I am so fucking angry at Gary Vaynerchuk (aka. Gary Vee) for the damage he will cause to thousands of peoples’ lives (if not millions) with the toxic views shared in one of his latest videos.
If you haven’t seen it, there is a video currently doing the rounds that is supposedly “essential viewing for all 20 year olds” and the advice given in it is downright harmful.
The video starts off great, really it does. His advice to not compare yourselves to others is on point. Life isn’t a competition and what matters at the end of the day is how you feel about what you’re doing, not how you compare to others.
So someone’s had more ”success” than you by the same age, who gives a shit? It doesn’t actually matter.
Especially in the age of social media where everyone shares the highlights real of their lives, and very rarely posts anything about their failures, comparing yourself to these airbrushed versions of others’ lives is a sure fire way to unhappiness and never feeling good enough.
Gary’s summary of this advice in the description of his video is perfect:
“Every second you spend thinking about what someone else has, it is taking away from time that you can create something for yourself. Spend that energy on your visions and execute.”
And his advice to not expect instant success too; all great stuff But unfortunately Gary Vaynerchuk doesn’t stop there. No he decides to share his life advice on what it takes to be “successful” and this advice is so fucking hideously toxic I find it hard to express quite how angry and upset I am that over a million twenty-something-year-olds have listened to this crap and been made to feel bad about themselves as a result. Thousands of people have liked the video and commented, even people I know, saying things like:
“Biggest fucking reality check I got in my life!”
“Fucking best thing I’ve ever seen on any social media feed ever.”
The reason this disturbs me so much is because Gary Vaynerchuk’s life advice is that to be “successful” you need to JUST work for the next 10 years.
As he says:
“I gave up my entire 20s, all of ‘em. Imagine not doing anything fun or going anywhere for the next 8 years, including Saturday and Sunday. That’s what I did form 22 to 30.”
He says he spent 15 hours a day working, thinking about his business all the time. He even goes onto say:
“You spent more downtime on not your career this weekend then I did in my entire 20s combined”
to the poor woman who is on the other end of his rant. Which culminates in this gem of:
“You need to…realise that if you put your head down and just work for the next 10 years, no glamour, no new fucking car, suitcase, jewelry, trip, event, no Coachella, no fucking new fucking sneakers. Like fuckin’ work you will have it.”
AGGHHHHHHHHHHH Gary Vaynerchuk has single-handedly done more damage to the lives of twenty-something-year-olds that buy this crap in that 5 minutes than anyone else I’ve ever heard give life advice before*. So fuck you Gary Vaynerchuk. Here’s the reality of why that advice is not just heinously toxic but also flat out wrong.
1. Working harder isn’t always the answer
Simply working harder will not necessarily make you achieve more. Sometimes it will even make you achieve less.
The 80:20 principle, which is a widely accepted theory as to the relationship between effort and results, states that roughly 20% of our efforts in any endeavour actually achieve 80% of the results. So, yes maybe Gary Vee got successful by working 15 hours a day and giving his twenties to his work but he probably could have achieved very close to the same results by working a lot less each day.
I spent years wasting my time doing this. Thinking that if I wanted to achieve anything I had to spend every waking hour of the day doing it, dedicating my life to it, living and breathing it or I wasn’t trying hard enough. But the reality is, I could have spent a lot less time working on those things and achieved very close to the same. Just because you’re “working” doesn’t actually mean you’re achieving more.
In fact it may even make you achieve less. For a lot of things, especially creative pursuits (which all business involves) our brains need downtime in order to process the information we’re trying to sort through.
When we’re working on something, just staring at the problem isn’t going to solve it. The mind needs time out to process things. To put them together in news ways. If we’ve been working on something and step away from it, our mind continues working through that problem in our time away. The problem doesn’t absorb our thoughts; our subconscious works through it without us even realising and makes connections that we never could have gotten to without taking that time out.
As Benedict Carey points out in the brilliant book How We Learn:
“The mind works on the problem off-line, moving around the pieces it has in hand and adding one or two it has in reserve but didn’t think to use at first.”
Also, for all greatness we need ideas and inspiration. Those come from the outside world, from the things we see, the conversations we have, experiencing how people do things in other industries. But if you spend your entire life working you’re never going to have that external stimulus to give you your ideas and inspiration.
