Career Choices

Successful people talk a lot about what made them successful. But they're rarely asked about all the things that went wrong.

What about all of the things that failed? Or all the times they got fired? Embarrassed themselves? Spent time in jobs that were just plain weird or awful?

No one asks this stuff. Until now of course.

In this episode, I talk to my friend Derek Sivers about the weird and awful jobs that eventually led him to become a millionaire. From circus ringleader to founder of one the most successful music start-ups of our time, this guy has a story to tell.

Derek Sivers is the author of four books, founder of CD Baby which he sold for $22 million (then gave most of it away), and just an all-around badass.

Joe is joined by Eddie Bravo, Joey Diaz & Brendan Schaub to watch the fights on January 20, 2024.

Eddie Bravo is a champion martial artist, founder of 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu, musician, stand-up comic, and author. He's the host of "Look Into It - with Eddie Bravo" podcast.
www.10thplanetjj.com

Joey Diaz is a stand-up comic, writer, and author. He's the host of the podcast "Uncle Joey's Joint with Joey Diaz," co-host of "The Check-In" with Lee Syatt, and author of "Tremendous: The Life of a Comedy Savage." 
www.joeydiaz.net
Brendan Schaub is stand-up comedian, retired professional mixed martial artist, entrepreneur, and host or co-host of several podcasts and YouTube shows, among them "The Fighter and the Kid," "The Schaub Show," "The Golden Hour," "Calabasas Fight Companion."
www.thicccboy.com

Veronica Carlin is a data scientist who loves romantic comedies. But she had a hunch about those movies, that there aren’t many women like her, women in STEM - science, technology, engineering and maths – taking the lead roles. So she set out on a maths quest to find out what’s what.

Presenter: Kate Lamble Series Producer: Tom Colls Editor: Richard Vadon Sound Engineer: Graham Puddifoot

(Picture: A young couple with a heart-shaped balloon on the street Credit: Cultura RM Exclusive/Spark Photographic / Getty)

Check out these fun things:

Patreon: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/calebhammer⁠ 

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Sponsorship and business inquiries: calebhammer@creatorsagency.co 

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Timestamps: 00:00 Job and income 04:34 What about the car loan? 11:20 This makes me nervous 13:05 SOFI 14:26 Really? Stop this 18:12 My man is grinding 23:24 Josiah's debt journey 24:55 Your new budget! 26:48 Monthly breakdown 33:54 You don't like therapy? 39:00 Just stay at home, please! 42:08 We don't see eye to eye 47:54 AURA 49:57 You brought questions 1:01:18 Hammer Financial Score

Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). Get your questions answered by Cal! Here’s the link: https://bit.ly/3U3sTvo

Video from today’s episode:  youtube.com/calnewportmedia

Today’s Deep Question: Why are lumberjacks happier than lawyers? [3:06]

- Should I leave a good job to gain more autonomy? [32:34]
- Should I quit my trainer job? [38:31]
- What does Cal’s workday look like? [45:52]
- How can I create a career without skills? [54:48]

CASE STUDY: The Slow Lawyer [58:38]

Books Cal Read in December [1:05:33]

Links:

- washingtonpost.com/business/2023/01/06/happiest-jobs-on-earth/
- frugalwoods.com/2021/09/15/mr-fw-retired-and-we-paid-off-our-mortgage-frugalwoods-fire-is-complete/
- bench.co/blog/small-business-stories/paul-jarvis/
- calnewport.com/blog/2017/05/22/john-grishams-15-hour-workweek/
- itsfreetime.com/about


Thanks to our Sponsors:

This episode is sponsored by Better Help: betterhelp.com/deepquestions
huel.com/questions
policygenius.com
notion.com/cal

Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, and Mark Miles for mastering.

