Maximise Your Holiday To Recharge and Reconnect

00:01 Making the most of your holiday, having a digital detox, connecting with your kids, totally relaxing and basically being the man that you want to be. So I've no idea how today's show is going to be, but it's great to be back. Roll theme. Welcome to the Johnny Jensen show, where modern dads discover how to create the true riches, relationships and results they deserve. Get your high value man blueprint and join our community at highvalumanproject.com. Let's go. Hello men, welcome back. I'm saying that to myself, really, but it's good to have you here.

00:42 There has been a bit of a break in the podcast episodes, which I will explain in a minute. But as you can see from the suntan, if you're watching on any of the videos, I am back from holiday. It has been a wonderful break and I'm going to tell you all about it. And I'm going to reflect on that experience, being with my kids, comparing it to two years ago when they were a little bit younger. My girlfriend coming out and spending some time with me, my brother and his family being there for a period of the holiday, really just sharing my reflections, both before, during and since I've been back. And really asking some questions about holidays and about time for ourselves, time for our kids.

01:24 And I'm wondering, you know, do enough people use holidays as an opportunity to recharge, as an opportunity to do something good for themselves? Or is it always a busy blowout? You know, I think there's time and a place for that. And maybe there's time and a place for adventure holidays and experience in the world. But there are other times when you just do need to really recharge and enjoy simply sitting around. So this is the Johnny Jensen show. If you've not been here before, thank you. Where have you been? If you're a returning listener or watcher, then it's great to have you back. Everybody, please go and subscribe. Whether you're on Apple Podcasts, people seem to be sharing and pushing everyone more towards Spotify these days.

02:06 I love Spotify. I'll probably talk a little bit about that during this episode as well. But if you look at where most of my time, like the app time is on my phone, then Spotify is generally on. So go over there. If you search for Johnny Jensen show, it'll come up, of course. And subscribe, share it, and definitely give it a review. If you leave a review and I decide it is the review of the week, then there is a prize, a gift of a power call, which is £150 to £200 to $200 session with me using the High Value Man system for living as the basis to take charge in a particular area of your life, a goal or a challenge, something to really pull the life that you deserve and desire towards you.

02:58 And that's what this is all about. We are the High Value Man Project, empowering men around the world to be the man and dad they want to be, both at home as well as work, creating the life they deserve and fundamentally putting themselves first, not in a selfish way, but in a self-leadership way. Being, I think it's a bit cliche to say be the best version of yourself, but be the man that you want to be. You know, put the stepping stones in place. Put the structure and the habits and routines in place. Put the mental clarity and agility that you need to literally show up as the man that you want to be.

03:37 And then everything else falls into place behind that. If you're running around like an absolute stressed out, and let's be fair, you know, burnout is a big thing. But if how you show up is what determines your experience of life. And that's what we take charge of. We've got some awesome opportunities coming up over the rest of 2025. Lodge Weekender in November is an awesome empowerment weekend three days up in the Scottish Highlands. Definitely centered around the firewalk on the Saturday night. But if you don't want to do that, that's absolutely fine. It's a group of men reconnecting with who they are, having some time in a wonderful place, getting out of the routine, connecting, bonding, having some amazing experiences, which firewalking is definitely one of them.

04:24 The 3XC Accelerator starting in September and working with me one-on-one as an elite client. These are the different levels of opportunity around the High Value Man Project. If you go to highvalue manproject.com, all the opportunities to get into our free community or book a call with me are all there for you. So back to the topic of today. I'm freestyling this really. One of the things as well I've got to bring up is where have I been? Well, bloody hell. What a saga. Moving over from StreamYard to... to riverside loads of podcasters use riverside i've been a guest on lots of people's shows and and it's like you get sent the riverside link it's really easy it's great they're thinking okay that's going to be cool no a complete nightmare moving you know and all my habits

05:16 and routines moving over from stream yard to riverside and i couldn't get it working a couple of awesome guests Their interviews have been shit really because my sound was awful. Spending hours, honestly, a ridiculous amount of time. I'm pretty competent at this stuff, but I couldn't get it working. And then eventually one of their help people said, go into the fast end of Chrome and turn this thing off. Well, I've turned it off and it seems to have fixed it. So I don't know what the lesson is there. There's something about sticking with things that you know,

05:56 even if they double the bloody price, or persevering. I'm not sure which. But I guess probably what I could have done was carry on and put something out in a lesser polished format. So there's possibly something there about the impact of trying to get things right and what would be worse, it being a little bit less quality, but me staying consistent or me disappearing off the face of the podcast in Earth for what is probably almost about six weeks to try and fix it, to try and make it be perfect. I think, not I think my message, my lesson there would be to continue showing up as hard as that is as I speak here from experience clearly.

