Embark on a transformative journey through the four pillars of a harmonious life: body, balance, being, and business. We unravel the tapestry of true success, which weaves together the threads of physical wellness, strong relationships, spiritual growth, and professional achievement. Join us as we chart the course towards a holistic triumph that redefines prosperity beyond the bank account, emphasizing the integration of the four Bs into a seamless blend that sings with personal fulfillment.
Our conversation takes a disciplined leap into the realm of fitness, where the might of a strict diet and rigorous workout routine does more than sculpt the body—it carves out a fortress of confidence and internal vigor. Sharing my routine of steak, steel-cut oats, and water for breakfast, I reveal the cascade of benefits that follow a committed health regimen. It's not just about looking good; it's about feeling invincible and harnessing the power of expert guidance to achieve personal peaks.
The heart of this episode beats in time with the effort we pour into our family relationships. It's the small, deliberate gestures and the unfettered presence we gift to our loved ones that forge unbreakable bonds. We explore strategies to ward off the siren call of digital distractions and champion real, tangible connections. As we expand these relationships, we underscore the fundamental role of communication, recognizing our inherent need for love and appreciation, and our duty to reach for our highest potential. Join us as we navigate these waters, where every interaction is an anchor, every word a sail, steering us towards the shores of a fulfilled and balanced existence.
Embark on a transformative journey through the four pillars of a harmonious life: body, balance, being, and business. We unravel the tapestry of true success, which weaves together the threads of physical wellness, strong relationships, spiritual growth, and professional achievement. Join us as we chart the course towards a holistic triumph that redefines prosperity beyond the bank account, emphasizing the integration of the four Bs into a seamless blend that sings with personal fulfillment.
Our conversation takes a disciplined leap into the realm of fitness, where the might of a strict diet and rigorous workout routine does more than sculpt the body—it carves out a fortress of confidence and internal vigor. Sharing my routine of steak, steel-cut oats, and water for breakfast, I reveal the cascade of benefits that follow a committed health regimen. It's not just about looking good; it's about feeling invincible and harnessing the power of expert guidance to achieve personal peaks.
The heart of this episode beats in time with the effort we pour into our family relationships. It's the small, deliberate gestures and the unfettered presence we gift to our loved ones that forge unbreakable bonds. We explore strategies to ward off the siren call of digital distractions and champion real, tangible connections. As we expand these relationships, we underscore the fundamental role of communication, recognizing our inherent need for love and appreciation, and our duty to reach for our highest potential. Join us as we navigate these waters, where every interaction is an anchor, every word a sail, steering us towards the shores of a fulfilled and balanced existence.
Speaker 1:
All right guys. Welcome back to Aston Incorporated. I'm your host, wayne Aston, and this is my co-host, dallin Aston. Good to be here.
Speaker 1:
Excited to be back in studio today, guys, episode five, and we've got some really interesting things to cover today, excited to get into the weeds a little bit on philosophy. Today is one of those philosophy conversations that we've been wanting to cover and you know, as Dallin and I were talking before we got into studio, you know we're talking about entrepreneurs in general and there's some common denominators that you may find or you may have experienced with. Let's make a distinction. There's a business owner and there's an entrepreneur. They can be the same thing. A lot of the time they're very separate things. And then there's a third category slave to the business. That's like it's a whole other uncanny card, right, right.
Speaker 1:
And so you know, dallin, you know in one of the previous episodes was clear to define that we're not just talking about how to start a business or how to be an entrepreneur in general. The goal for us, for you, is to help you determine how to become a successful business owner, slash, entrepreneur and be able to scale something. We think it's particularly exciting if you can take this from something to nothing idea and make something special of it. So what I'd like to kick off with Dallin is this idea of balance. It's a time management. It's a time management concept In my mind and over the years I've come to have the experience with many coaches, many life coaches, many business coaches, many religious coaches, many coaches of different kinds. And you know, when we it's really easy to find the billionaire who's fattened out of shape, divorced, with no family, so super lonely, and but he's got, you know, a billion dollars Right, it's really easy to find that guy.
