Detailed Notes
Need a year-end reset for developers before the holidays are over? In this Pre-Christmas special of Building Better Developers, Rob Broadhead and Michael Meloche look back on the year with a simple “good thing / bad thing” reflection, then shift into practical ways to finish strong.
We talk about: • Why a year-end reset for developers matters (even if you’re busy) • How micro goals create momentum without burnout • Working on the business vs. working in it • The hidden cost of context switching across tech stacks • Rest, boundaries, and routines that improve productivity
If you’re heading into the last week of the year feeling tired, scattered, or behind—this episode is your reminder to reset, recharge, and start the new year with clarity.
👍 Like, subscribe, and share if this helped you. 🎧 More episodes: https://develpreneur.com/category/podcast/ 🌐 Read the Blog: https://develpreneur.com/year-end-reset-for-developers/
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#YearEndResetForDevelopers #DeveloperProductivity #BuildingBetterDevelopers #SoftwareEngineering #GoalSetting
Chapters (timestamps)
00:00 Intro + holiday setup 06:40 Good thing / bad thing reflection 11:50 Working on the business + micro goals 16:30 Rest and reset for developers 21:10 Boundaries, routines, and disconnecting 24:00 Closing thoughts + holiday message
Transcript Text
All right. I think what we're going to do is we're going to start with the Christmas special while we're waiting on him and see if this works out. I mean, if he because then if he doesn't show, then we'll get those done and out of the way since we're here. Okay. >> So, um, first one is >> pre Christmas. >> Yeah. So, this is going to be like the Okay. So, we'll do it right before Christmas Eve and then the second one will be Christmas Day. >> Yep. >> So, we're going to dive in and do I know we won't go super long. Uh but we'll just basically do like a holiday week and let's talk about let's see are we recording? We are recording. So I hit record. So for those people that are here, merry Christmas almost. Um so let's see. So we will do our pre Christmas special. Um, we'll do like a quick I think a quick little like looking back uh sort of like this standard like look back on your year because we haven't really talked about that because we're doing other stuff. So, we were going to dive right into it and do that kind of look a little blurry today. Maybe it's just cuz I didn't have enough tea. Maybe I had too much tea. Just trying to get everything going here. Not the lighting that I wanted, but here. Let's see. Do I have like a thing? Uh, I've also been like I'm downsizing downsizing moving stuff and I wonder if I see I need to have something just in case I have like a something screwing up my Okay, not my camera. All right, we're going to do the three, two, one. Have you centered yourself? One. Hello and welcome back. And yes, we are in a holiday special. So uh we are at this point as you guys are get my hat straight. Uh as you guys are listening then we are day before Christmas Eve uh and then Christmas and then Boxing Day for those of you guys that box a little different box but this is the developer podcast building better developers. I am Rob Broadhead, one of the founders of developer, also the founder of RV Consulting, where we help you assess your technology, where your business is at, and then build a road map for success. Good thing, bad thing. Um, and then since this is a Christmy special, I'll do like a good thing, bad thing for the year. Uh, just to like expand it out a little bit. This has been, um, this has been a really interesting year from a business point of view. uh looking at both the developer stuff and the RB consulting stuff there has been uh the good thing is is that we have survived another year that we've made it to the end and I we haven't had to close the shop or anything like that. So I guess that's very good. Uh also we've gotten um made some progress on the working on the business. Uh this has been probably one of the better years for working on the business overall. Uh there's definitely been some some struggles along the way, but like making some changes and stuff like that has been definitely a good year. Uh bad thing is probably that it hasn't gone as well as I would have liked. Uh when I started out this year, when I did my first quarter, you know, my looking ahead goals for the year and first quarter stuff, there were some growth stuff that I didn't do. Uh the company, you know, the company did not organ uh grow the way I would like it to. Uh I could say that you know economy and some of that kind of stuff has something to do with it but um that is you know it is what it is and it's one of those that the good news about it is at least in not doing so uh I was able to work on the business as opposed to like ramping up and onboarding other people. Uh but also I didn't have to onboard my co-host that is going to go ahead and introduce himself. >> Hey everyone, my name is Mike Malashsh. I'm one of the co-founders of Building Better Developers, also known as Developer. I'm also the founder of Envision QA, where we work with businesses that are tired of fighting their