Welcome to the struggle bubble. I'm Chad cutting. And I'm Craig Craig is joining us live from Lake Tahoe where he's visiting for the week really, right? Six days. Six, seven, eight days. Eight days. Eight days. How would you describe your internet connection, Craig? and light -legged tarho. as in deep, broken, rocky, some success and some failure. Looks pretty though. Yeah, behind the scenes, if anybody wants to produce their own podcast, we spent the last 22 minutes, one, getting Craig on the phone, two, going back and forth in the room to make sure we have a connection strong enough, and then another, I don't know, four or five minutes actually hearing each other while you're frozen. We're testing, we're testing. We're testing the phone for podcasting over a computer. So if it sounds terrible, we know why. It's all part of the struggle bubble, right? We talk about every single week, you need to be flexible, you need to be fluid, you don't get aggravated, you just adapt. Control what you can control. And then we don't want to leave our listeners without one week of an episode, right? We'll get phone calls like we did last week from our friends saying, hey, I'm walking the dog in the morning, where's the podcast? I need somebody to keep me company. yeah, yeah, I got one saying, where's my Wednesday drive into the office? All right, okay. we're thankful for everybody that continues to listen and follow us on the struggle bubble pod on Instagram. It's a learning experience, but we're having a ton of fun doing it. I don't know about you, but this has been a fun couple of months being able to broadcast, get our lovely faces and voices out into the masses. Yeah, your face for radio is really coming across well. We're now co - can see me clearly, Craig. I don't know how the quality of your video is gonna be. They just picked you in Tahoe. We had 311 downloads over the last 30 days, which I felt was pretty cool. We got to get to a thousand. More subscribers, please. We are in 26 countries now, which was pretty awesome. I'm still calling out Thomas because I don't see any promo to get his. One downloaded more than anybody else. So Jenna, if you're listening. exactly mention their names that way we know if they're listening or Yeah, we'll just walk with shame. It's fine. It's fine. Well, on this week's episode, we've talked a bit the last couple of weeks about work-life balance, and then we immediately say, well, it's really not balance. It's never going to be an equal part, one or the other. You can't have a hard and fast line to say, this is my work life, this is my personal life, and they don't bleed into one another. So the phrase has been work life integration, right? How does it blend together, blur together about how you bring your work life home and sometimes your personal life to work? We're all one person. You can't just turn it on and turn it off. And in fact, a little bit healthier to fully integrate and acknowledge where the shortcomings are and how we address them. So Craig, I think we go directly into what our conversation was. Was it yesterday or the day before? We're sitting there having a business meeting trying to plan the week. What needs to get done? We're having a serious conversation. And then down these stairs, you hear footsteps. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Craig looks over my shoulder and says, I think you've got Rambo behind you. And I turn around and sure enough, Alexa's right there. camo vest, Nerf darts, stockpiled, I think there were a hundred of them, with her nice little Nerf gun. And before I can turn around, and thankfully I did not turn around, pop! Nerf dart goes right by my face, hits the monitor, bounce back, hits me right in the face. And Craig had a really good laugh on assassination attempt. we can't joke about that, Craig. I was trying to skirt the line. I didn't want to say gun when I was talking about Nerf. Come on, man. Come on. It was fantastic and it was a nice break in a serious conversation that was needed. I'm just going to nail my dad in the back of the head with a Nerf gun. It would have been funny though if you were on with your old job with a VP or someone. No, these twins have had the times of their life since I've been on Zoom calls because the story I always tell is I was having, I was presenting to about 250 people. We're presenting our yearly roadmap and I'm locked in and I can't see my screen. I can only see the slide I'm presenting on Zoom and I leave my door open. Otherwise they'd be grabbing the handle and making a ton of noise. Well, I didn't notice that they actually came in. and there was a clothing rack right behind me. And they would grab on top of the clothing rack and Theo's sitting there trying to do a muscle up, Alexa's grabbing on, and then she falls off and I'm just locked in, I keep on presenting. And then all of a sudden I'm done, I pass it off to the next presenter and my slack starts blowing up. That was amazing, they were so awesome back there. What are you talking about? Had a look at the video to see that they were Yeah, full pull -ups right behind me. Not a care in the world. I'm just lucky they were Hello, I just love everything about that. And thank God, I do like that the Slack blew up, not on your presentation, but on your kids being comical. yeah, they didn't care about what was being presented. That could have been an email, but... Yeah. The classic. Let's have a meet. I hear