I figured the owner of at least 25 Wingstops would be the most appropriate person to take us into my first post of 2024. The topic for today is the rise of the “Hustle Culture.”
I’d like to assume those reading this post are familiar with the definition of what Hustle Culture (HC) is, BUT it’s not good to assume so let me provide a short explanation. Forbes 2, defines HC as “a mindset that emphasizes working hard and constantly striving for success.” So, what’s the big deal, right? One works hard to get what they want, at least that’s what Western society has taught us growing up including our family, especially those who come from a minority background (that’s been hammered into us). Look, I’m not here pointing fingers at our teachers, parents, sibilings and whoever else makes the list for you. Life was so much different 20-30 years ago, and our priorities have changed on how we want our lives to look like.
Here’s the kicker though…does Hustle Culture do more damage than it does good?
I guess it’s not really a kicker, because we all know too much of something is never good. One of my favorite quotes from Oscar Wilde, is “everything in moderation, including moderation.” This applies to Hustle Culture as well.
Dr. Laurie Santos, host of the podcast “The Happiness Lab” has done extensive research on this specific topic. She posed the question, ‘what impact does HC have on people and their abilities to achieve if they are not hustling?’ She found they experience the following 3:
Loneliness
Self-worth decreases
Defeatist
Imposter Syndrome
(side note: marginalized groups suffer more from imposter syndrome)
Anxiety
Depression
The impact people experience is substantial, and each symptom can be a domino effect of one another, especially anxiety and depression. Those two usually follow each other. While you ruminate on that, let’s place a quick bookmark and talk about loneliness. It will all make sense, I promise.
The world is currently experiencing a loneliness epidemic and crisis. Your reading this and might think it sounds ridiculous but it’s true. Last year in May, I seen the Surgeon General of the U.S. Vivek H. Murthy M.D. give a speech at UCLA with Oprah Winfrey about loneliness, and its relation to Hustle Culture. His speech was absolutely amazing and inspiring, he stated the foundation of Hustle Culture resides on 5 traits 4:
1. Society making people feel the need to be ‘famous’
2. Becoming wealthy
3. Powerful
4. Attaching yourself to a fancy title
5. Attending a fancy school
So, if these “goods” do not provide a sense of fulfillment, what exactly does? The Surgeon General emphasized on people, purpose, and inspiration to drive our sense of realization from temporary highs.
Yes, there’s many contributing factors that aid in the epidemic of loneliness, such as social media, COVID, decrease in social activities, the constant rat race of life and even career jumping as the Surgeon General mentioned in his interview. Interestingly enough the world was already beginning to see spikes of loneliness 5 years prior to the pandemic hitting 5. About half of adult’s report feeling lonely, and the highest rates were found in younger generations 6 (no surprise there).
FACT: The impact of loneliness on health and lifespan is comparative to the risk of smoking 15 cigarettes a day!! AND is a greater risk than obesity, excess alcohol use, and lack of exercise! 7
I didn’t forget about that bookmark I mentioned earlier. So, what’s with the lecture about loneliness and it’s correlation to Hustle Culture? Well, we as humans are social beings, and because there’s been a significant decrease in quality relationships (likes and followers don’t count), this makes people feel lonely which leads to unhappiness. This is where the importance of friendships and/or family come into the picture.
If one has the fame, fortune, title, power and everything else in between, is this enough to create and sustain happiness? The answer is subjective, maybe the person is happy with all of the above listed, or maybe it’s acute happiness that turns into, “now, what?” Psychologists, Dan Gilbert and Timothy Wilson defined this feeling as “miswanting”, the act of trying to go for certain things we assume are going to make us feel happy, but in turn they don’t make us as happy as we thought.8 I’m sure we’ve all had our share of miswanting mishaps, I know I have. There is some sort of awareness that comes with the after effects of miswanting. Think about it, you got something you ‘thought’ you wanted, and after the fact, wasn’t that great after all. Perhaps, now you can get closer to what you really want. In my first post9 I mention how we all learn the hard way and that’s usually through lived experiences, hence miswanting.
