[Transcript starts at 1:07]
Hello, hello, hello, my podcast people, and thank you for joining me for yet another episode of my favorite podcast. Today we are talking about how to balance life and work. If you're listening when this episode drops, it is Thursday, December 14th. The month is flying by. It always does. So given that this episode is about how to balance life and work, it seems like it's a good time for a life update. So got a little list here for y'all.
First off, the thing that I know y'all care about the most, Moopert. For those of you who don't know, I don't know how you don't know, but Moopert is the combined name, as given lovingly by Dr. Jennifer Crane, for Moose, which is the dog that Lex and I have, and Rupert, the cat that we have. The Moopert situation is improving. Basically Rupert is resigning himself to his fate. And Moose has seemingly calmed down a little. When I say resigning himself to his fate, like, Moose is not trying to kill Rupert, by any means. Moose wants to be best friends with Rupert.
And Rupert's a cat. And he's like, go away. I don't want anything to do with you. Right. I should actually just add in Moose is a golden doodle. So he's not just a, she's not just a dog. She is a golden doodle, which means she's crazy. Like the energy level is 1 million. It's 11 billion energy. And Rupert is a cat.
He's a very regal cat. He's a Russian blue. And he just looks with, looks at her with these judgmental eyes. And he's like…I hate you. But he has seemingly resigned himself to this life. He knows now that Moose is not actually trying to eat him. And so, he tolerates more. Like, they're not, there's no, there's no chasing really going on.
Moose used to chase Rupert around, but Moose would chase Rupert because Rupert would run. If Rupert hadn't ran, Moose wouldn't have chased him. But, uh, it's getting better. Right, they, are both out at the same time now. Rupert has his own room on the first floor, basically, and we have a gate there that separates it.
And I took the gate down and it was doing great, but then Moose ate Rupert's food. So now I'm like, fuck, like, I kind of, I've totally forgot that Moose eats the food. And so I was like, well, we'll see. We'll see what happens. I will keep y'all updated. Um, but good segue here is that we got a fake tree. It arrived, I spoke about this in the past episode, and we put it up.
I helped Lex kind of minimally. I, I really don't want the tree, but Lex decorated it. Rupert loves being under it. That is the, the segue there. Um, and yeah, it's fake. Rupert's still kind of eating it, but at least it's not a poisonous tree for him. Although I'm not sure the plastic's any better, but um, Thanksgiving is my holiday.
Love Thanksgiving. Christmas, I only really care about it because it's my brother's birthday. Uh, I hate the obligation that surrounds the holiday. Or any obligation in general. But the obligation that surrounds the holiday in general for many people of giving gifts. I'm just like, get the fuck out of here.
Like, I hate it. Um, but it does make Lex happy to have the trees. We have the tree. My contribution was that I made the lights voice activated because y'all know I love some technology. I'm also gonna have to rewire, I'm gonna do the treetopper, but I gotta rewire it so that it plugs into the, so that the lights.
Because most Christmas tree lights are non polarized, meaning that both of the outlet slots are the same size. And the treetopper I have is polarized, meaning one of the little stem things is bigger than the other. The plugs is bring another so you can't fit that in but you can change that and I just have to cut a piece and I either way I can do it and uh, the tree topper is going to be dope.
And uh, my contribution is also Christmas tree, excuse me, Christmas songs. Lex doesn't really like Christmas music and I'm like, that's like, if anything, the best part about Christmas. But I am more of the like pop Christmas. Like, give me something like Justin Timberlake, NSYNC rather, NSYNC Holiday, give me, uh, you know, Justin Bieber, things like that.
It's country as well. Um, but, yeah, she didn't really like it, and I was like, I think you've listened to the wrong kind. So I put my station on, and she's like, oh, I like this, and I was like, yeah, cause it's good. But, why don't you let me know? Shoot me a DM, let me know, are you like, authentic, old school, Bing Crosby?
Uh, I said email. Are you old school music or are you team new school for Christmas music? Let me know. Uh, but yeah, that's what's going on with that.
