Hard work and dedication tend to be viewed as positive traits in a professional setting. However, everything in moderation, as they say, and the same goes for striving for outstanding results at work. Yet some people choose to walk the extra mile, even if that means compromising at the expense of their free time or even their loved ones.
Such hustlers often try to encourage others to strive for excellence, too, by methods that some would consider questionable at best. We have combed through the vastness of the internet to find examples of such motivational posts and tips on how to fully use your potential, even if that means forgetting what a weekend or a day off feels like. Scroll down to find them on the list below, but remember that it might be best to take such advice with a healthy dose of skepticism.
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You Don't Need A Weekend
Even people 3000 years ago realized humans need a freaking day off! It's written into religion. The 7th day is a day of rest! Humans get burned out. You have to have time to turn your brain Off!
I Wish This Was Satire
Asked My Landlord To Increase My Rent Because I Believe In The Grind
Also known as the grindset, the hustle culture depicts its representatives as go-getters always striving for excellence, as there’s always new goals to reach, more money to make, or more benefits to reap. As BBC Workplace puts it, they are the people who wake up at 4AM, chug down a coffee and a green juice, and get cracking.
According to BBC, such a mindset has likely stemmed from the giants at Silicon Valley and spread like wildfire in part thanks to modern technology. (You have likely seen motivational videos of the benefits of starting the workday at 4am yourself, if you’re online at all.)
“Silicon Valley had an image of being a paradigm of the economy, at the cutting edge of technology,” Nick Srnicek, a lecturer in digital economy at King’s College London, told BBC, adding that such a leading position means that whatever happens in the valley spreads elsewhere, too.
Always Choose LinkedIn Followers. Agree?
Normalize Not Having A Life
Oh baby I don't make more money if I work more hours. I get sent home with a reminder that business hours are business hours and the question if I'm alright
Srnicek added that the hustle culture legitimizes the idea of long hours being the only way to success. In addition to that, “Hustle culture ideology says that people are overworking not because they’re economically driven to, but simply because this is the way go-getters get what they want,” the expert explained.
That might be true as representatives of the hustle culture are often wealthy enough to allow themselves a little break; but instead of that, they choose to continue hustling. If you’re looking for proof, check the LinkedIn profiles of some wealthy individuals and you should be able to find at least a couple of pro-hustle mentality posts.
“With the rise of LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok, hustle culture narratives exploded,” another expert, Dannielle Haig, principal psychologist at DH Consulting—a consultancy specializing in leadership development and wellbeing at work—told BBC.
My Brother Is Sick But I'm Grateful I Could Avoid Taking A Day Off And Work Remotely From The Hospital
“You poor thing.” I’m totally serious. This is like when an abused partner says “So grateful the doctor let me take an irate call from [abuser] while discussing the prognosis of my brother’s life-threatening condition”.
Anyone Else Take 4 Hours To Eat Meals?
What A Miserable Outlook On Life
Even though, according to Haig, the narratives surrounding hustle culture have exploded with the rise of social media, the bubble seems to have already burst, or is likely slowly going down now. Instead of focusing on the grindset, employees nowadays opt for quiet quitting, which has unsurprisingly been pushed to the forefront by social media, too.
According to Investopedia, having started to appear in people’s professional setting back in 2020 (and in their vocabularies in 2022), quiet quitting refers to doing the bare minimum: enough to maintain the job, but not a step—not to mention a mile—extra.
Back then, in 2020, roughly half of young adults—52% of those aged 16 to 24, to be exact—reportedly believed in the efficiency of the hustle culture. (The older generations didn’t as much, though, as the percentage for those between 25 and 44 stood at 39% and 35% for people 45 and older.)
Do You And Your Friends Talk About Netflix? Shame
I'm In The Empire Business
What? That handwriting is exactly the same for all 3. Is she expecting us to believe somebody handed her the note and she added the 3rd box, or does she pre-write bunches of these to hand out at bars? I really hope it's the latter
He Didn’t Have Enough Time To Learn To Do His Job In A Timely Manner
Yes, and that is why I vote for parties who want to make things better for workers.