What are your miswants?
Psychologist and author Tim Kasser who studies materialism, describes two varying values 10, which I believe go hand-in-hand with Hustle Culture. The first being intrinsic, which creates and promotes (within ourselves) healthy habits that bring us joy, socially, mentally, and physically. The ‘doing’ because we want to, not because we feel forced to. This provides people with a greater sense of well-being. The second, extrinsic, which come from a place of external motivation, perhaps doing the act to gain some kind of ‘reward’. Usually this does not bring long-term happiness and is often accompanied by anxiety, depression and loneliness (there’s that word again!). Dr. Kasser quantified the more we focus on extrinsic values the more our intrinsic values decline, and we ultimately become starved 11. Is it fair to say Hustle Culture is starved of its intrinsic values?
Dr. Santos posed another question, in the world of social media fueled and filled with hustle, are people really hustling or is it faux hustling? Does doing more, equate to achieving more?12 Or does that feeling of “now, what’s next?” creep in again? I’m not putting any shame on those achieving more, what I’m challenging is the process of achievement. We so quickly want to check off our to-do-lists and move on to the next, but in doing so are we rushing to the finish line instead of appreciating ones progression of development and growth? You know the old adage, ‘stop and smell the roses’? Well, we all need to stop and smell those bitches and marvel in their beauty. Which brings me to my next point, sometimes we can be happier doing less, because we have time to evaluate the situation, ourselves, AND the dedication it takes to complete the task. It’s learning to be kind to ourselves in the world of Hustle Culture. I’m not always the best at giving myself grace, I’m hard on myself. That’s where my defeatist mentality comes in along with Veronica.13 What kind of results is that going to provide for me? Again, I’m trying to be kinder to myself, we all should.
Lastly, as a reminder everyone is on a different journey (I can feel the eye roll from here). Yeah, I know you don’t want to hear that shit, but we all know it’s true. Even those part of Hustle Culture, their journey is different from mine and yours. We only see the end result and not all the time, hours, days even years of dedication it took to get there. This can be starting your own company, podcast, blog, training for a triathlon (I see you Dwight), the list is endless. In the end it’s what is going to make you happy, and happiness is subjective although the Surgeon General, highlighting the importance of people, purpose, and inspiration I feel is an accurate description.
To summarize, Hustle Culture can have negative effects mentally, emotionally and even socially. Maintaining real life relationships with your friends, loved ones and partner can help aid in combating loneliness. Remember, we are social creatures. Think Neanderthal, they thrived in groups. Don’t let the pressures of social media and society make you feel less than, your path is unique. Take the time to revel in your journey, there is always a lesson paved out for you to see. If your busy trying to race through, you’ll miss a learned opportunity that could provide you with lasting results. Sometimes we might have to stay on this paved road for a while, this is where patience comes in (that’s where I’m at with my career). In addition to patience, don’t forget being kind to yourself (yup, I’m working on it). This can yield more positive outcomes and provide affirmation where it’s needed.
So, get your hustle on…in moderation.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU9TouRnO84 ↩︎
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2023/02/16/the-pros-and-cons-of-hustle-culture-how-to-work-hard-without-burning-out/?sh=7f9a75ad2ba2 ↩︎
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhVxVcU6bzs&list=WL&index=116 ↩︎
- https://wow.support2.ucla.edu/videos/ ↩︎
- https://wow.support2.ucla.edu/videos/ ↩︎
- https://wow.support2.ucla.edu/videos/ ↩︎
- https://wow.support2.ucla.edu/videos/ ↩︎
- https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/14549983/Miswanting.pdf;sequence=1 ↩︎
- https://opulent-mind.com/2023/08/28/clarity-is-power/ ↩︎
- https://behavioralscientist.org/materially-false-qa-tim-kasser-pursuit-good-goods/ ↩︎
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGab38pKscw&t=243s ↩︎
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhVxVcU6bzs&list=WL&index=116 ↩︎
- Mirror, Mirror, on the… ↩︎
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