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Tom Scryleus

Tom Scryleus

133,000 subscribers

👁 419,224 views

Quiet Quitting Saved My Life

Video Overview & Insights

🤝 Patreon → Free newsletters, deeper thoughts, and support for the channel:https://patreon.com/tomscryleus

Trying to keep this channel independent and sponsor-free.
Patreon helps a lot if you want to support the journey: https://www.patreon.com/tomscryleus

WATCH NEXT: Job Security is a Lie! → https://youtu.be/PIuGsstkAHk?si=uZV9xiOi4B6JHm6s

— @TomScryleus

📘 My book — #1 Amazon Bestseller (US, Germany & France): https://amzn.to/4klHtuP

Quiet quitting is about defending yourself against wage slavery, it’s the smartest way to escape burnout, protect your energy, and set boundaries at work.In 2026 work culture, “going above and beyond” became unpaid labor, and hard work is normalized, not rewarded.

I can’t relate . Most of your jobs are pointless and provide no value to society. If you don’t sell a product or provide a service you’re useless . Sorry not sorry

— @Baelitfamsquad

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 — What 20 Years of Work Taught Me

I'm sure it's been posted in the other 1k+ comments...but the "other duties as assigned" is the biggest pile of 💩 EVVVVERRRR!!!

This is my 23rd year with the public school system, 21st at my school, 4th principal (previous 1st one moved on about my 5th year to open up a new school, stayed and did a phenomenal job then retired 10 yrs after, came back to the district as a specialist; 2nd one was promoted within her 2 yrs to work directly alongside of the district superintendent; 3rd one was promoted within 5 yrs to work over certain area schools (but not ours/the school he left).

Then, mid-year, we received the "mercy transfer" in the principal I'm under now.
Her first year, we couldn't really feel her. She was somewhat erratic but we just chalked it up to her being in a new school where she had to acclimate from her old school.
No. We had to acclimate to her. The second year, a handful of staff members left or transferred, maybe less than 10.
Her third year, about 12 people left.
Then the pandemic hits so you really couldn't tell who is leaving because of her or because of the stress of the whole lockdown situation and coming back to work but not really knowing what the heck was going on and then phasing the kids back in person, etc.
So we get to 2024/2025 school yr and 38 staff members (all the first grade teachers, all of our special education resource teachers, 3 kindergarten teachers, music teacher, health teacher, 2 custodians, and 2 office clerks. These are the ones who actually transferred or quit at the end of the year. There were at 3 who actually did not come back after the breaks (so quit mid yr) and two of them mailed their laptops back with the door key taped underneath it, and the other one sent a friend to return it.
The board of ed has been addressed directly about the teacher retention, how this principal puts certified tasks on non certified personnel (all I know is as a parent, if I find out that a non-certified person is administering a standardized test to my child, I would be sitting pretty because I would sue the entire district and the principal in particular because people can now sue individually).
Brand new teachers have been put on professional development plans and they haven't been given guidance as to what needs to improve, they've been given mentors who are also first-year teachers which makes no sense. I guess maybe the negative of each person not knowing anything cancels it out 🤔

Anyway, her solution was to hire all brand new people fresh out of college who have no idea of what they're stepping into. School hasn't even started, it is July 23rd, 2026, and yesterday while I was scheduling (because people like to wait till the last minute to enroll their children and not have the right documents but it doesn't surprise me so take a number and have a seat), two teachers came in and I'm thinking they're coming to set up their classrooms. No! They resigned at the district level! Both of them return their door keys to me, signed off, and I wished them well.

Now, am I the butthead for not sending her the email? No. Because why the district does not see the mess that this person has rendered among other things, we have no idea.
But one thing I will no longer do is compromise and put my health on the back burner.
I will not open her emails that she sends it to a 3:00 in the morning and then when we get in at 7:00 she says did you see my email?
I will not check my email on the weekends. There's absolutely nothing I can do about it that wants me to take time away from my family.
I will not stay after for community nights (which usually talks about classroom structure, lessons, etc.) I have raised two soldiers. Both debt free, both living their best life.
One thing that I have always taught them, that I got for my grandfather, is never apologized for making somebody do THEIR job.
It is not my job to ensure that teachers don't quit because they work for a narcissistic 💩head.
My job is to do data input and make sure that our course numbers are in compliance with county, state, & federal guidelines for funding.
It is not to entertain, hold conferences, figure out why their IEP directs however the child is supposed to be served.

