The Pursuit of Laughter and Improvement

David Lowe 0:00

You know , grace , I want to laugh more . I laugh a lot and I want to laugh more . It's part of my pursuit of being better today than yesterday . Why do I want to laugh more ? Stay tuned to this episode .

David Lowe 0:22

Hi guys . I'm Lupoi and and I'm here with David Lowe , the automotive sales coach , and you said that you want to— and you can't stop laughing , can you ? No , I can't stop laughing , I can't stop laughing . So we always say to salespeople if you're laughing , you're doing it right , right , and if your customer's laughing , they're buying . So this is true , right , that's very true . So it're talking about laughter , right , the power of laughter in our life . So , really , what we're talking about is better today than yesterday .

David Lowe 0:48

So I was telling my team that I've adopted this thing , where I have these things . I want to be better . In my life there's things I want to do better and , by the way , it's funny , I've been working on the same things for many years . Things for many years . There's things I value , who I am , how I behave , how I think , how I act . That I value really , like patience , I value , and I struggle with it . So I'm constantly battling my nature . I want to be better . I'm not going to give into it . I'm going to become better by seeking to become better , right ? And so how do you and I got this list and how do you work on yourself with such ? It's so overwhelming when you look at that list .

David Lowe 1:35

So why not do what Ben Franklin did and Ogbendino did in Greatest Salesman in the World , right ? Why not focus on one area of your life that you want to improve Really , focus on it for a period of time and then move to the next ? Does that make sense ? It does so . You know , whenever we do training , I tell I've got heroes , not perfect people . King David , who I'm named after , not a perfect person , but boy . I could learn a lot from him . Solomon , which we talk a lot about in training , his books of wisdom not a perfect person , but boy , I could learn a lot from him .

David Lowe 2:05

Solomon , which we talk a lot about in training , in his books of wisdom not a perfect person , but wow . And we have Ben Franklin . I talk about him a lot . Abe Lincoln , there's people John Wooden , there's people that we talk about , vince Lombardi .

David Lowe 2:17

There's people that have really impacted me in my life , and Ben Franklin really probably was one of the biggest impacts because of his . He was so smart , right , he had all these patents , developed all this technology , if you will , in a day , was so rich , so powerful . I mean , there's so many things he did for this country . If you don't know who Ben Franklin is , start reading up here . Truly inspiring to read . But anyway , I started using a Franklin planner years and years ago . Before computers , right , we had a day planner we carried around right , and before the cell phone , before the smartphone , and so I did some studying and that's how I got really deep into Ben Franklin .

David Lowe 3:01

And the thing that inspired me about Ben Franklin is , smart and rich as he was . He woke up every day and said what will I learn today and what good can I do today ? Right , that's awesome . He was a student and I thought , if the smartest man around should be doing that , I should quit telling people what I know and start finding out what I don't . Now , by the way , think and grow rich . We've talked about before . That's what it said .

David Lowe 3:25

The best of the best know what they know . They're always trying to figure out what they don't know , and I think in our society today , people are kind of protecting themselves with this ego . You know , you can't tell me anything . I already know everything . You know . Anytime . Any point of teaching , training or correction is seen as a personal insult . It's such garbage . When did you become perfect ? Right , right , right . So our ability , I think we said in one of the episodes we were talking about my journey , I think it was my humility . When I say humility , I mean I knew I sucked and I wanted to be better . That's what I think humility is . I know I could be better than I am and I think that humility is a key fashion and success , and it's missing in America , anyway .

David Lowe 4:11

So , ben Franklin , I studied him . What will I learn today ? What will I do today ? Well , he also had this other thing . He had 13 virtues he wanted in his life Silence , temperance , humility . These are things that he wanted .

David Lowe 4:27

So what he did was he listed them on a side of a paper and then he put the days of the week across the top and for one week , let's say , he worked on silence . For one week he focused on developing that in his life . Right , try to listen more , speak less . Praise . When I feel like praising , say it . When I feel like criticizing , hold my you know silence the power of silence . And so he'd work on it a week and then he'd move on to the next one Temperance , right . He didn't want to eat to dullness or drink to elevation right . So he wanted to manage and , by the way , he struggled with that his whole life . You could read about that . So these aren't things that he possessed , necessarily , things that he possessed a certain percentage of that he wanted more of in his life .

