Hustle!
Posted by Corey on March 11, 2010
A friend sent me this quote from Steven Covey. It’s about Pleasure Centerdness:
“We live in a world where instant gratification is available and encouraged. Television and movies are major influences in increasing people’s expectations . . . pleasure, per se, offers no deep, lasting satisfaction or sense of fulfillment. . . A
person in this state becomes almost entirely narcissistic, interpreting all of life in terms of the pleasure it provides to the self here and now.
Too many vacations that last too long, too many movies, too much TV, too much video game playing–too much undisciplined leisure time in which a person continually takes the course of least resistance gradually wastes a life.”
Wow is this accurate! A fundamental truth about life today is that we all need to hustle a bit more each and every day. To hustle means to try harder than you are currently trying. I’ve seen too many people waste too much time and talent doing things that will never make them truly happy. We want instant gratification even though few things in life worth having are that easy to obtain. We figure out too late in life that just making ourselves happy isn’t true happiness at all.
Here is how it happens: we try hard in life for a while and find out that’s it’s really hard to do the right things in life all the time - to care about others, to excel at school or work, to win over the people’s trust, to act with character. So, we settle for the lowest common denominator and just do the easy things that make us happy.
If you played sports as a kid you’ll remember the coach yelling, “Hey _____[insert your name here] . . . HUSTLE!” What this meant was, unless you try harder than you are currently trying, you’re going to get splinters from sitting on the bench all game. I wish we had someone like that in life - someone who could sit us out until we get it - until we try harder. We don’t, so it’s up to you. Life is about contributing something to the greater good. Trust me - it will make you the kind of happy that’s worth it.
I played football my freshman year in high school. I was far from fastest, strongest, or most talented kid on the team, but I gave it my best. I’ll never forget one day, as I was the second player on the team to finish our mile run, coach came up to me and said, “Good hustle Chimes. That’s why we’re thinking about starting you at corner.” A couple of weeks later, I was starting. It is one of the most treasured accomplishments of my life. Because of this experience, I know first hand that hustle can bring personal gain.
What I really like about this post is the idea that we should hustle for the “greater good”. I’ve since realized that I didn’t work hard because I wanted our team to win, but simply because I wanted to be a starter. While I recognize it is better that I hustled, I only wish I had held a higher purpose in mind. As of now, I am a firm believer that if you invest for the sake of the whole, you will invariably better yourself in the process.
I’ve swam all my life and between the ages of 11-17, I had the same coach. Now, my coach was unusual, he certainly had a unique way of approaching things. As I reflect back on those years, I can’t say I neccessarily agree with his tactics. However, I can’t deny that he was the one who taught me about hustling everyday in everything I do. The first thing he would say everyday when I’d get on deck is “hustle”…even at 5 AM in the morning. He never let us forget it. Ironically, he learned to preach the concept of hustling from his high school gym teacher, a man our team knew as Mr. Ciocchetti (no joke…). My coach was well into his 60’s and he’d been preaching about hustling since he was about 20 years old.
It made us better swimmers, when we weren’t hustling, it meant that we weren’t trying our bests. Hustling makes a person push their boundaries, no one ever reached their potential by simply taking their sweet time on the things they do. Hustling means to give the extra 10% and yes, it does take you out of your comfort zone at times. But in the end, the more you hustle, the better results you’ll achieve. I completely agree with this post about hustling because I’ve experienced it first-hand. I don’t think I could have made it this far in my swimming career if my coach hadn’t been screaming “hustle jackie” everyday for 6 years. Sometimes it just takes that one person to make a difference in your life that you’ll remember forever.
When I was younger, my brother and I had very different childhood then many of our other classmates. We participated in pee-wee sports coached by our father every season and we were not allowed to have video games. This is so different from children today who do not know how to function without electronics which can inhibit them socially. Sports teaches you how to work together and that each part of the whole is equally important. It is for that reason that sports will always hold a huge part in my life.
For the most part, you do not win the game, score the winning goal, or block the shot to send it into overtime simply by showing up. I think its so imperative to start this at a young age because it teaches you how to have a good work ethics and how to set goals and standards for yourself. The act of winning and losing is so important because it provides the motivation to improve. You have to spend time outside of practice and outside of the game if you want to achieve your goals and improve upon your skills. Improving based off of the fruits of your own labor can be a much sweeter reward than just simply winning. Knowing that the outcome was a result of your own hard work and dedication is the best fuel for motivation.