software. We build and test custom solutions that actually fit the way you work so you can put out the fires and start focusing on growth and your customers. Uh good thing and bad thing for the year. Uh good thing, uh took on a big project this year and it's been a lot of fun kind of working on it, building it. Uh but also on the flip side of that, the bad thing was uh a lot of growing pains, a lot of trying to figure things out. Uh also this particular project took my company in directions that wasn't kind of the core focus of my company. So being able to work on my business wasn't really one of the uh focuses this year, which I had wanted it to be. uh it became more working in the business because uh it was a little bit more of a stretch for the again for the direction that I was taking the company. So uh a little more time doing uh doing work than building the tools and things I want to build for my company. So, uh, looking forward, I'm planning for more of that to kind of reset towards the end of the year and get into a more of a working on the business as Rob's been doing versus, you know, being heads down for months at a time. >> And that's actually a really good segue into our our holiday special. Uh, in years past, almost every year as we get towards the end of the year, there have been episodes that have where we talk about like getting into the fourth quarter and planning for that and and how do you figure out where you want to go for the next year and things like that. And we really haven't touched on that this year as much because we've been, you know, deep into interviews and things of that nature. We haven't really had any like too many enough step back and just say like, "Hey, how are things going?" kinds of episodes. But I think as you get into this like you know at this point as you're listening this you're into basically the last week of the year and it is really a good time uh if you haven't already but definitely now is sort of look back like what did you accomplish this year? Where did you go and it's sort of like as Michael said and actually as I said a little bit it's like you know work what work did we get done on our business? What work do we want to get done on our business? And I think this is a perfect time to look at okay well what do you want to do for the year ahead. Now this is where I am going to I'm going to beat that drum again about doing things like uh doing a pomodoro or something along that lines but along the same way is the uh incremental improvement is keeping momentum moving forward. Uh one of the things that I have I have struggled with a little bit but have somewhat maintained through this year is doing like regularly touching some of these areas some of the businesses uh which you're going to see which you should see by now because we are recording this a little before today for you um is some of the uh some of the updates that develop will be these are they're rolling out as I'm working on them. They're going to be rolling out fairly soon. We're going to redo uh a lot of that. I've been working on that on the background redesigning stuff. Um doing a lot of we'll call it app work kind of stuff with developer nerd to try to get that kind of thing set up. But also on RB consulting side we have got now you know a half dozen different apps that we've done that are brand new that are to help us out. Not to mention and those are the public facing ones not to mention the ones that are behind the scenes. We've revamped the backend systems um made a lot of changes to really to do sort of what we talked to uh other customers about is we've actually decided we're just going all custom and have brought all of our stuff in. We're eliminating licenses and stuff like that left and right and building our own back office systems for everything from proposal writing to time tracking to statuses, all of the stuff, all the things. And the way I got here was through incremental stuff was sitting there each week and saying I need to give at least, you know, x hours to this, you know, an hour to this, an hour to that, an hour to the other thing. Uh, part of that I was pushed on a little bit from the networking side. That was one of the pieces that is like I have just that's not my cup of tea. Uh, but doing the networking and the marketing and just making sure that that's the stuff that I do touch on a regular basis has made a difference. Um there is definitely I've I've got a lot more relationships that I've now built. Um I've had several it's it's amazing in the last year to how long long invested relationships have become uh very valuable and have helped me with uh you know with the bottom line even of the company but also just to have um a a de facto board of sorts uh and being able to have conversations with people. So, I I highly recommend as you look into the year ahead as you like set some goals, but also set uh we'll call set micro goals. Like how do you what are you going to do to get there? As a bonus, you can go to you'll see a link for the goals app uh Dora D R A M O R A because, you know, we have to we have to have cool names for stuff. It was originally just called goals. Uh but I'm not a marketing guy, like I