Mastery by George Leonard

The 5 Master Keys:
- Instruction
- Practice
- Surrender
- Intentionality
- The Edge

For a Master, the rewards gained along the way are fine, but they are not the main reason for the journey.
"How long will it take me to master aikido?" - "How long do you expect to live?" is the only respectable response. Ultimately, practice is the path of mastery. If you stay on it long enough, you'll find it to be a vivid place, with its ups and downs, its challenges and comforts, it's surprises, disappointments, and unconditional joys. You'll take your share of bumps and bruises of the ego as well as of the body, mind, and spirit - but it might well turn out to be the most reliable thing in your life.
What is mastery? At the heart of it, mastery is practice (goalless practice). Mastery is staying on the path.

Intentionality fuels the master's journey. Every master is a master of vision.

Ancient Eastern adage: "Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water."

Change - and dealing with failed resolutions
Homeostasis, remember, doesn't distinguish between what you would call change for the better and change for the worse. It resists all change.
If an organization or cultural reform meets tremendous resistance, it is because it's either a tremendously bad idea or a tremendously good idea.
To learn is to change. Education, is a process that changes the learner...the best learning of all involves learning how to learn - that is, to change. The lifelong learner is essentially one who has learned to deal with homeostasis, simply because he or she is doing it all the time.

Energy
A human being is the kind of machine that wears out from lack of use. There are limits, of course, and we do need healthful rest and relaxation, but for the most part we gain energy by using energy. Often the best remedy for physical weariness is thirty minutes of aerobic exercise.
1. Maintain Physical Fitness
2. Acknowledge the Negative and Accentuate the Positive
3. Tell the Truth
4. Honor but don't Indulge your own Dark Side. - A young child is like a lively ball of energy. But the parents don't like certain parts of the ball so the kid in order to keep the parents' love hides or puts away that part of his personality or his energy. Schooling does the same thing it restricts kids and they feel they need to hide different parts of their energy to the point that when we are young adults only a thin slice of our original energy is left. "But the energy we've hidden away can still be available to us. And putting those forbidden parts of our personality to work doesn't involve indulging ourselves and literally acting out the submerged part. Anger, for instance, contains a great deal of energy. If we've repressed that emotion so effectively that we can't even feel it, we obviously can't use the energy that goes along with it in any conscious, constructive way. But if we take our anger out of the bag simply to indulge it, if we let anger become a knee jerk response, we dissipate its considerable power. There are times when its appropriate to express anger, but there's also the possibility of taking the fervid energy of indignation, even of rage, and putting it to work for positive purposes. In other words, when you feel your anger rising, you can choose to go and work furiously on a favorite project, or to transmute the energy beneath your anger to fuel that you can use on your journey of mastery."
5. Set your Priorities - "Before you can use your potential energy, you have to decide what you're going to do with it. And in making any choice, you face a monstrous fact: to move in one direction, you must forgo all others. To choose one goal is to forsake a very large number of other possible goals. A friend of mine, 29 and still looking for a cause, a purpose in life, said, 'Our generation has been raised on the idea of keeping your options open. But if you keep all your options open, you can't do a damned thing.' It's a problem: How can any one option, any one goal, match up to the possibilities contained in all others?"
"Ultimately, liberation comes through the acceptance of limits. You can't do everything, but you can do one thing, and then another and another. In terms of energy, it's better to make a wrong choice than none at all."
6. Make Commitments. Take Action. - "Whatever you can do, or DREAM you can - begin it...Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."
7. Get on the path of Mastery and stay on it.

Pitfalls on the path:
Vanity -"If you're always thinking about appearances, you can never attain the state of concentration that's necessary for effective learning and top performance."
Dead Seriousness - "Without laughter, the rough and rocky places on the path might be too painful to bear. Humor not only lightens your load, it also broadens your perspective. To be deadly serious is to suffer tunnel vision. To be able to laugh at yourself clears the vision."

