Speaker 1: Joel, You know, Labor Day. That was one of those
Speaker 1: holidays that I had a difficult time remembering when it
Speaker 1: was Memorial Day. In Labor Day when I first entered
Speaker 1: into adulthood with my first job, I remember thinking, wait,
Speaker 1: is that the holiday that's in the fall or we
Speaker 1: talked about the one that's in the spring. I don't
Speaker 1: think you're the only one who gets so confused. I
Speaker 1: also never remember are you supposed to wear white? Yes
Speaker 1: after Labor Day or no? After Labor Day? I don't
Speaker 1: I don't know the fashion rules. Well I remember now
Speaker 1: because with our youngest, our son, he was born Labor
Speaker 1: Day week, and so now forever I will remember that
Speaker 1: Labor Day is, in fact the holiday here in the fall.
Speaker 1: Of course, this is when we celebrate all of the
Speaker 1: folks out there who are working hard to support themselves
Speaker 1: and their families as well. And yeah, we decided that
Speaker 1: what better way for us to celebrate Labor Day and
Speaker 1: then to take some time off and and not prepare
Speaker 1: for an entirely new episode instead spend some extra time
Speaker 1: with our families, maybe going some other adventures that we
Speaker 1: had in mind. So even though we released a new
Speaker 1: episode on Monday of this week. We're like, all right, well,
Speaker 1: we're gonna take Monday off and not recorded episode for Wednesday,
Speaker 1: and so every of knows we I mean, we record
Speaker 1: slightly ahead of time. Yeah, we're not recording on the
Speaker 1: exact same day, right, So and because of that also
Speaker 1: we we we feel like we had a perfect episode
Speaker 1: that fit right for the Labor Day week. And and
Speaker 1: this one in particular is about striving for work life
Speaker 1: balance and matter. A lot of people, I think have
Speaker 1: found that harder to come by in working from home
Speaker 1: COVID times, the lines are a little bit blurred for
Speaker 1: a lot of people, a lot more blurred some people
Speaker 1: still working from their beds or off their couch, which
Speaker 1: you know, we've had other episodes with experts like Laura
Speaker 1: Vanderkamp about how to work from home effectively, But this
Speaker 1: in particular is an episode that you and I did
Speaker 1: about what it looks like to achieve balance in your life.
Speaker 1: And I think, yeah, all work and no play makes
Speaker 1: us dull people, and so finding that balance, striking that
Speaker 1: balance is really important for our own mental health and
Speaker 1: for the general well being of our families. That's right,
Speaker 1: And we'll have a fresh Friday Flight episode for you
Speaker 1: here on Friday, so you can look forward to that. So, Joel,
Speaker 1: without any further ado, striving for Work Life Balance. Welcome
Speaker 1: to How the Money. I'm Joel and I'm Matt, and
Speaker 1: today we're discussing striving for work life Balance. Yeah, Joel,
Speaker 1: the percentage of professional college educated workers working over fifty
Speaker 1: hours a week and that has dramatically increased over the
Speaker 1: past few decades. And I think this is something our
Speaker 1: listeners can resonate with as well. I'm sure there have
Speaker 1: been times in everyone's life where you feel like you're
Speaker 1: just working way too much, and so I think it's
Speaker 1: great that we're gonna discuss some of the things that
Speaker 1: can lead to over working in that imbalance in our
Speaker 1: work life balance, as well as things that we can
Speaker 1: do to fix that as well. Yeah, for sure, I
Speaker 1: think it's gonna be a great conversation. I'm looking forward
Speaker 1: to it. But Matt, before we get to that, you
Speaker 1: just got a new bike for you, a little five
Speaker 1: year old and it looks pretty sweet. Tell me more
Speaker 1: about it is very sweet, man. Yeah, Well, so Clover,
Speaker 1: she has been really into biking, like she rides like
Speaker 1: we have a little balance bike that we only keep
Speaker 1: inside the house. It's like this, it stays clean, it's
Speaker 1: really lightweight, and we're like, no, you can't take that
Speaker 1: bike outside, but she rides it all the time inside
Speaker 1: and need somewhere outside. She also loves riding on the
Speaker 1: balance bike, and so you know, we thought for her birthday,
Speaker 1: she like, she's a perfect candidate for you know, stepping
Speaker 1: it up to the next level, skipping the training wheels
Speaker 1: and going with this fancy bike that I came across
Speaker 1: a few years ago. It's it's by this company called Womb. Well,
Speaker 1: I will say to the whole reason behind balance bikes,
Speaker 1: the purposes to skip training wheels all together. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of arguments out there that say that,
Speaker 1: I mean, the balance is the hardest part, so it
Speaker 1: can be a lot easier for folks to skip training
Speaker 1: wheels all together and goes straight to like a big
Speaker 1: kid bike. Like I mentioned though, So womb is this
Speaker 1: company that came across a few years ago, and they
Speaker 1: make bikes specifically for like little kids. The center of
Speaker 1: gravity is really low to the ground and the little cranks,
Speaker 1: you know, like they got their little feet pedaling. They're
Speaker 1: also really short, so that the you know their feet
Speaker 1: are always close to the ground in case they need
Speaker 1: to kind of set feet down for like a quick stop.
Speaker 1: They've just thought through all these different design decisions with
Speaker 1: like a little kid writer in mind. But here's the thing, man,
Speaker 1: these bikes are not cheap. Like this is not a
Speaker 1: frugal or cheap segment. This is more like a splurge
Speaker 1: segment of our show, because like, these bikes can cost
Speaker 1: a few hundred bucks for the little ones, like for
Speaker 1: the littlest ones, And I will say I was a
Speaker 1: little bit more frugal this particular company. They have a
Speaker 1: a nice eBay store where they do sell some used ones.
Speaker 1: They don't have a ton of them, and so that's
Speaker 1: where we actually purchased hours for Clover. But I think
Speaker 1: it's good for us to to talk about this because
Speaker 1: we talk about biking a lot, right, Like It's something
Speaker 1: that you and I that we both value. It's something
Speaker 1: that I want to see, you know, as part of
Speaker 1: my family culture. And yes, these little bikes are pretty expensive,
Speaker 1: But what I'm specifically looking for is is for you know,
Speaker 1: my kids to have a great experience as they learned
Speaker 1: how to ride bikes. So that is something that they
Speaker 1: can take to a little more easily, right than if
Speaker 1: they were to you know, pick up that secondhand huffy
Speaker 1: which we hat picks up literally on the side of
Speaker 1: the road. Like I've got three or four bikes in
Speaker 1: our cross base in our basement because folks, I mean,
Speaker 1: they toss them out. It's like, oh, this is a great,
Speaker 1: perfectly fine bike, but in fact they're crazy heavy. You
Speaker 1: know that these wound bikes are really lightweight. They're not
Speaker 1: designed for new riders in mind, like and a lot
Speaker 1: of times do they have the coaster break, which you know,
Speaker 1: kid bikes in the US they're required to have a
Speaker 1: coaster break. But again there's all these reports talking about
Speaker 1: how like that is a more difficult way for a
Speaker 1: kid to stop the bike because it puts them off balance.
