You Can’t Force Your Own Time

Kevin Nokia
5 min readOct 16, 2023

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I found that hustle culture is trendy right now.

I can see that self-improvement is almost always connected with hustle culture. We might have heard about monk mode, dopamine detox, success before our 30s, etc.

We might have watched that too on YouTube videos.

Photo by Garrhet Sampson on Unsplash

What is the hustle culture?

Hustle culture is a culture where people are so attached to doing hard work and achieving their future goals with less rest and work-life balance.

I find it fun to hustle (not every time). It feels like I have made more progress in my life than I did before, but there’s something wrong with this culture. I found that the hustle culture sometimes makes me think that I need to work nonstop until I achieve my goals.

I didn’t give myself any breaks, and at the end, I found myself losing track of enjoying the process of achieving those goals.

I hustled and worked hard while imagining the future, but I failed to be grateful for what I have right now.

I think too much about my future goals, and unnoticeably, I sacrifice the present moment.

Photo by nikko macaspac on Unsplash

Too much

“Too much of anything it’s not good for anyone.”

–Ray Bradbury

Well, hustling too much can lead you toward something bad.

You work pretty hard every day but never give yourself a break or reward, which can lead to burnout. You keep hustling and never really being grateful for what you have and what you have achieved, which can lead to more stress.

Being grateful is important, but being satisfied can lead you to stay where you are.

So be aware of your feelings. Are you always being ungrateful and chasing the next goal without enjoying it?

Or you are not satisfied with what you have right now, but you are grateful to enjoy the process?

Photo by Silvan Arnet on Unsplash

Hustling for something

Remember that we work hard for something, not randomly.

We all have to work every day, but it’s always for something that we want to achieve. The thing that we aim for is an energy source to make us work.

We eat to survive.

We drink to hydrate ourselves.

We work extra hours in our office in order to get more recognition from our boss or a job promotion.

We don’t do that for nothing.

Even if you do it for kindness, that kindness is something that you want to achieve.

Photo by Jon Flobrant on Unsplash

Balancing

So, I started to make myself more balanced.

I can give myself a reward once every week, or maybe if I still want to work again, I can give myself a reward once every 2 weeks. I recommend you take a break every week. Just like in Christian religion, where there’s a Sabbath day where we are not working but focusing on our spiritual needs.

It takes time.

You will become better in the future. You will learn, you will mature, and you will become much wiser.

You will get your salary increased.

Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash

But it takes time

You can’t force yourself to achieve all your goals overnight, even though it’s possible for some.

You can’t overestimate what you can do in one year and underestimate what you can do in five or ten more years. I learned that being patient and grateful for the process can lead me to even greater success.

If I keep chasing success without really knowing where I want to be, I might find myself burned out, stressed, or maybe depressed and unhappy.

Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash

One of our biggest assets

Remember that we have time.

One of our biggest assets is time. We can use it wisely by doing something that can help us achieve our goals. I don’t mean that you are not allowed to work hard or hustle.

You can do that, but remember that balance is much more effective and better than working too much.

Overworking can lead to sickness and maybe losing a relationship. If you are sick, you can’t do much when you are healthy.

If you can have a balanced life, why do you have to sacrifice one aspect for another?

Photo by Vlad Bagacian on Unsplash

Most of us want to be happy in the end.

Chasing something is necessary. We live to work and help other people. However, balance is also important if you want to fulfill your life with happiness.

Remember that happiness comes from within and not from external events. Start working on that. Start working on being grateful every day while pursuing your dreams.

The most wonderful thing about chasing a goal is the journey to achieving it.

Goals are just a reward.

The process or journey that you have is what makes you fulfilled with your life. At the end, you will never know that you have gotten that far. Keep working hard and be grateful.

Remember that we are not alone. God will always be with us.

“Life is a journey to be experienced, not a problem to be solved.”

–Winnie the pooh

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Kevin Nokia

Building reading and writing habits to eliminate doom-scrolling with I Am Literate https://substack.com/@kevinnokiawriting