Some people seem to get all the good breaks. They wake up and make success look easy. Walking around like a star quarterback, they leave you wondering how they do it. When life’s throwing you up against a wall, it looks like they don’t even try. Some guys just have all the luck.
While success is defined differently for everyone, there’s one constant: No matter how hard life gets, successful people make hustle a habit. They simply don’t give up on what they really want.
When the going gets tough, only a few will keep going. Are you one of them?
Below are 4 pro tips on how to make hustle a part of who you are:
1. Carve out time each week to work solely on your dream
We all get busy. Busy with work, busy with school, busy with just trying to get by. This can leave you with what seems like no energy left over. This is why, you must set aside time each week to focus on what you truly love.
Whether it be a couple of hours on Saturday morning or spread throughout the week, you must commit to scheduling time for goals you actually care about. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself merely treading water in a life that is nowhere near your dream. While we all have responsibilities in life that we don’t enjoy, it’s vital to allot time solely for things that truly set your soul on fire.
“No one is going to come to your house and drop off your dream life in the mail box. It’s up to you to create the kind of life you want to have and you have to work for it.” – Camilla Kragius
2. Set small goals for each block of time
There will be times in life when you question why you’re trying so hard for what seems like menial payoff. It may feel like life’s putting you in your place, telling you to be less ambitious. That little annoying voice inside your head screams that you’re not good enough and to just move on. Just be happy with what you have.
During these times, it’s a must to set small, measurable goals. These will keep you on track when you’re not performing as well as you’d like. During the time you carve out for your dream, understand that sometimes you’ll be at your peak performance and others will make it difficult to even try. Just remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is your empire.
3. Be patient
Maybe you’re still stuck in a job you hate. Maybe you hate where you live. Maybe life just isn’t what you thought it would be. You wish you never dreamed big in the first place. What good is it to be taunted by the life that you wished you had?
This is why it pays to have patience and realize that at different times of life, you will find happiness in different areas. You don’t have to acquire happiness from your day job. Of course, that should be a long-term goal of yours, but life is messy and, at times, far from ideal.
Yet, it is during those times that our true character is revealed, setting us up for a dream bigger than we could imagine, if only we could recognize it in front of us.
“No great thing is suddenly created.” – Epictetus
4. Just create
When you’re close to giving up, it’s important to let yourself have fun just creating. Perhaps you want to write a book, but the idea seems totally impossible. At these times, you will need to distract yourself from the overwhelm of accomplishing the entire goal and just create. Whether it be art, your cool new website or that coffee shop you’ve always wanted, just get started.
Stop focusing on why you can’t do it and start focusing on simply doing. Just take the first step. Once you make success a habit, you’ll look back smiling at the incredible life you built by not giving up.
What has been helpful to me is not only setting a specific time aside to work, but outlining in advance the task I will work on during that time frame. This way when I sit down to work, I can hit the ground running on a particular task and stay focused.
The consistency of carving out time each week is so important. It’s amazing the momentum that is built even when you do just a little bit each week. Obviously, the more right things you do consistently the faster the momentum. Great article, Jessica.
Thanks Bryan! Consistency is so true. Before I used to get frustrated with my progress and want to give up. But, it’s more so about the long-term persistence that takes great patience and reasonable goal setting.