Over the past few years, “hustle culture” has become a widespread ideal, especially for millennials and Gen Z students. Hustle culture pushes an almost over-the-top obsession with working hard and is a near-constant reminder to push your limits every day. Hashtags like #hustle or #mondaymotivation and #riseandgrind encourage ambition and working hard 24/7 as a lifestyle, but the truth is, the “hustle” lifestyle is secretly toxic.

At a first glance, is the motivation to work harder to prove something in the world necessarily a bad thing? Not necessarily, but hustle culture can certainly perpetuate an unhealthy message over time. Neon signs, mugs, pillows, and prints abound that tell you to ‘hustle harder’ or be a ‘girl boss’ end up masking a dangerous message: keep working until you can’t work anymore. This can often lead to the glorification of stress, anxiety, burnout, and overworking yourself to the point of fatigue.

Related: 6 Reasons Being a Millennial is Awesome for Your Career

Hustle culture impacts your mental health

Striving to work harder than everyone else — while often working nonstop throughout the day — can eventually lead to rock bottom, rather than the top of the career ladder. Plus, hustle culture might be connected to an ongoing (and alarming) issue for millennials and Gen Z: poor mental health.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has now recognized burnout as an occupational phenomenon where the stresses of the workplace interfere with a person’s mental health. Symptoms include exhaustion, increased difficulty relating to your own work, and reduced effectiveness in the workplace. Of course, there are many other habits associated with the hustle game, like lack of sleep, social isolation, lack of physical activity, and excessive exposure to blue light, all of which can have an impact on students’ mental health in the long run.

Shirley Chu, a student at the University of Virginia, recalls how burnout and mental health challenges had more repercussions on her personal life than her academic studies. “I can honestly say that this [hustle culture] mindset has been draining and anxiety-inducing,” she says. “I overbooked myself so much throughout the year in terms of academics and extracurriculars that I often felt like I had no time to breathe or relax.”

At the core of the hustle culture lies the idea that your value and worth are only determined by relentless work, and ultimately, your hustle becomes your identity. Psychology Today states that hustle culture “extols overworking and burnout, and signals you’re a hard, dedicated employee.” But this can backfire by affecting the ways that we think about self-worth: when we can’t perform at this incessant level that “hustlers” have to, it can feel discouraging.

The quality of your work is reduced

Often, hustle culture makes us feel like we have to do more, study more, or achieve more to be successful. While forcing yourself to complete more work may feel productive, chances are, the quality of your work will suffer in the long run. If you’re a college student, you likely know how this works — a late-night study session in the library could be helpful, and you may retain a lot of information, or it could be draining and unproductive. In hustle culture, it’s common to force your brain to work for longer, often with little or no time to recharge or take a break, which will almost always result in a dip in the efficiency and quality of your work.

Hustle culture is prevalent for many people who work 9-5s, especially at large corporations that tend to place a strong emphasis on professional output (because, well, capitalism). Think about it: large-scale companies earn more money when you work longer, yet, as an employee, you’re losing out.

While working overtime and pushing yourself to stay at your desk usually mean a financial gain for the company, your excessive working can mean a fall in productivity and quality of your output — not to mention your well-being. If your job happens to be something you enjoy, shouldn’t the hours you put in feel productive, efficient, and enjoyable, instead of a midnight Redbull-fueled haze?

‘Hustle culture’ impacts social media

Did she really spend 15 hours of her day at the work desk, go to the gym, write six blog posts and cook a full banquet dinner for five? There is one simple truth we all seem to forget about social media: its ability to convincingly lie. Your followers can highlight the parts of themselves that they want to be seen online, while the not-so-pretty and not-so-truthful parts are often hidden from the camera. Maybe your friend is really killing it at her new job, but remember: you aren’t seeing the stress and anxiety she’s experiencing from working overtime on your feed.

Comparing your life to someone you see on the internet can definitely result in feelings of inadequacy, but remember, always take the “hustle” posts with a grain of salt — social media isn’t always fact.

Moving away from hustle culture involves learning to prioritize and balance what you value in life. Consider exactly what energy and effort you’re putting into your daily activities — is there anything that you can let go of? Set aside time throughout each day — or even the week — for different activities that aren’t just work-related. Set aside times for hobbies, exercise, family or friends, study or work, and just overall, downtime for yourself. At the end of the day, hustle culture will always be there, but remember: it is secretly toxic. You and your health — physical, mental, and emotional — are infinitely more important.

Studies cited:

Burnout an “occupational phenomenon”: International Classification of Diseases. World Health Organization. Retrieved from who.int/news.

Haghighi, M., & Gerber, M. (2019). Does mental toughness buffer the relationship between perceived stress, depression, burnout, anxiety, and sleep?. International Journal of Stress Management, 26(3), 297.

Stress in America™: A National Mental Health Crisis (2020). American Psychological Association. Retrieved from apa.org.

Wang, Z. H., Yang, H. L., Yang, Y. Q., Liu, D., Li, Z. H., Zhang, X. R., … & Mao, C. (2020). Prevalence of anxiety and depression symptom, and the demands for psychological knowledge and interventions in college students during COVID-19 epidemic: A large cross-sectional study. Journal of affective disorders, 275, 188-193.

Here’s Why ‘Hustle Culture’ Is Secretly Toxic

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