EntreLeadership - #110: Dan Miller—How to Live a Life of Meaning

Episode Date: August 31, 2015

Best-selling author Dan Miller joins us to discuss the two most important questions you can ask yourself: Why are you here and how can you integrate that dream into work? Plus, we’re featuring a really special talk from Dave about work-life balance. entreleadership.com/podcast 7-Day Plan to Triple Your ProductivityAnother great episode sponsored by our friends at Infusionsoft. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

helping business leaders grow themselves, their team, and their profits. This is the Entree Leadership Podcast. Now, here is your host, Ken Coleman. All right, folks, we are coming to you from the Music City, and this is the podcast of leaders by leaders for leaders, thankful for your download. Here's what's coming to you this episode. Our feature conversation is with longtime Ramsey Solutions friend Dan Miller. He's the author of 48 Days to the work you love.

good friend of Dave's, and I love this guy. He stopped by the studio for a great conversation. You're going to love that. Plus, we're going to get back into the archives of some recent teaching in our weekly staff meeting. Dave is going through our core values. And as a growing company, we always have to remind our growing family what these values are. And so Dave did it recently, and it's so good. It's core value number 11 on family.

So that's coming to you as well. Hey, we want to remind you that we want your feedback, and we're getting it. it. So thank you. Email us, podcast at entreleadership.com. That's podcast at ontraeleadership.com. Who do you want to have on the episode? Specific topics you want us to discuss. We want to meet your needs, so tell us. Podcast at entreleadership.com. Also, we'd love for you to rate our podcast, and you can do that at iTunes. That really does matter in our growth strategy. We'd love for you to subscribe if you aren't subscribed. And then, of course, just share it. Tell people about it. That's the most important thing that you can do to help us grow this podcast if it's adding value to you.

All right. I want to get right to this because this conversation with Dan Miller, honestly, is one of the most important conversations I think leaders can have. Individually, for your team, and then in your family. This idea of why are we here on the planet? And simply put, I believe that this is the greatest question that we all ask. I don't care who you are, where you're from. we all ask that question, why am I here? Dan Miller has been helping leaders from all around the globe answer this very important question.

So let's jump right into our conversation. Here is Dan Miller. Well, Dan, it's great to have you in here. This is kind of fun because you're certainly no stranger to these walls. Longtime friend of Dave, so we could go on and on and on. You can tell story for story for story. What I love about what you do is your life work and you've helped so many people is that you really crystallize or simplify an answer that for so many people, since the dawn of man, right?

They just can't seem to figure it out. And I'm passionate about this issue as well, and that is calling. Why am I here? And you have really figured out a way to help people understand that. So we've got an audience here who a lot of them know exactly what they're supposed to do and they're doing it. We've got a lot of men and women who are listening right here, quite frankly, they may be successful. but there's something gnawing at them. They go, this isn't what I would call my calling.

I may be good at my job, but is it really my calling? And so let's break that down. Why is that the big question that we all ask? And then how do we begin to really cut through the clutter and figure out what our call is? I think it's something that we all sense. There's a reason for us being here. It's not just to get a paycheck on Friday, you know, pay the bills and go back to work on money.

There must be something more. We all want to be part of a part of something bigger than ourselves, something that will outlast us. You know, here at the Ramsey organization, you guys talk a lot about legacy. You know, that has to do with our calling. How are we going to be remembered after we're gone? Well, and we tend to maybe make that too philosophical, psychological, psychological, and spiritual to really get our hands around it. We think it's something really lucive. And, of course, we all wait for that road to Damascus experience where we get a bolt of lightning that says, you know, boom, Ken, this is what you ought to do.

It usually doesn't happen that way. I've worked with people for many years now, but there's enough indicators we can look at that can help somebody get a clear sense of what that really ought to be. And there are three components that I look for. One being passion, two being talent, and third being what I call economic affirmation or market. Those have to come together. Any of those missing, and it really makes it difficult to feel like you're on top of things. But when those three things come together, that is, in fact, that sweet spot. know, oh, this is what I was born to do, and I'm going to spend the rest of my life doing it.

And so as we go along, it doesn't matter where you are. It doesn't matter if you're 20 or 30 or 50 or 80. You can look at what is it that lines up in those three areas for you. And there's so many opportunities today. And it doesn't mean that there's just one thing. But those three things do have to be in place for you to really get a sense of calling or purpose or destiny or mission, whatever you want to give, whatever term you want to call it. when those come together, boy, that's awesome.