2. The damage you do could last for years
Putting as much pressure on yourself as Gary Vaynerchuk is implying we need to in order to be successful could have much longer lasting detrimental effects than you imagine.
Working 15 hours a day every day and taking no downtime for the whole of your twenties will more than likely result in you suffering from stress.
3. You might not be around to see the pay off
What if you do what Gary suggests and devote all of your time and energy to working based on the promise of some shiny future where one day you’ll be successful but die before you get to the pay off?
Gary is basically suggesting deferring your life for the next 10 to 20 years. Don’t go have any fun, see your friends or do anything just for enjoyment.
JUST FUCKING WORK.
Because then, finally then, in 10 to 20 years time you’ll get the pay off and be “successful”.
The huge fundamental problem with this though is that you might never get to that payoff point. Even if you could know for sure that if you work your arse off, and just work, for the next 15 years then you will then be “successful”, whatever the fuck that means, you can’t know that you will actually definitely live long enough to get to the enjoyment part of your deferred life. People die young.
I wish they didn’t, I really do, but it happens. People get diagnosed with terminal cancer age 25 or run over by busses or killed it freak accidents. IT FUCKING HAPPENS so what you actually do if you decide to spend your entire twenties just working is risk that being your actual life. ALL OF IT. What you spend your time doing everyday is your life. If you were to die tomorrow do you not want to have enjoyed your life until that point? What Gary is suggesting does not sound enjoyable in the slightest. In fact it sounds fucking horrible.
It breaks my heart to think of all the people who may end up wasting what actually could turn out to be their lives as a result of this advice.
What would actually be a lot more beneficial advice to give, instead of this horseshit about spending all your time working, is to check whether the idea of success that you’re working towards achieving in the first place is actually right. The woman in the call says she wants to earn a million dollars by the time she’s 25. My question to that would be ”Why? What is it that you think a million dollars is going to give you? What happiness is it that you think a million dollars is going to be able to buy you?”
Success/happiness/life, all of it really isn’t about money.
Sure we need a certain amount of money to survive and the more we have the easier certain things will be but money will not actually make you happy and feel fulfilled.
When I was in my twenties I too just wanted to be successful at business but then I realised that actually, it’s far more important to be successful at life. For me success no longer has anything to do with how much money I’m making or how big my business is, it is instead focused on whether I have freedom, whether I’m learning, whether I’m happy and whether I’m helping people.
“Success” can be defined however the fuck you want and not even challenging people on the assumption that it equates to wealth is irresponsible. Then going so far as to tell people that working all hours of the day is basically a requirement for success is just downright toxic and harmful.
So I’m not sorry when I say fuck you Gary Vee. Fuck you for encouraging another generation to think they have to suffer to achieve success. Fuck you for making them think they have to spend all hours of the day working or they’re not doing enough. Fuck you for perpetuating the myth that our lives should just be about work. Fuck you for the misery this video will cause so many. Fuck you for not encouraging the younger generation to think about whether there’s a better way of doing things.
Fuck you for not challenging and inspiring people to consider whether actually they can have fun and still create great things in the process.
For those who haven’t seen it yet, here’s the video:
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Totally agree with you. His ignorant arrogance gets on my nerves every time. He is so full of himself that he seems to have lost the plot of why we live. To LIVE! To be alive. When I die, I am probably going to regret working 15hrs a day and not having any loved ones around me. Demeaning one’s basic humanness that leads to fulfilment isn’t very wise. I wish he would just shut up or read some Buddha.
Haha “shut up or read some Buddha” beautifully put
I shouldn’t be wasting my time, writing this, but I saw it several days ago and wanted to respond as I do not think you understand his message or that he is on your side.
Gary is replying to a girl who wants to be financially successful, he has said many times that entrepreneurship is not the only thing. He encourages people to realize and pursue their passions. When he speaks of putting in “extreme hours” he is speaking the truth in what it requires to be the best and successful at what you do. You are distorting that with some idea that he only means money or that money equals happiness. The greatest parents, mathematicians, athletes, artists, and yes entrepreneurs put in incredible amounts of time, not for the money, but because they believe in something. Gary has previously discussed how he has friends making $50k who are far more happy than other friends making millions and mentioned how he has lost friends in the entrepreneurial community to suicide.