06:40 And then the holiday, the holiday. So kids and I, my brother lives in Annecy in France now, just on Lake Annecy in an amazing little village. They moved there because they were fed up with spending half their life at airports, which is a real first world problem, right? But he's a successful guy. A couple of his businesses have really smashed it. And they've, as a family, as an extended family, they have stuff in Cyprus, they've got stuff in Austria. And so that was kind of their experience. And they were like, what would it be like to live in a place that had everything that we wanted?

07:21 And so Annecy as a region was something that someone suggested to them. It's in France, which apparently one of our close friends who is French, he said to Jim, why do you want to, why do you want to go to, you know, I love an accent, right? But Jim, why do you want to go to France? It's just full of French people. Clearly, he's a French person who chose to come and live in England for the fun, as I understand it. But there they are. Annecy is a very cosmopolitan area. It's got a lot of transient sort of people coming through for sports, winter sports, summer sports. So it's got a nice atmosphere to it. And their house is stunning. And as a family, they've really

08:07 embraced it. You know, anybody can move somewhere else and it doesn't work. It does help when what you're setting up is nice. You know, it has a foundation of financial stability, but that doesn't take, you know, there's no guarantees there. But they, as a couple, planned it, had a vision for it, and they took the risk. They took the plunge. And so you got to, you know, the lesson from this, I feel, is observing them as a strong team, observing them as a couple with clear goals and shared values, and then having the confidence and the wisdom, shall we say, to

08:49 actually push out there and do it. And that could be a conversation for you to take on board in any area. You don't do things casually. You don't do things recklessly because that's just stupid. I say to my boy all the time, crazy is actually all right. Doing things crazy is actually all right. A base jumper is doing something crazy, but they plan it. They pack their parachute properly. They assess where they're jumping, where they're going to be landing, I presume. So it's a crazy activity, but that craziness is calculated. Stupid is just stupid. And you've got to get that distinction. You've got to determine for yourself what is a stupid decision.

09:34 Having another baby to fix a relationship, that's a stupid decision. Spunking a load of money on a holiday to fix a relationship or to make yourself happy. That's probably stupid as well. So you see the difference there. So there we go. That's the message and lesson there. So here we are. My kids and I, and we decide we're going to drive down there. there. It makes sense if you've got teenagers and you're a single dad for your kids to take a friend on holiday. The reason for this is if your kids are like mine, and I have done a sanity check here just to make sure that I'm not a shit parent, which clearly I know I'm not, but to find out from other parents, do your teenage kids just constantly like take snidey lumps out of each other?

10:19 Yes, they do. Yes, they do. Okay, good, good. Okay, so it's not just me. And they're teenagers. So as I said to my, I said to my aunt about how the holiday was going, I was like, it's been very trying. It's been very trying. And she said, my aunt was my mum figure when I was growing up because my mum died. And she goes, she goes, yeah, you need to remember, I had four of you. And then you kind of go, oh, yeah, four. Okay. Okay. And that's the importance of having, you know, that close relationship with people who are elders, you know, people, whether it's family, hopefully for you, you're still connected and have a good relationship with your family.

10:57 For me, that's an important part of life. Clearly, if your family and the people around you are toxic, then you might want to cut them loose. But don't do that before you check for yourself. Like, am I part of this? Am I doing something here? For me and my family, certainly on my mum's side, my aunt's side, which includes the Chicago family, we're very close. We are very interconnected and close. And that's not a chore. It's not a challenge. It's just a natural part of how we express ourselves.

11:37 And I see that in my relationship with my brother. There have been times where there's been little pinch points or inter-family stuff. And to be able to have that disagreement and for it to pass quickly, for the reset to happen, you know, it doesn't even need to be something you agree on or not agree on, but for there to be the reset and you come back together, because that's possible. It's what matters. I say to my kids all the time, you know, you're in this world to be able to count on your sibling, to know that when the chips are down, someone in this world has got your back regardless of everything and anything that's gone on.

12:20 It's not to be casually thrown away. So, you know, I don't know. I've espoused this to my kids since they were little. And there are moments, definitely moments. There was a point where my daughter wanted to go into Annecy with her friend. And there was some minor concern from others about, should they be going there? Should they be getting the bus? Should they, I was like, yeah, go for it. My brother's older teenagers do. So why can't my kids? Anyway, then Jago says, I'll go with them. You know, and it's moments like that when you can see past the bickering and the snidey stuff. And you'll be like, okay, yeah, I have done a good job there. That bond is strong.

13:04 I have forged the relationship between us all where we can count on each other, where we see each other as both family and friends, as someone I can count on and as someone I can be there for. Nonetheless, taking a friend on holiday with your teenage kids is a very solid idea. I don't know why more people don't do it. I suppose people think, would they want us? Would they let, would their folks let them come? Would it be more expensive? In reality, no. Both friends paid for themselves, quite honestly. You know, in certain respects, that helped with manage other costs across the holiday.

