Fix Your Thinking in 37 Minutes | John Maxwell’s Mental Reset

You're a success every day. Success is a daily thing, not a destination thing. If you can believe it, you can achieve it. And that never quite rang true with me. This something-for-nothing entitlement mindset that invades so many people's lives is a bunch of garbage. Too many leaders are like— they're like travel agents. They're sending people where they've never been themselves. And you want to be a tour guide, you want to take people with you.

He's an American author, speaker, and pastor who's written many books. His books have sold millions of copies worldwide, with some making the New York Times bestseller lists. Inc. magazine named him the number one leadership and management expert in the world. He's John Maxwell, and here's my take on his top 10 rules for success. Rule number 8 is my personal favorite, and make sure to stick around all the way to the end for some special bonus clips.

The first thing I want you to know, that success is not a destination, it's a journey. Think of success as a process. Let me illustrate it and explain it this way. If you go to college, you work hard, and then in 4 or 5 years, depending on what kind of degree you're working on, and in today's society, sometimes 6 or 7 years, but eventually comes the day of graduation, and you're all excited, and your family is there, and your friends are there, and you're You're there with your classmates, and you've got your cap and your gown, and you know that there's gonna be a time in that ceremony where you're gonna walk across stage, and the president, provost, somebody's gonna shake your hand, hand you a diploma, congratulate you, and you're gonna get off the other side, they're gonna have presents waiting for you, and they'll be taking pictures, and everybody will be shaking your hands, say, "Congratulations, today you become a success. You're a college graduate." Now, my friend, You did not become a success the day that you got your diploma. Now, what you did have happen to you in that ceremony is you got recognized for success. The diploma is recognition of what you have done the previous 4 or 5 years. You see, you were a success in your freshman year when you decided to not drop out of school like some of your other classmates and decided to stick to it. And you were a success every time you studied for a test, and you were a success every time you did a project or did a writing assignment. You see, you're a success all through school. You're a success every day. Success is a daily thing, not a destination thing. The day you got the diploma, you just got recognized for the success that you already were. Now that's very essential, because so many times people have a, have a tendency to devalue the moment, today. What they do is they greatly value the destination. And so they kind of talk about, well, when I get there, or if I arrive there, or when I do that, or when I accomplish this. And they don't understand that success is a daily thing. And I'm here to share with you that the secret of success is determined by your daily agenda. In fact, I wrote a book a few years ago called Today Matters. I'm passionate about that book because what it does is it helps you, it helps me to understand that we make decisions and then we manage decisions. And too often we think, I will make a decision. For example, you're saying, I'm gonna make a decision to be a coach, or I'm gonna make a decision, you know what, I'm gonna make a decision to be a public speaker. I wanna be a communicator. Well, congratulations. You've made a wonderful decision. Coach speaking, good decisions. But that won't make you a successful coach. That won't make you a successful communicator. It's not the decision that makes you. You've got to make the decision by managing it. And you manage the decision on a daily basis. In other words, what you want to be tomorrow you've gotta do today. You visualize tomorrow. That gives you hope, and that's your motivation, and that's your dream. Nothing wrong with that. You visualize tomorrow, but you value today. What's that mean? That means that what I do every day is either getting me closer to that vision, that dream, that goal, or it's really driving me farther away from it. You see, every day we are either repairing or we're preparing. You see, if I messed up yesterday, guess what I get to do today? Fix yesterday. In other words, if I didn't do the right thing yesterday, what I gotta do today is I've gotta repair. I've gotta go back, make amends, backtrack, put the car in reverse, put my life in reverse. I've gotta go back there. I've gotta repair. Every day I spend repairing, I'm not spending preparing. Well, you see, we repair when we fail to manage the decisions that we've made. We prepare when we, on a daily basis, manage the decisions that we've made. So your footprints to success are really footprints of success, because every step that is made and taken Based upon the goals that you have for your life, and you're managing those goals correctly, every step is the progressive realization of success in your life. And by the