Good Morning

Welcome to the newsletter where we help you reach your FULL potential in mindset, leadership, and communication. Here I will share the experiences, and information I am consuming, with little takeaways you can apply.

Today we are talking about:
1. Situational Awareness
2. Establishing Authority in Conversations
3. Derek’s Hot List

By the end of this I hope to recharge your battery 🔋so you can reach your FULL potential. Let’s dive in!

Situational Awareness
Put down your📱, pick up a 🔦

Last week I was invited to visit Phillip Toppino CEO and Founder of W.O.F.T. (Where Our Families Train) near Orlando, FL. WOFT is a premier education center focused on real-life scenario safety and instruction.

Here’s the truth 
My generation is buried in our📱and 100% distracted from our surroundings (including me).

CRAZY STORY: Last year a friend of mine was abducted walking to her car. She was taken to a warehouse in another city as part of a trafficking ploy. By the grace of God she was saved before anything happened.

Her story was a wake up call for me to understand how to protect my family through increasing our situational awareness.

It starts with staying present and aware to your surroundings.

When you park your car at Target, put the📱down.
Scan your surroundings.
Be alert.
As Phillip says - a simple flashlight might be your best tool for safety.
Say what? - watch the video below

Why do I share this…

We are all hustlers. Squeezing in that last email walking into the office. Taking that quick call outside the bar at happy hour.
It’s time to slow down and be more situationally aware.
Be aware of everything around you.

With that said I highly reccomend doing some research on situational awareness/scenario training. It could save your life.

I took the plunge and am off to WOFT in May to train with Phillip, Amy Robbins (CEO of Alexo Athletica), and my business partner Lindsey Graham (The Patriot Barbie). I am ready to learn from the best in the business.

TAKEAWAY: That email, Reel, or text is not more important than your safety. The world is changing. Be aware of your surroundings by limiting distractions in public. Be safe out there!

Communication
Want authority? Prime the conversation.

Make sure you watch the video before moving on

A few weeks ago, we learned about Lion, Otter, Beaver, Golden Retriever

Lions = take charge
Otters = creative
Beavers = analytical
Golden Retrievers = Loyal

Establishing authority in a convo is pretty easy for lions and otters.
So I am speaking directly to the goldens and beavers today. Gotta show you some love 😀 

FACT: Most Goldens and Beavers I coach aren’t naturally wired to establish authority (and that’s ok!). Here to help.

Establishing authority is a critical aspect of effective communication and will make or break your success.

🦫Beavers - establishing authority might feel a little strange. However, with a little mental shift, you can establish authority with ease. How?

Lean into your process driven mind. Don’t look at this as dominating the conversation. Look at this technique as laying out the process. That little shift will exercise your strength of process, process, process.

🐕 Golden Retrievers - establishing authority is the bane of your existence, but helping people is not. Hmmmm let’s dive in.

You LOVE to help people, not take over. Just like the beavers, look at this as laying out a process to help the people you are speaking with. Sounds a little weird but when you reframe an action like establishing authority as helping the other person, you are leaning into your strengths.

Takeaway: Many times we hear great advice, like this video, but the application of the advice seems awkward to our natural wiring. I suggest to always reframe the action through the lens of your strengths. Don’t reject the advice, adopt it in a way that compliments your strengths.

Derek’s Hot List
Pretty cool stuff!!!!!!

📚The Unit: My Life Fighting Terrorists as One of America’s Most Secret Military Operatives: I was so inspired by my experience with SpecOps at Wounded Warrior Outdoors, that I bought this book. I am fascinated by the mindset of special forces. Figured it would be great to learn more and strengthen my own mindset! Read with me!

📺 Common Sense Media: As a parent (or grandparent) it’s hard to trust movies/tv shows these days. There is way too much sneaky content out there not aligned with my Christian values. I use this site to audit content before my kids watch. Works like a charm!

👕 BYLT: This is my favorite clothing brand. High quality, comfortable, and affordable. I have been in MANY meetings with a BYLT t-shirt - flooded with compliments. I know, a t-shirt in a meeting! You just have to check this company out. They have both men’s and women’s. ALSO the shirts make you look skinnier - These days I need all the help I can get in that area 😜

I hope you picked up a few nuggets from this week’s newsletter.

If you are looking for high value content to send to your team or customers, please forward this newsletter.

Have a GREAT week!

Derek