The speaker reflects on a past job as a skip tracer, which involved deceiving people to find those who had skipped out on payments. Despite feeling morally conflicted and hating the job, the speaker realized that it taught them valuable lessons about human nature and themselves. They emphasize the importance of finding purpose and learning in any job, as it brings life and ownership to one's time.

In this video, I share advice that could change your life. The difference between alive time and dead time helped people like Ryan Holiday take better ownership of their day-to-day lives.

Robert Greene is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The 48 Laws of Power, The Art of Seduction, The 33 Strategies of War, The 50th Law, Mastery, The Laws of Human Nature, and most recently, The Daily Laws.

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I'm learning about the ugliness in people's souls.

I'm learning about the ugliness in my own soul.

I'm learning about how I'm going to have to quit this job very soon.

And I'm remembering a job that I had in the late 80s.

I was working at a detective agency in Pasadena, California whose name I can't remember right now.

Basically, I was what's called a skip tracer.

I'm not going to tell you too much about it, but basically I'm trying to find people who've skipped out on paying something, credit cards or whatever.

They've jumped bail or whatever, and we need to find them.

And it was basically learning how to deceive over the telephone.

How to call the person's mother or girlfriend and kind of pretend you were some disinterested person.

You create a story and you make them kind of emotional and they say, oh yeah, well he's here.

It was the most depressing, the worst job I've ever had in my life.

Well, I've had worse jobs on the facts of it, you know, like, you know, washing dishes, et cetera.

It was depressing the feeling it gave me morally, dirty inside.

Like I was capturing these innocent people, right?

But then I started realizing, this is really teaching me a lot about people.

I'm learning about myself, about what I hate, about the ugliness of the world, but I'm also learning about how easy it is to deceive people, what their weak points are.

This is the most incredible lesson in human nature I could ever have condensed in 3 months because I couldn't stand the job after 3 months.

But the idea is Even the worst job that you're in, if I had gotten depressed and sad and down on myself, that is dead time.

I'm working for this man who's paying me.

If my time is his time, he owns me during those 8 hours that I'm in his office.

It's like grass that has turned brown inside.

But if I turn a switch and I go, I'm learning.

Even flipping burgers at McDonald's, you're learning about human nature.

That is how to translate so it becomes your time.


Speaker 0: I'm learning. I'm learning about human nature. I'm learning about the ugliness in people's souls. I'm learning about the ugliness in my own soul. I'm learning about

Speaker 1: what I never ever want to do in life. I'm learning about how I'm going to have to quit this job very soon. It's a lifetime. And I'm remembering a job that I had in the late 80s. I was working at a detective agency in Pasadena, California whose name I can't remember right now.

Basically, I was what's called a skip tracer. I'm not going to tell you too much about it, but basically I'm trying to find people who've skipped out on paying something, credit cards or whatever. They've jumped bail or whatever, and we need to find them. The insurance company is hiring us. We need to find them.

And it was basically learning how to deceive over the telephone. How to call the person's mother or girlfriend and kind of pretend you were some disinterested person. I need to contact Craig. We went to high school together. I've lost touch with them.

You create a story and you make them kind of emotional and they say, oh yeah, well he's here.

Speaker 0: And then you find him, right? It was the most depressing, the worst job I've ever had in my life. Well, I've had worse jobs on the facts of it, you know, like, you know, washing dishes, et cetera. It was depressing the feeling it gave me morally, dirty inside. Like I was capturing these innocent people, right?

And I have a sense of justice and I

Speaker 1: hated myself. But then I started realizing, this is really teaching me a lot about people. I'm really learning about human nature. I'm learning about myself, about what I hate, about the ugliness of the world, but I'm also learning about how easy it is to deceive people, what their weak points are. This is the most incredible lesson in human nature I could ever have condensed in 3 months because I couldn't stand the job after 3 months.

But the idea is Even the worst job that you're in, if I had gotten depressed and sad and down on myself, that is dead time. I'm working for this man who's paying me. If my time is his time, he owns me during those 8 hours that I'm in his office. It's dead. I'm a dead person.

It's like grass that has turned brown inside. Right? It's not been watered. But if I turn a switch and I go, I'm learning. I'm learning about human nature.

Speaker 0: I'm learning about the ugliness in people's souls. I'm learning about the ugliness in people's souls. I'm learning about the ugliness in my own soul. I'm learning about

Speaker 1: what I never ever want to do in life. I'm learning about how I'm going to

Speaker 0: have to quit this job very soon. It's a lifetime. It's green. It's like it's watering. It's turning greener

Speaker 1: and greener and greener and greener. Because I'm using it for some purpose. I'm learning. Aún aprendo. In Spanish, still learning.

Everything is an example for learning. Even flipping burgers at McDonald's, you're learning about human nature. You're learning about yourself. That is how to translate so it becomes your time. You own it.

You're not working for somebody else. You're enriching yourself. You own it. It is your time and it's alive.

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How To Become The Master Of Your Time