The pandemic helped us realize that real, sustainable success is so much more than a sole focus on work. It became the great clarifier that we crave a new kind of life — simpler, slower, more intentional and more purposeful — and a new type of work culture: human culture instead of hustle culture. 

We cannot create sustainable success in a culture of hustle, overwork and burnout. It’s time for a reset. It took a global pandemic to wake us up. The question is: Are we going to take action and change our relationship with work and time off so we can start fully living, doing work that matters and spend more time in flow, fully aligned, alive and impactful? You can give yourself permission to go in the direction of your heart and still create an effortless impact. 

Otherwise, we can continue to hustle, lack fulfillment, burn out, and live a life of regrets. 

Related: Health, Happiness and Success Are Not Mutually Exclusive

The unhustle mindset 

The “unhustle mindset” can change how you think about life, work and play. There are no hacks or special formulas. The only hack is you. It’s an approach to living and working with less stress, distractions and burnout and more flow, focus and fulfillment. If you feel successful but not satisfied, this approach may help shift your perspective so you can feel aligned. 

The unhuste mindset rebels against the constant pressure to perform. It supports working less but achieving more while fully living. 

Western society defines success as a desired outcome of wealth. In pursuit of this definition of success, we strive to do more. We get caught in the hustle, the endless quest for more — which manifests in the form of performative productivity. We chase titles, achievements, promotions and money. We strive for more. Do more. Go more places. Make more progress. We constantly feel we’re not enough and that we should be better. Our work becomes our identity. Self-worth is so much more than net worth. 

Less is better

This pursuit of more leaves us anxious, overwhelmed and stressed out. Once on the treadmill, we forget to get off and catch our breath. We drown in too much of everything. Too much work. Too many emails. Too many meetings. Too much information. Too many demands. Too much stuff. Too many hats to wear. Too many “shoulds,” “musts” and “have-tos” leave us with no time to ourselves. We lose sight of who we are.

One day, we wake up and realize there’s more to life than working. Hopefully, it’s not too late. 

Related: The Rise Of Anti-Hustle Culture

Fuel your flow: Live in flow and do work that fuels you

What if, instead of chasing success, we focused on creating peak experiences that support a life with variety, interest, perspective change, curiosity, time, energy, creativity, spontaneity and wisdom coupled with meaningful work. A psychologically rich life is life beyond searching for meaning and happiness, which many people choose as the definition of a good life. Fit your work into your good life instead of the other way around. What if you can create a life first with work to support it so you can end the endless hustle cycle and feel human again? 

Thanks to the pandemic, remote work, globalization, technology acceleration and burnout levels, millions of people are reconsidering how they live, work and play. The Great Resignation is the largest free study on how people are reprioritizing and reimagining success from the inside. Take the time to reset, recalibrate and reimagine your relationship with work and time off. The time for the unhustle mindset has come. We simply need to put it into practice. 

Related: Hustle Culture Is Killing Your Greatness