Here’s $5. No, we’re not kidding.

Afternoon, allies.

Are you working hard, or hardly working? Or, does it even matter? This week, we discuss why that extra 10 minutes in bed might not be so bad after all.

Read all the way to the end for a shot at 5 bucks cash, and a call with us.

This is Major McMahon leading the charge back… to the mattress.

Look, I'll be honest. Growing up, I was never the kid who tried more than he needed to. Did I study for my exams? Sure. But there were no neatly arranged binders with multicoloured highlighters. I can't stress this enough - I worked the least amount of time I felt necessary before sinking back into Black Ops 2.

But back then, it was a reliance on the knowledge that everything would probably be fine if I got a D in Physics. 

Because even at 15, I knew the only thing I was going to truly bury my teeth into was film. And that's still with me today. The problem - is that I went from giving my work 20% effort to now giving my work 120% effort. In some weird urge to overcompensate for the lack of responsibility earlier, I now give my work all of me - and then some. 

We often talk about just how amazing this job is - and this applies to anyone living their dream job - but rampant passion can be like ripping the handle off the fuel gauge. When you're enjoying every moment, it's harder to hear your body telling you to -

Just. Have. A. F*cking. Rest.

There should be no guilt involved for those slow days. Those days where yes, there's a lot to get done, but you put the milk in the cupboard and the cereal in the fridge. Take that as a sign. It might be time to reset.

It’s hard for me. I’m working on it. Today, I have multiple client projects looming over me, imminent brand deal deadlines, videos needed for YouTube and TikTok, as well as having to write this. But I just want to kick my feet up and finish Ozark. It’s why I wrote this in my pajamas. Don’t be afraid of it.

A fine line exists between working hard and appearing to work hard. Let’s dig into that.

How many times at school have you been taking an exam and have had half a mind to peek over your peer’s forearm at their answers. No, you’re not cheating, you’re just… getting your brain kickstarted. Yeah… that’s all. But, as soon as you feel your teacher’s lazer-like eyes beaming in your direction, your survival instincts kick in, and you realize you gotta give an oscar-winning performance of pretending that you are, in fact, doing your own work. Your brow furrows, pen starts moving - bonus points for gazing out the window thoughtfully. That’ll do the trick. 

Something similar happens today in the creative world - a delicate dance on either side of the line that separates working hard, and appearing to work hard.

While the story above truly did happen to me on a weekly basis in college, it paints a decent picture of the nature of “working hard” today, and is illustrative of the infamous fine line mentioned before. Everyone wants to work hard, of course, but more over, everyone wants to seem like they’re working hard. Put differently, people only feel as though they’re working hard when they get to tell someone how packed their schedule is. 

I’m speaking purely from experience. I’ve always considered myself a hard worker, and I’ve seen real results from my work ethic. But I’d be lying if I told you that I didn’t find at least some satisfaction from telling others about all my projects in a nonchalant manner.

I think you’d be lying too. Know why? You’re a person. You’ve got sentience, an ego, and desires.

Don’t get me wrong - work fucking hard. Have a goal. Chase it. But conversely, realize that it’s okay to chill fucking hard as well. Spoiler alert - no one cares that you work 75 hours a week and only get four hours of sleep per night, you only think they do.  At the end of the day, working for yourself is tough, but you’re in control of your own workload.

So go easy on yourself once in a while :)

I am writing this on Friday, Feb 11th at 10 am. I woke up 20 minutes ago after staying up until 3 am drinking and having fun in my college town. Apart from the slight headache and nausea, I am really fucking happy that I did this.

In the past, most of the times I would do this, the morning after sucked. But not because I drank too much, because mentally, I would beat myself up for not getting work done.

“Damn it, it’s already 10 am. If I woke up at 7 am I would have gotten three more hours of work done, that’s two TikToks! And if one of those went viral, I could be up 100,000 followers! Fuck! Because I slept in, I lost 100,000 followers!”

It sounds stupid, but I’ve done this since early middle school and it really didn’t change until I watched this video by Daniel Gross, a very respected entrepreneur and investor in the space. And in that video, he said something that blew my mind: To win, you need sleep.

*Mindblown* 

No but out of seriousness, he pointed out that it’s easy to romanticize working late nights, pulling all-nighters, and being that unicorn entrepreneur who is always heads down. We see or hear it in the media all the time!

But in reality, those entrepreneurs are either one, lying or two, extremely unhappy. Also, no one wants to be around a tired, unmotivated person.

Daniel told you to take a break, Sean told you to take a break with a bit more vulgarity, and my message to you is to take a break and sleep. Have a drink while you’re at it.

OR come take a break with us! On Thursday (Feb 17th) at 10 am est, we are hosting a virtual coffee meet up for the first 10 fans that sign up through this link!

Get a coffee at your favorite place and the team will reimburse you $5. Come hang out, we will answer any questions you all have, Daniel will wow you with his accent, all super casual.

Again, this one is only for the first 10 sign ups but I promise we will have more of these in the future so no hard feelings if you’re number 11. Just come to our newsletter faster :)