WP 48 | Taking Time Away to Super Charge Your Business with Dr. Jeremy Sharp
In this enlightening episode of the Wise Practice Podcast, host Whitney Owens engages in a thoughtful conversation with Jeremy Sharp, a consultant and podcast host who specializes in psychological testing and assessment. Jeremy brings a unique perspective to the table, sharing his experiences with hosting retreats aimed at professionals in the testing field. He calls these retreats the "anti-conference," a space for learning, networking, and personal growth.
About Jeremy Sharp
Jeremy is a licensed psychologist and owner of the Colorado Center for Assessment & Counseling, a private practice that was founded in 2009 and has grown to over 40+ clinicians and staff. These days, he specializes in the psychological and neuropsychological evaluation of kids and adolescents. As the host of the Testing Psychologist Podcast, he provides private practice consulting for psychologists and other mental health professionals who want to start or grow psychological testing services in their practices.
The Importance of Routine and Eliminating Decision Fatigue
Jeremy Sharp emphasizes the value of a structured daily routine in achieving work-life balance. He believes that a predictable schedule helps eliminate decision fatigue, allowing him to focus his mental energy on significant business ideas and challenges. "I'm trying to eliminate decision fatigue because I want to save all of my mental energy for the work at hand," Jeremy states.
The Role of Retreats in Professional and Personal Growth
Retreats serve as a catalyst for inspiration and change, according to both Whitney and Jeremy. These events offer a break from the daily grind and provide an opportunity for professionals to work "on the business instead of in the business." Jeremy notes that retreats have been instrumental in inspiring changes in his practice. "It's been on retreats where I have been the most inspired and made changes in my practice," Whitney adds.
Balancing Work Retreats and Family Life
The discussion delves into the challenges of balancing work-related retreats with family commitments. Jeremy shares his experience of feeling guilty when leaving his family but acknowledges that these retreats are a necessity for both personal and professional growth. He and his wife have an understanding that they will both take time away from home for professional development. "We both understand each year, like, we're both going to be gone for four or five days at a time, two or three times a year," Jeremy explains.
Action Steps
Evaluate your daily routine to eliminate decision fatigue.
Consider incorporating retreats into your professional development plan.
Have an open discussion with your family about the importance of these retreats and find a balance that works for everyone.
Summary
This episode offers invaluable insights into the power of retreats and structured routines in achieving professional success and personal well-being. Whether you're a seasoned therapist or a business owner looking to integrate faith and psychology into your practice, this episode provides practical tips and action steps to help you move forward. Don't miss out on this enriching conversation that could be the catalyst for your next big business idea or personal transformation.
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Links and Resources Mentioned:
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WP 48 | Taking Time Away to Super Charge Your Business with Dr. Jeremy Sharp
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[00:00:00] Whitney Owens:
[00:00:05] Whitney Owens: Have you been searching for ways to tell your brand story and bring your business messaging to life? Look no further than Wildwoods Creative. It is all about passionate storytelling. They specialize in capturing the essence of your brand through stunning photography and videography. At Wildwoods Creative, the most powerful visuals are those that evoke an emotional response and leave a lasting impression.
[00:00:29] Whitney Owens: With Wildwoods Creative, Finding a way to make an impact on your audience is easy. Let them tell your unique story and bring your message to life. To learn more, head to widewoodscreative. co.
[00:01:03] Whitney Owens: Hello friends and welcome back to the wise practice podcast. So glad that you're here. If this is your first time welcome, and if you've heard the show before, thank you for coming back. And if you can just take a minute to make sure that you rate and review the show, super easy. You can stop it right now and go on whatever player that you'd like to listen on.
[00:01:24] Whitney Owens: I like to do, um, iTunes and, um, podcasts, so feel free to go on and rate and review. I do go back and read those and they mean a lot to me. So I really appreciate that. I am pumped. We are at the end of September here and just like, I guess a week away from the wise practice summit and I'm thrilled. About the summit coming up and getting to hang out with all these amazing faith based practice owners all in one location and being able to learn from one another and to grow our businesses together.
