Are You Stuck in a Loop?

by Rick White, President 180BIZ                                                      (Estimated Read Time 5 minutes)

This episode is about TASKS. Tasks are an amazing thing, but they can also be super dangerous. And I'm going to tell you that the two main dangerous times.

Stuck in open-loop thinking.

In the beginning, there was how. Think about this for a second. As soon as you think, Hey, I want to achieve this, your mind immediately goes to how am I going to do it? That is the ultimate task orientation and it's also one of the most dangerous. And let me tell you why. The number one reason is because you get stuck in what's called open-loop thinking. Open loop thinking is where you think,” okay, I want to do this, I must do this, I need to do this, etc. And typically by the third “I must do,” you get stressed out and you think, “Screw it. I'll do it later.” This is open-loop thinking where you never actually get anything done. You start to think about it, you get emotional, and you don't like the emotions, so you stop, and you go do something you're more comfortable with. That’s task orientation.

Stuck in the learning loop.

The second thing is you come into it feeling like you don't know enough. You think, “This is what I want to do, but I don't know how to do it.” So you get stuck in learning mode. You feel like you need to know a little bit more and a little bit more and a little bit more.  You think, “I don't know quite enough yet. I must get a little bit better.” And you get stuck in the learning loop. And what is the learning loop when you keep telling yourself, “I don't know enough. I don't know enough, I don't know enough.” And that gives you a false sense of progress. When you feel like you're learning more, you feel like you're doing more, but the reality is nothing is happening.

Stuck in task orientation.

When you get stuck in task orientation, after you get an idea of where you want to go, something you get excited about. These are the two things. Open loop thinking where nothing happens, or you get stuck in the learning loop and nothing happens.

Here's the truth for you. Reasons always come first, and answers come second. Understand where you want to go. But then understand is why you want to get there. What is it going to do for you? What is it going to do for your team? What is it going to do for your family? Understand why you are doing this. That WHY is your rocket fuel? That WHY will get you to achieve. If I kidnapped one of your loved ones and sent you a picture with a gun to their head saying, “You're going to achieve this goal or else,” you are going to get that goal.

Reasons come first; answers come second.

Reasons come first; answers come second. I don't want you to think that I don't think tasks are important. They are ultimately important tasks. Create the plan. Tasks are the ingredients to the plan. We're going to know what to do. We're going to know how much to do of it and when to do it. That becomes our recipe for success for growth.

So, you've got to know what your tasks are for sure. But, we get stuck with tasks when we forget why we're doing them. When you're doing the same thing over and over again, when you remember why you're doing it, who you're serving, what you're going to be able to achieve in the world, how to make it a better place, whatever that is, you are going to be able to what we call to be in the groove because in the groove is like we're getting it. We're doing it. And we know why we're doing it.

Do you know the difference between a groove and a rut?

Do you know what the rut is? The ruts are a little deeper than the groove. And what happens in the rut is you're remembering what you're doing. You're focused on what you're doing. You forgot why you're doing it. So that task focus gets you in the rut and it gets you in trouble. This is where disengagement starts with our team. This is where nobody's excited to be at work, where we don't recognize we're making a difference, where we don't realize how we're making an impact on the world.

Always, always, always remember your WHY.

You must make sure that your tasks are not the focus in the beginning, and that they are not focused while you're doing it. You want to be focused on your outcomes. You want to be focused on why you're doing this. You're not doing another break job. You're keeping a family safe. You're not doing another oil service. You are keeping a car reliable. You're helping someone save money so they're not making a car payment. We must remember why we're doing everything we do as we do it because when we're focused on the outcomes, we are more likely to end up with the results that we're looking for.

And here's the other thing. When we don't get what we want, then you are responsible for the activity. You want to always hold your team accountable for the results, and then they're responsible for the activity.

Please share this video.  We have our Shop Owner’s Round Table, on the second Thursday of every month, 7 p.m. Eastern, and we would love you and your friends to drop by. Shop owners only. And then we have our upcoming Pocket Business Genius webinar on the second Thursday at 1 p.m. Eastern time. 

God bless. stay safe, have some fun, and go make some money.  Take care.

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