My friend, Chris, sent me an email that linked the the photo shared above. His email said…

“Hi Cliff, I saw this post in my LinkedIn feed today. While I understand some of what he’s saying, i.e. entrepreneurship is hard, I just felt that parts of what he said don’t ring true.

I’m curious to know what you think about what he says here. Agree, disagree or it depends?

Have a good one, Chris”

I clicked on the link in the email which took me to a post that Gary Vaynerchuck posted to his LinkedIn account.

Here's what he wrote…

“This is a picture of me.

I'm catching up on some sleep on the floor of an airport between meetings. My videographer captured the picture.

Now, don’t get me wrong … I’m not encouraging anyone to work to the point of burnout or exhaustion. I just want to share my truth and the lifestyle that I’m actually living.

Here are a few points about entrepreneurship and starting your own business that I really want to make sure everyone understands:

1. It’s unbelievably lonely. 


2. You have to deal with a lot of mental pressure and stress that comes with being the “last line of defense” at an organization. 


3. You need to have the internal strength to deal with the judgement that the outside world deploys on you when (not if) you lose.

4. If you aspire to live a top 1% life aka finding your happiness (i.e. running a business that funds your life on your own terms), you're going to have to work hard and give up some leisure for that to happen … depending on your ambition.

There are so many people who are going to get crushed over the next few years because they're starting companies, when they could've succeeded “within the system” at big companies.

I implore you all to get real self-aware about who you are, and navigate your life around that. Not who you wish you were.”

In this episode, I share my thoughts on Hard Work and Sacrifice and also my direct response to the photo and the words that Gary shared in his post.