Why Monday matters more than you think
Monday gets a bad rap. We joke about having “a case of the Mondays” or the “Sunday scaries” that creep in as the weekend ends. But what if Monday isn’t the problem? What if Monday is actually your greatest opportunity to set up an entire week of wins?
The truth is simple. If you win on Monday, you win the rest of the week. But winning on Monday requires intention. It requires knowing yourself. It requires setting up systems that actually work with how God created you instead of fighting against it.
Build systems that match how you’re wiring
You can’t muscle your way through life with willpower alone. The Blackbird Mission team learned this the hard way. Everything changed when the team stopped trying to force square pegs into round holes. When they brought in project management software, moved meetings to times that worked, and let the right people run things, momentum replaced chaos.
The same principle applies to your personal Monday routine. Some people need spiritual disciplines first. Others need to move their body before anything else clicks. There’s no shame in starting with what works for your wiring. Don’t commit to reading your Bible seven days a week if you’re currently at zero. Aim for 1% improvement. Go twice next week. Hit that target, and you’ve got momentum.
Monday sets the tone for everything
Your most important workout of the week happens on Monday morning. Not because Monday’s workout burns the most calories. Because Monday’s workout determines whether you show up on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Miss Monday and suddenly it’s the following week and you haven’t moved your body once.
Small decisions create massive results. Set yourself up for the win before Monday even starts. Lay out your workout clothes Sunday night. Put your Bible on your desk. Block your calendar for the things that matter most. You’re not looking for perfection. You’re looking for 1% improvement.
Monday comes every single week, whether you’re ready or not. Stop dreading it. Win on Monday and watch what happens to the other six days.
Episode Summary:
Tired of the Sunday scaries and dreading Monday mornings? This conversation with Blackbird Mission team members Coop and PJ reveals how understanding your God-given gifts transforms not just your Mondays but your entire team dynamic and personal productivity.
Daron, Coop, and PJ pull back the curtain on how they transformed their team meetings from chaotic Groundhog Day scenarios into productive engines of growth. From implementing Asana project management to recognizing each person’s unique gifting, this episode gives you practical strategies to stop merely surviving Mondays and start winning them.
Key Takeaways:
- Monday morning sets the tone for your entire week
- Understanding your fivefold ministry gifts transforms team dynamics
- Physical disciplines often unlock spiritual growth
- Hope is not a plan without written action items
- 1% improvement compounds into massive momentum over time
Episode Resources:
Connect with Daron on Social Media:
Links to the Daron Earlewine Podcast
YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Libsyn
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Daron: What’s realistic in the next three to six months, three to six weeks, that’s one percent improvement because we have to feel like we’re winning. It’s a dopamine hit, right? And it is like, I really want to grow spiritually. I’m going to read the Bible seven days a week. No, you’re not. Created on purpose and for purpose. Have you ever had a Monday that felt like a Monday because it is a Monday? And you’ve been like, where’s the motivation for Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday? Then you need to listen to this episode. We sat down with the majority of the Blackbird Mission team and talked about how do we win on Mondays? How do we structure our meetings? How do we lean into the gifts and abilities of our team to make sure we’re being efficient and effective? And I think you’re going to have some really cool takeaways from this, because guess what? Monday comes every week, whether you’re ready or not. And this episode is about how do you win on a Monday.
Hey, welcome back to the Daron Earlewine podcast. Stoked for the episode today because I’ve invited producer Coop.
Coop: Hey, hey.
Daron: And PJ.
PJ: Hey, how’s it going?
Daron: Into the mix today. And we’re going to try a three way conversation. I love the conversation that you and I had. So we start talking about this and let’s keep expanding this. And one thing that I love is our Blackbird Mission team, which is the three of us, plus my wife Julie, and the addition of a new discipleship resource coordinator. More on that throughout the year. But anyway, I love working with you guys. The combination of us four, I feel like is one of the greatest teams I’ve ever been a chance to be a part of. I love your guys’ wisdom, your insight, the way that you follow Jesus. I think our podcast community would glean a lot through some conversations we would have. And really this episode is going to be about some of the real time things we’ve learned working as a team and kind of taking, we talk a lot about you’ve been created on purpose and for purpose, right? And what I want to do in this episode is talk about how, as we’ve discovered that and begin to lean in and leverage the different gifts, abilities, roles that we have as individuals, how it has helped our team level up. And specifically this episode is going to be called Bringing Meaning to Your Mondays. Monday, like the day Monday.
