The Myth of Sacrifice
Delayed, but definitely not denied.
Hey honeys and hustlers,
The key to discipline is not sacrifice. In our pursuit of success and personal growth, we often encounter the concept of sacrifice. The other side of hustle propaganda is probably virtue-signaling sacrifice as a hallmark of character (hint: it’s not, and you can tell your favorite Twitter/LinkedIn bro I said it). What if we've been looking at it all wrong? What if, instead of viewing our efforts as sacrifices, we saw them as investments in our future selves? When we reframe our "sacrifices" as investments in our future, we shift from a mindset of loss to one of growth. Every choice to delay gratification, every decision to put in extra effort, is not a sacrifice but a deposit into our future success and well-being. By consciously choosing what to prioritize, we're allocating our resources—time, energy, and focus—in alignment with our values and aspirations. This shift in perspective helped me reshape my relationship with work and transformed how I approach the concepts of discipline, productivity, and personal development.
"We withhold from ourselves until we achieve a goal and then we withhold from ourselves to maintain that goal." Roxane Gay in Hunger
One of the biggest shifts in going from an employee to a self-employed creator is time management. Nobody is checking to make sure I’m “clocked in” or logged into my email at a certain time. No one is following up with me to hold me accountable for marketing myself or my services regularly. In fact, how I manage my time is completely up to me. And if I were left to my own devices, I would likely work myself into the ground. I love what I do, and at first, it was easy to say no to a night out with friends or neglect to go home for family events. But now, I understand that sacrificing downtime in totality was hurting my productivity and ability to create my best work. True productivity comes from a simple commitment to getting better at creating your best working environment – not a commitment to things getting easier, more convenient, or even more visible.
What’s the point in working to have time freedom, and then not giving yourself any free time? Not a single person will show up to your funeral and praise you for missing Christmas, birthdays, or any other life events for the sake of work. Building a business takes work. Creating something meaningful takes work. But it is not work that requires your constant attention and the sacrifice of your overall well-being. Be intentional about getting better at finding workflows and systems that allow you to create at a high level in deep, focused work sessions. Every yes should feel like a “hell yes!” And everything that doesn’t spark that level of enthusiasm, is likely a no (or “not right now”).
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In Readworthy News
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// Hootsuite shares their 2025 social trends in a LinkedIn influencer campaign. And I’m very jealous that I didn’t receive a fancy newspaper. Unfortunately, I think the newspaper is the most interesting thing about the report. Their trends and suggestions boil down to 3 things: 1. CEOs, founders, and entrepreneurs should be commenting on influencers’ posts to hijack their audience. 2. Agency teams are using AI in their marketing efforts and you should be too. 3. Ditching traditional B2B and B2C marketing tactics is old, and you should be making more entertainment-focused content that doesn’t directly sell your product or services. Color me unenlightened by any of these. But, if they are surprising or helpful insights to you, then I guess they accomplished their mission.
// beehiiv launches multimillion-dollar commitment to support independent journalism. I sing beehiiv’s praises a lot for someone who still writes this newsletter on Substack, and I’m not done yet I fear. Storytellers and journalists are side by side in their pursuit of audience-led growth and monetization. beehiiv has not only made a newsletter platform that’s attainable for independent newsrooms, but they’re now offering: a monthly health insurance stipend (and will get access to beehiiv's network of insurance partners), access to pre-publish legal review support, up to $1 million in errors and omissions coverage (a type of professional liability insurance), access to editorial software such as Perplexity Pro and Getty Images, backend office software for things like accounting, access to account managers, and will receive business strategy support. There’s a heightened focus on the future of reputable journalism that’s written with integrity following this election cycle, and beehiiv is putting its platform and money where its values are in supporting the sustainability and growth of newsrooms across the country (and probably around the world) with the implementation of the beehiiv Media Collective.
// Users leave Twitter (X) for Bluesky. Kind of.* Twitter first experienced an exodus of users when Elon Musk bought the platform in 2022. I think most people left because the cornerstones of many niche communities left. When I think about the quick rise and fall of Clubhouse, I remember that migration being in response to people searching for community and connection. When Threads was launched, photographers went in search of a place to post their work without the pressure to create video reels to feed Instagram’s algorithm. Now that Elon Musk has played such a hefty role in this election cycle, and will potentially be a part of the coming presidential cabinet, I think users are leaving for one main reason: they’re in search of a healthier relationship with social media.
This feels different. This feels less like trying to find a perfect home, but rather trying to find a place that feels existentially and psychologically safe. I think many brands, campaigns, and influencers who are considering the move to Bluesky but not jumping in right now will look back and realize this has nothing to do with positioning or thought leadership and everything to do with people exercising their power to vote with their attention, which goes well beyond clout or user density. I claimed my username a while back when Mastodon was also floated as an option for people to shift to. The core communities I’m a part of left Twitter ages ago (podcasters, photographers, cyclists, and creators), and I think once Bluesky can figure out Bookmarks and aggregating news stories, that will be the final nail in the coffin for me.
I’m forming many thoughts on what social media will look like going forward but I’d love to hear from you:
Have you made a Bluesky account? What are your thoughts on Twitter? Reply to this email or comment below!
Please Hustle Responsibly,
🤙🏾✨
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The work yourself into dust mindset definitely has to be throttled back otherwise you'll only be dust and so will your business.
One of the things I haven noticed is that going for a run, or a bike ride or getting away doesn't mean I'm not working.....it just means I am working in a different way.
I reframe in the form of a corporate America meeting. When I was working in CA, I would go to a meeting which meant I wasn't at my desk. Today, I go out for a run, coffee or ride and it's a meeting. I will inevitably think about the company but I am not strapped to a desk and working.
It is a reframing that helps me to get out from under the thumb of work!