Successful Auto Repair Shop Owners Start Their Day with Intention!

by Rick White, President 180BIZ                                                            (Estimated Read Time 4 minutes)

Today I want to talk about how you start your day.  There are four levels.

Level 1: REACTING.

It’s what most people do. What do I mean by that? You get up in the morning and you grab your cell phone. About 80% of people do this. Then you do one of two things. You either go to social media first, or you go to your email first. But here's what happens. You're not even out of bed yet, and there is undoubtedly something that triggers you and puts you immediately on the REACTION ride.

Level 2: INTENTION.

What I want you to do instead, is start your day with INTENTION. Before you touch anything or get sucked into someone else’s agenda or their “to-do list” I want you to set your intention.  There have been studies that found when someone sets their intentions in the morning, their day went about 30% better. That is 30% of the time they were able to stay within those intentions.  But… intentions themselves are not enough.

Level 3: FOCUSED ACTION.

If there are four birds on a wire and one of them decides to fly off, how many are left? Most people answer, “Three birds are left.” And that would be wrong.  There are still four birds on the wire. Just because one has the intention to fly off doesn't mean it has done it yet. Intention is critical for starting your day, but it is a terrible way to measure your progress. When you're talking about holding other people accountable, you hold them accountable for their actions. But when it comes to yourself, you hold yourself accountable to your intentions. And that's a dangerous thing to do because it gives you that “I can do it later “ mentality. Remember one of my Rickisms is “Later is not your friend, ever.” There must be something beyond intention. It's FOCUSED ACTION. When you have intention and focused action, you have execution. And that's what we're looking for.

Level 4: ADJUSTING

There's one more part. How many people do you know that have the intention and they take focused action? They push and push and push and push and they get frustrated because they're still not getting what they want. They keep pushing. Let's face it, sometimes we think pushing harder will get us where we want to go. However, when we're not getting what we want the problem isn't the path the problem is the pressure. So, what do we do? We push and we push and we push. The answer is not pushing harder. The answer is not forcing it. The fourth level is ADJUSTING.

Steps to making progress.

So, (2) start the day with intention, (3) take focused action and then monitor and measure that action and (3) adjust. This is when you hit a home run. But be careful not to adjust too quickly. Sometimes we must plant the seed today and don't reap the harvest till tomorrow. We don't reap the harvest the same day we do it.

Persistence is essential but adjustment is the key to progress.

Persistence is key to making progress.  But it's time to adjust if you notice you're not getting where you want to go. This is where it makes all the difference in the world. As President Roosevelt once said, there are three things to do when you hit a fork in the road. You can do the right thing, the wrong thing, or nothing. And most of us choose nothing because we feel like that's a safer option.  But it is the least safe option because it keeps you stuck. Instead, you're better off doing the wrong thing. If you're doing the wrong thing and you're adjusting, before long you’ll do the right thing   Just do it just do it now That's what I want to see.

Please share this video to help others who are stuck. Also, join me in our next Shop Owner’s Round Table.  It’s the second Thursday of every month at 7:00 PM Eastern time. Check out my Pocket Business Genius webinar series you’ll find helpful webinars and webinar recordings there. It’ll be a game changer for a lot of shops. 

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

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