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Kreatures Of Habit Podcast
The 8-8-8 Rule That Changed My Life (Work-Life Balance) | Monday Moments
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The only regret I have in my life is genuinely missing the first two years of Finley's life. My first son. Because I was working around the clock, I just didn't know that there was this ability to have a work life balance. However, I have found a system that I think works. I've broken my day up into three eight hour chunks. I, I call it the triple 8s. Eight hours of work, eight hours of non work, eight hours of sleep. That has been a very, very successful and super well balanced way to live my life. If all you want is money and to be rich, chances are you're gonna have to work around the clock. What's the purpose of doing that if you're not going to be able to spend time with the people that you love most? An entrepreneur straight out of New York City, Michael Chernow was cracking. What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to the Creatures of Habit podcast Monday Moments. I want to talk to you guys today for, I don't know, 10 minutes, 5 minutes, somewhere in between there, we'll see how long this thing unfolds. But I want to talk about work life balance. I want to talk about work life balance. Because as a kid growing up in New York City, there was only one thing that I bore witness to that equated success and that was money and fame. As a kid growing up in New York City, really that is ultimately what you saw success looking like how much money you had and if you were famous or not. And so one would imagine that if that was kind of like what we were cultivated or groomed to be, the North Star, there's only one way to get there and that's to work around the clock. And in a fast paced place like New York City, that wasn't hard to do, especially if you were ambitious. The energy of New York is fast paced. There's never not tons of people moving all the time around you. And so I, I just didn't know that there was this ability to have a work life balance. And in the 2000s, you know, really early 2000s is when hustle culture started to really take shape. If you're not working, you're dying. You sleep. When you're dead, you've got to work harder and longer than everybody else in order to succeed. And you know what? The truth is, is that I think that there is some level of truth to that. But it all depends on what your actual goals in life are. If all you want is money and to be rich and to have the mega mansion and the fastest sports cars, chances Are you're going to have to work around the clock and you're going to have to be shrewd and not easy to deal with because all you care about is money. If you envision a life of fun or a combination of fun and hard work, you can have balance. And I'm here to say that I have no interest in being a billionaire. Zero, no interest. I'm also going to say that I do appreciate the nicer things in life. I'm not going to be one of these guys that says oh, I don't care about that stuff. Like I do. I actually, I like, I like being able to treat myself and my family to the nicer things in life and staying in the nicer hotel and every once in a while, you know, buying a more expensive plane ticket. I do appreciate that and I like that. However, I'm not willing to sacrifice my time with my family, which is ultimately when I am my happiest in life, because I want to make more money. And I inherently am an ambitious guy. So I'm gonna work really hard no matter what. However, I have found a system that I think works. I've broken my day up into three 8 hour chunks. I call it the triple 8s. I spend 8 hours roughly in bed sleeping. I don't typically get a full eight hours of sleep, but I am in bed most nights by 9:15 and I am out of bed most mornings by 5:15. So that's that eight hours of time that I'm giving myself in bed. I then give myself eight hours a day of non work time. Now it's not linear. I don't like spend eight hours straight not working, but I break up my day so that I spend three and a half ish hours in the morning and three and a half to four ish hours in the evening when I'm not working. And what does that look like? Well, I wake up at 5:15. I have my morning routine that consists of my morning hygiene in the bathroom, my prayers, push ups and poses and either working out for about an hour and 15 minutes or recovering in the sauna in the cold plunge for an hour and 15 minutes. Then I come out of the garage because that's where all of my workout and recovery stuff is. And it's about 7:30 in the morning and my kids and wife are just getting up or they're, they've, they've just gotten up and I hang out with them until about 8, 8:15 when either my wife or I take the kids to school and, and then I head to the office and I'm typically at my desk around 9:15. I work at my desk from roughly 9am to 5:30pm and that's about eight, eight and a half hours that I'm at the desk and then I come back home, I'm at dinner at 6 o' clock every night. And from 6 to about 9, 9:30 is full family time, no work. So those are my triple eights. Eight hours of work, eight hours of non work, eight hours of sleep. And that has been a very, very successful and super well balanced way to live my life. And I, it wasn't always like this, trust me, it was not always like this. I could honestly say that I probably in the first five, six years of my career I worked 12 to 14 hours a day. And that's a fact. And honestly I think that in the beginning of one's career that may be a requirement, it may not be for everyone. But I think as an entrepreneur, you know, typically you're going to have to put in that 12 to 16 hours a day to get things going. And, and honestly the only regret I have in my life, truth, the only regret I have in my life is, is, is genuinely missing the first two years of Finley's life, my first son, because I was building Seymour's and I had a TV show and I was working around the clock. Do I think that if I can go back and change that? I probably would. I probably would, I would, I would change that. Because now I know that if I am dedicated for eight to nine hours a day working where I am super efficient, I am on fire, I am focused, I do a lot of things throughout my day to try to keep me in that flow state. I have timers on my desk for certain amount, you know, I set timers. So if I've got a project, I'll set my timer for an hour and a half where I am an hour and a half straight, no looking at phone, no taking a phone call, no meetings, it's just boom, I am focused. And then I give myself a little 15, 20 minute break and then I'll set the timer again for the next project that I've got to work on. So I am like super efficient in those eight nine hours every single day at work. And then, you know, the rest of my day is really spent with my family and sleeping. And I'm here to tell you that I am absolutely living a balanced life. And could I be making more money if I was working longer? Maybe. I actually don't know. But I have no interest in changing it. So the purpose of this Monday moment conversation is to share that work life balance is totally a real thing. It is totally possible and achievable. And it's a better way of living. It's just a better way of living. From my experience, it just is. And I wouldn't change it for anything. And I don't have any shame around saying that. I work eight, nine hours a day. I use. I would, I would be afraid to say that probably even five, six years ago, but I have no shame. I'm actually really proud of it because what is the purpose of working hard, taking the risk, you know, raising money, having the fear when money gets low? I mean, it just happens in business. There's a lot of stress. What's the purpose of doing that if you're not going to be able to spend time with the people that you love most, family, friends. You got to be able to balance that, you know, like the amount of stress that an entrepreneur goes through if they don't have that way to wind down or that way to, you know, turn it off every once in a while. For me, it's every day. Life becomes. Life is very difficult and not, not that much fun. And I believe it has to be fun. I used to have a saying at the restaurants, if it's not fun, it. And yeah. So I just wanted to. I just wanted to talk with you guys today about work life balance. The Triple 8s are very, very real in my life. They're totally possible for everybody. And it's about commitment and discipline and boundary setting. And you can do it. You can do it and you should. I hope you enjoyed this one. Share this podcast with anybody who you think could use it. Anyone, friends, family, social media would be. I'd be grateful. Also subscribe. Give us a five star rating and a review. That's how we grow this podcast. So until the next one, fam. Peace.