Complacency is a Killer

Watch the Full Video Here: Complacency is a Killer

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All right. Good morning, guys. This topic kind of came to me this morning. Uh, James said he's going to join us, too, because he probably has a very unique perspective on this, because I know he's gone through this a bunch of times. So I was thinking last night and tell me if you guys are ever feeling this way, especially people that have been here and know how to do this and do it well. Like you start losing your motivation because you have what you want to have, like in your life.

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Life's going good, you know, things like that. Um, anybody ever experienced that? And it doesn't have to be at, like, the complacency.

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Because I'll have I have I'll share that with you. And this. I've had that. Okay. I've had that because I moved around was I was dependent in the military. So life is very cushy as an officer's wife and, you know, getting the things you need and slacking back. You miss out on a lot of time currency because you're not really paying attention. And I noticed that there was a lot of time could have done different things when I had the time of being taken care of by the United States Marine Corps and wasted time. And that's something I'll never get back that I know.

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So my I had everything I wanted. But then when I got divorced, it became very real at that moment. So you never can rest on your laurels. I learned that. And that's why I'm always trying to be out of the game and think what I deal with now is that thought. Sometimes think about it too much and sometimes I wonder if I need to, like, relax and just keep doing what I'm doing and just don't do it again. Just trying not to get caught up behind that too much.

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Um, and James just joined us. So James, basically what I just asked everybody before you sat down there, it's like, you know, we're all going to become resting on our laurels. Like I was thinking about this other day, like, I'm going, I mean, my life is good right now. I'm going to pick up a puppy tomorrow in Pennsylvania, and I'm not leaving the airport. They're bringing me the dog. So. I was trying to ask myself, what do I want next? Moses asked me this yesterday, but it was in relation to like, what do I want next as far as getting better at my job, which is something you should always be asking because that is only going to make you more money and, you know, propel your career forward.

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But like, like I feel that I've felt that many times throughout these four years. Like, what is next? Or like, why am I working so hard? Or, you know, just like when you when you have everything that you need, it's like, obviously I'm never going to have everything I want because I don't plan on having $10 billion and buying baseball teams and stuff. But, um, you know, if you have, once you have everything that you want or need, you know, you start resting on your laurels. And the reason James come in is like, and I know some of his answers are going to be, but a lot of you haven't heard this, Um, like what did you have to do to yourself, like your own brain to be able to make that switch where you keep working even though everything is already good, so mean.

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It doesn't have to be. James Like for me, it's always like, all right. So I wanted to do really well. While Ultimate Challenge wanted to get into team building. But then you have those things and I think James knows where I'm what I'm trying to say. It's like you have this stuff. It's all good. Should I take the foot off the gas and enjoy more free time or should I press it? And I'm like, I'll just be honest with you guys. Like, I currently have that all the time. It's like, Oh, I really want to do this, but I also want to do this. So James, if you want to take it away, sorry to put you on the spot.

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Oh, you're fine. Um. I mean, think.

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Hey, very few people get get truly to that point where that happens. And so, you know, I'll mention a couple of different things that that have always helped me. Um.

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Growing up, I watched, you know, my well, I'll preface it by saying we talk all the time and I know we've got a lot of new people and we'll be doing this at the boot camp again where we do the vision board stuff, everything. But we talk about knowing your whys, right? And so there's a reason I write down my goals every single day. And we talk about, you know, when when we used to have field agents and going face to face a little index card that they would tape on their dashboard, but you can have it at your desk and all that stuff. And there's two why's to life, there's the why that makes you try, right? And the why that makes you cry and the why that makes you try is just like you want to have nice stuff, right? Mean you want to.

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All of us wanted a nice house or a nicer car or you know.

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A puppy in Pennsylvania, which makes no sense. Bears digress. And then you've got the why that makes you cry, right? And so for me, um, that that's what's driven me more than anything. Like, I'm not so much, you know, if you, um, get, get to know me well, like, I'm not, I'm not super materialistic from that standpoint. And so, you know, then people ask me in the sales world where that comes from. But, um, so much of it is, you know, one, one of my favorite books, um, is called, you know, You Need More Money.

