The Fine Line Between Giving Yourself Grace and Laziness
Giving yourself grace means allowing yourself to not operate at 100% ALL of the time. You'll have days when you operate at 50% and even at 20% at times... There's nothing wrong with that.
In the last newsletter, we talked about choosing to do less (and trusting that it's enough). In keeping with that message, we'll explore when giving yourself grace crosses the fine line into laziness. We're going to distinguish the two to enable you with the ability to hold yourself accountable without encouraging burnout through hustle culture.
"When you're used to operating at high speed, medium speed feels like zero." |
We define 'laziness' as anything that isn't direct output. The question is... Is it laziness, or are our bodies just 'down-regulating' after an intense period of stress? A lot of the time, we misinterpret rest as laziness because we have ambition guilt. Doing less feels like doing nothing and, in turn, feels like being lazy. That thought process stems from ambition guilt.
If I don't do more constantly, will I ever make it? Will I achieve my dreams? If I take a break, will I get left behind?
Being ambitious often comes with guilt about not doing enough, especially when you tend to tie your self-worth to how productive you are. What's important is not letting ambition guilt inhibit you from doing more. Instead of beating yourself up for not doing more, accepting that output levels can vary from day to day will put you in a healthier mindset for sustainable growth.
In order to give yourself permission to rest, you need to understand that giving yourself grace is a strategy.
It's a proactive decision to rest so you can maintain long-term momentum. It should feel like relief and restoration. Not something that should be punished by added productivity later.
But if grace is resting or doing less proactively, what defines laziness? Laziness is avoidance. It's a reactive decision to ignore a task because of fear, friction, or lack of clarity. This might feel like guilt, too, but it often takes a step further from ambition guilt because it results in more stagnation.
So how do we know if we're being lazy or are allowing ourselves grace?
We can use the "Energy Audit" test to figure that out.
- "If I rest for an hour, will I feel energized or more guilty?" -> Grace allows you to recharge for an hour. Laziness breeds anxiety.
- "Am I avoiding the work, or am I physically/mentally unable to do it well?" -> The first is laziness, the second is needing grace.
- "Does this 'rest' serve the goal I'm trying to achieve, or is it pushing the goal further away because of fear?" -> The first is grace, the second is laziness.
I'm putting this audit into practice by taking a 3-week break from mid-February to the beginning of March myself. By taking this break, I'm reclaiming the bandwidth to reset my nervous system and charge my battery for a new start in my career. While keeping my systems in place, I'm doing this to help myself recover from burnout before it forces me into a period of laziness. I'm giving myself grace so that I can have better energy to focus on my goals for the rest of the year.
Don't worry, the newsletter will still be released every Sunday without delay!
So how can you use grace as a strategy? First, set yourself a threshold, e.g., "I will do 0% work for X amount of days, but I will have my automations running or have X content scheduled beforehand." Then trust the system you've set up for yourself. Remember, the point of intentional momentum is to create systems so that your plans don't break even if you decide to take a break.
This ties back into The Muse Letter issue about done being better than perfect. That mindset can be used in the same sense.
I'm currently mapping out the 'Intentional Momentum Framework,' which I use to balance being a multi-hyphenate without hitting a wall. Stay tuned to this newsletter for its release.
Make sure to check out the first Muse Letter on What Ambitious, Burnt-Out People Need to Let Go of in 2026, if you're interested in discovering more behaviours that might be blocking you from achieving your goals.
