Bucket List
What is a bucket list for? Is it a reminder? A list of intentions? A collection of wishes?
Usually the items on a bucket list are disruptive experiences that require planning.
It feels a little funny when a friend does something that is on your list. You smile and say “wow, switzerland?.. I’ve always wanted to go there.” Is it true? Have you always wanted to go there?
If it is true… where is the breakdown? It feels good to dream but it doesn’t feel good to watch others execute. It doesn’t feel good because it points to the gap. Your gap. The gap between the list in your mind and buying a plane ticket.
Maybe a bucket list is a way to feel better about the gap. Perhaps it’s a container for your aspirations… So they can be organized and shelved. Shelved and set aside for some day. Some day before you kick the bucket.
The Bump
When you buy a pair of shoes there is almost always a bump. A bump to sell you some socks… It's worth noticing The bumps…they are all around us. Sometimes they are annoying and sometimes they are the next obvious steps and are largely irresistible.
Most companies do pretty well selling their widget. The ones that scale sell something that sells something.
You buy a Peloton for 2k you pay 50/mo to ride
-You buy a Harley there is a waterfall of leather coming your way
iPhone —> Apple Watch —> iPad —> iCloud —> iTunes —> I’m outta money :)
Find a way to put your widget further upstream so you are able to grow through the natural flow of purchases.
Go sell something that sells something.
Time > Money
Time is not money. Time is more important than money. Spending a lot of time to save a little bit of money is normal behavior. Normal behavior will get you normal results.
The abnormal behavior is to value time more than money. The abnormal result of this behavior is wealth. Money is the best tool to buy back your time.
Make a big pile while making your mark.
Belief - Action = Zip
When people meet for the first time a common question is, “What do you do?”
Why is this? What is this question for? What is trying to be established? I think it’s a pretty good question because it ultimately answers a deeper question. The deeper question of who we are.
Our vocation doesn’t define us, but what we “do” does. This idea applies to groups as well. A group’s culture is not a set of common beliefs, it’s a set of common behaviors. Beliefs alone don’t establish anything. Common belief is empty without common action. The two choices are integrity or hypocrisy. What we do is in fact who we are.
What do you do?
Our Mask
Personality tests aren’t perfect but they are useful. They are useful because they help start the process of getting to know yourself. They aren’t perfect because they depend on our ability to separate who we think we are from who we really are.
It turns out getting to know yourself takes a lifetime and you can’t do it alone. The process requires a continuum of curiosity, courage, and input from others.
Pro Tip: the lowest hanging fruit for revealing your real persona is our operating system for dealing with fear. What mask do we use to protect ourselves from being seen? Our ability to lead is directly tied to knowing thyself.
'“Do Your Best”
Are the people around us doing their best? When I ask this question about myself it’s a long slippery slope. It’s like a nesting doll of inquiry that can drive a person crazy. Maybe breaking the one question into three questions is a better approach.
Am I open and curious?
Have I sought counsel?
If my current best isn’t the best, am I willing to learn and course-correct?
Mashing the gas on your “best” without making the effort to FIND your best… ain’t your best.
He Quit
The people who follow you… by choice or by position may or may not be happy. Awareness is a practice and a skill worth learning. As you charge ahead consider the people following you.
The unaware leader will have no followers over time. They will likely be surprised when they quit. If the people that follow you don’t feel seen or heard… if they don’t feel like their work matters they will leave you. People don’t quit their job… they quit their leader.
The fastest way to become a great leader is to get to know yourself through an open stance. An open stance towards growth and tough feedback. How people feel when they follow you is worth studying.
$ Clarity $
Revenue shouldn’t fall short if the product is good and it’s in stock. The spotlight of responsibility is on one thing: clarity. Revenue will always be a problem when a company is unable to articulate how their product will make the client’s life better.
Your clients want certainty. They don’t care about all the features and benefits as much as outcomes. Paint a picture of what their life will be like once they buy the thing.
Never stop tinkering with your message. Revenue will let you know how you’re doing.
Sacred Zone
Our brain is busy. It’s busy assessing, filtering, and making judgement calls. The good news is we all know how to focus. Focus is not the problem. The problem comes when we switch focus.
The switch kills the upside of undivided attention. Work on the thing that requires undivided focus. The people making the biggest impact spend a couple of hours a day in the sacred zone of undivided focus.
“The” Economy
The weather is rough.. a front is blowing in. The wind is howling and it’s raining a little. As the temperature drops the guy in charge says the golf tournament is still on.
“The” weather was bad. Some played well and some didn’t. The ones who struggled fought “the” weather and the ones who played well knew there is no such thing as “the” weather.
There is only “your” weather and “my” weather.
Same goes for “the” economy.
I’m Faster Than Usain
Picture Usain and I at the start line. We’re gonna do a lap as fast as we can. The crowd is big and the stakes are high. There’s laughter and curiosity at the spectacle. It’s gonna be super close and no one knows what the outcome is going to be. Will it be me or Usain? You might be wondering what you’re missing.
Craig isn’t a world class runner… even if he was he wouldn’t have a chance. Why do all these people find this fun to watch?
The answer is leverage. You see, Craig is on his bicycle and he’s a pretty good cyclist. The lever makes it interesting. The lever makes it possible. You can always make up in leverage what you lack in ability.
Pedal hard and make your mark.
Whack-A-Mole
Constantly working in your business is a trap. It’s a trap because it feels like you’re making headway. When you whack the moles and they are all down, you get a win. You’re ahead of the next thing that pops up.