Coop: Monday. Like somebody might have a case of the Mondays.
Daron: You could but we’re gonna literally talk about the 24 hour period of call Monday.
Coop: Got it. Tracking.
Daron: I’m on Monday, Monday, Monday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. I’m on Monday, talk about Monday, Monday, Monday. You know my son Knox watched the episode of Ted Lasso when he does the whole Alan Iverson speak about practice, practice and Knox thinks it’s funny because it’s funny. I’m like, Knox, you know why this is really funny? He’s like, why? I’m like, you know, Alan Iverson is? Yeah, think so. I’m like, oh boy. I was like, your phone. I was like, go on YouTube, search Alan Iverson practice. So anyway, back to the Monday. So Mondays are the first day of the work week. Usually difficult. Some people have talked about the Sunday scaries, I think they call it, right? Where they start realizing the weekend’s over. Oh crap, I gotta go back.
Coop: I’ve never heard it called that, but yeah, I hear that. I have them often.
PJ: I have them often.
Daron: But here’s what I found. And I think this comes with age and maturity. I have found that Mondays are unbelievably important to have a great week. And we have our staff meetings on Mondays. And 10 o’clock.
Coop: 10 o’clock. Don’t call us. Don’t text us. We’re in a meeting.
Daron: We’re in a meeting. And the first thing I want to bring out of this is strategically, we don’t start Mondays our meetings until 10. Years ago, one of the guys was on staff with me. Like I used to be like, we’ve got to get up. We’ve got to get after it on Monday. Now, 8 a.m. staff meeting. I hate 8 a.m. stuff.
Coop: We do too.
Daron: Yeah. You were the one that was pushing for the 8 a.m. or he was. I was. You were. And he was like, bro, what are you trying to prove? You know? And I remember it was actually a really meaningful conversation. He said, dude, I don’t know what the deal is. And he was one of my, he was actually in the band with me. Great friend. And he said, dude, I’m watching you. He said, I feel like you wake up every day and it’s like you act like you have like a gun in the back of your head. Like you got to do something. You got to slay the dragon every day. You could do something great. And what it was was feeling like a not enough feeling, like a fake leader and I’m thinking like, I’m going to prove myself by like, I outwork everybody or something. And I had to get honest and be like, I don’t like Monday mornings and I don’t want them to start at eight.
Coop: Flash Garfield on the screen right now.
Daron: Yeah. I hate Mondays. But my thing was, you know what I want? Like, cause still even now, you know, about twice a month I still preach. So I’m working on Sundays. And for me, I’m like Monday morning, I want to wake up. I want to be, I want to, you know, I’ll wake up six, seven, whatever time, six or seven.
Coop: Oh boy. It’s not even try for that.
Daron: Just fell right in. Dang it. Well, it’s been a good episode, everybody. Thank you for joining us. If any questions, email me. And I want to start my day with a cup of coffee. I want to read, pray, journal in my chair, in my office. Then I want to go work out, take a shower. Then I’m ready. Like, and I don’t want to do anything till 10. And it came to the, like I thought that, and then actually where we get to office and have now for almost a decade is with one of our chairman of our board has always provided a space in his businesses. I remember years ago, I’m realizing like I would get somewhere early and he starts most his Mondays, you know, a lot of times every day at like 10. And I was like, he’s wildly successful. I guess it’s not some like indictment if you don’t want to start till 10 on a Monday. And if you’re, if you’re fortunate enough to run your own business, your own company, your own ministry, whatever, like you make your own rules.
Coop: Right. Right.
