The 8 Common Practices of Uncommon Leaders: Move from Thought to Action | John Gallagher

You can train for a Spartan race, ship a book, and build a career that looks successful, yet still get stuck behind the same invisible wall: fear. We flip the script and put John Gallagher in the guest seat to talk about the real drivers behind uncommon leadership, from the high school moment where popularity influenced a big decision to the later seasons where he learned to stop waiting until he felt “worthy” to make the ask. 

We dig into the heart of his new book, The Eight Common Practices of Uncommon Leaders, and the idea that leadership growth is less about hype and more about practices you repeat. John shares why Philippians 4:8 is a mindset filter, but Philippians 4:9 is the challenge that matters most: put it into practice. That theme runs through everything, including the 86,400-second reminder that time never stops, so we have to decide what deserves our attention and learn to say no to good things to say yes to legacy-level work.  

You’ll also hear the four-part approach John uses to beat “the beast” of fear: prayer, accountability, reflection, and action. We talk handwritten “care cards” as a surprisingly powerful relationship-building tool, plus a framework for giving hard feedback with both truth and grace. We wrap with the day 91 mindset and a legacy question you won’t forget: who will write your name on their list of people who made a difference?  

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Transcript

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Fear, Time, And Choosing Impact

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Ultimately, for me, it was this fear of failure that drove me, which was ultimately about letting others down. When I was able to change that a little bit in terms of moving that to letting myself down, it changes things out. But many times early in my career, I didn't make the ask that I wanted to because I just thought I wasn't worthy or I thought I wasn't ready. Sometimes we gotta say no to other things that are good so we can say yes to the things that are gonna make a difference, that are gonna have an impact, that are gonna leave a legacy ultimately for generations to come. We all have the same mind 86,400 seconds in the day. So it's how we use those seconds in the day to make that happen.

Role Reversal And Leadership Roots

SPEAKER_00 1:00

I'm gonna be helping John out today. We're gonna switch roles with him a little bit today and introduce him here just for a minute, tell you what I know about John. And as much as he's a fantastic big brother to me, John has accomplished many things in his career that have helped me grow into an uncommon leader on my side as well. Anywhere from a CEO of Growing Champions to working with IBM and a realtor. He is a fantastic husband, father, brother, son, all of the above. Everybody that interacts with John really grows around him. So what we're gonna do today is we're gonna have we're gonna turn the rules on him a little bit and we're going to interview him so you guys get to know a little bit about John on the other side as well. So with that, I will say John, thanks for trusting me to uh do this with you today.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

We got it, bro. I'm looking forward to this conversation. And sitting on the other side of the microphone maybe doesn't feel quite as fun, but I'm looking forward to the conversation today. It's just as important. And let's let's have a lot of fun with it.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Well, I'm gonna treat this just like any other Growing Champions podcast. We're gonna start you off with you tell us a story about some time in your life that has led you to where you are now.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Yeah, as I thought about this in terms of ultimately where our conversation's going today, I had a feeling you might give me my own medicine with regards to that first question, although it's not my first time on the Uncommon Leader podcast as a guest. We've done this before. But the the story that came to mind for me, and it goes back into uh high school, and and I'm going back a little bit. So we didn't have you know the computer screen so much, we're just getting into Atari and things like that. But no doubt you and I both, as we grew up, we were involved in sports, and for me it was it was year-round. It was three sports year-round basketball, football, and baseball. And I got to a point in high school where it was getting pretty busy at home. Dad said, Hey, you got to pick two, you can't do three anymore, and this is not gonna work anymore. And you know, I look at that opportunity, I evaluate, I said, What am I gonna do? Again, basketball was clearly one that was gonna stick with me. That was my favorite sport by far. But then I wanted to choose between football and and uh baseball. And when I look back on that decision, I I feel like I it's not a regret, that'd probably be too tough of a word to look at, but certainly it was a decision that I allowed the popular and what everybody else thought uh to drive my decision a little bit more than what I was good at and what I was passionate about. So I chose football over baseball. And again, it's it's not a regret. I had the opportunity to be on the first state championship football team there at Brook High School, and also I got to play a lot in basketball. But as I look back on that and I think about where I am today, there were definitely opportunities that I was probably better at baseball, even got you know, baseball sitting here. I didn't I wasn't great. I only hit one home run. There it is, 45 years ago in terms of that one home run ball that was there. But it was something I was better at, and uh, but I I really chose kind of what others were thinking. And that's framed a lot of what my leadership has done today in terms of doing hard stuff and not just doing what others others think, um, but what I'm driven to do as well. So here we are today.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

