Advice For Designing Your Life . . . From a Paper Boy
Have you ever taken time to design the kind of life you want for yourself? Jack Daly did – when he was 13 years old. He began by building a newspaper route at age 12 and then hired five kids to deliver the papers when his customer base grew to 275. So the other kids were doing the work while he was making the money. A true businessman in the making!
“People just don’t spend enough time thinking about what they want their life to look like,” he said in Part 1 of a two-part episode during a “Sunny’s Silver Linings” podcast. Jack is called the best professional sales trainer in America and is truly a one-of-a-kind individual. He’s served as CEO of several corporations, built six companies into national firms – two of which he subsequently sold to the Wall Street firms of Solomon Brothers and First Boston – and is a 15-time Ironman competitor who has completed more than 93 marathons in 50 states and on seven continents.
And if you’ve ever seen Jack give one of his passionate keynote speeches like he did at our Build IT LIVE 2021 conference, then you know he has plenty of valuable insights to offer for designing a life of success. In fact, he’s gathered all his experience and wisdom on the topic in his latest book, Life By Design: Your Path to an Exceptional Life.
Jack took his boyhood lessons and turned them into a life plan which began when he was 13. That’s when he worked as a caddie at a local country club. An ambitious kid who grew up in a blue-collar family and a home of shared bedrooms, he quickly noticed that the same golfers were playing weekends and weekdays ― in contrast to his dad who was working six days a week. So Jack started asking the golfers questions about their lives, their businesses, and especially about how they became so successful. He queried more than 100 of them. Here’s a list of lessons he compiled from their responses:
- You must have goals
- Don’t pick too many goals
- You must write your goals down for them to be real
- Set measurable mile markers to get things done
- Give the mile markers to others who will hold you accountable for achieving them
“You’ve got to have goals plus an actionable plan to achieve success,” Jack said. “It’s all about being intentional versus being accidental. The way I’ve led my entire life from the age of 13 is intentionally. There hasn’t been much that’s been accidental.”
He wrote the book during the pandemic when he couldn’t travel ― which was typically 200,000 airmiles a year. It consists of the basic principles that worked for him in his business life and so he applied them to his personal life. Now, with his 10th book, he wants to help you apply them to your life.
Aside from the importance of goal-setting, he also stressed the need for having your own personal Board of Directors. Yes, your own Board of Directors! You must adopt this idea to help you effectively design your life. Here are the two key criteria for who you should select to sit on your Board:
- Individuals who genuinely care and are passionate about you and your success.
- Strong individuals who will call you out if you are not producing and hold you accountable.
Jack warned about putting someone like your spouse on the Board because they will be too easy on you. However, he does have his daughter, Melissa, on his Board, but she’s a fervent and successful career woman in the same mold as her dad.
Aside from the many accomplishments already under his belt that I mentioned earlier, Jack has a bucket list of 443 items which he wants to fulfill before he leaves this world. I believe the former paper boy will complete it – with time to spare.
Click here to listen to Part 1 of Jack’s really enjoyable interview and be sure to catch Part 2 next week. I hope it’ll get you to finally spend some time thinking about what you want your life to look like.
