There are too many people out there who just want the harvest, but don’t necessarily want to do the hard work of farming; they want a 7-figure business or a huge social media following, but they’re not willing to put in the work, every single day.
The desire for (and expectation of) instant gratification is pervasive in our culture today, and there’s no substance behind any of it. But today’s guest, Craig Ballantyne, provides a remarkable amount of substance – at least, for high performers who want to take action and do the work.
Craig Ballantyne is a Productivity & Success Transformation Coach, co-owner of EarlyToRise.com, and the author of The Perfect Day Formula: How to Own the Day and Control Your Life, a book that I think goes beyond the morning routine to offer an ideal way for high performers to stay focused on what they’re called to do.
Structure = Freedom
One of the key principles in The Perfect Day Formula is that “structure equals freedom.” Specifically, Craig highlights three ways to control your day: controlling your mornings, conquering your afternoon chaos, and concentrating on what matters in the evening.
So how does this work – how does structure give us more freedom?
Well, Craig used to experience crippling anxiety attacks due to the paradox of freedom; he could do anything he wanted, even if that was working 12 hours a day and then partying in the city, and that started to catch up with him.
But when you put structure in your day, when you put boundaries around your work time and become more productive, you can get work done on time and get home to your family, be present with them, and concentrate on what counts.
“We are disciplined during the day so that we are enjoying true freedom at night.”
Scripting Your Day
Is there a script in Hamilton? Was there a script for Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech? Do successful salespeople wing it, or do they use a script?
Scripting your day is as essential as scripting every play in the Super Bowl – “You don’t just go and wing it. That’s not how a high performer acts.”
Craig’s tips for scripting your day:
“You have to choose something that you’re willing to do when it sucks. You have to be willing to suffer, in order to succeed.”
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The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters
Bo Burlingham is an editor-at-large of Inc. magazine and the author of five books, including Finish Big: How Great Entrepreneurs Exit Their Companies on Top, which has been praised by thought leaders like Seth Godin, Simon Sinek, and Jim Collins.
Today we discuss Bo’s fascinating journey, and how the very image of entrepreneurship has fundamentally changed over the past few decades – a shift that is highlighted in Bo’s previous book, Small Giants, which features the stories of small companies that value greatness over growth; companies that have the opportunity to get bigger a lot faster, but chose not to because they have other goals that they consider more important.
Forbes also continues to update a list of Small Giants, annually. And at this point in time, the hardest part of creating the list is narrowing it down to just 25 small giants every year – entrepreneurs are, increasingly, using their resources and drive to create a huge impact.
In the book (you can read an excerpt here), Bo identifies six characteristics of Small Giants:
The face of entrepreneurship is still changing – with the change being led by these Small Giants and the next generation of entrepreneurs both brave and passionate enough to make an impact.
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We are brought to you by the Lawton Marketing Group, a full service advertising and design agency serving companies and entrepreneurs at all levels. The are your one stop shop for all your website, logo, social media, print, app design and reputable management needs.
Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.
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The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters
Nathan Ogden is an inspirational speaker, coach, quadriplegic athlete, and the author of UnFrozen: Superior Systems to Move from Paralysis to Progress. He has spent years motivating and inspiring audiences and readers on how to conquer their fears and move from paralysis to progress.
Nathan’s life changed in 2001. He was skiing and hit a jump, launching himself over 20 feet in the air. He landed on his neck, shattering his C7 vertebrae. Nathan was instantly paralyzed and told he would be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
Nathan and his wife didn’t listen to that prognosis; “We have too many things that we want to do, so I will walk again and we will do whatever we have to do to get there.”
But, unfortunately, Nathan’s adversity didn’t end there.
During recovery, Nathan contracted pneumonia. He went unconscious in the middle of the night, so he was rushed to the hospital. While they were getting ready to take x-rays, he fell off the x-ray table – breaking his neck a second time.
When he woke up a few hours later and his wife told him what happened, the first three words out of Nathan’s mouth were, “Bring it on.”
However, after about a month, negative thoughts started creeping in. He lost the use of everything from the chest down, a considerable amount of what he had already worked to recover. “That’s when it hit me and I became what I call mentally paralyzed.”
