Auto Repair Shop Owner's Daily Dose 10: Consuming or Feeding

Are You Consuming or Feeding? by Rick White, President 180BIZ

First, I’ll ask you “Today, are you consuming, or are you feeding?” What are you putting into your mind? In high-stress times like this, it’s extremely important to be intentional about what you feed yourself.  Why? Because when we get stressed out, we tend to shut down. We tend to fill the empty space with noise that stops us from thinking. For example, lots of people are binge-watching Netflix right now. It's so bad that the European Union had to ask Netflix to scale down the quality of the videos. They were sucking up all the bandwidth.

That's scary, in my opinion, because if you are continually consuming tv shows, binge-watching, you are not being productive.  It's like going to McDonald's and eating Big Macs all day long. At some point, this stuff is going to kill you. Even worse than Netflix is binge-watching the news.  Zig Ziglar said he used to read the Bible every morning and then he'd read the newspaper to see what the other side was doing. My point is to be very aware of what you're putting into your mind.

Are you consuming things and getting fat up between the ears, or are you feeding your mind? Are you learning? Are you growing? Are you pushing yourself outside your comfort zone? Are you stepping up and learning how to become a better leader? Are you learning how to communicate better, how to have more empathy for people? Are you learning how to do your job better?  Are you learning how to motivate yourself better?

I'll be honest with you, there are times I get up in the morning and need a shot of motivation. So I will listen to a video or a podcast to lift me up. It might be Tony Robbins, Jeffrey Gitomer, Les Brown,  or Keith Harrell.  I love to listen to TD Jakes and Joel Olsteen to fill my mind and get my head wrapped around the right stuff. Sometimes I will feel a little down and I need a little humor. So I'll listen to some dry comedy bar on Facebook or George Carlin. Yeah, I know some of his stuff is bad, but it's good too.

These are the things that are going to really help you out. So this morning I'm going to ask you, are you consuming or are you feeding? Are you spending your time or are you investing it? Because no matter how bad it is, I guarantee that the sun will come out tomorrow. I guarantee that we're going to be on the other side of this. Probably not as fast as our president would like us right now, but I promise you we're going to be on the other side. 

We must be smart, though. We must protect ourselves. We must protect our people. We must protect our customers. And then we have to serve. Help and serve everybody. So please, every day I want you to ask yourself:

• Am I spending my time right?
• Am I investing my time where I’ll get a return on it today?

I'm going to tell you the truth straight up. I've got a couple of courses I've bought and I'm going through those courses right now. Anytime I have a few free minutes, my earbuds are in and I'm watching videos. I’m watching stuff so I can grow.  It’s so I can become better at what I do and make a difference, an impact in the world every day. I hope you'll ask yourself that question.

• Am I spending time or am I investing it?
• Am I consuming or am I feeding?

Step back and look at that. It’s the same thing with your staff. If your staff has nothing to do or they're slow right now, don't let them sit around and ruminate.  Don't let them feed themselves with cat videos. Instead, set up a training program. Have regular discussions after the training segments. This is so they know that you’re paying attention to their growth.

Today's tip is a sales tip. Position everything you're doing right now from a safety and reliability perspective. It's not going to be about peace of mind right now. It's going to be about making sure your customer’s vehicle is ready to go if and when they need it at a moment's notice.  That is really what you should be focusing on as a message. Also, focus on the fact that you're here to help and serve.

Offer to do things outside of the automotive venue to help the people around you. If you have a database with older customers, then give each one of them a call. Ask “How are you doing? Are you okay? Is there anything you need?” They may be homebound and really struggling to get the things they need. They may also just need somebody to talk to. For people who are afraid right now, you’ll be that light in the community.

I want to thank you all for so much for visiting the blog. Please. I'm going to say it again. Please share this video. Let's help other people. I want to see 10,000 people looking at this video every day to help them get through what we're going through. We can start a movement, we can make a difference and we can turn the emotional tide of this country around together. Be the light in your community.

God bless.