Tag Archive for: positivity

Increase your CONNECTIVITY to Increase your AFFLUENCE

We have received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback in regards to our last blog piece entitled, “The Landscape on the Box”. If you haven’t read that piece yet, check it out here! As promised when we left off last time, here is the checklist on how to improve your connectivity.There are eight core principles to improving your connectivity. Improving your connectivity will enhance the impact on your community, your role as a thought leader, grow your likeability, scale your business and ultimately increase the affluence in your life. The eight P’s of connectivity include: Positivity, Present, Prepared, Persistence, Press In, Pour In, Perform and Prioritize.

Positivity: Being positive is the critical first step in learning to connect with others. Your attitude determines your altitude and your gratitude determines your attitude. The level of success you achieve in life hinges on your ability to remain positive in all circumstances! You want to be the person that lights up a room when you enter it; not when you leave it! You need to commit to having positive energy and enthusiasm exuding out of you in everything you do. Commit to yourself right now to eliminate any negativity and to be positive. Some tangible things you can do to increase your positivity include smiling, dressing for success, staying well-groomed, and living out loud with purpose, passion, and discipline! In order to stay positive, you need to stop blaming others and take responsibility for everything that happens to you.  You need to remember that nothing in this world happens to you, but happens because of you! A life of affluence all starts with a positive attitude!

Present: What does it truly mean to “be present?” Nick Saban, the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team is famous for his saying: “Be where your feet are.” Being present is having the discipline to wholeheartedly focus on the one thing that is in front of you. As humans, we think we can multi-task, but in reality multi-tasking is an illusion. The truth is we have a hard-enough time completing one task in front of us; let alone attempting to complete two things! Multi-tasking puts us at risk for creating substandard results in any area of our life. Developing the discipline to stay focused on the person in front of us creates connectivity.  Have you ever been talking with someone at a party who is busy looking around and seems to be only half engaged in the conversation? How did that make you feel?  Learn to live in the moment. This is a crucial point and it’s not easy. Many of us tend to worry or get stuck in our dreams. We spend way too much time living in the past or the future and not being focused on the current moment.  If you want to connect deeper with people learn the art of being present.

Prepared: In learning to connect with people it is important that you are prepared. You’ve heard the saying, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” Be prepared by mastering your ability to communicate.  Communication mastery is vital to connecting with people and involves three components: self-awareness, recognizing others, and then being able to adapt our communication and behavior to allow us to connect with each and every human being we encounter.

Self-awareness is defined as the conscious knowledge of one’s own character, feelings, motives, and desires.  Self-awareness creates personal accountability, confidence, and clear expectations of what you need to be prepared to serve others.  Once you have a clear understanding of yourself you can prepare to start to recognize other’s unique behaviors, needs, wants, and desires.

Recognizing others requires an understanding of the different types of human behavior. We all know that no one person behaves the exact same, but we do know that there are similar behavioral styles that are universal and these styles can be studied. At SIDECAR, we utilize a tool known as the DISC Assessment that gives us a platform to learn the art of human behavior. In fact, we have an entire Communication Mastery course in our OVERDRIVE product that helps to identify everything you need to know about communicating.

Lastly, self-awareness coupled with the ability to recognize others prepares you to adapt and communicate to create connectivity. If you understand how you communicate, and understand how your target communicates, this allows you to make the necessary adaptations for the optimal level of connection.

Persistence: Woody Hayes said it best, “Paralyze resistance with persistence.” It takes persistence to become a master of connecting with people. To develop persistence you first must commit. Commit to the process that leads to increasing your connectivity. The Persistence Process in connecting with people includes getting involved in your community, serving on boards, going to different coffee shops, engaging with waiters and waitresses, serving at your school, serving at your church, nesting in local business establishments, giving value-added talks to any group that will listen to your story, and much more. Take a genuine interest in the area you live in and be a part of your community. Stop sitting idle in your office or at your home!  Persist in getting to know as many people as you can!  Engage with people!  Persist in your own mind to be more concentrated on being interested in others versus trying to be more interesting yourself. Persistence is day in and day out forever! Persistence is not a “one-off” event! Winner’s do daily what others do occasionally!

