Full Transcript for From Lost Receipts to Life Transformation: Joshua Lee’s Guide to Systems That Work

The accounting system, the application, or whatever we set our mind to do. And we go out, we buy another app, and I'll relate this to even to fitness. You know, we start another diet, we download another template, we listen to another podcast, hire another coach, reorganize everything, make new plans. But the system eventually meets the same version of us where we're not sticking with it. We're not sticking to what we committed to doing, to saying what we were going to do. 00:04:39.050 --> 00:05:03.863 So the truth is, unless something changes internally, we begin negotiating with the system and the system falls apart. So I can say honestly, I do this too. I still catch myself doing it. This is not a lesson I've mastered. It's something I continue to recognize in my own life. 00:05:06.920 --> 00:05:20.745 See, for me, looking at my own business, I know some of the places where I hide, right? Sometimes I develop a new system where I don't stick with the simple. Simple system. 00:05:22.935 --> 00:05:26.057 I know what grows my business, Adaptive Office Solutions. 00:05:27.076 --> 00:05:53.012 It's simply this, and it's— this is true for any business. It's daily sales activity, meaningful conversations, consistent outreach, 5 opens a day with reaching out and connecting with people, protecting time. On your calendar, my calendar, this is for me personally, to build relationships and create opportunities to bring value to other people. 00:05:54.610 --> 00:06:27.528 But where I drift, sometimes a client issue appears, someone on the team needs an answer, an operational problem feels urgent. It feels productive to jump in because I know how to solve it. At least I tell myself that. And then I get that dopamine hit of immediately being useful. I'll be honest, I've gotten much better at this, but I know this is where I drift, where I go back and the system breaks. 00:06:29.865 --> 00:06:32.937 So for sales, it's different. The result may not appear every day. 00:06:34.107 --> 00:06:51.017 You know, making those conversations, the conversation may not lead anywhere immediately. Might hear a no, but you must trust the process. I know for me, I need to keep making those phone calls and those connections. 00:06:53.117 --> 00:07:14.976 So sometimes for me, it's easier for me to return to being the technician than to becoming the CEO that the company requires. Operations can make me feel productive right away. But sales requires discipline, a system, patience, faith that consistent activity will eventually produce a result. 00:07:17.540 --> 00:07:22.442 So the most urgent task is not always the most important task. 00:07:25.067 --> 00:07:28.492 Sometimes the system, it's not broken. Calendar isn't broken. 00:07:28.865 --> 00:07:39.598 Sales process isn't broken. It's simply that I've allowed myself to go back to where I'm comfortable to replace what I committed to doing. 00:07:42.187 --> 00:07:53.391 So for those of you listening, ask yourself where you may have felt comfortable, where you may have gone back to where you're more comfortable instead of doing what you committed to doing. 00:07:55.790 --> 00:08:09.983 So, you know, in other examples for myself, my health, I, you know, many of you have listened to me know that I've That I've experienced a considerable health transformation, releasing over 130 pounds. 00:08:10.918 --> 00:08:14.579 At one point, I released 150 pounds. 00:08:17.499 --> 00:08:35.721 I know what works for me. Movement, getting to the gym, walking, meal prepping, following my meal plan. Drinking water, sleeping properly, following a routine, putting myself first, putting the oxygen mask on. 00:08:37.710 --> 00:08:41.139 The challenges in all of this, it's usually not knowledge. 00:08:41.590 --> 00:08:52.436 It's the negotiation. Today was difficult. I'll start again Monday. One day will not matter that much. 00:08:53.631 --> 00:09:03.792 I'll have extra peanut butter. I'll skip the gym. I won't go for that hour walk. I can make it up tomorrow. 00:09:05.480 --> 00:09:55.895 So one day, really, when we slip for one day, it may not destroy the result, but if you consistently negotiate yourself and do 6 or 7 days in a month, That can destroy your result. And repeated negotiations challenge— challenges the goals where you want to go. So, see, the exception really isn't the problem. It's the identity we built through repeated exceptions is the problem. Breaking the system. So, I didn't transform my health because I discovered one magical answer. I changed because I began to do simple things repeatedly, the hikes, the walks, the nutrition, the meal plans. 