Speaker 1:
So you just go through the four or 500, like the top businesses, and make your own. You know you can read enough to figure this out. So you know we're getting into a conversation of what does it mean to really have it all? Yeah, the body, a healthy body and elite level body balance, meaning a fantastic relationship with your wife, with your kids, with your you know outer circle, family and friends, business associates, strong relationships. Then there's a pillar in, so there's really four pillars.
Speaker 1:
For me, the third pillar is being that's my relationship with God, my spirituality. You know you don't have to be a religious person and part of any organization to A believe in God and B recognize that we're much more powerful if we allow God into our lives and we can accept miracles can be done in partnership with God, and so so there you know, there's a daily focus on developing the relationship with God and your spirituality. And then there's the business. So of these four pillars, businesses business is only one of the four pillars In my mind when we define, what does it take to have it all? Those are the things. If you have all four of those things, then I think there's some secret ingredients to true success, true happiness and, I think what everyone wants right Say the four one more time.
Speaker 2:
So you have body balance being and business. That's right.
Speaker 1:
It's like the four B's, the four B's, that's right, you remember that and so naturally your mind goes to. Well, if I have to work 16 hours a day in my business, how am I supposed to have balance? How am I supposed to balance these other four pillars If business is only 25% of the equation?
Speaker 2:
but it takes 16 hours a day. How is?
Speaker 1:
that you want to chime in on with your knee-jerk reaction to what I'm putting down here.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, my first thought is what do we define success as? And some people look at success as solely monetary right. And those people might say, oh man, they're not taking into account, and I think that's why you'll find so many billionaires, like you're saying, that are physically unhealthy. Their relationships suffer. It's because their definition of success is money. And then you also have other ends of the spectrum where people say my definition of success is physical health. And then you have other aspects of the life relationships. They suffer relationships because they're in the gym for so long, and I know people like this.
Speaker 1:
So do I.
Speaker 2:
yeah, yeah, their relationships suffer because they're in there so much, or they get obsessive, or their finances lack because there's I mean, there's not that, and then you have the balance. Some people focus too much on that side of thing that they come off as needy or they come off as a little. Do you know what I'm trying to say? And so I think it comes down to what's our definition of success and fulfillment, and I think, by the very definition of how we're describing it, it is that compilation of the four, and you know, I mean you could tweak it and make it your own, as you should, but it's a very, very personal thing and I think that's what sticks out to me the most about this is success is largely dependent and determined by you, and this, this balance of the four, right, right.
Speaker 1:
I think that's important to realize.
Speaker 2:
It's like I could sit here and tell you my definition, but when you internalize it for yourself and say, yeah, you know my, when I feel most fulfilled is when my business is going well, I feel physically healthy, I have good relationships and my relationship with God is powerful. That's when I feel the most fulfilled. That's my definition of success.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2:
So that's my initial knee jerk is. You know it's a very personal thing, but at the same time there are principles that can be applied to anyone to build their personal.
Speaker 1:
I think the good news in this is that it's possible to achieve that. Yeah oh, 100%, because I think a lot of the listeners are going to be like how on earth do we do that? Like how specifically? And so I'd have you consider that the first piece of this understanding, or this awareness, is that it's not a time equation. Okay, you naturally will probably spend more time inside of your business than you will in the gym.
Speaker 2:
I mean, that's a guarantee.
Speaker 1:
I will not spend eight hours in the gym, same thing with family or same thing with my. Some of the things I do to cultivate my relationship with God include meditation, you know, or you know you could attend religious services or reading, you know certain books. There's a lot of ways to, you know, kind of expand your spirituality, but you're not going to spend eight hours a day doing that.
Speaker 2:
Whereas a lot of times you'll spend a lot of time, people will spend eight hours a day working.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
So work becomes a huge. So how are we supposed to do that then? Yeah, if you're, if we're describing these allocations based on time, then it instantly is fails, because we're working eight to 10 hours a day on average. Most people probably work that amount. Yeah, right.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, if you break down the 24 hour day, we all have the same 24 hours. So this truly is a time management. It's how to be the most effective with the same amount of time that we have. Yeah, Okay. So this kind of touches on the, this mantra that I'll use from time to time. It's one of my favorites Equality is a false God.
