10 Tips to Crush Your Career | FRIDAY FIELD NOTES
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Summary
In this episode, Ryan talks about reclaiming masculinity and what it means to be a man in a society that needs it. He also gives some tips on how to crush your career and how to live life to the fullest.
Transcript
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You're a man of action. You live life to the fullest. Embrace your fears and boldly chart
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your own path. When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time. Every time.
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You are not easily deterred or defeated. Rugged. Resilient. Strong. This is your life. This is who
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you are. This is who you will become. At the end of the day, and after all is said and done,
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you can call yourself a man. Gentlemen, what is going on today? My name is Ryan Michler,
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and I am the host and the founder of this podcast and the movement that is Order of Man. I want to
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welcome you back or welcome you here for the first time. If this is the first time you're tuning in,
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this is your Friday Field Notes where you get to hear some of my thoughts and ideas and just some
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of the conversations or topics that I've seen broached in our Facebook group and our exclusive
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Brotherhood, the Iron Council. So I'll talk with you for about, I don't know, 30 or 40 minutes on
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some of these topics. And today I've got a good one. We're going to be talking about crushing your
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career because I've seen a lot of guys with questions about how to excel in their careers,
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how to go on to eventually gain new promotions and start new businesses and everything else they
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want out of their career. So we'll get into that here in a minute. Now, if you're new, this is a
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movement, a podcast, having conversations all in an attempt to reclaim and restore masculinity. Now,
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when I talk about that, I inevitably have people that ask me, what does that even mean? Like,
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what is the point of reclaiming masculinity? What is it that you're talking about? Guys,
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when I say reclaim masculinity, I'm talking about reclaiming the idea that masculinity is about being
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strong and it's about being independent and it's about being rugged and it's about instilling
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virtues and principles, not only in our own lives, but the lives of the people that we have an
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obligation and responsibility for. So that's our families, our businesses, our employees, our
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employers, our clients, our community members and neighbors. That's what being a man is. A man is
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about serving. And I think the more that we get into social media and the more that we continue to see
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this idea of traditional masculinity warped and distorted and misunderstood, then I think we're going
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to see a falling out from this. And I believe that it's my job here on this podcast and everything else
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we're doing within this movement to help fight against the push to minimize masculinity. And I'll
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tell you this, I think it comes from a very, very small percentage of the people. It's the vocal
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minority that are talking about this distorted view of masculinity and trying to change it or turn it into
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something that it's not. I believe that generally and the overwhelming majority of people believe
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that masculinity is inherently good and that there may be some men who take it to the extreme or go off
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course. But I think there's, again, a small minority of people who believe that masculinity is somehow
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inherently wrong or evil or bad or destructive to society. And the exception is that there's a few good
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men. So my job is to help lift those of us who want to be better fathers, husbands, business owners,
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community leaders, neighbors, employees, employers, you name it. It's my job to give you the tools,
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the guidance, the direction, the conversation, and the resources that you need to help us all reclaim
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masculinity in a society that needs it, quite frankly. And as we, as men, step up more fully
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into our lives and in our homes and our businesses and our communities, we're going to see a lot happen
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from that. We're going to see economies improve. We're going to see families improve. We're going to see
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more families staying together. We're going to see more meaning and satisfaction and fulfillment in
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life. We're going to see greater wealth. We're going to see greater health. There's so much positive
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benefit that comes from the conversations and the movement that we have here at Order of Man.
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So enough of that. I've got an interesting one, like I said, lined up for you today. I want to talk
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with you about 10 tips to crush your career. Now I'm going to get into that in just a quick minute.
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I need to make a couple of very, very fast announcements. Number one in August, August 25th through
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September 1st, I am going to be in Maine. Hopefully by then I'll be living there, but I am going to be
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in Maine, whether I'm living there or not for origins immersion camp. This is a Brazilian jujitsu
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immersion camp. You can go for three days or six or seven days. I'm going to go to both sessions. So
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I'll be there all week. And if you go to origin, main.com slash order camp origin, main.com slash order
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camp. You can get registered. You can get signed up for session a B or both. And like I said,
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I'll be there. Kip Sorensen will be there. Another partner of mine with the events that we run and
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the experiences that we have will be there. I'm sure Jocko will be there and much of the
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echelon front team as well. Of course, Pete and Brian will be there with origin. It's a great,
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great experience. It's a great event. And I would love to see you guys there again.
