Gratitude "Podcast" Interview: Stuart Butler

Well, hi, everybody. It's David George Brooke, that gratitude guy with another special guest on the gratitude podcast interview

And as I think about these special guests, I think, well, how did I meet these people? How did I know this young man who's half my age, but he's got twice the intelligence

So he's a tremendous guy. They met him, gosh, maybe a dozen or so years ago

It's already gone by fast, maybe longer than that. But Stuart Butler. So, Stuart, welcome to the podcast

Thanks, David. You bet. You bet. And so what I'm doing on this is I'm just trying to get people, people that have had a lot on the ball

Certainly you're one of those people. Just maybe there's going to be a few comments or things that might help somebody

So first question for you is, what has been, this were seven, eight weeks into this

what has been your best coping mechanism to help you through this madness, whether it be personally

or professionally your business or what's helped you to kind of get through this now that we're a couple

months into this? You know, we were just talking about, you know, the first, I think the first

couple weeks, I really had a challenge and just kind of, I think we were busy just kind of

doing the necessary things we had to do with the business, kind of having to shut down and protect

ourselves, and then went into a little bit of, okay, now what? And you're not going to believe this

You're not going to believe this, but this right here. Fantastic. You're not going to

This is not set up, but I actually pulled out your journal. You gave this to me the last time we met

Yeah. And I've been working on my gratitude. So I do my daily gratitude

The second thing that's been really successful for me is this is my journal

I got this one. This is Living Your Best Year ever by Darren Hardy

And I've used multiple journals. I've used the best self journal. I've used, I can't think of the other one I was using, but this one has a rhythm section in it

And then actually it helps me, it's really kind of funny, but when I started using this and really going through the planning process, looking at my goals and trying to figure my way out of this because I have to now have to figure out how to how do we shift our business

How do we, you know, so I've started really working on myself, getting back to working on myself

getting working on my exercise and my health and really kind of one of the things that I've always

tried to be is I've always tried to be a better version of myself

And this time has given me that, this time has given me that time to work on that

And I've always been, I would say organization has been a, it's been a

just being personally organized to get the things, my finances, and those things

I've never really had that time because I've been pushing, pushing, pushing. So now I'm like, hey, look, I have the time

And so I've been really working on those elements of, you know, every day working on

you know, my list of things, getting up early, exercising, doing a project on the house

And, you know, getting my, you know, just working through all those tasks

And it's funny, I've been on this journal now for. This is my sixth week in this journal

Oh, nice. And when I started that journal, I was kind of haphousered about like

okay, boy, I'm missing a lot on my check marks. I'm not, you know, okay, I can improve here

I can see all the improvements that I needed to make. And as I'm moving forward, I'm now, I could just, in six weeks into it

I'm like, it is so rewarding to be able to make those little tiny check marks off, right

That is great. And so that's been really helpful for me. And it I noticed that I far more productive and I moving into where I I want to be And I think with that particularly with my exercise and running that where a lot of my

creativity time comes in. So I think a lot of times it's just the basics, the basic that have helped me stay

stay mental. And I was thinking, as you were saying, and you mentioned the gratitude journal, and

do you notice what you're grateful for? has it changed what you're grateful for, say, today versus, say, eight or nine weeks ago before this started

Has it been kind of the same? Has what you're grateful for shifted at all? I, you know, it's interesting. I was on a, what I was noticing about this about your journal

is that it actually, in a lot of the different journals I've used, they have just a line or two

like I get a write, like, one or two bullet points, maybe what I'm great

for. Your actually allows me the space to expand a little bit. And so I think that has helped me. In fact, I was on a run the other day. And it's funny as you, you know, I spend a couple of minutes about writing what I'm grateful for today, which a lot of times it's the same things

Yeah. A lot of times, you know, it's, I go, well, why am I, I'm asking myself, why am I grateful for that? What's allowed me to be grateful for that? I was on a run

the other day and I was, I was just, I'm grateful that, I was just thinking about my parents and how

grateful I was that, it's funny, but we grew up kind of poor, didn't know it too much, but my parents

never, you know, it was just, we got to do what we want, I got to play hockey. And I was like

well, I mean, my dad worked three jobs and to provide for us like he did. I go, but what they

provided was safety. Yeah. Right? As secure and we never knew, you know, never, you know, we're always fed well

We just always had a safe environment to be home loved, you know, and just, we'd always

go to church on Sundays. And this was consistent. There was consistency, safety

And I just, it's like, you know, I go, I know what a sacrifice my parents to provide

that environment was. And I was just, and I was running and I was just like, I felt myself

It was funny because all of a sudden my energy level was incredible

I was running hard. Wow. I was enjoying the moment of that, you know, that gratitude

And I got home and I was just like, wow. First thing I got to do is I pick up the phone, call my mom

Oh, nice. So that was actually, you know, so. What an endorsement for, what an endorsement for gratitude

and all of a sudden your energy level when it even higher and so forth. So if I think about Stuart Butler

and the things that you do and the amount of, even from when I met you to what you and your brother are doing now

and so forth, a lot of things going on, a lot of balls in there, a lot of different things

that you both do and you do. And I think about some of the things where you've gone on these challenges

where you lost weight and got yourself in great shape and so forth. But any thoughts or tips or ideas

maybe for somebody who's stuck in their house or condo or maybe things they can be doing

You mentioned about getting caught up in some things, which is a great point too. But any other ideas for people that are maybe housebound about what they can be doing during this time of being kind of shut in

Well, I've been home for seven weeks. I've been out, honestly, I've been out twice to Costco for a short trip

Most of the time I'm in house. I think it's just, you know, digging deeper into what it is that you want to do

