How to Avoid the New Rat Race
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Summary
1. Justin Gentry, host of the Unbossed Life podcast, discusses transitioning from employee to entrepreneur.
2. The episode focuses on avoiding the "new rat race" in business.
3. Paul Palmer, ex-NFL athlete, is quoted: "A rat race can only be won by a rat."
4. Britannica Dictionary defines the rat race as the unpleasant life of competing hard for money, power, and status.
5. Justin emphasizes avoiding comparing oneself to others and not competing with them.
6. Justin shares his experience of comparing himself to a virtual mentor and realizing it was unfair due to different life stages.
7. Justin describes a family bike ride on Mackinac Island, illustrating the importance of enjoying the journey rather than competing.
8. Justin advocates for seeing others as co-laborers, not competitors, and focusing on serving others with excellence.
9. Justin encourages listeners to stay out of the rat race by focusing on their own path and avoiding competition and comparison.
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Transcript
[00:00:00.000]
Welcome to the Unbossed Life. I'm your host, Justin Gentry, and it is my goal to help you move from being an employee to being an entrepreneur. You can grow a business, leave the grind behind, and create a life you love. Are you ready? Let's get started. Thanks for joining me on this episode of the Unbossed Life. I'm excited to be with you today and I'm thankful that you're spending just a few minutes with me here as we talk about moving forward with your entrepreneurial dreams and creating a life you love. I'm going to ask you to bear with me here. I'm in Northern Indiana and experiencing some allergies. I don't know if you have those, but boy, they can be tough once in a while for me around this season of the year. Last couple of years haven't been too bad, but this year it's been a bit of a challenge. But hey, I'm moving forward, and I trust you don't mind, and you'll be encouraged by today's episode. Today, we're going to talk about how to avoid the new rat race. How to avoid the new rat race. Paul Palmer, who's a former NFL athlete, and he played for the Chiefs and for the Lions and as well as the Cowboys, he said, People sometimes forget that a rat race can only be won by a rat.
[00:01:32.810]
What do you think of that? I really like that. That's a good way to put it. People sometimes forget that a rat race can only be won by a rat. Well, I'm certain that at Palmer's level, he saw a lot of people that were running the rat race, even at that success level in professional sports. There's people that are scurrying around if you will, trying to get all that they can get and have this competition mindset off the field as well. And you see this in other industries as well in life in general. But if you're anything like me, you don't want to be in a rat race. You don't want to be the rat that wins either. I mean, what a way to look at it. Obviously, the idea of a rat race has always had this negative connotation to it. But have you ever really thought about what it means? Have you ever thought, I wonder where that phrase comes from or how it's defined? Sometimes we hear these expressions over and over again, and we get the gist or the idea of the phrase, but what does it mean? Well, there's been several explanations, but the Britannica Dictionary says this, that it's the unpleasant life of people who have jobs that require them to work very hard in order to compete with others for money, power, status, etc.
[00:03:18.030]
Wow. And then here's some examples it gives. You know how you read in your dictionary, and then they give examples of how a word or a phrase is used. And the examples they gave were really practical. She is quitting the rat race to spend time with her family, or he wants to get out of the rat race. They went out of that unpleasant life. That unpleasant job requires them to work very hard just to compete with others for the slice of the pie, for that slice of money, for that 3% raise each year, or or just a little bit more power or a title or some status. We don't want that, right? We want to get out of that race. And who wants to win that race anyways? I don't. I don't want in that. I'm not in that. And you don't have to be either. Even if you are working your job, which, hey, I think that that's an honorable thing to do, especially while you're building your business. Necessary if you have a family. It makes perfect sense. But still, this mindset of being in the rat race, that is competing with others, which we're going to talk about, can really set the tone of your life, and it's not a good one.
[00:04:47.210]
And here's what I want to admonish all of us, including myself, to be on the look out for, and that is how to avoid the new rat race, the new rat race. Because if we're not careful, we can get out of one rat race just to join another. I want to caution all of us about that. So what do I mean? I see a lot of people in the business world, even here in our local business economy, which I'm fortunate to be a part of and have my thumb on so I can observe the pulse of the business community. But I see this often. I see it online. I see it offline. That is people in business, they start a business, they grow a business, they unboss themselves. They grow their business to a point in which it is now their full-time income, their full-time focus, and they build this business only to end up in the same mindset, which leads to the same attitudes and the same actions of those who are in that proverbial rat race that they wanted to escape from. I have seen this, and I have even felt the temptation myself, the pull myself, to draw myself to be in another rat race.
