Hey there! Jonas “Honey Badger” Deffes here…
There is a pretty good chance if you are reading this that’s you most likely work for yourself or run your own Fitness business of some sorts.
Right?
If so, then you are really going to benefit from the “Walk away from it all” method ..I’ll explain more in a bit…
You see… If you are anything like me or all the other self made Entrepreneurs out there… you probably have your brain “Thinking” about business ALL Day and EVERY day.
Even Though I only work about 20 min. a day…it doesn’t stop me from thinking about my next marketing idea, email or blog post to keep my business running.
It’s actually a really a good quality to have in yourself
However there is a dark side to it….
If you are not careful it will consume you just like some sort of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
I find myself doing these things constantly throughout the day on my computer.
– Checking emails every min.
– Answering the phone every time it rings??-Checking google analytics
-Updating facebook fan page every 3 hours
-Searching the net looking at info products
-Answering emails
-Checking my merchant account to see if I made any sales
-Updating facebook profile
-Checking twitter messages
And it gets even worse because I find myself doing this exact SAME THING on my phone as soon as I leave my computer!
It’s like a non-stop endless loop of watching my business even though I’m really not doing any work….
Now, like I said earlier… there is dark side of this. ??It’s the capability of NOT being able to do NON- work related activities without mixing my business shenanigans into it.
Ever find yourself eating dinner at a restaurant, watching TV, or hanging with friends and checking your facebook profile every other min.? Then back to checking your email again?
Well I do!.. and for the most part, I don’t even realize it!… Not only that, I’m doing all the same almost every where I go!
FUCK!
So what is the solution?
Well to be completely honest I don’t think there is one.. it’s just the way our entrepreneurial brains are wired to be constantly running.
However you do need to try something.. because there is more around you then just your business.
In my case it’s my daughter and girlfriend that seem to be affected by this the most.
And I can’t have that happening to the people I love.
So that’s when I came up with my “Walk Away From It All” Strategy.
What I do now is… AT LEAST once a day I walk away from it all to make sure I got my head out of my business’s ass so to speak.
I turn off the phone( I actually take the battery out) , turn off the computer and Jump in my car and go do something!
I make sure I do this for a minimum of one hour a day and I focus on other aspects of my life that need my total and undivided attention.
You will be amazed at how much more quality and meaning this brings to your life and the other around you.
Not only that…It’s actually nice to have a moment of peace of mind and Not Give a shit about my business.
That’s it for now…it’s time for me to do my daily “Walk Away” so that I can ask my daughter “how was her day at school” without getting rudely interrupted by the Maddest of my business.
Jonas “Honey Badger” Deffes
Hey Jonas love it.
Entrepreneurs are on 24/7. It is Very important to take time and be with those we love.. Give them 100% of the attention when you are with them and give your business 100% attention when at work… I use this phrase to govern what i do, “Be Present Now”
Thanks for sharing.
Awesome post bro! I agree 100%! I find myself constantly doing the exact same things and ever worse when I sleep at nights my phone is next to me lol and I constantly check it.
I like the “walk away from it all” method and will start doing that as I do find myself doing nothing but work on the business. Time for a vacation!
Thanks for the post!
Good one Jonas. Even though people look at me weird, I DON’T carry a smartphone, just a regular flip phone – all it does is phone and text. Helps me keep a lot of sanity. Those things have allowed too much CREEP into our private time. And if you’re a stone cold entrepreneur, you have to guard your limited private time with everything you’ve got.
It’s so easy to get wrapped up in your work and loose sight of the other important non-work parts of your life. I need to remember to walk away more often so I can enjoy the finer things in my life.
Hahaha…love the pics bro especially the cobra coffee!
Pretty good message, never seen anyone talk about this before. You can tell it comes from the heart of a honey badger.
missed the cobra coffee reference – nice – Sam, if you get around to doing a mastermind, remember to call it THE HONEY BADGERS –
Jonas is just killing me with his post. Love his don’t give a S*** attitude. Kaiser I might do a fusion and call it the “SUPER HONEY BADGER”. I have to off course get permission for use of both words from you and Jonas.
