Balancing the Grind with Adam Jelic, Founder & Managing Director at Mi Goals

Adam Jelic is the founder & Managing Director at Mi Goals, a lifestyle and a global community of goal diggers and action takers that get shit done.

1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?

My career background has predominantly been in sales and business development. I dropped out of University after 6 months and became a personal trainer.

After a couple of years I transitioned into Sales and business development working for numerous businesses including Toshiba, Thankyou Group and Oovie before going into MiGoals full time in 2016. 

Currently my role is as Managing director at MiGoals. We have a smaller team so that means even as a managing director I am still quite hands on and wear many hats across the business.

2) What does a day in your life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?

A typical work day is split into the below parts, breakdown is as follows:

Wake up 7am 

• Morning routine: Breathing exercises, coffee, 20+ minutes of exercise, cold shower
• Drop off girls to school 
• First part of day: plan the day / check emails / general admin
• Second part of day: Meetings and working on specific tasks/projects
• Last part of day: Final check of emails and review of the day 

Afternoon/Evening

• Dinner / Family time / Me time
• Reading and meditation before bed

Bedtime 10:30pm

3) Does your current role allow for flexible or remote working? If so, how does that fit into your life and routine? 

It definitely does, since covid we have taken a remote work approach, most of the team works from home and we catch up once or twice a month in person to brainstorm ideas and just catch up as a team so we maintain that in person contact, which I think is important. 

This current working environment fits really well into my daily routine, it means I have the flexibility to drop off my girls to school, which is something I really value and am grateful for. Also it means I have more freedom to mix things up depending on how i feel, for example I might take the morning off but then work from lunch till later in the evening. 

4) What does work-life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?

Work life balance means having the freedom to do the things that matter to me most in my professional and personal life. It’s having harmony in these areas and being in a position where I am feeling joy and fulfilment as often as possible. 

I think one of the key reasons I wanted to start a business was so I could be in a position one day where I could choose my hours, work from home and have a life that was in line with my core values and definition of success. 

5) In the past 12 months, have you started or stopped any routines or habits to change your life? 

I love a good routine and have tried many things in the past all in the hope of finding the best suited routine that helps me grow as a person and also makes me feel happier and healthier. 

In the past 12 months I have started hot and cold therapy, which means incorporating a 1-2 minute cold shower in my morning routine. Also I have made it a consistent daily habit to do some breathwork and meditation, a few minutes of both really helps me control my thoughts and helps me be more present and in the moment. 

Lastly I have been looking into alternative medicine and incorporating some medicinal mushrooms into my daily routine to help with energy, gut issues, anxiety and stress relief. 

6) Do you have any favourite books, podcasts or newsletters that you’d like to recommend?

I love to read and have many favourite books, but the 2 that really stand out of late are The Almanack of Naval Ravikant and Life Force by Tony Robbins. 

I listened to Naval Ravikant on the Joe Rogan podcast a while back and was super inspired and impressed with his whole outlook on life, success, happiness and business. The book dives into the core principles of his talks and is a very enjoyable read. 

Life Force is a fascinating look at the future of health and wellness and gives us insight into some groundbreaking advancements, and also has some practical steps we can take now to improve our health and wellbeing.

My two favourite podcasts are Impact theory by Tom Bilyeu. He has the most inspiring and amazing guests who share their outlook on life, business, mindset, success and health. Another podcast I love to listen to is Sooshi Mangos Saucy meatballs podcast. I’m a big fan of the boys at Sooshi Mango and find the podcast both entertaining and hilarious. 

A Newsletter I consistently read is The Hustle (acquired by Hubspot in 2021) the daily newsletter covers all the latest news from the tech and business world. 

7) Are there any products, gadgets or apps that you can’t live without?

I have a few that cover a wide range of health and wellness areas they include:

• MiGoals planners and desk pads, help me plan the day and stay on track with my goals. 
• Apple fitness app – multiple types of exercises to do and syncs with my iwatch 
• Breathwrk app – a wide range of breathing exercises which have helped me immensely with stress, anxiety and feeling more energetic.
• PSO rite and Theragun massager – Fact is I am getting older so recovery has become an important part of my health and wellness routine, these two simple machines really help me recover and feel better.

8) If you could read an interview about work-life balance by anyone, who would that be?  

I am a big big fan of The Rock (Dwayne Johnson). I am drawn to him due to his core values, he is a super hard worker, humble, successful, a family man and someone who has a positive attitude. I would love to hear in his own words how he manages it all and seems to embrace the journey with such a positive spirit. 

9) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?

There is no set definition of what work life balance should look like, it’s subjective and each of us will have different versions of it. At the end of the day we as individuals need to work out what work life balance means to us and ultimately aim for a situation which brings us consistent joy, harmony and fulfilment in our lives. 

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