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That's origin, main.com slash order camp. And then the second announcement,
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and I've been talking about this now for a couple of weeks is we're giving away a brand new Hoyt
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helix, a brand new bow. If you're into bow hunting or would like to be, it's a good opportunity to win
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a very, very nice bow from Hoyt. If you go to order of man.com slash Hoyt H O Y T, you can enter the
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giveaway, no purchase or anything necessary. The instructions are pretty simple. Again, order of man.com
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slash Hoyt H O Y T. And you're getting registered there. All right. That's enough of the announcements
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guys. Let's get into this idea of crushing your career. Now I get these topics from our Facebook
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group. I get these topics and these conversations from our exclusive brotherhood, the iron council.
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And I've seen over the past, I would say week to week and a half, a lot of questions about
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how to deal with employees and how to deal with employers. And I've got loyalty to my company and I'd want
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to advance, but I don't know how, and there's no opportunities here. And how do I get out of this
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position? Guys, I'm just here to tell you that being in a career and having something that's
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meaningful, that's significant, that's rewarding, that's profitable is one of the greatest factors
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to your success. I've talked about this at length, that men are three things, protectors,
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providers, and presiders. Now, obviously when it comes to career, this falls more heavily in line
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with the idea that we are providers and the better and more capable you are of being a provider,
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the better life you're going to have, the better life your family is going to have,
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the more capable you are going to be of engaging in things that are important to you, like coaching
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your kids as teams and being able to give back to charities and organizations that you believe in.
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And this all comes from having a fulfilling, rewarding, and financially lucrative career.
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So this is not an exhaustive list. This is not something that if you follow these 10 steps,
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then everything will work out and it will always be perfect. Of course, there's more to this than
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this, but I believe that if you follow the 10 principles that I'm going to share with you today,
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that you will significantly, significantly give yourself a leg up and you will experience the
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type of success that you wish you had. And frankly, that you see a lot of other men having.
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Now, I have not always adhered to these 10 steps. And when I haven't, and I've fallen away from
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these ideas, I've failed and I fell behind and I've just dropped the ball in business. And quite
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frankly, almost shut down a couple of different businesses. Now, when I adhere on the other hand
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to these things, I find that meaning and that satisfaction and that financial reward. And just
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very similar to what we've done here with order of man. So I want you guys to succeed. I want you to
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thrive. Obviously career is not the only thing that we need to worry about as men. But if we pretend
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that it's not a critical component of what it means to be a man, then I think we're,
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well, we're a bit delusional and we're probably not stepping into that role as fully as we could
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or should be. All right. So let's get into this. I've wasted enough time talking about everything
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else. Let me just get right into these tips at this point. And these aren't in any order guys,
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but again, write these down. If you're working out or driving, go back and check them out later.
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You can, you know what I'll do too, is I will put the 10 tips in the actual notes of this show.
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So if you're driving and listening to this and you want to pull up the 10 tips later,
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you just pull them right off the show notes instead of having to listen to the entire show
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again. All right, here we go. Number one, know the expectations. I mean, I can't tell you how many
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times I've talked with men who have no idea what the employment agreement even is. Like how many hours
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am I working? What is required of me? What is it that you want me to do? What is my job description?
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Where is the line? You need to know these things. You need to understand what these expectations are
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because two things, if you know what they are, you can meet those expectations. If you don't know
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what they are, it's going to be very hard to meet those expectations. And essentially what you're
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going to do is you're going to end up dropping the ball or falling short of what a supervisor
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or a manager or the boss or the owner of the company has in mind for you. You certainly don't want
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to do that. But if you know what the baseline is, you know what the baseline standard is,
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you can meet that. And in addition to that, you can exceed that. You can go above and beyond what
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is expected of you as far as time or commitment or a task or a project that you might be working on.
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And you can really try to exceed those expectations because that is what's going to put you
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above maybe somebody else. Because what most people are doing, guys, most employees, I'm just
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telling you what they're going to do is they're going to try to find out the expectation and they're
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going to attempt to do the bare minimum, the absolute minimum they possibly can in order
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to just slightly meet that expectation. And they feel like, well, if I've done that, I've
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done my job and all is well. And certainly you can do that or you can take the higher elevated
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road and really decide to crush your career and thrive and put yourself in a position that
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most people aren't willing to do, which is how can I do the most? How can I go above and
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beyond? Can I, can I work a little bit later because there's a deadline to meet? Can I put
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a little bit more effort into my sales calls? Can I put a little bit more work into this project
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that we're managing? Can I, can I help lead that a team to accomplish a task? Is there something
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that other people don't recognize that I can do that I can step into? Uh, one of the managers
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I had when I was working in retail clothing is she said, you just, you look for problems,
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right? Just look for problems and fill those problems. And a lot of the times you don't
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even need to ask for permission. Now, sometimes you will, but a lot of times you won't need
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to ask for permission. You just fill those problems. And that's about managing expectations.
