The Carpenter: The 3 Greatest Success Strategies of All (Jon Gordon)

by Jon Gordon

The managers who don’t raise their hands believe they don’t have titles that are fancy enough or positions

that are high enough to call themselves leaders.

But now that you are president, don’t ever use your position. Great leaders are great because people trust and respect them, not because they have power.”

I encourage you to think of the main character as a mentor. He will teach you

that any human being who loves, serves, and cares is a leader.

You’ll also learn that to achieve genuine success, you must help others. Your first job in life is not to judge and evaluate people, but to help them succeed in whatever they’re doing. In other words, success is meant to be shared.

My name is J. Emmanuel,”

You know, when I’m not walking around the city saving people’s lives, I build things like this,” he said with a smile, as he proudly showed off his woodwork.

“I give and expect nothing in return. It’s a beautiful way to live and work.

Never do anything out of obligation. Do everything with gratitude and love. It’s much more powerful that way.”

Before you build a masterpiece you must design it. It’s the same way with life, you know. Too many people go through life living by chance, but when you live by design and know the life you want to create, you are able to create a masterpiece instead of a piece of junk.”

Michael couldn’t help but think about what his life looked like. Was he living by chance or by design? Was he creating a masterpiece? Or, was he causing his body to burn out and fail?

What does your life’s masterpiece look like?”

I guess my picture of what it looks like is a little blurry right now.”

“That’s okay. Blurry things can be brought into focus with the right questions and better strategies,”

believe it started with asking what success looked like when I started my career.

Once you have a vision of what could be, and know what the world looks like, you are ready to design, create, and launch.

What does it look like when you are at your healthiest, strongest, and best? What does your family situation look like while you are pursuing success in your work?

Are you ignoring the people you love the most or making more time for them? What matters most? What priorities drive you each day? What are you doing that makes you come alive? What are you doing to live and share your purpose? When you look back on your life what

do you want to be able to say about it? How do you want to feel? What will you have wanted to accomplish? What legacy will you have left? Years from now people will be telling stories about you, and you must ask yourself what kind of stories you want them to tell. ...

So in the end, when I look back on my life, I will smile at what I have done rather than regret what I haven’t.”

“You are much more than a carpenter, aren’t you?” he asked. “I am indeed. Over the years I have built more than furniture and cabinets. I have helped people build their lives,

careers, and teams. I didn’t plan it this way. It just happened. It is my purpose and I receive it. After all, material things eventually fade away. No matter how beautiful an entertainment center we build, it won’t last forever. It may not even last a lifetime. But the leaders and people I build up, the people I invest in, the relationships I develop, and the success strategies I share—that is what endures and ripples through eternity.

While I’m excited to build this entertainment center with you, I’m even more excited to ...

These strategies do not come from me but from my father and I have witnessed their power firsthand in my own life and the lives of others. Most people don’t implement them because they don’t believe it could be so simple.

Simple is powerful. Just remember that simple does not mean easy. You still have to take action.”

“That’s okay. Some of my best work has been taking things that are broken and making them whole again.

“Once you design your masterpiece, you must be a craftsman in your approach to your life and work,” the carpenter said as they drove down the highway toward the store. “All success starts with being a craftsman.”

“A carpenter builds things. A craftsman creates a work of art.

While most people approach their work with the mindset that they just want to get it done, craftsmen are more concerned with who they are becoming and what they are creating rather than how fast they finish it.

“As a craftsman, I know the things I

build won’t last forever but I work and create as though they will.

I pour my heart and soul into everything I build, knowing that all that I create is a reflection of me. When I create art, I feel energized, and I energize all those who experience my work. And with each c...

I don’t return calls because I’m focused on doing the work and putting my heart and soul into it.

If I spent all the time necessary to call people back, I wouldn’t have the energy to create great art.

The fact that I’m so busy tells me people are more interested in the work I do than how fast I return their calls.

“The world is filled with those who get things done the fastest and the cheapest, but it needs more artists, craftsmen, and craftswomen. When you become a craftsman in a world of carpenters, you will stand out and people will clamor to work with you.”

the process was filled with more sweat and failure; and the years and tears it took to master my craft were greater, but it was the only way. My father taught me that when I fall in love with the process, I will love what the process creates.”

“Everyone can be a craftsman or craftswoman but not everyone is willing to become one.

As I walk this earth and city, I find that everyone wants to do what the great ones do but very few are willing to do what they did to become great.

Too many want five minutes of fame but they don’t want to spend the thousands of hours it t...

there’s no such thing as an overnight success. The way to success is the way of the craftsman, where you work really

hard for years.

You show up every day. You do the work. You see yourself as an artist dedicated to your craft with a desire to get better every day. You put your heart and soul into your work as you strive for excellence. You desire to create perfection, knowing you’ll never truly achieve it but hoping to get close to it. You try new things. You fail. You improve. You grow. You face countless challenges and tons of rejection that make you doubt yourself and cause you to want to quit. But you don’t. You keep working hard, stay positive, and persevere through it all with resilience, determination, and a lot of hope an...

getting better day by day.’ To the world, you are an overnight success. To you, the journey continues. You’re a craftsman who wants to make your next work of art your best work n...

It seemed everyone in the store knew the carpenter.

As they walked around, one person after another either waved or stopped to say hello to him. “How you doing, J.?” “What’s going on, J.?” “How’s business, J.?” “What’s your latest project, J.?” The carpenter waved and said hello to each person and stopped to talk to those who wanted to talk to him. Michael

felt like he was walking around with the mayor of ...

It seemed everybody loved J. and he lo...

As they drove back to the house, Michael asked, “How do you know all those people?” “Oh, they were either clients or people I’ve worked with on various jobs. When you work as long as I have and...