Losing Fat, Road Trips, and Don't Nibble

“Zack. What’ve you been up to?”

Well, in no particular order…

Be Lean

My long-term goal is to be lean.
The first milestone is to weigh 185 pounds (or less).
The second milestone will be to a specific body fat percentage.
The third milestone will be to increase strength & endurance (while maintaining a body fat percentage).

How am I doing this?

I use myfitnesspal to track every calorie and macro that goes into my gullet.
I have a protein floor and a calorie ceiling. My aim is to eat at least 185g of protein per day. And my guardrail is to eat no more than 1,805 calories per day.
My phone and my watch are tracking my steps per day (I use the app Pedometer++).
Finally, I have a Renpho scale for measuring my weight each morning.
I then use paper and pen to track 4 metrics every single day: weight, calories, protein, and steps.

My average daily calorie consumption is 1,564.
My average daily protein consumption has been 175g.

My average weight loss has been 0.85 lbs/day.
As of the writing of this post, I’m at 225.4 pounds.
40.4 pounds to go.

Lean Dirt Road Trips

I have 2 road trips in the coming months. One in July. Another in August.
The purpose of these road trips are to go onsite with civil contractors and deliver a productivity audit.
The deliverable? A 90-day roadmap of improvements to increase productivity.

Candidly, I’m stoked about these trips.
First, the contractors who sign up for these road trip audits are getting a sweet deal. I massively discount these audits because I’m able to crank so many of them out in a short period of time. One “trip” for 5+ businesses. As opposed to one trip per business.

Second, these are great opportunities for me to build a reputation in the industry. Lean is almost nonexistent in heavy civil. People are skeptical. I get it: people need proof. And that’s perfectly fair. These road trips are fantastic opportunities for me to produce proof.

In July, I’ll be headed to the Midwest / Great Lakes Region: Eastern Michigan, Northern Ohio, and the Southern Ontario. Delivering productivity audits for Dunigan Bros, Arro Crushing, Gillett Excavating, Bachtel Excavating, Geotex, and Schouten. In addition to the productivity audits, I’m doing a half-a-day training session with Ground Crew’s Peer Group 002 and a full-day training session with Dunigan’s Foremen/Supers/PMs team.

In August, I’m headed to the Pacific Northwest. I still have 4 days (August 19-22) available. Shoutout to JMA Construction for leading this road trip.

Click here to learn more about the productivity audits and availability.

I’m a Productivity Advisor

What the heck does productivity even mean?
More output with the same (or less) input.
A P&L way to measure this? A higher net profit-to-total cost ratio.

Yes, my mission is to transform dirt businesses from mediocrity to excellence.
Yes, this means developing a culture of continuous improvement.
Yes, this means building the systems to communicate effectively and efficiently.

And… it starts with quick wins. Like a fitness coach training a fat kid, I want you to see significant results after 3 months of training.

So that’s how I’ve structured the productivity advisory.

1. Let me get onsite with you and conduct an audit. I want to observe the reality of your business… not just your perception. This helps me understand who is doing what, how, when… and why. Not just in the field. But also in the office and in the shop. Every part of the business is a production.

2. I’ll put together a 90-day roadmap of improvements for you and your team to make significant strides in increasing your team’s productivity.

3. You, your team, and I will work together to stay focused and sustain momentum on the action plan. Breaking bottlenecks and getting rid of the excuses that slow down progress.

There are FAQ’s & an outline of the program at leandirt.com — give it a visit!

5 Books in 5 Weeks

Over the past 5 weeks, I’ve gone all in on 5 books. The theme? Self-control.

However, one of these books is not like the others: High Output Management by Andrew Grove. This book is a classic. A gold mine. A go-to playbook open on my desk constantly. This isn’t the first time I’ve read it and it definitely won’t be the last.

The rest are great. Here are quick one-liners that describe exactly why I love these books.

1. Good to Great by Jim Collins — “People are not your most important asset. The right people are.” And the right people are first and foremost self-controlled.

2. Undeniable by Cameron Hanes — Results are the only way to be undeniable. It doesn’t matter how hard you work if you don’t produce results.

3. Never Finished by David Goggins — “When a half-assed job doesn’t bother you, it speaks volumes about the kind of person you are. And until you start feeling a sense of pride and self-respect in the work you do, no matter how small or overlooked those jobs might be, you will continue to half-ass your life.”

4. High Output Management by Andrew Grove — “Stressing output is the key to improving productivity.” + “The output of a manager is the output of the organizational units under his or her supervision or influence.”

5. The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz — “If you’re going to eat shit, don’t nibble.” This won’t be everybody’s preferred method of communication. But it sure is mine. Just another way to say “It sucks? Suck it up!” PS — I get this mental image for this quote.
   Side-note: Ben wrote the newest/latest foreword in Andrew’s book.

The most important book in this list is definitely High Output Management. Nothing else matters when it comes to productivity and the efficient use of resources.

That’s a wrap. What did you think about this format? I haven’t written a newsletter in quite a while. Took a break from it. And figured I’d stir it back up.

I’m not going to double-down on publishing weekly, again. Why? A couple of reasons. I’m considering starting a podcast. That’s going to take up bandwidth. And — I want my customers to get my first fruits. So if you want an inside scoop on what’s going on inside of my nearly-hollow head, let’s work together.

Best way to contact me. WhatsApp: +16158126742

Til next time…
Zack