SIDE HUSTLE

Hustle, as defined by the Urban Dictionary, means ‘working hard, usually towards the common goal of creating an income.’ If you are anything like me, you not only know how to hustle but you do it quite well.  Somedays I wish I could do the laid back 70’s version of the hustle and just Van McCoy it but instead it seems everyday I’m hustlin’ Rick Ross style for the unpolished sake of survival!

If you are lucky enough to hustle for a living by way of following your passion that means you must have been listening to your parents when they told you before you went off to college, “pick something you can make a career out of that will last for the long haul.” It certainly makes waking up and going to work so much more enjoyable if you have a thriving career you are passionate about. Getting paid for doing what you love to do? Hales yah! Who wouldn’t want that? For those of us who could have sworn we listened at the time but somehow our paths took a different course, our hustle feels a little more arduous. Right? Right.

If you’re a hard core hustler you know what it’s like to constantly be pushing. No matter how much you pace yourself, by the time you lunge yourself across the finish line there’s likely a new goal waiting for you and the race starts all over.  Does this sound familiar?

I strongly believe in order to hedge the hustle and make it less of a struggle, you gotta have a side hustle. What’s a side hustle? A side hustle is your passion. You gotta find something you love to do and just do it whether you get paid for it or not. Having a side hustle refuels your soul, recharges your battery and fills your mental thinking tank back up so you have the energy you need to put into your working hustle in order to get the job done successfully.

Some people are runners and they seek that runner’s high; others are music fanatics so they tour city to city in an effort to find their peace.  Rescuing animals, starting charities, solving puzzles and traveling to exotic locations are also side hustles. Quite a few hustlers I know take interest in low key, laid back passions to offset the hysteria of their daily hustle. Yoga, mediation, getting lost in a good novel or waking up early and watching the sunrise are all perfect passion pick-me-ups.

With only two more working days left in the first quarter to meet my quota, I left the office with a stack of paperwork unpolishedly strung out. My intention was to hightail it to get the kids on time and then go go go go grind it out at my kitchen table to finish the Q1 hustle. A co-worker stopped me in the stairwell and said with insistence, “You need to chill. Don’t go home and work tonight. It will be waiting for you when you get in tomorrow morning; instead go home and write something smart and unpolished and make me laugh.” 

She was right. That was the reminder I needed. In order to finish my struggle hustle, I needed my side hustle. I needed a piece of my passion to refresh the engine. Rick Ross can wait until tomorrow;  but for now I’m gonna slow my roll with some unpolished side hustle. If my colleague is reading this post, I owe you something smart and funny and I’m on it!

JUST TO LET YOU KNOW…. In order to keep the hustle hustling, keep your side hustle hustling even stronger. Whatever your side hustle may be, keep it, nurture it and continue to do it. It’s the unpolished way!