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Success Advice

Working Hard Isn’t the Answer to True Success but Self Care is

After working hard all my life and bullying myself into doing things, I didn’t get the results I wanted. All I got was more stress

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self care
Image Credit: Midjourney

If you’re like me, at some point in your life, you thought that to be successful, you must work hard and go hard! Maybe you still believe that, and I get you. I mean, how on earth can you be a productive human if you leave yourself off the hook?

That’s a question I struggled with for the longest time. But after working hard all my life and bullying myself into doing things, I didn’t get the results I wanted, all I got was more stress and more things to work hard at. And that wasn’t the result I was looking for because working hard isn’t the answer to true success, but self care is. 

I hoped that after all the hustle, I could eventually catch a break. Instead, I worked until I broke down and then had to start everything all over again, repeatedly. It was exhausting!

I’m not going to lie; I achieved some milestones this way. But I suffered throughout and couldn’t even feel happy for myself. And I don’t think that’s real success. I feel successful when I have fun going after what I want and infuse my days with joy and peacefulness, even when I’m not being productive. 

I’m successful when I rest without feeling guilty and am not afraid of wasting time; I see it as charging my batteries.

The truly successful version of me is a badass who achieves all her goals, but she does all that while taking care of herself so she doesn’t crash and burn now and then. And here’s the best part: she is happy AF while chasing her dreams, not only when and if she gets there.

If you get excited by this approach, you’ll love the top three best self-care strategies for true success I’m sharing with you!

#1 Schedule joy

I know some of you may cringe when you read the words ‘schedule’ and ‘joy’ together, but hear me out: how many times were you so caught up on work or study or maybe lifting your business off the ground that you stopped hanging out with your friends and doing the things that bring you joy?

Some people online preach that you must sacrifice everything and only focus on your goals to be successful, but I say it’s the opposite! Good friends will keep you sane and grounded and reassure you that you’re not alone. 

Doing things that bring you joy will energize you, spark your inspiration, and make you more productive and prone to taking action on your dreams and goals!

So yes, schedule that joy before you get trapped in the busyness, and enjoy being successful and happy!

#2 Practice bringing yourself back to the beauty of the present moment

Most of our stress comes from worrying too much about the future and focusing excessively on the past as if looking for proof of what can go wrong. And we know that’s not very success-friendly, right?

It will only make you nervous, cloud your judgment, and hurt your decision-making ability. I say yes to projecting, visualizing a bright future, and sometimes looking at the past so we don’t repeat the same mistakes. 

But please, always bring yourself to the present moment because it’s in the now that you can do what’s best for you and your goals.

There are many ways to practice being present. You can practice gratitude, mindfulness, and meditation, but I want to share a simple strategy that I love: Mindful alarms!

Grab your phone and set up three to five alarms for different times of the day. On the alarm label, write down a short reminder. It can be ‘Take a deep breath’ or ‘Back to the present moment’ or whatever you want, really. 

Make it yours! The most important thing here is multiple alarms popping up to remind you to be present.

But wait, there’s an extra benefit to this; you’ll check in with yourself throughout the day and automatically release stress and tension! Sounds amazing, right?

#3 Work with your energy levels, not against them

Let’s face it; we all wish we were on our A-game all the time. But that’s simply impossible. We’re human, and the most natural thing is to have our energy fluctuate, especially if we’re women with a cycle.

If you’re driven, I know this probably irritates you a lot. And I’m with you because yeah, it can be very frustrating! But we have got to choose here: We can either fight it, get even more frustrated, make mistakes, and deliver averagely, or embrace it and make it work for us.

Ready to choose option number two?

When working with our energy levels, we can go hard when we feel more energetic and make the most out of our peak times, and when we’re feeling low, honor that and focus on valuable but less demanding tasks.  

I understand this may be challenging for many, especially if you don’t make your own schedule, but I invite you to see it as something to embody rather than implement every second of the day. Instead of pushing yourself to do more and beating yourself up because you’re not at your high-performance level, embrace it. You’re only human.

