Tag Archives: A Keen Mind

Our Parents Called “Grinding” Work

Grinding

I’m tired of the word, “Grinding.” I’m actually sick and tired of it.

  • Up at 5am to “grind” – a.k.a. workout.
  • Getting on the train at 6:30am to “grind” – a.k.a. go to work.
  • Monday. Rise and grind – a.k.a. go to work.
  • Sales guys making calls to “grind” – a.k.a. how you’re compensated when you create opportunity.
  • Athletes are the worst. “Grinding” – a.k.a. I’m practicing to play a game kids play and get paid STUPID money, so I gotta “grind” to earn my $5 MILLION.

Shut up with the grind.

It’s not a grind. It may be sensationalized in today’s social world so someone can meaninglessly pat you on the back, but our parents didn’t call it that. Remember when your mom and dad weren’t cool, but then you realized just how much they did for you?

It was called work. WORK. To give your family a better life than the one laid out in front of them. That’s WORK!

Our parents weren’t looking for truly “empty social support” or comments on their multiple social media channels about the “struggle” (I hate that too by the way). They were busy supporting their kids or husband/wife. My mom didn’t call cleaning the house “grinding” for the weekend. Mom cleaned the damn house.

I truly hope I’m not turning into the old man yelling “get off my damn yard,” but I’m really tired of it and I’m worried for what it means for all of us growing up in a time where we’ve never seen so much abundance. I believe it is this abundance that leads many to label their work as a “grind” the moment adversity strikes because they’re never truly seen what a grind looks or feels like.

Let me tell you about a grind.

My dad. I admire the hell out of him for what I’m about to tell you.

My dad didn’t grow up with a lot (which is an overstatement). He started working real jobs when he was probably 10 or 11…because he had to. He went to college to become something better and someone to support a family. He become a teacher. He was one of the best teachers before he retired (past students will back me up on this or comment my post). But mind you, being a great teacher doesn’t earn you any extra money, and they aren’t handsomely compensated to begin with. Instead what do you do?

If you’re my dad, you teach school from 7:30am-3pm and then operate a drywall business until 9, 10, sometimes 11 o’clock at night. Every night. And by operate I mean work a real job for 40 hours a week, and then work another 5-6 days a week on top of that. Have you ever hung drywall?  It’s not exactly easy or clean manual labor.

WORK.

He gave my mom, my sister and I all that we could ever ask for and more. I’ve never gone without. Opportunities piled on opportunities. He put in place a new trajectory for our lives based on where he’d been, the work he’d put in, and the future in front of us. I believe that trajectory leaves me where I am today and where I plan on going with my family. Changing the trajectory.

If you think I want one ounce of your sympathy, I don’t. Most importantly my dad won’t have it. I don’t think our story is unique. In fact, there are far greater stories involving hardship and triumph than the Keeney family. Look them up.

I’ll leave you with this. My dad is super-handy. It’s insanity to me to think about what he can fix or build. Conversely, I can’t fix a damn thing if my life depended on it. But, he did pass one thing along. He taught me how to work and showed me first hand the value of providing…not selfishly (which is my default emotion), but for the immediate benefit of others.

Grinding? I don’t think so. I’ll never call it grinding because that word didn’t exist in his vocabulary. It was just WORK.

HELL YES vs. NO

Hell Yes vs NO

I feel like this post is the most important post I’ve written this year!

Every day, we’re bombarded to make decisions on varying levels of commitment.  Every day, we purchase goods and services. What I learned is every day we waste tremendous amounts of energy and money on the trivial many vs selecting the vital few.

I’m going to paint the concept of HELL YES vs. NO to you in a few different ways.

  1. Time Commitments
  2. Consumption Habits
  3. Talent Investment

Let us start with a simple introduction on what I’m getting at before we jump into the aforementioned scenarios.  The choice of HELL YES vs. NO should feel exactly how it reads.  Say, “HELL YES” out loud.  Do it.  Right now. As if you were excited about something so much you jumped off the couch. Feels good doesn’t it?!?

Alternatively, say the word “NO” with a strong conviction.  Like asking me if I like the Iowa State Cyclones.  No! Not now, not ever.

Here’s the rub. Until a couple years ago, i.e. before I read Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, very few of my answers or decisions lived in either of these two polar opposite responses.  I was wasting away in the middle. Over committed with mediocre energy on too many things.