said. Uh it may be a good way for you to do something like that for you to just like but whether you use that or not is just using something that is a uh even pencil and paper is like lay out some goals, lay out the steps you need to get there and then make sure you're making progress on them. It is so easy to get lost in the business. It is so easy to get lost just week in and week out. And I honestly I preach this to my team on a regular basis, too. It's like they've got a lot going on. They've got work, they've got life, and all that, but I'm I'm constantly saying, "Hey, take a couple hours out of her each week. I need you to do professional development stuff." You know, basically working on your business, uh, or, you know, as a your business of being a professional of your career because that helps all of us. Um, and I think that's where, you know, that's sort of my like my Christmas present to you as a as a listener is just even if it's a a pomodor like just 15 minutes, even just 15 minutes, set a timer and say, "I'm going to work on this for 15 minutes. Even if you only get two minutes of work done, if you do that even 5 days a week, it's a little over an hour and you will see progress." And the more you do it, I think it it will snowball. So, those are my thoughts. How about you, Michael? cuz I know you've been a little bit different, but I've also are feeling the same pains. >> I am. And it's interesting. I I was going to kind of start out with the same approach, but like the little micro goals and that because one of the things that I've been a little split this year is I have two big projects in two different technologies. So my biggest problem is it's like okay in one uh path over here I'm using Django, Python, uh you know Apache web development on the other side I'm doing a lot of backend stuff with Java uh Kubernetes uh Reddus things of that nature and those are two different worlds and you spend a lot of mental shift going back and forth between those. Uh one of the things uh where you know Rob gave a lot of good ideas for personal development and setting small goals. One of my recommendations to the listeners here is take some time for rest, reset. We talked to Mr. Productivity in a previous uh interview and one of the big things that I've started to try to implement is literally not only do I turn off like the nanny stuff with my uh devices and that like turn off the distractions like Facebook, YouTube, things like that, but disconnect from digital devices altogether. Get away from the screens. Let your eyes rest. Read a book. Just don't look at screens for a couple of days. I did that over Thanksgiving. I took two days off. The only screen I watched was football on Thanksgiving because I wanted to see if my Lions would win and of course they had lost. Um, but it it's one of those where we need we really need to force ourselves to take that break. Yes, there are a lot of things we need to continuously do, but you need to schedule in days of rest. Um, there's a reason, you know, blue laws used to be that everything was shut down on Sundays in the south because pe they knew people needed rest time. They needed to go to church. They needed to spend time with family. Do that this holiday. Do that in this final quarter. rest, reset, and then as you start mentally clearing that fog, look at setting those personal goals. Look at, okay, now that I've kind of reset mentally, how can I start self-improving? How, you know, what's the next thing I need to learn? What's the next thing I need to do for my business? You know, what's the next thing I need to do for my customer? Mental breaks aren't just a, you know, not just a suggestion. They are something we need to do more often. Yes, there's times where you need to power through and you need to stay focused and you need to get things done, but there's a cost to you reach a certain point where getting things done is not conducive. or if you're so mentally fogged, mentally fatigued that you're not get yes, you're getting it done, but it's taking you 10 times the effort to get it done because you just aren't able to focus or you're just so far in the weeds that hey, it's time to take a break. Time to step away. Now, given where you're at, my recommendation is go for a walk. Uh, if it's too bloody cold, find a mall if they still exist or find like a large food court or something and just go for a walk. Go walk around. Maybe enjoy some of the holiday food that's out there. Avoid the cookies cuz that may be too much of a sugar rush, but you know, maybe do some chai tea, some apple cider, but get out, walk around, go look at some Christmas lights. Uh, the other thing, too, is look at your community, see what's going on. Maybe there's some community things you can go do like laying of Christmas tree. Now granted, that's probably already passed at this point, but with New Year's around the corner, there might be some uh concerts coming up, might be some outdoor festivals coming up. Get out and just reconnect with your community, reconnect with people, and then reset and step back into your business. I think you'll have a different focus when you do that. >> I think that's a great point. Um, one of the things