Ignore The Hustle-Porn Pushers When It Comes To New Year’s Resolutions

For most of us, just getting through 2020 was a victory. The year may have changed, but it’s going to take a while for people to rebuild their confidence and strength. We’ve had to navigate working from home, juggling our jobs with taking care of young children, sick relatives and serve as surrogate teachers as schools shutdown and moved classes online.

Despite all of the aggravating issues you have to continue coping with, there are still people online espousing the “hustle porn” culture. You’ll see it all over LinkedIn, Twitter and other social media sites. So-called gurus and influencers brag about how they wake up at 5:00 a.m., go for a long run, workout at the gym and drink an obscure expensive tea that offers amazing health benefits. They make breakfast for their family and then kill it all day long at work. The regular workday’s not sufficient, the hustle-porn purveyors slay the night and weekends too.

According to their ethos, if you want to succeed, you must be crushing it at 150% overdrive 24/7. The low-key inference is that if you are not constantly grinding, you’re weak, lazy and a complete loser. Winning is everything and you need to brag online about all of your amazing achievements and how incredibly successful you are. Of course, you must broadcast all of the trappings of your wealth, including luxury sports cars, mansions and hosting crazy over-the-top parties with a guest list of models, actors and celebrities who aren’t wearing masks or social distancing.

It’s easy to get caught up in this culture. You’ve put on the pandemic pounds and want to lose weight and get back into shape. After flatlining, you also want to push your career into high gear for 2021. Instead of making grandiose promises for the New Year and getting caught up in the no-pain, no-gain corporate rat race, try something different.

Think of what you really want to achieve in your life and career. Don’t blindly follow a path that you think you’re supposed to because of the expectations of your parents, family, friends and colleagues. There’s no need to pressure yourself to become the youngest CEO in your company’s history—unless you truly want it. You shouldn’t feel like a loser if you aren’t building a cool startup that just received several rounds of financing from top venture capital investors.

If you do have a burning desire to make millions of dollars and climb the highest corporate peaks, that’s fine. Desiring wealth, fame, prestige and power is okay if that’s what makes you happy, as long as you’re not hurting anyone in your quest. The same holds true if you have modest ambitions. It’s perfectly acceptable to opt out of the hustle culture and grind if you’d rather get home early enough spend quality time with your spouse and children.

Instead of coming up with the cliched New Year’s resolutions, think independently. Figure out what you really want out of your life and career. Don’t do something because everyone else is doing it and you feel the pressure. Once you know what you desire, start going after it. There’s no need to think that you’ll be an overnight success. It may take time, but stay the course and hold true to your morals, values and vision.

The reality, however, is that it’s hard work to move forward and progress in your job and career. Even if you aren’t shooting for the stars, you will be expected to put in long hours, work under stressful conditions and occasionally be sabotaged by vindictive bosses and co-workers. You will face defeats, downsizings and bad luck. This is why it’s critically important to like and believe in what you do for a living. If your job has meaning and purpose, then these setbacks won’t break you. They’ll annoy you, but it won’t stop you because you are doing it on your own terms for your own personal reasons.

The key to succeeding in the new year is to find a job and career that you enjoy, makes you happy and enables you to earn a nice living. If you want to push it further—go for it! If you desire the work-life balance, that’s fine too and don’t let the hustle-porn hucksters make you feel bad about your work-life choices.