By now you've likely heard of “hustle culture”, and you’ve definitely felt it.
It’s that pressure to always be producing, growing, advancing, and achieving. It’s often rooted in an internalized belief that your worth is determined by what you produce, which can cause you to feel guilty for resting, pausing, and being human.
Hustle culture is pervasive in corporate, 9-5 settings, and it often quietly eats away at any folks who are neurodivergent, multi-passionate, or creative. (I’d argue that it quietly eats away at all of us, but these groups can feel the weight of it even more so).
This mindset can also be especially present in entrepreneurship. Many of us grew up hearing about the “American Dream,” and we're exposed to pick-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps messaging that suggests that we can do anything if we put in enough sweat and hours. We get messages that burnout is a personal problem and perhaps even a badge of honor in a system that tells us we can self-sacrifice our way to success.
Many of us took a leap into entrepreneurship in the hopes of finding liberation from those long hours and exploitation, to create more flexibility, and possibly also to escape from the toxic workplace culture. And yet we often end up repeating those same patterns. I want you to pause and actually think about what sort of boss you have been to yourself. What kinds of hours are you asking of yourself? Do you expect yourself to be available to your business 24-7? Sometimes we apply even more pressure, because now what we’re creating is ours, and we can fall into patterns of over-working, tying our identity to our work, and neglecting our health and relationships.
On top of that, many creatives are neurodivergent (ADHDers, Autistic or both) and impact-led. This can lead us to be especially sensitive to the patterns and pulls of hustle culture. It doesn’t just burn us out – it’s fundamentally misaligned with what our brains and bodies need in terms of our long-term wellbeing.
Moving From "Starving Artist" or "Martyred Activists" to Sustained Creatives and Changemakers
Similar to hustle culture, the “starving artist” and “martyred activist” tropes romanticize and idealize struggle, making deprivation seem necessary, or even admirable in some way.
These tropes suggest that true devotion to your creativity or cause means you have to be willing to suffer for it, to pour everything you have into it, even if it leaves you feeling drained and unbalanced.
I want to invite you to reimagine the terms of your own labor.
Instead of recreating the toxic systems and norms that exploit us, burn us out, and leave us feeling like we always have so much more to do or achieve in order to feel secure or stable, we can intentionally build a work life that supports our creativity and ourselves.
This is a process and does take time. You are building and living new habits so it may not always feel glamorous or quick, but it is real and lasting. It’s about consciously noticing echoes of hustle culture in how you are thinking about and approaching your work, and cultivating new habits that are about self-sustaining and self-valuing rather than self-sacrifice. Because the message of sacrificing our lives to our work is completely backwards. Our work and labor should nourish and sustain us and what we want in life.
This takes some creativity and new ways of thinking. But you don’t have to start from scratch. I’m going to offer some ideas for steps/habits that can help you create a more sustainable approach to creative, entrepreneurial living.
Habit 1: Use Micro Rituals to Reset
One benefit of the traditional 9-5 is that there’s typically consistent starting and stopping points, built-in signals of when you have a break (e.g., walking away from your desk to a break room), and clearer boundaries between work and life. (Although, with the shift to remote work and having work apps like email and Slack on our phones, those boundaries have become increasingly blurred even for folks in the traditional work world).
With self-employment and entrepreneurship, the boundaries between when you need to be “on” and when you can be “off” can disappear entirely. That can lead to things like feeling shame for not being productive even in your personal time - and quickly lead to burnout.
This is where our micro-rituals come in. These are small, repeatable practices that help us mark transitions. For anyone reading this who are parents or familiar with young kids, you know that we do better when there are cues and warnings to help us transition from one task or activity to the next. Bedtime is a great example of this. For a kid this can mean that the lights get softer, bathtime happens, and storytime happens all as signals to ourselves and our bodies that we will soon be going to sleep. We can give this to ourselves as adults as well.
The goal of these rituals is to give you moments of pause to reconnect with intention, calm your nervous system, and help cue your mind and body. These rituals can anchor you, help you lessen overstimulation, and lessen the impacts of task-switching through cues, predictability, and consistency.
Here are a few examples of micro rituals. Of course, anything you choose to do will probably work best if you test them and then personalize them to your own patterns, needs, and preferences after seeing the ways it works for you.
