Building a Better Construction Industry and Becoming a Mountain Mover with Kevin Carey

Get yourself ready for Kevin Carey as he shares his passion for the 'Mountain Mover' concept and his insights on how to positively impact the construction industry. Discussing ideas from his book, 'Mountain Mover Manual', and his firsthand industry experiences, Kevin offers valuable advice on embracing lean principles, human-centered performance improvement, and nurturing a purpose-driven approach in construction. Kevin also talks about grappling with personal and professional challenges, illustrating how honesty and accountability can transform these obstacles into opportunities. Finally, he emphasizes the power of resilience, teamwork, and continuous self-improvement in paving the path to success in both life and business. Don't miss Kevin's inspiring words that are sure to motivate and guide anyone leading a team in the construction industry.

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00:00 Understanding the Mountain Mover Concept

00:33 The State of the Construction Industry

00:45 The Impact of Kevin Carey's Conversation

01:12 The Importance of Team Leadership in Construction

02:48 The Role of Mountain Mover in the Construction Industry

03:06 The Philosophy Behind Mountain Mover

05:55 The Impact of Lean Principles in Construction

06:42 The Importance of Individual Change in Industry Shift

07:02 The Future of Construction Industry Leadership

07:21 The Challenges of Recruitment in the Construction Industry

08:11 The Role of Knowledge and Service in Construction

09:19 The Importance of Company Culture in Construction

09:32 The Challenges of Financial Management in Construction

12:18 The Importance of Communication and Accountability in Construction

14:44 The Role of Personal Accountability in Construction

20:40 The Impact of Purpose and Vision in Construction

22:59 The Importance of Being Present and Mindful in Construction

28:47 The Role of Vulnerability and Accountability in Construction

31:43 The Importance of Identifying and Overcoming Personal Shadows

36:21 Conclusion

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

get pretty passionate about the whole Mount mover concept but also the state of our industry, and attending your event that you spoke at was eyeopening for me to understand lean a little better, because prior to that I just saw it as stopwatch guy and, like you, literally talked about no, what if your lean principle is going to observe those guys and realizing they need more help, not less? You don't need to take a body away, you need to add a body, because you're watching them wrestle something that's over their shoulders and I'm like, okay, I could get behind this and we just went off in a tangent. The bar is low in our industry and with the bar being low, what a profound opportunity to go positively impact this industry, because the way we change our industry is through each individual.

Speaker 2: 0:45

Oh yeah, back with part two of my conversation with Mr Kevin Kerry and like listening to it again. While I was editing in preparation for you, it became ultra, ultra clear that I know exactly who I am going to be reaching out to for a job if this construction mind shifter thing don't work out. We are probably going to get some chills, definitely going to get some motivation, and if you're leading a team in construction, you best be taking some notes, because Kevin's words are words to lead by and I ain't playing. You want to replay this and share this with all your friends because he brings it. But and before you get the one, two punch from Mr Kevin Kerry, I'm going to givea shout out to LNM family member Mr Matt Graves, the Himalayan Haas construction yeti. He shared this somewhere on the interwebs and I kind of pulled it because it was public, so I don't think I need to get permission, but we'll see. Matt says Jesse's one of those guys that I chat with on a fairly regular basis and every time I do I'm left feeling like I want to run through the wall and go change the world for the better. Hell yeah, because that is the goal and one particular reason I wanted to shout out.

Speaker 2: 2:10

My buddy, mr Matt, is because he and I are going to be having a live audio room next Tuesday which is what's that? December 19th at 5 pm, central on the LinkedIn audio live thing, talking about our secrets as secrets, lessons, learn, cheat codes all of the above as construction content creators. And so if you got a minute on your drive home, pop up that LinkedIn, jump in the thing and we'd be happy to hear from you and share whatever goofiness. We think we know the mountain mover concept. I think that's now the name of your company. So you have a construction company named Mount Mover, you've written the book and I think you do public. So how big is this mountain mover concept?

Speaker 1: 3:06

For me it's literally biblical, so it's a pretty big deal to me Moving mountains. It's rooted in Scripture, matthew 1720. Have faith to move mountains. And we're not talking about the physical structures, we're talking about the things we wrestle in life that we just talked about some of those in this conversation. But identifying your mountains, it might be a mindset thing, it might be an identity thing, it might be a season you're going through, might be a diagnosis, and what we're aiming for is to help move those mountains in your life. And moving mountains might not necessarily like with a bad diagnosis. It might not be the miracle of it going away. It might be the miracle of your mindset shifting towards, towards something that's purpose driven, that makes you happier and more fulfilled and can positively impact the people around you. And so it is the son of my solar system.