Daron: So we don’t start till 10 and I love that. But when I lead our organization, president and founder of Blackbird Mission, president and founder of Rogue Collective. And for a lot of times, and most of the times in all of my careers, I’ve been the point person. There’s an assumption sometimes that the point person needs to run the meetings. I suck at running meetings. I’m terrible at them. You notice that the two people that have been in meetings with me for over a decade are not disagreeing.
PJ: I haven’t been in with you. I’m not cutting in at this point. No, Daron, it’s okay. You’ve got lots of gifts and abilities. I was trying to think, what have I been working with you now for three years almost? I don’t know that I’ve ever actually been in a meeting that you’ve run. Cause when I came in, Julie was running the meetings.
Coop: Yeah. And then I think Coop ran some of the discussion. Listen, by the time you got here, dude, we had tried all the ways of getting him to run the meetings. And we said, OK, somebody else has got to run this thing. So you were, yeah, you were a part of that process of seeing.
PJ: I don’t know. I don’t know that I actually have anything to say about you running a meeting. I’d given up at that point.
Daron: Because I don’t write things like I’ve gotten better, but like I don’t write things down like we would, terrible meetings we used to have. We would have discussions, make decisions on a Monday meeting. I’d forget to write them down. We’d get back to the next Monday and I would go like, so what you guys think we should talk about today? It was like every Monday started over from scratch.
PJ: That’s a very good way of putting it. It was a very Groundhog Day thing.
Coop: Totally was.
Daron: And so began to feel momentum over letting other people that actually wrote things down and made lists and things help. But it wasn’t very long after you joined the team and started coming into it and you came and said, hey, we need some project management software. So you brought Asana, you know, to us. And now we use that as a project management app. And dude, I genuinely look forward to every one of our morning, our Monday meetings, because like we have accomplished just in 2025. You think about the list of things that we have, projects that we wanted to do, that we finished, that we stayed. I mean, maybe we missed, you know, by a couple of weeks our, you know, you know, due dates and stuff, but like we got so much done last year and there’s no chance we get done with that if I’m in the captain’s chair of doing that. When did you start to figure out PJ that this, that was a gift and you had, like, I saw it as soon as you really joined the team was like, you need to be in charge of this. But when did you start to kind of figure out like, yeah, like this is, I’m really good at this.
PJ: I don’t know that I would even classify myself as really good at it. We talked on our last episode, you curate quotes. I think I curate concepts as part of what I do. And so somebody said to me, goodness, probably 15 years ago when I was working for a church, hey, you’d be better getting things done and staying on top of stuff with your creative brain. If you just like put it in a list, but I hate lists. Like my wife is a five and she loves to check things off lists. And like, I hate writing the list down. So he’s like, well, you’re on your phone all the time. You’ve got a computer in front of you all the time. Use something digital. Try Asana. It’s free. And so I started putting that stuff in, in churches, in the church I was working at at the time, like 15 years ago or something. And was like, all of a sudden it’s like, Oh, I get a free dopamine hit. Every time I like click that thing off, like, yeah, let’s do that. And then a couple of years ago, I started working with a buddy of Coop’s, shameless plug for Dustin P at MBE creative consultants. Same kind of thing. He was a former music pastor who was really good at systems. And so I started working with him to help the systems for my business. And so I legitimately just stole his processes, his cure. I curated his systems that he was installing for me and my business at 43 creative over into Blackbird and Daron Earlewine coaching, rogue coaching stuff. And it was like, Oh, this is working great for me. I bet it would work great over here too. And so I was just doing it for myself already and then started doing it for Blackbird as a client of mine. Cause that’s kind of how the relationship started. And then it turned into, this is just what we need to do.
Coop: Yeah. And I think the thing that you, you bring to the table, and I would say this to a lot of folks that sit in that, that creative music pastor role is that sometimes you don’t realize that you naturally do that in the job anyway. I mean, you’re overseen multiple volunteer musician folks coming in and moving out and you have to be organized. You have to make sure that the next service is planned or you’re going to be behind. And if you’re like me as a music pastor, you’re going, Oh, it’s Thursday. I haven’t given you the song list yet. Sorry guys. You know, this is like a better musician than all of us. You don’t need the work and the practice.
