147: Blissful Balance and Happy Hustle 2.0 with Cary Jack

[00:00:15] Zach White:  What a great day. I specifically chose this shirt. And for those who are just listening to the audio, you might have to jump over to YouTube and check this out.

[00:00:25] We look mighty fine in our red plaid. Cary, you were on the happy engineer originally way back in episode 36. And we may reference back to that content off and on. So happy engineer. When you’re done with this episode, jump back to episode 36 and catch the entire deep dive into Cary’s blissful balance framework.

[00:00:48] That’s going to come up today as well. But before we. We kind of dig into some more meat and potatoes. I actually wanted to touch on Carrie. Your, your life has shifted a bit since our last conversation. you are now big Papa Carrie, and I wanted to hear, I wanted to hear a couple of thoughts from you as, as the happy hustle.

[00:01:08] Guru, as the guy that people come to for, how do I manage all the things in my life? I’m an entrepreneur. I’m a, I’m an executive. I have all these business goals, but I also have a family and my health and hobbies and passions and you help people pull all that together. You just had a big shift in what you’re prioritizing and balancing.

[00:01:28] What have you learned since becoming a dad about blissful balance and the happy hustle? 

[00:01:33] Cary Jack: I will say I am diaper deep and low on sleep. That is my reality right now. I’m like, I am in awe of all the mothers out there, especially breastfeeding mothers. Because it is definitely more challenging than I thought having a newborn, but also more rewarding.

[00:01:52] And, you know, what I realized about blissful balance and just happy hustling in general is, and this will be a little cliche, but your time is your most precious commodity, and you must be intentional with it. 

[00:02:09] Zach White: Full stop. 

[00:02:11] Cary Jack: Yeah. 

[00:02:13] Zach White: It’s super true. It’s interesting how these cliche statements, we, saying them again because they are cliche, but it’s like they’re cliche for a reason.

[00:02:22] There’s so much truth to it. So if somebody, you know, maybe they had. They’re like, you, they just had a kid or their second kid or their third kid, or something did shift in their world recently. And they’re feeling that overwhelm or they’re buried again, or time just seems to constantly get away from them.

[00:02:42] and it’s not working. What’s the thing that you encourage your clients to do to get that reset or to kind of get back on top? How do you claw out of the dip, so to speak, when you’re just not enough time and you’re in that scarcity mode around time? Yeah, well, the 

[00:03:01] Cary Jack: happy hustle is truly the systematic harmonization of ambition and well being, right?

[00:03:10] The systematic harmonization of ambition and well being. This is something that I fully realize it is difficult. We have so much going on in this modern day, life we live In order to actually manage it all effectively and create that blissful balance, both personally and professionally, you have to assess yourself.

[00:03:35] You have to actually measure where you are in these different areas of life. And that’s actually back on our, first pod did the assessment. We have the happy hustler assessment. if anyone wants to do that assessment live, we, did it. Yeah. Episode, I think you said 36.

[00:03:52] 36, yeah. So, you know, that’s what I would say, first and foremost, like, in order to grow, you need to know. you have to measure yourself to find where you are lacking in your life, and then you can prioritize change 

[00:04:02] Zach White: accordingly. Mm hmm. And, and I gave my real time answers to the assessment and gave a score in that episode, which was, uh, Both super rewarding and vulnerable at the same time, like, like, Oh gosh, yeah, what, how am I doing on these?

[00:04:15] for those who are on YouTube and seeing this, if you’re on audio, you can’t see it, but I highly encourage folks to go check out carry stuff. I’ve got my, my blissful balancer, which has all 10 areas. Of alignment that is a part of it. It’s not by itself, the whole system. And we may come back to that word systematic.

[00:04:34] Cause I think as an engineer, that really resonates for me and why your approach is so powerful, but take us back through just high level for those who missed episode 36, the 10 alignments, what they are, and just a little bit of the mindset of the philosophy around why these are here and, and how that fits into the system.

[00:04:56] Yeah. 

[00:04:57] Cary Jack: Well, just real quick. I burnt out as a tech entrepreneur in New York city, grinding my face off like a dog. So I feel uniquely qualified to speak to burnout. and. At the time, all I was doing was working, right? I didn’t prioritize anything but work. And maybe some of your audience can resonate. And so that’s why I really took a step back.

[00:05:17] I folded my tech company. I moved to Bangkok, Thailand for about a year. And that’s where I put the happy. My hustle started to look at my life holistically. And that’s where these 10 different areas of life came into scope. And I was like, okay. I do appreciate a good framework and I know there’s a, oh, there’s a lot of frameworks out there, you know, you got like the, the faith, the family, the fitness, the fun, four Fs or whatever, five Fs fitness too.

