Donna Dube - Success Without Sacrifice: Breaking the Hustle Habit for Good

00:00  Hello and welcome welcome to the Rule Breaking Summit. I'm so glad we get to connect today, even if it is just virtually. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Donna Dube, Director of Operations and host of the CEO Amplified podcast. I help small business owners work less and profit more by eliminating busy work and focusing on what truly matters. Today I'm going to be focusing on breaking the hustle and grind rule which is so prominent in our small business world.    

00:33  Before we dive in, let me ask you a question. What's the number one priority in your business right now? That thing that if you focused on it would really move the needle forward? What is it when you got it? I want you to humor me. I want you to go look at your calendar, whether that's Google Calendar, paper calendar, whatever you use, go look at your calendar. And I want to know, is that priority there? Is it actually on your calendar this week, next week? Do you have time carved out for this priority? If you're like most business owners, the answer is probably no. And listen, I get it.    

01:17  There is no shame here and no judgment. I have been there. I used to wake up every day with this massive To Do List, convinced that if I just worked harder and longer, everything would eventually fall into place. But you know what actually happened? I was constantly busy, but rarely working on what actually mattered. My days felt like an endless hamster wheel of emails, notifications, and random tasks. I clearly remember sitting at my desk one night after, you know, a 12 hour work day thinking what did I even accomplish today? Sure, I checked off dozens of things off my list, but none of them were the tasks that would truly grow my business.    

02:03  I was stuck in this grind mode where being busy felt like the same thing as being productive. And it wasn't just my business that suffered, unfortunately my friends and family also suffered. They started asking where have you gone? I would miss dinners, I would cancel weekend plans and when I was physically there, my mind was still consumed by work. I was present but not really present if you know what I mean. And this was my wake up call. I realized that I wasn't building a business, I was building a burnout machine. And something had to change. Because the truth is, the hustle and grind approach isn't sustainable and it's not necessary for success.    

02:54  You don't have to do it all, and quite frankly, you shouldn't. Today I want to show you exactly how to break that rule, how to step off the hamster wheel, reclaim your time, and build a business that works for you without grounding yourself to the ground. By the end of this session, you'll walk away with practical steps to stop doing it all and start focusing on what truly matters. So why do so many of us as business owners end up feeling stretched so thin, overwhelmed and stuck, working constantly but not making the kind of progress we want? Well, here's the problem.    

03:34  It's not just about working long hours. The real issue is how we approach our time and energy. Most of us didn't start our business thinking great, let me work nonstop and burn myself out. We started because we wanted freedom. Freedom to do the work we love, freedom to call the shots and to spend more time with the people we care about. But then what happens? Well, we sit down at our desk, ready to conquer the day, and the first thing we do, we check our email. We scroll through our notifications, we answer client questions, we respond to the team.    

04:12  Suddenly, it's two PM and we haven't touched the priorities that we woke up thinking about this morning. Does this sound familiar? We know this doesn't work, but we keep doing it anyway because those notifications, those things, they feel urgent. We're stuck in reactive mode, putting out fires, answering messages, and doing what pops up instead of focusing on what actually matters. And here's the truth that might be a little bit uncomfortable to hear. Your business will never grow beyond the time and energy you're willing to invest in leading it.    

04:53  But that doesn't mean doing everything yourself. So this is where the CEO shift comes in. It's about breaking the rule that says you have to do it all. It's about deciding that your time is valuable and protecting it fiercely. It's about showing up as the leader your business needs. And I don't just mean being involved in the day-to-day work. I mean leading your business, setting the vision, making strategic decisions and using your time with purpose and intention. It's about claiming your role as ACEO of your business. Even if you're leading a small team or you're a solopreneur, you are responsible for vision and strategy, not just checking off boxes on your To Do List.    

05:44  It's about believing that you don't have to do it all, and in fact, doing it all is what keeps you stuck in the weeds. When you make this shift, everything changes. You start asking better questions. Things like where am I actually needed? What tasks do I really have to do and which ones can I let go of? How am I using my time right now and how do I want to be using it? Instead, you stop being reactive and start being intentional.    

06:20  Now I want to be real with you here for a second. This shift isn't about never getting interrupted or having the perfect stress free work day because let's face it, that's not realistic. But it's about deciding that your time is valuable and protecting that time. It's about designing your schedule so you're spending time on high impact activities, those things that actually move the needle in your business. And when you start showing up as CEO, your business starts reflecting that shift. But here's the thing, you can't just think your way into it. You need some practical steps to help you get there. And that's what I want to share with you now.    