Daron: That’s right.
Coop: But like you got, you had the natural ability, I think. And I don’t think you noticed it in yourself until we got into this type of role and you’ve started to do this in your own business to go, Oh, I’ve played this out like we knew that Sunday was coming. We knew that Easter was coming. We knew that Christmas was coming and we planned accordingly and you’ve just kind of overlaid that on your business and then minds like Daron and I’s it’s a we need folks like yourself to keep us in in bounds.
PJ: You know what I think is so funny about that though is like our minds. The three of us are not that different. Yeah, like when we sit down like if we have wings or something like we don’t have to do anything like and we are just like spitballing and dreaming and like creating to create for no apparent reason. But then when it breaks down to those nitty gritty pieces like okay, Coop’s looking at it this way and I’m looking at it this way and you’re looking at it this way. And I find that all so incredibly fascinating. What I think it is the one person that’s the odd woman out in our group is Julie is that she hates ideation meetings. Like she’s like, are you guys just going to ideate and come up with a bunch of ideas? Cause just if whatever I need to do, just send me the email, give me all the tasks.
Coop: So this meeting could have been a phone call, but it should have been an email.
PJ: Got it. Got it.
Daron: I’ve heard Julie say that to me hundreds of times. I mean, it could have been an email. Like it just sent me an email. And I think that’s also something we’ve, we’ve learned is like, there are times we know we’re going to just have more of an idea meeting. Yeah. Julie, you don’t have to come. Right. We’ll let you know. But what the ability to figure out, for a team to function, there has to be lists, there has to be dates, there has to be a system that works for you. And I think it’s also empowered her to be, you know, 10 times less frustrated and more effective. Cause it’s like, we know when with the gifting and the creation that God’s given us, there’s going to be times we’re going to just going to have to dream and think. But we’re going to have to get it to where here are the actionable things and creating, you know, lanes where everybody in their unique gifting can really excel. And, you know, when I look back and go, because there has been many people that have worked with me or for me through the past, you know, I mean, for 25 years. But since 2012, we started Blackbird, I’ve had people that, you know, 10 hours here helped. And like, sadly, I burned a lot of people out. Administrative type people, you know, I mean, I have a friendship with most of them. Some of them I don’t. Some of them didn’t end well. And I had to get really honest with myself and be like, I’ve got loads of friends. People love me. Like I’m a good person. Right. Why, what, what is it that I’m doing to detail oriented, you know, you know, administrative to get usually teacher guardians. What, what am I doing that ruins the relationship?
Coop: Yeah. And I think the cool thing that I’ve seen over the last handful of years with the way that you, you know, in spiritual DNA, we walk through the fivefold ministry gifts and we look at that and you kind of help us understand what those look like. And I feel like in the last handful of years, we’ve even started to implement that in what we do and looking for the ways that in, obviously understanding your personality and okay, I’m not as organized as some folks and you know, getting that under, but once you understand those fivefold, I remember when I took that through DNA years ago and then ultimately bringing it back around on our coaching through Rogue, it’s such an eye-opening experience when you go, oh no, it’s okay that I lean this direction when it comes to a team meeting setting or an ideation setting or anything like that. And so I think what’s really cool is, and if I’m speaking for the listener at this point, if you’re listening to this, or watching this, hi, either way, if you’re going, man, my team isn’t functioning to the, the way that it is, that it could be, or I’m struggling to fit into this thing. What am I doing? Like walking through something like the fivefold ministry gifts or is a great way of just simply understanding from a foundational level. Oh, this is why that is. And then you can start to lead from there. That’s what I’ve watched you do over the last handful of years as you’ve gone, you know what? I think it started with I’m not good at leading meetings, you know, and then going, okay, this is why and how can we finagle this and get the right person in the right seat? And now all of sudden it becomes a completely different conversation and a completely different team. And that’s the beauty of when you dig in to learn those things about yourself because then the whole team functions better.
Daron: Well, I had to realize, you know, my fault, it’s like I teach this stuff all the time, but I wasn’t actually applying it to our own team.
