It took me a while to learn what the term hustle culture meant. As it turned out I already knew what it was. Runrun.it Blog defines hustle culture as “Constant working. It means devoting as much of your day as possible to working – hustling. There is no time out or time in at work. Work is done in the office, outside the office, at home, at coffee shops – anywhere.”
I think this mentality is stupid. Sorry that I couldn’t find any other word to use but stupid just works so well. Hustle culture screams imbalance. Imbalance leads to burnout and eventually abandonment.
Of course there are cases where people work 24/7 because they’ve found their passion or obsession and that’s totally different. They are working around the clock because they are doing what they love. They aren’t just working for the sake of work itself or trying to impress their friends or social media followers.
So why am I writing about this on a weight loss blog? I think hustle culture bleeds over into fitness all the time. Just browse Instagram or watch a Peloton commercial. You get the impression that fit people basically live to be in shape. If you’re like most, myself included, the idea of devoting your life to fitness isn’t very appealing. That’s why I despise hustle culture in general and specifically when it’s tied to fitness.
There’s no doubt that you have to commit to fitness or weight loss to get results. But by no means do you need to revolve your entire life around them. Great musicians and athletes practice their crafts, but not from sunrise to sunset. Great students study, but not every waking moment. To be fit or lose some weight requires even less effort.
I am a firm believer in daily exercise. I am also a firm believer in capping exercise at 30 minutes. That way it never becomes too daunting. Think of working out for 30 minutes, or even 20, versus 2 hours. 20 or 30 minutes is a lot more approachable.
Healthy eating should follow the same path. Getting a quality meal together can involve a handful of ingredients and a couple minutes of prep. It doesn’t have to be a 4 course ordeal with 50 ingredients.
Weight loss doesn’t require the hustle culture mindset. It requires a little work and a lot of consistency. The emphasis being on consistency. Weight loss takes place over the long run and you need to perform consistent behaviors to accomplish it.
The easiest way to establish consistency is through habits. Habits require minimal mental resources because they are mostly automatic. There are actually scientific ways to create habits too! Most people don’t realize this. I built my entire Habit Powered Weight Loss program around the science of forming habits.
If you’re looking to lose weight or get fit, forget hustle culture. You don’t need to devote your entire life to fitness. It’s not that hard. Just establish good habits and systems and you’ll find yourself getting healthier without even realizing it.