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And it's about exceeding those expectations. Also, if you don't know what the expectations
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are, or there's some confusion or a breakdown in communication, then you need to have those discussions.
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And that leads me to point number two, which is that you need to communicate effectively.
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If there is a breakdown in communication, you're upset with your boss or manager or a manager or
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a boss is maybe upset with you, then don't let that stuff go unchecked. Don't just assume that
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it'll work out or sweep anything under the rug. Like address that like a man and a man is assertive.
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A man sees something that's happening, a set of circumstances or a conversation that has,
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is going unsaid. And he addresses that. Sure. There might be some fear there or concern about
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addressing that situation, but man, if you can't communicate effectively, I think all of this other
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stuff is really invalid. It really won't apply. So communicate, communicate, communicate, ask good
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questions. If you see a problem, bring it up, bring it to somebody's attention. If somebody's dropping
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the ball, let them know in a tactful way. All right. There's, there's very tactful ways to do this.
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One great resource is called the assertiveness workbook. And if you have trouble being assertive,
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then I would definitely suggest that, that you read that and go through it, do the workbook.
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Now, the other thing I will say with communication is if you get a lot of feedback from people that
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maybe you're being an a-hole or you're too aggressive, that is also a sign that you're
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not communicating effectively. Now, some men, and I've seen this time and time again, will dismiss
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that as people are weak, that the reason that they think I'm being too aggressive is because they're
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weak. That might actually be true, but it also might be true that you're being too aggressive,
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that you lacked tact and that you're not able to communicate effectively in a way that rallies the
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troop. In fact, it pushes them down. So if you're getting that type of feedback and it's constant
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and you see it and you hear it quite often, then really check yourself. Stop looking at other people
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and saying, well, these people are just weak. They can't handle what I'm doing. No, maybe you're not
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a great communicator. Maybe you railroad people or you, or you bully people. And that's certainly not
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going to get the job done either. So there's really four methods of communication for four categories,
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I should say. So number one is passive. And we all know the passive guy, right? He allows himself
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to get railroaded. He won't bring up anything that may cause any sort of confrontation. He's
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afraid of having a significant and meaningful discussion, especially if there's a chance that
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it might get heated or there might be just some, some disagreement there, but that's the passive guy
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on the opposite end of the spectrum. We have the aggressive, right? This is the bully. This is the guy
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who doesn't take other people's thoughts and ideas into consideration and just says, go, go, go.
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Don't, don't question it. Just do exactly as I say. And you might think that's assertive. It's not
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necessarily assertive. It just might mean that you're being too aggressive. The third communication
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style is passive aggressive. Now this is the person who's sarcastic. This is the person who makes a joke
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out of everything. They can't take anything seriously. He's undermining other people. He won't tell you
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what's wrong to your face, but it'll tell your coworker, Bob, exactly what's going on.
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This is somebody who is pretending to be strong, but in fact, they're letting their fear dictate the
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way they communicate with other people. That's called the passive aggressive. And the fourth is
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the assertive. This is an individual who can recognize what needs to happen, who can see the
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whole playing field, who's not afraid to bring these discussions up, but does it in a way that's
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tactful and does it in a way that moves the needle. This is what we should all be striving
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to be like. It's going to vary depending on our personality, but ultimately we want to be an
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assertive communicator. So that's point. Number two is learn to communicate effectively. Uh, number
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three, know your customer guys, you've got to know your customer. And when I say this, I think what a lot
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of people are initially going to think is that you should know the person who's buying services
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from you or our products or whatever it may be. And, and certainly that is your customer.
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You should know who that customer is, but even more so than that, when it comes to crushing your
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career, your customer is not necessarily the actual quote unquote customer, your customer,
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or at least looking at your customer as your boss or employer or manager or business owner.
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Guys, look at that individual as a customer. What if you treat him or her just as good as you treat
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your real customers and clients? It's critical that you know that you are there to serve that
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individual. And when I say that, I know inevitably guys are going to think, Oh, I'm not just a servant.
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I'm not going to allow myself to be railroaded and just be this, this person's slave. That's not
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what I'm suggesting guys. I'm suggesting that your obligation, responsibility and agreement
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is to serve your boss, to serve your manager, to serve the person who hired you. So within reason
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and, and knowing that we, we understand what the expectations are, you want to make that
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individual look good. I talk with people every day who have bosses that are jerks or, you know,
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they have a hard time working with a supervisor guys, your job is to make that individual look
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good. Now you're not going to just randomly do things just to try to prop this person up.
