Insights from Cary Jack, The Happy Hustler

00:06
Welcome to the VK podcast. I'm your cohost, Ryan Alford, joined by my cohost in Miami, Chris Hansen. We were excited today. We got Terry Jack lifestyle entrepreneur, professional actor model. He is pretty beautiful. If he asked me biohacker and founder of happy hustle. What's up, care. I had to get that in there. Hey, you are, you do look stunning in the studio there.

00:35
Thanks brother. Yeah. Honor to be here, man. Thanks for having me. Yeah. Chris was like, we got to get Kerry on. I'm like, they didn't tell me he was so striking in person. Yeah. I didn't mention that he used to model back in the day, but that's a surprise for you. I know. A lot of Photoshop. That's the secret. I live in Bozeman. We're in Montana. Oh yeah. Big country. I, the wild.

01:04
West or Northwest, whatever the hell you call that. All these shows have made me want to go west. Yellowstone and Bozeman and all that stuff. I've been going, is it as wonderful as the shows make it seem?

01:21
If you're into the outdoors, I think it's even better. Truly. If you are like a city slicker, no, it's not your cup of tea. It just depends. Like I like camping, fishing, hunting, hiking. My dad has a ranch in Red Lodge, so I grew up half playing cowboy. And then my mom lived in Sarasota, Florida. So that's how Chris and I, we grew up together in Sarasota. So.

01:42
Yeah, it's definitely a beautiful spot. I think Yellowstone, it's a little bit over drunk. It's a lot of drama, obviously, you know that, but the scenery and the landscape, it's beautiful. You guys got to come visit. I know I'd love to, man. I will. It might be. Chris is a city slicker. I might fit in that. He's in the alley. I'm an undercover, I'm an undercover redneck, honestly. He is. I know that. I'm giving him shit. That's how we get along.

02:10
We're like Southern guys. They can go anywhere. It's cool, man. I really, really appreciate you getting on. Chris has spoken really highly of you. I know you've had your hands in a lot of different things. I love happy hustle. We'll get to that. But maybe just for our audience, share a little bit of that carry story, professional journey and biohacking. You've had your hands in a lot of things.

02:32
Yeah, yeah, I feel like I got some questionable advice from my my kung fu master and this Taoist priest that I was raised with and he was royalty in China. He was like part of the Wudong mountain clan where they filmed the karate kid. He was like that guy and he was like, Carrie, you always have seven plates spinning. So therefore if one fall you still have six plates.

02:54
I was like, okay, that makes sense master. That makes a lot of sense. And you and I, Chris, we all know if you want to be successful in anything, you need to focus. So that was like always an uphill battle trying to manage these different parts of myself, being an athlete, being in the entertainment world, an entrepreneur and all these other things. But for me, I've always had that drive to be my own boss. I was never a good employee and I actually never really...

03:23
even tried that hard. I've always just had my own thing. Fast forward. I actually started a pretty legit tech company in New York City. And my brother and I grant Chris knows grant, but we were getting after it. Just grinding our face off a hundred plus hour weeks and really pushing for this tech algorithm that we built to quantify feedback and without going to nerdery down the rabbit hole.

03:50
We were having a lot of success and we had partnerships with Microsoft and IBM on the table and seven figure VC funding deals lined up and we were all positioning for this five year exit. And that was the dream as according to society, ego, status, all the key drivers, money. And I honestly, man, I was so unfulfilled. I was so burnt out that.

04:15
When it came time to sign the paperwork to make these massive partnership deals happen, my brother and I were like in tears. We're like, dude, we can't take this money. We can't do these deals. I need some time. And we folded the company and I ended up actually moving to Bangkok, Thailand. He went to University of Florida to get his master's. And I was in Thailand for about a year. And that's where I actually started to put the happy in my hustle, I say, and actually

04:39
find real joy in my everyday journey. And so I started like writing about it and to creating webinars and making a little money on the line. I was like, this is awesome lifestyle entrepreneurship, right? And as they say, the rest is history. Now we've got a podcast, books, masterminds, events, the whole shebang. It's all centered around really helping purpose-driven entrepreneurs achieve that blissful balance, both personally and professionally. It's hearing stories like that. No one ever wants to hear. If you were the adult.

05:08
Maybe have success or money. They always want to call bullshit on when money and success and stuff makes you happy. And you try to tell them that not necessarily they don't believe it. But, but it's true. If you aren't doing what you want to be doing, or if you're feeling a pressure, it's not pressure if you love it, but if you fucking hate it, it's going to be pressure and it's going to be miserable. It sounds like you went through exactly that.

