Goals

31
Dec
2020
Never ever eat from the community fish bucket again!

Never ever eat from the community fish bucket again!

Live your life without safety nets, set bigger goals, and overcome limiting beliefs

On a recent trip to the Caribbean with my family, I spent a lot of time beaching it, as one would when they have two young kids. The other thing I spent a great deal of time doing was reflecting on the year. What went well? What didn’t go well? What did I learn? How will I show up next year? These were all questions I pondered as I listened to the waves crash and watched the kids play.

One of my favorite sights quickly became watching the local birds of prey fishing. I am not a bird watcher, by trade, and I owed it to you to identify my favorite as the Brown Booby (not that we should hold its name against it). As I watched the booby, sometimes solo, sometimes in pairs, and at greatest in groups of four take to the beach, what quickly became apparent was that they had a strong work ethic.

The brown booby has no limiting beliefs to overcome. He fishes relentlessly to catch his meal.

These majestic sea birds would swoop down low, their bellies barely off of the surface of the water, and hunt for their meal. They would pulse their wings just enough to keep themselves mere inches from the water and respond quickly as the water would rise. They systematically passed back and forth over the water until they spotted the shimmer of a fish below at which point they would abort their thirty or so miles per hour flight in exchange for an abrupt dive into the water to catch a fish.

More often than not, the booby would emerge empty-beaked and would quickly resume flight in search of the next shimmer. I watched these birds perform tirelessly for hours as they hunted for fish. What occurred to me after some time was that I was not merely seeing work ethic. I was seeing survival instinct.

No free meal

These birds knew that their survival hinged on them finding their next meal. Their young relied on them to return to the nest with enough fish to feed them. If these birds gave up, they died. Where in our lives does this show up? Would you agree that your job is mandatory for your survival? Why then is it so easy for us to fall into the trap of not working and avoiding the tasks which lead to our success?

One night on our trip, we stopped at a seaside restaurant for dinner. As we ate, I noticed a congregation of small birds, resembling sparrows. In the spirit of this post, I attempted to identify these birds, however when I searched the internet for “sparrow Caribbean,” I was returned Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean. I cannot confirm with any degree of certainty that this particular species had any relation to Captain Sparrow.

These smaller birds were incredibly comfortable with people and it was apparent they’d eaten at this dining establishment before. They came right up to my feet and even hopped on the table next to ours looking for a chunk of bread to be tossed in their direction. These birds patiently awaited and I never did oblige. They clearly knew that they did not need me to survive and that it was only a matter of time before someone else did toss them some food or leave extra fries on their plate.

The stories of these two birds of paradise taught me a great lesson. When survival is at stake, it seems we’ll do anything it takes to keep ourselves and our young alive. The trouble comes when we know there is a safety net in place. If the brown booby knew that if it didn’t catch a fish one day it could just go to a community bucket of fish and grab one to take home, it would quickly learn to take the path of least resistance and start its day at the bucket.

The path of least resistance

Humans and birds alike, we are all susceptible to taking the easy path. Often this comes at the cost of our dreams and our goals. Why do we accept mediocrity when we have the potential to be great? Why can’t we approach life like the brown booby and see our mission through to completion? Is it that we know that when we fall someone will be there to pick us back up?

Especially in developed nations, such as the United States, we don’t have many people dying in the streets of hunger. Does this mean that they all go out and catch their fish every day? Often, no. Remember, like all other creatures, we are always looking for the path of least resistance. When we know we can grab a fish out of the community bucket versus working tirelessly to catch one, we will opt for the easier route.

The community fish bucket isn’t going anywhere. We must set goals so big that the thought of community fish seems like death and the taste repulses us. How do we train our minds to think so big? How do we overcome the limiting beliefs which allow us to continue accepting mediocrity?

Someday starts today!

Start with the end in mind. The greatest, the smartest, the strongest, and the wealthiest don’t have superior genetics to yours. They are not super-human and even if they did have a leg up from their parents, their parents had to create their wealth somehow. We all have the opportunity to be our greatest selves. It begins with your allowing yourself to dream bigger.

The first time I had my limiting beliefs challenged, I was going into business for myself and I was asked how much money I wanted to earn. My response was “$100k.” For me, it was more than I had ever made before and would certainly cover my survival. It also meant that I would be accepting of $90k, the last amount I’d made… $80k, which I had survived on comfortably as well. The point being, I also likely would have been accepting of a community fish. Once I was challenged to expand my thinking, I looked at where I wanted to be, someday, and the legacy I wanted to create. What I learned was that my first goal was selfish and my second was more selfless.

Overcome limiting beliefs

When you overcome limiting beliefs, you realize that you can hustle hard, build wealth, and still remain humble and focused on being your best self.