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Cause that could be brown nosing and that could actually backfire. But again, you want to help
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this individual win. If you can help a team leader or a supervisor or your manager, when you become
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invaluable to the organization and you will inevitably over time may not happen immediately,
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but over time you will get the promotion, you will get the raise, you will get the opportunities
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that present themselves because you are the one that helps other people win. Uh, another great book
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by Cal Newport is so good. They can't ignore you. That is a great book on how to make yourself
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indispensable. And I think that's actually another book by Seth Godin. Um, it's called lynchpin.
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I believe I'm going to give you a lot of resources here. So, so good. They can't ignore you. And then
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lynchpin by Seth Godin and the assertiveness workbook. And I don't know who that's by right
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offhand. All right. So again, number two, or excuse me, number three, know who your customer is. Yes,
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it's your customer, but it's always it. Yes, it's your customer, but it's also your, your higher ups,
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if you will. All right. Uh, number four, and I already said this a little bit, but help others win.
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Again, if you've got a teammate, a colleague, a coworker, a boss, a supervisor, somebody who's
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even new, and you are the guy who helps these individuals win, you are the person who trains.
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You are the person who, uh, doesn't have to get all the credit and all the glory you're helping
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other individuals succeed and thrive. It's difficult, especially if you're vying maybe for
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a job promotion or an opportunity to, uh, excel within the organization that you might look at it
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as a competition. And there might be certain circumstances where it is, but ultimately
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is, and again, I I'm, I'm talking about the long game here, guys, when we're talking about a career,
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I'm not talking about what you're doing for the next two years. I'm not even talking about what
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you're doing for the next 10 years. I'm talking about how you thrive in life, how you put 40 years
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into, uh, an organization or an idea or just the workforce in general and how you win over the long
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haul. And I'm telling you that the guys who help other people win those men inevitably win over the
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long haul. If you step on people's toes and, and you push them down in order to lift yourself up and
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you make them look stupid and you make them look foolish, you might get some temporary satisfaction
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and some temporary gain. But over the long run, I'm telling that, telling you that if you do things
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at the expense of other people, you will lose the long game, lift people up, help other people win,
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assist them with their projects. Don't take credit for things. Just, just lift people up.
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This is a natural, eternal principle that those who help other people will inevitably rise to the top.
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Uh, I think Zig Ziglar said, if you help enough people get what they want, then you will inevitably get
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what you want. And I paraphrased a bit there. So again, number four, helping other people win
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always. Number five, this one is big. All right. This is probably the, the, the most important
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topic that I see men bring up again in our Facebook group, which is at facebook.com slash groups slash
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order of man. And also in our exclusive brotherhood, the iron council, which is at order of man.com
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slash iron council. Number five is never, never, never, never. Can I say that enough? Never get
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pulled into the mud. All right. There's going to be drama. There's going to be backstabbing. There's
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going to be little nitpicking and, and, and people biting at each other. And when people get competitive
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over a potential raise or a promotion or a job offer, uh, there's going to be drama. People are
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going to bring their, their outside baggage into work. I'm telling you right now, stay above it.
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All right. If somebody comes to you and wants to have a gripe session and get into gossip about
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another employee or how this person dropped the ball or what, what this other individual is doing
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in their personal life. Hey, disengage from that. Get yourself out of that situation. All right.
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You're never going to win if you're stuck rolling around in the dirt and the mud and you're slinging
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dirt at other people and you're having dirt slung at you. Stay above that nonsense. I heard somebody in
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the Facebook group, ask a question or, or saw rather. And they said, how do I deal with somebody,
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a coworker who's talking crap behind my back? And I very simply said, be so good at your job
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that anybody that heard anything to the contrary simply wouldn't believe it. And I stand by that.
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But if you get into the mud and you get into the drama and you get punching back and you're trying
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to win arguments and debates, and you're trying to throw people under the bus or avoid being thrown
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under the bus, you're not going to win. You're not going to win. Stay above it. Be stoic, if you will.