David Lowe 5:15

So he listed these virtues or values and he said I want these in my life , and to get them in my life , I have to be intentional . Right , I got to have a plan . Nothing good ever just happens , it just doesn't . You got to make it happen . You don't just learn to play the piano , you don't learn a second language just by wanting to . You got to have a plan . You got to take action . Right . So he had this plan and , of course , from that the Franklin Planner was born , from these things that he did . And in fact , when the Franklin Planner started , there was a big discussion about what Ben Franklin did and how he did it and how taking some time every day and self-reflection could be really powerful in your life . And so it's been powerful in my life for over three decades , obviously still totally imperfect and right .

David Lowe 6:06

I still struggle , but I'm focused on being better today than yesterday , and that pursuit of my best self gives me a healthy pride . It's not the attainment of all these virtues , it's the pursuit that creates healthy . None of us are going to be perfect until so . Let's talk about laughter . Okay , so that's one of my 13, . Let's say I want to have laughter in my life and so I'm going to focus on it and I'm going to make May the month of laughter . Right , that's my month for laughter , and I'm going to really say I want to laugh more .

David Lowe 6:41

Now , before I begin this journey , the question is , why do I want to laugh more ? I mean , right , yeah , now you know I'm a big Seinfeld freak . I love Seinfeld . In fact , I reference the episodes here all the time . All the time I love laughing . The King of Cries . There's so many comedies that I watch because I like what they do to me . I like in the car Sometimes I'm having a you know , you ever wake up and you're kind of just off . So on my drive I'll put the comedians from the dry bar comedy on and I'll listen to that on my way to work .

David Lowe 7:19

Laughter has a way of producing the chemicals in your brain that change you from negative to positive , from fear to peace , right From anxiety to joy . I mean , it just really does . Laughter is so powerful in our life , and so I love to laugh , and it's easy in your pursuit of personal excellence and for our company to do what we want to do , to impact a number of people we want to impact . We get so caught up in the grind we forget to laugh . It's so easy and I don't feel good . When I don't do that right . I wake up and say you can have everything and be miserable . Why do it right ? So laughter does it matter ? It really matters to me . Does it improve my personal life ? Absolutely ? Does it improve my professional life ? Absolutely ? So I should cultivate this habit of laughter , right ? Okay , so I know what I want and I know why I want it . The question is how do I get it now Right ? So I do . I've already have some things in mind , but I'll tell you one thing that's really powerful .

David Lowe 8:22

If you guys haven't read it yet , I don't get an endorsement from this . I don't get a fee every time you buy a book . I used to carry a trunk full of them to hand out . But when I started with half a car in the 90s , while we were waiting for the interview , there was no smartphones . I had a bag phone with roaming charges . There was no internet . They handed us this during a two-day interview to read , and it's changed my life . I've carried it ever since and in this book , the Greatest Salesman in the World , ogmandino , tells a fictional story and at the end , this fictional story about this great salesman contains these 10 scrolls .

David Lowe 8:58

These scrolls are the key to success , is what this book says . I will tell you . They are . They're undisputed . All of them are biblical . They're 3,000 years old

Improving Life Through Daily Accountability

David Lowe 9:07

.

David Lowe 9:07

Aguilandino put them in a really usable format , right . But so these scrolls go through and I'm not going to take you through them . I'd encourage you to get the book and read it . You won't regret it . I don't know , it's eight bucks or something like that . Maybe not even that much . Huh , maybe not even that much . Yeah , you're going to use it , right ? It's like one of the number one published books in print . Anyway , the scrolls at the end .

David Lowe 9:30

I only read the story once , but the scrolls at the end I read all the time . You know , scroll number one I'll form good habits and become their slave . Scroll number two I'll live this day as if it's my life . Powerful principles , right ? Scroll number nine I'll act now so you can see how the principles that drive success are contained . Anyway , I'm just going to skip the scroll number seven .

David Lowe 9:55

Guess what it's marked I will laugh at the world . Here's what Agamondino says no living creature can laugh except man , right ? So this is a big thing , and he makes some great points in here . I will smile and my digestion will improve . In this book , in these scrolls , he's doing these affirmations of I will laugh at the world . And why do I want to do that ? Because man is most comical when he takes himself too seriously . I love that line in here . That's a great one . So part of my routine is going to be to feed my laugh factory from Seinfeld .

David Lowe 10:30

I like to watch a comedy before bed every night . I like to watch comedies when I prepare , when I'm exercising . I like to listen . Comedies when I prepare , when I'm exercising . I like to listen to comedy . I just like comedians , and it's things that make me laugh and really make fun of us as people . I mean , who are we anyway ? We're hurtling through space and we're making all these mistakes and yet we end up taking ourselves . It's almost comical how and anyway . But I'm also going to get back to reading this . So I'm reading this now every single day .