People are constantly seeking approval or someone to tell them that they did a good job. Being able to measure your own achievement and acknowledge yourself for your own efforts can be one of the most rewarding parts of learning how to motivate yourself.
Sports undoubtedly are one of the best experiences to learn aspects of teamwork, but they also give individuals a sense of work ethic, motivation, and the confidence that they can take with them for the rest of their lives.
I have a lot of issues with this post. First, I understand the basic premise that it is a good thing to push ourselves in terms of motivation and striving towards some ultimate goal. That is wonderful. However, I think it is a completely moot point to be claiming that we as Americans are lazy. Where did this idea come from? From what is being claimed in this post, it seems that technology is a primary cause. Yet it is a basic logical fallacy to assume correlation equals causation. The advent of technology is hard to empirically trace to this distant label of “lazy.” It is fact that Americans work more hours than Europeans and often don’t even use up all of their vacation time–pretty tangible proof of the disconnect between culture related to global labor hours. The things that define “lazy” might be obesity, technology and this supposedly universal idea that all Americans want the easy way out. I’ve already talked about technology so I would like to move on to obesity. Is it so shocking to realize that people are so stressed by their incredible work hours that they would turn to the most available drug today being food? What is the problem everyone has for not getting in shape? Not enough time. Also this supposed embedded idea that Americans all want the easy way out. Surprise, every person wants the easy way out no matter where you live. How many people, without social pressure would choose 10 hours hard labor over 5? So to take a basic human tendency and universalize Americans and then chastise them for it is equivalent to making fun of someone for having the reaction to save their own life in an emergency situation in a crowd. Self awareness is not narcissism nor is the basic human tendency to protect oneself. What really gets me is that I’ve recently asked people if they think Americans are lazy. Many of them will say, “of course!” I’ll ask them if they feel they or their friends are lazy. All will reply, “well of course not, but this is DU. It’s a different population,” or, “no but me and my friends are employed full time on top of school. It’s not the same for everyone.” It would be nice for someone to tell me where these lazy beach whales of Americans are sitting and staring at TVs drinking beer because from my view, students, single moms even our parents have all their time absorbed by work in some sense. My primary issue is that people do hustle. They work hard and they get called lazy for enjoying their off time. They feel guilty and lose relationships with families and friends. Social and emotional issues abound. People become perfectionists. It is unfair to categorize a generation as lazy due to some vague, dogmatic idea that not living up to the American ideal of success and “happiness” and then use that point to make people feel guilty for not losing their lives to work. Let me clarify. Some people are lazy and some are not. These are personality differences and my goal was to analyze this issue from a universal view instead of getting caught up in these atypical examples.
All throughout high school I was a member of my school’s cross country team. I am by no means the most athletic person; however I earned and maintained my varsity position all four years. Each and every day I had to practice and race my hardest in order to keep my position, as there was a very close competition between myself and the other girls on the team. The difference between me and the girls running junior varsity had nothing to do with ability, but instead it was the result of my extra effort. I’m certain that our intense workouts were not any less painful for me, but I made a promise to myself and to my team to never quit or only give my second best. It was because of this extreme pain and dedication I invested in my running that I was able to experience the extreme joy and pride when I excelled and was able run the best I could at state. This is a personal example of how hard work and “hustling” result in the best possible payment. The results may not have been monetary or tangible, yet I was authentically happy and proud of myself with the knowledge that I did the absolute best I could and always put forth my best efforts.
I agree that too much undisciplined leisure time makes people lazier and gradually waste their lives. There are so many meaningful things in life that are more worthwhile to pursue than just seeking instant gratification or pleasure. People who waste all their time conducting meaningless activities such as watching TV or playing video games can never find true fulfillment They might feel pleasure and relaxed while they are goofing around, but after the time elapses, they will feel regretful. Happiness and fulfillment can come from hard work. The gratification you get after you try hard to finish a project that you once considered impossible is much deeper and more meaningful than the gratification you gain from a watching a soap opera. Yes, we don’t have someone like a basketball coach to push us harder in our life, so it’s very important for us to create our own creed to push ourselves harder in whatever we do.