Coop: Yeah. Like too close to it too.
Daron: Yeah. And it’s like, it’s the curse of the entrepreneur is. And it’s that the idea of like, if you want to have a great team, like God’s design is whether the, we call it fivefold, a pest, five voices, but apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, teachers, or pioneers, creative connectors, nurturers, guardians, whatever term you want to give them is any world-class team is going to have all five voices present in the ability to allow them to be heard. And right now in our team, we’re missing a pure nurture. It’s something that we need to think about as.
Coop: And we feel it.
PJ: Let me tell you.
Coop: Well, I mean, let’s break that down, though, for a second. Yours are apostle evangelists, which then in the voices terms are pioneer connector.
Daron: Connector.
Coop: Coop. Yours are the apostle, which are creative pioneer.
Daron: Correct.
Coop: Right. And mine are apostle prophet. So like the three of us only show in any way, three of them.
Daron: Yeah. Julie would be, I think she would say she’s a nurture.
Coop: I think she’s really good. She’s like a teacher, nurturer. She’s got both.
Daron: Yeah, sure. I think she’s got pretty strong creative prophetic gift too. But as far as a pure nurture type of person, it’d be something that we need to go. But it’s, is Coop is saying like for me, I had to go to where it’s like you teach this, but you’re not actually making it a non-negotiable for how the team functions. The other thing I would say, this would be a takeaway for anyone listening is you’ve got to embrace some humility and knowing that you can’t do it all. I remember, I think Andy Stanley said like 20 years ago, I remember him talking about as a good leader, what you have to do is figure out a way for one to replace yourself, but for two, get to the place where you are only doing what only you can do.
Coop: Yeah.
Daron: And I think, you know, if you’re in the, the, the, you know, captain’s chair of something, you know, pride can tell you like, you need to be good at everything and you need to be the one doing the stuff. It’s like, man, not if it’s not how God created you, you know, cause you’re going to frustrate yourself. You’re going to frustrate everybody around you, you know, and it’s, it’s not going to work, you know? So that’s, that’s huge on the team. I want to go back talk about one of the things I think is key from Mondays is, and this is something too, that I’m realizing sometimes there are things that I have found that work really, really well for my life. And even when I’m, if I’m discipling people or mentoring people, for some reason, I’m still trying to figure out like, why don’t I call them to do, call them to do the things that I find that are working for me? Like that’s like, I know sometimes I still think it’s like, it’s just for me, whatever. But I have found over the past 15 years that, that, I mean, mind, body, spirit, everything, like when Jesus says we need to love them with our heart, soul, mind and strength is physical is so important. And what I found is the most difficult workout of my week is Monday mornings. The most important workout of my week is Monday mornings. There have been so many Mondays. I have my coffee, I’m sitting there, I’m just relaxed and I’m like, the last thing I want to do is go put on some workout clothes and walk down in my little basement gym and go after it. Like I have to motivate and talk myself into going and working on Monday mornings every freaking week, every week. But here’s what I found. And usually I hate the first 10 minutes. It’s somewhere around minute 10 to 12. I’m like, yes. But what I found is if I get Monday’s workout in the likelihood that I get Tuesday, sometimes I don’t work on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. If I do Monday, I get the rest in. If I miss Monday, then I wake up and I’m kind of demotivated Tuesday before I know it’s Thursday and I miss a week. So whatever it is for you is if it’s walking the dog, I mean, if it’s working out, if it’s going out, like whatever your physical discipline is, you have to win on a Monday. And for me is the more I was dedicated to physical disciplines, my spiritual disciplines increased, my mental, my emotional. It all, I think it is a missing element in so many people’s life of like, I just need to work out. I’m, you know, and there’s some vanity to it. Let’s be honest, right?
Coop: Sure. Sure.
Daron: But there’s such a connection, I think, between your spirit and your body and so much of, I think, self discipline, which is a fruit of the spirit, finds its root in self denial. If you want to grow in self-discipline, you have to grow in self-denial. And that’s telling your body what it’s going to do. You are going to walk down the stairs. You are going to work out this morning. You’re going to get that in. And it has made such a difference for me. If I can win on a Monday, I can win the rest of the week.