00:09:56.495 --> 00:10:10.768 And whenever I drift, the answer is usually not another complex strategy. The answer is returning to what I already know works. I'm in the middle of that now, right now. I drifted a little bit. 00:10:11.886 --> 00:10:29.692 You know, I've— I'm almost 60 days since losing my mom. I was carrying a lot, and I, I did find an extra 30 pounds on over the last— oh, I would say the last 3 or 4 months. 00:10:31.427 --> 00:10:57.326 And I put off— not so much put off, but I, I put off Following the basics, the systems that I did, I would allow myself to drift. I negotiate a little bit. Oh, what's a large coffee with 2 milk and 1 sugar or an ice cream here and there going to do? Or extra peanut butter? Well, it adds up over time. 00:10:59.764 --> 00:11:16.038 But right now, I'm in the middle of a cleanse and I'm trending back to hitting my goal, and I expect by October, end of October, I'll be back to being at having released 150 pounds total. 00:11:16.232 --> 00:11:21.590 That's pure honesty. That's pure acceptance of knowing that I know where the system broke. 00:11:25.799 --> 00:12:03.076 So, when you think about this with your team, You have to look at this discipline, this honesty with identity. You can't ask your team to trust a system that a leader continuously bypasses. So for me, every time I've stepped

into operations and tickets and all that, I'm not doing my team a favor. My job is to do the necessary reps of doing the sales, doing the CEO role, staying in that lane. 00:12:04.289 --> 00:13:00.562 So sometimes I've really had a hard time to recognize that Adaptive didn't need me to step in there. I have the team. It needed me to stay where I do best, where I lead, I make the connections, I make the relationships, following the process for sales, Allowing someone else on my team to own the result. And I mentioned this a lot, which I've learned from scouting, train them, trust them, let them lead. Letting my team do what's necessary to deliver exceptional service, figuring it out. They know it. I know they know it. And also the biggest thing for me, which I've learned over the last few years, is accepting that another person May accomplish the result of helping someone completely differently than I would. 00:13:01.306 --> 00:13:04.436 And truth is, a lot of times better. 00:13:07.029 --> 00:13:13.859 So why do we negotiate? Why do intelligent, capable people abandon systems that they know to be helpful? 00:13:15.217 --> 00:13:56.948 I believe there's several reasons. And number one, Oftentimes the result is delayed. We prefer actions that prefer immediate results. Sometimes answering an email feels productive, but let's be honest, is email the best use of our time? Solving a ticket might— my world feels productive. Eating something gives immediate comfort. I can relate to that. And skipping a difficult conversation unnecessary conversation gives us immediate relief, and avoid— avoiding sales calls protects us from rejection. 00:13:58.177 --> 00:14:32.214 But the most important work often produces delayed results in our health or relationships, leadership, sales, financial discipline, and personal growth. So we often trade the future we want for the relief we can feel right now. And then reason 2, the exception sounds reasonable. We rarely get out and go on the internet or say to our loved ones that I am abandoning this commitment forever. Instead, we say to ourselves, just for today. 00:14:33.243 --> 00:14:36.628 This week is unusual. I will catch up later. 00:14:38.899 --> 00:14:49.616 This situation is different. I need to be flexible. The excuse is often believable, but that's what makes it dangerous. 00:14:50.697 --> 00:15:05.423 It contains enough truth to receive our permission to drift. So the most important commitments do not begin with rebellion. They begin with a reasonable Sounding exception. 00:15:06.418 --> 00:15:13.134 And reason 3, the systems remove emotional freedom. A system tells us what to do before our emotions go to vote. 00:15:14.417 --> 00:15:25.094 This is exactly why systems work. The workout is scheduled before we know how motivated we feel. Sometimes we gotta just put the damn shoes on and go, but following what we put in our calendar. 00:15:25.895 --> 00:15:36.874 The sales block is protected. It's in our calendar. Before the day becomes busy. Non-negotiable time. The receipt is submitted before it can disappear. 00:15:37.339 --> 00:15:56.412 Take the picture like I do at the gas station and email it right away. The difficult conversation is placed on the calendar, calendar before avoidance takes over. We all know those conversations we need to have with our clients, with our team. With their loved ones. 00:15:58.792 --> 00:16:02.143 We know we all have to have those conversations. They're necessary. 