I enjoy listening to Gary and people like Eric Thomas while I work because they do make you think about if you are pursuing things for the right reasons. This response is not meant as an insult, but you are attacking a man and do not even realize that he is preaching the same message you are.
“People are chasing cash, not happiness. When you chase money, you’re going to lose. You’re just going to. Even if you get the money, you’re not going to be happy.” – Gary V
I think that’s great that Gary Vee is saying elsewhere that you need to be pursuing things for the right reasons but here he is not and there will be thousands of people who see this video without having watched anything else of his to know that actually he has differing beliefs to what is expressed in this video.
If looking at this video alone at the start the woman doesn’t even mention anything about wanting to be financially successful, she just says she wants to build something. He could talk about pursuing things for the right reason here but doesn’t, all he does is talk about needing to work 7am to 2am. That is unhealthy. Yes if you want to be the absolute best at something you have to train a lot (note though that she doesn’t say there is something she wants to be the best at, just that she wants to build something) but even professional athletes are only training 5-6 hours a day and have a day off a week. They have that day off because out muscles need time to recover as do our brains. We need time to internalise things, when it comes to new practices in sport and ways of doing things in business.
All I see in this video is someone very dogmatically telling an impressionable 22 year old that the only answer is to work ALL the time. That I think is one of the most unhealthy mindsets that effects the general working population (entrepreneurs or not).
I’m glad you’ve shared here that Gary Vee does think that it’s not just about the money so people watching the video can at least be aware of this other sid. Unfortunately for me though him saying in other places that it’s not all about the money does not undo the harm of telling someone to just spend their entire 20s working and not even questioning their blind pursuit of money in this instance.
I really do hope you don’t think your comment was waste of your time. It’s important people debate and discuss these issues and topics. I’m happy you posted it and I’m more than open to talking about it further if you would like to.
Thank you for the healthy discussion,
Chantell
You’re missing the point of 2% of a man’s content with a pessimistic attack. I’m sure the one he interviewed watched his full channel. Sure, maybe general people passing by can take this one video out of context, but this type of toxic thinking only dismisses the value of seeing the entire channel.
Maybe the rest of his channel is valuable but that doesn’t change the advice given in this video in anyway, whether people just watch this one video or take it in conjunction with others
22 year olds aren’t as stupid and simple minded as you’d think we are. What – you reckon watching one inspiration video will suddenly turn us into mindless workaholics working 15hrs everyday for the next 10 years? Ruining people’s lives? Don’t be absurd. Most people couldn’t do that if they wanted to.
If you actually follow Gary’s content, he perpetuates the exact same things that you mentioned. About the different definitions of success, enjoying your life etc. This video is for those of us who enjoy working hard and putting in the effort to build something big. In that case, it’s not ruining our lives, it’s motivating us and helping us achieve our dreams. For the people who don’t want to work long hours and want to live for the present, do you think they are going to suddenly start working 15hrs everyday now?
No I don’t think it will suddenly cause those who weren’t to suddenly start working 15 hours a day but what it does do is set up an unnecessary guilt loop. What Gary has basically said in this video is that if you don’t work all hours of everyday you won’t be successful. Firstly that’s just factually incorrect, as breaks help us learn and come up with new ideas and work more effectively, but also it’s harmful. It means someone who is “only” working 12 hours a day is going to feel guilty they’re not working hard enough. It’s going to make them feel like they’re slacking off. If people aren’t grinding as hard as is physically possible they’re going to start feeling like a failure and that they’ll never amount to anything if they don’t just “work, work, work”. This is exactly how people end up being led down a path which ends in chronic stress. There’s a great section on this in particular in the book the Chimp Paradox if you’re interested in finding out more.
I’m not saying 22 year olds are mindless lemmings that will just go and do whatever they’re told to do. The message that “if you don’t just spend all hours of your life working you’ll never be a success” detrimentally effects everyone if they believe in it even in the slightest bit because of the guilt loops it sets up. This video is aimed at those in their twenties however and the caller is 22 hence the reference but it could do just as much harm to a lot of 30 year olds I know.
Sounds like you’re blaming someone else for your own problems. I agree, Gary could temper his videos to fit each and every individual but his overall message is still excellent; hustle to get what you want, make no excuses and don’t worry about what others think of you.
Your article could be much better received if you weren’t whining and dropping f-bombs. You’re going for shock value which gets people’s attention but really just sound entitled. The fact that you couldn’t figure out on your own that it’s unhealthy and stupid to work 70hrs a week without ever taking a break more so reflects on your own intelligence than anything else.
