Transcript
Speaker: The Voice of Growth, mastering the mind and market. Timeless wisdom, proven strategies, and the deep work that creates lasting success. Like and subscribe to stay aligned with what truly drives results.
Speaker: Welcome to the Voice of Growth podcast, Mastering the Mind and Market. My name is Manny Turan, and I'm your host. Somewhere along the way, we've been sold a false choice.
Speaker: We've been sold that working smarter, not harder is some sort of sophisticated advice in life. And it got me thinking about that concept of working hard versus working smart.
Speaker: Because in my culture growing up on the border in a Mexican family, a trabajador, someone who's a hard worker was put on a pedestal.
Speaker: The idea of hard work was something that we embraced, that we actually leaned leaned into. And the worst thing in life you could ever call me personally is lazy.
Speaker: So counter that against all of these things out there now about working smarter, working with AI, working in ways that are more efficient, that we can measure the KPIs,
Speaker: And so i had this internal struggle of what is it? What is the one that holds the most value? Is it working hard? Is it working smart? Do they work against each other?
Speaker: Are there any other elements that i'm missing of what it takes to to create and make something happen? And in doing so, I began down this road to understand that To summarize, they both work in conjunction and there's a third element as well, which I'll get to.
Speaker: Working hard is something that oftentimes you cannot replace. You can't hack your way to a better and more healthy body. Sure, you can do all these injections and supplements and yeah, that's adding to that, but you still have got to put in the reps.
Speaker: Learning a ah another the language, you can't somehow just implant that in your head. Sure, AI can help you translate, but actually learning a language, you cannot escape putting in the raps.
Speaker: Some other elements about writing a book or getting your ideas on paper, your true ideas, your true essence, that takes work, that takes writing things out.
Speaker: Again, ai can help. A virtual assistant can do your editing. You get a marketing crew to do this, do that. All that is part of it, but you still need to do the hard work.
Speaker: On the other side, the efficiency side, the working smarter side, you look at a problem and you figure out what are the most efficient and effective tools that I can use on that problem to solve it.
Speaker: And so there's this this sort of sway between the two. There's story about Bill Gates hiring loving to hire people who are lazy, smart people who are lazy.
Speaker: Because in Bill Gates' eyes, hiring somebody who is able to look at a problem and solve it using the least amount of effort possible, and then automating that process is gonna make for a good employee at Microsoft.
Speaker: Why? Because then that person can automate their job and then having have more space to automate other elements of their job. And maybe there's some value to that.
Speaker: But what is it that is a central engine that makes all this happen? I've always said, and I'll say it again, that third element that's required is desire.
Speaker: Desire. Desire has other names. has purpose, has vision, has mission. But if you boil it down, it's desire. Because you have a vision for something, you can see it in your mind.
Speaker: You have a purpose, you get up in the morning for that purpose. But beneath those is a desire, a want, a yearning, a something you can almost taste, you can see.
Speaker: But it's that it's the energy that makes it all come to life. So that third element is desire. You need to work hard. You need to put in the reps.
Speaker: In my culture, digging that hole. My grandfather, for instance, was a farmer. He could dig a six foot deep hole in hard caliche in three hours.
Speaker: He would wake up at four in the morning and go work at the farm until seven at night. He did this tirelessly because he was driven by that was his identity.
Speaker: So identity is also something that is very crucial in this whole landscape. I've talked about identity many times, and there's an immense amount of power unlocked that it's locked in that concept that you need to unlock in order to really get into your groove and create massive change in yourself, in those things that you can affect around you,
Speaker: Going back to the stoicism, you can't control much, but what you can control, you can control through your identity, the hard work, the smart work, and the desire.
Speaker: Those are the pieces on the board that we can actually move to make your dream into reality. Sounds kind of woo-woo and lofty, but if you boil it down, this is all common sense.
Speaker: You want to learn a language? You do both. You do the hard work, but you use the tools along the way. You use the jump speak and the Duolingos and the other tools.
Speaker: You make the effort to do the chat room so you can talk to people in that that language. And you do it all because you desire to learn that language.
Speaker: And that desire could be driven, maybe your family comes from Italy and you wanna learn a Italian. Or maybe you happen to love a particular band or genre of book that you really want to read in the native Italian.
Speaker: That desire is strong and you'd have to have a strong enough desire with the ability to lay out the systems in place in order to change your identity so that you can accomplish these things. James Clear made it very clear in his book, Atomic Habits.
Speaker: You're not just gonna wake up one day and set a goal and accomplish it. It doesn't work that way. Your mind, we've talked about this many times, is a two, three, 400,000 year old operating system that does not want to change. It wants to keep things the same because of comfort. And comfort is good. Comfort is something that we hold onto many times that actually is like an anchor and keeps us down.
Speaker: So the idea in the atomic habit book is to create small, minute atomic, tiny elements of change. 1% change here, 1% change there, half a percent change there, 2% change there.