If the feeling of saying YES, isn’t 95% or higher. It’s a NO.

If you really want to put to use the ideas I share on this blog, you’re going to have to get very comfortable saying no. No, no, no.  It’s time to get unreasonable with your time and your commitments.  Unreasonable? Why? The reason why is an answer you already know.

If you only have 100% to give, would you rather give it to 3-4 things, or spread it out over 10?  Why then, do so many commit to doing 10 things (extremely mediocre mind you) when they should be saying NO.  In today’s society, if we’re not “busy” we must be lazy.  Wrong answer. It’s window dressing for a false sense of over-involvement equalling progress.  Unfocused action only leads to one thing FAST.  Burnout.

Busy = I lack the ability to prioritize and select the vital few…so I do it all.

Conversely, feel the alternative.  Say, “HELL YES” again out loud. Think about how much more you’ll deliver in a scenario with this amount of passion, focus and creativity. You’ll absolutely crush it, and I’m willing to bet you’ll be happier as a result. Happy because you’re 100% invested.  Happy because you’re not overwhelmed worrying about 10 other things.  Happy because you’ll make huge progress because you have nothing else in your peripheral begging for your focus.

Secondly, let us explore the world of “HELL YES vs. NO” in our consumption habits.  This one is really interesting to me.  A couple years ago i started following Ramit Sethi after reading his book I Will Teach You To Be Rich over a couple flights.  I then started following his blog: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.  He wrote something that really caught my attention about spending.

He makes the wonderful argument about spending lavishly on a vital few things we really want and bring us tremendous joy.

It could be an expensive pair of jeans, or premium shoes for someone.  For another person, it is great meals at posh restaurants because that brings them the most joy. For another, it was all about great travel experiences.  Point is, in each scenario, dialing back on many mediocre purchases, lead to tremendous happiness when big purchases were HELL YES purchases.

My HELL YES, looks very different than yours.  That’s ok!  That’s the point.  Find out what is most important to you and spend there.  But, don’t forget to dial back on all the other pieces that don’t bring you joy.  Save on the trivial, to splurge on the tremendous.

Lastly, let us take a look at talent investment in terms of skill set and time investment. I’ve written about this before and I want to reinforce it with the context provided in this post.

Find the two or three WORLD CLASS talents you have, and go all-in (HELL YES) on them.

Everything else must take a back seat. Remember, 95% commitment or more is a HELL YES.  Everything else is a NO.  When you get to a point where you’re spending most of your day on world class talents, you win.  You’re happy  You’re 10x more likely to gain new opportunities, establish great relationships, and I promise you…you’ll feel better.  You will smile bigger and hug longer.

ACTION ITEM: When met with an opportunity for a decision. Make sure you’re answer passes the HELL YES vs. NO test. No hurt feelings, just a cold hard reality check and understand the consequences if you don’t.  Your success and happiness awaits!!!

Go Get It!

Exposure, Jiu-Jitsu, and Growth

Jiu Jitsu Exposure Growth

Think about the last time you were exposed.

I’m not referring to the last time you were caught slipping out the back door in your undies only to drop a little rubbish in the garbage container in the alley…only to find out the door behind you locked.  Exposed.

Tell you what, think on it, and we’ll come back to this after I give you a little context.

As you know, if you read my blog I’m an avid listener to the Tim Ferriss Show podcast.  Twice in his 100+ episodes of deconstructing world class performance, he’s interviewed Josh Waitzkin (Link to podcast here). Without providing a complete wikipedia reference to Josh in this post, I’ll simply say this and you can click on his name.  Josh is a childhood chess prodigy (the subject of the book Searching for Bobby Fischer: The Father of a Prodigy Observes the World of Chess) a world class martial artist, and all-around brilliant guy (shocker).

In their most recent podcast session, Josh shed light on how he sees exposure leading to world-class performers and inevitable success. He discussed with great detail, how after four tireless rounds of Jiu Jitsu practice, the best, the most focused and driven will look for one more challenge. The toughest guy in the room. Those wanting to be world class, search for the most exhausting matchup even when their tank is empty.

This exposure, Josh says, is where excellence and success live.

The sparing partner looking for a “rest”or an easy matchup as they enter their fifth and final matchup of the day may very well be good. But, they’ll likely never be great, because they aren’t exposed to their true potential when it is needed most.