that I've done the last couple of years, um, not going to lie, I'm it's sort of been forced upon me in a in a sense by my wife. Um, and just in the whole, and not it's not in a bad way, it's basically in getting back into like while we're dating and all that kind of stuff really got myself into more of a we'll call it a 9 to5 kind of schedule game. where it's like I would get towards the end of the the day and it's like okay well it's time to go do something you know whatever it is in in life even if it's just like go out for eat or you know go out or sit down for dinner or something like that getting into that routine again um and it's been a long time since I've done it but having those deadlines basically of like I've got x amount of time in the day and not trying to just blow it out and just be like okay well if I don't get it done by five then I'll get it done by six or get it done by 7 or I'll get it done by 8. Um, I think it's it for me it's helped quite a bit because it is uh I've shrunk my to-do list for each day a little bit. Um, and I'm I've really have forced myself each day to be like it's going to be there tomorrow. Um, and that, you know, getting away has helped. I've actually, I think, been more productive. Uh, and I've, you know, we've preached this for a long time. It's like there's a certain point where you run out of you can once you get to depending on where you're at, you know, past 40 or 50 or 60 hours of work in a week and it's probably closer to 40 than 60 for most of us even though we don't realize it is that you're starting to spin your wheels. The productivity is not there. You have got to shift gears. You've got to find something else to do. Now, that is part of the bonus I have of being able to work on my business and in my business. And even though I'm working in multiple technologies, being able to shift gears uh is refreshing within itself. But then still, you got to go out and like live life. Go out there and you know, like Michael said, you go for a walk. Uh get some get a regular exercise routine. Um I for years did ice hockey was my thing. And I was like, I had to do that. And I knew because it was for it was for physical, but it was very much for mental stuff. It's like if I didn't do it then it like it caused me a lot of uh you know it just I was not as nice a person. I was not as happy a person because I didn't have my thing that allowed me to just disconnect. And that doesn't mean that's yours. It's like but whatever your disconnect is the thing you can do. And if you don't have it, find it. Find something whether it's like going for a walk and smelling the flowers or whether it's like maybe it's cooking or it's, you know, watching some mindless TV show or something where it's just like allowing you to disconnect for a while. It may just be like take a shower or, you know, sit back and just stare at a roaring fire for a little bit. I don't know what it is, but find that thing. It will make you better in the long run. It doesn't mean you're going to have to, you know, it's not like go do that every day for eight hours a day or something like that, but it is something that I think you need to find a way to work into your your schedule in the year ahead. And I think you'll thank us for it. I think you'll be very happy and you'll thank yourself for doing so because it's um it does allow you to to reset and allows you to like lower your your angst and all your worries and stuff like that. It allows you actually to get on an even keel and you'll find that you actually work better when you do. So closing thoughts? >> Yeah, the only thing I'd close with here is, you know, as we get ready for uh Christmas in a couple days, you know, take that break, you know, take that time out, you know, in that mindset and get ready to spend some time with family, watch some Christmas specials, you know, this is a feel-good time of the year. Spend time with family, friends, kick back, rest a little bit, and prepare for the new year. >> Yep. the year will be there. It's waiting for you. Don't worry. You can take a little bit of time and take a day off and enjoy friends and family and things of that nature. And yes, you can even indulge a little bit in the sweets and the the food and all the other goodness that is part of like a a good gathering. And if you don't have a big gathering, go find one. There's there's stuff out there. There are places you can go to just like like Michael said, like find something community, go out, find some events, things like that. Get out and enjoy. uh because it yes it comes every year but it only comes for a little bit and the next thing you know boom it's like middle of January or February and it's like you're back in like the slog so enjoy it while it lasts as always go out there and have yourself a great day a great Christmas season New Year's and all that the whole week that you have ahead of you and we'll talk to you next
Transcript Segments
All
right. I think what we're going to do is
we're going to start with the Christmas
special while we're waiting on him and
see if this works out. I mean, if he
because then if he doesn't show, then
we'll get those done and out of the way
since we're here. Okay.