[00:01:58] Whitney Owens: In fact, this episode is timely in the sense of getting together and taking time out for yourself because I interviewed Dr Jeremy sharp and we talked about how to supercharge yourself. By taking time away and so he is specifically talking mostly about time away alone, which I think is very beneficial and important, but I also think it's important that we take time away to be with others because depending on your personality type, I guess others can really.
[00:02:24] Whitney Owens: Supercharge you. And it's been, when I get away from my routines, from my work routine or my home routine, where I feel inspired and I can rethink things, rethink what I want in my life, how I want to do things. And Jeremy and I talk about that in the episode today. So I'm looking forward to next week, hanging out with some amazing people and rethinking a lot of things, but also growing in my faith, because that's really what it's all about, right?
[00:02:49] Whitney Owens: That's where our inspiration comes from in our business. I also have to say that it's through getting away where I have been changed, right? Where I have learned more about myself, more about others, and potentially it's where we get called to different things, right? Because I feel like when I'm away, I can hear God a little more clearly.
[00:03:10] Whitney Owens: And it was through going on a retreat. A week long retreat actually, where I really felt drawn to start faith based consulting. And at that time, I didn't know anyone who was doing faith based consulting. It was something I had been looking for. And I can tell you, I ran away from that for a very long time.
[00:03:28] Whitney Owens: I felt like there was so many people in the consulting world. Am I really going to do this? Like, Oh, all the work of setting up another business. And am I really capable, you know, there were so many questions, so much running. And when I was on a retreat, you may have heard the story if you've heard the podcast for a while, but I was on a hike along the lake and looking down at the water.
[00:03:50] Whitney Owens: And I just felt so clearly that. The Lord was impressing on my heart that I'm focusing on all these other things, but the main thing I need to be focusing on, I'm running away from. And that main thing I knew it, I knew it was about the consulting and God calling me into that work and I was running away from it.
[00:04:06] Whitney Owens: And so it wasn't long after that, that I dove into it and started that. So that was in 2019. And here we are today. I can't imagine if I had kept running or what if I hadn't gone on that retreat. Maybe God would have showed me in a different way. Maybe not. I don't know. It's making ourselves available to what God wants to do in our lives.
[00:04:27] Whitney Owens: So I am grateful for those moments and looking forward to this summit and other faith based summits to come. So you will hear about those as those come up. So anyway, but we are going to jump into today's episode with Dr. Jeremy Sharpe, and he is from the Testing Psychologist. I was actually on his podcast a few weeks ago talking about the balance between work and family and life and it was a Very wonderful conversation.
[00:04:52] Whitney Owens: So I encourage you to go listen to his podcast. He does specialize in helping people with psych, uh, psychology, sorry, uh, and testing practices. So we are going to get into episode number 48 called taking time away to supercharge your business with Dr. Jamie Sharpe.
[00:05:12] Whitney Owens: Welcome to the wise practice podcast. This is your host Whitney Owens, and I'm excited today to introduce you to my friend, Jeremy sharp. He is a licensed psychologist and owner of Colorado center for assessment and counseling a private practice founded in 2019 and it has now grown to over 4, 000 members.
[00:05:37] Whitney Owens: 40 clinicians and staff. These days, he specializes in psychological and neuropsychological evaluations with kids and adolescents. He is the host of the testing psychologist podcast, which provides private practice consulting for psychologists and other mental health professionals who want to start and grow psychological testing services in their practices.
[00:05:59] Whitney Owens: Jeremy, thanks for coming on the show.
[00:06:01] Jeremy Sharp: Yeah, good to be here. Whitney. Thanks for having me. And I'm going to do a quick correction because people are going to think I'm insane. I found in my practice in 2009, not 2009. I did not grow to 40 clinicians in 4 years. That would be
[00:06:15] Whitney Owens: my gosh. So that's crazy. No, that's my problem.
[00:06:18] Whitney Owens: I read it wrong. Thank
[00:06:19] Jeremy Sharp: you. No worries. I just didn't want people to think I was either some sort of superhuman or crazy person.
[00:06:27] Whitney Owens: So I, when I was a child, I had a really hard time with reading. Okay. First grade I had to sit in the back. My mom had to prerecord the little lessons and I had to listen to them on tape when all the other kids were reading silently.
