What To Do When Work Sucks?

No one really likes change, but change happens to us whether we like it or not. But how do we get better at navigating life's ups and downs? Meet on this episode Greg Offner he helps people realize that work doesn't have to suck.  Gregory Offner is a globally recognized expert on performance; the Founder and CEO of Global Performance Institute; and an award-winning international keynote speaker & event emcee. Gregory also spent fifteen years as an internationally renowned dueling piano bar performer, performing professionally on five continents.

Greg is the creator of the TipJar Culture™️ Gregory helps transform the employee experience, or as he likes to say “help take the irk out of work.” His clients include organizations and associations of all sectors and sizes - from Fortune 100 corporations to local chapters of associations.
You can find Greg at his website: http://www.gregoryoffner.com

Transcript

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 0:58

greg welcome to this show is so good to have you

[gregory_offner]: 1:01

key thank you for having me sir it's great to be here

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 1:04

so i'm gonna ask you a fun question so i'm saying it's not easy so i won't use the word easy anymore but at least

[gregory_offner]: 1:09

okay

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 1:09

a fun question

[gregory_offner]: 1:10

okay

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 1:11

what's the best advice you've ever received

[gregory_offner]: 1:14

oh yeah that's a great question the best advice that i've ever received

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 1:20

no

[gregory_offner]: 1:21

came from my military school bandmaster

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 1:25

oh

[gregory_offner]: 1:25

his name is colonel danny james i went to valley forge military academy for high school very unusual high school experience

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 1:32

thanks for

[gregory_offner]: 1:32

for most people and colonel james had been had served in the vnomwar he had

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 1:37

i'm

[gregory_offner]: 1:37

been

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 1:37

more

[gregory_offner]: 1:37

a band master for the

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 1:38

yeah

[gregory_offner]: 1:38

u s army very inspiring

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 1:40

very

[gregory_offner]: 1:42

individual gonna try to clean up what he told me i he said greg one one a shoot race is a whole lot of ada boys

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 1:57

oh

[gregory_offner]: 1:59

because i i wasn't the best cadet when i first started out i tended to get into a lot of trouble but i had done something right i was excited about it and i was getting praised for it and then the very next day i did something got me into trouble and i said but remember what i did yesterday and he said moone you need remember that one a shoot races all the ateboys in the world my friend

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 2:22

oh

[gregory_offner]: 2:22

and that i mean it really is you know it really is a great piece of advice i think especially now in this electronic and technical age that you can do everything right and one shoot on line or one off shoot out in public that gets video taped on to raise a whole

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 2:36

m

[gregory_offner]: 2:36

lot

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 2:36

as

[gregory_offner]: 2:36

of

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 2:36

a

[gregory_offner]: 2:36

adaboys

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 2:37

whole

[gregory_offner]: 2:37

so be careful

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 2:40

i'm so glad i'm old enough that we didn't have video of my childhood because the things i think i've said that would be on line right now

[gregory_offner]: 2:48

oh a hundred per cent

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 2:49

yeah i could imagine living in this age

[gregory_offner]: 2:55

it is it's a unique

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 2:57

m

[gregory_offner]: 2:57

experience we have to cross this bridge of growing up without

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 3:01

and

[gregory_offner]: 3:01

technology or without the technology like we

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 3:04

now

[gregory_offner]: 3:04

have now i kind of got through

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 3:06

in

[gregory_offner]: 3:06

the beginning of college without it i think i'm my first cell

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 3:09

on

[gregory_offner]: 3:09

phone when i was a sophomore in college and remember my first job my boss texted meaning goes hey you didn't send any of the no i asked you for in that email i sent you yesterday what's the deal i said oh i haven't checked my email yet and he said what i said yeah i don't really use i don't really use email that off and he says gregg you need to check your email like two or three times a day and this i mean this was two thousand five i wasn't we had email for school but i wasn't really using it all that often and so i just thought well the mails there and i don't i don't know i guess i don't need to check out maybe once or twice a day and now now darn if we're not resetting our phone every thirty seconds like did i get new mail did i get new mail what about now that i get new mail so it's such a weird experience isn't it keith

