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Never give up. Never quit. Never surrender. Because that's the only way. Welcome to the builder. Hacks. Podcaster. Go to destination for cutting edge strategies, time tested systems, and invaluable insights to revolutionize your construction business and elevate your life. Join your host, Nate Piper and Keith Meals, seasoned contractors who are not just in the trenches but are also pioneering the future of the industry through Concord University.

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In each episode, we dive deep into the minds of the industry's most accomplished building professionals, uncovering their secrets to success, and sharing actionable tips to help you thrive. Whether you're a seasoned veteran or just starting out, our goal is to empower you to build a brighter future for yourself and for America. Tune in. Level up and let's build a better tomorrow together.

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This is the Builder Hacks podcast. Build your future. Building America.

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And this week we get to talk about. I'm going to call it. This is actually taken from somebody else. So credit to Alex from OSI. So we're going to talk about the lady in the red dress. So and whenever I say that. So this is something that whenever we look at those kinds of things, the lady in a red dress is the distraction.

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And as entrepreneurs and business owners, so especially people who recognize as opportunity, the distractions are the things that take you off course and can slow you down. And it's one of the that when you first start out, it's one of the hardest lessons to learn, though, is to the opportunity to come up. You don't take advantage of them and there's one big reason behind that.

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So the big reason behind that. So it was because the only way to get really good and become the expert and get for most people, make the impact and get the compensation you're looking to get is to become the master in whatever it is you choose. So in that master as part of the key. So that's what I want to talk about this week.

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So Nate, whenever you hear the word mastery and whenever you think about it in business and especially in construction, what does that look like for you? Well, to back up, just for a second, the red dress, analogy from Alex, from Rosie, I immediately went back to, The Matrix, where, what is this Keanu Reeves character?

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Whatever neo is neo, right? One is going down. He's walking down the street and there's all these people fly by, flying by. And then the red dress girl picks up and he looks at it. And then Morpheus, which was, what's his name? Fishburne. Laurence Fishburne. Laurence Fishburne says, catch you you you you were distracted by the woman in a red dress, right?

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So that's where my mind immediately goes. But that's so true, right? It's the shiny object syndrome. It exactly is the distractions that come every day. Right? And if you notice, that happened in the beginning of his training days. Right. But before he got into learning how to do kung fu and all the martial arts and all the other components that went into it, it was, let me take you through this and let's see if you look at her and the distraction while you're going through it.

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So I say that to say this, there's three levels that you have to go through to get to a mastery level, right? You have to go through your apprentice stage, which is you're just being indoctrinated into the system. Then you have to go through your journeyman stage. This is the place in which you practice, and then eventually you get into mastery right where your practice is now paying off for what what you've done.

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And so that has been the system that has been around for ages. I can't even tell you. Yeah, it is construction, but also into any kind of service that has been provided right? If you wanted to be a sheet, a sheep herder, then you had to be able to be the kid out in the field that was monitoring the sheep and kind of getting it ready.

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It was staying up in the middle of the night while the sheepherder was napping. Yeah. And all those things. Right. You had to learn, had to deliver the babies and you had to, you know, all those things. And so it's in every single industry back to the beginning of time. So with that being said, there's been a lot of rumors, and I'll say rumors, but speculation of how much time you have to be in something till you become a master.

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And in that mastery, some people say it's 10,000 hours, some people say it's 10,000 times. You have to see something in a particular way. I've kind of somebody who, who said this was my goal and he said this. He said mastery is when you can do it without thinking about it. And you have to hit that point.

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Now, that might be for some people, it might be 8000 hours instead of ten, then some people it might be 20,000 hours instead of 10,000 hours. But are you getting it to a point where you master something long enough, or do something long enough that you do it without thinking and admiring its, analogy? He said. It's like tying your shoes in the dark.

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You know, when you first get started tying of shoes, you fumble through it. You can't pull it together. Yeah, but ultimately you get to a point where you now are doing it and talking or doing other things at the same time that you're tied in your shoes. So you're no longer consciously thinking about what is it that I'm doing?

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And that's what makes it look so easy. And that's really it's part of and I actually think of whenever you're talking about that point where you get to that point where you've mastered it. So there's like four levels of learning so that I've learned in my life. So and this is from some of the trainings that I've done over the years.

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So it all starts out as it's unconscious unconscious competence and incompetence. So unconscious. So where you start out up is you're unconsciously incompetent. So you don't know what you don't know. So and since Nate was talking earlier, you were talking about tying shoes. One of the things that I think of is driving cars. Yeah. So whenever you go ahead and you start driving a car, it's like you hop in the car the first time and it's like, what are these pedals down here for?

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And you're like, and you're and and of course, I ever teach you to drive is like gas brake. And if you learn how to drive a standard. So you've got a clutch too on that side of things, which is what I learned to drive on. so you learn and you're like, I didn't realize all these things. And then, yeah, I've got to pay attention to this.