And there's an important distinction I want to point out. I know you agree with this, that when you figure the intersection of those three, it's not this yellow brick road of complete certainty. That's a myth, and that's not what you're selling. It's not completely obvious. You may be able to do five, six things within that area. Absolutely. But you still got to step out and do the hard work.

It's not this, you know, la la la la la la, la. And it's just wonderful because you figured it out. We're not selling that. That's not what you're saying. Well, it's funny that you framed it in that way because if there's certainty, you probably are not in your sweet spot. That's it. Because when you really have those three things come together, there are a lot of things that are unpredictable. It's an adventure.

And that's what you want it to be. If it's not an adventure, if it's just mediocre and boring and predictable, now, that's not a sweet spot. That's right. So by virtue of the definition, yes, it is unpredictable every day. But you know that those three things come together. And in that space, there's great opportunities for each of us. And while we're on some myth-busting, this idea that if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life, that's hogwash, too. Right?

You love it, but it's still, you've got to work hard. It doesn't feel like work, even if you're continuing the convergence of those three wonderful things. If you know that it's coming together in a meaningful way, it doesn't feel like work. Yeah. It's not that dreaded Monday morning. Well, that is the difference. Yes. You love when you're doing it.

And it's what powers you through because it's passion that powers you through because you go, I don't hate this. It's stinking hard work, right? I've got to take, you know, I've got to go out and hit 600 golf balls at the end of the day. That's what pro golfers are. They love the game. They've got to hit a lot of golf balls and a lot of calluses and so forth and so on. One of the thing I want to talk about is I want to shift the conversation to parents and grandparents who are listening in.

Because, you know, we see a book like 48 days, right? We think professional context, professional context. And I think that's crazy. It's very personal. And it happens to be in a professional context, but it is very personal to who we are, our calling. And let's talk to the men and women out there again, parents, grandparents, who they need away, Dan, for you to clarify for them. How can they begin to mind this with their children and grandchildren so that we don't have

kids at 25 still wandering around aimlessly? They're at least discovering on purpose. on the right path. Yeah. It's not only 25, but at 40. Well, that's it. Yeah, we know that for sure. Still living with mom and dad and a spare bedroom.

I want to get them early. You know what I mean? I want them at 15 and 16, at least knowing the formula of discovery. Yeah. Well, we can see some indicators when a child is very young. I have a whole slew of grandkids, and I love watching them when they're four or five years old because we start to see their unique personality develop. We can identify.

Is this person going to be somebody that's really interesting? introverted? Are they more interested in people or things or ideas? We can see that developed very early. So as responsible parents and grandparents, a lot of it is just paying attention. But we can go back to that verse in Proverbs, you know, Proverbs 22, 6, trained up a child in a way you should go and when he's older and not depart from it. That's been misused by a whole lot of well-meaning parents, teachers, and grandparents thinking if we just force this child to do what we know is right, then they'll grow up to be happy and successful. And yet I have made a very good living working with people who are 50 years old saying, I'm living somebody else's dream,

not my own. Boy, that's true. That verse, really in its original context, is better interpreted as train up a child in the way that he or she is bent. So the challenge is to figure out how is this child uniquely bent? Now, that's a unique challenge and opportunity when each generation that we've seen in the last four or five generations, each one we expect to be better educated and move up socioeconomically.

So what happens if the son of a brain surgeon is really gifted as a carpenter? Are we going to embrace that and allow them to be excellent as a carpenter? Or are we going to force them to do something that doesn't fit them? We have to reembrace the value of trades, doing things that are artistic, that are right brain kind of things. A lot of children are better gifted there. And it deserves them to force them to just go through college, get a degree, get an MBA or a PhD or a JD or something behind their name. It may not fit them at all. So the key is pay attention and help develop their uniqueness.

Oh, that's so good. And we see this, right? This is where, you know, of course, Dave talks about this when it comes to money to keep up with the Joneses and all that kind of nonsense. But, boy, we do this as much with our kids as we do our money. We do indeed. You know, like the country club memberships and the cars, we're just as guilty. He's doing it with our own kids. Well, we've got to send them to this school because that's where everybody else sends the school.

And grandmama's giving me money to put them in that school. And we put in all this pressure on the kid. And the kid's going, do you even know who I am? They don't even know how to verbalize it. Yeah, not too long ago, Joanne and I on a Sunday afternoon, we're driving through one of the prestigious local high schools right here. And they had a big banner in the front yard that said 100% college admission for our seniors, once again. I wanted to pull over the side of the road and weep.