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 4:02

i also love for us t be able t unsent email so if you if you send something out that you want to pull back you can actually un send it and they wouldn't if they hadn't read it you can take it back

[gregory_offner]: 4:14

yeah but now everybody reads it every fifteen seconds so like there's no chance even it's so funny

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 4:18

i know but back then if nobody read it you take it back

[gregory_offner]: 4:21

yeah

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 4:21

i wrote a nasty email but i can pull it back now but now you can't do that most

[gregory_offner]: 4:25

exactly

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 4:25

is out there it is

[gregory_offner]: 4:26

you know

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 4:26

out there

[gregory_offner]: 4:27

you know you talk about nasty emails and one of the one of the books i read in college or just out of college rather was a book on leadership about abraham lincoln and among the many things he did that were now phenomenal examples of leadership he had this practice keith where if somebody did something that he didn't agree with or that maybe was intended to provoke him or irritate him he would write them a letter he would write them a very heated sometimes as i understand it explitivefilled letter then he would put it in a drawer and that was that he'd never send it but getting those thoughts out of his head and on to paper somehow allowed him to cool cool his jets as my mom might say and that's an interesting practice that i think is good too engage in these days it's so easy to pull that email trigger finger and just send out a heated response or a reaction rather not even a response give ourselves that time just take a breath think about it because one

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 5:34

that's

[gregory_offner]: 5:34

of

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 5:34

good advice

[gregory_offner]: 5:35

shoot one off shoot can raise a whole lot of adaboys you know

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 5:39

exactly right and make sure you don't putting your drafting where it gets sent out by me take some time

[gregory_offner]: 5:45

m

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 5:45

uh so greg tell us something about yourself that most people don't know

[gregory_offner]: 5:52

something about myself that most

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 5:53

my

[gregory_offner]: 5:53

people don't know well i got to tell you keith that is a difficult thing to do these days because as as a key note speaker i'm kind of an open

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 6:00

kind

[gregory_offner]: 6:01

book

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 6:01

of an

[gregory_offner]: 6:01

out there on stage it might surprise people to know that while at military school we were called upon to perform in the lord mayor of westminster's new year's day parade this is the big new year's day parade in london that goes through the entire city um and as part of that we were asked by the b b c so we were flown over to london to spend the nineteen ninety nine into two thousand new year's eve in london and it's part of that arrangement the b b c asked us to do a special event on london bridge so they shut down london bridge to try i and we're there addressed in all of our uniforms with our instruments thinking we're going to be on the b b c and i i went to a british military school british inspired military school so my uniform looked just like the queen's guards uniform the red tunic the black bear skin cap and every thing and so we're standing on london bridge you can imagine how many tourists are in london for this this millennium new year and i am probably in the photo albums hundreds of random people around the world who think i'm a british guard and really i was just this teen age kid from pensylvania in a marching band uniform

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 7:22

that's so neat

[gregory_offner]: 7:24

so if you're listening and that's in your photo album i'm both sorry and you are welcome all at the same time

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 7:32

and as paul harvey is saying now you have the rest of the story

[gregory_offner]: 7:36

there you go

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 7:39

so tell us your story i looked at you i look you up on line you have a fascinating journey tell us about journey your story

