Billy Keels  0:01  

Why being constantly available is quickly devastating your options. 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  

why being constantly available is quickly devastating your options is for the higher earning executive and a big multinational company who just can't seem to ever disconnect. And I'm here to tell you that the reason that you can't disconnect, it's not discipline. It's really has a lot to do with this one thing. And I'm going to tell you what about what this one thing is in just a second. But what I really want to unpack for you today is is, is really this hidden tax that I see every corporate executive paying and I'm going to share with you the one thing that I found that helps it to stop. And so, as I mentioned before, it's not the disconnecting, it's not the discipline that you can't disconnect. Part of it is what's happening is, if any of it resonates with you, it's because it's become a part of your identity, and it's hard to disconnect from your own identity. Ask me how I know. But there's something that happened recently, and it made me reflect on this, and also, you know, conversations that I'm having with execs that are in the DMS, or even clients I'm starting to like be able to give this a name, because it's it needs a name to it. But a couple weeks ago, I decided to go and do something a little bit different. And I decided to go outside of Barcelona, and I went to this place where I was actually on a Wednesday. So it was actually kind of cool. On Wednesday I'm looking up, literally laying out outside, laying under the stars, decided to go out and would sleep out under the stars, the proverbial stars. And let me tell you, it was February, so yeah, it was pretty nice during the day. But even over here in the Mediterranean, it gets pretty cold. So I got it was a nice chilly evening. It was actually freezing. I got to a certain point, but it was like literally beautiful, clear sky. So got to see the stars and stuff like that, which was, which was great. And I was thinking, Wednesday night, I'm sleeping out under the stars in this big, crazy bubble, which was amazing. And I thought to myself, like, four years ago, I would not have done this. Like, there is pretty let's say four or five years I would not have done this, because this is the time when I'm still in my in my corporate life, but I would have, like, here's the thing, like, it's not that I wouldn't not have been able to afford it, like, I just would have never been able to give myself permission. Because these things weren't about money. They were really more about this tax that I've mentioned to you that I paid. I know I paid it, so it's very easy to recognize it, working with clients who initially are paying it, and start to learn how to disassociate, disconnect, certain things. But I've been there so I understand exactly what it was. You know, I was thinking about my career like in the mid level of a very large multinational or a company that had 150,000 employees at the time. You know, I was on the back to back calls. I was in the escalation calls. I was also getting the bonus checks and everything that was going on. Like it was, it was about me being there and being able to be present and feeling like, Hey, listen, if things, things are not going to happen unless I'm here. But I got to a certain point, I realized, like it wasn't just that I wanted to get to a point where I didn't need to be didn't feel like I had to be reachable in order to feel valuable. Like I wanted to get to a point where, like, yeah, let me not have to do these two things. And at the same time, it was a matter of taking a step back and saying, okay, yep, I'm in this bubble. All these things are happening. And I realized this particular tax, this tax that I was paying at the time, it really had three very clear, identifiable, let's call them symptoms, the first, anytime I would be away, let's say on a vacation, especially summertime or spring break, some one of those types of things. There was this, I didn't really, you wouldn't talk about it out loud, but it was this inability to really enjoy the vacation, because there was this wanting to be around, wanting to be available to work colleagues, and really not being able to give myself permission to just really block things out. And so as a result of that, let's say maybe not every single vacation was enjoyed as much as everybody else was enjoying them. And then, as mentioned to you before, there's another very clear symptom in that I started recognizing that the more and more, and it's even in the time. Title here, the more that I was available, the more that I was valuable. And my identity at a certain point. And I don't know if you can relate to this, but the identity started to become like fused into one and and then constantly that that was the second and the third symptom that I see pretty frequently, and I even write about it a lot in the newsletter, is, is this whole company in corporate busyness? It was providing the evidence of being able to be important. And what do I mean by that? Like it's it's really easy to get into this false proof loop of, hey, listen, I'm really busy. And in the corporate busyness, the more that you are busy working on busyness, the more important you are. And those symptoms, if you recognize any, if, like, if any of that sounds familiar to you, it's not a character flaw. Don't worry. It's not a character flaw. It's a belief system. Because I went through the exact same belief system. And the good part about that, like, yeah, it may hurt to hear that, but the really, really good part, and I like to focus on the positive, is that, because it's a belief system, it can be changed, trust me. Ask me how I know, because I was reflecting on my time in the bubble. But I also got to this certain point, like when you're going through these, through these certain moments that I realized that the way to