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And by stoicism, I mean, understand what's happening around you, understand your environment,
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and then respond accordingly. Don't get sucked into the mud. And if you feel yourself getting
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stuck into the mud, disengage, just disengage altogether. I'm not saying leave in the middle
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of the day. If you can't do that, I'm not saying quit. I'm just saying, find a way to,
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to breathe, to give yourself some margin, some space, step back. So you can come back into the
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engagement with a level head and a clear perspective about what it is you're trying
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to accomplish. And you're not there to win a fight. All right. You don't need to get in fights
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with people. You don't need to get pulled into the, into the drama. Although look, sometimes that's
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exciting, right? You don't need that in your life. You need to stay above it. So again, number five,
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never get pulled into the mud. Number six, elevate yourself, elevate yourself, elevate yourself,
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elevate yourself. Always. How can I elevate myself? And I'm not saying that you do this falsely. I'm
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not saying that you prop yourself up or you're giving yourself pats on the back or you're brown
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nosing to your supervisor or manager. That's not what I'm talking about. When I say elevate yourself,
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what I'm talking about is looking for opportunities to make yourself better. Again, I go back to that book.
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So good. They can't ignore you. What opportunities have presented themselves or will you have to work
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for a little bit that will elevate you in the eyes of your customers, your clients, your boss,
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your manager, your teammates. This could come in the form of credentials, a new degrees and
00:22:37.400
designations, new information. It could come through helping other individuals win, which was a point
00:22:43.400
number four that I made. But in what ways can you continue to gain new knowledge, experience,
00:22:50.460
perspective, and how can you make yourself a better employee? The more that you invest in yourself
00:22:58.080
through education, formal or otherwise through certifications, through trainings. In fact,
00:23:04.360
a lot of these companies and organizations will pay for some of that, or they will offer it within
00:23:08.860
their organization. Go out and get that stuff done. Yeah. It might not be in your job description.
00:23:14.680
Yeah. You might not need that extra degree or credential or licensing requirement immediately,
00:23:20.060
but I promise you that if there's two guys, a employer or a manager or a supervisor is looking
00:23:25.540
at for an employer, a promotion, they're likely going to take the one who has asserted himself above
00:23:32.080
and beyond step number one, the expectations and has gone the extra mile to get some of these
00:23:37.740
certifications, credentials, degrees, knowledge, experience, and made himself more valuable to the
00:23:44.100
organization. And again, that goes to point number three, knowing your customer, your, your manager,
00:23:49.960
boss, employer, et cetera. So when you're at work and you're wondering how you can get these types of
00:23:57.600
promotions or, or, or elevate yourself, look to opportunities to serve, look for opportunities to
00:24:03.640
go into new departments and learn new information. If you have that option available, get those
00:24:08.740
credentials, get those degrees, et cetera, et cetera. All right. That was point number six. All right.
00:24:14.260
Number seven, we're cranking through these guys. So again, if, if you're not in a position where you
00:24:18.400
can write them down, you can go into the show notes afterwards and the show notes here on iTunes or
00:24:23.300
wherever you listen to the podcast. And, uh, you can see all 10 steps. So number seven, this one is
00:24:28.360
very, very important. And it's almost a swear word to a lot of people, but the idea is that you need
00:24:33.000
to network effectively. Networking is not a bad word unless, unless you don't know how to do it right,
00:24:40.720
or you're spending time around people who don't know how to do it right. But if you aren't constantly
00:24:45.040
networking, and when I say networking, I'm talking about meeting new people, helping them win,
00:24:50.940
uh, getting perspective, uh, trying to learn as much as you can about other people, trying to
00:24:57.040
make introductions where you can continually offering services and, and advice and anything
00:25:03.440
that you can on your own to connect yourself to other high achieving individuals. Those are the
00:25:09.760
types of things that you should be doing every single day. I can't even begin to describe how many
00:25:14.780
opportunities have presented or been presented to me. For example, on this podcast with podcast guests,
00:25:20.600
simply because I've been a fairly good networker that I know what other people are all about,
00:25:26.040
that I look for opportunities to help those other individuals win, that I want to serve those people.
00:25:31.400
And as I continue to do that and make all of these little expansive type networking strategies
00:25:37.040
come into play, the more opportunities that are presented to me, I've had this happen in,
00:25:42.600
in other careers as well. I can remember people coming to me and asking if I would, uh, I would
00:25:48.660
interview for, uh, other, other positions, management type positions and other organizations
00:25:54.060
to which I didn't even belong. And part of that was because I networked well with them and I was
00:25:59.540
constantly looking how I could serve and make connections and help other people win. So number
00:26:05.200
seven, network, network, network, network. So many opportunities will be presented. You're not there just
00:26:13.080
to do a job guys. If there's an underlying thread between the conversations I'm having right now,
00:26:17.380
or, or the topics and these points that I'm listing, you're not there just to do a transaction.
