Pod Insights The GaryVee Audio Experience The Relationship Between Hard Work and Happiness About this episode In this episode of the GaryVee Audio Experience, I discuss the staggering reality that work occupies 50% of your waking adult life and why doing something you hate for material items is a losing game. I also dive deep into why self-awareness and ignoring the "noise" of outside judgment are the ultimate keys to long-term fulfillment.
You’ll learn about:
The connection between work ethic and addressing unhappinessHow to build extreme self-awareness by accepting your flawsThe importance of loving the process over material rewardsWhy excuses are poison to your progressHow to stop being crippled by the opinions of others
Transcript 0:00 Speaker 00 This is the Gary Vee Audio Experience.
0:04 Speaker 00 I'm like, "Man, I haven't done a good enough job clarifying that when I talk about work ethic, I'm trying to speak to people who are unhappy or complaining."
0:16 Speaker 00 If I could get people to think about their careers, the way they feel about waking up in the morning and running for that hour, where they clear their stress, they love it. I hate running, so that doesn't work for me. But like, for me, working is the happy place. And I want that for everybody, because the big thing is I don't think people have really quantified how many hours of their adult life is actually working. Like, think about how much work takes up the time that you're awake. So a lot of people are like, "Oh, I work nine hours a day." I'm like, "Yeah, but you also sleep nine hours a day." So that means you work nine hours a day, and then everything else you do while you're awake is only six hours: travel, shower.
1:00 Speaker 00 Like, work is a lot of your life. Fuck, man, do I want you to want to like it and live it and like, enjoy it? It's a lot, dude. Like, even if you work nine to five, if you work eight hours a day and you sleep eight hours a day, that means work is 50% of every hour of your whole day for 40 years of your life. Like, why the fuck are you doing something you hate? Make less money, buy less fancy shit, and be happy? Like, literally, people are miserable because of an extra room in their house.
1:36 Speaker 01 I think it's the comfort, though. People are comfortable, they don't want to change it up.
1:40 Speaker 00 Yeah, but you know what? I, you know, I think it's that people buy shit they don't need, and then have to work a job they hate to pay for the shit they don't need.
1:48 Speaker 01 To impress people they don't love.
1:49 Speaker 00 I hate that shit, it fucks me heavy. Which is how I got to the Joneses, which is how I got to "Don't worry about other people's judgment." The other thing is, if you're 22, 18, 25, 30, and you think you should have your whole life figured out? That's ludicrous.
2:07 Speaker 00 I think self-awareness, if you're capable of accepting yourself for who you are, is actually the brightest light of it all. I love being self-aware. I suck at a lot of things. I just don't think about them. Like, I can't read for shit. I interrupt people when I interview them 24/7. Everybody's super pissed on the internet about that. Not good! There's plenty of things that I'm not good at. I love self-awareness. I like... It's kept me so happy. You know, I'm not upset at myself that I'm selfish in certain areas. That's human. I think that we just don't love each other ourselves enough. I don't know whose perfection I'm trying to live up to.
2:50 Speaker 00 Like, silly things, like people getting on me for biting my nails. Ginsa fuck! Like, people are just critiquing themselves all day long. Like, the sheer unhappiness that I see on a day-to-day basis because somebody else's opinion is dragging you down...
3:10 Speaker 00 100%. And honestly, it's a game of other people's opinions. Whether that's the anonymous comment, whether that's your friend who thinks you're selling out after like you popped a little bit, whether that's... I mean, for me, it goes deep. Like, I can't hear anybody at this point. And I think when people hear that, it can go into audacity and delusion, and I respect that. I think I walk a very tight rope. And I don't think on every day, I'm always at my best. I'm sure sometimes I'm delusional or audacious. But it sure beats being crippled by everybody's opinions on an hourly basis, which is the fucking masses.
3:55 Speaker 00 I'm big on squeezing as hard as you can when you're on the field. I love sports. I think a lot about it. I'd be such a son of a bitch on the field, but as soon as psh, game over, I'd be like, "Yo, give daps," and like... But like, when I'm on the field, I'm hard. And so like, I want people to sleep. Sleep 8 hours a day. Talk to me about the 16 hours you're awake. People are like, "Yo, I don't sleep." I'm like, "No, that's not cool. That's not what I'm saying." I'm saying, when you're awake for 17 hours... Like, if you sleep 4 hours a day, but you watch 3 hours a day of fucking YouTube, you're a fucking idiot.
