Why I Work Ep 352

In a candid conversation, the speakers, including the host and guests, delve into the challenges and revelations of achieving financial independence at a young age. The main speaker, having amassed a nine-figure net worth by age 32, grapples with the existential void left by the absence of work, despite the initial aim to 'need nothing.' They explore the intrinsic value of hard work, not as a means to an end but as an end in itself, and the personal growth and presence it fosters. This realization leads to a new life philosophy where the pursuit of meaningful challenges and the process of hard work become the primary goals, rather than the outcomes or societal accolades. The discussion encapsulates a shift from external validation to internal satisfaction, emphasizing that the true measure of success is the effort and integrity one puts into their work.

• Speaker A has significant passive income from investments.
• Despite financial success, Speaker A experienced depression and struggled with pseudo-retirement.
• The challenge was finding purpose beyond accumulating wealth and achievements.

"At this point in my life, I have enough passive investments that I make multiple million dollars a year without doing much." "And over the last nine months, I struggled mightily with this fact." "I was candidly pretty depressed and I couldn't find a way out because I kept looking for the next goalpost, right, the second championship ring, because the desire was that that ring would somehow make the first one more valuable."

Speaker A's quotes reveal a period of personal struggle despite financial success, searching for meaning beyond material wealth and accomplishments.

• Financial success led Speaker A and Speaker C to a point where they felt they needed nothing.
• This lack of need paradoxically introduced a void in their lives, leaving them with no clear direction or purpose.

"Hard for people to conceptualize this, but I really don't need anything." "I need nothing." "The goal for a long time, was to need nothing. It also introduces a new variable of needing nothing, which means that there is nothing for me to do."

These quotes highlight the existential crisis faced by individuals who have reached a level of financial freedom where material needs are no longer a concern, leading to a lack of purpose.

• Speaker C suggests that work is essential for human fulfillment, referencing the biblical story of Adam.
• They argue that challenges and meaningful work are necessary for personal growth and satisfaction.
• Speaker A and Speaker C had to reevaluate their reasons for working and the role of work in their lives.

"The first thing that God gave Adam was not Eve. It was a job. It was work to do." "We are formed against something else, right? The hotter the fire, the harder the steel." "The reason that I worked was for the outcome." "I removed the things that I actually wanted to do, which was challenges, which was work that I found meaningful with stakes that are real."

The quotes discuss the importance of work and challenges in life, suggesting that without these, individuals may feel stagnant and unfulfilled.

• Speaker A and Speaker C discuss the importance of hard work as a personal mantra and guiding principle.
• They reference a biblical proverb to emphasize that work shapes and improves the individual.

"The single chorus that I continue to revert back to, and I'll show you the background on my phone, is hard work." "But it's our work works on us more than we work on it."

These quotes encapsulate the transformative power of work, positing that engaging in hard work has a more profound effect on the individual than the work itself.

• Work is often viewed negatively in society.
• Many people aspire to a life where they no longer have to work.
• The speaker disagrees with this mindset, valuing hard work instead.

"The amount of people who are like, man, you won't have to work ever again. Like, dear God, that sounds horrible. I just lived it. I never want to do it again."

The quote highlights the common societal desire to escape work and the speaker's personal aversion to a work-free life, emphasizing the importance of work in their experience.

• Hard work is seen as inherently valuable.
• The speaker finds joy and self-discovery in the struggle and challenges of work.
• The speaker reflects on how values are only proven through testing.

"But hard work is work worth doing. The fact that it's hard makes it worth it."

This quote underscores the speaker's belief that the difficulty of hard work is what makes it meaningful and rewarding.

• Growth requires overcoming challenges.
• The speaker feels they cannot retire from the challenges of work as they provide opportunities for self-improvement.
• The speaker uses the metaphor of not hanging up their "suit" or "weapons" to describe their ongoing battle for personal growth.

"I cannot grow unless I have something to match the ability to conquer that I have now, right? I can't hang up my suit, right? My arms, my weapons just yet."

The quote conveys the speaker's conviction that growth is contingent on facing and overcoming challenges, which they are not ready to give up.

• There is a common belief that hard work automatically results in success or desired outcomes.
• The speaker initially subscribed to this idea but has since realized it's more about the process than the outcome.
• The speaker finds liberation in focusing on the work itself rather than the outcome.

"And I had to correct this in my own head because that's how I started it. If I do the hard work, the things will follow."

The speaker reflects on their past misconception that hard work would inevitably lead to success, indicating a shift in perspective to value the work itself.

• The speaker has embraced the idea that the work itself is the goal.
• This mindset allows for presence and engagement in the task at hand.
• The speaker applies this philosophy to various aspects of life, from physical exercise to writing and personal relationships.

"The work is the goal. Like, doing a good job is the goal."

The quote encapsulates the speaker's central thesis that the act of working hard, regardless of the result, is the primary objective.

• The speaker finds joy in being present in their work.
• Hard work provides opportunities to enter a state of flow.
• The speaker challenges societal trends that promote passivity over active engagement in work.

"But work is the goal. And when you make work the goal, it allows the process itself to be meditative. It allows the process to get you into flow."

This quote illustrates the speaker's belief that focusing on work as the goal can lead to a meditative state and the experience of flow, which is highly fulfilling.

• Hard work is considered an essential part of the speaker's identity.
• The speaker emphasizes the importance of trying to work hard in the present moment.
• Success is appraised based on the effort and hard work, not just outcomes.
• Personal standards of hard work are more important than others' standards or external validation.
• The ability to work hard and well is something that can be improved with practice.

