What’s your hustle?

What’s your hustle?

I love this word. Uttering it gets me as close as I’ll ever get to any street cred in South Africa.

Hustle.

It found my ear, and a place in my soul, working with one of my favourite Copywriters, a former colleague, who made this word his mantra. He taught me; no matter how large the company, how horrible the brief, or insignificant your perceived role, you should always have a your own personal hustle.

A hustle refers to the passion you bring to your work, no matter what it is. It’s an attitude, a calling to put in the time and do your best. It’s not about being busy; it is your commitment to change things the way you envision it to be.

It’s a hefty proposition — it comes with responsibility, requires intent and no excuses.

So. What’s your hustle?

Jonathan Gall and I interview Justin Avery from Responsive.is recently. He created an active community around responsive design, cranks out a content filled newsletter (and podcast) and also created a collection of artisan notebooks at backpocket.co. Did I mention he also has a family and a day job? No Excuses.

Since the recording, his notebooks received recognition at the recent Stationery Show Launchpad Competition in London.

We nearly cancelled the interview with Justin. Logistics got in the way, and we had to re-schedule the conversation a few times. My co-host, Jonathan remained level-headed, and persistence paid off and it was one of my personal favourite conversation thus far. Jonathan hustled.