Uh, we ordered a dining room table, finally, from West Elm. Super stoked about it. We'll see about the chairs. I kind of want to keep the ones we have. Just buy two new end ones.
We'll see. Gotta add, uh, I do want to, like, layer in some fabric in the room just to soften it up and kind of break things up. Otherwise, it kind of feels cold and harsh because the table is glass. Mid century modern, the base, the whole thing, but the base is mid century modern and it's a glass tabletop.
It's rectangular. Um, my friend Pam had it and Lex and I have been looking for a table. We were waiting. I'm very much of the, like, wait and I got to make sure that I really want it. And then once I do, I'll pull the trigger immediately. Um, because Lex is like, let's just get it. And I'm like, but- other tables, I didn't really like them that much and I'm glad we waited and my usual approach because now we get to see this one in Pam's apartment or in Pam's house and I was like, yes, that's the one.
So we actually went there yesterday for volleyball gathering, saw the table, loved the table, went online and it was on sale for 20 percent off. So we ordered the table. It'll be here the, like, beginning of January, I think. So, that's dope.
Uh, I updated my computer for the first time since 2018. I updated my Mac OS, and it was a pain in my ASS.
But it's done now. I hate updating. I think it's so fucking stupid. Like, the changes that they do are so nominal and just like Is that the word that I want? The changes are minimal. Yeah, they're not nominal. The changes are so minimal and they have to like wait 18 hours, then things don't work. I had to redo a whole thing with GarageBand because the computer is old so it can only update but to a certain, certain like operating system and then the newest Mac, excuse me, the newest GarageBand will play nicely with that.
It's the whole fucking thing and I'm like, so that I can have what, night mode on this stupid thing? So the edges are more round on my windows? It's so dumb. It's so dumb, but I had to do it because my internet speed was just absolute shit and I knew it was because of the operating system. So I updated that, internet speed is great, uh, but updating is the fucking worst.
Um, as for Christmas, just circling back to that, we are heading to Lex's family for Christmas. They are great, but I am crying about the weather. They live in upstate New York and I'm just like, this is gonna be the worst. But, um, I'll let you know how that goes after we come back.
Volleyball, all things are good on the volleyball front.
It's cold, but things are good. It's dark, but things are good. Um, I am currently doing a plyometric program from my guy Matt. I don't, I don't want to butcher his name, but if I had to guess it would be Mack, Matt McKynes, Wint, wow, Matt. McInnes Watson, but it might be McInnes. Either way, first and last name, Matt Watson.
We'll put the, uh, Instagram handle on the show notes. He's, I'm not even gonna try and say it. He's also Plyo Plus. He has two accounts. Um, you already know, but he has two accounts on Instagram. It does make sense for what he's doing. It does. Um, but, It's great. I'm going to bring him on the podcast. I've actually been working with him in the business capacity as well.
He's just a really, really phenomenal guy. Um, and he's going to do very well. He's already doing very well, but he's going to do very well. So y'all heard it here first. The Plyo guy, the new, the new kid on the block. The guy who's going to be the big kid on the block. The big player on the block. It is Matt. So get in now, folks.
Get in now. You heard it here first. Just like I told y'all, told y'all, told y'all about, uh, Knees Over Toes guy. Same, same here. Matt is going to be big. You heard it here first.
Alright, last update. Still loving the espresso hobby. It's fucking hard. Not making the espresso. It's actually the milk texturing.
And the milk pouring. But the milk pouring doesn't matter if you don't have the right texture. You gotta aerate it, then you gotta integrate it, you gotta stretch the milk. It's a whole thing. But that's coming along and I'm enjoying it. I'm enjoying sharing the process. I'm enjoying the responses I'm getting to sharing the process as well.
People are like, Oh yeah, this is like so on brand for you of like, stick to it, do the thing every day. Like, thank you for showing me this. And the people are also like, I don't know how you do this because I need caffeine, caffeine like mainlined to my veins first thing in the morning and I was like, well, let's get that checked out.
