⬇ Full Transcript of Episode #1 Below ⬇

Hey, this is Justin Prince.

Would you like to become more clear and more intentional as you pursue your dreams, pursue your goals?

How many of us can relate to the feeling of we’re just constantly in reaction and distraction? Our kids and our job and social media and our physical fitness and our spouse and our business, everything we’re doing all day is just reaction to everybody else, our customers and our team members and everyone we [00:00:30] work with. We’re constantly reacting to the marketplace and we feel like we’re constantly in distraction. Can you relate to this? A day goes by, a week goes by, a month goes by, a year goes by. We work our guts out. We come up for air. We’re like, “I didn’t accomplish anything. I’m in the exact same spot I was before.”

UCLA’s famous basketball coach John Wooden says, “Don’t confuse activity for accomplishment.” That’s what happens. We’re just super active. We’re doing it all day but we’re not accomplishing anything. Does that sound familiar at all? How do you become clear and intentional? How do you make your goals [00:01:00] and your dreams where they’re very clear, very intentional?

I have had the fortune of working as an advisory council for John C. Maxwell. John C. Maxwell, for those of you that don’t know him, he’s the world’s foremost authority on leadership. Someone asked him one time. He said, “John, how did you write 80 plus books?” Three of his books are in the top five business books ever sold. He said, “How did you write 80 books?” He teaches what he calls the rule of five. The rule of five will illustrate it for you.

Imagine this in your life. If you have a tree and you have an ax and you want to cut down the tree and you walk out there and you take five [00:01:30] swings of the ax at that tree, one, two, three, four, five. You set your ax down. You go about the rest of your day. Next day, same tree, pick up the same ax and five whacks, one, two, three, four, five. Next day, you set it down, you pick the same ax. On the next day, one two, three, four, five. Well, if you do this every single day consistently, same tree, same ax, same five whacks at the three, what’s eventually going to happen to the tree? It’s going to fall. At some point, you’re going to knock the tree [00:02:00] down.

Now, here’s the point is, in success, there’s not 105 things you need to get great at or even 155 things. You need to get great at five things. In your business and in your career, you need to find the five things you need to do every single day to become successful.

John C. Maxwell, who wrote 80 plus books and has become the world’s foremost authority on leadership, what were his five things? Everyday was read, think, file, ask questions and write every single day. Here’s what he said. He said, “I do this every single day. I’ll read, think, [00:02:30] file, ask questions and write.” Someone says, “What does it mean every single day, John?” He says, “Every single day.” He means every single day. He said, “What do you do on Christmas?” He said, “I read, think, file, ask questions and write.” What are the five things that you need to do every single day in your business that will move the needle forward, not the reaction, not the distraction, not the busy work, the actual core things that you need to do every single day to chop that tree down to get the result that you like?

Let me give you five things that will help you to clarify [00:03:00] these five areas. Number one is know what you want. Be clear on what you’re trying to accomplish. I’ll give you an example. If you have a tree, what did you want? You wanted the tree to fall so you whack it five times consistently every single day. Here’s the thing. What are you trying to do? If you’re not clear on what you’re trying to hit, if you don’t have clarity … That clarity equals power. That clarity gives you the power what you’re trying to do. What are you trying to get done today? What are you trying to get done this week? What’s your goal for this month or this year? The more clarity you have on the goal, the more chance [00:03:30] you’ll have to go hit the goal because you’re clear on what you’re actually trying to accomplish. If you’re not clear, you’ll live a life of reaction and distraction at all times.

Number two is have the right tools. If I walk out to the tree and I have a baseball bat and I could whack on that tree all day long but I have the wrong tools. Do you have the right tools? Do you have the tools that you need to be able to help you succeed in your business?

Number three is stay focused. If I walk outside and I’m hitting different trees every single day, five whacks of the ax every single day but it’s different trees and I get a shinier tree [00:04:00] over here and a shinier object over there and the grass sure looks greener over there and I lose all my focus, if you lose your folks, you’ll never eventually accomplish anything because you just don’t have the laser focus on what you’re actually trying to do. If you’re trying to get the tree to fall, hit the same tree over and over.

Number four, stay consistent. You want to consistently every single day. The last thing is this. It’s persist until you succeed. The word “until” can guarantee your success as an entrepreneur, as a sales professional [00:04:30] and a leader. You’ll persist until you succeed.

I was speaking as a keynote up to one of the largest financial planning, wealth management insurance brokerages up in Seattle. I’m giving some of these insights and the rule of five and this gentleman raised his hand, kind of skeptical and he goes, “Well, there’s … ” On this idea about persisting until you succeed, he says, “There’s a difference between persistence and being crazy.” In other words, keep trying stuff over and over and over. I think he probably thought he would call me out on my stuff. I said, “You’re right. There is a difference.” [00:05:00] I said, “The word is adapt. Managers lead to the plan, manage the plan. Leaders adapt the plan.” Here’s the question. I will adapt until I succeed. The word “until” still guarantees your success. I’ll persist until I succeed. I will hit this tree with the right tools. I know exactly what I want. I have the right tools. I’ll stay focused. I’ll stay consistent and I will persist until I succeed.

I’ll give you one last example. If I had a quarter and I asked you the odds, just in your own [00:05:30] mind answer this question. I flip the quarter like this and I landed 10 heads in a row. What are the odds I could land 10 heads in a row? I don’t have any magic powers on flipping, just normal flipping. Flip it up. Catch it. 10 heads in a row, what are the odds? Is it like 50-50? Is it 100 to 1? Is it 1,000 to 1, 10,000 to 1? Is it 0.0007%? What are the odds? What do you think they are? You want to know what the answer is? The odds are 100% for sure guarantee that it land 10 heads in a row. Why? It’s because [00:06:00] I didn’t limit how many times you could flip. I didn’t say you can only flip 10 times, you can flip 20 times. You can flip the coin until you land 10 heads in a row.

When you do the right things everyday, you don’t have to do 75 right things or 105 right things or a 155 right things everyday, the five right things that you’re clear on and you’re intentional about every single day and just persist until you succeed, you can literally guarantee your success.

Remember… Your dreams and your goals are important. Your pursuing them is worth it and your accomplishing them is necessary.