Editor’s Note: This story is part of Peak, The Athletic’s desk covering leadership, personal development and performance through the lens of sports. Follow Peak here.

Ndamukong Suh is a former NFL defensive tackle and current businessman who hosts “No Free Lunch,” The Athletic’s new business and finance podcast.

If you were in the Houston airport in August, you might have seen me hauling through the terminal, bags in hand, racing to catch my plane.

I’d already sent my wife, Katya, and sons, Kingston and Khari, ahead to make sure they made the flight back to our home in Portland, Ore. It had been one of those travel nightmares: Our flight the night before was canceled, we had to scramble to get a hotel, our flight the next day was delayed and we had to race to make it home — all with twin 4-year-old boys.

I made it to the plane just a minute before the door closed.

I say all that because I came to the conclusion that I need to slow the hell down. Not at the airport, but in my life. I need to spend quality time with my wife, my kids, my mother and my siblings. I need to foster relationships that truthfully are meaningful to me.

That, to me, is something that’s important. It’s finding that balance and creating that balance.

Since I officially retired from the NFL this year, I’ve really realized that I’m a busybody. I don’t like sitting still. I don’t like being idle. I like to do a lot of different things, move in a lot of different directions and build a lot of different things. When I’m not building, I know for sure that I’m not happy. When I’m stagnant, I feel that I’m not accomplishing something.

But the other day, I was talking to a business associate about life. He told me that he’s missed the majority of his oldest child’s formative years because of work. That hit home.

Fulfillment is a big thing for me these days. What’s fulfilling me? I don’t have a void from football, and I think that’s unique for a lot of people who retire from football. I’m at peace with not playing. I tell people this all the time who ask if I miss it: “No, I don’t miss it because I was fortunate enough to leave on my own terms.” Shoot, if I wanted to go back next week and play for the minimum salary, I’m pretty positive that I could go and do it. But that’s not what I need in my life. That’s not what I’m seeking.

What I’m seeking is this: I love building stuff, and I love being able to share that passion with my kids.

Suh and his sons, Kingston and Khari, together on a construction site. (Photo courtesy Ndamukong Suh)

My son Kingston wakes up every morning and asks: “Dad, are we going to the job site today? Dad, are we going to the job site today?” It’s almost annoying. I’m like: “Bro, I’ve got work I’ve got to go do. But yes, I will figure out a time to go to the job site.”

Just this morning, I got a text from a general contractor who told me they were pouring concrete at our job site, and he knew the boys wanted to experience that. So I called my wife before I went into a business meeting and said: “You have to take Kingston and Khari. I’m jealous as hell, but you have to take them to the job site. You have to do it because they’re going to flip out if they miss it.”

I’m sad I didn’t get to have that experience with them, but I wanted them to have that. They love it as much as I do.

Not long ago, I had my 20th high school reunion. It was on a Saturday night. But instead, I met up with two buddies and went to a job site, walked around a property and talked for an hour and a half. I came home at 9:30 at night and went to bed. That’s how I’m wired.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about these questions in the last year: What matters to me in life? What’s important?

In the simplest terms, there are three pillars of how I look at fulfillment:

Experiences for my kids and family and spending time with them
Building stuff
Allowing people to leverage me — and this is where my podcast comes in — to help to give people the tools to succeed.

After my episode about tax strategy with Karlton Dennis, one of my former teammates with the Detroit Lions, Dominic Raiola, called me. He told me he watched the podcast and wanted to better understand how to set up his son, Dylan, a young and talented quarterback at Nebraska, my alma mater. We’re now helping Dylan build out what he envisions for his life in college and beyond.

In that sense, the podcast did exactly what it was supposed to do: It started a conversation about financial literacy. I hope I can do that same thing for anyone. I hope they can leverage my experience and my relationships for themselves.

That means a lot to me. That fulfills me.

— As told to Jayson Jenks

(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)