Steven Bartlett’s Worklife Is Brutal — And It’s Completely Unnecessary for 99% Of People

Written By Scott Stockdale

You can be successful without feeling trapped. Here’s how.

Photo by Michael Kessel on Pexels

That looks like hell.

I was watching an episode of Steven Bartlett’s “Behind The Diary” when his calendar popped up.

All these meetings gave me the chills:

Screenshot from EP8 Behind The Diary

And the funny thing is, when I scrolled through the YouTube comments, everybody was singing his praises.

I couldn’t find anything negative.

It’s like everyone’s sucking up to the popular kid.

Screenshot of YouTube comments from EP8 Behind The Diary

Now don’t get me wrong — I’m not bashing Steven. I actually like his stuff, and he’s a skilled marketer.

But why do so many people strive for a life like this?

Countless meetings, shuttling in taxis, trying to respond to messages whilst your assistant barks instructions from behind you…

Screenshot from EP8 Behind The Diary

I don’t get it.

This isn’t fun.

This isn’t freedom.

“Opportunities are just obligations wearing an appealing mask.” — Paul Jarvis, Author of “Company of One”

My guess is you want one (or all) of these things instead

You want to make money online — passively.
You want to have a positive impact.
You want subtle fame.

You want to goof off on hour-long hikes through fields of cows.

You want to shoot the sh*t with friends — and if this means skipping your morning routine because last night’s call stretched to 2 am, so be it.

So, how can you get all of these things without feeling trapped?

Let me give you a roadmap.

Step #1: Give yourself AT LEAST 12 months

Building the life you want isn’t going to happen overnight.

It’s not going to happen in three weeks.

Heck — it’s taken me three years of learning, failing, and everything in between to get to this point.

This is why I’m going to offer you the most obvious piece of advice in the world:

Get a job.

Now I know what you’re thinking. Scott, you just called Steven out for not having freedom. How is being tied to a job any different?!

Believe me, freedom comes later — but you’ve got to build your skills first. Build them between the hours of 6–8 pm. That’s what I did.

I also wrote in the mornings before work and recorded podcasts on my lunch breaks.

You can choose any skill you want. Producing videos, creating thumbnails, managing social accounts, learning ThreeJS — it doesn’t matter.

Just start.

I also recommend building six months of savings.

This is not “FU” money.

This is an emergency fund in case sh*t hits the fan later.

“If you lean on a fifty-year-old oak tree, it will support your weight. If you put your weight on a young sapling, you’ll crush it.”

— Sean McCabe, Author of Overlap

Step #2: Don’t overthink this

Showing up as an introvert online is easy. Simply put out content, build an email list, and give stuff away for free.

I’ve given all this away in the last three years:

Then, when people reach out (emails, comments, DMs, etc.), treat them like humans — not numbers.

Believe it or not, this is how my girlfriend and I met.

Not sure what to post about?

Start with what you know. That’s all I do. You don’t have to be ten steps ahead. Effective teachers can be just a couple in front.

For example, I have zero experience managing teams — but working with a virtual assistant?

That’s something I can talk about.

Step #3: Don’t be bland, bland, bland

I usually write about entrepreneurship.

But a few months ago, there was only one thing on my mind. My mum was diagnosed with cancer, so I wrote about this instead. (She’s all clear now!)

I had no idea how my email subscribers would respond.

Luckily, they showered me with support and shared their own cancer stories.

It was super touching:

Emails of support from my subscribers

So don’t be worried about over-sharing.

People connect to rough edges.

Step #4: Give, give, give

Earlier this year, Kate messaged me on Udemy about my technical SEO course.

It was a lovely surprise!

I responded back, but I wasn’t expecting it to go anywhere:

All screenshots by the author

To Kate’s credit, she did email back.

I found this waiting in my inbox:

“If you can help in any way please let me know as I know it could make a big difference, thanks 😊”

Naturally, I checked out her website and LinkedIn.

No profile picture wasn’t the best sign…

… but her email was polite and detailed, so I spent time crafting my response.

And I’m glad I did!

(More on this shortly.)

I went through her website and identified things she could improve. Then, I recorded two videos.

I uploaded these to Google Drive so I could share them with Kate:

Finally, I sent off this email:

“I was going to pull my suggestions into text, but I realised the email was getting too long, so I pulled them into a video instead.”

And that was that. My good deed for the day.

I wasn’t expecting to hear back, although I hoped she might respond with a thank you.

But did she?

You bet she did — and more!

“[…] if you have capacity to help with our content we could work with you potentially?”

This, my friend, is how you can attract clients without really trying.

Step #5: Rinse and repeat

Keep giving, keep learning, and keep investing in yourself.

One way you can do this without feeling guilty is by saving X amount of dollars each month for your “Personal R&D”.

What’s this?

I use my “Personal R&D” to invest in courses, books, and learning materials.

If I want to buy a book, I buy it.

Takeaways

You might want the employees, the meetings, and the taxis.

You do you.

However, if the thought of all this sounds exhausting, but you still want to make money online, have a positive impact, and taste subtle fame, you can toss those extrovert goals to the side.

They’re not necessary.

Here’s a summary of my roadmap:

  • Step #1: Give yourself AT LEAST 12 months — Good sh*t takes time.

  • Step #2: Don’t overthink this — Post about what you know.

  • Step #3: Don’t be bland, bland, bland — People connect to rough edges. They can’t connect with Teflon.

  • Step #4: Give, give, give — Opportunities will present themselves.

  • Step #5: Rinse and repeat — Keep giving, keep learning, and keep investing in yourself.

So don’t be distracted by shiny objects.

Go out there and let freedom be your north star.

You’ve got this!

Scott Stockdale
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