Ep3 The Time Lie: Why Busy Entrepreneurs Stay Stuck

Joe Blackburn  0:00  
If you're gonna elevate and get the lion's edge, and everyone else that lives in your house is still down here, I have bad news for you. They're gonna resent you. So if you go up, you gotta raise up.

Jason Croft  0:11  
Welcome to the lion's edge, where top performers sharpen their teeth, hosted by Joe Blackburn, founder of The Lion, who is relentlessly dedicated to helping business owners lead multi million dollar teams and me. Jason Croft, I transform unseen entrepreneurs into industry leaders by developing their market gravity. Each week, we reveal proven strategies and raw insights to help you maximize your business, multiply your wealth and make your family indestructible. Now let's create your edge. Joe, how's it going? We are back again, back in

Joe Blackburn  0:51  
the saddle. Had a great Easter, spring break in the same week. I don't know who planned that, but that was me. Thanks. I figured you had a hand in it. You're like, can I double this up on you? But no, a great, great time. Ready to get back and rock and roll? Good to see you. Fantastic.

Jason Croft  1:08  
Yeah, it's good, good to get these rolling. I i love this, this topic we're talking about today, because it's, it's across the board in everyone's world, is the idea of time, yeah, time shortage and can't get enough in. I've been reading some books and stuff like that, which a nice perspective as well. We might interject this idea of just like, you're never gonna get everything done. So as soon as you let that in, right? Let's give up. You can kind of breathe, let it go. So, oh, that may layer in here as well, but specifically you're getting, I don't know about an objection, but that's, that's for people considering the lion and coming in. They're, they're, that's their main concern. It is more the time than anything else, what's, what's coming up around this, and what is, what are your reaction to

Joe Blackburn  2:04  
that? Well, I mean, the initial reaction from, once we go through all the mechanics and how it works and what expectations are, both sides, immediately goes to, I have no extra time, like I don't I mean, I'm already drowning. That's why I'm here so in people's minds, and you can do this, it's overwhelming. Like, with anything like, I don't have space for anything else, and for the line specifically, immediately we would start cutting things out, not adding two. So it's the opposite of what someone would perceive like, well, I've gotta learn something new. I gotta get a new routine. And that's more of what it is. It's the resistance to change than the physics of time constraints. So getting someone to understand you're probably doing a lot of things that aren't necessary, probably not saying no to enough things, and just the overwhelming feeling of, I've got so much going on. I don't want one more thing puts it in reverse, when, in reality, what we attack immediately is, how do I start eliminating as fast as possible? How do I prioritize what is important and what isn't? What do I say no to? What do I say yes to? I mean, so that actually starts giving you back capacity. And you know, we have a lot of different things we work on within the lion one of them, of course, is that the D word delegation, which, you know, we actually surveyed everybody in the last, I don't know, three weeks, four weeks coming out of the in person, and then did their employees. And of course, the shining thing was, not only am I not getting delegated to, I'm also not being trusted when I'm delegated to to get it done, and sometimes I get leapfrogged. So that's pretty common in the businesses we deal with where it's my baby and I don't want something bad to happen, so I'm gonna delegate it and then jump over you and just take care of it because I'm scared. So there's this whole, you know, I don't know, situation, I guess, where that's not reality, that's not actually what we're even asking anyone to do. And what we help with is, all right, let me start getting things in priority, first, then attack energy and lastly, time. So, I mean, it's, it's more about the first two than it is. I mean, time's time. You know, I saw online the other day, they have something that's going to bend space and time that they've been sitting on at the Pentagon or something, probably some conspiracy. But until I get access to that, it's how do I attack the first two my priorities and my energy, that's where you start. And again, most people, especially when we're talking about a significant investment of capital in yourself, they immediately go to, I don't have time for this, which is not true. So that's where that came from.

Jason Croft  4:47  
Yeah. And I like this idea that you back into that and instead of, okay, how do I get more time? That's our that's where our mind goes, which obviously,

Joe Blackburn  4:57  
could you produce some again, I can't.

