How Distractions Are Quietly Crushing Your Calling

[00:00:00] And we have to feel so comfortable with that word no. I feel like a lot of us today have a hard time saying no. I love the word no because it frees you up and you're free to go to your destiny, your God-given purpose. Uh, no.

[00:00:28] Ooh, that's better, right babe? She founded an architectural concrete company. He founded a hundred million dollar clothing company. She took the world by storm as a social media star. He took the world by storm as a famous serial entrepreneur. Together we started a business. And had babies. Now we're figuring out the best ways to do both. Join us as we learn from other entrepreneurs going through the same life struggles.

[00:00:58] As they share their life hacks about success, love, kids. And everything in between. If you don't want to separate yourself from your distractions, your distractions will separate you from your goals. And the life you want. Stop getting distracted by the things that have nothing to do with your goals. Welcome to another great episode of the Entrepreneur Parents Pretty and Punk Podcast. My name is Dan Caldwell.

[00:01:25] I'm one of your hosts and I'm here with my other host, my beautiful wife. Ildiko Ferenczi. And we have a great podcast for you guys. We're talking about one of the threats against your success. One of the things that can stop you from achieving your purpose. And it's important because it affects all of us. And I think we all have it on occasion from time to time.

[00:01:55] What about you? You have it? No? You're trying to play holier than thou? You don't get it? Only I get it? Only I'm the only one who gets it? Okay, but before we jump into that... Hey guys! We hope you're enjoying today's episode of the Pretty and Punk Podcast. And if you are, and you haven't already hit that like and subscribe button, it just takes a second. It means so much to us because it really helps the podcast get out there to more listeners like you guys. And if you know anybody that might help and you can send it to them,

[00:02:24] we really appreciate that too. We also love and appreciate your reviews. Even the babies look forward to them every day. If you share this episode on social media today, don't forget to tag us. We want to celebrate you because we know it's not easy being a parent in business. And the way that you juggle things makes you a superhero. That's worth a shout out. Together, we have a community of our personal followers as well. And we just want to put it out there.

[00:02:52] We want to show everybody that this juggle is possible. And you are our family. And we're so proud and grateful to have you a part of this family. So don't forget the sh all the links are below in the show notes. And thank you again. And let's get back to the show. The enemy doesn't need to destroy you. He just needs to distract you because if he can keep you chasing noise,

[00:03:21] he can keep you from your anointing. And today we're calling it out because God has a plan and he has a plan for your purpose. The enemy has a plan for your distractions. Well, yeah. Right. He wants you to get distracted. And you know what? Many times it's not like, especially in my case, it's not in my... I'll just take... I'll own it. Okay?

[00:03:50] It's many times... I never... Just for the record, I never said a word. I know. You're taking on the heat by yourself. No, because you're asking me to take ownership of this. And I know the only reason we're doing this topic today that you came up with is because... I came up with... Oh, are we arguing already? No, you came up with the topic and I know why you came up with the topic because you're trying to point a finger over in my direction. No. No, I'm not...

[00:04:21] What I'm just trying to say. No, I feel like a lot of people are dealing with this. I really do. And like in my case, I think it's not often that I'm distracted with bad things. I'm distracted with good things, too many good things. And sometimes they get me sidetracked and I get out, you know, and that's the worst thing that can happen to you is that you're off, you get sidetracked off of something else that is great. Yeah.

[00:04:51] And instead of just going, I need to create boundaries that keep everything out of my way because I have a goal right now and I need to stay trained on this goal. And it's a, it's, it happens to, you know... The best of us. The best of us. And what I was saying, the enemy has a plan for your distraction. One leads to legacy and the other to regret. And that's not, that's, that's not what we want.

[00:05:17] So let's talk about in this episode how to choose wisely and fiercely. Your no, your no is holy. Every time you say no to what drains you and you say yes to what God has called you to do, your family's future depends on your focus.

[00:05:40] So, I mean, a lot of people say, and I agree with this, that the distraction is an actual spiritual attack. And we were actually listening to the story of Nehemiah 6.3. He had to deal with distraction. I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should I stop?

