The Shocking Truth About Hustle Culture And Currency Devaluation
What is hustle culture? How has hustle culture become engrained in American society? Here is a look at the shocking truth about hustle culture and how currency devaluation contributes to it.
Hustle culture has made people think they must always find a new hustle to make money. The hustle culture mindset has created a schizophrenic culture. It has taught people to work more, focus on money, and spend less time with loved ones. Here is the shocking truth about hustle culture and the role of currency devaluation in creating the hustle culture mindset.
What Is Hustle Culture?
“Fundamentally, [hustle culture] is about work dominating your time in such an unnatural way that we have no time to live our lives.” - Joe Ryle, Director of 4 Day Week (Via Good Housekeeping)
Hustle culture means that work controls every aspect of life. You think about it when you go to sleep. You think about it when you wake up. You think about work while on vacation. Work dominates life.
The purpose and fulfillment of life come from work. People attach their purpose and value to their work rather than spending time with loved ones or investing in themselves. There is no longer any time to relax, enjoy life, or spend time with loved ones. Everything is about work.
Work.
Work.
Work.
Work.
Work.
Work.
Work is you. You live for work. Work is the one and all-encompassing aspect of life. There is nothing more to life than work. Just work until you die.
“Hustle culture carries this overarching belief that the more you do, the more valuable you are.” - Kate Northrup, Founder of the Origin Company (via Good Housekeeping)
Is “Work Bitch” about hustle culture? You better get back to work!
The Hustle Culture Mindset
Since the hustle culture is about work, the goal of a person involved in the hustle culture is to work as much as possible. The hustle culture mindset focuses on as many side hustles as possible. To work three or four jobs. To accept as much overtime as possible. Work as much as you possibly can. Always say “yes” to another job or more hours, even when they will not dramatically improve your quality of life.
Everything is simply about work. One’s value comes from believing that working more hours and multiple gigs leads to success. The problem is that working multiple jobs may not allow you to have money left over afterward to save.
Working multiple gig jobs that depend on you to take care of your own vehicle and pay for the gas, insurance, maintenance, and other costs cut into money made every hour. The same is true of working three part-time jobs. The costs of going to and from work must be considered. The amount of money those jobs pay may not warrant the time, attention, and energy being given to them.
I used to think it was best to do multiple things simultaneously. In my twenties, I worked random weekend sales jobs (vacuums, printers, coffee machines) and GrubHub while I was working to grow my website in graduate school. The better choice would have been not attending graduate school and focusing on building my income streams for my business.
It is better to focus on one thing you are great at than on many things you are okay at. Which one do you think will more likely be successful? The first one. Or the second one.
Related:
3 Reasons Why Millennials And Gen Z Are Moving Back In With Their Parents
The Dark Side Of The Gig Economy: The Truth About Part-Time Work
The American Dream Has Become The Great American Nightmare
“That's why they call it the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.”- George Carlin
The American Dream said that if you worked hard, you would one day be able to afford to buy a house, start a family, and live a happy life. That is no longer the case. The American Dream is now the American Nightmare.
According to Redfin, a must now be in the six-figure club to afford a house in the United States. According to Yahoo News, only 9% of Americans earned $100,00 or more annually in 2019. Not all hope is lost, IBIS World projects an” increase [in] the number of individuals over the $100,000 threshold to reach 36.7% in 2023.” However, that still means that just over 60% of people cannot afford a home.
The cost of living continues to rise. Groceries are becoming more expensive. Many people have debt in the form of credit cards, auto loans, and student debt.
Working all the time means that people do not have time to date or even contemplate starting a family. If someone cannot afford to care for themselves, working two or three jobs, why should they even consider dating or starting a family? People are staying single longer due to the rising cost of living and being unable to get started in life.
It no longer matters how much a person may work. Even if someone works themselves to death working a hundred hours per week, they still may be unable to pay off their bills and debts. There must be a better way.
Modern society no longer recognizes hard work, meritocracy, or honesty. The opposite of all those things is rewarded. If the system is always against you and you have done everything you have been told, it may be time to try unconventional methods.
The strategies for success in the 20th century no longer work in the 21st century: go to college, get a good job, have a pension or retirement plan, retire, and then die. The 21st century requires self-responsibility, learning how to build an online business, and consider set-retirement to succeed.
The hustle culture is not working. The American Dream is dead. The American Nightmare has replaced what was once marketed as the American Dream.
Play smart, or get stuck in the hustle culture’s rat race. It is up to you.
“Call me the American Nightmare/
Call me the American Dream/” - Rob Zombie
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