--:-- Ryan Hanley: In a crude laboratory in the basement of his home, hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of the Monday Mindset. Today we're going to talk about the three stages of high achievement and why most people get caught on phase two.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: The three phases of high achievement are pretty straightforward. First, we focus on our weaknesses. So we look at the things that we don't do well, the things that hold us back. We may not be a great communicator. We may feel introverted or shy. We may talk too fast. We may be too aggressive. We may not be great at sales or communication. Whatever our weaknesses are, we focus on our weaknesses. And that will draw our achievement up and give us some good initial gains, especially if we're able to either work around those weaknesses or actually work on those things and make them better. That's phase one.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: And most people early in their career start to realize what their weaknesses are and address them. They might go to do trainings. They might read books. They might find a mentor who helps them understand what their weaknesses are specifically and begin to address those weaknesses and work on making them at least moderately successful aspects of their personality and of their work product.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: The second phase is our strengths. Doubling into our strengths. Thinking about the things that we're really good in and becoming specialists or focusing on those areas. So you might be an incredible communicator on stage, in front of a group, whether it's the not-for-profit that you're working for or your corporation or if you are great at speaking to the board or being in front of a camera, etc. That communication skill, you double into it, you find the best in the business, you pay up for coaching, you go to seminars, workshops, you practice at home, and you become incredibly good at that strength. And that accelerates you beyond most of the pack and gets you accolades. You might get awards. You might become the top salesperson in your region or nationally, et cetera. Your business, if you're an entrepreneur, may take off and start to get articles written about you in the paper or in a trade publication and success starts to gravitate towards you. It is the second stage of high achievement.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: And unfortunately, this is where most people get caught. Most people get caught between stage two and stage three. And the reason is they start to feel those early wins. They start to feel that success. They start to feel like they've made it. They start to get known for being a thing. You're a great communicator. You're a great visionary. You're an empathetic leader. You're incredibly creative. You're a problem solver. And you get labeled as a thing. And because you're labeled as that thing, it becomes your identity. And it becomes very difficult to break free of that. In fact, most people don't want to break free of it. Because the next stage of high achievement is the scariest stage.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: That first stage, focusing on your weaknesses, everyone has to do that to survive in culture, right? So to continue in business, to see any kind of progress, you have to address those really poor aspects and bring those really poor aspects of your product in whatever realm, whether it's a hobby, a sport, your work, et cetera. Maybe it's your communication with your spouse. You gotta work on those weaknesses. If you're really terrible at something, solving those really terrible things and bringing them up is phase one. Phase two is understanding what you're great at and becoming even better, a defining individual for that characteristic in whatever field, activity, hobby, et cetera, that you work in. But because at phase two, you start to get labeled, you start to get known for being a thing and may even reach fairly high levels of achievement for being that specialist, the next step is so difficult.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: And this is the stage where you do whatever needs to get done to win. And I want to talk through this final stage using six books that I've actually read in the last six weeks. I'm pretty crazy with the way that I read and I read about a book a week at least. I just enjoy it. And for that reason, I want to work through these six books as I prove through this point of why when we get to get to the next level, to become the absolute best, to create a gap between you and everyone else, to build that moat around yourself, around your personal brand, around your business brand, around your product, your company, around your marriage, around your relationship with your kids, around the community group that you're part of, around your relationship with a group of boys or girls that you coach in a sport or a club or whatever. To do that, to become the absolute best, there is a whole other stage of high achievement and has nothing to do with strengths and weaknesses and everything to do with figuring out and focusing on exactly what needs to get done. That one thing and it really defined in the first book that I want to discuss The One Thing by Gary Keller I going to have all these books linked up in the show notes, whether you're watching on YouTube or you're listening on the podcast. This book, The One Thing, absolutely incredible book. You can go through it pretty quick. I have it all diced up with tons of marks and folds and stuff. I brutalize my books. But this book clearly outlines exactly why stage three is so tough because you have to break through those labels. You have to start to do different things that you've never done before. It's not about just solving your weaknesses and focusing on your strengths. It's about doing whatever needs to get done and becoming incredibly good and incredibly focused at whatever the skills are that are necessary to be the best in that thing.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: You know, Gary writes right here, a new answer usually requires a new behavior. We have to think big and be specific. If we look, there's a great quote later in the book from Peter Drucker, efficiency is doing the thing right. effectiveness is doing the right thing. And it's that idea of what's the right thing. I might be an incredible communicator, but to be the best for my business, to go even further for my business, what I really need is a detailed or a detail oriented neurotic, you know, type a individual who, if this were say EOS or traction would be like that integrator. So my visionary communicator style that I have as a leader, which is really my personal style and where my individual skill set lies, right? For me, I might be a great fit to get to phase two, but for a particular situation, I may need to bring in an integrator or I may have to dedicate myself to learning integrator style skills in order to take my business or my brand or my product, et cetera, to a whole another level.