Think about this through another lens.  How does a muscle grow? I’m not a body builder, but I know it takes one key word. Resistance.

The toughest steel is forged in the hottest fire

Care for another example? There is a wonderful book I read a little over a year ago by Carol Dweck: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. I highly encourage this reading to anyone who asks me for a recent book recommendation.

To oversimplify Carol’s theory (which is slightly unfair) for the purpose of this conversation on exposure, think about this. Growth focused vs. static mindsets

Are you smart?

We’d all love to answer yes. But Carol would argue the mindset of being “smart” will limit our future success. It is static. So I should be dumb, you’re probably asking? Obviously not. But your mindset should be more focused on growth than static mindsets (static = I’m smart).

Carol expands with research linking kids who were told they were “smart” seemingly struggling when met with a real challenge in the future.  Since the answer isn’t found with relative immediacy, the smart kids tend to give up and feel worse about themselves in the process. Since they can’t figure it out and they’ve always been labeled as “smart”, the antithesis is I’m dumb. Confidence is shattered.

Conversely, the children with a “growth” focused mindset, those with an appetite to learn for the process of learning, were excited & excelled when presented with a really difficult challenge. They didn’t need to be smart to find the answer, but they wouldn’t give up when pursuing multiple solutions when an answer wasn’t immediately available.

The reason the growth focused mindset leads to more successful futures is directly linked to exposure.

Back to the beginning. I read and write frequently about the nature and origins of success. I love the topic and the learnings that come with it. One constant of success across all walks of life is exposure.  Exposure is the oxygen needed to fuel the fire. The people consistently seeking exposure to new challenges, new beliefs, new literature and new data are more often than not winners because they’re not afraid to take the next step in the stairway to success.

ACTION ITEM:  There are few things I love more than winning and a winning mindset.

Get exposed!

The Two Best Shark Tank Questions

image1

If you love the show Shark Tank, you know there are some great personalities and entrepreneurs who headline the show.  Mark Cuban, Mr. Wonderful, Robert Herjavec, Damond John, Lori Greiner, and Barbara Corcoran.  Each world-class entrepreneur has a unique story of what got them on the stress-enduced ABC stage. They also have a simple and fundamental understanding of what works and likely what doesn’t when they evaluate prospective deals.

Watch every episode and you’ll come away with two questions:

  1. What are your sales?
  2. What does it cost you to make/distribute/service your product (i.e. profit)

No sales. No deal.

The more my career evolves, the more I understand there is no value, zero, without a sale created.  Ironically from a “sales guy’s” perspective I didn’t understand this right away in my early 20’s.  I loved marketing, the style, the brand identity, value and overall quality design big projects yielded. That said, sales make the world go round and everyone (EVERYONE) has something they’re selling.

The sharks know, if you don’t have sales, they don’t have an offer.  Goodbye!

If you’re not selling, you’re sold to the fact you’re stuck.

Step back and think of everyone selling something today…not who you think:

  • Presidents of colleges are selling their institutions of higher learning for grant money and talented professors
  • Parents sell their children nightly on the value of homework and good decision making
  • Nonprofits sell their ideology to prospective donors
  • A mid-level marketing manager is selling a new idea to his boss to drive more market share.  His commissions: $0
  • College coaches out on the recruiting trail are selling their school, their knowledge, and their vision for the future
  • A new pilates instructor is selling prospective students to fill up her “pilates for moms” 6-week evening class
  • I’m selling my blog and my ideas.  The ideas that will make you a healthier, wealthier, and more fulfilled life.

If for some reason you don’t like the word selling, immediately start getting comfortable with the word: influence.

Your ability to influence, directly impacts your ability to achieve, advance, or crush your goals.

ACTION ITEM: If you find yourself in a position of not getting what you want, or what you think you deserve, find your way back into your passion and selling/influencing an idea. Creating opportunities for your team, company, or even yourself will get you what you’re looking for!

Live Your Eulogy

image1-6

 

This is an interesting topic and somewhat morbid to be totally candid.  But I couldn’t get it out of my head this last week given a couple books I read.

How Will I Be Remembered?

For some reason, I spent a great deal of time thinking about what this all looks like 60+ years from now?  Can I make it to 93? I’m not sure, maybe another topic for another time.