That's awesome. I share we share stories all too often, you know. Sometimes our stories match, sometimes our stories don't, you know. But the fun part is being able to share the stories together. I think that's in the past, I'd say, twenty or so years, I think that we have grown closer together, which has been a benefit, I think, to both of us and to the family as well, that we've grown closer together. So I think that's awesome. Let's jump in. John,

Announcing The Book And RTA

SPEAKER_00 4:38

would you like to introduce, or would you like me to say we're gonna add one more part to your bio like I have given a CEO?

SPEAKER_01 4:45

Let's add it, man. You you let them know what's going on here. Make this, make this uh the announcement, if you will.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

We are here because of all the times that we've been reading all the books that you see in the background, we're gonna add one more book to that background. We're gonna add one more tick to that bio, and not just son, husband, father. We're now going to add author of his new book. And John, take the pleasure and introduce your new book to us.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Hey man, I'm looking forward to talking about it today. Here it is. It's not even the real one, it's like got a fake cover that's on there, the eight common practices of uncommon leaders. So as you listen to this conversation today, when when you're listening to it after we record it, it will have been launched on Amazon. And yeah, it's the it's the first one uh that I've talked about for a long time. I look forward to chatting about the story, but ultimately it's through a lot of the lessons that you and I have experienced over the last 20 years as part of the RTA group and some other things leading into it, but ultimately it was the outcome uh of an event, if you will, that uh said I was tired of saying I was gonna write a book someday soon. That you know, those two words just don't even match very well someday and soon that it actually came to fruition. So, you know, whether it's a fifty plus years of uh stories mapped out into eight uh common practices, if you will, it's not the whole book, but it is the first one that I'm excited to to talk about. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Well, it's it's funny that you mentioned that. We as I'm a teacher, and one of the things that is on our agenda for this year is vocabulary building and words to use, the words not to use. And I think that your introduction there just took us in the right spot there. You brought up one thing that I was gonna talk about here in a little bit, but I'm gonna take you back before the even the book started. I'm gonna take you back to April of 2014. And I want you to think back to that time. Both your boys were in high school at the time. We were on a weekend trip and at a lacrosse tournament, and we sat down at a a restaurant, and I think I believe that is the day that the original RTA was built that day. We have we always have our Saturday and Sunday morning brews together, but I think that was a day the RTA was built because we talked and we said, Hey, there's a couple guys that would really get a lot involved with what we're doing. And I think that that was it 12 years ago at a lacrosse tournament. Crazy.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

We started our I think we were actually sitting at a Chili's restaurant at the bar talking about this, and ultimately the the idea of the first podcast was born out of that as well that we got started. I still have the photo somewhere that that goes into that. That would be a great one to add in there. But uh yeah, I think we were we had taken a break from the lacrosse tournament, went over to a chili's, I think, uh, and had some uh all you can eat nachos and salsa and kind of started that idea in terms of we were saying, what are we gonna do to uh make a difference? Absolutely. I do remember, I mean that's crazy, you remember the uh month and and year, which is really cool. And it's hard to believe how much time has has passed and how fast it's gone since then.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

I believe uh time hop is a powerful tool.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

Absolutely. Thank goodness for time hop.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

So I look back at it and as I was thinking about this question, I'm like, I know when the boys were in high school, I don't know the dates. So I start going back through photos and I'm like, okay, I found it. Like, there we are. And uh I do remember sitting up there and little notebook in hand, and the thoughts just started moving at at that point in time. So that was the original beginning to RTA. We have now five members. You know, we have three other members with us that are fantastic, and it has grown exponentially in value throughout the years. So I think that was it. But let's jump into the book and let's get started with the book. And first off, you know, you've already spoken about, you know, you can't you can't just say I'm gonna do this someday. What was the story behind the original motivation, the trip that you took to begin the journey?

