Hustle Culture Is An Illusion: Here's Why It Only Works For Some
Growing up I was a huge Kobe Bryant fan. To this day I attribute my focused mindset to him being my idol for 20 years now. He was one of those people that hustled to succeed...or did he?
Also growing up, I was into drawing. I used to try to draw all sorts of objects and make them look as real as possible. One thing I noticed during those times was that time would fly by. I would be in my own creative bubble while the world around me felt like it stopped.
It was also around that time that I got a job during school break. It was a regular 8-hour office job. At first, I was excited about it, but that quickly faded. I began to realize that for 9 hours of the day, the world around me stopped. I was stuck in an air-conditioned box doing something I didn't enjoy. Then as soon as it was over, I would have to catch up to everything that happened while my world stopped. I got paid to be disconnected from myself, my world, and what I enjoyed.
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There is a huge similarity in the drawing and the part-time job examples. In both cases, I would be in a bubble. In both cases, it felt like the world around me went silent. Yet, one felt good while the other didn't.
My focus and determination could be viewed in both scenarios as a hustle. I mean, I could go for hours and hours drawing. Focusing on the craft to perfect my skills. Had I stuck to drawing, I could have been the next Frida Kahlo. In that case, people would have written about me as this focused artist that hustled to become the best.
Hustle Culture and mental breakdowns
Look up any motivation-type video on YouTube and they will talk about working hard in one way or another. I used to watch those videos often. They inspired me to hustle hard. This resulted in my first mental breakdown in 2012 when I had to quit a lucrative job to take care of myself. This same hustle mindset led me to a second breakdown 2 years later. At that time I had to quit working with a sponsor for my growing YouTube channel.
Since those breakdowns, I vowed to never let myself get to a mental breakdown again. It hasn't happened, but I did have mini breakdowns along the way. All these breakdowns taught me one thing, it's not healthy to hustle like that nonstop. No matter what the motivational speakers or Kobe Bryant says. This left me lost for a while.
The illusion of Hustle Culture
Since I believed that hustle was the way to succeed, how could I ever be successful at anything? It wasn't until recently that things clicked. Hustling is a freaking illusion! Being immersed in something you love and forcing yourself can look the same. Yet one lights the soul up while the other crushes the soul.
At the end of the day, I still believe that there’s work required to succeed. I just don't believe it should come at the cost of someone's soul. Funny enough, I’ve found myself more productive working less than 2-hours a day.
Bringing it back to Kobe Bryant, I believe he loved basketball. Waking up at 4 am to train seemed like it was fun for him. That's not fun for me. However, I have spent 10+ hours getting lost in the fun creativity of my business. I've also spent 10+ hours forcing myself to succeed in business, hence the mini breakdowns.
At the moment, I'm "working" less than 2 hours a day on my business. That will change periodically depending on creative project ideas that come up for me.
So what happened to my drawing you may ask? I lost interest in it over the years. It was a fun hobby while it lasted. I've tried to pick it up again, but so far it hasn't stuck. Maybe someday in the future, it will.
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Hustle is only sustainable when it's aligned with soul!
Nowadays I look at hustle differently. All those motivational videos are of people who truly enjoy what they're doing. The focus on hustling without having the passion conversation first is toxic!
The power of energy
My word for 2022 is "being". When I started this coaching business, it was to create more freedom in my life. Then I got swept by limiting beliefs around how much one is supposed to work to succeed.
For a year and a half, I tracked my income daily. Every day I would write down how much money I received and how I felt around money. On the days when I felt good or abundant about money, money kept coming to me. This was surprising. Especially when money came from unexpected places. Sometimes my source of income had nothing to do with my business. This practice made me believe in the power of energy.
Succeeding through being rather than doing
The more I embodied what I desired, and took inspired actions the more I saw it in my reality. Even when the inspired action had nothing to do with what I desired. Like that time that I felt I had to go out to breakfast instead of working on my launch. Came back to a call with someone who said yes to being a client for an offer I created on the spot.
What I’m experiencing in my business right now defies my logic. I’m getting to work with the most incredible human beings. They’re experiencing incredible breakthroughs in their personal life and their businesses. Best of all, they’re creating from a space of soul and bliss. Which in turn brings mind-blowing results.
If your soul is calling you to be in my energy and experience my coaching, then check out my coaching offers here. For a limited time, you can experience group Voxer Coaching with me through Charging Ahead. ⚡️More info on Charging Ahead is right here.
Creating through being feels like...
To me creating through being feels like relaxing at the beach, watching a good game of basketball, or having a juicy conversation on a date with my man. It's actually fun building my business that way. I get completely lost in it. Like I'm feeling in a bubble writing this blog post right now.
This makes people signing up for my coaching feel like receiving a birthday gift I really wanted. Or watching a complete solar eclipse in my backyard in 1998. I expect that something good is coming, but it shocks me every time. Nowadays this is becoming a daily shock and I can't get enough of it.
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