Running on Coffee and Christ
We are an energetic couple, focused on building a community that is able to impact their families, friends, and their world by; Growing their Faith, Improving their Fitness, and Pursuing their Future.
The topics we discuss, revolve around the hopes that YOU are inspired to better yourself and that you could dare to dream above and beyond all that you have ever imagined for yourself.
Running on Coffee and Christ
Episode 9 Be like the ant and do your laundry!
Have you ever noticed how what you do today directly impacts your tomorrow? This powerful concept forms the foundation of our conversation about seizing opportunities and making each day count.
Recording from our coffee shop (complete with background noise and all!), we dive into why focusing on the present moment is crucial for creating your best possible future. Drawing wisdom from Proverbs 27:1, we explore the balance between not worrying excessively about tomorrow while taking responsible action today.
We share practical strategies for eliminating barriers to productivity – from something as simple as laying out workout clothes the night before to creating systems that make important tasks easier to accomplish. Through personal examples (including Calvin's confession about being distracted and Holli's admission of needing alone time as an introvert), we demonstrate how these principles apply to real life.
The conversation takes a tactical turn as we break down productivity frameworks like time blocking, the 80/20 principle, and the urgent/important matrix. Rather than presenting these as one-size-fits-all solutions, we discuss how different personality types might adapt these approaches to fit their unique styles.
Perhaps most valuably, we challenge the common excuse of "not having enough time" by examining what we truly prioritize. Whether managing a business, raising children, or pursuing fitness goals, taking ownership of our choices empowers us to create meaningful change rather than just reacting to circumstances.
Join us next week for a special spring break edition where we'll share childhood memories and stories! We'd love to hear your spring break experiences too – send us a message with your favorite memories.
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Hey everyone and welcome to episode 9 of our podcast. We're wonderfully excited to be here with you again. Our background looks different.
Speaker 2:We're in a little bit of a different environment. We decided to try recording in the coffee shop today. During operating hours, so you'll hear the POS go off and the grinder and customers coming in and things like that.
Speaker 1:The doorbell ringing. Uh, the process right is on on the tv, right on live tv.
Speaker 2:We got the prices right on there so y'all hear the the sounds from it.
Speaker 1:But this is a little different, being uh recording in you know front of people.
Speaker 2:So uh, it's all good though yeah, I'm excited about it.
Speaker 1:Um so, today's episode nine.
Speaker 2:Can't believe we've already been at this for nine episodes so if we've been recording one a week, really that's nine weeks, right? Yep, hey, so the reason why we're in here to begin with is really the reason for the conversation that we're going to have today. We're just kind of on the fly, but we're like, hey, let's just do it, let's make sure we knock it out, prioritize it, because we want to make sure an episode gets out this week.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:So we're going to get it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we are. We were just seizing the opportunity, which is what our episode is about today. Today, we want to talk about how important it is to make the day your best possible, most productive, so that your tomorrow is better. You know, the Bible teaches us that we shouldn't be worried about tomorrow. Yeah, but what we do today does affect our tomorrow, and he does tell us to focus on the present moment and the present day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it talks a lot about not being a sluggard. Yes, yes. Some of the terms it uses, and making sure that you're preparing, Make sure you're taking action Right. A lot of what it calls you to do is to be a man or a woman of action. You know whatever that is in your life, whatever that calling is or whatever the occupation that you work in or the things that you do, to really take those to heart and act on them and don't be lazy.
Speaker 1:Correct. Before we get into all of that, we do have to talk about our cups. You know, it's not a fancy schmancy, one of our from our collection. We actually are using just our to-go cuts from our shop, since we were in here in the shop and we're just drinking some of our drip coffee today they still have the happy birthday. From our two-year anniversary coming, new sleeves coming we're excited to have celebrated two years already, so going into this third.
Speaker 2:But we've learned a lot.
Speaker 1:We have, uh, we've learned that we do have to seize the day, because I'll tell you, if you put off things to today, it can make your tomorrow a lot harder. Yeah, so let's dig into this, calvin.
Speaker 2:All right. Well, the scripture that we had picked out for this um in our minds was Proverbs 27, one, it says do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth. You don't know what tomorrow's going to have for you. Don't, don't put off for tomorrow, Don't uh brag that tomorrow's going to be such a good day. You know it'll be better tomorrow, because today is what you have. You're not promised tomorrow, Um.
Speaker 2:So seizing the opportunity and making sure that you're taking action in the moment, right now, is where we're at. You're living in the present, you know. I think the phrase is your presence is a present. You are given it. It is a gift to you to be in the present, right now. Whatever you're doing, wherever you're at, while you're listening to this, it is a gift that you are here, that you are alive, that you're able to do your calling and able to serve and to help and to enjoy the creation that God has given us. So how do we optimize that? How do you make sure that we're doing what we need to?
Speaker 1:do? How do we make sure we're not taking our own life for granted?
Speaker 2:I know.
