The Myth of Hustle: Embracing Effortless Achievement in a World Obsessed with Grinding
Achieve More by Striving Less and Embracing Challenge
Imagine achieving your goals effortlessly instead of grinding your way to success.
How would you feel?
But most of what I hear about — these days — is hustle.
Leave your comfort zone!
I get it.
AND
I am tired of it.
For sure:
If we live in a constant state of comfort, we’ll do what’s comfortable.
Unfortunately, it will not be much.
And, HUSTLE is not bad advice for everyone.
If you are young and addicted to your phone, porn, or games, Hustle might be the answer.
The first time we “do” something “right”, like eating a fatty donut, our brain releases a hormone that is better than anything you can get at the local supermarket — dopamine.
External rewards trigger dopamine responses. A quick and aggressive change in behavior could help break this cycle.
- Get up early
- Exercise every day
- Completely change your diet
- Setting some goals to achieve
These abrupt changes could help people get on the right track.
Assuming you’re not in the above group, you might want to change your perspective on hustle.
Leaving your comfort zone is wrong for several reasons:
- It puts you in the wrong mindset
- Life feels like a struggle — it sucks
- You operate from a mindset of threat
- You automatically go into a negative stress response
Cortisol, the stress hormone, floods your system. Good in the short term, and bad for your health in the long term.
If you want to speed up the growth of wrinkles on your face and take every chance of catching the flu nearby, go ahead and leave your comfort zone and spike these cortisol hits to the max.
But, here is what I do:
I go into challenge mode.
Stress is a constant inhibitor of life itself.
Without stress on biological systems, there would have been no evolution from bacteria to human beings.
But your approach to stress should be positive.
I would rather face a challenge, complete it or not than live outside my comfort zone. This way your perception shifts from discomfort and struggle to the manageability of a given situation.
You become calmer and more resilient.