way, oh, you'll get the diploma, you'll get the certificate, but when you get that, you didn't arrive. It just is another step in preparing you to reach your potential. Each one of us should live our life as if we'll never learn everything we never need to learn, we'll never be able to accomplish everything we wanted to accomplish, we won't be able to experience everything we wanted to experience. We should live our life every day hungry, understanding that we are to live until we die. You see, I think success can't be summarized in a flippant degree or program or diploma or arrival. I think today, if you are learning to coach, if you are learning to speak, if you're doing the things that are essential to the decisions and you're managing those decisions well, can I say something to you? Congratulations, you are already a success. Now, guess what? Over time, it shows up. You've heard the expression. You maybe even said it yourself. You've heard the expression, I'm sure. I've worked all my life to become an overnight success. That's the way it works. All of a sudden, somebody recognizes you. All of a sudden, somebody congratulates you. You didn't get good at that moment. You've been good for a long time. It just showed up someday. Have you ever heard a motivational speaker tell you that attitude is everything? I'll bet you have. I've heard many say that. In fact, they'll say something like, "If you can believe it, you can achieve it." And that never quite rang true with me. So I began to press the issue, and I have come to the conclusion that attitude isn't everything. Now, I'm not disclaiming or in any way being disparaging about attitude because I think attitude is very important. But if anybody comes up to you, tells you that attitude is everything, ah, don't buy into that. That's not true. For example, attitude can't replace incompetence. If you're incompetent, you can be very happy, but you can still be very unsuccessful. Now, here's what I do know. Attitude isn't everything, but attitude is the most important thing. Main thing that'll make a difference in your life. And because I believe that, I wrote the book, "The Difference Maker." You see, that's what attitude is. Attitude is the difference maker. You have two people side by side that you're thinking about employing in your company. Both of them have the same background, same job description, education, experience. I mean, you could almost flip a coin and say, I could hire the one on the right or I could hire the one on the left. But one has a great attitude and one has a bad attitude. Now, who are you going to hire? You're going to hire the person with a great attitude. Why? Because it was the difference maker. In areas of choice, you need to work on your weaknesses. For example, let's say I am lazy. That's an area of choice. I mean, I'm not naturally lazy. I'm just lazy. It's a choice. So I need to work on that because I— in areas of choices, you can make vast improvement and you can make fast improvement. I've never heard this distinction, by the way. Yeah, yeah, hugely helpful. Oh yeah, in choices. So attitude, let's say I have a lousy attitude. One day I wake up, I say, this isn't getting me anywhere, I gotta have a good attitude. You can go from a 0 to a 10. I mean, almost over— I mean, you've seen people that you just say, my gosh, overnight they just, yeah, got good and happy, you know what I'm saying? Okay, that's a choice. Vast, fast growth in choices. In giftedness, DNA wiring, your growth is very, very small and it's very slow. So I think, for example, a person can maybe increase their giftedness skill set maybe 2 numbers. Wow. So if I'm a If I'm a little bit above average, I'm a 6. If I really work hard, I can become an 8. But an 8 is powerful. Yeah. 8 has a huge return. So what I tell people is in areas of giftedness, that's where you have to work on your strengths. If I'm a 2 in something, I'm very weak in a skill. If I worked hard, I could only become a 4. I'd still be below average. So what I tell people is you got to ask yourself, is it going to give me the return? So in the area of strengths, You gotta pour yourself into the things that you're already good at because that'll really set you apart from average. But in areas of choices, go for those weaknesses. Because you and I, don't you know people that are highly skilled but they have a lousy attitude or they're not self-disciplined? And they're never gonna get anywhere. And they're not gonna get anywhere because they didn't, so in areas of choices, work on your weaknesses. But in areas of strengths and skills, just work on your strengths. Well, Paul Harvey said that you can tell you're on the road to success because it's uphill all the way. And I'm here to tell you this something-for-nothing entitlement mindset that invades so many people's lives is a bunch of garbage. I can promise you nothing that I've ever had worthwhile did I have just kind of fall into my lap like, oh my goodness, I won the lottery. And I know once in a while people win the lottery, but basically the people that win the lottery, half of them lose their money within 3 years, the