The Hustler’s Playbook: No One Owes You Anything

I once heard a non-hustler say, “I can’t live on the money that my company pays me.” This non-hustler believes that his company owes him enough money to meet the standard of living he wants for himself.

I heard another non-hustler say, “No one paid for my college, so I didn’t get to go.” This non-hustler pretends that his lack of a college education was owed to him. He probably believes his parents were obligated to pay for him.

There is a difference between charity and entitlement. Charity is how hustlers make a contribution and give back. Entitlement is a debt that is owed. Hustlers don’t believe they are entitled, even when they accept charity.

Hustlers know that no one owes them anything. Hustlers believe that they can have anything they want by doing the work necessary to have those things, whether the things they want are material possessions or the more important things like meaningful relationships, personal growth, and contribution. Because they don’t feel entitled, hustlers do the work.

Non-hustlers feel a sense of entitlement. If someone else has more of the things they want, they feel deeply that they should be entitled to those same things.

Because hustlers don’t feel a sense of entitlement, they don’t wait for someone to pay them what they are worth. Hustlers don’t resent their boss or their company for not paying them more. Instead, they make their contribution, take on additional responsibility, and hold themselves accountable for producing greater results. If this doesn’t produce greater rewards, the hustler is grateful for the opportunity and quickly finds a new place from which to create and capture more value (oftentimes that place is one they create for themselves).

The non-hustler is resentful when they believe they are entitled to more money. Because they feel a sense of entitlement, they stew, all the while looking for others who will commiserate with them and validate their belief that they are owed something.

Hustlers don’t feel that anything they lacked was some entitlement that they were due. They don’t believe that it was anyone else’s responsibility to educate them, whether that be their teachers, their school system, or their parents inability or unwillingness to pay for their education. They don’t miss the trust fund that they were never given. Hustlers don’t blame any past deprivation for their current circumstances.

To a hustler, a lack of anything they need is simply fuel that drives them to hustle.

A non-hustler feels a lack of something as deprivation, as someone withholding something that they are owed. This sense of entitlement is disabling. It disempowers them. It infects their mind, and it allows them to rationalize their lack of effort to have whatever it is they really want.

No one owes you anything. Not your parents. Not your government. Not your school system. Not society. Not your employer. This belief liberates you from a sense of entitlement and empowers you to act on your own behalf.