A couple of years ago, the word ‘hustle' was gaining a lot of attention. From job descriptions to motivational speeches, it was present everywhere. Slowly, it morphed into a form of a lifestyle and hustle culture represented hard work. The idea behind hustle culture is that no matter who you are and what you do, if you work hard for long hours, you would achieve great things. If Elon Musk can work for years without taking a vacation and become rich and famous, so could you - This was an argument put forth by several people who loved the hustle culture.
Suddenly, even companies wanted to hire those who would hustle. They wanted people who wouldn't mind staying back to finish more work. Entrepreneurs began to talk how hustling is the best way to achieve your life goals, financial independence and so much more. Some went on to say that if you hustle during the first 10 to 15 years of your work, your life will become better. Eventually.
I never understood how hustle culture would affect my life until I got my first job. The first company that I worked for was all about working hard and partying hard. They believed that everyone should hustle hard and all those liked this culture were promoted and incentivised. I believed in working but also, taking my time to do the things that I love. But my boss was against this idea. Once he told me how my early 20s is all about hustling and not focusing on personal life. I quit that job after a couple of months because I felt that I wasn't born on this planet just to give all my life and soul for a company.
But when I told how I felt about the whole idea behind hustling till you die, many disagreed with me, saying how I should be spending my 20s focusing only on climbing the corporate ladder. Whenever I complained about hustle culture, people thought that I was saying these things because I am a lazy person who has no goals and doesn't want to work. However, that wasn't the truth.
The problem that I have with hustle culture is that it makes you feel that you are not doing enough and you should do more. This has led to companies overworking their employees and not given them proper benefits. This also creates a toxic work culture where you will only get bonuses or promotions if you stay in the office until 9 PM even if you have finished your work at 5 PM. This also pushes employees to work during weekends and holidays because that's what hustle culture demands from you.
I am all for productivity and efficiency but employees are not obligated to hustle for companies or their bosses. If you are someone who likes to work during weekends or late at nights, please continue doing that but you shouldn't be expecting other people to do so. People need time to recover from their work and they need to focus on their hobbies and other personal projects to fully relish their lives. Even if someone does nothing during the weekend, it doesn't mean they have to do their office work. Sometimes you just need to sit and relax and not feel guilty over relaxing during your weekend because it goes against the principles of hustle culture.
The awareness around the problems with overworking has been on the rise these days. People are slowly beginning to understand that our jobs do not define our self worth and we need to take breaks and go on vacations to live happy lives. Let's all just live in the moment and stop hustling to death and also, stop shaming those who choose to only sleep during weekends (because they need love too!).
