Rob Shallenberger
Appearances
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
And it might seem a little weird, but one of the things I love to do is drive through cemeteries periodically because I look at these headstones and most headstones will have a birthday, a death date and a dash. And I ask myself, what are the stories within that person's dash? Every one of us listening today as we're having this conversation, we're fortunate enough to have an open ended dash.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
It is. And by the way, can you still hear me, Ryan? It looks like it's a little choppy there. Can you still hear me? Perfect.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
What was interesting about that research is that 80% of those same people didn't feel like what they were doing was getting them there. In other words, to-do lists, sticky notes, you know, whatever AI delegation of time management, whatever people are using, 80% don't feel like it's getting them where they need to be. And what I'm talking about is not just work-related.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
So let me answer your question in three separate ways, if that's all right. First of all, and it might seem a little weird, but one of the things I love to do is drive through cemeteries periodically because I look at these headstones and most headstones will have a birthday, a death date and a dash. And I ask myself, what are the stories within that person's dash? What do they do in their dash?
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
And that's a little bit of a philosophical approach. But the whole point is, every one of us listening today as we're having this conversation, we're fortunate enough to have an open-ended dash. Our date's not there yet. So that means that every day that we wake up, we still have the opportunity to write our dash.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
And so whether it's professional, whether it's these other roles that we've been talking about, What is it that matters most? And are we doing those things? Because that's the essence of it, right? Are we doing them? And if you don't mind, I'm just going to read two parts of my vision. Is that all right? No, read away. So I'm opening up right now my Google calendar.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
And I, yes, have these memorized, but I want to make sure I get it right. And I'm being a little vulnerable right now because this is my vision. And again, I want to remind us that vision and goals are habits one and two. The vision is the high level. It's that dash. In the end, how do we hope others... will think of us as they look at our dash. And so I'm going to read this too.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
I'm going to read my personal one, which I've actually not shared with anyone outside my family. This is the first time I've shared this outside my family and really close friends. And then I'm going to read one from the Myrola's father. Now, again, this is mine, right? This is not anybody else's. And so whether you agree with me or not, it's not the point. It's my vision for those roles.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
So personally, now this all has to do with me. I strive to have a close personal relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and I make time to connect with them daily. I prioritize those relationships above everything else. I focus on learning and living lifestyle that Jesus Christ lived and taught. I'm healthy, fit, and I live an emotionally balanced life.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
I maintain a debt-free life and have multiple streams of income that allow me to help others and have a combination of time and financial freedom. And I live life to the fullest so that there's no regrets for lack of trying. That's me personally. Now, in the role of father, let me read this. I'm an example of what a true gentleman looks like. And I have four kids, by the way, ages 23 to 16.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
I'm an example of what a true gentleman looks like. I strive to empathically listen rather than problem solve. I'm the type of person I want my daughters to marry. I'm present with my children and work to develop great memories together. And I help them see their potential and bring out the best in each one of them.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
Now, this may or may not be perfect, but this is my vision of who I'm striving to become in this dash. And so the vision doesn't change often. It's really front loaded. Like once we sit down and identify this, we might tweak it periodically, but it can usually stay for quite a while. And then the goals will come back to each year and adjust those.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
So one of my goals as a father this year, at least one big trip with each child and canyoneering with the family before September 1st. That's an example of a specific measurable goal that aligns with it. And I'm not overly structured. You know, this doesn't turn us into robots. It's simply saying, let's get intentional about our lives. Let's get intentional about what matters most.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
Professionally, how do we have a transformational impact amongst all the things that we could be doing in these other roles of our life? What are the things that matter most? And this program, this approach simply gives us the way that we can do it.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
But for many of us listening, we're fathers or mothers. In other words, we're parents, we're spouses, we're sons, daughters, brothers, sisters. We have friends. How do we balance all of that? And then even most importantly, how do we take care of ourselves in the process? mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
