Hello, this is Corey. Before we go into today's podcast, I want to share with you that we are going to run the confident, consistent leader challenge a again, we will launch it on November 1st. This will be the third time that we have ran it this year, because quite honestly, it's been successful. It is working in getting movement in people's lives. We ran it in the month of June, and then we ran with a different group of leaders in the month of September and people are having impact. One individual said he was thoroughly impressed with the content and structure and wouldn't change anything. Another leader said that the challenge has been fantastic and has been a true lifeline as they were shipwrecked on an island. So I don't know where you are coming at right now, what you're doing to end this year, but this challenge will help you in the year.
Well, and start off 2022 on strong footing. The challenges in four different parts. First part is on perspective. What is your current reality? The second part is about potential. Where do you want to go at work at home? The third week will be about priorities, helping you prioritize what you actually want to go after. And then the fourth week is about a path forward is putting things in place to help you go. The challenge consists of daily emails, as well as videos to teach the content you watch on your own time, as well as live group coaching calls each week. So this challenge is working and maybe now is your time to sign up and participate. Go to Cory M carlson.com for slash leadership to take advantage of the early bird pricing before it goes up. We launched this next challenge on November 1st, look forward to seeing you in the program. Thank you.
Welcome to the win at home first podcast. I'm your host, Cory Carlson. This podcast is where we talk about how successful business leaders win, not only at work, but also at home. On this podcast, we will go behind the scenes with great leaders to hear stories of how they win. Thank you for listening and on to today's episode.
(02:13): Hello, this is Corey today's episode. Tim Carroll is a great one. You'll learn more about Tim in a minute, but the topics we talk about were so helpful, the idea of priority management versus time management. We have a finite amount of time, only 24 hours a day, but we have an infinite amount of priorities that we can say yes to. And so thinking through that was very helpful. How about the importance of going on dates with spouses, with kids? Something I believe strongly in and just hearing his perspective was helpful as well. He is a COO of a company, but yet has time to do strategic planning days. We're in the time of year where he's doing a lot of that wrapping up year in and preparing for the next year. So hearing him talk about taking off full days at a time to work on the business and not just in the business, I think are helpful to any leaders.
(03:06): You think they cannot get a way from their jobs. And we talk about the purpose of family, vision, FA family values, as he shares what they use in their house, this an overall great podcast conversation. He shares just what works and what doesn't work. Those are always my favorite, those the vulnerable episodes. So I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did on to today's episode. Hello, this is Corey Carlson. You're listening to win at home first podcast today. I'm joined by Tim Carroll and I met him on LinkedIn and we had an initial conversation and really in those 20 minutes, I was impressed and I wanted to have him on the podcast to share his story. You know, I love having stories with leaders who are strong in their faith, obviously with their family. Tim has two kids and married, and he's also bold and what he does with work. And the standpoint is it C O O for a company called working spaces. And before COVID, they had four locations. Now they have six locations. So when lot of people were kind of hunkering down, getting scared, getting timid, Tim led the team to be bold, not have to lay anybody off and grew into two new cities. So just a fun story. He's got a few other nuggets I learned on our initial calls. Like I want to have him on the podcast with Tim. Thank you very much for being here today. Thank you very much. I'm excited to be here, Tim. What is that key trait that a leader needs to have in order to win at both work and home?
(04:38): Well, for me, I mean, it really comes down to priority management. You know, time management is kind of a misnomer. We only have so many hours in the day, right. And so it's really about that priority management and that fluctuates throughout the day for me and for most people I believe. And so it's really being able to, and I've really worked hard to try to understand and evaluate quickly what is a true priority right now and what can wait. And because of that, I believe I'm able to, what I tell my people all the time run during the money hours then unplug and spend time with those that matter most at home.
(05:15): I really liked that phrase. And even that perspective priority versus time management. Can you help me unpack that further? The difference between priority management and time management?
