Just as I said last week about Tony Robbins, if you’ve never heard of Robin Sharma, the other guru I want to talk about today to conclude my Tale of Two Titans, then chances are – you’re not going to be overly interested in this week’s FIT Matters either.
Robin’s story is an equally fascinating one, albeit he didn’t arise from quite such humble beginnings as Titan Tony – and it would probably be fair to say, had a slightly more privileged upbringing.
He worked as a litigation lawyer until the age of 25, then moved into writing and self-published his first ever book on stress management and spirituality, ‘MegaLiving’ – a love he exquisitely developed, given he’s since authored dozens of books on leadership and peak performance, and sold over 15 million copies, in over 75 Countries in the last 20 years.
Best known for his international best-seller ‘The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari’ book series and more recently, ‘The Leader Who Had No Title’ and ‘The 5am Club’, Robin Sharma is considered to be one of the top 5 leadership experts in the world and, like Robbins, his work is embraced by rock stars, royalty, billionaires and many celebrity CEOs.
Indeed, his mission statement: “to help people and organisations around the world Lead Without a Title” kinda’ says it all, when you take into account that he’s a titan of the personal development industry and again, like Robbins, recognises the vital role every individual plays in their own success, in both business AND life – regardless of their social standing, status, age, gender or job title.
He is a premier speaker on Personal Mastery, with the rare ability to electrify an audience, yet deliver uncommonly original and useful insights that lead to individuals doing their best work; teams providing superb results and organisations becoming world-class, unbeatable forces to be reckoned with.
For nearly 20 years, many of the most well-known organisations on the planet, ranging from Nike, GE, Microsoft, FedEx, PwC, HP and Oracle to NASA, Yale University and YPO have chosen Robin Sharma for their most important events – and having experienced his Hero. Legend. Genius Masterclass over the last couple of weeks, I can clearly see why.
Robin Sharma has teamed up with leading Life University ‘Mindvalley’ led by the equally awesome Vishen Lakhiani, to bring to the personal development junkie a life-changing programme (in 66 days) that will teach the have-to-hacks that enable you to ‘Think Like A Hero. Perform Like A Genius. Live Like A Legend’.
The preliminary Masterclass provides a wealth of learnings and key insights into the Hero. Legend. Genius mindset and even without the benefit of the 66-day quest, I for one, have gleaned some amazing insights and key learns about the art of Personal Mastery.
I thought you might like to read about some of these learnings &/or take a few notes, for your own personal development this week – just as I offered up to you in last week’s FIT Matters with my key learns from Tony Robbins’ New Year New You Challenge event, so here goes….
1. Your GENES do not determine your GENIUS. You do not have to have brainy parents or a blessed childhood or be privately educated and have a suitcase of qualifications to construct (or even reconstruct) yourself into who you want to be. Over 80% of the world’s most extraordinary people, from top athletes, billionaires & renowned leaders, all have one thing in common – and it’s not their genes! They all formed the habits to become who they are today. So genius isn’t born, it’s built.
You can reconstruct yourself into who you want to be, through daily repetition of habit, which is the scientific approach to enriching your life.
Indeed, while research proves it takes 21 days to both make and break a habit and a further 9 days to embed the new habit into BAU, a leading edge study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, confirms it actually takes an average 66 days to successfully embed a habit, in order for it to become automatic or part of our DNA.
So, adopting simple & easy daily disciplines – such as setting the alarm earlier, meditating before rising, having at least 3 AF (Alcohol Free) days a week or doing a 15 min heart-increasing activity every day, is a sure-fire way to create, what Robins refers to as ‘automaticity’ – a natural, unconscious & empowering habit that significantly enhances your life once those 66 days have been embedded into your daily routine.
2. Having the “right mindset” is never enough to achieve the success you desire and deserve. To translate your goals into reality, you also need the “right heartset”, in order to ignite your motivation and passion. Headset and heartset need to work in perfect harmony – they need to balance. In other words, our hearts and minds need to work in synergetic alignment, in order for genuine leadership and true power to be realised. Courage with compassion. Kindness with kicking ass when necessary (obviously, applying the pointy-stick-kid-glove principle ) Empathy with planned-through action and inspiration with ‘holes in hands’ working practices.
3. Let your faith be bigger than your fear. Silence your inner critic and become your own publicity agent. You cannot hire someone else to do your push ups for you – you have to go with your gut and believe in yourself. Robin says “let your pain purify you; your stumbles strengthen you and your failures fortify you.” He has a passion for peoples’ potential – just as I do and fervently believes, as do I, that we can never be more than we believe is possible, so it’s definitely time to start believing in possibilities.
We need to remove our comfort blankets and step into our circle of brilliance, because everything we’ve experienced in our past was necessary for us to become who we are today – and we are (and can be) ANYONE we want to be! All it takes is a FIRST step… of a new daily habit or discipline or inspired action or new behaviour and then, hey presto! we’re off the starting line.
4. Be a GIVER not a TAKER. Robin Sharma is definitely on the same page as Tony Robbins with this particular golden nugget. Both have built successful lives that many only dream of, by living & breathing every second of their lives through this core principle – GIVE more than you EVER expect to RECEIVE and understand that “the secret to LIVING is GIVING.” To become a GIVER, you have to shift from the scarcity mindset – If you think the world is a place of scarcity then you’re going to take as much as you can before it’s all gone. A lot of people have an internal architecture of scarcity and they don’t even know it, but they’re breeding it out into the world. They’re doing it in relationships, in business and in their personal lives too – their unconscious mission is to take, take, take, because they fear loss and lack, yet what they fail to realise is that, as Robbins & Sharma have already said: “the secret to LIVING is GIVING”.