[00:06:06] Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you? Nehemiah was rebuilding the wall and distractions were sent. People were pretending to want to talk, dragging him out into drama. And his response was the holy no. And we have to feel so comfortable with that word no. I feel like a lot of us today have a hard time saying no.

[00:06:35] I love the word no because it frees you up and you're free to go to your destiny, your God-given purpose. So you have to just lean into the word no and it'll protect you. It'll protect you from what you need to be focused on. It's so simple yet so hard.

[00:07:00] Well, it's hard because it's hard to recognize sometimes what you need to be saying no to. I mean, you have boundaries for yourself. But imagine when we had tap out, tap out was at some point when it really started to grow and it was blowing up and everybody wanted a piece of it. Everybody had some idea. I mean, you can attest to this.

[00:07:24] People were coming to us for restaurants, for book deals, for film deals, for television deals, for magazines, tennis shoes. Yeah. You have everybody coming at you. And sometimes you got to strike while the iron's hot. Yes. People aren't always going to come at you. There's a time when people won't come at you. And while people are coming at you, it's time to strike.

[00:07:49] But you have to, you know, so how do you delineate what is important? What is aimed towards your purpose? And, you know, I mean, I guess the common sense is, is it taking you more towards your purpose or taking you outside of your purpose? Right. Because you have to be careful with a lot of people that do come at you when you have created something successful, especially people that are close to you. Sometimes it's even family. Sometimes it's just people around you.

[00:08:18] They want to ride the coattails because you've done the hard work and now you're in the spotlight. They just want to ride your coattails because they want to be as successful as you. But even with therapist insight, you need to, and research shows this, that chronic distraction leads to decision fatigue. So you have to be so careful. It also leads to anxiety and detachment from core values. So that's something that you need to examine.

[00:08:48] Do these things that are coming, these opportunities, does it match my core values, my family values? Is it in alignment with the whole purpose and what this business or what our family stands for? Does it have the same values or are they dragging me in a totally different direction that has nothing to do with my purpose?

[00:09:16] I don't want to look, imagine yourself at 80 or 70 or whatever the age is and you look back and you are full of regret because you had dreamt of this thing and you got sidetracked and fell off the rails and went a totally different way. I mean, that's how I feel like at that point in my life, at that point, you know, I'm in a different place in my life right now.

[00:09:41] But at that point in my life, if somebody would have came to me and said, hey, I have a great idea for, you know, this new toy that, you know, you want to make, you know, this would be great. Let's go make this new toy, this racetrack for kids. I mean, that even though it might be a cool idea and I might like to make it in another life.

[00:10:05] But at that point when, you know, everything in my life is built around growing tap out and I need to keep my eye on the ball, that would have been a bad time to take on something like that. Yeah. And I feel like those are the bigger, broader strokes, too. But what are some of the I mean, some of the smaller when you think about today with people's attention span?

[00:10:29] That things like phones and the things that are immediately catching our attention, the things that are taking us out in the morning when we get up and, you know, that phone sitting right there and we we tend to start scrolling or something and getting taken out of our out of our element. Yeah. When we're supposed to be concentrating on what, you know, creating some boundaries for ourselves. Right. So that we can get right into what we really need to be working on. Right. And the enemy knows your potential.

[00:10:58] So he sends petty things, distractions that don't always look evil, right? They often look good enough. Exactly. That's what I said. Urgent or harmless. We should be more worried about the good things that are trying to take it. It's it's hardly ever the bad things that are taking us out of our element. It's too many good things. It's the villains that come in and they got that sweet smile and you don't even notice and they take you on a ride.

[00:11:26] I mean, even Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, not with evil, but with shortcuts and and misplaced identity. So that right there shows that it's going to come for everyone, for all of us. And we just need to be super alert and connected to our values. And at this this time of our lives, I know you and I before we were in a different kind of hustle culture.

[00:11:53] But right now, right now where we are and everybody listening or they either have families or are starting a family or are planning on starting a family, because we do have a lot of listeners that don't have a family yet, but they're preparing themselves, which is so smart. But, you know, for this community, your family is the first ministry.

