So, what’s fuelling the anti-hustle movement?

You will work 24 hours a day, or I’ll find someone else who will… You’re not ‘super pumped’! “Hustle culture has not been able to accommodate the deaths caused by the pandemic and the individual circumstances and environments it has created,” says Anshuma Kshetrapal, a creative arts psychotherapist from Delhi. “These motivational speakers made a rat race even out of the most difficult time we were in.” Conversations around hustle culture and productivity also exclude neurodivergent people born with neurodevelopmental disorders like ADHD, autism, and SLD, says Kshetrapal. Today, “hustle” has become a bad word that implies a “toxic and exploitative work environment”, adds Srijan R Shetty, co-founder of a blockchain-based creator monetisation platform. “I’m struggling to find another word that describes working hard just as well but doesn’t come with this negative connotation.” Sukhada promotes ‘slow productivity’—a concept where an individual’s work volume is kept at a sustainable level—as an antidote.