From the Founder, Brian Mazza 9/12
Your Personal SOP
When I co-founded The Ainsworth, we obsessed over SOPs Standard Operating Procedures. If you’ve ever scaled a hospitality business across cities like Las Vegas and New York, you know how fragile consistency can be. A great burger in one location means nothing if the next one is served cold with the wrong bun. From FOH to BOH, the only way to hold the standard was through SOPs. They weren’t just paperwork; they were our backbone.
But here’s the truth: the second a manager slacked off or someone wasn’t present, those SOPs could crack. And once cracks form, quality crumbles fast.
That’s business. But it’s also life.
Most people think SOPs live only in the corporate world. That’s where they’re wrong. The best athletes, leaders, parents, and entrepreneurs all have unbreakable SOPs for how they operate. They just don’t call them that.
So what happens if someone asked you in an interview: What’s your personal SOP?
It’s a question that flips everything. Because when you answer, you reveal your true operating system, not your résumé, not your LinkedIn bio, not the mask you wear. Your SOP is how you live.
My Personal SOP
Preparation Before Performance
I don’t wing it. Champions aren’t built on improvisation, they’re built on repetition and readiness. If I’m walking into a meeting, a workout, or a family dinner, I’m prepared. Preparation is confidence. Confidence creates consistency.
Show Up Relentlessly
If my name is attached, I’m there in full. Half present is failure. Showing up, on time, engaged, locked in, isn’t optional. It’s the baseline of trust.
Standards Over Feelings
Feelings change like weather. Standards are bedrock. I don’t let moods dictate actions. If the workout is scheduled, it happens. If the tough conversation needs to be had, it happens. Standards decide, not feelings.
Small Wins Daily
Big goals collapse without small victories. That’s my compounding interest. Every rep, every call, every bedtime story with my kids, those are deposits. They may look minor in the moment, but over time they’re unstoppable.
Review and Refine
Businesses that never update their SOPs get left behind. People are the same. I regularly evaluate how I’m operating, where I’m slipping, and where I need to sharpen. Because complacency is the silent killer of performance.
The Playbook Move
Here’s the move: write your personal SOP. Not fluffy affirmations, but the hard standards you live by. Five to seven rules. Short, clear, unbreakable. Post them where you can see them. Train the people around you to know them too. If you run your life with the same precision you’d demand in a company, you stop drifting.
Because at the end of the day, you’re the CEO of your own operating manual.
