April 22, 2025 • 34 mins
Have you been feeling frantic and frazzled in your work or your personal life? In this episode, Alex is sharing 5 practical actions to help you feel more centered, so you can focus on making the next right decision for your business. Remember, if you want to get your business in order, you need to start by putting yourself in order.
Information isn’t the gap between failure and success—action is. Path for Growth’s 1-on-1 coaching helps you create a plan and execute on what matters most for your business. Apply today at pathforgrowth.com/coaching.
Episode Recap:
- If you want to get your business in order, start with these 5 actions to help put yourself in order
- Create a morning routine that makes you centered, stable, and strong
- Have a consistent start and end time to your workday
- Hire and maximize an executive assistant
- Get financial peace of mind
- Simplify your job description: Glorify God and love and serve others
- What’s the next right step?
If you’re ready to move beyond just gathering information and start executing on what truly matters, Path for Growth’s 1-on-1 coaching can help. Apply now at pathforgrowth.com/coaching.
Resources:
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Try Path for Growth 1on1 Coaching Free for 14 Days
Download the Free Reading Guide
Join us for our 2025 Experience – Long Game Leadership
Listen to “How to Build an Effective Morning Routine”
Connect with our Founder Alex Judd on LinkedIn and Instagram
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Alex Judd (00:00):
You know when I'm at my worst as a leader? It's when
(00:03):
I'm frantic, right? It's whenI'm running around like my
hair's on fire. It's when Idon't have really time or energy
to apply specific single-mindedattention to anything because my
mind is on everything. And myfamily suffers, my work suffers,
my customers suffer.
Nothing gets done really wellbecause I'm just trying to do
(00:24):
everything all at once. And theright word for that, I actually
think this is true, is frantic.And so what do we want to
remember? Well, if you want toput your business in order, then
start by putting yourself inorder. And so often, when I find
myself deviating from the typeof centered, stable, strong
leader that I want to be, when Ifind myself frazzled or frantic
(00:48):
or working too much in thebusiness or feeling like I'm
just trying to keep up witheverything that needs to get
done, man, it's so helpful forme to have a course correction,
to have a moment where I say,Okay, the trajectory of where
we're going doesn't end well.
I know that that's true. And soI'm going to do different things
to get different results. Andthat's what this podcast is
focused on. It's focused on fiveactions for frantic CEOs. These
(01:11):
are five actions that they'rerelatively simple.
You could do any of them today.I wouldn't recommend you do all
of them today. However, if youdo one of them today, it could
bring you back to center. Itcould make you remember what
matters. It could make yousimplify your life.
And it could make you start tofeel like, man, I am on a path,
(01:32):
and that path is bringing metowards something. I don't have
to have it all figured out allat once. I just need to do the
next right thing. And that'sgoing to be my goal for you out
of this podcast episode is justdo the next right thing. I hope
that what we focus on today willhelp us take a deep breath and
expand our vision for what doesit look like to get off the
(01:53):
hamster wheel, what does it looklike to get off the emotional
roller coaster, To stop being sofrantic, to stop being so
frazzled, and to just do thenext right thing.
So with that, five actions forfrantic CEOs. Number one, create
a morning routine that makes youcentered, stable, and strong. I
(02:15):
see this principle ring true inmy life and the lives of the
leaders that we work with allthe time. As goes your morning,
so goes your day. And I think weall have heard enough content
around morning routines to knowthat's true.
We've done our own morningroutine episode that we'll put
as a link in the show notes ofthis episode if you want to go
deeper on this specific action.But what I want us to remember
(02:38):
is that if our morning isfrantic and frazzled, if it
feels like it's in a rush, if itfeels like it's hurried, well,
that is setting a tone for therest of our day. So, so often,
when we coincide with leadersthat they're like, man, I just
need to bring some order, somestability to all of the chaos of
what's going on. Well, so oftenwe ask them the question, what's
the one thing that if you wereto focus on it, it would make
(03:00):
everything else, more effective,more central, more stable? And
inevitably, the answer almostalways comes back as something
that they could do in themorning.
But here's what I want to argueagainst, some absurd,
extravagant, world beatermorning routine for you right
now. If you're in a stage offrantic or frazzled leadership
(03:22):
right now where you just feellike you're trying to keep your
head above water, it can bereally tempting to listen to a
personal growth or even businessgrowth podcast and say, I need
to go establish a world beermorning routine where I'm waking
up at 4AM, where I'm doing mysixty minutes of exercise, where
I'm drinking like two gallons ofwater and all of that is greens
and I'm reading 30 pages ofbook, right? And we list all
(03:45):
these tasks and then whathappens? Well, we have a lot of
energy because that's the typeof personality type listens to
this podcast. We have a lot ofenergy whenever we come at it
initially, but then eventuallyit starts to dwindle because
it's unsustainable.
And we start to sacrifice. Westart to compromise. We start to
not have the same heart for itthat we had before. And as a
result, we start to beinconsistent with it. And what
(04:07):
we find out is that thatextravagancy isn't sustainable.
And as a result, it eventuallyfalls apart and maybe even is
detrimental to us beingcentered, stable, and strong. So
the question that I'm posing toyou is actually really
important. It's not what's thebiggest, best, most grand
morning routine you could have.Rather, it's this. What's the
(04:30):
most simple morning routine thatyou could apply yourself to
consistently that would make youmore centered, stable, and
strong?
Again, what's the most simplemorning routine that you could
apply yourself to consistentlythat would make you more
centered, stable, and strong?Listen to me. Lots of you have
(04:52):
multiple kids. I only have oneright now. So I can't imagine
what it's like to have fourkids, which I know a lot of you
do.
Apparently, Path for Growthattracts a lot of people with
four, five, six, even seven kidssometimes. So I can't imagine,
right? And then on top of that,you're trying to prioritize your
marriage and be really attentivethere. And on top of that,
you're trying to grow yourbusiness and move that forward.
On top of that, you're trying tobe physically active and make
(05:14):
sure you have a rhythm for doingthat.
And here's the deal. All of thatin itself is remarkable if you
attend to it really well overthe course of a day. And so what
we need from your morningroutine is not for you to become
some personal growth junkie thatpeople marvel at. Your personal
growth routine is not for otherpeople overtly. It's so that you
(05:36):
can be centered, stable, andstrong so that you can go into
the world to serve other people.
I think so often we makecommitments whenever it comes to
our morning routine to try andimpress people. And in reality,
it's probably better to reframeit as like, what would best
equip me to serve people? So getthe sleep that you need to get.
Establish a consistent wake uptime. Put food in your body
(05:59):
that's good for you and that'slife giving.
Maybe don't focus on doing afull workout. Maybe just do a
handful of push ups or somethingto get your body moving in the
morning. Maybe take in someparticular amount of scripture.
You don't need to read an entirebook or even an entire chapter,
but maybe have some rhythm ofsaying, yeah, I'm gonna go
through the book of James. I'mgonna go through the book of
(06:19):
John.
I'm gonna go through the book ofGenesis over the course of a
month, or I'm gonna read achapter in Proverbs every single
day for the course of next monthso that you're getting exposed
to truth because exposure totruth guards against insanity.