Hey, sorry for the interruption here in the podcast. But I wanted to take this moment to invite you into something. If you’ve ever been in a place in your life where you’ve just felt stuck, you felt like maybe you’re just spinning your wheels, you’ve been thinking, then there’s got to be more for me. I listen to the podcast all the time and I hear Daron talk about on purpose and for purpose. I have to discover my purpose. Well, that feeling is right. You do need to. And I want to help you. I want to help be a guide for you to step into who God’s created you to be. And that’s the purpose in the design of what we do with Rogue Collective Coaching. So if you’re curious or you know, listen, I’m not curious. I know it’s time for me to take action. Here’s your call to action. I want you to go to RogueCollectiveCoaching.com. I want you to click the button that says book a discovery call. I want you to jump on a 30 minute conversation with me, jump on the phone. We’ll talk about where you are and if Rogue Collective Coaching is your next step to help you to become who you were born to be. RogueCollectiveCoaching.com, book a discovery call. I can’t wait to chat with you. Let’s get back to the episode.
PJ: Now I hear you say physical disciplines, even before some of your spiritual disciplines, which is, is funny. Cause I would think it would be the opposite. I would say I find it the other way. Like my spiritual disciplines will allow me to do everything else. So unpack that a little bit of why you think that’s the way.
Daron: You know, I don’t know if it’s, if it’s part of my spiritual DNA, me being a seven, like this course end of a seven is gluttony, right? More is better as that was my, you know, model of life, which is not right. And so I think for me, I have found that like, if I’m going to fall down the stairs in life, it’s going to be physical, right? Like I don’t have a lot of emotional, you know, roller coaster stuff.
Coop: Like, what’s that like?
Daron: Not having that like as a four, like as a four, like let’s have a counseling. But yeah, it’s, it’s true. It like, and I don’t know, like there are times when I’m like people that are like really in their fields and stuff. I’m like, I could use a little more of that for sure. You know? So it may be, it may be different. That’s so you’re, you’re thinking that that is for you is what you’re saying that you’ve learned that if the physical discipline is there, some of the others kind of naturally fall in place.
PJ: Yes. But I would say the non-negotiable is everyone needs to have the physical, whether it’s, whether it’s the initiator and the catalyst, may, it may come second or third for you, but it, it, it is a non-negotiable. But even chronologically in your day, it’s not the first thing.
Daron: Correct. Correct. I start with the spiritual.
Coop: So to a degree, Coop, I mean, he’s starting with the spiritual. I only ask that because it’s super interesting because I would say obviously right now in the time of this recording, it’s holiday season, kind of slack off a little bit, maybe earlier than most people. But you made peanut butter last week. It’s just so my mom made gingerbread cookies the other day. I just I smashed three of them before I went to bed last night. You know, this. So obviously I know that about myself, but also as an Enneagram nine, I know the sloth kind of thing comes in. And if I fall off, I fall down the stairs to use your analogy, right? And I always find myself coming back around and I go, okay, should I start the morning with prayer? Should I start the morning with a workout? Is it bad to start with a workout instead of prayer? Like, do I splash water on my face? Like, you know, like I’ve tried to find those. So it was super interesting to hear you say, that’s the one that needs, not necessarily first in your day, as we’ve just pointed out, but you said that has to be the thing on the calendar that makes it. And then everything else kind of falls into place. And that’s, that’s just interesting.
