My Thoughts on The Great Resignation and Mental Health Crisis

Kristin Wilson, Host:    00:00:00    Hi everyone. Kristin from Traveling with Kristin here and welcome to episode 119 of Badass Digital Nomads. I had a different episode for you planned this week, but when I saw the recent news headlines about the great resignation, you know, I had to comment. So you might have seen by now that I published a video over the weekend with my reaction and some advice regarding this movement. We are witnessing of people quitting or changing their jobs as a result of the pandemic, as employers have begun beckoning people back to the office as it were. But I wanted to provide more context and analysis here for you in the podcast version. First, some background, this whole great resignation story stems from a US Department of Labor summary, which reported that more than 4 million Americans quit their jobs back in April of 2021, which is nearly 3% of the workforce and apparently the biggest spike in history.  

Kristin:    00:01:13    Now people are quitting or changing their jobs for all different reasons, as I'm sure you can imagine. And there's a good chance that you have considered it as well or that you already have. I posted polls on Instagram and YouTube, which I'll link to my YouTube community post in the show notes if you wanna vote in it. But on YouTube, 45% of you said that you either quit your job during this time or that you're planning to quit. While 55% of you on Instagram said that you already quit or changed jobs this year. Now the plot thickens because interestingly, it seems that your employers don't believe you. This is pretty baffling to me because for years now studies have shown that 99% of people who try working remotely want to continue with some form of flexible work in the future. And a new monster.com study this year found that 95% of workers are considering changing jobs soon.  

Kristin:    00:02:23    And then another Microsoft study backed that up with about 41% of people reconsidering their employment options. Yet according to CNBC, most c-suite executives think that that number of people quitting is gonna be closer to 8%, which I personally think is wrong. Why do I think that? Well, back in 2019, I published an article on Medium explaining why this great resignation would eventually happen. The only difference though is that I thought it would take 10 or 20 years to unfold rather than a year or two, as we've seen here with the pandemic. And then in April of 2020, more than a year ago, I wrote an article that I never published. Unfortunately, it's still sitting in draft mode in my medium account, but it's titled, you're Never Going Back to The Office. And I wanna read for you now the conclusion of that article I wrote.  

Kristin:    00:03:32    "If your company calls everyone back to the office after the Coronavirus Pandemic passes, you may want to consider quitting because your employer won't be able to compete in the new remote landscape. A place where remote first competitors will have higher employee morale, retention, innovation, and lower overhead costs. So sit back, settle in and revel and the extra 400 to 2000 hours per year that you will have saved from eliminating your commute, eliminating your meetings, and eliminating your interruptions, being able to work from anywhere, travel more often, and even perhaps move to a new city. Welcome to the world of remote work. You'll like it here," end quote. Now I wrote that conclusion before Zoom meetings took over everyone's lives and I'm not even sure about saving time on meetings anymore. And I'm not even sure if I should publish that article now because it seems so obvious with all of the great resignation headlines. 

Kristin:    00:04:42    Uh, but the reason I'm sharing it with you is because I want you to have confidence in quitting your job if that's what you feel you need to do. And it's not that I had a crystal ball and I knew everything that was going to happen, but I formed these opinions based on the sentiment that was pretty widespread among remote work veterans and especially the founders of remote first companies. And also based on data that mostly remote first companies collected. They went out and did their own primary research to help themselves understand remote work better and also to share this mindset with the rest of the business community. Um, the only difference between now and then is that back then no one was paying attention. And now, uh, those predictions that we made or those conclusions that we talked about and publicized, whether it was through blog posts or on social media, now those topics are being picked up in the mainstream news.  

Kristin:    00:05:50    So that is the overlap there. And the reason this is important though, is because there's still naysayers in the mainstream. We see what's happening in black and white, but then there are other people that are saying that it's not happening. So don't listen to the managers or the c-suite executives who have been shooting down the possibility and inevitability of flexible work for 50 years because they aren't the experts in this scenario. And quite frankly, anyone who downplays what's happening right now in the business community either doesn't understand the magnitude of this shift or they're simply in denial. What's happening right now was always going to happen. It's just happening faster than anyone in the remote work community expected. People were writing books about this happening even 20 years ago. So this was always going to happen. And part of the reason why I started Traveling with Kristin and Badass Digital Nomads to begin with, to help you prepare for this time and to experience in this lifetime, the ability to live and work from anywhere sooner without doubting yourself, without second guessing yourself, and with more confidence and inspiration from other like-minded people in our community.  