And maybe the grand total of allof that takes twenty to thirty
minutes, but it's not the twentyto thirty minutes one day that's
going to make an impact. It'sthe twenty to thirty minutes
(06:42):
every single day that's going tomake an impact. And I've said it
on here before. I'll neverforget hearing John Maxwell say
it and the timbre of his voicewith which he said it.
He said, every single day messespeople up. And so are you going
to be a leader that prioritizesextravagancy? Wow. Look at this
(07:03):
amazing morning routine I cando, but putters out three weeks
in when there's no longerattention or applause for what
you're doing. Or are you goingto be the leader that
prioritizes consistency?
That says, what could Iconsistently do that would
represent me being centered,stable, and strong in service of
(07:26):
others? And then what would itlook like to apply yourself to
that every single day? It's whythe very first thing that we do
in one on one coaching with CEOsis not related to their
business. It's related to theirpersonal growth. And we say,
let's establish a high returnhabit.
What's the number one thing youwould do that when you did it,
it would add exponential valueto the other areas of your life?
(07:49):
And that's what's so cool isthat not all habits are created
equal. Not all actions arecreated equal. And there are
certain things that if you didthem every single day, it would
have a ripple effect and haveexponential impact in the other
things you do every single day.So action number one, if you're
frantic and frazzled, is tocreate a morning routine and
(08:10):
apply yourself to it that wouldmake you centered, stable, and
strong.
And get after that. Establishthat. Apply yourself to it. Take
action on it because that'swhat's going to move the needle.
Okay.
Let's go to number two. Have aconsistent start and end time.
Now I'm particularly talkingabout your work day. So often,
especially with CEOs andbusiness owners, it can be
(08:34):
really easy to allowinconsistency to slip into when
we start and when we end. And wecan do that in the name of
freedom.
We can say, well, I started thisbusiness or I own this business
or I lead this business. Andwhat is one of the perks or
benefits that that gives me? Itgives me incredible freedom to
start when I want to start or toend when I want to end. And when
(08:57):
you say it like that, it soundsa lot like freedom. What I often
see is that in practice, itactually feels a lot more like
tyranny.
When people don't have aconsistent start time or
consistent end time, the waythey experience it doesn't
actually feel like, oh, I justfeel so free. I can just work
when I want to work and then Iturn it off when I want to turn
it off. And what I often see ispeople just feel like they
(09:21):
should be working all the timeand sometimes they just do. And
what I would rather you do, thething that I've experienced the
most fruit from is just bysaying like, hey, my workday is
this. From eight to nine I writeand don't open any tabs on my
computer.
From nine to ten I do prep andcorrespondence, so I prepare
myself for the day, engage inany extraneous correspondence.
(09:45):
And then I work up till through,often lunch, up till 03:30. And
then at 03:30, I start to closeit down. And that closing down
time is really it's actuallymore hard than the start time
for me. But establishing thoseboundaries has been so helpful
for me because then it's like,Okay, well, what do I need to
accomplish?
What does winning look like inthis timeframe instead of like,
(10:08):
what is done? Because what isdone? I don't know what done is.
I started this business for theparticular purpose that there is
no done. And so if I don'testablish a consistent start
time, then I will always feellike I'm starting late.
And if I don't establish aconsistent end time, then there
will always be more to do. Andas a result, I experience it not
as incredible freedom, but asincredible tyranny. Here's the
(10:32):
deal. Our work is going to startand end. And I would way rather
you choose when it's going tostart and end for the season
that you're in intentionallyinstead of stumbling into it
(12:24):
accidentally.
We got to get this crazy ideaout of our head that structure,
consistency, discipline are allopposed to freedom. Rather, what
I have experienced, especiallywith this structure, is that
structure, consistency,discipline are the things that
when I apply myself to themactually give me the ability to
(12:46):
experience and exercise thefreedom that God's already given
me. And so placing boundariesaround my work also helps me
remember that, man, my work isnot who I am. My work is where I
serve. And I've been given thesehours of work time to steward
and to play all out in.
(13:07):
And I'm just gonna crush it inthose hours. And that's just
been such a gift. It also isaligned with the fact that this
is a theology idea, right? Thatwork is not punishment for doing
something wrong. Work is not abad thing to be avoided.
Rather, work should be theoverflow, the joy, the service
that we get to embrace. It'swhere we put our gifts to work
(13:30):
in service of others. And so weshouldn't be trying to
constantly saying, how do I workless? How do I work less? How do
I work less?
That reflects a poor theology ofwork. Rather, we should start
asking the question, how could Iorganize my work in such a way
that for the hours that I'mdoing it, it's delight and not
dread? In Psalms, it says trustin the Lord and do good. An act
(13:53):
of trust is faithful obediencewith what you have in front of
you right now. Trust in the Lordand do good.
So establish a consistent starttime and stick to it. When are
you going to open your laptop?When are you going to open your
phone? And when are you going toactually get into it? And I
would say, I already shared itwith you, schedule out the first
(14:14):
couple hours of your day topromote effectiveness and
productivity for the next fewhours of your day.
And sometimes people tell us, Ican't do that. And it's like,
oh, I'm sorry. This podcast isparticularly for business owners
and CEOs. And it's like, if youcan't do that, then you're
actually putting yourself not inthe role of business owner or
(14:34):
CEO. You're putting yourself inthe role of victim.
And we need to regain someagency so that you can do that
because the reality is that youdo have the freedom to be able
to do that. Number one, create amorning routine that makes you
centered, stable, and strong.Number two is have consistent
start and end times. Numberthree, hire and maximize an
executive assistant. It is wildto me.
(14:57):
It is wild to me how often Icoincide with leaders sometimes
of $5,000,000 10 million dollars15 million dollars a year
companies that they're stillbooking their own travel.
They're managing their calendar.They're the only one that's in
their inbox and organizing theirinbox. That just drives me
crazy. The reason why thatdrives me crazy is because all
(15:22):
of those tasks, all of thoseindividual items are things that
are relatively easy to delegate.
People will always throw out thered flag of like, oh, you just
don't understand my circumstanceor stuff like that. What I am
telling you is that those tasksare relatively easy to delegate.
In thirty days, if you follow alegitimate plan for delegation
and onboarding of an executiveassistant, you can delegate that
(15:44):
stuff. And here's why that's soimportant is because as the CEO
of a $10,000,000 company, youhave so much influence. And I
think what's actually happeninghere is you're underestimating
your influence.
And whenever you're the CEO of a$10,000,000 company, where do we
have to be investing your time?Well, we have to be investing
(16:05):
your time on any activity thatmultiplies the efforts of
others. That's what leadershipat that level actually looks
like. And anytime you're notinvesting time, so it doesn't
create an exponential return,rather you're spending time on
things that don't create returnor impact for others, it doesn't
multiply others, well, then weare actually wasting your time.
(16:29):
We're not even just spending it.