Daron: Yeah. It’s interesting. And I would say something too, that is, I think it applies to Mondays, but it also, I think applies to the health of a team. One thing that I’ve started to realize in it kind of cause that cue to my brain, Cooper, talked about like when you fall off, right? Here’s something that I know about myself and we’re trying to make this a little bit more of a reality in 2026 of, and it comes back to this idea of rest and work of trying to plan some of our rest in the, in the year, you know, like we did, we, we structured, November, you know, to try to, to have a little less on your plate for December coop, right? And, to set up the, in, looking at the year and going where are there going to be seasons where I’m going to be, I have to be, and I’m going to be highly intentional and effective. And where am I going to give myself grace in that? Cause what I’ve realized, and I’m curious from somebody else is this, I think it was the highballs, maybe somebody talked about what he called a six by six, which was doing six weeks sprints of efficiency with six things. These are the six things that I can give a majority of my time to for the next six weeks. And what I’ve discovered in my life is I can be uber disciplined usually for about six weeks, then there’s going to need to be a little bit of grace in that. I think knowing that balance of I’m going to be really driven, I’m going to be really focused, but I’m not going to, I’m not a marathon runner, right? And there’s going to be grace to it. Like knowing, coming into it, it was like, from Thanksgiving to Christmas is probably not going to be the most disciplined, you know, physical. It just mean, you know, everything gets crazy, but getting into that and knowing, okay, that’s probably true for me. That’s going to be true for our team. Right. And we’re going to try to schedule around that. But we didn’t stop our Mondays.
Coop: Right.
Daron: Right. We utilize those to make sure we knew where we need to have, you know, that space where we need to have that grace. And so I think that’s a part of it too, of beginning to understand that of like the discipline is key. There’s got to be grace with it, but you need to structure it where it’s in sprints that you know you can win with.
PJ: Yeah. I think that’s also something to talk about though, with what we’re doing with, with four noble quests module with the coaching, towards the end of that, we’re putting together action plans, right? And like, what’s your thing? What’s your running after? So to take it bigger than just a Monday morning or a Monday day picture, when you set a goal, you have to be willing to give yourself grace to not like, set the goal and know I’m gonna fail. So I’m just not even gonna do it. That’s not what we’re talking about. Every three listening to this right now is like, what the crap is he saying? But like giving yourself the grace of saying, I’m gonna exercise five days a week, seven days a week. Well, dude, that’s a lot. Are you really gonna be able to do that? Let’s set a realistic goal for all those things. I’m gonna read my Bible seven days a week. My son is so good at it. Like he had like a 647 day streak or something and was so mad when he when he missed it, missed it and broke it up. And I’m like, dude, you did two years. You’re fine, dude. But so many people can’t can’t stick on something like that. Right. And so giving yourself that grace to set a goal and be realistic about it, I think is also really key to that point.
Daron: Well, one thing I’ve been I think I curated this from Brian Johnson in his book, Arate. He talks about one percent improvement. And it’s what I’ve been using with all the activation plans with the Rogue coaching is because people come in at the end of the, what it is, is the end of the module you have to come up with and it ended every one of our coaching modules. I self tell people, look, hope is not a plan. You just learned a bunch of stuff and right now you’re real hopeful that it’s going to make a difference. It’s not okay. Unless you have a plan and it’s written down, which comes back to our win on the Mondays at the meetings is everything’s written down. You don’t like list, but we have every project that we’re doing and then underneath and within the project, there are action items. So it’s not a hope. It’s a plan and it’s written down, but it’s a part where you’re looking for what’s realistic in the next three to six months, three to six weeks. That’s 1 % improvement because we have to feel like we’re winning. It’s a dopamine hit, right? And it is like, I really want to grow spiritually. I’m going to read the Bible seven days a week. No, you’re not. Okay. Your son did right. Yeah. He’s amazing. But it’s like most of us, you know, whether it’s working out, reading the Bible, whatever, like we miss Monday, screw it. Yeah. But if you come in and you go, I’m not doing it at all, whatever it is. Okay. If I did it two times next week, would it be in it? Would it be a 1 % or maybe a 2 % improvement? Yes, it would. Okay. My goal, I’m writing it down. I’m going to work out. I’m going to read my Bible. I’m going to something two times in the next, you know, a week. Well, you got a lot of grace built into that. You know what I mean? You get two and then that next week you go, I did it. Yeah. Right. And you just got 1 % improvement. I saw a thing a couple of weeks ago that a guy was like, I’ve been training for this marathon and I gave myself the goal to run every day, but every day that I miss I add an extra mile to how far I have to run. So next Wednesday I’m supposed to run for three months.
