55,000 WORDS.

Recently I learned, and tend to believe, that you say on average 55,000 words to yourself a day.

What do you say?

Do you believe in yourself?

Do you hate yourself?

Do you lie to yourself?

David Goggins, perhaps the toughest Navy Seal of all time, basically just YELLS at himself.  To motivate himself.  (If you want to get pumped up, he’s a great follow or read.  Be careful, he’s intense.)

He says, quit lying to  yourself.  Instead of saying I want to lose 10lbs.  Or I want to be more organized, what works for him is do a 1 person intervention.  I AM FAT.  I AM LAZY.  I AM DISORGANIZED.  AND THAT SHIT STOPS NOW.

Now that won’t work for all of you…but an interesting style for sure.

So, you might say, what works for me?

I do a combination of Groggins.  And I do a bit of DUDE, SERIOUSLY FOCUS.  GET BETTER.  NOW.   You are gonna die, and then what.  What will this look like.  It always brings me a sense of urgency and what is important.  And sometimes… because I am so driven.  I have to SCREAM at myself.  Slow down.  Way down.  Let others catch up.   Listen.  Hug.  Embrace life… So as life is… it depends…

The rarest of rare… A TGIF!

here we goooooooooooooooo………

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• The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.

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I recently learned in the book, “The Captain Class” book, captains, leaders come in all forms of styles.

They don’t have to lead like me.  Or lead like a rah-rah cheerleader.  Or be a great speaker.  Or have degrees.  Or be smart.

So be authentic!

But they do share common traits:

They bust their ass.

They carry the water.  (They do the dirty work no one else wants to do, without complaining.)

They value the team above everything else.

If you want to be a captain on this team, or a better one… do the above…

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TGI-WEDS

GRIND.

I don’t really know how to succeed but GRINDING DAILY is a must.

Justin Spuda, millwork coach, GRINDED out an internal presentation on how he wants to change and grow millwork.  No one told him to do that.  Nobody made him do that.

Self motivation… the GRIND.

He’s one of the best we have because of this.

Below was one of his slides.  You want to make an impact… then start doing it!

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It’s a wonderful life- the movie.   The story of a man that wanted to travel around the world and be a big shot, but ended up running his family’s lumberyard.

Then questioning why the hell he still lives where he grew up.  Then realizing he is in the best place after all.  I meant savings and loan, not lumberyard.

Somebody said over the holidays… “hey Joel, the guy on the movie kind of reminds me of you.. is this why you love the movie so much… um…”

Anyways… it is a great movie.

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I’m the least physically flexible person you ever met.  Probably not joking. 

I’ve been trying yoga and stretching on and off, mostly off, for about 10 years.   Just couldn’t find time to do it.

And seeing me do yoga is like a 700 lb. overweight person joining the Y.  You give the person credit, but it is brutal to watch.  THAT’S ME.

SO… I decided about 3 weeks ago, that I am full of friggin’ excuses and time to man up.  Thanks Jocko.

Time is an illusion.  We all have time.  We all waste it.

Alarm is now set daily for 3:45am.  I do yoga on youtube with a girl named Adriene (Technology is so cool.)  I suck at it.  But I do see improvement.  A centimeter here, a fraction of an inch there.

I guess I’m bragging.  I’m also writing this knowing it will keep me MORE ACCOUNTABLE.

Sharing your new thing, does help being held accountable.

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I hate to lose.  That’s fuel for me.

Just a reminder.  Our competition is ABSOLUTELY FOCUSED ON TAKING OUR BUSINESS.  DAILY.

Our customers are EVALUATING US DAILY.

You realize that right?  Are you focused on taking theirs?

When we go into cruise control… we put EVERYTHING WE HAVE DONE at risk….

Got this one off of Twitter this morning:

facil,

Joel