05:39
Oh yeah, yeah, that and some it's just unsustainable. Like you guys know this too. When you're running hot in your business and you're not sleeping as much. That's, I know why they can't even helps. Right. A lot of those entrepreneurs like keep going at that rate, but truly eventually you will burn out. And it's just, it's sad because I see a lot of our fellow entrepreneurs, this whole like grind culture, it's glorified for me.

06:07
I'm all about three freedoms, creative freedom, financial freedom, and time freedom. And that's, I think, what you guys can probably relate to and the drive behind a lot of what you do. And if it doesn't fit in alignment with those overall freedoms and the mission, I don't do it. I'm working typically about 20 hours per week now. I stay in my sweet spot. I got plenty of time to, I got, I'm about to be a father in two weeks. My wife's pregnant.

06:35
And so it's I feel like life, we get caught up in this more disease. I call it a more disease because I really think people get infected by a man. They just want more money, more followers, more clients, more stuff, more toys, more cars, all the shit. And it really, it's an insatiable thirst.

06:59
And unfortunately, like I fell victim to it. I'm sure you guys have in some capacity too. And it's just, I think we all need to cure ourselves with this more disease, focus on gratitude, focus on what we do have and really just get real crystal clear on what success actually looks like for us. Each and every person out there watching and listening, that's the, you gotta clarify that and define it first. And then once you do, then reverse engineer how to get it. Yeah, man. Love that. I call that, you know what that is? It's the disease of me.

07:29
Is what that is. It's not it's more, but it's it's all wrapped up in yourself. Yeah. And you think it is, but it comes back to bite you because it doesn't fulfill you. And I think everyone goes through that, but it was really meaningful hearing you talk about the freedom thing. I've taken a few of those like personality tests, like that tell you like what, where you fall, like these characteristics or whatever. And like, Like the Myers Briggs.

07:55
Yeah, whatever. It's maybe the more modern version of that, but freedom rises to the top for me every time. It's, you put me in a cage and I'm miserable. So I think it's probably true of most of us entrepreneurs and also like my time. I would, I give up. I make money to have freedom. I don't really make money that, nothing's great, but I just like to have it. I think that speaks to a lot of people that in it. Or.

08:21
If it doesn't speak to them, it will at some point when they realize like stuff. Now it's more so you can go at your own pace and do what makes you happy. Like making a lot of money just by his time more than anything. Yeah. And I think at the core, like relationships are really what breed fulfillment, like meaningful relationships, no one at the end of the, their deathbed from all the studies I've read.

08:50
craves more money. They always crave more meaningful experiences and relationships with those they love. So why wait until you retire quote unquote, start prioritizing the things that are important now? And then also, I think Tony Robbins talks about the secret to living is giving. That's a real big part of our whole happy hustle ethos is selfless service. We have these 10 alignments and the first one is selfless service because when you're giving like you and not just like giving.

09:17
with the in the back of your head thinking, what can I get? Like real giving, like where you're like, now I'm actually just giving because I feel called to serve and really wanna help people. I have this acronym, GIFT, give insight, finances and time. Like you could give one of the three. It's not that hard. If you don't have money, give time. If you don't have time, give insight. Like you have something you could share with someone else. So anyway, that's my spiel on that.

09:45
It's powerful. It's, it's interesting. Like when you grow up, you hear all these cliche things. I grew up in a religious family, Southern Baptist, and not to get biblical. I'm not.

09:58
that spirit, I believe in God, that I'm not that spiritually more powerful. The golden rule, do unto others as they have to do, you have to do unto you. It's better to give than it is to receive. Like all these things and quotes and stuff that you pull your eyes at when you're like 15, 20, whatever, because you can't really experience enough life to know how much wisdom there were like in these things. But it's so true once you live a little.

10:22
It's all programmed in us, but it doesn't click until later. It seems like I know, cause this has hit me even. I don't want to say like super recently, but over the last couple of years, I get more value from talking to, I have a few younger guys that I mentor and speak to regularly and dude, I feel better off getting off a phone call with them. Just trying to help guide them and share my experience than I do in 99% of my conversations in the day or interactions.

10:51
Where there's no motive for me financially. There's really nothing to gain, but it's just like you said, like being called to surf. And I think Ryan, you nailed it with everything he is about me. And you realize it's a hamster wheel. If you're just chasing for you, it's a hamster wheel that never ends. And the bar just keeps getting higher and higher. Yeah. It doesn't make you happy. That's the next big screen TV is not going to do it.

11:21
No, it brings comfort. I mean, that's why I don't like to gloss it over too much. Yeah, having money, it brings comfort and all. There is benefit to it. But it's you nailed it, Chris, like the hamster wheel. You're not. There is no destination for that. It's just a very lonesome journey. That's why I love hearing what you're doing with the Happy Hustle. Shout out Happy Hustle Club. Yeah. Got the book right here, too. But.

