I was incredibly fortunate to attend Keith Cunningham’s “4 Day MBA” Course.
If you’re not sure who Keith is, he’s one of the raddest and baddest entrepreneurs on the planet.
(And he’s actually “Rich Dad” from the world’s #1 finance book, Rich Dad Poor Dad.)
Years ago Keith made $100M (you read that right), then lost it all, actually going $50M in debt (you read that right too).
But then…
Made one hell of a comeback!
He’s quite private about his affairs, but it sounds like he’s now selling around $30M – $40M/yr through his various companies.
This time, though, he’s entirely debt-free.
Keith was gracious enough to shoot a private video with me where he shares his #1 Business Weapon, Thinking Time….
Keith’s been in business 40+ years.
Hundreds of millions won, lost, then won again.
And Thinking Time is the #1 business weapon he cherishes above all others.
WOW.
I’m curious…
If you took 20 minutes for your own Thinking Time, what problem would you ponder?
Watch the vid and leave a comment below!
Onwards and Upwards,
Tim :)
I recently started taking 15 minutes every morning to just sit in piece in quiet and think. All kind of solutions started popping up. From re-organizing the kitchen drawers for optimal cooking experience to the next email marketing sequence. Thank you for sharing this Tim.
Great advice – whenever I take time out to think and reflect, it always helps tremendously.
Sounds like a concept that seems simple but is actually deep & life-changing if you really plumb it out. "Every situation in life is asking you the question, 'do you want me to be a problem or an opportunity?'" Wow…
I recently shaved off 8 months by eliminating an activity in my life that wasn't serving me anymore (competiting in olympic weightlifting) by taking some time to think and write in my journal. I find by writing in a journal i'm able to have a conversation with myself to really see my thoughts in real form.
Totally agree with ya John! In the early stages of business it's all about hard work and brute force.
But then you get to a point where it's mathematically impossible to push any longer or harder. Only 168 hours in a week!
That's when business becomes an "intellectual sport" (to use a Keith term). The Entrepreneur can shift gears and get good at thinking (to find 80/20s, ask tough questions, etc). If they *don't*, they'll either burn out (old me) or choose to back-off, scale things back a notch and be happy with the smaller business.
Scale and leverage inevitably require us to get damned good at seeing opportunities and threats, then organizing resources around them to play offense or defense. Which requires, of course, thinking!
Honoured you've posted here, John. Big fan of you :)
Sweet mother of pearl, Peter Li… if there was ever an award for highest ROI on thinking, you may have just won it! A few hours of contemplation to leap-frog forward by 8 months…. DAYUM! Haha :). Way to go Pete!
Most welcome Kat Halushka! I love the idea of being still and seeing what comes in. SOOO GOOD. Another approach – Keith's approach – is to conscisously, deliberately pick a question *first*, then dive into Thinking Time. Whatever is vexing or inspiring you is a great place to start. Also, any of the number of questions I've suggested during my talks you've attended are great choices too.
E.g.) "What would you have to change in your business so you could maintain or grow profits, while working only one hour per day?" (The Richard Koch, $10,000 question).
And here's a beauty from Keith…
"What would have to change in your business, if the only new business you could get was from referral and repeat business?"
That one knocked me on my ass :)
Oh man, Will, totally agree!
Perry Marshall once said that marketing doesn't happen in an Infusionsoft or Google Adwords account, but rather on a couch with a yellow legal pad, while quietly considering the possibilities. That was probably the first profound realization I had around THIKNING as a deliberate business practice.
That was probs 3-4 years ago. Then Richard Koch comes along and blows it to the stratosphere, then Keith Cunningham too…. can't argue with with a roster like that of entrepreneurs all crediting THINKING for much of their success :)
Onwards and Upwards :)