- Morning Check-In: Before sitting down at your desk or starting work, take 5 minutes to check-in with yourself. Get comfortable for a moment, close your eyes, and take 3 deep breaths. Ideally, inhale through your nose, letting your belly expand and exhale slowly through your mouth as if you were trying to blow on birthday candles without making them all go out at once.
- Consider repeating an affirmation to yourself. Affirmations are most helpful when they are personal and fit your goals and needs.
- “I am learning and growing and that takes time.”
- “Today I will focus on this intention: [e.g., Show up authentically, and draw from what power and knowledge I do have to make a positive impact].”
- “It doesn’t have to be perfect. Today I’m aiming for sincerity and realness over perfection.”
- “Today is all about this new presentation. I will focus my energy there, give it my best, and forgive myself for any imperfections.”
- “Today is a great day to practice holding [this boundary] in my work.”
- I’m redefining success, so when I review my work today I won’t just ask what I earned or how much I did - I’ll consider whether I am feeling whole, if this work feels sustainable, and if I am making an impact that meets my ideals and values.
- Consider repeating an affirmation to yourself. Affirmations are most helpful when they are personal and fit your goals and needs.
- Task Switch Stroll: If you’ve just finished a set of tasks and are preparing to move into a new project or type of work, (e.g., shifting from administrative work to face-to-face meetings), you can help yourself make the change by getting up and moving. This can be as short as walking around your house for a moment (in quick shifts I will walk to my kitchen, grab a glass of water, and walk back). It can also be something more if you have time such as 5-10 minutes walking outside. Stretching and movement in general can be so helpful when we are trying to make the transition from one type of work to another! This is an especially great practice for fellow neurospicy folks who struggle with task-switching and transitions during the day.
- “Clocking Out” Sensory Ritual: You can create mini rituals for yourself going into and out of work. When you’re ready to finish working for the day, take part in a sensory “clocking out” ritual that signals to your body that it is time to relax. For those of us working at home, we may create those rituals by having a routine for getting ready and going into our office and working space. These cue our minds and help us get into a working mode.
For some it’s more challenging to make the transition out of working because work can feel so urgent or demanding. A lovely client I work with has a ritual for shifting from work-thinking to not-thinking-about-work by listening to a favorite podcast on the way home and changing out of work clothes into something casual and comfortable once home.
I have to be especially careful when working from home, because I want to be present for my kids but I also genuinely care about the work I am doing and the impact I want to make. As such, it can be such a temptation to do more work in my off hours. Our family has found it really helpful to go for a family walk after we pick up our kids from daycare. This pushes us to break away from work mode and actually enjoy time together. I’ve also been experimenting with setting my phone aside (which is so hard for me personally to do some days) to keep me from trying to work when I want to be present with my family.
As you’re reading this, are any ideas coming to mind for what a closing time ritual could look like for you?
Habit 2: Build Sustainable Boundaries
As I just alluded to, there’s a strong chance that you care deeply about the work that you’re doing if you are a fellow creative or impact-led entrepreneur.
Personally, I am so grateful to get to do something I actually love doing. But it also comes with a risk: it’s easier for our work to seep into other parts of our lives when we find a lot of purpose in work. This is not necessarily bad for all folks. If you have noticed it taking away from other things you value, though, then it’s something you can adjust.
Some of us (especially neurodivergent folks) can experience things like hyper-fixating on tasks, getting caught in perfectionistic cycles of editing and re-editing, rejection sensitivity and a fear of disappointing others or ourselves, patterns of procrastination, and hesitation to hold our own boundaries. Although people are absolutely right to desire more time freedom and flexible schedules, some structure is really important for us. Our lovely creative and innovative dough rises and bakes best with the support of a container. Think of your boundaries as your personal loaf pan.
It can be so easy to forget that boundaries are not meant to be arbitrary restrictions. Just like we set boundaries and predictable schedules for our children (who are incredibly bright, creative, and delightfully chaotic humans still), it is not meant to oppress them so much as protect their health. We want our kids to enjoy play, learning, exploration and connection. And all of that requires that they are also having a level of stability, security, and basic needs met. A child that feels free and adjusted probably has a regular bedtime routine, predictable meal times, and parents who are caring and intentional during transitions. Like so many other things, we don’t stop needing this when we become adults. We just become responsible for giving it to ourselves.