(05:25): Yeah. I mean, a lot of people over the years, there's all these time management classes and things that you can do to try to manage the time. But for me, it's, it's kind of, you can't manage time, right? I mean, time, you only have so much time in the day, but it's really about evaluating what you have on your plate and deciding what is the most important at that time and what can wait. And it really does take a skill. I think it's taken me years to get to the point where I feel like I'm pretty good at evaluating quickly and it's rapid fire. Right? All of our days, we've got a lot of stuff coming at us and being able to really quickly take a breath and decide what is pertinent to do right this moment and what can wait till later today till tomorrow, what is truly a priority because we, everybody thinks that what they need from you is a priority. Everybody thinks that what they need from you is hot button, you know, red, hot, and it's, it just takes some really deep introspection to see what is really a priority. And what can, can you just say, look, this is important to me. I have other things on my plate. I'm going to get to this tomorrow. And it does free up time in your home life as well. I find
(06:34): You have a lens that you use to decide what is a priority. What is not such as today. I'm going out for this, I'll do this tomorrow. What moves a business forward the most? That's it? I mean, at the end of the day, we're all trying to move our business forward. If it's going to make a side step for my business, a lot of times I will take the precedent on something that's going to move it forward and help grow the business in a real way. I find the business side priority management a lot easier than the first little side. And I think if you talked to my wife, she may say that I miss the mark sometimes on what is the priority in the personal life. But but clearly, you know, I want to do what I can to be a good husband first, a good father second. And so I, I look at it through that. And then we try to do things together as a family. When you talk about, you know, giving back and, and volunteering and things like that, we try to do that together as a family, if we can. And that kind of kills two birds with one stone, really, you get some family time and you get to give back as well.
(07:38): I like how you said good husband first good father second, because I just actually was talking to a client the other day about this and just kind of reinforced the importance of it. That the best gift that we can give our kids is a stable and healthy marriage. Something that they can witness that we get along. Well, we spend time together. And so many people with kids lose sight of that. And I'm not saying it's on purpose, but sometimes accidental. They want to be there for the kids. And when they're crying, we're right next to him. Meanwhile, we're not planning dates. Meanwhile, we're not, you know, spending that one-on-one time talking to our spouse about stuff other than logistics
(08:16): Totally agree. My wife and I, we, we try to be very intentional and you may hear this word a lot today, but we try to be very intentional about our marriage. And so even six months after we got married, we were in our first marriage retreat. And a lot of our friends were like, what's wrong. You guys already got in trouble. Like, no, we just look, we, we tend to do more maintenance on our cars than we do on our marriages. And we want to be very intentional and, and go in there and do that. And we've learned over the years. I mean, we're not perfect by any means. We have no business telling anybody what to do with their lives, but we've learned that we want to show what a loving, godly relationship like to our kids, to our two boys. So they know exactly how to treat their wives when they, when they grow up.
(09:01): I love that maintenance on cars versus maintenance on us, for sure. What other rhythms, predictable patterns do you and your wife have that work well for you, you mentioned during the marriage retreat, do you still do those? Yeah.
(09:15): Yeah, we do. We try to get out there once, once a year. I mean, the bits we've done everything from like really intensive months, long studies to a weekend retreat, but just try to do something like that. And you know, the thing that I is tough, it's really tough to small kids, nine and 10 traveling a lot, but we try to date and that's a, that's a cadence that we try to make sure we get a chance to do somehow some way that we still keep that dating aspect into our marriage as well. And I give it's tough, but but we, we try to make sure we're doing that and that we were talking about something other than the kids when we're together, which is also tough.
(09:58): It is tough. What do you guys do from a frequency of dating? Is it kind of once every two weeks, once a month? What's that look like in your guys' marriage? Well, so boss, we'd love to do it more, but it's just really, really logistics are tough, but once a month, for sure, we try to make sure we're getting together. And, you know, sometimes like during COVID, during the shutdown and all that, it was as, as much as going in and getting some French food, bringing it back and eating all the balcony and, and cause we were living in a, in an apartment at the time and listening to French music and having the boys just, you know, put a movie on for him and we were still there cause we had to all be together. Right. And so sometimes it's just something as simple as that we could even date within our home, you know, and have a little, little dinner date.
(10:46): I'm so glad you brought that up because I think a lot of times I just, I, as assume that is a known that I say the word dates quite a bit and I think there are some people that think it means it has to be nice. It has to be expensive. It has to be downtown. And so thanks for bringing that up because at some people, the nicest don't work due to their lifestyle, but a Saturday brunch could be perfect to go do something along those lines. Or as you said, eat in the house, Holly and I will do a lot in our sun porch and it's out, you know, it's kind of outside, we're hanging out crude, reboard some wine and we just say, kids, Hey, you know, don't come out unless, you know, you absolutely have to just so we can hang out, but they get it because we've done it since they were little because there's just a rhythm that, you know, and now I'm sure they completely love it. It's like great. I don't have to, you know, talk to our parents.
(11:38): Well, we learned something in one of the retreats that we went to about couch time and that is making sure that you take some time, sit on the couch and you tell your kids, this is 15 minutes and it's couch time and you are allowed to come and ask questions and issues or anything. It's couch time. And so that's our code word with our kids all the time. It's couch time, you got to, you got to go away and entertain yourself and then we'll be back to you as soon as we're done. That's awesome. What does your rhythm look like with your boys?
