BONUS: Exploring the Impact of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce to discuss Work-Life Balance

Work-Life Balance and Added Responsibilities

Speaker 1 0:08

Alright , great show for you today . Work-life balance , with the phenomenon of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey . So we've got a fun one here for you . Jump off , don't forget three ground rolls . Learn don't burn . Actions , not jacksons . An attitude of gratitude . To help me break down something that's a little bit outside of my comfort zone , I've invited back a special guest , lily Prosser . Welcome back to Leadership Chalk Talk .

Speaker 2 0:36

Well , thank you , Dad . I'm very excited to be here and talk about probably my two most favorite things in the world , colliding football and Taylor Swift . So I'm excited to tell Dad that Taylor Swift is the best singer of all time and that he needs to stop listening to his old people music and get on Taylor Swift .

Speaker 1 0:56

Okay , you do play it in the kitchen a lot , so I've definitely at least heard a lot of the songs . I don't know that I can sing every word like you Before we jump in . What ? So your two favorite things colliding ? What is this phenomenon ? Tell me why this is such a big deal for kids like you in middle school . Why are kids freaking out about this ?

Speaker 2 1:16

Because Taylor Swift is awesome , and then every middle school boy seems to be obsessed with football these days , so it's just a way of two worlds connecting and it's pretty cool .

Speaker 1 1:29

All right , I'm into that . The way we're going to structure today's show is looking at the concept of added responsibilities and finding balance through that . So we all have probably had a moment where we're feeling burnout , where we feel like we have too much going on . Maybe we're checking email too late at night . We're going to talk about this in three segments . So segment one will be why does it even matter ? Why do you need to care about work-life balance ? Two , how does it happen ? How do you get out of whack ? How do you sort of be overburdened in one area or another ? And then , what are some techniques to have work-life balance and avoid burnout ? After those three segments , we'll throw it to Lily for an episode challenge and then we'll have a little bit of fun and I'm going to ask her a couple teeny-bopper questions . Sound good ?

Speaker 2 2:23

Yeah , segment one as much as we could talk about Taylor Swift and how awesome she is all day , why does this even matter ? Why does leadership come into play ?

Speaker 1 2:33

Okay . Well , work-life balance is important for a bunch of reasons . One burnout factor If you go a million miles an hour every day , every week , every month , every year , eventually you're going to lose your passion for your work . So we don't want people to burn out . As leaders , we don't want our employees to burn out . Two more productive If you're working really long hours but you're not really getting stuff done , that's not helping you .

Speaker 1 3:01

Three you can be happier . The long-term impacts on your relationships can matter . If you disregard your family , your outside of work relationships , those might suffer and you might never be able to repair them and later in life wish that you had . And then four your physical and mental health . That if you are all consumed and you don't feel like you get a break , it can really take a dip . So it's really important that you're conscious of your work-life balance , that you aren't burning yourself out and you aren't burning your team out .

Speaker 1 3:34

Let's now go to segment two . How do you start to get out of whack in the first place ? Well , usually it's added responsibilities . That could be a work , it could be a new promotion , it could be a new job , it could just be a really big project . Could be that you have kids or your kids' responsibilities start to increase . I'm carting someone around to gymnastics or soccer or a T-ball or basketball just about every night . People my age they might have to care for their parents . A lot can come on , and what we're tying this in here is this Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey situation is both of them now have added responsibilities of dating in the limelight , so let's play a clip of Travis talking about this .

Speaker 3 4:22

No , we're , we're learning with the paparazzi just taking photos from from all over the place , but at the same time , it's uh , you know , it comes with it . It comes with it . You got a lot of people that care about Taylor , and for good reason . So it's um , you know , just just got to keep living and learning and enjoying the moments . And at the end of the day , you know , I've always been pretty good about compartmentalizing and being able to stay focused in this building , so I I'll just keep rolling with that man .

Speaker 1 4:48

All right , you hear Travis talk about having to deal with the paparazzi . Obviously , relationship with Taylor probably includes more travel , figuring things out , but talking about still being able to compartmentalize in the building and focus on the work , which for him , is football . And it's really important in your life , whatever that is , that in either your relationship or your kids or your family , you can give them your all . But while you're at work and when you're focused on work , you're not distracted and you can do that at the best of your ability . Let's transition to segment three , which is techniques for work-life balance . So , meant to be a quick hit podcast here , we're just gonna give you a couple things to think through . The first one that I want to call out One of my biggest recommendations is create golden time .

