Hustle Culture Is A Scam: Here's Why
Why chasing more will never make you enough
Hustle culture is a scam, and people are finally waking up.
It’s no surprise that hustle culture dominates our lives nowadays. We constantly want to do more and expect more of ourselves. But I want to break down why that’s the case and what’s really going on beneath the surface.
The Endless Cycle
Life has become more complex with more options than ever before. Technology has given us the ability to do things faster and get more done in less time. But here’s the catch—it’s also decreased our attention spans, and now we expect more results in less time than ever before.
The trap many of us fall into is thinking that if we just get enough things done, we’ll eventually feel satisfied and believe we’re enough. But what’s really happening is something different entirely. The more we accomplish, the higher the bar automatically gets raised. This creates a never-ending cycle where we’re always wanting more and never feeling satisfied.
We’ve convinced ourselves that we’ll eventually be satisfied because we’re getting more done than anyone in history. But here’s the irony—we’re also trapped on a hamster wheel where we’re never actually satisfied. Any fulfillment we get from accomplishing things is incredibly short-lived.
I recently came across a video on YouTube of a 73-year-old man that stopped me in my tracks. He said that after he had a heart attack at 52 and almost died, he finally started to realize what the most important things in life actually were. Spending time with his wife. Calling his parents. Bonding with his kids. Traveling to the places he had always wanted to see instead of delaying those trips because of finances and fears around money. He talked about how working hard and putting in long hours had stolen so much time from his actual life experiences.
Think about that for a second. He had to almost die at 52 to figure out what actually mattered. And that’s the reality for so many of us.
What We’re Actually Losing
Here’s what’s happening behind the scenes. We’re constantly focused on hustling and doing more while paying almost no attention to the small moments in life and our close relationships. These connections have been an incredibly important part of human evolution since the beginning of mankind.
We’re putting all our energy into achieving more and becoming more, while investing almost nothing in the relationships in our lives and those small, magical moments of gratitude that cause us to slow down and actually appreciate this life experience.
We’re losing track of the main miracle here—that just existing is an absolute miracle. Not to mention the way everything around us automatically functions without us even thinking about it.
Instead, we’re stuck in this narrow worldview where we’re focused on getting more externally—to show off to other people and prove to ourselves that we are finally enough.
The Invisible Finish Line
So what’s really driving all of this?
The main question I’ve been asking myself recently is: why do we even work so hard to get so much done and achieve so much in the first place?
What I’ve realized from reflecting on this is that what we’re really hoping for at the end of the road is a feeling of peace. We believe that we can finally relax, stop or slow down, and truly enjoy the simple moments in life and the people around us—but only once we’ve done enough to feel completely safe. Indestructible, even. Where we no longer have to worry about survival.
We tell ourselves that our historical track record of achievements will prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that we are enough and that we’ve done enough in this lifetime.
The main problem is we don’t know where that level is. We’re running towards an invisible finish line and don’t know when we’re going to stop. Most of us don’t even know when we’re going to retire. The majority say they plan to retire at a certain age, then find themselves working way past that age. Some of us never stop working unless forced to by a medical condition.
We’re living in an illusion that someday we will feel okay with slowing down, doing less, perhaps retiring. And when that invisible day finally comes, we’ll be able to finally enjoy our lives fully. The reality is many of us are going to make this connection far too late in life, and there’s going to be huge regret.
The older generation has been warning me about this my entire life:
Life is short, really enjoy it. Don’t work too much. Don’t get caught up obsessing over things that don’t matter. Don’t wait to take the trips you want to take. Don’t wait to hit a certain level before you allow yourself to enjoy your life. Learn this while you’re young, while you still have plenty of time left, so you can take full advantage of the life experience.
Breaking the Pattern
If you really wanna see how this illusion works, think about everything you’ve achieved in your life so far. Think back to a huge goal you were excited about that’s now achieved—what happened? Perhaps you celebrated for a short period, but ultimately your mind went to the thought of: “what’s next?”
You set a goal that was even higher, maybe achieved that, and of course your mind creeps in with the same thought: What’s next?
Over time, regardless of what you achieve, how much money you make, or if you’ve found the perfect relationship, it never seems to give you that long-lasting fulfillment. This is exactly what’s happened in my life, and I’ve been forced to stop and ask: What really gives us that lasting fulfillment?
What Actually Matters
From my personal experience, what gets us closer is really dedicating time each day to slow down and feel gratitude for the small miracles and moments in life. Carve out time each day to spend with the people you love and connect with them. Share experiences with them, smile with them, laugh with them, enjoy good food with them.
When our minds are constantly racing and focused on the next thing, we can’t truly enjoy the present moment. This is why so many people say life goes by fast.
If you slow down for a moment and think of all the experiences you’ve had in your life, all the memories, all the things you’ve done, you’ll realize that life is quite long. We are given the same amount of time each day to make whatever choices we want.
Unfortunately, most of us choose to do the same thing each day, which is why life seems so short. Over time, the mind blends these experiences together because they’re so similar—working the same job for 40 years, traveling to the same vacation spots every year, going to the same restaurants every week, eating the same meals over and over again.
Building a Spiritual Practice
Another thing I’ve found that makes life enjoyable is having some sort of spiritual practice, which ultimately forces you to slow down. It could be literature that enriches your soul, or a short gratitude practice each night done with intention—maybe lighting a candle, closing your eyes, and thinking about all the things that went right that day.
If you’re with a partner, start a small ritual each night where you tell each other three actions the other person did that day that you really appreciated— something they did that meant a lot to you. You’d be surprised how fast this fosters deep connection and really builds a strong relationship. You can do the same with friends and family when you see them or speak to them.
The Money Myth
My personal belief is that money is not as important as we all believe it to be. Most of us are just trying to make as much money as possible because we fear it’s never going to be enough.
When in fact, if we look at each year that has gone by, we will see that regardless of how much we made, we found a way to survive. We found a way to make it work. And yet we still believe that we need more and more to finally feel safe and secure. That security we’re chasing through money? It’s the same illusion as the invisible finish line. There’s never enough because we keep moving the goalpost.
The Choice Is Yours
So here’s what I’m saying: that invisible finish line you’re chasing? It doesn’t exist. It never has. And the sooner you realize that, the sooner you can actually start living.
You don’t need to achieve one more thing to give yourself permission to slow down and enjoy your life. You don’t need to wait until retirement to take that trip or spend quality time with the people you love. You don’t need to prove anything to anyone, including yourself. And you sure as hell don’t need to wait for a diagnosis or critical life event to happen to you to come to your senses. You can decide to do this right here—right now.
The peace you’re searching for at the end of all that hustling? It’s available to you right now, in this moment. It’s in the small things, the connections, the experiences you keep putting off for “someday.”
Life is happening right now, while you’re busy planning for when you’ll finally allow yourself to live it.
Don’t wait until it’s too late to figure this out.
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