Cameron HeroldFounder of the COO Alliance & Invest In Your Leaders Training

The Hidden Cost of Hustle Culture | Sunil Rajasekar

12 Mar 2026 · 1 min

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1:09

In this segment of the interview titled "The Hidden Cost of Hustle Culture," Sunil Rajasekar recounts his experience in his early twenties working long, high‑pressure hours at Oracle while also maintaining an active social life. He describes how the combination of excessive work, neglect of self‑care, and a belief in personal invincibility led to severe stress, resulting in irritable bowel syndrome, significant weight loss, and a breakdown that forced him to take a four‑to‑six‑month hiatus. During this recovery period, he discovered the book The Mind‑Body Connection, which he credits as a turning point that helped him develop a new, sustainable approach to living and avoid future burnout.

Chapters

When you're in your early 20s, you think you're invincible, right? You can do whatever you want and you're going to be fine. I had a high-pressure job. I was working at Oracle and I was working crazy hours. And then I also had a lot of friends and, you know, having fun was a priority too, right? It is for most people in the early 20s. So I was trying to do it all. So I would work crazy hours at work on the weekend and I would go out every night with friends and wasn't really taking care of myself, wasn't watching what I eat. A lot of times, even if your mind doesn't know, yeah, you're heading down a wrong path and you're burning the candle at both 11, your body will tell you. And that's what happened to me, Cameron. My, my body told me. I ended up just breaking down. The stress was too much. I had irritable bowel syndrome. I ended up losing a lot of weight. I ended up needing to take like 4 to 6 months off just to recenter myself and come up with a new system for how I needed to live so I wasn't, you know, flaming out. So it took me a while to figure out. There was a book I read at that point, which was a turning point for me. Coincidentally, the name of the book was The Mind-Body Connection. This book was a game changer for me. It helped me get back on a, on a good path and, and really recover.