00:26:23.140
All right. You're not there just to, to, to be another number or to be an expense, or that's not
00:26:28.560
what you're there for. You're there to help maximize the opportunities that you have and maximize the
00:26:34.780
opportunities for your employer, uh, your manager, your teammates, et cetera, et cetera. So network
00:26:40.480
effectively. And over time guys, um, I'm going to break down these even further because I feel like I
00:26:45.840
just kind of skimmed over that. Uh, but Jordan Harbinger, a lot of you guys know Jordan Harbinger
00:26:50.360
with the Jordan Harbinger show. He's got some phenomenal, phenomenal information. And even I
00:26:55.720
believe level one workshop or something like that, you can go to his, his website. Uh, and he talks
00:27:01.380
about how to be a connector and how to be a more effective networker. All right. Uh, number eight,
00:27:08.700
understand that loyalty has limits. All right. Loyalty has limits. I talk with so many men
00:27:14.660
who believe that just because they entered into an, a fight, a financial arrangement with a,
00:27:20.520
with an employer that they owe them their blind allegiance for life. I mean, it sounds silly when
00:27:26.060
I say that, but frankly, some of you listening may have also fallen, fallen into that trap.
00:27:30.860
Like you have this other offer, for example, that is a significantly better offer with another
00:27:35.280
employer and you want to take this job, but you feel this false sense of loyalty to another
00:27:43.620
individual. What I would say is that you need to be dedicated. You need to be commitment,
00:27:48.020
committed. You need to pour your heart into the work that you're doing now, but you don't need to
00:27:52.440
be so loyal that you aren't willing to look for other opportunities that you aren't willing to
00:27:58.540
entertain potential opportunities that could excel your career. And frankly, could really help you
00:28:04.400
and your family and the people that you care about by exploring that opportunity.
00:28:08.380
So here's how you need to look at this, because I'm telling you, your employer doesn't have any
00:28:13.800
loyalty to you. I think you should be loyal as long as you're committed to that individual,
00:28:17.860
but an employment contract is basically this at its most basic level. The employer will pay you,
00:28:25.440
the employee, a stated amount of money for a stated job or amount of hours or specific roles or duties.
00:28:33.720
And when that's completed at the end of every night, when that is completed, you have completed
00:28:39.860
that job and your employer has paid you the money that they agreed to pay you. That is where the
00:28:45.220
loyalty ends. That's it. It's a basic contract. Now I'm not saying you need to go out in a blaze of
00:28:51.380
glory. I'm not saying you need to burn the boats or anything like that. What I'm saying is that if
00:28:56.640
other opportunities present themselves through everything else that you've been doing, knowing and
00:29:01.360
conceding expectations, communicating effectively, helping other people win, not getting pulled into
00:29:05.740
the mud, elevating yourself through new degrees and credentials and licensing, networking with other
00:29:10.820
individuals, then understand that you have created those opportunities for yourself. And to not at least
00:29:17.220
entertain the opportunity is really overlooking something that could potentially transform your life.
00:29:24.380
So loyalty is great. Dedication and commitment to something is wonderful, but it's not so comprehensive
00:29:33.360
that you should consider not taking a position simply out of loyalty itself. Give your, your notice,
00:29:42.700
help train other individuals, do the best you can while you're there. But look guys, number eight,
00:29:47.600
loyalty has limits. If something else comes up, something else is available. That's an opportunity that
00:29:52.860
you definitely ought to explore. All right. Uh, number nine, I feel like we kind of alluded to
00:29:58.460
this quite a bit throughout the conversation up to this point, but you are a problem solving machine,
00:30:04.580
a problem solving machine, not to be confused with a problem identifying machine. There is a huge
00:30:12.220
difference between a problem solving machine, excuse me, and a problem identifying machine. I think most
00:30:19.760
people, if you look around in your office, you're in an office with let's say 10 to 20 employees.
00:30:24.400
I think that most people inherently through evolutionary hardwiring are problem identifying
00:30:33.380
machines. We look around, we see problems that that person's dropping the ball or this management
00:30:40.280
style isn't working or, or this office arrangement isn't set up correctly, or this process isn't working
00:30:46.480
as effectively as it could be. All of us are looking for little inefficiencies and little problems and
00:30:52.060
little things that we see wrong. Why? Because that's what helps us stay alive. That's like I said, we're
00:30:56.960
evolutionary hardwired to look for things that are threats. Okay. But I think it's infinitely harder to find
00:31:03.980
somebody who is not only a problem identifying machine, but a problem solving machine. And that's what you
00:31:10.140
should be. When you see a problem, you should solve it. You should fix it. You should look for
00:31:16.920
opportunities to come up with solutions that will fix that problem. Now, some of these things you might
00:31:21.980
need permission for and others you won't take some initiative. If you see something wrong from just a
00:31:27.860
wrapper on the floor, that's a problem. That doesn't look good. Doesn't speak well to your image. You don't
00:31:33.500
need to wait for the janitor to come at night to pick the thing up. You should do that. If you see an
00:31:38.620
inefficiency in a system, now you may not have the power to change that immediately, but I would
00:31:43.920
definitely recommend that you talk with your team leader or your supervisor or your manager and say,
00:31:50.140
Hey, John, I've found this problem, this little inefficiency in our system, and it's costing us
00:31:55.720
this amount of money or this amount of time. And I really think if we implemented strategy X, Y, and Z,
00:32:02.040
that we could actually shore up that area and we could save ourselves time and money.