[00:12:17] So you need to protect it like sacred ground and everything has to revolve around that. I mean, with real talk, you got to guard your calendars, your phone, your circle. These are either serving your mission or stealing from it. So it depends which way you go with that. You need to audit them like your family's future depends on it because it really does.

[00:12:45] And even auditing takes you out of your element. You know, they say there was a study, I think, with, oh, gosh, it was Irvine or Harvard that said that it took you like 23 minutes to get you back, to get back into your element once you get sidetracked. So in other words, if if you're working on something like a paper or a project and you get you get a text and you look off at your text for a second,

[00:13:14] you read it, your mind goes elsewhere for a second and then you try to come back to your project, it takes you like 23 minutes to get back into the rhythm of what you were doing. And so imagine how many times that can slow you down through the day. Yeah. If you're if you do that over and over and over and over again, somebody texts you, somebody calls you, somebody comes in the room. So you got to really protect your time. It's so it's important that you protect your time from both people.

[00:13:42] You know, I don't know if you have an office or if you have if you're taking on phone calls, whatever that might be for you. People are going to try to take take your time and they're going to try to distract you and not because they're necessarily trying to do evil or trying to trying to, you know, screw up your rhythm. Some people, I don't know. They might, you know, they might. They might be.

[00:14:03] But either way, if you let if you're working on something, if you really want to be productive, the way to be productive is to block out your time, keep your boundaries up, get things done and then find that free time to handle some of those extra things that you you need. That hodgepodge stuff of phone calls and texts and other things that you need to deal with, emails, whatever that are going to take you out of your rhythm. I certainly agree with that.

[00:14:30] There is definitely power in intentional focus. And when when you remove the distractions and you do the deep work, that's where you're that's your highest predictor of impact and fulfillment. And also when families remove distractions, this is like us as a whole, when we remove things like toxic. We don't have we don't have toxic voices.

[00:14:59] I don't let our family. I'm very guarded about our family. No toxic voices and even no no toxic. We don't know anybody or will not keep anyone close that that treats their body toxic, that eats crap and I'll make it up. I'll just go to the gym. No, your body is your your temple. You have to keep that.

[00:15:25] It just everything about you got to you got to protect all the spaces, cover all the spaces, because especially with someone that has been ill, they're going to just understand how valuable and precious life is. Trust me. But when you take things away, like I think for the kids aren't into social media, none of that.

[00:15:49] But but for us, sometimes, you know, you can get caught in that with the messages. Not you. I'm just saying all of us. I know. All of us. All of us. It's you know, you're you're looking for content or looking for things or you're messaging people. Because it's it's also a place to really. What is it? Network. I mean, I try to. Yeah, that's the thing. But I just have to just block out a time.

[00:16:18] OK, I'm going to try to get to these messages. And then sometimes I feel bad because there are important messages that do come in. And and I have a team that tries to help me decipher. But sometimes things slip through the cracks. But yeah, you definitely have to just cut the time short.

[00:16:37] And when I was when I was healing, I literally got off of social media for a couple of years because I felt like my priority was to live life to the fullest with my babies and my husband. So I don't know where you are in your life right now. There is no wrong.

[00:17:01] But, you know, in your gut what you need and just try to be connected to that and and be be honest with it. And you need to really, really, really just be true to yourself because otherwise you're going to beat yourself up. And that's just going to lead to negative things. Well, lots of times, you know, we're lucky enough that we can lean into, you know, our virtual assistants and to handle some of. Yeah, we have teams. So that's really good.

[00:17:29] But it's I still get find myself looking for certain things sometimes. Yeah. I mean, I feel like as creative minds, we need some inspiration. Yeah. I feel like you start scrolling and you're like, oh, this is interesting. And then all of a sudden you're listening to this video and then you scroll to the next video. Well, you're really bad. I'm bad? Yes. You're much worse than I am. No, I'm not. Yes, you are. No, I'm not. I'll go for days without even looking at it.

[00:17:59] What are you talking about? Are you serious right now? I'll do another stuff, but I'm not looking at social media. I hardly ever. Do you understand what I'm even doing? I'm creating. Well, I know. With my team, but I'm not scrolling ever. I'm not saying you are. I'm just saying you're worse than I am about you're on social media more than I am. For deals? Okay. Well, you do. I mean, I'm not saying you're not doing important stuff. I'm confused. I'm like it.

