In last week’s post, I mentioned meeting someone recently, a meeting that I believe is divinely inspired. In this post, I will introduce you to Charlie and explain his impact on me. Before doing so, however, I should mention that had I not been staying in the Westgate Hotel (when I would have preferred to be staying at the Venetian or Bellagio!) this meeting would not have occurred. Blessings all around.

I was headed out to walk the strip and shop and was waiting for the elevator. I noticed a young man engaging a young boy and (I assume) the young boy’s father. They talked about sports for a few minutes, then the young boy and his father decided to walk to another elevator. That left me and the young man in the elevator lobby. I noticed his shirt, and immediately thought it was a message I needed. We introduced ourselves to each other. I asked Charlie if I could take a photo of his shirt. He said, “Of course,” and then told me about his trip to Las Vegas.

Charlie is 19 years (not old) mature. He told me that he was in Las Vegas for an Entrepreneurship conference and that he had driven there, a seventeen-hour drive, from his new home in Dallas. Charlie moved to Dallas one month previously to work with a multi-million-dollar Health and Wellness company. He was so excited about this opportunity, convinced that it was what he needed to be doing at this point in his life. He said that this conference in Las Vegas had been great, and it reaffirmed his career decision.

Charlie and I talked for a few minutes while a couple of elevators came and went. He asked about me, and what I was doing in Las Vegas. Then he asked what I saw in the meaning of the phrase on his shirt. Perhaps you wonder the same.

“Let Your Hustle Be Louder Than Your Mouth” is another way to say, “Walk your Talk.” Not “Talk Your Walk,” but “Walk Your Talk.” And the word “Hustle” is strong, stronger than “Walk.” “Let Your Hustle Be Louder Than Your Mouth” is a Millennial’s message, and is a powerful mandate to get moving, and not just to get moving by walking, but to get moving by doing. It is easy to talk about something; it is even easy to talk about doing something. It is much harder to do it. And therein lies the message for me. Thank you, Charlie, for being my messenger.

Mike in the bank vault (now refreshment area) at the lovely O’Neil Hotel in Kinston, NC. Dinner at renowned chef Vivian Howard’s Chef & The Farmer completed his surprise birthday trip.

I have not been hustling. For the past three years, I have spent more time talking about doing something than I have spent doing the right things. Oh, it isn’t that I haven’t been doing anything. I am productive. I am even efficient. But I have not been effective. I have not been hustling, doing enough of the right things. It took a saying on the shirt of a nineteen-year-old for me to connect that as I needed to.

My chance encounter with Charlie; no, not chance encounter, but my divine inspired encounter with Charlie, can change my life.

But only if I hustle. Not because I talk about it or write about it. Not because I want to. Only if I do what I need to do. My mouth must take a back seat to my action. It can, and it will. If I hustle.

Only if I hustle.