Here are some tips for setting boundaries in your own work life, especially if you are self-employed or run your own business:
- Set your own hours. If an executive at your company had their calendar blocked off for certain times of the day for deep work, you wouldn’t bat an eye – you’d just schedule a meeting with them during their available hours. Why can’t it be the same for you? If it helps you stick with it, you can even communicate your working hours proactively on your site, your email signature, and with new clients.
- Practice communicating openly about capacity. There’s not a single one of us who doesn’t struggle from time to time with feeling like we have too much on our plate. This can also re-awaken old learning for us, though, such as beliefs we may have learned that if we are overwhelmed or saying no it could upset others, invite others to see us as less or reject/fire us, or that our rest or boundaries are selfish, as examples. As a result, we tend to keep our mouths shut, put our heads down, and just hope that we can grind and meet the deadline. Or maybe we panic and ghost the client, and then spiral in even more shame.
What if you could be a bit more human, and share about your capacity with prospective and existing clients? If you’re overloaded and someone wants to collaborate or solicit unpaid labor, it’s okay to say no. Furthermore, if something comes up and you feel you need more time to complete a deliverable, ask yourself what is stopping you from bringing it up? What would the actual costs or consequences be of communicating that need?
- Practice using soft boundaries in your communication. This tip can serve the two listed above. Think about ways that you can protect your time and energy proactively, and then don’t be shy about communicating that! For example:
- I don’t respond to inquiries over the weekend.
- I don’t take calls before 11am.
- I agree to respond to clients within 3 business days.
- This deliverable includes 2 rounds of edits, additional edits will incur further costs.
Habit 3: Cultivate Your Community
Ready to bust through another tired trope? This one is especially important.
As an entrepreneur, you do not have to be the lone wolf.
Being a creative, social, or heart-led entrepreneur can seem like a dream at first, but it can quickly become very lonely and isolating. And as humans, we don’t thrive in isolation.
Fostering a community around your work life is so important. Many of us (especially creative, innovative, heart-led, and neurospicy folks) can struggle with consistency, executive function, and deep feelings about our work and businesses. Community helps center and support us.
Peer support can help us to remember that we are business owners, but we are humans first. We aren’t the only ones who struggle with uncertainty, overwhelm, and self-doubt. And sharing our struggles with someone else can sometimes make the difference between wanting to give up and us deciding to try again tomorrow. Peer support also helps us with accountability – around productivity, yes, but also around rest and play, which are just as important.
Here are some ideas to cultivate a community around your work life:
- Co-working: Think of it like body doubling for your work tasks – oftentimes, just having someone else in the room (literally or virtually) can make it easier for us to stay focused and motivated. Find a handful of folks and set a standing time to meet at a coffee shop or virtually in a Zoom room, and work together for a set period of time. You can open up by sharing what you are focused on, and close by sharing your progress if you’d like as well. This is similar to when we run alongside other runners or go to a gym with others to work out - we use the presence of others for added energy and support.
- Voice Memo Check-Ins: If you don’t have the typical watercooler, where we can chat with work friends and colleagues about what you’re struggling with, may need help with, or are excited about, you can feel really alone. One option is to replicate the feeling of the watercooler chat by regularly exchanging voice memos with your peers. Maybe you can set a cadence, like a monthly check in with your group. You can send a short update about where you’re at, what’s feeling hard, and what wins you want to celebrate, something you found fun and inspiring, and invite them to do the same.
- Walk and Talks: Oftentimes, what we need to get out of a rut is to move our bodies, and doing so with a friend is even better! Have a few friends and colleagues in mind that you can reach out to for a walk-and-talk. You can use that time to process creative blocks or brainstorm ideas together, or even just take a supported and mutual break from the stress of the day.
Habit 4: Build Energy-Aligned Workflows
The traditional 9–5 work structure makes a series of big assumptions: that we all have the same energy/attention span, can focus at the same times every day, and that we can sustain that for 40+ hours each week.
This model was once an improvement in the early 20th century from something even more ridiculous. It was meant to reduce worker turnover and appease labor movements, not to support creativity, nervous system regulation, or sustainable productivity.
In the 1920s and 30s, companies like Ford Motor began adopting the 8-hour day to boost worker loyalty and reduce burnout. These changes were seen as radical at the time, but became the foundation of labor policy under President FDR’s New Deal. By 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act capped the workweek at 44 hours and later 40, introducing overtime pay and banning child labor. It was a major milestone for workers’ rights, but it’s also nearly a century old.
