Joe cites a study of tax records showing that when a CEO builds a house over 5,000-6,000 square feet, the company’s market cap drops roughly 10%. The interpretation: “I’ve made it” signals the business was a means to an end. Once the end is achieved, attention and engagement withdraw.
When business is treated as a spiritual practice — as both the means and the ends — burnout becomes much harder. There’s no fantasy of “working five hours a week and doing what I want with the rest,” because the work itself is what you want. Joe describes being at a gathering of course creators fantasizing about minimal work weeks and thinking: “How is this not doing what you want?”
“If business is a spiritual practice, it is the ends. It is the means and the ends. And so that’s what allows you to fully be engaged in a way that doesn’t burn you out.”
The same pattern appears whenever purpose is externalized: the pursuit of money, power, validation, or acceptance as the “real” goal behind business guarantees eventual disengagement.