Listen Now

Episode Transcription

Meredith & Craig (00:14.041)

Welcome to the Road of Life podcast, the show for married entrepreneurs who want to build a thriving marriage and a thriving business. We're your hosts, Meredith and Craig, marriage coaches and entrepreneurs ourselves. We know firsthand that your business will only grow as strong as your marriage does. On this podcast, we share.

Meredith & Craig (00:33.291)

On this podcast, we share real stories, practical tools, and honest conversations to help you strengthen your relationship, fuel your business, and build a life you love together. Let's dive in.

Meredith & Craig (00:48.225)

Welcome back to another episode of the Road to Life podcast with Meredith and Craig. This week we're talking about something real sexy. Weekly marriage meeting. we obviously like to call it a weekly team meeting because it's all about the team. right. Well, let's just light it up. Let's say something real sexy. We're talking about something real sexy. This week we've got something real sexy.

Meredith & Craig (01:53.533)

team meeting.

Meredith & Craig (01:57.245)

It doesn't get sexier than a team meeting, right? I can't even think of anything sexier than a team meeting. Especially when you have one every week. You get aligned on all the big rocks, all the big things in your life. And everyone feels seen and heard and valued and respected. There's nothing better. Nothing sexier than that. Right? So... What is it? What's this team meeting? Well, we just came out of our...

Meredith & Craig (02:18.909)

It's a relationship mastermind call and one of our private coaching clients brought this up is one of the reflection exercises that we were doing and was talking about the value of the weekly team meeting and the difference it's made in their relationship and he was kind of gushing about it. It was kind of awesome. And we thought, you know what, we haven't talked about that on the podcast. why not share the wealth? you. Podcast episode idea. Boom. Yeah, like it's worked so well for us, for him, for them, for so many people.

Meredith & Craig (02:48.863)

Why don't we just share it with everybody? Everyone can use this. This is information that the world needs. Yeah. you're... it's steamy. And it's very sexy. Your weekly team meeting. So what's it look like? Like what do you talk about in a weekly team meeting? All the big rocks in your life, all the areas, like get aligned on... Because we all have busy lives. Like life comes at you fast. And...

Meredith & Craig (03:13.637)

A lot of times if we leave it to chance, if we leave it up to just having the conversations whenever they come up, it's usually in a high emotion state or at a time that is not convenient. And in those moments, it's not going to be super productive. So it's about setting aside some intentional time to go through, like get aligned on the big things that are going on in life.

Meredith & Craig (03:38.865)

getting a line on the calendars, what activities do the kids have coming up this week? Do we have any big important meetings? What's going on in the business? What about our health and vitality? Do we have a vacation coming? Like all the things that are the big rocks in your life around business, family, kids, activities, health and vitality. own personal stuff. personal hobbies and things that like if you've got a basketball game or a basketball or a tennis match or something with your buddy that

Meredith & Craig (04:05.021)

You know, you talk about that. It's like from three to five on Thursday, I'm out of commission. got a tennis match. So it's getting aligned on the big things coming up in the week ahead. Yeah. And it's getting aligned on the calendar. So everyone's on the same page. It's also looking back on the previous week. What worked well last week? Where were we super aligned? Where did we show up as a team? Where did we see some big wins for the team last week? Like what landed for us? What worked? And also what?

Meredith & Craig (04:31.729)

didn't work so well. Where can we improve from last week? What do need to do differently? Yeah. It's also about looking at the future around big goals and dreams and the things that you're working on to advance your life because you know, we talk about all the time having that North Star, all your Super Bowls and your Hall of Fame, your Hall of Fame goals, your Super Bowl goals, your playoff goals, your wins, all those things. Where are we with the different things? Like, do we need extra support on this to get us to a different goal? And so it's really talking

Meredith & Craig (05:01.625)

about all the big things in life. And it ends with one really important question, which is, what can I do to make you feel loved this week? So you each share that with each other, and then you work towards making each other feel really loved this week. And so.

Meredith & Craig (05:17.245)

To be helpful, I think we can include a link to a template for a weekly team meeting in the show notes. So if you want to have something in front of you, can link that for you in the show notes. You've got like a little something to look at that makes it help me bring it to life a little bit. And I think it's also important to while these team meetings are very sexy and really move the team forward,

Meredith & Craig (05:43.067)

I think most people will agree when they've started them that they don't feel sexy in the beginning and they certainly don't feel good necessarily in the beginning. They can be difficult. They can be a little bit.

