What is Hustle Culture?
Hustle Culture is a new age paradigm of always being on the go. It is a belief system that tricks ambitious people into believing that one has to work to a point of extreme exhaustion in order to fit the race. Who started it? We don't know who but it is touted as a byproduct of the American dream where you are slogging towards a dream, a hypothetical future which means different things for different people. It is almost like a symbol of prestige to work long hours and having no time to eat, sleep or for anything that matters to you. One starts measuring success from an external standpoint which is outside of you and it could be a swanky car, a flashy job designation, hefty bank balance, a posh apartment and an opulent lifestyle. This is a notion that feeds into basic survival human insecurities of not being enough or never having enough.
A true story
My close friend Rachel John working in a leading Event Management company as Senior Executive was waiting outside her boss's cabin to discuss her work life balance which had gone awry. She has been toiling away her life, logging in 15-16 hours everyday at work while her old parents in law struggled to manage her 3 year old untamable son at home. Of late John, her husband who works in an IT firm as occupied as Rachel, has been blaming her unreasonably for their child growing up in such an unruly manner. He wanted her to quit her job and focus on bringing up their only son. Things were falling apart in her personal life day by day, and Rachel knew it, but she is also an ambitious 40 years old working woman who values her career. She has been working for 15 years and is almost due for her promotion as the head of the department. She decided to address her serious issue of returning home late with her manager. Her manager is a 35 year old millennial who is brutally result-oriented, energetic and has an extraordinary drive for success. It was her last straw of hope before she unwillingly decides to quit her job under family pressure. To her surprise she was handed a dragging speech on how her male colleagues in the office were perfectly balancing the similar pressure at work and home and as a result of it are enjoying their promotions and hefty salary raise. During the chat he subtly conveyed that she is due for her promotion and this is not the time to discuss work life balance when she should be actually grinding for more hours. Rachel was stumped and felt de-valued. Her actual concerns were met with shaming and all her efforts for years were diminished just because she wanted to leave on time. (Read : On time and not earlier). Was she not working hard enough? How much work is good enough?
What are the side effects of Hustle Culture?
The side effects of Hustle Culture are stress, anxiety disorders, panic attacks and hypertension to name a few. It focuses on quantity over quality output and gives an illusion that the desired results depend on on the amount of time you spend at work.
In reality our productivity nose dives as the day progresses and long working hours directly impacts the tenure of the employee in the company. But the bigger question here is can we do without Hustle Culture? Would it not mean we are utter failure in life if we don't fit in? Does the human existence seizes to hold meaning without material supremacy.
Now these are questions that people have no time to ponder over as they are busy hustling. Maybe in future when they would get to a a point of mental breakdown or get perennially fatigued will they wonder if there is any other way to think or to be.