11:51
You touched on it where our culture the last, I don't know, 10 years, I feel like, and I always think of Gary Vee in no disrespect, but the hustle hustle go do this to that. And it's and that that was what I embodied for a long time was like, you got to be doing this, you got to be doing that, you got to be going and it's you nailed it where you can hustle, but also find time and do it in a positive way where you're not burning yourself out where you're compromising on your truth.

12:20
just to pursue money, status, ego, whatever it might be. I think we're finding a balance again now where, you know, obviously being busy doesn't equal productivity. Like sometimes the best thing you can do is sit and do nothing and just reflect or go for a hike, whatever it might be. Think about thinking is what you do. Yeah. Yeah. That's why, that's why I.

12:49
shameless plug, but not even it's just that's why I go into wilderness a lot. But and also that's why we have our masterminds in the wilderness, because we literally there's no phones, no laptops, no service. We're going deep into the like the national forest and we spend typically about five days out there and it's there's something called the three day effect where if you can actually get outside for three days, you decrease the cortisol levels, increase the serotonin.

13:19
tuning your circadian rhythm to the sun. It's just, there's so many benefits and we're caught up living these lifestyles that are breathing in recycled air, soaking up toxic blue light, getting beamed by electromagnetic fields. We're living just in like our cages. It's most people, it's crazy. This is a stat that I recently came across, but we spend 97% of our time indoors. Most people, the majority of people.

13:47
That's an insane thing to think about how much time we're spending. We used to live outside. That was our, we lived outside. That was, it's crazy. Now we're, yeah, it's, I don't know. It just, that's why I think we need to like rewild ourselves, get back to the basics. And I subscribe to the less is more approach as much as possible. Like I said, I ran that biohacking company for three plus years and we were working with top 1% of high performing entrepreneurs and like legit Olympic gold medal athletes and pro.

14:16
fighters and badasses in their fields, Fortune 500 CEOs. And then I watched what they're doing and a lot of these like these, these bio hacks, quote unquote, but like at the core, you got to get back to the basics and just really getting enough sunlight, eating a healthy diet, drinking plenty of water, getting good sleep, like all the stuff that you guys talk about, I know this is a part of basic understanding, but I don't know, I just think we're going astray as a human race. It's sad to see, especially with AI and all the

14:45
Need the things coming down the pipeline. Definitely. Kerry, I'd love for you to talk about some of that biohacking. Like maybe the good, the bad, the ugly, like coming out of it. Stuff maybe that you've retained that you're like, okay, this was good. We can still implement this. Maybe you get a lot out of yourself doing these things that might be simple. And then maybe to you, what I think you were alluding to, maybe some of the not so good as well.

15:13
Yeah, I guess I'll start with the not so good just the things that I saw were, A, you get diminishing returns when it comes to excess of anything. Like I know some of our clients, they went deep down the plant medicine game. And I know a lot of people are big into plant medicine. But like I firsthand witnessed

15:37
friends of mine and also clients who would just constantly be on an ayahuasca journey or a psilocybin trip or a microdosing this or LSD that and it's always for productivity, it's for creativity. But if you can't be in your own skin and with your own brain and your own thoughts and you need these external variables and circumstances. And what happened unfortunately was these people like had these like paranoia meltdowns honestly, like it got a little crazy. I was like, so.

16:04
I think that's a negative of biohacking. Some people overdo it. I also saw people with like wearable, like aura rings and whoop watches and they'd wake up in the morning, especially I can recall like these like legit, we're talking the peak, the pinnacle, captains of their teams, professional players played on the national team, Olympians, gold medalists, and they would legit get up, they'd look at their aura ring. Oh man, I got a 65, I didn't sleep good, my day's shit.

16:31
I'm going to have a terrible day and it's subconsciously you just programmed yourself to have a shit day because of this wearable device. Recently, I love that you're talking about this because we literally just talked about this where are you exactly what you just said. You're determining how you feel based off the wearable for the entire rest of the day. Like a placebo almost. Exactly. 100%. I had the...

17:00
I know Will Ahmed, the founder of whoop is a billionaire now essentially, and he's a great guy. And I had subscribed to that and I had wore the whoop for probably two years. And I stopped wearing it because for almost that exact reason, I don't know that it, I want to choose to believe how I'd say that it wasn't necessarily ruining my day if I saw it, but I just felt like I was just staring at the data, like going, all right, what does this mean? And yeah, overanalyzing it. And.

17:30
I'm like, I can get to bed at the same time every night. I know what time I wake up. Like my life is now I have four boys and a wife and you got to set your clock to a lot of the things I do. I don't know that I need to overanalyze like every micro moment. I work out every day. Like whether or not I hit 140 art rate or 137 is inconsequential to anything in my. Yeah. I, and we did just talk about this on a couple of upsets back.