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And what are these handles on the sides for? What I've got to do with these. And don't the lights just come on now on today's cars, they pretty much do if you set them on auto. But there's so many different things that go into it that you had no idea about whenever you got started. So you're unconsciously incompetent.

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So now you've actually said once you find out those things, so you've become consciously incompetent. I know that I don't know a whole lot of stuff. And that's the next step that you take into is like, all right, now I've got to go ahead and all right, how do I do this? I put the key in here. All right.

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Did I adjust my mirrors that I put my seatbelt on that all the different things that you run through, you start running through the checklist. So then what happens is you actually transfer it to the third level, which is consciously competent. That means that whatever you get in, you put the seatbelt on, you adjust the mirrors first. So you go ahead and start the vehicle.

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So you drop it in, drive well, and then you start moving and you're checking on your, you're, you know, you're doing it because you're actually thinking through the checklist in your head. So I'm pulling out I got a check I got a check. Right. So I've got to go ahead and pull out them. So how much gas do I put down.

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So you're thinking through that piece. Well the piece that Nate's talking about for mastery is what we call unconscious competence. So that's the point where you drive, you actually leave the house in the morning. So you go, I do all of these things and don't think twice about it. You get them wherever you're going and you're like, I don't even remember driving to work today.

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How did I get here? So because you were doing 13 other things while you were doing that, because you've become so good at driving, you have to put zero energy and focus into it at all. So that's where when we talk mastery, getting to that unconscious confidence level. So you don't have to think about one little thing. Yeah.

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It's so it's so it's sometimes it gets there, you get there. You don't even know that you're there. Right on. And that's the thing that I think gets me all the time. It's like, well, how did you do the thing and the thing? And I was like, I just, you know, I don't remember. I don't remember the steps that I had to go through to be do the thing right.

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I just didn't think so. I think that's what we talked about. You know, and it's a great analogy for knowing what mastery is. I mean, that's what we all strive for. in every aspect of our lives is to have mastery, you know? Hey, I was trying to remember back to the first time I experienced mastery, and I think it had probably, you know, I think I was I was just doing a framing job, and I had been doing the same frame package for, I don't know, seven, eight, nine, ten times, I don't know, and gotten so used to doing it right.

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Then it started to become, oh, I didn't even I didn't even think about the piece of lumber I went and picked up, and I didn't even think about what I was cutting. I didn't even measure it. I just went over there, cut the same board like walked it off and measure it. And I just did it. And I think that's one of the first times I realized that I had mastered that step.

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Right. because you get to a point where you just done it so much, you just know what it is. And I think that's part of the thing that the kind of help for me, anyway, changed my perspective of what I was doing, because now I understood everything that was going on with it. And then that became my goal.

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My goal was to hit mastery as soon as I could. And everything that I was doing. So that and you can't cheat it. Right. It's not like this is mastery is not one of those things that you can have a shortcut, a shortcut or cheat code to get there. Right. But you can get there more efficiently by doing things in order or certain way to be able to memorize.

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What are the steps that you have to do to get this thing? Learn? And I think that's probably some something that should be taught at schools. But it's not, but it's just some, some kind of memorization, like, oh, what was the declaration of Independence? Well, that's great to know, but that's not mastery, you know? But that's how we judge people today, right.

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And it's those pieces like that. And that's the key part for mastery is it really takes you to another level. and like one of the things that I think of especially, oh, is because once you've mastered that and when you get into an industry or you get into construction, and since we talk a lot about construction, so you get in a business, whenever you get that level of mastery or something where you no longer have to think about it.

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So now your brainpower can actually focus on the next big item that needs to be taken care of, or that needs to be mounted or taken, you know, that needs to be solved. So that's where your mind can go then. And that's where you actually get. That's where you start seeing you get better and better. It's like maybe it was talking about, hey, I got this this first time.

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So when I kind of realized I had mastered something because I hadn't thought about it, you know? And it's one of those things where I think about whenever I go ahead and I've done that, it's like I look back now on the things that I used to do in a day. Ten years ago that I thought was me doing so much.

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And I chuckle now because that gets done. So in a 10th of the time now, because you've gotten that good at it, you've got your own systems and processes put in place on how you can effectively do. And I think that's part of the key. So is how you can effectively do it, because there can be, a pathway laid out for you can be steps laid out for you that will make it easier.

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Everybody typically makes it their own. Oh, because everyone does. It's like I always give the example page is my daughter who works in my company well, and I expect her to do the same things I do. You know, like I go ahead and carry, you know, parts of our lumber pack around for people or we have to go pick up supplies and stuff like that.

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I'm like, you're not as big as I am, page. I expect you to do the same thing. So I expect you to be able to carry that weight. So I expect you to be able to go ahead and figure it out. And like, I remember one of the first times that I remember her having to figure this out, I was out of town.

