I have entered into a period of extreme productivity. I’m adding value and knocking down targets at the office and home! I am in an awesome spot with my family. Our three boys Hunter, River, and Fischer are all coming into their own. Sh*t, I’ve even laced two straight 24-hour Shabbats with no electronics which has been surprisingly rewarding! Nadine has done us a Mitzvah (good deed in Hebrew) with pushing more Jewish tradition into our lives.

Nearly three years ago now, I wrote a blog about Robert Schechter. (http://www.davidfarbman.com/a-day-that-forever-changed-me-the-funeral-of-robert-schechter/ ). The stories of his amazing life moved me so much; I vowed to name his effect RSS: a way of measuring how fulfilling a life you are leading.

I too often catch myself trapped in ego instead of being my most authentic self, and now I realize there is an even higher level of being in the moment and without ego–a better score, and that score is the “Robert Schechter Score.” When I check in on myself as a father, as a husband, as an uncle, a friend, a partner, or a leader, I will think of a whole new bar and likely one that is just out of reach and ask, “What is my Robert Schechter Score?

I’m proud to say that I am reporting my highest RSS yet and feel like I’m at about an 80 out of 100. It is so important to check in ourselves in a capacity like this. We only have one life to live and the higher your RSS, the better you will position yourself in this lifetime and the next.

Do you monitor your RSS? What is most important to you each and every day? When you set your targets for living a life in sync with your values, you will never feel you have wasted even a moment. As hunters, we know what it is to live each moment to its fullest; let’s all take it to the next level!

As I have written here before, thanks to my wife Nadine, my family is committed to observing Shabbat every Friday, beginning at sunset.   In the Jewish religion, Shabbat is the most important holiday to observe. Over the past year, I’ve half-assed it. I might have hidden in the bathroom a time or two (or more), and often enough that I got called out big time by my wife. So this past Friday, I went “ALL IN.” I committed with a post on Facebook announcing my absence for 24 hours, so you know I was serious. (Because nobody would ever BS on Facebook), and I went phone-free. Here is a run-down of my detox:

6 pm: Arrive home. Leave phone locked in the car, figured it was better not even to bring it in the house.

6:10 pm: Maybe I should get the phone…what if there’s an emergency? You know, when it comes to saving a life, you can break the rules of Shabbat…

6:15pm: Mmmm…sushi. Candles and prayers and blessing the children. I look at the beautiful faces around my table, and I am in love.

7 pm: Phone? What phone?

8 pm: Maybe I should get the phone. But Hunter wants to talk about his week, and I want to know all about it.

9 pm: Bedtime for the boys. Damn, they are cute.

9:15 pm: Wine and conversation with my wife. Best part of my day. Without the distraction of my phone or the sounds of a movie filling the space between us, it’s like I can see her more clearly.

11 pm: I’m in bed. It’s 11 pm. Who am I?

11:05 pm: My phone is outside. It’s cold outside. I wish I had my phone. Does the Force work? If I focus hard enough, I can bring it to me…

11:10 pm: ZZzzzzzzzz…….

5:30 am: I’m up. Everyone is sleeping. I sit in my kitchen and feel the silence of my sleeping house. We’re all under this roof, safe and warm. I am blessed.

6 am: Hunter’s feet on the stairs, can’t wait to hug his warm, sleepy self and make a plan for the day.

7 am: Three boys, one dad. I’m outnumbered. It’s awesome.

11 am: Inside Temple Beth El for a Bar Mitzvah for Grant Blau, a super cool kid. I sit, phoneless, and I find myself focused in on the service, and it all clicked at that moment. I’m on vacation. This was the sign I’d been looking for all along.

My phone doesn’t own me, and I felt so free, so unburdened from the emails and texts that feel urgent but aren’t. Nothing is more important than the four people I love the most. Shabbat is the best 24-hour vacation, refresher, mind re-set I could ask for…and I can’t believe I resisted it. Shabbat Shalom, my peeps. Talk to me after sundown tomorrow.

Everyone has a certain part of the day when their productivity is 10X higher than any other time frame. Imagine accomplishing in two hours what could previously have taken all day. This part of your day is called your Peak Activity Window and if used to its fullest, you can be much more successful on your hunt. I’ve gotten away from using my Peak Activity Window to its fullest by allowed the many distractions of life to interfere with the incredibly productive first hours of my day. I am a rooster, up and moving and thinking while my house is still dark and my kids are asleep.  Some days it seems I can get more done in two hours than I can for the rest of the day.

Your PAW is not for answering emails or taking phone calls. It is for thinking and planning and plotting the course to take down the big targets you are after in your life. These are the hours when work flows from your fingertips, when life’s challenges become easier to solve, when you are the best version of yourself.   You must guard these hours and protect them, so you can apply yourself daily to your hunt.

Here are a few simple rules for protecting your PAW:

• Block out the time on your calendar – If you have to create a code name for it, do!
• Use the “Do Not Disturb” feature on your phone – so the alert of a text message or call is not a distraction
• Secure a private or less distracting location for working on your PAW projects – use someone else’s office or a small conference room
• Double down on your time – my thoughts are crystal clear on the treadmill. Scheduling workouts during my PAW ensures I hit both of my targets on that day.

I hope you will take the time to use these rules: I know I’m making it a priority. As much as we have to march to other people’s schedules sometimes, we will never be at our best when we ignore the patterns of our own nature.  Your time and energy are the most valuable commodities you control.  Manage them wisely.

