Psychologists and work-life balance coaches warn that hustle culture has blurred boundaries, normalised exhaustion, and quietly turned burnout into a symbol of ambition
Scroll through LinkedIn on any weekday morning and you’ll see it:
“Pulled a 14-hour day but feeling grateful.”
“Weekends are for catching up on work.”
“Hustle now, relax later.”
What once sounded like a complaint is now
packaged as pride. The language of overwork has shifted. People no longer say,
“We are tired”. They say, "We are booked.” Nomore “overwhelmed”. We’re “killing it!”
“For a lot of young professionals, being busy is directly linked to selfworth,” says Mumbai-based therapist Dr. Neetu Sani. “If you’re not exhausted, you start feeling guilty. As if you’re not doing enough with your life.”
In a hyper-competitive job market, productivity has become an identity. Work is no longer just what you do; it is who you are. And the more you do, the more valuable you feel.
Productivity & Performance
Hustle culture did not arrive quietly. It came with podcasts, reels, quotes, and billionaires’ routines. Wake up at 5 am. Cold shower. Gym. Journal. Work. Side hustle. Network. Repeat.
Rest, in this narrative, is framed as weakness. Slowness is framed as laziness. Balance is framed as a lack of ambition. “You’re constantly seeing people your age achieving things online,” says Aarya (27), a marketing executive in Hyderabad. “Someone just started a startup, someone got promoted, someone is travelling and working at the same time. You feel like that if you’re not doing 10 things at once, you’re falling behind.”
The pressure is not always external. Often, it is internal and invisible. The need to look busy. The need to justify your existence through output. So, people stay online. They reply late. They take calls during dinner. They work during vacations and brag about it.
Always On, Never Off
Remote work and digital tools were supposed to make life easier. Instead, they blurred boundaries. The offices and meetings moved into living rooms. “There is no psychological off switch anymore,” says HR consultant Prajakta Tambekar. “Earlier, you left the office and physically disconnected. Now, your manager is in your pocket.” Blue ticks. Read receipts. Last seen. All of them quietly enforce availability. For many young employees, saying “I’ll respond tomorrow” feels risky.
Burnouts creep in silently. First, you’re tired. Then, you’re irritated. Then, you’re numb. “I used to love my job,” says Kunal, (27), a graphic designer. “Now I just feel… blank. I finish tasks, but there’s no satisfaction.”
Therapists report rising cases of anxiety, sleep disorders, emotional exhaustion, and stress-related health issues among people in their early twenties. “What’s worrying is how normalised it has become,” says Dr. Sani. “People don’t come saying, ‘I’m burnt out.’ They come saying, ‘This is just how life is, right?’
Work And Self-Worth
One of the most significant shifts in hustle culture is the close connection between productivity and identity. “I feel useless on days when I don’t do anything,” says Jyoti (22), a final-year student juggling internships. From school to college to corporate life, people are rewarded for performance, not presence. Marks. Rankings. Appraisals. KPIs. The message is consistent: you are as good as your output. Over time, people internalise it. They stop asking, “Am I happy?” and start asking, “Am I doing enough?”
Vacations now come with laptops. Weekends come with calls. Even leisure is productive, such as gym, networking events, and skill courses. True rest, which involves doing nothing, being unproductive, and being still, has almost disappeared. “Rest is treated like a reward, not a right,” says Prajakta. “Something you get after you’ve proven yourself.”
The Missing Link
Many organisations talk about mental health, but few redesign work culture. Wellness emails and meditation sessions exist, but expectations remain unchanged. Targets remain aggressive. Teams remain understaffed. Availability remains assumed. “You can’t offer yoga and then expect people to work 12-hour days,” Prajakta points out. “That’s cosmetic care.” Real change, experts say, comes from workload management, realistic timelines, respecting boundaries, and leadership modelling balance. When managers log off, teams feel permission to log off. When leaders take breaks, rest becomes acceptable. Culture is not built by posters. It is built by behaviour.
Draw Boundaries
A slow and quiet resistance is building. People are choosing boundaries. Some are choosing slower careers. Some are choosing mental health over momentum. “I stopped replying after 7 pm,” says Aarya. “At first, I was scared. But nothing collapsed. The world did not end. And I sleep better now.” Unlearning hustle is uncomfortable. Dr. Sani says the shift starts with language. “Stop glorifying exhaustion. Stop praising overwork. Start asking people if they’re okay, not just how busy they are.”
Success used to mean stability. Then it meant growth. Now it often means struggle. But a generation running on caffeine, deadlines, and anxiety is not a sign of progress. It is a sign of imbalance. The real flex is not how late you work, but how well you live. It's time we stop wearing burnout like a badge and start treating it like a warning.
