Start With A Win - Top 10 Motivational Quotes

Episode Date: April 3, 2019

During this episode of the Start with a Win podcast, Adam shares is top 10 quotes, plus Mark’s bonus quote:“People seem to think that they lack motivation when in fact what they lack is clarity.” Clarity creates action. Take the time to hone in on your goals, seek counsel, come up with an action plan, and then execute. “Burn your boats, not your bridges.” Find a way to commit to a new thing without ruining your relationships associated with the old thing. Be able to gracefully walk away from an employer so that the door remains open for you to go back in the future. “The largest decision you will make will be to choose between fear and confidence.” When you are faced with a big decision, you will likely have to choose between the known (confidence) and the unknown (fear). Either choice is good; just don’t turn around and go backwards. “The most important asset you can own in your business is the attention of your customer. If you don’t own it, someone else does.” So much of your success depends on your ability to build relationships and provide value to your customers. “The quietly successful laugh behind the backs of the critics.” Critics are noisy, but happy people know how to be quietly successful. “Do common things uncommonly well.” The brain recognizes perfection and sloppiness. The way your customers are greeted and taken care of, the appearance of your facility, and the gratitude your employees express to customers could be the key differentiators between you and your competitors. “The level of your success will be in direct proportion to the level of discomfort you are willing to tolerate.” Learning a new skill is uncomfortable, but you will not earn the benefits without putting in the effort. “At the end of the day, your priorities should reflect the time that you spent during the day.” Intentionally plan your day based on your goals, and then assess how your actual day compared to your plans. “You really only have three things to choose from in life: give up, give in, or give it everything you’ve got.” Giving up is not an option. Giving in is not productive. So giving it everything you’ve got is really the only choice. “The noise you almost always hear in life and business is the scream of the urgent drowning out the whisper of the important.” Important things are those that make the biggest difference. Urgent things get in the way and distract you from the important. Don’t try to make everybody happy by responding to their urgent requests; just stay focused on the important. “If you’re committed to it, you’ll find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse.” If you want a refresher on this idea, listen to the two previous episodes about commitment. Links:Connect with Adam:https://www.startwithawin.com/ https://www.facebook.com/adamcontosREMAXCEO/ https://twitter.com/REMAXAdamContos https://www.instagram.com/REMAXadamcontos/ 

At top of the 12th floor of the Remax World Headquarters, you're listening to Start With a Win with CEO Adam Kantos. And welcome to Start With a Win. Adam Kantos here, CEO of Remax, top of the 12th floor at Remax World Headquarters in Denver, Colorado. I'm sitting here with producer Mark. How are you today, Mark? I am fantabulous. Yes. How's that puppy sleeping? You know, he's sleeping more, which is good. More is better, but not enough. More is better. You're waking up like

twice a night now instead of... Yeah, four times a night yeah yeah but yeah i'm committed you know and what's nice is i wake up at five o'clock every morning and so you know he's ready to rock and roll take him out put him outside you know hang out with him for a minute and then he just sits at my feet while i do work and stuff oh perfect yeah that's great right on right on well i'm i'm glad you have a puppy it's the cutest darn thing in the world what is it a wheaton terrier yeah he's a soft-coated Wheaton Terrier. So, I mean, like, is there a not soft-coated Wheaton Terrier? You know, you'd assume by the name.

Right? It's like, this is a Brillo pad, and this is a soft-coated Wheaton Terrier. Which one do you want? There you go. I'll take the soft one, right? That's right. Exactly. Cool.

Well, what are we talking about today? Mark, I've compiled a list of my 10 favorite quotes. Yes. You have a lot. So I mean, I'm sure this was a feat. Well, I have more than 10 favorite ones. But there's 10 that I grabbed here that I thought were very pertinent to what we typically talk about.

Yeah. So we'll do some more episodes with more quotes here in the future. Okay. Maybe make some memes or something like that we'll put out. Look out for the memes. Hello. And if you're not following us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, that's where we put them.

So make sure you follow us. That's right. Get those memes. Social media superstar Kayla Roof is nodding her head right now. Raise the roof. That's right. All right. So we got 10. Yeah. All right. You ready to start this? Yeah. Let's do this. Let's get into it. Okay. So I love this one because we always talk about motivation and you can be super motivated

and like your puppy, just to kind of run around in circles, chase your tail. Yeah. So people seem to think what they lack is motivation, when in fact, what they lack is clarity. Oh, man. I love that quote, actually. So you can be running as fast as you can. I mean, how many times you talk to somebody and you go, how's it going? And they go, I'm super busy.