[00:06:23.940]
And it's like, Hold on, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. That's not what we're in this for. We didn't leave one just to get into another. That takes the joy out of it. And a lot of people do just that. So I want to help us avoid it. I want to help you avoid it so you can Enjoy what you're doing. Find meaning in it, and let that journey of business and relationship building bring you joy, and bring joy to others. I mean, It's a journey that we can certainly enjoy if we avoid falling back into those same actions and attitudes. So how can we avoid the new rat race? Well, as I mentioned before, it happens all too often. And so first of all, I want you to consider, avoid comparing yourself with others. Now, this happens quite a bit, doesn't it? I mean, if you've started your business, or even if you're thinking about it, you're still in the idea phase, you're still in the decision-making phase, it's easy to fall into that trap of comparing yourself with others. It happens at work. We already know that. It happens in the corporate world.
[00:07:49.820]
It happens in the factory, the manufacturing plant. And yes, even in the entrepreneurial and online business world, it happens. It still happens. But you don't want to compare your beginning with someone else's middle, or yet, compare your beginning with the height of someone else's success in business. There's just no comparison. I mean, they had to start at ground zero just like you. They had to build just like you. They had to take the right actions at the right time just like you. So comparing yourself where you are with where others are, it's just not fair. It's not even logical to do such a thing, but we have those natural tendencies sometimes. So you want to be aware, am I comparing myself with others? If you get caught up in doomscrolling, right? You're just ever scrolling and you're going through video after video or picture after picture, and you're looking at people's accomplishments, you're looking at their lifestyles, you're looking at... And then you're thinking, well, I'm stuck in this 9:00 to 5:00 job. I'm not getting the freedom that I want. Look, everybody else is happy. Look, everybody else is doing this thing over here with their business.
[00:09:19.910]
I wish I could be doing that. And that just makes you feel lousy. That is the thief of joy. We've all heard that, right? That comparison is the thief of joy, and it's not worth it. And it certainly doesn't help your business or help you move forward. Many years ago, I took in a lot of content from a gentleman that I looked up to and learned a lot from. I counted him as one of my virtual mentors. We had met once in a conference environment, but I read his books, took in his podcast, and other products and resources, and just groundbreaking, the things that I learned from him early in my entrepreneurial career. In fact, I started taking in a lot of what he was teaching when I was still in vocational ministry, and it was just blowing my mind. I'm going, wow, this guy, he's talking about entrepreneurship. This would have been... I'm going to maybe date myself here, but maybe maybe 2010, 2009 maybe, started listening to this fellow, and I was just so encouraged by everything that he was teaching, everything that he was providing. And then I got into this idea of, Well, he's there, and I should be there, and I should be accomplishing what he's accomplishing, and I should be doing what he's doing.
[00:10:59.000]
But the truth is, We were in two different seasons of life. I mean, he was an empty nester. He had years of experience behind him. I was still wet behind my ears with some of the new business opportunities that were presenting themselves. I had been in business prior to vocational ministry, but it was local service-based business, and it was an online business. I was just taking everything in, and then I began to think, Well, I can do what he does, or I could be where he is. And it was taking longer. It didn't seem to be working like I wanted it to work. And it was like this light bulb went off, and I'm going, We are in two different seasons of life. Again, he's an empty nester. He and his wife have already raised their children. Years of experience. Things happened for him and He was bloated at one point because he persevered and he did all the right things, went through some hard, difficult times that tempered him and prepared him for the future. And he was just way ahead in life compared to where I was. And it wasn't because I was doing things wrong and he was doing things right.
[00:12:21.820]
We were simply in two different seasons of life. And that is a dream killer. If you're comparing yourself with somebody else and you're going, Man, I don't have what they have. I'm not doing what they're doing. I know I'm capable of it. Why is it happening for them and not for me? Listen, that That's the rat race. That's the mindset that you don't want to continue to have. You want to avoid that at all costs. And it seems to happen on all kinds of levels, doesn't it? I mean, you see somebody else on vacation and you're comparing their vacation with yours. Maybe they went to Paris, and they experienced two weeks, wonderful weeks in Paris, and it looks like, oh, my goodness, they had the time of their lives. And what did you do? Well, maybe you went camping for one week. And you'd go, Well, maybe the woods for the week isn't much to be compared with when it comes to Paris for some people. But again, Everyone's life is different. Everyone's family is different. We're in different seasons of life. We're in different seasons within our businesses. And so comparing yourself, where you are, with where somebody else is, simply is not reality, and it's not helpful.
