My friend, Jon Acuff (Yes, I just name dropped) is the king of hustle. Jon is right up there with Elvis, Lebron and the hard to read version of the bible. Straight up King. What I appreciate and have adopted from him is the realization that most people get where they are in life not exclusively as a result of talent, skill or education but because they simply hustled. Jon says the best definition of hustle is “an act of focus not frenzy”. I couldn’t have said it better.
However, I decided to add another word to it: grit. Not the southern superfood that is best eaten with cheese, butter and 3 fried eggs. I’m talking about the raw determination needed to actually hustle. If hustle, as Jon says, is a focused act, then grit is a determined heart.
It’s a made up mind. Being steadfast and resolute in the midst of change, chaos and challenges.
Early in our marriage, Angela and I found the fun that is the Swedish phenomenon IKEA. You could shop around, eat a .50 hot dog and see how an entire apartment could be furnished under $178! It was amazing. Especially for a newlywed couple on a tight budget. We turned the corner on the 8th floor right beyond the inflatable giraffe bean bag kitchen tables, to find the bed we saw in the commercial. It was so cool. It was hip, trendy, stylish and functional. A must have. I approached the young man who smelt of German chocolate and sawdust (he’d been working hard to assemble a bookshelf/kids playroom) and asked where I could find this bed. He presented me with a list of 83 items to pick up down stairs. We hurried down, grabbed all of the items, loaded our minivan and headed home lathered in anticipation of how glorious this bed would look in our room. IKEA doesn’t believe you need written instructions in order to build the perfect stove, hideaway bed or treehouse. They simply give you a drawing that’s a cross between Japanese anime and a second grade art class and tell you to figure it out. So, we did. That bed became an enemy with the first 7 hours of construction. If the razor sharp edges were bad enough (we both have scars on our shins to this day from that bed) the 1 by 2 inch slats that were supposed to hold the body weight of 2 adults collapsed nightly. It was the bed from hell and IKEA quickly became IKILLYA in our hearts and mind.
Dreams are like that bed. We see what we want and can envision how great it’s going to be when that dream comes to pass. At the same time, there are many idiosyncrasies and moving parts that have to be assembled in order to make it happen. And sometimes, the way to make them happen are confusing and outright dangerous. But unlike our bed, your dreams can be adjusted, reconfigured and made to fit whatever your stage of life. But one things for sure, you will have to focus and determine in your heart that it’ll happen. You will have to hustle and have grit.
You’d be surprised at what you could accomplish by simply removing the excuses, instilling some passion and executing a game plan. Dreams aren’t lost because someone stole them from you or because you grew up. No, for the majority of people, they just simply quit WALKING out their dream and walked out on their dream.
Imagine what could be accomplished if hustle were combined with grit? Whether you have dreams to change the world or goals to change your body, it’s going to take hustle AND grit. It’s going to take focused action AND a determined heart in order to make it happen.