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Business of Machining - Episode 116
237 Plays7 years ago
Topics of Discussion:
People are different, but the Johns have more than just their name in common. They also think too much.
“Everyone thinks they’re normal” - Saunders
How else are people different?
- Extraversion vs. Introversion
- Book Smarts vs. Street Smarts
- To-Do List Writing Methods. Ex. Make a video for future you! Then set up a reminder to watch it.
“At the end of the day, doing is what gets things done” - Grimsmo
Episode Golden Nuggets:
Power (of) Walking
Grimsmo gets some exercise to clear his head, and get some time out of the windowless shop.
The FORCE of Chill
Don’t be frantic. Be the ultimate “single-tasker”, and focus like a surgeon.
Outcomes, Actions
"What will it look like to me when it’s done? - Grimsmo
Define the outcome, and take practical steps to NAIL IT.
Book recommendations:
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & Evening Walks
00:00:00
Speaker
Good morning and welcome to the business of machining, episode 116. My name is Jon Grimsmo. My name is Jon Saunders. Good morning, buddy. Good morning. How are you? I'm excellent. Good. Feeling pumped, feeling alive.
00:00:13
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, good. I've been going for walks every night, both for exercise and just like to get outside and smell fresh air and not stay stuck in a shop all day. Yeah. Yeah. So I went for a nice walk last night, almost an hour and Erin texted me just before we went, just before I went and she's like,
Extroversion vs. Introversion
00:00:33
Speaker
can I join you? I was like, yeah, let's go for a walk together because she lives like not very far away from me.
00:00:38
Speaker
Anyway walked out picked her up. We just had like wonderful conversation for long hour long walk. It was amazing from like 10 p.m.
00:00:48
Speaker
work-related or just life? Just life, yeah. Almost very little work, actually. Yeah. It was neat. It was fun. That's good. It's a lot different doing it with somebody than doing it by myself, like I've been doing so much of, but it was cool. Both are good, though, right? Very much, yeah. I've heard the word extrovert and introvert a lot lately. Maybe it's selective perception or just coincidental, but
00:01:11
Speaker
It's not that I don't believe in it, but it's all situational.
Thinking vs. Action in Business
00:01:14
Speaker
I mean, I'm an introvert when it comes to a lot of topics or scenarios or situations, but very extroverted when it's, you know, manufacturing related or something, you know what I mean? So I don't think it's as binary as people say, but even extroverted people, I think, I assume enjoy quiet time thinking, contemplating.
00:01:35
Speaker
I would hope so. I'd say I'd definitely swing more towards the introverted side unless I'm like, like you said, manufacturing on business.
00:01:45
Speaker
something I get to be super excited about, but I'd say probably most of the time I'd rather be by myself and just do or think, you know? Yeah. But that's not an insignificant distinction, do or think, because I think, I know, I believe, you and I, you know, everyone thinks they're normal. The average person thinks they are. There's all these like cliched sayings about how we are
00:02:09
Speaker
how we operate in our view of the world relative to the rest of everyone else's individualistic views. But I would hypothesize that you and I think too much. I would agree. I'm not thinking it's a bad thing, but I agree.
00:02:25
Speaker
I am saying it's probably a bad thing. I think, and I'm very calculating, I'm very risk adverse. I believe my thinking can influence the future. And I do believe that's true, but I think I've also seen, I know I've also seen plenty of other folks that spend a lot less time thinking and planning and more time doing. And at the end of the day, doing is what often, and again, I'm not
00:02:55
Speaker
I'm not giving any life conclusions here, but there's the people that spend all their time playing and thinking and hoping, and then the reality is it's all going to happen differently. And again, there's a hazard of the folks that fail. I think I've shifted the scale away from failing by being so contemplative. But at the end of the day, go make parts, make your business, get stuff shipped out the door, do good, work your butt off.
The Entrepreneurial Journey
00:03:20
Speaker
And also just quit being, quit thinking you're so smart in that sense.
00:03:24
Speaker
Yeah, that doesn't get done by just planning. Planning is great and it has to happen to a certain degree, but I've noticed as well that too much planning is just sitting around contemplating and not doing, and I am a big fan of doing, which is why for a lot of things, I would rather just jump right in and get started and fail quickly in minor things like
00:03:45
Speaker
you know, you get a delivery. I want to open it up right away. I want to unbox it. I want to see what I need as opposed to like writing down a checklist. Okay, I think I'm going to need this and this and this and yeah, so there's a balance and I guess everybody's got their own little individual balance of what that's going to be, but what it's doing is what gets it done. But in the kind of like perpetual desire to
00:04:10
Speaker
I think it's all relative because there are people who are less successful and there are people who are more successful and the reality is that's true for almost every single person on the history of the planet.
00:04:24
Speaker
but I feel like I'm still waiting to get into my run rate, like check the box, like I'm happy to, I enjoy sharing, I enjoy inspiring, I enjoy trying to pay it forward, but I don't think I am empirically
00:04:42
Speaker
as comfortable as I am that we've had some success. I don't have the conviction that I deserve or I have earned the merit to actually teach people about business. It's still in progress. Does that make sense? You don't feel like you've reached the level where you're standing at the level and you're like, I'm here now. Yeah. Because that never happens. You're growing, you're expanding. The more you know, I mean, the you now versus the you 10 years ago is a mastermind genius in comparison.