Although I do agree that people today do need to hustle more and try harder I’m not so sure technology and television are solely to blame. Like many of my peers I have personally grown up a relatively privileged kid and have a nice computer, car and things of that nature. Yet, I big difference I see between myself and many of my peers is a lack of appreciation in my peers for what they have. I work hard in school, work, and my army career therefore earning what is given to me by my parents. Yet, everyday I see kids who are given the world and don’t appreciate it. It seems they have some sort of sense of entitlement like they deserve the $40,000 car their parents bought them and that they don’t need to work hard to earn the privilege to have a nice car or whatever it is they are given. It’s like many kids these days have grown up under the mentality that they deserve everything and don’t have to work for. I think some of the laziness and lack of hustle in todays society is due to bad parenting because many kids today don’t appreciate the amount of hard work and dedication it takes to have a good life and have nice things. Kids today in my opinion simply don’t realize what they have and therefore don’t try harder because of that.
While there may be things I agree and disagree with I think Professor Ciocchetti’s point that we are lazy is valid. It may not be in the sense that we are just sitting around or enjoying our downtime, because in reality those are the things that make us happy. All right, maybe lazy isn’t the best word for us, but often our generation is called the “hopeless one” or whatever other words you want to use there. There are few people that advocate for causes or get passionate about things (like our debates in class
) or are perhaps getting passionate about the wrong things. I think a better description for lazy would be that we are generation that lacks passion and direction. Part of this probably comes from being told our entire lives that we could be anything that we wanted and perhaps not having the kind of discipline we should have (I am in no way categorizing everyone or even a select few but speaking from experience and statistics).
Last year for RA training I had to read a book called Strengths Finder and it said not to focus on weaknesses by trying to fix them but channeling our strengths so that we can be the best person that we can be. It turned all of my thinking upside down because we sit here and focus on everything we need to fix instead of realizing that we can acheive greatness pretty easily! But there is also an element of reality to be analyzed here because we can’t all be the best singers or become doctors. I came to DU planning to go to medical school and should have realized that it wasn’t the best choice for me because I don’t understand science! While this can be seen as giving up on something, I would rather look at it as an moment of self discovery otherwise I would’ve been continuously let down. Wow, I’ve gone on a tangent.
Anyway, I think focusing on what truly makes us happy instead of what might make others happy is the most important and hardest learned lesson to be learned. We really do do the easy things that make us happy, yet most of the time that only gives us a temporary happiness. Overcoming tough things gives us such a more permanent happiness.
“Life is about contributing something to the greater good” might just be my new life mantra. I could go on forever about this, maybe another time
I thought this has something to do with hustling and giving it our all. The last week or so of student government elections has allowed me to reflect upon this campus and some of the things that have been on my mind for quite awhile now, as I continue to establish myself within the university and find my niche. In my bid for DCB Senator, I was faced with an opponent who chose to instead take credit for the work of those around him, rather than get down to work and execute the plans he spent days talking about. But, more important to this general discussion of our campus culture, is his behavior of getting involved in millions of things - mostly insignificant positions made to sound important (e.g. “Chief Justice of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity”) that will look good on a resume (to an unsuspecting employer at least) but hold little value anywhere else. If there’s anything I learned in my early years of high school, it was that superficial involvement in too many things does little to advance my cause, and instead to pursue the three to four things I am really passionate about, and pursue them.
My opponent embodies the classic case highlighted in Professor C.’s book - Lauren, the V.P. of an organization she hardly knew anything about. When I arrived to speak at one of the student organizations during campaigning, for example, he was there speaking about his “big plans for Daniels,” but I was quick to counter that he was skipping the Senate meetings he was elected to go to. So often, I have noticed students - high school and college - in over their heads in extracurricular activities that they miss altogether the purpose of such involvements - to foster the learning acquired in the classroom in a real-world environment, whatever that may be. So many students are overcommitted to the extent that: a) they cannot even focus on schoolwork b) they have little impact in the organizations that they are in and c) they get burned out before long.
Over-involvement is arguably as dangerous - or at least as ineffective - as no involvement at all. What is the purpose, after all, of putting an activity on a resume if you did little with it and took nothing away? Am I advocating for no student involvement? Absolutely not. What I am proposing, however, is that we as a campus become more centered around fostering well-balances lifestyles and place equal value on academics as extracurricular activities, but more important, that we create a culture that stresses impact in the endeavors we choose, and that being a ‘member’ has more value than just my name on a list-serve and two inches on my resume. Let’s DU it.
