Hey, what's up, champions?

This is your host, Neal, and I want to welcome you back to another Fire podcast Today.

Today we're going to be speaking about the importance of balancing your projects.

I'm talking about the projects you have in your professional life, but also the projects you have in your personal life.

You know, if all you ever do are projects in professional, and they're project, project, project, project, but in your private life or personal life, you're not doing any projects.

After a while, you may become numb and kind of forget what you're all doing it for.

But when you start having personal projects in life, whether they're the projects around the house or maybe they're personal projects within your fitness or physique or projects for your family, when you do those things, those things help to keep you grounded of why the professional projects matter in the first place, but they also have a way of giving you fuel to help you.

So when you get back at work, your professional projects can skyrocket because you now have rocket fuel in your system, because you're in a healthy, balanced system.

Man.

This is Fire Today.

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What's up, champion?

This is your host, Neal Reyes, and.

I want to welcome you to the Executive Perspective.

For years, I struggled to answer the.

Question, what do you do for a living?

Why?

Because most people who ask only expect to hear one thing.

I'm an executive with a deep level of understanding of business, operations, leadership, and technology.

I'm also the president and founder of a worldwide ministry and CEO of an executive coaching and consulting firm.

My number one passion is people, and I receive significant gratitude in life from sowing into others and encouraging them as they grow to achieve their fullest Potential.

If you're a high performance individual like me, or you're simply ready to take your business, leadership or inner potential to the next level, then strap in because.

Because I'm locked in and all in.

This is the Executive Perspective.

Hey, what's up, champions?

This is your host, Neal Reyes, and I want to welcome you back to the Executive Perspective.

Today I'm going to be talking with you about balancing projects.

Again today we're talking about the subject of balancing projects.

Specifically though, am I talking about work projects or personal projects?

Well, it actually applies to both.

But we are going to be focusing today more along the line of personal projects.

I will tell you that on this podcast we focus on three areas.

I say this in every episode we do, we focus on leadership, business strategy, and personal development.

But I also believe in having a healthy balance between your personal and your business.

Now, there are those out there in the world that think there's no such thing, or they speak against that.

And to each is his own.

And the reason why is because we all have different ideas about what a ideal quality of life should be.

But I will tell you that as a husband and father of four, having a balanced work life is extremely important to me.

In addition to that, even when I'm not necessarily giving into my family, having time for me and the things that matter to me to move the needle in the areas that are important to me, whether it be in business or whether it be on personal levels, that's extremely important to me.

And I think that that should be extremely important to others as well.

Because living a balanced lifestyle is when you live at your best.

I'm going to tell you that, you know, in addition to the things that I do in business, I also am a coach.

And as a professional coach and an advanced mindset coach, helping people connect with their best performance but also their best life or their best version of their life is extremely important to me.

It's something that I take people through on a routine basis where I help them to find the things that are the blocks or the things that are holding them back in life and where they're able to unpack in meaningful ways to them and find their own answers, not the answers that I feel I have for them.

They need to find their own answers so that they can connect with their best self, their best performance, and overall their best life.

Well, I will tell you that as I was focusing on the podcast episodes that we have coming up, one of the things that stood out loudly to me is the idea of having balanced projects.

Now When I talk about balanced projects, what I'm specifically speaking about, as you know, at work, you can have project, project, project, project.

And if you're in an environment where it's not project centric, no problem with that.

But I believe there needs to be personal projects in life that you have as well, whether they're projects around your residence, you know, your home, wherever you.

You know, maybe it's things that you need to do in the yard or things that you need to do inside the house.

You know, sometimes simple things like cleaning out the garage one weekend can be a project for you, but those are big things, because as you do those things, they help to open the door, but they also keep you what I believe is grounded to life.

In other words, it's easy for us to show up and do your work schedule.

And if you have a set schedule, like a Monday through Friday schedule, it's easy to, you know, close out the weekend on Sunday, show up Monday, head into work, do your work day, come home Monday night, do whatever it is you do to close out your evening.

Most people have very set routines, you know, eat dinner, get to bed, wake up early the next day, and do it all over again.

It's easy to do those kinds of things Monday through Friday.

However, when it comes to the weekends or the off hours, what are you doing to keep yourself grounded at home so that you remember the reason why you're working in the first place?

You know, when I talk about that, some people, and especially high performers, they just get high joy in working.

They really enjoy what they do.

They really enjoy the grind, they really enjoy the atmosphere, they really enjoy the accomplishments.

And all of those things are wonderful.

Those things mean something to me, too.

But if all you do is work, work, work, and outside of work, you're not enjoying or seeing the fruits of that labor, then things can get stale after a while or things can begin to lose meaning.

