and and so I'm going to give you an example of this let me let me let me illustrate it personally and then I think that gets us on track for you uh every year I pick I've I've done this for 20 years every year I pick one word for that for that whole year every year it's just it's just one word and somebody said well why only one word I said that's about all I can handle is one I I can't handle a sentence or a paragraph is kind of Beyond me I can just you know keep it down keep it simple one word and so every year about this time I begin thinking reflecting uh just kind of uh going and taking time meditating and ask myself what what's going to be what's going to be uh my one word and for example this year I've already got my plus one for this year and and and and it's value that that is my word for 2021 and and and way I would say it is I am a person of value okay that adds value to people and values people now now you see this is a big word it's not this one word is going to shape 2021 on how I think it's just plus one I'm just doing one extra thing this year that's going to shape my thinking for the entire year I'm going to Value myself I'm going to Value others I'm going to add value to others I'm going to live good values I'm going to value my time you're getting the picture aren't you value it's the one word now plus one you don't have to to pick one word but what basically we're asking you to do is pick one thing what what's what's the one thing that is going to in 2021 greatly improve your life and we're not asking you to pick a lot of things we're just asking you to what's the one thing what's the plus one that you're going to say okay in 2021 this is the thing that I'm going to really focus on that's going to expand me improve me to make me a better person now here's the reason I love this incredible theme of plus one plus one to me means three things okay I I'm back down to Aristotle one is a great number well it you know this plus one theme it means three things to me and I want to give them to you because I think it's going to mean the same three things to you number one is plus one is first of all doable it's it's doable and why is it doable because it's only one thing you see I immediately get encouraged at 2021 when I realize just one thing not not many things you see one thing is encouraging many things is exhausting and so when you look at 21 you say oh my gosh it's a new year and I got to I got to make seven changes here and I got to make three more Direction and now after a while I get very weary I get very tired I just kind of get bogged down but but when when when I'm asked to do one thing and just follow that one thing throughout the whole year and do it consistently it's something that's going to improve my life hopefully something that's going to improve the life of others now all of a sudden that's very exhilarating me I I think okay I I can I can do one thing christe and I were talking a little bit ago on about golf she likes to play golf I like to play golf we both like to play Fast golf neither one of us are maybe great golfers but it doesn't really matter we just out there to enjoy ourselves and and so we were talking about Golf and chrisy it reminds me of several years ago I was playing golf with with with one of my friends it's a very very in fact he's a scratch golfer and so we're playing and and um and about three or four holes into the game he said Johnny said I'm watching he said there's really only one thing wrong with your golf game and as soon as he said one thing I thought oh my gosh it just I I felt so good because I thought wow one thing I can fix one thing I you know well so I I asked her I said well what's the one thing he said well he said I've watched you now for three or four holes and he said the one thing he said here's what I've noticed he said you're too close to the ball at after you hit it now when he told me that one thing I was too close to the ball after I hit it that man I had to make a lot of changes it so the one thing all of a sudden was no longer exhilarating I thought oh my gosh this is the reason that you know that I'm not a scratch golfer well well what I love about plus one is we're not trying to confuse you here we're just saying pick one thing that's going to improve your life this year that you can do and you can do it every day and you can do it consistently because consistency compounds that's huge that's another subject in itself but but pick pick the one thing I have a friend in fact I mentored him Dan r i mentored him for many many many years and and he has a I love it he has a great expression and often he'll Dan we're in conversation and he'll say to somebody pick a rabbit pick a rabbit and he gets that from you the old saying that if you if you chase two rabbits both of them Escape well the reason if you chase you know when you chase two rabbits you're divided well I'll go get oh no my go I got to get this one and this one's a little closer and and pretty soon all that hesitation because you're trying to make too many choices the rabbits are gone and so Dan just looks at people he says hey pick a rabbit would you and all he's saying to is could you could you just figure out what's the one thing that you're going to do and stay with it so you can so you can catch the rabbit every year in one of my companies we do a a what we call a live to lead l2l conference it's a big simoc cast that goes out to tens of thousands of people around the world and uh we just had it a couple months ago and Cat Cole who is the COO and president of focus Brands a terrific oh my gosh she's a terrific leader uh she was talking about prioritizing one thing and so she said that when she was in Africa doing some philanthropy work uh she asked the tribe there that she was working with she asked them she said what what give me the top five things that you need and she's thinking you know maybe I can meet two or three of those needs what what are the top five things you need and she said here's what's interesting John she said when I ask them the five things they need they said well number one we need clean water number two we need clean water number three we need clean water number four we need clean water now number five we need clean water in other words they needed one thing now she asked for five so they just said it five times but clean water clean water clean water clean water clean water and I'll tell you what this lesson is all about here don't miss this this lesson is all about what's my water what's my water for 2021 what's what's the what's the one thing that I just know that if I just would do this it would improve impr my life tremendously and by the way until that one thing is decided on and until that one thing is done everything begins to be a distraction to us what I tell people all the time is if they can't find one thing they'll be distracted by many things and so it it it's it's it goes back to an incredible statement that I teach I I have a whole lesson on this so don't have time to talk about it now that's for sure but I have an entire lesson entitled what you focus on expands because it's just very very true and and so what we're asking you to do for 2021 in in plus one is to focus on one thing and and when by the way when you when you got when you have picked and you start doing your one thing you can say an emphatic yes to it and by the way then all those distractions you can say also in a very emphatic vigorous no to that because you you now have your one thing you see success isn't about success isn't about doing a lot of things esses about doing the right thing or the main thing and so I love the plus one thing because it's doable in other words I look at that and say I can do it and by the way you can do it so what's it going to be what's going to be your one thing the second thing that I love about this theme plus one is that plus one is personal it's not only doable in other words it's I can do it because it's only one thing but it's personal because I get to choose the one thing I'm not choosing the one thing for you you know Christy Lindy they're they're not choosing the one thing for you they're asking you to you choose that one thing you you you pick out that one thing and and this is powerful hey remember this always personal is powerful always has been always will be when people are empowered to make their own choice there comes an amazing amount of Power with that because we have said it's your choice it's it it's it's your call I have a wonderful friend Susan gury and she was at an event that I was doing a major virtual recording with and uh she had a sweatshirt on and in the front of her sweatshirt it it just said 2020 sucks and and I just started laughing I said Susan I love this I love this sweatsh you're tell hey you're you're putting right out in front yourself what everybody else 20 20 sucks and then she said oh but that's not the whole shirt and she pulled out her over here her arm on the on the sleeve and on the sleeve she had these words choose joy and I said oh my gosh you're right 2020 sucks choose Joy you see that worked for Susan because that's a personal choice she said I'm I'm not going to be overcome by all the covid-19 and all the stuff that's just affected all of us in in very negative ways we're not trying to sweep it under the rug we're just saying that we're that that you could make a choice and the choice that you can make is choose Joy I I've had a long time wonderful friendship with with Dennis weightly and maybe you've read some of his books but he's a he was he's a tremendous tremendous motivational leader and he said we have basically two primary choices in life and and the first choice is to accept the conditions as they are and in other words we can't there are certain circumstances conditions I can't change I can wish them away or hope them away or think them away but they don't go away you know in fact I I call that that's