May 20, 2020 What is Extreme Ownership? How does it relate to budgets, work, relationships......well everything.

The whole Covid-19 deal has been interesting, keeping out of politics, it has deeply Changed the way work is getting done and Who is getting work done. I have noticed lately, those who have been working the whole time feel like the world is almost normal now even though kids, schedules, and life in upheaval. Those returning to work to this are a little shocked at how little those still working even have Covid in the front of their minds. Just an observation. We have spoke to people who have 1/4, 1/2, or more of their workforce AWOL, yet business ticks on. You have to find a new way, a better way.

Ties in really well with; What is Extreme Ownership? We ordered 20 hardbacks for our people to fill in with the 10 or so copies we have floating around here and we will find out. It fits in nicely with setting a budget, work and certainly relationships. Check out this video of Jocko….by the way, if you don’t follow Jocko, you need to, you must.

May 19, 2020 No Drama and a Clean Microwave

Finalized Baby Step 3 today. No Drama, set up your life so you don’t have that drama. Make it so the credit card doesn’t come out when you get a hole in tire or Murphy comes to visit. Who doesn’t hate Murphy. Murphy might be a good name for a dog. Just a subtle reminder to be prepared.

Our new hire Hannah realized our rope wasn’t very tight keeping up our microwaves. We weren’t keeping up on our, Leave it Better than you found it mantra from Paul Akers. Coincidentally, Kari and I were listening in a voyage to pick up the kids from Grandma’s a song that said, “leave it better than you found it”. We are not hip or trendy but we can spot a good lyric anywhere. Sunday Best, Surfaces.

May 18, 2020 Baby Step 3

After a week off from Financial Peace, we restart with half of baby step 3; 3 to 6 Month Emergency Fund…….I guess many wish they had heeded this advice.

This past weekend, Wisconsin started to return to normal. I went out to 2 of my favorite restaurants. It felt good. The service suffered from stifling rules and just basic apprehension, yet they were my best meals yet, FREEDOM! Luckily, I live in a remote area and was deemed “essential”, and to a degree haven’t had my freedoms all that devastated. Yet, to see these restaurants and the steps they took to ensure their operation and success, I realized how STRONG the American Entrepreneurial spirit really is.

Please take these few steps this summer:

• Support the Small Shops in Small Town America, they are hurting and need everyone’s help

• Don’t complain, we have no comprehension of the struggles these small shops and their employees are facing

• BE Nice

• BE Generous

“Donec id justo non metus auctor commodo ut quis enim. Mauris fringilla dolor vel condimentum imperdiet.”

— Claire C.

May 15, 2020 Smart Dollar App Launch and Improvements from the week

It has been really fun going through the Financial Peace University lessons, 1 and 2 with our group. It is truly a firehose type experience for some and others it was great finding out they had been through it before. Today, we launch the Smart Dollar app as a perk to employment here. I am intrigued to see how many will dig in and use it.

Our leadership team spent an hour engaging in the Entreleadership Summit Unlocked. Yesterday’s unlock was a talk from Marcus Buckingham and the 9 Lies about work. My main walk away was to find Love in work. Find your red thread was his challenge.

On the improvement front, many to speak of. A few include opening up the windows from the dungeon look, pallet template trials, trimmed and painted front entry door, a freshly caulked/sealed dust collector, updated best fence, and many others.

May 14, 2020 Batch Work Makes For Rework

This meeting went well, our peeps had more examples of batches; from how some people change tires, paint, cook, etc. 3 years in, WE still find ourselves batch batch a batch’in. Our industry is infatuated with batches and WE keep the pressure on finding better ways to get closer to one piece flow. Pull the veil back. Philip pulls the veil on a demo company and the challenge is to find those batches in our own lives.

May 13, 2020 How many little things can you fix to make your life better?

It’s crazy, simple ideas …….incredible satisfaction with what truly makes you happy. Usually, the items that stop us from enjoying our hobbies, family, friends, and yes work are EASY to change. WE just need to recognize them as waste and not some other issue. Spot waste+Simple Solution=Better Life. That easy……then compound that over time, better than any interest rate at a bank!

May 12, 2020 STOP, and fix the problem.

Man o Man, how many times are you working on something and your irritation levels are through the roof. Often, waste is weighing us down and we don’t even recognize the gift it is giving us. There is a part of the Toyota Way that comes back to me in those moments, stop and fix the problem….NOW!. It is okay to stop making things to fix that irritant. I bet the rest of what you will do will be of better quality and more fun and satisfying to do! Check out our video from Tuesday’s meeting.

May 11, 2020 Cutting Corners

Coming off a fantastic month in April, sometimes you have to ask, “How did we accomplish that?” Obviously, teamwork, commitment, sweat went into it. We also had to ask, what areas did a few things get done just a little less right? Are those the areas to look for improvement, to focus our energy to create Cascading Wins? You have to have faith in yourself to improve! We used this video from 4:30 to 6:25 to illustrate the concepts.

A Motivational Speech On Why We Should Never Cut Corners, In This Video I Talk About The Importance Of Not Cutting Corners And How If We Are Not Careful It C...