Doing Something Hard Sparks Action

SPEAKER_01 8:49

Yeah, that's a great question because you know, as I look about how I you know wrote the introduction to the book, we had we had started our RTA group small there in 2014. We built that group up. We had five with Kevin and Dave and and Jeff in there. And there was a a time and I remember at least in November, uh, would have been November 2024, we had a conversation about doing something hard together. And as we sat on the call, once again, we're like, someday we're gonna do something hard. I said, Hold on a second, let me do some research here. And I really I think I probably put in there something hard for men to do who are older or whatever that is. And a Spartan race came up. I said, Hey, what do you guys think about a Spartan race? They're like, Okay, we're in. And we signed up for it April 2025 was our first Spartan race together as a group. Now, you didn't get the lovely opportunity to do that. You have good reason for that. There was nothing behind that said, you know, we'd rather not have Michael and his thin blood uh batted out on us during the race. So we we kept that in hand. But I remember running that first race, how nervous we were to make that happen. The preparation led up to it. We ran that race, came across the finish line, and we said, Oh wow, that was good. What do we do next? Uh and so we just kept asking that. We ended up signing up and saying we're gonna committing to a Trifecta, the Trifecta, Spartan Trifecta in 2025. Fast forward to November, I'm interviewing uh Lady Jill Shulman on the uh podcast, on the Uncom Leader Podcast, and about her book, The Bravery Effect. And we started talking about this Bookthinkers event that was coming up, and actually learned that she and I were both going to be in the same place. And the day before that Bookthinker event was a Stadion 5K Spartan race in uh Boston, and she asked me if I was going to run that. I said no, because I got another one the next week. Uh, and I didn't want to make it happen. I think because she was a Marine and because she was uh motivating, aspiring, guilting, whatever it was, yeah, she basically told me I was worthless and weak if I didn't sign up for that stadion. And so that that once I got there for that event and ran through that Spartan Stadion event, it kicked off a week that was really powerful. Went to the Book Thinkers event for two days, and the host of the event, Nick Hutchison, who wrote the ended up writing the forewords of this book, ultimately said, You guys gotta take a channel, stop thinking about it, and write a book about what you hear over the next couple days. And so something was a trigger, something was a catalyst inside. I said, That's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna write, I'm gonna write a book coming out of this thing, and it's gonna it's gonna get done. And uh sure enough, here we are about you know nine months later, after that event, and uh the book has c has come to fruition. I'm really I'm really excited that it was kind of that day ultimately that maybe even I overcame that uh someday uh effect, if you will, that many people do to say, I'll get to it someday, and and we got this thing out. So it was great. It was a it was a great week that led to this book.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

Well, I think that it's really interesting that that you talk about all that and those things that happened. Going back to the RTA group with it, you know, we hold each other accountable for our reading, we hold each other accountable for our exercise, and the guys were really on it, you know, where do you stand in your book? You know, what is the process and when are we gonna get it in hand? You know, it was kind of one of those things. So our group really, really uh I think benefited you. I think that the people that you worked with uh were absolutely amazing. And uh I'm glad that you did those things. It's gonna really benefit all of us.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

I thought one of the things that was really funny too is I as I got that and I made the commitment and ultimately put a stake in the ground with the date uh to get this thing out there and started posting some of the information on LinkedIn. I had one of uh my friends from over 20 years ago, Patty Hamilton, who I worked with in Roanoke, the first time I was in Roanoke, I think she said it's about time as her response in the uh so I I would imagine I've been talking about it for 20 some years. Yeah. But look, you know, John Maxwell, who's been a big influence on this, has got a whole shelf of books behind me. He had to write his first book as well before he could write 92. I'm not saying I'm gonna write 92 of them by any stretch, but if you're gonna write 92, you gotta write one. Uh, and so this one has come out. Absolutely. I'm pretty excited about it.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

You can't do the Spartan until you take the first step.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

That's right. Exactly right.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Well, uh without giving out too much information about the book, I'm gonna go through a few of the things here with you that when I was reading through it, I I I thought really stood out to me.

