Success on Your Terms: A New Way to Work, Live, and Lead
Success on Your Terms: A New Way to Work, Live, and Lead
What if the version of success you've been chasing isn't actually yours?
In this powerful episode of The Amanda Kaufman Show, Amanda sits down with business coach and founder of The Uncommon Way, Jenna Harrison, for an honest, inspiring conversation about redefining success and reclaiming your time. From high-achieving overworker to intentional entrepreneur with a 24-hour workweek, Jenna’s story is a blueprint for anyone craving more freedom, alignment, and peace.
This isn’t about doing less for the sake of laziness. It’s about doing less of what drains you, and more of what lights you up. It’s about leading your business—and your life—on your terms.
From Hustle to Harmony
Jenna didn’t start her business with a 3-day workweek in mind. Like many ambitious women, she entered entrepreneurship with a deep passion and an even deeper drive to succeed. She poured hours into her work—often while juggling the demands of new motherhood—believing that more effort equaled more results.
For two years, she worked through nap times, late nights, and weekends, sacrificing her own rest for the illusion of momentum. But when a cross-country move and the onset of the pandemic forced her to slow down, something surprising happened: her business grew—despite the reduced hours.
Still, like many of us, Jenna didn’t immediately trust the lesson. She bounced between burnout and balance until a pivotal moment with her son shifted everything. Sitting with him while he repeatedly drew Saturn, she realized how difficult it had become to simply be. Her body was restless, her mind still tethered to productivity—and that’s when it hit her.
“I realized I’d never truly stepped away from the business. I wasn’t free. I was just… always on.”
Rewriting the Rules of Success
That awareness launched Jenna on a path of radical change. She began to question the deeply ingrained beliefs that tied her worth to her output. She challenged the narrative that more hours equals more impact. And she designed a new way of working—a 24-hour week that not only sustains her business, but enhances her creativity, clarity, and joy.
Amanda reflected on the distinction between probability and possibility—a theme she’s been exploring with her own clients. The world may condition us to expect certain “probable” outcomes (burnout, overwhelm, imbalance), but when we operate from possibility, we begin to craft a life that defies convention.
“You could run multiple businesses in 24 hours a week, if you wanted. Or none. The key is want—and giving yourself permission to want it.”
Dismantling the Guilt
Jenna works exclusively with women, and she’s seen firsthand how hard it is to shake the guilt that surfaces when we try to slow down. Whether it’s fear of seeming lazy, selfish, or ungrateful, many women carry internal narratives that stop them from honoring their true desires.
“We mask our real wants because we don’t want to feel like a mooch, or like we’re not contributing. But when we pause to listen, what we want is often exactly what we need.”
Amanda echoed the importance of tuning into those wants—even if they feel inconvenient or unclear at first. Without that self-permission, it's hard to access aligned productivity, no matter how many hours you’re working.
Leading Differently
Of course, stepping into a new way of working doesn’t come without resistance. Jenna doesn’t sugarcoat it—choosing a different path requires courage. It may challenge people around you. It may trigger pushback. But it also creates a ripple effect that can transform your community and beyond.
“You’ll be surprised who notices. People will start asking how you did it. You become proof of what’s possible.”
It’s leadership in its purest form—not about titles or teams, but about going first and inviting others to rethink what’s possible for themselves, too.
3 Keys to Creating Your Own Version of Success
Jenna wrapped up the conversation with three powerful takeaways for anyone ready to embrace their own uncommon path:
Expect it to feel uncomfortable at first
You’ve been conditioned for the 40-hour week. It’s normal to feel resistance or restlessness. It’s not a sign to quit—it’s a sign that your nervous system is adjusting.Constraints spark creativity
Having less time forces clarity. You’ll make bolder decisions, create stronger boundaries, and innovate more than ever before.This is your shortcut to the future
The systems, mindset shifts, and refinements required to work less are the very things that elevate your business. It’s not a detour—it’s acceleration.
Your Life, Your Way
This episode is a must-listen for anyone who’s tired of equating busyness with value. Jenna’s story reminds us that we’re allowed to live differently—that we can choose peace without sacrificing purpose, and lead without losing ourselves in the process.
So here’s your invitation: Pause. Reflect. Ask yourself what you really want—not what’s expected, not what’s probable. Then take the next small, courageous step toward that vision.