And so what do what matters most is, is it's a program and a system to do exactly that. It's to take care of ourselves holistically in all of those key roles in our lives. And some people would say that's not possible. And I would agree without a system.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
how you how you get people to keep coming back and not make this feel like just another obligation on your time like like some systems do yeah so let me preface it with one answer and then let's talk pre-replanning because that's the key the people that do pre-replanning leaving this total game changer first of all i'll say this people that go through do what matters most i say this right up front have some grace with ourselves in other words we don't expect perfection
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
from anything, right? I mean, I just don't. Otherwise, it's setting an unrealistic expectation. None of us are perfect. And so, for example, pre-week planning. We invite people to do pre-week planning every weekend, and it takes about 20 to 30 minutes. Now, I was a fighter pilot for 11 years.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
I would have never dared jumped in the F-16 without doing pre-flight planning because you can imagine the chaos that would result if we're like, hey, we're just going to wing it today. We would never do that in the fighter pilot world. Well, how many of us go into our weeks without some semblance of a plan and expect a different result than the fighter pilot? That's why we don't do it.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
And so if we back up, you know, you're describing the intentionality. You use the golf and the drinking examples. You're describing the intentionality and the why for habits one and two, the vision and the goals. It starts to become a guide for who we are. Instead of just randomly saying, you know, whatever happens, happens. We're becoming intentional about our dash.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
What type of leader do I really want to be remembered as? what type of parent and spouse and what type of friend, et cetera. That's the why behind those two habits. And that's why we start there. We could have written a book about pre-planning alone, still would have been a game changer.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
It's just so much more powerful in the context of the vision and goals for the reasons you described, because ultimately that's who we start to become in this journey of life. And it doesn't happen overnight. It does take time and it takes years, but at least we're on the path. At least we're on that journey. Now, do you mind if I talk pre-replanning for just a couple of minutes?
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
You can talk about whatever you want. Because this is the execution and this is the doing, which is ultimately what really matters. Pre-replanning is a process, like I mentioned, that we invite people to do usually between Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon at the latest. I no longer say Sunday evening because if we wait till Sunday evening, it's the first thing to go, right?
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
Friends come over, family, and it's like, ah, pre-replanning's out. Pre-week planning is a process that helps people schedule their priorities rather than prioritize their schedule. And there's a saying that you probably heard, and I don't even know who to attribute it to. So many people have said it. Where our focus goes, our energy flows.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
And so if we don't have a focal point, and this is something we'll actually do during our trainings, we'll have people stand up and put their arms out and balance on one leg with their eyes closed. And they fall and they're tossing all over. We then have them do the same thing with their eyes open and choose a focal point somewhere at least five feet out in front of them.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
So they'll put their arms out, they'll balance on one leg and they'll focus on a focal point. And everybody is rock solid, they're balanced. And I'll ask people, so how do we apply that to what we're talking about here and do what matters most? And the common responses are, yeah, once we have a focal point, then we're balanced. You know, with our eyes closed, we're all over the place.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
That's exactly right. So pre-week planning is the process of truly scheduling our priorities rather than prioritizing our schedule and doing exactly what the title of the book is in the program, what matters most. So amongst all these things that we have out there to choose from, which ones are the priorities? And maybe we can take the rest of the time on this. Can I share the why first, Ryan?
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
There's a leader who went through this and he said, my leadership approach and style was to show up and deal with whatever comes my way that day. Now, as he was leading this team in a large organization, no wonder he's getting poor reviews on the culture scores for his team. You can imagine, Ryan, what kind of guy that is.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
And without me, in fact, let me just ask you, without describing anything else about this guy, Just by simply saying that, hey, I show up, whatever happens, happens. And my leadership style is let's just deal with whatever happens that day. How do you think it would be to work for that guy?
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
Yes, yes, yes, and yes. That's exactly this guy. Once he realized that's what his approach was doing to the people around him, you know, a vision for each role. Okay, what is my vision as a leader? Okay, well, it's not to be that, right? What you just described. What are some things that he could do intentionally this year that would start to move the needle in a different direction?
