Want a successful building business?

It’s more within your reach than you realise. And potentially easier to achieve than you think. It may surprise you. Start with this.

In this blog, we take you through the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 of where to start to have a successful building business. It’s something you can do tomorrow morning:

Exercise.

Duayne Pearce, Builder (owner of D Pearce Constructions) and Co-Founder of Live Life Build, shares his thoughts on one of the key elements in his life that has enabled him to create success in his businesses.

It’s something simple, but so many find it hard to do. They can start with all the desire and motivation in the world, but soon lose consistency and stop making the effort.

Yet, discipline in this area feeds discipline in so many other areas in your life and business. It gives you the ability to think big picture, to manage your reactions, to improve your approach to people and situations, and to generally feel much better overall.

And it’s something that’s super achievable, when you realise the value it can add to your life and business, and prioritise it accordingly.

Check out our 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 of our 6P Methodology PERSONAL: How to have a successful building business. Start with this.

5. THE IMPORTANCE OF TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF

The world we live in now is a very fast paced one, where everyone always has something to do, somewhere to be or someone to impress.

Everyone expects everything right now and we all put ourselves under a lot of unnecessary pressure to live a life that is not always the life we want, but the life we see others having.

I only have to look back a little while, to see the way my parents and grandparents lived, to notice just how much extra pressure we are under in this new fast paced world.

Only as little as 30 years ago, families lived in smaller homes, only had 1 car, 1 person working, holidays were once or twice a year, and going to the beach or a movie or out for dinner was a special occasion. Everyone appreciated and respected each other and what they had.

Nowadays with social media, everyone wants to keep up with everyone else. We all see other people and make assumptions that they are living these amazing lives based on what we see on their social media pages.

Then we all put this extra pressure on ourselves thinking things such as, “why can’t I have that, why can’t I be like them, why’s everything so easy for them, how come I have to work so hard” and so on.

Because of this, it’s never been so easy to get distracted and lose focus on YOU.

YOU need to be right, for everything else to be right.

And your ability to do EVERYTHING relies on the health of the body you’re walking around in everyday.

We know first hand how hard it can be for builders to feel like they can do this, put themselves first.

Because most Builders are people pleasers and tend to put their family, their teams, their clients and anyone else they feel will help them, ahead of themselves.

Life is no different than the experience you have when you get on a plane.

As you are taxiing out to the runway, you are shown what to do in an emergency. The airline hostess will demonstrate to you that, in an emergency you are to pull down on the oxygen mask from the ceiling, place the mask over your nose, and pull the string tight around the back of your head. This will allow you to breathe oxygen from the aircraft. You are to do this before helping anyone else – including your own children.

Now this seems a little harsh doesn’t it? But if you can’t breathe you are no good to anyone. Including your family and friends.

This scenario is exactly the same for us in everyday life. If you don’t put yourself first and make sure YOU are looking after yourself, YOU will never be able to look after the people around you to a level that makes a real difference.

You will only ever be able to give 50%.

It’s unbelievable how much difference you can make to everyone around you when you are looking after yourself first.

So what are you doing to take care of yourself?

4. THERE’S A STRONG LINK BETWEEN EXERCISE AND MENTAL HEALTH

Regular exercise isn’t just about trying to lose weight, build some muscle, reduce the risk of illness or reduce your blood pressure.

From personal experience, regular exercise is fantastic for your Mental Health.

Exercise releases chemicals like Endorphins and Serotonin that help improve your mood and feelings.

If you exercise regularly, it can reduce your stress levels which help conditions like depression and anxiety, because you are able to free up some mind space and focus on the environment you are in.

It also helps you sleep a lot better which is really important, as good sleep is a big part of regulating your moods.

During exercise, more blood is pumped to your brain which can help you think more clearly. It also helps increase the size of the Hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for memory.

On top of this, it also increases the connections between the nerve cells in the brain. This improves your memory and helps your brain out against injury and disease.

The statistics for mental health issues in the building industry are incredibly high and it’s definitely something that here at Live Life Build, we are focused on improving. Both Amelia and I have experienced the benefits of regular exercise and the improvement it makes to our mental health.

Besides all of the medical benefits, exercise can allow us to get outside in the fresh air, enjoy the company of other people, and even spend more time with our family and pets.

Everyone is different and will have their own ideas about what exercise they can or want to do.

Remember you only need 15 to 30minutes a day of physical activity to make a difference to your life. You could choose the gym, walking, running, swimming, playing with the kids, playing with the dog, even using it to spend time with your family going for a walk.

There’s so many things you can do that don’t even cost any money but will make a huge difference to your life.

Exercising is a huge part of getting in the right headspace to tackle everything else in your life.

3. THINK YOU’RE TOO BUSY TO EXERCISE?

Most of us are into some form of sport or activity that involves physical exercise as we are growing up. This can generally start at school, and then as you get older, you might join a local sporting club so you can spend time with your mates. Some people may have even been really good at the sport or activity they did and made it to local or even state level competition.

If you are anything like me, I loved my sport and was involved in lots of activities.

The thing is once we start working, even at a young age, we get caught out by everyone around us, telling us we don’t have enough time.

This is a huge mindset that we then continue with as we grow up, and can be very hard to get out of. Obviously it is hard when you are younger, as you rely on your parents and other people around you to organise and drive you around to these activities. You can’t control their schedule, but they control yours.

Then you start working, finish your apprenticeship, and start your own business. And before long you are telling yourself that you have no time. All of the sports and activities that you may have done for so long, are now out the window because you have responsibilities, family, bills and everything else that a Builder has to deal with.

