I’ve had the great fortune in life to work with hundreds and thousands of people over my time here on this earth.
And one of the things that shocks me as I go through and coach businesses big and small is how many leaders don’t design their lives through business. They’re asleep and let their lives and businesses just go along.
If this is you, wake up! Leadership and life design are intentional.
Today, I want to tackle life design theory with you and how you can use your business as part of that meaningful design.
We’re not wasting any time here, my friends. Let’s get to it!
What Does Being Alive Mean To Me?
Those of you that know me well know that I’m an alive guy.
I’m all about design in life.
And the reality is as leaders; we design our lives through our businesses, the businesses that we own, the businesses that we operate, the businesses that we help create, and all of those different types of things.
Today’s blog came to me because I was talking to a client recently about his path and how he got into the plumbing industry specifically, and what he had done younger and different things.
It came up, and I just want to open with talking about this quick story because many of you see yourselves in other people’s stories.
Architect Of Life
I was coaching this person, and he mentioned he went to college. I didn’t realize that.
“Yeah, I went to college,” he said, “but it was for only one semester.”
So I asked what happened.
He said, “Well, I wanted to be an architect. I’ve always wanted to be an architect. And so I went to college to become an architect. In my first semester, I had my class, and we made these houses out of balsa wood.”
Maybe I’m dating myself now, but you could make these little balsa wood airplanes that you could fly around and put rubber band propellers on them and stuff.
He said that their assignment was to make a house out of balsa wood.
So he created this wicked good design, and he went through the whole process, and here’s his house and everything.
He turns it in, and his instructor failed him.
He got a big old fat F on the project because one of the eaves of the roof was like a little bit out of length or out of balance or whatever.
It was a little bit longer on one side than it was the other, let’s say.
Right? And so he completely got failed.
Don’t Let Others Design Your Life
He took it very personally.
He said forget college. “I’m outta here.”
That was the end of his path to becoming an architect, or so he thought.
That’s where I want us to think about today as leaders.
When you really look at the situation, at the life that you’re in, many of us are doing jobs and becoming business leaders in ways, shapes, and forms that actually do tie to who we wanted to be when we “grew up.”
And if they don’t yet, then that’s exactly why we’re spending time together here today.
That part of my overall primary purpose in the world is to help you unlock that at a different level.
Be Open To The Different Paths You May Take
It’s fascinating. I’ve been coaching this individual for a while, but I’d never heard that story.
I said,
“Well, wait a minute, you are an architect. When you think about it, you own a plumbing company.
You design the interior of trucks, you design warehouses, you design brand, you design uniforms that your team wears.
You design systems.”
My friends, what is the definition of an architect?
When you look it up to different definitions, it’s always a person who designs.
A person who designs buildings in the computer world, a person who designs hardware, a person who designs computer software systems, or whatever it is.
An architect is simply a designer, right?
Sometimes we take a step back and go:
Well, yeah, he doesn’t have a four-year degree. He can’t go to work as an architect. However, he can create his life design as an architect every single day.
I want you to think about this.
The Job Of A Leader
The leader’s job is to design it, not create it.
Now, this may seem to go against what I’ve said in the past. Flip through some of my posts, and you’ll find tons of references to creating things in leadership.
Here’s the reality:
We are involved in the design, and then we make an intention.
We create a business plan and create goals, whatever that is, that’s all part of the design.
And then the universe, God, spirit, or whatever it is that your higher power is assisting you in this life, is absolutely involved in delivering that in a way, shape, or form.
It sounds pretty simple, right?
Make a plan, design a life or business, and go for it.
It’s the how that trips us up.
Start With The Why
That’s why I talk about the importance of “who before how but after why.”
I need to know my way so I can design what it is specifically that I want.
And then I’m going to go find the who’s that I want to help me build.
Speaking of people around you, you’ve got to check out this powerful team formation strategy.
The leader’s job is to design it, not go create it. When you think about it today, my friend, when you think about life designed through business, think about your own situation.
Who do you want to become?
And I don’t ask that question lightly.
I asked that question very intentionally because your business is simply a reflection of who you’ve become to this point.
Whatever leadership role you’re in, your role, and the results that you get, is simply a reflection of who you’ve become to this point.
That has nothing to do with money.
It has nothing to do with status or your own self-esteem because at the end of the day, who you want to become is your goal.
How is that showing up in your design?