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And so what that book is about is, is his family, his name is Matt Manero, the author and his family and some of the stuff there. So let me just explain that from that standpoint is I grew up watching my dad, uh, from you know, he's been the first 13 years of his life and eastern Kentucky in a coal mining town. My grandfather was was a coal miner. And when the coal mine industry collapsed. A You got paid at a coal mine in what was called company money. There's some cool songs about it. But anyways, uh, and so there was no way to save, right? Because that money was only good in the coal mining towns.

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And so my dad had to come down to Florida to live with his grandparents and he slept on the back porch on stuff. So I saw that work ethic in him. But if you get to know my dad, he's 74 now. He's still like trying to dabble and work and do all this stuff because of that. And so I think what always helps me is our clientele is who we talk to. And so whether I'm talking to Ernie or I'm talking to you guys in a in a brand new situation, my goal is, is not only to help all of you all accomplish your dreams, but also to make sure that nobody that works at Sews becomes our client.

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And I don't mean that with any disrespect, right? I mean, our clients are incredible people. I love talking to them. I love the stories. But none of us want to end up 67 and worried about, like, how our family is going to pay for our final expenses because we don't have you know, we're just solely dependent on Social Security. Right. I don't think anybody wants to work a majority of their life and then have like, you know. For my dad to retire. It's it's a 60% pay cut, like Social Security is about 40% of what, you know, he was going to make in those scenarios.

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But there was no way for for him to get ahead. And so, you know, so much of that is understanding the concept that I don't want anybody to be working here for for 40 years and having to work right in order to to pay the bills. And so when you truly understand those whys, there's short term. Why's that make you cry? There's long term. And so from from my standpoint. Part of that was my parents. Right? My mom is at this point, I lie about her age all the time.

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So I was get it wrong. I think she's.

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69.

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I always tell people she's like 50. So I get it wrong all the time. But she has a pacemaker that she got 7 or 8 years ago. She was working full time at the hospital and all that stuff, and at the time I was working really hard. I didn't have kids yet, but my goal was I want to retire my parents, right? And and so part of that was, was being like the first couple years I had all the student loan debt, all this stuff when I paid off all my debt. And to Ernie's point, all of a sudden, like my rent got paid every single month, you know, my car payment, Rory would always coach us on.

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You need to have three months worth of bills saved up, right? That's really the minimum. If you're on this call and you don't have three months of cash reserves to pay every single bill you have so that God forbid, you know, you got in like Bridget downstairs, her husband got in a car accident and in a car accident, he broke his term and he hasn't been able to work. Right. And so, like that life comes at you fast. So if you don't have three months worth of bills saved up, that's it. That's all you should be focused on is not enough cash in the bank. So if something happens to me and I can't work for three months, I can cover that, right? So that's step one.

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But I got to that place, right? I got to that place, like Ernie said, to where like, all of a sudden it was like, okay. And I was struggling with that a little bit to get up. And that's when I really had to shift. That's when I started doing, you know, like the ten X conferences and all this stuff. And I realized that what I wanted to do was retire my parents. So now all of a sudden I'm taking on two dependents. And so I started to do the math in my head, What do I need to do for that in order to do that stuff? I knew that I wanted to have. I wanted to get married and have kids. But that's the end point. And my wife and I at the time we were engaged.

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And so I started focusing on that sort of thing. And I'm just very meticulous with numbers and trying to calculate it out and do all this stuff. I also wanted to start investing, wanted to start saving for retirement, wanted to start an IRA and wanted to start doing all these things. But I write all this stuff down every single day, right? I mean, this isn't the actual one. It's over there. But, you know, all my notepads look like this where they're, you know, every single day I flip it over and I just sit there in the morning and I write all this stuff out so that I can visualize it and see through that.

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So and and so then the last comment I'll make is that and then I'll let you go is that when I say life comes at you fast? For those that don't know my my story that well, um, I had every intention of moving my parents down here. My wife was pregnant, and that's what we were going to do. And when my son was born, it was a very traumatic childbirth. I almost lost my wife in the process, and it triggered a whole just snowball of health issues for my wife.