17:59
And I just think it can become both a crutch and potentially any positive things that come out, come from it, are overrided by those emotional attachments to it or something. Yeah.

18:14
Dude, amen. So that, to your point, that that happened all the time. And I just I was raised super holistic. And like, that's my I've never been vaccinated. The only antibiotic or I've taken it like once I had like for little things. I my mom was just crunchy that way. Like she was a chiropractor by trade, but more like functional medicine. And really, we'd reach for the herb drawer if we had a sickness, not the.

18:43
Tylenol or Motrin or whatever. Like we would use natural remedies and she was big into Eastern medicine and I just think there's a lot out there that you guys know. There's so much shit going on with big pharma and I know that's really one of the missions behind VK too to counteract this drug epidemic too and it's just sad. I know Chris, I know your story man. It's crazy but this is a big problem I think too in the biohacking world. It's just like the more of

19:12
all the hacks, right? All the things and I'm not saying some of them do have their place and I will just now like bounce to the positive. One of the things that I think was really positive that we were doing is we would test not guess. We would test not guess with everything. It was like, oh, you're taking this. Why are you taking this? Let's do blood work. Let's look at your labs. We can put together a vitamin and mineral routine or a supplement protocol or a

19:37
figure out the environmental genetic mismatches or the hair tissue mineral analysis test. We would test on all that and my business partner was really good at reading the data. He was like a savant when it comes to articulating this data and then making recommendations. So I think there's a lot that you could test and that's a positive when it comes to biohiking because then you can make informed decisions. You're not just taking in a supplement because your jacked friend recommended it. It might work for them, but it might not for you. So I don't know. I think that's a positive that you can learn from.

20:08
It's funny. Your jacked friends taking us. It's always great. But the five days a week in the gym and our 1800 calories a day or whatever, you know, like it's more than that protein shake that he's taking. Probably it all works together. Yep. For sure. Terry, talk about more of the specifics with happy hustle. I know we've touched on it a bit, but like how.

20:35
eat how you bring together maybe like-minded entrepreneurs or maybe just the nuts and bolts of the program and the start to end of all that.

20:48
Yeah, I didn't plan on this, but I'm happy to put you guys on the spot. If you guys are feeling brave, I'll just put you and the listeners and viewers out there through the assessment. It'll take a couple of minutes, but this will be telling. So this is what we do essentially is we understand where we're lacking in our life holistically based on the framework. And the framework is called the 10 alignments and they make up.

21:11
these 10 different areas of life. It's an acronym as well, just so people can remember it. Soul mapping, your soul's map to the blissfully balanced promised land. So if you got a pen or you wanna just write it down somewhere or on your notepad or computer or wherever, and everyone out there listening, if you really wanna get value from this episode, this is something I highly recommend you become an active participant of and just really, you will feel.

21:38
such a relief by knowing where you need to prioritize change. So I'll put you through, I'll ask you a couple questions in each of the 10 different areas of life. Now, the rubric is one to five. Five is like an A. You're crushing it. Right. I wasn't much for school, but I do know the grading scale. Five is like an A. Right. You're crushing it. One is like an F. You're failing. Right. And then subsequently two, three, four. So give yourself an honest ranking in each of these 10 different areas. And I want you to just think about the last.

22:05
30 days. Don't think, oh, I volunteered in high school one time for like the boys and girls club. That doesn't count right now. We're talking about like a present snapshot of your balance holistically. Okay, so the S stands for selfless service. So give yourself a score one to five. Ask have you been given your time, your money, your insights, your finances, or not so much? Maybe you've just been living for yourself and your immediate family and you're just being focused on the accrual of things like

22:34
Selfless service is the S and it's the first piece to the Soul Map and Puzzle, so give yourself a score of 1 to 5. And we can run through them all at the end if you guys want to or you guys want to share them as we go.

22:49
I put a two, three, I was like struggling with my whole premise. I've put out 20,000 pieces of content telling people for free my best tips and tricks on marketing. I never ask you for anything in return. So I feel like I had that ongoing like level of wanting to give back. So I feel like I never want to get myself lower than a two or a three. But then when I feel like I how much and I give to some charities and stuff with money wise, but it doesn't feel.