And have you noticed these days are great for connecting with your intuition and reevaluating things? That is as important, if not more than the going-hard part of success if you ask me.

Here’s how I see success and self-care:

The key to true success is not to focus on the top of the mountain but to ensure you enjoy your way there and have everything necessary to journey comfortably. 

Yes, your feet may still hurt at the end of the day, but you can choose whether to wear uncomfortable shoes and never stop unless you’re about to break down or to put on your best mountain boots and take a break to appreciate the view and rest from time to time.

So remember the three self-care strategies for success: schedule your joy, keep bringing yourself back to the present moment, and work with your energy levels (not against them). You deserve to honor yourself and your needs on your way to success.

Erika Sardinha is an empowerment coach for survivors based in the Canary Islands. Her purpose is to help survivors like her reconnect with themselves, heal, and thrive from the inside out. She offers online courses, private and group coaching, and other services for thriving survivors while providing various free resources to her community. Check Erika's Free Community of badass thriving survivors: Happy Survivors Tribe, and access her 10-minute Guided Tapping Meditation for True Relaxation and Joy!

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Scale Your Business

Tired of Wasting Money on the Wrong Marketers? Here’s How Smart Entrepreneurs Are Finally Hiring Right

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truthmetric, burning money on marketing

If you’ve ever Googled how to hire a Facebook marketer or best TikTok marketing agency only to spend thousands on someone who couldn’t deliver…congrats, you’ve joined a very expensive club! For many entrepreneurs, hiring a digital marketer feels like more like visiting a casino and gambling with your runway, than it feels like securing a partner who’ll help build your business. Often,  it feels like you’re betting on a stranger to grow the dream you’ve poured your savings into.

And way too often, you lose that bet.

You don’t need another list of the “Top 10 Agencies” with five-star testimonials and polished logos. You need to know which marketer can actually drive results for your business. Not in theory. In practice.

This is where entrepreneurs are learning to pivot. And it’s why a new platform called TruthMetric.com is turning heads across the startup world.

Why Most Startups Burn Through 3–6 Marketers Before Finding the Right One

Here’s the hard truth: most startups don’t fail because of their product, they fail because they can’t get sales or sell it fast enough. And in trying to fix that, founders usually go through five or six marketers, burning tens of thousands before finding someone who truly knows how to convert.

You build your product, get your website live, maybe even launch an ad campaign. But when you search for help and look up how to “hire a YouTube ads agency” or “top Facebook ad expert for Shopify”, you get hit with a sea of shiny portfolios, “ninja” titles, and endless promises.

Three months later, you’re still waiting on your first profitable campaign, and you’re most likely out tens of thousands, feeling utterly defeated…and maybe grinning with an affinity for that upcoming boxing class with a picture of that marketer’s fac……nevermind.

If this sounds like you, it’s time for what one entrepreneur called a strategic shift to scale smarter, not harder.

Introducing TruthMetric.com: The Transparent Marketplace for Hiring Marketers Who Deliver

TruthMetric.com isn’t just another freelancer platform or agency directory. It’s the first hiring solution where you can see three years of real, verified marketing performance before spending a dime.

That includes:

  • Verified ad campaign performance
  • Actual return on ad spend (ROAS)
  • Industry-specific experience
  • Platform specialties (Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Google Ads, and more)

Whether you’re looking for a Facebook ads expert, a TikTok marketer, or a YouTube growth strategist, TruthMetric.com lets you filter and compare based on what actually matters, results.

This level of clarity is something you won’t find on platforms like Upwork or Fiverr. And it solves what many founders know too well as the New York Pizza Problem: where every marketer claims they’re “the best,” just like every pizzeria in Manhattan says they’re #1. Often without showing you results, you get sucked into this dream of collaboration, until the nightmare commences the moment you fork that first invoice payment. Hence the deception that leads to many business owners losing their hard earned savings and budget to launch their grand idea.

With TruthMetric, you finally get the data to decide for yourself, BEFORE you hire. Now if only New York Pizza shops had the same transparency then maybe you’d finally find the best pizza in New York, perhaps the perfect post work out after a boxing sesh? I think so!