And so, man, when you're just Xsand Os blocking and
unsubscribing and moving tofolders in your inbox, or when
you're booking your travel andgoing through what's the best
rate to fly from here to thereon this day, and what hotel room
should I get, and all of that.When you're doing all of that or
any of the day to day tasks thatit's like, man, this could be
(16:50):
given to someone else relativelyeasy, You are not just spending
your time incremental return.You are wasting your time
because that time could bededicated to multiplying the
efforts of others. Think aboutthat. If we took ten hours of
the time that you spend doingtasks, travel planning,
correspondence, stuff like that,even personal tasks, going to
(17:12):
the dry cleaning, ordering giftsfor people, stuff like that,
right?
If we just took ten of thosehours and applied it to
activities that made you moreinspired and made the people on
your team more inspired and moreeffective at what they do every
day. And maybe we as a result,the 20 people that you were able
to meet with as a result in somecapacity in a couple different
(17:34):
meetings or a couple differentscenarios or things like that,
They each got even 10% better.If you are getting 10% better
and 20 people on your team aregetting 10% better, the return
on that is insane. But you'regoing to tell me you should
still be doing all this stuff.Absolutely not.
And so what I wanna tell you isthat oftentimes, I coincide with
(17:56):
leaders that they've tried theEA route and it just didn't work
out or they're a little bithesitant to try. What I would
tell you is you should not allowthe fact that it hasn't gone
well before to deter you frombelieving that it could go well
in the future. We need to findyou the right person. So we need
to make sure we interview forculture, chemistry, character,
(18:16):
competency. That's what we teachwithin our coaching program as
it relates to interviewingassistants, but actually all
roles.
And then we need to make sure wehave a killer onboarding plan
for them where you and them getaligned. And then part of
maximizing working with anexecutive assistant is you
having success statements forthem that really define their
role so that they're clear onthe outcomes that you're
(18:37):
trusting them with. And then foryou to take your hands off and
say, I trust you and I empoweryou to take action on my behalf.
And then just to have a regularrhythm of one on one meetings
that I would recommend they runfor you, that they come to the
meeting with an agenda, and youjust have a regular touch point
to see how things are going.That's what it looks like not
(18:57):
just to hire an EA.
A lot of people hire an EA.That's what it looks like to
maximize an executive assistant.And so number three, if you're
frantic right now, oftentimes,it's actually a really practical
tactical thing. Stop trying todo it all on your own. Let's
hire and maximize an executiveassistant.
And I'd be remiss not torecommend that the first
(19:19):
executive assistant that Iworked with, and we still work
with them for our bookkeeper aswell, was through an
organization called Belay. Theyjust do such good work. And they
have a great process both forhelping you find an EA that you
would work well with, but thenalso onboarding that EA. And so
that's a good place to start.I'm not getting paid to say this
or anything right now.
(19:39):
I just really trust and respectthem as an organization. We'll
put the link to Belay in theshow notes of this episode.
Let's go to number four. Getfinancial peace of mind. So
often, this is one of thosethings that if you haven't
solved for it, you will befrantic.
Things could be operationallyhumming. But if you have
(19:59):
financial dread or financialambiguity, you internally might
feel frantic and frazzled.Conversely, it's wild how, man,
you might have challenging,turbulent, or struggling times
in your business right now. Butif you have financial peace of
mind, that just looks like apuzzle to be solved for instead
(20:20):
of something that you have todread and be terrified of. And
so it's so crucial that as aleader, you get what you need to
have financial peace of mind.
And what I would tell you is,especially for a lot of people
of the businesses of the sizethat are listening to this
podcast, a lot of times thisdoesn't look like you having to
do this all on your own.Sometimes you need to hire
someone in house to help youwith this and you need to trust
(20:43):
them to provide you withfinancial guidance and insight.
Or you need to outsource thisand work with someone
fractionally. You all know this.This is why we recommend fulling
management and accounting.
Rusty is just a pillar of ourcommunity and he's loved that
business for twenty five yearsnow. They just do such great
work in helping people findsolutions for the stage of
business that they're at.Particularly, whether you work
(21:05):
with Rusty and his team orsomeone else in house or you
solve for this in a differentway, I just want you to focus on
having four things whenever itcomes to your finances. Number
one, I want you to havevisibility. Do you have the
ability right now to look intosomething and see how are we
doing in the areas that mattermost with regard to our
(21:27):
finances?
Like if I ask you, how are youdoing in the areas that matter
most with regard to yourfinances? Would you not just be
able to tell me, would you beable to show me? And if the
answer to that is no, I wouldn'tbe able to do that, man, it's
going to give you so much peaceof mind to just go find that,
(21:47):
right, to get help creating theright dashboards, analyzing the
right metrics. Most of you, youdon't run incredibly complex
businesses. Some of you do.
I know we get a lot ofconstruction companies listen to
this, so rip reports are a wholearena that I don't want to get
into on here, I would get helpwith that. Right? But you just
have to have visibility to lookin and say, how are we doing?
(22:07):
And how could we expect to bedoing over the course of the
next few months with some cashflow forecasting and some
budgeting? So visibility, numberone.
Trajectory, number two. Wealready hit on this. How does it
look like we're going to bedoing? What can we expect to
spend? What is cash flow goingto look like moving forward, all
things equal?
What would occur if we were ableto secure this next deal or if
(22:28):
we were able to pursue a 10%increase in sales or if we were
able to hit our sales goal forQ3? So we want conversations and
insight into visibility of ourfinances. We also want the
trajectory of our finances. Andthen we want to plan for our
finances. What are our goalsfinancially for you personally
(22:49):
as the owner, but then also foryour business and how you're
reinvesting?
And then what's your plan,right? And how are you splitting
up the profit even, right? Sooften I see that businesses and
(24:02):
business owners don't have aplan for their profit. And so
what they end up with is a lotof money that it's like, well,
we could just establish this asan owner's distribution. Or more
often than not, we just reinvestthis into the business.
But oftentimes if there's not astrategy for reinvestment, it
becomes really unintentional andwe're not looking at that
investment through the lens ofreturn. And, man, I've been
(24:25):
susceptible to this. What isyour plan for your profit, and
how are you going to dedicatethat either to spending or
investing? And if you are trulyinvesting that profit into the
business, what's the returnyou're anticipating or expecting
or holding people accountableto? And then how are you
measuring that?
Visibility, trajectory, plan,and then finally, generosity. I
(24:48):
see that my financial peace ofmind goes up whenever I am
proactively practicinggenerosity with my finances. And
this applies to me personallyand this applies to our
business. And I'm not tellingyou you have to do this. I'm not
even telling you that this is myprescription.
(25:09):
What I am speaking to you nowabout is my personal experience.
That my peace of mind as itrelates to everything, but
especially as it relates tofinances, goes up when I am
proactively exercisinggenerosity. And that kind of
makes sense, doesn't it? Becauseany time you exercise
generosity, what are youdeciding to say? You're deciding
(25:32):
to say, okay, God, thesefinances that you've blessed us
with, these aren't mine, theseare yours and you just give it
to me to steward.