Oh, it's like the cliche answer. Totally. Yeah. I mean, go, I'm super busy. Oh, it's like the cliche answer. Totally. Yeah. I mean, they're motivated, super motivated. I'm motivated. All right.

What are you getting on? Nothing. Yeah. Need some clarity there, buddy. Well, and I think too, when you have clarity,

it produces action, right? Because if you have the motivation without clarity, that it can only take you so far. Exactly. And then as soon as you have that clarity, that's the thing that I've learned. As soon as have the motivation without clarity, that can only take you so far. Exactly. And then as soon as you have that clarity, that's the thing that I've learned. As soon as I've had that clarity, then all of a sudden I can take action. So let me ask you, Mark.

Yeah. How do you find clarity when you're motivated and you want to get something done? How do you find clarity? Yeah. For me, what I do is I like to journal. I write, I get up in the morning and that's kind of the first thing I do is I kind of write down gratitudes, kind of write down like what my week looks like, what my month looks like and what my day looks like. Um, and then, so when I start having an idea about something, right, I kind of write down that high level idea and then I just kind of start to work backwards from there to say, okay, what do I have to do to achieve that goal? And so that kind of gives me that clarity of the

steps I need to take and the actions that have to take place for me to achieve that goal. And then, you know, sometimes I just get counsel from people. I, you know, I'll text you or something like that, or, you know, call somebody up that I trust and say, hey, like, I got this idea. What do you think about it? And sometimes that helps to, you know, get that clarity. So basically you kind of, you take that, that energy, you have the motivation is the energy you have and you'll go and you'll work backwards from your goals to find, okay, here's my focus point. So, yeah. Okay, cool. Yeah. I, I, I totally agree. It's a, it's funny. You get these people that show up at the gym or they're, they get to the office and they're like, yeah, I'm ready to go. And then you go, what are you gonna do? I don't know. So yeah, it's listen, I, you know, I've struggled with weight my whole life and, uh, I have kind of been on and off

fad diets and on and off workout, you know, methods, kettlebells and like whatever the trend was. And, uh, this year was like a big resolve for me to drop some weight and kind of get fit. And really it was when I set the goal and then created clarity around how I was going to achieve that goal, I started seeing huge gains. It's been pretty cool, but it was kind of just honing in on something

and then just executing. That's it. Yeah. Motivate, execute. Boom. I love it. Cool. What else we got? These are good. And that was only one. That's it. Yeah. Motivate, execute. Boom. I love it. Cool. All right.

What else we got? These are good. And that was only one. That was one. Yeah. That'll make a good meme. So, okay, here's the second one. And I've said this one before, but I love it.

Burn your boats, not your bridges. Yes. So, you know, we find commitment when we burn our boats, when we understand there's no turning back. But we also have relationships. And you can burn your boats and you can fully commit, but don't ever ruin relationships. No matter how good or bad they were, don't burn bridges.

If you've got to walk away from a relationship, do it. But do it with respect and dignity and, and really with focus on the future instead of, um, you know, some sort of a carrying a grudge from the past or, or some passive aggressive nature or something like that. Don't ever burn those bridges, gracefully walk away from the relationships. That's so good. And we actually kind of talked a little bit about that in the commitment episode. So if you haven't listened to that series, there's a two-part series, go back and listen to that podcast. It was very, very good. But I love that because the thing is that I found too, is that you don't know where you're going to be tomorrow.

Exactly. Right? And so if you burn the bridge, then you lost out on a relationship. If you burn the boat, well, you got to be committed. Exactly. And you got to push into where you're going and what you're doing. I love that quote. And I think it's very wise for anyone who hears that to think about. Maybe they're on the edge of leaving someplace. We hear brokers all the time or agents leaving one brokerage and going to another. And it's like, hey, whatever you do, make sure you leave on great terms.

Yeah, don't walk out the door and leave a debris trail. You want to walk out the door and leave a lot of love and caring and respect. And you can always go back. It's you want to walk out the door and leave a lot of love and caring and respect. Yeah. And you can always go back. And many, many, many times you end up back. Yeah.

