THE ED MYLETT SHOW - How to WIN During Busy Season

Episode Date: November 16, 2023

This week, my good friend BRENDON BURCHARD and I are digging into a fundamental question that challenges every one of us… HOW DO WE MANAGE THE BUSY SEASON OF OUR LIVES and come out on top? 🔥You’re hearing from the #1 and #2 MINDSET AND PERFORMANCE COACHES IN THE WORLD (by @‌USAtoday) as we give you strategies to help you preserve your mental health and productivity when commitments are coming at you like a 100-foot tsunami. Many of you know Brendon already, but for those who don’t, he’s a multiple #1 New York Times bestselling author and the founder of GROWTH DAY, a comprehensive self-improvement system with tools and live coaching from the top wellness coaches and business experts in the world (including yours truly)! THIS EPISODE is a MASTERCLASS on… …TIME MANAGEMENT …TIME RESPECT …and TIME SANITY Listen as we share our REAL PRACTICAL TIPS on… How to Prepare Your Family for your busy season How to make time for the things that matter MOST How to REST even when you’re busy The Ultimate hack for leveraging your time and reducing your workload RUTHLESS REMOVAL and the one message you should use to transform your life How to STOP over-checking your INBOX How to Make energy and mental health deposits into yourself and SO MUCH MORE… You WILL be faced with BUSY SEASONS in your life (if you aren’t currently in one), just like Brendon and me. How you manage those times often spells the difference between PEACE and chaos, HAPPINESS and misery, and LIVING WELL or not. YOU MUST LISTEN to this episode!

This is the Ed Milach show. Welcome back with the show everybody. So I'm excited today. I've got Brendan Brushard here with me today. Brother, thank you so much for being here. Honored. Well, I got to tell you, I'm honored. USA Today comes out with the top most influential and top mindset coaches in the planet.

And number one and number two here today. Unreal. One call. So congratulations for and number two here today. Unreal. One call. So congratulations for being named to that list, brother. I'm really honored to be ranked alongside you there. And you deserve that top spot. I want everyone to hear that because very few people know the miles that you have put in, but also continue

to put in. And when people realize it's not just the miles, but it's the caliber of people that you coach. I think it stuns them. And those rankings don't come out by accident. It's like the caliber of people and the consistency and the time, if they actually knew it,

I think that celebration'd be even bigger. So you deserve it. Well, likewise, as you know, and the names that you've coached over the years, and by the way, you and I help one another. Most people don't realize that, but you and I are constantly number one person I call for advice and strategy, particularly in this industry is you. And I would say that it's safe to say

that that's true for probably 19 of the top influencers of the top 20 in this entire space. They reach out to Brennan Brushard. So and it's interesting that you say that because everyone is so busy. You and I are out of our minds busy right now. We're both usually better at controlling our schedules than we have been lately. But one of the things probably like you, I'm getting asked so much about is everyone seems overwhelmed right now with how busy they are. They're schedules, the demands of family, social media, what's going on in the world geopolitically.

Their careers, their finances, their body, their spirituality. It like, it never ends the demands on people. And so right now, this idea of just, how do we manage the busy season of our life as something I'd really like to get into today with you, brother? Oh, huge topic. I'm beat up like a dog as we're recording this in a very rare instance of time. I'm in that busy season.

And it is tilted over and beyond what it usually is. And I'm the high performance guy, right? I've taught high performance in harmony, you know, for 17 years. And this would, I would say is the most intense to give context, Ed and I were talking earlier. I'm on day 22 of travel. I've given over 27, 28 speeches during that time.

So in some towns, multiple speeches at the same time. Ed does the same. They don't know that you do that morning talk to 5,000 people. Then you do the evening talk to 10,000. And they're like, wait, you did two in one day, different companies. Exactly. So that's happening right now.

At the same time on this last trip, got a cold. And I was at one event where they were suddenly afterwards, hey, you have a meet and greet with 200 people, we're going to take pictures. And it was one of those partnerships, I kind of needed to do it. But as anyone who's listening knows who has that intensity when you're with 200 people, the energy you give them. Sure.

And your voice is gone. So lost my voice, got a cold, bit on the road 22 days, very abnormal. And the funny thing is I'm sharing this, I know you're going through the same thing. So we're both in busy season. Tell them about your context. Well, same thing. And by the way, the other thing that people don't, I was with someone the other day and I showed them my phone. This is no joke. That day, I had 12

hundred unanswered text messages on my phone. Now, that was a big day, but I want you to imagine 12 hundred unanswered text messages by 10 pm that night.. Now that's a day that's crazy. But I do average a couple hundred a day. Yes. Plus in your case, you're building and you're building this brand new unbelievable unicorn company called Grove Day. All your friendships, all your relationships, all your coaching clients. So just like me, I've got you know, 10, 12 different businesses that I'm actively growing. I've been on three continents the last three weeks. I'm going to Dubai next week. I think I've given 17 talks in 21 days. You and I actually connected. We are in Vegas at the same time.

I was giving two talks. You were giving two talks. You're like, hey, let's squeeze in a U2 concert. So you and I went over to see you two. So we find ways to work in breaks. But it's busy season. And in our own ways, no matter what you do, you feel busy and probably overwhelmed right

now. Maybe you don't have 1200 contacts, but you've got to go get to soccer practice to pick your kids up. Plus, you've got to get to work. Then you've got to help them with their homework. Maybe you've got a side hustle. You'd like to get in a gym workout. You've got maybe church on Sunday.

So whatever your version of it is, I'd like today to spend some time with, you know, two of the top mindset people in the world, particularly in your case, Brendan. What are some of the strategies you deploy that you use to manage the busy season of your life? And I figured, let's just go back and forth and throw some strategies back out that will serve everybody in the audience between the two of us. They can kind of listen in on you and I because really what was happening before this is you and I were talking about this and we're like, we should probably record this.

Yeah. We should probably record this because we're helping one another with it. So let's just start out. I'll throw it to you first. Like what's a strategy you'd recommend for someone who's just busy season feeling maybe overwhelmed something you're doing right now to manage that. I'll give the first principle, but then I'll give something very practical. The first principle is avoid over scheduling. Yeah. But we're going to assume today that that didn't happen, you're in busy season. You got over scheduled. That's the context we're talking about. So the first practice is to absolutely overcommunicate and excel in family communication.