And part of stewardship isservice. And what do we always
say? Well, it's our core value,Strength is for service. So,
man, if I'm feeling financiallystrong, I'm going to exercise a
(25:54):
loose grip on this, make surethese finances never become an
idol, and I'm just going to givethis away. And, man, there's
something so powerful aboutgiving to causes or to people
anonymously that they can't doanything for you.
And there's not necessarily adirect line to how it benefits
you or your business. Man, in somany ways, I just think that's
(26:15):
trust of God in action. That'sreally what generosity is. And
so if you're looking to gainfinancial peace of mind, I would
tell you generosity is apowerful way to do that. But
what's crazy is if you dovisibility, the trajectory of
your finances, and the plan foryour finances well, that
generosity becomes somethingthat you can engage in
(26:36):
proactively instead of just likewhen you have left over.
You can plan to be able to give.You can set yourself up with
margin so that you can beoutrageously generous to your
team members, your team members'families, to even customers by
offering discounts or sponsorsor things like that, and even to
causes that you might not haveanything to do with your
(26:59):
business but that you do believein and feel called to contribute
to. Okay. Let's go to numberfive. The fifth action for
frantic CEOs is to simplify yourjob description.
Let me ask you a question. As aCEO, if I were to ask you, hey,
what is the simplest version ofyour job description in this
season? My bet is that if you'vegot any wherewithal and you've
(27:21):
been listening to Path forGrowth for a while, you'd start
to say, well, as the CEO, thesimplest version of my job
description is vision, culture,profitability of the business,
leadership team direction, andaccountability, and maybe
strategic roadmap. Right? Youwould say, that's my job
description in this season.
Those are the outcomes that Ineed to be focused on. And I
would say, man, you're such agreat student of Path for Growth
(27:42):
because that's what we challengeand teach CEOs to focus on. But
what I would tell you is that'snot actually the simplest
version of your job description.Here's what I've found to be so
helpful is when things feel likethey're getting crazy, when I
feel like my wheels arespinning, when I feel like my
jaw is clenched, whenever I feelfrantic, whenever I'm struggling
to turn it off, whenever I feellike I'm constantly behind and I
(28:06):
can't do enough, I see images ofother businesses that I'm like,
man, I'm not keeping up withthem, I can get into a real dark
headspace real quick. And Iactually think some of the
tools, quote unquote tools, thatwe have access to online
actually exacerbate that.
And then there's a bunch ofmessages that come to you on
LinkedIn and stuff that say, ohman, we're going to help you
scale your business three timesover the course of the next year
(28:27):
and all of that. You just feellike, oh my gosh, I'm just
struggling to keep up. I'm notdoing enough that as it is. And
it can be really challenging.And it's in those moments that,
man, in times of quiet prayerand reflection, I think God has
really challenged me.
Alex, simplify your jobdescription. And what is your
actual job? What have you beenentrusted with today? What is
(28:50):
the thing that if you were to doit, it would represent you being
faithful? Number one, glorifyGod.
With the things that are infront of you today, Glorify God.
Is he your aim? Seek first thekingdom of God and his
righteousness, and all thesethings will be added to you.
(29:10):
Matthew six thirty three saysthat. It was Jesus who said
that.
Right? And so is your aim theglory and power and wonder of
God? I get frantic. I getfrazzled when I start building
my kingdom instead of buildingthe kingdom. And sometimes I
just need to get it back tocenter and say, like, man, my
(29:32):
focus here is to glorify God.
And I God cares less about thethings that I'm doing, and I
think he actually cares moreabout the person that I'm
becoming. And so am I engagingwith the day's activities in a
way that glorifies him? Andwhat's crazy is, man, if you
(29:52):
just ask the question, I thinkthis is ask, seek, knock. Right?
Ask and the answer will be givento you.
Seek and you shall find. Knockand door will be opened to you.
If you just ask and say, whatwould it look like to glorify
God in this meeting, in thissales call, in this customer
conversation, in this leadershipteam retreat? What would it look
like to glorify God? What'scrazy is if you just ask the
(30:15):
question, oftentimes you'regiven an answer.
And what is accompanied withthat answer is great peace.
Cause what I often see is, ohman, I was trying to do all
these things and I had all thesecares about image or approval or
achievement or external outcomesthat I don't actually have all
(30:36):
that much control over. And inreality, God doesn't care about
any of that. And it helps me tofocus on the things that he
actually does care about. So weneed to glorify God, and then we
need to love and serve people.
Again, it simplifies things. Itmakes things so much more clear
whenever we stop asking, man,how do I need to impress people?
(30:58):
Or what's gonna grow mybusiness? Or how are we gonna
hit our goals. And that's allfocused on me.
Right? It's my business, mygoals. And there's a reason why
the letter I is smack dab in thecenter of pride. Man, if we just
step back and just say, I'mgoing to glorify God in what I
do, and then I'm going to focuson serving people. And if we
(31:20):
just say, in everything that Iengage with today, even if it's
really hard or uncomfortableconversations, even if it's
moments where I need toapologize for something that I
did last week or a bad decisionthat I made, Even if it's having
to report to someone that, man,things aren't going as well as
they were going.
Or maybe it's conversely, it'slike, man, we're doing as well
(31:40):
as we've ever done. We'rewinning right now. Our business
is growing right now. What doesit look like to communicate that
message in such a way that itserves and loves people and
recognize that is your job? Andso so often, man, we crowd our
job description in with thingsthat God doesn't actually care
about because what did he say?
(32:01):
He said the first and greatestcommandment is this, love the
Lord your God with all yourheart, soul, mind, and strength.
And then he said, and the secondone is like it, love your
neighbor as yourself. So lovingpeople is like loving God, and
when we do the two of thosethings, that's our job
description. That's what you'resupposed to do today. And
anything that's not that, to thedegree that it's not that,
you're not going to enjoy it,and you're not going to be
(32:22):
really thrilled with theoutcomes of it.
To the degree that you do makeit those things with all the
strategic plans you're creatingand the way that you're thinking
about the future and thebusiness that you're building
and all of that, to the degreethat you can do all of that and
nest it all under, man, I'mgonna glorify God and I'm gonna
love and serve people, oh mygosh. You're going to move
forward with such joy andstability and centerness. And I
(32:43):
think you're going to startbeing less frantic because
you're going to stop thinkingit's all about you, and you're
going to remember that this isabout something and someone much
greater than you. So I gave youfive actions. Let's review them.
Create a morning routine thatmakes you centered, stable, and
strong. Have consistent startand end times. Hire and maximize
an executive assistant. Getfinancial peace of mind. And
(33:06):
simplify your job description,the question that I told you at
the beginning I was going to askyou is what's the next right
step?
Well, there you have it. Thanksso much for joining us for this
episode. If you want any of theinformation or resources that we
mentioned, that's all in theshow notes. Hey, before you go,
could I ask you for one quickfavor? Could you subscribe,
(33:29):
rate, and review this podcastepisode?
Your feedback is what helps ourteam engage in a sequence of
never ending improvement. Wewanna amplify what's valuable to
you and obviously reduce or evenremove the things that aren't.
Also, you leaving a positivereview is what helps us connect
with, build trust with, andserve other leaders around the
(33:50):
country. So thanks in advancefor helping us out on that
front. Are you a leader thatwants to grow your business in a
healthy way, serve peopleexceptionally well, and glorify
God in the process?
