Just ONE Thing
The Zero Day Trap (And How Shop Owners Fall Into It)
Episode 244
with Rick White, 180BIZ
Good morning. My name is Rick, from 180BIZ. We're a coaching and training company for independent auto and truck repair shops. This is my Just ONE Thing.
So what are we gonna talk about today? We're gonna talk about ZERO. The reason I'm bringing this up is because right around now is when everybody that set goals at the beginning of the year stops.
That's an issue. I've seen this a bunch of times. We get somebody that signs up for coaching and they get all fired up. They're at every meeting, taking notes, implementing, and then all of a sudden something happens. Life happens. A tech quits. You know, there's a cash flow. Big bill comes up, or something like that. Something where they feel like their shop needs all their attention.
And then what do they do? They miss a meeting. Then another meeting, and then they stop engaging in the group. Then they stop opening material. I need you to understand that they stop, not because they don't care, but because they feel like they have to start over again, right?
You think, I need to get this caught up. I'll jump back in when things calm down. But here's the thing. While they're waiting, days pass, weeks pass, months pass. And that's not what we want. So what I want you to understand here, the problem isn't the stopping.
It's the thought that you have to restart. When you miss a meeting or eat a bigger meal than you thought, that's not failure. It's called life. That's what happens.
But when you set an expectation where your performance is going to be here, you set the bar so high that it has to be perfect. Restarting feels really heavy, and you start feeling guilty about it because being perfect, starting back up at the perfect time, becomes a requirement, and that's a problem.
Waiting for the perfect time is just quitting with better excuses. Waiting for the perfect time is just quitting with better excuses because the reality is the shops never come. There is no perfect time. And the longer you wait, the harder it's gonna feel to restart. So there's two different principles I want to talk through right here. The first is what I would call the miss-resume-repeat framework. I missed something.
Then I'm gonna resume it, not restart it, and just repeat the process. But get it so you don't go more than one day. If you miss something, don't go more than one day. If you do start to slow down, get distracted, something doesn't happen, forgive yourself and promise yourself you're gonna do it the next day.
But I wanna give you a more powerful framework that I am really working on. What I want you to think through—please write this down—is never go to zero.
What that means is I'm never going to allow myself to go to zero. A zero day is where I go one day without doing something. For me, working out is going to the gym, lifting weights, and that's awesome. I want to go three to five times a week, but guess what?
That's not possible right now. What do I do? I keep waiting for the perfect time. I have a bunch of zero days because I'm not doing anything to address the issue or the goal that I have. Doing nothing is a zero day. So what I want you to do is set the bar so low that it is impossible for you to fail.
Never let a day turn into a zero. Create a cadence. A cadence is kind of like the groove, right? You're in this, you just got this rhythm going, and that's what that's really about. And what I want you to think through is cadence over perfection.
Instead of saying, I've gotta go to the gym and I've gotta do this and I've gotta do that, and it's all-or-nothing thinking, which is really dangerous, what I'm gonna do instead is promise myself I'm gonna do something.
Let's say between a crisis coming up or something like that, I don't get to the gym, but I do one pushup. That's all it takes because I'm not breaking the rhythm. I'm allowing momentum to continue, and that's what I want you to think through. You don't restart.
You don't set the goal for perfection. Remember, perfection is an illusion created by the devil to rob men and women of their dreams. You don't catch up, you resume. Do one thing every single day.
You missed a meeting, go watch a video. Go watch one of these Just ONE Things. If you haven't reviewed your KPIs, look at one number. If you're behind on talking to your team, pick one person and have a five-minute conversation with them. Feeling overwhelmed? Pick just one priority for tomorrow. Do one thing, okay?
Because one action keeps the cadence alive. One is not zero. It's very binary. I did something. I'm not a failure. I did something. I did my best that day, and that's all we can ever ask of each other.
This is where it makes all the difference in the world. It's where you set the bar so low that you're always doing something, recognizing some days are gonna be better than others. So yeah, set a destination. Set what you wanna do every day. That's great. But promise you'll always do one thing.
That's all that matters. Consistency isn't about a streak. It's about rhythm. That beats intensity. It's not about going to the gym once for 10 hours. It's about doing something every day for three months and seeing what happens.
Momentum survives interruptions if you resume quickly. If you miss something, resume the next day. Best thing, though—never have a zero day.
So here's what I wanna ask you to do. I'm gonna ask you to share this video because there are people out there that are feeling guilty, overwhelmed, like they gotta start all over again. They don't need to. The perfect time to restart isn't Monday or when the team's all there or next month.
The moment you resume—that's the perfect time. You know, the Chinese have an old saying that the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. But the second-best time to plant that tree is today. Set the bar so low that you never stop.
Protect the rhythm. Protect your cadence. And no more zero days.
Everybody, I hope this makes sense. God bless. If this is hitting you and you feel like you might need some help, reach out to [email protected]. I'd be happy to sit down and talk with you. There's my timer, everybody. God bless.
Have a great week, and go make some money. Take care, and congratulations, Seahawks. You did a great job last night. Have a great day. Bye-bye.