Press In: If you are going to connect with people you will need to be willing to “press in.” To press in is the concept of taking responsibility  for your half of the relationship. Pressing in requires a high level of accountability. You need to become accountable for your actions, your thoughts, your success, and your failures. You need to press in and take accountability to learn the skill set of being “contactable.”  Being contactable means that you are intentionally pressing in to widen your circle of influence.  If you want to have more impact, scale your business, and enjoy deeper relationships you’re going to have to “press in.” This will require hustle; you will have to hustle for what you want! One of the most common characteristics of successful people is their ability to hustle relentlessly. People with hustle aren’t scared of the invisible, the uncomfortable, or what could happen if they make themselves vulnerable.  Learn to press in and your ability to connect with more people will soar!

Pour In: To “pour in” requires you to serve and lead with your heart! You must be willing to give above and beyond yourself in order to enhance your connectivity. Become a servant leader in your business, your home, your church, your community and focus on what you can do for the betterment of others. The only way to truly receive is to give first, with no strings attached. I think one of the best examples of “pouring in” is when Jesus humbled himself to wash his disciples’ feet.  He didn’t have to do this based upon who He was, but He did this act as an example of what true servant leadership looks like.  So instead of seeking a “title” use Jesus’s example and pick up a “towel” instead.

Prioritize: To increase your connectivity, you are going to need to prioritize your life. For some of you, this may include adding certain things to your life that you aren’t currently doing. However, for most of you this is going to require subtracting the unnecessary things out of your life! Success is about subtracting, not adding. Unfortunately, subtracting is much harder than adding! It’s easy to pick up something new or try a quick-fix option. It’s much harder to shed something that’s been with you forever and has grown into a bad habit. The concept of essentialism teaches that to increase your impact and connectivity you must prioritize the items that you truly do well and eliminate the rest from your life completely.

Perform: Finally, we get to the connecting. Think of every opportunity you have to connect as a performance. Then, think of your performance as a dance. This time to connect with whomever may be in front of you is your time to shine! You’ve put the work in and you are prepared, now, the only thing left for you to do is dance! Put yourself out there in the best way you know how and display your talent on the grand stage. The performance is a culmination of all the previous principles. This is what you are working towards!

All these principles will allow you to connect with more people and increase your impact. They will require due diligence on your part and some areas are going to be more challenging than others. If you were inspired by any of these principles; you’ve got what it takes. Use that fire inside you to develop yourself into a master communicator and start connecting and changing more lives.

Dr. Nathan UnruhDr. Nathan Unruh, CXO SIDECAR

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There’s Just Not Enough Time!

Have you ever felt like there just wasn’t enough time in the day to accomplish everything you set out to do?

Everyone has the same amount of time. Barring any event that reduces or ends the amount of life someone experiences, time is constant.

Let’s do the math:

  • 24 hours per day
  • 168 hours per week
  • 8,760 hours per year

As long as you and I are both alive, we’ve got the same amount of time.

The Truth

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average person spends three hours per day watching T.V. Three hours per day equates to 21 hours per week. This ultimately adds up to 1,095 hours per year!

12.5% of an entire year spent watching T.V.

You may be thinking, “That’s not me, I don’t watch that much T.V.!”

What about time spent on your cell phone? Social Media, Messaging, Internet usage… Most reports done show that the average person spends around four hours per day on their phone!

The point that I’m trying to make here is this: You have plenty of time to accomplish what you truly want to accomplish.

Television

The average person spends 12.5% of each year watching television.

Subtraction

If you are feeling pressed for time and constantly find yourself “running out”; re-examine exactly where you are allocating your time. The key to improving your efficiency and ultimately growing is through subtraction. Success is never about adding; it’s always about subtracting! Subtract anything that is not aligning you closer to your vision. Eliminate the wasteful screen time spent on TV or your cell phone.

