3 WAYS I STAY GROUNDED
The Obsession
Edition - 019
Welcome to The Obsession, glad you're here.
If you work in corporate America, you probably know this feeling.
You get locked in. Head down, moving fast, stacking meetings, chasing goals. And that drive is a good thing. I love what I do and I wouldn't trade the pace for anything.
But if you're not careful, the work starts to become all of you. Your calendar fills up, your routines shrink, and the things that make you who you are outside of the job start to fade into the background.
Here are three things I do that allow me to work harder while staying grounded in who I actually am.
Workout Class
I've shared this one recently, but it's worth repeating because of how much it's changed my week.
Going to a group workout class gives me one hour where everything else gets put to the side. No emails, no calls, no thinking about tomorrow's pipeline. Just work.
The group setting is key. I'm paired with someone, there's a timer going, a coach instructing, and the energy in the room pulls me in immediately. Distractions fade and I come out recharged.
It's become one of the most consistent resets in my routine.
Schedule a Date Night
One of my clients actually taught me this one.
He was one of the most organized people I've ever met, and had more clients than any other one-man team I've worked with. But he never seemed stressed. He never had a care in the world. Why? Because his week was so structured it gave him the freedom to do more.
We can go through how he set up his week another time. But there's one thing he did that stuck with me: a standing lunch date with his wife. Every week. No kids, just the two of them for an hour, no matter what.
It was on his work calendar as a recurring meeting. He told me it strengthened his relationship more than he ever expected.
Whether it's a spouse, a friend, or family, putting that time on the calendar and protecting it is one of the simplest things you can do to stay connected to the people who matter most.
One Adventure a Month
There are 730 hours in a month. If you sleep about 210 of them and work around 300, you still have roughly 220 hours left.
What are you doing with them?
I make sure once a month I get out of my daily routine to do something fun. It can be as simple or as big as you want it to be. Living in LA, sometimes that's a day at the beach. Other times it's a short flight to Colorado to climb a 14er.
The key is putting it on the calendar, work and personal. I usually stick to weekends and take advantage of the holiday ones when I can.
At the end of the year, you have 12 memories that have nothing to do with work. And that matters more than you think.
THE WEEKLY 3
One Question I Asked Myself
When was the last time I did something just because I wanted to, not because I had to?
One Idea That Shifted Me
Structure doesn't limit your freedom. It creates it.
One Challenge to Take Into Your Week
Pick one of the three: a workout class, a scheduled date, or an adventure. Put it on your calendar this week. Not as a maybe. As a non-negotiable.
