| Breaking free from the hustle culture should not be an individual effort. Though individuals ultimately choose their actions autonomously, institutions still play a critical role. Institutions make the rules, whether it’s OCI, direct application, or early recruiting programs in other industries. In order for individuals to learn to truly slow down, instructions must abide by and enforce the rules they create. When doing something extra will no longer yield a better outcome, people may begin to learn to slow down.
In reality, breaking free from the hustle culture is very much so individual battles. Economic benefits are too strong for institutions to prioritize overall welfare over their individual prosperity. And they make the rules, so they also get to decide if and how to enforce them.
One way I have begun to experiment is to internalize that life is a marathon, not a sprint. I have conceptualized life as sprint segments. Viewing short-term goals as the finish line, I kept telling myself that I need to do everything I can to be fastest in each 100-meter dash. What I neglected is that the person next to me may have already paced for the full life-marathon – they may be behind me at a certain stage, but they will eventually pass me. I will exhaust myself quickly if I do not start to pace for the full marathon. |