23:17
maybe where it should be. So that's why I was realistic. Yeah. Yeah. Chris, where'd you land? I gave myself a four. I think I'm pretty selfless. I get up. Did you hurt your shoulder, patting yourself on the back? No, I just, I feel like really like I give a lot of time and I'm like, if a few weeks ago, some guy walked up, Hey, you want to donate to this kid's cancer fund and

23:47
which may or may not have been a scam, I realized later. But no, I feel like I'm- I'm kidding. If anything, I'm told I'm a little too giving without asking for things in return. I wouldn't say you're too giving, but you're very giving. I need to work on my boundaries. Yeah, and here's the one thing too I just wanna say. Putting out content or helping people, that's like helping people in business. That's I think-

24:18
It'll fall in more so one of the other alignments, which is impactful work, which we'll get to because there is indirect benefit from doing it selfless services like Anonymously give it or like that's kind of like the barometer that I think if we can look at it from that perspective Right, but that's the s then we get into the oh Which is optimized health so give yourself a score one to five like

24:44
Five is like you're crushing it, you're dialed in mentally, physically, emotionally. One is you're shoving crap down the pie hole and you're feeling like dog shit. You're just, you're not feeling that energy. So give yourself a score in O.

25:03
Where'd you, where'd y'all land? I'm at 3.5. Is there halfs in your grading scale? Typically no, but it's okay. Compared to my friends, I'm a six other than Chris, but like where my own standards are, like right now, and it's, I'm pushing for the, I might be 3.8.

25:30
Okay, okay. I gave myself a three. Okay. And this is just the baseline, right? So we just want to get a real understanding. Just again, think of the last 30 days. So then we get to the you unplugged digitally. This is a tough one, especially as entrepreneurs, we have to use tech, but is it using us? Are we low key addicted to our devices? And I would venture to say most people are and five is you're very deliberate, you're setting barriers, you're doing digital detoxes.

26:00
One is not this thing is always on me. I'm constantly plugged in with a headphones and my, my Netflix is running. I'm listening to podcasts. Give yourself a score and unplugged digitally. Where'd we land? I'm negative 2.3. Maybe one, whatever the worst is zero or one. I want to just do, I literally, this is so funny. Cause I literally last night to myself said out loud, like you're addicted to this, like the phone.

26:29
Like, because it's always. Yeah, I notice when how my dog is like, how much attention I give you my dog or am I standing in the kitchen, like in between tasks, just staring at my phone, what, whatever it is podcast, Instagram emails. Oh yeah. That was, I had a little bit of a moment of clarity, honestly, I think last night with that. So, yeah.

26:56
And here's the thing, I know we're bringing awareness to the problem. Like my whole thing is inside the happy hustle, we have solutions for each of these. So if you scored a one or two, we have happy hustle hacks, like legit tangible things that you can do to counteract and raise your score. So anyway, this is it's good. You guys are keeping real. I love it, man. The L stands for loving relationships. So this is like how much love do you actually feel like you have in your life, both with your your partner, your kids?

27:26
your inner circle, your friends. Five is plentiful pleasure, lots of love. One is angst, despair, feeling a little bit lonely. Love your relationships, man. It's what life's all about. So give yourself a score on that one.

27:42
I'm at a four on that one. My wife and I had a coming to Jesus about a month ago and we're better than we've ever been. And my kids are great. And I do put down the phone when I'm with them. So maybe I'm negative 2.3, solid in this area. I'm giving out lots of love these days. Good. I love that. I put a three, I think. And I partly, I think it's my own responsibility.

28:10
I think there's love abundantly all around us if we tap into it. And I think I've closed myself off a little bit the last few minutes. Obviously, I moved. That's an adjustment. So as far as I don't know a ton of people in real life here, I do know some, but I also am a little bit more selective now with my time. But if I look at as a macro, like my family all over the world, I'm blessed. Like it's there. It's just a matter of picking up the phone.

28:40
and investing on my side of the street with it. So yeah, for sure. That's the soul part. Now we'll dive into the mapping part. So the M stands for mindful spirituality, meaning like how connected are you to a higher power? And I don't really care one religion or another. I just think it's important to have faith in something bigger than yourself. So give yourself a score in mindful spirituality. Are you praying? Are you going to church or meditating or doing breath work? There's a lot of ways you can connect. But yeah.

29:10
Give yourself a score in mindful spirituality. Yeah, this this was pretty easy for me. I'm a negative seven. I knew that was coming. My wife would probably put negative 12. Yeah, I'm not I'm one solid. Unproud woman. OK.

29:33
All right. I just don't like that. I don't make time for it. And that's a bullshit answer. But that's I invest in other things that I think are important. But it's definitely a deficiency. OK, it's good to know. You got the awareness. I put four. I feel like. Right now, I've been tapped in. It's very. And obviously, years of.

30:02
my struggles, a higher power has always preached to me. But it was something I always had, but I can tell the last year, it's really become a conscious part of my day with thinking of a higher power or meditating in the sauna, or taking 10 minutes at night on my balcony, but just silence, just sitting. So I feel pretty strong in that category right now. But it goes in waves. Amazing. Yeah.

