Why Your Hustle Is Failing: 3 Reasons You’re Doing It Wrong

Your "hustle" is just expensive procrastination.

I spent five years running in circles. I had the ergonomic chair. I had the $400 noise-canceling headphones. I had a Notion workspace that looked like a digital cathedral.

I was "busy" 12 hours a day. My bank account stayed at zero.

Most people aren't building a business. They are playing "Office." They are buying the costume of a founder without doing the work of a founder.

If you are working hard but staying in the same place, you don't have a work ethic problem. You have a strategy problem.

Here is why you are failing.

1. You Are Addicted to the Aesthetic of Work

I used to spend three hours a day "organizing."

I would color-code my calendar. I would research the best task management software. I would watch "Day in the Life" videos of CEOs for "inspiration."

That isn't work. That is entertainment.

We live in a world that rewards the appearance of productivity. LinkedIn is a graveyard of people posting about their "grind." If you are posting about your hustle more than you are actually hustling, you are a content creator, not an entrepreneur.

The most successful people I know use tools from 1998.

I know a guy making $20M a year. He uses a yellow legal pad and a Nokia-style flip phone. He doesn't have a "second brain" app. He doesn't have a customized CRM with automated workflows.

He has customers.

When you focus on the tools, you are avoiding the pain. The pain is the cold call. The pain is the 50th draft of the sales page. The pain is the rejection.

A new app feels like progress. It isn't. It’s a distraction you paid for.

Stop optimizing your setup. Start optimizing your output. If your system requires more than 10 minutes of maintenance a day, your system is the problem.

2. You Are Suffering from "Scope Creep" of the Soul

You are trying to do too much.

I see it every day. A "founder" who has a newsletter, a YouTube channel, a SaaS product, and a coaching business.

You have 100% of your energy. You are giving 25% to four different things. You are failing at all of them.

The internet has made us think we need a portfolio. We don't. We need a wedge.

Think about a nail. If the head of the nail was five inches wide, you could hit it with a sledgehammer and it wouldn't go an inch into the wood. But because the point is sharp and narrow, all the force is concentrated. It pierces.

Your hustle is a blunt object.

You are trying to be everywhere. You are trying to capture every trend. You see someone making money in AI, so you pivot. You see someone making money in newsletters, so you start one.

You are starting over at zero every three months.

I wasted three years trying to be a "polymath." I wanted to be the guy who did everything. I ended up being the guy who did nothing.

The moment I cut 90% of my projects was the moment my income tripled.

It is boring to do one thing. It is lonely to do one thing. It is also the only way to win. You need to become the best in the world at one specific, boring task.

If you have more than one "Priority," you have zero.

3. You Are Talking Away Your Momentum

You tell your friends about your big idea. They tell you it sounds great. You feel a rush of dopamine.

Your brain can't tell the difference between the praise for an idea and the praise for an achievement.

By talking about your goals, you are stealing the energy you need to actually reach them. You are satisfying the urge to succeed through conversation instead of through execution.

I call this "The Ghost Hustle."

It feels real because you are talking about it. It feels real because people are reacting to it. But it has no substance. It exists only in the air between you and your audience.

I stopped telling people what I was working on two years ago.

I stopped posting "Coming Soon" teasers. I stopped asking for feedback on ideas that didn't exist yet.

The results spoke for themselves.

Silence is a competitive advantage. When you work in the dark, you aren't performing for anyone. You aren't looking for a "Like" or a "Great job, man." You are looking for the result.

Most people use their social circle as a support group for their failures. They want people to tell them it’s okay that they haven't launched yet.

It isn't okay.

Every day you wait to launch is a day you are choosing to stay poor. Stop announcing. Start shipping.

The Insight: Boredom is the New Moat

Everyone is looking for a "hack." Everyone wants the "unfair advantage."

Here is the truth nobody wants to hear: The ultimate competitive advantage in the 2020s is the ability to be bored.

We are a generation of dopamine addicts. We can't go 30 seconds without checking a notification. We can't work for an hour without a hit of "newness."

The "Great Filter" of success is the Boring Middle.

Phase 1 is the excitement of the start. Phase 3 is the glory of the win. Phase 2 is the three years of doing the same repetitive, unglamorous tasks every single morning while nobody is watching.

Most people quit in Phase 2 because they think they are doing it wrong. They think, "If this were working, it would feel more exciting."

No. If it’s working, it should feel like a job.

I predict that the next wave of successful entrepreneurs won't be the smartest or the most "innovative." They will be the people who can put their phones in another room and work on one spreadsheet for six hours.

The bar is lower than it has ever been because the distractions are higher than they have ever been.

If you can focus, you are already in the top 1%.

If you can stay focused on the same thing for a decade, you are untouchable.

The "hustle" isn't a sprint. It isn't even a marathon. It’s a test of how much monotony you can endure before you break.

Most of you are breaking. You are looking for an exit. You are looking for a pivot. You are looking for a new app.

Don't find a new way to work. Find a way to stay in the chair.

What is the one task you have been avoiding because it’s "too simple" to be the answer?