Speaker 1:It's very easy to do and it's easy to let days slip away from you, and I can testify to this. So yesterday was Sunday. It's usually my run rest day and it's a rest day for our family.
Speaker 1:Typically. I think we've gotten a little bit better about our Sundays being more restful than they were and not planning things and stuff like that. But yesterday I kind of felt like I was in a funk I don't know any other way to say it Like nothing was wrong. Like I was in a funk, I don't know any other way to say it Like nothing was wrong, like nothing was bothering me or anything. But I felt like and this might surprise some people, especially some of my family members but I'm actually a pretty introverted person and people think that if you're introverted then it means that you're quiet.
Speaker 1:And I'm not a quiet person. Introverted just means that you do not gain energy from others around you. You gain more energy from being alone and by yourself, and it's kind of it's a pretty type, a personality kind of thing. You know, like if you're doing a project I really didn't love group projects. I liked being able to work alone because I felt like that's how my creative juices really started flowing, you know, yeah, but I kind of just lost my train of thought and guys.
Speaker 1:I'm surprised that it hasn't happened in this podcast more than I think it's happened once before, Just like got lost into what I was saying.
Speaker 2:When you were talking about the opportunities of each day, you know, and and when, like yesterday, you, you took a day of rest, and that is a priority. That is a priority to to rest.
Speaker 1:Thank you for being my helpmate and bringing it back to me, okay, okay. So I went to church like normal and we did some new songs. That was exciting. And when I came home I was like drained, and I think it's because because I'm introverted, like when I'm in the shop all day long and stuff sometimes it's and I love people because I come up with all these activities and events that we're going to do but it drains me. It really does drain me, and sometimes I just need to be alone and I'll even tell you I'm not mad at you or anything, but I just need to be alone and collect my thoughts.
Speaker 1:But yesterday I felt like I did it for a little bit longer than I needed to and it was putting me in a funk and I started thinking about this exact topic. So it's kind of cool that we're talking about this God just makes everything come full circle but I remember thinking what I'm doing right now is not helping me for tomorrow, it's not getting me anywhere. In fact, it could just make me take a few steps back, because I feel like if you allow yourself to be lazy, you'll just keep being more lazy. Does that make sense?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I mean, that's the reason why, like when the Bible talks about not worrying about tomorrow, right? Well, that doesn't mean don't act today for things that are going to affect tomorrow, right, you know, what you do today will affect tomorrow, like we've already said. So focusing on the things that you have to prioritize today is really important. And you let the chips fall from your actions today into tomorrow and then you reevaluate tomorrow.
Speaker 2:If God gives you tomorrow as a gift, you reevaluate and you reprioritize tomorrow, but you don't think about it and worry about it until it gets here. Yes, you, basically you know what your future is, so far as you can plan out, you know, like you know what's around the bend as much as possible. So you take action today for the things that are the most important or have the most priority or God's calling you to do the most today.
Speaker 2:Um, and it might be um in the middle of the day, being like you know what. We don't have time tonight because of X Y Z. We've got to prioritize some time during the day to record this podcast.
Speaker 2:So here we go this might all this noise in the background and stuff it might be like, man, I can't hear anything they're saying, but we don't know. We're going to record this and we're going to rock on and we're going to prioritize making sure that y'all have what y'all need when you come and join us, that you feel encouraged to be able to take on your day and realize that we're all just living in a crazy world and we're all just seizing opportunities to do everything we possibly can, whether it's a ministry, a calling, or whether it's just going about normal life and picking up your kids from school.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So how do we do that? How do we prioritize our days so that we are getting the most out of them? And I think also, scaling that back, getting the most out of your day doesn't mean that you're jam-packing it full of so much stuff, because, once again, rest is so important, mindful rest is so important, but you know, it is prioritizing.
Speaker 1:Okay, for instance, this podcast, we could have put it off and done it tomorrow night, right, yeah, we could have, and still been able to roll it out by Wednesday, but there was nothing that was really stopping us from doing it now.
Speaker 1:And it really just and sometimes we're still flying by the seat of our pants, like it's not. Like yesterday we had this huge game plan of what we were going to do. We really came up with this game plan this morning, you know, but it was like, okay, here's our day, these are the things that we need to accomplish, and you kind of know the things that you need to get accomplished throughout the whole week and you kind of prioritize this throughout the week. So it's like, if we need to roll out a podcast by Wednesday, when is the best time to do that? Well, you're not at your other job right now. We were plenty staffed up. I didn't have anywhere immediately I had to go. So it's like, hey, let's do it now. We might have to do it in an unconventional way, but we can get it done.
Speaker 2:So I guess the thought for this podcast for y'all to bring y'all value and for us to really wrap our head around what we're talking about, we want to kind of give you a few, uh, ways that you can optimize your day, and there's been a few techniques that I've heard of that we just kind of I jotted down like throughout my life listening you know how you, you consume stuff on youtube or whatever we consume.
