How I find Time for everything whilst build my business.
I find observing how others live to be a great way to gain feedback on how I want to live.
You can see those who are happy, stressed, depressed & struggling.
I observe them closely. What do they do? What do they sacrifice? How do they respond to adversity? Are they healthy? Do they respect their partner? Do they show up for family? Do they control their time & finances?
When you observe outcomes, you can see which actions influence that. Either act the same or avoid like mad.
I see people watch their families grow up without them. Missing sports carnivals, birthday parties & date nights. They become the shadow figure around the house.
I see people who were high school star athletes sacrifice their health. They battle walking up the stairs & don't want to see the relfection in the mirror
I see people who lived life like a big adventure get bogged down in the rat race. Living life like one day on repeat. Time is flying but nothing is changing.
They continue setting work tasks because they don't have anything outside of that.
No hobbies
Crap social connections
Tense home life
I have become aware of what I want my life to look like & I have an idea of who I need to become to create that.
It's given me a great idea of what I think a successful life looks like and who I need to become to achieve that.
Like most men, I aspire to achieve success in my career but I am not prepared to sacrifice family, health & lifestyle.
In this newsletter I want to share with you how I am optimising my life.
It is possible to have time for work, social connections, health & family.
I will share with you a few ideas that I have and a very simple planning concept that is a MUST for me.
Optimise For Lifestyle
High achievers know it's not a choice to build a life's vision. It is a MUST. Knowing the direction for your life is key.
Lifestyle is broken down into buckets. We can all build our own buckets.
I personally have:
Health
Wealth
Relationships
Adventure
I believe my quality of life is only as good as my weakest bucket. At any point one area takes priority over the others.
This is normal. It's why self reflection is a MUST. You must be mindful of the consequences of your focus & actions.
You must be aware when another bucket needs more attention.
The negligence of this costs people their health, family & worst case their life.
When I wrote out my vision (the guide for my life) I designed the ideal outcome for each area. (You can design yours in my Self Discovery course)
I know how much money I want to earn to support my lifestyle.
It's not about stopping that financial growth when I get there. I know that scares a lot of people.
It just means I can move into a maintenance phase for a while.
I ask myself questions likes:
"How can I maintain this income while working less & living more?"
"How can I travel for a few months & grow my business?"
"How can I get in the best shape of my life without sacrificing social interactions?"
At times I hit a roadblock, but I know on the other side of every roadblock is the answer I need to build my life.
My advice to you… DON'T QUIT - GROW.
I have personally created a productivity system that helps me optimise my life.
If you would like me to share it with you. I will be adding it to my Self Discovery Course which those who purchase will have lifetime access to.
Society sets you up to fail from the beginning.
Putting us in a system that doesn't encourage us to design our own life.
We don't learn to problem solve, understand our emotions & many other important skills that would help us optimise our life.
There are enough smart people out there that know the importance of optimising life.
I believe it would save marriages, decrease suicide & drastically improve people's health.
I've found meaning for my life. I have created a system that has given me freedom over my time and how I spend it.
Even if you work for someone, you can still optimise your life for that situation. You may not have as much control over our time as those who work for themself but it is still possible.
You must optimise your life. Start with creating a vision and consider what buckets are important to you, than work backwards.
It's not a knowledge problem but an execution problem
The biggest lie we are sold is that we 'don't know enough' or 'we aren't 'good enough'.
This mindset creates a belief we must keep learning. We must do more not less.
This belief fills your calendar with things that aren't benefiting your life.
If you review all the tasks you have completed over the last 7 days.
How many of them really needed to be achieved?
Most people I work with say roughly 20%.
Lacking ownership over your calendar is an execution problem.
People know they should schedule time with family, but don't do it.
People know they should schedule time for exercise, but don't do it.
People know they should schedule time to review their finances, but don't do it.
That's not an knowledge problem, it's an execution problem.
Do the things you know you should be doing. If it creates friction in your day. Figure out how to solve it.
Design your ideal week
Work to make it reality
I recognised if I took action and failed I would be presented with the exact information I need to learn to overcome the failure.
Rather than getting ready to get ready and learning things that wouldn't move me clsoer to my goals, I solved the problems that would.
To make time for anything, you can't do everything.
