What You Focus On Expands (Part 2)
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Hey, welcome back to part two of what you focus on expands. Welcome to the Maxwell Leadership Podcast. And the reason I say welcome back is because we're in the middle of a two-part series today to add value to you so you'll multiply value to others.

Today, my co-host Chris Robinson and I are listening to an ongoing lesson by John Maxwell that you're going to hear in just a moment. And what John's talking about today is a continuation of last episode where he talks about what you focus on expands. Now, here's what I love about today's lesson. John starts it with this right here. Take action on things that are worthwhile.

What have you done just today, podcast viewer, podcast family, podcast listener? What have you done today that has not been worth your while?

Now, do not answer, listen to this podcast. That is the incorrect answer. But what is the correct answer? Because all of us, all of us relate to the fact that some days we just do things that are more worthwhile while other days we don't. Today, John's going to take you through seven questions that will help you identify what is worthwhile and what needs to be added to your focus.

As we do that, we're going to continue and complete today part two in our two-episode series called What You Focus on Expands. If you would like to download a free bonus resource of this episode or watch this episode on YouTube, you can go to maxwellpodcast.com forward slash expand. Now get ready.

Let's take points three and four of this lesson and let's begin to expand a focus on things that bring a great result. Here is John Maxwell. Number three, take action on things that are worthwhile. Determine that you're going to move from a person of good intention to good action.

don't you know people who are always getting ready to get ready we don't want to be one of those people you don't want to keep getting ready to get ready which means you're never ready you need to get started as mark twain said the secret of getting ahead is very simple get started when you get started you get you get ahead so because i know this is important i ask myself how am i going to take action on things that are worthwhile what what makes me sure that

that I'm gonna maximize by action the things that I already know, but haven't done yet. And I said, I wrote down for myself seven things in this lesson. These don't have to be your seven, but if I'm going to literally take action on things that are worthwhile, number one, I'm gonna rise early. I'm just gonna get up before you get up. And I'm gonna get up before you get up because the fastest person doesn't win the races, the person who gets started first. And I wanna win the race, I wanna do well. So I'm gonna rise up early.

I'm going to prioritize quickly. I'm going to do that. I'm not only going to rise up, but I'm going to look at the stuff that's before me on my plate. I'm going to eliminate a bunch of stuff, and I'm going to say, this is what I'm going to do. I'm not going to do 50 things. I may do four or five things. Number three, I'm going to remove distractions. More and more in the last year and a half, I'm asked the question, people raise their hands and say, John, how do I remove distractions from my life?

And what I want to tell them is, you know, get off social media. Really? I mean, how many times do you have to look for a thumbs up to make you feel secure? Just get off of social media. I mean...

When I get up early in the morning and I rise early, I'm not reading the paper. I'm not on my phone. I'm not doing any of that stuff. I'm going to remove distractions. I'm going to prioritize quickly. I'm going to rise early. Number four, I'm going to set timelines, deadlines. I'm going to put some lines and say, by this time, I need to be there. I need to be there. Number five, I'm going to

make not only verbal commitments, I'm not gonna say what I'm gonna do, but I'm gonna do visual commitments. I'm gonna say it, but I'm gonna also do it. People do what people see. Number six, I'm gonna control my agenda or my calendar. The question is not will your calendar be full? The question is who's gonna fill your calendar? So I'm gonna control my agenda. And number seven, I'm gonna evaluate my day on action, not on intention.

I'm going to look and say, my day was a good day because I took the following actions to make sure it became a good day. I'm not going to say, well, you know, my day was full of intentions and I never acted them out. You say, you know, I'm going to ask, I'm going to have results, not meetings. I'm going to make sure that I'm getting things done. You see, the main difference between who you are and what you want to be, what's the main difference between who I am and what I want to be? It's very simple. What I do. What I do

closes that gap. You've heard me talk about what gets measured gets done and what also gets done gets measured. I'm talking about making sure the things that you're doing are having a return, that they're truly worthwhile. I'm going from good intentions to good actions. This is so important. Take action on things that are worthwhile. Your desire is not to be busy. Nobody impresses me by saying I worked hard all day. Honestly, take a trip to

developing nations. And I'll show you people that work harder than you and me. They're up at 6 a.m., you know, sweeping streets and they're working hard. And so we want to make sure that, you know, that we take action on things that are worthwhile. You know, if we played a trivia game, I would come in last. I know it would come in last. And you say, why would you come in last, John? It's because I don't know trivia. Well, why don't you know trivia? Well, it's