Speaker 1: And so all of their bikes they have actual handbrakes. Uh,
Speaker 1: start teaching them from an early age that that is
Speaker 1: how you stop the bike. Yeah, that's great, And I
Speaker 1: think it's always good for us to be able to
Speaker 1: share the ways in which we have spent more money
Speaker 1: and potentially regretted it, and and then and then the
Speaker 1: ways in which we've spent more money and we feel
Speaker 1: like it's really paid off. And it sounds like this
Speaker 1: bike for Clover has been just this step up from
Speaker 1: the balance bike, and that she's really enjoying bike riding.
Speaker 1: She loves it, like literally, I mean, it's been raining
Speaker 1: a lot recently, but every stinking day after school she
Speaker 1: wants to go outside and ride her bike. And I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, it's been raining for like five days in
Speaker 1: a row. We can't go out again. But no joke.
Speaker 1: When we first got it, it took her two or
Speaker 1: three minutes to get started riding on that thing. And
Speaker 1: you could not have seen me smiling any bigger than
Speaker 1: you know, seeing one of my kids ride a bike,
Speaker 1: ride a big kid bike for the first time ever.
Speaker 1: I was so proud, so happy. And it's totally worth
Speaker 1: the money when that happens, right, Yes, that's a great
Speaker 1: investment right there, And truly is I mean, we we
Speaker 1: we I'm kind of finicky about using the word investment,
Speaker 1: but really I really only want to use it and
Speaker 1: when I'm talking about something that is going to pay
Speaker 1: off in the end, uh, And we use investment about
Speaker 1: buying couches or just stupid stuff that actually isn't really
Speaker 1: an investment. But but a bike is kind of an
Speaker 1: investment in your kids future for loving biking. That's going
Speaker 1: to save them money in the long term. So I
Speaker 1: think I can use it appropriately in that context. Yeah, Man,
Speaker 1: It's something else that I feel like you could get behind,
Speaker 1: is that this specific bike, it's gonna work for two
Speaker 1: other kids. Like, We've got two more kids who will
Speaker 1: be able to ride on that bike. And so when
Speaker 1: you know that you can take a purchase like that
Speaker 1: and stretch it out, You're not just dividing it by
Speaker 1: one kid, You're dividing it by three kids. That is
Speaker 1: a lot of use. And uh we I'll let you
Speaker 1: guys borrow it soon as well, so you can kind
Speaker 1: of get a field for it. Man, it sounds good.
Speaker 1: I get you on board, all right, Matt, let's talk
Speaker 1: about the beer that we're having on the show today.
Speaker 1: Our friends Waffles on Wednesday. They write a blog about
Speaker 1: pursuing financial independence, and they tossed a beer away last
Speaker 1: time they were in town. This one's called I learned
Speaker 1: it by watching you, and it's a collaboration by literally
Speaker 1: two of our favorite breweries, Burial and Other Half. I've
Speaker 1: been to both breweries, Matt, and I love what these
Speaker 1: guys are pumping out, and I'm excited to try this
Speaker 1: one that they've created together with you. Today on the show,
Speaker 1: my friend yeah man, And you may have noticed, I'm
Speaker 1: wearing my other half half like I do so often
Speaker 1: these days, stepping that swag. I really like that brewery man,
Speaker 1: the other half up in Brooklyn. They're really good, so good,
Speaker 1: so good. All right, Matt, let's get onto the topic
Speaker 1: at hand. Today on the show, we're talking about striving
Speaker 1: for work life balance. And I will say that work
Speaker 1: life balance, well, it's it's not really the most popular
Speaker 1: term when we're discussing this topic anymore. You know. We
Speaker 1: had author Kurt Steinhorst on recently and he prefers to
Speaker 1: discuss how you can integrate the worlds of work in life.
Speaker 1: So he's talking about work life integration and I understand that.
Speaker 1: I understand why he's choosing those terms instead, but I
Speaker 1: still appreciate the desire to achieve work life balance in
Speaker 1: our lives, and I think striving for balance in and
Speaker 1: of itself, it takes effort, right, It's like pursuing margin,
Speaker 1: And we talked about that the very first episode of
Speaker 1: this year. It feels like we're a salmon like swimming
Speaker 1: upstream fighting the current. It's not easy, but but it's possible,
Speaker 1: and I think it's worth making that effort because all
Speaker 1: work and no play, well, it makes us really dull.
Speaker 1: And this effort, well, it might feel very much like
Speaker 1: a pendulum at times where we never quite hit it
Speaker 1: exactly right. So while there's not really any sort of
Speaker 1: silver bullet, I don't think that we're gonna offer up
Speaker 1: in this episode, Matt when it comes to the question
Speaker 1: of work life balance and how to find it, we
Speaker 1: can at least find ways to help ourselves achieve more balance,
Speaker 1: just a greater level of it in our everyday lives. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: this is something I definitely want to make sure that
Speaker 1: I am striving after myself, because in a culture that
Speaker 1: idolizes work, we find ourselves chronically fatigued and exhausted because
Speaker 1: we give too much of ourselves to our work while
Speaker 1: leaving little left for ourselves and for the folks around us.
Speaker 1: Like most Americans don't even take all of their vacation time,
Speaker 1: and when they do, they find it impossible to actually
Speaker 1: stop working. When we do that, that leads to burnout.
Speaker 1: Burnout can cause us to make worse decisions, and then
Speaker 1: oftentimes that causes us to become impulsive with our money.
Speaker 1: So this is really important stuff for us to talk about.
Speaker 1: And so regardless of the job that you have and
Speaker 1: what fields you're in, I think there is room for
Speaker 1: more balance and striving after that in all of our lives. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, So Matt, let's talk about some of the
Speaker 1: symptoms that someone might be experiencing that would indicate a
Speaker 1: lack of balance in their lives. I feel like I'm
Speaker 1: a doctor or something trying to diagnose somebody right now.