money they won. And it's because they got money, but they never changed the way they thought. And can I tell you something? If you have all the assets in the world, but you don't change the way you think, you'll lose all the assets in the world. And what I have discovered in this whole process of trade-offs is that every step of the way of my journey, I have to trade something off. And for you that are young, the good news is Your trade-offs will never be easier than when you're young. Because I remember when Margaret and I started out, I think, man, you know, I gave up everything. I was a pastor to go in the ministry. I gave up everything. And then I start smiling. I thought, sure, I gave up everything. I didn't have anything to give up when I did. I was a kid, you know what I mean? I had a 1964 Ford Falcon and a U-Haul trailer and 5 pieces of furniture, and life was grand, and off we went. Here's what I've discovered, Ken, and I think that I want the audience and I want everybody watching around the world to know today. Is very simple. The more successful you become, the higher the trade-offs are. You see, we make a mistake thinking it gets easier. It doesn't get easier, it gets harder. And the more you have, every time you go back and say, am I willing to risk that again? The more you realize, wow, I'm not sure I am willing to risk this. And what I've learned is the moment I stop making trade-offs is the moment that I plateau. And life is continually filled with trade-offs in your life and in my life. My expression I use all the time, Ken, you've heard me say this, you have to give up to go up. When somebody comes and says, John, I want to be a leader, I always ask them the question, why? Why do you want to be a leader? I mean, do you want to be a leader because you want a corner office? Do you want to be a leader because you like to be in control? Do you want to be a leader because you love to be in the front of the pack? Do you want to be a leader because you want to have a good parking place? Why do you want to be a leader? 'Cause leadership isn't easy. Leadership a lot of times isn't fun. Leadership a lot of times is kind of lonely. There's only one reason to be a leader, and that is to add value to people. And you and I will only add value to people if we truly value them. I have a nonprofit organization, EQUIIP, that's trained almost 2 million leaders internationally around the world. And I kid you not, as I go to developing countries, twice a year and I travel internationally and I sit down sometimes. I had the privilege of being in the offices of presidents of countries. And as I watch these developing countries, the thing that is the cardinal sin among leadership so much is that they have leaders of their countries that truly don't value the people. And if you and I don't value people, we will devalue people. Number 2, if you want to add value to people, You have to make yourself more valuable. You just have to get better. You have to keep growing. You have to keep learning. You have to keep developing. Why? Very simply, if you're leading the pack, you've got to be able to give what you have, and you can't give what you don't have. And so therefore, you've got to put a lot of good stuff in so that you can pass it on to others and share with them and, and add value to them. Thirdly, if you want to add value to people You have to know and relate to what other people value. You and I have to walk slowly through the crowd. We have to listen. We have to care. You see, great leaders are first of all listeners, and then they're learners, and then they're leaders. They really do take their cue from the people. They understand that the key of leadership is connecting with the people that you lead, and the only way that you and I ever connect is by caring enough to listen. Number 4 is very important to me. When I'm speaking in the business community, I always share with them that for them there are 3 ways to add value to people, but for me there are 4. And I tell them I'll give them the 3, and then that— and so I'll, I'll spend maybe an hour doing those 3 things I just shared with you, talking about how to add value to people. And inevitably when I'm done with the 3, somebody raises their hand and says, "John, you said that for you there was 4, but you said there's only 3 for us." I said, "Yes, it's nothing personal, but this is about my faith, and so I don't really need to share this with you because I'm trying to help you, and I don't want to cross boundaries with you." And inevitably they'll say, "But John, tell us what yours is." And I'll say, "Well, okay, you can hear mine, but don't write it down. In fact, don't listen." Because number 4 for me is, if I really want to add value to people, I have to do the things that God values. You see, the greatest motivational principle in the world, the greatest motivational principle in the world is that people do what people see. And too many travel agents, too many travel agents, they're like, Or too many leaders, too many leaders are like, they're like travel agents. They're sending people where they've never been themselves. And