Today, we know better. Studies from Ireland, the U.S., Australia, and beyond show that shorter work weeks lead to better sleep, less stress, and greater gender equity, without losing productivity. So, by now this persisting 40-hour work week is probably more to do with the greed of the 1% than the wellbeing of society as a whole.
Our energy and ability to do effective work can vary wildly based on whether we are experiencing sensory fatigue, waning interest, executive dysfunction, deep emotions, poor sleep, or any number of other factors. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that if you are experiencing ebbs and flows of productivity, that’s totally natural.
Although the corporate workplace setting tells us to plow through any resistance and remain productive or at the very least, “perform productivity,” we can create something better for ourselves in our own businesses.
As we move into self-employment and entrepreneurship, we have a beautiful opportunity to ask ourselves: What if instead of trying to predetermine and dictate my levels and rhythms of productivity, I learned how to harness my natural ebbs and flows? What if I built a workflow that worked with the natural rhythms of my energy?
Here are some ideas of what an energy-aligned workflow could look like, to get you imagining:
- Designing your schedule around your natural peaks and dips. Are you more alert and creative in the mornings? Block off that time for your more creative tasks, and save the administrative, managerial tasks for the afternoon.
- Building in rest and recovery before you’re in crisis. If you often repeat the pattern of hyper-fixating on a task until it’s done, and then crashing afterwards, try scheduling opportunities to rest and recover ahead of time. Hustle culture conditioning tells us that rest is not productive, but proactively taking time away from work can actually help us return to our work more refreshed, allowing us to return to work with more efficiency (respecting the value of our own time).
This doesn’t have to be time consuming either. Research has shown that we can experience increased focus, decreased stress, and better outcomes from our work and creative ventures if we are taking brief 5-minute mindfulness pauses periodically throughout the day. Strategies like the Pomodoro Method mix in 25-minute intervals of work with 5 minute breaks to help us improve our focus and productivity. Essentially, we are choosing planned breaks over unplanned crashes.
- Stacking similar tasks together to avoid mental friction. Do you find yourself feeling overwhelmed at switching from high-touch work (like client calls) to lower-touch work (like drafting an email or billing clients), and then back again several times over the course of a day? That’s totally normal. There is a good amount of research on “task-switching” that has shown how draining this is for us. To combat this, you can design your day with blocks of similar tasks together (e.g., creative block for art or drawing, an administrative block for answering emails and completing clerical tasks). And even if you can’t batch all your tasks neatly, some grouping should still help. Improvement is the goal here, not perfection. As a reminder too - the rituals from Habit 1 can be a great complement here when it comes to creating more intentional task-switching.
Another great way to simplify things is to theme your days if possible. For example, maybe Mondays are networking or creative days, Tuesdays and Thursdays are client-facing days, and Fridays are the days you schedule reviews, training, and personal development. You can experiment until you find what works best for you.
- Allow for nonlinear workflows. We don’t all group tasks in the same way. Allow yourself to follow intuitive threads – if you’re working on a blog post, and then remember that you wanted to reach out to a potential collaborator about a workshop idea on the same topic, let yourself strike while the iron is hot! But remember that you can still make great use of micro rituals and little breaks to add space between tasks.
The Big Idea: Creative and Impact-Led Work Doesn’t Have to Cost You Your Health
Hustle culture tells us that our value is measured by how much we produce, how quickly we respond, and how perfectly we perform. But as creatives and changemakers – especially those of us who are neurodivergent to boot – we just know deep down that operating in this model is not how we thrive. It drains us, and leaves us feeling disconnected, demotivated, and inadequate. It is for this reason that many of us try to breakaway and walk the entrepreneurial path, to do work on our terms.
But if we’re not mindful, we can easily replicate all the harmful patterns of hustle culture in our entrepreneurial lives. Walking this path is a wonderful opportunity to do things differently – to design a work life that supports our energy, our nervous system, and the fullness of our human experience – not just our output levels.
Final Reminders:
- You don’t have to be “perfect” at transforming your work life overnight (the pressure to do so would be just another product of hustle culture).
- This is going to take time, as the roots of hustle culture messaging may run deep. Take it one day at a time, and slowly integrate habits, rituals, and norms that work for you.
- And know that what works best may change over time, and that’s okay! What’s most important is that you remain committed to giving yourself permission to build a creative and aligned entrepreneurial life that actually feels good to live in.
In the meantime I’ll be sending you warmth and courage as you write your own story of work and living!