Sponsor Break

SPEAKER_00 13:05

We'll go uh we'll talk about Philippians.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

Are you tired of being tired? I know I was. That's when I was glad to find own it coaching. Now my resting heart rate's down 20%, sleep quality up three hundred percent. You know, I just ran my first Spartan rage at age fifty-six. I feel better than I ever have. So if you're ready to stop settling and start owning your own health, go to coachjohngallagher.com forward slash own it and set up a free call with the own it coaching team. That's coachjohngallagher.com forward slash own it.

SPEAKER_00 13:38

Now, let's get back to the episode. And

Turning Mindset Into Practice

SPEAKER_00 13:43

you know, how do we break those barriers that we see in those two right there?

SPEAKER_01 13:49

Well, you think about those two verses, and they really were very impactful on the book itself. In fact, I I had thought about the original title that I'd been running through was the four-nine principle, uh, Philippians 4-9. So Philippians 4-8 is ultimately a verse written by Paul who was telling us whatever's true, whatever's noble, whatever's right. Ultimately those things that are excellent or praiseworthy, we should think on these things. And it's a very popular title. In fact, Tommy Newberry wrote a best-selling book called The Four Eight Principle, one that was very impactful for me and sits on that shelf right there. And I've shared with many folks about that in terms of our mindset and how we have to have a positive mindset. But I thought that the verse uh stopped a little bit too short, and that 4-9, Philippians 4-9, actually closes the door in that and it turns it from thought into action, where Philippians 4-9 ultimately says, and whatever I've taught you, whatever I've modeled, whatever I've shown you, put it into practice. Uh and that's the key. So it's time to take action from all those things on the mindset. And that's where, you know, again, the backbone of the book, if you will, is about action and the eight common practices, rather than calling that habits or discipline, whatever they were. The word practices came specifically from that verse to launch it, that we got to put those things in place. And look, the book, as you go through it, there's nothing overly exciting about any of those eight practices that I write about, nothing that someone hasn't said before. In fact, they came up because someone was presenting those at the conference that I was at. But it allowed me to kind of put that into my story and understand how those things have impacted me over the years in my career.

SPEAKER_00 15:23

I think one of the things that's gonna really benefit your book is, you know, this is not just something that you're just putting on paper and putting into a book and putting it out there. It is something that you have modeled, it is something that you have shown uh throughout your entire career. And even serving uh in your ministry that you serve in, it's something that it's not just talk, you walk the walk, and people are following. And I think that it's really going to benefit people for that reason. You know, I I go back to, you know, we move on and uh we think about the RTA and the challenge that you did there, and something uh a number you gave me, you know, I'm a math guy, math teacher, and something you a long time ago, and you looked at me one time and you said, 86,400, what's it mean to you? I'm like, it's a number after 86,399. I said walk me through it. And why don't you walk us through what 86,400 means to you?

SPEAKER_01 16:19

Yeah, I love that. It hadn't even really ever hit me, and I'm a math guy too, engineer, uh, until somewhere around 2018. And I was on a health journey, got started really in 2017 after a health scare, or over the course of a few years after that, I lost 80 pounds and been able to, for the most part, stay healthy with that since that point in time over after that journey. But one of the guys that I followed, I remember reading an article in a men's health magazine just on some exercises, uh, and I saw this guy, so let me go look him up on social media, Jeremy Scott Fitness, and who was out in Scottsdale, Arizona, wasn't even close to me, but I started to follow some of the things, and one of the systems that he had was called the 47-day transformation, which I signed up for, and it helped me ultimately get down to my final weight in terms of health. And they send you a shirt for uh completing, you know, nothing like getting a free shirt, whether it's an eating competition or an exercise competition, get a free shirt. And on the front of it it said 86,400 uh on the front of the shirt, and I still have that shirt today. It's you know eight, nine years old. I still have that shirt, still wear it. Probably drives Chris crazy because it's all cracked and wrinkled. And I don't wear it to church or anything, but I do wear it around the house or to the gym. But that 86,400 was how many seconds there are in a day. And that you know, many times I'll hear folks say, I'm just too busy, I don't have time to do that. Look, we know a lot of people who get a lot of things done. We know a lot of people who are successful and we look at those things, and we all have the same amount of time. 86,400 seconds in a day. So it's how we use those seconds in a day uh to make that happen. Unlike sports, we don't get to stop the clock, we don't get to call time out and try to replan the clock's always running. And we don't get those eighty-six thousand four hundred back tomorrow as well. So it's being it's about being very intentional with how you use those eighty-six thousand four hundred seconds every day that will ultimately determine the success and the impact that you're gonna have.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

Yeah. I I find it interesting, and I know a lot of people do say, well, I can get this much done in a day, and I can multitask with the best of them. You know, multitask is for a different podcast itself. But you know, there's a lot of people who will do something one day and be afraid of the next day.