30:32
Exactly. Then the A is abundance financially. So abundance financially. Yes, it's a piece to the puzzle, right? We know money is important. We talked about it earlier. It's more so do you have a system that saves, invest and spends wisely? Or maybe not so much? Are you living paycheck to paycheck? Like, in fear of your finances? So give yourself a score five is you're crushing it. One's you're failing. I'm three, four here. I'm responsible. I'm like,

31:00
comfortable, but and I have systems and assets and I think this is probably the entrepreneur in me, I can always do better. So I might be again, just how I grade myself. Exactly. I probably be the least error in with myself on this metric just because of how the drive and like desire to be five. So. Yeah, I get you, man.

31:28
I'd put a three for that kind of just what you said, Ryan. I think it's a blessing and a curse. The entrepreneur part is like the disease of more, right? That's a daily battle, finding that balance. That's where, and I'm my own worst critic, but I think this is where I've really practiced gratitude where if I take that step back and really look at my life, dude, I'm so blessed.

31:57
Oh, yeah. Yeah, no, we all are. But it is true. Like everyone's rubric is internal. And it's that's the beauty of this exercise, actually, and the assessment is like you can be real with yourself on this on all of them. But yeah, sometimes I know, especially like driven high performers are very hard on themselves on all categories, blessing and a curse. Alright, the first P is passionate hobbies.

32:24
passionate hobbies. Give yourself a score in this one. It's I feel like a lot of high performers are they they'll give to their clients, give to their families, give to their their businesses, but they don't give to themselves, especially if it's not tied to ROI. It's oh, God forbid you spend time going to a dance class or a painting, a picture or learning a new martial art or whatever, play and pick up basketball or whatever. I just it's sad. But this is when I find a lot of high performers lack in.

32:54
But I'm just curious, where'd you guys land in passionate hobbies? I put a three, I probably 10 years ago or seven or eight years ago, I'll probably like back to that always wanted, I always bought shit. It was this or that, or it was a watch, it was a car, it was that. And I have nice things, but I don't buy shit every day. Like I used to, I'm just, and I just find happiness elsewhere. And so I think there's, I have a decent balance with this, but.

33:24
I do feel like the hobby side is probably like we both, we do things with the family. Everything that I do is somewhat tied to the kids, but it's what I want to do. I have four boys. So my hobbies are their hobbies in a lot of ways. So I used to play golf once a week and I hadn't played golf in two years, but I chose family and the kids over the golf. So I don't know the right balance there, but.

33:53
Yeah. Chris, I didn't know you played golf, Ryan. Dude, I was in five in any case. I was five in any case. I bet you got a long frickin drive, dude. I put a three. I think it's really easy to get so wrapped up in work stuff that you put that stuff to the wayside. And when I was in my drinking and drugging days, that was my hobby. So I think. Out of that life, it's almost like I've had to relearn.

34:23
what I'm passionate about or what pulls to me, which I've been pretty good at. I wouldn't say I've dialed in on anything specifically besides like guns, I love shooting, but I could still make more time. I'm really right now just trying to be open to trying new things, whether it's a workout class or a breath work class, stuff like that. I've been at exploration phase, which to me is, I'm proud of that because even that takes getting out of my comfort zone.

34:52
to just try something new, you know? Yeah, and that's the distinction. I'm glad you said that, because it's for yourself. It's learning new skills that are for you. And Ryan, I totally hear you with the family, but I do think having something that is for Ryan would be super beneficial for you, and it would give you that creative space to crush it in all the other areas as well. Anyway, that's the passion hobbies. The second P is...

35:18
Personal development, I believe you're either growing and evolving or you're shrinking and dissolving. And I'm sure if you're listening to this, you're into personal development, but give yourself a score, one to five. I like to do this 90 minutes of guaranteed growth. It's 30 minutes of reading in the morning, 30 minutes of listening in the afternoon, and then 30 minutes of watching. All inspirational educational content, but it hits the brain centers differently and it guarantees my growth. I have like little happy hustle hacks like that for each of them, but that's just one for personal development. But.

35:47
Give yourself a score in this one. Where'd you guys land? I think three. I, and I definitely do a lot of things. Some of the, what are the nature of what we're doing with vacay in our business. And like a lot of stuff I do and consume is in this space. I think I feel like I could implement.

36:10
better sometimes. I feel like I'm absorbing it. I'm taking time for it, but then implementation is why I probably take the four to a three. I feel like I'm above average there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I put a three also. I feel like the last year I've just been dialed in. I think about last night, I was talking to my dad, he's from the US open and I'm like,

36:37
now I'd rather put on documentary on like meditation or something educational. I love to yeah, no disrespect to your my dad or sports watching people but where I'm at now I just feel like yeah that's two hours out of my day that could be used for something that's going to make me maybe change my perspective or a million different things. Yeah, I feel pretty strong in that category right now.