Yeah. I thought, how could you possibly take a complete group of high school students in any situation, any environment, any county, and assume that every single one, the best choice for them was going on to college. I mean, where are we going to get our next Ferrari mechanics, our HVAC people, our sculptors, our artist? There's a whole sle of things that are viable directions for kids to go that may not include just getting into college. Boy, that is really true. We have got to be courageous as parents to say, all right, who is my kid? I mean, who are they really, you know, and what wires them?

And here's another thing. Let's stay on this track. Let's move into leadership. So part of this whole concept that Jim Collins made so famous, this idea of getting the right people on the bus and then get them on the right seat on the bus is a lot of what you teach. Absolutely. You know, you've got to be able, when you're interviewing somebody for one job, have enough clarity and courage to go, hmm, they may not work for this gig, but maybe I can use them over here. It's this idea of really being perceptive enough to know who we need in that seat. We don't hire just a set of skills.

As a matter of fact, skills are the easiest thing to teach. Hire for attitude, train for skills. But you hire the whole person. So know who it is that you're bringing on. You want to work with people that you know, love, and trust, just like you would want to do business with somebody. You certainly don't want somebody in your team if it's not a good fit for the culture that you've created. I want to jump into the book.

Chapter 6 is, I love the title. I mean, anytime I see a title like this, it just jumped off the paper. page to me the first time I saw it. The cure for divine discontentment. What a wonderful phrase. What do you mean? And what's the cure? Oh, my. You know, we know that Monday mornings is a tough time for people. For some. For some. I dig Monday morning. So do I. So do you. Yeah, absolutely. Well, of course, one of my books is No More Dreadered Mondays. I'm really big on that. We know that Sunday night is the highest point of suicide for men in America. Wow.

It's because they know they're facing Monday morning, and it's not a good fit for them. Monday morning, between 8 o'clock and 10 o'clock, there are more heart attacks than any other day of the week, any other time of the day. You can track it as a time zone moves across the country because I had no idea. Absolutely. There are so many statistics that will let us know. People are trying to force themselves into doing something. And this goes back to that kind of three-legged stool we talked about. There are a lot of people who have proven their talent, their ability to do something.

Yes, there's a market for it, but there's no passion. I have worked with lots of dentist, attorneys, physicians, pastors, engineers, accountants who have proven their ability to do what they do very well and they hate the life they've created because of it. So we have to go back and look at what is missing. How could you have the talent to do something, be paid very well for that, and yet be miserable in what you're doing. But that's why we have to take a complete holistic look at this. We can't just define, well, you go to the numbers, so you ought to be an accountant or an actuary.

Well, that's ridiculous. There are hundreds of things that you could do with that. And just like as we talk to, once we define what your passion is and what your talent is and is there a market, it doesn't narrow down. There's not one thing. Sometimes we hear kind of that term. We think, you know, you're looking for a needle on a haystack. You've got to find that one thing. No.

And a lot of times people never have a passion because they've never gotten engaged in something. That's right. Passion usually is more developed than it is discovered. A lot of people get stuck. They're looking for, gee, I don't know what my passion is. Well, do something to stir your life up. You know, do something to give you some experiences that would give you an opportunity to find that seed of something. And then doing it with excellence over a period of time, passion develops.

That's right. You know, when Michael Jackson, or Michael Jordan, rather, you know, picks up a basketball four years old, I don't know that he was passionate about it. But as he developed that amazing ability over a long period of time, sure, passion developed because there was so much affirmation, man, you're the guy, you're doing it really well. You can develop passion if you find that something that does, in fact, fit. The developing the passion is a wonderful point. It's not a light ball moment for a lot of people. It's just a, huh, that's interesting, I'm going to do this some more. Absolutely.

And then they realize, I can't live without this. Which, by the way, we don't like to do things we're no good at. Yeah, that's right. You keep tinkering with it. Yeah. Passion kind of leads the way early, right? I'm kind of into this. I like this idea, but I'm not very good at sculpting it yet.

And then I show some ability. And then I keep playing at it and I get better and I get better. And then, you know, because I don't like to do anything I stink at. Do you? No. There you go. But my wife, Joanne, has an art class. on our property on Wednesdays.

