What is ergonomics, and why does it matter?

This is actually a really important topic.

The influx of patients that I’ve been seeing over the past three months has been primarily due to ergonomic issues. Before, it was people that were out driving, and it was car accidents and slips and falls, or people who were weekend warriors, and they were doing this and getting into situations where they would be in pain.

But now, activities have calmed down, or people aren’t doing as much, and you’ve had a huge shift of the population from one work setting to another. So, if you were active and busy as a teacher, or if you were on your feet moving around, now you’re stuck at home. And you’re working from your bed or your couch, God forbid, the kitchen table. And it’s not the custom chair that your Fortune 500 company provided for you when you’re at your desk – and that causes a lot of issues.

People didn’t realize it, and they don’t realize it until they come to the office. And then we ask them:  When did your pain start? What changed? And it was their workspace.

What’s the cause of a lot of new conditions that we’ve been seeing? What is going on?

Ergonomics is basically the study of how one works. So, this is important because every company wants to have a safe and productive work environment, to promote a highly effective workforce. And we want to have highly efficient employees. That’s the basic ingredient for any successful business is to have a highly efficient employee.

But whether you work for yourself, if you’re an entrepreneur, or you have that Fortune 500 company, or if you’re a civil servant, you’re a teacher or a firefighter or a police officer, and you have a vest on all the time, and you wear a gun belt – all of these things are ergonomic issues.

And your ergonomics plays a huge part in how your health is impacted on a daily basis. Many times, when people have issues and we’re going over their x-rays, and their actual slides, I tell them that it usually boils down to two ways that your body can be affected by the outside environment.

It’s either a macro trauma, and a macro trauma is something like a car accident, sports injury, or the slip and fall on the ice. That’s macro trauma – you did something real quick, and you notice it right away. Micro trauma is different. Micro trauma happens on a daily basis, but because you’re doing it all the time, you don’t realize that it’s causing micro trauma to the body until you’re doing it for two to three weeks or months or years, and then after a while, it’s just one more thing that happens. And your body just says, “I give up,” and gives you pain signals. You start getting sciatica, or you start getting numbness and tingling down the arm.

A lot of times, part of our job here at the office is educating people on the micro trauma that they don’t even realize that they’re causing. That’s what ergonomics is all about.

What are the signs and symptoms that people need to pay attention to while working?

It’s really clear, when you fall off the ladder, you need to seek attention. But these kinds of micro traumas that are happening constantly – do you know what the signs are?

As a chiropractor, I’m used to people coming in, and when I ask them, “How long has this been going on?” – it’s very rare that I get the past week or two, it’s usually past several months, or even several years.

It amazes me the number of people across the board – and it doesn’t matter where you’re from or if you’re male or female – how many people live with pain on a daily basis. And how many people accept pain as normal. Or even headaches as normal. Patients will come in because the back pain finally got so bad that they just couldn’t take it anymore, and it’s stopping their normal routine. So, they want you to adjust their back pain, but I start having a conversation. And I might ask: Do you get headaches? How often do you get headaches? Every day?

I get that all the time – that’s something that we’ve just accepted as normal. So, the first thing I want people to start paying attention to is pain. It sounds simple. But there are people, at least 60 to 70% of the people watching this interview, that are dealing with some level of pain. My goal is to tell you to stop ignoring it. Pay attention to it. What is it doing?

If you’re driving a car, and you have a light flashing saying that you need oil, or you need gas, you can keep driving, it’s just a warning. So, that’s what pain is, and so many times people just keep on going until the tank hits “E” until the gas runs out. And then it’s an emergency status.

And that is what brings a lot more strain to the healthcare system. Because there’s a lot of people ignoring pain until it’s too late. Unfortunately, for some people it’s that first sign of pain that might be the last one. It might be a heart attack. It might be colon cancer or something like that. So, I want to encourage everybody out there to start paying attention to pain – especially if the pain is showing up while you’re working.

