6 Questions to Think About Today | How to Find New Passions When Your Dream Ends

Summary

Podcast Summary: The GaryVee Audio Experience

Episode: 6 Questions to Think About Today | How to Find New Passions When Your Dream Ends
Release Date: January 29, 2025

The GaryVee Audio Experience, hosted by entrepreneur and CEO Gary Vaynerchuk, delves deep into entrepreneurial mindset, personal growth, and navigating life's challenges. In this episode, Gary addresses six thought-provoking questions from his audience, offering insights on misconceptions about entrepreneurship, overcoming business plateaus, transitioning from athletic careers, embracing artificial intelligence (AI), managing personal motivations, and handling family dynamics in business.

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1. Debunking Entrepreneurship Misconceptions

Key Points: Gary begins by tackling a prevalent misconception about entrepreneurship: the belief that success stems solely from grinding relentlessly for years or, conversely, from sheer luck. He emphasizes that the reality lies in a balanced combination of self-awareness, talent, and effective work ethic.

Notable Quote:

"The reality is what I get done in eight hours is better than other people get done in eight hours. So it's not how many hours, it's what you do within those hours."
— Gary Vaynerchuk [00:00]

Summary: Gary asserts that aspiring entrepreneurs often fall into two extremes—either believing that success requires non-stop grinding for a decade or assuming it's a result of chance. He clarifies that true entrepreneurial success is a "massive self-awareness game," where understanding one's strengths, leveraging talent, and maintaining effective work habits are crucial. Gary stresses that productivity and effectiveness during working hours are more significant than merely the number of hours invested.

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2. Overcoming Business Plateaus

Key Points: Adam poses a question about dealing with plateaus in business—times when growth stalls despite previous success. Gary responds by highlighting the importance of humility, self-awareness, and compassion towards oneself during such phases.

Notable Quote:

"When you're hitting a plateau, it's not about motivation. Sustainability comes from clarity."
— Gary Vaynerchuk [01:27]

Summary: Gary advises that encountering a plateau isn't merely a matter of lacking motivation but rather an opportunity for clarity and self-reflection. Entrepreneurs should assess whether they've overexerted themselves without adequate rest or if external factors, such as increased competition or team dynamics, are contributing to the stagnation. He likens business growth to physical training, suggesting that rest periods are essential for continued progress. By understanding the nuanced reasons behind a plateau, entrepreneurs can strategize effectively to overcome it.

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3. Transitioning from Athletic Dreams to New Passions

Key Points: Max inquires about how athletes can find new passions when their primary dream—such as a sports career—comes to an end. Gary emphasizes the importance of seeking new competitive outlets and aligning these with personal interests.

Notable Quote:

"Entrepreneurship and business has been so big... these athletes now have paths that keep them competitive without being in the sports arena."
— Gary Vaynerchuk [03:58]

Summary: Gary empathizes with athletes facing the end of their sports careers, highlighting the challenge of finding new passions that offer similar levels of competition and fulfillment. He points out that entrepreneurship has become a popular avenue for former athletes to channel their competitive spirit into business ventures. Beyond sports, Gary extends this advice to anyone whose primary dream has concluded, suggesting that finding new areas that resonate with one's interests—such as strategy, research, or consumer behavior—can provide meaningful and engaging pursuits.

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4. Embracing Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Business

Key Points: Max raises a concern about the fear surrounding AI and seeks advice on how to embrace it within one's business. Gary responds by underscoring the inevitability of AI's integration into various industries and the futility of resisting technological advancements.

Notable Quote:

"AI is not going back into some weird genie. It's a profound technology. I'm a human being. I'm plenty scared."
— Gary Vaynerchuk [05:29]

Summary: Gary acknowledges the anxieties many feel about AI but firmly states that resisting its implementation is futile. He draws parallels to past technological advancements—such as the internet, email, and social media—that were initially met with skepticism but ultimately became indispensable. Gary encourages entrepreneurs to adopt a proactive and optimistic approach toward AI, utilizing its capabilities to enhance their businesses rather than fearing its impact. He dismisses conspiratorial notions about AI control, reiterating that embracing technology is essential for staying relevant and competitive.

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5. Managing Personal Motivations: The Desire to Impress Loved Ones

Key Points: Max shares a personal struggle with impatience driven by the desire to impress his grandmother, seeking guidance on balancing this motivation with personal patience. Gary offers reassurance that loved ones, like grandmas, value happiness and well-being over tangible successes.

