March 13, 2024

36: Balancing Work, Wellness, and Homesteading: A Day in the Life of Michael Kummer

In this episode of the Primal Shift Podcast, I'm peeling back the curtain on my everyday life to show how I juggle productivity, health, and maintaining a connection to our ancestral roots. My days used to be ruled by a rigid schedule. But now,...

In this episode of the Primal Shift Podcast, I'm peeling back the curtain on my everyday life to show how I juggle productivity, health, and maintaining a connection to our ancestral roots. 

My days used to be ruled by a rigid schedule. But now, I leverage a flexible plan that makes space for everything from CrossFit and sauna sessions to managing my supplements business and running our homestead.

This episode is about finding a balance without overcomplicating life. Whether you're looking to optimize your own routine or just curious about a day in the life on a homestead, I’ll share the insights and adjustments that have made the biggest difference for me.

In this episode:

0:00 - Introduction   

2:01 - A deep dive into my typical day  

3:20 - Morning routine details and tips  

5:56 - Implementing mobility into my daily routine  

7:07 - Family time and division of household chores  

7:42 - Work strategy: planning and execution  

8:58 - Rethinking my approach to planning and productivity  

11:07 - The role of homesteading in my life  

11:29 - My eating habits and meal timing explained  

14:17 - Exercise and wellness routines without rigidity  

15:45 - Mental health breaks and connecting with nature  

17:12 - Incorporating sauna bathing and cold plunging 

18:13 - Evening routine (mobility) and family time  

21:13 - Balancing exercise, nature and homestead life 
23:13 - Homeschooling our kids  

24:32 - Learning how to prioritize (and what not to do)  

26:20 - Closing Thoughts

Links from this episode:

Thank you to this episode’s sponsor, OneSkin! 

OneSkin’s lineup of topical skin health products leverage the power of the company’s proprietary OS-01 peptide to remove dead skin cells, improve collagen production, increase skin hydration and more. Check out my before and after photos in my OneSkin review, or visit OneSkin here.

More From Michael Kummer:

Transcript

36: Balancing Work, Wellness, and Homesteading: A Day in the Life of Michael Kummer

[00:00:00] Michael Kummer: Michael, what does a typical day look like for you? And how do you get everything done? I used to have a fairly rigid schedule. Isabella has taken over that job. She gets paid for that. She enjoys doing that. I used to go to the office first thing in the morning. You know, I woke up and right to the office with a cup of coffee.

[00:00:16] Monday is my planning day, meaning that on Monday I would plan out the rest of the week. And I've come to realize, you know, it's not gonna work for me. It's too stressful at the end of the day. I want to enjoy every single thing that I do. A meal, very high in protein. I always have a lot of protein. But then also carbohydrates.

[00:00:31] That's what I then have for dinner. And it doesn't follow a rigid schedule. But generally speaking, I do CrossFit two to three times a week. In the afternoon, I'm gonna go into the sauna. And likely I'm gonna jump into the cold plunge as well, just as a recovery. It makes me happy. And if the sun happens to be shining as well, I take off my shirt so I get my sun exposure.

[00:00:50] Then there are obviously, you know, random activities that at the end of the day, you know, fill in the gaps of my exercise routine. You're listening to the Primal Shift Podcast. [00:01:00] I'm your host, Michael Kummer, and my goal is to help you achieve optimal health by bridging the gap between ancestral living and the demands of modern society.

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[00:01:30] There always zero one peptide is scientifically proven to target cellular aging, helping your skin look, feel, and behave as if it was younger. As a listener, you get 15% of your first One Skin purchase with code mku@oneskin.co. That's O-N-E-S-K-I-N.com And now let's get back to the episode.

Michael, what does a typical day look like for you and how do you get everything done, including blogging and podcasting and raising animals for food, homeschooling and exercising and [00:02:00] running a supplements business?