00:05:11
Speaker
yet now you still feel similar to you felt then just on a completely different scale because now your ambitions are so much more. That's true. I mean, you don't necessarily feel different. I think when you try to look at some of the operations and facts and wisdom and experience, you recognize you have grown and changed. I guess what I want to say is, and it's not a self-confidence thing for me. There are things I lack self-confidence on, but this isn't like something where I'm sensitive to that. But I will say,
00:05:39
Speaker
to the folks listening, like this is to break the third wall
Future Focus vs. Present Achievements
00:05:42
Speaker
here. This is the thing, like if you're, I would say as an entrepreneur, don't expect to all of a sudden wake up one morning or hit some sales milestone or reporting milestone or company growth milestone or investment or anything. And all of a sudden be like, I got this. Like you feel better, but it's always kind of a churn.
00:06:01
Speaker
Yeah, you almost have to forcibly tell yourself like, whoa, I've reached this milestone. You know, whether you get the thing you've always wanted or you get the machine or you hit the sales milestone you've always wanted, you almost have to remind yourself like, whoa, we did it. Okay, but what's next? Because there's always what's next. Even before you reach that milestone, it's like you're already on to the next, at least I am.
00:06:24
Speaker
But like, I know you, I know you, John, like, well, and I'm looking at your shop right now with the Swiss lady that's imminently arriving, the DMG Maury, the lapping machine, the Nakamura, you'd like more metrology equipment coming in, more capabilities, more employees. And I guarantee if I could like hook up a USB port to your left temple, all that, all the data stream that would flow out of it is fully focused on stuff that you don't yet own. True.
00:06:50
Speaker
like the shop, the five axis, the second vertical, like you almost, I'm saying this cynically, you could care less about this stuff you already own. It's all about- It's because I live in the future for a lot of things. That's not good. Yeah, maybe. No, I'm saying- Not that I don't stand back and enjoy what we have, but
00:07:12
Speaker
I think in a perfect world, everything you have goes on, I don't want to call it cruise control, but when things are flowing, things are going well, the business is sustaining itself, then it's your nice job as the owners, the visionaries to move forward.
00:07:27
Speaker
to plan for the future, the road bumps, the upcoming hurdles. Right. But how do you balance? So that's the thing that I think is interesting about what you just said, which is whether you want to call it being an entrepreneur, a business owner, or a leader, where it's frankly not always fun. Definitely not always fun. Yeah.
Leadership Challenges
00:07:50
Speaker
Well, like you so I remember this from 10 years ago or in school, like people would very often the quote unquote type A personalities would be like, well, I'm the smartest person. I want to be the CEO or I want to be the leader of the group or whatever. And the reality is to be out in front every day is actually not to me. I don't get it wrong. I enjoy it. I'm not looking to to abdicate that responsibility per se. But to but it's boy, it's sure nice to just be a
00:08:18
Speaker
just to respond to orders sometimes. Yeah, I understand. And I agree completely. It's hard to put into words.
00:08:28
Speaker
I mean, sometimes I do wish for the simplicity of just working. I mean, work is not simple. The work we do is all complex and complicated, but it's straightforward to the extent, whereas running a business, managing people, growing, making big decisions, it's very taxing. And I love it. And I wouldn't really want it any other way.
00:08:50
Speaker
It's definitely not for everybody. And I don't even know if it was for me when I started out, but I've evolved into the kind of person that can take it. And I have a lot more evolution to do. Like you said, I haven't reached some milestone, some level. I want to be so much better in so many different ways.
00:09:08
Speaker
I think I have been thinking about it a lot. It's kind of almost a funny meeting of a bunch of different themes you and I have been talking about, whether it's to-do lists or the business growth or responsibilities or organizational culture.
Hustle Culture & Balance
00:09:21
Speaker
But I want to make sure I kind of caught myself like a self-raised red flag where I would wake up most mornings and I would think about how much hustle I need to have
00:09:37
Speaker
to end the day with so much done. And I actually don't, so you are who you want to be. So if you wanna be the person that wants to wake up in the morning and sit down, have a nice cup of coffee, maybe go out onto your back porch, maybe digest some, whether it's a newspaper or Instagram or some emails or just look at the dew on the grass. If you wanna be that person,
00:10:04
Speaker
the only way you become that person is by doing it.
00:10:08
Speaker
And part of me likes that idea of having a calm morning where you gather your thoughts and you do that stuff. And that wasn't what I was doing. I was getting in the shower. I was either getting to work or doing a couple of things and coming back and seeing the kids or whatever. Yeah, I remember you were telling me maybe a year, year and a half ago, you were like, I wake up at 6 and I'm at the shop at 6.15. And in that time, I've showered, I've got the coffee, and I'm at the shop. And that's like six days a week. And I'm like, holy cow. My mornings are way different than that.
