If it were easy, everybody would be doing it.
That’s what my weatherman once said to me as I was rowing solo across the Atlantic Ocean and an adverse wind was blowing me back the way I’d come. Having literally shed blood, sweat and tears, it seriously dented my morale and motivation to lose those hard-won miles. As a side hustler, I’m sure you know that feeling.
When you embarked on your side hustle, you were no doubt full of enthusiasm, fired up and raring to go – as was I when I took the first few of the million or so oarstrokes it would take me to cross the Atlantic. But as with all great adventures, it’s inevitable that there will be setbacks and failures. For me, those included headwinds, all four of my oars getting broken, a kaput stereo and a defunct cooking stove, with tendinitis and saltwater sores thrown in for good measure. For you, it might be losing a gig, hassles with your business partner, lack of time or plain old exhaustion.
So how do you maintain, or regain, your motivation mojo when the going gets tough?
Write a letter to the CEO of Your Side Hustle Inc. – yes, I mean you – to renegotiate your contract of employment. Because you love your side hustle, you probably overcommit, and then feel disappointed or overwhelmed when you don’t meet your impossible goals. So negotiate with your tyrannical inner boss. What can you promise to do to forward your side hustle, and what do you simply not have the time or energy to do?
Ask: what would Side Hustler X do? Think of a famous side hustler or one you know and respect, and model his or her behavior.
Find a fellow hustler to be your accountability and motivation buddy. Side gigging can often feel as lonely as rowing solo across oceans, so check in with each other once a week to report on progress and get a reality check.
Conquer your fear of failure; not one single hustler has ever climbed directly up the mountain of success without the occasional stumble or detour. The higher you aim, the more likely the stumbles. The more uncharted the territory, the more likely the detours. As former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once said: “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”
Conquer your fear of side hustle success. Yes, success can be scary, because it might lead to big changes. Does success mean you might have to quit your day job? Do you have a plan in place? If you find yourself procrastinating or feeling stuck, ask yourself what it is that you’re scared of.
The power of accumulation is especially important in a side hustle. We tend to overestimate the amount we can get done in one day, and underestimate the amount we can get done by consistently chipping away at a task patiently day after day. Spending just 15 minutes on a project every day for a month can yield dramatic results. What can you commit to doing every day? Make it a habit so ingrained that you don’t even stop to wonder if you have the time.
When things get hard, go back to what your original motivation was, and find that passion again. When you have a huge reason “why”, you can get yourself to do just about anything.
If you fall into the side hustle funk, then think of the tiniest step you can take to move forward. The smaller the better. Make it impossible to fail. When I was rowing twelve hours a day I would often hit a huge slump in motivation. If I could force myself to row just ten more oarstrokes, then that was often enough for me to get through the slump and regain momentum.
Why are you side hustling? Because you can’t not do this thing that you love. Trust that feeling. Know that this thing that matters so much to you matters to the world as well.
American philosopher and civil rights leader Howard Thurman once said: “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
So dare greatly. Follow your dreams. Keep side hustling!
After becoming the first woman to row solo across three oceans – Atlantic, Pacific and Indian – Roz Savage now inspires people to be the best they can be, through her work as a speaker, author and life coach.
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