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Um, and health insurance does not cover everything, no matter how great a health insurance you have. And so I got slapped in the face for the past six years with what amounts to at this point depresses me to even think about probably $300,000 in medical bills that that I wasn't prepared for necessarily. But because I was so motivated to do all this stuff, I was never in a position where I had to ask myself, should I try? Like so much of it's experimental medication stuff or, you know, going to see this unique doctor doing different stuff.

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At no point have I in the past six years had to had to make a decision. Do I? Do I do this medical treatment for my wife or do I? You know?

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Uh, and sacrifice something for the kids or do this or do that. And so when people ask me why, why do you still you know, I still argue that I probably outwork everybody here. Um, and the reason I do that is that, you know, I know there's so many people that I want to be able to help and I want to be able to do that stuff. You know, when I first met Ernie, like, I never had to question, you know what I mean? Like trying to to, you know, help him or other agents that we've tried to help or do anything like that.

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And so that drives me substantially. And then because my wife's medical issues, I needed help with my children and needed to do all this stuff. And so I was also simultaneously able to call my mom and say, Mom, you're not working 60 hours a week at the hospital because that's not good for your heart and your pacemaker moving you down to zero. I'm getting you a place to live. You're going to live in this condo. You're going to be close by to me. You're going to be full time grandma and I'm going to be able to take care of you. If you aren't so clearly intentional. On those things, then, you know, it can be tough when the alarm goes off in the morning to get up.

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Right. 5 a.m. club is tough for me, but it doesn't matter. I mean, I've had, you know, COVID twice and I still get up at five and I'm exhausted and, you know, I'm doing this stuff and the kids have been up all night or I've been the mean if you've been here long enough, you've seen me do a 5 a.m. club in the hallway of the emergency room. Um, because I don't miss I don't miss those days. I don't miss that stuff because it's so important to me to stick to my routine, to stick to my habits in order to have that that driving motivation and to have that why.

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And so I want to make sure that, you know, you guys see everything happening now with inflation in this and that. I want to make sure that my family and that those closest to me are taking care of, you know, no matter what circumstances there are. And so there's so much that drives me, there's so much that motivates me from that standpoint. And I was sitting in the exact same position you guys were are

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14 years ago now, almost, you know, it'll be 14 years in July. And so I got presented the exact same opportunity. And for me, that's what it was, right? It was twofold. It was one. Yeah. Like want to be able to, to go home at night and have whatever I want for dinner and sleep in a nice bed and be able to turn the AC down if I want and take a long hot shower if I want and not have to worry about that stuff. But then there's that extra one and there's It's that why that makes you crying? If you were intentional in that you write it down every single day.

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It doesn't matter when when Miss Jones says, no, you it doesn't matter about this. My goal is to get my activity every single day to show up and do that. Even to this day, it's still making sure I talk to enough agents and do enough stuff and have enough one on ones and make sure I talk to Nikki and to Ernie and to do all this stuff and to keep us all focused on what's the next step and where are we going to go from there. So, um, so for being a long winded there, but you know, everybody's got those, those scenarios and those mentalities inside of their head and you've just got to make sure that you are super clear on those and make sure that that's what you're looking at.

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Like while I'm sitting there, dial and like that was taped at the time. We used, you know, hard phones, but now it's the computer. Make sure that's taped there so that while you're dialing, that's what you're looking at. You're looking at your kids, you're you're looking at your parents or you're looking at, you know, the the island you want to go with whatever it is that that truly deep down inside drives you. You need to be looking at that all day long. And so that that's why, you know, you know what you're really striving for.

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And thanks, James. And he's really talking. If you guys noticed, he's talking macro and micro like this is micro is like your daily you're sitting there just dialing. I mean if you're just sitting there dialing, my role for myself wasn't so much like a picture of anybody. It was more like this. During this time, it's 9:00. I dial until one and then I can, you know, as an agent, sometimes I would just go to the gym for one hour, come back, and I was dialing till six because that worked for me. Um, but I just thought it was good, James, to bring this up because we're all going to have those periods in our life while everything's good, you know? Don't you know, don't need to do that like, or, you know, Kevin talked to me about the other day.

