James Laughlin’s YouTube talk urges viewers to confront the fear behind excuses that keep them in unfulfilling jobs. He argues that staying comfortable can cost years of joy and fulfillment—citing the Japanese term karoshi (death by overwork), one-third-of-life work statistics, and client anecdotes about work’s harmful spillover into family life. He encourages listeners to evaluate how they feel about work (Sunday night vs Friday afternoon), consider long-term costs, and take action toward careers aligned with values; closes with a subscribe/join CTA.
Chapters
But isn't it easy just to be safe? Isn't it easy just to be comfortable? And there's security in that. Maybe next year something will come along and I'll maybe wait till the next milestone. We come up with these excuses. Well, beneath every excuse lies a fear.
The fear of changing career, right? We've all been there. I've definitely been there. When you're sitting in a job and it feels a little bit mediocre, you feel a little bit bored, you maybe not being motivated or challenged enough. We have all been there. But isn't it easy just to be safe? Isn't it easy just to be comfortable? And there's security in that. Oh, maybe next year something will come along and maybe wait till the next milestone. We come up with these excuses. Well, beneath every excuse lies a fear. There's always fear underneath an excuse. And I want you to think about that. If you ever on say a Sunday night, have that feeling of, oh, tomorrow, gotta go to work. In fact, this week I bumped into, I was dropping my son off to preschool and I bumped into another father and we just dropped our little ones off and we're coming out to the car and I said, hello, and how you going? And he says, oh, another day. And he was off to work. He was in his work uniform, off the work. Just another day. I thought, wow, what a life. If you ever catch yourself going on, it's just another day, another day, another dollar. You know those little one liners that we catch ourselves saying, that's a wake up call. This life is a one shot deal. You know, I say that over and over. I'm like a broken record. Life is a one shot deal. Start living life with that in mind. Don't settle for a job that doesn't stimulate you. Don't settle for a job that doesn't challenge you. Don't settle for a job where you have, you know, colleagues around you who bicker and gossip and bring out the worst in you. What is the true cost to you of staying in a job that you're not happy in? You could have been in it for five years, 20 years, five months. And you think, I have a better stay a bit longer? You know, I owe it to the company or all its stability. But what's it going to cost you if you don't make that change if you don't go with what your intuition is telling you? Well, let's look at a term called karoshi. The Japanese have an actual word called karoshi which means death by overwork right now, please don't think it's just the Japanese who are dying because of overworking, Right? This happens all over the Western world. People are doing overtime, extra time. Some people are doing 50, 60, 70 hours a week of work. Right? That's madness. I still even think 40 hours is madness. But when you're working so much, it takes a toll. Often when we're working, we're in the same position. Some of us sitting at a desk, some of us standing all day. That takes its toll physically. But when you're doing something that doesn't truly align with your passions and your purpose, it also takes away from your sense of fulfillment. So to go through 30, 40, 50 years in a career that doesn't truly fulfill you, what a waste of opportunity. What a waste of a beautiful life. I want you to think about that. What would you say to yourself on your last breath if you knew that you went through a career that didn't bring you joy? You went through a career that was mediocre? Let's face it, most of us, I think it's 60% of the world's population, because there's a large percentage of the population that don't live like you and I, who don't go to work. They live in, you know, developing countries. It's very different, different scenarios. But for those of us who are in, say, North America, Europe, Australasia, South America, wherever you might be, I want you to think about this. One third of our lives is spent at work. 1/3. Over 30% of our lives spent working. Now, if someone told you at the end of your life, hey, just let's take a look back. A third of your life was miserable. The other third you slept, and the other third you kind of complained about the miserable job you had. Right? That sounds horrific. And I know most of you guys are not going to go down that route, but so many of us settle for mediocrity. If you want to live a life of joy, never settle for mediocrity. Always take the hill. Always take that hill. And know where that hill takes you when you're taking the hill rather than the valley. It's going to be hard. When you take the hill, you're going to have to sweat. When you take the hill, you're going to have to sacrifice things. But hey, all great things require sacrifice. I want to tell you about a client. She was the gm, the general manager of a big consulting firm. And there was a family connection within that firm, and she felt that she had to do the work There. And there was the family connection. But she was miserable. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. She was miserable. She was working a lot of hours. She was doing a lot of travel, away from her beautiful kids and her partner. And the boss that she was reporting to was a very poor communicator. The boss that she was reporting to wasn't very compassionate. She didn't really care about the time that this general manager had to spend away from her family. The general manager became more and more resentful of what this job was requiring her to sacrifice, and she went through many months of it. We started chatting about how she was feeling about life. She broke down in tears. She was miserable. She was in a really, really bad way. All because of her work. Her place of work had such an impact. And when people tell you this, guys, you know, business or work and home life are totally separate things. That is pure nonsense. Work and what you do at home, they work hand in hand. When you're not happy at work, you bring it home and you complain about it, right? When you're not happy at home, you are underperforming at work and often complaining about what's happening at home, at work, to your colleagues. So it's important that both those things blend well and that they are harmonious. So I got chatting with this client around where she's at and why she's doing it. And she felt like she had to do it because of the family connection and she owed it to them. And I asked her one question. We were two or three sessions in the. Really taking this whole thing apart because she'd been in this career for a while. It was paying ridiculously good money, and she was reluctant to step away because of those perks. But I asked her the question, and I said, how do you want to be remembered by your kids? And she broke down. Broke down. And she said, I can't do this anymore. This. I can't be in this career. I'm not with my kids. And when I am, I'm miserable and I'm tired and I'm grumpy. She was drinking lots of wine to try and cope. Such unhealthy, you know, such a really unhealthy, toxic environment for her. So two days later, she rings me up. James. I just resigned. And she had such a weight off her shoulders and she was able to move forward. She took some time. Then she found a career that suited her lifestyle, that aligned with her values. She had a boss that she could respect and a boss that understood her. Give her the time that she needed to be a present. Mom. Now I want to ask you, do you love your work? Please answer that absolutely authentically. Do you love your work? Are you in love with your work? Secondly, how do you feel on a Sunday night versus how do you feel on a Friday afternoon if those two things are far apart and you don't feel that great on Sunday and you're starting to kind of dwell on work and go, oh, another day. And then on Friday you're like, yes, it's Friday afternoon. Party up. That is a red flag. That's a little internal indicator to say, hey, something's quite wrong here. You're spending the bulk of your week doing something that doesn't tick. All your boxes. No green lights there, lots of red flags. And the last question I want you to ask yourself is, am I willing to spend a third of my life doing something I don't enjoy? Am I willing to spend a third of my life doing something I don't enjoy? Because essentially, when you turn up to work and you kind of like it, well, you don't enjoy it, you're not loving it. Are you willing to spend a third of your precious life, the one life, and I keep going on about it, it's a one shot deal. Are you willing to spend that precious time, a third of it, doing something that doesn't bring you great amounts of joy? Well, look, I hope that this has inspired you to think about the career that you're in. Think about your job. Ask yourself the questions. It's okay to be in love with your job. It's also okay to not enjoy your job. What's not okay is imprisoning yourself for a third of your life doing something that doesn't bring you happiness, fulfillment, connection, action, joy. And I want you to think about this. You don't have 500 years to live. Stop living every day like you do. Start living every day like it's your last. Hey guys, if you enjoyed the content today, please smash that subscribe button below. And if you want to become part of my community, I've got an amazing free Facebook group. Please come and join us. The link is is in the description below. And also if you've got any questions about today's session, I'd love to know. Just comment below and I'll be sure to get back to you guys. Have the most amazing day.