There’s a ton of good content out there on how to be successful, build a business etc. Gary is a piece of it, not the end all be all. He’s also never claimed to be the gospel on the subject.
A better approach to your message might be to offer advice that could be an addendum to Gary. A “this is my experience and this is what worked for me” approach may actually get you more followers rather than turning people away with blame and anger.
I’m not really sure where to start with replying to this comment to be honest. You try to attack me by implying, actually almost outright stating, that I must be stupid if I
and yet you are posting a comment to defend advice which states you should do exactly that?
You are right. Working 70+hr weeks is unhealthy and detrimental to you health and any intelligent person should be able to see that, but you know why we don’t? We don’t see it because of all this crap in the media (like this video) that tells us that we need to work these insane hours. That we have to hustle all hours of everyday or we’ll be a failure.
This is pretty much the rallying cry of the corporate world and so we, intelligent people, get sucked into believing it must be true. Gary Vee is outright perpetuating this myth in this video. Within the first 2 minutes he says people need to work 7am to 2am everyday. I’m done with staying quiet while people are encouraged to give their entire lives over to work. It’s not good for their health or in fact their work.
If me taking a firm stand against this or my style or writing upsets you, that’s ok. You are under no obligation to read what I write.
It however seems like from your comment you do agree with my message, but just haven’t realised it yet, so maybe there could be something of use for you in here.
It comes down to self awareness, you either got it or you don’t. focus on your strengths and delegate your weakness.
Its helped me build successful companies and organizations in my 20s. I personally hate accounting, its a nightmare to me. So I delegated it to someone that loves it. And when you do something that sparks your love and curiosity – working 80+ a week is a breeze. Its not about money its about happiness and self awareness, two of Gary Vee’s biggest driving points.
And “work” doesn’t mean “work” in the way you’re presenting it.
– – –
A visiting prince came into Michelangelo’s studio and found the master staring at a single 18 foot block of marble. Then he knew that the rumors were true — that Michelangelo had come in everyday for the last four months, stared at the marble, and gone home for his supper.
So the prince asked the obvious — what are you doing? And Michelangelo turned around and looked at him, and whispered, “sto lavorando,” (I’m working).
Three years later that block of marble was the statue of David.
–
Regardless, Gary’s advice has helped me build a much better life. And I have to admit, seeing your title sparked a negative emotion which led me to click, you knew what you were doing so kudos to that.
If Gary’s advice helped you build a better life that’s great and as I say above I think some of his advice is completely correct but I think his encouragement to get people to work all hours of the day and the way he presents it as if she’s failing for having taken any time off or not working 7am to 2.30am everyday is extremely toxic.
I also entirely get what you mean about work not being work when you love it and that it’s actually about happiness and self-awareness. I’m a writer and I would happily write every day even if I never made another penny from it. She however did not express any love for a particular field in their conversation nor did he mention anything about happiness etc. She said she wanted to be a millionaire and he basically yelled at her saying she was a dipshit failure for taking any time off if that’s what she wants to achieve. That I can’t stay silent about.
Of course the title written as it is will spark more of an emotive response from people but that’s exactly the aim as maybe it will jolt some, who need the jolt and aren’t happy, out of the belief that the only way for them to be successful is to spend ALL of their time working.
Congratulations on having found something you love though. Happiness is the point after all
I think the advice he gave was great for someone who said they wanted to be a millionaire and financially successful within 3 years.
Like a previous person said in a comment… Gary has friends that make 50-70k a year and have amazing work-life balance compared to friends who make multi-millions of dollars and are miserable.
To fully understand Gary, you need to listen to follow him quite closely over a long period of time to really get to know his philosophies but if you don’t have the time then I recommend anyone to go into his YouTube channel and watch all his videos in his playlist called “original films”. Listen to the whole playlist 1-3 times over and everything will make sense. Probably the quickest way to really, really know what Gary is truly about.
P. S. Some of Gary’s biggest critics have now become some of his biggest fans over the years. Just like I hated Kobe Bryant in his young days but then he won my utmost respect over in the long run of his career. I could see this happening to many people. A lot of mine friends hate on Gary to this day but I even sense they are starting to come around to respect him in the long run.
