Why I Don’t Think Hustle Culture Is Cute

Hey readers! We recently had a reader write in to air out their grievances about hustle culture. For those of you who don’t know what hustle culture is, basically it's doing the most, anything and everything to get that bag. That might mean waking up at 4:30 am everyday for some, while it means juggling 2-3 jobs for others. Also - to be clear, hustle culture is not the same as needing to do what you have to do to make ends meet. Hustle culture is doing the most because you want to attain, or keep up, a certain lifestyle. You don’t necessarily have to do it, but you want to.

So what did this reader have to say about hustle culture?

“I think it’s just another way to put yourself in an early grave. It's glamorized to always be busy, always have something going on, or filling your day to the max. I used to do that and it made me tired and burnt out. I always had an attitude, saw sleep as a luxury, and never had any time to enjoy the things I wanted. Now, I glamorize a life of rest and relaxation. I glamorize taking it easy and not having to report in for something or someone, and y’all should do the same”

I could tell that this reader was passionate, and it caused me to take a step back and evaluate hustle culture and why we idolize it.

I mean, I get it. Everyone wants to look independent, successful and like they're in charge of their lives. But why do we think the only way of showing this is by slowly killing ourselves? I can be all those things but not wake up to an alarm, or clock-in to work. Like don't get me wrong, I can just up and quit working and still survive, but why feel the need to be overworking myself if I don't have to? I crave a life where I can do things leisurely and without fear or repercussion if I don’t get it done in time, but I’m also so wired to live by a tight schedule and quick turn-arounds that I almost don’t know any better.

So, how can we get away from hustle culture?

1. Get rest

We need to create space for ourselves to rest and not get too caught up in the hustle and bustle. Yes, we love getting our bread and the bag, but we love getting our rest as well.

2. Create boundaries

This starts with us. Set boundaries and let others (and yourself) know when you don’t have capacity for something anymore

3. Crave peace

One thing about hustle culture is that it will rob you of your peace. Every second is filled with deadlines, pressure, and stress, so start choosing peace and actively seek it!

What Is Greenwashing? – And Why Are People Doing It?

What is greenwashing? We’re here to break it down for you. According to businessnewsdaily, Greenwashing is when a company purports to be environmentally conscious for marketing purposes but actually isn't making any notable sustainability efforts. So why do companies do it?

For one, they do it because they want to align themselves with a cause that others care about. They want to perpetuate this idea that they care about the environment in hopes of aligning themselves with that audience and resonating with them. Secondly, aside from good marketing and PR, they get HUGE government benefits if they appear to have sustainability efforts. In reality, a lot of these companies benefitting from this reductions and tax credits could care less about the impact they are having on the environment.

One repeated offender is none other than Sprite. They recently changes bottles from green to clear, and stated by doing this, they are allowing the material to be more recyclable. They have rolled this out to a number of countries and said this will have a huge impact on their sustainability mode. But is that true?

Considering only about 30% of plastic gets recycled, I would say this is all a PR move for them. As stated in this article, instead of finding ways to reduce single use plastic, they have simply tried to make the plastic more “recyclable”. This effort is just a drop in the bucket in comparison to the amount of plastic they produce.

Who else is the latest perpetrator? Kourtney Kardashian and global online fashion storefront, Boohoo. Their recent collaboration features an eco-friendly perspective, and she is one of their sustainability ambassadors, which is iconic considering Boohoo is a fast fashion brand, and Kourtney was recently fined for wasting water in the state of California during their water crisis. Not only that, but in the campaign itself, she uses vague language like “I thought about how pushing Boohoo to make some initial changes and then holding them accountable to larger change would be impactful” but we didn’t receive any insight into what these changes were.

Greenwashing is unacceptable and honestly unnecessary. If you want to make real change, then do it, but if you want a good PR stunt, leveraging the environment is not the way to go.

The Guide to Surviving Corporate America

Hi Business Athlete readers! We have some exciting content coming out and one is around corporate nuances. So we figured we would put together a guide to surviving corporate America. While this is partially satirical, it is also partially true. After speaking to friends and family members, and reflecting on my own time in corporate, here are our top three tips:

1. Learn the jargon

This is a must! You’ll be on a call and hear things like, “runway, synergy, mission-critical” and think, what does it all mean? My first year in corporate, I heard so many terms, sometimes I felt like I was in an episode of the office and I was waiting for the camera to pan in on me to catch my reaction. But in all seriousness, whether or not you actually use these terms, it’s important to know them, because the last thing you want is to be out of the loop and confused when speaking with someone. Arm yourself with as much knowledge as you can when it comes to corporate jargon and what everything means.

2. Learn to let things roll off your back

Depending on the type of company you work for, you may encounter some personalities that make it harder for you to get your job done. This can be in the form of gossip, cliqueness, etc. For example, a few years ago, I worked at a company where my coworkers all had their cliques, except me. I did my work and I did it well, but I didn’t partake in the office gossip and chitchat. Because of this, I was constantly out of the know and left out of certain things, like group lunches, and people getting together to get drinks, but I didn’t let that bother me. Instead, I let it slide, because I valued my peace, and in order to be in the know about these things, I would have to compromise this. So instead, I just let it slide!

3. Document, document, document

THIS is a big one. Keep your emails, messages, and every and anything. Some companies don’t require you to basically archive your entire professional career, but there are some places where this is necessary. For example, two years ago I worked at a B2B events company. We had canceled an event and attendees wanted refunds. I asked my supervisor if we could process refunds and he informed me we could. After I processed the 10th refund, he berated me on how he never authorized this and instead I should have given attendees a credit. He also emphasized how next time, I should ask for direction instead of taking it upon myself to make these decisions. Well, I had our email thread which I promptly sent back to him. Let’s just say, I didn’t get another tongue lashing.

We hope these tips help! Let us know your survival tips for corporate America!