37:06
Yeah. I used to listen to music in the workout and now I'm podcast, listening to podcasts. So when I don't get wrong, I'll turn on something really heavy hitting if I'm like trying to put three 30 up, but if it's I'm on the treadmill, it's personal development podcasts or something like meaningful. They're just sinking into, I don't know, Justin Bieber or whatever I had on my playlist. Millennium.

37:35
All right, bringing it home with the I and the N. So we're almost through the soul mapping. The I is impactful work. And I know these are cliche buzzwords, but like really how passionate do you feel about what you're doing? And I look at passion as like that inward calling on your heartstrings and then purpose, like that outward serving mission and who you're actually helping in the process to make a positive impact. Like how...

38:00
do you actually feel about what you get up and do every day? Give yourself a score, fives you're crushing it, you feel super aligned, one, not so much. So a little clarification, Kerry. So obviously if you were big into nonprofits and you worked at a nonprofit every day, you're like, this is a five. I'm gonna give him a job, but in a capitalistic world, like how do we define this?

38:27
I love my job. I feel very fulfilled in my job. And yeah, back to maybe where I gave myself credit in number one, but I want to give it here in number 10. I beautifully give away a lot of advice. So does that rank high or is it? Yeah, it's more good question. It's more so how aligned do you feel with your work and the impact that it's making?

38:53
So it's like you could be crushing it in a capitalistic world, but you're also negatively exploiting the earth's resources. And like you could be no offense to the Amazon dropshippers, but just selling crap on the internet that's resold that we don't need any more of. Like that I don't feel like is impactful work personally. Like you're just buying other people's shit from China and selling it online. And it's like the world doesn't need any more of it. So that's my perspective. But I think you're you guys interpret it for you.

39:22
what you will, but that's how I see impactful work is like what the passion, the purpose and the positive impact that's actually making. Yeah. I would say I was a three. I think the work we're doing with VK is pushed towards the four where I feel like that's something I really believe in and have purpose towards. And so I don't think it was ever bad because I do feel like we choose to work with good clients and I like, we control a lot of what we're doing that I feel like.

39:47
It's having a positive impact for the clients we work with that are good people. But then I think the stuff we're doing with AK is would push me towards the four territory. I'll give you a little credit, Ryan. You have a lot of people that you take care of that work for you that I think you have a big impact in their life. You are the boss, but I think you're teaching people a lot of skills and knowledge you've acquired over a long career. So.

40:14
Give yourself a little credit for that too. I put a four, obviously, vacay is like close to my heart, personal for me, like this fight against the system. If anything, I've been passionate about taking a stand on what we're doing before we even started vacay. I feel good about that. And I, even more so because it's resonating, people are giving me feedback in a way that I know it's impactful. But on the flip side,

40:44
critique is you could always do more. I know, you guys, like, I know, you guys are tough on yourselves, I can already tell, but that's where you are, or how you are where you're at. So I get it, but you do gotta give yourself grace on all this. All right, bringing it home with N, nature connection. So this is how much time are you actually getting outside and connecting with this beautiful planet and.

41:07
Oh, by the way, protecting it like this is I really do looping being a conscious consumer, supporting B corporations, like even with our own businesses having sustainable practices like nature connection one to five where you at. I think I'm at a solid three like I, I boat every weekend and get out and we

41:30
do little to nothing and the kids get out, no devices. I have my device, the least back to that scale of negative 2.3, though when I get out, I'm outside probably more than most, especially during, call it April to October. Yeah. Yeah, so solid three. Awesome. Yeah, I'm going with a three as well, I think.

41:55
Dude, I'd love to be out in Montana, fucking fly fishing and hunting like you are. Yeah, exactly. I take time every morning, sit on the balcony, soak up some sun, I just connect. And then every week I'm trying to go to the beach, jump in the water, do some grounding. So definitely, and obviously I'm in a major city, right? Miami, it's not exactly, it's more of a concrete jungle than a real nature preserve. But as far as consuming,

42:26
And I love that you have that in that category. Like how are you, are you being a conscious consumer as I'm looking at two plastic water bottles on my kitchen table? This has been filled up at least 300 times. I keep the water bottle in my refrigerator. I fill these up constantly. This is no joke. I've had this for probably 18 months. I wash it and fill it up.

42:55
Yeah, you got to get one of these man get a get one that's a little more durable for you. Yeah, dude. I and I'm and that's something to I didn't really strike me probably until the last year or so to just that awareness. So I need to actively and now that we're talking about it. I've got some accountability to be a little bit more conscious with that. I'm going to stop turning and that's the whole goal of this.

