Episode 42 from The Grit Theory. 

Today Lindsey and I sit down to discuss the “Systematic Year” concept and some exciting changes that are in the works. 

Highlights include: 
-If not now, then when. 
-Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. 
-A new journey and adventure.

A Systematic Year Overview: 
-Q1: Observation & Familiarization
-Q2: Shifting Norms “Overton Window” 
-Q3: Refine & Continuous Improvement
-Q4: Replace Yourself

Did you find value in today’s conversation? SHARE IT! 

Also, check out Be Relentless: If the obstacle is the way, then we must be waymakers HERE.

Do you want to learn more? Check out:

The Book: Be Relentless: If the obstacle is the way, then we must be WayMakers.

The Podcast: “Be Relentless Podcast”

The Fuel: Sisu Stamina, Performance Evolved

Linktree: Here.

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Episode Transcript

00;00;00;08 – 00;00;08;03
Jon
So you’re pretty miserable this morning.

00;00;08;18 – 00;00;11;23
Lindsey
Super miserable this morning. Does it show?

00;00;11;24 – 00;00;14;04
Jon
It does show up in your face and your body.

00;00;14;07 – 00;00;15;21
Lindsey
I didn’t sleep last night.

00;00;18;09 – 00;00;19;11
Jon
Those colds, man.

00;00;19;11 – 00;00;24;22
Lindsey
Oh, I know. Well, if Eric wouldn’t have coughed straight into my eye, I probably would have avoided it.

00;00;24;26 – 00;00;27;00
Jon
Yeah, he basically ensured that.

00;00;27;08 – 00;00;31;13
Lindsey
Like I felt the spit all over the side of my face. It was fantastic.

00;00;31;14 – 00;00;32;22
Jon
Get your nose and mouth to you.

00;00;32;23 – 00;00;41;14
Lindsey
Yeah, he did. Yeah. Had all the the offices of entry, there was no avoiding this one at that point. I knew it. I knew it Saturday when he did it.

00;00;41;20 – 00;00;54;24
Jon
See, I knew I was screwed. About a week ago, when Gabriel was going around and Gabriel stepped back from the, he turned around and said, Dad, I don’t feel better. I said, OK, look at the. And then he proceeded to throw.

00;00;54;24 – 00;00;55;15
Lindsey
Up all over.

00;00;55;15 – 00;00;57;04
Jon
You surf over my entire body.

00;00;57;05 – 00;00;57;17
Jon
Yeah.

00;00;57;25 – 00;01;00;28
Jon
At that moment, you realize at the time the time was begun.

00;01;01;21 – 00;01;02;10
Jon
When you’re career.

00;01;03;02 – 00;01;07;29
Lindsey
As a parent, you understand some of these things and it’s like, That’s I did it. Yeah.

00;01;07;29 – 00;01;12;09
Jon
And as a non parent, you’re like, That’s gross and it happens.

00;01;12;09 – 00;01;12;25
Lindsey
And it does.

00;01;12;26 – 00;01;13;21
Jon
It so happens.

00;01;13;21 – 00;01;14;06
Lindsey
It does.

00;01;14;11 – 00;01;17;22
Jon
As long as it’s not on a couch, on carpet or in a car.

00;01;17;28 – 00;01;18;12
Jon
Yeah.

00;01;18;15 – 00;01;21;08
Jon
Right. At least we have hardwood floors in that bathroom, and.

00;01;21;10 – 00;01;22;07
Jon
All that was helpful.

00;01;22;16 – 00;01;24;05
Jon
It is the worst has been in cars.

00;01;24;19 – 00;01;26;04
Lindsey
Yeah, we don’t need to go down that path.

00;01;26;07 – 00;01;31;02
Jon
No, let’s let’s not go down the path. But yeah, so you’re miserable. And here I.

00;01;31;02 – 00;01;33;24
Lindsey
Am. That’s OK, though, is what it is.

00;01;33;29 – 00;01;36;19
Jon
I’m not miserable in here. I’m I’m doing pretty freaking good.

00;01;36;21 – 00;01;37;02
Jon
Yeah.

00;01;37;23 – 00;01;40;13
Lindsey
You’re on cloud ten right now, higher than cloud nine.

00;01;40;21 – 00;01;47;23
Jon
Yet I’m way up there. I’d I’d rather us be more an even playing fields. But you know, I’m excited. Started a journey last night.

00;01;48;29 – 00;01;49;26
Lindsey
A new adventure.

00;01;49;26 – 00;02;05;09
Jon
A new adventure that I’ve been wanting to do for the last seven years and have been. Sacrificing and choosing not to do because of different priorities we had needs as a family and resources and time restraints and everything else, and.

00;02;06;24 – 00;02;10;12
Lindsey
Now it looks like it will get to be like a family adventure in a sense too.

00;02;10;12 – 00;02;11;00
Jon
Yeah, it’s really.

