The problem is that what they’re doing after reading Steve Harvey Jump or watching the video, is they’re showing you exactly their process. They might say, ”Hey, I’m going to show you how I run and successfully jump off the cliff every single time. I’m going to show you how my parachute opens, that helps me land or soar safely.” Unfortunately your gift set is likely different than theirs, of course there are always exceptions. If you chase the masses you will find success stories. Far too often these guys are masters at taking the few and far between success stories that they stumble on, and showcasing those like that’s the norm.
Inside of my podcast, inside of this book, inside of my digital intensive training that we offer through michaelmunsterman.com, all of these things are geared towards identifying your gift. Identifying the chute that will open for you. Identifying what skill sets you have that will allow you to soar. My gifts may be different than yours, and you need your own strategic plan for success.
At the end of this chapter is a worksheet, and I encourage that spend some time with it. We’ll put it in here, but we’ll also give you a link to the website that you can go to and download the full interactive. There is an alternative method, you can click through the site and work with a coach that talks you through the process of identifying your gifts and skill sets that set you apart.
Ultimately, the goal is to figure out where your gifting lies. Regrettably, you can have all the processes, you can have all the routines, you can have the right mentality, and you can have a mind and a spirit of abundance without results. You can do everything that you need to do. You can network, have mentors, and you can educate yourself in a marketplace, all good things to prepare for success. Despite the good works, if you aren’t doing that under your umbrella of gifting, then you will never reach your full potential.
The analogy of fake it until you make it is garbage. We live in a time where it’s not necessary to fake it until you make it. There are kids playing video games and making $100,000 a month sharing there process of slaying everybody else in Fortnite. There are guys that love sneakers and collect sneakers that are leveraging that love for a consumer good, all the while building six and seven figure annual incomes. You are not required or expected to fake it. There is no reason for it. You are blessed with specific super powers that will enhance your ability to succeed. You must tap into those gifts and use the to their full potential.
Like Steve mentioned in his video, there are bakers who live an abundant life. Those bankers are living in abundance, because they have stepped into the marketplace and started operating inside of their gifting. They recognize that their value isn’t defined by somebody telling them what they’re worth an hour. Instead, their value is defined by the impact they can make in the market. How? Simply, they operate in their gift.
One of my favorite books in the entire Bible is Psalms. Inside of this phenomenal book, one of the Psalms say, your gift will make room for you! Steve Harvey mentions it again in that video. It is one of the reasons why I love that video today. Lets expand on that just a little bit, and really zero in on what is your gift? There is a question you have to ask yourself when you’re seeking to find your gift. You have to ask yourself, “What is my passion?”
For me, my passion is helping small and mid-size entrepreneurs reach their full potential. My passion is filling in gaps, sharing knowledge, wisdom, and experiences to help people scale their companies and crush their competition. My passion is to encourage young people or older people who have never had the courage to take that leap and trust in their gifts. My passion lies in giving people the ability to trust in their wings to open, and then to soar. That is my passion. Everything that I do builds up to, on top of, and around my passion.
Writing is not a passion of mine. I would never want to just sit at a desk overlooking a picturesque view, typing away insistently, hoping that somebody is going to love my literary work. To a point that if they didn’t, I would be okay. Oh well, I guess it’s okay they didn’t like it. Book writing not my passion. However, I am writing this book for you.
So, why am I writing a book? I’m writing a book because I feel like this information that I’m sharing with you hasn’t been put into a format like this. I do not believe this message has been delivered in a way that is truly applicable. I feel like everyone keeps their best information in their back pocket, and only gives you enough to try to sell you some kind of a system or program that gives them a bigger upside. I think that’s unfair. Accordingly, I write the book to give you as much information as I possibly can to make you successful.
Why do I do a podcast you might ask? Herein lies one of my passions. I love to speak and communicate. I love to speak to people. I love to speak to and help people in and around the subjects of business, team building, process building, and scale. Communicating information that is beneficial to others and will exemplify their life is very fulfilling to me.
It just so happens that my life foundationally has a lot of tragedy. Therefore, one of the things that I would consider to be my super power is how to mitigate and overcome tragedy triumphantly on the other side. How to use that pain as fuel, instead of it being a dampener to my success. Tests and trials are all too familiar in my life. Instead of allowing them to dictate my future, I have allowed them to propel me to another level
This is what you can do in your world when you recognize your super powers. Once you realize what it is that you’re great at and once you realize what it is you’re passionate about, you will find that those two subjects are laying right beside one another. When you pick both of them up, the rest of the journey gets much easier, because you’ll discover that you organically know what to do to share your gifts with the world. If you don’t have the capacity to recognize your gifting that is ok! That’s where mentors come into play. Mentors can be the same people who, through an assessment of you, will be more than happy to tell you what they see as your gifts. Any mentor that is truly invested in you will quickly recognize your superpower. You just have to trust the people you employ to assess you. It sounds super easy. Unfortunately, it can be the hardest truth you can ask anyone to accept.