Speaker 1: But I think you know some of these symptoms that
Speaker 1: we're gonna discuss here, well, the ones that you and
Speaker 1: I have experienced before, because we're normal human beings that
Speaker 1: have prioritized work over life at different times. Finding that
Speaker 1: balance is hard to do, and and we know these
Speaker 1: symptoms because there are things we've dealt with over time,
Speaker 1: or maybe we're even dealing with now. I mean, let's
Speaker 1: be honest, you know, like launching a podcast and trying
Speaker 1: to maintain that while we have full time jobs, new
Speaker 1: more children. It's not super easy. And so like, these
Speaker 1: are things that are are kind of hitting close to
Speaker 1: home for us and so I think maybe for both
Speaker 1: of us this is a good reminder to to keep
Speaker 1: our eyes open to some of these different signs. Yeah
Speaker 1: for sure. So all right, those symptoms. Let's start with stress.
Speaker 1: That's an obvious one, right, being consistently stressed out, that's
Speaker 1: a major indicator that we might be working too much.
Speaker 1: And depending on the individual, well, this stress can manifest
Speaker 1: itself in all sorts of ways, and that can be debilitating,
Speaker 1: like an inability to get proper sleep every night. So
Speaker 1: if we find it hard to rest, what's a good
Speaker 1: chance that we're working too much and enjoying life too little. Yea.
Speaker 1: And stress can leads to physical pain as well, that
Speaker 1: you know, like physical being that we actually experienced in
Speaker 1: our bodies, right, like headaches, that strain that you feel
Speaker 1: in your neck, like if you're sitting there at the office,
Speaker 1: you know it kind of hunched over in your chair,
Speaker 1: staring at your computer. It can have a literal effect
Speaker 1: on our stomachs, ability to digest food properly, and it
Speaker 1: even affects our health and more serious ways as well,
Speaker 1: Like it's documented that working more than fifty five hours
Speaker 1: a week that raises our risk of heart attack and stroke.
Speaker 1: By a significant amounts. Man, this is serious stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we talk about money, right, but money isn't as important
Speaker 1: as your life. And I think when we're super stressed
Speaker 1: out because we're working too much and too much of
Speaker 1: our faculties, too much of our focus, too much of
Speaker 1: our attention is going to our everyday nine to five,
Speaker 1: but it turns into more like an eight to seven
Speaker 1: or something like that, then it is going to lead
Speaker 1: to a lot of unhealthiness. And that stuff impacts your wallet,
Speaker 1: but more than anything, it just impacts the way you feel,
Speaker 1: It impacts the way you move through life, and it
Speaker 1: just makes life a whole lot less fun. And so yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it really is important to talk about this
Speaker 1: topic from a bunch of different angles today. And that
Speaker 1: leads into one of the next symptoms that people often
Speaker 1: experience when they're overworked and they're lacking balance, and that's pessimism. Well,
Speaker 1: we tend to have more negative thoughts and respond poorly
Speaker 1: to the good things that we experience when we're overwhelmed
Speaker 1: and overworked. If you kind of find yourself having more
Speaker 1: of a negative outlook in general, well it's time to
Speaker 1: kind of reassess how balance your life currently is Yeah,
Speaker 1: and Jill, not just a sort of negative alok on
Speaker 1: on things. Another sign is just an overall lack of
Speaker 1: the other good and healthy things in our lives. If
Speaker 1: you find yourself cutting back in other areas of your
Speaker 1: life that you know are important, right, then you might
Speaker 1: be working too much, Like maybe you've eliminated exercise from
Speaker 1: your weekly routine, or maybe like your relationships are suffering. Right,
Speaker 1: If important healthy habits are consistently missing from your daily life,
Speaker 1: I think that's a key sign that you are in
Speaker 1: an imbalanced states. Yeah, Matt, these symptoms, well, they can
Speaker 1: be a huge sign that the more that we notice
Speaker 1: these things cropping up in our lives that things just
Speaker 1: aren't balanced. They'll work in life, just aren't aligned properly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And a lot of folks would argue that the sort
Speaker 1: of the main cause for this that it's noble, right,
Speaker 1: Like we're working hard because we're trying to make more money,
Speaker 1: because we want to get ahead, like we we're trying
Speaker 1: to set our families up to be in a better
Speaker 1: position down the road. But unfortunately that can mean that
Speaker 1: a lot of other areas in our life suffer. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure, money plays a huge part in this whole
Speaker 1: discussion about work life balance, and so we'll talk more
Speaker 1: about that in just a second right after this break.
Speaker 1: All right, here we are back for the break. We're
Speaker 1: talking about how important it is for us to strive
Speaker 1: after work life balance, man. And you know what, I
Speaker 1: think it's important for us to address the fact that
Speaker 1: we talk about side hustles all the time, right, Like
Speaker 1: we talk about working hard to get ahead, and so
Speaker 1: how does suggesting more work help you to achieve greater balance? Right? Yeah,
Speaker 1: Matt and Jewel are always trying to give me to
Speaker 1: work more to make more money. What's that? And now
Speaker 1: here we are talking about work life balance, but I
Speaker 1: think it's important for us to talk about side hustles
Speaker 1: and trying to make more on the side, and in
Speaker 1: fact that side hustles are not for everyone. You might
Speaker 1: be currently tapped out with what you are already doing,
Speaker 1: and so if that's you, starting a side hustle is
Speaker 1: probably going to be a bad idea. And then if
Speaker 1: you do start one, if you do have a side hustle,
Speaker 1: do not be afraid to reassess your situation. Is it
Speaker 1: actually bringing you closer to your goals? Like do you
Speaker 1: have an actual goal set that you know that you're
Speaker 1: working towards. Oft. Sometimes the perfect side hustle can stem
Speaker 1: out of expanding a hobby and it could allow you
Speaker 1: to replace your full time job. Certainly, for a while,
Speaker 1: you're gonna be pulling double duty, right, but eventually, hopefully
Speaker 1: that side hustle might be able to scale up into
Speaker 1: a full fledged business and you can replace that time
Speaker 1: that you're spending at your full time job with this
Speaker 1: new side hustle. We're not necessarily advocating for you to
Speaker 1: add hours that you're spending working to your life indefinitely. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and a side hustle is just not for everyone, and
Speaker 1: it's not for everyone at all times. It makes me
Speaker 1: think of our our friend Paul, and he kind of
Speaker 1: worked for this major corporation and hate it, but it
Speaker 1: wasn't really his jam either, and so he kind of
Speaker 1: started to get into real estate investing, and you know,
Speaker 1: over time, he just found it more interesting and he
Speaker 1: found that he was doing well at it, and so
Speaker 1: he just continued to kind of ramp that up, and
Speaker 1: at this point in time he's been able to quit
Speaker 1: his full time job. He does consulting on the side,
Speaker 1: so he is able to go back and work for
Speaker 1: that corporation on his terms and other places too, like
Speaker 1: very right, which is which is a huge benefit. And
Speaker 1: his real estate essentially funds his lifestyle, so all that
Speaker 1: consulting stuff, that's just kind of the icing on top
Speaker 1: of the cake. But yeah, if you were to try
Speaker 1: to continue once he reached at certain point with real
Speaker 1: estate to work that full time job as well, I
Speaker 1: think you realized that it would have led to a
Speaker 1: massive imbalance. At some point, something's got to give, right
Speaker 1: and and so yeah, I think that's an important thing
Speaker 1: to note when we're talking about side hustles. At some
Speaker 1: point something has to give, and maybe it's a side
Speaker 1: hustle and maybe it's a day job, but trying to
Speaker 1: continue both in perpetuity, that's definitely going to lead you
Speaker 1: to a place where you're gonna find yourself in a
Speaker 1: in a massive situation of imbalance. Which go ahead and
Speaker 1: talk about some of the things that can lead to imbalance,
Speaker 1: that can lead to us over working when it comes
Speaker 1: to work in our life. And you touched on this
Speaker 1: with Paul a little bit, But when someone doesn't know
Speaker 1: why they're working, right, Like we talked about the why
Speaker 1: behind our money. If you don't know why you're doing
Speaker 1: what you're doing, that can seriously lead to overwork. Not
Speaker 1: having a mission statement can lead to that imbalance. You
Speaker 1: might feel conflicted consistently by how you are spending your
Speaker 1: time if you do not have a clear direction. It
Speaker 1: sounds like with Paul, perhaps he was looking for a
Speaker 1: little more flexibility when it came to his time, or
Speaker 1: even a slightly different challenge when it came to his work.
