108. What Creates Follow Through?

Foreign Kenny Chapman here, your host of Leadership in a Nutshell. We're cracking that code of that driven mind that you and I have been blessed with. And you're probably in Home Services if you're listening to this, and if you're not, I am grateful to have you. If you are, guess what? I'm grateful to have you too. Just love getting together and sharing a little positive energy. Today I'm pumped because it's episode 108 and the title is what Creates Follow Through. And so I want to get this on the table and I'm going to give you five things that are. This is going to be a short, to the point episode that's kind of the whole, the whole premise of Leadership in a Nutshell. And I know some weeks I get a little longer winded and I might go, you know, 15, even 18 minutes here and there, but generally I'm landing around 10 minutes, ish, something like that. And today I just, I want this to be something that you could even come back to. But I'm going to ask you to take notes. If you're riding in your car, if you're at, at the gym, if you're out for a walk, if you're, you know, not in a place to take notes right now, I would encourage you to come back to this episode because, you know, follow through creates a chemical release in the brain that is, that is tied to fulfillment. You know, we get that dopamine that, you know, many of us used to kind of seek that through. How do I want to say, like, not natural product? Well, I guess some natural products. I don't know, you know what I'm talking about. Some, you can, there's a lot of different ways you can find this dopamine, but one of the cool ways to find it is when you accomplish something. And when you accomplish something, you release this chemical that just feels really good. And you're, you, you know, you get to, to feel good about yourself, you're proud of yourself, you increase your, your confidence. That gives you the ability to do more things and elevate your self image and all these incredible things. And you know, life's short and we're here. I was joking last episode about the death thing, so I won't talk about that. But the reality is life is short and we don't know how long we're here. And so let's have some fun while we're here. And if we're going to have some fun while we're here, why not do some stuff and let's not do some stuff because we're supposed to, or, you know, some guru decided we're supposed to. And if anything, I'm going to be your happiness guru, and I'm going to tell you that, you know, you're here to do a job, and that job is to be happy and to find the things that make you happy and do more of those. And, and as you become happier, people around you have the ability to become happier. And that's ultimately what it's all about. And one of the ways that you create happiness is follow through. And sometimes there's not follow through because you just don't want to do this thing. Sometimes you get into doing some dumb shit, like, let's just be honest about it. Sometimes you're like, why did I say I was going to do this? What am I doing? And then you keep on moving it forward. Give me a head nod right now if you, you have like, a to do list that you work off of. We have a, you know, we have an app that we use at, at Blue Collar where everybody has projects and different tasks. And give me a head nod if you have something on your list that will come and go. Or, or there's a time when you'll kind of move things forward. I was talking about this on a, on a webinar not too long ago, where I'll take a task and I'll move it forward to, you know, well, it's, let's say it, it might be Tuesday. When you're listening to this on drop day, when we drop the podcast on Tuesday, I'm gonna move it to Thursday. And then I, I hit Thursday, and it's on my task list. I'm like, I'm not doing that today. I'll move it to Monday. Monday. I, I, I've got a fairly light coaching day, so I'll, I'll get to that. Monday morning, I wake up and I look at my task list. I'm like, yeah, that's, Let me go. You know what? I'm not even gonna kid myself. I'm gonna move that all the way to Thursday this week. And then I get to Thursday. I'm like, yeah, let me bump it two weeks. And then finally I go, what am I doing? Delete. Or maybe delegate. Depends on if it actually needs to be done or not. But one of the things that we look at is like, why am I not following through? And a lot of us aren't following through because we are doing something that the world has said we should do. It's not tied to our own desire. It's not tied to our own true commitment. It's tied to something that somebody said we ought to do or we should do or we better do or it would behoove us to do and put all that crap in air quotes. Right? So, you know, I've, I've talked about Keith Cunningham multiple times on the podcast. My buddy that the road less stupid and the one thing that he really impacted me with was implementing plans, not ideas. And I know my team that's listening to this will certainly say, well yeah, we got a ways to go with you on that, Kenny. And that's true. I definitely am an idea guy. I don't love constraints of a lot of follow through things. I've had to build my team around me to supplement my unique ability and I encourage all leaders to do that. Why would I spend a lot of my life focusing on what I'm not good at or what the world calls my weaknesses, Things that I'm not interested in, things that I'm not passionate about. Like that doesn't make any sense to me. So I decide that I want to free myself from that and enjoy not having to focus on those types of things and giving those things to somebody that is more in, in their unique genius when it comes to certain things like that. So I try to focus on what is a plan that's going to get implemented. And most plans in today's world are not going to be implemented by me. Certainly when I, when I write a book, I'm going to work with a publisher and I, and I go through certain things. But I have a team that's on my writing team too that helps me or my book team, I should say that helps me bring those ideas when they're going through an editing and kicking, you know, back what, you know, the first edit I get in a book was what they call the hurt your feelings at it because it's painful when you put pour your heart and soul into a project like the, you know, the blue collar leadership laws that I just released not too long ago. And it really, you know, it feels like, oh my