not even a problem I call that a fact of life a fact of life is something you can't fix and and and so a lot of the stuff that's happened to us in 2020 it's just a fact of life there was I mean you we we're not going to fix that that is so the two choices we have is one to accept the conditions as they are number two accept the responsibility to change them and to change ourselves in other words what happens to me is not as important as what happens in me and and and the big loss is never what happens to me the big loss is always when I don't control what happens in me when I when I lose the right perspective and when I lose the the the the the attitude when I when I begin to do that and there's a there's just incredible power in this person choice you get to choose the one thing in 2021 that you're going to do now here's why here's why this is huge what I'm visually sharing with you right now is all you ever need to know about life okay everything worthwhile is uphill everything there's nothing quick there's nothing easy there's nothing fast there are no Shortcuts To Success it's all uphill it's all uphill every part of it and this is huge because what I learned as a leader is we need to accept that life is difficult life is challenging life is tough that there are cids that come into our life that it's that it's uphill and what I learned as a leader is I can't carry anyone uphill I can I can lead them uphill I can I can walk beside them uphill I can encourage them uphill I can I I can believe in them but but but I can't I can't carry them and when I carry people it's because they've never made a choice and and so therefore I'm substituting an important choice that a person has to make with the fact that I'm I'm trying to carry them and it just never has worked and it never will everything worthwhile is uphill so once I understand that you know Scott peek wrote a great book called The Road Less Traveled and basically the whole thesis of that book is life is difficult okay in other words understand that right on the front end and the moment that we understand that uphill that it's uphill now all of a sudden when I make a personal choice guess what with that personal choice I take personal responsibility what I learned a long time ago if the choice isn't personal with you the responsibility will never be personal with you personal choice and personal responsibility are and separately linked together no question about that so every day I wrote a book several years ago called today matters and basically the thesis of that book is very simple every day I'm either preparing or repairing that's a fact I I I I'm either doing what I should do today that sets up success for tomorrow or I'm not doing what I should do today which means tomorrow I have to go back and fix yesterday and I'm e I'm either preparing or repairing and and when we say you can make a choice one thing one thing a personal choice what's huge is we're basically saying you can prepare wow you can prepare you my one of my mentors in life that was so impacting to me was John Wooden the great legendary coach of UCLA and John and John Wooden would say to me there is a choice you have to make in everything you do so keep in mind that the choice you make in the end that choice makes you and so we're we're giving you an opportunity to to make a a powerful personal choice what's the one thing what's the one thing in 2021 that you're that that you're going to do to improve your life okay well there's a third reason I love this theme plus one first of all it's doable one thing it's personal nobody's making the choice for you you make it yourself number three it's helpful this is a oh my gosh it's so helpful because the one thing that we're wanting you to choose is to improve your life that that the whole question what is the one thing that you could do in 2021 that will improve your life and I would want to extend to be honest with you and improve the life of others because whenever you're a leader you're always thinking Beyond yourself of others now now the question was not what is the one thing that you can say what is the one thing that you can wish what is the one thing that you can intend what is the one thing that you can hope what is the one thing you can think what's the one thing that you can believe no no no no no no no what's the one thing you can do you see action separates the players from The Pretenders always has always will when I was a kid My Father by the way my father just passed way on 4th of July he was 98 and and he was just an incredible incredible um influence Mentor in my life so when I'm a kid he would he he would he would ask me this little riddle he said John Five Frogs are on a log and four decide to jump off how many frogs are left I'd say one he said no five I said what do you mean five he said four frogs decide to jump off he said that's correct but just because you decide to jump off doesn't mean you jump and then he would talk to me about the importance of action versus good intention by the way I think good intention probably that phrase good intentions is the most overrated word in the English language because good intentions does nothing it it's hey hey good intentions has never made a great marriage good intentions has never sold a house good good good intentions good intentions are just good intentions and and they're as worthless as good be unless they move to good actions it's the difference between what I call a trying attitude and doing attitude you know I I when people say they're I'm never impressed with people say well you know what I'm going to try that I don't want you to try it you know what try it means is I'm going to try it if it doesn't fit good or doesn't work the first time or if I don't get it right I I I I'll I'll quit trying has quit you see I don't I I don't like a trying attitude I like a doing attitude and and here's the difference by the way if you have a trying attitude you're always asking the question can I wow I want can I do this and the Very fact that I ask myself can I gives me an excuse for why I can't you see a doing attitude never ask can I the doing attitude always ask how can I and in other words I'm going to do it now I'm just figuring out how I'm going I'm not sure how I'm going to do it but I'm doing it I'm just going to do in fact may do it wrong but but but I'm going to do it you see I have a whole teaching it's 45 minutes so I can't do it now but it's called action attraction and and the whole thesis of this teaching is the fact that nothing is attracted to us until we take action on it that that nothing is attracted to us as long as we have good intentions or we kind of hope someday do this or we think that maybe we'll get around that you see when you start doing here's what here's what action traction all about when you start doing when you start taking action your mind will think things that you need to know to accomplish the task and your eyes will see things that you need to see to accomplish the task and your heart will begin to believe things that you need to believe that will help you accomplish the task and your attitude will begin to help you think things that will help you to accomplish the Tas but nothing happens until you take action in fact when you think of you know people saying well you know our company's gaining traction or I'm gaining traction you know right in that traction word is action there is no traction without action you you you know it when I love people say well I'm doing some goal setting that doesn't goal setting doesn't impress me at all I say why don't you do some gold doing last thing I need you to do is set I mean how many goals are you going to set that you're never going to go after and by the way the word word goal the first two letters are go I think we ought to just call it Go setting gooing not go go it's kind of like someday I'm going to I'm going to get around to that okay got two more minutes let me just kind of wrap this up because there is kind of a final thought that I want to give you because this plus one theme is so it's so good so I asked myself when I was doing this lesson I just did it about four days ago I I asked myself when I was doing this lesson okay what would keep any of you any of us from not having a plus one year in 2021 what what I mean what would keep me from picking choosing and doing the one thing that would improve my life I mean what would do and the only thing the only thing I can think of is a fear of failure the only thing that I can think of that would keep you or me from having a plus one year in 2021 is for us to look at and say well what happens if I I can't do that or if I don't do that or if I I don't accomplish that and and so let me help you with the fear of failure again this is an hour teaching it's another lesson completely just but you're smart since you're so smart I can do these things to you in one minute and two minutes because you're just brilliant I mean most crowds you know this could be a hey for some realy companies this could be literally a whole day conference you understand you're just quicker than others what am I going to say about that okay here we go here's the problem the problem is we're always separating f failure and success and so we go and say I want to be successful and success is over here and oh my gosh failure is clear over here and and boy I want to I want to succeed oh yeah I want but I don't want to fail don't want to fail and and and and so we separate can I tell you something terrible terrible idea you should never ever ever separate failure success they belong together they they do their best work together I have never met anyone including Linda and Christie that told me their success story without it being filled with losses misses mess ups and failures and I've never talked to anybody that had a great company that said you know what we finally got to a place where we don't have any more