Mastering Soft Productivity: The 'Anti-Hustle' Strategy To Achieve More With Less Stress
In a world often driven by hustle culture and the relentless pursuit of productivity, there exists a quieter, gentler approach to life that speaks to the whispers of our heart that tell us to: slow down. This alternative path, known as soft productivity, champions the idea of aligning one's actions with one's deepest desires and commitments, all while honoring the rhythm of one's own life.
Soft productivity is a philosophy rooted in the belief that true fulfillment arises not from the relentless pursuit of external markers of success but from the deliberate cultivation of harmony between one's actions and one's innermost desires.
For many, the idea of living a soft, productivity life is all about recognizing that our dreams are not mere destinations to be reached through sheer force of will, but ongoing commitments to be nurtured and honored each day. As the one adage puts it, consistency will get you a lot further than intensity.
By putting soft productivity into practice, one can learn that progress is not always measured in monumental achievements, but in the steady accumulation of small, intentional acts aligned with our deepest passions.
What if success looked less like a frantic race to the top and more like a leisurely stroll through our imagination, hopes, and desires? Soft productivity invites us to embrace a holistic approach to living that honors the interconnectedness of exploring our interests while living a life that’s in alignment with our deepest values and aspirations.
To help you live a life of soft productivity, consider these five tips:
1.Clarify Your Values and Priorities:
Take the time to reflect on what truly matters to you. What are your core values? What brings you joy and fulfillment? By gaining clarity on your values and priorities, you can align your actions with what truly matters, allowing you to focus your time and energy on the things that bring you the most satisfaction.
2.Practice Mindfulness and Presence:
Cultivate a practice of mindfulness in your daily life. Take moments throughout the day to pause, breathe, and center yourself in the present moment. Whether it's through meditation, journaling, or simply taking a walk in nature, finding moments of stillness can help you reconnect with yourself and your innermost desires.
3.Set Intentional Goals:
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Rather than chasing after external markers of success, set goals that are aligned with your values and aspirations. Be intentional about what you want to achieve and why it matters to you. Break down your goals into smaller, manageable steps that can be marked by internal validation and growth over external factors, and trust the process.
4.Embrace Imperfection:
Understand that perfection is an illusion and that mistakes are an inevitable part of the learning process. Instead of striving for perfection, embrace imperfection as a natural part of the journey. Allow yourself to take risks, make mistakes, and learn from failure, knowing that growth often comes from adversity. Be kind to yourself and practice self-compassion in your daily life — let go of self-judgment and embrace self-acceptance, knowing that you are worthy of your dreams and desires while going at your own pace to achieve them.
5.Focus on Process Over Outcome:
Shift your focus from the end result to the process itself. Instead of fixating on the outcome, enjoy the journey and savor the experience of growth and learning along the way. Celebrate small victories and milestones, knowing that progress is a journey, not a destination.
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Aley Arion is a writer and digital storyteller from the South, currently living in sunny Los Angeles. Her site, yagirlaley.com, serves as a digital diary to document personal essays, cultural commentary, and her insights into the Black Millennial experience. Follow her at @yagirlaley on all platforms!
This Black Woman-Owned Creative Agency Shows Us The Art Of Rebranding
Rebranding is an intricate process and very important to the success of businesses that want to change. However, before a business owner makes this decision, they should determine whether it's a rebrand or an evolution.
That's where people like Lola Adewuya come in. Lola is the founder and CEO of The Brand Doula, a brand development studio with a multidisciplinary approach to branding, social media, marketing, and design.
While an evolution is a natural progression that happens as businesses grow, a rebrand is a total change. Lola tells xoNecole, "A total rebrand is necessary when a business’s current reputation/what it’s known for is at odds with the business’s vision or direction.
"For example, if you’ve fundamentally changed what your product is and does, it’s likely that your brand is out of alignment with the business. Or, if you find your company is developing a reputation that doesn’t serve it, it might be time to pump the brakes and figure out what needs to change.
She continues, "Sometimes you’ll see companies (especially startups) announce a name change that comes with updated messaging, visuals, etc. That usually means their vision has changed or expanded, and their previous branding was too narrow/couldn’t encompass everything they planned to do."
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The Brand Doula was born in 2019, and its focus is on putting "the experiences, goals, and needs of women of color founders first," as well as brands with "culture-shifting missions."
