(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai - Go Unlimited to remove this message)

Welcome everybody out to podcast number one zero eight one in this podcast. We've got two tips for project managers. Stay with us This is the elevate construction podcast delivering remarkable content for workers leaders and companies in construction Wanting to take their next step Get ready to step out of your comfort zone with Jason Schroeder as he encourages you to do better live a remarkable life and expect more Welcome everyone. 

I hope you're doing well and staying safe out there I am excited to do this podcast with you today And I'm also excited because Kate is done with the outlines for built to fail I'll continue that series here pretty soon But let me go ahead and get started with this one today, and then we'll get back kicked up tomorrow Here's some feedback from our listeners. Thanks for your apply. So great to connect with you And thanks for visiting my LinkedIn profile. 

I'm working on it this very moment I'm not sure exactly what help you might provide Jason I really groove on all your methods and content and believe the greatness you promote can and should explode hopefully up north I had trouble discovering any Canadian builders outside of High Street that were employing this system and wanted to confirm I'm in Northern Ontario I was recently asked to answer some additional written questions about scheduling for an LCI building group as a part of an interview process And shared my thoughts about tack planning and never heard from them again change is hard for some folks Thank you for inspiring us all to be excellent in our field and sharing our heart and time I will keep using your content to drive me and my job hunt and keep improving myself until then I was convinced that my skills education and experience would ensure a good time it would would ensure a good and good time But it's I don't know what that means But it's been seven months now gurus still fighting the good fight on we go. All right, I Appreciate the feedback and I hope that everybody's finding the career that they want and doing well Yeah, so I a couple of bits of news today So I've been studying for the contractors license this morning I got up went to my favorite breakfast place like Ron Swanson and then came out and started Doing practice tests all day and then something really freaked me out So I was hitting like a 94% on the practice test and then I did the official Arizona registrar of contactors practice tests, which don't ever do that thing. It's completely irrelevant It has nothing to do with the real test Anyway, it started asking me a whole bunch of questions which weren't on the practice and weren't in the content and I was sort of freaking Kate said to the company they were in a company meeting while I was studying She said I've never seen Jason spiral like this before So I totally spiraled started freaking out calling the Arizona testing center contractors license testing center which is absolutely fantastic, they're just great people and Was trying to figure this out and they were like hey don't use the Registrar of Contractors practice tests use our practice tests were fine. 

So I cleared the desk I put all these books out and I start making sure that I know how to reference all of them and take the test and I passed but I want you to know that it was a complete flop when I took that second kind of practice test so if you want to pass your contractor's license go to the AC contractor license exam registration with the Arizona contractor license center And powered by eye contractor really really great folks. Anyway, so got that done We're gonna submit the application this week and get that in everything with lean built is is going well We submit our conceptual estimate number in our initial schedule duration for our overall correct total project duration on The on May 21st and we're progressing really well. So again, we're on track to start on May 1st of 2025 I'm super excited about that. 

So the business is growing I counted. I think oh my gosh I wasn't ready for this either. I think we have 44 people at elevated and lean tacked I was counting the other day and I'm super excited to have so many awesome people It's really kind of interesting when you have that many folks, it's hard to know everyone So you have to like go get in proximity, which I'm excited to do I can't wait to go to Guadalajara next and visit all my homies. 

So anyway Things are doing well. So that's the news we are We really digging into the first planner book and getting that done So we've got three massive chapters going and we kind of pivoted and we organized the rename some stuff based on the research that We're doing and we're heading in a really really good direction, so That's my update. I I feel like I maybe had more than that, but maybe not anyway, so the Podcast tonight there's two tips for project managers Number one I was or somebody reached out to me on YouTube by the way the YouTube channels freaking doing great Thank you all for your for for subscribing and leaving your comments and likes and everything. 

