The so-called key ingredients to living your fullest life are often said to be:
Ceaseless hustle.
Restless grind.
Mix them well in a bowl, and then pan-fry in olive oil.
In reality, though, you'll be hard-pressed to find a dying person wishing they had worked more hours and spent more late nights at the office.
Yet, our culture loves to worship this mantra.
But if you notice this one crucial thing, it will change your perspective.
Every single person promoting this lifestyle is either young with no life experience, or they've sacrificed their relationships in pursuit of it. Whether it's a broken marriage or emotional distance from those who matter most, the cost is high.
What does that tell you?
It's not that hustle or grind is inherently wrong. Rather, uncontrolled hustle and grind can blind you to the most important things in life that give meaning: love, family, friends, and peace.
A person without these things is no person at all. They become a ghost in a machine—meaningless and nihilistic.
Nihilism is the philosophy of our time, and its currency is hustle and grind.
The insatiable appetite for unending runs on the treadmill comes from ignorance.
Knowing when it’s enough comes from wisdom.
Or else, how can we explain that the happiest people in the world often live in rural villages, with few material possessions and little need for the hustle and grind?
There is a time and place for this.
However, be diligent it doesn't consume you. And remember what truly matters.