For quite some time, I've been intrigued with the notion of always having more than one burner "on" in my life stove. You know what I'm talking about, right? The idea that you should always have more than one option to bring in incremental income. If you have a 9-5 corporate job, you should also have another source of revenue, just in case something happens, or just to keep your creativity and/or other interests going. Why limit yourself to only having ONE burner on, when you could actually have TWO or THREE or maybe even all FOUR on at the same time?
Well, apparently, this notion has a name, and it is called having a SIDE HUSTLE. There's even a school that teaches you how to do it and amplify your income. Yes! There's actually someone out there with their very own side hustle to help you get your side hustle on!
So, let's think about this for a second... we are always trying to figure out how to make "more" money. How to not depend on a single employer — as times have changed and one never knows if a 20-year, 10-year, 5-year or even 12-month tenure at some company will guarantee your "safety" should job cuts come. So, most of us are interested with the idea of having an extra source of income, but... let's be honest, very few actually do something about it. The difference between thinking about it and doing it is simple. It boils down to action. The notion of creating side hustles shouldn't be complicated. Side Hustles do not require a business plan. Side Hustles shouldn't take 6-months to implement. Side Hustles (by definition) are passion points that you activate (that don't necessarily feel like additional work or a chore) in order to make money. It is supposed to be simple and relatively quick to get going. And if you fail, then you press the reset button and try again. It's the start-up mentality of failing fast and rapid prototyping.
Ok. And why am I talking about all this additional source of income in a "health and wellness" blog? Well, because I believe I can draw some comparisons between work and life — just like I did in my December 6th post. How? Well, let's start with deconstructing the notion of having a side hustle, because if you have one, that means you must have a Main Hustle.
And a Main Hustle would then have to be defined as your primary source of income — the money that actually pays for your rent, mortgage, car, insurance, etc. Then, the side hustle would be the income that would complement the main hustle income. So far so good? You tracking with me?
Now, let's bring this full circle and apply it to your health and wellness — and to my mantra of #payyourhealthfirst. Most of the time, we treat ourselves as our very own side hustle... if that. Let me explain. Most of the time, we don't think of what our body and mind need to thrive. That is not our priority. Our priorities involve everything but that. You know what I'm referring to. It seems like work, life, kids, carpool, groceries, paying bills, etc. are our main hustle and taking care of ourselves becomes the side hustle — if that. Most of the time, it doesn't even make it to being our side hustle. Most of the time it is simply forgotten. Then we find ourselves not feeling well, overweight, with a lack of energy, sleeping poorly, in bad relationships... and everything seems to spiral downwards.
So, let's flip this notion. Let's make our health and wellness our MAIN HUSTLE. Let's totally challenge the status quo and make ourselves the priority. If we become the MAIN HUSTLE, then by definition, everything else (including the job we currently think of our main hustle) will become our SIDE HUSTLE. And, if we're true to this, then our side hustle(s) will always complement our main hustle.
Let's ponder on this for a minute:
If we put ourselves first and truly take care of ourselves (main hustle), then we will become the best version of ourselves, for ourselves and for others.
Then... everything and anything we decide to take on (side hustle) will always complement our main hustle and will always generate additional "revenue" (defined as stuff that fulfills us and makes us thrive). This includes our career, by the way.
The gap between thinking of yourself as your MAIN HUSTLE and actually becoming it is — you guessed it — ACTION! Just doing it. Which, similar to the business context I reference above, is often times the main reason people do not have business side hustles. They just don't have the passion or the commitment to do it.
So there you have it. My attempt to bridge the business notion of side hustle/main hustle and applying it to yourself.
Are you ready to become your very own MAIN HUSTLE? All it take is for you to want to do it ... and having the passion to do it.
Remember, commit to thrive and #payyourhealthfirst,
-- Chris
