Rest to get ahead
| I just read an interesting email from an online marketer I subscribe to. He was talking about the illusion of constantly working on one’s business, or job, or what have you. One of the people this person mentioned who preaches the need to work constantly is Gary Vaynerchuk
I’m not a huge fan of Gary Vaynerchuk, and have never been all that into him. If you’re not familiar with “GaryVee” he’s considered a guru of online entrepreneurship. He’s very successful in his own right, but there are certain things about his ways (which I know mostly through hearsay and second-hand knowledge) that just don’t sit well with me. I don’t follow him or try to listen to anything he says. But I’ve heard enough from those who do follow him to know he’s not my cup of tea. For example, something he evidently teaches people is you have to be always working, or else someone else is going to pass you by. This means 12 hours per day, 7 days per week. “Sleep when you’re dead, there’s money to be made now…” That type of nonsense. I think GV has some sort of genetic predisposition to need less sleep than most people, because he’s known for getting 4-5 hours of sleep per night, and the rest of the time he’s hard-charging to glory. The problem is that most people don’t have whatever gene variant he has, so they try to mimic his lifestyle thinking it’s the only way to be successful as an entrepreneur, or salaried employee, or whatever the case may be. I haven’t done or read any hard research on this, but I’d venture to guess more than a few folk have taken that mantra and run themselves into the ground, suffering serious emotional and physical damage. I’d also boldly guess that more than a few families have fallen apart by well-meaning but tragically misguided people who don’t want to work for “the man” and become workaholics trying to hit some goal (probably $10k per month; for some reason that seems to be everyone’s goal, at least those who make around $5k per month working on a job.) I don’t have anything against Gary Vaynerchuk personally, and maybe I’m misquoting him or misunderstanding what he teaches his followers. What I do have a problem with is the idea that you must always be working. If someone believes that, they’re missing out on a lot of good that life has to offer. Work is a good thing; we’re hard-wired to work. If you’re lucky enough to work in a field or craft that gives you pleasure, that’s even better. But it’s still work, even if you enjoy it, and there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. My own policy is to rest every Saturday. And by rest, I mean I do absolutely nothing that has to do with online commerce. There may be a few loose ends I need to address Saturday morning from emails or Slack messages sent while I’m sleeping from clients in the U.S., but once those are taken care of, that’s it. No work. I don’t even write and schedule emails to publish on Saturday. I’m like Chick-Fil-A, only I’m closed on Saturday. Sunday is fair game, although Sundays are typically a bit more low-key than M-F. I do this so I can get ahead in life. Work is great, and I’m grateful to have work that I enjoy and that brings a lot of inward satisfaction. But I also have a wife, a child, a musical hobby that I like to do on occasion, and sometimes I just like to bum around a mall and zone out, focusing on nothing in particular. Having this practice is one of the best things I’ve adopted regarding my health and well-being. When I know I’m not working Saturday, I have a bit of motivation to get stuff done by Friday evening, and also know what can be put off until Sunday, or even Monday. I also can work late a few nights per week and not worry about burning myself out, because I know I’ll be resting Saturday. I’ve not taken a vacation in years, and I really don’t feel the need to take one. I guess it might be nice to take one, but I don’t walk around saying, “Oh God, I need a vacation.” Of course, when Sana and I finally move to the U.S. I want to take a long road trip and see all the sights in the U.S. The Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone. But I can wait, and know I won’t burn myself out in the mean time while I continue the practice of resting one day per week. After all, God, the Creator and King of the universe rested a full day. If it’s good for Him, we’d be wise to take a cue from the fount of eternal wisdom 😉 James Newcomb P.S. If you enjoy these emails, I’ve begun recording them and putting them on a new podcast I’ve been working on called “The Committed w/ James Newcomb.” If you’re on the lookout for a new podcast to subscribe to, maybe you’d like to check it out. https://thecommitted.captivate.fm/listen |