Flow > Hustle and Grind

Forget the Hustle

There seems to be an overarching theme in life, and that is to hustle and grind in order to become the richest man alive. I lived by this theme for years, thinking my bank balance would 10x, but skills would explode, and I would be on the Forbes 30 under 30 list by 27.

I was mistaken, and extremely exhausted.

Life has nothing to do with hustle and grind. It isn't about destroying yourself in order to become something. We are already that which we desire, but we just need to refine the process. I soon learn that flow supersedes hustle and grind.

Staying up until 2:00am just wasn't working for me every night. I was burning out. Managing everything in my life became a task. I was trying to stay healthy, perform at work, get stronger in the gym, grow my newsletter, work on passion projects, and the list goes on.

I was stretched beyond belief, and I couldn't sustain this approach.

"You Can't Eat Dreams For Breakfast, Joey."

I took a step back and realised that I wasn't going to do anything great if I was constantly burnt out. I needed to think about a better strategy. I took off the gas, applied the brakes and let myself just rest for a moment.

Hustling is a toxic culture that needs to be better understood. It can be extremely productive, but it implies moving at a fast rate, which isn't necessarily a good thing.

Life is really about flow.

When I learnt this, I felt I took all the pressure away.

The expectations and milestones didn't bring anxiety and pressure, they brought relief. I knew that I could have milestones and goals, but I wasn't going to allow myself to attach to the projected timeline and outcome.

I used them as guidelines.

I have learnt that if you find your flow, you will hustle and grind for free - without the hustle and the grind. You'll be in such an open state, that you'll be able to work long hours, without the exhaustion.

Work will become play.

This realisation has helped me just see what really matters in my life. I used to place staying up late, working into the darkness and barely just surviving as a way that should be lived for anyone who wants to succeed.

I placed emphasis on having no time for fun, leading to a very serious approach that was counter-productive and counter intuitive.

I sacrificed many parts of my life to feed the hunger of "getting things done" and although I did find moderate success, it was an unsustainable approach. One that I knew would be short lived, unless I increased my coffee intake, reduced my sleep time, stopped seeing friends, and stopped socialising completely.

I had it wrong for so many years.

It cost me part of my life.

I am fortunate that I soon realised that it was not an ethical way to live. I needed to feel inspired, motivated and excited about what I was doing. Instead of living for the goal, I needed to live in the now; the present moment.

I was so caught up in chasing the future, that I forgot to take a step back and see what was right in front of me. I sabotaged myself by looking past this very moment, focusing too much on where I needed to be, who I wanted to be, what I wanted to possess, and everything in-between.

Ultimately, "the zone" is the flow state I want to exist in. Flow allows me to be in a complete state of stasis, or equilibrium. Being in this state means there was absolutely no resistance in my thoughts, feelings or actions. It is almost like a state of bliss.

"This Is Water. What I Want Is The Ocean."

As I write this article, I feel zoned in. Nothing else matters, and I do not feel distracted. I am in the state of flow and the article is my conduit.

Soul

Like Joe, from the animation 'Soul', he finds himself "in the zone" when playing music. He loves jazz and has assumed that when he plays, he manifests his passion and gift, and so becomes himself. His goal is to make his name, which is another widespread view of life’s meaning.

When Joe plays his piano, he almost escapes the world around him. With his fingers on the chords of the instrument, the music in his ears and his body in a complete state of euphoria, nothing else matters.

Pete Doctor, the director of 'Soul' did a great job at depicting what the state of flow looks like. In the movie, however, they call it "the zone" and it very much emphasises this state where body, mind and soul are formed.

However, Joe starts to realise that these goals are illusory.

He meets Moonwind from “Mystics Without Borders”, a group that works across reality’s divisions, including heaven and earth, and Moonwind tells him a shocking thing. “Lost souls are not that different from those in the zone,” he remarks about flow states. “The zone is enjoyable but when that joy becomes an obsession, one becomes disconnected from life.”

In other words, positive experiences can detach you from life as effectively as negative ones: the pursuit of happiness can disorientate as thoroughly as existential pain. Being disconnected from life, alongside being unsure about your name, will turn out to be two sides of the same problem.

The movie reveals to us that life is really about "remembering who you are."

Life is not a linear ascent up a slope of progress.

In the revelation of flow instead of hustle, I found solace in knowing that this is a universal theme that almost everyone struggles with. It really comes down to passion and purpose, asking yourself what truly drives you and why it drives you.

Nobody has a the recipe, but we are all here trying to find out if we prefer breakfast, lunch or dinner. There is no one shoe fits all, but there is a way in which we can all find our flow and turn work into play.