You might be thinking, “I don’t waste time!” My response? Business does not equal productivity.

If you feel you are being efficient with your time but still don’t have enough, examine the tasks you are performing.  

A great principle that we teach at SIDECAR is the one-minute principle. This principle helps to identify exactly how much time you may be wasting in your day. Taking inventory of your time will help to expose growth areas.

Here’s some perspective: every great idea, product, event, or thing that has ever occurred on this Earth stemmed from a person who had the same amount of time that you do!

You have plenty of time. Start making the most of it.

Let’s Ride!

Dr. Nathan UnruhDr. Nathan Unruh, CXO SIDECAR

To find out more about the one-minute principle and how to apply it to your business give us a call at 1-877-727-2705.

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Spectators and Players

In your business, you can choose to be a spectator or a player. Which one are you?

I talk with a lot of doctors and business people who have elaborate plans for their future. They tell me about their great ideas and the things that they want to do. Most of the time, these plans remain just that, plans! At SIDECAR we refer to this stage as “getting ready to get ready”.

The common theme when I talk with these types of people is that they always have something to say about those in their field that are out doing things. They remind me of spectators watching an event take place. These people are riddled with opinions including things like: “Why didn’t he do this?” or “Why didn’t she see that?” They tend to think that they understand the game quite well from there vantage point.

Spectators Everywhere

I tend to find that there are a lot more spectators than there are players on the field these days. The reality of the situation is this: the players, people partaking in the event, are the ones making the difference. These people are training to win and are willing to take a position in front of the spectators, put on their best performance, take any criticism they receive, and build on it.

There are always going to be spectators. Not all spectators are bad, they are a necessity for the game to take place. However, if you find yourself thinking like a player but acting like a spectator, that’s when problems arise.

Spectators vs Players

There’s always going to be more spectators.

Which one are you?

Are you a player or are you a spectator? Are you willing to put your best foot forward and take action even though you may not have all the details worked out? Players are constantly training and improving so when it comes time to hit the field they are ready. Players understand that regardless of how well trained they are, during the performance unforeseeable things can take place and require adaptation. The more the player trains the better he or she will be at handling the unforeseeable circumstances.

The spectator has a pretty cushy job. He gets to sit in a spot way up high where he can see it all, snack on some popcorn, and proclaim his opinion to all those around him.

If you desire to be a player, lose the mindset and work ethic of a spectator.

A coach once told me, “Players make plays, players win games.”

Dr. Nathan UnruhDr. Nathan Unruh, CXO SIDECAR

 

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The Five Things I Do Every Morning

Over the years I’ve developed a routine that allows me to be my best every day. 

What is the most important time of your day?

The most important time in my day is the first 30 minutes. Why? The first half hour of my day gives me the opportunity to check my attitude and determine where my perspective is. I sit quietly and reflect in a state of gratitude. I think about everything that I am thankful for. Gratitude is crucial for achieving success.

You can’t be blessed with more if you aren’t grateful for what you currently have.

My Morning Routine

From a tactical standpoint here is a list of what I accomplish in the first 30 minutes of my day:

  1. Read a daily devotional. This is my time to be alone with God. This devotional always helps set my perspective for the day and allows me to start my day off thinking.
  2. Review my SIDECAR Throttle. I go through all my 90 day commitments and track my progress.
  3. Plan out my day and write everything down. From 6 A.M. until I go to bed, I plan every minute and every hour. I write down what I’m going to do each hour of that day, what my tweener time activities are, the people I want to contact, thank you’s I want to write, and activities I want to get done.
  4. Find a quote that I want to think about and write that down.
  5. Write down my goals.

At the end of my day I reflect and review on what went well, what I didn’t get done, and re-write my goals.

Develop Your Routine

I’ve found over the years that I am at my best when I start my day in the following fashion. Zig Ziglar famously said, “We all need a check up from the neck up.” I utilize the first 30 minutes in my day to do exactly that! I’m not writing this blog post to say that you need to adapt my routine. Develop your own routine! Find out what you need to do in the first thirty minutes of your day to allow you to be at your best.

