You can’t throw a rock at the internet without hitting a webpage where someone is talking about hustle.

Ask Gary Vaynerchuk how he defines hustle and he’ll tell you it’s “maximizing the energy you put into what you are passionate about.”

In his book, he says that hustle is the one tangible thing people can do to change the direction of their lives.

“If you want to turn up the hustle, you just have to spend more time doing whatever it is that takes you where you want to go.”

I’ve been thinking about this a lot.

And, well… I simultaneously do and don’t agree with Gary’s definition of hustle.

Yes, I’m all for showing up every day and I adore focusing on that which that matters.

However, the term hustle also carries a bit of baggage within some circles — because there’s this idea that sleep and rest are the enemy.

For me, I gravitate toward the word diligence, even though, really, I see diligence and hustle as close to synonymous.

The truth is, we only have (at best) a capacity of 3-4 hours per day that we can spend on deep and focused work.

And so, in order to maximize the energy we put into what we are passionate about, we need to live a healthy (a.k.a. balanced) life so that the time which we dedicate to our work is as efficient and impactful as possible.

In a nut: checking email 30 times per day is not “hustling”.

For me, to make every minute count, means:

• Living with focus.
• Minimizing distractions.
• Showing up to do the work.
• Taking time to rest well.
• Reading and learning.
• Accepting the ebb and flow of work.
• Spending time with my family.
• Saying no.

To make every minute count you’ve got to make every future minute count also.

And that means living a life today that won’t leave you burnt out, sick, and broke in 5 or 10 years.

— Shawn

 

Greg McKeown on Working Smarter, Not Harder

From his book, Essentialism:

What is the obstacle that is keeping you back from achieving what really matters to you? By systematically identifying and removing this “constraint” you’ll be able to significantly reduce the friction seeing you from executing what is essential.

Before we just try to throw more hours at something, consider first what obstacles may be keeping us back?

For example, if someone is watching 5 hours of TV every night, there’s a pretty huge opportunity for reclaiming that time to spend it on more valuable things.

 

Fizzle Show: Anti-Hustle →

The crew at Fizzle recently put out an excellent podcast episode regarding “why hustle hurts you”. It’s a balanced and thoughtful discussion about the value of resting well and being okay with not-yet-breakthrough results in our business or side project.

 

Why Srinivas Rao writes 1,000 words every day →

In short: momentum. But that’s just one of the plethora of benefits of having a deep work activity that you show up every day for.

 

Your’s Truly, Regarding Goals

This little tidbit is adapted from one of the days in Module Two of The Focus Course.

There are two “camps” when it comes to goal setting.

1. On one side are those who champion for clear goal setting with a very intense, daily system for tracking your progress. This can be extremely helpful for the professional athlete, but it’s not always practical for everyone.

2. On the other side are those who champion for little to no goal setting at all. The mantra here is that it’s all about the joy in the journey.

There is value and truth in both of these camps. When we have a clear goal, it’s a way to define what the fruit of our life’s values and vision may look like, and this gives us something to be motivated toward and work for. That motivated state helps us make progress toward the things that are important in life.

If you spin the phrases of “qualitative” and “quantitative”, you get this dual-sided approach to goal setting.

By defining your goals you’re giving yourself something quantitative to attain. And then you can build a quality-of-life-centric lifestyle that is based on the foundation of your vision and values.

In short, you’re not only moving forward in the aim of attaining a tangible goal, but you’re also finding joy in the process.

It works like this: Decisiveness brings motivation for action; action brings clarity; clarity helps us make future decisions.

To me, this is what hustle is all about. Working hard to reach for a goal while also taking great joy in the process. Casting off as many distractions as possible and living a focused (and healthy) life.