Jason Croft  5:01  
Yeah, yeah. So to back into that, you mentioned that you start eliminating first. What are some examples of that for folks, just so they can get an idea of what gets eliminated. If my schedule's already jam packed. Well, we

Joe Blackburn  5:15  
actually have an exercise called Cut the bullshit, and it's about what you think. What's the bullshit in your daily, weekly, monthly life that you've said yes to or you feel obligated to, that isn't help you get close to your goal? You know, if I when you go through goal setting, if I've got a goal, the question becomes, is what I'm about to do, going to help me achieve my goal or not? And the answer is, no, I get the scissors out. And that's being judicious with your time. You know, most of us have this, and we've all been brought up this way, where it's almost like I'm hurting you by telling you no, or I'm hurt disappointing, or I'm letting you down. You know, you have parents. I'm one your kids learn that they don't want to disappoint people. I mean, I'm guilty of that as a parent. Sometimes I use it against them, like your mom's not gonna be very happy. It's my favorite one, but it's not really good for him psychologically. So what you wanna really take a hard look at is, what are the things that you're saying yes to under in your own mind, I guess your virtue or that I'm being, you know, selfless, but really, what you're doing is I'm saying yes to shit I don't want to do because I don't want to feel bad about feeling bad. So getting that like out on the table. So if I'm laser focused on my goals, is what you're about to do related to that. We've you know, especially as a business owner in a community, you're getting asked all the time, do you want to donate to this? You wanna volunteer to this? Your kids play sports like we were talking baseball earlier, I saw the sign up sheet and about how to panic attacks. Like, who's gonna do game changer? Who's gonna do the drinks? Who's gonna do the walk up songs like, oh, and I'm just like, I'm not doing any of that shit. I'll bring the drinks, because I can put them in a cooler and drag a cooler. So now I'm signed up for drinks. So if you have to do something, pick the thing that is heavy and is physical because you can move it. Don't do the one that takes a bunch of this, because you start, you know, I was talking about people saying, I don't have time. What they're actually doing is rationing. They're rationing their time. I If I put an hour into this, what's it going to cost me? And now I have to ration everything else. So it's just like, get specific, but start cutting, not adding, cut out things. And you know, you might have to tell someone No, like you might have to say, I'm not gonna do that, I'm not gonna be there. I'm not coming to that. No, thank you. What I would generally say, especially when you know the calendar is crazy, is, I believe I have something scheduled. I'll let you know if I have an opening or if I can make as your yeah as your default Yeah, rather than, and it's not a lie, because I'm pretty sure if someone checked my calendar, there's four people putting stuff on my calendar, and I'm sure there's something there, like I just, you know, default in my mind, and we talk about it on if you go back to, you know, being judicious with time, even if you don't have someone in your five three ones, for those of you that remember pillars, they should be on the calendar. That 531 should be on the calendar. So don't lie. Just have a full calendar and assume that, yeah, that I have something I'll get back to you that stops the negotiation. Well, why can't you make it you should. It's not gonna bother like you get out of the barter and just, I'll get back to you. But the biggest thing is really evaluating is what I'm doing, getting me closer to where I want to go. And when you go through that, it's eye opening,

Jason Croft  8:34  
yeah. And then I think, I think, hand in hand with that, is learning this skill, and you, you're getting there with what you mentioned as your default response, but especially those close to you communicating those goals, right? Like getting like, it's not just No, it's no, because this especially for those close to you, when it's somebody just randomly wanting your time. Nope, get back to you. Blah, blah, blah, but to communicate times with your kids, with your spouse, with whoever that may be, maybe your business partner, maybe your employees. Like we're trying. We have this specifically to hit. We're gonna move this around. This has to happen, and putting that at the forefront. And again, when you put it in goal form, it keeps that front and center in front of your face, like, oh yeah, so that those 30 minutes, they can be major

Joe Blackburn  9:30  
Well, one of the things you do in the beginning is a 10 year dream, and I always recommend do that with your spouse, even if they're so we encourage spouse in the line. We want them. If one of them's the owner and the other one has something else going on, we still want them to come to the in persons know what we're doing. You can't if you're going to elevate and get the lion's edge, and everyone else that lives in your house is still down here. I have bad news for you. They're going to resent you. So if you go up, you got to raise up. So we encourage that. But one of the first things is. Take the 10 year dream and sit down with the person you love the most or who's most important to you. Could be both and write out the dream. Because once the dreams out on paper and you've talked about it, then it's the mechanism against, do I do, do I do, or do I do not, and what's the cost? And is this something, you know, then I can actually have conversation based on something versus just, well, you're gonna make my mom feel bad? Are you gonna make you know, so and I will tell you we've moved so this is full transparency. There are times when people that we moved away from that are close to me, maybe even blood related, wonder why we're not, you know, running back to do things. It's like we got goals. We came down here to build something, and I love you and everything. And if they see this, they know I love them, but we're, you know, like this on what we're doing doesn't mean we won't spend time with them. I think I've been in this instance. I think I have to go back in late May. Don't really want to probably only go for two days instead of a full week. So it's that mentality of like, I'm gonna come back, I'm gonna see everyone, you know, hug everyone, tell them how much I love them, and then on Monday, I'm gonna be back in the saddle. So that and there, you know, that's a cost. Like, what it what are you willing to do? And that doesn't mean you shit on everyone in your life. I'm just saying, if you have a laser focus. It's easier to say no. And as you said, if I communicate that, especially to my immediate circle, the people close to me, you know, it's funny. You brought this up because I would, Lauren and I were talking yesterday, in big bites, this week, in inner circle, I was gonna have everyone redo their 10 year dream. You we didn't premeditate. You brought those, and I was like, I think we've got enough new people and it's been long enough. I think it's something even though it's your tenure you need. It's like everything else, you can't dust it off 10 years later. So it's because what that does is it takes today's pressure and time constraints and expands where I'm going, so that that stress of new things change, disappointment, whatever it is, 10 years ain't gonna matter. So do what you need to do now to get to that. And that's just all mindset like again, that I can't manufacture time, but that's 100% how I see the world and what's important to me and what's important to the people that are important to me, get them all on the same page. That's, that's a big advantage. I

