Recently I spent an extraordinary weekend with a couple of exceptional people, both of whom have built extremely successful businesses and who now spend the majority of their time mentoring other business owners on how to take their business to the next level. It was a fascinating experience, and one where absolutely no question was off limits – in fact, both business owners literally “lifted the lid” off their businesses and shared the key insights and blueprints on how they have been able to build such sustainable and replicable businesses. Of all the gold nuggets and pearls of wisdom they shared that weekend, there was one conversation that really shook me to the core and made me really stop and think – they shared the 4 Levels of Thinking & Experience.
Having never heard of any such ‘law’ or ‘blueprint’, I was extremely curious to know what the 4 levels of thinking & experience were and how they would be relevant to me and my business. As the two of them spoke about the levels, I started to get a much clearer picture as to why many businesses flounder, whilst other businesses prosper and expand. In fact I started to appreciate how many people appear to always be achieving extraordinary things, whilst others seem to be continuously on a treadmill, running very fast but not really making any progress, and in some cases, going backwards – whether it be in their career, their business, their health & vitality, and certainly in their relationships. I wanted to know why.
They shared that Level 1 thinking is doing what feels good, is good for you, is good for others and is good for the greater good – when I heard that I thought “it has to be more complicated than that – it can’t be that simple!”. But then my mentors shared that the quality of your life is actually determined by the number of Level 1 experiences you are able to introduce into your life, and the more of these experiences you have, the better your life will be. At this level you are 100% responsible for everything that happens in your life and your business, you live with gratitude, and operate in a comfort zone that serves you, your family and your business. I then asked my mentors “what would classify as Level 1 experiences?” They responded by saying anything that is now comfortable to do, such as speaking with clients, riding a bicycle, driving a car, providing outstanding customer service to your customers, or even working out in the gym. They then said that there is only one way to collect Level 1 experiences, and that is to have a Level 2 experience first. So what is Level 2?
Level 2 thinking is doing what does not feel good, is good for you, is good for others and is good for the greater good. Then they threw a spanner in the works by saying that most people bounce between Level 3 and Level 1 – Level 3 being doing what feels good, is not good for you, is not good for others and is not good for the greater good. I was intrigued to know why – they said that many people make decisions in their life and in their business based on feeling good, not based on what is good for them and for others. For example, for someone who is in the early stages of building their business, they may be gathering all the information they can on the market, the products to offer that market, building their website or designing their business cards and stationery, but not actually speaking to their prospects or their target market. Whilst they may ‘feel good’ about designing their business cards for example, this is not good for them, not good for others, and certainly not good for the greater good if the market doesn’t know they exist!! Classic Level 3 thinking. These are the type of people who are getting the ‘ducks lined up’ before they take any action. Have you ever seen ducks line up? I recall not so long ago watching a mother duck and her brood of ducklings wanting to cross a local road – what was fascinating was that the mother duck took action first and headed across the road. What did the ducklings then do? They lined up and followed her!! They didn’t line up first and then wait for the mother to take action – she took action first and then they followed. So don’t wait for the ‘ducks to line up’ before you take action– take action first. Avoid Level 3 Thinking & Experiences as much as possible, as well as always avoiding Level 4 – doing things that does not feel good, is not good for you, is not good for others, and is not good for the greater good. Level 4 is to be avoided at all costs.
My mentors then shared with us that Level 2 Thinking & Experience is where the game is played, this is where it is at. By constantly challenging yourself to embrace and do things that do not feel good, but are good for you, good for others and good for the greater good, you will find that Level 2 Experiences will actually turn into Level 1 Experiences – your comfort zone will expand, as will your capability set, not to mention your confidence, and your results!! So what Level 2 experiences can you adopt straight away? Perhaps it is making those phone calls to business prospects you have been avoiding, or perhaps it is standing in front of an audience at a business networking event and delivering a short 60 second advertisement for your business. It could be introducing yourself to someone who you know could assist you penetrate a new market but you have been avoiding them because of fear of being rejected – take on the challenge, step out of your comfort zone and put yourself out there. Embrace Level 2 Thinking and seek out as many Level 2 Experiences as you can on a weekly basis – you may just be staggered at the results you start to see materialise in your business and in your life. And this is what really shook me to the core when listening to my 2 mentors – they are 100% convinced that their success in business is directly and inexplicably linked to their ability to take on Level 2 Thinking & Experiences every single day, which has enabled them to build up a large range of Level 1 Experiences, and build extraordinary businesses and live an extraordinary life.
For more information on the 4 Levels of Thinking & Experience, and how you may seek out more Level 2 Experiences, drop me an email at darren@potentialunleashed.com.au
To your success.