(12:12): So, yeah, I mean high energy. So, you know, we try to get out and do things together that can, can get their energy out. We play football and soccer and you know, I do a lot of sports with them whenever I, I can't then I also, we try to do something at least every other week with our kids individually. So I will take Noah and, and even if it's just going to home Depot, get it right, go there and spend some time together and we'll walk around and we'll, we'll talk. And you know, it's just, it's just really great to just spend a little bit of time individually with them. And then while I'm obviously with Noah's, Sarah's with Dylan and you know, we get we get a little, little quality time every other week. We try to make sure we're spending a little bit of time alone with
(13:02): It's good. And there's so much great things that are said in that one-on-one time that usually when I'm done or Holly is out with one, the kids and she gets back, I'm like, what'd they say, well, you know, I want to learn. I want to, I want to hear the, the, the things you guys talked about because there's just this vulnerability that happens
(13:19): Well, you could see how their brain works, you know, and that's, you know, at what what's important to them, what are they thinking about? What's their hot button issues. We've moved a lot. And so that time is really important for us to really, we moved cities, I moved from city to city, you know, just, you know, for work. And it's really good to see how that's affected them and they just kind of start talking and it's great.
(13:40): You've moved different cities. I've moved in different cities. We both worked for different companies and, you know, throughout our career. And I think that's the importance of why investing the family is so critical because the company changes, the city changes, you know, every, everything kind of changes except if done well, the family doesn't
(13:59): And you know, COVID really has been. And this is, you know, I think we've all heard this a million times, but I really think COVID has been in some degrees, really a blessing in the time that we've gotten to spend with our family, just our family units and establishing really strongly who we are as a family unit. And cause we got some really uninterrupted time. And I think that that was really, really key in trying to decide who we are as a family and what we're going to be going forward. And we've heard people say that about their family and, and it really was a great time to kind of coalesce around, you know, shared not to be too corporate about it, but you know, mission, vision, and values. Right.
(14:44): Well, I was actually going to ask that question. You mentioned the, who we are. Did you guys establish a vision and values for your family?
(14:52): We have, and we really kind of decided that we want to be a family that is, you know, obviously God-fearing and strong and bold in our faith. And I think that that's important this day and age to really set that up and we're going to be bold and not just go to church, but be bold in our faith. We want to make sure that we are a family that gives back and volunteers together as much as we can. We want to be, my kids are full of life. There is no doubt. They are full of life and full of energy. They are every bit nine and 10 year old boys. And we want to capitalize on that and we want to be energetic and we want to give back, we want to be bold. We want to do all those things, but we want to be good. We want our kids to grow up to be good. God-Fearing Christian gentlemen. And that's, that's the thing that we keep coming back to and growing up in the south that's that means something to us in the south is being a gentleman. And we want to make sure that we raise our kids to do the same thing.
(15:55): All three of my kids are fantastic. So not to exclude any of them in his comment, but as you mentioned, boys with Kayla, my nine-year-old when he says, please, and thank you. I mean, it like stops people in their tracks and it's so sad that it does because we all should be saying, please, and thank you and we're ordering from a waitress or a waiter, but instead it is so uncommon that is stands out just like it probably does with your boys, as you're trying to raise them into being young gentlemen, that it stands out and that's unfortunate, but I'm glad that you are reinforcing the importance of all of that stuff in your house.
(16:35): You know, it's interesting. It really struck me in my twenties. I lived in New York city for 10 years and it's amazing even in my twenties, you know, and I would say, please, thank you. Yes, ma'am no, ma'am, you know, those kinds of things. And I, it was like I was, you know, from a different planet and got a lot of attention for that. And it just stuck in me that this matters and everyone, I never got negative attention. It was always positive attention for saying those things. So it, it reinforced in me that, that this is something that my kids are gonna gonna do. And it's about
(17:11): No, that's great. Are you leading them through anything faith wise, scripture wise, or is it just kind of asking the questions after church or it's on those home Depot runs where you're bringing faith up?
