Making Of A Book #10: Why hustle culture is addictive

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Happy Tuesday :)

I attended a fusion dance event last weekend after a while! And remembered how much I love dancing. How was your weekend? Let me know in the comments! Hope you feel rejuvenated for the second half of 2022.

By the way, are you an immigrant in the U.S. right now (either working or studying)? If yes, I have a special announcement coming up for you next week. Be sure to read next week’s article.

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???In today’s newsletter,

• Article:?Why hustle culture is both addictive and destructive.
• Behind-the-scenes:?Overcoming addiction while working from home.
• Readings:?Origin of hustle culture, how to do nothing, & tools to improve focus.

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?? Article: Why Hustle Culture Is Addictive And Needs To Stop

The word?hustle?comes from the Dutch word?hutselen, meaning to shake or toss, derived from a game in the late 1700s called hustle-cap.

Since then, the word has traversed many lives.

Today,?hustle culture?refers to the idea of prioritizing your work above?everything?else in life. It glorifies committing long hours at your desk, idolizes workaholism, and focuses on maximizing productivity at work.

The Finery Report’s ?survey found that 83.8% of the respondents found working overtime to be a normal occurrence, while 69.6% confessed that they regularly work on weekends. Moreover, 60.8% of them felt guilty when they did not put in extra hours at work.

Why are so many people so?willingly?giving in to the allure of hustle culture?

My hypothesis: The idea of hustling is so addictive because the alternative is much harder.

What’s the alternative?

To do nothing.

……

There are very few things that are harder to do than to do nothing.

Ask yourself: when was the last time you went to a park, sat next to a lake, or just at your desk, and did?absolutely nothing?

I tried it last Thursday. I went to a park bench next to my house, sat there for 2 hours, and tried to do nothing.

It wasn’t easy.

When you try to do nothing, you’re left to float in a sea of your own observation.

And not all of us know how to swim just yet. Some of us are still just dipping our toes in the water (including me).

But as with swimming – or any other skill – it comes with practice.

?? Read the full article on hustle culture ??

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?? Behind-the-scenes: Overcoming Addiction While Working From Home

Do you work at a coworking space? Or have you worked at one in the past?

Personally, I love coworking spaces. I first stepped into one on November 16th, 2020.

I woke up that morning and felt a sense of force within me that said, Today’s the day. You need to stop working from home.

I called up 5 coworking spaces in San Francisco. Only one of them was open and answered the phone. I immediately left to reach the place. Walked in and knew it was the right decision. The increase in focus and productivity I felt when I walked into that room was unparalleled.

Since that day, I’ve been working at coworking spaces for more than 1.5 years…until I quit my membership two weeks ago.

Why did I quit?

• I moved into a new house last week where I have two rooms: a small bedroom, and a larger work room.
• I wanted to save some $$.
• And, it’s a new experiment!

However, it’s not been easy working from home. The gap between focused work and unintentional procrastination is too small now.

Because I know myself well – especially my bad habits and quirks – I realized, Unless I set some external accountability, I’ll be fighting a losing battle against addiction and procrastination.

Here are a few ways I’ve set up “accountability” to combat addiction:

• My friend, Chendur, and I meet every morning between 7-9 AM for virtual deep work sessions.
• My friend, Rishabh, and I began trying virtual coworking sessions last week. Similar to Chendur, we get on a call and work together with occasional check-ins (and some chitchat).
• I force myself to leave my house after eating lunch to take a walk or go to the park. This is the time I feel least energetic (and most drowsy).
• I don’t bring my phone into the work room as much as I can help it. (Especially during deep work sessions)
• I rely on good music to help me focus. Here are some playlists I usually listen to: IDM , drum & bass , nature music , and binaural beats .
• Last but not least, I keep the work area very clean and organized. A clear desk leads to a clear mind.

This isn’t to say I never give in to an addiction to watching a series or checking social media. But, these accountability systems help me win the battle at least 8/10 times.

A few more ideas I want to turn into habits are: going to the park every day in the evening, reading for pleasure every day for an hour, and “doing nothing” for a few hours every week.

…….

If you too are working from home and facing trouble keeping yourself focused and motivated, try out some of the ideas above.

And if you have other ideas that’s worked well for you, please let me know! I’d love to feature them in future articles so other readers can benefit too. :)

A collage of the coworking spaces that acted as my second home for 1.5 years :)

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?? CM Recommended Reads

[Article] The Origin of Hustle Culture: (5 min) I was surprised to learn that the origin of hustle culture was so deeply interconnected with the African-American culture. Also, while I didn't talk about this in my article, this NPR piece also shows how stepping out of hustle culture, while being an option for some of us who are more privileged and working a tech job, is not an option for the so-called "unskilled" workers in service jobs. But, without them, our lives would be unimaginable.

[Video] How To Do Nothing: Resisting The Attention Economy: (1 hour) Jenny Odell, the author of How To Do Nothing, shares the story of how her book became one in this talk at Google. Aside from being a writer and artist, Jenny is also a birdwatcher, which seems to have influenced a lot of her content in the book. (Incidentally, I just noticed yesterday that she lives in the same neighborhood as I do, in Oakland!)

[Podcast] Tools to Improve Focus & Memory: (2 hours) Andrew Huberman is a neuroscientist and tenured Professor at Stanford University. He hosts a podcast, titled Huberman Lab, where he invites guests (mostly researchers, scientists, and experts) to talk about topics ranging from neuroscience to health to performance. This episode specifically focuses on improving memory and has an interesting conclusion about how exercising weekly plays a huge part in that.

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That's it for now!

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Once again, I have a special announcement in next week’s newsletter, aimed at immigrants in the U.S. Be sure to open it!

Yours truly,

Soundarya Balasubramani ??

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An Author's Journey

Below is my version of the 12 steps an author walks to publish a book (and where I am currently).

My current goal is to reach the?Publishing?stage in the journey within a year.

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