00:10:37
Speaker
Well, I don't regret it. But you're saying it's not the same anymore. Well, I'm just saying, when people that are wiser or older than you talk about themes like burning out or changing things up or the business owned me, I didn't own the business, I'm pretty sure this is a form of that, which is it's a rare person. Maybe Elon Musk can do it. The reality is he has a huge infrastructure of people and capital that's the dude I don't have.
00:11:07
Speaker
you know, the ability to continually wake up and kind of run a marathon each day like that. Like, no, it's not what I want. I want to, I want to wake up and I want to think, Hey, I really want to, I really want to work on this part. Like I really want to pour myself into that part today. And I want to also take a look at, uh, the last month's books or something like, you know, just kind of this calm, like two things I want to do really well, not this frantic, Oh man,
00:11:33
Speaker
I really want to revamp all of our SEO, and I really want to take a look at all these emails I haven't read. And I really want to both run a five-axis part, and I want to re-optimize a boring show. All these crazy stuff that you're never going to actually get to. You just think these bold thoughts in your head in the morning because it makes you feel good because you think them. It's crazy to think, I don't know if most people are like this, but yeah, literally the second I open my eyes,
00:12:00
Speaker
sometimes that kind of stuff just starts flowing. And I'm thinking lately, the things that I think about first thing and even last thing at night before I go to sleep are either the problems and challenges that I have here in the business that I'm not dealing with properly, whether it's I'm not solving them like a broken tool or I'm not managing effectively or things that I'm not doing well enough.
00:12:22
Speaker
Or it's things that I really want to do like get a five-axis or get the shop or things like that It's not the day-to-day tiny little like I gotta do this I gotta do that and I gotta do that because I have my my list for that my getting things done list which all the ideas stay there and I use that to do the action list but That way I can use my brain for actual thinking hopefully and make you know progress on these thoughts Not just not just thinking this this this this this this this cuz that doesn't do anything
00:12:53
Speaker
Yeah, it's good. I like this idea
Productivity Systems & Organization
00:12:56
Speaker
of calm, sustainability mixed with a tremendous amount of hard work and conviction. I'm not looking for the easy way out, but again, the people that I've looked up to tend to be the folks that have their stuff together.
00:13:12
Speaker
Yeah, they're not frantic. Yeah, exactly. And I think I'm doing a good, I'm actually not, I'm not disappointed in myself. I actually do think I'm doing a good job of it, but it's something I'm just becoming more conscious of.
00:13:26
Speaker
Well, the more conscious you become, the more you can become the person you want to be, you know, the more you realize, well, I really appreciate it. Admire this and other people. I want more of that. I want that calm confidence, that demeanor that, you know, people around me kind of absorb that as well. You know, somebody might run up to you all frantically and hopefully you can like, you know, slow it down and understand the root of the problem. Yeah. Cause, cause it's our job as the leaders to be like,
00:13:52
Speaker
to be that force of chill and hustle in a weird way. It is true. I remember Jay Pearson talking about whether it was a stressed situation or something that was obviously not good, but I say obviously with hesitation because
00:14:13
Speaker
When you set this comment up in this context, it sounds obvious to be like, oh, yeah, that's terrible. Of course, I would have done the same thing. It's not that easy when you're there, but to say, hey, this isn't how we run the shop. If there's stress or there's rushing,
00:14:30
Speaker
That spread, that's contagious. It's just not the precedent. So let's slow down, let's figure it out. And it's very strange to think about that sort of a tone when it may be a company that's like, hey, we would like to order four of your products, but we would need them to ship by 4 p.m. today. Because you would think like, oh no, I need to be working faster and slurring my words and two arms and drawers and torque wrenches and parts and cam. No, that's not how you do it.
00:14:59
Speaker
So the other thing that I think is interesting is I want to talk more about this to-do lists because you read this book and you are happy. You're liking your setup.
00:15:09
Speaker
very much, it gets all the crap out of my head and into my system. And then I review that regularly, although not as regularly as I should be. But it has definitely clarified my brain. So I'm not jumping around from I'm not thinking about things. I'm thinking of things. No, I'm not thinking of things. I'm thinking about things like I'm actually making progress on the thoughts, not just like this or that and this and that and this and that.
00:15:35
Speaker
So is it fair to call it what I would call basically a dump list? Like the point isn't necessarily to accomplish the things on a list. It's just to satisfy that you've gotten them stored or archived. There are several lists.
00:15:49
Speaker
There's a dump list, which as you termed a couple of years ago to me, the brain dump list. And I have that. Everything I don't want to forget goes into the brain dump list. And then from there, the theory is you're supposed to review it once a week, say on Sunday, and then move everything out of the dump list into the sorted folders, whether it's your project list or your next actions list. So I've got the next action of at the shop computer, at the home computer,
00:16:15
Speaker
at the shop anywhere conversations i need to have things like that and that helps me like look i'm at the shop these are the things i can only do at the shop so let's do them there these are the things i should be doing at home or can only do at home you know cuz they don't need to be anywhere i just need some time on a computer
00:16:33
Speaker
And it definitely helps to sort all of the brain dump lists instead of just some massive to do list of all kinds of random stuff that you skim through and you're like, yeah, yeah, no, no, no, yeah, yeah, yeah, I got to do that. It kind of helps to strategize it. And I'm enjoying it. And this is everything from from clean the garage from to fix the coolant leak to exactly.