Speaker 2:Podcasts, yeah podcasts and stuff. So there's some some tactical things, some tactical advice, but then, like, we want to tell y'all like the three things that really kind of like we use in our daily life to try to prioritize what we're doing, and then some of the basic um programs I guess you could go by that that they, they say, are common practice, but, um, the main thing that, like with what we're trying to accomplish is, uh, with our running um, with our ministry, with our business.
Speaker 2:you know with, with life in general, um, is you try to eliminate as many barriers to prevent you from performing the tasks that you know are most prioritized. So we were just talking about this. Like your day is going to start out differently with what your clothing is based on, whatever you have coming up in your activities for your day, and kind of reverse engineer it.
Speaker 1:Reverse engineer my day, which means you go back. You start with how the day's going to end and you go backwards.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what am I going to need to be able to perform what I need that day and then work your way back? You wouldn't come in in business attire when you know in two hours you're going to be doing a workout class.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:Because you'd have to change.
Speaker 1:Right, you have to power, and if I know that I've got a run that I have to do or need to do or want to do, I may just need to go ahead and have my workout clothes on.
Speaker 1:Look, if I'm getting here at the shop at 4 o'clock in the morning and sometimes I'm teaching a class at 4.30 in the morning I already have workout clothes on, you know. So might as well keep them on, and it's going to make sure that I do that task that I was supposed to do, which was run, whereas if I have a dress on or, like you said, or business attire, I might not be as inclined to go ahead and get the run done. You know, it's like I will find pockets of opportunity, and sometimes it's like I will find pockets of opportunity, and sometimes it's like the stars might not all align about where I want to run. Sometimes I'm having to use wherever it is that I'm at, like, let's say, for instance, I only have two people working, I might can still go get my run done, but I may just need to do it right here beside the shop so that, if they can call me, I can literally just run back A barrier can be like distance, like, for instance.
Speaker 2:I was just thinking about this If you're needing to get that laundry folded, and you need to get that laundry folded, I'm telling you, don't leave it where it's at, okay, and I'm speaking to the class. So if you need to get it done, put it in a place you're going to see it, you know. Eliminate that barrier.
Speaker 1:I know some things that you've done is you will put it on our, you will take the laundry and dump it on our bed. It forces us to have to put the laundry up because we can't go to bed until.
Speaker 2:You can't sleep on that bed until it is taken care of or putting it on the couch.
Speaker 1:You know it's like you're you can't sit down on the couch until the laundry is put away, so you are eliminating the barrier and life changes?
Speaker 2:obviously yes, but it puts it in a place where you see it, you know the, the thing that you deem is most important. Um, your kids need their socks and underwear.
Speaker 2:They need that you know, so, um, making sure that you take that as a, as a, as a visual that you're going to say this is what I'm going to do. It's like with running I'm going to make sure I have my shoes, my, my task for my strategy, for making sure I'm able to run with either you or Jude, whichever way or when I have opportunity, because my day is a little less scheduled. I just have a go bag. I put everything I need to be able to change into all of my even reflective gear, flashlights shoes, everything that I could possibly need for any situation.
Speaker 2:I have it in a go bag ready to go. That way I can change into it on the fly and I just keep it in whatever vehicle we're in.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Because I don't know when that's going to happen.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And so that's like my prep for it.
Speaker 1:Yes, and getting the run in is so important, like if you have a goal that you're trying to set with your running and you probably should always have some kind of goal.
Speaker 2:I'm just going to tell you that you should have.
Speaker 1:I mean, yes, you can just go out and say I'm going to run every day, but I'll tell you, it makes it more meaningful if you have some kind of goal At least I have found that in my life and that you actually start seeing some results because you've set a goal.
Speaker 2:And it doesn't necessarily, in my opinion, like your goal. It doesn't necessarily need to be have to be a time goal or a distance goal. It can be a what you hope to achieve during that goal, like I hope to achieve a new perspective on my relationship with Christ. Is it going to be a mindful or a prayer run, you know, or something like? That where your goal is to achieve something on purpose for it, with intention.
Speaker 1:And the ultimate goal is is that you doing it that day, in the present day, is only going to affect your future in a positive way.
Speaker 1:Whereas not doing it is going to affect it in a negative way. Now I'm not saying don't freak out if you've missed a run or something, Like I've totally ruined everything. It's like no, Like you said, life happens. But we do need to optimize that time, optimize that day so that we are getting it done. It's just like when you are doing the laundry, Like when you are doing that laundry on that day, so that we are getting it done. It's just like when you are doing the laundry, like when you are doing that laundry on that day, you are ensuring that the next day you have clean underwear, you have clean socks to put on.
Speaker 1:It made your tomorrow better.
Speaker 2:There was a guy during COVID that he did. He started vlogging his runs but he only had the ability. He was lived in a city and he had only his backyard to run in. He couldn't run down the street, Like wherever he was at I can't remember there was very high restrictions on your outside activity, so he was only running in his backyard and he was a long-distance runner, so he basically wore a path around the fence in his backyard and his backyard is like in a subdivision so he only would have like maybe a 100-meter loop.
