What Is Mindful Productivity? The Cure For Hustle Culture

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If you’re fed up with going through cycles of go-go-go and burnout, you need to give mindful productivity a go. You can still be highly successful and driven but without the negative side effects that hustle culture promotes AND you get to enjoy the present moment without feeling guilty.

It’s a win-win situation.

As a Mindset and Productivity Coach for perfectionists, I am constantly preaching about embracing an anti-hustle culture mindset based on values-based living and mindful productivity. However, I am fully aware that that all sounds like a bunch of jargon which is why I decided to explain myself more in this blog post.

I’ll explain the 4 principles of mindful productivity in detail (self-awareness, energy management, values-driven goal setting and simple systems) and give you practical steps you can take to redesign your whole productivity system.

Person Writing in Notebook for mindful productivity

Table of Contents

What is hustle culture and why is it bad for you?

Hustle culture is the idea that you must always be working and constantly be productive with little rest.

It’s the mindset that says to be productive you need to grind, grind, grind without enjoying life in the moment because right now you need to sacrifice your present for your future self.

Slowing down or taking a more measured approach is seen as laziness or failure.

Simply put, it’s the belief that if you constantly push yourself to your absolutely limit at work then success is guaranteed.

But do you want to know a secret?

Hustle culture is a myth…

Those productivity gurus are LYING to you because they want to convince you that you are not good enough. Or maybe it’s coming from a less insidious place, maybe it’s because they don’t feel good enough which is why they push others to follow the same path as them.

Overworking until burnout inevitably comes.

I don’t want that for you which is why I’m here to break the spell of hustle culture and introduce a new and improved version of working towards your goals.

First, here are some more reasons why hustle culture is bad for you:

All paths lead to burnout
Increased struggles with anxiety, depression and chronic stress
Degraded relationships with others – romantic relationship? Friendships? Forget about it!
Fuels perfectionism because it causes you to believe your self-worth is tied to your productivity
Less creativity and fun in life
Feeling less fulfilled and never good enough

What is mindful productivity?

Mindful productivity is the idea that you need to take a more mindful approach to productivity by being present, intentional and working WITH yourself rather than against yourself.

You still get things done but you do it without the self-worth issues and take your own needs into consideration. It’s purposeful and all about alignment.

If you want to embrace mindful productivity, you need to learn how to work SMARTER, not harder.

Key mindful productivity principles

So, when I like to think of mindful productivity as 4 separate but interlinking key principles.

1. Self-Awareness

Self-awareness is at the core of mindful productivity. You need to be able to recognise your thoughts, emotions and behaviours while working so that you can adapt your approach. If you’re not self-aware, you will continue to make the same mistakes over and over again and fall victim to hustle culture every time.

And I don’t want that for you.

When you’re aware of your triggers and energy levels you can find new ways to be productive.

For example, when I worked as a project manager, I used to check in with myself regularly because it was a highly stressful job. One time I realised that I was feeling overwhelmed, not because I had a lot of work to do but because I placed a lot of value on a particular task. Once I realised that, I was able to challenge my thoughts and reframe the situation so that I could get the work done without losing my mind.

2. Energy Management

Once you start to become more self-aware of your productivity practices, you need to learn how to manage your energy, not just your time.

Energy management is the idea that different tasks require different types of energy and that your energy naturally fluctuates throughout the day. All of us have different energy maps, you might be an early bird or a night owl. Maybe you get brain fog before lunch or after lunch.

You need to do the work to identify your energy map and then build your productivity systems around it.

For example, I’m most productive between 8am and 12pm so I try to schedule writing blog posts for the morning. However, my brain goes to sleep after lunch time so I schedule my boring repetitive tasks at that time. So I still get things done and move the needle forward but I do it in a way that works best for my mind/body.

3. Values-Driven Goal-Setting

Mindful productivity involves being conscious of your productivity approach from the beginning. That means you need to set goals that are in alignment with your personal values and actually mean something to you instead of setting goals based on external pressures e.g. family and societal influences.

In a mindful productivity system, you need to start with values-driven goals because it ensures that you’re working towards being successful on your own terms. Your core values are your foundational principles and beliefs that describe how you should be living your life and help you make decisions that keep you in alignment with your true self.

