EverydaySpy Podcast - The Unexpected Ops Skill That Boosts Your Success

Episode Date: March 16, 2021

It is easy to get discouraged by the things you want that other people have. Smart marketers and sleazy salesman have been selling the lie that you can get more without giving anything up... even as they take your money. In this episode, Andrew explains how field operators accomplish incredible things with limited resources. And how you can do the same when you use one powerful tool. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My name is Andrew Bustamante, and this is everyday espionage. I recently went out with a friend of mine to get dinner and a drink in a historic part of Tampa called Ibor City. And about an hour into dinner, a former client of my friends came over to our table. He had just finished a business meeting of his own when he recognized my buddy and decided to swing by and say hello. Now, we had also recently finished dinner, so my friend invited him his former client to sit with us and have another drink. He accepted. Now, if you're in business for yourself, then you know it doesn't take long before friendly conversation turns to business talk between entrepreneurs, and the same thing was absolutely true for us. The former client was trying to

close two new deals at the same time, and he was struggling because his team kept mixing the two clients up. They were sending project estimates and timelines for one customer to the other, and vice versa. And it was confusing the two customers and turning into a time suck for the client himself, the owner who had to clean up his team's messes. Now, he kept telling me and my buddy, I have a resource problem. He kept saying, my team can't handle these two projects at the same time. So to fix this resource problem and to complete both projects, he was trying to hire new employees, trying to get them on board quickly so that he could use them to help fix the mistake. Now, CIA trained me to recognize there are really only three resources, time, energy, and money.

And all three resources are limited. That means to get more of one resource, you are left pulling from another. So that's why we try to make more time by sleeping less and we end up trading energy for time. We try to make more money by working more hours, trading time for money, or we try to buy more help to get things done faster, trading money for time. People and businesses take loans, we sell assets, we even trade services thinking they are somehow going to increase our resources when they aren't. They are just shuffling the resources we already have. The whole idea of a resource problem is a lie. You have the resources you have. You are always going to be resource constrained. Everyone is resource constrained. That is something we all have in common. But understanding that fact

is an advantage that only a few people understand. Field operators are trained to operate with limited resources. Bank loans and extra employees are not something we're going to get in the middle of an operation. So we have to accept the resource limits we have from the beginning. That is what they are, limits.

But limits can be pushed. And we push resource limits by creating what we call operational priorities. Every operation has multiple objectives in the field and in your everyday life. The more objectives you have, the more resources you need. And that's where the trouble starts, because limited resources keep you from reaching all of your objectives. Now, for the typical person, they struggle to complete their objectives and then blame it on a lack of resources.

But for field operatives, we don't blame a lack of resources. We say the op has too many competing objectives. Now, let's say you're on a mission to take down a terrorist network. You have one field operator and a handful of analysts controlling overhead drones, satellites, and communications from an outpost. If you set one simple objective, like neutralize the terrorist leader, the chances are high that your resources will be enough to complete that objective. But if you set several competing objectives, like neutralize the leader,

and capture the second in command, and, and block all outgoing communications, and prevent unnecessary damage to collect additional intel. That op is less likely to be successful. That is not a resource problem. That's a prioritization problem. So to fix it, we would keep all the same objectives, but put them in a priority order. Because as one objective is completed, the remaining resources, the time, the energy, the money,

they're free to be redirected to the next objective. So objective one becomes neutralize the leader. And only after we reach that objective, do we use our existing resources to move on to the second objective? Capture the second in command. If we complete the first objective, but do not complete the second, that is still a victory. We know we have the resources to try objective two again.

It's not a failure. We talked about this before when we talked about the difference between failure and not failure. As long as you keep trying, you haven't failed. We have the resources, just because we didn't complete the second objective right away, doesn't mean we have failed. Too often, our culture resists the idea of prioritizing. We think everyone and everything should be treated as equal, because we want to be fair. And as a result, we treat every customer request, every family need, and every personal ambition, like they are the top priority. But when you call everything a priority, it's the same as calling nothing a priority.

And when you call nothing a priority, you are destined to run out of resources and suffer missing your objectives. I still use operational priorities every day with my family, in my business, even recording these conversations with you. I have limited time, limited energy, and limited money, and I'm okay with that. I refuse to trade one for the other. So I set one to three top priorities each day. Today's top priority was to record one new podcast episode for you. My second priority was to write and record a second one. And as of right now, I'm meeting my top two priorities. If I don't get around to grocery shopping today, that's okay. I'll go tomorrow. I'll have the time then that I don't have now. But if I forced myself to go to the store and record a YouTube video and call my mom or any number of the other daily tasks that you and I both have, I would for sure fail to record a decent podcast. And that would sacrifice the mission, because if you don't learn from our conversations, you won't grow.

And if you don't grow, I miss my most important objective. You can prioritize your time, energy, and money like an operator, and you will get more done with fewer resources when you do. Now let me take you back to that dinner table with my buddy's old client, the one who said he had a resource problem and was trying to hire a bunch of new folks. I told him the same thing I just told you, that elite intel units use operational prioritization to do more with limited resources. He asked me how it would apply to his business, and I laid it out for him. One of the two deals that he was trying to close was probably less complex than the other. Make that one the priority. Give the team 48 to 72 hours to focus on the simplest deal first.

Then tell the second deal that you'll have everything ready in about six days. Customers, peers, and partners do much better with committed timelines than they do with current mistakes. So do not be afraid to tell them how long it will take you to do something right. And by the end of six days, both deals will be closed. The client's team will have fixed all of their mistakes, and I told him he will have saved himself the time and cost of hiring five new employees that wouldn't have any work to do anyway. Now, fast forward, and about three days ago, I got a nice thank you email from that client

because he applied operational prioritization, he did close both deals, and he made a boatload of money in the process without hiring any new folks. Now he actually has more resources, more time, more energy, and a whole heck of a lot more money. Because he didn't trade one for the other, he prioritized. And I know exactly who he is going to call for help the next time he thinks he has a resource problem. When you align your resources to meet your highest priorities first, you will see success instead of struggle, just like operators in the field, just like my buddy's client whenever he met me. As you complete your top priorities, your existing resources can be applied to the next set of objectives, whether those objectives are with work, family, or personal goals.

And while you watch your competition, coworkers, and even your spouse struggle with limited resources, you'll be fully operational and ready to do more. That is everyday espionage. Everyday espionage is dedicated to one thing, educating everyday people. I know that not everyone will listen, but those who listen will learn. If you learned something new today, click subscribe, review, and share the podcast with a friend. Find me on social media at Everyday Spy or on my website, Everydayspy.com. If you are up for a special challenge, visit Everydayspy.com forward slash operations and join me for an authentic spy training mission. And above all else, remember that knowledge is freedom.