Speaker 1: 4:01

So, podcast 1720, mount Movers Consulting Company. Mount Mover facades. Our purpose is literally listed in the name of our specially contracting name, and then, when I'm at home, you better believe I'm trying to build Mount Movers at home too. And so it's every planet, it serves every planet in my solar system, and there's so much to the name of our construction company, mount Mover facades, because facades is just the vehicle. We're glass guys and gals, we know how to do glass. That is the vehicle to our purpose of creating an army of Mount Movers, and the bar in construction is unfortunately super low.

Speaker 1: 4:41

And so we started this company at the beginning of October and one of the biggest things I wondered is the trades, the craftsmen and women. Are the good ones? The good like, the good hearted ones? Are they going to want to come? And when they, some of these key ones, when they heard the announcement, they said just let me know when you're ready. And it goes to show like they know what we stand for and they know that we care about them and they know that they're not just the number when they come on this team. They're part of our tribe and that matters to me, quite honestly, more than performance. Like I could go hire a high performer that's going to beat down our people, but I'm not going to because it's not worth it.

Speaker 1: 5:23

And what's cool about the reputation that we're already building in the market? People are wrestling with that man. I wonder if they'll hire me. I know I treat people like crap. The answer is no. If we know that, even if you, that means we're going to be faster on our metrics. That doesn't achieve our purpose.

Speaker 1: 5:40

We're in this together and we're in this to build people up regardless of race, regardless of gender, regardless of come up like diversity.

Speaker 1: 5:50

We want everybody to bring their true self here, feel value, feel empowered and move the mountains in their life.

Speaker 1: 5:55

And so obviously you can tell I get pretty passionate about the whole Mount Mover concept, but also the state of our industry, and attending your event that you spoke at was eyeopening for me to understand lean a little better, because prior to that I just saw it as stopwatch guy and, like you, literally talked about no, what if your lean principle is going to observe those guys and realizing they need more help, not less.

Speaker 1: 6:20

You don't need to take a body away, you need to add a body, because you're watching them wrestle something that's over their shoulders and I'm like, okay, I could get behind this and we just went off in a tangent. The bar is low in our industry and with the bar being low, what a profound opportunity to go positively impact this industry, because the way we change our industry is through each individual, and when an individual is changed, their team around them changes, and when the team around them changes, the company changes and when one company changes, more companies changes. That leads to an actual industry shift. But we got to individually do it. We all got to own our part in it.

Speaker 2: 6:58

Kevin, I got chills, brother, like 100%. The future I see is that the leaders within organizations that figure out how to demonstrate appreciation for the men and women that do the work are going to smoke the competition, and what you just said is proof of that. Right Like your recruitment is simple they're going to treat me better and they don't hire people that treat people poorly. In this age where I can make money sitting at home selling pictures of my feet, it's getting silly.

Speaker 2: 7:38

But when we were younger, we had to go to the mall to fill out an application, to get a job, to make money. So we had to push the lawnmower down the street, knock on doors. Can I wash your car? You don't have to do that anymore. You can make money at home, sitting where nobody's yelling at you, nobody's treating you like garbage, and make some money. You may not make millions, but you can make some money. You can generate income that way.

Speaker 2: 8:06

Why would I go work for an organization where the people treat me like garbage, that lean thing? I used to be the clock, the timer and yep, we gotta cut people out and we just until I saw like no dummy, it's about serving. I have all this knowledge and I've weaponized it. That's why nobody likes me. That's why nobody's inviting me to the party. If I use the knowledge to serve others and minimize the pain. And, to your point, what happens when we minimize the burden and the stress that people are experiencing every day? They now have capacity to learn, grow and serve. That's the point. And little by little man, you've seen it, I've seen it traveling around the country, working in different places the people, the leaders I wish I could say companies, because that would be beautiful and I think maybe yours is probably yours and our buddy Keon are the two organizations that are there right.

Speaker 2: 9:06

They are a company that treat people differently. They're a company that provide with a meaningful experience where people feel appreciated. The rest of the companies they say it on their website and it ends there and it always goes down to the leader, the people out there leading the crews, leading the projects, the influencers, the decision makers. They're the ones that are gonna make or break that culture, if you will. Now, in your book you talk about at one point it is during the pandemic you had one goal and that goal was to be $1 in the black, and some people would turn their nose up to that goal. So can you describe what that was for those people that haven't decided to buy the book? Now they're gonna decide after you described it. And then I have a follow-up question.