00;02;11;03 – 00;02;12;15
Lindsey
Has the potential to be that way.

00;02;12;17 – 00;02;21;07
Jon
Yeah, we’re cool. We’re talking about Brazilian jiu jitsu, right? So I’ve wanted to start my journey down that path for a long time.

00;02;21;15 – 00;02;22;19
Lindsey
Long time since.

00;02;22;20 – 00;02;23;15
Jon
Literally seven years.

00;02;24;08 – 00;02;24;17
Lindsey
Yeah.

00;02;24;28 – 00;02;46;02
Jon
And you convinced me with some other exciting news. So, you know, while back, we talked about, hey, due to the mandates and everything else, we’re prepared to change career fields and everything. But we want to stand by our convictions of what the Constitution upholds as our rights and liberties as a free people.

00;02;46;14 – 00;03;01;07
Jon
And that’s what we’ve done. And the Lords opened up a door for an incredible opportunity with a small company in town that in every way just looks to be an incredible blessing. And I’m extremely excited to be joining them here very soon.

00;03;01;27 – 00;03;17;22
Lindsey
So I’m excited for you. I think the company, from what I’ve heard and looked at, seems really kind of tight knit in a sense that it’s stepping into another aspect of a different community with a little bit of the same like mindedness as ours, which is really nice too.

00;03;17;23 – 00;03;28;20
Lindsey
It’s nice when you start pairing yourself with people that that challenge you and push you, but also still how kind of the same baseline as you. And I think that’s really nice.

00;03;28;22 – 00;03;35;25
Jon
Yeah, like the same ideals that you’re pursuing. Yeah, right? Not necessarily group think, which we’ve talked about, but right. Just sorry.

00;03;35;26 – 00;03;38;07
Lindsey
My thoughts may be a little jumbled.

00;03;38;12 – 00;03;47;19
Jon
We all just want to go north, right? We want to improve and we want to succeed. And so I’m really excited to partner with them. And that has some pretty powerful implications for a family, right? We get to stay here.

00;03;47;24 – 00;03;48;21
Jon
Yeah, look amazing.

00;03;50;20 – 00;04;07;07
Jon
Dig in more and build more and set out roots and more. So, you know, a lot of things where it’s like, we’re we’re going to move or not, that’s kind of went away. And with that also came the opportunity of like, we’re in the position that if I don’t, if we don’t start this journey, you know, this

00;04;07;07 – 00;04;13;15
Jon
ongoing goal I’ve talked to you about for years, then when will we write this kind of change the circumstances to be, if not now than when?

00;04;13;24 – 00;04;14;06
Jon
Right.

00;04;14;20 – 00;04;18;01
Lindsey
And we’ve looked at this in every single.

00;04;18;26 – 00;04;19;15
Jon
City, the.

00;04;19;15 – 00;04;25;21
Lindsey
City that we’ve moved to, and it just hasn’t been the right timing. The right Jim.

00;04;26;26 – 00;04;27;06
Jon
Yeah.

00;04;27;13 – 00;04;29;00
Lindsey
Type of thing for us.

00;04;29;10 – 00;04;41;18
Jon
The constraints in our life have been too much has gone too much. So it wasn’t worth the time investment and then it was too expensive. So we can afford it, right? And then it was a combination of that.

00;04;41;19 – 00;04;43;15
Jon
Jim’s being shut down because of COVID and everything.

00;04;43;15 – 00;04;43;25
Jon
Right?

00;04;44;02 – 00;04;58;18
Jon
So like now, everything’s just flushed out, too. It’s like, Well, we can prioritize the time because I’m not gone busy. We’re busy, of course, but we can prioritize the time, we can prioritize the finances. And we found a cost effective one.

00;04;59;00 – 00;05;02;00
Jon
And it’s between here and my new job, right?

00;05;02;00 – 00;05;02;11
Jon
And it’s.

00;05;02;11 – 00;05;03;12
Jon
In freakin Payton.

00;05;03;22 – 00;05;04;05
Jon
Right now.

00;05;04;05 – 00;05;18;18
Jon
So it’s like, how cool is that amazing culture, amazing vibes. I had the first session last night and I’m just over the moon. We’re going to start the boys this week as well, and we’re going to get you in there as well.

00;05;18;24 – 00;05;36;11
Jon
So it’s kind of like, Holy Craig, let’s just embark on this adventure that we’ve been waiting for and that kind of flavors the joy like. So here we have a new opportunity. We have provisioned the ability to stay in this new job, which is exciting, and we have this new personal dream coming true to have the opportunity

00;05;36;11 – 00;05;45;01
Jon
to train. And then the added blessing of Holy Crow. This is a family. It has the ability to be a family endeavor as well.