[00:18:27] I'm just saying you're on social media more than I am. I'm not consuming. I'm networking and making deals. I don't know what you're doing. You got to take your own responsibility for whatever you're doing. Yes. I'll be networking and making deals and those types of things. But I'm proud to say that I'm not a consumer. I'm a creative mind and I'm building with people. But I mean, even that, that can pull me in for sure.

[00:18:52] One of my favorite quotes from Warren Buffett is the difference between successful people and really successful people is that successful people say no to almost everything. Really successful people say no to almost everything. I say no to almost everything. And that's, you know, it's, you have to protect your life and your time and your boundaries. The time is the most important thing that we have. And I know we've, you know, we've all heard that a million times, but it's true.

[00:19:20] It's, it's absolutely true. It's foundation. It's something we will never get back. And have you ever noticed that sometimes you, you get through the day and you're like, wow, that day flew by. Like, I mean, days, I feel like they're moving faster and faster sometimes. I feel like the later on in life, it goes really fast. And I remember my mom telling me that, like, it just, it's a flash. It's a literal flash.

[00:19:45] And when we had the babies, when, when I had my very first baby, people would come up to me and warn me with tears in their eyes. And I could tell they were older, like grandparents. And I, I never, I never fluffed it off my shoulders. The advice that they gave me to enjoy every moment.

[00:20:12] I really, really, truly took it to heart because I could feel the energy straight from their souls and the way that their eyes watered and the way that they looked at my, my beautiful little baby boy. That was my little miracle. And they just, I could tell that they were just longing and hungry that if they could just go back just for one day.

[00:20:41] And I would let them, I would spend a little time with them so they could relive that moment with my son to relive that moment with their, the memory of their children. I thought that that was really special. So sometimes as new parents, we have that gift to give someone else because you don't really know what they're going through in life. You don't know, were they the distracted parents? Were they busy? Were they pushing off their kids?

[00:21:10] Whereas now they don't have a relationship with their kids and all they have is the little bits of memories that they had with their children. You don't really know. So I feel like that was such a gift and it was a gift to me too because it made it all that much more special. I mean, yeah, they say you spend your whole life trying to gather riches and money and, you know, and fame or whatever you're chasing.

[00:21:35] And then you would give it all back at the end of your life for just five extra minutes with your kids. I know when my, when my little ones are sleeping at night, I'm scrolling already and just looking at pictures of them or wishing I had more pictures because it really flies by one month, two month old, three month old.

[00:21:56] You know, the reason why I keep you guys on my, on my, both my screensavers on my phone is to remind me about protecting my time is because. Oh, that's a good, that's a good hack. I, I, I have the, I, I never really thought of that. But I obviously have my family on my phone too, but it's just because I love them. It brings me joy, but that's a good, that's a good. I used to have a picture of you.

[00:22:29] Reminds me. Got rid of that thing. Be nice. Got rid of that. Why? What do you mean that thing? That's so toxic. No. I'm on there with the baby. You're still on here. I just, I just wanted, I thought I'd get a family photo on there. Why are you so awful today? You've been like, he's getting older and there's actually a movie about these guys. Grumpy old. Stop. Stop. Okay. I get one gray hair.

[00:22:58] Why are you so awful? Why are you so awful to me? You gotta play these jokes. You're so mean. Everybody got jokes. You're so mean. Funny like how. Okay. Oh, jeez. I'm just saying, I changed it up. We got our families growing. I got more kids. Say no to create space for God's yes. Yes. Exactly. You have to protect it, but yes. So what is, you know, what are some of the things that people can do? I know, you know, sometimes it's really, it's just your personal evaluation.