[00:06:39] Whitney Owens: So I've always had issues with reading. Maybe you should test me sometime, but anyway, so when I read people's bias on the podcast, I get like really nervous. I'm going to mess up my word. So I totally see things and think things that are not there. I totally just read it wrong. It says 2009.
[00:06:55] Jeremy Sharp: We're good. I'm so sorry.
[00:06:57] Jeremy Sharp: I hope this wasn't, um, like a PTSD experience.
[00:07:01] Whitney Owens: No, no, I'm being strong and growing through it. That's why I podcast, you know, I don't have to read it that often when I podcast, I can just talk. So it works out really well. All right. Now that we've gone into that, um, what we haven't talked about together that we just discussed that we need to talk about, which kind of will go a little bit into the episode here is about, we're going to talk about supercharging your practice, but I was thinking about talking about running, which actually does supercharge me.
[00:07:27] Jeremy Sharp: Absolutely. Yeah. Well, let's, let's talk about running.
[00:07:30] Whitney Owens: Yeah. So you're a big runner.
[00:07:32] Jeremy Sharp: I am a big runner. Yeah, I've been fortunate enough to be able to stay pretty injury free over my life. But yeah, I, uh, have been able, I started running late. Maybe that's part of it, but I started in grad school. I was about 25 and yeah, it's a huge part of my routine.
[00:07:49] Jeremy Sharp: I run usually five days a week, um, give or take one. And, uh, I always joke and tell people that if I wasn't Running as much as I was, I would be truly Uh, insane and probably divorced as well because it is so good for my mental health and, uh, self care. How about you?
[00:08:12] Whitney Owens: That's good. Same, same. I might run one less day a week, but, um, sometimes I'll walk some, but yeah, I have like a little route in my neighborhood that I run and, uh, I go through phases though.
[00:08:22] Whitney Owens: I like listen to podcasts sometimes when I run and. And then sometimes I'm just like, so overloaded mentally. I have so much on my mind. Another podcast is just going to throw me over. I should listen to music, you know, and really process actually have a lot of prayer time while I'm running about different things going on.
[00:08:38] Whitney Owens: But, uh, do you do podcasts, music or silence?
[00:08:41] Jeremy Sharp: Yeah, I typically do podcasts or audiobooks. Um, I gave up music for whatever reason a long time ago. I don't know. I make these weird rules for myself. I don't know if you do this, but so I decided maybe 4 years ago that I could listen to podcasts and audiobooks while I'm running and I can listen to music while I'm driving.
[00:09:00] Jeremy Sharp: So that's what I do. Um, and yeah, sometimes I'll just run quietly and think about stuff and, you know, dictate notes into my Siri if I think of things that seem important.
[00:09:12] Whitney Owens: Hmm. I need to do that more often. Yeah. Well, wonderful. All right. So, and you get to run in Colorado. So when you get to come to the South, I bet it's awesome.
[00:09:21] Jeremy Sharp: It talk about feeling like a superhuman. Uh, yeah, that extra oxygen. I was just back in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, actually last week. And it felt amazing. I there's so much oxygen in the air compared to the Colorado. Yeah. Running was a great
[00:09:37] Whitney Owens: experience. I remember that feeling, so, all right, well, um, I'm excited to have you on the show and we're going to talk today about how to supercharge your practice by slowing down yourself and how to take care of yourself.
[00:09:50] Whitney Owens: And I know this is something you're really excited and passionate about. I'm looking forward to hearing it for myself. So where, where do we start with this, Jeremy? I'm not really sure.
[00:09:59] Jeremy Sharp: Well, let's start with. What this even what this even means, right? So I tell, uh, the story. Others have told the story, but this is something that really got my attention.
[00:10:10] Jeremy Sharp: So I read, I don't know when it was maybe 5, 6 years ago about Bill Gates and his process of taking think weeks. Okay. So think weeks. Were his version of getaways or self care, whatever you may call it, where, uh, he would unplug, go to a cabin in the woods, uh, and basically get everything taken care of for him.
[00:10:39] Jeremy Sharp: So, you know, food was catered in, um, he didn't take anything. It was just books and, uh, maybe an article or 2 and some notepads and would just sit in this cabin alone with. All his decisions made already, you know, as far as food and activity and whatnot, and just think about stuff, just read, think, write.
