We have seen some real breakthrough with our kids by incorporating some simple hobbies in our life. The idea of a hobby can seem overwhelming but it doesn't have to be.

We talk about how we set up a corner of the basement as a no electronic area for arts, crafts and board games. Our kids have spent hours every day down there. HUGE victory for us and our daily routine. 

We also talk about how running (Justin and the boys) has decreased stress with the boys. 

We go through about 50 things that can become hobbies. Very simple but very very rewarding. 

A guy named Alex came and lived with me (Justin) in Ethiopia for a couple of months. Alex was a dynamic guy who had an awesome testimony. Alex talked with such honor about his brother who was a Navy Seal. Alex told me about a guy named Jocko and something called Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Turns out, Alex's brother was one of Jocko's platoon leader. 

In today's episode, we go over how ego and pride will keep you from becoming a great leader. We briefly cover the 1st chapter of this great book - Extreme Ownership. 

We have to lead people who are above us and below us in the chain of command. We lead them well by being humble with our pride. We don't look for someone to blame. We know that when something doesn't happen, it is our fault. 

Get the book.

With Covid uncertainty everywhere, everyone needs to have a homeschool back up plan. 

We have a lot of years of homeschool experience so here goes:

*** You as a parent care more for your child's educational success than anyone else on the planet.***

1st, include lifeskills as part of your school. On age appropriate levels, you kids need to know how to clean, prepare food, and do laundry. Lifeskills are not on a math test, but are so important.

2nd - group your kids together when possible. History, science, health, PE and electives all scale up or down. You can teach these classes to all your kids and then add more for the older ones. Just make 1 lesson plan for these classes.

3rd - The entire goal of all education is to have independent learners. Teach your kids how to learn. Agendas/ assignment notebooks, and curriculum maps will help you chart out a daily, weekly process. 

4th - Establish a routine that works for you. Most of public and private school time is not educational time. You can cover a lot material when your kids get into a routine. 

5th - Connect with local homeschoolers who did homeschool pre-covid. 

This podcast is dedicated to one of my best friends - Keith Garmon. He passed away this morning after a 3 year battle with stage 4 cancer. 

Keith loved to worship the LORD. Keith loved his family. Keith was hilarious.

With death totals continually in the news these days, we thought it was a good time to talk.

We sat down with our kids this morning and talked about Keith's pass with our kids. We told them the following:
1st - knowing the LORD is the most important thing you will ever do. It is a daily walk.
2nd - Live a life of peace.
3rd - Love your family.
4th - Do your best, give a 110% when you work, eat, play video games. 

Watch any road race from kids, high school to adults. You will watch some runners go out too fast. By the end of the race, their wheels have "fallen off". 

A lot of people have lost their wheels during this covid crisis because they started off going too hard and too fast. This thing is now a marathon and not a sprint. 

In this episode, we look at the Ziglar wheel of life and rank each category as being bored, comfortable, stretched, strained or burned out. This is a really good episode to reflect on your life and where you are stressed out. 

Good habits make your life and business flow so much more smoothly. On the opposite side of the spectrum, bad habits can crush your success.

"The Habit Loop" is a concept presented by Charles Duhigg in his book, "The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business." 

He sheds light on the subconscious factors (cues and rewards) that are at play when you try to break or form a habit. In this episode of the Less Stress Family Podcast, my husband and I break down the loop and offer a formula to help you have more success with your own habits. 

I'm curious what good habits have you successfully implemented to help you succeed as a family woman and business woman? What had habits are slowing you down? Leave your response in the COMMENTS below.

So Shawna took all of Justin's notes about how he always wins the argument . . . LOL. 

Shawna had MULTIPLE difficult conversations with people due to COVID policies this week on the phone and even in email. NOT FUN.

The current reality is that life is STRESSFUL due to COVID, economic crisis and racial and political tensions. Add in a hard conversation and you might be ready to scream. 

In this episode of the Less Stress Family Podcast, we discuss an article based on an interview with an FBI Hostage Negotiator. His tips really helped Shawna get thru those difficult talks in the business world this week. We are positive they will help you, if you implement them with your customers, business partners and family, too! Blessings.

Being Curious. Staying Curious. 

Curiosity is a word/idea that I keep hearing about so I found this article by Catherine Pearson about how being curious will actually lead you to great success. 

We discuss this article and how to adopt a curious life.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/curiosity_n_5736402

Setting goals is part of our culture, but maybe we need to think beyond goals.

Today, we look at an article from James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits.
Clear says that we need goals, but our main efforts should be building systems (habits, routines, and structures) in our daily lives.

Hitting a bunch of goals can actually cause us to be more and more stress out if these goals are not tied to the rest of our life.

He says there are 4 problems with just making goals:
1. Winners and losers all have the same goal. We hear the story of the winner who worked hard, but we don't hear the loser's same goal.
2. Obtaining a goal only lasts for that moment. It doesn't mean your life has changed.
3. We tie goals to our happiness. We assume if we hit this goal, then we will be happy. But we know that is not true.
4. Only focusing on a series of goals can create a yo-yo effect of progress because the goals may or may not be tied to your daily lifestyle.

So, start with a goal, but then put your time and energy towards routines and habits around that goal so that you build a lifestyle that guarantees success of that goal and beyond.

https://jamesclear.com/goals-systems

How do you see freedom in 2020? This weekend, my friend Brad, asked me about my views of freedom today. It was a simple question that really got me (Justin) thinking a lot. 

Freedom is not free.  We have to steward and exercise our freedoms. If we don't exercise them, then they disappear - like any muscle. 

Walking in true freedom can become stressful because freedom comes at a high cost. We have to make some sacrifices and go through some pain to walk in freedom. 

Today, we use Zig Ziglar's Wheel of Life to evaluate our freedom path. We cannot control others, but we can develop baby steps to grow and steward our spiritual, health, family, social, mental, financial and career freedoms. 

This is a good episode to get you thinking about what you need to steward better.