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
Okay, pre-planning. Now let's put ourselves in his role. So rather than just winging it day to day, he's sitting down and saying, what matters most this week? Once he started applying these habits, Total transformation on his team because now he's coming to work and he's no longer just reacting to the fire of the day.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
And when a fire does come up, he can step in and handle it and then get back right into his plan around what matters most. And so let me walk, can I just go through the four steps of pre-week planning? And I'm going to just ask you, Ryan, you can kind of represent everybody listening to this. Do you prefer paper or do you prefer Google or Outlook calendars? What do you prefer, digital or paper?
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
Okay. And that's about 40, 50. It's kind of split. Half and half is about the right number in most cases. So this is why we developed the tool. And I'm happy after the show, Ryan, to give you access to it for a year. It's for Google Calendar or Outlook, or people can get a customized planner. It's new pre-planning. The point is the tool is there for either one of your preferences.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
It's four simple steps because to your point, nobody wants to add one more complex theme to their life. It's got to be simple. Four simple steps. And we invite people, no matter what you haven't do already, Bring that to the table if it's working for you and see if this can enhance it. And it will. And that is number one. And imagine yourself sitting down on a Sunday morning doing this.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
Number one is to review your vision and goals. Now they're going to be written in your planner or they're going to be in your digital planner. The ones we created are one-stop shops so that you have your vision, goals, and do pre-planning in that spot. So imagine how awesome it would be to be aligned to your vision and goals and looking at that every week. That's what you mentioned earlier, right?
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
It doesn't help us if we put it in a drawer. That's right. Number two is to write our roles. Well, that's easy. It's the same roles that we're using in our vision and goals. And I've already shared, you know, what some of mine are. Step three is to set action items for each role. In other words, we have a brainstorm with ourselves. And Ryan, do you mind if I just use you as the guinea pig here?
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
Our date's not there yet. So that means that every day that we wake up, we still have the opportunity to write our dash.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
No, fire away. So what would be some of your roles? So personal already, yes.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
Yeah, excellent. And there would be more as we thought more about it. That's a perfect start though. So let's use those. So you have a vision for each one of those. You have one to four goals for each one of those for this year. And then now in pre-week planning, we sit down.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
You going through those roles, first of all, it would be you in step three setting action items for each role saying, what can Ryan do to take care of Ryan this week? Whether that's strength workouts, exercise, scheduling that, you know, elusive doctor appointment, swimming. meditating, yoga, whatever. All the things to take care of you. As a dad, son, daughter, kids. I got two boys. Two boys.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
11 and nine. And what are their names? Duke and Colton. Duke and Colton. So it would be saying, what can I do with Duke and Colton this week? You know what, Duke, I'm going to take him out. We're going to play basketball. Colton, I'm going to take him for ice cream. I'm going to write him a note, whatever.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
Now you could say, yeah, I might've done some of those things otherwise, but most of the time the answer is we wouldn't have done a lot of those things otherwise. As a podcaster this week, what are the things that are important to get done this week to stay ahead of the curve? As a CEO, what can I really do this week that is important? And notice the words I'm using. What can I do?
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
It's not what I have to do. That's a running to-do list. And that's why pre-week planning becomes a game changer. So it's that process of brainstorming for each role. And then the last step is, when will we do it? And we assign a time in the calendar for each of those action items. And that's our plan for the week.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
And what we've just done is scheduled our priorities rather than prioritize our schedule. And in the spirit of having grace, our target PQ or productivity quotient is 70 to 80%. In other words, of the things that we plan in the week, we only expect us to accomplish 70 to 80%. And that's because life happens. And we allow for that grace. And it's not that we don't give 100% effort.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
So let's not mistake that. It's that we're allowing for life to happen. And even with that 70% to 80% productivity quotient, a person doing pre-week planning, according to our research, will accomplish 800 to 1,000 additional priorities this year than they would have without pre-week planning with less stress. So by all accounts, that would be life-changing for anybody.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
Yeah. Can I just share two quick stories? Please. So just to illustrate this point, and you'll notice that almost every one of my examples, other than that one executive have been outside of work. Because most of the people listening to this owners, entrepreneurs, we're thinking about work all the time. It's the other roles that get neglected.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
And so if you notice, most of my examples have been outside of that. And so I'm not minimizing that because like you, you know, most of us are going to have one or two or three professional roles. It's the other roles that bring them all together that creates that holistic life. So let me just illustrate this with two simple stories. Just last week, I went to Washington, D.C. to do a training.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
As part of my pre-replanning, I had written this. Write a little note to Lana and Clara. So before I left, I walked into their bathrooms and wrote on their mirror and dry erase marker, you know, a little note to them. How much I love them, how great they are. That literally took 30 seconds for each of them. My question is, would I have done that had I not thought about it in pre-replanning?
