Hustle culture of entrepreneurs is almost religion
How faith and suffering are being integrated as part of success.
Consider the following quotes about success:
“Take a leap of faith on your dreams”
“Give your dreams all you’ve got and you’ll be amazed at the energy that comes out of you”
“You are a ghost. Filled with stardust, wearing the bones as the shield and the skin as the cape. Fighting every day and opening up for the new wounds in the hustle of hiding the old scars.”
When I read phrases like these mentioned in the entrepreneurial circles I’m not sure if I find wisdom or just nonsense. But for sure there is a religion-like eagerness to believe; there is a mystic sense of earning your success through the strength of your faith and your hard work.
I have read plenty of stories about the beginnings of very successful entrepreneurs, who almost brag about the life they had back then, sleeping less than 4 hours a day in a car or on the floor, surviving on slices of pizza, you get the idea. But then success came, and all that effort was rewarded –as it should be– with wealth beyond their wildest dreams. All the suffering they went through is presented with pride as the scars of a pirate.
Such a narrative makes part of a culture about hustle and grind so ingrained among entrepreneurs, which is mostly about having faith in an almost religious sense –even if no religion is mentioned.
You know, Judeo-Christian cultural traditions give great importance to purification through suffering, so this kind of narrative makes sense in the western world: sins are forgiven with penitence; so, success is earned with struggle.
And if your innovative ideas aren’t understood by the public, you can always take it as part of your quest: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win”. If you still don’t succeed, perhaps you didn’t believe enough or didn’t fight enough… which leads us to –of course– more faith, more effort, and so on. No escape, isn’t it?
To me, the success-through-suffering-and-effort culture is basically toxic. I see it as an attempt to make sense of how entire generations are eaten by a freelance lifestyle with no social security net or labor benefits whatsoever. This is no minor stuff. Work conditions have worsened for many young people in recent years, but they don’t complain because they are given the opportunity to “pursue their dreams”.
In the end, as always, the economy dictates the rules and culture will follow. The new “gig” economy needs such a workforce, so the associated culture needs to be built.
Prophets of success through faith and suffering, it’s your turn, make us dream…
