The 4-Part Healthy Hustle Framework

In this episode, Nicky unpacks the how  to keep your hustle healthy ... not just in theory, but in practice.

Using a powerful metaphor of the palm tree (strong roots, flexible in the wind), Nicky introduces her Healthy Hustle Framework, a four-part blueprint to help leaders, founders and high-performing humans stay anchored during chaos without losing momentum. Whether you're deep in team leadership, sales pressure or juggling life admin, this episode breaks down the what, how, when and why behind sustainable success.

Expect self-assessment prompts, and a practical reset so you can stop spinning and start leading with intention.

This is your permission slip to ditch the firefighting and build your grounded growth plan.

Learn more about Nicky at nickymiklos.com

Grab The Growth Code™ here!

Get your a copy of Healthy Hustle: The New Blueprint to Thrive in Business & Life at www.healthyhustle.com.au

Connect: LinkedIn | Instagram

Contact: 0403 191 404 | hello@nickymiklos.com

Music by Jules Miklos-Woodley

Transcript

Speaker: 0:06

Hello, hello, you gorgeous human, and thank you so much for joining me again for this week's episode of Smart Business Growth. Now, it's really easy to say, I've just got to keep my hustle healthy, but how do we do that? Many of us are being pulled in a million different directions, being all things to all people, despite having a team or needing to be the breadwinner for the family or whatever those pressures and stresses are. It can be so easy to say, yes, I need to make change, yes, I need to find a different way of working, yes, I need to embrace smart business growth. But sometimes the challenge can be in how to do it. How do I keep my roots grounded? How do I keep earthed and strong despite everything that's happening around me? Because the problem can be that we get swept up into the storm with no anchor and we start drowning in this place of busy. In the moments we start firefighting, we start reacting. And the mistake that we make in that space is that we start to see everything as urgent or every task as equally important, and we don't have the capacity and the space to actually pause and prioritize. When we start to see that not all tasks, not all meetings, not all conversations are equal in terms of priorities, we can start to manage things a little bit differently. But when we're swept up in that chaos and we're worried about the anchor of our roots, it's really hard to get into that place. So we need a framework that can be that anchor, that can help you build the roots and ground those roots day to day over time. And that's where this healthy hustle framework comes into place. And I'm going to break it down for you here. So let me introduce you to this healthy hustle framework. Again, it could be sales framework, leadership framework, insert, because really this is about keeping our hustle healthy. And when we have a framework, it's kind of like the blueprint to make sure that we can stay grounded amongst all of the chaos. Imagine if we're looking at the inside of a tree and there's rings within the tree. This is there's four key rings that sit within each other, and that is what makes up this healthy hustle framework. So at the heart, at the core of those rings, is really making sure that you're taking action with purpose. You don't want to confuse activity with performance. We need to switch this around and remember that not all actions, not all tasks, not all doing, as I said, is created equal. So this is why we look at action through the lens of action with purpose to move you towards whatever your goals, your wildly important goals might be. So we're being more intentional with our action with purpose than scattered doing things. So a lot of people focus on action and that's it. You might be thinking, yep, great, I've got that under control. I'm really great at prioritizing what tasks need to be done. But the missed opportunity here is accelerating those results by embracing these other key elements. So at the core, we have action with purpose. Instead of scattered, it's intentional. The next ring that sits around it is energy. How we show up. So the action with purpose is about what we're doing. Energy is about how we're rocking up to the things that we're doing. You know, I really believe that our energy is our most under-leveraged and undervalued in a lot of instances asset. And if we can actually shift the perspective and thinking around managing our energy, as opposed to looking at time management tools, remember time is fixed and energy is flexible, then that's when we really start to maximize what it is that we're doing. This is about, you know, sales, business growth, leadership. It's really an energy game. And so it allows us to lead conversations, meetings, creating new processes, whatever those projects might be, we get to be more proactive in how we show up around it instead of just being reactive to what we're doing. So energy is what makes our results scalable. Think about it. When you rock up to a meeting or a conversation and you have you have leaky energy, that's when it maybe doesn't go as well. But when you rock up with optimal energy, the results are accelerated. The next ring around the circle is effort. So if the action with purpose is the what, the energy is the how, effort or return on effort is the when. This isn't just about slowing down, right? Like healthy hustle is not actually always about slowing down. Yes, it might be about creating moments of pause. Sometimes we need to slow down to speed up, but it's actually being more strategic with things like what we're focusing on, how we're managing our energy, and our return on effort. We all have different times of day or tasks that actually allow us to bring the best of ourselves. So if we can get strategic about how we're executing our actions, how we're working with our energy, we start to drive results instead of just chasing numbers. This is things like being strategic about when to contact clients, when to have meetings, when to focus on different types of tasks. You know, this can translate over into life. I know for me, if I exercise really early in the morning, I am absolutely shattered by 6 p.m. But for other people, that's when the exercise suits them best. They exercise at 5:30, 6 a.m. and they have optimal energy throughout the day. There is no right or wrong with this. It's about understanding what is your return on effort. We can be doing the same thing, i.e. exercise, but just shifting the time of day we're doing it or the type of exercise we do can actually really, really impact and shift the impact that that exercise or that task has. So we can translate this into the work environment as well. Again, meeting times, scheduled conversations, different tasks that you're doing, admin, working on the numbers, your zero updates, whatever it might be, talking with your finance team, whatever it might be. It's about being conscious of when am I doing this and is it the best time to get return on effort? So we've got action with purpose. Sitting around that is managing our energy. Sitting around that is return on effort, i.e. when