[00:02:01] Hey, welcome back to another episode of the Primal Shift Podcast, in which I'll share with you what a typical day, if there is such a thing, looks like for me, including my morning routine, my exercise and wellness routine, meal timing, as well as my work schedule, you know, like the stuff that, you know, makes money like recording this podcast here.

[00:02:19] Now, I should say that I used to have a fairly rigid schedule in the past until I figured out that rigidity ain't working for me. Now I follow more of a framework where, you know, I know that I have certain tasks that I would like to get done, that I love doing, and that have to get done, but Within a certain timeframe and that timeframe enjoys some flexibility, you know, it could be a day, it could be a week, it could be a month, whatever.

[00:02:43] So I, I try to allow some flexibility there that allows me to get the stuff done, but at the same time, keep my stress levels low and don't, you know, be just chasing to do's and be stressed out all the time. And also it allows me to, you know, account [00:03:00] for stuff that I hadn't planned. Like for example, the flooding of our rabbit hutch the other day.

[00:03:04] So whenever that happens, you know, stuff like that happens, and I suddenly need to take a day off, you know, to do something very important, you know, get all the water out and, and figure out a way that, you know, rabbits don't flood anymore, then, you know, that needs to be taken into account because that pushes everything else back.

[00:03:20] So let's start with my morning routine, you know, how that looks like. I typically wake up between 5. 30 Now that's, I know that's a, you know, two hours, that's a long time and obviously that doesn't mean that one day I wake up at 5. 30 and then the next day at 7. 30. I have a fairly consistent sleep and wake time.

[00:03:38] But, that sleep and wake time changes with the season, so depending on the availability of light, so if it's light for longer in the evening, I might go to bed a little later, I might wake up a little later, it depends on how I feel, right now, you know, I get up between 5. 30 and 6 usually, within that 30 minute time frame, but there was a time just a couple of [00:04:00] months ago, where I would sleep in until 7 or even 7.

[00:04:04] because my body needed it. I felt best doing that way. Now I feel better getting up earlier. But, you know, roughly between 5. 30 and 7. 30 is when I get up on a given day. Usually after I get up, get dressed and do one of a couple of things. Often I grab a cup of coffee, either just black or with cream and I walk the dog.

[00:04:24] I actually started doing this first thing in the morning to get out, well, especially now in winter, you know, while I'm recording this, it's pitch black outside and I've really come to enjoy Walking the dog in the dark and it's a, you know, a different experience. You know, your, your senses work differently because it's pitch black.

[00:04:42] You know, you need to rely more on your, maybe your ears. Maybe your smell, uh, and you know, you really need to focus on what's in front of you so you don't trip. So I, you know, that's typically what I do first thing in the morning. And the advantage of doing this is over just, you know, going to the computer or picking up my phone immediately or starting to work.

[00:04:58] Generally speaking [00:05:00] is that I get time to, you know, sort my mind, to sort my thoughts, to be in nature already. To have, you know, the dog taken care of. I know that he already had his walk, so you know, once I come back, I can worry about other things, and I don't have to think about, oh, you know, I need to walk the dog too.

[00:05:17] And then when I come back, I typically see if Isabella, our ten year old daughter, needs help with the morning chores. I used to do the morning chores, meaning, go down, you know, make sure the animals have food, water. Everyone is healthy. Everyone is taken care of, you know, do like a whole, you know, 30 minute kind of routine to make sure that every, you know, all, all our livestock is, is doing well.

[00:05:37] Isabella has taken over that job. She gets paid for that. She enjoys doing that. And she, you know, gets to invest half of what she earns into exchange rated funds at the age of 10 already. And I absolutely love that. And I have less work. So I really like it. But, you know, occasionally, you know, she needs help, you know, I see what she needs, you know, answer any questions, whatever, maybe at some, you know, go down with her, but usually.

