The Toxic Nature of “Hustle Culture”
Go online nowadays and you will find countless hours worth of motivational material. Whether it be related to business, fitness, or just general health and wellness, the content is plentiful. Folks encouraging others to wake up earlier, work harder, and go harder altogether. As much as this content can be positive and uplifting, there does come a point where it can be excessive and toxic. Waking up at 5am every morning might sound awesome, and posting 65 pieces of content across your social media platforms every day might sound great, but at a certain point you have to ask yourself if doing these things is really making you happier. In this article I want to take a closer look at the toxic nature of hustle culture.
Being Harder on Yourself Than Necessary
You see it a lot in military environments. Folks going outside to workout in shorts when it’s freezing cold out. Guys doing squats to the point that they can’t walk. As much as it’s great to push yourself, take strides toward personal growth, and be disciplined, there comes a point where it can be over the top. In these cases, that is where injuries, accidents, and slip ups are more likely to occur.
Some of it could be based from a place of fear and low self-esteem. Some of it could be out of a desire for “more”, or to be “better”. Some people are more concerned with how things look to others than how they actually feel internally. In those cases, that’s where the compulsive drive to be harder on yourself than is necessary becomes all the more prevalent.
Not Having Enough Fun in Life
One of my favorite rappers, Wiz Khalifa, says it best. “If I don’t have fun life ain’t complete”. In another song he says “If you ain’t having fun then what you working for?”.
When you look at a lot of successful people in the world, many of them got to the point they’re at by working relentlessly and consistently. They made sacrifices. They did things even when they didn’t feel like doing them. They went out of their way to put themselves in the right positions. However, for a lot of them, I’m sure if they could turn back the hands of time, they would probably wish that they could have had more fun.
Believe it or not, not every successful person got to where they are by working their fingers to the bone. Comedian Doug Stanhope has entire bits centering around not working hard. “I got here by drinking, smoking, and partying” he says. “Don’t work hard”.
Neglecting The Things That Matter Most
Being a workaholic is a typical way of life for a good chunk of my family. In most cases, my family members have been blessed with great lives. They earned high salaries. They lived in nice homes. They drove nice vehicles and lived a comfortable life of abundance. But, in other ways, some of them also neglected other areas of life mainly out of an obsession with work.
Failed marriages. Insufficient relationships with children and loved ones. A lack of hobbies and interests outside of work. Out of whack scheduling that consists of going in early in the morning, getting home late at night, and in some cases commuting multiple hours worth of driving every day.
Some of these things are just a part of life. There are only so many hours in the day, and sometimes things just need to get done. But, other times that isn’t the case. Other times it isn’t necessary to be that hard on yourself, and you’re just doing it to yourself unreasonably.
Finding The Right Balance
In contrast of everything listed above, there is a way to hustle without overdoing it to the point that it’s toxic. In fact, in a lot of cases finding that balance is the only way to be truly happy and satisfied. Put most simply, it can be summed up as “take things one step at a time”.
Sometimes slow is fast, and sometimes less is more. Sometimes it’s better to take care of yourself, prioritize your health, and live gracefully rather than tear yourself apart when it’s not necessary.
Time is not to be wasted. Although I would never advocate for watching hours and hours of television, staying up till 4am playing video games, or drinking away bottles and bottles of beer every evening, I also wouldn’t promote straining yourself grimly and excessively day in, day out either. Find the right groove, find the right balance, and be sure to have some fun.
