perfect, hilarious, goofy, handsome, lovely Chris, and I'm still prioritizing time with people. Tiny people, especially. Balance In the end, I feel happier than I've ever felt. I'm more balanced. As I mentioned in a recent Instagram post, I'm lucky enough to be in a new job where I feel fulfilled as a contributing member of society, so I don't feel the need to come home and work my butt off in order to feel good about my life.

[00:06:21] Considering all of the terrible, unfulfilling jobs I've had in the past, I know how fortunate that makes me. Anything I work on in my spare time now is just a bonus. My side projects are no longer my life force, and I'm working extra hard emotionally to make sure this fun stuff stays fun and doesn't become a chore. We are not what we produce. One of my best friends has similarly struggled with the productivity-as-a-personal-definition thing, too,

[00:06:49] and frequently I find myself thinking of what she told me once. The completed tasks on our to-do lists do not dictate who we are as individuals. We are not what we produce. Hard work does pair beautifully with mindfulness. To come back around full circle, let's examine the quote from the minimalists again. Quote, There's nothing wrong with hard work, as long as it doesn't get in the way of life's most important areas, health, relationships, passion. End quote.

[00:07:18] Even though our hard work does not define us, it's still okay to have big goals and to work hard. Just don't let those dreams bulldoze what really matters. Mindfulness is an emotional minimalism. Focus on what matters most to you, and say no to the rest. Thanks again to the minimalists for helping to put some pretty important stuff into perspective. You just listened to the post titled, Hard Work and Mindfulness Can Coexist,

[00:07:46] by Jenny Lee of hellobrio.com. This episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows. Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales, using automation, analytics, and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result? Less time spent on operations, more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter most.

[00:08:16] Learn more at Accenture.com slash Spotify. This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome? That's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block, or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required, compatibility and availability varies 18+.

[00:08:46] And thanks so much to Jenny for providing us with these insights today, and let me tell you a little bit about her site. Hello Brio isn't just another minimalism blog or an iPad blog. Jenny created it in 2013, and it was designed to be a place for her to rediscover her soul and find her true self after a personal, life-altering event. The site took a lot of turns along the way, and now it's a place for you to find abundant creativity through digital simplicity and mind minimalism.

[00:09:14] Everything you find there is filtered through an intentional living lens. So come on and check it out over at hellobrio.com. And again, a thank you to Jenny for letting us share her work. That's going to do it for this episode, which I hope you enjoyed. And a reminder that clicking on that subscribe or follow button wherever you get your podcasts is super helpful to us and really helps us to keep this show going. So I will be back again with you tomorrow, and that is where your optimal life awaits. Thank you. Thank you.