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Hi Reader,

Ever feel like you're busting your butt trying to get something accomplished, and the harder you push forward, the more obstacles appear?

If so, meet Jake.

Jake wasn’t just a high achiever. He was the kind of guy who believed effort was a moral virtue. If there were Olympic medals for hustle, he’d already have a sponsorship deal with Gatorade.

His motto? “Exhaustion is for sissies. Just dig deeper.”

So Jake filled every waking moment with work: answering emails at 5:30am, cranking out proposals during lunch, returning calls during red lights, mentally reorganizing his entire business while brushing his teeth, and having conversations with Chat while walking to the mailbox.

Even when things were going well, Jake felt guilty slowing down. He’d sit down on the couch to watch a movie and think, “This is wrong. I should be doing something.” He was in constant motion because his brain was programmed to think, “If I relax or let up, I’ll lose business and get crushed.”

That pressure intensified like a teapot that refused to release its steam when business was slow and customers weren’t calling. Even with money in the bank, it felt like waves of panic shooting into his stomach.

Compared to where he had come from, Jake was a rockstar. But, inside, he felt like a failure if he wasn’t farther ahead than the month before.

Jake would pace around the house like a stockbroker during a recession, with thoughts racing through his head: “I’m ready to work! Where are they?! I’m out here doing ALL the things! Why isn’t the funnel funneling?”

Even his wife would reassure him that they were OK and to try to relax, but that only seemed to aggravate the frustration.

“It’s like she doesn’t understand that at any time we could lose everything we’ve worked for,” Jake thought. “Plus, who am I if I don’t ever reach my fullest potential? And this is certainly not where I deserve to be. If this is it, then I’ve failed, and it will be all my fault. I’m NOT letting that happen!”

Coffee Apocalypse

One Tuesday morning, Jake hit a tipping point. Actually, it was his 16-ounce dark roast Starbucks that tipped over, right onto the keyboard of his Mac.

The computer screen started flickering as if it were trying to cross over into the light. Then the screen went blank. Jake stared at the soaked keys as his mind reeled, “No. No. No!”

Then he uttered the five-word high-achiever mantra: I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!”

Jake rushed the laptop to the closest I Fix Anything shop and met Marty, a retired business owner who had the energy of a chilled-out philosopher mixed with the snark of Jon Stewart.

Marty took one look at the coffee-soaked laptop, sighed, and said:

“Mister, your computer is fried. From the look on your face, you are too. But only one of you can be replaced for under $1,000.”

Jake insisted that he was fine and just needed his laptop fixed.

Marty raised an eyebrow. “Sure, you’re fine. You are ‘fine’ like a house on fire is ‘warm.’”

Jake felt his blood pressure rise. “Who is this guy?” he thought. “Come on, dude. I don’t need a pep talk. I need to get my shit done, and I can’t do it without my laptop.”

Marty chuckled. Not politely or even apologetically. “Buddy, you don’t need more hustle. You need a nap and fewer responsibilities if you want to get to the next level. Or you’re going to fry out like your computer here.”

Jake appreciated the direct, hold-no-punches approach of this guy, so he did his best to take a breath.

Then Marty put the laptop down on the table and looked directly into Jake’s eyes. “Do you feel guilty when you slow down? If customers aren’t calling, do you panic? Do you ever feel like you’re doing EVERYTHING they say you’re supposed to do, but leads still aren’t coming in fast enough? Do you ever feel like if you slow down and relax, everything will fall apart?”

Jake stood there frozen as if this stranger had totally peered into his brain and was now busting him.

Marty continued, “If your wife tries to calm you down, do you ignore her because the sky is falling and she doesn’t get it? Does that cause you two to fight, even when that's not your intention?”

Jake said, “Man, how do you know this?”

Marty smiled, “Because I was the same way. It’s the dark side of being a super-achiever.”

He continued, “Jake, the belief that ‘constant pressure equals success’ is the biggest lie we tell ourselves. Pressure doesn’t create excellence. It creates migraines.”

Jake blinked. “But if I don’t work hard, won’t everything suffer?”

Marty shrugged. “Let me ask you this: When you overload a system, any system, does performance go up? Computers crash. Cars overheat. Employees quit. And you? You start making rookie mistakes like setting your coffee next to a laptop.”

Jake froze. He felt very vulnerable at that moment, which made him feel unsafe.

