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No Excuses: How to Get Sh*t Done Without Feeling Like It image

No Excuses: How to Get Sh*t Done Without Feeling Like It

The Better Contractor Podcast
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96 Plays14 days ago

Motivation fades. Discipline builds empires. In this episode of The Better Contractor, Brent breaks down 9 ways to outwork your excuses, so you stop quitting and start winning. From building rigid routines to killing distractions, this is a no-fluff breakdown of how real business owners push through the hard days. If you're tired of starting over, this one's for you.

Listen now. Then go execute.

In addition to our podcast, join our new Facebook group to connect with contractors alike: https://www.facebook.com/groups/532038256301032/

#MindsetMatters #DisciplineFirst #TradesBusiness #TheBetterContractorPodcast #BlueCollarBoss #LeadershipTips #ContractorLife #Entrepreneur #BusinessOwner #SuccessMindset #PersonalDevelopment #NoExcuses #MentalToughness

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Transcript

Introduction to Discipline vs. Motivation

00:00:00
Speaker
All right. Welcome back to another edition of the better contractor. Today. I want to talk a little bit about discipline. So discipline

Motivational Content vs. Discipline

00:00:07
Speaker
greater than motivation and I
00:00:14
Speaker
right welcome back to another edit of the better contractor today i want to talk a little bit about discipline so discipline is greater than motivation and I look around, I look at my own feed and I look at the stuff that comes up in my feed. I look at some of the groups that I've been involved in over the years and some of the influencers online and I see so much motivational content and that's great.
00:00:37
Speaker
However, if you're like me and you like the continuous improvement, the growth mindset, you like all that, you may have kind of be feeling the same way that it seems to be almost all there is out there is motivation, motivation, motivation. You

Action Over Consumption

00:00:50
Speaker
may be seeing a lot of people that or online or people you're friends with get caught up in that.
00:00:55
Speaker
And if you watch some, not all of them, they get super motivated. But if you watch them, there's not a whole lot of action. Sometimes they're almost these zombies that just consume, consume, consume and fail to actually do.
00:01:07
Speaker
So I want to talk about that a little bit in the today's podcast and to not just be motivational. I want to therefore also give you some points that have helped me, helped other people that I've been around, things I've learned.
00:01:19
Speaker
to kind of help push through that and actually master discipline over motivation. So

Defining Non-Negotiables

00:01:25
Speaker
let's just get right to it. So number one, you need to set non-negotiables. So non-negotiables are not goals.
00:01:31
Speaker
Goals are what you want. Discipline is what you do. So I would define two to three daily or maybe weekly non-negotiables. Those are items that absolutely have to get done in order to keep the ball moving forward.
00:01:43
Speaker
These are not going to be things that are minuscule in nature, things that are unimportant. These are going to be things that if your goal is X in three months, these non-negotiables need to be things that are done that day in order to in order to meet that goal in three months, six months, two a year.
00:02:03
Speaker
They cannot be things that you don't do. They need to be things that you will do, period, that day, whether you feel like it or you don't. I see so many people do not do that. They kind of get into the weeds. They start their day, they get into their inbox, they get on the phone, they do the the weed stuff of business and they never actually get to these bigger ticket items, these non-negotiables. So guys don't make the list long. i listed two to three on on purpose.
00:02:29
Speaker
to make sure it's something that's achievable, something you guys can actually execute on. But I highly, highly recommend that. That is not gonna be the only two or three things you do that day though. So don't don't mistake it for that. These are just non-negotiables that will get done, period.
00:02:41
Speaker
Number two, create rigid routines.

Structuring Daily Routine

00:02:44
Speaker
So I can go back in my own time and I can think back through periods of life where I've been ultra disciplined. I'm lucky enough to be someone who is somewhat disciplined, who likes routine, who likes structure, likes a schedule.
00:02:58
Speaker
So I'm naturally that way, regardless of business, regardless of work. However, everybody ebbs and flows a little bit, but I can tell you the best times I've had is when I'm more rigid with that structure.
00:03:10
Speaker
So you need to create some predictable structure in your day. So if your day needs to be, if you're a morning person, I would get some stuff done early in the morning. Set aside some time. Five o'clock, maybe that's a workout. Six o'clock is dealing with emails from the night before.
00:03:24
Speaker
But cap that time. six That's six to seven, let's say. Maybe seven to nine is something else. But create a structure so that all the important things that you have that need to get done that day actually get done. So you're not spending time in the weeds on stuff that actually is not moving that ball forward.
00:03:42
Speaker
You need to create that structure. you need to create a routine that actually drives focus. That's the other thing too. I see a lot of people, and I've done it at times too, where something basically sidetracks you that day.
00:03:55
Speaker
And that one thing can derail your focus, your motivation for that day. Try to remove as much of that as possible. Number three, reduce decisions.

