In the 21st century, largely in part to the economic recession of 2008, younger generations began to adopt a mentality that long hours and grueling side jobs were essential to make headway in a tough economic climate. This mentality has resulted in poor mental health and problemat influencers who promote it further.
The core premise of this mentality is that the more you work, the more successful you are. The more successful you are, the more powerful. But in our country, “success” is a loaded word. From a capitalistic standpoint, you need a lot of money to be successful. However, success can also be measured by a person’s mental health or happiness, which can often have nothing to do with money.
But hustle culture, particularly the influencers who promote it, take this idea to such an extreme, almost vindictive level that seems to push a message that you need to suffer in order to be successful, and if you aren’t, you’re doing it wrong.
When I talk about hustle influencers, I think of a large group of people I’ve seen especially on TikTok, but one in particular comes to mind, Gary Vee. Gennady Vaynerchuk, going by Gary Vee on TikTok, has been making content on the app for years and has over 13.5 million followers.
Vee is an entrepreneur and CEO. The main issue I have with him is the toxic views he pushes in his content. One video in particular that Vee calls “essential viewing for all 20 year olds” is especially problematic. The video starts off great, Vee says that people shouldn’t waste time comparing themselves to others, and that you shouldn’t care if someone is “more successful” than you at the same age. I fully agreed with Vee here, but that quickly ended as he moved on to his next point.
Vee’s wise life advice for people in their 20’s is to devote their whole life to work for the next 10 years. “I gave up my entire 20s, all of ‘em. Imagine not doing anything fun or going anywhere for the next 8 years, including Saturday and Sunday. That’s what I did from 22 to 30.” He even goes on to say “You spent more downtime on not your career this weekend than I did in my entire 20s combined”
This video has millions of views, meaning many 20 year olds have probably seen this toxic and flat-out bad advice.
More work does not guarantee more success; that is a fact. There are countless people in this world who have done exactly what Vee describes their whole life and never saw the rewards of it.
Not to mention the mental health toll Vee is suggesting all people take on early in their life. He’s essentially recommending that people forgo fun for a full decade of their life, devoting all their resources and free time to chasing his idea of success. And while he never says it, he is heavily insinuating that doing anything else makes you less successful as a person.
I agree with a lot of what Vee says, hard work is needed for a lot in life, and it’s important to not worry about comparing yourself to others. But I think he takes this a step too far, urging people to sacrifice everything for work.
There are countless more influencers like Vee who perpetuate this toxic culture of overworking and it’s time to stop. They promote working hard over anything else in life and it’s damaging. Hustle culture is not for everyone. Some people thrive in this lifestyle, but those who don’t should not be made to feel “less than” for having goals outside of pure financial power.
Tracy Mullinax can be reached at [email protected]