In our society, there is often some amount of shame in wanting to build wealth and the wealthy are often vilified. I remember, in my own youth, uttering the words that I wanted to make “enough to pay the bills and be comfortable.” I was afraid that if I stated I wanted to be a millionaire that I would be shamed. As it turns out, this couldn’t have been further from the truth. My “noble” limiting beliefs were completely selfish and were entirely about me.

If we believe this rhetoric, we will limit our own beliefs, put a governor on ourselves, and even start believing the dangerous narrative that the evil wealthy elites should be filling the community fish bucket for us. Don’t be fooled, this only perpetuates the reliance on the community bucket and is hypocritical.

When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change

As you challenge yourself to dream bigger, think beyond the dollars alone. What would you accomplish as your greatest self? What impact would you have on the world? Sir Richard Branson, one of the wealthiest people in the world is a shining example of those using his success to make an impact on the world. Branson has amassed great wealth and has also made it a mission of his to save the ocean from human impact.

Oprah Winfrey’s personal mission statement is “to be a teacher. And to be known for inspiring my students to be more than they thought they could be.” She has used her wealth to build schools and to create opportunities for underprivileged children.

A new year. A new you?

As we enter a new year, what will change? As much as many of us would like to wish away the old year with the turning of the clocks to midnight, it is up to us and us alone to create our own destiny. Someday starts today. Build a future vision and reverse engineer your goals to the things you must do today. Determine who you must be and the habits you must build to achieve the success you’ve always wanted. Identify the limiting beliefs you must overcome. Most important, never eat community fish again!

Top resources to start your year right!

Posted by Adam Lendi in Business Planning, Coaching, Goal Setting, Habits, Life, 0 comments
20
Nov
2020
Beat the best: Standing on the shoulders of giants!

Beat the best: Standing on the shoulders of giants!

It’s that time of year where we build our plan for next year. We set bigger goals and build strategies to reach them. For those of us who are really intentional about it, we ask, “who must I become to achieve my dreams?”

This topic is top of mind for me as I build out my 2021 growth plan. The growth plan is where the rubber meets the road and you set milestones in your calendar for growth and development celebrations. There are a lot of ways in which you can accomplish this and for me, as I observe my goals, I ask:

  • What books must I read to become the person who achieves these goals?
  • What podcasts will help me grow into that person?
  • Which people do I want to model my success and growth after?

People with Giant Shoulders

That last one really stood out to me this year and it just might be the change you need in your own playbook for an explosive year ahead.

Goals are targets, and if you followed my intentional goal setting series, you know we can make them crystal clear and reverse engineer their inevitable success. What’s even better than a clear goal? How about a real life person who is already doing it?

Goggins

One such person who came up for me this year was David Goggins. If you don’t know Goggins, do yourself a favor and watch this video. David Goggins embodies a mindset I want to emulate, embody, and enhance… in that order.

The best part, I don’t have to suffer through some of the hell David Goggins experienced and which he put himself through to become the man now know as the “Hardest Motherf*cker on Planet Earth.” I can instead listen, read about, and study David Goggins, where he came from, where he is now, and how he arrived. I can shave years off of the clock, if I’m willing to be as hard as he is.

One thing I admire about David Goggins, above most else, is his determination. He talks about his inner-voice who he’s just named “Goggins.” Goggins is that voice that will not let him quit. He describes hitting that governor, the point where our brain throttles us backward, to keep itself comfortable, and continuing to mash that accelerator until the brain finally realizes you’re not going to quit.

Idols so you don’t idle

Who will propel you forward in the next year? Will it be someone who is doing well in your field? Your sport? Family life? Whoever you pick, make sure they are the pinnacle of success, in your eyes. Do the things they do and do your best to think like they do. They already put in all of the hard work. You simply need to imitate what they are doing to reach their level.

Once you’ve successfully modeled your idol and achieved their level of success, you earn the right to apply creativity to make it your own and to take it to the next level. The fact that someone else has done it means it can be done better.

“Can’t be done”

Once upon a time, it was thought that the human body could not possibly run a mile in four minutes. In the 1940s, the closest anyone had ever gotten was 4:01. No one had done it and everyone doubted it. That was until 1954 when runner, Roger Bannister, achieved one mile in 3:59.4.

After Bannister set the new one mile record, a funny thing happened.. twenty-four more people ran one mile within four minutes in the year to follow. The point being: once someone has accomplished your own goal you can quickly reach their level by avoiding their pitfalls and focusing energy on the things which did work.

As you look ahead into your 2021, who will you become to do the things necessary, to achieve your goals? Who will help you get there faster?

Posted by Adam Lendi in Business Planning, Coaching, Goal Setting, Life, 0 comments
12
Nov
2020
What you focus on expands! Intentional Goal Setting Series (3/3)

What you focus on expands! Intentional Goal Setting Series (3/3)

Are you setting goals which make their achievement inevitable?

