6 Reasons To Stop Overworking Yourself

And actually work as a human being and get things done.

It seems these days that the productivity industry is having a huge meltdown. For years, hustle culture and entrepreneurs have touted working hard and having 80 hour work weeks.

I still recall Arnold Schwarzenegger suggesting that you sleep only for 5 hours and make those 5 hours count. Yeah sure, as if I have complete control over the quality of my sleep at all times.

However, all those years ago was only the start of it. Now we have more people leaning into the idea, especially while the Great Resignation is still happening.

You have people screaming to be getting back to work. Or that work has to be tough and gritty and that you need to work your ass off all the time.

I wouldn’t be surprised if productivity articles have devolved into just some productivity bro talking about the glory of working hard and that they kick back energy drinks every day to get more work done.

The issue with all of this though is that people are getting tired of those things.

People are slowly waking up that working hard isn’t glamourous. That there is nothing to be proud of doing that. On top of the fact this is now a tactic to get people back into capitalist traditions.

Not all overworking is a terrible thing. Before moving out of my parent's place, I spent a few months leading up to that to be working with all the clients I had at the time, writing on Medium, and spending a lot of my time just working to save up enough money.

When you’re working for a specific goal in mind that would actually provide you tangible benefits, doing this for a period of time is fine.

But what so many are pushing for is the constant need to be working hard all the time. It’s the people who see overworking as honourable or necessary and romanticize who need help and understand why people aren’t considering it.

And if you’re in that hustle hard mindset, here are some reasons why it’s not worth it to push it long term.

It Takes Time Away From Your Friends & Family

Elon Musk is seen as the pinnacle of what an entrepreneur should be. He works hard, has two massive companies, created whole new industries and is one of the richest guys on the planet. He is also quite relatable with the fact he talks about memes, crypto, and can come off as a charming or witty guy.

But when he talks about how hard he works — that he spends 80 hours every week working between SpaceX and Tesla — I have to wonder one thing:

What about all of his kids?

Because I’d understand that “rigorous” hustle if he had no other commitments. But the fact of the matter is he does. He has kids right now. He was also married on and off and has been dating on and off.

The man clearly has issues with keeping a relationship alive. He’s gone through multiple marriages and broke things off with Grimes in the most unusual way possible.

Now some of it can come from his personality of course, but that still doesn’t take away from the point of contention that most of his attention is spent on working rather than being a better parent.

His kids are growing up understanding that:

• Their step-dad doesn’t want to spend time with them,
• Sees him ending multiple relationships,
• And will get more care and love from a nanny than they ever would get from their own step-dad.

I don’t understand the full family dynamics, but I do know that by him devoting all of this time to working, he is depriving himself of having healthy relationships with his own flesh and blood and future relationships he happens to develop so long as he’s “working really hard.”

It Takes Time Away From Exercising & Being Healthy

When you push yourself hard to work you’re devoting time to that one aspect. As a result, the other aspects of your life get neglected. Relationships — whether with friends or family or intimate — become strained as these are commitments that require daily attention at times.

Not being there for those things leads to people moving on and not caring about the relationship. Even if you are working hard in order to provide for a better life for those people.

There comes a point where people simply want you to be around in their lives and to be present.

This is the same case with regards to health. Your health is a daily commitment as you want to ensure you are eating right and that you’re exercising.

For those who are overweight, exercising needs to be a bigger commitment along with eating right. However, for the average person devoting a half-hour a day and eating properly can help a lot.

That falls by the wayside when your mind is focused on working all the time.

It feels like you don’t have time to go to the gym, stretch, or walk around the block. The idea of cooking takes too much time that it would be better to order something instead.

Even if you’re ordering from someplace healthy, it doesn’t change the fact it’s not the most ideal thing for you health-wise or financially.

It’s Unproductive

Studies show that after working beyond 40 hours, you were more at risk of getting injured, more unhealthy, less alert, and less productive as a whole.

By choosing to be working beyond that is really pointless as you’re bound to be getting more things done in the first 40 hours of working than you would from hour 41 onward during that week.

Even if you’re kicking back energy drinks or coffee to keep yourself alert, those are temporary boosts and you’ll experience severe crashes and withdrawals from it.

It Doesn’t Give You A Sense Of Pride

Despite all of this, people think that burning out is a point of pride. That it’s somehow a good thing that you’re choosing to be working yourself over and over again rather than doing anything else.

What is so prideful about that?

Looking over my life at this point, the only thing I can say that I’ve done of any significance is that I worked to put together these articles and send them out into the world.

My work defines who I am.

Am I proud about that? Not really.

As much as I love writing and hope that these articles help people, what I’m proud of myself for isn’t so much the work itself as what the work is building up to in terms of results.

It’s the people reading these articles and finding them genuinely helpful. The people who apply these things and make a positive difference in their lives.

Hearing about those things is what I’m more proud of.

And all that I’m doing is writing an article per day. I’m not cranking out 10+ hour workdays to make this happen.

As a result, I can’t see how working over 40 hours is something that’s impressive or something to be proud about.

It Doesn’t Result In Promotions Or More Money

“In our capitalist structure, the more hours you work means you get more money. When working overtime you get pay and a half. You are literally getting more money by working more.”

Not exactly.

Sure you’re getting more money, but you’re not really getting ahead with that money and you’re better off avoiding working overtime.

Again, when working more hours, you neglect other parts of your life and that can evolve into real financial costs.

Your partner leaves you which cuts you out of their income. If you’re married, then there are costs involved with divorce.

When you’re not taking good care of your health, you could develop health issues that may involve you paying for a medical professional (chiropractor for posture adjustment for example), or you going to the hospital and having to cover a huge medical bill.

That extra pay and a half isn’t going to cover all of that on top of ordering take-out every day, and all the coffee and energy drinks to keep you awake to work more.

Instead of getting into the mindset of working more hours, you’ll be getting more money when you’re able to scale the amount of money you make per hour.

In the corporate world, that means getting promotions. You can also consider starting a side hustle where you can make passive income that can scale indefinitely.

But in the case of promotions, overworking has you at a disadvantage. If you are constantly working, people will see that you look like a complete and utter mess. Some people will pity you and think you’re not worthy of higher positions as those would involve more duties and work. If you’re already looking dead from this job, they can only picture you turning into a skeleton if they ever promoted you.

On the other hand, less empathetic people would do the next reason.

It Opens You To Exploitation

Corporations love these hard workers and they’re pushing for them now because hard workers are very cheap. One hard worker who is happy to put in 50 or 60 hours a week is cheaper than hiring two or three people to work 30 to 40 hours a week.

It’s just how money works.

This is where all the mass layoffs result in. After all, those tactics we’ve seen time and time again lead to executives getting their big bonuses, stockholders getting more dividends and leaving the employees who stayed to settle with the breadcrumbs.

The longer you continue to be okay with overworking yourself, the more you’re opening yourself to being exploited like this.

Overworking ourselves is driving us further into the ground than providing any tangible benefit. It’s about time that we look to working more reasonably and in a more intelligent fashion.

The whole idea of working 40 hours per week started around the industrial age with Henry Ford discovering working 40 hours is better than working 48 hours or working every day of the week.

We need rest and with so many other commitments, we also need time to do other things with our lives that provide us meaning.

Yes, work can provide meaning to us and we can be proud of the work we do but that shouldn’t be the only thing that defines our lives. When we die, our obituary isn’t filled with “they worked so damn hard.” but rather “these are the great accomplishments and impact they have made on the community by just being human and being there.”

Those achievements don’t all stem from hustling and grinding all day long.

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