And it's amazing to watch this develop because some of the women in there are 50, 55 years old. Here's one example. A gal kept starting coming, and she has a long history of being a musician. Has some really notable songs out there,

but all of a sudden she was having trouble with her voice. Serious troubles. You're going to Vanderbilt, no longer able to sing or speak. And my wife, Joanne, you know, says, Debbie, you have to find another way

to give voice to what's inside of you. She started painting. And I mean, within six months, she was doing like one woman shows and selling out her artwork. Now, here's her response, which is really interesting. Her response was almost one of fear. She said, if that was in there all along, I wonder what else I've not discovered. You know, and that's, sometimes it's just a matter of getting in the game. Try something new. Do something different. And in doing so, you may find a seed of a talent and seat of a passion that can be developed, even if it's in a later season of life.

That's so good. I mean, it's just a different channel. Like, if you're singing, you're expressing yourself at the most, you know, the lowest common denominator, right? The voice goes away. She's going to find another way to express herself. She goes, takes an art class from your wife and boom. That's right. So it's a wonderful guide, isn't it?

It is. I love the fact that in the last few years, we've given a broader sense of the word art. art is what you do. That's right. So you can be a physician or attorney or a dentist, that is your art, even as much so as being a visual artist. Art is what you do. And it really is where those things come together and gives your life and work meaning. Yes, I love this.

Talk about the story of our lives. You know, I mean, this is what you help people do. You really help them figure out their part in the bigger story, whether your person of faith or not, Dan and I are. If you're listening in, you're not quite sure on that deal. I think you can understand you have a role to play in this world, and that's your story and different chapters. Encourage the men and women who may be a little bit older, Dan, and they may think, you know what? Is it too late? This is very important.

I don't think it's too late to ever figure it out. Do you? No, not at all. I'm often asking interviews, you know, what's one word of advice that you have for listeners? And it's usually this is what I say. It's never too late to have a new beginning. It really isn't. So it doesn't matter where you are in the seasons of life.

We need to embrace the seasons of life. We see it in nature. Hey, trees, we think they're dead. No, they're not dead. They're just resting and restoring for spring that's bringing new life. Sometimes we try to prevent those in our own lives, those new seasons. Sometimes unexpected or unwelcome change brings that new season for us. And a lot of times, that's why I hear so many people in retrospect,

even though their knee-jerk reaction is, oh, my gosh, this is horrible. you know, lose a job, a business or whatever. In retrospect, they look back and say, wow, it's the best thing that ever happened to me because it forced me to take a fresh look. I was just repeating what I had done for 20 years, but this forced me to see my life and opportunities with new eyes. So it doesn't matter where you are in the seasons of life.

And we hear these wonderful stories. I mean, I know you just interviewed Jack Welch recently. And I'm like, gosh, I mean, look at where he is in the seasons of life. I don't know how many careers he's had, but he's sure not stopping. Yeah. He loves more now, do what he's doing now. than he ever has in his life. I heard him say that. Yeah, I mean, he's not playing shuffleboard every day, you know, down in Boka, you know, the guy's going at it and teaching people. This is almost

an unfair question, but the final question for you in our time is, because I want to follow up what you just said. I think people hear that, make, okay, Dan, I get it. It's never too late for a new beginning. Appreciate that. But you don't understand, Dan. You don't understand what's going on in my life. I got to unravel some things. I've got to put the brakes on a little bit. I mean, in every situation is different, but with the heart of a teacher, give us some practical. steps for someone listening right now, they know I've got to step out of where I'm at and into my sweet spot. And they may think, well, I got so much to unravel. What does that process look like? Generally speaking, not knowing the specifics of their life. What would you say to them?

Yeah, that's fine. And that's a very fair question, really. What I tell them is, let's draw a line in the sand. What we want to do, when I hear to people talk about discouragement, frustration, anger, depression, and guilt, I know they're looking at what's already happened. They're looking at what they're coming from. We want to get clear on what you're going to. And when we get clear in what you're going to, that's where we get boldness, enthusiasm, and confidence, and those negative emotions start to dissipate immediately. So we want to draw in the sand.

Yeah, I know all that happened. I know you've made a mess, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But here's the other part. 85% of the process they've having the confidence of proper direction comes from looking inward. It's not looking at who's hiring, where the best opportunities are, where the best franchises are? No, let's take a deep breath. And this is a part that a lot of people miss. They immediately go to, we're going to get a job, who will hire me, what kind of business can I start? What can I do online? Can I do these internet things and make $50,000 next? And they don't look for

how that would fit them. And then they end up frustrated again. So take a deep breath, look inward. What are your unique skills and abilities? What are your personality tendencies? What are your values, dreams, and passions? From those, you can get a really clear sense of what you're headed toward. And then and only then can you develop a meaningful resume, do a job search, or figure out what kind of business would fit you. But then you only have the 15% left to do. The 15% is a lot easier to do. But a lot of people ignore the 85% and they make missteps at those change points in life.