When you get in busy season, you'd better be really great about explaining to your spouse, to your partner, to the kids, what you are dealing with. So for example, you know, my wife and I, we sit down on a Sunday, we look at the upcoming schedule. We talk through it, and she's really great at this, by the way. Don't forget, on Wednesday, this is happening and this is happening and this is happening, this is happening and you have to

talk through that but you have to do something very special. A lot of people talk through their agenda. They talk through their day, they talk through their week. Hey, the kids have this recital on Friday. Don't miss it. Lots of people talk through the agenda. What you need to talk through when you're in busy season is the intensity and the demand required of you to share with somebody. You know what? I'm probably be stressed this week. You know what?

I'm getting destroyed this week. You know what? This is going to be so hard for me. You know what? Forgive me if I'm absent. Actually talking about the emotional experience you're about to have, you know, it's like that conversation. I'm going, honey, I'm going to war.

This is going to be really hard for me. I could use any support, but I also want to let you know, I'm not going to throw that stress at you, but if it comes out in the house, just have that context that this thing is happening. And I think a lot of people never do that. So there's stressed bubbles up, they're overwhelmed bubbles up, and they smack their family with that energy. Or they do it with their team, because your team has to do the same thing as a leader.

When you're in an extremely intense period, you have to communicate that in advance. And the more you fail to communicate that in advance, the more you are punished later, which adds to the overwhelm because now people are surprised, why don't you just tell me? And you lose your cool. And if they knew the context, then they could support you more, they could understand

more, they could have empathy more. It's so important to communicate and over communicate. Rather, I'm thinking of how I don't do that. And then I'm actually recovering from a blowup or I'm recovering from missing something or being short or curt in my response because I am overwhelmed. Whereas if I just laid that foundation

and created a frame and some context around it, it would afford me the grace I'm probably worthy of that I'm not laying out. I don't get the grace that I deserve because I've not set the foundation. That's really, really, I would say you probably just hit on the thing I'm the worst at doing. Is say, no, here's a heads up, here's a heads up. Here's what I've got coming.

You know, because a lot of times when you're just in the season, you're just like, I'm putting my head down, I'm going. And we forget to manage the emotions and the expectations of the people around us. Yes, it's kind of like you forget that other people are on the ride with you. Very true.

And you kind of don't realize you're also hijacking their life if you don't tell them. It's kind of like if you borrow your wife's car, you take your wife's car on a Wednesday and you didn't tell her. Later on, she's like, I'm left stranded. Why didn't you tell me if you just told me? And then now you got to deal with the guilt

for having not communicated it. So now you're tired, you're overwhelmed, you're going and you're dealing with the emotional stress of others because you didn't communicate. It's why I brought up first, having coached all these years. I see my leaders all the time. They fail on the family communication or the team communication.

And then they don't get the empathy and support. And then they say, no one understands. I'm like, no one understands because you don't tell nobody. Brother, it's funny that you say because this season, this last month, which is where my guy cranked up, probably the first time I have actually done that. I did gather my mom, I got my wife, my kids that look, here's what's going on. So just give me some grace, just understand, please don't take this personally.

I'm going to be running a little bit ragged. My text messages may be shorter, the phone call may not be quite as long. Just no. And by the way, the other thing I think that's important to say, and it's going to end. Right. And thanks, giving's coming and right around Thanksgiving, I'm going to be back for the holidays and it's not going to be that bad around Christmas and New Year. So I've actually let them know there's also a reprieve coming by communication. So it's something I've never done very well. They all know that I'll give you one of mine. And mine is to go to your schedule.

So because that you show me your schedule, I'm going to show you your life. And one of the things that I always did for years that I think did tremendous harm was I scheduled all my stuff, business, you know, financial stuff, personal development, growth, whatever it was. And then I fit my family and friends into it. And that's really backwards. And you would think, well, that's just how it has to work because all these hours, not true. So now what I do, and I did even do this on this trip like last night, Bella was back from Clemson. I scheduled a night in advance with Bella.

So this was non-negotiable. You show me your schedule. I'm going to show you your priorities. So you can go to a busy season and still maintain some sense of control over your schedule. So now I schedule my family things. First, Bella's back from Clemson, right? Max has a golf tournament date night with honey, whatever it might be. And then I build the schedule around it. You think, oh, you're gonna lose all kind of hours.

You don't. And that way there is some sense of control. So that's one thing on the schedule. Second thing on the schedule is this. Not all meetings need to be an hour long. And one of the things that's happening in your schedule is, it's just a common thing. Go, hey, I'm available at one o'clock and you block from one to two o'clock. That's an entire hour. And one thing I found is there's a lot of meetings I can have if the expectations are communicated correctly that are actually eight minute long meetings. They're 20 minute long meetings. They're 40 minute long meetings.

And so you'll find lots of minutes and hours in your day if you don't just kind of cart-bought schedule everything for a block for an hour. Some things can and sometimes by the way, I just did this. I had a call with Apple. I told you right before this. And Apple was working with me on something on my podcast. And I thought it was really interesting. She scheduled a 28 minute long meeting with me from Apple. This just happened before what we're doing right now. And what that did was it got me on the call

and I was kind of like leaning in and ready to go immediately because I know we got 28 minutes. And it probably would have been normally, most people scheduled an hour and we would have dragged it in. It would have taken minutes out of my day that weren't necessary. And so I think you should start looking at how long does a meeting need to be? How long? You're going to find lots of minutes in your schedule. And then there's another one, another one for you, just on scheduling. You should schedule rest. Yes. I don't do it. And I don't

just get, I mean, not just nighttime just nighttime rest but like you ever have a day I know you all relate to this you're like what happened here? I have an eight a nine a 10 and 11 a one a three a four I want to be dead at 4 30 you've all had that day where you're like death by zoom late, right? You're like you you leaving your zoom be you know, zombie. Yeah, you're yeah, you're a zoom be and and so for me now It's like I need I need a mental break from one to three. Just let me collect. Let me, let me, nap.

