314 - Don't Let This Happen To You?

0:00This week I did a YouTube video which was entitled, Whose Fault is It? Probably Yours. and I would encourage you to go over to my YouTube channel and watch that video. But the person I primarily talked about in that video commented in an email to me, and I want to spend some time to talk about this as well. And I guess I'd call this podcast, Don't Let This Happen to You. So he commented on how long he had been doing this and the success he eventually had and how he found it. And he said, it all changed for me when I started to pursue a true passion. I believe we're all hardwired for particular work.

0:45It can't be anything other than what the hardwiring is. And then he said, people self-sabotage primarily because they are not engaged in a work of passion. They indulge in activities of escapism to get away from a life they are deeply unsatisfied with. Even the business acquisition process can be escapism for those who do it half-heartedly just to distract themselves from their actual life. You cannot be truly serious about something you are not completely passionate about. Previously, I just could not stop myself doing completely counterproductive activities, meditating, esoteric philosophy, CBD oil.

1:31That was my escape. Now I'm fully engaged in passionate work, and I have zero desire or time for any of it. So I would think about that hard, and I would also think about procrastination and what you let take up your time. If you are engaged in passionate work, if you have a plan that you're working, and if you drill that plan down to the activities that are required on a yearly basis, quarterly basis, monthly basis, and ultimately daily basis, you will treat your time pretty carefully. and you'll schedule your time. And that scheduling of your time, you can put things like relaxation in there or sport or working out, whatever it is, but schedule your time primarily from the time you get up until the time you go to bed.

2:30And there, by doing that, you are choosing how you want to spend your time. There's a lot of people who end up looking for the secret sauce, and maybe that's in the next book, and maybe that's in the next video. And I'm not lying when I said I have had people say to me, I spend 80 hours a week. When I say people, that's not true. I had one person who said, you know, listening to your videos, listening to the other videos on these subjects, I spend about 80 hours a week listening to those. Well, if you're spending 80 hours a week listening to videos and reading books, and I don't care if they're my videos, you don't have much time for the actual work of what you're doing.

3:18So I would remember that. I've got an example that I wanted to share with you. A mentee who acquired his first business, he's acquired several now, but he was following up on a series of prospects and one of those prospects when he asked if they were interested in selling the business said yeah that's kind of interesting but why don't you call me in two weeks three weeks whatever it was and he forgot about doing that and he one day oh I never called that person and so he called her and she said he said oh she said I wondered where I was going to hear from you. I thought I was going to hear from you quite a while ago.

4:01And he asked if she had thought about selling the business and if she wanted to have that discussion. And she said, no, you really opened my eyes. And since we've talked, I've acquired, it was either two or three businesses. She was already in the business, so it was a little easier for her. But again, if you schedule your time, if you track your time, if you use a CRM to remind you what to do, those things won't slip by you. You'll be reminded. It gives you the ability to forget because you've got a system that reminds you to do something. And so think about that as well. Scheduling your time, having a planner or CRM or whatever it is that reminds you what you have to do at any time during the day or in the future to follow up with.

4:54I've kept on my desk for probably 30 years, a sign which says, do it now. And it just constantly reminds me whenever I look at it, okay, don't put something else off. Don't procrastinate. You know, we all have a tendency to procrastinate and it's hard enough not to. So reminders like that can be really helpful. And to me, I see it several times a day. Do it now. The other piece of that just is, what good shall I do that this day. So spend some time to do that. Spend some time to plan your time. Spend some time with gratitude, morning and night, to think about, you know, the things that you're grateful for.

5:36Sometimes that slips away from you. Think about the successes you've already had and use that as fuel that, hey, I can do this, and it is working, certainly. So I hope that helps, but the secret is not in the next book. The secret's not in the next video. The secret is finding something you're passionate about, developing a plan, and then working that plan with a ton of action. And if you do that, you will be far more successful than those that idly go by and let, whether it's the YouTube, social media, any other thing that takes their time. And one of the things that helps me when I think about that is if you are not working your to-do list, you're working somebody else's to-do list.

6:26And that's particularly true if you start to look at emails that have tasks in them. Some of those you're going to have to do. But work your to-do list. Work your priority list. Work your plan. And if you do that, I think you will be happy with the results that you see.