I agree, it’s easy to get caught up on social media, buying new info products and checking email all day. I’ve learned to only check my email once a day now and to put my phone away during certain hours of the day so that I don’t get distracted with my personal life. Great reminder. Thanks Jonas
Bruddah! Hells yea – f**k that phone, leave it in the car or better yet, at HOME!!!
Family time is family time!!!
You’ll get to it when U get to it.
The way technology is moving things will only make us more “connected”, not in a good way though, I suggest keepin’ it old school.
Less text messages, no phone when out w/the fam and discipline on the e mails.
On weekends, I especially lay low.
U da man bro, take care of that lil’ girl!!!
peace!
–z–
Ladies and gentleman the great Zach Even – Esh has spoken. I am just honored to have him on my blog.
Now give me a blog post Zach but please be real and don’t sugarcoat it ;)
Yeah I get caught up doing that same thing sometimes, but I’m lately focusing on not being a wiener and not waste my time with those production killers!
Very simple yet powerful tip. We all get caught up in similiar patterns and sometimes get busy instead of productive. I also implement some “walking away” time in my daily schedule and I always come back with my swords sharpend ready for action. For me persoanlly I find the most clarity when I focus on the “NOW” as much as I can. Eckhart Tolle has taught me a lot about being present and achieveing profound peace of mind.
That is so true BUT everyone has such a hard time with being here in the present. I still struggle with it from time to time. That’s why they call them “crackberry”.
Sam, asking Zach to sugarcoat is like asking me the same, i’d rather take a stick to the eye.
Jonas, this is a real post from the heart. You didn’t just hit on the making your business easier, but you also focused on family. Us entreprenuers can tend to be obsessive and work our asses into the ground. This is a great kick in the pants that keeps it real.
Of all the people on here, Armando Cruz was the one that helped me automate my business the most and it has opened up a lot of focus on my family. Sam has helped me push my marketing-sales conversions to the next level. Now i’ve got to balance my workload with my wanna do cool sh!t with friends and family load.
Great post Jonas, and you are very right! I was thinking this morning how I need to take an “info creation” break and just do nothing, relax for a couple of hours.
Thanks brotha!
Mike Smith
You said it right because we don’t know what we are losing and what we are getting. A balance between both is really my dream but you really made a point. I will start by turning off my phone when I spend my time with my family.
How I wish I can get that because whenever I am away from my business there is a part of me that really want to go back working or just check my phone or the net if everything is okay.
I also noticed it just now that I need to do this every day just to go away from work. I don’t know if I am just concerned on getting new clients but I think after this I will go and pick up my son and go somewhere we can have our quality time father and son. Thanks Honeybadger for reminding.
We need time for everything or else we won’t grow or succeed in our business. Very nice reminder to read before going home and I also hope I could away from it all but it’s worth a try.
Jonas, you really took my attention because I also feel the same way that I need to have a time for myself and my family without thinking any work related. Thanks for the tips.
You really made my day because I just removed my phone’s battery so that no one will call me even my assistant. I think I will have this whole afternoon off from work. Thanks
People tend to forget or they really don’t think about it to have time for other stuff rather working. I always have my weekend dedicated for my family and I don’t want to be disturb when its weekend.
Good thing you do it daily while I think I need to adjust and try it for today for 1 hour. I don’t have kids yet so I think I will focus on getting a date instead. Wish me luck.
So true but hard to do! I know that many of us can relate to that. But still it’s nice to do this stuff once in a busy day of work. Thanks Jonas!
I guess I am the one who really can relate to this because my girl broke up with me because time issues and now I am fighting for the right of visiting my son. Sad… but, I’ve learned my lesson…maybe in a hard way I guess. But this tip really helps and family really is important so family first then business.
Jonas, I like what you wrote on the image. Life really has more to offer rather than focusing on one lane. Well, I just thought of that line but it’s really true.
Jane
Quality time with my son is really my priority and I work hard because of him as well. I just can’t help to post my comment because I know for busy people like us. Walking away from our phone is really hard especially when our thoughts are always connected with our business and goals.
