The Hustle

Time flies when you're hustling.

[pieceisdareasoniliv]

So this comment is fucking insane and I'm aware of it. But I was bored and I had the time, and for some reason I felt inspired to create something, even if it wasn't productive.

For some reason, this is one of my favorite videos on the internet. For one, it's goddamn hilarious. And for another it is absolutely stuffed with detail. I feel the need not just to point as many as I can notice out, but explain how they add to this... rather sad portrait of a person who is an utter blank slate.

So here we go.

Five seconds in, three things immediately get your attention:
1) Upbeat, exciting music playing
2) The camera work. Seriously, pay attention to the camera work in this. Notice when the camera rushes in and how often a shot focused on action lasts less than two seconds. The quick cuts and the dynamic shots. This builds excitement so well that you forget there is nothing interesting in this person's life, despite all their efforts.
3) A narration from our narrator, the hustler, who is full of a cocksure attitude.
So we see that this entire video is how he sees himself. It's pretty clear given the lack of human interaction the hustler has in this video that he's not telling this to anyone, and given the evident constant struggle the hustler has at being productive, he's not recording it to be published or anything of the sort.
This narration is just how his internal monologue goes. The excitement is how he wants his life to be.
Every day.

6AM
His SunlightAlarm™ goes on. For some reason. Doesn't serve much use since he's already up. I'd like to know what alarm actually wakes him up. Maybe he doesn't sleep. More on that later.
For now, it's enough to notice that he's up before 6:00 in the morning, fully dressed and active. That's a half hour of set-up time at minimum.
Bonus: he calls an exercise bike a treadmill.
Fun drinking game: take a shot every time he does an activity and isn't connect to electronics. It's the best kind of drinking game since you'll still be sober by the end of the video.

7AM
Shower, Aeropress™, email.
This is one of the points where he may have gotten dangerously close to actually doing something of substance. There are no unread messages in his inbox, which means either maybe, just MAYBE he was going to contact someone about something, or more likely, he denied to himself that email was pointless, and told himself he has to read blogs about living his best life.
Also journaling about creativity.
The journal is one of the most telling aspects of the hustler.
For one, he says he's journaling about creativity. But no, he's journaling about his sleep. It's aparently important to him, but note how he's recorded the length of sleep was five goddamn hours. And noted in parentheses that was "good."
He then notes how he needs more dreams. The hustler is tragically oblivious (which is a running theme of his personality) to the fact that MORE SLEEP means MORE DREAMS.
The hustler wrote "Productive? Could be better" To me, this tells me he is geniunely hoping that productivity is something that happens to him passively. His sleep gave him no epiphanies.
The hustler, being productive? Not even in his dreams.
There's also the irony that his journaling about creativity contains nothing creative. Logging what happened and wishing it was different, and hoping the next time will be, takes no creativity. But hey, he's bought a Moleskins™, which makes him feel productive. To him, feeling productive is as good as being productive.

8:30, he's out the door.
But he needs coffee first. Ground Central brews Stumptown™, and how can he miss that?
This is his second cup of coffee in an hour and a half, and he has not eaten anything since whenever it was he woke up.
He orders the pour-over, winks at the barista, and came desperately close to actually having a human interaction today. But she didn't notice.
What I like about that moment is that it actually did take courage to do that, a bit of self-confidence. He's been rolling on that feeling since he woke up. When she doesn't notice, that's the only point in the entire video when the music stops dead. Even his self-imposed blinders can't keep that bit of rejection out. And this connects to the hustler's constant, CONSTANT desire to be interesting, to DO something. Will he manage it?

Metro.
He shaves three minutes off an hour and a half commute, and I have absolutely no doubt this is the most badass he feels through the entire day.
Bonus: He checks his watch, but doesn't have one.

9:57
The sad music highlights how, for a moment, this is actually a really difficult decision for him. Should he risk the reputation of an excellent worker that he's built up in his head? Or does he try and get noticed by this person he's never met and doesn't know he exists?
He splits the difference and posts a message that is immediately forgotten by anyone who sees it. But it's the perfect message in the hustler's mind.
Right on time. He's so proud of himself, he treats himself to another human interaction. Not that he talks to the authority figure that is literally contractually obligated to acknogledge him now and again or anything, though. He just says "hey boss" in his head.

10AM.
Third coffee of the day, and breakfast.
Dock the Macbook™. Dongle. Yubikey™.
With the confidence and pride of a 90s hacker who just hacked into the pentagon, he starts his workday.

