Behind the Toolbelt
Behind the ToolBelt is a live, raw, and uncut podcast that brings real, unfiltered conversations about business, leadership, and the entrepreneurial mindset. Hosted by Ty Cobb Backer, CEO of TC Backer Construction, this live show features industry leaders, innovators, and experts sharing their experiences, strategies, and insights. From building successful companies to overcoming challenges, each episode offers valuable perspectives for entrepreneurs and business owners and leaders looking to grow, and make an impact.
Behind the Toolbelt
Crafting a Legacy of Balance and Growth
To watch your favorite episodes of Behind The ToolBelt plus much more content, go to our YouTube Channel and subscribe.
You can find us on Facebook and instagram
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWoTMarRV_h-gKZErp7KQAw/
https://www.instagram.com/tcbacker/
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=991937949647176&set=a.409382311236079&__tn__=%3C
And we are live. Welcome back everybody to Behind the Tool Belt, episode 263. Today we have another special guest. Thank you for joining us on this Wednesday edition. Stay tuned and we will be right. Backters solar TC, packer TC.
Speaker 2:Packer, welcome to Behind the Tool Belt, where the stories are bold, the conversations are real and the insights come to you live, raw and uncut. Every week, host Ty Cobb-Backer sits down with game changers, trailblazers and industry leaders who aren't afraid to tell it like it is no filters, no scripts, just the truth. Please welcome your host of Behind the Toolbelt, ty Cobb-Backer.
Ty Cobb Backer:Hey, hey, hey. Welcome back everybody. Like I said earlier, we have another phenomenal guest. I feel like I'm not prepared enough for this one. Anytime I actually prepare myself, I always feel like that I'm underprepared, but some of the best podcasts I've ever done was like with the least amount of readiness, so I'm kind of hoping this falls in between where I've prepared myself enough. So this turns out to be a great podcast for you and our viewers and our listeners out there and anybody catching us on the replay. But welcome everybody to the stage replay.
Jim Johnson:But, uh, welcome everybody to the stage. Jim johnson, my man, how are you? I'm doing fantastic like um, I was watching your intro there and to see a couple of my clients on there like north face was on the uh the hook agency ad, and just to see that kind of stuff that brings me a lot of joy to to see those folks doing some pretty fun things. I actually took a picture like I was watching. I took a picture. I'm gonna send it to josh here in a minute and just say you're famous yeah, yeah for sure.
Ty Cobb Backer:Like, and that's what this is all about, we're having fun here, uh, we're, we're, we're bringing the truth. Um, you know, and I did an interview the other day and somebody you know was asking me, like, what, what, what do I expect to get out of Behind the Tool Belt? But the first question they asked me was how did it get started? And it was to promote one of our charitable events here locally with our construction company, and really it was just like a Facebook Live. It wasn't even a podcast and then it just evolved into a podcast.
Ty Cobb Backer:But I guess, if I had to answer that question, what are we trying to do here? One fund first and flexible, right, the three F's of it. Of course you can add family first into that as well too, but you know just the entrepreneurship leadership, you know that will directly impact you personally and hopes to make the roofing space a better place. You know, and that's pretty much it in a nutshell. And and hence why you know I'm super excited to have you on the show today, jim, because you know you've been involved, you've been a pioneer of so many different things, man, and so many things that I don't even know. And another reason why I wanted you to come on the podcast, because you know, between top rep contractor, uh, your, your new thing that you got coming out, that I don't want to let the cat quite out of the bag yet until I actually ask you the question.
Ty Cobb Backer:Um, you know a whole bunch of other things that and the content that you put out there is so good and real that I'm actually taking something away from. And it's not about, like, you know, how how big Jim can swing his hammer, or you know just, you know some people that are, you know that are spewing content today, or it's just about how cool they are. But with you, you can definitely tell you're a humble guy, you know you're. You're a seasoned veteran in the industry and a Titan as far as I'm concerned. And and to have you on the show and have our viewers and listeners, you know, take something away from this, like I have from all of the free content that you have online right now. It would be selfish of me not to have you on the show.
Jim Johnson:I'm honored to be here really and truthfully, I've been able to watch quite a few of your episodes. You do a great job as a host. You keep it very conversational and real, which I enjoy quite a bit. You have some great guests on. You add a lot of value to our industry and so when you ask, I was like man, it's a no-brainer. Absolutely, of course, behind your show and my whole job is to give value at any point at any time that I'm asked. So hopefully I accomplished some of that today and maybe we help some folks out.
Ty Cobb Backer:Yeah, no, I, I know you will, for sure, For sure. So I mean, most, most people start out with like okay, jim, you know how did this all get started? Or give us like your backstory. But I guess you know I don't, I don't want to, I don't want to be like the usual interview that you know that I'm sure the same questions that you've asked a hundred times, but again there's so much that I don't know about you. So I almost feel like I need to ask kind of like what it was like, what it's like now and how you got here. And then from there I'll start pulling some questions out of you, if you don't mind.
Jim Johnson:Sure, we'll try to keep it as Reader's Digest as we possibly can. Before our show, you and I were talking and we were talking about some of the things that we found valuable in our lives and like propelled us forward. And you were talking about my bookcase and I said that's about one fourth of what I got up there. And I said that's about one fourth of what I got up there. We talked about the value of reading and I got really lucky early on to have a mother that was intense about reading. It was a serious thing in our house and if you can do nothing else, you can get a book. You can pull it up online. There's so many free resources and just reading and gaining knowledge. But I want to caution people on the width of the knowledge they gain. If you look at my books, they tend to be either business sales or spiritual. They'll be those three main things and that's really what I'm focused on in my life figuring out what you're focused on and then getting deep so that you actually have some understanding. When you have understanding now, you truly have power. Everybody says knowledge is power. That's not. Knowledge is facts, that's all it is. But understanding gives you some power, insight, even more power, like now I understand the thing. It gives me insight so I can actually make wise decisions. I can be discerning about what I. But whenever we get really wide and we're just at the surface, I call it kind of thin ice knowledge. We don't have much depth and so it's hard to bring value to others.
Jim Johnson:I got early on and I also got taught the value of personal growth, which all kind of propelled me forward with this idea that, hey, I can be in control of the amount of value I bring into me and the amount of value I push out of me. And I've had some great mentors along the way. A neighbor across the road that took a kind hand towards me realized that I was a little bit different than the other kids around, taught me what being an entrepreneur was kind of the hard way and ended up building a landscaping business that made me where I could go to college, and while I didn't finish college because college wasn't right for me, it gave me this understanding that, hey, I was making more money doing landscaping than I was doing in what I would be doing in college. So I went into the health club industry kind of changed that company quite a bit. They had three or four locations. I got involved. I kind of think about things quite a bit and got into franchising, built it up to 40 locations. I actually owned a couple of them and did quite well there, right up until marrying an aerobics instructor and finding out that that wasn't the best choice in my world Although I have an amazing daughter that came out of that situation. But the health club thing went to the side, met a new girl from Wisconsin and she hated it in Texas. We moved to Wisconsin for 18 years and I got into the contracting industry. It was very good to me.
Jim Johnson:There was just one problem with it all. I was very focused on what I was going to achieve. You know kind of the hey, I did big things. It's almost like I was trying to prove other people wrong, because I think everybody in my past said I'm going to either be dead or in prison by the time I was 21 because I was just like uber intense individual and not always the smartest guy, and so I was out to prove everybody wrong. We did.