I was in sixth grade the first time someone told me that what I wanted didn’t align with my gifts. The assessment seemed so simple. As I sat in anticipation among my fellow students in the large band room, where we had been tasked to simply repeat a series of tones. Bum, bum, bum, bum dat, dat, dat, dum, bum, do, bop. With each person going ahead of me, I thought this is so easy! Mrs. Band teacher was definitely going to recognize the perfect enunciation and timing that I had rehearsed. I knew that she would instant agree that she would be crazy to not let me pick up the drumsticks and be the perfect addition to her band! I just knew that I would someday be the best drummer in middle school history! As the students went before me, I repeated it in my head ‘bum, bum, bum, bum dat, dat, dat, dum, bum, do, bop!’ There was no chance I could be found lacking of anything. I imagined getting a letter, don’t laugh it was 1993 people still got letters in the mail, from Metallica informing me that the only thing that would hold me back from making the band was the short length of my hair!
“Mr. Munsterman, Mr. Munsterman… MR. MUNSTERMAN!” I snapped back to reality. Realizing that it was my turn, knowing I couldn’t mess up, I opened my mouth, and I was off! “Bum, bum, bum, bum dat, dat, dat, duma… Oh crap, dum, doe, uh, Mrs. Band teacher could I please start again?” Her response cold and non empathetic, “No, everyone only gets one chance. Next.” She later crushed my dreams of becoming the greatest drummer of all time.
Mrs. Band teacher actually didn’t do a great job at mentoring me in middle school. However, she simply pointed out that I wasn’t drummer material. She had an opportunity to speak life into my talents. Unfortunately, it was a missed opportunity for both of us on that day.
It’s impossible to talk about having superpowers without talking about having weaknesses. It is as equally important to recognize your weaknesses as it is to recognize
your strengths. You have to address and recognize your weaknesses. You have to be willing to look in the mirror and get very serious concerning areas that might need improvement or help. If you really want to scale and you want to soar with those other entrepreneurs that you see down the road, then you must address your shortcomings. Those neighbors who you think, “Man, they always have the newest car. They have such a nice house. Their kids are so well dressed. They seem like they have everything together, and I want that for my life.” Before you can get there, you have to be able to leverage your gifts and build a team around you to support you in your weaknesses. Whether you think you are Superman or not, I promise you, there is a kryptonite.
In the last chapter we talked about routines. For me, a routine is simply a shield of protection between me and one of my biggest kryptonites, procrastination. Without routine, I find myself in chaos. I feel like I’m pulled and drawn a hundred different directions. I feel seemingly busy, but don’t accomplish anything at the end of any day. I have tested this. I recognized that in order for me to grow and scale, I have to protect myself from that weakness. If I’m just left to myself to get up and try to remember, “Oh, I think this is what I was going to get done today”. I’ll inevitably end that day thinking, “I don’t think I did anything.” Most everyone has a tinge of this in them, it’s why writing out your goals creates exponential growth. I simply recognize that in my life this desire for structure creates the best version of my life daily.
Another example of one of my kryptonites is that I am not a detailed oriented person. I’m a visionary, not an implementer. There’s a really great book on this subject. It’s called Rocket Fuel, and it talks about that V.I. combination. You’re either a visionary, or you’re an implementer. You’re either the guy that has the vision and can see the future... Well, not see the future exactly, but sees into his future, and can architect something back from that. Alternatively, you could be the person that the visionary works with by saying, “Here is our vision, here’s what we want to accomplish.” Once they share their vision, you are that person that can build the machine that implements it moving forward. At the very least, you support the visionary through that walk and grab the little pieces that they step over or miss.
In order for me to protect myself from this particular version of my kryptonite, I have to almost always lean on my wife. In the world of our different companies, she is my implementer. When a company grows to scale, to a point that it is outside of what she wants her commitment to be, I will hire someone who has her same skill sets. Other times the industry is outside of a category of business that she’s comfortable working. In those instances, I will hire an implementer from the start.
Inside of our car dealership, my daughter is the implementer. She handles 100% of the accounting, processes, controls cash flow, and all of the little necessary minute details that I would otherwise miss. I make sure that the company scales, grows, and that the marketing is on point. I ensure that customers continue to fall into that funnel. Her job is to use the machine that I created to catch the flow of sales.
I only use the examples of my business and personal strengths and weaknesses to demonstrate standards. What you have to be willing to do inside of your own role is look at where your weaknesses are. Once they are realized, you can use that to your advantage. Further you need to develop a strategy to shield yourself from those weaknesses.
