Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Justin Maust, President and Founder of Leader Legacy. We hope you enjoy Justin’s wisdom and perspective.
I can’t believe I’m writing that as my headline. I’m a huge fan of hard work. Most days I’m up and working between 4:00am – 4:30am. I believe success loves discipline. The tortoise always wins the race against the hare. I’ve fallen in love with the daily grind. Key metrics, solid habits, routines, daily agendas, and focused daily work are my mode of operation. Olympic athletes wouldn’t be Olympic athletes without hard work, diligence, and discipline. So, why isn’t this enough?
Grinding out hard work for months on end over time can produce mediocrity. It gets boring. It gets old. Routines and habits eventually produce a comfort zone within your team. Comfort zones are dangerous, especially if you are hoping to get to a higher level of success. Without even realizing it, many teams settle into habitual mediocrity in the middle of success. Things are good. Profit is good. Growth is good. But you can tell that the emotion is gone. People are going through the motions.
If you had to pick one team to play on, which team would you pick?
The diligent and disciplined team.
OR
The diligent, disciplined team with fiery passion and fierce resolve to never settle.
I know, the answer is obvious. I speak, train, and coach teams and leaders as my profession. As leaders and achievers, we all choose option B.
Here’s my problem: Just this past month, I experienced a 300% increase in my performance in a specific area. My discipline, hard work, and diligence have not changed. What did change? I was given a new idea. That idea fired me up and gave me an emotional charge to view my work differently. I applied my hard-working, diligent, focused effort to this new idea and BOOM, the impact has been tremendous. I can’t wait to see the result of my new learning after 12 full months of application. This is a game changer for me. That’s the power of being exposed to different thinking and different ideas - some old and some new.
Here’s what really bothers me. I had settled and didn’t even realize it. I was comfortable with my performance because I’m having the best year of my career so far and have been working extremely hard. How in the world did I find a way to increase my performance by 300% in one of my key areas of focus? Frankly, that’s a little embarrassing. With my hard work, diligence, and discipline, I honestly didn’t think there was a way to improve THAT MUCH. I’m pretty confident in my ability and my performance, as I’m sure you are pretty confident in your skill or trade as well. That’s EXACTLY where the danger is. You might even say the pride I take in my discipline, focus, and diligence BLINDED me from seeing opportunity for massive growth.
Events challenge people. We all need those events in our lives to challenge our current thinking. We need events to help us see how we can play at a higher level. Yes, it’s important to keep charging ahead in business. But, it’s also important to RECHARGE. Right now, there are ideas out there that could give you and your team a 300% return on your time. You are one idea away from achieving at a higher level.
Your hard work and discipline isn’t enough to give you that edge in the marketplace.
Be honest, the pep talk you give your team isn’t really exposing them to something different. For your team, it’s just another day at the office listening to their boss beat on the same drum. You need to DISRUPT their thinking by putting someone else in front of them. Don’t worry; my kids aren’t inspired by my pep-talks either.
It’s just like my influence as a parent with my kids. I love them more than their mentors. I invest in them more than their coaches. But, there is power in the mentor and coach because it DISRUPTS their thinking. They hear it differently, even if it’s a similar message. I’m grateful for those people that invest their knowledge into my kids. I’m intentional about getting the people I lead in front of different people that I trust.
Keep working hard. Keep your discipline, focus, and diligence. Those are key ingredients to your success for sure. A few times a year, kick your team out of the office to learn something new. Invest into your team’s growth. Keep them charged with new ideas, new learning, and new experiences. Be intentional to DISRUPT their thinking. It will keep them engaged and passionate about the mission and goals they are currently working on.
Greatness isn’t born. It’s grown. Choose to be intentional about growing your team.
If you are looking for ideas, here’s an invitation to expose your team to three world-class leaders that I’m bringing to the Michiana region thanks to Gibson and a host of other partners. You’re invited to attend Lead Michiana, the largest leadership event in Northern Indiana and Southwestern Michigan. It’s an EVENT designed to DISRUPT your thinking. We bring in globally recognized leaders that have achieved the highest marks of success in their field of study. Learn more about the speakers here.
What’s The Risk?
Don’t let your success blind you. Don’t let your success cause you to settle without realizing it. Don’t let your hard work, discipline and diligence BLIND you from achieving at a higher lever or learning from other people.
Take my word for it. If you have achieved success, it’s likely you’ve settled in some areas and aren’t even aware of it. And if you have settled, I can almost guarantee your team has settled with you. “Everything rises and falls on leadership,” according to John Maxwell.
Your team needs NEW IDEAS and NEW THINKING injected into their work. You don’t know what you don’t know. Step outside of your world for a moment. Expose yourself and your team to the success, habits, and thinking of other great minds that just might be achieving at a higher level than you. My world was disrupted with ONE idea. That one idea came from the outside. It’s now being implemented into my team and our core process. We are 300% better because of it. No business leader looking for growth would pass up that opportunity.
This content was written and shared by guest blogger Justin Maust.
In 2012, Justin founded Leader Legacy with a passion to develop leaders, inspire teams, and build legacies. He speaks, trains, and coaches teams and individuals to improve team performance using a program he designed called, Building Powerful Teams - 7 Practices That Determine Team Success.
Justin is a certified speaker, trainer, and coach for the John Maxwell Team. His business, athletics, and youth leadership experience provides him a unique ability to connect with any audience. His personal “hold nothing back” style will challenge you to live life full of passion and stay focused on your mission.
Connect with Justin on Twitter and LinkedIn. Learn more about Lead Michiana via their website, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
