What is Hustle Culture? Why is Hustle Culture Overrated?
In a word that glamorous entrepreneurship, the “hustle” and being “self-made”, the cost of being a business owner can often go by unseen. Entrepreneurs leave the 9-5, and operate very differently from someone who may receive a regular paycheck.
Many business owners start out as a sole-trader, doing what they love as a side-hustle alongside studying, working full-time, or perhaps even whilst living at home with the family. Once the side-hustle picks up, they hit a crossroad where they can take the leap to leave their comfort zone and go all in.
As the business grows, the owner’s hobby or passion project shape-shifts into a profitable service or product. Which is freaking awesome!! And freaking difficult!! Oh the irony.
Common challenges that start-up owners face include (but are not limited to):
Operational expenses rising beyond what they were anticipating
Client demands becoming high, feeling the workload pressure as they’re understaffed
Wearing all the hats, and burning out (not to mention making lots of mistakes due to the juggle)
Needing to work way longer than 9-5, perhaps more like 7-11 and barely breaking even
Not being able to pay themselves a salary as all their profit goes to pay the staff and rent
And more…
I haven’t been in business long, but I’ve been in business long enough to realise that the health of a business will always reflect the health of the owner. For this reason, it’s important that entrepreneurs take care of themselves, and ensure that their work remains meaningful and fulfilling. This is where we can see the words “business” and “spirituality” collide. And this is why I believe that hustle culture is overrated.
What is hustle culture, and why is it overrated?
Hustle culture is the idea that success is achieved through constant hard work, productivity, and the constant pursuit of goals. Now — hard work, productivity and pursuing goals is… Goals (smile). It is honourable and attractive to see someone really driven and motivated to build a life they are proud of. But if we’re being realistic, constantly operating in a state of high pressure, deadlines and unwavering drive without proper rest, care and maintenance isn’t sustainable in the long run. It’s not realistic.
While it can be motivating for some, hustle culture is overrated for a few reasons:
1) Hustle culture can lead to burnout
Constantly pushing yourself to work harder for longer hours without much of a break (let alone quality sleep, food and time with loved ones) can lead to physical and mental exhaustion, which will leak into every area of your life. Including your relationships, happiness, and ironically, even the quality of your work.
2) hustle culture can lead to skewed priorities
Because it emphasises work as the most important thing in life, conforming to hustle culture might skew your priorities. If you start believing that your business is more important than your commitment to taking care of your health and wellbeing — it can lead you to neglect your personal relationships, hobbies and overall health and have a detrimental effect on your quality of life.
3) hustle culture can negatively affect performance in the long run
Lastly, hustle culture is unsustainable. When you’re under constant pressure to work hard and be productive — it can ultimately be demotivating. As humans, we all need breaks, downtime, rest and play, to perform at our best.
Working hard and setting goals is important. It is incredibly admirable to see someone driven, motivated and taking steps towards building their dream lives. But if your business goals are pursued without adequate rest and neglecting your physical, emotional, social and mental health — hustle culture can be overrated and ultimately harmful to your wellbeing and quality of life
It's not only important, but it’s essential to prioritise your family, friends, fitness, diet, and hobbies to thrive in your business and achieve long-term success and happiness.
In other words, if you rest well and actually do the things that make you feel alive (rather than just slogging away with work in the name of “hustle culture”) — you’ll actually perform better at work and show up with more perspective, wisdom and strength.
