The Hustle Lie: Why You’re Moving Fast but Going Nowhere

Hey Friend,

My last semester of college almost broke me.

Here’s the setup:

• I was finishing my degree
  

• I was teaching full-time
  

• I was trying to grow Book Workshop from scratch
  

• And I was the only one who knew how it all worked
  

So I did it all. Every day. Every hour. I woke up at 6, crashed at 11, and ran myself into the ground.

Because that’s what you’re supposed to do, right?

Just keep working. Work harder. Don’t complain. Don’t rest. Don’t even think about slowing down.

And for a while, I believed it: that being constantly “on” meant I was making progress. But by March, I was dying inside. Exhausted. Burned out. Numb.

Then it hit me like a freight train:

Half the things I was doing… didn’t even matter.
If I stopped doing them, nothing changed.

I wasn’t building momentum. I was just staying busy because I didn’t know how to sit still.

Hustle is a Drug

Hustle culture is everywhere. And look, sometimes it’s necessary. You’ve got to sprint, grind, push for a day, a week, maybe even a season.

But it’s not a long-term strategy.

Because what hustle actually becomes, over time, is a holding pattern. You feel like you’re moving. You look productive. But you’re just orbiting the same problems with no elevation.

Here's the real question:

Are you doing this work because it’s taking you somewhere?
Or because it makes you feel like you’re not falling behind?

Because I promise, if your only goal is to stay busy, you’ll succeed.
But you won’t go anywhere.

The Shift

Here’s what changed everything for me:

1. I hit pause.
I had to. My body forced it. But once I did, I could finally see clearly.

2. I asked: “What would break if I stopped doing this?”
A lot of stuff didn’t. That told me everything.

3. I started designing with intention.
Now, if something doesn’t move me forward, it doesn’t make the cut.

TL;DR

• Hustle is sometimes useful, but almost never sustainable
  

• Busyness ≠ progress
  

• You can’t build clarity in chaos
  

• Ask yourself: If I stopped doing this… would anything actually break?

If this hits, reply and tell me where you’re still running on hustle fumes.
I’ve been there.

See you next Wednesday rested, clear, and in control.

Jonathan