Meredith & Craig (05:56.445)

Frictionary and awkward in the beginning is just getting your it's kind of like when you were learning to walk as a kid And you stumbled and you fell and you hurt your bum and then you got back up and you try it again eventually got better and then eventually you're walking and Getting into all kinds of shit. Well, that's kind of what these team meetings are gonna be like at the first like we've Yeah, we say it a lot in the beginning. You're a beginner allow yourself to be a beginner allow yourself to go through the falling and this tripping and before you walk and so I think

Meredith & Craig (06:26.399)

expect that the first few weekly meetings are going to feel awkward and uncomfortable and new and they're not going to be smooth and easy. Just expect that they're not going to be smooth and easy and they will, the edges will smooth as you go through as the more you do them the more reps you have the easier they feel.

Meredith & Craig (06:46.685)

but let this be our invitation to not give up on it. Not because it feels a little bit of friction or because it's hard or uncomfortable in the beginning. Stick with it. Don't give up on it. Do not trade short-term discomfort for long-term dysfunction because if you don't have them, like we said earlier, the conversations are going to happen at some point. The conversation's about not being aligned on a calendar

Meredith & Craig (07:16.661)

or not knowing which activities we're supposed to be at. you know, little Karen are supposed to be over at this thing and Josh is supposed to be over here and we don't have a plan and high emotion. And then it's low intelligence and it just goes downhill from there. It spirals from there. So having a plan ahead of time.

Meredith & Craig (07:36.601)

Even though in the moment early days, it might feel a little uncomfortable to get there. I promise you it's going to serve you well to have that conversation now to avoid the long-term. It's being proactive. It's a proactive conversation and it works because.

Meredith & Craig (07:57.423)

It builds empathy and trust and curiosity and connection when you can have those conversations and proactively at times when the emotions are low. And like we said, it's going to feel awkward and uncomfortable at first.

Meredith & Craig (08:12.293)

and the conversations are gonna feel difficult and forced in the beginning, but wait a few weeks, keep doing it, get the reps in in a few weeks, and you'll actually be amazed at how your conversations evolve over time. And you'll look back in two to three months at the conversations you were having compared to the ones you're having today, and just be blown away at the progress of your team when you stick with it.

Meredith & Craig (08:35.195)

When you put that level of intentionality and you're having conversations about your big goals and dreams and your health and vitality and your family time and all the things you find that you're putting the effort and the time into all of those things. And you're advancing all of those buckets in your life. You'll turn around and be like, holy crap. Look at all of the, all of the progress we've made in all the different areas. If you don't, if you don't have that intentionality behind it, you kind of just drift. before you know it, you turn around and you're like, I'm in the same place as I was last year with

Meredith & Craig (09:05.111)

regard to my health. I didn't, I didn't put any effort into my health this year because we weren't talking about it every week. We weren't being kind of like holding each other accountable and having a conversation and celebrating each other. So really.

Meredith & Craig (09:18.813)

It really improves the communication and removes the friction in your relationship, but it also advances you in all the other areas of your life because you're now focused on having the conversations around those different areas. And you know that at the next meeting, we're going to talk about the health goals, the other goals. It's like, want to be able to show some progress there. So it's accountability. get it done.

Meredith & Craig (09:48.381)

just hit something else. I see the hamster turning. Yeah, know. The hamster fell off the wheel and was trying to get him back on. With a pellet or something.

Meredith & Craig (10:00.62)

and so you have the meeting every week. It doesn't mean that if something comes up during the week that requires another conversation that you have to wait until the meeting on Sunday. You can have...

Meredith & Craig (10:12.837)

a proactive conversation, a mini team meeting, anytime you need to. So something comes up midweek on a Tuesday evening that we need to have a conversation about, maybe we don't have time right there in that moment to have it, or maybe it's a bit high emotion in that moment, so we don't want to have the conversation in that moment.

Meredith & Craig (10:30.645)

Something our client said today is we can always wake up half an hour an hour earlier tomorrow morning when we're fresh and have this conversation So you don't have to save everything if something comes up midweek that needs to be discussed Make the time to discuss it find the time get up half an hour early

Meredith & Craig (10:49.329)

Find 20, 30 minutes in your day, dedicate the time to have that conversation. You don't have to wait until the weekly team meeting. You can have a mini meeting in between your team meetings if something comes up that needs to be discussed. Timing is important. You have to make sure that both people are ready to receive whatever we're going to talk about.