[gregory_offner]: 7:46

yeah it started out i think like everybody else's i saw a bright white light and then a doctor slapped me now so i am i i did have a pretty normal upbringing i think i had a great family life i have two sisters who i love and a great big extended family on both sides that i love um you know a bit unusual in that i wound up going to military school i was bit of a trouble maker and so that was a really great place for me to go and as i developed there i developed a love of passion for music i mean it had always been a part of my life music and sports were a big part of my life but military school made me sort of choose and i was actually there on scholarship so i was a paid professional musician from the age of fourteen getting out of school i studied music in college then decided i didn't want to make music my profession so i studied philosophy and psychology you know because there was a pay check at the end of that rainbow i was sure i mean come on music philosophy psychology can you think of any better paying degrees i mean like like hello greg like finance maybe like what were you thinking so i come out of school no job offers no real prospect to you know to speak of but i could talk to other people i could start conversations and that seemed to align with the job of sales and got a job in sales and for the next fifteen years during the day i doing something sales related whether it was a marketing role of sales leadership role building sales teams being a part of sales teams leading sales teams that was my my life from nine to five but from five p m on i adopted a different persona i became junior the piano bar playing wizard behind the piano and i worked at piano bars and doling piano bars all over the world by the time twenty fifteen had come around i had played on five continents i had performed in too many states to count and i really had had adopted kind of a following and then everything kind of fell apart during a performance at the beginning of a performance in june of july of twenty fifteen my voice just didn't work i opened my mouth to sing and nothing came out oh and that was the beginning of fifteen surgeries that would be required to save my vocal cords doctor said i would never speak again initially after fifteen surgeries and the better part of a decade in and out of operating rooms and vocal therapy lessons and spending almost two and a half months in complete silence i regained my voice and i decided to use it for something else to help to help create the change i wanted to see in the world to help organizations create the change that they want to see in their industry in their company in their community and that's what i get to do now keith as a as a keynote speaker and a corporate consultant help organizations create tip jar cultures help them create the environment where people perform at their best and they feel fulfilled by the work that they're doing

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 10:55

that's amazing i've been in jobs where um it was hard to go to work sometimes um and there've been there've been seasons of your life where you just don't feel very productive and i love this quote you say work sucks not what so when people have that work sucks mentality how do you help them get beyond that work sucks mentality

[gregory_offner]: 11:18

well identify

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 11:19

identify

[gregory_offner]: 11:19

you know what is it about work that

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 11:21

but

[gregory_offner]: 11:21

sucks this is just where full

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 11:23

were

[gregory_offner]: 11:23

stop sucks i mean well you chose to be here so let's go back to that choice what

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 11:29

ah

[gregory_offner]: 11:29

did you think this job

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 11:30

i

[gregory_offner]: 11:31

would allow you

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 11:31

would

[gregory_offner]: 11:31

to do or to become

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 11:33

co

[gregory_offner]: 11:34

and then let's go back a little bit further and why did you want that whatever you thought this job would allow you to do or to become what what was important to you at that time about that and we really have to dig into again what is it about work that sucks because i don't think work sucks i actually think work is fantastic when work has a purpose excuse me yah me try that line again i actually don't think work sucks i think work is fantastic when it has a purpose when we feel like the work we're doing is meaningful when we have availability to do the work what do i mean by availability well my first job out of college the one i was describing to was with a company called santos santas does many things but one of the things they do is to make uniforms that people wear at different jobs like gas station service stations you name it and i remember one of the lines that we had to sort of get a prospect who was on the fence maybe they thought that their current program was okay and they didn't need our uniforms we would say hey keith pretend you're the prospect they say hey keith what do you think about when your pants are too tight i mean what do you think about when your pants are too tight pretty much nothing except oh my pants are too tight this is so uncomfortable can i unbuttoned my button oh my god going to take these pants off when can i go home and get undressed well when we talk about capacity at work if you're overwhelmed financial challenges emotional challenges going on you know family or health challenges that are going on how focused are you really at work what is your capacity to engage and perform at work so how are organizations addressing that i'm not saying you have to solve it as an organization you don't have to just write blank checks and be everybody's caretaker that's not what i'm saying but as an organization we we do owe it to our people to develop them so that they can confront those challenges which we all know exist in life those are real life problems our metaphorical pants in life are too tight how do we deal with that our organization helping or hurting that reality and then we talk about safety at work and that i know that term is so loaded these days but i want to talk about safety to take risk does that sound weird safety and risk in the same sentence but so many people feel that if they try if they even step a hair out of their comfort zone at work and it doesn't work they're goin be smashed to bits metaphorically by their boss they're going to be chided maybe they'll lose their job or maybe at a emotion or they won't get that next promotion and so people don't put themselves out there because they don't feel safe some of that is perception some of that is on the part of the employe that they're just not asking where they believe something that just isn't true about their work environment but some of that is the reality of the environment that the way managers manage i'm not going to say the way leaders lead because leaders create a safe environment but the way managers manage way organizations are structured don't provide the space for innovation and so those are the areas that i help organizations tackle meaningfulness or purpose engagement is what i classify