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So. And she calls me and we had a trim delivery. So to one of our projects and they left it sitting outside. So this was it was a remodel. and they a lot of times our term company just dropped stuff off because now they're like six in the morning on the curb on this doorbell now. And she calls me like, yeah, exactly.

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Unfortunately they they will. Somebody will. Yeah, yeah. Frame fax get left by the street a lot. unless you're there anyways. So she calls me and she's like, I was out of town. She called. She was like, this is this is all sitting outside. She's like, I've gotten all the baseboard and all the casing and stuff inside because she can she can break that down and carry that, and that's relatively easy.

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You just have to be able to manage the length of it. She's like, but this exterior door. So it was a half light, so half of it was glass. so she's like, I just can't lift it. I'm like, you can't leave it upside down. Like I said, I don't care what you got to do. You better figure it out and get it in the house without damaging the door.

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At the same time, I'm like, you've got to be able to figure out how to use your body, your resources, the tools that you've got to be able to make this happen. Well, and she texted me about a half an hour later, she's like, I got it in and there's no damage to the door. We're perfect. We're good to go.

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And it's one of those pieces. Like, for me, I just go ahead and grab it so and muscle it in the house just because that I'm stronger than what she is. So. And I can go ahead and handle that door. She isn't as strong as I am, which meant that she, instead of going ahead and lifting up and throwing it over your shoulder or throwing it against the shoulders, which is what I would have done.

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So she had to go ahead and actually pull a couple extra braces across the jamb, because she was going to have to lift it by the gym, and she was literally carrying it inches off of the ground and going a few feet at a time, setting it down by a few feet at a time, setting it down a few feet at the time, setting it down.

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Now we both accomplish the same result. The process was different, and that'll typically happen with most people when they get to that mastery point. It's like if you if you're talking to Nate and I. So by doing something, he's going to have a different process on what he does in his work for him. I mean, that's how tall your eight, six, six, was six five.

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And now I'm starting to shrink. Oh, gotcha. You're gonna have to write it down, Nate. I've always been five six, and I won't change because I'm not getting any shorter, man. That's all there is to it. So it. In Nate's case. So being six five, he can do things differently than what I can do. Things. Everything that I do is based on balancing.

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So whenever it comes to moving materials and I'm sure Nate does the same thing, but there's other items where he can go ahead and muscle it, and it's easier for him to go ahead and muscle something. And it would be for me to to muscle that same piece. It's the same thing. Like I was talking about the page.

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Everybody's got the process, everybody's got their way. I've even got a little clamp now that I put on, especially the three quarter inch plywood. I don't like carrying three quarters plywood by the sheet anymore. So the little clamp literally sits down on top of it and I lift it up. So there's a tool for that. Yeah. I mean that's that's the thing.

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And I just like for that I show page that kind of stuff. I'm like, these are the types of things that you need to be able to define. So and I know like going back to one of our previous podcast, we're talking about obsession. That's part of the obsession that comes in, that gets you to mastery, is you've got to figure out the things, the tools, the processes that you need to be able to accomplish that same result effectively and consistently without having to think about it so that it's just it just gets done.

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Well, yeah. You know, I think everyone has come up with their own process, right? That's what helps you in mastery. But you have someone that guides you through the thing, just like what you're doing per page is that, you know, not allowing her to to put it off or not to do that thing. Right. Like, you've got to figure this thing out.

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You got to figure out how to get the thing. This is part of you becoming a master. You gotta figure out how to leverage this. This thing that you don't know how to do and get it to where it needs to be. And that's part of mastery. And part of mastery is also, you know, knowing what to do, but also not giving up on the things that you know, you have to do.

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And so, we kind of run into this all the time and, and it's like, okay, well, we're all different body sizes. We're all different body type. We're all different, different thinkers. Right? We have different, you know, brain organisms that's moving inside the it's giving us different thoughts. Right? For my team, we talk about these things and we go, okay, well, what would you do in this scenario and how would you do in this scenario or what's going to be that.

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And then we kind of work through so that you know who's going to do what. Everyone's making it their own, but they're all getting to the end result of I need to know how to do this better and more efficiently. And we even go through this, process where we go after the job's complete. Okay. What did we do?

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Right? What did we do wrong? What did we learn, and what are we never going to do again? Yeah. And and that's the process that you have to go through on to getting into master. What they just referred to refer to is what I call an after action review. So or in this case it's a job. So after action review for the job itself.

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and it is those are great things to go ahead and go back in the fact, especially if you've got a team working on you go back with the team and go through things because the challenges will remember the piece. That was hard for us. We won't remember the pieces that were hard for others that maybe we still need to change the process to get it better for everybody and get it consistent across the board and get that consistent result that we want, which the master is all about, is that consistent result.

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So without having to think about it and that's one of the pieces that so many people will never go back and you'll see the people, some subcontractors, I look at it and they repeat the same challenge every time. Now, the great thing is now I know when their challenge is coming up and I can go ahead and remind them so that they can say, hey, you might want to do this differently this time.