And the end result is not just significance for yourself and living a life of meaning, but also being able to pour yourself out completely because you're where you're supposed to be. That's the payoff for what you teach. Absolutely. You've got men and women who are pouring themselves out because they're right where they're supposed to be doing what they're supposed to be doing. Absolutely. And the ripple effect of that is just unending. I mean, that carries over into spouses and kids and grandkids and neighbors and community and church and all of that. I mean, it's just there's an inevitable ripple effect when you are in that sweet spot, doing work that is meaningful, purposeful, and profitable.

You know, we have to get rid of this whole myth that work is just a bitter pill. You know, we just live for the weekends. A lot of our terminology still embraces that. You know, thank God it's Friday. Oh, God, it's Monday. That's baloney. Absolutely. You know, we ought to recognize that's our biggest opportunity to live out our calling, to fulfill your mission.

again, however you want to frame it terminology-wise, that's our biggest opportunity. You know, what you're doing on Thursday morning tells me a whole lot more about your values and beliefs than where you spend 58 minutes on Sunday morning. Wow. Soak on that, will you, folks. That's worth the entire conversation right there. He is Dan Miller. The book is revised and expanded.

It's called 48 Days to the work you love. You decided to add a lot to it. Not just a, this isn't like a facelift. This was, you put a lot in it and you really update it. And I think that's great. So give us a sense of what you added to the book. Yeah, absolutely. One of the things I did when I knew I was going to be doing an update for the 10th anniversary edition

was I put a note out to my listeners and readers and said, what would you suggest I put in there? Now, Ken, you know that a book, a hardback book has about 70,000 words in it. I get over 165,000 words of content from my listeners. Wow. PhD, academicians, HR directors. So the research was done and there was an amazing amount of content in there. So I took out a lot of the just kind of static facts about work, the history, some of the old statistics, and put in real meaty things like in chapter two, I go immediately into who would hire me. Chapter three is brand new as well. Yes, I do have an education talking about the changes in what companies are looking for. What makes you marketable in today's environment? And it may not just be that you spent four. you're sitting in a seat somewhere. Run, go get it. If any of you that are listening to this conversation right now, feel the tug,

because I think you'll feel it right in the middle of your chest. If you felt that tug while we were talking about this, you need to get the book 48 days to the work you love, because I think it's beyond work. What Dan is so great at is speaking to the very fabric of who we are as men and women. And you matter so very much to what our economy is about because you're driving the economy, you're creating jobs, you're leaving a legacy not just for those who work with you, but for those that you love your family.

This is important stuff. Don't ignore the urge. 48 days to the work you love. Dan, your great friend of the organization, this is a real treat to have you in studio with us. You've got to come by again, please. Hey, I will. Man, it's been an honor to be with you, Ken. I've been looking forward to it.

All right, I want to thank Dan for coming over and hang. out with us. This guy's just a lifter. You know the type of people that you just hang out with and they put a smile on your face? That's the kind of guy that Dan is. And I want to give you a couple of takeaways here. The first thing, obviously he wrote down this idea of you have to know what your strengths or talents are and then your passion. And then is there a market? And that's kind of a unique construct for how he develops those three key areas. And when they intersect, well, there you have found where you're supposed to be. But there's something else that I took away from it as I listen back to it and I get to do these conversations, record these things, then I listen back to

them before you hear them. And the one big takeaway from me that I'd love to give to you, and I think this was huge, jumped out at me, is that it seems that we're always talking about chasing success. And by the way, there's nothing wrong with the word success, nothing at all. However, it occurs to me that when we find our significance, that's when we become most successful. Not the other way around. not chasing success because I think we could all think of people top of mind who we would all define as successful, but they don't have any significance in their life, still searching for things. And I would suggest to you all that if we chase our significance and find our significance, success is going to be an absolute byproduct. So that was my takeaway.

And I'm really excited to do this for you because Dan was very, very generous. And so he is going to give away. You ready for this? 48 of the 10th anniversary edition of his book, 48 Days to the Work You Love. And an additional little gift, he's going to give away an e-book, if you will, a PDF, 48 low or no-cost business ideas. All of that for free. All you've got to do is go to 48 days.com slash Dave.