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 15:07

what

[gregory_offner]: 15:07

that as or are you engaged because when we believe something is meaningful when we understand the purpose of our presence we were engaged um availability

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 15:16

look

[gregory_offner]: 15:17

yeah i help organizations

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 15:18

i

[gregory_offner]: 15:18

tackle that and that that directly leads to retention increased retention comes from your availability to do the job and then that safety

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 15:27

not a

[gregory_offner]: 15:27

has to deal with innovation

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 15:28

yeah

[gregory_offner]: 15:29

what i've called collaboration because when we don't feel safe we're guarding what we have ferociously trying to protect our pot because we see everybody else as a threat but when we know when we know that it's safe to innovate to get creative to collaborate then we open up then we see things as potential partners not as potential adversaries

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 15:53

i love that i remember reading about a company that would bring together all of their teams once a year and they would they would have a competition to see which team could be the most creative and most innovated and they would give out award so they would do presentations on innovation and they celebrated innovation but they created like you talked about a space where innovation and creativity was valued and even rewarded

[gregory_offner]: 17:15

yeah there are organizations

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 17:15

the

[gregory_offner]: 17:16

out there that are doing this right right now to your point one in particular

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 17:20

one in

[gregory_offner]: 17:20

gives out free passes for failing

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 17:21

is

[gregory_offner]: 17:23

one actually

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 17:23

i

[gregory_offner]: 17:24

expects you to fail

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 17:26

yeah

[gregory_offner]: 17:26

and if you don't use those free passes you're gonna get a visit from the boss saying hey

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 17:32

ho

[gregory_offner]: 17:33

can we still got those passes

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 17:34

that

[gregory_offner]: 17:34

because that means you're not taking initiative and we want you to take initiative here there are lots of ways to

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 17:39

lots

[gregory_offner]: 17:40

approach

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 17:40

of ways

[gregory_offner]: 17:40

this they absolutely are the most important thing to me is that we start approaching it we start doing this

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 17:49

and for those who are listening who may be

[gregory_offner]: 17:50

m

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 17:51

running corporation running organizations why is creating an environment where people bring the best versus of themselves forward why is that so critical for the success of your organization

[gregory_offner]: 18:04

the organization

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 18:04

you're

[gregory_offner]: 18:04

can only succeed if the people within it succeed i mean a long term you can have short term fixes where you sacrifice people at the altar of profits but i think that that's very

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 18:13

yes

[gregory_offner]: 18:13

shortsighted and not sustainable and in fact if we if we look back that's proven that it's shortsighted and not sustainable so people performing at their best means that the organization is performing their best

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 18:30

i love that you have something that i ran across on your on your upset called the performance process what is that

