Achieving a Work Life Balance Interview Part I with Steve Napolitan

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Below we offer the full transcript from our video interview with Steve Napolitan. Enjoy his business insights, life experience and smart tips for truly living with a real work life balance as a Zen Hustler.

Jared: We're here in a place called Lucas Valley. It's in the Nicasio just north of San Francisco about 30 miles. We're going to be interviewing Steve Napolitan, he is an amazing guy, you're really going to get to hear how a Zen Hustler lives and does it well, as he balances family and work life. A lot of his work is about attracting the ideal clients to your business, so that you can actually have success and enjoy your work and not feel stressed, have time for your family, and really embody the values of what we feel like is Zen Hustlers. So stay tuned for the interview with Steve Napolitan, and from his beautiful home here. I'm really excited to share this interview with you. And I hope you enjoy it.

Steve: Hey, Steve Napolitan here, and we're in my home and Marin. And I'm excited that I get to live here and I get to share this moment with you because it wasn't always this way. And now I take all the things that I've learned. And my main focus is helping people have more business and more life. It's all about choosing our life and then building our business around that. So typically, I work with c-level executives, entrepreneurs, other coaches, consultants, speakers who found success, but they don't have the life that they want. And then I bring in business and marketing systems have more business, well, they start designing your life and living it now, having this house and having you here now is actually because I stopped doing all that. That way wasn't the way I actually changed the way my thinking is. And I've been able to actually work smarter, and now have have this opportunity. So for me, when the pain comes in, that's when I pull back and I say… How else can I get there? And so I'm big on that no sacrifice.

“More business, more life!”

So comfort zone to me is if I start going somewhere, I don't want to go there, then I check in with myself am I afraid? Is it because I'm afraid of what's going to happen or I don't know what's going to happen. And then that's comfort zone and then they then I will step forward. But when I actually don't like something and in my gut, I'm like, oh, like this side? So you know, and those are times they used to tell me just get through it, Steve, do it. Those are the points where I pull back now. Well, I believe we have those indicators inside of us. And when we're getting pain in our business or in our life, it's actually indicators that saying, don't go this way.

And if you ever you get a lot of people can relate because they notice where you get like little taps, like hey, maybe she knows her. And then you don't listen to those taps. And then you get like slapped and all the sudden the rug gets pulled under you and you like all you might lose everything right? You know, this happens, right? We're going down the wrong path. And many people that you hear after they lose everything. They're like, Oh my gosh, then I found the right path. This is my roadmap for my business or my life. And then we start going and then the road sucks or like it's a closed road, and we're like off the road.

And we don't stop we're like, that was the way I was going to go. Instead of saying, Wait a minute, let's get a detour. People say, are you a business coach or a life coach? And I'm like, well, what do you do when you go to work? Like, I mean, the thing is, is that it's everything. So I am a life coach, business coach, consultants, strategist, I still consult with million dollar and billion dollar companies. And, you know, the thing is, the framework is the same. So when I'm helping smaller businesses, you know, grow. So I do a bit of both. So I have some people that are, you know, six figure earners, but they want to become millionaires or they want or they want the organization together. It's not always about money, but they're trying to grow something or, you know, create momentum in a cause. And well, what if we get you know, keep your money where it is, and get gain more life for yourself. And then if we make more money, then it's bonus, you know, beyond balance. A lot of people talk about this is like integrating your business in your life or your career in your life.

“Wait a minute, let’s make a detour.”

How do you have both without sacrificing you know, the pains that people come are that they're working way too much, they're overwhelmed, they they built a business that they love. And now it's like out of control to in order to grow the revenue they want. They have to put in more hours. You know, they get stuck figuring out the best system, we actually just get stuck in the doing and we forget to step out. And look, I always have mentors, coaches, workshops, I continually invest in myself at 19, I started my first business till 31, I was just grinding and I did build a business from outside. Everyone said, Steve, you're like this young entrepreneur doing it. But the reality inside I was broken, I got like overweight, I was sick, I lost over $4 million in my 20s through that that I earned and lost. And then in my 30s, I invested a half a million dollars in myself with coaching workshops, mentorship programs, and at 30, I would have never been able to even commit to that. It was just like incremental. I kept investing once I invested, I realized the change. So even today, I look for mentors. But the reason I said sometimes maybe it's directly you need a mentor or coach. Sometimes you just need to pause. People go, I'm overwhelmed, okay, great, take a break, and they look at me know all the stuff to do, I'm like, exactly take a break, then we redesign their calendar, because overwhelm comes from not having a plan, it's just too many things on the to do is you never know when you're going to get done every day for like a failure because you didn't get done everything you needed to get done. And that's why you feel overwhelmed. And a lot of people the big thing with c-level executives, entrepreneurs and other coaches and consultants is they're alone. They don't have people to turn to like, especially c-level executives, if they give their vulnerability, they're bored, they're afraid they're bored, might fire them. If they if they talk to their team, their team might feel like oh my gosh, are we going anywhere? And they they're afraid they're going to jump ship. So they look in the mirror every day saying, Can I do this, you know, so the pain for all of them, all the people I work with are you know.

“Overwhelm comes from not having a plan!”

