Ep 500 | The 500th Episode Special! By Popular Demand: "Time is Finite"

Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Gubernick, and welcome to the 500th episode of the No Days Off podcast. Before we dive in, of course, I want to thank everybody that's been along on this, on this journey with me for the past couple years as we've put together 499, soon to be 500 episodes after today. It's been quite a process. We've learned a ton. And I really, really appreciate everybody's support from those that are working on this behind the scenes, specifically Caitlin and Dave, to all of our No Days Off Nation, those that have been with us from the start and those that have just joined. I am so appreciative. Of your commitment to not just listening to the podcast, but the No Days Off mentality. The idea that we can get better every single day in our health, in our wealth, in our relationships, in our leadership, and all other aspects of life. Thank you for your support. And without further ado, I'd like to jump into a topic, a talk that many have asked me about over the past couple years since we started doing the podcast. It's a talk I've been doing for a handful of years now in different environments or in different events. And I wanna cover it all with you here today because this topic is just as important at this moment as it has been the very first time I did it 7, 8, 9 years ago. I talked about it 7, 8, 9 years ago. And that topic is about time. It's about how time is finite. Here's the story. Here's the scoop. Okay? I want to focus on time, but not the sort of time discussion that you may be used to. I'm not talking about time management. You know, like when you're looking at your calendar and you're trying to figure out when to lead generate in your business, or if you're in school, when to study or write that term paper. All of that's important. We all know that. Instead, what I want to focus on today is our personal time, our time on this planet, and how that time is finite and we just cannot afford to waste it. I intend to prove this to you in this episode here today. See, my objective, I think, is to bring awareness. Now, what you do with this awareness is entirely up to you. But I'm gonna tell you this, you cannot unhear what I'm about to share with you. So, my question, and you're gonna hear me ask this a few times, is what are you going to do about it? When I share some of this, I'm gonna ask you, what are you going to do about it? James Clear, one of our favorite individuals to talk about here at the No Days Off Podcast, the author of the bestselling book, Atomic Habits. He once stated that whatever your age you are today, your future self would love to be it. Most people do not consider 65 to be a young age, but when you're 75, you'd love to rewind to 65 and regain those years. Few people would describe 35 as youthful, but in your mid-50s, your mid-30s will seem like the young you. "Today is a great opportunity no matter your age. Looking back in a few years, today will seem like the time when you were young and full of potential. The moment in front of you right now is a good one. Make the most of it." I think that's a quote we should all probably read or review a few times over, because right now at this very second, you are the youngest you will be moving forward. And I say that because I see people all the time thinking to themselves, "I should have done something sooner," or, "I messed up. I missed out on that opportunity," or, "I had my chance to pursue my dream job and I missed it." And to that I say, "No." Like, no, you are the youngest. You are at your youngest point right now moving forward. So, what are you going to do about it? You can't do much about the past, but what can you do about it now moving forward? Let's dive a little bit deeper though into this idea that time is limited, that time is finite. If we were doing a presentation here, I'd have some visuals for you. And what I'd show you on a slide is what 90 years looks like in months. 90 years. So, if you figure 12 months a year times 90, what is that? 1,080. You'd see 1,080 dots on a screen. 90 years would look like an awful lot. And then if I showed you 90 years in Fridays, really we're saying 90 years in weeks, you take that 90 by 52 and you've got a lot of dots on that screen. And then lastly, I'd show you a visual of 90 years in winters. Let's say I had like a little graphic that had snow falling. And you'd see 90 of those. Let's talk a little bit about winters. See, I'm 46 years old right now. And those graphics that I showed you in this particular example would be of winters that, that I have left. So I'd have 46 crossed out and let's say I'm gonna live another 34 years. You'd see 34 winters remaining. Now I live in Phoenix. So if I want snow, I have to go somewhere. So every year my family drives 7 hours north to Colorado to tell, Telluride, and we go for 5 days of snowboarding. So, I get 5 days a year. So, at 46, let's run some of this math. Let's say I go to 80. That means I have 34 winters left. If I multiply that by the 5 days of snowboarding per year, that's 170 more snowboarding days that I get in my lifetime. But here's the kicker. That's a lie. That's actually a lie. Because the reality is I probably won't be snowboarding at 75 the way I do today. Maybe I'll still be snowboarding, hopefully, but I certainly won't be attempting to charge down the hill with my kids in the same way, you know, I'm trying right now. So I think I've got maybe 10 more solid years of snowboarding at the, at the current rate I go now. So that means I have 50 days left on the mountain. So now knowing this, knowing that I have only 50 days left on the mountain, how might I change my approach to the limited days I have left on a snowboard? And like, am I gonna hang out at the bar and just watch the snow falling down and maybe go out for a run or two? Or am I gonna get on that mountain and max out my day? When you realize you only have 50 days left, you approach it a little differently. What are the things in your life that actually have an expiration date? You know, I was talking to a group of college kids recently, and we were talking around this idea