So many people struggle with being productive and climbing up the corporate career ladder because it’s not in alignment with their true values. They are forcing themselves to BE someone that they are not and that causes a lot of stress and unfulfillment and perfectionism.

Starting with identifying your values and then building goals from there eliminates a lot of those negatives.

4. Simple Systems

Your productivity system should be simple and straightforward. There is no need for complicated gadgets and colour-coded tools that cause more confusion in your life than actually make it better.

Maybe I’m biased because I have been known to just use a bullet journal and Google Calendar for many years but it hasn’t failed me yet.

When I was deep in my hustle culture mindset, I would obsess over finding the perfect productivity system that would magically make me do more in less time. The truth is no secret to productivity. You just need to find systems that work for you, keep it simple and keep doing it until it no longer works.

For example, for many years, I used my bullet journal and Google Calendar, and it worked so well. However, there were periods when I needed to switch to a Filofax or a pre-made calendar or, more recently, using Notion databases.

You might need to spend some time evaluating your current productivity system and figuring out what’s working and what’s not. You want to have a system and routine that streamlines your workflow but is still flexible enough to allow for changes.

Why mindful productivity is the cure for hustle culture?

Taking a mindful productivity approach instead of using hustle culture to fuel me saved my life. No joke. I used to take life so seriously, it felt like I was constantly on a treadmill trying to do more and be more.

It was exhausting and never-ending so I’m very grateful that I decided to shift my whole mindset around productivity and focus on intentional thought-out steps that were in alignment with my true self and not the role self I used to play in hustle culture.

Mindful productivity offers a much more balanced and sustainable approach to working and being successful. In hustle culture success doesn’t exist. not really anyway. For example, you spend five years climbing up the career ladder to get to a senior level then once you get to that level you’re not happy because you know that you want to get to an even more senior level. So you keep working and grinding never feeling good enough because there’s always something more to do which means you never feel successful.

Whereas when you take a more mindful approach to productivity you get to redefine success and you become successful every single time you stay true to your values.

Don’t get me wrong you can still work hard and achieve great things but you’re worth isn’t tied to your success and that’s the big difference.

You stop burning out because you take into account your body’s need for rest and recovery
You check in with your energy levels and amend your schedule based on when you are most productive
More time for creativity and innovation
You can focus on delivering value in everything you do rather than forcing yourself to be busy
You have better relationships with others because you’re not irritable and tired all the time
You feel fulfilled every day because you know that you are working towards something purposeful
You’re not sacrificing your present for a future that isn’t guaranteed

Why perfectionists NEED to incorporate mindful productivity into their daily lives

Perfectionists tend to naturally be drawn to the hustle culture mindset since it reinforces many toxic perfectionist traits. Most of my clients have been deep into the trenches of hustle culture and they ultimately realised that no good comes from having that mindset.

That is why they come to me. They want to find a new way to be productive without pushing themselves to the brink of burnout every time.

Here are some common traits perfectionists have:

Big fear of failure
Unrealistic high standards
procrastination
Constantly going through cycles of go-go-go and burnout
Never feeling good enough
Tying your self-worth to your achievements
Overcommitting
People-pleasing

Mindful productivity is great for a perfectionist because it helps you shift your focus from doing the most to doing what matters the most. It encourages you to focus more on progress rather than perfection and the end result so it takes the pressure off of you.

Also, mindful productivity starts with increasing your self-awareness and that alone will do so much good for your mental health more than anything else because it enables you to recognise when you’re perfectionist tendencies are causing you to be unproductive rather than productive (e.g. procrastination and burnout).

Moreover, mindful productivity gives you space to make mistakes and develop a growth mindset rather than fearing mistakes and feeling bad about yourself.

There is also a much greater focus on quality over quantity. Instead of trying to make everything perfect (and remember perfect doesn’t exist so you’re fighting a losing battle anyway) you prioritise tasks that move the needle forward.

How to apply mindful productivity techniques to your life

You can start your mindful productivity system today. You don’t need to plan things out and make a big deal out of it you can just decide to do things differently today. No more hustle culture, no more burning yourself out and definitely no more feelings like a failure.