It’s no surprise that constant hustling can have serious consequences, as it often inevitably leads to stress and burnout. According to a survey carried out by Deloitte, 77% of respondents have experienced burnout at their place of employment. To make matters worse, roughly half of them have faced such a distressing state more than once.
Let's Bring The Toxic Traits Of Work And Capitalism Home To Teach The Kids About The "Real World"
Hmmm...I wonder how much he'll charge you and his mum to take care of you in your old age? - or maybe even to spend time with him and his family, you wanna see your grandchild, here's the hourly rate.
Accelerate
Hustle Lords Are Back
Deloitte's survey also found that, contrary to some hustlers’ beliefs, those who enjoy their work can feel stressed about it, too. Contrary to another point often pushed by representatives of the hustler culture, stress is not always a motivating force to do better; it can simply be a state that makes one’s life miserable.
The survey found that more than nine-in-ten respondents admitted that having an unmanageable amount of stress and frustration has negatively impacted the quality of their work, and an additional eight-in-ten believed that burnout from work has negatively impacted their personal relationships.
If You're Reading This On A Saturday, Shame On You
OK no sympathy for this douche so I’ll see “weekends” and raise him “yesterday I arrived back from the airport 15 minutes before my remote work hours started, and it was everything I hoped it would be.”
He Definitely Doesn’t Have Any Friends
OMG look up their site! They are selling NOTHING! "Meroxa is the platform that allows developers to build stream processing data applications easily with code." Does that word salad make sense to anyone? "WITH CODE" LOL! Bro, everybody on the internet uses "code". Jesus I'm starting to thing I should just upload this list to the FDIC I'm seeing so much scammy BS.
And Then He Wonders Why Employees Don’t Stay
Nice of you to wave the red-flags up front so people know to avoid working for you.
Whether motivated by the hustle culture of saying no to days off or not, many people fail to use the vacation days they have at work; Deloitte’s survey revealed that roughly one fourth of them never or rarely use all of them.
That, too, can lead to some troublesome outcomes, as taking a break at least once in a while is crucial for an individual’s well-being. According to Verywell Mind, our body is designed to respond to short bursts of stress, so prolonging such a detrimental state can lead to chronic stress and health problems that arise from it (such as gastrointestinal issues and high blood pressure, just to name a couple).
In The Hustle Culture Sunken Place
Helping A Client Find Leads Trumps An Employee's Newborn Baby Being Hospitalized. All The Best To The Client Though
My Family Is More Important Than Work, But Let Me Bring My Daughter Into Work And Make Her Sit At A Desk For 8 Hours Whilst She’s Having A Tough Day
No, people would not think your family is more important than your work. Bringing your daughter to your work when she's having a tough day is the exact opposite.
But for people pushing themselves to the limit 24 hours a day, seven days a week, taking short breaks might not be enough. According to the adult and child psychiatrist and a clinical professor at NYU, Lea Lis, MD, in order to avoid burnout and a mental health decline, it might be necessary for them to redefine what success means to them and how to reach it.
“Things like taking a bath, getting your nails done, or ‘me time’ can hardly begin to reprogram the stress we put our bodies through from the second we wake up and grab our phones,” she wrote in Psychology Today.
Work > Life
Toxic Grind Culture At Its Finest
Oh, don’t worry, I don’t say “must be nice”. I say “wealth hoarding is a societal disease that must be ended”.
Block Your Birth Giver
Whether this list evoked a strong negative reaction or somehow managed to motivate you to reach for the stars yourself—even if unattainable—we have more in store for you; so feel free to move on to this list of examples of people so consumed by hustle culture they’ve lost touch with reality next.
No Professional Would Ever Work Like This
And if the employee comes to work 5 mins early you pay them an extra 2 hours?
Let Me Take Pride In Toxic Work Culture
I can’t control what you do, but sooner or later you’ll understand what us pro-weekend people are talking about.