Because success isn’t a one-size-fits-all formula.
It’s a life you design—on your own terms.
📩 Want more from Jenna?
Listen to her podcast, The Three Day Workweek, or follow her journey at theuncommonway.com
🎙️ Catch the full conversation on The Amanda Kaufman Show — available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.
Chapters List
00:00 Introduction to the Uncommon Way
01:06 The Journey to a Three-Day Work Week
03:17 Challenging Work Paradigms
06:06 The Importance of Relaxation and Balance
07:06 Guilt and the Desire for Balance
09:11 Reconnecting with Authentic Desires
10:27 The Role of Leadership in Change
11:31 Key Takeaways for Transitioning to Less Work
14:26 Conclusion and Resources
Full Transcript
Jenna (00:00)
I'm not going to sugarcoat it. It is when you step out in a way that's different from what everyone else is doing, you do really have to be prepared for a little bit of pushback even from people around you.
Amanda Kaufman (00:32)
Well, hey, hey, welcome back to the Amanda Kaufman show. And today I'm joined by Jenna Harrison, who is a top ranked business coach, podcast host and founder of the Uncommon Way. She's a reformed over worker and she helps women build more freedom, impact and health in just three days per week. She walks her talk, having designed her own 24 hour work week and has moved her family to Spain.
where you'll find her hiking up mountaintops with friends or playing on the beach with her seven-year-old son. Well, Jenna, welcome to the show.
Jenna (01:08)
Hi everyone, so nice to be here with you.
Amanda Kaufman (01:12)
I love it. You know, I was really excited to see you join the roster for the Amanda Kaufman show because balance is one of the things that throws most new entrepreneurs and coaches way off. So I'm just so curious. What led you to designing the uncommon three day work week?
Jenna (01:34)
It's definitely not something that I went into business to do. So a lot of people purposely, you know, leave corporate so that they can work less and have this wonderful work-life balance. I actually approached it from another way. I just had this deep longing to be an entrepreneur, but I wanted to work nonstop in it. I loved the work so much and it was hard to tear me away from my computer. In fact, when I had my baby,
Amanda Kaufman (01:38)
Mm-hmm.
Mmm.
Jenna (02:00)
I was working night times and nap times for two years straight. And the only time I took a night off was Friday nights for movie night with my husband because I felt guilty. I was a terrible wife if I didn't at least take some time off for him.
Amanda Kaufman (02:07)
Mm-hmm.
Wow. You know, I started my business while I was also like on maternity leave. So I was working maybe little more than new mothers often do. But I'm just so curious, what was motivating you at that time to prioritize work so much? Like, what did you find, I guess, rewarding about working a lot of hours?
Jenna (02:39)
Yeah, my gosh, such a great question because I think that there are surface level answers to that and then there are also deeper answers to that. So the surface level answer is that I felt like I was pursuing my dreams, which I was, of course, but in terms of working all of those hours, it made me feel like I was doing everything I needed to in order to succeed. It made me feel powerful. It made me feel
Amanda Kaufman (02:44)
Is it?
Yeah.
Jenna (03:06)
like a proper adult, it made me feel accomplished, and it made me feel, most importantly, like I had a better chance of success. Now, I've since revised my thinking about that, but at the time, I thought there was a direct relation to how hard I worked with the success that I would see in my business.
Amanda Kaufman (03:14)
Mmm.
Love that. So talk to me a little bit about what was your flip point? Like when did you start to challenge those paradigms and start thinking differently about the work week?
Jenna (03:35)
Yeah, so I actually had a situation where I was forced to work less. The pandemic had started, we had a cross country move. I was in a hotel room with a two year old for two months as we were waiting for the new house to be ready. My husband was in the military, so we didn't have a choice about any of this. And I was working less and my business actually grew. So you'd think that that would have been the turning point that said, great, I'll just keep doing more of what works.