If it’s that neck pain because you’re using your laptop when you’re working from home, or if you’re a driver – driving a truck – or if your police officer in your car and you’ve got the gun belt on, pay attention to the pain that you’re feeling every time you’re sitting down, and you starting to get that shooting pain or sharp pain or even uneasiness. That’s something that you just have to pay attention to.

The second thing to pay attention to is overuse. With overuse that’s basically the repetitive motion. How many times do you even realize that you’re looking off to the left, and you’re looking off to the right? Or somebody is using the mouse, and their carpal tunnel is starting to act up. How many times do you have to pick up a box? Are you bending to lift something?

The last thing, and this one is really key, especially as we’re trying to come out of the pandemic, but I really want people to pay attention to fatigue, to stress, and to burnout. Mental health is something that’s really important. People have been going through a lot, their families have been going through a lot – and that can spill over into the workplace in one way or another. Use your weekends or your days off, or your time off to rest and reset.

Have you been working on your mental health during this time? Do you take the time to disconnect? To spend time doing some things that you enjoy outside of your work? Don’t dismiss the importance of doing these things.

What are the top 5 things people should do to avoid having increased pain at work?

The first thing I would say is positioning. Remember positioning. I want everybody to do a self-assessment of the position that they’re in the longest while they’re at work. A good way to do this is to have someone come in while you’re working and take a picture while you’re at work.

Make sure that you’re starting with the correct posture when you’re sitting or standing. In ergonomics, they call that the power zone. The power zone is your shoulders are relaxed, your elbows are close to your body, and your hands just relax. If you want to come to the keyboard, maybe you have armrests, you’re resting your elbows, and you’re just wrapping them up on the keyboard. You’ve got your ears over your shoulders, and your shoulders are over your pelvis. So, pay attention to your positioning.

Number two is to pay attention to frequency – that’s how many times you’re doing the same motion. And try to make sure that you can balance out your frequency. In terms of this, if you’re always using the right arm, you can always just switch. You can reconfigure your keyboard so that you’re not always using the same hand and the same mouse all the time, you can switch it to the left hand. If you’re working and doing different things, there are so many things you can do to switch up on the frequency of how you do things, and this can bring more balance to the workspace.

The third is proper support. You want to make sure that you have the right lumbar support if your neck is tired. And you want to make sure that your chair comes up to at least your upper shoulders. Some people, if they’re standing or driving, they might need a lumbar support or a back brace or something to support. Think about different things. Your insurance company or the company that you work for might be able to cover it. If you’re an entrepreneur, talk to your accountant. But these are things that you need to be a highly efficient worker.

If your employees are working from home, have that conversation, share this video with them, so that they understand how to better create their workspace so that they can feel good in the space.

Number four is to be versatile. So many people are getting those standing desks, but what happens is that people will forget to switch up their workspace. I just went over this with a patient the other day. You should be able to switch up between three to four different positions while you’re at work. It might be sitting up straight. The second one may be leaning forward. The third one could be leaning back a little bit while you’re working. The fourth one, if you have that versatile sit-to-stand desk, allows you to stand up and do something like that.

Number five should be self-care. I would say get treatment if the problem is really severe. See your primary care doctor, see a good chiropractor, if you need one. Reach out to me online, and I’ll see if I can find you somebody that you can talk to who is a good physical therapist, massage therapist, etc. Use your benefits to your advantage.

But don’t just ignore number five. Self-care can consist of exercising, proper stretching. And of course, you need to help with that. Get the care that you need. If your body is giving you those warning signs, pay attention to them, and make sure that you address them properly in the right time. You don’t want the signs to spiral out of control and become something that is very hard to address, or God forbid, you need further intervention that you couldn’t handle down the road.

I love the really practical steps that we can take to bring more awareness to how our body is working while we’re working. And by doing these things, we help ourselves to be more productive and feel good.

3 Action Steps
1. Pay attention to ergonomics and how it may be impacting your health.
2. Take note of aches and pains, overuse syndrome, and your mental health that all affect your health.
3. In order to decrease pain, you need to do five things: pay attention to positioning and frequency, have proper support, be versatile, and practice self-care.

