Just One Thing

Today I’ll talk to you about boundaries. Boundaries have a very negative connotation. When you set up a boundary and it may appear to be constricting and confining. But that’s not really true. Boundaries are not meant to constrict. And we are opposed to putting boundaries in place. And then we're frustrated. Why? It's because there's a psychological term called the illusion of transparency. What the illusion of transparency means is you feel like everyone should see what you need. And it just isn't so. It happens all the time at work, and it happens all the time at home. You may think, “Hey, they should know I need this.” If you ever feel yourself saying that you need to step back and realize there's a breakdown in communication. The illusion of transparency is causing a lot of your misery today. Do you find yourself saying "they should know I need this"? Or do you think you have ALL the boundaries in place? Keep listening along to find out some tips to help!

In this episode, I’ll talk about temperature. It's really important to step back and look at this, especially at the beginning of the year. I want you to decide for the year 2022, do you want to be a thermometer or a thermostat? This is a very important question to ask. What would your answer be? Keep listening along to find out the difference between them.. believe me, I never thought about it this way!

In this season of giving, I think it's important to step back and think this concept through. As business owners, we're so focused on what we are getting right now.  We think about getting the money. We focus on getting the car done. We must be able to pay our bills. We are so focused on the receiving part, the getting part that we get lost in it. The idea of giving sometimes can be foreign to us because we're so focused on what we need. But as long as we chase what we want and need, we're never, ever going to get it. I’m here to help you understand the concept of giving and receiving. Giving and receiving is not a straight line. It's a circle. If you want to get better at getting, you need to get better at giving. Keep listening as I will give you three ideas that will help you. 

My question is, are you a Grinch? And all of us want to say, “No, of course, I'm not.” But there's a big difference between how you think you're showing up and how people are perceiving you. And I am the king of this. We lie to ourselves all the time. We try to hide and pretend things are okay when they're not. And people can see it a mile away. If things are eating at you, if you're coming in a little grumpier than you'd like to be, I want to give you some tools that will help you grow your heart three times too big. Listen along to hear tools on making sure you don't fall into Grinch mode.

What I want to talk to you about is the word “No.” We avoid no at all costs. I'm going to tell you that “No” could and should be your friend. “No” does so many great things for you. It allows you to reflect. That's the first thing you should do with a “No.” Not avoid it. Not pretend it didn't happen or don't blame somebody or something for it. That's not what the “No” is there for. Press play to hear how to see "NO!" as a gift and what you should do the next time you get a "Yes!".

What I want to talk to you about is the secret of accountability. Why do I think this is a big deal? Well, telling yourself all the amazing things that you're going to do, whether it's professional or personally is really awesome. And at the same time, it's completely useless. Why? It's because you lie to yourself all the time. It's because you judge others by their actions, and you judge yourself by your intentions. So even if you didn't get something done that you want to do that day, it's okay because you planned it that way. You wanted to do it. You just couldn't. The fact that it was on your plate was a good thing and you’ll do it tomorrow. That doesn't work. Keep listening because I want to give you one, two, three, four ideas that are going to help improve accountability.

What are we talking about today? We're talking about getting knocked down. What does that mean? You all know what it means. It means getting knocked on our butts. For me, it's been very real lately. Just about the end of the summer, I started having problems with my back and it got to a point where I couldn't walk without a walker and was on some pretty heavy medication. Through the love of other people, they helped us get through it. But getting knocked down is not an option.

One of the problems that are keeping you from growing is that you're trying to avoid getting knocked down. The fact is you are going to get knocked down. Don't avoid it. Embrace it. I'm going to give you four things to think through. Listen along to hear my words of wisdom on how you get back up!

I want to talk to you about an equation, a very simple equation that changed my life. Listen, I know some of the last two talks I've heard some of you. I get it. I understand this works for me. And some of you say, “That'll never work for me, Lucas. That's too simple.” Well, that's the whole point. People change their lives with simple, small decisions.  We don't make giant decisions that change the world. They are all very small decisions. And we improve our lives with these small decisions. Today I want to talk to you about a very simple equation. It's E + R = O.  Maybe you've heard it before or maybe you haven't so you should keep listening to find out!

I want to talk to you about something that I tell my staff about. I tell my family about it. I tell everybody about it. There are three circles on a page, and then there's everything else. There's a small circle. The circle of control, a medium circle, the circle of influence. And then that big sheet of paper has everything else on it. Years ago, I was talking to Rick, and I was talking about all these problems I had in the shop. One of the things that I really wanted to solve with hiring a coach is I wanted all these problems to go away. And Rick came to me, and he said, “Listen, when all your problems go away, you're dead. We just need better problems.” Now that hit me like a ton of bricks because I never thought about it that way. Have you ever thought about it that way? Listen along to find out the differences between the three circles.

It sure is a beautiful day here in Western North Carolina. This is Lucas Underwood and I'm going to be standing in for Rick today. What I want to talk to you about today is extreme ownership. Now, this is something that's made a tremendous difference in my business. And it's something that I learned from watching a Ted Talk on Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink. Jocko was commander for the Navy Seals. He tells this horrible story of fratricide. It was basically friendly forces against friendly forces. I'm going to tell you something. It was a horrendous story. And out of that, he learned something about ownership. Now I'm not talking about the ownership that you find on a piece of paper. Keep Listening along to find out what ownership Lucas is talking about and to see if you yourself are taking ownership!