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what is this word? Efficiency. Sometimes it seems a close cousin to death. We are encouraged not to linger, not to enjoy life, to hurry up and get done. So we'll have time for something else. Something else. What efficiency is a destroyer? Millions upon millions of living dead done in by the electric can opener and the automobile progress is our most important product. Babies are our business. Time is money. Life is cheap. Modern technology, modern business, the modern state, gives us everything we need except breathable air, drinkable water, edible food, meaningful work, freedom from fear, freedom to love.

Freedom to be ourselves. Courage, pride, friendship, hope, the moral of the story is don't be in such a hurry. Beware, creeping efficiency. Slow down and live.

Paul Williams DOS Energy.

Welcome to the Imperfect Buddhist, where we discuss present moment awareness and incorporating Zen principles into modern. My name is Matthew Hawk Mahoney, and today's episode is titled Buddhism and Hustle Culture.

Maybe you're a musician, maybe you're a photographer, a painter, Maybe you're someone that repairs shoes, you know, a Cobb.

Maybe you run a daycare or maybe you work at an office building and you post pictures of your latest food adventures.

Maybe you've heard of this concept of having to post on Instagram or Facebook a certain amount of times in a week or a day to stay.

As a musician, maybe you've heard the concept of writing and releasing songs once a month. Singles albums seem to be dead.

. Maybe you've been asked, Hey, What's your side hustle as if it's just a normal thing, a prerequisite to you being a modern American .

Maybe you've watched Gary V on YouTube.

Where he talks about hustle culture and grinding ,

his energetic caffeinated personality and voice coming through the speakers urging you to hustle, hustle harder. You gotta really want it. If you wanna make it

are we allowed to enjoy the present moment?

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Without worrying about how much time we're wasting, how much money we might be potentially losing, how many leads we may be missing out on. I mean, hey, we worked 40 hours already. Is it okay for us to enjoy the weekend? Is it okay for us to enjoy the hours after work? Is it okay if we only post a picture on social media when we feel so inclined to all those questions will be answered in this episode of the imperfect Buddhist

Hustle culture as a concept actually goes further than social media or side businesses it also bleeds a little bit into success overall in life where. People start to feel like we're being left behind by the pack. Oh no, this person hustled and got this college degree working after hours after they left their nine to five, this person got his real estate license outside of work .

This person selling handmade hats on Etsy, on their off hours. What am I doing wrong? What's wrong with me?

It can extend into things like having a nicer car. The concept of keeping up with the Joneses, .

I know at times I've felt

the push as a musician . That I need to be pushing out a song every so often that if I don't put out something once a month and post at least every other day on my social media, I'll become irrelevant.

I've felt that pressure watching any YouTube video about. What it takes to be successful in the music industry. Of course, they will tell you post often and share music often. Put out a song every month, have a monthly release schedule 12 songs a year.

The idea of content creation. Sickens me at this point. It's like, let's just create content. I want to create content, content, content. Do we need more content?

And maybe even a little bit with this imperfect Buddhist podcast. I know that all the statistics would say, Okay, post often, post, regularly hustle. Get that episode done on the weekend, hustle, post it on every Wednesday morning at 5:30 AM

Rigorous content creation when it comes to art, music, or any creative endeavor can choke the life out of the creativity. It pushes people into algorithmic pieces of art and music. To repeat what they've already said artistically.

Overall, it's not a good thing for the depth of creativity to be pushed to be on this schedule of pumping out noise.

On the other hand, some of the most famous artists, when you look at their body of work, they are profoundly prolific, A lot of art coming out, a lot of music coming out, and sometimes you only know 10 out of the 150 songs that they've worked on recorded.

My kid's coming in to say hi. Hey kitty baby. Come here. A little kitty baby.

Say hi, kitty. Say hi. The people in the mic. Come on, say hi. Say hi.

That was her mad at me meow.

I think hustle culture adds a new layer to. Some of the feelings of guilt that people experience in our culture when it comes to how much money they make, what kind of car they drive, how nice of a house they live in, or apartment they live in. Are they living at their parents? It adds to the layer of comparison.

When you start to come back to your true identity, which can be reclaimed through different practices, some people use prayer, meditation, present moment awareness. Mantras. When you start to encounter your true identity, which is the awareness that is experiencing this life, the more you let go of

identifying with the thoughts in your mind, which include hustle, culture, jealousy of what others have attained in their life. You come back to the fact that you are a playful awareness that is experiencing this life. Recognizing yourself and the world around you in life, and you recognize that this life is a big game , ultimately things only have meaning when we give them meaning.

