How to Improve Every Day

Mark Cole:

Welcome to the Maxwell Leadership podcast. This is the podcast that adds value to leaders who multiply value to others. My name is Mark Cole, and for 23 years I’ve ridden shotgun beside John Maxwell and I’ve watched him make every day count. And so today John is going to teach us ten ways to make sure you’re growing every day. How can you and I start out this week? Perhaps this is the beginning of the year for many of you listening live, and today is a day you can begin making a difference now as you listen to the podcast. If you would like to download the bonus resource for this episode or watch us on YouTube, go to MaxwellPodcast.com/everyday. I’m excited to grow this year with you on the Maxwell podcast. I’m excited to grow today.

Mark Cole:

Here is John Maxwell.

John Maxwell:

I have decided to grow and improve daily. George Knox in Leadership magazine said, when you cease to be better, you cease to be good. When you stop growing, you cease to be useful. A weed in the garden of prosperity. We are what we are today because we were what we were yesterday. And our thoughts today will determine our actions tomorrow. And the path from ordinary to the extraordinary is continual improvement. So what I’m going to do is I’m going to daily choose to improve.

John Maxwell:

Many people realize that I am continually in a personal growth plan. I have been since 1973 and many years ago I heard a wonderful lesson on growth. I have some wonderful friends in the Kansas City area, Vernon, Charlene, Armitage. Vernon, Charlene are terrific people. What Charlene taught was this. Life’s goals are reached by setting annual goals, and annual goals are reached by setting daily goals. And daily goals are reached by doing things which may be uncomfortable at first, but eventually will become habits. And habits are powerful things.

John Maxwell:

Habits turn actions into attitudes and attitudes into lifestyles. So for many years now, I’ve set an intellectual goal, I’ve set a physical goal, I’ve set a spiritual goal, and I’ve set a relational goal. Now, that’s simple, isn’t it? But it’s a wonderful model. It may not be the model that you want to use, but the question I’m asking you is, are you improving every day? Have you made the decision and have you developed a discipline in which every day you say, I’m improving, I’m improving physically, I’m improving hopefully mentally, I’m hopefully improving relationally. What’s your gauge? How do you keep growing? How do you keep improving? So let me give you some improvement insights. Number one, don’t be afraid to admit you were wrong. And the reason that you and I should not be afraid to admit that we were wrong. Is it proves you’re wiser today than you were yesterday.

John Maxwell:

Isn’t that great? Boy, if you never admit you’re wrong, you’re saying, I’m not growing, I’m not wiser. So don’t be afraid. Just admit you’re wrong. Number two, you will never change your life until you change something that you do daily. I love that statement. I could camp there for the next 20 minutes. Because you cannot change your life until you change something daily. The change in your life is determined about the change that you make today.

John Maxwell:

Again, the secret of your success and my success is discovered in our daily agenda. Number three, you cannot manage what you cannot measure. So what you’ve got to do is you’ve got to identify the areas that growth is essential to your success and you have to be able to measure them. Just a simple example, but we come up to New Year’s, New Year’s resolutions, somebody will say something like, I’m going to read more this year than I read last year. Okay, that’s wonderful, but it’s not the way to do it. If you really want to improve, don’t say you’re going to read more next year than you did this year. Say, every day I’m going to read two chapters of a book this year. Now you see what I’ve done? I’ve got your intentions measured now.

John Maxwell:

And every day you gauge your intentions by, did I read two chapters in a book or did I read one chapter or did I read two books a month? Or did I read one book a month? Okay. In other words, take your intentions and take your goals and make them measurable. Number four, set realistic expectations for your improvement. In McGregor says, I work on the same principle as people who train horses. You start with low fences, easily achieved goals, and you work up. It is important in management never to ask people to try to accomplish goals they can’t accept. What can you tackle in a day? Because whatever you tackle today, you need to tackle tomorrow and the next day. So you got to get it down there because that’s where the compounding always comes in.

John Maxwell:

Number five, continual change is essential for continual improvement. They go together. One of the great paradoxes of success, the things. Oh, this is true. The things which got you there are seldom the things which keep you there. Wow. Continual change is essential for continual improvement. Number six, motivation gets you started.

John Maxwell:

Habits keep you going. Number seven, another improvement. Insight. We overestimate what we can do in a month and we underestimate what we can do in a year. That’s just true. We are infatuated with big and fast. Boy, if I can just get there quicker. If you got a shortcut, how big is it going to be? Big and fast.

