You Must Break Things In Order To Improve
When is “good enough” good enough? In the case of hard working, super-motivated contractors, the answer is almost always NEVER! We all have people who are very good at their jobs, but the ones who truly seek to make a difference in their careers and in the outcomes of their customers take improvement to another level. They know that they must break things in order to get to the next level.
Please tune in this week as Wayne details how one world-class athlete came to the sudden realization that his five major trophies weren’t good enough and what he decided to break in order to advance to a new height. What are your thoughts? Doesn’t “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” apply? Why tinker with something already pretty good? Email me at [email protected].
The final Contractor Business Boot Camp class of 2026 kicks off in November, and seats are going fast. We're already half full. Don't let your rising leaders settle for "pretty good" when they're capable of extraordinary. Secure their seat before it's gone. Contact Charlotte today at [email protected] to find out more.
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WAYNE RIVERS: Hi everyone. This is Wayne Rivers at Performance Construction Advisors where We Build Better Contractors.
This week I want to talk about you need to break things in order to improve. This is from the weekly newsletter from James Clear. If you don't subscribe to it, I recommend it. He says, "Why is improvement hard? Part of the issue is that everyone wants to improve, but nobody wants to destroy. Change often requires destruction or at least unlearning. Let's call it gentle elimination. You may have to leave little habits, update current beliefs, eliminate comfortable patterns. When you want better outcomes, your daily norms may need to change. And your process of improvement is not just about adding things you like. Sometimes habits and patterns belong to who you were, not who you're trying to be. If you'd like something better, then a routine that you're comfortable with may have to die." Okay.
I think we can all agree with that at an intellectual level, what about the practical level? So I have a practical example for you, and his name is Jannik Sinner. Jannik Sinner is, I think right now rated the number one tennis player in the world. He's won five majors, Australia in 24 and 25, Wimbledon in 25 and 26, and the US Open in 2024. But at that US Open final in 2025, he lost to Carlos Alcaraz. Now, what about this is important to you? You may not care about tennis. I mean, come on, tennis, not the most rugged of sports. Anyway, those of us that love tennis do find a great deal of joy in it. And the story of Sinner, I think, is a story you can relate to as you seek to improve yourself and your construction company. So Sinner walks off the court having lost the US Open.
Now remember he won Wimbledon in 25, but then lost the US Open. So July 4th, Wimbledon, he wins. Labor Day in the US Open in New York City, he loses. He walked off the court having lost to Sinner and he said, "I was very predictable today. I have to go outside the comfort zone." He knew in his heart, having just won Wimbledon, by the way, if I won Wimbledon, I'd be hard to talk to. I would not be thinking about, "Boy, I need to improve because hey man, I'm a champion. I've won four majors at this point." Yeah, that's a remarkable attitude, "I was very predictable today. I need to go outside my comfort zone." Holy moly.
So he worked on three specific things. First, his serve. His serve was okay. It's distinctly better now. It's a different serve. He changed the motion, he changed the things he was doing, and he picked up MPH, but he also picked up his serving percentage and he picked up his placement into the corners. The second thing is he developed more variety in his game. He went with more drop shots.
Now, does Alcaraz get to the drop shot? Yeah, but still that variety in the game gives him one more thing to think about. He can't just stay on the baseline and pound forehands all the time. Sinner began to come into the net. If you notice some of the other top players who didn't feel very comfortable at the net likes Zverev, they've also decided to come into the net a lot more too. Variety in the game, shorten the points, make your opponents think about different things. And Sinner became even more aggressive from the back of the court and he hits the ball so hard. It's hard to imagine for people, average players like me to imagine how anybody generates that kind of power, but he does.
And the third thing he worked on was his concentration and mental toughness. He was already tough having just won Wimbledon, for example, but still he worked on that with a coach. Back in the day, guys drank beer and smoked cigarettes and played tennis and won and played great and they were legends. Today they have the mental coach, the physical coach, the tactics coach, the nutritionist. It's just really amazing these teams they put together, but their product is that player who walks out there alone.
One unique thing about tennis among most of the other sports is you're quite alone out there. You can look at your box, but they're not allowed to coach you. They're not allowed to signal you. You're alone. You've got to problem solve out there all on your own. And it feels like that in a construction company sometimes, doesn't it? You feel very alone when it's time to make challenging decisions that may sway the future of your company in one direction or another. Okay, so what happened with Sinner who wanted to change up his game and improve even though he was already a major champion? What results has he realized? Since he's made these changes since that US Open loss in 25, he's played 37 sets against Djokovic and Zverev who are in the top five in the world. He's won 37 out of 37 sets off two of the very best players in the world.
Since that loss in the US Open, the ATP finals in 2025 and the 2026 Monte Carlo Masters where he faced Alcaraz in both of those, he won. So since that loss in the fall of 25, he's beaten Alcaraz in the only two matches they've played since then. I don't know if that means he's going to win all the majors from now on. He may never win another major, who knows? But what he did was he challenged himself. I'm already at the pinnacle. I'm already among the very best in the world. Where can I find 1% more? Where can I find 2% more? And that's what he did. So that's the lesson for all of us. We can all improve. We can all get worse. A lot of aspects of my game have gotten worse over time, believe me, but we can all improve if we put our minds to it and we really look hard at ourselves and try to be objective. What do you think? Email me [email protected].
This is Wayne Rivers at PCA where We Build Better Contractors.
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