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That you reclaim joy in realizing that

these are all electrons dancing around and playing a game called American Society, or playing a game of South American society or whatever country you're from. These electrons, these atoms are moving around. And create human bodies and trees and cars and streets and houses, and the idea of hustle culture.

So we have this

fantastic array of life moving around us, we realize that we have the freedom to. Disidentify with the unhelpful thoughts, disidentify with the unhelpful perspective, and we come back to the reality that we're on a planet floating through space,

infinite blackness and light, and isn't that amazing?

So we come back to the reality of who we truly are and what life really is. We reclaim a playfulness. In our life.

When we reclaim our power, And we realize that life is not as constrained or simplistic and black and white as our culture or people in our culture would have us believe. We have the ability to choose how we wanna be in our life.

Because sometimes it's better. To share the works of others that have said things much better than I can ever say them. Wanna share an article from a website called ALifeinprogress.canada.ca by a woman named Krista O'Reilly Davi Diu.

Titled, What If All I Want is a Mediocre Life? What if All I Want is a small, slow, simple life? What if I am most happy in a space of in between where calm lives, What if I'm mediocre and choose to be at peace with that? The world is such a noisy place.

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Loud haranging voices lecturing me to hustle, to improve, build, strive, yearn, acquire, compete, and grasp for more, for bigger and better sacrifice. Sleep for productivity. Strive for excellence. Go big or go home. Have a huge impact in the world. Make your life count. But what if I just don't have that in me?

What if all the striving for excellence leaves me sad, worn out, depleted, drained of joy? Am I simply not enough? What if I never really amount to anything when I grow up beyond mom and sister and wife? But these people in my primary circle of impact know they are loved and that I would choose them again, given the choice, can this be enough?

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What might happen if I decide that I am enough and that this imperfect and beautiful mediocre life of mine is good enough? What if I never build an orphanage in Africa, but send bags of groceries to people here and there and support a couple of kids through sponsor? What if I just offer the small gifts I have to the world and let that be enough?

What if I don't wanna write a cookbook or build a six figure business or speak before thousands, but I write because I have something to say and I invest in a small community of women and care about and encourage them to love and care for themselves as well. Because bigger isn't always better and the individual matters.

She is enough. What if I just accept this mediocre body of mine that is neither big or. Just in between and I embrace that I have no desire to work for rock hard abs or 18% body fat, and I make peace with all of it and decide that when I lie on my deathbed, I will never , regret having just been me, take me or leave me.

What if I am a mediocre home manager who rarely dusts and mostly maintains order and makes real food, but sometimes buys pizza, and who is horrified at moments by the utter mess in some areas of my home who loves to menu, plan and budget, but then breaks her own rules and pushes back against rigidity?

Who doesn't care about decorating and fancy things, whose home is humble but safe? What if I'm not cut out for the frantic pace of this society? It could not even begin to keep up and see so many others with what appears to be boundless energy and stamina, but know that I need tons of solitude and calm, an abundance of rest and swaths of unscheduled time in order to be healthy body, mind, spiritual health.

Am I enough? What if I'm too religious for some and not spiritual enough for others? Not evangelistic, not bold enough, yet willing to share in quiet ways and genuine relationship. My deeply rooted faith, and in my doubts and insecurities, this will have to be enough.

And if I have been married for 21 years and love my husband more today than yesterday, but never had a fairytale romance and break the expert's marriage rules about doing a ton of activities together and having a bunch in common, and we don't, and we like time apart and time together, is our marriage good enough?

What if I am a mom who delights in her kids but needs time for herself and sometimes just wants to be first and doesn't like to play, but who hugs and affirms and supports her kids and their passions. A mediocre mom who can never live up to her own expectations of good enough, let alone yours.

What if I embrace my limitations and stop railing against? Make peace with who I am and what I need and honor your right to do the same. Except that all I really want is a small, slow, simple life, a mediocre life, a beautiful, quiet, gentle life.

I think it is enough.

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Let's take three minutes and practice present moment awareness. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing. See if you can bring your attention to this moment and notice what's going on around you. Sounds emotions inside, sensations on your skin.

Notice what's to be noticed and see if you can root your attention and awareness in the present moment. Let's start.

All right. Thank you for stopping in and I look forward to talking with you next time. I hope you have the most excellent of weeks till next time. Bye bye.

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