Dr. Nathan Unruh

Dr. Nathan Unruh, CXO SIDECAR

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Rate Your Work Ethic!

Are you working as hard as you think you are? 

Work Ethic

Rate your work ethic. On scale of 1-10, rate your work ethic. Seriously, choose a number.

What number did you give yourself? Typically, people answer comfortably in the 6-8 range. Let’s put that into perspective. If you were taking a test: 8 out of 10 would be a B, 7 out of 10 a C, and everything below that… well, you get the idea.

This is a great exercise to do with your team. Open yourself and your team up and be vulnerable. Remember, in our businesses we only get what we tolerate. Your team’s work ethic drives what you all can accomplish as a unit. We encourage you to be honest with yourself; where is your work ethic right now?

What is Your Why?

If your answer isn’t as high as you would like it to be here’s my question for you, what is your why? Is your why, the reason you do what you do, big enough? When your why truly is big enough, the how’s will take care of itself!

We know that in order to execute on every patient experience we have to be 100% present with 100% effort. This needs to transcend from you, the leader of your business, down to your techs.

I have asked techs that worked for me in the past, “If you had a car and it only started 7 out of 10 times, but you never knew exactly when it would or wouldn’t start, would you keep that car?”

Take a look in the mirror. How’s your work ethic?

Dr. Nathan UnruhDr. Nathan Unruh, CXO SIDECAR

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The Titration Effect and Your Business

You never know which action you take is going to result in your breakthrough. Intentional effort in everything you do will result in reaching higher levels of success.

If you’ve ever been to a swimming pool you may have seen a lifeguard or pool employee checking the chemical balance of the water. The process used to analyze the water is a method known as titration.

The basics of the titration process are as follows. The person checking the pool uses drops of different test chemicals to assess the chemical levels of the water. By adding the test chemicals one drop at a time, the employee can determine the exact chemical level of the water based on the number of drops it takes to change the color of the water. Once the water changes color, the person stops adding drops and is able to calculate the answer.

What Can Titration Teach Us?

What may surprise you about titration is the lesson it can teach us regarding our business and life in general. With titration, the person performing the test does not know exactly which drop is going to trigger the result. It may be the first, 10th, or 50th drop before the answer is revealed.

Now, if you were to have a group of school children watch someone perform this experiment and ask them which drop caused the change in the water color, the majority would say the last drop! By thinking critically about this scenario, we understand that without any of the drops before it, the result would not be achieved. Therefore, each drop is just as important as the next!

Titration effect

Every single drop matters

Drip by Drip

You never know which action you take is going to lead to the results you are pursuing. What we do know is that little by little, over time, the actions you take will amount to a result. If you stop taking action because you’re not seeing results or you think you’re never going to reach your goals; you could be one action away from your breakthrough.

This example can apply to the health of our patients as well. Who knows if the patient’s health crisis was triggered by the first cigarette or the hundredth? The first greasy meal or the last one?

To see results and achieve success you’ve got to take constant, intentional action. Every drip matters. Consistency is key and the more drips you can make the sooner you can start to see results.

Drip by drip, action by action.

Let’s Ride!

Dr. Douglas Sea, SIDECAR

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When to Give Your Employee a Second Chance

When is it time to forgive an employee and when is it time to move on?

At SIDECAR, we know that people decisions are the most important decisions we make. Your business runs on systems that are operated by qualified people. Without the proper people in place, your business will never be able to reach new levels of success. While people decisions are the most rewarding, they also present difficult obstacles and dilemmas that you must deal with. One specific area that I want to address today is the topic of giving employees second chances.

Second Chances

Some business philosophies state that an employee should never receive a second chance. The expectations are set and if they are not met than the employee should find a new place to work. Other philosophies stress leniency and forgiveness often quoting the well-known statistics that show the high cost of employee turnover.