problems issues difficulties failures adversity it's just you know we just finally Rose above all that now all is good let me tell you something anybody's talking to you like that they don't have a company they're on drugs you got to understand you can't separate failure success so as you pick your as you pick your one thing whatever it is as you pick it I want you to know right now there will be days that you do your one thing really well and there are going to be some days when you don't do your one thing very well at all in fact some days you'll do one thing and it wasn't a plus one it kind of seemed like a minus one to you and I just want you know it's okay it's okay my name is John I'm your friend listen to me it's okay it's okay no one ever climbs each step without slipping falling and failing but it's okay you'll see the value of failure is what we learn from it and the value of learning is how we improve in it I'm going to go two minutes longer than I'm supposed to go because I just got to share this week because it just popped in my head and I I just don't want you to miss it I have a I have a coaching company it's only 10 years old but it's the largest coaching company in the world 37,000 coaches now in 170 countries we got it down we understand coaching and we certify coaches here's the point that's not the point here's the point people ask me how we built such a successful coaching company so quickly it's very simple we have what we call a cycle of success a cycle of success I I I don't have time to teach it but I'm going to give it to you because this is worth the whole whole lesson trust me you just start working this cycle of success and you're going to be in major major Good Woods at the top of the cycle is test we're always testing we're always trying things we've never tried before covid-19 was beautiful for this reason wasn't it made it it forced us out of our comfort zone in fact everything that you want and don't have everything that you need and don't have is because it's out of your comfort zone if it was in your comfort zone you'd already have it and one of the beautiful things about covid-19 that make us go out of a comfort zone here what am I doing I'm I'm doing a virtual conference with you right now I I would hey perhaps I would be live if we we didn't have covid-19 what would the issue is very simple we've we' we've had to adjust so okay test fail because if you do a lot of testing you'll have a lot of failing because you've never done things before like this and so you're in Virgin Territory so you'll have some misses so we test we fail we learn oh my the value of failures what did you learn from it four we improve and finally number five after we improve we re-enter and that cycle never stops it's a cycle the moment we re-enter we test some more we fail some more we learn we improve we reenter but what's beautiful about that cycle is every time you go through it you just go a little higher because you learn from what you've already done done and you just literally build your life you build your business on it okay that's it one thing you can do it trust me I know that what I want to talk about today is what do we put before us during this time and what do we put behind us you see whatever we put before us we focus on what we ever put behind us we don't focus on it's not important it's not a huge priority and to be honest with you you what we put behind us will shrink and what we put before us will expand and get clear so I'm going to throw some stuff at you here in the few minutes that I have and I won't get through the whole lesson but it's okay let's let's let's just let's just talk about what do we put before us and by the way this is a choice we get to make I get to choose what I put before me I get to choose what I put behind me in the area of focus so let's let's talk about number one and these aren't in any order of priority but number one uh put behind you what you can't do and put before you what you can do okay I know I know that's that's pretty simple but I'm watching all kind of people put before them what they can't do they're they're putting before them anxiety and worry and fear they're they're putting stuff in front of them that they absolutely they're the the questions they're asking there's a whole bunch of stuff we can't control and if you can't control it if you can't do it right now just just put it behind you it's okay put it behind you let's let's talk about what we can do what we can control what are the things that I can do right now to make it for example well you know what I can't do my list is simple you know I travel all the time guess what I can't do I can't travel I I speak to crowds in proximity you know publicly all the time hey can't I can't speak you know hey I I'm a leader so what I do I talk about the future a lot I'm not talking about the future a lot right now I'm kind of like everybody else I I'm not certain about some things now I'm very clear but but I'm I'm not certain about some things I there are just some things I right now I can't I can't do I I I you know I told Mark who does a fabulous job overseeing all the job Max Enterprise you know you know this isn't the great sell time for the for the the resources that we have that you know people they're not focused now there are some lot of things I can't do okay I got that that's all behind me but but what can I do well I can do this today I can I can do I can get out of my comfort zone and do technology which I'm not good at all but I must confess even though I'm coming from my home my friend Andrew who's on my team came over here to make sure that this thing really works because he knows how bad I really am but but what I can do is is I can come to you every Monday at noon through technology and hopefully give you some stuff that'll really help you but what I can do is I can write in fact I'm in my last week my last week of writing what is my most important book it's going to be called change your world and it's all about transformation how do you transform your community how do you transform the people right around you and I'm in my last week I and I I can't sleep to be honest with you yesterday I got up at 3:30 because I my mind was so full of ideas that I had to get up because I had to start writing because I was afraid I was going to lose him and again this morning I was back up early and and and I I can start to smell I can start to see the light the end the town I can start to I can start to smell some victory here but but that I can do that right now I can I I can add value to you I I can do my very best to do that I can certainly take care of myself I can take care of my family uh I can right now I can do some catchup I don't know about you but I had a list I had a stack of my office here of probably 182 books that I've just stacked up that I just hadn't gotten to and so I'm slowly kind of working through that okay these are some things I I can do and there are a lot more I don't need to go into that here's what I want you to understand there are two expansion quotes if you really want life and the good stuff to get in front of you and get clearer and bigger there are two expansion quotes I want to give you I already gave you one what what you focus on expands the second one though is about courage and I love this one as much as the other one and this statement is that life shrinks or expands in proportion to your courage now what's beautiful is if we can get these two statements side by side and they really are basically the same statements what this really saying to us I love this is the fact that if we'll put before us the important things and if we'll have courage to do them all of a sudden our world in front of us is just going to expand get clearer get better and the world that is behind us will become less you see focus and courage are two incredible mobilizers okay they're they just are it's it's it's it's like the you know if you were like I when I was a kid the story that I love my favorite story as a kid with my mother would read me was the little train who thought he could and about the little engine I guess the little engine who looked up and saw the big hill wasn't sure he could but he said I think I can I think I can I think can focus focus focus focus kept going he's got courage to try the hill he's focused on the hill he gets to the top I thought I could I thought I could off he goes I love that story in fact I used to I used to kind of act it out in fact I remember going to my class one time and acting the whole story out but the the point of is is if you have courage to focus on the important things in front of you right now what can you and I do right now that expands number two and this is kind of for maybe the business world but but I I just say to you right now um okay I got to contextualize this but put behind you the sale and and put before you adding value to people um now obviously uh we got to sell we got to businesses have to you know grow and and businesses have to you they got something that they have to exchange for that keeps them in business I I understand that but but I I I'll tell you what really centered me on this is uh I I was thinking the other day I was taking a walk and I was thinking about two questions um that have to do with branding and uh uh what people think of us and I thought of two questions and I want to throw them out to you and then I think it really helps me contextually with this statement here they they are uh one of the questions we ask ourselves is um what you know what do we want others to say about us what what I want others to say about me hey I I want them to say I'm I'm their friend that's why what I tell you all the time H my name's John and I'm your friend why do I tell you that all time because I want you to know that I'm your friend I so what do I want what what do I want you to say about me I want you to say John's my friend okay