You don’t have to know how to code to be an entrepreneur… you just have to know how to hustle.

Massive success is reserved for confident people who take action swiftly and decisively. Or, as Abraham Lincoln put it, “Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.” If you’d like to be more successful, I invite you to discover how to hustle with these ten habits of highly successful hustlers.

1. Help People
Highly effective hustlers don’t fall into the trap of seeing potential customers as people who can be coerced, deceived, manipulated or ripped off. While these strategies could prove to be profitable in the short-term, they are doomed for failure in the long-term. Because, believe it or not, people aren’t happy when they discover they have been lied to. Highly effective hustlers know the way to build a sustainable business is by caring, helping, providing value and offering innovative solutions to customers’ problems that are more relevant and/or helpful than anything else on the market.

2. Make Friends

Highly effective hustlers don’t see their field as a dog-eat-dog world where every other person is a competitor to be “destroyed” or “eliminated.” While there is nothing wrong with healthy competition, such a negative worldview will repulse people in their network who could turn into wonderful friends or mentors. Highly effective hustlers know that a solid network is a must for their success, because they are only one person (a flawed one at that!). Given this reality, they aim to have at least one mentor who is willing to offer guidance and give them the occasional push in the right direction, along with a handful of like-minded friends to bounce their ideas off of.

3. Eliminate Distractions

Highly effective hustlers know their business isn’t going to build itself while they refresh their Facebook feed for the hundredth time today. They identify the biggest time-wasting activities that eat up most of their time (while offering the least satisfaction), and eliminate them without mercy. If that means unsubscribing from every unnecessary email, disabling all text notifications, silencing their phone, or cutting their cable cord, so be it. While there is nothing wrong with taking time to relax, there is no denying that many folks (maybe even most of them) stagger through a life that is nothing more than a series of distractions that serve no greater purpose; a reality that sounds depressing to any hustler who is pursuing a goal that is bigger than him or herself.

4. Get Focused

Highly effective hustlers can second Ron Swanson’s statement, “Don’t half-ass two things. Whole-ass one thing.” While they might juggle more than one long-term project at a time, they are avid single-taskers who become possessed by the task at hand, sometimes finding themselves in a state of “flow” where time becomes meaningless.

5. Improve Daily
Highly effective hustlers are followers of the “Kaizen” philosophy and strive to continuously improve every day. If personal growth isn’t pursued, they know it is awfully easy to find themselves living in a state of monotony, where progress stagnates and inspiration dies.

6. Think Big
Highly effective hustlers aren’t afraid of pursuing an idea that is bigger than themselves. When stress or doubt clouds their judgment, they take a deep breath and remind themselves, “If it was meant to be easy, everybody would do it.”

7. Play Chess

Highly effective hustlers play chess while everybody else plays checkers. They are outstanding strategists who are capable of foreseeing every likely outcome of their actions, and are thus prepared for whatever possibility life might throw at them.

8. Are Authentic

Highly effective hustlers embrace their true selves, no matter how awkward or weird certain things about them might be. They know that nobody wants to work with a phony, so they embrace total authenticity, creating a genuine emotional connection that is unique and special to every person they work with.

9. Fail Often

Highly effective hustlers don’t stress out about making mistakes, because they know that failure is the most effective teacher in existence. They probably are familiar with the Thomas Edison quote, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” If Thomas Edison was persistent enough to keep trying after failing over a thousand times, highly effective hustlers can succeed despite the occasional mistake.

10. Never Surrender

Highly effective hustlers can get behind the mantra, “You don’t lose until you quit, so don’t quit.” They know that success isn’t “quick” or “easy” for anybody, so they let go of their need for instant gratification, and practice patience with the process.

I hope this article helps you discover how to hustle and achieve your goals. Which of these habits do you plan to put in practice right now? Tell us in the comments. Or, if you consider yourself a highly effective hustler and have a habit you would add to this list, you’re welcome to tell us all about it. Happy hustling!

By life hack

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With a Hustling mentality, impossible becomes nothing