00;05;45;15 – 00;06;02;17
Lindsey
So, yeah, instead of driving us in different ways with different sports and things like that, it actually drives us inward and to each other, which I think is phenomenal just because we’ve never wanted to have to go to seven different sports and things like that just because they’re all doing different things, different directions.

00;06;02;26 – 00;06;15;19
Jon
You’re absolutely right. And I’m not a fan of like Saturdays or to watch your kids play sports like that idea, I think is not for me. I’ll put it that way instead of being strong about it. But it’s not my ideal way of spending time as a family.

00;06;15;19 – 00;06;34;12
Jon
But this is something that we as as the boys grow and we all get better. It’s very communal. It’s very supportive of us. So I’m thrilled and it’s kind of like this sign that, hey, you need get your boys in here because this dude I was rolling with who was sweeping, everyone swept the floor with me.

00;06;34;12 – 00;06;37;19
Jon
They’re all so kind to me because I knew that I knew nothing, right?

00;06;37;20 – 00;06;40;15
Lindsey
Which is a good way to go into a situation like way. Yeah.

00;06;40;15 – 00;06;55;26
Jon
So they didn’t feel the need to humble me because I was already like coming in knowing I know nothing and then very evident how much that was true. Yeah, they just swept me. So but I was I was rolling with this one guy, is this just he’s a grizzly bear?

00;06;55;27 – 00;07;08;29
Jon
He’s like. 62 in like 230, lean just was destroying me. But his son was there who’s 15, and his son’s been doing it for the last eleven years and is like number three in the world for his his age and stuff.

00;07;08;29 – 00;07;24;20
Jon
So I was like, Yeah, he’s just like the son of like, well, you start now a decade from now, this is you with your four sons doing this. And so anyways, all that to say, it’s very exciting. I’m very excited about it.

00;07;24;21 – 00;07;38;28
Jon
I think that we’re turning the corner from kind of surviving to, you know? Being a lot more aggressive and conquering and building things, so I think that this next year will be exciting for great theory and everything we’re doing.

00;07;39;28 – 00;07;41;01
Jon
And it made me think.

00;07;42;24 – 00;07;52;12
Lindsey
On that note, how crazy is this? You started this almost exactly one year ago when you started it in January. Mm-Hmm.

00;07;54;18 – 00;07;57;18
Jon
I know we’ve talked about this. I have to look at when the first episode published.

00;07;58;06 – 00;07;59;10
Lindsey
I think it was the end of January.

00;08;00;07 – 00;08;01;12
Jon
We’ll have to like celebrate.

00;08;02;08 – 00;08;03;18
Lindsey
Our special episode.

00;08;03;25 – 00;08;05;14
Jon
Maybe pop some champagne on.

00;08;05;14 – 00;08;05;25
Lindsey
Off.

00;08;06;20 – 00;08;06;25
Jon
On.

00;08;06;25 – 00;08;09;17
Lindsey
The end of life in the theory realm.

00;08;09;22 – 00;08;32;06
Jon
You’re one. It ties together because I was thinking about sharing this concept I’ve been developing over the last. nine, ten years in. I’m calling it the systematic year. But what brought it back to mind is I had set up this new contract for myself 100 days like six days and got really sick, so I was like, You

00;08;32;06 – 00;08;36;09
Jon
know, I’ll just reset this contract once I’m through being sick, right?

00;08;36;13 – 00;08;37;12
Lindsey
This last little bit.

00;08;37;13 – 00;08;50;09
Jon
Yeah, because it’s rare. I get sick. I got sick twice as like, I need to heal up and not have this like systemic illness of like a cycle of getting sick and then reengage. And then I reengaging in like day one is like, Okay, I’m reengaging.

00;08;50;18 – 00;09;09;24
Jon
I’m not interested in it, but I’m just aspects of it, right? And I was like, Okay, what’s going on? What’s different here? And I realized that I was continuing forward as if my circumstances had changed, and I thought that I was continuing a trajectory, but in reality of starting a new journey.

00;09;10;05 – 00;09;18;06
Jon
And therefore, the specifics of what I was doing did not match the requirements and the needs of the season in.

00;09;19;21 – 00;09;39;12
Lindsey
Well, a lot of things changed in that week, too, so you were sick, but then you had accepted a new job offer, and so you had to relook at things in that aspect, too. So that’s I think that was also why, like in preparation for the new year and what’s to come, you’re like this challenge I want

00;09;39;12 – 00;09;58;17
Lindsey
to stick with and I want to do this. And then Brazil, Brazilian jiu jitsu came into the plan to you’re like a couple of these new ventures and ideas and things that your heart’s really desired over the last several years are starting to play out and you go, OK, I have to alter this contract to make sure

00;09;58;17 – 00;10;02;16
Lindsey
that it matches what I’m trying to pursue.

00;10;02;16 – 00;10;03;05
Jon
And grow and.

00;10;03;05 – 00;10;14;00
Lindsey
Grow in instead of just sustaining and doing it to learn to break through this mental thing. And I think that’s where it really drives us back into that start of your systematic year and what that is.