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So we're not looking at this at the same way. So whenever the inspector walks in, let's go ahead and take care of it. Now, that type of thing. but there's some people be able to pick that up and they realize and they're very conscious about that. Others that repeat the same mistake over and over and over until it becomes too painful that they actually remember it.

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And then that's whenever the mastery happened. Not like that. Nate said. Some people it takes 8000 hours, some people takes 20,000 hours. So I always look at this. I want to be as close to the 8000 or less hours as I can to get the mastery. It's one of the reasons why I work with coaches, so that's one of the reasons why that's the whole the network of people I do.

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The whole point is like, if you didn't do it on your own, it's always going to take you longer to figure things out, right? Always. If you if you have someone that's already been down the path before, or a guy that can guide you through all these things, that's the quickest way to get from not knowing to knowing, because they're going to point out the things that, okay, it might have worked in this one scenario, right?

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For instance, by the work for Paige to do what she did and get the strap on and get the two inches above the ground and go every two feet. But she learned something there. But if if Keith doesn't tell her like you think, it might have been a better idea, just put a dollar on the on the track and over there.

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That might be thousands of times easier than that, might help you, that might assist you in the next time you get a trip package right. Then you only have to lift it four inches once. Yeah, once. And then roll it on it and roll with it. Yeah, and that's the master. That's that's the that's the part about having a guide or having a coach or being a part of a team that's going over these things, because that's what you have to learn is that it's the more efficient way to get through to mastery.

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I'm a firm believer in mentors. I'm a firm believer in, good, positive networks to be a part of that, that they're doing the same thing because when you start sharing what your problems are, what your issues that you're facing, what what are these things, that's how you move and transition over in the mastery so much faster. And you've now made it efficient to be able to get over these hurdles and and not to repeat the same things over and over again.

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What's the, definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results? Well, this is this is the expedient version of being able to get to mastery versus staying stuck in the same pot as, like Nate talked about. It's one of the like I thought of three different type of mentors. So or network that I end up having that go ahead and help me with this.

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So I've got like Nate and I are in the same industry, which means it's having someone in the same industry as you are means that they're familiar with what's going on. They talk the same language. A lot of times they face the same challenges that you faced. So they've got a background in and be able to speak that conversation very easily.

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which is really awesome. Whenever it comes down to any kind of industry that you might be in. I also am always a part of, like a mastermind that has different industries in it. So and the reason why you get that is it's the funniest thing is like even in construction, Nate and I could be doing things a certain way all the time because that's the only way we've known to do them.

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So and you go ahead and mention this to someone in a marketing business or someone who has, you know, a, brick and mortar somewhere, and they go, oh, well, all you gotta do is this whenever they hear about what's going on, it's like, why the heck did I think of that? And it's just they do things differently.

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They see things from a different lens, so they have different experiences. And that's one of the reasons why you want to be a part of something like that too. And then the other one that I think is huge and, and you'll have a lot of entrepreneurs who do not necessarily believe in this, but I'm gonna go ahead and put it out there anyways.

00:21:03:27 - 00:21:21:25

So is I have a mindset coach all the time. One of the biggest things so that I've found from coaching and training. So over the last 15, 18 years, so and even for myself even more importantly that I was whenever I got started, it wasn't the technical knowledge. So it was as much of the challenge. I mean, you had to learn it, you had to master it.

00:21:21:25 - 00:21:44:13

As far as that part goes, it was what was going on between my ears. So I was holding me up. There be fears, there be challenges. There'd be things that would happen that I didn't understand why it was happening and just having some of those conversations. So now I've gotten to that point, because I was a huge part of the coaching that I used to do was we used to help people with their mindsets and things, and I still, even though I've done that many years of it, I still have a mindset coach.

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So because of the fact that there's still so many different areas that I'm unaware of, and it's one of the reasons why I, like Nate and I are so, so quickly able to self-diagnose what's going on and realize when we're holding ourselves up. So and a lot of times, like I joke with Alice, now I'll go out and there'll be a challenge going on, and I run through the whole challenge to her.

00:22:03:00 - 00:22:17:09

So and by the time I'm done speaking it out loud, I've already come up with a solution. She doesn't say a word, so I just look at it. I'm like, thanks for the coaching. Oh, and I walked back and now she's not my coach. So I don't ever advise that as your spouse is your good you. No, but I would advise that either.

00:22:17:12 - 00:22:35:16

Yeah, but it works for me. And the fact that a lot of times I get to walk through it, and then the fact that I've walked other people through it so many different times, it's just that fact of verbalizing it. I actually pick up what's going on and can do that now. There are times where it doesn't happen, and that's whenever I've got my coach that I go to and she's usually like, this is what's going on.

