disconnecting not disengaging: how people are quietly shifting away from hustle culture for better overall health
7 minute read
after shifting away from hustle culture to find her own happiness, jody orsborn medina created recess to help others do the same.
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when jody orsborn medina ran her own business, the high-pressure stakes of her career really took their toll.
“i was always stressed, always had stomach aches. i was probably not the most fun person to be around and never really felt like i was present with my husband,” she said.
when she switched things up and went full-time at a creative agency, she experienced the same health declines.
“i just had so much pressure and stress on me at all times,” she said, and jody isn’t alone.
hustle culture, or overworking yourself, is common. as many as 36 per cent of canadians self-identify as engaged in hustle culture, mainly through side hustles and extra work beyond their full-time jobs.
however, hustle culture doesn’t just involve secondary income streams. it can mean overworking oneself at one job to the point where health, family and other life obligations fall by the wayside in an attempt to either climb the corporate ladder, make more money, or simply because they can’t disconnect.
when it comes to hustle culture and health, this lack of disconnection can lead to mental and physical health declines, including:
- burnout
- exhaustion
- chronic stress and anxiety
- depression
- mental fatigue
- sleep disorders
- weakened immune system
- cardiovascular issues
- pain and illness
- strained relationships
- work-life imbalance
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today’s always-on culture
modern technology has brought connection to the forefront of everything. people no longer log off, hang up or disconnect from work because having a phone, email and other messaging apps in your pocket means you’re always reachable.
for example, if you take a day off work but get an email, it’s hard to read it without responding. it is your job, after all. jody knows that all too well.
“there’s this super connected always on thing happening at the moment, and from myself and from talking to other creatives, there’s very real burnout happening. it’s affecting mental health. it’s affecting partners, and relationships,” she said.
for remote workers, the inability to disconnect is even more challenging, with as many as 81 per cent continuing to work outside their set hours, including on weekends. that number for in-office workers is still high, too, at 55 per cent.
while it may appear that more work equals higher productivity, the opposite is true because “constantly churning out work” isn’t the same as producing high-quality work or higher productivity.
while productivity tools, such as ai, allow people to work more in less time, they don’t necessarily produce higher-quality work as much as people may think.
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alberta primary care clinic owners association
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“this is not the good work, it’s worse work when you’re just churning things out,” said jody. “i think with ai, it’s really shown that sheer output is no longer the great differentiator. great, you can do more, but is it good?”
essentially, industries are “devaluing how long doing work well takes.”
the quiet shift away from hustle culture
when jody told herself that enough was enough when it came to her approach to work, she began freelancing to reevaluate what success meant to her and to relieve the stress and pressure she felt in her mind and body from her career. her shift away from hustle culture allowed her to control more of her time, set her own hours and focus on everything else important to her besides work.
“for me, it was also really important to be able to build the things that i knew were going to make me a better creative and happier human,” she said, noting that she would make time for travel, ceramics, her family and, later on, a free program she created called recess.
living her life on her own terms in all areas, including work, didn’t cause her career to suffer at all—the opposite actually happened.
“my work is a lot better because of it,” she said. “i’m a lot more productive that way. i’m a lot happier. i talk to my friends and family, and i’m technically the happiest i’ve ever been and the most balanced i’ve ever been because i have time to actually spend on my mental health.”
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jody slowed her approach to work to ease the pressure and stress, but she didn’t disengage, and that is truly the secret to beating burnout and the other negative effects that hustle culture can bring.
now, people are more like jody and turning toward a different way to approach hustle culture. instead of the rise-and-grind, people are rebranding the idea of working hard to something that can be done sustainably, giving them time to flourish in all areas of their lives, not just their career.
disconnecting without disengaging
many people, including jody, have bought into the “grind” that comes with certain industries, and the promise that climbing the corporate ladder is what will get you everything you’ve ever wanted.
but will the end justify the means? it’s hard to tell because for most people, they set a goal and don’t go back to check in and see if it’s really what they want anymore, especially when in the thick of hustle culture.
there’s a way that people can reevaluate success in their lives, though, if they want to take a step back. for jody, it was reevaluating what she wanted and how she could create a life and work schedule that honoured it.
“i had to shift my mentality,” she said.
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she didn’t want to work in-house. she didn’t want to be stressed out every day of the year, and while she wanted success, she had to change what that looked like so she could accomplish it.
“my job wasn’t my be-all-end-all of what represented me and what my happiness was, and that was a huge decision to make.”
so, how can people follow in jody’s footsteps? well, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. it’s about creating space for yourself in a way that works for you.
“some people, literally all they need to do is go take a walk. they’re like, ‘i just need to go outside. i need to take a walk,’” she said. “a number of our creatives are, interestingly, building their cd collection … it was them taking a minute away to actually physically look through something and to have that pause.”
other ways people can choose to disconnect include setting their phones on do-not-disturb when they need to be present in the moment, adding greyscale to their phone so they don’t reach for it, or even setting up blockers so they can’t use their phone for work when they’ve decided that it’s time to unplug.
“what inspires you? what would work in your life? for me, going grayscale on a phone, i would hate it. doing a block on the phone, i would hate it. so, for me, it’s not the phone interventions,” she said. “for me, it is doing something like ceramics, where i do have to put the phone down. i can’t touch it because i’m physically doing something else.”
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a program for those who need a little help
for many people involved in hustle culture, stepping away can feel like the end of the world. they don’t know how to disconnect because almost all their energy has gone into their careers.
because jody understands how challenging it can be, she created the recess program, which is geared toward helping people stay creative and balanced and, in the end, find happiness in all areas of their lives. recess always has free online gatherings where people can learn more about what inspires them and find their own inspiration.
“the only rule is that it can’t be something that they’ve worked on, but shining the light on others,” she said, noting that while it can help with productivity and creativity, it’s not heavily focused on work.
another free playbook focuses on offline, hands-on ways people can tap into their creativity and inspiration to slow down thinking in a fast-paced world.
“it’s about how we work more efficiently, how we set time in our days to slow down, what are the tools people use?” said jody.
jody is living proof that a quiet shift away from hustle culture can be incredibly helpful. the only time her physical and mental ailments spark back up from stress is when she has a really intense project, but instead of it being constant, it’s now only affecting her when the stakes are high.
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“it’s so much better to have them for a one week versus year-round,” she said.
as for defining your version of success, jody said it’s as easy as choosing what makes you happy and prioritizing it effectively. jody has a tool for that, too, a fun task she was given to by someone else who valued happiness throughout life.
“make a list of all the things you want to achieve by the time you’re in your 90s, that you really want to do. like, i want to own a house. i want to have a dog. i want to write a book. i want to be ceo, whatever it is,” she said. “and then you step away for a bit, come back to it, and then circle the things that you would actually regret not doing. so, i’d like to own a house, but would i regret not owning a house?”
regret over desire is a powerful way to establish awareness surrounding the things that are wants and the things that are non-negotiables, and oftentimes, you’ll find that they’re not all that work-related at all.
“it helped me realize what my actual priorities were versus these are the nice to haves, and this is what i really want. so, i think that’s really great.”
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