I don’t mean for any of this post to relate to my life’s achievements or accomplishments.  Although I don’t think that is a terribly bad thing, I was thinking specifically about legacy. It’s one of the only true things you can leave behind (and not be taxed).

There is something really simple and beautiful about this thought process to me. Once you wrestle with the idea for a little bit you come to a striking conclusion. It is the ONLY acceptable answer to the equation called LIFE. The dirt will hit each of us in the face. Some will meet it with grace and some will meet it suddenly and unexpectedly. Either way…life expires.

The fear isn’t the part that draws my attention.

My attention was and is focused this last couple weeks on legacy. The cool thing is when the thoughts start, everything else becomes entirely trivial with our day to day lives. Think about it. What did I do today that really mattered?  If not selfishly for me, for someone else. Now ask yourself again, what is really important and does it directly relate to what you accomplished today?

What replaced the trivial thoughts (today’s insecurities) were some great questions.

  • What would the people close to me say about how I lived?
  • Is there a chance I was able to help this person, push them, or make them better?  If so, how?
  • Would a stranger I just met have good words or a positive story to share with my son as an example of how I lived?
  • Did I leave the family in a better place?
  • What can I change TODAY…right now if I didn’t like the story?

Once again, I really don’t know why this came about, but I’m happy it did.  I think the thoughts are healthy and allow a person like myself who doesn’t take much time to slow down to almost stop and consider how they’d like to be remembered.

The way a person is remembered is directly attributed to the day to day.  Small efforts, magnified over time.

In a weird way its a goal I’m in pursuit of.  Trouble for all of us is, we don’t know when it will be.  Or maybe that’s exactly where the beauty lives. So until then, I’ll just have to put the work in every day and the legacy will take care of itself.

ACTION ITEM: Look at a story of a life well lived.  I don’t care if the person lived to be 25 or 105.  If you can define the life well lived, you have a legacy to pursue.

 

Words of Encouragement

Words of Encouragement

You know that moment when you need a bit of encouragement?

Just a little morsel to curb your appetite for quitting…or maybe my own.

I received a few of them this year and I’d love to share them with you. I’m doing this for a couple reasons. The first is because I wanted the tribe to see what it means to tell someone how you or what you’re doing is POSITIVELY impacting someone else’s life.  The second (to be totally candid) is selfish. I wanted to get them down so I couldn’t lose them and could resort back to these notes in a time of need.

The first bit of encouragement came in response to a Christmas Thank You I sent out to all Keen Mind subscribers.  I was blown away by the response.

It sure has been a wonderful year and I am quite impressed with the evolution of your blog!  You continue to push the envelope and provide relevant topics that stretch the mind of your followers.  The straight-forward no bullshit approach to address real life situations and how one can make an impact is why you have such a solid group behind you.  Keep doing what you’re doing and continually find a way to make this even better!

On a personal note I just wanted to say “thank you.”  We’ve had multiple discussions about our careers and by now you probably understand that I look up to you.  I’ve always been motivated and passionate about succeeding but needed to find a way to put my stamp on things.  The world didn’t know the real “me” but your success and swagger drove me to figure out how to elevate my game.

Over the past few years I’ve done a much better job of that simply by buckling down and focusing on the “essential” things that will help me fulfill my true potential.  That means admitting that I didn’t communicate well enough, had no “brand”, and lacked executive presence.  I jointed Toastmasters and attended a few Communication Skills trainings that helped me gain a lot of confidence.  I eliminated the so called “comfort zone” by putting myself in the best possible situations to be seen, heard, and respected in a whole different way – regardless if I was ready or not.  “Act as if” has been a big part of my 360, something that I didn’t just adopt from the movie Boiler Room but I what also I read in your blogs and can see in your eyes.

I refused to fail and not contribute at the level that I know I could.  Although I’m not where I want to be I am a hell of a lot closer than I was two years ago.  You’ve helped me get to this point and will help me get to where I want to be.  So again, thank you for inspiring me to be better.  Your blogs, our conversations, and the audiobooks you recommend all are paying dividends.  Take care and I hope you enjoy the holidays with your family!

This is THE BEST!

I can tell you this is a different person than a couple years ago.  I can feel the surge in confidence just in this writing.

Here is another from a peer of mine who recently took over ownership of a restaurant.  A massive step in the direction of his goals. Ownership is awesome, but what he’s doing here is what really made my day.

