It’s Time To Be Honest About Hustling
There’s one thing about hustling that nobody wants to talk about.
“Every true hustler knows that you cannot hustle forever. You will go to jail eventually.” The Notorious B.I.G.
I have three small children. They rise with the morning sun. And it’s very annoying. From the moment, their feet hit the floor they are off like wild horses galloping through my house, my yard, my kitchen and it is non-stop.
They are the embodiment of hustling.
But one thing I know, if I sit them on the couch for more than 10 seconds they will sleep like rocks.
They wiggle, squirm, and whine, but with a little patience they drift off into dreamland.
I do that from time to time not because I’m a mean father and want to stifle their fun.
On the contrary, I know that they need the time to relax and recover so that they can be their best.
Too bad we all forget that when we “grow up.”
The mantra of our coffee saturated, guru motivated, entrepreneurial era is, hustle.
If you ain’t hustling, you ain’t living, and you’re definitely not successful.
But nobody wants to admit that you have to stop.
You have to rest.
There is no possible way to be in a perpetual state of hustle without proper rest. But we all know that’s not true because the most productive hustling happens after a good night’s sleep.
So I’m committed to learning from my kids and you should too.
It’s time to stop hustling all the time.
That sounds like blasphemy!
And secretly some of you suffer from hustler’s guilt.
You feel bad because you can’t hustle as much as your famous online motivator tells you to hustle. But it’s ok you don’t have to feel guilty. It’s only human.
At least one day per week I don’t hustle.
One day per week I don’t work my fingers down to the bone.
Almost every day there are meetings that I pass up, and phone calls I let go to voicemail.
Somedays I play with my kids, watch Netflix, and enjoy my life.
I am consumed with my work. Going and going all the time. Never pausing always putting my thoughts and energy into my work and grinding to build out the future.
But recently I realized, I don’t have a hobby. Something I take joy in doing, just because I like to do it.
We need hobbies; we need breaks, we need rest. Otherwise, we are on the fast track to depression or burnout.
If you have people around you who keep telling you to hustle and grind non-stop, sun up to sun down, then they don’t truly care about your well being.
I respect a dude like Gary Vaynerchuk who says, “Stop whining, start hustling”, but he will also say unequivocally, “do what makes you happy.”
I think many of us hustle from a posture of guilt, rather than hope and vision.
We hustle because we fear what other people think about us or we see ourselves as way behind the rest of the world.
But we have to realize that true hustlers know themselves enough to get the rest they need and when to shut it down.
If you don’t know when to turn off, then your body will crash, and it will take much more time to recover from burnout than building a rhythm and healthy margins into your life.
Resting Does Not Equal Laziness
Laziness is defined as, unwilling to work or use energy.
That’s right! Unwilling to work.
We want to be our absolute best. Therefore, we do what we must by having healthy rhythms of rest so that we can hustle the hardest.
Genuinely successful hustlers are marked by these three things:
• They are self-aware
• They are comprehensively healthy (Mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical)
• They are motivated by vision not guilt
Success comes to those who work smart and consistently.
No marathoner lives like a sprinter. Instead, they find their rhythm so that they can make the long journey successfully.
So, I went to see Justice League by myself. The CGI was cheesy, but I had a great time.
And yes, I go to the movies by myself. I’m not ashamed.
And no, I don’t feel guilty because I was watching a movie when I should have been grinding.
If you hustle so hard that you cant stop, get ready, because a brick wall is coming. Some part of you will be lost in the explosion, and you will wish that you had slowed down and avoided the burnout.
But who am I to judge?
If you like being suckered by social media motivators to sacrifice your life for the sake of the hustle then so be it.
Don’t worry, my kids and I will save a seat in the backyard for you.
