Driving to the office this morning, I was humming along, admiring what could be one of the last beautiful mornings of summer (it’s Michigan, anything can happen!) and stopped at a light.  Looking around at my fellow commuters, I noticed every one of them was staring at their phones.  This observation brought my mind right back to a recent dinner with a group of friends.  We had finished eating and were gathered around the table having one of those great, deep, organic conversations, flowing from topic to topic and getting to the heart of things.  Suddenly, a phone goes off.  In the scramble of “let’s all check to see if it’s me,” one person getting a phone call led us all to dive into our screens, and we lost the moment.

I don’t know about you, hunters, but this is happening more often than not.  Technology has invaded our lives in so many ways, to extraordinary benefit: we have the world at our fingertips every moment of every day, but the very technology designed to set us free has us tethered more than ever, are we simply becoming robots to our phones?  Think about the last time you were in a park, kids with eyes down, staring at screens catching imaginary creatures.  It’s no wonder they don’t find joy in ordinary nature they can see every day right in front of their eyes.

This is why Shabbat has been such a revelation for my family and me.  It has forced me to be conscious of my connection to my phone and my boys’ inevitable attraction to their tablets and screens.  It’s hard to separate the advantages from the disadvantages when it comes to tech.  Application for learning?  PLUS.  Emotional disconnection? MINUS.  Advances in healthcare? Bonus.  Loss of human contact? Ouch.  This question is one that bothers me incessantly.  Of course, we want to be connected and readily available, but to what extent are we willing to distance ourselves from the humanity that defines us?

It was so good to hear everyone’s ideas last week and an opportunity to learn from all of you. Maybe one of your ideas will be a part of the Weekly Weapon or in my next book. This week, I challenge you to weigh in on this debate: Technology: Good or Bad?  There is no easy answer to this one, and I value your opinions.  Hit me up by replying to this email; I can’t wait to read your thoughts.

Taking a Break

This week, I am taking a break. Mixing it up. Summer is coming to a close and before we know it, the kids will be back at school (if they aren’t already!), the leaves will begin to change and deer season will be upon us.

So, my hunters, I’m opening it up to you: what’s your best Weapon? What gets you through on the big hunts in life? Shoot me an email and let me know. I can’t wait to be inspired by all of you.

How to Execute like a Boss

At HealthRise, we are known for our real-time execution.  We not only strategize and come up with solutions, but we get in there and get it done with our partnering healthcare systems.  Executing in fluid fashion in a changing environment is what real-time execution is all about. It is a point of pride for our entire company, and I can say from experience, there is nothing like the feeling of getting a job done and done well.

Real-time execution is the seamless, agile and intensely focused pursuit that brings home the goods for any hunter.  Real-time execution can move you through hazards, around obstacles and on toward whatever outcome you have targeted for success.

Real-time execution has many elements, but I want to focus on data and pivots.  Data is vital to our work in revenue cycle management, but it also has great impact on every business and all of our personal lives.  The best thing about data is that it is simply information: there’s no judgement or feelings attached. You are in a great scouting position, taking a tree stand view of the situation.

Real data consists of hard facts that can prove or disprove your hunt.  Macro data tells you if you are on the right trail; micro data lets you dig into details, spot weaknesses and look for industry changing practices.  Execution on the hunt means being positioned to spot – and act on – the small but mighty opportunities hidden all around you.

The ability to pivot is directly tied to being present and in the moment on your hunt.  This step is where you spot an opportunity and act with precision and decisiveness, knowing it will take you closer to your target.  What does being present mean?  It means harnessing your focus to the issue at hand.  It’s the moment before you let loose an arrow or pull a trigger; when the target is in crystal clear focus and body, mind and spirit are connected.

By embracing the small wins on your hunt, you stay focused on the big issues that make the pursuit worthwhile in the first place.  It’s critical when taking any trophy to congratulate yourself, your team and your family for grabbing the prizes you’ve all earned.  Feel free to love these breakout moments; they are the moments that will keep you going when the terrain gets rough.