footsteps. Here we go. even right now, right? You go downstairs and I'm trying to be polite. They shouldn't stop living their life because I'm doing a podcast waiting for Craig for a podcast that should have been on four hours ago. But there is a fort, a pretty epic fort. I'll share some photos on our Instagram after the episode. Right above me, right on the floor above me. And they are, I think are doing cannonballs onto the floor right now. That's a buffet. do my best. You have to see what everybody says about my editing quality, but I'm gonna try and edit all of those sounds did no need hilarious yeah and being four hours late it's i'm in the struggle right now being in beautiful lake tahoe is my kids are dancing so it's there's the amount of people with their laptops open working while they're you know watching their kids dance or whatever their studio is unbelievable i mean Let's just break it down. We're doing a dance competition Sunday through Thursday. Are you just going to take a week off work? How do we juggle this? Fortunately for me, I can work anywhere. I'm able to go and see the work -life balance or the work -life, what did you call integration. integration. Fortunately for me, most of my meetings are in the morning, I'm at the cabin with really bad internet. But no, in all reality, I'm able to work wherever and calls, et cetera, where I don't know how some of these people do it, because not everybody's remote. So it just blows my mind that it's out here. But they did great though. They did great. we're here till they made Showcase. So we're here till Thursday night now. watching that. in both your daughters. mean, they've been so dedicated to their craft over all of these years. It's great to see it pay off and you see how hard they work, how much they want it. And we've talked about them elevating everybody around them. But on that integration front, I think a couple of days ago when you were there, you had mentioned needing to get work done, but also wanting to be present. was the juggle, the balance, the struggle to make sure you're doing everything for everyone without letting a ball drop. I think it's really important to call out, you cannot do everything. And Thomas talked about this a few weeks ago. You can make it a priority for sure, but beating yourself up about it or judging somebody else, right? You just mentioned somebody who is a doctor or somebody that's, you maybe this week is their all hands, their sales kickoff, whatever it is. And truly they need to be there not just for themselves, but for their entire team, entire company. Judging them for not being is not okay either. And that goes back to what this integration is. What may work for you might not work for somebody else. Gary Vaynerchuk, Gary Vee had just been talking about this a little bit this week. If that's what you want to prioritize, good for you. If that's not what you want to prioritize, good for you. But it's up to us to be flexible in our judgment, withhold that judgment, do what's best for us and for our family, have our own pillars or tenants that we're rallying behind. and make that work, but don't set an artificial construct where you just can't, you can't accomplish anything. It's the worst of all worlds. Well, and I think that's where tools come into their own as well. Like everything that's going on at the dance. I can't make everything because I've got calls and stuff like that. You can live stream it. So I think there's, again, it's that balancing out. What tools can you use to help you try and do as much as you can, but at the same time, again, prioritize, right? I want to be there and watch this or whatever that is. But again, just take a second, right? have a look at the tools that are around available for you to try and coverage as much as you can. It is. And then setting, how often do we talk about just being transparent and clearly communicating what's on your schedule, what your priorities are, so everybody's on the same page, versus, and I'm guilty of this, you wait until the last minute to try and figure it out and then it doesn't come through and then you you kind of hide behind that. If you can articulate to your kids, say I'm gonna be here for this but unfortunately not be able to be there for that and give them that explanation, I think it goes a long way so that they're not, you know, worried about where you are or overly concerned that that chair is empty in that specific, you know, dance, but they know where you are and what you're prioritizing. yeah, no, totally. think the biggest thing for me is the kids know I'm they know I'm watching. Actually, the biggest thing is they care when I turn up at the end, when they can see me at the dressing room and get actual time with me rather than me being in, you know, watching every single dance and every prize and stuff like that. And again, I can live stream it, which is super helpful. But it's Okay, so now in the evening times when all the prizes and awards and stuff are done, I can actually spend time with them. So that's where I think again, prioritization, right? Where am I going to spend that? about that, yesterday was pretty awesome. Anybody wants to know, you can fit a dog on an inflatable canoe. Talking about balance, that was impressive. And we paddled out in Are there videos or photos of that? Because picturing a dog on a canoe, I've got a mental image. Yeah, no, there's a photo and it was definitely redneck