This is a life lesson that has genuinely been very difficult for me to understand and I still struggle to practice this ‘hustle’ in everything I do. Basically from the day I was born I have been involved in basketball. My father was a high school basketball coach till the day I graduated and I basically grew up in a gym. The word hustle has been ingrained in my being when it comes to sports and I have put the word to use; after all I earned a scholarship to play here at DU and I am far from the most naturally gifted athlete to walk this campus. What I have yet to master is the application of this word to the other aspects of my life, growing up my academic career and social life have all come very naturally to me and I manage to skate through things without always giving as much effort to them as I should. This is something that over the past year or so I have been trying to get better at but it was not until reading Professor C’s book did I make the connection to the word hustle and how it can be applied to my lackluster effort off the court. It is not as if I do not get the grades I desire or the relationships I desire but I am starting to realize that I will get a lot more out of my college experience beyond basketball if I take a vested interest in all aspects of my life not just particular ones. This is a good way for me to express my goals and make a concerted effort to becoming a complete person.
I must respectfully disagree with Rosie. America has become extremely lazy, and it is seen everywhere. Stats show that kids average 22 to 28 hours of TV watching per week!! And only 3 hours doing homework… About 30% of Americans are obese and ANOTHER 30% are overweight in general. And obesity is more prevalent in America than anywhere else in the world. We have become such a lazy society that we can’t even figure out our own finances - the average savings for an American is zero - we are saving nothing. On top of that, we have learned to rely on government for EVERYTHING - from retirement savings (social security), to medication (medicaid and medicare), charity (I don’t believe government has ethics, people have ethics, so charities should be private not public sector), and everything in-between (entitlements consist of over 50% of the budget and we refuse to cut down despite our towering deficit around $13 trillion - and earmarks totaled to around $2 billion in 2009 because constituents continue to vote for senators based on their ability to bring home pet projects like the “bridge to nowhere”). America does spend incredible hours working, while countries like France, average much less hours of input for work, but, America’s GDP per person is not that much higher… so how much harder are we really working? It seems to me that laziness is the standard, and hustling is the anomaly.
The kinds of people who hustle need to start becoming the standard, but for now they are legends. Whoopi Goldberg is a famous actress despite dyslexia. Bethany Hamilton is a pro surfer even though one of her arms was bitten off by a shark. Chris Klug was the first Olympic athlete to have undergone an organ transplant – which was just two years before he competed. And as we all know, Jason McElwain made history for his HS basketball team, despite struggles with autism. These people got to where they are today only because of their ability to HUSTLE.
Mahatma Gandhi said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” If you want to see more people in the world going for their dreams and achieving them, then what are you doing to hustle towards your dreams?
*Sorry I didn’t cite my sources, but it’s common knowledge if you just google it!
When I first read the quote from Steven Covey, so many examples of when I do hustle came to mind. Putting extra effort into my school work or pushing myself in sports. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought about areas of my life where I need to hustle. I wish I had hustled when it came to maintaining friends I moved away from or working on my art. Sure at the time the other things that I was doing while neglecting these aspects of my life made me happy, but now I regret not doing something that would bring me genuine happiness and fulfillment. I think too many people nowadays rely on things like television shows or the internet to bring them happiness right now instead of putting in the extra effort to achieve something significant or improve themselves. Some people might ask what’s wrong with getting happiness now the easy way, but when I reflect on my life all my happiest moments revolve around something that I had to hustle to earn. Winning sectionals for our school for the first time, graduating high school, getting into college, and getting my summer internship are all examples of things that bring me true happiness. And all of these things are also examples of the results of my hard work and hustle. I want to continue to achieve things in my life that will bring me happiness, so I’m going to try to hustle today to be truly happy tomorrow.
As most of my classmates know by now, I follow baseball and the Yankees religiously. I try to stay updated with everything that goes on in Yankees Universe by watching every game and reading several papers and blogs about them. About a month ago, I was reading an article from the NY Daily News and came across an interesting story.
One day in 1993, Derek Jeter, who was a scrawny and unestablished prospect in the minor leagues at the time, finished practice and was slowly walking slowly back to the clubhouse. Don Mattingly, a former MVP and All-star who was given the honorable name “Donnie Baseball,” was also finishing his workout. Since both were the last players practicing, Mattingly was impressed with Jeter’s work ethic after seeing how much time he spent diligently working to hone his batting and fielding skills. However, after seeing Jeter walking slowly, Mattingly ran by him, tapped him on the shoulder, and told him, ” We’d better run in. You never know who’s watching.” Jeter, surprised that a superstar like Mattingly cared enough to give advice to a nobody, promptly started sprinting.
Today, Jeter is arguably the face of baseball. He is a perennial all-star, 5-time World Champion, has won numerous award, and is the captain of the Yankees, perhaps the most respected title in baseball. However, the words Don Mattingly told him still resonate profoundly in his life, as he has said that they were some of most important words in his career and helped him reach his status as a baseball icon.