It's really helping the algorithm I hope that that thing keeps growing it actually all the numbers keep growing on the up and up Sometimes I wonder if it will ever hurt the podcast Because I wonder if people would rather watch the YouTube channels in the podcast. Anyway It's doing well and somebody reached out on the YouTube channel and said hey, how do you implement these tips? For project managers who have superintendents when you don't hire The superintendent and you don't build your own team and I thought about that and that's a very very good point and the individual Who reached out to me? I really appreciate them because I think it was a he brought up a really Key aspect of running really great jobs. I remember in the book how big things get done the comment that Frank Crow the builder of the Hoover Dam and it was wildly successful as everybody knows how he had a loyal and Dedicated and experienced team and how important that is and so my point my my my answer back was you know, I understand the difficulty and I understand the reality of what you're dealing with and This is how it's done Just like the industry made a mistake in going too far with the segregation of trades We've also made it we've also gone too far by segregating teams and splitting them up Sorry splitting them up and breaking them apart and I remember I remembered when I was answering the comment that At the Bioscience Research Laboratory. 

I had hired. I think it was at least three It could have been four but out of the nine-person team There was me plus four people that I had hired that I had trained at least in some aspect I don't that sounds cocky and arrogant I don't mean it like that but trained in some aspect or not and helped that were loyal to me now You know if you were talking about a dictator Somebody was loyal to a dictator that loyalty comment wouldn't land But obviously we were attempting to do lean practices and implement something quite remarkable So I don't fear saying that they were loyal to me My but the bottom line is there are so many organizations out there that are hindered Because you don't have buy-in or people are grumpy and complacent or you have a bunch of What do I want to say type a personalities? Entrepreneurs that are there trying to make a name for themselves. They're all going in different directions But the key is just like I said yesterday The key is with success is you have to be going there together. 

It doesn't matter if you're all Entrepreneurially heading in different directions. You're not going to accomplish your goal And that's what a lot of people don't understand they've been even some very large successful companies have built their philosophy on everybody being an entrepreneur And that's fine. And still they until they start pulling in different directions. 

Okay, so this is definitely a problem So my advice to people is build connections as you go invest in people's careers The reason I was able to hire these people is because I spent time training them. I spent time caring about them I spent time going out of my way. I spent time staying up with them They knew I cared about them. 

I like I said, I'm gonna say it again. I went the extra mile I did come through for them when other people didn't and When it was the time to go do that job it all the stars aligned and yes, they went to a great company So I have to give credit where credit is due there, but they also came because of me and so when you are Building your career the best thing you can do is nurture Relationships and build people that you can work with loyal on your teams that have experience or where you can pull in the same Direction, I think a lot of people ignore this concept, right? It should not be that you just put a bunch of random people from corporate Randomly out on a job like you should Attempt if you're a project leader to curate a little bit of loyal experience You got to have one or two right hand people So that's really one key concept that I wanted to talk about and I'm gonna loop in another one here That I hope you enjoy And it kind of ties in so for project managers You got to build a loyal team and actually do something. The other thing is the project manager You've got to get good at doing things with that awesome team. 

Okay, this is the image so I bought I haven't dove into it since the Probably oh my gosh, probably six or seven years ago when I When I dug into the project management body of knowledge the the Pembroke guide 7th edition I can't remember if I had the six back in that day But anyway, I haven't given it don't divin dove in it again I just opened it up randomly to page 101 where it's talking about the earned value analysis showing schedule and cost variance plan value versus actual cost versus earned value and Just shake my head at the idiocy of increasing work in process and extending your overall Duration on your project and how worthless all these tools are. Why was I saying that? Oh because There's a lot of folks and I've said this a little bit before but I can tie it all together now that are hey I'm a project manager. I've learned all these worthless management techniques, and I'm really good at it now, let me give you let me give you a little bit of a An insight to a strength and a weakness of mine. 