Back in the day, we were taught to make eye contact when speaking; that face-to-face conversation was how you shared big news and that the important things in life should be shared in person, not even over the telephone. In today’s world, Facebook and Twitter have taken the place of that personal exchange, making it easier to write the things we would hesitate to say to someone’s face. The screen provides a level of distance from our words, relieving us from the responsibility associated with the thoughts we share.

Last week, Ted Nugent (aka Uncle Ted, Motor City Mad Man, The Nuge), a rocker whose music I loved as a kid and a man I now call a friend, posted something I still cannot believe. His post depicted several known government figures: all pushing for gun control and all Jewish. The meme branded the Flag of Israel next to each person with a post saying that any Jew against the second amendment is essentially a Nazi. Having known Ted for a decade as we share a passion for the outdoors, I gave him the benefit of the doubt and reached out to him. We spoke and texted, and I hoped he would pull the post down, yet he has not done so as of the time I’m writing this blog.

When Ted and I spoke, the most telling part of our conversation was around how he excited he was that his Facebook numbers were climbing. I know Ted is not an anti-Semite. But he is fueling anti-Semitism with this post and alienating a tremendous number of people. I know the first amendment protects Americans even in regard to hate speech, I’m beyond disappointed in his decision to maintain this stand. I understand the post was viral and an attention grabber, but at what cost?

Here’s the thing: I believe if Ted had to look any of those people in their face and have a discussion about gun control, his passion would be clear, minus any personal attacks. I understand a piece of it: I love seeing a post go super viral. From personal experience, I know how it feels to add followers by the hundreds or watch as a post generates hundreds of thousands of likes. It’s a very cool thing; it’s staggering to watch the viral move take place. And it’s addictive as hell which is why we keep playing on that virtual playground.

But there are limits, there are lines and Ted Nugent willingly crossed one. My hope is Ted will own his responsibility on this one, take the post down and apologize. The flag of Israel is the declaration of independence for the state of Israel, something for which the Jewish people fought valiantly. I know Ted knows and admires any person’s quest for freedom which is why he is such a big proponent of the second amendment. But he is letting the screen and the numbers blind him to his moral obligation as a public figure and a human being. There are serious consequences that come from posts like this. And what I know from experience is the screen and social media, followers and likes won’t be there when the chips are down. And it’s not about the fans you gain for the wrong reasons, but the ones you lose for the right ones

I like to think that I am always giving 110%: to my work, to my family, to my friends. This past weekend my wife went away on a much-needed trip to recharge her batteries, and I was home playing Mr. Mom. In the spirit of The Hunt and knowing you have to be present in any hunt to truly optimize its results, I vowed to give my all to this opportunity. I was “All In” for my little Farbz homeez.

All In is a defining core value for me and for my team at HealthRise. Years ago, I sat down to figure out what were true, clear, defined characteristics that I valued in my soul. I realized the thing I most admired about others and felt was true about myself is that when I believe strongly in something, my actions, my thoughts, my heart are ALL IN. I go for it, full force, no holds barred, with every fiber of my being. Now, like a buck running from a threat, you can’t go full force endlessly, you must take the time to recharge and check in on that core value from time to time.   Now back to the boys…

We had a great time. Seriously, these are funny, outrageous, adorable, sweet kids. We played, we napped, we watched movies and argued the merits of How to Train Your Dragon 2 vs. Kung Fu Panda 3. (Okay, it was really a conversation about which they like better. It was a tie, they are both the best movies ever.) We ate our way through several things I’m sure my wife would not be exactly thrilled with my feeding them. But isn’t that an All In dad’s job?

I encourage each of you this weekend to go all in on something that fuels your passion: for hunting, for family, for love. Give it your all and it will come back tenfold. That is one of the great gifts of hunting with purpose: what you give, you get. My wife came home to happy boys, full of life and chatter and inside jokes, with stories to tell and renewed energy. And I was elated that she was home.

Fridays have a special meaning for my family and me. My wife, Nadine, has made it a part of her hunt to hold together tradition for our family. Each Friday night, we light candles, say prayers and largely go without TV or electronics as we celebrate Shabbat, our day of rest. The first few Fridays were a little rough (I’m not going to lie), but observing Shabbat has begun to mean more and more to me.

The first and last couple hours can be trying, with three young boys who are used to a life full of electronic distractions and screen time. What my wife and I have realized is they won’t be young forever, and we want to know who they are and want them to know us. As my kids grow as people, so do I. In fact, we should never stop growing. We are always learning, and that is what any good hunter does. When we pull away from the smart phones, leave the Wii unplugged and hide the kids iPads we grow as a family and as people.

Instead of watching the latest episode of a TV show or another animated movie, we talk, we show gratitude, we play board games, we read books and in turn, we grow closer and find more common ground. We learn new things about each other, we see and notice different details in nature, in our home, about our friends and family, you name it.

My takeaway for you is this: while celebrating Shabbat or whatever day of rest you choose, you set yourself up for a better tomorrow. There will never be enough time to finish all our work, or feel like we are caught up, but that is why Shabbat was created thousands of years ago (the first reference is 630 BC). It is by taking control of your life and slowing it all down that your best day can come to fruition.

First, however, the rest must happen, the “slow it all down time”, so by Monday you’re back in the hunt kicking ass and taking names. The Hunt never stops but sometimes we must slow down to take the big targets that mean the most to our lives and the ones we love.