Beating The Beast Of Fear

SPEAKER_00 18:26

What happens if, and what if I don't, or what if I do? A lot of people making these decisions, it's it's what you call inside your book the beast. You know, how do we overcome that fear of either I do or I don't?

SPEAKER_01 18:40

Yeah, I mean, if you think about that, chapter two is you know, just knock on the door because fear is something that that drives us, there's no doubt about it. You know, early in my career, very earlier in my career, and even I fight it today. I mean, everybody's got them. If one somebody says they don't have fear, they're really lying to you. But ultimately, for me, it was this fear of failure that drove me, which was ultimately about letting others down. When I was able to change that a little bit in terms of moving that to letting myself down to change things out. But you know, many times early in my career, I didn't make the ask that I wanted to because I just thought I wasn't worthy or I thought I wasn't ready or whatever that was. And we had to I had to be able to overcome that. So there's I see that as really four ways that I work to overcome that fear, four four things that I talk about in that chapter. One is certainly through prayer. Uh that's become something that's big for me. That you know, the one person I really do need help from is God, and in my faith that's been very important. And so when I do have a need, when I do have a fear, I kind of take it to him, and he says he'll take it from me. Joshua 1 9 says, Be strong and courageous, for I am with you. Absolutely true in what happens there. So that's that's that's really the first step we should take when we have fear is to turn that over. But the second then is like accountability. So we're often afraid to state those goals uh out loud. But if we state them out loud to someone, especially like a group of people that we can rely on, they can be there as well to help let us know, hey, you're you're starting to fall behind here just a little bit and make that happen. The third step that I suggest is reflection. As we go through each of those things, we're not always gonna win. Sometimes there will be a no. But if we're learning from that, that's the most important thing. What did I do well and what could I have done better? So it helps me adjust. So reflection is very important in any of those situations where we're afraid of hearing the term no that keeps us from going. But the fourth step is just the action. And we just gotta do it. We gotta overcome it, we gotta do it. Um, I've heard the statement by Joel Shulman as well. This was after I wrote the book, it didn't get in the book, but confidence does not proceed, precede, excuse me, bold action. It doesn't come before bold action. You learn confidence by taking bold steps and making things happen. One that was very specific for me was actually asking uh for a guest on a podcast who was kind of, if you will, bigger in name than I was. I'm like, why would he ever want to be on the podcast? But I wrote a note to that person, kind of overcame, knocked on that door, and sure enough, we said yes. And frankly, if I look back on it, I've really only had one no as I've requested uh people to be guests on the Uncommon Leader podcast, and I haven't given up on that one yet. I'll be coming back to him. But there are many times that this fear paralyzes us from doing things, and I I say this inside the book. Mark Twain said basically we create a lot of fears in our own minds, of which 90% of them rarely even happen. So we just gotta be ready for that.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

Yeah,

Care Cards And Relationship Equity

SPEAKER_00 21:22

I like something that you just mentioned there that really stuck out to me. You didn't email this person, you didn't send a text message to this person, you hand wrote a note and made it personal to that person. And you talk about that later on in your book about having that care experience expensive and taking care of, you know, put the time out if you want the reward for it, you know. Talk a little bit more about you know that handwritten note and how do you overcome I don't have time to write handwritten notes and things like that. We go back to the eighty six thousand four hundred again.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