But actually it wasn't. I kept falling back into old habits after our life kind of resumed its normality. And then I had a period where I would kind of vacillate back and forth between wanting, you know, knowing how much better it felt, how much business, how much better the business was going when I was scaling back my hours, but then slipping back into these old habits. And so the final turning point was when I
Realized that I was really never not in my business and I remember sitting there with my son He was at this point where he wanted to draw the planet Saturn all the time and he would draw it over and over again and I felt like the the urge so deeply in my body to get up off the chair and just fold the clothes and It was painful to me to sit in the chair and just be with him
while he drew the planet Saturn over and over again. And I started to realize that probably wouldn't have been the case if I were in a more relaxed state, right? Like somehow I'd noticed that when I had a glass of wine, I just was a better parrot and he and I would get along so well. And I realized that there was something about relaxation that inspired a different outlook on life and a different perspective on what I needed to do. And I started to wonder,
Amanda Kaufman (05:08)
and
Jenna (05:26)
Would it be possible to rewrite the patterns that had brought me to where I was and start doing something differently? And what I found out is that when I was able to do that, it helped me question everything. Because it's like if I thought that was impossible, but I was able to do it, what else is possible for me that I am just not believing is true at this point?
Amanda Kaufman (05:48)
I love this, I love this. I've been talking a lot with my clients lately about the difference between possibility and probability. And if you leave things to probabilities, you're probably gonna be overworked, you're probably gonna be overweight, you're probably gonna be divorced, you're probably, probably, probably, right? Because the news cycles make sure we know the stats. But when you live in a world of possibility, it starts opening these doorways that a lot of people are not even aware exist.
Jenna (06:07)
Yes.
Amanda Kaufman (06:15)
And depending on your priorities, like maybe having a better sense of your balance and being like what I'm hearing you say is it's far less about the 24 hours and it's far more about your capacity and your capacity to be relaxed as you move through your life more holistically, maybe even without the glass of wine, you know, by choice.
Jenna (06:36)
Right. Yes, absolutely.
And that is it. It's really a metaphor for just designing the life you want and then making sure your business supports you in that life rather than vice versa, you supporting your business.
Amanda Kaufman (06:43)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Love it.
Totally, totally. so obviously, like this has become so important to you that you've made it the core, kind of the crux of your business. So as a business coach, like what are you noticing about people's appetite for working less and maybe smarter?
Jenna (07:02)
Yes.
Yeah, feel like there's, first of all, we have to get past a lot of the guilt for even doing so. Because whenever we stop working, invariably, especially with women, I work exclusively with women, there are feelings of guilt that get kicked up. And so a lot of times we mask our deep desires for this type of harmony and balance with other things, like I used to tell myself, no, I love doing this.
Amanda Kaufman (07:25)
Mm-hmm.
Hmm.
Jenna (07:39)
We mask our true desires because we don't want to deal with the guilt or the thoughts that we'd have about ourselves as fill in the blank, right? Whatever negative self-talk, being a mooch, not really, you know, being privileged, not really being fair, not, not really being down to earth and understanding what it is, not contributing enough to the family, supposedly, right? There's so many things that can come up when we stop, when we
Amanda Kaufman (07:45)
and
Jenna (08:06)
curtail our hours.
Amanda Kaufman (08:08)
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. And I just love this conversation because I'm a big fan of examining the quality of your hours and really paying attention to the time that you spend because, you know, something that comes up for me around this is for sure ambition. Like I've got a lot to build. And so I feel myself that feeling that pull. But the thing is, is if you don't have the discernment,
about what you're focusing on, whether you're working 24 hours, 40 hours, or 80 hours, without that discernment, it's really hard to stay in alignment and in aligned productivity. And the truth is, that, you you could take those 24 hours, you could run multiple businesses if you wanted to, you could raise a family if you wanted to, you could just not if you wanted to. Like there's a lot of different things, but the thing that I'm noticing is it comes down to want.
and being allowed or allowing yourself the permission to examine your authentic desires and maybe even in the season.
Jenna (09:09)
goodness, yes, well said. I was going to work towards desires and how out of touch we can become with our desire because so often the talk, the self-talk is we don't have time for that.
or that's not as important as somebody else's needs in this moment. And we suppress those for so long that it's really hard to hear them. I've had women say to me, but what would I do with that extra time? I don't even know what I would want to do. Or they'll say, right, right. Or they'll say, you know, I have a few hours before the kids wake up on the weekend. Why wouldn't I just be productive?
Amanda Kaufman (09:36)
Whatever you want.
Jenna (09:49)
and they've really lost touch with what's available on the other side of that quest for constant productivity.