Minimizing Distractions

00:04:05
Speaker
So decision fatigue can kill discipline.
00:04:09
Speaker
So what do i mean by that? I'm thinking little stuff. So like when you get up in the morning, Prep your meals in advance. Lay out your clothes. Plan some tasks the night before. Those little things that really kind of take up some time, but also depending on the on the where you're going that day, it may actually take up more time and thought than it needs to.
00:04:29
Speaker
Do that stuff ahead of time, especially you if you have an early morning meeting. Get up, grab the stuff you already had laid out, and get out of there. But try to remove as much decision as possible.
00:04:40
Speaker
I can think of a few leaders over the years that I've gotten to know where... decisions bog them down a lot. they're They're unable to make that decision for fear of the unknown, fear of failure, whatever it may be.
00:04:53
Speaker
And all of a sudden, the amount of decisions they need to make is like 20 to 30 decisions in a day. Instead of just dealing with some stuff in real time, quickly, urgently, knowing that you're probably not going to make the perfect decision anyway, but knowing that action and urgency in decisions, sometimes that is actually the most important thing.
00:05:15
Speaker
People sometimes spend way too much time making decision and the opportunity is long gone by the time they actually do it. So reduce the decisions that you make in a day that are easy to make. Reduce those, have someone else do them.
00:05:26
Speaker
Make your day as easy as possible to focus on the big stuff. Another thing you can do there is use tools like task lists on your phone, time blocks, some stuff on your calendar.
00:05:38
Speaker
But do that type of stuff to fully leave yourself open to make the big decisions. Number four, you need to eliminate friction and triggers. So what do I mean by that? You need to remove distractions. So some people that may be phone scrolling, but basically it's mindless tasks, things that you do as a person that derail your momentum for that day.
00:05:57
Speaker
So whatever that is for you, if that is, well, I'm going to say phone scrolling again because it's common, but if that is something that you struggle with, then put your phone somewhere where it's not easily accessible.
00:06:09
Speaker
You know, Maybe you just have an air pod in to take calls or know when someone's trying to reach you, put your phone a little bit out of reach, do stuff like that, or have hours where your phone is not with you.
00:06:20
Speaker
You know, my wife's got a cousin I know who they heard her husband basically put their phones in like a box on, ah you know, one day a week for a rest day from it. And I admire that because so many people are so reliant upon that phone and that phone is something that distracts you. So you need to eliminate those types of things that derail your momentum for the day.
00:06:40
Speaker
Also, you need to make discipline action easier to start. So I'm going to go back to the gym. So if that's going to the gym, you need to make that as easy as possible. So this is where, you know, having it, you know, set out the night before, having your water bottle made, having the meals made, whatever that is.
00:06:58
Speaker
I use the gym as an example because it's easy to think about, talk about a lot of people go. But it's that type of stuff that becomes where when you decide to go to the gym, there's really no excuse now not to go.
00:07:10
Speaker
because you have had you have everything done to in order to go. So the same thing goes with work. Remove all that noise so that when you decide to go do something, everything else is already done and you really do not have an excuse to not now do it.
00:07:25
Speaker
So