00;10;14;02 – 00;10;26;25
Jon
Correct. You hit the nail on the head. So the systematic year, simply put is is how I began to look at my strategy for really leading in the.

00;10;26;25 – 00;10;27;09
Jon
Army.

00;10;27;11 – 00;10;48;19
Jon
Right? Because you’re the world’s. I had all lasted a year. They can span nine times, but each leadership position as any team, they have the opportunity to serve. I had about a year with them give or take, and I realized that a surefire guidepost to help me succeed and be in the right frame of mind during the

00;10;48;19 – 00;11;03;00
Jon
different seasons of the year because things change and how you function over time, right? As a team, right, there’s like I can’t remember the guy’s name, but like storming, forming norming, performing right. I can’t believe I can’t remember his name right now.

00;11;03;01 – 00;11;16;28
Jon
It’ll come to me. But that day it kind of follows that ish. But this was more for like a How do I engage as a leader? It’s exciting because it’s like snow raining outside. So pretty.

00;11;16;28 – 00;11;18;05
Lindsey
Neat. Sorry, continue on.

00;11;19;22 – 00;11;35;00
Jon
And essentially it’s really simple, right? And there’s nuance to it. It’s not assault law, but the high view roles how the four quarters breakdown is in the first 90 days. I saw it, I would see it as my primary role.

00;11;35;07 – 00;11;51;04
Jon
My job was to observe and familiarize myself with the cultural norms, standard operating procedures, how we action things, what works, what doesn’t make lists? Think on it. Chew on it right. It’s kind of part of it is, hey, you may see a wall in the middle of the field and think it doesn’t make sense.

00;11;51;04 – 00;11;55;28
Jon
Want to tear it down? But until you know that it doesn’t make sense, it’s foolish to tear it down.

00;11;55;29 – 00;11;56;09
Jon
Right?

00;11;56;12 – 00;12;04;05
Jon
So like, there is some nuance here. There are things that you have to correct in the first 90 days because they’re just not OK, right?

00;12;04;15 – 00;12;22;18
Lindsey
The other thing that I want to interject to is you started this concept in the military, but you’ve also been able to carry it through outside of the military in your job when you worked at public storage and even in your current position and somewhat in our own life of moving in these different things.

00;12;22;18 – 00;12;39;05
Lindsey
So this isn’t just something that is only applicable to a military setting. And I think that’s important so that, you know, everyone who’s listening can actually take away this systematic year and try and implement it into their own life, especially since we’re approaching a new year.

00;12;39;13 – 00;12;54;17
Lindsey
What greater way than to kind of start that with this idea and this concept? So you’ve hit your first points and continue on because this is really important, but I don’t want people to be like, Oh, well, you did this just in the military, so it doesn’t apply to me.

00;12;54;17 – 00;13;10;25
Lindsey
That’s not true. You’ve done it multiple times over in different careers and in different areas of your life, specifically, even just recently with your challenge and things like that. And now getting ready to go into a new job in a new position, you’ll be adding it and incorporating it all over again.

00;13;11;29 – 00;13;17;25
Jon
Yeah, 100% correct. And I think they’ll become evident as we continue talking as well. But I appreciate that you called.

00;13;17;25 – 00;13;18;27
Jon
That out because.

00;13;20;00 – 00;13;35;22
Jon
I really start exploring this concept through the contract challenges I’ve done over the last year and realized that kind of earlier I foreshadowed, I realized I was trying to continue a seat like this trajectory when really I was back at phase one.

00;13;35;26 – 00;13;36;08
Jon
Right?

00;13;36;10 – 00;13;54;09
Jon
And we’ll come back to that. But the you hit the nail on the head. So you know, the first 90 days, it’s that observe familiar eyes and test, right? Why is this stinkin wall here? It doesn’t make sense to me, but maybe I’m missing something like, let’s not be so arrogant to think that I have the solution

00;13;54;09 – 00;13;54;27
Jon
right off the bat.

00;13;54;28 – 00;13;58;20
Lindsey
Yeah, and everybody else is like, No, the wall serves a purpose like it.

00;13;58;21 – 00;13;59;11
Jon
Maybe it doesn’t.

00;13;59;21 – 00;14;12;14
Lindsey
Right? And it could not. It could just be because it’s there and everybody’s used to it being there. It’s just like, it’s just the wall. It’s there, and no one’s questioned it to figure out if it needs moved or torn down.

00;14;12;18 – 00;14;12;28
Lindsey
Yeah.

00;14;13;12 – 00;14;27;22
Jon
So that’s kind of the first 90 days, right? And it’s really more discipline yourself, especially as a leader and in the organization, you don’t want to come in guns blazing because you end up looking foolish. So where you put yourself at significant risk?