[00:05:43] But I just didn’t think any of them went deep enough that really resonated with me in the most multifaceted life we live, right? And so. I really sat down and it didn’t start like as flushed out, obviously no IP does, but they evolved and iterated over time. and. It came time to put it all together. And we came up with 10 different areas of life, 10 alignments of being a happy hustler.

[00:06:08] And then we were like, okay, well, people will struggle to remember 10 things, let alone three things.Most people, you got a sharp audience. Um, but the truth is we’s like, all right, we gotta, we gotta put an acronym around this, right? So. The acronym became soul mapping your soul’s map to the blissfully balanced promise land.

[00:06:29] And if you legit follow this, it will take you to exactly where you want to go. And the S in soul mapping stands for selfless service, right? Giving your Insight, your finances, your time, charitably, right? Yes. Optimized health is the O, right? Mentally, physically, emotionally being optimized, right?

[00:06:49] and being very, deliberate with your routine. The U, unplugged digitally, right? we have to actually have it a part of the equation because we are so inundated with our devices, watching Netflix, scrolling IG, soaking up YouTube content, listening to podcasts, like it’s constant, right?

[00:07:07] We have to be intentional and unplug and then the L loving relationships. That’s. You know, what it’s all about at the end of the day, the meaningful relationships in your life, your partner, your family, your friends, et cetera. So that’s the soul 

[00:07:20] Zach White: part. The soul. Let me stop you there for one second because I got a story for you.

[00:07:23] And so selfless service, optimized health, unplugged digitally and loving relationships. This morning. Johanna, my wife, who Carrie, you know, well, if you’re the listeners, if they don’t know my wife, Johanna, she pops up on the show of time to time. She’s an incredible brand designer. She’s incredibly creative, super talented, and we were talking this morning and her coach challenged her to spend more time unplugging digitally and more time in silence.

[00:07:53] And she said, um, so I’m doing this unplugging and some time in silence. And I’m really surprised by what’s happening. Maybe you can help me with this. And it’s super rare carry for her to ever ask me for coaching. Cause that’s like no coaching in the marriage. You know, there’s like no coaching in the marriage at all.

[00:08:10] And so I got perked up. I used to have, I get a question, she’s like, every time I. I turn off the noise and I unplug and I get silent. I start getting a lot of really random song lyrics in my head from like the nineties. She’s like, my head just starts to fill with these really annoying. And I get stuck in, in singing songs in my head.

[00:08:29] Like, what should I do about that? It’s like, Hey, you know what? You probably need to go out to Montana and spend some serious time in silence to get away long enough to overcome, overcome the song lyrics fiasco. The bottom line was it’s such a foreign thing. So we’re going to have to go deeper on unplugged digitally and how we can do that, because for most of us, we never do it.

[00:08:51] And when we do that initial experience is pretty awkward or uncomfortable. And so. I want to go deeper there later, but I thought you’d get a kick out of that. Like just this morning, we’re talking about unplugging digitally and she’s like, song lyrics, where are these coming from? It’s like, who knows, babe?

[00:09:08] I don’t have the answer. I had no, no good solution for, 

[00:09:11] Cary Jack: dude, that’s funny. But the, the point is though, when you do create that space and you’d like, you know, chill in the still, like you have silence, you’d be shocked what comes in your mind, like. Sometimes our best brainstorming and ideas can manifest in that stillness.

[00:09:27] So yeah, I’m a big proponent and I’m glad, uh, Johanna’s getting out. She’s on the journey. She’s on the journey. I think everyone needs to 

[00:09:34] Okay. Then the map, but then the M stands for mindful spirituality, right? Like yeah, connecting to a higher power. I personally don’t care one religion or another.

[00:09:45] I just think it’s important to have faith in something bigger than yourself. Right. A, abundance financially, you know, this is what most people think is the most important, right? Actually, it’s not it’s a piece to the puzzle, no question, but it’s not, everything you and I both know plenty of wealthy people who are completely unhappy and unfulfilled.

[00:10:06] but it is about having a system, save, invest, spend wisely and a way to, Generate leads and, create conversions and serve, your audience, or if you’re working perform at your peak as an employee for your company. So you’re, you’re really adding a lot of value, right?

[00:10:21] Zach White: So that’s a bonus financially. I, I’ve heard a lot of people say, well, Zach, if I crush it in my finances, if my abundance financially is a 10 I’m scoring well, I’m making the money. That domino falling knocks down every other domino. Like my whole life gets easier if I’m just making the money.