13:45 So it's a very positive thing to do. And dinner time and even the cleaning up, actually, the teenagers did help me clean up. But certainly those social moments where there's more of us there, absolutely bloody brilliant. My girlfriend came out and joined us for about five days, which was just a brilliant, just brilliant. My relationship with Joe, I shared this on Facebook just last night, actually. The magic of our relationship, which if you listen to the podcast before or you watch me on any of my socials, you will have seen me talk about this. It is about her, right? Because she's awesome. But it's even more about who I am that she's entered my life.

14:30 We get back what we put out. We attract what we are. So if you're a lot of drama, if there's a lot of panic and concern about love and relationships and it going right or it going wrong, then you're probably going to attract that kind of relationship or how you're going to show up in your relationship is that. that. And this is a very subtle thing that I work on with men when we're together. It's in having them see that the, and if we call it problems, right? It's not always problems, but if we just call that for simples, have you taken full responsibility for the problems you experience in your relationship?

15:12 Because you can only challenge your partner. You can only improve things when you've fully seen that for yourself. It's a bit like the emperor's new clothes. If you know that story, bear with me, right? You know that story. The emperor wants some clothes. Two dudes come in and tell him that they're going to make this wonderful suit that only awesome people can see. They charge him a load of money and then he goes out in the parade with nothing on and everyone's clapping and saying, oh, that's wonderful. And then one little girl says, Mummy, why is the king naked? Why is the emperor naked? And the whole illusion is shattered. Because it's that level of blindness that'll have you think, well, it's not me, it's her.

15:53 Or all relationships are like this. There must be something wrong, something wrong with me, right? Which isn't really taking responsibility either. It's still like a level of blame there about something that's happened before. Like you're stuck, like there's nothing you can do about it. Who, my relationship is fundamentally based on how I shifted my attitude towards myself, towards love, in the things that I've read and studied in relationship coaching, in Nice Guy Syndrome, in some, you know, red pill stuff, man, no sphere. It's not that I'm fully on board with all that, but in terms of showing up as the man you need to be in your life, then definitely that.

16:38 You know, you will have seen me talk about responsibility and sharing in the relationship. I really struggle with men that don't pull their weight in their home, you know, whether it's cooking or childcare or cleaning or any other part of the family load. I really struggle with the idea that some men think they don't do that stuff or they're above it. It is if you're paying someone to do it and neither of you do, then that's one thing. You'll do it for sure if you end up divorced. You know, that's the wake-up call there. And so my relationship with Joe, attracting a woman like that into my life or creating the space for a woman like that to show up, because I do truly believe in the energy that we put out there and the space that that creates for opportunities to come at you, whether it's business, whether it's for love, whether

17:34 it's fun, whether it's winning stuff. You know, literally, the energy that we put out creates the space for the result. And here, and there we go, here I am, you know, in this relationship with someone who is so well matched to me. We're so well matched to each other. And at 50, it's taken me this long to understand what that's about. And so it's not an accident. It's not luck. You know, there are so many, you know, I don't know. Is there seven billion of us on the planet? I forget that number. I'm pretty sure it's about seven billion. So at least 50% of those are the opposite sex.

18:19 And to whatever degree that subset keeps getting smaller and coming down to the number of women out there who would be a good match for you, it's still a massive number. There's no such thing as the one. There is wonderful women looking for wonderful men. And the clearer you can be about who you are, what you stand for, what you have to offer, and not be precious about finding her, not be overly concerned about losing her, then you get to be free. You get to be the man that she truly wants to be with, that she can truly feel excited about sharing her life with.

19:02 That's the degree of opportunity, responsibility, joy that is available to us all when we get clear on having a great relationship. And I see this so often. You know, I'll see people on Facebook, men that maybe have had an introductory call with me. We talk about stuff. Part of it might be relationships. And then if they don't end up working with me and I see them on Facebook a year or two years later and they're sharing their new relationship and it's not for me to judge and I don't know them. So, but taking it on face value and I can look at it. I'm like, wow, that looks a lot like the challenges and.

19:45 issues, problems, whatever you want to say, that they were discussing with me about their previous relationship. And it's a shame. It's a waste. We live out a repetitive cycle when we don't deal with what's going on for us. And the complete opposite happens when we take stock, we ground ourselves. One of the guys in the high value man inner circle was just talking about today about his new relationship. And I had to just remind everybody there that yes, that is amazing and incredible.