00:22:35:21 - 00:22:52:20

Or she asked 2 or 3 pointed questions and lets me go ahead and self-reflect and come up with what actually is happening, which is when you can find a really good coach. That's usually the way they go and do that, because they realize it's much more powerful when it comes out of your mouth. Meaning like, if she's talking to me comes out of my mouth and I'll believe it and listen to it more than coming out of her mouth.

00:22:52:23 - 00:23:14:00

Well, so, you know, you touched on a few things, but, the coach, the head coach, you know, the one that's between your ears. That's what all the professional athletes, they all do the same thing. They all have this, this person that helps them with getting over their own personal stuff, right? Like, everybody has their own person.

00:23:14:00 - 00:23:30:06

Nobody comes into this world unscathed or untouched or didn't have to go through some kind of. Well, actually, when we first came out of the world and we were unscathed and untouched, so we were good then. So then humanity screws up and then we came in. I don't know about you, but I got a I got a butthole before I got a hug.

00:23:30:06 - 00:23:56:12

So, you know, so I had, I had some had already came with baggage. So I had to manage through it. Right. I came out rough and tough. Ready, ready to rumble. but, you know, I, I'm about the same thing, you know, I spent a lot of time working on myself mentally, keeping the cobwebs, you know, down and and going through the challenges.

00:23:56:12 - 00:24:14:06

And, and I challenge myself daily to go through these things. Right. And so I think it's important what you're talking about. But, yeah, I, I'm always like, being around like minded people, you know, that are in my same industry. I like being in groups that have nothing to do with my industry so I can get a different perspective.

00:24:14:09 - 00:24:49:01

And I like having, conversations with people that we talk about, not just what's going on in the industry or not just what's going on. inside of my community. But what's going on with me personally or what's going on with them personally sometimes, you know, I've got some really close friends where we just talk about the things that come up in life and those are the things that we have to work through, whether it's our kids, our neighborhood or, you know, emotional things, relationships with spouses, past trauma with parents, you know, whatever, all those things.

00:24:49:01 - 00:25:05:16

So you have to have a safe space to be able to have those conversations and work through those issues. Because I've had a lot of board meetings where I'm the only one in the room. And, those are not very fun. I have 4 or 5 different personalities screaming at each other. That's really a scary book. Makes for it, makes it interesting.

00:25:05:16 - 00:25:28:19

If you're watching it on camera, then. I should, I should, I should film one of those. But but, you know, and that's part of the, the mastery piece comes into is and it's one of the things, especially in the beginning, a lot of the times you're going more with the person who's in their industry, which is the perfect place to start because it's to get mastery in whatever you're focusing on now.

00:25:28:24 - 00:25:43:19

So getting that person who does exactly what you're doing as the person you want to be around, because they're going to give you those shortcuts to get good at that piece. The technical skills that you're looking to get good at, that's the perfect person to start out with. So then you start realizing as you go through it and it's up to you how you want to implement it.

00:25:43:19 - 00:25:57:26

I know what I ended up doing was I got really good on that, that technical side, working with people. So who are in the industry that were mentors for me. and then I added in a mindset person, actually. So I had a next and then I added that piece in and then I went and added in other people who were in other industries.

00:25:57:26 - 00:26:18:27

So who was our mastermind type of group that Nate and I'm one of the masterminds and they and I run right now. So is that was part of that. So it was the go ahead and go through that piece because those are the people who are who are in business who and that. So one of the big challenges that happens as you go through this, the more mastery that you gain in an area, the less people who can actually be the resource and the mentor for you.

00:26:19:03 - 00:26:34:08

So is what ends up happening because there's less people who are further ahead. So on the path that you want to be on. And that's always the way I look at it. You always I get you used to get asked that question all the time. Whenever I was doing the coaching that I used to do now, and they would ask me, you know, how do I know who the right coaches?

00:26:34:10 - 00:26:49:00

But I said, find someone who's doing exactly what you want to be doing right now, so and follow exactly what they tell you to do. So don't do anything different. They tell you to jump off the bridge. Jump off the bridge. There's a reason behind it. Oh, it was what it comes down to. Don't question it, just do it.

00:26:49:00 - 00:27:08:22

You can get follow up later on. So and that's one of the hardest things for most people to do so is to do that piece. That person though, so is getting with that person and finding them. And then once you're going to get to a point where if you've got the right person that you're mentoring with. So if they continue to grow, which as long as they've got the same philosophy you do, they will continue to grow, which means they're going to be further ahead of the path.

00:27:08:27 - 00:27:29:21

It can be someone you work with for a very long time now. And usually as you go through things and you'll start to realize, hey, there's something that they don't have, so that I want to go ahead and get from someplace else. So that might be the mindset person. I might be the other the the overall business network or another community that you go ahead and join, which has different viewpoints on things, but a lot of the same beliefs that you've got.

00:27:29:27 - 00:27:48:01

So that can help you move forward. and that's it's one of the the key pieces is that growth, that consistent growth. So because when you master one thing, what you typically realize is there's so many other things. So that I need to go ahead and work on, I want to go ahead and work on to go ahead and create that mastery in other areas of my life.

