The Potty Chart

Tags

business, leadership, parenting

That’s right, The Potty Chart. It’s an important element for any parent of a 2-year-old. However, this post isn’t about parenting, it’s about Leadership. It’s humorous the way certain things make a light bulb go off, you’ll understand what I mean by the end of this story.

Several months ago, our middle child was being potty trained and we were getting extremely discouraged as he was not succeeding. I thought back to how we trained our oldest son, and quickly realized the difference in how we parent the 1st child vs the 2nd child. The 1st child we are learning and excited about every new step, so everything is such a HUGE deal, where as when the 2nd one comes along, while we’re excited for his milestones, sometime we forgot to put the same amount of emphasis as the 1st. The major difference with Joseph, our 1st son, was that we put much more emphasis and incentive on becoming potty trained. But with Jude, our 2nd, we started these practices but didn’t fully execute them, and then became frustrated.

With Joseph, we created a nice potty chart and posted it in his bathroom where he could see it everyday. As he filled up the chart he could get prizes and then an ultimate prize. With Jude, we started a chart, but there it hang on the wall, half filled out, and without the required emphasis. No doubt, in our heads, we couldn’t figure out why Jude wasn’t “catching on” quicker. Do we not do this in all areas of our life? We get so stuck in what we’re doing, that we forget to step back and figure out how to solve the problem!

As adults we are no different from children. We need both emphasis and incentive. A well-developed leader not only understands this, but also puts this mentality into action in order to effectively lead and accomplish goals. You may have heard the quote, ” what get’s measured get’s done.” This is a similar thought. In order to accomplish something, ANYTHING, but emphasis and incentive must be present. This isn’t just for a manager, CEO, or President of a company, this is something that each of us deal with in one way or another.

After realizing where we had failed with Jude, I decided to take action. My wife was going out-of-town for the weekend, so Jude and I, along with brother Joseph of course, sat at the kitchen table and collectively built his new and enhanced potty chart. With my lack of artistic skills we created a chart that functioned well, but did not look pretty! Jude drew the lines and Joseph wrote the numbers. There were seven rows of 10 column At the end of the 10th column we drew a picture of a cup of yogurt. After that, the next day I bought him some small Toy Story stickers for his chart. Jude was excited! He was informed that after each successful potty trip he would get to place a sticker on the chart. Then after 10 times, the whole family would go get Yogurt from the new yogurt shop. He now knew his goal and he was pumped up! His brother even helped out, since now he had incentive too, if Jude accomplish his goal, then we ALL got yogurt! Immediately this tactic worked perfectly. Jude’s accidents were instantly gone, and improved 90% right away.

I then began thinking of this from a business perspective, and again emphasis and incentive came into my mind. I use these tactics all day long, but this really drove the point home for me. If we want to get something done, our employees, children, or likewise, have to be motivated to do it. Generally, some sort of reason/incentive will provide that motivation. it may not be as simple as a cup of yogurt, but I guarantee you, it will be something that drives that person. My next steps were to challenge managers that worked for me to effectively use this tactic in each of their restaurants. They already use incentive programs, and we have a goal for everything we do. This challenge was to shift the paradigm and begin to look at it differently. To have a laser focus on helping their teams succeed by having emphasis and incentive on the right thing in order to be most successful.

Whether you’re trying to raise children, herd cattle, or manage employees, this extremely simple concept works when its executed to the fullest extent. How can you implement this in your life?

Ambition + Priorities, and a few Vegas insights

Tags

leadership, travel

I’m headed back from a trip to Las Vegas, so I’ll start with a few of my observations. It’s been almost 2 years since I’ve been to Vegas, and the economy seems to have improved greatly. The first way I can always tell is by asking the cab drivers; which, started with a very long cab line at the airport just like it used to be. 2 years ago the cabbies were begging for tips and business, saying that it was really down. This year, there was almost a shortage of cabs. Sold out hotels, construction complete on major projects including the mega-complex City Center (which is impressive by the way), and of course the streets full of people 24 hours a day, all point to a much stronger economy. Vegas was clean and affordable in the areas I was in on this trip. You just have to pick the right places!

My convention was at Palazzo again, and I love to stay there. If you’re in Vegas, I’d say this is the place to stay. All of their rooms are amazing suites, bigger than a 3 bedroom apartment in NYC. Their attention to detail and service is outstanding. They also have great restaurants and nightlife in the hotel and all around the hotel with so many places to choose and a boardwalk to Fashion Show Mall and Wynn and Encore. This was almost entirely a work trip, but here are a few tips on places to go from this trip and past trips: Get off the strip! While there’s plenty to do on the strip, instead take a trip to Hoover Dam or Red Rock Canyon. They are both close by and a blast! Eat: LAVO at Palazzo, Botero at Encore. See: all cirque du soliel shows (O, Mystere are my favorites), Bellagio Gardens and Fountains (of course). Maybe next time I find myself in Vegas I’ll share more details about these places.