[gregory_offner]: 18:37

m

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 18:37

explain that to our audience

[gregory_offner]: 18:38

yeah so the performers process is a way of

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 18:42

we

[gregory_offner]: 18:42

learning and what i've noticed in my career as a performer is that musicians let's say artists right because i don't want to discount dancers or other folks actors there's something about the arts it requires people who are successful at it to be able to learn unlearn and re learn very very quickly to learn unlearn and relearn and i wondered how does this happen how is it that we're able to do that and could we translate that into the professional world because with the speed of innovation with the speed of change that's happening out in the world right now you may have heard the term fuca volatile uncertain complex and ambiguous that we live in a vuco world the ability to learn unlearn and relearn seems to be a competitive advantage it seems that organizations who have people that can learn unlearn and re learn faster than the other organizations can be more success full so how do we make that happen enter the performers process there are there are four steps in this process the first is to learn choose let's say what is it that we're going to learn we have to choose a song a dance move a part in a play we have to learn that part to learn that dance we learn that song so most organizations take care of that for their people they say here's what you need to know in this role to be successful great what's the next step the next step is to practice what performers do well is break a role or break a piece of music or break a move into the smallest parts um if i were better at math i'd know what i want to call that maybe it's a you know lowest common denominator i'm not sure what the prepreturbis that i'm thinking of here keith but we break it down into into bite sized parts instead of trying to practice an entire piece of music which could be a fifteen minute song in the classical world or a play or a or a musical which is like an hour or more long or you know a dance routine which you know ow long that is because i'm a bad dancer um instead of trying to learn that whole thing all at once break it down into a small part and we practice that part when we get that right we break the next part down and then we link the two when we get that right we break the next part down then we link the three and so on and so forth until we've got the whole thing down the next step in the process is to rehearse non musical non arts people are going to rehearse practice dude same thing what are you talking about no no no no no mother when you rehearse you're doing this a high pressure environment that is the big difference we practice in a very safe environment where there's a lot of feedback excuse me we want to rehearse in an environment that is much more high pressure and very low feedback so let me give you an example when a broadway production is rehearsing they're normally wearing all of their costumes they're running through all of the lighting changes they're doing at least a scene at a time if not the whole thing a complete run through and sometimes they even invite outsiders in to watch the performance this is high pressure compared to a practice which they show up and they're in you know sweat pants lulu lemon whatever you know doing their thing comfy cosy nobody else is there the house lights are probably on low pressure that may be carrying their script in their hand

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 22:42

oh

[gregory_offner]: 22:44

do we delineate in the corporate world this is a question for those leaders who may be listening to ask themselves do we distinguish between practice and rehearsal at work are we creating that environment that's tougher than the real world like think about an n f l team that's practicing for a play off game ere going to be practicing with a c d c's panama blaring out of the loud speakers trying to drown out any call that the quarterback is making so that on game day no crowd could be that loud higher pressure you can even have fun with it you know ask somebody to do their sales called blindfolded or you know i don't know ask somebody to jes i don't know maybe they could pretend to try and do a spread sheet in like i don't know you know spanish or something i don't i don't know whatever it is have fun with it the point isn't to get it right the point is to make it a bit of a game because that's what learning is when we gamify things we learn faster i mean think about when you were young if you grew up with video games like i did you probably like you sit back down at the super mario brothers console and all of a sudden you're ten years old again and you're like oh yeah i remember these moves we learn better in a gaming environment and so that's what this practice and rehearsal is is where one we're breaking it into manageable steps when we practice and two we're linking it all together and doing it in a higher pressure environment so that when we go to the final step which is to perform we're enjoying what we're doing when organizations adopt this process they're able to help their people learn unlearn and re learn faster more effectively and this becomes a competitive advantage that's the performers process keith

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 24:28

i like that so how do you apply that in your daily life oh

[gregory_offner]: 24:35

well i mean i think you just apply it in your daily life you take anything

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 24:37

yeah

[gregory_offner]: 24:38

that you know you take anything that you want to do i mean think about the skill of driving before you even touch the wheel of a car you are mentally walking through okay what do i do when i

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 24:48

what

[gregory_offner]: 24:48

turn

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 24:48

do i

[gregory_offner]: 24:49

i signal check then i turn the wheel

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 24:52

oh

[gregory_offner]: 24:52

then i turn the wheel back because i go straight then i excel eight i mean there are driving you could say i'm going a drive from point to point b but there's a whole lot that goes on in between and so we

