Taking Shortcuts, or Hustling like a MOFO?

Nowadays everybody is taking about the Hustle and Grind, how about you take some shortcuts instead?

As always you can watch the short video, read the blog or do both!

My Mom

I love my mom, but here is the thing: She was raised by my grandfather and grandmother both hard working people, and learned the value: work hard. In a time where manual labour was still thriving this is a good value to have, actually its always good to be able to put your back into something, yet there is always that little sentence stuck in my mind: work smart, not hard. You see at the end of the day it doesn't matter how hard you work, all that matters are results. The result of you achieving your goals, of you being proud of yourself, of you living a happy, purposeful life. Whether it takes you 1 hour a week to do that, or 60, I do not care. As long as you find happiness and contribution in your life.

New Era

With the Information Age something has changed. We don't always have to make certain hours, or work years and years climbing the corporate ladder. There's people who start up companies and though they work hard, they don't work as long as people who took 40 years to get promoted to a CEO function. They were CEO the day they started, and within a few years their company was doing millions a year. Shall we label that as 'not fair' or simply as 'they took a risk and it paid off'.

My Example

My biggest personal example is my youtube channel PGN Piano. I have over 200.000 subscribers and was working full time. Then I got an epiphany, I changed my lesson layout. Now get this: I'm working less, producing more lessons, and the students love the new format better than the old. My mom is not that happy, now I only work the mornings so I'm not working hard. But would you really rather have me working 10 hours a day serving less students, than 4 hours a day serving more? Come on, sometimes it is okay to take a shortcut, sometimes it is a must. As long as that shortcut is ethical and legal.

Video Transcript:

So nowadays everybody is talking about the hustle and the grind. And that may lead you to believe that if you're not working hard on something it's not worth doing it. I totally disagree with that. Yes a lot of the goals that we want to achieve, a lot of the dreams that we aspire to once become realities take a lot of work. Just because you found a way to make your goals and dreams happen with little work or less time doesn't mean that it's a bad way to do it. Therefore a shortcut or as I call it an opportunity is something I want you to grab with both hands as soon as it occurs. As long as that shortcut is ethical and lawful.