Speaker 1: 9:59

Yeah, that whole season was in the glazing industry. Our whip is long-term, so when we're awarded a job, it's probably a year, six months to 12 months before we're even a crew in revenue. And so when the pandemic first hit, that year was still solid. It was the following year that things really started drying up, and we did this we used to do and still do, just in a different journey now a yearly retreat in January, and we were looking at a hard-hitting year financially and decided to, at this retreat with this is an all-hands-on-deck anything from form and level in the shopping field all the way up and so brought an easel out to this lake house and just drew up financials of all right, here's our revenue, here's our cogs, here's the overhead, just building a very simple P&L statement. And then the number at the end you saw the wide eyes because people were like that's not good. That is not good because it was a deep number in the red, and we spent the following couple hours on what are we gonna do? What is our anthem here? And so the theme for the year we had two Mission $1, which, if we can make $1 this year, what a profound success. And then the goal board for that year was every step counts. So every decision, every ounce of help, every bid, every material order, like everything we're doing, matters, and so how do we lean into that? And so not only did we end that year in the black, but it set up this launch pad for the following year, because we were so connected on a common goal, a common theme, a common purpose, and united regardless of department, that it just spiked us and that came with its own growing pains.

Speaker 1: 11:51

But even my vision was small with that. I wasn't trying to come up with something grand to build the future. I was focused on that year and we are in a grind, survival season and we did it together and I couldn't do it without all of those awesome people. But just to watch the unity in that strategic retreat was magical. You got to include your people, you got to be transparent with them, you got to share what's the cost, you got to share what's the goal. What are we up against? And if you're trying to wrestle with that as the leader by yourself and you're making decisions and having emotional decisions based on the fear of what's happening on that proverbial easel, they're not going to know any better and they're just going to think that you're just treating people bad and you haven't welcomed people into that journey so they can help in that journey.

Speaker 2: 12:47

Yeah, it's another thing that I get to do. You're first. I'll just say you're amazing, bro. You get me hyped, and particularly because of your approach to business, not just because you're an author and motivator, but because of your mindset around business A lot of.

Speaker 2: 13:03

I've worked with a lot of leaders that have been in that exact situation and they did not adjust the goal. They said figure it out, these are our goals. I don't want your excuses, and one of my takeaways was man, we're in a creek and not the good one, and so our goal is going to be $1 in the black, which how big that was for the organization, and you also know how big that was in terms of swallowing down and having to manage some ego and some pride and et cetera. But what it did, what it sounds like it did, was it helped get everybody on board and understand hey, this is a purposeful thing. If we hit this, we know how hard it's going to be. There's going to be a celebration, but it really means something way more than just you got to go sell, you got to improve production, you got to do better. You got to know we still have to do those things, but we're going to adjust the goal.

Speaker 2: 14:06

Now here's a question. You said it Every step counts. Now, when we're faced, when organizations are faced with revenue problems and earnings problems, especially revenue, it's easy for them to get in a situation where they take every job. And so here's my question Is, in that situation, what criteria did you use, or even do you use now, to make sure you're not selecting work that causes you to deviate and detach from your company and personal values? Oh, that's a great question.

Speaker 1: 14:43

You're full of great questions, I think, much like life, with your own personal journey. Your character is revealed in the tough times. It's easy to show a good face when you're on the peaks, but what does it look like in the valleys? Same with business, like when we were hitting that season. I don't know why it's a lot of companies or leaders natural tendency to abandon the things that got them there, most importantly the people. So, like, why would you shift from focusing on them and, like completely pivot the mindset and the strategy to financial or die, when financials are the byproduct of the people? So this was an opportunity to fully lean in, and not so much.

Speaker 1: 15:27

The funny thing is, the byproduct also became sales, but it was our performance on jobs. Hey, we sold this job at X margin. That's the basement, no profit fade whatsoever. We got to crush this thing. We have more resources than typically we do to execute less work. We got to hammer it and we ended up pulling up several of those jobs. Rather than profit fade, we pulled up the budget, but that performance like auto sold our next jobs, yeah. So it was like oh, we're willing, you got our back, we're going to sign you up. And so there's a couple of things there.

