EXTREME OWNERSHIP - The Mindset That Can Change Your Life and Business

Hey, everyone, it's Mike Andes and you're listening to the Business Boot Camp podcast. Today I'm at the whiteboard. So if you're listening just the audio version, you're definitely going to watch today, because today I'm going to be doing a diagram, something that I think about all the time. And I don't necessarily think about this diagram, but the concept is going to be can really change your life. It's something that I've talked about with my team at Augusta. I've talked with many, many entrepreneurs that want to quit their business. And when I look at those who are successful in business, this is one commonality in their mindset that I see time and time again. So without any further delay, let's get started. Before we get into today's show, though, a big thank you to today's sponsor, which is Gusto. If you haven't already, go to gusto.combootcamp try out their software completely free for 90 days. And especially with all this, the whole coronavirus and everything that we've been going through, it's more important than ever to have your team be able to accept their paycheck digitally, be able to see it all on the app, be able to do time tracking, see their benefits and the cost compensation package. Check it out today, go to gusto.combootcamp now, today is something, this concept of this idea that I had is something that I think about all the time in terms of when something wrong goes in the business, something happens wrong in the business. And honestly, it's every day. And now when I have multiple businesses, I'm not so much in the weeds of what's going on inside the day to day operations. I usually, when I'm having an issue or when something is brought to my attention, it's usually bigger issues that need to be dealt with or I just hear about the fires that are going on. And so here's how I kind of think about it in terms of just staying sane. And one of the things that I am always asking myself is, what could I do? What did I do wrong to make that happen? Always trying to take ownership or extreme ownership of the situation. Now, why is that important? Let me write this out. I think some people are gonna disagree with some of the things I say today. That's okay. This is just my perspective. So I look at all people in general falling on this continuum. On the far left here, we have extreme ownership. And this is referencing a book from Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership.

About extreme ownership. And he talked a Lot about this side of the equation. The rest of this diagram, this continuum I want to talk about today is something I was thinking about this morning as I was driving to our team meeting that we had at the Augusta Lawn Care local office. And so over here you got extreme ownership. Over here though, on the extreme other side is the victim mentality, okay? This is someone that everyone's out to get them. Complete opposite of the extreme ownership. In the middle is the people that would say that everything is happening to them. So here happening.

To them.

Now, extreme ownership, when if you take extreme ownership, what you're really saying is everything happens because of you.

Okay? So just bear with me for a second here, I'll explain here, alright? So extreme ownership, everything happens because of you. You are in control. And this is the person that takes control of their life because they really do believe that everything that happens in their life happens because of them. They own their mistakes, they own their failures, they own their successes. But at the end of the day, they take ownership for everything that happens because it's happening because of them, alright? Happening to them. This is where average people live. This is where most the population lives. This is where average relationships are born. This is where average businesses are born. This is where average lifestyles are born. This is where average levels of wealth occur. Is in this range happening to them. Everything happens to them. It's always they're unlucky, they did nothing goes their way and everything is happening to them. The government's against them, the politics are against them, their boss is against them. Everything's happening to them, they can't control it, there's an employee or they just are, you know, no one knows about them and everything just happens to them. Like it's raining day, Ah, I'm unlucky. It's always bad weather happening to them. Whereas the person with extreme ownership, it's raining, they ask themselves, they take ownership of them and say, why didn't I bring an umbrella? Why didn't I plan my day accordingly in case there was bad weather? That's someone who takes extreme ownership. Now the victim is someone that is going to basically think that everyone's out to get them, that the boss is trying to undermine them, that the government is actually trying to make them lose, that the system is somehow rigged against them and everyone trying to get their lunch all the time. So for example, let's use an example of a flat tire. A flat tire. You wake up in the morning, go to your car and the tire is flat and there's a nail Inside the tire. What does the victim do? The victim basically says, ah, someone must have put.