But when you have projects that you set up for yourself outside of work, the fact is, at work, you're always going to have projects, but outside of work, in your personal life, maybe your project is to get in shape.

Maybe it's that you weren't ready to get back in the gym.

Or maybe it's something new.

Maybe you've been a gym goer for a long time, but maybe now it's time to try something new, like maybe Pilates or stretching or something like that.

Maybe your next project is focusing on your flexibility or your movement or your stamina, agility, different things.

Or maybe it's something Completely different.

Maybe it's gardening, or maybe there's projects outside the house you want to do in the form of landscaping or projects inside the house.

Maybe you've been wanting to redo a restroom or remodel your kitchen, but the fact is, they can go on and on and on.

But it's important to have projects outside of work to be able to help ground you to the things that are important in life.

You know, the first point that I want to have for you today is that productivity is about prioritization.

It's never about pressure.

I'm going to say that again.

Productivity is about prioritization.

It's never about pressure.

You know, in life, it's easy for people to feel like their projects create pressure on their lives.

And I'm going to tell you that anytime you're facing a project, if it feels like it's something that you have to do, you're not going to be very motivated to want to go and do it.

Now, you may be happy with the results afterwards, but most people, you're going to drag their feet.

They're going to hesitate.

They're almost going to resent the time that they have to give toward that project because they're going to feel like it's pulling away from something else.

But remember how we talk about on this podcast?

Remember, we have one direction.

We move on this podcast.

We move forward and upward.

So we're constantly growing.

But one of the things that I've talked about in previous episodes is that whenever you're faced with the mindset of something that you have to do, the best way to overcome that is to shifting that mindset and turning it around.

And instead of viewing those things as something you have to do, view it as something you get to do.

And when you view something as something you get to do, man, inside things start to shift.

Things start to change and turn around.

And all of a sudden that thing that you've been putting off now, you don't put off as quite as much anymore, because now it's something you get to do, not something you have to do.

Don't try to do everything at once, though.

You know, so many times when people are doing projects, they feel like as if they have to do everything at once.

That's why it feels like it's so heavy sometimes.

Or it feels like it's something they have to do because they look at their big to do list and their big to do list and they feel like as if all 10 of those items or 15 of those items have to be done right, right now.

But the fact is that's just not realistic and it's certainly not enjoyable.

A better way to approach that is to assign windows of focus time where you can focus on those specific projects in specific chunks of windows.

In other words, what I'm talking about is if you have this list ahead of you and it's hanging over your head and it feels like a weight because in your mindset all these things are important and they all need doing right now.

The fact is, even if you want to do them all right now, you just can't.

You have to pick them off one by one.

You can prioritize, you can strategize, you can even look to see, well, which ones matter in the right area or the right sequence.

And that's important.

But understand, at the end of the day, you're still going to have to pick them off one by one.

And unless you incorporate help or delegate them out to other people, if there's something you have to do, you still got to do them one at a time.

So rather than feel like they all have to be done at once and.

To create that pressure, it's better to.

View them as individual things and break up assigned times where you can do each of them on their own.

You know, balance isn't about doing it all, and it's certainly not about doing it all every day.

Gosh, that list of 15 projects that I'm talking about, sometimes people look at that and maybe that's a Week's list of 15 projects, but sometimes people feel like as if they have to do that right there and then or all in that day.

You know, I can think of a time where this is years ago, but I remember it was a weekend and I'm off and my phone rings and it was one of my employees and I give my phone number out to all my employees and I always tell them if there's anything you need, don't hesitate to reach out.

Don't also look for perfect conditions either if what you're looking for is the perfect condition.

And for me, what that means is one on one FaceTime with me, but doesn't mean I won't give it to them.

But I maintain a pretty active and busy schedule.

And while I maintain an active schedule, I don't want them feeling like they have something inside they need to get off their chest or they need to open up about or talk about, but they're waiting for perfect times and that they feel I'm never around.

They feel I can't Talk to them.

And what it really is, is I'm just in other meetings or other rooms or other buildings sometimes, and I'm in meeting, meeting, meeting.

And if I know it's important for me meet with them, then I'll put them on my schedule.

But even more than that, what I explain to them is that if you need me, you pick up the phone and call me.

You shoot me a text or get with my assistant and tell her you need to meet with me.

And the first thing she's going to ask you is, is it personal or is it business?

And if it's personal, it goes to the top of my list.

And she knows that.

And she'll get in touch with me right away.

She'll shoot me a text no matter what meeting I'm in, so that I know that employee needs to speak.

That way I can move everything I'm doing as soon as possible so I can get with that employee.

Well, one of my employees called me.

This is years ago, but one of my employees calls me one day, and it's on the weekend, and he actually shoots me a text first, and we start speaking.

And he was reaching out to me because he was feeling really, really overwhelmed.