Speaker: And what happens, those atomic, the other side of atomic, think about atomic bomb, right? Massive amount of energy released. So. creating the the systems in place, forms these habits around you, which actually feed into the identity of who you are.
Speaker: And it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. It goes over and over and over. If you tell yourself that you are a person who is a gym rat, even if you've never been to a gym, if you tell yourself, I am a gym rat, and you create everything around you so that it's affirming that, including going to the gym, of course, then what happens is that your identity goes into that part that you've been talking about all along, and it's self-fulfilling.
Speaker: And so I say this because there's power in that. I suggest that you spend some time, go get the James Clear, Atomic Habit book and read it and reread it because there's so much luck in that book that is immense amount of power behind it.
Speaker: There's a story about two lumberjacks. Love this story. They're neighbors. Every morning they get up in the morning and they wave wave to each other. One goes one direction, one goes to the other.
Speaker: And during the day, they're piling their logs in front of their house. And day in, day out, the first guy goes home for like two hours during lunch.
Speaker: And other guy just eats a quick sandwich and keep up keeps on working. And couple of weeks pass and he's like, hey, How is it possible that we both leave in the morning and you have almost twice as many logs as I do and you take a two-hour lunch?
Speaker: The first guy looks over and says, look, I go home and I rest and I nourish my body properly and I sharpen my saw.
Speaker: So much value in that. We oftentimes forget that we need to so to be still. I've talked about the power of stillness many times.
Speaker: We need to be still. In that stillness comes rest, comes revitalization, comes a new sense of purpose. It makes things more clear in your brain.
Speaker: Nourishing the body is like providing the elements that it needs to build strength. Nourishing the mind is reading, watching podcasts, making notes, spending time journaling. All that is feeding your mind and ultimately sharpening your saw.
Speaker: In that instance, think about the tools you're using. Are you using the right tools? And if not, how do you get to the right tools? There's a constant assessment that needs to happen in that process.
Speaker: I love that example as well because it shows the simplicity that we have at our disposal. And it also shows the fallacy in that hard work isn't gonna do it all.
Speaker: Putting your shoulder to it isn't always gonna solve the problem. nor is simply just having a sharpened ax or a sharpened saw sitting on a table. It needs to actually put be put in into action.
Speaker: Action is a very powerful thing.
Speaker: Growing up in on the border culture, you know, with a grandfather who was a hard worker, a farmer. My grandmother was an entrepreneur and restaurateur.
Speaker: My mother, aunts, many people in my family are were hard workers and are hard workers. And that was something that was venerated and put on a pedestal. Oh, that person es trabajador.
Speaker: That person's a hard worker. And it's celebrated. that It's actually something that is put above other elements of of the human condition. He's a hard worker. And that means something.
Speaker: And that means something to me. The worst thing you can call me in life is lazy. That's like the worst. That's like the nails on the chalkboard because i was raised in a place where you had to keep moving.
Speaker: The danger is, of course, is that it can drive us to the ground. It can burn us out. It can harm our bodies. So there's got to be some element of harmony there, not just putting your nose to the groundstone.
Speaker: My grandfather wore out He didn't rust out. He wore out. He died in his early 80s from a heart attack, just walked into the kitchen, bam, he died. Why? Because he worked all his life. He worked his ass off since he was 10 years old.
Speaker: And there was a lot of respect that I have for for that lifestyle that he provided for his family in the best way he could by being a farmer, by driving a bus, working in the mines, doing these things his whole life.
Speaker: But the danger is that your ceiling is gonna be at a certain level. Once you start adding the elements of intelligence, of efficiency, of effectiveness, all these things will raise the bar and that ceiling climbs and climbs and climbs.
Speaker: My goal in this podcast is to create an element of change in my audience's lives. I get calls from friends.
Speaker: i so I've seen people out in the wild that have watched the podcast and they love it because they get a morsel of value from it. Every day they listen to it.
Speaker: And that is the power of this. This is why I wake up at five in the morning and come record at five in the morning to do this because I am i desire, it's my passion.
Speaker: So mentioned before, desire has other names, vision, mission, these elements. But for me, I desire to do this and I desire to touch lives and affect people in a positive way.
Speaker: I grew up without having mentors and a lot of us don't have mentors. We have books, we have people we might admire in the business domain or in life whatever, but it isn't like they can take us under the wing. We we don't have that as common these days.
Speaker: I wish we did. So this is my way that I give back, that I share my my struggles, my triumphs, my insights. I bring people to the table that have tremendous amount of talents and experiences and stories that can shape your life.
Speaker: So to to kind of create some more substance here with this podcast today. You have to have the hard work.
Speaker: You've got to put in the reps, but you have to do it in a way that is smart, that is efficient, using the KPIs, using the hacks, using the AI tools, using the intelligence and the and all the resources at your disposal.
