Anti-“Hustle”
a wintry street - image from unsplash
“Hustle” and “grind” have become popular terms in our culture. If you’re not familiar with them, they really just mean “to work really hard at something.” Hard work and perseverance are both essential to our growth and to living out our callings, but “hustle” and “grind” can often have other connotations:
“Push, push, push… through everything. All the pain, all the setbacks, all the bad days, all the opposition. Just. Keep. Pushing.”
Is it wise for a driver to “just push through” the fatigue and keep driving anyway? Is it wise for an injured person to keep running rather than stop to heal? Is it wise for any of us to work a month straight without a single day off to rest? No. This mindset doesn’t sound healthy, or sustainable. It also sounds very self-reliant. That’s because it is. In the World’s view of things, there is only reliance on other people and reliance on self. The World does not understand reliance on God. That is what sets us apart.
Hard work and perseverance are essential, but God allows roadblocks to fall in our path. He may use roadblocks to try to tell us something, for example.
Most of the time for me, excitement over a project is accompanied by an almost equal amount of stress. This isn’t always bad stress (distress), because it keeps me focused and aware of potential risks and rewards. But it can become bad stress very easily if I let it.
This year on the day before Thanksgiving, the first day of Thanksgiving break from my day job, I woke up and my mind immediately went to my to-do list. This also meant that I was instantly filled with stress. It was the good kind of stress (eustress) but it was bordering on the bad kind of stress, so instead of hopping right on over to my computer to start working, I immediately turned on a half-hour Christian yoga video. I MADE myself start my day in a way that would slow down my brain and my spirit. It was difficult to move slowly when I felt anxious to get to work, but I know if I would have just jumped right in, I would’ve been in the “hustle” and “grind” mindset, relying on myself and my ability to get things done rather than starting my day resting in God’s presence, putting my trust in Him, being filled up by Him, and seeing how He would guide my day.
Seeking God is more important than “hustling” to work on our projects.
Today, my to-do list is already a mile long, and everything on the list feels important. But I know I will not get everything done today, and I’m not going to “hustle” or “grind” to try to make that happen, when I know the most important thing I can do today is spend time with God, and see what He wants me to prioritize.
Do you start each day with God? Or do you tend to jump right into your projects? I get it, it’s so hard to resist self-reliance. I struggle with it every single day. This is a practice, a spiritual discipline.
I encourage you start each day or each work session by spending time with God. It can look different each day! Some days maybe you do something like Christian yoga. Some days maybe you take a walk while you pray. Maybe you read scripture and journal using the Lectio Divina format. Maybe you just sit very still and breathe and meditate on His Word for awhile.
The format doesn’t matter as much as spending time with God. It’s one of the things He desires most from us, it’s what we need more than anything else, and it’s how we become more like Him so we can love and serve others. And at the end of the day, isn’t that the most important thing?
If we are hoping to make a Kingdom impact, we won’t do it by living how the World does, we will do it by being filled by the Holy Spirit.
Take some time now to think about how you tend to start your day. Are you prone to “hustling” like so many of us are? Do you feel a lot of stress (the bad kind) when you think of your callings or projects? What do you do about it when you do feel stressed? Do you numb, procrastinate, ignore, or push through?
If you’re interesting in more devotional resources along these lines, be on the lookout for my Walking Through Your Callings Workbook which will be available in my shop in January 2026.