Now, if you've paid attention there, he's giving away 48 of those. So it's the first 48. So don't send me an email a week from now going, hey, I can't get the book. It's the first 48. Kind of a fun little thing there. First 48 of you that go to 48 days.com slash Dave. Well, you get the free book and the free ebook, and that is tremendous value. All right, folks, simply put, if you want to harness the power of automation to organize your contacts,

turn your leads into customers, then transform those customers into raving fans that make you wildly successful, you need to be checking out and working with InfusionSoft. The website is infusionsoft.com to check out more about what they're doing, but we love Jeff Mask, and we have this great series with him where he is adding value to us. We call it one question with Jeff Mask from InfusionSoft. Here it is. I'm a big sports fan, Jeff,

and one of the things I've observed every year of watching sports is that the long-term success of programs, whether it be in high school, college, or pros, has several things in common, but one unifying foundation, and that is a system. A coach, general manager, whoever, there's a system, and they work the system, and the system breeds tremendous long-term success. That's true in business as well. Talk about the importance of a system. You're touching on a sweet spot. I like this topic a lot, because without a system, you can't scale. Without a system, you can't automate.

Without a system, you can't delegate. It's just haphazard. It's whatever shining object comes, whatever fire is raging the hottest, that's what we solve for. Instead of taking a step back, planning out, how is my business operating? How can I automate that? How is my business going to perform at the highest levels? How can I delegate?

How can I scale that? If we don't think accordingly, we are always reactive and just trying to put out the fire at that time. You know what I'm talking about when you're listening to this. podcast right now and you're worried in the back of your brain about something that you didn't follow through on. A customer you didn't connect with. A prospect that said they wanted to buy and you just weren't quite ready because you had to do something up. You didn't have a system. You're just trying to not let a plate fall. Exactly. Okay. So I want to stop here for a second and pick

on me and I think there's a lot of people out there that are like me who think system. You go, oh, I know I need a system, but the idea of creating a system makes my brain hurt. Give us some hope. I'm trying not to laugh right now because you're describing me. Thank you very much. It's a bit personal. See, you feel my pain. I do. And most entrepreneurs pain. The beautiful thing about an entrepreneur is, at our core, we're creative people.

A key is reading Michael Gerber's book, The E-Mith, that was a massive, massive help for us in the early days. Back in 03-04, as we read that book, we literally thought, okay, if I'm not going to be here tomorrow, if someone were to inherit what I'm doing, would they know what to do? What is the system in place? What's the documentation? And that would just make our skin crawl. It was just frustrating to think of that way. We had to overcome that.

And we said, all right, what's our org chart in two years? What does that look like? Right now, me, me, me, me, I'm all over the place. But in time, what will that look like? That helped create our brains to think, what do we need to build for in the future? When an entrepreneur can think systematically, that's where you get away from yourself and you put it more on the business instead of inside your brain. We're so close to going crazy anyway.

Let's just be honest, we are, that we've got. got to get more out of our heads. The more we can get out of our head and systematize, the more peace we'll have and we'll perform much more from an offensive play versus a defensive playoff. Thanks to Jeff for that great word, and I want to remind you infusionsoft.com slash entree. Infusionsoft.com slash entree. It takes you about 30 seconds to sign up for their small business icon playbook, case studies, campaigns from their top performing customers. Not theory. These are facts they give you the playbook. This is a $399 value, so go sign up for that and learn everything you want to know about Infusionsoft.

Tell them we sent you here from the Entree. Infusionsoft.com slash entree. Well, folks, this is a great treat to be able to share with you some of the great content we get in our staff meeting. And when you grow a company from a card table to 500 team members, you're doing something right. And I will tell you that I think one of the greatest, things that Dave does as a leader is that he is a wonderful communicator. Clarity, clarity, clarity. He's always communicating to our team. If you are in this building and you don't have an idea of where we're going, why we're going, how we're going to get there, you're not paying attention.

And so we've recently had Dave just speak to us every Monday morning, 500 plus and growing team members gather in our conference room on our campus. And we have corporate communication. It's a gigantic staff meeting. But Dave has recently begun teaching, reteaching, if you will, are core values. Core value number 11 is what we're going to play a little bit of Dave's talk to us. And this is the idea around family. We balance family, which is the utmost importance to our company. But we also work hard.