Speaker 2:We've lived. That yard is like in a you know subdivision, so he only would have like a maybe a 100 meter loop. It was really difficult to imagine running in the same loop every time, you know, but he had a priority and a goal that he didn't want to. You know, digress and it's these.
Speaker 2:The same, the same concept can be brought to every area of your life you know like the amount of time that you put into worship, the amount of time that you put into worship, the amount of time that you put into your family, invest with them, the amount of time that you spend with your business ventures, or whatever it is. You want to make sure that you take the opportunity to use those small times or those situations to optimize them. You know, it might not be the exact way that you would hope it would be. Yeah, it might not be the exact way that you would hope it would be. Yeah. And I think there's one of the thoughts was like to make sure that you're doing what it takes to have the best results.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know. What's going to give you the best results for that time Is a long run and speed runs going to give you better results than if you just go for a little jog for a couple of miles.
Speaker 1:Or, too, you can't just do a whole week of speed runs Like you're going to hurt yourself. You're going to probably see regression not progression. You can't just do a ton of easy runs where you're never getting any speed built in, and, once again, it just depends on what your goal is.
Speaker 2:you know like, for instance, right now, I'm specifically working on getting my time down, so I need to put speed workouts in there, um, and also long distance runs, but um well, when it comes to like your home life, you know if you only focus on one meal or you only focus on one bill, you know you've got to look at what's going to have the biggest impact on your family. You know what are the priorities, and that's like with every budget, you know what's the?
Speaker 2:priorities you're looking at, you're looking at utilities. You know, you know the basic food, shelter and clothing, you know then, everything else after that, they can have an impact on your life, but not as much as not feeding your kids. Correct, you know what's your priorities. You can think about the same way with every area of your life.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And another thing, another thought we had was, you know, making sure that you are truthful with yourself. We've talked about this before multiple times, about if someone says I don't have time to do this. Oh yeah, Um, have you really really sat down and thought about how much time you actually have to do something? Um, I don't have time to fold laundry. Maybe I'm just harping on laundry because I got laundry that needs to be done, but we do and we always have it.
Speaker 1:that needs to be done.
Speaker 2:But, like um, do you have time to do it? Your answer is no, I don't have time to do this. Well, have you really sat down and thought what are other things that I'm spending my time on that aren't actually affecting my future correct? Aren't actually going to move the needle in a positive direction? Yes, you know you have to do today what you can, because it will affect tomorrow I think that goes back to the proverb about the ant too.
Speaker 1:He says consider the ant Like. The ant is not lazy and the ant is constantly working for a better tomorrow, right. It's using that day to get the work done. It can that day and it's only going to help the tomorrow.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so Elle was jumping on the trampoline last night while we were grilling, or yesterday while I was grilling, and she was asking me is there any more wasp nest yet? Because the trampoline is actually like covered and right above it. About two seasons ago she was jumping on it and she looked up. I looked up and there was a wasp nest about the size of my face right above the trampoline. I thought all I could do is see, like see, like you know, like I think it might have been the movie mocking jay or whatever. It was one of those.
Speaker 1:Yes, anyway, those movies where?
Speaker 2:she knocked a wasp nest down on her, on the people who were trying to attack her from, and all I could see was that in my head like that wasp nest falling on my daughter while she's jumping on the trampoline. It's like there's there's no hope of me getting to her without them getting her. So, uh, obviously it's like stop and let's kill this thing right but she was like, looking up, are there any wasp nests yet?
Speaker 2:and I was like, no, they're not there. She's. Well, where are they at? You know, and I got to thinking about it, that that these wasps they go into like a hibernation, right, like they, they, they die off the ones that are there and the ones that are gonna come out in the beginning of the new year like they've've hidden themselves.
Speaker 2:Basically, I think they hide themselves like in the dirt, you know, like they try to get warmth from the earth to survive the winter, and then the queen is the first one to come out and release the first worker bees to start building the new nest for the new year. I think that's how it goes.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:But there's only just a handful of them that survive and make it to the next year, and of them that survive and make it to the next year, and then they multiply very quickly and their lifespan is very short. So it's like mass production right on a grand scale. Um, but I was thinking about it. I was like, yeah, they, they're doing what they can to survive, but they're working like crazy in the season that they're in right now they're preparing for that hard winter.
Speaker 2:If that queen or that, that one that lives through the wintertime, does not have the nourishment, the nutrients and the preparation to be able to survive, they go extinct. That hive goes extinct and it will not come back the next year because they didn't do what they needed to prepare, and God builds that into nature.
Speaker 2:He builds it into them like the ant. It builds it into them that they don't have to think about what I'm going to do. They just do what's built into them. You know we as humans. You throw me on a deserted Island. I'm going to do what's I think is possibly best to try to survive.
Speaker 1:I'm going to try to stay warm.
