You arrive to class. A yawn manages to escape you, and that’s the first thing that happens; the second thing is what follows right after — the small talk with your seat-neighbors, sparked by the question of “How much sleep did‘ja get last night?”
You rub your eyes. When you tell them that you went to bed at 10 p.m., it’s met with a scoff. “I only got four hours of sleep, you’re lucky,” one of them says. The other, like it’s a competition, hardly lets a beat pass before eagerly one-upping them, their tone laced with what sounds like pride: “Four hours? I only got two.”
Across the room, a guy tells his friends that he’s cruising on his third all-nighter in a row. “No pain, no gain!” he laughs, his peers giving him fistbumps of approval. The girl behind you, who’s stifling coughs underneath her face mask and carrying a whole tissue box to match, is most definitely not feeling well. Yet, she’s forcing herself to come because she does not want to miss class and put her hard-earned GPA at risk.
When the professor arrives, you take a sip from your mandatory morning coffee before pulling out a pen.
This is “let’s get this bread” energy, this is “rise and grind” vibes. This is hustle culture.
Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop Movin’
Hustle culture is the ongoing desire to be productive, i.e. the driving force one has to always be working. If not the class work that’s due the next day, it’s working on things or studying in advance. It’s looking for internships. It’s having an internship, while also having classes, it’s having a job while also being a student. Productivity becomes a marker of value, and it becomes a competition of “Who can stay awake the longest?” Because as the age old proverb says, “The early bird gets the worm” — well, that, in addition to ‘ol Benjamin Franklin’s famous saying that “Time is money.”
AKA, hours you are awake = time that can be spent being productive = time spent getting that bread.
Why is this mindset so commonplace, though? Why do we push ourselves so much?
When you are surrounded by people who have heads chock-full of this “hustle” mentality, it can be easy to fall into the same line of thinking. As a result, you can feel like you’re in a constant state of “falling behind” in comparison to your peers. If you aren’t doing as well as the people around you, then you don’t measure up. “If they can do a six-hour internship and be a full-time student, I can handle taking on six hard classes this semester, no big deal,” you find yourself thinking. “If they can have this ‘side hustle’ on top of their regular job, taking care of their family, and their courses, I need to be looking into bigger opportunities now.”
A number of researchers have found that work is thought to be less stressful, when compared to our personal home lives. Work is instead thought to be a retreat of sorts: “a place to feel confident and in control.”
When one’s value becomes determined by productivity, there is a cycle of persistently and endlessly working in a vigorous strive to do better and be better. To the point overwork.
We need to realise the consequences that come from constantly pushing yourself to your limit.
The Downside of Refusing to Go Down
In a study by Erin Reid, Boston University Questrom School of Business professor, managers were unable to tell the difference between employees who pretended to work 80 hours a week, and those who actually did. On top of that, eight in ten Americans say that they are stressed by at least some degree, and according to ThriveGlobal.com, “40 percent of us reported being more stressed last year than the year before.”
We are overworking. And we’re stressed about it.
It isn’t even necessarily evident that we are going above and beyond. Elena Tourina, Ph.D, a consultant psychologist, points out that the consequences of hustle culture is the opposite of hustle culture’s goal, for it reduces productivity in the process: “Being always on increases our stress levels and reduces our productivity significantly.”
Of the entire population, only 1–3% is actually able to sleep five to six hours a night without their performance suffering. Regardless, college students regularly sleep five to six hours only. For some, five to six hours is their sleeping schedule on a good day.
Overwork, in culmination with stress, can lead to other health problems such as “sleep, depression, heavy drinking, diabetes, impaired memory, and heart disease.”
Pushing yourself is more than just a “mind over matter” game. There are real, physical consequences — and let’s not forget about the loss of productivity, along with the great likelihood of feeling burnt out. In addition, if you are too swept up in being “on that grind,” there is a tendency to isolate yourself, causing our relationships to take a hit too.
“When we don’t slow down to rest, recalibrate, and enjoy life, the body, mind, and spirit all suffer,” says clinical psychologist Carla Marie Manly, Ph.D.
Relax, Take It Easy
Essentially, it’s all about balance.
Manly expressed to ThriveGlobal.com that “When we don’t slow down to rest, recalibrate, and enjoy life, the body, mind, and spirit all suffer — although we might not feel or sense the effects, the toll is cumulative and wide-reaching.”
Remember, it is your life, and you are in control. Use that control to reign things in a bit before things get too out of hand. Do all you can to prevent that exhaustion, that breaking point, before it hits, rather than be forced to deal with the consequences afterward.
Take a step back, take a breather, take things at your own pace. Take it easy.
The hustle is for naught if you burn out before you get there.