The Final Percent

Roles with Don Lewis and Rick Lewis

In this very special episode I got to speak with and interview the Lewis Brothers! The Lewis Brothers run a company called Tridium Corp. In their company Don and Rick (Lewis) Tag team the business by being perfect complementary partners to each other. Though they have differences of opinion and of venture, they always find a common ground to come together and overcome any challenge. After being in business for 15 years I had to ask them about their story and see if they would be willing to share from the middle.
As I was speaking with them I began to realize something about their story. Something they conquered, where many don't ever even recognize. Roles. They have mastered their roles in their company, in their partnership with each other and their partnership with themselves. This is so important to notice because it allows you to become the absolute best version of yourself, without ever needing to question who you are supposed to be. You may deviate outside your role, however if you know where you belong you will always gravitate back.
Inside of roles you might have to ask yourself hard questions. Am I a leader or a follower? Do I have executive choice? Where do my best skills lie? What is my mission as an individual? All of these questions point you to a specific role. However roles are one of the best things to identify because no individual has a singular role. You may be a parent and a teacher. A leader and a volunteer. Or one of my favorites, a mentor and a mentee.
If you don't know your role however, how can you expect to perform? Say you stand on the stage of life, you just got queued to get on stage. You stand ready to head out into the wide eyes of the public. Then suddenly it hits you, "I know one line of each character in this play..." "WHO AM I PLAYING?!" You begin to spiral into a state of stress and disillusionment, you step onto the stage sweating and confused. Everyone in the crowd is just as confused and begins to wonder, "What is happening?"
Now what would happen if you knew exactly who you were playing? You leap onto the stage with confidence and vigor! You crush every line and the crowd stands to applaud as you take a bow. You feel proud of yourself. Proud of your accomplishment and you can't wait for the next time that curtain opens.
This is what it means to understand yourself. What it means to find your pocket and play your role perfectly. We all have a place in this world and while we are casting for our role we may feel confused on what we will play best. However the world has a way of fitting you into exactly where you need to be. Believe in yourself and your ability and I have no doubt that you shall become the lead role of your own Shakespeare play. Until then I can not wait to watch your story, from the middle.
A big thank you to Don and Rick for joining me in this thrilling episode. To learn more about the Lewis Brothers, head over to their website at https://www.tridium.ca/

Discipline

When do we stop making ceremonial declarations and start making disciplined decisions? The main difference between these two points is consistency. It means that you have to become so ingrained in your own thought process that what you think can and must come to fruition. Now in this Podcast episode I was in Wyoming for my uncles birthday and I was meant to be spending time with the family. However as I was unplugging and relaxing I found myself feeling guilty. Guilty that progress towards the future was not being made. So my wife told me to go get a workout in, to go spend some time and focus my thoughts. As I did, I realized that my decision had become a discipline. I had made a decision to loose weight, to get in shape and make health a priority. Then I made a decision to run a marathon in mid October. Now I workout every day. I eat healthier and I run as often as I can. All of this began from a split second decision to make a declaration. I told a crowd of 25+ people that I would get in shape or pay them all $1000. No one believed me at the time. 3 months later, they all watched as I stepped onto a scale and beat the goal that I had set for my self. Even now however I am not where I want to be, I am still working towards my goal however as mentioned in the video, at this moment in time I am a masterpiece and a work in progress, all at once. And I think this is true for everyone, we are all a work in progress and always will be, however our lives have lead us to become masterpieces in our own right.

Unkown Influences

Happy Labor Day! I know we are a day late on releasing this however we were spending the time with my family in Wyoming and we had to push it by just one day. 
Today I wanted to look at influencer culture and the way it is a constant in our lives. No matter what way we turn we are constantly being influenced by everything. By Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc. All of these platforms regularly change the way we think and act. Now this isn't limited to the online social world. 
Everyone around us is also an influence for us. In a positive and/or negative manner. If we give our time to positive people we end up creating positive change and the same is true for the inverse. When we recognize the influences that constantly pouring into us we begin to identify the three kinds of people in our lives. 
These three people include stepping stones, corner stones and people who need to get the *beep* out of our lives. Stepping stones are people who we can step on and/or step on us. Corners stones are the people who change the course of our lives and, well the last one I am sure you can figure out. When you break it down to this simple principle you can see the path you want to walk down. If that path goes hand in hand or diverges down the road then that is what it is. 
The other key principle to realize is that you yourself are an influence to everyone. Have you ever walked past someone and given them a smile and watched their face light up? It is a magical thing to watch and it is insane to think that a brief moment, a compliment, a brush through each others lives can cause a complete shift in our reality. 
My challenge to everyone today is to become that positive influence. To be the guiding light for everyone around you and to be the one who smiles when you walk down that road. Life is too short to frown at the thought of someone else's happiness, that is why I choose to smile alongside them. 

Take Aways from Costa Rica

We just got back from our recent trip to Costa Rica. It was an absolute blast and I was so honored to spend a week with such inspirational and incredible people. From spending time with Bob Synder and Zach Ohelman, to meeting and having dinner with Woody Woodward this trip was an opportunity to learn and develop my mindset with some of the best people I have met. 
The biggest takeaway for me was kind of a reaffirmation of the idea of MOVE! Funny how that keeps coming up with Bob Snyder, however it's completely true. By getting myself into motion I accidentally ended up in Costa Rica for a great week. When you move more you get the chance to put yourself in the right place at the right time. This consistent push towards your own future will begin to tear down walls. It will allow you to find the future that you are looking for. Now by moving you are also giving yourself the opportunity to get out of whatever rut you are currently in. To overcome your personal narrative and redefine the person you are. 
Now we are going to be hosting our 10th annual TFP Summit this year, however it is going to be much smaller than last year. We are limiting it to 40 people and have thus far sold around 20 tickets. So if you would like to secure your place this year, I encourage you to MOVE and reach to owen@thefinalpercent.com to see if you would be a good fit for this intensive event. 
Thank you to everyone who helps support the channel, we couldn't do this without you! 