According to Lola, culture-shifting is "the act of influencing dominant behavior, beliefs, or experiences in a community or group (ideally, for the better)."
"At The Brand Doula, we work with companies and leaders that set out to challenge the status quo in their industries and communities. They’re here to make an impact that sends ripples across the market," she says.
"We help the problem solvers of the world — the ones who aren't satisfied with 'this is how it's always been' and instead ask 'how could this be better?' Our clients build for impact, reimagining tools, systems, and ways of living to move cultures forward."
The Brand Doula has worked with many brands, including Too Collective, to assist with their collaboration with Selena Gomez's Rare Beauty and Balanced Black Girl for a "refresh," aka rebrand. For businesses looking to rebrand, Lola shares four essential steps.
1. Do an audit of your current brand experience — what’s still relevant and what needs to change? Reflect on why you’re doing the rebrand in the first place and what success would look like after relaunching.
2. Tackle the overall strategy first — before you start redesigning logos and websites, align on a new vision for your brand. How do you want your company to be positioned moving forward? Has your audience changed at all? Will your company have a fresh personality and voice?
3. Bring your audience along the journey — there’s no need to move in secret. Inviting your current audience into the journey can actually help them feel more connected to and invested in your story, enough to stick around as changes are being made.
4. Keep business moving — one of my biggest pet peeves is when companies take down their websites as soon as they have the idea to rebrand, then have a Coming Soon page up for months! You lose a lot of momentum and interest by doing that. If you’re still in business and generating income, continue to operate while you work on your rebrand behind the scenes. You don’t want to cut existing customers off out of the blue, and you also don’t want so much downtime that folks forget your business exists or start looking for other solutions.
While determining whether the rebrand was successful may take a few months, Lola says a clear sign that it is unsuccessful is negative feedback from your target audience. "Customers are typically more vocal about what they don’t like more than what they do like," she says.
But some good signs to look out for are improvements in engagement with your marketing, positive reviews, press and increase in retention, and overall feeling aligned with the new branding.
For more information about Lola and The Brand Doula, visit her website, thebranddoula.com.
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Exclusive: Dreka Gates Talks Farm Life, Self-Mastery, And Her Wellness Brand
Dreka Gates is making a name in wellness through authenticity and innovativeness. Although we were introduced to her as a music manager for her husband, Kevin Gates, she has now carved out her own lane outside of music as a wellness entrepreneur. But according to Dreka, this is nothing new.
In a xoNecole exclusive, the mom of two opened up about many things, including starting her wellness journey at 13 years old. However, a near-death experience during a procedure at 20 made her start taking her health more seriously.
“There's so many different levels, and now, I'm in a space of just integrating all of this good stuff that I've learned just about just being human, you know?” Dreka tells us. “So it's also fun because it's like a journey of self-discovery and self-mastery. That's what I call it. So it's never-ending.”
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If you follow Dreka, then you’re familiar with her holistic lifestyle, as she’s no stranger to promoting wellness, self-care, and holistic living. She even lives part-time on a Mississippi farm, not far from her grandmother and great-grandmother’s farm, where she spent some summers as a child.
While her grandmother and great-grandmother have passed on, Dreka reflects on that time in her life and how having a farm as an adult is her getting back to her roots. “So the farm was purchased back in 2017, and it was like, ah, that'll just be a place where we go when we're not touring or whatever,” she said.
“But covid hit, and I was there, and I was on the land, and I just started remembering back to going to my grandmother's during the summertime and freaking picking peas and going and eating mulberries off the freaking tree in the bushes.
“And she literally had cotton plants. I know some people feel weird about picking cotton and stuff. She had cotton plants and I would go and pick cotton out of her garden. And she had chickens, and I literally just broke down in tears one day when I was on the farm just doing all the things, and I'm like, ‘Oh my gosh. I'm literally getting back to my roots.”
I literally just broke down in tears one day when I was on the farm just doing all the things, and I'm like, ‘Oh my gosh. I'm literally getting back to my roots.
You can catch glimpses of Dreka’s farm life on Instagram, which shows her picking fruit and vegetables and loving on her animals like her camel Eessa. Her passion for growing and cultivating led her to try and grow all of her ingredients for her wellness brand, Dreka Wellness. However, she quickly realized that she might be biting off more than she could chew. But that didn’t stop her from fulfilling her vision.
Watch below as Dreka talks more about her business, her wellness tips, breaking toxic cycles, becoming a doula, and more.
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