[00:05:56] She takes care of that. Then I go brush my teeth, and I try to do this in a [00:06:00] deep squat, and I know this sounds funny, but, you know, if you have a lot going on, like I do, you know, I try to squeeze in as much productivity as I possibly can, and mobility work, I've mentioned it in previous episodes, is one of the things that I want to pay more attention to, but sometimes, or very often, um, You know, I just, it's just not high enough on my priority list, unfortunately, and it gets pushed away.

[00:06:24] But by figuring out how I can work mobility into my daily routine, like while I'm brushing my teeth for two minutes, I'm in a deep squat, I rock back and forth, it opens the hips, it stretches my ankles, you know, and my Achilles tendon and you know, everything, all the little muscles down there. So I already get some mobility work in, you know, not first thing in the morning, but relatively early in the morning and I don't have to spend any extra time on it.

[00:06:47] And I actually feel great after getting up. I'm like, I'm loose. I'm, I feel just so much better. You know, if you combine the walking and the deep squatting in the morning, you just feel much, much better, especially on days, then when I go work out [00:07:00] and it's time for a potty break and I either get ready for the gym or I go to the office, you know, and after that I have breakfast with the rest of the gang.

[00:07:07] We all sit together, you know, enjoy breakfast, talk about what's, you know, what's going to happen if we need to, you know, assist each other, whatever, help each other during the day. And that's it. I used to go to the office first thing in the morning. You know, I woke up and right to the office with a cup of coffee to start working, to get as much done before everyone else got up.

[00:07:24] And I realized that actually negative, I mean, I was productive, don't get me wrong, but it negatively impacted my stress level. And so I feel much better not being. Stressed first thing in the morning by work, by comments, by emails, whatever, but just going for a walk and doing some other things. And it's been an absolute game changer and I love it.

[00:07:42] Speaking of work, obviously, you know, I like working, I love working and I need to work and so the way I've structured my work schedule is that I have certain days where I try to do certain things that are associated with blogging, with the supplements business, with the Kummer [00:08:00] Homestead, you know, channel and outlets and the blog, et cetera.

[00:08:02] And I used to, and this is maybe another nugget that hopefully you can consider and take into account, you know, depending on how you structure your workload, even though, you know, yours might look completely different than mine, but I used to take Monday as my planning day, meaning that on Monday I would plan out the rest of the week, I would maybe outline my blog posts, my YouTube videos, my podcast episodes, whatever I wanted to, you know, record, write, Etc during the week.

[00:08:30] I would take care on Monday. I would go through my photos, you know, organize everything, see what, you know, some of my And I'm a video editor or my, my general editor, you know, would need, you know, for blog posts, for videos, et cetera, I would organize everything. I would organize my tasks, um, everything I had to do.

[00:08:45] And I've realized that there was so much organizational stuff going on, so much planning going on that I often then didn't get to other things like responding to emails, like responding to comments. There was just a lot [00:09:00] going on on Monday. And I felt really, really stressed by the end of the day, especially on those days where I didn't get my stuff done.

[00:09:07] Like, you know, I went through a lot of my tasks, but then I still had 20 tasks on my to do list that I didn't even get to take a look at, you know, until it was dinner time and that really frustrated me and I realized that, you know, doing all of that work on Monday and setting the tone for the rest of the week, it's just a bad idea.

[00:09:26] So I switched everything around and now I'm doing my planning on Friday. And preload some of my work, like, you know, today is Monday and I'm already record this podcast episode. So Monday have become my podcasting, my podcast recording episodes, and I really keep it low key and low stress. I record the podcast, I do some administrative work, I respond to emails and that's pretty much it.

[00:09:48] That's my Monday. You know, so Monday is the easiest day of the week now. And I really like this because again, it sets the tone for the rest of the week. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are usually my writing [00:10:00] days, meaning that I write new blog posts for the blog, I update old ones, I, you know, restructure old ones, whatever it takes, and I usually spend a couple of hours a day on doing that.

[00:10:10] Both for my main blog, you know, MichaelKummer. com, as well as for the KummerHomestead. com. So I, you know, maybe spend, you know, three, maybe four hours tops on writing. Blog content on those two days respectively. On Thursday is my video recording day, you know, that includes, you know, the long form videos for my main channel for the Kummer Homesteading channel and, you know, shorts and I, you know, Instagram reels, etc.