well same thing what what do you want them to say about your business right okay that's the first question the second question though is what do they say about us now those questions are almost very similar but I'm telling you there's a huge gap between what do I want you to say about me and what do you say about me what what do I want you to say about my company and what do you say about my company you see one is the ideal what I would hope you would do but the other is the real one's ideal one's real and what you say about me is really the effect I have on you that's why I love this idea right now of adding value to people now I try to do it every day it's it's truly nothing's changed in my life I I just I've always put adding value to people first but but what I want you to hear is very important what they say about you is going to be greatly determined by how you and I take care of our clients and our customers right now and I I can tell you I can tell you that if you're just put the people first and add value to them and and and and serve them and let them know and and and and let them know that that you just really care about them for people I can tell you can close that gap between what you want them to say and what they do say about you it's um it's it's zig Ziggler telling me when I was a kid if you'll just add value to people and if you'll put them first they're going to take care of you too and I I bought into that then I buy in it today I buy into it today more than any other time you see as Leaders I think I think I got this from I think I got this from Kevin Myers but as leaders we want to constantly let our people know that we want more for them than we want from them we want them to know that so this is the time this is the time to really do that I was talking to another um uh business I was I was doing one of our one of our Legacy people I was I was helping them with their company a little bit and they're in and and they're in real estate and and they were sharing with me that um that right now they're offering a lot of free just training classes to real estate people and they decided to open up to anybody I mean if you're in our company uh you know okay this is free training but if you're not in the company it's okay too and we just want to we want to share with him and and I asked them how that how it was going and and as they were talking to me they said John what's very interesting is people that are not in our company at all they're coming back to us and they're saying you want to help us more than the people in our company want to help us you're thinking about us more than the people that in the company that we belong to and and I thought to myself how beautiful what a beautiful way to position position yourself to where they look at somebody that's not even the real estate company that they belong to and they're saying well they're helping me more than than my own company's helping me right now there's just something about there's just something about right now putting people right in front of you um for example this is so simple but every day I've done this throughout the entire month of April every day there are five different people every day I pick five different people to touch base with and and and just what can I do for you uh how can I help you is there anything I can add value to you in your life and and every day I go through a different a different group of five and uh it's not a long list doesn't take me that long I I I text them many times in the beginning or or give them maybe a quick call but but it's just I'm just just want to know hey I you're in front of me I'm I'm focused on you number three put behind you your reactions and put before you your Reflections um crisis causes people to react like crazy okay wow and um and I'm just saying to us right now the easiest thing for anybody to do is react but but that brings you and me to no good leadership position at all we we we need to we need to reflect so we can respond what we need is good responses based upon thinking and reflection and meditation and prayer what what we need is responses based on reflection not reaction based on emotion and um I can I can still remember in the 2008 financial crisis I I that was what kind of stimulated me to write the book sometimes you win sometimes you learn and and I'm just saying to you right now don't don't don't count your don't count your loss right now count your lessons just just just focus on focus on focus on the lessons because I'm here to tell you if if we pull away every day and reflect and uh observe and look around us and say what am I learning from this what what how's this changing me and is it changing me for the better am I swimming am I swimming up stream right now because if if you're changing for the better that's exactly what you're having to do um the other day Mark uh Cole and I were were having a conversation and he gave this to me and I thought it was so good he said John we were talking about the business the John maxel Enterprise he said John he said uh business will always follow values so what he was B said you know what John if your values are just good and strong basically all your business practices they just get in line with your values and they go down the values L but he said but values will not always follow your business and I thought that was so true because if if you and I have our mind totally on business a and well I'm losing money right now and what should I do to the people and should I put them first all of a sudden those values those values can get behind us keep the values in front of you right now and and reflect on on them and what they're doing you see during a crisis Chris haod just sent this to me oh my gosh right the maybe right at the very first of April I've had on my desk and I've looked at it some but I haven't talked about it at all but but he said this to me and I thought how true it is there are there are three zones during a crisis and the first zone is is where a whole bunch of people are living right now it's the fear Zone and that's the reaction remember I'm I'm saying put behind you your reaction when when I when I am in the fear Zone I am continually reacting I I you know what I'm going to I'm going to the grocery store and I'm buying toilet paper I don't need I I just am that's that's who I am I'm you know you know what have you done today I bought toilet paper today that's that's what I did I I I I'm just absolutely fear-based reacting there's another Zone in a crisis that we can go into if we want to and that's that's the Learning Zone that's the Learning Zone and and that's and that's where we that's where we reflect that's where we say okay what am I learning in this period of time I hope every one of you are making a list of the things that you're learning the things that you're changing I I have a list and um every day during this crisis my list gets um a little bit clearer and and and it is a little bit more impacting on me I uh one of the things that I've really had to reflect on a lot and every day I'm just taking I'm taking what I'm doing during this time is I'm taking long walks and um and one of the things I'm really reflecting on is that uh that this crisis is showing me is I don't have I don't have big enough margins in my life that I I I I to be honest with you I love living on the edge it's just it's who I am okay so that's a problem you could pray for for me you know in fact I have I one of my favorite quotes if you're if you're not living on the edge you're taking up too much room okay so you got it that's who I am but but but during this time I I'm I'm I I have time to really write my transformational book change your world and I'm able to go to a whole different level writing this book than I ever have any other time I I am going through this book now for the sixth time and every time I just take it up another notch another notch Charlie and I talked for an hour today and and we're we're spending another week and and and guess what we're I'm getting ready I'm getting ready to go through it for the seventh time and the only reason I could do this I I'm going to be able to I am going to be able to have a book that's going to help people really become transformational in their lives in their people's lives but the the only reason I'm going to have a book that has its depth and its U its gravatas that it has is because I have time if I would have had my regular schedule could I put the book out yes would it have been the book it is now no and the question I'm asking all of us right now it's a important question is what are we upping in our life right what is getting better in our life what what what bar are we living what what level of Excellence are we getting up higher because we have a little bit more time maybe to do that and what has just taught me okay the lesson I'm learning is the fact that I just I just need to um I I just need to get a little bit more margin in my life because there's another level of of Excellence that I could have if I had just a little bit of that margin so there's the fear Zone which is reactive I'm reacting in that zone there's the Learning Zone okay now I'm I'm reflecting and then there's the growth Zone and the growth zone is where I respond and and and that's why I said if if you if you react it's fear-based but if if I reflect then what I could do as a leader is I can begin to respond I can give I can give answers that have purpose I can give answers that have meaning I can give answers that have Direction and depth to them there's a maturity that I can have in this growth Zone um that's just going to help me to to to go to a whole new level um see see here's what happens because of the crisis there's a lot of uncertainty because they're focused on the outside and a lot of people are asking themselves right now I'm not sure my life is going to be better after this crisis and I understand that