Speaker 1: For everyone out there, it's going to be something different.
Speaker 1: But it's hard to know what your why is if
Speaker 1: you haven't taken some time to consider what it is
Speaker 1: that you truly want your life to look like. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so really, I guess the marching orders when you hear
Speaker 1: something like that is to find out what your why is,
Speaker 1: spend some time because oftentimes I think, Matt, you're right, like,
Speaker 1: we're we're looking at someone else's why. We're living life
Speaker 1: according to somebody else's terms and kind of what they
Speaker 1: think is important, and we as individuals need to do
Speaker 1: some soul searching to figure out what it is that
Speaker 1: we want our life to look like. And that might
Speaker 1: involve big changes like moving or downsizing. But when we
Speaker 1: can identify our goals and then reframe our work as
Speaker 1: a means to achieve those goals, then I think we're
Speaker 1: on the right track. Yeah, And if you don't identify
Speaker 1: your why, it's gonna be really easy for your boss
Speaker 1: or if your company to identify that thing for you, right, Because,
Speaker 1: like I mean, we live in a culture, like an
Speaker 1: American culture, where achievement and you know, getting ahead that's
Speaker 1: kind of the defaults. And while those can be great things,
Speaker 1: if left unchecked, those things can kind of ruin the
Speaker 1: rest of our life. It can cut them u Yes, exactly.
Speaker 1: I think if its like this flame, this fire, right,
Speaker 1: a camp fire is this beautiful, wonderful thing when it's
Speaker 1: sitting there where it's supposed to be, you know, like
Speaker 1: Smokey the bear wants it exactly where the kids can
Speaker 1: sit there and they've got their smores, right, But if
Speaker 1: that fire gets out of that firing, well, then it's
Speaker 1: a serious problem. That's why think it can be helpful
Speaker 1: for us to view achievement in getting ahead through that lens.
Speaker 1: Only you can prevent achievement fires, right, So we're going
Speaker 1: with that, Okay, perfect, all right? So another root cause
Speaker 1: that can really lead to a good amount of work
Speaker 1: life and balance is out of control spending. It's not
Speaker 1: having our finances in order. Finally, we're talking about money.
Speaker 1: It's in the title of the podcast, like we should
Speaker 1: get to that a little bit sooner, but yeah, we're
Speaker 1: we're there now. So out of control spending truly can
Speaker 1: force us to work more than we want to. And
Speaker 1: that's a real problem, racking up debt, buying more stuff
Speaker 1: that means being forced to up our income. Man, we
Speaker 1: I hate hearing about that, Matt, where the where people
Speaker 1: have essentially pigeonholed themselves in the corner by racking up
Speaker 1: credit card debt because they found curbing their spending to
Speaker 1: be just too difficult. And I know it's easier said
Speaker 1: than done, right, we talked about it a lot, but
Speaker 1: it is something that we have to do. If we
Speaker 1: do want more of a work life balance, if we
Speaker 1: don't want to have to work more to fund our lifestyle,
Speaker 1: well then we need to have a simpler lifestyle, that's right.
Speaker 1: And so the solution here is to create and stick
Speaker 1: to a budget, which, like you said, easier said than
Speaker 1: done for a lot of people. If you're in bad shape,
Speaker 1: get some help and some accountability, Like, do not let
Speaker 1: the reason for your work life imbalance be that you
Speaker 1: are consistently spending more than you make. We are actually
Speaker 1: gonna do an episode on budgets next week, so you
Speaker 1: can look forward to that one showing up in your
Speaker 1: podcatchers soon. I'm at the edge of my seat right now.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be a good one. Yeah, man. I think
Speaker 1: another root cause that we need to discuss that leads
Speaker 1: to uh A work life imbalance is difficulty actually working.
Speaker 1: You might be on the clock, but constant distractions could
Speaker 1: be keeping you from working efficiently on the good stuff.
Speaker 1: And you're not the only one that has this issue either.
Speaker 1: It takes an average of twenty three minutes for an
Speaker 1: individual to refocus after getting distracted. Believes that as someone
Speaker 1: who works from home, I'm pretty sure it takes me
Speaker 1: that long to like fully get back into the groove. Yes, completely.