So grass isn't always greener. That's right. When you get there, the weeds are magnified. That's right. Wow. All this green grass is weeds. I didn't realize it.

Yeah. So anyhow, burn your boats, not your bridges. So the next one, Mark. Yeah. The anyhow, burn your boats, not your bridges. So the next one, Mark. Yep. The largest decision you will make will be to choose between fear and confidence.

That's deep. Unpack that for me. That is deep. All right. So when you make a decision, when there's a decision point, you're, you know, it's like you're, you're at a fork in the road and one side you have to look at and you go, I'm afraid to go there. And the other one you can look at and say, I'm not afraid to go there. That's a tough decision. And sometimes you have to pick one or the other. I mean, generally you do. Usually the one with confidence is you've been there before. The one with fear, you have not. You may choose either way, but you have to choose. So really what it boils down to is it's okay to pick fear.

It's okay to pick fear, but it's also okay to pick confidence. You just have to make a decision based upon what's going on, but it's a decision. Don't stand there and not make the decision. That's good. I like that. It's, you know, you sit, we have all these decisions to make in life. And interesting, the third one is to turn around and go back and not make a decision. So as you approach a fork in the road, you know, you can turn around and you can look backwards and not make a decision, but you're going to have to make a decision. That's ultimately what it boils down to. That's good. I like it. So, all right. Number four,

you ready? Business owner. Lay it on me. All right. And this is, this is really important because I mean, frankly, this is for every business. This is also for non-businesses. So government, this is for relationships. And it's kind of measuring what you've got. And here's the quote. The most important asset you can own in your business is the attention of your customer. If you don't own it, someone else does. Ooh. OK.

That's good. So I mean, business is about people. Unless you're supplying aluminum to a can maker or something like that. I mean, it's a commodity. Let's say you supply wood or something. And even to the extent that you're in a lumber business or something like that, you're still going to have the attention of your customer. You want people paying attention to you.

But more than anything in the service industry, say real estate, the attention of your customer is the most valuable thing that you can pursue. Does that make sense? Yeah, totally. You want people thinking about you, looking at you, knowing you, understanding you, feeling value from you. Because what they're doing is they're building a relationship with you, heart to heart, person to person, and their attention is your asset. When people buy

businesses, they buy customer bases and that's what we're talking about here. Right. Yeah. I mean, that's, I'm a huge fan of content marketing. It's, you know, probably one of my favorite ways to market because you're able to create value to people without being super salesy, right? Where you can write an article, you can make an educational video, you can share good content that you find. And what that does is keep you top of mind and keeps you creating value into other people's lives. And then at the moment that they need your services, you can come to mind because you've kept their attention. We talk about that all the time, making videos and being on social media and making podcasts, right?

Exactly. Keeping the attention of your audience. Your audience is your customer base. And the more you can grow your audience, the more you can connect with them through that attention, through that delivery. You mentioned it, the content marketing, that's delivery of value. And you maintain that asset. So it's kind of hard to say people are an asset, but ultimately that relationship is the asset for the business. Yeah. Yeah. It's great. Love it. All right. The next one, the quietly successful laugh behind the backs of the critics, the quietly successful laugh behind the backs of the critics. So think about this. Yeah. Critics noisy. Okay. The critics are noisy. People that generally appreciate a business or a person

don't typically end up making a lot of noise about it. Usually, you know, when you're thankful, you don't say anything. Unfortunately, that's kind of the world that we've come to is, is the people that, that appreciate the success of a service and organization, something that's been done for them, a lot of times they'll give you a, hey, thanks. But generally, they're not nearly as loud as the critics. Critics are super, super loud. And the quietly successful are sitting back going,

okay, these guys are making all this noise. I'm going to sit here, and I'm going to have a great relationship with my customers, and I'm going to make some things happen. Does that make sense? Yeah, totally. That's awesome. So be quietly successful. But again, back to the last one, deliver that value and build that asset. So this next one, number six, you've heard this, and this is a differentiator in business. It really is. Think about everything that you do from getting in the elevator to going to the grocery store to gas station to going to the gym to whatever it might be. But here it is. Number six,