I don't know trivia because it's trivia. What part of trivia is appetizing to you or to me? I mean, no one has ever said I became highly successful because I spent my life knowing trivia. Trivia is trivia. We want to spend our time. We want to be focusing on things that are worthwhile. Knowing a lot of stuff, you know, there's no return for knowing a lot of stuff.

there's a whole bunch of things i don't know in life there's a bunch of things i don't want to know in life why because i want to be focused on what i need to get accomplished so let's review quickly if you want to start now and create a brand new end number one spend time with the right people to say the right say what you need to say number three take action on things worthwhile and the last one is probably the hardest one

to teach because it's just hard to probably implement, but boy, it's important. And that is don't allow others to control your destiny. I mean, you've got a whole bunch of people. They'd like to control what you do and where you go and what you think. And you don't want that. You don't let them. When I was in college, of course, I was a theologian, and there was a book written by Roland Bainton called Here I Stand. It was the story of Martin Luther.

And when he was on trial, his life really hanging in the balance and they asked him to recant or to back up and denounce things that he stood for and that he lived by. And he said, I can't do that. This is who I am. I can't pull those things back. And

And he looked and he said, with the help of God, here I stand. And I remember reading that and I thought, I've got to have a here I stand life. I've got to have my life built on something solid. And what I discovered when I started entering this of here I stand is I found that I had a lot of friends in college that their agenda for me wasn't my agenda for me. And I wanted to achieve and grow and develop them.

What that did is that started separating me from my friends. I don't mean that in a cruel way or a wrong way, but they weren't going where I was going. They weren't doing what I was doing. They weren't loving what I was loving. They weren't thinking what I was thinking. All of a sudden, I said, I don't want to take that journey with them. I want to take a journey that will allow me to reach my potential. It started that separation. It really did. I look back and

I mean, I was leadership. I led student leadership council. I was the head of it. The student body voted on me to be ahead of it, but as they were voting on me to be the kind of the head kid leader in school, I was thinking, my gosh, average people want you to stay average. And there's a whole bunch of people that want me to stay in this people power. And I can't do that. Well, look at your five closest friends. Are they going anywhere? Are they doing anything?

Are they accomplishing things that are worthwhile and life-changing? Well, it takes courage. When I look at these things, don't allow others to control your destiny. Take action on things worthwhile. Say what you need to say and spend time with the right people. It takes courage. Though you cannot go back and make a brand new end, my friend, anybody can start from now. And there, they can make a brand new end.

If you're ready to stop drifting and start growing, the Maxwell Growth Plan is your next step. This year-long journey guides you through four powerful seasons of growth, from building self-awareness to clarifying your purpose to strengthening your leadership. Each season includes reflection prompts, action steps, plus live teaching and Q&A calls with John C. Maxwell.

It's personal development with a plan. Start your journey today by visiting maxwellpodcast.com forward slash growth plan. That's maxwellpodcast.com forward slash growth plan. Hey, welcome back, everybody. I'm reminded of Simon Sinek's quote that says, words may inspire, but only action creates change. And Chris, you are an activator. That's why I've loved doing this two-part series with you.

Uh, because that's, that's exactly what you do is you activate, you know, it felt like last episode, it felt like so much of my ability and my focus was dependent on everyone else. We talked about, uh, spend time with the right people. Well, man, if I don't get the right people, is my focus going to expand correctly? The answer is yes, but it,

It's kind of dependent on others, right? And then we said, say what you need to say. And I'm going, yeah, but sometimes what I say is not what's heard. It feels like that's dependent on people. Finally, today, John, put it back in my court. I now can control because I take action better

by focusing on things that are worthwhile. And then of course, the last one he talks about is don't allow others to control your destiny, which is back about others. But I am the one that gets to determine my destiny. So I'm super excited today. Glad you're back. Welcome. Glad to be back here, man. I love this topic too, because I love action. Like I am not a sit and think about it for a very long time. It's, hey, let's go out here. Let's do it. Let's take action.