[00:10:40] And there’s this belief that like, somehow if I can just get the money piece, money’s going to solve all the other problems and I won’t have all these other things. And I think that’s a load of crap. But I just want to know, like, what do you, what would you say to that person? If they came into your coaching and you were working with them on the 10 alignments and they’re like, Hey, look, dude, abundance financially is number one by far because it knocks all these others out the other nine become easy.

[00:11:06] What would you say to that? 

[00:11:09] Cary Jack: I mean, I don’t even know what the song is, the song Mo Money Mo Problems, right? Like, they’re just different problems with money. Now, there’s certain things that money does solve, like, truly. And I’m not, naive to think it doesn’t help in many regards.

[00:11:24] But then there’s a lot of stuff like your self worth. And actually having joy. connecting with people that you care about feeling fulfillment. Money does not impact those like, people think, right. It’s just, and oftentimes it’s sad to me. I call it the more disease. Actually, a lot of people get infected with the more disease.

[00:11:46] They’re like, I need more money, more clients, more followers, more everything. Right. And, and unfortunately they never have enough. So they’re on this constant rampage search for more. And a lot of Americans, especially driven, type a entrepreneurs, aspiring entrepreneurs, business professionals who are really pushing, they are infected with the more disease.

[00:12:11] And for me, I got the cure and it’s gratitude. And I know again, a little cliche, but focusing on gratitude and comparing yourself to you yesterday, getting better every day. Not falling victim to the compare and despair trap of social media and all the other people and their businesses or their career path or whatever.

[00:12:32] And just getting better yourself and really, again, harmonizing that ambition and well being. That’s the cure to the 

[00:12:39] Zach White: Moore disease. All right. Abundance financially. Keep growing. 

[00:12:45] Cary Jack: All right. Then we get into personal development, growing and evolving or shrinking and dissolving. Those are your two choices.

[00:12:51] And, you know, if you’re listening to this, you’re obviously growing you care about your personal development and, I think that’s a huge piece, the second P passionate hobbies. just really focusing on doing fun things for yourself that, that bring you joy, that actually maybe you have to pay for.

[00:13:07] they don’t have anything to do with work or your family or anything else. It is just like, Hey, I’m going to go fly fishing for me or, playing soccer with the guys or training martial arts or going dance class with my, you know, my wife. I know you’re a dancer. but like this stuff matters, you know, hobbies matter.

[00:13:25] and then we get into impactful work. it’s kind of crazy to me, but according to Gallup state of the global work pace study, they said three out of every four employees worldwide are disengaged and unhappy with their work. Three out of four. Newsflash, three out of four. Yeah, it’s crazy.

[00:13:41] 79%. And, what’s crazy to me too, is that 81, 000 hours of our lives are spent working. Like the only thing we do more is sleep. And you think about it. If you’re spending that much time of your existence doing something that’s unfulfilling, that doesn’t feel impactful, you are going to be unhappy, right?

[00:14:04] So these are big pieces when you talk about holistically happy hustling a life that you love, you have to include like, okay, is your vehicle going to bring you that happiness? Or do we need to change vehicles and, and maybe different paths, right? And pivot. And I know that’s what you help a lot of people do.

[00:14:20] Mm-Hmm. And I think the work you do is so transformative, man. And it, it’s, it’s something that, like, I know I’ve seen you change lives for people and I think everyone has to consider that for themselves the, where they’re 

[00:14:31] Zach White: at right now. Impactful work. Yeah. I, I. Can’t tell you how strongly I agree with you.

[00:14:37] And the way I say it is look, the quality of your life depends on the quality of your work life. And if you don’t love your work, you’re never going to love your life. And so, yeah, I just talked to a lady yesterday, Carrie, and it just broke my heart. she’s in a career path where she’s making great money and feels completely trapped because she doesn’t want to do it.

[00:14:56] She doesn’t like it. She’s not happy in it, but she doesn’t see a way to make the same money and do something else. And, you know, just sort of has worked herself into this cognitive trap that I can’t do anything other than continue on the road that I’m on, even though it is clear to me that that road is not making me happy.

[00:15:17] And it’s just like, man, I’m so glad we’re having this conversation so we can break out of that paradigm because it’s not good. It’s not good. 

[00:15:25] Cary Jack: No, it’s not good. And just to your point, I will say, You can’t take it with you,the money, like it doesn’t go with you to the next, evolution of whatever life is for you.

[00:15:36] And oftentimes. people will sacrifice their soul for a paycheck and they die early because of that sacrifice, sacrificing, right? The stress, the anxiety, the overwhelm. It just, our society is, it’s, it’s, it’s sad right now, man. We glorify the grind in it. Unfortunately, it just isn’t something I subscribed to.

