General business related things Jeff Cassman cares about
With proven systems, frameworks, and guidance, you can join other successful business owners as you scale your business, reap the fruits of high-performance, and spend more time on the things that really matter.
Bad habits – in the beginning – are easier than good. The habit of almost finishing stuff destroys effectiveness, diminishes respect, and drains energy.
Anyone can start. Leaders finish.
People live with dangling rabbits pulling at their brain – unfinished stuff they intend to finish.
Rabbit chasers are exhausted. When your hands do one thing, but your head is thinking about the next thing, life zips past without you.
Take something off your plate before you put something on it. It doesn’t have to be big. Here’s an example.
When I sit down to work, I might put a couple books back on the shelf before I begin something. You could:
Caution: Don’t chase a dozen dangling rabbits. Finish one thing. It’s about the habit, not the rabbit.
Don’t create dangling rabbits by half-doing a task you can finish quickly.
Every dangling rabbit you create dilutes your ability to concentrate.
Before I leave my desk, I put my surface in the docking station and place the stylus in front of the docking station.
Before you break for lunch or go to your next meeting…
“The shorter way to do many things is to do only one thing at a time.” Mozart
Ask yourself, “Do I intend to finish this?”
Run a test if you aren’t sure you can finish. But always finish the test.
What bad habits create dangling rabbits?
What mini habits might help leaders develop the habit of finishing stuff?
My fondest childhood memories include toys.
I had a boy-doll named Rocky. Later I had a James Bond 007 spy attaché case with secret compartments and a gun that could be assembled into a pistol or a rifle. Both versions had a scope.
The original Morrison farm, situated on a dirt road in Bradford, Maine, burned to the ground before I was in first grade. (Mom was a Morrison.) The only memory I have of the farm includes a toy.
I remember playing with my fire engine in the sloped hallway between the kitchen and the front room. I was probably two or three. The slope was useful.
I had a Lost in Space set with a battery powered chariot that ran on a course I configured with my imagination. I wanted to be Will Robinson (Bill Mumy).
I turned thirteen the year Neil Armstrong walked on the moon (July 21, 1969). I still remember the grainy pictures and hearing Commander Armstrong say, “One small step…,” punctuated with beeps. I built models of the Apollo space craft and the lunar lander. Before Apollo, I built the Mercury and Gemini spacecraft.
Sometime in my early teens I used my Chemistry set to create an explosion that shook our house. There were no injuries or fatalities, just fear that I was going to ‘get it’. I didn’t.
I’ll never forget my raspberry red five speed Western Auto Buzz Bike with a banana seat, high-rise handlebars, and gear shift. (This image is the right model, but the wrong color.) I bought it with my own money at Western Auto.
Skillful leaders connect with people.
What was your favorite toy when you were a kid?
How do leaders connect?
Note: My childish exuberance allowed me to exceed 300 words. I apologize.
You have thoughts you would rather not think.
Your mind wanders like a cat looking for mice.
You know you know something but can’t remember it. You tell yourself to forget a bad experience and you can’t stop thinking about it. Then you kick yourself for doing it.
You tell yourself, “Don’t worry about what others think.” What do you do? Wonder what people think of you.
I tell my brain to stay open, but I ignore myself.
Forget the idea that there are two voices in your head. There’s a rowdy crowd in your head. Your boss, co-workers, customers, kids, neighbors, spouse, teachers, parents, and the dog all live inside your head.
I have the attention span of a chipmunk on steroids. It does no good to beat myself down for it. It’s the truth. Matters get worse when I beat myself down.
Aspiration is an acknowledgement that you aren’t there yet.
Self-accusation is slop to pigs. The more you beat yourself down, the more you think about beating yourself down.
Accept, for example, that you don’t manage time well, AND aspire to make improvements. Don’t wallow in slop.
When your inner critic yells, “You’re an idiot,” say, “There’s my inner critic.” Then ask, “Anything else?” Or say, “Do you have anything useful to add?”
Lighten up. We’re all in the same boat, even people you admire.
I met a guy from California who said he didn’t have a loud inner critic. I think he was smoking a joint. Everyone else beats themself down.
You don’t have to beat people down. They do it to themselves.
Challenge and affirm.
Correct with optimism.
What strategies help you manage a brain that has a mind of its own?
Show up like a kid peeking over the fence. Better to live on your toes than stumble back on your heels.
Successful leaders are prepared for action. They show up READY.
Consistent results require stable environments. ‘No’ protects the status quo; ‘Yes’ disrupts.
If you aren’t careful, ‘no’ becomes your default response to input and ideas. If you frequently say ‘no’, people choose sleepwalking over engagement.
5 ways to lean toward YES:
Be ready with a first response that leans toward ‘yes’ instead of ‘no’.
You tell people their ideas matter when you lean toward ‘yes’.
Tip: Use caution when ideas impact others more than the idea giver. It’s easy to know what others should do.
Starting things is a distraction when you aren’t committed to finish stuff.
You end up overworked and stressed out when you habitually add to your bucket without taking something out.
Manageable time pressure increases concentration. Running from one thing to the next invites frustration, mediocrity, and cutting corners.
If you’re a leader who loves to start things, finish something old before you start something new.
Learners go further than knowers.
You can be ready to say ‘yes’ and ready to finish stuff, but you’ll crash and burn if you aren’t ready to learn.
