Fun and Success are Not Mutually Exclusive

Throughout our lives, we are taught to work hard. We are told that success lies on the other side of hard work. And I've come to believe that is true: life has taught me that nothing comes easy and that consistent, hard work pays off in all kinds of ways. Wanna learn to ski in your late 20s? A thousand hours of practice and hundreds of falls. Wanna' write a book? Thousands of hours of writing and even more editing. Wanna' build a team and inspire and empower thousands and thousands of women to walk their way to better and help foster an awesome community? I can't begin to count the number of hours.

But.

The second lesson that I've had to learn -- that I still struggle to learn every day -- is that success and fun are not mutually exclusive. There is room for play and there is room for fun. In fact, the right amount of fun and play can contribute not just to your overall happiness (which in itself is a laudable goal) but also to your success. For someone as hard-charging and goal-focused as I am, this is a difficult lesson to learn. Though I am the author of the words "Fun and success are not mutually exclusive," it is a lesson that I need to learn over and over again.