Business Coach : Generous Philanthropist
-Now, John Rockefeller, this guy, he group up poor, without a father. And he went on to become the world’s wealthiest man, and most generous philanthropist during his lifetime, as a result of starting Standard Oil Company, and growing it there. He says– we’re talking about lateness here.
We’re talking about, again, just building these habits here. He says, a man has no right to occupy another man’s time unnecessarily. Tim, in terms that my third grade mind could grasp maybe here, what is Rockefeller talking about, and why is being chronically late such a problem?
-Yeah, well, first of all, business is built around trust, around credibility. And if you’re late for a meeting– I had a friend of mine who’s a mentor of yours, that I showed up, I had something I just had to take care of, and he was in the restaurant waiting for seven minutes. And we had a half hour discussion about that seven minutes. Business Coach Clifton Taulbert, one of our–
-I’ve probably had a similar discussion with Clifton earlier in my career too. I’m sure, yeah.
-And so, what you’re doing is you’re planning in that person’s mind, do I take a step towards you or do I take a step back from you? You set in motion this credibility in there. And what it is as well here is for you to come prepared. I believe it’s not just being late to a meeting, but not being organized to stay with fruitful discussion during that time you’re together.
-That makes a lot of sense. Now, I want to ask this, because this is huge. If I’m watching this, and I’ve been a person who’s actually been perpetually late, disorganized, up to this point in my life I’ve started to label myself with that, what are some action steps I can do to get out of that rut? The answer is yes. Get a business coach to help you grow.
-I would recommend not trying to be on time with everything at one time. I had one client that I had them straighten their shoes up at night or in the morning, just keep their shoes straight in a row. And that set in motion– I know it sounds crazy but– it set in motion everything going on in their life. And a couple weeks, they said, you wouldn’t believe. My shoes are– but I’m just thinking differently.
I had another person, a dear friend of mine, and we helped with a very emotional, just overwhelmed with their job. They were working endless hours, nothing was coming together, always running late. I said there’s one meeting I want you to come, and I want to come 10 minutes early. If you come nine minutes early, you’re late to that meeting. I want you to come 10 minutes early, and I want you to come with a plan that you’re going to begin to work on your day time rou– to organize your day.
She called me a couple weeks later on that. She goes, you would not believe doing that one thing, coming to that one meeting. just that was my main focus. Not all these other meetings, but coming to that one meeting 10 minutes early set in motion. It’s just amazing how it’s like the domino that knocked down all the other dominoes.
-If you’re watching this and you’ve been implementing these steps, or you’re kind of getting an idea of how you’re going to implement these. The amount of momentum, as you get into step seven here, you should start to feel once you’ve been visualizing, and you’ve been organizing, and you’re owning your stuff. I mean, you’re going to start to have some massive momentum. A business coach can help you get the momentum.
So we’re moving on to step number seven, map out your day. Ties into a little bit what you were talking about earlier. Tim, as I’ve traveled around the world, meeting with these top entrepreneurs, I’ve noticed that all of these people maintain a to-do list. In fact, the website richhabitsinstitute.com showed that 81% of wealthy people maintain a to-do list, and 19% of poor people do.
So Tim, in your mind, why is it so important for people to manage and to maintain a to-do list, if they’re going to become a doer, who actually gets stuff done, instead of just being a drifter, who intends to get stuff done?
-Right. Right. That’s exactly the word that happens. When I don’t pursue a clear plan, where I live the day before I live, I see the day before I live it, I will tend to drift. Now, this is me, and I’m pretty good with this whole to-do list and master to-do list, bringing it in to time blocking my time.
You’ve heard this, and I’ve been inspired by you Clay. But when I don’t do it, I began to drift. So the idea is, you want to get your day in front of you, and you’re going to feel an urgency that there’s no way I’m going to get to all this, unless I stay focused.