John Maxwell:

Number eight, focus William James, noted psychologist said, if you would be rich, you will be rich. And if you would be good, you will be good. And if you would be learned, you will be learned. But wish for one thing exclusively and don’t at the same time wish for 100 other incompatible things just as strongly. Focus is what he said. I love this statement. My goal was to retire when I reached 40. I have been partly successful.

John Maxwell:

I reached 40. Lily Tomlin one time said, I always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific. Another improvement. Insight number nine. Number nine, spend 80% of your time working on your strengths. And you’ve heard me in conferences say before, people don’t pay for average. Got to work on your strengths. Got to stay where your gifts and your abilities are.

John Maxwell:

If you work on something that is a weakness, I can promise you it’s just not going to get very good. It just really isn’t. From a one to a ten. If you’re a three, you may work hard and get up to four. You may be able to get up to five, but you’re still average. You work on your strengths. Spend 80% of your time working on your strengths. Now, I’m talking about skills, by the way.

John Maxwell:

I’m talking about skills is there are two weak areas that will hurt you and that you must work on. One is self discipline, which is what we’re really talking about in this lesson. And number two is attitude. You see, if you have all the skills and strengths of the world, but you lack self discipline or you have a bad attitude, you will literally sabotage yourself. Insight number ten is what I am doing today, getting me closer to my goal tomorrow.

Day to Grow:

Hey, John Maxwell here. I’m in the studio and we’ve been recoding all day. And, I was thinking about really one of my very favorite experiences that we have, and that is called Day to Grow. If you want to grow, you want to grow in every area of your life, I tell people all the time, “You don’t want to go to something, you want to grow to something.” But if you’re passionate about personal growth, development, your team and growing them, you do not want to miss Day to Grow. I’m going to have some real players with me: Deion Sanders, Jamie Kern Lima, myself, oh my gosh. You don’t want to miss it. So mark it, come and see us on Day to grow. I will promise you this. You come and bring your team, at the end of the day, you’ll come up and shake my hand and say, “One of the best days I’ve ever invested in for myself, and for my team. I’ll see you there.

Mark Cole:

Hey, everybody. Welcome back. What a lesson from John. I’ll tell you this, by the way, if you’re listening to this current happy new year. We’re so glad this is the beginning of the new you and we’re so excited. If you’re not listening to it, happy new year. Just start over. Just.

Mark Cole:

Let’s go. Because Traci Morrow and I am so excited to have Traci. Traci, what a great way to start another year together with you co hosting the Maxwell leadership podcast. I’m so glad you’re here.

Traci Morrow:

I’m so glad I’m here. Happy new year. You know what? What is my problem? You know how usually in a new year you write, like 23 when you’re writing your date? I wrote the other day, 93. Like 1993. What a brain hiccup. What’s my problem? I’m going way back. I went back, way back.

Mark Cole:

If you still write checks like me, just because you’re stuck in the stone ages, don’t forget to put 24 on your checks that you’re going to send to me. Just make it right. Hey. Today John is challenging us on how to improve every day. So your first moment of improvement is write the right year in the date. Okay.

Traci Morrow:

It’s true. Decade. I’d be satisfied for the right. That’s 20 years back. 20 years back.

Mark Cole:

But it was a good year, Traci. It was a good year.

Traci Morrow:

It was a great year. It was a great year. So I think this is a great. You know what? It’s taking me back because what I was thinking about, I was getting back into my twenty s and I first heard this from John. That is a big stretch, by the way. But I learned about this when I was in my twenty s. I was 22 the first time. Would you remember how old you were the first time you heard this concept from John? Can you remember back that far?

Mark Cole:

So somehow I caught a little bit of the concept when I read his first book, developing the leader within you, which would have been. Oh, my gosh. Would have been in probably late 80s, early ninety s. Yeah.

Traci Morrow:

Wow. So I was 22, so that would have been 92 or 93. So maybe I really was thinking back. But for me, this showed me that the sky was the limit. There really was no end. There really was no Chris is what. You didn’t put me into a box. And I loved that.

Traci Morrow:

That really is why I chose John to be my mentor, because there was no limit to my growth. And I love this lesson. And he kicks it right off with improvement, insights, and the very first one, I would love to hear some insight from you because the first one is, don’t be afraid to admit that you’re wrong. It proves that you’re wiser today than you were yesterday. Which, by the way, I hope you guys have, ladies and gents, have printed out our bonus resource because it’s so helpful to have this and put it into a binder or a notebook or something. But Mark, why do you think that it is so hard for leaders to admit, well, people in general, but for leaders to admit that they’re wrong?

