Hustle: The Cure For Those Who Complain

Let me just begin by saying if you are happy, none of this is for you.

If you take this entire weekend off and play at the pool, that is what you need to do! I know there is an enormous amount of conversation around hustle and work-life balance right now. I am enormously empathetic and I want to set the record straight.

Working hard should NOT be put on a pedestal. It should be understood that it can help people who are upset and complain.

Because your work ethic and your drive is not predicated on your zip code.

My honest belief is that the VaynerNation thinks they’re hustling and straight to your face, 99.9% of you are not. Everybody has time. Stop watching fucking Lost.

The thought of people saying, “Well, America is an entrepreneurial paradise,” is the same conversation that’s happening within the US to be great in tech, you need to be in San Francisco, and let me just remind everybody that Facebook was invented in Boston. I myself am from the former Soviet Union.

Greatness can come from anywhere!

I’m just worried that people don’t understand. There’s so many people worrying about their circumstance, or their zip code or if they will be accepted by their peers. I think the fear of losing trump’s the excitement of victory for so many people.

To me, hustle means putting all of your effort into achieving the goal at hand and that means making every minute count. So listen, you need a break? Good. Take your break, but the bottom line is, every minute that you can apply to your game, you need to. I worry that people don’t tap into their strengths. I think that people like to claim that they work hard, but they’re just not putting in the hours to win. A lot of people go home at 6. It’s just not enough.

Executing from 9–5 like they teach you in school is not going to work if you want to be number 1. It’s going to lead you to a place where you’re not going to win. Your talent isn’t enough. You’ve gotta put in the hours and stick to the grind.

Real hustle is deploying your energy in an actionable way toward the pursuit of some goal. 

You have to define what you want and why. Then you need to take actions in pursuit of that “what” or “why” and be able to explain why you did the things you did. Hustle is really working, day in and day when no one is looking. It’s about what you did from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep.

Did you watch the latest episode of House of Cards? Did you eat lunch with your friend? Did you take 2 hours to respond to email? Did you call your girlfriend from 7–8. Did your 3 meals take up 2–3 hours of your time? Did you walk your dog? What did you do?

If you’re honest with yourself, I think that a lot of you will find that you really didn’t work that hard. All and all, my guess is that most people in a traditional 9–5 work 3–4 hours a day. They take lunch, check email, spend 20 minutes on Facebook here, 30 minutes on Buzzfeed there and have two 30 minute meetings that could have been cut to 5. It’s just the truth.

You’re all spending time on things that don’t matter. And if they matter to you, then fine, but please don’t complain about what you want or could have. It just baffles me to know that an enormous amount of people are spending an hour or two on things every day that aren’t achieving anything for the goal that they’re chasing. You’re actions have to map your ambitions.

So you need to work harder. Your talent just isn’t enough.

If you want bling-bling, If you want to buy the Jets, If you want to have fancy clothes, then you need to put in the work. It’s the cost of entry. It’s the only variable you can actually control. You can’t control where you are from or how much money your parents had when you were born. You can’t control what neighborhood you’re from. The only thing you can control is what you do with your time. And because of the internet, and Instagram and Facebook, and Twitter, there are soooo many more opportunities for you to make something happen. Nowadays you can literally work from your phone. You don’t need to have an office, or a job to get moving. You can work from anywhere, anytime, for FREE.

Hustle is simply putting it all on the line. It’s really tough! Hustle is waking up the day before you die and realizing you gave it your all: the parenting of your children, the building of your businesses, the philanthropy that you wanted to do. Whatever you wanted, it’s just going all in. In both theory and strategy and execution.

Hustle is a word to so many of my hardcore fans that I wanted to define. I’m sorry to call you out, but I know you don’t work as hard as me. You tell me you want to build an incredible business and then I look at your profile and you’re talking about your six o’clock happy hour drink or your video game or skiing trip in Aspen. It’s just not work.

Again if you know anything about my content then you know that I don’t care if you hustle 18 hours a day. I really don’t. I want you to have your work life balance, and your happy hour and ping pong club after 6p if that’s what makes you happy. But if you are complaining and you want something morethan you need to put in the work. It’s the only non-debate.

Stop crying and keep working. Hustle is the only activity of success.