Hustle, Part One

For a long time, I’ve made reference to wanting to talk about hustle. More specifically, my hatred of the term. And my dislike of how prevalent it is in any kind of online business these days. Most of the time my articulation of this is rarely better than a scream/groan so this is my attempt to start talking about it. 

 

Hustle, Part One

 

Hustle, Part One

 

This really started bothering me in the past few years. Basically, it was incredibly frustrating to want to do so much, and yet be struck down by combinations of tonsils and low iron, as well as a full time job, studying postgrad part time (in 2016)… I gave up on doing anything online that could make money. 

 

Part of that was that the easy money of sponsored posts died off (a topic in itself for another day) and part was that I didn’t have much interest in products to talk about in sponsored posts anyway. I was uncertain what I wanted to do, but did want to do something. 

 

The problem is, even if I had known what I wanted to do, I couldn’t do it. Iron and tonsils aren’t the most serious of conditions but they do have an impact on your life. 

 

So it was grating to me to hear the word hustle. I couldn’t hustle. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t do it. What does hearing that if you just work hard, you can succeed do to your ..self esteem? Your perception of what is possible? Does hearing that all success needs is hard work end up wearing you down? 

 

What about events such as hackathonsWhat if you can’t work for 24+ hours? Can’t subsist on takeaway? Need a real bed and real rest? What is the obsession with unhealthy, work yourself to death as “proof” of your skill as a business owner?

 

Related post: The Isolation that Hustle Promotes (Even if it doesn’t mean to)

 

Is ignoring it a solution? Can you ignore it when work yourself to exhaustion at all hours is the thing happening at all the meet ups for your industry? Are there meet ups for people who can’t or don’t want to subscribe to working all hours to build a business? 

 

Why part one? Well, I still don’t even know what I want to say about this. I’m asking more questions than I can find the answers for. Becuase that’s where I’m at with processing this. 

 

I’d love to hear your thoughts on hustle and the work at the expense of your health attitude? 

 

11 Replies to “Hustle, Part One”

  1. yes! a thousand times yes! I HATE the term “hustle”, and I certainly have no idea what my place in this hustle-world is any more. Or even what to sell of “brand me”

  2. I am not as familiar with this definition as you are but I do know that my health affects any work productivity and for a good reason. I obviously need time to heal. So, that is the only lesson I have been taught…and I may not like it…but resting to heal and waiting it out are lessons I am learning. Again!
    Thank you for linking up to #lifethisweek 8/52. Next Week’s Optional Prompt is Taking Stock – the list of word prompts is on the end of my Monday post.

    1. I think it’s similar enough to what you experienced as school principal – slightly different context/industry is all. I don’t know why it’s so popular to promote work at the expense of health. I can only assume their target market are healthy people in their early 20s who can sustain all nighters for a few years. I think it’s very narrow minded and exclusionary.

  3. My blog isn’t a source of income for me and my day job doesn’t require me to ‘hustle’ for business or clients. So I don’t really understand ‘hustle’ at all. I find it annoying if I’m the subject of hustle but at the same time because I don’t have to do it myself I wonder if I should have more empathy for the hustler.

    It’s all very confusing. But I’m looking forward to reading more from you about it.

    SSG xxx

  4. Haha. Love that you wrote a post about Hustle because you hate hustle. I agree. There are issues with the way we perceive work, over-work, busyness and hustle.

    As someone who is prone to working until I drop, usually on things I love which doesn’t change a thing no matter what they tell you, these messages told me I was okay. When really, I was a tired, poorly functioning person when I pushed that far. Now, I work more responsibly including down time and rest and deliver more hustle than ever before.

  5. When I think of hustling I imagine back to back meetings and endless networking which can be motivating but exhausting. I’m def not in favour of the idea that we have to work all hours under the sun in order to be seen as successful though. Success for me would be travelling more, earning a decent income and working less!

    1. I find it so strange that so called entrepreneurs have attached themselves to the working all hours attitude. That’s what I’d escape some jobs for!!

  6. I am so with you on this. I began to loathe this even more when women began to be told to ‘lean in’. The need to hustle seems to be at the expense of not just our health but also our relationships and indeed the environment. Everything fast is not good. I’m much happier leaning out a little and doing it my way. Great post.

    1. I never read Lean In and while I acknowledge the firsts that some of these corporate women have achieved, I get annoyed by the assumption we “should” all follow the corporate ladder. Not my goals.

  7. I had to laugh when I saw the title and first couldn’t believe my eyes! Then I read the post and realised yup, it’s you for sure! 😀 I just don’t like the word because it has a sales-y ring to it and I am not one for a sales pitch even though I know at some point, marketing yourself is a good thing if you want to become known.

    1. That’s a good point – it does have such a salesy vibe. I wonder if that’s why I don’t like it as well.

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