He was asking me if I had time to jump on the phone.

And I jumped on the phone with him.

And his whole deal was he felt so overwhelmed with the amount of work that he had to do, he was calling me to tell me he was contemplating whether or not he had to put in his notice and quit.

And I'm asking him, hey, first of all, if this is something you want to do, then you have my full support in doing so.

I don't want to talk you out of something that you feel led to do, but there's two things I ask every one of my employees.

This is how I lead.

You can lead how you lead, but this is how I lead.

And the two things I ask every employee.

And if you ever found any of my employees and you ask them, they would tell you these two things.

The first thing I ask them is, did you pray about it, and do you feel at peace with your decision?

Well, as I asked him, those two things I found out hadn't really prayed about it, and he didn't really feel at peace with it.

And I said, okay, well, that being said, if you've prayed about it and you feel led that you're supposed to leave, you have my full support, but you also have to feel that peace with leaving, and you have my support.

Now, if they tell me they haven't done either of those things and they still want to leave?

Well, certainly I'm not going to hold them back, but I want to make sure that they're learning how to pray and seek God's guidance and then follow the peace that he has for their life.

That keeps people from making mistakes.

Whether you agree with that or not, that keeps people from making mistakes.

Well, as I'm asking him those questions, he said, no, I haven't done that at all.

And I said, well, let me ask you some other questions.

I thought you really liked this job because you've told me before that this is something you highly enjoy.

Has something changed?

He's like, no, I absolutely love my job.

I said, you do?

He goes, yeah.

And I said, okay, well, what about the atmosphere?

Has something changed with the atmosphere?

You know, you report to other people other than me.

Is something with your co workers or counterparts or your supervisor?

Is something not going right where you need to address it with them?

He's like, no, they're all wonderful.

I said, okay, is it the type of work?

Is that just not resonating with you anymore?

Are you wanting to do a switch in life?

He's like, no, I love what I work on.

I said, okay, well, then tell me what's going on here.

He goes, it's just that there's so much work to do.

And what I explained to him next helped him shift his mindset, and it actually freed him from that prison of thought that he was having that so many others have in this life as well.

You see, in this job he was doing, it did have a lot of responsibilities.

It did have plenty of tasks and things that he needed to get done.

But in his mind, when he looked at the amount of work he had to get done, he had the pressure come on him that it all had to get done right now.

And when he told me the phrase there's just so much work, these are the words that I told him that changed that situation around.

So what he tells me is that there's just so much work.

And the way I respond is, I know.

Isn't that wonderful?

That's why I'm able to give you a job.

And he does a hard pause on the phone and he goes, yeah, what do you mean?

And I said, well, if I didn't have all that work, then I wouldn't have a position for you.

It's the fact that I have all that work for you to do that allows me to have the position for you.

Isn't that wonderful?

I said, the thing Though, however, is it sounds like what you're doing is you're confusing yourself that all that work has to get done today.

And that's a big mistake.

If that's the case, let me explain to you that even if you went into work today and you worked for the next three weeks or three and a half weeks straight and no breaks, I'm talking no restroom breaks, no lunch breaks, no sleeping, let's just say you were capable of doing that and not sleeping or anything.

And you were even able to focus at your highest performance where there were no diminished returns, meaning that you were at peak performance for those entire three and a half weeks.

No days off, nothing.

At the end of the three and a half weeks, I would still have work for you to do.

And the reason why is because that's what allows me to have a position for you.

What you need to learn how to do is pace yourself.

And if what you need help with is working with your supervisor to find out what needs to be done that day, then that supervisor can help you.

You just need to ask them for direction and they'll help you figure out what needs to be done that day.

Or you need to learn how to figure out what needs to be done that day.

Or I can try to help you.

So that way you can start to breaking it up into sections.

So that way at the end of the day, you don't leave feeling overwhelmed, but you feel like you accomplished something.

You see, like I said, balance isn't about doing it all every single day.

It's about doing the right thing at the right time.

This is such an important thing to understand.

And if you learn how to pace yourself like that, life becomes simpler and more balanced.

Now that brings us to our first leadership truth bomb of the day.

Your calendar should reflect your priorities and not your stress.

Man, that's powerful right there.

Now that takes us to our second step of the day and our second thing or point of the day.

I should say.

Personal projects keep you grounded, not just productive.

I'm going to say that again.

Personal projects are meant to keep you grounded, not just productive.

Investing time in personal, what I refer to as non work related projects, those things help to restore creativity and also resilience.

You know what I'm telling you is that when you have personal projects that you set up outside of work, those things keep you grounded to why you're doing it all in the first place.

They're so important.

And sometimes personal projects can be directly for you or they can be things that help your family, you know, sometimes maybe you're someone who has young children and maybe a personal project for you is building the tree house, or maybe is building the dollhouse, or maybe it's building the little car or something.

