Last week I got on a coaching call with a client. 2 minutes in, she began crying. 47 minutes later, she was still crying. She was burned out… to a crisp.
At minute 52, we got a deep breath into her, and she began listing her priorities for me. And there were many. âI know weâre supposed to be setting boundaries and doing the self-care thing,â she told me, âbut I canât afford to spend my days meditating and taking walks. I have a big job to do!â
And that was the moment when I almost started crying. She had articulated something I realize so many are struggling with right now: this toxic belief that weâre either succeeding or chanting in a warm bath.
This unwillingness to believe that we can succeed while caring for ourselves and our teams is the epitome of hustle culture. Itâs the mentality that a minute not spent grinding out work is a minute wasted, that more is always better, and that rest and relaxation are for the weak.
Unlike toxic productivityâwhich is driven by an internal need to always be busyâhustle culture is a bundle of awfulness perpetuated by a whole organization or team.
What signals might you spot in an organization suffering from the hustle?
- Items are only added to to-do lists, never subtracted
- Lunch breaks are comedyâeveryone laughs at them
- There is always discussion of the next thing, with no pause to recognize or celebrate whatâs already been achieved
- No one has asked about your boundaries
- Vacation days are to be collected but rarely spent
Do any of these feel familiar? If so, what can you do to begin to make a change at your workplace?
The antidote to hustle culture isnât doing less work. Itâs doing work more mindfully with more purpose, intention, and focus on impact over activity. Here are some practices you can use to start to muzzle the hustle.
1. Ask better questions
Hustle culture values quantity while anti-hustle strives for impact.
When a new project or initiative pops up within a hustle culture, project owners tend to ask questions like:
- When do you need it completed?
- Whatâs my budget?
- What are the key performance indicators to track?
These are the type of questions my sobbing client would typically ask her boss. But these all presume that of course sheâs going to get it doneâshe just needs some basic facts to start with.
But in an anti-hustle culture, weâd be asking better questions like:
- Whatâs the outcome you need to achieve, and might there be a simpler path to achieving it?
- Has someone inside our company done something similar that we might use rather than reinventing the wheel?
- What do you suggest we deprioritize so that we have the time, space, and resources to do this project justice?
- What would be the cost of our not doing this project, or doing it in a month when weâve freed up some resources?
These anti-hustle questions allow us to slow down, to consider the cost of doingâbut also not doingâthe work, and to recognize that our resources (which include our emotional and creative energy) are limited and we must spend them thoughtfully. Often they lead us to the same or better outcomes, but with less effort exerted.
My sobbing client agreed to give these a try. Iâll keep you posted on how they serve her.
2. Check on the people around you
Hustle cultures value results at all costs while anti-hustle prioritizes human wellness with an understanding that wellness is a driver of creativity and better results.
To drive an anti-hustle culture, stay in touch with people around you. See how everyone is doing. These are the moments in which your EQ (emotional quotient) really matters!
How are your colleagues or team members doing, really?
Make it a habit of just checking in with people around you. Focus on those whom you suspect may be dealing with loneliness or overwhelm; those who are new to the team and havenât met anyone in person yet; or just those youâd just like to get to know a little better.
Your job isnât to be anyoneâs saviorâloneliness and overwhelm arenât yours to solve or cure. But just creating the space in which these concerns can be raised begins to dial back the hustle. The conversation helps normalize our complex human experiences.
Give peopleâs realities airtime, and watch them breathe just a tiny bit more deeply.
3. Tell stories of white-space wins
Hustle culture loves the grind, while anti-hustle appreciates the power of space in which the mind can roam and explore.
Hustle culture puts execution on a pedestal. Always be grinding, crushing, smashing… itâs a little violent when you start speaking its language!
But so often, the greatest insightsâthe moments of inspiration, creativity, innovationâcome when weâre taking a pause from the grind.
Thereâs a great urban legend that goes like this: A senior executive was walking the halls of his tech company one day when he came across a man sitting at his desk just staring out the window.
When the executive asked that teamâs leader why this gentleman hadnât been fired, the team leader said âSir, thatâs the employee who developed the idea for our most profitable product of the decade.â The next day that employee came into work only to discover his window had been tripled in size overnight.
Did this really happen? I have no idea. But itâs a powerful story of what can happen when we give our minds the time and grace for wanderingâletting connections happen in the space between the grinding and the crushing.
Small moments like this are happening in your workplace. Coffee dates, walking meetings, moments of silence or learning or reading or listening to podcasts… can all yield small ideas that improve customer service or tweak a product or alter an old process.
Proactively finding these momentsâand highlighting them through storiesâis an excellent way to dial back your hustle.
So how are you feeling about the state of the culture at your workplace? Do you have some hustling to do in dialing back that hustle culture? Give one of these suggestions a try. And if youâve got your own ideas, Iâd love to hear them. Shoot me an email at
[email protected] and let me know how youâve managed to turn back the dial.