Hustle Culture 'Sucks' — But One Entrepreneur's 'Laziness Principle' Can Make You More Money With Less Work Dave Asprey, biohacking entrepreneur and author of 'Smarter Not Harder,' reveals how to stop wasting your time and start achieving your goals.

If you're an entrepreneur or considering becoming one, you've no doubt encountered hustle culture fanatics — those who claim that hard work and long hours are the key to success, no matter the specific goal.

But the truth is that hustle culture can do more harm than good. Striving to be highly productive at all times might actually make you less efficient, per research from the private rehab clinic Delamere.

Dave Asprey, biohacking entrepreneur and author of Smarter Not Harder, knew there had to be a better way. Asprey practiced hustle culture for much of his career — and "frankly it sucks," he says.

"I realized that working hard for its own sake is a bad idea because there is not a strong correlation between working hard and being successful," Asprey tells Entrepreneur. "There are lots of successful people who don't work hard, and there are a lot more people who work hard but never are successful."

Related: Bill Gates Says Lazy People Make the Best Employees | Entrepreneur

Asprey was studying neuroscience for his brain-training company 40 Years of Zen when he discovered what he calls the "Laziness Principle." Essentially, the idea is to reframe laziness as a positive: Saving energy isn't shameful because it can be a powerful motivator.

"Simply put, it's more motivating to make $20 in one minute than $20 in one hour," Asprey explains. "But the idea of getting up to work for one minute is less attractive than sitting on a couch. It will always be that way. So, you tell yourself that saving 59 minutes to make 20 bucks is a really good deal, and then your body will get up and do it for you."

According to Asprey, much of society shames laziness because its institutions "require lots of worker bees." Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, are eager to disrupt the status quo of work for work's sake.

"Every company that's ever made anything useful started with the idea, Isn't there a better way? That is laziness incarnate," Asprey says. "Thousands of years ago, someone got tired of walking, so they started riding horses. Then they got tired of traveling so they made cars, and then airplanes, and so on. All of these are manifestations of wanting to save energy. Laziness is the sacred source of entrepreneurial fire."

Related: How to Embrace 'The Lazy Entrepreneur' Philosophy (And Still Be Successful)

Asprey notes that hustling too little can be as detrimental as hustling too much, but his Laziness Principle is about "removing moral judgment from the desire to work less" — emphasizing results over the work itself.

"Entrepreneurs like me are too busy and have big dreams, so we don't want to waste our time and energy working hard on things that don't get results," Asprey says. "Whether it's the gym, some weird plant-based diet or business marketing that doesn't produce. Laziness converts poor performance into high performance by increasing your efficiency."