[00:15:57] Zach White: So, all right. Land the plane. What’s the end? All right. Land the plane. 

[00:16:02] Cary Jack: Nature Connection. Right. And something you and I did in the back country wilderness, right. Hanging out, connecting to this beautiful planet, but oh, by the way, protecting it, right. Being a part of the solution, voting with your dollar, being a conscious consumer, supporting B corporations.

[00:16:16] Right. And, and focusing on that triple bottom line, people, planet, and the profits and the, and the nucleus of those three, this is all part of it. And nature connection is something. That a lot of people are lacking, but that, you know, how much better you feel when you do incorporate more 

[00:16:31] Zach White: naturally, right?

[00:16:32] So good. Okay. So real quick, let’s take a sidebar and tell everybody about the Epic Adventure, Montana masterminds. And I wasn’t, I wasn’t planning on spending too much time here, but I think it’s worth it because It was June 2022, which is crazy to believe it’s already been over a year since I was out there.

[00:16:52] you invited me to join one of these epic mastermind adventures, which as you think about the soul map in alignments, optimized health, unplugging digitally, loving relationships, mindful spirituality. Personal development, passionate hobbies, nature connection. Like that one trip hits seven or eight of these hard.

[00:17:15] Yeah, yeah, yeah. So if anybody’s hearing this and they’re just thinking like, how can I absolutely put your nitrous into my blissful balance? This trip is the way to do that. You have five days in your, your backyard, essentially in Montana, not literally, but. In the, in the sticks and national forest.

[00:17:36] Yeah. Yeah. It’s just incredible, incredible place. I’d never been to Montana and I can tell you from the moment I landed, until the moment I left every single moment was memorable, impactful, and I mean, life changing in so many ways. So. First of all, it’s just a completely unasked for shameless plug.

[00:17:56] If any happy engineer who’s really seeking to find that dance between ambition and wellbeing, a systematic approach and discover this deeper. I’m just going to say, please connect with Carrie, go into the show notes, get the links and go, go inquire about that because it’s worth. A hundred times what you’re going to invest to go on that trip.

[00:18:14] It will change your life. maybe from, from your perspective, having led those trips, what do you think it is about that nature connection when somebody who’s not used to it really experiences it deeply for the first time? I mean, I know you bring a lot of entrepreneurs, a lot of business leaders in who’d never really get to do that.

[00:18:32] And then they experience it at a hundred X with you in Montana. What is it about that? Do you think that creates such a powerful shift? 

[00:18:39] Cary Jack: what happens when you’re in nature for that duration, your cortisol levels decrease, epinephrine, serotonin increase, right? You ground yourself with nature, you tune your circadian biology, You disconnect from all the noise, all the electromagnetic fields, and you just really get back to your primal roots.

[00:19:01] Not to mention, like, the amazing people that we curate in this container, like, it’s very hard to get in, we say no to people all the time because we have a no douche policy, it really is, no one wants, no one wants that guy or girl camping with you, you know what I mean? Like, it’s just, so.

[00:19:17] Well, I’ve vet people hard and it’s something that like, you just can’t get in the boardroom. You can’t get in a conference room. you know, we had a $15 million deal get struck on this last one, dude, with two guys around the campfire. It was just like two guys fully raw, real, like, I wanna buy your business.

[00:19:34] And he was like, okay. And like this is happening now. It’s like stuff like that, you know, won’t happen because you can’t build the trust with people with that transactional nature of a conference, you know, that or an event. No, no shame on them. You know, I think they’re better than not going to them. But like when you can really be raw with somebody for that extended period of time and you’re camping with them and you’re watching them brush their teeth and take a dump in the woods, it’s like really build friends and brotherhood.

[00:20:00] Like a relationship, so it’s been cool to see, man. It’s been really awesome to just kind of lead and watch them evolve. And, uh, yeah, just really, yeah. Looking forward to the next, uh, 2024 

[00:20:12] Zach White: lineup bubble. 100%. I mean, I, I would have in a past life, uh, you know, earlier, earlier, Zach, a decade ago, Zach, I would have had 10 or 20 excuses why I could not go on a trip like this.

[00:20:26] I don’t have the money for it. I don’t have the gear for it. I don’t know how to survive in the woods for this. You know, I would have had every excuse in the book. And again, I just going to challenge everybody out there. If something like this is calling at you, if you feel a nudge around this, please go after it because you got to knock those excuses down.

[00:20:45] Everything about this will level you up. Part of that will be overcoming those excuses crushing the barriers to making it happen. Blocking the time for a lot of my clients carry the idea. Of being disconnected from their phone for five days straight without being able to check a text, check an email.