The hammer is in ready position and you lick your lips in anticipation… Two moles pop up. Whack! Whack! It feels so good to smash them back down. It feels like you’re in control. Like you’re in charge. You’re the fastest reactor to subdue what comes your way. Congrats.
Being a world class responder pays a decent wage. The cost of being a world class mole-whacker is fatigue and limited growth.
If you’re tired of whacking moles, teach your business to whack them so you can have the clarity to see the big picture and make your mark.
Floors and Ceilings
Entrepreneurial people like floors and hate ceilings. We want a floor we can count on. A floor that’s solid, stable, and predictable. Imagine a floor as a baseline foundational “bread and butter” of a business.
Looking for your floor? It’s most likely what’s already working. The thing that brings in the most cash with the least effort. Developing a floor is the first step to a profitable business.
But first, it’s worth understanding the relationship between floors and ceilings. You can trade time for consistent money and have a safe floor. You can manage people and create a safe floor. You can dig ditches and have a safe floor for as long as your body lasts. The reality of this type of floor is that it has a clear ceiling.
If you’re using your muscles it’s about 100k. If you’re managing people it’s typically < 300k. It’s worth noticing what floors have ceilings when you’re building.
Pro Tip:
The wealthiest people in the world have vision and can move the masses with their words. History has proven this over and over. It’s worth learning the art of persuasion because once you understand this, the ceiling dissolves.
The Blood
The money in your wallet represents a sale. Somebody somewhere sold something and now it’s in your wallet. Glad I have you thinking. Thinking about the flow of money.
The business you’re involved in has money because someone was persuaded that the thing it offers has more value than the money itself. Sales and marketing are the lifeblood of any business but it doesn’t end there.
Systems protect. The system ensures fulfillment of the promise and makes it possible to increase the velocity of the sale. It protects the margin. It protects the money. If sales and marketing are the lifeblood, the systems and processes are the veins.
If you want the money to stick you’d better have both.
Forgetting
Forgetting feels terrible. You’ve given your word, you’ve committed, people are counting on you, and you’ve forgotten.
The knee-jerk might be to make up a little story, but that makes it worse. The secondary response is to own it but add an excuse to justify it. Both are natural protection moves...
“I’m sorry I forgot, it’s just that…”
It’s worth practicing 100% ownership... "I’m sorry, I forgot.” (Notice the period.)
It takes courage to own our mistakes without softening the blow for ourselves. It turns out owning it 100% is a better approach.
Mentor Myth
If you’re looking for a mentor it’s doubtful one will appear eager to grab your hand and take you to the next level. It’s a magical symbiotic relationship that is hard to find. Don’t stop looking.
It’s worth considering having multiple mentors. They fall in a few categories: health, wealth, and love.
It’s probably futile to look for one that fits all three. Mentors come and go based on your life stage in the three categories. Hold them with an open hand and count yourself blessed when the magic happens. Some are lasting, but most are seasoned.
The one mentor that never fails is a book. You get smart people’s POV for $15 - max. What a bargain. If you’re not much of a reader, start listening. With books you can get very granular with the topic.
You live in a time where info is limitless.
What you consume from whom, is up to you. It’s worth noting that it’s okay to pay a premium to collapse time. If your time is valuable, that is.
Your Ideas
Trade secrets aren’t always secrets. Hoarding them, protecting them, and hiding them should be thought through. I find it funny when someone sends over a non-disclosure agreement on an idea that is just an idea. The market may not care about the idea at all. There isn’t anything to protect until it’s making money. Spending any time or effort protecting an idea is a waste of resources when it hasn’t been executed.
Execution is the key. I could give away my entire business plan to my competitor and not compromise market share. If my competition got my business plan in the mail, she’d be interested to see it but it wouldn’t be a game changer and she’d know it. She’d know it because she’d have to execute and that’s the hard part.
Ideas are like guns… they aren’t good or bad until you pull the trigger. When someone steals your idea he’s only done the easy part. He is only a threat if he executes more effectively than you and the market happens to care.
Dr. Of Sales
Brain science and marketing studies show people buy to avoid pain more than seek pleasure. It’s worth learning how to articulate your customers' pain better than they can.
Feeling understood gives them hope that you might be able to ease the pain. Putting yourself in the position of “yoda” will bring questions your way. Questions from your customers are a good sign. A good sign because they see you as the guide.
Kinda like the doctor that might have the solution to ease the pain. Once this happens, you can stop selling and start prescribing.
Chasing 20 Somethings
Being middle aged has benefits. You’ve been around the block a few times, made more mistakes than the guy that thinks he knows. He thinks he knows because circumstances haven’t disagreed enough.
Being middle aged gives you cred with the 20 or 30 somethings, because they are starting to “know.” They are starting to know in their soul they need a big brother. A big brother to watch their back, encourage, and advise.
This relationship tends to de-jade the middle aged guy.
The careless speed, attitude, and youth inspires lightness, agility, and the bright side. It pushes back on the jade. So beware of your contemporaries. Chasing the middle aged will get you more of the same.
Feedback
Being open to feedback is easier said than done. It should be a gift, but often it feels offensive… Especially when it’s unsolicited.
Building a feedback loop during your project can make it easier to hear comments from the onlookers.
If you go into your cave to “perfect it”, it feels terrible when you bring your work into the light and someone poo-poo’s it the first moment they see it.
“How rude… don’t they know how hard I worked on this?” Yes, you worked hard, but maybe the real work is being vulnerable and showing it to safe people along the way.