Shifting gears

to a growth mindset and taking responsibility can influence your outcomes

Watch the video now, or read the transcript below. Be sure to also subscribe to the Live Life Build YouTube channel.

Amelia  

I get so excited about what we’re doing inside Live Life Build. What we’re doing inside the industry, because we both believe that it can be different.

Growth Mindset

Amelia  

Duayne one thing that we know from the time that we’ve been in this industry is how up and down it can be. I remember somebody saying to me very early in my career, the construction industry is always the first thing out when times are tough. And then it’s always the first thing back in and at whatever time it is, whatever economic climate there is, there can always be doom and gloom about what’s going on in the construction industry. Our media can be full of lots of negativity. You can find lots of people inside the industry as well, just want to complain,. Just want to be negative about things, and really focus on what’s not going well.

How do you exist in that environment and still stay positive?

Duayne  

It does take a lot of effort sometimes. I just used to whinge about everything. And all that did was start my days bad, get me in a bad mood, and I didn’t want to get out of bed. And it was a flow on effect. And before you know it, you’d wasted the day, you’d wasted your week, and you’d had a bad month, or it could be a few months. 

And basically, I got frustrated with myself.

Then I started to take responsibility. 

Well, if I’m just going to continue to whinge about everything, nothing is going to change. Everything is going to keep going the same way. I’m going to keep having the same problems. Probably the big one for me was I had this dream for so long. I’d seen family members growing up, a lot of my family is in the industry, painters, renderers, concreters, there’s all sorts of builders. And I’d seen them all struggle, with depression and anxiety, and they all blamed the industry. And I started to get to a point where I didn’t like the industry because of what it was doing to me as I grew up. 

So I got my apprenticeship. I got into the industry. The two bosses I had during my apprenticeship really struggled and they blamed everything. And then I started out and I would try and talk to other builders and I’d try and find a shoulder to lean on and get some advice and stuff. And it was really heartbreaking. I can remember asking multiple builders, I’d be having a bad day, or I’d be in trouble for something, I’d be losing money. And I’d say to other builders, “man, this industry is hard, surely there’s something we can do”. And they’d all just say:

“Mate, just harden up, it’s the industry, deal with it.” 

And I just got to a point where I’m the only one that can make a difference here. So if I want to stop whinging about things, and complaining about things and having bad days, and thinking that my world’s all wrong, I’m the only one that can change that. And I ultimately did. 

Making a Difference – One Builder at a Time

That’s sort of what’s led to Live Life Build. And Live Life Build’s purpose is to change the industry. And I remember even leading up to the starting of Live Life Build. I just got to this point where I used to keep thinking to myself, I’m going to change this industry. I’m going to do this, I’m going to do that. I got asked to speak at a few events a few times. And it went really well. People thought it went really well. And I got called into an Association to have a talk about what I was trying to do. And they basically told me “look Duayne, we commend you for what you’re doing, but we won’t support you.” 

And for me, that was heartbreaking. I took it quite badly. I remember going out of that meeting and jumping on the phone to Camille, and you guessed it, I had a big whinge. I came out of that meeting and I just whinged about the industry. 

So I remember in the early days of Live Life Build where you and I were doing business planning and talking about what we’re going to do, how are we going to do it and I I even did a few stories on social media and just getting so worked up and high on this fact that we are making a difference. 

And Live Life Build’s over two years old now. And our purpose is just growing and growing. The doom and gloom is never going to change. And it’s not just our industry at the end of the day. So, it’s up to us how we want the ending to be. So it doesn’t matter if you read papers, if you listen to the news, you’re always going to find a bad story about the industry. So it’s up to you to switch it off, get away from it, and run your own race.

Amelia  

It’s such great advice and I think that you shape the way that you see the world. You shape the kind of experience that you get to have in the world. If you are constantly sitting and complaining about things that you can’t control, and feeding the beast of all of that kind of stuff, instead of looking at what can I control, what can I change? And then what am I going to do about it? 

Then you put yourself in a much better position to be able to create that change. And like you, I get so excited about what we’re doing inside Live Life Build. What we’re doing inside the industry, because we both believe that it can be different. And we’re seeing that it can actually be different. So it’s really, really exciting.

Duayne  

And the big change for me is it’s a lot about words we use as well. I always used to say, I’m going to change this industry but now when I am talking, we are making a difference. We are saving lives. We get told by people all the time.  And that’s probably been the biggest driver for me. I do take this quite personally because over the years we’ve lost family members from suicide and things, so for me to be able to be in a position with Life Live Build, your passion and my passion, and be able to help family businesses out, it really brings tears to my eyes. I love it. I’m so passionate about it. 

And we are making a difference. 

And I believe that if we keep going down the path we’re going down, we’re going to have an army of builders that want to have the same purpose, the same passion and we will separate our industry and create a better place for small family custom residential builders.

If you want to read more about changing your mindset to grow your business, you may also like “Personal Responsibility: It’s YOUR Business” and “Stop Blaming Others. Start Taking Responsibility.”