Zac, I took a leap. We had our first staff meeting since I bought the business a couple weeks ago. I let them know we were going to build on the previous “family culture” and develop a “goal-oriented family culture”.

Meaning, to work at the restaurant and accomplish my goal of building other restaurants in small towns with our culture, I need a staff who understands what it means to set and accomplish realistic and measurable goals.

So, everyone was tasked with coming up with a goal to accomplish by April/May. We’re writing the goals ON the hallway wall in the back of the restaurant so everyone can see them!!! I have been blessed to see this idea start so well. Attached is a picture of our guest entrance in the back. (Kept private for the team members and their goals)

Goal setting, for team members of a restaurant…FANTASTIC.

Lastly this one was a very quick one, but it was from an old client of mine.  One whose respect I hoped to earn over the years and I admire the way he goes about his day.  It was a simple note he dropped me on LinkedIn one day.

I’m following your daily stuff with action

I’m doing all if it

I just love it !!!

ACTION ITEM: I’m really trying to get better at executing a thought of kindness when it enters my head.  I bet I think of 10 cool, yet simple things I can do for people on a weekly basis.  I bet I act on one.  As with most of my posts and recommendations.  Action wins!

 

Either Way Discipline Wins

Either Way Discipline WinsEveryday we’re presented with choices.

Everyday, our discipline wins!

The difference between the successful and the unsuccessful is which discipline wins the moment or the day.

You see, in every decision there are usually two options. To do, or not to do. In each option there is a discipline awaiting victory and the other, defeat.

Action vs. Inaction

My decision to read 20 pages from a book tonight won over that moment’s discipline.  The other option was 20 minutes of television, viewing meaningless basketball games I don’t care about(something I don’t mind from time to time), but still a discipline.

My decision to stay inside on the couch, instead of venturing out in the snow to get to they gym is a win for my discipline of contentment (or laziness if you want to call it that).

A person in an unhappy work environment, with no hope to even look for something else…any opportunity, is letting their discipline for complacency win.

With every action, even inaction, the discipline grows stronger.

The person committed to studying their craft nightly after work (from 7pm-10pm) in the hopes of one day taking their talents to the next level, is feeding their discipline. One day it will pay off. But I’d bet it already is, you just can’t see radical change due to the consistent incremental growth.

Discipline always win. The trouble, or beauty is disciplines are like a muscle and get stronger with use.

Show me a successful person and I’ll immediately want to know about the disciplines making them tick. I can PROMISE you there are 5-10 things they do on a daily or weekly basis without question. These disciplines are so ingrained in them and they’ve created so much momentum they’ve become part of their everyday life.

THE BEST NEWS

You can start a new discipline tomorrow. The bad news is, it is going to be struggle right away. But you already knew that didn’t you?  It’s why you’ve chosen not to start in the first place. Well, there’s always tomorrow, but you’ll already be a day behind the guy who started yesterday.

Your discipline is winning!

Discipline of Incremental Growth

Screen Shot 2015-12-22 at 8.35.36 AM

 

Do you know how many people really “get rich quick?”

A few lucky people every year win the lottery. One slip of paper with the perfect selection of numbers led to a financial windfall and life-chaning funds that could last generations…could.

Sadly, almost 70% of people who come into a lump sum of money (including lottery winners) ended up broke in seven years according to Yahoo Finance.

Seven years!!!  How can that be?

Lets look at a different angle. How about the person so determined to lose a ton of weight that they starve themselves and crash down 40-50 lbs in a very short amount of time. Inevitably what happens next? The weight comes back, sometimes in greater force. The person is left defeated in their failed attempt.

WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN?

It happens because there is zero behavior inline to manage the immediate abundance in the lottery example. Zero behavior in place to continue on a healthy path to keep the weight off. None of this means I don’t want you to be rich or lose a substantial amount of weight.  It means there is a piece we’re lacking in this: free one day shipping, :60 second meal, six-minute abs, speed dating world.

DISCIPLINE

I recently read and shared a terrific book called, “The Slight Edge” and shared it on my Keen Mind Facebook Page. You can download your copy of the book here. I highly encourage you to read it.

Without giving it all away, “The Slight Edge” focuses on, you guessed it, discipline and consistent (albeit small at times) improvement. I believe the author states best, “easy to do, easy not to do” daily activities magnified over time for large gains.

