Hustle is right. Hustle is the only way to get ahead. Without hustling, what are you doing?!?!?

Hustle culture teaches us that there's always more: more money to make, a bigger title or promotion and a higher wall to climb.

We get confused between hard work and application versus the constant craving and desire for more.

You must work smart and work hard. Sometimes, it means you put in 12+ hour days, or work over the weekends. Mark Cuban famously talks about not taking a vacation in 4 years, and I know a startup founder whose early years were similar.

But when you go overboard, when your kids stop recognising you, when you are burning all your relationships - what's the point of it?

While there will always be imbalance, there must be balance in the imbalance. A vacation balances out overworking. But if that's the constant cycle i.e. 12-hour days for 6 months followed by 2 weeks off, eventually that's gonna fail.


In the gym, there will always be more iron to lift. New moves to learn. More body fat to lose. More stunts to do. More time to shave in your workouts.

woman lifting barbell
Photo by Alora Griffiths on Unsplash

But more-more-more is not the answer to whatever question you are seeking to answer.

As we oscillate between work and rest (and to copy Coach Dan John, don't forget play and pray), we should aim to find all four parts. When that balance is not present, shit comes crashing down.


Hustle is not wrong. But indefinite hustle, when you are sacrificing all that’s important to you for the next shiny object, that seems wrong.