In other words, it is not all about you. So get over yourself (everyone else has), and expect to be measured by two metrics: performance and behavioral excellence – and know that excelling at the former does not excuse neglect of the latter.
3. As mentioned in the Introduction, it is important to remember that undertaker tendencies are not permanent verdicts for you or others; but to facilitate movement to more productive groups, a change in mindset will be required.
4. Use additional and helpful resources to help yourself and others create game changer performance. For daily quotes, tips, and strategies, follow us on Twitter: @DaveAnderson100 and @LearntoLead100.
Heads up to top performers – we love you, but you are not the center of the universe. That job has already been taken. You are not bigger than the team.
CHAPTER 2
THE CARETAKER
So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.”
The caretaker is a “just enough” performer. He does just enough to get by, just enough to get paid, and just enough to not get fired. While caretaker performance is a step up from the unacceptable undertaker, it is not noble; in fact, it is not even particularly notable. It is baseline, minimal, get-in-at-the-last-minute, leave-at-the-earliest-moment, pledge-allegiance-to-the-job-description, just-hold-it-all-together-while-you're-there performance.
For a caretaker, the thought of putting in extra work and effort to become his or her best self, or to get an edge and move ahead, is as appealing as a dead skunk in the middle of the road.
Do not complain about the success you don't get from the work you will not do. If you did not earn it and do not deserve it, you have earned and deserve the reality of going without it.
The Caretaker Antithesis
Phil Beckner is a men's assistant basketball coach at Boise State University and has an extended history coaching Portland Trail Blazer Damian Lillard, dating back to Lillard's time at Weber State. Beckner continues to serve as a personal coach and mentor, and trains Lillard now in two-week stints during off-seasons. Lillard has a world-class work ethic that he has developed over the years, which has lifted him to game changer status in the National Basketball Association (NBA), but it started well before he turned pro. Coach Beckner observes:
One of the most relentless and driven competitors…tireless, freak workers I have ever been around is Damian Lillard. You can easily identify Lillard as a game changer because of the impact he has had on the people and teams he has been a part of. Early on, Dame had a healthy fear;…he wouldn't accept not improving; he refused to become comfortable; he refused to become complacent;…he didn't rest on his past accomplishments. He worked hard. Period.
After his first season in the NBA and being named NBA rookie of the year, Lillard trained with the same inner circle of people he worked with the previous summer, but Lillard would still grow scared. Not scared to compete. Not scared to go up against the best of the best in the NBA at the best position in the NBA (point guard), but scared that he would not improve enough. Scared that he couldn't evolve. Scared that every other point guard in the NBA was possibly working harder, and trying to get better than him. So he used the same formula he always did – the same formula other game changers use. He worked harder, and harder, and harder. He lifted more, he trained more, he shot more, and he watched more video (Phil Beckner, pers. comm.).
For an undertaker or caretaker to shift into becoming a Damian Lillard, it does not take an additional smidgen of talent. It does, however, require a seismic shift in mindset; which, by the way, you are in control of changing. This also means you are to blame if you do not change it.
To be capable of doing more, but then to make a conscious choice not to, is just a sneakier, more creative way of quitting.
Drop the Excuses
What is worse than choosing to do less than you can is the reasoning that some use to justify their own caretaker performance, or the mediocrity of others:
“I do what I'm supposed to do. I do my job.”
“I'll do more when they pay me more.”
“My boss/coach doesn't motivate me.”
“At least I'm here every day.”
“He's not great, but he's better than nothing.”
“Well, she is at least reliable.”
“I've seen worse.”
This stinking thinking is the lament of losers – the verbal vomit known as excuses. Excuses are the DNA of underachievers, and pretty much guarantee that you will spend a lot of your work life, and life overall, in caretaker status. Excuses are just a plea offered to explain away a fault or failure. They are an absolution of responsibility. Excuses make you common, undesirable, and ultimately average, ordinary, and not outstanding. If I may be so blunt, they also make you repulsive. No one wants to be around someone who makes excuses —NO ONE.
Johnny Gyro is my karate instructor and has trained me to the rank of second-degree black belt. Master Gyro is a ninth-degree black belt in Tang Soo Do karate who has trained in the martial arts for five decades. He dominated the 1980s as its top-ranked fighter, is in martial arts halls of fame, holds black belts in five additional martial arts, and has been an instructor for more than three decades training and developing hundreds of black belts. Master Gyro was a member of the United States Fight Team for six years, and its captain for three years. His 29-time winning record of the annual International Karate Championship stands in a league of its own. This unstoppable game changer decided early on that excuses were the language of mediocrity – a futile exercise he wouldn't stoop to engage in. That decision was a catalyst in separating him from the hordes of caretakers in his field, and in elevating him to the eventual status of game changer.
From the start, I refused to waste my time making any excuses for myself and I rejected the option to fall victim to useless “reasons” why I didn't win a fight if I lost. Instead, I remained fixated on focusing on my direction. I always had my target in sight. It was always on my mind and I kept that tunnel vision in the forefront of my thoughts to keep my drive alive on what I planned to achieve. It didn't matter who I fought or where I fought because I competed across the USA and through Canada, Mexico, and Central America. A second-place victory was not a victory in my mind. While some gifted karate fighters considered second place a win, I did not because, in my mind, first place was the only win that mattered. Anything less was merely participating in a fight, because coming in second wasn't going to get me where I needed to go. I was not willing to settle for second best, and knowing there were no shortcuts was fine with me. I wanted to earn my titles because I wasn't interested in finding ways around that. I went about learning how other tough fighters trained, how they prepared for the ring. If a winning fighter trained by doing 500 kicks a day with ankle weights on, I did 1,000 kicks with ankle weights. Fighting was as much a mental game as a physical game. Strategy mattered, knowledge mattered, and I learned how to become a smart fighter. Physical training can only take you so far. The mind drives the desire and the body follows. The true definition of a fighter is one who understands his challenge and knows how to simultaneously train the mind and the body to conquer the challenge (Johnny Gyro, pers. comm.).
To change your results, change your behaviors. To change your behaviors, change your thinking. To change your thinking, change what you think about. To think about the right things, renounce excuses and focus on what you can