David A. Specht

This week’s 2 Per-Specht-ives Podcast sees father and son hosts, David and Joshua Specht, coaching you on how not to be paralyzed by making a decision.  Any big decision in your life will cause discomfort and tension as well as sacrifices, but growth and progress doesn’t happen without making a decision. David and Josh will share their stories about major decisions in their lives to help you take that leap. Your generational lesson: Make a decision with what you want to be in mind, don’t go into a decision without a purpose. Then act on that decision.  Your Gen. X Advice: You have to make the decision AND THEN take the action that leads you into your purpose. It takes a lot of intestinal fortitude to go against the grain.  Your Gen. Z Advice: At the end of the day, decisions are on you. Whether you’re a young adult trying to figure things out or a grown adult changing your life, you have to make tough, unexpected decisions.   Josh made major decisions in his early life — he decided not to attend college without a goal. He then decided to enter the workforce and head up a cell phone and electronics repair business, before deciding to learn how to manage a newspaper. Although the further he gets along from graduating high school, he moves further away from actually going to college. But after running a business for four years, he learned more than he would have getting a business degree from a college. In the end, he’s incredibly thankful he chose this path, because he saw so many people go into college because they felt forced to, without a purpose, and washed out. Now, they’re where he was after high school. For David, his generation was expected to go to college. Most of his peers would get a degree, work decades for a large company, then retire. He learned early on in his college career that he wasn’t a fit for college and to avoid his father’s wrath, he then decided to join the Air Force.  Those lessons taught him skills he would need in the workforce and gave him a platform to enter the workforce, where he would later decide to start and lead his own businesses. His second decision came when his health suffered. He chose to eat food he couldn’t stand at first, but over time that food became more tolerable until he liked all those foods he hated. He then lost well over 100 lbs, got off medicine, and took control of his life.  Learn more about their motivations and tips for deciding how to make your own Decision.

Do you have a friend who is constantly consumed with drama and wants your advice but ignores it? Do you have an employee who asks 1 million questions about their job, but never has a solution?  Then you, my friend, have an Ask Hole.  In this week’s 2 Per-Specht-ives Podcast, David and Joshua Specht apply their generational knowledge to help you deal with Ask Hole friends and coworkers. Your generational lesson: It’s okay to ask questions, but Ask Holes who constantly ask and don’t heed advice require straight forwardness on your answer, limited access to you and your bandwidth, training and assessment, and possibly even termination. Your Gen. X Advice: You can’t have Ask Holes that require micromanaging in your business because then you will never scale beyond your current situation. Your Gen. Z Advice: To help the Ask Hole who constantly asks questions for every minor detail, you have to put it back on them and ask, “What would you do?”  Trying to legitimately help an Ask Hole and having your advice ignored, or even seeing them do the exact opposite, is infuriating. Here are steps to avoid the frustration that comes with Ask Holes: Shut it down — If the Ask Hole doesn't take your advice, you have to shut them down. You gave your best input and if they don’t acknowledge it, then you have to save your mental brain power. Be straightforward without being rude — If the Ask Hole won’t heed your advice, you have to tell them not to waste your time by repeatedly asking the same question and not accepting your answer. Are they really an Ask Hole? — Every business has some specific things to it that requires knowledge, so it takes seven interactions to assess whether they really don’t know or are an Ask Hole. Train your people — Tell the Ask Hole you don’t need questions, you need solutions. You’re not asking them to have all the answers, but they need to exhaust all other options and be open to your solution before asking. Are you an Ask Hole? — If you’re the Ask Hole, you need to step back, take the time to think things through, and trust yourself to have the confidence to solve problems. It’s okay to ask questions, but at some point you need to start building your own knowledge and creating your own solutions.

This episode of the 2 Per-Specht-ives Podcast has father and son hosts, David and Joshua Specht, crossing the generational divide to discuss the importance of creating a positive work environment. The pair dive into how work environments affect morale and productivity, how to change your environment for the better, and even what that means in a post COVID-19 pandemic world. Your generational lesson: You can change your environment by finding out what is important to you, creating daily routines, removing obstacles, and being consistent in effort. Your Gen. X Advice: Setting an environment isn’t a switch you flip, it’s a process. And, understand that process can change over time. Your Gen. Z Advice: Create a routine, because your routine is what creates your attitude. By creating a routine in your environment, it helps to make that environment more welcoming. Your environment around you has an affect on not only your morale and productivity but the people around you or in your workplace. That can mean what you have on your shelves in your office and seeing weeds growing around the building outside to atmosphere like sounds and smells permeating your business. People get stuck in their own environment and that can limit your progress, and the more you’re in the same environment, the less you notice the flaws. You should want to have an environment that creates a sense of momentum, that gives the impression that things are happening. Changing your workplace environment is about being strategic to give that sense of forward momentum.

The 2 Per-Specht-ives Podcast talks about crawling down from the pedestal in this week’s episode. Your father and son hosts, David and Joshua Specht, give you tips on how to take your blinders off when it comes to admiring others.  Your generational lesson: Not putting people on a pedestal means you prioritize yourself, avoid feeling lied to if that person falters, and don’t develop resentment or negativity by comparing yourself to them. Your Gen. X Advice: Because so much is expected of the person on a pedestal, it creates pressure to stay there. It causes leadership to keep secrets because they don’t want their image to suffer. Your Gen. Z Advice: Putting people on a pedestal creates a conflict of self interest to where you’re setting the bar for other people and not setting it for yourself. We have all found someone we admire so much that we start to feel he or she can do no wrong. Maybe it’s a person in a position of authority, someone we see who can help us, or just a person we enjoy being around. But you need to keep that person off the pedestal.  By recognizing the imperfections of a person you look up to, you can avoid feeling lied to when they make a mistake, the urge to ignore previously valuable advice from them, intimidated by their success, or resentful of their achievements. In that spirit, here are some tips for taking off the blinders for Pedestal People: Remind yourself that people are human and flawed. They’re not going to meet all of your expectations. Don’t think someone has all the answers. Do your own research and figure things out for yourself. Remember that the difference between the person at the bottom and the top of the pedestal is experience. Recognize that people on a pedestal have an agenda...and you do too by engaging with them. To the people on the pedestal — don’t be a jerk to those people who look up to you, don’t abuse your influence, and don’t believe you know more than someone not in your lane.

Seminars provide some of the greatest learning opportunities in business today. Sadly, most attendees don’t get the most out of them, or they fail to implement the lessons. In today’s podcast, David and Jerry share a step-by-step guide to getting the most from a seminar, including what to do before, during and after the event. Jerry & David’s Links Jerry Frentress’ Win-Win PowerTools David A. Specht’s Blog Jerry’s Facebook Page David’s Facebook Page Jerry’s LinkedIn Page David’s LinkedIn Page David’s Twitter Jerry’s Twitter iTunes Page for BIZ. Tools Podcast (Rate Us Here) Disclosure of Material Connection: If you purchase the product or service referenced next a link on this page, we will receive an “affiliate commission.” We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”