It's so funny you say that, man, as I sit here and I look at My desk. There are three handwritten notes on my desk where people have sent to me over the past couple months. And that's what happens. You end up keeping those things. Text messages kind of go down the list, whatever those are. Phone messages, even today, when you leave an audio, it dissolves, it goes away into Never Neverland. But the the care card is one where people will recognize that individual had to take the time to handwrite a note, actually put an old-fashioned stamp on the outside of an envelope and go through the motions of finding my address. It's right in the chapter, chapter seven, build relationships before you need them. When you can just kind of recognize someone and send them a note and let them know you you saw what they did or you heard what they said, they remember that. They store that in this, you know, I call it the Y folder. And when they have hard times, which we all will, we go through hard times. We're either frankly going into a crisis in the middle of one or coming out of one, they'll go back to those cards and look to that inspirement, inspiring and encouraging that you did to handwrite that card that may help them get through that situation that they're that they're in. So the time to build relationships ultimately is not when you're in the middle of the crisis. It's before you get into the crisis so that you have those individuals, frankly, that you can call at three o'clock in the morning and say, Hey, I need help. I know we're there for you. So very interesting.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

Absolutely. That that that one really stood out to me. The the care card really stood out.

Truth And Grace In Feedback

SPEAKER_00 23:22

And, you know, as a consultant and as a coach and as a family member, you know, sometimes you have to tell people things that they don't want to hear. And, you know, something I struggle with at times. I I I don't ever want to create hard feelings. But it's not about creating hard feelings, it's about being honest and upfront with people. Talk a little bit about how you consult with people and how you coach individuals when you have to make that hard decision about something they don't want to hear.

SPEAKER_01 23:53

So good. Well, I mean, there's there's frameworks that go along with that, but the thing that comes to mind as you said that is that you know the correlation between truth and grace. And in communication, we need to have both. Truth ultimately, as you said, some folks need to hear some things that they're either not aware of in their own behavior or that they need to know that they can grow. Uh and grace ultimately is, and I care about you in the process when I tell you. And so those two things combined are you know ultimately what you're shooting for in communication. And you know, the the best model of truth and grace was Jesus in the Bible in terms of going through that. But if you're a leader who is really good at truth, but you don't have a lot of grace when you say it, you know, you come across as a bully. Uh, and it's not going to be something that's going to impact people very long because they think you don't care about them. Same thing with the other way. And you touched on this. If we don't want to upset someone, if we don't want to make them mad, we don't want to uh hurt them on feedback, we just give all grace because we care about them, but there's no truth involved in it. That's just a people pleaser, okay? That's just an enabler sometimes of those behaviors because we're not pointing them out. So if we're going to be successful as leaders, as mentors, as coaches, you know, we have to get better at delivering with truth and grace. I want to share a quick story ultimately that probably led to me being in coaching as a career and consulting. And again, I don't know that I touched on it inside the book. That's why it's the first book. I can't possibly talk about everything in one book. I got to save some stuff for the second book as well. But you know, this is one I remember of Performance Review back in 2003, where I was sitting in a big conference room. It was almost like two sides were all glass. People walking by, they could see me getting my performance review with my mentor sitting in the room. And he delivered a performance review full of truth and grace, so much so that I knew what I needed to do to get better. My score was a 2.3 on a scale one to five. So it said truth in terms of what number I needed to improve. But I remember sat sitting there in that room after the performance review was done and saying this. I mean, this took some time to reflect. First, I said I need help. That was the primary response, and that's how I ended up being coached for the first time uh in terms of an executive coach. But and looking back at that time, those were the two individuals that I wanted to help. The one receiving the feedback, uh knowing they had to get better, and the one giving the feedback, someone who could give feedback uh with truth and grace. Those were two individuals. Uh, if I think about my avatars or the individuals I want to coach and consult with are the ones that I want to help. Uh another mentor of mine right now, Rory Vaden, in a book that I've read in a company that I'm coached by, says you're most powerfully positioned to help the person that you once were. That's so true. I mean, I want to give him attribution to that quote. I use it all the time on this podcast. I did not use it inside the book because you know he he wrote it, and you know, I'll I'll give him that in future, but I'll probably write about it. You know, that's something that's really powerful. We are most powerfully positioned to help the person that we once were. You think about what you're doing right now, what you're what you're really good at, what you have a passion for, it's probably for something that you've been through in your life and you want to help other people go through it.

SPEAKER_00 26:58

Well, fantastic. It's just what I take away from there, it's just the power of your care and love that you have for those that you work with, for those that you want to work with. Something else to tuck out there, it's great to hear about the the next book looking for that's you know, well, that's for a next podcast. But you know, really enjoy listening to how you you frame things and move things in a certain direction, which leads me to the next question of you know, as a teacher, I get new students every year, and a lot of people in business have contracts and they have annual contracts, they have you know, football players and stuff we talk about all the time.