Too Busy Winning
Hmmm....I suspect your definition of successful is very different to mine - that's ok, no-one's right or wrong - but I bet I'll have a happier fuller life than you.
CEO Trying To Normalize Making 40 People Come In On A Saturday
I did a Saturday morning once off my own back as due to 12 people starting on a Monday and we only found out about them on the Friday. Went in to set up their accounts. Asked about overtime, told I wasn't going to get any. Never did it again. Anything that came in after I logged off for the day, I picked up the next day even if it meant clashing with my director.
Young Daughter In Hospital, Lunatic Continuing To Work from The Hospital and Obviously Posting It On LinkedIn
It’s The Little Things That Get You Promoted
You think they care that much about you? - plus, all that shows is that you don't know how business works, once that money's been budgeted, whether you spend it or not, they don't care what happens to it - do that to often and the budget will go down and you or some other poor sod will have no choice but to sleep in the car and things may not end well.
Built For The Grind
The Final Boss Of The Sales Grind
I Don’t Think He's Joking
So paying more than double in interest will make me wealthy - yeah, don't think so.
Why Not Work 14-Hours Shifts 6 Days A Week Instead?
Of course he’s fine with it; he’s one of the primary people who’ll benefit from it.
Being "Just" A Full-Time Student Is Not Good Enough
Grind 24/7 365
Does it come with an assistant that takes pictures to post on social media?
"Say What You Will But I Worked During Vacation And Then Had To Post It On LinkedIn Because I’m So Productive And So Busy And Grind Hard To Show Everyone"
As someone in an industry where the workload can be rough, the bosses are on the right track, but they need drop the loving scolding and have a serious conversation about how to avert this problem in future.
Bed In Office > No Bed In Office
I got promoted every year in my mid-life career change by working 37.5 hours per week and taking my 5 weeks annual leave.
Virtue Signalling 101
Yeah, I made the mistake of going back to work 2 weeks after a C-section. 2 weeks later I was in the hospital for a WEEK with sepsis. Don't f**k with your health ladies. Your body is healing!
You Should Also Be Working At The Weekend
Can't spell weekend with 'end' either - you know, the week has ended?
Where Do People Get These Statistics From
This one is different. The statistic is b******t but the idea is sound. Do something you like 15 minutes a day and indeed after a year or two you’ll be much better at it. And not necessarily a work thing.
Note: this post originally had 50 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.
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If they were expecting me to think "Wow! What a bunch of inspiration individuals!" they're sadly mistaken. I came away from this thinking "What a bunch of wankers".
It's inspiring in that I am inspired not to be such a colossal b*****d when it comes to work and life
Load More Replies...
Gawd these posts are ridiculous. Unfortunately, I've met people like this IRL. None of the are remotely happy, and most are not close to being successful in anything that matters. They are just as insufferable as their post sound. You feel free to hustle on the weekend. I'm going to the park with my kids to enjoy the time we have together.
This is just depressing, why are these people so proud of this? I work on weekends because I'm a casual employee, and I don't have other obligations besides filling spots where people can't come in, people seriously work weekends for fun? The only upside is better pay on sundays, I don't get why you'd do it if you're already working week days
If they were expecting me to think "Wow! What a bunch of inspiration individuals!" they're sadly mistaken. I came away from this thinking "What a bunch of wankers".
It's inspiring in that I am inspired not to be such a colossal b*****d when it comes to work and life
Load More Replies... Gawd these posts are ridiculous. Unfortunately, I've met people like this IRL. None of the are remotely happy, and most are not close to being successful in anything that matters. They are just as insufferable as their post sound. You feel free to hustle on the weekend. I'm going to the park with my kids to enjoy the time we have together.
This is just depressing, why are these people so proud of this? I work on weekends because I'm a casual employee, and I don't have other obligations besides filling spots where people can't come in, people seriously work weekends for fun? The only upside is better pay on sundays, I don't get why you'd do it if you're already working week days