Kristin:    00:07:23    That's why I bring so many people onto the podcast to interview them, to share their stories, to share how people of all different ages from all different backgrounds, all different skill sets, all different countries can become location independent. So if you need some help getting started down this path, if you've been thinking about quitting your job or if you've lost your job, or if you just want to start a side income, a side hustle to supplement your income, maybe from a temp job, any variation of that, if you're curious about how to make money online as a beginner, I have an online course that walks you through the steps of how to monetize your skills for the very first time. It's called Freelance to Freedom. And I actually created it during the lockdowns last year to help people like you for exactly the same reasons that we're seeing today with the great resignation.  

Kristin:    00:08:28    In fact, I created it just before writing that medium article that is still in draft mode. So again, if you lost your job or you need to replace your salary by working for yourself, if you want to make money online but you've never done it before, you just feel overwhelmed by all of the options. You're not sure where to start. Maybe you've taken a bunch of Udemy courses on affiliate marketing or drop shipping or blogging or all sorts of things and you're still kind of treading water and starting from square one, then this course is for you. You can sign up now at travelingwithKristin.com/freelance or by clicking on the link in the show notes. And as a podcast listener, you can get $100 off by using the code. Quit Your Job, <laugh>. That's right. Quit your job. Q-U-I-T-Y-O-U-R-J-O-B. The link and the code is there in the show notes.  

Kristin:    00:09:32    And then changing gears for a moment, since I haven't done a solo cast in a while, I have a few shout-outs before we get into the meat of today's episode. First and foremost, I wanna thank everyone who has been recommending your favorite books to me. I used to love reading as a kid and I would spend hours upon hours in my bedroom or in the library or in bookstores, uh, reading. But as I got older and you know, started working and traveling, I read less and less over the years. And I didn't realize until this year how much I had really been missing it from my life. But with the extra time I've had on my hands from not traveling and having an Amazon address to ship stuff to these days, I've been enjoying reading so much and I really appreciate all the very unique books that you guys have introduced me to.  

Kristin:    00:10:31    So I wanted to share the list that I've accumulated with you so that you can pick up anything that piques your interest and know that these are all recommendations from fellow YouTube subscribers and podcast listeners. So I'll link to you all of the books that I'm about to list in the show notes. Or you can also search Amazon, just search on Google, Amazon Traveling with Kristin, and you'll find my Amazon store. And there's a book list in there. And I think I'll also add a second list that's like Traveling with Kristin Book Club. So this will be books that other people, uh, have recommended to me. Okay, so first up, Daniel, who is a PhD student from Brigham Young University, recommended a book called Ford Deep Thinkers Only How Culture Manipulates Your Reality. And then another podcast listener and YouTube subscriber named John recommended a slew of books to me and he even sent me one in the mail, thank you so much.  

Kristin:    00:11:37    He suggested Empire of the Summer Moon, Nomad Land, Out of Africa, War of Pilot, Orange Island of the Blue Dolphins and Treasure of the Atocha among others. That Treasure of the Atocha is about a $400 million archeological adventure. So I'm really interested in all of them actually. And then in my YouTube comments, Teo recommended a book called, The Third Wave. So these are all comments on different videos on my YouTube channel that were related to the topic of that video. Um, so Teo recommended a book called, The Third Wave. Paul recommended Progress and Poverty by Henry George Martin recommended The Weirdest People in The World, How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous. That is a tongue twister, <laugh>. And then someone recommended Mark Divine's books and podcasts for anyone who likes Jocko Willink. I'm sure there's quite a few of us here. And I'm sorry I missed your name when I copied and pasted your recommendation into my book list.  

