Hustle vs. Flow: 5 Tips For Finding Your Sweet Spot

CONTRIBUTED BY ANGIE BYRD, WILD STUDIO

Oh, the elusive Sweet Spot.

The mysterious, ever-shifting state where life sounds like angels singing, complete with puppies and rainbows. Sometimes your sweet spot is right there, quick to appear. Other times, there’s nothing you can do to coax her out of her shell.

Does she really exist?

Yes, she does.

To create a consistent and productive relationship with your sweet spot, you have to give her what she wants. Which is best for you as well, personally and professionally.

She doesn’t respond to “balance” because she knows that doesn’t exist. She requires harmony. The ability to move, flow, and dance with all parts of life -- with what is happening -- rather than forcing or pushing something into existence. She invites us to fully express our productivity, talent, and genius...with ease.

HUSTLE VS FLOW

As humans, there are two systems of energy at play in us in equal amounts at all times -- Hustle and Flow.

When women are leaking energy, suffering, or feel the pressure of “doing it all,” their Hustle and Flow states are likely out of proportion.

The benefits of healthy Hustle:

Gets things done; moves life forward
The Doer, structure, taskmaster, drive, ambition
Focused, direct. Has an upward motion (squeezing in and up)

Unhealthy Hustle:

Like overtraining a muscle group, it will break down and feel like misaligned push energy.
Produces tightness in the upper body, headaches, shoulder and neck tension, etc. If you feel yourself with your shoulders up and face all sour, this is too much Hustle energy.
Too much Hustle robs us of energy, it’s exhausting. There’s nothing left at the end of the day.

The benefits of healthy Flow:

Relaxed, receiving, more accepting, ease, calm focus
Creative energy, clarity
Healthy flow is still taking action, but with intention and accepting what is.

Unhealthy Flow:

Drama arises
Feelings of not being enough, avoidance behaviors
Produces tension in the lower body (too little Flow also produces lower body tension)

Think of Hustle and Flow
like muscles.

Our societal and cultural programming has led us to believe that the Hustle state is the only way to succeed in life. We’ve strengthened this muscle more through habits, patterns, and training. It’s where we’ve been taught to derive our value.

We’ve all been living and working in Hustle for so long, our Flow muscle is almost completely atrophied.

Get a free copy of Angie’s audio-guided breathwork exercise and “5 Tips for Balancing Your Hustle & Flow” Video:

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Put the ease of Flow into the structure of Hustle and create consistent access to that elusive sweet spot with these 5 tips:

01 Know What You Want

This takes creating space to be able to connect and hear what your wisdom has to say. Meditation, relaxation, movement. You often operate by reacting to the environment and what’s happening around you. Learn to trust your instincts. Then ask for what you want, knowing you can handle whatever is on the other side of that ask.

02 Create Agreements

Operating from assumptions and expectations causes stress, tension, lack of clarity, and disappointment. Agreements are co-created, meaning you and I come together and agree on what our roles are, what will be done, how it will be done, and EXACTLY by when. If the agreement can’t be kept, we let each other know immediately and offer a solution as to what can be done. We can then recreate another agreement together. Example: “Can you send me the report?” You might become frustrated when you don’t receive the report in an hour (your teammate can’t read your mind!). A healthier example: “The report is due to the client Friday. Can we create an agreement for you to have the ABC portion with 123 complete to me in email, tomorrow by 5:00pm?” The other person can accept (or not), or suggest slightly differing terms.

This isn’t micromanaging, this is clarity. If there is a relationship of an agreement there, you can now relax because you trust that the thing will get done (or you’ll know differently and be able to recreate another agreement). This is infusing FLOW into the structure of HUSTLE. This also works very well at home.

03 Radically Honest Communication

This is where Flow operates best. How many times has something gone haywire because of a lack of clear communication? Knowing that you can create agreements, and having the trust in Flow to guide you, you can get to a place of being able to say anything, to anyone at any time. With LOVE. And not be worried about the outcome. Of course, you could be thinking about the outcome, but you aren’t consumed by it. The easiest way to avoid all kinds of pain and strife is with acutely clear, specific communication upfront, so there are less questions later. It’s common to get angry or disappointed with someone or a situation when all that was missing was specificity in our language. If you don’t understand something clearly, ask questions. Don’t worry about what it looks like.

04 Setting Boundaries

Let your people know what they can expect from you and what they can’t. For example, “I don’t respond to emails after 7:00 pm because I am with my family. IF there is a REAL meltdown, you may text me.” Or if someone sends you communication that doesn’t need a response right away, you don’t have to respond right away. Or, you can let them know it was received and when they can expect a response from you. Get clear on what is important to you, your vision, and ask for it with clear, specific language.

05 Conservation of Energy

Only use what you need to use at any given moment. Learn how to conserve energy so you have something left for yourself, and maybe even your family and partner, at the end of the day. Take breaks throughout your day to recenter yourself. Breathe. Move. Lie down for 2 minutes and completely relax. Another tool is to take 20-60 second breaks between tasks. For example, instead of jumping from email to typing a report to doing research and having all of that going at once, create space in between tasks. The brain actually doesn’t multitask well. It toggles between tasks and can get overloaded. Yes, even you high performers. Creating a small space to close your eyes and center yourself between tasks helps to give you micro reboots of energy. It’s crucial to take care of your body and nervous system. Being on tilt will only exhaust you and ultimately you won’t “produce” more.

Using all of these tools, plus embodiment practices I teach with my clients, makes it possible to create a powerful, embodied, radiant and relaxed way of being. It creates confidence and harmony between Hustle and Flow.

Contrary to popular belief, confidence is not necessarily something we are born with. It is created. It can be practiced and mastered. You can fill yourself so full with Flow power, you can walk into any room and your presence will impact the energy of the room. It’s not arrogance, it’s authentic intuitive power.

It’s being in your Sweet Spot.

Get a free copy of Angie’s audio-guided breathwork exercise and “5 Tips for Balancing Your Hustle & Flow” Video:

Get the Goodies

About Angie Byrd

Angie Byrd has built a career partnering with women who are looking to create extraordinary performance in their lives. After a series of profound personal discoveries, Angie created Wild Studio as a place where women are liberated from outdated programming around power, pleasure, intimacy, sensuality, and sex. At Wild Studio, inspiring women to Turn ON is the priority. After all, a turned-on woman is the most powerful being on the planet.

Wild Studio provides empowering education to women in the areas of wisdom, wellness, and pleasure through free resources, group coaching programs, intensive individual coaching, personal retreats, and live group experiences. Couples coaching is also available for those wishing to involve their partner.

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