(17:25): So we definitely, you know, actually go to church and we talk about it after, after church, we have started, John Maxwell has a really great program for kids on leadership and faith and values leadership around your faith. And it's so, so when it's defined, we kind of just kind of read it through with them and we, you know, I let them read some, some of it, but it really is a kind of of you know, leadership one-on-one for kids. And, and of course the John Maxwell. So it's very faith driven and it's great. I mean, it dumbs it down for someone like me, you know, I am a mama slow child, so I like things that make things really easy to do. So we sit down and, and every few weeks and just kind of read one of those and just kind of reinforce that, that idea with them about leadership. And, and I, you know, I'm very committed to leadership. I'm very committed to that within my organization and developing leaders. And it just hit me at one point, why am I not doing that with my own children? I mean, I've got a captive audience at dinner that we can, this is a conversation we can have. And so,
(18:34): Oh, good. You know what? The Matthew 28, the great commission we were told to go and make disciples. I think so many of us are guilty of going away from our house and making disciples. And we forget to do it our own house. We forget to invest in them, speak truth and grace to them, you know, equip and empower them, all the things that we're supposed to be doing out. You know, out there as Jesus calls us to do, we have to be doing in the house too. So I agree that, I mean, I love that conviction that you had that, Hey, I need to start doing some leadership training, some faith investment to my, to my kids. So, and great tip on the John Maxwell piece because I do like how he communicates. Cause he, he can, he's crazy smart, but yet dumbs it down in a way that helps helps you. Hand-Eye my mom was slow. My mom is slow. Boy. I've never heard that.
(19:32): Thank you very much for listening to today's episode. I hope you are joining it so far before we go back to the rest of this episode. I want to share with you my book when at home first, some of you have read it. So thank you very much for others of you. You have not. And I encourage if you're looking for a resource to help you with these times of your work is now in your home and your home is now in your work and what this looks like. This book is being helpful to many leaders like you whores magazine said it was one of seven books. Everyone on your team should read in the book is broken up into four different sections to help you versus about you. Understand who you are. The second is marriage in ideas and tips to help with your marriage. Third is parenting and the last is work. So these four different sections to help you recalibrate during this time and to help move forward. So if you are needing additional resource, I encourage you to check out my book went home first. It is available on Amazon as well as audible and so on to the rest of the episode. Thank you very much.
(20:40): So speaking of faith, one of the pieces I really enjoyed in our first conversation is just hearing your boldness. A lot of business leaders did make bold moves in the last 18 months with COVID. I mean, some for sure did, but not everyone did I, myself launches podcasts April, 2020, which is when everyone stopped listening to podcasts because there's no commute. And I did it, you know, did a few other things for the business instead of getting scared. And so anytime I hear someone do something like that, I get excited. And so before COVID before 2020, you guys had, you were in four cities now you're in six cities. So how did you lead the team and really pulling in the faith piece of me? How did you invest in additional cities and want to go forward to, to grow the business?
(21:30): Yeah, so a little bit of history about what we do we're in commercial interiors. So when you say that we were bold, you really got to understand how bold we were because we're in the office furniture and design business. So what really shut down COVID offices. And so we, you know, we look at this thing and we're, we're in the midst of a, what could have been really a bad situation. And there are a lot of people out there that believe that work from home is a long-term solution. I won't bore you with my thoughts on that, but, you know, at the end of the day, culture is built, built in the office. It's a, it is a, an agreed upon set of behaviors created and maintained by the employees. That's really difficult to do in a virtual world. You can maintain it for a brief amount of time, but you need to have that connection where the seeds of culture are grown and that happens in the office.
(22:28): And so we believe that in our heart and I saw what was happening and knowing what I know about kind of workplace strategy and culture, when most people were, I mean, we, a lot of people have already industry shut down. They laid off a ton of people. We didn't lay anybody off and they shut down. And what we saw was an opportunity. What we saw is we're on the precipice of a office Renaissance, I believe unlike we've ever seen, because the one thing we can agree upon is that, that separation, when we were separating ourselves from each other, that there were some mental health issues there. We've had a lot of mental health conversations because of the separation that's happened. And so why do we think separating ourselves even more is the answer. People are going to come back and they're gonna come back and we're already seeing there's all kinds of stuff.
(23:21): So we decided to, we know two markets that I knew very well. One, both of which I had been in because Nashville I am from where I started in this industry. And the Orlando market is where I was in before I came to St. Louis. And so I had people in both of those markets that I knew well, that were really good at what they do. And I know that those are two very strong growing markets. So we went out on a leap of faith and we've opened in those two markets and two, I mean, very well received. We believe that that just we're getting there at the right time. And again, two great markets for the office. If you gauge, you know, how successful an area would be in our business, you look at the, the cranes in the air. And as of last count, there's a website that counts all the cranes and where they are and what they're doing and national.
(24:15): And there's 33 in the air right now. So there's a ton of growth happening. And so we're, we're in the right places doing the right things. And, and, and we believe that that if we can create spaces, you know, for employees to go in and want to do their best work and we can make them healthier, cognitively, emotionally, physically, when they leave than when they arrived, then we're also creating a great place for them on their home life. Because a lot of times those two intersect and where one goes, the other goes. And so we really think that that's what we're doing. And moving into these two markets were a great move for us, I believe.