Let me take a walk. Let me schedule my break. And I'm gonna tell you, and even maybe if you, if it's 11 straight schedule, the rest, think about what you don't schedule. You don't schedule your kids stuff. You don't schedule your family stuff. You don't schedule your rest.

Then every meeting's an hour long And that's why we lose control of our time and then one other little thing for me and then we'll I'll throw it back to you Because we got a bunch of strategies we'll share When it comes to my scheduling Is I begin to really look at do I need to be the one to do this or can this be leveraged? So many different things in my schedule, I find myself doing and I'm like, someone else should be doing this right now. And you may say to yourself, well, that doesn't apply to me because I've got a job when a family, well, you know,

maybe you're still doing things you shouldn't be doing. Like maybe it would be reasonable for you to pay somebody to cut your grass. Maybe it would be reasonable for you to schedule someone to come wash your cars. Maybe be reasonable. I mean, be reasonable for you to schedule someone to come wash your cars. Maybe it'd be reasonable. I mean, this may sound crazy, but maybe someone should be doing some of your shopping. Maybe you should be using these apps like DoorDash or Uber Eats or things that will create leverage

that afford you time. These may seem small, but what are things you're doing that maybe someone else could be doing for a very nominal expense or no expense that just ask people to handle for you that would free up the burden of not just the time, but let's just be honest, the mental and emotional demands of having to do so many things. It's taking up space in your mind and worse, it's taking up space in your spirit and you

become depleted and then you're no good to anybody and you're not on your A game. And then when you need the sale, you need the good meeting. You don't have the reserves or the juice left because you've depleted them in areas that you didn't need to. And so these are all things scheduled wise to look at. Well, this is related to schedule two. And I just want to everyone write this phrase down because I want to everyone write this phrase down, because I bet when you write this phrase down on a piece of paper, you feel great. And most people never do this,

and they never give themselves permission for this with their schedule. Ruthless removal. When it's busy season, you've got to look at your current schedule the next couple weeks, and you got to get ruthless. You got to start pulling things that were put on that schedule that seemed good at the time, but you're in like busy season, sometimes it as much as you're trying to build and give and serve, you're also going to go at some point into survival mode.

You're at the low end of the gas tank because no human can do that schedule. That's busy seasons definition. It's really intense. So I look out and go, oh, wait, we're supposed to go meet with this couple who I don't even know on this date to have some wine or something. That's got to go. Oh, you know what, I'm supposed to go do this thing over here that I promised, you know, a year ago to a friend,

there's still be a friend a year from now, I can't do that thing. There's a, it's like, cause most often busy season hits you, you didn't know it's coming. Yes. You know, there's the busy seasons that you anticipate, you built and you scheduled. Those are great, cause you block out the time in advance,

it's perfectly set up. Then there's other things, something, you know, life was kind of normally planned and then somebody got sick. Life was normally planned and then you lost the game. Life was normally planned and then you had employee quit. And now you're taking all this extra obligation on. Yes. That's when business season, accidental business season, it hurts.

And so get ruthless, go like, oh, I'm in survival mode right now. I'm going to take out this obligation, remove this meeting. This usual thing that I do, I'm going to remove that. And I think it has to be something that you genuinely do week by week. You're just removing and removing and removing. I remove interviews, I remove, you know, calls and meetings. I don't even do the 28 minute one. I go delete, you know, it's like I complete ruthless removal. And then I also remove myself from what you're talking about in terms of delegation. I remove myself from processes. So as an example, I remove myself from what you're talking about in terms of delegation, I remove myself from processes.

So as an example, I remove myself from my inbox. I'm a week of travel, as an example. I put up this audit responder. Here's what it says. Thank you so much for reaching out to me. If you've already coordinated or scheduled something, see you soon. If this is a new request, please understand that my plate is full. Most of things I'm taking on in the next three months, I've planned years in advance, so I'm not able to handle new requests unless it's an emergency, please contact my assistant or please contact whoever.

Also, please understand during this time, I probably won't reply to you for a week to 10 days. Just assume I won't even see the email. So if your friend or family go ahead and text me. Very good. Like, literally, basically he says, Hey, this, I'm not gonna hear, you're not gonna hear from me. Then I don't feel during busy season,

Oh my God, I can't go to bed. It's 11 o'clock at night until I check my email. It's like, no, I've already abdicated that. I've already said, I'm not here. And you probably won't hear it for seven to 10 days. So good. And it just like it removes that even. I don't even think when I'm in busy season.

I don't even think about my inbox. You think about the freedom that has. Yeah, that's good. I remove the idea that I have to reply to all the DMs in Instagram. I don't even check I'm of my busy season either, either. And I just think that that is what can you remove yourself from entirely ruthlessly so that you can not only survive, but you can deliver the service

and the excellence or win the game. That narrow focus during that time is everything. By the way, it's funny that you say it because when I do do do do one of those deletes, it feels so good. And all of you've done it before you're like, look, I just can't do this meaning, right? And when you do, it just feels so good. You're like, that just disappeared off my calendar. Oh my gosh, look at that gap on there. Yes, it's such a good. And that's an indicator. You should do it more. Yes. It's an indicator. I want to reflect something Ed said too, is yet earlier buddy, is like, why like 1500 messages on my friends' complete,

it's like, but you allow yourself to have those 1500 unanswered messages. I want everyone to know, I've never worked with a high performer who had a lot of feeling or guilt to that. High performers know that's just part of it. There's people you can't get to. And if you have a people pleasing need that says you have to get to all of them, you will

exhaust yourself. You have to know that everybody's request and everybody's agenda that shoved into your agenda during busy season doesn't get a reply. Yes. And you have to own that from an emotional level going, I'm okay not replying to everybody right now. You're onto my second point because you created this and I've learned some of this from you.

And so some of this guys may sound a little bit cold, but it's the real, if you're gonna become a high performer and elite achiever, max out your life, some of these things are either you're not doing with right now, but you're going to deal with when you get there. And one of the things I've learned, especially honest, this is my number two thing, is teaching people how I'm going to reply to them and respond. Meaning there are people in my life that are going to get an immediate response from me, because they're in that close proximity to me. My children, my wife, my mom, CEO of my companies, like we need to be in rapid dialogue, but what I actually have learned this from you.

