The $75 Million Insight: How Self-Worth Can End the Overwork Cycle

This past weekend, I found myself at this cozy mastermind retreat. Picture this: non-stop rain sets the perfect scene for deep business strategy planning and warm conversations. 

On my drive, I tuned into this killer podcast episode with Alex Lieberman who founded the business media company Morning Brew. Alex gets real about everything—how he built Morning Brew, his thoughts on how the media industry is growing, and his battles with fear and feeling not good enough, even after he sold his company for millions. Alex even shared his initial resistance to hiring an executive coach, thinking he wasn’t cut out for entrepreneurship and should be saving every penny he earned from selling the Morning Brew for $75 million to Business Insider. Yes, really! 

Alex opened up about how this mindset was basically setting him up for a lifetime of overworking and sacrificing his well-being, relationships, and health. He then talked about how he worked with his executive coach to build his self-confidence again and embrace the "work smarter, not harder" philosophy again, which is what he used to launch and grow Morning Brew.

During the retreat, as we discussed all sorts of business and mindset puzzles, I mentioned how I’m on a mission to work smarter, not harder—a concept I've admittedly struggled with. It dawned on me, and I shared this with the group, that if you can unravel the equation that hard work equals success, you suddenly find yourself with more productivity and much less stress and guilt from not being on the grind 24/7.

I’m all in on the belief that real success comes from savvy work, good decision making, adapting, strategic partnerships, consistency, and constantly learning.

Locking in Priorities: The Night-Before Strategy

One strategy I've adopted to work smarter, not harder, involves setting my priorities the night before and committing to them—morning me trusts evening me's decisions. This approach has been a game-changer; the temptation to stray from my set priorities is constant, but sticking to this plan has made a world of difference.

What are you doing to work smarter, not harder?