Jim Johnson:We built an amazing company doing between 20 and 30 million dollars a year, all right up until a bookkeeper pilfered the company for about 500 grand and while we were able to survive that, somebody that I looked at as a really good friend, almost like a little brother, decided to go be her partner in a competing business. The other partner that I had that was my best friend decided he didn't want to be partners with me anymore and I got into this place where I was blaming everyone. Like couldn't they see, like everything that I had done for them, like what I? Like I changed their lives. They made more money than they've ever made before in their life. They had nicer houses, nicer cars their, their kids were going to nicer schools and I was very much like in this blame mode. Like how in the world could you be doing this to me after everything that I've given you?
Jim Johnson:And I'll never forget, sitting on the front steps of my house, a really nice log home, western Wisconsin, 35 acres, and if you looked at me from the outside you would go man, this guy's got it all. He's got everything he wants. There are sports cars and big trucks and ATVs and boats. I was actually considering like buying a plane just to say I have a plane. I didn't even have a pilot's license and, um, I broke down and said, like all that stuff has dust on it and it's not bringing me any joy, and where is the joy in all of this? And uh, all spiritual and all. But you know it's like hey God, what did I do wrong? What do I do? Where do I go? Because I was out of answers. It was the first time in my life where there was a problem that I didn't know the answers for, and not like I heard any words or anything like that. No, god didn't speak to Jim and say hey, jim, go do this.
Jim Johnson:This feeling came over me that I was selfish, that I had made everything all about me instead of all about us, and that was the root of my problem. And so, from that day forward, I decided to serve or be selfless, and it changed literally in the snap of a finger. My whole persona changed, so much so that when I went into work the next day and my front office, a gal named Ann I walked in and said hey, ann, how can I make your job easier? What can I do to make your life better? She looked at me like I had grown horns out of my head. She was like what in the world is going on with this guy and it took some time. It took some time for people to actually trust that I was about them and not me. But over time, not only did it start to be a situation where people trusted me, I felt a lot better. I felt better about what I was doing, I felt more fulfilled in what I was doing, I was enjoying what I was doing, more, more.
Jim Johnson:We built up another company at that point and got back to that $20, $30 million. You built a commercial organization doing $20 or $30 million and built a piece of software called Silver Lining that we had 1,500 users on and the guys over at Acculinks came to me and said, hey, we want to buy your company. And I became the director of sales and design for Acculinks, along with an amazing person named Mike over there that. We brought Acculinks to the world and had a blast doing it. And so I have kind of this history of when I get behind something and I believe something is really good. I like to make a thing, a thing, like it becomes real, whether that's the health clubs or the contracting business or software and now coaching. That's really what my MO is and I was sitting after about five years of Acculinks and kind of getting that feel again like, hey, I'm not feeling real fulfilled.
Jim Johnson:We had some disagreements and where software was headed, not anything negative, just you know, different beliefs and, um, again a little bit of a spiritual moment and I felt like I needed to resign first time I've ever resigned from anything without knowing what I was going to do next. And uh, I I went, met ce Rich Spanton, love that guy to death and let him know I was resigning. He was a little surprised, shocked. If you knew the history, I was kind of the face of the company back then and I said I just I have something different to do. I don't know exactly what it is yet, but I can't do this anymore. And we put a press release together. Let everybody know everything's great with AccuLens, I just have a new path to chase. And I helped replace myself there with Michael Penley and some other folks to make sure everything went smoothly. It was really important to me because I love that company, I love that culture that we had built. And so all that happens over about a two-week period, and I'm flying home, press release goes out. While I'm in the air, like I take off the ground Press release goes out, I get off the plane and you know you get reception again Back when your phone wasn't working on your plane and my phone started going off like crazy.
Jim Johnson:It just started buzzing all over the place Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz. I'm and my phone started going off like crazy. It just started buzzing all over Like what is going on? And I started listening to voicemails and it was all these like contractors and even distributors and folks like that hey, we want you to come work for us, be a general manager, run our sales, be a partner, whatever it was. The very last voicemail was from my grandmother, letting me know that my grandfather was in the hospital and I dropped everything, didn't even go home, went straight to the hospital, which is about three and a half hours away from where I lived at the time, and proceeded to spend the next three months with him as he was going through the the last months of his life and I got to share with him, be present with him. He's the most like a dad that I have in the world, taught me what good character was all about and he asked me.
Jim Johnson:He asked me a great question. He said hey, what are you going to do now. I said you know, I think I'm just going to golf and fish. I've done very well, I don't have to do anything. So I think I'm just going to golf and fish. I've done very well, I don't have to do anything. So I think I'm just going to golf and fish and he goes. Oh, that's going to last about two weeks. He's like so what do you want to be? I went wow, I haven't been asked that question in a long time. But what I really want to be like you're asking, I want to be a Division I basketball coach. That really want to be like you're asking, I want to be a division one basketball coach. That's what I want to be. And he goes. That sounds great, but you're 42 years old. I don't think a lot of coaches started for.
Jim Johnson:I said well, I coached back in the day at the you know division three as an assistant. I think I worked my way back in. He goes yeah, but what's it going to take five, 10, 20 years to to get to where you want to be as a head coach in a Division I program? I said yeah, you know, I get your point, but I still think I can get it done. He goes. Well, tell me this Is it the basketball or the coaching? Good question, that's what I said. Good question. I can't answer that one as quickly. Give me a night to sleep on that.
Jim Johnson:I came back the next day and I said you know, I really thought about it and I love basketball, I do, I love the sport, but I also love baseball. I love that sport, coached that for many years as well. But I also coached other things. I coached salespeople, I coached leaders, I coached business owners and I coached business owners and I coached a bunch of people throughout time. I coached youth groups, done mission trips and things like that. And I said so, it's the coaching. That's the thing he goes. Ok. What are you great at? Well, that's easy. I'm good at this contracting thing. I've been able to do that three times, do it very well, three times, minus the big mistakes of not paying attention to my books and trust, but verify, and so I can help people avoid those kinds of mistakes and speed up the process to finding that success that they're looking for, because you should probably do that. So he was the inspiration behind Contractor Coach Pro and I went back and I called some of the folks that had left me messages, I said, hey, not coming to work for you, I'm not going to be your partner, but if you want to meet once a week and I'll help you build the thing I'm going to do. And fortunately, a couple of those people said yes, and then it was four, then it was eight, and it was 16, it was 22. And it started to be more of a business than just, you know, helping some folks out started to be more of a business than just helping some folks out, started to bring some people on. And here we are today, 10 and a half years later, with Contractor Coach Pro. We've helped thousands of contractors at this point take their businesses to seven, eight and even a few nine-figure companies out there, and it's been an absolute joy to do.
Jim Johnson:We really love what we do and we're a little bit different about it. We're not a niche like. We're not a marketing coach, we're not a sales coach, not a hiring and recruiting type coach. We cover 12 aspects of the business. It's actually why I wrote that book sitting right there, a contract print because what I learned is there was 12 pillars of what we do and six of them are foundational and six of those are operational and most of us, as contractors, spend our time in the operational world.
Jim Johnson:How do I get more leads, how do I sell those leads, how do I produce them and how do I recruit and hire more people? And that's what most people came to us for. Hey, can you help me scale my business? I want to recruit and hire a bunch of people with a good sales process. I'm like, yeah, sounds wonderful. What is the rest of your process is going to look like? What do job descriptions look like? What does your accountability look like? What does your finance situation look like? And I really started to drive people more towards that foundational stuff, because if you get that right, it's easy to build a big business.