because there are a lot of people are going to take incredible Financial hits there are businesses are going to close I I you know I'm taking Financial hits our the John Maxwell Enterprise you know I mean we're we're bleeding we we got that we got that but let me tell you something I'm absolutely sure of about this crisis I can't I can't I can't talk about you but I can't talk about me I promise you I'm going to be better coming out of this crisis I am going to be better that's very exciting to me I'm going to grow on the inside to a whole different level than I ever growing and I just want to challenge every one of you um don't count the days make the days count I just want to challenge all of us to to to put behind us the reactions of everybody and you know I mean it's it's always the same thing what's great about watching the news now is you can skip a week turn it on it's the same as it was last week nothing's changing or or else we can put before us that I'm going to reflect and I'm going to I'm going to get in the growth zone I'm going to get in the Learning Zone during this crisis okay number four um number four put behind you the difficulties and be put before you the progress I I I just love this thought I hope I could do a good job with it because one of the things a crisis does is a crisis takes you and me all of us out of automatic and can I tell you something we all love automatic automatic means I got it I got it down and and I don't need need to give an incredible amount of thought to it I I don't need to figure out a new system because I already know the road to take I I've already got the plan I got I got it I got it I got it and and we love I got it because I got it means we don't have to give quite as much time to it because we got it and in a crisis we don't got it I don't know what you got in February but you don't got it now one of the things I think that's healthy of this crisis I think it brings to a great sense of humility to all of us that that we're not in control that we don't always have answers and we're not always the man and I think that's just very healthy for me I think it's healthy for you I think it's healthy for all of us and and I just want to talk to you about the very fact that put behind you the difficulties and put before you the progress and let me I'm going to come back to automatic in a moment but but let me just make sure I contextualize this right for you so you got it Booker T Washington said this he said success is not the position that you've arrived at he said success is what you had to overcome to get where you are today so so Booker T Washington had this all down he says when you look at a person and where they have arrived don't look at that and say they're a success look at what they had to overcome to get there and what happens is the crisis is Tak us out of an automatic now when we're an automatic what happens to us well when you're an automatic when I'm an automatic we're filled with assumptions we literally live every day with assumptions we just it well it's always been this way and and it always has worked this way and and so it's going to be this way and so we just kind of go down this automatic assumption Trail assumptions aren't good assumptions don't cause me to ask good questions assumptions don't cause me to think assumptions don't cause me to reflect we all take assumptions for granted and anybody that's in the Assumption Arena we take them for granted so when when what's happened is uh we've gotten knocked out of automatic crisis doesn't let us be an automatic and so that what happens is we we we lose those assumptions that's a good thing the other thing happens is we get out of automatic is we got we get kicked out of the very center of our comfort zone we're kicked out I mean it we're we're no we're nobody nobody right now is looking and say you know I just I'm right in the middle of my comfort zone you see we' we've been kicked out of that and let me also tell you that when we're in automatic we're not very adaptable we're not very flexible we're not in automatic we're not very hungry and this crisis has taken us out out of automatic when we're an automatic let me tell you we're going downhill in automatic you know you I I I teach that everything worthwhile is uphill me tell you something uphill is not automatic it's never been automatic it's not going to be automatic downhill is so when we're in automatic there's a tendency for us to Coast you know we think we're a hotel room with a do not disturb sign on us I mean just can I got it I got it please don't disturb me wow so put before you put put before you the progress you're making let me just say this I can remember you know most of you know that I was a pastor and when I was in San Diego we bought 80 acres of ground ground in Southern California and we had to get it zoned I cannot even go into that story I just want to you know it took us 11 years to get it zoned and it cost us $85 million okay hundreds of meetings ridiculous red tape we had a black-tailed knack catcher that didn't even live on the prop just landed on the property and it was an endangered bird we literally just to show you the stupidity of people people we had to buy another plot of ground about a mile away about the size of ours as a resting place for the Blacktail Knack catcher since we would be disturbing the environment where the Blacktail knck catcher every once in a while landed now you got to understand during this time of 11 years of are we going to get the land or not guess money for the land in fact I have to stand in front of the people and say we need you to help us financially because the financial package was going to be so huge I I knew I had to get in front of it and then I would say by the way the sacrifice you're making we're not even telling you we can buy the land we hey we got we've got to get it approved 11 years now okay just let me be me for a moment and then I I'll kind of go back into nice if I had known that Blacktail n catcher that bird was going to cost us much money in so much time I'd just gone out and shot the sucker honestly hey two years in prison we could got on with our life okay now listen to it okay I'm just having fun with you relax take a bill okay here we go this is important I look back at my leadership during those years and I don't I can't show you the growth I had during the good times I can show you growth we had growth but we ra we we we raised $35 million we we we we were in midst of difficulty and the progress we made even though it was much smaller progress was special ground to us because that was filled with Blood Sweat and Tears so put behind you the difficulties because we're all have them right now the crisis and put before you and appreciate and value the progress the story I like to tell so often as I was at a conference we had about 2 200 people listening to I was doing a leadership conference and a guy during the last break I was signing books came up to me young kid nice kid and he just looked at me said I've been watching this this is amazing I'm learning all these leadership principles everybody's enjoying it that he he said I've decided I I want to do what you I want to do what you do I said that's great I I like that I said just have one question for you would you like to do what I did so you can do what I do you see that's the question some of you are going to come out of this time and you're going to have such respect for yourself you know I teach that respect is earned on difficult ground that moral Authority is given when you are leading people through highly difficult times and when you come out on that other side I just I just want you to know that your greatest days of growth as far as what it does for you internally are right now and that internal maximizing of growth will eventually pay off to the external also trust me if it's in here it has to get out there it's just a matter of time number five number five put behind you the personal benefits and put before you the people benefits now this is kind of close to you know put behind you the sales and and and put in front of you adding value of people but but there's a difference and let me tell you why I I give you this point that put behind you the personal benefits what am I going to get out of this and put put before you the people benefits and that is that is that the reason I'm giving you that thought is I was listening to Patrick Linton the other day he had has a new book out it's a very good book called motives and and and Patrick said that um the question of leadership is this why do you lead now if you've heard me teach on leadership I I talk all the time about how I like to go to a person and say okay why do you want to become a leader and Patrick did such a succinct job on this he said I always want to know why you want to become a leader because that's going to tell me everything I need to know about your leadership and he said basically there are two reasons to become a leader one is reward and number two is responsibility and he said if you're a leader that you're in it because of the perks of leadership you I mean oh my gosh if I lead I I get a parking place I get a good office if I lead I get all the if you're in it because of the perks of leadership he said during a crisis you won't show up because the perks are gone but if you're in it for the people if you're in it for the responsibility of helping lift the load he said then all of a sudden this becomes absolutely huge in your life because this was the moment you were born for this is the tough time that you help the people have the Victory and get the win in their life we've all heard the the statement you know minor surgeries on you and major surgeries on me same surgery but it's minor if you're having it it's major if I'm having well I'm saying put behind you let's just get behind us all the stuff that would benefit us right now or what we want and