FINAL REFLECTION

The experience I most enjoyed and that will stick with me the longest was interviewing those close to me and asking them what they think makes me stand out. At first, I thought the assignment was a bit corny and I was reluctant to set up these interviews with my family members, but it proved to be a great experience. I decided to add on a question at the end asking everyone to share something they thought I could improve on or any advice they’d like to give me. I am not one to boast so it felt weird asking them what makes me great and then leaving it at that. I wanted to know what they thought of me and what they thought I could be better at, and as it turns out, what I remember most were the things they said I could improve on. This experience helped me to see that the things in my life that I know I am weak at are what others see that I am weak at as well. So, in a way it was good to see that I am being self-aware of my flaws and not oblivious to them. Also, each person had a different suggestion or advice and I was able to see that most likely it was something they wanted me to do better with them. For example, my sister said I should open up more and be more vulnerable. I believe she said that because she is a talker and she likes to tell me all about what is going on in her life but I tend to keep things close to the vest. Her suggestion I believe was aimed for me to improve my relationship with her. I really enjoyed all the suggestions because if there is one thing I’ve learned in this class is that relationships are key and we have to focus on having good relationships with people that will help us along our journey, and the most important people are our families.

Before I took this class, I already thought I possessed the entrepreneur mindset because I hate taking orders from people and I want to be my own boss. I thought that was the main aspect or driving force of being an entrepreneur, but I have learned it’s only a small part. I have learned that the best entrepreneurs are focused on solving problems, they aren’t focused necessarily on the money but how to provide a service or product that will help solve a need customers have. Not only that but they are people that are driven by learning new ways of doing things and not being afraid to take risks, fail, and continue to work. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned throughout this course is failing forward. We have to put ourselves and our ideas out there and not be afraid to fail because that is how we will identify if we have a product that will stick or if we need to ditch or change something. I think I am much more equipped now to be an entrepreneur and I believe I am finally understanding what the mindset is. 

The biggest recommendation I have for future students is to plan, plan, plan. I found that if I sat down one day of the week to plan for the following week not only was I able to turn in my assignments on time and not be so stressed, but I was able to learn so much more from the material that week. It helped me to focus on each assignment and really get the most out of the intention of the assignment. I was also able to get the most out of the interviews because I wasn’t feeling rushed and I had a plan. If you prepare and plan ahead it is so much easier to get a good grade in this class but it’ll also be easier to identify opportunities in your area and then test that opportunity during this semester. All in all it was a great class and I enjoyed it a lot and most of that enjoyment came once I started to realize that I needed to plan ahead.

EXIT STRATEGY

My exit strategy is eventually transitioning the company to be a consulting company for sales and marketing. I would love to expand and start working with all kinds of businesses and providing expertise in acquiring new customers and everything involved with that process. I could see myself working as a consultant and continuing to help the company grow until I am old and eventually retire.

This exit strategy is good for me because I enjoy the freedom that comes with consulting. I also enjoy the ability to have different customers and challenges where every day is different than the previous. This strategy will also help me to pursue other ventures. I will have the time and freedom to pursue other business ideas and continue to work as a manager or just overseeing operations. 

This strategy has influenced my decisions by targeting a market that is new and not as informed in sales and marketing as other older companies. These small gyms really have just started to emerge since the early 2000’s so they are not even 15 years old. By targeting this market this will allow me to learn what it takes for these companies to succeed and how to continue to help other companies and eventually help bigger companies. Also, this exit strategy plays well to my personality, I am always looking for new and better things. By transitioning into a consulting firm, it will give us the opportunity to work with many different companies and not just settle in one market. I am also aware that some companies might just want to work with us for a short amount of time until they feel comfortable with their sales process. We have to be ready to pivot and continue with new customers and new business, so this strategy helps take care of that.

Reading Reflection #3

GRINDING IT OUT

The Making of McDonald’s

Ray Kroc was a man of the people. He loved to be around people and he loved working with people. At a young age his jobs involved either entertaining people with his music, giving lessons, on a radio show, or in sales. Eventually he transitioned over to sales and everywhere he went he became one of the top salesmen. He had a unique ability to persuade people into his way of thinking and he honed those skills and enjoyed it. What I most admired was his passion for sales. I have been in the sales industry for a couple years now and although I enjoy it, mainly because of the money and freedom, it is not a passion of mine like it was for Mr. Kroc. He enjoyed going into work every day to sell and he had fun every day. In fact, he managed to start his own sales company selling multi-mixers to restaurants all around the U.S. and that company was what paid his salary and kept him afloat during the beginning rough years of McDonald's franchise. One reason I believe he enjoyed sales so much was because he always put the customer first. He would never sell a product to someone that did not need it or if it would cause them a financial burden. He was always looking out for his customers and in that way, he was always able to get a loyal customer base and enjoy his job. 