07:04  Five steps to help you ditch the hustle and grind mentality, reclaim your time and really focus on what matters most so you can build a sustainable business that doesn't run you into the ground. So step number one is identifying your CEO level work. Now I know that this might sound a little abstract, so I'm going to break this down. Ceo level work are the tasks that move your business forward. It's not about putting out fires, checking your inbox, or tweaking your website for the tenth time. It's about thinking strategically, setting the direction for your business and making decisions that have a long term impact. In simple terms, it's the kind of work that only you can do and the work that makes the biggest difference to your bottom line.    

07:58  So how do we figure out what that is? Well, one of my clients in my membership, the Profitable Small Business Club, recently went through this process. She's a service provider and was feeling completely buried under the day-to-day tasks of running a business. She thought she was being productive because she was busy all the time, but when we actually broke it down, most of what she was doing were low impact tasks. Answering emails, managing client scheduling and even following up on invoices. None of that work is CEO level work. That's admin work, and to be honest, when she realized, it it was a bit of an eye opener to her.    

08:42  But here's what happened after she shifted her focus, she started carving out time for business development, like building strategic partnerships and creating a new service offer that positioned her as a premium provider. Within just a couple of months, her revenue grew because she was spending time on things that actually grew the business instead of just maintaining it. So I want you to think about your own business right now. What are the things only you can do? Not because you're the only one capable, but because they're the highest value tasks that actually move the needle. Maybe it's networking to land big opportunities. Maybe it's creating high impact content or working directly with your top tier clients.    

09:35  But there's a mindset shift I want you to plant right now. Your job as a CEO is to prioritize those high level tasks, even if that means stepping away from some of the some of the day-to-day tasks that feels comfortable to you. This isn't about your quotes doing it all. In fact, the opposite is true. You can't do it all. Your job is to figure out what matters most and let go of the rest. Because when you do, that's when your business starts to grow in a way that's both sustainable and fulfilling. And Speaking of letting go, that's exactly what we're going to dive into in Step 2. Because to reclaim your time, you need to get crystal clear on how you're actually spending it.    

10:25  And trust me, there are always a few surprises when you do this. All right? Step 2 is all about conducting a time on it. Now, I know this might not sound sexy and glamorous, but stick with me for a minute because this one step can completely change how you show up in your business. Most of us think we have a pretty good idea of where our time's going, right? But here's the truth. You don't. I've worked with plenty of small business owners, those who are solopreneurs to those who are leading small teams, and I can't tell you how many times they've told me that I'm working all the time but still not seeing the growth I want.    

11:09  And when we track their time, we find that a big chunk of their day is actually eaten up by those low value tasks. I remember 1 client, a course creator, was convinced she was spending most of her time creating new content for her audience. But when we actually tracked her time for just a few days, it turned out she was spending way more time in maintenance tasks, answering customer service emails, adjusting emails in our service provider, ensuring her expenses were tracked in her accounting software, and not a lot of time doing what she actually thought.    

11:46  Creating content. Tracking your time isn't about judgement. It's about honesty and awareness. You can't change what you're not aware of. So here's how we do this. For three to five days i want you to write down every task you do and how long it takes you. Be as specific as possible. Don't just write down emails. Write answered client emails for 25 minutes or followed up with potential partners for 15 minutes.    

12:18  And I get it. It might feel tedious at first, but trust me, this step is critical. The clearer you are about where your time is going, the easier it will be to figure out what needs to change. And if you're thinking, well, Donna, I'm already too busy, way too busy to even track my time, that's probably a sign that you need this even more. Because here's what I've seen over and over again.    

2:44  When business owners do this, they always find hidden pockets of time that they didn't even realize we're being wasted. Inside the profitable small business club, the members are breaking this hustle habit for good. Each and every week we have a Time Freedom Challenge where members do exactly this. They track their time. They get real about what's taking up space, and then they decide what needs to be eliminated, automated, and delegated. And you know what happens? They stop spinning their wheels in busy work and start freeing up time for things that really matter.    

