The swan gracefully moving on a lake is a picture of elegance.

But alas! We don’t see the hard work and effort of paddling conducted beneath the surface!

This metaphor is used for the hard work involved hidden from view to make things look effortless.

My clients say the hustle is real. Success is hard work, Evelyne- look at the swan.

I do not want to deny that we are working and sometimes even working hard.
There is nothing wrong with working hard for a bit if you love it.

But let me clarify something.
Because I have observed swans:

There is no desperate paddling and hard work in the swan’s movement.
Have you looked at them closely?
Their webbed feet are perfectly designed for the action they take.

The swan doesn’t make it “look” easy. The swan simply does what it’s designed to do. And paddling this way works really well.

Yes, there may be a different motion happening beyond the overtly visible surface but that doesn’t mean it’s hard.

It doesn’t mean it’s denying the grace.

To use the swan metaphor to justify the need to hustle is a sure-fire way to exhaust yourself.

I don’t see swans exhausting themselves like humans do. They swim and glide and pause and eat. They actually ARE graceful.

Unless they feel threatened, then they remind more of us humans pecking at everything in a sometimes disproportionate aggression.

You can create your success with hard work- that’s like paddling with human feet.

You can use webbed feet (work smarter not harder).
And you don’t actually ‘have to’ work so hard. (Work less, be more)
Working hard, hustling non-stop is a trauma response, a survival mode, an energetically exploitative modus operandum.
You can create success this way and many people have. You can also make phone calls on a landline with a rotary dial.
Are you willing to trust your unique design to move forward in a way that works for you?

"What is that way?" I hear you ask. I can sure help you to find out. That’s what I do.
(And I make it look easy 😉)