What does it mean for leaders to show up READY?
Everyone does stupid things. Thankfully, most of us don’t do stupid things on national television.
Last Sunday, Terry Bradshaw did a stupid thing when he joked about Antonio Brown (AB) on national television. Brown is the wide receiver for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Bradshaw said, “Put him in a straightjacket and take him to some hospital.”
AB did a stupid thing when he walked out on his team in the middle of a game. Many think his flamboyant departure is the end of a controversial football career.
You drink water before you collapse from thirst. Give your body a rest before you’re exhausted.
Fatigue makes you stupid.
When you’re exhausted, small issues are big and big issues are overwhelming.
Don’t express yourself when emotion is a bubbling cauldron.
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose a response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” Victor Frankl
You need a confidant; someone you can say things to that you can’t say anywhere else.
A confidant is on your side but won’t take your side.
People who take your side when emotion is hot:
What are some things leaders can do that aren’t stupid?
Normal people choose pleasure over pain.
It’s normal to avoid thorny issues.
The thorny issue you can’t bring up is a lid in your life.
Thorny issues don’t go away on their own, but some issues go away as time passes. Why?
Things that are true when thorny issues go away over time:
Thorny issues don’t magically resolve themselves.
You can’t solve thorny issues when people have conflicting concerns.
Shift from pulling against to pulling with.
We all know what we don’t want but ‘not wanting’ isn’t leadership. Determine what WE want.
You shift from pulling against to pulling with when you embrace a shared goal.
Why do we avoid thorny issues?
What practices enable leaders to bring up thorny issues?
Working more hours to get more done is the downfall of most failed leaders.
This problem is due to a lack of capacity. Capacity is the amount that something or someone can produce.
When someone moves into leadership, they typically have more responsibility. If they don’t increase their capacity per hour, they will by necessity have to work longer hours.
If over time a leader can increase his or her capacity–produce more results in a given period of time–they will not only succeed but potentially free up time to pursue new projects and revenue streams.
Here are five ways to increase your capacity:
Education. Think of education as what you know that can be translated into skill. Knowledge is information understood. Education is information applied.
Not only does learning new things increase your capacity, it can also decrease stress and anxiety. In 2020 financial researchers found that even pre-pandemic, a low level of financial literacy was a top contributor to financial stress and anxiety. Learning how to understand and manage their finances made people less anxious.
In my book, Always Win, I suggest “first ask who before how.” Rather than trying to figure out how to do something, determine who already has that skill that you can learn from or collaborate with.
And here is a great resource for lifelong learners from my friend Eva Keiffenheim.
Delegation. Good delegators pick the best people to do the right jobs. Doing it yourself isn’t a luxury leaders can afford.
Effective leaders know that delegation isn’t about finding someone who can do a task better than you (but of course, if you can, that’s great), but finding someone who can do the task well enough.
For example: If you have an important message, you can draft the key points and delegate at least the proofreading, or at most the development of those key points into a message, to someone who is a good communicator.
Collaboration. In this insightful article, collaboration is defined as working together to create something new.
Done right, collaboration increases results. Done poorly, it wastes time and resources. Of all the ways to increase capacity, this is the most challenging.
A good collaborator has complementary skill sets, good communication skills and a desire to work together. The best collaborators inspire each other and discover ideas that neither would have by her- or himself. And that’s where the “something new” is created, whether a process, product or service.
Cooperation. The article referenced above defines cooperation as working together for mutual benefit.
A shared agenda with everyone working together is the foundation of cooperation. Everyone knows what needs to be done and is willing to do it. Cooperation done right is about removing resistance and obstacles, sharing the work and supporting and encouraging each other.
Innovation. Whether done alone or with others, innovation is figuring out new ways to do old things or new ways to do new things. Innovation can be as simple as improvements in processes and as…
With proven systems, frameworks, and guidance, you can join other successful business owners as you scale your business, reap the fruits of high-performance, and spend more time on the things that matter most.
If you had room to grow and didn’t, you’re a failure – regardless of your achievements.
David Shapiro said, “The purpose of life is to grow and give.” Only perfect people don’t need to grow.
We get closer to our potential when we grow, but we’re always less than we could be.
Learning is growing.
You can’t learn if you can’t admit failure. This is one reason corporate culture becomes dumber and dumber. The need to be right is a fool’s path to oblivion.
Practice: Once a week say, “I’m trying to make this better, but it’s not working like I’d hoped. What suggestions do you have?”
What are you trying? I’m not talking about doing the same thing over and over. That kind of trying is dead-end. What are you trying that you haven’t tried before? How might you do old things in new ways?
Practice: Once a week intentionally try something new.
The greatest instrument of change, beyond personal commitment, is people. You become like the people around you. “Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.” Anonymous
Every person I coach changes me.
Practice: Spend unstructured time with people on your team. Have coffee or lunch. Don’t talk about work.
Over the years I’ve had scores of one-time conversations with new people. Only a handful were disappointing.
Meeting new people is inconvenient when you’re busy doing important work. Remind yourself that meeting new people changes you.
When YOU change, life changes.
Practice: Six times a year reach out to someone you would like to meet. (A video conference with a new person may change you.)
Tip: Put these simple practices on your calendar.
What practice might change you this year?