43:25
I, my, my Renitra has button that stops, turns the motor off at the stop light. And I always turn it off after I, cause I fucking hate it. I'm going to start not turning that off after this. I don't know if it actually does anything as far as fuel savings, but Hey, if it makes you feel better, then turns off at the stop sign. And it's like, if you really cared.

43:53
If you really cared, you would get a Prius, Ryan. Okay. So next time I'm in Greenville, I expect to see you and the four boys rolling around in a hatchback Prius. Yeah. Okay. Oh, that's hilarious. You make the Ferrari Prius. They got a hybrid coming out. Do they? Yeah, they just came out of the hybrid. Here's the thing guys. I want you to add up your scores. Okay.

44:21
Add them up and everyone out there watching and listening, add up your scores. And if you're 40 or above, congratulations, you're happy hustling. If you're 39 or below, unfortunately, we got some work to do. And the biggest thing I really just want to stress is give yourself grace on this, but notice where you can prioritize change. So Ryan, where you at, man? 28. Okay. And Chris, where'd you land?

44:51
Hold on, I'm still doing the math. Nine, 12, 16, 19, 22. Yeah, 10, yep. 25, 29. 32. Unfortunately, gentlemen, you're not happy hustling right now, but that's okay, because we're bros, and I'm here to help. It's all good. I'm gonna give you guys the swag pack, and we'll get you my books. I wanna clarify. It's all math, and there's no G, right?

45:20
There's no final G. Okay, no G. Got it. Just slang. We don't need to go to AA, but we do need to go to HH. Yes, exactly. I love that. So here's the thing too. I want to leave you all with this. This is the happy hustle principle distilled into just a statement and it's you must give each of the ten alignments equal importance.

45:49
but focus on one at a time, right? So you must give each of the 10 alignments equal importance, but focus on one at a time. See the problem with most people that I see is like, when they're with their family, they're thinking about work, or when they're at work, they're thinking about their family and they're not doing either effective. None of like, they're not fully present in the moment. Happy hustling that alignment, right? So that's really just.

46:13
something I pray everyone hears it and receives it and actually implements it. Just be fully present. When I'm with the guys right now rocking the mic, like we're all here. And then I know you're going on a trip right after this. I hope you could be all there. And it's, that's just something that has really shifted my whole life is just being fully there and present in each of the 10 alignments when I am working on it. And I'll tell you truthfully, I'm not the guru on any of this shit. I'm just the reporter. I actually take my own medicine every Sunday night. I'm doing this.

46:40
I go through my own 10 alignments and I just look at the week prior and I'm like, oh, okay, I need to do, I need to change. I didn't, maybe we missed date night. I need to get back and make sure my love and relationships is high or oh, I didn't volunteer like I normally. So it's a constant adjustment. Balance is not this like finite destination. It truly is this teeter totter right of life where you gotta tweak it and adjust and pivot. And yeah, that's just something I'm really passionate about helping others.

47:09
get to that state of blissful balance, because it is possible, both personally and professionally. And just, that's one thing, you guys will get it, but you probably got it, that blissful balancer, Chris, that whiteboard fridge magnet. I got this thing, I just put it on my fridge, it has these 10 alignments, and then it has an action task for each. So you can keep track of your balance every day, and it's binary. Did you work out today and drink a gallon of water? Great, then your optimized health gets checked off. Did you read 30 minutes? Great, you check off that.

47:36
And then at the end of the week, you can see it in real time where you're lacking and where you need to prioritize. So I did my best to make it analog too. You don't have to be on your devices. It's like legit on your fridge. And most people are going in that a couple of times a day. So anyway, that's the happy hustle 10 alignments and I hope it resonated a bit. Hey, it was awesome. I love that. And I know you got to run. I know you gave us some extra time, Carrie, tell everybody where they can find out more about what you're doing. Everything would happen. Happy hustle and you personally.

48:06
Yeah, thanks man. I would say if people are really interested in going deeper, they can pick up a copy of the book at the happy hustle.com forward slash book. We got version 2.0 coming out. I don't know when this is dropping, but you'll either get version 1.0 or 2.0 or you could get a bolt, but the happy hustle.com forward slash book, the podcast, happy hustle podcast is free. We got to get you guys on there rocking the mic. We'll set that up. You can, we can share your guys's wisdom with our tribe and yeah, man, just

48:34
If they're really serious about this and they want to go deeper, that's what I'd probably recommend. And then you can find me, Kary Jack on like social and stuff like that. Awesome, man. Really appreciate it. Hey guys, you want to find us the vacaypodcast.com search for Kary Jack to find all the content from today for Chris Hansen. I'm Ryan Alford. We'll see you next time on the vacay podcast.