Speaker 2:I'm going to try to find food and I'm going to try to find shelter. You know it's just built into us, our human nature. So making sure that you are, uh, focused on the things that are going to have the largest impact. A lot of times that means ignoring the things that could be distractions.
Speaker 1:That's hard to pinpoint sometimes.
Speaker 2:It is.
Speaker 1:Because sometimes it can be good positive things that are distracting us from actually moving forward.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Distractions aren't necessarily things that are, like you know, bad or quote unquote, sinful or things like that. It can be just what you put your time on and your focus on that could be affecting tomorrow that you should be doing, you know, at a different later time in your life and it's just like we. We dealt with this multiple times in our life where we feel like, oh, we're focusing on something too much and it's not really moving the needle in our life Right.
Speaker 1:And we've talked about that. We have to be careful with the running on that, like we don't want the running to become something that's prideful or something that is distracting us from what the ultimate goal is, and at this point in time I feel like we have a good handle on that. You know, it is a part of our life, but it's not our life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I saw a phrase the other day or I showed it to you, I think it said it was a note on the window and it said Mom's gone for a run. Do not call her unless the house is on fire. And it's funny. You know, if you're on a long run, obviously you have to set your family up or your situation up to be able to have that block of time to be able to do that, especially if you're training for something long distance. It takes time, it just takes time, and that's probably the hardest thing about running long distance is that the time that you have to allocate to actually perform it well yes, but I will say and a lot of people would say I don't have time to like our run that we did saturday.
Speaker 1:It took two hours. You know, we knew it was going to take that long because we were running a long distance and we weren't supposed to be running it at a super fast speed or anything. We did run it at a medium speed though. So that run could have taken a lot longer than what it did, but two hours of running. People will be like I can't do two hours of running. Well, you can watch a two hour movie, you know, or I don't know what's something else that you could do all kinds of things.
Speaker 1:There is scroll on facebook, or, oh my goodness, when your phone tells you how long you've been on your phone the for the week or how many, what your average hours is on your phone. Yeah, yeah, you know I think yes, and it's like you time.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And you don't have to do a two-hour run.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:You can find 30 minutes in there to be active for your health, because it's only going to affect your future in a positive way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and remember, we only talk about running because that's our form of exercise that we're focused on right now. It could be HIIT, it could be yoga, it could be stretching be stretching.
Speaker 1:It could be whatever I do strength training. Calvin doesn't really do strength training just because he hasn't prioritized that in his life right now.
Speaker 1:And um, but I do, I do strength training, um, and really running. This is just a side note. Running is not going to make you lose weight. Running is not going to make you strong, it just isn't the. What running does is it builds up your cardiovascular health so that you need the strength training for your body to be able to withstand running long distances or running hard. And so you know and like I said I think I've said this before running is a great defense mechanism. You know, if you can get away from a situation, that's good.
Speaker 2:Do you remember that we just watched a video and it was talking about avoiding bullies?
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And it was like a high school video from like the 1990s maybe.
Speaker 1:It was like one of those videos that they rolled the TV in. They rolled the TV into the classroom. They were like, okay, watch this. Yeah, everybody watch this, yeah, yes.
Speaker 2:And I think there was a famous person that was on it, someone that we recognized. I can't remember who it was, though, but they were like if a bully attacks you, you know, do this, and it had them like smack him in the groin and and then run. It's like, instead of balling up your fist because you could damage your fist, give him a hard slap across the face and run, and it's like it always ended with and run and it's like, well yeah, avoiding situations, or distracting, distracting them to be able to get away you know it, it really is good, so like running is a really good defense mechanism, you know a bear's coming after me.
Speaker 2:You know, try to throw something out that'll distract them, but get out of there as much as you can. You know um you avoid it, avoid it at all possible costs, but um. But you do have time.
Speaker 1:I want you to think about that. You do have time. I want you to think about that. You do have time to seize the opportunity.
Speaker 2:So maybe we can go into now the tactical things, the programs that kind of are out there that you could Google and find. But then I want us to kind of relate how do you utilize them versus how I utilize them. Because we're going to be very different in this.
Speaker 1:We are Because our personalities are different.
Speaker 2:I was looking over and I was like we're totally different.
Speaker 1:We are, we're so different.
Speaker 2:I'm a list kind of guy.
Speaker 1:You're not oh my goodness, I hate a list. Okay, so look Calvin's show notes and y'all can't see called like.
Speaker 2:Time blocking is like the technical term. That's what I wrote down, but it's basically like where you use a timer or you actually set aside certain times to do things. Um, we use it a lot in the shop for when it comes to making sure we don't miss like products and things like that, like overcook things or baking things like that. It's just you say this is what it needs to be able to perform this task. I'm going to set aside this time and I'm going to do it, and they even sell these things on amazon or whatever that all over the place where you'd like to scroll it and hit it, and it's like you set a certain amount of time to focus on what you're doing. And I actually use this with jude when it comes to, like, cleaning up his room. I say I, jude, you can't do anything else till you set a 10 minute timer on your phone and start picking up your room when that timer goes off you're allowed to start going, doing whatever else you wanted to do.
