Beginning of December, our 2nd daughter was born. And it’s been quite a ride so far for me.

Although I have some strong routines, like exercising and meditating everyday, there have been moments where I felt a bit exhausted emotionally. 

If you’re watching this video and you think you’re still carrying some hidden aspirations or dreams within you…

… or if you find yourself stuck in a business or job that you don‘t really like, then you might find this video helpful!

Hi, I’m Julian. I’m a husband, dad and business owner from Berlin, Germany. On this channel, you’ll find proven strategies on how to live a rich and meaningful life!

For more than two years now, I have been wanting to do some other things with my time, besides growing my online marketing business. 

But as it often happens, there was always something else that seemed to be getting in the way of me doing the things I really wanted to do.

When I recently looked at some of my older journal entries, I found some ideas and video titles for a YouTube channel.

The sad thing is that quite some time went by between those journal entries and the first actual video that I uploaded to YouTube. 

While I regret not having taken action earlier, I still did something right. 

With the help of an online business mastermind called Superfastbusiness, I was able to substantially cut down my work hours while also increasing the revenue that my business was generating.

This has led me to a point where I can now choose to spend more time on things that truly matter to me.

Life is short. And with two kids at home, I feel like time is running even faster for me. There is a quote from a Star Trek motion picture that I really like. It goes like this:

If I could travel back in time to talk to my earlier self, then I‘d tell little Julian this one thing: You can still improve a lot when it comes to using your time more wisely, Julian! 

Even if I probably did waste quite some time, I came to the conclusion that however old we are, it is never too late to start something new or to explore new interests.

I do think though that there is a price to pay for going after our sometimes hidden dreams and aspirations. 

And I‘m not sure how many people are really willing to pay that price, and that does include me.

While we could be watching Netflix in our free time or spend time on news apps on the phone, we can always decide to:

• sit at the kitchen table before breakfast to write the next chapter of that book that we’ve always wanted to write or
• to make plans on how to achieve our goals or work on that side project that deserves a lot more of our time.

I have been implementing three things in my life to help me achieve my goal of recording more videos like this one:

First, I am saying NO more often to clients who are not a good fit: when I do this, I‘m basically saying NO to additional revenue for the business. 

I do this because I value the additional time and peace of mind higher than the added cash flow.

Second, I’ve been blocking time slots in my calendar to make sure I really work on this and…

And third, I‘m working on this whenever unexpected and small windows of time open up during the day. 

What motivated me to apply these changes to my life?

The answer came to me while listening to David Deida’s excellent book “The Way Of the Superior Man”. But it wasn’t until recently that I took his advice seriously.

By the way, while preparing this video, I used Shortform.com to review the content of David Deidas book. If you don’t know Shortform.com yet, it’s an excellent source for book summaries online. 

So what does David Deida have to say about making time for the things we really care about?

He talks a lot about finding one’s purpose which could be defined as some “heart-impulse” we yearn to fulfill. 

When going through that book summary on shortform.com, I was really struck when I read this:

“When you live without purpose, everyone can feel it. You’ll lose your woman’s trust and your children’s respect.”

Source: Shortform.com (Part II: live with purpose)

And then…

“Similarly, if your children feel that you’re weak, disconnected, and unsatisfied, they will grow feeling that your love is unreliable and half-hearted.

Source: Shortform.com (Part II: live with purpose) 

So what does this tell us?

Living with purpose is not just a nice-to-do thing. When we take David Deida’s advice seriously, then living with purpose becomes a MUST.

Why is that? Because if we don‘t feel connected and satisfied at work, then let me repeat: we risk losing our partner and the respect of our children!

Let‘s look at an example probably everyone has heard of at some point: a middle-aged man, successful, with more than enough money but unhappy with his work. He seeks out other and (sometimes) younger women, ultimately risking his marriage! 

Had the same man spent some time finding more fulfillment at work or doing something completely different, then maybe he would not have needed to seek out other women. 

Isn‘t that fascinating? How about this for motivation: if we choose to stay stuck with work we don‘t really enjoy, we actually risk losing the people we love the most. 

So what do we do if we feel stuck at a job or in a business we don’t particularly enjoy?

There are several ways to go about this. We could start by trying out something new in our free-time. 

Some people might find their purpose in music for example. 

Instead of leaving his job in order to become a musician, he could be freeing up 1-2 hours everyday to just play the guitar for example.

By the way, we can find a lot of examples of people who did exactly this.   

For example the bestselling author John Grisham was practicing as a lawyer in his thirties when he felt he had a story in him. What did he do next? 

He just sat down and asked himself: what if I’d be able to put this story onto paper?

From then on, he’d write a page or two every morning before going to his day-time job as a lawyer.

Just like John Grisham, we too can explore other areas of interest. We just need to make time for them.

While I was sitting at the script for this video, it was 9.18am in the morning. I was actually a bit afraid when I decided to show up a bit later at work to greet my team on Slack. 

But I decided to do it anyway. And when I did show up later that day, nothing bad happened. 

If you’re an employee and you don‘t have children, then you have the added advantage of having a lot more time than if you were a dad with two children.

So, basically, the younger you are, the better!

And trust me, I know what it‘s like to have no children and I can remember how much more time I had compared to now.

So, you could start by skipping a Netflix series or two and work on something that could actually lead to something.

If you made it this far in this video, then what kind of work would you like to explore? 

What do you think could bring you more JOY than what you’re currently doing?

Could you:

• just schedule time for it in your calendar?
• use some unexpected windows of time that spontaneously open up during the day to work on this new thing?
• say NO to some activities or people who take away too much of your time?

What price are you willing to pay to try out something new?

Determine what that price is for you and then start paying it… because otherwise chances are nothing will change to the better.

And let’s also consider the potential pain of not paying the price… As I mentioned earlier, in my case it could be losing the respect of my two children or losing my partner’s trust. 

There is a lot at stake here for me – and if you‘re watching this video, then this might apply to you as well.

So, if you‘re not perfectly happy with your job or business, then I suggest you make the time to explore something else, something that has the potential to give your life a deeper meaning and that gives you a true sense of purpose. 

Now, I‘m really curious: have you been carrying around some ideas or projects in the back of your mind, some things that you‘d really like to be working on but that you‘re not currently doing?

If yes, what is it? 

Please let me know in the comments below. If you already had all the money you need to support yourself or your family, what‘s the thing that you‘d most like to do with your time? 

Or in other words: If you could be or do anything you want in life, what would it be? 

Please let me know in the comments below!