[00:10:36] So all of that stuff happens on Thursday and I usually try to record one or two videos, you know, I don't, again, I, I usually really stuffed, you know, those days full of content. And I've come to realize, you know, you know, it's, it's, it's not going to work for me. It's too stressful at the end of the day. I want to enjoy everything, every single thing that I do.

[00:10:55] And I don't want to get to a point where I'm like, Oh, you know, now I have to, I never want to have [00:11:00] that have to feeling. I always try to stay in the want to, you know, and that's not always easy, but at least that's what I try. And on the weekends, that's usually reserved, reserved for homesteading, you know, chores.

[00:11:12] Like, you know, building new structures, you know, doing something, you know, that takes a lot of time with the animals, you know, whatever it can, typically outdoor stuff, gardening, you know, taking care of any emergencies that, you know, I didn't get to during the week that need to get done, but otherwise it's very much family time.

[00:11:29] Meal timing wise, I typically eat two meals a day. Um, that's what I feel pretty good with, meaning that I have breakfast usually around 10 a. m. Sometimes it's earlier, sometimes it's later, sometimes it's, you know, more like lunch than breakfast. But around 10 a. m. is on average when I have my first meal and that often coincides with either a post workout or, you know, getting my first bout of, you know, work done in the office and then I go out and we all have family and we all have breakfast together.

[00:11:59] And [00:12:00] my, my meal, my first meal is typically very high in protein and fat and I usually don't have carbs in the morning. Reason being that without carbs, my energy levels remain incredibly stable. There are some exceptions when I have incredibly intense workouts where I depleted, you know, a lot of my glycogen.

[00:12:18] I might have some carbs in the form of, you know, raw honey. either with breakfast or very often then, you know, later in the early afternoon. So if I feel like, you know, like 1 p. m. or so, or 2 p. m., I feel like, okay, my, you know, now I feel like, you know, my body has run out of glycogen and it's starting to, you know, gluconeogenesis is starting to kick in and it's not going as fast as I want it to, I might have some carbs there.

[00:12:43] But usually morning is protein and fat and then in the evening for dinner, which is typically between five and six again Sometimes earlier like yesterday. We went to a restaurant. We ate out and we had our reservation at 415 We were actually back by six and sometimes it's a little later We come home late, whatever [00:13:00] but doing five and six usually it's a again a meal very high in protein I always have A lot of protein, but then also carbohydrates.

[00:13:09] That's what I then have for, I don't really snack in between. I mean, occasionally I do, and then notice it. Most of my snacking stems from stress and anxiety. So if I have a very stressful day, I feel like I need to eat something in the afternoon. And whenever I realize that, I'm like, Hmm, again, you know, that's stress.

[00:13:32] It's time to de stress. It's time to do something. And, you know, instead of just going and then having something that, you know. Well, we don't really have anything at home that I shouldn't be having. But I've noticed that by just getting a boiled egg and, you know, dunking it in salt and having that, the combination of salt and the protein and the fat of the egg takes care of any graving.

[00:13:53] And it's actually an incredibly healthy snack. You know, it's again, protein and fat with the salt. I think that really helps to take the edge off. [00:14:00] Um, and that's what I would recommend, you know, if you have those afternoon cravings or whatever, you know, cook, you know, 10 hard boiled eggs, you know, ahead of time, keep them in the fridge and then have one or two.

[00:14:09] The other day I had two. And some extra, you know, bacon with it and that took care of my, you know, afternoon snack, but usually two meals a day. In terms of exercise and wellness routine, I used to have actually right next to me, you can see it in the frame, but right next to me I have a whiteboard and on it I had like all of the things, the wellness routines that I wanted to get done within a week.

