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What *should* you want from life?
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Read time: 6 mins Hey Reader, In my early 20s, I wanted to build a company with hundreds of employees. But now I'm in my 30s, I couldn't think of anything worse. The last thing I want is 10+ hours a day of grinding, putting out fires, and sending thousands of emails a day. So what do I want? It's a thought I've been turning in my mind like a pebble. Maybe you have too. Someone with an interesting take on this question is the world's biggest podcaster, Joe Rogan... What makes something great?When asked about his podcast's success, here's what Joe had to say: "When I first started doing [the podcast], there was just me and Brian Redband in my f*cking living room. And then comedians [...]
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"We're just having fun, just talking sh*t. I didn't plan for it. Like when everybody has those vision boards, like this is how you become successful, you have to manifest it. I didn't manifest this at all. Zero. It's the most successful thing I've ever done by a long shot, and I've put zero management into it.
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"All I've done is just kept doing what I enjoy doing, and it turns out other people enjoy it too. That's it. It's just talk to people like yourself, talk to funny people, talk to interesting people. Talk to people I agree with. Talk to people I disagree with. Have civil conversations with people. We disagree with things. It's good for you. If I could do this for free, I would still do it.
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"I don't have any aspirations for growth [...] I just focus on what I'm doing. Output. I feel like everything else is a distraction."
Okay, so do what you love and focus on the journey, not the destination. Sounds simple enough. But what about money? How much money do you actually need?"You know, Brian Callen said something once, and I never forget it [...]
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"We were kids in our 20s. He said the only amount of money you need is so that you can go to a restaurant and not care what things cost. Everything else is bullsh*t. If you've got enough money, can go to a restaurant, just order a bottle of wine, order meat, order whatever you want to eat, and don't think about the price? He goes that's real freedom [...] Real freedom is the freedom to not worry about your bills [...]
Joe then talks about getting a development deal worth $150,000. "Back then, I was a road comic. You do a gig on Thursday. It's 200 bucks. You do a gig here. It's 150. You're scraping together enough money so that you could pay your bills and eat [...]
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"I was always worried about gigs, always trying to fill my book, always trying to call booking agents. Drive to Connecticut. Drive to Jersey. Where do I go to make some money? It was all just trying to stay alive and try to make it, right?
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"And so I got that development deal and it was the nuttiest feeling in the world. It was like I felt lighter. That's the key. Get the monkey off your back. That's the real freedom. That's what you want [...]
This isn't to say $150,000 is your magic number. But according to Joe, you need enough money to:
What else? A beautiful apartment?"When I moved to California, it was the first time I had a nice apartment. And I'll never forget this either. I was sitting in my apartment and it was a beautiful place in North Hollywood. I had a loft and pool table in my apartment. I was like, this is amazing. How is this real? How is this mine?
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"After a while, it just became my house. And then I realized like, oh, this is the same feeling I have when in my shitty apartment in New York. It's the same feeling. It's like, oh, this is home. It's not better. It's not worth the amount of money that it costs if you're renting a house that's way over your budget and you're doing Uber just to try to pay your bills. It's not worth that.
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"What's worth it is if it's comfortable, if you have a TV, you have a nice bed, and you can cook your meals. You're good. That's what you need [...] The amount of effort that you have to put in to make the amount of money to get all these other things leaves you in this constant state of anxiety. I think people just get lost in this idea of constantly making more and getting more and chasing more.
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"I just concentrate on what I do. That's all I concentrate on. I concentrate on work, I concentrate on comedy, I concentrate on UFC fights, I concentrate on podcasts. And I don't think about those other things. I don't think about the direction of my career at all."
So what have we learnt from Joe?
Now I know what you're thinking. Scott, this is all well and good for someone like Joe who has millions of dollars already. But what if you're in a job you hate, working for a d*ckhead boss, and you barely make enough money to pay your bills? Well sh*t. That's something you've got to figure out. And I'm not going to pretend I have the answers. The best thing you can do is experiment. Do stuff. Try stuff. I'm constantly see-sawing between new projects β many of which go nowhere β and I still don't know what I'm doing. But I have fun along the way. Try Google's 70/20/10 BreakdownGoogle's co-founders, Larry and Sergey, championed the 70/20/10 allocation to manage their company's innovation, time, and budgets. You can use it too. In this model, 10% of your time is dedicated to completely new, high-risk, and exploratory bets (often called "moonshots"). Here's the full breakdown:
Could you carve out 10% of your time - one afternoon a week - to your own "moonshots"? Spoiler alert: You probably can. One final thoughtThis Instagram post caught me eye: Real Luxuries of Adult Life
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1. Living 10 minutes from work
2. Living 5 minutes from the gym
3. Having quiet neighbors
4. Having money left at the end of the month and investing it
5. Peace at home
6. Drinking coffee without rushing
7. Sleeping with a clear conscience
8. Laughing with people who truly get you
9. Travelling every year
10. Waking up without an alarm
11. Having a body that doesnβt hurt today
12. Owning your time on weekends
13. Saying βnoβ without guilt
14. Not checking your bank balance before small purchases
15. Feeling calm about the future
simplicity + enough money to pay your bills + little luxuries = a great life Maybe this is the equation you should follow And if so, maybe the real question is what are the little luxuries you care about? Grab a notepad and journal on this tonight. Your answers may surprise you. Hi, I'm Scott! ππ» If someone forwarded you this email, you can βsubscribe hereβ. Hope to see you sometime! |
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Hey! Come party with 2,360 creators. I'll help you create opportunities on the internet & sneak through "third doors."
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