Unstoppable Momentum | Small Busness Ep. 4

00:13

Okey dokey doodle. Hey, guys, Mike Landlot here. I'm the owner of more than 216 local businesses across the Quad County Shelf, and I've been the executive co-scribe of the Skatchenash Valley Chamber of Commerce for the last six years. You're listening to Small Business, a podcast where we talk about all the ins and outs and ups and downs of being a small business owner. Please talk to me on social media. It's @WhyNotLandlot. I'd love to hear from you. Of course, we are talking about small business here, but that's just a jumping off point. I'm open to talk about whatever. We're having fun. It's a real hullabaloo of chitty chat.

01:01

It's a busy month, folks. We got St. Paddy's coming up next week. Daylight savings just started. We had Mardi Gras last week. Everybody getting all their sins in before the bell, following that up with Ash Wednesday on Cinco de Marcho. Islamic, Islamical holidays, they got Ramadan going on up in there. The Jewish people, people of Judaism got Purim coming up. Yeah. I feel like they got holidays for everything now.

01:44

I’m going to Google real quick. Holidays, March 11. Oh, it auto filled the year.

01:57

It's 311 Day. Is that the band? Debunking Day. We're trying to disprove cuckoo stuff. Key Deer Awareness Day. Moshoeshoe’s Birthday. I don't know what that is. National COVID-19 Day. Let us celebrate. National Funeral Director and Mortician Recognition Day. Always recognize the people who handle your dead body. Oh, National Johnny Appleseed Day. I love Johnny Appleseed. Bro just went around dropping apple seeds everywhere. Now we're, oh, there's apple trees everywhere. Oh, that darn Johnny Apple seed. You know, keep it down, Gramps. Okay, National Oatmeal Nut Waffles Day. This is too specific. Not going to lie.

02:50

National Organize Your Home Office Day. I feel called out. National Promposal Day, which I guess is you ask someone to prom. So all you young lovers out there, make your move. It's today. National Sofrito Day, whatever that is. Wash your Nose Day. That's good. World Plumbing Day. So if you ever wanted to celebrate your pipes today, let's do it. Worship of Tools Day. And Turkey Vultures Return to the Living Sign. All right. Well, sometimes I feel like Earth is a cult and I am not in it.

03:31

Oh, Thursday is L Ron Hubbard Day. So that's good for, you know, the Scientology people like Tom Cruise, Travolta, Kirstie Alley, God rest her soul. Hopefully her, her Thetan didn't get sent back to an implant station. You know, hopefully she did enough auditing in her life that she was able to erase the return command and can inhabit a new person's body. Scientology's got both the heavy hitters from Look Who's Talking, which is a great film, great film. I love when the baby is just speaking his mind.

04:12

Anyway, you guys know I'm always out there looking for the latest and greatest ways to gain an edge as a business owner. And I love that this is a space where we can share these ideas with each other. A few weeks ago, I stumbled across an article from Forbes on Twitter X Twitter X, and I read the headline and I just loved it. It says, Seven Morning Habits of High Earners That Create Unstoppable Momentum.

04:43

I just love the sound of that. I haven't yet read the actual article, but I thought to myself, this would be a good thing to share with my community. And see what you guys think. So let's jump right into it. Forbes’ Seven Morning Habits of High Earners That Create Unstoppable Momentum.

05:04

Number one, check in with yourself. Not sure what they mean by that. When you wake up, your mind is clean and fresh. Hmm. You have the mental space to think big thoughts, catch those thoughts before they disappear, keep a journal by your bed and write what's on your mind. Ask yourself how you feel. Notice what's bubbling beneath the surface. Your mind speaks loudest in the morning. Listen up.

05:34

All right. Well, right off the bat, I'm going to disagree pretty strongly here. When I wake up, my mind is not clean and fresh. It's, uh, it's basically full of spiders. I am absolutely haunted by my dreams. Okay. I just got to get moving in the morning. I can't be stopping to ask myself how I feel, you know, because the answer is going to be this guttural pleading whale of a man freezing to death, you know, because I also wake up very cold. Now, I do keep a journal by my bed, but that's just my nightmare log.

