You don’t find time for what’s important… you MAKE time.

Your next breakthrough isn’t in a new strategy. It’s 6,000 miles away from your desk.

My fiancée, Ceci, and I recently returned from our annual 3 month trip in Valencia, Spain, and the experience served as a potent, necessary reminder of a truth I teach, but sometimes need to relearn myself:

You don’t find time for what’s important… you must make it.

For those who follow my work, you know I’ve spent 20 years coaching leaders and founders, helping them build little empires and secure their mental foundations. But, I forget myself, to slow down and treasure what is REALLY important.

I’ve watched brilliant minds build $100M companies but nearly lose their health, their family, and their sanity in the process. We lionize the hustle, but what if I told you that the secret to the next level of growth isn’t doing more, but deliberately, strategically, doing less?

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The Illusion of Urgency and the Grand Scale of Life

I almost didn’t go. Not because of a real emergency, but because of the thousand tiny little “urgencies” that plague every high-level operator. I told myself the usual lies:

I’ll go when the launch is done.
I’ll take a break after we hit this revenue target.
I’ll rest when things slow down.

But the truth is, things never slow down. The emails will always stack up. The next product needs to be launched. The website will always need a tweak. The work is infinite, a constantly moving target. If I waited for the finish line, I’d be waiting forever.

Fortunately, Ceci, the pragmatic partner she is, simply booked the flights and put the time on the calendar, making it a non-negotiable executive meeting.

The moment we stepped into our 250-year-old, four-story Airbnb (PLUS a rooftop lounge), the shift began. Just imagining the history of that building, a silent witness to centuries of human endeavor, started to put my $10K “problems” in perspective.

We had no schedule. When I wasn’t working, we spent our days doing what I call “strategic wandering”: discovering tiny, exquisite restaurants down quaint European streets, finding small museums, and settling into old coffee shops to simply watch the world go by.

Next door to our place was an ancient castle fortress, a massive structure with a moat and exterior walls still bearing the scars of cannonballs fired 700 years ago(pictured below here).

Every morning, I’d run through the sprawling park that weaves 10 miles through Valencia, past the stunning Arts Center and the ancient, breathtaking architecture.

Every stone, every tree, every jog was a visceral, daily reminder of how vast the world is, and how small our most terrifying, urgent problems truly are in the grand scheme of life.

Somewhere between a cup of coffee and watching a child chase pigeons near the fortress, I realized I hadn’t checked my dashboard in days.

My CEO character, the relentless driver who’d been running the show literally for years, had finally stepped aside. In its place, a calm heart and peaceful spirit.

What happened next is the part that always validates this difficult truth: the moment I stopped forcing solutions, the answers began to flow.

Ideas for content, for new executive offers, and for strategic pivots that I’d been agonizing over for two months simply popped into my head. When I checked in, the business was fine… My team were all rockstars (because I’ve spent so much time with them), and business was just rolling along. The break was the business strategy.

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Action: Schedule Your Sanity

If you are running full-steam toward burnout, paralyzed by stress, or cycling through the same stale business ideas, STOP. You’re not going to solve a strategic problem with more tactical work.

The solution isn’t to add new tools; it’s almost always to remove the obstacles in your way, and right now, you are your own obstacle.

Here are three non-negotiable steps to incorporate this principle and unlock your next level of clarity and growth:

1. Book the Break, And Treat It Like a Board Meeting

You will never “find the time.” You must schedule it and treat it as a non-negotiable meeting with your most important client: your future self.

Whether it’s two weeks in another country, a long weekend cabin retreat, or a daily hour block of pure, uninterrupted solitude. Get it on the calendar now, weeks or months in advance, and plan your work around it. Do not allow a lower-priority task to cancel a higher-priority commitment to your well-being.

2. Go for Strategic Displacement

The goal is to physically and mentally displace yourself. You need to be far enough away from your desk, literally or figuratively, that the emotional noise of the office cannot reach you.

This is why I love travel. Go somewhere and choose to wander, explore, and get lost. The most transformative insights often come when you are not actively looking for them.

Run in a park, sit in a strange cafe, visit a quiet museum. Give your brain new inputs and you will unlock new creative outputs.

3. Re-Prioritize Relational Capital

Work will always be there, but the opportunity to deepen your connection with the people closest to you… your spouse, your family, your closest friends… is finite.

Relational capital is the bedrock of true, sustainable success.

Call an old friend, or simply spend an evening fully present with your partner (like I do with Ceci) without the phone, without the laptop, and without the anxiety of the “next thing.” The clock is ticking, not just on your career, but on your life’s most precious bonds.

If you’re waiting for the perfect time to rest, you’ll be waiting FOREVER.

You have to make the time. This week, put the next real break on your calendar.

Don’t just plan the work; plan the space for your soul.

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