Speaker 2:you know so, you, you can, you know, focus that way on, on a certain task that you're needing to accomplish and that that, I think you know, works for me to an extent I don't utilize it as much as I probably need to, um, but that would. That was something that would trigger me. You yes. And allow me to focus on it. What are your thoughts?
Speaker 1:My thoughts are that that would be fantastic for me to do Me actually ever doing it. It goes against you, it does go against my personality, which doesn't mean that I shouldn't attempt to do it, though I think we should do it. Just because, oh, that's not how my personality works doesn't mean that you shouldn't try it, Because there are some things that I have manipulated my own personality, but no like I think you should do this, you know just because it's your personality doesn't mean it's great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know well, you're like okay, so your life changes off automatically. You set a timer for 20 minutes something. You get a phone call and it changes. That's fine. But at least you started. You know, you tried and you attempted to start it. But if you never start that time or you never try it, then it's not going to help you at all. So, it's kind of like how it goes back to we were just talking about eliminating barriers, Like have your shoes on.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:If you have your shoes on you're running shoes, yep, and you're in your workout gear and you go out. But if you're in your workout gear, in your casual shoes, you have less of an opportunity well, I even thought about that when I was putting my shoes on this morning.
Speaker 1:I was like okay, what shoes. Am I wanting? What do I need to have on? Yeah, and I was like I need to eliminate the process of maybe having to come back home to get what I needed. I needed to go ahead and eliminate that barrier and just be ready.
Speaker 2:Yeah that's really important. So set those timers, eliminate barriers.
Speaker 1:All right.
Speaker 2:The next one was um. This one is uh it can be very interpretive, like to what's? You have to think about your priorities, but and what's going to have the most effect on your, your task, whatever it is fitness, business, whatever it is family, focus on the 20%. They gets 80% of the results that you need for the day, and that's really hard because a lot of times that means letting something go.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, letting something go. And how do you know what needs to be let go, yeah.
Speaker 2:So you think about like at the moment, like what is the most priority in my mind would be like the thing that's right in front of me, you know the thing that is right in front of me. Is it going to be the thing that I spend 100% of my focus on? I really struggle with my attention when it comes to what I hear my ears.
Speaker 1:You're very squirrely Very squirrely.
Speaker 2:So if I am focused dead on something, even if it's something simple as watching TV, and you start talking to me or Jude starts talking to me, anyone starts talking to me. If they don't actually say my name and get me to divert my attention, I'm not going to hear the majority of what you say until I realize you're talking to me. And it can be a struggle point, because not everyone is that way.
Speaker 2:So it's going to come off as I'm ignoring you. It's going to come off as rude because I'm not actually paying attention to you. But I'm so focused on what I'm listening to because I want to receive what I can from what I'm focused on even if it's reading a book or whatever. It is Right, driving down the road, say dad first, but my focus isn't on it, so how do?
Speaker 2:we make sure that we're focused on what's going to bring us the best results. Well, that takes a lot of introspection. That takes a lot of introspection. That takes a lot of like, planning and thinking. What am I going to do today that has the best results for my family, my career, my exercise, whatever it is? It's going to have the best results. I need to focus on that, Even if, um, it's hard, even if it's difficult, but if that's the 20% that's going to move me the furthest along that's what I need to focus on, and the rest of it I can get to as the day goes on.
Speaker 2:If I am out of socks, I need to at least try to find some pairs of socks and fold those. If I don't have time to fold the rest of it, fold that. Make sure they've got matching socks, because we're getting into shorts weather. Fold that Yep. Make sure they got matching socks, because we're getting into shorts weather.
Speaker 2:Yes, and you can tell now. When you're in your cold weather you can get away with unmatching socks, sometimes when you're kids, but when you get into the hot weather, they're going to see them, it's going to show.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:You got to make sure they're matching, Fold those and then move on with life and then that evening, when you have time to come back to it, get the rest of the clothes up. Yes, you know, but but that 20% of socks that's going to affect their day because they don't have a pair of matching socks.
Speaker 1:It's true, that's just a basic example, and I will say too this goes to 80, 20 running. I think I've said this before that I started doing 80, 20 running, which means you run 80% slow and 20% fast and hard, but that 20% because you think, oh, it's just 20%, the 20% is so important.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you've got to get it hard.
Speaker 1:You have to because if you don't, then you're running 100% easy, which means if you had a goal of your wanting to be able to run something really hard and fast, you're not going to be able to achieve it, you'll be able to go the distance. You're not going to do a bad job, but you're not going to achieve what you wanted to achieve. So focusing on that 20% really is going to have the lasting effects, but you've got to do the 80% too.
Speaker 2:And that's the thing I guess I mentioned this the other day like the difference in your mind is you have a uh not running to complete it, you're running to compete it yeah mentality yes your mind reverts to how do I compete? Even if it's against yourself, I'm going to compete against my old time. I'm going to compete against my old weights right.