Jason Croft  12:26  
mean, that's a tendency for even a one year goal, especially a 10 year goal, sort of put that down. It's, it's, if you're really doing it, it, it's a, it's an event, right? To get those, and they kind of go through that just energetically. Yeah, right. So there is that tendency to go, okay, that's done what? But not revisit. Think

Joe Blackburn  12:49  
about it this way, though, in my goals, there's deadlines, dollars, and I mean, I'm getting specific as if, in present terms, in my dream, it's my dream. So it's not a 10 year business family plan, it's a 10 year dream. So what do I mean? So don't put limits on what you're seeing. Because think of a decade like where I was a decade ago, where you were a decade ago, and where I am. It's like almost hard to wrap your mind around it, and you make some turns in that time period that I believe I didn't have one then, by the way, I believe I had a 10 year vision or a 10 year dream, maybe would have been faster and different. Now I'm not regretful. However, I know by doing this now and having the people that I'm close to within the lion do it, there's more clarity. Doesn't mean doesn't change. I mean, life changes. You can get thrown curveball any I mean, by the way, you're gonna, shouldn't they say that differently? You're gonna get thrown some curve balls, right? So I but what's cool about it is then I dial that down into the one year, then I can target. So if my dream is this, I can break that down and target now I'm gonna get way closer, way faster I might get in five years, which is, intro, an interesting dynamic, but it does change the perception of time. You know, we live in this strange universe where, like, all I get is today, but I might live 50 years. So it messes with my perception. You know, I'm not guaranteed tomorrow, but I may, you know, I'm gonna turn 50 this year. What if I have to live another 60 years? Have to meaning at some point they make me live. You don't think that's coming. So my point being like perception, it's all perception rationing, all those things you're talking about. But the most important thing is get clear on where you want to go, and all this other bullshit goes away. It just takes some toughness, which is a word not used very often. It takes some toughness to stand your ground and do what you know is right,

Jason Croft  14:53  
yeah, and I imagine getting back to this original aspect of it, of, hey, I don't have time to go. And be a part of this new thing. I bet that's one of the most not just eye opening, but ah, like, taking the pressure off a little bit to like, oh, this, that's how you do that.

Joe Blackburn  15:16  
Let some air out. Like, it's like, if it's full, just let some air out.

Jason Croft  15:22  
Yeah, what are you letting them know? Because if that's an objection coming up before they even kind of join, how are you showing them that, kind of like what we're doing today, how are you showing them that in a call, for instance, so that they go, Oh,

Joe Blackburn  15:38  
I talk more about it from the fact that if what we did was give you a bunch, well, by the way, we don't do this on purpose, because it's been done to me and I don't like it. We're not giving you, you know, the workbooks that I do have, I have 72 of them. We're not, we're not giving you, like people these days, in our business, that our clients, they don't want the extra work, meaning they don't want that. What they want is something that works. So if I can, I'll say, you know, we can, in 45 minutes to an hour, just going through a coaching rhythm, and I can walk you through the coaching rhythm, we can figure out what works and what to do next and what didn't work. So that's more time efficient. But I also talk more from a business standpoint, because they all own businesses. If what we did was give you a bunch more work and overwhelm and you paid us for that, I'd be back at corporate America. I mean, that's like, think that through. Like, if we just dumped a bunch of shit on your plate and had you pay us and said, Good luck. This wouldn't exist, because no one would pay for that, no one would invest that in themselves to have extra things to do. So it works. So if it works, it can work for you. If you do the work, which is, show up, show up, make a decision, execute. That's the work. It's not, Hey, I gotta learn a bunch of things, and that's not how that's not how we operate. It should be able to be done in net time. No, if you have no extra time, you just change what you're doing in the time you have. That's it. So we exam what is all the dumb shit you're doing throughout the day in distraction and avoidance and all these things that we can replace with the things you should or, more importantly, must do, because what you're doing now gets you the results you're you're getting. So make these a must. Okay, that's it. That's my that's my speech. How did you you you want in?