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 25:03

oh

[gregory_offner]: 25:03

practice those parts then start to link them together and then we go rehearse i mean my driving instructor would mess with me when we were doing the parallel parking part because o knowin philly you gotta ou got you got to learn a parallel part s not just a formality like you are parallel parking all all the time in philly and in other cities so he would he would try to purposely throw me off i mean we're in in an empty parking lot so it's a safe environment it's not like he was doing this on the highway you know grabbing the wheel or something that wasn't dangerous but we had a bit of fun with it and so when i was in that drivers exam environment which even of itself you could consider that as a bit of a rehearsal because it's high pressure there's somebody there analyzing every step of what you do it's got to be perfect but then you go out into the into the real world onto the real streets and like you have to drive safely but it's not necessarily drivers exam fact let's let's just be honest it's not so yeah i think you apply this to anything anything you want to learn on learn or relearn if you apply this performers process it will make it better and easier for you

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 26:14

that's great so for the people who are listening to this podcast what is the one lesson you want them to know oh m

[gregory_offner]: 26:28

gosh just one a

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 26:30

oh

[gregory_offner]: 26:31

i'm gonna say that you're

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 26:32

your

[gregory_offner]: 26:33

job if i if your job if the most value you get from your job is the

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 26:38

oh

[gregory_offner]: 26:38

pay check you got to take a look in

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 26:41

yes

[gregory_offner]: 26:41

the mirror and ask yourself why you're there your job should be giving you skills development

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 26:49

look

[gregory_offner]: 26:50

expanding your network maybe providing fulfillment

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 26:54

i

[gregory_offner]: 26:54

i do think that we work better when we find the work we do fulfilling i don't think that everybody

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 27:00

i

[gregory_offner]: 27:01

has to be has to be in love with their job that's kind of naive but i do think you have the opportunity to i think people could push back and say gregg you don't understand my life is hard i have all these responsibilities obligations i'm not saying your life isn't hard i don't know

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 27:17

oh

[gregory_offner]: 27:17

your life whoever is listening to this but i do know that it would

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 27:21

i

[gregory_offner]: 27:21

be

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 27:21

was

[gregory_offner]: 27:21

better if you enjoyed what you did for work

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 27:24

yes

[gregory_offner]: 27:26

we can all agree with that and i know that that choice of what you do for work i mean as long

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 27:32

okay

[gregory_offner]: 27:32

as you're living in like a free country i can't say anything about you know countries that can force you to do labor but at least if you live here in the united states you get to choose what you do for work making a different choice may create some some new difficulties every change comes with challenges

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 27:49

m

[gregory_offner]: 27:50

but if you do something you enjoy that you find

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 27:52

we

[gregory_offner]: 27:53

fulfilling you will be better at it and it will be better for you financially in the long run so i guess what i'm saying

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 27:59

that's

[gregory_offner]: 27:59

keith

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 27:59

what i'm

[gregory_offner]: 28:00

is if i could share one thing with the audience that's seek to create impact not just to receive income wake up every morning

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 28:09

that

[gregory_offner]: 28:09

and

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 28:09

morning

[gregory_offner]: 28:09

try to go out into the world create some impact for others and you'll be surprised at how much you get in return

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 28:19

i like that so what are

[gregory_offner]: 28:21

what

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 28:21

you working on now that we could be excited about you can break breaking news for the audience

[gregory_offner]: 28:25

man

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 28:25

your next

[gregory_offner]: 28:26

well

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 28:26

project

[gregory_offner]: 28:26

i am i don't shouldn't say this begrudgingly because goodness it's a gift i am working on a book um

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 28:34

oh

[gregory_offner]: 28:34

i don't know when it's going

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 28:35

no

[gregory_offner]: 28:35

to be released it's right you know

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 28:37

yeah

[gregory_offner]: 28:37

writing is certainly a challenge but i am working on a book it's hopefully going to be out at some point later

