To finish out the month and the year I’m sharing about our business book of the month, and this month I read Adam Savage’s Every Tool’s A Hammer. You probably know Adam from the TV show MythBusters, but he’s also done a ton of work in the entertainment world most people don’t know about from building and creating for commercials, Star Wars and many other different shows and movies, which all stems out of his life-long love of being creative, of figuring out how things are made and replicating some of the really cool and unique movie props, costumes and parts. I know it doesn’t really sound like a business book, but much of being successful is about creativity and passion, both of which Adam is all about.
As any creative person can tell you, one of the biggest challenges is having funding to buy or attain all the tools (physical or digital) and components you need to create with, and funding is also central to the success of a business. One of the first tricks Adam shared is about starting with a cheap version of something. This allows you to check out the tool and see how you really use it and what features you value most, before deciding if you need to upgrade to a more expensive version or if this one will do the job you need it to do just fine. He also suggests that if you’re going to use a tool more than three times per year, it’s worth investing in your own copy.
Second, Adam recognized the importance of practice. In the book he shares about his love of cardboard, which is a cheap stand-in for so many products and allows you to try your your design in the real world and see what does or doesn’t work and what issues you may face when you get to the final version. He also shared frequently about how many iterations of certain projects he did, and with each version it was improved on in one way or another. If you’re not making time to learn, practice and grow, you’re doing a disservice to yourself and your community of employees, team members and customers, and some day the world will probably leave you behind as it moves on and advances.
One of the more challenging lessons for Adam and his creativity was learning the importance of organization and cleanup. Throughout the book he shares of his discovery of the value of lists and how they can contribute to both personal and project success. I’ve shared with you before how much I love lists, both very organized and for the sake of writing stuff down so that you can keep doing what you’re doing in the moment. Organization and lists are both tools that enable you to pass on your process to others so that you don’t have to do every little thing, and they also help keep your business running uniformly, no matter who is following the list. Organizing and lists also help you to be more productive, strategic, and efficient, able to plan ahead and better meet deadlines. Cleaning up both throughout the day as well as specifically at the end of the day allow you to start the next day or project with a clean slate and not return to the frustration of the day before.
Finally, two bits of wisdom directly from Adam: “I take pride in my work, and I have no problem saying, I MADE THAT, but I also believe strongly in publicly sharing that pride with all those who were part of the journey.” I do hope that you’re proud of the business you’ve built, and if not, take 2021 to get it into a shape and run by people that you can be proud of. There will likely be as much change in this coming year as in the year that we’re finishing, so take advantage of that and make sure your business is something that you’re truly proud of. Also, I encourage you to commit to sharing more consistently and frequently about your pride in your team, and their role in building such an awesome business.
“I have always found that to make anything great requires a good idea that is approached with a genuine regard for excellence and honesty.” I do hope that 2021 is a year where we can all come up with lots of good ideas that will help our businesses grow and be successful and our world be better, stronger, happier, safer and smarter, and that we can bring those ideas to life giving it our best effort and being honest about when we need help, how we can help others bring their ideas to life and who helps us get to victory. What will you create in the new year?