Eric Haynes
In a generation where everyone is addicted to “locking in”, or at least the idea of it, the ones who are seem to become insufferable and absolute menaces to society. Why is that?
According to WikiHow, when someone is locked in or is locking in, they are putting effort and focusing on one goal at hand. Whether that’s committing to going to the gym every day or beating the Elite Four in Pokémon X, the name of the game is concentrating on something to achieve a desired outcome. Connotatively, the term has evolved to encompass locking in on larger, more long-term goals at hand, like hyper-focusing on improving your life or “getting to the bag”.
Locking in as a term trivializes the effort and time needed to achieve long-term goals. It makes it seem that these goals are more tangible than they are and that putting effort into them is an easy, immediate action. It perpetuates unrealistic standards and expectations from people, further pushing the idea that your life can reach perfection as long as you’re ready to work for it. However, the term neglects the mental tax it takes to perform it.
Locking in as an idea romanticizes hustle culture. Dr. Olga Molina defines hustle culture as “working excessively without regard for one’s self-care needs and relationships in order to reach professional success.” Hustle culture promotes toxic productivity and the idea that your life will miraculously get better, potentially reaching perfection, if you focus on self-growth and self-worth in superficial, monetary success. Well, that’s at least what it seems like online.
Hustle culture is marketed by entrepreneurs and businessmen who “did the work” off-screen and are now self-appointed, glorified experts on the rise to success. They often communicate their expertise through self-help content, showing how simple it is to get to where they are. If they could do it, so could you. They use the lack of context on the circumstances and opportunities they received to their advantage, creating a pyramid scheme of false hope and unrealism.
These so-called experts use social media to their advantage. Dr. Olga Molina says “there’s a strong correlation between social media and mental health, and social media has only made the problem even worse. Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook have made it easy for influencers and celebrities to share images of themselves working late into the night, glorifying and perpetuating a dangerous mindset among younger generations who look up to them for inspiration.”
Locking in, moreover, hustle culture, encourages you to believe that enough hard work will position you closer to perfection and the life that you’ve always desired. It takes a lot of effort to reach the level of success that hustle culture perpetuates. An effort that not everyone is equipped with or capable of performing, rightfully so. Unfortunately for them, though, that lack of grit positions them as the weaker link.
People who can’t seem to lock in and don’t succumb to the expectations of hustle culture are positioned further down the totem pole. This makes it easier for the real hustlers to look down on them. Unfortunately for them and the rest of the world, these hustlers have a god-complex unlike any other. Their self-righteous, aggrandizing personality makes them insufferable to be around and makes it harder to believe that their lives are any better than any other normie.
What many people, including hustlers, fail to realize is that many things in life are a performance. Hustle culture is no exception.
AMR Therapy supports this stating that, “While hustle culture may appear as ambition on the surface, it often masks unmet needs, trauma, or internalized beliefs about worth, safety, and success.”
The lifestyle it promotes and the attitude its victims carry are all a facade. It’s an act, whether it’s for social media or for peers in their community, hustlers are performing a reality that does not exist in the majority of people’s lives. The idea that people have the luxury to put all their attention and efforts into working is unrealistic. Putting value only in financial or professional self-growth is contradictory to the fulfilled life that hustle culture markets to you. It limits your purpose and neglects fundamental aspects of your life needed to achieve real success.
Success shouldn’t only be measured in money, access to spaces or any other shallow monetary gain. Relationships you build, things you experience, contentment and so many more aspects of your life outline success. Success may not always be tangible, but that doesn’t reduce its existence. The goal to succeed should be expanded throughout many different facets of your life and contribute to a greater purpose than what hustle culture believes in.
I’m not saying not to lock in. I’m saying to be wary of what goals you are trying to accomplish, why you are trying to accomplish them, and if they will make you a better person holistically.