So It's Friday afternoon, 4:30.

You've had a crazy, stressful, hellacious week.

What are you thinking, man?

I'm about to drink 20 beers.

Well, I'm glad you said that because on today's episode we're going to talk about the importance of personal development.

And this is something that is not stressed enough in our industry.

We work and live in a stressful, fast paced industry and personal development is something that we have to address whether that's within our company or even on a personal level.

So with that, man, what, what are some things that you do that help you from a personal side or from a personal fulfillment level?

Yeah.

And just to back up, I, I'm definitely not going to drink 20 beers tonight.

But that's not to say I have not actually done that, because I definitely have.

But no, seriously, you and I both know how stressful this industry can be.

Yeah, it's sales, entry level sales and it's not easy sales.

You're calling people who do not want to talk to you.

You get hung up on you get your teeth kicked in, carriers fall out on your shipment, whatever it may be.

There's a number of issues and by the end of the week, your release isn't going to the gym.

I'm sorry, your release is not going to do meditation.

The culture in this industry for the most part is happy hour.

Let's go get bombed, let's eat fast food.

Next morning, you're doing absolutely nothing.

You're not getting off the couch.

And trust me, I've been there.

Yeah, you're a little bit more disciplined than I was at this age.

But no, I've been there.

And it really took me hitting rock bottom, specifically in our not compete where I was drinking so much.

I mean, we would have happy hours or we'd meet up with co workers after work nearly every day.

Yeah.

And it took me to a point where I was so unhealthy, I was out of shape and I was still working out.

I mean, I was playing basketball, I was competing, sure.

But I was drinking and eating like absolute dog shit.

Yeah, a lot of people don't realize that impacts your mental health as well, which then in turn impacts your relationships and your emotional health and your spiritual health.

It impacts everything else.

It took me hitting rock bottom to realize I got to make some changes.

My routine is the most important thing to me when, when it comes to making sure I'm disciplined and doing the non negotiables each day.

We can get into that.

But yeah, no, I was asking what are some of those, man?

Like if you had three, three non negotiables.

What are those for you?

Yeah, I'm an early riser.

There's no way I'm going to the gym after work.

By the end of the day I'm done.

Well, and I also feel like with kids, man, we got no chance to mix in a workout at 7:30.

Yeah.

I mean we nearly have a football.

Team between both of us getting close.

Yeah.

So I'm usually 4, 4:30 in the morning.

I journal, I read, I out at least 45 minutes to an hour.

Okay.

I usually have a two hour window.

Like that's my time, that's my non negotiable, that's my routine.

My wife knows that, she supports it because that allows me to be the best possible father, husband, employer, partner, you know, you name it.

That allows me to be the best person, best version of myself using that two hour window before the kids get up.

You said it, man.

Best version of yourself.

I feel like that's something that we always have to strive for, especially in our industry.

Right.

It never ends.

It's 24 7, it's around the clock.

There are things that come up, you know, day in, day out.

What exactly happens during like a typical week that leads you to that point or leads you to the amount of like maximum stress if you're in this.

Industry, you know, if you're not, it's a high stress industry.

You're dealing with a lot of moving pieces.

Truck drivers, they break down shippers, you know, they cancel things.

You know, co workers may not show up and now you have their workload on your, on your plate as well, or you're on goals because you're underperforming, whatever it may be.

There's a ton of stress that is involved in this industry.

So it accumulates.

And you know, what happens is if you're neglecting a lot of those positive habits to improve your mental, your physical, your whatever it may be, it's a slippery slope.

It's too easy to say I'm going to have a drink or I'm going to go eat a pint of ice cream as opposed to going to the gym or making some me time that actually benefits you.

So it's just an accumulation of issues of, you know, that come with this industry that over time they build up and then the bad habits build up compared to the, you know, the positive ones that actually benefit you, I guess.

Tell me more, man.

Like when you know you've had a stressful week, you're about to walk into the house, you're craving a beer.

You really want to go and snag one from the fridge.

What do you do in that moment of indecision?

Yeah, it's a great question.

I think that's where most people fail with their discipline.

And it takes time.

Like you don't just snap into it overnight.

Sure.

I call it recognize and replace.

So I recognize that.

Yes, I want this beer.

No, that's not the route I want to go.

So I recognize it and then replace it with a different activity.

Whether that's going on a walk, having a tickle fight with my kids, working more, doing lawn, it doesn't matter.

But have something that you in action that you're going to replace with the negative activity.

Recognize negative, replace it with a positive.

You do that often enough and you're disciplined with it.

It becomes a new habit.

Yeah.

Change your habits.

Do you think employers in our industry specifically are doing enough to promote those type of activities like physical wellness, mental wellness, diet, exercise, all the above?

No, frankly I don't.

I think that's just secondary.

Our industry is so fast paced is you're moving a hundred miles per hour every single day.

So the emphasis and making that those things a priority just falls second nature.

Yeah.

I know some, some companies will have like a gym membership or healthy snacks in the cafeteria.

But for smaller companies, and there's a lot of them, you know, companies our size, it's not even thought of the mental wellbeing of your employees directly impacts your bottom line.

Sure.

It impacts your culture.

Well, I also think it's a, like it's sedentary lifestyle.

Right.

So we're sitting down all day.

I mean you might have a raised desk or whatever, but I mean, hell, you're sitting in the same spot for eight, nine hours a day.

We know it's.

If science is out, it's not good for your body.

Absolutely.

So let me turn things back to you, Brian.

What does Veritas do to place a bigger emphasis on the personal development piece?

Yeah.

So one thing that we do, we call it Hannah's hour and we get together once a month, we focus on different initiatives each and every month.

That gives people within our group and we have a small group.