Speaker 1: 16:04

Looking in the past, looking forward, I am we have bumpers on what we're trying to go after and I'm using a baseball analogy. We're going to hit doubles, we want to hit doubles and so we can. We're not going to compete in that in the zero to probably 500,000 contract area, 500 to 6 millions where we're trying to live, and the big towers, all that sort of stuff, the home runs we're not ready for that yet. And owning that and I used to failures, looking in the mirror I'd go straight into a contractor's office with my, with my slugger double barrel bat, like I'm going straight for grand slam times and some of the biggest jobs and you and I have been on one in particular they caused the biggest headaches. If the other team is not being proactive with their processes, that rolls downhill and then you start being more reactive and it causes chaos and I'm not saying it can't be done, but it's just it's not our lane right now and we need to stay in this lane and it's a very difficult thing to do, especially in this journey. We're in startup mode and you get a job that's more of a home run and then analogy and that dopamine hit comes in.

Speaker 1: 17:14

But then you got to remember to the earlier point we just said tether a statement to it. At what cost? Yeah, that's a pretty building, but at the cost of profit? Fade, maybe stroke a check for it. Turnover turmoil at your house. Is it worth doing that pretty thing if you're not ready for it? Of course not. So have a statement tethered to it, have bumpers, and what's fun is? We're on tour right now, going to GC's offices, and Texas is all about relationships and reputation. It really is, and they're latching on to the baseball analogy, but they now know this is a double. We're probably a good candidate for it, and we can't bid everything to every person where our staff is like fractional to all the GC's out there. We got to protect what we're going after, and when we say we're going to go after it, though, just communicate it. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 18:04

I know the discipline it takes to detach from that big, sexy high-prile project where everybody can see the vest and the signs and the hard hats from the highway and I also know the pain of going after that damn thing. Now I am fortunate in that I can say I didn't make that decision, it was made for me. But I know the pain, that growing pain. The revenue game that kind of ends up happening just keeps selling revenue earnings are dwindling because we went after the big sexy thing instead of doubles baby, just hit them. Doubles Phenomenal.

Speaker 2: 18:44

I think the phenomenal takeaway there for hopefully some business leaders that are going to hear this is have the bumpers and ask the question at what cost? What strain is this going to put on my people, on my family, on the business? Another thing and I know people love hearing this are GC brethren this statement, because everybody is talking about how they finish on schedule and they finish on budget. Right, that's the sell. And same question at what cost? Because the GC staff is largely salary, so you have no idea how many hours those people put in to get on schedule and on budget. What I mean by that what is the cost? Failed marriages, substance abuse, addiction right, the suicide thing that everybody's talking about. Nobody's saying we finished on schedule and on budget and 12 of our people got divorced. One person is on anti-depressants and none of them had a vacation. They rescheduled, canceled dinners, mistracitals, missball games because all of those things are true too. All they say is on schedule and on budget. What do you think of that?

Speaker 1: 20:00

It's spot on. What is your currency? If your currency is just dollars and cents, maybe one, but our currency is purpose, and so, if we're living the literal name of our company, mount Movers, we're focusing on bettering people's lives, not making them work to the bone and nights and weekends expected, and we're in startup mode, so that's a little bit of an urgent moment. We got this rocket ship. It does need to go straight up before it can go into orbit.

Speaker 2: 20:31

There's no doubt about it.

Speaker 1: 20:32

But those established companies like, what are you driving towards? And so I'm a bit of a control freak and one of the things that I never want, god willing, stripped away again is our purpose and our vision and because it means everything to me and so PE firm none of that's trying to drive the top line up, no matter what we get to control those bumpers and what's, when you really reflect on this are like our tradespeople that do work hourly in our job costed for so long they've been beat down and working overtime that now all of a sudden they crave that overtime because they don't think there's another way to live. And part of moving mountains is I'm not trying to strip away your money. Let me help you with financial freedom, like things that have nothing to do with construction. Let me prove to you that if we take you back from 60 hours a week to 40, you will still be able to live a good life financially.

Speaker 1: 21:34

Dr Justin Marchegiani, yep. Marriage improves, your family improves, like you get to go to the ball games and recitals. And if we're doing 40s throughout the life of the project and 50 is like the exception chances are we're performing at a high level on that job. That's going to create future jobs, that creates opportunity for promotion. So like when you could crystal ball all of that. We build the believers, but it has been our fault as office folk to build the opposite narrative out there, that it's a must in order to live. And it's not. It's just we created that narrative and now we're trying to unwind it a little bit, person by person, dr Justin.