Speaker 1:
Okay, that's offensive at first to a lot of people, like what are you talking about? How God made us all equal? It's not what I'm saying. Right, my choices and that guy's choices are dramatically different. So the equality lies in the choices I make in a day. Okay, so don't watch TV. For example, someone might spend four hours a day in front of a TV. Well, that's a choice that I have an extra four hours to be productive with, whether that's with family, in the gym, and you can guess where I'm spending these extra hours. So, guys, it's not a time equation. What it really boils down to is a. It's a focus on finding harmony in these four areas. It's a focus on harmony, not balance. So let's just take balance off the table for a goal.
Speaker 2:
Well, I mean it's interesting because we have in the four Bs, one of them is balance, so it's almost it's like okay, well, why are you saying balance, balance, body? You know what I mean, and so it makes more sense to say finding harmony. Because, as we're describing, balance is relationship-wise.
Speaker 1:
Right, yeah, it's relationships.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, so you're finding harmony.
Speaker 1:
I like that so much more.
Speaker 2:
And as you say that, it makes me think I've heard in the workplace and for anyone who works in a corporate or whatever that kind of space, I've actually heard this a lot the leadership will say, oh, you need a good work-life balance.
Speaker 1:
And then other people have.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and other people have this thought oh, that's impossible. I've actually heard this before. Oh, that's impossible Because you can't have a balance.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
And I agree in the sense that you cannot have a time balance but, I disagree in the sense you can have harmony, yeah Right, and so I love that. You said that that's powerful.
Speaker 1:
And you could put whatever words on this you want. You don't want to call it, you don't want to use four Bs, then it's fitness, it's family, it's spirituality and it's finances or business or work right.
Speaker 2:
I almost kind of want to find an F word for the spirit shout.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, okay, yeah, four S, yeah, you can come up with your own thing. We're conveying high level concepts, so let's talk about body for a second. How powerful has it been for you? Because you're a fit guy. I mean, you've got shoulders and two different zip codes and you know you've convention a thousand pounds. So you obviously have done some work in the category of body. So what is the prize for you Like? What's the payoff other than looking great, like you know? Let's talk about body for a second.
Speaker 1:
Like how does that impact? Harmony in these other areas.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, you know, it's interesting. You asked me this because actually two weeks ago. So the current kind of my fitness journey is pretty strict and I won't get necessarily into the, but it's fairly straight. I mean, you know right, and I had a friend the other day I was eating my steak for breakfast with, so I was eating the steak and the hummus and my, yeah, I threw some two cups of oats in my blender and just blended it with water.
Speaker 1:
Still cut oats and water. Yeah, and I'm drinking that in my clean car, pure car.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, my buddy comes in. He's my roommate. He walks in, he goes. You know why on earth are you doing that? That is, you are a psychopath.
Speaker 1:
That's what he said to me. He said you're a psychopath.
Speaker 2:
Man it's fun to talk about this because I looked at him and I was like you know, that's a good question, like why?
Speaker 1:
right, this is not enjoyable for me. No, I don't enjoy it. No, eating for results is not enjoyable, right, right. And I looked at him and I was like I'll be honest with you.
Speaker 2:
It, you know, looking good is kind of a cherry on top. You know, for me, the real thing I think for me is, you know, with fitness, with working on something, you can see the results very, you know, visually in that way and you can feel it. For me, I can feel a difference in just my energy level, my, you know, my confidence. You know there's a lot of different things that come from it, but for me it's the discipline required to get there. It's what's most valuable to me, because before I would do all this, I felt a serious lack of discipline. I mean, and I still did cool stuff, I still would, and I still was a hustler. I feel like I've always been that way. But when you start introducing the concept of true discipline, the only way to get elite level results physically is to be extremely disciplined, and I believe that freedom is a direct result of discipline.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, jocco, jocco, jocco, jocco.
Speaker 2:
Discipline equals freedom. Yeah, absolutely Right and so, when we think about it, my answer to him was it instills within me a greater ability to be disciplined with myself. And then there are times where I'm like I don't want to eat this right now. Oh, but you know what I'm disciplined, this is what I do, this is who I am, so I'll do it, or I'll be at the gym and I can go early right now.