[00:23:27] You have to look at it and evaluate every situation as it comes at you. And it's, and it's hard. It's hard to make those decisions, but you really, the really, the North Pole is you have to look at it and go, is it, does it take me away from my purpose? Does it take my time? Because you need every minute you, I mean, we want as much time for our family, but you

[00:23:51] also need time to do certain things in your life, maybe for your business or for whatever you're, whatever, when you're going towards your purpose. Mm-hmm. And, um, you have to look at those things. Are they, you know, if somebody says, Hey, uh, you know, what do you think about going golfing this weekend? I mean, I, I look at things, I don't do that stuff is anymore for the most part, you know,

[00:24:18] I mean, I do stuff, it has to, unless it's steering me towards my purpose in some way, unless I'm meeting, uh, you know, somebody for my business or it's a networking moment. We're just in a totally different place. We, we're not 19 year olds that just had kids. We had an amazing. But I have no problem even turning down other things that aren't. No, I get it. I get it. I mean. Somebody just says, Oh, let's go to a lunch meeting.

[00:24:46] I don't even want to go to a lunch meeting unless it's, unless it's. I get it. Unless it's all of us. I just love, and this is our community. They love to include the whole family. Everybody's together. This is my happiest memories. I mean, I had fun when it was just you and I, like it was fun, but I feel like we were chasing a different thing. It was a different success. And I, sometimes, honestly, we were just talking about this.

[00:25:15] I said, it was toxic. We were on a different path and, you know, proving I'm going to be successful. And then all of a sudden, when my, our little baby was born and took, he took his first breath. It just, I took my first breath of someone else. I was just telling Dan this, that, that a part of me died, but in a good way.

[00:25:43] And if you're going through this as a new parent and you're a little bit scared to lose yourself, you are going to lose yourself, but you're going to become this beautiful person. You're going to become a mother. You're going to become a father. And it's such a rich, beautiful life. Our community wants to include their family. It's, it's not like my, my girls, they, oh, let's go have a good time.

[00:26:10] I want to have a good time with all of us together, your family, my family, all of us together doing great things because life is so precious. You don't get a second chance. You really don't. And you never know, especially with all the crazy things going on nowadays, all these young people getting sick, people, I don't even want to talk about it because it's so incredibly negative and so scary.

[00:26:37] Like if you can get lost in the thought, there's a lot of people losing lives right now. I don't know what is going on, but it is just so scary and so crazy. I just really love spending that time together with my family. And our circle is the same way. I mean, you just had a, what was it? Old boys trip or whatever to Vegas. And he was like, it's not the same as when I go with you. I have my beautiful wife.

[00:27:07] I've got my beautiful children. Well, I wanted you guys to come. And it, I know, I know, I know. I'm so guilty because I wanted to come. But then all of a sudden I felt like. The morning of. The morning of. It was so horrible. I'm like, let's go. It's like, oh, we got a fight. And you're like, we're not going. We're not going. I knew the whole time. I knew the whole time. And it wasn't an old boys trip. It was a business meeting. Old boys. And the UFC just happened to be there. Old boys.

[00:27:37] He's like, it's just not fun. It's just like, I want my beautiful wife, my beautiful children. And I want to be around other people. I want to go do some stuff. I want to go to Topgolf and do all kinds of things. We'll do it next time. I guess. Here's the thing. But I had a business meeting. It was fruitful. We do go to Vegas a lot. And maybe if it was somewhere sunny with the beach and stuff, then we'd be all. But Daniel's like, I just don't really want to go. And I'm like, I don't really want to go either. When should we tell him?

[00:28:08] Not every opportunity is your assignment. That wasn't our assignment. There's my assignment. That's my assignment. I mean, a lot of distractions often look like opportunities dressed as urgency. And they're not, you know, we don't have to, we don't have to jump at everything. Yeah, that's true. So we have to distinguish whether, you know, again, this is taking us towards our purpose. That love you, that love your family.

[00:28:34] So if you say no, it's not because it just, there's something else pulling at you. It's not because you don't love them or you don't care about them. There's just something else pulling at you and you really have a mission. And for us, with our business, we have the podcast and we need to do things, experience things as a family and be around other people with the same mindset, with the same goal. Well, right.

