Finding Balance and The Toxicity of Hustle Culture.
Hustle culture refers to state of constantly working. If you google “Hustle Culture,” you’ll find an assortment of quotes with the philosophy that more work = greater success. If you don’t hustle, you’re essentially a loser or won’t work at a fortune 100 company or get a tenure-track job at a top university.
Contrary to what most people think, hustle culture leads to burnout and an assortment of health-related issues. I’ve personally struggled with hustle culture as a PhD student because there is constant pressure to be productive and get work done at the expense of your mental and physical health. Stress affects your physical life too, ranging from hair loss, weight gain, and grinding of your teeth.
What I found is that finding balance in your life leads to more success, not constantly working. Be consistent, but don’t overwork yourself if possible.
Once I found that balance as a PhD student, I was able to be more consistent with my work and was more productive in the long run.
More Work Does Not Equal Productivity
The biggest myth of hustle culture is that more work means you are more productive. I would counter by saying consistency and boundaries between your work and social life is more attributed to productivity than more work. Sure, you can get work done faster, but only for a short time.
“This never-ending cycle can only last for so long before you crash and burn. In the long run, it will serve you better to take breaks throughout your day to do things you enjoy, like hanging out with friends.” — Madison Pena
When you think of hustling, you probably think of working more than 40 hours a week, but countries like Japan and New Zealand discovered that 4-day weekends led to greater productivity. NPR cited a Microsoft Japan saying
“Workers at Microsoft Japan enjoyed an enviable perk this summer: working four days a week, enjoying a three-day weekend — and getting their normal, five-day paycheck. The result, the company says, was a productivity boost of 40%.”
Hustle Culture and The Mental Health Crisis
Reported rates of mental health issues are on the rise and hustle culture adds to the volatile mixture of stress and depression.
Your body and mind need rest.
Speaking with a therapist can certainly help alleviate the stress of your work life. Unfortunately, over 40 million people do not have healthcare in the United States. The inability to pay for therapy and mental health services negatively affects people who are making low-income and have to hustle to make ends-meet. Frankly, they have little choice to hustle because there are structural problems (namely corporate involvement in the healthcare and drug industry) involved in the access of mental health treatment.
NPR describes the inequality of hustle culture below.
The problem is, hustling still isn’t a choice for people who aren’t at the top. There’s a world of difference between staying late at the office to score a promotion and peeing in a bottle to keep your job at an Amazon warehouse. As Tressie McMillan Cottom wrote for Time magazine, “Everyone is hustling, but everyone cannot hustle the same.
Say Goodbye to Your Hobbies
When you were little, you probably had a hobby that you enjoyed. You were very fond of it. Then you grew up and that hobby is either non-existent or you feel pressured to make money out of it.
Hustle culture is toxic because there is need to monetize every aspect of your life, including your spare time. It’s ironic that we have to monetize our hobbies when the definition of hobby is “an activity done regularly in one’s leisure time for pleasure.”
I enjoyed photography, mainly landscape photography. I liked capturing nature in various ways. However, customers were not asking for landscape photography for paid gigs, so I had to do weddings and engagements.
I still do photography here and there, but I (ironically) rediscovered reading for fun in my spare time in graduate school as a hobby. So that’s a plus.
TLDR: If you want to find balance, working more is not the answer.
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