Why normalizing the “hustle” mentality is crippling your success

There is a natural desire for Boss Babes to get it done and to do everything they do well. On top of home, family, intimacy, and connection with her spouse, this Boss Babe is taking on the business world and she is hustling to get it done.

This is a trap

Hustling is like sprinting, it cannot be maintained for every, short bursts of high focus energy can leave one completely drained, fatigued, and still just as overwhelmed with little to no satisfaction from the last hustling need.

Here is the very definitions of hustle

Hustle: (VERB)

force (someone) to move hurriedly or unceremoniously in a specified direction

obtain by forceful action or persuasion.

engage in prostitution.

Hustle (NOUN)

busy movement and activity.

a fraud or swindle.

FIRST of all the very first three definitions of the word hustle are not what I want to be known for. I don’t want to force or move someone through the motions of buying, doing, or being anything that they don’t willingly choose to do. This sounds like a form of manipulation to me. If you have to force someone to obtain something or be extra persuasive to the point of force, then you need to take a step back and evaluate what your true motives are and if you even really care about people.

SECOND the fact that prostitution is apart of the definition is highly disturbing to me. Man! I wish someone would have researched this word before putting it next to their Boss Babe pride because this is the very opposite of what women, who are hustling boss babes, are trying to do. It is not okay to represent women with words that demean her character, especially by other women who don’t mean to shackle women to their sexuality appeal. I know this wasn’t the intention, I feel sad by this word.

THIRD busyness is not entirely bad; however “a fraud or a swindle” are both words that a hustling woman is not trying to portray.

Can you hear me when I say this word does not serve you? Can you understand when that hustling is doing nothing for your life? That word alone is sending negative energy into what you are doing and you are trying to power your way through life as you hustle your way to the top?! Girl! Take a moment and here me, you are more than this! You are more than the sprint, the power through, the intense forceful actions that make your life happen. YOU ARE MORE THAN THAT.

It is important to stop normalizing the hustle mentality. There is more to life than getting things done. The essence of life isn’t about what you get done it is about who you are, your BEING not DOING.

“Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits” - Thomas Edison -

Now, you must be wondering, wait I thought she said hustling was wrong. Herein lies a principle that will see you through. The power of your time is always in your hands, so make the most of it.

The phrase Edison is saying is to understand that there will be things you cannot control, things that are out of your hands or that require time to process. That does not mean idleness, it means persistence through to the end. Being flexible enough to bend to side or lower priorities and then being able to hold steady when the time comes, when more information is made available, and/or the wait is over and the event or moment has arrived.

Do good and use your time wisely.

Stop hustling and START sustaining yourself to build a life that supports the business and experience you are seeking to have.

Learn how to invest your time in things that will add greater value to your life, not just sprints to make sure something happens. Instead build a life that fortifies the essence of your soul to shine. The sprints offer little and demand much. Let life demand your everything and offer the little things as tribute.

What is one thing today that will help you sustain a life instead of relying on the hustle? Share with a friend and comment below to inspire others - together we rise!

Article Written By: Kaitlyn Andrews, an International Life Coach for Women