This Is How Hustle Culture Can Destroy Your Business
Work smarter, not harder.
Photo: ColorJoy Stock by Christina Jones Photography
There’s a scam out there that I’ve fallen for, and I’m not the only one. It has cost people their marriages and their businesses, it has cost them financially, emotionally, and mentally. It's brutal. And it may surprise you to hear that this scam? It’s the hustle culture.
As an entrepreneur, I know what it means to hit that mental fatigue point. When it happened to me, I didn’t want to ask for help. I didn’t think that’s what successful entrepreneurs do, and I didn’t want to appear weak. Unfortunately, it landed me in the hospital. You can say it won’t happen to you, but you need to know what to look out for and keep yourself in check because if it does happen, it can be incredibly hard to recover.
If you want to avoid falling victim to hustle culture, here are a few things worth remembering.
1. Be Intentional About the Content You Post
As humans, when we are exhausted, we look for external stimulation. The use of social media has made it incredibly easy to find validation, but—unfortunately—It’s dangerous. We get this hit of dopamine when people are liking and commenting on our posts, and that leads to us wanting more. As a result, it creates this noise effect online where everybody is basically shouting to get space because they need to feel validated. If you do that for long enough, you just tend to burn yourself out because it's not humanly possible to create high-quality content every single day.
You don't have to be posting every day on social media to be relevant, impactful, and helpful. Instead, focus on being intentional about the content you create—not just contributing to the noise in order to generate leads and customers. Ultimately, it’s about the quality of your followers, not the quantity. Just because you have a million followers doesn't mean you have a million buyers, and there are tons of broke influencers out there to prove it.
2. Don’t Compete With Influencers Who Have a Huge Team Behind Them
There’s a good chance that if you come across someone who is constantly posting content, they’re not flying solo. In fact, they probably have a huge team of 30+ people behind them. There is absolutely no way for a solopreneur or even someone with a small team to ever start to compete with that much creative energy.
Remember the influencers I mentioned before? You know the ones that have the followers, but nothing else to show for it? The real reason they're constantly creating content and building their audience is that they really aren't sure how to monetize it, or they are promoting products that really aren’t very good. Just focus on creating profitable content that has purpose and intention and you’ll end up on top.
3. Be Mindful of the Law of Diminishing Returns
We are not built to work all the time, and we're not built to push all the time. It’s not healthy for us. When you hit a certain point where you want to just power through a task because in your mind, being busy means you’re worthy, you need to take a break.
You see, the law of diminishing returns is that if you're constantly pushing, you’ll build momentum and see results at first. But when you peak? The quality of what you are putting out decreases. Eventually, you get to a certain point where your brain just shuts off and you start to actually do yourself a disservice and do yourself harm. When you’re tired—and when you hit that point of diminishing returns—you’re very vulnerable to making bad decisions. You’re likely to do things reactively and make short-term decisions for something that you're trying to build into a long-term business.
A metaphor I like to use is that you can’t go to the gym and lift weights for 24 hours straight. You are going to injure yourself—but this is how people are approaching business and entrepreneurship. They're trying to keep going no matter how irrational it is to stay at the highest level of energy and capacity. It’s just not normal. And it's not humanly possible. Instead, think about the long game. Try to be less reactive, and focus on understanding why you're doing what you're doing.
4. Figure Out How to Make Your Business Model Easier
The moment when I figured out how to simplify my business and do less was when my business started to grow. When I was hustling my face off, didn't have a team, and ultimately landed in the hospital with burnout, my business wasn’t even benefitting from my hard work. I was trying to do everything myself, and I didn’t even stop long enough to even wonder, why am I doing this? Did I want my version of success to be in a hospital bed, tired all the time, feeling like I'm sacrificing my sanity, my relationships, and my health?