One area I think he could have improved in was having a more balanced lifestyle. One could say he was a workaholic, at one point he worked 2 jobs and was home for only 6 hours of the day enough to sleep and get dressed and ready for the second job. I think this lack of balance eventually lead to his divorce. However, his work ethic was amazing and most of his success came due to his vision and work ethic, so I am not exactly sure if a more balanced lifestyle would have suited him. 

Mr. Kroc encountered much failure and adversity throughout his life. He had many business ventures that either did not pan out or where the luck just ran out. One example was a real estate venture he pursued in Miami, FL. It was going great until the company he was working for was shut down and he never received his last paycheck. This was tough for him and his family, but they decided to go back home to Chicago and he started selling paper cups full time. He was always looking ahead and trying to find the next best thing. His work ethic would not allow him to feel sorry for himself or to stop trying. I believe one of the skills that allowed him to succeed and overcome adversity was the ability to not worry. He developed a meditation technique that allowed him to forget the stresses of his day to day and be able to sleep and relax when it was time to relax.

One of the competencies Mr. Kroc possessed, which I think is very valuable as an entrepreneur, was his ability to recognize talent and potential in others. He has said repeatedly in his book that he did not know what he would have done or where McDonald's would be without the key executives and secretaries, he was able to hire in the beginning years. He had great intuition to know when someone had potential and when they didn’t, and that applied to many other things like where to build new stores, what foods to add to the menu, etc.

One part of the reading that was confusing was why he did not part ways with his CEO years before. Harry Sonneborn was his first CEO and was very instrumental in the success of McDonald's, but as the company grew and the market and economy changed it was clear Mr. Kroc’s and his ideas where not in sync. He let things slide for a while until eventually they could not agree on anything, but it caused contention in the company and he lost some executives and risked losing some more that were not happy with how Sonneborn ran things.

One of the questions I would ask Mr. Kroc is, what were some of his techniques to close a sale? Like I said earlier he was a great salesman and I am always interested in learning different sales techniques He was able to close many sales in his day and I’d love to get some ideas on how those sales were closed. The other would be, what kept him so motivated? It seemed like since he was young, he had this incredible drive and that was what powered his work ethic. I find myself lacking motivation sometimes and I’d love to know what kept him going all those years. Especially what kept him grinding till he was old because he didn’t start McDonald's Corporations till, he was 52 years old.

I think Mr. Kroc’s opinion of hard work is that it is vital to your success. He has said that when you believe in something you have to be in it to the ends of your toes. When he began a new venture he believed in, he would go all in, as in, if he was not working, he was thinking of work 24 hours out of the day. Toward the end of his life he said he considered taking it easy with McDonald's operations and taking it easy meant only thinking about it and working 18 hours of the day instead of 24. To have the success Mr. Kroc had I believe it is very important to be all in like he was and work nonstop. With that said, I’d like to have a little more balance in my life but that doesn’t mean I won’t have success, maybe just not to the level he enjoyed.

CELEBRATE FAILURE

For the past year I have been training to be able to do strict bar muscle-ups. That is basically when you do an explosive pull up and then get yourself over the bar and press yourself up. It is a very technical and difficult movement that takes a lot of strength, coordination, and attention to detail. I first began the year just trying to improve my pull up strength and I was able to go from about 8 pull-ups to 14. These last couple months have been training more explosive muscle-ups and also shoulders to have the strength in my rotator cuff to rotate around the bar and then press up. Anyways I have tried and tried doing the muscle-up but as of right now I have not been able to complete it. 

