Welcome to the second part of Trend Analysis: “That Girl”! Last week I conducted an experiment where I, true to the “that girl” routine, attempted to wake up at 6 AM, journal, drink lemon water, work out, and study before 9 AM. I concluded that the routine left me feeling pretty refreshed, but it’s simply too much to practice every morning. The biggest question that arose for me was why creators feel the need to promote “having your life together”. In this article, I’ll look at the broader societal context surrounding this trend: hustle culture.
Live to work, work to live
Hustle culture is a lifestyle of someone who is extensively devoted to their work. The term seemed to emerge during the 2008 economic crisis, as people needed to work longer and harder in order to stay financially afloat. Since the crisis, hustle culture has become a term for people who glorify hard work and view a 40-hour workweek as insufficient. The most prominent philosophy behind this lifestyle is that working hard will guarantee success, and if you are not successful yet, you simply have to work harder.
I recognize two sides of hustle culture: first, the necessity to work hard because your livelihood depends on it. Second and the side I will focus on, hustling to build something for yourself, fueled by personal ambition and the desire to live luxuriously.
So how does hustle culture tie in with “that girl?” In my opinion, the trend seems to lean more towards the “for fun” end of the spectrum. By starting productivity early in the day, the routine appears to be a set-up for hustle culture. However, most “that girls” don’t have full-time jobs. The emphasis also lies on well-being rather than succeeding in a professional career, so maybe this description isn’t so fitting after all. There have been reports and studies that hustle culture can negatively impact your health due to its exhausting demands. The “that girl” trend shifts the main focus from work to taking care of yourself, giving attention to good health and feeling good. In other words, is the “that girl” trend a counter lifestyle to hustle culture?
Perhaps, but let’s keep digging.
Promote your success
Hustle culture is also dubbed “performative workaholism” as it goes hand in hand with the promotion of hustling on social media. Supporters of grind culture not only boast about their success but claim to love their work as well. For example, this tweet by Elon Musk suggests that working hard made him a billionaire:
So, why is there such a strong need to promote success online? The reason could be positive like making a name for yourself or receiving compliments that can inspire you to keep going. On the downside, the promotion of your own success is inclined to make people compare themselves to others, which can be harmful.
In recent years, hustle culture is increasingly critiqued and labeled as “toxic”. Some argue that COVID-19 disrupted hustle culture as the pandemic raised awareness about overworking and emphasized the importance of mental health. The “live to work” mentality seems to be dying out post-lockdown and with trends like “quiet quitting” on the rise. I think the “that girl” trend is an evolved form of hustle culture that shifts the focus from the professional career to the self, but preserves the essence of “working for success”. The irony is that creators claim that the routine of self-care improves your quality of life, but creates more work in the process. The lifestyles differ in goals as “that girl” is more focused on feeling good and self-care while hustle culture is about earning success, but they ultimately have many characteristics in common like working hard, doing what is (supposedly) best for you, and most importantly; promoting your success on social media.
“That Girl”, the pros
To conclude this series, I want to share what I think are the pros and cons of the “that girl” trend from the perspective of the consumer because I feel like they should be addressed, as briefly it may be.
- The routine is flexible. Although some core characteristics of the “that girl” routine remain the same (like the lemon water), there is room to change tasks up however you like.
- It reminds you to take care of yourself. The trend can be inspiring to adjust aspects of your life that don’t work for you.
- In theory, the trend promotes proven methods for health, like going for a walk. I also like to think that the creators mean well and genuinely want their viewers to take care of themselves.
The cons
Unfortunately, I found more cons than pros to comment on. The trend…
- Promotes a unified image of health. Self-care and well-being are as individual as fingerprints. Conforming to the “that girl” lifestyle will not work for everyone as the routine doesn’t take into account personal circumstances or wishes.
- Speaks from an abled, (financially) privileged position. Many “that girls” don’t seem to have traditional full-time jobs and the demographic we see on social media is limited. Any reason why this routine may be inaccessible for some is glossed over.
- Oversimplies wellness and mental health. Expensive products and aesthetics are no “easy fix” for mental health.
- Is too much for most of us. I noticed in my experiment that the end result looks way easier than the actual routine. Following the trend can be overwhelming for the viewer and lead to comparison with others.
- “That girl”, by definition, refers to someone else. She is someone who we should aspire to be, but we’ll never be her. Becoming “that girl” will always be just out of reach.
That concludes Trend Analysis! I hope this was informative to read, thanks for sticking around :)!
Links & References:
- https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/what-is-hustle-culture
- https://magazine.circledna.com/what-is-the-hustle-culture/
- https://delamere.com/blog/the-toxicity-of-hustle-culture#:~:text=%E2%80%9CUntreated%20stress%20and%20work%20burnout,to%20go%20off%20work%20sick
- https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/26/business/against-hustle-culture-rise-and-grind-tgim.html
- Elon Musk’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1067173497909141504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
- https://www.lark.com/resources/sharing-success-so-everyone-wins
- https://www.huffpost.com/entry/comparing-yourself_b_4441288
- https://eu.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2021/06/06/workaholism-going-against-culture-overwork/7513386002/
Thank you for part 2! I agree that this trends feed indirectly into hustle culture, in a way it is an inevitable catalyst for comparison. The content that the “trend setters” produce comes off as raw and authentic but in reality it is a very sugar-coated version of self-improvement narrative. Expectations on having a perfect/productive day-to-day life lead to burnout and if you don’t feel exhausted by the end of the day — you haven’t done much in comparison to all other girls you see on social media. It also seriously undermines personal achievements — self improvement and growth are partially defined by chaos and making mistakes. Not being able to do something from the first attempt should be normalised.
I agree! Self-care and self-improvement are messy. What we see online are merely glimpses, highlights of someone’s life, but we tend to compare ourselves with those narratives nevertheless. Anyways, thank you for reading my posts :)!
Wow, I haven’t really looked at the words (that girl) on their own and I’m amazed that it does further establish the fact that these routines are idealised and that it is difficult to impossible to be like these girls.
It does, like what evgeniia_o said, make those who try, but also fail to fully follow it, feel bad and forget their own achievements.
I am not going to lie the ”that girl” routine is a view of horror in my book, but reading your article made me realise that even though my bias is justified in some aspects, I seem to demonise the practise more than is necessary. I mean by that is that you managed to let me see the thing as more than a bitter cynic. I thought that it was basically a cry for public attention and praise for conforming to a very capitalist oriented ideal (aka being productive, always). However, even if there is still a bit of that, you also made me consider that it does genuinly offer some good life advice, and is less extreme than hussle culture. In other words, the full power of my negative view will now be directed solely at hussle culture, while the ”that girl” trend will now be considered with a bit more nuance. Or still in other words: thanks for the insight! It’s very nice to be proven wrong.
It bothers me that lifestyles are becoming trends. It gives us more things that we can compare to others. And it’s extra risky because trends nowadays are fuelled by views and money. How does that translate to real life?