Speaker 1: If you're distracted from a specific task you're working on
Speaker 1: by an email, or your phone buzzing in your pocket,
Speaker 1: or just a coworker coming in, you know how hard
Speaker 1: it is to get re engaged in that task that
Speaker 1: you were working hard at. So how do we ta
Speaker 1: hole this? Well, we have to make changes so that
Speaker 1: we can actually get the things accomplished. Then we need
Speaker 1: to get accomplished instead of just quote unquote like being
Speaker 1: at work having our work day dictated by whatever email
Speaker 1: comes has come across our inbox. Most recently, that's how
Speaker 1: we kind of fight back. And I think that's why
Speaker 1: we're seeing kind of a rising popularity of companies going
Speaker 1: to five hour work days because they're realizing that a
Speaker 1: traditional forty hour workweek well involves just a lot of
Speaker 1: employee distraction, and if they can get their employees to
Speaker 1: buy into working fewer hours but being a hunter percent
Speaker 1: focused during those work hours, they're going to have employees
Speaker 1: that are just as productive, if not more so. And
Speaker 1: so one of the things that man I would suggests
Speaker 1: doing a time audits, which sounds like a fancy term
Speaker 1: for just keeping track of your time. Right, this has
Speaker 1: made a huge difference in my life. Just like you
Speaker 1: want your money being spent towards the things that you
Speaker 1: actually value, we want your time going in the same direction,
Speaker 1: towards the things that you actually care about. When you
Speaker 1: are spending your time in a way that prioritizes the
Speaker 1: people you love and and includes the interests you value,
Speaker 1: you are far less likely to feel out of whack. So,
Speaker 1: just like with our budgets and tracking or spending, our
Speaker 1: dollars should reflect the things that we value in our life,
Speaker 1: in the same way our schedules should also reflect the
Speaker 1: things that we value. Yeah, and I think, Matt, another
Speaker 1: helpful way to combat a difficulty actually working while we're
Speaker 1: supposed to be working is shutting out the noise around
Speaker 1: us so that we can get those important and crucial
Speaker 1: things done. And so, Matt, my job in particular is
Speaker 1: one where I feel like I have to be responsive
Speaker 1: more immediately. I do have timely things happening a large
Speaker 1: part of the day and that I have to be
Speaker 1: able to react to quickly, and so I can't always
Speaker 1: shut these things off. But I do have to find
Speaker 1: key times to be away from email and slack in
Speaker 1: order to accomplish the bigger tasks that I want to
Speaker 1: get done. So this is obviously get a vary by job,
Speaker 1: by industry, by the culture of your workplace. But the
Speaker 1: more time that you can separate yourself from the constant
Speaker 1: buzzing and distraction and people around you and focus on
Speaker 1: a particular item of work, the more productive you're gonna be,
Speaker 1: and you might even find yourself being able to leave
Speaker 1: work earlier than you thought you normally could have getting
Speaker 1: home in time for dinner where you weren't able to
Speaker 1: do that before by letting those less important things wait
Speaker 1: and actually having more time for those more important tasks
Speaker 1: that are things that you have to get done well. Man.
Speaker 1: I will share a quick little tip, a little strategy
Speaker 1: that I've been able to incorporate into my life as
Speaker 1: someone who works from home. Right, I've got my little
Speaker 1: home office, but that doesn't mean I can't hear my
Speaker 1: family and my kids screaming in the background. And so
Speaker 1: I would suggest you know, you're talking about the noise
Speaker 1: of the office, Well, I've got the noise of my house,
Speaker 1: and so I would completely recommend that you get some
Speaker 1: nice earplugs, the soft kind you can kind of roll
Speaker 1: up in your fingers and jam in your ears. Dude,
Speaker 1: I am able to work so much better when I
Speaker 1: can hear nothing Like I'm not one of these people
Speaker 1: who like to turn on, you know, a bunch of
Speaker 1: music and have all this kind of stuff going on.
Speaker 1: You know a lot of people will go to like Comfitivity.
Speaker 1: Have you ever used that app? Or I don't know
Speaker 1: if it's an app. I used to go to it
Speaker 1: on my web browser, but it like mimics the sounds
Speaker 1: of a cafe and you can do like lunch, murmur
Speaker 1: and like because some people, for them, they are able
Speaker 1: to work better when there's a sort of white noise
Speaker 1: surrounding them where it feels like they're in a sort
Speaker 1: of work office environment. But for me, man, it's the
Speaker 1: complete opposite. I want like zen yoga like silence, and
Speaker 1: I'm able to achieve that when I actually use ear plugs.
Speaker 1: So I know that kind of sounds silly. It might
Speaker 1: be silly for a lot of folks who who do
Speaker 1: work in an office, But if you find yourself being
Speaker 1: distracted by the things that you hear, being overset or
Speaker 1: just different noises in your office, man, I would completely
Speaker 1: recommend that if that's something you can get away with
Speaker 1: ear plugs, that's a good recommendation. Seriously, dude, all right,
Speaker 1: So I think another core root cause, uh, that could
Speaker 1: lead to more work life and balance, and it often
Speaker 1: does for a lot of people. It could just be
Speaker 1: your job is a big issue and you could be
Speaker 1: in a field that's demanding or have a boss who
Speaker 1: only cares about the profitability of the company and ringing
Speaker 1: as much productivity out of you as as they can.
Speaker 1: So if your supervisor is the problem, well you might
Speaker 1: need to seek to work in a different department or
Speaker 1: even consider switching companies. And if you work in a
Speaker 1: soul sucking industry, you might want to consider what it
Speaker 1: would look like to switch careers altogether. And it might
Speaker 1: not be as crazy as it sounds, especially if it
Speaker 1: allows you to spend your time in a way that
Speaker 1: reflects what you value. And I know that these decisions,
Speaker 1: well they're not made overnight, Matt, right, Like people aren't
Speaker 1: like cool, Yeah, all right, I'll switch jobs tomorrow. But
Speaker 1: it is one of those things that you might need
Speaker 1: to start working towards. If you realize that your life
Speaker 1: is in a state of imbalance, if you're if you're
Speaker 1: exhibiting some of those symptoms as that we mentioned earlier,
Speaker 1: well then kind of making the long play to switch
Speaker 1: careers or to find another employer that can start today,
Speaker 1: although it might take a few months or even longer
Speaker 1: to actually get there. Right. Yeah, For a lot of folks, though,
Speaker 1: leaving your job or changing industries altogether may not at
Speaker 1: all be a possibility for you. If so, it is
Speaker 1: crucial to develop hard boundaries, and so after the break
Speaker 1: we'll discuss more of what some of those boundaries might
Speaker 1: look like. Alright, Matt, we're back from the break and
Speaker 1: we're talking about work life balance. Let's talk about the
Speaker 1: ultimate way to achieve it. Quitting your job. I'm out
Speaker 1: of here life, right. Some people might need to do
Speaker 1: that if it's that bad, right, And I just want
Speaker 1: to give a personal example from my life. Man. I
Speaker 1: had this job where I was producing a morning news
Speaker 1: show that was basically my first big time job out
Speaker 1: of college, and it was it was terrible. I gotta
Speaker 1: be honest. I didn't like it. I learned a lot,
Speaker 1: and I was glad I took it because the learning
Speaker 1: curve was steep, and I feel like, you know, I
Speaker 1: basically got initiated into the radio production world in no
Speaker 1: time flat. You paid your dues, Yeah, very very much so.
