Tag Archive for: talk

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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Teaching Your Employees the Importance of “Playing Hurt”

Instilling the concept of “Playing Hurt vs. Playing Injured” in your company culture is crucial in your ability to lead your team effectively.

How many times have you told yourself or your employees to “Rub some dirt on it!” or “Shake it off!” in the last few months?

What I hope to illustrate in today’s blog is defining the concept of “Playing Hurt vs. Playing Injured” and how you can incorporate this lesson into your company culture.

Playing Hurt

Being hurt is challenging. When you’re feeling under the weather it’s easy to head back to bed and chalk the day up as a loss. However, as the leader of your business you must come to a quick realization. Ultimately, you set the tone for your company and are directly in charge of your company’s culture.

If you have a stuffy nose or don’t feel quite right, you can still go to work. You can go to work and you can perform to the standards you’ve set for yourself and your employees. A majority of the time it comes down to your mindset. You don’t have a choice, you have a responsibility to the people you serve. This is the mindset you need to instill in your company culture.

Playing Injured

Playing Injured is a different story. If you or your employee is in rough shape and has no capability of performing the required work duties; then it’s probably not safe to come in to work. The reality of this situation is that it is rare! Encouraging a healthy lifestyle to your team will help combat the likelihood of this occurring. If an employee is constantly “injured” you may need to step in as a leader and help resolve other situations in that employee’s life.

Teaching Your Team to Play Hurt

If you’re under these people, you’re probably injured!

The Small Business Reality

99.7% of all businesses in the United States are small businesses. Your business falls into this category. A small business is going to struggle to grow if it is consistently missing 25-50% of their workforce. Understand the magnitude of missing one employee when you consistently operate with a team of less than five people.

Set the edges with your employees and lay the guidelines for what you tolerate. You can play hurt; you can’t play injured. At the end of the day it’s not about you; it’s about the team coming together to work towards your business’s vision.

When an employee is out of the office for whatever reason. Have Plan B ready to go. If that doesn’t work try Plan C. Whatever your plan may be, just get the job done. If you need to have PRN staff, a bullpen of candidates available at a moment’s notice: your spouse, kids, uncle, neighbor… Establish a pool of individuals that know what to do and can operate in your business in a bind.

 

Dr. Nathan Unruh Dr. 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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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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