Hustle Culture is Lying to You
Vol. 038
Hustle Culture is Lying to You.
You are more than your work — “hustling” can be a short season, and doesn’t need to be a work/lifestyle.
A quick bite:
Hustle culture and the idea of “always grinding” plague both the creative and entrepreneurial industries. These ideas, perpetuated by prominent and successful figures like Gary Vaynerchuck convince you that if you’re not working, you’re falling behind. But to achieve this “success” at the expense of literally everything else in your life...is it worth it? There’s a time and a place (a season) for hustling, and when that season is over you’re allowed to take a step back and enjoy your life too!
Continue reading below…
I recently wrote about defining success for yourself.
Not only are there different “seasons” of success, but also consider that everyone wants different things out of life; therefore, everyone’s definition of success looks different.
In a similar vein, I wanted to note that there are seasons of “hustling and grinding”.
Call me crazy, but I wanted to tell you that YES, it’s okay to NOT hustle and grind all the time.
The buzz amongst freelance graphic designers and creative entrepreneurs has taught us that if we’re not constantly hustling, grinding, pushing for more and scaling, then we’re not successful.
And I’m here to tell you that’s not true.
If you’re out here trying to actually build a life as a freelance graphic designer or as an artist — and not just a job as a graphic designer or artist — there is an imperative need for more than just work in your life. Tell hustle culture to bite it!
I’ve gone in and out of bouts of anxiety and feelings of being left behind due to these industry “norms”. The idea that you must always be working in order to succeed, coupled with everyone’s false perception of what others are doing on social media, can take its toll.
I definitely used to be a “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” kinda guy. I played into this “you must always be working” perception. I loved the idea of working 15hr days, hardly sleeping, always working, and I found pride in “always being busy.” Reminder: being busy isn’t always a good thing.
For a while, my work was my identity. I was a freelance graphic designer...and that was kinda it.
However, in this current season of life, I am finding immense joy in allowing my career to support my other passions: fitness, time outside, riding my bike and hanging out with my friends and family.
Is hustle culture always bad?
No, definitely not. To be frank, getting a career started as a freelance graphic designer or commercial arts almost demands it at times. In order to rise above the noise you must do a lot (networking, marketing, producing the actual work, learning, pitching, the list goes on...)
Either you have a lot of capital to hire people to support you to do this, or you do it on your own. Sometimes you do just have to grind it out. But, there’s a time and a place — a season — for this approach to work. This should not remain a a constant practice!
Albeit blurred with sleep deprivation and overwhelm, I look back at the true “hustle years” of my career quite fondly.
I was working 60-80hr weeks regularly. It was brutal. But, with time, the led to some pretty amazing partnerships and opportunities. For a period of time I was regularly being flown to NYC and working with clients like NBC, SyFy and Bravo Network...That now feels like a distant dream that I can hardly believe.
The relationships, network, and portfolio I built during my intense hustling and grinding period planted the seeds that I’m still reaping to this day.
So, was it worth it? Absolutely. But I can say that only because it was temporary. These days, my seed-reaping is at a far more leisurely pace.
As Samuel Goldwyn was famously quoted: “The harder I work the luckier I get.”
I experienced this first hand. But to reiterate, hard work doesn’t mean just working. In fact, it oftentimes means more dedicated work time or more uninterrupted, deep work.
Remember: just because you find success through working incessantly for multiple years doesn’t mean that you must continue to do so for all eternity. Always hustling and grinding is a quick way to resent the beautiful career that you’re trying to build.
When I look back at the years of non-stop, I realize that what I was truly doing was getting my work everywhere, I was focusing on being more than just a graphic designer, and through that I was networking, marketing and differentiating myself. It was a vital period of my career.
The period I’m currently in is one of focus and pivot. I’m currently working 9–5(ish) and focused on streamlining, delegating, and learning. Plenty of work is flowing in, and things are going smoothly. No need for sleepless nights or working on weekends because 16yr olds on TikTok tell me that I’m supposed to.
I’m trying to embrace and enjoy a season of normal work as much as possible. I know that this too is temporary, and at some point all be all in again. But, until then, I’m getting outside to go run around in the mountains 😎.