(24:55): Yeah. I'm very curious to see how the whole office scenario plays out down the road. Just having a conversation even today with a client about making some decisions and a lens that we use a lot in our coaching is the five capitals where it's spiritual, then relational, then physical, then intellectual, and then financial, and that's the right order. And then it's got, it's got a lens from a business perspective, being purpose people, pace perception, and profit, same thing, just some different words to maybe fit better in the corporate world. But what's interesting about that. Tim is you can crank out all the intellectual capital you want, you can crank out all the physical hours you're working, but those are below that relational capital, where in that relational capital is where vulnerability is and just healthy and happiness, everything you mentioned. So I too agree that that relational capital will, will win in the end because it just has more power in all of our lives and how much profit you can crank out,
(26:03): You know? And there are a lot of people that did this before. COVID that tried it a lot of big companies. Some, I mean, when I was working for, at the time, Pitney Bowes tried this and sends us all agile didn't really work. They brought everybody back, but other companies have tried it large companies. And what they realize is collaboration is missing. Innovation is missing. Timelines were missed, deadlines were missed. I mean, it was a lot of things. And all of that comes from that relational piece that you're talking about. And so there's no doubt in my mind, a lot of people have gotten it. Microsoft just put out a, a, a study they're still working from home, right. They just put out a study, they've been studying their own employees over the last six months. And they came back and said, we are more siloed now than we've ever been. This doesn't work for us. So they're definitely coming back. There's just no doubt. There's study after study, after study, that shows that the office matters culture and the interpersonal really does matter in our day.
(27:06): Yep. We love spending time with people. I mean, absolutely for sure. And there is a zoom fatigue as a, as you and I are talking on zoom right now. But so one thing that I remember from our earlier conversation is yes, you grew from the four to six cities, which is great, but you also didn't lay anybody off, but it also, wasn't amazing cupcakes and balloons the whole time. It was stressful. So from a leader standpoint and kind of, how did you handle your bad days? Like, what is it like when you were S as COO when times aren't going great, is this really going to work in Nashville? Is this really gonna work in Orlando? You know, obviously it looks good right now cause we're on the other side of it and you got six cities doing well, but in the midst of it, how can you help us other leaders as we're launching new things is we're penetrating new markets, but yet maybe it's, it's not matching up with the proformer just right. Or there needs to be some faith involved. What do you do to help your morning routine or whatever that looks like?
(28:06): So I think you hit the nail on the head. Faith is a big part of this and, and believe me, we didn't go into this without a good bit of prayer. I was very prayerful for, for a while. A number of months before we made the decision to move forward with this before I even presented it as a, as a possibility is what we should be doing so that I don't want to under. I can't underscore that enough. That's a really important part of this. But throughout this, I think it's important to, to explain kind of the mindset through all of this was what could we have laid people off? We most certainly could have. Some people would look at our business and say, you should have at that time taking the advantage and you could have made even more money during that time. But, you know, I was looking at this thinking, you know, what are we losing?
(28:52): What loyalty are we losing? Because we let a bunch of people go. There are people left that in their minds, all they're thinking is, well, what happens next time? Am I the one to go? And so I think we gained more on the longterm than we would've gained financially from making that decision to hold what we got. And so it was tough, no doubt, but I truly believe in these moments and we've had these away to nine and all that, that, that companies that are capable and able to take advantage of, of the situation, get to the other side a lot stronger. And so our move we try to, I thought through a bunch of different than we thought about some acquisitions and some other things and, and the best move was just organic growth and moving into other markets. And so we wanted to make sure we took advantage of this moment in time. And so we can come out on the other side of all this even stronger.
(29:54): What do you do as a leader personally? Do you have a routine that you kind of follow throughout the day? Whether it's time of scriptures, time and prayer definitely start every day with prayer. There's no doubt and scripture daily reading. And so we try to do that first and foremost every every morning have my breakfast. And if you count listening to the Bible is reading, I read it. And I do count that as reading but I'll listen to it.
(30:21): Hey, that's, that's how the Bible, you know, went across the land early days was the, you know, the oratory version where people would, would speak it because not everyone could read. So yes
(30:32): Mama, so child. So I got, I got somebody to read me the Bible every morning. That's good Bible app. And then, you know, prayer in the morning, that's absolutely. I started the day that way. And in the morning, it's really about taking a breath. Don't jump into email and assess the day and the priorities of the day. And you get back to that priority management piece. That's where the priority management starts for me. Maybe actually even the night before trying to put my list together, my priorities. So looking through that the next, the next morning, and then, you know, I'm shot out of a cannon and I'm in meetings, you know, generally all day long, most every day, if not a meeting, then a client presentation or, you know, with the bank or somebody. And so there's always a meeting to be had.