00:16:57
Speaker
Yeah. To major like business, like find new shop type thing. Yep. Yep. Spend, you know, two hours thinking about this.
00:17:05
Speaker
And I'm playing it out. I'm seeing how I like it. You know, maybe I won't love it fully to the, to the T, but I'll evolve and I'll find what's best for me. But, um, oh yeah, I've been using this brain dump list hard for two years now since I read the first half of the book and never finished it. Um, so I've been brain dumping, but I haven't, it was on the, it was on in fairness. It was on, yeah, it was on the list to do. Yeah, exactly. No, I'm joking.
00:17:29
Speaker
But I never categorized, sorted, or really enacted a lot of the stuff that I put on the brain dump list. It just became a giant pile of to-dos, which aren't effective. So now that I've finished the book, proudly, it makes a lot more sense. Yeah. It's a fascinating topic.
00:17:52
Speaker
When I've, my current incarnation of a to-do list, which is completely dead and receives no love or attention is this like focus on today, medium and long-term list. And then below the focus on today are all of these like, like tidbits, like we went to Disney World in February. So it's like post Disney, I should do these six things. And then post my Germany trip last month, I should do these things. And then yesterday my wife and I were up in Cleveland and it's like, what's something I can do while she's at the doctor in Cleveland and like,
00:18:22
Speaker
I actually did do a couple of those things, but I basically, I enjoy doing it because it has this sense of process and I can then follow the process or let the list be the boss. But for me, it doesn't, like when I go read through the medium, I just deleted everything in the long-term list because it just, it sat there for two years. And when I read through the medium list, I don't get,
00:18:48
Speaker
I don't feel like reading through it is invigorating or folk helps me focus or it just, I don't, I don't enjoy it. Um, and I may be doing it wrong. I maybe shouldn't read that book or maybe you could do a video on that book. It is really good book. Do a video on that
Learning from Books
00:19:06
Speaker
book. That's like a five or 10 minute recap that would just help us decide whether to invest the time in reading it. Hmm.
00:19:14
Speaker
Well, I've certainly I went pretty hard on using my pen to like circle things and underline things. So it's it's not going to be too difficult for me to highlight the book just by flipping through it and reading a couple things. There's a lot of really good nuggets in that book. And I'm glad I read through it fully cover to cover. Fun fact, I've been meaning to tell you, I just finished it last night, but I reread the email, the email through visited. And it
00:19:43
Speaker
The funny thing is I read it backwards. Okay. And I say that because
00:19:51
Speaker
I picked it up the other month ago or so and I found a bookmark with like two chapters left. So I just read the last two chapters. And I was like, well, let me just go back a chapter. And then next day, let me just go back a chapter. So I read the entire book chapter by chapter backwards. I do not recommend it. It was weird, but I've read the book and I've skimmed it enough times to kind of follow along. But it was great. It was great to read, but it was weird to read backwards.
00:20:20
Speaker
It's good to for sure. That's one I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the rereading of. Yeah, yeah, for sure. And also to like highlight and, and bold and underline everything that sounds good so that you can then later down the road, like a year later, just pick it up, scroll through it and be like, Okay, what's this? Oh, wow. Yeah, forgot about that. Because it's so easy to forget these, you know, golden nuggets of wisdom that
00:20:46
Speaker
that are in there and they're always there and it's your book and you've underlined it. So to review that even just quickly kind of sparks that memory of having read it and of like, oh yeah, I never did that thing that the book suggested I do and I meant to do that. So that's the key, whether it's a book or
00:21:02
Speaker
Did we talk about this last week? I was thinking in my head and I wanted to share, I don't like the fact that after I go on trips or shop tours, whether it's around this area or somewhere else in the world, that you have this sense of inspiration and clarity and motivation.
Maintaining Inspiration Post-Events
00:21:21
Speaker
Atrophes, you lose it after two weeks, three weeks, a month.
00:21:25
Speaker
And so what you just said made me, and I've done the same thing where I put in notes to myself go to go reread this or actually trying to like type out a little bit of about that point. And I find that when it pops up, it feels like a chore. And I dislike that I'm trying to force myself to, it just seems like too much work. So here's an idea. What if it could be a private video? No one else needs to see it other than John Grimsmoor or John Saunders. What if
00:21:54
Speaker
Go pick up your iPhone now that when E-Myth is fresh and record a 40 second video. Doesn't you be amazed at how much you can say to yourself in 40 seconds or something short and record it and say, Hey, this E-Myth book really helped me think about tasking or outsourcing of the team or whatever the thing is, and then upload it to your private YouTube or somewhere and then just put the link in your calendar for three months out or some time interval out. Then all you've got to do is watch yourself
00:22:27
Speaker
Yeah, I could see that for sure, even like recapping the Europe trip or something like that.