[00:11:01] Jeremy Sharp: And in 1995, after he had been doing these think weeks for two or three years, um, he wrote a memo that was basically like. The Internet is coming. We need to be on top of it. Let's figure out what to do about it and send it out to all of Microsoft and we see where that ended. Right. Um, with, you know, recently Microsoft acquired chat, you know, open AI and, you know, they're so anyway.
[00:11:34] Jeremy Sharp: That was enough to convince me that doing a think week of some sort is really, really important. And so I started doing think weeks, um, probably five years ago and they've been just transformative in my business and even personal life.
[00:11:48] Whitney Owens: Hmm. It sounds magical.
[00:11:52] Jeremy Sharp: It is pretty magical. Yeah. Can you just, yeah.
[00:11:55] Jeremy Sharp: So if people are listening, I mean, whatever you have going on in your life or your practice right now, just think about like, if you could take even three full days. Yeah. And go away somewhere. I'm a big fan of spending the night, like getting out of your house, get out of your town if you can, um, and think about what it would be like to have three full days to just reflect and think about your business, think about big projects, maybe even work on some of those projects and how nice, I mean, it makes me relaxed even talking about it.
[00:12:32] Jeremy Sharp: And
[00:12:32] Whitney Owens: excited. Yeah. How important do you think it is that you do it by yourself?
[00:12:37] Jeremy Sharp: So great question. Um, I think it depends on the person, right? So I am an introvert. Like I can, I can spend five days alone with 95 percent of that time being truly alone and be all be totally fine. Um, My wife, on the other hand, and many other people are extroverted and would, would go nuts with that much time alone.
[00:13:04] Jeremy Sharp: So I think it depends. So the model that I've kind of come up with over the years that seems to work really well for me is, you know, I'll do 3 or 4 days away. But I will schedule usually an hour each day to check in with a trusted, you know, a friend, another consultant colleague, um, maybe my own business coach.
[00:13:25] Jeremy Sharp: If I'm working with someone at that point in time, um, my wife, uh, because she's also kind of in this industry and. You know, just to have touch points because I, I can kind of get in my head a little too much and I need those anchors each day to say, here's what I'm thinking about. Does this make sense?
[00:13:43] Jeremy Sharp: What do you think? What am I not, you know, what am I missing? Um, and that, that to me is a nice balance. Um, some people may want total isolation. Some people may want more interpersonal time.
[00:13:57] Whitney Owens: That's That's great. Okay. You started kind of going into the schedule. I would love to hear kind of what, do you have like a set schedule or is it, you know, fluid or how does that work?
[00:14:07] Whitney Owens: Yeah.
[00:14:07] Jeremy Sharp: Yeah. So, you know, we're friends, Whitney, I don't know if we're good enough friends that for you to know that I'm a very structured and routine person. So. I absolutely have a schedule. Yes. Yes. So here, so I do a lot of preparation, honestly, for these think weeks. Um, I will scout the location, um, pretty, uh, pretty explicitly.
[00:14:32] Jeremy Sharp: So I know like where I'm eating breakfast and lunch and dinner every day, because I want to eliminate decision fatigue like that. Is not something I want to be thinking about when I'm there because I'm focused on the business stuff. So I'll scout the, you know, scout the location. I know where I'm going to run.
[00:14:48] Jeremy Sharp: I know where I'm going to eat. I know what I'm going to do. Um, so yeah, my schedule typically is the same every day. Like I'll, you know, I get up, I get up, I'm like a six 30 riser. Um, so I'll get up, I will run and then I am working by eight. Um, I work until noon. It's like very predictable. I work until noon.
[00:15:07] Jeremy Sharp: I have lunch and then I work until five. If I'm really on a roll, I'll go till six and then I turn it off and I do whatever. I'll watch a movie or, um, I don't know, go on another walk or, you know, do something fun in the neighborhood, but that's my routine every day. I love it. Yeah. Yeah, if I'm
[00:15:31] Whitney Owens: go ahead, you said, I already know where I'm going to go run because when I travel, that's actually kind of a big decision for me.