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Every time he makes a sale and it's a decent sale and you know, he calculates his commission that that's no longer motivating to me either. It's like, great, you know, I made another sale, but I'm just doing my job over and over again. So it's like that $1,000 that you're going to get next week for that sale, if it's a big one or something is not really going to change your life. So what James is advocating here is set new goals, like obviously that three month goal is fantastic. Like you should have that because that really if something happens, it really will make you feel so much better that you can take care of that, but also like like have to set new goals for myself all the time.

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Like how much of my money can I invest because I am starting late? I'm 38, so I really think or 39 now I really think I need to invest 50%. I want to make it to like because I'm like, I'm not real big materialistic either. Like, I like certain stuff, but if I can invest 70% of all my income, like, how much faster could I technically retire? Like when I'm 60, even though I probably won't retire, if that makes sense. And Eli, you were coming off for you. If you if you want to say something.

00:16:56:02 - 00:17:10:01

Yes. I had a question for James, especially with the writing, the goals down every day. Now, do you write the same goals every single day? Or let's say like every day you write like a new goal or how do you like do that? Because I've always been wanting to ask you that.

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Um, mine's gotten a little more complicated. You know, when I first started, it was, it was really just, you know, I was just trying to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Right. And so, you know, for, for me, when in 2009, you know, I didn't have a lot of confidence. You know, I was I was overweight. I wasn't in good shape mentally or physically. And so it was just I needed to make enough money to pay my bills. And and so one of my goals at that time was just like pay off credit card debt, pay off student loan debt, you know? But then I realized I used to just give out these, these vague goals.

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And so when you guys hear me talk about it a lot, I'm so focused on activity because it's like if I asked everyone on this call, who here on this call wants to be a millionaire? Pretty confident you wouldn't be in sales if you if the answer was yes. But is that really a goal? Like, is your goal to be a millionaire? And if so, it's like, okay, but what are the what are the actionable steps you are going to do to get there? And so that's why you guys see me so focused on my reports and daily activity and understanding your numbers so that you can say, okay, in order to get there, I need to make X amount every single year.

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I need to save this percentage. I need to invest in this stuff so I can get very granular with people. But sometimes it's it's to drill down for for individuals. And so what I say is if you're just trying to get the ball started, sometimes it's just what are like sometimes just goals that you can cross off. And that's what Rory helped me with because I used to get two two macro on it and it was like, Hey, I want to make sure that that, you know, I get up before, you know, six. I want to make sure that I do 30 minutes of, of physical activity.

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I want to make sure that I get, you know, my minimum dials in and my minimum talk time in you know, for that day. And then I add on like my week goals, right? And so then it would be for the week. You know, I want to make sure that I'm at least in the Comma Club, right? I need to I need to bring home. At the time, I was like, I need to bring home at least $1,000 minimum every single week so that I can build up, you know, the other stuff. And so then that's how I would back out my activity. And so then for me, at the end of every day, I also do I rewrite those things down, but I'm also crossing off the things that I accomplished, right? So that I can have that that sense of accomplishment and crossing those things off.

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And then I do like a little gratitude thing, right? So I'll write like I'm grateful that that I, you know, even though didn't make a sale, I got my activity and I got my nose out of the way. I did, you know, And I'm just being giving myself that positive reaffirmation, you know, from that standpoint and and even to to, you know, fast forward to today. I'm still doing those similar things like my my little, you know, daily type stuff that I've got to do today. So for me, I've got daily goals, I've got week, I've got month, and then I do stretch, right? And so my stretch stuff has become, you know, more, you know, big time numbers like, you know, like I want to, I want telesales to hit 400,000in a week.

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Right. You know I want the agency to to have a $40 million a year. You know, I want to, you know, help, you know, 20 additional agents make, you know, over six figures and be involved in weekly meetings with them and stuff like these are the things that, like I wrote down this morning, um, because for me, I need to be able to see like, what? Why, why am I getting up every single day? Right. Because Dani's point, some people ask me, they're like, James, like, you could probably just take it down a notch, you know, and be able to do this.