If you’ve been following thus far, you’ve set ludicrous goals for yourself, you’ve made your goals SMART, and broken them down to a one year playlist for a monumental year! Take a minute to celebrate your accomplishments thus far! Those who simply write out their goals are 39.5% more likely to achieve them. Those who add accountability increase that likelihood by 76.7%. Are you focusing on the right things when you set your goals?

Where do we begin? At this point, you have seven really big goals in front of you. I strongly encourage you not to attempt undertaking all seven at the same time. How do you gain even more perspective on what the time commitments of these goals will be and ensure that you are in the high-achieving group of goal-getters?

Just Two

Your next year is a marathon. You have twelve months in which to become the person you need to be to achieve your goals and realize success and transformation, unlike any you have achieved before. As you review your goals, look for those which will have domino effects in your life. If you see one which will make another goal easier or unnecessary, move it up the list. Find the goal which above all others will have the largest ripple and move it to the top. This is your one thing!

Next, pick a second goal which will have another effect in another area of your life. If you picked a job or business goal for your first, pick an area of your personal life to complement your first. Finance is the wild card on the board and is the conduit between your business life and your personal life. If you picked finances first, pick your next priority in either area.

Go Small

Focus the goals you've set and go small.

Remember the clarifying question from installment two, which took your someday goal all the way to your one year goal? We are going to continue zooming in with our microscope to go smaller. Using your one Thing, ask yourself…

“What must I accomplish in this month to achieve my one year goal?”

When you write your answer, use the name of the month for which you are writing your goal. If your one year goal was to sign 48 contracts, your one month might read: “In December 2020, I must sign four contracts.” We’re not done yet! Go smaller still…

“What must I accomplish in this week to achieve my one month goal?”

Write your weekly goal as you did your monthly goal: “This week, I must sign one contract.” As you get into relationship with your goals and develop a daily habit of reviewing them, you will keep your goals with your planner and ask yourself each day:

“What must I accomplish today to achieve my one week goal?”

You must earn the right to add more goals!

Once you have mastered the process of accomplishing your first goals you can consider adding more goals to the mix. Don’t rush into it too quickly. Even if you only accomplished these two goals this year, you’d be a massive success when compared to the majority of your peers.

Once you’ve developed success habits which make your goal accomplishment inevitable, you’ll know. You will be making steady progress toward your goals and still wanting more. If you are feeling overwhelmed or maxed out, it is not the right time. You will know when you’ve earned the right to add one more goal to the mix.

You’re bound to let yourself off easy

Coaches and accountability partners will help you accomplish the goals you've set!

Self-accountability is a myth. How many times have you felt in control of your impulses when you passed over the tempting dessert options a restaurant, only to go home and indulge on junk food to reward yourself for being good? Willpower is not on will call!

Whether you hire a coach or find an accountability partner, an objective outsider can easily tell if you did or did not do what you said was important to you. Set yourself up for maximum success and join the group achieving their goals 76.7% more often than those who do not.

Take Action!

1. Pick your top personal and business goals (2 max, 1 per area)
2. Continue goal-setting to the now.

One year > One Month > One Week > Today

3. Use the 411 to track your goal achievement. Download yours HERE
4. Enlist support! Hire a coach or get an accountability partner.
5. Share this with a friend who could use help achieving their goals.

Prior post:

<– Your future in focus! Intentional Goal Setting Series (2/3)

Posted by Adam Lendi in Business Planning, Goal Setting, Habits, Life, Tools, 1 comment
05
Nov
2020
Your future in focus! Intentional Goal Setting Series (2/3)

Your future in focus! Intentional Goal Setting Series (2/3)

Welcome back! If you missed us last week, we were being “unrealistic” about our goals. If you missed that one, go check it out now and get an idea of how your future self will live and how your higher self will be. Once you’ve set your moonshot goals, how will you get there? Today I’ll share with you a simple two part process to bring your biggest dreams into focus and to make their achievement inevitable.

Step 1 – Make your goals SMART!

The simple test to determine how likely you are to achieve your goals is to ask “how will I know when I’ve achieved it?” If the finish line can’t be seen or isn’t clear, how will we know what must be done to cross it? Make sure your goals can check each one of these requirements:

Specific – What specifically are you looking to accomplish. Simply saying you want to, say, “get stronger” violates a few of these rules; the first being it does not state specifically the strength you are looking to achieve. Is it physical? mental? just your legs?

Measurable – At what time can you check the box signifying your accomplishment of your goal? Being “financially independent” is a common goal I hear and it fails the test. With an extremely modest lifestyle and a country with a low cost of living, someone could technically be financially independent on $100,000, if invested properly. Conversely, if you plan to be financially independent, living a lavish life in Southern California, that number will likely have extra zeros.

Attainable – I know, I know! I told you to be unrealistic. I should have known you’d put time travel as your financial goal, so you could go back and bet on sporting events, like in Back to the Future 2. Your goal needs to be within the realm of human capability, which still gives you a lot of latitude, because we are amazing machines!