Day 91 Mindset And What’s Next

SPEAKER_00 27:40

Athletes have contracts. Well, at the end of a contract, when it's time to advance, what do we do next? Like, how do we achieve that next step after our contract is over? Like, I look back on as a teacher, you know, the class that I taught last year, uh, I reflect back, what are they gonna do on day one this year at their new school compared to what I taught them last year? So I think back and think now, where do you take your I don't want to call I don't want to say clients, I want to say where do you take those that you help, whether it be it's a good it's a great question.

SPEAKER_01 28:18

When I wrote when I wrote the book and finished up with the conclusion, uh it all belongs to him. That was really about my faith in terms of running my business and hoping that ultimately the people that I come in contact with, I make a difference with, it bears fruit in the lives of others. The part that I knew it wasn't done, and so I had I wrote an afterword inside of that conversation was called the day 91 mindset. I'll show my age here a little bit, but you know, many of the folks who will hear this will appreciate it. Tony Horton had a big exercise routine or you know program way back in the early 2000s, maybe then before that, called P90X. And I'd watch folks do that. I never did that myself, P90X, or today might be considered 75 hard. But the day 91 mindset always asked me, is like, what do you do on day 91? You go through these 90 days and you get it done. You go across the finish line and the Spartan, uh, the the half marathon, we finish that beast. You finish the book uh and you get it out and you publish it like so what now what is kind of the Hey Uncommon Leaders. Hope you're enjoying the episode so far. I believe in doing business with people you like and trust and not just a company name. That's why a strong personal brand is essential, whether you're an entrepreneur or a leader within a company. Brand Builders Group, the folks who have been helping me refine my own personal brand, are offering a free consultation call with one of their expert brand strategists. They'll help you identify your uniqueness, craft a compelling story, and develop a step-by-step plan to elevate your impact. So head on over to Coach John Gallagher.com slash BBG, as in brand builders group, to schedule your free call and take the first step toward building a personal brand that gets you noticed for all the right reasons. That's CoachJongGallagher.com slash BBG. Now let's get back to the episode.

Legacy, The List, And Closing Gift

SPEAKER_01 30:01

The approach of the uncommon leader in that it's not that finish line that says we're done. Once we think we're done, folks, we've just begun and we go through this process again of learning. We go through this process of growing ourselves and growing our teams. And so we don't want to get lured into the finish line and stopping. And for me, look, that's been a challenge for me. I don't think we should always have to have something big, you know, to shoot for. Um, I think it can be as simple when you look at my my personal vision that I hope gets me out of sort of get out of bed every day is that I want to be able to dance at my grandchildren's wedding uh someday to stay healthy, and that's what keeps me going. That's that mindset of each time I'm done with the workout, I ain't quite done yet. I've just begun because I've got to maintain that over and over and again. These eight common practices are not things that you do once and you're done. They're things that you have to do over and over again to turn them into uncommon. Our friend Dave inside of the RTA says consistency over intensity is a big you know moment to him. So once we cross that finish line, folks, don't yeah, absolutely take time to celebrate the big win. And we did. We got the trophy, we got the you know, the three pieces that make the big trophy of the trifecta, but then say what's next, uh, and let's go through that cycle of learning again. It's very important.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

Yeah, absolutely amazing. You hit on all the points there, and just uh I love the what's next. You know, I go back and I talk about the care again. You know, it's all about the care. You know, it's hard for Gallagher men to talk about feelings. I don't think we've been outward with our feelings unless it's at a sporting event, you know. Always inward with our feelings. What you know, I love what you do for my son and how you are around him and what you want to do around him, and that is absolutely amazing. I watch how you are with Chris and Brendan and Joseph and now Amy. What can what is where do you want to go with this book to lead them further on with your family?

