week 70: one problem per week please

can't solve everything, but you can solve for one

thank you to over 11,000 of you who read this weekly and share with your friends and family for behind the scenes on building a million dollar business from scratch and beyond.

i also include a personal note in the end so i am grateful that you let me do that without judgement.

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you will never hear a CEO or a leader say, everything is just perfect.

well, you could, but then you know they are lying.

there is always something broken in your business and team.

i have learned to say, let’s address “one problem per week.”

meaning, i am aware of many problems in the company, but i decide to focus on one problem at any given time to give it my due attention and resolve it.

when i am working on many problems at the same time, i find myself creating confusion and not clarity.

when i work on one problem at a time, it creates a tremendous focus and momentum.

but how do you choose what to focus on?

well, here’s my criteria:

• where do i see that the team is hurting (alignment, trust, burn out)

• what do i need to see that no one else is seeing (a new hire, strategy, a new product, different revenue stream, a partnership)

• what is stopping us from doing the best work of our lives (quality of work, customer satisfaction, team happiness)

the more i think about this, the more i realize how important it is to instill and look for greatness in the individuals and the team as a whole.

but it doesn’t happen accidentally.

it happens by focusing on one problem at a time and not ALL problems at a time.

it requires unrelenting focus, patience, care and attention and also humbly recognizing that the work is never done, it’s simply a pursuit of greatness.

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on a personal note, we are back at a Tennis tournament.

recently, i noticed that my son’s self esteem has been a little low every time he’d come back from the academy practice which would reflect in his behavior at home.

so we changed his coach as a test.

the result - he is so much more positive, feeling happy and enjoying the game.

so last night during dinner we had a frank conversation on what’s good for him.

he was reluctant to admit first but then realized the big change in his attitude and his game as well and how he behaved at home.

it’s hard to just pack up and move from one academy to another.

so we decided to take a month break - one problem at a time - and try this coach who we believe feeds in positivity while getting the work done.

not everyone is going to respond to the same style of coaching so maybe this might work for him, at least for now.

regardless, the breakthrough point for us, as a family, was to have him back happy enjoying the game and not worried about proving anything to anyone.

that’s the result - not the scoreboard.

leader point: progress happens by solving one problem at a time.