After my burnout, I became obsessed with the most successful entrepreneurs, and I realized that the ones I admire most didn’t work all the time. They are laser-focused with their priorities and time. They stay in their genius zone, they stay in their lane, and they focus on the basics. Make a great product, innovate, constantly test it, and become customer-obsessed. They embrace failure and they embrace joy. They define their worth by their contribution to the world, their quality of life, and the relationships that they build. Because—if you want to be successful—you need to build your business to work for you, not against you.
"If you want to be successful, you need to build your business to work for you, not against you."
—Sunny Lenarduzzi, Social Media Consultant and Business Growth Coach
About the author: Sunny Lenarduzzi is a social media consultant and business growth coach who has earned eight figures in the past four years teaching people how to elevate their brands using video marketing, Sunny’s YouTube channel has amassed over 27 million views and her expertise has been featured in outlets including Entrepreneur, Forbes, Fast Company and Inc—and she's incredibly passionate about sharing her message around entrepreneurship, generosity, and success with the world. She has enrolled over 8,000 clients from around the world into her online programs, YouTube for Bosses and The Authority Accelerator. Connect with her on Instagram @sunnylenarduzzi.
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How to Make Sunday Your #SlayDay
We came to slay, boss.
The 40-hour workweek is the new part time (we're crying too, however efficiently). Which means working on a Sunday? That's what we're doing right now.
But how can you focus your energy to make Sunday your #slayday instead of that #lazyday?
Here are three ways to set fire to the first day of the week.
HANDLE ALL BILL BIZ
As much as we know it pains you, all bills and adult life things you should handle on Sunday. Why? 1. How does it feel to have waited till the last minute to figure out what you owe Uncle Sam? Probably worse than watching those hard earn dollars head off to those monsters (joking) at the IRS. 2. The small tasks we allow to take up space in our head make the free time we have way less enjoyable. And it's SO IMPORTANT TO ENJOY STUFF. If you're at a boozy Sunday brunch worried about that health insurance bill you didn't pay, or the car payment that's a few days late, it's affecting your good time. When something affect your good time, it affects your mood and your productivity.
WRITE YOUR GOALS FOR THE WEEK
If you want to be #goals, you better damn well set some. The great thing about writing a weekly goal list, is that it's ever-changing. If this week your goals are to: read 50 pages a night, do squats every day, and not use Postmates once--NOT ONCE-- (ahem, welcome to my goals), you have a much better chance at accomplishing them. Next week you can set new goals. Guess what? Checking these small, achievable, though hardly arbitrary goals off your list, imbues you with a sense of accomplishment and confidence needed to tackle larger tasks.
"If you want to be #goals, you better damn well set some."
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SPEND TWO HOURS ON YOUR SIDE HUSTLE
Remember that book about giving a mouse a cookie? Sure you do. Well, our careers are kind of like that. We all have our "cookie" job, the one that sustains us, but we also all need a little milk to go with it. The issue most of us have is where to find the time to get that milk. Easy: on Sunday. If you spend just two hours on a Sunday (which, face it, you easily spend combing Instagram) working on your side hustle, imagine what you can accomplish within the year. The truth is, the hustle does sleep, but it works smarter than you're working right now. Your side hustle does have to be your FT passion-- but you do have to commit time to it, instead of sitting around during the week WISHING you had more time.
"The truth is, the hustle does sleep, but it works smarter than you're working right now."
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#HeyLauren: Are We Addicted to the Hustle?
Just one more deal before bed.
"Hey, Lauren" is our new bi-monthly column from licensed psychologist Dr. Lauren Hazzouri. Dr. Hazzouri is a TV show host and founder at Hazzouri Psychology, where she’s carved out a successful niche treating women who are psychologically healthy—but trying hard and not getting satisfaction in various aspects of their lives. Through her life experience and training, Lauren’s developed a program that allows women to live meaningful lives and feel fulfilled doing it. Lauren is founder of HeyLauren.com, a project for women, where she provides evidence-based insights on job stress, relationship woes and everything in between.
photo credit: Kelley Raye
An advanced google search for “hustle” and “women,” results in 13,500,000 quotes, images, and articles attempting to inspire us to Hustle Hard (insert muscle emoji) with messages like: “Real woman hustle,” “Good things come to those who hustle,” and my personal favorite, “If she ain’t got no hustle, then she ain’t worth shit.” (insert blank face emoji.) While the intention—to motivate us to try our best—is clear, the tactic is warped and the message falls horrendously short of empowerment.
