Hustle culture and the unending desire to climb the Corporate Ladder

 With the emerging creator economy, the word on the street is HUSTLE HUSTLE HUSTLE!!

If you are not working on a gig then you are letting your future, the good days slip right through your fingers. This has given birth to the term "Hustle Culture" which am not sure is a real term but it better be. 

The other day l was scrolling through youtube, something l normally do to ignite the fire to create videos again but somehow, it's not working, lol.

Well, l stumbled on this video talking about the Cost of Hustle culture and it sparked all the hatred l have previously had for people who romanticise hard work. 

You can't turn down a job because it requires you to work Monday to Saturday

You are just fresh from school you will have to do a lot of dirty work to finally get where you want to be (the corporate ladder)

You don't have the skills yet, maybe accept unpaid internships (even when the workload is for a paid position)

A monthly salary will not take you anywhere, you have to create a side gig that you can turn into a self-sustaining project after a while

The nonstop working to the extent that even the gigs you start out of passion end up being corrupted because it is now work. You can't stop analyzing why money is not coming in, why maybe your flowers no longer sprout at the same time. 

The number of times l have felt guilty because am not doing anything "productive" on a Monday is overwhelming but when l get to think back to that last-minute edit l had to do on a piece at 9pm on a Friday night because the client wanted it urgently l gladly laze my Monday away. 

That constant "grind" is not going to be of any use if your body can't handle the stress within 5 years. That talk of "5 years of hard work will set you 10 years ahead in your life", what if you don't make it to 10 years? How about you live your life as you work on it? 

A friend of mine recently quit her job after being there for not even 3 months. 

Fresh out of school even before she graduated she was chanced to land a job that required her to work Monday to Sunday, 8 am to 8pm! 

There's no way you are going to be productive in that kind of work because if you are not working, you are thinking about the work that's awaiting you. If you tell me that's a way to live "so you can have a brighter future" am gonna be mad.

When it comes to being fresh out of school, it gets worse. I already talked about knowing which bottom to start at. Not every little job opportunity will advance your career. 

Please keep in mind that;

Working hard and working smart are totally different things

You can have your dream life while working a 9 to 5

It is okay if you have no desire to climb the corporate ladder

It is also okay if you have no desire to work a 9 to 5

Not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur 

Rest is not earned but deserved, allow your body to rest before it forces itself to

On a random Monday morning checking to see whether my boots still fit

Read More Related Posts;

• Staring at the Bottom to build your Career

2022 look-back: How to achieve all your set goals in 2023.

You know that wave of posting 2022 achievements on social that hit like one of COVID towards the end of the year? If you survived it, you clearly can't succumb to peer pressure. 

But when l finally got a moment to sit down and reflect on how the year went, l realised it wasn't a wave for people to recount their achievements but rather a sigh of relief. 

2022 was officially the year we felt like we were going back to normal after COVID, we finally had face-to-face interactions, gatherings started happening again, and we slightly got comfortable with public transport, (forget the Kampala taxis that have been normal since the pandemic started) finally you didn't have to panic after realizing you hadn't carried your mask the moment the bus door clicked shut.

Technically, it was the year we learned to run again after being on crutches for a long time. 

Seeing things like "l flew to this city" on people's lists made me realize that it's not just the great achievements but the things we thought we could never do again that mattered in 2022. 

When l finally got to write down my accomplishments for the year, it amazed me how l even thought some parts of the year had been in 2021. That's how long the year was! 

Here's a small snippet of my year's accomplishments. 

All random things. 

Last year was the first year in a long time that l felt l had celebrated my birthday. My birthday is at the start of the year, we all know how everything is spent over the Christmas holiday and January is lived on "vibes and inshallah". Plus it's not like l come from a background that capitalizes on birthdays. 

So yeah, having a day out with my friends on such a day, considering where my life was at the moment, was a really great accomplishment. 

Looking at my birthday being just a day after tomorrow (from when this is published) and having absolutely no plan makes me appreciate last year even more. 

Getting my own place was surely one of my biggest wins of the year and boyyy seeing the things l reluctantly taught myself finally yielding was something!

We will not talk about the man because l even had no idea l had him to begin with, haha. 

2022 surely was a whirlwind of events and here we are writing down fresh new year goals which we are very much likely not to follow through with. 

Well, how can you position yourself to achieve all your 2023 goals? 

The genuine answer is you will not, no matter how much you try. 

But being true to yourself and conquering those goals in small bits will put you far ahead and keep you energized. 

Getting a camera was one of the big things on my goals for 2022 but did l even ever save up a 10th of the money l needed for a camera? Absolutely not!

Did l want the camera so bad? I still don't know. Did l work my ass off to get it? We will never know.

Prioritize your goals in terms of value and feasibility. I know now the manifestors are going to come at me but to be honest, not all of us have strong minds to manifest whatever we want. If that were the case, we wouldn't be working this hard day in, and day out. 

Diligently work towards achieving your goals every day. 

One of my goals for 2023 is to drive, whether my car or not, the point is driving haha. I am someone who has never at one point got as close as to sitting behind a steering wheel so the whole process of getting into a driving school, getting the money, actually learning to drive, and getting a driving permit, is a collective goal. 

The small iterative steps l take towards achieving all that will be a single win and that's how you keep reenergized to chase your goals even when you feel you're not making any headway. 

2022 was a year of soul-searching for many people, l hope 2023 comes with more clarity. 

Happy new year, now go chase those wild dreams!

The only picture l could find from my birthday

Read More Related Posts;

• Is age really just a number? 
• How l became a programmer without a computer.