Happy Sunday Everyone:
I was outside of San Antonio last week w/ my family hunting on my buddy Josh’s ranch. I’ve talked about Josh before, and many of you on this email know him well. I coach with him, he’s actually my coach this semester, and he’s become one of my best friends. You spend a few days with this guy and you’re kind of blown away. I talk about hanging around with big positive people all the time. Here are some fact/stats; he closes 500 plus loans a year, he owns a reasonable % of his mortgage bank, has corporate responsibilities, he coaches for Core, he earns in the mid 7 figures, he has a 750 acre ranch that he purchased when he was 33, now 38, his assets are in the 8 figures…my hope is you might say “WOW”, but here is what’s better…he coaches all 3 of his kids 10, 8, and 5, in sports, he appears to be a great husband, he is certainly generous with his time with his friends, me included, and overall, a ridiculously great guy. When we were there he helped myself, Jim Reed, and our boys, shoot 5 dear (mine was the biggest:)), he dressed every single one of them for us to take to processing for meat, he cooked brisket, ribs, chicken, drove us all over the ranch, helped the boys learn how to shoot safely, answered a 1000 questions 4 boys would want to ask a guy that has a bunch of guns, fixed everything that broke. If you haven’t been on a ranch, no matter how much you want to help, you get in the way a lot, he was totally patient with all of us, and his only concern was the experience he was creating for us. As much time as I’ve spent with Josh, I’ve never tried to figure him out, what makes him do what he does, and do it so well. Why he does it? I don’t actually know his “why”, I’ve never asked him, although he’s reading this now, so perhaps he will tell me, but when I observe his characteristics, and actions, this is what I see:
1. He never stops, in all honesty, it’s a little exhausting. He is of the belief that you can sleep when you die. His goal is to fit 3 lifetimes into one.
2. He wants to learn everything about everything. Anything worth learning is worth learning well.
3. He’s always having fun. He is always over the top. i.e. we’re all on the dance floor, next thing we know he’s flipping Kristi over his shoulder while line dancing, which he can do at the competitive level.
4. He never says “I don’t know”. Sometimes I think he’s full of crap, but he pulls it off. There is “I don’t know”, like I truly don’t know but let’s figure it out (that’s him), and then there is “I don’t know”, which is the lazy version of being tired of answering questions, I’ve never seen him do this…I do this too much, especially with my kids.
5. He completes every task he signs up for to its fullest. Nothing he does his half ass.
6. He is rarely disappointed in trying something and having it not work out. To him its either a learning lesson, or “no big deal”.
7. He never appears to be in a hurry. I can tend to want to rush through something which creates an additional effort at some point in the future, he is methodical in completing something to its finality so he never needs to look back.
8. He delegates like a machine and trusts you to ask questions or assumes you understand. He forces people to get out of their comfort zones. He is clear, concise, and direct in requests.
9. He is even tempered. As long as I’ve known him, I’ve never seen him snap at anyone. He has no problem stating the facts without apology but I’ve never seen him snap.
10. He doesn’t say anything negative about anyone. He has no time for gossip.
11. He has a plan and he executes to it every single day.
12. Nothing is an inconvenience to him. He just gets it done and moves on.
13. He never watches TV.
I’m not with Josh every day, I’m sure he has some flaws and warts (I know he does) but my point in writing this is simple: observe what people you admire do, and do more of it yourself, learn from it, learn from them. We all get to hang out with a bunch of great people, to me it’s a waste not to either learn from them, appreciate them, or hopefully, do both.
Let’s all CRUSH it this week!!