Auto Repair Shop Owner's Daily Dose 4: You Are Stronger

You Are STRONGER than the CoronaVirus by Rick White, President 180BIZ

I've talked to you previously about the three questions we ask ourselves. We talked about the first question, “What am I going to focus on?” Now, understand there are three preferences within that question. I’ll review it quickly.

• Am I focused on what I have or am I focused on what I don't have?
• Am I focused on what I can control or focused on what I can't control?
• Am I focused on the past, present, or future, or what combination?

And I'm telling you that when I finally understood those preferences, it changed my life. Here's what you want to do. The trifecta is:

• Focus on what you have. Be grateful and feel abundant. Gratitude stands for great attitude.
• Focus on what you can control. There's a whole bunch of stuff we can't do anything about. What you want to do is think about something that you can work on that will make you better.
• Focus on the future from the perspective of where you're heading, but then translate it into what you're going to do today.

Look, things are going to get weirder before they get better. And I want you to prepare for that. I want you to step up. There might be a shelter at home or shelter in place coming. If there is, that's okay. Prepare for it. Mentally know what you're going to do.  There are associations that are fighting with the state governments to make sure that we are considered essential services so that we can stay open, even if it is with half the crew.  And that might be something to think about is split your crew in half, extend your hours and, and do something like that. It might help.

Now, once we understand those three things, the next question we ask ourselves is, “What does it mean?” This is really important because when we give it a meaning, we do two things to it.

1. The first thing we do is create an emotion.  We assign an emotion to it.
2. The second thing we do when we create the meaning is we assign a vocabulary to it.

So let me give you a perfect example. The focus of everybody right now is this CoronaVirus and the impact it's having on our lives; the uncertainty.  Someone sent me an email yesterday that said, “I need to talk to you. The world is going up in smoke.”

Now think about how that's being represented. What does that tell you about his mindset? What is he focused on? He's focused on the virus. What is he giving it as a meaning? Because I understand the vocabulary, I know where his head is at from an emotional perspective. Now there are other people, and I'm one of them, that are looking at this as a time to slow down.  It’s a wonderful opportunity to step back and reconnect, reconnect with others or reconnect with ourselves first. Sometimes we're going so fast, constantly giving that our cup runs empty. There's nothing left to give other people. But this is an amazing opportunity to fill ourselves back up. This is an amazing opportunity to take care of ourselves a little bit so that we can be there for others. This is an amazing opportunity to reconnect, to reconnect with your family, to reconnect with your friends and acquaintances that you haven't dealt with in a while. It's an amazing opportunity to connect at a deeper level with your team.

So, be aware of the meaning you give it, the emotion you assign it, and then the words you use to describe it. Your mind listens to your mouth. Write that down. Your mind listens to your mouth. So be intentional about the words you use. Anybody that's been in sales for a while knows that words are our tools and that we can constantly finesse what we're saying and how we're saying it so that we're better received.

This is the same thing for us. Instead of saying the world is going up in smoke, represent it as an opportunity and see the blessing that's there. See the blessing that we are as a country doing proactively to keep this virus from turning us into Italy. We must take care of ourselves. We must step back and then step forward. And enjoy the step back. What can you enjoy about it? What can you find? Remember to build certainty up in yourself. Take care of yourself. Do something for you. I want you to do one thing today that pampers you. Mine is reading books. I love to read or listen to books.

I have read three books so far this week. The book I'm reading right now is the Chris Voss negotiations book, Never Split the Difference. O M G what a great book this is. It's amazing because there's so much in there that you can apply to sales and just everyday life. I highly recommend It. There's another book by Mark Miller that just came out called Win Every Day. It’s a great book. I highly recommend it, as well. But do something to pamper yourself. The other thing to do is take control of one area in your life. For me, it's been my weight. Doing things to take better care of myself that way to take control. I'm down 32 pounds.

I want you to use different words. Tony Robbins calls this Transformational Vocabulary. Instead of saying, “The world is going up in smoke,” I want you to represent this as the opportunity. It completely changes the energy of everything right now.  I’ll wrap this up tomorrow with the third question and then put it all together so that you can start to take control of this of your mindset. Because when you do it does amazing things for you.

Now here's the tip for the day. We all have stuff coming up and we don't want to deal with it. You know there might be a shelter in place coming.  If there is, what is the plan? Understand uncertainty is caused by a lack of planning.  Uncertainty in your life to a greater degree is by a lack of planning. Step back realize that you might have some tough things to go through. What are you going to do about it? If they have a shelter in place and you get shut down, what are you going to do? If you're thinking about it, so is your team is at DEFCON 5 worrying about this. Sit down and have an honest conversation with them.

If you're going to need to lay people off or put them on half pay or something like that, then I want you to please contact your unemployment agency in your state. Find out what programs they have, have the forms ready, help your team fill the forms out, and be there as a leader. Be there as a leader providing certainty, clarity, and simplicity. Think about what your plans might be.  I'm asking you please do that. 

I have a favor to ask, Please share this video as many times as you can. Share it on your business page, share it on your personal page. Let's get this message in front of as many people as they pause as we possibly can so that we can make a difference. We can keep people with their heads above water so they don't feel like they're drowning and they don't feel like they're isolated. Let's make a difference.

A shop owner called me yesterday and said, “Rick, you're making a difference!” That's all I want. Please understand this is not me. Everything that's coming through me is coming from up above. I'm telling you, this is coming through me, not from me, so please let's spread the word. Let's make a difference. Let's give people some peace.

Sit down and figure out your plans and then remember, what am I focused on? The three preferences. What does it mean? What does it mean and what is the emotion I'm going to assign to it and the vocabulary I'm going to use to describe it because our mind listens to our mouth. Be a light out there for your community. This is a storm. Your light is going to shine brightest right now. Okay, so let's keep doing this together. Let's create this tribe that is unstoppable.

God Bless.