This sounds contradicting and I guess it is but you don't need to do everything.
Look at everything through the Tri - Focus lens.
Me
Them
Work
If you focus on that everyday you will feel like you are making time and filing your own cup.
From there you will establish the few things that actually add value there. Hence why I say you to make time for everything, you can't do everything. Prioritise!
Know your outcome and do the thing that has the biggest impact on achieving that.
The key being… DO.
Fear tricks us into thinking we need:
more information
Better planning
This stops taking action and only prolongs the outcome.
Here is how you can speed up your success.
Set goal (give deadline)
Create plan (how to)
Upskill (skill development)
Execute (Execute plan)
Evaluate (how did the plan do)
Do the thing you know you should be doing. If you experience fear. Ask yourself "Where is this fear coming from??"
What is on the other side of that fear?
I feared doing what was needed to build the life I know live.
Leaving a comfortable job to work online
Working 4 hours a day and travelling
Not going to university to be successful
What got me here was not more knowledge. It was doing it. I have learnt everything I know through experience & self education.
Some people need to make more time for:
Family
Side hustle
Having fun
The execution of the plan is what will change your life.
Choosing to make time for the things that matter will improve life fulfilment.
No one else can do it.
As the saying goes… "You can lead a horse to water… but you can't make it drink!".
Executing your plans will eventually free up your time. As you see results, you notice what delivers the results. You can remove all disteactions and double down. Your efficiency give you back time.
It's how I have been able to earn more & work less. Train less & get healthier.
Experience matters.
Do you have a knowledge problem or an execution problem?
If it's execution. Find accountability in the SMOV Academy.
Life Improvement VS Life Maintenance
It is easier to build than it is to start. That is what I have always found.
When starting something new, whether its building a habit like a fitness routine or taking a new job or entering a new relationship.
It requires more of your time.
You have to learn, you have to establish a routine or habit.
The time investment is taken from other things you could be doing.
This is why I am a believer in working on 1 significant goal at a time.
Significant for me means having to learn or establish new habit/routine.
It is going to take a lot of time.
I know that 1 big goal won't completely destroy my life's balance.
I can still maintain other areas of my life that I already have built a habit or routine with.
Over time that big goal will evolve from a life improvement goal to a life maintenance goal.
A big goal I am working on at the moment is running over 30 consecutive marathons across multiple countries.
I know my habits will still have me in maintenance mode for my work and relationships.
Currently as I prep for this challenge here is how my life looks.
Life improvement is:
Running 2+ hours a day while travelling to different states and countries.
Recoving on the road, keeping my head right & body healthy
Completing the goal and raising funds.
Documenting the journey
Life Maintance
Servicing clients
Recording podcasts
Dating my wife
Reading & writing
Catching up with friends
This is just a season whilst I prioritise the goal. It will change once completed.
Think about your life? What needs improvement and what can you maintain while focusing on that?
I have found this to be easier to establish after building a vision. It's hard to set any 12 week goals if you don't know what you want from life. Check out the Self Discovery Program.
I want to prove to people it doesn't matter how busy you think you are. Things can still be improved.
Whether you're stuck in a job, have a busy family life or struggling with energy.
There will be things you can put into your life improvement bucket & things you can put into maintenance.
The key is to change the output to produce a different result.
Start small & build momentum over time.
I am committed to sharing tips and tricks around better health, productivity & life design.
If you have questions feel free to contact me on instagram @lachlanstuart or 'X' @lachlanstuart
I'd love to hear from you.
I hope you have taken something from this email to start finding time for the things that matter.
Cheers
Lachlan
Personal Progress 12th June - 19th June 🤯
What Happened ✅:
Personal: Travelled to and explored New York, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Boston.
Workshop: 4 Men committed to August Workshop
Marriage: 1 Date lunch with my wife in Philly (had a philly cheese steak)
Productivity Course: Made progress on my productivity program (coming soon)
What's Coming Up 📅:
Podcast: Batching all July's Podcast to have some down time. Epic guests talking (Building a business, Going all in on a goal, Getting your family's support + more)
Strong Men of Value Academy: New intake kicks off July 1. (apply here) Great for men wanting focus and accountability.
CRUISE: I am going on a cruise in Miami! Ps. I'll be running a marathon on the cruise