Get up earlier, work harder, never quit.
Work so hard that expensive becomes pocket money.
Hustlers don't sleep, they nap.
Wake up, kick a$$, repeat.
Work hard, so you can shop harder.
Hustle culture has become a way of life for many people. I see it
especially among Millennials, the generation to which I also belong, but we are certainly not the only ones.
Working hard to achieve big financial success seems to be on many people's minds these days. And whenever I ask someone how they are doing
almost
always without faile, do I get the same answer.
Good, but busy.
Think about it. On a scale of one to ten
how busy is your life currently? And how busy would you want it to be? Leave a comment down below. As a minimalist
I keep my expenses pretty low.
That means that I don't need my income to be very big in order to live my life the way I want to live it.
By living a minimalist life, I know what I find important. And I try to have enough time available to allocate to these things.
Hobbies, passions, friends, family, love.
My energy, both physical and mental is my greatest resource. And it choose to be quite picky with what I want to spend it on.
Let me begin by saying that I don't think there's anything wrong with working hard or with trying to establish financial success.
Everyone should do what works for them.
And I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to be successful. With taking charge and responsibility and
showing up and giving things your all. To be courageous and go out there and start working on things until you have found the
opportunities you want. Of course, we all have to work. We all have commitments
we can't get out of. We all have busy days, busy weeks, busy months occasionally.
I for one am so grateful for the many opportunities life has given me. My health, my education, my work
opportunities and being born in a safe prosperous country.
Many people have to work extreme hours just to make ends meet.
If you are working around the clock just to get by and provide for your family
you don't have the choice. Being busy is not optional.
But I wonder sometimes. Why is being busy and working around the clock this glorified in our culture?
These humble brags about only having time to sleep for three hours or
flexing about having eight cups of coffee to stay awake after working so hard. Or having an entire weekend plan to the brink with meetings.
It's great if people are following their dreams.
But is it worth it in the end?
If you ask me, hustle culture, working hard and being busy becomes dangerous
when it comes between you and your mental and physical health.
What is success and how do we measure it?
How much money do we need to make in order to be seen as successful and what is success worth to us?
Can we be successful without always feeling busy without feeling stressed, burned out, and feeling like we never have the time for anything else?
So many people say that they would love to do activity X Y or Z more often.
But they never have the time. To me it feels like these activities could be worth so much in terms of happiness and fulfillment.
I think the principles of minimalism can be applied to our career as well. And it can help us to answer these questions for ourselves.
And also to focus on the things that are actually making a difference.
I think we can be successful without working ourselves into the ground, and be proud of our life and our
achievements. Even if we don't make a lot of money or own a business or work on a side hustle.
Depending on where you live and the culture you grew up in, to achieve success in a minimalist sense could look differently.
The way to get there can be different. I think it starts with accepting ourselves.
Valuing ourselves in terms of than money income and career. If all you've heard growing up is that you need to make something of yourself...
You need to climb the corporate ladder. You need to have a thriving social life.
You need to have a fit gym body and you need to make lots of money.. then...
it could be time to redefine for yourself what you want out of life.
As someone who owns their own business and also has experienced a pretty severe burnout in a recent past, I know all too
well what the risks of working too hard for me are. And I know how far I can push myself
before I cross a boundary. And what I need to do in order to feel good and healthy,
both mentally and physically. I could choose to work harder than I am. And I could choose to
prioritize all these things, and schedule my calendar to the brink with meetings and social gatherings and work.
But I know how that will turn out for me.
So I choose to prioritize feeling good and healthy on a daily basis, and working as hard as I can without
sacrificing these things, over working more and earning more money.
When are we good enough? And are we worthwhile as human beings as members of this society if we are not busy?
If instead, we choose to live simply and have free time, and don't participate in hustle culture? I wonder sometimes.
Working harder and longer doesn't always guarantee more money or more success either. And even if it does
does this then leads to happiness and fulfillment? Or do we do it just to make sure that we are accepted by others?
To show them we're working hard, to show them we're busy, to try and impress people with our success, just to be seen as worthwhile.
Sometimes it seems to me like we need to hide away all the parts about ourselves that make us human.
We are so focused on everything needing to be perfect, that we feel we need to hide away all our flaws and weaknesses.