[00:29:01] And another thing too is I got to mention it's digressing a little bit, but when you're, especially when you're a young entrepreneur or you're a beginning entrepreneur, one of the things that'll get you all the time is you hear about this hustle mentality. Everybody wants to hustle, hustle, hustle. And, and people will tell you, and hustle is not always bad. I mean, there's things, there's times when you have to hustle. There's times when you have to work hard and maybe work harder than you normally would. Well, yeah, but I'm saying that there's times when you have to do it. Yes.

[00:29:31] The business calls for it, your life calls for it, whatever it is. But here's the thing. And you don't have to be busy to be productive all the time. That's true. And you can be productive on less hours. If people, sometimes I see people, I don't know if it's, I'd call it like running in place. Like they're, they're trying to look like they're busy. Oh, I'm doing this. Then I have a call here and then I'm on this.

[00:29:52] And if you really, um, if you really analyze their phone calls and, and, you know, take, um, take some sort of audit of their daily hours and what they're really getting done, you can see that they're not getting more done than I am. They're just busier than I am. They're doing more than I am.

[00:30:15] But I, I, I love making those doing one thing in a day or two things in a day that really change the whole, you know, uh, the, the growth of your business that make a big difference in, uh, maybe it's a new campaign or something that we're building or whatever we're doing. And that one thing does more for our business than what some other people do in a month's time. Right. Yeah.

[00:30:43] I mean, that brings back the memories that I'm just thinking about. I had so much going on right now. I love where we are. We have our niche and we have our community. But when I was in those single days building the architectural concrete company and then also fulfilling my passion, like I just was hustle, hustle, hustle, and then going to the gym and then also taking on, you know, the magazines and all these things.

[00:31:11] And I felt like if I slowed down. And this was my own toxicity. If I slowed down just a little bit, then I was lazy. Um, I think a lot of immigrant children have this mentality where they have to be successful at everything like uber successful, but also doing a million things and being successful at all of them. And also fulfilling their passions and this and that, the gym.

[00:31:39] It was, it was actually when I think back, I was really successful. I was making, I mean, I didn't even have to look at the price tags of stuff. So that aspect was nice, but it was toxic. And I, I know that I was fighting exhaustion and it, I think a lot of those years led to, it's going to catch up with you. It's going to catch up with you. Let's just say that.

[00:32:07] And, and shifting back to where we are and where everybody has their mindset right now. That's listening to this. Look, what looks like a small distraction now could become the very thing that ruins your marriage, that bank, bankrupts your business or reroutes your destiny. Your God given destiny. So what you were talking about, Dan, um, yeah, you, it could be back in our hustle days.

[00:32:33] There was a lot of distractions, but now even though we are focused and we understand what we're going after, there could be the little distractions that can literally make such a huge destructive impact in the, what we're trying to accomplish. Yeah. And in our family, in our life. I don't know if this is on topic, but one of the things I just feel compelled to say, because you hear so many people talking about this is that everybody's talking about,

[00:33:03] about diversifying and, and, you know, that means dealing with other things outside. So you're, you know, you got your purpose and then they want you to diversify over here with some Bitcoin and they want you to diversify over here with this and some stocks. And so don't do it. Look, that's for now, if you're further down the road and you're not like, you're in a place where you're not as busy anymore and you have the time. You mean, cause it's going to cause anxiety for yourself with like learning.

[00:33:33] It's like, it's like you only have so many hours in the day. Right. You need to concentrate those hours on the things that you need to be working on that are aimed at the one thing that is that you're building. Right.

[00:33:45] And if you start diversifying your time, your energy, your concentration, your, uh, your income streams, even your income streams, if they're taking up your time, in other words, like you're trying, Oh, I should diversify by, I'll start this business, but also do this other little side business. And then I'll also invest over here in the stock market.

[00:34:08] And then I'm also buying some Bitcoin and I got a rental that I'm doing, you know, man, I'm telling you, there's no, there's no better way to fail than to do that, to have that as your recipe for, for growing your, your company. Right. And now there is a different time in your life. So when you're in a different season of your life, when you've already built your company, you're already established, your company's already doing well, it's already where it needs to be.

[00:34:38] And you're just maintaining your company. Then that's the time to diversify, but don't diversify while you're building your company, especially if you're at the beginning stages of growing a company or starting something new. Right. And also there's going to be that emotion on availability, um, because you're going to be scrolling during family time, not on social media, but you're just going to be doing all these different things on your phone.