that things have an expiration date. And I asked them, you know, how many road trips with your friends do you think you have remaining? How many road trips with your friends do you think you have remaining? Funny thing dawned on me. You don't even realize, you may not even realize you're on your last road trip. With your best friends until long after that last road trip has been had. The college kids I was talking to go to a college that treats basketball like it's a massive deal. The basketball games are insane. Well, how many basketball games do these, do these college kids have left to attend before they graduate? It's— and here we are in, in, in February, March. If you know anything about college basketball, the season is drawing near. Like it's almost over. I'm sorry, nearing its end. It's almost over. So many of them might have one game left. It's a really, really interesting thing to contemplate, don't you think? Now, as thought-provoking as all that happens to be, how about your time with loved ones? How about the time you have with those you care most about? This one should really hit home. Did you know that the average kid spends about 300 days per year with their parents from, from the ages of 0 to 18? And then after that, it drops to 30 days per year if they live nearby and 10 days per year if they don't. So 30 if they're nearby, 10 if they don't. Now, my daughter Avery, who was on the podcast not too long ago, she's 14. So, if you math it out, 14 times that 300, it means I've spent 4,200 days with her so far. I have another 1,200 more days with her before she turns 18, right? So, 4 more years, 1,200 more days. When she turns 18, I'll be 50. So, if I'm using that 80 number as my expiration date, so assuming I live to 80, this means I have 30 more years with her after she turns 18. Now, if she stays in town, um, and she's gonna have to stay in town, that's gonna be a family rule. I'll have 900 more days with Avery after she's 18. 30 per year for 30 years. Okay, so what does this math tell me? If you do the math, what you're going to find is it means I've already spent about 67% of the total days that I'll ever get with Avery, I've already spent them. For Katie, my younger kid who's 12, it's about 58% of our total days together already gone. Let that one sink in. For my 12-year-old, I am at 58% of our total days. If I do nothing different, if I don't try to create more days and time, I'm almost 60% of the way through. More than half of our time gone. Already, and she's only 12. Now let's flip it. My dad is 72. If I don't change anything at all, it means I've already spent 96% of my total days with him. 96%. I have 4% remaining. It's pretty crazy. It's a gut punch. But it also means that you have a choice to make. 'Cause remember I said you can't unhear this stuff. You could either whine about it. You could feel sorry or bad about things. You can wish you did it differently, or you could change how you use the remaining time. See, I don't love baseball. But my dad does. And literally today I ordered my Diamondbacks season tickets. I don't really like golf, but my dad does. So I try to get out on the course as often as I can with him. When we go away for Thanksgiving, my family and I, my kids and my wife and I, my parents come with us because it gives us more time with them. My mom actually works for my company, and it's not because I needed her talent, though she's incredibly talented, but it's because I wanted more time with her. My rough math, I think I've created about 4,000 more days with her when all is said and done. 4,000 more days because of that move. So, the question then again is, what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do with this knowledge now that you have it? Here'd be my challenge for you as we start to wrap this up. Number one, I think we all should be writing our own eulogy. Literally, I think we should be writing our own eulogy. If you think about what that means, you know, one day you're going to have your celebration of life and somebody or somebodies are going to be standing up in front of that room reading about you. What would you like it to say? See, I don't think this is a morbid exercise. I think this is a business plan for your life. I want you to imagine the first 3 rows at your funeral. What are those individuals talking about? What are they saying about you? I think you design that version of your life and then take action to make it all a reality. So number 1, I think I would push you to write your own eulogy. Number 2, no surprise here, I want to push you to take no days off. I truly believe that every single day represents an opportunity to get a little bit better. It could be a minute of reading, it could be an hour with your family, it could be one more experience. I know that these small actions compound and time is finite, so we've got to leverage it, we've got to use it. And then lastly, I think we got to get weird. What do I mean when I say that? I think being average is easy. I think you should be weird. I think when you study those that are successful in business and life and relationships and maximizing time, what you're going to find is they're doing things different than everybody else around them. So, I want you to approach your life differently than others. I want you to leverage your time differently. I want you to treat your most important relationships differently. I want you to approach your personal life with the same purposefulness that you approach your business. So in conclusion, I'm sure many of you have probably heard of the Five Regrets of the Dying. The number one regret of the Five Regrets of the Dying, I wish I had lived a life true to myself. I wish I lived a life true to myself. I refuse to have that regret. I know if you're part of the No Days Off Nation, you refuse to have that regret. I challenge you to refuse it. And I ask you one last time, now that you know all that we, uh, discussed here today, what are you gonna do about it? That's all I have for you today, the 500th episode of the No Days Off Podcast. Thank you so much for listening, and remember, every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's get after it.