But Marty just continued as if he had a live one on the hook and was determined to reel him in. “And this belief that if you’re not suffering, you’re slacking? Yeah, that’s childhood programming, my man. You didn’t choose that belief. You absorbed it like wallpaper in a 70’s kitchen.”

That caught Jake off guard, and he laughed harder than expected, as if that teapot was finally letting the steam out.

The Napkin Of Destiny

Marty pulled out a diner napkin. “Indulge me and write down everything you did this week.”

Jake paused for a moment and then decided to seize the moment. He wrote, and wrote, and wrote. After a few minutes, he handed the napkin to Marty.

The napkin resembled a hieroglyphic inscription from an Egyptian tomb. It was also completely covered. You couldn't fit another letter on it, no matter how small it was.

Marty looked at the scribbles amusingly and said, “Congratulations, Jake. You’re doing three full-time jobs poorly instead of one job brilliantly.”

Normally, Jake would be pissed, but he knew this guy was right. “So you want me to do less?”

“No,” Marty replied. “You should do WAY less. You’re suffocating your own excellence.”

They chatted for a few more minutes as Marty threw down the challenge that could be the turning point Jake had been seeking.

“Do less,” Jake thought. Less stressing, less panicking, less ignoring his wife’s good advice, and less forcing it as though every decision was life or death. Also, a lot less of him trying to do everything, including trying to do a better job than the people he'd hired.

Jake had agreed to try it for one week and reduced his workload by about 20%. Just 20, which was still more than the average person did in a month.

Within that week, he made fewer mistakes, his stress dropped, his creativity returned, his productivity increased, his clients were happier, and so was he.

Leads even started coming in again. Not because of fate, magic, or the law of attraction. But because Jake freed up the mental bandwidth to think clearly, instead of reacting frantically.

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Lessons Learned

• Doing more does not always make you better.
• Focusing on purposeful prioritization and team-building leads to excellence and sustainable growth.
• Hustling has its advantages, but it’s not a long-term strategy
• Pressure doesn’t create performance. Clarity does.

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Slowing down didn’t help Jake because the universe magically rearranged itself. It helped because Jake finally became someone capable of noticing solutions he had been too busy to see before.

Here’s specifically what Jake did:

1. He spent the first hour of his mornings with his wife. No screen. No laptop. No panic scrolling. No, “I just need to answer one email.” Just coffee, conversation, and genuine connection.

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Within a week, their marriage felt lighter. Within two, they were laughing again. Within three, they stopped having those quiet, resentful arguments couples have when one person is always mentally somewhere else.

2. He finally took a walk, and the ideas showed up. One morning, Jake took a walk instead of doom-scrolling his analytics. And halfway around the block, he had an idea. Not a small idea. A “this could change the whole business” idea.

Later, he realized this idea had been knocking around in the back of his mind for months. He’d just been too busy, too stressed, and too overloaded to hear it. When he stopped reacting, he could start thinking, and it became one of the most profitable pivots he’d ever made.

3. His best leads came when he wasn’t desperate. Once Jake stopped radiating “OH SH!T, SOMEONE PLEASE PLEASE CALL ME,” his tone changed. His confidence grew. His presence transformed.

He started posting value instead of panic. He followed up without sounding needy. He rested instead of spiraling. And people noticed.

What’s the Real Lesson?

It’s not: “Just relax and everything will magically work out.”

It’s this: When you stop living in emergency mode, you regain access to your creativity, intuition, strategy, emotional intelligence, relationships, and problem-solving skills.

THOSE are the things that make life go better. Not panic, pressure, and overworking. Space creates insight. Rest creates resilience. Presence creates opportunity. Jake didn’t slow down to be lazy. He slowed down so he could finally become centered and more effective.

And that’s the invitation for you. Not to do less, but to do less of what drains you and more of what aligns with and inspires you. In the end, you’ll be OK or you’ll die.

So, have some fun and enjoy creating whatever the next chapter of your life will be. Remember, YOU are a very big deal. You are a reflection of perfection, as God made you in his image.

Be bold, view yourself the way God sees you, rest when you need it, make bold moves from a place of calm, and let go of the rest.

You got this, Reader...

:) Tim Shurr

Tim Shurr, MA
​President, Shurr Success, Inc.​
Founder, Indy Hypnosis Centers​
877-944-HOPE ​
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PS, Please reply if you enjoyed this story. I'm writing a new book and the stories you enjoy the most will be added. In other words, you are helping me write it!

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