Morning Coffee #53: The Importance of Rest… aka Even God Rested On The 7th Day

There is an online community popular known as the Hustler Community with popular slogans such as rise and grind and sleep is for the weak. These people glorify the importance of hard work, which isn’t a bad thing. In fact, I love hard work. But they take it a bit too far. They don’t believe in resting for a moment or taking breaks or even having a bit of fun. Everything is all about the hustle and grind. No Days Off. And many people seem to absorb these nuggets of faux-wisdom and try their best not to rest.

My problem with this is simple. It is not realistic. Everybody needs to rest at some point. Pushing yourself past the limit constantly will break you. I would know. I used to be a serial procrastinator until I went to the other extreme end and became a serial workaholic. The amount of breakdowns I had are nothing to brag about. I realised I needed time for myself to relax and just let go. It’s not me giving up. It’s just me resting up and re-energising for the next phase of work.

But no, if you relax then someone else will overtake you, right? It depends on how you look at it. Are you grinding hard for yourself or for others? If you are doing the former, great. However, the latter only leads to sorrow and frustration. You need to relax. You need sleep. You need to unwind. You need to stop using others’ progress as a yardstick for us. Work well not hard. And you will enjoy the true hustle and grind.

By the way, if you’re one of those people who takes CEO Showers, I just want to take a moment to laugh at you because as much as cold showers are great for the body and mind, it is NOT going to make you a CEO. Do the fucking work, alright?

Cheers!