Speaker 2: 22:16

Marchegiani. Oh man, so what comes across is ownership, and it reminds me of one of the chapters in your book where you're talking about playing defense and playing offense, and when I heard that, I'm like offense is ownership meaning not I owned a company. Taking ownership for every decision that I make, for every action that I take or don't take, taking ownership of my contribution to the situation, is offense. Now you also touch on accountability in there and that concept. I have a strained relationship with the word and the way people treat it, so I'd like to know what are your? How do you think about accountability?

Speaker 1: 23:03

Dr Justin Marchegiani, there is always an opportunity in every scenario for you to look in the mirror of a way you could have been better. So let me use a practical construction example. Somebody ordered the wrong glass and I immediately I would say you have no idea, but you absolutely have an idea of how easy of a mistake that is that causes major catastrophe. And so this girl ordered this glass and I could take it out on her as her boss, or I could look in the mirror and say what did she have to assume? What checks and balances do we not have? Was she just flying without a process? There's a bunch of evaluations you can do as a leader to take ownership of that and I love always to make this principle consistent. Like you have an up and down arrow, put communication up and assumption down. So at the root of all things was there increased communication. That was needed because an assumption was made and when you start root causing a lot of mistakes that are made. I assumed she had it. I assumed he had it. I assumed this was the right glass because it was approved by the architect. Assume an assumption should be a cuss word in your process. If you've had to assume something. That should give you the chills a little bit.

Speaker 1: 24:24

What kind of increased communication is needed? It almost feels fake at first. When you try this on and I know you made a mistake. I'm looking at Jesse and I'm like I know we did this, but I'm trying this thing on for size, this is my fault. And then you like it's like a fake it to. You make it. That's probably healthy because it eventually leads to some freedom. Yep, you own it and you're like, ah, that's my fault, like I should have done X. And all of a sudden, more and more, you start figuring out oh, you are at fault, like there was something you could have done better and that person that made that mistake. They're probably beating themselves up more than anybody else possibly could.

Speaker 1: 25:04

So it's an opportunity to train, it's an opportunity to show grace and obviously there's limitations to that if the person's not getting it repeatedly and maybe there's a shift that's needed. But there's always an evaluation in the mirror, even when it comes to that point. If you had to let somebody go from your business, well, what did your hiring look like? Look in the mirror. You hired that person, man it's. There's always some ownership. And look in the mirror, regardless of where you're at in the organization, where you're at in life, and when you can start doing that, you get more control over your life. Because you can't, it's harder to control what other people are doing. It's easiest to control what you are doing. So, with every condition and scenario, increase your communication and also look in the mirror, as scary as that can be at times, like there's always an opportunity to be better with who you are.

Speaker 2: 25:58

Yeah. So, kevin, what came across there was personal accountability, and I had a feeling that's where you were, because I'm in the same boat. You cannot hold me accountable for anything. I am either an accountable person or not, and I am accountable to the commitments that I have made. I am accountable to the outcomes of my decisions, et cetera, and it drives me, but I shouldn't say it that way. There's a general practice from a lot of people that talk about. The problem is we don't have accountability, and I'm like that's true, but I think the way they're confusing accountability with consequences and that's a different thing. What are your thoughts on that?

Speaker 1: 26:50

The biggest thing I started thinking about is if you're the leader. It doesn't matter if you're the leader, but I'm going to try it for this example If you're the leader and you show accountability, I botch that. You've just given permission to the people around you to show accountability. But if you act like you got it all together, you're setting an unrealistic standard to the people around you. This is what I'm expecting. My expectation is perfection and I get it like strive for perfection and then, even if you fall short, it's excellence, whatever those quotes are. But you also got to communicate when you screw up, like it's an opportunity to own it and increase your accountability, to not let it happen again, to try and root cause it. But you've given your people permission to now run with that.

Speaker 1: 27:36

And, man, that is something we coach, because what happens is in that proactive versus reactive, you make a mistake and you're too scared to tell anybody and you start sweeping it under the rug.

