Happy Sunday Everyone:
First time in over a year CORE will be hosting an actual in-person summit. 500 folks gathered at the San Antonio JW Marriott. I for one could use the human connection and seeing some of my closest friends.
I’m teaching a class on life balance Friday which for me is both ironic and perfect. Ironic in that I needed a class on life balance more than anyone and perfect in that I understood this very important point and actually made some choices, both big and small, to help me on this very elusive subject. The good news for me is I’m finally working toward a position where I can honestly say “do as I do” vs. “do as I say, not as I do”. Hell of a lot more fun teaching when you believe yourself.
I figured I’d use this Sunday Thoughts as a clarifying exercise as to what I’ve found important, entirely for me. My only challenge with it for everyone else is knowing how hard it’s been for me and knowing how much intentional work and thought I’ve put into finally experiencing some lightness as if I’m on a path I want to be on. Kim actually said to me last night, “you seem happier in the last 30 days than you’ve been in the past 10 years”….I thought…RIGHT ON HUNTER.
One thing I can say as I start this is I’m fully aware that my brain has a lot of stuff inside of it so if any of this doesn’t resonate, I’m sorry, if it does, I’m hopeful you’ll put time and energy toward it. I can also say all of this stuff is not new news, its a question of putting thought and intentionality behind it to actually change my course.
Exercise 1: THE BULLSEYE; understanding what is most important to me professionally and personally:
My professional bullseye: My team, my business partners, my clients, LENUDUS/CORE. If I take care of the team first, everything falls into place. My team loves being on the team, they push that love to our business partners, our business partners push that to their clients, making them more committed to referring, nothing more than the ripple effect.
My personal bullseye is Me, Kim/boys, extended family, friends. I understand “me” sounds selfish. I’m of the belief, and a witness to it, when I’m taking care of myself, I’m much better with the outside bullseyes. My own bullseye can be broken down further, Faith, health, growth, self love.
Exercise 2: Intentional actions vs. actual actions.
Rick Ruby did this for us, made us put our arms all the way out, this represents your intentional actions and actual actions being as far apart as possible. The closer you get to clasping your hands together, the more your intentions/actuals are in alignment. Example-My team is #1 on my bullseye, yet I spend 20 minutes a week with them on their personal goals. 20 minutes in a workweek represents .008% of my time (20 min/2400 min in a 40 hour week)…the time i spend with them will change.
Exercise 3: reminder always for me to do more with less.
I didn’t sleep great this past week, a common occurrence, I’m okay with it. I found myself doing a 7-mile walk at 4:00 AM 3 of the days. That time alone was the best combined 6 hours of the week for me. One of my thoughts was the realization that I can go 2 miles wide and be 1 inch deep on so many subjects that are not important and of zero relevance to me. I had this thought while listening to one of my favorite books “think like a monk”. Thought for me was thinking how much information is coming at me from all angles, how much I’m writing down, meeting, listening, and then never actually doing anything with so much of the information (wasting tons of calendar time). I need a few trusted sources, I need to put things into action and put some blinders on to all the other info that’s coming my way.
So how does this relate to balance? The concept is simple, executing on it is more challenging. In order for me to have more balance, I need to have clarity on what my personal and professional priorities are. I need my calendar to be in alignment with my bullseye. I’d like to master a few things before moving on to something else. Balance to me is having less clutter, both mentally and physically. Work in progress for me but progress none the less!!