Lexpresso Podcast - Ep 2 - Hustle

The podcast discusses the different meanings of the word "hustle" and shares a personal story about the importance of hustling for one's family. The speaker reflects on how these words have influenced his own life and encourages listeners to find their own sources of inspiration. The episode ends with a call to improve oneself and help others. Contact information is provided for feedback. This is the More Expresso podcast, episode number two. Here's some song lyrics to get us started. Mama need a house, baby need some shoes. Times are getting hard, guess what I'm gonna do? Hustle, hustle, hustle hard. So the above lyrics are from a song from Ace Hood, and he made those back in 2011. What's interesting is the word hustle, for me and for others, has a couple different meanings. For many folks, they'll remember a baseball player by the name of Pete Rose, who was known as Charlie Hustle. And that was because of his work ethic on the field, right? I've also heard of the term hustler, someone that you might, you know, meet and they're trying to beat you for money, right? Think of a card shark or maybe you're going to a pool hall and then maybe get into a game that all of a sudden you realize maybe this guy's a little bit better than you thought he was originally. Okay, maybe that's just me, but yes, that has happened, whether it be at a pool hall or definitely for those of us who have been in New York at a time where a guy's moving cards around on a table and all of a sudden he beats you for 20 bucks. That actually happened. So at any rate, for me, the term hustle has a very distinct meaning, and it actually has a slightly different meaning than the ones that I just described. So growing up, I had a really good friend of mine, and his name was Phil, and he moved into a new house with his family. And one day I happened to be there while his dad and him were painting their living room. So I got in and helped out. I was probably somewhere between 9 and maybe 12. And we were chatting and just kind of helping out, and his dad asked us both, hey, what do you guys want to be when you grow up? So my buddy Phil is a really good musician, and he was like, you know, I want to be a musician. And he was like, hey, Matt, what are you interested in? What do you want to do? And I said, you know, I want to be a businessman like Mr. B. And for us, Mr. B was a really successful businessman, and he happened to be more in their lives than mine. But I never knew exactly what he did, but it seemed like he was the pinnacle of success to me. He drove a really incredibly nice car. It seemed like he always had, like, the nicest things, lived in the greatest places. So for me, that's kind of what I thought of as being the pinnacle of success, right? And then Phil actually asked his dad, he's like, hey, Dad, what about you? What do you want to do when you grow up? Right? And so his dad's words have kind of stuck with me ever since. He said, it doesn't matter what I do as long as I hustle for my family. Let that sink in for a minute. It doesn't matter what I do as long as I hustle for my family. So today I'm fortunate enough to have a wife and kids of my own. And it's interesting, when I find myself in tough situations where maybe I might have left a job or been like, screw this. I'm not going to do it. I'm done. I'm not interested in this anymore, right? It's interesting because those words come back to me. And they help to really kind of help me really put things in perspective, right? And so I found that I've adopted that mentality for myself. It doesn't matter what I do as long as I hustle for my family. So my question to those of you that are listening is, what is it that helps give you inspiration? Is there something in your life? Is there a story? Is there a time that you kind of harken back to and think, oh, man, this brings back inspiration for me. This helps me get through these times. Maybe you've adopted something that helps you get through that time. If so, that's amazing. Awesome. Keep it up. Keep going. If you have others in that, if not, hey, that's okay. Everyone, you know what, I invite you, if you have not found that story, that ethos that you want to live by, hey, I invite you to adopt this one as maybe one that resonates for you. It works for me. And I go back to it all the time. So when I'm finding that things are a little difficult and maybe I might not necessarily do it for Matt, for myself, I turn around and say, what is it that I'm really, what is that why? We hear that all the time. And so the phrase that comes to mind for me is, it doesn't matter what I do as long as I hustle for my family. Thanks so much for listening. Keep improving every day. Look out for ways that you can help those around you improve in their lives as well. Feel free to reach out to me with any feedback on podcast episodes. Email is alexpresso at gmail.com, L-E-X-P-R-E-S-S-O at gmail.com. Thanks so much.