Nice post. I like the contrasting opinions.
Keep up the good work.
Thank you. I guess I would still question whether making millions should be the only terms in which we look at the definition of financial success as there are other ways to look at it that can lead to a more balanced life.
Interesting.
I like both sides, but I feel the message or the point of it all is getting lost.
The definition of financial success could be anything. It could definitely mean a more balanced life. He even gives tips one how to flip stuff for extra cash something any of us can do.
I think what Gary gets so pumped about is that when people go up to him and say “I’ll be a millionaire in 3 yrs” or “I’ll create the next app” and it’s a lack of respect of the entrepreneurial game. It takes work…
He’s actually helping young people in an odd way. There are a lot of fake entrepreneurs who will get hit hard in the face when our economic times hits a rough patch. And they will be so confused because nobody stepped up and told the truth. And this facade of living on the beach making millions is fake. It truly takes a lot of work…But it doesn’t feel like it if you love it and if that game is for you.
If not, than it will stop many from going down the wrong path. And not living the hustle life is totally totally cool as long as you’re happy. Many people aren’t but they complain. That’s the issue. One can’t complain about money but than they choose to watch sports instead of working.
I know I’m leaning towards Gary V’s side. I actually met him in person in Springfield NJ at Winelibrary. He’s absolutely the nicest most inward humble guy. It always reminds me of MJ. On the court he was the most cocky mofo but all his coaches said he was so humble to learn and listen. There’s many people who are outwardly humble but inwardly the most egotistical mofo ever.
“By the sweat of your brow you will live your life” Not super religious, but by definition this relates. You live your life by the work you do. If you don’t work (what you mostly do in your life) you don’t love life. The whole 6 months vaca gets old quickly.
Sorry for the ramble! I hope this helps. Keep up the great work though. You are definitely getting engagement! 🙂
What an appropriate user name for your comment. I appreciate how clearly considered your response was.
I agree with a lot of what you say and to achieve success in any area certainly does involve work and usually sacrifice. So to warn those starting out that to become a “successful” entrepreneur it’s going to take work is important and useful. However even with that said becoming “successful” even in business or financial terms can be done with balance. And the balance will usually increase that success.
I think the ideal he’s promoting overall is very unhealthy and hopefully the debate on here will cause some people to realise that there are other ways of doing things.
Although thousand of people will watch that video, 99% of them will do nothing.
Gary is damn right.
If you want to achieve something you have to work hard.
This is true for everything you do in life and this doesn’t mean essentially make a ton of money.
For example you cannot advance in your career if you sit at your desk working 8 hours a day,
wasting 2 hours on facebook and youtube and then moan for the rest of the day with other losers
that this or that person are earning more money than you.
You cannot lose 30kg (66lbs) just running or training once a week.
It require hard work.
That’s what it is necessary to understand from the message that Gary is trying to spread out there.
Personally I don’t know any millionaire that has achieved success just sitting around laughing on some funny cat youtube video
for a couple of hours a day.
In saying this by the way I respect your opinion of course.
I completely agree with you that hard work is needed to achieve anything. The point where I differ though is that I also think down time is needed for that too. As I reference in the comments above even pro athletes have time off. There is nothing wrong with working and training hard and doing so is what will get results however that needs to be balanced with time for our bodies and minds to recover. This is the opposite of what Gary is recommending however. He’s saying you’ll be a failure if you don’t spend all of your time working and that I think is incredibly damaging advice. Completely on board with the hard work however.
I don’t get the message from him that you should work non-stop and be stressed and avoid life to make it. You’ve projected your feeling so much into what he said that you miss what he actually says. I suggest you spend so more time digesting what he shares without projecting the pain from losing your 20’s and then you may hear his message differently. (and I did what you did, so I understand it – but I don’t project)
I have no pain to project. I love my life and have no regrets about anything that has happened in it. I do find it very hard to see how someone wouldn’t think he’s saying working non-stop in this when he literally says the lines “just work for the next 10 years” and tells her off by saying “You spent more downtime on not your career this weekend then I did in my entire 20s combined”. I don’t know how that can be taken as anything other than saying “work non-stop”. And that is one of the most toxic attitudes I think there is in the corporate world so when I have a chance to speak out against it I will
Gary’s not trying to run people into the ground.
He’s saying if you want to be successful, you have to put in a lot of hard work.
