Beyond Hustle Culture: How High-Performance Careers Quietly Rewire the Nervous System

An Exclusive Interview with Richa Agarwal, an alumna of the Indian Institutes of Management, a former technology leader, and an award-winning filmmaker

Former IIM alumna and tech leader Richa Agarwal shares how high-performance careers silently impact the nervous system. We explore moving beyond unsustainable hustle culture to achieve lasting, brain-conscious well-being.

You’ve led large global teams in high-pressure tech environments. From the outside, it looked like success. What was life actually like for you during those years?

Richa Agarwal: From the outside, it did look like success. Big teams, global programs, responsibility, visibility. And I was genuinely grateful for that phase of my life. But internally, it was relentless. The pace never slowed. There was always another delivery, another escalation, another timezone to stay awake for.

What I did not realise then was how normalised exhaustion had become. Being constantly switched on was seen as dedication. Saying “I’m tired” felt like weakness.

Over time, life narrowed. Everything revolved around performance, outcomes, and solving problems. There was not much space left to feel how I was doing.

In corporate culture, stress is often seen as ambition. What early signs did you notice in yourself or others that were quietly ignored or brushed aside?

Richa Agarwal: I genuinely enjoyed it. I loved the adrenaline, the pace, the constant problem-solving. Working in fast mode felt exciting, and there were real rewards that came with it, recognition, growth, responsibility. For a long time, I saw that intensity as proof that I was doing well.

The early signs were subtle. Poor sleep, irritability, a constant sense of urgency even when nothing was urgent. People joked about living on caffeine or being “wired” all the time. In myself, I noticed that slowing down felt uncomfortable. Silence felt unproductive. Even weekends had to be optimised.

What I did not realise then was that I had slowly trained my body and mind to live in a permanent fight-or-flight state. The nervous system was always braced for the next escalation.

Because the results were good, those signals were ignored, both by me and by the culture around me. Only later did I understand the cost of living that way for too long.

You’ve spoken about a major health challenge during pregnancy. How did that phase change the way you understood strength, productivity, and resilience?

Richa Agarwal: Pregnancy was a moment when my body simply refused to cooperate with my mental models. Everything I had relied on, discipline, planning, pushing through, stopped working. It was humbling.

I realised that strength is not about overriding the body. It is about listening to it. Productivity without health is fragile. Resilience is not about enduring endlessly. It is about knowing when to slow down, when to receive support, and when to let go of control.

Was there a point when you realised that logic, discipline, and willpower alone were not enough to heal what you were experiencing?

Richa Agarwal: Yes, very clearly. I was doing all the “right” things. Following instructions, staying positive, being mentally strong. Yet my system was not settling. That is when it became obvious that healing does not respond to force.

There are layers of experience that logic cannot reach. Emotional memory, fear, stored stress. These do not dissolve just because we understand them intellectually. That realisation opened me up to approaches that worked with the subconscious and the body, not just the mind.

Your journey then led you into hypnotherapy and past-life regression, but also into filmmaking. How did storytelling become another way for you to explore healing and self-expression?

Richa Agarwal: Storytelling allows truth to surface without being confronted directly. In therapy, stories help people access emotions safely. In films, stories allow us to sit with complexity without needing immediate answers.

For me, filmmaking became another way of exploring the human psyche. How trauma, memory, fear, and hope shape behaviour. It was healing in a different way. Where therapy is intimate and private, storytelling creates shared reflection.

In your work as a hypnotherapist, was there a case where addressing emotional patterns led to relief in a physical condition, and what did that experience teach you about mind–body healing?

Richa Agarwal: There were several such cases, and they were always striking. When long-held emotional patterns softened, unresolved grief, suppressed anger, chronic fear, physical symptoms often reduced alongside them.

It taught me that the body keeps a very accurate record of our inner life. Symptoms are not random. They are messages. When we address the emotional context with care and respect, the body often responds more quickly than we expect.

