The problem arises when productivity turns into an obsession fuelled by peer pressure and motivational content on the internet. Our self-worth is tied to how much work we get done in a day. Creating a competitive environment and the person enters the hustle culture.
What exactly is success for the everyday person? Is it a well-paying job? Does it have a lovely family living in a big house with an expensive car to ride around? Or maybe it is leading a simple yet meaningful life devoid of intense struggle and disease.
Many of us might choose the worldly route to define our understanding of success.
It makes a lot of sense to do so to survive in this capitalistic world where money rules. For many people, money is equivalent to success and today’s youth are willing to work their way to the grave to achieve this feat of being “successful”.
Is there anything wrong with it, though? Not at all. Having dreams of success and wealth is perfectly fine as long as we do it of our own accord while keeping our mental and physical health in check.
HUSTLE CULTURE AND THE GLAMOUR OF WORKAHOLISM
The problem arises when productivity turns into an obsession fuelled by peer pressure and motivational content on the internet. Our self-worth is tied to how much work we get done in a day.
From students to business owners to people with jobs, everyone is feeling the pressure. This pressure has wreaked havoc in the lives of people from all walks of life.
Content on the internet with titles like “How to maximize productivity”, “What is the morning routine of successful people”, etc., is gaining millions of views.
The guilt associated with not doing enough is affecting people mentally. Workaholism is made out to be what an ideal worker should strive for.
A perfect worker works every day, does not take vacations, is sleep-deprived, and takes their work home after office hours. They do not stop when they are tired, and they stop when they are done.
According to a study at the University of Bergen, workaholics are more likely than those with more balanced schedules to suffer from severe psychiatric disorders. These include ADHD, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety and depression. “Taking work to the extreme may be a sign of deeper psychological or emotional issues,” researcher Schou Andreassen writes in the Science Daily release.
THE WORK CULTURE IN INDIA
The corporate work culture in India can be gruelling. With employees made to slog for long hours with the incentive of faster promotion, more recognition and ESOPs, they feel like they are choosing to work overtime. The real reason for hustle culture.
The truth is, the wheels of capitalism at work create a fake reality that the employees fall prey to. This mirage of choice stops them from taking a good look into the situation they are in.
ILLUSION OF MERITOCRACY
“Work hard and you will get to play harder.”
“Regardless of your economic or social background, as long as you keep hustling, you will achieve all that you want.”
This is what is sold to young minds who dream big. Most of us are not aware that the inequalities in society do not give everyone a level playing field. People spend most of their time working and trying to pay the bills when they are underpaid and are made to feel disposable.
This results in them having to work even longer hours to create more value for their work and even taking up a second job to meet their expenses which, mostly leads to stress and burnout.
BURNOUT
Job burnout is a special kind of work-related stress. According to a Mayo Clinic article, it is a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that involves a sense of reduced accomplishment and loss of personal identity.
Dysfunctional workplace dynamics, a chaotic or monotonous job and work-life imbalance are some of the leading causes of burnout. This phenomenon of burnout has become even more rampant after the pandemic now that people face long hours and more stress on the job.
Many countries in the world do not have proper laws and mandates regarding work and employees. Mexico and Japan are two countries where people work incredibly long hours, and Japan has had instances where people have worked themselves to death.
The internet is filled with advice on how to tackle burnout. The problem is, the conversation around what organizations, institutions and companies can do to avoid this problem is still very limited.
It is the responsibility of mainly the employers to find a solution to this new pandemic growing inside the coronavirus pandemic.
There is a lot to be done for the grind to stop. First and foremost, we urgently need to stop idolizing hustle culture and making it a lifestyle. We need to set boundaries and remove the guilt associated with taking things slow.
As for the organizations we work for, strict work laws are the need of the hour. Corporations that drive their workers to work till they fall sick both mentally and physically have to be held accountable.
Whenever we feel the need to rush, we have to ask ourselves why. Everything we do should be worth our time, and Mindlessly slogging day in and day out will not give us happiness or success. Health, after all, comes first.