It's like, you know, I was reading about somebody who was organizing. their clutter the other day rather than organizing their life They were just organizing their stuff versus diving deeper to really go farther and

organize them themselves and getting rid of stuff, right, and simplifying. And I think that's one of the things that I've worked on is to try and simplify and allow

that space. And I find that when I'm able to do that, I'm clearing more room in my head and in my life, right

And so I think that even at your, you're at home, you're just like looking to go deeper in the things that you're doing your daily life and not, you know, what does that breaking that routine go and breaking that simple routine down and asking that question

Well, what if I did this a little deeper and go? And I think one of the things that I'm working on right now is capacity, the ability, you know, I was a, it was, uh, um

There's a book, Elevate, talks to, he's talking about, I watched a podcast or a webinar

he's talking about the ability, the capacity, expanding your capacity. And I find that, you know, running does that, exercising does that, I'm expanding my capacity

And I think sometimes even that deep work or, you know, you have to work at it

You have to go to be able to expand that capacity to do more

Right. And I think that, you know, even with me, around the house

and, you know, doing some gardening and or the capacity for me to fit more in my day and be more

focused so that I can fit everything I want to do into four, four and a half days of work and

take two and a half days off or make sure I'm out of the office at five and say, you know

I'm home and spend my time with my wife and say I'm committed to our family at that time

And that's really valuable. So very, very good point. Just a couple more questions

Anything that you're thinking about now that when this is over now, whether it's a vaccine or

where they go back in phases or whatever might be, but when this is kind of behind this

is there anything that you're thinking about now that has crossed your mind in these last

six, seven, eight weeks that's like, man, I'm going to hit the ground running with this

When this is done, I'm going to do X, Y, Z. Anything like that that's crossed your mind for when

this is sort of behind us? Actually, what I would love to do is continue the style of what I'm doing now

creating that space and that I can get my work done in a limited amount of time

I can communicate with my team, have my team, do what we need to do, be focused, communicate

and allow my team to grow. but to try to develop that

to continue the efforts that I'm making now and not to go back to my old habits

Yeah. You know, working 60 hours a week. Oh, that's a thing. Right

You know, it's like cut back and say, you know what, I can accomplish more and less time

by being more focused and put the time into the other things that I'm interested in

What a great kind of a safety valve or a check instead of working 60 hours

Although I must say every time I drive down some road and I see an A board that's coming up on the sidewalk and it says

Butler Valley, I go like, is there any other one? Is there anybody else in the business

I mean, excuse me, of course it's Butler Valley. So anyway, but I'm glad you're not going to crack up in the meantime, especially doing 60 hours

So last question, Stuart, is that if you think back, is there something that's kind of a, I don't know, maybe a mantra or a quote or a life philosophy or something that you kind of utilize, whether it's to get

through something like this or just in general I had people say well this two shall pass is kind of their mantra Is there anything that you kind of use is something that kind of sustains you

So I've been, I've been stoicism. I know that you probably know a little bit about stoicism

And I think I've been kind of Ryan Holiday, the obstacles away

I've been, you know, subscribing to a lot of his daily, readings and so you know i think that helps me also this um we're here and i wish i could

remember the um the sayings that were on but you know we're only here for a short time and uh

it's all you know what's you know we're we're all going to die right and you could die any day right

and so you know it's uh not to take things too seriously um and so just keeping

things, you know, understanding the perspective of things. And then also, I think

understanding that the challenge is the way, you know, understanding, you have to go through

the challenge and not going through, not going around it. One of the things I'm working on is I

need to work on my communication skills. I'm so, that's what I need to work on. And I'm like

okay. So I'm going to dive into that. But, um, but, uh, you know, I just think that a lot of

information out there that I'm that I have the opportunity to consume

that's moving me in the direction. I tell you, there's one of the challenges I

have is always getting up on time. Oh, okay. Right? And there's

a, what's your name? 5,4, 321. Do you know who I'm talking about

Oh, that's sort of, is it getting up at 5 in the morning or that kind of

is it? No, it's about, it's about procrastination and it's about doing something and

not waiting, right? Because it's action. It's movement. It's when you start, you know, it's when I go running

By the way, runners don't like to run. Most runners don't like to run. I know

It's funny. You put your clothes on. The hardest part is actually getting out the door

Exactly. Right, starting. The hardest part is starting. But once you start and then, you know, you've got your music on and you're happy you're doing it

You're happy you're doing. So starting is the hardest part and counting backwards and 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

And then making, you know, you have to move. by one and making that action. So I've been working on that and, you know, journal and part of

my journal is prepping tomorrow today. You know, so I write out what I'm going to do. I write out

every day what my schedule is, what I'm going to do for me. Excellent. Waking up, I weigh myself

get my drink, you know, and but when I do, when I wake up, it's five, four, three, two, one

You know, I've got to prep my mind, you know, and so there's just, those are the few things that

I'm working on trying to better the habits. It's all habits, right? Yep, exactly

All habits. And so I'm working on habit stacking and just, you know, reinforcing my habits

And soon, you know, hopefully that I don't have to think about those things

But then I'm able to build that capacity to go do more

Yeah. Yeah. Those are the things I'm working on that and they fuel me, you know

And it's frustrating. You're not perfect every day and I fail every day, all kinds of stuff

And I'm like, wow, I sure wish I, you know, I'm like, wow, I didn't get a checkmarked that

Okay, well, tomorrow's a better day, right? I get to work on that tomorrow and I get to hopefully get a book 10 checkmarks in my book tomorrow instead of it

That's how we learn, too. And I always say, too, you truly cannot appreciate it up until you've seen down

So you got to have those days to make you appreciate the up one. So listen, Stuart, thank you so much for being part of the podcast

I really appreciate it. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thank you for your friendship

You bet