Um, I don't, I never have, I enjoy coffee, but it's not that I need it. Um, and this is really fun. I actually look forward to it every day making the, the, the cappuccino. I make Lex in iced Americano, which is actually very easy. Um, but I do love the whole milk side of it, so. That's where I'm at. Those are the life updates.
Why all the life updates? Well, one, it's my podcast and I can, but two, because today we are talking about how to balance life and work. I did an episode about this 11 billion years ago. I'm certain of it. No idea what I said, I didn't even go back to check because I'm probably gonna say the same thing today.
But I know you're not gonna go back and there's a good chance that even if you do go back, you can't listen to it directly through the main podcast players because they typically only show 300 episodes at a time and we are currently on episode 536, so. One of the things that I always say when it comes to this question about work life balance and balancing work and life is that look at somebody who's doing a handstand.
If you look at their hands, you're going to see constant micro adjustments at the fingers. It's not that things are just perfectly balanced and just standing right like this. Something's always changing. Something is going in one direction more than the other. And that's what I want you to think about with life. As it relates to achieving this work life balance or how to balance work and life, I think the best thing you can do is practice acceptance, which is not to be confused with resignation, which again is what Rupert is doing. The definition of resignation is the acceptance of something undesirable, but inevitable, right?
So the, yes, it's talking about acceptance, but that undesirable part, I think that puts a big negative connotation on things and that just makes everybody weep, womp, grumpy Guses. So, what I want us to start off with is acceptance, but not acceptance of this horrendous, absolutely horrendous thing. Like we can, we can manipulate change, how we view things, right?
So what are we accepting though? Accepting the fact that priority is singular and that in and of itself is not negative. It's reality. Alright, Jill shared this quote with me originally. I saw that it's from like a, I don't know, but either way, I'm gonna credit Jill. Which is, you can have all the things, you just can't have them all at once.
I see this with folks in the, in the movement space where it's like, I'm sure that you've had this as your own clients. People are like, I wanna get stronger, I wanna run faster, I wanna get leaner, I wanna gain endurance, I wanna gain muscle, I wanna do body recount, and I wanna get better at my sport, and I wanna jump higher.
And you're like, what? We could do those things, but not all at once. Alright, focus on one thing. And then move on to the next, right? What should you focus on first? Well, the thing that you want the most or the thing that perhaps has the most carryover to other things, the thing that's going to move the needle the most.
But you focus on one thing, you execute, and then you move on to the next goal. Priority is singular. As it relates to work and life, this would be like people being like, well, I want my business to grow. I want my relationship with my partner to be better and deeper. I want to go on as many trips as possible with my family.
I want to have the biggest revenue year ever. I want to spend more time with my spouse. I want to make new types of content. You can have all the things, you can do all the things, you just can't have or do them all at once. All right. So that first part is accepting that priority is singular.
The next part is acknowledging where you are in life or in business.
and what your circumstances are and what you are able to make the priority. For some people, what they are able to make the priority is what they want to make the priority. Awesome. For some folks, what they're able to make the priority is what they need to make the priority or they have to make the priority, which for some people isn't great, but acceptance, right?
Accept, acknowledge. So personal example, new relationship with Lex and all my free time. is going there. This means less lifting. I'm doing less stuff on social media. Less, less, I'm in my stories less. Volleyball pretty much stayed the same because she goes to volleyball with me, but less time for listening to audiobooks because when I'm walking, I'm walking with her and Moose.
All right. I'm spending free time, my free time, looking for ways to decorate the new place. Right, getting that table. I'm spending the weekends. I'm, when I want to spend the weekends at home with her, with Moose, and just doing stuff around the house, right? The scale has tipped towards her and the relationship, and that's what I want.
That's what the priority is right now in my life. We have, however, talked about making, lifting a bit more of a priority, because when I don't, then my knees, my busted ass knees, they break off and then volleyball is not great, right? So we are able to say, Hey, where are we at? And what are we able to make a priority?