00:22:35
Speaker
You could have a say a Google Drive folder with video notes to yourself and then just start kind of compiling that and there wouldn't be that many and they wouldn't be that long. And I like your idea of a calendar reminder to three months, six months down the road to watch this specific video because the timer goes off.
00:22:55
Speaker
And then you see yourself, be so excited about that one thing and then it brings back this flood of memories and kind of fades away the current, you know, hassles in life and brings you back to that point in time. I like this. It's like yesterday we were driving up to Cleveland and I'm driving in.
Capturing Ideas on the Go
00:23:14
Speaker
I had like two things pop into my head that I really wanted to do. And I'm frustrated with Siri's auto, what do you call it? Transcription, where you dictate to Siri. Like Siri, send me an email and then you mention all these machining terms and Siri just completely chokes on it. And it becomes like, God forbid you said chamfer or look at sidewall of cam using a tilt axis multi app, you know, holder detection. And it all of a sudden is like a story about baseball.
00:23:44
Speaker
And so I started using voice recorder. So you just say, hey, Siri, open voice recorder. She opens voice recorder. I can hit the record button pretty safely without taking my eyes off the road because it's kind of right there. And then you don't even have to be holding the phone. And I'll just say the things I want to say. And they're usually like 15-second voice recorder clips. And then oftentimes, I will find when I arrive at my destination 10 minutes later or two hours later, I will have forgotten
00:24:12
Speaker
the thing, which is exactly why I wanted to write it down. But all I know now is, oh, we just got a pop open vice recorder and that makes it easy. It also geotags them. So it's a little bit helpful to know if it's a couple of days later. Oh, that was the note I was mentioning when I was driving up to Cleveland.
00:24:28
Speaker
And then I can decide what to do with it, but I think that's the big distinction is I've really gotten away. That doesn't go into a to-do list. Usually it gets done. So if I wanted to read something, I go read it. If I wanted to take care of something, I usually email and try to, I don't let it just build onto a list, I guess is what I'm finding works for me.
00:24:50
Speaker
Well, that's interesting. That brings back a powerful memory from the book Getting Things Done, is that as you're going through your brain dump list and sorting and organizing it, he's got a bit of a checklist, three or four things that
00:25:05
Speaker
every task you look at, whether it's clean the garage or whatever, look at that task. The goal is to get through the brain dump list and not to do the things, but to sort them. And you have to analyze that and you go, what does it look like? What does it mean like to me when it's done? What is the outcome that I want from this?
00:25:25
Speaker
you know, I want a clean garage. Okay, what are the next action steps you need to do that? Oh, well, I just like I did last weekend, I got a borrow Barry's SUV, and take all of the cardboard and Amazon boxes and put them in the car and take them to the dump. So I did.
00:25:41
Speaker
And it was just like, instead of cleaning this big, crazy thing, it was just like, all I really need to do is get rid of the cardboard. That's the worst of it. You know? And then I did. Now the garage is like twice as open. Um, but it's like, what's, what's the outcome and what are the next actions? I actually took my pen and I wrote that on my arm.
00:25:58
Speaker
And I kept refreshing it every couple of days, like outcomes, actions to help remind me, like you're having a conversation. What's the outcome that I want? You know, you and I having this podcast, what's the outcome as I was driving in today? I'm like, what's the outcome? I want it to be the best podcast we've done yet. Okay, what are the action steps we've got to take? Well, probably good to talk about business. In a lovingly way, I think the exact opposite. I don't want that.
00:26:21
Speaker
try that pressure or that need like this, like I need to wake up and make sure that Saunders machine works or this podcast is like, I'm not, I'm not trying to make poke. Yeah. I don't, I just want to have that sustainable. Like I, John is a Grimms was a sharp guy. Saunders is a sharp guy. They have this journey. They're sharing this, like not this, like it's gotta be better. You know, I gotta go make the machine go faster. True. And
00:26:45
Speaker
Yeah, no, I think I'm maybe exaggerating on the point of what the outcome is. But sometimes the outcome of something is just make the part or hit the tolerance or leave the day happy or play with the kids and actually be there while you're playing with them. What is the outcome you're actually trying to achieve? Realistically, not like, oh, we're going to be the best, we're going to do the best, we're going to make the most money, blah, blah, blah.
00:27:11
Speaker
But yeah, because obviously, if you have a task, there has to be an outcome. And the sooner you define in clarity that outcome, then the easier it is to find what action steps you need to take to just nail it. And going through that process actually makes it easier. Because then you're like, Oh, that's not that hard. I definitely think too much like going back to the first
00:27:30
Speaker
Like, like, that's the thing where I would see somebody who is maybe more street smart and would look at us to idiots and be like, good grief, these guys just need to stop talking and start doing like, because I'm like you, like it's, and it's a really actually insightful point because you can psych yourself out over like clean the shop, clean the garage. And it's like, no, no, no, what do I need to do? And what do I actually want? Um, it's not that hard. You're right, John. Like, um, absolutely.