you want to be a tour guide. You want to take people with you. You want to say, this is the area where I've been. This is where I live. This is the area where I lead. Come along and follow me. And at level number 3, your leadership begins to gain credibility because now you are fleshing out for the people around you, and you are modeling for them things that they want to see, and you are starting to produce. How would you tell us to develop a habit of curiosity? Well, you know what, people do look at me and see me as creative because I've written so many books, and I am curious. But when I started off in college, in my freshman psych class, they gave us a test for each student to take on creativity. And there were 17 in that class, I can remember it well, and I was at the bottom of the class on creativity. I mean, I was like number 17 out of 17. And the teacher posted the scores, and so I mean, I saw how bad I was. And then I really felt bad, not only because I wasn't creative, but I was going to go pastor. I was going to go into ministry. I was going to teach. I was going to do sermons. And then I got to thinking to myself, I'm going to be another boring preacher. And you know, that just gripped me. I thought, oh, this is going to be awful. I'm going to bore people all my life, you know what I mean? And then I'm going to ask them to pay while they hear me. I mean, this is an awful deal. And so two things I did, and I talk about it in the book. One is I started filing. I started taking thoughts and quotes. And the reason I started doing that is I thought, if I'm not gonna be good at what I say, I need to quote somebody that is good. And so I started filing things that other people would say. So I'd go around and I'd say, well, Kim said, you know what I mean? And Joe said, and Susie said, and so that at least I would be a little bit more interested. And that's how it started. But the big breakthrough, The big breakthrough I had was, and this will help everyone. How many of you would like to be more creative? Let me see your hands, okay. How many of you would like to just absolutely have an imagination that just took you to a new level? You know I'm saying, okay. How many already have that because you're on drugs? Okay, okay, okay. Here's the key, this'll work for you. I promise you it'll work for you 'cause it worked for me. I made a major change in my early 30s from just having answers and being a leader that just had to, cast vision, show everybody what I was doing and where we were going. And I started asking intentional questions. And I became a person, I ask questions all the time. Every day I ask questions. And I have found just asking questions will take you on exciting journeys more than anything else. You excel in that, Ken, I've watched you over the years, you excel really in that. But for my early years, I didn't ask enough questions and so therefore, I didn't get enough ideas and thoughts from others. So when people say, I wanna be more creative, what's step one? Step number one is ask more questions. Just go to people and start asking questions. It's amazing what you'll learn. In Switzerland, there are some mountains that can be climbed by people like you and me. We gotta get a little bit better condition, but I mean, it's not like the mountain climber mountains that would be way beyond our skill level. But some of these mountains that can be climbed by you and me, it takes a day to get to the top, then you just camp up there and you come down the next day. And on many of these places where, in Switzerland, where you can do that, about halfway up the mountain is what they call the halfway house. Halfway house, halfway up the mountain. So a group of people starts off with a guide in the morning, and about noon, you're kinda tired and you've been walking now for 4 or 5 hours, and here comes, you're coming up to the halfway house and it's just a, it's a wonderful sight. Because as soon as you enter in the halfway house, you can smell the food and they're getting ready for a good lunch and you sit down, there's a fire in the fireplace and there's nice soft chairs and you can just rest your body and refresh your body. And so the people go into the halfway house and they eat and laugh and enjoy and just really, really just kind of take in that wonderful refreshing atmosphere. About an hour and a half after being in the halfway house, the guide gets up and says, "Well, gang, it's time to put on your gear. We gotta hike. We gotta get on up to the top." This is a fact. About half the people decide not to go on up to the top. They're sitting around the table and they're just saying, "You know what? Go on up. You're gonna be coming by here tomorrow. You're gonna be having lunch here again tomorrow. We're just gonna hang here." And so the people that wanna get to the top, they put their stuff on They kinda leave and the rest of the people stay behind. They eat a little bit more food, get around the piano, sing some songs, get around the fireplace, enjoy the fire, warm themselves by the fire, and all that, play games all afternoon, kind of enjoy themselves. But about 