00;14;27;27 – 00;14;36;19
Jon
So that’s kind of the idea. It’s really more to discipline yourself. Take all those good ideas, write them down, sit on them and only action. What’s absolutely necessary, right?

00;14;36;20 – 00;14;37;17
Lindsey
Kind of observe.

00;14;37;22 – 00;14;55;03
Jon
So that’s Q1. The next 90 days you start shifting norms. So this is when you begin actioning on those observations, right? At this point, if you’ve done your job well, looking at this through the leadership lens first, then.

00;14;56;03 – 00;15;10;13
Jon
You’ve began to earn some relational capital. You’ve invested in your people and built relationship. And at this point, hopefully they’re beginning to trust that you’re there to serve them and to do things that make sense to improve the organization.

00;15;10;13 – 00;15;14;18
Lindsey
So yeah, for the good of the organization, not just the selfishness of the leader type of thing.

00;15;14;20 – 00;15;33;07
Jon
Correct. And that is a prerequisite if that, you know, this is born of the idea of servant leadership. Right. And. There’s this concept called the Overton Window, which is essentially if you take like a line and you put a rectangle on it, like put it towards the left of the line.

00;15;34;28 – 00;15;35;13
Jon
The.

00;15;37;04 – 00;15;54;21
Jon
And then so you have the line with the rectangle, that rectangle represents the cultural norms of the group. OK. And then let’s say on this line on the right side, the far extreme is excellence and on the left side is poor performance or slaughtered like just ate up, right?

00;15;54;21 – 00;16;13;01
Jon
Not good. Wherever that rectangle is, is where the team is, right? If you come in and just try to shift the culture and the standards straight to the excellence side, you’re going to lose everyone. Right? So the next, you know, the next nine days and you start this in the first quarter, and that’s where the nuance comes

00;16;13;01 – 00;16;28;29
Jon
in, but you have to do it wisely and deliberately and you can get a lot more aggressive in the next. The second quarter of 90 days. But you can begin just upping the game so that that rectangle shifts towards excellence so that the Overton window, the cultural norms of the group.

00;16;28;29 – 00;16;39;17
Jon
What’s acceptable behavior on the day to day begins to improve and increase in quality towards excellence. And you’ll spend. That never stops, right?

00;16;39;18 – 00;16;41;24
Lindsey
Yeah, it shouldn’t, it should not. Yeah, it.

00;16;41;24 – 00;16;57;12
Jon
Starts day one with the with the absolute necessities and the minor things. It picks up in intensity in the second quarter. Right. Because these are like rough frameworks of thought. Right. And then they never stop. But that’s the primary goal of the second quarter.

00;16;57;12 – 00;17;20;22
Jon
And then the third is you’re primarily there to refine and improve performance. If you’ve done your job well in that second 92nd period of 90 days, then you’ve. Mate, it’s been uncomfortable if there’s like significant changes that need done, significant adjustments are underway and you’re starting to norm through those changes and people are starting to get into

00;17;20;22 – 00;17;37;05
Jon
a rhythm at this higher level of performance. And at that point, hopefully you’ve gotten most of the boulders, or at least you have a plan to get these big problems resolved over time and you’re going to continue to in that third set of 90 days, really focus on refining and improving performance.

00;17;37;11 – 00;17;56;24
Jon
Yeah. You know, so so far, your primary goal is to just observe and familiarize in the first quarter your second quarter goals to begin shifting norms more aggressively towards excellence in whatever your goals are for the organization. And then the third, you’re taking a step back and trying to refine and see what you’ve missed and continue to

00;17;56;24 – 00;18;13;05
Jon
improve performance and solidify norms and solidify that high new standard. And that brings you to the fourth quarter, which is the way I’ve always looked at replacing yourself. Right? Because if you’re if you’re not building in, this starts at the beginning also right?

00;18;13;05 – 00;18;31;19
Jon
And how you empower your subordinate leaders and how you empower the team. But if you’re not heavily looking at how do I make myself unnecessary here by that fourth quarter, I’m of the mind. Your feeling, your organization. And if you don’t start with that end in sight from the beginning, then you’re filling your organization because no one

00;18;31;19 – 00;18;38;18
Jon
needs God’s gift to man. They need someone who’s there to help them and who they can continue to help themselves with. They’re gone, right?

00;18;38;25 – 00;18;39;06
Jon
Right.

00;18;39;13 – 00;18;53;06
Jon
So in that last 90 days of the year, I’m really looking at, OK, what has changed that we need to capture so that we can pass on this information to the next group, right to the next set of leaders.

00;18;53;06 – 00;19;08;06
Jon
And so, you know, team members and family members or whatever. And that comes in what needs written down, what needs captured, who needs further mentorship or coaching so that they can step into the void if I fail and who can step into their place if they fail and if we both fail, who can step into the place

00;19;08;06 – 00;19;21;06
Jon
or die or whatever? Right, right. And that’s what that last 90 days is. And then if you’re in there longer has just enjoy the ride, continue to improve, continue to refine, continue to go. So that’s the systematic year, right?

