March 2024

A Podcast I LIke

…and a specific episode I found useful. Dr. Peter Attia is a prominent figure in the fields of longevity, health optimization, and performance enhancement. With a background in mechanical engineering and a medical degree from Stanford University, Dr. Attia brings a unique perspective to his work, combining scientific rigor with a deep understanding of human physiology.

He is known for his evidence-based approach to health and wellness, emphasizing the importance of personalized interventions to achieve optimal outcomes. Through his writing, podcast and clinical practice, Dr. Attia strives to empower individuals to take control of their health by leveraging the latest advancements in medical science and technology.

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Quote That I Need to Ponder & Realize I Can Get Better

This quote is from the 3-2-1 Newsletter created by James Clear. He is a renowned author, speaker and expert in the field of habit formation and behavior change. His best-selling book “Atomic Habits” has helped millions of people worldwide understand how small changes can lead to remarkable transformations in personal and professional life.

“I can’t control the other person’s behavior, but I can control my response. Their actions may be rude or unacceptable, but I still want my response to be measured and thoughtful. Even if they aren’t doing what is right, I still want to make sure I’m doing what is right”.

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Book I’m Reading…

ARETE’ Activate your Heroic Potential by Brian Johnson

Brian Johnson as a Founder/CEO, has successfully secured over $20 million in funding and established and sold two top-performing social platforms. As a Philosopher, he has impacted tens of thousands of individuals from nearly every country through his Heroic membership and has trained more than 3,500 people from over 90 countries with his life-changing Heroic Coach program, as evidenced by research.

On the top of the front cover you will find this quote,

“THIS BOOK WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE. AND, IF ENOUGH OF US COMMIT, IT WILL CHANGE THE WORLD.”

– Phil Stutz, author of The Tools, featured in Netflix documentary Stutz

I couldn’t have said it better.
At 1060 pages this book is a monster! I am nearly 1/2 way through it and believe it deserves a mention already. The people, ideas, analogies, and stories he uses to create a picture of human potential are great and motivating. The book’s structure is also very appealing with very short 1-3 pages dedicated to each topic on average. It actually is a pretty easy read!

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BB’s Rant:

“The customer is always right”. We have all heard that quote and most of us at one point in time agreed and defended that statement. After serving customers for over 21 years, I’m calling BS. Yep! I said it and truly believe this is not the case. But let me be clear, I’m not calling BS on most of our customers. I’m calling out less than 10 customers of thousands and thousands over the last 2 decades. That’s right, over this time we have less than ten customers who I believe wouldn’t do business with us again.

Sadly, each of those customers are the ones my team and I went above and beyond to ensure their happiness and, in the end, didn’t achieve that. In these instances, I can’t tell you how many times vendors or suppliers have commented, “No other contractor would do that”. Even with doing things out of industry “norm” to meet their expectations. Making changes over and over, dealing with outright disrespectful communication, extremely unrealistic expectations, and just plain rudeness – it didn’t matter. 

These people were never going to be happy. It’s a sad reality that no matter how hard we try, some people just will never appreciate it or look inward to see some of the issues that are being created are due to them and aren’t things we can control. I used to lose sleep over this, and I’m glad I now understand this fact and can sleep very well knowing we did everything we could to make it right and that their unhappiness might be inevitable.

I know one thing, with 80% of these customers my GUT warned me – and going forward I will heed it’s advice or counsel. I used to look at these as challenges. Not anymore. We are lucky that we don’t have to do every job and can be a little more selective in the customers we work with in the future.