And, you know, but it's about doing things that are worthwhile and being intentional about this. Now, I love how he talks about people being getting ready to get ready. Yeah. Now, that just, it just burns my soul. I've got a son that he is an analytical thinker, and he is always getting ready to get around. So I just...

Just make a decision. Just make a decision. Then do something. But, hey, look, I know that there's a time that you have to do some preparation. There's some steps that go in between there. But there's a phrase that I say often that I think can really help a lot of people go from just having good intention to actually doing something. It's a little phrase called learn a little bit, then do a little bit. Love it.

Because if you just sit back and learn and learn and learn and get ready, I'm just going to learn. I'm going to listen to all 458 podcasts and then I'm going to finally do something. It's not going to happen. That's right. But if you learn something today from the podcast, well, hey, go out and do it today. And if you do that, you're going to continuously make some progress forward. But he said, John says this, he says, determine that you're going to move from being a person of good intention to a person of good action today.

So tell me about a time where you had the right intention, but you didn't follow through. We've all done it. We have done it. And you know, it's my greatest fear for the podcast. I love our podcast. I love our numbers growing. I'm always looking. You can ask Jake. I'm constantly saying, hey, are we moving the needle in impact? I am passionate about things that are growing, not things that are in decline.

And so I love all that. And thank you all, your podcast listeners, for being in here, being a part. But I am never satisfied by just giving a good podcast with some content. Every single week, what do I do? I give you something to do, not just learn, not just enjoy. And that you think we're trying to make a sale. No, I'm trying to get you to bet on yourself and act each and every time. And here's why.

I've been to a lot of events in my life, a lot of experiences to where I spent money. I spent time on investing myself and I didn't, number one, walk away with anything to apply. Number two, I walk away with plenty to apply. I just don't. And I think that is bad stewardship.

I think that when you have been given, this is why John Maxwell's dad's quote is also my favorite quote of my dad's. And that is to the person who's given a lot, much is required. And even the very fact that you're in a country that you have enough wherewithal, that you have access to podcasts like this, that you have access to content like this is only a small portion of the formula of success. Having access, right?

is not enough. Even accessing it is not enough. It's only when you apply the access. So to answer your question, I can think of many experiences through my life. My greatest one was reading John Maxwell's book, Developing the Leader Within You. I read the book. It turned the light bulbs on me. I was 17 years of age. I am a leader. I knew...

I finally could verbalize what I knew at five years old. I was born to be a leader. Here's my problem. I quit applying it after I read it. I read it. It enlightened me. It was like everything I've done up to this point now makes sense. And then all I did was start applying leadership lessons to everybody else and not to myself. And I spent a 10-year journey

sowing bad seeds of relationship, sowing bad deeds in the relationships that I had, and sowing only advancement from an external perspective with no intentionality on internal advancement. And I woke up at 30 years of age broke financially, relationally, spiritually. I was broke, brother. I had nothing.

And so you want to talk about having this access to the key is developing yourself, Mark Cole. Oh, let me develop everybody else. And so I knew it, but I didn't apply it. I had access to it and I even read it, but I did not apply the access. Yeah. And I think a lot of people, they inherently, they,

know what to do. They've had access to the information. They've had access to the coaching, to the audios, to the videos, to the conferences, but they just don't do it. What advice would you give for people who know what to do, but they just don't? Get accountability. You know, I remember, Chris, I think I've talked about this on the podcast. I'm sure I have.

I can remember the first time that I ran my first marathon. I've now ran seven marathons and 13 half marathons. And I wanted to run my first marathon before I was 40. And I can remember I had set that as a goal before I wanted to do it. And I'll never forget the day that I decided to let people in to the fact that I wanted to run a marathon that year because I was 39.

And I put myself out there and everybody went, really? Oh, man. They were inspired. Well, I've inspired people with more before. And I went, well, you want to do it with me? I know you don't. Did y'all see how quick he did? I wouldn't even ask him that question. It was a rhetorical in the middle of my story. Let's be really clear. I don't want to run around. That was funny to me.

