Billy Keels  0:01  

What time on the road suddenly steals from you. Today's episode is sponsored by Billy Keels advisory services. If you want to learn more about how to make your 99 optional, just go to make it optional.com. Once again, that's make it optional.com.

Speaker 1  0:19  

Helping you build freedom without losing your edge. This is the going long podcast with Billy Keels.

Billy Keels  0:32  

What time on the road suddenly steals from you is going to be the very brief episode for you. If you have ever like been so much time on the road that you realize you're missing so much of the of the moments that are the most important to you, not because you didn't want to, but because you didn't have a choice. I'm going to give you one key thing that you can do this week that is going to help you get back in control. And I will say that this episode is like I said. It's going to be a very brief episode. It's inspired by a conversation that I recently had with a senior sales account executive from a very market leading enterprise software company. I won't give the name here, just because I this today, I'm don't want to put out a whole bunch of additional publicity, so to speak, or marketing for other companies so but, but what I will say is I want to jump right into it, because this was a conversation that it's not the only conversation I've had. It's very similar to other conversations. And this senior account executive was talking to me about feeling like he was missing a lot of of the most important moments. And so he went into talking about a lot of things that resonated with me before. And I was like, Okay, well, let me just ask you one question, how many nights a week are you actually sleeping in your own bed, or stated another way, how many nights a week are you actually sleeping as a guest in the guest room in a hotel because you're out traveling seeing clients. There's a senior account executive who was, you know, in really well entrenched and had great clients, actually worked with install based clients, meaning he didn't have to go out and find new clients that were already well established. But established. And this is something pretty typical for high earners, right? And this is happening on a weekly basis. Some people leave on Sunday night, or some people leave the first thing Monday morning. They don't come back home until Friday or maybe even Saturday morning. Whatever this particular case was, this person he worked about, he said, on average three to four nights a week. So we said, All right, well, let's go on the opposite in let's say, let's say you're four nights a week, or, sorry, the opposite, more conservative, let's say it's only three nights a week. And I, you know when. And then I kind of dug a little bit more, and was asking me, what was the reason that that that he was away for so much, so many nights, but because I could tell that it was bothering him, he was sharing with me, because it was bothering him, like he didn't want to be on the road as much as he was. Road as much as he was, and he said, I'm doing it for them. And I said, them, who for my family. And so as you start to realize, like he's said that, yeah, he's, he's justifying, in his mind that he's doing this for family. He's being away, he's he's gone, but at the same time, and this is where I want to start to talk to you, is it's, it's really easy to fall into that, because I did that myself for many years. It was like, I'm doing this for them, but, you know, secretly, I was also doing it for myself, because there was a way to be able to provide for the family, the lifestyle, etc, etc. And then as we got into more of the conversation, and this is a, you know, as a strategy call guy, a guy who I talked to Through, through, a LinkedIn DM call, he DM me, and so we had a conversation that way, but he really just wanted to be present on the weekends and and I said, Well, you just told me that you were only traveling during the week. And he's like, Yeah, but I'm, I'm with my family, and that's what I really enjoy doing. But he was this whole struggle of, like, even when he was with this family, he's present, but he's, he said he's there, but he's always thinking about what's going on with client stuff. And so he's, he's feeling a little bit challenged there, but he really just wanted to be, what we discussed was being fully present, being physically and mentally present. And so as we got into a little bit more, as I mentioned before, like as you start going through this, he was justifying all of this work because he was providing, he was providing the lifestyle. He was doing the things that he wanted to be doing, and but the thing that was leading every conversation, leading his mind was he was doing this like providing the corporate outputs that he needed to do first, and then what was ever left is what he gave to himself, or actually to his family, and then lastly, to himself. This is a very typical pattern, right? And if you're listening, you're watching, you're nodding your head, going, yeah, yeah, yeah, I've been there, done that. And so as we started to go, and here's where I really want to share with you, because I want you to start thinking about this. And if it's not you, and you're already thinking of someone that this is, this is relevant for it, like, I do want you to share this with them, but we got to a moment and I said, Well, what if you got to a point that let me take a step back? Because one of the things is he mentioned to say, like he felt like he had to continue to do all of these things because, like, that was how he was providing for his family. And my question was, like. How often is he saying yes? Like, Hey, do you get a special project that comes up? And when you do, do you say yes? Yeah. Well, what about escalations for clients? Yep, I'm usually there too, because I'm the main person and my my bonus check depends on it. And I said, you know, what would you do differently if you didn't need to say yes to everything? And he was like, Well, what do you mean? I was like, well, you're telling me that you say pretty much yes to everything as it relates to work. Like, what would you do differently if you didn't like, feel that you had to say yes to everything, because at the end of the day? And then he gave me his answer, I'm not going to share that here, but what he did, you know, what we got down to the point, was saying, Look, you're talking about being, you know, really stressed. You feel like you're missing a lot of the moments and you're not able to get to everything. And my thought process is, yes, this time on the road or even when you're at home, you're beginning to have all the this time that is stolen from you. But I don't actually think it was a time management or a travel problem. The real problem is like a dependency problem, and the dependency is on the the one paycheck, it's a big paycheck, of course, plus the paycheck, plus the bonuses. I always say that it's all the same, you know, when we're talking in calls, like, break down a lot more. But here I just because a lot of different you know, you're listening, but you're driving, you're doing other stuff, but it's a dependency problem. It's not a time management problem. It's not a time being away problem, because when you are dependent on that one paycheck from that one employer, then so much of your time is invested there so that you can over achieve the results. And