The challenge with this is most of us have zero patience for “small” or “consistent” improvement. We want to get it ALL and we want it NOW. But once again, this rarely EVER happens. Ever! We all want 0—>100 real quick!

How could this impact your retirement?

Ask a wise financial advisor, “What is the #1 reason most people never reach their retirement goal?” Answer: They started too late. It’s not that they didn’t make enough money, which you would think would be a prime factor. It is, but after a short while the dollars invested can’t replace time.

Why is this important? Because the slow and incremental growth of the stock market has proven to yield large returns but only after the first 15-20+ years of investment. Take away the first 20 years of saving discipline and what do you have? A job in your seventies to pay the bills, that’s what. Happy retirement 😉

I’m fighting this now personally with fitness. I’m working to get back into what I consider really good shape. I used to be able to dunk a basketball, run miles, or do endless pushups and pull-ups. Sadly, I lost the discipline and focus on the incremental the last couple years. Now I’m getting back on the horse to achieve these goals again, but its going to take patience, discipline, focused and continued energy, and incremental growth. And pain, so far, pain.

Think about this…In either case, my discipline won.

My discipline won. Really think about it. You’re either disciplined to achieve a goal, or disciplined to NOT achieve it with inactivity.  Feels kind of different when put this way doesn’t it? When I think about being disciplined with inactivity toward a target I get pretty fired up to get moving immediately.

Many small actions, compounded over time, yielding tremendous results.

ACTION ITEM: Focus on the long game. The benefit in adopting the behavior and creating the habit will yield the truly lasting benefits of not only the desired outcome, but the MASSIVE incremental benefits of the work being done over time in pursuit of your achievement.

Every SEAL started with just one push-up

Mark Devine: SEAL FIT

 

 

Four Inefficiencies I Plan on Attacking

Four Inefficiencies

Four Inefficiencies

After some recent reflection, I put together a short list of four specific elements in my life I can greatly improve heading into 2016.  I use the word “greatly” because I’m not looking for simply one step up on the staircase of improvement.  I need to make big strides.

Why share? Because I believe it breeds accountability.

As I’ve written many times, I think getting to this point of awareness is not only healthy, it is entirely necessary.

FOUR INEFFICIENCIES:

  1. Attending Church.  My wife and I set a goal to become members of a church in 2015.  We did this and now I’ve got to take it to the next level. This next level not only means attending at least 3x per month, but also getting involved with groups within the church. This may sound ridiculous to some, but it’s true.  When I go to church, I feel better.  Selfishly, who doesn’t want to feel better?
  2. Serving the Community. I had the wonderful opportunity to speak with a room of 6th graders last week.  Many of the young boys in the class were without fathers when they went home that day from school. Odd thing, this school was within 10 miles of where I live and I’d never once been on the street let alone within a mile of the place. I hope to be back in that exact classroom in 2016 to spend time with those young men.
  3. Appreciation. I have a motor that is frequently set in GO MODE. In 2015 I took the time to become more grateful for all that has been given to me and my family. I have to remember to downshift into neutral and do this more often in 2016. My goal is to reflect every Sunday.
  4. Open my Ears. I’d really like to spend more time listening in 2016 to what I’d consider “mentors” in my life.  I don’t care if it is coffee, lunch, a beer after work, or a round of golf. I need to spend time with those who have walked the walk.

I set a reminder on my calendar on Sunday nights to review this list. Do me a favor and if you’re reading this, let technology be the guide. Don’t over think it.

ACTION ITEM: When considering your list, try not to focus on the “weaknesses” that are related to your talents or abilities. As I’ve written before, this could be a tremendous waste of time as the upside for the investment is likely limited. Instead, think about effort inefficiencies. These have a simple yes/no fix.

 

Living in a Time of Intense Speed

Speed Racer

You can almost feel life getting faster can’t you? It’s ok. People also said this in: 2005, 1995, 1975, 1955, and so on.  But now, it feels as though the speed is multiplied and magnified every day in business and specifically our careers.  How can you embrace this speed and not get swallowed up in the blitzkrieg attack of daily life?

I grew up in the 80’s. Times were simpler then. Imagine the things we did.

