We’re Done with Hustle Culture (Rise don’t grind)

If you and your coffee machine are constantly grinding, then one of you is bound to burn out and run out of steam. 

Metaphorically, hustle culture wants your coffee cup to always be half empty. 

Hustle culture tells you that if you’re not working around the clock then you are not worth your own time, let alone anyone else’s! Hustle culture tells you that if you get tired and want to rest, then you’re exhausting your chance at success. Hustle culture tells you that if you take a break then you are broken. Hustle culture tells you that you’ll struggle to earn respect as an entrepreneur if you aren’t constantly struggling. 

For a culture so focused on working hard, hustle culture hardly works!

There is no prize for running yourself into the ground. You can’t hustle your way to happiness. Productivity is best when it comes from a place of being grounded.

As an entrepreneur, your mind is your business. We want you to mind your own business by having the right mindset! The true work as an entrepreneur is in reframing your belief systems about what it means for you to be wealthy, healthy, and successful. It is about recognizing all the wonderful opportunities that can be available to you through ease and flow rather than force and grit. It is about understanding that how you speak to yourself internally is what you will see for yourself externally. 

In other words, as an entrepreneur, your words and thoughts are important. So let’s start healing the hustle mentality by deleting these 3 common phrases out of your brain and mouth forever!

DO NOT REPEAT

Do not repeat these sayings if you do not want to keep repeating old patterns. They are seemingly innocent at face value. But, their hustling undertones might be stopping you from ever facing why you’re not fully valuing yourself without you even knowing! 

1. “I am chasing my dreams.” 
   If you are always chasing the dream, then you will always be in the energy of chasing it and never catching up to it. Doesn’t that actually sound like a nightmare? As entrepreneurs, it’s important to align and to attract. This means taking care of yourself emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually. It means knowing that you are worth everything that you desire and that it’s only a matter of time until it’s yours! You understand that what you want, also wants you. This type of energy is magnetic! It’s attractive. It’s not desperate or needy or lacking. It’s sure not hustling! When you’re in alignment and acting from a centered place, you don’t need to chase anything because your dreams will be chasing YOU!  Plus, you’ll be actually living your dream life while you’re awake!
2. “I am a Workaholic”
   There are people who take great pride proclaiming that they haven’t taken a break all day, answered emails at 3:00am the night before, haven’t seen their friends or family in a week due to overtime, and have never used one of their vacation days. They wear the self imposed title of workaholic like it’s a badge of honor. Like the “aholic” part of the word implies, this can become an addiction. The more you call yourself a workaholic, the more you behave in ways that reinforce what you already think. So you will continue to skip lunch, take on another project when you’re already at your max, and self sacrifice sleep to work on said project. As humans, we have an innate longing for more, something greater. The workaholic title becomes an identity to cling onto that is sometimes easier to understand than the existential question of, “Who am I and why am I here?”  It can provide a false sense of purpose in a world that can otherwise feel purposeless. The workaholic hustles and grinds, seeking a pat on the back, more money, or for someone to validate that they are worth it. And that is exactly why hustling is a trap. You are worth it (whatever IT is for you) without needing to work like a machine! You are literally stardust that made its way into physical human form on this earth. You don’t need to prove anything to anyone because simply existing is your purpose! Ironically, the more you let go of who you think you are or who you think you’re supposed to be, the more fully, authentically, and effortlessly you become your truest self. They say that “I am” are the two most powerful words in the English language and to be careful with anything you say after them. So, why limit yourself to just being a workaholic when you are literally the whole universe!
3. “I am too busy”
   We are not saying you should not be busy. What we’re saying is to learn to identify when saying you’re busy isn’t always the truth. For example, we all know that one person who constantly complains about their weight and is too busy to go to the gym. Yet miraculously, they are never too busy to go to a party, get a massage, or watch the entire season of Tiger King in one sitting. Put otherwise,  “I am too busy” can mean “It’s not a priority for me.” As an entrepreneur, it is important to set healthy boundaries and identify what is and isn’t a priority to you. Saying no is a full sentence. You don’t need to sugar coat it with “I am too busy.”  Don’t say you’re too busy to celebrate that big deal you and your partner closed with drinks later when you really just want to be in a face mask, adult onesie, and your bed by 8:00pm. Don’t tell yourself you’re too busy to meditate, cook, clean, journal, do yoga, ride a bike, garden or insert whatever lights you up when you are simply resisting doing it for some other underlying reason. You should never be too busy to honor your truth. No matter what is going on, how much work there is to do, how many bullets are on our to-do list, we should never be so busy that we forget to enjoy this moment. Too busy to take a deep breath. Or, to appreciate that some unseen force called gravity is never too busy to somehow keep us tethered to the ground. As hustle culture would have you think, you don’t need to wait until you’re dead to rest. Never be so busy trying to make a living by hustling, that you forget to live your life.
   

RISE, DON’T GRIND

The word grind- so often used in hustle culture- means to wear down to almost nothing. Is that really what we’re rising out of our beds to do everyday? 

No, we’re here to rise and shine. 

We’re here to raise the collective consciousness when it comes to the meaning of our life, our work, and our life’s work.

We’re here to heal the hustle.