When we’re in the heat of the moment or in the middle of action, we can’t know exactly what we’re doing, so how do we know if we’re doing things right? How can we monitor our growth when we’re too occupied with how we’re acting in a specific scenario? Ken Courtright’s suggestion – call in the Ghostbusters – not necessarily the beloved ’80s pop culture icons, but a group of people who know you well enough to point out your mistakes and call out bad judgment coming from you. You might just see a sharp uptick in growth.
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Call Ghostbusters To Win
I’m titling this Ghostbusters. It was the perfect title. I’m picking on Dave Kelley again. He’s our new CEO. We were able to pull that guy out of retirement, but he was the previous COO of TD Ameritrade for some time. I’m going to pick on Dave and I’m going to pick on another Dave, David Corbin. David Corbin is the one who actually introduced us to David Kelley. I’m going to say that David Corbin is the original Ghostbuster for my wife and I. David Kelley is the newest Ghostbuster for Kerri and me in Income Store. What I mean by that is it takes a third party to see the ghosts that are walking behind you. I’ll give you an example.
Knowing your ghosts means you can act against them. Click To TweetI apparently have three ghosts that run with me. They go with me everywhere. They sometimes mask me. They are the disruptor ghost, the avoider ghost and the eternal optimist ghost. What does that mean? What I have been told by David Corbin is I have a very much of an avoidance personality. From both David Corbin and David Kelley, I have been shown that I have an eternal optimist ghost. From David Kelley, I have been proven that I have a disruptor ghost. All that means is this, as Tiger Woods famously said once when he was asked, “Why do you have a coach? You’re the greatest golfer that’s ever lived. How can you take advice from somebody who is inferior to you?” He said, “It’s simple. I can’t see my own swing. I showed my coach my 1,000 best swings that were recorded and I said, ‘Memorize those.’ When you see me not swinging that way, you’ve got to tell me.”
We have two incredible coaches in our lives, both Davids, and they have proven that for me personally, I am a disruptor, an avoider and an eternal optimist. What’s the point of knowing this? The only point of knowing this is to take action against it and bring in people that balance that and/or cut off the hand that is stealing. Meaning if my right arm is the disruptor, we’ve got to cut it off. If my left arm is the avoider, we’ve got to cut it off. If my right leg is the eternal optimist, we’ve got to cut it off. It’s either that or remove Ken from the premises, which was David Kelley’s first choice. If Ken is not around, he can’t disrupt anything.
You can't see your own swing so you've got to get mentors you trust who can shadow you. Click To TweetI have about a ten-year history. I’ve been kicked out of my office three times over ten years. This is a true story. It’s like, “Would you please stay away?” One time we did a challenge where I let the youngsters manage five websites. I picked five websites and after six months, they beat me by 18%. It was a bummer. Part of why they wanted me out of the office is I would often walk into a planning session and I’d hear something I didn’t agree with and I would change things. I might be right short-term, but it might’ve hurt their long-term goals for that site and the site that other site was going to help in.
What does this mean for you? What it means for you is foundational. You can’t see your own swing. You’ve got to get some mentors that you respect and trust. You have to find a way for them to shadow you. If you can’t get them to shadow you at work, if you can’t get them to spy on you at work or whisper in on your calls, they can’t tell you truly if you’re a disruptor, an avoider or an eternal optimist. If you’re meeting with them one-on-one and you’re telling them what you want to tell them, that’s like a psychologist. That’s not going to work. You’re feeding them what you want to feed them. You’ve got to have mentors that follow you and talk to other people about you so you can get a true profile of yourself. This doesn’t need anymore. You need some Ghostbusters in your life. Go get them.
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