Connect with Dr. Roch Herold at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rochelin-herold-dc-10802440/ or at www.msiwc.com

Please comment below. I would love to hear from you.

We’ve all heard the expression, “Work smarter, not harder.” But what’s the end goal? More clients? More money? More prestige? Yes, on the surface, those might be your immediate goals – but I don’t necessarily think they should be.

“The point of working smarter is to generate a leisure dividend,” states Judith Kolberg in her book, Getting Organized in the Era of Endless. Kolberg explores the ideas of organizing through the centuries and especially now, as information is endless, but time is limited. 

A leisure dividend! Yes, the goal of working smarter is to pay yourself back in TIME!

As we head into the winter holiday season, starting with Thanksgiving in the United States, how many of us are cashing in our leisure dividend? Or are we continuing to deplete our reserves – swapping time off and rest for the illusion of getting things done?

After so many years in the productivity and organizing fields, and learning from my own very human experience, I have found working harder and working smarter is only effective if paired with comparable amounts of rest and play. 

Put simply, our brains need a break if they are to operate optimally.

To go along with the mental necessity of taking a break, we can’t forget what long hours do to our bodies and the impact it has on our physical health.

A WHO study published in May 2021 found that, “People working 55 or more hours each week face an estimated 35% higher risk of a stroke and a 17% higher risk of dying from heart disease, compared to people following the widely accepted standard of working 35 to 40 hours in a week, the WHO says in a study that was published Monday in the journal Environment International.”

(https://www.npr.org/2021/05/17/997462169/thousands-of-people-are-dying-from-working-long-hours-a-new-who-study-finds)

As leaders, we’re always looking out for our teams – making sure they’re doing okay physically, mentally, and emotionally – but it’s not just our teams we need to be paying attention to. 

We also need to look out for ourselves. 

In order to be effective and to lead, we need to show those who are looking to us that we also follow a company policy of a 35–40-hour work week, that we use our time off, and we ask our teams to do the same.

When it comes to helping ourselves and our teams, we can lead by example and set the standards. Think about things like exercise – that will help our people and us. A report from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health shared, “Research has shown that employees who get at least 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity per week miss an average of 4.1 fewer days of work per year.3,4”

(https://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/institute-for-health-and-productivity-studies/_docs/archived-projects/WHRN_PA.pdf)

That means focusing on 10 minutes of vigorous exercise daily, seven days a week, or 15 minutes 5 days a week. How can you incorporate this as a company value? 

Additional ways to get the breaks your brain needs are by:

• Drinking water. 
• Focusing on an earlier bedtime so that you can prioritize rest and healthy sleeping patterns.
• Prioritizing whole foods in meals and snacks. (My favorite way to do this is through a meal planning service called PlateJoy. It not only gives my family and me healthy meals, but it also gives me back time by doing the planning and prep work for me.)

As a leader, you not only need to put your oxygen mask on first but also to show that you are doing so. Your leadership team should not only be following but demonstrating your corporate values of shorter working hours, rest, play, and good eating and exercise habits. When your team sees this, it creates an environment that invites and encourages them to do the same.

And, of course, give yourself the grace to ask and allow others to help you. 
Lastly, don’t work effectively just so that you can work more. Do it so that you can enjoy the pleasures in life, especially during this thankful, joyful, celebratory season.

Please comment below. I would love to hear from you.

​Earlier this week, you were introduced to Pete Schramm, founder and CEO of Lattus – a dynamic platform that helps people cultivate connections and create a community based on focus and value-driven conversations.

And, for the past few months, I’ve been inviting other CEOs and business owners to join me on Zoom. We’ve been having meaningful conversations, solving problems, and engaging in conversations that are beyond helpful.

These networking sessions have led to the creation of…The Momentum CEO Network – a place for people like you – successful business owners and CEOs – to get together in a manner that goes beyond the basic introductions and takes the networking experience to the next level.

