Be an energizer bunny. In this episode, we're going to talk about how to focus
on your exceptional ability. So, get ready. I'm going to share with you some concepts
that have helped business owners take whatever they do to sometimes 10 times
in less than 60 months as they learn how to focus on what is their exceptional
ability.
So, I'm Doug Andrew. And I've been involved in my own business. I'm an
entrepreneur and an entrepreneur is somebody that takes something from a
lower level of productivity to a higher level of productivity. And I've done that
most of my life. I've been helping people empowering them with their money
financially. But also in the other 2 dimensions of what I call authentic
wealth, the intellectual assets and the foundational assets. How to be wealthy,
healthy and wise in all the dimensions of your life. And so, I can't take credit
for everything that I've learned. In fact, I've invested over three million dollars
in my life sharpening my saw as Steven Covey would say. And I continue to invest
maybe 200 to 300 thousand a year in what we call LLCs. Now, some people think I'm
talking about limited liability companies. No. And our family, my wife and
I have been married for 47 years at this coming February. And we
have 6 children and 16 grandchildren. And we have LLC's that are called
lifetime learning commitments. We will never stop learning.
So, I've invested a lot with being part of mastermind groups. And one that I
belong to for more than 20 years is strategic coach facilitated by Dan
Sullivan. And he's the one that introduced me to the strengths finder
quizzes that many people have heard about. He likes to use the Kolbe score.
That's K-O-L-B-E. You go to Kolbe.com and you can take
the kolbe test. It's really not a right or wrong answer type of a situation.
There are usually 50 questions that Kathy Kolbe asks they're scenarios. And
you simply circle what would you most likely do in this set of circumstances
and what would you least likely do in this set of circumstances. And at the end,
they assign you a kolbe score. Now, you've probably heard of strengths finder
quizzes books like the color code or the winslow score. And these are designed to
help identify what is it that makes you tick.
Do these StrengthsFinder exercises for all of our children and our
grandchildren every time we go on a family vacation or grandpa's camp. I want
to know what makes them tick. What their unique ability or their exceptional
ability really is. So, when I took the Kolbe score years ago and it hasn't
changed much in 20 years, it usually identifies you on a scale of 1 to 10
in 4 different areas. One is fact finding. Now, it doesn't mean that you're
not good in fact finding. I'm actually pretty good in finding out facts. But
it's not what gives me energy or passion I would rather delegate that if I want
that the latest and greatest slide advancer or microphone equipment or
sound equipment. I will delegate that research. Not that I can't do it. It just
doesn't energize me. I get a score of three on fact-finding. And again, it has
nothing to do with my ability. It's what I would rather do. The next one is
follow-through. A lot of people say I'm a pretty good follow-through person. It's
not what I would rather do. I'd rather delegate the follow-through I just want
to come up with the ideas. So, I score four out of a scale of 1 to 10 on a
follow through but on quick start. See, I love to come up with the ideas. I'm
always coming up with all these ideas. So, I'm a quick start. I'm like ready, fire,
aim. My family agrees with that. I'm the QuickStart. Now. the the fourth one... See, I
score a 9 on QuickStart. The last score is on implementer. Now, I'm actually
called the poster child of implementation. But I would rather
delegate that. So, I score about 5 out of a 1 to 10 because I would rather
delegate implementation to other people. So, what does this all mean? Once I know
what makes me tick, in other words, when Dan Sullivan said, "What could you do
every day the rest of your life and you never run out of energy? Sort of like an
energizer bunny." And for me, it's one of 3 things.
It's either standing in front of audiences and empowering them and seeing
the light bulbs go on. I could do that 24/7. I've had sometimes setbacks. I've
torn my ACL. I've been hoarse and I'll put the
microphone right here under my Adam's apple. And I could go, go, go, go. If it's
something that I'm passionate about sharing with other people. I also
do that in voice recordings in the radio studio or like this on this channel. But
also writing books. I've written 11 books and I will write a book every year the
rest of my life. That's what gives me energy and passion. I could do that
forever. Knowing that, I come up with the ideas. Well, I hire assistants that are
strong in fact finding or in implementation or follow through. They're
strong in the areas that I'm not necessarily weakened but I would rather
delegate that to them. And they could do follow through or research or
implementation all day long and they would never run out of energy. But they
don't want to come up with the ideas. They're not the quick starts. They're not
the risk takers if you know what I mean. So, how do you create an environment
with whatever you do in your family or your business so that everybody focuses
on their exceptional ability? In my company for example, I'm the quickstart.
