Ep. 37 - Why Hustle Doesn’t Work: Finding Your True Alignment

This is my favourite episode of the podcast so far.

It is a raw, honest and largely uncut exploration of 'hustle' state Vs a 'go with the flow' state, and what I believe both sides of that conversation often get wrong.

Some people can work 15 hours a day and feel inspired, energised and completely alive. Others can force themselves through far less work and end up exhausted, resentful and burnt out. The difference is not simply how hard they are working. It is the state from which the work is being done.

In this episode, I explore the difference between hustle and aligned action. Work is still required. Effort is still required. But when the action is aligned, it can feel less like forcing yourself to perform and more like an expression of who you are. You are not constantly pushing against yourself. You are simply being.

The deeper idea behind this episode is that the energy we carry into our actions matters. The state giving rise to the action leaves its signature on what we create. When we hustle from fear, inadequacy, desperation or the belief that we are falling behind, we may simply be planting more of that same energy into our future.

We often try to pick ourselves up by our own bootstraps, using the same internal state that created the struggle to somehow escape it. We focus obsessively on what to do, while overlooking the identity, awareness and energy from which the doing emerges.

I also share my own experience of understanding my own alignment, learning to recognise when I am forcing something, and beginning to understand the difference between movement that comes from pressure and action that comes from genuine contact with myself.

This episode challenges the linear way we tend to think about work, success and cause and effect. Our 'state' is primary, and when the state is right, the “how” begins to take care of itself.