and and let's get re put let's put rewards behind us and let's put responsibility in in front of us because you see leaders see more than other see and they see before others see I call that the leadership advantage and that's a fact but because I have that leadership advantage that I see more than you see and I see before you see I either take that advantage and I put you before me and I serve you or I take that advantage and I put me before me and I serve me so so put personal benefits behind you know hey put put put the people in front of you okay I'm gonna do one more uh wow um okay here here's the last one okay there there are maybe nine or 10 of them total but let's see I have yeah i' got I got nine of them you get six up okay but here's one this is just really good you know what I'm going to do I'm going to come back to six I'm I'm going to give you right now the other three because you're driving you're going crazy right now you're saying wait a minute I'm getting six out of nine and I know what melancholics do like that so so I'm going to give you the other three I just can't talk about it but so you you got your outline when you give it to your people I'm coming back to number six number seven was put behind you your feelings and put before you your values You Gotta Be You and I have to be value driven right now number eight put behind you the future and put before you today now now that this is I wish I needed a little context there but I'm just telling you the best Clarity you have right now is today there's a lot of uncertainty out there and it let's let's lead today you know today matters and then the last point was put be put behind you complaining and put before you gratitude yeah just just put before you gratitude you very simply right there gang is you you just can't you can't you can't moan and Lead at the same time so who wants to follow a moaner I mean who wants to say hey John's going to moan again today wow W this to be a joy I'm going to get inspired as he moans Nobody Knows the Trouble I've seen nobody knows okay here we go so let me go back to the last point and and this is it that is I want I want you to put behind you who you were and put before you who you can be I touched this a little bit earlier but I'm coming back to it now when I said at the end of this crisis am I going to be better that's the question the end of this crisis are you're going to be better and uh when I do learning lunches I've done learning lunches for 40 years once a month take somebody out to lunch buy them lunch bigger better faster smarter than me I ask them questions when I do learning lunches I have seven questions and one of the questions I ask is what is the most important lesson you've ever learned in your life that really just helps me to know what they've gone through and how they've overc coming now I asked that question I've asked that question hundreds times and let me tell you something I get different answers but every answer I have gotten over 40 years comes out of the same setting and this is what I don't want you to miss if I were having a lunch if I if I were having a lunch with you right now just it's just you and me the two of us and I ask you what's what's the most important lesson you ever learned out of life here's what I know when you gave me the lesson the lesson you learned would be out of a dark difficult time in your life 100% I've never had anybody say you know the most important lesson I ever learned in life was when I was on top of the mountain and everything was going wonderful and I was just being highly successful no they'll say Let me let me tell you something John and they'll take me to a valley they'll take me to a dark time they'll take me to a crisis because that's what awakens us that's what gets our attention hey that's that's what gets us out of automatic we don't want to be an automatic it gets us out of automatic and all of a sudden we realize we aren't in control and we don't have those answers and there's a sense of humility that comes in our life and that's where we learn the greatest lessons of our life by the way wisdom wisdom isn't from somebody that just has a lot of knowledge and reads a lot of books wisdom always comes out of very dark Crucible times in a person's life that's where wisdom is birthed so what am I saying to you today it's very simple many of us are going to look back and say you know it was during the Corona virus that some things really began to change in my life some values some priorities I kind of had a little bit of time to kind of readjust and adjust and make those changes and that's what I want for you so what you focus on expands I love this visually put the things you need to look at before you put the things that are just going to wait you down and not get you where you want to go put them behind you and God bless you at the very beginning he talked about the best motivation is self- motivation and for me uh you know if you take the strength finder test um as I've grown as a leader my top five have changed over the years but number one has always been positivity and so all from the time I was a young person people would say oh you know Tracy you're so motivating you're so positive and so as a young person a budding leader I don't know who needs to hear this today but I know somebody does I felt like that was my calling that meant that what people were saying to me was that my my role was to motivate people and to bring that positivity to people which was true to some degree but what I found myself doing a lot of the time was exactly what that quote said and that was I was motivating promoted people I was motivating the wrong people and the quote from Tom gasan golisano was that you can demotivate people but you know what also you can de you can demotivate yourself that's right when you are trying to motivate the wrong people it is exhausting so if you think of this as your little check mark if you have been if you're wondering if you've been motivating the wrong people if you find yourself exhausted uh demotivated a little down and discouraged if you feel like you're ready to throw in the towel because maybe you aren't a motivated or positive person and you're starting to feel negative even then odds are you have probably been trying to motivate the wrong people and so I'm just curious Mark um did you ever need a thinking shift or were you always a leader who motivated yourself motivated the right people or were you some somebody who also like me uh brought your positivity because you're a very positive and motivated person I just to be around you I know people just walk away from you smiling in a little spring in their step were you always that way or were you somebody who like me uh found yourself a little exhausted and demotivated from motivating the wrong people yeah so I I wish I could say yeah I once had that problem but the real truth is is I still have that problem and and I and I'll tell you what I mean with that you know as John was teaching that and even Tracy as you were just talking about kind of your Epiphany back in uh earlier in life I I thought about the question that John gets asked all the time hey how do I motivate my people right any leader out there want to lift their hand and say yeah that's me I want to know how do I motivate my people yeah Tracy's got both hands up I've got both hands up I I want to motivate somebody please and John says here's the best way to motivate people and everybody kind of grabs their pen and their paper and if you're watching on YouTube today I mean I've got my paper ready I'm ready to hear what John has to say and he says the best way to motivate people is hire motivated people yeah and now it's it's so fun to kind of laugh and go yeah that's right well what happens when we are the people when the people that needs motivating is us is you I the leader in the equation and I think Tracy that's what you're asking me is how do we lead ourselves John says leaders motivate themselves followers wait for others to motivate them and I do want to be an inspirational person in fact my life purpose that I discovered at 33 was I exist Mark Cole exist to motivate and inspire people to reach their full potential and I know that to live out that purpose of inspiring or motivating others it has to start with me and yet there are times that the last thing that I feel is motivated or inspired and so I I do think the idea of inspiring on self is a muscle it's it's something that we have to work at we we have to put into practice what motivates you what's your happy place what what's things that refuel you and replenish you what is what is your ideal Sabbath or time of rest so that we're working from rest rather than resting from work and and I I mean I believe that's really important but I also think Tracy that for us as Leaders we do have to realize that if we rely on external circumstances or external relationships or external factors to motivate ourselves we are in for a very difficult Road in the area of leadership there has to be within us much like what Tracy had an epiphany that says I am going to be my chief motivator I can't rely on others I can't rely on circumstances I've got to find ways to inspire myself so that I will inspire others and I think that's what John's saying here Tracy I think that's what your Epiphany was there has to be in each of us a realization a an accepting of responsib ability that if we are going to be motivated if we're going to inspire others it is going to be up to us to motivate ourselves and I I think that's a big distinction between leaders and followers as John noted in the lesson today I I agree and I I don't want if you are if you didn't get this and write it down I wrote it down as Mark said it because I haven't heard you say this before and it's powerful to me we should be working from rest rather than resting from work and I think so many of us limp into the weekend whatever