Hustle

Think of “hustling” as investing:  Whatever we do above and beyond expectations adds up and pays dividends.  That’s a marked contrast to always being behind and in debt.

Unfortunately, many fail to understand that just “getting by” or “staying even” is not a “Zero Sum Game”.  The farther we go in the journey, the higher the stakes, the greater the expectations, the greater the competition, the more “credits” and “collateral” we need (as in having accrued marketable skills and being able to give a positive account of what we’ve done with our lives – future investors need to know!), and the greater the risk of falling behind.   

So what constitutes “hustling”?

·         Make good grades (they lead to preferential treatment, expanded opportunities and scholarships)

·         Earn early college credits in high school via Advanced Placement courses or International Baccalaureate programs

·         Pick a favorite subject and do a project for extra credit (Wow!  Who does THAT?!)

·         Get involved in a service project or other extracurricular activity

·         Earn some money, spend only what you really need, and save as much as possible

·         Research your interests

·         Plan your future

·         Join a professional organization

·         Get coaching

 

The rewards of hustling are legion:

·         College graduates earn an average of $1 million more than high school graduates over a lifetime

·         Self-esteem is much greater with benchmark accomplishments under our belts

·         Jobs are much easier to get with a prominent track record in hand

·         First Advocates are easier to find for glowing references … job recommendations … etc.

·         There’s a pronounced “Bandwagon Effect”: Everybody wants to be part of something / somebody that’s “GOING SOMEWHERE”

·         Networking with significant others is enhanced

·         Opportunities for personal and professional growth and advancement are greatly enhanced

·         Job security is more assured

·         Promotion possibilities are markedly enhanced

·         Social and professional interactions are on a much higher level (e.g., less consumed by woeful wailing commiseration, soap operas, late night talk show proceedings, and latest video game scores)

NOTE: Hustling is not optional.  WHEN we hustle is optional … up to a point of no return.  We can do it either proactively, and reap dividend rewards, or after inevitable Defining Moments / Moments of Truth, and suffer debtor’s double recompense and remorse -- with unrecoverable opportunities lost.   The difference between a 10% dividend and a 10% debt spread over a lifetime can be astronomical.  In financial terms, the ten-year differential between saving $5 per month at +3% interest and accruing debt of $5 per month at -24% interest is $3,000.  Non-financial investments and debts accrue positive versus negative “interest” in similar fashion.  Very few companies are interested in investing in individuals who have not made substantial investments of their own and who carry more liabilities than assets. 

 

NOTE 2:  The world is not going to come knocking at your door, no matter how “Good” you are.  Fate will come knocking at your door if it finds you just “hanging around waiting”, and then the picture won’t be pretty.  Don’t be just “hanging around”.  Start hustling!

Finally, life is all about CHOICES.  Hustling not only expands choices but yields much higher quality choices.  The choice is yours.  Quartermaster

Visioning Conundrum

The fundamental, nagging, gnawing question that keeps me up late at night is this:

Why do we have so many “Defining Moments” / “Moments of Truth” in life? 

            “It ain’t fair!”
            “Why ME?”

            “I never saw it coming!”

            “I never signed up for THIS!”

            “There oughtta be a law!”  [In fact, there IS!]                       

Why do we have so many unfortunate – but not completely unforeseeable – sobering “surprises”?   Like …  

·         Finally finding it is impossible to raise a family on minimum wage income

·         Being “passed over” for promotions

·         Loss of jobs

·         Divorce

·         Abject Indebtedness/Insolvency/Bankruptcy

·         Job dissatisfaction

·         Dead-end jobs

·         Haplessness

·         Hopelessness 

Maybe it’s because nobody ever told us these things could happen?

Maybe nobody ever clearly lined out the expectations?

Maybe it’s because we’re too comfortable in the NOW – or were YESTERDAY?

My cat wonders why I bust my butt,

trekking off in the world all day, every day,

 coming home completely exhausted – and for what?

It’s all HERE!

Interestingly, some of the biggest “stars” in life come from some of the most desperate circumstances: They’ve already tasted hunger, poverty, destitution, isolation, oppression, and/or discrimination and they want to distance themselves from all of it as fast and as far as possible.  Social, economic, mental and physical handicaps tend to make folks much more focused on becoming all that they can be.  Such “obligatory life warriors” often emerge as “Unlikely Champions”, rising well above any comparable peer group, to achieve top honors in their respective fields of endeavor.   