4:30, quarter till 5:00 in the afternoon, without anybody saying a word, the people who stayed in the halfway house, they slowly, go over to where the window is, the big window, and they start looking outside and they start looking up at the top of that mountain. And as they look at the top of that mountain, they see their friends. Their friends are now getting the tents out and they're getting ready to prepare for the night. And it becomes very quiet, very somber, because everybody in the halfway house realizes the mistake they've made. They've sold their mission for a little bit of comfort for a few hours. Next morning, down come their friends, and by noon they come into the halfway house. When they come in the halfway house, they are laughing, they are high-fiving, they're talking about what they've seen, where they've been, experiences, the fact that it was almost impossible to get up there. In fact, they had to help each other get up there, and how they joined teams and held hands, and they're just telling all these stories and talk about the pictures they've taken, and yeah, they got the group picture, picture up there with the flag at the top. And the people who remain behind, they don't say much. They just eat their lunch and then follow the rest of them down to the bottom of the hill where their friends are waiting for them. And those who paid the price and went to the top, who understood now is the time to reach the mission They hug and tell stories and celebrate. And the others, they just kinda slip off and get in their car and go home because they realize they're never gonna be what they wanted to be, they're never gonna see what they wanted to see, they're never gonna do what they wanted to do because they failed to realize when they're at the halfway house, now's the time to rest, and they go on. Connecting increases your influence in every situation. For the foundation of the teaching today, I want to make sure that we really have a grasp of why connecting with people is so vital. So if you'll go to the very first sentence in your notes, the number one criteria for advancement and promotion for professionals is an ability to communicate effectively. That I do believe. I think the ability to connect and communicate is the number one criteria for success with your family, with your marriage, with your children, with your friends, in the workplace, the marketplace, in the community. If you have the ability to connect with people, if you can communicate and connect, not just communicate, it takes you and literally gives you and I a decided edge over others in the advancement of what we're trying to accomplish. For example, in your notes, presidential historian Robert Dalek says that the success— that successful presidents exhibit 5 skills and qualities that enable them to achieve things that others don't. So he's talking about leaders and presidents and people. What makes some achieve better than others? Here's the 5 things they do well. Number 1 is vision. Number 2, pragmatism. Number 3, consensus building, the ability to put together a team and get consensus. Number 4, charisma. And number 5, trustworthiness, being a trustworthy kind of a person. Now what is interesting about these 5, these 5 things that set the that set the better presidents apart from maybe the average ones, 4 of the 5 deal with connecting. Vision is definitely a connecting skill, the ability to cast a future vision. Consensus building, getting people to work together, you have to be able to connect to do that. Charisma, of course, that's why people follow the, quote, the Pied Piper. And trustworthy. 4 of the 5 of the skills needed to be successful as a leader had a lot to do with connecting. So let me define connecting, 'cause that's what this book is all about. Connecting is the ability to identify with people and relate to them in such a way that it increases our influence with them. In other words, we can identify with them until they say, "He or she understands exactly what I know and what I'm going through," and we can relate with them until we because of that ability, we begin to increase our influence with them. And of course, what do I teach about leadership? Very simple. Leadership is influence. I think success, first of all, is knowing my purpose in life. As I have watched and observed successful people, what I have discovered about them is they really have figured out why they're here. They really do have their act together. And knowing their purpose in life is a stability for them. So that when everyone else is rockin' and rollin' and things are a little unsteady and people are kind of leaving the ship and people are kind of abandoning their causes, these people, they hold steady right throughout the storm because they have a true north star. They truly are focused. It becomes an anchor in their life. That just holds them steady. And the anchor is a confidence based upon a knowledge of purpose. Someone said that there are two great days in a person's life: the day that they are born and the day they discover why. I'm here to tell you, highly successful people, they've discovered why.