And by the way, other really high performers, like one thing when you're a really high performer, you don't take it personally also when someone's not, you know what their world is like, right? Yes. I'll just let you in on the inside. Some have probably never been said on any podcast where you and I are saying right now, but I have learned to teach people the rhythm and pattern in which they should have expectations to hear back from me, meaning I sometimes will get a message and I am purposely going to delay the reply to that message a day or two

so that we get on a pattern and a habit of you knowing I don't reply to you instantaneously. I'm not at your back-and-call. Yes. So you think to me how many people will blow someone's phone up at 8 a.m. on Monday mornings. And I'm like, don't you know the whole world is doing this right now to me? You don't you know the whole world is messaging me at 8 a.m. on Monday morning. Like wait to get into a spot where I might even see it. And I know some of you, I don't relate to being that busy. You will at some point, but maybe even other things in your life.

Like this is a lesson. People say, well, how do I change the proximity? I need to change my associations. One of the ways you slowly change someone's association or proximity to you is the pace and timing with which you reply to them. And so if you're trying to number one, this is a time management and a busy season thing. But secondly, it's also an association technique that if you've got that someone in your life that you're like, I think they're becoming more toxic or they're not really making me grow. They're not bringing out the best

in me. They deplete my energy reserves. Why are you replying to them instantaneously? Because guess what they expect? Now they're getting another one. And we all have that friend who doesn't know when the texted chain is over. Right.

They don't know when it's over. This is most people, right? And because they have more time on their hands than you do. And by the way, there is some correlation to your ability to respond immediately to people not valuing you. Right. Like, person's never busy. And I know there's that rare person that we all know, which I've been that person like, this dude gets back to everybody that day immediately. He's

amazing. Right. I'll give you an insight. I think someone said to me the other day, they go, man, Tony Robbins had gotten back to me immediately on a text that I had said. Does he do that with you? And I said, well, yes, but I've also known him for a very long time. But I said, can I just let you in on something? It wasn't just that you were important. It's what you were texting about had importance to him.

And I wouldn't have that expectation. Do you only text messages he gets a day, emails? How much he's on an airplane? How much speaking he does? all the companies he runs. So the other thing I guess the lesson here is, you teach people how to be engaged with you. And you should be conscious of this. This is not, you're not at their back in call.

You are not always reacting to their whims. And because if you do, you've lost all control over your time in your life. If you're constantly at the different schedules and times of other people. So there are sometimes I wait several hours to get to it back to somebody. Sometimes it's a couple days. Sometimes it's not at all. Sometimes it's an emoji or an acknowledgement.

And I think that this is something all of you need to begin to take control of in your life. So that you have some control over your life. We're in an age where everybody can reach us now. And there's something to be said to insulating yourself for being so reachable all the time and so accessible all the time. And like think about this right now, if you're a Beyonce fan, let's say that you love Beyonce or you love LeBron James or you love the president, whoever it might be. Can you get a hold of them right away? And you're like, well, no, well, what if you could every second of every single day?

Let's just think about this. Do you think maybe their value would be diminished to you to some extent based on your access and proximity, just their value alone? Sometimes their proximity and access point to you is diminished. So oftentimes what you think you're doing by being courteous and professional is diminishing your value. Hmm, finishing your value because what's rare is valuable. That's why a diamond is more valuable than paper because it's more rare. I'm not saying take this to the extreme. I'm saying consider the principle as you're trying to navigate busy seasons of

your life, keep the right people in your life and keep some form of mental and emotional peace in your life. Yes. Let me add a practice to this and a little bit of science for those geeks out there like me. The practice is, and this will stun the people, how great this life, this makes your life. I want everyone to listen. You should always schedule when you check your email and when you check your DMs. It should be scheduled. Very good. Not my opinion, but based on science.

The science is that when you are busy, when you're trying to do important things, and you randomly check something They call this a lot of in productivity training or research. I'll just call it an interruption Generically, you get interrupted by something You're doing it one task you get interrupted on average if it's a significant like you're doing a two-hour project as an example Every interruption takes on average 20 to 45 minutes to get back in the creative or the mental thinking flow of that project. Well, when you're in busy season, everything is a

product like you're just in it. Yes. Every look, every check-in, every DM that's random, is actually taking away 30 to 40 minutes of your mental focus. So you're stealing your mental focus every check-in. You always have to wait a check-in is stealing and depleting focus. I've taught this since 2009 that your inbox, your email inbox, is nothing but a convenient organizing system of other people's agendas. If you have a life agenda, if you have a days agenda, randomly checking in your inbox is checking into other people's agendas. I mean, you're checking out of yours into theirs, and now you're going to lose the mental focus for probably 40 minutes. Many people are even longer if they're not high performers under performers

I say they've lose two hours now completely derailed. Why did you derail because you randomly checked? I want everyone to write that down. I derail because I randomly check Get completely out of the random check-ins and it said go. You know what? I do my email between eight and nine and then to get it four and five I've always said people I got it back to them the same day. I'm like, great. Get back to them at the end of the day. You do your most important tasks throughout the day. Let the end of the day be the replies if you feel like you have to. But don't check in throughout the day. You'll completely steal your focus and your energy. And guess what? The more you check in and the more interruptions you get.

Here's what's fascinating about high performance. The more you check in and the more you get those random you, what's this needy friend? Why is this person reaching out to me? This is bad timing. You develop bitterness. You get bitter toward, there's a bitter energy. Yep. You check it. Damn her. Why him? This and all of a sudden there's bitterness.

And you take a high performer who has to joyfully serve throughout the day, who has to be in mental flow. And you add in these little sprinkles of bitterness or overwhelm, their performance goes down. Brother, their performance goes down. Brother, that's exactly right. I have to just acknowledge how absolutely right. And by the way, this principle of getting back to people by the end of the day is something I've absolutely lived by until I couldn't.