Mark Cole:

Yeah. So I want to answer the question, but this was just how my mind works. Every session or most every episode. Almost every episode, I finish the episode with a comment from you, our listeners, our viewers. It’s a way to keep you engaged. I would love for you to ask questions, give us questions. Traci and I will wrestle with your exact questions. It’s just a way to stay connected with the community.

Mark Cole:

And I thought, Jake, get ready, because if our podcast listeners will take this first point to heart, don’t be afraid to admit you’re wrong. Our comments next episode is going to be from significant others. My wife is going to say, I love the Maxwell Leadership podcast that I never listened to because I finally heard my husband admit he’s wrong. So for all of you that go and do this, I’m expecting a ton of comments next week from your significant other. But I digress. Traci, I do think that isn’t it true that in leadership, at least I’m not going to say in relationships, but in leadership, isn’t it true that we as the leaders, put a responsibility on ourselves, that we’ve got to always be right, perceived as right, and always have the answers right. So when we are wrong, and we are often, whether you admit it or not, it’s very hard because we have to say your perception of your leader is wrong. I didn’t get it right.

Mark Cole:

I didn’t make the right decision, and I made a mistake. And so for us as leaders to recognize in public, admit to our teams we did it wrong. It almost tricks us to think we can’t be a leader if we’re wrong, right?

Traci Morrow:

I completely agree. And I think it’s freeing for anyone listening to this kick off the new year with a new version of yourself that is willing to out yourself. Because what does John always say if you don’t admit it to your team? We think we’re tricking them into thinking that they don’t already know that we’re wrong.

Mark Cole:

Well, I love how John says a similar subject. He says, laugh at yourself. Everybody else is. Well, here’s the thing. Admit you’re wrong. Everybody else already knows that’s right. Just go ahead and put it out there and let the team know that you know you’re not right.

Traci Morrow:

Yeah. And it brings respect to your way because it’s comforting for our team to know that we know that we’re wrong and we’re humble enough to admit it. I can think of a couple podcasts ago when you talked about when you said, made a bold statement, I’m a good leader. I’m a great leader. And part of being a great leader is saying I’m wrong, because what you said, when you’re leading, you’re going to be wrong. And so it’s important. I know I’m kind of landing on this one with boots.

Mark Cole:

Traci, just for the podcast listeners that have started out this new year, you’ve googled us, and for the third year in a row, we’re the number one leadership podcast. I’m not a host that goes in and just says, hey, everybody, I’m a great leader. There’s a lot of context to what Traci just shared with you that I feel the need to share with you. And that is, I was in a particular slump. I was in a particular leadership valley, and I realized that my mindset was telling myself that I was the valley rather than I was going through the valley. And it’s like a batter that says I’m a terrible batter. But this lifespan batting average is pretty high. But that particular season, that was a season that Traci’s just referencing, that my batting average was low, and I was having to tell myself, I’m an overall pretty good leader.

Mark Cole:

So there you have it. You have not joined a podcast where the host reminds you every week how.

Traci Morrow:

Good they are of a bunch of egomaniacs. No, but part of good leadership is just saying I am wrong and telling that to your team. And so in order to be a good leader does not mean that you are never wrong. It’s being humble and saying, hey, you know what? I was wrong there, and I apologize for that. And, boy, does that buoy the spirit of your team. And so I love that he kind of kicks it off with that. He also kicks off with talking about the uncomfortable things that are necessary in order to develop habits. And I love all of that.

Traci Morrow:

And then it leads into habits, develop actions, actions develop attitudes and attitudes, develop a lifestyle. And then he lands on four things he talks about the goals that he makes sets for himself. Areas that he gets comfortable getting uncomfortable applying in these areas, which are intellectual and mental growth, physical growth, spiritual growth and relational growth. Four areas. Why? Mark? Those seem pretty simple. Because what are we? We are human beings. And as human beings, every leader is a human being. Every leader is body, mind and spirit.

Traci Morrow:

That is your intellectual, your mental part, your physical body, your spiritual part of yourself and your relationships with the other human beings. Why is this something that so many leaders miss? High end leaders miss, or at least neglect? At least one of these. They’re either very highly intellectual or they miss their physical, or they miss the relational because they are so busy with the physical and intellectual. There’s at least a miss in something. Why is it, do you think, well.

