Everyone knows that guy at work that just doesn’t seem to get much of anything done. He might start a project, get seriously behind, and then get bailed out by someone else. Or everyone might marvel at the amount of time he spends on Facebook or at extended lunches. People on his team might loathe working with him. For high-performing teams, this guy becomes the anchor on a rocket ship: unnecessary, counterproductive, dead weight.

If you don’t know him, you are him

I’ve run into a fair few under-performers. Some worked for me. Some worked in other teams. Most of them have been people I interviewed and passed on hiring. They might have been very smart and competent. They might have skills that I badly need on the team. But they don’t have hustle, and they’re almost never aware of it.

It’s an essential part of my job to proactively notice and remediate these situations, so I’ve had a few frank discussions with people that aren’t achieving as much as they should. A common theme has emerged: they haven’t had a project they’re passionate about, so it’s been a slog for them. When they compare themselves to other people on their team, they have every excuse, “Oh, well, Alice is more experienced than me. And Bob has that project that he really likes working on, so of course he’s motivated. And Carol is just extremely smart, so that’s not really a fair comparison.”

If this is beginning to sound a bit like you, I really want to help you out. There’s honestly no excuse for you to not be a high achiever. You don’t need to be the most experienced or smartest to achieve. You don’t even need to work on something you’re passionate about. I cannot reasonably discount the idea that a project you’re passionate about will drive you to achieve more. It’s tautologically true: you’re passionate, therefore you have passion. But I do categorically dismiss this as an excuse for poor performance.

Passions are pursued

Let’s get a hard truth out of the way. If you do not hustle, you are not going to find your passion. Almost no one finds their passion by patiently awaiting it. Passions are found through relentless pursuit. If you are saving your effort for when your passion arrives, you have things completely backwards.

This is especially true if you do not yet know what your passion is. Sometimes you put in the hard work to do something you dislike and find a pride and purpose in it. But when you superficially dismiss everything as disinteresting from the beginning, you actively prevent yourself from achieving more. There’s an almost depression-like quality to apathetic work: you literally do not know how to feel passionate. Push yourself to explore.

But remember that the pursuit of your passion does not end upon its arrival. That’s actually when the real work begins. Sometimes it will be a grind. I don’t care how passionate you are about something, hard work is waiting for you. Can you push through? I have seen a few friends find their “perfect” job and fail in exactly the same way they’ve always failed at the jobs they were never passionate about. If you’ve never hustled before, I don’t believe you will suddenly start when you find a cool project. I don’t think you even know how.

Hustle is a skill

The good news is that hustle is not some unattainable, innate attribute. You aren’t born with hustle. You learn it, practice it, and hone it. Like most things, the hardest thing about hustling is forcing yourself to start doing it. Once you build momentum, it becomes easier and easier until it’s automatic.

If you are under-achieving, your goal for tomorrow is just to do something you’ve been putting off. Fix that lingering issue that you’ve been meaning to. Figure out how that one system or process works that you’ve been wondering about but couldn’t be bothered to investigate. Proactively deal with a situation that you would normally sweep under the rug as not a big enough problem or someone else’s problem. You know the things you’ve been putting off, pushing away, and ignoring because you haven’t really felt compelled to do them. Start doing them. One at a time. Just a little more at a time.

If it helps you, think of your project not as whatever “boring” thing you’re working on but as you. You are digging yourself out of the rut you put yourself in. You are training yourself to be ready to conquer your goals when you find whatever you are passionate about.

Sustainable hustle

Just be careful. Hustle is a lot more about focus and commitment than it is about maximizing effort. Wasted effort isn’t hustle. Burning out isn’t hustling. Don’t over-extend yourself. Don’t rush into a million different things and overwhelm yourself. Don’t work untenable hours. Don’t ruthlessly cut out your overhead and downtime that keeps you sane and productive. It’s okay to check Facebook or Reddit. It’s okay to get away from your desk. Your energy is not infinite, and it is not free.

Hustle is the ability to build and sustain momentum. Do something you’ve been putting off and do it well. Commit to doing your work as best you can, every day. Work as hard as you can sustain and no harder. 80% effort is fine, if that’s what you can put in every day. Own your mistakes and fix them. Understand everything that is happening around you. Don’t rely on your talent to carry you through. Don’t ignore hard problems because they’re tedious. That’s what it means to hustle. That’s what it takes to succeed.