Yes. So I just couldn't. And this random checking idea is brilliant. I just, this is so good today, by the way. I just want you to know this. Because it's 100% true. And I believe me, I understand that I'm going to get respect everybody and get back to them by the end of the day mentality.

I did that forever until I just can't anymore. And there needs to be some peace and winding down in your evening as well. It's why I like that four to five window. I don't want to do it at 10 to 11 o'clock at night because then I'm thinking about your problem while I'm trying to go to sleep. Right. The other thing one little tiny tiny thing, and then I'll shift through another strategy and throw it back to you is, um, I have told my friends, uh, voice notes are lazy. So if you're going to leave me a voice note on your phone, a lot of you that have iPhones,

it has to be less than a minute or you need to type it. That's good. And the reason is, is that because what you're doing is you're burdening me with the time you didn't want to take the type me something. So you ever get these seven eight long voice notes from people and you're like, my God, I this is this is insane. This is this is it's longer than if we would have just talked. So because you don't want to type out this long message, you're just and my phone, I don't know why it interrupts every 40 seconds and stops the message anyway. And I got to go back to the beginning. So I have told people, they know this. If you send me a six minute long voice note,

I say, listen, type it or send it back in one minute or less. I can't think about this. What if someone got 10, 5 minute long voice notes an hour? That's the entire hour I'm listening to your messages. And so these are just courtesy things you do for one another, but also things like, you just manage your time. They gotta type it out. I can read that in 10 seconds.

The same thing takes three or four minutes to listen to. And every minute counts when you're a high performer, every minute counts in busy season, and it's energy and it's focus. So none of that. All right, I'll give you another strategy for me. I love that. And also I want everyone to hear as you rewind this

and listen to earlier, I want you to hear Edna's tone because we are in busy season and we receive these things and we feel like we should check in. And the energy that you're hearing from is going, it's an exasperation, right? It's like, oh, I can't believe I have to deal with this during busy season. And that's what I want you to hear internally. That's how you feel. There's an exasperation when you didn't control how much you check in or you didn't teach people how to communicate in busy season. It can really derail you and mess your energy up. By the way, and you do end up sort of resending people. Let me tell you why it's also important. About an hour ago, I got a text message, a long type text message from a mutual friend of yours

and mine, but someone I'm closer to than just happens to be someone I know better than you, but you also know this person. And it was the fact that he loved me and was so grateful for me and also that his stepfather had just died. And he was thinking about my dad and the experience I had and the things I shared with him about that experience that made it more peaceful for him. Anyway, it was a beautiful message. And of course, that's something I'm getting back to immediately, as I checked it. But the point is, is what if I had 10 other messages that were voice notes in that hour,

and I missed this really important one? And so we all know this message I'm sending to someone is a level two importance. Every once in a while there's a level 10 important message. And if you're overwhelming a busy person with the two and three level messages with voice notes and imagine what they're missing and who they can't give to. So it's really a selfish play. And if you really want to give, you really want to contribute. I would recommend that you evaluate how you're depleting other people's time as well. All right, I'm going to give you one that's non-negotiable for me in busy season. And that's my physiology. It's my fitness. I actually triple down on my workouts. I triple down on my hydration. I triple down what you were doing this weekend.

You and I were talking and you were running around and I was running around and you're like, I'm in the gym right now, brother. I'm getting these guns and I'm like, I'm in the gym too. It's something that because I'm making deposits and investments in my energy reserves by doing that. And so one thing, what most people let go and I have in the past during busy season is, oh, I'm traveling to a hotel or a man my first meetings earlier than normal. I'll get around. I won't work out today. It's probably the number one mistake you could make is depleting your own vitality and energy and strength. And that's also something that you've committed to do. And when you can keep one thing that happens in busy season, I think is you feel a loss of sense of control sometimes, because there's so many things coming at you and that you've got going on.

And working out and hydrating are two promises that you can keep to yourself. And part of self-confidence is a reputation with yourself that you keep the promises that you make to yourself. And when you can start a day, or at least some point in your day, keep that significant promise to your longevity, your vitality,

your strength, your wellness, your fitness, your cosmetic appearance, even. You've done something to make an investment in yourself that'll give you the confidence, the strength, and the energy to persevere through the busy season. And that's the, it's an easy thing on that schedule. We go hardcore delete, right? Rufless deleting. The easy one is like, take from myself. I just won't serve me.

I won't work out today. And it's one of the biggest mistakes you can make. So right now, I'm actually training harder. And by the way, maybe I won't be training longer during busy season, but I'm gonna train every single day. So, you know, when I'm not busy, maybe I do get 90 minutes in the gym.

Or maybe when I am busy, it's gonna be 40. But I'm in there. I've made the commitment. I've gotten dressed. I've sweated. I've had my heart exerted. I've pushed some heavy things around. And I feel a sense of accomplishment and energy

and the adorfins and the dopamine and all this stuff I've done. It's the number one thing, other than my spirituality, which I'm gonna talk about in a minute. It's the number one thing I can physically do is to maintain my strength and physiology during busy season and not let that go. Letting that go is like giving kryptonite to the Superman or Superman that you are not

working out, not hydrating is giving yourself a dose of kryptonite during the busy season of your life. And you will get weaker and weaker and weaker feel worse and worse about yourself. And so during busy season, be more disciplined with your nutrition, right? Busy season, a lot of you that you travel, you're having out more restaurant dinners. If that's what you do, more just nothing better that going out to a restaurant of business dinner, let everybody else eat bad. And you're like, I'll have the chicken or the fish, you know, or like, like, just like, and you just did something at that

table. Nobody, I'm nuts, but I get off on going, I worked out today. And I know these other guys didn't. Yes. And they're going to eat this butter cake at Masters afterwards. And I am on the damn, I'm on the steak and broccoli thing over here. It may sound crazy, but it actually makes me feel like I've made an investment in myself. It makes me feel good. And there's nothing like walking in a room and just feeling good. I got a good pump. I got a good workout in. I feel like I've done something.

