July 2023

For this month’s blog I’m going to focus on a great book that I think has a ton of ideas for personal growth. In the pages of the book there’s a plethora of tremendous insights to help you gain more quality time in your life and grow your business.

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Book I Recommend

10X is Easier Than 2X by Dan Sullivan and Dr Benjamin Hardy is a must read for entrepreneurs and people looking to add quality time to their lives.

The subtitle says it all:

How World Class Entrepreneurs Achieve More by Doing Less

Below are some key quotes referenced in the book that will help you achieve more quality time in your life and grow your business, create more sales or improve the care you give. I don’t think it matters what you do – these can be applied.

“A condition of complete simplicity…costing not less than everything”
T.S. Eliot (1971) Four Quartets – Harvest

This quote is pretty deep and as I began to think about it, I was glad the book clarified it right away.

If you’re willing to commit and let everything go that you don’t want, then your life will be infinitely easier, simpler and more successful than it’s ever been.

Goals are mentioned throughout the book. In an early chapter there is a quote from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, where Alice asks the Cheshire Cat which way she should go when she reaches the fork in the road. “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to”, sad the Cat.

“I don’t much care where”, Alice said. “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go”, said the Cat.

The authors of 10X is Easier than 2X point out that in order to clarify what matters most from what doesn’t, you need to specify your goal. They go on to write that without knowing your goal, it’s impossible to find an effective path forward.

One quote from the author Dan Sullivan hit home with me. “Nothing happens until after you commit”.

One of the key takeaways from this book is quality over quantity. Here is a quote from the book that made it clear for me and is something we began practicing in business 4 years ago. Up until then we had a hard time saying no to any of our prospects’ needs. When we clearly defined what we are good at and only focused on improving, those services we did got better. 

The quote is this: “When you begin thinking in terms of quality versus quantity you funnel your energy better. You stop burning yourself out pumping more and more, or doing a million different jobs as a rugged individualist.

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Here’s a quote from Seth Godin, an author I have talked about in previous blogs, found in the book. “In a world that relentlessly races to the bottom, you lose if you also race to the bottom. The only one to win is the race to the top…The only way to be indispensable is to be different…Expertise gives you enough insight to reinvent what everyone else assumes is the truth. You can train yourself to matter. You are not your resume. You are your work.” Differentiation is a major focus for our team on a daily basis.

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Can you see how the next excerpt could be both negative and positive?

Whatever you focus on expands. Whatever you focus on, you develop finer distinctions in. Whatever you focus on, you create more of. Whatever you focus on, you become in an increasingly specific way to the exclusion of all else.

These are just a few key takeaways from a great book that I would highly recommend.

Quote that I have been forced to consider again…

“Instead of getting angry at other people’s poor execution, focus on the deficiencies in your instruction”

We have this quote posted in our showroom. It’s a reminder to communicate clearly…Lately I have found many instances where this quote applied to me and too many times. I also realize how frustrating this can be for my team and I need to get better at it.