central. I found a zip lock, threw my phone in that and put it in my pocket. So I was a little worried that this wouldn't work today because my phone would be at the bottom of the lake. But I did fine. I tried to FaceTime Britain at the same time as well, which I quickly stopped and thought that might be a bad idea. And then also I met up with the Tavanas. They came up here and I won. Bingo. You won Bingo. congratulations. Yeah, $25. Thank you very much. Free. Free .com. Yeah, was fantastic. So again, the World Life Balance. I got in a little exercise, a little paddle with the dog, got some friend time in the evenings, and then you know, can see the kiddos. Well, and then you've got a lot on your plate altogether because you're also preparing for the upcoming soccer season. How is, have you had to have anything covered for this week on soccer or are just doing everything remotely and just planning for the upcoming season from there? Correct, yeah, the directors are in office three days this week. I'm zooming in to discuss, I just got off a board meeting. No, it's looking good. We got a lot in the conveyor belt for additional stuff at LG. A few different changes in the way that we're going to develop some things in the club. Let's give too much away. and then preparing for potentially going to the tournament in San Diego. So, let's go, go, go. So it's busy, it is busy. Yeah, so you've got dance, you've got work, you've got this podcast, you've got your canoeing. Now, have you been able to prioritize? Well, I guess your workout is canoeing, right? You're not riding the Peloton or going in the mountain bike up there in Tahoe, right? It's just the canoe. me just paint a picture for my radio face. You're going to have to paint a picture because even if they're looking at the video, we can't see you and you keep rocking in that chair going back and forth. It's going to make editing a lot of fun. Sorry, I asked this stuff. I was David Goggins. I got the canoe, put it on my head, and I was carrying the boat. And then you had the dog on the leash? Man, somebody should make a song about you. Dog on the leash, canoe on the head. to come back and then she can record me just basically eating it as I'm walking the because the dog doesn't care if I'm going fast or slow, he wants to go fast. So it's exciting at times. He had to have a lot of I do need to ask a question though. On social media this week, you put me on blast for calling you out. But I go right back to our accountability episode of you did the action. Don't point a finger back at me for calling it out. You're lucky I didn't do the long edit where I have like 27 different curse words that I was gonna make a song. It's kind of funny seeing my auntie send me that WhatsApp message. like, that's, I'm sorry, you're used to it, so it's okay. What does your mom say? Does she have feedback for this episode? did not give feedback no i think as i said i think she's kind of numb to it at this point she's been trying to think when i start swearing probably 10 chloe's age probably comment that I was gonna put on our Instagram post of, you know, I said Queen's English, but I really wanted to, right, you drink when you're 13 in England, right? Is that the age? Maybe I love it. want to know. and then you're able to curse. I figured your first word was gonna be bugger or shit or something. yeah shit's a real word but bugger's not really a swear word. No, I mean kind of I guess but not really like your little bugger. Just like your little sod or your little whatever. But not really, I it's kind of fake isn't Okay, but you said washing your mouth out with soap last episode. Were you in trouble for cursing growing up in England? and not in trouble just like don't say it then you just say it again until they get numb to it and then it's just part of the pattern isn't In it, in it, in it. I don't know what in it means. Isn't it? Is that what it's short for? But it's the same amount of letters? That doesn't make any sense. it's just, you know, little bit quicker. The other photo that I want to share on social media, and somebody posted this of you when you, it looked like you were 18, 19, 20 years old, but you look like a bugger. You look like you got into some serious fun when you were a teenager. We're gonna have your mom on this episode and I want to hear, or on a future episode, I'm gonna hear what stories, because I feel like I've gotten a snippet of what Craig got into, but nothing in detail. generally good lads. you know, it's different. Americans, not to harp on them, but see what we do, what we think is, I can't even get my words out. What we think is funny, some Americans or people we know don't think that's that funny, including my wife. But yeah, there was some, we did some stuff. you you Americans in this country, do you not feel, how long have you been here now 15 years 20 years? 