[00:14:34] You know, including, you know, CrossFit. Cold plunging, sauna bathing, stretching, you know, my, my, uh, re hits, exercise bike that I have in the basement, the carol bike that I have reviewed and I had all of those things on the list and I'm like, okay, and I had like a goal of, you know, 57 minutes of sauna, you know, 11 minutes of cold plunge accumulated, you know, 60 minutes of, or 90 minutes [00:15:00] of workout, you know, whatever, 60 minutes of stretching in a week.

[00:15:03] And I realized also that by having this rigid kind of routine, you It was stressful because I was chasing after checking off those things. And I'm like, no, I don't do this anymore. So now my exercise routine and wellness routine is very much not random, but there is a certain randomness to it and it doesn't follow a rigid schedule.

[00:15:22] But generally speaking, I do CrossFit two to three times a week based on how I feel. Meaning that, you know, I decide in the morning, usually, if I want to go workout or if I don't. And my work schedule obviously influences that as well, so how I feel and what I want to get done on a certain day, that determines if I go workout or not.

[00:15:45] One thing that's relatively consistent is my walking routine. So I walk the dog twice a day for 45 minutes each, typically in the morning and in the afternoon. I mentioned, you know, I've started doing this. First thing in the morning, while it's still dark, at least in winter, and [00:16:00] then in the afternoon again.

[00:16:02] And for me, that's a mental break. It's exercise, obviously. It's a very low impact exercise. I've come to realize that by just going for a walk, I'm burning 250 calories, you know. And, and, and I get my, my, you know, every day I get like 12, 000 steps or whatever in total. And I mean, it's not that I only walk and then I sit for the rest of the day.

[00:16:21] I'm fairly active throughout the day, but those two walks are really, have been a game changer in terms of My exercise routine, my movement routine, and my sanity, you know, because I have time to think and decompress. And sometimes when I feel like, well, you know, today was really a day I wanted to do CrossFit, I wanted to push a little bit, but I didn't get the chance for whatever reason.

[00:16:41] I put on body armor, you know, I have a vest that happens to weigh around 20 pounds. So it's, uh, it's technically body armor, but it's also like a weight vest, if you will. And I just wear that and walk the dog, you know, so it's, you know, and it goes up and down, you know, so I get extra, I burn extra calories because it's extra effort.

[00:16:58] Sometimes, you [00:17:00] know, I run a little bit with that vest, you know, I maybe do some sprints in between, you know, then walk again. But it's, it's, it's amps up, you know, the ante a little bit, uh, without being too intense on my joints. Sauna and cold plunging, I really do it based on how I feel. You know, if I feel like, oh, you know, like today, for example, I just did a workout this morning and I'm absolutely crushed.

[00:17:21] In the afternoon, I'm going to go into the sauna. And likely I'm going to jump into the cold plunge as well, just as a recovery, uh, mechanism, as a recovery method. You know, but otherwise I don't have a fixed schedule. I try to roughly get to the 57 minutes of sauna bathing and, you know, the cold plunging 11 ish minutes or so, but if I don't get to it in a week at all, I'm perfectly fine with that.

[00:17:42] I know I have it and I do it as I. feel, and based on how my body, you know, responds to those stressors at the end of the day. Stretching is also another thing that I try to do as much as I can, you know, again, starting with, you know, the deep squatting in the morning while brushing my teeth. My goal is to do some [00:18:00] mobility work every day, but realistically it's two to three times a week, very often together with my wife, because we've both the same, you know, Program or app that we use.

[00:18:08] And it's, um, it's definitely something that I want to focus more on. I've mentioned this in previous episodes because mobility as you age declines, especially if you maintain a relatively Um, intense workout regimen, you know, I lift heavy weights. I do a lot of high intensity stuff, relatively speaking.

[00:18:27] And so mobility is important, you know, to be able to move without pain. As far as my brain breaks go, you know, sometimes, you know, even though I, you know, walk the dog in the morning, but then I, you know, I might sit in the office for an extended period, but I try to at least once or twice a day where I go out in the backyard, you know, I check and on the animals or just watch them just sit down again, maybe in a deep squat.