But it's something that you do for your family.

If it's for your spouse, then maybe it's something you do specifically for them, or maybe it's something you do for you.

But doing personal projects that are not always work related, those things help to keep you grounded.

Now, when you only work on what you have to do.

Now these are things that I'm talking about is again that list.

If you have a list, let's say you have a list of 15 items on there, and on there you have a list of five that you have to do.

And the next 10 are good to do's and you do that week after week and all you ever do is the have to do's but not the good to do's.

Well, I'm going to tell you slowly you can disconnect from what you really love to do and whether that's at work or in personal.

If you continue to only do the things that in your mind you feel that you have to do, after a while you'll disconnect from the things that you love to do.

Now that brings us to our second leadership truth bomb of the day.

Personal projects can fuel purpose behind professional ones.

I'm going to say that again.

Personal projects can fuel the purpose behind professional ones.

In other words, if everything you do is work, work, work, work, work, if you learn how to bring in or mix in personal, personal projects, when you work on those will add fuel to when you get back to the office to knockout work projects.

Because it helps you connect and stay grounded with why you're doing it in the first place and why it all matters.

These are big, big things right here, guys.

Now the next thing that we have for you, and this is our third and final point of the day, is learning how to design your week.

Don't just survive it.

Man, that's powerful right there.

But I'm going to say that again.

Learn how to design your week.

Don't just survive it.

If all you're doing is living in the week, just trying to get through to survive it by the end of the week, then you haven't learned how to design your week yet.

Because when you learn how to design your week, you learn how to take authority over your time and your schedule, learn to block off time for what matters most in life.

In other words, what will fill it for you.

In other words, if you don't learn to block your time off for what matters most to you, something else is going to fill that space for you, whether you want it to or not.

In other words, something's going to be competing for your time, and you're either going to give it to the things that you know you want to do and know you should do, or it's going to get gobbled up by things that maybe weren't as important or weren't as valuable to you.

And if you do that, that's the difference between just trying to survive the week and making it out of the week, surviving it, and the difference of owning your week or designing your week.

Consider using microplanning.

You know, now microplanning is something that can really help you to keep momentum and move projects on multiple fronts.

In fact, what micro planning is, it's when you set up these blocks of time, and they can be either 30 minutes, 60 minutes, or 90 minutes worth of time.

Where you say, I'm going to set up this block of time, and for this specific block of time, I'm going to work on this one project or this one area.

Especially when you have multiple projects going on, because this can help you to divide up or chunk out your day where you do a little bit here and a little bit here and a little bit here, but done consistently, it can add up pretty quick and can be beneficial.

Now, it's similar to time blocking, and that's what some people sometimes say.

You just need time blocking, maybe.

But what I'm telling you is that by doing these micro blocks, sometimes they can help you to at least get some momentum going.

And if you get the momentum going, they can help you start to get grounded and stay connected to the things that really matter.

And as you do that, that's the difference that helps you separate surviving to thriving.

Now that brings us to our third and final leadership truth bomb of the day.

And this is so important.

This thing really resonates with me.

If you don't schedule what's important to you, your distractions will keep you on a leash.

Whoa, man, that's a powerful statement.

If you don't learn how to keep your schedule going, in other words, if you don't learn how to schedule what's important to you, your distractions will keep you on a leash, man, that's powerful.

What I mean by that is that if you're not focused and grounded on what's important to you, and if you don't make time to schedule those things.

What's going to happen is something else is going to compete for your time.

And as something else competes for your time, those things usually show up in the form of distractions.

They can keep you busy.

But busy and productive are two different things.

And after a while, you'll find that you're like on a leash being held by your distractions.

You're on a distraction leash, and those distractions can pull you wherever they want to go.

You're now led by the leash, which is being held by distractions instead of taking over your own time.

Man, that's powerful statement.

Well, guys, that brings us to the end of today's podcast.

As always, I want to thank you for stopping by and growing with us.

But before you leave, I want you to hear something from me.

Every single podcast we have, I always endeavor to make sure you hear these words that I believe in you, Champion.

I believe you have greatness deep down on the inside of you.

You just need to continue to cultivate it, grow it, and develop it.

And as you do that, it's going to come out on the outside and others are going to be able to see it as well.

And whatever that thing is that you're working on, whether it's a vision, if it's a dream, if it's goals, if it's a project, whatever it is, go out and smash that thing and give it everything you have.

Guys, until next time, I also want to encourage you to swing by our website@neil Reyes.com where you can connect with us and find all of our materials for you.

And then in addition to that, I also want to encourage you to leave us a review on this podcast or leave us a rating that helps us grow in podcast land.

But until next time, thank you and have a blessed day.