Notable Quote:

"Parents and grandparents... they know the trophy of winning the race doesn't impress them as much as the training for the race and the running of the race."
— Gary Vaynerchuk [07:53]

Summary: Gary comforts Max by explaining that grandparents typically derive pride from their descendants' efforts and happiness rather than from specific achievements or material successes. He highlights that pursuing dreams for intrinsic satisfaction and personal growth is more meaningful than seeking external validation. Gary emphasizes that loved ones are already proud of the individual's endeavors and well-being, alleviating the pressure to impress through accolades or possessions. This perspective encourages individuals to focus on authentic personal fulfillment rather than external approval.

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6. Navigating Family Dynamics in Business

Key Points: An unnamed younger brother seeks advice on bringing an older sibling into his content creation and media production company. Gary addresses the complexities of family business dynamics, emphasizing empathy, compassion, and maintaining family relationships over business conflicts.

Notable Quote:

"The only way family businesses ever work is when everyone... has empathy and compassion for the other people's feelings."
— Gary Vaynerchuk [09:31]

Summary: Gary acknowledges that incorporating family members into a business can be challenging due to inherent family dynamics and potential conflicts. He advises maintaining empathy and understanding towards each other's perspectives and emotions. Gary underscores the importance of prioritizing familial relationships over business disagreements, suggesting that conflicts should be resolved by valuing the relationship beyond professional roles. He also recommends setting clear boundaries, fostering open communication, and ensuring that both parties respect each other's contributions and roles within the company.

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Conclusion and Final Insights

Throughout the episode, Gary Vaynerchuk offers pragmatic and heartfelt advice on navigating the multifaceted challenges of entrepreneurship and personal development. He encourages self-awareness, adaptability, and resilience as key traits for overcoming obstacles and achieving sustained success. By addressing misconceptions, personal motivations, technological advancements, and interpersonal relationships, Gary provides a comprehensive guide for listeners to reflect on and enhance their entrepreneurial journeys.

Closing Quote:

"Technology beats you every time. AI's actual technology."
— Gary Vaynerchuk [05:29]

Final Thoughts: Gary's insights underscore the importance of balancing passion with strategic thinking, embracing inevitable changes, and fostering meaningful relationships both personally and professionally. His emphasis on empathy, self-awareness, and adaptability serves as a valuable framework for anyone striving to succeed in the dynamic landscape of modern entrepreneurship.

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For those who haven't listened to this episode, embracing Gary's advice can provide actionable strategies to navigate business challenges, personal transitions, and the ever-evolving technological landscape.

Transcript

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

This is the GaryVee audio experience. Hey guys, before we go into today's podcast, the show that you all adore, or at least according to my mom, is back tomorrow at 9am Eastern. Tea with Gary Vee Tomorrow tea with Gary Vee is back tomorrow at 9am Eastern live on all my socials. And now enjoy today's podcast. What is the biggest misconception that people have in regards to what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur? The biggest misconception is actually the two extremes. People either think that you have to work super hard every minute and like you gotta grind in 10 years and you know, or that it's like easy and lucky and like people like stumbled into it when in reality it's a massive self awareness game of the two, which is like of course talent but work ethic. But then one has to deploy it on self awareness, on themselves. So I think the misconceptions sit on the two extremes. People got lucky, that's why they're a successful entrepreneur. Or they fucking like worked every second. The reality is what I get done in eight hours is better than other people get done in eight hours. So it's not how many hours, it's what you do within those hours. Those are the misconceptions.

[Adam]