day that is maybe it's a Saturday Sunday or maybe it's a Monday Tuesday or whatever your work schedule is but so many of us limp into the weekend rather than uh and then try to gear back up again for the you know Monday of our of our work week rather than every day waking up refreshed because we are rested we are staying in a place of rest so that we are working from that rest and that is if you don't know what that is if you don't know what that feeling is then you're probably resting from work yeah and and it's a huge it's a huge difference so thank you for saying that Mark and I think that that really does bring a motivation and you know you and I were talking a little bit before this one of the things that John says that is a distinguishing uh mark from him from other leaders and that is that he talks about being a motivational teacher not a motivational speaker right you can you kind of differentiate that for people who maybe haven't heard him say that before yeah you know so just come to a John Maxell event and uh you will leave inspired in fact we we did a study uh in 2021 on why we have why people make a decision to become a customer a client a partner of the John Maxwell organization we were in the middle of our rebranding and we wanted to know the why why did people come and uh and so whether you talk to prospects whether you talk to one-time customers or whether you talk to multiple customers over 80% of them said we came for inspiration and and skill development we wanted a few tools that would make us better and we wanted some inspiration John is a motivational inspirational incredible teacher but John says hey I don't want to be a motivational speaker because a motivational speaker you feel good but 30 minutes later later you can't remember why but a motivational teacher you absolutely can feel good but you know why the skill set the the application piece but you know a a a something that most people would not know about John in the area of creativity or in the area of leadership even when we have things that we need to make decisions on and I've brought him into those decisions he doesn't come in like he does from stage and goes ah we got this come on guys everybody good I'm more lean toward that to try to passionately inspire people through challenges John settles down almost becomes Melancholy in his demeanor as he works through it and allows that grind or that challenge to be felt in the room and doesn't try to get people hyped over it again I have to be careful with that but not John and so it's it's it's an interesting observation of John that when he's on stage when he's got the teacher's lesson in hand that he really challenges and inspires people through motivation but yet when he gets into a leadership context he very much settles his emotions down and begins to methodically work through that particular challenge I every day try to learn from him every trip just uh just a weekend ago from the time we recorded this podcast I was asking John John help me to distill below the emotion to the reality of the situation so that we can practically work through it and I think we as Leaders need to understand when we need to motivate and inspire people and when we need to be accessible and steeped in reality of a difficult situation um I think John's given us a lesson on that with these four pce yeah he sure does I love how you said that he gets his he brings his energy low and and getting below the emotion that he does not rely on the hype of energy and uh as as to energetic people you and I can relate to that of and and really that is a lesson to be learned for people who are high energy people to settle in and so that you don't walk away that the people in your hearing as a leader that they don't walk away not knowing what to do that's right feeling so good and I know I can tell you I have left an where I know that my audience felt really good and I know that they felt good and I know that they felt probably that they liked me but they didn't know what to do right and I know that I've done that before and so I it's just another Learning lesson and so getting into those four Ps I feel like these really um the four Ps that Inspire effort and I feel like he really in perspective and perceptive I feel like he really um was there anything that you wanted to touch on those and pers persistence I feel like he really did a good job teaching on those um was there anything that you wanted to touch on those before we get to persuasion the only thing I would say on perspective is often we put our perspective on other people and we think wow if this motivates us it has to motivate everybody else in the room right and that's not true when John's teaching this perspective he asked the question in your notes how do others see things and many times we as Leaders we fall prey to the Trap of trying to motivate people the way we're motivated rather than motivating the people the way they are motivated and so leaders communicators get into the shoes of the people that you're trying to influence and understand their motivators their perspective and that that's true on perceptive too and you know the things that used to motivate me don't motivate me anymore I've changed I've matured I I I I want I want maybe less partying and a little bit more significance in my life and a leader needs to understand the phases or the seasons of the people he or she is leading to be able to motivate and that's what John's talking about with perceptivity of the individual you're trying to lead or influence not your perspect perceptive I I've often thought man a new car has motivated me at different times and sales contest and different things and somebody else goes I could care less about that as a leader we need to understand their the things that really grab their attention and use those in our inspiration and I think that works both professionally and personally I mean I'm talking to parents right now that when you're trying to motivate your kids and different kids what motivates one kid uh is is going to be totally different so the these can apply these four Ps inspiring effort it's not just about teams in the marketplace we're talking about in families too because we are raising up leaders in our homes and so if we're going to inspire effort in our kids it's about asking the questions and inspiring The Thirst in the horse of our children that we really want to make sure we do that as well okay so let's jump to number four because I would like like to park it a little bit there and I know that you and I talked a little ahead of time that that's really one um we hated for it to like it was like a cliff he walked us up to the cliff and we were like oh we wanted a little bit more and so he walked us up Tracy he walked us up to the cliff and said take it away Mark and Tracy you guys go for it and so that's what we're going to do you know Tracy it's funny you you just mentioned that make the kids thirsty in the lesson you heard John say that you can lead a horse to a horse to water but you can't make him drink and so then he says you you you know a lot of people think youve got to inspire them to drink and John says no you got to inspire them to be thirsty because when you're thirsty you'll drink and so I think that really links to the foundation I want to lay with persuasion and one of the things that you and I podcast viewers podcast listeners one of the things you and I can always go back to in our life is working for an in a disingenuous leader that really was motivating us for their interest and for if you were if you were watching you caught the air quotes for those of you that were uh listening I did air quotes around motivating right there they're motivating us but really they're manipulating us right I mean it's this idea great leaders have to really walk a thin line between motivation and manipulation and that's why when John began to teach this persuasion through sweetness I think the sweetest thing to anyone's ear is what you've heard it said before their name when somebody remembers their name well I think in the art of motivation the sweetest thing that a leader can do to motivate people is to persuade me to do what I want to do that's sweet that's as sweet as a name that's sweet sweet when a leader begins to know me enough and pull out of me the things that I am passionate about that I need to be pursuing and I I really want us as Leaders to know the art between manipulation and motivation or persuasion and trying to prescribe to somebody your opinion of what they want or what they should have if we if we can learn how to inspire them to thirst that's what I want you to write in your notes Jared sitting in the studio today gave me that concept he said Mark I I really think what John's talking about when you lead people to work to a horse to water you're really trying to figure out how to inspire others to thirst after their best self after their best version and when people get hungry enough it goes back to a quote I give all the time when the student is ready the teacher appears and and I I'm sitting here today going how do I in the art of motivation how do I inspire people to a thirst persuade them to a thirst that will allow them to lean in and let me help them and it comes back to this one statement do the work of knowing your people do the work H how can I better understand what causes my people to be thirsty I love giving personal illustrations and my my personal illustration here is Miley my Australian Shepherd she is the perfect dog Miley we when we travel and my wife Stephanie and Macy traveled with me the this past weekend and we we went out and Miley just doesn't like to eat while we're gone and she really doesn't like to eat when we get back doesn't drink a whole lot she loses weight it's visible we can see it and she won't eat her food she just misses her mother she does not miss me because that would be a constant state of affairs