Hitting Pause on Your Personal Remote Control, The Secret to Finding Yourself, Gratitude

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
— Mahatma Gandhi

If Monday were an indication of the quality of my week, this might be one for the ages.  Great conversations with strangers, a quick run down the hill to get some supplies, spent the night with my wife, she made a fantastic dinner, we ended our evening in our bean bags, PVHT in toe.

My first meeting was with a young man from Chicago.  He was referred by one of my Indy friends, a young man, a father, a connector, a reader of over 500 books in eight years; Jeff was a refreshing way to start my day. I then took some time and sat on my deck, and did some positive intelligence work.  I ran another Zoom with a Denver friend; his business has exploded over this past 18 months; Joe was a hermit during the pandemic and just went to his first baseball game since September of 19. It was a little overwhelming, but as he returned to his car after the game, he had a heart of thankfulness.

The gratitude that I hear these days is fantastic. Something bigger than ourselves noticed we took everything for granted and provided a subtle reminder that we are not in control.  As we regain our ability to move around freely, associate with others, return to semi-normal, people are thankful.  I see so many smiles; it’s a beautiful time to be alive.

I ran a call with my friend Josh from New York and one of his friends David from San Francisco; they are launching a new product and asked me my thoughts.  I think they may have a golden ticket.  They are taking technology and training that has been reserved for 10 million dollar revenue companies until now and are scaling it for companies one to five million in revenue.  It’s a freedom-based product that allows each team member to gain freedom while enjoying personal and professional growth.  It’s employee-centered, so the entire firm becomes a coaching system.

I had my first POD meeting with my positive intelligence team.  I’ve got a strong group of thought leaders.  All coaches are interested in helping others; we have a mission to improve the world; I can’t wait to see where this work takes us.  One of my pod members is the man behind the February Leadership Development day held in Denver this year.  We are meeting on Thursday to set in motion another LDD in Indianapolis; if you are looking for a platform to share your Ted Talk, message me, and we will see if your topic fits our target.  The event will be broadcast worldwide; it’s an opportunity to show your speaking and training skills.

We had to go to Staples to get my wife a paper calendar.  Why a paper calendar? We are asked about dates, where we will be, can you do this, can you do that, and it’s complex tracking with our outlook calendars.  Each year she gets a paper calendar that is always by her side for easy reference.  We also had to get PVHT a new harness; the last one blew out on our Saturday hike.

We returned home; I ran a quick appointment with Bay and some marketing people.  I was just checking in on the project; they are making things happen, building out a CRM, email drip campaign.  I did some personal marketing reaching out to some CEOs whose employees had been tracking my work.  If you see someone or a company monitoring your work, it’s an opportunity to reach out and see if there is any interest in a discovery call.

This morning we have our monthly sales meeting; I have the scorecard.  Three of our agents went above goal. The rest were close, but overall we are at 111% of goal this month; this should bring us up to 100% for the year. I now wonder if I’m a goal-setting savant or finally figured out how to set reasonable and attainable goals.  The question for those that didn’t hit the plan will be to provide some self-reflection and change behavior to make sure they hit their mark.

I think the problem in most sales organizations is there is little or no tracking mechanism. There is no scorecard to let the sales team know who’s doing the work, who’s winning, and who needs to put a little more time into prospecting.  I track activity using a simple point system; the points are a leading indicator of their future production.   At 52 years old, I finally have a solid strategy; this is the system I teach other agencies around the country.  If you are an insurance agency owner or have a sales team and need some help, let’s have a conversation.

The sunrise was fantastic this morning; depending on how you consume my soup, you may or may not get to witness this morning’s gift.  Speaking of gifts, today is another gift I encourage you not to take for granted.  Clarify your mind, use your senses to experience all life has to offer.  Stop now and then to check in with what is going on around you.  Hit pause on your personal remote control and take a keen interest in the sights, sounds, textures, and presence of your own body.

I’ve begun a  meditation practice, and I encourage you to use an app like headspace or calm.  It’s good to quiet the mind, let go of all those thoughts that keep your mind busy; for a few moments today, just be.  You have many choices as to how you view your life.  You can believe you work in a coal mine or that every day you walk around Disney World.  It is your decision how you view your circumstance, your position in society, choose to be your best self. -cheers, I’m off to do what I can to make our world a better place.