Relevant – It must support the life you want to live. Fortunately, since we are starting with our highest level of goals, your goals are all relevant to the life you want to live, unless you picked a goal to support someone else’s priorities. Relevancy will come into play in the next step as we go small with our goals. If your goal in your finances is to pay off your debt and your smaller goal includes investing, while this is a great thing to do, it is not directly relevant to your debt elimination goal.

Time Bound – Every time we set a goal, from here on out, we must have clarity on when we will achieve them. If we incorporate the other four elements, we could end up with a goal like: “to save $1 Million in my 401k for retirement.” It is specific, measurable, attainable, and relevant, however it doesn’t state if this is a goals I want to achieve in the next ten years or the next fifty!

Step 2 – Goal setting to the Now!

Remember those big scary Someday Goals you set? Remember how insurmountable and out of reach they may have felt? Now we’ve made them SMART, so they are a little clearer and more in focus, yet they are still big!

Goal setting to the now is where we systematically reverse engineer your goal to build a staircase to lead you to the moon where your goal’s achievement lies! The process is simple and empowering! Using it will help you realize that you can accomplish your biggest goals and dreams.

You start with your Someday goal and set a 5 year milestone using the clarifying question:

“What must I accomplish in the next 5 years to achieve my someday goal?”

If your highest level goal is less than 5 years away, it may be that you did not dream as large as you could have. Nevertheless, we’ll find your next goal container, ahead. Stop at this 5 year mark and write your SMART goal in the first-person present tense and anchor them in relevance. For example:

“It is 12/31/2025 and I have generated $500k of passive income for the 2026 calendar year so I can spend five days each week with my family and on my hobbies and only work on things which excite me.”

Ensure the milestone will support the future goal, which it will, so long as it really is SMART! Then we’ll repeat the process for the next year by asking:

“What must I accomplish in the next 1 year to achieve my 5 year goal?”

Now you will have your 1 year milestone to measure your progress toward your five year goal. It will look something like this:

“It is 12/31/2021 and I have generated $100k of passive income for the 2022 calendar year so I can spend my weekends and every evening with my family and on my hobbies.”

Take Action!

1. Goal set to the now. Take all of your Someday Goals down to 5 and 1 Year Goals.
2. Rewrite your goals so that they are SMART and write them in the first person present format.
3. Anchor your goals with relevance and highlight what accomplishing your goals will do for you.

Congratulations! You now have a one year action plan which will lead you ever closer to living the life of your dreams. If you enjoyed this process, check back next week as we build out a schedule for success for you to live your entire upcoming year by. Win your day, win your life!

Prior post:

<— (1/3) You need to be “unrealistic”

Next post:

(3/3) What you focus on expands! —>

Posted by Adam Lendi in Coaching, Goal Setting, Habits, Leadership, Life, Tools, 2 comments
29
Oct
2020
You need to be “unrealistic!” Intentional Goal Setting Series (1/3)

You need to be “unrealistic!” Intentional Goal Setting Series (1/3)

Happy New Year! Everyone in business will be ringing in 2021 this coming weekend. You hadn’t heard? Our pay days are the lagging indicator of the work we’ve put in now and the work we put in today will likely build toward income in January. For some, sales cycles may be shorter than two months, yet it is never too early to start setting yourself up for success!

I’ve met people who dread setting goals. Oftentimes, it is because they have trouble achieving the goals they’ve set for themselves or because they are being forced to do so. Goal setting is one of my favorite things to do and I’m exciting to share with you, over the next three weeks a proven process for taking your biggest dreams and making them your reality.

If I showed you the picture of a finished house and asked you to build it, how likely is it you would even know where to begin? Better, how about if I gave you a lot, wood, cement, tools, and even a crew. Without a clear set of instructions, how would you know what to build? Even if you were a carpenter or a general contractor, you wouldn’t know the dimensions, let alone the materials finishes.

How about if you got to watch a time lapse video of the house being built… in reverse… so you could watch the house being disassembled, piece by piece. You could slow down the replay and see how things are built. You could write down all of the components needed to ensure the roof stays up and that the foundation is stable.

We do the same thing with our goals. The two most common mistakes I’ve seen with goals are:

  • People set big goals and never build a plan to achieve them. They are discouraged by attempts to build their house from the finished picture and throw in their towel.
  • People set small goals, labeling them “realistic” and hit them. This may be even worse than the first, as we train ourselves to see mediocrity as success.

Today, we’ll paint that picture of our finished house. Just like your life, that finished house is made up of several components and systems which are all vital to its operation as a complete house. What are the parts of your life which complete you as a whole person? From their book, The One Thing, Gary Keller and Jay Papasan describe a life which can be grouped into seven areas.

  • Personal Life
  • Physical Health
  • Spiritual Life
  • Key Relationships
  • Finances
  • Job
  • Business

Take action!

