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Mondays with Matt is a weekly short-form podcast from Barbell Logic founder Matt Reynolds, delivering practical lessons on strength training, coaching, and business you can apply immediately. Each episode blends real stories, clear takeaways, and simple actions you can take this week to move forward with confidence.
New episodes every Monday.
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Leverage Education: Put Insights Into Action As a Content Consumer
You almost certainly consume content in some form. Free or cheap content abounds: podcasts, social media, YouTube, reels, articles, books, audiobooks.
You should be consuming and encountering meaningful, challenging, useful content. You should constantly be learning.
That being said, too many people do not put lessons learn into action. Don't be one of these people. Then, your education is really just infotainment.
You do not improve yourself or your business by knowing more but by improving yourself and your business by changing your habits and applying the insights you learn from these educational resources.
Leverage Education: Build Trust to Create Leads & Conversions as a Content Creator
Some businesses focus on monetizing content and making money through content.
That is not Barbell Logic, and that is not most businesses.
Content is a means to build trust and demonstrate value and expertise. Potential clients (leads) consume your content, they become warm leads, and eventually some of these people will purchase your products or services.
For example, Matt has purchased Alex Hormozi's books (which are cheap) and watched some of his free online content. Because of the value he has gleaned from this, he was willing to pay more to attend an intensive in-person seminar.
Why? Because the free and cheap content, and Matt and Barbell Logic's application of the lessons contained in that content, have provided value. Matt was willing to invest more deeply in a higher level of service with a higher price point because of this trust from previous experiences with the content.
How are you building trust with your potential customers?
Leverage education and build trust.
Leverage Education to Identify Your Constraints
Barbell Logic used the seminar, and has used free and cheap content from Hormozi and acquisition.com to identify constraints within the business and levers to pull that will provide the most return for the least effort, time, and money.
Sounds a lot like MED (not on accident)!
MED does not mean do the least you can. It means valuing your time, money, and effort to get the biggest return on investment you can. It applies the law of diminishing returns. It asks, if you can add 5 pounds to your squat every 2-3 days with 1 set of 5 repetitions of the deadlift, why would you do a program that involves 3×5 or 5×5?
Leverage education to identify constraints and improve yourself and your business.
PS - Coach Smarter, Earn More: https://bit.ly/3X4ixOX Matt's Links Website: https://ryanmattreynolds.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reynoldsstrong/?hl=en Chris's Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrismreynolds/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Strength Training at West Point: Simple, Hard, Effective
Greg Hess is an instructor and athletic trainer at West Point. In this role, he has a host of responsibilities, including immediate treatment of injuries, overseeing mandatory physical training of all cadets during their cadet basic training, and leading an elective course on compound barbell lifts.
Really, what he is doing, in his roles, is trying to spread the benefits of simple, hard, effective training.
During basic training, he exposes cades to the deadlift and bench press, despite the limited time.
In his elective, however, he has more time to instruct technique on the four main lifts, along with the power clean and power snatch. Cadets also learn how to coach other cadets.
This is a good thing. Cadets at the United States Military Academy (West Point) are being exposed to simple, hard, effective strength training.
Learn about something exciting that is going on at West Point.
PS - Coach Smarter, Earn More: https://bit.ly/3X4ixOX Matt's Links Website: https://ryanmattreynolds.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reynoldsstrong/?hl=en Chris's Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrismreynolds/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Not All Metrics Are Created Equal: TTIs & KPIs
Two main categories of metrics exist to help measure progress toward strategic goals and gauge the health of the company: targets to improve (TTIs) and key performance indicators (KPIs).
TTIs are your top set of metrics, which have to directly impact your strategic priorities. Your strategic priorities need to align with your tenets and core values.
If these metrics improve, you have moved closer to or met your strategic priorities. These are not monthly or quarterly (though you measure them monthly and quarterly and probably more often than that) but likely annual priorities and TTIs.
KPIs are snapshots of the health of the company. If they improve, they should help your TTIs and strategic priorities (for the most part).
Often times, these are metrics that lower-level employees may care about. The CEO does not need to get into the weeds of Instagram post performance, for example, but the social media manager does.
Some metrics will likely not move, but if they do move you need to identify why they moved (either to understand the success or address the underperformance).
For Barbell Logic this might be churn. A good example in another industry is engine temperature in an airplane. This should remain constant, but if it starts to go up you need to address it quickly.
Not All Metrics Are Created Equal: Hierarchy of Metrics
What you measure focuses your attention, so pick your metrics carefully. The CEO should not be looking at 100s of metrics. Improvements in your TTIs must actually move you closer toward your strategic priorities.