[00:18:52] And just watch what they are doing. And it's, it's soothing. It's fun. It, it really, it makes me happy and if [00:19:00] the sun happens to be shining as well, I take off my shirt so I get my sun exposure, I get my dose of, you know, animal cuteness, uh, and that's really an important factor and an important part of, you know, maintaining my mental health and maintaining my sanity at the end of the day because my day is typically packed with a lot of things and by doing that, by

[00:19:24] who just do what they do because they like it, you know, and, and, and it's just a beautiful thing and, and, you know, you might not have animals at home to do this, but just getting out and, you know, observing, you know, nature, you know, observing the birds, observing, you know, whatever, you know, I always, you know, stop when I see geese flying overhead and I'm like, you know, and I just watch, you know, the, you know, how majestic they are, I mean, you see animals around you, I suppose, and so even if you don't have your own animals, just go outside, you know, and take a few minutes in a couple of times a day, you and do this and I guarantee you it's going to help you.

[00:19:58] Um, stay sane and [00:20:00] disconnect and lower your stress levels. Then there are obviously, you know, random activities that at the end of the day, you know, fill in the gaps of my exercise routine or said differently, allows me to not go to the gym every single day because I do those things like carrying feedback.

[00:20:14] You know, every so often, you know, there are We get a shipment of, you know, maybe five, six, you know, 50 pound bags, you know, and guess what, you know, I pick them up one by one, or even sometimes two, and I bring them from the front of the house to the back, or I have to put them into the respective container, you know, shoveling dirt, I don't know how often we've been shoveling dirt and wood chips and stuff.

[00:20:32] And all of those things really, you know, adds to my fitness routine and allow me to not go to the gym every single day. And that's really my goal after all, with health and wellness, to Live in an environment, to set yourself up in an environment that's conducive to just movement, just exercise without you having to take time out of your day to go to the gym.

[00:20:53] You know, ultimately I only do CrossFit because, you know, to compensate for the things that I don't get to do on a daily basis because [00:21:00] my main job is to sit in front of a computer, you know. But the more I can do things outside, the less I feel like I have to work out and, you know, just based on how I feel, how I look, how my physique is, how I perform in the gym, it seems to be working beautifully, you know.

[00:21:13] So, evening routine then. You know, we've done a lot of stuff during the day already, now what's happening in the evening? Well, one of the things we do is, you know, collect eggs. That's again another opportunity to get out, you know, interact with animals, observe animals, you know, maybe go with the kids, go with the wife, you know, just do a round in the evening, check, you know, everything is, that everything is good, collect eggs and be happy that we have eggs.

[00:21:33] Food that we, you know, grew to eat the next morning. Then we have dinner, um, usually all together as well. You know, we try to have every meal as much as possible, you know, together as a family. And fortunately, you know, our kids are homeschooled. You know, we, both my wife and I are home. So we, we have that opportunity and we appreciate and enjoy that.

[00:21:53] We feed the dog, you know, that's also, you know, now it's finally time for him to eat. He only eats once a day. a lot, though he [00:22:00] eats like three pounds, three ounces of raw meat, bones and organs and eggs, egg yolks. And so we feed him, we get the geese in, I mean that, usually we do that when we go down and do our evening round, you know, we get the geese in for the night, so they are, you know, safe and secure and, you know, not, not gonna be attacked by a raccoon or something.

[00:22:17] We get the kids ready for bed, you know, including reading a book and, you know, Answering questions, talking to them, you know, hearing what they have to say, what they, their fears and, and what have you, what's, you know, stress them out, uh, what they've been playing, etc. And then, you know, I sit down with Kathy on the couch with a cup of tea and we talk or we watch, you know, an episode of our, you know, then favorite show, whatever that might be.