Our current busy hustle culture contributes to that. When taken to its extreme, it promotes the idea that
taking time to rest, reset and recharge is for the weak.
Taking care of your health and well-being.
Taking breaks, taking holidays.
Getting enough sleep, meeting up with loved ones is not productive enough.
We should work on turning our hobbies into income. Or starting a business. Or climbing the corporate ladder.
We should listen to productivity audiobooks while going for a run in between meetings.
We should feel tired stressed and in need of caffeine to help us through our day, because then, and only then, are we doing enough.
We need to start respecting and accepting our limits. If you ask me there is nothing to be admired about always being busy and
prioritizing overworking.
Especially for those in this world who are fortunate enough to have a choice about that.
I've talked about the waking up at 5 a.m
trend and why I personally don't participate in it, or believe that you have to.
You can watch that video by clicking on the card in the upper right corner or find a link in the description.
Minimalism can help us to downsize our belongings. But apart from that it can also help us to downsize our
obligations or projects in our busy life.
When you declutter your wardrobe
You will take each piece of clothing and ask yourself
If this is bringing you any value. And by doing this, we are
practicing and building this muscle of asking yourself this very question in life. When you know
which activities, projects, people and environments are adding value for you in your life, it brings clarity.
You will also know which things you want to get rid of. By doing that, you will have more time available to you and
more energy for the things that matter. If for you personally...
career and financial success is not one of them, you're not doing anything wrong.
You are the only one who can make that choice for yourself. By living a minimalist life, we automatically spend less money.
This means that you can either save a bit of money that you would have otherwise spent.
Or you could choose to work a bit less, make a bit less income, and still be able to afford your lifestyle.
Or it could be a combination of both. And both are fine.
But don't feel like you're not winning in life if you are not struggling with feeling too busy.
There's absolutely no need to hustle if you don't want to.
Being busy doesn't necessarily mean you're also being more effective or productive. If you are interested in healthy
productivity habits to get things done in a way that supports you, now
and in the future, then I recommend watching this video. Where I share my tips for being productive in a healthy way.
Being successful means working hard.
But it means working hard in work, as well as in taking care of your health.
As well as in seeing family and friends. And as well as doing fun and relaxing things in the weekend, they are all part of it.
When it comes to money and financial success, again
I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to be comfortable or even affluent.
But we do need to be mindful of what we are willing to give up in order to achieve it.
If being extremely busy and working super hard will even get us to that place.
One quote that I really love is a wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart.
Something I would recommend people to do, if you are watching this right now, is take a moment to think for yourself.
What is it that you find important in life? And how busy do you want to be in order to achieve that?
Which boundaries can you maybe set to protect yourself, your body and your mental health?
I'll sleep when I'm dead has a big flaw. Because we need sleep, adequate sleep, and
adequate rest, in order to function at our optimal level. And in order to enjoy everything we've worked so hard to create.
That is not a weakness we need to conquer. That is reality
we need to appreciate. You cannot enjoy your life, if you are obsessed with overworking, because you'll be too tired to enjoy it.
Lastly I want to discuss self-worth. Because many of us, knowingly or unknowingly...
tie our productivity and our performance to our self-worth. There are so many videos about how to be productive.
How to get things done, how to wake up early to get even more done. Be a boss.
But something that ends up developing alongside of that is the feeling of guilt.
Whenever we are not being productive. If we don't fill every minute of our day with tasks.
Relaxing is not being lazy.
Relaxing is enjoying your life.
Taking time to sit back and relax and feel good about yourself.
That's okay. If someone else is doing more than you are, that doesn't necessarily mean that you are lazy.
We don't need to be this competitive.
Appreciate yourself for being, not doing. Just to be clear, all this is not say to stop working on your dreams.
Working hard, showing courage, putting yourself out there.
Striving for something and having a good work ethic for good things. It's all about balance.
We should know that these are good things when they are part of our life.
But it can become toxic when it consumes our entire life.
What are your thoughts about being busy, overworking, toxic productivity, and hustle culture?
I would love to continue the discussion with you down in the comments section.
And if you enjoyed this video
please give it a thumbs up to support the channel. And subscribe if you want more.
I recommend the videos on screen right now about self-care routines and about simplifying your life.
Take care, and I'll see you next week
