• He gave the brilliant analogy of how you can’t give from an empty bucket. He gave five bullets we need to fill in life to be successful: Knowledge, Skills, Network, Resources and Reputation. He said you need to prioritize the first 2 buckets and then everything else will fall into place. But too many people focus on making money (resources) or their fancy job title (reputation). Instead they should be focused on learning the most they can and developing their skills. Maybe that means working for less pay, but you know you’re definitely making progress.
• To master a topic, you must create an obligation to teach it. This actually inspired me to start sharing my daily lessons on tiktok. There is something about putting social accountability on yourself that helps you learn things
• Instead of changing reality, change the perception of reality. Dominos make millions of dollars simpy by creating an online pizza portal that showed customers the current status of their order. Before they would have customers calling and asking when their pizza was gonna be ready. And that would ironically make the pizza wait time longer. Dominos could have invested millions in better ovens or trained faster employees or promised free breadsticks if they were late. But they did none of those things! Instead they were transparent. Humans hate uncertainty, we like feeling in control by knowing when something is coming
• Become 1% better everyday. Sweat the small stuff. Instead of trying to do a 5 minute plank one day and then giving up. Start with a 1 minute plank and add 5 seconds everyday. Humans often hate this approach because it takes patience and doesn’t feel exciting. But within 80 days, you’ll reach your 5 minute plank. If you get 1% better everyday, the compound returns quickly add up
• Humans have a much higher chance of dying if they perceive pressure or anxiety as a bad thing. But researchers found that people live the longest if they believe that pressure was good for them and a privledge. These people lived even longer than people who were reportingly calm and had no apparent pressures. Because their body had a reason to live.
• Ask who not how. Companies are essentially just a group of people who decided to work together. The first 10 people you hire will be the most important decision you make as a business owner. Each of those 10 people will likely make up 10% of your culture. If those 10 people each have employees who work for them, then those workers will directly have the culture and mentality of their manager. You want to be very careful about who you hire. One rotten apple can mess up an entire group or department. Be willing to fire to maintain your culture, even if that person is very talented.
• There is a story about Richard Branson explaining how he didn’t know the difference between net and gross profit. And he had one of his assistants explain the concept to him. Richard related this story because he said “I hire smart people and I get out of their way.” He credits a lot of his success to his ability to hire the very best people
• Employees value progress over money or recognition. Employees don’t know this about themselves. But they need to feel like they’re making progress in their work to be happy and satisfied. Find ways as an owner to make all your employees feel like they’re making progress. Even if that means showing them the kpi’s or taking them behind the hood.