When you don’t know a lot about an industry or a topic, you have to work your butt off. That’s the grit part, the hustle culture, the “dig deep and push yourself” zone.
But once you get the experience you need to be successful in a field, hustle won’t help you. You have to embrace a whole new level of being strategic about what you’re doing and who you do it for.
That’s why so many top-performing freelances become coaches. Why managers become VPs, operators, and then CEOs. And why you’re expected to work so hard and so many hours when you change industries or take on an entry level role.
Over time, either you settle into a comfortable balance between hustle and strategy and enjoy a career as an individual contributor, or you push yourself into a space where others hustle on your behalf and you manage the strategy (and the stress).