How do they do it all?

There are a variety of people out there that seem to be able to do it all, and do it very well.

Michael Caldwell is the mayor of Woodstock (Georgia), owns a thriving digital agency, has an amazing family, and yet he’s able to spend time with people without any stress.

Adam Walker has five kids, hosts a handful of podcasts, runs TogetherLetters and a few other companies, yet he’s able to hang out and catch a round of Fortnite with me quite often.

Seth Godin has blogged every day for decades, hosts regular podcasts, and has published like 20 best-selling books, yet always seems at ease.

David Persson has an amazing family, is on multiple boards, runs a company, works at another, and is currently training to run a marathon in every state in the US.

Ali Green co-owns GreenMellen with me, is working on another start-up, has two amazing kids with her husband, is room mom at her school, volunteers constantly, attends every sporting event her kids are in, yet she’s 100% present with everyone around her.

What gives? Are these people all superheroes? These five very well might be, but that’s not the only reason for their success — they all know what to skip.

In my mind, I think “if they can do it, so can I”, so I should continue to blog daily, start publishing a bunch of books, run for office, start another company, volunteer a ton more, and start running a bunch of marathons. They can do it, I can too! Not really.

• Michael doesn’t post videos on social media and doesn’t blog regularly.
• Adam doesn’t run marathons and only blogs sporadically.
• Seth isn’t on social media at all.
• David does minimal on social media, isn’t mayor of any city, and his kids are older.
• Ali doesn’t blog and has no plans to write a book or run a marathon (as far as I know).

Comparing ourselves to others is easy, but you need to look at each person individually. It’s like David Senra said a couple of years ago with “you need to envy the entire life“. Taking bits and pieces is an interesting way to look at things, but you need to see everything as a whole.

I admire and respect those five people as much as anyone around, and I’m still amazed at what all of them are able to accomplish on a regular basis. I just also need to remember what they’re not doing that makes it all possible.