And so, I make up the ideas. When I go away fly-fishing and one of my favorite
places in the wind rivers of Wyoming or I go to Maui, my staff knows that I'm
gonna come back with a gazillion ideas. I have to discipline myself to just
restrict myself to 5 ideas that I'm going to introduce to my project manager.
And I fill out an impact filter that's a tool that Dan Sullivan developed. And so,
I present the five ideas that I want to focus on for this quarter, let's say. And
I communicate those very clearly to my project manager. So, I come up with the
ideas because I'm the quickstart. I make up the idea. So, I make it up. Now, once I
communicate exactly what it is, what has to be true at the end of this project
coming to fruition. And I write down the the darkness of the night, if we never
implemented this idea. And the brightness of our future --if it came to pass in full
living color. So, they see the contrast. And then I go through a checklist. "Oh, why
is this important? And what value will this create? And what are the steps?" This
is what has to be true at the end of this project. Once my project manager
understands really what I'm trying to
accomplish with my idea up here, then the project managers responsibility is to
make the idea real. To implement it, to do what has to be done in order to make the
idea real or come to fruition. So, I make it up. My project manager makes it real.
And then I have process managers. Process managers make the idea recur like a
well-oiled machine. So, if I come up with a new idea on how I'm going to reach
more people, let's say with a YouTube channel or with radio or with a speaking
or teaching or this seminar or this webinar or this concept, I come up with
the idea, my project manager makes it real. And my process managers make it
recur like a well-oiled machine so that when I record my radio show, I'm
passionate in that moment. Then it goes out and my radio show is made into
podcasts and articles. And the articles are created into ebooks that are related.
And then the ebooks that are popular are the material to write my next
best-selling book. I see all that is delegated to project managers. And then
once those things are published or created or recorded, the process managers
make sure that it gets uploaded and it goes through the process and it fills up
seminar rooms or audiences throughout the country. I just make up the idea. And
then I delegate to a project manager that will make it real. And then the
process managers make it recur. Now, I'm going to share with you what most business
owners make the mistake of doing putting people in the wrong seats. So, in Jim
Collins book where he talks about how to take good companies and make them great,
he often talks about the right people in the right seats on the bus. Many times
business owners make the mistake of putting process managers and project
manager roles or vice versa. So, for example: if I come back from a trip and
I've got all these ideas and I present a new idea to my project manager, if that
person were to go, "Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Doug, we
haven't finished the last idea you presented. I don't want to hear about any
new ideas until I get this one going." I'm going, "No, no. See, I'm more excited about
the new idea. That one that I told you about before needs to be put on the
backburner. I still want to do it but it's not a priority." See, a project
manager, they get bored doing the same old, same old thing. So, they get excited.
They see the vision. They go, "Oh! Hot Diggity Dog. Yeah, let's do that. I see why
that's important." And they move on. A process manager is the one that goes, "No,
no. I don't want to hear about any more ideas. I got to get this last idea
working." That's a process manager. You wouldn't believe how many business
owners waste tons of time, energy, money resources because they have process
managers serving as project managers. And that's the best way to tell if the if
the wrong people are in the wrong seats on the bus. And so, you want to be able to
delegate an idea to a project manager and they are on to whatever project
you're excited about, they don't get bored. They love the variety. The process
managers like to sit there and watch it and oil it and see how they can tweak it
with the process. Does that make sense? So, when our family, whenever we do a
humanitarian project, a service project. For example we put together a whole
bunch of newborn kits and hygiene kits, 300 of them between Christmas and New
Year's for third world countries. And so, I look at my kids and my grandkids and
some of them are project managers. Some are process managers. Some of them I have
come up with the ideas. And when they all rise to the occasion, then we set up the
assembly line and some of the kids are in charge of the project and the quality
control. Others are processed managers on what goes in the Ziploc baggie first. And
they all feel fulfilled because they're doing what gives them energy and passion
because they're all energizer bunnies doing what they do best. Does that make
sense? So, I want you to learn how to do this. In my book Entitlement Abolition
and several of my publications, I talked about how to lead the families from the
me, me, me to WE = together we're better. And this is
one of the concepts, I talk about in this book. You can get a free copy of
Entitlement Abolition by clicking down here. And you just pay 5.95
shipping and handling. i'd love to fire out a copy to you. You go to entitlement
abolitionbook.com to receive your free copy.