Now, if you’re wondering what being a part of The Momentum CEO Network looks like…here’s a peak!

You have access to:

• Intimate, short (1 hour or less) networking and masterminding via Zoom. (Variety of times offered 1-2X/week.)
• Membership in The Momentum CEO Network Lattus Community. Easily connect 1-1 with other members.
• Complimentary registration to Strategy Symposium – a virtual experience for strategic planning, masterminding, and networking. (Offered annually in January.)
• Access to the experts interviewed for the “What Businesses Need to Know Right Now” series and an opportunity to be interviewed.
• Weekly Tools You Can Use to help you manage and scale your business.
• Access to insights, articles, and guidance from Nettie Owens.
• Discounts and free resources from Momentum CEO Network partners.

Want to learn more? Then register for the next group networking meeting at Sappari.As.Me/Network or email: info@sapparisolutions.com
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Please comment below. I would love to hear from you.

​What do we, as business owners, need to be focusing on in order to cultivate connections?

If we think about our business, and whether it’s five people or 500,000 people at our company, without our employees, without our team members, we cannot execute the work. We can’t accomplish it.

And whenever you look at your balance sheet, what’s the biggest line item on there? Our salaries and our people in most instances. So, let’s make sure that we take care of our people.

Whenever we think about how to do that, we have to lead by example. If I’m going to walk the walk, I’ve got to talk the talk as well. If I say it’s important to take care of one another, then do that. Suppose I say it’s important to learn, engage, share information, and have this culture of cohesive collaboration. In that case, as a leader of the organization, I need to make sure that I’m doing this on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

There’s something that some of the executives at Walt Disney World used to talk about that I read in a book a few years ago. They would never walk past a piece of garbage on the street at Walt Disney World. Because if any of the other cast members would ever see one of the leaders walk past a piece of trash, they’d say, “Oh, it’s okay if I walk past that piece of trash myself.”

It’s important to lead by example because you never know who’s watching. So it’s always important to do the right thing. By taking care of your people, we’re able to lay that foundation for everything else to take place from there.

“When you are busy growing a business and leading people, it can be easy to forget that we need to exemplify the qualities that we’re asking our team members to display. If you don’t do this, it will be hard for them to step into those roles.”

What inspired you to take that step and develop Lattus?

The tool is called Lattus, and I’m fortunate to have some really smart people around me and throughout the Lattus organization that developed the code for this software.

Lattus came to be in March of 2018. Because I had grown up on the farm, I loved connecting with people. So throughout my academic career, studying mechanical engineering and traveling abroad in Hong Kong, and during my athletic career playing sports all over the country and Hong Kong, I met people from all over the world. And then into the professional world, like working at Lockheed Martin, I realized that the power of people helping people could springboard you personally and professionally.

Sometimes you need a mentor, an ally, a sponsor, an accountability partner, somebody to get some insight or perspective from, and it’s tough to find those individuals. I don’t always know what people want to talk about. I don’t know who’s willing and able to have this conversation with me. I don’t know if they’re going to accept my friend request or reply to my message. And I don’t know how to track those conversations over time. So, I’m a big notebook person. But sometimes I have to go back and say, “Shoot… when’s the last time I talked to Nettie? What did we talk about?” And there’s not a great way to do this. There are plenty of tools out there that started this process of connection. But this was something I was struggling with throughout my teens and early 20s.

Then in 2018, I decided, “Hey, I’m having one or two of these conversations a day, and I don’t have enough time to help everybody. I don’t know all the answers, and we’ve got to solve this problem.” I wanted it to look something like making it easier to connect and store your interest in what you want to talk about, learn, and teach. We’re not single-dimensional individuals. And it takes LinkedIn to the next level. Because while LinkedIn shows where I worked, what I studied, and where I studied, for example, I studied mechanical engineering twice – I don’t really want to talk to people about mechanical engineering.

So, on March 4, 2018, I drew a line in the sand and started this company. At that time, I didn’t know what it was going to be called. I didn’t know how to start this company. But there was a gap that needed to be filled to bring people together in a meaningful, intentional, and easy-to-use manner.

