The Balance of Work and Play

Feeling like life is all work and no play? Discover why taking time out is crucial not just for your sanity, but for your success. Fresh off a rare vacation to Oregon, I, Michael Kane, share my journey through Bend, Sisters, and Redmond, turning travel tales into life lessons. This episode of "Living Your Success 24-7" goes beyond recounting scenic adventures—it's about understanding how to weave relaxation, fun, and reflection into your daily grind. Get ready to rethink success as I explain why creating cherished memories and enjoying the present can enrich your professional and personal life.

Imagine if the secret to achieving your goals lay not in relentless hustle but in knowing when to hit pause. From staying on a serene farm to exploring local brews, my experiences in Oregon became a powerful reminder of the importance of downtime. Tune in to hear why it's essential to balance work with meaningful breaks and how even a simple retreat can rejuvenate your spirit. Let's redefine success together, making room for both our ambitions and the joy found in life's simple pleasures.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hello there, this is Living your Success 24-7 with yours truly, michael Caine, in the house. In the house. Well, I took a little sabbatical, had a little vacation time, a rare moment in my history here, my life. I said, oh, time to go, time to go. It's been a while and loving it, loving it almost, was going to work a little bit on my vacation. But I decided to do this year a true vacation, without really speaking about business, talking about business, doing A through Z's about business and stuff like that. I said let me chill out, get a chill pill and just have some fun. So we went traveling to the great state of Oregon, oregon. We hit up three, primarily three, cities, and that's Bend, oregon, known for their beer haven not heaven haven and Sisters that's the name of the town. And so I said Bend, sisters and Redmond. Yes, flew into Redmond, so anyway, we had good fun. Flew into Redmond, so anyway, we had good fun.

Speaker 1: 1:28

Today's my show is not just to talk about my vacation, no, no, I'm going to intersect my fun with the topic and the subject, which is take some time out. You know what Success is beyond just the grind of it getting up at six, seven, eight, nine in the morning. Well, if you're a farmer, we stayed on a farm, by the way, getting up early, going late. It's about the total experience of living, and what I mean is work is good, that's how we make money, that's how we get ahead, that's how we are financially successful, because we get up, go to work, we start a business, we operate this, we do that, we trade in our time for money, dinero, right and so. But what I'm talking about extends past that to as far as living, to live experiences. You can't just buy your way into that. It's the moments, the memories that you create. Not to get too soft on you now, the memories that you create, not to get too soft on you now, but you my opinion, we all should incorporate some uh, fun activity in our lives to break the mon, where you can meditate, relax and reflect. Right, if you've ever been on a retreat, they focus on that, but you can create your own little retreat, your baby retreat with you and your family, or you and yourself, or your spouse, significant other or friends.

Speaker 1: 3:28

And so we decided to. I've never been to Oregon, I've never been to a bunch of states. So I said, hey, you know this, traveling around the world and going to other continents and stuff. I said what about your own backyard? I haven't been in a lot of places in the United States, into other continents and stuff. I said what about your own backyard? Haven't been in a lot of places in the United States. So we're going to mix it up in the United States as well as overseas, you know, as time and money permits.

Speaker 1: 3:57

Okay, and so it's about a decision too, that I'm going to do A, b, c, d, and then you do it. First you say it, it then it's in your head, your mind, and then you actually do it and I believe a respite, taking time out and enjoying the totality of life and what life has to offer, is the true meaning of success. I know some people they just work, work, workaholics, or they just work and so consumed in their work and business. And then then you know it almost had me stuttering and then you know it, life has passed you by 20, 30, 40 years by and boom. So and you have to ask yourself what am I going to have? Am I going to have some good memories Enough? Did I live enough? Because everyone is leaving this world ultimately the same way, the same way we're going to die. I hope I didn't shock anyone. We're're going to die. I hope I didn't shock anyone. We're all going to die. The question is how and when, when and how. But you can't focus on that. You got to live today. Can't do nothing about yesterday, certainly can't predict tomorrow or next week, but we certainly can be who we are, what we are today.

Speaker 1: 5:28

Okay, so this isn't to preach, but I was thinking this is part of my being successful Taking time out To change gears. Get some relaxation, get some fun activity, the family, get some enjoyment, a different enjoyment. I love working, I love what I do, but shift gears to enjoy that, to create lasting memories. Obviously you're going to remember, literally. Plus you're taking pictures and videos and stuff like that. So I encourage you folks, my listeners, and thank you for being dedicated, committed, loyal listeners of Living your Success 24-7 with Michael Caine. Appreciate all of you, even though we don't know each other directly per se, but my goal is to whoever listens to me reads a book that I wrote, participate in a seminar where I speak, if that's the case, or however you get to me that you consider living life to its fullest Like chapter.

Speaker 1: 6:53

The name of my book subtitle of my book Slaying your Dragons living the life you always wanted. It comes back to that Because, ultimately, what's the point if we don't live the life we always wanted, if we live someone else's life or a life that's just not us? And we all participated in this scheme some kind of way, whether limitedly or on a massive scale, where, day in, day out, week by week, month by month, year by year, decade by decade, we're not absolutely as fulfilled as we could be, Doesn't mean we're not grateful for the blessings we have, but it means that there's a hole, there's a piece of us that's missing and that's because we didn't live that total life that we envisioned. Right, and this is not to be a woe, is me regret kind of show. But this is to start where you're at today, folks.

