“Working Hard, Hardly Working” by Grace Beverly

A Guide for the Modern-Day Entrepreneur: How to achieve more, stress less, and feel fulfilled.

At twenty-three, my yearly income was $0.16.

At twenty-three, Grace Beverly was London’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year, founder of two successful brands, Forbes’ 30 under 30 alum, and famous influencer. Oh, and she also wrote a book — which we’re here to discuss.

If you’re an entrepreneur, you will probably recognize yourself in at least one of these statements:

• Your To-Do list keeps growing no matter how much you try to get things done.

• You often work on weekends.

• You feel guilty when you’re doing something other than work.

• You’re anxious pretty much all the time.

• You’re passionate about what you do.

Following my passion and becoming an entrepreneur is the most fulfilling thing I have ever done. Even though I work twice as much as I used to and haven’t earned a dime yet, I wouldn’t change it for the world.

However, I noticed that my well-established self-care routine took a hit. I started going to bed much later, spending whole days in front of my computer without taking breaks or exercising, eating processed food, and not allowing myself to do much else besides work.

I picked up “Working Hard, Hardly Working” mostly because I was inspired by Grace Beverley’s impressive journey and wanted to learn how she got there at such a young age. Unfortunately, the book didn’t teach me much about that — but it’s still worth the read.

Here are some of my takeaways:

Gen Z is doomed

Just kidding.

Grace shares her thoughts about this generation and how our vision of work and success is biased — we grew up thinking that success and professional fulfillment mean long hours, burnout and being passionate about our jobs.

That’s why so many Gen Z entrepreneurs are discouraged early on: we think that following our passion means being happy, fulfilled, and energized all the time — but it’s just impossible.

There will always be annoying tasks to complete, admin stuff to deal with, and days when you’re just fed up with your business. Having some down days doesn’t mean that the overall journey isn’t fulfilling.

Self-actualization = Happy life

Self-actualization: the realization or fulfillment of one’s talents and potentialities, especially considered as a drive or need present in everyone.

— Oxford Languages

Self-actualization is at the top of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs for a good reason: it’s what makes us genuinely happy.

In her book, Grace Beverly explains what self-actualization is and how to achieve it. Basically, self-actualization is a combination of learning new things, being challenged, and doing what you’re good at.

Self-actualization = Challenge + Growth + Use of Skills/Talent

Get into flow

You’re probably familiar with the word flow, which is basically a state of deep work and profound creativity where you lose track of time. Flow is achieved when you’re working on a task that you’re confident you can do but is still challenging and interesting.

Grace provides tips and practical exercises to get into your flow, as well as warnings: don’t burn yourself out and remember to take breaks, or something that makes you happy might turn into a daunting task.

Take weekends off

Grace finishes her workdays at 6 pm and always takes weekends off, yet she is an extremely successful entrepreneur.

What does that mean?

You don’t need to work from 5 am to 10 pm every single day of the week to be successful. What you need is to work effectively and smartly. Find productivity methods that work for you and make the most out of your working hours, but be sure to take time to enjoy life and recharge your batteries.

An energized person who works 5 hours a day will likely achieve more than someone who works 12 hours but is completely burnt out.

Conclusion

This book is full of productivity hacks and practical exercises, I highly recommend it to young entrepreneurs.