“I love that so much focuses on that relationship development here. This isn’t a sales tool. It’s for building relationships and getting the resources you need when you need them.”

What is mentorship?

Mentorship is sharing insights, perspectives, and experiences in this ongoing relationship of somebody with more experience sharing it and handing it off to somebody with less experience. Notice that I said “experience” – not age. I can have a mentor that’s younger than me, age-wise; I can have a mentor that’s older than me, age-wise. But most importantly, mentorship is not one size fits all. These are people that are invested in you. They’ve been in your shoes before. They want to see you succeed. Oprah says a mentor is somebody that helps you see the hope inside of yourself. So, they are not going to create us in their image.

For example, Nettie and Pete have a mentoring relationship. The idea is not for Nettie to create Pete into another Nettie. Instead, it’s to say, “Hey, Pete, it seems like this is where you want to go; try this.” It’s to guide them.
Think of it like you’re on a path in the jungle, and if you don’t have a guide, maybe you can make it to where you need to go at some point, but it’ll take you a little bit longer. You might fall down a few more times along the way. You might take a few wrong turns. But you could get there. But when your mentor comes in, they say, “Hey, let’s take this path,” – they’re not going to make your life easy. It’s not going to guarantee automatic success. It’s not going to be a snap of your fingers, and you’re at the top of the mountain or the other side of the jungle. But it’s a way to make your life easier.

And again, going back to those relationships, it’s more than what you know; it’s also who you know. My mission is to find the who and learn the what; it’s not an “either-or” – it’s a both.

3 Action Steps

1. Take care of your employees/team members by leading by example. Make sure you are “talking the talk and walking the walk.”
2. Know that Lattus is a tool for developing relationships, not for sales.
3. Understand that mentorship is about sharing insights, perspectives, and experiences with someone with less experience in order to act as a guide for them

Connect with Pete Schramm on LinkedIn.

Please comment below. I would love to hear from you.

Take a look at this quote…

“Many people begin the process of changing their habits by focusing on what they want to achieve. This leads us to outcome-based habits. The alternative is to build identity-based habits. With this approach, we start by focusing on who we wish to become.”

Okay…name the author and the book!
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Ding-ding-ding! You win a prize if you said the author is James Clear, and the book is: Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones.

He’s one of my favorite authors, and this book is a go-to of mine! (So much so that there are many passages highlighted, and the pages are slightly worn from frequent reading and referencing.)

But I wanted to bring “Atomic Habits” into the discussion today because what James Clear shares is so important as you answer this question: Who do I need to be to achieve my vision?

As we wrap up 2021 and look ahead to 2022, I know you are probably revisiting your vision. I know that I am. So it’s the perfect time to reconnect with, modify it (if needed), and look at who you need to be to achieve it.

Notice, I didn’t say, “look at what you need to do to achieve it.”

Because I’m with James on this one, you need to create identity-based habits when it comes to your vision. Yes, there are desired outcomes that you want – but the only way you’re going to get them is to become the person you want to be.

James Clear went on to explain:
“New identities require new evidence. If you keep casting the same votes you’ve always cast, you’re going to get the same results you’ve always had. If nothing changes, nothing is going to change.”

It is a simple two-step process:

1. Decide the type of person you want to be.
2. Prove it to yourself with small wins.”

We’ve all heard that expression “If nothing changes, nothing is going to change,” – but when’s the last time you took it to heart?

As you wrap up Q4, and while you’re looking at your vision, creating goals, and coming up with the action steps – I want you to take it one step further. I want you to think about who you need to be to bring these things to fruition.

And keep in mind, it may mean making some changes, creating new habits, and proving to yourself that you can do it.

I’m going to leave you with one more of my favorite quotes from James Clear:
“The ultimate form of intrinsic motivation is when a habit becomes part of your identity. It’s one thing to say I’m the type of person who wants this. It’s something very different to say I’m the type of person who is this.”
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Please comment below. I would love to hear from you.