Speaker 2 5:38

Yeah , dad , get off your phone . Sometimes it feels like I can't even talk to you ouch .

Speaker 1 5:43

Okay , golden time in our house is when my wife and I put our phones away , plug them in , put them in a different room so that we can't be distracted , and Every once in a while , when we are not on golden time , might think of oh , let me check my email or let me check something , and that can be quite rude to the kiddos . So Lily will sometimes give me some feedback . So , lily , thank you for the feedback . But let's , let's break that down . You know I can't ever pass up a chance to talk about feedback . When you give me the feedback and I'm on my phone , what does it usually sound like ?

Speaker 2 6:18

I mean Don't play me , but I'm not the nicest .

Speaker 1 6:25

Was that a Taylor Swift pun Did ?

Speaker 2 6:26

you just work that in .

Speaker 1 6:28

Okay . Well , whenever you say something like Dad get off your phone , or you're on the phone , your phone all the time , that makes me feel defensive , right , like I'm making a mistake . And again it's this . I have so many responsibilities at work . I sometimes want to just kind of veg out and scroll through things on my phone , but I know that's not being fair to you . Let's see what you've learned . What might be a more effective way to give me the feedback ?

Speaker 2 6:59

Excuse me , father , I believe we should have some golden time now .

Speaker 1 7:03

Mmm , I like that . You're well trained , yeah , so I'm , you know , having a little fun with this . For those of you that have kids , it's hard to do , but putting your phone away and like Determining set golden time in your household is something I wish we did more of . But when we do do it , it's super effective . It helps you mentally decompress and also helps you to be really present and , when you can contract that right , have accountability with your kids . So I ask Lily , instead of making me feel bad about being on my phone but then said set , instead to say something like that of hey dad , you think we can have some golden time ? Because then that reminds me of the positive that reminds me of , oh yes , I do want to be present and be with her . So , first technique some golden time . Second technique I would say and I learned this from a consultancy company that said that they did this really effectively Is predictable schedule , where you agree that every Tuesday is gonna be , you know , family dinner time , or Every Wednesday is bowling and I'm not gonna check my work anything . So setting boundaries yeah , you want to go bowling , all right . So maybe we should have a bowling night Predictable schedule where you have key boundaries at work is super important . The third technique I would offer is to learn to say no , and People like me a lot of people I know are people pleasers .

Speaker 1 8:32

They don't like to say no and they're also ambitious . So instead of a hard no , of no I won't do that , think about an alternative . Can you delegate to someone on your team ? If someone asks you to do something , can you say , hey , I can't do this , but I can connect you . A friend that might know about that or I'm not sure . Have you tried looking into this ? Just because someone asks you for a big favor doesn't mean you have to do the big favor . You can sometimes push them in another direction . Number four Exercise I get grumpy when I don't get my workout in , don't I ?

Speaker 2 9:05

So grumpy , so grumpy .

Speaker 1 9:07

Yeah , the exercise is good for the body , but it's good for the mind too , because at least for me I can't think about other stuff because I'm immersed into the workout . So I try to do high intensity workouts where I'm following whatever the instructor is saying and I can't let my mind wander . So that's another technique .

Speaker 2 9:27

Yeah , Travis Kelsey would not be able to handle it if he didn't play football . Won't work . Taylor Swift is too good for him .

Speaker 1 9:33

Yeah , so you think the balance of exercise will help him ? Oh , taylor Swift is too good for him . I'm gonna come back to that one . You just like slid that in on me . I got two more . Number five is to use your lunch break for a break and also for lunch . I can tell you that whenever I actually take a lunch break and I interact with the team and just have fun and I'm rushing back to the next meeting , it is a good midday break and I wish I did it every day and I didn't work through lunch . I didn't have meetings at lunch sometimes , but whenever I have the discipline to really block that time and protect that time , I always feel better .

Speaker 2 10:12

Yeah , on work from home days , he'll make me grilled cheese sometimes .

Speaker 1 10:16

If you're lucky , he'll make you a grilled cheese . Yeah , summertime , All right . Number six and last , one of my recommended techniques for work life balance is to have compassion for yourself . You're never gonna be perfect . You're not gonna have the perfect day every day . Some days you're gonna be overweight on work , Some days you're gonna be overweight on family , and to just be okay with that and to give yourself grace and give yourself compassion . So , quick hit , six quick things One golden time . Two predictable schedule . Three learn to say no . Four exercise . Five take that lunch break . And six have compassion for yourself . All right , Lily , that was quick . What can you give to the listeners for an episode challenge ?

