Balancing Family, Training, and Business

“The Mash Blueprint for Strength Programming” and “Squat Every Day II: Variations in Intensity and Volume” have both launched today at the lowest price that they will ever be. Check them out below:

==> “Squat Every Day II and The Mash Blueprint”

Balancing Family, Training, and Business

This topic is one that I continue to revisit. Nothing means more to me than balance. Some people want money. Some people want things. I want more time with my family. That’s it! Time with my family is my version of wealthy.

When it comes to balance, there is one important step that comes first.

1. You must define your values! What is important to you? If you don’t know the answer to this question, then you don’t know what to prioritize. For me it looks like this:

• God is first.
• Family comes next.
• My team and friends come right after.
• Growing my business in a way that will affect the most lives.
• Training is last nowadays.

I schedule my day to fit these pieces. This value system has changed a lot over the years. Training used to come first, and I never recommend that any of you do that. Training is fun. Competition is exciting, but neither one is God or Family. I wish that I had figured that out sooner, but now I can at least pass it on to you.

If you are having trouble defining your values, you just have to imagine your funeral. I am not trying to make you sad here, but this is the best way to figure out your values. What do you want people to say about you at your funeral?

Personally I want them to remember how much that I loved God, my family, and all the people in my life. After that, yes I want to be remembered as a great coach and athlete. I also want to be remembered for building a business that helped to change lives. That’s it! I don’t care about fast cars or big homes.

2. Everything is scheduled! I have time each day set aside for all the things that are important to me. Here is what a typical day looks like if there is such a thing:

6am Wake up, coffee, and plan the day
6:30a-8a Write a blog/article and schedule it to release
8a-8:30a Spend time with my team on Facebook
8:30a-10:30a Spend time with my Family with zero interruptions. Eat breakfast, go for walk, gymnastics, go to park, play with dogs, or whatever we want to do.
10:30a-2:30a Write Programs, work on projects, answer emails, etc. This is basically my big block for business
2:30-3:30 More Family time
3:30-4 drive to gym
4-7p I am with my team and training myself
7-7:30 drive home
7:30-9:30 Zero Interruption Family dinner and time! This is my favorite time of the day. My son always gives his mom and me several kisses before bed.
9:30-11a I finish up any work, make notes for next day, and study the bible.

I am thinking about getting up earlier and starting my day with the bible. That’s probably a better way to get the day started, but for now this is what it looks like. If I mess up anywhere, it will be spending too much time with family. I am ok with that.

3. How do I fit all of that? You gotta get rid of excess man! Things to try:

• Cut out excess TV. 30 minutes per day is plenty enough time watching mindless television. Once again it is all about priorities. Maybe you want to be remembered as the number one fantasy football player in the world. That’s your call.
• Get up early! Cory Gregory taught me this. Sometimes you have to sacrifice a little sleep to get in all the things that you want to do.
• You have to have FREE Days. Those are days where you just have fun. On these days I recommend Zero work. These are the days that will unlock your creative brain. Without these days your whole life will become stagnant.
• Schedule Focus days where you work on and not in your business. These are the days that you plan new products, or chart new directions.
• Schedule your Buffer Days, which are days that you get those time consuming “to do’s” finished.
• Cut out the activities that are outside of your values! If you are golfing once per week and that isn’t in your value system, cut it out man. That’s hours each week that you could put towards something more important.
• Stay off of social media. I can get caught up on Instagram like the rest of us. You just have to schedule that, and keep it to a minimum. That can wreck your time.

We all know the things that we are doing that have absolutely nothing to do with reaching our goals in any category. We all have them just some of us have already started trimming the fat.

I still love training. Don’t get me wrong! I just have a block of time set aside, and that is when I train. I don’t mess around either. A lot of us take way more time in the gym than we really need to. I used to be guilty of this when I was obsessed with being the best. I would be at the gym four hours per day at least. Did I really have to be there 4 hours? No way!

Focus when you are in the gym! You should be able to get in and out of there in two hours at the most. If not, you are wasting time talking or resting too much between sets. I do see that all too often. People will take 5 minutes between sets, and then they don’t understand why they are getting tired at meets. Two minutes is plenty, and that is at the most.

I love the things that I am doing. I refuse to add things to my life that don’t fit. My training fits my goals. My reading fits my goals. I know that seem boring, but if you live my life, you will find that it is not even close to boring.

Because I live a focused life, I am able to travel all over the world teaching people about the things that I have spent my life loving. Because I am focused, I am able to train at an elite level even at 42-years-old. Because I am willing to not do certain things, I am able to do all the things that are important to me like hang out with my family every single day.

I am so blessed to be able to live my life the way that I do now. I hope that you all get to the point of living life exactly the way that you want. It took me 40-years to figure it out. My prayer in writing this is that you all can figure things out much sooner.

All that I ask is that you take that first step in living a value centered life. Whether it is getting up earlier or cutting the television back a few hours each week, I want you to take that step this week. No I want you to take that step today. Don’t wait!

If you want to be remembered for loving your family, 30 minutes per week of family time isn’t going to cut it. Sometime it isn’t making more money that leads to the perfect life. It is learning to live with less that can lead to true happiness. Do you need a 4,000 square foot house? Do you need a $40,000 car?

Personally I would rather take a trip with my family to Colorado or maybe Ireland versus driving a fast car. I would rather have the time to write a book that changes lives versus playing golf at the country club. You make your own decisions based on your own values. Whatever start today! Right now!

HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT:

We have been waiting so long, and the day is finally here. Today we launch two new resources that we have been working on for months.

First, there’s the Mash Blueprint for Strength Programming. It’s a simple but effective system for building your own program. There are guidelines for how to add assistance and cardio – as well as how to change the program so you can keep progressing for a lifetime of gains.

We’re also launching #SquatEveryDay II: Variations in Intensity and Volume. The original #SquatEveryDay from last year works perfectly for some athletes. However, I’ve realized that some of my lifters have different volume needs. So in this second #SquatEveryDay book, I’ve outlined two levels of higher volume programs. Lifters tend to fall into one of three categories as far as volume requirements – and with both #SquatEveryDay books, you will now have programs for all three levels.

And while we’re launching these products, you can grab The Blueprint and grab #SquatEveryDay II right now for the lowest price they will ever be.