Business in Chaos? Use The Rockefeller Habits (3 Questions)!

Distraction is the death of productivity… You’ll never accomplish what you want in life or business if you don’t keep yourself (and your team) focused. But how do you do that? The answer, surprisingly, comes from Hinduism. 

Hinduism VS. Business Plateau 

The core principles and lessons that have been passed down for thousands of years are not to be ignored, whether it be for an e-commerce store, a SaaS company, or a local real estate agency. Fundamental truths, if they ARE fundamental, apply to all times and places... Both in life as well as in business. 

For example: in Hinduism, one of the oldest religions, there said to be three major gods: Brahma is the god of creation, Vishnu is the god of preservation, and Shiva is the god of destruction. Each of these gods represents an essential aspect of the universe.

And I know what you’re thinking: what does this have to do with business? Well… even if you’re not Hindu or don’t care about philosophy, whenever something has lasted over 5,000 years, you HAVE to pay attention because… there’s something to learn here. 

And this one is a doozy: creation, destruction, and preservation. It is a fundamental law of nature… the constant cycling of death and birth, day and night… spring, winter, autumn, and summer… etc. 

Gita says, "What belongs to you today belonged to someone yesterday and will be someone else’s tomorrow. Change is the Law of The Universe.”

This reminds me of the Redwoods in Northern California. I’ve been there multiple times. They’re insanely awe-inducing… granted… but there’s also something rather peculiar about their life cycle that we can use to gather some wisdom. 

Redwood trees are specifically designed to burn. It’s crazy. Everywhere in the forest, no matter where you are… there are these towering trees, but there are also, scattered below the canopy, birch-like stumps. For redwoods to procreate, they have first to burn. This is how their seeds are spread, which makes sense. They can't constantly replicate because they live for so long. Some of them are hundreds of years old. So they can't be renewed continuously… without first being completely destroyed. 

The same goes for your personal life. You're constantly learning something new. And then you're executing on it, and then you’re failing, or maybe “winning”? But regardless, when something changes, as it always and inevitably does, you have to start over again.

It's the same thing in business. Every single year, startups are launching, others are going bankrupt or dying, and then some businesses plateau or “maintain.” But in any case, there are at least parts of every business that are always growing or dying. 

Businesses like Walmart that have reached a near “max capacity” for their brick-and-mortar stores also have to evolve into e-commerce… in an attempt to compete with Amazon…

You’ll see these same patterns in big companies like Procter and Gamble. P&G knows it can't compete with fast, agile startups. They wait for the winning startups to reach a certain $20 or $100 million revenue marker, and then they buy them. 

That preservation, destruction, and growth cycle… then… fractals all the way up into corporate America. 

It’s as simple as this…

New startups scale. 

Old companies that can’t keep up die. 

Monopolies are divided up to start anew. 

You learn. 

You execute. 

If something changes in the market, you have to pivot again. 

Jordan Peterson says it another way… you can’t beat the universe. If you lie to yourself, your shareholders, your spouse, or your employees… eventually, it will catch up with you. You have to stare reality in the face. 

But that begs the question: what do you maintain? What do you grow? And what do you kill? 

If things are constantly changing and moving, dying and being brought back to life, how can you stay on track without getting lost and forgetting about your core vision? 

Enter: the Rockefeller habits. 

Rockefeller Habits  

John D. Rockefeller is arguably the richest man that has gained his wealth not from inheritance or royalty but from capitalism and competition. He was richer than Musk, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett in his dollars… 

So how did he get there?

First, he used a series of habits to focus his team, leaders, and employees on “the right thing.” He said that as long as we have a clear goal—a big hairy audacious goal as Jim Collins calls it—and you reverse engineer that goal, and then you keep the team ever-focused on the next most important goal/task… 

…If you do this every single day… you’ll win. 

But how can you do this without getting distracted or losing track? Rockefeller said there are three questions you have to ask yourself, your executives, and each employee, if possible, every day. 

1. What should we keep doing?
2. What should we stop doing?
3. What should we start doing? 

This is the meta-habit you should do every single day... No exceptions… And it works for every area of your life. 

Give it a try…

In your personal life, what should you keep doing? Maybe you’ve been eating healthier than you usually would…so instead of scarfing down the last bit of chocolate leftovers at 2 am, you are actually eating that spinach you bought earlier in the week in a moment of strength. Or maybe you’re sleeping well these days instead of binge-watching Bridgerton on Netflix?