[00:13:50.270]
So we want to avoid the bait and getting caught in that new rat race. By the way, before we continue, you'll want to visit the Unbought www. Elustlife. Com, and grab a free copy of Make your Website More Successful. See, websites are crucial to business, and you want yours to be the best it can be. I mean, you don't want It to be one that people just find, and then they bounce right away, right? You want people to engage with your content. You want them to see what's available. You want them to connect with you. You want it to be the best it can be. So grab your free download of make your website more successful at theunbossedlife. Com. All right. So first of all, I encouraged each of us to avoid comparing ourselves with others. Now, secondly, avoid competing with others. Now, I know these two go hand in hand, and they can often feed off of each other, but avoid competing with others as well. What's interesting about this competition mindset is it's usually one-sided. So if I were to use the same example about the gentleman that I was comparing myself with earlier, and if I started to compete with him, it's really happening in my own mind.
[00:15:24.250]
I mean, he's not sitting there going, Oh, Justin's on his way up, or Justin's trying to gain traction and surpass. I'm not even a thought. I mean, he just, again, was in another season and another place in life. So it's usually one-sided. And when we compare and then we try to compete, it can lead to that discouragement and that unfulfillment because we're not looking at things correctly. It's not reality. We'll hear about how many subscribers somebody has on their email list or how many followers they have on a social media platform or how many views they have or how many downloads they have and on and on and on, right? And then when we hear those metrics, We usually think, Well, I'll never, or why am I not? Or Why do they? And then we set them up as somebody to compete against. But that's not our goal. That's not my goal. That shouldn't be your goal is to compete with others out there. I mean, if you want to talk about competition, I'll show you what you can compete against. I'll get into that in just a moment. But we don't want to hear things like that.
[00:16:45.320]
We don't want to hear about the success or see the success that others might be experiencing and then find it as a reason to compete. That's not healthy, and that's not helpful. In fact, There's the biblical encouragement to rejoice with others who are rejoicing. And that should be the posture of our minds and our hearts. And that is, well, if somebody else is rejoicing or if they're happy and they're experiencing good things in life and business, hey, I want to be happy for them. I want to be happy for you. I want to see your success, and I want to root for you, and I I want to encourage you, and I want to help you any way I can and understand that we don't have to compete. We don't have to be against each other. We can be for one another. And those metrics in other people's lives don't really matter when it comes to our business and what we are looking to achieve. But what does matter is your performance, your attitude, your actions in your business. You want to ask yourself questions that make you think, Is this what I'm supposed to be doing?
[00:18:10.960]
Is this something that needs to be adjusted? Do I need to focus on a different area? Am I being who I need to be? Am I really living up to my potential? Or am I looking for a shortcut? Those shortcuts, they don't really work. I mean, we see them all over online, right? Hey, grab this new book of prompts for AI. Grab this new system, and it'll help you be a success in seven days or less. I'm sorry, but even I encourage people that I can help them. But we have to understand it takes time, it takes work, it takes ethics, it takes logic, it takes the right idea, it takes passion, it takes skill, it takes faith, it takes the right mindset, positive attitude. I mean, all these variables come into play here. And so we need to think about ourselves, not competing with others and not thinking about ourselves in a selfish way, but am I being and doing what I'm supposed to do? Don't look at them as competing competitors, but look at them as co-laborers. Being a co-laborer with others provides so many other opportunities rather than looking at people as competition.
[00:19:44.790]
You Well, recently, my family and I went to Mackinna Island. I'm not sure if you've ever been there, but it's a beautiful place. We were on vacation for a while, and we took a day to go to the island in upper Michigan there. And the island is there in Lake Michigan, and you have to take a ferry over. There's no vehicles allowed on the island, so you can either ride bikes or you can walk. With the exception, there are some horses and carriages that can be used. But when we were there, there were six of us. And so we took all of our stuff, and we got three tandem bikes. And so there were two of us on each of these bikes. And it's an eight and a half mile ride around the perimeter of the island. And it was a beautiful, beautiful day. But we got on the bikes, and I had my daughter behind me, and I also had this backpack on, right? I'm like the pack mule of the family. Family. And so I'm riding this bike, and we're riding. The next thing you know, people are racing each other, right? All three bikes start racing each other, and we're passing each other, and this and that.