Jim Johnson:It's just the hard, boring work that most of us that are A-type entrepreneurs don't like to do, but if you do it, you can build a pretty amazing, long-lasting, sustainable business that you can achieve your dreams with. Whether you want to grow a big one, you want to pass it on, sell it. That's our main goal is to figure out what you really want to do in life and help you get there without sacrificing everything that's important to you your family, your health, your mind just all these things, that we tend to believe the lies of the world, that we have to sacrifice everything to get ahead. I would argue that if you aren't willing to sacrifice those things, you'll think differently, because differently you solve problems in a different way. That gets you where you want to go anyway. So that's a. That was long, but it kind of gives you a good picture of how it all came together.
Ty Cobb Backer:Yeah, no, there were so many, so much good stuff there and so many questions. Half of them actually three quarters of my probably forgot, but there's a lot in there. I had no idea about the AccuLink story, you know, which is pretty amazing because that's one of the biggest, you know, crms in the roofing space that there is today. So that's congratulations for being the founder or, you know, being at least playing a part in that.
Jim Johnson:I would say I'm not a founder that was actually Rich Spanton but all the front end side of that software, so it's a sales-oriented part of it that was my stuff being brought in and added to the administrative back end to make it one thing and I was a believer in it I went and promoted it pretty heavily. Funny thing, back in like 2009, you'd go to somebody's office and say, hey, yeah, all that stuff you have on your server there, we want to put that on the cloud just out there all over the place. They're like no way, man, that sounds terrible. And you look at us today and we actually could see the future Like everything you do is in the cloud somewhere. So it would be a part of something like that.
Ty Cobb Backer:Yeah, it's pretty amazing, that's.
Ty Cobb Backer:That's a heck of an accomplishment in itself.
Ty Cobb Backer:You know, and you know, when you were talking about your journey there and you were sitting on the front porch, you know, I thought to myself there's, there's a couple of questions within that, you know. You know, and I was looking at it like a almost like a spiritual journey and you didn't even know it at the time that you were on and and some of us need to to experience like a spiritual bankruptcy or a spiritual bottom before we can bounce back. You know, or and the sad thing is, I guess a lot of people don't bounce back or don't get it like I need to change my ways and and I guess my question for you is is like, at that moment, I guess there was a lot going through your head, like I guess my question for you is is like, at that moment, I guess there was a lot going through your head, like, I guess my first question would be like why didn't you just quit at that point in time? Why didn't you just throw in the towel, dive into the bottle? What kept you? What? What made you decide like I'm going to go into the office today and I'm going to change, and I know that change wasn't easy. Let's talk about that a little bit today, and I'm going to change, and I know that change wasn't easy.
Jim Johnson:Let's talk about that a little bit. Wow, that's such a good question, ty. In all honesty, I did think about those things. I did think about quitting and the ultimate quitting Like, hey man, I'm going to end this all. It's just not worth it. I didn't do what I set out to do and the way I set out to do it. I failed everybody.
Jim Johnson:I had all of those dark whenever you get quiet and when you get alone, and I think it's a big reason why people avoid it. I think it's a big reason why people are attached to these devices is because they're scared of being with their thoughts, because if things aren't going the right way for you, those thoughts tend to be on the dark side. And all of that crossed my mind. But there was also something else that crossed my mind that that wouldn't have been put on me this feeling that I needed to serve if I didn't have more to do and if I wasn't worth it.
Jim Johnson:And I think there's so much out there in the world today where folks live in these extremes, where they're living in this place of where they don't feel like they're worth it, or they're alone, or they're depressed or they're homeless or all of that right, but there's also this place over here where we're busy and there's too much, and it's anxiety and that extreme as well, and I started to realize that as time went on. But, answering your question, the reason that I went into work that next day is because I felt I was worth it and that I had value to bring to others, and it would be a disservice and really a sin to do otherwise, and so I walked into work the next day.
Ty Cobb Backer:So that's the short answer to your question, and that's good too, because I've been in low places over my life and my career too, and I've had those same moments where it's kind of like you know, I have a choice, I have a decision to make. Am I going to change my ways? And I think for a lot of people it's so hard for them to see where they may have played a part on how things are unfolding right now and before my eyes. Well, think, about it.
Jim Johnson:How awful of a human being must I have been for somebody that I looked at as a really good friend, a little brother almost to go be partners with a thief and I can actually show and prove it to a thief Like this is what exactly she did and where the money went and all of it. And he still chose to go do that instead of be in relationship with me. But that told me, as I was worse than a thief and that's pretty hard hitting sometimes and it's a hard thing to admit and you know I can talk about it today, but and I and I wish I would have talked about it sooner in my life to share with others. But I think it's embarrassment, I think it's, you know, pride, I think ego and all that stuff kind of comes into play on that. But it's important to me today to let anybody and everybody know you're absolutely worth it. There is no doubt about that and you can provide value to others. So if you're thinking about giving up or throwing the towel in or anything like that, we've got some tools. That's some of the stuff that we've been working on to help folks out, because one of the things we found out when we were coaching, because when you're coaching you're doing business strategy, practical, tactical that kind of stuff and getting that stuff in place and you're also building leadership skills and things like that. But what we didn't really realize is we were teaching them this way of doing all of it without sacrificing everything, and so that was the big challenge and that's what had changed for me. Like that first day kind of became this spiritual, like growth, development, that kind of thing.
Jim Johnson:But even after that, as I got more comfortable there, there were still things in my life where I felt like, hmm, something's not quite right and I can't put my finger on it.
Jim Johnson:I'm going to go research and study and observe and really think about these things to kind of get them figured out, Because I wanted for me personally to live as prosperous of a life as I possibly could and I wasn't feeling that way.
Jim Johnson:I wanted to feel that way and so after about 10 years of some pretty intense study, reading a lot of books and observing a lot of folks that I felt were truly prosperous, not fake prosperous you see a lot of fake prosperity out there. I think that word has gotten a bad rap being prosperous, because I think a lot of fake prosperity out there. I think that word has gotten a bad rap being prosperous because I think a lot of people associate it with wealth and gaining of status, power, wealth, money, that kind of stuff, and that's not really what it is. If you actually look at the word itself, the root of it is an action, not a noun. It's not a thing to achieve, it's a way to be, and once I kind of clicked to what that is, then I was like well, what does that look like on the way to be? And so that's, that's what we've been working on.
Ty Cobb Backer:Yeah, no, I love it. I love that. A couple of things there. You know it's it's never too late to change, right, no matter how horrible the situation that that you put yourself through and typically it's something that you've put yourself through, at least from my experience. You know change can happen. You know it can. It can happen several times a day. I can choose to start over as many times as I need to, you know, but in those moments that I think you know that have happened to me, where I'm thinking that it's the worst thing that it's that has ever happened to me, usually turns out to be some of the best things that has ever happened to me, because there's a lot of change and within that changes growth, and a lot of times that growth is is painful, and I want to talk about that with you a little bit, because even though you went to work that day and you you told your assistant like hey, what can I do for you? And she looked at you like you had a third eyeball right.
Ty Cobb Backer:And of course there's a lot of emotions that go into that too, because, like you had mentioned, that takes time. You know there there's going to be people that are doubting you. You're going to be doubting yourself. Am I doing the right thing? But how did you? How did you know, or what did you do to level yourself up?