Kristin:    00:12:54    But thank you. If you're listening right now, this person also mentioned three books specifically Way of the Seal, Unbeatable Mind, and Kokoro Yoga, K-O-K-O-R-O. So if you're wondering what I'm up to lately, it's reading profusely. Thank you. I have my work cut out for me, but I'm definitely here for it. And in other exciting news, after more than three months without a new podcast review, I received four, five-star reviews in two weeks. Super excited. I would like to thank Nat, Colin, Henry and WD3,600 for their five star reviews in July of 2021. I'm very psyched about that. And then also a warm welcome to my newest Patreon patrons. As of August 1st, 2021, we have Dave, Natalie, Kathleen, Jennifer, Anna, Anthony, Phil, Aisha, Rich, Emily, Gary B, Gary, Z, Gary R, Javier, Daniel, James, Warren, Henry, Henry L, Steven, Keith, Alejandra, Kelly, Ray, Ron and Yogi, who also popped into my live stream on Sunday with a super chat from Japan, 2000 yen.  

Kristin:    00:14:26    Thanks Yogi. And also a thank you to my OG patrons, Eric, Yasmin, Mike Isaac, Mike and Annie, Scott, Karen, Karen, Heather, Craig, RZ, Richard, tech Lords, Sean and Walt. My goal is to build a community of 100 Traveling with Kristin Insiders in 2021. And we're almost halfway there. You can join us and hang out in our monthly Zoom after parties one Sunday per month at patreon.com/travelingwithKristin. Either way, thank you for being here. I know there are 1,000,001 other podcasts you could be listening to right now. And I am so pleased that you are on a path of location, independence and adventure, and that you've discovered mine. It is a challenging time to be alive right now, but it's also a time of opportunity and of change and of building community. And I feel that's what we've done here. I truly, truly feel like we are part of something very special here, and I'm just blown away by the depth and diversity and kindness of our community.  

Kristin:    00:15:54    A hundred thousand listeners strong here on the podcast and 100,000 subscribers almost strong over on YouTube. Uh, so I'm just very, very much looking forward to the future and getting to know you all more, seeing what you create, seeing what you do, and seeing where you go in the upcoming years. But, um, above all that, and upon quite a bit of deep introspection and reflection this week as, um, a former competitive gymnast who has been closely following the Olympics, um, Simone Biles journey, the US Gymnastics 16, and the more overarching conversation about mental health, I wanted to mention that as well. Um, I don't know who else needs to hear this besides me, but I wanted you to know that you are more than what you do in the world. You're more than what you make. You're more than what you create. You're more than what you earn.  

Kristin:    00:17:06    Where you go being who you are is more than enough. That's something that Simone Biles also seemed to realize this week, and that really resonated with me as, um, a recovering overachiever and perfectionist. So if you need a reminder about that, that you are enough, please seek out the book. I'm Proud of You by Tim Madigan. It's all about a journalist's unlikely friendship with Mr. Rogers, and it is a tear jerker, but it has been very cathartic to read this week, coincidentally, alongside everything that's been going on with the Olympics and alongside this greater conversation about mental health and wellness in the athletic community and beyond, a year and a half into a pandemic that I think has magnified the importance and fragility of our mental health as human beings. And also after watching the Anthony Bourdain documentary a few weeks ago, this is something that has been on my mind a lot.  

Kristin:    00:18:31    And so if you haven't, you know, felt like you've done all you want to do yet in life, if you haven't accomplished all of your goals yet, I have this quote, um, I once read, I don't know where it was, but I read that the true meaning of success is the progressive realization towards a worthy ideal, a progressive realization towards a worthy ideal. It's not getting to the goal. The journey is the destination being you. Being here, being born in and of itself is more than enough. And if that's something that multi-time, Olympic gold medalists like Simone Biles and Michael Phelps need to hear, then I think it's something that we all need to hear as well and really, really take to heart.  

Kristin:    00:19:34    Okay? So a lot to cover today since it's been a few weeks since I did a solo episode. But I hope that you're well, I hope you've enjoyed this philosophy with Kristin segment, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the show. And as usual, you can find links to all the resources I mention in the show notes or on your podcast app or over on badassdigitalnomads.com and TravelingwithKristin.com. All 119 episodes of the podcast are available for you on both of my websites. And again, you can use the code. Quit your job for $100 off the Freelance to Freedom Online course starting today. Enjoy.