Okay. So I'm sitting here and I went, okay, I'm going to put myself out there. I'm doing it. And everybody's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I'd done that before. That time I went, you want to do it with me? And I had six guys that I was working alongside of. This was before you. I now know you wouldn't have done it with me. I would have cheered you on. You would have cheered me on.

And we went out, six of us, and we ran a marathon. And I'm convinced to this day the reason I ran my first marathon is because I put myself out there, but then I asked for people to get in the game with me.

Yeah.

Timelines. Talk to me about timelines and setting timelines and deadlines. I'm going to do this, Chris. I'm going to give you just a little bit of preemptive. But I told you right before recording, I said, there's, Chris, one area that I want you to be the expert on. And it was actually this one. So thanks for bringing it up. So I'm going to give you just a little bit. But, Chris, you help.

literally thousands of entrepreneurs, coaches, month in and month out with something we call the 21-day challenge. But really what it is is putting yourself out there, giving yourself a time frame because if you want to talk about doing things that are worthwhile, if it's worth the

the thought I need to do this. If it's worth the statement of intent, and if it's worth it to make yourself successful, then it's worth it to put a timeline on when you expect to do it. How many timelines have I missed? More than I made. But I am convinced that the ones that I made was because I have a propensity to make timelines. Because that that does not get measured doesn't get done. We've heard that. That's more than just a cute statement. Right.

It is reality that I am much better at success because I set timelines and I set clear, attainable, know if I won, know if I lost objectives to that timeline. So that's kind of my overarching thought, but really who I want to talk a lot about is

taking action on things that are worthwhile and setting timelines and deadlines as you and the process you get our coaches to work through on the 21 day challenge. Yeah. Well, the 21 day challenge, I mean, of course you all heard the phrase that it takes 21 days to create a habit. And,

And so the reason I use that timeline is simply because of that statistic, that theory of trying to create a habit. And inside that challenge, what I do is I act as a sales manager for them via video, and I'm giving them activities to do every single day in order to move them towards their goal.

But that's not something I just tell people to do. It's something I do in my own life. And I do this in spurts. My wife laughs at me. My kids laugh at me. Like, why in the world did you just start this today? I was like, well, because I needed to start it.

And they said, well, how long are you doing this for? Well, I'll do a 30 day this or 21 day that because I want to develop the habit or I want to get something done. So like right now, for example, I'm in a, I saw a friend of mine post a hundred pushups and a hundred squats a day. And I said, well, great. I'm going to do that. And I'm,

you know, cause I'd have felt like, Hey, I need to improve my health. And I thought, well, that seems doable. It seems simple enough to do, but it's also simple enough not to do right. And I said, Oh, I'm going to do this. So that day, uh, this was actually, I'm a five days in right now that day I went and I stripped my cabinet. I left,

I love candy. I love junk. I've got Twizzlers. I've got mangoes. I've got flips. I've got Swiss rolls. I love that stuff. Swiss rolls. I didn't know we were Swiss roll buddies. But you've got to have them in the freezer, though. You've got to stick them in the freezer. This segment is sponsored by Little Debbie.

They got to be frozen. They got to be frozen. But what I did was I got rid of all that stuff. And the kids are going, oh, no, because they get into dad's stash, right? Yes, exactly. They're like, well, how long are you doing this? How long are we all doing this? That's right. I said, well, 30 days. And I set that timeline to create those habits of discipline and consistency. And so I'm five days in. There's no sugar whatsoever.

There is 100 pushups, 100 squats a day. It's 30 days. And my son said, well, dad, why do you do things like this? Because he'll see me go through these things. I said, well, son, I do it because I need to improve in a specific area. And I do it to build consistency in doing the thing.

And to prove to myself that I can break and develop any habit at any time. Because, you know, years ago, 20, 25 years ago, I think, what am I want to say? I have not had a drink of alcohol in over 24 years now. Congratulations, buddy. You know, but that was that was the first like habit that I broke. And then now I'm just a habitual habit breaker.

