If you are a Christian entrepreneur (or even if you’re not an entrepreneur), I’m sure that you have come face to face with hustle culture and this ultimate STRIVING mentality, which is this urge to constantly do MORE and to be MORE.

I’ll be the first to tell you that it’s a good thing to want to better yourself, and to learn from past mistakes, but a big problem comes in when we become so OBSESSED with success and goals that we start IDOLIZING and WORSHIPING this concept of becoming “better” and so we can be the “best version of ourselves.”

While I am an advocate for learning and growing, the self-development world can actually become a trap. Because the truth is, if we’re not careful, we can unknowingly begin to worship doing more, which leads to ultimately worshiping ourselves, as opposed to worshiping the one true God.

We then start to think that all we have to do is become better and start “manifesting” our desires.

This is a topic very near and dear to my heart because I experienced this first hand.

Looking back, I had no idea I was worshiping success and I would probably have even argued that I didn’t subscribe to hustle culture, even though I was burnt out all the time and absolutely exhausted…. And I really had NO idea I was seeking validation from the world. And I definitely didn’t think I was trying to seek glory from my works, so of course, I had no idea I made myself an idol.

But like I said, there is absolutely nothing wrong with learning from our mistakes and making better choices, but it’s when we convince ourselves that WE are the answer, and that WE are the key to change, abundance, happiness, or freedom…

THAT is when we begin to subscribe to hustle culture and start idolizing our works, and ultimately ourselves.

But WE are not the answer.

Jesus is.

And we have to constantly CHOOSE to look at Him, because the world truly makes it so easy to look at ourselves.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:

• How to say goodbye to hustle culture and say hello to a faith-fueled focus as you grow your business
• What’s keeping you from producing fruits of the spirit in your business
• The way to develop a faith-fueled focus on your goals
• How the enemy uses our own thoughts against us

Let’s do this.

Say Goodbye to Hustle Culture

If you have been a part of my journey for the last two to three years or so, it’s probably no surprise that this phenomenon of being “obsessed with success” is a topic that I’m covering today. This is a topic I have experienced firsthand, so let me take you back to the first two and a half years of entrepreneurship.

During those two and a half years, I was so obsessed with hitting my goals. 

Now, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having a vision and some intentions set in place. Businesses need those, but goals really focus on “doing” as opposed to “being.” 

I haven’t set goals in my business in a long time because I always have a tendency to focus on the results, or the lack of results, and then I wind up going into a spiral.

That said, I do have vision, and I do set intentions. In fact, I do plan on recording another episode sharing the difference between goal setting, intention setting, what I do specifically, and how I partner with God but in the meantime, there is a book I want to recommend that actually mentions this concept.

It’s not what the entire book is about, but there is a section in this book that talks about not setting goals and what to do instead. When I read it, it made me realize that it’s something that I had been doing for a while and didn’t even know that I was doing it. So, that said, the book is called To Hell With The Hustle by Jefferson Bethke. I highly recommend it. I’ve talked about this book many times before, so if you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend doing so. 

To make a long story short, I was so obsessed with hitting my goals, I truly felt like I was working 24/7. I was isolating myself to the point where I “sacrificed” a lot of things to get me to my goals.

Now, hear me when I say this – yes, you will have to say no to things to say yes to what God has called you to, BUT I was sacrificing time with friends and family that I needed during that time and I was constantly thinking about my business. 

Constantly thinking about my business was leading me to “thought spirals.” I would have one thought about something in my business, and that would lead me down a rabbit hole in my mind where I couldn’t stop thinking about my business. 

I would have a question that I felt like I needed clarity on, which led me to more questions I had and needed to get clarity on, which then would put me in a state of paralysis and I wouldn’t get anything done due to feeling anxious for not having anything figured out yet. 

On top of that, I also found I experienced this “high” every time I would get a new sale or rank advance in my network marketing company at the time. (By the way, I’m no longer affiliated with a network marketing company, but that is how I got started.)

I realized that getting on the leaderboards and ranking up in the company just fueled me. I even shared with people that I was very recognition-driven. I mean, I was motivated by money and being validated by the world… And I didn’t realize it at the time, but it really controlled me.

The thing is, when you dig deeper into this and discover the root of wanting to make more money, wanting to be recognized, validated and gain approval from people, it all comes back to pride.

Pride doesn’t always look like being narcissistic, having this huge ego or arrogance that deters people away from you.

Worshiping ourselves doesn’t necessarily look like we’re literally praying and worshiping ourselves. It can look like having so much pride that we become so driven by our fleshly wants and desires that we unknowingly put ourselves and our wants above God and His wants and His desires. 

1 John 2:15-16 says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”

We are called to be in the world, but not of it. And truthfully, I had no idea I was worshiping myself, but I know I had to experience it over and over again because I would not be here sharing this story with you today if I didn’t.

I’m so grateful that the Lord has delivered me from that, but truth be told, I’m nowhere near perfect and this is still something that I have to consistently watch out for. Because of that, I’m just so grateful for His love, His grace, and His mercy. When I go to Him and repent, I’m so grateful He continues to deliver me from this.

If you are experiencing this, or know someone who is, I just want you to know that God loves you, and He will deliver you, but you have to seek Him above all else.

You have to want Him above all else. 

You have to choose Him above all else. 

All of that to say, I have three things you can implement today to get your eyes back focused on Jesus instead of yourself.

Say goodbye to hustle culture and activate a faith-fueled focus as you grow your business. 

