Transcript
A (0:00)
So what if the reason so many small business owners feel quietly stuck even when the numbers look fine is not burnout or strategy, but the slow drift away from a clear answer to one question? What's the point? Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast. This is John Jansen. My guest today is Tom Rath. He's the number one New York Times bestselling author whose books on strength, well being and contribution have sold more than 10 million copies worldwide, including Strength Finders 2.0, Eat, Move, Sleep, which we did an episode on this show. Tom started his career at Gallup where he helped build the strength space tools used by millions of people. He's now the Co founder and CEO of CareerSight and, and his new book, what's the Point? Is out now and we're going to dig into why that question matters more than most of us want to admit. So, Tom, welcome back to the show.
B (1:03)
Good to see you again, John.
A (1:05)
So how is everything that you've written about strengths and well being and contribution kind of made this question, what's the point? Something you need to spend a whole book on?
B (1:16)
Yeah. You know, it's interesting. I realized in my own life and in teams and leaders and people that I'm working with that it's gotten so easy to just go through the motions in a given day because it's, I mean, it's almost easier to just feel like you get to inbox zero and you respond to the things you're supposed to respond to. You finish your day's tasks, you do your expense reports, you get home and then you catch up with some of your family members, you let the show play on Netflix, let the next one go, and you just kind of become a little more passive in terms of the way you're kind of going through days in life and, and it's. That's almost more enjoyable and easier to do sometimes. And so I think we need to, especially with all the automation and everything coming our way right now, we need to do a little bit better job. And at least I realized that I did of kind of shaking myself out of that routine and saying, are you dedicating some time to more creative pursuits? Are you building things? Are you investing more deliberate time in relationships and conversations with people that matter so that at the end of the day, you make sure that you reserved at least, I don't know, 20, 30% of your time at a minimum, for doing things that might really matter a week from now or a year from now or maybe even a decade from now, so asking what's the point? Not as some broad philosophical, sunny day, once in a lifetime question, but more as a guiding light for how you prioritize every hour within a day is what caught me and has really helped and worked pretty well. Yeah.
A (2:45)