06:15

Clearly the only thing bubbling beneath the surface is the hellscape that I just emerge from. I am not trying to slip back into that. I mean, by the time my alarm goes off, I've already spent hours addressing all of Freddy Krueger's wants and needs. I've done everything he asked. I'd like to move on. You know, sheesh. So, uh, check in with yourself. That's a big fat no.

06:51

Number two, set your intention. Okay. You can drift through your day or you can own it completely. Successful business owners don't wing it. Disagree. Pick the word that will describe your day. Achievement, focus, fun, connection, feel how you want to feel, then make it happen. Start strong to finish strong.

07:13

Okay. I got a couple of quibbles here. First of all, I don't feel like I need to own the day completely. I like to share the day. I'm not trying to golem it all to myself, you know, and then they're saying successful business owners don't wing it. This one does. This one definitely does. I don't know that I'm ever not winging it. But I do like the idea of focusing and inspiring yourself with a word. So this one gets a check mark from me. Set your intention.

07:47

Number three, know your must do's. Write down three tasks that absolutely must happen today. Not 10, not 20, three non-negotiable tasks that move your business forward. Put everything else aside until they're done. Are we talking about the morning still? We're supposed to do this when we wake up. I mean, keep these tasks small and specific. Momentum builds with small wins stacked together over time.

08:15

Look, all of that makes sense. You know, I just don't get how we're supposed to be doing this first thing in the morning, you know, just rolling out of bed and writing stuff down. Do these people just wake up already seated in lotus position, just floating in the air, closing deals with their mind? I don't, I don't get it. I mean, I don't wake up in the morning and just my eyes pop open like low bot logging on. And then I turn and look at my vision board and nod. I mean, when do you eat breakfast here?

08:59

Number four, put yourself first. Everyone wants something from you. Client calls, team questions, family demands, but your morning is yours. Protect it fiercely. This time sets you up to serve others better all day long. Work out, meditate, read, create. Your business needs you at full power, not drained and scattered because you neglected yourself.

09:20

Now this one is talk of my language. Put yourself first so that you can put others first the rest of the day. I love that. You got to put your own oxygen tank on first before helping other people scuba dive, you know. Now I'm not going to work out or meditate. You know, that's not in the cards here. I'm trying to get out the door, but yeah, I'm going to give a checkmark to this one. You got to put yourself first. Well, unless you have like a baby because, you know, babies definitely need stuff kind of when they need it. So I guess high earners just don't get to have babies.

10:01

Number five, write morning pages. Okay, I feel like there's a lot to get done and we're…. Get a notebook and write three pages of whatever comes to mind. No editing, no judgment, no stopping. Let your thoughts flow freely onto paper. Magic happens on page three. Solutions appear, ideas emerge, clarity strikes. Make this your daily trainer for better decisions.

10:37

All right, that is a hard pass for me. I am not going to take out a notebook and start writing, you know, my stream of consciousness. Again, I just emerged from that stream. It was Dracula robots eating my arms with syringe teeth. I'm trying to move on from that. And not not to mention, you know, are we still in our pajamas? You know, we're on number five out of seven and nobody's even showered yet. What are we doing? Write morning pages, not for me.

11:16

Number six, question your schedule. Look at your calendar and challenge every meeting and commitment. Ask if each thing deserves your time and energy. Most don't. Your success depends on saying no to what doesn't serve you. Reschedule what's not urgent and think seriously about fixtures you should never have booked in the first place. Create space for what matters most.

11:40

I like the general idea of that. But again, I don't feel like the morning is the best time for me to question whether or not I should do the things that are on my calendar because, uh, I mean, to be completely honest, I'm going to say no to everything and go back to bed. I mean, Forbes hasn't even told me to get out of bed yet. So, uh, great idea, terrible timing. I got a question mark on this one question your schedule.

12:07

And finally, number seven, stay in airplane mode. Your phone is a portal to another world. Okay. When you're in that world, you're not in the real one for best results. You need to be present. Keep your phone on airplane mode until you've done your morning habits. The world can wait. Your momentum matters more.