13:25  So once you've done this time audit, the next step is deciding what we do with all that information. And that's where Step 3 comes in, eliminating, automating and delegating. Now this is a big one. This is the step where you're going to start to see and feel real changes that free up your time and your energy. And here's the mindset shift I want you to have as you go through this. Again, your job as ACEO is not to do everything, is to decide what stays on your plate and what gets removed or handed off.    

13:58  So let's break this down. First step is eliminating. Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is to actually stop doing something altogether. That sounds kind of shocking, right? But I want you to ask yourself, is this task really moving my business forward, or am I just doing it because I've always done it or because I think I should? To make an informed decision here, you will need to look at what the data shows.    

14:27  Are you getting a return on investment for the time and effort you're putting in? And if not, then perhaps you can eliminate it. I know sometimes it seems scary to stop something, but if you're nervous, I want you to do a test. Stop that task for 30 days and let's see the results. One of my one-on-one clients was spending hours each week manually sending follow up emails to leads who had honestly already ghosted her. But she thought this was part of the sales process the follow up is important, right? But when we looked at the results, even though it was clear those efforts weren't paying off, so we eliminated that task entirely and instead focused on nurturing her warm leads more effectively.    

15:14  The result? She actually closed more sales and had more time to focus on better offers. So ask yourself, what can I stop doing right now with zero negative impact? Ok, Next up is on a mate. This is about using tools and systems, probably many you already have in your toolbox to do the heavy lifting for you. A great example here is onboarding clients or customers. One service provider I worked with was manually sending contracts, invoices, welcome emails, intake forms, all the things. Every time she booked AVIP day and this was taking hours out of her month. So we got together, we mapped out her onboarding process, we chose the right tools and we set up automations using her CRM.    

16:06  Now when a client books, they get everything they need automatically. The contract, the payment link, the welcome email, the intake form, the reminder emails, all without her lifting a finger. So here's the key when you're thinking about automation, don't overcomplicate it. Focus on automating simple, repeatable tasks. That's where we should start. Next up is delegate. And this is often the hardest step for us as business owners because so many of us believe things like it's faster if I just do it myself or no one else can do it as well as I can. Have you ever caught yourself saying those things? The truth is it takes time upfront to delegate well, but if you don't do it, you will always be the bottleneck in your business.    

16:57  As I like to say, it's short term paying for long term gain. Start by deciding what tasks absolutely do not need to be done by you. What could someone else handle just as well or better? One of my clients, who was a solopreneur, was spending hours each week repurposing her podcast content for her blog and social media, and when we looked at the data, the repurposed material was worthwhile, meaning she was getting engagement and traffic to her website.    


17:30  However, it wasn't a task that she, as business owner, had to do. We figured out that this was something a virtual assistant could easily handle with a little bit of training, and so she went ahead and hired someone to take over this task. Sure, it took some time for the business owner to mentor and train them, but now my client has completely removed this task from her plate and his game backed at least five hours a week. So here's a pro tip when you go to delegate. When you delegate, don't make it complicated. You don't need to create a 50 page SOP right off the bat.    

18:08  Start by recording a simple loom or a video showing how you do the task and let your team member take it from there.    

18:19  All right, so once we've cleared the clutter from our schedule, the next step is actually protecting that time and making sure you stay focused on the things that matter most. And that's where Step 4 comes in, creating boundaries around CEO time. So now we've cleared some space, we've eliminated, we've automated, we've delegated. How do we protect that time that we've gained back? Because if we don't protect it, it'll fill up fast with busy work all over again.    

18:51  And this is where creating boundaries around your CEO time becomes crucial. Ceo time is the time you spend working on high level business priorities, strategy, vision and growth activities. And as a business owner, you have to guard this time fiercely. I had a client who set aside Monday mornings for strategic work. Except every Monday morning her team would start pinging her with questions and she would get sucked into Slack or client emails. Before she knew it, that sacred CEO time was gone and she was right back in reactive mode. So we made one simple shift. She let her team know that unless it was an absolute emergency, they couldn't reach her during that block of time, her CEO time.    

19:45  And then she held that boundary. It took some practice of course, but soon enough her team got used to it and her Monday mornings became her most productive time and creative time of the week. So here's your action step. Decide when your CEO time will be. Maybe it's a couple of mornings a week, or a few hours on Friday afternoons. And then communicate those boundaries. Communicate to your team or even just yourself, and commit to holding that line. And yes, it's OK if you're a solopreneur. You still need boundaries around your CEO time. That means putting your phone on Do Not Disturb, closing your inbox, and being intentional with what you do during that time.    

