Is Hustle Culture ALL Bad?

What exactly is hustle culture? Hustle culture is the glorification of an unhealthy working life, a life that consists of crazy hours living on caffeine, not sleeping, and generally working 100-120 hours a week, all for the external gains of a financial reward or for that job title you really want.

Hustle culture is like wearing a badge of honour and if you don't do these things, you're not successful enough, you shouldn’t be wearing that badge. I just want to say right off the bat that I wholeheartedly believe that this is an extremely dangerous way of working. It's not healthy, it's toxic for our mental health as well as our physical health and it's not fulfilling. Let's be honest, for a lot of people, they are literally working themselves to the bone for external gratification.

What I want to talk about today is what I see a lot online, which is that people are vilifying working hard in your business. Right. I see people saying you shouldn't be posting about working hard. You shouldn't be promoting the hustle culture. I totally agree you shouldn't be promoting the hustle culture, however, what I want to be honest with here are the realities of building a business. It takes hard work sometimes. That doesn't necessarily mean that you're hustling and that you promote that lifestyle.

For me, it's very much the difference between working hard in your business and having a business that you are aligned to and you are passionate about and one that brings you joy and fulfillment, flexibility, and freedom. There's nothing wrong with putting time and energy and effort into something that brings you joy and that you enjoy working on. But equally, this might be necessary for you to pay the bills or to put food on the table.

The Difference Between Hard Work and Hustle Culture

Firstly, I don't want people to think it's one extreme or the other, you have to work incredibly hard, which means that’s hustle culture. Or that you sit really far back in the feminine energy and don't do as much but wonder then why you're not hitting your goals and achieving your financial targets. There's a balance to be had and I want to say that it's okay sometimes to put the hours in. Sometimes it's needed, especially when you're starting out in business. Sometimes you do need to hit deadlines. Sometimes you do need to take on that extra little bit of work.

However, the rule here is that it's the exception, not the rule, and that's where you need to be managing that for yourself. It’s important you create that balance for yourself and have that flexibility of having the downtime without diminishing your ability to be successful.

I see a lot on social media people talk about hustle culture and I think a lot of people are really aware of it. People have seen examples of people being successful without the hustle culture and realise it's bullshit. It's really toxic that people are still promoting it, but that's up to them, they will learn the hard way because it’s dangerous for your health. I think we are adults here, we all know what we are capable of. We all know our own limitations.

However, there's also the judgment about working too hard. Sometimes you dare not say you have had to work hard because then you get accused of promoting the hustle culture, or you don't mention that you worked at the weekend and there is this judgment on both sides.

What I want to be really open about is this is your business and you should operate it in a way that feels really good to you. Time is your most valuable asset, right? You are in control of how you spend it, therefore you need to spend it wisely. There shouldn't be any judgment over when you work because to me the purpose of creating a business aligned to you is so it does allow you to create a business that identifies when you're most productive. For example, you might be at your best early in the morning. You might work better in short bursts. You might work better in long stints but only you know when are you more productive and you should be able to create a business around that.

There should be no judgment. Therefore, I'm inviting you to create a business based on that methodology. Equally, be mindful of when you're judging others and be mindful of when you are assigning a certain label or tag to them. We are here to do the best for ourselves and accept that sometimes, building a business does require hard work and doesn't automatically mean you support the hustle culture or that it's dangerous.

I just want to talk a little bit more about hard work and working hard because I feel like there's a difference. When we do work that feels hard, really hard work, that is when I feel like we are not in alignment with what we're doing. If it feels hard it drains our energy. It doesn't leave us feeling good. Perhaps you’re working 40 hours a week, and it feels really hard. Success doesn’t equate to working 40 hours a week. Instead, working with purpose and intention leaves you much more productive than having that directionless 40 hours. So it's all around perception and perspective.

I do not buy into that we all have the same 24 hours in the day, we genuinely don’t, we all have 24 hours in a day, but how we spend it is different. Some have teams some have wider support, some have support at home that others don't have. But what you have is the power of knowing what works for you. What support do you have, how can you create the most productive working week for you?

Working really really hard because you feel like that's going to pay off is going to leave you going around in circles and not necessarily lead to any further success. What it will lead to is feeling unfulfilled, burnt out, and overwhelmed.