00:27:56
Speaker
Well, it was neat reading the book because there were so many parallels. As he's explaining things like that, I'm like, oh my gosh, that makes so much sense. I do the same thing. I wish for the same things. And man, if I could only clarify up front, then it's not a big deal. And I'm sure it's not going to resonate with everybody. But it certainly hit me hard. And I was like, that makes so much sense. Man, this guy's smart. And actually, for those of you guys listening, if you want a quick
Insights from David Allen's Talks
00:28:23
Speaker
kind of intro lesson into David Allen getting things done. He's got a few TEDx talks on on YouTube. So just look up David Allen, David Allen or getting things done. And I think there's two or three YouTube videos, but you know, 10, 15 minutes TEDx talk and it's it's really good. And it just kind of gives you the primer. I watched those before getting the book and I was like, Yeah, I need that book. Yeah.
00:28:48
Speaker
It ties in well with a
Empathy in Understanding Others
00:28:50
Speaker
friend of mine was asking a scenario or advice on a participant in a nonprofit thing where he was really disenchanted and frustrated and didn't understand and blah, blah, blah. I drew back on the Dale Carnegie, how to win friends and influence people, which is that
00:29:11
Speaker
absent a few rare exceptions in the world, most people are rooted with good intentions or reason in their desire, their causes. Most people aren't crazy. And so if the person doesn't want to be involved anymore, don't take it personally to try to put yourself in their shoes and think about,
00:29:30
Speaker
All sorts of different reasons why if you really need to resolve this internally for you or just think about the purpose of why people because oftentimes it's just like the example that I love is like when you cancel on a When you cancel on a going to a dinner or party or event or whatever something and you make up the excuse of blah blah blah It's like we're sick or something whatever and in the other person is like
00:29:56
Speaker
They're not, like, that's not, like if somebody actually wrote to you and said, and you said the honest answer to them, which is that, honestly, my wife and I,
00:30:07
Speaker
Whatever. Give the honest answer. It's actually more wholesome. It actually goes better in my opinion. Yeah. People's BS meters are off the charts these days. It's like they know BS coming a mile away. The last thing you want is for people to question your authenticity, your reasoning. Even if it's true, but you want to establish a rapport of typically telling the truth.
00:30:36
Speaker
It sounds like you're tumbling parts in the background. No, I think the shops next door are doing something. Oh, that's hilarious. That's awesome. That's not bad.
Visionary vs. Implementer Roles
00:30:44
Speaker
The last thing that is awesome, I think about tying all this together, is Ryan Wenner, who is an entrepreneur, who when he talks, I definitely listen, runs Seneca Woodworking, really good guy. He was
00:31:00
Speaker
When was he, was this on the NYC CNT forums? No, it was on our WhatsApp, where he was talking about, I'll let you run with this, because I think you're probably even more excited about this than I am, but the idea of implementer and executer. Yes. He mentioned this book. I'm going to, where did I put that link? I bought the book. It should actually be arriving today.
00:31:24
Speaker
We'll throw it in the description of the podcast. Yeah, let me pull up the WhatsApp chat right now. But yeah, it's the idea of the visionary and the implementer, I think it was. Just looking it up. ERP, there we go. Yeah, the book's called Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman.
00:31:47
Speaker
He said, maybe not quite as good as the email, but just as good concepts of having an integrator in your business. So like the visionary is, you know, I've got this crazy idea. I want to do this. I want to do this. I want to do this. And then you need an implementer or an integrator to actually like go out and do it because it's hard. It's hard for you and I to have all the huge ideas and to actually physically do them ourselves as well. And then most of the stuff just doesn't get done. And we feel lacking, you know,
00:32:15
Speaker
Yep. Yep. It's like you've got a wonderfully refreshing thought. You've had Ed working for you for like a year now probably. And in a way, he's your integrator. You're like, I want to build Johnny five. He's like, Yeah, I want to build a Johnny five too.
00:32:30
Speaker
Yeah, but the key, though, I think is to try to make anybody and everybody that you possibly can into an integrator, and they may be good at different things. I'm thinking I want to have Alex be our integrator for some of our digital toolbox storage, because Alex is good with computers and the code and the organization stuff. Josh is actually becoming really good with the shipping and the organization there.
00:32:59
Speaker
Because in the perfect world, we would have a perfect clone of ourselves who thinks like us and has the energy and but could just basically be subservient and spend their full time implementing it. That doesn't work. That doesn't exist, right? Right.
00:33:14
Speaker
So that's what I'm trying to figure out. Like a cloned robot of ourselves, except you do, and I think, and let's make it happen. Right, exactly. And it could be a little bit of e-myth, like in the sense that you could say, okay, Grimsmough, you get to be a thinker in the morning, but an implementer in the afternoon. And that's, that's, that is really tough, but it's, it's possible. It's maybe helpful, especially if you're still a solopreneur or, you know, one man band, it is still, I think, helpful to have that mindset
00:33:44
Speaker
Yeah, because it's just like the emit says, you have the entrepreneur, the manager, and the technician. And those are the three people fighting for control, especially as solopreneur. And he's like, the entrepreneur has all these great ideas and never gets it done. The manager ticks all the boxes and wants to make it all happen, but makes checklists and never gets it all done. And the technician just wants to get it done, but never has the vision
00:34:09
Speaker
to do it. So he just created a job for himself. And it's not a business. It's not an entrepreneurial venture. Right. That's a bit of the chapter I just finished last night. I think it was chapter one, backwards. But, but yeah, like I said, this book is arriving, I think today at the house. So I'll start reading it, maybe today, actually. I don't know, soon.