The nail in my tire. Everyone's out to get me. No one loves me. And someone put the nail in my tire. Happening to them. The average person says, man, I'm so unlucky. I'm having a bad day. I'm having a bad week. Nothing's going my way. It's happening to them. They have no control over it. Either of these situations, no control. Extreme ownership, what would they say? They take ownership of the fact that they got a flat tire, and you say, well, how can you say it happened because of them? Did they really affect it? Yes, because the person with extreme ownership says, hey, I could have parked in a different spot. Like, I parked there and I hit the tire. Therefore, I own that mistake. I own that issue, and I could have done something to make the outcome better. That person has a mindset of control, because when stuff happens, happens to them, it doesn't really happen to them. It happens because of them. And as long as you have this mindset, you can control your destiny. And I find this is the. This is the problem with our society today. Everything that's going on, whether it be politically, social injustices, all these things, everyone is caught in this mindset that everything is happening to them, that they have no control over their life, that it's somehow the government's fault, or it's some other politician's fault, or the boss's Fault, or the SBA's fault, or the bank's fault, or your partner's fault, or your employees fault. Everything is happening to them. I hear time and time again of business owners complaining about their employees and about how their employees leave and their employees don't show up and everything's happening to them. The owner is like everything, employees making mistakes. But why don't you take extreme ownership? Why don't you start asking yourself the question, what can I do better in the hiring process? What can I do better to train these people? What can I do better to set them up for success? What can I do better to inspire them around the mission, the goal of our business? What can I do to train them to make sure those mistakes don't happen again? That's the person that takes control of their life, takes control of their finances. Not just rolling over and dying because, oh, well, the government didn't, you know, they didn't, you know, they're taking money out of my account, they're taking taxes out of all my paychecks, they're taking taxes Again for this. And oh yeah, this credit card they want make more money from me. Everything's happening to them. Take ownership, take control of it. Look, if you're in a bad financial situation, it's your fault. Take it, own it. I made the mistake. I made the hiring mistake. I made the wrong choice of advertising firm. I did the wrong campaign for that advertising campaign. I made the mistake. Because if you can internalize it, if you can actually take ownership of it, that means you can control it. Because guess what? On the next time, the next iteration of that marketing campaign, on the next hire, on the next business that you start, you have control. Whereas if everything is happening to you, it's a of form flip of a coin, it's in someone else's hands. It's someone else's choice whether or not you succeed. And the people that take ownership of their success are the ones who become successful, the victim. This is dangerous. This is very, very dangerous. I would say I would happen to believe that 90% of people live in this range in here. I would believe that about 8% of people live in this range here and about 2% of people live over here.

Probably not exact math. Maybe you think more people are victims, but in this range, this middle part, most people think that, hey, I'm having a good day or I'm having a bad day, or people are treating me good, or I got a lucky break. Eight percent of people, everyone's out to get them. They get nervous, they get anxious. When they get in a car accident, they literally think people are out to hit them and they get anxious just driving. They get anxious talking to the boss. They get anxious to going and talking before people that they feel intimidated by because they feel like everyone's trying to get them. Everyone's trying to take their lunch, everyone's trying to take their money. Everyone's trying to make them lose and not succeed in life. 2% of people own things. They take ownership of the good, the bad, the ugly, the successes, the wins, the losses, the failures. They take ownership of everything because they control their own destiny and they're the ones who will win the game. And this morning when I talked in front of my team, I did this same demonstration because I wanted them to realize, don't get stuck in this spot. Definitely don't go backwards. People over here, they will lose, they will never get ahead in life, they will never succeed. They will never be able to lead other people into battle. Victim mentality will never allow others to succeed around you. One of the things I don't talk a whole lot about is something that I feel very deep inside of me, and that is that I'm not going to just succeed myself. I want the people around me to succeed. I want to be a force that drives people this direction, driving them this way. If they're in a victim mentality, I want to get them towards extreme ownership. If they're thinking that everything just happens to them instead of because of them, I want to drive them this way. One thing I don't talk about a whole lot is I want to succeed. I want to make businesses successful and all the rest of it. But I want the people around me, the people that come in contact with me, just knowing about me or getting to know me a little bit, or they work for me or they have interactions, they're a partner on a deal. I want them to be pushed in this direction because of my relationship with them. And I ask you, don't just rely on you being the 2%. What about your friends? What about your family? What about your employees that you have an impact on that you lead every single day? Can you move them in the direction of extreme ownership? You're listening to Mike Andes on the Business Boot Camp podcast. Until next time, be great. Nothing else pays. Take extreme ownership of your life, your business and everything around you.