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
Probably not. How often do we randomly go and write on our kids' mirrors or send them a little note? Not very often, right? I mean, there was an intentionality behind that. And so I'm no different than anybody else. It just simply wouldn't have happened, as simple as that is, had I not thought about that role as father in pre-replanning.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
And what can I do for my son, who's in San Diego right now working? How about my other daughter, Bella? And just one more example to illustrate this point. The executive team of Pepsi went through Do What Matters Most, and we certified other trainers, and it was another trainer doing the training. It wasn't me. Under the role of father, this executive wrote, call my son. Now, seasoned guy, right?
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
By all accounts, you would look at him and say, he's totally successful. And that's one thing I've learned is that pretty much all of us are navigating challenges that the people around us know nothing about, especially as entrepreneurs and owners. And this guy was no exception to that. And so the trainer, just out of curiosity, asked him, why call your son?
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
And his response was kind of a humble statement when he said, because I haven't talked with my son in seven years. What? And the trainer is like, whoa, OK, so when are you going to do it? Step four. OK, Thursday, seven o'clock. Great. Six months later, there was a follow on training with the same team. And he said there was just a palpable difference about this individual.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
And so he asked him, hey, did you make that call? And his response was this. He said, you know, I saw it there in my planner. And for the first time, I knew I needed to make the call. So he did. And he went on to share that him and his son talked and they haven't, excuse me, him and his son talked. And they couldn't even remember what they'd argued about seven years prior.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
And now they've started talking every week and they become best friends. And even more so, on that initial call that he had with his son, he found out he had two grandchildren who he didn't even know existed. So what if he wouldn't have made that call? And he's probably not that different than many of us, right? Every morning, he woke up knowing he needed to make that call.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
But what was the next thought? I'll just do it. later, next week, whenever, and suddenly seven years have passed. So as he thinks about his dash, leading a life by design rather than by default, what was the impact of pre-replanning in his life? That simple statement, call my son, had a generational impact for him. And this is this.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
Yeah. So let me answer that from a philosophical standpoint first, and then more onto the do what matters most specific second. So from a philosophical side of it, you know, when we do coaching and things like that, I'll say there are seasons and times where it's okay to sprint, but overall what we're running is a marathon and that's a slow pace.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
Let's keep in mind, this is a seasoned, successful guy if you're looking at him from the outside in. And so what's the impact in every one of our lives if we can develop a vision for each of our key roles, what only 2% of people have done, Identify one to four specific targets or goals this year in each role.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
And then every week or most weeks, giving ourselves some grace, doing pre-replanning and saying, what matters most in each role this week and when will we do it? And what's the cumulative impact of that approach to life?