  • We played outside. A lot. In the summer we hit dingers at the local ball field.  In the winter we got buckets in the gym.  Maybe we found a little time for Nintendo.
  • We learned how to use and read a map.  We also got lost because sometimes we didn’t understand the latter.
  • We learned useless information out of a book to place it in our “memory” because we couldn’t “Google it”
  • Email? What the hell is email?
  • The Internet. Al Gore knew about it…apparently.
  • Big businesses succeeded. As an employee, you went to college, got an entry level job and hoped to “work your way to the top” to retire in your 60’s after years of dedication to your company with a soft pension to land on and social security to take care of you.
  • Patience. I’ve been told people had more of this “back then”, but I don’t remember.
  • Millionaires. The 80’s had Millionaires.

Sounds nice doesn’t it? The simple life.

Let me tell you how this is different today and cite reasons we all need to prepare to adapt and embrace the speed of change (Cue The Scorpions, “Winds of Change”).

  1. 24/7 Lifestyle. If you have a career that demands anything of you, you’re likely working when you get up (or shortly thereafter) and at some point when you’re at home or on the weekend. Just 25 years ago this was oh so different. For the positive, it’s also opened up many remote working agreements, and flexibility outside of the handcuffed 9 to 5. We now have the ability to make it happen from wherever you choose.
  2. Billionaires. The 80’s had Millionaires, today we have Billionaires. Do you know the difference between one million seconds and one billion seconds? One million seconds is roughly 12 days. One billion seconds is 32 years. Let that sink in. There is NO shortage of money out there.
  3. Patience. Why? I can get what I want, when I want it, from whomever will help me this instant. Have a customer service compliant?  Tweet it. If you don’t get an answer in two minutes tell me how this makes you feel? I get frustrated. I know there is someone on the other end receiving a notification. If you don’t know what Twitter is, EVERYONE under the age of 20 does, and they’ll be looking for your job in 2-3 years.
  4. Coaching Carousel.  Sports often provides excellent insight to life.  This is no different.  Tell me how many coaches were fired during or after the 2014 NFL season? I believe I count eight new coaches in 2015.  Six in 2014.  That’s nearly half of the league with a new coach in the last two years alone.  Some didn’t even make it out of the season.  Roughly 14 grown men are worth so much to their previous organizations, that they’re being paid MILLIONS to go elsewhere. Win. And WIN right now.
  5. Volatility.  Markets and businesses are moving faster than ever and this is causing more volatility. Would you like some examples?  Do you think Blockbuster saw Netflix coming? They’re gone. Do you think Yellow Cab would ever have to worry about a faceless mobile competitor Uber? How about AirBnB proving to be a big pain for competing hotels. Book retailers large and small are closing at a rate faster than cheap TVs disappear after a Black Friday sale. Every business is being disrupted in this massive time of innovation (the internet).
  6. Television. I think this is super-interesting. Think about your consumption habits just five years ago. Now look at where we are.  DVR. Netflix. TV via the Web. YouTube. Mobile/Tablet consumption (anywhere/anytime). I’m really excited to see where this will be just a few years from now. Think of paying for this utility like you do water or gas.  You only pay for what you use.  Not the super-mega-special 500+ channels. Change is coming…for the better.
  7. Education. I could rant on this one for a while and will likely do so in another post, but really think about this. What can you learn today on your own time? I don’t care if it is via YouTube, podcasts, online courses, or an ebook.  Education is all around us.  Not in a building and not for $100,000 of debt that could (and I say could strongly) ruin the next 20 years of your life and earning potential to boot. This model is changing.

I believe with all of my heart this is, and will continue to be, a terrific time for personal reinvention. In years past you may not have had the time, angle, or countless opportunities to change the trajectory of your lifestyle or career. No longer!

New tools, business reinvention and explosive company growth continue to prove this point. I firmly believe a person must adapt an intense appetite for learning as we grow quickly into the 21st century. Never let this appetite become full and opportunities will continue to present themselves.  Embrace the change. Embrace a new way of doing things. Embrace the challenge of continued growth and learning.

The world will not slow down and wait for you.

Lastly, understand this fact. No one else knows what the will happen or what plan is prefect for the future.  Don’t be afraid to take a shot. Learn, reinvent, and resurface a more dangerous individual. I remind myself of this all the time.

Remember this thought from Lou Holtz

In this world, you’re either growing or you’re dying, so get in motion and grow

ACTION ITEM: Change often isn’t easy, but it is constant. Work at the ability to adapt and embrace change like a muscle, it will get stronger with use. If you fear change, the fear will grow with every doubt.