00:27:48:03 - 00:28:17:15

Yeah, it's one of those things, your mentor can be in multiple stages of this, right? but they can't be in all stages all the time, because then you're getting to a point where, you're not learning from them because you're not seeing a different perspective coming in from a different source. And that's part of it, too, is that you have to filter information on, from different people to be able to say, hey, what's true and what's not true and what's true for me.

00:28:17:17 - 00:28:41:11

I always know that when I'm in a room and, and I'm the smartest person in the room, that's not a room that I need to be learning from, right? That's a room that I'm supposed to be teaching in, which is a different it's a different piece. But when you get to master, you have to understand that your your point of being, of knowing the most that of, you know, the majority of people in that room, that's where you're teaching them.

00:28:41:13 - 00:29:04:28

And that's where your success comes from, is teaching them. So you have to be learning something from something else to be able to teach them for the next stage. And so and I just want to hop in one little thing with that piece, and then we'll tell you, jump back in the other pieces. One of the big things that I always want to realize is if you're in a room like that and you are the resource, one of the biggest pieces, like a lot of coaching when I was the coach.

00:29:04:28 - 00:29:19:29

So it was the fact that I literally hit the basics so many times were the pieces that were the building blocks that got me to my success now, and it gave me the opportunity to go back to how well am I applying this? To what am I doing with this? When's the last time I looked at this piece that I just talked to them about?

00:29:20:02 - 00:29:43:28

And it really helps you go ahead and go get that evaluation and go back, deep dive on things and go ahead and and actually solidify that foundation in the base that your business is working on. It's always know. It's how I always know when someone is ready to move from from journeyman to master is because the last section of being a journeyman is that you're now teaching somebody else, and then the teaching of somebody else.

00:29:43:28 - 00:30:11:27

Now you're looking at and implementing all the things that you taught. Right? So, for instance, I had a guy who, after about 7 or 8 years, was finally moving in to the next piece, but he's never really managed anybody. He had he had been his great, great doer, great knowledge resource, great, customer service. Like he gotten all these things together, but he never really had a successful management of a person.

00:30:12:00 - 00:30:33:16

And it's when he started getting into his management role and teaching them that his all the other pieces started to elevate higher, because now he could start to realize all the things that he wasn't doing, but he was telling them, it's like, oh, I should have been doing this. Oh, that's what that is. Oh, okay, now I understand this.

00:30:33:18 - 00:30:54:23

It's when you start moving into teaching that you start implementing the things that it starts to make sense for you and mastery. And then that's when he was able to elevate. But that's the last piece of journeyman kind of like filter that in because you're going to have everyone's going to have something that they're going to be missing along that journeyman to master phase.

00:30:54:26 - 00:31:17:21

Yep. And that's that truly is like that's the the biggest key that goes into it is you start to realize those pieces and it does elevate you because like one of the one of the exercises that we used to do at the events that we used to do, so it was we would go ahead and have someone give someone who is standing up on stage directions, so on how to walk off of the stage.

00:31:17:23 - 00:31:36:00

So and everyone's like, oh, that's easy to do now it's not so because the challenge that most people have is that the especially when you get to the mastery point, is that it's so simple to you, like I was talking about earlier, you really have to put some thought into the steps that actually occur to get the result that you've created.

00:31:36:00 - 00:31:52:07

By going ahead and doing this so many different times that it's now it's like, you know, the athlete, it's the basketball player. So they hit free throws because they've taken 170,000 free throws in the last year. So it's second nature. The muscles know exactly what to do. They don't have to think about it when they go up there.

00:31:52:09 - 00:32:08:20

That's where the issue comes up is that when you have to break it down and explain it to somebody else, now you really find out what you know, what the steps were. So and that's where you start to find out whether you're going to be the person who's able to become that teacher and that trainer, because now you can break it down.

00:32:08:20 - 00:32:25:02

And if you do those little exercises like that, or do something like have somebody make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. So they get there blindfolded so they can't see. You've got to tell them exactly what to do to make the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. So then you've got to explain all of the steps. You know, it's hilarious when you do the exercises because people are like, oh, that's easy.

00:32:25:02 - 00:32:46:00

I'm like, all right, perfect. Come on on. Let's go ahead and do this. Yeah. If you find out that your your communication skills are failing. Yeah, exactly. And have one of those. Yeah. Yeah I'm constantly working on my communication skills. I ask my wife it's you know, that part right there that you mentioned. That is one of the funny things is that when people say, oh, yeah, I'm really good at communication.

00:32:46:03 - 00:33:02:18

You know, the funny thing is I, we used to we had some long term clients that we worked with, like one of the, the families we worked with was, I want to say it was 13 or 14 years, so that we had been coaching them and their family. Yeah. And every time we actually did what we call it, we would actually go to their, home, their home area.