If all he were saying is that to be successful (whatever that means) you have to work hard, I would agree with that. But that’s not all he says, he berates her for taking even a small amount of time off on the weekend, says people need to work from 7am to 2am each day and tells her to just “fuckin work” for the next 10 years
He berates her because she has the audacity to want to live like the top percent of people by the age of 25 and she is 22 doing nothing! He clearly told her she wasn’t going to enjoy the process and was better of having more stable success by age 36.
Sure but to get the more stable success he’s saying she needs to work from 7am to 2am each day and give up the next 10 years of her life. That’s an incredibly toxic attitude and expectation to be installing in people
That is not what he is saying. You’re constructing a red herring out of something that doesn’t exist.
Hi Chantell,
Thanks for your post. While I found the “F You Gary Vee” title a bit jarring, at the same time, I dig it. Although Gary is someone I admire, I also find him to be a bit of a “shock jock,” if you will. I found it odd how some people in this thread berated you for “just going for shock value” as they defended Gary who drops more f bombs in one video sometimes than you probably do in an entire week.
I digress:
I am an entrepreneur who often guilt trips myself for taking time for myself–even if it’s an hour. I work 70 hours a week, at least. I am at a stage in my business where growth is happening but I am understaffed and I just kind of have to grind away. I love building things, but, I also think that it’s important to take time (sometimes forced) to enjoy oneself or time with friends otherwise your brain will explode and you negate from any productivity. Yes, I think Gary was too hard on this girl, and you’re right I do think many people WILL take him literally. I’m a HUGE advocate for hard work and do think 40+ sometimes 60 and even 70 hours of work a week are necessary to grow a successful business. But it’s important to not neglect one’s health and to make time for necessary doses of relaxation too.
So good points. Feel free to engage with me further sometime on Insta. @nadyarousseau
Hi Nadya, I completely agree with you I do think hard work is needed at times but, as you say, even when you’re enjoying the work, it is still important to force yourself to take breaks once in a while so that you don’t burn yourself out. Sounds like you’ve got a very balanced view of things and will no doubt do wonders in your own business.
I too have been entertained but some of the comments telling me off for swearing in response to a video which has swearing every few sentences. At one point I even went to count up how many times the swearing in my post is actually just as a result of directly quoting Gary Vee in the video, but then I remembered that I have much better things to do with my time and just decided to move on.
I enjoy a good debate though and think it’s important that people discuss work/life balance and achievement so if someone disagreeing with me allows that conversation to be opened up further I’m happy with that
If you don’t like the message, turn off the channel. Rather than make a blog post click-bated, “Fuck You Gary…”, which you’re using to gain traffic. The good thing about the internet – you don’t have to believe or buy into everything you read or see. You also don’t have to point out everything you hate based on your singular perspective.
A post was written and shared on Medium from someone who had been taking Gary’s advice and started multiple successful businesses with his friends. They traveled the world, have been living an amazing life (from his subjective version of success) and was incredibly thankful.
You may hate him all you want, but there are millions of people who resonate with his message and differ in your opinion and that’s ok.
Yes that’s completely ok if there are millions of people who differ from my opinion, just like it’s completely ok that I differ from his opinion.
That’s great that Gary’s advice has helped some people but it will also have harmed some others.
And it’s important people know there are options, especially when someone is voicing their opinions in such an aggressively dogmatic fashion as Gary Vee.
No one is under any obligation to buy into what I say, or to buy into what Gary says, but I am a huge proponent of making informed decisions so yes I do think it’s important to voice the fact that there is another way of doing things rather than just walking on by (or in this case closing the browser).
Stop blaming someone for how your life turned out. It was advice. If it wasn’t working for you or isn’t working for you then you should have or should change it. People who are more outgoing still can put in the work while having a tiny bit of fun. Introverts like me will do the whole ‘don’t go out’ thing more successfully because we enjoy it. Bottom line is STOP COMPLAINING STOP BLAMING. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT…hey maybe he gave bad advice.. Thats how you feel and thats ok but just let him be and DO YOU
I’m “complaining” about his advice not because his advice harms or damages me in anyway but because I think it can cause a lot of damage to others and I want them to know, there are other ways of doing things.