Hey Gary, this is Adam. My question for you is what do you do when you feel like you're plateauing in your business? You had success for a while and then you start to plateau. How do you motivate yourself to keep going and keep pushing?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Adam, a couple things. One, I hate the Patriots and Celtics, so your shirt. Second. But I love people from Boston. It's just a sports thing. Second. There's a lot of things to this. The reality is we have to be humble, self aware and honestly compassionate to ourselves. When you're hitting a plateau, it's not about motivation. Like, you know, I don't want to be like a rah rah guy for all of you out there. I don't mind it. But those are like little bursts. That's not sustainable. Sustainability comes from clarity. Clarity is like, why have I hit this plateau? Is this only as good as I am? Nobody really wants to go there, but talent is part of the process. Back to a lot of themes. Have I gone too hard for too long and I just need a break? Maybe this is the summer for a lot of you to just enjoy it. Cause you've gone too hard for four years and you've got to a place but you've plateaued. And maybe the plateau is happening from you Needing a little break, Think about working out. You know, the people that really know shit, they talk about rest days. Like you can't pump iron seven days a week and expect gains. Your body needs rest. Well, in the macro of building a business or your project, sometimes you just need a rest day. And that might just be a rest summer. Maybe this is 2023 rest summer for the people plateaued. But this goes back to nuances. I wanna make sure real quick while I'm making this video for the people that are crushing and ascending. This is not rest summer. This is continue to squeeze the living shit out of it. Cause you haven't plateaued summer. Right? And so like where people are not strong is being contextual to find out why you've plateaued. There's a hundred reasons why. It's nuances in these split screens, answering these questions. It's nuanced. Maybe you're burnt out. Maybe you're only so talented and you should do something else. Maybe it's the fact that there's more competition and you need to wait for more demand to come in. Maybe there'll never be more demand and it's a fad and you should jet the fuck out of the whole thing. There's a lot of reasons one may plateau. Maybe you haven't focused on culture and your team is not working as hard for you. Cause now they figure figured out that you're a dick, not an innovator. Could be a lot of things. There's like literally 900 answers to that. I can literally think of 45 different reasons that company would plateau. Look at the one that I just used at the end. Maybe it's just your company's plateaued because nobody around you believes in you anymore. Because they've sniffed out your bullshit. You're not a genius, you're just a dick face. Maybe you fell in love, Boston boy.

[Max]

Gary, my question for you is for a lot of athletes, when that dream ends, how do you find a new passion to equivalent that dream?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Look, I think this is something I've been very passionate about. I feel so bad for people when a dream dies. And by the way, there's a small group of people in the world that it's around athletics. What about the majority of people who are straight A students or good students? And the dream ends the day you're done with college. You're like, oh, fuck. Good grades in school means nothing in real life. Like dreams die all the time. And so for athletes, I think you gotta find another competitive outlet. I think the thing that really hurts athletes, specifically, is how much they enjoy the competitiveness of it. And so, like, that's why entrepreneurship and business has been so big. One of my favorite things about the last 20 years that entrepreneurship became a thing is it became a place that athletes can go when the dream dies or when the dream dies out of retirement. Amount of athletes now that don't have to be in depression at 38 after having a great career. And what do they do with themselves? Like, they don't want to golf, they don't want to coach, they don't want to be a sports commentator. A lot of them are going into business. I know a lot of these athletes, and it's been beautiful to watch because I probably went to business because I couldn't be an athlete, because they're close enough. You know what I mean? And so I think for all of us, whether it's sports or how I'm making this a bigger video, which is especially for all of you, where you realize the dream is over. Like, school doesn't guarantee you real life success. You gotta reset and you gotta find outlets of what you liked. If you loved learning, maybe you should go into strategy and research and consumer behavior because you get to be curious. Like, so there's a lot of cool stuff like that.

[Max]

What do you say to people who are scared of AI? How can they embrace it and use.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

It for their business by realizing they have no fucking choice? If you're scared of AI, I have bad news. You lost. AI is not going back into some weird genie. You know, what do I say? I have no interest in confusing people. By the way, all these comments where, like, when I'm putting out a stuff, they're like, oh, you're getting supported by the AI. Like, there is no AI fucking Illuminati. Not getting supported by anybody in AI. This is what you all said to me a decade ago of, like, Facebook, you know, every time. Every time, nobody's supporting me, I want to be historically correct. You know who's supporting me? Me. I'm supporting my fucking self by being right historically. And so it's not a very tough bet to think AI is gonna be a big part of life. It's the easiest bet I've ever made. It's a profound technology. I'm a human being. I'm plenty scared. Like, all of you are. Like, what does this mean? And Deepfake videos. And I've got plenty of anxieties. I have anxieties about everything just like any other human being. I just don't Let them control me. Like so many people, they sit equally to my optimism. The Internet scared people. Cars scared people. Tractors scared people. Everything scares people. Social media scared everyone. You know, like, so there's pros and cons to everything. You can choose to make it a con and be cynical, or you can choose to make it a pro and be optimistic. You decide. But what do I say? I say nothing. I really don't actually care. I don't talk. I don't try to convince any individual person on this. I put out content to be historically correct. But what do I say? Nothing. You don't want to use AI. Good people didn't want to use the iPhone. They eventually did. I knew people that told me they wouldn't use the Internet. They did. People didn't want to use email. They did. Technology beats you every time. All your hot takes always lose to actual technology. AI's actual technology.