Speaker 1:You know, whatever it is, and if I see someone do better than me, I I really am happy for them. You are, and all. I do, is I think, okay, how did they get where they're at? I know that it takes work. There wasn't some magic wand that was like, oh, they're going to race this amazing race and it just happened for them. No, that's not true, that everybody has to put the work in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, how much business knowledge did we gain from observing other businesses? And listening to other entrepreneurs and listening to other coffee shops and listening to other roasters.
Speaker 2:We, we, you consume as much as you possibly can and you try to apply it to your life, to try to advance your career or your fitness goals or your relationship goals. You've got to apply what you learn to it, yep, and say this is right here, this 20% is going to move the needle the most in this area, so focus on it, yep. And that's another one of the tactics, yep. Now this third one that was out there. I've seen it on a graph before, I've seen it on charts, I've seen it on people have white flip boards, dry erase, whatever, but it's a four part quadrant and it's how to prioritize the thing, the tasks that you have at hand, and the four terms are is it urgent, is it important or is it not urgent? And is it not important?
Speaker 1:Ooh, yeah, okay, so let's break this down so a lot of times, like I was saying, Ooh, ooh, yeah, okay, so let's break this down.
Speaker 2:So a lot of times, like I was saying, the thing that's in front of me is going to be what I focus on. Right, right, that's my struggle point.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Of prioritizing. So if you can ask yourself these questions and I fail to do so this might be a really good thing for me. Okay Is if you can ask yourself is it urgent and important? Those are the things that you need to do Okay. But if it's urgent and not important, those are the things that you need to try to delegate.
Speaker 1:Delegation.
Speaker 2:We could do a whole episode on delegating things. If it's urgent to get the laundry, we're going to go laundry again to get the laundry off of your couch so that you can sit on it. But it's not important to you, it's important to your kids.
Speaker 2:Delegate that to yes they can they can fall laundry if they're of a certain age, okay but if it's not urgent and not important, you don't do those okay but if it's and if it's not urgent but it is important, but it doesn't have to be done today, this is that part where you have to say that's the 80%.
Speaker 1:You have to figure out when you are going to do it.
Speaker 2:That's the stuff that you don't need to focus your time on.
Speaker 1:You need to schedule those because it is important, and I can already think of you naming those things, I can already think in my head of things that I know, of things that we have to do that are urgent and important.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And I would say an urgent and important task would be simply like making sure we get our order in for our truck this week. I mean because we can't serve anybody without those things, and it can also be as huge as we have to file the taxes, or you know those are urgent because they have a time stamp on them and they're important.
Speaker 2:I guess the goal would be is to make things that are important, keep them in the not urgent moment, Like today. Let's go ahead and get our order for the food together as best as possible and then finalize it the day of you know, that way it's never urgent but it's extremely important. So you are scheduling it, you're prioritizing it at that time. So I mean that would be the goal, but obviously if things that are urgent and important, they would take priority that day.
Speaker 1:Right. And you can even take these to things like when it comes to is your family doing too many tasks, you know, like, is your child involved in too many things? We kind of touched on this last week, yeah, but you could even apply this concept to that, like is it urgent, is it important? You know, I've seen this shared over the weekend so many people saying don't schedule ball games and practices on Sundays and Wednesday and Wednesday.
Speaker 2:Yes, I saw that too. Did you see that too? I did, I saw it a couple times.
Speaker 1:I saw it shared by so many people and I was like, okay, and I totally agree with it, but let me tell you the only way that you're preaching to the wrong person. You can't be telling the coaches to quit scheduling it. It's really up to you to not go to it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because if you stop taking your kids to it, they won't schedule them. You are the boss of your child. You have them for a very short time and I don't know why I'm saying this, but I just feel like I need to um you set the priorities in their life. And so don't put that all on a coach, because I'll tell you this too, the coach has his own mentality of he's. You know, there might be really good intentions there.
Speaker 2:He might have a lot of pressure on him to perform Sure.
Speaker 1:And I'm not, and I cause I don't want to be like the coach is the devil. I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is is you are the one who sets the priorities in your child's life, not your coach. Yeah, so you are the one who sets the priorities in your child's life, not your coach, yeah, and that comes to everything.
Speaker 2:That's not just your kids, that's your career, your business.
Speaker 2:And I had this one guy I was working with one time and he told me he says I can't do this anymore. This is just I can't do this work anymore. You know, they're always talking about the man, like I can't believe they're making us do this. And I looked at him one day and I said well, quit. You know, I was, I was his coworker. I wasn't his boss, I wasn't telling him to quit, but I was his coworker and I was like, if he said this job is killing me, that's what the that's what. It's what he said this job is killing me.
