The hustler of an entrepreneur is screaming away,

“No excuses!”

“No fucking off days!”

“I only sleep 4 hours a day! Sleep is for the weak!”

“While you guys are out partying, I am working!”

“Even though I don’t feel like it, I do the work anyway! That’s the difference between you and me!”

“We must have a plan, concrete goals, a funnel and a proper marketing strategy for us to succeed!

The artist of an entrepreneur is in his zen mode, saying,

“I do it because I love it.”

“Money isn’t the most important thing to me.”

“I just want to create good art.”

“I want to help people.”

“If you aren’t enjoying it, then it is pointless.”

“I don’t plan man. Just let me be so I can be in my zone of inspiration!”

This is the deadlock of the Artist and Hustler.

One screams that it’s all about hard work, sacrifice and plowing through the shit storm until you attain success.

The other says it’s all about passion, doing what you love, enjoying the process and feeling it with all your heart so you can create your best shit ever, thereby creating success.

Who is right, really?

Personally, I’ve been in both realms.

I’ve pushed myself to do work even though I didn’t feel like it as I kept repeating, “No excuses!” loudly in my head over and over.

I did get a lot of work done.

But that has led me to burn out several times over. I also ended up writing about things I didn’t care for, which really killed my soul.

I ended up writing crap. I questioned myself a lot. I didn’t even enjoy it despite being make to make money.

On the flip side, I’ve felt an insane amount of inspiration before such that when I wrote something, it felt like fucking magic.

It was an amazing feeling. The work didn’t feel like work at all. The words just flowed from my very being.

But without any proper planning, marketing or a way to monetize, I felt like my work was pointless.

Why? Let’s be real about it: Inspiration cannot pay the bills. And going broke sucks. It sucks so much that it kills your will to create more art. It makes you feel shitty at the end of it all.

Then I swung like a heavy, brass pendulum, in and out of these two realms

I’d worry about money, my livelihood.

I learnt and did what it takes to make money.

But I hated the process.

I swung back to doing what I love.

But without results and ultimately money, I get so stressed out that I lose confidence in what I do.

I ended up feeling shitty no matter where I was.

Again, who is right really? The Hustler Or The Artist? Is there a need to feel shitty in the path to success?

Truly, I think that the answer is both. As cliched as it sounds, it requires a perfect balance that you need to create yourself.

There is no instant cure, overnight answer or one-click solution.

There is no life hack that’s going to make it all go away.

There is no course or book you can consume that’s going to hold your hand every step of the way.

There is no way you, as a human being can be happy forever or feel shitty forever either.

The answer is something you find on your own after being on both sides.

How do you know how important money is to you?

You make some and then you lose some, perhaps all of it even.

How do you know if the work you do is most important to you?

You push yourself to see your where your limits lie, then you take a break (because you get to and you should) and take a step back to see if you’re actually proud of what’s in front of you.

How do you know if the relationship you’re in is the right one for you? Is it because of the time and effort put in together? Or is it just pure love?

You love with all your heart and make sensible, practical decisions to keep the relationship alive.

And if it ends abruptly, you’d truly know.

That’s the deal: Things can come to an end and the universe doesn’t care if you’re ready for it or not; whichever side you’re on.

So you might as well use both your heart and brain.

Use them to stay challenged.

Use them to make your own decisions.

Use them to learn and get over your past mistakes.

Use them to have fun together.

Use them to be happy as much as you can.

Before it’s too late.