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It's 5:30 in the morning and for some reason you're wide awake. For more than a few minutes you think, "Well, I'm awake now. I should get some art done. Maybe for an hour or so before I have to bounce out." But as soon as that thought lands, a cloud of despair comes over you. So, you roll over, pull the blankets up to your chin and close your eyes, mumbling, "It's cold out there."

Within a few short moments your eyes pop back open because you know there's no more sleep to be had. The thought still lingering: "Let me knock that sketch out real quick."

But that cloud is still dampening your mood, obscuring your hope and excitement. Not realizing diagnosing the diagnosis is also an effective time killer, you start to wonder, "Where's this despair coming from?"

You see, as Black folk, the presence of despair, anxiety and depression are frequent and unwanted guests. It is an ever-present part of our anthology and feeds into our hustle theme. Maybe you too have embraced the hustler's mantra: suck it up and keep it moving.

Suddenly, eyes wide, the answer comes upon you. "Oh snap, that despair! That's the old me trying to dampen motivation and protect its reign." So you pop up, wipe the sleep from your eyes, scratch your booty and sit down with the intent to get to work. But now you're confused. Work on what? The sketch? Your marketing? Customer follow-up? You pick something and spryly say to yourself, "It's time to get my hustle on."

So, has this scenario played out in your journey once or twice? Perhaps even more? C'mon, you can tell me. We fam!

Let me turn the light on here. You see, I ran a marketing agency for decades. My clientele covered the spectrum of industries, business plays and ethnicities. Over the years what I've noticed is there are very few differences between majority and Black-owned businesses except for two dominant themes. The first is, majority businesses typically have more access to capital. Der! I've seen them make the same huge mistakes Black folk make, but the difference is they can learn and recover from them. Perhaps you are currently working and trying to escape from said business type.

The second and equally devastating theme is the difference in the state of mind between white and Black entrepreneurs. You see, majority owners have an innate expectation to move quickly through the struggle and land on success. This both helps and hampers them. They move through the journey faster but, when things go wrong, they tend to downplay creativity, innovation, and hustle and instead panic way too quickly. As Black business owners, however, we miss the freedom of lingering in success and instead gain our identity in being in the struggle. We cling to and celebrate this whole mythology of “the virtuous hustle.” You see the difference there? Living in success and being in the struggle are vastly different mindsets. And, as can be expected, from the types of businesses we choose, the day-to-day decisions, to our ability to work as a team, we unconsciously prolong our individual struggle.

Don't get me wrong the hustle is essential. But it's not the destination. And many of my Black creative fam are acutely unaware of that difference that resides within them, that colors their identity and fuels their decisions. It's hard to get out of bed if all that awaits you is a struggle. It's also hard to win a day over mental challenges, be the stress, anxiety, despair or other, if all you have, again, is struggle.

Knowing that, try this tactic to help you bridge the gap. Rise up. Look over your goals and commit to getting just one thing done today. You are going to work on a lot of things, I know, but among your task list, commit to getting one meaningful thing done. Do not over commit, setting yourself up for failure. Or, even worse, don't waste away the day in the abyss of unfocused tasks — the favorite place of those perpetually stuck in the virtuous hustle.

In the space of living in success and not marrying your hustle, adopt this life hack. Repeat this mantra out loud: “I choose with clarity. I move with purpose. I resign to joy.”

Choose which tasks are the most productive. Move on the ones you can likely complete today. And resign in the joy that you are a magnificent creator whose works the world desperately needs. Now, who won't be able to leap out of bed when you know the universe is excited to see what you accomplish today?

Know that what we are trying to do is teach our spirit how to manage momentum, move through the virtuous hustle with joy and live in the domain of success. A history of short-term successes will build and motivate you to do the right thing at the right time, even the ability to leap out of bed and into success.