17. So still more time in England than in the United States. we talk about me coming from Ohio. I still have everything behind me. The Browns, the Cavs, the Buckeyes, the Guardians, it stays core to you. What percentage do you feel, right? You're 60 % still English versus American. But is there any sense of you or any form of you that feels more American than English in some regard? I mean, naturally, yeah, I would say just, I would say there's certain things we just do different here that you wouldn't do in England and vice versa. Right. And you can, we can go down the whole career path thing. We can go, but again, I think it's segregated to where we live. Right. I I wanted to get to, Craig, actually, is that foundation of there's certain countries in Europe, mean, almost all of them really, that have figured it out. The four -day work week and prioritizing health and family and fun over work. It's been a joke amongst all the big companies that I've been at, like, we better get a hold of X, Y, and Z country before three o 'clock, otherwise they're gonna be out of the office. And for us, it's been the grind culture, right? If you're not working 6 a to 10 p you're not really working hard. I think we've just done ourselves a real disservice setting those boundaries. And we're seeing it now in a post -COVID life of being able to integrate work and family where I think most of Europe has figured out how to balance it. Yeah, Blue Zone, baby. Blue Zone. Find those Centurions. I think... It's just a different way. I don't really know the best way to explain it. I feel where we live specifically, there's a definite feel of keeping up with the Joneses. And with that, if you don't keep up with it, there's a failure feeling that kicks into you, which is complete bullshit, right? Everyone's got something going on. Where in Europe, we're okay with living in a smaller house. We're okay with, we wanna spend time with friends. is it's just a different model of Friday nights is out with your friends from when you're a kid, you're playing football or cricket or whatever with your mates every night and that just rolls into adulthood. Do we miss things though? For sure. mean, doing that also means that you may be missing out on travel or maybe you're missing out on the bigger projects. in life, but people are also okay with that as well. They'd rather spend time with their friends and family. And like, as you know, like in August, good luck working with anybody in Europe in August. they're just everybody, yeah, just everyone takes it off. it's like, I would definitely agree with you. Everyone, we have the 4th of July, but as you know, you really only get the 4th of July off. Like you have to book vacation on those other days. And even then, people still ping you, right? And Europe closes down. It's Yeah, you're collectively out and that's what everybody gravitates towards. If everybody's going to be out, then you feel like it's okay. It's like unlimited vacation time in the U S yes, you have it, but if nobody else has taken it, you feel like you can't take it. And it just becomes a little bit of a sham to be able to take that right time. And it's just perspective to be able to say what is important. And the biggest thing that's been the aha moment for me coming out of COVID is really stopping and smelling the roses, being in the present. I just got a text from a friend today, Eric, and I said how's, you know, he's a consultant, I said how's life going and stuff. And he's like, you know, first time for a while I'm just listening to the universe and I'm taking some vacation. Been on three vacations this year. I'm like, good for you. I was like, because normally, you know, to your point, 6 a to 10 p grindstone, building, trying to grow, trying to do these things. He said, you know, some of these, you know, it's economy right now but some of the things he's trying to close from the sales side just isn't moving and he's like you know what it's a great time to take vacation. So to your point I think lots of people are going through that and reevaluate it. I mean we talk about it all the time. Like is this going to be a work -life balance? If I take this job am I expected to do 60-70 hours a week? Does that fit the mold of what I'm trying to do with my kids and family or whatever? A lot of people are thinking of a and a pause and a look and figuring it And I think you're gonna see that as a priority when you're interviewing for jobs or going into jobs, that work -life integration mindset. It's a conversation now, right? Can I do this job and maintain the integration point, the balance point that I'm looking for? And it weighs, In the past... 15 years we've gone from the Facebooks and the Googles of the world offering every perk known to man. It's like college extended. You want food, you want barbecue, you want sushi, you want a gym, you want a play structure, you want inflatable soccer, you name it, you've got it. And you don't want to leave work. And now there's the aha moment of no, is there a job out there that's gonna offer me the flexibility? Yes, I'm still gonna get the job done, but that might not take eight hours every single day. That might 10 hours one day and two hours the next. And having the confidence and trust in employees and in yourself that you can accomplish this job. Just look at what it takes to do a podcast like this. We don't know the first thing about producing any type of episodes, but you figure it out. And initially that might take eight hours to do, it might take all day. Or once you get it rolling, it might take one or two and then you move on to something else. But it's the passion around it, the trust and the accountability to get it done. And then to your point, using technology to be able to automate it, right? If we had a life automation device or an app, I think all of us would gravitate towards it to say, you here's the easy button. Let's tap it, organize it, let everybody know what I'm about, where I'm going to be, what I want to