4:33 Speaker 00 Like sleep 7 hours and make your fucking work? Like, it's quality and quantity, but it all comes down to... To answer your question directly, it comes down to who you are.
4:46 Speaker 00 It's become very obvious to me that excuses are my poison, and I want to eliminate them at all costs. I talk a lot about hustle and hard work, and people are kind of pushing back on me a little bit right now. And it's been interesting, I'm like, "Man, I haven't done a good enough job clarifying that when I talk about work ethic, I'm trying to speak to people who are unhappy or complaining." "Not happy with your job? Don't watch Netflix." "Work after hours? Save money? Quit." I'm not trying to get people into depression or burnout, I'm trying to address unhappiness. Like, if you complain and you're unhappy, I will spend my career suffocating the living shit out of you. So, you know, like, the answer to your question? Whatever the fucking makes you happy at that point.
5:29 Speaker 00 And if you're at 26 right now and you need to prove to the world, and most importantly yourself, that you're gonna fucking do it, like, fucking work every minute of the holidays. If you're 31 and you've worked 7 years of your life to get to a place and you just had your first child, go fucking spend 3 weeks and see every relative so they can rub little Johnny's head. Like, I don't give a fuck. I don't have a point of view. My point of view is, know yourself, figure yourself out, and don't do it for anybody else.
5:59 Speaker 00 It's real. It's very real. Who are you trying to... I hate when people are like, "Yo, Gary Vee, been on a bender 9 days in a row, haven't fucking slept." I reply all the time, like, "Don't do it for me, and definitely fucking sleep." Like, you know, I just... For me, the thing that's going to allow me to win the next half-century, and this is just the beginning, and I will not burn out like people are waiting for me to do, is I'm happy. People are confused. I hate that people are pushing too hard against hard work right now. It's ideological. Hard work is part of the equation. I hate when people work hard for 10, 15 years, make a lot of money, and then start telling everybody else to just sleep and meditate.
6:38 Speaker 01 Yeah, get out, yeah.
6:39 Speaker 00 I'm like, "Cool, but don't be fucking ideological." Like, tell your truth. Like, "You worked." So like, "Now you made it and you're a big shot." Like, be careful. Like, don't be a hypocrite.
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7:20 Speaker 03 I hope I don't have to cancel again tonight.
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8:23 Speaker 00 To have microlosses is actually a very big part of being an all-time great. Because the success is the game itself. Back to the process. You know, like, I don't need the W's. I like the L's, I like the W's. I put myself in a position to lose fights. And I think a lot of the people that are not going to win to their capability are scared to go into the ring against a worthy opponent.
8:50 Speaker 01 They'd rather not try, just so they don't fail.
8:53 Speaker 00 Because they worry about other people's opinions. I'm telling you, man, it's crazy to be at this place in my life where I'm like, "Fuck, this all synthesizes down to people worrying about other people's opinions." And, "Oh shit, that's why I didn't do bad things in high school that my mom asked me not to do, because not the prettiest girl in school, and not the biggest jock, and not the coolest kids." None of their voices penetrated my dome.
9:19 Speaker 00 I'm looking for people who are happy. Like, I'm obsessed with my process. And I just, I wish people loved their game, their process. People that are obsessed with the process, not the shit that the fucking game buys you.
9:33 Speaker 01 Not the cars, not the shoes, but the actual process.
9:35 Speaker 00 Because then you're finished, right? Like, if you actually want the, if you want from the off-whites to the fucking mansion, to the private planes, to the spa treatments, to the girls, to the, to the red carpet, to the dresses and gowns, the jewelry, then you don't have a long career. But if you can't breathe... Like, that's why entrepreneurship is so weird to me. I so couldn't breathe that I wasn't even capable of getting Cs in high school, because I would suffocate giving school even another second of not me being in my own head of how to sell wine or baseball cards. People who can't breathe if they're not doing their art. And for me, business is my art, and for other people, it's art, and other people, it's designing,
10:18 Speaker 00 other people, it's performing on stage. I need somebody who's obsessed with their craft and would be doing it for free, quote-unquote.
10:27 Speaker 01 No matter what.
10:27 Speaker 00 No matter what.
10:30 Speaker 00 I'm telling you, man, it's crazy to be at this place in my life where I'm like, "Fuck, this all synthesizes down to people worrying about other people's opinions." And, "Oh shit, that's why I didn't do bad things in high school that my mom asked me not to do, because not the prettiest girl in school, and not the biggest jock, and not the coolest kids." None of their voices penetrated my dome. So if I can get through high school, real life's easy.
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