Should This Executive Quit His Job to Write a Book? | Deep Questions Podcast with Cal Newport

00:00:00.000 | All right, picking up the pace moving right along

00:00:03.200 | We have Jeffrey

00:00:06.140 | Just my papers here. All right, Jeffrey. What do you have for me?

00:00:09.600 | Jeffrey says what do you do when your passion might start to become economically viable?

00:00:16.700 | Currently, I have an okay thing going as CFO for a small company, but for a long time I had a hobby

00:00:23.340 | Writing fiction. I got some short stories published in professional publications

00:00:28.840 | I even received a few prizes and caught the interest of an agent

00:00:32.200 | At this stage, I realized that the next step was to write a full novel

00:00:36.260 | But this would take significant time as a consequence

00:00:38.280 | I'd perform some basic economic analysis determine how best to spend my time

00:00:41.720 | I'll spare you the details of all of Jeffrey's analysis, but basically he worked out that if he wrote one hour per day

00:00:48.100 | It would take him three years to write the novel and then he had a lot of issues about that

00:00:52.920 | Would he lose interest if he had to drag it out that long

00:00:58.320 | Though he has time to do that

00:01:00.160 | Would that be time he could have spent on other activities that would help him advance in his career as a CFO?

00:01:04.800 | So he's trying to figure this all out

00:01:06.800 | All right. So Jeffrey my thoughts

00:01:08.920 | Hey, it's clear from your tone that you're

00:01:12.440 | Interested in novel writing and not super psyched about your job. You say it's fine. I like my boss

00:01:18.200 | It's manageable, but not super exciting you in your elaboration. You say that multiple times. So that's interesting to me

00:01:25.200 | So what you want to do it sounds like is seriously explore the possibility of making more of

00:01:31.880 | Your income come from writing spend more time writing now. I think we have to do a Derek Sivers thing here, right?

00:01:39.320 | We need to use money as a neutral indicator of value. We can't just guess

00:01:42.860 | Especially when it comes to fiction writing

00:01:45.640 | We can't just guess how much am I gonna make as a writer and plan based off of that?

00:01:49.600 | you need to make money as a writer and say here's how much I make as a writer and

00:01:54.320 | Then you can make really informed tactical decisions about what to do with your job

00:01:58.840 | So, how do you get to that information faster?

00:02:02.120 | Well, I'm gonna say first of all, you got to write more than an hour a day

00:02:05.640 | I think you should find out how to get the 20 hours a week. I think you can do that

00:02:10.040 | I think you need two hour writing blocks, which means you probably have to start earlier in the morning and

00:02:14.680 | A large weekend block as well. I think do at least that you can get the 20 hours a week

00:02:23.080 | Now we're greatly

00:02:25.080 | Accelerating the pace and even if you're only doing 15 hours a week, you're greatly accelerating the pace and then to take time off

00:02:31.700 | Take two weeks off

00:02:34.680 | Don't even have to be vacation. Look

00:02:36.920 | You're gonna assume that you're gonna sell the novel and agent is interested roll the dice and take a two-week leave of absence

00:02:41.880 | You can get easy

00:02:44.760 | 50 hours in two weeks

00:02:46.800 | So you can get like a big push to finalize and polish it

00:02:49.720 | So that's what I'm saying like 20 hours a week 15 20 hours a week

00:02:52.960 | Four months from now take a two-week leave of absence knock that thing out. So let's get the feedback soon

00:02:58.160 | Get that novel out there. See if you sell it how much money

00:03:01.640 | What does my agents think was my editors think what's what are the reasonable case scenarios for my career here as a writer?

