With everything that had transpired in the initial days of 75 Hard and this project roll out...
In case you missed it... here's a link to the first part of this series.
By this point, I started to get the feeling that this was bad timing for it...
But I thought about it... when is it ever good timing to do something like this?
What about other challenges that come up in life... is there ever a good time for a great challenge?
You can't control when some challenges come up, you can only control how you deal with them.
As we chipped away daily at our project roll out, the backlog of work seemed to stay static. It is a defeating feeling to be expending all of your time, energy and resources and seeing no progress or end in sight.
They say burn out can occur when you do not see an end in sight, and at this point... I was approaching it. My energy levels were at a low, and oddly enough it did not seem to be related to the 75 Day Hard Challenge.
Looking back, it probably was a big contributor, but the sheer volume of work that came our way and the fact that we were short handed, and our team under trained and prepared with the new systems felt like more of the issue.
There were multiple times during this period that I felt like quitting.
I knew that something needed to change, but I had to figure out what. I realized, that we needed to make it clear and I had to direct our team to where they needed to focus their efforts.
We had to move as a team, and tackle this together. Everyone's hearts were there, but this system was completely brand new and foreign to all of us.
We started doing 7am huddles, and 11am adjustments daily. We graphed where we were at in our pipeline, and what we could do to make the most impact for the day.
Our team chipped away... and looking back, I am incredibly proud of the progress that our team was making. They rose up and helped tackle the challenges that had come about.
I realized, that they not only trusted the process, but they trusted me, and this crazy idea..
Meanwhile, one of our other employees experienced a huge life change... and she was no longer able to come to work regularly.
She was a great team contributor, but without going into too much detail, the circumstances made it so that she was unable to make it to work. The point was that our team was further short handed. We had to adjust our play, and we were still learning everyday...
Yet again, we were thrown for another loop. My stress levels were at all time highs, and the feelings of guilt weighed on me daily.
Increasing Workout Intensity...
By this point, Adam and I had shifted our workouts to start weight training more intensely. We also started doing daily walks instead of stretching. It started off with daily 2 mile routes.
After a couple weeks of that, we were able to jog parts of it, and decided to extend the route. From that point until completion, we did 3.3 miles per day... for a total of 23.1 miles per week.
Looking back, this was a productive period where we discussed how to adjust what we were doing, and it was a period for reflection and taking inventory of what needed to be done.
Sometimes we would start our first work out of the day at 6pm, and do our second around 8pm. Both of us are up around 4 to 5am daily, so this made for very long days.. where every hour needed to count.
I think that both of our thought processes and effectiveness by this point started to waver. We are both too stubborn to quit, but the stress and fatigue of both the project and 75 Hard began to take its toll.
We adjusted the project plan, we also adjusted the workout plan. We shifted the work outs back earlier into the day, and tried to set a stop point for office work.
Personal Life...
Meanwhile, the commitment to this project and 75 Hard put a strain on my personal life. My girlfriend at the time and I, agreed that where I was at in life did not leave much room for much of anything else. After about two years together, we had decided to part ways.
She was right in that I needed to find a better balance in my life, and find out how to be "kind to myself". We are still friends today, and looking back I think this was an event that I needed to catalyze a change.
I spent lots of time reflecting on what exactly she meant, and over time I realized... that I took on my team member's individual problems as my own, and to an extent sheltered them at the expense of myself.
It was this realization that helped me make the changes that our team needed to gain momentum in what we were doing.
I went through a redistribution of the work that is performed through out our back office team. My goal was to figure out what new hires and where our resources were best spent to get us through the next leg of growth within the organization.
This whole exercise consisted of much more than the two spreadsheets here... and it took me quite a bit of thought that required refining and revisiting over the course of several weeks.
I first spent time taking an inventory and interviewing employees to understand the various functions that occur in our back office, and what time commitment is required per week.
I identified what things I "should" be doing, and what things I was currently doing out of necessity. After some thinking, redistribution and retraining... we made the changes internally.
The biggest change, was removing me from the equation. I realized that in more ways, I hurt the process than helped it.
It was a matter of us getting the right training in place, and for me to stay in my lane as leader of the company to work within my four quadrants....
Systems + Processes
Leadership Development
Business Development
Innovative Campaigns
Looking back, this period was a challenge... but all the walks and thinking, gave me the space to come up with solutions to the problems that were revealing themselves. The problem that revealed itself, was that we were short handed and needed more help!
I needed to become a better leader, and a better teacher!
I needed to set boundaries for myself, and give people the chance to sink or swim on their own.
From here, everything started to make more sense.