10 Most Valuable Lessons I’ve Learned During The Past 8 Years:
By Tony Bodoh, Extreme Focus Certified Coach
Eight years ago I left Corporate America and started my customer experience-consulting firm. As I sit here reflecting on the last eight years, my mind is swimming with all that I’ve been through and all that I’ve accomplished through my company, in the customer experience industry and in my family.
There still moments that make my stomach twist into knots, even though they are just memories. And, there are moments of pure fulfillment that are as fresh today as when they happened. While I did NOT enjoy some of it, I wouldn’t trade any of it. Each moment has contributed to what we’ve built and it serves as the foundation for the lessons and success we will enjoy in the future.
The 10 Most Valuable Business Lessons:
Each one of these lessons reflects one or more “Be A Beast” principles we study in the “Beast Mode ON: 30-Day Challenge” and are one’s that I strive to live daily:
- Set big, breakthrough goals for yourself and for your industry. Anything less is a waste of the precious moments you have in this life.
- Become self-aware so you know what you are feeling and thinking. Operating from a state of awareness increases your power to achieve your goals.
- Learn to distinguish between the feelings that are actually warnings of danger and those, which are just warning you that you’re outside your comfort zone. Being aware of the former will protect you, while being aware of the latter will allow you to move forward when you least feel like it.
- Learn the value of using five-minute increments to work toward your goal. Sometimes when you are facing fear, doubt and worry, five minutes of brave action is all you can muster. That will be enough to turn things around.
- Learn the value of relaxation, meditation, exercise and other tools through experience. There is no greater asset than your mental, emotional and physical well-being.
- Master focus by turning off the distractions and staying with a task for hours at a time. In this world of 140 character updates, your ability to achieve a greater level of focus will amplify your results.
- Find top-notch coaches who have proven results and be teachable. You’re going to make mistakes and fail, but having a coach who you learn from can help you avoid some mistakes and get you back on track after you do fall.
- Learn to tell good stories because information alone is not nearly as powerful as a story. People remember the feelings they had when you told a story and the information you give them will tag along.
- Only work with clients who are as passionate about their customers’ success as you are about your clients’ success. Belief in what’s possible has always been the catalyst for doing the “impossible.”
- Be humble and ask for feedback often from those you trust most. You are blind to some of the effects of your beliefs, feelings, and actions and you need a good friend to tell you what he or she sees if you are to achieve real success.
BONUS LESSON: Always find and be grateful for the kernels of truth in all of the feedback you receive. Even the most unpleasant feedback can move you forward when you graciously receive it and seek the truth in it.
Practical Application Of These Lessons
I believe these above 10 lessons have helped me in all that I have achieved these past eight years, including building a company, writing two #1 bestselling books, and working with some of the world’s most renowned companies. As mentioned above, you can find these lessons embedded into the “Be A Beast” principles that Dave Austin and I have been teaching to professionals from the front line to the boardroom when we deliver our “Beast Mode Live!” workshops. You too can improve your results by adopting and applying these 10 lessons in your own life today.
Tony Bodoh is the co-author of the #1 bestselling books, The Complete Experience: Unlocking the Secrets of Online Reviews that Drive Customer Loyalty and Leverage: Achieve a Lot with the Little You’ve Got, and author of the forthcoming book, The Penthouse Effect. As an Extreme Focus Certified Coach, Tony partners with founder, Dave Austin, to bring “Beast Mode Live!” to the world’s leading companies and to the U.S. Military.