Go to pathforgrowth.com to getmore information about our
community of impact drivenleaders and schedule a call with
our team. Hey. Thank you so muchto the Path for Growth team,
(34:12):
Kyle Cummings and the crew atPodCircle, and the remarkable
leaders that are activelyengaged in the Path for Growth
community. Y'all are the peoplethat make this podcast possible.
Y'all know this.
We're rooting for you. We'repraying for you. We wanna see
you win. Remember, my strengthis not for me. Your strength is
not for you.
Our strength is for service.Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.
You know when I'm at my worst as a leader? It's when
(00:03):
I'm frantic, right? It's whenI'm running around like my
hair's on fire. It's when Idon't have really time or energy
to apply specific single-mindedattention to anything because my
mind is on everything. And myfamily suffers, my work suffers,
my customers suffer.
Nothing gets done really wellbecause I'm just trying to do
(00:24):
everything all at once. And theright word for that, I actually
think this is true, is frantic.And so what do we want to
remember? Well, if you want toput your business in order, then
start by putting yourself inorder. And so often, when I find
myself deviating from the typeof centered, stable, strong
leader that I want to be, when Ifind myself frazzled or frantic
(00:48):
or working too much in thebusiness or feeling like I'm
just trying to keep up witheverything that needs to get
done, man, it's so helpful forme to have a course correction,
to have a moment where I say,Okay, the trajectory of where
we're going doesn't end well.
I know that that's true. And soI'm going to do different things
to get different results. Andthat's what this podcast is
focused on. It's focused on fiveactions for frantic CEOs. These
(01:11):
are five actions that they'rerelatively simple.
You could do any of them today.I wouldn't recommend you do all
of them today. However, if youdo one of them today, it could
bring you back to center. Itcould make you remember what
matters. It could make yousimplify your life.
And it could make you start tofeel like, man, I am on a path,
(01:32):
and that path is bringing metowards something. I don't have
to have it all figured out allat once. I just need to do the
next right thing. And that'sgoing to be my goal for you out
of this podcast episode is justdo the next right thing. I hope
that what we focus on today willhelp us take a deep breath and
expand our vision for what doesit look like to get off the
(01:53):
hamster wheel, what does it looklike to get off the emotional
roller coaster, To stop being sofrantic, to stop being so
frazzled, and to just do thenext right thing.
So with that, five actions forfrantic CEOs. Number one, create
a morning routine that makes youcentered, stable, and strong. I
(02:15):
see this principle ring true inmy life and the lives of the
leaders that we work with allthe time. As goes your morning,
so goes your day. And I think weall have heard enough content
around morning routines to knowthat's true.
We've done our own morningroutine episode that we'll put
as a link in the show notes ofthis episode if you want to go
deeper on this specific action.But what I want us to remember
(02:38):
is that if our morning isfrantic and frazzled, if it
feels like it's in a rush, if itfeels like it's hurried, well,
that is setting a tone for therest of our day. So, so often,
when we coincide with leadersthat they're like, man, I just
need to bring some order, somestability to all of the chaos of
what's going on. Well, so oftenwe ask them the question, what's
the one thing that if you wereto focus on it, it would make
(03:00):
everything else, more effective,more central, more stable? And
inevitably, the answer almostalways comes back as something
that they could do in themorning.
But here's what I want to argueagainst, some absurd,
extravagant, world beatermorning routine for you right
now. If you're in a stage offrantic or frazzled leadership
(03:22):
right now where you just feellike you're trying to keep your
head above water, it can bereally tempting to listen to a
personal growth or even businessgrowth podcast and say, I need
to go establish a world beermorning routine where I'm waking
up at 4AM, where I'm doing mysixty minutes of exercise, where
I'm drinking like two gallons ofwater and all of that is greens
and I'm reading 30 pages ofbook, right? And we list all
(03:45):
these tasks and then whathappens? Well, we have a lot of
energy because that's the typeof personality type listens to
this podcast. We have a lot ofenergy whenever we come at it
initially, but then eventuallyit starts to dwindle because
it's unsustainable.
And we start to sacrifice. Westart to compromise. We start to
not have the same heart for itthat we had before. And as a
result, we start to beinconsistent with it. And what
(04:07):
we find out is that thatextravagancy isn't sustainable.
And as a result, it eventuallyfalls apart and maybe even is
detrimental to us beingcentered, stable, and strong. So
the question that I'm posing toyou is actually really
important. It's not what's thebiggest, best, most grand
morning routine you could have.Rather, it's this. What's the
(04:30):
most simple morning routine thatyou could apply yourself to
consistently that would make youmore centered, stable, and
strong?
Again, what's the most simplemorning routine that you could
apply yourself to consistentlythat would make you more
centered, stable, and strong?Listen to me. Lots of you have
(04:52):
multiple kids. I only have oneright now. So I can't imagine
what it's like to have fourkids, which I know a lot of you
do.
Apparently, Path for Growthattracts a lot of people with
four, five, six, even seven kidssometimes. So I can't imagine,
right? And then on top of that,you're trying to prioritize your
marriage and be really attentivethere. And on top of that,
you're trying to grow yourbusiness and move that forward.
On top of that, you're trying tobe physically active and make
(05:14):
sure you have a rhythm for doingthat.
And here's the deal. All of thatin itself is remarkable if you
attend to it really well overthe course of a day. And so what
we need from your morningroutine is not for you to become
some personal growth junkie thatpeople marvel at. Your personal
growth routine is not for otherpeople overtly. It's so that you
(05:36):
can be centered, stable, andstrong so that you can go into
the world to serve other people.
I think so often we makecommitments whenever it comes to
our morning routine to try andimpress people. And in reality,
it's probably better to reframeit as like, what would best
equip me to serve people? So getthe sleep that you need to get.
Establish a consistent wake uptime. Put food in your body
(05:59):
that's good for you and that'slife giving.
Maybe don't focus on doing afull workout. Maybe just do a
handful of push ups or somethingto get your body moving in the
morning. Maybe take in someparticular amount of scripture.
You don't need to read an entirebook or even an entire chapter,
but maybe have some rhythm ofsaying, yeah, I'm gonna go
through the book of James. I'mgonna go through the book of
(06:19):
John.
I'm gonna go through the book ofGenesis over the course of a
month, or I'm gonna read achapter in Proverbs every single
day for the course of next monthso that you're getting exposed
to truth because exposure totruth guards against insanity.
And maybe the grand total of allof that takes twenty to thirty
minutes, but it's not the twentyto thirty minutes one day that's
going to make an impact. It'sthe twenty to thirty minutes
(06:42):
every single day that's going tomake an impact. And I've said it
on here before. I'll neverforget hearing John Maxwell say
it and the timbre of his voicewith which he said it.
He said, every single day messespeople up. And so are you going
to be a leader that prioritizesextravagancy? Wow. Look at this
(07:03):
amazing morning routine I cando, but putters out three weeks
in when there's no longerattention or applause for what
you're doing. Or are you goingto be the leader that
prioritizes consistency?