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But but those are the things that drive me. And I've got these motivations to to try and help other people because I never thought I would have this opportunity, you know, before I found it. And so to realize what it's done for me and my family and those, you know, connected to me in so many people, not just on this call, but but at this agency. So, um, to answer your question, you'll do a little bit of both, right? I'm, I'm very focused on what I want to accomplish today, very focused on what to accomplish this week. I'm very focused on what I need to accomplish by the end of the month and then, you know, like do like quarter and then, you know, year end or beyond kind of like stretch stuff there.

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Okay.

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Thank you for that answer. That was a great answer.

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Yeah. And James, like all of your goals, like if you look at them closely, I'm sure every single one of your daily goals helps you accomplish these long term stretch goals. So it's not like you're sitting there not it's not like they're not related. So that's that's very important. You know, to clarify, it's like this goal, his, you know, his five hours talk time is getting him money to do this later. So it's it's they're very related. Every goal should be somewhat related. And we did this stuff and I always, you know, rolled my eyes you know at smart goals.

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But if you really do use that acronym it's very it's very useful specific you can actually measure it like becoming a millionaire. Of course you can measure it, but you're not going to sit down at the end of every day and be like, All right, how much closer am I to becoming a millionaire today? Like, that's not going to help you stay motivated because you're like, I'm -950,000. I need more. That's not going to be a really helpful way to do it. Oh, Eli. But if you're writing down like, I'm having five hours of talk time by 7 p.m., that will certainly helpful.

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That's specific. It's measurable. You can achieve it. It's relevant to what you're trying to accomplish, and it gives you a time constraint. Time constraints really helped me a lot.

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And, um. I don't want to put Moses on the spot, but. But Moses has come down and he's looking at me. We've sat down a lot. He's got, um, you know, similar goals to, to what I had, you know, when I started. And so I'll just key in on one to help Eli and anyone else that's thinking about that where, you know, he's very interested and seems passionate about real estate, which is something that I enjoy dearly. So I'm not so when I'd say I'm not so much into the material things.

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I guess real estate technically is material stuff, but but I enjoy that. I enjoy investing in a real estate and it's almost like to me, everything's got to be gamified to me. So it's like I'm playing real life monopoly, like enjoy that. Um, and so him and I have sat down and talked about it and, and it's the same thing, right? It's, it's when I make the millionaire comment that's just the easier one. But to him he's like, hey, I don't own real estate too and I'm okay. What kind of real estate do you want? Don't know something. And I'm like, okay, we're not intentional enough yet. Right? And so, Mike, let's drill down and let's do all that stuff.

00:23:55:20 - 00:24:27:18

And Moses, if you can, if you feel like Sharon, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but we've gotten so specific on like here, here is approximately how much that real estate is going to cost. Here's what's going to be right. Here's how much he needs to to to sell APIs and activity he needs to do by July so that when we come home from the Dominican, the goal of how much he's going to have saved will be there so that then I can help him go find that piece of real estate, that duplex or that triplex that we're going to look for that then he can buy.

00:24:27:22 - 00:24:58:09

And so when you wakes up in the morning, that's what he sees. That's what he thinks about. That's what he's doing. And then that's what's going to drive him as opposed to just and so therefore, the money itself isn't isn't so much the driving factor as in need to save this much so that I can go buy. Right. And I did this with Mika years ago as she wanted to to do these things and do different stuff like that as far as you know real estate or if she wanted to start a business for her and her daughter and all that stuff.

00:24:58:11 - 00:25:02:16

So you can if you need help with that, feel free to reach out to me. We need.

00:25:02:18 - 00:25:04:17

Help. James Yeah,

00:25:06:05 - 00:25:30:17

yeah, there's definitely do it. The thing too. I'm not in the office, so, you know, with me being not, um, as in there, so it makes it a little bit harder. But I would definitely. Because the thing is, I have these goals and like you say, when you have these huge goals, you know, you look at, you know, you look down, you're like, damn, you know, sometimes you get a little discouraged. So that right there is fire. And Vicki's right. We could all use some help. But I definitely, you know, I definitely sign that up.