Speaker 1: But my job was based around the news, and the
Speaker 1: news never stopped. I've heard that before. And I had
Speaker 1: to book guests for the next day, and so I
Speaker 1: had to stay on top of the news and basically
Speaker 1: at the same time, I had to wake up just
Speaker 1: ridiculously early. The shows like that started five in the morning,
Speaker 1: so I had to be up at like three. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I remember you've talked about this before. And then maybe
Speaker 1: you would get a nap like later that day, but
Speaker 1: otherwise you're still hanging out with your friends like during
Speaker 1: their normal hours. And and then you know, after my nap,
Speaker 1: I had to look at the news again and try
Speaker 1: to book then the other guests for the for the
Speaker 1: upcoming for the show the next day. It was just
Speaker 1: too much. The job wasn't conducive to having real boundaries,
Speaker 1: at least for me, and so I quit five months later,
Speaker 1: and I didn't really have kind of the next thing
Speaker 1: lined up yet, but I just knew I couldn't continue.
Speaker 1: And the great news was I was financially okay to
Speaker 1: be able to do that. But yeah, maybe for some
Speaker 1: people quitting is the only way to achieve work life balance.
Speaker 1: I just want to throw that out there, that that
Speaker 1: is a possibility. We mentioned the job being the biggest issue,
Speaker 1: and it might be the only way to get rid
Speaker 1: of that issue is to to leave all together. Yeah, Joel,
Speaker 1: And what I want to point out here is that
Speaker 1: you were in a financial position to take that step right.
Speaker 1: When you first took that job, you didn't know that
Speaker 1: eventually you were gonna want out, But you started doing
Speaker 1: smart things with your money, and that allowed you to
Speaker 1: be in a position were you were able to say,
Speaker 1: peace out. You know, I'm out of here. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go travel. Yeah, I sure didn't know it was going
Speaker 1: to be that quick. But well, for a lot of folks, though,
Speaker 1: quitting may not be an option. Uh And if so,
Speaker 1: it's important to figure out what the expectations are and
Speaker 1: when it comes to communicating and getting your work done
Speaker 1: with your employer, right, your your boss might even commend
Speaker 1: you if you proactively draw some hard lines around your
Speaker 1: personal time. So hopefully you know, through conversation you can
Speaker 1: define those hours with your boss, you can figure out
Speaker 1: what it is that you need to get done. And
Speaker 1: then the other vital part of that is making sure
Speaker 1: that you're able to communicate that to your colleagues. That way,
Speaker 1: you're still an important part of the team, right, Like,
Speaker 1: you don't want to just say like, okay, these are
Speaker 1: my boundary is now and have that be a detriment
Speaker 1: to what you would be able to contribute to your team, Like,
Speaker 1: you still want to be able to get the work
Speaker 1: done and hopefully this will allow you to get your
Speaker 1: work done more efficiently and at a higher caliber at
Speaker 1: the same time. Yeah, and and that in in our
Speaker 1: culture right now of basically constant connection and our employer
Speaker 1: thinking that we should respond at all hours of the night. Well,
Speaker 1: that constant connection to technology, I think can make us
Speaker 1: think that we're more productive than we actually are. And
Speaker 1: if we're always present via email and slack, are we
Speaker 1: giving ourselves the time to think through our bigger goals
Speaker 1: and the impact that we're actually having. And I think
Speaker 1: we're not oftentimes right because we're just responding to the
Speaker 1: immediate things and so basically always being in touch, it's
Speaker 1: not really a good thing for us. So consider taking
Speaker 1: work email off your phone. I deleted work email and
Speaker 1: Slack from my phone because I realized that it was
Speaker 1: more of a distraction than it was helping me actually
Speaker 1: get things done at work, and that the things that
Speaker 1: were more pressing and needed what my direct supervisor could
Speaker 1: text or call me, and I let her know that,
Speaker 1: I said, you can reach out to me via via
Speaker 1: a phone call or a text if there's something that's
Speaker 1: urgent and that happens you know, a couple of times
Speaker 1: a year, but at least now I have this kind
Speaker 1: of clear conscience when I go home that I don't
Speaker 1: need to be checking any of that stuff. It just
Speaker 1: doesn't need a factor into my evening. And I know
Speaker 1: that not everyone can set such clear boundaries, but a
Speaker 1: lot of us can. Many of us can, I think
Speaker 1: a lot of us can, but we're afraid to sure,
Speaker 1: Like like we're just afraid of taking those steps because
Speaker 1: we think that like, oh, that you know, that's not
Speaker 1: going to allow us to get that advancement, or oh,
Speaker 1: this is gonna affect this. But I think that's a
Speaker 1: great challenge for us to take and to see, like
Speaker 1: does this actually affect the quality and the quantity of
Speaker 1: work that I'm truly able to get done? I think
Speaker 1: it will affect it in the positive if instead of
Speaker 1: constantly doing work or constantly replying to emails, if we're
Speaker 1: able to essentially batch our work right Like it makes
Speaker 1: me think of like doing dishes. We don't do dishes
Speaker 1: all day long, like every time there's a dirty plate
Speaker 1: or dirty fork or at least I mean that's not
Speaker 1: how we roll, like, but we put everything in the
Speaker 1: sink and at the end of the night, after the
Speaker 1: kids in bed, I go and I tackle the dishes
Speaker 1: and it and I can knock them all out and
Speaker 1: no time. When we have this constant trickle something like email,
Speaker 1: I feel like it just wears on us. And I
Speaker 1: just think those constant notifications, though not necessarily urgent, can
Speaker 1: just you know, like a like a dripping faucet. It
Speaker 1: just wears on us mentally. And man, I would even
Speaker 1: suggest for folks. This is something I've done recently, is
Speaker 1: like I still have email on my phone, but turn
Speaker 1: off your notifications. I'm not talking about your sound notifications
Speaker 1: or like the banners, like the pop up banners, but
Speaker 1: something I've done recently is I've turned off badges notifications
Speaker 1: like the icons that you can show up at the
Speaker 1: top of your phone. So you've got your email app
Speaker 1: and when you have an email, there's a little red
Speaker 1: dot with a little number in there. You can turn
Speaker 1: that off and so I can still go to my
Speaker 1: email and check my email. I know there's unread emails there,
Speaker 1: but you know what I don't need is for that
Speaker 1: number just to constantly increase when I'm off the clock,
Speaker 1: one constant reminder, yes, exactly, and so why have that on,
Speaker 1: you know, why why have it looked like something that
Speaker 1: needs addressing, Because like they make it for a reason,
Speaker 1: like it's to get your attention. And so that's an
Speaker 1: easy little change that you can do on your phone,
Speaker 1: going to notifications, go down to your email and turn
Speaker 1: off notifications altogether. I mean that reminds me just kind
Speaker 1: of of you know, something I briefly mentioned at the
Speaker 1: beginning of the episode, which was certain employers going to
Speaker 1: five hour workdays and they've found that their employees are
Speaker 1: more productive. And it's because so much of what we
Speaker 1: do when we think we're productive by just being at work,
Speaker 1: right that, well, we spend a lot of time, it
Speaker 1: turns out on social media or walking down the hallway
Speaker 1: or having lunch. I mean, there are all these things
Speaker 1: that take our focus away from the task at hand.