>> So,
um,
first one
is
>> pre Christmas.
>> Yeah. So, this is going to be like the
Okay. So, we'll do it right before
Christmas Eve and then the second one
will be Christmas Day.
>> Yep.
>> So, we're going to dive in and do I know
we won't go super long. Uh but we'll
just basically do like a holiday week
and
let's talk about let's see are we
recording? We are recording. So I hit
record. So for those people that are
here, merry Christmas almost. Um so
let's see. So we will do our pre
Christmas special.
Um,
we'll do like a quick I think a quick
little like looking back uh sort of like
this standard like look back on your
year because we haven't really talked
about that because we're doing other
stuff. So, we were going to dive right
into it and do that kind of look a
little blurry today. Maybe it's just cuz
I didn't have enough tea. Maybe I had
too much tea.
Just trying to get everything going
here. Not the lighting that I wanted,
but here. Let's see. Do I have like a
thing? Uh, I've also been like I'm
downsizing downsizing moving stuff and I
wonder if I see I need to have something
just in case I have like a
something screwing up my
Okay, not my camera. All right, we're
going to do the three, two, one. Have
you centered yourself?
One. Hello and welcome back. And yes, we
are in a holiday special. So uh we are
at this point as you guys are get my hat
straight. Uh as you guys are listening
then we are day before Christmas Eve uh
and then Christmas and then Boxing Day
for those of you guys that box a little
different box
but this is the developer podcast
building better developers. I am Rob
Broadhead, one of the founders of
developer, also the founder of RV
Consulting, where we help you assess
your technology, where your business is
at, and then build a road map for
success.
Good thing, bad thing. Um, and then
since this is a Christmy special, I'll
do like a good thing, bad thing for the
year. Uh, just to like expand it out a
little bit. This has been,
um, this has been a really interesting
year from a business point of view. uh
looking at both the developer stuff and
the RB consulting stuff there has been
uh the good thing is is that we have
survived another year that we've made it
to the end and I we haven't had to close
the shop or anything like that. So I
guess that's very good. Uh also we've
gotten um made some progress on the
working on the business. Uh this has
been probably one of the better years
for working on the business overall. Uh
there's definitely been some some
struggles along the way, but like making
some changes and stuff like that has
been definitely a good year. Uh bad
thing is
probably that it hasn't gone as well as
I would have liked. Uh when I started
out this year, when I did my first
quarter, you know, my looking ahead
goals for the year and first quarter
stuff, there were some growth stuff that
I didn't do. Uh the company, you know,
the company did not organ uh grow the
way I would like it to. Uh I could say
that you know economy and some of that
kind of stuff has something to do with
it but
um that is you know it is what it is and
it's one of those that the good news
about it is at least in not doing so uh
I was able to work on the business as
opposed to like ramping up and
onboarding other people. Uh but also I
didn't have to onboard my co-host that
is going to go ahead and introduce
himself.
>> Hey everyone, my name is Mike Malashsh.
I'm one of the co-founders of Building
Better Developers, also known as
Developer. I'm also the founder of
Envision QA, where we work with
businesses that are tired of fighting
their software. We build and test custom
solutions that actually fit the way you
work so you can put out the fires and
start focusing on growth and your
customers. Uh good thing and bad thing
for the year. Uh
good thing, uh took on a big project
this year and it's been a lot of fun
kind of working on it, building it. Uh
but also on the flip side of that, the
bad thing was uh a lot of growing pains,
a lot of trying to figure things out. Uh
also
this particular project took my company
in directions that wasn't kind of the
core focus of my company. So being able
to work on my business wasn't really one
of the uh focuses this year, which I had
wanted it to be. uh it became more
working in the business because uh it
was a little bit more of a stretch for
the again for the direction that I was
taking the company. So uh a little more
time doing uh doing work than building
the tools and things I want to build for
my company. So, uh, looking forward, I'm
planning for more of that to kind of
reset towards the end of the year and
get into a more of a working on the
business as Rob's been doing versus, you
know, being heads down for months at a
time.