00:25:31:02 - 00:25:32:06

Yeah, No, and.

00:25:32:08 - 00:25:34:15

This is a great conversation, man. This was a great.

00:25:35:11 - 00:26:04:00

Those talks have helped me, um, stop focusing so much on the daily things, because before, like, I would like if I went a day without a cell, like I'd start to, like, get in my own head and, like, start to beat myself up. But after we got it down, like, to a science, we got it down to like, how much activity needed daily. So as long as I did that activity daily, I know in time it'll average out to what I really want to get to. So I'm less worried about the day to day things. I'm more worried about Big picture. That's great. It's really helpful.

00:26:04:07 - 00:26:05:19

That's great. That was amazing, man.

00:26:05:23 - 00:26:33:01

And it's awesome because even if you didn't like Are you writing down Moses? Like you're writing down your activity goal? If you cross that off, you know, even if you if you wrote down right underneath that and didn't hit that goal by crossing off, you know, crossing off the talk time is more important than crossing off the goal because you hit that same thing over and over again because, you know, and you're being very intentional. And, you know, it's setting a measurable and achievable goals.

00:26:34:04 - 00:27:05:16

But mind games for so many of us are so important. Um, you know, I've done, um. You know, again, some some of you I've talked about and I won't get too specific, but like there's so many different things out there. Like for some people, it's just understanding how to how to break out, okay? It's like, you know, I want to. Pay off my house or want to get a debt or want to do all this stuff. And it's like, that's just so big. And it's like, so how do we do that? And so coming up with that, so that every single day you feel like you're taking that next step.

00:27:06:01 - 00:27:36:24

Technology is great. Love using technology. Some of you guys on here, I've told like even to download like the Mint app, right? And to set those things up on there. Think you know a couple of Nike I know you do it with me. I still use it to this day where you can what's cool about that is it's gamification, right? Like if anyone ever play like watch Grant get super addicted years ago to like, Candy Crush. And it was like, why did you get addicted? Candy Crush? Because they gave you all these, like, goals and achievements and you're like, Oh yeah, unlock this or unlock that and like, play video games as a kid.

00:27:37:02 - 00:27:55:20

Remember that Mint became like a video game to me because you can make all these buckets and it's like, okay, here's the bucket for, you know, paying off the house. Here's the bucket for retirement. Here's the bucket for this. Because if you don't do all that stuff the first time you get a $3,000 check, it's pretty easy to just be like.

00:27:57:08 - 00:28:48:06

All right. There's $3,000 in here. Next thing you know, it's gone. And then you don't even know where it went, you know, And and so then it can become discouraging and then you can get stuck in a rut, too. So there's so many different different things and philosophies and all that stuff. But, you know, the the world has has changed. This country. This world has trained us to be, you know, worker bees. And so, you know, my goal, like I said, at the end of the day, my goal is to make sure that that one, none of you all ever need to buy what we sell, right? Like, don't don't be a consumer of final expense life insurance, right? Like set yourself up with if you're if you're young and you got kids, set yourself up with with some, you know, term and some, you know, mortgage protection type stuff, you can still sell that to yourself or whatnot and set yourself up with the right retirement accounts or if you want to do an IUL or do something like that, great.

00:28:49:05 - 00:29:21:06

But. You know, I don't want I don't want I don't want to become my dad. I love my dad. He's. He's the reason am who I am. But I don't want to become him. I don't want you guys to become him. And I want you guys to set yourselves up for those things. So we get super clear with that. We get super defined with that. We come up with short term, long term, medium term, whatever. And then that's what helps us on the day to day mentality of doing that stuff. And then when I say pay yourself first, that's what helps, right? Um, you know, and so with what sounds like great need to do it again.

