- July 9, 2018 -
Cars and computers...easy to take for granted until they stop running.
My car's been in the shop for a week, waiting for an alternator to be replaced so I'm using a loaner to run my appointments.
A loaner that is can't seem to hold freon. In 90 degree Pittsburgh weather!
At least I'm not looking at gears slipping and a transmission rebuild.
No tell-tale grinding noises, knock on wood.
Speaking of grinding...I've talked before about Gary Vaynerchuck, the King of the "grind."
He's proud of it. Aspires to it. Wears it like a badge of honor.
Truth be told, he's a guy who glorifies the grind.
And if I'm completely honest, I think there was a time when I did, too.
At some point, I realized that...
Here's what I mean:
A serial grindster says, "If I'm not grinding, I must be lazy. If I'm not working hard, I'm not going to be successful. If I'm not successful, I'm a big fat 0."
That's a mindset.
And I don't think that decades of grinding are what any of us signed up for when we hung out our shingle.
Don't get me wrong...there are seasons when you have to grind for a defined period of time.
You put your head down, focus, and get the work done.
The problem in having a "grind" mindset is that it can easily become a lifestyle.
And the danger is when someone in a position of leadership INSPIRES others to buy into this mindset as well.
Think of a car's gears that grind full on year after year without adding any lubrication...eventually they're going to stop working.
Now you've got stripped gears.
And a lot of banging and crunching.
Can't get out of neutral.
Kinda like you feel if grinding has become a lifestyle...rather than a temporary tactic to grow your business.
On the flip side...look at somebody like Richard Branson.
He works his butt off. But he's not glorifying the grind.
He's not sacrificing friends, family, health for the sake of his company.
He glorifies time off. He works to live...not lives to work.
He glorifies that lifestyle...not a lifestyle where grinding is put on a pedestal.
That's the guy I want to aspire to be like.
The guy who says, "You know what? I'm not great at everything. I don't have to (nor want to) grind my way to success and happiness."
The guy who has a vision and who wants to make an impact.
Without lubricant and grease, gears will eventually grind themselves to a stop.
And if you're the only gear in your business (or if there are two or three or four of you) and you're grinding every day, every week for months or years...you are going to break.
So what's the solution?
You don't need to be the gear.
You don't need to be the one to move the machine.
You create the power plant and find the very best people to move the machine.
You just add the grease to keep the machine moving at full capacity.
You create the manual that documents all your processes so if a sprocket or gear or wheel needs to be replaced...someone can jump in and get up to speed quickly.
Become the person who just greases the wheel.
Grinding getting the better of you? It stops here.
Talk soon!
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