Speaker 1:
So that stake in the morning with two cups of you know, steel cutouts and water? Why that specifically? That seems just as clean as there's no fluff in there.
Speaker 2:
Right, I mean, there is a clear path that I'm following and again it's you know, I've gone through and done my due diligence. I've asked you a lot, you know, and tried to get everything that I can in regard to education. Okay, how am I gonna reach, how am I gonna be the way that I want to be? Yeah, and I think that ties the body, it's like. Well, physically I feel more confident, I feel more energized, I feel more powerful, and those three things bleed into every other aspect of my life.
Speaker 1:
Okay, listeners, there's some gold right there. What I wanna underscore and make sure everybody heard correctly, is Dallin and I share the same thing, but Dallin's explaining is he feels a greater degree of inner power that comes from knowing that he's on this disciplined path. So there's a self-confidence booster of being disciplined and there's a self-confidence booster in looking the way you want to look and feeling the way you want to feel. Your energy level is different For me. I like to walk into a boardroom and my shirt's a little tighter than everyone else's.
Speaker 2:
And they can see that I'm very determined about my regiment.
Speaker 1:
I commonly try to avoid lunch. I don't like to go have lunch with people.
Speaker 1:
Because, if I do that, then I'm eating breads and pastas or something that probably it's a lot easier to go off of my meal plan. It's a very strict meal plan that I'm using and, guys, this isn't just a natural knowing. I mean I want you guys to know, I was raised in athletics. I mean I was a team captain of the state championship football team and we were undefeated and all of this. So we learned about work ethic, but no one ever taught me about nutrition. I mean, shout out to some of my coaches, man, I have one of the most elite nutrition coaches on earth, mike Manfrey. Another one overall coach Garrett Kohelo, and Shane Hugley has also been a big part of teaching me nutrition and the right way to work out. But I'll tell you, guys, I spent years and years and years in the gym eating the wrong things, working my guts out in the gym or what I thought was working my guts out.
Speaker 1:
Turns out I was never pushing enough weight or doing enough reps to make a difference, so I was kind of I mean, I've always been quote unquote fit. I've never been heavier than I wanna be, but I've never been the ripped, muscular, bigger guy like I have ambition to be and like I'm striving to be right now. It took coaches and it took some training. It wasn't until maybe only four years ago when I got super serious and I said I'm tired of like working so hard in the gym. I'm gonna hire some pros Like I have blind spots. I gotta figure this out because the details matter. I've gotta figure out the details and then build a plan of discipline like you're talking about, inside of those fine details. And it's incredible what happens when you know the details.
Speaker 2:
Well, seeing what's interesting to me is I have a newfound respect. When I am at the gym or I'm just somewhere and I see someone that is super, super and I can tell their fit because I know what goes into that. Oh, yeah, yeah, and I'm like this is so hard for me. Oh yeah, you know, the first week I started doing this, my body hurt. I remember the first time I did legs on this really flushed out regime that I'm doing. I went home and I literally was on my bed like on the couch working, and I woke up a couple of hours and I was so exhausted Because I was like this is introducing something totally new to my body. And then I'm eating and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is so hard, yeah. But then you keep doing it and that's when I think, the confidence and the ability to say, oh wow, I'm feeling different, it's when you continue to do it and say you know it's cause it. Let's be honest, it's more than just looking good.
Speaker 1:
Oh, it is, it is so it's In fact that's not a powerful enough motivator to do this. No, no, no, when you get into, like eating, the number of clean calories at night.
Speaker 2:
It's not enjoyable at all.
Speaker 1:
No, no, yeah, looking good is just a byproduct, but the feeling good and the longevity and the power that comes from it. I'd also have you consider that anyone listening today I'd have you consider that you don't get to take a break from your body. Yeah, your body goes with you everywhere, so it's a 24 seven constant, whereas the other pillars are not Interesting. Your family relationships are not a 24 seven constant, your business certainly is not. Now, your relationship with God can be, but if you're asleep and dreaming, it's not a, it's not to me, it's not. There's not direct consciousness on it. Now, with body, sleeping is building.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, so there's a plan there's a sleep plan that accompanies the meal plan. That accompanies the workout.
