Preparation=Respect

What's up everybody and welcome to the HVAC Mentors Podcast. It is really good to be back with you today. If you are new in a skilled trade or thinking about getting into a trade, if you need a little orientation, a little direction in your career, this is the place for you. We're not really focused as much on the hard skills or technical skills But on the soft skills, the things that everybody seems to know, you've been told are common sense, but somehow, even though you're smart, these you might not know. So before, I did an episode on situational awareness. Part 1 was talking about Being aware of your thinking, um, the thought patterns, the ways that we kind of— the ways our mind works. And not only the what, but the why. I mean, what was it that, you know, made it so that you think about certain things a certain way? Uh, when somebody says something, why do you take it a certain way? Why do you categorically think of a particular thing? Uh, we talked about Jim Davis, the author of, um, of the Garfield comic, and, and how, you know, he was quoted as saying that, you know, for some reason cats are just orange tabbies. That's what a cat is. I mean, he knows that there are other colors and patterns, obviously, but, but that's just the first thing that pops in his mind. But, but why? Why, for you, are there other things in your mind that, that that kind of, um, kind of pop into your head when a word or, or concept is mentioned. So today we want to take this a step further because it's not just enough to know why we think the way that we think or how we think the way that we think, um, but it's also important that now knowing that, that we take the next step And start thinking about the habits that we have because of the way that we think. So think about it this way. I am the— I am a great example of a person with ADHD. Leave me to my own devices and I would have dishes stacked to the sink, I would have no clean laundry, and I'd probably be living on Mountain Dew and Doritos and Snickers. Uh, which isn't a formula for success. Uh, my tools would be everywhere. My truck would always look like somebody turned it upside down and shook it. Um, now don't judge. I will confess to you, it looks like that right now, but it's mid-February. We're just coming off of winter. Um, yeah, that's my excuse. So thank you. Thank you for that. Um, but my natural baseline is not to prepare, um, not to plan ahead, and not to— and to kind of take things as they come, you know, to be super casual and just kind of deal with things as they come along. And as we know, um, in life, career, uh, family That's not really a good formula for anybody. Um, so, you know, our awareness within our mind is an external— is an internal thing, but our preparation is external. So while my baseline is not to be one to plan ahead or to prepare, And you know, a lot of people in the trades I've noticed, especially mechanical trades or plumbing, electrical, HVAC, um, you know, there are a lot of really well-organized, on top of it people. But there are also people like me who get stuck up in your head, and then you start like, you know, just putting everything to the side, and before you know it, everything needs to be done later. And now Later is now. So, you know, we just need to take care of everything now, and that doesn't really work. So what we need to do today is really kind of examine how some things in life we can control, right? We can control what time we eat dinner. We can control whether or not we have clean clothes ready for tomorrow. But, you know, sometimes a car breaks down. Sometimes there's a family emergency. We can't always control that. Right. How do we make sure that everything that we can control is taken care of so that when the out of control, the unexpected happens, it's not as big of an emergency? See, in skilled trades, it's all about trust. It's about respect. So we can control how our Coworkers trust us, and we can control how we're perceived. And a lot of it falls back to preparation. So now that we're more aware of what's going on inside our heads from the last episode, let's talk a little bit more about what we do with that awareness. Okay, so I want you to think about what you do to prepare to leave for work. Right. That's what this podcast is about. It's about work. All right. Um, what do you do to prepare to go to work? You might think about, you know, like maybe you take a shower, maybe you put on, you know, some clothes, and, you know, maybe you pack a lunch, maybe you don't, maybe just take some snacks, you know, kind of kiss the wife and kids goodbye and then head out the door. But what if I told you that a successful day didn't start that morning? A successful day actually started the day before. What I'm saying here is, if you're in the mindset that I'm going to prepare for today, today, then you're already too late. You're already starting out behind the 8-ball. So, so when we have that mindset that I'm just gonna get ready, I'm not even gonna think about tomorrow till tomorrow, that kind of opens us up to some friction points in our day. It makes it so that things are a little bit harder, um, because let's be perfectly honest, how many mornings are just smooth, perfect? I wake up, bounce out of bed, ready to go. Um, you know, get dressed, head out the door, everything's good and happy. There's usually some friction. You forgot something, can't find your keys, where's my wallet? Oh, I forgot to put gas in the truck. I've gotta, you know, my first job is an hour from here. I need, you know, I can't, I can't be late. So when all these things stack up, what we're doing is kind of Punishing ourselves. We didn't do anything wrong, we just— but we