So enough about Vegas. I was recently having a conversation about ambition. What is ambition? Well, according to Dictonary.com iphone app, it’s both a noun and a verb. Noun: An earnest desire for some type of achievement. Verb: to seek after earnestly; aspire to. Does everyone have ambition? I argued NO. Maybe I was a bit harsh, because I’m sure at some point, everyone has some ambition. The argument back is that it depends upon what it is. So everyone might be ambitious about something that’s near and dear to their heart. I call that “having priorities.” We all have certain things that are a higher priority. Have someone ever told you, “I just didn’t have enough time to do that?” or “I just can’t make it to _______” Why didn’t they have time? Is that truly the case? Or is it really that what you were referring to wasn’t a “priority” for them. We all have time to do the things that are most important to us. It doesn’t mean that we always get to choose that though. A boss, spouse, or child may be the driving force for that. Here’s another example, your boss really needs you to work on a Saturday to help get a project wrapped up. You had already promised your spouse a family trip to the beach. You tell your boss that you’re not able to. Your priority was your family, which isn’t a bad thing…although then your friend calls up and has complimentary passes to the best golf course in town. All of the sudden everything changes. You tell your spouse that the beach is supposed to have double red flags so maybe another day would be better at the beach. You come up with reasons that you should go play gold instead, but you weren’t doing that because of work. It’s all about priorities.

So getting back to ambition: The above example would not be someone that’s ambitious about golf. The person might be passionate about golf, and surely it’s their priority. Is playing golf bad? Of course not, sometimes it might be put ahead of other things. Does an ambitious person only someone who is trying to get ahead in their job though? Absolutely not. Mostly importantly, an ambitious person is defined by being ambitious in general. Not just about one thing in life. Let me say it another way: Someone that is ambitious is not defined by the thing they are trying to achieve; they are defined by their innate characteristic to be successful in everything that they do. An ambitious person cares about the details and pushes hard to get whatever done that they are trying to get done. This person doesn’t sit on the sidelines and let life pass them by. They aren’t ever the victim, they aren’t always the winner, but they will be next time! Are you an ambitious person?

Welcome!

Tags

business, restaurant

Hi and Welcome to my blog. LIFE? That’s a broad topic, huh? Well, let me tell you what this blog is about. Really it’s about so many things. If you’re interested in a specific topic, then use the tags to search quicker. This blog will truly be about my “life learnings.” A larger focus will be placed on leadership and the dynamics of people/groups in all types of environments, but mainly starting from the world of business. I’ll share from the kitchen of busy restaurants, to the small boardroom of business executives, all the way to large conventions. Further I’ll share about business and leadership books that I’ve read as well as books on the life of Jesus and how He can impact our lives today. Travel will be another hot topic on this blog. Not just where to go and what to do, but HOW to travel. Tricks that will save you money and make your travels one thousand times better! Also, insights into my travels. Everywhere I go, I find new, creative, exhilarating ideas, people, and inspirations. Travelling clears the mind, gets you out of your own element and literally opens up entirely new worlds, thoughts, and emotions. Other things you’ll read about are LIFE in general, living life to the fullest, creating excitement in your life. We are only on this earth once, and I believe that we need to make the most of it and cease moments. It takes us to make that happen, sometimes we have to step out of our comfort zones. That’s half the fun of it though!

So in order to give you some insight about me and why you should read what I’m saying, you should know this: I’m married with 3 small children (almost 5, almost 3, and 8 months as of this writing). All 3 boys. I own and operate 12 fast-food restaurants. In my opinion the best franchise, also considered the largest. It’s a family business. I own several of them, and I am in charge of operations for all 12.  Over 500 employees work for us. Every day I’m dealing with people. Every day I am sharing my vision for our company. Every day I’m delegating, following up, encouraging, pushing to the limit, and producing the required results. Throughout this blog, you’ll read my daily celebrations as well as challenges (I call problems challenges, and I’ll explain that in a later post). I also serve on leadership teams and board of directors for several community associations as well as regional and national groups. More to come on those.

I’m 30 years old. I love Jesus! I’m ambitious and motivated in LIFE in general. That’s why I decided on such a broad title for my blog! I listed out everything that I’m passionate about and said “I’m not going to restrict myself.” I will talk about what I’m passionate about in the moment. Most importantly, I have a vision for my blog. Each time you take your precious time to read this page, my heart’s desire is that you take sometime away that will enrich your life. Sometimes it might be something small, other times it might be profound and revolutionary. Nonetheless, each time something will hit you, and you’ll say “wow, I’ve never thought of it that way” or “Gee, that makes a lot of sense.” I want it to resonate with you and bring power into your mind. Your feedback and comments are critical, so please provide them as your words/opinions/thoughts can and will do the exact same thing for me. So…every time I start typing away, that will be in the front of my mind. Look for bolded thoughts, I would consider these “key thoughts” and important enough read carefully and fully.

I now invite you to join me on this journey. Stay tuned for the next post!

Oh and by the way, the header picture is a picture that I took on the beach of Cozumel while on a Company cruise around the Caribbean.  The beaches there are deserted and the water is beautiful. I love taking pictures and capturing life’s moments, so I’ll be posting pictures along the way as well.