1. In your journal or a notebook you can build on for the next few weeks, write a long term goal for each of the seven areas of your life.

2. Each goal should be your ultimate picture of success. Dare to dream big! If your goal can be accomplished in the next five years, you aren’t dreaming big enough!

3. Once you’ve written your Someday Goals, write them in a first-person narrative, using inclusive statements and non-conditional language. Example:

“When I am living my level 10 life, I will have every weekend and evening with my family. We will take one long vacation every quarter and will travel internationally twice per year.”

Bring your completed someday goals with you next week as we take the first steps toward an action plan to complete them. You may have seen me write about dominos in the past and how a domino can knock down another which is 50% larger. These are your earth to the moon dominos. We are going to chunk down to your two inch dominos which you can knock down with a simple flick of your finger, starting the chain reaction to your dreams!

Next step:

—> (2/3) You Future In Focus!

Posted by Adam Lendi in Business Planning, Goal Setting, Habits, Life, 5 comments
02
Oct
2020
How do you create more time in a single day?

How do you create more time in a single day?

I had a moment on Tuesday afternoon. I had just finished an all-day training event focused on developing part of my career. During the training, the hosts asked us before each break to “take the break,” implying that we should relax, decompress, and meditate over what we’d just taken in. I did not take breaks. Instead, I spent my breaks returning missed calls, replying to a seemingly long list of text messages, catching up on emails, and just barely squeezing in a bathroom break before it was time to return.

My moment came not at the end of my training, but rather after I spent another hour catching up on work before zooming across town for an evening appointment. I’d just wrapped up with a client and then I took a call with bad news about another client of mine. By the time I got off the phone, I felt physically exhausted, mentally tapped, and emotionally drained. I then called my wife only to hear that she was at our son’s soccer practice and that they were just finishing. I’m not going to lie, I was devastated. How had I, the guy who is always preaching about values, habits, and time blocking, worked a twelve hour day, missed an important family event, and betrayed my own values?

On Wednesday morning, I grabbed my go-to reference book for moments like these… The ONE Thing, by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan. Right inside the cover you are met with two sets of animal tracks leading across the page and then diverging on the next, with the words

“If you chase two rabbits… you will not catch either one.”

-Russian Proverb

I realized that I had been doing just that. I already had two businesses running and had recently made the decision to explore another venture, all the while growing and developing myself in one of my core businesses. Can you relate? Have you found yourself pursuing more than one thing and not gaining traction on any of them? If so, read on!

Part 1 of The ONE Thing is “The Lies – They mislead and derail us.” As I went down the list, a list I’d read many times before, I realized I had disregarded several of them. They are:

  1. Everything matters equally – Equality is a lie. When you have a lot to get done in a day, how do you know what to do first? Achievers work from a clear sense of priority. Employ the focusing question (see below) to help guide your decision.
  2. Multitasking – There is no such thing! What we do is multi-switch. The trouble with multi-switching is that it takes time, after switching, to orient to the new task and time again to orient back to the prior task. It is best practice to focus on when task (starting with your ONE Thing) and see it through to completion before starting the next task.
  3. A disciplined life – Success is about doing the right thing… Not doing everything right. Focusing on the right thing and building habits around that will lead to your greatest self.
  4. Willpower is always on will-call – Think of your energy in each day like the battery on your cell phone. When you wake up in the morning, you are at 100%. As you perform tasks and make decisions throughout the day you chip away at that energy. It’s important to capitalize on your most important tasks, because not everything matters equally, when you are fresh.
  5. A balanced life – There is no such thing as balance in life. At our very best, just like an acrobat on a tight rope, we counter our balance with short side-to-side movements. Sometimes we have to swing toward work and put in extra effort, however it must immediately be followed with a counter into your personal life or you will fall.
  6. Big is bad – The only actions which become springboards to success are those which come from big thinking. Think Big – Act Big – Succeed Big

Can you guess which of the lies I was living? As I wrote in my journal that morning, I reflected on my core values, which are: Health, Family, and Empowerment. I took out my planner and reviewed the rest of my week, my to-do list, and my success list. I cleared time, by time-blocking and prioritizing those things which aligned with my values, first, revised my success list, and found time to spend the next two nights together with my wife.

Even practice leaders need a reality check and a reset every once in a while. If you’re stuck and you find yourself looking at your calendar and to-do list, take a minute to reflect on your own values, your goals, your BIG WHY, and ask yourself the focusing question:

What’s the ONE Thing I can do, such that by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary?

If you need to go further back, join me on Tuesday for my Your Big Why webinar. Get clarity on your own core values and use them, alongside your goals, to gain clarity on what matters most.

