Bhagavad Gita 18.24
यत्तु कामेप्सुना कर्म साहङ्कारेण वा पुनः । क्रियते बहुलायासं तद्राजसमुदाहृतम् ॥
yat tu kāmepsunā karma sāhaṅkāreṇa vā punaḥ / kriyate bahulāyāsaṃ tad rājasam udāhṛtam
Translation
But that action which is done by one craving objects, or with ego, with great strain, that is declared to be of the passionate kind.
Reflection
Which of your projects is exhausting you because the ego is being hauled along with the work?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Eighteen
Rajasika karma. The motive is kama, desire for a result. The atmosphere is sa-ahankara, the I-claim wrapped around the act. The texture is bahulayasa, exhausting strain. This is the dominant key of striving culture, the late-night grind, the visible push, the constant signaling of effort. The Gita does not condemn the work, it diagnoses the load. The same task done sattvika requires effort but not strain, because the engine is not also lugging the I and its appetite. Rajasika karma always overpays its physiological bill. The body remembers what the ego refuses to admit. Notice this without flinching from your own.