>> And that's actually a really good segue
into our our holiday special. Uh, in
years past,
almost every year as we get towards the
end of the year, there have been
episodes that have where we talk about
like getting into the fourth quarter and
planning for that and and how do you
figure out where you want to go for the
next year and things like that. And we
really haven't touched on that this year
as much because we've been, you know,
deep into interviews and things of that
nature. We haven't really had any like
too many enough step back and just say
like, "Hey, how are things going?" kinds
of episodes.
But I think as you get into this like
you know at this point as you're
listening this you're into basically the
last week of the year and it is really a
good time uh if you haven't already but
definitely now is sort of look back like
what did you accomplish this year? Where
did you go and it's sort of like as
Michael said and actually as I said a
little bit it's like you know work what
work did we get done on our business?
What work do we want to get done on our
business? And I think this is a perfect
time to look at okay well what do you
want to do for the year ahead. Now this
is where I am going to I'm going to beat
that drum again about doing things like
uh doing a pomodoro or something along
that lines but along the same way is the
uh incremental improvement is keeping
momentum moving forward. Uh one of the
things that I have I have struggled with
a little bit but have somewhat
maintained through this year is doing
like regularly touching some of these
areas some of the businesses uh which
you're going to see which you should see
by now because we are recording this a
little before today for you um is some
of the uh some of the updates that
develop will be these are they're
rolling out as I'm working on them.
They're going to be rolling out fairly
soon. We're going to redo uh a lot of
that. I've been working on that on the
background redesigning stuff. Um doing a
lot of we'll call it app work kind of
stuff with developer nerd to try to get
that kind of thing set up. But also on
RB consulting side we have got now you
know a half dozen different apps that
we've done that are brand new that are
to help us out. Not to mention and those
are the public facing ones not to
mention the ones that are behind the
scenes. We've revamped the backend
systems um made a lot of changes to
really to do sort of what we talked to
uh other customers about is we've
actually decided we're just going all
custom and have brought all of our stuff
in. We're eliminating licenses and stuff
like that left and right and building
our own back office systems for
everything from proposal writing to time
tracking to statuses, all of the stuff,
all the things. And the way I got here
was through incremental stuff was
sitting there each week and saying I
need to give at least, you know, x hours
to this, you know, an hour to this, an
hour to that, an hour to the other
thing. Uh, part of that I was pushed on
a little bit from the networking side.
That was one of the pieces that is like
I have just that's not my cup of tea.
Uh, but doing the networking and the
marketing and just making sure that
that's the stuff that I do touch on a
regular basis has made a difference. Um
there is definitely I've I've got a lot
more relationships that I've now built.
Um I've had several it's it's amazing in
the last year to how long long invested
relationships have become uh very
valuable and have helped me with uh you
know with the bottom line even of the
company but also just to have um a a de
facto board of sorts uh and being able
to have conversations with people. So, I
I highly recommend as you look into the
year ahead as you like set some goals,
but also set uh we'll call set micro
goals. Like how do you what are you
going to do to get there? As a bonus,
you can go to you'll see a link for the
goals app uh Dora D R A M O R A because,
you know, we have to we have to have
cool names for stuff. It was originally
just called goals. Uh but I'm not a
marketing guy, like I said. Uh it may be
a good way for you to do something like
that for you to just like but whether
you use that or not is just using
something that is a uh even pencil and
paper is like lay out some goals, lay
out the steps you need to get there and
then make sure you're making progress on
them. It is so easy to get lost in the
business. It is so easy to get lost just
week in and week out. And I honestly I
preach this to my team on a regular
basis, too. It's like they've got a lot
going on. They've got work, they've got
life, and all that, but I'm I'm
constantly saying, "Hey, take a couple
hours out of her each week. I need you
to do professional development stuff."
