Glorifying the Grind

Written for: PURVEYR, Issue 4: Success, 2017

By day, Jake works a desk job at an audit firm, which he equates to corporate slavery enough to drain his creative juices dry. By night, he retires to his neighborhood café and has freelance graphic design for dinner. The weekends are reserved solely for his passion project of building a clothing brand.

For some, the thought of the grind is enough to induce a blood rush to the head. But for the younger workforce, busyness is a badge best worn on one’s sleeve – or on your forehead in neon, if you’re pushing the hustler title. Running on an hour of sleep after cramming five meetings in a day? Impressive, but child’s play compared to the entrepreneur-slash-starving artist with a 60-hour workweek.

People like Jake, who happens to be a symbolic trope for many of the people I know, are no outliers. Today’s culture of busyness and overwork has become so ingrained and ubiquitous among urban-dwelling Generation Y-ers, which I’m no stranger to. If I had a Peso for each time I’ve had to sell myself as a freelancer, I’d have enough to cover my Uber expenses to all my meetings. But where did this culture of the “hustle” come from, and how did it reach apex levels of glorification?

“For some, the thought of the grind is enough to induce a blood rush to the head. But for the younger work force, busyness is a badge best worn on one’s sleeve – or on your forehead in neon, if you’re pushing the hustler title.”

For my textbook Baby Boomer parents, jumpstarting your career before graduation was rare. This, of course, doesn’t discount the privilege pawn, which allowed them to survive without a second job – but that’s a talk for another time. While the concept of a “side hustle” isn’t new, the attention it has drawn is fairly recent. Originally used to refer to controversial moneymaking schemes, its etymology dates back to the early 20th century when Afro-Americans needed another path to financial stability.

Nowadays, some argue that disposable labor has rebranded into productivity porn. So is the “side hustle” culture an adaptive mechanism to recession era economics and a ruthless job market? Or is it just another bastard child of technology and social media?

Technology has provided an open canvas where anyone is free to broadcast episodes of their own “Day In The Life”, pushing the evolution of the internet into a mosaic of various individuals’ labor. The downside is that it leaves the intrinsic value of one’s endeavors to be lost in translation. When your online life is juxtaposed against everyone else’s under a microscope of public scrutiny, comparison is inescapable.

It’s easier to discredit your own humdrum when you hear about your friends’ 12-hour photoshoot while managing to write a book and head a workshop. The fulfillment you had from crossing out your to-do list makes a nosedive back to ground zero as you’re hit with an emotional sucker-punch of “What am I doing with my life?” Putting that aside, there are more factors that come into play besides the pressure to project an image of “Hey, I’m a contributive member of society and not a stagnant, directionless bum!” The diverse selection of opportunities also suggests that economic defiance isn’t always the motivator.

“So is the “side hustle” culture an adaptive mechanism to recession era economics and a ruthless job market? Or is it just another bastard child of technology and social media? ”

You can be a full-time ad girl and have clients of your own – in which case, freelancing is but an extension. On the other hand, there are those who side hustle for a more personal cause – math teacher who is also a yogi-slash-online life coach. Then there are the martyrs who run on pure passion, devoting years of their life to an ill-fated start-up made to address a need that is yet to surface. I, myself, admit that what I make from my freelance work is sometimes only enough to cover my soy caramel macchiato budget. Do I complain? Yes, and I have the Twitter rants to show for it. But that’s beside the point – at the end of the day, I trudge on with gusto anyway.

For me, this wasn’t just a ticket to financial comfort. It was the silver lining to an otherwise dull, draining routine – my bandaid solution for the flotsam and jetsam of Manila living. Before you pull the “you’re young, what could you possibly know about being cheated by life?” card, there’s no age limit to spit-shining your most ambitious dreams. While any sort of employment is already a privilege in itself, a side hustle can keep one from feeling boxed – the compromise between traditional parent satisfaction and going after the stars. Everybody wins, right? Not always.

“When your online life is juxtaposed against everyone else’s under a microscope of public scrutiny, comparison is inescapable.”

A friend of mine who thrives in the bottleneck of the local film industry recently returned from a six-month stay in Italy. On-set all-nighters was her norm, so imagine her culture shock when she came to provincial Italy and was greeted by perpetually laidback folks who put a premium on quality of life. The lack of anxiety gave her anxiety. When she returned to Manila and had to re-accustom herself to the “grind”, she found herself diagnosed with depression. I, for one, didn’t think that was possible but here we are.

My best-case scenario is that my rigorous career exploration would someday lead to my Holy Grail gig – The One that’ll let me leave my 9-5 for that 24/7. But in the process, I’m learning to stop listening to Drake preaching about the grind, and the voices telling me if I’m not killing myself overwork then I must not want it enough. It’s refreshing to realize that I don’t have to take every project like an added chevron on my insignia.

This is coming from someone who would take on numerous internships, university, and freelance gigs at a time. Now I have time for indoor gardening! Tea with grandmother! We’ll get there eventually, but life is what happens when you’re too busy beating deadlines and hustling for hustle’s sake – don’t miss it.