Zach sits down with Chris Lind — HR executive, tech leader, host of the Future-Focused podcast, and dad of seven — for a conversation about being ruthlessly intentional with your time when life is full. Chris shares how growing up around a funeral home made him hyper-aware that time is finite, and how that shaped a system built on calendar blocking, Calendly, and the hard discipline of saying no to good ideas, not just bad ones. The two dig into separating outcomes from activity (the guy chasing a million dollars whose family was sitting right outside his office door), and reframing failure as learning — anchored by Chris's story of nearly losing his job over a no-overnight-travel boundary. The episode closes on the value of proactively building relationships and a personal brand so that when failure hits, "you land in a bean bag, not a bed of nails." Running throughout is Zach's "I like the way you dad" theme of encouraging other men.
Just like money, if you don't assign your time on purpose, it disappears and you can't account for it. Chris runs his life off his calendar and Calendly with pre-set time blocks.
Anyone can decline what they dislike. The hard, high-value move is turning down genuinely great opportunities that don't serve your actual vision — because "it's not about me."
Life changes and you accumulate commitments that become burdens. Chris shut down a thriving several-thousand-member community because it wasn't where he was headed anymore, which freed capacity for what mattered.
It's easy to make the tool or the task the goal (setting up Calendly, hitting a dollar figure) and lose sight of what you actually wanted. Know your target or you'll fire arrows everywhere and wonder why you're tired.
"You're not going to die." Reframe screwing up as learning, let it go, and move on. The season where you think you'll never recover is almost always survivable.
Proactively build real relationships, a support system of guys, and a personal brand/network outside your job so a soft landing already exists when things blow up.
It's not about me. That's one of the lessons I've definitely learned as a dad of seven and a husband.
Put your top priorities on your calendar as named time blocks this week — treat time like a budget with every hour assigned a purpose.
Set up Calendly (or your calendar tool) with pre-defined time blocks and separate links, doing the setup work up front so you don't end up with 5pm Friday meetings.
Schedule a twice-a-year "vision review" — put the next one on the calendar now — to KonMari your commitments and cut what no longer fits your direction.
For one current goal, write down the real outcome underneath it (the "why"). If the activity isn't moving you toward that outcome, adjust or drop it.
Take one proactive "soft landing" action: reconnect with a mentor, post on LinkedIn, or strengthen a relationship outside your job so you're insulated if something goes sideways.
Practical skills, real stories, and one thing to actually do this week with your family. Written by a dad in the trenches, not a marketing department.
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