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 28:46

some

[gregory_offner]: 28:46

this year before twenty or i should say before twenty twenty four so at some point in twenty twenty three it it'll be out but i've had so many people come up to me after my key notes now that we're getting back into the into in person events i just say dude you have a book like i'd love to read it i want to know more about this

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 29:04

i

[gregory_offner]: 29:04

and after the fourth or fifth person i thought

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 29:05

first

[gregory_offner]: 29:06

okay like i guess i really got to write a book

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 29:08

not

[gregory_offner]: 29:08

if

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 29:08

right

[gregory_offner]: 29:08

so many people want to hear more about this

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 29:10

oh

[gregory_offner]: 29:10

so so there's a book coming out in personal news we're expecting our second child

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 29:17

oh

[gregory_offner]: 29:17

so

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 29:17

congratulations

[gregory_offner]: 29:17

that's thank you keith so that's exciting at some point

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 29:20

the

[gregory_offner]: 29:20

in april we'll have it baby oftener number

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 29:23

yeah

[gregory_offner]: 29:23

two and hopefully for that baby that won't be the official name will come up with something better by the time it's born

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 29:29

yeah just don't call him one oftener

[gregory_offner]: 29:32

yeah right like that keep that's good

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 29:36

yeah oh

[gregory_offner]: 29:36

uh uh i've been i've been called many

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 29:41

oh

[gregory_offner]: 29:42

names as a child

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 29:43

h

[gregory_offner]: 29:43

who carried a piano on the bus to school every day but one oftener isn't isn't one of them how about that

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 29:50

h

[gregory_offner]: 29:50

i love it

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 29:53

so

[gregory_offner]: 29:53

oh

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 29:54

think about

[gregory_offner]: 29:55

yes

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 29:55

your as you're as you're thinking about your life what do you watch a legacy to be

[gregory_offner]: 30:03

i don't know that i get to choose i think opera

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 30:07

o

[gregory_offner]: 30:07

said that your legacy isn't one thing you do is everything you do

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 30:12

yeah

[gregory_offner]: 30:13

so

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 30:14

oh

[gregory_offner]: 30:15

i don't know that i get to choose

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 30:16

no

[gregory_offner]: 30:16

i

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 30:17

i

[gregory_offner]: 30:19

try as best i can as often as i can

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 30:23

of

[gregory_offner]: 30:25

some of the time um to leave people better than i found them and so that is is maybe my my mantra or my philosophy for life you know leave people better than you found them so if i'm if i'm remembered for that among other things great but i don't know that i get to i don't know that i get to decide

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 30:47

that's like that so anything i haven't asked you that i should have asked you

[gregory_offner]: 30:54

say i think we covered a lot of ground

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 30:55

over

[gregory_offner]: 30:56

and if if if the audience just acts on one of the things we talked about they'll they'll notice some change the key to any change is to sustain it right so i before the pandemic was speaking a lot on disruption

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 31:09

i don't

[gregory_offner]: 31:10

and i realized that most

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 31:11

i realize

[gregory_offner]: 31:11

people

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 31:12

my

[gregory_offner]: 31:12

you know they'll say ober is

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 31:13

i

[gregory_offner]: 31:13

a disruptor face books a disruptor this this and that's a disrupt but what is what is disruption people couldn't answer that question so i realized that before

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 31:22

are you

[gregory_offner]: 31:23

i

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 31:23

like

[gregory_offner]: 31:23

could talk to others about disruption i had to be able to clearly define it what i decided what i kind of stumbled

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 31:29

i

[gregory_offner]: 31:29

on

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 31:29

tumbled on

[gregory_offner]: 31:30

my definition is

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 31:31

yes

[gregory_offner]: 31:31

that disruption is a change that sustains and sets a new standard so it's a change that sustains and sets a new standard most of the time we try to make that change really big there are folks out there who