David Lowe 10:58

When I started with this , I read every scroll for 30 days , three times a day . Hard to do , not really hard to do , hard to commit to . I probably missed two days out of 10 months . I carry it with me everywhere . It's hilarious . Read it in the morning , read it at lunch . That really impacted my life .

David Lowe 11:15

Really programming yourself with who you want to be . We're getting programmed anyway . Why not do that ? So in May I want to laugh more . I know why I want to laugh more and now I've got to make a plan to do it . Now I've got to track myself . Ben Franklin tracked himself . So on my calendar every day , I've got it right , did it right ? At the end of the day , my plan is self-reflection .

David Lowe 11:40

How did I do today ? What areas did I blow it ? In other words , I should have laughed and made the mistake . Or the hill ? I made it smaller , really brought it to the right size . Maybe I should have laughed at an insult instead of responding . Right , somebody says an insult . You say well , that's not true . You can say right , and you know you could turn . It's a lot better that way , right ? So I would self-examine at the end of the day and say I did really well today in these areas .

David Lowe 12:13

Here's the areas of opportunity . And if I do that , I believe , every day for 30 days , I will strengthen Something's already a strength in my life , but I want more of it . Does that make sense ? It does . So what do you want , grace ? Have you thought about what are my 13 things ? What do you want and why do you want it ? And what will you do to put it in your life ? And how are you going to hold yourself accountable ? Isn't that four steps ? Right , there , it is . What do you want ? Why do you want it ? In other words , what's the benefit if you do ? What's the loss if you don't ? Right ? Right Three , what's the action plan ? What are you going to do ? And number four how are you going to hold yourself accountable ?

David Lowe 13:00

This is an easy format that you can use to improve your life today . It doesn't matter what area Now . Maybe it's physical fitness , right ? Maybe I've got a lot of them . Silence is a good one , right . How about this one ? Maybe asking questions instead of making statements . That's another one . Right , you're from the Dale Carnegie School , being more curious and ask good follow-up questions , right ? Maybe there's things you want to focus on in your personal life , maybe there's things in your professional life .

David Lowe 13:32

We had a guy come in here and say my wife and I decided to kiss for six seconds at a time I'm not going to mention Mike Price's name , but he did it and what a powerful thing . So they made a decision what do we want in our life and why ? Right . And then what are we going to do to make sure it happens ? And now they're looking at these results .

David Lowe 13:52

What's my accountability ? I like the checklist and I like the self-examination for accountability . I got to keep myself in track and I think so many people go wrong races because , like , if I'm not 100% , I failed . That's garbage . You ride , you fall , you get back on your bike and you ride again . Then you fall less . You're still going to fall , but you fall less frequently the better you get .

David Lowe 14:17

So I think , as we develop the sense of better today than yesterday , we say what do I really want and what should I work on right now ? Now you can do the Ben Franklin for a week , or you can do them for a month . I'm happily right now doing for a month . I'm happily right now doing for a month . I've done many things at once . I've done them for a week and I've done them for a month and I've found since I've been working on these areas in my life in different ways , I'm mindful of them , and now I just want to really deep dive .

David Lowe 14:51

And so the laughter part is what's coming on ? Make sense . I love it . Yeah , so we talk to salespeople every day . You're in dealerships . You think there's areas of their lives they want to improve . I think so .

David Lowe 15:02

I know so , yeah , so could this formula be used by anyone ? What do you want ? Why do you want it ? In other words , what's the benefit of doing it ? What's the pain of action or the pain of regret ? What are you going to do ? What are you going to do and what is the plan ? You've got to have a plan . And finally , of course , how are you going to keep yourself ? What's the accountability in there ? We all need accountability , a checklist , self-examination . What are you going to do to do it All right ? So today's episode was really focused on . I want to laugh more , was really kind of the table we used for it . But really , what it's about is being better today than yesterday and coming up with a plan to

Developing Yourself Through Replicable Science

David Lowe 15:42

do it .

David Lowe 15:42

I wanted to demonstrate that we practice what we preach right . These aren't theories . So many people want to tell you their theory . We're not interested in theories . I'm interested in replicatable science , things that I can observe and replicate right , and this is something I've observed and can replicate as much as I want . It's a science . Developing yourself is a science , right ? So any last words about this , grace , I don't think so . Okay , so let's encourage our team . If you're out there , make your list . Start with that . Make your list . What do I want to improve ? And then guess what . Pick one thing and either focus on for the week or for the month , but make sure you do your four-step plan . What do I want , why do I want it , what am I going to do to get it and how am I going to keep myself accountable ? All right , till next time . Good selling .