To stop being alone and all their decisions that you need to work on your business more than in it. And when you have that transference, that's where like business balloons, but so many of us get stuck in taking a break is a lot of things, right? Like one, it could be taken a vacation, and people think about them, they're like why can't fit that in or can't afford that right now. But taking a break comes down to just even taking five or 10 minutes in between meetings, like when you start to feel overwhelmed, then actually go outside and walk around or do jumping jacks by your desk, if you can't go outside, you know, like just getting movement in our body and trying to figure something out and you're grinding and grinding. And then finally you give up go to bed, wake up in the morning, and within minutes you solve the problem that you're stressing about. And this is because we all need to reset, we all have so many so much energy, right. So if you let your battery go down, you're not even efficient, we need recovery just as much. And that's why I'm not a fan. One of our goals with our company is to help people work less than 40 hours a week. And this is everywhere. We're working with bigger companies to where we're saying to help them get less than 40 hours for all staff members. And productivity goes up because time is so waste because the fan is going like this instead of giving more breaks.

“We’re working with bigger companies to where we’re saying to help them to work less than 40 hours for all staff members. And then productivity goes up because time is not wasted.”

And then having a comeback a full force I'd rather have you had full force for four hours than half force at like eight hours. Like why have to work eight hours, why do you have to work 10 hours, I say take more breaks during the day, like every hour to you should be taking a five to 10 minute break by my desk, I have juggling balls, I have rubik's cube, I have a flute, I have a piano in my house. So like I'll just walk over there and play for 10 minutes, pick up the guitar and play walk around. That's why like what you're looking at just going out in nature walking around, and taking that few minute break, listening to music, gardening all these things and take it in micro-moments, then taking a little bit more time off at the end of the week, maybe you finished one of your days early, maybe you take a you only work four days, you know and then take a day off, then every month, take a long weekend.

Or at least every quarter, I have one client that was stressed out overwhelmed. And she now it takes a trip every month, she does a long weekend every month and she takes a vacation once a quarter this stuff works, you're more efficient. But really, it's just five, start with something breaks, then get bigger ones then get vacations, you have to put on your calendar, you have to put on your calendar. So even before I could afford some of the vacations I want to go on, I would just put on my calendar, and then some money would come in that would buy the airline tickets, then some more money would come in, then I would book the accommodations, you know, just doing an increments, but putting it on the counter and saying that's what I'm going to go that changed everything for me. And then you start planning around, then you actually start working. Because when you have a deadline, put a date with your significant other so that you like, make reservations. So I have to be off work at five because I'm going to go meet her or him. And I'm gonna go have this amazing night or I'm going to go play with my kids, but plan it and make it so you can't get out of it. If you plan your fun, then it'll actually compress your work time. And because of my change the biggest changes in my life or through my mind, right? Like it's my own beliefs and all that.

“If you plan your fun, then it’ll actually compress your work time!”

So when our workshops, when I'm working one to one, we're working on beliefs. And I would even say 70 - 80% of the work is moving our belief systems. And then the 20 or 30% is the business step. And we'll think it's like this excuse or that excuse. But really like, we're we're working at our own limits, like everyone has a ceiling. So all beliefs are limiting. All beliefs feels that, oh, it's a limiting belief. Well, all beliefs are limiting, because I'm working on my limiting beliefs right now you're like, What do you mean, you have belief, Steve? I'm like, no, because I want to live more, I want to be able to give more to the world. I'm, I'm right now making more money so I can build bigger retreat centers and have people come from all over the world. Like, it's all for the cause that I what I want to do, but I'm bumping up against my own beliefs.

“All beliefs are limiting!”

Or you could start watching videos, and yes, will they help? Yes, it'll start giving you ideas. But to get into that deeper work, or if you're asking yourself, like, I know what to do, like I've learned from this business coach and that business coach, why don't I do it, there's something else deeper and you can't you can't look in the mirror and say, Oh, just stop it. Just stop doing that it doesn't work. And that's why having somebody else that has the tools that help us reprogram a reptilian brain is just fight or flight. All it is is to keep you alive. It's like monitoring, mainly breathing all the things we're doing and then it is all about our safety. And guess what, when you go for your dreams, it's like nope, not safe. We don't know anything about that. It all it only wants proven. So if you have the life that you have now, it's like we know this works. Even if you like the frontal cortex is like, this is it. I want more from my life. I'm not happy. This parts are what we're alive. So it overrides our dreams. But then it gets this to the bad news. The good news is we can actually work through that. And that's why people come to my workshops, because then they get in like a three-day experience. We work on the business things and I'm big on leaving with a plan. So you don't like come to a workshop and you're like, oh, one day I'll do that. Like we're doing it in the room and I'm working on the beliefs at the same time. The thing about changes 97% of the changes within ourselves. Doesn't matter what I say what any when anyone says so know you’re not going to change unless you want it.

“97% of the changes within ourselves!”

Jared: You just got to hear the interview with Steven. Well, wasn’t that awesome? I mean, I'm taking away so many different insights, so many different ways of thinking about how to structure my business, how to structure the work-life balance, how to bring in joy and family and friends and create wealth while having clients you really want to work with and you have fun with. So that's the way the Zen Hustler lives. Be sure to subscribe below to get notified when we release new videos and send us ideas about what would you want to see as far as our Zen Hustlers channel.

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I hope you find balance on the edge of feeling overwhelmed and stressed you can feel calm, be productive and live that Zen Hustlers lifestyle. Stay tuned for part two, how to create change in life.

Video transcrition by otter.ai