4 Truths about Hustle & Hardwork

Introduction

One of the biggest buzzwords around business and entrepreneurship is ‘Hustle’. Heck, I have used the word on more than one occasion. It’s one of those words that gets you fired up to take action and perform. It feels really good to say you’re a ‘hustler’. There is something thuggish and rebellious about it. It feels like you are walking in slow-motion in a suit with a steely expression on your face, backlit by a massive explosion as the word HUSTLER boldly appears at the top of the screen. It implies you are taking names and getting sh*t done. But, unfortunately, with the hype around it, there are a lot of people using it to get attention and to feel good about themselves. These are the people who say they are ‘hustling’ and working hard but in reality are the people living in their grandmother’s basement, spending half their day talking about their big ideas and the other half gaming. In this article, I will talk about my perspective on ‘Hustle’.

1. Hustle is Continuous

Well done Johnny you worked one late night in the week and now you think you’re a hustler *sarcastic tone. The truth is, to get stuff done you need to be eating, sleeping, breathing your goals, and your business. And don’t let anyone fool you, it’s flipping hard work and takes a lot of patience and a ton of mistakes. I have been playing this game for close to 10 years now and I am nowhere near where I want to be but I have an end goal in mind. I know what I am working towards and I also know that every minute, hour, or day that I am not “hustling”, is a delay in my progress. To put it another way, you can’t work out once a week and expect to have abs otherwise everyone would be shredded.

2. Hustle means Action

If you want to kick back on the sidelines and watch other people getting stuff done, then go to an Arsenal game (kidding, don’t they are in terrible shape at the moment). The point is, if you want to claim the title of “Hustler” then you need to go out there and actually get stuff done. I can’t tell you how many people have come up to me and pitched me some ‘great idea’ and then never followed through on any of it. The difference between successful people and wannabes is that successful people have enough guts to take action because they wanted to achieve something. They are the kind of people who dive straight in and teach themselves how to swim.

3. Hustle Efficiently

There is absolutely no point in rowing a boat from A to B if your boat has a hole in it. Because, no matter how hard you work moving those oars, it won’t change the fact that your boat is sinking. What most people fail to realise is that to “hustle” effectively, you need to be efficient in what you do. Talking sh*t on the phone all day or being in meetings that achieve absolutely nothing, does not constitute as hustling. That, my friend, is called wasting time and time is a commodity hustlers don’t waste because time is money. In order to move forward in life, you need to make sure you are making the most efficient use of your time. For example, I am not someone who wastes time, money, and petrol walking around the mall looking for a gift for 3 hours when I can spend 15 minutes finding and ordering it online from the comfort of my office.

4. Hustle ain’t Pretty

Most people who hear the word ‘entrepreneur’, immediately picture the late Steve Jobs and what he did with Apple. But, what they also fail to realise is that he was also a one-in-a-million kind of guy who lived for his work and had terrible relationships with people because of it. He sacrificed a lot of things that most people aren’t willing to sacrifice in pursuit of his vision. If you are someone who wants to come close to achieving any of the things that he did, then those are the sacrifices you need to be making too. The fact of the matter is, is that if you are having piss ups with your mates on the weekend, or buying the latest gaming console when you should be investing in yourself, in your business or growth opportunities then you are far from a ‘hustler’.

Conclusion

To hustle means to get down and dirty in the trenches. It means to take advantage of the fact that the majority of people have the “Netflix and Chill” mentality. It means to understand that by working while others aren’t, you will be able to reap the rewards they can only wish for. What it doesn’t mean, is thinking that you have suddenly ‘arrived’ because you have registered a company, set up a Wix website and a few social media pages, or have managed to hire a couple of people to do your dirty work for you. That kind of thinking is a surefire way to land you in hot water. There is no short-cut to getting rich or achieving your goals and it’s naive and stupid to even entertain the idea. That’s exactly how people get taken advantage of. The only way to do so is to work hard and hustle. To put it in a different way, hustle is the currency you have to invest and if you don’t invest it then you can’t expect to reap the returns later on. It’s that simple.