Speaker 1: 27:47

And then, all of a sudden, it compiles and, rather than addressing it in the moment, this thing that wasn't fireable is now fireable because it percolated, it built, it grew, and now all of a sudden, it's the we're telling the GC the day we were supposed to be there like a train wreck of an answer and it could have been. We found out three weeks ago and yet, communication up, assumption down, three weeks ago I called the GC and say, hey, man, we screwed up and it's going to be ugly and I don't have a solution for you right now. But we're working on it and just know that we're taking this very serious and in the moment, like I'm not trying to make this a movie where you get a big hug at the end, he's probably they're going to yell and scream and swear, maybe like all the things are coming, but in the longevity of relationship and reputation they will remember that you flagged it when it was an issue and you did whatever you could. And what's funny about the construction is in some weird wacky way that might enhance your relationship with that person, because nobody's perfect.

Speaker 1: 28:57

Construction is still a very human business and there's going to be mistakes made and it's like they own it. Did they come with solutions? How did they finish on the other side of those mistakes? Just own it. Even if you don't have a solution, just raise the flag.

Speaker 2: 29:12

So three things come through, kevin. One bad news early is good news. Two, it's another data point on the value of vulnerability, because calling a GC before you even out there to say, hey, we dropped the ball, we stepped in it, that's huge vulnerability. And the third thing is people remember how you finish more than how they went through the whole thing. What do you think about that third point?

Speaker 1: 29:44

I agree completely. I can give you countless examples of let's call it a mountain in your life right, or a mountain in your business. Now let's go from personal to business. That mountain is that ugly job, the ugly duckling, the one that got you, but, let's say with high character, you're continuing to fight through it.

Speaker 1: 30:04

I've had times where I've thought in my head so and so, will never go with us again, and it was, quite honestly, the exact opposite. It was man, yeah, we screwed up. We had 39 other subcontractors screwing up around every corner on this job. Like you guys owned it and you reacted and you showed effort and tenacity and honesty. No, you're now our preferred person, because that's anti-historical to our industry. You're scratching your head. Well, that doesn't make any sense. But then put yourself in that person's shoes. So, as a specialty contractor, if I have a vendor that screwed up but own their mistake, the exact same thing we're saying I'm going to trust them a lot more with the next one rather than the one like I'm beaten down the door, like, hey, my material is supposed to be here today. Where is it? And that's the first time that person's looking into the order status and you're like, oh, like this. That's one I'm going to distance myself from. So it's proactive communication and that's tying to your earlier point. That's how playing offense is vulnerability and accountability 100%.

Speaker 2: 31:11

Now you mentioned those jobs, right, the ones that you learned the most, from which are, like, never the good ones or highly profitable ones, or at least in my history and you've also you're very gracious and sharing some of your come up With that comes the dark shadow, and you talk about this in your book the dark shadow hanging over your shoulders. What is the dark shadow and how can people manage that?

Speaker 1: 31:43

Yeah, the dark shadow for me could be like the mountain of temptation, the mountain of being reactionary to things. My shadow can be a false identity that I'm still holding onto, like a fake ID, like this person of the past, like where that's not even me anymore. That's not even me anymore. Yet like if I let that shadow grow around me, I'll start thinking of items from the past, almost to the point not almost to the point where my heart starts being real fast and I get flushed like I, because the temptation gets so strong. And what I've been using when that shadow builds up is it's not in the book, but something that I've been doing some really deep work on lately is predecisions of mindset and so identifying some areas of weakness in my life. Like we work on all these things right, we work on processes, sops, building goals, purpose, but then we let our noggin run wild. And this is, and what's going on in your brain? Like it's, am I watching the movie or am I writing the script? So am I just sitting back when I wake up and just letting the things come into my brain and I process them as I come to them? Or am I taking it to it and saying no, we're not going to think about that. And so areas of weakness for me are.

Speaker 1: 33:07

The first one I wrestled with was being present. I felt like I was either always in the past or always in the future, and that shadow is the past trying to devour me. And I had one statement for that area of weakness what is my next thought? So I came from a book the Power of Now. You read an entire book and if you get one sentence from it, I guess it works. And so when my brain's going crazy, I go what is my next thought? And just for a millisecond I feel empty and I actually just felt a peace and calm, just saying it. Now, yeah, and it's not one and done, I have to do it hundreds of times but what it uncovered was I'm not just wrestling with the past or future, I'm wrestling with fantasy land, like things that will never happen, that I have this fake argument with this person that cut me off in traffic, or the HOA guy that is terrorizing our neighborhood by calling everybody out and like, like thinking about strangling the person. I'm like what is this? And so, like a fantasy land, I have to tag that's an area of weakness. Now, what is my statement? And it's what's the big deal? And all of a sudden I now have the statement to disarm it.