00:34:30
Speaker
What I'm thinking is one of the most significant insights I've had about how I work and think and strive to do this all better is something I've been very excited to share.
Focus in Work Environment
00:34:43
Speaker
It's only about a week old, so I caution that perhaps it won't last, but I think it's going to last.
00:34:49
Speaker
And that is how do you switch from talking about this? You know, you and I can talk on this podcast and it's fun to talk, but what matters darn it is doing it. How do we do it? How do you better become that person that's able to even just separate thinker from doer? Because the reality is that's, you know, you're still going to, Grimso is always going to be the thinker. And for some period of time, you're going to be very much involved in the execution, right? Right.
00:35:15
Speaker
It occurred to me because of what's been going on with Yvonne, and she's doing great, which is awesome. But surgeons, surgeons, think about how awesome it is to be a surgeon in the context of the example I'm about to give, which is that you're the skilled person, you're a leader, you're talented, you've gone through training, you're an expert.
00:35:38
Speaker
What does a surgeon do? A surgeon goes into a room, shuts the doors, has a team of people around him to help him or her.
00:35:52
Speaker
All they do for some period of time is focus on executing one thing, which is doing their job to fix or perform surgery on that patient. There is no distraction. There is no email. There's no chatter. There's no noise. There's no bouncing around. There's no adding to to-do lists. And you know what? They're very, very good at that for that reason. And so I've had this mindset now of thinking,
00:36:20
Speaker
when I want to switch into being the mode of being an executor or we're going to hang out this podcast. I'm going to work on that tool post on the UMC, our first five axis part. I'm going to treat it like being a surgeon because those distractions don't improve anything in life. I can do it for a finite period of time, but it's really clicked with me.
00:36:45
Speaker
I like that a lot because also surgeon like they have their team of helpers and the room is prepped. The room is clean. The patient is ready. Everything's, everything's been integrated already. And then he gets to come in and do what he's absolute or she is absolutely best at and focus and just get it done because the system is in place. You know, they have this kind of, let's call it a beautiful symphony of, of what it takes to be the, a great surgeon and, uh,
00:37:13
Speaker
and we can absolutely do that here. I find focus tricky in the shop because there's a lot going on and everybody's always asking me questions and bringing me things and we got to buy this, we got to do this and this broke. So I had a thought recently that
00:37:31
Speaker
like ideas are important to you when you think about them and you're like, Oh, I got to bring that up. I got to talk about that. I got to go tell Eric about so-and-so or this and this. And there's a big difference between important, right freaking now and just important to me. And it's when it's your idea and you want to come up and you want to share it and you want to like bring it up, it's important now to you. But as an idea, it might not need to get done in a few weeks. No, that's a really good point.
00:38:01
Speaker
So I brought that up with most of the team the other day and I was like, just try to be conscious of interrupting other people's flow, other people's work with ideas that are maybe not important right now.
00:38:14
Speaker
And I don't know, should we be writing them down on a little notepad and then we catch up a couple times a day?
Sharing Ideas & Work Culture
00:38:20
Speaker
Because I love the communication between the shop, but I want people to be able to focus as well. So I haven't quite nailed down what I want to do, but it's good that I'm talking about it and thinking about it because
00:38:32
Speaker
I think it's going to improve culture and focus for me anyway. I think it's a phenomenal point.
Managing Notifications & Focus
00:38:40
Speaker
I don't like the Tim Ferriss go four hours without checking your email, but darn it, we could go half an hour or an hour, which sounds crazy, but the reality is I bet you many people, myself included, check our email every few minutes, not every half an hour. Well, a little notification comes up and you're like, ooh, let me stop what I'm doing and check this out.
00:39:02
Speaker
Those, I nixed those years ago. I find no, oh yeah. There's, I don't, basically I don't allow any notifications on my phone, nothing that pops up on my screen. Interesting. The only ones I keep are, I keep email, I keep orders just cause it's fun to see an order come up. No, come on. Yeah, I know. I hear you. No. Yeah, no. And then. Be a surgeon, be a surgeon, be a surgeon. Like, so that's, it also,
00:39:31
Speaker
It's funny because the surgeon example also magnifies the weakness or the problem with surgeons, which is that they are not scalable. A surgeon cannot leverage their time. They cannot scale. They cannot perform multiple surgeries at once. They can't even multitask, but that's also the beauty of it. It's the beauty of it. They become the ultimate single tasker.