00:16:03.176 --> 00:16:09.322 So a good system protects us from the version of ourselves that will not feel like it doing it later. 00:16:10.809 --> 00:16:13.082 Sometimes we just need to peel off the Band-Aid and do it. 00:16:15.820 --> 00:16:56.745 And that's what these systems are for, that daily Courtroom argument, negotiating with yourself, saying, no, I'll do it later. So adapting versus avoiding. So this creates an important question. How do we know when it's genuinely time to change the system and when we are simply avoiding discomfort? See, Genuine adaptation may be needed when the system repeatedly fails despite us consistently doing it, the consistent execution. 00:16:57.649 --> 00:17:19.073 Circumstances have materially changed, they've changed. New information shows that the plan that you made is no longer effective, and the cost outweighs the benefits. Sometimes we're doing things You know, I, you know, we do things when it doesn't make sense. 00:17:20.311 --> 00:17:49.115 We try to fix it, you know, install a new piece of software when, when simply, you know, we try to fix, for example, a scanner. When I've seen this before, trying to fix the scanner for outdated software, spend 3 or 4 hours finding out that The client only scans 3 sheets a day when it could be done manually and effectively and done faster. 00:17:54.563 --> 00:18:07.887 Another approach has been tested and known to work better. You know, sometimes we try to make something work that we— when we know something else is better, like that example I just made for that scanning. 00:18:10.038 --> 00:18:36.141 System, and negotiating or avoidance may be happening when you know you abandon the plan before you even give it enough time. You know, there's sometimes when I know I haven't done enough sales calls, or or you haven't stuck with the diet. You haven't stuck with going for the walks, the the the walks for even twenty minutes a day, or eating or cutting something out. You only question it. 00:18:36.997 --> 00:19:06.196 When the work becomes uncomfortable. Listen, folks, when you do things uncomfortable, everything gets easier. But there's that moment when, when you do something that's uncomfortable and it sucks, but you gotta do it. It's like getting on the roller coaster for the first time. And you keep replacing systems, but you keep repeating the same behavior when ultimately the behavior needs to change. You're looking for an approach that requires no sacrifice. 00:19:07.672 -->

00:19:21.473 You know what to do, but you're waiting to feel motivated. Listen, no one's coming. No one's coming. You don't need to be motivated. You just need to go and do. And you keep promising to restart on a future date. 00:19:22.884 --> 00:19:36.519 I've talked to some people that say, hey, I'm going to start next week after I have this done, this done. And here's the real honest truth. Why can't you start today? Why couldn't you go to the gym? 00:19:37.230 --> 00:19:55.251 Or why couldn't you pick up the phone and make the phone call or change something in your business? So adaptation changes the method while protecting the objective. So when we avoid, we're changing the objective so we can escape the method. 00:19:57.912 --> 00:20:00.217 Where are we hiding? So another, 00:20:01.715 --> 00:20:08.367 an adaptive mindset is not permission to constantly move the finish line. It's not. 00:20:09.541 --> 00:20:13.221 So here's a 3-move reset for you. 00:20:13.542 --> 00:20:20.502 When I recognize that I'm negotiating with myself, I find it helpful to return to 3 simple moves. 00:20:21.487 --> 00:20:24.214 Notice, simplify, and obey. 00:20:25.354 --> 00:20:54.646 So move 1, notice. Where am I repeatedly experiencing the same problem? For example, receipts are continuously being lost. Sales activity keeps being pushed aside. Workouts disappear when the week becomes busy. The same communication breaks— breakdown keeps happening. A task Repeatedly fails between 2 people, and you continue avoiding the same difficult conversation. 00:20:56.594 --> 00:21:03.781 So recurring frustration is often evidence that a system is missing or that an existing system is not being followed. 