All right, Jim. Today we're talking about how to balance your relationship with your career.
Oh, I got to take notes. I have no idea. Maybe that's a great idea. I'm not the guy for this segment. I'm a cautionary tale on this segment. I got a lot of people going to tell you. There's going to be some women in the comments being like, 'This guy is the least qualified person in the world.'
The ultimate do as I say, not as I do episode.
That I could do. That I could give you the advice on how to not do this.
Well, this all stems from Barack Obama coming out and saying that there is a genuine tension in his marriage over pressure from Michelle to stay out of politics. So, he did an interview with the New Yorker, basically saying that his plan was to be like every other president where you leave office and you don't really comment on the next administration, but because Trump has kind of been reckless and wild, he has felt like a responsibility and a duty to represent the Democratic party and can and talk about him. And at home, Michelle is sort of like, you know, you said you were done with this and now we're being dragged back in. And he was very candid about saying like it really has put a strain on our marriage, which obviously this is the highest level, but a lot of people I think deal with this with their career versus their life at home.
100%. I mean, look, I think Obama is in a unique position because he was one of the youngest presidents we've ever had. And I think when you've had when you when you finish two terms and you're still that young, that's kind of unprecedented in modern age at least. I mean, look at Reagan, look at, you know, Bush. Like, these are these were not young men. And then Biden, obviously, and even Trump when he finishes office, these are going to be elderly people, whereas Obama was still quite a young person. So, it's not unreasonable to think he would have kept his hand in the game. And I think something like that, like, you know, if you if you love politics and you love that stuff and people want to hear what you have to say. I mean, when Alexander Hamilton walked away from politics, people were still hanging on his every word and trying to figure out who's he voting for, what does he have to say about things, he still had a tremendous amount of credibility. So, I think Obama among Democrats has a tremendous amount of credibility. And people want to know what he has to say. They want to know what Michelle has to say. I mean, you know, he they may not have invited him on to Call Her Daddy, but they've invited Michelle. Like Michelle has had a lot to say to a lot of people. She's got a podcast. So
I would love to see Obama on there.
Well, you know, Alex Cooper, you know, Alex Cooper,
one time I was in college.
That's been great. It's been really So like when you were president, that's wild. By the way, by the way, did you guys see SNL that they murdered? They just mercked the Alex's on SNL.
The vocal fry on that I was like, I know a guy who could have slid right into his skin.
Oh, I was loving it. Oh my god. Sorry, that was I I I had to I had to mention that at some point. I had to give a shout out to my fellow New Yorkers there on that one. Um, but yeah, look, work life balance, you know, someone retiring. I mean, it's a mixed bag. You know, I I've told the story in the past that when my dad retired, my mom was still alive and my mom was like, 'You got to get this man out of this house. Like, you got to give him something to do.' I said, 'For better, for worse, I did not say for lunch. I do not cannot have this guy dottering around all day getting in my way.' But I do think there there are people, you know, who have careers that are so unbelievably demanding like the presidents, like being a trial lawyer, like being a surgeon that you just don't have a lot of room in your life for anything else. And then if you have a partner that you've said to them, hey, someday it's not going to be this crazy. And then it just becomes a different kind of crazy where you're be now instead of, you know, being in the Oval Office and having to deal with things, you're you're, you know, you're being sought after as a guest or you're being sought after as a speaker or you're writing books or you're doing all this. He's been a very prolific post-president like a lot of, you know, Jimmy Carter had a some people say that Jimmy Carter probably made more change and it was a more effective politician after his presidency than he was during his presidency. There's a lot of presidents that you could actually say that about. So, I I think that um it's understandable that that would put some strain on a marriage.
I I think you have to look at like how this person was advertised to their partner. I mean, you got to you got to love the person you're married to, not who you imagine they would someday be. I I I think we have to be a little more honest with ourselves about who we are and also who we're married to. I I think relationships it's normal to think, oh, someday this person will have more time or they'll be less into activity. Like if someone made it to the presidency, if someone made it to partner at a law firm, if someone made it to the highest levels of financial institutions as a trader or as a a quant person, you know, the chances of that person then being like, 'Yeah, now I'm just going to go fishing, right, and read like novels.' Like, no, you're not. You'll do that for like a month and then you'll like I I get a lot of great ideas once in a while where I'm like, 'I'm going to take a week off and just do nothing. I'm going to do a station. I'm gonna train jiu-jitsu. I'm going to go to the gym. I'm going to sit in the sauna. I'm gonna cook. I'm going to do it.' And then I do that. And then it's like 8 a.m.
I did a jiu-jitsu class. I worked out. I sat in the sauna. I did a cold plunge. And I cooked.
It's 8 a.m. I maybe I'll just pop into the office for a minute, you know? And and like it really is like you just like having your hand in something and I don't know see I I gave up on that a long time ago. I tend to think work life balance might be a myth. You know, in certain professions, I think there are certain people that are passionate about their work and their work becomes part of how they define themselves. And you know, there's a a quote from um Steinbeck. I think it's from God, I don't remember what it's from. It might be from it's a Steinbeck quote. I know that where he said, 'I don't I don't like work, but I like what's in the work, which is the opportunity to figure out who you are.' And I I see work as an expression of who I am. It's an expression of my my God-given talents and the talents I've cultivated.
Joseph Conrad misattributed everyone. Okay. I thought it was Steinbeck.
It's actually uh Joseph Joseph Conrad.
Is it from Heart of Darkness?
Um Joseph Conrad. Good to know. Okay. See misin spreading misinformation on the internet since 2025. There it is gang. But yeah, I mean that's the nature of work. I think work can be an expression of who you are
and I think do you think it's more about the profession or I think it's like a personality trait oftentimes. I don't think it I don't think you stumble into a lawyer or a surgeon or a politician. It's already who you are.
Well, I think it's an instrument for your god-given talents or the talents you've chosen to cultivate or some combination of the two, right? Like I was always a strong extemporaneous speaker. I was a good debater in high school. I enjoy like that was my natural proclivity. So I found a profession that amplifies and highlights my natural proclivities and something that I enjoy doing.
So then you want to do it all the time.
Yeah. So then you just want to keep doing
So do you think uh I don't know let's say you didn't have the resources or or life to go to law school and that never happened. So you ended up working a regular job. Do you think you would you would not be as work-oriented because
I probably would have I would be like a really really chatty salesperson or I would be an insurance sales. I would be some job where I used my extemporaneous. I'd be a professor and I would enjoy teaching