Me too! I just ended my work today and thought that I will visit your site and saw this post. Such a wonderful way to start my time now off from work and to enjoy my time with my family at home.
Yeah! You are right Honey Badger! Because family is the main reason why we want to be successful with our work or business so without them then what’s the purpose of working…
If you will ask me, I’ll just sit on the couch and turn the tv on and do nothing for whole day. I do that when I get lazy or mad about my work. Jonas, you’re the man and I love reading your unique ways of writing very helpful tips like this. Enjoy your time with your daughter and I will also get back on my couch and watch baseball with a bottle of beer.
Cheers!
Jonas awesome post, I remember talking to you about this on the phone. It was saturday night and we were both about to take our girlfriends out. You told me to leave my cellphone at home and I had a total “aha” moment… so important!
Honey B…
True is true… great awareness and advice for getting away.
Ah…. but the key is just that too…. awareness. Or even better “mindfulness.” I don’t do it well all the time, but when I’m able to maintain my presence, “be here now” if you will, I can be free from it.
It’s an interesting thing to look at, to experience, the draw to act. I have a few exercises in Strength for LIFE which are just that… exercises in seeing how reactive we are and drawing in the awareness to create the much talked about FREEDOM.
One simple one is… next time the phone rings, don’t answer it. Just hear it ring and leave it go. It’s not your emergency.
Then check in… what is the itch I scratch by reacting to emails of ringing phones?
It’s a challenge… ever increasing in this crazy world. It’s why I get away on the bike… I used to ride the Hog… now it’s human power and mountains where phones don’t work any way.
To Your Full Strength… and Freedom,
Shawn
Wow what an honor to have a comment from the great Shawn Phillips. Great words of wisdom Shawn and thank you for reading Super Trainer
Great to see you here Shawn. And looks like this post really struck a chord. Being glued to your phone ie being at the beck and call of others is an employee mindset. Doesn’t belong in the habit pattern of entrepreneurs.
Thanks for this article!
I actually find myself doing stuff like checking the emails and facebook every few minutes because I am so eager to know if I got a notification that I made a sale or maybe received some message from one of the million of my friends.
And I wanna get rid of this kind of life style.
But, I have a problem. Even though I try very hard, I still end up doing the same stuff. I know it sounds weird, but I think it has simmilar effect to nicotine, or even drugs. :).
Anyway, I am considering deletion of my fb account, because I don’t want to keep being controlled by some website.
Also, I am doing other little things, Like, for example, I used to always take my wireless phone headset so that I could receive calls while riding my bike to work. No I don’t.
So, in short, thanks for your article!
Good luck to you!
Hey Jonas,
Great post! I was finding myself stuck in that same exact loop! But recently (Last week) I FINALLY hired an assistant. It took me about a week to get her acquainted with all my systems and we are now at the end of week two. Not only did she pick it all up fast, but she also figured out that all of my systems are online and she can work from HOME! So instead of having her here at my place 5 days a week, she only needs to check in with me twice a week. OK..the details are not what matters. What matters is that for the first time in over 2 years I suddenly realized I didn’t have a single thing in the world to do today… I mean she is handling it all…and she is loving it! So in this realization I found myself suddenly shocked and going stir crazy. So I made plans to just GO…but low and behold…here is this thought that I need to go do something and I found myself stuck again at the computer, checking my emails and my facebook and my texts… So I pulled my head out of my @$ $ and got ready to go…where i did not know…but again…I found myself checking the damn email again. FINALLY…two hours later I got in the car and left for the day. Went to a cafe and you know what I did? I ordered a drink and checked my damn facebook again! LMAO… Obviously this new found freedom is going to take some practice!
I was quite surprised when I came across this article. This was because I was having simmilar issues too, but that was in the past and now I am over it all.
Now, I changed my profession from network admin to photographer. It was a hard path but I did it.
Anyways, great post!
My days are just crazy. I sleep too little, work too much, am all in debt, and am going crazy. i have no idea of what to do now, it is just that i am running all the time, trying to save time, to make more money, but at the end everything remains the same no matter how hard I tried.
