The Hustle

I had a difficult time turning my head off so that I could sleep last night. That’s been happening more and more lately. I’ve been thinking about the hustle. Thinking that I am probably going to have to ‘play the game’ in order to get to any place of value in my personal development.

The say you can’t knock it….. The world is changing quickly, and the global community is coming to a difficult crossroads. As with most issues, the U.S. has a way of intensifying things.

Result? More and more people on the hustle.

Yeah, you can still be a success on the straight and narrow – use the traditional methods, but to do that now is a MUCH different ballgame then when my parents did it. If you are going the traditional route, you have to define your goals early, make a plan, be diligent, and stray from that plan VERY little. All of those elements have to be in place, and the way life deals the cards – that’s just not feasible for a lot of individuals. School, good career, family, one or two companies, retirement just doesn’t happen anymore.

Most people I know are hustlin’. There are all kinds of hustles, legitimate/selfish, legal/illegal (actually most people mix a little of both) productive/destructive. Business entrepreneurs are hustlers, drug dealers are hustlers, the music business is DEFINITELY a hustle, politicians may be the ultimate hustlers. Most hustlers don’t get to experience much stability in their lives, everything is read and react, stay on top of the curve. Hustlers often don’t get to experience ‘luxuries’ like – health insurance. There usually isn’t much in the savings account (unless your hustle pays off, then there can be a whole lotta bank in your life.)

What I can’t get my head around is what amount of risk is ideal to have the best chance to succeed. Some people seem to be able to make the huge risk/huge reward thing work out for them – but an even larger number put themselves in a world of pain with that route. You have to be inventive and take chances. If your back is against the wall, you’ve got no choice but to do what you have to do to make sure things turn out right, don’t you? Won’t that sink or swim instinct pull most relatively intelligent resourceful people through in the end? I don’t know.

Maybe that’s enough to get me through and maybe it isn’t. See, realization standing in the corner at the back of the room giving me the wink wink. Telling me that I’m probably going to have to jump in with the current and get my hustle on. It’s no secret that I’ve been a holding pattern for a lot of years now, and you can only watch so many friends, and opportunities pass you by before it gets a little tough to take. I don’t know if I’m cut out for this personality wise, and I’m not sure how many of my chips are the right amount to push into the middle of the table for this bluff – but I can’t help but feel like its going to take a little explosion to get things moving in SOME kind of direction.

Question is, how much dynamite do I use, and how will things fall in the end…..