Letting Go of "The Grind"

If your idea of smashing 2026 is "grinding your face off" at the computer with the hopes that if you just "do more" you'll thrive, this post will probably trigger you.

If you're open to the idea that you can walk a very unique success path that feels fun, light and simple with challenges you're excited to overcome – you may find todays reflection helpful.

I'm writing this as a reflection to bring you into my inner dialogue so if it feels a bit whacky, thats why.

During the first 3 years of discovering my unique success path, providing online services like coaching and consulting, I began to notice this "Performing Hustler" identity leading the way...

The Performing Hustler looks a lot like this:

• Externally driven → Chases money and validation to be seen as "successful"
• Lives in obligation → “I have to do this to make money”
• Push energy → forces outcomes through effort and grind that's driven by fear
• Reactive → Acts from fear and lack; life happens to him
• Copycat identity → Looks to others for answers; doesn’t trust his own voice
• Emotionally unstable → emotional highs when winning, low when losing
• Forced control → Micromanages everything to feel safe

Over the last 2 years I've been unravelling this identity to build and create as my real self, not this false persona.

I feel like 2025 was one of the final hurdles in doing so.

Today a moment came that brought pure clarity.

I'm going to share that moment with you so that you can make 2026 an incredible year of business growth, fun and peace.

A Moment of Silence

I was out in a nature walk this afternoon.

I was observing myself getting caught in my mind, frustrated at certain things, feeling annoyed and listening to a lot of "mind chatter" that was very loud.

As I was walking, I stopped and looked at this horse in the field nearby for a few minutes focusing on him eating the grass.

Eventually, the horse looked back at me.

I said hello. He looked at me with wonder. Then I laughed and carried on walking.

That split moment of pausing to view the horse and refocusing my mind had stopped the overload of thought that was consuming me.

I felt a sense of clarity as I walked away.

It's always the little things.

As I continued to walk after that moment, a new thought came to mind that said "there's just no going back now"

there's no going back to the old way, the old me.

What did this mean?

No Going Back

In this recent season from October to December 2025 I've been taking it slow, resting and sleeping more, being more intentional about work, and being more patient with ideas.

I've been letting go of the urgency and scarcity loops my old "performing hustler" identity lived in.

Letting go of thinking that I'm running out of time or there's an imaginary competition that I'm somehow losing... whatever the narrative was in the moment.

It's all an illusion.

The "no going back" came to mind because I realised a part of me believed that once "next week starts" or once "January 1st comes around" then I'll just "lock in" again

But a part of me was like... "wait, that just sounds like the old identity that I'm letting go of..."

Being at the computer for 10 hours a day, getting up early to "check off the to-do list" and get back into grind mode.

I said to myself "we're not doing that anymore dude"

It was so subtle

..but a part of me was so familiar with that way of living, building and creating that a part of me was waiting for this "rest period" to end so I could go right back again.

The mind is sneaky like that.

And yes I will be entering into a season of more consistency for sure... but in that moment how I was thinking about it was the opposite of what I was aiming to do.

I'm letting go of the constant "need to do" for the sake of doing

and instead I'm focused on living in a calm, relaxed emotional state.. then taking action from that place when the spark arises.

no more forcing. I choose a different timeline.

Nobody in their right mind needs to spend 8 hours a day at a computer to get anything done.

If you think about it.... there's really not that much to do.

So I made a promise to myself... we're just not going back to that old way.

This Is the Way Things Are Now

When I realised that this is the way things are now, my mind went quiet and I started to relax.

I said to myself "I'm setting new standards"

I rest. I play and I embrace silence.

I use alarms sparingly, only if it aligns with me getting a lot of rest and sleep.

I'm intentional about how I work.

I'm focused on living in a calm, relaxed state.

I spend a little bit more time on ideas than I usually would.

I prioritise nature and being around friends, having fun.

Instead of being at the computer out of habit trying to build stuff for the sake of "needing to do something"

I said to myself again:

This is the way we are now.

This is more in alignment with who we truly are.

Things are about to get easier and simpler.

The New Way Is Less Effort

The new way is less effort.

Less effort compared to the old "effort" that was driven by the emotion of fear.

Fear of not doing enough. Fear of not achieving an outcome. Fear of not being successful. etc.

I learned a few years ago that burnout doesn't come from the work, it comes from the emotion thats fuelling the work (Brooke Castillo)

Instead we're being more intentional now. No more grind.

We're sharpening the axe of our presence and hitting the bullseye like a precise archer who waited 5 days for his target to pass.

Intentional. Precise. Calm.

The ripple effects of everything that we're doing now will lead to a new experience of life and business in 2026

But it's about embodying a new way of being through our daily choices.

Letting go of the old way of operating and allowing "success" to be a flow of ease and simplicity.

Nice!

Emotional State Comes First

Who needs to be at the computer, 8 to 10 to 12 hours a day?

Before I would believe that always "working on something" means output... output means productivity... productivity means clients (or results)

No, not anymore.

It's an Illusion.

All clients have come to me when I've been in a flow of being myself, well rested, calm and magnetic. Not forcing outcomes.

Therefore, our emotional state comes 1st now.

And once that is in a place, our state of inspiration harmony, and peace flow into intentional action when the time feels right to respond to.

That could come at any point throughout the day. Who knows? How exciting.

We can't predict what our body is going to respond to throughout the day.

