Hustle and Flow

Just recently, I felt the meaning of the words “hustle” and “flow”.

They sound cool and had been beyond my conceptual reach for a while, but I find them to be very real industrial terms.

FLOW.

Let’s start with “flow“. Flow is a little bit more commonly used in different industries. We talk about athletes being “in the zone”. Artists also exude their energy in musical, lyrical, colorful ways, and we would pay good money just to stand by and watch the artistic process as it just flows out of them. Flow is that beautiful moment when all of your natural talent is greater than the task at hand, with zero interruptions, and just pure and easy, natural energy flows. Flow is tapping into the natural powers you already possess, which sort of makes it more a matter of focus. Ancient civilizations prioritized the ability to set aside distractions; while, we have taught ourselves to prioritize the distractions and ignore the self.

Flow is raw talent shining through. We might spend a lifetime looking for something we can learn and get good at; and if we’re lucky, be good enough at it to make a living. Yet, so many times, we undervalue the things we already know how to do, the things that call our attention the most, that may seem easy to us, but not so easy for others. We are raised believing work and success are hard and elusive, and so we fail to realize that the things we might enjoy the most are powers, too.

HUSTLE.

“Hustle” is what you do, day after day, to get to the goal. Hustle means throw all your energy at it, even if it isn’t reaping benefits just yet. Keep getting up. Keep showing up. Keep your nose to the grindstone. Hustle is pure grit. It’s endurance. It’s the little engine that could. Here’s what I found out about hustle. You’ve got to hustle until you can find your flow. And then, you just flow.

So, the theory of Hustle and Flow is not so much a matter of attainment. I feel like it’s a matter of balance. It’s an instructional manual. Do one until you can achieve the other. Kind of like, “fake it til you make it”, except you’re not really faking… You’re more like practicing. So, I guess it’s more like, practice makes perfect. And going through the motions until something is second nature. Sure, talent takes practice. No one is in “flow” all of the time. The rest of the time, you’ve got to hustle.

If I had advice to give, it would be to encourage you to spend more time to find your flow. We can live and die being all hustle. Hustle is important. Hustle pays the bills. Hustle provides. But if you have a chance, hustle until you find your flow. Then, flow.