gosh, you know, what's, what's this all about when you get this, this kick back to you. But I've got a plan when I go to write a book. I used to have an idea and a lot of people have an idea about a book, but it takes planning to get it done. And that's true with, with all kinds of things. Insert whatever you want where I said book and implement plans, not ideas. That's. That's a key, overarching theme here today. So five things I want you to focus on. Number one, be truthful with yourself about what you want. I touched on this earlier, but don't start doing things just because you're supposed to. You know, we, at blue collar, we run multiple events a year, and our. Our bigger events are called the acceleration days. You know, sure, we, we release some new ideas and some new things, and we have, you know, sponsor partners, strategic partners that will share certain technologies or strategies. And, you know, we have members share time, the coaches share things. And, and there's can be ideas. Maybe you go to other industry events or, or different education or training or, you know, see what, you know, Gary Vee's up to or. Or Tim Ferriss or Grant Cardone. Oh, my God, look at what these guys are doing. I should get after that. Be true to yourself. What? You know, it's okay to want what you want. What do you want? Not what somebody else says you should want or that you need to want. What do you want? Because if you're not following through on certain things, you don't want to, period. If you wanted to, you would. Right or wrong. Like, let's just get down to the cellular level. If you're not doing it, you don't want to. So why don't you want to? And when you start really uncovering that, you might get clear. Now, there's certain things I don't want to do when it comes to a book project, when it comes to a speaking event, I don't love staying in, you know, in hotels a bunch and all the flights and the cancellations and the rental cars and the different things and sometimes bad food. Like, I don't love a lot of those things, but I'm committed to the. The end game of what I'm doing enough that I'll go through those things. Book projects are incredibly painful for me. I'm not a good reader. I'm not a good writer. As far as, you know, fortunately, my books resonate with people because my editing team helps me a lot. But when I first, you know, lay down the first draft of a book project, you don't want to see that one, because I'm a hell of a lot better speaker than I am a writer. But by the time my editing team gets through it and we really clean it up and make it digestible content, then that feels pretty good. But a lot of that process is painful for me. I don't love it, but I love the end game enough that I'll go through it, if that makes sense. Okay, so be true with yourself what you want and realize that's the deal. I've got to go through those follow through of a book project in order to get it in your hands and hopefully change your life. Okay? That's what it's all about. Number two, acknowledge. You know where the pit stops are and the finish lines are. I think this is important. So as soon as I'm true with myself, then I take a step back and acknowledge. Okay, where are we at here? Is this a pit stop or is this a finish line? Because big projects, you've got to have some, some pit stops. And then realizing, okay, there's going to be a finish line. And the challenge with finish lines is generally right behind a finish line is a starting point. Right. So when you think about, you know, certainly one of the things I love about business is, you know, the financials and, you know, going through and comparison reports and different ways of slicing and Dyson financials and, and the wild thing about financials is as soon as you close a month, you turn around and there's a starting line, there's a finish line, and then right behind it there's a starting line. And so then you've got, you know, pit stops. Let's take a year for example. Then I've got, I got pit stops once a quarter. When I start looking at quarterly reporting and different things. I've got pit stops monthly as well. But my big pit stops where I might be doing, you know, tires and fuel and everything is on my quarterlies. And so when I'm looking at quarterly reporting and different things like that. And so that's just a financial explanation, right? So what are the pit stops that you want in this project or where you need some follow through, are they pit stops or are they finish lines? And kind of acknowledge what those are. Third thing for implementing plans, not ideas, creating follow through. Number three, examine your pain and your fear. Like, you've got to look at this and go, you know, what am I afraid of? You know, when I first started blue Collar Leadership Laws, I was in, I went to a writing school. It's my third book or fourth book, but it's the first time I went through an actual writing school. I was in a, in a peer group where, you know, every week these authors would meet and different things. And a lot of people never put out a book or product because they're afraid of rejection. And fortunate for me, I've been in Sales long enough. I've taught and coached sales and, you know, been in business since I was 23. I've experienced a lot of pain and dealt with a lot of fear. And I've built some strategies and learned to really, you know, evaluate that, examine that, and really look at, okay, so there's some pain. And going through this writing process, I just keep using this book example because, you know, it's a recent project that I, that I just completed that I'm very proud of. And I'm getting massive great feedback from the lives that this book's already beginning to implement and change or impact and change. And so, you know, when I look at the painful project I'm going through and I look at the fear of, what if it gets rejected? What if it doesn't, you know, go to number one? What if I don't, you know, make a lot of impact or what, what if people don't resonate with it? Those fear, I gotta look at that. Because if any of those are getting big enough to stop me from following through, then that's gonna wreck me. It's not gonna, it's not gonna play right. So you've gotta examine, is there any pain involved? Is there any fear involved? Is that maybe why I'm not following through? And just honor that truth as you go through it. So be truthful with yourself about what you want. Acknowledge where the pit stops and