The Lies of Hustle by Jennifer Janechek

Photo by Garrhet Sampson on Unsplash

“You’re not enough. You don’t have enough. You don’t do enough.” 

These are the accusations that are at the root of hustle—an impulse that has been glitzed and glammed up and marketed to us in the guise of “having it all.” “You can have it all,” hustle tells us, “IF you just work hard enough…do enough…be enough.” So we buy the “Rise and grind” mugs, fill our planners with endless tasks and goals, and work ourselves into a state of complete depletion, personally and professionally. The problem with this isn’t the motive to achieve great things—it’s that hustle is rooted in a scarcity mindset, it manifests in anxious energy, and it leads to burnout, failed businesses, and strained relationships. 

This is the subject of Kristen Boss’s groundbreaking new book, Pivot to Purpose: Leaving the Toxic Hustle Culture Behind. A sales and marketing expert for the modern social seller, Boss has helped countless entrepreneurs whose lives and businesses have been shortchanged by the lies of hustle culture. In Pivot to Purpose, she offers a program for finally “detoxing” from the hustle—which is addictive and hard to give up—and learning to work from a place of purpose. 

The following are two brief excerpts from Boss’s book that I found particularly powerful: 

We were sold a lie that “there” is better than “here.” The belief that your life becomes fixed, whole, and happy—that YOU become fixed, whole, and happy—on the other side of the next goal. The belief that all your worries will finally go away. The belief that “happiness is behind the next thing.” We have fallen more in love with our vision boards than the life we have now. 

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And there is a real fear in choosing to love the “now” of our life. Sometimes we fear that if we love the life we have now, we will no longer have the motivation to create the life we want. But the reality is, that couldn’t be further from the truth. 

Are you constantly pushing yourself to be more, do more, have more? Is this impulse deriving from a lack of belief in your own value and in the abundance that is already yours right now? Pick up a copy of Boss’s book and learn how to loosen the grip of hustle on your life so that you can build the life and business of your dreams—one rooted in balance, self-love, and purpose. 

Kristen Boss is a sales and marketing expert and host of the chart-topping podcast Purposeful Social Selling. Kristen teaches powerful, relevant marketing strategies to the entrepreneur who desires to leave the hustle mentality behind and work with purpose, authenticity, and service, while making the income they want. Get your copy of Pivot to Purpose: Leaving the Toxic Hustle Culture Behind wherever books are sold.