Ty Cobb Backer:Because, of course, you've lived one way for so long and I know you read a lot of books but how did you know how or what to apply at the time? Like, okay, you went in there, you talked to Mary and you said I'm going to give you whatever you need and all this stuff. And that can go both ways too, like where you go overboard and then you become, you know, a doormat. And I've done the same thing, where it's kind of like I put myself in situations where then people start to expect and then I get a resentment because they're expecting things. So how did you navigate all of that through, you know, like seeking mentorships. What books were you reading? How long did it take for you to start feeling comfortable with you and that you weren't living a lie anymore?
Jim Johnson:So, first off, let's um, let's address, uh, the, the living, the lie part, because, um, I'm wired in a certain way and I think a lot of entrepreneurs are wired in this way that when they're in something and on something, they're all in like there's. There's not any kind of like balance there. And one of the very first things I did was I started to to not as diligently as I do today, but I started to to read the Bible and started to understand and I really kind of focused on Proverbs, like just the wisdom part of stuff. It's like I'm not sure I want any of the rest of that, but I am. What does this wisdom thing look like? And I started to apply a lot of those things and, being who I am a person that tends to be attracted to the extreme, you're right I kind of went overboard and like it was just all the time and in everybody's face all the time, and it does lead to this. Well, you know, take, take, take from you type of feel, and I had to learn a little bit more.
Jim Johnson:So some of the people that along the way that I had originally read through the perspective or lens of how to get ahead, I went back to and I went let me reread that again. And how do I help others get ahead and in a way that it doesn't sacrifice me? And so what? I started to discover that there was additional things. There was these seven areas of my life that I called living prosperously this is the only real definition that I had for it that needed my attention, and so whenever I felt off, I now had something I could put my finger on and go, ah, it's that thing.
Jim Johnson:And so that took about 10 years to get all of that kind of figured out. But folks that were like influential on me and had been for a long time before that, even I just read them through a different lens John Maxwell, james Collins I think those are probably the two most. Uh, gina Wickman, with traction, um, a great book, um is Zig Ziglar, and going back to his stuff, you know his whole thing was if I can help enough people achieve their dream, I'll achieve mine, like, and I didn't even click to that.
Ty Cobb Backer:I was waiting for you to say Zig Ziglar. I wondered if you followed him or not.
Jim Johnson:Very much so. The young folks today only know who that guy is, but I would encourage you to go and read some of his content. Brian Tracy is another one of those folks that I spent a lot of time reading, but there's also the other writers, like Bonhoeffer and CS Lewis and on that spiritual side, that start to let us know that it's where the intention comes from. So if my intention is to serve me, that's going to have one outcome, and if my intention is to serve God according to his will and his instruction, that's going to have a different outcome, and it's really up to you to make the choice of which one's the right one for you. I think so many of us and really here in Western society just who we are and what we're about we are in this place of ownership You'll see millions of books about it. You know take ownership, extreme ownership and ownership, and really what it is you're looking for is authority. Like hey, I'm the one, right? Well, I hate to break it to everybody, you're not. You're not the one, you're just another one, and there's been millions of just like you before you that thought they were the one that nobody even remembers. You think about all the billions of people that have ever lived, and just try to name off as many as you can. I bet you don't get over 50. So the reality is there's something more to it than you and your ownership and your authority. And I made a decision. I made a decision to be obedient, which is hard. That's not a word that most of us in America love to hear. We want to hear hey, man, I got it, I'm under control.
Jim Johnson:A friend of mine, reggie Brock. He's such a good, amazing guy. He says we believe in the new holy trinity me, myself and I and I'm like I don't know if that's really a good way to go about doing things, but when I decided to be obedient the thing I was not expecting that happened and I went I get it now. All burden came off. I don't live anxiously anymore. I feel very free. I feel like, hey, I go do what I've been instructed to do. I'm going to let God take care of the rest. There's no guarantees.
Jim Johnson:I don't live life in an effort to be happy. I do live life in an effort to be joyful and kind to other folks and be valuable, and so it's taken a lot of burden off of me. I don't worry about what you think about me, ty, or what anybody else thinks about me. I'm comfortable in who I am. I know my identity, um, as a, as a believer, and that makes things really easy for me. Yeah, that's what makes you prosperous. Sometimes, control puts you in control. It's really, it's really cool.
Ty Cobb Backer:Yeah, yeah, no, no, I I like that. I you know I was getting. I was going to ask you and you started to touch on it. I want what are some of the biggest changes that you started to see in your life when you started down the spiritual path or digging deeper into the spiritual aspect of God and things like that? Like, what were some of the biggest changes? What type of people were you starting to attract? You know, in your life at that, you know, and today, I guess not even back then, but still today Like, what are the biggest changes?
Jim Johnson:That's a really good one. Who was I attracting? It was two different types One's of good character that needed a place to belong. Wherever they had been before. It was anti, their character right, but there was also this is the part that was the beautiful part the people that wanted to adjust their character and be different than what they were, and that there might be a different way of achieving these things. It attracted them too and and that's actually given me more joy to let folks know that it's okay to be good to people.
Jim Johnson:Now I know we're talking a lot spiritually and this is one of those things I really want to caution people on. A lot of times you hear the word spiritual, bible, god, all that other stuff, and you go that stuff's garbage and you throw the baby out with the bathwater and don't even listen to what's going on. The things that are in that book, the people that live as believers, can be valuable. You should take that value and be grateful and thankful for it and not discount it just because it comes from a spiritual or godly place. Funny enough, a lot of the stuff that's in the Bible Proverbs, to be specific actually came from Assyrians and Egyptians and things like that, like when you really study and dig into it, they didn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. That's good and that aligns with God's will. We're going to put that in our book. Maybe think about that in your life. What are you throwing out that could be valuable to you because of the paradigms that you believe, whether they be spiritual, political, sociological, all those other things? You just immediately dismiss them because they're aligned with this thing you don't agree with when there's actually value there. And, funny enough, like I'm, I'm a big Bible person, but I've also read, uh, you know, the Buddhist writings. I've read the stoic writings. Uh, one of my favorite books is uh, um, by Marcus Aurelius. I like the. There's still value there. Don't give up on that value.
Jim Johnson:Now, um, you asked like what, what was I finding and what was happening, and so that kind of leads into this. Uh, uh, we talked about it before the show. But this, uh, ph seven. I've been talking about that. People have seen little glimpses of it. You're going to see a lot more of it. Uh, because it's something that we've been working really diligently on for the last 18 months or so and I wish I could say it was all me. Like it's not. I have some really good friends, my circle is really powerful. That has really helped walk through this, because originally it was just a concept Like hey, there's these seven things and I know what those things are and I know how to address it whenever something's not right in my life. But I've had some other people help me, bring clarity to it so I could help share it with everybody else.
Jim Johnson:And, uh, so this, this question, got asked to me. I was really lucky, um, I mentioned John Maxwell as one of those folks that's uh, uh, had a pretty strong impact in my world and I got invited to a thing that was called high capacity leadership and I was like, hey, how much does this cost? I figured out some kind of sales pitch and it wasn't. It was like they had watched me and knew who I was and said no, we're going to pay your way. We would like you to come and be in this group of about 30 other leaders that we think are doing it right and we just want to see what happens.