00:29:21:08 - 00:29:52:09

But you know, it's like, you know, coming up with that standpoint of, you know, for me, I have like a stay broke mentality, even just having multiple bank accounts where when I get when I get paid every month, I take a bunch of it and I and I throw it off into different accounts so that the account I look at every morning, the only one that's actually got checks and debit card activity in there for the stuff like I don't see too much money in there because that's what keeps me, you know, really, really fired up and motivated. And then this one over here, I'm saving for, you know, the next investment.

00:29:52:11 - 00:30:26:04

This one over here is for, you know, what I'm doing for my parents. This one over here is the medical, you know, health savings account fund and different stuff like that. Um, everybody's different. So I'm more than happy at the end of the day not to dominate this call at all, but I'm happy to sit down with anybody individually. We can do it on Zoom. You can do it when you come to the boot camp. We can do whatever and really break that stuff down. And that more than anything is what then helps you get up every single morning and say, You know what? The more people I talk to, the more chances I get a presentation.

00:30:26:06 - 00:30:56:13

The more presentations I get, the more chances I get to get a sale. The more sales I make, the more people I help, the more people I help, the more money I make. And at the end of the day. Money maybe doesn't buy happiness. Right. But but but I hate that term when people, you know, say that stuff because it may not buy happiness, but it certainly solves a heck of a lot of problems. Right. And it certainly puts us in a much better position to to do those things. Right. And so I always say money will make good people better. And bad people were.

00:30:56:15 - 00:31:02:16

So if you were a good person, it's going to make you a better person. And I promise you that. And I've seen it time and time again, so.

00:31:05:09 - 00:31:07:11

As about. You have your hand up?

00:31:07:20 - 00:31:42:20

Yes, I do. Hey, James, thank you so much. That's such an amazing feedback that you're giving us. My question is, in my life and I didn't know this for a long time up until, my God, don't know, maybe about a month or so ago learned it was the mindset of defeatism. And what do you do to avoid defeatism? I know it's motivation is important, but then sometimes, like you said, something that was, um, about your mind. Your mind could play games on you. What kind of personal development or books or things are you partaking in that you could recommend? Because I'm, I'm a big reader.

00:31:42:22 - 00:31:48:13

Don't watch TV very much. So if you could shed some light on some things that you can add to my library, that'd be great.

00:31:50:01 - 00:32:29:07

Yeah, sure. And I'm a big I'm a big reader from that standpoint. For me personally, what has helped me more than anything with with negative mindset and stuff is, is I think I've learned a lot over time on, on um, chemicals, right? And just how chemicals can can play and impact on us and stuff. And if I get in a rut of working too much and doing different stuff, you know, sometimes I get a little negative, a little depressed and different stuff like that. So one can always say the best medicine and no matter what kind of shape you're in is just physical activity, right? It's just getting outside, getting some some sunlight.

00:32:29:09 - 00:33:00:18

Right. Vitamin D is incredible. I mean, even if you just take 15 minutes, Justin talks about this a lot, too. If it's 2:00 in the afternoon and you're just kind of feeling a little down, it's going to affect you in the presentation. Just go take a lap around your neighborhood, you know, or walk down the street or whatever. One, it's incredible what that will do to just boost your your mood altogether. And then two, you know, I've got a lot of books that, you know, have have had an impact on me. You know, always say that the first and foremost was how to win friends and influence people.

00:33:00:20 - 00:33:34:17

It just really kind of changed my mindset on that. Um, and then, uh, Power of Habit is still probably one of my, it's probably had a bigger impact on my life, you know, more than anything else, because it really kind of changed my, my mindset and the stories that they tell, you know, and that stuff is, is really incredible. Um, those, those two more so than anything, have, have had, you know, a big impact.

00:33:34:19 - 00:34:05:10

And then I just, I just like to read other ones, you know, I'm not my wife's much more into fiction. She's always trying to get me to read, you know, different fiction stuff. And that's helps her. So, so for some people, the fiction is an escape to help with with mental stuff. There. And for me it's more, um, non-fiction and, you know, self-development and, or, you know, autobiographies to kind of get inspired from different people. If you come to the office, I got a, a ton of them right here. So, you know, I always forget.