Man, that can carry you so far. And so it should be a non-negotiable for you during busy season as your physiology. Thoki, I'll add a phrase that everyone can write down. The 72 hour energy rule. Your energy right now is not a reflection of your morning routine. Your energy right now is not a reflection of your mindset. Your energy right now is not usually a reflection of even what happened today. We're biological specimens. Most of the physical energy we have right now,

including our digestion, is a result of the last 72 hours. What did I eat three days ago is driving my energy just as much now as anything else. What did I work out like yesterday is impacting me right now just as much as anything else? We can in the moment do things, but the problem is, again, we're talking about busy season. In busy season, if we wait every day for that good behavior and all get back to it, we're

screwed. I'll give the example because, and I both work with athletes. If you're working in the Olympian and NFL player, somebody who's got to be on the field and win, they don't get up and do good habits that morning. They're so obsessed about the three days leading into it. And most people don't even know their, like athletes just fall into that rhythm

because they've learned it naturally. The best athletes I've ever worked with absolutely know it. The conditioning they do in the three days prior to the game is way more important to them. They just, they fall into that. And so in busy season, what I always do is I look out three days. I'm like, what's the energy I need during that meeting on that day? I'm like, what's the energy I need during that meeting on that day? And I literally start crafting my conditioning for that. I'll give you an example. In my busy season, I had a big negotiation last week. And I knew it was coming up, and it was going to be really stressful.

And so the more stressed you have to have, the more you can imagine you have, it's weight. There's weight on your shoulders. And everything we know from mental health is if you will go do weight bearing activities, which of course everyone knows Ed does to the max, right? It's like you have to lift heavy objects to deal with the stress. And if you can do it in advance, literally the days in advance of stressful moment, you'll find like, wow, I feel better because that heavy weight bearing activity, that's loading up the good hormones in the gas tank, right? You're preparing in conditioning. So I want you always think, what I eat today, what I drink today, how I move today, how I sleep today, I'm preparing

for three days from now. It's why, like, even my friends, everyone knows, like, if Ed and I go out and we have some wine, we're only having wine, because I know the next day, I don't have to do anything. Ed and I will never have wine if I have a busy next day. I can't do it, like, I'm not somebody, some people can do it, I cannot, I'm a mess.

Last time we had wine, the next day I was like, man, I'm glad I didn't plan nothing to do. It wasn't that long ago, by the way, it was about a week ago. I know that next morning, too, trust me. So I really want people to understand you are conditioned. Don't think about just today. Think about three days from now. That's important. So important. And by the way, one thing I've noticed with you lately, I mean, you've always been fit and lean, but you are taking lifting heavy things more seriously now. One thing about Brennan, I'll tell you guys

so that you know this personally, he has an amazing ability to bring an energy to an environment, actually like no one I've ever met. One thing he's very conscious of, and I think this is a key during busy season two, is to be monitoring the energy you're bringing. I would say you do a better job of that than me. I think once in a while with me,

I think you can tell, you know, like I'm in a difficult season, as you know I'm in some areas of my life too, and I think sometimes you can tell. Not often, but sometimes. In your case, you cannot. Brendan brings an energy. He's very, and I believe you're conscious of it too. I'll let you speak to it, but there's an enthusiasm and energy,

not just when you go out on a stage, but like, right when the zoom camera comes on, it's not like, hey, man, what's up? It's immediately energy. If he does leave you a video or a voice note, they're usually under a minute. And there also, there's an energy to it. In other words, I think you're the best controller user of energy that I've ever met in my life. The way you reserve it for yourself and that

you give it to other people. And I have to think for you that that's got to be one of your keys as you navigate every season of your life, but a spec are you even more conscious of your energy? I'm talking about not just how you feel, but what you're giving energetically to people during that season because it's very easy to say the same words during busy season. Right. But it just doesn't hit like it does when you're in the season. That's not quite so chaotic, if that makes any sense. Yes, I think it's, for me, it's two things. One, the philosophy of joyful service. My schedule's busy.

Thank God. God put all these opportunities in front of me. I was a poor kid from Montana, and I get to work with this person. I get to be on this stage. I think that's amazing. I also think that our legacy is a function of how we make people feel.

And so I don't want to make people feel bad. I want people, when they leave me, they feel lifted, they feel energized, they feel like, wow, he saw me. He heard us and that honoring and respecting of them and their energy is like, I want to be an energy addition to people's lives, not a subtraction. You're the best ever at it, bro. Like, I mean it, like we all know, we all know people that are great. I'm just telling you the best out that I think most people at Nobrennen would say this too.

And one of my tips is what you just said, I was going to add it. So let's go back and forth on that. Yeah. It's a perspective of the season. Yeah. I think most of you at Nobrendin would say this too. And one of my tips is what you just said, I was going to add it. So let's go back and forth on that. Yeah. It's a perspective of the season. And this took me many years. But man, this little phraseyology difference, you've heard before, perhaps, but I want you to all ponder this.

I have to do this or I get to do this. And I'm telling you, that seemed like I am not a corny, hokey, phrasey guy, right? I'm just not that guy, but I'm going to tell you many, many days in this season I'm in right now, I'm like, I get to do this. What a privilege, what an honor it is that I remember when nobody wanted to meet with me. My biggest problem is I couldn't get a meeting, right?

I get to do this. And inside of that, I always kind of tell myself and everything's going to be okay. And this may sound really subtle, but like there's a pressure that builds up when you have a lot to do and you actually start worrying and projecting about events and meetings that haven't even happened yet. So the two little things I do, sometimes you just wake up because you're in that different boi and wave state, which is like your worry state. Like, my day.

Yes. And I'll immediately just go, everything's gonna be okay. Yeah. Okay, it's all gonna work out. And I get to do this. I get to do this. And it seems small and subtle. But man, if you can begin to say, like,

like right now, we're like, let's create some content today. But we got to do, this is so freaking good. Like, this is gonna be one of these master classes people that's been doing four years. We didn't know we're gonna magic like this, right? But like, we get to do this. Like, and so you get to be busy.

You get to have this beautiful family. Even the challenges you have, you get to have these challenges because on the other challenges you have, you get to have these challenges because on the other side of them, you're gonna learn so damn much. You're gonna do so much data and information and understanding, so many breakthroughs, even if the things feel like failures

and they don't go the way you want, that will serve you. Do you know how many hundreds of millions of dollars I've made in my life from the knowledge extracted from massive failures during previous busy seasons? Nice. That like they weren't failures. Like they fuck I didn't close the deal. I lost the account.