12:30

I love this one, you know, theoretically, but in practice, you know, what if your mom fell and broke her hip? She's been calling you since far in the morning. You don't know what's going on. Maybe there's a murderer on the loose. I don't know. Seems a little risky and I even glance at your phone. But I like the vibe of it. So, you know, I'll give that a tentative check minus stay in airplane mode.

13:00

All right. That was Forbes 7 Morning Habits of High Earners That Create Unstoppable Momentum, but I'd love to hear what you guys think. So, uh, let's talk about it over on YouTube or tweet X Twitter @whynotlandlot. Tell me what you think. Now, believe it or not, friends. I, uh, I came up with my own list. 10 Morning Habits of Mike Landlot That Create Unstoppable Momentum. That's coming up next. You're listening to small business. We're going to take a quick commercial break. Stick around.

13:39

We all want to be self-reliant. Our house is our home. And if something breaks, we want to know that we can fix it. That's finally possible. Thanks to Home Depot, maybe the caulking in your shower’s coming off. You could need a dimmer switch in your living room. You notice that the birds in your backyard don't have anything to eat. And you're like, I need a birdhouse. Jiggling door knobs, cold draft coming in the window. It's probably not a poltergeist. It's just home repair and somebody's got to do it. Maybe you can do it.

14:10

Nine times out of 10. You got to just bite the bullet and hire somebody because, you know, you can't do this stuff. I don't know. I believe in you. With Home Depot, you finally have the chance to show everybody that they were wrong about you. Maybe you are handy. They don't know what you're capable of. Maybe you got a lot of untapped potential, you know, that you never even tried to figure out.

14:31

Used to be hardware stores were these mom-and-pop places that were crazy cramped. You walked in there, smelled like tobacco, no music playing. Now you're shuffling through these dimly lit aisles, bumping into milk crates full of rusty sharp stuff. There's some weird metal clinking sound in the back and the shelves are towering over you. All you need is a small screwdriver, but everything you see just looks like different types of saw blades. You hear a weird grunt coming from across the room. What was that? Checking behind you. You don't know what's going on. You just got this feeling that there's something wrong here.

15:06

All of a sudden you run into a wall, a plaid flannel scares the heck out of you. Look up. You see some old guy standing there. Looks like he's served in six American wars. Face all extra-asymmetrical. Saying, what do you need, sonny? But your mouth is all dry. You want to say a small Phillips head, but all that comes out is I forgot my keys. You start fast walking back the way you came, thinking, this is ridiculous. Why am I running away?

15:32

You round a corner, right into an enormous man wearing coveralls covered in plaster. It says Bill on his chest. He's just looming over you with purple jowls blocking the exit. You try to get around him, knock over a bunch of rakes, yelling, gotta go. He starts laughing like a sea lion in your face. And you just sprint out of there like some kind of prey animal. Stop around the corner behind the dumpster and you just squat there. Why did you run away? And what are you going to do about the screwdriver? They're going to find out you dropped it into the sewer grate. I mean, what are you going to do?

16:08

It's not like that at Home Depot. You walk into a vast warehouse bejeweled with orange painted metal surfaces everywhere. That screwdriver's waiting for you over in the tool corral. Wide aisles, well lit, easy to find. And heck, they got every screw known to man to go along with it. Walk down the hardware aisles, you'll lose your mind. Screws and nails and brads and ratchets and nuts and bolts and all kinds of metal things. I mean, come on, what do you need? You need flooring? No problem. Paint? They got it. Plumbing electrical? Whole aisles of real long pieces of wood. If it's a big thing, they can saw it up for you.

16:45

Or if you're feeling DIY, they got this little station where you take the logs and you can just saw them yourself with this miter box where you get different angles and stuff. You sit there working at it. Sometimes you got to wait in line. There's these guys that instead of buying a saw, they just bring whole stacks of lumber over to the Home Depot saw station and they just sit there angrily sawing away for 45 minutes, just sweating, looking real mad at the world. Half the people who use that station look like they're going through a divorce. Like the divorce is happening that day.

