Your Champions Brew for Friday, January 6, 2023

Welcome back Champions Brew nation!   As the “Friday Coffee Guy” I am excited each week to provide a weekly assembly of material I am reading, listening to, watching, or thinking about that is designed to equip and call you to uncommon leadership, and I am grateful you choose to spend a few minutes with me!

Here is your weekly sip of what I have been reading, listening to or watching to equip me to:

• Work Hard – Ed Mylett wrote a short book back in 2018 titled #Maxout Your Life – Strategies for Becoming an Elite Performer.  This was one of the books I read in 2022 after it was gifted to me.  During two separate coaching calls this week, clients expressed a lack of motivation keeping them from performing at a high level.  In both cases, I pushed back.  In Ed’s short book, he wrote this: “Most people think they need to be motivated to get up and go to work every day and continuously seek motivation.  The real separator between successful (sic Uncommon) and average people is that successful people do it whether they are motivated or not!”

I have defined discipline as “doing what you need to do when you need to do even when you don’t feel like doing it… SO THAT you can do what you WANT to do when you WANT to do it with WHO you want to do it!”  What 1 or 2 disciplines (habits) do you need to do every day to move toward perfection in your trade?  Schedule those ‘must-do-can’t-fail’ disciplines on your calendar and get them done!  Try to put a streak together… start with 2 days in a row, then a week, then two weeks.  You won’t be perfect. None of use are.  But, as coach Vince Lombardi said, “Strive for perfection.  You may not get there, but on the way, you might reach excellence.”

• Read More – I have committed to reviewing one law per week from John Maxwell’s 25^th anniversary edition of the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.  This week’s law is:

Law # 11 – The Law of the Inner Circle

Those Closest to You Determine the Level of Your Success

“In the life of all leaders, there comes a time when their goals, dreams, and vision exceed their ability to accomplish them.  They realize there are not enough hours in a day or days in a year.  There are talents they need that they do not possess.  The skills they possess, which made them successful, are not the ones essential to climb the next mountain.  Effective leaders rely on the Law of the Inner Circle.  They understand that those closest to you determine your level of success.  Nobody does anything great alone.” – John Maxwell

As I have ventured into the world of solopreneur, I have found the Law of the Inner Circle to be more important than any time in my career.  I have no problem admitting that I do not have all the answers.  That wasn’t always the case. 

Mother Teresa observed, “You can do what I cannot do.  I can do what you cannot do.  Together we can do great things.”  I have gone on a journey in the past couple of years to build my inner circle.  There are some informal ways to build an inner circle.  For example, I listen to podcasts of influential leaders who provide wisdom, I read books that are relevant to my craft, and I follow influencers in my space on social media platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.    But I also have a more formal inner circle as well.  I have a mentor that I meet with on a bi-weekly basis, and I have a coach who is guiding me on my journey to improve my personal brand.   I am also a member of a mastermind group of four other leaders who hold me accountable every other week and I do the same for them.  I know that my performance has improved because of their insight and wisdom.  We call our group #RTA, an acronym for Raise The Average, which is a spinoff of Jim Rohn’s adage that says “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with”.  Well, when I am around these six leaders (mentor, coach, and mastermind group) my average goes up for sure. 

So, how do we choose individuals to be part of our “inner circle”?  The author outlines three (3) prequalifications before you begin to bring people into the circle:

1) Who they are – Anyone who is going to be an integral part of your life needs to have good character and share similar values to yours.

2) What they do – Every person in your inner circle should be fantastic at what they do and when you bring people in who possess strengths that you do not, they can point out your blind spots.

3) How they lessen your load – The author shared a poem outlining this prequalification:

There are two kinds of people on earth today,

Just two kinds of people; no more, I say.

Not the sinner and saint, for it’s well understood,

The good are half bad, and the bad are half good….

No, the two kinds of people on earth I mean,

Are the people who LIFT and the people who LEAN.

Your inner circle members need to be lifters of you and your dream.  You need to allow them to challenge you in all areas of your life – personally, professionally, spiritually, emotionally, and physically!

• Quote – “As iron sharpens iron, friends sharpen the minds of each other.” – Proverbs 27:17 CEV

What You Need to Do:

Call to Action:  Who is in your inner circle?  Examine your list of inner circle members(formal AND informal) to determine whether they are lifting you up or leaning against you.  If needed, make changes.  Great inner circles do not come together by accident.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s edition of Champions Brew. If you did, I would appreciate it if you would share it with someone who might enjoy it as well and ask them to subscribe! I will make sure they automatically get this email every week.

Until next time, Work Hard, Read More and Grow Champions!

P.S. – Are you a podcast fan?  Maybe the Uncommon Leader podcast is for you.    Are you interested in being a guest on the Uncommon Leader Podcast?  Do you have a story to tell?  Email me [email protected] and let’s have a chat and set something up!!