That says, what could Iconsistently do that would
represent me being centered,stable, and strong in service of
(07:26):
others? And then what would itlook like to apply yourself to
that every single day? It's whythe very first thing that we do
in one on one coaching with CEOsis not related to their
business. It's related to theirpersonal growth. And we say,
let's establish a high returnhabit.
What's the number one thing youwould do that when you did it,
it would add exponential valueto the other areas of your life?
(07:49):
And that's what's so cool isthat not all habits are created
equal. Not all actions arecreated equal. And there are
certain things that if you didthem every single day, it would
have a ripple effect and haveexponential impact in the other
things you do every single day.So action number one, if you're
frantic and frazzled, is tocreate a morning routine and
(08:10):
apply yourself to it that wouldmake you centered, stable, and
strong.
And get after that. Establishthat. Apply yourself to it. Take
action on it because that'swhat's going to move the needle.
Okay.
Let's go to number two. Have aconsistent start and end time.
Now I'm particularly talkingabout your work day. So often,
especially with CEOs andbusiness owners, it can be
(08:34):
really easy to allowinconsistency to slip into when
we start and when we end. And wecan do that in the name of
freedom.
We can say, well, I started thisbusiness or I own this business
or I lead this business. Andwhat is one of the perks or
benefits that that gives me? Itgives me incredible freedom to
start when I want to start or toend when I want to end. And when
(08:57):
you say it like that, it soundsa lot like freedom. What I often
see is that in practice, itactually feels a lot more like
tyranny.
When people don't have aconsistent start time or
consistent end time, the waythey experience it doesn't
actually feel like, oh, I justfeel so free. I can just work
when I want to work and then Iturn it off when I want to turn
it off. And what I often see ispeople just feel like they
(09:21):
should be working all the timeand sometimes they just do. And
what I would rather you do, thething that I've experienced the
most fruit from is just bysaying like, hey, my workday is
this. From eight to nine I writeand don't open any tabs on my
computer.
From nine to ten I do prep andcorrespondence, so I prepare
myself for the day, engage inany extraneous correspondence.
(09:45):
And then I work up till through,often lunch, up till 03:30. And
then at 03:30, I start to closeit down. And that closing down
time is really it's actuallymore hard than the start time
for me. But establishing thoseboundaries has been so helpful
for me because then it's like,Okay, well, what do I need to
accomplish?
What does winning look like inthis timeframe instead of like,
(10:08):
what is done? Because what isdone? I don't know what done is.
I started this business for theparticular purpose that there is
no done. And so if I don'testablish a consistent start
time, then I will always feellike I'm starting late.
And if I don't establish aconsistent end time, then there
will always be more to do. Andas a result, I experience it not
as incredible freedom, but asincredible tyranny. Here's the
(10:32):
deal. Our work is going to startand end. And I would way rather
you choose when it's going tostart and end for the season
that you're in intentionallyinstead of stumbling into it
(12:24):
accidentally.
We got to get this crazy ideaout of our head that structure,
consistency, discipline are allopposed to freedom. Rather, what
I have experienced, especiallywith this structure, is that
structure, consistency,discipline are the things that
when I apply myself to themactually give me the ability to
(12:46):
experience and exercise thefreedom that God's already given
me. And so placing boundariesaround my work also helps me
remember that, man, my work isnot who I am. My work is where I
serve. And I've been given thesehours of work time to steward
and to play all out in.
(13:07):
And I'm just gonna crush it inthose hours. And that's just
been such a gift. It also isaligned with the fact that this
is a theology idea, right? Thatwork is not punishment for doing
something wrong. Work is not abad thing to be avoided.
Rather, work should be theoverflow, the joy, the service
that we get to embrace. It'swhere we put our gifts to work
(13:30):
in service of others. And so weshouldn't be trying to
constantly saying, how do I workless? How do I work less? How do
I work less?
That reflects a poor theology ofwork. Rather, we should start
asking the question, how could Iorganize my work in such a way
that for the hours that I'mdoing it, it's delight and not
dread? In Psalms, it says trustin the Lord and do good. An act
(13:53):
of trust is faithful obediencewith what you have in front of
you right now. Trust in the Lordand do good.
So establish a consistent starttime and stick to it. When are
you going to open your laptop?When are you going to open your
phone? And when are you going toactually get into it? And I
would say, I already shared itwith you, schedule out the first
(14:14):
couple hours of your day topromote effectiveness and
productivity for the next fewhours of your day.
And sometimes people tell us, Ican't do that. And it's like,
oh, I'm sorry. This podcast isparticularly for business owners
and CEOs. And it's like, if youcan't do that, then you're
actually putting yourself not inthe role of business owner or
(14:34):
CEO. You're putting yourself inthe role of victim.
And we need to regain someagency so that you can do that
because the reality is that youdo have the freedom to be able
to do that. Number one, create amorning routine that makes you
centered, stable, and strong.Number two is have consistent
start and end times. Numberthree, hire and maximize an
executive assistant. It is wildto me.
(14:57):
It is wild to me how often Icoincide with leaders sometimes
of $5,000,000 10 million dollars15 million dollars a year
companies that they're stillbooking their own travel.
They're managing their calendar.They're the only one that's in
their inbox and organizing theirinbox. That just drives me
crazy. The reason why thatdrives me crazy is because all
(15:22):
of those tasks, all of thoseindividual items are things that
are relatively easy to delegate.
People will always throw out thered flag of like, oh, you just
don't understand my circumstanceor stuff like that. What I am
telling you is that those tasksare relatively easy to delegate.
In thirty days, if you follow alegitimate plan for delegation
and onboarding of an executiveassistant, you can delegate that
(15:44):
stuff. And here's why that's soimportant is because as the CEO
of a $10,000,000 company, youhave so much influence. And I
think what's actually happeninghere is you're underestimating
your influence.
And whenever you're the CEO of a$10,000,000 company, where do we
have to be investing your time?Well, we have to be investing
(16:05):
your time on any activity thatmultiplies the efforts of
others. That's what leadershipat that level actually looks
like. And anytime you're notinvesting time, so it doesn't
create an exponential return,rather you're spending time on
things that don't create returnor impact for others, it doesn't
multiply others, well, then weare actually wasting your time.
(16:29):
We're not even just spending it.
And so, man, when you're just Xsand Os blocking and
unsubscribing and moving tofolders in your inbox, or when
you're booking your travel andgoing through what's the best
rate to fly from here to thereon this day, and what hotel room
should I get, and all of that.When you're doing all of that or
any of the day to day tasks thatit's like, man, this could be
(16:50):
given to someone else relativelyeasy, You are not just spending
your time incremental return.You are wasting your time
because that time could bededicated to multiplying the
efforts of others. Think aboutthat. If we took ten hours of
the time that you spend doingtasks, travel planning,
correspondence, stuff like that,even personal tasks, going to
(17:12):
the dry cleaning, ordering giftsfor people, stuff like that,
right?