have to bear the consequences for our lack of preparation. So in that sense, preparation really is a gift to your future self. That's one thing my wife has said to me a lot of times. So I'm like, hey, you know, it's the end of the day, we're both tired, sit down, relax, watch some TV. No, I know I'm going to be tired tomorrow, so I'm just going to be nice to myself. Or nice to my future self and have one less thing to do in the morning. And usually that mindset kind of motivates me to think like, yeah, you know, maybe tomorrow morning me would appreciate, you know, if this was done, if you didn't have to worry about that. Um, so for example, some things that are frequent stumbling blocks or friction points in the morning are your batteries, your tool batteries all charged. Uh, are your work clothes set out? I know it's crazy, it sounds like I'm talking to an elementary school, but you know, we are all kids inside. Me too. Um, are your clothes set out for tomorrow? Is your lunch packed, or at the very least the items that you're gonna put in your lunchbox? I know you probably don't want to actually fill your lunchbox before you go to bed because that sounds like you're asking for salmonella. That's not a good thing. Um, have you made sure that your tools are in order? You know, stuff all over the place. Do you— you know, did you bring something in to fix something in your own house and now is it either in a place where you're gonna see it when you leave, or is it back on the truck or in its bag where it goes? You have a broken tool that you were supposed to go replace before you, uh, went home today. So basically, you know, and really even looking at the work for the next day, thinking about like, okay, what do I need to do? I usually like to sit out in my truck for about 5-10 minutes when I pull up to the house. I don't jump right out and come inside. And a lot of that is I like to go over my work orders for the next day. So, um, you know, maybe I have to go out to Peoria, maybe I have to go to Champaign, um, maybe it looks like I'm gonna be here in town in Bloomington all day. Um, what kind of work orders do I have? Is it prevent PMs? Do I have a walk-in cooler that's down? Do I have an HVAC call? Do I have to work on a grill, a fryer, um, you know, a reach-in refrigerator? Like, what, what do I— what am I expecting, or what am I expected to do tomorrow? So by thinking about the next day That gives me an opportunity to think about what do I need? Like, do I have everything I need? Okay, if I'm gonna be possibly on a roof working on rooftop units and it's winter, I better make sure that I have my insulated bib overalls, that I have some extra hats, gloves, a couple extra layers of hoodies, um, extra socks in the truck, just Trust me, if you don't keep extra socks on your truck, do it. You'll thank yourself later because your feet do get wet coming in and out, going through snow, jumping up into the truck. So preparation really isn't though about being perfect because as I said, I'm I screw up all the time. Okay, I have less screw-ups now than I did when I was younger. But being intentional about building your routine at the night— at night to prepare for the next day, it's, you know, you're gonna have friction points, you're gonna have stumbling blocks, but it's not about being perfect. It's about making sure that stuff is in line so that when stressors show up, That you're prepared, you're a little bit more ready. Okay, if your clothes are laid out, your tools are ready, batteries are charged, you got clean clothes for tomorrow, um, you're, you know, everything is set, and then one of your kids is up all night getting sick, it's gonna make your morning a heck of a lot better knowing that, yeah, you know, at least all my stuff is ready to go. I don't have to think about that. And really giving yourself one less thing to think about is an award, is a reward in and of itself. So I just want to ask you this: what are you— what are your non-negotiables? So when you think about getting ready for your day, what are things that absolutely have got to be ready when you get up in the morning? You know, like for instance, again, you know, maybe you're really trying to focus on not eating out as much during lunch. So maybe you really want to make sure that you have a lot of, you know, you have your snacks, you have your lunch, you have everything set up and ready to go. There has to be gas in the truck. Your tools have to be set. You have to know that you have all your stuff in order. So what are your non-negotiables? What are the— and by the way, just to give you a clue to kind of differentiate them, these are usually things that are a bit of a struggle. So for me, one of my— you know, my wife and I split up the household chores, okay? Um, I'm responsible for loading and unloading the dishwasher. That is my chore. Um, and I don't like doing it, I'll be honest with you. It's not my favorite thing, but that's my non-negotiable. There can't be dishes in the sink when I go to bed. There can't be Um, the dishes have to be at least clean in the dishwasher when I go to bed. Hopefully, um, preferably a cycle is complete, the door is propped open, and they're drying. And I know this is a little bit more personal information than you need, but it's just an example of one of those things that you know you're going to need to do, and it's going to make you feel 10 times lighter knowing that that's done. If I wake up in the morning And there's dishes in the sink, still clean dishes in the dishwasher. I'm like feeling like, Mike, what? Why can't you get this straight? You know, now I'm talking to myself like I'm a kid, but it's, it's true. If we can kind of nail down those absolute