“Put Heart in the Hustle” is not only a statement I invented, but a reminder of a deeper meaning of why we are all setting out to do something. This statement has come about from the accumulated personal experiences aiming for a certain number, a weight goal, and even a personal best in the gym…but for what other reasons? I lost sight of why I was doing it, having shallow or surface value targets, only to fall just short of it, or even when I did, the time having it was short lived and I only felt emptier inside. Some time ago at one of my state competitions, I got fixated, as competition preparations do, and I was busy chasing certain numbers to a point where I never felt satisfied with the work I put in. I did all my checks: Do I still love what I do? Am I recovering enough? Am I still progressing? Is this burnout? I checked yes to all, and questioned myself about why I feel like it still wasn’t enough. So I do the thing again– I show up, do the work, I leave, rinse and repeat. One time before leaving, I was sitting there with my earbuds in and one of my favorite songs came on. I listened to each and every word as if it were being said at that moment. I smile, feeling good inside and I’m nodding. I’m not sure why, but it clicked that day. I had to put heart in all this work, and not only think of it from a logical standpoint. After all, everything in life isn’t linear. A liner trend, sure it can be. To be completely linear, no.
It was (and still is) all about the in-betweens, the non-linear parts of your journey, the periods of blank space, the waiting part. That’s where all the gains happen, the beauty is in the making, the pudding which becomes the proof. That is where I found that you have to put heart in your hustle. Find a deeper reason for why you’re doing what you’re doing, why you’re aiming for what you’re wanting. To start, I’d ask yourself why you want a certain outcome to happen, then why again, and again and again until you find in your heart the true answer. You’ll know when you get there, because it’s consistent and is what will drive you to do the work. The results will be more than what you expect because there are also side effects and bonus rewards (fulfillment, for example)!
Put heart in what you do, and everything else will follow.
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