[00:21:04] They don’t even know how to make that happen. They’re so plugged in their team depends on them in such a way they haven’t built a system or delegation in a way where they’re even able to do that. So just to force this, into your world could be massive. Could be massive. 

[00:21:19] Cary Jack: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:21:21] It was the fact that you have to like that you are going to be off the grid, which forces you to be systematized. And it’s crazy actually what it does for your business, where then you, you create, KPIs for your team in your absence. And then you have, a hierarchy checks and balances, you fix your org chart, like stuff happens because of your preparation on it.

[00:21:40] Not to mention your physical body. Cause it’s no cake walk, where we go and how we get there. It’s you’re on your own two feet. There’s a lot there, but yeah, I, I’m just grateful for you. And thank you for the kind words, man. I mean, it’s just, 

[00:21:50] Zach White: Awesome. Plus I have my signature bear story for my keynotes came from that event, which you probably kind of scratch your head and be like, wait a minute, Zach.

[00:22:02] We didn’t actually see any bears on our trip, which is true. There were, there were no actual bear sightings, but I have this brilliance. Do you remember when Ninja took off after that black? Lab in the hike that day. Do you remember that situation? Yes. So, so. So you may not remember, okay, this is, I wasn’t going to go here.

[00:22:20] We got to go here. 10 minutes before that moment, we crossed that Creek and, um, we looked at the bear prints in the mud along the tracks. Yeah. Ton of tracks. Right. so you and, um. Gosh, what’s Robin hood’s first name? I Corey, Corey Hawk. So, so you, you and you and Corey are talking about the tracks and showing all this stuff and you know, here’s Zach white and these other entrepreneurs, a bunch of rookies.

[00:22:46] We don’t know what we’re doing in the woods. There were a couple, there were a couple other legit outdoors men in our group, but a lot of us were newer to this. Yeah. And while it was really interesting to see, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t also create a little. spike in the fight or flight nervous system.

[00:23:00] My, my sympathetic nervous system was kicking in. Cause it’s like, Oh goodness. You know, there’s, there’s bears around here. This is a real thing. I need to pay attention. And I got bear spray on my belt. Right. Well, that priming, that conditioning of thinking about bears. Yeah, just minutes before when ninja took off after that lab and I looked ahead and saw a black animal in the past.

[00:23:23] It was huge too. It was a, it was a black bear in my head. A hundred percent. I was freaking out. And like, I don’t know if you saw this, but you, you were kind of running up after your dog. A few of us like huddled up. We’re pulling out the bear spread going nuts. Like this is on. It’s like, where’s the mom?

[00:23:41] We’re dead meat. Oh. And, and then finally we realized. You know, what felt like a minute was probably 10 seconds, right? And we realized it’s, it’s not a black bear. It’s a black Labrador or whatever. It’s a dog. But I use that story now to talk about the importance of mindset and perspective and conditioning our minds to think about the things we want.

[00:24:04] Because, you know, when you’re expecting to see a bear. Everything looks like a bear. When you, your mindset about life is this is how it’s going to be my belief system is this is what’s possible. This is what’s not possible. It limits you. And so that that story has become one of my, my signature stories about mindset and the importance of priming your mind every day to show up.

[00:24:27] And expect the kind of success and results that you’re expecting to create. Otherwise, you go through life at the mercy of just seeing bears everywhere you turn around and that’s not even what’s going on. 

[00:24:39] Cary Jack: So that’s a great, that’s a great epiphany from that. And yeah, I think it’s a wise, lesson for anyone, it’s, I think they call it the RAS, the reticular activating system.

[00:24:49] And it’s like, when you are looking at buying a Tesla, you see every Tesla on the road, right? It’s because your RAS, your reticular activating systems looking for that Tesla, right. Even subconsciously. So yeah, love that 

[00:25:00] Zach White: point. So good. Well, Carrie, I, I know you have. A completely overhauled version of your book, the happy hustle that’s coming out in 2024.

[00:25:12] And I’ve read the first edition. I loved it. As I mentioned, you know, I’ve got my blissful balancer. I use this every week as a way to keep myself in alignment. I love your stuff. I love what you do, but, tell us a little bit about what’s going on. With version 2. 0, and maybe we can double click on one of these alignments that you’ve updated and brought some more power to with the new version and what you’re releasing from all you’ve learned over the years as a happy hustler.

[00:25:43] so tell us about what’s going on, what, what’s changed and added to the book. And then maybe pick one of these that you think would be really impactful for us to double click on. 

[00:25:53] Cary Jack: we say radically revised and entirely enhanced, right? The version 2. 0. And the reason is because this is a whole year rewrite.