do common things uncommonly well. Do common things uncommonly well. Yes. So that's good. Yeah. It's, it, it boils down to, you know, why is there somebody standing at the door at businesses greeting you? It's a common thing, but if they get you to smile, they get you to feel good. That makes a difference. Do them uncommonly well. Well, you know, and the thing that I found throughout my life and career is, because I try to take that one to heart, you know, and man, when you're doing something, even if it's as simple as cleaning a bathroom, doing it the best that you can do that. And man, that I started working at 14 and that has served me so well because I always tried to, to do that right. Where, whatever I put my hand to just

do it with excellence and do it uncommonly well. And, uh, you see huge gains in your life and, and growth and success. Yeah. It's funny. You mentioned, uh, you know, your first job, my, I just probably like you, I had a lawn mowing business when I was a little kid as well. and growth and success. Yeah. It's funny. You mentioned, you know, your first job. I just probably like you, I had a lawn mowing business when I was a little kid as well. And my dad, my dad taught me how to mow the lawn. And he said,

you have to make the line straight. I said, why? He goes, it doesn't take any longer, but it looks better. It's good. I thought,

Oh, okay. That totally makes sense. I mean, we always had straight lines when we mowed the lawn. Yeah. And you look at it, it's like you I thought, Oh, okay. That totally makes sense. I mean, we always had straight lines when we moved lawn and you look at it and it's like, you're, you know, at a baseball field or a football field or wherever you're going, Oh my gosh, that looks so good. Cause it lines up in the brain. The brain recognizes things that are done uncommonly. Well, the pattern it does, it does, but it also recognizes sloppy things that are done just really haphazard. Things that are, you know, like if you're driving down a road and the lines are crooked.

Yeah, the paint lines. ways of being sloppy, you know, almost done and almost got it right. And you know, you just, you look at it and you go, ah, they almost got it right. Or they're almost done. And you look at it and both of those are disappointing, right? Yeah. But you don't feel that way when you go somewhere really special where the common things are done uncommonly. Well, you can, You can check in to a really, really rundown motel and you can check into the Ritz-Carlton. You're still checking into a hotel, right? What's the difference? They're doing the common things uncommonly well at the Ritz-Carlton. That's so true. It's the same as holding a door for somebody. It's the same as greeting them and smiling. It's the same as like when I, I went and I worked out at one gym on the road and they brought these little Dixie cups full of like coconut water at the end. And

they, it, you know, they're, they said, thank you to everybody in the class. And I worked out another one and they're like, all right, see ya. And you're going, where's my Dixie cup full of coconut water. And I mean, it really didn't take them anything extra to do that, but I'm like, I want to go back there. You got to look for those things that people appreciate those things, even though they won't say, yeah. All right. What's next? All right. Number seven, number seven. I love this one because this is a start with a win here. The level of your success will be in direct proportion to the level of discomfort you are willing to tolerate. That is solid. That is, that, that is one of those, somebody can't do the pushups for you type statements. So you gotta be willing to be uncomfortable in order to reach

the maximum level of success possible. It's the same as, you know, when you're, you talk about exercise, we talk, talk about it a lot because it's something we can all, we can all picture. And it's not the first few exercises that make you grow. It's the last few. Yeah. And those are the ones that are uncomfortable. I mean, the first few, you're like, Oh, okay, I got this. Well, yeah. And I think that that's the same thing when, when learning a new skill, right. Once again, to go back to, we've been talking about, you've been talking about, especially doing video, right? Right. It's uncomfortable to learn a new skill, right? Okay. I have to think about what I'm going to do and add a new routine to what I'm

doing. It's uncomfortable. And when you push yourself right out of your comfort zone, and when you take that chance, that's when you see huge gains that's it yeah you're absolutely right and you're looking for those huge gains that's right so all right so that was the level of your success will be in direct proportion to the level of discomfort you are willing to tolerate this is a great episode by the way it was like 10 i hope if you're listening to this, like you are just super jazzed right now. And like, well, this is, this is, I know I am. Yeah. This is like 10, 10 chapters of a book here.