If we just took ten of thosehours and applied it to
activities that made you moreinspired and made the people on
your team more inspired and moreeffective at what they do every
day. And maybe we as a result,the 20 people that you were able
to meet with as a result in somecapacity in a couple different
(17:34):
meetings or a couple differentscenarios or things like that,
They each got even 10% better.If you are getting 10% better
and 20 people on your team aregetting 10% better, the return
on that is insane. But you'regoing to tell me you should
still be doing all this stuff.Absolutely not.
And so what I wanna tell you isthat oftentimes, I coincide with
(17:56):
leaders that they've tried theEA route and it just didn't work
out or they're a little bithesitant to try. What I would
tell you is you should not allowthe fact that it hasn't gone
well before to deter you frombelieving that it could go well
in the future. We need to findyou the right person. So we need
to make sure we interview forculture, chemistry, character,
(18:16):
competency. That's what we teachwithin our coaching program as
it relates to interviewingassistants, but actually all
roles.
And then we need to make sure wehave a killer onboarding plan
for them where you and them getaligned. And then part of
maximizing working with anexecutive assistant is you
having success statements forthem that really define their
role so that they're clear onthe outcomes that you're
(18:37):
trusting them with. And then foryou to take your hands off and
say, I trust you and I empoweryou to take action on my behalf.
And then just to have a regularrhythm of one on one meetings
that I would recommend they runfor you, that they come to the
meeting with an agenda, and youjust have a regular touch point
to see how things are going.That's what it looks like not
(18:57):
just to hire an EA.
A lot of people hire an EA.That's what it looks like to
maximize an executive assistant.And so number three, if you're
frantic right now, oftentimes,it's actually a really practical
tactical thing. Stop trying todo it all on your own. Let's
hire and maximize an executiveassistant.
And I'd be remiss not torecommend that the first
(19:19):
executive assistant that Iworked with, and we still work
with them for our bookkeeper aswell, was through an
organization called Belay. Theyjust do such good work. And they
have a great process both forhelping you find an EA that you
would work well with, but thenalso onboarding that EA. And so
that's a good place to start.I'm not getting paid to say this
or anything right now.
(19:39):
I just really trust and respectthem as an organization. We'll
put the link to Belay in theshow notes of this episode.
Let's go to number four. Getfinancial peace of mind. So
often, this is one of thosethings that if you haven't
solved for it, you will befrantic.
Things could be operationallyhumming. But if you have
(19:59):
financial dread or financialambiguity, you internally might
feel frantic and frazzled.Conversely, it's wild how, man,
you might have challenging,turbulent, or struggling times
in your business right now. Butif you have financial peace of
mind, that just looks like apuzzle to be solved for instead
(20:20):
of something that you have todread and be terrified of. And
so it's so crucial that as aleader, you get what you need to
have financial peace of mind.
And what I would tell you is,especially for a lot of people
of the businesses of the sizethat are listening to this
podcast, a lot of times thisdoesn't look like you having to
do this all on your own.Sometimes you need to hire
someone in house to help youwith this and you need to trust
(20:43):
them to provide you withfinancial guidance and insight.
Or you need to outsource thisand work with someone
fractionally. You all know this.This is why we recommend fulling
management and accounting.
Rusty is just a pillar of ourcommunity and he's loved that
business for twenty five yearsnow. They just do such great
work in helping people findsolutions for the stage of
business that they're at.Particularly, whether you work
(21:05):
with Rusty and his team orsomeone else in house or you
solve for this in a differentway, I just want you to focus on
having four things whenever itcomes to your finances. Number
one, I want you to havevisibility. Do you have the
ability right now to look intosomething and see how are we
doing in the areas that mattermost with regard to our
(21:27):
finances?
Like if I ask you, how are youdoing in the areas that matter
most with regard to yourfinances? Would you not just be
able to tell me, would you beable to show me? And if the
answer to that is no, I wouldn'tbe able to do that, man, it's
going to give you so much peaceof mind to just go find that,
(21:47):
right, to get help creating theright dashboards, analyzing the
right metrics. Most of you, youdon't run incredibly complex
businesses. Some of you do.
I know we get a lot ofconstruction companies listen to
this, so rip reports are a wholearena that I don't want to get
into on here, I would get helpwith that. Right? But you just
have to have visibility to lookin and say, how are we doing?
(22:07):
And how could we expect to bedoing over the course of the
next few months with some cashflow forecasting and some
budgeting? So visibility, numberone.
Trajectory, number two. Wealready hit on this. How does it
look like we're going to bedoing? What can we expect to
spend? What is cash flow goingto look like moving forward, all
things equal?
What would occur if we were ableto secure this next deal or if
(22:28):
we were able to pursue a 10%increase in sales or if we were
able to hit our sales goal forQ3? So we want conversations and
insight into visibility of ourfinances. We also want the
trajectory of our finances. Andthen we want to plan for our
finances. What are our goalsfinancially for you personally
(22:49):
as the owner, but then also foryour business and how you're
reinvesting?
And then what's your plan,right? And how are you splitting
up the profit even, right? Sooften I see that businesses and
(24:02):
business owners don't have aplan for their profit. And so
what they end up with is a lotof money that it's like, well,
we could just establish this asan owner's distribution. Or more
often than not, we just reinvestthis into the business.
But oftentimes if there's not astrategy for reinvestment, it
becomes really unintentional andwe're not looking at that
investment through the lens ofreturn. And, man, I've been
(24:25):
susceptible to this. What isyour plan for your profit, and
how are you going to dedicatethat either to spending or
investing? And if you are trulyinvesting that profit into the
business, what's the returnyou're anticipating or expecting
or holding people accountableto? And then how are you
measuring that?
Visibility, trajectory, plan,and then finally, generosity. I
(24:48):
see that my financial peace ofmind goes up whenever I am
proactively practicinggenerosity with my finances. And
this applies to me personallyand this applies to our
business. And I'm not tellingyou you have to do this. I'm not
even telling you that this is myprescription.
(25:09):
What I am speaking to you nowabout is my personal experience.
That my peace of mind as itrelates to everything, but
especially as it relates tofinances, goes up when I am
proactively exercisinggenerosity. And that kind of
makes sense, doesn't it? Becauseany time you exercise
generosity, what are youdeciding to say? You're deciding
(25:32):
to say, okay, God, thesefinances that you've blessed us
with, these aren't mine, theseare yours and you just give it
to me to steward.
And part of stewardship isservice. And what do we always
say? Well, it's our core value,Strength is for service. So,
man, if I'm feeling financiallystrong, I'm going to exercise a
(25:54):
loose grip on this, make surethese finances never become an
idol, and I'm just going to givethis away. And, man, there's
something so powerful aboutgiving to causes or to people
anonymously that they can't doanything for you.
And there's not necessarily adirect line to how it benefits
you or your business. Man, in somany ways, I just think that's
(26:15):
trust of God in action. That'sreally what generosity is. And
so if you're looking to gainfinancial peace of mind, I would
tell you generosity is apowerful way to do that. But
what's crazy is if you dovisibility, the trajectory of
your finances, and the plan foryour finances well, that
generosity becomes somethingthat you can engage in
(26:36):
proactively instead of just likewhen you have left over.