20:24 But the backstory is the meltdown from the previous relationship, the financial and career challenges, and then taking stock, then starting to put the work in. He found Andy's Man Club, which is a great group, men's group across the UK. He ended up becoming one of the leaders in his local group, which required a degree of training, which basically is what I'm getting at there is that the focus was put on himself. He started to deal with his stuff. And then he's obviously naturally helping others. And so then the new job came around and then the new relationship. So it comes back to him being really clear about who he is being. And so for Joe and I, there we are.

21:09 She comes out. I go and get her from the airport. She was going to get a bus. And the drive was about an hour. And I was like, A, I wanted to go and get her. And B, I could. And C, nothing beats that feeling of someone meeting you at the airport. Having spent a lot of time in the summers during my childhood going to Chicago, nothing beats that moment of walking through and your family or your loved one being on the other side. Literally. And maybe I'm a little bit of a romantic, but for me, nothing, that's right up there. That moment is right up there. Walking out that door and into the arms of someone you love and are looking forward to seeing is an incredible feeling.

21:54 And naturally, because our phones are always bloody listening to us, Joe got a piece of content later that day, which went something along the lines of the person who picks you up from the airport for, you know, that isn't being paid, just wanted to come and do it. That's love. And that could be a friend as well, right? It doesn't have to be intimate love. So there we are. We had a great time. And I guess the final point about all this is that the trip was a real relax, a real detox, a real switch off. I barely looked at my laptop or my phone for a couple of weeks other than to put Spotify on.

22:35 I didn't really do much. I didn't really exercise much. We did a lot of walking around. There was some cycling. I did a couple of workouts. But there was also a lot of sitting by the pool, drinking a beer or getting to the end of the day and having a gin and tonic. And it's not that I'm a complete piss head, but certainly being able to use that break. I slept at least eight hours, I think every night, a couple of nights early in the holiday, I slept for 10 hours. So that's what a holiday, that's what a break, that is what gifting yourself that time is really about.

23:16 I don't know what that version looks like. Obviously, when you're younger, going out and partying, being on a holiday, going to Ibiza or somewhere like that, it is very much about absolutely going wild. But for me, that break, the opportunity to spend quality time with people, to see my kids playing in the pool, to cook a barbecue and have dinner with them, to spend that quality time with Joe. And to, as I mentioned before, to stick Spotify on and dig into new music, old tunes, and really just allow my mind to go off on a wander with the music in the background.

23:55 That's a restorative, healthy process. I know that the ideas, that the actions, that the work that's going to come out of me in the next month, six weeks is going to be heavily influenced. I'm at the rest of this year. It's going to be heavily influenced by that quality time. So you have to have that recharge and being able to do it in a way that is with the people you love from a grounded perspective. It's not always about luxury and big ticket experiences. It's very much about the wholesome experience of being the man that you want to be with the people you love. And as one of the lines I always use is having plans to look forward to and memories to look back on.

24:40 And this last couple of weeks has definitely been all of that. Is there some sort of twee, better than everyone else message from it? No, not at all. It's just an intentionality. And this episode might have seemed like a, well, that's all flipping obvious, Johnny. That's all bloody obvious. But it isn't to so many men. It isn't the experience that all families are having. And I want you to consider what would it be like for, you know, for us to have that? What would it be like for me to come back from holiday energized and looking forward to the work that's that's coming down the line? What would it be like for me to be fully in control of my life and the relationships with the people I have around me?

25:24 That's what the High Value Man project is about. And it took me, it took me, well, well, are we on? Oh, I'm 51 years old. I'm divorced. There's been some breakups that challenge me. There's been financial challenges. There's been loss, death, lots of experiences to get to this point. It's possible. It's essential that we give this to other men at a young age as humanly possible. I'm not sure my kid is really listening, but then in another way, I'd like to think that it's all kind of going in and somewhere down the line, he'll be like, yeah, okay, this is who I'm showing up in my relationship with my friends or my girlfriend as.

26:11 And he will see the rewards of that from a younger age. Whatever age you're at, whatever the situation, now's the time. It's that classic of when was the best time to plant an oak tree 50 years ago or the second best time was today. If you go to highvalue manproject.com forward slash group, that will get you in at the complimentary base camp level. There is the U2.0 program in there and a bunch of other free complimentary assets to help you start that journey to gift you a power call with me so you can talk about what you want to create, where the challenges are and what being a high value man could mean to you, what kind of life that you could

26:55 create. Then just go to the highvalumanproject.com forward slash group and do that. And in the meantime, share and like the podcast, put it around to others in your circle. And I look forward to seeing you this time next week or sooner on the Johnny Jensen show. Let's go. Thanks for tuning in to the Johnny Jensen show. Be sure to subscribe, leave a review and share it with fellow dads. Creating the life you deserve starts with you. Get your high value man blueprint and join our community of motivated modern dads at highvalumanproject.com. Let's go.