This is a specialists job, to hold 4 hour meetings only to have the parent deny services then fight over expired information the next yr.

Nope, not my issue. This is beyond my scope (and definitely beyond my paycheck seeing that was still after 23 years, pull $10,000 less than a 1st year teacher with a bachelors who are still broke at the 3rd week).

Anyway, I actually took the time to stop asking random people how many years you need to retire what if you started this time blah blah blah..
I set up my appointment with a retirement department and it turns out instead of the original 7 years I was thinking I would need to retire... I will actually be able to start drawing on both (we get two pensions one from the state & the other from county 🎉🎉), so I started aggressively paying down my principal on my home, obtain certifications in a completely different field which I love and I can freelance after work in the comfort of my home or in person, and for the first time in 23 years, as a 1099 / independent contractor, I am paying into social security again (many school districts don't pay into it so the percentage is technically still in your paycheck. I did the math and I've put away three to 5% for the past few years into a Roth IRA.)

I also specifically get up and walk away from my desk and walk the Halls every few hours with headphones on but not attached to anything. So when people think I'm listening to something, I can walk right past them and ignore them😂

I'm looking forward to hearing more of your channel.
47 months and counting🎉🎉🎉

— @kimberlyc84

01:59 — Part I - Before I Discovered Quiet Quitting

04:37 — Part II - The Day My Body Said Enough

— @aparnaamkulkarnii5130

10:50 — Part III - What Happened When I Started Quiet Quitting

17:15 — Conclusion - 10 Years of Quiet Quitting Later

For years, i take 1 hour more on lunch break and leave 30 minute early.
No one care, still have bonus and increment.

— @tembikai_oren

*BUILDING FREEDOM OUTSIDE WORK*

🌿 Free Guide → How I started building income outside the traditional 9–5 system: https://stan.store/tomscryleus/p/build-passive-income-with-my-guide-100-free

Have a side hustle we enjoy, it lets us get fulfillment without giving up. Just a thought

— @milesmoyers

🎥 YouTube Success Blueprint→ How I built a 100k+ YouTube channel while working a normal job: https://stan.store/tomscryleus/p/ready-to-take-your-youtube-game-to-the-next-level

🔗 More resources and projects → https://stan.store/tomscryleus

I got high blood pressure starting at 28. I’m cooked

— @pvtruestnetwork

*MY BOOKS*

📘 The Brutal Truth About Work

I retired at 58. I started quiet quitting 5 years before I retired. I was exhausted from decades of corporate BS. I felt guilty during those years. I dreaded Sunday nights knowing I had to go to work the next day. I hated corporate life, but did it from the age of 20-58. Around the age of 47, I realized that I couldn't take it much longer and started planning. Stress was literally killing me. Stress is something people just assume goes with work. It does to a certain point, but stress becomes disabling when it starts to break down your body. It is Sunday night as I write this. No stress, my body is healing itself.

— @thefauxtist4387

The #1 Amazon Bestseller (US, Germany & France)

exploring modern work, wage slavery, and the hidden psychological cost of the 9–5 system.

I'm watching this as I'm sitting in a random bar, at a random airport, on a Sunday afternoon because yet another flight to a - probably unnecessary - meeting on the other side of the planet had been canceled. All this instead of spending time with my kids - in their teens, no idea how long they're still going to stick around their dad.

Your point hits home. Really hard...