Mark Cole:

All four of those areas, and maybe for the rest of us a fifth area, 6th area, we all have pillars in our life that are very important. Traci has definitely listed four that’s very important in my life and perhaps for most of you, those four. And there may be a time or two more, but every one of those, we desire greatness, but we don’t realize that greatness comes with the improvement every day. And so, Traci, I think the reason that I would answer that is because we do not understand what John says so often. Consistency compounds we make a health decision and we call it a New Year’s resolution. And again, for all of you that are listening to this current, we’re at the beginning of the year 2024 is not going to be great because you made a New Year’s resolution. In fact, 2024 is not going to be great because you’ve already done your workout before listening to Traci and I this morning. It’s going to be great when December comes around.

Mark Cole:

If you’re still consistently living out the decisions you made today in January, it is the consistency compounds that is the difference maker. It’s not the decision. People make decisions every single day. It’s not the fact that you did it today that makes the difference. It’s that you did it day over day, day after day, week after week, month after month. And here we are in December of 2024. And you can say I have done that on a consistent basis. Consistency really does compound.

Mark Cole:

So when John says you will change your life until you won’t change your life until you change something you do daily, the ly in the daily is the important thing, not you will change your life if you do something different today than you did yesterday. Because most of us go back morrow to what we did yesterday and forget the moment of today, consistency compounds day over day, week over week, month over month.

Traci Morrow:

So at the end of every year, we know that you have a time where you break away and you really look at your year past and you look at the year coming forward. And so these pillars that you have, I know that you identify certain things that you’re going to do, but do you also have in ways that you’ll measure them in these pillars, do you also have something that you do with your team?

Mark Cole:

I do. So every beginning of every day, in fact, in one week from this podcast, we will have our state of the union and in our state of the union, and really we call it our state of the culture. In our yearly address, we began to talk about what we’re going to accomplish this year as a team, what we are going to challenge each of our teammates to accomplish as an individual, and what we’re going to accomplish with the mission, the vision, the purpose of our organization. Because oftentimes what happens, Traci, for all of us, is we begin with a discipline in mind rather than an end in mind. And when I can begin an exercise routine with the end goal of running a marathon, I do better job with a daily discipline. Rather than say, I just want to run every day. When there is something, an objective, a carrot to be pushing for, things begin to happen in a much greater way. So if we want to have a better team, we want to be more profitable.

Mark Cole:

We want to turn this business idea around. We begin by casting the vision of the outcome and then set the disciplines that’s going to happen. Let me take a minute, Traci. This is true for each of you listening today. For all of you, this is true of you that want to create a discipline today. In fact, I’ve asked our team, we tried this in December. It went so well, I’ve asked the team to create a process that will make you better as an individual. We call it every day with purpose.

Mark Cole:

And here’s what I want to tell you. If you want to continue your journey of improving every day, we’re offering all of you, our podcast listeners, this online course every day with purpose. Now, usually this course is $199, but because it’s January, because you’re listening to the podcast, and because I believe with all of my heart that it is your daily discipline of constant, constant doing it day in and day out, consistency compounds that will make this product your best friend. So this week, rather than $99 or $199, we’re going to offer it to you for just $49. If you’d like to purchase this course for yourself or maybe a teammate, maybe a growth mate. Just scroll down to the show notes and wherever you’re listening and click the link and take the journey with us. And I’m going to challenge you first and foremost to go the way before you tell somebody else to go the way. Show the way before you try to get somebody else to show their growth, but do take somebody with you.

Mark Cole:

And, Traci, again, it comes back to what I’m saying. And that is when consistency begins to compound. We look back and go, wow, I didn’t know we were that good. You’re not. But guess what? You’re not as bad in the beginning as it feels like either. Over time, you will begin to be better. And it’s because of consistency, not because you’re actually all of that better. You’re better because you consistently did it day in and day out.

Traci Morrow:

That’s right. And so I’m curious, now that you’ve established those things, and once you establish that with your state of the culture, with your team, and I’m sure that people are looking to do that, even if they weren’t planning on it before, they’re maybe thinking of that for their team. Now, in those areas, maybe your pillars, intellectual and mental, physical, spiritual and relational, those are four pillars that John gave us. Those are things that I have as well. And then I might even have subcategories like my relational. I might have in my marriage, then with my kids, then with my grandkids, then with my team, with my friends. I might have different categories for each of those subcategories. So then, once you have established those in both your personal life, mark, and then in your state of the culture with your team, do you have regular check ins for measuring that weekly so you don’t get to the end of the year in December of 2024, and you’re like, oh, shoot, we lost everybody back in February or in June.

