Hustling mindfully.

Is hustling culture a toxic culture?

There are 2 schools of thought on this.

If you listen to podcasts or youtube on entrepreneur's motivation, they are all about hustling.

I have, however, come across some opinions that hustling culture is so toxic, it destroys one's mental health. Instead of hustling, mental health should be given priority.

Being on my own, with no salary, no bonus, no sugar daddy, and literally no money falling from the sky, I can tell you by evidence that hustling is definitely necessary even with the law of attraction in practice and whatnot.

But I do understand where the opposing thoughts come from.

It is when we hustle without knowing how to take care of our mental health along the way and in the end it we just lose ourselves along the way.

Here is when hustling can destroy your mental health :

1) Attainment of goals is ego-driven.

When goal attainment's purpose is to prove something to self, to others, to compete, to show to someone that you can do it, it can affect our mental health.

2) High attachment to results.

The thought that one must achieve the goal 100% on the dot, at the time that is aimed. On top of that, it is also non-negotiable no matter what comes the way, even if it means you have to hurt people along the way, even if you have to play win-lose, as long as you win.

3) Letting the results define ourselves

A failure in 1 business equals I am a failure.

9 out of 10 rejections mean I am stupid.

4 out of 5 financial mistakes mean I am doomed.

4) Being rigid about things

Being a perfectionist on how things should be, should turn out and look like which is an excellent recipe for frustration.

5) Playing the zero-sum game both in business and in life as a whole.

This is when one thinks that the only way to win is to get someone to lose.

6) Applying the scarcity mindset in the quest to achieve goals.

·??????Scarcity mindset refers to the thinking that everything is not enough, no other way. It gets us to be stuck and unable to find other ways when we face challenges too.

Can you think of any more from your observation?

So, can we actually hustle and take care of our mental health at the same time?

The World Health Organization (WHO) conceptualizes mental health as a “state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community”.

Once I had the opportunity to run a session on EQ lessons for a group of seasoned entrepreneurs, ( I am talking about more than 10 years in business), many said they wish that they have learned what we shared during the class at the beginning of their entrepreneurship journey.

That would have saved them from :

1) a lot of time is wasted over the inability to manage frustrations,

2) inability to make a rational decision during a tough time

3) having to suffer and go through difficult emotions and not knowing what to do with it, like how to navigate and get out of here.

So what would many of them do?

Suppress, deny or avoid handling these difficult emotions.

The entrepreneurship journey can be a lonely one and navigating emotions can be very challenging and difficult to find help. For some, they need to keep up with the image or even expectations of the people around them. If you have been running on your own, you know how tough it is in choosing what can be shared with others and with whom can you share.

For me, EQ is nonnegotiable, a must-have in the journey of entrepreneurship. Along with knowledge about marketing, strategy, branding, how to pitch, managing business cash flow, and what not. After all, to be successful in the entrepreneurship world, one cannot run away from having to be able to "make a contribution to his community". Business with impact and value makes sustainable business.

Together with EQ development, applying the mindfulness principle can help you hustle without destroying your mental health.

There are 3 ways we relate to our intention and results in pursuing our goal.

1) Low intention, low attachment

Unengaged, don't do anything, and withdrawal.

Someone who doesn't make an effort at all.

2) High intention, high attachment

driven, perfectionist, pushing self and others beyond the limit,

impatient, not flexible, demanding, and must achieve a specific outcome.

When one is very attached to the results, there is no room and flexibility when things don't go our way, even a slight detour can make a person angry with himself ( and the world ), get into burnout not because of the effort but due to the intense thoughts and emotions experienced due to attachment.

This is a recipe for burnout and can become toxic in hustling.

What is the alternative?

In Mindfulness, acceptance and letting go is part of the attitudinal foundation.

So how does this play a role when we are hustling?

3) High intention / low attachment.

flexible, resilient, adaptive to change (change of plans, actions, strategies, method), acknowledging what is happening, responding with insights - calmly and rationally instead of emotionally, doing what you can from where you are, and, satisfaction from doing your best.

This is where one can continue to hustle and at the same time can take care of their mental health.

Who in your life that you know is hustling and doing good at taking care of their mental health? Do share what you notice about them.