So here's number eight at the end of your day or at the end of the day, your priorities should reflect the time that you spent during the day. So what does that mean? Okay. Let's say you have some goals. Okay. All right. Hmm. So what does that mean? Okay. Let's say you have some goals. Okay. Right. At the end of the day, can you look back and compare your day to those goals? Did you do something in alignment

with those goals? Yeah. If you, if you look back and you didn't do something in alignment with those goals, let's say you run a, let's say you're a real estate agent. Okay. That's, that's the business we're in here. Real estate agent. Did you go out and try and find a buyer or a seller at, you know, when you're looking back at the end of the day, if you didn't, you're not reflective of the priorities in your business, right? Your day, you know, I went to the dry cleaners. I went to the carwash. I talked to my buddies at Starbucks and I did these other things and I got on Facebook and you're like, um, did you get a buyer or a seller? No. Right. Okay. There you go. Why not? That was a waste of a day. Yeah. And it's, you know what, it's okay to take a day off every now and then, but designated as a day off. Right. Don't, don't call it a work day if it's not. Yeah. Right. It's like if you're a delivery driver and you just kind of drove around and you didn't drop anything off,

you didn't deliver and you get back and you go, Oh, wait a second. Yeah. Priorities deliver things, deliver things. When I think that's something that as a real estate agent, right? I have several friends who are real estate agents and they say that that is one of the biggest, the blessing and the curse of their job, right? Is that they're their own boss. And so if they're not prioritizing, setting goals and checking those things off, they could lose a whole day. And that's why we say, you know, I'd start with a win, get those things done early. Yeah.

So, you know, you're doing activities that have to do with your priorities. Yeah. I mean, get, get them out there. That's a, that's one of my favorites. At the end of the day, your priorities should reflect the time that you spent during the day. So here's number nine. You really only have three things to choose from in life. Ready for this, Mark? Three things to choose from in life. That's it. I'm excited. Okay. Give up, give in, or give it everything you've got. So you can pick one of three things.

Give up, give in, or give it everything you've got. That really puts you in a corner. It does. You're kind of uncomfortable right now. That really puts you in a corner. It does. You're kind of uncomfortable right now. What am I going to do? That's it. I have these three options. Right.

When you think about it that way, you go, all right. Okay. I am going to give it everything I've gotten. Because, I mean, what are your other options? Let's just cross one out. Right. Give up. Okay. It's not an option. Not an out. Right. Give up. Okay. It's

not an option. Not an option. Giving up is not an option. Not an option. Give in. And you're like, all right, I guess I'll go with you, which I mean, that doesn't accomplish much of anything. Yeah. You're not, you're not a quitter, but at the same time, you're not necessarily a high level doer. Right. So third one, give it everything you give it everything you got. I love that one. I do too. And that, I think it applies for, for everyone, right? I mean, if you're listening to this podcast, there's, there's a reason why you're listening to this podcast, right? Like you haven't given up on life and you're looking for motivation and encouragement. And so I think that the third give is for you. Give it everything you got. Give it everything you got. That's right. All right.

Yeah. Let's give it everything we got and go on to 10. Oh, man. All right. You ready? Yeah. So this one's deep. The noise you almost always hear in life and business is the scream of the urgent drowning

out the whisper of the important. That is deep. So let's compare these two things. We have the scream of the urgent. Okay. Oh, my gosh, I forgot to do my homework. The dog pooped in the living room, whatever it is. That's the urgent. The important, you need to sit down and call some customers. You need to grow your business. You need to go

spend some time with existing customers. The whisper is always those things that make the biggest difference. That's the important, that's the stuff that matters. The urgent, the urgent are the things that get in the way. Does that make sense? Yeah. So what do we do about that? So remember a earlier podcast, you know, if you try to make everybody happy, you'll never get your ass to market. Yeah. Okay. There it is. That's it.

Yeah. That's it, my friend. Well, yeah. And I guess, you know, when you set those priorities and say, all right, this, whatever's urgent can wait, right? That's it. Whatever's urgent can wait. Yeah. It's kind of like the 11th quote that you sent to me. Wait, is this a bonus quote?

There's a bonus quote, Mark. Top 10 plus, but wait, there's more. Don't turn off your car just yet. That's right. So Mark, you sent me this bonus quote because we've talked about this before. What is this bonus quote? If you're committed to it, you'll find a way. If not, you'll find an excuse. I love it. You'll either find a way or you'll find an excuse. Yeah. This goes back to our two-part series on commitment, right? It's get it done.

If it's really important, then there's no stopping you. It's make this stuff happen. Thank you so much for joining us today. Make sure to head over to startwithawin.com to get more great content. Please subscribe and rate the show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow Adam on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

And remember, start with a win. Bye.