Traci Morrow:

Do you have check ins weekly, Monthly, quarterly, annually to make sure that you aren’t losing track or that you need to kind of navigate or make course corrections along the way?

Mark Cole:

The answer is yes. In both our state of the culture, our team dynamics, our team plan, as well as my personal growth plan, and I’ve done it multiple ways, where there’s a weekly 30 minutes check in, there’s a monthly hour, 2 hours, there’s a quarterly 4 hours or 8 hours. I’ve done it multiple ways. The way that I found to be the best that I would recommend to you this year is already get on the calendar every quarter when you’re going to review again, if we’re talking about your personal plan, your personal intentional improvement plan for every day, or whether it is a team objective, go ahead at the beginning of the year and go ahead and get the quarterly check ins. But in the first month, I’m going to challenge you. For the first three months. It needs to be monthly. Here’s why.

Mark Cole:

No plan is good while it’s on paper. It’s only good when it’s put into practice. So get it off of paper, get it into practice, and be reviewing it every 30 days and tweaking it before it really becomes your plan. I’ve walked out of some of my year end reviews as if I was Moses coming down from Mount Sinai. I had the plan, and then sure enough, I found out by the time I got to putting it into implementation, it needed to be crashed on a bunch of rocks because it wasn’t that good. It needs to be developed, it needs to be cultivated, it needs to be activated, and it needs to be assessed to make sure that it’s on your plan. So again, yes, every quarter we are reviewing that as a team. I’m reviewing it as an individual.

Mark Cole:

But in the first quarter, I’m reviewing it every month to make sure that it’s working.

Traci Morrow:

What you just said made me think of something that Dan Cathy said a couple of years ago, and that’s from Chick fil A. He said, marry the message, date the method. And that is you have your message in place. You have the culture of what you do. But you might need to change your methods a little bit throughout the year and sometimes. We love our method. We love the way that we do things. We love the way that we set it up in January, and we don’t want to have to mess with it in July or even in September.

Traci Morrow:

But it’s important that if we really want to keep the message on track sometimes and the culture on track and the way that we are moving things and where we want to go, we do need to be able to hold that very loosely in order to tweak it and play with it. And I love being able to have that on the calendar already in January or February or whenever you’re listening to this, whenever you listen to this and start to apply this, it’s never too late. I say, treat every Monday like day. You know, we’ll say, happy new Monday. Happy new week. Every Monday can be a new fresh start. And that’s right in line with point number five. When John talks about continual change is essential for continual improvement because you’re going to learn things.

Traci Morrow:

Right. So then on these pillars, do you care to share what your pillars are? Are there those four, or do you have categories that have subcategories or share what yours are?

Mark Cole:

Yeah, thanks. And they’re very close to John. But let me give you mine as example for you. The biggest thing that I would tell anybody listening on the pillars, the things that support the life you want to live. And that’s the way I look at them. They are literally pillars. These are the things that must be settled, secure, and reinforced every single year for me to get to the life that I want to live. That’s what John’s talking about by pillars.

Mark Cole:

So for me, my pillars are, I have five and they’ve been my five for 19 years. I perfected it for four years. It took me four years to get the pillars that I really wanted. And then here’s my pillars. In every pillar, five pillars, every pillar has a three categories that I reinforce to make that a strong pillar. So pillar number one is personal, and that is how I’m personally growing, how I’m spiritually stable, and how I personally am leading. How am I leading myself? So it’s leadership, it’s spiritual, and then it is growth. Growth is a big enough category.

Mark Cole:

My second one is family. Family is super important to me. And then, so I have, how I reinforce my family with my relationship with my wife, how I reinforce my relationship with my immediate family, and how I reinforce my relationship at the family level with my extended family. My mom will be 95 in just a few months, a few weeks. So how do I extend my family? The third area for me is financial. How I save, how I spend and how I invest is how I look at financials. And I’m going kind of fast. You guys can back up and hit rewind here if you need to.

Mark Cole:

My fourth category is what I call my calling. Many of you would call it your vocation, or some of you are nonprofit leaders. You might would call it your ministry. For me, what I do is so aligned with my calling. So it is how I lead the team, how I lead the business, and how I lead our mission, because it’s my calling. And so our mission is our nonprofit. Our business is our business performance, and then our people is the team that helps us with the business performance. And I have a plan on each of those three.

Mark Cole:

And then finally, is my community. And my community is my neighborhood. That’s my immediate community. It’s my church. That’s my worship. Community. And it is my neighborhood, my city. How am I engaged in making a difference in my city? And so those are my 15 categories around those five pillars.