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: Now, sometimes what this means is bringing someone in to help you and having the mental fortitude, the foresight, and the humility to know that while you may have gotten your business to stage two of high achievement, right, to that second level, but only through a partnership or bringing someone else in or a mentor who understands how to tweak your specific skill set to fit and match exactly what needs to get done, can you get there, right? So remember, efficiency is doing the thing right. Effectiveness is doing the right thing. That's Peter Drucker, but you can find it in his tremendous book, The One Thing.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: The next book that I read after that one was actually The Five Rings, The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi, one of the greatest samurai that ever lived. And in here I have, it does not matter who is stronger or who is faster. What matters is that you attain your goal. And what Musashi is talking about, at least from my perspective when he writes this is that we get caught up in the individual characteristics which might make someone special and we forget about none of that actually matters if now in his case since he was fighting to the death I think 66 confirmed kills for miyamoto musashi in combat for him and the game that he played all that mattered was did you kill your opponent and did you survive. If you were slower, if you were weaker, if your weapons weren't as good, none of that actually mattered if you had the ability to maneuver yourself in a way to attain the goal.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: And again, a big part of reaching stage three of high achievement and success is dropping the ego, not caring or being able to abide the fact that whatever the labels are that were applied to you in stage two, when you're focusing on your strengths and being a specialist, those labels that were applied to you, being able to toss those away or understand that as you transition into this even higher level of achievement, some of those labels, people are going to question you for making that, right? Some of those labels may not fit anymore. People may look at you and go, man, I always thought you were this tremendous communicator and I haven't heard from you in a year. I haven't heard from you in two years because you were behind the scenes becoming a problem solver because that's what was required of you to get there, to get to the goal. Tremendous book, The Book of Five Rings, another quick read. Really, really highly recommend that one.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: The next idea that, again, just building on this concept is from one of the best books that I've read in 2023, 10X is easier than 2X by Benjamin Hardy. In here, Hardy writes, you have higher ambitions with greater and deeper scope, requiring more and better of your attention to make something 10X better involves deep, deep work. Innovation occurs as you break everything down and put it back together in a simpler, easier, and better form. And why, again, this, This continues to build on this idea that it's not going to be a focus on improving our weaknesses. It's not going to be doubling into our strengths. It's going to be tearing down what got us here that's kept us plateaued at stage two and rebuilding to get to stage three in a way that is not just efficient but effective right Not just doing the thing right but doing the right things in a simpler easier better form right Focusing on what needs to get done, not what we want to get done. That is a very tough delineation. It seems nuanced and it is, and it maybe even seems a little like semantics, but it's not, right? It is a clearly defined idea that what needs to get done for you to get to stage three and what you want to actually do will oftentimes not be the same thing. And it takes an enormous amount of humility, personal strength, and intestinal fortitude to push through to stage three, to get those things done, to do what needs to get done.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: Another incredible book, 10X is either than 2X. Moving on to the fourth book that I wanted to share with you here, just kind of building on all these concepts. And there's so many narratives that you could weave through all these different books. These books are phenomenal. I highly recommend them. The next book is High Performance Habits by Brendan Brouchard. And in here, he writes, being on your A-game means that you are giving your best effort with full focus on a singular task at hand, right? Okay, ask yourself who or what needs my A game today, right now, in this moment. What do I need to do? What do I need to do to get to that next level? Now, what do I want to do? Now, what do I feel like doing? Not what would be easy for me to do, but what do I need to do? Who needs my A game right now? that focus on what needs to get done, regardless if it's a strength or weakness, by focusing on that thing, making it a priority, because that thing, more than anything else, is going to be what takes us to that next level, whatever that thing is for your business. And it's going to be different for every individual, for every business, for every community organization, for every team, for every relationship. It's going to be different figuring it out, focusing on it, and doing whatever needs to get done to make that thing a priority and to execute that, that is how you reach stage three of high achievement. That's how you reach that next level of success beyond just focusing on our strengths, that stage two where so many plateau at.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: Our fifth book and second to last book is another one of my absolute favorites from 2023 that I read. I think he wrote this earlier, but the books that I read in 2023. There's no plan B for your A game by Bo Eason. This book was phenomenal. I have this book just terrorized. But in here, he said, if you've made a real declaration that this thing is going to happen, come hell or high water. What's up, guys? Sorry to take you away from the episode. But as you know, we do not run ads on this show. And in exchange for that, I need your help. If you're loving this episode, if you enjoy this podcast, whether you're watching on YouTube or you're listening on your favorite podcast platform, I would love for you to subscribe, share, comment if you're on YouTube, leave a rating review if you're on Spotify or Apple iTunes, et cetera. This helps the show grow. It helps me bring more guests in. We have a tremendous lineup of people coming in, men and women who've done incredible things, sharing their stories around peak performance, leadership, growth, sales, the things that are going to help you grow as a person and grow your business. But they all check out comments, ratings, reviews. They check out all this information before they come on. So as I reach out to more and more people and want to bring them in and share their stories with you, I need your help. Share the show, subscribe if you're not subscribed. And I'd love for you to leave a comment about the show because I read all the comments. Or if you're on Apple or Spotify, leave a rating review of this show. I love you for listening to this show and I hope you enjoy it listening as much as I do creating the show for you. All right, I'm out of here. Peace. Let's get back to the episode.