A few weeks ago, some of us had the pleasure of hearing Ruthie Bowles, founder of Defy the Status Quo, speak at Momentum Live: The CEO Experience.

Her “The WHY Workshop” was a special ‘never before seen’ presentation for our group. She covered how to explore the different layers of your WHY for your business. She had us examine how your WHY energy shows up in your business. And we definitely got deeper into our WHY.

If you ask anyone who attended – they will tell you that Ruthie had them thinking and that their businesses will be better for it.

I want to encourage you to check out Ruthie’s “The WHY Workshop” as she has turned it into a self-paced course – which means you can have all of Ruthie’s knowledge, too.
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Please comment below. I would love to hear from you.

​What do we need to know right now about content as currency?

“Content is king” is the old way of things. We don’t live in a monarchy anymore. And there are queens, such as yourself, that are doing boss things. So, I think that’s the old mentality of just one person sitting on the throne.

“Content is currency” is really about what you’re doing right now. You’re bringing up counter people, such as myself and others, to tell people what’s going on in business. That’s a timeshare, and we look at time as a form of currency. Because you are sharing, you’re giving up a trade. It’s almost a barter system. And in that barter system, you’re giving information.

Now we’re seeing currency being put in place to build an audience. A lot of currency that we’re giving, like at Black In Sports, is in the form of providing a platform for voices that are usually marginalized and not heard – and then providing a positive spin on those platforms. You’ve heard people say, “Shut up and dribble,” when speaking about social justice issues that are happening, but you don’t get the entire side. These people have more than just that one myopic look or voice.

Content is currency – not only from podcasts but all social channels where people are giving that free content. And it seems like it’s free, yes, but it is that currency that I’m giving you. I’m providing you with something in hopes that you will join my fan club or you will join my tribe. I’m giving you currency to something that will either make you better or grow your knowledge base. It’s something that I’m offering you and hoping that you’ll either buy my wares or listen to what I’m a knowledge expert in.

“Have you thought about your content as being a form of currency? It’s a trade of information and expertise. It creates the ability to contact and be in touch with somebody and allows for a dialogue from there.”
Are there businesses that are doing this well?

Some big brands are doing it well. For example, I don’t know if you noticed or recall Popeye’s chicken sandwich ad campaign. When that came out, Chick-Fil-A and Wendy’s, got into a battle about whose chicken sandwich is the best.

Some people are good on specific topics, and they do it well. A couple of wine brands are good on social media, and I think it’s due to them being in tune. They are giving that time and that currency – because the audience is the biggest thing for anyone. I don’t care if it’s the coffee you drink. When you reach out to that company, and you tag them in something you say, and they respond to you – that’s currency that you received from your client for your customer. And people that have these Twitter feeds, Instagrams, and TikToks – and don’t respond – that’s a lost currency.

“It’s not just that you’re putting content out, but it’s that you are responding as well. So if we go with this idea that content is currency, you’re essentially throwing this money out here and letting it fall when you don’t engage.”

Where should we be putting our focus on building content currency?

That’s a tricky question, and you’re probably not going to like my answer.

You should focus on where you are receiving the love – so where your currency is most valued if we’re going to play on that currency thought process.

Because there are so many platforms, it can cause a problem.

And the problem is you do not have to be everywhere. You don’t need to be on YouTube, on a podcast, on TikTok, on Clubhouse – the list can go on of all the mediums.

Now, I do recommend going to those platforms, peeking around, and seeing if that would be an avenue for you. But I say pick the three that you want to be most impactful on – and the audience will tell you where you should be.

So, our podcast is on your traditional podcast channels, but we are also on YouTube. So, for us, it was a poignant place because the concept of Black In Sports is showing a face that’s not traditionally shown. And representation matters.

We talk about it not just as the minority community, but as gay and lesbian, women’s rights, and all of this stuff because the representation matters. We’re on YouTube so people can see and say, “Oh my gosh, the director of T-Mobile Guest Services is a black female. That’s amazing.” I can see that. And that’s why YouTube makes sense for us.

