After the Morning After - you find your hustle...

Education, education, education!  From the time you're born - you're steadily being pumped with information that will prepare you for the rest of your life.  Education is the key!  Ambition is the way!  Determination and perseverance!!!  Yes, yes, yes!  Yes, Bobby Bouche - YOU CAN DO ITTTT!!  But what happens when you don't graduate with a degree that explains exactly what you'll do after graduation?  Okay, if you're in Nursing School - chances are, you know you're gonna need some scrubs and some Crocs sometime soon!  A degree in Education means you will need some Germ-X soon! (God Bless You Brothers and Sisters) But graduating with a degree in Communications will inevitably set you up for trial and error career choices until you find your niche.  

In my dictionary - there are two definitions of hustle.  My picture is beside both of them!!  There is the corporate hustle that makes you a rising star from the moment you step on the scene.  The hustle to have 17 degrees and an honorary doctorate - damn, son - you just never get enough of a classroom!  By the time you get out of school, it'll be time to retire!!  Sit your old smart ass down somewhere!!  Just kidding!  We need people like you, the word NERD is more official because of you! lol. Because of your education, you have your choice of careers, you become an expert and share your knowledge with the world until you're 91 and no one can understand you because you have no teeth!

Example:

With a BA in Communications, young graduate, you can go on to over 100 different positions - finding the right place for you requires a little hustle on your part.  Some ingenuity in action, creativity in conversation, versatility in various - uhm, well anyway, you get my drift - you're going to have to work it to make it what you want.  What does your degree prepare you for?  What has your education gotten you?  Hopefully, some connections so that you can see the opportunities awaiting someone with your qualifications - which by the way are minimal.  This is where the hustle awakens - you decide what it is that you want to do and you find someone that can get your foot in the door.  You take that job at the radio station giving out t-shirts at live broadcasts in front of Food Lion, sign up to work at the local newspaper as an Associate's Associate, and in the meanwhile, find someone in executive management and shine for them!  Be the first one there, be the last one to leave, and work super hard all the hours in between.  

Work hard, but not just to please your masters when they are watching. As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart. Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. 
Ephesians 6:6

I'm not telling you to brown nose... because then you'll piss off your coworkers and they'll sabotage your rise to the top!  Just be cool and work hard.  Be innovative and speak up.  Let your voice be heard from the bottom of the totem pole.  Loud enough to make all those above you look back and take notice!  Who's that girrrrrrl? Na, na, nuh, na, na, na, nuh, na, na.... She's that girl - na, na, nuh, na, na, na, nuh, na!  Or guy!!  It doesn't sound as good, but the same advice goes for men.  Don't be afraid to ask questions, to learn new things, and please try to take in as much as you can - but never get complacent!  Never settle for your position.  Remember that this position is a way to your next position - and that one is closer to what you really want to do.

Then there is the hustle that allows you to make a dollar out of fifteen cent (a dime and a nickel).  The hustle that makes people ask, "Do you ever sit still?"  Your answer, Hustle Man, is HELL NO... money never sleeps and neither do I!

Do you know anybody that is Tommy from Martin?  Do you know anyone that you've never known to have a job, but is never without anything?  His TV is bigger than yours.  His bedroom is fancier than yours.  (Oh you fancy, huh?) But you haven't seen this man get up and go to a job a day in his life.  This man hustles.  He uses his connections to get him in situations that make money.  Street sense with an economical and financial element can lead to some pretty lucrative situations!  You don't have to make this man your boyfriend, but you will need him in your life!  He knows someone who knows someone that has exactly what you need.  You don't even know what you need yet, but Hustle Man can get it for you!  I admire Hustle Man because he's not going to let his lack of education keep him from the American Dream - oh no, my brotha - he's going to get his!  We sit around and wait on a paycheck allowing our lives to be planned around the 1st and 15th - but Hustle Man is always ready to do whatever because he always has money in his pocket and more coming!

Some of us out here have way too many talents and aspirations to be straddled into one position at one company for the rest of our lives.  We still need to pay our rents, so we may still need the stability that corporate America affords - but where do we really get jazzy??  What do we do that relaxes us, that stimulates us, that inspires us, that fills that void of public service?  How can we make a difference?  Because really...those of us that have been blessed, have to be the ones to bless others.  We have to be held accountable for the environment around us.  We must roll up our sleeves after work and do something that makes a difference - do it all night long!!  Do it like it's never been done before!  And get your friends to do it too!  BOTTOMLINE:  WE CAN ALL DO SOMETHING!  If you make jewelry, knit sweaters, are handy with a hammer, technologically savvy, or a great cook... let's figure out a way to use that hustle to make a difference.  If you need that hustle to make money, I will not discourage you.  I encourage expanding your personal enterprise, but at the same time - use it to help someone else.  After your bake sale, donate the unsold goods to your local shelter.  If your sweaters didn't sell at the flea market this week, donate a couple to the Women's Shelter.  Grab your hammer and volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.  There are a million ways to use your hustle to benefit you and others.  

So what happens after the morning after you find your hustle?  You put it to work.  Make it work for you, make it work for your community, and use it to create happiness or security for someone else.  Don't waste the talent that God has given you to share with others - do as He intended.  And I have to take my own advice on this one!  I have a lot of talents and I don't do enough with them, so I will challenge myself to do something bigger with what God has given me.

Stay with me!