You can plan to be able to give.You can set yourself up with
margin so that you can beoutrageously generous to your
team members, your team members'families, to even customers by
offering discounts or sponsorsor things like that, and even to
causes that you might not haveanything to do with your
(26:59):
business but that you do believein and feel called to contribute
to. Okay. Let's go to numberfive. The fifth action for
frantic CEOs is to simplify yourjob description.
Let me ask you a question. As aCEO, if I were to ask you, hey,
what is the simplest version ofyour job description in this
season? My bet is that if you'vegot any wherewithal and you've
(27:21):
been listening to Path forGrowth for a while, you'd start
to say, well, as the CEO, thesimplest version of my job
description is vision, culture,profitability of the business,
leadership team direction, andaccountability, and maybe
strategic roadmap. Right? Youwould say, that's my job
description in this season.
Those are the outcomes that Ineed to be focused on. And I
would say, man, you're such agreat student of Path for Growth
(27:42):
because that's what we challengeand teach CEOs to focus on. But
what I would tell you is that'snot actually the simplest
version of your job description.Here's what I've found to be so
helpful is when things feel likethey're getting crazy, when I
feel like my wheels arespinning, when I feel like my
jaw is clenched, whenever I feelfrantic, whenever I'm struggling
to turn it off, whenever I feellike I'm constantly behind and I
(28:06):
can't do enough, I see images ofother businesses that I'm like,
man, I'm not keeping up withthem, I can get into a real dark
headspace real quick. And Iactually think some of the
tools, quote unquote tools, thatwe have access to online
actually exacerbate that.
And then there's a bunch ofmessages that come to you on
LinkedIn and stuff that say, ohman, we're going to help you
scale your business three timesover the course of the next year
(28:27):
and all of that. You just feellike, oh my gosh, I'm just
struggling to keep up. I'm notdoing enough that as it is. And
it can be really challenging.And it's in those moments that,
man, in times of quiet prayerand reflection, I think God has
really challenged me.
Alex, simplify your jobdescription. And what is your
actual job? What have you beenentrusted with today? What is
(28:50):
the thing that if you were to doit, it would represent you being
faithful? Number one, glorifyGod.
With the things that are infront of you today, Glorify God.
Is he your aim? Seek first thekingdom of God and his
righteousness, and all thesethings will be added to you.
(29:10):
Matthew six thirty three saysthat. It was Jesus who said
that.
Right? And so is your aim theglory and power and wonder of
God? I get frantic. I getfrazzled when I start building
my kingdom instead of buildingthe kingdom. And sometimes I
just need to get it back tocenter and say, like, man, my
(29:32):
focus here is to glorify God.
And I God cares less about thethings that I'm doing, and I
think he actually cares moreabout the person that I'm
becoming. And so am I engagingwith the day's activities in a
way that glorifies him? Andwhat's crazy is, man, if you
(29:52):
just ask the question, I thinkthis is ask, seek, knock. Right?
Ask and the answer will be givento you.
Seek and you shall find. Knockand door will be opened to you.
If you just ask and say, whatwould it look like to glorify
God in this meeting, in thissales call, in this customer
conversation, in this leadershipteam retreat? What would it look
like to glorify God? What'scrazy is if you just ask the
(30:15):
question, oftentimes you'regiven an answer.
And what is accompanied withthat answer is great peace.
Cause what I often see is, ohman, I was trying to do all
these things and I had all thesecares about image or approval or
achievement or external outcomesthat I don't actually have all
(30:36):
that much control over. And inreality, God doesn't care about
any of that. And it helps me tofocus on the things that he
actually does care about. So weneed to glorify God, and then we
need to love and serve people.
Again, it simplifies things. Itmakes things so much more clear
whenever we stop asking, man,how do I need to impress people?
(30:58):
Or what's gonna grow mybusiness? Or how are we gonna
hit our goals. And that's allfocused on me.
Right? It's my business, mygoals. And there's a reason why
the letter I is smack dab in thecenter of pride. Man, if we just
step back and just say, I'mgoing to glorify God in what I
do, and then I'm going to focuson serving people. And if we
(31:20):
just say, in everything that Iengage with today, even if it's
really hard or uncomfortableconversations, even if it's
moments where I need toapologize for something that I
did last week or a bad decisionthat I made, Even if it's having
to report to someone that, man,things aren't going as well as
they were going.
Or maybe it's conversely, it'slike, man, we're doing as well
(31:40):
as we've ever done. We'rewinning right now. Our business
is growing right now. What doesit look like to communicate that
message in such a way that itserves and loves people and
recognize that is your job? Andso so often, man, we crowd our
job description in with thingsthat God doesn't actually care
about because what did he say?
(32:01):
He said the first and greatestcommandment is this, love the
Lord your God with all yourheart, soul, mind, and strength.
And then he said, and the secondone is like it, love your
neighbor as yourself. So lovingpeople is like loving God, and
when we do the two of thosethings, that's our job
description. That's what you'resupposed to do today. And
anything that's not that, to thedegree that it's not that,
you're not going to enjoy it,and you're not going to be
(32:22):
really thrilled with theoutcomes of it.
To the degree that you do makeit those things with all the
strategic plans you're creatingand the way that you're thinking
about the future and thebusiness that you're building
and all of that, to the degreethat you can do all of that and
nest it all under, man, I'mgonna glorify God and I'm gonna
love and serve people, oh mygosh. You're going to move
forward with such joy andstability and centerness. And I
(32:43):
think you're going to startbeing less frantic because
you're going to stop thinkingit's all about you, and you're
going to remember that this isabout something and someone much
greater than you. So I gave youfive actions. Let's review them.
Create a morning routine thatmakes you centered, stable, and
strong. Have consistent startand end times. Hire and maximize
an executive assistant. Getfinancial peace of mind. And
(33:06):
simplify your job description,the question that I told you at
the beginning I was going to askyou is what's the next right
step?
Well, there you have it. Thanksso much for joining us for this
episode. If you want any of theinformation or resources that we
mentioned, that's all in theshow notes. Hey, before you go,
could I ask you for one quickfavor? Could you subscribe,
(33:29):
rate, and review this podcastepisode?
Your feedback is what helps ourteam engage in a sequence of
never ending improvement. Wewanna amplify what's valuable to
you and obviously reduce or evenremove the things that aren't.
Also, you leaving a positivereview is what helps us connect
with, build trust with, andserve other leaders around the
(33:50):
country. So thanks in advancefor helping us out on that
front. Are you a leader thatwants to grow your business in a
healthy way, serve peopleexceptionally well, and glorify
God in the process?
Go to pathforgrowth.com to getmore information about our
community of impact drivenleaders and schedule a call with
our team. Hey. Thank you so muchto the Path for Growth team,
(34:12):
Kyle Cummings and the crew atPodCircle, and the remarkable
leaders that are activelyengaged in the Path for Growth
community. Y'all are the peoplethat make this podcast possible.
Y'all know this.
We're rooting for you. We'repraying for you. We wanna see
you win. Remember, my strengthis not for me. Your strength is
not for you.
Our strength is for service.Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.
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