17:23

They got lawn and garden. You go out there. They got ficuses and ivies and trash cans and clippers, all sorts of stuff I'm never going to use in the garden. Because I don't have one. But maybe your life is less up in the air than mine is right now. Maybe you and the love of your life go back in your backyard with your green thumbs and you're like, what herbs should we plant this year honey? Maybe that's what your life is like. I don't know. Good for you. But I do get what I need whenever I go there.

17:53

The knowledgeable staff at Home Depot is always available to help. Now, they do have varying attitudes about doing so, but you know, you'll get the, sure, follow me guy. Or you get Luann, who stands there in the middle of the aisle and just breaks it down for you, real confident arms crossed, saying what you're going to want to do is blah, blah, blah, technical construction ideas, you know, and you're like, slow down Luann. I got to write this down.

18:18

Or there's always some middle aged guy who you walk up to him and ask your question and he looks up at you from behind glasses that are slid down his nose, making this face like you asked him the dumbest question ever cobbled together. Like he understands the secrets of the universe and you're just talking about lollipops and he's just refusing to give any sort of concrete answer to anything.

18:42

I don't know how to build stuff. I mean, I get it. It's not your job to build it, but I do need to not buy the totally wrong stuff. I won't hold you responsible if my drywall doesn't hold this picture hanging anchor. I'm not going to sue you. Just off the record, give me some basic advice. Am I even on the right track? I'm sorry, things are hard for you.

19:03

One time I helped these guys in my backyard build my fence. I was paying them, but I just, I felt bad because it was hot and they let me help. I did a pretty good job. The fence turned out great, but I don't live there anymore. It feels good to be handy. Or even if you don't know how to do something, just feeling like you know which questions to ask and where to find good advice. I mean, that's a whole skill set unto itself.

19:31

Just because you don't know how to build something necessarily doesn't make you less of a man. I always try my best, you know? And that's all I can do. And if people don't see that as good enough, then you got to just move on. I like myself. I have so much respect for builders. I'm not one of them. And that's okay, you know? I don't know. Whatever. Home Depot, helping America build itself.

20:05

Welcome back to Small Business with Mike Landlot. Full disclosure, that was not a real ad. That was just me showing potential sponsors out there that type of testimonial ads I can do for them. Just a wee testimonial, if it were, as it was, you know. Anyway, before the break, we went through a Forbes article, Seven Morning Habits of High Earners that Create Unstoppable Momentum, which, you know…

20:38

f those stockbrokers from the: 1980

21:20

You know, then you ask the cab driver if he's ever been to the gates of hell, he kicks you out of the cab, so now you find yourself standing outside some bar in Midtown yelling Ayn Rand quotes at passersby at first normal style, but then you start doing it in a Mr. T voice for some reason. I mean, what? Your shirts all turn up, people are scared. You know?

21:43

And they should be. I mean, you're standing in the street screaming at the sky about subprime mortgages. The valet has to ask you to move because you're blocking cars. You start throwing hundred dollar bills at him doing karate moves out of nowhere. The police show up, arrest you for drunken disorderly. Your roommate has to come down to the station to bail you out. Finds you looking like a feral animal. Eyes going different directions, dried blood on your face, asking him if he wants to do shots. He's like, it's a Tuesday morning, so you grab him by the face and scream, then let's go make some money, baby. That's not what we're looking to do here. Unstoppable momentum.

22:23

But yeah, I love that headline from Forbes. I sort of have my own Mike's Holy Trinity, as it were, of mourning habits. There's about 10 of them. 10 Morning Habits of Mike Landlot that Create Unstoppable Momentum.

22:42

Number one, snooze once. It's very important. Get up on the second alarm, no ifs, ands, or buts. Yell at yourself if you have to, but apologize afterwards once you're on your feet. Now, because if you apologize to yourself while you're still lying down, you might start to feel cozy, and then you might slip into sleepiness again, and then you're right back into it, and you don't have your alarm set anymore, so you'll be in trouble.

