grindset
noun
| GRYNDE-set
Unrelenting self-dedication
What does grindset mean?
Grindset is a mindset fanatical about grinding, or extreme striving towards one’s goals. The term frequently appears in the phrase on the grindset, “working assiduously,” and sigma (male) grindset, a meme satirizing hypermasculine striving for wealth and status.
Examples of grindset
I work a 9-5 on top of my art business and trying to “grind” and grow fast destroyed my creative spark in 2023. I am ready to be intentional, slow down, and leave the “grindset” in 2024.
—@amyprints_, Threads, 30 Dec. 2024
alright today's the last day of my little break tomorrow I'll get back on the grindset …
—… put your sigma male grindset to what you love and you'll never hustle again in your life as long as you buy my $2,000 course which will teach you the secrets you need
—Some of the [NFT] communities I’ve been involved in are just so cutthroat and just so mercenary that, absolutely, they’ll survive, because they’ve got that Wall Street grindset …
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Where does grindset come from?
Grindset is a punning blend of grind and mindset, and started being used in the late 2010s. This sense of grind (slang for applying oneself relentlessly towards success), which may have been popularized by video game slang earlier in the 2010s, is ultimately rooted in much older senses of the word concerning drudgery and monotonous work. This grind is also closely associated with what is often called hustle culture, criticized as glamorizing overwork.
In the early 2020s, grindset was featured in memes about the sigma male grindset or simply sigma grindset, mocking the relentless pursuit of money, power, fitness, and women among so-called the sigma (male)—a man whose self-assured, dogged individualism is considered a model of status, success, and attractiveness.
How is grindset used?
Use of grindset varies by speaker and context. It is often used positively to refer to hard work and associated with a variety of admirable qualities, including perseverance and resilience. Here, the term commonly appears in the phrase on the grindset. It is also often used negatively, referring more generally to the glorification of overwork and self-improvement—and, more specifically, the idolization of avarice and hypermasculinity. For the latter use, it often appears in the expression sigma (male) grindset.
As with many terms popular online, playful and ironic uses of grindset are common as well, and it is found used in wordplay, such as rise-and-grindset, a pun on the expression rise and shine. Grindset is also often used alongside locked in, an informal expression for being extremely focused, as in 'I locked into my grindset and finished two major projects today.'
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