Gary gave this advice within a specific context of a 22yr old recklessly projecting grandiose expectations for her future. She wants to enjoy a standard of wealth only seen by 1% of humans on this planet and is feeling like if that isn’t achieved her life “isn’t very good”. This is something (too) many young, millennial people — enamored and conditioned by the lifestyles found by socialites advertising on Insta/FB/SC/Tw — are desiring out of life. Hence his “The Ultimate Advice For Every 20 Year Old” title. It’s a reality check.
He’s responding in three ways: 1) If that is what you want — like really deep down want — you need to be super patient and work 10x harder than you are now. Without this your’e going to fail miserably at reaching this goal and feel even worse later on. If you’re going to do it, do it. 2) You need to step back and ask yourself what you’re trying to prove by doing this and why. Why do you want to kill yourself to do this? Who are you trying to impress? “You basing your happiness on trying to live like the Kardashians is the most ludicrous shit I’ve heard in my life!” 3) Focus on yourself and your own happiness. You’ll be far happier in the long run.
So I guess I don’t see the problem, much less what would warrant you to massively disrespect him publicly like you have. I would update this post with an apology and explanation for how you were so severely mistaken.
Yes as I state at the start of the article I think he’s completely spot on the advice he gives about not wasting time worrying about what other people have as it will take away time from what you could be doing for yourself.
I absolutely do not deny that there are some good parts of his advice. That said however there are some parts of his advice that are potentially so toxic and damaging that they outweigh any good that might have been done.
You are correct he tells her to work 10 x harder than she is now. But as she stated she was already even working on the weekend. so working 10 x harder would mean spending all her time working (and he literally does tell her to do this too). That is toxic and harmful to put that expectation in someone that they have to do that or they won’t be successful (if you’d like to read more on the topic check out the book The Chimp Paradox and what he says about chronic stress, it stems from beliefs exactly like this).
Just working harder is not usually the answer and it can have serious detrimental effects on your health and business. It is possible to achieve great financial success by working smarter rather than yourself into an early grave.
You are also correct that he gets her to question why she thinks she should have achieved all of this already which again is great. But what he fails to question is why she wants to be a millionaire. What things she believes being a millionaire will bring her. Why it is that her definition of success is focused solely on money. People want money for a reason not just for its own sake.
His advice is so pigheadedly dogmatic that it will leave her, and those viewing, to believe that success just equates to money and that to achieve it you need to spend all hours of everyday working.
I am not going to apologise for challenging that.
You misunderstood everything he’s talking about. He’s not talking about the common person becoming successful. He’s talking about the realities of becoming a successful entrepreneur. You can be successful with your day job and go to Coachella and have a nice work life balance. But if you want to be an entrepreneur and build your own company from scratch you have to be willing to sacrifice those things because you won’t be able to afford them financially and won’t have the time for them.
That’s good and healthy advice for people who think they want to start their own company. That’s the reality they’ll have to live with.
I completely agree with you that being a “successful” entrepreneur requires sacrifice. And a lot of the time that sacrifice is financial as instead of spending spare money on themselves people reinvest in their businesses. But he doesn’t tell her not to go to Cochella because she should save the money. He tells her not to go because she should be spending all day everyday working. That is what I take issue with.
Yes it takes a lot of hard work to build a business but it doesn’t have to be the exclusion of all else. And when it is, it usually does more harm than good to the individual involved and their company.
I have to say I can’t agree with you more . I totally hate about the theory of dedicated 18 hours per day for the next 10 20 year . It just bullshit , life isn’t just about money , life is about the life you want , those moments would never come back , the moment your parent smile at you , have a vacation , the moment your baby birth , the moment joy with your companion . Those are much more important than work . Of course if you want to success , you need to put on work , but if only know what to work but why your work , you are a loser . I really hate about no brain working , I was worked for 16 hours per day ,but my wage is the lowest in my country , and Gary ask me to work harder ? It just so toxic , if you want to go to north and you run to west , no matter how hard you work , you’ll never get there .
I really hope more people can know these article and realized the Point you said , Thank you for writing it
Thank you Angelo. Life certainly isn’t just about money; it’s very much about the moments that make it up too.
Girl I agree, ( though I’m not gonna say I support you telling f&%^ you)
Thank you ssooo much for writing this!!
I was just reading “Crushing it!”by
The beginning and was a bit put off by his idea of working a lot
It’s seems like many stories illustrate unbalance. I don’t see work life balance.
