Marney Andes is a successful learning and development executive coach, corporate consultant and author. The best advice she shares with clients comes from the lessons she learned growing up in a tiny western Nebraska town with a population of around 350 people.

On this week’s episode of the Start With a Win podcast, Andes speaks with RE/MAX CEO Adam Contos about the life lessons and values she learned from her dad – and how people everywhere can benefit from applying his wisdom to their personal and professional lives.

Wallace, Nebraska, is a small farming and ranching town. Andes grew up immersed in her local community, primarily by getting involved with school sports teams.

“Start with the ‘give-me shots,'” her dad used to advise while she was practicing basketball in the yard.

Give-me shots, according to Andes, are the basketball shots you make while standing directly in front of the basket at just a few feet’s distance. Her dad always said that if she obtained proficiency and never stopped practicing, these small steps would set her up for success as she moved farther away from the basket. She would shoot the ball 300 times from close up each day before stepping back to challenge herself.

These give-me shots became a metaphor in Andes’ life, and are a leading principle she teaches to others in her career. She believes the concept directly correlates to how most people live their lives, by focusing on the things they don’t do well. People are missing out on embracing the fundamental skills that make them good at their craft.

She asks listeners to identify those small tasks that make them great in their profession and ask themselves: Am I continuing to work on these every day?

“That [will] catapult you further than if you’re just looking at what you [aren’t] doing well,” Andes suggests.

Her dad also instilled the importance of appreciating a small community setting. He believed that humble surroundings teach a person to slow down and enjoy what is right in front of them.

“[A] sense of community is something that is still an opportunity for all of us – we could still have it. We just have to slow down and actually intentionally invest in it,” Andes says.

Tune into this week’s podcast episode to hear how Andes packed her dad’s lifetime of wisdom into her brand-new book, “Start With the Give-Me Shots” – featuring the 8 most valuable life lessons learned from her dad – released this week.

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Written by RE/MAX News 

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