1. Self-awareness

Practice mindfulness: mindful productivity wouldn’t be called this name if it didn’t have any component of mindfulness in it. You need to incorporate mindfulness at every stage of your productivity system from goal setting to implementation. Find ways to add mindfulness into your daily routine (e.g. mindful walking, mindful eating, meditation, body scans etc…)
Daily check-ins: in the morning and evening check in with yourself to ask yourself ‘How am I feeling?’ and ‘What do I need right now?’. This will help you stay in touch with your emotions and thoughts as you go throughout your day
Regular reviews: I recommend you start with daily and weekly reviews where you ask yourself: what went well, what didn’t go so well, did I stay in alignment with my values, and what will I do differently tomorrow/next week etc…
Journal: it’s super important for you to develop a consistent journaling habit, especially a the start of your anti-hustle culture healing journey because it will help you notice toxic patterns and triggers so that you can make changes in your habits. Just put all your thoughts in a big brain dump if you have to.

You’ll probably find these blog posts helpful in increasing your self-awareness:

2. Energy management

Track your energy cycles: keep an energy log/map to note down your energy shifts throughout the day. Try to identify the times when you feel the most energised and least energised. Figure out what triggers it (if anything) and notice any patterns
Identify your energy givers and energy takers: what activities drain your energy the most and why? What activities boost your energy and why? Keep a note of them and add to the list as you discover more information about yourself
Match your tasks with your energy levels: schedule your mentally taxing tasks during your peak energy times (e.g. mornings if you’re an early bird) and leave your low-energy hours for those boring repetitive tasks.
Schedule breaks throughout the day: when stuck in the hustle culture mindset, it’s easy to think that breaks are for the weak but that is unhelpful and only leads to burnout. Instead, try to schedule multiple breaks throughout the day where you do energy-boosting activities
Have guilt-free self-care days: you are a human being and your mind and body can only do so much without a full break. Build self-care into your daily routine but also take whole days off to relax and recover.

Check out these energy management blog posts:

3. Values-driven goal setting

Identify your core values: you need to ask yourself some deep questions to find out what your true desires and drivers are. You can use the Free Values Over Perfection Workbook to help you. Here are some example values: integrity, respect, adventure, duty, family, community etc…
Align your goals: once you know what your values are, you can evaluate your current goals and decide which ones are in alignment and which ones need to go. Create new goals that are in alignment with your values and help you become more in touch with your true self
Create a Mindful Action Plan: create an action plan based on your values-driven goals to help you create the life of your dreams. Prioritise the tasks that have a long-term impact and are aligned with your values and eliminate ones that don’t.

Check out these posts about values-based living:

4. Simple productivity and organisation systems

Do an audit on your current productivity system: do you use time blocking and task batching? Do you use Getting Things Done, Pomodoro technique, Atomic Habits, Bullet Journaling or something else? Is it working, yes or no and why?
Get rid of the systems that aren’t working for you: just because something isn’t working for you now doesn’t mean it will never work. You can park old systems and pick them up when a different season of your life requires it
Keep it simple: don’t try to overcomplicate things, just pick a system that works for you and keep it minimal. You can build up complexity over time but the key is to start small and practical right now. For example, use a simple to-do list or calendar to help you manage your tasks
Automate what you can: put any recurring tasks or routines in your calendar and find ways to automate any other repetitive tasks so that your mind can be free from clutter.
Declutter often: I highly recommend you try using the 0 inbox method. The goal is that by the end of the day, your inbox should be at 0. It forces you to either file things away or delete unimportant messages. I 0 inbox with my email and I try to do it with my WhatsApp messages too

Are you ready to let go of hustle culture and start your mindful productivity journey?

Now that you know the benefits of mindful productivity, are you ready to let go of hustle culture?

I remember when I first started to realise that hustle culture was hindering me instead of helping me move forward. I felt like I had been lied to and I was highly disillusioned with the working world. It took me getting burnt out every 6 months for over 5 years until I realised that something had to change because I KNEW in my heart there had to be another way to be successful.

Hopefully, you’re having this realisation now and you’re ready to start your healing journey and embrace a more mindful productivity approach using the four principles of self-awareness, energy management, values-driven goal setting and simple systems.

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What Is Mindful Productivity? The Cure For Hustle Culture

What is hustle culture and why is it bad for you?