I have learned that everyone’s body is different, and we have to adapt and train for our bodies in specific. The general rule is if you are able to do 10 pull ups then you should be able to do a muscle-up. That was something that was hard for me to accept. I know I have the strength, but the technique is not there yet. The problem with that is that I am comparing myself to everyone else in the world, and comparisons, for the most part, lead to discouragement. The book I read by Scott Adams on how to fail at almost everything and still win big has helped me to let go of so many goals and adopt systems. Over the last couple months my training has gone from trying to get a muscle-up to just training pulling strength 3x a week. I know that if I continue to train my pulling strength 3x a week eventually I will be able to do a muscle-up. I have also learned to have fun and not be so fixed on the result, and I think that is part of having such detailed goals and not systems, you get discouraged when you don’t reach them but, in all actuality, you are still progressing.

Having been in sales I know that failure is inevitable. I have learned to view failure as an event. This allows me to analyze what happened, plan, adapt, and continue to try. In sales you get hundreds of no’s every day and you learn to view those little failures as stepping stones toward the yeses. One of my favorite quotes is from Michael Jordan, he said he never loses he only learns. That is how I try to look at failure, it is only preparation for the success that is to come. This class has definitely helped to continue this train of thought about failure. All entrepreneurs have failed and in fact most of them have failed at many endeavors before they got their big success. If anything, this class has helped me to understand that I should fail quickly and fail more often because as a wise person once said, failure is the best teacher. As I have been contemplating on this assignment, I have realized that I have not failed enough this semester. I think if I haven’t failed at something then I am not trying different things, and if I am not trying different things then how am I supposed to find that one project that will lead to success. My goal this next semester is to fail more, try different things, learn from them and continue to fail forward.

WHAT'S NEXT?!

EXISTING MARKET

As of now I have been focusing on providing sales and advertising services to small local gyms. When I say small, I mean under 200 members and most likely an LLC. I think the next service I would like to provide these gyms is selling bigger contracts from corporations. For example, working out and sweating together is a great team bonding and character-building activity. There are many companies out there that are looking for ways to bring their work team together and bond more. I would like to provide these companies an exclusive contract with a gym to be able to have a group session only for them.

Interviews:

Herman - Gym owner in town 30 minutes away.

Natalie – manager at a local gym.

Nate – head coach at a gym out west where I used to train.

One of the biggest concerns these people brought up was the pay structure and how I would go about it. I briefly explained the commissions side but there were some little things that I still have not accounted for. Herman in specific said that his gym sometimes is tight on money so having a business plan presented for them with the exact details of the costs would help them and make the decision process easier. Also, they said that because these gyms are usually a close community and locally, they all know each other one thing that I need to start doing is introducing myself to all these gym owners, so they know who I am and also showing them how I can help their company. One idea Natalie brought up was for gyms that might not have a lot of money to spend on advertising but are interested in our service, do we have a plan for that, and can we provide a payment plan where they pay a smaller commission for a longer period of time or as long as customer stays with the company.

I am starting to realize that there needs to be a lot more detail in my idea. I think the concept is there but there are a lot of little things that have been brought up that I did not have an answer to. Although I don’t like talking about the money side that much it is important to know exactly how it will all be sorted out once talks get to that point.

NEW MARKET

The market I would like to try to exploit is bigger companies. Similar to the existing markets path I’d like to focus on these companies and maybe provide a way for trainers to go to them if they can’t come to us. This is a way I could incorporate smaller personal training gyms, where they have the time and desire to go rogue and train people outside of their gyms.

I think the value again comes from helping these big companies establish more team building activities. I think with how society and social media can blow things up very quickly now days it is important to stay united and what better way to do that than to sweat together and go through some punishment (of the good kind) together.

Interviews:

Robert – Sales rep at Cox Cable

Troy – bank employee

Both people I interviewed agreed it would be something they would like. They like their jobs and are given benefits but nothing as far as gym memberships, so this would be a great opportunity for them to hang out with their coworkers and blow off some steam. However, they did mention it might be hard to make it an ongoing thing if I had trainers going to their business. That is one area I need to change/adapt if we wanted to make it something on going.