we're doing it. And what encapsulate all of this, what surrounds all of this is understanding your personal purpose, your why. Why do you do what you do? What gets you out of bed in the morning? When you have clarity on your personal purpose, it is what helps you get through the challenging days. And we all have them. So this is not about motivation. When we know what our purpose is and our why, it actually gives us meaning to what we do. A big conversation I have a lot with sales leaders is that we'll be following up with salespeople around, you know, if you get hit your target, you get commission. It's never about the commission. It's actually not about the money. When you're hitting revenue targets as a business owner, as a leader, it's not about the money. It's about what that money gives you. So when we start to shift the conversation from hitting this target to get commission or hitting this target to get money, moving that to we want to hit this target so you can go to Italy. We want to hit this target so you've got security for your family. Now, you might not say those words to your team, but you're thinking these things for yourself. And if you are a leader of a team, ask them, why does this stuff matter to them? Why do you and why did they get out of bed and come to work every day? A quick interruption to this podcast episode. I'm really curious, do you want to close more sales in less time? If the answer is yes, which I hope that it is, then you need to get your hands on the growth code. It is going to give you three proven frameworks and tools that will help future-proof your business and scale with clarity. All you have to do is head down to the show notes and click the link below. Different people will have different purposes, and it's not about one is good or the other is bad. Some might be really big picture, they want to make an impact. Others might be, I just want to come to work and get my money, and that's okay, because again, it's not about the money, it's about what the money gives them. So again, I'm looking at this from two angles. As a leader, as a business owner, and you have a team. How can you bring this conversation to your team members? But also for you, check in with this because guaranteed it's on those hard days that actually knowing your purpose will get you out of bed and keep going. And yes, it could be about impact, but again, it could be about that trip to Italy. It could be about buying the new e-bikes for your family to enjoy. Okay, so no judgment about big, little, small. Also, it might change. Uh, don't judge it. Just go with something that will mean something to you. Because when you're clear on your personal purpose or your why, you could even look at it as why. Uh, when you're clear on that, it's no longer about being motivated, because relying on motivation on its own can be very fickle. But when we see meaning in something, that's when motivation takes care of itself. So, to recap, the healthy hustle framework to keep you grounded, you've got to get clear on what is your action with purpose. You then want to overlay optimal energy with that. You're then being strategic about your return on effort when you do said actions with purpose. And then you are connected instead of being disconnected to your why, you're connected to your why, even if it's your why for the next quarter, six months, or year. Or maybe it's bigger than that. That's up to you. When you have these four key areas in place, you will be grounded, you will have an anchor to come back to. No matter how much the wind, the chaos has you swaying in the wind, you will still come back and you will not break. Again, I encourage you to think about this for yourself. And then you can look at what's the conversation I can have with my team. Now give yourself a rating for action with purpose. Where would you rate yourself out of 10? Are you just actually focusing on busy and tasks that don't move you towards the dial? Or are you feeling like you're being more intentional with what you're doing and what you're focusing on? Rate yourself out of 10. 10 would be, yep, I'm really intentional with the tasks that I'm getting done. One would be, no, I am busy. I don't even know what I'm doing. I'm just focusing on the most urgent thing that comes in front of me. So rate yourself out of 10. Optimal energy. Where would you rate yourself out of 10? Do you feel like zapped? You know, there's a difference between completely exhausted and zapped versus, yeah, I'm a bit tired. We get to the end of the day and say, I'm pretty exhausted. But you know that difference where you're really zapped, like to the bone, that would be a one. 10 out of 10 is optimal energy. I can face whatever the day throws at me, even though it might not always be the best things that are being thrown at me. So, where do you rate yourself out of 10? When we look at return on effort, being strategic about when you do your action with purpose, meetings, conversations, uh, processes, are you actually being deliberate and considering when is the best time for me to do that task or that thing to get good return on effort? Is it being del 10 out of 10 is deliberate considered actually conscious of that? One out of 10 would be I haven't even thought of it. Don't even know. And then let's look at the final ring, the final layer that really encompasses all of this. Are you clear on your why? Even if it is a why for the quarter, a why for the year, doesn't have to be a massive big purpose. But do you feel connected to that why would be 10 out of 10. 10 out of 10 would be, yep, it's top of mind, it's relevant. It's always kind of there in the background. Whereas one out of 10 would be, no, I have not, again, I haven't even thought about it. I'm completely disconnected to my why. So now when you look at your ratings, you've got a rating for action with purpose, a rating for energy, a rating for effort, and a rating for why, your purpose. What is the area that you want to celebrate? What's the highest rating that you got? And I really want you to acknowledge that and think about how can I maintain this? Why is this working so well for me? And then look at your lowest score and maybe think about what's one thing that I could do to really start to improve or increase the rating here. If you feel like you actually scored lower than five in many or all of them, don't beat yourself up about this. It probably is an indicator and feedback as to why things feel so chaotic. So actually, this is a good thing because you're aware now of four key areas that you can start to focus on to feel more grounded amongst the chaos. And if you got above five or above six and seven in each of them, that is amazing. How can you maintain that? How do you keep rocking in all of those areas? So, really, what this comes down to is you're focusing on the what, the how, the when, and the why, but doing it in a way that means something to you. And that really helps you, again, stay grounded. When you stay grounded and focused on these areas, that's when you can really achieve momentum. Have fun with this and be kind to yourself through this process. And I'll see you next week.