So if something's got me in a habit. I'm a habitual habit breaker. I'm a habitual habit breaker. I love this. Okay, keep going. Because I want to prove that I can build a new habit. I want to prove that I can break a habit that's holding me back. And so timelines are critical in that because it gives you a target, a focus to take action for it. Because if I just say, hey, I need you to do 100 pushups and 100 squats for the rest of your life. No.

No, thank you. But 30 days, 21 days, 10 days, that seems tangible. And the deeper you are into breaking something, the shorter that period that it needs to be. And so that way you can at least give yourself hope of, hey, I can do it for a day. I can do it for seven days. But timelines are critical when trying to develop habits and trying to do things that are worthwhile. Okay. I know you got another question, but I got to stay right here. Because podcast family, we just had the moment. Every podcast, I look for the moment. What is it?

And I want to challenge you to go find something worthwhile. Maybe it's to quit eating frozen Swiss rolls. I don't do that. Maybe it's reaching out to a son or a daughter you don't hear from very often. And for 21 days, you need to just tell them you love them. You need to connect with them. I don't know what your worthwhile thing is, but I want you to find something worthwhile. And I want you to set a date.

I want you to set a timeframe. I want you to set a desired outcome for that worthwhile. And I want you to do it starting today for 21 days, for 30 days. You know, Chris, we every year, it's a very spiritual thing, but it's also a discipline thing.

Just from a health standpoint, every year our community of faith does a 21-day fast. And every year we participate very significantly in that. Some years it's a real serious sacrificial fast. Some days it's just being disciplined. A lot of people celebrate Lent. And it's just this idea of finding a time frame for

to get rid of some things, to break a habit, or to make a habit. And I love what you said, a habitual habit breaker. I would say you're also a habitual habit maker. Correct. Come on. Isn't that great? You didn't steal that. I think that you actually are habitual in both of those. And I want to challenge you today, podcast family. John's telling us to take action on things that are worthwhile, and he's telling us that you need to set timelines and deadlines. And we just gave you a challenge that

Around the globe, people starting today need to start listening and making those habits. Yeah, I love that. Now, of these seven, all right, so of the seven, which one of these do you really do well and which one of these do you need work on? So number six is the one I need work on. I'm going to control my agenda. I live in a world.

That my agenda is controlled by others. And to be honest with you, my agenda for years, even to today, is controlled a lot by John Maxwell. Our unique relationship, my unique calling and source of inspiration and inspiration.

success, completion with him is all about allowing my agenda to be made. I'm extremely fortunate with Kimberly, my executive partner that adjusts things all the time and covers my rear end when she adjusts them because John's made an adjustment. I'm very fortunate for my wife, Stephanie, to allow me to have that flexibility in our home. But that's the one that I would literally look at that and go, oh,

Oh, I'm in trouble. That one's not it. I think the one that I'm really, really good at, and this is probably more DNA than anything, I rise early. I mean, there's very few people that's going to get less sleep than I and more work hours than I. I just...

I just have this help thing. I've had all the people talk to me about, you're going to be messed up because you don't sleep enough. And I always point at my 96-year-old young mother that to this day is still living and doing well. And I'm going, yeah, maybe you need to say that to somebody else. I have the same sleep habits as my mom. But for years, for years, my mom...

When I was in roles and responsibilities in the company to where somebody had the same role and responsibility to me, I would get a lot more work done to them. I would get a lot more success or more sales or whatever. And it was not ability.

It was nothing more than sales is a number game. And if you make more numbers, you're going to get more sales. And I just had that kind of a work ethic. So that would be the one I'm really good at, which is probably more DNA than it is discipline. And the one I'm challenged with, and that's probably more calling than it is an inconsistency in my life. I feel like this is...

I want to make myself sound better. I feel like I'm pretty dependable when I can be, but my life just really wrecks my schedule with the roles and responsibilities I have. Oh, man, I love it. I love it. Now, the last we're going to talk about here today is not allowing others to control your destiny. Talk to me about that and how that's

played out in your life and how you feel about that statement? So I think it's a good one. I think, you know, we could spend a lot. We don't have a lot of notes in your bonus resource, as you know, on this one. John said a lot.

in what he said, though. And that is, we talked about this a little bit last week, to where, you know, a leader has the responsibility to see more than others see and to know more than others know. A leader also has the responsibility to disappoint people at the rate they can stand. Those of you that have not listened to episode one or part one of this series, you want to go back and listen to that because we break it apart. But

But using those of us that have as a reminder, I think that so often, especially our style of leadership, which is servant style leadership, valuing people, putting other people's agenda before ours. There's a brand. There's a style of leadership that's very dictatorial. Do what I say. I'll make you shake. I'll make you wake. I'll make you make something happen. There's this authoritarian type leadership that just does not resonate with us and our style of leadership. Right.

