Rethink Your Balance

Watch the episode here:

• Challenge the traditional concept of work-life balance.
• Learn why integrating work and life can lead to greater fulfillment.
• Discover practical ways to blend your professional and personal life.
• Hear Rick Jordan’s personal insights on managing work and family.
• Gain a fresh perspective on achieving true balance in life.

What’s shakin, hey, I’m Rick Jordan. Today, we’re going all in. A long time ago, the third, episode of my podcast ever was, was about work-life balance. The title of it was work-life balance is Stupid. That was the title. And I still believe that this came up in a conversation the other day, I still believe that work-life balance is stupid. And I’ll tell you why. Because everybody now I’m sure is like, oh, my gosh, wait a second, you know, is he the type of leader that expects me to put in 7080 hours a week? I’m like, no, no, that’s not it. But if you look at it this way, it’s really like a symbiotic circle. And this is why I say that work-life balance is stupid. I say it from the perspective of if somebody punches in, you know, you start your work day, and at that point in time, it’s like, whatever goes on outside, like your family life, your home, your relationships, all that they get put on pause. And I know a lot of people do this, right? And then after that, as soon as like five o’clock, six o’clock, whenever your time comes, or even if you’re flexible on your start and ends. And whenever that ends, it’s like a dividing line. It’s like you’re done. 

You’re going home. And now all of a sudden, it’s like work doesn’t exist. And people are like, Man, I live for the weekend. And it’s like, Are you kidding me? For real? That’s why I say that work-life balance is stupid because it’s ignoring the entire reality that these two have so much to do with each other. I mean, why do you work to begin with? Why do you have relationships to begin with? What do you have, as far as dreams in your life, a lot of these things are fulfilled by both of these sides? So it’s like there’s, there’s a common goal. I mean, if you’re looking to write have maybe a spouse or kids, whatever the typical family life, it’s like, hey, guess what kids cost money. So you have work that pays for that. I know I got three of them twins right away, and two of them are turning 17. The expenses just keep mounting up as they keep getting older. It happens. And you know what, that’s okay. Because I’m grateful. I’m super grateful that I have what I do in order to be able to provide what I do for my kids. Do you see that issue here? Do you see it, it’s almost like a multiple personality disorder if you’re just checking out at the end of your workday, checking out from work and only thinking about, your life outside of work, or in the morning, if you’re checking out from your relationships, and saying, all right, I’m gonna work right now. This is it. This is all that matters right now. 

It’s ridiculous. It’s freaking stupid. Because these things have so much to do with each other. It’s more like a symbiotic circle. Because what you do at home affects your work. What you do at work affects your home, these things are supposed to be this way. So when you talk about these things, maybe you have counselors or therapists that you’ve seen, whatever it is, I mean, I’ve seen plenty of coaches, and therapists and everything throughout the course of my life. They’re all like, you know, one of them even told me, it’s like, when you get home, here’s what you have to do. It’s like you were a trouble belt, you know, and then you take it off, and you put it around on a hook. And then that’s it, you leave your troubles at work I’m like, but that’s not how this functions. That totally like eliminates the idea of talking to people who care about you about some of the things that are stressing you out, so that they can maybe even just lend an ear and be emotional support. It’s like, if you do that, you are robbing them of part of that relationship. Because relationships, don’t start and stop. When you’re not at work. 

Your family doesn’t start and stop when you’re not at work. Work doesn’t start and stop when you’re at home. Because you could have things that you come up with outside and be like, You know what, I really, really, really want to start purchasing real estate 10 years from now, five years from now in investing in real estate. So then you can work backward and be like, okay, in order to do that, maybe I can get promoted at work, maybe I can get another certification and step up the ladder a bit and begin to increase my income. And I can take that extra income and place it aside. So I can move to a different phase of my life where all I’m doing is investing in real estate because that’s ultimately what I want to do. Because it wouldn’t fulfill me and maybe you want to invest in real estate because you want to provide some awesome homes for people. I know people that rehab apartments, you know, it’s mission-driven, or they build these small homes, and it’s mission-driven for vets and all this other stuff. So that’s like that’s what’s fulfilling them is to provide these residences to people. 

You see how this is supposed to work symbiotically because what you do at home and what you want for your life affects how you show up at work and what you do for work. How you show up at work and what you do for work and things that happen at work will affect you at home. This has nothing to do I want to be clear on this. This has nothing to do with race. quired time to recharge. Everybody needs time to recharge. And I’m going to say that’s true on both sides. Who’s with me on that? There are times to recharge from work. And there are times to recharge from your family, from your relationships. This is true. Why do you think you like going back? Like traditionally speaking, why are there girl nights out? Come on now ladies, give me a thumbs up, give give me a double tap, give me everything on that. Why do you think there are those girl nights out because it’s time away from the normal thing with the guy you might have at home? Okay, and vice versa, this guy nights out because guys talk about things that women typically don’t want to hear about. And all of this is okay. Right? That’s the recharge time that I’m talking about. And likewise, you need recharge time, from work. 

That could be consecutive days off, that could be planning a trip, that could be just a long weekend, that could be just two hours off at the end of Sunday. To start that day sooner because you have a road trip plan for the weekend. Work-life balance is stupid. They’re supposed to be symbiotic and everything affects the other. I want to see everybody grow. And in order to do that, it’s like the rising tide lifts all boats. Because if you’re able to accelerate things at work, guess what that means you probably get paid more, you probably have more opportunities, and you probably feel more fulfilled. So what happens? You go home, and you show up even better at home because you’re happy and fulfilled and excited at work. And now you’re making more money because you just advance your career. Now you can do more for your family. It’s a resource, it affects everything, and maybe you have a shitty day at work. Maybe that happens. Now you’re going home and maybe you’re your partner, or you’re going to hang out with the guys and you’re venting about the day at work. And they’re like, Oh man, you know what? Well, did you think about this? And you’re like, No, I didn’t think about that. 

That one suggestion could potentially eliminate all the frustration that you just went through that day at work from continuing on ever. All this stuff is meant to be symbiotic. There should not be any division whatsoever because there are so many similarities on both sides. And there’s so much dependency on both sides. This is called cohesive harmony in every aspect of your life. Everything affects everything and how you show up in one thing should be how you show up and everything. I’ll take the rest of the week. I hope this charges you up after lunch because this is incredible. It maybe you didn’t eat lunch. I don’t know. Maybe it’s after breakfast for you after dinner but whatever. Have an awesome week. I love you all