Jim Johnson:And the question got asked is there anything that you do in your life that's unique, that allows you to live a balanced or a good life, like that type of thing, and we're kind of all sitting around a big old table and everything, and I'm looking both ways and nobody's saying anything and I kind of sheepishly raised my hand. I'm like, yeah, I kind of got a thing. You know this little recipe that I kind of lean on whenever I feel off in my world. And they're like well, tell me more. And I said, well, there's these seven things. And so they're like okay, what are the seven things? So I'll list them off real quick Mind, time, body, community, work, spirit and impact. And I'll dig into those just a little bit for the viewers so they can kind of understand what's going on.
Jim Johnson:But you think about it. I started with spiritual growth. The door was open to me. I walked through that door and the spiritual growth improved my life and made me feel more fulfilled about what I was doing. But I still felt like there were other doors that needed to be opened. And so I started to consider my life and what that looked like and where was I missing something? And I was missing something in the mental side mental creativity, strength and capability. That's really where that all started.
Jim Johnson:And so that's the mind one. And if we're not spending enough time flexing this muscle between our ears. It's just like any other muscle it atrophies. But whenever we spend time being creative and thinking and problem solving, that's what I tend to do in those quiet times. Now, when it gets quiet for me, I don't walk into the dark place, I walk into the place of light. Now, when it gets quiet for me, I don't walk into the dark place, I walk into the place of light and I'm really thinking about how to help and serve other people. And how can I create an experience unlike anything anybody's ever seen before? How can I be remembered and leave an impact on somebody that's valuable to them and that they share with others, that impacts them without me gaining anything from it? As far as recognition goes, I don't care about that. I want to be valuable to whoever I come in contact with. So, but the problem with it is like you go oh mind, I want to get all over that because I was all over the spiritual thing and you just kind of go full out there and then a full out there in the mind.
Jim Johnson:And as I started to parse these things out, I started to realize that there was extremes in each one of them, and so as I learned more about that and read more about living in the extreme there was some Aristotle behind some of that. Some of the great components of the Bible talk quite a bit about living in the extremes as well I started to realize that I had been looking at it wrong. I'd been looking at it as empty or full. So, like this idea of I'm empty in this thing or I'm hey, I'm full and I'm good, right, like I think a lot of people look at it that way I'm spending plenty of time with my family and everything's wonderful. I'm not spending enough time with my family and everything's terrible. As a good example of community, right? Well, the reality is it wasn't really that. It was more like a. Have you ever seen a litmus test before? You know what that is. It's like test water for a pool or a hot tub or something. Put the little thing in there and it lights up colors. That's. It was more like that.
Jim Johnson:That there was an extreme that was positive or an extreme that was negative, and somewhere in between was this sweet spot, this place where what I like to term it as healthy tension, not balance. I don't believe we can live in balance. That's one of my hardcore beliefs, after a lot of study, is that you know you got these seven things and sometimes one's going to be a little bit over here and that's going to cause one of them to be over here down below like whichever one. Wherever you're putting effort is going to require sacrifice somewhere else. What I don't want to do is I don't want to effort all the way to the extreme where I'm totally sacrificing everything else is I don't want to effort all the way to the extreme where I'm totally sacrificing everything else. And so when I realized that it's more like that than being in this sweet spot, I can start to know where my effort starts to go beyond healthy and into the extreme. When we live in those extremes, that's the dangerous place. That's a dangerous place where you get into the negative side, where folks are feeling depressed, alone, that type of feel to them, or they're feeling overwhelmed, obsessive, exclusive, those type of things, and so those are dangerous places to live our lives. So that's really what this has turned into is.
Jim Johnson:I shared that with these guys and what that looked like, and the questions went on for like an hour and 40, like all the time we had questions kept coming, and even after we walked out of that session, I had a group of people that were all kind of asking me more questions and what about this one?
Jim Johnson:Well, what about meditation? Where does that fall? I'm like that falls in mind, and so anything that they were able to throw at me, it fit in one of those seven categories and I could explain how it fit and what to really think about in each one of them. Since that time that was 18 months ago those folks are still calling me as they're working their way through their own journey with this idea of living a prosperous life, because the funny thing is, the people that I've noticed that have lived the most prosperous life don't have the most stuff. They tend to be the most generous. They tend to be the one that, when they walk in the room, you want to listen to them. They tend to be the one that create an experience when you're with them. They tend to put you first and, um, that's the sign, that's what I'm looking for Whenever I'm looking for prosperous people. Um, I don't care what you have, I could care less about that, it's what do you give. I think that's really a big sign of somebody that's truly a prosperous person.
Ty Cobb Backer:Yeah, no, that's, that's good. Now I'm glad that you yeah, I agree a hundred percent. I always use the word success, not necessarily prosperous, you know, because I think most people define success as money, wealth, right, and I look at success differently and wealth differently. You know, how much time am I spending with my family? Does my family love me? Have they visited me over the holidays? Right, to me, that's a win, that that's success.
Ty Cobb Backer:And talking about it on a, on a, you know a deeper level and it's funny because it was, I think it was this past Saturday and I'm glad you brought up balance because, for whatever reason, you know, I, I tend to talk to myself and I talk to myself a lot and I'm a visionary, and for whatever reason I said you know, I, I, I need to start seeking balance, and I didn't mean it in terms of, like, work-life blend, because and I don't want anybody to take this wrong especially if you're a newer entrepreneur, because unfortunately, I think in in early days of of business and you got to wear multiple hats and that sometimes requires a lot of hours and if you're more worried about making sure that you're spending, you know, an ample enough time with your family and stuff like that. I, I, you know, in somebody else, might you know for argument's sake, um, I don't believe in that. Like you're going to find that balance, especially early on. But what I, what I was thinking was is like having that that balance because of things being out of balance, like a scale. I'm looking at it like a scale, okay, am, am, I, how, how's my scale? And it's it's never going to be fully balanced.
Ty Cobb Backer:But if I'm like you said I loved how you said, if I'm spending so much time and piling a bunch of stuff on this side of the scale, something over here, suffering, it's going to bottom out. So, like I'm constantly seeking, but in my life, at this time of the season that I'm in, I have a couple of skills that I'm trying to juggle and balance, okay. So I guess my question for you if I'm not seeking balance and I could have, that would have been a whole other podcast, so I'm just going to cut myself off, and I could have, that would have been a whole other podcast, so I'm just going to cut myself off right now, okay, so if, if I'm not seeking balance, jim, then what do you call that? That thing in the middle you. You said you know you got your positive and you got your negative. What? What is that then? Um?
Jim Johnson:so I'm going to give you two analogies, cause you use the scales analogy and I used to kind of think of it that way. Um, and I used to kind of think of it that way. The analogy I think might fit that a little bit better is a teeter-totter. Okay, you know, when you're sitting out you remember being a kid being on a teeter-totter. Yep, when you're sitting out on the very ends, if the other person jumps up, you slam down and you smack a tailbone, right, oh yeah. And also if it goes the other other way around, off the teeter totter you go. That's like living in the extremes on those teeter totter right. The closer you bring that sitting point to the center fulcrum, the less likely you are to smack your butt or get thrown off of the teeter totter. And so you're trying to live not on that very extreme edge but closer to the middle, but not necessarily balanced, because we need this thing called healthy tension.