Jason Croft  17:41  
I'm in. Okay, great about it, drinking it, yeah, and it's, and that is, it's, it's, it's finding these things. But like you, you mentioned earlier, too, it's sometimes then, okay, this is a thing that has to get done. It's non negotiable. It's taking all my time. Cool. Let's find another way to do it. Let's find who do we delegate that to? What technology to help with that make sure it first aligns with the goal. Then, okay, do you have to do it? And then if you have to do that, what else can we give to other folks? So I think that's great again. Of course, we're putting it in the context of you having a conversation with somebody considering joining the line. But this is for all of us. Well,

Joe Blackburn  18:28  
yeah, I mean, if you own a business, you're having the dialog in your head

Jason Croft  18:33  
Exactly. We all feel like we're just constantly busy full but when there's a real audit done on our time and figure out, okay, yes, we are filling it with something. But is it the best use of our time?

Joe Blackburn  18:49  
Well, we used to do it in 15 minute increments in a notebook 7am and I mean, you can still do that. Is useful, but and pretty quick you can, if you say, Tell me about your week. You probably can get three, four or five hours like that. Yeah. I mean, so i Yes, there is a granular way we again, we have all the tools. Everybody has all the tools in the world. That's great. If you can't build the car, they're not very useful. So make it just like we're saying we're not gonna spend a lot of extra time. What are you doing, and why and how important is that? Is that rubber? Is it glass? Can't you, like you said, is that something you have to do? Most people are doing things they don't have to do, because that's a security blanket, not necessary. Yeah, and I get completion on these things I'm really good at, so the completion chaos circling around me when I pull one that I can just do, I get that sensation of completion. So great. Go get that with something that you need to do now and let someone else experience that. You know, I hear all the time, like I want to work on the business, not in the business. I hear that shit all the time. I want to work on my business, on in the business. This. And I always wonder to myself, why do people wanna get so far away from the greatness? It's just a question that pops into my head, like, why are you running from your greatness? You have a Gusher. What is it like? What's driving you? It's because I hear it and see it on you say, see it on TV. Now they see it online, like you're fucking worthless if you work in your business, okay, go run a business with five or 610 people and tell me how that works for you. Just try it anyway. I'm on a diatribe on that one. It just drives me nuts. Yeah, if you're four years out from a sale, yes, we need to make that's level three. You're five years out from the sale of that business, yeah, we gotta start removing you. But if you're like, in year two, or you're making $700,000 you're not in the I need to work on my business, not in my business space yet. You're just not there yet. So you're tying so now I'm like, mind boggled that I'm like, pissing time away. It's, oh, don't, maybe you cut this part out. It drives me insane.

Jason Croft  20:59  
Well, well, I get your point. But there's also, there's also, I mean, you have to do that. You have to, obviously, the thought is, you've got to work on these things that aren't just the technician aspect of because they're big business things you're talking about. Though, don't go like, Okay, I don't, I don't touch my business anymore.

Joe Blackburn  21:21  
That's what I do, right? It's how about this? It's an ascension. Maybe there are steps to getting there, and you're not terrible if you're not at the end where you look at a spreadsheet and make you know and make a phone call and match your life. I know some people like that, if you want to look at their 40 years in business and the heartache and gut wrench and risk and failure and time that it takes to get there, have at it. All I'm saying is this, be careful on this aspiration to be separated. Just be careful. That doesn't mean you do the mundane tasks. That's not what I'm talking about. Maybe you find what your true greatness is and surround yourself with everyone that does everything that isn't that, and you're still at work this horrible place to be shit. I get five free minutes and I'm not sure what to do like I'm waiting for. So I don't know. Maybe it's just me. Maybe it's me anyway. So if I'm if I'm gonna spend time committed to something, serving someone, a team, a client all the above, a business, why don't I find what I'm truly great at and build around that, versus trying to remove myself from any of it and then feeling guilty and overwhelmed that I can't do that yet, because I have, there's this old thing called rite of passage. It's an old concept. It's kind of gone away, like where I have to pay the price if I'm not, I've yet to see someone leapfrogging. And by the way, you might see that in this creator world, you know, I did the math on some of this, and some people have, you know, put everything into skipping that and just being an expert without doing the work. And if you look at the mathematics and what's to come, they may get a little surprised there, too. So kids pay the price. That's all I have today, Jason,

Joe Blackburn  23:17  
it's all I carve a soapbox on that happy and cheery notes,

Jason Croft  23:21  
yeah, that's that's the show, my friends.

Joe Blackburn  23:23  
All right, see you next time. Hi man, see ya.

Jason Croft  23:28  
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Speaker 3  24:02  
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