Now I wish I became a farmer in some remote place…
Hello!
what a strange coinsidence it is that I was experiencing similar thoughts just today and found your site!
It is so true about the semi addiction to social interfaces as facebook or email.
Acually, I read a book on that subject, but unfortunately can’t recall what was its name… hmm..
But, yes, thank you for making the affort to write this blog, it was an interesting read.
wow, interesting stuff!
I like your writting style! its so personal and easy to read like a novel!
But yeah, there is much truth to what you said. What a pitty that many put work above their family! It is wrong and completely unjustified! Well, I am happy that my husband is really relaxed and gives enough time to me and kids.
So, to all of you who put work above everything, CHANGE!
You only live once, so make the best out of it!
Good luck :)
First of al sorry for me English, I am just geting to learn English, I am from Lithuania, that is East Europe.
I so liked this writeing. You know, i usuali also check my mail very often beacaus I alway waiting for some message.
This is very bad that people are working too much and get too much of using mail and facebook and twiter.
I think people are becoming like robot. No personal life, but just keep doing everything like a program. Doing everything that other people in society do is a bad and sad.
We should be individual, and shold be free and not just do something because everyone does it and is popular.
Thank you.
Paulius
Dude, damn good post, blown away homie
Good post Jonas, you’re Honey Badgering all over the place man.
This is stuff that I bet all of us know, but still need reminding of.
Time to turn my phone off and take my wife out (well, not now its 8:30AM, but tonight!)
Interesting thoughts.
Well, I am actually quite “behind” all this social media stuff, like facebook twitter, and so on.
Maybe I check it like once a day, but that’s it.
I really don’t get it why would someone want to use a service like twitter, it does not make sense to me.
Anyway, my kids are alot of into facebook, so I guess I need to show this blog post to them…
turning on the printer….
done printing…
alright, thanks mate for this stuff anyway
a hello form Russia!
ya, these things get in to my way from time to time. I guess it happens to most of us living and working the modern office lifestyle. Not much I can do about it. Too bad.
I am running an outsourcing group (just 4 of us, writing software for people from richer countries who want to get quality work for a fraction of what it would cost ) and I have to keep checking my mail all the time. I would not say that I am addicted or anything, it is simply part of my job.
When I started freelancing, it was hard as hell, and I used to sleep very little, and my wife was complaining that she was not getting to “spend time” with me anymore. Ah, well, life is life, every man has got to eat. Now everything is getting back to normal.
hey there!
I was actually starting to do all the things you are writing about without noticing it myself! Can you believe it!
I don’t really get it, but for some reason I tend to switch to some kind of “auto” mode when I am doing one task for a long time. The time goes by, I keep doing it, and inbetween checking my facebook every now and then, and I dont even notice how fast the time goes. I dont even know how to express in words what i wanna say. But yeah, I need to relax.
One of the things I noticed is that for me social networking is more fun then chatting with real friends in real time, as I usually have nothing smart to say :/
Ahhh…. social addictions… :)
I just don’t care about whether I am addicted or not. I dont even care if I am messed up or not :) LOL
I am just living freestyle, I go with the flow, I adapt to situations and the ever changing world.
As long as I am happy, I wont bother trying to change or improve myself.
One of the most interesting things in my life is EVE Online. If you dont know what it is, Google it up. Since the day I started playing that, I have never felt “empty inside”.
Anyway, if you ever get bored with this crazy crazy world, come to EVE Online, and I will hook you up with some beginner stuff, my nick is Naskot Evrux.
Sorry for posting this, maybe it is a bit out of topic, but then anyway, who cares.
Thank you for this article, I found it to be an interesting piece of info.
Really, I have thought about this time and time again, but never before did I realise how serious this is.
I was blind, and just following my path, up the career steps, without realising that I spend all my time doing work related tasks and neglecting my family.
Yes, of course I am into this constant email checking, tweeting without reason, and facebooking stuff as a game. I post something, and then keep checking it every half hour to see what people comment and how many likes I get.
Sad. I am ready to rethink everything from the start. I will not give up, I will WIN.
Thank you Jonas.