Can You Be Chill and Successful?

Picture Cottonbro

On a recent Tuesday morning in Singapore, Amrita Shah sits at a sunlit cafe table, sipping oat milk coffee and scrolling through emails. By 10am, she’s already signed off on two contracts for her media startup and scheduled a design meeting for the afternoon. But unlike many founders, Amrita isn’t grinding away for 16 hour days. By 6pm, she’ll be home cooking dinner, phone switched off, laptop closed.

“I used to live by the motto; sleep when you’re dead,” she says with a laugh. “But I almost worked myself into the ground. Now, I’m building my company and protecting my peace. That’s the real flex.”

Amrita represents a growing number of professionals who are redefining what it means to be ambitious. Where hustle culture once glorified exhaustion as proof of commitment, today’s soft living movement prizes rest, joy, and boundaries. The shift has sparked a bigger cultural question – can you slow down and still succeed?

The Age of Hustle

For a long time, hustle was king. Social media made it a badge of honour, motivational memes urging you to grind 24/7, entrepreneurs boasting about skipping vacations, workers proudly wearing their burnout like a medal. Icons like Elon Musk embodied this ethos with marathon workweeks, reinforcing the idea that greatness demands sacrifice.

But the pandemic cracked that facade. Remote work blurred boundaries, burnout soared and millions of people re-evaluated what they wanted from life. A 2023 Gallup poll reported that nearly half of workers said they felt stressed a lot of the day. Suddenly, the constant grind looked less like ambition and more like self-destruction.

Enter Soft Living

If hustle is about acceleration, soft living is about brakes. Popularised on Instagram, the lifestyle celebrates slower mornings, intentional rest and saying ‘no’ to obligations that drain rather than nourish. The aesthetic is cosy candles and skincare routines but its philosophy is radical in a culture that equates productivity with worth.

Soft living isn’t laziness. It’s about recognizing that humans are not machines. Rest is not wasted time.  It is a necessity for creativity and health.

It’s a mindset that has resonated especially with Gen Z and younger millennials, who watched older generations sacrifice health and family life for careers. To them, success that costs your joy is not success at all.

The Pushback

Not everyone is convinced. Critics argue that soft living is a privilege, easier for those with financial cushions than for people juggling multiple jobs or unstable income. Scrolling through influencers posting about romanticizing life from luxury apartments, the movement can sometimes look like leisure dressed up as high moral standards.

Even Amrita acknowledges the privilege critique. “I get it,” she says. “It is way easier to opt out of the grind if you have some stability. But I also think we have to dismantle the idea that suffering is the only path to achievement. Even if you cannot live fully soft, you can still live softer.”

Blending the Philosophies

Some argue that the real future lies in a blend of hustle when it counts and rest when it matters. The corporate world is already experimenting; four day workweek pilots in countries like the Belgium and Iceland have shown workers can maintain or even increase productivity while enjoying more free time.

On an individual level, many high achievers swear by rhythm rather than relentlessness. Athletes know training only works when paired with recovery. Creatives often find their best ideas during downtime. Neuroscience backs this up; the brain’s default mode network; the part responsible for insight, activates when we’re daydreaming, not grinding.

Pacey Yin, a former Wall Street banker, found this out the hard way. “I was working 80 hour weeks, making great money, but I hated my life,” she recalls. During the pandemic, she quit and launched a small design studio. Now she earns less but insists she’s more successful. “I actually have time to think. My creativity is sharper. I feel like I’m living instead of just working.”

Redefining Success

Ultimately, whether hustle and soft living can co-exist comes down to how we define success. Is it the size of your pay check? The title on your business card? Or is it having the freedom to shape your days, the health to enjoy them, and the relationships that make life meaningful?

“Balance doesn’t happen by accident,” Amrita says, finishing her coffee before heading to her next meeting. “I plan my rest the same way I plan my hustle. That’s how I stay sharp and that’s how I’m building something that lasts.”

Maybe the real revolution is not choosing between hustle and softness but realizing that both can fuel each other. Work hard, rest deeply, and measure success not only by what you achieve but by how you feel along the way.

In a world that once idolized burnout, being both chill and successful may not just be possible, it may be the smartest hustle of all.