what are the actual finish lines. Three, examine the pain and the fear. Number four, evaluate your commitment. Or maybe I should say even reevaluate your commitment. When you get into this and you start looking and going, okay, what is my commitment look like? How's this going to play out? What do I want to do here? How do I want to handle this? Like, sometimes when you commit to something, you have a certain ideal in your, in your head and you have a way of thinking this might work. And then once you get into a project and when you start getting into the follow through, you realize maybe you're not that committed. And that's when I'm talking about different things. Even the little, you know, share about moving something forward on my to do list or my task list or, or different things like that, like, what does that look like? How committed are you? And it's okay to honor your truth here, too. Goes back to number one, truth with yourself about what you want. Like, also be truthful here. Like, what am I committed to? And, and that, you know, circle in your end game here and really realize, like, sometimes, yes, you've got to Go through some, quote, pain or some discomfort or some uncertainty in order to accomplish what you really want. And that takes commitment to get through those. So it's kind of like a health and wellness protocol or committing to an exercise program or an eating right or meditation or journaling or reading every day, whatever those are. When you first start, you're very committed because you've got an emotional tie. But once you get in, real life happens different thing. I don't feel good today. It's allergy season. I've got this going, whatever that is. It's like, hang on, what is my commitment here? Sometimes just reevaluating and going, no, I am committed to this thing. And sometimes it might be, you know what? I thought I was going to love this. I thought this was going to be something I'm committed to, and I'm not. So I'm out. That's it. Boom, done. Okay, move on. Find something else. Life's too short not to be truthful and to take action on what you want. Number five, winning and learning. Always write that down. Maybe write it in a. In a legible sentence or a sentence that makes sense. So I'm always winning and learning like that. That is a key to follow through. And so when you're going through some of what the world would say is painful or not in your wheelhouse of what you're really good at or what you really love to do, but it's necessary as part of this project to get to the end game of what you really want to accomplish with this project, whatever that is, you're winning. And you're winning when you're making mistakes and getting your tail handed to you because you're learning. And that's one of the really cool things that when you start embracing and really adopting a mindset of I'm either winning or I'm learning. And if I'm learning, I'm winning, then guess what? I'm winning all the time. And that's exactly how I feel. It's exactly how I feel. Some of these, you know, you know, you've listened to. Maybe if you start at the beginning. You've listened to 108 weeks of this podcast now, and guess what? Some episodes are better than others. Not going to lie to you. Why? Because I'm a human being, sometimes I'm able to eloquently say something and get it across and build it into this package that mentally, through audio, I'm able to connect with you and touch your spirit and really get you to resonate. And some Other episodes, we might not really connect. Sometimes I might be super dialed, and you might not really connect. Sometimes certain people will really resonate, and it doesn't resonate with other people. That's okay. We're winning and we're learning all the time. And so that's where you really want to get to follow through is why am I following through? What am I doing? Why do I want to do it? How does it feel as I'm doing it? And what is the pit stop that I'm looking at? So to go back and really look at this, number one, be true with yourself about what you truly want. Number two, acknowledge what the pit stops and finish lines are. Number three, examine your pain and your fear. How are they coming in as blockers? Where do they kind of interrupt things? Number four, evaluate your commitment or reevaluate. If you've been into this project for a minute now, am I still committed, or do I need to recommit at a different level? And five, I'm always winning and I'm always learning. And if I'm what the world would call failure, then I'm learning, and that's what it's all about. And so hopefully you feel that this podcast has gotten better over the time, because I've been learning as I go. When I first started, I don't know what I'm doing. I've never podcasted. Very few people do a solo cast like I am. Why? Because it's more difficult. It's easy to jump on here with somebody and ask a couple questions, the same guest and. And just go back and forth. I love that stuff. I love interviews, I love being on podcasts, and I love having guests come on. I've never had a guest on here because every time I go to do it, I have more clients. Go, man, I really like the structure of your show. And so, yes, I'll have guests at some point, or, hell, as I say that, maybe that's not true. Maybe I'm gonna have a different podcast where I. Where I interview in case that's what you want to go listen to or whatever. But I'm learning as I go, and that's what life is about. And remember, when you hit that finish line, I learned that. Now, guess what? You get to start a whole new education process, and that's ultimately what it's about. And that's why you structured your life this way. It's why you're a leader. It's why your mind is driven. It's why you have the challenges you have it's why you have what the world calls the problems that you have. It's why you have the gifts you have, the blessings you have, the infinite potential that you have, and the overarching wisdom. That's why you have all this, my friend. That's what creates follow through. Examine these five things. Look at this. How does it resonate for you? Do me a favor, kick this episode to somebody. Shoot them a quick email with a link, and let's keep growing our community with people that are like minded, just like you and I. I want to thank you so much for being with me. Episode 108 what Creates Follow through. Until we talk my friend. Make it a better than fantastic week. I'll see you real soon. Thanks.