Time for standup.
He leaves his desk to walk back to it. He's always standing. There's not even a chair.
Despite his best efforts, he can't skip the update. But hey, he's THE HUSTLER, clicking on a button is easy as pie for him. Look at that flourish.
Checks the Robinhood™. His portfolio is crashing, which is absolutely fine since he tells himself it's just what he expected.

11:30. News blast.
His "hot take" is three words and says less than nothing. That's a running theme too, actually. He says few words and they mean nothing.

Lunchtime.
Vegan bolognese. I don't know why he's vegan. My guess is he made a major life choice after reading some articles online that told him it would make him happy, interesting, and special.
Bonus: It's a salad. It's just a goddamn but he calls it vegan bolognese because that sounds more interesting.
He sits alone. I wonder why he avoids human interaction?
Well, he does say he doesn't have time for it. But he's protecting himself a bit, right? He's had about two interactions with human beings, and the first one went bad when the barista didn't notice him. So my guess is he avoids it because he doesn't want the music in his head to stop. But it doesn't matter. He always sits alone. He's gotta tell himself he's being productive, by coming up with terrible startup ideas, like a for-profit library and a PRODUCTIVITY APP.
Bonus: he was writing out an automatic toilet as a startup idea. I 've no idea what that is but I wouldn't buy it, probably.
Also, before the zoom in on the start-up idea, he's scrawled a few things, like "Just believe" and "Elevate, imitate, success" and "I love me".

"A moleskin and writing positive affirmations is all I need" he says. That's truer than he realizes. What would happen to him without those positive affirmations?

Character limit reached. Continued in a reply to this comment.

[kylemorris]

Just swingin by to check-in on my favourite youtube video. [x] CHECK. Watched at 1.5x to shave nearly 1 minute of idle viewing. New mechanical keyboard in place and i'm hammering out this comment at 140wpm

[KMSzero]

This is Death Of A Salesman for the modern age

[pieceisdareasoniliv]

I fucking love how he leaves for work at 8:30, arrives at 10:00, and is so fuckin happy he shaved three minutes off an hour and a half commute

[orionh]

They missed the part where he works on his medium post

[LajosNagy]

With a schedule like that, how do you even squeeze in microdosing Swedish mushroom tea and the cryo chamber? Must. Go. Harder.

[atfernando]

Oh, the marcus aurelius meditations really hit home.

[JDiculous]

This is one of the greatest videos I've seen on the internet. I was a software engineer in NYC, and I can attest that this video is video is sadly accurate - from the glorification of meaningless work, overhyped sense of self-importance, craving for public validation, and ultimate emptiness and meaninglessness of it all.

[glitchgod]

I'm confused. I can't tell whether this is sad, funny, or relatable. Maybe all three.

[SaadAhmed]

Watching this for the 5th time. Just realized this guy had 3 coffees before even starting work.

[rocioperez]

What I love most about this video is that it's called "The Hustle" and the only parts that relate to his actual job (which, presumably, is the hustle?) are essentially: showing up on time, going to a standup meeting, and installing a security update. I believe there is no better description of my old corporate job as a Global Director.

[Dustonedagain]

"All red, just what I thought." you are now a mod at r/WSB

[kangbarret]

I feel personally attacked by this video

[ska]

What those “Day in the life of a software engineer” videos don’t want you to know.

[littleal]

No cold shower, vitamins, meditation or protein shake? Weak hustle.

[MrCyphox]

"high intensity interval training on the treadmill"


*on a exercise bike*

[HoboWithACamera]

Without fail, every time I drink a gin and tonic I think of the line "another one - feeling good."

[Aguycalledmax]

I don't think there's a single other video on youtube I have watched more times than this, I just keep coming back to it. This just hits the nail on the head of the young professional that has been told their whole life that they're special, constantly comparing their success to everyone else around them and falling short. They may work a boring white collar engineering job but they will be rich and successful when their terrible startup idea takes off which they're far too apathetic or unable to ever make happen. Living in the fantasy that their company would take off and make them millions is just as good as actually doing it. Their only semblance of productivity is focused entirely on productivity itself accomplishing nothing that will actually help them to achieve their goals.

This comment was just my Bullet Journal™ diary entry written in the third person

[MunkEMann]

I know people who live like this. Waking up at 5, busy all day and absolutely nothing gets done

[mariusbancila]

"Tomorrow is nothing, today is too late; the good lived yesterday.
" - Marcus Aurelius