Speaker 1: And if we can just kind of concentrated in this
Speaker 1: smaller amount of time but we're uber focused, then it
Speaker 1: changes our workflow and allows us to have more freedom
Speaker 1: in the other hours of our lives. And those employers
Speaker 1: seem to be talking about how successful, how good it's
Speaker 1: been for their company and for their employees, and so
Speaker 1: I think you're right starting the conversation with your employer
Speaker 1: or with your direct manager, using some of these stories
Speaker 1: as kind of fuel for the fire, as kind of
Speaker 1: your artillery right in the fight to take back some
Speaker 1: of some more of your life and some more of
Speaker 1: your autonomy. That's a great place to start, and I
Speaker 1: think you can help kind of start that conversation going
Speaker 1: with your boss and it can help lead to a
Speaker 1: greater work life balance in your life. We're talking essentially
Speaker 1: about kind of like technological boundaries, and we're talking about
Speaker 1: time boundaries, but let's dive into our minds a little bit.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about mental boundaries. So many jobs today involve
Speaker 1: information and ideas that it makes it even more difficult
Speaker 1: to turn off our work in order to achieve that
Speaker 1: work life balance. Right. Got to admit that's my main
Speaker 1: struggle really. I mean, like, forget about our cell phones,
Speaker 1: like our brains, like they are the real culprits here
Speaker 1: when it comes to the inability to truly turn off
Speaker 1: our work. And so how do we take the steps
Speaker 1: in order to make sure that our minds are in
Speaker 1: a healthy spot. We want to make sure that not
Speaker 1: only are our bodies off the clock, but that our
Speaker 1: minds are off the clock as well. And the first
Speaker 1: thing we need to do is start with eliminating these
Speaker 1: physical cues to work that we've been taught thing about,
Speaker 1: right like removing your work email from your phone. If
Speaker 1: that's what's necessary, turn of those notifications. Maybe for a
Speaker 1: lot of folks, that's actually leaving at five pm from
Speaker 1: the office and even taking vacations, right Like, we a
Speaker 1: lot of employers say that there are a certain number
Speaker 1: of vacation days that you have, but oftentimes people do
Speaker 1: not take those vacations and maybe sometimes there's a lot
Speaker 1: of guilts associated with that. Oh yeah, I think there's
Speaker 1: a ton of guilt associated with taking vacation in our
Speaker 1: modern workforce. We feel like we're slacking and we're leaving
Speaker 1: our work to other people to do while we're gone.
Speaker 1: And I think that's why people want to stay connected,
Speaker 1: because they don't want to let their colleagues down. But
Speaker 1: you have to be able to take vacation in order
Speaker 1: to get that break, that mind rest from work. You're
Speaker 1: gonna come back more recharged than ever. Just like if
Speaker 1: you work a few hours in a day, but you're
Speaker 1: more focused, you're probably going to be more productive too.
Speaker 1: And I think another step that we can take to
Speaker 1: make sure our minds are in a healthy spot is
Speaker 1: giving ourselves time to be still and quiet, to remind
Speaker 1: ourselves to the things that truly matter and that that
Speaker 1: can be prayer, that can be meditation. However you incorporate
Speaker 1: that into your life. But Matt, I mean, we talked
Speaker 1: with five am Joel about waking up early, and I'm
Speaker 1: I'm telling you that time in the morning where it's
Speaker 1: just me is so helpful to have some stillness, to
Speaker 1: not have tasks kind of flying my way for at
Speaker 1: least a part of the morning. That's become one of
Speaker 1: my favorite parts of the day. That's the rest of
Speaker 1: your day, like out of the gate, right, Yeah, So
Speaker 1: for me, that's been really important. I think the more
Speaker 1: that we can incorporate a little bit of stillness and
Speaker 1: quietness into our lives, that's good. And that's coming from
Speaker 1: a guy who's a complete extrovert and has a really,
Speaker 1: really hard time doing that, but I've realized the importance
Speaker 1: of it, so I'm making it happen. And once you've
Speaker 1: done those things, I think the next important step is
Speaker 1: to replace the cues that would lead you to work
Speaker 1: with cues that will lead you to live life. And
Speaker 1: a lot of that is going to and all likelihood
Speaker 1: involved some scheduling. Scheduling time with friends, time for hobbies,
Speaker 1: time for your community, time to volunteer, and time to
Speaker 1: work on your personal health. Yeah. Often times for a
Speaker 1: lot of people, these are the kind of things that
Speaker 1: if you sit them down at a seminar or like
Speaker 1: at a personal development meeting or something, right like, they'll
Speaker 1: write these things down at the top of their list
Speaker 1: and they'll say, like, these are all the things that
Speaker 1: are important to me. But when it comes to how
Speaker 1: we spend our days, like, do we actually do these things?