[00:15:39] Whitney Owens: And especially as a female, when I'm by myself in a new city after, like, really think about where I'm going to run, what's safe, what's not, when am I going to go? And so anyway, I laughed when you said that, cause that's so relatable to me.
[00:15:50] Jeremy Sharp: Absolutely. Yeah. Well, you know, the Strava, I don't know if you're on Strava, but the maps feature is a true blessing.
[00:15:59] Jeremy Sharp: They introduce this maps feature where you can click on the icon and it like, and you tell it how many miles you want to run and it generates a route for you.
[00:16:09] Whitney Owens: Okay, when we're done, please email me that. Well, absolutely. I need to know this. That sounds wonderful. Yeah. Okay. Well, great.
[00:16:19] Jeremy Sharp: And so the idea behind all of that, I mean, it may sound a little OCD or, you know, too rigid, but like I said, I'm trying to eliminate decision fatigue because I want to save all of my mental energy for the work at hand, which are these like big business ideas or, um, you know, problems that I'm wrestling
[00:16:37] Whitney Owens: with.
[00:16:39] Whitney Owens: Sure. Decision fatigue is so real. A hundred percent. Oh, real. After I've had a rough day, if my husband and I go to dinner, I'm like, honey, I don't know what I want. You order for
[00:16:49] Jeremy Sharp: me. Right. Isn't that the best thing? If someone else will just order dinner for you without asking what you want, that is so relieving sometimes
[00:16:58] Whitney Owens: and someone that knows what you like, like, he knows me well enough to know which meal I'm going to pick anyway.
[00:17:04] Whitney Owens: So, yeah. Oh, okay. And so do you have any other, um, stories if you're comfortable sharing, like personal stories of times you retreated and recharged and like something happened or you got some idea and you did it and it was like really awesome. Oh, goodness,
[00:17:21] Jeremy Sharp: let me see. Yes, there have been a lot over the years.
[00:17:25] Jeremy Sharp: Um, yeah, I mean, just thinking back to kind of in the beginning, um, the whole podcast process, you know, was a product of a think week to some degree. Um. I've made changes to, you know, like rates and pricing structure, you know, and come back and implemented those. Um, 1 that didn't end up going through, but that I, I think was valuable.
[00:17:56] Jeremy Sharp: Uh, it was valuable anyway, just to kind of know that I shouldn't do it right at that time was, um, you know, 4 or 5 years ago, I. Did all the work to kind of set up a membership community and then kind of at the last minute, I was like, I just don't think this is right right now. And so it was nice because it let me kind of put that out of my mind for a few years because, you know, it just wasn't the right thing.
[00:18:21] Jeremy Sharp: And it had been kind of hanging around. Um, yeah, I mean, I've come back with. Like directions for our practice. I do a lot of like scheduling, um, like evaluating my schedule when I'm on these retreats. And so, you know, cutting out certain things like deciding I don't want to continue to do this kind of evaluation or, um, I want to add more supervision to my schedule, you know, things like that.
[00:18:45] Jeremy Sharp: So little things here and there. I can't think of any like earth shattering decisions. Uh, But lots of small, meaningful decisions.
[00:18:56] Whitney Owens: Yes, and those definitely add up. I mean, hearing you talk about your schedule, I can think of many times when I've been away, it just makes me realize what I want to spend my time and energy on.
[00:19:04] Whitney Owens: And those things are important.
[00:19:06] Jeremy Sharp: Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. I'm a big fan. I try to do these, um, think weeks or at least. You know, a break, a couple of days, even a day, um, at least twice a year so that, uh, I can just have time to step away and evaluating my schedule is often a big part of that. So, you know, look at it and just go through and decide what's working, what's not working, what I want to share, what I want to get rid of.
[00:19:33] Jeremy Sharp: I think we should always be evaluating our schedules. It's easy to get locked into things that feel like obligations.
[00:19:41] Whitney Owens: That's right. That's right. Or things that seem good at first and then became not good.
[00:19:46] Jeremy Sharp: Exactly. Yeah, we grow out of things, right? And grow into other
[00:19:50] Whitney Owens: things. Yeah. Now you have 2 children, correct?
[00:19:55] Whitney Owens: What are their ages again?
[00:19:56] Jeremy Sharp: Yeah, they are now they're 10 and 12. Okay, great.