How do you balance family and work hard? Dave explains it, and this is going to really add value to you. So here it is. Dave teaching at a recent staff meeting. All right. core value number 11 up, family. We balance family and working hard. For some reason, there's confusion about this in the corporate world. And I was thinking about this over the weekend, knowing that we were going to be talking about it a little bit today. And it occurred to me,

the easiest way for you to think about what does this mean at Ramsey Solutions. How do we do that? What do we do? Does that mean you work? Does that mean you... Listen, just pretend like yourself employed. If you own your own company and you don't get your work done and there's a crisis or a problem or a project, you go out of business, right?

Say yes. If you work 80, 90, 100 hours a week and you own your own company, you're going to get divorced unless your spouse is an idiot. They're not going to put up with that forever. I mean, at some point, they're going to be going, I never see you, I don't even know you, I don't like you, and I'll take your check without you. Right? And so if you own your own company, you can't just work all the time. You'll lose your family, right?

But if you don't get your work done, you go to business. That's the tension you have if you own company. So just treat it that way. And instantaneously, common sense starts to apply. How do we decide whether we work over or not? How do we decide what we're doing? Well, the translation is you can't work over all the time. But to think that you're going to work a pristine 40-hour work week

the entire time you live is absurd for people who want to succeed if you own your own business. It's crazy. That means you're working a J-O-B and you're punching a clock at that point. I'm not asking anybody to work over. I'm just saying, get your work done. and that may mean that, you know, we're doing a load-in on live events team and live events team. It's not unusual for them.

Work 15, 18, 20 hours straight on something. I mean, it's not unusual for me. You get an email from Eric over the weekend, and there's two or three people down here trying to fix a blown-up some kind of technology thing. Whatever the magic that you magic people do is, yes. But, you know, he act like he owned his own business, but do I want him here every weekend doing that? No. I wouldn't want him to want to be here every weekend doing that. And so, you know, what are your expectations?

Common sense. That's our expectations. Common sense. Act like you care about your family. Act like you care about this place and yourself employed. And so if we're in the middle of something and we've got to knock something out and there's a project or a problem or a crisis,

you know, you gear up, it's game on, and then when you don't have that, you let your foot off the gas, and you enjoy your life and your family more. Case in point is it's summer. Thursday afternoons, I'm apt to be out of here. Head to a place called the Lakehouse. It's a wonderful nirvana of a place that heals my soul.

But come about August 30th, I don't have a day off until Thanksgiving. It's getting ready to be a wild fall. So some ebb and flow. I don't work 80-hour weeks. You're a workaholic. I'm absolutely not a workaholic. I work like a maniac.

But I don't draw my identity from my work. I draw my identity from Christ. A workaholic is someone who draws their identity from their work. And so they work to be complete emotionally. It's not an amount of time that you work that makes you a workaholic. It's how you draw your identity that does that. And so own your own business. There's seasonality to things.

And allow that to happen. And if you're in a pattern ever here, you need to use common sense and go, wait a minute, I've been 80-hour work weeks for like several months and I don't see an end to this. And I'm confused because that doesn't fit with what we teach here. Okay? And you go, okay, what has to be, what has to change?

so that we can do this. Before somebody works here six months in a row, 80 hours weeks or something like that, we need to have the brakes on and not do something, ultimately. If the only way to do it is to not, the only way to fix that is to not do it, we've got to not do it.

Because as, and, you know, I went, when I opened this by myself, y'all, I mean, and then there were four of us. I mean, I would come in at 7 o'clock in the morning. I would work all day, I would do the radio show, a drive to Opry land, do the radio show for three hours,

drive back, come over, go over the Opryland Hotel, or the Holiday Inn Hotel across the street. I would set up the chairs. I would snap the little thingies on the thing and put it up on the screen and I set up the big time overhead projector, shut up, and I would lead it and then I led small groups and then I would go home at 1130 after praying with a single mom who was scared out of her minded and know what to do in a small group. And I would get up the next morning and do it again. I did that for a whole year. We don't have to do that now. And I don't expect that of people here for a year. But I'm okay with doing that for a short period of time

if you own the place and you should emotionally own the place. If there's something that has to be done, we've got to plug in, we've got to get it done. Then there should be a relief. Because if there's never any relief, then you've put your family behind your work. But if you put your family so far ahead of your work, you're not going to have a job because you're self-employed. because your business is closed. And so you've got to balance this

between the nurturing and the prioritization of your family and this stuff. It's like the guy that they call me, I say, work an extra job to get out of debt. Why? For your family. If you'll live like no one else, later you get to live and give like no one else.