00:03:07.720 | Then you have the data

00:03:09.720 | To make the right decision and the right decision maybe bees full-time writing

00:03:13.140 | Maybe I mean if you're if your spouse also works and you can live kind of cheap that might work

00:03:17.880 | Maybe and Jeffrey I'm looking in between the lines here. If Jeffrey is a pseudonym for

00:03:22.280 | Brandon Sanderson I

00:03:24.960 | Would say you probably are okay

00:03:27.920 | You're probably okay. You can probably quit your job or maybe what it is is you change your job

00:03:33.160 | you know, you're a CFO of a small company that means you could be a

00:03:36.680 | Financial consultant for companies we see this all the time part-time

00:03:40.200 | CFOs that smaller firms and smaller nonprofits hire to spend 10 hours a week

00:03:45.400 | They keep their books and help them make decisions, but they can't afford a full executive go to that work and like great

00:03:51.200 | And I'll be able to do that 30 hours a week and I'm writing the rest

00:03:54.160 | Then when my books get more successful I can drop that the 10 hours

00:03:56.520 | We like there's a lot that will be open to you

00:03:58.040 | But you need the hard data and you have to publish the book or at least sell the book

00:04:01.800 | Sell the book to get data to make that decision and I'm just gonna say don't take three years

00:04:06.660 | Work harder take time off take some but

00:04:10.720 | manageable risk risk not like quitting your job, but like leave of absences or

00:04:15.340 | Putting aside all promotion activities for a few months get the book done. See what happens

00:04:21.060 | As Brandon Sanderson learned when he wrote name of the wind

00:04:25.380 | You sometimes you got to just write

00:04:29.140 | All right, Jesse. It's not an episode if we don't annoy

00:04:31.820 | Not only is that a noise fantasy fans, but a noise everyone who's not because they have no idea what the hell we're talking about

00:04:36.740 | So that's another double whammy. That's the type of stuff you're gonna get with our triple threat show

00:04:41.980 | Once things died down. He's probably your first guest Brandon. He'll be in here. He'll like to coma coffee. Where's he? Where's he based?

00:04:48.600 | He's like Utah or something. He's probably got enough money to fly here though

00:04:51.540 | Yeah, you gotta fly out here. I

00:04:54.620 | Do want to have I mean we do want to do guests. We're trying to think through like what the right

00:05:00.380 | Format is do we want?

00:05:02.900 | People who are living interesting lives what famous people do it, whatever. We're trying to figure that out selfishly

00:05:07.620 | I want you to talk to a bunch of people. I want you to talk to Elon

00:05:10.020 | I want you to talk to mark Jesse has the most unreasonable plans for I think they all want to talk to you

00:05:14.980 | Jesse has

00:05:16.660 | Ridiculously unreasonable plans for who's gonna come in here. I can pick them up from the you know, the train in my truck

00:05:22.340 | Let me awesome. You picked up Elon in your truck. It's not gonna bring your truck

00:05:26.980 | You know how many publicists would get fired if those people came here and like they came with their publicist

00:05:32.260 | They're like, oh my god. I'm terrible at my job. No, I like your optimism

00:05:36.060 | I like it

00:05:36.700 | But anyways, we're gonna have guests and and I for sure at the top of my list is I I want to have novelist on

00:05:41.460 | I think just be cool to talk to I'm gonna talk to working not literary novelist because that seems unapproachable and hard but genre

00:05:47.040 | Novelist and like tell me about your life. Yeah

00:05:49.660 | Speaking of publicist real quick. It's in some of those shows like the super pumped one and we crash one

00:05:57.020 | They have publicists in there and they get treated horribly the publicist. Ah

00:06:02.820 | Just by those like really rich CEO dudes who like a tenacious. Oh, man, I just get and by the wives. Ah

00:06:08.820 | well

00:06:11.140 | Hopefully Lillian and Margo. You don't feel like I treat you that way. I

00:06:15.220 | Try to be I try to be nice. We got a great team of publicist at portfolio

00:06:20.660 | Been dragged around

00:06:24.780 | various cities with me to going to various various places and studios and I

00:06:30.140 | Always appreciate what they do. So Lillian and Margo you have my appreciation. I will try not to be like the we work guy

00:06:35.980 | [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:06:39.320 | [music fades out]

Should This Executive Quit His Job to Write a Book? | Deep Questions Podcast with Cal Newport

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