Just ONE Thing
How Intent Creates Direction for Shop Owners
Episode 238
with Rick White, 180BIZ
Good morning. My name is Rick White from 180BIZ. We are a coaching and training company for independent auto and truck repair shops.
Okay, so what are we gonna talk about today? We’re talking about intent.
Why am I talking about intent? It’s because most shop owners—not you, of course—but most shop owners, most business owners, they start with doing, not with intent.
Why? Because you’re trying to get away from something. You’re trying to get away from stress. You’re trying to get home to see your family. You’re away from the shop for long hours.
You got cash flow issues. You got drama with your team. You’re feeling out of control, so you start doing things. And it feels like progress. Okay, that’s the thing.
Doing feels like progress, but it really isn’t.
See, when you’re running from something, you don’t ever stop to define what you’re moving towards.
So listen, when you’re running from something—which is what most people do—they just start doing something. They see a problem, they do something. And when you’re running from something, that’s what most of you are doing.
You don’t ever define what you’re moving towards, and that’s how you end up really busy, really exhausted, and super, super stuck. And it’s not because you are lazy. It’s not because your team is lazy. It’s because you’re reactive.
I need you to understand something. Reacting creates motion, while intent creates direction.
Let me just say that one more time. Reacting creates motion, while intent creates direction.
What we’re really talking about is the difference between strategy and noise.
There’s a really great quote from Sun Sue. He was a Chinese general that lived around 500 BC, and it’s one of my favorite quotes:
“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”
See, if your tactics—your actions—aren’t tied to a clear intent and outcome, they’re just noise. Even if everyone is working hard, it’s because you’re not looking towards where you wanna go. You are looking away—turning around and seeing if you’re further away from the pain.
That doesn’t work. That does not work.
So listen, as I’m going through this, if this resonates with you, please share it. I guarantee you there are people out there that need to understand and hear this message.
Now, what you’ve gotta do is understand that you gotta reframe this. Leadership isn’t about doing more. It’s about creating.
Ask yourself this question: What outcome are you trying to achieve?
Then you go to strategy. Once you understand the outcome, now you create a plan. What’s the best way to move forward to that outcome?
Now understand, I didn’t say the right plan. I said the best plan. Because what’s the best today is you can step back and recognize, “Hey, that wasn’t the best. Let’s do better.” And that’s okay.
So then once you understand what the plan is—we got the outcome, we got the plan—now you come up with the tactics. These are the actions you are gonna take that you believe will help you achieve or reach that outcome.
That’s super important.
Now here’s what I really want you to understand. When you set the outcome, you don’t measure how you’re doing based on your outcome. That outcome is simply a ruler to see how effective what you’re doing is.
John, you’re absolutely right. Keep moving forward. That’s incredibly important.
What you wanna be able to do is measure your effectiveness. How can I get better at what I’m doing? Because as I get better at what I’m doing, the natural outcome is the outcome.
That’s pretty cool, isn’t it?
So we have our intent, or the outcome. We have our strategy, or the plan. Then we have our tactics, right? We’re going back to that Sun Sue quote—our tactics, or our actions.
And then we need a way to measure. And we’re gonna measure what we’re getting to what we want, and realize the difference—the way we bridge that gap between what we’re getting and what we want—is by getting better at what we do.
But you’ve gotta have the outcome. You gotta have something you’re moving towards. That’s super important.
Most shop owners reverse this and wonder why nothing’s working.
So why does this matter for your team? Because when your team is only being told what to do, they’re gonna be constantly waiting for you for instructions.
When your team is only being told what to do, they’re constantly gonna be hanging on you for the next instruction.
But when they understand the intent, when they understand the outcome, they can think, decide, and adjust without you because they know where they’re going.
Intent turns your team into leaders instead of followers.
Whereas if you don’t have that intent, you don’t have that outcome, then what ends up happening is you become the bottleneck.
And this is where you feel like you just got these leeches all over you, sucking the life outta you. And it’s because you’re not sharing your outcome—the intent.
So I’m gonna give you a really simple application. Three questions to ask.
I wanted to talk to you about our Pocket Business Genius Webinar series. It’s like having me in your back pocket anytime you want. It’s pretty cool.
Now, what are we gonna do to change this up? What are you gonna do so that you stop focusing on doing and you start focusing on outcome?
Before you start doing something new—whether that’s the next idea, or hiring someone, or changing a process—here’s what I’m gonna ask you to do.
Number one: What are you trying to get away from? Write that down. What are you trying to get away from? I want you to write that question down, and I want you to answer it.
Second question: What are you intentionally going to move towards?
That’s the second question.
And then the third question: How are you gonna know when you get there?
Remember, tactics without strategy are the noise before defeat. If you can’t answer these three questions, you’re about to create more noise.
So here’s what I want you to do. If you want less chaos and more progress, stop starting with doing and start with intent, because clarity always beats chaos.
Thank you so much. I hope this has been helpful for you. If it has, please share. I really appreciate you all.
Thank you. God bless.
We’ll see you next week. Take care. Bye-bye.
