The hustle culture debate refuses to die down, and now a Noida-based founder has stirred fresh discussion. Chartered Accountant Deepak Bhati took to LinkedIn to argue that long hours don’t define ambition or success.
“I don’t work 12–14 hours a day. Most days, I only work 5–6 hours,” Bhati wrote. “The rest? I’m reading. Thinking. Spending time with my daughter. Or simply doing nothing. Does that make me less ambitious? I don’t think so.”
Bhati said his companies have scaled without the grind, pointing out that revenues jumped by 200 percent in the last two years. “None of this came from ‘hustling 24/7.’ It came from focusing on the right things,” he explained, adding that ambition cannot be measured by time spent at work. “So if 6 hours work for you—great. If 16 hours work for you—great. Because the number of hours doesn’t prove your ambition. Your results do.”
The post quickly went viral, drawing both support and humour from social media users. One person joked that the message was inspiring but HR still times their login.
Another said that doing nothing is itself a task, and often the most valuable. Others agreed with Bhati’s point, emphasising that productivity and fulfilment matter more than the number of hours clocked.
According to his LinkedIn bio, Bhati began his career as a Senior Associate Auditor. In 2019, he launched his own company, and three years later, he co-founded another startup.
