I’ve been thinking about the concept of “trying too hard” a lot lately. It came up recently when I was reading an article about Instagram hashtags (which I love, as you know). The writer said that you should only use a few hashtags (if any) for each post – because to do otherwise would mean that you’re trying too hard.

Now, I’m not going to say that everyone should use a million hashtags on Instagram. That’s not the point of this post. They’re not for everyone. They’re not always relevant. And even I only use a few on a lot of my posts. But! I just didn’t like this notion that trying too hard was somehow a bad thing. Like, you obviously have to try a lot of things if you’re going to run a business. And this notion that there’s some sort of level of trying where it’s acceptable and another where it’s not just quite frankly seems a little ridiculous?

So I’ve been sort of examining this concept in my own mind over the last few weeks and I wanted to get some thoughts down on paper (or, you know… virtual paper).

Why do people see trying too hard as a negative?

So I realize that by using the language “trying too hard” that automatically makes it sound like sort of a negative thing because it suggests that there’s some acceptable level of trying, however high or low that level is, and this just goes above that.

But my point is that, barring activities like harassing potential customers to get them to do business with you or pushing yourself to work so hard that it becomes a health issue, there’s no such thing as trying too hard.

Instead, that phrase is so often used to describe people who are doing something that doesn’t make entrepreneurship seem effortless. I think a lot of the time it’s used by well meaning people to whom a lot of things just came pretty naturally to. But just because something worked for you and didn’t require a lot of effort or the appearance of trying too hard, doesn’t mean that the same is true for others.

I remember an article that came out years ago comparing Blake Lively and Gwyneth Paltrow, both of whom had recently started their own lifestyle blogs/brands, with Kim Kardashian. (I tried to find the link but I can’t remember where I read it – if you know what I’m talking about here, please share!) The Paltrow/Lively empires were based around this sort of effortless appearance. You know, like “messy” hair that is really styled in a very specifically messy way and “no makeup” looks that actually require you to use like 20 products on your face.

Now, you can think whatever you want about Kim K. I’m not saying that you have to love her or her brand. But! There’s no denying that she’s an incredible business woman. And she tries really, really hard and doesn’t try to hide the fact that she tries really, really hard.

And I’m sure that the others try hard as well – in business and in the things they actually cover. But all you see is the appearance of effortlessness. Is one better than the other? In my opinion, no.

So maybe your brand is one that plays up this sort of effortless image. That’s cool. But you still need to actually try hard when it comes to certain aspects of your business. You can’t (or at least shouldn’t) just give up on anything and everything that doesn’t come super easily to you. You don’t have to stick with things that don’t work indefinitely just because you’re trying. But you may be able to try harder or try a different approach or try a new way of doing things.

Why do we need to try too hard?

Here’s the thing. Everyone’s brand is different. Yours might require a bit of an effortless appearance in some areas. But running a business is hard. It takes a lot of work. And it takes a whole lot of effort.

That doesn’t mean you need to use a million Instagram hashtags. It doesn’t mean you need to work 17 hours a day. It doesn’t mean you need to do any one specific thing. But you have to try a lot of different things to see what works. And you don’t necessarily have to hide that you’re trying really hard to make your business work.

You don’t necessarily have to be super upfront about your challenges either – at least not publicly. But you can be open about it with your partners or mentors or friends. At the very least, join a Facebook or Slack group with other boss babes to vent and share tips. I think you’ll quickly find that the most successful people you connect with (even those who might make it look easy from the outside) try really, really hard.

What does it all mean?

tl;dr I’m sorry this was kind of a word dump. But I hope that some of you got something from it! My main point is that I think it should be okay for us to try too hard when something’s really important to us. We don’t all have to make entrepreneurship or whatever else we’re dealing with look effortless all the time. It’s hard. And it requires trying – and a lot of it.

So go ahead! Just dump all of your effort on whatever is you’re working on that you really super care about! Try too hard! Be amazing!

I’d love to hear what you think in the comments! What do you think about the idea of trying too hard?