But that means some nights you're going to be delivering pizzas. Well, I don't, time away from my family, my family, whining, whining and whining. and then call me up $45,000 in credit card debt, but you got a dadgum big screen, and that's what you spend your family time in front of. See? People get completely screwed up in this culture.

So here's a plan. Work your butt off so that you want to work your butt off. Pay a price to win. And around here what family means is we put our families first. At the end of the day, if you got to choose, you choose family. If my phone buzzes right now and to, niece is going into labor. Somebody else is finishing staff meeting. Y'all are okay. We love you. She's first. Okay? Because I have discovered these things

called grandbabies. Oh, they're awesome. Family is first. When in doubt, but guess what? Guess one way you serve your family is you make money to feed them. And so there's this tension in the air. Bible has it throws out of tension. It leaves it hanging in the air. One scripture says the diligent prosper. And then another one says, God gives to those he loves while they sleep. But which is it? Both.

Yes. That's the answer to the equation. Yes. If you go too far on one or the other, you miss the boat. And if you stay too far on one of the other, too long, you miss the boat. So you want to provide for your family by being excellent and diligent. But you also don't want to work so much that you damage your family over an extended period of time. If that's happening ever here, I am telling you, you have a, I'm deputizing

you right now, Barney Fife, you have your bullet, okay, throw the red flag in the middle of the table and go, and this has gone on too long. But if you worked a whole week once, trying to get something finished, ooh. But let me tell you, when we were doing, when the little kids, and we were blowing and going, you can pull up my Outlook calendar from 10 years ago and look at it, there were no live events on prom weekend. There were no live events on the hockey, ice hockey, when Daniel's playing ice hockey on the tournament weekends. And most of the games, 90% of the games, so much so that I was able to coach the hockey team while I'm working. We just worked around it.

Didn't miss a birthday. We were home on the birthdays. It was very unusual, like maybe one or two in the entire life of the kid, which they lived through. But we were there. I'm there. So we just planned around it. We took things like that that made the statement that family is first, but guess what? I might be gone three weekends in a row, and then there's a birthday party in those days.

That wouldn't be that unusual at all. And so we got it done. Am I asking you to work all the time? No. If you're hearing that, you're not listening. I'm asking you to act like your self-employed. Your family is ultimately at the end of the day first. So major family emergencies, major family milestones,

those kinds of things are always first. We have never told someone to not go to their grandmother's funeral, ever, in the history of this place, regardless of what project it is, regardless of what crisis it is. Never, have I told us. Never would I even think about that. that's first. The wedding is first.

The babies are first. That stuff is first. But in the ebb and flow of life, we've got to get our work done too. In case of a tie, the family wins. In case of a tie, the family wins. But there's really no reason except on rare circumstances for there to be a tie.

It really isn't. But if you're in the middle of something that's on fire, you know, the whole thing's coming, and there's four of you working on a project, and it's a technology thing. But your kid is at home with doing their four-year-old birthday, and it's been planned with invitations and a pony. Get your butt home.

You only get one of those. It'll be okay. It'll be okay. The other three people working on can work on it. Or it'll sit till morning. I don't want everything to not work or something. I don't want the website to be down, but also, you know, you got one four-year-old with a pony deal.

Don't miss that one. Don't miss that one. As we wrap up the month of August, we want to wrap up our awesome seven-day plan to triple your productivity. It's free. In seven days, you can triple your productivity. We give you the roadmap on how to do it. And we want to give it to you free, no strings attached. All we want you to do is text the word triple to 33-444.

Triple is the word. Text it to 33-44-4. Or for those who are out of the country or maybe not having it. having issues with texting or whatever it is, we're going to give you another option that is online. Just go to entreleadership.com slash podcast. Entreeleadership.com slash podcast, and you can get the seven-day plan,

the triple-year productivity. Also, from the bulletin board, don't forget, May 22nd, 2016, it'll be here before you know it. That's our second summit event. It's going to be an unbelievable event. Everything you need to know about the event. Jim Collins,

Seth Godin, Dave Ramsey, super amazing mystery speaker that we're not allowed to talk about over the air, but you can find out at the website. Just go to Dave Ramsey.com slash events. This will sell out, and it is going to be amazing. May 22, 2016. Well, that event will be here before you know it, and this podcast is over before I knew it. Unbelievable how quick it went on behalf of our producer Eric Anthony and the entire Entree leadership team. Thank you so much for listening.

We'll talk with you again very soon.