00;19;21;14 – 00;19;35;01
Jon
And it was really easy because new job in the army specifically. All right. You leave your leadership role, you get a new role and reset the watch. I am an observer familiarization role, right? Well, that worked really well.

00;19;35;01 – 00;19;50;29
Jon
Like you said, going into corporate America, I was a manager. A district portfolio manager did Guy, and I had a team and I had resources and everything, so was easy first nine days familiarizing and observe and then go through that cycle, right?

00;19;51;04 – 00;20;08;00
Jon
And I left about 15 months in, so I had six months of that. Just I had three months of just that gravy after trying to solidify things and, you know, doing the best we could there. Then we moved here and have been here in this current role for 18 months and lifestyle.

00;20;08;18 – 00;20;25;11
Jon
And again, just repeat it and guess what? I’m going to do this again as I go into this new role so that first nine days and when discipline myself to observe the memories and then start becoming more aggressive, appropriate to the circumstances and then start refining and then start.

00;20;27;24 – 00;20;40;23
Jon
Really making sure that I’m not. A critical need, but you know, I’m adding value so that when I’m retained me essentially. And that’s the, I’d say, the professional lens, right? Yeah. So.

00;20;42;09 – 00;20;52;19
Lindsey
Personal now you can make it applicable to someone who maybe not in a managerial role.

00;20;52;27 – 00;20;53;05
Jon
Hmm.

00;20;53;14 – 00;20;59;03
Lindsey
And you’ve learned how to do this through your challenges on a personal level.

00;21;00;02 – 00;21;01;23
Jon
Yeah, I rang them contracts now.

00;21;01;23 – 00;21;08;08
Lindsey
But I know, but I’m just saying this has been something that you’ve learned doing that personally.

00;21;08;09 – 00;21;10;17
Jon
Well, Frank, frankly, I made the correlation this week.

00;21;10;24 – 00;21;30;03
Lindsey
You did. Yeah, it was not a this wasn’t something that you necessarily was like, I’m going to start a systematic year personally. No, it was were reflecting on this last year. And we just happen to kind of stumble on it like, Oh, hey, I kind of do this in corporate and my job in my professional setting.

00;21;30;17 – 00;21;49;10
Lindsey
I didn’t realize I was starting to implement some of this personally. I think that’s really it’s a good distinction to see, and I’m not sure that you do it 100% because, you know, you’re not necessarily like trying to learn the culture and these types of things because it’s you.

00;21;49;13 – 00;22;07;06
Jon
So the thing that was good, though, because you’re hitting like, you’re right, we’re reentering a season of heavy transition. I realized that I think this works for when you’re entering a season of heavy transition as a potential frame of reference for the first year ish.

00;22;07;11 – 00;22;28;15
Jon
Right. So looking back at the year and realizing, Oh, this cycle applies, I don’t think I’m making forcing the shoe to fit. But I better understood what I’ve experienced this last year on a personal level, when I drew the connection between what I just described as like this systematic year frame of thought on how you can behave

00;22;30;16 – 00;22;57;08
Jon
and. The personal growth. Things I’ve been forcing myself to experience in the journey that that is in real quick because you mentioned like, you know, if someone’s not a managerial role, I think that if whatever your job is, whether it is a homemaker, you know, homemaker or whether it’s SEO apprentice or subject matter expert, even if you’re

00;22;57;08 – 00;23;14;25
Jon
not an elite, like if there’s zero leadership experience, I think that this still works right because you like you don’t want to be the new guy in the first 90 days spouting off, but you can be the quote unquote bottom guy on the totem pole and still provide valuable insight that changes organizations.

00;23;15;07 – 00;23;26;20
Jon
So. You know, there’s there’s kind of that challenge to step up and Luke Foley, but there’s also like a prudent wise way to do that, regardless of what your formal responsibilities may or may not be.

00;23;28;06 – 00;23;29;04
Jon
That’s just an aside.

00;23;30;23 – 00;23;49;27
Jon
Brian, on the personal one, looking back at the year, I realized the first 90 days, right, the first like 23 challenges were really me just kind of dabbling and experimenting. So it wasn’t so much observation. But I was familiarizing myself with this new idea and experimenting with it and then kind of looking at the next quarter ish

00;23;50;03 – 00;23;57;00
Jon
, right? I realized I was beginning to become a lot more aggressive in what those contracts look like and what.

00;23;57;21 – 00;24;10;04
Lindsey
They would well in your days got longer, in a sense to say, Hey, I’m going to push past this mark to really make sure that I’m going to stay consistent when I don’t want to be consistent. Correct.

00;24;10;28 – 00;24;25;14
Jon
You’re absolutely correct. So that that second 90 days and the third 90 days was really hard or achieve name ratcheting in new norms and then refining performance on what what that look like.