I was so a bit distraught I thought how can I ask Gary V about this then thought well I may not be able to get that question to him
And then it thought I really wanted to share my voice on this on mediums Facebook YouTube , I really like to talk of this ..
And then I googled and found this ????
So I’m grateful I’m not the only one who smell feels something amiss
I believe and think I’ve directed by God ( among other things ),to slow down and have balance in my life and Gary V does not seem to follow that . (Now I haven’t read all his stuff or researched what he thinks about work life balance. )Thank you for highlighting the 80/20 rule.
I guess I may stop reading the book I think read a up to pg 49. If this is how the books is going to continue This path . I should quit reading it.
But yeah I was really upset about some of what I read and blatant absence of attention to work life balance…. how do people actually do
This … to perpetuate this ideology of no rest , and continual work ( one example story of someone crushing it promoted this)
Who know if he instituted more rest perhaps he could have achieved his goal faster , and perhaps some of that work he did may have been not necessary or anyway I don’t know
He did mention in this book though about doing what you love which is good thing but yeah rest is important
I’m at a place In my life where I messed up by going tooo fast. Been impatient and imbalanced .
What I get from it is consistent work is important but seriously to the point where you become imbalanced and don’t have proper space in your life . That gotta be a no for me. I have to fight for space, I’m not good at it now but I need to get there where I manage my time well and have space
In it
I’m so glad this could provide you some support in knowing you’re not alone and that it’s ok to have a balanced life. Doing so doesn’t mean you won’t be a success. In fact it may help you get there faster than the people who burn themselves out.
Good luck in what you’re trying to achieve. And remember there are those of us out there who completely agree with you and are here to lend a supportive voice if you ever need one.
” over 50% of viewers probably didn’t make it past half way”
Talking about yourself I assume?
No, I’ve watched he whole video. Multiple times.
I get it. You want views for your site.
But, you basically had to ignore many other things that he says, take him out of context to write this article.
You mention in a previous comment that your intention is just to “help” other people.
Oddly, you could have done this better if you had taken another piece of Gary’s advice:
“I’m going to build the tallest building in town by building the tallest building in town… not by tearing down someone else’s.”
It’s just low class that you are ripping on someone that has done immeasurable, IMMEASURABLE good for the world and business and culture.
Sad.
Hi Daniel,
Maybe he has done good elsewhere but this post is about the damage this particular video will cause. As I say at the start of the article I don’t even disagree with everything he says in it, at times he makes some very good points. But the overarching advice given is harmful and encourages a toxic mentality.
If you disagree and think his advice is fine, that’s ok. We don’t all have to agree on everything and if I wanted to give the appearance that was the case I certainly wouldn’t have approved your comment!
I do think it is incredibly important however that people are made aware that there are other ways of doing things and that you don’t have to follow this advice in order to be successful. There are people who may watch this video who are already over-working themselves and need to realise that it is ok to take a break once in a while and that doing so doesn’t make them a failure.
I wrote this for those people and countless others.
Ha! Great post Chantelle, refreshing!
Thank you Ivo
Hi Chantell, greetings from India! I concur with your views. There was a time when I would watch and consume much of GaryV’s content on both YouTube and his Ebooks. But there was always something that didn’t quite sit right with me. This whole culture of hyper-productive “hustle” is a dangerous one. Downtime, relaxation and unwinding is JUST as important if not more. And also the fact that becoming ‘successful’ along with becoming a happier person is the whole point of life, isn’t it? One without the other doesn’t make any sense.
Anyway, thank you for writing a contrary opinion than what’s merely popular. Kudos!
I couldn’t agree with you more. The point is absolutely to be happy and work is something that can definitely provide happiness for people. If you do what you love it gives you purpose and that’s a huge contributor to our happiness but I don’t think working as Gary Vee suggests will lead to happiness for most.
And it won’t lead to the most successful businesses possible because, as you say, down time is just as important.
Glad you enjoyed the post (and apologies for the delayed reply, it’s been quite a year!)
No need to work hard. Just be born at the right time with the right genes, have a nice body, take some pics, plaster them across social media and, voila, you’re an “influencer”. Absolutely swimming in entitled tossers on social media that think the world owes them a debt of gratitude. Gary Vee is just another loud-mouthed Yank tosser beating his chest to impressionable muppets who think they need a “guru.” Sad.