The Small Business Saturdays Podcast with Aaron Montgomery · Aaron Montgomery

From Stasis to Action

·55 min·2 clips

"What's the first thing I can do? Oh, here we go. I can pick up my phone."

1. Small Business Saturdays, hosted by Aaron Montgomery, covers "From Stasis to Action," built on Zig Ziglar's quote "you don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great." 2. Aaron Montgomery runs Success Group and says he has been around small businesses for 40-plus years, starting in his father's accounting firm. 3. His thesis is that "action, or lack thereof" is the common thread in small-business success or failure, with 85% of small businesses not reaching their idea of success. 4. He cites Merriam-Webster's definition of stasis, "little or no evolutionary change," and says a little stasis helps with measuring and feedback but too much turns the comfort zone into a trap. 5. He defines intentional action as asking whether an action moves you closer to a goal, contrasts it with "busy work," and invokes Einstein's line on doing the same thing and expecting different results. 6. He plays Jack Canfield's video advising listeners to chunk a goal such as getting out of debt into a first step like booking an appointment with a financial advisor, then to find an accountability partner and favor steady progress, citing Aesop's tortoise and hare. 7. Canfield also says growth requires leaving the "zone of familiarity," a phrase he credits to colleague Kathleen Seeley, and closes with Lao Tzu's "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." 8. Aaron answers live comments from Jerry (a daily written checklist), Wendy (fear of failure and judgment when setting goals) and Chuck (an overwhelming daily schedule), suggesting Chuck plan only the next three hours or 15 minutes. 9. He argues that "our reasons have to be bigger than our excuses," rejects the "hundred thousand dollar club" as a universal definition of success, and ties his own purpose to his top strength, significance. 10. Best for small-business owners stuck planning instead of acting.

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