Introduction: Welcome to Badass Digital Nomads, where we're pushing the boundaries of remote work and travel, all while staying grounded with a little bit of old school philosophy, self-development, and business advice from our guests.

Kristin:    00:20:45    Back in 2019, I wrote an article on Medium called 12 Ways the World Will Change When Everyone Works Remotely. And in that article, I made 12 predictions, most of which have already come to pass. I'll link to the article below, but what I wanna focus on in this video is number six, and this is the balance of power shifting from employer to employee. What do I mean by that? Basically, once people had a taste of working remotely, they would never want to go back. There have been studies going back many years before the pandemic showing that up to 99% of people who try working from home or try working remotely don't want to go back to their traditional nine to five. And now that remote work has been proven on a mass scale. Everyone's coming to the same conclusion. This was always going to happen.  

Kristin:    00:21:40    It's been possible technologically to work remotely since at least the early 1970s. But the biggest hurdle to adopting remote work has been mental, not technological. We've had the means to be able to work from home or work from anywhere for decades now. The reason that we didn't do it was simply that global society was following the path of least resistance, the status quo, and the people at the top didn't want to or weren't interested in relinquishing control of this nine to five model. As we've learned in trickle down economics, trickle down change doesn't really work either. Remote work was never going to be adopted by a top down approach. It was always going to come as a push from the bottom, from the working class. This remote work shift is more of a revolution than anything else. And what we're seeing with the great resignation is people of all ages, all backgrounds, all nationalities in all industries, realizing that they've been had, that they really never did have to work in an office, that it's always been possible to do knowledge work from anywhere, and they're realizing their power.  

Kristin:    00:23:01    So what are the implications of this shift? Well, the first thing and the most immediate pressing problem for employers is being able to incentivize employees to come back to the office or to work for less than they are worth. In the article, I quoted research that showed that workplace flexibility was the most valued perk among employees. And this was before the pandemic. One web developer that I quoted said that he didn't see flexible work as a perk. He saw it as a requirement. And now millions and millions of people feel the same way, more than just a job perk. Flexible work is becoming a labor rights issue, and there's no reason for companies to force employees to work from an office when they can do their work from anywhere. It would have taken decades for CEOs and managers to voluntarily begin providing flexible work opportunities to their employees.  

Kristin:    00:24:05    But because of the situation that we're in, employees can now demand it or they can go somewhere else or they can leave that career path in that corporate ladder altogether. Not only do they not have to work in a traditional job, but they don't have to work for an employer at all. And what a lot of people have realized is that their skills are worth more on the open market than they are in a company. So as people have been working from home, working on their side hustles struggling to get by during the pandemic, they've realized that they can work the same amount of hours or less and earn the same amount of money by selling their services directly on the open market. So if you look at big box stores that are going out of business or brick and mortar retailers in general, you can look to stores like Toys R Us or fashion brands and entire malls that are closing down those retail companies that used to hire tens of thousands of employees.  

Kristin:    00:25:15    A certain percentage of those employees probably now have Etsy stores, or they do drop shipping on Amazon or through some other means. So the workforce is now providing the services or the products that massive corporations used to provide. Now, some companies might change their business models and survive. Uh, we see companies like Walmart that have shifted more to an e-commerce model. But the pattern that's happening here is that employees are directly and indirectly competing with their former employers, or even with the massive Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies in their industry. It's not about just finding another job, it's about evaluating if you want a job to begin with or if you just want to work for yourself and what the tangible and intangible value is of your perks and benefits and compensation package. And for a lot of people, the freedom to work from anywhere is priceless.  

Kristin:    00:26:29    And so my main message, my main takeaway for you here today is that if you can sit and overcome the discomfort, the fear, and the uncertainty surrounding the changes and disruptions to the world as we know it at this time, you can be one of the early adopters in the location, independent movement, being a digital nomad, doing whatever you want for work, having 23 different income streams, living wherever, traveling wherever. This is going to be just as accepted and just as traditional and mainstream of an option as becoming a doctor or becoming a police officer, or becoming a biologist or a computer programmer, or any of the other list of careers that you would find on a career inventory test. But the bottom line is that the entire workforce right now should be empowered to make the decision that works for you to set your terms with your potential employer, to not be afraid to walk away if you don't get what you want, because we are just at the beginning of a global race and competition for talent, and it's not going away anytime soon.  