Speaker 1: I mean not as much as we work. And I'm
Speaker 1: not saying that we should match every hour that we
Speaker 1: work with family time or community time, you know, just
Speaker 1: all these different things. But we are so intentional with
Speaker 1: the time that we spend working, right Like, We've got
Speaker 1: deadlines that we have to meet, we have calendar reminders,
Speaker 1: we have you know, events scheduled on our calendars throughout
Speaker 1: the week that have to do with work. And we
Speaker 1: need to be just as intentional and just as proactive
Speaker 1: with the other non work areas of our life. And
Speaker 1: so this makes me think of just a few days ago,
Speaker 1: you and I with a bunch of buddies, we hit
Speaker 1: up a local bar slash restaurant that's gonna be closing
Speaker 1: later this week. A friend of ours, he shot out
Speaker 1: of text and he said, fellas, we need to hit
Speaker 1: up the graveyard one more time to enjoy their delicious
Speaker 1: wings on half price wing night. Of course that's how
Speaker 1: we do. Yeah, we're getting that deal. But all it
Speaker 1: took was just a little nudge a text from a
Speaker 1: friend to get seven guys together who haven't seen each
Speaker 1: other in a while, and we caught up and had
Speaker 1: a fantastic time. I just know that I want to
Speaker 1: see myself and I want to challenge myself to be
Speaker 1: that intentional and that proactive with the time that I
Speaker 1: am not spending working. Yeah, man, I think as as
Speaker 1: we're talking about striving for work life balance, it's really important,
Speaker 1: after all the things that we've discussed, to really give
Speaker 1: yourself reasonable expectations. Because of perfect work life balance, well,
Speaker 1: it's it's not always achievable. As our lives evan flow,
Speaker 1: we can't always have it exactly like we want, and
Speaker 1: that's okay. I think there are seasons where more work
Speaker 1: and less life or vice versa is going to happen
Speaker 1: because we're not perfect. And I've had to tell myself
Speaker 1: too at times, Matt. In a season where where I've
Speaker 1: been a little bit busier with you know, doing the
Speaker 1: podcast and Emily and I'm at we we've had to
Speaker 1: have discussions about this that I'm going to at times
Speaker 1: fail or not do as well at something as I
Speaker 1: would really like to do, and that's because of the
Speaker 1: specific season that we're in. But even in the midst
Speaker 1: of that, I can identify the key components that are
Speaker 1: gonna help me feel connected to the highly valuable things
Speaker 1: in my life. For for example, dinner every single night
Speaker 1: with my family, I'm not going to miss that, for
Speaker 1: pretty much anything three times a week, riding my bike,
Speaker 1: not gonna miss that either, and just basically not being
Speaker 1: in tune with social media almost at all. That has
Speaker 1: led to just a greater ability to enjoy work life balance,
Speaker 1: even in the midst of kind of a busier season
Speaker 1: for me. Mean, I like what you said. They're right, perfection,
Speaker 1: it is not the goal. There are going to be
Speaker 1: certain busy seasons in our life. But I think as
Speaker 1: long as we were working towards an average of a
Speaker 1: balanced life, that there are some key areas and components
Speaker 1: of our life that we shouldn't be willing to compromise on,
Speaker 1: but taking time for ourselves, creating more rigid boundaries around
Speaker 1: when we work and when we play, actually using all
Speaker 1: of our vacation time, like that's a must. That's one
Speaker 1: that I feel like you've mentioned recently as well, like
Speaker 1: making sure like I'm going to take that vacation time right,
Speaker 1: this is the year the vacation for me. I'm taking
Speaker 1: it all. But doing all these different things like these
Speaker 1: are important steps to helping us to achieve a better
Speaker 1: work life balance. And when we feel more rested and
Speaker 1: fulfilled in our lives away from work, I think a
Speaker 1: lot of us will be surprised to see that we
Speaker 1: become actually more productive when we are at work. Yeah.
Speaker 1: They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, and I
Speaker 1: think it's definitely true for work. Yeah. You know when
Speaker 1: you spend like a few days away from work and
Speaker 1: you're thinking, oh, I just can't wait to dive back
Speaker 1: into it. Well, I love my job, but it's also
Speaker 1: nice to get away from from a week and remember
Speaker 1: that I love my job. Because I think in the
Speaker 1: middle of it, I don't feel like I love my
Speaker 1: job every day everybody needs a break, man. But ultimately,
Speaker 1: when I look back and I'm looking at the ability
Speaker 1: to get to do what I do every day, I'm like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I do love my job. But I especially realized that
Speaker 1: when I get away from it for a little while,
Speaker 1: I will say, absence of this beer that we had
Speaker 1: today on the episode also makes my heart grow fonder.
Speaker 1: That gives you want more of it? Yes, I do.
Speaker 1: The beer that we had on the show today was
Speaker 1: called I Learned it by watching you, and it was
Speaker 1: a collaboration beer between Other Half and Burial Brewing Company. Matt.
Speaker 1: This was delicious, It was wonderful. What would your take
Speaker 1: on it? Well, I'll tell you, but first let me
Speaker 1: tell you what I think of this collaboration, which is
Speaker 1: so this is between Burial and Other Half, And honestly,
Speaker 1: what I imagined was, what if you picked up Asheville
Speaker 1: with its mountains, and you like transplanted it up into
Speaker 1: Brooklyn and so like right across the river, you had
Speaker 1: Asheville across from Manhattan and all of its crunchy Asheville
Speaker 1: granola goodness, Right, how cool would this like bizarro world
Speaker 1: fantasy land be with all of its amazing breweries right
Speaker 1: across from Manhattan. Yeah, I mean Brooklyn. Brooklyn has its
Speaker 1: own I think claims to coolness for sure, But what
Speaker 1: if what if you married it with Asheville and that's
Speaker 1: too fantastic American cities put together. I mean, that'd that'd
Speaker 1: be a good That'd be a match made in heaven.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if I could handle it. But yeah,
Speaker 1: these are two of my all time favorite breweries, so
Speaker 1: when they do something together, I totally want to taste
Speaker 1: it and when they're taking note for sure. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: this beer was super tasty. What were your thoughts on
Speaker 1: the actual beer? So I had high expectations because I'm assuming,
Speaker 1: you know, based on two of the top tier breweries
Speaker 1: in the country making beer together, that it's going to
Speaker 1: be ridiculously good. And I gotta say it was. This
Speaker 1: was like darn near a perfect I p A. I
Speaker 1: just really appreciated the attention to detail, the fact that
Speaker 1: it wasn't overwhelming, but it was also just incredibly juicy
Speaker 1: and delicious. And yeah, I feel like the hot profile
Speaker 1: stood out enormously. Uh, And that's exactly what you want
Speaker 1: in an I p A like this, So two of
Speaker 1: the best at the top of their game making something
Speaker 1: just utterly delicious. Oh yeah, man, for me, it was juicy.
Speaker 1: It was a little bit tingly from from that hot bites.
Speaker 1: That's how you know they didn't skimp hop them out exactly.
Speaker 1: It's like you're licking an iron volt battery. Um Like,
Speaker 1: I feel like that this was just a great example
Speaker 1: of a double dry hopp I p a UM. I
Speaker 1: feel like it almost had like a sort of like
Speaker 1: jasmine kind of honeysuckle floral notes to it as well.
Speaker 1: Just lots of flavor, but at the same time, real light,
Speaker 1: real easy to drink, very delicious. I'm incredibly thankful for
Speaker 1: our friends Waffles on Wednesday for swinging through Atlanta and
Speaker 1: dropping this one off for us. For sure, they picked
Speaker 1: this one up at Burial I guess when the road trip.
Speaker 1: Very cool. I think it was a barrel yeah. But yeah,
Speaker 1: they've got a great blog and they're great people to boot.
Speaker 1: So all right, Matt, that's gonna do it for this episode.
Speaker 1: For folks that are listening and you want show notes
Speaker 1: for this episode, we'll just check out our website how
Speaker 1: to money dot com and they'll be right there for you. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And also if you are looking for a new credit card,
Speaker 1: while you're there on the site, go to how do
Speaker 1: money dot com forward slash credit Cards and there you'll
Speaker 1: see our favorite picks for credit cards, for what credit
Speaker 1: card you should use based on how you spend your money,
Speaker 1: and if you sign up for a new card via
Speaker 1: any of those links, it helps out the show. So
Speaker 1: thank you in advance. Alright, buddy, that's going to be
Speaker 1: it until next time. Best Friends Out, Best Friends Out.