Episode 26: The Law of Cause and Effect: Why You’re Stuck—And How to Break Through⸻

Last week I told you about thinking time and how a brand new GM used that concept or that idea to absolutely transform his decision making with just that one simple habit. So let's dive a little bit further and go back to a different workshop I was at with Keith Cunningham, where in the middle of that workshop he dropped a truth bomb that absolutely changed how I think about business forever. And here was this thought that whenever the effect is missing, I can promise you, so is the cause. You see, we all understand cause and effect, but here's the deal that if you are looking for a result in your business, if you're looking for some effect and the effect isn't there, the result isn't there. Here's what I know, so is the cause that drives it. And we spend so much of our time trying to figure out how do I get the effect instead of shifting our focus to saying, hey, what is the cause that's missing? So today we're breaking down cause and effect and how you can own your results, dominate your industry, and really make sure that you never feel stuck again. Are you ready? So let's go. Let's start with the hard truth about cause and effect. And it's simply this. If your numbers suck, if your team isn't performing, if you're struggling with revenue or profit or customer experience or anything else, here's what I guarantee you. You're missing the right causes. And this is where people get it wrong. They look at the effects, the bad numbers, low engagement, low motivation, and then they start blaming external factors. My my leads are down, the market is slow, my team isn't motivated. But it's all an external sense of who do I blame for the lack of effects instead of what do I blame for the lack of effects. And what you blame is the cause. That every single time when the effect is missing, the cause is missing. Let me put it simply. Cause and effect are inseparably linked. And if the effect is missing, the cause is missing. And until you fix the cause, the effect is never going to change. This is just all a bunch of bs because cause and effect are inseparably linked. And if you find that the effect is missing, you know, by definition, so is the cause. And until you fix the cause, you will never get the effects that you want. You'll be stuck in that constant cycle of blaming and shaming external factors, constantly repeating the same mistakes and constantly repeating the same problems. The answer is simple. Get focused on the cause. Until you fix the cause, the effect isn't going to change. And here's what I found in my years of coaching. Top performers use cause and effect as a tool. They don't chase results. They create them. And they focus upstream, tweaking inputs, making small, incremental improvements all the way along. They don't wait. They engineer, because they are creators and not victims. And so when they see things start to go wrong upstream, they're constantly tweaking, looking at the cause, looking at what to do next, looking at where to improve. They don't wait for things to go bad and then figure out who or what do I need to blame. They own their results in the moment, day to day, week to week, month to month. And they're constantly making those adjustments and changes. And they're brutally honest with themselves, asking the kind of questions that rivet your mind, energy, and attention on causes and not effects. All right, let me share with you three power questions that I've seen elite performers use in every industry throughout my career. They all have a different version. The language is slightly different, but it always centers on these three ideas. Number one, what missing causes do I need to adjust so. So I can start getting the effects that I want? Question number two, what am I not executing at a high level that needs my time, energy, and attention right now? And number three, where am I making excuses instead of adjustments? I want you to let that think in for a minute. Are there places where you're making excuses rather than adjustments? Because I got to tell you, when you can make that shift, everything starts to change. So my message for today is simple. If you want massive success, you need to take massive ownership. As a matter of fact, I would call this my personal success equation. The level of your success is directly proportional to the level of your ownership. So when you want to increase your success, increase your results, increase your output, you need to start with increasing your ownership. And one of the best ways to increase your ownership is to make that critical shift from who do I blame external circumstances and external people to what do I own? Which causes do I need to do? Where am I failing to execute at a high enough level? What causes are missing that require my time, energy, and attention, and where do I need to own more of my results? So my challenge to you is this. Pick one outcome where you're not getting the results you want in your business right now, today, and stop and identify the cause. Now, this might require you to sit down with a piece of paper and a pencil. Heck, maybe even some thinking time where you sit down and write down, what is the missing cause? What are the causes of this outcome, what are the causes of this results? And get absolute clarity on what is that cause and what specifically can you do. Then make a commitment to massive action, to install that cause, to do whatever it takes to focus the limited time, energy and resources that you have on making sure that that cause is present, that causes consistent, and. And that cause is producing the effect and the result that you want. If you want different results, it's simple. Get different causes. And this is something I'd ask you to use for yourself. I want you to teach this to your team, and I want you to apply this to every area of your life. This applies to your home life. If your relationship with your child or with your spouse isn't quite what you want it to be, do you know what you need? Better causes. If your health and your vitality, your fitness and your weight isn't what you want it to be, in other words, the effects aren't there. Do you know what you need to change the causes? What are the causes that are missing from the effects that you're looking for in your energy, in your work, and in your love? Because I got to tell you, Freud and I don't agree with a lot of what Freud said, but one of the things Freud said was that if you can succeed at work and at love, you will have a great life. Brian Johnson says, you know what, you should add energy to that, because without energy, it's hard to show up at work, at love. So if you can win in energy, work, and love, you can dominate your life. And so I'd ask you to look in those three areas. In your energy, your health and vitality in your work, the outcomes and things that you're looking to produce, and in your love, those relationships that matter most to you. What effects are missing? Identify the causes and then spend the limited time, energy and effort that you have on installing those causes so that you can make the shift from blaming external factors to internal ownership. Because here it is. We'll come back to the success equation. If you want to raise your success in any area of your life, you need to raise your level of ownership. I'm sure as we're going through these podcasts, names of people come up in your head who need to hear this. On Thursday, we're going to do a massive group effort to see if we can reach those people and share this information. For now, grab a sheet of paper, write down an outcome, look at the causes that are missing, and then begin your journey today to start installing those causes. And I will see you tomorrow in the dealership war room.