The False Hustle

The comedian Katt Williams used the Rick Ross song, Hustlin' as he entered from stage left.  Hearing the first few bars, I immediately fell in love with it.  It had this slow progression into what possibly could be an epic anthem, of sorts.  Everyday I'm hustlin' and as the word hustling is drawn out with every syllable, I realize that everytime I hear the word hustle, I will instantly have the Rick Ross medly in my head.

Since losing my steady form of income, being furloughed from my job created a new hustle.  I recently began to rethink about what I wanted to do to earn a living and begain with ideas for a new career.  I needed to start thinking about a different way to occupy my time, a way to interact and have fun without it feeling like "a job."  I will now admit, I am guilty of the FALSE HUSTLE.

At the end of the week, most of us like to think or believe that we have worked hard all week, but sometimes, the week was really just full of wasted energy.  My FALSE HUSTLE consisted of thinking about various work and jobs, imagining how I could afford to travel more, reading books and magazines, mindlessly occupying my mind with movies and television, and afternoon naps.  I convinced myself that I was actually doing the work.  The truth of the matter is that part of my week was productive but most of it was my false hustle. 

The reality is that for some of us, there is a lot of wasted time during a "typical" work day.  Standing at the copy maching, correlating papers, waiting on other coworkers for a meeting to begin, and transiting our way to and from work.  All could be called wasted time but we have this idea that this wasted time is part of the hustle.  THIS is the false hustle because during these times, we can multi task.  

I will admit that during these mindless tasks, it can be important and vital to also use it to meditate, unwind, or clear our heads.  I think the idea behind eliminating the false hustle is to ensure that our time is seriously used efficiently and productively.  The hustle needs to reflect actual results.  In this transition period, there should be a concious effort to put in the work and eliminate false hustles.  Stuck in the false hustle for too long, one can believe and manifest a false reality.