Building Discipline Despite Lack of Motivation

00:07:26
Speaker
that's something I think a lot of people don't do. i don't do it perfect either, but I do try to remove those frictions and triggers as much as possible because I want to stay focused. um I don't want to work 12, 14-hour days.
00:07:38
Speaker
I don't necessarily mind it if I have to, But if I don't need to, I don't want to. So I want to be able to take time to go to the gym. So when I do sit down to do work, I need it to be completely focused.
00:07:49
Speaker
um No distractions and all in or whatever the task is in front of me. um Number five, train doing things that you do not feel like doing. So I say that, you know, there's some programs that are like 75 hard stuff like that.
00:08:04
Speaker
Those are all kind of designed to get you used to doing the stuff that you do not want to do. So discipline grows every time you act, despite not wanting to. So to me, yeah obviously, at the point of the podcast, the title the podcast is discipline is greater than motivation.
00:08:21
Speaker
So to me, one of the key things you need to do as a business owner, as an entrepreneur, you need to build that discipline. So you do that by doing stuff when you do not want to do it. The first year or two of most businesses is kind of fun.
00:08:33
Speaker
you know, you're building something. People are usually proud of you in that moment. um You have big goals, big dreams. You may have a vision board. The fact is, once you get into that a little ways in, it's still fun.
00:08:44
Speaker
Like I'm 15 years in now, 16. It is still fun. I still enjoy it. But there will be days as you get into it where you don't want to do any of the stuff that you have to do. What will differentiate you in that moment as entrepreneur is you, you have the discipline and the motivation, not just one, not just motivation.
00:09:03
Speaker
If you have that, you will push through those days and that is where you will win. That is where you will push ahead of your competition if they are someone who needs motivation in order to get stuff done. So if you're someone who's trying to become an entrepreneur, wanting to, or you're listening to this thinking, man, I need to go from a doer contractor to a business contract. i want to run my own business.
00:09:23
Speaker
you have got to have the discipline necessary to make it through and and and accomplish every single day. The days you don't want to, even when stuff is just kicking you in the gut every single day, you have to get up and keep moving that ball forward.
00:09:38
Speaker
So whatever you can do to grow that discipline. And I think that discipline is everywhere. I think it's as a husband, a wife, I think it's in the gym. I think it's at work. I think discipline is everywhere and we're,
00:09:50
Speaker
Our body and our mind and everything is unique. And if you can go in and have everything firing on all cylinders, that's when I think you win. If you just have a couple going really strong, eventually the other two will fail.
00:10:04
Speaker
And then when those fail, then the whole engine fails. So guys, try to really, really hone in on that discipline. Do the things you don't want to do. Do a 75 hard program if that works for you or something similar where you're for multiple days in a row, you were doing things that you do not want to do necessarily.
00:10:20
Speaker
Um, number six, track your discipline, not just outcomes.

Tracking Discipline and Raising Standards

00:10:26
Speaker
So I look back, I don't know, it's been ah decade plus. Uh, I've always been fairly fit, but had a period of my life where I was not. And I downloaded my fitness pal, believe was the app.
00:10:36
Speaker
And that was something that really, really worked for me to be able to go back and look and say, Hey, this is actually what you're eating. I realized that some stuff I thought was healthy was indeed calorie packed. Um, but doing that, what that allowed me to do was to actually track it.
00:10:50
Speaker
but then see momentum. So I didn't want to fail. And I ended up doing it for almost two years straight, um, of no gluten, no sugar, you know, super, super strict, uh, went from two 40, not healthy, two 40, a fat two 40 to a lean one 65, one 70, uh, in really just a few months, but then kept it there, uh, and improved upon it over the course. Anyway, I say all that to say, what did that for me was discipline,
00:11:20
Speaker
but also having that tracker and that calendar. I remember i had on the mirror in my bathroom at the time, a chart, it's just on a piece of paper. I just drew it out, but it had week of date.
00:11:32
Speaker
It had weight. It had arm measurement, waist measurement, chest measurement, leg measurement. And there was one other one that's failing me right now, but did that by week. And I also did my fitness pal, but what that allowed me to do is actually physically see a small progress every, every single week.
00:11:49
Speaker
And that helps you to keep that momentum going. When you see, man, for 10 weeks straight, for 15 weeks straight, I achieved every single week, you're much less likely to say, you know what, this week, I think I'm going to go have a couple of quarter pounders, maybe some donuts and stuff like that. I'm to derail all that progress I've made it over the last 10 weeks. You don't want to do that because you just had 10 weeks of progress. So you do not want to do it. So that stuff helps build momentum. And I highly, highly encourage doing that.
00:12:15
Speaker
Number seven, raise your standard. So stop saying I'll try and start saying this is who I am. Identity is greater than willpower. So become the kind of person who just does it, especially when it's inconvenient.
00:12:26
Speaker
I see so many people in yo-yo dieting and yo-yoing anything has always been kind of an annoying thing for me, watching people do it. And when I went on my diet a decade plus ago, I really decided that is not who I was going to try to be. I did not want to be that person who lost a bunch of weight one year, gained it all back the next year, lost a bunch the next year, the new fad diet or program.
00:12:49
Speaker
I wanted to actually make it a lifestyle. you need to raise your standard for yourself. And one thing I think that helps do that, if you guys obviously listen to this podcast, you're probably in some sort of leadership role, but think about those around you, you know, not just yourself.
00:13:03
Speaker
So become known as that person who executes, who's fit, ah who always shows up for their family. Whatever you want your standard to be, you need to raise it a little, but then think about all the people you're impacting by doing so.
00:13:18
Speaker
And then, like I said, stop saying I'll try ah start saying this is who I am. That will help that not to be a yo-yo, and that will help it to become more of a habit. So the goal with

