Today I’m going to talk about rapport, and rapport really falls under two of the five to thrive. That’s your relationships and your business. Now, it actually will sprinkle all over the place, but let’s talk about why rapport is important. First of all, rapport is really the ability to establish a connection with somebody else, the ability to establish that connection where they feel like you actually get them, you understand them, and you are like that person.
Now, rapport has some negative connotations, because it’s an NLP tactic, so it’s neuro-linguistic programming tactic, that’s often used by salespeople to get you to buy things, so what they’re trying to do is get you down that know-like-trust factor. So when they feel like you know them, you can relate to them, and you have rapport, it’s easier for them to sell you things. But there are other ways to establish rapport.
What’s the difference between effective versus efficient? When I talk about “effective,” what I’m really talking about are are you doing the right things? Are you spending a lot of time on Facebook, Instagram, rather than working on your Five to Thrive?
What I’ve found is really going through your Five to Thrive, that’s mind, body, soul, relationships, and business, and knocking those things out first thing in the morning. Here I am, doing this Daily Growth Hack, and it’s 5:45 in the morning and I’ve already done some reading and I’m about to go to the gym. What I’m really focusing on is making sure my time is effective, and I’ve picked those key things that I need to be doing in each of my Five to Thrive to move the needle significantly.
I got a message from somebody in our Author of Your Own Story group and he said, “Doug, I have to talk to you. I have a story. Something happened to me,” and so when I reached out to him in a follow-up, I got to hear what their voice had to say and what they told me was, “About 10 years ago, all the window screens in our house had totally been gone,” so in other words, they had been damaged over time, ripped out or what have you. So, for the past decade, they had been without window screens in their home. Now this has caused all kinds of problems. They have had dirt coming in. They’ve had tons of bugs for over a decade.
It’s good enough. How often do you hear that in conversations, especially at the workplace or at home? Now, this topic came up in the Author of your Own Story Facebook group. Member Breck Morgan posted this. He asked the question, “Hey, oftentimes I’ll hear people at work or even in my home life say, ‘Hey, it’s good enough,’ and it really bugs me. Am I really just settling? Is everybody settling when they use that term?”
The answer to that question is no.
I was having a conversation with a friend recently, and we were talking about dreams and priorities, and he was telling me about all the great ideas that he had, and all the things that he was going to do. I thought it was really a great conversation. Then, what I realized was something that I talk to a lot of my clients about. With coaching clients, one of the first things I ask them is to send me a screenshot of their calendar. Now, they often think this is weird, like, “Why would I send you my calendar?”
Well, the reason I ask them this is if you show me your calendar you’re gonna show me your priorities. Sure, many of us say, “Yes, family is first.” Or, “Yes, my business is so important.” Or, “My health. I know my health is really important.” But when I look at your calendar…