Thank you so much for watching. I made this video because John Fontana asked me to. So if there's a famous entrepreneur that you want me to profile next, leave in the comments below and I'll see what I can do. I'd also love to know which of John Maxwell's top 10 rules had the biggest impact on you and why. Leave in the comments and I will join in the discussion. Finally, I want to give a quick shout out to Rhonda Young. Rhonda, thank you so much for buying my book. It means a lot to me. For those of you watching, if you want your chance at a shout out in a future video, make sure to pick up a copy of the book and then email in your receipt so I can keep track of you and give you some acknowledgement. Thank you guys so much for watching. Continue to believe, or whatever your one word is, and I'll see you soon.

I've never met a person who was not successful that didn't have a great amount of self-discipline within their life. Self-discipline and being able to perform and being able to keep your life on schedule and being able to keep commitments and promises and meet deadlines is essential to success. None of us, none of us can afford to have a life that is controlled by someone else or a life that is basically controlled by our emotions. I learned many years ago that there are two kinds of people. There's the type of person who says, "I'm going to wait till I feel like it before I do it." And then there's a person who says, "I've got to do it so that I feel like it." One will never get anything done because they're still waiting to feel the moment to move. And the other person says, "No, I need to move and then I will begin to feel the moment." Sonya, self-discipline is essential in your life and in my life if we're going to get things done. So I have a challenge for every one of you this weekend. The challenge is simple. As you go through your weekend, and sometimes it's kind of a, hopefully, an easier time of your week, ask yourself, am I practicing self-discipline in my life? Am I doing the things that I should do because I need to do them, or am I kind of waiting to feel the moment? Do like our friends Nike say, Just do it. How do we find our personal Curt Kampmeier? Somebody who can really speak into our lives and change our trajectory. Well, I can't take credit for it. I went to a seminar that Curt was teaching on success, and when he finished teaching, I went up to him and introduced myself, and I asked for an appointment with him. He came then to Lancaster to the Holiday Inn for breakfast and we had that breakfast meeting that did change my life. Then I never saw him again from that time until my 65th birthday when my staff brought— I never had seen him. I talked about him, I talked about him. On my 65th birthday when we were having a party together, they brought him into the room. I hadn't seen him for 40 years. I just wept and I thought, you know. But I think the key was when I went to hear him, And he began to speak to my life about being successful. I kind of broke out of a barrier and I went up to introduce myself and then I asked, could I take him to breakfast and could I learn from him? And I think the key is once you see somebody that is helping you, be bold and ask them, you know, can I take you to breakfast? And by the way, here's a thought, buy the breakfast, okay? Just don't go and say, hey, how about buying breakfast for me? But just, I took that step and I've always been glad I took that step, but I've always thought to myself, you know what, if I wouldn't have taken the step, then I probably would have never had that relationship and never maybe would have asked that question, maybe never would have had this seminar or would have written the book. So I think once you see somebody that you think can really help you, take the initiative and step right up. Something magical happens When you begin to understand the most appreciable asset you have in any organization is the people of that organization, and you begin to commit yourself to developing the people within that organization, because how do you grow a company? You grow a company by growing people. And when you grow them, they increase their capacity. When they increase their capacity, they begin to increase the capacity of what you can do and what you can accomplish. Let me just share with you quickly 3 thoughts on developing people, just very quickly. Number 1 is the key to developing leaders, and the key to developing good people is in recruitment. The better person you bring in the door, the higher odds that you can do well with them. I remember having lunch one time with Lou Holtz, and Lou Holtz said, John, I've had bad players on my football team, and I've had good players on my football team. And he said, just to be honest with you, I'm a better coach with good players. Of course he is. Of course he is. Let me say something. 