The Secret Message for Serious Success in a Post Malone Song.

Hint: It’s not “hustling.”

Recently I was listening to the Post Malone song “Congratulations,” in all my infinitely late comes-arounds to popular music, and I realized something didn’t add up.

Of all the words we’re used to hearing in regards to how to achieve success, what first comes to mind?

Hustling? Grinding? Pushing your limit?

It’s clear it’s become fashionably common to refer to oneself as “busy” in order to (1) stroke our egos and (2) feel like we’re actually getting a lot done.

But, what if we’ve had it all wrong?

An Uncommon Reference to Success

When’s the last time you heard the word, “patience,” used when it comes to highly successful people?

“I was patient, yeah-oh, I was patient.” -Post Malone

Booooring, right?

In all our dopamine-addicted societal ways, it’s much more exciting, and completely logical to equate greater activity with greater success. “It just makes so much sense!”

It’s also a total cop-out for doing the hard work of finding the work that matters most.

Furthermore, undertones of chasing “success” for the sole sake of seeming a certain type of person, lurk in the background along with a materialistic and ultimately unfulfilling (and unlikely) outcome.

The Harder You Work, the More Successful You’ll Be. Hmmmm.

Could this commonly-accepted-as-fact concept become so overblown to the point of working against us?

“I’m exhausted every day, but I’m making all sorts of things happen in my eighteen hours.” — Gary Vee

I’m no Gary Vee-hater, as the success of Gary Vee is undeniable, but as someone who strives to maximize the quality of my life, a definition which includes success and balance, I personally wouldn’t choose to create a life where I’m “exhausted” every single day.

As long as Gary is happy though, I’m happy for him.

More and more so, we’re beginning to question the role of the hustle, as various studies and numerous authors are bravely challenging the creep of status quo in expecting us to push ourselves beyond our limits.

While I’m also not discrediting the value and necessity of hard work in the achievement of success (Post Malone speaks of this too), there seems to be a new thread being weaved.

The SuperSized American Approach to Work

The prescribed perpetual requirement for more “hustle” and its seemingly logical connection to “more work is better,” is akin to ordering the SuperSized fries from McDonald’s (raise your hand if you’ve done it *raises hand*) applied to our short working lives.

Hard Work + More Work = Success.

Seems to sum it up in the most convenient of ways, eh?

It also sums up how dysfunctional we’ve become as a whole by letting ourselves off the hook to apply conscious thought to what we’re doing.

The de facto: If we’re not successful, then we’re not working hard enough.

The effect: A shallow, thoughtless, potentially harmful approach to work that completely eliminates any further examination of how we’re working…and more importantly, why.

Call it Deep Work, Flow State, SuperSized (ok maybe not that last one).

Americans are extremely unhappy with the work they’re doing, and they only have themselves to blame.

So what in the actual hell then, could be the answer?

Deep Work. Flow State. Fulfillment.

These terms you may have once or recently heard, carry with them that airy, grandiose feeling that surely means nothing for us.

But, these things below do, right?

That fancy car might give us a feeling of power, or esteem, or pride. That successful business might make us feel like we “arrived” or we are recognized. That trip to Nepal might make us feel like a world-class adventurer. Losing 10 pounds might make us feel more desired.

After enough things have been acquired, x amount of times. After enough Amazon packages have arrived at our door. After enough nights out with overpriced drinks that make us feel important, if you haven’t felt it already, there slowly grows an awareness that something is still missing.

Ultimately what we are really searching for is a certain experience we want to have on the inside. -Lynn Newman, TinyBuddha.com

If what’s happened in light of the pandemic in the realm of mental health, suicide, depression, anxiety, alcoholism, abuse is any indication, now more than ever is there a need to find what is meaningful, and what makes us feel truly content.

A Different Formula for Present Happiness & Future Success

Instead of the aforementioned formula pulled from the underbelly of a “hustle” culture that seems to be dying its slow & deserved death, a new formula then arises.

Regular Deep Work + Patience = Happiness

Let’s explain.

“Deep Work” is not just some buzzword to add into the lexicon of the idiots hustling their brain cells away. It holds massive implications for putting yourself into a mental-emotional state that validates you truly care about what you’re doing.

It’s the single most effective indication that you’re doing work you’re connected to on the deepest levels. Ahem…deep work.

Have you ever done something and found yourself losing track of time?

Have you ever found yourself completely engrossed in an activity?

Have you ever found yourself caring so much about something you’re doing that, the feeling of peace and presence is indescribable?

The life we dream about begins with finding this feeling. Then….

Make it your life’s work to get paid for doing these things.

We can feel relieved to know that there are many of them. Surely the stress created by searching for our “one” thing is a pipedream and one that exists only to pigeonhole our potential.

If you’re one of the lucky ones so far to have “found the flow,” you’ll know all too well the powerful yet centered feelings of deep contentment that follow time spent doing difficult work we care deeply about.

So what about the second part then?

Great Power Really Does Require Great Responsibility

A new understanding about how and why we work can quite easily lead to new feelings of power over our lives that if left unchecked can create unrealistic expectations of when things “should occur” (enter ego).

Equally important in this equation is the prioritization of continued health on all levels (mental, physical, emotional, etc.) achieved by quelling inflated and soon-to-be-outdated beliefs.

Embracing “patience” is something only beneficial when applied practically to the way think, and how we feel, with each impacting the other.

Surely it’s easy to claim ourselves as patient, but unless we’re experiencing regularly actual feelings of peace and gratitude for what we currently have, there’s more work to be done.

Patience speaks to understanding that success:

(1) Takes a lot of time to occur

(2) Admits our humanness in our ability to get things done

(3) Retains the humility of the constant need for learning

(4) Releases the inaccurate belief that we are in total control

The Secret Message for All of Us in “Patience”

There can only be so much done in day’s time. Whether our workday is 6, 8, 10 or 18 hours, the fact remains:

We are limited in time, energy, and current capacity.

What’s the old saying?

“Rome wasn’t built in a day.” According to hustle culture, it can be.

That’s where things end for me, hopefully for you, and for this article:

Patience applied to success means admitting and acting compassionately towards ourselves, and that ultimately we are limited in what can be accomplished in a day’s and a life’s time.

This one single word carries immense connotations for the humble belief in, and the hope for, a more abundant and prosperous future.

Applied most simply, “set in your mind to what you wish to achieve, and be ready to take the actions that are presented to you, in a way that maintains balance as you define it.”

Above all else, realize that success occurs as a byproduct, not an aim, of pursuing aims that serve others.

Be like Posty, be patient. Yeaaahh-ohhh.