do. It just hasn't been that easy from the personal side, despite all the tools that we have professionally. Well, and then it gets overloaded, right? Everyone gets overloaded. And that's one thing I think people struggle with is you throw a screw into it you're like, wait, wait, what's going on? Why is this coming in here? And what are we doing? And that's when I think people, especially our area, people are maxed out. And when you throw one extra thing on, that house of cards come down real quick. So again. having that community there too. You're keeping up with the Joneses, but as you choose who to hang out with, you, you your kids choose who they're hanging out with. You've certified a little bit of that commonality and then support. So right. If the girls are dancing, you bailed me out last week to pick up a kid. I'm happy to pick up yours. have that community against you so that when you are a little overwhelmed, you have somebody to, to rely on and you know, a way to have that stress relief, the release valve. go to the blue zone again. Community was one of the number one things to lift to 100. Well, the part that's so frustrating is we get into this vacuum and think that we're all figuring things out. We're the first people to ever experience this. When you've got countries and cultures that have gone through it before and have made the prioritization You know, family first, community oriented, right? We used to be a culture where we'd all build houses together. You know, a barn raising together. And now, you you go talk to a contractor who has to talk to the city, who has a back channel deal to get anything done. And I'll keep everybody posted just on that front. We're trying to do improvements to the local Little League. Get batting cages installed because... A company has recently gone on a business locally, and now to go to a batting cage, you're driving 20, 30 minutes away instead of right down the street. And there's a process to get everything approved. For soccer, you're dealing with the same thing for us to get fields approved improvements, whether that's turf or grass or anything out there. That community aspect that we just talked about, we need to continue to reinforce so that we understand why we're doing things and making these kids' lives better. Where are you trying to put the buying fields? Just so everybody knows. we have the local field down at Balzer. So right downtown, the little gem right next to the public works building, right off of the Creek trail. And we have one cage there already. this past, the past two seasons, it's rained so much that the cages, they have no roof. They have no real infrastructure there. They get a little bit flooded and you can't use them. And then there's only one, so one team, one kid at a time. So the idea is we bring multiple out there, do it in a way that can be used year round and offer a little bit more education around, or I should say instruction, more year round with the facilities we already have. How much are they to build? That's the quote that we're going through right now. So we're, have an architect helping us out to make sure it's done the right way. We're meeting all town code and then being able to provide, you know, have the right level of storage, the right level of insulation so that you're not, you know, getting wind blowing water in. It's not getting flooded. So we're going to, we're going to see what the costs are, but it'll, it'll be worth the, a worthwhile investment, especially to give back the community, make it available for so many kids. And you know, instead of using it for three months, we use it for 12. How long was the old one there? So the cage that's there currently is maybe 10, 15 years old. So it's still, that one's perfectly usable. It's just making an additional one right next to it, similar to what we have over by the other elementary school to get more practices, more kids involved. Yeah, so it's a long -term investment, which is great. So we should ask anybody in LG that wants to throw some money to Little League then for a sponsorship. Knock on Chad's door. we'll keep everybody posted on what we're trying to do and why we're trying to do it and what it can look like. I've just, I've been thankful. There've been a handful of families that have reached out to put us in touch with an architect that wants to help out locally with a contractor that wants to help out locally, which has really been great. And getting back to the community point that we were just talking about, it's really refreshing to have things go, but I'll tell you, there are many people. that are saying, don't bother. You're not gonna be able to get this done. This isn't gonna get through the city. It's not gonna get through X, Y, and Z hoop. And it's just completely disheartening to wanna do things for the right reason. You're focused on the kids and it's not like we're doing a for -profit business that we're trying to build and make money off of. We just wanna get more kids out of the house, off of the video games, off of the screens, and then allow a place where our coaches can have one -on -one instruction. where you're not chasing, you know, baseballs all over the yard. It's disheartening to hear that you can't just have a good conversation and get it done. So I'm optimistic. We're going to go forward with it. The plan is to have something to look at and to present. And then we'll go to the town and have a good