28 Apr Divide and Conquer
Welcome back! I finally stepped back into my regular routine this morning and it feels great. The early call into work Monday morning really threw the start of my week a nasty curveball. The lack of sleep coupled with a 15 hour day, the bucket trucks crashing into one another, and then having to hustle home to get my work out the done shower, and head to my brother’s house for a family meal really had felt at my lowest. My attitude was crap all morning, and I obviously just attracted crap into my life all day. But, I got a fresh start today and I attacked the day as The Journeyman Entrepreneur ought to! After all, I can’t help anyone else if I can’t help myself.
Today’s entry will be mostly about the power of playing to the strengths of your team. I get to work with a great team of skilled tradesmen every day, and I can honestly say that I’m a proud member of that team. We evolve and get stronger every day. In spite of our disagreements, we always find ways to come together and do a kick-ass job. Each of us brings unique elements to the equation that yield high-quality results! If any of the guys on my crew are reading this, I just want to say thanks for working with me. Even when I’m being a stubborn egotistical jerk you guys stay true. That’s Brotherhood at its finest!
1. Because of the events that dramatically unfolded yesterday (if you missed it, check out my post “Carnage” to catch up), we had to make up some serious ground. We are currently contracted to replace no less than 1 pole a day, 5 days a week. So, there was no time for hesitation as we needed to get yesterday’s pole renewed, and also renew today’s pole…in ten hours. We’ve been there before, things happen that set you back, but we get creative and find ways to get it done. As with life and business, the time is always now and you have to take action. The same applies to us every day. We are action takers. We are never idling. We are always moving towards our goals regardless of the challenges. In order to accomplish everything that was on the docket for today, we had to come together and “embrace the suck” (usually referred to as working out, but it works here too). It all started with the job scheduled for today. Not the most difficult job, but a little tricky a.k.a sketchy and definitely time-consuming. We easily lost half the day to that job. But we did it safely and turned out another high-quality product!
With no time to spare, we made our way to Monday’s job and got started right away. Let me paint this picture just a little bit more clearly for those that may not do manual labor for a living. Start time is 06:30am, the trucks leave the shop at 06:31am for the routine fuel stop and QUICK cup of coffee and restrooms if needed, and then its straight to work. Literally no down time. And on days like today, with multiple jobs to complete, you are working your ass off for ten hours straight. The only break is the drive to the next job, which was only about 6-7 minutes today. Now that were clear on logistics, lets continue. As soon as we arrived, the pole was being unloaded, tools were flying off the trucks, and I was getting my gear and safety items gathered as quick as possible to secure the top of the old pole. Because of our work locations for the rest of the week, we had to bring additional poles with us on a large trailer designed for transporting poles up to 60 feet long. In order to meet our weekly quota, we needed to split up and deliver the 3 remaining poles to their corresponding locations. This is always far from ideal, but the decision was unanimous with absolutely no hesitation. This scenario was the obvious choice for a bunch of massive action takers. And let me tell you, even with half the men on the job to replace the pole, we still crushed it. Because of our determination, grit, and ability to recognize one another’s strengths we caught up and got ahead. That’s tangible success. We overcame adversity and dominated!
2. I haven’t ever really stepped back to evaluate all the good things that come from going to work everyday until lately. Like most people, I imagine anyway, work is just work. You do it, you come home, and try to let it go. You loathe Mondays and live for quitting time on Friday. But I am seeing things much more clearly now. Almost all the concepts I read and study in the pursuit of physical, personal, and professional success can be applied to my job. Even if it is manual labor. Today alone proved to me that we are all literally capable of anything you dedicate yourself to accomplishing. We do it EVERYDAY and used to never give it the credit it deserves. So, with this new sense of clarity, I challenge myself to find the good in going to work and take advantage of the lessons it can teach me. Just because I am an entrepreneur and would love to work on my business full time, that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t still continue to find opportunities grow myself at work. Change your perspective and you might just change your life. What are some things in your day job that you can look at differently to help you grow personally and professionally?
3. So, just to quickly expand of the power of a good team, I want to express the importance of my team outside of work as well. Throughout this journey of rebuilding myself, my family has stood by me through and through. In fact, I really believe our relationships are evolving and benefitting. My wife is my foundation, even though sometimes I scare her to death with my business and life plans, she ALWAYS supports me. She never waivers, never complains, and never asks for anything for herself. I have the support of the community of like minded entrepreneurs I have embedded myself, and the fitness community I found through Peloton. I can’t express how utterly important each of these groups are to keeping me focused on achieving my goals. Each of them hold me up in a variety of ways giving me total stability. I am eternally grateful for each of them. I urge you to build your team and focus on ways to make that team stronger!
In closing, I am thoroughly enjoying putting my life into words for you and I hope that you are at least entertained. Ultimately the goal is to be relatable. I’m just a working class guy breaking into the world of business. And along that journey, I’m on mission to improve my thoughts, feelings, and actions. I look forward to hearing all about your successes and please don’t hesitate to share them with me. Remember, you can sign up for my weekly newsletter where I will update you on the new content in the blog, and I’ll even drop some motivational encouragement on you! It never hurts, trust me. See you tomorrow!
Cheers to your success.
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