Speaker: And the third element is that of desire. You've got to want it. You've got to burn to get that thing accomplished. It needs to happen. And it has to happen in a way that is matching the your identity. Who are you in that moment and who are you becoming? Because you if you don't have that that in your head in a clear manner, you're not going to accomplish it.
Speaker: If you don't know where you're going, all roads will lead you there. man, that has so much power to it. We've got to have a a vision. We've got to have a direction we're going in.
Speaker: That desire is what is what's going to get us to that position. You've got to have that, the two pistons working of hard work, of intelligent work, of smart work. It's got to happen.
Speaker: There's a couple of questions that I want you to ask yourself regarding these elements of creating your vision into reality, whatever that might be.
Speaker: Because these questions help align you with that, help clarify those those things. The first of which is, what am I working so hard for?
Speaker: Think about that. What am I working so hard for? The second one, who else maybe be who am I becoming through that work? Third one, where am i using a shovel when an excavator exists?
Speaker: Fourth, when was the last time I stopped swinging long enough to sharpen my ax? Number five, if this actually matters to me, am I willing to work harder than everyone else once i've figured out the smartest way to do it?
Speaker: These five questions, will get you thinking about your life, your vision, your mission. What are you doing, your purpose? Why do you do what you do?
Speaker: Is it for your family? Is it for your ego? Is it for glory? Do you have a ah chip on your shoulder? What is it what it? If you boil it down, what is that? Who am I becoming through that work?
Speaker: Is it that you want to have more stability? Is it you want to be known for a prime mover in your community? There's gotta be some some identity there that's tied into that question.
Speaker: Where am I using a shovel when an excavator exists? This has to do with working smart. Are you doing something today that can be done more smartly, more efficiently, and more at scale by using the right tool?
Speaker: Ask yourself that. When was the last time I stopped swinging long enough to sharpen my ax? Are you doing things in your life that
Speaker: are driving you to the ground? Are you hurting yourself physically, mentally, spiritually by working so hard that you can't stop to sharpen your ax?
Speaker: You've got to ask that question. You've got to ask it because I've seen people burn out by working tireless hours, trying to make ends meet when taking a pause, readjusting,
Speaker: They could get a new job in another industry that they wouldn't have to kill themselves to make the same amount of money. Super important question to ask.
Speaker: And then the last one, if this actually matters to me, am I willing to work harder than everyone else once I've figured out the smartest way to do it? This brings it all together.
Speaker: This is question I ask myself very often because I want, for instance, this podcast to be impactful for millions of people.
Speaker: The company that I run as CEO, I want us to be the best in the business. I want to to quadruple us in size so that The team, my employees can have more opportunities, have more money at their disposal, have more upward trajectory in their career, bring in more people. We can touch the community and create more change in the community. And it's it's a it's a momentum, it's a flywheel that I want to get moving faster and faster and faster.
Speaker: I want to become a fantastic father and partner and son and brother and friend. And those things don't come out of the blue.
Speaker: They're cultivated through your youth, how you were raised, but then from that they're processed in who you are. looking at yourself, doing the hard work, reading, studying, talking with friends, talking with your pastor, your counselor, your spouse. Those are all things that build that resiliency in the human element because we're all here as human beings in this world, full contact sport and all.
Speaker: None of us is is gonna make it out alive. And man, we get to do this. I get to do this. I'm so grateful. I wake up grateful.
Speaker: And that sets the tone for the day. I have people that I know in my life that are Eeyores, that are just grumpy and they're always complaining and they're victims. And I feel bad for them because there's another option.
Speaker: This is why Stoicism for me is so powerful. Because it it creates a almost like armor in a way. Because I know I can't control certain things.
Speaker: And I love my fate as much as I can. And there's times when I don't, there's times when I'm, I look down and crap, this is terrible. But with enough time, with enough guidance, with enough prayer, with enough peace inward looking, I recognize that yes, I'm lucky, I'm blessed, I'm grateful to have whatever life I have because I'm here on this earth, breathing, contributing, and able to cultivate relationships.
Speaker: So to round out this podcast today, you've got to put in the reps. The hard work has to be there. You can't learn Italian by cheating way through it.
Speaker: You've got to put in the reps. That's the work hard. The work's smart, you've got the tools, you've got to use the right tools, you've got harness the resources, you've got to lean into that uncomfortableness to get things done in a more efficient manner.
Speaker: That's the smart work. And the other piece that brings it all together, that drives it, is the desire. The desire needs to be there so that you can create a vision, which is which is your purpose to get things done that you want to get done.
Speaker: For your identity is what it all sits on. And that is, who are you becoming? Why are you becoming that? why Why does it matter to you?
Speaker: And putting it all together will help you accomplish your goals in a way that will change lives. And that to me is power. Thanks for listening.
Speaker: Cheers.