80% of your success of equipping people to be successful is in the front door on who you bring in. I wish I had time to develop that for you, because what happens is, unless you and I have a clear picture of what we're looking for, we don't know when we see it. Happens all the time. People come to me and say, John, I'm looking for some leaders for my company. What do you suggest? The first question I ask is, what does a leader look like? Give me the characteristics. Give me the qualities. Please, please paint a picture for me. What does that leader look like? Because you've got to have that clear picture so that when you see that person, you know that they're one that you want. Recruitment is key. Number 2 is positioning. The ability not only to bring the right person in the front door, but also to put them in the right place. As Collins would say, get them on the bus. Get them on the right seat. And position is huge. And what I've discovered is that successful people have always positioned them well, themselves well. When you see a successful person, they're successful because what they have done is they've found their strength zone, and they've found their niche, and they stay right in that sweet spot, and they just work that sweet spot. You've never heard anybody be interviewed that was successful that you came up and you interviewed them, they said, well, the secret to my success is that I've never discovered what I was good at. Or the secret of my success is I've always worked on— I've just worked in my weakness. No, no, they're always in their strength. They've already discovered what they're good at. Now, successful people have discovered what they're good at. Successful leaders discover what other people are good at. Successful people position themselves well. Successful leader position the other people well. And at level number 4, that's exactly what happened. The leader is always looking at the people, observing, watching. Just like last week I went back to my first school. I graduated from Ohio Christian University in a little town in Circleville, Ohio, and it's a little school, and I go back every year and I give them a day to speak, and they get all the proceeds and keep the money. And so because I grew up in that town, I told one of my friends that played ball with me, Tim, I said, "Tim, let the ballplayers, let the team know, let some of my high school kids know that I'm going to be in town, and let's have a dinner afterwards." And we had over 50 people came together. I hadn't seen many of these— hadn't seen many of my high school mates since I graduated from high school clear back in 1965. And we had a wonderful time. We laughed, and talked, and told stories for 2 hours, and Coach Neff, our basketball coach, he came back. Hadn't seen him for years. And when I saw him, I thought of myself, and I thought of back in those scrimmages in basketball. Because the first scrimmage every year, Coach Neff would take the first team, and he'd say, "Now I'm going to let you play the second team, but there's one condition. The first team is not going to play their position." And he'd take Doug Roth, who was 6-foot-8, and put him out at point guard. I remember he stuck me one year under center, and he put all He'd take all the first team players out of position on offense, but he let the second team play in their position. And the second team always beat us in the scrimmage. Why'd they always beat us? Because— and then he would stop and he'd say, let me just explain something to you. No matter how talented you are, if you're out of position, you'll never reach your potential. What was Coach Sneff teaching us? He was coaching us, and he was teaching us that it's key to get positionally correct. And it's also, as a leader, key to get your people in the right position. And at level number 4, that's what happens. At level number 4, you recruit well, you position well, and then you equip well. Now you take them and say, okay, I understand what their strength zone is. I understand what their giftedness is. Now I'm going to equip them. I'm going to come alongside of them, and I'm going to develop them, and I'm going to train them. And I use a very simple— for years, for many, many years, a simple 5-step equipping process. It really works. Here's how it works. Step 1, I do it. It's that simple. You can't teach somebody what you can't do yourself. We may teach what we know, but we reproduce what we are. So if you're going to reproduce yourself, you've got to be it yourself. So the first step is I do it. Step 2 is I do it and you're with me. I take you with me. Now we're going to spend time together. I'm going to be your mentor. I'm going to be your coach. You're going to watch me. You're going to observe me. You're going to see me in different situations. We're going to make sure that it works. We're going to make sure— you're going to be able to ask me questions. Step 3 is now we turn it, and I hand the ball off to you. Now on step 3, you do it. You do it, and I'm with you. Now I'm watching you, and I'm tweaking you, and I'm getting— I'm helping you to get better, and I'm just really fine-tuning you. Step 4 is you do it. You just do it. You don't need me anymore. You know how to do it, and you do it, and you do it well. And many times people think that equipping stops at step 4, but it doesn't. There's one more step that's absolutely essential. Step 5 is you do it, and somebody's with you. You've never really trained and equipped somebody until they can multiply themselves. That's where all compounding is. That's where all compounding of time, money, influence. The whole process— compounding begins when you can train somebody who has trained somebody. I know that well, because 14 years ago I started a nonprofit organization called EQUIIP that is now the largest leadership organization in the world, and we've trained and equipped over 3 million people in 154 countries. And the key to that is we don't train anybody unless they make a commitment to train somebody else. It has to continue to go on. That's level number 4. It's a beautiful level to be on. It's the level where you develop people.