Here’s why there will never be enough hours in the day.
A Brief Psychology of “Hustle”
“Do or do not. There is no try.” — Yoda
In sports, the business world, or a presidential election, results are the only thing that matters.
We live in a results-driven world, and as such we have a results-driven culture.
We have a “hustle culture”, and many people have had enough of it.
The message is not just that hustling is good, but also that not hustling is bad, and a sign of deep character flaws. The notion of hustle culture is ridiculous, but powerful.
But yet, why are we drawn to it? What about motivational quotes and serial productivity is so attractive to our brains?
WHY do we hustle?
There may be a lot of reasons why “getting that bread” is so important to us, but in the age of social media, “hustling” is oftentimes a form of people-pleasing.
As children, we are praised for achievement and reprimanded when things go badly.
Got an A? Here’s an ice cream cone, 20 dollars, or praise and affirmation.
Got a C or a D? You might be grounded, not allowed to watch TV, or not allowed to see your friends.
The reward center in the brain is wired to do what it perceives as good. When we do good, we expect a reward. The more good we do, the more rewards we expect.
As a kid, I remember my wrestling coaches saying something like, “If you quit wrestling, you’re going to be a quitter for the rest of your life.”
No one wants to be shamed, especially if the easiest way to avoid that shame is to just not quit.
Human beings want to avoid negative social consequences. The way we’ve been trained to do that is to work and work until our body and mind can’t stand it anymore. The more you want to achieve, the more elusive that dopamine reward becomes for your brain.
As a result, a lot of people are hustling because they’re scared of what will happen if they don’t. They’re scared of being perceived as weak, and the negative feelings associated with not succeeding or stopping something reinforce that feeling.
Culturally, it’s not acceptable to be burned out. It’s pitiful and embarrassing, which only amplifies the feeling of detachment and isolation that you experience when you’re burned out.
*Enter social media.*
It’s no wonder we post about our 18 hour days and ignore our burnout until we can’t anymore. We’ve created a virtual world that revolves around success.
Because of social media, you can be surrounded by hustlers 24/7, 365 days a year. It doesn’t matter if it’s Christmas, your mother’s birthday, or if there's a typhoon outside. Someone is always working when you aren’t.
Psychologically, that creates a problem.
It’s FOMO, but for work.
Furthermore, people who are overworked, exhausted, and burnt out have been trained to never show weakness. They’ll post about their #hustle before saying that they’re being #exploited.
Hustling is becoming a modern reimagination of “bootstrapping”. It denies the reality of economic problems in American society and human work capacity in favor of a fantasy world where the only thing stopping you from happiness and success is your work ethic.
If “embracing the grind” doesn’t work, what else is there to relieve economic suffering?
Is it a hustle problem or a workaholism problem? What’s the difference?
Sometimes, workaholism is a result of past traumas that have been ignored. Other times, it’s just a personality trait. There are many other causes of obsession with work as well, but in 2020, all of them are celebrated.
That is what creates a problem.
There’s nothing wrong with temporarily burying yourself in your work, especially if it’s due to passion or to meet an important deadline. If your work becomes who you are, that’s usually a symptom of a deeper problem.
On the flip side, the world-famous Elon Musk once tweeted that “nobody ever changed the world on 40 hours a week.”
And? He’s right. Obviously.
But at the same time, The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss was a New York Times bestseller for several years and more than 60% of workers experience occupational burnout regularly.
Escaping the 9–5 is a very common “American” dream. An expectation, even. No one dreams about working 9–5 until they die, and yet many Americans will never be able to retire. Instead of acknowledging that as an issue, it’s more comforting to bury ourselves in the hustle.
Americans haven’t yet been using the 5 day work week for 100 years, but we’re already married to it and adding to it. Several countries even have a longer workweek than the US.
In the past, workers have been forced to hide the worst parts of their jobs. The worst part of the “hustle” in the 1900s wasn’t discussed — mostly because it was illegal. Hence why The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (which exposed the horrendous conditions in the meatpacking plants in 1906) had such a lasting impact culturally.
The modern hustle culture is the opposite. The suffering of the worker in Hustle-World is masochistically celebrated. A hard day’s work is a source of pride, even if inside you’re breaking down.
It’s less interesting to expose suffering when it’s common knowledge, and Millennials (and Gen Z’ers) wear burnout as a badge of honor, even if it shortens our lifespan.
The dichotomy of “smart work” and “hard work” is very real.
So, why is there so much shame in admitting your work-related stress?
Maybe it’s because, in comparison to terrible slaughterhouse conditions, your office isn’t that bad. You just don’t like that you have to spend so much time there with those same people.
Maybe it’s a lack of job security or paid-time-off. Maybe it’s because weakness sounds worse than death.
I only know how bratty I feel when I complain about being burned out or fatigued. In the safety of 21st century America, many of our complaints are more mental than physical, and we are just learning to see that as valid.
Is there any hope?
If you’re both going to work until you die, your boss might as well try to squeeze every bit of profit they can out of you. They’d also love it if you could trick yourself into being excited about it.
If you’re going to work until you die, you might as well form a bond with the millions and millions of people who are just like you: burnt out, tired, and hoping for a better future.
In the midst of an unpredictable world with ridiculous standards, it’s logical to see grinding your health and well-being away as the only way to improve your life.
Maybe the way out of “hustle culture” isn’t burying your nose deeper in your career. Maybe it’s self-reflection. Ask yourself what point of it all is.
Are you working just to work? Or are you working on things that you’re passionate about?
If there’s no passion in your work, nothing’s stopping create a passion project, a hobby, or look into new interests. Sometimes all you need is a pen and a sheet of paper.
Most importantly, not everything has to be hustle, side-hustle, or monetization projects.
DISCLAIMER: I am not a psychologist and don’t pretend to be one on the internet.