SPEAKER_01 32:02

Yeah, I mean, my hope my hopes with the with the book itself, and I touch on this kind of at the very end, is that you know it's it's a catal catalyst for someone else that uh will help them make the decision to do something hard, to overcome that fear and knock on the door, to you know, to write the scary book, if you will, whatever that book is for them, kind of the names of the chapters, which are really good. But it's it's always been my goal to inspire, encourage, and equip others. And I think the book will do that. I think you know, it's not one of these books you could sit down and read it. It's not that long. You could sit down and read it in 45 minutes, I'm sure. In fact, that's about what the audible version of the book is, is almost just right at an hour in terms of reading it through. But that's not where the juice is. It's about starting to understand I've got to be intentional in those relationships, whether it's with you know my nephew Connor or it's with my brother or with my spouse and and family or or those that I coach and consult with. That excellence that I shoot for, that I want to have in the work that I do only happens on purpose. And that only happens with intentionality. That only happens with all the way back to one of your first questions about 86400, about being very intentional with how I use my time, which sometimes means we got to say no to other things that are good so we can say yes to the many things that are gonna make a difference, that are gonna have an impact, that are gonna leave a legacy ultimately for generations to come.

SPEAKER_00 33:23

That's amazing. I I'm so happy that uh you allowed me to have the faith in me and the trust in me to to talk about the book with you before and you know as it comes out, you know, as you know, finishing up with that legacy that you have there. We talk all the time. If you don't see somebody for a long time, what are they going to say about you? It's not, you know, what you do in front of them, it's how you make them feel. Twenty years from now, twenty years ago, I could look back and I can think of somebody 20 years ago. Is there that person, you know, for all of us? And that's our legacy that we leave. But speaking of legacy, you know, you've got to close out your Uncommon Leader podcast with your final question. You know, a final closing statement for us, John, about the book, where we'll be able to find it, when it'll be available to us, and what is that sign at Barnes and Noble gonna say when they put the book up?

SPEAKER_01 34:21

Yeah, so again, while you say thank you for the opportunity, I appreciate you taking your time to uh, if you will, help equip others to learn more about the book. It's available. You can click through my website. The primary location is gonna be on Amazon. Self-publishing in today's world. I love the how that is able to reduce the time to get there, and it's still been a lot of work. I got a lot of folks to thank uh that have made an impact in the stories inside of that, and you can read that inside with the acknowledgments too. But I think about the the billboard, if you will, that I'm gonna write that message on and why I put it there. And you know, I I think that it's gonna be with question, because I like to ask questions, is who's gonna write your name on their list? And that's a positive way. To me, that's the greatest story ever told. You just touched on this a little bit. Look, for us to make a difference in somebody's life where they're sitting down in a room one day and they're asked to write the names of individuals who've made a difference on their life, and your name is able to make it on that list, that's the greatest story ever told. That's what I'm talking about with regards to who's gonna write your name on their list. And if you're gonna make that happen in somebody's life, you gotta choose who that's gonna be, pour into them, inspire, encourage, and equip them so they see that and ultimately write your name down on the list in the future. So who's that person for you coming out of this podcast after you read this book that you're going to pour into so that they will write your name on their list in the future? That's the legacy that you're looking to create. That's the impact that you want to have. That's ultimately what you get to say when you're done. Well done, good and faithful servant. We don't retire, we keep working this, and we got a purpose in life, and that's what it is. Make a difference.

SPEAKER_00 36:00

Fantastic. Well, on common leaders, that is John Gallagher talking about his upcoming book. It will be on Amazon as soon as you get done watching this podcast.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

Hope you get it.

SPEAKER_00 36:13

Leave a comment for us. Let us know what you think of the book, and we'd appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 36:19

Yeah, and if you made it this long in this episode, and when you've allowed us to entertain you, if that's the right word, over the last you know 40 or 45 minutes or so, whatever that's meant, uh here's here's what I'll do for you. You you leave a comment on the podcast somewhere, uh, you write it down or send me an email at John at coachongallagher.com, and I'll send you the free audible, a free audible version of the book as well, where I've gone through uh and read it, and you'll have that available to you as well. So that's a special gift for those who've made it all the way to the end with us, Michael. Let's make that happen. That's awesome. Write a note and I'll send them the audible version.

SPEAKER_00 36:51

That's awesome. Just remember I'm the good luck one, right? All right, brother. Be well. All right, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 37:01

Until next time, go and grow champions.