Hey everybody, Jeff Helvin here with Ballen Brands and I wanted to jump on here and make a quick video based on a discussion I was having with Lori Ballen, who is my sister in case you didn’t know.
Video Transcript
I run operations for the business and because we run the business together, and we’re also family, we often share in some of the same struggles. One of the things that we were talking about recently are struggles that I have, which are different from hers.
We all have our thing, and one of the things I was realizing is we’ve had just a fantastic year and we’re super excited about all the opportunity. We love being able to help our clients here and I’ve been working past midnight this whole last month just keeping up with emails, talking with team members and really just working.
We continue pushing everything forward and won’t drop the ball on anything while we’re bringing on leverage and we’re training and teaching and documenting so everything’s just in a great position for us to continue to move forward here.
We love working with you guys and continuing to grow with you.
One of the things that I was looking at is what’s causing me to be up so late. What all is going on at the end of the day that I always end up with about the same amount of emails in my inbox?
So if I could just start those emails from zero, clean out the inbox and then basically each day is manageable with where we’re at now and like I said would still allow the time to add leverage and work toward that.
What I realized in March, which was actually a pretty difficult month – great for the business so we continued to grow there and bring on new talent and new clients, and it’s been fantastic, but at that time we had some personal struggles.
In our family, we lost our grandmother and that was a pretty big ordeal. It brought us closer with some family and obviously some much-needed family time that you don’t really schedule for.
Of course, while that was going on for about a week, it really took us out of commission. Of course still responding to emails and still reaching out to keep up with the business, but not a lot of pushing forward during that time as our focus was a little diverted.
Not only that, personally for me, I also moved – sold my house, bought a new house and was living in renovation for a couple of months. It really posed a lot of challenges there.
Frankly, that wasn’t anything we can’t handle, but really it’s just disruptive and what I realize is I was going into debt. I don’t mean financial debt, I mean task debt.
When we’re taken away from our daily activities or our computer time, or our phone time, or whatever it might be for you. What ultimately happens is that these things don’t go away, it just keeps building up.
I realized it was that mindset that helps me understand how you get rid of debt.
Well, if you don’t just have a pile of cash sitting in a bank that you could just pay off your debt, you have to chip away at it. There’s really no quick fix to that. It’s almost like a diet as well, if that’s something that you have experienced. You can’t do everything overnight and it takes some consistent effort to get rid of the debt.
Instead of going to bed every night recently thinking “oh man I just can’t catch up,” I realized instead of trying to clear my inbox to zero and never catching up, if I can clear my inbox ten more emails each night over the next couple weeks, then I’ll make it back to zero.
If I can focus on that time blocking, steal a couple of hours here and there that I may not normally have, I’ll get myself out of task debt – so really it’s just a mindset thing.
If we take a look at this, it could really apply to just about anything in life. There’s emotional debt, there’s financial debt, there are tasks and to-do debt.
Instead of you beating yourself up about what you haven’t done or what you’re trying to do, and really just take a look at it and decide “what can I do today to help get myself out of this debt.” That’s just my way of looking at it. I don’t know if it’s words of wisdom or not, but it was definitely some clarity for me that really helps me understand a little bit better and help reprioritize and focus.
When you look at the “debt” and realize you’re chipping away at it, it really helps to prioritize and help get it done. And guess what, when I’m down to only 30 or 40 emails, I may be able to just time block and knock it out.
Hopefully that helps, and if not, thanks for listening anyway! Always happy to share our journeys with you and what helps us move along. I look forward to hearing from you guys.
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