Avanti Entrepreneur Avanti Entrepreneur Magazine Fall 2017 | Page 25

I
hate complaining. This advice is
for the complainers. I’m not upset
with you if you play video games all
day or watch Netflix all night. I’m
mad at you if you’re doing that and
you’re baffled by why you’re not making
more money and living your dream. If
you’re happy and content, you’ve won. But
if you’re complaining, it means you haven’t
won yet and you should stop complaining
and do something about it instead.
Someone I look up to most in the world
(tied with you, Dad) is my mother. Hands
down, one of the most intriguing thing
about my mother is her inability to
complain. It’s probably one of my favorite
traits that she’s passed down to me. I find
it incredibly attractive and it’s a quality
I adore in my wife as well. It’s even
something I try to instill in my children
because I think complaining is ugly.
Personally, I don’t complain. (Except about
the New York Jets—I complain about them
a lot.) If you look at my tweets historically,
maybe there’s two or three complaints.
You’ll never catch me complaining about
not seeing my kids enough or about not
having enough leisure time because if I had
an issue with those things, I would either
do something about it or at least recognize
that I have the ability to do something
about it.
There’s no shifting into the complain zone
when I encounter an issue I’m not happy
with. I’m very “put your head down” when
it comes to problem solving. It’s about
assessing the problem, figuring it out, and
then going directly back on the offense.
Complaining is defense.
To me, the only thing you that is acceptable
to complain about are the things that you
can’t control like the unfortunate health of
yourself or your loved ones or some other
unforeseen tragedies.
I want to clarify, just to set the record
straight: If you’re complaining, about
anything, then you need to audit yourself.
You can’t just go watch House of Cards.
You can’t play ball all day. You can’t go
to ballet shows. You can’t sit there and
ponder the what-ifs like: “What if I had
rich parents” or “what if I grew up in a
better neighborhood” or “what if I made
that investment” or “what if I went to that
school.” You gotta work to fix it.
There are so many people reading this right
now who are complaining. People love to
complain because it’s easy. Executing to fix
those problems, on the other hand, is hard.
Look, I understand that many of you
have student loans and mortgages and a
rough time working two jobs while trying
to spend time with your family. But, are
you happy? If you are, then you’ve won
because you don’t actually have anything to
complain about. The real problem is that
there are so many millions of people who
are unhappy and are just sitting around
complaining and then just playing Madden
for hours or having their 18th dinner
with their other “complaining friend” and
just complaining back and forth together.
They’re not actually trying to solve the very
things they’re complaining about.
Gary’s fourth best seller, The #AskGaryVee
Book, is the product of over a year’s worth
of answering questions on business,
entrepreneurship, social media, leadership
and more on a YouTube show. Gary answers
five questions a show, and with over a 150
episodes and counting, this book is sure to be
chock full of incredible tidbits.
“Patience is real and
so is hard work”
COMPLAINING IS EASY.
EXECUTING IS HARD.
In today’s world, we’re so ingrained to
expect instant gratification and that our
problems can be solved with minimal
effort. Patience is real and so is hard work.
Sometimes, that hard work might not even
be as terrible as you think. Need more
money? We live in a 24-7 world where you
can make money in your underwear. Think
about it.
If there’s one thing I want you to learn
from reading this, it’s that complaining has
zero value. Looking at the negative, seeing
the glass as half empty, and complaining
are some of the biggest wastes of time
a human being can engage in. Instead,
tackle the problem head on. Assess it, see
what you can do about it, and then do just
that. “Woe is me” is truly one of the biggest
things that can stand in the way of success
both professionally and personally.
Gary Vaynerchuk (The New York Times
best-selling author)—the inspiring and
unconventional entrepreneur who introduced
us to the concept of crush it—knows how to
get things done, have fun, and be massively
successful. A marketing and business
genius, Gary had the foresigh t to go beyond
traditional methods and use social media
tools such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube
to reach an untapped audience that continues
to grow. https://www.garyvaynerchuk.com
With more than 3.5 million fans on social
media, Gary shares his ongoing journey as an
entrepreneur in his daily vlog, #DailyVee. He
also hosts The #AskGaryVee Show, on which
he answers questions about digital media,
entrepreneurship, leadership and more, based
on a lifetime of building successful, multi-
million dollar companies. The show is also
available as a podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, and
SoundCloud.
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