RSVP for Your Big Why
Posted by Adam Lendi in Events, Goal Setting, Habits, Life, Time Blocking, Values, 0 comments
24
Sep
2020
This one secret is why successful people grow faster

This one secret is why successful people grow faster

It’s in our culture and it’s everywhere we look. We are programmed to idolize and hold up successful business owners, world-class athletes, and amazing minds. What is it that sets us apart from these public figures, idols, and celebrities? Birth-right only gets you so far. How does one go from average to extraordinary? I know what it is and it’s simpler than you think.

The most successful people in their craft practice their specialization with a dedication you and I have trouble maintaining. They aren’t experts of everything; they are masters of their one thing. What’s the difference between you and legendary guitarist Eric Clapton? His fingers aren’t anything extraordinary. He didn’t come from a lineage of advanced music genetics. It’s not money and not even the tools he was given when he first learned to play. Eric grew up in an otherwise average military family and was given a cheap guitar as a gift at 13 as a gift. Once he took interest in it, he practiced his craft non-stop and was an advanced player by age 16.

The difference between talented and successful people and those who are average are the habits they build around their one thing.

Notice I said “one thing.” He who attempts to master everything, masters nothing. Perhaps you know someone who dabbles in lots of things and who is a Jack of all trades. While they may be able to fill lots of roles in your life or your business, they generally aren’t the best or the top pick for any one of those roles. Remember when working with a Jack of all trades that he comes second to the Queen and the King.

Identifying your one thing isn’t always simple. In the business world, you’re in a phase we call entrepreneurial. This is where you are figuring out what it is you do best, what stokes your passion, and what it is you do which fills a need for others. This is a normal phase in leadership development and we all must go through it if we are to identify our one thing. We don’t want to get stuck in the entrepreneurial phase for too long though. The goals is to move to a more purposeful execution on your top strengths and the highest and best use of your time and abilities. We call this the journey of moving from E to P.

Entrepreneurs tend to get stuck beneath their ceiling of achievement. They do what comes naturally to them and sometimes they do quite well… for a long time. Those who are most driven tend to go through cycles where they make changes and pivot their strategy, attempting to grown, only to hit their ceiling and fall back to what they are most comfortable with.

To break through your ceiling of achievement it takes intentional goal-setting and purposeful planning to develop a breakthrough strategy. Even then, the battle is not yet won. It takes high level of daily accountability to break away from what is familiar and do the uncomfortable activities we know we must do to break through to the next level, beyond our ceiling of achievement.

Whether you are learning to play guitar, baking pizza, or running a direct to consumer sales business, you must practice your craft in order to perfect it. When you create a rhythm, you can master whatever your one thing is. That rhythm being regular and habitual execution.

Where most habit building goes wrong is in scale alone. If you are striving to learn guitar and you task yourself with one hour of practice each day, you are bound to find yourself exhausted, frustrated, or a combination of the two, before that hour is up. If you fail to meet your hour of practice goal, day after day, eventually you will feel bad about your performance, quit, and resolve that you are not the kind of person who plays guitar.

In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear describes the Two Minute Rule. Simply put, the act of executing your habit must take two minutes or less. In the guitar playing example, this could simply be setting the goal to two minutes of guitar playing, per day. Two minutes is far more sustainable than sixty and you’re bound to start going over two minutes as your skill-set improves.

In the case of more complex habits, where two minutes of execution alone may not be enough to get started, find a precursory task which takes two minutes or less, which will make execution inevitable, and build a habit around that. What does this mean?

If your goal is to attain peak physical fitness by exercising daily and your track record leading up to now shows you have not gone to the gym at all in over a year, it may be difficult to begin a daily hour long workout habit. Go smaller. It may not be enough to say you workout for two minutes even. Go smaller still. The habit could be as simple as packing your gym clothes before you go to bed and putting them in your car. This daily habit may be all the trigger you need to make it to the gym each day. If you can record a “W” each day, you’re more likely to uphold the habit. When building a new habit we must standardize before we optimize.

Don’t lose focus. Constantly benchmark your successes, re-analyze your goals, and correct course as needed. As I title my last post, You’re one habit away from your next breakthrough. What is that next habit which will put you at the top of your game?

Want to take it to the next level? Start a 66 Day Challenge. If you don’t know what that is, email me at adam@mymapscoach.com and tell me about the habit you are building. I will bring you up to speed and join you in a 66 Day Challenge in my private accountability group. Get your habit tracker below and get started today.

Start a 66 Day Challenge
Posted by Adam Lendi in Goal Setting, Habits, Life, Tools, 0 comments
10
Sep
2020
What to do when your cheese gets moved

What to do when your cheese gets moved

In his 1988 novel “Who Moved My Cheese?” Dr. Spencer Johnson tells a tale of two mice and two “little people,” living within a maze, on a journey to find their cheese. The cheese is a metaphor for what each character is seeking. For the two mice, it really is cheese. For the people, it is the success, money, love, validation, or whatever it is which they seek.