You know, basically working on your
business, uh, or, you know, as a your
business of being a professional of your
career because that helps all of us. Um,
and I think that's where, you know,
that's sort of my like my Christmas
present to you as a as a listener is
just even if it's a a pomodor like just
15 minutes, even just 15 minutes, set a
timer and say, "I'm going to work on
this for 15 minutes. Even if you only
get two minutes of work done, if you do
that even 5 days a week, it's a little
over an hour and you will see progress."
And the more you do it, I think it it
will snowball. So, those are my
thoughts. How about you, Michael? cuz I
know you've been a little bit different,
but I've also are feeling the same
pains.
>> I am. And it's interesting.
I I was going to kind of start out with
the same approach, but like the little
micro goals and that because one of the
things that
I've been a little split this year is I
have two big projects in two different
technologies. So my biggest problem is
it's like okay in one uh path over here
I'm using Django, Python, uh you know
Apache web development on the other side
I'm doing a lot of backend stuff with
Java uh Kubernetes uh Reddus things of
that nature and those are two different
worlds and you spend a lot of mental
shift going back and forth between
those. Uh one of the things uh where you
know Rob gave a lot of good ideas for
personal development and setting small
goals. One of my recommendations to the
listeners here is take some time for
rest, reset. We talked to Mr.
Productivity in a previous uh interview
and one of the big things that I've
started to try to implement is literally
not only do I turn off like the nanny
stuff with my uh devices and that like
turn off the distractions like Facebook,
YouTube, things like that, but
disconnect from digital devices
altogether. Get away from the screens.
Let your eyes rest. Read a book. Just
don't look at screens for a couple of
days. I did that over Thanksgiving. I
took two days off. The only screen I
watched was football on Thanksgiving
because I wanted to see if my Lions
would win and of course they had lost.
Um, but it it's one of those where we
need we really need to force ourselves
to take that break. Yes, there are a lot
of things we need to continuously do,
but you need to schedule in days of
rest. Um, there's a reason, you know,
blue laws used to be that everything was
shut down on Sundays in the south
because pe they knew people needed rest
time. They needed to go to church. They
needed to spend time with family. Do
that this holiday. Do that in this final
quarter. rest, reset, and then as you
start mentally clearing that fog, look
at setting those personal goals. Look
at, okay, now that I've kind of reset
mentally, how can I start
self-improving? How, you know, what's
the next thing I need to learn? What's
the next thing I need to do for my
business? You know, what's the next
thing I need to do for my customer?
Mental breaks aren't just
a, you know, not just a suggestion. They
are something we need to do more often.
Yes, there's times where you need to
power through and you need to stay
focused and you need to get things done,
but there's a cost to you reach a
certain point where getting things done
is not conducive. or if you're so
mentally fogged, mentally fatigued that
you're not get yes, you're getting it
done, but it's taking you 10 times the
effort to get it done because you just
aren't able to focus or you're just so
far in the weeds that hey, it's time to
take a break. Time to step away. Now,
given where you're at, my recommendation
is go for a walk. Uh, if it's too bloody
cold, find a mall if they still exist or
find like a large food court or
something and just go for a walk. Go
walk around. Maybe enjoy some of the
holiday food that's out there. Avoid the
cookies cuz that may be too much of a
sugar rush, but you know, maybe do some
chai tea, some apple cider, but get out,
walk around, go look at some Christmas
lights. Uh, the other thing, too, is
look at your community, see what's going
on. Maybe there's some community things
you can go do like laying of Christmas
tree. Now granted, that's probably
already passed at this point, but with
New Year's around the corner, there
might be some uh concerts coming up,
might be some outdoor festivals coming
up. Get out and just reconnect with your
community, reconnect with people, and
then reset and step back into your
business. I think you'll have a
different focus when you do that.