[00:26:04] I paid a, a pretty prominent publishing company to do a full overhaul design, edit, copy, edit. we took out a lot of stuff. It’s much more professional, less pictures of me and my speedos. All there is one huge highlight of the first edition, right? And, uh, you know, the thing is we actually put data to like, and I know your audience is analytical and wants that data, right.

[00:26:32] That research. And so we put a lot of scientific research and data in there to just validate. Also for, for teams, for people who are happy hustling and they want their company to happy hustle too. We talk about how you can do that. it’s definitely a far better book, so much more proud of it.

[00:26:49] And we actually went through and put new acronyms. So it’s an acronym within an acronym, right? Soul mapping is the higher arching one. And then you have acronyms for each of the 10 different alignments. And we also have action tasks and happy hustle hacks, but you know, one that I think would probably be relevant for everybody, is the unplugged digitally since we were talking about it, 

[00:27:15] something that I think we have to actually have a system around.

[00:27:20] Or else We just fall victim to our, behavior. And our impulse that we have to have a system. And I like to use the acronym break. Right. And so break stands for barriers, recharge, eliminate. Airplane mode and keep. So first we got to build barriers, right? Build barriers very simply could mean first 30 minutes in the morning.

[00:27:46] When you wake up, you don’t touch your devices 30 minutes before you go to bed, you don’t have devices on you, right? So it’s like that simple barrier will give you solace in the morning, And in the evening, when you go to bed, 

[00:28:00] Zach White: that’s really good. Then I’ll tell you an example of that.

[00:28:03] One of my clients really struggled. Not having the phone in the pocket and and then once it’s in the pocket, you’re always paying attention to it and he’s got kids and so I said, All right, how about this? let’s let your kids do an activity. To build a house for your phone, get a shoe box, get, get an Amazon box, whatever, and, and it’s a craft arts and crafts night.

[00:28:25] You do it with them. You’re going to, you’re going to make a house for your phone. And when you come home, the kids get to take your phone out of your pocket and they get to be the ones to put it in the box during dinner. Cause that was, that was like his sacred thing is he just wanted to have. A couple hours with his kids uninterrupted and he was struggling to be present.

[00:28:44] It’s like, well, what’s, what’s disrupting you? Well, guess what? His phone goes shocker, but it’s exactly what you said. There was no barrier. And so we use that little exercise as a way to not just create the barrier, but then get some accountability from some invested stakeholders. You know, his kids, they want to spend time with dad.

[00:29:01] So I love this 

[00:29:02] Cary Jack: barriers. I believe consequences create commitment. Super. Right. Consequences create commitment And when you have consequences, I would even take it a step further. If you do touch your phone in the first 30 minutes, you have to donate. Thousand bucks to the opposite political party that you don’t like, or, you know, don’t believe in, right?

[00:29:28] Like think about that motivation, right? That’s the kind of stuff that I do with the happy hustle guys. You know, we have consequences now it could be anything that you really, you know, want to set forth. Maybe it’s your favorite dessert. You don’t eat, right. Or, you know, your favorite show you can’t watch or whatever.

[00:29:45] Right. But it’s gotta hurt. You know, in order to create that, that commitment, 

[00:29:49] Zach White: but 

[00:29:49] Cary Jack: that’s how you can make sure you get 

[00:29:51] Zach White: stuff done, set a barrier. And if you’re struggling, give yourself a consequence to up the ante and increase your accountability to it. I love that. Exactly. 

[00:30:01] Cary Jack: So then we get to the R which is recharge regularly, right?

[00:30:04] So when your phone’s charging, you need to recharge and that means really getting yourself primed and making sure that. you are not having the monkey mind you know, you need to take some magnesium before bed or CBD or whatever, like, so you can really truly recharge and just let it all go.

[00:30:20] Maybe you need to journal. Right. And just do a brain dump, right. Stuff like that to really recharge. Then you get to the E eliminate excess usage. So I think a lot of people, we get caught in the death scroll. Right. Where you’re just like, what, where’d that hour go? Unfortunately, we are outgunned as human beings by, no offense, but the Silicon Valley tech nerds and people who are coding these apps and really building the algorithms that are addictive.

[00:30:47] Some of them 

[00:30:48] Zach White: listen to this show. They know full well that they’ve got us 

[00:30:52] Cary Jack: outgunned. They do. And I mean nerds in all the best ways, but they are experts at addiction, right? Yeah, exactly. Into their, their apps, because the more attention you give your app. Your phone, the more advertising dollars they make, and that’s the model, right?

