0% luck. 100% Hustle

This made me think. I think it is so true of so many parts of our lives.

Can you just be in the right place at the right time? Or is it just that the years of work we put into getting to one place is just leading us in a different direction to that which we we perceived?

Do some people just get all the luck, and some people get more that their fair share of up-close brick walls?

For me, I think a lot of it depends on attitude – both your own and that of those around you.

I was brought up with the thought that you only get out what you put in. You concentrate in school and put in the work, you get the grades. You do your best at work, you get promoted. You put effort and love into a relationship, you receive effort and love back. Ergo, if you start to slack, the rewards you reap will decrease.

Looking back over my life, it is quite black and white as to whether I was at full throttle hustle or being too trusting in luck. When I was hustling, the rewards have been plentiful and wonderful – and that is addictive. If you can see the benefits of your hard work, the work becomes less hard.

For me though, if I have been lazy and relied on either luck or others, then 9 times out of 10, the only outcome has been for me to walk away – there and then – with no hesitation. There is no going back for me when faced with my own failings. If I stay to try and repair, my noggin becomes a soft play area for constant doubt, blaming and self hate, resulting is such toxicity that I can create a wasteland of casualties around me.

But is the title quote true? At my ripe old age of 48, I have witnessed what appears to be exceptions to this rule. These people are generally the more smiley, pleasant people that myself! They exude that shiny gene that bypassed me many generations ago! And that’s not their fault – nay, nay! It is a gift. A way of life. They appear to have the ability to let the worker bees beaver away only to benefit from the reapings of our endeavours.

Then does this mean that my above opinions are tinted by that green lens of jealousy? Am I even putting up a wishful thinking wall of incorrect perception about these “lucky” folk? Who’s to say that they don’t put in as much effort as the rest of us? Maybe their hustle is having to perfect accepting other peoples rewards and not being consumed with guilt. Or maybe their hustle is remaining indifferent to the rest of us whilst we are on a constant treadmill just to stay mentally and physically capable to move forward. (Sorry, that is sounding like I’m having a pity party. Truly, I am not!)

And then there is that change of direction I mentioned earlier. When we don’t arrive at a destination we perceived as our goal, does this mean we have failed, or is it that we just didn’t consider this as an alternative outcome of our toils and tribulations? Is a change of direction a bad thing? Can it conceivably be just another twist and turn of daily life, or is it a failure of not reaching our original destination.

For me, at this particular moment in time, the thought of a change in direction is the holy grail, the glowing ring, the light at the end of the tunnel….. I just need everyone else to be onboard with me when I go, because if they are not, is it really a holy grail at all?

Am I just hustling myself towards an empty Easter egg?