Maybe the problem for the rest of us is that being a “life warrior” is not obligatory?

Maybe it’s because we’re willing – or adamant – to risk doing as little as we can “get away with” – at least for as long as we can “get away with it”? 

Maybe it’s because we’re convinced that we’re “Special” – somehow privileged and immune?

Maybe it’s because we don’t care – and/or don’t know enough to care?

Maybe it’s because credit is so easy and debt is so ethereal – merely a numbers game?

Maybe because it’s just too much effort to “make something of ourselves”?

            (Who deigns to say we’re not “good enough” already?)

(And, BTW, our parents, neighbors and overachieving peers are working entirely too hard and not enjoying life to the fullest!)

Maybe being the “best” – or a “success” – is not really a legitimate goal?

Maybe we don’t want to mess with Destiny … i.e., it’s just a matter of time until “our time” comes … until we get “discovered” … until our “ship” comes in … until our “true destiny” arrives?

            ( … so we content ourselves in the interim – and keep the “monkey” of gross overachievement off our backs – by wallowing in social media and playing the lottery!)

Whatever the reason(s), a sobering Reality Check seems long overdue.  Things that matter DO matter, and blatant underachievement, leading to unrecoverability of true potential and possibilities, is soul-darkening for far too many.   

Yes, some of us may be working way too hard and giving up far too much.  But who among true “life warriors” is willing to give Fate one iota of inroad toward compromising their true potential and/or reducing their possibilities or sustainability?   

One of the hard truths is that accepting mere, sheer survival as the operational “norm” in the unperturbed moment won’t deliver anything close to a “deservable” allotment of personal satisfaction, fulfillment, peace-of-mind, success … or whatever else you want to call the ultimate goal or purpose of life.   

Failure to “see the big picture” – worse, an unwillingness to acknowledge and/or act on what one DOES or CAN see – is a formula for failure overall.   

“The time for taking all measures for a ship’s safety

[and for full-capacity armament]

is while still able to do so.”

Admiral Nimitz

That would be NOW!   Quartermaster

Barriers

Barriers

Not being able to function “normally” can be soul-darkening! 

We just came through a major, sanity-challenging floor renovation project carried out in the midst of three historic Polar Vortices, and haven’t yet completely recovered.  Three weeks of preparation included moving all the furniture from 6 rooms into the basement and garage, severely compromising the primary functionalities of ALL these spaces.  Then the weather made it unconscionably prohibitive to have free-ranging access to essential tools (never mind clean underwear!) – or to open windows to clear the air from dust and industrial solvents used or generated in the process – or to the great outdoors for heavy-duty crafting and waste disposal operations.  We spent 6 days and nights in a motel – with a traumatized cat, running back and forth to keep the project going as expeditiously as possible.

The process of “recalculating” and re-routing every element of daily operations to accommodate “The Project” was exhausting – not counting the work, itself.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Debra was having trouble getting all her work done.  She was increasingly failing to meet the 30-day turn-around benchmark for processing travel paperwork for the management team.  She, nonetheless, liberally involved herself in much less compelling activities. 

The travel paperwork, it turned out, had become a barrier unto itself -- a tremendous millstone around her neck.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

We are, by nature, drawn to unfettered, free-ranging activity – preferably involving immediate gratification – and barriers are anathema.  We resist doing or responding to anything that threatens the “natural flow” of our lives – particularly as we deem it should be.  We exceed speed limits, roll through STOP signs, procrastinate in doing our homework, accumulate debt, become delinquent in paying our bills, are not disposed to limiting our food, beverage and/or recreational drug choices, and vigorously rebel against any and all authority. 

But, curiously, our free-ranging behavior creates more barriers!

Insisting on “Doing our own thing our own way”, and putting ourselves personally in charge of our own universe severely limits the size of our universe

and truncates opportunity in the universe at large.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

It turns out that BARRIERS are an essential part of life, and overcoming barriers is what life is all about. 

"The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something."
- Randy Pausch

So we have to be able to function amid restrictions of all kinds, become proficient in overcoming barriers, and – by ALL means – stop putting barriers in our own way.  Whatever OTHER business we’re in, we’re in the business of knocking down and leaping over barriers.  As so many have found, inordinately large barriers and/or inordinately large numbers of barriers of any size are soul-darkening.   Let’s start knocking down some barriers – particularly those of our own making – and brighten up the place!  Quartermaster