Is hustle culture the formula for success?
“Rich people don’t sleep 8 hours a day. That’s a third of your life!” said American TV presenter Steve Harvey during his morning talk show The Steve Harvey Show in 2019.
This exclamation went viral on Twitter, with many netizens disagreeing with him.
Of course, if we look closer at the context here, Steve Harvey also spoke about getting out of your comfort zone, challenging yourself and not being complacent, which I agree is very important if you want to be successful — but that is a topic for another day.
What I want to highlight here is hustle culture, where hard work is believed to be the holy grail for success.
Some of you might say that working smart is better than working hard.
Which is the right way to success?
Actually, neither.
Here’s why: All of us have an energy curve — researchers call it the Circadian Rhythm, a 24-hour internal cycle that regulates your brain’s activities. Everyone’s energy curves are different, but they generally follow similar patterns:
Simply put in a Productivity-Time Curve:
In the beginning, when you work more, you will often feel that every ounce of energy you put in creates more output. You will then reach an optimal point, also known as the saturation point, where you are the most productive.
After this point, even when you put in more hours of work, your productivity actually reduces. Furthermore, the more you work, the more you’ll feel frustrated that the result is not satisfactory and eventually it leads to burnout.
So the next time you feel your productivity is going down — stop working, take a break and go for a walk.
Work more when you can, rest when you need to — that’s how you can create sustainable results.
Edited by Candice Neo.
