If you want to become a chef, you start by being a cook. 

I don’t cook much but when my son got a kid’s cookbook, he asked me to help him make one of the recipes. 

Nothing like the puppy eyes of your child to push you past your comfort zone… 

We cooked Secret Identity Pancakes. 

They weren’t perfect but they turned out ok. 

When the lockdown began, I signed up for a subscription to a meal service. 

And it turns out that if I have clear instructions—and all the ingredients are supplied for me—I can make something that looks and tastes pretty good. I was very proud of this Shepherd’s Pie.

I don’t need to be a great cook in order to cook. I just need to cook. 

You don’t need to be a great coach in order to coach. You just need to coach. 

And you don’t need to be a high-level executive or entrepreneur, in order to coach one. 

Coaching is a verb. 

If you want to get good at anything, you have to start by being bad at everything…  

A new member of my team recently screwed up an automated response to a client on one of my programs. 

The client asked for a refund because he was so upset. 

I sent that team member flowers.

He was stunned.

You see, he was mortified that he’d made this mistake. 

I knew he’d feel that way. Top performers always set a very high bar for themselves. 

The note I sent him read, 

“I’m sending you these flowers as a reminder to myself how rarely you make mistakes. And as a reminder to you that if we don’t make mistakes, once in a while, we’re not playing big enough! I’m really glad you’re on the team.”

Oh, that client who asked for a refund. I sent him a video. 

I said, I’m really sorry we screwed up. I said we will immediately refund his money. And I told him that my company would pay the fee for him to join the program, if he’d still like to be a member. 

He replied, “Thank you so much! It was never a money issue. It is about the process. Your video and your great offer convinced me again. So, please, don’t refund. No need for that. I’m back in.”

If you want to be successful at anything: take tiny steps, make mistakes, apologize when necessary, keep going.

Love. Rich