00:32:07.320
Like what manager is not going to be interested in that? What, what business owner or employer is
00:32:13.840
not going to be interested in that? So don't come to the table with problems, especially to a
00:32:18.900
supervisor because everybody's griping to that person. Everybody has problems. Like I said earlier,
00:32:23.960
we're all problem identifying machines, but it's a breath of fresh air. When an individual comes into
00:32:29.500
the office to talk with a manager or a supervisor or a team leader and says, Hey, I recognize this thing.
00:32:34.220
We're off here a little bit. And here's a solution. Here's how we can fix it. And, and then you let
00:32:40.020
it play out from there. Maybe you implement it. Maybe you don't, but you're constantly doing this
00:32:44.380
every day. How can I solve problems? How can I solve problems? What can I fix? How can I solve
00:32:47.920
problems? And the guy who solves problems is the guy everybody turns to the employees, the teammates,
00:32:53.640
the subordinates, and even, even the managers, the supervisors, the team leaders, and the bosses
00:33:00.000
always turn to the problem solver. All right. That was number nine. And the last one guys getting
00:33:06.920
through these pretty quick here today. There's a lot here to unpack, but I want to make sure you
00:33:11.160
get all of this. Number 10 is find meaning and significance in your current work. Cause I'll tell
00:33:17.820
you what a lot of guys, what they'll do is they'll complain and they'll gripe and they'll moan and
00:33:24.320
they'll belittle and they'll beat up what it is they're currently doing that it's not significant
00:33:29.540
or it's not meaningful or there's no purpose in it. And, and I get it. You know, I've been in
00:33:34.620
positions, whether it's delivering pizzas or doing landscaping or you name it, I've done all kinds of
00:33:41.400
things where I didn't feel that sense of purpose and meaning. And I don't think this should be a
00:33:46.300
perpetual state. I think if you find yourself always feeling like this, there's, there's a
00:33:50.420
problem. But I also believe that we maybe throw in the towel too quickly, or we dismiss the fact
00:33:56.120
that maybe you can find meaning and you can find purpose in anything that you're doing. I think about
00:34:02.460
my day-to-day operations from doing this podcast to, uh, doing some backend paperwork to having
00:34:10.260
conversations with great guests to making social media posts. And I'll tell you what, some of the stuff
00:34:14.900
I really, really enjoy doing, doing this podcast, having conversations with great people.
00:34:19.460
I enjoy, I love it. It uplifts me. It fulfills me. And there's other things that I find, like I just
00:34:24.280
don't enjoy it. Podcast editing, for example, was something that I didn't enjoy. And now I outsource
00:34:29.720
that. But when I was doing it, I was able to get it done because I found meaning and purpose and
00:34:34.780
significance in it. It was important. I understood how it moved the needle, why it was so important
00:34:39.640
and how it actually served in the greater and grander scheme of what I am trying to accomplish
00:34:45.600
here with an order of man of that, of that, what I said earlier, reclaiming and restoring masculinity.
00:34:51.920
So yes, there might be a situation that you need to get yourself out of. You may move on. There may
00:34:57.080
be an opportunity through networking or through elevating yourself where, where you can go on to
00:35:01.620
another employer or another job or create something new. Of course you can do those things,
00:35:06.760
but in the meantime, find meaning and significance and pour everything that you possibly can into your
00:35:13.880
work. Whether you're delivering pizzas, whether you're, you're picking up trashes or you're a
00:35:19.260
janitor or a school teacher or an attorney or a lawyer or you name it, firefighter, name it.
00:35:25.640
There can be meaning found in every single action that you engage in. The more meaning and purpose you
00:35:31.280
find in that item that you're doing, even if you hate it, the better you'll be at it. The more
00:35:36.160
committed to that thing, the, the excellence that you'll strive for towards that thing.