I really think this new market could have a lot of potential. I don’t think it is as big as the existing market just because I would be dealing with bigger companies so closing a deal would take longer. However, a deal with one of these companies would most likely bring in more revenue so it might be worth the wait and the extra time. Both people I interviewed also mentioned how their companies frequently have get togethers sponsored by the company but nothing of the physical fitness sort. It could be an idea that is easily accepted by senior management.

MY VENTURES UNFAIR ADVANTAGE

1.     Know many local gym owners already

Valuable: Very valuable. I have the ability to build stronger relationships and business partnership based on the past.

Rare: Not very rare. I assume someone could come in and build a relationship in short amount of time.

Inimitable: it can be imitated and might be easily done.

Non-substitutable: it can be substituted, having a connection to the gym is important but knowing the owner is not the only way.

2.     Sales Experience

Valuable: Very valuable. This is basically 50% of my business model and what will account for most of the revenue.

Rare: Now days it might not be as rare, but I think it is still somewhat rare.

Inimitable: I don’t believe it can be imitated. You either have the knowledge and experience or you don’t.

Non-substitutable: Again, I don’t believe it can be substituted or at least substituted easily.

3.     CrossFit Experience

Valuable: Very valuable. This is the market I am planning on starting with.

Rare: As for my competitors it is not very rare to have this experience. 

Inimitable: No, this is a very different industry and this resource cannot be imitated easily.

Non-substitutable: There are possible substitutes, if someone has worked at a small business before but it might take time to adjust.

4.     Know the area and local businesses

Valuable: Knowing the area might not be as valuable as knowing local businesses.

Rare: Not very rare, many people in Gainesville are from here and it’s a smaller town so lots of people know each other.

Inimitable: I think it could be imitated.

Non-substitutable: I can think of a couple possible substitutes for this resource.

5.     Have entrepreneurial contacts available at UF and SFC

Valuable: Very valuable. Gainesville is big on entrepreneurship and these contacts can provide lots of help and advice.

Rare: Probably not very rare, I would imagine a lot of entrepreneur minds out there have mentors or clubs that help with ideas etc.

Inimitable: Yes, it can

Non-substitutable: Yes, it can also be substituted.

6.     My company is local

Valuable: Very valuable. Most companies that do advertising or far away and you only communicate through the Internet or skype instead of in person.

Rare: Very rare.

Inimitable: I think it could be imitated but as of yet, I have not seen a local business like this in Gainesville.

Non-substitutable: There is possible substitutes, but I think it is difficult to provide the same feel or results.

7.     Savings to start company

Valuable: Somewhat valuable. Some could argue that it is not big factor because you can find different ways to acquire capital.

Rare: Not rare, many people out there that can find or have money to put into business.

Inimitable: It can be imitated.

Non-substitutable: Yes, it can be substituted, I would add pretty easily by another resource.

8.     Bilingual

Valuable: Very valuable in an area like Gainesville with many Hispanics.

Rare: I would say it is somewhat rare.

Inimitable: This resource cannot be imitated or at least can’t be done easily.

Non-substitutable: It could be substitutable.

9.     Familiar with Social Media

Valuable: Very valuable since this is half of the business model and plan.

Rare: I don’t think it is rare now days, many people know and are experts at social media.

Inimitable: I don’t think it can be imitated easily. Social media is such a big part of everyone’s lives right now it is hard to steer away from it. 

Non-substitutable: I don’t believe it can be substituted. You either do social media advertising or you don’t but it has shown to produce the best results for local gyms.

10.  Access to Sales training

Valuable: Somewhat valuable, especially when trying to train and hire other employees.

Rare: Not very rare, now days you can find great training on any free website or even YouTube.

Inimitable: I don’t think it can be imitated, this is a big part of learning to sell.

Non-substitutable: Only thing I think it could be substituted by is just real-life experience.

Top Resource:

I believe my top resource is the experience I have working at a CrossFit gym. Not only any CrossFit gym but a gym that is successful and has found success in gaining new customers rapidly. I have learned how to advertise, what platforms to use, what companies are out there, and what some of the obstacles are. More importantly I have met face to face with the people that are becoming new customers, I have persuaded them to join the gym and have learned much about their wants, needs, and desires. This all will help tremendously in taking some of these techniques and especially the success that has come with it to other gyms.