Speaker 1: 34:11

So sorry, I'm very long winded in my answers, for if you got that shadow that feels like in he or she that shadows come in usually when you're trying to do better and usually when you're on the cusp of a breakthrough that shadow gets bigger and bigger. Identify that shadow and then what is a statement you could say to lower that shadow and drop it down. And let me tell you I have an onion layer of seven, eight, nine different areas of weakness that I have statements to all of them. But it started with one.

Speaker 1: 34:45

It started with being present and I'm having trouble sleeping. I'm not sleeping at night and it's being present. It's not a light switch that I could just turn off at the end of the day. I need to work it throughout the day in order to give me a better chance to sleep. But then that uncovered fantasy, land, anger, temptation, people over God, like there's man. There's a lot of discovery and there's just start with one identify what that shadow is that creeps up on you and just know that's a mountain, that's an area of weakness. And what kind of statement can you say inside your brain or out loud to somebody to help fight it?

Speaker 2: 35:23

And Kevin, you have been ultra generous in terms of the value that you've shared in this conversation and I know you're going to shift some minds of the LNM family and I want to know what is the promise you are intended to be?

Speaker 1: 35:39

The promise I'm intended to be.

Speaker 1: 35:41

Yes, just living out my purpose.

Speaker 1: 35:44

And my purpose is building an army of mountain movers, one person at a time, and removing myself from that purpose and just trying to become the best version of me that I can be so I can help others.

Speaker 1: 35:57

And that's my goal, that's my life's mission, and I lean into it as hard as I can each day. I don't always get it right, but when I do fall down, I dust myself off and I get back up and I don't stay down for long, and it's a purpose worth fighting for, because I'll never be there and I don't want to go back to what I was. So all the more reason to keep fighting for helping people and a lot of people need help, and I would just encourage you if you're facing mountains in your life, identify them, understand that you can get through it. I don't care what it is. You can get through it with the help of the people around you and working some of the tools, tips and tricks that we're talking about today, because you're worth it and you have so much more to offer this world than you can possibly imagine, and it'll blow your mind if you lean into something bigger than yourself.

Speaker 2: 36:48

Oh, amazing, amazing. So let's say somebody right now they're like oh my God, I need more of Kevin. Where do they go? Where do they get the podcast? Where do they get the book? Where do they get the public speaking events, consulting, construction services, all of the above.

Speaker 1: 37:04

So I have, for the speaking and the book, mountmoverarmycom and the book Mount Mover Manual. It's on Amazon, it's on Audible and Kindle, so we have the three options available. And then for the glazing company, it's mountmoverfasadscom. So that's my home base, that's my baby that we get to live out the purpose not just in talking but walking. So I'm super excited about that as well. And, man, it's been a fun conversation, jesse. I'm glad you asked me to be a part of it and love hearing your ideas. I'll show you I got post-its everywhere from things, nuggets that you were dropping, like I need to lean back into that If we move past. It's always learning, man, and so I appreciate you. Yeah, man, I like my.

Speaker 2: 37:45

Kevin, I hope you had fun. I think you said you did, and I think we're gonna have to hang out. I'm gonna have to find an excuse to come harass you and kick some ideas around with you here in the future sometime. Done, mm, mm, mm, mm. What did I tell you? That Kevin Carrey man? He got me all lit up.

Speaker 2: 38:05

I don't know if you could tell that I was pretty enthused by the topics and subjects that we covered, particularly when we started talking about this lean stuff, and really hearing it for the second and third time was very meaningful to me because he explained as part of this conversation, how some folks kind of treat lean right. There's some people that totally ignore the human being and are only focused on improving the process and streamlining outcomes. My heart was tickled a bit when he mentioned that my presentation, or what he picked up from when I was laying down in terms of lean, was that it's entirely focused on making things better for the men and women that are doing the work, and sweat equity improvement, which happens to be the sponsor of this episode, is a system specifically designed to help us understand how to improve the work, focused on making it better for the people that are doing the work. Q1 2024 registration is open for virtual sweat equity improvement.

Speaker 2: 39:13

The first night of class is January 10th. It's gonna be online at 6 pm central and there's like sign up now. There's only nine seats left. I hope that you'll be signing up, I hope that you'll come out and if not, I still love you. Be cool and we'll talk at you next time. Peace.