Kristin:    00:27:53    Now, yes, this does also mean that you will have to compete for jobs with equally skilled workers in other countries. That's a topic for another video. But right here, right now, as you are reading the headlines and the manic news reports about the great resignation, know that this is all in your best interest. Even if you are a small business or a startup or some other employer, this means that you have access to a greater job market, more affordable, skilled labor from other places. And it's nothing to be afraid of. So if you're one of the employees who's quitting your job, take an inventory, decide what are the skills that you like doing? What is it that you want to do to earn money in the world? This is the natural way of life. People have always worked for themselves, people have always worked from home.  

Kristin:    00:28:49    Things are just coming full circle where now we have the freedom, the technology, the resources, the communication, and the tools to support ourselves and make a living from anywhere in the world. This is the permissionless economy. We give ourselves permission to take action to say what it is that we want to do to earn a living. You give yourself permission to start a YouTube channel, to start a blog, to start a podcast, to build a website. No one is going to do it for you, but all the options are on the table. Forget about what you did before. Forget about the sunk costs. Forget about the job history that you've had. If you were starting from day zero, what would you want to do? Who would you want to be? Who would you want to help? Who would you want to serve? What would you want to create?  

Kristin:    00:29:47    And know that if you've ever made a dollar in your life, if you've ever had a job in your life, that you are fully capable of getting another one or working for yourself. And for the massive companies that are having a hard time incentivizing workers to come back, it's gonna be an uphill battle because it's going to be very hard to compete with the alternatives that people have today. If you are a decision maker at your company, the faster you act to expand job benefits, to raise salaries, to add perks that you've never added before, the faster you are going to attract and the longer you are going to retain good talent. In my article two years ago, I wrote that brick and mortar companies would find it very difficult, if not impossible, to compete with remote first companies on innovation, on overhead costs, on hiring, and pretty much every functional area of business companies were already hiring remote across industries.  

Kristin:    00:30:54    And the first people to leave the office were the knowledge workers. As a result, a company's growth, a company's success, and a company's profit margins were no longer correlated with the size of their office space or even the number of employees they had on payroll. Things have changed forever, but it's a good thing. Employers, employees, and independent contractors alike can all benefit from what's happening right now. This is not a zero sum change. This is a net positive impact to humanity. Save the whole pandemic part. The sooner everybody adopts this change and embraces this model, the better it's going to be for your bottom line and also your happiness and contentment. No one wants to go back to the normal of commuting two to four hours a day to get to the office. Everybody just wants to live life on their terms, make a good living, contribute to something of value, something bigger than themselves, and connect with other people and have fun.  

Kristin:    00:31:59    There's no reason why everyone in the world shouldn't be able to make a livable wage while working where they want. We have the technology to support it. And the next big wave of change we're going to see, which is already happening right now, is the different incentives that are shifting from employers to individuals. So we're already seeing this with remote work programs, remote work and digital nomad visas. And that's only going to increase. Instead of paying companies to build their head offices in certain cities or states, we're going to see more and more individual incentives directed at remote workers, independent contractors, online entrepreneurs, and other types of digital nomads. And that is also a good thing because usually these incentives that go to companies don't trickle down to the benefit of the people on their payroll. So if you've ever regretted the career path that you took, or even what you studied and majored in, in university and those student loans that you took on, consider this a fresh start.  

Kristin:    00:33:04    Disruption is the best time for change, and you should unapologetically finally pursue what it is that you've always wanted to do or even things that you didn't know you wanted to do. Worst case scenario, and this is something I've been telling myself for 20 years now, you can always go back home. You could go back to normal and you can get a regular job, but chances are 99% of you will keep going after having lived life as a location, independent, remote entrepreneur, solopreneur. I cannot fathom the idea of ever going into a traditional nine to five cubicle. So if that sounds good to you, let's do this. Seize the day like this video, subscribe to my channel and welcome to the. future.