Valentine’s Day is just around the corner.
People are posting about love, relationships, and what matters most.
So let me ask you something you probably haven’t thought about in a while… do you actually love what you do every day?
Not the idea of your business. Or the story you tell at parties about being an entrepreneur. Not even the potential you see three years from now.
I’m talking about the actual, daily work you’re doing right now today.
Because if you’re being honest with yourself, there’s a decent chance you’re not enjoying it as much as you thought you would when you started.
You built something that looked good on paper, and somewhere along the way, it became something you dread. Maybe not every day, but enough days that it’s starting to bother you.
You wake up, look at your calendar, and feel nothing. Or worse, you feel that little knot in your stomach that says “I don’t want to do this today.”
The work that excited you in the beginning? It didn’t disappear. It just got buried. Buried under operations, management, and putting out fires all day.
The Most Dangerous Place To End Up
Here’s what happens around year five or seven: you’ve built something that works. The revenue is solid, the team is functioning, clients are happy, but you’re losing steam. Not burned out exactly, but definitely not lit up by the work anymore.
The problem isn’t that the business is failing. It’s that the business buried the parts you loved under all the parts that just needed to get done.
You used to do strategy, creative work, and problem-solving, the stuff that made time fly. Now you’re doing management and putting out fires, answering the same questions over and over.
You didn’t sign up for this version of your business, but you’re unsure how you ended up here or how to return to the parts you actually enjoy.
And here’s the trap: you think this is all that being a business owner entails. That you’re supposed to sacrifice the work you love for the work the business needs.
You think maybe you’ll get back to the fun stuff eventually, once things settle down, or once you hire the right people or finally get systems in place. But things never settle down, you know that by now. There’s always more to do, something that takes priority over the work that actually lights you up.
The Point Most People Miss
You’re not going to love 100% of your work, and that’s fine.
There’s always going to be tough conversations and boring operational stuff that has to happen.
But if there’s literally nothing in your day that you look forward to, if there’s nothing that gives you energy instead of draining it, you’re not going to last. You’re going to burn out, and all the revenue in the world won’t matter.
So here’s the decision you need to make: every single day, you’re going to do at least one thing you actually love.
Every day, no matter what else is going on, even if it’s just 30 minutes. Even if it feels indulgent or like you should be doing something more “important.”
Why? Because that one thing you love is what’s going to carry you through all the stuff you don’t love. And without it, you’re just grinding yourself down for no good reason.
What This Actually Looks Like
Think about the part of your work that makes you lose track of time. The thing you do where you look up and three hours have passed, and you didn’t even notice.
Maybe it’s strategy sessions with clients where you’re solving complex problems. A creative work where you’re building something new. Or the teaching and mentoring side of what you do.
Whatever it is for you, when’s the last time you actually did it?
If the answer is “I don’t know, it’s been a while,” that’s the problem right there.
The work you love got pushed out by everything else, and now your days are full of necessary stuff that doesn’t light you up. And you wonder why you’re exhausted all the time, even though the business is doing fine.
You need to block time for the work you love, and I don’t mean “find time when you can”. I mean, put it on your calendar like it’s a client meeting and protect it like your business depends on it.
The Reasons We Put It Off (And Why That’s Normal)
I can hear the objections already because I’ve heard them a thousand times.
“The business needs me to focus on other things right now.”
The business needs you to be energized and engaged, not checked out. You don’t work well when you’re running on empty.
“I’ll get back to it once things settle down.”
Things are never going to settle down, so you need to make time for it now or it’s never happening.
“That’s not what owners or leaders do. They handle the hard stuff and delegate the fun stuff.”
Not true. The most successful business owners I know are very intentional about protecting time for the work that energizes them, because they understand that their energy and engagement are what drive everything else.
When you’re lit up by your work, you make better decisions, show up better for your team, and build something better than you could when you’re just grinding through stuff you don’t care about.
How To Actually Implement This
Start by getting specific about what you love.
Not “client work” but “strategy sessions with clients where we’re solving their toughest problems.” Not “marketing” but “writing content that actually helps people understand something they were confused about.”
Get clear on what actually lights you up and gives you energy instead of draining it. Then block time for it on your calendar, every single day, even if it’s just 30 minutes.
Some days you’ll use the full time block, some days you’ll only need part of it, but it’s there, protected and non-negotiable.
Then, look at the stuff that’s draining you and figure out what you can delegate, automate, or just stop doing entirely. Every hour you reclaim from work that drains you is an hour you can spend on work that energizes you.
Be ruthless about this because nobody else is going to protect your time and energy for you. That’s your job as the owner. And be intentional about it every day, because this isn’t something that happens automatically. Some days you won’t feel like it, but do it anyway.
The days you do the work you love are going to be the days you remember why you started this business in the first place, and why it’s worth all the hard stuff that comes with it.
What Changes When You Protect This Time
Once you start blocking time every day for work you actually love, everything shifts in ways you might not expect:
- Your energy comes back because you’re not just grinding anymore, you’re doing something that lights you up
- Your decisions get better because you have space to actually think instead of just reacting to whatever’s in front of you
- Your business improves because you’re working on it with a clear head instead of just trying to survive it
Remember that you didn’t start this business to be miserable! You’re in control of your calendar and business. Of building days that include work you love. Not 100% perfect days where everything is amazing and nothing is hard. Just days that have at least one thing in them that makes you think “this is why I do this.”
So block the time this week, protect it like it matters, and do the work that reminds you why you started building this thing in the first place.