conversation. Yeah, no good. think it's right. I think it's kind of frustrating. We went through the same thing with soccer, you know, trying to get lights at Creekside and all the geese migration and neighbors and all of those things. Literally, we're looking to put lights on for maybe an hour or so a night when daylight savings is set so the kids can play. it's just disappointing to me that people want to put an objection in the way of stopping kids playing. Yeah. Yeah. Just for anybody listening, that croaking sound is Craig's chair, I think. And not, it reminded me of the colonoscopy I just had this week. So just getting awareness out there, right? I turned 40. There's a family history. You know, go get checked. The process was not painful. The most interesting part was the prep. There's no longer that nasty tasting. drink that everyone was talking about. It's 12 pills in 20 minutes and boy does it work. So that's why you take horse tranquilizers. this week's episode sponsored by colonoscopy for America. I love it. Really, I am a needle. Well, we'll quickly touch on, did you get that one? I did, but your accent made it sound even better. You have to listen a little harder. Well, cool. I know you're going to a big game tonight, so we should probably wrap here. Wrexham versus the... Wrexham versus the scum. Wrexham versus Chelsea. And I've been a big welcome to Wrexham fan over the past couple of years. The story is fascinating. think coming on the heels of the Ted Lasso hype and everything that they're doing to bring that, that club back up from the ashes has been incredible. So it'll be interesting to go from, you know, watching MLS, the last game that I saw, we saw an earthquakes game. We actually saw a BFC game locally. it'd be interesting to see the different speeds of where Rexam is and where Chelsea is and knowing that it's an exhibition. Yeah, it'll interesting to who Chelsea brings to the preseason. Chelsea scum. isn't able to play for a Wrexham, right? He's had surgery, not able to make the trip, but I'm excited. I just want to, I've wanted a Wrexham, you know this, I've wanted a Wrexham jersey for the past few years and they, internationally just not available. They're available at the stadium over there, but not locally. So I'm hoping, crossing my fingers, that I'll show up to next podcast with a full Wrexham kit. Let's go. What's the temperature there right now? 80 degrees? Well, in this room with these lights, it feels like 100. Outside, the thermometer in the backyard is 115. So it will be warm, but the game's at 7 p and we're recording this on Wednesday night. So I'm hoping that it gets a little cooler. Levi's will be fun. I just abuse so many of my Chelsea friends. I love it. Yeah, it'll be interesting game. to tell everybody whether you were able to come to this and, you know, I bought the tickets fully planning that you were going to join me. then did the dance schedule come out after that or before that, Craig? Well, so hold on. Before you shoot me, they have to qualify to come to And did you think they wouldn't qualify based on past performance? I mean, no, I thought they would qualify. I also don't read the calendar that well. So it's a little... It's a little on me. Need a game plan. Yeah, so it's a little on me, I guess. Although we may not do this one. We may not do this one next year, so... But that'll be fun. So maybe... episode, we're back in your house and I want to see the girls' ribbons or trophies, whatever they do. Maybe there's a new jacket. Did you have to buy a sweatshirt? of course. Cache. Scarlet one cache. What? Yeah, yeah, she got first. Scarlett want to sponsor next episode? Yeah, for sure. She got first and second. So she did do two dances. She just didn't get it first and second. And they gave cash. So she can pay for the gas. Yeah. So I'll be showing you absolutely nothing. I guess just a check. Well, I love again, how their competitive spirit, seeing their faces light up when they go through this and how proud they are of the work that they've done and how they're representing themselves, the family, the dance company. It's fun to watch and we'll keep everybody posted on the hardware that they bring home. But let's go ahead and wrap this episode. I hope everyone's enjoying listening to these. We're going through topics. We bounce them around back and forth based on the feedback that we're getting and what's going on in our lives. Right, we walk through Craig's traveling out to Tahoe and making everything work, juggling everything through his struggle bubble. We're dealing with different doctor's appointments and forts and darts being thrown at us over here at the the home ship back in Los Gatos. But it's a lot of fun to be able to talk to everybody and get the feedback that we're getting. So as always, please subscribe wherever you're listening. It does a lot to get us out into further markets of not just followers, but to be suggested. One of our number one refers is, well, there's two, Spotify search, we're being recommended in that search algorithm, as well as through the Instagram Reels. So like, follow, subscribe everywhere that you're seeing. And if you're watching this video on Instagram, please share it with somebody that should be experiencing the struggle bubble with the Struggle Bubble Pod on Instagram, and we will see everybody next week. next week to just two working dads keeping it together. Ladies, enjoy the Bye guys.