Don’t Get Out Hustled By a Junkie

I have a confession to make. I love short, funny, and socially inappropriate videos. I’m sure there are plenty of those on TikTok, but I’m old, so I see them on YouTube Shorts.

Every once in a while, one of those videos drops a pearl of real wisdom. That happened this morning.

The gist of the video was simple: When a junkie wakes up with no money, they don’t give up. They don’t hit the snooze button. They go out and hustle until they get their hit because they want it that badly.

Now, I’m obviously not condoning drugs, nor am I suggesting you do anything illegal to get what you want. But I am pointing out the terrifying power of total motivation.

An addict is motivated by chemical dependency. I’ve had some addictions in my time—though none as powerful as the hard stuff—and I can tell you that the desire is real, visceral, and almost impossible to resist. Some athletes and salespeople get a similar (though healthier) addiction to the endorphin hit of a workout, a win, or a closed sale.

But I don’t believe you need a chemical dependency to have the motivation to wake up and hustle. You just need a strong “Why.”

Why do you want whatever you have defined as success? What would getting it change about your life or your family’s future?

There is a process in Lean/Six Sigma project management called the “5 Whys.” It is used to find the root cause of a problem. Like most powerful processes, it is simple but not necessarily easy. If an organization has an issue jeopardizing a goal, they define the issue and ask, “Why is this happening?” Once they have the first reason, they go deeper: “Why is that happening?” They repeat this five times until they hit the bedrock cause.

I use a similar process with my clients. However, rather than trying to uncover the root cause of an error, we uncover the Root Motivator.

First, we define their ultimate goal—the thing they want to achieve more than anything else. Then, we ask: “Why do you want to achieve that?” Then: “Why is that important to you?”

We continue peeling back the layers until we reach the Ultimate Why. They always know when they get there because the mood in the room changes. They get goosebumps. They well up with tears.

That "Ultimate Why" is the fuel. That is what drives them to get up each morning and hustle.

I don’t expect my clients to steal or prostitute themselves in pursuit of their goals. But I do want them to find that deep ember burning in their gut—the one that drags them out of bed to put in the work required to get what they want most.

So, what’s your Why?