non-negotiable items that have to be done before we go to bed, Have to be ready for tomorrow, then that's actually going to make things a lot easier. And, and in truth, we're really showing ourselves a lot more compassion in that way. Another way to think about it is, what would future you really appreciate if it was done? You know, for example, for me, you know, I really appreciate it When me that went to bed last night has set out my work clothes for tomorrow, like they're downstairs, they're by the downstairs bathroom where I get dressed, and they're ready to go. All I got to do is just change out of the pajamas and get into the work clothes, throw on my boots. Morning me always appreciates it when lunch stuff is ready. Like, you know, again, not necessarily in the lunchbox, but at least in the fridge ready to be grabbed and thrown into the lunchbox. Because morning me tends to really not want to deal with it. Morning me will decide that it's too much and will leave the house without any food. And then I find myself going through McDonald's, which, you know, that's another episode, but we probably shouldn't be going through fast food restaurants all that much. It's not good for us. But future me always appreciates it when he opens the fridge and there's breakfast and lunch stuff and snacks and things I can grab. Throw it in the lunchbox. I've got a jug of ice water ready to go. I've got some of those hydration packets, packets. And, you know, I can really know that I'm starting out my day strongly, and I'm gonna have the food and the nutrition and the energy I need. Because let's be honest, we get into a job and— or jobs— and we're just focused on that. And sometimes, like, you pick up your head and you're like, holy crap. It's 3 PM and I have not eaten yet. I am like feeling a little dizzy. I feel weak. I feel tired. Um, I need to go to the truck and eat something. And what do you know, you feel better. So again, it's just about making tomorrow a little easier, making sure that the things that you need done in the morning so you can have a smooth start to your day Are done. Okay, so one thing that I want you to think about and kind of reframe your own way of thinking about it is your time and energy are finite. In other words, there's a limited amount, right? We get 24 hours in a day. How many times have you said like, yeah, when I have more time, maybe I'll do whatever? You're never gonna have more time. You always have 24 hours. That's what you get. That's what we all get. Your energy levels now, good nutrition, good hydration, taking your multivitamins, you know, not drinking as much, trying to exercise, those kind of things will actually increase and improve your energy. But your energy levels are still, they're still a limit. They're not infinite, they're finite. My wife. Um, you'll hear me refer to things that she tells me a lot because she's a really smart lady. Um, my wife opened my eyes to this concept called spoon theory. Like, think of your energy as the spoons in a silverware drawer, right? Well, your place setting that you got, you know, whenever, probably came with 6 or 8 spoons. Maybe you've bought a few extras or whatever. However many you have, but you know, you only have the amount of spoons that you have. If they're all in the sink dirty or in the dishwasher and you need a spoon, well, you're out of luck. You're not using a spoon until you wash one. Now obviously every analogy breaks down somewhere, but, but you know, if we think about A budget for our energy, for our ability to do stuff. You know, when we let things fall to the wayside, when we procrastinate and put things off till morning, what we're doing is building a deficit, a negative balance in our energy reserves. Okay. Now that makes sense. We're operating already behind the 8-ball, in other words. But, but when we think about planning ahead and use our energy budget wisely, then we actually build up an energy— but an energy surplus. Okay, so now all of a sudden, because all my stuff's done, you know, the wife wants to go see a movie in the middle of the week or go, you know, take a walk or something. Yeah, sure, babe, absolutely. We're, you know, I'm already ready. I can afford to fit that into my, into my, uh, day now because my stuff's taken care of. My energy surplus will allow for that. And I guarantee you, if you get home At night and you're absolutely exhausted, all you can do is just eat, take a shower, go to bed, it's probably because you're not planning ahead enough and setting yourself up for a successful day. So here's the thing that we want to think about, okay? Or rather, some key points we want to think about. So you need to know your morning routine, identify your distractions or time wasters. So let me confess, for me, this cell phone—I usually have to leave it on my nightstand in the bedroom because I will be sitting there scrolling every Facebook, YouTube, you know, TikTok, whatever, what have you. And wasting all the time, all the time that I had in the morning. So what time wasters do you have? What barriers do you have? Acknowledge, guys, this is the key. This is the important one, okay? You need to acknowledge that you can create new habits. All right, I know it's easy to fall back on the This is just the way I am. I'm just disorganized. I'm just always behind. And the more we tell ourselves those things, the more we believe them. But truthfully, you can create new habits. You can change your routine. You can change the way you think about things. You just need to be aware of what's standing in your way. You need to identify the friction points. And the thing is, you don't need to be ashamed of it. You don't need to be like, oh yeah, I'm, I'm a loser. I