So in our style of leadership, your challenge often is that others control your sense of fulfillment. Others control your destiny. If you help enough people get what they want, you'll get what you want. That's almost like relinquishing your control of your destiny because it's dependent on helping other people get there. Right.

Those statements really make this a very important point for us to understand with our style, our brand of leadership. And that is at the end of the day, I work for John Maxwell.

But I got to be honest with y'all. This might be a newsflash, y'all. He works for me. And I'll tell you what I mean by that. That is not a statement of egotism. But I am doing what I do and have been doing for 25 years and specifically 15 years with John because by doing that keeps me in control of the destiny I'm designed to live. I did not relinquish as a second chair leader. And I've been a second chair leader literally all of my life. Right.

Even when I became owner and I thought I became first chair, I didn't become first chair. I'm a second chair leader still. Make no mistake, any of you out there that are working for, I hate the words, working for someone else. And that's all of us, by the way, even the CEO in me has a board I report to. Make no mistake that when you work for someone, you cannot relinquish your sense of destiny and your responsibility to your calling and to who you're supposed to be.

For those of you that are people of faith, allow me to lean into your faith just a moment. On reckoning day, on judgment day, on the day you give an account for your life, you stand alone and you give an account. You can't say, well, I would have been better, but they wouldn't let me. All right.

No, no, no. That doesn't work. And so I think for our style of leadership here, Chris, this is a very important point. You can be a great second man. You can be a great servant leader. But you can never in any one of those postures or positions can you give up responsibility of your own destiny. Right.

And balancing that and using that and being accountable to that is something that every leader has to have is I don't give up my destiny. I give up my agenda. I give up my sense of purpose. I give up a lot of things, but make no mistake, John Maxwell is working for me in my destiny. There we go. You can tell him I said that. And I'm just kidding. Don't tell him I said that. I will tell him I said that, but I will tell him in the context because it sounds very egotistical, but

Chris, so many of us, as we look at don't allow others to control our destiny, so many of us needs to take back that sense of destiny. Right. Because when you submit yourself to someone else's vision. Mm hmm.

And you see that from a place of weakening your posture. What we're talking about this entire two episodes is we're trying to get you to expand your vision. And too many second chair people or too many people that are trying to serve everybody else allows that sense of servitude to restrict you.

their vision rather than to expand their vision. Yeah. I love it. I love it, man. Another good one here today. Yeah. Always enjoy being with you. Thanks so much for having me and looking forward to the next one. Yeah, for sure. You know, I promised you, cause this is, this is a discipline. I want to give you something that some of you have heard me talk about before. We have a high road leadership digital product and it's normally $300. We want to give it to you today for $199. And,

And the reason I wanted to use that content for this session, this second session, is because your ability to think high road

As a servant, because that's what we consider a high road and stay a leader at the same time is that dichotomy that I was just talking about. And so I want you to go. You'll see in the show notes that we'll give you that discount. You can click on that. You can also find a episode podcast that we did some time ago called How to Develop an Abundance Mindset. I think it goes right along with what we talked about today. I want you to go be a part of that.

and really make that a part of you. Hey, we had a comment today from Manuel. And Manuel listened to the podcast, How to Be a Leader People Love to Follow. This is what Manuel said.

This episode really spoke to me. It reminded me that real leadership isn't about trying to please everyone or being liked all the time. It's about caring for your team, lifting them up and having the courage to lead with honesty. Man, man, well, you should have taught this podcast. It's a beautiful reminder that strong leadership starts with a kind and serving heart. I agree. I think that's what it's all about. See,

We exist here at Maxwell Leadership to bring about powerful, positive change because everyone deserves to be led well. We'll see you next episode.