Meredith & Craig (11:07.323)

So if someone's not in a place to have that conversation immediately, then let's have it when we're both ready to be present and to give and receive the information that needs to be given and received. Stay at that high emotion state. So it's a very simple.

Meredith & Craig (11:28.733)

process. You dedicate 60 minutes a week. You find 60 minutes. Most people find that time on Sunday morning. They get up a little bit earlier before the kids get up. You find the time in your week that works for you. Any 60 minute block of time that you both dedicated will work. You can kind of create a cool tradition around it too. It's like Sunday morning, we're going to make pancakes. We're going have a family meeting. We're going to go over the big rocks in life. It's going to take an hour. It's going to be a family thing. We're to have pancakes.

Meredith & Craig (11:58.687)

We're going to fruit. We're going to make it a thing, make it a like, make it fun because like we talk about all the time when something's fun, we engage in it. We want to do more of it. So if you can create like an energy around it and like have, you know, an atmosphere of fun and there's something to look forward to, like the kids are like, oh my God, we get pancakes and there's fruit and there's like, you know, make it up, make it an event that everyone looks forward to.

Meredith & Craig (12:23.983)

And that way you're more likely to keep going with it, engaging in it. It habits stacks. Especially in the beginning when it's going to feel a little bit more awkward and uncomfortable. When you can build some fun around it, you're more likely to want to continue it. Because once you do...

Meredith & Craig (12:40.071)

get in the groove of it and get more comfortable with it, you will look forward to the meetings just because they're at the meetings. But in the beginning, you're probably not going to look forward to the meetings, so building some fun around it. But I mean, you can still always have pancakes. For sure. Pancakes? And you may or may not want the kids there. You can make it a family. It might be a two part-er. Sometimes there needs to be conversations happening between the two of you that maybe you don't want the kids to be a part of for what didn't land last week or something that's coming up. Kids can take the pancakes and go watch cartoons.

Meredith & Craig (13:09.967)

Yeah.

Meredith & Craig (13:11.197)

So figure out the time of the week that works for you. Build a little fun around it, especially in the beginning to help you continue the process, the momentum when it's not going to feel as easy at first. And then it will eventually, you will hit a groove and you will look forward to these meetings with or without the pancakes, but keep the pancakes. I would keep the pancakes. I would keep the pancakes. mean, and if you're looking for recommendations on maple syrup, we are Canadian, we like, we've got the

Meredith & Craig (13:41.231)

up. and actually, think Costco has not a bad brand, believe it or not, in Canada anyway. But I mean, we just go back and tap a tree and we've got it. But I'm sure you got good maple syrup in the US too. It's not as good as Canadian maple syrup. That's just a fact. That's just the way it is. It's fine, you know. But yeah, reach out if you want some maple syrup or some recommendations on maple syrup.

Meredith & Craig (14:08.293)

And in the meantime, we will link the template for the team meeting in the show notes. Yeah. And on that note, we will see you next week. wait, before we see you next week, what's one action you're going to take? What's one thing you're going to do coming out of this conversation, this little chit chat that you're going to change going forward? I'm hoping it's going to be adopting the team meeting. Adopt the team meeting, download the template, reach out and ask about maple syrup.

Meredith & Craig (14:37.477)

Any of those things we'll do. Anything. We will see you next week. Bye for now.

Meredith & Craig (14:50.886)

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Road of Life podcast. Remember, your business will only grow as strong as your marriage does. So what's one action you're going to take this week? To put something you learned in this episode into practice. We love a good chit chat, which is the next person, but with action, but without action, you stay where you are. If you want to turn your marriage into the engine that drives your business forward instead of the brakes keeping itself, book a free marriage and business strategy session with us at www.200percentmarriage.com/strategycall.

Meredith & Craig (15:19.27)

We'll see you next week.

Meredith & Craig (15:33.126)

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Road of Life podcast. Remember, your business will only grow as strong as your marriage does. So what's one action you're gonna take this week to put something you learned in this episode into practice. Because we love a good chit chat as much as the next person does. But without action, stay where you are.

Meredith & Craig (17:04.954)

If you want to turn your marriage into the engine that drives your business forward instead of the brakes keeping it stuck, book a free marriage and business strategy session with us at www.200percentmarriage.com/strategycall. We'll see you next week.