20:35  The goal here isn't perfection, it's progress. So even if you only protect a couple hours a week to work on those high level priorities, that will make a visible difference. And this brings me to step number five building a quote. Good enough system. And this is where a lot of business owners get stuck, right we think we have to build the perfect system before we can hand things off or streamline our processes. But the truth is, done is better than perfect.    

21:09  You don't need a flawless system, you just need one that's good enough to get the job done right now and you can always improve it later. 1 member of the Profitable Small business club kept waiting to hire someone to help her with customer support because she didn't feel like she had a fancy system in place. She thought she needed detail workflows and color coded charts and a 30 page SOP before bringing anyone on board. But when we worked through it together, she realized she just needed a simple starting point, a list of frequently asked questions and a process for escalating issues.    

21:49  That was enough to get her assistant up and running. And guess what? Over time they improved the system together. Here's the mindset that I want you to have. Your systems don't have to be pretty, they just have to work. So start by documenting the basics. Record a little video walking through how you do something, or create a simple checklist in Google Docs, whatever works for you.    

22:16  And then hand it off or start using it yourself and refine as you go. The beauty of this step is that once you build that good enough system, it frees up even more time for you to focus on what matters most, ditching the idea that you have to do it all, and being willing to let go what isn't serving you or your business. All right, we've covered a lot of ground here you've got the five steps to ditch the hustle and grind mentality.    

22:48  And as you now know, some things aren't serving you and your business, and it's time to let go. But I know how this goes, right? You finish listening to something like this, you get all excited about the ideas, and then life happens. Emails come in, notifications start pinging, and before you know it, you're right back in the weeds. So I want to make this as simple and actionable as possible. Let's break it down to just three steps you can take this week. And I really encourage you to commit to doing those. So if you're taking notes, now is a great time to jot these down. Step one, block CEO time on your calendar. Block off that one hour make it non negotiable an appointment with yourself to really focus on those high level tasks.    

23:37  You can grab the free resource CEO Power Hour Playbook to help you start building the habit of protecting your CEO time. Step 2 conduct a QuickTime audit. Spend just one or two days this week tracking where your time is going. Don't overcomplicate it here. Just jot down what you're working on and how much time you're spending on each task, and then step number three choose one task to eliminate, automate, or delegate. Look at your time audit and pick just one thing that's draining your time and energy. And then ask yourself, can I get rid of it altogether? Or is there a system or tool that I can automate it? This is 3 quick steps to help you take action this week.    

24:23  And when you take steps like this, you start shifting away from hustle, habit, and constantly being in reactive mode. You start focusing on what matters most, and that's when you truly step into your role as CEO of your business. Now, before we wrap up, I want to leave you with something that's going to help you take action on everything we've talked about. It's called the CEO Power Hour Playbook, and it's designed to help you reclaim your time, stay focused on those high impact activities, and build consistent momentum in your business. The Playbook wants you through exactly how to run a focused, intentional weekly power hour. Think of this as your dedicated time to work on your business instead of being stuck in it.    

25:09  I'll show you how to prioritize your tasks, stay out of the reactive mode and make progress every single week. And this is what I love the most about this is that you don't need a ton of time to get results. Just 60 minutes a week can make a huge difference when you know how to use that time strategically. One of my clients started using the Power hour method and within a few weeks she had cleared out lingering tasks that on been on her plate for months.    

25:39  Not only did she feel more in control of her business, but she also found more time to focus on things that actually moved the needle, like growing her client base. If that sounds something you need, then go ahead and grab this free download. So before you get back to your day, do this one thing for yourself. Download the playbook, schedule your weekly first power hour, and let's see what a difference it makes. Thanks so much for spending time with me today. I know your time is valuable and I don't take it lightly. I appreciate you being here and showing up for yourself and your business.    

26:18  Here's you breaking the hustle habit for good and building successful sustainable businesses by working less, profiting more, and showing up as ACEO. Your business needs talk soon.    

26:35  If you have any questions, I would love to hear them unfortunately, in this format, it's hard for us to go back and forth, but you can reach me one of these ways. And if podcasts are your thing, I'd love for you to check out the CEO Amplified podcast we've got weekly episodes to help you build a sustainable business without the hustle and grind.