00:33:02:24 - 00:33:17:29

So and we would do something with their whole team as what we would do every time we went there. One of the pieces they wanted to talk about was communication. and it was always funny because they would bring it up. It's like, all right, we've covered this little bit. And that's what my, my partner said of like, how are we going to explain it this time?

00:33:18:01 - 00:33:44:16

Because obviously something didn't land. Right. Back to the basics. Yep. Communication at its best. You know, I think communication is one of those things that, is definitely a part of mastery, right? Because that's the thing. most people fail it like, I, I feel I failed at speech in high school. so that speeds twice, maybe even three times in college.

00:33:44:18 - 00:34:05:24

I kept taking the course thinking I was going to get better. and I'm still working on it to this day. And it's one of those things where I think I'm being an effective communicator and, people can't read my mind. Right? And I don't understand why not me. Yeah, I don't either. I mean, we've even gotten rid of the hair, so there's no hair in the way, so they should be able to read our minds.

00:34:05:26 - 00:34:22:06

I should have just these things. I just I want that bubble that just pops up. I think I started realizing, I don't want you don't want to ever read that. All that. But it's like, you know, I, I fail in my communication style over and over and over again. Right? But it's the thing that I keep working on.

00:34:22:08 - 00:34:43:04

now I have I get a passing grade to be able to be in the mastery component, to be able to explain things. But I always feel like I'm not explaining it to the best degree. and so even I am still learning how to get better at doing things. And that's part of my obsessions. what I read books on.

00:34:43:04 - 00:35:14:03

It's what I interact with. and so, you know, I think it's important for people to realize that mastery is always ongoing. It's never it's never completed. It's always. And I think about this with those old Kung-Fu masters and and, you know, all that, kill Bill that I like movies. Right. So that kill Bill movie where the girl was having a go up and the guy that had the long beard and he flip it up and and go through it, he can do all the things with like two pinkies.

00:35:14:03 - 00:35:35:28

And he's constantly hauling water up this entire mountain and things. And it's funny to me that it's part of their culture that you keep practicing and you keep going through the steps way long after you mastered it. And you have to. Because if not, if you're not continuously trying, then you're then you're getting worse, right? Or you're not getting better.

00:35:35:28 - 00:35:54:24

You're just kind of staying at one level and so now it actually you were right when you said it first night. So you actually there's only two states. You're either growing or you're shrinking. There's no there's no in between state. You don't stay in one spot. It never happens. So people think that that's one of the biggest mistakes that can happen.

00:35:54:27 - 00:36:11:09

Oh, is that you will grow or you will shrink, which is one of the reasons why like whenever you start working out and things like that, if you don't continue working out on a consistent basis, so your muscles start to atrophy, you start to bleed, most people start to gain weight and things like that. That's what happens whenever you stop doing whatever it is.

00:36:11:09 - 00:36:25:14

There's no like, I'm going to stick at this piece. You might be able to maintain a certain weight, maintain a body style, but that's because of the fact that you're still putting in the work on a consistent basis. And that's the piece that you've got to look at. Like Nate's talking about the the speech and the communications and the sales and things like that.

00:36:25:16 - 00:36:46:04

It's like, I know I'm sharper whenever I'm having more sales conversations. There's no question, because it continues to sharpen that knife on a daily basis. And that's I now take it as a challenge that I sell every day, whether that's to a customer, whether that's to my subcontractors, that's to my team, whether that's to my wife. So whatever whatever's happening, there are sales going on every day.

00:36:46:04 - 00:37:17:13

I'll guarantee it. They may not see it that way, but that's what's going on. What the old sales, the old sales training. You're either selling somebody or they're selling to you. Which one side? Yeah, exactly. I prefer if someone's buying mind as opposed to me buying shares. A little bit. So but that's the mastery is one of those pieces that it's that like you talked about, it's that constant effort, that constant, you know, sharpening the stone, that constant going after it, looking for new ways, looking for different ways.

00:37:17:13 - 00:37:34:00

And that goes back to the obsession part that we talked about in one of the most recent podcasts. So that whole obsession part, oh, that's why you keep doing it. I mean, there's people that have been like in sales of their excellent and sales, you know, it's the people who are excellent sales continue to look at other people who do sales and find out what they're doing.

00:37:34:00 - 00:37:53:03

Ask them what's working for them. You know, those little tiny things that that can make just that little bit of a difference and keep your edge and keep your skill where you want it to be. And that's master and Construction's the same thing. I mean, I want if you if you ever get the tradesperson in construction that goes, I've been doing this for 35 years.

00:37:53:03 - 00:38:12:17

Get concerned. So because they may have 35 years of experience, if they don't know if 35 years of growth during that time with their experience. So you're getting something that's 35 years old as far as the process goes. Now, some parts that might be okay and still work. So most of them that's now you're dealing with old technology, just like with computers.

