Trust more

Some people know a lot.  But they are afraid, and feel they aren’t ready, or don’t know enough.

Other leaders trust more and act.  They trust they and their team can figure it out, find solutions, and have faith in a positive outcome.

Do they make mistakes?  Maybe.  But they have learned and fixed them and moved forward long before the fraidy-cats are sitting on the bench trying to learn more or waiting until they are “ready”.

Overachievement isn’t about knowing more, it’s about trusting more.

Does your operating system need an update?

You are running on an old version.  You know the results this version produces.

If you want better or different results, you have to update your operating system.

Learn something new.  Update your beliefs, your habits, your routine, effort, focus, and attention.

I love this.  Recently I upgraded my operating system (eating, exercise and sleep) and I feel better.

I control the inputs and the results change.  Wow!

I am in charge.  That feels good.

How about you?  What change does your operating system need?

What path do you see?

“We do not fail to achieve our goals due to obstacles, but from a clear path to lesser goals.”

When I heard this, I couldn’t get it out of my mind.  It explains a lot.  

When a kid grows up in this neighborhood or that, with these parents or those (or none), what clear path do they see?

When you were growing up – what path did you see clearly?

When I was 11 my older brother went to Boy Scouts.  So I did.  I saw a path up the ranks – how to get to the next badge, and the next – and I followed that path to Eagle Scout.

When I was in middle school, my older brother got into a trade school for a high school.  I saw a clear path to that trade school because he went there.  How did he get in?  I don’t know but I was going to copy him.  I got in.  

I settled in the carpentry class.  I saw a clear path to being a carpenter and building additions and new homes because it was shown to me in that school.  That’s the path I took.  

There are myriads of paths a kid could take – but those were the ones I could see.  I couldn’t the path to college, to being a doctor, or anything else.

There is so much that can be said about this idea.  What paths are we making clear to our kids?  What paths are we making clear to our employees?  What path is clear to us now for the rest of our lives?  How can we make a better path clear?  Do we even need to see the whole path to begin to take it?  Can we see the first step and imagine and design the next steps as we go?

Wow.  What an idea.

What clear path do you see for you?

To achieve a big goal – first you need this.

In the classic book Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill says that desire is the starting point of all riches. 

I say that it’s not only the starting point of all riches, but the starting point of all great achievement.

That is to say that while something may be possible for a person, if they do not want it, it is not available to them.

Some people just don’t want it, or don’t want it badly enough to do what it takes and stick with it when it gets difficult.

Willingness is another aspect of the same thing.  They want it, but aren’t willing to do what it takes.

Some people say they want to achieve a high goal, but want a conflicting, lesser goal even more.

Developing a deep burning desire for a big goal is necessary if you want to achieve it.

What deep, burning desire do you have?

The Triple Win – You’re last

We’ve all heard the term “customer first”.  But that’s not right.

It’s employee first, then customer, then stakeholders.

The reason it’s employee first is that if the employee is disengaged, not trained, and not feeling like they are doing well at this job, then what chance does the customer have at getting good service and a good product?

And if your employees don’t like their jobs, then the stakeholders aren’t likely to win.

As a leader, your job is to see that the employees win, the customer wins, and only then, can you win.

Anxiety = lack of preparation

Study, train, experiment, practice, think, plan.

Confidence comes from preparation – and confidence feels good.

You need this, and it is worth talking about again today.

Clarity.

Where are we going?  What are we trying to do?  Why?

How are we going to get there?  Who is doing what, by when?

If you are clear and communicate that clarity, you are doing a lot of things well as a leader.

Can you answer these questions?

Influencing Others with Questions

You could tell someone why they need to change – but they will resist.

Instead, ask them why they might want to change, and let them convince themselves.

Inlfuence with questions, not statements or demands.

Let it be their choice.

People will buy in to their own answers.

Buy low, sell high

Buy low, sell high.  The difference is called gross margin.

We can talk about gross margin in terms of percentage.  If you buy something for $75 and sell it for $100, then your gross margin is 25%.  (Your “markup” is 33%)

We can also talk about gross margin in terms of dollars.  If we sold 100 units for $100 ($10,000 in revenue) and our gross margin was 25%, then we have $2,500 in gross profit.

We run the rest of the business on those gross profit dollars.  We have to pay all our other expenses out of it.  

Do you have enough gross profit %.

Do you have enough gross profit dollars?

To get more gross profit dollars, you have to increase your gross margin and/or sell more units.

Which is more doable?

Time as something to be used…

“De Graaf had put his finger on one of the sneakier problems with treating time solely as something to be used as well as possible, which is that we start to experience pressure to use our leisure time productively, too.” – from Four Thousand Weeks – Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman.

As an entrepreneur we train ourselves to be productive at all times while at work – AND always.  At home, in the car, traveling – always.  This means “time off is not time OFF”.

We need to give our brains a rest from the constant chatter of getting things done.  If that is always there whether we are “at work working” or not at work but still working, our edge becomes dulled, and burnout is more likely.  AND, we may miss the scent of the roses.

“Treating time solely as something to be used”….that hit me.