you're, you know, you're doing this 200% of the results that are expected of your role, not a view of your role. And so in this particular call, and this is where I really want to share with you, because it is really about being able to stop and say, Hey, how do we how do we build out something that's a very simple plan that that you can do yourself. And the first thing that you have to do, right, especially when you're thinking about all this travel, how you're how you're using your time, is you've got to be able to, number one, be able to integrate and optimize your time travel or otherwise, so that you are able to get the outputs that are expected of your role. And when I say outputs, I'm talking about your MBOs, your management by objectives, or your KPIs. A lot of you are listening. You're watching because you're in the sales profession, so your key performance indicators, you have to make sure that you are achieving those. You're a high performer. You don't want to do average so you want to be able to get to 100 or above. You don't necessarily need to go to 300 the ego feels good when you do that. But the question is, how can you optimize your role so that you don't put yourself in in harm's way in terms of an under performer? So that's the first thing you have to do. And then what I feel is really critical. And this is one of the things that I've done myself. I continue to help clients with. It's, it's begin to build that asset that you truly control, and an asset that produces cash. It must produce cash, I like to say profitable business, a profitable side business that you control. This is the thing that's super important, because as you control it, you are have the ownership, the responsibility, and it is something that is producing cash for you. When you begin to do that, you begin to build out a new part of your identity. And don't get me wrong, yes, of course, you're going to go and this is part of what I see all the time, too. And we, you know, we work together. We get you through that is there's this crisis moment, right? Because as you begin to build something that is your own, it's something in a new area, something that where the it's not all 100% defined, like in your corporate role. Yeah, there can be some crisis on identity. Can I do this? Am I Am I good enough? Am I going to be able to do it? Well, yes, you will be able to do it. Because if I did it, you can do it, and in helping other people to do the exact same thing, yes, it's possible. Just follow the process. That's it. And so as we get back and we think about, you know what time on the road is suddenly stealing from you, it's these moments. It's this ability to go from being completely dependent to having an independence and a lot of that. I really want to give you one specific thing to begin to share, or begin to do, one actionable item today, which is, as you're going through this moment and you're thinking about how you can be more present. One of the ways that very see very early on is over commitment to meetings. I want you to think about just this week, or maybe it's prepping for another meeting when the when the urgent request comes in, or the potential optional meeting that you can fly to to be at a customer site or a client site. I want you this week to just say no to one thing, just one physical meeting location, just say no. Just once, make sure that it's something that you it's one of the more than an optional meeting, right? If it's if everything that's urgent. Is not important, by the way, and that's the one actionable item. Just say no to one physical meeting this week, or if you're a remote meeting, it's, I say, travel being on the road. But the same thing would apply if you're sitting on these meetings that are constantly recurring, meetings, and you're sitting on two or three of them per week where your presence is not needed. There's nothing requested of you. There is no agenda for the meeting. Like just say no. If it's remote, you need to say to two to three. Let's say three of those meetings is well, no, let's make it easier just to two of those meetings this week. Just don't show up, just decline, don't not go, but just literally decline if you're not requested. There's no specific agenda item for you. Just decline the meeting, because you'll begin to get your time back and over time, what will happen is you will begin to see that you are choosing to be present for the things that give you the best return on your energy, on your time number one. And then you'll start to realize that you're beginning to create a new identity as well. And as part of that process, by being able to say no where your presence isn't truly required, you begin to reclaim that time. You begin to use that energy and that effort for for for actions that are going to give you a much higher return. And you want to start to realize, like in anything, if the life that you are building requires you to be absent, then you got to take a step back and examine it. Because that's what happened to me, and I've talked about it many times. I talk about it, my missing my son's third birthday party. That was the moment in life for me that I realized I needed to examine the role that I was doing. Because it was never about being less ambitious, ever because I continue to be ambitious. It was just about being able to realize that I needed to build assets so that I could also continue to be ambitious in my corporate role. By the way, when that happened, missing the third birthday party, I was in my corporate role for almost another decade, for nine more years. Let's not forget that nine more years that I was enjoying corporate I was going to Hawaii every other year because I was in part of the winner circle, or presidents club, whatever you call it. And so it's about, I talked about, earlier, optimizing and integrating your role and being able to also recognize there's certain moments where you're going to have to take a step back, and you're going to have to really, truly examine where you are and what you're getting out of the specific role that you have. Because at the end of the day, when you want to be present fully, mentally and physically with those that you care for the most, in the moments that are most important, you've got to stop having time on the road or time in useless meetings to continue to steal from you. You don't want that to happen anymore. I don't want that to happen to you anymore. So that's the that's the one action. Just say no to one meeting. Or if you're remote, to say no to two meetings this week, begin to get some of your time back and then be able to use that time to get the highest return. So if this is you, look, I've just talked to you about what you can do. It's one specific action. Stop having the time stolen from you, stop being on the road when you don't need to be on the road, and continue to perform in your role. And by the way, you need to build an asset that you actually control that is producing cash. So and that being said, if this is you, great. Now I've got another actionable item. If it's not you, you know somebody who is suffering from this share today's episode, get on the phone, show them that you care. And then, while you're doing that, guess where I'll be? Yep, I'll be right here preparing for the next episode. So until then, go out and make it a great day. And thank you very, very much.

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