[00:20:00] Whitney Owens: And so what's it like when you're going on these trips? Do you feel like guilty leaving your family or how is that go for your family? Or are you able to kind of make up the time later?
[00:20:12] Jeremy Sharp: Yeah, that's really fluctuated over the years.
[00:20:15] Jeremy Sharp: Um, I think. In the beginning, so again, this was maybe 5 or 6 years ago. Um, I, it almost felt like a necessity to kind of get away, you know, so the think weeks were just as much about getting a break on the personal side as the professional side. Um, because our kids, our kids are kind of a lot. Like, they were, they were a lot, you know, when they were, especially when they were younger and.
[00:20:43] Jeremy Sharp: Uh, so I would get away, but then as is true, I think for a lot of parents, it's like the minute I left them, I missed them and I did end up feeling guilty, you know, from a lot of the time I was gone. But then I was like, I need this time. So there's a whole dilemma. Um, over time, though, it's gotten a lot better.
[00:21:03] Jeremy Sharp: It's got a lot easier to get away for a little bit and just feel confident and knowing that I spend A lot of time with them and, um, you know, I, I feel okay about getting away for a few years. Now, I know a lot of people, you know, people often ask, like, well, how do you negotiate that? You know, like, there's a partner question here.
[00:21:25] Jeremy Sharp: Um, and yes. Yeah. I mean, I think that's huge. Like, some folks either, uh, you know, don't can't do that for whatever reason, or maybe they're single parents or. Any number of things that might make this tough, but, um, my wife and I worked out, um, an agreement, you know, again, years ago, where essentially it's like a trade, you know, where it's like, if you need to go do this, then, you know, I'll get to go do something later.
[00:21:54] Jeremy Sharp: And it's not like we keep a tally sheet or anything like that, but we just kind of understand each year, like, we're both going to be gone for. Four or five days at a time, two or three times a year. And that's just kind of how it goes. And so, you know, we work with one another to find those times that work best with our schedules.
[00:22:12] Whitney Owens: Yeah, actually that was my next question. And I don't know what you think about this. I just feel like for women, there's more of an expectation to not be gone for work. It's funny. Like I can see women going somewhere for a women's weekend, you know, or whatever, but there's something about the woman leaving for work to be by herself for some reason, I feel like there's this connotation that that's not okay.
[00:22:33] Jeremy Sharp: I think you're really hitting on something. Um, and I'm the last person to, to talk, you know, eloquently about this, but I will say that I hosted this event back in August. Um, and it was, uh, essentially like a 4 day work retreat. Um, it was, uh, 18 women and 2 men, and. During 1 of the sessions, this is exactly what we're like.
[00:22:58] Jeremy Sharp: It was a very powerful, like, very charged discussion around how hard it is for all those women in the room to, to even be there, um, for cultural reasons, you know, societal pressure, uh, devaluing women's work, all those, all those things, you know, mom stuff. It was, it was, it was powerful. Like I said, so I think you're, you're right on.
[00:23:24] Whitney Owens: I'm glad you had the space for that conversation. I love
[00:23:27] Jeremy Sharp: it. Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was right in front of us. We kind of had
[00:23:31] Whitney Owens: to. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's a little bit of both. I mean, it's a society thing, but also women put guilt on themselves. I mean, men do too. You know, you were just saying, it's like, you miss your kids or you feel guilty, but I think it's what we're talking about.
[00:23:44] Whitney Owens: Remembering. It's to supercharge us. It's to get us to the next level. It's to allow us to make more money to manage our time better. So we are spending more time with our kids. We're making more money so we can hire more people to do the work so that we're taking them to Disney. You know, I always remind my daughter, if mommy didn't work, we wouldn't have gone to Disney.
[00:24:05] Jeremy Sharp: That really brings it home. It's true. It really is like a short term pain, long term gain situation. I think like it can be tough to take that time. Um, and in the, in the long term though, it's, it's crucial. Like we have to, we have to, we owe it to ourselves and to our employees. If you have employees to do this, right.
[00:24:29] Jeremy Sharp: Yeah. Take your business. Whatever the next level might look like to take it there. Nobody else is going to do it. I think we talked about this on one of our other podcasts, but this is your job. Nobody, no one else is like taking time off to go think about the success of your practice. Like that's your job, you know, as the CEO or whatever you call yourself.