I didn't get and like I'm like, I'm busy and I lost. No, I actually extracted so much information. I didn't know it at the time, but now that I'm 52, I can tell you all this. It's all good. It's all gravy. It's all gonna work out. It just didn't work out in this meeting, but you're gonna get information or the win. You're gonna get better or the win and you get to do it. And when you start to approach your life, like I'm further down the lifeline than most of you. Fortunately, and unfortunately, I can just tell you that's how it works. Yes.

And the other thing is this season, if you're in it, no matter how chaotic it might feel, you're growing so damn much. It's unbelievable. The amount of growth you're going through right now, the amount of changing. And usually when you're really, really growing, I don't think it always feels like it. Sometimes it just feels like pain. Sometimes it just feels like chaos. Sometimes it just feels like you're out of control. Sometimes it feels like you're just spinning your wheels. You're just not making, you're just running in circles on the treadmill. That's not

what's happening. You are growing in emotions, in knowledge, in data, in your ability to communicate, in your ability to deal with things, your emotional maturity is growing in ways you can't even measure right now. You get to do this and there's massive upside from what you're going through right now. And now you can embrace what's happening in a way that it's not so burdensome to you. It's yes. It's not so. I think of Jesse Lee.

Brendan, and I do maybe this is cryptic, but I do think of these things on days like this. Like today's a busy day, a busy day for me, a busy day for you. And many of you know, I used to coach Jesse Lee Ward, who's recently passed away. She's been on my show, Brendan knew her as well. And this may sound an odd thing to say, but I have thought this many days, Jesse Lee would love to have this day I have right now. Exactly. She doesn't get to have another one of these days where I get engaged with you and see people. What a blessing it is that I'm here. Right. What do you think? Jesse Lee would give to have a meeting today with 10, 15 different people and 10, 15 different meetings

and another one tomorrow and another one tomorrow and bless her heart. She's in heaven. She's in a better place than we are. But in the physical realm of things, what she would have been given that last day of her life when she was taking her final 30 breaths. Yes. She have given for another day. That preciousness, the preciousness, the blessing of it. And so perspective is everything on this season. Oh my gosh, you complimented me earlier on my energy. And everyone's listening this as I have a cold and I've been on the road.

And I'm like, oh, maybe not my best representation. And the philosophy that comes from, you know, the car accident that I was in, the gave me that gift of, I call it mortality motivation. It's like when you're motivated by the fact that you have life, you show up through that in a different way than when it feels like you have to carry the burdens of life, but rather you are lifted by life and the opportunity of it. And I teach people all this time, you have to create phrases in your own mind

to get yourself in that place. Like the phrase I have is, you know, the power plant doesn't have energy, it generates energy. It's my biggest dominant metaphor in my entire life. The power plant, what it does is it takes energy from one utilization, one source. And then what it does is it transforms it

into a higher utilization and it transmits it. So what I do is I recognize in most places I go in my life, including this event I was recently at where everyone was down, they were discouraged, they were just heartened, their business wasn't going great, I know I'm walking in there and the energy is low. I know that I can be the power plant. I can take that low energy and I can build it

and transform it and transmit it into a higher utilization. The power plant doesn't have energy, it generated it. I don't have energy today. I'm tapping into something and I'm generating a higher utilization. So good, Brenda. The other phrase I have is bring the joy. So if Ed calls me and says,

Brenda, I'm coming to your house. What kind of wine do you want me to bring? What do you want me to bring? I go, Ed, bring the joy. That's all I want in my life is people show up with joy and happiness and authenticity and spontaneity. And so I teach myself that, literally I have bracelets and shirts to say,

bring the joy. That's like, I'm conditioning my mind all the time. Oh yeah, joy. And last thing I'll say this is, and I've coached everybody, and I can tell you, after a person has safety and sustenance and some success, no matter what that is,

you know, in the US call it 40 grand a year even. Everything beyond that, when you actually get down to it, what do people want? Let it really desire. I can tell you, the first thing that they always desire is more aliveness. They want to feel life again. They want a sense of aliveness to it and a sense of spontaneity or pop or creativity or joy or passion. What would be called the positive range of emotions? And so what if you knew what everybody on the planet wanted? Would you live an abundant life? Would you be an abundant entrepreneur? I know what everybody in the world wants. They want more aliveness.

They want more aliveness in their intimate relationships. They want more aliveness in their passion. They want more aliveness at work. And so I tried to bring life. And that's why I believe that the world is rewarded. So many of my actions is like, oh, this kid's bringing energy in. I'm bringing life into situations. And I believe that life is celebrated. God gave us life

our promises life our promises ever after life. If you believe in that type of faith. And so I go, oh, I knew I would be wealthy the rest of my life when I figured out what people want is a liveness. And I can bring a little bit of that. What a gift. Still good, Brennan. That is absolutely awesome. And that would be my last point, and then I'll let you conclude things. For me, you hit on it, which was during that season of my life,

my faith life needs to be at the forefront. And so I know without being personal, like this is an area of life that you're growing tremendously in right now and exploring and loving about your life. And I am as well. But for me, the last point for me during the season would be to be connecting with your higher power because that's where your power comes from.

So if you do want to plug into something that can give you supernatural energy, yes, Holy Spirit type discernment, if you believe in the quantum, which you and I both also believe in the quantum field, where you can vibrate at the highest possible frequency, you've got to give yourself the gift. For me, it's meditation. That's where I plug into the energy field. That's where I empty my mind. That's where I give myself the gift of stillness.

And that's important. And then my prayer life, as a Christian in my case, me asking for discernment and wisdom and blessing and comfort. And I don't always ask God to make things better. I pray most recently for him to help me be better. And so, and for me, that's the time where I get the most comfort.

I draw on my faith during this time. I found that my faith has grown the most during the most chaotic and busy seasons of my life, ironically, I think you find peace and stillness, but oftentimes we uncover the depths of our faith during chaos because for me, I've reached a conclusion in my life that I'm not capable just on my own, that I do need to rely on something greater than me.