Instagram is another place for us. It’s a very visual component. And I think about who I deal with mainly, and they have visual representations. For example, most athletes are on Twitter and Instagram, and that’s where they’re living their life.

Now you have a couple of athletes like Juju who’s taken TikTok by storm. But he’s into different realms like Twitch because he’s a video gamer.

Twitch is a streaming video gaming platform, and you would probably want to spend time there as well if you’re a gamer.

I think that was a very, very long-winded answer to say, go to where your market is and where your audience is.

“I love the idea of testing different platforms to see what works for you. I think a lot of times, as business owners, we fall into this trap of, “Oh, this Guru has said that you can find your customers on Facebook.” But did you go and look to see if they’re there? Did you try it out? It’s imperative to do that due diligence.”

3 Action Steps
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1. Think about the content you are creating as currency that you are bartering to gain followers who may become clients or customers because of the value you provide.

2. When creating content, put your focus on where you are making the most impact.
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3. Investigate the different social media platforms and spend time on the three where you see the best results.
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Connect with EJ Cutliff on LinkedIn.
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Please comment below. I would love to hear from you.

​As an entrepreneur or CEO, I know that you are passionate and highly motivated. You have a vision, and you’re not afraid of taking risks. You’re a problem solver who can tackle any obstacle. You’re an achiever who sets big goals and works hard to achieve them.

And you probably pride yourself on your ability to do it ALL!

But that’s exactly what I want to talk about today…that need you may have to do it all, the need to be responsible for everything.

That need actually has a name.

It’s called Superhero Syndrome.

It’s this idea that you can do it all, fix it all, be all — perfectly.

I bet you read that and thought, “That can’t be healthy.”

And you are correct.

Superhero Syndrome has negative effects on your physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

Additionally, it not only has consequences for you, but it can also affect your friends and family and your team members.

There are four signs of Superhero Syndrome:
· The inability to say no to things — even when you want to

· Lack of trust in your team to support you

· Taking each and every mistake or failure — no matter the size — as an indicator of your inability to achieve goals (lack of objectivity)

· The need to be everything to everyone in your life

Now that you’ve read them — can you see how it can be unhealthy for you and those around you?

So, what can you do to overcome this?

· You can start by saying no to things — especially those things you don’t want to do.

· You can give your team the resources they need to support you — and let them do it!

· You can be objective in the way that you evaluate yourself.

· You can set aside the need to be the one-stop-shop for everyone and rely on the expertise of others.

· You can strive for progress, not perfection.

Don’t fall into the trap of trying to be Wonder Woman or Superman — because you don’t have to do it all.

“All we can do is our best, and sometimes the best we can do is start over.” — Agent Carter

If you see yourself suffering from Superhero Syndrome…it may be time for a quick reset or as Agent Carter said…to start over.
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At Momentum Live: The CEO Experience, we had the pleasure of hearing a presentation from one of my co-hosts, Brian Rassi of Enstigate. His presentation was entitled “It’s Possible: You’re on the Precipice of Your Next Level.”

Brian covered how you can access resources that are available to you as a CEO or entrepreneur. He shared what successful businesses do differently that sets them apart from those that fail. And he shared how to access the right money at the right time.

If you talk to anyone who attended, they will tell you how helpful his presentation was – and how much they appreciated the opportunity to ask him questions one-on-one.

Now, you may remember that last week I shared “You Need a Budget” as a tool to help you keep your finances in check and create a budget. But equally important to your ability to stick to a budget is the ability to find the resources and capital that will allow you to level up and grow. If you’re looking for the means to get to that next level, then Brian’s expertise in this area will be invaluable to you.

I invite you to schedule a call with Brian and learn what he has to offer – his advice could be just what you need to reach those goals in 2022!
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​Where should businesses be focusing their time right now?