[00:20:55.160]
And then after a while, you just think, Whoa, this is This is pretty intense, and you're trying to keep up. And then I realized we're missing the beauty around us here. And I told my daughter because she's going, Dad, faster, pass them, pass them. And I finally said, I'm not here to race. Let's not race. Let's just stop and focus on the beauty that's around us. I mean, I started pointing her attention to the beautiful water and how it was different colors and almost never-ending, and the waves that were crashing on the rocks and the green trees, and the beautiful sun that was shining down in the soft breeze. And it was just a perfect day. And I said, Let's Enjoy this moment. This is something to take in. And if we're not careful, we'll find ourselves doing the same thing in our businesses because we see ourselves as competing with others, and we miss the the beauty that is around us, the beauty of relationships, the beauty of opportunities, the beauty of building something we care about, the beauty of building something that others care about. And we don't want competition to take our focus off of what really matters, what we're really here for, what we're here to do.
[00:22:26.320]
And so that's the way it was for us. And on on the island, and so we continue to enjoy the day, that's for sure. And so I want us to take that same mindset into business. Don't let that competition, somebody else's vacation, somebody else's success in their business, take the focus off the beauty and the opportunity that's around you. And by the way, being this co-laborer and taking on that frame of mind versus the competition, you'll find that it'll open doors for you. You'll get to work with people that you typically may not work with. It'll change the way you feel. It'll make you feel better about your business, about what you're doing. And here's the thing about seeing yourself as a co-laborer. There's plenty of people to serve. There's plenty of people to serve. I mean, if you want to compete, why don't you do it on this level? See if you can outserve somebody else. I mean, there's a whole lot of people out there doing things and building businesses, but not many of them are going, How great can I serve others? How can I serve others with excellence? I'm going to be honest, that's not the first question that a lot of people are asking.
[00:23:52.340]
So if you want to compete, hey, there's something to compete about. It's, Hey, how can I serve others? How can I out-serve others? But I would say, just remember, there's plenty of people to serve. They can serve folks, you can serve folks. There's no shortage of people whom you can serve. And I want to remind us of that and not fall into that competition mindset. So you may be eager to jump out of the rat race that you're in, and I get it, especially if you're just getting started or you're starting to see some traction and you're thinking, wow, this is going to go someplace. I can feel it, or you understand that the potential is there and you're thinking, I have got to get out of the rat race at work. Listen, you can be at work and still get out of the race because it's all about your mindset. And you know that you have a greater opportunity ahead of you. You know that you have a greater future ahead of you. So as you are building your business, number one, stay out of that rat race at work. Just drop out of it.
[00:25:09.260]
Do your best. Give them your best. But as far as your thinking is concerned, you're not a part of a race. You're not fighting for status. You're not fighting for a race. You're not fighting for a position. You're out of that. Why? Because you have something greater ahead of you. You're building your own business. You're building your own dreams. All right? And while you're doing that, you want to avoid comparing yourself with other people. That's going to steal your joy. You don't need that. That's not contributing to your business and helping you serve others with excellence and then avoid competition. You're not competing with people. There are plenty of people for you to serve. So let's not take the bait of competition in comparison. And let's not leave one rat race just to find ourselves in another. Because the truth is, just like when we were on that trip and we're on the island, enjoy the beauty of it all. Enjoy the journey. Don't let these things cloud up the landscape. You can enjoy your business and the relationships that you build on the way. And You can avoid comparing and competing. Run your own race.
[00:26:36.140]
Keep your eyes forward, focus on your lane and keep pressing forward. And you can and you will achieve your own version of success. Well, I trust that you found that helpful today and encouraging. And if you did, I'd love to ask you to go ahead and subscribe to the podcast if you have not done so. Perhaps leave a review. I would be encouraged if you would do that. Let others know that you found some value here and that they might do the same. And again, I appreciate you taking the time to join me on this episode. Until next time, take care