And that reliance becomes more and more important to me during times where I do feel overwhelmed. And where I feel like I don't, you can have every technique and tactic in the world, but at the end of the day, I need a blessing. I need grace. I need peace. And so for me, that's a, it's just easy when you're busy to let your schedule get away, to let your fitness and hydration, to let your energy, right, to let those things get away, to, to let your perspective, to let God get away. And these are times, I think we're both saying, is bring these things closer.

Yes. That's how you don't only survive during this time, but you thrive. And point, bro, like one of the things I love about you is, you know, I do try to, when I'm feeling helpless, I try to get helpful. And one of the great role models in my life for that is you, like, you're just always giving to people. And one of the things you do, I want to say this last, because we both do this today too, but like you give to people with no expectation of anything in return. The law of reciprocity is really powerful law, but the same time, then there's people that almost rise above the law of reciprocity. And they're like, I just give. I just give. And if it's reciprocated, that's wonderful, but that's not why I'm giving. And it's one of the things that I admire most about you, brother. And I would be remiss if I didn't say that in today.

Like this has been magic, bro. And we're just rifting today. Yeah, this has been amazing. So I'll let you finish up with whatever your final thought was. But my final thought would be your faith in your spiritual life. Thank you. Well, I reflect back that exact same thing. I mean, my spiritual life began standing on the crumpled hood

of a car, bleeding out in the Dominican Republic when I thought I was going to die at 19. And I felt God's grace and God's gift of a second chance at that moment standing there. I knew I would be okay. I felt that spirit enter and I was like, you're going to be okay. And I looked up at the moon that night and I just thought,

I wanna earn this life. I wanna earn it. It wasn't just to thank you God, it was like, gosh, I wanna earn this, I wanna do, thank you for this second chance, I wanna do something good with it. And I know that I like to reflect back a gratitude towards you as well

that if I can bring a lot of energy to the world, I think that's great. You bring so much mentorship and wisdom. I don't think people realize how much you could go to other things, but you choose to give your message out for free on podcasts and Instagram. And you've made all this incredible success and discernment in your life that you share so openly. And as we're in busy season, my hope for you too is this last point I have, which is

do daily, if not hourly, intensity checks. I'm going to give some people language here. An intensity check is, you know, if you've ever worked with the NFL and the quarterbacks in the huddle There's an intensity of the tone that's about to happen That is very important the the pregame, you know locker room talk There's an intensity check that has to happen there and Throughout the days when we're busy and we're solo pernors. We're solar out there We forget to check in on our own intensity and we get really really fired up about something and then we're drained three hours later because we didn't check, is that the intensity is appropriate for that thing?

And the way that high performance get over this is in two ways. Number one is mastering the pit stop. I always say this, the high performance race car doesn't need the pit stop. It can actually do the entire race without a pit stop. It takes the pit stop to prevent the wreck and the burnout later. So that high performance race car coming into the pit stop where it's refueled, checked, calibrated. It gives the driver a second to calibrate, even the driver

literally gets like seconds. But it's a recalibration for them. It's a recalibration of the car. So the car can go longer, faster, and win more because it took the pit stop. When you're in busy season, you better find those pit stops. And it's got to be daily. It can be your daily prayer, your daily meditation, your daily time in the gym, your daily time in the sauna, your daily time for a long walk at the end of the night, which I highly recommend for every high performer in the world, go out, get some darkness on your body, just like in the morning, go out and get some sunlight

on your body. At night, there's an end of the day. Go for a walk. At the end of the day, let that dark set on you, you'll sleep better, and you'll calibrate to the time zone of the night, and you'll downshift into a different time. It's like a little pit stop at the end of the day. But I take pit stops throughout the day. It's important for me to maintain. I might just, you know,

at the top of every hour, you'll see me. I usually hit the floor and do some vinyasa flows to open my body, my flexibility, my energy. So pit stop, find your pit stops throughout the day by checking on your intensity. And the last thing is, is you have to learn in busy season to master the down shift. You gotta learn to down shift your energy. You can't bring that intensity to dinner table. She won't like you.

Ha ha ha. You can't bring that intensity to the kids. They'll freak out. You can't bring that intensity to the kids. They'll freak out. You can't bring that intensity to the team. When you're in busy season, you're kind of keyed up here at a different level. You've got a downshift so that you don't run over people. You've got a downshift so you can slow to their speed and not ever be bitter that they're not at the speed you're at. So a lot of people who are in busy season, they get really mad at their family. Well, she doesn't understand. He doesn't understand.

It's like they're on a different race than you are. You're in a different race right now. You got a downshift. So before you come into the house, sit in the car, close your eyes for three minutes, do a release meditation or a prayer, set your intention for how you're going to go in the house. That's the downshift before you walk in the house. Go in the other room, lay on the ground, repeat the word, release to yourself, release all the tension, before you go to dinner. You know, before you make that big business decision, take the 30 minutes before it, and downshift your energy from the intensity and

get in that place of wisdom, of peace, of spirit, of just higher intention. Because if you don't downshift, I promise you will just run over everybody and everything and you won't realize it because you're keyed up in busy season. It's something that's such an important practice for my high performers. So I just want to give you that language to learn to master the downshift. Rather unbelievable conversation today. Like I am so grateful for like all time epic conversation. So good. Everybody just so you know, Brennan's going to be doing this with me every

single month. And if you want to get more information like what he and I are doing today from ourselves and a bunch of other people on about every topic You could think of under the sun and get technology journaling apps accountability programs all kinds of other stuff You need to be in growth day. So if you go to growth day.com forward slash ed growth day.com forward slash ed You can be in there with Brennan and all the other great leaders in there myself every single day of your life getting Monday motivations talks technology software information on every topic under the sun from the best of the best. It's just literally the only place like it in the world. You can get Brendan and I in there every single day and a ton of other thought leaders and influencers as well. Brennan, thank you for the day, brother.

Just an unbelievable session. I'm going to listen to this one myself. Ten times is a reminder from both sides. Me too. All right, everybody. God bless you. Max, out your life. This is The End My Let's Show.

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