Traci Morrow:

I love that. And if you need to go back and rewind and write those down, that’s great. But feel free to make for those of you who are listening, make your own. Really look and personalize this. This should absolutely be what is personal to you, because look what Mark did. John, as his mentor, he made this very personal to him. My last question for you really lands on his last one, which is focus. How is it with all the things that you run with your five pillars and your three subcategories, making it 15 points with the children in your life, the large business that you run, the travel that you do, how do you keep focused on these? Do you have an accountability partner? Do you have someone who checks in with you? Is there somebody who, that holds you accountable to make sure that you’re keeping the main things? The main things, yeah.

Mark Cole:

So absolutely, without a doubt, my partner in my priorities, my partner in my schedule, my partner in travel and juggling is Kimberly Wetzel. She’s been on John and my team for about 19 years now. She’s been my executive partner, my executive assistant for about twelve years. And when I get finished with my yearly year in review, the first thing that I do is I call in my wife. She is the chairman of my executive advisor council. My personal advisory council is chaired by my wife, Stephanie. Stephanie, do you like the plan? Do you think the plan will make us better? Do you think the plan is something that we can buy in together as a couple? She’s my first meeting. She comes and she does not rubber stamp it.

Mark Cole:

Let’s be really clear. She picks it apart and she also assesses how I did the year before. But that’s my first meeting. My second meeting is with Kimberly. Kimberly. This is what Stephanie and I agreed is the plan. This is what we think the plan is going to look like. These are the moments in my schedule that needs to be protected.

Mark Cole:

And she begins to put it into play. And she is the executor. She is the execution element of my life plan, making sure that it’s on port. She’s accountability. She’s making sure that happens. Now, I’m getting into the weeds a little bit, but here’s what I will tell you. John talked about this focus thing. I decided years ago that people spend.

Mark Cole:

Stephanie and I spent 18 months building the home that we’re living in now. And we tweaked it and we cared about paint colors, and we decided floor covering, we decided shrubs, we decided all of that stuff. But forget homes because those are pretty complicated. And by the way, Stephanie and I stayed married during building a home together. Kudos to and then, but you have people that spend hours, days, months planning their family vacation, and yet they give no thought to the life they want to live. They put no intentionality into what they want to be imported in their life. And so I believe that focus on a better you. That’s why I made this digital products every day with purpose available to you for a low, low $49.

Mark Cole:

Because I believe that your intentionality around your life should be the one thing you focus on this entire year. It should be the focus. I’m very influenced by a book called the one Thing by Gary Keller, and he challenges us to get one thing to focus on in the sweet spot of our day, which for me is the morning, and focus on that one thing. So how do I run all of these things and stay focused on personal growth? Traci, every day of the week I have a one thing that I focus in the four hour sweet spot of my day, and everything else gets put on hold and I focus on that. It could be a business initiative, it could be a family need that we have to focus on. But every day one thing is going to get 4 hours of my undivided focus to make sure that it works. And I get up pretty early. So my one thing four hour segment is quite early.

Mark Cole:

A lot of times I’m done with my one thing for 4 hours before some people are getting up in the morning. God’s just blessed me with some dna from my mom that allows me to do that. But get focused and put something into practice. And for all of us, at the beginning of this, you need to go do every day with purpose for that incredible deal that we put out there for our podcast listeners. Traci, the standout statement that we’ve been driving home today is thoughts today, determine action tomorrow. And so what is your thinking today that’s going to make a difference? Hey, James from Germany is a podcast listener and James said this. He sent this to us on a recent episode called leadership expectations. By the way, if you missed that one, we’re going to put that in the show notes because that is a great podcast.

Mark Cole:

Here’s what James from Germany said. He said, I listen just about every day after my morning devotion and prayer as I’m walking my dog. But this one talking about leadership expectations spoke to me even more than any of the others. I’ve always battled being accused of having too high of expectations on myself, and that is often intimidating to others. This episode has once again shown me that I need to work on how I communicate those expectations on others and ensure that I am not expecting of others what I expect of myself. I need to encourage them to expect more of themselves versus them feeling that they need to live up to the expectations I put on them, because sometimes I make them too high. James, I remember that episode because I was talking about that I struggle with the same thing. I’m so glad, James, and all the rest of you, that we’re growing together.

Mark Cole:

The beginning of this year, the beginning of this week, let’s go make a difference, because everyone deserves to be led well.