Responsibility With Zach Oehlman

What responsibilities do you have? What responsibilities do you believe you have? The difference between these two questions is much larger than just the phrasing. Responsibility comes down to more than just future action, it is our past actions, our current actions and the actions of those we influence. Responsibility is hard because it is not just a perception of needing to take care of something or someone, it is the physical commitment to do so.
I take responsibility for my son, for my team and for myself. Now think about that statement. I take. I take on the backlash, good or bad, when I say something and that something happens. I take on that weight. Now if we think even further into it, does that mean the more responsibility I take on the stronger I am as a person? YES! If you are responsible for a dog, then you have more will power. You know you can't stay out late because you need to take care of that dog. You know you have the life of that dog held in the palm of you hand. All of these thing are only what you are responsible for.
What do you believe you're responsible for? This is what you concern yourself with. This is what you commit your time and energy to. What if as humans we all believed ourselves responsible for the care of the elderly? Not just our family but everyone. What if we believed ourselves responsible to help rebuild after disaster? What if we believed ourselves responsible for the entire next generations well being? See where this is going? If we believe ourselves responsible for doing our job at the highest possible level without need for compensation or praise, we would have a very different outlook on work. If we believed ourselves responsible for caring for the earth, doing our part to clean up after ourselves and plant new trees, we would have a very different planet.
If you believe in something strongly you will go on to accomplish it. So what will you believe you are responsible for today?

My Life In 24mm

So today I was thinking to myself and I asked, what would be fun? What do I want to do today that I would thoroughly enjoy? The answer to that, spend time with those that I am the closest with!
So starting off my day I worked out for close to 3 hours with one of my closest friends, Drew Dugan. Following that, our fitness did not end as we then had a 2v2 basketball game with Salo and Owen, in our backyard. We got our heart rate up because everyone at TFP has recently made a vow to commit to getting in shape and working on our fitness. From weight training, to running, to basketball and even eating healthy we are fully engrained in ensuring that we all hold each other accountable for our health. 
Health doesn't end at eating and acting healthy though. Health truly ends when you work to be happy. If you're happy with your weight, you are probably healthy. If you are happy with your diet, you are probably healthy. The most important one, however is are you happy with your life? If you are happy with your life, and not just happy, but filled with joy throughout your life, I believe that that is the point in which you are truly healthy. 
In honor of all of my team taking these steps to reach an Exponential life with me I am going to begin to document and release my journey for everyone to see. I want to show you more behind the sense of what we do, from basketball to travel to even just one of the team cooking for everyone, I want to show you that this thing we talk about, an exponential life, is not just the big things. But the little things along the way. The memories and companionships that we all make together. 
This new series is going to be called, My Life In 24mm. It will be a collection of memories, of ideas, of experiences that I had the opportunity, no the honor of living. Let's start a conversation about what life is all about. 

Ode to Konrad

Today I got to spend some time with my wife Cayla and my son Konrad. We went on a "DMV" adventure. We spent more time than we would have liked waiting for things to get done, but most importantly we got to spend quality family time together. 
As I am experiencing this new life coming into this world that is completely alien to him, I am beginning to notice that exposing him to new things and new experiences that seem boring to me are insane to him. Exposure is everything. It is a basic piece of what human nature is and is more commonly known as nurture. The idea of nature vs nurture comes down to internal vs external. The physical vs the spiritual. 
As I am thinking about the idea of nature vs nurture I notice that those two things need to be in balance. By getting out and giving yourself physical experiences you will be happier, however if you never work on your spiritual self you will feel out of place and out of energy in those physical experiences. 
In the modern day, so often we are absorbed by the physical world, we spend more time on the phone than with our family. More time watching tv than out in nature and more time distracting ourselves than focusing our energies. This brings me back to the idea of more. We spend more and yet more is not acquirable. So that means we are actively going into debt with ourselves. We are actively draining a bank account that we never should have had access to in the first place. This means rather than asking you to spend more time outside, spend more time with your family, I just want to ask you to begin focusing on spending time with your family, spending time outdoors and spending time developing yourself. 
Life is so finite and to keep juggling what you should be doing is unsustainable. With the time you have here on this earth my hope for you is to look back at your life and know that you lived it to the fullest, that you spent your time on what mattered most to you. Because that is all we have, once the bank account of time is spent, there is no buying it back. So get out there and buy what makes your heart jump with joy. 

Acquisition Vs. Building

As a gear head I am often looking into what the latest technology or "toys" I can utilize. My gear is in a constant state of flux depending on what I am doing, where I am going or what needs to happen. The one thing that I refuse to do however is buy a new piece of gear without first recognizing what I am building. 
Gear for me is like tools for a construction worker. It is very needed in order to do my work properly. I don't plan to build a home while buying screws and a hammer. Instead I will design my blueprint, find my team and then acquire the materials. Once all of that is done, then I can begin my build. I can begin to construct something greater than myself. 
One of the key statements in that is find my team. Tools are worthless without the right team to use them. Alternatively a team is a lot like a good set of tools. If one team member is incapable of completing a task, then it is wise to look for one who fits that specific work set. When a team is made properly then you will have a tool belt of individuals who make your tasks possible and compliment the work flows of each other. 
Unlike tools however, team members get better with age. With a little bit of patients and a lot of individualized commitment you will find that by doubling down on the people in your arsenal will benefit you greatly. Rather than always seeking the latest and greatest, you will simply have to reach into your booklet of powerful team members and grant them access to the tools they may need, in order to overcome any object.