Over 40% of household breadwinners in the U.S. are women ( U.S. Bureau of Labor), and women are the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs in the U.S, making up 30% of privately owned businesses.
So, in many ways it appears that our #Hustle mentality is working for us, but at what cost? My concern is that the #Hustle is another of our reactions to the patriarchal system that we are attempting to overcome. As a clinician, I see women everyday (just like you!) hustling their tails off to meet deadlines, prove their abilities, close the big deal. At the same time, they’re exhausted, feeling less than satisfied, exhibiting a nervous energy that hardly makes life enjoyable. To me, the #Hustle is simply a glorified manifestation of perfectionism in the workplace, and it needs to be viewed as such before we #Hustle ourselves directly out of the very game we’re equipped to dominate when in tune with ourselves, unaffected by the noise, and achieving balance.
"It appears that our #Hustle mentality is working for us, but at what cost?"
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The #Hustle is appealing, of course. I’d go as far as to say it’s addicting! We’re human-beings, and humans tend to repeat anything that feels good. For women, especially, nailing the presentation and bringing home the bacon feels SO damn good. Let’s face it— while becoming increasingly common, doing so remains against all odds. So, it can feel intoxicating. I get it! Let me be clear, I’m not preaching mediocrity for the masses. Mediocrity makes my skin crawl. Instead, I’m suggesting that balance is best. While it may seem risky, I’m willing to bet that your performance and quality of life both improve when you hop off the #Hustle hamster wheel and into you. When you’re in tuned with yourself, your voice, your relationships, and your community, there ain’t no telling what you can accomplish. Bottom line—the #Hustle is limiting your potential. It’s certainly not fueling it.
To increase life satisfaction and performance simultaneously, let’s take a page out of the overcoming perfectionism handbooks that is guaranteed to have you #Hustling toward your health. With health and balance working for you, the sky’s the limit!
Here’s how:
LOSE THE STINKIN' THINKIN'
There are ways of thinking—Black and White thinking, Catastrophic Thinking, Awfulizing, and The Shoulds— that are synonymous with the #Hustle and lead to hamster wheel hell. In lieu of internalizing these negativistic thoughts, recognize the debilitating patterns and let ‘em go. It’s typical practice in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to swap the “irrational” thoughts for more “rational” ones. Because your thoughts make complete sense, given the patriarchal society you’ve unintentionally internalized, I choose to call them self-destructive vs. self-promoting thoughts, instead. NOTE: Even changing the language is a necessary part of working counter to the current of pathologizing women and gives us permission to be ourselves—as we are, today.
GET BACK TO THE BOUNDARIES
Your time matters. Your relationships matter. Your community matters. We’re all in this together, and we need you. It’s important to keep your character—honesty, accountability, responsibility, and integrity—in tact. Doing so will allow you to easily set boundaries and save yourself for the living part of life. Meeting deadlines and slaying the day are fine and dandy, as long as you can do that, while feeling the value and meaning in your presence.
GET IT DONE!
Enough with the procrastination, too! You spend as much time talking about the #Hustle as you do #Hustling. Most of the time, it’s because you’re afraid your product won’t be “good enough”. I suggest a cognitive shift. Crush your “to-do” list with a Do it to get it done mindset. The result will surprise you! In dropping the self-prescribed standards, you’ll engage in a lot less bitching and a lot more doing. You’re welcome!
"Crush your 'to-do' list with a do it to get it done mindset."
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FORGIVE YOURSELF (AND OTHERS, TOO!)
