Super Business Cruise

It’s Monday night March 12 and Laura and I are at the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville in advance of speaking March 13 at the GAMA LAMP Conference. March 13 will also wrap up day three of exhibiting at GAMA Lamp.

In advance of my April 5th Birthday, I’m going on Super Business Cruise until March 31.

Since September 1, 2017, I have been driving, disassembling and reassembling every area of our business to include things like;

2018 Business Plan

Financial Management

• Budget cash flow plan management and reports delegation

GAMA LAMP

• GAMA LAMP Survey
• Becoming A Compassionate, Inspirational Leader Blog writing
• Becoming A Compassionate, Inspirational Leader PowerPoint / Sketch notes creation

Information Management

• Outlook reorganization
• Maximizer CRM reorganization
• Maximizer CRM sales activity report management
• Microsoft Surface purchase and learn

Marketing and Sales

• Exhibiting event marketing plan and management delegation
• Speaking event marketing plan and management delegation
• Exhibiting and speaking post-event CRM tracking management delegation
• Exhibiting and speaking post-event digital marketing campaign management
• Blog and marketing campaign co-writing delegation
• Exhibiting and speaking post-event coaching prospect scheduling delegation
• Exhibiting and speaking post-event coaching prospect qualifying delegation

The driving, disassembling and reassembling every area of our business has been challenging because it brought up stress which was also related to reminders from my past that include (stress has nothing to do with the present, it is always about the past);

Attempting to disassemble and reassemble a 1957 Corvette back to original condition – back in 1975.

Attempting to disassemble and reassemble a 1957 Chevrolet back to original condition – back in 1973.

Attempting to disassemble and reassemble goes further back than 1973, back to 1960 – 1965.

From 1960 – 1965, my parents owned a scrap metal business and we lived right beside the scrap metal business in a light commercial / industrial part of town. My parents bought, and stockpiled aluminum, brass, cast-iron, copper, lead and steel and sold it when the market was right. Cash was always tight.

I was an only child and there were very few children to play with given we were living in a light commercial / industrial part of town. Bullying had not been invented yet, but I was constantly wary of several “hard rocks.” Daydreaming and not paying attention to my surroundings would sometimes find me in a dead-end getting a beating.

My toys were whatever came along in the junk. When I wanted a bicycle, my father would say; “I will fix one out of the junk” which never happened. So, I became handy on my own. But I didn’t have all the parts or resources to put three different types of bikes together to make one.

My parents didn’t have the parts or resources to run the business properly. My father was forever fixing one of his trucks and as one of his cronies said; “that truck was junk before your father got it.” So, you can guess where our cars came from, the junk. A car would usually last a few months until it broke down. Then it would sit in the driveway. I can remember a time when we had six cars in the driveway and none of them worked.

My mother was miserable most of the time and one of her many complaints was, “we have never had a decent car.” We almost had a decent car once which was a 1954 Mercury Monarch Woody Station Wagon. My father had the notion of attempting to disassemble and reassemble it back to original condition. This lasted for about two weeks until my father had to pull the motor out of it and put the motor into one of his trucks. I suppose he was reinvesting energy, focus, resources, and time in business and self-improvement.

Like most baby boomer males, I fell in love with the notion that having a “nice” car that would provide me with freedom; freedom from the misery that I was feeling inside.

The blessing in all the above is I have created a profession out of understanding how to disassemble and reassemble my own mindset for the benefit of myself and others.

Yes, as I grow on a business and personal level, disassembling and reassembling out of my comfort zone, stress is inevitable, and once again, the past will inevitably be triggered; as it has been over the past six months disassembling and reassembling Leading Advisor.

So, when it comes to stress, there is an expression: “Everything that is happening is an opportunity to go back to God.” Or, said another way, back to our original state of mind or mindset.

Here are seven helpful steps to reset your mindset from the 5^th Anniversary Issue of Mindful Magazine;

1. Sit comfortably in a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted for 10-15 minutes.
2. Settle into sitting comfortably, and then gently and slowly take a few breaths in and out.
3. Continue your breathing, but now inhale right into your heart, and release your breath from there as well. Continue doing this for a few minutes.
4. Notice the present experience as either pleasant or unpleasant.
5. Notice the urge and the possibility of not acting on it.
6. Notice within excitement lurks uncomfortable restlessness. We sense the shallowness of the good feeling and how quickly it passes whether you are trying to medicate how you really feel through; alcohol, drugs, exercise, food, gambling, porn, social media, sex, shopping, work, TV etc.
7. Notice your triggers and as you breathe, learn to navigate them better, one breath at a time.

As I continue to navigate by using conscious breathing to reset my mindset, and aside from day-to-day work with clients and answering our team’s questions, I’m on Super Business Cruise until March 31.

Super Business Cruise means I’m going to go hands-free, not start anything new, and be a passenger versus driving, disassembling, and reassembling the business.  (Super Business Cruise is a play on words off Cadillac’s new Super Cruise driverless car option.)

PS – If you’re wondering what happened to the 1957 Corvette and Chevrolet, I sold them disassembled and invested my energy, focus, resources, and time in business, self-improvement, and a few 1969 Camaros.  I managed to keep the Camaros in one piece and sold them, again investing my energy, focus, resources, and time in business and self-improvement.

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