We may need more rest than usual, so it's time to listen to what we need in the moment.

How I'm viewing this:

What is the bodies "yes", not the mental "should"  ?

When I listen for that YES it's time to move with power.

Getting Clear on What I Want

I'm taking in a lot of new information right now. Information in the form of divine insight and life lessons.

There's no more needing to prove myself.

I don't care what anybody thinks.

I don't care if people look at me or how people see me.

I don't care if I achieve all my material desires or if I achieve none of them.

I just don't care for any of that.

My values have shifted. It's very simple now. I know what I want.

to embody inner sovereignty.

to create what I believe should exist in the world.

to have a family.

All that begins as an inside job.

It's embodying this new way. Living from a place of inner peace, and gratitude.

Feeling abundant, regardless of what's going on in my bank account.

Knowing that I'm supported, taken care of. I have great people around me.

I'm doing something I enjoy doing.

The Challenge of Rest

Funnily enough, the most challenging part about this season over the last 6 months has been resting.

When you're someone who has the default of "taking action and doing" resting is the medicine.

For me.. it's been listening to my body, when my body says;

• I'm tired.
• I want to slow down.
• I wanna rest.
• I want to walk.
• I want to move lightly.
• I want to sleep.
• I wanna just watch a movie.
• I want to eat some nice food.

Listening to those signals instead of always trying to fit myself into this box of relentless discipline... for the sake of discipline.

Discipline Reframed

It's not that I'm against discipline, it's that I'm against discipline for the wrong reasons.

A good friend of mine Dan introduced me to the idea of having discipline around things that feel meaningful, not just hard for the sake of hard.

This means;

Discipline to do "hard things for the sake of hard things" all the time doesn't feel worthwhile to me, it feels like a waste of energy.

Example: Having no interest in bodybuilding but constantly forcing yourself to go to the gym because you believe "it's the best way to get fit"

But Discipline to do "hard things for the sake of meaning" feels worth it to me.

Example: Finding an active movement or sport you enjoy doing then having discipline to keep doing it because you enjoy it.

It's about slowing down and asking ourselves why we're doing what we're doing.

There's a millions ways to get what you want, life is better when you do it your way.

There Is No Problem to Solve

It seems the term "productivity" was created by humans to solve problems that never existed.

What if there's nothing to figure out?

What if there's no complexity? There's no problem to solve?

that idea makes the mind go crazy, it goes off and finds 10 more made up problems for us to solve.

Don't be ruled by your mind, you're not your mind.

Just be present with how you feel. That will give you the clearest answer. but be patient.

the challenge is to listen and trust.

Productivity for the sake of productivity, is modern day slavery.

Illusion of Progress

There's been times where I've felt like I've been in a psychiatric hospital.

I'm living in a house with no furniture right now.

It's just me. A space to write and draw with markers and pens, books and a desk with a computer, a bed and a kitchen

There's been times where I literally felt this incredible, overwhelming mental chatter trying to pull myself to do something "productive"

It sounded like;

"You gotta work, you gotta do this, you gotta figure this out."

"You got to create more systems"

"You got to work on this process"

But I know this is just my mind, my old identity breaking to make space for a new more relaxed version of myself.

The Body Knows

Because every time I misjudge the mind and follow that chatter, I feel deeply uncomfortable.

I felt this heaviness hanging over me. I felt like I was carrying dead weight.

This may have worked for me in the past, but it's no longer part of how I operate.

During these moments I feel like my body is just standing in the way of me saying...

"Hey man, this is not how we're doing this anymore, remember you decided to do things differently? I'm going to send you this negative emotion, this frustration.. So that you can come back to simplicity.."

Where the Best Answers Come From

When you rest, you get the best answers.

When you take a walk in nature, you get the best inspiration.

When you go out and you forget about working, you come back and you are fuelled to do something amazing and to create because you're not trying.

No creativity came from sitting and staring at a computer, hoping for creativity to flow somehow.

It doesn't work like that.

It comes when it comes with a mind of its own.

From now on we we're trusting the Formula

It's the trust that as you go about your life, rest and play... you have fun.

Then naturally your tendency will be to do something at some point from the inspiration and passion that you feel.

And that's the formula.

There is nothing else.

But when you get stuck in your head trying to be "productive", you're just in your mind, at your computer.

What are you really doing?

It's an illusion of progress. It's not real life.

Life is happening now, outside in the real world.

Letting Go of the Performer

Most of the time, it's the lack of trust that you living your life is actually enough.

So in this next season going into 2026.

We're letting go.
Of the performer.
Of the one who needs to prove.
Of the one who needs to constantly work to feel worthy.

The New Era

This new era, is something far more profound

It's actually challenging for the mind to comprehend because it's so simple.

It's actually stripping back all of the unnecessary complexity that was never useful in the beginning anyway.

Doing less and receiving more is based on daily choices and awareness, not a "to-do" list.

Maintaining Simplicity

The discipline comes with keeping the simplicity when the mind wants complexity.

Making sure that the action is taken from an emotional state that is fuelled by passion, excitement and inspiration.

This happens through responding to the spark that life brings by simply following excitement in the moment.

Creating From Authenticity

I'm doing this for me. As my authentic self.

And that, as a byproduct, will probably help some people.

If you're one of those people, I'm glad it supported you.

2025 was the groundwork for what is to come in this next 10 year cycle.

I'm excited.

Are you?

Peace & Love

J