Speaker 2 11:02

This episode's challenge is to just go out with your family , do something , take someone you know and , whether it be walking in the park or going I don't know out to dinner , just do something and put away the phone , put away all distractions , don't check your email , just sit and have a human interaction .

Speaker 1 11:26

Oh , easy but so hard . Do something fun with your family or friend or something that you don't normally do . Just go out to dinner , go bowling , go have fun . Add that in before the next episode . So there's our challenge for the episode . Challenge for the week we're gonna do a little bit of bonus section for fun . Lily , taylor and Travis do you think they were gonna make it ?

Speaker 2 11:55

They better . I mean , I need that sweatshirt . They better make it .

Speaker 1 11:58

What sweatshirt .

Speaker 2 12:00

It's really cute . It says I'm in my Kelsey era and on the back it has her album Lover and his number . I mean it's really cute .

Speaker 1 12:08

Yeah , but if you got that sweatshirt and then they broke out .

Speaker 2 12:12

It wouldn't be worth it , and that sweatshirt's really cute so I wanna be able to wear it , so they need to make it .

Speaker 1 12:18

You think they are ? How long are they gonna last ? Give me a number ?

Speaker 2 12:21

Oh , I don't know .

Speaker 1 12:22

How many weeks , months , years ? What's your prediction ?

Speaker 2 12:26

I'm saying a year , one year .

Speaker 1 12:28

I think they can make it that long they can make it a year , till September of next year .

Speaker 2 12:31

I hope so .

Speaker 1 12:32

Okay , all right .

Speaker 2 12:34

Incident incident .

Speaker 1 12:35

Forever , forever . Yeah , they're gonna get married .

Speaker 2 12:38

Yeah .

Speaker 1 12:39

Yep , All right , I got some questions that I'd rather ask you instead . Okay , Top three NFL players . You were on last time . We talked Steelers a lot , so we know that would easily be like TJ , Wad and Minka and all the Steelers but non Steelers NFL players , since we're talking about Travis Kelsey , who are your three favorite non Steelers NFL players ?

Speaker 2 13:00

Well , now number one , Travis Kelsey .

Speaker 1 13:03

Yeah .

Speaker 2 13:05

Number two who do I like ? This is hard , Maybe Joe Burrow you like . Not that he's on the bangles , but I like him as a player .

Speaker 1 13:19

Yeah , he's really good . I wish he wasn't so good .

Speaker 2 13:21

Yeah , it would make life a lot easier . And probably finally , um , maybe Kyler Murray , I don't know . Yeah something weird happened . I just like Kyler Murray now .

Speaker 1 13:35

Yeah , we'll see if he comes back this year . He's still hurt . All right , this is probably easier question for you . Well , maybe not ? Top three favorite Taylor Swift songs .

Speaker 2 13:46

Oh , only three you can only pick three . Don't blame me . 1989 , um Cruel summer lover , and Sparks fly . Speak now .

Speaker 1 14:08

Those are your three favorites . All right , so tell me more , a little bit more about why , why this is so it's . Why do people love Taylor Swift Like I get it ? She's a good singer , songwriter , great performer . Her tour she's like the most famous person in the world . Why do people like her so much ?

Speaker 2 14:26

I mean , I think she's awesome . I think I was the trendsetter .

Speaker 1 14:30

Yeah , you started it .

Speaker 2 14:31

Yeah , okay , but it's also just like screaming all the songs with my friends and like having fun . I mean , she's a great singer songwriter and I can scream any song , but screaming Taylor Swift is pretty awesome because she is so good

Insights on Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce

Speaker 2 14:43

at singing .

Speaker 1 14:43

Yes , you like rocking out with your friends and jam to her songs and you kind of like know all the words , right ?

Speaker 2 14:49

Well , yeah , I'm the only one that can memorize things . Talk to mom .

Speaker 1 14:52

Your mom is not as good at memorizing songs as you I will . I will give you that All right . Well , quick hit . Episode of LCT . Lily , thank you so much for coming on and sharing all of your insights around Taylor Swift and their relationship with Travis Kelsey .

Speaker 2 15:09

I'm glad to be on and remember , go have fun before next episode .

Speaker 1 15:14

All right , there it is . Take care . All the world needs more leaders . You're one of them . We'll see you next time .