If you’re depressed or feel stuck, Nathan believes there are a few small (but significant) steps you need to take:
Even two neck breaks couldn’t stop Nathan for long because he lives by the words his father passed down to him: “Live adventure – don’t watch it.”
This is never more obvious than in his philanthropic work: Nathan and his family created Chair the Hope to raise awareness and money for wheelchairs to be delivered in developing countries.
Nathan, his wife, and their four children kicked this off with a 1,200 mile bike ride, which they rode together, relay style, over the course of 12 days.
You can help help Ogden family in their mission to inspire others to get outside and keep moving despite disabilities, fears, or excuses, while raising money to donate to the Wheelchair Foundation, by supporting Chair of Hope at https://www.wheelchairfoundation.org/donations.
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We are brought to you by the Lawton Marketing Group, a full service advertising and design agency serving companies and entrepreneurs at all levels. The are your one stop shop for all your website, logo, social media, print, app design and reputable management needs.
Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.
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The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters
Patrick Lencioni is the founder of The Table Group and the bestselling author of 11 books. He is the architect of organizational health, a concept that he calls the last competitive advantage in business today.
Pat’s passion for leadership and organizational health can be traced all the way to his first exposure to business as a child, when his dad lamented about working for a company with “bad management.”
Pat didn’t really know what management was at the time, but he knew that it was a bummer for his dad – and he eventually learned, after starting his first job, that that was dysfunction.
“I’m passionate about helping organizations not be dysfunctional so that people like my dad don’t have to suffer through it, because we spend too many hours at work for it to be dysfunctional.”
Pat’s dad always wanted him to get a great job, and he did! He got the best job of anyone in his graduating class… and he was bored. “I was so un-attracted to data and analysis, and I was fascinated by the human beings I saw. I was watching really intelligent people make fundamental mistakes because of human behavior, ego, and things like that,” and he realized that he could help.
In Patrick’s most recent book, The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate The Three Essential Virtues, he aims to help individuals make a difference in their own teams.
Pat identifies the three virtues that make some people better team players than others:
“If you are emotionally intelligent, hard working, and humble, your career will have no problems. I promise!”
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We are brought to you by the Lawton Marketing Group, a full service advertising and design agency serving companies and entrepreneurs at all levels. The are your one stop shop for all your website, logo, social media, print, app design and reputable management needs.
Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.
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The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters
Andy Janning is a photographer, storyteller, and the author of Heroes, Villains, and Drunk Old Men: A Love Story for Real Life. Using the hero’s journey as a model, the book guides readers on their own heroic journey at work and home, helping them avoid becoming the villain in their own story.
Kindled by movies like Star Wars, Andy grew up with a love for stories – a love for not only the visuals, but for the people and the journey they go through to transform into something better.
This fascination with the hero’s journey sparked an intense desire to help other people, which ultimately led Andy to an (unexpected) career in financial services. He saw an opportunity “to really make it about hearts and dreams and hopes, and what folks want for the future.”
But over the years, Andy’s love of visual storytelling reawakened and he saw a new opportunity to combine his passions – he doesn’t have to choose between photography, filmmaking, storytelling, serving others, and helping people grow.
Reshape Your Story
There are periods of time in all of our lives where we feel like everything is crumbling, but we can begin to circumvent that pain when we invite other people into our life, our stories, and we can help others in the same way.
Those are the moments that really impact our stories, or when we can impact someone else’s.
If you know the right questions to ask, you can start to reshape your own story, too. Andy released a supplementary book, 8 Questions for Every Hero: The Story of Your Journey, that identifies the eight questions every hero should answer in the process of transforming:
“Those questions have helped me in my journey, have helped me define where I’ve gone, and have helped other people do that as well. The times when I’ve really screwed up in my life, I’ve forgotten one or all of those eight questions. So I need these things in front of me, reminding me of where I’m going to go, and that’s really what helps me on my journey, every single day.”
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Don’t be a podcast junkie…
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We are brought to you by the Lawton Marketing Group, a full service advertising and design agency serving companies and entrepreneurs at all levels. The are your one stop shop for all your website, logo, social media, print, app design and reputable management needs.
Visit LawtonMG.com for more info.
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The Impact Entrepreneur Show is produced by Podcast Masters