— @DTraub

https://amzn.to/4klHtuP

📕 The Dark History of Work

7:09 you feel like your being exploited

— @user-ex2bo6ub4g

A deeper exploration into how humanity was transformed from free communities

into wage-dependent populations

This wisdom is an answer to prayer

— @ReshThreshingfloor

and why modern work feels increasingly inescapable.

https://amzn.to/42mVrWB

I am 57 and I started working in corporate environment at 20. I am pretty sure....after watching your video......that I quietly quit on day ONE....37 years ago. The thing is that if you do not find a way out of the 9-5 employee trap....then you will still be sad and depressed every day....because you still hate where you go every day....and you know you are wasting your life away. Yes you quitted decades ago.....that definitely gets your stress level down.....but you are still a slave. I sometimes meet colleagues who started with me ......and I can see the stress in their eyes, the desperate pretending to be someone they are not, the reciting of a role that is not theirs, but they do not even know who they would be without that role. And I can't believe what I see, I can't believe that they still are in that mental trap of tying their identity and self worth to that place that position that salary. Looking back I think I am some sort of rare genious ......because I understood it all so so so early....and didn't think much of it. I told it to my best friend when we were 20.....at around 50 she told me that she had recently thought about what I told her and that I was right.

— @jajajajaja357

_CONNECT WITH ME:_

📸 Instagram → https://instagram.com/Tom.Scryleus

Yep, this past year I covered multiple off hours emergencies and my boss (who doesn't even know what I do) gave me a 'meets expectations.' Then I took a supervisory detail and saw I was working significantly faster and handling way more cases than other people in my previous position yet receiving basically the same review rating as them. It taught me to never go above and beyond again and make myself unavailable when an emergency pops up in weekend just like everyone else does.

— @fleetingmomentgardens

📱 X → https://x.com/TomScryleus

🌐 Website → https://www.TomScryleus.com

Wise words learned from real life.

— @atharris8

_My Gear:_

📋 The tools I use to make these videos: https://www.tomscryleus.com/resources/my-gear

Yes,it' s obvious you frelt tired becouse you didn't acceptrd ,as many many people,you were the modern slave,of 21'st century. To accept and to think you were a slave ,is vwry difficult for your conscious mind,and you become very exhausted.....i meet a lot of sitiations like tgis,the result was phisical illnes,mental.illnes and finnaly death. If you accept you arr a slave,you have great chances to chamge something...good luck🎉🎉🎉

— @ciprianbejan5309

Thank you for watching!

5% annual increase wow that’s amazing

— @tinarennett9041

More User Perspectives

@

Starting last week, I turned down a new work stream. This week I said I could not go on a work trip. I’ve been treated like crap for the past 10 years and no amount of extra effort will fix that. I am hoping to work 3 years and 9 months more before I retire anyway, so there is no point in taking on more. It won’t make managers treat me well, so I may as well retire as soon as possible.

@darklingfaerie2921
@

Good workers get rewarded with more work. We are slaves. It is so icky!! I thought it was different in Sweden 😢

@leahansel4596
@

Hello, grateful I found your channel. I feel like a zombie. Have not worked for a year which was WONDERFUL. B ut now I'm out of money and have no desire to find work for someone else. Empty. How to get paid to exist? 🤔

@leahansel4596
@

At some point we all learn to work within our pay grade.

@gchaly1
@

If that toxic workplace is common in Sweden, imagine what more in countries with lower quality of living…

@notesfromthecharts
@

Thank you for sharing. At first, I sesed a small level of resentment and criticism developing, and then I just realized that this is only because I am a slave, and I am being driven into the ground by my job. My boss is a sociopathic, incompetent and cruel idiot. You have given me a lot to think about. I nearly had a fatal experience during my grueling commute to work, and my boss literally could not care less if she were paid for that purpose. I am an American. The values of our founding fathers were profound and unique, but we are in the late stages of Empire, our food is completely poisoned and our work lives are beyond banal.

@ThomasG-og4yb
@

Dig your foxhole get everything ready in advance if you're gonna quiet quit in the US. Boy I tell ya.

@HELLNAWW
@

Dig your foxhole get everything ready in advance if you're gonna quiet quit in the US. Boy I tell ya.

@HELLNAWW
@

You are absolutely right. Companies pretend to care about their employees but they really don’t care one bit.

@jiangren4497
@

You get a 5% raise for inflation?