For example, if a strategic priority for you is to earn $50k in coaching revenue this year, revenue is a TTI. KPIs that align with this may be churn, clients, cold calls, and life time value of clients.
Make sure your metrics align with your priorities and your priorities align with your values and tenets. Prioritize metrics: do not measure metrics just because you can.
Not all metrics are created equal.
PS - Coach Smarter, Earn More: https://bit.ly/3X4ixOX Matt's Links Website: https://ryanmattreynolds.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reynoldsstrong/?hl=en Chris's Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrismreynolds/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Struggling to Identify Your Core Values!?
Matt has heard that, despite his discuss on developing and defining your core values, and its importance, many are still struggling on how to actually get this done.
Matt was working with leadership at Barbell Logic years back on a business trip, and he and the team identified that they needed to work to identify 5-year strategic priorities.
They had extremely limited time, but using some simple techniques, they were able to establish Barbell Logic's tenets quickly, using a bottom-up approach and the pomodoro technique.
Helpful Hack to Identify Your Core Values
The team had hundreds of sticky notes and a blank wall in the AirBnB they were staying in. Separately, they each wrote down as many important tasks as they could think of.
Once done, they stood back, and began to group them together. Groups became larger groups, as patterns emerged.
What emerged from this process was the 4 tenets that Barbell Logic still has to this day: serve, grow, teach, steward.
Another tool you can use to really identify which tasks you should stop and which you need to prioritize and protect, write down your tasks in the four quadrants of the Eisenhower matrix.
These tips and tricks can help you if you are struggling to identify your core values.
PS - Coach Smarter, Earn More: https://bit.ly/3X4ixOX Matt's Links Website: https://ryanmattreynolds.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reynoldsstrong/?hl=en Chris's Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrismreynolds/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Prioritize Thinking: The Importance of Thinking
Taking time out to think matters. Why?
As Matt has discussed in recent podcasts, and his his upcoming book Undoing Urgency, we need to set up habits and systems in our life that help us actually spend time with the most important things in our life.
How do we spend time with these most important things?
Thinking helps ideas arise, whether they be things we need to stop, do better or different, or start.
How does one do this, though? How does one actually take time to think?
Prioritize Thinking: When Do You Think Best?
Matt has identified a few conditions that need to occur for him to think well, and then a few different environments where he tends to think well.
Matt things best after:
The first may seem obvious, but it is truly critical. You cannot think well if you are tired. For Matt, this occurs after a good night of sleep or nap.
Of course, Matt does not immediately wake up and start thinking, but rather after taking care of some quick tasks, making coffee, and clearing his head, he can think.
Critically, he eliminates urgent work. It is difficult to think about the important when urgent tasks are pressing on your mind.
Some of the best environments for him to think include the following:
Matt tends to have an initial brain dump when an idea arises, and he makes sure to take quick bulleted notes down (don't worry about spelling, format, etc. just get the ideas down).
Later, when he has more time, he fleshes the ideas out.
On a long drive, following this method, he developed the idea for Barbell Logic Online Coaching.
Prioritize thinking!
PS - Coach Smarter, Earn More: https://bit.ly/3X4ixOX Matt's Links Website: https://ryanmattreynolds.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reynoldsstrong/?hl=en Chris's Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrismreynolds/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
When to Embrace Urgency: The Occasional, Short-Term Galvanizing Power of Urgency
Woah, I thought we were about Undoing Urgency!?
Well, typically, yes. This is one of those rules that serves you well most of the time. You want to avoid useless or counterproductive urgency. If you fail to get out of the knife fight of the urgent, you cannot take care of the artillery battle of the important.
Let's discuss some examples of when embracing urgency makes sense.
As you can see, these examples are both urgent and important. They both really come with the real prospect of impending failure.
These times are crucibles. Do you live or thrive or die?
Lean in and embrace the galvanizing power of the urgent.
These times periods, however, burn people out. They must be short and infrequent.
They can totally transform, however, relationships and organizations. These periods often come with nostalgia as we look back on them.
Learn when to embrace urgency.
PS - Coach Smarter, Earn More: https://bit.ly/3X4ixOX Matt's Links Website: https://ryanmattreynolds.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reynoldsstrong/?hl=en Chris's Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrismreynolds/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
When Important Becomes Urgent: Faith, Family, Fitness
Those things that are important but not urgent, such as family, health, and religion, can become urgent when unattended to (or minimally attended to) long enough.
You find yourself bickering with your spouse or family more than normal, clothes unable to fit and feeling physically and mentally worse, and falling short of the standard your faith holds you to.
Now, your family, your fitness, and your faith are urgent (and, of course, still important).
