Somewhere along the line, working yourself into the ground has become a badge of honour.
Since when did we begin to wear exhaustion like some sort of trophy around our necks?
Since when did we confuse movement with meaning, productivity with purpose, and busyness with success?
It seems that we’ve all fallen under the spell of hustle culture, that relentless pursuit of doing more, faster, longer, louder. And let me say it clearly, for the people up the back:
Hustle culture is bullshit.
This post isn’t about being lazy. It’s about being awake. It’s about calling out the toxic myth that you need to be hustling every waking hour to be worthy of your dreams.
It’s a rebellion against the glorification of burnout.
Here’s why I’m no longer buying into the hype and maybe, why you shouldn’t either.
1. You Are Not Your Output
Somewhere between the calendars and the KPIs, we forgot a crucial truth:
Your value isn’t tied to how much you produce.
Hustle culture reduces life to a spreadsheet, every moment is a transaction, every activity an obligation. If you’re not building, selling, scaling or stacking… you’re falling behind, right?
Wrong.
You’re allowed to just be. To breathe. To sit in stillness and know that you are enough without constantly proving it.
2. Burnout Is Not a Badge of Honour
We need to stop romanticising burnout. I can tell you, I’ve been there many, many times and there’s nothing romantic about burning out
Sleep-deprivation isn’t sexy. Missing milestones with your kids and/or loved ones isn’t noble. Feeling chronically anxious, foggy, or emotionally numb doesn’t mean you’re “committed.” It means you’re breaking.
Yet hustle culture tells us to sacrifice health, relationships, and even identity in the name of ambition. That’s not success, that’s self-abandonment.
3. Not Everyone Starts From the Same Line
One of the most harmful lies hustle culture tells is that “we all have the same 24 hours.”
As if systemic inequality, neurodivergence, trauma, caregiving, or mental health aren’t real barriers.
This mindset creates shame around rest, struggle, and difference. It turns personal limitations into perceived laziness. It ignores the human story behind the grind.
Life is not a level playing field—and pretending otherwise only reinforces privilege, not empowerment.
4. Creativity Needs Space, Not Speed
As a songwriter, musician, producer and blogger, I’ve learned this the hard way:
You can’t force inspiration on a deadline and expect it to sing.
Creativity breathes in the cracks between moments. It appears in quiet coffees, slow walks, still mornings, and deep presence.
Hustle squeezes those cracks shut. It makes you chase algorithms instead of art.
The truth? Depth doesn’t come from speed. It comes from stillness.
5. Rest Isn’t Lazy—It’s Revolutionary
Taking a break shouldn’t feel like rebellion, but in hustle culture, it does.
Choosing rest, silence, boundaries, or slowness becomes a radical act.
But that’s exactly what we need more of: radical rest. Rest that heals. That reconnects us with our purpose. That lets us live, not just survive.
We’re not meant to be in permanent productivity mode. Nature doesn’t bloom year-round. Why should we?
6. It’s a System Designed to Keep You Chasing
Hustle culture is the apple in capitalism’s eye, it profits when you never feel like you’ve done enough.
It disguises systemic exploitation as “entrepreneurial spirit.” You become both boss and employee, taskmaster and labourer. Always building, never arriving.
But here’s a liberating truth: You don’t have to earn rest, joy, love, or your place in the world.
You already belong. You are already enough.
7. The Real Flex? A Life On Your Terms
Imagine measuring success not by hustle, but by harmony.
By the quality of your relationships. The time you spend doing things that light you up. The peace you feel when you wake up, not the number of unread emails or “crushing it” LinkedIn updates.
What if presence became your status symbol?
My Final Thoughts: Choosing the Unhustled Life
Look, I’m not saying don’t work hard. I try to work hard every day on the things I care about. But I do it with intention. With rhythm and with rest built in.
I do this because I’ve learned that hustling harder doesn’t necessarily mean living better and it’s only taken most of my working life to fully realise this.
So let’s stop pretending that burnout is success. Let’s stop worshipping busy. Let’s stop trading life for likes, money, metrics or milestones.
The hustle is not the goal. The life is.
So what do you think? Have you felt the pressure of hustle culture? Let me know, I’d love to hear how you’re reclaiming your time and creativity.
Peace,
Corey 🙂