(31:16): But what I do do is set aside time. This is my, where we're embarking on my favorite time of year. I can do this throughout the year, but really with that intentionality do that. Now this is my favorite time of year, because now it's time in September, October, November, December to start truly planning for next year. You know, the possibilities are limitless at this moment. And so really I set aside days that I don't go to the office, that I am I'm hidden away. Nobody knows where I am, I'm in an undisclosed location. And I just take that time to think and to brainstorm and to read and to really dig in, to make plans for the coming year. I try to set aside that time every now and then throughout the year, but really intentionally every week, there's time set aside for myself. And then I'd say time with the leaders.
(32:12): And I set aside time in October, it's with the leaders. And so I'm with every leader and we spent a day together going over what works the past year and what do we want to accomplish in the coming year? And then we start going drilling into the sales teams and whatever in November. And so we, by the time December 15th comes, we have an entire, we have the year baked ready to go and we have our action plan ready, and I get it bound and where we hit the ground running on January one. But that's the thing. My cadence really is about setting aside that time throughout the year, and really this point through the end of the year, to invest in that thought process, just thinking that's, I think that's something that we as leaders sometimes don't value enough to just make sure there's time to think, to plan, to brainstorm, to read. That's a big thing as well, making sure we're reading and learning and seeing what other people are doing. I learn a lot from everybody else. You know, I'm, I'm a great stealer and I'll steal things from everybody and just try to make it, you know, as good as I can be, you know, in my, in my own world. So I all that time, this is my absolute favorite time of year is the planning time. Now to the end of the year,
(33:28): You said a few things there. I just want to reinforce, I was writing a book. One of the first things my writing coach did is send me a book steal like an artist by Austin Kleon, because it is just that nothing is new under the sun. And many people get writer's block because as they start to write, they think, oh, well so-and-so said this, I can't do that. Obviously plagiarism is wrong, but adding on to something, making it better at it in your own twist is fantastic steal like an artist. So I love that. And that was super helpful to me. Another thing you mentioned about the morning starting the night before, I just said that this week to a client saying that you, when the morning, the night before you, based on if you stayed up and watch all the football game, if you had too much to drink or whatever, it may have been, you're gonna sleep through quiet time, working out, whatever, going to be. You're going to be angry with the kids short with your spouse. So yeah, it's, you know, winning the morning, the night before, that's all good stuff. I don't want to dive into this Q3 Q4 planning. You do real quick. So how much time do you set aside for yourself? It sounds like you do that in September, because October is with leaders. November's with the sales team in December is done. Yes, that's right. And so how much time is just yourself in September? What's that look like? Is it half day?
(34:52): I'm still doing it in October. I try to take full days if I can. I'll I'll do one or two full days in September, a couple I half days. And now I'll do one in October and November because I'm meeting with people and it's sparking other ideas as well. So I'm, I'm constantly revising what it is I want to accomplish next year, based off the conversations I'm having in October and November. So I need to set aside that time. I'm also always reading. I mean, I think if I, if I could get paid to just plan, I think I would, I would be really great at that, but I love to do that, but that somehow I haven't found that that job yet, but that's I just always have that time set aside and it is my absolute favorite because the possibilities are unlimited and as to what we can accomplish next year. And so the hard part is whittling it down to a, a group of initiatives that can actually be accomplished.
(35:50): Yeah. Right. The hardest part of a leaders deciding what to say no to right. That's right. Well, I like that. Hopefully a lot of listeners are hearing that you COO company growing, you've got time to step out and think about the business, work on the business, that in the business, I'll talk to a lot of clients where there's like, they, they can't set aside the time or they had to set aside for half hour before they got done. Or I'm sorry, for half a day, then all of a sudden became one hour, but you are very diligent about it.
(36:18): I will tell you now, I don't even know how I could run a business. And I mean, sure, I could, I could run up as I could keep the wheels on the bus without doing this planning. But if I want to grow, if I want to, we're, we're really wanting to grow. And if I want to grow, I just don't see how that's possible. And, and we have a very focused attention on development of our people. And so that doesn't happen by accident. So you really got to decide what are the skills that we want to develop in 2022? And then, then how are we going to develop those? And so we've got to find those as well. And I just don't know if that just happens to hit your brain during a commute. When a lot of people say, well, I'd spend my time on a commute. That's when I do my thinking. Well, great. But I really think that dedicated time where there's no distractions, you don't have, you know, buses and trucks fly by you and thousand miles an hour. You're just dedicated. There's no distraction, no computer, no phone. It's just you and your thoughts. It is amazing what that skill will do for, for you as a leader, once you start doing it, it just, it it's just, I don't even understand how you, how I could do it any other way now.
