Behind the Beard | February 2, 2022
Something I'm Reading:
About half-way through the book I mentioned last week, “How Not To Diet” by Michael Greger. Really interesting history of how and why Americans started eating so badly over the past 50 years.
Something I Teach:
Margin: Around the edges of a page, is blank space. There is also space between the paragraphs, space between words, even space between letters. Without this “margin” - it’s just a mess. Beauty and order and progress is, therefore, a product of the blank spaces, the margin, in printed text. The same is true for our lives. One thing I value highly in my life is incorporating these moments of margin - empty space designed for nothing and to be kept that way. Margin in my hour - where I take a few moments to close my eyes and breathe. Margin in my day, beginning with 30-60 minutes of “miracle morning” time. Margin in my week, when I take a weekly “Sabbath” day where I use no phones and focus on family. Margin in my year with extended vacations and staycations. So - my encouragement to you is this: add some margin into your life today, this week, and this year. You’ll find a deeper, richer, more meaningful, and less stressful life.
Something I Photographed:
Each week I share a photo I snapped in the previous week. Sometimes serious. Sometimes random and funny. Maybe a selfie once in a while. Just because.
Got to play music here, at my church, this past weekend! Great time. If you’re ever in Maui, check out Hope Chapel. I play once a month or so!
Something I'm Excited About:
ODC is growing and we have been hosting the "ODC Job Fair" this past week to hire for 5 open positions at ODC. If you're interested in working for me and my team, this is your last chance to apply! All job postings will be closed by end of day today (Wednesday, February 2nd).
All positions are currently still open but we are specifically looking for some more applicants for on our-site Property & Project Manager in Louisville, KY! You can apply or learn more here.
Something I Can Answer:
Each week, I'll be answering one question from someone on my BehindTheBeard textletter! Want your question answered? Submit it by simply replying to this text!
Question: “Once you have moved yourself from $10/hr tasks to $100/hour tasks, how strict are you with yourself to not get pulled back to $10/hr tasks?”
Great question. For those unaware, the concept comes from this idea that everything you do has a dollar/hr attached. Mowing your lawn is a $10/hr task. Negotiating a big acquisition could be a $100,000 per hour task. So, the more we shift to higher dollar-per-hour tasks, the wealthier we become and the less we need to work.
BUT...how do we avoid getting pulled back? A few things that work for me.
First, I live with a constant question floating in my head: how do I never have to do this again? It’s always there, in every situation. Of course, not everything can be outsourced (like, spending time with the kids) but the question, always being there, helps me make sure that I’m at least asking it.
Second, usually when you’re pulled into lower dollar-per-hour tasks, it’s because you didn’t create a good enough system yet, you didn’t hire the right person to do something, you aren’t managing them right, OR most likely....you have simply decided to do the task yourself because you are stubborn and think only you can do it. So - if I catch myself doing a low dollar/hr task, I ask myself: do I REALLY need to be doing this? If I don’t , I ask myself: am I doing it because I didn’t create a system for it, didn’t hire right, or didn’t manage right? This clarifying question usually helps get my mindset back in the right place.
Final tip: I ask myself, “is this what a General, in a war, would do?” Just asking that question usually shifts my mindset back out of a “cadet” role and into “general” role.
Your Friend,
P.S. Have a question you want answered by me? Reply to this text with your question - I pick one to answer each week in Behind the Beard and do my best to reply to others directly via text.