00;24;25;20 – 00;24;40;10
Lindsey
Yeah. And now you’re kind of looking at that like, OK, what do I want to sustain from these contracts? I’ve made this last year with me. What are things that I’ve really enjoyed that have pushed me further? And what are areas that I still want to improve in?

00;24;41;00 – 00;24;47;14
Jon
You’re correct because the way I look at this last year is that was it was a unique year. I don’t plan on replicating it.

00;24;48;06 – 00;24;48;17
Jon
And.

00;24;48;25 – 00;25;01;09
Jon
I can’t travel the same road of I’ve gone down. Correct. Right. Like, the changes that I was pursuing have taken root and now I’m in a different I have different targets, different goals. So it’s like it would be inappropriate to repeat that year.

00;25;02;14 – 00;25;13;02
Jon
I’d missed what I’m aiming for now. It would cause me to step back. So realizing that there was kind of this continuity flair recently, I wouldn’t say it was in the last 90 days because I wasn’t aware of it.

00;25;13;15 – 00;25;25;19
Jon
I was aware of it this last week when I realized I needed to revisit what contract I’m doing right now and retro like re furbish it to make sure is aiming at where I want to go, not where I’ve been.

00;25;25;24 – 00;25;26;05
Lindsey
Right.

00;25;26;16 – 00;25;44;20
Jon
And in that way, there was continuity as far as what must be sustained and what needs to be loosened up to allow greater flexibility in time, schedule resources, everything. Because you can’t maintain, I do believe this. This is such semantics.

00;25;44;20 – 00;25;59;08
Jon
But I think linguistically it makes sense. At least the way I’m going to use the words. The idea and the reason I say you can’t maintain something is everything in life is either growing or it’s dying, it’s improving or it’s getting worse.

00;25;59;21 – 00;26;11;20
Jon
And you know, it’s swelling or contracting now, maybe so many that you can’t tell the difference for a while, kind of like a frog in a kettle. It doesn’t rise to boiling until it’s too late. Yeah, there can be changes you’re just not aware of.

00;26;12;08 – 00;26;28;03
Jon
But if your goal is to maintain, you’re going to. Date, whatever it is you’re maintaining, it’s going to diminish. So I said there’s things I want to continue. I want to sustain in the difference I’d say and sustain is I’m going to continue to cause growth.

00;26;28;18 – 00;26;40;22
Jon
It’s just going to be a very minor incremental level. Right. It’s not going to be extreme up front. It’s going to be like a long term 1% a day type of strategy instead of aiming for like an aggressive 3%.

00;26;41;00 – 00;26;41;09
Jon
Right?

00;26;41;11 – 00;26;52;16
Jon
And that’s in maintains the idea that you can just sit at zero and stay there, sustain. I’d say it’s 1% a day. And then, you know, aggressive growth is 3% or something, just playing with numbers and mental thoughts.

00;26;53;06 – 00;27;12;02
Jon
So looking at it? Like specifically, I determined. Well, I want to do, you know, five key on the salt bike every day and continue to up the minimum rotations per minute that I do so that I’m getting continued better cardiovascular shape, right?

00;27;12;02 – 00;27;17;14
Jon
So my goal is to do them an 8080 repetitions a minute, which is insane rotations a minute.

00;27;17;14 – 00;27;18;18
Jon
Yeah, that’s a lot on that.

00;27;18;18 – 00;27;30;13
Jon
Like, I’m maintaining like 67 right now. So it’s like, that’s one of them. I won’t do that Monday through Saturday. I want to protect Sundays as rest days going into this new season of change and craziness. So that’s being preserved.

00;27;30;24 – 00;27;48;22
Jon
I want to sustain waking up between four and 5:30, depending on the requirements of the day and giving myself that window because of things like Brazilian jiu jitsu that are at night and going can go late. And then I want to get back into strength training, some doing five lifts a day, right?

00;27;49;24 – 00;28;05;15
Jon
And for the next season, I have those five lifts determined for each day and I’m focusing on one compound movement a day. So it’s five k one compound movement. Move on. Yeah, because the time requirements for all these different priorities are such that that will be sufficient to grow that 1% a day.

00;28;05;29 – 00;28;15;09
Jon
Right. I’m not aiming for three and. Oh, yeah. I want to avoid social media on the phone like a plague, right?

00;28;15;18 – 00;28;16;19
Lindsey
Yeah, that one’s still.

00;28;17;09 – 00;28;38;28
Jon
And that’s just because I’m happier without it and I’m realizing I don’t want to go down this tangerine now, but but I’m realizing. You’re not smarter than the billions of dollars and billions of data points they have to utilize to slowly, incrementally in real time feed you data that shifts focus over time period.

00;28;39;02 – 00;28;43;10
Jon
Right. And if you think you are. I would challenge you to opine like.

