Balance in Life!
This weekend I was coaching one of my Learn 2 Lift Seminars at Top Tier CrossFit Columbia. During the seminar, one of the attendees asked me how I balanced all of my commitments. Doc Williams also interviewed me on his podcast for Fit Lab Studios. He asked me about all the things that I had going on, and he shook his head as well. Here is what I am doing:
-I am a husband to the best wife in the world, Emily Drew
-I am a father to Bailey and Rock
-I am a follower of Christ
-The Barbell Life Podcast
-Run my gym Mash Elite Performance
-Coach over 500 online and in person Weightlifters and Powerlifters
-Host events throughout the year including the Mash Strength Spectacular
-I still train everyday at an elite level!
-Coach 1-2 Learn 2 Lift Seminars every month
-I have four Online Programs: Eat & Lift What You Want, Mash Mafia Weightlifting, Coaching by Coach Mash, and Team GridStyle
-I have 10 Mash Mafia Barbell affiliate gyms throughout the country
-I write at least 3 articles every week
I don’t think that I realized all the things that I had going on in my life until this weekend. I just got up every morning at 5am and hit the grind. My best quality is that I “am a doer”. My worst quality is that I “am a doer”. If I have an idea that I believe it good, then I am going to hit the ground running.
I’m glad that God has given me the ability to take an idea and bring it to life. However, over the last month I have come to realize that just because I am able to do something doesn’t mean that I should. I simply woke up one day, and I realized that I have taken on too much.
How did I know?
Here is the thing. I have priorities. I know what they are, but obviously sometimes I can get them mixed up. Here they are:
• My God
• My wife
• My children
• My Family and Friends
• My Athletes, which a lot of times are my friends.
• My own training
• My business
My wife told me that my whole life was becoming about my business. That is not good for her, the business, or me. Look I am the first to admit, I can easily obsess over things. It is a sin that I have dealt with in the past, and obviously I am still dealing with. My biggest challenge is that I love my business. What’s not to love? I get to give you guys tons of information, and positively affect thousands of lives at the same time.
Crazy how quickly something good can turn bad! So how did I handle my wife’s concerns? I listened! I was quiet for a long time processing the whole thing. I actually cried. Yah man, I cry too. Don’t let the beard and the heavy weights fool you. I have never been one to enjoy failure or letting someone down especially my wife.
On our wedding day, I told her that I intended on spending the rest of my life loving her like Christ loved the church. I meant that. So when she told me that I wasn’t loving her the way that I used to, it crushed my heart. I was failing man!
That didn’t mean that I failed. Failing and failed are two different words. It just told me that I needed to make some changes moving forward, and that is exactly what I am doing. We have made a new family schedule, and I plan on sticking to it. I want to guarantee that there is time for my wife and children. Quality time! Put away my phone and computer time!
Here are the keys to a balanced life:
• Have a clear set of priorities!
• Have a system of checks and balances to make sure that your priorities are in alignment.
• Take the time to talk to the people that you love and ask them how your life looks from their point of view. Be open to their advice!
• Write down all the things that you are doing.
• Ask yourself on each thing if you love it and/or need it.
• If not, get rid of it!
We are going through all the things that I do right now. We are going to keep the things that I love to do, and hire out things that I don’t like to do if they are worth keeping. Last we are going to get rid of the things that I don’t like, and aren’t helping others. It is that simple!
If you are an entrepreneur or you are the typical A Type person, you are going to have to work at balance your whole life. Luckily at this stage of my life, my family and my God are more important to me than anything else. If they tell me that I am messing up, I am going to listen. My hope by writing this blog is that I might make some of you aware before the people in your life are hurt.
One of the things that I learned by coaching Jon North was that being an open book is hard, but it reaches more people. If my mistakes can help just one of you, then writing blogs like this is totally worth it. Messing up sometime is ok. Refusing to do something about it is not ok. We are all capable of change. I hate when people say, “that’s just who I am”. That is the worst and laziest excuse in the world.
Become someone better today! Right now!