00:38:12:20 - 00:38:26:19

So it goes out of date really fast. There's always new things being brought into the industry, new ways to be able to go and do this. Even better. I mean, I heck, I look at it whenever I first started, you know, we used to hang, green board. So in our bathrooms and stuff like that, there's no way at hand.

00:38:26:19 - 00:38:43:23

Green board ever. No. Well, there's no way. It's like it's all dirt rock or Hardy or Schluter systems or something along those lines or what goes into our showers now. Now I learned that. So they came up with a different process. They come up with a better way to do it that actually last longer for the homeowner. that's happening in every one of our trades.

00:38:43:24 - 00:39:03:16

So every day you just got to be looking for the next thing and apply past knowledge, the future, results. You know, but that's part of mastery, too, right? Because you can take what you've already known and then apply it going forward. You know, mastery is just probably one of the greatest things that we've ever been given on this planet.

00:39:03:16 - 00:39:29:21

Just, let's strive for, I always, I always love getting to a point where, you're just doing things effortlessly. And now the don't get it wrong. I do enjoy learning new things where I get am I getting like, I mean, I'm all in or I'm like on the sideline. There is no in-between for me. Right? And so I bought a farm.

00:39:29:21 - 00:40:02:09

So I am all in on figuring out how to grow vegetables and how to, you know, take care of goats and how to take care of chickens and fend off the chickens from the raccoons and but I'm constantly learning how to get better at the thing. And, you know, ten years from now, I'll be a phenomenal farmer, I can tell you that, you know, and, it's, you know, that's one of the funny things I look at is once when you get someone who master something and realize is like, put the effort and put the focused effort in that they were very conscious about what they were doing to get there.

00:40:02:12 - 00:40:18:26

Once you do that once, so it typically then starts to pour across your life, you know, like you were talking about the farming fees, Nate. It's like I was thinking at the same time, it's like, Alison, I've been going back and forth and we we just got back from vacation and was with my family, and my brother's been doing carnivore as far as his diet goes and stuff like.

00:40:18:27 - 00:40:34:15

Yeah. And I've heard lots of people talk about it and how they experience it and things like that. So and I was looking at that and I'm like, you know what? That's I think that's the next route that I'm going. So I've been diving into that piece to learn more and more about that. And Alice wants she's not going to carnivore, but she's going to do animal or something.

00:40:34:15 - 00:40:48:11

I guess there's, there's more products that you can eat there that she really wants, that she does want to go ahead and give up as well. That comes down to, so she's looking at those pieces, but that's on both of us are diving into what those things are. What does that mean? How are we going to integrate that into our lives now?

00:40:48:13 - 00:40:59:22

You know, because like the way my brother does it is one way. And he works. He works at a plant. So it's what he works at. So he's got like he can bring all his food put in the refrigerator throughout the day. I'm out running around during the day. I don't have a refrigerator. I've got a cooler with me.

00:40:59:27 - 00:41:16:09

So things aren't necessarily stayed the same day. Sometimes in the cooler, because sometimes the cooler gets left partially open because I'm in a hurry and I don't pay attention because nobody goes down that way. So I've got to make adaptations to the things that I'm going to do for it, to make it work for me. You know? But that's part of the fun of the mastery piece.

00:41:16:09 - 00:41:35:08

So and like you said, once I get my hours in so there won't be any question about it, I'll go ahead and hit that the way I want to hit it. I'll be getting the results that I'm looking to get from it. So we're making adjustments. So either way, that's so awesome. You know, I thought I was already on an animal diet.

00:41:35:11 - 00:41:55:11

if it's an animal, I mean, there we go. Yeah, that's exactly it. So that's the first thing I love. Dinosaurs came back. I think I try to be one of those to, you know, be The Flintstones or the big Brontosaurus burger on your on your plate. I'll get my club out or there we go. All right. Anything else you want to add on the mastery part, Nate?

00:41:55:14 - 00:42:07:27

the last part, I'll add the mastery is, never give up, never quit, never surrender. because that's the only way.

00:42:08:00 - 00:42:25:17

That that consistent, persistent action. So is the way to get there. There's no question about it. make sure you continue to take that. Like Nate said, that's part of your discipline. people, one of the funny things that people always like, yeah, most of this motivational stuff, motivation is great, but motivation is like a shower, so it washes off every day.

00:42:25:19 - 00:42:45:21

So you've got to do it again and again and again. The people who are successful become masters at it. It's a discipline as well. It happens. So in the discipline is what carries them through because it's who they are. It's what they've committed to doing so and they will take those actions because that's what they said. be that person who becomes the masters of discipline in everything that they do, and you'll have a lot higher level of success.

00:42:45:24 - 00:42:59:05

So it will become a lot easier for you over time. make sure for everyone who's listening to this, make sure to share this with your friends. have them hop along, listen to whether you're listening to it on, Apple or Spotify. They'll make sure to go ahead and actually give us a review. That would be great.

00:42:59:08 - 00:43:15:27

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