Bosses craft a fulfilling life, which includes investing in quality relationships with family and friends—connecting and nurturing relationships with people who encourage and help bring out the best in them. Bosses insist on a healthy lifestyle in which personal health is a priority, including getting enough sleep, eating well, and listening to their bodies. Bosses have hobbies outside work that keep them learning and challenging themselves in ways that make them lifelong learners. Being boss means that you’re intentionally multifaceted, and you have the capacity to have it all if you work hard enough to build a life that you love.
You’re going to hear us say “Do the work” over and over again, so get used to it. Our motto and the thing we say every time we sign off our podcast is “Do the work; be boss.” The two go hand in hand: doing the work comes first, and being boss is a product of that work.
Doing the work is everything that happens between the wanting and the having. It’s the little steps that take you from point A to point B. It’s not grand flourishes of awesome; it’s the daily grind that moves you forward. In fact, the work is the most un-Instagrammable part of the boss process. Doing the work looks like getting out of bed, brushing your teeth, and putting your game face on. It’s opening the file, making that phone call, and practicing your craft. Doing the work is living your life and doing your job. Consistently, persistently, every single day.
Here’s the deal: there are a lot of books, programs, and blueprints that are going to make empty promises and set unrealistic expectations—we do not make any guarantees. We will teach you what we’ve learned from living as creative entrepreneurs, working with hundreds of creatives, and interviewing some of the most brilliant minds of our times, but it won’t make any difference if you don’t do the work. We’ll shine a light on the path, but we can’t walk it for you.
Does this give you deer-in-the-headlights anxiety? The thing that will temper the overwhelming pressure is twofold: a commitment to enjoying the process and trust that it will get you where you want to go. When you commit to enjoying the process, you’re doing work that energizes you and living a life that you love. That may require a shift in your career, your role within your business, or your living situation, or it simply may require a shift in how you think about what you do. That’s for you to decide—do the work. When you trust the process, you release worry and anxiety and find fulfillment. You release expectations of the outcome. The more you trust yourself, the more you turn into a self-reliant, awesome boss, learning your lessons and making strides every step of the way.
Doing the work is what separates the dreamers and the talkers from the doers. It’s what separates the hobbyists from the professionals. It’s what separates the amateurs from the bosses.
Want chicken alfredo made from scratch for dinner? Do the work.
Want to be a gold-medalist gymnast? Do the work.
Want to support your family with your creative career? Do the work.
Hit a snag along the way? (Because you will!) Get back to work.
If you’re not willing to do the work, then put this book down now. We’re done. And while you’re off doing whatever it is you think is cooler than making your dreams come true, consider getting your shit together. We’ll be right here waiting for you when you boss the fuq up.
For those of you ready to dive in, here’s a promise and a warning: we promise that the payoff will be good. Doing the work will lead you somewhere. If you have a clear trajectory in mind and do the work, you will make it somewhere you want to go.
But we warn you that it may look like nothing you ever imagined. It will usually look similar, but rarely exactly like you planned. It may not be on your timeline. There are infinite variables pushing and pulling your efforts in directions that our small brains are incapable of comprehending, and that mystery is part of the fun. Being boss is a careful dance between getting clear and doing the work, and letting go of expectations and trusting the process. Get ready to hand yourself over to the lifelong game of being boss.
Ready to do the work? Let’s get started.
If you’re happy with the process, then the outcome doesn’t matter as much.
—PAUL JARVIS, “PODCAST LIKE A BOSS,” BEING BOSS, EPISODE 75