Compulsive behaviors are born out of pain, low self-esteem, and the like. The answer is NOT to continue with self-destructive patterns. Instead the answer is to let go of past upsets and disappointments and treat yourself as you would a loved one. The #Hustle can’t hold a candle to self-compassion when it comes to feeling good. So, if you’re going to compulsively do anything, I motion for compulsive self-care seven out of seven days of the week.
GET TOUGH ON GUILT
Fear, guilt, and shame fuel the #Hustle mentality. The answer is exposure! You’re afraid to take the day off? Take two! Worried you’ll let your team members down? Well, you’re a team member, too. Even more— when balanced, your work is on time, on point, and on top. So, really, run toward discomfort! The key is to get comfortable being uncomfortable.
THINK BIG PICTURE
There’s no such thing as a make or break situation. Nothing and no one can make or break you, other than you. So, take it all in stride—one day at a time. We’re all on a quest to “meet our purpose”, but you are your purpose. Without you, you’ve got nothin’. And, you’re integral to the big picture. So, it’s high time to treat yourself with the value you possess between your head and your toes.
Following these tips will allow you to shine through the #Hustle with ease, balance, and grace, keeping in mind that yes!—your contribution to the world is ultimately important. BUT, You are your contribution! #HustleToYourHealth and the rest will follow (ten-fold!).
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Dr. Lauren’s on a mission to bring psychology to the public. She contributes to a variety of online publications, provides candid talks to women’s organizations across the country, and was recently cited in Forbes. Lauren’s next appearance is on September 9, when she will deliver a Ted Talk entitled Life Works. Her talk is said to highlight various aspects of the book she’s currently writing on “how to do the human-being thing really well.”
Dr. Lauren is the 2016 recipient of The Psychology in the Media Award from The Pennsylvania Psychological Association and is a member of The American Psychological Association. For more from Lauren, visit @dr_lauren and sign up for her weekly newsletter at HeyLauren.com.
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Hey Lauren: Can You #Hustle Your Way to Happy
The positive psychology movement wants to improve normal lives.
"Hey, Lauren" is our new bi-monthly column from licensed psychologist Dr. Lauren Hazzouri. Dr. Hazzouri is a TV show host and founder at Hazzouri Psychology, where she’s carved out a successful niche treating women who are psychologically healthy—but trying hard and not getting satisfaction in various aspects of their lives. Through her life experience and training, Lauren’s developed a program that allows women to live meaningful lives and feel fulfilled doing it. Lauren is founder of HeyLauren.com, a project for women, where she provides evidence-based insights on job stress, relationship woes and everything in between.
photo credit: Moriah Ziman Photography
To submit questions to Lauren follow the prompt at the bottom of the article. She'll be responding to your needs every month! In her first post, Hey Lauren addresses the issue of "the hustle."
FOR DECADES, psychology focused on ill-being—providing scientifically-driven treatments to help miserable people be less miserable. More recently, the positive psychology movement set out to determine how to improve normal lives. Much research has been done to answer the ultimate question: What makes us happy? Everyday I have women (just like you!) trying super hard and not getting any satisfaction, rolling with the 'Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop' mentality and coming into my office saying, “I just want to be happy!” The problem is NOT that no one is talking about happiness—an Amazon search for books on happiness results in 22,083 differing opinions and tips, and to date, there have been 544 ideas worth spreading about happiness at TED. The problem is that no one seems able to define the word happiness. Happiness is defined by Merriam-Webster as the state of being happy. I don’t know about you, but one of the first things I learned in Fourth grade vocabulary class is that it’s not acceptable to define a word, using that word or any variation of that word in the definition. The only students, who tried to get away with that were those who hadn’t studied the vocab list.
"No one seems able to define the word happiness."
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In this case, it’s not that simple. Happiness is hard to objectively define. I remember (back in my doctoral training days when I studied happiness) having to split the happiness variable into positive and negative affect ( mood) and life satisfaction. The problem— and, I’m sure you’ll agree!— is that you can have a ton of positive feelings, like your life a whole lot and yet, not feel blissfully happy. Many times, the missing factor is that we still don’t like ourselves!