00:34:06:09 - 00:34:10:06

Uh, you know, all the different ones, you know, that.

00:34:12:03 - 00:34:32:19

That I look at. And people are always borrowing and from me. But, um, you know, and then. And then two others that I really liked were Tim Ferriss. I listened to a lot of podcast too, and he's got some incredible ones, but sometimes it's tough to listen to an hour podcast, so he's got to think it's Tribe of mentors and.

00:34:33:01 - 00:34:33:18

Titans.

00:34:34:02 - 00:35:05:02

Got tools of titans. And what's neat about that is he has interviewed some of the smartest people in the world in different business centers and stuff. And he takes. And hours of interviews and he consolidates them into a page or two. And so it's a really easy read where if I just need to get, you know, some inspiration from 1 or 2 things and it's just, you know, the book is like this thick, but it's every person he's talked to, everybody he's ever interviewed and stuff. And he's who kind of got me on my fitness and wellness journey as well.

00:35:05:04 - 00:35:16:00

So he's always been a big influence on me as well. But there's so much you can get, so much from so many people and so many different things from from that standpoint that it's it's pretty awesome.

00:35:16:02 - 00:35:22:22

So and James Oh, one more as well. I was talking to Moses, but did you mention atomic habits?

00:35:23:13 - 00:35:36:22

No, just because I think for me, like atomic habits hadn't come out yet. And so Power of Habits had been such a motivator for me. But atomic habits is is obviously another good one. It's a different way of looking at the same concept there.

00:35:37:03 - 00:36:10:24

Yeah, Power of habit is more that will actually demonstrate. I like that one, but I like the atomic habits more because I really need that mental reminder all the time that it really is about the processes that you employ, Not so much the result. Like there's so many examples like the the Tour de France example about the British team. That's awesome. I mean, they sucked, they were terrible. And then they started making little changes like to everything, like they, they, they wanted to shave like half a second off and eventually think it was like three years later the first British person ever in a hundred years.

00:36:11:01 - 00:36:14:17

What And it was simply because they were trying to improve their processes.

00:36:15:08 - 00:36:15:22

Wow.

00:36:16:05 - 00:36:46:16

And think it's really I just like that one because if you're going to read one, I'm not saying James's recommendations are bad, but it really will help you into that mindset that it's more about what you're doing, not what the result is, because the results always follow with, you know, worked in a factory for a long time. So we called it the Kaizen System. It's it's from Japanese. They are focused very on incremental, continuous improvement. And it doesn't matter to them that these improvements are super small.

00:36:46:19 - 00:37:19:05

A thousand very small improvements, you know, ends up being a huge change and, you know, a huge driver of profitability for them. And if you guys don't know anything about that, the guy who pitched all this, he pitched it to the big three in this country, they all said no. So he went overseas to the to Japan. They implement like implemented all his ideas. And that is one of the main reasons why, you know, Toyota, Honda, you know, they were able to overtake the big three because the big three was and it brings it all the way back.

00:37:19:07 - 00:37:44:20

They were complacent. They're like, we don't need you. We make all kinds of money. We're the best. And they were so complacent that they disregarded this guy's ideas. And he took it over there. And then all of a sudden, Japan made better cars, better quality. They sold more cars. And now now the big three uses all that stuff. But it took them using it for them to decide to use it. So it's a good I'm glad we can end it like that because it really brings it all the way back. They just didn't want to hear it. It's like, okay.

00:37:45:08 - 00:37:47:23

So thank you. Yeah.

00:37:48:01 - 00:37:53:06

Appreciate like all you guys, you know, tuning in. Thank you, James. It was well appreciated.

00:37:53:19 - 00:37:54:09

Thank you.

00:37:54:11 - 00:37:55:24

I think you had a little fun with this.

00:37:56:21 - 00:38:07:17

No, absolutely. And for me, anybody that wants to, just, like I said, reach out to me and I'm happy to to, you know, talk about it on a more individual level. So, yeah.

00:38:08:04 - 00:38:08:21

Thank you, guys.

Watch the Full Video Here: Complacency is a Killer