[00:22:42] And then we go to bed, usually around 9pm. Again, sometimes it's more like 8. 30. Sometimes it's more like 9. 30, but usually within, between 8. 30 and 9. 30, we are in bed. If we go earlier, you know, we read a book. I mean, Kathy really reads almost every night. I read if [00:23:00] I'm not tired enough and if we go to bed early.

[00:23:03] If it's already 9 when we go to bed, I don't read. I prefer getting my sleep. And so I catch up on reading during the day, but then, you know, lights out at roughly 9 p. m. Some of the other things that, you know, we do throughout the day that just, you know, are just part of being in a family setting is, you know, assist the kids with stuff related to homeschooling, you know, answering questions.

[00:23:24] And if they have issues with, you know, their math or whatever they are doing, we unschool really. It's not really homeschooling, so we don't have a set curriculum, but we do have a certain, you know, like math, for example, you know, we follow a certain You know, math curriculum to make sure we cover all the bases, but beyond that they very much do what they want, you know, in terms of projects, in terms of learning new things, and we just assist.

[00:23:45] So whenever they come to us and say, hey, how does, you know, whatever, you know, how do dinosaurs turn into fossils, you know? So then we go and, you know, get books, you know, see if we can find documentaries or, you know, YouTube videos or what have you, help them, [00:24:00] you know, figure out what's going on. I assist, you know, obviously then, you know, work with Kathy, you know, on anything parenting related on, you know, homeschooling and travel planning, et cetera, we need to pick up raw milk, you know, and then some, you know, sometimes groceries, you know, depending on, on, on what we need respond to emails and comments, you know, bookkeeping, just a regular administrative things, you know, making sure we have enough, you know, supplements in our warehouse so we can, you know, fulfill orders, et cetera.

[00:24:24] So all of that stuff, you know, gets weaved in between typically. Yeah. around my, you know, writing and recording blocks. So either before or after the constant battle, really, in terms of maintaining that schedule and making it so that I really enjoy what I'm doing is to figure out and decide what not to do.

[00:24:45] You know, it's obviously important to decide what I want to do, but very often the more challenging aspect is deciding what not to do, because I truly believe that productivity is about all the things that you don't do. You know, everything is shiny. [00:25:00] Everything is interesting or seems interesting at first.

[00:25:02] And there are like a thousand things that I could do more than what I do. But realistically, it's not going to happen. I don't have the time, you know, so I really need to decide what is it that I want to do, most importantly. Second, you know, what is the return and invest, either, you know, emotionally, financially, whatever the case might be.

[00:25:20] What is mission critical, you know, to maintain, you know, business and you know, everything that we have here to maintain the, you know, make sure our animals are happy, etc. And then reduce all the tasks that don't fall into either of those categories. So anything that's like nice to have, that's like, you know, yes, we could, but not really is what keeps me sane.

[00:25:40] And, and, and that has really been a lesson that it took me a while to learn to, to not do most of the things that are presented to me. Especially in the business world, you get emails every day and emails are really someone else's to do list that they put on your desk. And if I get an email from someone, they want me to do something, you know, and I [00:26:00] didn't ask for the task.

[00:26:01] So you, I really have to be cautious in a, when I respond to emails, how I respond, if I respond at all, you know, and, and if I want to make this part of my, or add this to my to do list and by learning to not do most of the things. You know, I had a much, I have a much easier life. And with that, we're going to wrap it up.

[00:26:22] I hope you learned something. I always find it interesting. You know, when I, when I learn more about how other people do things, how they get stuff done, how it's sometimes I wonder, how is it possible that you get all of this stuff done in only 24 hours that each day has? And so, you know, I'm hoping that by sharing some of the things that I do and how I do it, that, you know, you can maybe apply some of that to yourself, maybe streamline some of the things that you do to maybe do some things differently, to be more productive, happier, and to pick more of the things that you really want to do versus the ones that you think like you have to do.

[00:26:52] And with that, again, we're going to wrap it up. Hope you enjoyed this episode, and I hope I'll see you in the next [00:27:00] one.