It’s been said that the key to happiness is healthy self-esteem. People often confuse confidence and self-esteem. While correlated, they’re not one in the same. You can be confident in many areas—your skill-sets, your appearance, your ability as a tennis player—and still have very low self-esteem. Confidence is a feeling of self-assurance that arises from appreciation of one’s own abilities or qualities, while self-esteem is confidence in one’s own worth or value. In an attempt to feel good about ourselves, we often improve our tennis game, lose those five extra pounds, or #Hustle, #Hustle, #Hustle. While good for a confidence boost, there are many champion tennis players and experts in their respective fields, who’s self-esteem remains very low. However, confidence and self esteem are correlated, and self-esteem and happiness are correlated, too.
Recent literature points to three levels of happiness. There’s The Pleasant Life—a life filled with fun and positive experiences; The Good Life—the life of one, who’s identified her signature strengths and uses them to access Flow; And, The Meaningful Life— the life of one, who uses her strengths and abilities to make a contribution to the bigger picture, the world. It’s said that people who live The Good Life and/or The Meaningful Life are happier than The Pleasant Life livers, but the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts. Adding pleasant experiences and fun to the other two seemingly renders the best results. I know, shocking!
Here’s the deal— We can use this insight to make our #Hustle work for us, rather than against us! Get off the proverbial hamster wheel and #Hustle to use your signature strengths ( areas in which you have high confidence levels) to live The Good Life, losing yourself in Flow. This way, working hard can feel good! If you’re lucky, you’ll discover that those same strengths can be used to make the world (—even your community) a better place to live The Meaningful Life. The best part—doing so will allow you to feel your worth and value, and in turn, increase self-esteem.
"Get off the proverbial hamster wheel and #Hustle to use your signature strengths to live The Good Life."
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In the words of Gloria Steinem, “Self-esteem isn’t everything; it’s just that there’s nothing without it.” Apparently, not even happiness! So, let’s get started.
IDENTIFY YOUR SIGNATURE STRENGTHS
Take this brief survey at authentichappiness.com! Knowing your individual strengths is the most important part.
PRACTICE FLOW
Flow, a term coined by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, is the result of being so engaged in an activity that your awareness of time disappears, and you are almost one with what you are doing. I’m sure you’ve heard an artist talk about losing herself in her art. She’s describing flow. To achieve flow, you need to be able to do three things: engage for an ample amount of time on one task, focus wholeheartedly and with intensity, and finish the task to completion. Ready, set, flow!
GIVE BACK
The trick to fulfillment is to make the shift from self-centered to others-centered. Use your strengths to get outside yourself and do things in your community to make your world a better place. Remember, giving back is an integral part of your personal growth and development, and the bonus is that you’re doing great things.
HAVE FUN!
Take breaks and get social. In reality, we are social beings having a human experience, not visa versa. When we spend too much time mastering our craft, we get a little bit squirrelly! Have pleasant conversations. See amazing places. Do fun things. For this one, think — You only live once!
With a commitment to honing your #Hustle toward the life you deserve ( —which at times means to #AntiHustle!) and have fun, too, you might be the one to finally define happiness for us all.
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Dr. Lauren’s on a mission to bring psychology to the public. She contributes to a variety of online publications, provides candid talks to women’s organizations across the country, and was recently cited in Forbes. Lauren’s next appearance is on September 9, when she will deliver a Ted Talk entitled Life Works. Her talk is said to highlight various aspects of the book she’s currently writing on “how to do the human-being thing really well.”
Dr. Lauren is the 2016 recipient of The Psychology in the Media Award from The Pennsylvania Psychological Association and is a member of The American Psychological Association. For more from Lauren, visit @dr_lauren and sign up for her weekly newsletter at HeyLauren.com.
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