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What is Hustle Culture?
Hustle culture, also known as grind culture and burnout culture, refers to the endless cycle of overworking to the point where it becomes a lifestyle. This mentality has glorified overworking as a badge of honour and hence created an unhealthy obsession with associating long hours and an individual’s value. The perpetuation of hustle culture at workplaces has led to employees’ self-esteem being tied to their output, fuelling the pursuit of materialistic needs like prestige and money at the expense of oneself.
Common signs of burnout as a byproduct of hustle culture include the deterioration of physical and mental health, neglecting relationships and failure to exercise self care. The glamification of such a workaholic culture is widely acknowledged as detrimental because overwhelming emphasis on work has now created a void in other aspects of our lives, resulting in failure to strike an optimal work-life balance.
Ignore the noise
More often than not, we fall into the cycle of overworking even if it brings us unhappiness or compromises our quality of life. This is due to a lack of evaluation of our wellbeing, which limits our ability to break the cycle of endless hustle.
Take a step back
Working hard with a clear goal and boundaries in mind should be encouraged and is not to be confused with mindless hustling. Learning to channel your efforts in a disciplined manner without taking an excessive toll on yourself is an invaluable skill to develop.
One way to move towards greater balance is through regular journaling and self reflection. Start by evaluating how you feel towards 4 main aspects of your life, namely Work, Play, Love and Health. For each of the categories, rationalise why you gave yourself that mark and what are the actions (or inactions) that led you to that mark. Identify the area in your life that's currently below ideal and come up with a list of actionable items to help improve your respective aspects.
Another way to visualise and evaluate your holistic wellbeing would be by mapping out your activities into 4 main categories, namely Work, Relationships, Time Wasters and Daily Obligations. Following up this evaluation by crafting an ideal time management plan, laying out clear objectives or milestones, will drive you in the right direction towards transforming your lifestyle.
By taking these small steps, we can better achieve our desired outcomes without falling into the endless cycle of hustle culture.