I mean, hell, we're 23 employees and we break into small group sessions and we have a different topic for each month and we talk about different things that have maybe in our background or what fuels us or what our burn is and people are able to get vulnerable.

Right.

Like I've Been on a couple of those small breakout sessions, and, you know, we'll have four people in the group, and we hit 100%.

Four out of four people cried during those breakout sessions.

Right.

That's impressive.

Yeah.

So it's like, it's cool to see as an owner, because, you know, these people are being 100% vulnerable, where you don't see that everywhere.

Right.

So at the same time, like, yes, we want to talk about these and address these things and how do we make this a part of our, you know, monthly ritual with our employees?

Yeah.

And to add to this, like, in this industry, things really do not stop.

Yeah.

I mean, if you're on a busy account or you're dealing with a client who has maybe west coast needs, you're on the phone a lot, and a lot of times it's late, so you don't have that much time to sit down and decompress downtown if you're not aware of those strategies.

So for you, what are a couple of things that you do to kind of decompress?

Long week again.

You have an army of kids, busy schedule.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

What do you do to, you know, personally?

To decompress?

Yeah.

I mean, for me, man, it's all about diet and exercise.

Right.

So those are the things that I can control.

And I know it sounds cliche, right.

And everybody says it, but if I can control those two things and I can get in a workout or, hell, sit in the sauna for 15 minutes, man, that is, again, game changer for me.

Right.

Similar to you, I have a very similar routine.

And the days my wife always busts my chops about this, but the days that I don't get an exercise, I'm a lot grumpier.

Or she calls it edgy.

She's like, oh, you're edgy today.

Right.

I'm like, oh, okay.

Like, I need to stop being a dick.

Apparently, I have that same problem.

Yeah.

So on those days where, you know, I don't get a workout in, I have to, you know, make sure that I control my emotions, where the stress might get to me from work.

And the same thing goes, like, you know, even when I go home, and to answer the original question, like, I want to be the best version of a dad and best version of a husband.

Right.

And how do I do those things and not be stressed out?

And how do I react to my kids without raising my voice or being firm with them?

Right.

So I think it's all a challenge, and it's something that personal development is Something that you have to work at every single day.

It's not a set it and forget it type of mentality or set it, set it and forget it approach.

You have to work at it every day.

And I think, you know me and you do a decent job.

Job of it, but hopefully we can inspire those or inspire others to help themselves out.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

I think.

I think we've covered a lot when it comes to, like, the short term, you know, discipline around personal development.

Let's take a look at longer term.

Yeah.

What type of quarterly goals or annual goals do you set to truly develop, which may not necessarily take a week or two.

Yeah.

But we're talking about a year.

Yeah.

So I think with those.

I mean, this is always a time.

And now we sit.

It's January 8th, I think, and we're sitting here and this is goal setting season.

Right.

Everybody talks about the goals at they're going to achieve and what they're going to accomplish in the next year.

And hell, I don't knock it by any means.

I think as long as you have some sort of goal or some sort of metric that you're shooting for to get better, I think it's great.

For me, it's based around a couple different things.

So it's faith, fitness, family.

Those are the goals that I want to have for the upcoming year.

I think the difficult part with the personal development is it takes time.

Yeah.

Somewhat monotonous.

You have to be consistent with it.

It requires discipline, but it gets people out of their comfort zone.

Sure.

We're in a society right now where everyone loves to be real confident.

Everybody loves easy street.

Don't get me started.

Don't get me.

I know, but they're saying if you're not growing, you're dying.

Sure.

Most people have heard it.

It took me, I would say, probably 30 years for that to really stick.

And I'm still a work in progress because you can take a day or two off, but sometimes that turns into five days.

For some people it takes a year where.

Oh, they got to hit rock bottom to kind of snap back into it.

How do you hold yourself accountable for the personal development piece?

Is that all you or what type of advice would you give someone for the accountability aspect?

Yeah.

So the cool thing is, you know, I'm married to a great wife.

We've been married for 10 years.

And one thing that we do is the next year.

Goal planning.

Right, Goal planning.

How much money we want to invest, how much money we want to save, how much, you know, what trips we want to go on where we want to go personally, like her and I.

Right.

Which really never happens.

Same thing happens for you and Carly.

Right.

What trips do we want to take with the kids?

All that stuff.

Right.

I love the fact that, like, we can sit down and we can have this plan and then we can keep each other accountable throughout the year.

A lot of times it boils back to me, right?

And one thing that I love, and I took this from Andy Frisella's podcast, but he talks about the Power list, right?

And the power list is a list of things that you accomplish or you want to accomplish every single day to move the needle to your long term goal.

That can be three things, that can be four things, that can be six things.

And, you know, reassessing that each week on a Sunday and marking those things off.

So the powerless is crucial for me each and every week, making sure that I'm doing the things that I need to do to accomplish those types of goals.

I love it and I love it.

And if you're listening to this, you may be like me when I was 25, 26, having no idea where to start.

What are some small steps for our listeners on where they can start, where they can focus their time on the personal development?

Yeah, number one, just get started.

If it's a diet goal or an exercise goal or a weight loss goal, or maybe it's, you know, you want to connect with a mom or a dad or an old friend that maybe you fell out of touch with, make that call, send that text.

Hey, do you want to meet up for coffee or whatever that is.

I'm a huge believer in social connection and I think that that's a huge part of our mental wellbeing.

To answer your question, where can they start?

I feel like, take action.

Get started on the goal that you want to achieve at the end of the year.

So we've discussed personal development and different ways to get better there.

On the next episode, we're going to talk about your network and how to use those relationships and connections to make yourself better and to help yourself out from a personal perspective and a career perspective moving forward.