23:13

This is critical. Give yourself that one snooze, just to sort of resolve whatever was going on in Dreamland, and then you're up. This is not easy for me, not by a long shot. Every morning, I wake up, freezing cold, just frozen solid. The last thing I want to do is leave the comfort of my bed, but that's a big one for me. Snooze once, and then go.

23:43

Number two, snap yourself out of it. Splash cold water on your face and say your special word. Now, this one's also a challenge for me because, like I said, I'm unbelievably cold, absolutely freezing. I feel like I'm coming out of cryo, you know? So getting out of bed in the first place feels like I'm already compromising my only chance is staying alive, but splashing the cold water on my face, it feels like a brick hitting, just smashing the front of my skull.

24:27

But you got to do it, and you look right in the mirror, and you say a special word that amps you up. For me, I look right in the mirror and say, razzmatazz. That's my word, razzmatazz. That just tells me, you know, it's showtime, but you know, you got to come up with the word that works for you. Again, these are 10 Morning Habits of Mike Landlot that Create Unstoppable Momentum.

24:52

Number three, brew coffee. This is critical. It's going to come in handy during number eight.

25:00

Number four, text interns to make sure they're awake. Look, here's the reality. Interns are going to intern. If you know what I'm saying, if you know, you know, they sleep in. Mine sleep in all the time. And if I don't text them to make sure they're awake, they'll, you know, they're liable to just sleep all day. I mean, who knows? Xander in particular, he'll go completely AWOL if I don't send the morning text, you know, sometimes for days just disappears off the map. So yeah, send your interns a wake up text. Send you got to keep it professional though. You know, you can add a little friendly emoji, something like that, but just a little stern reminder that the world is waiting. So yeah, text your interns. Otherwise, God knows when they'll get up.

25:59

Number five, take a power shower. I mean, and this is the kind of thing I don't understand why it wasn't on the Forbes list. I mean, they got you sitting there doing visualizations of the sixth dimension and writing haikus. How about clean your body? You know, what? Anyway, take a power shower. Talk out loud about what you got to do that day.

 

26:29

I am really driven to get in the shower once I'm up because look, I, I'm just obscenely cold. I got to just stand there for a while in the shower, just trying to get some warmth on my body. You can't get stuck there though. It can't be like an Empire Strikes Back thing where, you know, where you've been rescued from the ice wampa and Han Solo's cut open his tauntaun and stuffed you in the guts. You know, it can't be a toasty belly nap. It's got to be more Return of the Jedi style where Jabba the Hutt’s encased you in carbonite and the shower’s like Princess Leia melting you out. Got to keep moving.

 

27:08

So to that end, while I'm warming up, I talk out loud about what I'm going to do that day. Um, and to keep myself focused, I picture that friendly little paper clip from, from the old Microsoft word, the little assistant guy. He's a little cartoon paper clip. I associate him with productivity, you know, and so I, I imagine that I'm just talking to him just going through all the things that, that need to be done that day.

 

27:34

Um, number six, speed dress. Get dressed as fast as you can. Look, guys, uh, I can't really overstate just how cold I am in the mornings. It's, it's profound and I'm groggy too. You know, I've actually had night terror type hallucinations in the morning where I, I open my eyes and there is, you know, I swear to God, there's a penguin standing in the corner of my room, just as plain as day, a fully rendered penguin. He's wearing a parka and he's got this real serious look on his face, you know, shaking his head like don't, don't do it, Mike. Don't get out of bed. It's, it's too cold out here. You're, you're not going to make it.

 

28:26

So I, so I just got to overcome that. And part of that is the speed dress. So I bundle up as quick as I can. I turned it into sort of a sport trying to get my blood pumping. I'll, I'll even break a sweat, you know, uh, you just got to be careful. You don't injure yourself, but be vigorous about it. That is what I'll say.

 

28:47

Number seven, warm up the car. Now stay tuned. This one's going to pay off on number 10. And I am seeing a pattern here. I promise not all of these are about getting warm.