Persistence Beyond Motivation

00:13:28
Speaker
all this is make it a habit.
00:13:30
Speaker
Number eight, embrace boredom and repetition. So discipline is showing up after the motivation dies. That's where most people quit. You need to stop quitting. So be honest that success is not all rainbows.
00:13:40
Speaker
And it has the down days and that is when you need to show up more than ever. That is when you execute even more and that is what will differentiate you from your competitors and other people in the business world. So many people, so many business owners. i I wish I knew stats on this because i don't like speaking.
00:13:56
Speaker
That's not factual. But I'm willing to bet there's a lot of businesses that fail because someone quit too early. I can think of most people I know in business, they had lean years. They had rough years. Really, really rough years.
00:14:09
Speaker
They stayed in it. They found a way. They kept pushing and ended up being they made more money the year after or two years later than they ever made before because they forced themselves to improve, to address the situation, fix it and move on.
00:14:21
Speaker
But I do think a lot of people quit too early on a lot of things in life, and that is what is keeping them from winning. So discipline is showing up after the motivation dies. There's a lot of people that do not do that, and I think that's where a lot of failure comes from.
00:14:35
Speaker
Number nine, embrace hard times and always keep improving. Gosh, at

Continuous Improvement and Execution

00:14:40
Speaker
43 now, I can tell you more so than even five, 10, 15 years ago, there's a lot to be learned in hard times. A lot of people will say they'll see hard times and they start getting sorry, feeling sorry for themselves.
00:14:52
Speaker
They think the world's against them. They give up on some of their dreams and some of their goals. And guess what? They fail because they gave up. But there is so much to be learned in those hard times. So many things to improve.
00:15:03
Speaker
That is what will sharpen you. That is what will give you grit, lessons, life lessons, ah help you as a mentor, help you as a parent. You need to learn to embrace those hard times and use those as opportunities to improve.
00:15:15
Speaker
No matter where you are in life, you need to always have a mindset of improving, not just when it's good, but also when it's bad. And I think if there's one thing that I would kind of take away from the personal success world, whether they you that's discipline or motivation, you have to keep improving. You cannot just settle where you're at If you had a goal of your business reaching a million, 10 million, whatever it was, 20 million, I would encourage you to push past that a little bit and think bigger once you reach it.
00:15:42
Speaker
Um, I think becoming okay with where you're at or the status quo or just getting you comfortable. That is when things start to fail in your life. So always, always keep improving.
00:15:52
Speaker
You are never ever as good as you can be. Um, I know there is, One of the mentors I have, he's online, but I've been a few of his seminars and events. But one of the things he talked about was kind of looking forward at your death. So your deathbed and thinking through, you know, who do I want to be on that day? What do i want to look back at on my life?
00:16:12
Speaker
And you need to, that should be a huge vision of what you want to accomplish and the amount of lives you want to impact and how you want to show it for people and make a difference in this world. And I think if you can do that, that is, that should be your goal. And that should be a huge goal.
00:16:24
Speaker
That should be what you should be constantly improving to do. become the absolute best person. So when that day comes, you know you live that life. Guys, if you're serious to about success, you've got to do these things. If you're listening to this podcast or you're in our Facebook group, you're probably there for a reason.
00:16:41
Speaker
i just want to encourage you guys to go and just execute. Stop talking. Stop listening only to only motivational content and just go do. I'm not saying not to listen to motivational content. It has plenty of value.
00:16:54
Speaker
Some days we just need it. but I would encourage you to make sure you're spending more time doing than just sitting there listening to him our motivation. So guys, you found this podcast useful, please do share it.
00:17:05
Speaker
If you are not

Community Invitation

00:17:06
Speaker
in our Facebook group, especially if you're a contractor, I think that Facebook group will be awesome for you guys. We're well over a thousand members in there. Now we're getting a lot more activity.
00:17:17
Speaker
There's a lot of people helping other people and that's what it's for inside that group. There's go to be people who have done, you know, 10 million plus, there's going to be people well under a million in that group, both.
00:17:29
Speaker
And there's so much to learn from other people in that group. That's what the group is for. We post some stuff in there as well. There's a few other thought leaders in there that post some stuff that's valuable. Get in there and make those networks.
00:17:41
Speaker
Make the connections. Do the networking. Guys, it is so valuable. and I can think of so many times it's benefited me in business. So, guys, if you like it, please share Catch you next time.