00:35:40.720
And the quicker you'll propel yourself to a position that you'd rather be. But if you treat
00:35:46.840
it like a chore and something you don't want to do and you moan about it and you gripe about it and
00:35:51.720
you complain to your bosses about it, you're actually doing the exact opposite of everything
00:35:56.040
I'm sharing with you here. And you're hindering your ability to go out there and literally crush
00:36:00.980
your career and make a life that you want, that you enjoy, that you're excited about,
00:36:07.660
and that's profitable and financially rewarding for you and mentally and physically and emotionally
00:36:13.580
demanding, yet uplifting and satisfying. All right. So let me go through these 10 steps with
00:36:18.440
you guys again, real quick, and then we'll get you out of here. So you can go out and crush your
00:36:22.320
career, crush your day and crush your career. Number one, know what the expectations are.
00:36:26.920
So first you can meet them and second, so you can exceed the expectations. Number two,
00:36:32.320
learn to communicate effectively as an assertive communicator, not passive, not aggressive,
00:36:38.600
not passive aggressive, but a assertive communicator. Number three, know your customer. Yes,
00:36:44.980
your actual customer and client, but also your boss, your colleagues, your coworkers, your higher
00:36:49.580
ups, your supervisors, your managers, and team leaders know who those individuals are and serve
00:36:53.820
them effectively. Number four, help other people win. Always help everybody else win. You will
00:36:59.560
inevitably win. Like a Zig Ziglar said, number five, never, never, never get pulled into the mud.
00:37:06.100
No drama, no chaos, no gossiping, no backstabbing or, or, you know, biting each other in the back and
00:37:14.380
none of that stuff. All right. Don't get pulled into the mud. Number six, elevate yourself through
00:37:19.020
learning, through experience, through education and knowledge, credentials, degrees, et cetera.
00:37:24.740
Number seven, network effectively within your organization, within your organization and outside
00:37:29.580
of your organization as well. Number eight, understand that loyalty has limits. Loyalty has
00:37:34.780
limits. Don't pass up opportunities out of blind allegiance or loyalty. Number nine, solve problems.
00:37:41.300
You are a solve, excuse me, a problem solving machine, not a problem identifying machine. That's easy.
00:37:47.760
Everybody does that. That's the standard. That's the baseline. That's the minimum requirement.
00:37:52.980
You need to be a problem solving machine. And number 10, find meaning and significance in
00:37:59.660
everything that you do. Every menial task to the things that you enjoy most, the more you find meaning
00:38:04.860
in the grand purpose and scheme of what it is you're trying to accomplish, the more effective you're going
00:38:10.180
to be at it, the better you're going to be at it, the more that other people are going to win.
00:38:13.240
And the quicker you'll elevate yourself to somewhere that maybe you have the potential to go,
00:38:17.760
and have a desire to go as well. So that's it guys. 10 tips to crushing your career. I'm going to let
00:38:23.780
you get out of here in just a quick minute, but I want to thank you. I really want to thank you
00:38:27.780
because you have helped me understand these. You have helped me articulate some of these ideas and
00:38:31.880
these concepts, and certainly some of the things that I share with you. And also some of the things
00:38:35.840
I learned from my guests and learn from you and in our brotherhood, the iron council have really,
00:38:40.480
really helped me to become a better man, a better father, husband, business owner, community leader,
00:38:47.960
coach, and every other facet of life that I'm showing up. So I want to say that I'd appreciate
00:38:52.420
you. A couple of announcements as we wind it down, the things that I mentioned earlier, number one,
00:38:56.920
origins immersion camp, which is August 25th this year through September 1st. And then the Hoyt giveaway,
00:39:04.300
we're giving away a brand new Hoyt helix bow. So order of man.com slash Hoyt H O Y T. That's all I
00:39:10.680
got for you guys. Let me know if there's some other tips that maybe you have thought about or
00:39:14.100
think that other men need to know about, then please share those connect with me on Instagram
00:39:17.580
at Ryan Mickler. My last name is spelled M I C H L E R. And also on Twitter at Ryan Mickler. Let me know
00:39:24.880
what I missed. Let me know what needs to be added. Let me know if you have some, some interesting or
00:39:29.160
insightful perspective that maybe I didn't cover. That's what this is all about is us helping each
00:39:34.060
other, helping us become better fathers, husbands, business owners, community leaders,
00:39:39.180
just men in general. All right, guys, I'll let you get out of here. Go out there, take action. Also
00:39:43.880
crush your career and become the man you are meant to be. Thank you for listening to the order of man
00:39:49.420
podcast. You're ready to take charge of your life and be more of the man you were meant to be.
00:39:54.180
We invite you to join the order at order of man.com.