A Goat Took My Job

Big Surprise, but I was listening to a podcast the other day! The guest was so amazing that when I got home, I ordered the two books that he mentioned during the interview. He mentioned two things that had me thinking all day. The first thing he said was that a lot of people ask him why he still does everything that he does. His response was great, he said “Because I still love the grind”. Going to work every day and putting in the amount of effort you need to, to be great is a grind. Some days are just exhausting. No matter what you do, you feel like you took five steps back. When the day is over, and everyone has gone home, all you can do is think about how you are going to attack tomorrow. It’s a grind! If you don’t still love the grind, every single day is going to be a struggle. When think about the grind, I think about passion. If the daily grind seems overwhelming lately, you have probably lost some passion. Thinking of that passion and grind leads me to the second thing that was mentioned in the podcast. He said, “If one of the all-time goats took over your job, how would they do it”? He mentioned the big three names, Kobe, Michael, and Brady! If one of those three names took your job Monday morning from you, how would they attack it? As soon as he said it, I stopped. Can I actually find a way to approach my job in the same way that those athletes approached their jobs? Every single goat that you have ever heard of has a reputation for something.  Kobe practiced all the time and watched game footage. Is there an equivalent to that in the business world? How often do we look back at the day before and ask ourselves if we could have done anything better? Do we ever bring up a situation that ended poorly and ask ourselves where it started to go wrong? Did we have an opportunity to make adjustments, but not make them? When I think of Tom Brady, two things come to mind. First, he never seemed out of a game. No matter how far behind he was, he just kept doing little things to put points on the board. He could be down thirty points, every single time he had the ball, he would make sure they at least got a field goal. Next thing you know, it’s the fourth quarter, two minutes left, and he has the ball with a chance to win. Second, and I think he and Michael had this in common. They made their teammates better. When I look back at Brady’s career, it feels like he only had one receiver who actually had success with another team. When you are down and out, are you finding ways to still put points on the board? If something goes wrong in one area, are you making up for it somewhere else? Are you getting the most out of everyone? How did they do it? This is where I might lose some people, but I do feel very strongly about this point. If Brady had a blocker who was struggling, Brady didn’t leave his position and go block. Brady stayed at quarterback, and addressed the blocker who was struggling. Michael didn’t go play center because the center was struggling, he yelled at the center to step it up. My point is this, too often we think we need to go and “help” by doing someone else’s job. That doesn’t help, it makes you weak in two areas instead of one. Address the issue, fix the issue! Now, here is the compromise for those of you who want to walk away in disagreement. The goats know what everyone else should be doing. They know the expectations of others. The reason they can tell them the adjustments they need to make and be a second coach on the field or court is because they know how the whole process works and how it comes together. Do you know how it all comes together? So, if a goat took over my job this week, what would they do? They would go into each day with a plan. They would know the score, are we winning this day or losing. They would make adjustments during the shift. When the day was over, they would analyze it. What went well, what could we do better tomorrow. When tomorrow is here, they address the issues. Here is the last thing we always seem to forget, what is the ultimate goal? When the season is over, I want to be holding the championship trophy. What is the long-term goal? Where do I need to be in three, six, twelve months? Did I do something today, to make sure that I am going to end up where I want to be? In the end, these are my takeaways:

1.    What is my goal by the end of the day?

2.    Am I winning the day or losing it?

3.    Make adjustments.

4.    Self-Reflection when the day is over.

5.    What did I do today to hit my long-term goal?

When I was done thinking about everything, I knew I needed to address two issues immediately to get to where I need to be. I have a top performer with a questionable attitude, that needs to get fixed. I have someone who is under performing, I need to push a little harder and fix the issue. It all starts this week, Let’s go!