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How often have you heard somebody say. It is crazy at work. Maybe you've even said it. I know that. With my last tech business, I said that a lot people would ask me, Hey, how's it going? That's my first words would be, man. It's crazy. But why is work so crazy?
Let's be honest: building a company from nothing is incredibly hard. It has been for me. I started my entrepreneurial journey at age 8. Yep, you read that right....8! Since then, I've started, run and sold multiple businesses with no partners and no funding. All my life I've had to build something from nothing, and that's what I've gotten really great at - tenacious, creative and extremely smart strategy coupled with hard work. Welcome to The Do What Is Necessary podcast—I’m your host, Andrew Moon.
Listen in as I share all the mistakes I’ve made and, more importantly, what I’ve learned from them, with no fluff, and no rose-colored glasses. The Do What Is Necessary Podcast is a show where we cut through the toxic hustle and grind mindset and dig into what it actually takes to start and grow a “calm business”. Calm is family first. Calm is more independence. Calm is sustainable practices for the long term. Calm is joyful. Running a calm company is a choice.
I’ll be giving unfiltered advice every week, 10 minutes per episode each. I want you to walk away from this podcast with the mindset and tools you need to be successful.
This podcast is for entrepreneurs, side hustlers, and busy professionals with a short attention span (like me)—you’ll get quick-hitting, actionable information in every single episode. If you give me your time, I promise it won't be wasted. Now let's get to work!
How often have you heard somebody say.
It is crazy at work.
Maybe you've even said it.
I know that.
With my last tech business, I
said that a lot people would
ask me, Hey, how's it going?
That's my first words would be, man.
It's crazy.
But why is work so crazy?
And that's what I want to talk about today
is why does work have to be so crazy?
And can we change it?
Like, is it time to change it?
I think there's two primary reasons
why people feel that work is crazy.
The first one is I think, you know,
our day is sliced up into so many
distractions, whether those are
virtual, whether they're in person.
I think that, that that's kind of been
the benefit over the last year or so
when everybody's been working virtually.
There's more distractions.
There's more distractions with family.
People are online more.
Social media.
I just, all of the alerts going off.
It is just constant distraction.
All day long and.
That that is like with a
primary reason why I think
people feel that work is crazy.
Because it is when we're
in the office, it's.
It's just, it's kind of the same thing.
You've got the physical interruptions.
As people go back to the offices.
I think, you know, part
of us longs for that.
But you know, does work
actually get done at work?
And I think the second thing
that I think leads to that
feeling of work being so crazy.
Is the constant obsession with
growth at all costs that idea,
that mantra, that mindset.
That's perpetuated, like everywhere
that you see it, that idea that.
You know, I bought into it for a while.
The idea that if you're
not growing, you're dying.
And that unhealthy obsession that we
have, especially as entrepreneurs.
Around expectations around growth and.
That really puts in unrealistic stress
on us, especially as entrepreneurs
to ha to have to deal with that.
And it's no wonder that in a w.
People are, are working longer hours.
People are working later on the weekends.
And I did that.
I D I did that a lot for 10 years running
my IT service that I sold in 2014.
That for a 10-year stretch.
I would do that.
I thought that that was a badge of
honor that the more hours that I
had, that I worked being excessive.
Excessively busy.
That, that hustle, that grind and.
And I thought that that
was the way to get ahead.
But.
At the end of it in, in debriefing.
And looking back at that 10 years.
That sustained exhaustion that I felt.
Was not a badge of honor that really
wasn't anything to brag about.
That was really the hallmark of stupidity.
And it's not just about organizations
pushing that I think we as entrepreneurs
solopreneurs, it really doesn't matter.
Those two things right there.
You know, having our
onslaught of distractions.
And that unhealthy obsession
with growth at all costs.
Really cost us a lot and they cost us in.
In a lot of ways where we.
We might not see it initially,
and we might not see it till
it's sometimes too late.
But the thing, you know,
we, we, I buy into tech.
I love tech.
That's one of the things that
I, that, you know, I love
messing around with technology.
But that was the promise that the,
all of this is supposed to give us.
Is that it's supposed to
make our workload less.
But I think the, the
advent of new technologies.
It's just the opposite.
Our workloads not getting less.
It's actually getting
heavier because we're online.
We're connected to a vice device.
We have a screen in our face.
You know, 10, 12, 14 hours a day.
And then you throw meetings in the mix in.
Inefficient ways of running business.
You know, Trying to follow
what everybody else is doing.
All of those things that they really
add up to, not, you know, less
hours, it's actually more hours.
But I think it, you.
Is entrepreneurs as business owners.
That's the challenge
that we have ourselves.
But I think that's also the challenge
that we have to realize that.
We have to take the lead on that
at, in our companies, in our
life, in our, in our business.
In our personal life, whatever it is.
That we need fewer distractions.
We don't need more distractions.
And that, you know, always on mentality.
Isn't necessarily the way to get ahead.
It's not necessarily the
only way to grow a business.
And I think that we, at times, You know,
I was guilty of it for so long, too.
As an entrepreneur, we push that
stress that we feel on ourselves.
On to our employees onto our customers.
And it bleeds into our life.
It bleeds into our relationships.
It bleeds into our family.
Our kids see that.
And they will follow it.
And that on always on mentality
and always being stressed.
And that work is being
a source of irritation.
Rather than enjoyment.
Like, I think that's something that
we really need to come to terms with.
And this isn't going to take another
time management hack you know,
I think that.
New demands, keep piling up on us
and we need to pay attention to.
You know, where we're spending
our time, where we're spending
our energy and that all of that.
Slicing up our time, effort and energy,
millions of times throughout the day.
It has something that w
that we have to change.
And I think that that's, we
have to get to that point.
Of realizing that it's enough.
And that.
You know, being pushed by
ego, being pushed by that.
having to always be on
always be connected.
That.
You know that we we've really
got to come to grips with that.
as a community, as a society.
And I think that that's, it's
going to take individual effort.
But I think it's possible.
'cause like I said, I played
lights out for 10 years up till
I sold my it business in 2014.
But I've designed my life and designed
my company orange nomad differently now.
That I see the mistakes that I
made in running my last business.
And I don't, I don't want that.
And that, it physically made me sick.
I'm still reaping the
physical repercussions.
Of always being on and
that addiction to chaos.
And that should not be
the natural state of work.
That it, it doesn't have
to be crazy at work.
Our business doesn't have to be crazy.
But we have a choice and you know, for me,
The choice now with my new
company is a calm mindset.
And it means a few different things.
And in.
One of the books that I really
got this point from was it
doesn't have to be crazy at work.
That's where I got the basis of.
Today's podcast was the two
guys that run base camp.
So you definitely want
to check that book out.
It doesn't have to be crazy at work.
And that's, that's really, you know,
I read that prior to COVID starting
and that, that is the mantra.
That is the mindset.
That I'm adopting now.
Calm is.
More family life calm is
having a smaller company.
Calm is less.
You know, Into or more independence,
less being chained to our business.
Calm is sustainable business practices.
Calm is joyful.
And I think that, That's where I think we
have a choice and we can make a choice.
We can be better.
We can do better.
But we have to start.
And I that's what this is, you
know, this podcast is all about.
Is doing what is absolutely
necessary for you?
Not anybody else.
For you.
So that's, that's going to an end.
My, my soapbox for today.
Again thanks for joining me on this
episode i'll see in the next one