In the story, each morning the mice rise and lace up their running shoes, while the little people don their jogging suits to enter the labyrinth, in search of their cheese. The mice are named Sniff and Scurry. Sniff has a keen sense of smell and has the ability to detect the best possible route to his cheese. Scurry on the other has quick reflexes and will change direction quickly once he realizes that he has entered a dead-end corridor or that his cheese is not present. The mice have simple brains and are purely reactionary and reflexive. Meanwhile, the little people, named Hem and Haw have complex brains and the ability to analyze situations.

I could easily rewrite the entire story, however it is already a short enough read (seriously, you can read it in less than an hour). As the story goes, one day Sniff, Scurry, Hem, and Haw come upon a cheese station which is full of cheese. Hem and Haw immediately move their homes closer to the cheese station, exchange their jogging suits for more comfortable attire, and live as though the cheese will never run out, until one day it does.

When this happens, it causes great distress for Hem and Haw, as they were not prepared for the change, had not noticed the signs of the diminishing cheese, and had no contingency plan. Sniff and Scurry meanwhile did not adapt their behavior. Each day they would run to the cheese station and when they arrived they would remove their running shoes, tie the laces together, and hang them around their necks, so that they would be ready to run again as soon as needed. Sniff and Scurry were aware of the diminishing cheese supply and were prepared to seek more. As soon as the cheese supply ran out, they did what they were implicitly prepared to do… go find more cheese.

Hem and Haw meanwhile, with their complex human brains lamented over the long lost cheese, assumed someone had simply moved it, and were overall in denial about the fact that they had not been judicious about the situation surrounding their cheese. After some time, Haw began to break the cycle and realized he needed to move on and find another cheese station, just as he had this last one. Hem was unwilling to break the cycle and preferred the comfort of his familiar, even though now cheese-less station.Haw finally develops the courage to break free from the cycle and leave the cheese station. Haw scrawls into a wall of the maze “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” He thought on this and embarked on a challenging, often uncomfortable, and new path to places in the maze he had not yet explored, ultimately leading him to new cheeses he had never experienced before.

I love this story, because it can apply to any situation in life or business where you are upended from your routine and forced to deal with adversity, a new playing field, and new rules. In these times, this story couldn’t be more relevant as we find ourselves faced with a changing landscape and new challenges on all fronts. How have you shown up?

  • Have you been Hem? Frozen, unwilling to let go of the past, and romanticizing about the way things were.
  • Are you a Haw? Acknowledging that things have changed, realizing that they may not return to the way they were, and adapting to the landscape.
  • Were you a Sniff? Did you sense the change as it began happening and react in anticipation?
  • Were you more like Scurry? Did you see the change as it happened and pivot immediately, realizing you could no longer keep heading where you had been?

As great as it sounds to be a Sniff or a Scurry, this is not a natural human tendency for us humans with our complex brains. The vast majority of people respond as Hem did and the lucky few who are able to break their cycles of denial respond as Haw did.

We can prepare ourselves to deal with change to be more of a Sniff or a Scurry. Whether in business or in life, we can continually re-assess our situation. If we set measurable goals, track our progress, and routinely analyze our environment, we can Sniff out the trouble before it emerges and begin our pivot toward a new strategy. What tools and systems do you have in place to routinely analyze your progress toward your goal achievement?

If we have taken the time to plan our goals and have created contingency plans, we can immediately, at the first sign of danger, adopt that plan and take corrective action, just as Scurry would. I wrote a great post about why our top military special forces units create more than one contingency plan and what you can do to prepare yourself for change WHEN (not IF) it happens. (Check it out: Pressing Reset)

Has your cheese moved? Is your supply running low? Are you suddenly out of cheese? Have you not yet found your first cheese? A great starting place will be to return to your goals and your “big why.” Why do you do what it is you do? What are you seeking in life? What would need to happen for you to achieve those goals? I want to share my goal setting webinar from July 2020 where I shared the system of “goal-setting to the now” and the GPS, as my gift to you. May you be as aware as Sniff, as nimble as Scurry, and as wise as Haw. If you find yourself a Hem or know someone who is, I can help.

Remember to tie the laces of your running shoes together and hang them around your neck. You never know how soon you may need them again.

Goal-Setting and the GPS
Posted by Adam Lendi in Business Planning, Coaching, Goal Setting, Tools, 0 comments
16
Jul
2020
Win Your Day, Win Your Life!

Win Your Day, Win Your Life!

The best time to plant a tree was ten years ago. The next best time is today! It’s not hard for us to daydream about the life we’d like to live and the people we want to be. If you caught my goal setting class last week (if you didn’t, you can watch the recording and download your own one page business plan, HERE), you know we can reverse-engineer your life’s goals and lay a roadmap to make each year a measurable step toward your ideal life. Why then do we procrastinate? Do we not value our precious and finite time on this world enough?