00:39:56
Speaker
Well, and it's the fallacy of thinking that you or I can multitask. If you need to figure out that pen clip, you need to figure out that pen clip. That is your patient. Work on it, focus on it, even if it's for one hour. Hopping out to do lists or order end mills or do other stuff is not helping the patient. I like that mentality. You should come up with a name for it, the surgeon mentality or something.
00:40:25
Speaker
Because that could work. That could flow. But yes, I am working on this patient right now. Do not distract me. I've literally thought about putting on earmuffs here in the shop. I'm central. There's people all around me. But if I'm wearing the earmuffs, please leave me the heck alone because I'm trying to focus. Not a rude thing, just trust me. This is what I have to do right now. Put my phone away, turn off the computer, et cetera. And I'm almost to doing that.
00:40:53
Speaker
A lot of it's self-imposed for me. It's not necessarily needing to have headphones on, but look, if the mail comes or UPS comes, let somebody else sign for it. Turn off. No, I'm getting better about that too.
00:41:06
Speaker
put my phone on silent and leave it on my desk. I don't need to have it in my pocket. You know, don't look at your email. So it's not so much the like, I can't tolerate external. Like again, if somebody's like, Hey, I just, I'm getting a problem on a machine. Can you take a look? Okay. That, but that doesn't happen all the time. It's the stuff that happens every three minutes. That is what's killing killing.
00:41:27
Speaker
Yeah, that's good. We should wrap up,
Visiting Business Operations
00:41:31
Speaker
but I got to share. I went to McMaster yesterday. I was going to ask you about that. Oh my God. It was phenomenal. I coincidentally, we had an order to place. I switched the order from shipping to Will call. It was like 12 miles out of the way on the drive home.
00:41:45
Speaker
And so shout out to my wife, she was a sport about it. And unfortunately, they are rightfully pretty protective about photos and anything inside, but the guy was super nice. And it was, to my surprise, when you did the wheel call, you were looking at the factory. It wasn't a cordoned off office, which I really expected. And it was, I mean, to say it was massive was an understatement. It was as big. And the Cleveland one is the smallest one in the country, the guy said.
00:42:13
Speaker
I literally walk up to the wheel call desk and I'm like, I have been so excited for this moment my whole life. And the guy's like, what are you talking about? And I told him, I was like, I love McMaster. I love everything about your company, your website, like who you are, how you guys do business and ordered from you guys for years and had the chance to do a wheel call. And it's really cool to come here and pick it up. And he was like, thanks. He got it. He thought it was cool. Yeah, yeah. That's so awesome.
00:42:37
Speaker
Yeah, I've done I've done that at Uline. And big factory warehouse and you know, I had to order and wait for my boxes to come and little palette comes around and they have this palette wrapping machines. Or it's like the palette spins on a rotary table and the roll just kind of
00:42:57
Speaker
shrink wraps the whole thing. I remember that, and it was big place. You couldn't see the end of it kind of thing. And picking up end mills at OSG the other week too. Yeah, that's awesome. It was cool. It was like, wow. Yeah. I mean, to them, it's every day. It's nothing. It's like, wow, why are you excited about this? But I'm like, no, you don't understand. This is awesome. Yeah, it was really cool. Cool.
New Machine Progress
00:43:20
Speaker
Sweet. All right. How is the 5-axis going? Have you done a 5-axis simultaneous toolpath yet?
00:43:26
Speaker
No. In fact, I've only done three axis, just like normal X, Y, three plus or two plus one. Yeah, exactly. But I'm super happy. Yeah, probably today. In fact, I'm done with the way we're making that tool post is OpOne just did a very low amount of work.
00:43:45
Speaker
on the backside of the part, flipped it over in the vice and did some roughing stuff just to expose some holes that we had drilled in op one and we needed to do counter boards in those holes so that I can use those to bolt it down. So today I need to go, we're doing the five axis or the fifth axis rock lock custom riser post fixture we're making that'll let us hold it.
00:44:10
Speaker
very naturally to do the rest of the work, which will be mostly just positional. I don't think there's actually any simultaneous vibe on the part, but the one thing I will say is I've been really happy with how the UMC is cutting steel because it is a different design having your X and Y and Z all in the above, right? Yeah, exactly.
00:44:32
Speaker
So I thought, hey, am I going to see a compromise? And we were running that helical seven-foot rougher, and I was like, oh, we're good. This is not any sort of concern about lack of rigidity or quality so far, at least. So as a three-axis machine, it feels just like your VM3. It runs and programs basically the same?
00:44:55
Speaker
Oh yeah, totally there. I want to spend more time before I really have any convictions about it, but the first impressions were, okay, this is not a compromise. I'm very happy so far. I'll put it that way. That's awesome. Good. I'm happy for you.
00:45:11
Speaker
We held a tight tolerance on one feature. The surface finish looks good. That sounds good. As I've heard from everyone else, the chip evacuation sucks. And Haas changed their current version of their software to not allow the chip conveyor to run when the doors open, which I'm not happy about. I want to see if I can leverage that to get that fixed, but all in all, good stuff. Cool. That's awesome. Sweet. I'll see you next Monday. Sounds good. Take care, bud. All right, take care. Bye. Bye.