“I didn’t sleep last night because I was studying.” “I didn’t have time to eat because of my hard major.” “You only studied for two hours? I studied for two days straight.” You may have heard these sayings a couple of times in your college career and maybe even heard it in high school. All these sayings have something in common, not because they are all annoying, but because all of them are an example of hustle culture. Hustle culture is defined as “a lifestyle where the career has become such a priority in your life or the environment that you work in that other aspects of being human — such as hobbies, family time, and self-care — often take a back seat.” Although hustle culture came from the view of a job, it is very prevalent in universities and their high achieving students. Why do we take pride in being obsessed with hard work?
I believe one of the biggest causes of hustle culture is the stereotypes between majors. We’ve all heard that business majors are supposed to be easygoing and lazy, engineers are cocky, philosophy majors are hippies and psychology majors are psycho-analyzing anything that walks. College students often use their major to compete with other students, to make them feel lesser than or to prove their participation in hustle culture. I have heard pre-med majors brag about their lack of sleep or someone making fun of a business major because they had no homework. Once we hear those comparisons, we feel like we have to prove we are working hard and that our majors are harder than what people are saying. “That engineering major went to bed at 1:00 A.M., so I should stay up till 2:00 A.M. studying to show that psychology is a hard major too.” By placing these stereotypes and labels of “lazy, hard, easy, cocky, etc.”, we create hustle culture by saying that if you want to break those labels, you have to work harder and sacrifice everything or you have to conform to the stereotype. For example, the stereotype is that if you are a pre-med major, you can’t have a social life. Here’s my controversial opinion: all majors are equally difficult. They each have their own difficult aspects that other majors don’t. Biology might be difficult for business majors to understand and business math is difficult for biology majors. Every individual has their own difficulties within their major, so we should honor and validate each person’s experiences rather than compare them.
Another large part of hustle culture that I have seen is the glorified lack of sleep. We’ve seen it through the use of the slogan “no pain no gain” or seeing college students on television pull all-nighters like Rory Gilmore in “Gilmore Girls”. We think that lack of sleep measures our success or our hard work when in reality, it shows procrastination and bad time management. Not taking care of yourself with an adequate meal or good sleep is nothing glamorous or admirable, but medically dangerous. Lack of sleep can increase the risk of diabetes, heart attack, stroke, common colds, the flu, and many other serious health problems. Being a good student and getting good grades doesn’t have to result in burnout or health problems. That is what can actually affect your grades negatively. Getting enough sleep, hydrating, exercising, and eating well will help you be a better student and there’s no reason to brag about your unhealthy habits.
Hustle culture wants you to put your education first and everything else doesn’t matter. Hustle culture wants you to get two hours of sleep and not have a social life. So how do we fight against this way of life in college? First, it starts by stopping the comparisons between one another and our majors. It is time we start validating each other’s academic struggles rather than competing against each other. Next, it is to stop using sleep, grades, and lack of self-care as the measurement of success. Everyone has their own definition of success and if someone doesn’t fit that, then great! They are still successful in their eyes and that’s all that matters. Everyone is equally important, smart, and successful no matter what career they chose to go into. Lastly, it is to value your human needs (sleep, food, mental well-being) as more important than a letter on a piece of paper. You don’t have to suffer in order to get the grade you desire and you will suffer more if you don’t meet your own needs first. Get that extra two hours of sleep, spread your homework throughout the day or weekend, and ignore anyone that tries to brag or compare to you. Your academic experiences are valid!
Resources:
An article to help stop comparing yourself to others.
The effects of sleep deprivation.
Positive affirmations for students.
Her Campus mental health-related articles for more advice.
Counseling and psychiatry services at CU Boulder. Tutoring on campus.