One of the exercises that I do with CEOs when we start is getting focused on what they love to do in the business. And our goal is to get them to spend 50 to 60% of their time on things they love to do. It’s going to be different for everyone. But this exercise of thinking about where you are in your zone of genius and staying in there for as much time as is reasonable is really going to help you differentiate your business. It’s also going to help you feel better about the time you spend on general operational things because you know you’ve allowed enough time to be creative, get to your customers, and do the things you need to do.

“I often share something similar. It’s essential that you commit yourself to fill your cup by doing the things that you’re brilliant at – and that you enjoy. And so, when you do go to the operation side of it, it’s not taking away from that, and you have the energy from doing those activities that you enjoy because they’re the things that energize you first.”

Is this the time to be growing a business?

Folks often tell me, “I need to wait until school starts. I need to wait.” There’s always an “I need to wait” reason. So, if you feel like there’s always an “I need to wait” excuse, it’s time to pick something and start – even if it’s small. There will always be a reason that you can’t do the big thing, but there’s something small that you can do that will get you moving toward the bigger thing.

What are some small things that you can do to help get you moving towards the big things?

I would always talk to your clients and customers. It’s something that you can always do, especially as small businesses or self-funded businesses. It’s one of our great differentiators to have excellent customer service. So in terms of thinking about where we can grow, having conversations regularly with the people you work with will tell you what they’re interested in and the problems they need to solve.

What I’ve seen over the past 18 months with my clients is that they have continued to talk to their customers and say, “What can I help you with now?” – instead of saying, “This is what I do, What can I help you with?” That idea of being of service to the people you work with always brings an opportunity for growth because you’re partners in solving problems together. So regardless of what’s happening in the world, this creates problems to be solved. You can be a partner in problem-solving, and you will always have growth opportunities.

“One of the biggest things I’ve heard over these many interviews has just been the foundational aspect of relationship building. As a smaller business, relationship building happens directly with your customers. You have a big hand in that customer service and how the experience flows for that particular person or business you’re working with.”

When you’re growing, should you put money back into your business, or should you pay yourself?

When I work with a self-funded business, and by self-funded, it means that we’re not going to give up equity for money. We might use loans or other things. So when we think about growth versus pay, I believe that business owners need to plan to pay themselves. It can be a conservative amount. But if you are not planning on paying yourself from the start, you don’t build into the profitability that you need to have the correct pricing, so consider the right products or mix. Your economics will not be correct unless you consider how much you need to get paid as well. You’re underpricing your business, almost certainly, if you are not including paying yourself.

You can ultimately choose how to do that – and that’s the smart way to do that. But you need to plan from the beginning that you get paid something as the business owner, or else your economics will always be off.

“There’s also a mindset aspect to paying yourself. You will start resenting your business at some point because it’s not giving back to you in the same way that you’re putting into it.”

The amount you pay yourself is dependent on the person. We are all different in our businesses. I’m a single mom; I don’t have a choice but to pay myself what I need to pay myself. So, it’s very motivating to me to find what I need to do in this business to be able to pay my bills. Other people might be in a situation where they are not the primary income in the household, and there’s more flexibility in how you get paid.

But I think having some minimum committed amount that you pay yourself every month puts you in the mindset that there is a payroll to be met. And as your business grows and you have to start paying other people, it’s not a big shift for you. You’ve already had something that you have to pay out every month, and you have a plan for it. It’s a commitment to yourself.

I believe in paying yourself first. I know, that’s not how we normally think about it. But I think it’s one of those things that when you are a self-funded business, you have to think first of how you will get paid, and then balance out the expenses and the other investments that you make.

“If you can’t pay yourself, then there is that question of “Is this a business or is this a hobby?” And we certainly want you to be successful in business.”

3 Action Steps

1. Spend 50%-60% of your time working on the things you love in your business so that you feel better when working on the general operations.
2. Continue to ask your clients and customers, “What can I help you with now?” as a means of creating growth opportunities.
3. Pay yourself as a means of keeping your business economics balanced.

Connect with ill James on LinkedIn or at The Jill James.

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