How You Do One Thing is How You Do Everything. How Are You Showing Up?

The first time the title of this blog was presented to me was when I played Little League baseball. We were ahead 11-2 in the bottom of the 5^th (6 inning games) and my teammates were saying “let’s just get out quick and end the game in the top of the 6^th.”

My coach heard that, called time and gathered the team together.

“Guys, how you do one thing is how you do everything. We will NOT give up any at bats. We will work on our game. When you get to the plate, think of how you want to improve your swing, or where you want to hit the ball. Look for the right pitch and take your swing. If you strike out, that’s OK – but work on your game.”

We scored another couple of runs and won the game. We all, as a group, felt pretty great because we were improving ourselves as baseball players.

Years later, I used this same technique when I was a little league manager. And it remains in my head and pops up when I see a “violation.”

“How you do one thing is how you do everything” is said to have its origins in Buddhism. It’s a way of saying that if you take the easy path on simple tasks, taking the easy path, or cutting corners, is likely to show up in the more important areas of your life. Conversely, bringing attention and quality to small tasks breeds excellence in larger endeavors.

Here are some phrases that go along with the saying: Integrity and Diligence. Being fully engaged in the present. Not dwelling on the past. Or the future. Don’t phone it in.

“How You Do One Thing is How You Do Everything” also serves to remind you that when there are mundane, or even boring parts of your business, we should focus on the upside: doing those things well because you know most of your competitors are not.

I’ll use another sports analogy here. Football coach Bill Belichik is known for telling each member of his New England Patriots team to ‘just do your job’ and the big picture will take care of itself. Be the best YOU can be and if enough of your teammates do the same, you will be winners (it does help to have an all-time greatest quarterback driving your offense, too).

A funny way to remember this is in the movie Spinal Tap when lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel explains the importance of being able to take the volume to eleven on his amplifiers. It was his way of pushing something to the extreme, beyond the normal maximum.

Here are a couple more stories from my life to illustrate the point.

When I was in college, a friend’s family had tickets to the Holiday Bowl in San Diego. They decided not to go and needed to get rid of them. I brought them to a ticket broker and put them on consignment. A week later, when they sold, I had to go pick up the money. The agency was super busy and I found myself standing there for 45 minutes. Finally, I said, “Here, let me help you” and I began answering the phone and finding out what the caller needed.

After doing this for another half hour, the store calmed down and the owners, offered me a job. I asked, “Don’t you want to know something about me?” They said “No, we already saw how you handle the phones. Just keep doing that.”

It turned out to be one of the most fun jobs I’ve ever had.

We were asked recently to re-do the business cards for a client, Briarhook Farm Ceramics. They handed me the current cards and we discussed them. I pointed out several things wrong. They didn’t need the name of their company around their dog logo because the words were RIGHT NEXT TO it. The copy on the back was flush left, the copy was all the same size and the lines didn’t show what was the most important information. They also got overcharged by double. I reworked the front and back, changing the copy as they requested. On both sides, I then used a simple graphic artist’s trick of adding a border to hold the copy together and focus the reader. Clearly, the company that had printed their first batch was not a believer in “How You Do One Thing is How You Do Everything.”

Here’s another example of How You Do One Thing is How You Do Everything shining through. I saw a 6-minute video posted from a coach who was a 2-year coaching client several years ago. In her video, she stated that it was the answer to the question “What do you do?”

As I watched her video, I waited for the answer. I started to get it at the 1:30 mark but sadly, she veered off topic and covered ground that was tangential to her goal. There was also no call to action at the end.

I reached out to her and offered her some coaching. We’ll see if she takes me up on it. I’m sure we will chat about “How You Do One Thing is How You Do Everything.”

How could she have stayed on track? In this case, having a plan for your videos that you review before you go live. Let me give you one sample plan:

1. What is your goal for the video?
2. What is the audience for your video?
3. Does your opening statement or story help your viewer get on board with where you are going?
4. Do you have supporting points which reinforce your statement and help you reach your goal?
5. Do those statements or stories set you up for your call to action?

Now that you know the basics of How You Do One Thing is How You Do Everything, look around you. Do you see how it applies to clients? How about vendors? Or family members and friends? It could be the server in a restaurant who makes you want to come back, just to enjoy the great, caring service. Or a web developer (I’m thinking of one in particular) who takes such ownership of your new project you can’t wait to give her name to everyone you know.

Reach out to us with those examples and how they inspire you to take your game up to higher levels.

If you want to talk about how to make that happen for you, head to our scheduling link, www.HowToGetThereFaster.com. Answer a few easy questions and it will get you right into our schedule for your free 30-minute Get Focused for Success phone call. Until then, turn your game up to an eleven.