Amanda Kaufman (09:49)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. You know, it does demand a level of leadership, doesn't it? You know, to choose your course and to decide, you know, where you're going to place your energy, where you're going to emphasize that support. You know, what comes up for you with that, with the notion of the role of leadership in such a decision of the uncommon way?
Jenna (10:20)
I'm not going to sugarcoat it. It is when you step out in a way that's different from what everyone else is doing, you do really have to be prepared for a little bit of like pushback even from people around you.
And you have to be willing to take.
that leadership because invariably what happens is that other people are paying attention and the ripple effect extends beyond your wildest imaginations. You'll have the most interesting people coming up to you that you didn't even realize were paying attention and they'll say, how do you do that? You know, I really want more of that too. How would that be possible? You know, how did you start? A lot of the questions that you're asking me, right? Yeah.
Amanda Kaufman (11:03)
Yeah.
What would you say are the top three things that if somebody wanted to move in this direction, they should keep in mind? Like if they were to really take this on, what are three things they should absolutely keep in mind?
Jenna (11:20)
Okay, well, first of all, it's a process. They've been conditioned this way. We've all been conditioned for a 40-hour work week. So we shouldn't expect that we'll be able to go immediately from one point to another without some cognitive dissonance, right? Without it feeling weird for us, both in our minds and in our body, right? So that restless feeling that might come up, totally normal. Doesn't mean that there's anything wrong.
Amanda Kaufman (11:23)
Mm.
Hmm.
Jenna (11:47)
It just means that your body, your nervous system is acclimating to a different baseline. Right? It's used to being kind of spun up and now we're really slowing down and creating a new pace in our life. That's the first thing. The second thing, this is the good news. It's going to blow your mind to see how much constraint actually helps your business and your life.
Amanda Kaufman (11:54)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Jenna (12:13)
So when you have less time in your business, your creativity skyrockets. You're forced to rethink all of the things that before maybe you had relaxed boundaries. You don't have time for that anymore. You really need to make priorities and create priorities and make strong decisions, sometimes uncomfortable decisions in your business in order to facilitate this, but it ripples out. All of a sudden you're more direct with the
Amanda Kaufman (12:35)
Mm-hmm.
Jenna (12:41)
with your family members and more conscious and caring about how you talk to people and friends and what you're willing to do and not willing to do at your kid's school, what you're willing to do and not willing to do. And so it really does ripple out. I say get ready for a really amazing ripple effect that you probably weren't expecting. And number three is really just to know that everything that you're doing
Amanda Kaufman (13:03)
Okay.
Jenna (13:07)
is preparing you for the future. It's just, I shouldn't say it's bringing your future to you sooner than you would have expected. Because invariably what is required to answer the question, how in the world am I going to do this in less time? The answer to that is always the mindset jump or the system jump, or there's something that you needed to understand, maybe a tweak in your offers.
right, that is going, that would have brought you to the next level. And you're just accelerating that process by applying these constraints.
Amanda Kaufman (13:44)
I love this, I love this so much. The idea that constraints can actually spark that creativity, I totally believe that, have experienced that as well. And so Jenna, if somebody wanted to follow you and hear more about how to live in this way, what would be the best way for them to do that?
Jenna (14:05)
I have a podcast called The Three Day Workweek. I'd love for them to come and listen and just give it a try.
Amanda Kaufman (14:14)
That's so good. That's so good. And we'll make sure to have the link to the podcast as well as Jenna's other information like her website and so on in the show notes. Jenna, thank you so much for taking time today, which is clearly very precious, very valuable in the way that you set up your business. Thank you so much for being here.
Jenna (14:28)
You
Such a pleasure. Thanks for having me.
Amanda Kaufman (14:36)
Amazing. Now, dear listener, if you love this episode, make sure that you take a few seconds to leave us a review. know, Jenna worked hard. She's in Spain, so she's doing this in her evening to be here for you and showing up with her amazing energy. And of course, if you haven't already subscribed, make sure you do so and go ahead and forward this episode to three of your friends that you know are working so crazy hard and they need to have more constraint and creativity.
This is a very kind way to let them know that. All right, y'all. Thank you so much for joining us for the Amanda Kaufman show and we will see you in another episode.
