Not Built for Hustle Culture

I’m not a competitive, succeed-at-any-cost kind of gal. I’m not a go-getter, hustler, or risk-taker. …But I do have some ambitious dreams. I just don’t want to get them in the way we’ve been told they need to be gotten.

Achieving and accomplishing for the sake of generic success has never been enough to motivate me into action.

I was so unambitious at times that as a teacher in the school system, I was questioned by my principal about the number of sick days I had taken over the year. (I took a lot of sick days.)

At risk of your judgment, I gotta tell you, I sometimes made some shady decisions. On my way to work, I’d pull into a gas station, get on a payphone (remember those?), and call in a substitute teacher. I just couldn’t do it. I was literally on my way there…and I couldn’t do it.

I did the same with other jobs I didn’t love. I just couldn’t force myself to be where I didn’t want to be, doing something I didn’t love to do.

I’ve never been good at forcing myself to work hard at things I didn’t enjoy. I used to think this was a shameful character flaw…but turns out that flaw works in my favor.

My soul is a stubborn mf…and it’s tough to fight it. So yeah, some of my younger year decisions didn’t exactly follow the protocols of “good work ethic.” But I’m glad they didn’t, because they have led me here…

Most days I wake up naturally without an alarm (10:00am is a perfectly respectable start time), I ease into my days (do not try to talk to me during my cherished tea & toast time), and I spend my time doing things I love (you’ll probably find me at a cafe).

My productivity looks different. I follow the flow of my life and act on what interests, satisfies, and excites me.

Though I’m not driven to succeed at any cost, I am driven and ambitious with the things that matter to me.

Hard work, hustle, and haste (the English teacher in me couldn’t resist the alliteration) are only required when you go against your true nature and your divine plan. I want soul-satisfying success that honors who I am. Not the societal version of success we were groomed on.

Instead of forcing myself to comply with rules that don’t take into account the creative intelligence behind all earthly activity, I honor myself, trust the plan I came in on, and do things in my own “lazy” way.

What other choice did I have? If I tried it any other way, I’d probably just call in sick.