[Max]

Hi, Gary, Max here. I have a question for you. So I really love what you say about patience, right? And I think that I'm quite a patient person. One thing that I can't quite figure out for myself is that my impatience comes from my desire to impress my grandma. And that's been kind of my driver since I was a kid. So even though I am patient for myself, yeah, I'm impatient because I want to see her. I want her to see me win and, like, do well and know that I'm like, not a failure and I'm cool and I have impact and all these things. So I really can't figure out what to do.

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

I love it. What a great, great, great question. Cool news, legit grandmas. And when I say legit grandmas, I mean grandmas who are wonderful and have good intent, not or hurt themselves and are hurting a family really don't give a shit about these accolades you're chasing. They only want you to be healthy and happy. And you chasing your dream is the happy, not getting the trophy for what you think you need to accomplish. She's already proud of you, bro. She's already proud of you. You already accomplished what you're trying to accomplish. Parents and grandparents and great grandparents that have great intent are wise. They've lived. And you know what? They know the trophy of winning the race doesn't impress them as much as the training for the race and the running of the race. That's real life. And so good news, brother. You've already impressed your grandma. You've already accomplished it. She already knows you're good. Promise. It's real, too. It's not only good, it's real. Like, we all. We don't even realize it's actually selfish. Like, we even subconsciously or consciously know that what I just said is right. But we, like, create a thing within ourselves. No, it's not for me. I want my grandma to see I made. No, you don't. And it's not in a bad way. You just don't realize that's what you're doing. Your grandma doesn't need to see your Mercedes or your Rolex or your $10 million bank account. She really doesn't.

[Unnamed Younger Brother]

What up, G? I'm in the office right now. My question for you is, working with family, as someone that is a younger brother, what advice would you give me bringing on my older brother to help me with my content creating and media production company? Any advice?

[Gary Vaynerchuk]

Let's go, my guy. This is a fucking tough one. Like, for a million different reasons. Family dynamics are real. So, you know, even being the older brother, bringing in a younger brother comes with a ton of baggage. You've got an extra one, because the natural way of things, the older brother's gonna have all sorts of feelings. Even if he's the most humble dude of all time, there's still some sort of, like, animalistic, like, I'm the older brother. What the fuck kind of thing going on? So, a, bro, you have to. And this is the answer to everybody. The only way family businesses ever work is when everyone in the equation has empathy and compassion for the other people's feelings. When the kid comes in and actually has, like, understand that your parents grinded this for 30 years and came from nothing. And you can't just walk in. Cause you went to college and think you run shit. And make sure you're empathetic to the employees that have been there for 20 years. And you come in and now you're their boss. They fucking built that place. On the flip side, parents in that scenario have to be like, yo, the kid's coming in with fire and wants to prove themselves, and you gotta give them a little room. If you're micromanaging, they'll never. And so for you personally, A, you have to have empathy for your brother. It's gonna be a challenge. B, for everyone listening, you have to love your family more than the money. C, all of you are gonna have ego and feelings, all of you. And you need to understand that and calibrate it. D, no matter how much you fight, try to end every night with like, that was fucked up. But fuck it, we're family. Let's be better tomorrow, right? You could have had the biggest fight of all time. But before you both go to sleep, this is good relationship advice, but definitely in family business, I think it's even easier than personal relationships. Even if it was the worst day and you literally, like, fuck you. No, fuck you at work. Before you close your eyes that night. Even if that fight happened at 4 and it's 11:30pm Just like, muster up being the bigger person and texting and be like, yo, bro, I know today wasn't great, but we're fam over this. We don't even need to have this business. We're fam. Like, understanding that, like, that's really real. So, like, you know, being patient. You know, when you're the leader and you're bringing in a family member, you gotta teach them. If this podcast has ever meant anything to you, please go to Spotify or Apple right now and leave a review. By the way, even if you give me a one star review because you think it's shit, I respect it, but just leave a review, an actual review, four or five stars, and the actual details of why. Yeah, that would mean something for me. So thanks.