It is time to clear your schedule, pull the weeds, and take care of what is most important. Life is signaling to you that you need to spend more time and effort on these things.
This might be scheduling a vacation. It could be a spiritual retreat. Maybe you clear off a time to train every day and start every single day (today) training.
PS - Coach Smarter, Earn More: https://bit.ly/3X4ixOX Matt's Links Website: https://ryanmattreynolds.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reynoldsstrong/?hl=en Chris's Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrismreynolds/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Extreme Gratitude
Matt goes through and thanks many of the people that have helped bring him and Barbell Logic to the point it is today.
Having just submitted the book to Forbes, about to go on vacation, and halfway through the year, Matt takes time to thank the people who matter to him.
He recommends doing this if you have not. We want to appreciate the pursuit, not the outcome, and taking time to be thankful is a great way to enjoy the pursuit.
Opportunities have arisen that, whether you call it luck, fortune, fate, or grace, you did not deserve in any real way. You found friends and colleagues, co-workers and jobs that you did not expect but mattered.
Take time to be grateful. Have extreme gratitude.
PS - Coach Smarter, Earn More: https://bit.ly/3X4ixOX Matt's Links Website: https://ryanmattreynolds.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reynoldsstrong/?hl=en Chris's Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrismreynolds/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
How to Write a Book: Tips & Tricks for the Process
Matt has been writing a book for Forbes with Nick as the editor. This process has worked especially well, as it has allowed Matt to do what he does best: verbally process ideas and tell stories.
Nick has been able to use his strength, of writing and editing to ensure not just correctness of grammar, syntax, and language but clarity of thought.
As a lawyer, he is good at identifying issues, organizing thoughts, and finding gaps in thoughts.
Matt and Nick worked on an ugly but extremely functional outline. It is not pretty, but it has enough detail to actually help describe what will be written.
Matt then records what he wants a chapter to be verbally. He might also share some old podcasts that also describe the issue.
Nick was able to get the transcript from the audio using this service. AI has made transcriptions inexpensive, quick, and easy.
How to Write a Book: Developing an Idea
Not everyone should write a book, but likely some people who should never do.
Matt had burning ideas that he had been developing for years and decades, and the opportunity arose and he seized it.
Before this, remember, he had been writing articles, recording podcasts, and discussing things on YouTube for years if not decades.
Start getting your idea out there. Talk about it, write about it, share it with people. Get feedback. Don't expect to go from idea to book.
Some ideas should just be a podcast or article. Some ideas are books.
Similar to how Matt would recommend starting a business, don't go from nothing to book, but start organically developing the idea. You may eventually publish or self-publish a book.
Nick recommends this needing to be important to you and your values divorced from its success. You have to want to get this idea out there and see the benefit in developing the idea.
Learn more about how to write a book.
PS - Coach Smarter, Earn More: https://bit.ly/3X4ixOX Matt's Links Website: https://ryanmattreynolds.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reynoldsstrong/?hl=en Chris's Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrismreynolds/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transition to TurnKey Coach: In-Person to Online
Anthony Diehl is a highly successful coach, who provides both strength & conditioning coaching as well as nutrition coaching for clients.
As with most coaches, he began fully in-person and began to experiment with online coaching. Online coaching, however, comes with many frustrations and inefficiencies if done poorly.
2020 and the Covid lockdowns, however, forced him to take all his coaching online.
He developed systems and improved his efficiencies, but still realized a limit of about 90 clients that he could not go beyond.
Transition to TurnKey Coach: Software Transition
Anthony recently transitioned to TKC. Despite the big change, and the fear and resistance change brings, he hammered out his programming and accomplished the transfer in two days.
Initially, for both him and his clients, it was a little weird to relearn the process, but the App itself is extremely intuitive and very quickly he was saving two hours of work a day.
Two hours of work a day, gone!
Transition to TurnKey Coach: More Time, More Clients, More Money
What could you do with two more hours a day? Well, now Anthony plans to take on more clients, which means more money. As Matt and Anthony discuss, he could also consider taking on more clients under his name and hire some coaches.
Of course, if he were fine with his current income, he could have pursued a different side hustle or spent more time with him family.
The point is, TKC frees you up to do more that is important to you. This could be acquiring more clients, working on your business, working on a different business, working on your hobbies, or doing something else that is important to you.
Learn about the transition to TurnKey Coach from someone who went through it recently.
PS - Coach Smarter, Earn More: https://bit.ly/3X4ixOX Matt's Links Website: https://ryanmattreynolds.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reynoldsstrong/?hl=en Chris's Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrismreynolds/
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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