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: Unless you proactively decide that you're going to pursue mediocrity instead. People do that all the time. They don't consciously declare that they're going to be mediocre, but that's what they do. They settle for the scraps, right? And that line, that settle for the scraps line, just like punched me right in the face because I don't want to settle for the scraps. That whole concept or idea of settling for the scraps sounds horrible to me. Like it is the antithesis of everything that I feel in my soul every single day is the idea of settling for the scraps. And basically what Bo is outlining in here and the concept behind this book is that we have to operate as if we are the best every day in order to become the best. And there's more, there's a ton more to it. I don't want to underplay the idea, but this, this concept of declaring how we get to that stage three of high achievement, that third stage, what needs to be done and then taking proactive action, as he says, come hell or high water is the only way to get there, which means that you may not know what the path is. You may have to go hire somebody to help you find the path. You may have to drop your veil of strength and confidence for a minute and ask for help. You may have to bring in somebody who has a skill set that complements your own. You may have to go out and learn a whole new skill together. You may have to get a mentor or a coach or pay up for an executive assistant to free up your time. There are so many things that we don want to do or we procrastinate on because we feel scared nervous anxious etc But at the same time, the decision that we're making when we choose to not take action or operate in stage three of high achievement is that we're settling for the scraps. And if that concept of settling for scraps doesn't just make your skin crawl, then maybe stage three of high achievement is not for you. That could be the case. For me, if someone ever referred to me as settling for scraps, I would want to run headfirst into a wall. That would mean that I was failing in my life. And I think that if you plateau or settle or stop in phase one of achievement, right, just fixing our weaknesses, or even phase two of achievement, of just focusing on our strengths, ultimately your success is being dictated to you by those who've pushed past both phase one and phase two or stage one and stage two and gotten to stage three where they do whatever needs to get done to make the thing happen there's another great quote in here later in the book from bow another thing to keep in mind is that after a certain number of hours of deliberate practice focused practice, you reach a place where at Andrews Erickson, who wrote the book Deliberate Practice, calls the point of no return. And this is what Erickson defines, is that when you commit to the journey of going from stage two to stage three, and you execute that plan through deliberate practice, focused on the thing that you know is going to, you know, that 20% activity that's going to give you 80% of results or that 5% activity that's going to give you 95% of results, whatever it is for you, you eventually hit a point where no one can catch up to you, where you've become so good, so strong, so competent, right? Your moat is so deep and so wide that no one can catch up to you. And that, my friends, is when you're no longer settling for the scraps. That is when you are dictating downstream. when everyone else is just trying to operate around what you decide not to take. That is stage three of high achievement.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: And I'm gonna leave you with this quote to finish off this week's Monday Mindset. I hope you enjoy this. If you've enjoyed this video so far, if you've enjoyed this podcast, if you're listening in the audio and you're not subscribed, we'd love for you to subscribe either on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Comment, if you're on the YouTube channel, send me a comment. Which one of these quotes do you love the best? Have you read these books? Do you enjoy these books? Leave me a comment. If there are other books that you think complement this series of books that I haven't listed here that other people should read, would love to hear from you guys. And like I said, if you're not subscribed on YouTube or if you're listening to this on the audio version of the podcast, please do. That's how you get all this great content delivered to you directly right through whatever app you choose.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: The last book, and this one's been around for a while, but it's one of the best, The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. Darren Hardy, tremendous thought leader. Darren Hardy, and I'm finishing with this one for a reason. The biggest difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is that successful people are willing to do what unsuccessful people are not. My friends, this is the thing. are you willing to do what needs to get done or are you going to settle for small improvements in your weaknesses or maybe even pressing into your strengths a little bit right like are you gonna are you gonna settle you settle for the scraps the runoffs or are you gonna do the things that need to get done to be successful it's it's a binary choice you're either making the effort to be the best, you're focusing on your one thing, right? That 5% activity that gets you 95% of the results or you're not. And if you're not, then you have to be okay having your success to some degree being dictated to you.
--:-- Ryan Hanley: And if you've stayed through this video, listened to this podcast for this long, then I do not think you are that person. If you have questions, if you have thoughts, If you have things that you don't understand about this concept, leave them in the questions. You can also DM me on whatever social platform you want. Guys, I love you for listening, for watching. I'm out of here. Peace.
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