I HAVE NO TIME.

This is the most common phrase we hear everyone saying, and look we get it because we have been in that position. I know this was my excuse for everything … and I mean everything.

On top of this excuse, as a Builder, you are generally getting up very early to get ready and meet the guys on site.

Then your days get caught up struggling to run the business, having meetings (which a lot of the time you are doing after hours and weekends because you haven’t realised you are a business, not a Builder), running the team, chasing money, ordering materials, chasing contractors, PUTTING out fires.

We get it: when do you get time to exercise?

Look … just like having a schedule to run a successful project, you need to have a schedule to live your life.

We know what you are thinking … but let us tell you – it’s so important to have a schedule for your personal activities otherwise they will never happen.

We get it, it sounds really silly, but believe us it works.

For example, all of my businesses work around my personal schedule. All of my meetings and onsite activities are all scheduled around my personal schedule.

This means I have in my schedule things like-

• The time I needs to go to bed to get enough sleep
• The time I need to wake up to give me enough time to exercise and still run my businesses successfully.
• Every week I have the same routines so my businesses work around me and my priorities
• The days I walks with mates for 1 hour
• The days I do strength training for 1 hour

I can also see the days my wife, Camille, does her exercise so we can work together in looking after the kids.

Like everything else in life, nothing will change or get easier if you don’t take the time to make it happen.

Try doing what I do just for one or two weeks, and see how much things improve when you have them scheduled.

Get the things that matter, your true priorities, into your calendar and schedule first, and then fit your business commitments around it.

In my experience, prioritising my health and well being means I have greater ability to be super productive and focussed in my businesses, and I’m getting way more done with less time.

2. BE KIND TO YOURSELF WHEN YOU FALL OFF THE WAGON

We are all guilty of not doing everything we want or should do all the time.

We are all living in a very fast changing world and working in a very hard industry.

Our industry and lives have so many working parts that sometimes you just can’t do some of the things you know you should. And generally exercise is the first one to be crossed off the to-do list.

Part of the reason for this is that humans have a default setting to always take the easiest option. We do it with everything, and everybody has different reasons for doing it. But in general, if there’s an easy option, we will have to fight our mindset to commit to doing the harder tasks.

Our brain loves comfort, and works hard to keep us there.

When things get busy, the weather gets cold, you don’t feel well, most people will give in every now and then.

They’ll take the meeting rather than going to the gym, stay in the warm bed rather than getting up early in the dark and the cold to go running, and just not do anything for a while because they are feeling a little run down.

This is fine and you shouldn’t be too hard on yourself all the time. Because unless you’re an elite athlete that’s training for the Olympics, then having a little time off here and there isn’t a big deal.

Don’t be too hard on yourself if other things get in the way every now and then. You just need to be conscious of it, so it doesn’t become the status quo.

The most important thing is to listen to your body and know when it needs a break to recharge. Then when it’s recovered and things are back to normal, get back on the bike (literally or figuratively!) and start exercising again.

If you are anything like me, I pretty much did not exercise from my early 20’s until my mid 30’s and always thought I didn’t need to. I was also worried about what others would think if I couldn’t keep up, couldn’t lift the weights – and to be honest – I didn’t feel comfortable with myself.

So after saying I would do something for a very long time, I just started walking a little bit here and there. I realised pretty quickly that it didn’t actually take a lot of time or effort to start making a difference to my life.

These days Amelia and I both do a lot with our time and lives, and so we both exercise a lot. And we are both having great results with our mindsets and health. We both miss a few days here and there, but we both know how important it is to be honest with ourselves.

If you have fallen off the wagon, be kind to yourself. The negative self-talk will continue to stall you even more. Instead, take small steps and get back on.

1. JUST DO IT

JUST DO IT. When It comes to exercise this is the most famous slogan in the world, because it’s so spot on.

Believe you can and you’re halfway there – Theodore Roosevelt

So many of us let our fears stop us from even getting started. Something as simple as exercise can be an overwhelming task to accomplish, yet it’s actually one of the easiest things to do. And it’s also one of the most important things you can do to improve everything in your life.

Three years ago, I was having a conversation with a mate. During our 30 minute catch up, he mentioned that he was struggling to commit to regular exercise due to work and a busy lifestyle. I talked about how I kept trying to do some exercise but I could never get into a routine.

He said that, over the Christmas break, he had joked with his wife about going to Mt Everest as a challenge to focus on. I said “What, when, where is that, who’s going, I’ll come” (jokingly).

One month later, I got an email saying that he has organised pricing and dates to go to Mt Everest base camp in 4 months time, and I had 6 days to confirm if I was in or out.

I committed along with 12 other industry colleagues and mates. We only had 4 months to buy all our gear and train.

This is how I learnt to schedule my personal routines first and the business will work around them. I had to! For 4 months we trained 3 to 4 times a week together, and I did as much walking as I could wearing my pack in between.

The trip was a huge success for me personally, and a life changing experience.

My advice for everyone is JUST DO IT. You only live once, and yet we let silly things stop us from doing incredible things, life changing things and things that will help us physically and mentally.

Believe you can and you’re halfway there – Theodore Roosevelt

I want you to repeat those seven words, three times to yourself right now. And then, starting from tomorrow, start your new exercise plan.

In three months time, you’ll have wished you started tomorrow!

Live Life Build’s 6P Methodology unlocks the 6 ways to elevate your building business: 

PERSONAL | PROJECTS | PEOPLE | PARTNERSHIPS | PROCESSES | PROFESSIONAL

Are you ready to get started on improving the success of your building business? Get exercising, and start tomorrow!