At SIDECAR, our philosophy lies somewhere in the middle of this spectrum. Expectations do need to be established, transparent, and followed closely in order for your business systems to run efficiently. However, understanding that no one is perfect, including you, and that mistakes can and will happen also plays a role in making these crucial employment decisions.

Look in the mirror!

In the past when I’ve experienced issues with employees and had to make decisions I stop and ask myself what my role was in the employee’s mishap. Instead of focusing on what the employee did or didn’t do; I turn the light on myself and examine what I did or didn’t do. Second chances aren’t just a grace gifted from employer to employee. If you as the employer give an employee a second chance, you are also granting yourself as the leader of your business a second chance.

An employee may not deserve a second chance if you:

  • Did everything you could from a leadership standpoint.
  • Followed every guideline you could find to handle the situation.
  • Led to the absolute best of your abilities.

However, if at any point during your introspection do you discover an area where you failed the employee as a leader; then, I recommend you take a long, hard look in the mirror before making any decisions on that employee’s future.

If you’re following the recommended SIDECAR Hiring System you understand how tedious the interview process is and should be confident in the quality of employee that comes out of that process and joins your team. Recognize when errors are made by good employees and understand the consequences of every personnel decision you make.

EVERYTHING in a business rises and falls on leadership.

Let’s Ride,

Dr. Nathan UnruhDr. Nathan Unruh, CXO SIDECAR

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How I’ve Developed Myself as a Leader

Becoming a better leader isn’t an overnight process. Following the Hierarchy of Leadership has helped me to enhance my leadership capabilities.

Leadership is a hot topic in the world of entrepreneurship and personal development. Many people have the desire to become a better leader, but do not have a plan in place to turn their thoughts and dreams into reality.

The Hierarchy of Leadership can be utilized as a ladder to becoming a better overall leader. The hierarchy of leadership is as follows: lead yourself, lead your family, lead your team, and lead your community. This model is a progression, you will struggle to lead others if you first cannot lead yourself.

Lead Yourself

If you desire to improve yourself as a leader, first examine your ability to lead yourself. Can you walk the walk? Are you able to execute on your own personal desires? Do you find yourself making excuses and justifying them with your actions?

This is the foundation and most important component of leadership. Effective leaders are extremely self-disciplined, intentional with their actions, and self-aware of who they truly are.

If what you want to achieve requires getting out of bed at 5 AM; you have to get yourself out of bed at 5 AM.

Lead your Family

After you’ve harnessed the ability to lead yourself, focus on leading your family. Those that surround you day in and day out! Whether this be your spouse, children, or other loved ones – develop the ability to lead them.

Your family will expose more about you and your leadership abilities than any other demographic. Your ability to communicate properly, make tough decisions, and lead day-in and day-out will be manifested in a family setting.

Lead your Team

Your team is similar to your family; in fact, you probably spend more time with them than you do your true relatives! The people you interact with everyday when you step foot in the office comprises your team.

Leading your team requires developing and implementing a vision, mission, values, code of honor, and “We Believe” statements. Your ability to lead will be directly determined by your ability to get your team to buy-in and commit to honoring these values.

Your ability to lead your team will determine your capability to serve those around you.

Lead your Community

The last step in the Hierarchy of Leadership is the ability to lead your community. By the time you’ve reached this point you should be confident and comfortable with your ability to lead. Leading in your community is simply an opportunity to extend your leadership skills elsewhere and serve.

To an extent, if you’ve reached this level of leadership ability it is your duty to go out and lead the community you live in. Possessing this level of leadership is rare and doesn’t come by chance. Reaching out at this level will allow you to leave an impact greater than you may have imagined.

Final Thoughts

Leadership isn’t easy and it isn’t for everyone. If you truly desire to become a better leader, examine where your leadership ability falls along the Leadership Hierarchy model.

The best advice I can give? Start by learning to lead yourself.

Let’s Ride!

Dr. SeaDr. Douglas Sea, CTO SIDECAR

To learn more about Dr. Douglas Sea click here. 

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