[00:31:10] So you need to create, a form of elimination so that, you know, Hey. Sundays. I do a complete Sunday dopamine detox. I don’t touch my phones. Right. Or for me, I like to do a seven day dopamine detox every quarter. And it’s so crazy to me too. On this note, look at my statements. it’s like clockwork.

[00:31:29] I’ll more money that seven days than the whole rest of the month. Like all the rest of the month combined from just that one, seven days of just being focused, right. Without all the dopamine. So it’s like no phone, uh, for YouTube Instagram you know, Netflix or anything that provides dopamine.

[00:31:46] Now, if you need your phone for work and you’re making like a sales call, you can use it, but like, you eliminate the rest of that stuff. Then you get to the A airplane mode, which is one of my favorite features on the phone. If you didn’t know, like people, you can just swipe down on it and just press the little airplane button, right?

[00:32:03] That’s like, it’s not that difficult. You don’t have to be in an airplane to press it. You know, and it completely eliminates the signal. So you won’t get calls or texts or notifications. And it’s a marvelous feature. So 

[00:32:19] Zach White: this is funny. Cause, uh, you know, I got these super brilliant engineering. Leaders that we talk to and work with and you don’t want to patronize or talk down to somebody, but it’s sometimes it’s like we do need to just come off our ivory tower of intelligence in life and kind of humble ourselves a little bit like, Hey, you know, there’s a feature called airplane mode and you can, you can turn that on, you can turn that on and it might just save you a little, a little trouble in the evenings or whatever.

[00:32:50] Yeah. What I found is the simplicity of the solution. It’s almost a barrier for us sometimes to using it, which is the weirdest it’s too easy, Carrie. It can’t be that easy. And so I don’t know. I’m just, does that resonate for you? Like sometimes people almost don’t want to do stuff. Cause it’s, it’s like, it’s too easy.

[00:33:07] Or is it, am I missing something? Is there some other real reason why, why we don’t take advantage of airplane mode, for example. I honestly, 

[00:33:16] Cary Jack: I don’t know. I, I think habitually, we just like fall victim to, again, our impulses, but yeah, it can be so simple. Like you want to give your, significant other full presence at the dinner table.

[00:33:29] Okay. Leave your phone in the other room or don’t take it on date night. That’s not a hard solution to the problem, but we don’t do it. You’re right. Or most people don’t, but those 

[00:33:43] Zach White: who do. this just popped in. I’m so glad you said this. I’ve told a lot of my engineering leaders, I coach. You’re relying on discipline when you need to rely on design, it’s not, it’s not a discipline problem.

[00:33:59] It’s a design problem. I like that. don’t put your phone on the table and try to be so disciplined that you don’t pick it up. To your point, put the phone in the other room. Let’s design a better solution. Exactly. And the other D if so in the spirit of acronyms or like, uh, acronyms alliteration, sometimes people blame desire, you’ve got a desire problem.

[00:34:22] You don’t want it bad enough. Carrie, you don’t want to spend the whole night with your spouse or fiance or whoever, you know, a person in your life partner and be fully present. You don’t want it bad enough. How many times have I been told? I don’t want something bad enough. That’s why I don’t have it.

[00:34:37] It’s like, I actually really, really want it bad. It’s like, I really want this. Yeah. But you got to design problems. Like you haven’t actually solved for the environment or the, to your point, the system, what’s the system let’s get smart design. So stop relying on desire and discipline and start designing a system.

[00:34:56] It’s like 

[00:34:56] Cary Jack: that’s gold. I love that. I might even have to do a podcast, rift on that and I’ll give you credit for sure. Okay, brother. All right. But yeah, that’s really it. And then you get to the case, which is keep, speaking of discipline, like keep control and just be disciplined.

[00:35:11] discipline equals freedom as Jocko Willink says, and it’s like, you really have to have it in order to be unplugged in this day and age because, we just fall victim again to the ease and the convenience and the comfort of our devices, the scroll, it’s sad. how little stillness and quiet we have nowadays.

[00:35:33] It’s, even myself, I find myself, you know, and that’s why I have an acronym for, for, we won’t get too deep into this one, but for mindful spirituality, which is SITS, C I T S. And I literally remind myself to sits my ass down and chill in the still, that’s the acronym, chill in the still, right. And I just got to sit down and do it.

[00:35:55] So that’s, uh, well, yeah, that’s the, that is the break acronym barriers, recharge, eliminate airplay mode and keep. So there it is. Super. Anyone wants to unplug 

[00:36:06] Zach White: digitally? You know, all I’ll add to, to this. I think sometimes we, we just don’t take that one extra step of taking your book, sitting down with each piece of this and asking, what is the barrier I need to set right now?