I Constantly get better and better at everything I do. That's maybe not this podcast, but yeah Anyway, like my office gets better constantly lean improving it the business actually probably Most everything gets better because of Kate and I'm just taking credit for it But anyway, I it gets easier all the time to be excellent and get good at things when I send an email It's this perfect spell checked formatted beautifully when I Go, you know wrap up a podcast. It's beautiful when I put together video outlines It's just like dialed in to the nth degree when I'm putting together LinkedIn graphic like it's just beautiful and I was thinking to myself There's a certain amount of dopamine that is released when you do something and do it Excellently, okay, and I have seen a lot of project managers get really addicted to the dopamine of doing worthless things so I'm I want you to not get good at doing worthless things and The other thing that I want to say for people in construction Industry especially is that when we get that dopamine hit for doing something beautiful and repetitive Then it becomes safer and more addictive to keep doing the things we already know instead of learning new things And that's going to be very detrimental when you attempt to learn lean practices because if somebody said, you know Hey, this is your system. 

This is how you run a job. Oh, let's implement huddles huddles. Let's use the scheduling system Let's start organizing your team with scrum instead of you know, Microsoft planners or or Whatever or Trello, whatever you've already been using or you know, I'll just whatever it is, right? That's going to seem like a disruption to your dopamine hits from the habits that you've formed So I wrote down here for the podcast title get good at not being good What that means is you've got to be able to learn to play the game In a way where it's challenging, so I'll go back to that Original analogy that I gave you a long time ago when I was younger I used to play Age of Empires and play it on setting one and just completely Demolish the enemy because it just felt good to do it over and over and over and Kate one time was said this really Isn't a challenge. 

Why don't you put it on the upper levels? And I was like, I don't really like that because then the enemy comes And tears down my walls and gives me a hard time and it's all messy You know what I mean? And then I had to really train my mind to like the growth and progress the last four years of us starting elevate Has been a nightmare. I remember sitting in a desk not well I mean rewarding and and I love the people that know I shouldn't have said nightmare hard Conditions were a nightmare the people I got to work with and all of the people on the other end of the Podcasts and everything else have been fantastic, but I used to sit in an old nasty old shed with basically wood floors just on a desk in a simple old chair and then I remember getting into my current office and it was nasty and and it wasn't Done well, and there are cords everywhere and then the tiles that we put on the wall I can't remember who I paid it to do it, but it was done wrong and then Eventually Kate came in here one time was on it was on big when I was on vacation and Just fixed up the whole office for me to You know as a surprise to me I can't I think I was at a Tony Robbins training funny enough probably in the Bahamas But anyway, when I got back it was all dialed up and she she organized it And then I got the touchscreen TV and then the the backup TV and the court organization now I'm Paul Acres every Paul Acres zing everything the worst thing that can happen to me Is that I'll stabilize everything so well that I'll be fixed and not willing to progress Meaning that I've got a still I've got to be good at being good So while I'm here in this office I can have my discipline habits in my routine But when it comes for me it comes time for me to move this office or change it Or do something different or radically upend things when we learn something new I've got to learn to be good at not being good meaning like at going back to the to the messiness of Starting again, so I'll give you you know Just an example here like we're reading the book built to fail and we're learning things in here They're causing us to update our outlines and it's my mind is like hey homie you put a lot of work into this It's already network. Don't do this Yeah, but the truth of the matter is is we need to or we get to adjust as we go Is it gonna be messy? Yes, does it look pretty? No, is it hard? Yes Does it take away from your discipline on a daily basis? Yes, is it comfortable? No But do we get to do it in order for us to progress? Absolutely, so I just want to say probably the one of the worst things that we can do in construction is get so good That we forget how to not be good how to we forget how to be messy We forget how to start we forget how to change we forget how to improve we forget how to be a mess, right? Because when that happens and it's on its way to continuous improvement. 

That's when the miracle happens So hopefully none of us get fixed so beautifully that we're stuck and we're not going anywhere There's always improvement to make and sometimes those are small little habits, right or it's massive improvements either way get good at not being good don't get too perfect in what you do and absolutely do not start to get Dopamine hits doing well things that ought not to be done in the first place. I hope you've enjoyed this podcast on we go Please join us next time in elevating the entire construction experience for workers leaders Companies coast to coast if you're enjoying the show, please feel free to share with your construction colleagues and help us Spread the word by rating subscribing and leaving a review on your preferred podcast listening platform We really appreciate it. We'll catch you next time on the elevate construction podcast

(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai - Go Unlimited to remove this message)