Maybe you are a non-conformist who has been working for someone else your entire life. When you’re told what to do, without any question from you, do you think this is a good idea? Is this something that would work based on your experience? If you’re in an environment where people just say, “Do this thing. Do this thing the way that I say to do it, and do this thing right now!” Every time you’re told to do something in that fashion a little bit of your soul dies. Immediately, the very first thing that you could do is switch employers. Or, recognize that maybe you’re not designed to have an employer from the start. You’re potentially designed to be an entrepreneur, and that will insulate you from mindless orders. For you that could create a future where you fall into a routine, leveraging your gifts for the marketplace, without being told what to do. Instead, being driven because of the value that you add to the market.
I have met people that have a different weakness, their kryptonite is sleep. They just love to sleep. They tell me, “Oh, when I get home I am instantly tired. I just want to go to sleep.” Their entire life suffers because instead of going to bed at a decent time they stay up late watching TV or playing on their phones. Only going to sleep when they have completely drained their energy reserves. This normally only works for young people.
Almost inevitably, the thing that’s holding them back from the best version of their life is the lack of structure in their world. There is plenty of time to get eight or nine hours of sleep in a day and still have an incredibly successful life. The shielding for that is that they’re going to have to cancel their Netflix subscription. Go to bed at a decent predetermined time. For example, the same time that they put their children to bed. Structure is obtainable, but it requires effort.
There are a million example just like this. Where you can look into your own world and recognize your giftings, recognize your weaknesses, recognize your super power, or recognize your kryptonite. Leverage and wearing your super powers, or your giftings, on your chest like a badge of honor. Mindfully shielding yourself from the kryptonites that could potentially hold you back. You must block those weaknesses that could potentially hold your gift back from the world. Savvy?
It’s Your Movie
Savvy is designed to change the way you think! It’s designed to inspire you to believe that you can, regardless of where you come from, crush whatever dreams and desires you currently have! Before you can be successful in any area of your life, you first have to be able to defeat that little “weak version of yourself” that is constantly talking and complaining in the back of your mind. Controlling and testing yourself physically is the first step to directing your life mentally.
When I’m consulting with startup companies or single industry generational companies I’m typically asked the same few questions listed below:
1.How do you know how to proceed as you venture into a new business or new industry?
2.We started a company. We’ve got the company running. We sourced our products. We rented a space. We even hired an attorney to get ourselves an LLC. We got everything rolling. Now how do we scale our current business from where we are to where we aspire to be?
3.Everything was going great but we have had some stuff come up and our business feels like it is spiraling out of control! How do we guide the ship?
Starting a company, scaling a company, or getting an existing company that is broken back on track is no different than writing a good movie script. You start with an idea of how it ends and then you architect your storyline, sets, props, and talent. Your job is to direct that movie while keeping that end scene in mind. Now, I’m not a director. I am not a producer. I’m not even an actor. I understand how to write and build beautifully crafted business models that are executable and typically, more often than not, have a happy ending for myself and my investors. Savvy?
The Power of Paper
Ideas are just ideas until they are committed to paper. Once written down that idea becomes a goal. Essentially, goals aren’t any different. First you need to commit your “ideas” to paper. I typically start with an outline that touches the highlight reel of what I am trying to accomplish. Don’t worry so much about the little details. They will come to you as you refine your goals. I always verbalize exactly what I want out of an opportunity and what I think it can look like. The human mind is so brilliant! Your mind can tell you what your business will look like if you will simply follow the steps that you get from the voice inside of you.
God, the universe, whatever your belief system, will guide you. For me, it’s God that illuminates my path. I believe that God gi
ves me this innate ability to see into the future. No, not the future, like I cannot tell you what the next card is going to be at a blackjack table or what the winning lottery numbers are this week. What I can see is the future into my own life and ability to create inside of my life. If it’s clear enough that I can see it in my mind’s eye, it’s clear enough that I can create it in this world. The most essential key for me after I visualize an idea is to write it down on paper.
Now, without getting too mumbo jumbo or head in the clouds, let me explain what I mean. If I can describe to you that in my business, I expect it to look like this, I expect it to run a certain way, I need this many employees and this is how they all work together, we’re all driven by one common theme or goal and this is what it is. If I can speak it, I can script it, which means I can write it down. If you write it down correctly you can execute it flawlessly.
There are an enormous amount of experts that will tell you how essential it is to write down your goals. I completely agree with them. Essentially, they leave out the most important part, what they don’t talk about is why. Why should you write down your goals? Whereas, when you write down your goals, you clarify the script. Every guru in the world starts by creating a plan with clear objectives. It’s seems like the most unpractical advice in the world. Am I telling you to buy a notebook and write that you want to be rich inside? Boom! Presto! You are rich! After all, no one is going to understand why goal setting works without thorough investigation, and they are simply going to dismiss it as a good chapter in the book without taking any real action.
In order for the movie analogy to make sense we have to start by answering the most basic question. Why do I write down my goals? When you write down your goals, you can begin to visualize your end product. Writing goals will force you to visualize the idea to completion. Furthermore when you can see the end result, you will know how your movie ends. This realization will give you the ability to write the story. Knowing how your idea should look at completion helps you to navigate the perfect road map!
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