@station-7
@

Some directors or middle management only give credit to people who kiss their a** - and absolutely screw over everyone who has been there the longest and do all the work - and helped them actually get to their promotion.
Some companies are sh*t - BECAUSE they let management do that kind of thing.

@TheOneAndOnlyNeuromod
@

A month ago, I asked for raise to my Boss ( it's been 2 years I did not get raise) suddenly everything change. Access to him seems hard, everything seems hard. I already give so much for the company. He asked me to send him the list of achievements over these 2 year, I have sent them and then he said he wanna be more spesific. 😢
I am about to quit now. Please give me your suggestion, whay should I do.

@abdullahkevin9341
@

You have no clue what a role model you are ❤ Love you man

@modernigradjevinskimaterij9427
@

Yes, those of us who do well working are handed more work.

@ingood0867
@

I set up my entire department to where I have all associates, Team Leads, Supervisors and Operations Manager do close to everything. I'll approve budget related situations but everything gets delegated. If I get an email and it can be handled by one of the above, I don't respond to the email, I just forward it and have one of them do it. I make sure I do very little while collecting my six figures and quietly working on other projects.

-R2HStealth

@R2HStealth
@

How do I do this? I need to change my mindset.

@Stillkickingafter60
@

Hey buddy, use all those same words but with relationships and you'll find some magic secret as well 😉

@jay6817
@

This isn’t quiet quitting… it’s working your daily rate and having healthy boundaries. Actual quiet quitting is gradually winding down to zero work until you get fired (or promoted - you can’t even make that one up!). Especially in corporate it’s actually astounding how many people get away with doing NO work and still get paid for months before someone finally realises they have no deliverables. And then in order to get them off the team their manager gets them promoted… they fail up. You think I’m joking…. Work in the US for 3 months and you see it everywhere. It’s crazy

@julesBK13
@

you can not possibly be working at level of 3 people if you are quiet quitting

@dinscaavinsca9001
@

I needed this video. Thank you

@ninak16
@

Such a relatable video! found you from the recent video with aaron knightly!

@Bonfire5th
@

If you stop getting invited to meetings and managers are giving tasks from you to others it’s a sign they want you to quit instead of firing you.

@Joshalots
@

In the US we have this thing where you get 10% less every year while boomers enjoy the fruits of asset inflation. Assets that you'll never afford.

@jamesofallthings3684
@

Bro is mirroring my own thoughts. Thank you for showing me that I'm not alone.

@veronicuhhz
@

Your problem is looking to others to give you value in yourself and your work. Only you can provide that for yourself. Be brave instead of “quiet quitting”, that’s cowardly. Quit. And find something else.

@KornHuskerJason
@

Very informative

@anacelisbercruz2525
@

I hate Work and Work hates me i've always wanted to have a good job but i've never been able to get one..

@Edwardio73
@

Just a great video

@jonsdiagnostic5879
@

my co-worker lost her eyesight for a few days due to stress, she had a minor stroke and went blind. She went back to work a week later, nothing changed. I was her supervisor, and I kept asking our manager for help, temp hire, shuffle of responsibilities, something ( I was overextended myself) - I couple of years later they gave away our jobs to a company in Poland and India. What I have seen time and again is that the "slackers" often time have more leeway than the high performers.

@beestar
@

Folks, work to live do not live for your work. It's that simple. Wish I adopted that line of thinking 20 years ago. Now that I'm closing my career, I'm free! I hit the clock, stopped transactional work and just glide through the day. I do what I GET PAID to do and that's it! No more no less.

@unreconstructed9172
@

I'm from Serbia, and that's basically a way of life here. We even have a saying: "Nobody can pay me so little that I can't work even less." 😄

@vladav6549
@

Lucky you. Once i do less and care less the manager pulls u for the talk

@dorisalim8626
@

Welcome to the modern work world.

@kristopher777
@

Oh, and don't take your break or lunch anywhere near your work area, because you're never allowed to have a break if someone sees you. You are a bad employee if someone needs something, and it's your break time.

@kristopher777