And in our case, what I want to make a priority, we can make a priority, but that's maybe not the case for everyone. Maybe it's not the case for you. Right? So the action item here is to take your situation and acknowledge where you are at, and accept that priority is singular, and then you're going to lean into the single thing that you're actually able to lean into.
For some, maybe you're in a transitional time with your family, and you have to spend time there. You have to take care of things there. Be there, be there. Your business will, okay, business will, okay. Your business will be okay. It's not fragile. For some, you're in a time where you're all fucking in on your business and those around you, they got to understand that.
Lean in. I, growth doesn't happen by accident. So what to do if what you want to make a priority is different than what you're able to make the priority. To me, the answer here is you take radical responsibility. Take radical responsibility for what? For everything. For literally everything. You take responsibility for where you are at in life.
Every decision that you have made to get you to this point in life, you take responsibility for it. Why is that good? Because it means you can change things. When you're like, Oh, the universe handed me this, or someone else did this, or that, and you put that responsibility elsewhere, you can't do anything about it.
But when you take responsibility, then you're like, you know what? Well, I can do something about it. So, you take responsibility for where you're at, the decisions you've made, whether that's you decided to have kids, I'm gonna say it, and someone's gonna get offended, and I honestly don't care. At this point, I don't care.
You chose to have kids. That's your responsibility, and now or rather take responsibility for that decision. And now it's like, hey, maybe you have to spend time doing this. And like, the person I think about the most immediately is Laura Jean. You know, I fucking love Laura Jean. She's my twin. And she has taken so many pauses in her business because she's like, I got a family and I have to do these things.
And I'm like, God, you are so fucking amazing. And now she answers different seasons of life and she's like, all right, I have the ability to make this other thing my priority and that's what I'm going to do. So you take radical responsibility for where you're at, every decision you've made that's led you to where you're at.
Then you identify what needs to change in order for you to be able to focus on what you want to focus on and make the priority. And then you lean into executing each individual step one at a time while giving it as long as it needs, right?
So if you're like, cool, I want to be able to spend all this time in my business, but in order to do that, I have to get family stuff in order.
Okay, well then get your family stuff in order and you give it as long as it needs. It takes as long as it takes. And then you move on to the next thing. The big thing here is as always, do not compare yourself to others. I just did a podcast episode, it was three steps to a happier life and one of them was not comparing because that, yes, we know it's so just cliche to say, but it is the thief of joy and it's just, it didn't get you anywhere, right?
So do not compare yourself to others because their journey, what they're able to prioritize, what they're able to do. It's different than you. It's completely different circumstances. All right. So I will say the original question that prompted me to create this episode was from one of my homies. She knows who she is.
You're the best. Um, she wrote, uh, to in a DM question, peaceful mind around navigating business and content creation when life is lifey. And what I really like about that question is the peaceful mind part. And I think that the peaceful mind comes from not resisting things. I titled this episode, Balancing Work and Life, because I think that that is the wording that most people use.
But if we tease out what balance means, I think perhaps it's that people are ultimately, yes, trying to find peace. Like that part of that question that she asked. I didn't anywhere in this episode state There's start with, I didn't in this episode state to start with figuring out what your goal is because I think the implied goal is balancing work and life, which is ultimately being at peace.
And I truly believe that the answer here is what we've gone over this whole episode, which is acknowledging where you're at, accepting that priority is singular, well, is singular. Taking radical responsibility for everything and then leaning into whatever you're able to lean into. One thing at a time, give it as long as it takes and then we move on to the next.
Gonna wrap it up here. That's all I got. As always, endlessly appreciative for every single one of you. Super, super appreciative for the musings, or I should say, that's not the word I want, for the fact that so many of you act as a muse for me. You give me ideas. I'm always open to, uh, to hearing from you. I love hearing from you.
I'm always open to any requests that you may have. So shoot me a DM at the movement maestro, shoot me a text 737. Nope. That's wrong. 3 1 0 7 3 7 2 3 4 5 would love to hear from you. All right. That's all I got for you. As always, one more time, endlessly, endlessly, endlessly appreciative for every single one of you until next time, friends, Maestro out.
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