I’ve been thinking about hunting season.  Not about getting out to the woods, but why there are established seasons and what it means to the herd.  Hunting seasons were created as a means of population control, longer open seasons for when a population is overgrown and shorter seasons for when the animals need time to recover from, say, a harsh winter.  The break from hunting gives the animals time to grow, nurture, multiply, reestablish themselves.  And honestly, I think that is what vacation does for humans.

I’ve been off-season for a few weeks.  Dipping a toe in here and there, but taking the time to grow my spirit, nurture my family, reestablish my roots.  It has been a balm to my soul, a retreat for my mind and a stress reliever for my body.

And I tell you, right now, I can feel the fire building in my veins, that big rush to dive back into work just starting to scratch at the door.  This break is fuel for my drive for success, and I cannot recommend it enough.  How are you fueling up for hunting season?  How are you fueling up for success?

A 2014 Oxford Economics Assessment of Paid Time Off in the U.S. showed 42% of employees with paid time off finished the year with unused days, leaving an average of 8.1 days unused.  While thinking about this subject, I searched articles on how taking a break improves performance.  There are articles in Forbes, Fast Company, the Harvard Business Journal on how working relentlessly actually makes people less effective at their jobs.

So hunters, take a break in your season.  Decompress, unplug, breathe.  Grow, nurture, reestablish.  To everything, there is a season.  Don’t forget there is one for you.

Hunters, I am sitting in my sweet spot – the place in my universe where my passion meets my purpose, where the traffic lights are turning green in all aspects of life.   I feel free and clear, full of elation at the prospect of future hunts.  I am present and in my favorite soul spot to be: flow.

For those not familiar, the last chapter of The Hunt deals with the spiritual nature of flow: the almost primal process in which any number of individual elements – drops of water, grains of sand, migrating birds – come together and then move in a fluid but connected whole.  That’s the experience of The Hunt: aligning your actions and decisions with your authentic motivations and skill sets, ultimate goals, and true Desired Outcomes, you put yourself in the most powerful position for achieving results.

You are probably wondering how you can get to this place a flow, a spot I enjoy occasionally and a target I’m always striving to hit.  It is a worthy hunt, the ultimate trophy, to find yourself in a place of harmony.  So here are some DFarbz tips for finding your sweet spot, in flow:

Figure out what matters the most to you.  For me, it’s family.  Spending time with my boys, my wife, my parents, my brother…the whole extended gang.  (Side note: the thing that matters is key.  I love building businesses, but it will not bring me the true happiness of family).

Embrace what matters.  Immerse yourself in it.  See what it feels like to just be in that place, understanding sh*t is going to happen, but you are where you want to be.  It makes all the fussing and fighting fade into the background.

Let go.  Let go of worrying about what you cannot control.  Be present and flow will come to you!

Sometimes it’s the simple things that are the hardest to accomplish.  Take the time, hunters, to figure out your biggest Desired Outcome.  Shout it to the universe, whisper it to the trees.  Because when you are in flow, the Hunt becomes crystal clear and in times like these, clarity is a gift.

I’m writing to you from the sunny fields of northern Michigan where I am taking a break and kicking back with the family, in our home away from home.  The boys are getting at it from dawn to dusk, exhausted at the end of each day by the combination of freedom, fresh air, and sunshine.  It is the best thing in my world to see their tired faces each night, noticing the sun on their cheeks and knowing this break is one of the great gifts I can give them and myself.

Now, you’d think from the title that I am not up here hunting.  Do not get me wrong.  I hunt, night and day, right now aiming for that perfect bulls-eye on “family time.” But a vacation does a truly amazing thing for a hunter like me: it hits the reset button.  All the cares and concerns that buzz around my head (even during my downtime), seem to be whisked away by the same air that puts my boys to bed at night.  Everything is a little softer, a little more golden as if lit by the edges of a campfire.  It provides a different focus, the ability to take a step back and see how great my life is and how fortunate I am.

My hunters, my advice this week is to take a break.  Give yourself that campfire glow, even if it’s in your backyard or at your kitchen table.  Get barefoot in the grass, get some sun on your face and let go of yesterday’s annoyances or tomorrow’s worries.  Take a moment, an hour, a weekend to appreciate all the good you do have and you will be an even better hunter, more focused, less distracted and ready to go after the targets you want most in life.

XO,

DFarbz