 

29:00

Number eight, drink coffee. Well, okay. So this one is more warming. I don't know what to say, you know, I live in an industrial freezer, but you remember the coffee we brewed in number three? Well, you're welcome because you're drinking it now. And this is a good time to peruse the morning paper in this day and age as a cyber citizen. That's my phone. So I kind of just skim the day's headlines in the local section and the business section because, you know, surprise, surprise, I do local business.

 

29:35

Number nine, eat breakfast. I mean, hello Forbes. Human need food. Right. I mean, look, call me old fashioned, but I eat in the mornings. I'm a mammal. This one's obviously at your personal discretion, but I'm going to recommend Cheerios or Corn Chex. Reese's Puffs is weekends only. Okay.

 

30:01

And then finally, number 10, do a happy commute. This is a huge one. Drive to work, crank the tunes and smile and nod at everybody you pass. I love this one because it really makes me feel alive, you know, and connected to the greater community. I like to sing something that gets me going. A big one is Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now by Starship. I've been doing that one lately. You know, love that. And we can build this dream together. Stand and strong forever. Nothing's going to stop us now. You know, it's whatever works for you. And you don't just have to sing the vocal parts. You can sing the guitar solo, the keyboard parts, you know, whatever.

 

30:49

The next part of it is you got to smile at people while you're driving. You just smile at everybody you pass, even if they don't smile back. You know, even if they don't notice you smiling at them, or maybe they do notice, but they're, they're creeped out. So they just keep staring straight ahead and pretending they don't see it. It could go lots of different ways. I had a guy once I gave him the, the smile and he flipped the bird at me. I just sort of nodded to him. Uh, he, but then he rolled down his window and very clearly explained, you know, I'm saying F you, which, you know, I, I understood that, but that didn't dim my smile for the next person. Look, yeah, think of it this way. Your smile is there for everyone to take it or leave it, but either way, you're the one who gets to have it on your face.

 

31:43

Now a special note, if you work from home and, uh, I started doing this during the pandemic, even if you work from home, you should still do the happy commute. You drive to a professional building that's like 10 or so minutes away. Park the car, walk in the door, take a little lap around the lobby and then go back to your car, drive home. Now you may think of that as a waste of time, but it really provides a sort of psychiatric break, if you will, between home and work so that, you know, when you walk back in your home office, you can sort of imagine your pets or your plants or whatever being like, oh, heads up, you know, the boss is here. It just sort of lets you know that you mean business.

 

32:26

But yeah, so that's 10 Morning Habits of Mike Landlot That Create Unstoppable Momentum. That is Mike's way of doing it. You know, of course, the other option is to do what Forbes says and, you know, make a vision board while levitating. Maybe you prefer one or the other. You know, mine has 10. Theirs only has seven. Um, but, uh, mine includes breakfast. So it's up to you. I'd love to hear your thoughts about which one you prefer. I mean, heck, we could even combine them. I mean, there's basically zero overlap. So, you know, why not 17 Morning Habits of High Earners that Create Unstoppable Momentum by Mike Landlot and Forbes. That works for me. But, uh, what do you think?

33:19

Of course, we're on every major podcasting platform, but I want to hear from you. You can do that on YouTube, @WhyNotLandlot. The podcast episodes are there for you to check out and leave me your comments. You can also check out a variety of my TV commercials there. Hit me up on TweetyX. I'm always there talking with business leaders, sharing articles, picking the brains of wildly successful people, jump into the convo, please. @WhyNotLandlot. If Facebook is your jam, you can hit me up there. We can, you know, boomer it up together @WhyNotLandlot and while you're at it, stop by my Instagram where, uh, I have yet to post anything meaningful yet. They're all the same, WhyNotLandlot.

 

34:05

Go add me right now. Leave me your thoughts. Yeah. Comments, questions about small business or life, whatever. It's all about community. So join the conversation and together we can make small business a little bit smaller. That about does it for me. This has been Small Busness with Mike Landlot. If you're enjoying the podcast, please leave a review. If you're not, please don't. Be safe out there everyone. And remember: think global, dream local and watch out for deer.