Written by By Rebecca Jarvie-Gibbs, COO, Founder, Podcast Host, Mother.
Hustle culture convinced us that ambition and exhaustion were the same thing – that sleep was weakness, rest was indulgence and success demanded constant self-sacrifice.
We built careers – and our identities – around endless output. As entrepreneurs preached speed and scale, we were made to believe ambition only counted if it came at the cost of our health, joy and sanity. Wasn’t a “successful” life meant to be all about the grind?
For women, in particular, empowerment became tangled with overachievement – the idea that the girlboss era would deliver equality if we just worked harder, scaled faster, spun more plates. But the truth is, hustle culture was never really about ambition. It was about validation – proving our worth by how much we could carry, achieve and endure.
Eventually, the promise cracked. Burnout hit hard, and the backlash was swift. Suddenly, we were celebrating the opposite: quiet quitting, lazy-girl jobs, the glorification of opting out. The pendulum swung from overdrive to disengagement – and yet neither felt like a sustainable way to live or lead.
That’s the tension we’re sitting in now. If we’re not hustling, but we don’t want to fizzle, what does ambition look like in between? How do we stay driven without burning out or retreating into another performance of passivity?
For me, this isn’t about rejecting ambition; if anything, I’ve never felt more ambitious. It’s about redefining my relationship with it. My old version of hustle ended in a crash but there’s still a part of me that loves building, creating, chasing big goals.
I’m now deeply interested in how we build lives of ambition that don’t require that self-destruction – how we can encourage young women to enter the workforce knowing that work can and should be a source of pride, joy and connection.
Through my own experience of burnout, becoming a mother, and speaking with cultural leaders on my podcast Fine Form, I’ve learnt this: hustle isn’t something to quit or condemn – not entirely. It’s something to reimagine – to move from exhaustion to alignment, from performance to purpose. To keep our ambition, our creativity and our fire but build from a place that actually feels good.
Here are a few lessons I’ve learned and now live by.
Get Clear On What’s Driving You
Work often mirrors what we haven’t resolved in ourselves. So when you’re unclear on who you are, the job will decide for you – becoming your main source of validation and identity. The danger is, you start chasing what you think you should instead of what actually feels meaningful.
Try this: Before saying yes to a goal, ask ‘Would I still want this if no one ever knew about it? Why / Why Not?’.
Don’t Chase What Drains You
One of my guiding mottos is: don’t chase what drains you. Your energy is data so pay attention to it. When the way you work drifts too far from what truly matters, it shows up as fatigue, frustration or quiet resentment. The more attuned you are to your own energy, the easier it is to see what aligns, what needs to shift and what no longer fits.
For one week, track your energy — what gives, what takes. Notice whether you end the day energised (momentum) or empty (resistance). That pattern tells you everything. If something keeps draining you, stop chasing it – even if it looks nice and shiny.
Work With Focus, Not Frenzy
Busy isn’t the same as effective. Hustle culture rewarded constant motion – the performance of progress – as if being seen to work hard was what mattered the most.
When we confuse doing lots of things with genuine momentum, we fill our days instead of progressing our goals. Over time, that pattern compounds and burnout becomes the byproduct of systems we’ve stopped questioning. Without clarity on how and why you’re working, it’s easy to get stuck in a destructive loop.
Try this: At the start of each week, identify your top three “needle-movers” – the tasks that create real momentum. Each day, ask: ‘Did I move at least one forward?’. If not, you may very well be performing busyness theatre.
Remove Friction
For years, I prided myself on being a great planner – a loyal to-do list devotee who felt calm only when every box was ticked. On the surface, it looked like efficiency, underneath, I was constantly stressed. Then I started tracking my friction points for a week. Every time I felt frustrated or scattered, I wrote it down – and realised how much unnecessary drag I was tolerating. Mornings were chaotic, meals rushed, days harder than they needed to be.
The fix wasn’t a perfect routine, it was intention. Each week, I now ask: What’s one small change that could make this smoother? The power is in the rhythm – small adjustments, repeated often, that make everything flow a little easier.
Balance Spikes With Stretches
Spikes – the launches, deadlines and high-energy bursts – are part of any career. They can be exhilarating, testing your limits and proving what you’re capable of. But when spikes become the norm, recovery disappears – and that’s when burnout creeps in.
Stretches are what restores you. It’s the space between the spikes – the time for rest, reflection and recalibration that keeps your energy and creativity intact.
Try this: After every major spike, check how you’re recovering once the adrenaline drops. Can you clear the diary? Lighten meetings? Slow the pace? Build in time to think?
Stop Acting From Urgency and Panic
Business – and life – can often feel like it’s moving at a relentless pace. When urgency takes over, it’s easy to get caught in a cycle of panic where pressure breeds poor decisions.
For years, I believed being constantly available and immediately responsive was proof of competence. In reality, it kept me in a constant state of distraction. Now, I resist replying to emails on my phone or responding in the heat of the moment — because rushed replies made in that heightened state are almost always the ones I regret, and they only feed the cycle of urgency I’m trying to avoid.
Rebecca will host After the Hustle at Bodylove The Penthouse in Sydney’s CBD on Thursday 30 October, alongside Claire Greaves (Founder, P.E Nation), Ali Handley (Founder, Bodylove), and Holly Garber (Business & Career Coach). Tickets are $50, with all proceeds supporting RizeUp Australia. Her podcast Fine Form drops new episodes every Monday.