Speaker 2:
You're not getting stronger in the gym, you're breaking it down and so the sleeping.
Speaker 1:
So now, now you're in a challenge, like the die hard entrepreneurs who wanna work all night on the laptop and try and sleep on four hours a day, waking before in. I would have you consider if you actually got enough sleep seven, eight hours of sleep. Your brain was repaired, your muscles were repaired and you really put in that hard work, both on the meal plan and the workout and your body was in tune and you have that inner power. You probably will produce twice as much as you could, right?
Speaker 1:
If you only got four hours of sleep and you were banging away on the laptop in your flow state.
Speaker 2:
So it's something to consider guys.
Speaker 1:
It's gonna be different for everybody. There's gonna be guys that believe that you know they work the best on five hours of sleep. Arnold Schwarzenegger himself now says that he probably only needs six hours of sleep a night. So I'm not gonna sit and say you know you need eight hours of sleep. I'm just suggesting that a conscious effort on body. You find what works for you.
Speaker 1:
Well, it's kind of the foundation that supports the other three pillars, right, but if you take body out of it, I think everything else suffers, personally, for sure. So I think that's probably priority one is get the focus on the body right and everything will follow that Interesting. You'll have more power in business. You'll have a better relationship with your wife and kids. For sure. You'll be a better example to your wife and kids, right, and in you know, your relationship with God. I feel like, personally, if I'm building my body into the best possible version it physically is, then I'm doing right by God. Well, yeah See, I'm a steward of the body. I don't own my body. He's allowed me to be inside of this amazing body.
Speaker 1:
So it's kind of back to the parallel of talents we were talking about a couple of weeks ago. There's an obligation as a steward to do certain things a certain way, and so in my mind it's even bigger than me. It's like I woke up today. I will he let me wake up today, right? He let my heartbeat and my lungs fill with air and my brain to function, and not everyone gets that every day.
Speaker 2:
So now I have to, I have to take care of it. That's right, that's not only take care of it. Maybe it's another step further, as I'm thinking about this here with you is maybe it's. I have to magnify it.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, maybe you know absolutely. That's absolutely what I'm what I'm getting at here, and so let's talk about family relationships a little bit. Family relationships this is going to be different for everyone. This is a very, you know, you have lots of traditions depending on where you live and what organizations you're affiliated with. So there's a lot of family tradition and opportunity, holidays that are natural kind of family gatherings. But how do you, how have you observed or how in your mind is are some of the things that could, that could expand family relationships and kind of accomplish this successful harmony in what we're talking about?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, that's a good question and again, I think that would be different for everyone. I mean for me personally. I'm not married, I don't have kids you know.
Speaker 2:
So mine would be different than yours, but I am an older brother to four siblings and you know I'm a son and I obviously have, you know, friend relationships that are really close and I think for me it's. I'll give you just a quick example Devin little brother, he's 13. And you know I'll go hang out with him just a couple times a month. I so I live 45 minutes away, right, but I'll make the conscious effort to say hey, you know I'm going to come just see him, and he's one of the examples of siblings. But but because I've done that over the past several this is just very current situation, because I've done that for a while He'll call me randomly, like FaceTime, like yesterday. Let me give you an example of this, and I think this ties into the overarching idea that I want to get across. He FaceTimed me yesterday because he knows that I love NF.
Speaker 2:
Okay, so my favorite artist of all time. Nf Devin knows that I love him and he started listening to NF and yesterday he texted me. He goes hey, I learned the entire lyrics to this song. I can rap it and he's 13, right, so cool. He said I learned the entire song and I was like no way Right. And then he FaceTimed me. He's like I want to show you. He FaceTimed me and he puts on the music and he wraps the entire song.
Speaker 2:
I thought it was awesome, but I was like, well, why would he have done that? You know, and it really like it was such a simple thing, but it actually hit me pretty deep. It made me think about this principle of how can you cultivate a family relationship, a friend relationship that is so deep that person completely and holistically just trusts you and just loves you and vice versa. Yeah Right, you're not in it to get something, you're not in it to gain anything. You're in it because you love them and they love you and that's just. You know, that's just how it is. And I think when you put and again, this is not a factor of time, but when you put effort, I think it's a matter of effort. When it is time, it's quality over quantity here, right, right, it's like he knows.