Jim Johnson:A really good friend of mine he was the mind behind all the GAF programs for contractors, dave Harrison I don't know if you know him or not. He was the chief marketing officer for GAF. We had the fortunate opportunity to have him as part of Contractor Coach Pro, as we were working through a few things and I had always known of the concept of healthy tension, but he gave me a great analogy it's like having a rubber band on your wrist. When it's too tight, super uncomfortable, right Like that doesn't feel good and you want to take that thing off. But also, if it's really loose, it's like sliding up and down. You're also uncomfortable, it doesn't feel good, but when it's just right right, like when it's just right it's not sliding up and down your arm it feels comfortable, but it still has a bit of pressure to it. That's where we want to live. We want to feel that we've got a little bit of challenges, healthy tension.
Jim Johnson:And so let's say I'm going to go back to your example of a young entrepreneur getting into our world. You're right, they do have to work harder. And we have three phases that we normally go through when we attempt anything that's like being an entrepreneur through. When we attempt anything that's like being an entrepreneur, you have a building phase. That's first, then a maintaining phase and then you get this little bit of an enjoyment piece, too right, like. There's these three pieces that we get to live in. The building phase should be short. It shouldn't take very long if you're truly after being successful with it.
Jim Johnson:So, yes, you're going to work some more hours, but I wouldn't suggest working 60, 80, 90, 100 hours a week, because the truth of the matter is after about 30 hours for most people. Now I want to be really clear here. People are unique. There are some people that can work 50, 60 hours and be really productive, but most people and when I say most, 80% plus lose productivity after about 30 hours of good work, and I want to be really clear about that too. Doing work well. If you thought about that and said, hey, that seems to be true, because I've noticed that I work a lot of hours but I don't get ahead and I say, okay, I'm going to work this many hours, but I'm going to work really well during that time. I'm not going to allow for all the distractions, I'm not going to allow for all the other stuff. I'm going to do what is necessary, even though I may not like it. Your building phase becomes a lot shorter. That sacrifice that you're making becomes much less.
Jim Johnson:Because I was a young entrepreneur, at one point I can remember getting into this industry and telling my wife I'll never forget this. Whenever I got into a storm restoration, I'm like whoa, where has this been all my life? This is amazing. Honey, if you give me the next two years, I will change the trajectory of our life, but I'm going to work 80, 90, a hundred hours. So those two little kids we have, those are yours. I'm going to go to work and I'm going to change our lives and everything's going to be wonderful.
Jim Johnson:If I could go back and do that over again, I would have just thought differently about how I worked, not how much work I did. There were things I missed. I missed the first steps of my daughter. I missed a T-ball games for my son and at the time I went it's just a T-ball game or it's just her first step. I saw his first step. I haven't had a big of a difference. It's her first step from his. Those are the things I was telling myself. But as I've gotten older I'm like, wow, I missed a T-ball game because of work. Like, really, what, what did that bring me that? Um, I couldn't have gotten any way if I would have just thought differently about the way I do work. And so, um, that's one of the four pillars of this prosperous human thing. So seven elements is one of the pillars. There's another pillar, called orbital thinking, instead of traditional thinking.
Jim Johnson:Traditional thinking means that we have an outcome we would like to have and a problem that needs to be solved, and we work our way, step-by-step, to achieve the outcome. That's traditional thinking, would you agree? You agree? You agree with that? Yeah, and so what we do is we effort and we improve and then we fail, and then we improve a little bit more and go back a couple of steps and we kind of could do this number back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, until we get to where we want to go. And that's kind of traditional thinking.
Jim Johnson:And we take no consideration of number one where are we? What stage are we in? Where are we at progressing towards this thing, and what type of investment do I have to make? Because that's time and money and that means sacrifice. And so what am I sacrificing? We don't consider those two things.
Jim Johnson:And whenever you consider those two things on your way to this outcome, and then you look through it through the lens of the lifestyle you want to live, that's the thing orbiting the closest to your desire and that's what moved for me. My thing was the lifestyle is the thing I'm going to achieve whenever I get to the outcome, and I moved that all the way to the center of this is the lifestyle I want to live. So how do I have to think differently about how am I going to achieve that outcome? If I'm really low in a stage and somebody has proposed something amazing to me, I'm going to have a lot to learn to get to there and I may not have that amount of time, and so that's going to make me say a no to that. I say no an awful lot nowadays.
Jim Johnson:Or if the investment is immense, whether that's time or money, I'm sacrificing something that might be important to me and I'm not willing to do that either, because there's a lifestyle I have chosen to live and I think people need to get clear on that before they decide how much effort they want to go and put into something, because they're going to sacrifice some things that are really important to them. I mean, I look at our industry and it's frustrating to me the folks that have sacrificed family. There's a lot of divorce in our industry. There's a lot of just not being with the family because the work comes first. There's a lack of health, both physically and mentally. There's a lot of addiction in our industry. All of those things come from this being obsessed about doing something instead of being healthy, about doing something.
Jim Johnson:So that place that you were looking for that's called balance. I'd be looking for what's healthy? Tension. What can I do? Where I put a little more effort here, knowing I'm going to sacrifice something over here, but I'm not willing to sacrifice everything over there. I'll put you in this space of going. I'm going to do my work well so I can push those two. This way. I'm going to put less work here and then be a maintaining mode instead of building mode, because maintaining takes less effort. You can still improve and grow and do all the things that need to be done, but it takes less effort. It's just super important to me to like share what this looks like. It's a big concept and I know that I try to simplify as much as possible.
Jim Johnson:Hey, let's just figure out the seven things. One that's the door you need to open where you're struggling the most. Maybe you're not getting enough time to think, maybe you're not spending enough time. Here's the deal. You don't take care of your body and turn it into a high-performing optimized machine. Guess what? Your work's going to suck your time that you spend with your family. You're not going to want to spend time, you want to take a nap. So those things are really important to consider in this sacrifice back and forth between these extremes. And so the seven things if you know what they are, you can put your finger on them. Then you can start to look at hey, am I living over in the extreme on the positive side, or am I living in the extreme on the negative side? How do I push that more towards the sweet spot so I can have some healthy tension around this where I'm still growing but I'm not sacrificing everything is so important.
Ty Cobb Backer:Yeah, no, that's so good. That's that's so good and that's kind of where I'm at in my journey. You know cause? I was that entrepreneur that missed the T-ball games in the first days of school and and all of those things. And I like how you you'd mentioned, like what this? And we're talking, we're going back. I got a 32 year old, so it's like I gained nothing. Like, looking back 32 years ago, I gained nothing, but I missed that first day of school. I missed that first step that the baby took, I missed the football game. I missed all these things and really honestly, it wasn't worth it. Like I'm not I'm not a gazillionaire today because I've missed all these things.
Ty Cobb Backer:Right, and if you have to work 60 hours a week, it doesn't matter which 60 you work either. And I think, when you were talking about how would I do it differently, I would definitely do it differently, right, and and focus. There would be more things that I would be more intentional about and not just and I think, a lot of it. We talked a couple podcasts ago. We were talking about living by, by accident. You know, in in on, on purpose. Like today I try to live more. Like with purpose, like I do things with more intention today, um, and most of it's all about having an impact on other people.
Ty Cobb Backer:But also, going back to what you were saying, like it starts with personal development, me taking care of me, because if I'm not eating right, I can't feed other people and and pun intended, you know, I have to eat right, I have to exercise, I have to get plenty of rest. I have to spend that that, that I have to spend that balance, for lack of better terms, amount of time with my family if I want to be creative at work. Joseph Hughes said something or posted something the other day. It's like a lot of my great concepts or thoughts or business ideas actually happened when I'm with my family out in the backyard throwing a baseball. You know I mean we're changing the environment and changing my mindset and putting myself in a different place and actually being where my feet are.