Speaker 2:I can't do this anymore. I said, well, quit. He's like what is going to put you in an early grave because of the physical exertion or the chemical hazardness, or the hours that you're working and not sleeping, and all those things. If you genuinely believe that this is going to put you in an early grave, leave, find something that is going to take its place or supplement it or whatever you need to do to change. I said you can blame them all you want, but you're the one that comes in here every day. Sure, you know, and you have to take some accountability for what you're doing. Yes, preaching to the choir.
Speaker 1:Yes, so you have to take accountability for what you're not doing, what you're not doing too, yeah, so um, and actually it wasn't.
Speaker 2:maybe five months after that he he quit, he retired, he found him a different job that had better hours, that had better um ability for him to use his physical ability, um, where he was in his life. He was an older gentleman, you know, yeah, and he and he's happy, you know, and I still keep track with him on social media and stuff like that, and every once in a while we'll message and it's like he's found some things, some joy in life later on. That is helping him enjoy his, his life later on, you know, and and it like I might've been a younger man that was just kind of like perturbed at him complaining, but I felt like there was some wisdom in what I was saying because it was like I want what's best for you.
Speaker 2:And if this genuinely isn't best for you, it's still up to you to change it.
Speaker 1:Right, and that's how we feel about our employees here. I've always told them hey, if this isn't working for you, like if you're not happy here, you can feel free to please come to us. There are no hard feelings here because we know what's best for you. What's best for you is also going to be what's best for us.
Speaker 2:I mean, you don't want somebody here that doesn't want to be here right and that could be a scheduling thing or what their focus is for their career, or how much hours or lack of hours they're getting you know anything that causes tension that could prevent you from performing your best at the 20% of the time that you had to designate the things, the things that are urgent and important, whatever's going to draw you away from performing your best at that.
Speaker 2:You got to eliminate those barriers and when it comes to being an employer, we want our employees to have the least amount of barriers as possible.
Speaker 2:We want to eliminate those barriers that's on us and we take ownership of. A lot of the mistakes, or a lot of the things that do happen have happened over the last two years where someone might not be completely satisfied and everything, and it's like, well, what did I do to contribute to that? You know we might have had, just for something as a basic example, almond milk versus oat milk. You know, it's easy, it's easy to make that mistake. What am I doing to prevent that from being a visual thing?
Speaker 2:Am I making sure that things are sectioned off in a way that they always grab from the same location You're like it's a process thing in my opinion. Now they got to take ownership that they didn't double check. We're going to have that conversation.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:But what can I? I do as a, as an owner, to make sure that they're not having to think about that right as much as possible right you know, and and that's the thing with you in your life we want to see you succeed.
Speaker 1:We want to hear your stories of success and you might be like you don't even know me. Well, we want to know you we really do like.
Speaker 1:This is our heart like it's just communicating with, with our community and beyond. You know I don't know if there's anybody that's uh listening that it doesn't come to our shop? You know, I have no idea. I know that god laid it on her heart to do this and uh, and we feel like we're doing what he wants us to do, so I know that he will bless it. Whatever's supposed to come out of this, it will it come out of it, you know, because he's in it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's basically are you human, Are you struggling and are you listening to us?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So if you hear us and you're human and you're struggling, we're with you.
Speaker 1:If you're not struggling, we're with you. No, whatever. But we're with you. If you're not struggling, we're with you. No, whatever, but more likely if you're human, you've got problems. Yeah, we all do.
Speaker 2:And we all do, and we're just wanting to try to share our stories.
Speaker 1:I think it's important for people to see too that people might look really successful, like on the outside or whatever. But you can't paint that a pretty picture that they got there easy or that they're not struggling. Yeah, you paint that a pretty picture that they got there easy or that they're not struggling. Yeah, you can be successful and be struggling. Yeah, you know, and so it's like let's all learn from one another. Yep, take the opportunity, seize the day to learn from one another.
Speaker 2:Yep but you got to yeah, but we love y'all.
Speaker 1:We do. We hope that the Lord blesses you and keeps you and makes his face shine upon you and we will see you next week. Oh, really quick. Next week is spring break and so we're going to do a special edition episode. We're going to be recounting some of our favorite spring break stories. Now, these are childhood stories and I'm just going to tell you I don't have any of those crazy spring break beach moments. Never experienced that and I'm not regretful that.
Speaker 2:I haven't experienced any of that.
Speaker 1:So I have some really great memories from my childhood of things that, and maybe we can get my sister on here too.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Or and maybe your brothers, I don't know, we'll see.
Speaker 2:We'll see who gets on here. Yeah, let's get them on here.
Speaker 1:We'll talk about our childhood, about because we definitely spent spring break with our siblings very, very unique and very different spring breaks between me and you yes. So in the meantime, if you're listening, we would love for you to send us a message of maybe a fun spring break story you have, or a fun memory uh is there something that you did every spring break, or do you just have like this one weird story that you remember?
Speaker 1:uh, we would love to know it and share it. Maybe we can do a poll on some of our tidbit posts about what your spring break activities were yes, all right, I guess that wraps this one up. Yes, and we'll see you next time.