When we collaborated with Montell Jordan on “This Is How You Do It” in 2021, we learned that he was not only a Grammy-nominated music artist but also a minister and business owner.

In fact, Montell is the founding lead pastor of Master Peace Church. He’s also the co-founder of Marriage Masterpeace Retreat Centers — a Southern California-based organization where he and his wife, Kristin Jordan, help public marriages heal in private.

How does Montell find time to wear all these hats and still have time for family? We invited him to Playbook 2022 to find out. And in this session, he shares his views on defining your priorities over finding balance.

Merging two business worlds: ministry and music

When Montell went into full-time ministry in 2011, he still felt pulled toward the music and entertainment industry. He knew others who had tried to separate those two worlds. But after reflecting on his options, he decided to merge them into one purpose with the retreat center.

“Marriage Masterpeace Retreat Center or MMRC is a 501c3 dedicated to [helping] public relationships heal in private,” Montell explained. This means they help entertainers, athletes, and even famous entrepreneurs fix their marriages in a safe and sacred place.

“The retreat center also doubles as a virtual church where we’re able to minister to thousands and hopefully hundreds of thousands of people all across the world,” Montell told us. “We’re helping save marriages, save souls, and Trainual is helping us put all that together.”

For business owners, you can take this advice by looking at your own interests. Are there ways to fuse the complexities of your lifestyle into one business idea? Or are there ways to innovate and incorporate the other worlds you love into your current industry?

“Trainual helps me connect [the business and ministry] worlds together.”
<blockquoteauthor>Montell Jordan, singer, songwriter, and co-founder of Marriage Masterpiece<blockquoteauthor>

All things don’t deserve to be balanced

Montell says that we may try to balance all things, but he believes that all things do not deserve to be balanced. And some areas just deserve more priority than others. “When you balance something, you're giving [that area] equal value [to everything else],” he explained.

For Montell, trying to balance your personal or family life with your business means they have equal footing. But he says there should be a priority for your needs, your significant other, and your family. “Home should actually come first,” Montell shared.

For business leaders, you can leverage this idea by writing out your own priorities in order of significance. You can even put this list somewhere visible as a daily reminder. For example, here’s Montell’s list:

1. God.
2. Wife.
3. Children.
4. Ministry.

Getting caught up in the daily grind and forgetting your personal needs is easy. But this kind of mentality will quickly lead to burnout and less fulfilling interpersonal relationships.

“We try to balance things that don't deserve to be balanced.”

What you focus on grows

Montell says he’s met many people with wildly successful businesses that have crumbling marriages in the background. And for those individuals, he suggests shifting some of their focus back to their relationships. “Whatever gets [your] attention is [what’s] going to grow,” he told us.

And while there might be some seasons where your business outbalances other areas, it shouldn’t be the expectation or the norm. “When you're grounded and know your center, [you remember] that everything else has to revolve around [the most important things],” he added.

In other words, use your attention wisely and know which priorities should get your most attention. That said, don’t be too hard on yourself when you have to “burn the midnight oil” — just make sure it doesn’t become a habit and recalibrate your priorities as needed.

“Whatever you feed, you breed.”

Recognize and embrace others’ strengths

For Montell, the best leaders recognize that they can’t do it all and need other people to make the dream happen. “[Feeling] self-made can lead to self-destruction,” Montell told us. But if you recognize and embrace others’ strengths, you can put the right people in the right roles.

“[At MMRC], we’re rebranding and bringing in some people to do the [tasks] that I don't do well,” Montell explained. This includes creating social content and building a social following. And since adding his new team members, Montell has grown his Instagram following by 170%.

“I have people to help me post more regularly, and I had a post recently with my wife that got 6.6M views on TikTok,” Montell told us. He’s now considering new ways to monetize his following and believes it wouldn’t be possible without his team’s help. “Bringing in the right people to help you build the proper teams and systems is extremely important.”

For business leaders, you can leverage this bit by looking at your own plate. Do you have tasks that should be delegated to others who can do them better? Or are there people in your business who have volunteered to step up? Maybe it’s time to give them a chance.

"When you empower someone, you give them the authority to walk in their strength.”

Balance is hard to find for all of us — business leaders or not. But at the end of the day, Montell reminds us that our lives are so much more than work. And it doesn’t matter if you’re a for-profit, for-purpose, or somewhere-in-between kind of business — you have to find your priorities first.