What I have written thus far relates only slightly to this particular post. My main point is that Jeter has never reduced his work ethic, because he knows that all eyes are on him every minute. Jeter has consistently persisted throughout his career. While his peers are continuously bombarded with accusations and are entrenched in controversies, Jeter is known to be one of the most ethical and classiest people. Using the advice, he always acts in a way that will not embarrass his organization or himself, which is especially important in New York, where everyone is scrutinized and the media is unforgiving.
We should all be like Derek Jeter. We should be ethical, work the hardest no matter what, and set good examples for others to look up to. Like Professor Ciocchetti said, we need to work harder and harder everyday. At 36, which is five years past the age when most shortstops decline rapidly, Jeter has excelled both on and off the field. Recently, he had shown that he lost some of his athleticism, and the fact was highlighted by his horrendous 2008 season. However, Jeter worked even harder and improved his workout regimen and had one of his best years in 2009 to silence the critics. He took the criticism and hustled, even though he is a veteran player and already has cemented his candidacy for the Baseball Hall of Fame, to excel. By working harder, you will always be in a good position to succeed in life. You never know who is watching so being at your best at times is necessary. Maybe your future boss or colleague is near you, so you do not want to do anything that might ruin potential relationships. If one can follow the way Jeter goes about life, they can achieve their goals. Jeter grew up a passionate Yankees fan and always wanted to play for them. By hustling, he ultimately became the captain. Basically, what Don Mattingly said to Jeter, what Professor Ciocchetti said in this post, and what I am trying to say is: hustle.
Please excuse my excessive rambling because I am (obviously) prone to verbosity.
When I was a sophomore in high school, I had to chose between two very different types of “hustle,” music and hockey. I loved both and had never thought about doing one and not the other, but it finally came to that. In the end I chose music and have never regretted it for a second. And although its hard to “hustle” in music, you can always find some way to work a little hard and a little smarter.
sadly our generation has been labeled as being uncaring, lazy, narcissistic people who care why too much about their Saturday night plans than whats going on globally or even local or even about anything else except things that directly affecting them. i agree with this whole statement, everyone of my friends really dont care about anything but what is going on in the here and now. i feel that television is the leading reason for our generation to be like this. i can remember when i was growing up i would come home from school everyday and spend at least the first three hours being home watching television and without of a doubt it made me a lazier person. and as well thanks to movies and television it has given people a false view of the world. i have noticed that in our generation there are way more dreamers then doers. people just feel that if they want something and because of their back round or how they were raised they are entitled to things and do not have to earn them for ourselves. the more of the “honor students of the month” bumper stickers are made the more kids will not “hustle” in the same since that our parents’ generations or even more our grandparents’.
Personally, I feel the biggest problem with the generation of today is the lack of self-motivation, discipline, and overall understanding of how the world actually works. Each person has the freedom to choose his/her activities. In my opinion, extracurricular activities from elementary through high school are essential to obtain an elevated understanding of some of life’s key elements. Sports provide remarkable benefits to all three of the aspects mentioned above. Although a coach can be inspiring, threatening, or encouraging to assist in the motivation of his athletes, the overall level of success is determined by the athletes themselves. In order for the team to be successful, each athlete must motivate themselves to push harder, hustle more, and make knowledgeable decisions. Each individual is just that, an individual. However, these individuals must come together as a team in order to obtain their goals. This is a direct correlation to how the world operates. Individuals make up society as a whole. Society’s success is determined by the overall qualities of the majority just like that of a team. Each individual must fight to obtain his/her personal level of success because we, as individuals, serve as the foundation for our society as a whole. Although that may appear narcissistic on the surface, a solid foundation is a necessity for anything to be built upon it. The people of today’s generation need to be more self-motivated to encourage achievement in all regards.
In the realm of sports I know from experience that going harder than everyone around you isn’t even enough if you want to be the best. There’s always going to be someone working harder or someone better than you. You can’t be motivated by a coach making you run or do drills, you have to be personally motivated and want to be the best.
In addition, this logic applies to many other aspects other than sports. By simply attending classes and doing the bare minimum to get by we are not challenging ourselves or improving the world around us. I see this around me every day with my peers and generation as a whole. Without striving to succeed and giving all our effort to everything we do, we will not leave behind a meaningful legacy or leave the world a better place then we found it.
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