Let’s start off by quantifying how much life you’ve lived and how much you expect you have left. According to website, Macrotrends (https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/USA/united-states/life-expectancy), life expectancy in 2020 is 78.93 years. That’s 28,809 days. Now that is the average. I don’t know about you, however, I am dedicated to living to triple digits, meaning that if I reached my 100th birthday, it would be a win, at 36,525 days. I am currently 34 years old and on the day I am writing this post I have been on this earth for 12,478 days. By subtracting my current days from my anticipated days, I know I have 24,047 days remaining. Imagine that countdown clock on your wall. Would you change your behavior if each day you saw that number counting down? 24,046… 24,045… 24,044. Imagine if you weren’t as optimistic as me and you only expected to live the average and that countdown was about to fall below 10,000. How would you behave tomorrow to ensure you don’t squander another day and to ensure your success?

In The ONE Thing (Gary Keller, Jay Papasan), the authors symbolize accomplishments in life like a series of dominoes. Studies have shown that a single domino standing can knock down another domino, fifty-percent larger than itself. If you start with a two-inch domino, the second would be three-inches, and the third four-and-a-half. As the dominoes get exponentially larger, so does the energy exerted by the last domino. The twenty-third domino would be the height of the Eiffel Tower, the thirty-first would be three-thousand feet taller than Mt. Everest, and the fifty-seventh would reach the moon from the earth’s surface.

Imagine how little effort it took this man to knock down his 5mm domino that toppled the one-hundred pound monolith at the end.

What doesn’t change is the energy required to knock down that simple two-inch domino, starting the chain reaction which inevitably knocks down your moonshot domino. Sometimes in life, you’re staring down that domino that casts shade on Mt. Everest, wondering how you’ll ever topple it. Now that you know your objective, we need to go small.

Once you’re clear on where you want to be, we can reverse-engineer your goals and break them down to the year, month, week, and even the day. If you knew that adherence to your schedule today would build the life of your dreams, would you squander another day? Would you let other people’s priorities and “emergencies” distract you from the playbook of your dreams? Your clock is counting down. You don’t have until next year… Not even next quarter. You could live to be 100, like I intend. You could make it to 78. You might develop a rare form of cancer and be given a prognosis of one year from today. What is the legacy you will leave? What will your obituary say about how you lived?

If you are stuck finding your big domino, check out my goal setting class, HERE. Once you have your big domino, join me at my next class, Get the 4-1-1 on Your Schedule. We’ll reverse engineer your goals and I’ll give you the tools you need to fill your calendar with the activities which will ensure your inevitable success.

Posted by Adam Lendi in Business Planning, Coaching, Events, Goal Setting, Time Blocking, 2 comments
09
Jul
2020
Tragedy or Triumph… YOU Choose

Tragedy or Triumph… YOU Choose

It’s rare that things ever go as planned and whether we recognize it or not, we make several decisions each day to compensate for these changes and unforeseen hurdles. Why then do we, the resilient, the nimble and adaptive taskmasters, the can-doers, why did we get de-railed THIS time? Why does it seem that for so many around us there is a sense of hopelessness and defeat?

For millennia, people have had their lifestyles changed and their businesses affected, however, it doesn’t typically happen to many industries at the same time. When Henry Ford brought the modern automobile to market, no doubt this upended the buggy-whip operators, however, it likely did not affect the financial industry. When the internet and dotcom boom of the 1990’s began digging the grave for many brick-and-mortars, the automobile industry was not negatively impacted. The point being, businesses and industries often experience significant shifts and sometimes even obsolescence. What’s different this year is that many people and businesses are experiencing this all at the same time.

An important consideration is that not all businesses are being affected by COVID-19, the riots, or even the murder hornets. Many businesses were already positioned to thrive in the changing environment from in-person to remote and virtual environments. These businesses may have had foresight or they may have simply lucked their way into success. Any business which was already tech-enabled and ready to operate remotely, may have survived this year, thus far, without any losses, or even significant gains.

Where does this leave the rest of us? I’ve talked to a number of business owners who tell me they can’t change and that they will not be able to recover until things “go back to normal.” The reality we may be faced with is that things will never completely return to any sense of normalcy. We may have entire industries made obsolete if they don’t pivot and find a new opportunity.

Even now, these owners would be wise to explore other options and find a need they can fulfill. One outcome may be that your business does return to its prior operation. Another may be that you don’t ever return to the way things were and you’ve now forged the next phase of your business; until the next pivot. What we cannot do is nothing. Eventually, the buggy-whip operator needed to become a chauffeur, to avoid being out of business.

If you’re stuck and not sure where to go next, it’s time to revisit your business plan and your goals. Schedule a free business assessment with me to determine the one thing you can do right now to ensure your year is successful. The call is free and I only ask that you set aside time you won’t be driving or otherwise distracted and that you bring a pen and paper. You will likely have an a-ha moment that you’ll want to write down.

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Posted by Adam Lendi in Business Planning, Goal Setting, 1 comment