00:21:05.109 --> 00:21:27.378 So ask yourself, what problem in my life am I tired of solving repeatedly? That's where you notice it. And you decide to make a change. And then move number 2, simplify. What is the smallest action that would prevent this problem? Example, keeping it simple, taking the photograph immediately and emailing it. 00:21:28.054 --> 00:22:05.468 Send it, send it before you leave the store. Sales, complete 5 phone calls before allowing operations to consume the day or getting drifted into something else. Close the door. Execute, make it happen. In your health, hey, simplify. Meal prep tomorrow's food in the evening or meal prep for 3 days in a row. Making simple emails at work, putting your gym clothes out before bed, perhaps even putting the sneakers for the gym in the car so they're right there. 00:22:06.971 --> 00:22:10.007 You can't negotiate that you forgot your sneakers. Been there. 00:22:11.571 --> 00:22:23.233 Go for a walk at the same time each and every morning. I go for a walk when school year is in. I go for a walk for at least 20 minutes. 00:22:23.314 --> 00:22:53.843 That's my first walk in the day. That's my time where I keep it simple. I get centered, get a little bit of blood flowing, and I get some positive energy. And it helps so much in the day. Leadership. Direct requests through the proper channel. People are continually coming to you and you've told people or you haven't told people the right channel to go to. It's on you to tell them to go through the right channel. Allow the responsible person to own the decision. 00:22:54.680 --> 00:23:10.001 Let your team own it. Stop becoming the automatic solution. So the best system is really, folks, it's not the most impressive one. It's the one you actually follow that's simple. And move number 3, obey. 00:23:11.220 --> 00:23:17.343 This word might sound strong, but sometimes that is exactly what is required. 00:23:19.333 --> 00:23:23.167 Follow the system before debating with yourself. Do the next action. 00:23:23.682 --> 00:24:49.294 Do not redesign it during the moment of discomfort. Do not wait for motivation. Do not turn one decision into a lengthy internal negotiation. See, self-trust is built when your actions begin matching the promises you keep to yourself. So every time we keep a small commitment, we provide evidence that our word matters. For example, me getting to the gym, me following this meal plan that I'm on right now, this cleanse that I'm on matters. I'm obeying it. I'm 13 days in this amazing cleanse that I have with my coach. And I am 13 pounds released. Every time we repeatedly abandon a commitment, we weaken trust in ourselves. And the deepest value of consistency may not be a result itself. It may be becoming someone who believes themselves when they say, I'm going to do this. So here's the challenge to all of you listening today. I want you— I want to leave you with a challenge. Choose one area, one area of your life where you already know what works. Not an area where you need more information, not something that requires another course, another app, another coach or strategy. You know what to do. 00:24:50.632 --> 00:25:06.806 Choose something you already understand. It might be your health, might be your finances, your marriage, your parenting, your leadership, your sales activity, your morning routine, your spiritual life, a difficult conversation 00:25:11.711 --> 00:25:15.414 is the system actually broken, or have I stopped following it? 00:25:16.761 --> 00:25:28.238 Have I quit too soon? So for the next 7 days, I encourage you to choose one simple behavior, decide exactly when it will happen. 00:25:29.559 --> 00:25:58.897 Do not improve the system. Do not replace it. Do not research alternatives. And don't wait for motivation. Follow it. Hey, if you've been thinking about going to the gym or getting out for a walk, Maybe this is your time. Maybe this is your time to make that 7-day commitment. For 7 days, stop negotiating with what you know already works and just go. Just do it. 00:26:01.059 --> 00:26:07.179 So I want to thank you for spending this time with me today. 00:26:10.946 --> 00:26:14.563 I've started this podcast to make a difference, to challenge myself. 00:26:17.071 --> 00:26:35.479 And I hope that these words have connected with you, that perhaps today that you're going to make that commitment, find that system, stop negotiating with yourself, and go all in. 00:26:37.376 --> 00:26:51.835 I appreciate you all, and I hope you have an incredible week. Have an incredible day. And if this episode has helped you, or if you know it can help someone, please share it and let me know if it, if it has impacted you. 00:26:52.173 --> 00:27:08.025 Take care. Thanks for tuning into The Adaptive Mindset. If you found value in today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, And share it with someone who's ready to thrive in the digital age. Stay secure, stay adaptable, and I'll see you next time.