Speaker 1: 7:59

To save up some money, go on a little vacation, two or three days, four days, five days, however much you can afford. Save up for it and do something that you always wanted to do. Right, go someplace. I can't overstate this because not only was I relaxed, but I just had a great time announcing the memory books and planning the next vacation, literally planning. I do a lot of planning, we do a lot of planning and we just don't get up and go and spend a bunch of money we don't know we don't have. But we plan, budget and sacrifice so we can go, and some of the vacations are close by Vacations, or next state over, two state overs, and then planning on the next European vacation in about two or three years, probably a couple years, and Central America as well, which should be a year, and so what you gain from that is this vitality, this calmness, this wow, this has so much fun. And you know what Most people on their deathbeds whether you're billionaires, trillionaires, whatever they are, rich, poor, whatever culture, race most people don't say wow, I had too much fun in my life, I wish I worked harder.

Speaker 1: 9:39

You know now, if, now, if you're just a goof-off and spendthrift person that doesn't commit and doesn't pursue employment or entrepreneurship or whatever, that's something different but someone that has worked hard and is taking care of their family and attempting to and is focused in the right direction, when you're on your deathbed you're going to say, oh God, I had too much fun. You know you balance the other side of your life, of the work, the hard work you do, and have hard fun, say work hard, but we rarely hear play hard. Not talking about sports, work hard. Play hard when it's time to work, work, don't mix it up. When it's time to play, play, play like you mean it, with commitment, dedication to so. When we're on our deathbeds we can look at the smile and say, whoa, it's been good, it's been good and that's part of success.

Speaker 1: 10:49

Success transcends financial, fiduciary oh, ie, money. It's just not about the Benjamins, it's just not about the dollars. It's just not about the Benjamins, it's just not about the dollars. The success on the higher plane that I'm talking about. Have I reached the mountaintop? Heck, no, I'm still climbing that mountain.

Speaker 1: 11:14

Most of my listeners are too. If you, you know wherever you are on that socioeconomic plane of existence, god bless you. If you're at the peak the summit, hey, thank you and wish you well. And I wish you well. If you're in the midstream of it, or in the beginning stages, or you have major setbacks and you're restarting for the fifth, sixth time, don't give up. Don't give up, my friends. It's important that you give up, my friends. It's important that you give yourself every opportunity to what To what To what. Be happy, yes, be happy, enjoy today and dream and turn those dreams into action, which will hopefully result in the reality that you seek. That's right, you heard me.

Speaker 1: 12:14

So I learned a lot from going to Oregon with my lovely wife Sandra. We had a great time presenting the kids, and when I say kids, they're young adults, right, and they're 20, so they're not little babies. So. But when you have a father and a mother, your children are always your children, no matter how old you are, right, like with my mother and father up there in their 80s they've since passed Well, your child is your child, even if your child is 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 years old, right. So, and I mentioned this because so again, it's about experiences and it's about staying in tune with what really matters. That's right. The Benjamins isn't the most important thing Now. You need money to live. Now can't go to the supermarket, put gas in your car with no money. So for you folks that are challenged about getting up and doing some work, well, you know, I encourage you to be part of the system, the positive part, and that'll enable you to live the life you see other people living that you want.

Speaker 1: 13:48

Don Don't be jealous, don't be haters. A lot of people do or don't. A lot of people are jealous of other people because they're successful, and some people make mistakes, or rather, maybe things didn't go well as they expected, and sometimes we can leash out and negatively stereotype people yeah, they must be crooks if they earn money. Oh, they must be evil since they're successful. There's a group of people that actually think that, which is sick thinking. Now are there criminals and people that pillage and rape the land from other people? Oh, yes, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 14:40

But you can't live your life looking at that narrow lens. If you want to be successful, you have to do successful things, and I don't want to stray too far off from my main topic, linking that success to include taking vacations. That's my main focus. But I'd be neglectful if I didn't speak from the heart.

Speaker 1: 15:04

And it's important not to be haters. It's important to Not to be haters. It's important to you know, we're in a game. We're in a life game, the game of life. It's a board game. Play it, stuff happens, stuff happens. What are you going to do? Two choices continue or give up. That's it. Either give up or you move forward and get back up. Get back. We're always in the game, whether you like it or not. So if you got to play the game, be the game. Then play to win, and that means taking a respite, taking a timeout, getting up every day doing work, even the work you love, they say, if you love it and you're passionate, it's not really work. Well, you know what? Build experiences with friends and family, even strangers, too, that are like-minded. Get in a group and do stuff, even if it's local vacation. Okay, so that's it.

Speaker 1: 16:18

I highly encourage you to go to Amazon, amazoncom and buy my book Slaying your Dragons Living the Life you Always Wanted. There's a digital version, very low cost, and a paperback version. There's a digital version, very low cost, and a paperback version. So it's been a pleasure. I love doing this podcast. It's my way of impacting others that need a little help or a big help. Someone that needs a push can't afford that coach, you know, every day, every week, but you can listen to these type of podcasts, and there's other very excellent podcasts as well. I don't say not to listen to them. I do want you to listen to me, though. Okay, so, and just trying to get my message out to and to. Why am I here? I'm here to help people, simple as that. Help people to not give up. Help people to continue to be successful with whatever that is, whatever that means to that person, because all our definitions are not always the same. So that's it until next time, my friends. This is Michael Caine. With living your success 24 7 adios amigos.