To Grind, or Not to Grind?
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2025 2:26 pm
The topic of toxic grind culture has come up before on my site, but, as it does, it comes up again and again on social media, especially in places where there's a lot of focus on tech and entrepreneurship. As someone whose been doing a multitude of things, for multiple decades, I have first-hand experience in forcing myself to do independent work, even when I didn't want to, in an attempt to escape being broke. The short end to the story, is that I ended up having to re-enter the regular workforce. But ...
I had a massive panic attack in 2020, because of the way I had been treating myself, because of the things I've been through, and because of the endless onslaught of banging my head against a wall, while less-than-genuine people attempted to rip away almost everything I'd worked for, because of their own biases and bigotries. The panic attack was so bad, that I relegated a large portion of myself back into hiding, and a month later, I got my old job back.
Fast forward five years, and I'm doing better now. But I'm only doing better, because I give myself time to do absolutely nothing. I lay down on the couch, I turn on Youtube, and I don't do a damn thing.
This is the anti-thesis to people who say things, like ...
"Every moment you waste, every moment you're idle, you're losing ground. You're stagnating ..." and so on, and so forth.
This is an extremely hostile attitude to have with yourself.
There is no magic cheat-code to suddenly becoming rich. You aren't going to be Elon Musk. You aren't going to emerge as Sam Walton 2: The Reckoning.
You are going to push yourself into an early grave.
I know I'm real snarky, and angry sometimes, but I do genuinely care about other people, and I don't think anyone reading this should get so lost in the anxiety of trying to beat capitalism, that you have a heart attack and die.
Don't do that to yourself.
Work hard, yes.
But don't work, also.
Sit down. Turn on a videogame. Watch the Minecraft movie. Lay down in bed and play a phone game. Take an entire day off of work to do jack-shit. Let your body recover, and your mind rest. Don't think about how much money you need to make in order to achieve this goal, or that goal. Don't think about the government, or nasty people.
Open up Doordash and order some greasy garbage from a nearby restaurant.
Or, better yet, strap on your shoes and go for a walk! Go on a hike.
Do things, for yourself.
And then, when you feel like you've been present with yourself for long enough, sure. Get back on that grind, or whatever it is your do.
But always alternate.
As far as anyone knows, this is the only life we've got. If you woke up on your deathbed tomorrow and looked back, and you saw that all you ever did was work, and work, and work, and you never even reached that milestone of extreme financial independence, what would you feel? Regret?
Think about that.
Source: https://mkultra.monster/thoughts/2025/0 ... nd-or-not/
I had a massive panic attack in 2020, because of the way I had been treating myself, because of the things I've been through, and because of the endless onslaught of banging my head against a wall, while less-than-genuine people attempted to rip away almost everything I'd worked for, because of their own biases and bigotries. The panic attack was so bad, that I relegated a large portion of myself back into hiding, and a month later, I got my old job back.
Fast forward five years, and I'm doing better now. But I'm only doing better, because I give myself time to do absolutely nothing. I lay down on the couch, I turn on Youtube, and I don't do a damn thing.
This is the anti-thesis to people who say things, like ...
"Every moment you waste, every moment you're idle, you're losing ground. You're stagnating ..." and so on, and so forth.
This is an extremely hostile attitude to have with yourself.
There is no magic cheat-code to suddenly becoming rich. You aren't going to be Elon Musk. You aren't going to emerge as Sam Walton 2: The Reckoning.
You are going to push yourself into an early grave.
I know I'm real snarky, and angry sometimes, but I do genuinely care about other people, and I don't think anyone reading this should get so lost in the anxiety of trying to beat capitalism, that you have a heart attack and die.
Don't do that to yourself.
Work hard, yes.
But don't work, also.
Sit down. Turn on a videogame. Watch the Minecraft movie. Lay down in bed and play a phone game. Take an entire day off of work to do jack-shit. Let your body recover, and your mind rest. Don't think about how much money you need to make in order to achieve this goal, or that goal. Don't think about the government, or nasty people.
Open up Doordash and order some greasy garbage from a nearby restaurant.
Or, better yet, strap on your shoes and go for a walk! Go on a hike.
Do things, for yourself.
And then, when you feel like you've been present with yourself for long enough, sure. Get back on that grind, or whatever it is your do.
But always alternate.
As far as anyone knows, this is the only life we've got. If you woke up on your deathbed tomorrow and looked back, and you saw that all you ever did was work, and work, and work, and you never even reached that milestone of extreme financial independence, what would you feel? Regret?
Think about that.
Source: https://mkultra.monster/thoughts/2025/0 ... nd-or-not/