Growing Pains
When you think about growth, let me ask you this;
Does growth represent excitement, or does growth represent pain?
Be honest with yourself.
Are you going to grow next year?
The year 2020 (now bleeding into 2021) has been super challenging for people.
It’s been very painful for people but has it also created growth at the core level, at the cellular level where I’m not minimizing any, any pain, and death, any, any challenges where people really had a hard time or lost a family member or whatever that may be.
But I want you to think about different areas.
Freedom is one of my number one values in the world.
That’s why I create the way I create.
It’s why I surround myself with the who’s that I surround myself with.
I want freedom.
And this year, I got to grow because I had a level of freedom taken away from me.
I can’t just go anywhere in the world that I want to.
I can’t just hop on a plane to Australia without a mask and fly for 16 hours.
And I can’t just go to any restaurant any day of the week, anywhere in the world that I want.
All of these things, all of a sudden, were taken away where I used to live under a false pretense, that if I create enough income and create enough systemization, then I can do anything I want anytime I want with anybody that I want to.
Connecting Life Design Theory To Business
You may say:
Well, hang on, wait a minute. There’s some growth for me there.
When you think about growth seriously, we fall into this mindset that propels us forward.
Growth is a pain that pushes us to challenge that pushes us to improvement that results in fun and excitement and more growth!
What about in the business?
You say that you want growth, but your actions say that you don’t.
You need to invest in your business in a meaningful way.
Here’s what I want you to remember when you’re looking at your life design through business. It’s simply our creative outlet. The way that we do business is one of the reasons that we go create.
It’s important that we realize, Hey, I can design anything that I want.
You Are The Designer, Not The World
Today, it’s really about looking at you as the designer.
My client friend that I’m talking about was the architect.
You’re starting with a blank set of balsa wood. You get to cut out whatever you want.
It’s awesome that you get to build the roof any way you want.
You get to build the lines any way you want the interior, any color, any type, any style.
This is what you get to do.
But remember this: you will not scale yourself into pain. Growing hurts, but it will stop if you do it right.
My friend, as a leader, you are going to scale yourself into more of the things that you value.
So be easy with yourself.
You haven’t been growing that fast lately?
You haven’t really been going through and seeing this exponential growth that you want?
Take a look at your actions. Design is an act, not a plan.
You say that you want it, but your actions are something different.
Perhaps it’s a chance to take a look back and go, well, wait a minute. Do I really want to design that way?
One Of The Common Elements Of Success
When I look at the different companies, I’ve created, operated, owned, managed, and what have you, there’s been one commonality.
I will not scale myself into pain.
And that means that I’ve created businesses that have become stagnant at a certain level, that I didn’t go find the right who’s for because I didn’t want to go scale in that capacity.
I didn’t want to scale myself into tasks, responsibilities, and roles.
Why? Let’s go back, Kenny Chapman’s number one.
Value is freedom.
If something in a business gets in the way of freedom, I will shut it down.
Subconsciously, I’m talking about I’ll completely shut it down.
I’ll sabotage it.
I’ll ruin it because I do live my life consciously.
If it’s not excellent, I’m going to destroy it or improve it.
And in that process, I’m going to learn from it.
What excellence is to me has a component of freedom to it.
What’s excellence to you? It’s completely based on you, your goals, your dreams, your desires, and this business, this role, this leadership position that you’ve intentionally decided to have, or you were a top performer at some level.
Find Your Personal Design
At some point, you’ve said or may say in the future:
I can do a better job than my boss. So I’m going on my own.
All of a sudden, you became a leader there.
How do you know if you’re a leader?
Turn around and look behind you and see if anybody’s following you.
I would also go a level deeper than that and say, “Why are they following you?”
If people are following you for a paycheck, then they haven’t realized the design of a life that you want to create because you haven’t done it yourself.
People want to design their lives, but they don’t know how they don’t know who to align with.
And they don’t know where to go. The countries that were involved in the U.S., Canada, and Australia at the moment are all craving leadership like never before.
People want a purpose; they want to have it drawn out of them.
Model Designed Leadership
As leaders, when we decide to design our lives through our businesses, we allow our team members to do the very same thing.
It’s not just your role, my friend. It is your responsibility.
Don’t worry about creating it at this moment.
Go design it. That’s what it’s all about.
I’m super honored to be with you and share ideas.
Until next time, make it a better-than-fantastic day!