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
Absolutely. And by the way, Ryan, if you have children, teach them how to develop a vision for their roles. Teach them how to do pre-week planning. It's a total game changer. My college student son does it and all of his roommates are like, what are you doing? And he taught him and all of them are doing pre-week planning now.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
So yeah, you don't have to be an executive or an owner to your point, Ryan. So three ways. Number one, the book's easy to get everywhere that you would buy a book. Amazon, Audible for the audio version, Kindle, all of that. Do what matters most. Make sure you're getting the second edition of the book. Big changes in the second edition. Number two, the website is becomingyourbest.com.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
And so, yes, if we need to pick up the pace and sprint for a couple of weeks or for three or four weeks, that's fine. There are seasons where that might be the case. You know, if you're a CPA, the month of April might be a sprint, right? The first two or three weeks of April.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
So becomingyourbest.com. And that really illustrates all of our teachings. I mean, our programs that you can go through. You can get certified as a Do What Matters Most trainer or coach. Train it inside your own organization. Tons of options there. If you want to get a planner, which I highly recommend because it's like, you know, it's like you talked about your dad, a railroad mechanic.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
Is that right? You won't be a railroad mechanic without the right tools and expect to be successful. Having the right tool makes a huge difference in this. And so whether you're using Google or Outlook or you prefer the paper planner, if you'll go to dowhatmattersmostplanner.com, you can get the tool that works best for you, whether it's digital or paper. So dowhatmattersmostplanner.com.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
So those are the three different places that are the starting points, Ryan.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
But that kind of cadence and schedule can't be sustained over the course of years in a life if we expect to have a family and other things, if we expect to take care of our physical and mental health. So it's okay to philosophically sprint for a season, but that can't be the way of life continuously. Second to that,
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
On the book cover of Do What Matters Most, there's a phrase we use that says you'll either lead a life by design or live a life by default. One is intentional. One is we're going to have a balanced life, and it very much is possible to do when we have the right system and approach to it, rather than just being yanked around by all of these different things and people that want a piece of our time.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
And let me just share a quick story with you, if it's okay to illustrate kind of where you're going with your point. And, you know, some the CEO of Clif Bar went through the do what matters most training. And she said, I wish I would have had this in my 20s. And she was around 47 at the time.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
And rather than saying, you know, because I get where she's coming from, she says, you know, my life would be so different now if I would have been doing this last 25 years. But rather than focusing on the past and the gap mentality, my thought for her was, you know what, you're 47. Look at all the life that's still ahead of us.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
And the rest of the executive team that was listening was like, and look at what we can still do with the rest of our lives, the impact that we can have. And that was the right thinking. So can I just share one little brief story that's in our book? And there's different versions of this floating around out there. I don't even know if it's true.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
What's more important than whether or not the story is true is the essence and the principle that we take away from it. And I caveat that in the book. So there's this father, figurative hypothetical example of a father that comes home He spends all day on his laptop, just grinding away, got this thing that's due, whatever it is.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
And late into the evening, his son comes to him and asks, hey, dad, can I borrow $20? And the dad's like, what do you want $20 for? You know, it's just a little bit put off because he's been a long day. He's at the end of the candle. And the son then asked, well, dad, how much do you make in an hour? If you don't, you know, and dad's thing is like, all right.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
And it just kind of hits this blow up point. Son, go to your room. he has a few minutes to kind of calm down and think about it. And he realizes that he's a little too hard on his son. So he goes to his room, it's late at night and he walks in his son's door and he can tell, you know, he can tell that he's crying. And he says, son, so can I ask you a couple of questions?
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
Why were you asking how much I made an hour? And then why were you asking to borrow $20? And his son, you know, through teary eyes, so I saved up $20 and if you're making $40 an hour, I thought that if I could borrow $20, then I would have enough money to buy an hour of your time.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
And, you know, the father, you could just imagine if this was a real scenario, what would be going through his heart and his mind? And to me, this captures the essence of do what matters most is we don't have to sacrifice one area of our life for another, but it is very possible to lead a life by design rather than live this life by default that we talked about.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
So you just gave like the perfect intro into Do What Matters Most, Ryan. I don't even know if you realized, I don't know if you've read the book or not, but you just gave- I've played this game a couple of times at this point. So you just actually led into the perfect intro. And this is why we wrote this book and developed this program.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
And there are hundreds of organizations around the world that have gone through this training, tens of thousands of people. And over and over and over, we will hear from people that say, this was life-changing. And that's a pretty bold statement, right? Sometimes it becomes cliche.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
But for 98% of people that go through this training, what I'm about to share with you is a new approach to their life. They haven't looked at their life through this kind of lens.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
And so as you ask where to start and do what matters most, we've identified three habits and we've developed some tools to include a digital planner for Google and Outlook, as well as customized planners that you can order that will help people do what I'm about to describe to answer your question.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
And so the first habit in do what matters most of the three is to develop a written personal vision for each of the key roles in our life. Now that's the high level. Habit number two is to identify what we call our roles and goals. So our five to seven roles, same ones we would use in our vision and come up with one to four specific measurable goals around what matters most this year.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
And then ultimately the most important of the three habits is pre-week planning. And that's where we sit down at the beginning of the week. We go through each of our roles and ask what matters most this week in each of our key roles, the tactical, the execution. So to back up to the point that you just brought up, you know, where are we going?