[00:35:05] And it's going to show like, you don't care about your family and mentally rehearse that you're going to be mentally rehearsing business tasks during conversations with your wife or your children. You're going to be checked out. You're not going to be there. And that's going to let resentment grow unnoticed. You won't even notice the, um, the nuances that are going on in your children and your wife.

[00:35:34] And it's just going to go, it's going to get to an ugly place. So emotional disconnection due to tech addiction. And, uh, and that's not just a social media. It's just trying to build something, do something, all those little things that are pulling you in 50 different directions. It's not going to end well. And that work obsession is a top reason that couples report growing apart.

[00:36:03] And I can attest to this. And that's by Dr. John Gottman, who is the specialist who can, I think he can read within the first three minutes if you're going to get a divorce or not. So you, you have to be so careful. You have to guard your family. You have to guard your marriage and maybe schedule sacred, no phone hours. Okay.

[00:36:29] And you and your spouse, and if your children are older and they're getting into phones and stuff, you need to stop it before it comes in addiction, before it becomes a distraction. You need to turn towards each other as a couple, as a family, and you need to have that sacred time. You must, you must, must, must, you have to make time for it.

[00:36:55] Um, maybe we'll list some boxes where one person that has the, the, um, self-discipline will lock the box, guard the box of the phones or whatever you need to do. I'm telling you it's worth it. Yeah. You got to schedule it. And one of the things, um, you can do is try to audit your week at the end of the week and just look to see, you know, where, what was stealing your focus this week?

[00:37:22] What was, where, where did you get out of alignment? Where did you, you know, maybe if you're working till five, how, why did you stay till eight that day? You know, what, what can you do better to fix that, to stay in alignment with your goals and what you're trying to do and the time you set aside for your family.

[00:37:39] And then also, um, especially coming into the week, if you're, if you're working, um, at an office or whatever your work week looks like, you know, even if you don't work in office, if you're working at home, what does that look like? What's your week going to look like? What are the things that you want to, you know, put your time and effort into during the week?

[00:37:58] Like, is there going to be a week that you can, or is there going to be a day that you're going to eat into your family time and you need to talk to your family about that and have that conversation? Um, is there some way that you can fix that? Is there some way you can move some things around so that doesn't happen?

[00:38:18] So it just managing your time well and trying to look at how you can take on that week, both looking at it when it's coming up and then evaluating it and, you know, doing an audit at the end of the week. Right. And then you can do that deeper audit where you look at the distractions that are going to pull you into the wrong business.

[00:38:43] And this is, this is a deep, a deep audit where is the distractions pulling you into a wrong business or keeping you working on what's urgent, not what's anointed. And, you know, this community understands that false urgency is the enemy's bait. Not every opportunity is your assignment. You need to remember that you might be building someone else's vision while your own God-given,

[00:39:13] blueprint sits on a shelf and that's not okay. And again, how Dan was talking about hustle culture, that leads to burnout and identity crisis. And when you're not aligned with your purpose, it just all goes in a really, really bad direction. So the one tactic that I wanted to add to your tactics is this week, ask yourself,

[00:39:38] is what I'm doing right now serving my calling or stroking my ego? I think sometimes we get confused and everybody's guilty of this, but you have to do that inventory. Okay. Was that meant for me? Were you looking? No, I'm not. Why are you just taking... Why are you looking over here when you say that? I wasn't even like... Why are you looking over here when you say stuff like that? I really wasn't even looking at you. I was looking at my toes. You're over there. I see you looking at me.

[00:40:06] I think someone's got some guilt. Okay. Some guilt or something. Oh, that's so funny. I'm getting the message. Okay. You got anything else? No. Well, no, I hadn't. Stop. Why are you being really mean to me? I feel like you're being mean. Yeah, mean. Okay, distractions keep you focused on survival instead of strategy.

[00:40:35] I mean, can you agree with that? When you're constantly reacting and putting out fires, you never sit in silence long enough to hear God's direction. And I think that that's the goal. I feel like when you become a parent, because I was always so rushing and so were you. But when you become a parent, it's like this beautiful blessing that God gives you because you have to be patient so you understand that.

