This text was originally published on my former blog typeoneminimalist.com. The website has been offline since 2020. This is an archive version.

More doesn’t always equal better. In the competitive world, we easily get trapped in a do-more-mindset. But how much of it does really matter? A few thoughts on freedom, self-pressure and perfection.

With the new year in the starting gates, now might be the perfect time to re-think your entire life and become superhuman. Just kidding. This won’t be another article on how to “reinvent yourself in 2020”. I mean, well, it will be to an extent. But the topic shouldn’t be related to the new year. To be honest, this exact mindset of setting sky-high goals for any upcoming time-period and “becoming insanely productive and getting ahead in life” whenever we have five minutes of leisure time, is toxic for people’s sanity.

But what am I even talking about? Perfection and productivity. They’re really helpful in a lot of aspects but also quite toxic if used wrongly. I can only tell from my life which is probably a more extreme case – but ever since I can think, I’m all about giving everything I have, so much that it has become part of my personality. 100 per cent and even that’s never enough. And honestly, the mindset has brought me far. My grades at school and university were and are always great and my resume is impressively long for my age. But while growing as a social being, I’m increasingly asking myself: What is all the effort for? During stressful times, my life always turns into a weird kind of robot-movie where I do indeed function but simply can’t enjoy anything outside work. Whenever this happens, my creativity plummets and I just generally feel exhausted. Nonetheless, I keep doing. Because you always gotta perform as well as you possibly can, right? You know what? No. Fuck this.

Dude, chill

Especially among my generation, I observe a huge pressure we all put on ourselves. Everyone and everything needs to be better and greater. Competition becomes a lifestyle. If I can urge anyone to do one thing in 2020, then it’s this: Chill. The fuck. Out. Do you really need to score a perfect grade on that trivial assignment? And do you really need to finish your tasks at work a week earlier? A couple of days later, most of it won’t even matter anymore. This constant do-more mindset that neglects time to recharge will just slowly push you towards burnout and kill your creativity and happiness. At least that’s what I’ve experienced among peers and for myself.

More doesn’t always equal better – especially not more pressure. Seriously. It’s okay to not be perfect. We don’t need to drive ourselves insane for things that hardly matter. Isn’t beauty shaped by imperfection? Not being able to deal with imperfect results, days or relationships is just as hurtful as not being able to deal with these things at all. You can’t do everything at once. Nobody can. Still, we’re told to do exactly that. Surely, there are exceptions – but from what I’ve experienced, the narrative among academics currently sounds something like: “You want to live a happy and fulfilled life? Then you better put everything you have into outperforming your competition … and in your leisure time, you can build your side-hustle.” Performance equals success equals happiness. Rubbish. Success alone won’t make anyone happy. Meaning and impact will.

The new hustle-lifestyle

Why has the world become so performance-oriented and pretentious? Sure, competition is natural in our capitalist society – but it has become more extreme than ever. And a lot of it comes from ourselves. We idealize success and self-fulfilment to an extent that’s unhealthy. Add the toxic hustle-culture on social media and you got the problem right in front of you. Seriously, nothing pisses me off more than this new hustle-culture that has developed online.

I’ve been following the self-development-bubble on social media for a while now. And for a long time, things were simple. Back in 2014, the self-development community on YouTube and Reddit mainly talked about how to take control of your life and form good work habits. Then, in recent years, drastic changes happened. Entrepreneurs like Gary Vaynerchuck or Casey Neistat started to pump out a ton of high-quality content about working hard. By doing so, they started a new gold-rush for success. Thousands of people followed their lead and formed a new work-culture that idealises extremes. Working 15 hours a day becomes the new (pretentious) ideal. I’m starting to doubt humanity when an audience cheers to sentences like “you’re gonna die, so you better work harder” or “fuck your 20s, you don’t need to go out, you need to work”. Yes, we’re all gonna die. That could happen either in 50 years or tomorrow. And I’m not willing to put myself in a position, where everything I leave on this planet is a pile of work.

Let’s flip the coin

Hustle-content has spread around the internet like a wildfire. And honestly, working hard is great. Everybody should do it. However, it’s not the only aspect of life. Social relationships and fulfilment outside of work are just as important. Humanity is defined by people, not revenues. Remember that.

Very few persons can pull off a hustle-lifestyle as we see on Instagram and YouTube – and when they do, they usually face difficulties in other areas of life. Casey Neistat nearly broke his marriage due to his work. Some of my favourite content creators who jumped into the hustle-life suddenly disappeared and came back with a video on burnout a few months later. And many of the most success-oriented people I’ve met gave the impression that not everything in their life is as perfect as they say. There’s always a different side to every story.

Apart from everything else, what the hell has even happened to hobbies? Nobody seems to have hobbies anymore aside from travelling and watching Netflix. Everything we do has to be productive. Everything has become a hustle. Like, let’s say you like designing computer games – why shouldn’t you do it just for the sake of it? Not everything has to become a business. It’s great when you’re passionate about your work – but work can’t replace off-time.

Strive for progress, not perfection

Don’t give in to the external pressure. And don’t compare to others – especially online. Other people’s achievements don’t matter. In an idealized world of social media, it feels like we have to re-learn to focus on ourselves. Listen to your body and emotions first and foremost. Your mental and physical health and your relationships are the most valuable assets of your life. Don’t strive for perfection either. Strive for progress. Be just a little bit better than yesterday. Eventually, this will lead you to your goal. It might take you longer than someone else – but that’s okay. The other person’s starting point might be completely different.

Eventually, we’re pressuring ourselves to become meaningful while we don’t even know what that means. Pressure only works paired with relaxation. If you expand a spring and never let it jump back it will eventually break. And a car that never stops to re-fuel won’t go far. The same principle applies to humans. Don’t break yourself.