but she misses ma she misses Stephanie she misses ma Macy and so we got back yesterday and she still wasn't eating so now she's about three days not drinking not eating so we took her on a run through the park I mean we ran we chased She chased squirrels we cleaned the park out with all those terrible squirrels when we came back guess what Miley did she went to get something to drink and after about 15 minutes of cooling down she cleaned her entire Bowl you know why we made Miley thirsty we knew what it would take chasing squirrels is the ticket for Miley well find out what squirrels your team needs to Chase and when you can find that then you can begin to to persuade them to be thirsty for their best self Tracy I I think that's the art here I I agree and he said just as he it's about relationship and we I we can't miss that it's what you're showing there is the relationship that he has with Stephanie and with Macy and I would even say a little bit you but um I I feel like what your dog was feeling like what people I mean we're all we we're drawn to relationship and John will say if you don't love people you'll manipulate them that's right and as a leader that's a great gut check but th for those of us who also have had leaders what is the questions that John says that we're all asking when we're working with a leader can I trust you do you care for me and can you help me yeah so when you are in a position where you're feeling like am I being manipulated here some of those other three questions because what what did he say great leaders ask good leaders ask great questions so ask yourself those questions is this person trying to help me can I trust this person because those are those kind of gut checks that you need to ask if you are feeling like you might be manipulated or if you're the leader if you're feeling like am I being tempted to manipulate them and he said Partnerships which is relationships the best Partnerships there is going to be a winwin it shouldn't just be one-sided where just the leader is winning or just the person we're serving and leading is winning the best Partnerships the best relationships where people are win winning and going through those four Ps where we are inspiring and motivating people is when we're going to see the win win well and and I and I go back in fact it's there's a relevant episode we're going to put in the show notes because it's it's really practical in helping you with motivation we did 10 maximums for motivation we did a series on that and and we're going to put that in the show notes because I want you to to go back and really get some practical things the biggest thing I give you is know your people know who it is that you're attempting to persuade to give perspective perceptive persistence too and began motivating them but one of the first things he said was um when he dove into environment I feel like there is so much meat there and one of the first things he said was that leaders do what leaders experience together and one of the things that I remember John always saying is that you can't transfer the emotion the lessons everything that you have and you experience when you go somewhere and you try to bring it back to your team and anybody who has ever gone anywhere and they've experienced something so P powerful you try to come back and you tell it to someone and it's like you just can't transfer it and so can you talk a little bit about the value of those experiences and that environment and how do you bring your team with you to experience that so you don't have to come back and try to explain it to them I love I love this part of this lesson Tracy because and and I love what you just said when when you are when you've been given a lot a lot is required John's often talked about uh the leadership bubble we've seen people I've been with John now for 22 years and I've seen people come in and I've seen people Excel I've seen people leave and I've seen them almost go back to where they were before they ever joined John Maxwell's team and and that was perplexing to me you know how can you Excel as such a great leader than you go try something new and it's it's harder than you thought and I don't I don't take great Joy or pride in that that people are very successful here and then not as successful other places because I've seen the exact opposite too people be very successful in John's organization leave for one reason or another and then go be very successful but I think what John is teaching right here on environment that there does exist in all of us there is a leadership B there's a learning bubble there is a relationship bubble we can get into environments that actually make us look bigger better and more effective than perhaps we would be in another environment but what I love about you said too there is it's so true because um I think back to the last 18 months no matter what your kpis are we're we're talking Revenue numbers different cogs all it whatever your kpis are you should you should have these goals whether they're lofty goals whether they're small goals and what I was thinking about when you're talking about that and I want you to unpack this a little bit for us is I was thinking about the last 18 months when we all had to throw our business plans out the window right and what you came to us and said is hey we value growth and growth is is something that we're going to focus on I'm going to throw out the comparatives and I want to see a small growth in something in your business month over month that's what I want to hear about and I thought that was so important because it it it re-engaged our team and go we'll never get there to that goal point right and we got frustrated you brought us out of that frustration said no no no no no every single month I want growth of some kind it may not be what we're used to it may be a different kpi but I want you talking about growth talk a little bit about the importance of that when you got to be flexible but then also dialing it back down and making sure that we are really focused on the small things which will then take care of the larger things in our budgets our kpis whatever they yeah so Chris you and I have been a part of John's Organization for longer than what you and I really want to admit uh before certainly before my 15-year-old daughter was born before your daughter was born was Ryland born when you first started uh he was not he was not so before kids yes before K you and I started and there's something again that I promise you is consistent to us we if you're listening I'm holding up the 15 laws of growth book we value growth now when I say we value growth do we value growth or do we not and so what happens back in March and April and June March April and May of 2020 back in covid yeah we kept coming and Reporting off of our numbers Chris and it was it was like a funeral every time we came because we were trying to report off of something that was dead our business plans were dead and we kept come and try to do it and and I went home that second meeting and I went I can't do this again I can't do it I I I will lead through difficult times I'll lead through it but I can't be a part of an organization that is postmortem in everything that we're talking about I I can't do it so like you said we threw that out and we began to highlight growth points I'm going to pause right here and to those of you viewing I'm going to challenge you to go pick up this book 15 laws of growth for those of you that's listening I'm going to challenge you to go to the podcast notes and I want you we're going to put a link in there to go order the 15 laws of growth in fact we've got a discount 15% off to celebrate January as growth month great book to start the year off it is and it it's a great book to to start off with if you've never read a Maxwell book it's a great book to go back and remind yourself since it's January because some of you have goals of losing weight can can anybody relate to that with New Year's resolutions or are the other thing I I celebrate every last bit of that in fact could stand to use a few lose a few pounds myself but what are you doing to grow your leadership Effectiveness your leadership influence that question and a plan around answering that question can be found in this book 15 laws of growth Chris when when you and I over the last 20 years one thing we know is this environment expects growth I I love doing these podcasts with you we get great feedback all the time but I'm going to tell you one of the things I love about the last five six years is thinking about the growth that we've been able to see in each other yeah Chris for those of you that don't know John started putting me on a stage to communicate when I was terrible as uh as uh Charles Barkley says terrible was getting ready say was terrible I was terrible and and Chris every once in a while I'll communicate to the team or I'll do something else and you'll come by and say man that was a really good communication what you're really saying is you were really bad before no that's not really I'm seeing growth in you marow in you you really are highlighting growth I do the same thing with you man you think about the load you're carrying for our organization right now you're much more than corporate solutions group leader you're carrying some of these integrated merging acquisition things that we're doing why because of growth we didn't set out a goal that said Chris is going to own this many merging and acquisition things that we're doing we set out saying Chris can you grow can you find your leadership voice can you step up are you available let's go and I'm watching that happen I appreciate apprciate [Music] that welcome to the Maxwell leadership executive podcast where our goal is to help you increase your reputation as a leader increase your ability to influence others and increase your ability to fully engage your team to deliver remarkable results