Are you overworking yourself?

Kate Cardoz

Do you find the need to be constantly available at work even on weekends? Feel guilty for taking sick leaves because work will stack up? Feel like the organisation will come crashing down because YOU asked for two weeks of chutti? Then my friend, welcome to hustle culture. Where organisations reward employees for taking on extra work at the cost of their health and free time!

Here working 18 hours a day is not seen as a means to an end, but as a lifestyle. And working through sick days, even COVID, is glorified. Whether you choose to jump on this bandwagon of hustling hard or choose to sit it out — depends majorly on privilege. That ‘slow living’ that some of us lust over on Instagram is backed by a financial safety net that not everyone may have just yet.

Hustle culture refuses to die because of its links to passion and ambition. Being in a creative field and chasing your passion can feel engaging and life-changing — but also all - consuming and overwhelming. Even your down time is spent on consuming ‘content’ relevant to work. If this goes on, your passion can turn unhealthy very quickly – with many sleepless nights, binge eating and even panic attacks. By the time you realise you're burned out, it’s too late. And definitely not something you can fix with a weekend off.

Today, just having a 9-5 is just not enough, you need to ‘level up’, have a ‘side-hustle’ or you are not ‘maximising’ your full potential. In fact, I remember telling a colleague - “Love the earrings you make, why dont you sell them?” The idea of just pursuing a hobby for the heck of it is now unthinkable. You HAVE to monetize it. It is often tough to identify if we are part of this culture because so much of it is branded as cool! Phrases like ‘Rise and grind, T.G.I.M (Thank God it’s Monday), Don’t stop when you are tired, stop when you are done’ stare at you as you open LinkedIn. Sorry, Elon but I AM done with this bullshit – where the rich get richer and workers just get burnout!

With companies getting back to ‘normal’, employees are just expected to go back to pre-pandemic ways of working — as if we didn’t face a deadly virus that took a toll on all of our lives. Longer hours with travel time, higher performance demands and fewer empathetic policies make employees wish they could run away to the hills and just complete their TBR lists. I know, I know by now you must have manifested this life but until we get there, here’s how you can figure out life while on your job.

1. Set clear boundaries

(News flash – It doesn’t always work and it’s SUPER uncomfortable but that doesn’t mean you stop trying!)

If you are in a position of power, it’s ALL the more important that you set clear boundaries. Your work life gives juniors the courage to set those boundaries for themselves too.

2. Schedule time for self-care activities (P.S. It doesn’t have to be fancy or burn your pocket)

Book that slot on your calendar and just like your other meetings, show up (but this time for yourself!)

3. Take breaks, LOTS of breaks!

I am trying the POMODORO technique where with every focused session of work, I take a small break to do nothing.

4. Productivity is not linear

Acknowledge that you are not gonna be 100% productive every day. Some days you absolutely kill it at work, other days you just scrape through and that is A-okay!

And while we may take individual steps to beat capitalistic work cultures, it’s always community support that helps us make it through the good days and bad. A colleague who takes excess work off your plate, a boss who understands your bandwidth for the week, a friend who you can rant to, and most importantly, organisations fighting to make policies that tell hustle culture - Gurl BYE!

Have you adjusted to the daily grind or are you anti-hustle culture? Write to me!

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