Jim Johnson:You know it's really, really good that. Uh, he shared that with you. Um, that's something I learned as well that when I'm not behind this desk and doing all the time when I'm out walking I'm actually thinking, and then some of my best stuff comes from that. So I've made that an intentional part of my day. Twice a day, every single day, I go outside and I walk for 20 minutes and I'm not walking to get exercise, although that's a good stacking effort like I'm getting some exercise. I'm actually walking to think a little bit, and especially if I'm at a place where I'm having a tough time breaking through on something. If I just go take a walk for 20 minutes, it's amazing how many times the answer is just sitting there, but I was so in it that I couldn't think about it, and there's a lot of things like this is why it took me 10 years.
Jim Johnson:You talked about the body, right, so what you eat, your exercise and those kinds of things. I can give you two things just right now. That are the two biggest problems in our American society today A lack of hydration that's number one, and sleep deprivation that's number two, because we're in the grind every day. We believe in this grind culture, which I'm not a believer in that at all. I, as anybody that says that word, to me, it just makes my skin crawl. It's like are you serious? If it's a grind, why are you doing it? That sounds terrible. I didn't show them joyful in any way or fulfilling in any way. I'm just going to go grind it out today. Um, discipline, that's a different thing, and I really enjoy discipline. Grit, that's a different thing, and I enjoy that as well. But I think we have perpetuated this myth that through hard work, success can be achieved, which in truth can be, but it doesn't have to be, and that was the kicker for me. The truth of the matter is it doesn't have to be, and that's the. That was the kicker for me. The truth of the matter is it doesn't have to be, it's just the way that's being purported to us and okay, I'm going to go that way.
Jim Johnson:There's some great books out there. You asked, like some of the people that influenced me, all of your listeners, if they would go and read the book buy back your time by Dan Martell, change their life. We teach it to our contractors. Like how do I put myself in the most productive points, the most productive things I do that earn me money and give me fulfillment, while setting everything else aside. And there's actually a recipe for doing that. It's called the drip matrix and those types of things.
Jim Johnson:It's because we don't have the knowledge, and I and I bet you there's probably millions maybe, but I'll go with thousands of people that have read that book that never applied it is, read it through, got the knowledge. It's a bunch of facts Didn't do anything with it because they didn't understand it. Once you understand it and the value of it, it changes the way that you look at work and you go. Hmm, that's pretty neat Because I'll be honest with you guys, I work in real work about 20 to 25 hours a week, wow, and I could have done that at any moment in my life. I just didn't know any better and I didn't understand it.
Ty Cobb Backer:Now that.
Jim Johnson:I understand it. Anybody can do it. It's amazing. So it's things like that that we want to help with. It's things like that that I want to share with others and help them come to this understanding that it's not all about what we've been told to go and get. It's about something completely different.
Ty Cobb Backer:Yeah, good, good conversation, good stuff that you shared with us today. We're coming up on our hour mark here, jim. That was amazing, I mean. I feel like I I definitely want to have more conversations with you because I have a lot more questions personal questions for me that I would like to know, and I didn't even get through 75% of the questions that I actually had for you One. I think you answered most of them Like I didn't even have to ask you any of the questions. You were just on point and articulated. You know what it is that you're about, what it is that you're giving. You know the value that you're giving to people and and the impact that you're having on many people's lives. But before we get off here and I know you're into books and you just had mentioned you know, dan Martell's book and you mentioned the Bible a couple of times but what would be one book that you would suggest somebody read, and not just read once, but like a yearly book, like what's your yearly go-to book?
Ty Cobb Backer:It can be a personal, it could. It could be, you know, related to business.
Jim Johnson:Wow, that's such a good question. I read books differently now than I used to. I used to be voracious. I mean we're talking 40 to 52 books a year. My goal was to read a book a week. I don't read that way anymore. My goal is to get through one book in a quarter, and so I'm reading four books in a year.
Jim Johnson:Yeah, this was actually a great post by Reggie a few days ago. I mentioned him earlier, but he said everybody's all about making these resolutions and stuff, and those resolutions tend to be about adding I'm going to go work out, I'm going to go make this money and whatever it is. He's like what do you already have and what do you need to get rid of? And so the what do I already have thing. I kind of did this number right here and I'm like man, I got a bunch of good stuff back there that I haven't read in a while and maybe I should spend some time there. And for me and this is actually a newer book John Maxwell's got a good book out there right now called high road leadership.
Jim Johnson:I don't know if you've seen that or not. Yeah, I got it. It's a newer book. John Maxwell's got a good book out there right now called High Road Leadership. I don't know if you've seen that or not. Yeah, I got it. It's a great book.
Jim Johnson:He actually gave it to me. He signed we literally got the first 30 copies that group of folks and it's an amazing book about how to lead in a way that you're focused on the people that you're leading, achieving their potential because when they achieve their potential, you can achieve yours and doing it for the right reasons. And I think that's the big part is just to do things for the right reasons. I tell you right now, if you're feeling lacking in any way, it's because you know, whether subconsciously or consciously, that what you're doing isn't for others, it's for you, and that is not very fulfilling in the end. So I would lean into that, dig into that, ask yourself why you're feeling that way and why you believe the things that you believe.
Jim Johnson:I think that's a question we don't ask ourselves nearly enough. Why do we believe what we believe? But, like I said, it took me 10 years of pretty intense study to get this to where it is and now another 10 years of actually living it and continuing the journey. It's not perfect by any means. It's a journey. It's going to be a lifelong thing and there's no way I can solve it all by the time I die, whenever that may be, but I hope that it's helpful and that somebody else uses it to continue with it and make it something amazing. I hope one of these days.
Ty Cobb Backer:Yeah, such a great answer. I have one more question for you, and I think I know the answer to this, but you had mentioned that you know you read one book a quarter. Why do you do that now, opposed to reading 52 a year?
Jim Johnson:Because I don't just read them, I study them, and I and I study them in a in a pretty specific way. I'm looking to approach that book with questions first. So whatever I'm reading, it doesn't matter. I kind of test myself first what do I already know? And so if I'm reading a book on leadership, what do I already know about leadership? That's a pretty extensive list. I kind of keep that one and that's one I've been working on a lot in my life for all my life.
Jim Johnson:But if I'm reading a new book, like maybe on economics or something like that, what do I already know about economics? That way, when I read the book I test whether my knowledge is true or not. And so every book I read, any information I take in, the first question I always ask myself is it true? And the first question I always ask myself is it true? So if somebody says something, is there anything like if I look at that, I go is there any other circumstance or observance I've made that says it's not? Because a lot of people will say this is the way things are and I'll go look and I'll be like no, I kind of see this person over here like they're doing it a different way, and they're still getting there. That's why I think it's so wonderful. People are unique, and while these seven things are not unique, I actually think they're pretty much laws of the human condition. Their approach to them and their need in them and how they solve the problem is going to be unique, and I think that's pretty cool. That's one of the beauties of the creative creatures that God made us to be.
Jim Johnson:So our first thing I'm doing is I'm looking for, you know, to ask that question is what I'm reading true? And then I'm going to go through it and I'm going to highlight things based on context. So is that context for now, is it for the future or is in past? Who was the author actually speaking to? What did it mean to the person they were speaking to? And then, how does that apply to me?