Step 1: Repent

It is so important to totally purge ourselves of our sins and transgressions every single day. You cannot produce fruits of the Spirit if you are holding on to sin.

The truth is, we fall into sin every single day. Circumstances can happen daily that can tempt us to fall back into it and the world can suck us in so fast. I share with people that the world is like a vortex. One minute your eyes are totally on the Lord and then the next, all of a sudden, the world sucks you back in and you didn’t even realize it.

But that being said, it’s also really important to keep in mind that this is an ongoing layering process. 

This means that as we are growing and evolving with the Lord, we will continue to be sanctified. 

There are multiple layers to flesh-fueled feelings and thoughts. 

Think of it like an onion. For example, you may find for a while that you’ve remained steadfast in your faith and really don’t have doubts anymore, but an entirely new circumstance or scenario happens that triggers you again.

This may not happen just because you’ve “failed”; it may be happening because you’re actually progressing, and you’re ready to peel back the next layer, just like you would an onion. 

So, it’s important to remember that this is something to address daily, and you may have to address the same temptations and sins several times, but please don’t hold on to shame when you do this.

It’s so important to release shame and guilt as you surrender the sin.

That’s why Jesus died for us – you no longer have to stay chained anymore. 

Something to keep in mind is that it’s crucial to humble yourself before God and repent before moving forward. This is where you may fall on your knees and cry out to Him for forgiveness.

This is where you apologize and open up your heart to Him because you truly want to please Him.

It’s important to go to God in prayer because true faith-fueled focus requires surrender and repentance.

So, in order to fully activate a faith-fueled focus and stop subscribing to this hustle culture narrative that you might just be replaying over and over in your life, you have to start with repentance.

In simplest terms, repentance just means to turn away from. 

Go to the Lord, turn away from this and mean it… But if you have a hard time meaning it, tell Him that. 

Tell Him that you want to mean it and ask Him to help you. He already knows. 

And the thing is, I have an entire process inside of the Call to CEO Collective dedicated to tools to help you overcome spiritual warfare and self sabotage and repentance is part of those tools. There are 29 pages of tools paired with a 50 minute video lesson and this lesson is called “The Armory” because the armory is full of tangible ways you can biblically fight against the enemy. 

Step 2: Focus on Jesus and Intentionally Seek Him Daily

Now, this probably comes to no surprise, but a way to tangibly do this is to steward your time with the Lord. There are so many ways you can do this, but girl, first… Open your Bible. 

Scripture is alive and active. 

You can also develop a daily prayer practice.

But because I know there are times when you may really just mentally not feel like you can even open your Bible, just simply sit and be with Him.

There have been so many times where I just did not have the mental capacity to read scripture, but I needed to be filled up with the Holy Spirit, so I will often just sit and just be with Him.

Usually, for me, that looks like popping in headphones and playing worship music, and sometimes I lay in bed and just put my mental focus on Jesus, and end up just crying, sitting there for a while, or laying there for a while in His presence.

In fact, I actually told someone on one of the Collective calls the other day that if they are sitting there doing this and they haven’t cried yet, they probably haven’t sat there long enough. So, allow Him to be your Comforter. Allow Him to be your Refuge and your Rock because He is those things. 

You just have to open yourself up to that.

Now, other times I will listen to worship music, dance and sing. It really just depends on my mood. But there are so many things you can do intentionally to seek Him. You can invite Him into every single part of your life. 

This is just hopefully to get you started. 

The reason this is so huge to help you say goodbye to hustle culture is because you can’t activate a faith-fueled focus if you are not intentionally fueling yourself with the Holy Spirit. That’s why it’s faith-fueled. You get to be productive and take action on your God given calling, but it doesn’t have to be from a place of striving. It gets to be cultivated by you partnering with the Holy Spirit and Him taking action through you. That will ignite a Holy Spirit fire.

Step 3: Learn to Take Your Thoughts Captive

Now, why is this part of the steps? How is this going to help you activate a faith fueled focus? The enemy uses our thoughts against us. He’s constantly twisting the truth, and he wants us to believe the thoughts we have about ourselves are real. 

So, thoughts like, “I must hit the next rank in my network marketing team to be worthy and to find freedom,” “I must hit a six figure business to keep up and be an expert in my industry,” “I must lose weight,” or, “I’ll never find love” – he’s really sneaky like that. 

Our thoughts really do control our actions. If we actually start believing these lies, we can easily become consumed by them, which can then lead us to take action on those beliefs which then leads us to looking away from Jesus and focusing on ourselves. 

With our thoughts, we must realize what lies the enemy is feeding us and then replace them with the truth. Replace them with what Jesus says because it is so important to speak the truth, not the lies the enemy keeps feeding you.

If You Loved This And You Know You Are Being Called Cultivate A Holy Spirit Led Business…

And you want to make sure you’re getting the support you need, you’re being held accountable to live out the call He’s placed on your heart, AND you want to do it fueled by your faith and not by your flesh…

Then I want to invite you to just join us inside of the Called to CEO Collective.

The Called to CEO Collective is a community-driven membership for Christian entrepreneurs who believe in the power of claiming their authority in the secret place AND in the marketplace and are ready to stand out and sell out online.

You and your business, brand or ministry will be SO supported when you immerse yourself in the live coaching, curriculum and community.

YES, I said live coaching.

And YES, this is at a low ticket price point.

That said, if you want to learn all the nitty gritty details or go ahead and join us at the current rate, you can do so by heading to www.hannahbrindley.com/membership