If you were patient enough to read through Part 1 of this two part post you will recall being introduced the top 2 success traits – CONSCIENTIOUSNESS AND OPENNESS. [If you didn’t see that post you can CLICK HERE to catch up – believe me the tactics below will make so much more sense when you understand the context and the theory.]
Now the juicy bit you’ve been waiting for. With the aim of levelling up the Openness trait during our downtime, here are some big hitting tactics:
#1 Unleashing curiosity with deliberate study
-What are you reading/do you plan to read on holiday? Do you have a topic you want to know more about? Make yourself a small summer reading list.
-Start writing/note taking. I heard the wise words from a mentor that, ‘you don’t know something until you’ve explained it to yourself’, so to get the most out of a book write down the ideas you get and what you are connecting them to and with.
-Teach someone else about what you’ve read using the Feynman method as follows:
1) Choose a concept and study it quickly
2) Teach it to someone, like a child, who is unfamiliar with the topic
3) Revise to fill in the gaps
4) Review and simplify
5) Repeat steps 2 and 4 until you can explain the topic in your own words
Doing this probably only adds about 5% extra effort to your downtime/holiday reading. In other words its just a subtle tweak to how you are doing that learning but it changes the outcome massively. (I’ve been listening to Brendon Burchard’s High Performance Habits this holiday and have been using this little technique to explain some of the brilliantly powerful concepts to my wife and kids)
#2 Travel and Observation
-When you experience the place you are visiting on holiday, for fun see it through the lens of an entrepreneur (maybe specifically a property entrepreneur). In other words, everywhere value is being created and exchanged in some way so be OPEN and observant to the street vendors, flea markets, hotels, bars and attractions etc you might visit.
-Have the mental presupposition that everywhere you go, someone knows something that you don’t. Be fascinated with the local businesses and property you see, try to find out what others know that you don’t- what commercial property is for sale? What deductions can you draw out or questions can you ask?
-Going deeper, think about the unit economics here? How does this business make money? Why is this business winning vs competitors? What’s working, what’s not?
I found this tactic really engaging and have two simple and fun observations to share from where we are on the Costa Blanca. There is a lovely stretch of beach with a great boardwalk that connects the sand to a string of bars and restaurants. Some proprietors get it right and always attract the crowds, others seem to fall short – this photo attached shows the case in point of a completely empty beach bar while the next door venue was busy (the answer here was a giant flat screen showing the World Cup Final match).
Example 2 was on our last night walking back along the far end of the boardwalk after a lovely meal and a couple of strong Spanish G&T’s. We stumbled upon a different kind of street vendor – a group of young kids (under 10 I’d guess) selling a selection of items they’d made. These enterprising youngsters really caught our attention so we back pedalled and asked about their little market stand –they were selling knickknacks like the little plastesene pizza my son’s holding up in the photo so they could a)spend money at the fair and b)buy more supplies to make things and sell –just brilliant. What we really liked is they didn’t even live there, they were on holiday too! This really inspired my older two boys.
Even if you don’t find conclusive links to your own business you are levelling up your openness and contributing to your own creative development as an entrepreneur.
#3 Consuming Fiction
This is one you were all hoping to hear…yes it’s true that watching Netflix and reading stories help you evolve as an entrepreneur.
The secret here is understanding that all humans (and potential customers) are seeking a personal transformation in some way. That is to say that everyone buys things (and services) to become a different kind of person, or to reinforce the kind of person they are.
All fiction is about the archetypes of these people ie the ‘transformational selves’ that people (potentially your customers) seek to become. A lot of TV programmes give this message of here’s the kind of aspirational person you’d like to become- when we go and buy products and services we choose things that help us feel like we are becoming more like the people we watch. From Game of Thrones to Madmen to you name the show or film, there are archetypes.
Fiction increases openness as it gives us the opportunity to empathise with the values and concerns of other humans and this is essential for coming up with ideas of things that will appeal to others.
Developing your openness helps you better understand human beings, which in turn improves your marketing and sales ie your ability to turn strangers into customers (and in the property business you have a wide range of customers).
People who revolutionise industries are the ones who introduce lateral ideas from other places, in other words they maximise openness. Did you know that one of the most memorable classes Steve Jobs took before quitting College was a calligraphy class? It was that class that later gave him the idea to revolutionise computer text by introducing new calligraphy type fonts never seen before on screens.
So this summer, and on all future downtime, give yourself permission to go out and pursue OPENNESS.