don't— I'm always late. I can't get myself together. I'm such, you know, I'm such a buffoon. I'm such a child. And truth is that it's not— none of that's true. You're just a human being. You're imperfect as the rest of us. Nobody's, nobody's any better than anybody else. Some of us are just a little more skilled at managing our day. And many of us, it's because we've kind of struggled for a large part of our lives. So if you do struggle with preparation, it's not because you're defective then, you see. It's not because there's something wrong with you. And you gotta— you really gotta be conscious of that thinking and those thought processes, because there's nothing more, um, there's nothing harder than convincing a person who really believes That this is just who they are, that this is just how it is, um, that they can change. If you're aware of those thoughts, if you're listening for those negative things that you're telling yourself, then it's going to be a whole lot easier to tell yourself, hey, stop. No, that's not true. I am not just naturally, um, late. I'm not naturally disorganized. I'm not naturally bad at preparing for the next morning. I just haven't developed the right habits yet. I can do better. And identifying those barriers really is kind of empowering, honestly, for me to say, hey, you know what, I am going to leave my cell phone upstairs in the bedroom when I get up because I know that, I know that that will be a barrier to me. But it— then, then that gives me the power to say, okay, this is a problem, what can I do about it? And you're just the same. There's no reason that you can't identify your barriers and say, hey, here's what I need to do different. And that's really all that— that's really all that identifying your barriers is. It's really just Just acknowledging that I, I have power over them. I can overcome them. I can choose to keep allowing them to make me stumble, or I can choose to be stronger. And what you do when you remove those barriers, or at least work toward removing them, is you're basically setting up— okay, it's the opposite of what I talked about before, how you have this deficit of time and energy. It's kind of saying the same thing, but in a different way. When you allow yourself to keep falling prey to your own barriers, to your own bad habits with time management, with preparing for the morning, it sets up this cascade of failures. And again, feeling like a failure. But the truth is, preparation Setting yourself up for the morning, it has the exact same opposite effect. It's setting up this cascade of wins. And before long, you can't really say, oh, this is just me, I'm just a disorganized mess. You can't say that because you've proved to yourself that that's not true. And then before long, yeah, you're going to have hard days, and some mornings you're going to wake up and you're just going to be tired and you just don't want to deal with it. Um, and you're still gonna be, you know, you might still have days where you fall behind, and you know, it, it happens. But setting up this cascade of wins for yourself, I mean, think about what that would do to your attitude, to your, to your, the way you feel in the morning, to your relationship with your family. The, um, the fact of the matter is that if you start your day Organized and ready, um, and set yourself up the night before, what you're really doing is rewarding yourself with a better, more solid relationship with your family and with your kids. I mean, think about how it is trying to rush out the door, nothing is ready to go, you're late, the kids are crying, you're hurting your wife's feelings, and she's yelling at you. And you guys are fighting. Now you've already started your day at a deficit, but preparing your day leads to the opposite reaction. It actually strengthens the relationship with your family. It actually makes things smoother with the kids and with the spouse. The, the things that we really want to take away from this is, is that prepared days really do actually feel like wins, even when they're hard. Like, a day that you are prepared for that still has a few struggles in it is nowhere near as difficult as an unprepared day. And the truth is that days where you're not prepared at all, they don't need to feel as heavy as they are. Because truthfully, all we need to do is just identify where the heaviness is, where the stumbling point is, and alleviate that. So do better tomorrow. And then finally, that readiness again stacks small victories over time. We don't need to live in this deficit of losses and in constant confirmation of where we fall short. Instead, we could choose to live in a, in a world of constant wins. Um, so when you're prepared— I guess the way to sum this up, yeah, is when you're prepared, bad days are manageable. When you're unprepared, even easy days can feel hard. And again, always remember, wins don't necessarily mean perfection. They just mean fewer self-inflicted problems. Okay, so tying this back into work, what does preparation of my day have to do with my job? Because this is kind of the heart of the matter, right? It's, it's not family therapy. It's not therapy. It's self-management to be successful on the job. So what's the big why? And really, the big why is simply this: how well prepared you are for your day has a direct relationship to how you are perceived on the job. When your coworkers see that you show up Ready to go. Because you have everything ready to go, you're going to be on time, right? You're consistently on time, maybe even a little early. You're seen as the guy they can always count on, and it kind of creates this cascade, right? Apparently I must like that word today. Because when you're known for being