(37:31): No, I agree. And there's so much deeper thoughts that come when there's a whiteboard involved or pen and paper, because if we're just driving in thinking, you know, before we know it, I mean, I'm off in outer space thinking about something completely different, or it just, it's interesting how it goes. Some of this annual planning are you pulling that back into your family of, this is what we want the next year to look like. This is how we're going to grow as a family invest in the boys.
(38:00): So I'll tell you that is a great, I'll just take that and steal that right now. And we're going to start doing that at home. I do need a strategic plan for you're welcome. I'll send the invoice to you. Appreciate
(38:11): That. But what I do do is I really believe in, and it's something that I started doing five, six years now, maybe six, seven years ago now. And it's something that, I mean, I just wish I would've done it in a long time ago, but I do it now. And I don't even know where it came from to be quite honest, it just got passed to me. And it's, and it's the five apps and being intentional about your faith, family, friends, fitness finance, and really making sure that there is a smart goal set up for each of those. And I do this with my leaders. I do this one for all the sales team. I do this with everybody because I believe if we are intentional about work, we should be as intentional about whole. And really at the end of the year, you know, we've done our jobs as leaders.
(38:59): If our employees can look back on the year and go, this was the best year personally and professionally I've ever had. And that's my goal every year is that everybody in our company could look back and say that. And the best way we can do that as we're intentional planning for success within our home life. And so that's why that, that faith family and the friends fitness and finance are really strong components of planning for the next year. And then this is something that I stole from somebody a while ago. And it really does. It's really finding that, that word, that's going to define you, your family, you know that. And so I thought it was kind of hokey at first when I first started doing it, but it really quickly level sets who I want to be as a leader and as a husband and his father, by finding that word, that's really going to find it. And I go back to it, it's on top of everything and it quickly resets me on what is, what's the priority for that year?
(39:58): Yeah, us too. We did word of the year. We started that years ago as a family. I have all five of us do it in the house, run clients through it a lot too, because it is helpful. What is your 2021 word of the year? I cheated not supposed to. It's a one word, not a two word.
(40:14): How humble, really. And wanting to make sure that we stay humble. Me stay, stay humble throughout the year. And I think that that's, you know, in, in as leaders and we have a lot of people that need us and a lot of things that come at us and, and, and sometimes accolades and, and, you know, I'm, I do a lot of speaking and do a lot. And so I want to make sure that I am doing my best to stay humble in everything that I do. And so it's great. I do that. I do I found a ringtone that I could, that I put on my phone. And so when I hear that ring tone, it reminds me of what my word is, a song called humble and kind. So it's, that's, that's the word for this year for me.
(40:57): It's good. How did you cheat then? You said you cheated, Oh, humble mankind. There it is. Yeah. So, no, that's good. And my words give from a standpoint of best way to combat a weakness is, is going up against it. And mine can be a scarcity mindset at times just being the sole provider and things like that. And so it's give, and so you get the ringtone. I have a Proverbs 1124 on my phone, which is, you know, one gives freely is, is the, is the Bible verse. So it's good, man. We're, we're thinking the same thing on that part of my story, Tim is when I, in fact felt a kind of an audible from God. If I need a hand over my story for a greater story,
(41:40): As I say that, is there something in part of your journey that resonates with that? Yeah. So take you back. I was living in, in Nashville before I started my journey around that. God took my family and I on, and I was working for Pitney Bowes and we doing well, matter of fact, I had just come off being number one in the world, my team for the company. And for that, I got the phone call saying, we're doing a way with your entire division. Thank you so much. But you got about 30 days and you know, you're, you'll be you somewhere else. So that was just a whirlwind. And my head started spinning and little side note part of our praise team at my church. And I spent 10 years, 10 years in New York than I was in New York. I was a an actor and singer on Broadway.
(42:33): I did the tours, I did four shows up there. So that's my previous history is doing that. But so, you know, I leaned in during that time, it was scary. You know, I had a, had a family that was, I was a young, young, young family and really, really scared I leaned in and just decided I'm going to just praise God in this season. And as much as I wanted to control it and just desperately try to find something else to do with it, I let God lead me during that time. And, and I I turned it over and it's been awesome to watch. I think there were a number of our friends and family in our, in our church that saw that they knew what was going on with me. And somehow I was able, you know, I was up there on the stage and praising God during this whole, but to me, it was very easy because that's what I had decided to do.