[00:36:25] Don’t overcomplicate it, decide quickly, take action on it and go. Do I even know what recharges me? That’s amazing how often Carrie, I’ll talk to an engineer and they’re in our coaching program and I’ll say, Hey, you know, you’re, you’re burning out. You gotta get some energy in the tank, some fuel in the tank.

[00:36:44] What are the top five things that you know, if you invest some time there, that it will recharge you? And they don’t have an answer. They don’t even know because it’s been so long since they’ve really put themselves as a priority or whatever. So I just, again, if you don’t have a copy of Carrie’s book, or even if you have edition one, go out, we’re going to give you the links and everything.

[00:37:06] pre order the Happy Hustle 2. 0. What’d you say? Uh, something radically revised and entirely enhanced, entirely enhanced version. I’ll be getting my copy as well. So, so Carrie real quick, where can everybody find you? The book they want to jump out right away and preorder a bunch of copies for themselves, their family, their friends, how can they do that?

[00:37:28] Cary Jack: you could just go to thehappyhustle. com forward slash book, and if you pre order the book before it goes live, we actually have over 350 worth of bonuses, like legit bonuses, like masterclasses, that parlays with it, a whole bunch of resources, and much more, and then if you do feel called to get more copies, we have some pretty awesome Bulk incentives.

[00:37:50] So if you buy like five copies, we have a really cool virtual summit. got a half day mastermind in a group format. We have a private VIP day with me and like a podcast feature and some really cool, like bulk. So, you know, obviously get one. if you’re liking the message and you know, if you want more, there’s actually some pretty cool incentives.

[00:38:07] So, uh, but yeah, that’s the best place to happy hustle. com forward slash 

[00:38:10] Zach White: book. Okay. Yeah, that’s brilliant. And we’re just so people as they’re listening to this in the future, obviously, most people probably hear it right when it releases, but it’s going to be December 2023 as this is coming out.

[00:38:22] And the actual book launches roughly when, at least at this point in time, yeah. Okay. April 2024. So if it’s before April 2024, get your butt out to the website and buy some, some pre orders so you could take advantage of those. Uh, incredible bonuses. And if it’s after that, sorry about you, but you still need to get a copy of Carrie’s book.

[00:38:44] So, so go make that happen. Carrie, let’s, let’s see. I’m excited to see maybe if anything different or what’s shifted for you as we, we wrap up today. You know, this from our last time chatting, you know, this is an amazing coach yourself. Questions lead. Answers follow, and we’re all on the search. We’re all on the hunt for great answers in our life.

[00:39:06] You know, how do I stay in blissful balance? How do I dig into this, unplug digitally and get results from it, we all want good answers. So for the happy engineer, who’s looking for great answers in their career and in their life. What would be the question that you would lead them with today?

[00:39:25] Cary Jack: what does success actually look like for you? get really clear and define it.

[00:39:33] And that’s something we do for each of the 10 alignments. You look at what does a five mean for my optimized health? Like really defining it. What does a five mean for my abundance financially? What does a five mean for my nature connection, right? as a bow hunter, if I am going to shoot my bow and I don’t have a clear target, I’m going to miss every time.

[00:40:00] Yet most people, we never ask ourselves the question of what is the target? What does success actually look like? And specifically break it down at those 10 different areas. So that’s what I would ask everyone 

[00:40:11] Zach White: to ask themselves. Hmm. Well, what a perfect. system to follow, to create the specificity, because I agree, specific answers and clarity is the biggest gap for 99 percent of the engineering leaders that I talk to and coach, they think they know the answer of what do I want?

[00:40:34] What is success? And it’s something. Broad and generic and vanilla, or it’s just a direction. It’s like a thrust or a vector. Maybe he’s a nerdy terms. Like they have a vector they want to head towards, but there’s no specificity. It’s I want to make more money. Cool. How much, I don’t know more than today.

[00:40:54] Okay. So I’ll give you a dollar. Are we done? you can pay me my full fee. I just sent you a buck, Oh, okay. That’s not what you meant. So what do you mean? Super powerful question. What is success? And even more reason to get a copy of the happy hustle 2. 0. So you can go through each of these alignments and get clear.

[00:41:11] On exactly what success means for you in each one. Carrie, I love you, man. Thanks for making time today. I know we don’t get to see each other as much as I would like to. Hopefully I’ll be back in Montana for another epic mastermind soon. You know, if I call it, you got such a high bar for the, uh, for the events, but come on out, man.

[00:41:27] You’re always welcome. Awesome. Until next time, brother. 

[00:41:32] Cary Jack: Peace and love everyone.