Coop: That’s awesome. That’s not a realistic goal. It’s not a grace.
PJ: Well, it’s funny. I came across something reading on Instagram, I think the other day and it was, it was an old Chinese proverb or idea or something. They have, they have a saying for it. I’m not even to try to say what it was, but the idea behind it was do the small thing first, right? And this idea of just like, don’t say I’m going to run for three miles or three months, but I’m going to get on the treadmill in the morning, right? Or I heard somebody say the other day that they open the Bible and put it on their desk and that’s all they do, right? So when they, they will eventually go, Oh, it’s here. And they do their reading for the day. So it’s like, it’s this 1 % thing. It’s this one thing. So I was singing about it yesterday. I was telling my wife about this and I go, I think I want to do like, I saw that idea and I go, I think I want to do like a thousand pushups in 2026 or something, right? And then I broke it down. I was like, well, that’s only a couple a day kind of thing. And I was like, oh, that’s doable, right? Like if you forget to do it, you drop down and do one or three. Right. Well, are you going to really stop at three once you’ve done that? No, you’ll probably go to 10. And then 10 will turn into 20. And so I think that’s the idea of what you’re saying is, what are those little things, that 1 % thing that, oh, I’m not going to go work out for the hour, but I’m going to go walk for 10 minutes. Well, then 10 minutes is going to turn into 20 that turns into that mile that you want to do or whatever. There’s also a piece of what are you doing to set yourself up for the win in your planning.
Daron: You’re talking about the guy’s opening his Bible so that he’s setting himself up for a win the next morning. Is that your shutdown routine from the day before?
Coop: Right. Like Friday night, if you’re working in an office, but you want to have your quiet time at work, do you put your Bible on your desk as you’re leaving on Friday as your shutdown routine for the week so that then Monday morning, that’s the first thing that’s there? Or we all also have the opportunities to work in our houses. So do I open my Bible on my desk on Sunday night, if that’s when you’re doing your week planning or Friday, whatever, like set yourself up for the win when you’re in a good flow.
PJ: Yeah.
Daron: Yes. So I think, you know, to land the plane, you notice that as we’ve talked about a lot of different issues, we’ve come back to whether it’s our Enneagram type or it’s our, you know, our leadership voice. That’s why it’s so important to, to know who God’s created you to be. Know why you do what you do. Know what you do best. For us, like, you know, why are we winning on Mondays and having some of the most efficient and effective seasons in Blackbird and Rogue?
Coop: You’re welcome.
Daron: Yes, because PJ. Because as a team, we all know the answers to life’s four core questions. And we’ve actually started to implement them and make them be a part of our team. Then you go into your own personal life. How do you win personally on your Mondays? Well, you know, like, do I need to be spiritual first, physical first? And then in all of those things, setting your life up to win. Write the things down, have some goals. But then, you know, as I would put ranch on anything with marinara, right? You drizzle grace all over that process, right? How am I going to actually get to the finish line of this with a ton of grace? I’m not going to be perfect in it. I’m going to fail in the process. Failure means learning. And I’m going to continue to grow in that. And we’re going to continue to do that as a team, right? But just a short episode to hopefully encourage you is when on Monday, right? And don’t see it as the worst day, see it as this great opportunity that you can step into it, structure it the way you want it to go, get the right people in the right places on the bus and go after it. Because what’s cool is I do think there was a season, right, where we were seeing 1%. I think maybe we have continued to just see 1 % improvements, but then we can look back over 365 days. It’s amazing. And you go, well, we’ve got some compounding interests now, right? There’s some momentum here and we’re building on it now. So hope that’s encouraged to you. If you have any questions, please hit me up, Darren at DarrenEarlewine.com and hope this was informative and helpful in a real practical, spiritual, physical, mental, emotional way. Coop, PJ, thanks for joining me on this episode of the Daron Earlewine Podcast. So good. We’ll do some more of these here in the near future. And until we talk again, remember these three things. God is for you, he’s not against you, he’s near you, not far away, and he’s created you on purpose and for purpose. Thanks for downloading this episode of the Daron Earlewine Podcast.