[00:41:01] And just remember the difference between being busy and being effective. And block out 30 minutes a week for God time strategy. It might seem kind of weird, but put your pen to paper. Pray. 30 minutes a week. I mean, we do more than that. I'm challenging people that have never done this. Because we pray in the morning. We pray at night.

[00:41:29] Sometimes, you know, especially like in these last few months, you've had a lot on your plate. So you've missed out. Not every day. On some of the... No, I'm not saying every day. Stop taking on this crazy guilt. I just said in the last few months, there's been times... Now you're making me feel bad. Good. Good. Then you will join us every day because I've never missed a moment. I don't miss it every day. No, no, you don't. I'm there all the time. I never...

[00:41:59] Did I say that? I gotta re-listen. I gotta re-listen. Okay. I hope I don't sound like I'm attacking you because I feel like you feel like you're getting attacked and you're not. It's the only reason I think you wanted to do this podcast. Oh my gosh. No, it's because people need it. I've been talking to our community and they're talking about... They're having that eureka moment where they just... I feel like it's a time right now. Everybody's trying to get reconnected with their goals that they set in the new year.

[00:42:29] And then there's a lot of distraction. And they were just saying that maybe it's the enemy. I said, it is the enemy. It really... I really do believe that it is the enemy. The enemy distracts you. He would love to take... He wants to take you out of your purpose. We've had a lot of distractions even with our podcast. We've had a lot of distractions with our lives. Just things come up. But at the same time, I'm also... And this is... No, I'm going to save that for... I'm not even going to get into it.

[00:42:59] It's a different podcast. Well, I hope you guys got something out of this week's podcast. It's definitely an important subject and something we should all be thinking about, including myself. I'll throw down the gauntlet. I'll make sure that I'm... Just real quick. Because somehow you got guilt. You got the guilt. I just... I really want to encourage people, yes, to do the prayer if you've never done it before. And listen. Just listen. Write down the ideas that are coming to you. The names.

[00:43:27] The shifts that come. Just whatever it is. Write it down. Pen to paper. It's so powerful. Please. I just... I just... Dan's trying to cut me off. We're running out of time. We're over time. And he's trying to distract me. He's coming at me like the enemy. Be still and know that I am God. Do you feel the lasers? Psalms 40... Go. 4610. Hey, be careful. My father up above.

[00:43:58] Don't like his daughter. Do you have something else for the audience? Because we're about to run over here. I do. I actually... I do. But it's okay. It's all right. We're going to wrap it up. And just listen. This week, delete an app. Cancel the coffee that feels off. Shut the laptop off. And sit on the floor with your child. Pick up a Bible before you pick up the phone. Write something. You know, pen to paper.

[00:44:27] Do the other things. Look at your spouse in the eyes. Have you been looking at your spouse in the eyes lately? And have... I can feel you lasering me. And have the connection. Reconnect. And before you go chasing that next opportunity, ask, Is this aligned with my anointing? Or is it just a shiny distraction? There we go.

[00:44:55] Well, I hope you guys got something from this week's Entrepreneur Parents Pretty and Punk podcast. I think it was a real important subject. And, you know, it can get the best of us. So be sure to mind yourself and take your own inventory. And we know you'll get this right. Yes. Be careful what you're chasing. You're building a legacy. You're not trying to keep up. You are setting your family apart.

[00:45:23] You're not interested in distractions. You are becoming unshakable. Okay. God bless. We love you. And we'll catch you guys next week. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Entrepreneur Parents Pretty and Punk podcast. We hope you had an amazing episode this week. We hope to see you next time. And remember, don't fall into the distraction traps.

[00:45:53] We love you. God bless. I'm so glad for you to be here today to the Entrepreneur Parents Pretty and Punk podcast. Please share this with your best friend who needs to hear this message. It's life-changing. God bless you. Don't forget to rate the show and leave a comment. It helps the show grow and gets the message out to all the people that need it. See you next time. Stay blessed.

[00:46:23] Don't forget to say your prayers. I love you. Bye.