Just ONE Thing
How Gratitude and Play Can Transform Your Shop Culture
Episode 218
with Rick White, 180BIZ
Good morning. My name is Rick White from 180BIZ. We're a coaching and training company for independent auto and truck repair shops, and this is my weekly Just One Thing.
So we're talking about PLAY. I'm going to tell you why—because how many of you want work to be fun? You want it to be enjoyable for people to come to work?
Why do we want it to be fun? Because we are there all the time, right? You're there. You're with your team more than you're with your family. Shouldn't it be fun?
Let's think about this for a second. Aren't we all just big kids, right? How many times have you heard me say that? So the reason why I say we're big kids is because we want appreciation, we want respect, we want to be seen, heard, right? These are all things that make a difference.
So think about this: if you're a big kid, who wants to go to school on the day of a big test? Nobody. But who wants to go for recess, right? Or when gym was your favorite class—do you remember that? Because you could play a game, because you could have fun.
This is the thing. This is where you've got to be able to step back right now. Like, really—how many of you would like work to be fun?
So here's what I want you to understand, okay?
Fun is the byproduct of play.
I need you to understand that. Fun is the byproduct of play.
Now look at the timer—this timer thing. Why do I do the timer? I do the timer to make it fun. I do it to add a little zip to it, to make it a little different.
So what do we got to do? Let's talk about it.
The fact is, fun is a byproduct of play. So if you want more fun, and you're staring at your shop waiting for it to magically appear, it's not going to happen.
But if you step back and you say, “You know something? I got to change this”—where is it going to change first?
It's a focus issue.
It's a focus issue. You've heard me talk about this before, but I want to incorporate it here.
You're focused on problems. See, when you're focused on problems, everything gets serious, everything gets angry. There's this tension in the shop.
But if you can change that to gratitude, right? If you can change that to gratitude, this is where play starts. Okay? It's a focus.
"But Rick, I've got too many cars!"
Wow. I'm grateful to have the car count that I have, because there are some shops out there that don't have it.
"But Rick, I need help. I need help, Rick! I don't—I don't have enough help!"
What about appreciating and valuing the help you do have? Think about that for a second, right?
"What if I don't have enough cars?"
I get it—you gotta work on it. But isn't that a great time to slow down a little bit? Implement some new ideas, some new strategies. Get them in place while you're building up your car count.
See, there's always, always something to look at that’s a positive instead of a negative. And it changes the energy. It changes it.
I'm going to tell you—I don't want to get woo here—but I'm going to tell you that when you start to change your focus to gratitude, some amazing things start to happen, right? Because you're not focused on the problems.
Remember: wherever your focus goes, your feet follow.
So we gotta play in the shop.
How are we going to do that?
I'm going to give you some ideas. I'm going to give you two no-nos, and then I'm going to give you some thoughts.
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Some Ideas
Number one:
How about starting your morning meetings with a joke? Right? This is a great place—maybe take turns to see who can get the worst dad joke, right? And then give a prize for it at the end of the week or the end of the month. At the end of the week—I think that'd be amazing.
Each person gets a chance to do a dad joke. That's a great way to start your morning huddle. So by doing it this way, right? You're starting to lighten the mood.
How about a card game?
This is something I did at my shop.
I had a deck of cards, and every time somebody did something amazing—somebody really stepped up, did a great job, really went above and beyond—they got a card. And at the end of the week, they got to play their five best cards, and we’d play poker with that hand. And whoever won got a prize. That was a lot of fun.
So I want you to think through this idea, this concept of play.
How about your outings?
How about making your outings fun? Get it so that people can get together and know each other outside of work. Getting to know things.
Here's another thing that starts to make it more fun and connected:
Start your weekly meetings with each person saying something about themselves that might surprise you. Right?
These are things that really get them to start to see you—and other people in the shop—as people.
Right now, I'm just giving you some quick ideas. Man, use ChatGPT or something like that and say:
“Hey, how can I have more fun?”
“How can I create more play in the shop?”
Do something like that.
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Two Dangers
Now, there’s two dangers here.
There are two non-negotiables when you're playing.
Number one:
It is off the table—you cannot play at the expense of another person. You can't do it. It doesn't work.
Never play at someone else’s expense. Because while it’s funny for everybody else, it’s not funny for that one person.
So if you're going to make fun of somebody to play, make it you. Okay? Make it you.
Second:
Never, ever, ever play around equipment or cars—or trucks. Okay?
No playing around the equipment. You don't want play to turn into injury, so you want to make sure that doesn't happen. No pranks that could, you know, make the floor slippery or stuff like that.
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Final Thoughts
Here’s something I just want to finish up with.
Number one:
If you really find this valuable, please share it. I guarantee you there are shop owners out there every day going into work more and more bitter, and they can't understand why they can’t get help.
Why would anybody want to work at a place that's bitter and angry and uptight and just frustrated? I don't want to—so why would anybody else?
I think that's really important.
Second:
I want you to challenge it, okay?
I want you to make work more fun.
I want you to pick one idea and implement it.
I want you to get your team involved. Let them help you create the fun. Let them get involved in the play.
And I want you to watch what happens when people start enjoying being at work again.
Third:
Please let people know about our Shop Owners Roundtable—second Thursday of every month, 7 PM Eastern.
If you want to get more great ideas like this on different subjects, our Pocket Business Genius webinar series is out there. Really very, very cool stuff.
Now final thoughts:
You don’t need permission to have fun. You need intention.
Okay? You gotta be intentional about the play to make it fun.
And I want you to stop waiting for it to get better.
I want you to make it better.
Here’s the really cool thing about this—I’m going to leave it with you:
Fun doesn’t just lift the moods of the shop. It lifts the results of the shop.
And that’s the amazing part.
If you would just stop—if you would just stop being so serious all the time and start to have some fun—you’re going to be amazed at what happens. I promise you.
Here’s one more thing I want to remind you:
You’re not carrying the nuclear codes.
Nothing you’re doing today is going to be the end of the world, the end of your world, the end of your business.
Go out there and have some fun today, everybody.
Thank you so much.
God bless.
Have a great week.
Go make some money.
We’ll see y’all later.
Bye-bye.