Get your questions answered by Cal! Here’s the link: bit.ly/3U3sTvo

- DEEP DIVE: Should I Manage Time or Stress? [2:50]

-  How do I switch from a push to pull model of task management? [27:05]
- Where should I live? [40:13]
- Is “rare and valuable” the same as “impressive”? [49:01]
- CALL: Integrating Deep Work to create a Deep Life [54:43]
- How do I reconcile my lifestyle vision with my husbands very different vision? [58:09]
- How does Cal structure his values document? [1:04:12]

THREE INTERESTING THINGS:

Twitter, Attention, and Democracy [1:14:28]
(nytimes.com/2022/12/11/opinion/what-twitter-can-learn-from-quakers.html)

Research: Walking Helps Thinking [1:22:10]
(apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/xlm-a0036577.pdf )

Novelist Ian Rankin’s Slow Productivity [1:23:47]
(theguardian.com/books/2016/may/07/my-writing-day-ian-rankin)


Thanks to our Sponsors:

shopify.com/deep
rhone.com/cal
blinkist.com/deep
masterclass.com/deep

Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, and Mark Miles for mastering.

In 2009, Sarah Kauss had a well-paying job in real estate development, but she was itching to do something more. On a hike in Tucson with her mom, she got an idea for a business while swigging warm water from a metal thermos: Why not design a water bottle that kept cold things cold and hot things hot, but was also beautiful to look at? Just six years after launch, S'well reportedly made $100 million, and today, Sarah is especially focused on how the brand can help eliminate plastic waste around the world.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this Hasty Treat, Scott and Wes talk about their thoughts on the different types of tech jobs you can get, and the pros and cons of each style of job in tech.

Lightstep Incident Response - Sponsor

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Pay for the services you use, not the number of people on your team with Lightstep Incident Response, built on ServiceNow. Streamline on-call, collaboration, incident management, and automation with a free 30-day trial. Fire an alert or incident today and receive a free Lightstep Incident Response t-shirt.

Freshbooks - Sponsor

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LogRocket - Sponsor

LogRocket lets you replay what users do on your site, helping you reproduce bugs and fix issues faster. It’s an exception tracker, a session re-player and a performance monitor. Get 14 days free at logrocket.com/syntax.

Show Notes

• 00:10 Welcome
• 01:47 The types of jobs
• Wes’ tweet about developer jobs
• 03:02 Our experiences
• 05:58 Tech company
• 09:46 Freelancer or Entrepreneur
• 11:14 What are the pros of working at a agency?
• 18:38 Cons to agency life
• 26:19 Sponsor: Lightstep Incident Response
• 27:49 Pros of tech company jobs
• 30:47 Cons of working at tech companies
• 37:46 Sponsor: Freshbooks
• 38:51 Pros of in house tech jobs
• 46:01 Cons of tech work
• 51:29 Sponsor: LogRocket
• 52:28 Pros of freelance or entrepreneur
• 57:20 Cons of entrepreneur life
• 00:03 SIIIIICK ××× PIIIICKS ×××

××× SIIIIICK ××× PIIIICKS ×××

• Wes: Soap pump
• Scott: Pro breaking tour

Shameless Plugs

• Scott: LevelUp Tutorials
• Wes: Wes Bos Tutorials

Tweet us your tasty treats

• Scott’s Instagram
• LevelUpTutorials Instagram
• Wes’ Instagram
• Wes’ Twitter
• Wes’ Facebook
• Scott’s Twitter
• Make sure to include @SyntaxFM in your tweets

Trevor and The Daily Show correspondents provide pandemic-era education by covering topics ranging from real-life math to gym class, with a special lesson from boy band NCT 127.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

0:00:00 - Opening. The decisions we make matter.

0:20:13 - Is it better to work a mindless job and make good money?  Or a fulfilling job for less money?

0:32:15 - How to establish and implement Standard operating procedures.

0:35:20 - Balancing THE GRIND and LIFE.

0:47:28 - Too much discipline.  Is that possible?  How?

0:56:15 - What's the best Jiu Jitsu Style/Game?

1:02:34 - Different Leadership styles.  Effective and ineffective. 

1:13:37 - Making the most of life after massive failure or mistakes.

1:19:48 - How to get the team "on board" when they are massively resistant and defensive. 

1:26:58 - How to actually implement change when you know it is needed. 

1:30:26 - Mikey and the Dragons book.

1:36:05 - How to stay on the PATH.

2:06:21 - Closing Gratitude.