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
That's why we start with our vision first for each of our key roles. So the first thing I would ask everybody listening to this to do right now is to identify what are the five to seven key roles in your life? So many of us might be parents, as we talked about earlier. That would be a role. You know, whatever professionally might be your role. So founder, entrepreneur.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
Maybe you wear a different hat as well professionally. Investor. Great. A couple of those are your key roles. Personal is the most important role of all those, right? We've got to take care of ourselves because we can't draw water from an empty well. And so we've got to take care of ourselves. And that's why it is the most important of all the roles. You know, husband, wife.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
These are some other examples of roles. And as the starting point, what we invite you to do, and we walk you through how to do this in two chapters in the book. What specific questions can you ask yourself? How do you get in the right frame of mind? What are the things that matter most to you? All of these ultimately become a part of your vision. And the vision is not the goal.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
What we're doing in the vision is creating a mental reality before the physical reality. And a vision is often talked about but rarely done because in our research, Ryan, to answer your question, only 2% of people have a written personal vision. So for as much as it's talked about, it's rarely done. And That's why it's a powerful starting point.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
I mean, imagine if you're listening to this and let's say that you are in the role of parent and spouse, what would actually be your vision for those roles? At the end of your life, when people look back and think of you and describe you, especially as you look back and describe yourself, what type of parent or spouse or what type of leader or entrepreneur or CEO do you see yourself as?
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
Yeah, so Ryan, that's a great question. And I know we're jumping right into this. So that's the reason we wrote Do What Matters Most is we spent years developing a system that people can use. So let me tell you what, this is not what it is.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
That's the beginnings of the foundation of what your vision is. And you're doing what only 2% of people have done by doing that as a starting point. And that is the first habit, do what matters most. And that's exactly why we started. Why do you think that percentage is so? Easy answer. So, because we've done the research on that too. In other words, we've asked the question, why not?
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
And there's a big mix. The number one answer is simply this. For most people, it's really not their fault because they don't know how to do it. Think about this. In high school or college or an MBA program or anything else, what professor or teacher walked you through how to do this? For most people, nobody. And we've trained colleges and professors, you know, UC Berkeley and others.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
This is as new for them as it is for anybody else in the world. So for most people, it's not their fault because they haven't been trained able to learn this skill set. Now, if a person has learned the skill set and not done it, that's a whole separate thing, right? But for most people, it's something new to them. And that's awesome. Like the CEO of Clif Bar.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
I wish I would have learned this in my 20s. That's an accomplished lady. She just hadn't ever done that before. No one had ever taught her. So that's by far the first reason. It's just most people don't know. Number two is we don't take the time to step back and do these kind of things. We're so busy grinding. We're so busy in what we call quadrant one of our lives that we don't
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
Take the time, or I shouldn't say that. We don't make the time to step back and actually do what matters most. In this process of vision and goals, you asked a question earlier, Ryan, which is how do we know what matters most? Habits one and two, developing a vision for each role and then the goals for this year for each role, that's the habits one and two.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
This is the process of identifying what matters most. Habit three, pre-replanning is the doing. That's the execution. How much easier is it to do pre-replanning when it's done in the context of what matters most, our vision and our goals. And so for most people, they don't know, you know, it's not something they've learned.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
Do What Matters Most is not just a few time management tips, but rather it's a program in the system by which someone can organize their lives and take control of their schedules. Because to your point, we did the research and found that 68% of people feel like prioritizing their time is their number one challenge. which I think you just well articulated.
The Ryan Hanley Show
From Overwhelmed to Unstoppable: The System Only 2 % of Leaders Use
The other segment, it's just a matter of making the time to step back and do it. But that can only be done once we know how to do it. That's why, you know, I'm not going to try and sell my book, but that's why having the skill set is so important. It's learning how to do it and then prioritizing the time to do it. And for people that do, 98% will say that it's been life-changing.