00;28;43;18 – 00;28;45;16
Lindsey
It’s all subliminal messaging.

00;28;45;22 – 00;29;03;25
Jon
Yeah. And it’s so Manute, it’s so many. So I’m going to I think there’s room for that and another conversation. But you know, I love not having it is the bottom line. So with those in mind, I’m focusing on protecting family time on the Sundays and focusing on getting the strength I want through those lifts and focusing

00;29;03;25 – 00;29;21;23
Jon
on improving cardiovascular through that. And then additionally, part of the growth is my goal outside of constraints put on me from my environment where I can’t because of something I can’t see is to do every Tuesday and Thursday and go train Brazilian jujitsu.

00;29;22;21 – 00;29;30;11
Jon
All right, so that’s one of those things that I get to now observe right and familiarize yourself with.

00;29;30;25 – 00;29;31;09
Jon
So it’s like.

00;29;32;00 – 00;29;48;02
Jon
That’s looking at this next goal and it’s it’s organized to maximize time and freedom of resources outside of those while still causing incremental growth. And I think that’s going to be important going into a very different environment. The week’s going to look very different.

00;29;48;28 – 00;30;02;08
Jon
You know, for all of us and everything else in in that way, it applies directly like, Oh my goodness. Knowing that I’m going into the next 90 days, really just trying to see what, what’s up and what’s down, right?

00;30;02;09 – 00;30;02;21
Lindsey
Yeah.

00;30;02;24 – 00;30;16;04
Jon
How does Brazilian jiu jitsu affect life? How does the new job affect life? How does everything else? And then just make sure that no matter what come hell or high water, I check the box on those baseline. Minimal growth tasks that I’m holding myself to.

00;30;16;22 – 00;30;37;13
Jon
So that’s how I’ve played with it thus far. Of looking at this like framework that really applies professionally well when you’re going into different roles to myself on this kind of growth thing of, OK, where am I? That informs how I’m perceiving things and that equips me to make better decisions, right?

00;30;38;00 – 00;30;59;18
Jon
And one thing I’m projecting as well. Is, you know, 100 hundred and 240 days from now or so. I’ll be asking the question, am I setting myself up for like a long, slow growth trajectory? Or do I envision transition in the next 90 to 120 days?

00;31;00;04 – 00;31;14;10
Jon
Because now I have the awareness having gone through this like little exploration with you to say, OK, I know that in nine months, I should be asking that question so that I can be engaging with what we’re doing appropriately.

00;31;15;07 – 00;31;34;04
Jon
So that’s how I think it applies personal. And I also think it gives freedom, right when you’re starting something, it’s not that first ten days, it’s not the first 30. It’s you’ve got to give yourself that first 90 days to really observe what’s working, what’s not to really familiarize yourself with the discomfort of the discipline, the grit

00;31;34;25 – 00;31;43;11
Jon
of whatever your new pursuit may require of you. To be able to even have an honest conversation with yourself on what you want to do with it moving forward.

00;31;43;21 – 00;32;03;07
Lindsey
Yeah. And then take a couple of days after that first 90 days to really reflect and see what were the things that worked extremely well. What were the areas that were hard? And you kind of started to fail in and be like, OK, let’s try and carry that one through or readjusted a little bit and, you know

00;32;03;15 – 00;32;19;15
Lindsey
, move forward that way. But I think that that’s a great way. Instead of just giving yourself a, you know, a short snippet like 21 days to change it or 30 days to change you, you really give yourself a long period of time to say, I’m going to be consistent in this.

00;32;19;25 – 00;32;34;28
Lindsey
And at the end of this, all reflect and look at what’s been really good, what’s challenged me, what’s pushed me, what has been growth in me and then go, OK, let’s look at the next 90 days and see what we’re going to do here.

00;32;35;11 – 00;32;35;22
Lindsey
Mm hmm.

00;32;37;05 – 00;32;50;07
Jon
Yeah. And one just caveat nuance to further free up because some people take things very literally. And I think that’s important to commit to the longevity of the 90 days. But I think it’s also OK to say, OK, I’m going to put, you know.

00;32;51;09 – 00;32;53;20
Jon
three, 30 day cycles in that right?

00;32;53;21 – 00;32;54;17
Lindsey
Yeah, that’s smart.

00;32;54;18 – 00;33;05;14
Jon
Kind of incrementally adjust that. Look at this first three days. I hated this. I did it, but I didn’t get benefit from it. So I’m substituting it in this next 30 days. But then you’re committing to doing something for 90 days.

00;33;05;27 – 00;33;11;27
Jon
So you may improve on it for what works for you three times and then you can take all that data into the future.

00;33;12;08 – 00;33;13;07
Lindsey
Yeah, absolutely.

00;33;13;21 – 00;33;18;04
Jon
Which may work better. It’s another alternative way of addressing it.