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by Oskar Johed, CrossFit Medis “Everybody knows how to hit – but very few really do.” I don’t know too much about baseball, but I know excellence when I see it. Long before we became members of the Two-Brain family we were following Coop’s work. Just by implementing freely available tools and tricks, we increased our net profit with well over the $10.000 per year. We also slept better, served our members more professionally and felt happier. When we finally joined the Incubator the profit (and workload) increased in due fashion. The pattern was repeated when we joined the Growth Stage after examination from the Incubator. The collective wealth of knowledge in the group is quite staggering.  I started reading all the books that everyone was recommending; Purple Cow, Never Split the Difference, A Beautiful Constraint, Start with Why, The E-myth etc. Phenomenal books loaded with insights! However, I am not smart enough to discover something that another Two-Brain member had not already mentioned. If I want to challenge my own thinking as well as contribute I have to seek excellence and wisdom elsewhere.  “Excellence is obvious to everyone” – Coach Greg Glassman. Baseball legend Ted Williams’ excellence is obvious. He explains in his book “The Science of Hitting” his methodical way to become one of the best hitters in baseball history.  In short, he divided the strike zone into 77 cells each the size of a baseball. He then calculated his batting average per cell. Swinging at pitches of his particular preference would yield 75 percent better than swings at balls in the worst part of the strike zone. His so-called “happy zone” – think heat map – consisted of 18 cells or about 23 percent of the strike zone .  He tried to be patient and only swing at balls in the happy zone.  Before joining Two-Brain we were “swinging” at anything and everything, regardless if the opportunity ...

Why Most Businesses Are Just Houses Made of Cards   The scientist Bertrand Russell once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how earth orbits the sun, and the forces holding our galaxy together. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady stood up in the back of the theater and said,   “What you’ve just told us is rubbish. The world is a flat plate, resting on the back of a giant tortoise.” Russell asked, “What is the tortoise resting on?’ The old lady replied, “You’re very clever, sir. Very clever. But it’s turtles all the way down.”   When a gym owner books a free call with me, I spend the first ten minutes asking questions. I want to know their story; I want to see if I can help them. And I want to find their bedrock.   So I ask about their Perfect Day. I ask them to tell me the story of their business. I ask, “Who’s helping you with this?” But what I’m really trying to find is their foundation: the systems on which their business runs. When I discover a lack of systems, I want to know their goals. And if they can’t clearly state their goals–their giant, big WHY IN THE SKY–then I ask about their values. I’m looking for their foundation.   Knowledge–in science, in myth, and in your business–requires a foundation of absolute truth.   If I ask your staff, “Why do we open at 9am?” are they likely to say, “Because that’s the time we’ve always opened”?   If so, and I asked, “Why have you always opened at that time?”, what answer would they give?   “Well, that’s what time everyone opens on this street”?   And if I asked, “Why does everyone on this street open at 9am?”–what answer would I get then?   But if, to the first question, your staff answered, “We ...