46

CATEGORIES: Podcast

Managing Family and Business, with Jonathan Vroman of Front Row Dads

I’m joined today on episode 46 of Franchise Secrets by Jonathan Vroman, founder of Front Row Dads, coach and lifestyle rockstar who has not only taught me so much about how to prioritize my time and create a better work life balance, but also made it his life’s mission to help men all around the country with the same issue.

 

Jon gets personal in this episode, talking about struggles he personally had as a young father with balancing his time between home and work, what finally worked for him, and how the men’s groups he’s putting together are continuing to pay dividends for businessmen and their families all around the country. Jon’s insights range from how we think about ourselves to paying attention to our health and well being to understanding and controlling our emotional lives. He also talks about the importance of having his own men’s group in his life and the deep wisdom he’s gotten from it.

 

As a member of one of his cohorts, I can personally vouch for how Front Row Dads has changed my life and given me a support system that I didn’t even know I needed, and I am excited to share both of our experiences with you on today’s episode.

 

Time stamps 

 

0:00 - Jon’s history of that lead to the creation of Front Row Dads

 7:59 - The success, vulnerability & insights of the first group 

 16:37 - Supporting each other, learning together and holding each other accountable[Text Wrapping Break] 

25:47 - The importance of good health (sleep + alcohol)

 34:05 - The relationships we’ve built and the mission of Front Row Dads 

The Power of a Support System 

 

All of us have areas in our lives where we would like to improve, or even multiple areas, being a good parent chief among them for many people. But simply reading self help books and trying new things isn’t always going to work, and it’s definitely not the fastest route to success. By showing up to a group of like minded people who want to make the same improvements, we can pool or talents and our insights, and each of us can grow exponentially faster through collaboration.

 

Joining Front Row Dads has changed not only my life, but the life of my wife and daughters, and that is why I wanted to have Jon on the podcast today. Being able to draw upon the strength and wisdom of others has been integral to my maturation as a parent, and being able to help others when they need it is equally rewarding. When I have a new problem I’m no longer solving it alone, I’m drawing on the minds of 9 or 10 different guys, many of whom have been through the same things as me, and they often have insights and perspectives that I’d never have seen on my own. Every dad owes it to themselves and their family to join one of Jon’s cohorts.

 

You are how you sleep 

 

After all the work Jon’s been through, he credits improving his sleep as the most important thing he’s done to become more effective and home and at work. For me, and I go into depth about this on today’s episode, doing a 75 day no alcohol challenge showed me how much even a moderate consumption of alcohol had been affecting me.

 

If you want to become a better parent, a better worker, or better at basically anything, taking your personal health seriously is a must, especially as you get older. Jon’s point about children throwing temper tantrums when they are hungry or tired is so simple and obvious that I can’t believe I never thought of it before. Why would we be any different as adults? The better we feel everyday, the sharper we are, the better position we are in to succeed in all aspects of our life. Try replacing some unhealthy habits for a short time in order to get a taste for what it would be like. Once you see the difference for yourself, making a full time change will be much easier.

 

 

Prioritizing. What is really the most important part of your life? 

 

It’s easy to say that you put your family first. But are you really? Both Jon and I readily admit that we were saying the right things, but in reality we weren’t putting our families first as much as we wanted to. Jon reminisces about being angry at his wife for sleeping later than him, while he was putting the best hours of his day into work, when the reality dawned on him: if he is really family first, why aren’t the best hours of his day going towards his children?

 

Changing our priorities mentally is the first step, but we need to actually commit to changing our schedules if we want it to mean anything substantial. These changes are not going to happen overnight. I can personally attest to the difficulty I found in trying to become a better father and husband. Even when I really wanted it, breaking years old habits in order to replace them with new ones that reflected what I truly wanted took months and even years, but if you truly want it and truly understand what your real priorities are in life, you will be able to make the same changes I did. All it takes is commitment.

 

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