3 Ways You Can Be Successful Without Falling into the 'Hustle Culture' Trap Don't buy into the hype. Here's why you need to push back on the temptation to overwork
By Aytekin Tank Edited by Jessica Thomas
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
"I'm putting in 70 hours a week."
"I only sleep four hours each night."
"I try to answer emails during my lunch break."
The above phrases are likely familiar to any entrepreneur starting a new venture. I certainly heard these repeatedly when I founded my own startup 16 years ago.
What's worse: I believed them, too.
In my first few years as a freshly minted CEO, I felt I had something to prove. Not just to myself, but to the rest of the business industry as well.
I wanted to be taken seriously. And I know many entrepreneurs can relate to this feeling when first starting out, which is why the pervasive culture and myth of "busyness" continues to thrive — because we've all been duped into believing we need to overwork.
It took me many years to understand that there's a middle path, one that doesn't require us to be sleep-deprived or zaps the joy out of us. Here are a few strategies I've learned both from experts and personal experience that have helped me cope with the pressure to overwork, and I hope, can help you, too.
Why we need to push back on the temptation to overwork
Picture this: You're sitting at your desk staring at your screen with eight windows open. Then suddenly, you can't recall what you were even working on. Your mind goes blank trying to rehash every project on your plate but nada. It's like your brain went on vacation and forgot to give notice.
Or maybe all you can dream about is taking a nap under your desk, or maybe even increasing your caffeine intake to increase motivation.
Overwork sneaks up on us like a thief in the night, but it has one tell-tale sign: extreme fatigue.
For Harvard Business Review contributor, Alice Boyes, to effectively resist this pressure we place on ourselves, we need well-articulated strategies. Because, as she wisely notes, "Few of us want to overwork. Even when our jobs feel meaningful, we'd prefer to work to live, not live to work."
"We benefit from also devoting time to other interests and hobbies, family and friends, leisure and learning not related to our professions," she writes.
Here are three ways to combat the tendency to overwork.
Related: Employers Should Fear The Truth Behind Quiet Quitting. Here's Why.
1. Don't buy into the hype
As I mentioned in my experiences above about being a new founder, in the beginning, I read endless articles about the industry and I realized that so many entrepreneurs were following overworking practices. I also confess that at the time, I followed in their footsteps — staying up long hours, leaning into my perfectionist tendencies and believing that being busy equated to being successful.
Boy, was I wrong.
But it's far from uncommon. In her story for Business News Daily, Shayna Waltower notes that "U.S. workers are logging more hours, with 50 hours per week no longer considered unusual." And of course, for entrepreneurs and leaders, this number is usually much larger.
In my case, I began noticing that my health and sleep hygiene had started deteriorating. Brainstorming also became a challenge. Instead of coming up with new and innovative solutions, I'd stare at the same paragraph 20 times because I just couldn't focus anymore.
Due to the above, I believe experience is one of the best ways we learn what works and doesn't work for us — and I discovered that overworking like my peers just wasn't cutting it for me or my goals.
Related: An Open Letter to Workaholics: It's Time For Self Reflection
2. Practice self-compassion
I'll be the first to recognize that I was particularly hard on myself when I first founded my company, Jotform. But what I didn't want to do was have this mindset infiltrate the culture I was trying to build. And this became a huge turning point in how I coped with the pressure to overwork.
Changing the script in our minds is the first step toward resisting the temptation to keep busy at all times. HBR contributor Boyes suggests we challenge our beliefs by using more compassionate self-talk.
She offers the following example of what we can practice saying to ourselves: "I feel anxious that if I don't buy into their assumptions, I'm going to fail. My success is important to me, so that's scary. But I'm going to remind myself about how I can do my best work through methods that don't involve overworking."
Related: How Doing Too Much Is Hurting Your Business
3. Focus on your deeper goals and values
"The behaviors and language associated with hustle culture don't typically lead to great accomplishments," Boyes writes.
I wholeheartedly agree with her. Since those initial years of building my business, I've stepped away from an overworking mindset and looked to define my company by our greater values — making the best possible product for our users and promoting a healthy, positive workplace.
And guess what? Not giving in to hustle culture didn't slow down our progress. Not even by a margin.
I'm proud to say we've garnered millions of users worldwide and have thankfully grown into a thriving business — all without having to cut down on our quality of sleep or run ourselves into the ground.
The truth is, it doesn't matter what our profession is. Making meaning and trying to contribute to society is what eventually helps us overcome the temptation to overperform. As Boyes explains, "we all face internal and external pressure to do more. But, in the pursuit of career success and fulfillment, overwork is your enemy, not your friend."
And remember: To be taken seriously, you don't have to work weekends or wake up at five in the morning each day. All you need is a vision and the relentless passion and persistence to see that vision through.
Related: The Importance Of Striking The Right Work-Life Balance