change this, it was literally going to be as a result of being able to have more control of generating income for myself. Now that was how my mind was wired. It's how many clients who come to me, your brains are wired that way as well. In the important part is, is not to just have it stuck there, yes, being able to have control over the generation of your capital as the starting point in the important part is, what does that actually mean? It gets you to a point where you can lay out under the stars in a bubble on a Wednesday, right? Rather than worrying about what is getting ready to happen the next day, because you are in control of the way that you're generating income, you are designing and living a very intentional life. And there's just something about that that feels good. It's less taxing, right? And I talk about the availability tax was one of the things I mentioned earlier, but, but here's the thing, and a lot of times, as was really understanding generating the income was the thing that needed to happen. So, you know, and this is in a recent episode. I shared this in Episode 615 but just really, at a really high level, my plan started by saying, Hey, listen, there are some decisions that I want to make. I'm making these decisions based on the resources that are available to me. And so I decided I wanted to start by investing right, being able to be in control of of the of the of the capital, the money that was coming in, having gone through enough podcasts, enough training courses, I was time for me to take the first step. And I took that first step. It was a very meditative step. It was a very well thought through, very well planned. And then I went from planning to actually execution, doing, and so as a result of that, yeah, I mean, it wasn't easy. I'm not going to sit here and tell you it was super easy, but what it did do is it got me out of the the the thought process of, hey, listen, I constantly have to be available for everyone else in order to show my value. And so along the way, yes, have there been moments of doubt? Even early on, yeah, there was moments of doubt, because I was in this point where I was thinking, Okay, well, I'm really well valued. I'm really well compensated at this role, and I'm following on this passion, on this voice that's getting louder and louder. And so yeah, there were moments of doubt. There were moments of, Am I doing the right thing? And I continued to trust all of the experience, all of the decisions that I made up until that point had taken me down a really good path, not every single decision, but the majority of those decisions. And so I thought, Okay, listen, let's continue to do this. And so once I realized that I was able to achieve my optionality number, and we've talked about optionality number for years, and just very specifically, if you've never heard before, this is the actual number that helped me realize that I no longer needed my corporate paycheck in order to live the lifestyle that I had already designed. Some of it was intentional, not 100% of it, it became much more intentional over time. But having taken this path that was the really, the first big thing that helped me, starting from investing getting into being able to then build and own something that was mine, and I say mine, meaning controlled by me and so. But more importantly, than even reaching the optionality number, which is something that I just go on all about along a lot, it was the fact that I realized that I no longer believe that my worth was measured by my availability, like. How much I was available to everybody else, that you know, I could actually create generate value for myself and others by not constantly being available and at the beck and call of others. And so I would just share that with you, because that is the thing, as I mentioned in the very beginning, like what is the one thing? The one thing is to be able to recognize that you can leverage your resources, ie, your existing skill set, and or other resources available to be able to generate income, to be able to make the impact on others. And when you are able to do that, and you're recognizing those results, you don't have to be available to everyone. You don't constantly have to be reachable, because that's going to continue to train you. That's not what you want. You want to be able to be at that point where, yes, you recognize the skill set is valuable. Yes, you're able to make a an impact on others in the way that you want to be able to make. And so that's why, as I mentioned, being constantly available is quickly devastating your options. So guess what? You don't need to be available all the time. It's being focused on the right things at the right time and being able to make the impact that you want. And so if you want to know more about how you can actually get to your optionality define that optionality number. Get to your optionality number, and lower the availability tax that is draining your effort, your energy. Then you know what? You can find it. It's here in the show notes. But, and I'll just remind you, you can go to make it optional.com there is a very clear, proven, three step process that has worked for me, is working for hundreds of executives in big companies today, and you know what, if it's not you and you know that there's someone that's suffering from this availability tax, can you do? Do me Do yourself a favor. Do me a favor. And do the person that you know is suffering from this tax a favor. Just share today's episode and then share and then show them that you care by going beyond just sharing the episode, get on the phone, talk to them, go from theory to practice, really start to build that expertise. And while you're doing that, guess where I'll be? I'll be right here preparing for the next episode. So until then, go ahead and make it a great day. And thank you very, very much.

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