However, taking a step back and identifying how you work best and creating a business based on what you have identified really makes a difference. If we show up and are focused and intentional, have direction, and have been consistent, that is what wins above everything else.

Managing Energy

When I talk about managing energy, I mean the difference between your masculine and feminine energy, especially around the work hard and hustle culture points. When I talk about masculine and feminine energy that masculine energy is the hustle. That's the pus, that's the work hard. That's the go, go, go.

If we sit in the masculine energy, which is quite a natural and a space people tend to believe that’s how you get stuff done we sit in a push state, push through no matter what. When we look at the feminine energy, this is very much slowing down, allowing things to unfold themselves and creating space.

There are problems with both of these in the extremity. If you're in the masculine all the time, you're going to hit burnout. That is the hustle. Right? If you're in the feminine all the time you’re going to get nothing done. You're going to sit back and no matter how much meditation you're doing, or affirmations or visualizations, nothing's going to change because you're not mixing it up with the action and the strategy.

I want to invite you to think about how you are balancing your energy. How are you showing up in the feminine of what you want to create and creating space for yourself that is aligned intrinsically, to what makes you tick and what you want to achieve, whilst balancing it out with the masculine energy of taking action? What does that look like for you? How are you creating that balance? Because that's when you're gonna start to see huge shifts in how productive you are.

This is when we meet our intrinsic values and our vision. This isn't external, or just monetary gains, it is looking at how we can feel fulfilled and joyful within what we bring into the world within the bigger picture. This is where we're going to end up building a business based on us what we want to bring and being able to bring in the money and be profitable because you have balanced your energy. You've been intentional with what you put out into the world. You're building a business that is based on how you work best, how you are productive, you're managing the time, you're managing the energy, and you're using the feminine and masculine to really benefit you and your business.

Therefore whilst I absolutely do not promote the hustle culture, what I do recognize is that sometimes you need to work hard in your business. What I want you to do is make sure that when you are working hard, you're working hard in the right areas. You work hard and you are focused and you're not doing hard work all the time. It's not directionless. You're not just plugging away. You're not just working all these hours and not knowing where it's gone. It has to be the exception and not the rule.

When you are finding yourself working hard, whether it's for a deadline, or you might have certain parts of the year that are much busier than others, it might balance itself out. It's knowing that this is a short-term solution, it’s knowing this isn't sustainable, because it's not sustainable. It isn’t wearing a badge of honor. It is recognizing that you need to be healthy for yourself and what your limitations are. It's being aware enough and listening to your body enough to recognize that and not allow social expectations and judgments to change how you operate. This is your business. You need to take control of it. You set the standards, you set the boundaries. You set, the hours you work, you set the pattern. A lot of that might be dictated to when your clients are available, but you can still do it in a way that works right for you.

We are adults and we need to be taking responsibility for our own well-being and mental health and being able to flex between that and the need to put the work in is important. It’s ok to switch into your feminine energy, and take some time off. Sometimes it is important to recalibrate and give yourself that time to digest what's going on. Don't believe because you see it online that the hustle culture of having to work 120 hours a week with no sleep and running off caffeine is the only way and equally, don't think that if you work hard for your business, that's wrong. You shouldn't be doing that either. Like I say I want you to think of it as a balanced view. I want you to be able to flex between the two and I want you to build a creative business that works for you.

On the flip-side, I don't want you to be in the extremities of anti-hustle culture and throw judgment on those that want to do some hard work in a focussed way in their business, especially if they are passionate about it and it brings them joy. There's a balance to be had, we don't know everyone's story. Just because people seem to be working hard doesn't mean that they are promoting hustle culture. Let's just stop judging people. Let's lead with empathy. Let's assume positive intention. Let's look after ourselves and our own business.

Now you need to do whatever is needed to create that healthy, balanced business for you. That will at some point, take hard work but equally make sure you reward yourself with days off and fabulous holidays.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this and I'd love to hear your experiences with it. Did you get sucked into that hustle culture and equally, have you been vilified for working hard? Let me know your experiences and I'll see you next week.

Come and hang out with me on LinkedIn, please say Hi! I would love to hear from you!