Why Founders Are Shifting to Results-First Hiring

Most entrepreneurs think they need to do it all themselves, until they burn out or burn through their budget. That’s exactly why this founder had to drop the Superman complex and hire a marketing genius.

What makes TruthMetric so powerful is that it turns hiring into a confident move, not a hopeful one. You’re no longer guessing. You’re choosing from proven performers. You know what vertical they dominate. You know their past client performance. You see the monthly results from the campaigns they ran, and the outcomes they achieved.

It’s not just efficient. It’s empowering.

Scaling Quickly Requires Automation and Eliminating the Noise

Founders who scale quickly understand one thing: growth isn’t just about hustle, it’s about systems. TruthMetric is the system for finding great marketers at speed. No more DM’ing ten freelancers or interviewing agencies feeling like you are asking the world of them to just see some prior results. Instead you get to see the information you need to make an informed decision and plug into verified talent, all ready to perform.

This difference allows for you to match perfectly with the right talent quickly. If you’re building your business to run lean and fast, this convenience plugged in with automation can help you scale your small business right alongside your new marketing hires.

Why TruthMetric Is Also a Boon for Marketers, Not Just Founders

This isn’t just a win for founders, it is a gift for great marketers, too.

If you’re a freelance marketer who’s been quietly pulling 10x ROAS for clients while being passed over for flashy agencies, you now have a stage where your results speak louder than your brand.

TruthMetric is a true meritocracy. No fluff. No sales tricks. Just data.

If you’re tired of being overlooked and ready to stand out based on what you actually deliver, this is your home.

The Secret Weapon for Investors and M&A Operators

There’s another angle here that some of our readers might miss.

Investors, private equity firms, and M&A advisors should be drooling at the thought of having a proven talent pool they can plug and play and the ability to use TruthMetric to revive underperforming companies. Imagine acquiring a business or becoming an active investor, then dropping in a verified operator with a history of explosive growth in that niche.

It’s plug-and-play. Scale on demand.

That kind of insight has never been available before. You couldn’t do this on Upwork. You certainly can’t do it through a friend-of-a-friend referral. 

And when it comes to attracting high-performing talent, here’s how to hire top talent and keep them around.

Let’s Really Drive This Home…

If you’ve wasted money on agencies or freelancers who couldn’t deliver, it’s not because you’re bad at hiring, it’s because the game was stacked against you. Trusting dreamy charismatic sales pitches over data was a doomed approach from the start. 

TruthMetric levels the playing field by showing you what no other talent marketplace does and that’s proof.

Real marketers. Real results. Real growth.

It’s time to stop guessing and start hiring based on data.
Visit TruthMetric.com and make your next marketing hire the one that actually works.

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Personal Development

The Real Reason Successful People Are Never Late

More than just good manners, punctuality is a vital professional and personal trait.

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Successful people are punctual
Image Credit: Midjourney

How do you feel when your flight is delayed, throwing your entire schedule into chaos? Or when a patient dies due to a doctor’s tardiness? What about missing a job opportunity because your driver showed up late? And how do you react when someone walks in late without the basic courtesy of apologizing? (more…)

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Personal Development

Why Humility Is the Real Superpower in Leadership

Humble leadership doesn’t mean being passive or unsure of yourself.

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Humility in Leadership
Image Credit: Midjourney

In today’s fast-paced, high-stakes business world, especially in industries like construction and finance, leadership is often mistaken for control, authority, or having all the answers. But the leaders who last and leave the deepest impact tend to operate from a very different place: humility. (more…)

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Business

How To Lead Through Internal Conflict With Integrity

All it takes is one ignored complaint or one poorly handled conversation to damage your culture and your credibility.

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Dealing with internal business conflicts
Image Credit: Midjourney

No business is immune to internal conflict. Even the most tight-knit teams can face difficult moments. Allegations of misconduct, harassment, or abuse are among the most serious. How you respond to them could shape the way your employees, clients, and community see you for years to come. (more…)

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