Jeff Howell: Labor Day And The Entrepreneurial Mindset!

Hey, everybody. How’s it going? This is Jeff coming at you with another mindset Monday. And today I wanted to drop a few thoughts about Labor Day and the entrepreneurial mindset. So today is Labor Day in the United States. And for those of you who don’t know, Labor Day came about from the labor movement in the late 1800s where workers were trying to gain more rights because they were being exploited as far as like work shifts, the amount of pay they were getting. Of course, they probably weren’t getting any kind of benefits, and the conditions that the workers were having to work in were very extreme and exploitative. So the movement gained steam over the late 1800s and into the 1900s. And slowly but surely, workers were given more and more rights, pay and all of that so that they wouldn’t be exploited as much. They’re still exploited, in my opinion, which is why I became an entrepreneur to begin with, because I realized that there was no way I was ever going to really get ahead financially and freedom wise if I wasn’t able to write my own ticket, create my own opportunities and take advantage of opportunities and really just guide my own ship in life and in my career. So that’s why I became an entrepreneur. And so here I am on Monday on Labor Day, and it’s no big thing for me to get up and work just like I normally do on any other day. Why? Because I have the freedom to not work if I want number one.

And number two, I love what I do. So I wasn’t sure if we were like, we always have a Monday meeting. I have a couple of standing meetings on Monday actually, and the one company meeting I wasn’t. I just wanted to clarify, are we having the meeting? And yesterday Patrick texted and said, Hey, yeah, if you are available, let’s have the meetings. Like, heck yeah, I’m available because, you know, I’m I’m working just like I would any other day because I love what I do and I don’t need to take some arbitrary day off just to get a break from the grind of what I do. And I’m clocking in from 9 to 5 and whatnot. Like entrepreneurship is a road that in my opinion, you don’t clock out of. So in that path I’m always on, so to speak, I can take time off and I can step away and I can recharge and all of that. But at the same time, you know, there’s there’s never a time when I’m completely off. Like there’s always that thought in the back of my mind that I could be doing this, I could be doing that, I could be doing more. And so I just go back to flow and I flow through that as far as like when I do take time off. But it has no connection to any kind of like an arbitrary day that people say, okay, well it’s Labor Day or it’s this holiday or it’s that holiday. Like work is just something that I do, and I’m always thinking about it.

I’m always sort of meditating on and coming up with solutions along the way instead of it being like, Oh, I can clock in and clock out and leave that behind and not think about work. Like that’s impossible for me because work is such an integral part of who I am and what I do on a daily basis, how I spend my time, my energy and my resources. So if you’re taking the day off, that’s great. If that’s in flow and that’s the time for you to take a pause and step back and and take a little break, that’s great. But if you’re an entrepreneur and you’re just arbitrarily saying, Well, I’m going to take the day off just because, you know, somebody said it was time to take the day off. I don’t think that’s that’s true entrepreneurship. I think the entrepreneurial mindset is really about how can I move the ball further down the field at any given moment to the best of my ability and create relationships, create opportunities and solutions so that that I can get to reach the goals that I’ve set forth for myself. And again, not kind of lean on these arbitrary times to take off. So I have the utmost respect for the labor force and people who do work 9 to 5, they are where they are in their lives and they have the their own beliefs, their own approach to how they live their lives. And there’s no there’s no judgment of that.

But it’s just not where I’m at as an entrepreneur. And I think that anybody who’s truly in the entrepreneurial mindset is not going to be there. So I just wanted to drop a couple of thoughts about that today and remind you that entrepreneurship requires a dedication that goes beyond what a 9 to 5 worker would be able to commit to. That sometimes these kinds of holidays or different arbitrary time frames of, oh, we’re going to have a holiday. It doesn’t necessarily need to affect you. And in fact, probably it shouldn’t. And if you’re arbitrarily taking a day off just because somebody says it’s a it’s a it’s a standard holiday, maybe check yourself and say, am I as committed as I think I am to reaching the goals that I’ve set forth for myself? Because if I’m just taking a day off, just because somebody says that I can, where is my commitment? Where’s my dedication? Where is my love for the game? Where is my love for the path to, you know, for the entrepreneurial journey in general? So those are my thoughts for today. I hope you enjoy your day no matter what you do. I know I’m going to go have a couple of meetings. I’m going to create some solutions. I’m going to innovate and I’m going to move the ball down the field in as much of a way as I possibly can, because that’s what I do. All right. Take care. Have a great day. And I’ll see you on the next one piece.