Ten Percent Happier
March 20, 2023

#573. Scott Galloway on: The Impact of Work on Mental Health, the Role of Luck in Success, and How Much is Enough

This is the first of a four part series on work that we’re calling, “Work Life.” 

Work can play a huge role in our sanity and happiness, or lack thereof. So today we're going to tackle some common and thorny questions with a guy who has been extremely successful at work and now teaches other people how to do so.  We talk about questions such as how much work life balance should we really strive for? Is hustle culture really dead? What's the role of luck in success? How much is enough and should you bring your whole self to the office? 

Scott Galloway is a professor of marketing at NYU's Stern School of Business. He's also a serial entrepreneur. He's founded nine companies, including Profit, Red Envelope, and Section Four.

He's served on the boards of directors of the New York Times Company, Urban Outfitters and Panera Bread. He's the best-selling author of many books, including, The Algebra of Happiness, Post Corona, and his latest book, which is called Adrift: America in 100 Charts. He's also the host of two podcasts, Prof. G. and Pivot. The latter, Pivot, which he co-hosts with the legendary tech reporter Kara Swisher. 

In this episode we talk about:

  • Why work is such a big factor in determining our mental health
  • What’s the number one retention factor at work
  • How capitalism pushes us towards living to work rather than the other way around 
  • Why Galloway believes men’s sense of self-worth is so often (maybe too often) based on their ability to earn 
  • Where he stands on the idea of “bringing your whole self to work”
  • How to get over being fired
  • His thoughts on side hustles, work/life balance and whether remote work will stick around post COVID 
  • Why he says being in the office is important for young workers if they want to get ahead, especially young men
  • Why, despite making a great living, he still has economic anxiety
  • The rare moments when he is able to enjoy himself and say, “this is enough”
  • His addiction to the approval of others 
  • How Galloway handles his critics, while retaining his willingness to go out on a limb and be controversial

Full Shownotes: https://www.meditatehappier.com/podcast-episode/scott-galloway-573 

Where to find Scott Galloway online: 

Website: www.profgmedia.com/  

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