>> I think that's a great point. Um, one of
the things that I've done the last
couple of years, um, not going to lie,
I'm it's sort of been forced upon me in
a in a sense by my wife. Um, and just in
the whole, and not it's not in a bad
way, it's basically in getting back into
like while we're dating and all that
kind of stuff
really got myself into more of a we'll
call it a 9 to5 kind of schedule game.
where it's like I would get towards the
end of the the day and it's like okay
well it's time to go do something you
know whatever it is in in life even if
it's just like go out for eat or you
know go out or sit down for dinner or
something like that
getting into that routine again um and
it's been a long time since I've done it
but
having those deadlines basically of like
I've got x amount of time in the day and
not trying to just blow it out and just
be like okay well if I don't get it done
by five then I'll get it done by six or
get it done by 7 or I'll get it done by
8. Um, I think it's it for me it's
helped quite a bit because it is uh I've
shrunk my to-do list for each day a
little bit. Um, and I'm I've really have
forced myself each day to be like it's
going to be there tomorrow. Um, and
that, you know, getting away has helped.
I've actually, I think, been more
productive. Uh, and I've, you know,
we've preached this for a long time.
It's like there's a certain point where
you run out of you can once you get to
depending on where you're at, you know,
past 40 or 50 or 60 hours of work in a
week and it's probably closer to 40 than
60 for most of us even though we don't
realize it is that you're starting to
spin your wheels. The productivity is
not there. You have got to shift gears.
You've got to find something else to do.
Now, that is part of the bonus I have of
being able to work on my business and in
my business. And even though I'm working
in multiple technologies, being able to
shift gears uh is refreshing within
itself.
But then still, you got to go out and
like live life. Go out there and you
know, like Michael said, you go for a
walk. Uh get some get a regular exercise
routine. Um I for years did ice hockey
was my thing. And I was like, I had to
do that. And I knew because it was for
it was for physical, but it was very
much for mental stuff. It's like if I
didn't do it then it like it caused me a
lot of uh you know it just I was not as
nice a person. I was not as happy a
person because I didn't have my thing
that allowed me to just disconnect. And
that doesn't mean that's yours. It's
like but whatever your disconnect is the
thing you can do. And if you don't have
it, find it. Find something whether it's
like going for a walk and smelling the
flowers or whether it's like maybe it's
cooking or it's, you know, watching some
mindless TV show or something where it's
just like allowing you to disconnect for
a while. It may just be like take a
shower or, you know, sit back and just
stare at a roaring fire for a little
bit. I don't know what it is, but find
that thing. It will make you better in
the long run. It doesn't mean you're
going to have to, you know, it's not
like go do that every day for eight
hours a day or something like that, but
it is something that I think you need to
find a way to work into your your
schedule in the year ahead. And I think
you'll thank us for it. I think you'll
be very happy and you'll thank yourself
for doing so because it's um it does
allow you to to reset and allows you to
like lower your your angst and all your
worries and stuff like that. It allows
you actually to get on an even keel and
you'll find that you actually work
better when you do. So closing thoughts?
>> Yeah, the only thing I'd close with here
is, you know, as we get ready for uh
Christmas in a couple days, you know,
take that break, you know, take that
time out, you know, in that mindset and
get ready to spend some time with
family, watch some Christmas specials,
you know, this is a feel-good time of
the year. Spend time with family,
friends, kick back, rest a little bit,
and prepare for the new year.
>> Yep. the year will be there. It's
waiting for you. Don't worry. You can
take a little bit of time and take a day
off and enjoy friends and family and
things of that nature. And yes, you can
even indulge a little bit in the sweets
and the the food and all the other
goodness that is part of like a a good
gathering. And if you don't have a big
gathering, go find one. There's there's
stuff out there. There are places you
can go to just like like Michael said,
like find something community, go out,
find some events, things like that. Get
out and enjoy. uh because it yes it
comes every year but it only comes for a
little bit and the next thing you know
boom it's like middle of January or
February and it's like you're back in
like the slog so enjoy it while it lasts
as always go out there and have yourself
a great day a great Christmas season New
Year's and all that the whole week that
you have ahead of you and we'll talk to
you next