At the same time, you often say that mind work alone is not enough. Why do you believe healing needs balance, rhythm, and daily practices, not just insight or emotional release?

Richa Agarwal: Yes, mind work is very powerful. But the mind does not function in isolation. It needs support from the body, just as the body is influenced by the mind.

Insight can be transformative, but it is often momentary. The body needs consistency. It needs rhythm, nourishment, and routine. You can have a deep emotional breakthrough, but if daily life continues to overstimulate and exhaust the system, imbalance slowly returns.

Healing becomes sustainable when understanding is supported by everyday practices. Sleep, food, movement, breath, and boundaries. These may seem simple, but they are deeply stabilising and allow insights to take root over time.

Your films have reached international platforms, including Cannes. What did that journey teach you about the human mind that no corporate role ever could?

Richa Agarwal: It showed me how much of the human mind operates beneath language and logic. When a story travels across cultures and still resonates, you realise that emotions do not need translation. Fear, longing, grief, hope, these are shared human experiences.

Corporate leadership taught me empathy through people and teams. Filmmaking taught me empathy through silence, pauses, and what is left unsaid.

It made me sit with ambiguity rather than resolve it. That shift changed how I understand people, not as roles or performers, but as inner worlds shaped by memory and meaning.

Your exploration eventually led you to ancient Ayurvedic wisdom. What drew you to a system that is thousands of years old in a very modern, data-driven world?

Richa Agarwal: What drew me in was its observational intelligence. Ayurveda does not treat the body as a machine. It treats it as a living ecosystem and looks at patterns such as digestion, sleep, seasons, emotions, and how they interact.

COVID made that perspective feel especially relevant. In a time when everything became uncertain, people noticed how differently their bodies responded to stress, illness, recovery, and isolation. Data and protocols were essential, but they could not explain why one person recovered quickly while another struggled.

In a world driven by metrics and optimisation, we often forget to listen to lived experience. Ayurveda felt like a language that helped make sense of those differences. It bridged observation and intuition in a way that felt deeply human and surprisingly relevant to modern life.

From Ayurveda, are there any simple daily practices or principles you personally follow and often suggest to clients that have supported them in staying balanced over time?

Richa Agarwal: Very simple ones. Regular meal times, warm and nourishing food, respecting sleep cycles, reducing constant stimulation. Also, understanding one’s own tendencies rather than following generic wellness trends.

Ayurveda reminds us that what balances one person may imbalance another. That awareness alone is deeply empowering.

Ayurveda is more visible than ever, yet many people struggle to benefit from it fully. What challenges do modern consumers face in applying Ayurvedic principles to daily life?

Richa Agarwal: The biggest challenge is oversimplification. Ayurveda often gets reduced to quick fixes. A herb, a supplement, a trend, without enough context. Another challenge is the pace of modern life. Ancient systems assume a slower rhythm, while today’s lifestyle is fast and overstimulating.

There is also a lot of confusion for consumers. People are unsure about how to consume certain formulations, when to take them, or how long to continue. On top of that, the market is crowded with brands offering similar products, which makes it difficult to know whom to trust or how to choose responsibly.

Bridging this gap requires adaptation, not blind adoption. Ayurveda works best when it is translated thoughtfully into modern life, with clarity, guidance, and respect for individual differences.

When you look at your journey now across technology, leadership, healing, filmmaking, and ancient wisdom, what do you feel connects it all, and what does true success mean to you today?

Richa Agarwal: What connects it all is curiosity about the human experience. How we function, what breaks us, and what helps us heal. Every phase taught me something about balance.

Today, success feels quieter. It is about alignment. Between how I work, how I live, and how I feel. If those are in harmony, everything else becomes secondary.

Richa Agarwal’s insights reveal the need for nervous system awareness in high-achieving roles. Her perspective, bridging corporate excellence and mindful filmmaking, is a powerful call for sustainable success.

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