[00:24:50] Whitney Owens: Yeah. I, the thing that actually my husband and I kind of struggle with, with this idea is, um, when we are taking time away, like what. I don't even know how to describe this, like what section it goes into. Right. So my husband is, uh, he's, this is funny because this podcast is going to come out. Hopefully after the announcement occurs, I guess I shouldn't say all this yet, but anyway, basically he's not going to be a youth pastor, like really soon.
[00:25:17] Whitney Owens: Okay. So no more trips, but anyway, it's been a real hardship on our marriage in a lot of ways, just because he has to travel a lot with youth stuff. Right. I shouldn't say hardship, but anyway, when you have little kids and he's gone, it's not, I mean, a youth trip is not usually two days. It's like a week long mission trip.
[00:25:32] Whitney Owens: That's a long time. So if he's already doing like three or four weeks a year of youth ministry, and then two or three weekends of youth ministry. Then I'm like, well, you've already been gone this much. I deserve to be gone. But then at the same time, well, he's gone for work and it's not even so he can think it's because he's actually doing the work, you know?
[00:25:50] Whitney Owens: And so it's always hard to find that balance of, do I let him go again another week? You know, even though I've already watched the kids for four weeks in the past few months, you know, I don't know if you have anything equivalent to that, but that's always hard for us. So it's like, I'm about to host a summit.
[00:26:05] Whitney Owens: Well, I'm going to be gone from the kids for four nights, but that doesn't really count. Does it
[00:26:10] Jeremy Sharp: you're yeah. It's like you're, um, listening in on our conversations at our house. Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah. I mean, like I said, my wife is also in this, you know, in this industry. And so, I mean, she's literally at a retreat.
[00:26:24] Jeremy Sharp: She's leading a retreat this weekend. So, you know, I'm here, that's, I'm at home right now to be here when the kids get home from school, you know. Um, so yeah, we talk about this a lot, like what counts as work and what counts as personal. Um, I don't have a great answer for it. I can just validate that it is kind of an ongoing struggle to figure out, yeah, like you said, where to put the time and what, what counts as what.
[00:26:51] Jeremy Sharp: Um, in some ways I almost think it'd be easier if. One of us had like one of those jobs where you just travel all the time. Like that's just kind of the deal, like where it's very clear, like this is work and you're going to be gone two weeks out of the month. And you know, then we have to work around that, but it's tougher when it's, it feels like more of a choice.
[00:27:12] Whitney Owens: Definitely. Yeah. And then when people are like, Oh, well, why don't the two of you come to this event? I'm like, If the 2 of us were to ever have time alone together, we will not be going with
[00:27:22] Jeremy Sharp: exactly exactly. That's so funny. Yeah, parallel lives.
[00:27:27] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Well, I love what you're saying. And obviously, I am dealing with my own guilt and thinking through all this, but I'm also just sitting here, just soaking it in and thinking, gosh, I don't think I've done something like that in a while.
[00:27:37] Whitney Owens: I went to, um. A hotel for two nights by myself one time. And that was huge. Like for me to do that. My actually, my daughter was supposed to come and then she had naughty behavior, so she didn't get to come. She remembers now how to have better behavior. Um, so I went by myself and I didn't work at all, though.
[00:27:54] Whitney Owens: I didn't do anything. I just totally fine. I just went to the spot. It was wonderful. So I think, you know, there's, there's those also those moments of like, Just leave and don't do anything. Mm hmm.
[00:28:06] Jeremy Sharp: Sure. Yeah, you can mix that in. You can mix that in. Well, I want to make sure and say... Sorry, I just... No, you go. I just want to emphasize for folks, like, some people's eyes get really wide when I say, you know, try to take three, four, five days away.
[00:28:21] Jeremy Sharp: That can be a lot. That can be a lot. And so... Even just finding like three hours once a week, like on a Friday morning or doing like one day a quarter, you know, like take a Friday off. I mean, do whatever you can. It's the, you know, it's the spirit versus the letter of the law, I suppose, like, and if you can only, if you can take like a day off every quarter and just like go to your office and, you know, work on the business instead of in the business, then that's great.