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 31:47

pull

[gregory_offner]: 31:47

you know go big or go home

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 31:49

be

[gregory_offner]: 31:49

while i think when you go big you wind up going home most of the time

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 31:53

it's true

[gregory_offner]: 31:54

now like the folks who have taken decades off

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 31:59

a

[gregory_offner]: 31:59

from going to the gym

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 32:00

and

[gregory_offner]: 32:00

and then they get inspired and they go i'm gonna get back to working out and after four minutes on the tread mill they're like okay my body is going to collapse and then they get up the next day

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 32:10

the

[gregory_offner]: 32:10

and they try to do it again like oh my body is going to collapse and then two days later their body really does collapse because they didn't work up to it sometimes just going in step on the treadmill walk for a minute

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 32:21

walk

[gregory_offner]: 32:21

and leave call that a success

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 32:23

that

[gregory_offner]: 32:23

because

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 32:23

was

[gregory_offner]: 32:23

you walked in the door of the gym i work out pretty religiously

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 32:28

i

[gregory_offner]: 32:28

and i will tell you there are some day where that's all i can muster either exhausted

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 32:32

i

[gregory_offner]: 32:32

or i'm just not feeling it but to keep the habit i go drive to the park and i get out of the car walk in you know peep in with your little click tag go up

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 32:41

oh

[gregory_offner]: 32:41

do the elyptical for like two minutes ad i'm yeah that's it i'm done i'm good it is it's not going to happen today and some days that two minutes is all my body needs

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 32:49

my

[gregory_offner]: 32:49

to go

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 32:49

body

[gregory_offner]: 32:49

oh yeah i like doing

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 32:50

yeah

[gregory_offner]: 32:50

this i want to do this and

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 32:51

want

[gregory_offner]: 32:51

then

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 32:51

to

[gregory_offner]: 32:51

i'm there and i'm in the grove i guess what i'm trying to say

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 32:55

and i'm

[gregory_offner]: 32:55

is

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 32:55

trying

[gregory_offner]: 32:55

if you

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 32:55

to

[gregory_offner]: 32:55

take anything that you heard today and start to act on it show yourself a little grace it's new we all suck when we're new at something billy joe

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 33:06

yeah

[gregory_offner]: 33:06

sucked at the piano before he was billy joe it took him a long time to be

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 33:10

on

[gregory_offner]: 33:10

billy joe if you're going to make a change it's going to take you some time now can the performer process accelerate that time frame absolutely it can and some of the ideas we talked about earlier in terms of making work suck lessen and choosing impact over income can those help absolutely but i found

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 33:30

i found

[gregory_offner]: 33:30

looking in

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 33:30

it

[gregory_offner]: 33:30

the mirror and looking at others we tend to overestimate what we should do and then we underestimate what we can do so just give yourself some grace start small and stay consistent and you will create a disruption you'll create a change that sustains and sets a new standard

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 33:49

i love that where can they find you in social media and connect with you

[gregory_offner]: 33:53

uh yeah thanks for asking

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 33:54

yeah

[gregory_offner]: 33:54

that keith i am you know my website gregory after dot com is probably the best place to find me you can learn a lot about me about the work i do if you just want to connect see what i'm up to stoop means that i share you know things like that you know come check me out on instagram linked in twitter facebookowherever wherever you can at me i guess you can generally find me a gregory oftner junior so you i can't

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 34:18

a

[gregory_offner]: 34:18

wait to hear from me and i hope you connect with me

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 34:21

well let us know little one off and it comes along

[gregory_offner]: 34:23

oh ah i

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 34:27

thanks

[gregory_offner]: 34:27

certainly

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 34:27

greg

[gregory_offner]: 34:27

will

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 34:27

for being

[gregory_offner]: 34:27

keith

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 34:28

so part of this show is so good to have you out in

[gregory_offner]: 34:30

thank you you

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 34:30

and

[gregory_offner]: 34:30

rock

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 34:30

blessings

[gregory_offner]: 34:31

thanks

[keith_haney__the_man__the_myth__the_legend]: 34:31

on the work that you do

[gregory_offner]: 34:32

thank you thanks for having me on