Jim Johnson:And you can read the Bible the same way. It's actually how I read the Bible as well. A little bit different, obviously, because the Bible was written 2,000 to 5,000 years ago, depending on which part you're reading, whereas most of the books we read today tend to be a lot more recent. Although if you're reading Aristotle man, he was talking to a whole different group of people than us. So being aware of that gives you context so that you can gain understanding and meaning, so you can then start to apply it. I think so many of us are like we read every book this way. How does this apply to me? The Bible or any other book? How does this apply to me today? It's literally the last question you should be asking. What?
Jim Johnson:did it say, like you just read, here's a perfect test. Go read a chapter of a book. Go read a chapter of a book. Okay, go read a chapter of a book, any book, pick anyone, and then the next day go tell somebody what it said. I'm going to bet you can't tell them a whole lot.
Ty Cobb Backer:Yeah.
Jim Johnson:So when you slow down and you actually read it for what is it saying? What does it say? You're actually intentional about it. Words that I don't understand. I look up in a dictionary. If I'm reading the Bible, I go look them up in Hebrew and Greek and Aramaic and truly understand what people are trying to get across when I spend that much time in it. While I'm not getting quantity of books, I'm getting quality of books that are valuable. So I'm super intentional about what I read too. I'm not just going to read anything. So that would be some of my advice on like reading.
Jim Johnson:Stop the audible thing, that's, you get nothing from it except for maybe a little bit of enjoyment and about 2% of what you hear, unless you're taking notes. Now, if you want to listen to an audible and take notes out of the side and that type of thing, keep a journal. That's different. But if you're listening to audible while you're driving your car, dude, I'm going to, I'll, I'll, I'll go to my grave saying this I'll test any one of you and you couldn't tell me 2% of what's in that book.
Jim Johnson:Be intentional about your learning. If you're going to take the time to learn something, go learn it Seriously, Because what you do is you glean maybe two or three little golden nuggets out of it and you think you're amazing because you got some new piece of knowledge, but you don't even know how to use it. You don't understand it or what it meant, or how to how and when to use it. It's one of the big issues we see when we coach contractors. Funny enough, they're doing the right thing. In most cases, they're just doing it at the wrong time. And that's the key when we can do the right thing at the right time, that propels our learning much faster.
Ty Cobb Backer:Yeah, no, great great answer, Great great answer. You definitely elaborated a lot more than I, than I thought you would on that, but yeah, no it was good.
Ty Cobb Backer:I've also slowed down on the consumption of how many books. I read One, because I'm actually I reread it. You know if there's a day that might go by. If I'm reading a book and I try to read it. You know a portion of it every day, and but if, if a day goes by, I'll even. I'll even start the chapter over, and I've recently backed off on buying new books and started rereading some of the books that I already have on my shelves and stuff like that. There's so much good stuff there and then I'm jumping on to the next thing and I almost feel like it's a race.
Jim Johnson:What are you reading?
Ty Cobb Backer:right now, right now, oh man, I just started why I asked you the yearly book, one of my yearly books is your. Your next five moves by Patrick McDavid.
Jim Johnson:Oh, that's a good book.
Ty Cobb Backer:Yeah, that just has become one of my yearly books and then one of a quick read. I read John Maxwell's probably about three times a year Leadership 101. It's just a quick read. I can read it in about 30, 40 minutes.
Ty Cobb Backer:But I take that with me a lot when I'm traveling, if I'm on the plane, and I try to find those times, like I try not to waste time, right. So if I'm on a plane, I'm not going to sleep, I'm not going to watch a movie. I'm not saying that I don't watch 20 minutes of something, but I try to use that time, you know, wisely. You know be more intentional with that time. Because when am I going to get another four hours? When I don't have very good cell phone service? I probably can't work on my laptop.
Ty Cobb Backer:So why not break a book out and start reading a book? And if I fall asleep reading the book, kudos, you know, to me for actually resting my eyes while reading a book, you know. So that's why I kind of wanted to get your spin on that, because, I agree, it's not the amount of books, it's the quality, it's the quality of what I'm getting out of the book and the quality of the books that I'm consuming today and I get that choice of what media I'm taking, what, what I'm digesting. You know, mentally, what am I feeding myself? Um, and where am I at? What season of my life am I in? And where do I need more education? You know, is it? Am I trying to educate myself or am I just trying to learn a new skill?
Jim Johnson:You made a great point there. What season of your life are you in? Because there's been some things we've talked about that I'm probably a little further along in my journey than maybe a lot of your listeners. So my advice there is like, hey, don't try to be me, just try to take the first step. Like if it's reading 10 minutes a day, read 10 minutes a day. Like that's a good first step, because here's what you'll find. You'll find that you'll start to hunger for it, especially if you're reading something that's good or valuable and all of a sudden that 10 minutes becomes 15 and then it's 20. And so, like we talked about my spiritual journey, I started reading the Bible kind of sporadically and then it was like once a week and then I started doing like 15-minute devotionals, something like that. And now you know I've worked my way along my journey. Most every day I'm in that Bible at least an hour at least. I've been studying Genesis since December 1st. I'm not even through chapter one yet.
Jim Johnson:We run a contractor fellowship group with a bunch of guys all over the country. We meet every Wednesday morning at 730 am we just had it today and we're studying Proverbs. We've been doing this for 18 months. We just finished chapter 11, we're gonna start in chapter 12 next week and there's 37 chapters on my 41, and so it like gives you an idea, like, and it's been fantastic because we're our our attendance is actually going up because we're diving deep into it and and really getting some understanding behind it and everybody's in a different place. You got some people that are way ahead. You got some people that are just starting and those people are rising and these people are seeing a new perspective. So it's been super valuable to be in that type of situation. That'd be another piece of advice Find somebody else to read that really good book with and test each other. That's a great way to retain what it is that you're learning, and not like a book club, more like an intense study. So pieces of advice there, amen to that.
Ty Cobb Backer:Good stuff, jim, great stuff. Well, man, I hate to say this, but we are at an hour and 15 minutes. What a great episode all right. No, it's, yeah, it's great. I am not. I'm gonna actually have to watch this because there was so much stuff that you were talking about, and don't be surprised if I hit you up in Messenger with some other questions, like about some things. But, man, thank you so much for coming on the show.
Jim Johnson:Can I add one thing? It'll be short, I promise.
Ty Cobb Backer:Completely Go ahead.
Jim Johnson:If people want to learn more about this whole PH7 and living prosperously and that kind of stuff, we have a new podcast. It's actually out right now. It's on YouTube. It's called Prosperous Human. You can go find it. We haven't really promoted it yet because I'm trying to get a good amount of content on there before I actually do that, but there is an introduction. There's actually a few interviews along the way of some very prosperous folks out there, and that's what we're going to continue to do. We want to just help others kind of break through the lies of the world out there and go OK, maybe there's a different way to approach this thing called life.
Ty Cobb Backer:So yeah, that would be great. Yeah, thank you, jim. Thank you for what you do and you've definitely made an impression and an impact on my life and on my life and I'm sure the guests are viewers, rather, are definitely different after listening to what you had to say today. I saw some good questions coming through there. So thank you for coming on and thank you for everyone for listening and if you tuned in late, man, please catch us on the replay Spotify, google YouTube and, of course, facebook.
Jim Johnson:And you said you had some questions. Ty yeah, Feel free to call me, contact me, message me, send a smoke signal, whatever you got to do here to help out with those questions, however I can.
Ty Cobb Backer:Awesome man. Thank you so much, jim. All right Until.