(43:29): I'm turning this over and let God make something out of this. Now I can look back now. And boy, that was the right decision, right? It's so easy to look back and go over. Cause it ended up me leaving and going into the industry I'm in now. And and just really flourishing during this, this season of my life. And it's, it would never have happened had not, not that not happened to me, but I just turned it over and let God make a story out of this and a testimony that I would be able to come back and, and speak to for others because it's tough. And we've been through since then. I mean, a lot of people lost their job in the past year and a half and it is tough and I can relate. And I think honestly, to take it back to something we mentioned before, that's what made it really difficult as well to, to lay anybody off during this time, because I knew what it meant to their families. And so I think God has made something out of this story for sure.
(44:26): And very timely. I just had a buddy call this morning that he was terminated. So kind of just one of the phone calls of need, some help need some encouragement kind of thing, but I know others as well. And you know, first Thessalonians talks about rejoice, always break continuously, basically rejoice in all circumstances. So Tim, what did that look like for you? How did you rejoice? I mean, obviously literally in physically, you were singing on stage, but, but when you weren't on stage, how were you able to rejoice and, and kind of find the good in those moments?
(45:01): I got to be honest, I'm not sure our Joyce, it was tough, but you know, I think, you know, having a small group to be involved with was important and to keep me kind of focused and that support and my wife was just amazing. My kids were amazing during this time and and just really supported me in everything, but really just making sure that God was the center of what I was going through. I just had this belief that he was going to turn a story out of this.
(45:35): That's great. How long was the, the unemployment period? So I think from the moment we heard in this job, that's another just amazing story. It was really two months. So people have gone through a whole lot worse. It was a lot longer, but trust me during that time I was lost. And then we went through something very similar years later when I left a company and was kind of struggling as well. And those things, really those times a week can feel like a lifetime. When you have no idea how you're going to put food on the, on the table, I will tell you what Pitney Bowes, the other God thing is that they gave me a, a small severance to, you know, just to tide us over. And the very next I had gotten a job that, that started the day after that. That's cool. And so I just feel like this was totally a God thing. It got me out of the, I was going to be there forever. I mean, that point I was locked at, this was good company. I still think it's a good company and I was heartbroken. And then this came along and I jumped into a new industry then in that one ever since, and just it's really was God moving for sure in our lives.
(46:56): That's what would be your words of encouragement to those individuals battling most situation right now, whether it's unemployment or anything else in light of that store? What I can tell you is in all of those things, and anybody I've talked to on the other side is when you get 20, 20 hindsight and see, oh, there was something work in there that I had no idea. And if I could have only gotten the script ahead of time, I would have been in a whole lot easier position, but I believe that God has a plan for us all. And if we just lean in and listen and make sure that throughout it we're praising, there will be something on the other side. And you'll see that this was actually a plan for you to have something better. On the other side,
(47:42): David talks about light lamp upon our feet and his cause if it was a big old beacon light, we wouldn't need God. That's right. Instead of just a little light at a time, we need him. We were joking the other day. It says, you know, if God gave us the three-year strategy, the three-year plan, we would say, thanks. See, in three years, Nope. I think that's great. It's great wisdom there. Tim does this, you know, it's a step at a time for all those people.
(48:10): And if I had not gone through that, look, I think it could have been even easier to let people go and think about profits, right. But these are people and I've been through it. I get it. And it wasn't a numbers decision. It was a people decision. And so it could easily have been. That is the reason I went through it. So at this time, this day, or this moment in our lives, I knew what, what decision to make in that, in that moment.
(48:38): Yeah. That's it great. Close it's purpose and people over profits. All right. Well, Tim, thank you so much for your time today and sharing your wisdom. What is the best way for people to get ahold of you? Probably on online with working spaces w spaces.com working spaces on every social media platform or T carol@wspaces.com. Great. Well, thank you very much for your time today. Thank you. Appreciate it.
(49:07): I want to thank you for listening to my podcasts. When at home first, I am so grateful to hear from listeners like you, that this content has been helpful. So now I would love for you to pay it forward. I want to get this message in the hands of more listeners. We need leaders to be winning both at home and at work, especially during this time. So please take a minute to share this episode with somebody you think would find value in it, as well as rate and subscribe as a thank you, please visit my website@coriumcarlson.com to download a free resource that people are finding value in. Thank you very much.
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