[00:28:52] Jeremy Sharp: Um, you can work up to the full week.
[00:28:55] Whitney Owens: That was perfect. You just brought in the, the scripture in a perfect way for that, the spirit and not the letter of the law. I love
[00:29:03] Jeremy Sharp: it. I can't say it was intentional, but I'm glad it worked out. That's
[00:29:09] Whitney Owens: right. I was like, well, all right. Um, but yeah, I mean, that, that's totally what it's about.
[00:29:13] Whitney Owens: It's about, you know, living our lives in a different kind of way and not always following the rules and what we need to be doing. Definitely, and I can for sure say that it's been on retreats where I have been the most inspired and made changes in my practice too. And so I appreciate that. You're talking about that.
[00:29:31] Whitney Owens: And and Jeremy, I understand that you host retreats. You just mentioned 1, but you host retreat for is it for psychologists or anybody or how did the retreats go?
[00:29:39] Jeremy Sharp: Yeah, yeah, I mean, testing or assessment, you know, is really the through line for all of my consulting and my podcast. And so the folks who tend to want to hang out with me are doing testing.
[00:29:51] Jeremy Sharp: Um, so, yeah, just hosted the 1st, uh. Retreat back in August, um, I called it the anti conference. Um, and we had a great time. It was 4 or 5 days of, you know, learning in the morning and just open spaciousness in the afternoon to connect and co work and whatnot. And, uh, I think it was cool. Pretty amazing. And so the hope, of course, is to do more of those.
[00:30:15] Jeremy Sharp: Um, I'm hoping to do at least two a year in part because I want to get out of Colorado in the winter and go somewhere warm and, you know, have people join me and do some work. Um, but yeah, I think it went really well and people seem excited to, to do it again. So I'd be happy to chat with anyone who is a testing person and might find it useful.
[00:30:39] Whitney Owens: Great. Have you planned your next 1 yet?
[00:30:41] Jeremy Sharp: I haven't planned the next 1. No, but of course I'm thinking about locale. So, you know, I'm like, where's warm in the winter? Like, February, you know, maybe it's Austin. Maybe it's Miami. Maybe. Maybe it's California, San Diego. I don't know. So I think about that stuff, but
[00:30:57] Whitney Owens: well, I look forward to hearing what you decide.
[00:30:59] Whitney Owens: I actually went to Austin not too long ago with Ernesto and Laura did a retreat there and it was a lot of fun talking about running and I didn't know where to go run. And then I ended up going on this trail near the city and it was like really cool by the river, but I totally went when it was dark and there was no lights.
[00:31:14] Whitney Owens: I was like, oh, my gosh, this is a terrible situation. Oh,
[00:31:17] Jeremy Sharp: gosh, you're in the right place. This may be wrong time. Yeah. I lived in Austin for a year and ran so many miles on that lake side. Oh,
[00:31:25] Whitney Owens: yeah. It's beautiful. Yeah. Okay, cool. But everybody told me it was really safe. So I went. I think you're good. Yeah.
[00:31:33] Whitney Owens: Awesome. Okay. And so if people wanting to connect with you, you've got the testing psychologist dot com where people can go and learn more about you and you have an opt in there for your email list for. Sounds like testing psychologists.
Correct.
[00:31:47] Jeremy Sharp: Yeah, yeah, I do a little, um, testing battery planner. Um, that'll make sense for anybody who does testing.
[00:31:53] Jeremy Sharp: But yeah, it's a little template you can use to plan out your testing batteries for each case.
[00:31:58] Whitney Owens: Yeah. Great. Wonderful. Um, and how would you like for people to get in touch with you email or if they have further questions?
[00:32:05] Jeremy Sharp: Yeah. Email is great. It's just Jeremy at the testing psychologist. com and yeah, happy to chat with anybody.
[00:32:12] Jeremy Sharp: I love talking about this stuff.
[00:32:14] Whitney Owens: Yes. Well, I did too. It's been really enjoyable and I think it's an important concept that we need to be talking about more in business. So I appreciate you taking the time to come on the show and chat about
[00:32:23] Jeremy Sharp: it. Anytime. Thanks for having me.
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