Wake up. Check your phone. Brush your teeth. Go to the gym. Run to work. Grind away and barely find time to eat. Head home. Succumb to the urge to check your email and get ahead of your tasks. Go to sleep. And do it all over again tomorrow.

Sounds familiar? Well, welcome to the grind culture where working harder, stronger, faster, and giving 110% of your effort will definitely pay off. For thousands of employees worldwide who are obsessed with exerting themselves to maximum capacity, the hustle has basically become a lifestyle. But even though the corporate world glorifies ambition and sees 18-hour work days as the new norm, it doesn’t come without a cost.

This heartbreaking post shared on the ‘Anti Work’ subreddit is here to remind us of that. A few days ago, Redditor Otherwise_Order621 opened up about how his “hustle culture” friend recently died from a heart attack at only 32 years old. And just to warn you, it might make you take a good look at your own life right now. Scroll down to read their impactful story in full, as well as similar experiences readers were quick to share, and be sure to let us know what you think below in the comments.

Recently, this person shared a heartbreaking story about how the hustle culture took their friend’s life

Image credits: Hannah Wei (not the actual photo)

Image credits: christopher lemercier (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Ian Taylor (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Otherwise_Order621

No matter the industry, people continually fall victim to the hustle culture that asks them to grind and accomplish their goals and dreams at lightning speed, no matter the price. While working hard is important for many, there has to be a line where you have to ask yourself, is it worth it?

Overwork can have drastic effects on your health and well-being, not to mention strain personal relationships and lower satisfaction with life. After all, when everyone tries to outperform each other, it’s essentially a rat race to the finish line — the finish line being stress, fatigue, burnout, and, surprisingly, poor performance.

As many of us know from practice, the hours clocked in don’t equal productivity. So many people are now finding more meaning and motivation to work smarter instead of harder, and it seems we may be moving into a post-hustle future. A Harris Poll Thought Leadership Practice study has found that 64% of Americans now value energy optimization over monetary optimization. “Americans are deliberately cultivating, protecting, and optimizing their personal energy, focusing on essentials over the urgent.”

According to Laura Kingston, a UK-based coach specializing in career transition and progression, our jobs should not dictate our lives. “We work for the majority of our lives so it’s important to find work you love, that you are happy in, gain fulfillment and work to your strengths,” the founder of Leap Career Coaching told Bored Panda in an email.

However, when people feel the urge to work harder and faster, thinking I will be happy when: I get the promotion, earn more money, have a better car, they “can miss the point of being happy now in this moment as life whizzes by.”

Alarmingly, when employees become too focused on their work and the hours they need to clock in to succeed, self-care becomes an afterthought. When this seems to be the case, people should realize they’re in a cycle of performative exhaustion.

“Self-care is imperative in our lives,” Kingston explained. “The way I help remind my clients to do this is to act as a role model for their team at work, friends, family and children. Many of my clients struggle with putting themselves first, so this perspective can really help shift their mindset.”

Feeling like you have to burn out to show that you have grit or that you need to neglect your well-being and eliminate every healthy boundary between your life and your job can take its toll. So to help you be more productive and work smarter, Kingston suggested, “Focus on your own agenda, what do you need to achieve today?”

“Learn how to manage up and prioritize effectively, for example, say Yes, of course, I would be happy to deliver that for you, what would you like me to deprioritize to make space for that now?”

“Utilize the Eisenhower Matrix to prioritize work. Plan your work weekly to not lose sight of key goals and objectives and plan in thinking/strategy time into your diary,” Kingston concluded.

Readers immediately offered condolences and responded with messages of support

Later on, the user also clarified some details about the situation and addressed the questions people asked in the comments

And others chimed in with similar experiences, revealing the truth about the grind culture

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