prepared Others know that they can count on you, right? And if they know they can count on you, they want to keep teaching you. They're motivated. They see potential in you. And the more you learn, the more you're capable of, the more you can be trusted, right? The more— the harder and more extensive jobs you can be sent on. And the more you're capable of The more you're trusted. Sorry, repeating myself, but trust is kind of the key there. So trust yourself to get your stuff ready to have a successful day tonight for tomorrow. And when you get to work, you'll find that that trust, not only in yourself but the trust that others have in you, Means more growth opportunities that open up for you down the road. Your preparation, your preparation today for a successful tomorrow creates a direct cascade of wins for you in your career. When you set up those good preparation habits, you're really success— really setting yourself up for success. So just some key points to remember here is that people trust what they observe. Okay, and I'm sure we've all known a few people who talk a good game, but do they really live it? And it's the same thing on the job. When your coworkers see you being trustworthy and on time and dependable, that matters. When you talk about dependability and trustworthiness and timeliness, You know, that's— that has some value. Maybe it's nice that you care about those things, but if you're not also doing them, then it's just words, man. They don't care about that. When you set yourself up for success the night before, reliability becomes your brand. It's something that you are known for. Okay? You are known for being reliable. being the guy that everybody can count on. You got everyone's back. And because you got everyone's back, they've all got yours. Preparation speaks for you when you're not even in the room. You know, you ever think about that? Like, what, what do my coworkers say about me? What would they think about me? Like, what, you know, and that's a, that's an anxiety thing. We probably shouldn't dwell on that too much. But, but it's a, it's a valid question. Like, When my coworkers talk about me, I want them to say good things, and I know you do too. Preparation speaks for us when we're not in the room. It says, oh yeah, that guy, man, you know you can count on him. He's always good. He's always showing up. He's always doing hard work. Even if you're not that great at your job yet, you know, those skills come. But you know, the more important thing than being good at your trade yet, of being a strong tradesman, okay, knowing your stuff, the the foundation where it all begins is simply at showing up, being the guy who is trustworthy and everyone knows is going to be there. And again, coworkers do notice that; they notice that consistency. And then your boss sees that you're dependable. Customers. You know, if you're like me and you do service, um, customers feel confident. They're, they're always happy, and they may request you. Hey, send me that guy, he's, he's good. You know, I can always count on him. And then what's most important to you? Okay, again, this is— there's a direct connection between our work life and our home life. The truth is that when you're dependable When you're preparing for your day, even if things go a little sideways, the family feels taken care of. Everybody knows they can trust you. They know that you've got their back, and those are the people who you really count, you know, who really count to you. I mean, we want our coworkers to know that we have our backs— or their backs, excuse me. But man, more than that, we want our spouses and our kids to know that we're there for them too. So in all that, it really just gives us greater peace of mind when we know that stuff is taken care of. Our, our day tomorrow is ready to go. It gives us such peace of mind knowing that we don't have to worry about all those little details just to get out the door, uh, because everything is set out and ready to go. So Just to bring it all home and to kind of review, we really want to make sure that we understand that preparation isn't about adding more pressure to you. In fact, it's, it's about empowering you to take control of how your day starts. And if you control how it starts, then you're controlling the rest of it, really. It's really preparation above all else is about respect. It's respecting yourself, respecting your coworkers, and respecting your family. Um, and at the end of the day, if you're showing those 3 people, those 3 groups of people, that they're respected and that you care, then I mean, you're in great shape. So it's really not about control in terms of like You know, controlling every single little possible outcome of your day, because you can't do that. But it's really about agency. It's about saying that this is my life, this is my career, this is my day. I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that everything is right and everything is ready. So here's the challenge. All right, I've already asked you to identify what are your non-negotiables, things that absolutely have to be ready. Okay, tonight when you go to bed, or rather before you go to bed, pick one thing that's going to make tomorrow easier that you normally wait till tomorrow morning to do. What is that? Think about it. You don't have to answer me. You can tell me in the comments if you want. In fact, I'd be hap— I'd be excited to know. But pick one thing tonight that's going to make tomorrow easy and do it. So give yourself permission to have an easy day tomorrow, because the day itself might not be easy, but its start doesn't have to be as difficult. Have a good day, guys, and we'll look forward to seeing you on the next episode.