"Because hard work is who we are." "And I know that I will fall short of hard work, but I will be damned if I do not try in the present moment to work hard." "But if we can appraise our success based on how hard we worked and the work itself, and only you know if you could have done better and if you chose not to."

These quotes highlight the speaker's belief in hard work as an intrinsic part of their identity, the commitment to striving for hard work in the present, and the idea that self-appraisal of effort is crucial to defining success.

• Speaker D promotes their book, "100 million dollar offers," as a gift to the community.
• The book is mentioned as a means to gain favor and potentially establish future business partnerships.

"It's my very shameless way of trying to get you to like me more and ultimately make more dollars so that later on in your business career I can potentially partner with you."

This quote shows Speaker D's straightforward approach to self-promotion and their long-term goal of forming business partnerships with the audience.

• Speaker C is adopting a new credo about hard work and presence.
• This mindset shift is leading to a significant change in how the speaker experiences and values their work.
• The speaker is focused on their effort, rather than allowing external factors to define their success.

"And this has been a credo that I'm just beginning to internalize, and it has given me more presence than I've ever had."

This quote reflects the speaker's process of embracing a new principle that is profoundly affecting their sense of self and their approach to work.

• Outcomes are influenced by luck and external circumstances, which are beyond control.
• The speaker values the act of working hard over the actual outcomes of that work.
• The speaker believes that taking pride in one's work is more empowering than seeking external validation.

"Anyone to say, because the outcome is irrelevant. There's luck, there's outside circumstances, right? There's plenty of things that can affect how well you do."

This quote underscores the speaker's perspective that outcomes are often out of one's control and that hard work itself should be the focus.

• The speaker asserts that the capacity to work hard is something that can be increased through consistent effort.
• The more work one does, the more work one becomes capable of doing.
• This realization has been empowering for the speaker.

"Your ability to work itself is improvable. You can increase your capacity to work and to work hard and to work well by working hard and working well."

This quote conveys the speaker's belief in the potential to enhance one's ability to work hard, suggesting that it is a skill that can be developed.

• Speaker C describes their life in phases, initially driven by the desire to impress others, then to impress themselves.
• They share their experience of reaching a high level of financial success and finding it unfulfilling.
• The speaker suggests that achieving more does not necessarily add meaning to what has already been achieved.

"And I feel like the thing that I'm transitioning towards, which this last twelve months has helped me make this transition, and I'm sharing this with you because I've been to what most people consider the mountaintop, right?" "You feel nothing. So the same way you feel right now, truly, about the amount of money or the amount of outcomes that you have supposedly achieved up to this point."

These quotes reflect the speaker's personal evolution and discovery that reaching perceived peaks of success, such as wealth, does not inherently provide a sense of fulfillment or meaning.

• The speaker emphasizes that hard work itself should be the primary objective, rather than a means to an end.
• Adopting hard work as a baseline and continuously striving to exceed it is a personal philosophy.
• The speaker reflects on the importance of hard work in various aspects of life, including personal relationships and professional projects.
• The concept that hard work is rewarding in itself is highlighted, suggesting that the satisfaction derived from hard work is independent of external achievements or wealth.

The third season for me, which is that the hard work itself is the goal, and that's it.

This quote establishes hard work as an intrinsic goal for the speaker, not just a step towards achieving something else.

It's just mental energy of just trying harder. And then once I try hard over and over and over again, that will become the new baseline, and then I will be able to try harder still.

The speaker discusses the idea of pushing oneself to work harder, creating a new standard of effort, and then continuing to surpass that standard.

• The speaker contemplates the idea of working to one's full capacity as a measure of true work ethic.
• They discuss the concept of value in relation to the opportunity to not exercise it but choosing to do so anyway.
• The idea of loyalty is used as an analogy for work ethic, suggesting that true loyalty, like work ethic, is proven when one chooses not to take the easy way out despite having the chance to do so without repercussions.
• The speaker expresses a desire to develop a character trait of hard work and work ethic by consistently choosing to work beyond what is expected or required.

And so if I desire the character trait of hard work and work ethic, then the only way that I will be able to have that is to do work and know that I could work and stop and everyone else would be satisfied, and I would have no negative status ramifications.

This quote highlights the speaker's belief that the desire to cultivate a strong work ethic requires one to work beyond the point of external satisfaction or avoidance of negative consequences.

• The speaker argues that many people work only to the extent necessary to avoid negative social consequences, such as criticism from a boss or dissatisfaction from clients.
• True hard work, according to the speaker, is when one chooses to work diligently for the sake of the work itself, rather than to escape negative judgments.
• The speaker believes that if one's motivation to work hard is solely to avoid negative consequences, then they do not truly possess the value of hard work.
• The speaker aspires to internalize the value of hard work by pushing beyond what is considered "good enough" and challenging themselves to improve continuously.

You work just enough to escape the social negative consequences. You are just loyal enough to not cheat on your wife because you know you get caught and the negative consequences outweigh it.

This quote illustrates the speaker's view that many people's actions are motivated by the fear of negative consequences rather than genuine values like loyalty or hard work.

• The speaker expresses a commitment to self-improvement by challenging themselves to produce work that not only meets but exceeds their own standards.
• They see each day as an opportunity to test and grow their ability to work hard and improve the quality of their work.
• The speaker ends with a message of appreciation for their audience and a commitment to continue striving for excellence in their work.

And the beautiful thing about this is that I get to test this every fucking day is that I can have work that is good enough that people will see it and think that's good stuff. And I would know that it wasn't as good as I could have made it. But I get that opportunity again tomorrow to try and raise the bar, and that is what I am focused on in this season.

This quote conveys the speaker's ongoing dedication to self-improvement and the joy they find in the process of continually raising their own standards of hard work.