“You have the same amount of hours in a day as Beyonce.”

19 Apr

Behind the quote series: Part 1

I’m sure, like me, you’ve seen that quote (in the subject line) before. Perhaps also like me, you’ve actually been inspired and motivated by it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still pretty motivated by it for the most part, but in this first of my ‘behind the quote’ series, I want us to understand that this quote isn’t actually true. Well, not really. Your response to that may either inspire you, or allow to realise you’re doing better than you think.

Now listen, as *fabulous* as Beyonce is, she hasn’t been blessed with an ability to add hours to her day which none of us were aware of, but before we lament about why we’re not headlining Coachella, we’d do well to understand why Beyonce is, well… Beyonce.

1. Beyonce has TEAM

This isn’t rocket science, but it seems sensible to get this out of the way first just in case any of us were unsure as to how Beyonce’s got her entire life together before breakfast whilst we’ve just about made it to our desk. Listen, Beyonce is clearly a genius but please don’t take this wellmeaning quote to mean that you’re underperforming because you haven’t yet written your grammy award winning albums and launched clothing lines. If you had some of the entourage Queen B has to help her, who knows where you’d be in your pursuit of going and growing towards your goals?

With that, some food for thought and prompts as ever…

Is there anything you’d like to outsource in your life in order to free up more of your time? Or are you happy with your current set up?

Don’t get me wrong, I know that we don’t all have Beyonce sized budgets either and so the thought of you hearing me say ‘outsourcing’ might have even had you rolling your eyes. But before you protest too much, if you do feel stretched, ask yourself what an assistant in your business or a cleaner in your home an hour or 2 a week might mean, or what time you might get back using a meal subscription box as opposed to cooking from scratch every night? These things aren’t for everyone but the point remains - Beyonce has HELP to be Beyonce.

2. Beyonce thrives most when working

In fact, she’s been quoted as saying “I’m a workaholic and I don’t believe in ‘No’. If I’m not sleeping, nobody’s sleeping.”

I for one can lift my hand here as a bit of a self-proclaimed workaholic too. But the truth is, for the stage of life I currently find myself in, I don’t really want to be and have to actively put boundaries around my time so that I don’t fall into the bottomless pit of ‘stuff I could be working on now’.

I seem to ask this question a lot, but it bears repeating here because it’s a question we often ignore or overlook pertaining to ourselves…

What do you want?

Because yes, if you want to be a workaholic, ensuring that everyone around you is also the same, then sure - let this quote inspire you.

Similarly though, if you’re not interested in working to the point of sacrificing other things which are important to you a lot of the time, then ask yourself why quotes like this one make you feel bad about yourself? You’re living your life and nobody else’s and so rather than feeling bad as you look at Beyonce on a stage and you in your leggings with a pile of laundry to hang up, first ask yourself whether that’s where you want to be?

3. Beyonce didn’t become Beyonce overnight

We don’t need to look very far to find Beyonce’s receipts. I mean, many of us will have grown up with her. As well as the childhood which we largely didn’t see, Destiny’s Child’s first single (No, No, No) was released in, wait for it… 1997!

So although now Beyonce can launch a record breaking album with almost zero publicity in the lead up, she’s been in this game for over 20 years.

I don’t ask this next question to make you feel bad, but what have you been doing consistently for 20 years+ which has birthed zero fruit? Beyond writing (which I’ve loved since I could hold a pen, really) I’d say there’s nothing I’ve poured as much work and attention into as Beyonce has with all she does.

And that goes back to the question I asked in the previous point, really.

If you want results in a particular area, there’s no getting away from the fact that you have to put the work in. If you don’t have as much time as you’d like to do the type of work you want to do, set your expectations and your intentions accordingly. Maybe it’ll take you a year as opposed to 6 months. Guess what? You’ll still get there eventually!

Make the goal the goal as opposed to it being about how quickly you hit it.

I love Beyonce as much as the next person, but I hope this week's message has encouraged you to recognise that there’s no such thing as an overnight success but most importantly, that success is relative.

Before you go and grow towards any goal, you need to understand why you’re doing what you’re doing and whether you’re pursuing your version of success or someone else’s.

By the way, did you see - we’ve lauuuuunched 🚀 Time & Pace is here! If you’re wanting to think your own thoughts, decide what it is you actually want and have an anchor which will ground you in taking daily action without overwhelm, check out The Time Journal. Not only will you get the journal, but you’ll also get a mini-course which will walk you through exactly how to use the framework most effectively. Check it out by clicking below.

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