Keep doing that, and in a few months… I promise you…you’ll be a WHOLE new person. Pat yourself on the back, notice what’s working, and double down. 

Next: what should you stop doing? Perhaps you need to stop smoking or cut down on the long hours you spend on TikTok. 

And lastly... What should you start doing? Whatever the hell gets you closer to your personal goals… be it exercising, reading more, spending time outdoors…whatever it is you have to do… just actually do it. 

Even in your relationships. Asking these three questions can be transformational. I’ll give an example from my wife and me. 

What should we keep doing? We should continue going to get coffee every single morning together: phones turned off. That’s something we do, and we should keep doing it. 

What should we start doing? We have this habit that when we fight, we end by saying three things that we're grateful for in each other. Always end every fight with, “Name three things that you love about me.” This is a tool that maybe we should use every day, maybe when we wake up, even? Why only use it when we need it? This, for us, is what we should start doing.

And then, finally, what should we stop doing? We should stop holding resentment. If we feel something, we should say it out loud. 

And this works, by the way, not just for romantic relationships but in your relationship with your family, your mom, your sister, or your dad. It works for all relationships…and guess what? It works for business too. 

I always say this to my employees: What is your zone of genius? What is the thing that only you can do? You shouldn’t just try to be good at that. Don't try to be like a good college athlete. Don’t stop even at “making it to the Olympics.” Keep improving until you can win the gold medal. That’s what you should keep doing. Keep amplifying your strengths. 

Now, what should you stop doing? You should find the anchor that’s holding you back and break away from it. 

What should you start doing? Whatever is the next domino that you’re avoiding? Usually, this is the hardest thing. Pro-tip… ask yourself, “what am I avoiding?” and that’s probably the thing you should start doing.  

And even wilder… this scales all the way to CEO decisions and how countries should plan their next 20 years. But it also scales down to departments, “What should the accounting team be doing?” “What should the HR team be doing?” “What should the video team within the marketing team be doing?” Each one of those has its own universe… And then you go deeper. “What should every member of the team be doing?” 

This is so obvious that nearly every life-changing business, self-development, or philosophy book has some version of this principle in its toolbelt. 

The one thing. 

The domino effect. 

1% better every day. 

Keep the main thing the main thing. 

Atomic habits. 

Eat the frog. 

Do hard things. 

He who chases two rabbits catches none. 

Chamath says you have to: “Ruthlessly prioritize.”

Notice the pattern? 

What is our anchor that we need to get rid of? 

What is our zone of genius? 

What is our competitive advantage? 

Our Unique Selling Point? 

Our Unique Value proposition? 

Dig into that. 

What are we terrible at? 

What do our customers complain about?

What causes customer churn or returns?

Stop doing that.

All the greatest business books…

Physics… Math… Nature… Chinese philosophers…Steve Jobs… Everyone is saying the same shit… DO the right thing. Stop doing the wrong thing. And most importantly… Make it a habit. 

Here’s a business example.

“Our software improves ad performance better than any other tracking software.” 

Sure… but what if your onboarding takes 3 weeks of back-and-forth emailing to the point that it causes your client to want to rip their hair out? You’re crushing the top of Alex Hermozi's value equation… you’ve got a great promise and guarantee… but you’re ignoring the denominator… It's painful to start and takes forever. 

Having the self-awareness to amplify your strengths AND eliminate your faults is the key. 

Your boat won’t go faster if you paint it blue… instead, you should give the engine more horsepower. But even if you do that… and you don’t lift the anchor… you’ll never win the race. 

The examples and metaphors are endless. 

This is a “this is water” level idea…

It’s so obvious you don’t even see it. 

So… let’s cut to the chase… how do we implement this in the real world? 

Three questions. 

Three simple questions.

If you're constantly distracted, constantly chasing the next shiny object… If you self-identify as a visionary but you're just giving yourself an excuse to be not focused… You NEED to ask yourself… 

1. What's the thing that I should keep doing? 
2. What should I stop doing? And…
3. What should I start doing? 

These questions are your mirror. Take a look. Face that reality every single day, and if you do… YOU will stay focused… therefore, your LEADERS will stay focused… and then, therefore, your EMPLOYEES and your specialists will stay focused. 

1 + 1 equals… YOU WILL accomplish your goal. 

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