Speaker 2:
And same thing with my other siblings, my sisters. They know that I put in effort. I'll send them a text. Hey, just thinking about it. I hope you're doing that. Yeah, check-ins, I'll send them a song that I thought was meaningful, and I've done this a lot actually. It's like, hey, this song made me think of you. It takes, see, and the time is irrelevant at that point, it's just like just something that I do and I'm not having to plan this out through my day, I'm not having to sit down in my daily planning session and say, okay, now 30 minutes to cultivate family, really you know, yeah, you're not going to do it.
Speaker 2:
You're not going to map it out like that.
Speaker 2:
No absolutely not. You know, and I think when you can transition from oh, I have to have two hours at night to just soul, you know, and everything's different for everyone, right, but for me what I found the most effective is just to say today, how can I be, how can I show them effort? And sometimes that does look like I'm going to have two hours tonight for them, I'm going to plan a three hour little outing with them. Sometimes it does incorporate time, but I don't think time is the leading factor.
Speaker 1:
I think you hit it right on the head that the quality of what you're putting out there is the key to it, because we're talking about results, guys. We're not talking about 24 hours in a day. Okay, I'd have you consider that you can accomplish 10 weeks worth of work in a week if you're effective with the delivery Right. Okay, that could apply to business. It could apply to everything we're talking about In the family scenario. One concept that I live and die by is if you're the person in front of me, then by default, you're the most important person in the world to me and I can look you in the eyes, like I am, and I can genuinely tell you right now, in this moment, you're the most important person in the world to me. Try that in a business meeting. Try that with your wife, you guys. Try that with your kids. I mean, it applies to everything when you can really focus yourself on what Downey was saying love, love is the driver. What can I contribute to this interaction? It's little stuff. It's looking someone in the eyes, it's being vulnerable, it's authentic communication With five kids and raising kids in the day and age that we're in, social media and cell phones are a serious issue.
Speaker 1:
It's tough to get these girls to put the phone down, and social media addiction is a real thing. People really spend a lot of time on this, but I've been experimenting with fatherly tactics of maybe we should go to dinner and put our phones in the car and leave them in the car so that we don't have that, because how annoying is it when we're all sitting at PF Changs and everyone's got their phone out, you see, these memes on social media.
Speaker 1:
It's like we're all zombies. So, guys, it's just effort, but it's a conscious, focused, targeted. What do I want out of a relationship? So another concept ROI we're going to talk about. In the business sense of it, ROI stands for return on investment and I'd have you consider that the more enlightened, the more enlightened definition of that is return on involvement.
Speaker 1:
So whatever I put into a relationship, it's likely I'll get it back. But I shouldn't have an expectation on getting something back. I've got to be willing to jump out of the plane with no net and no guarantees that anything comes back to me. So there's a real authentic level of a willingness to pour into someone my love and my genuine care for them, without an expectation of some strings attached. And that's really critical raising teenagers, because they just don't typically reciprocate. So for those of you guys that are raising teenagers, just know that most of the time I don't get the instant gratification of reciprocation With adults. It's a quick path to building authentic relationships when I look someone in the eye and I have a meeting and I'm hugging someone the first time I meet them. Those are things that are uncommon and it can be shocking to some people, but as humans we all have these needs and feeling loved and appreciated is a big one. It's a big one.
Speaker 2:
So we're talking about communication, we're talking about relationship building.
Speaker 1:
These are all fundamentals. So we've covered the body, the fitness, the family relationships, the relationships in general, business. I mean this all applies Expansion. I think I want to leave the listeners with the prevailing thought, the prevailing focus of this episode is that expansion is an obligation. In order for us to fulfill our highest possible version of ourselves and fulfill our obligation to God, then we must expand in all of these categories to find that highest version of ourselves. So with that I think we wrap it up, guys. We've covered a lot and look forward to getting into the next episode, but for now, hopefully you've got something to chew on, hopefully you've got some actionable items to take home with you, and we appreciate you guys tuning in to Aston Incorporated.