When you have a mindset of generosity, you view the world from a totally different perspective. You adopt the behaviour of GIVING. You give to your company. You give value. You give your enthusiasm. You give your creativity. You give your passion. You give your values. You give your love. Yes, Robin uses that word in the business context because he believes that great work is done from a position internally where you feel love. Love of serving. Love of your craft. Love of helping. Love of being inspired.
The irony and the paradox is that when you do this, you make more money. You get more promotions. You get more accolades. You get standing ovations. You get more applause. You get more happiness. You get more energy. You get more creativity. Because ultimately life wants you to win, but you can’t win if you’re a taker – you can only win if you’re a giver.
5. Develop a lust for learning. Robin says that the very act of learning something new means you must also disrupt your thinking of yesterday. To accept, or even just to entertain a new idea, means you must leave the safety of your former way of perceiving the world and open up to something foreign. And that means you have to leave the protection of your safe harbour and sail out into the unknown – which is a pretty scary place for most people.
Ordinary people get threatened there. Victims get frightened there. Yet, the fascinating paradox is that trying to avoid new ideas to stay safe is enormously dangerous—and infused with risk. On the other hand, those who make the choice to remain blindingly curious and intrigued, welcome the unknown and scary, whenever they’re faced with an idea that confronts their most closely cherished beliefs, hopes and dreams.
They sign up to ‘Running College’ or ‘Traffic University’ or the ‘School of Walking’ whereby they spend 60 mins every day, listening to a podcast or audiobook or watching a webinar or YouTube video, efficiently applying the NET Rule that Tony Robbins talks about – No Extra Time needed, because while they’re learning, they’re doing their daily exercise or performing a household chore or taking the kids to school or driving to / from work.
Just as giving is living, learning is living too!
6. Follow the KISS Principle. OK, Sharma didn’t use this actual phrase – it’s a FIT tip, as you know. However, his quote “The secret of genius is not complexity, it’s simplicity” is really saying the same thing. So, focus on one thing at a time – break big tasks down into manageable bite-sized chunks and remember – a yard is hard and an inch is a cinch, so follow the ‘Way of the Tortoise’ and slowly, slowly does it. My business mentor waxes lyrical about the importance of this principle – breaking your day into manageable 90 minute chunks, whereby we’re encouraged to spend the first 90 mins of our day working ON our business, before we spend the rest of the day working IN it.
Robin’s 90/90/1 Rule is fully aligned with my mentor’s rule, which helps to maintain that simplicity principle they both obsess about – for 90 mins every day, for the next 90 days, focus on ONE thing that will move you closer to your ideal life.
As the meerkat would say – simples
To conclude, as I said in last week’s story of the Tale of Titan I, it starts with the Inside Out Model:
Change your thoughts, change your life.
Change your state, change your life.
Change your energy, change your life.
Change your physiology, change your life.
Change your language, change your life.
Change your outlook, change your life.
Change your story, change your life.
Change your habits, change your life.
Change your perspective, change your life.
So, I leave you this week with a very touching, uplifting speech by American poet Rudy Francisco, entitled ‘Complainers’, which you can watch on YouTube:
If you rated Martin Luther King or Mandela in their day, then you’ll love what this young man has to say about EVERYTHING we’ve been talking about these last 2 weeks in ‘A Tale of Two Titans’ – and I hope it will help YOU get and keep things in perspective as we move further into this New Year.
I guess when it comes to perspective and how we view things (in business AND life) it definitely makes sense to focus on what’s within our control and not what’s outside of it AND it most definitely makes sense to find ways to continually stretch outside our hoola-hoop and move away from our comfort zones, as we said last week too.
Life is never going to be the same again as we march onwards into the 2nd month of 2021 – and for many of us, that is feeling like a really GOOD THING right now!
Remember – if you’re not moving FORWARD in 2021, then you’re either STANDING STILL or you’re moving BACKWARDS – and neither of these positions are synergetic with SUCCESS.
If YOU want to stand on the shoulders of giants and be a titan just like Tony Robbins and Robin Sharma, then you’ll be pleased to know it is MUCH, MUCH easier than you think!
You could start by adopting just ONE of the 12 golden nuggets I’ve shared with you over these last 2 weeks….
* How about developing a morning ritual of 3 key things you’ll put into practice at the start of your day?
* Or maybe doing some morning meditation to get yourself in the right internal state?
* What about committing to 15 mins a day of personal development activity – whether that’s watching a YouTube video of these two titans (or any other titan you come across) or reading a few pages of a self-help book or attending a feel-good virtual event or webinar?
* Perhaps setting your alarm 30 mins earlier than usual?
* Or drinking a freshly-made green smoothie or pint of lemon water first thing in the morning?
Remember, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, so this is all about bite-size chunks and doing things in the Way of the Tortoise – another great personal development tool to take a look at: https://www.thewayofthetortois…
So, this week – Think BIG, Start Small, Scale Fast.
You got this!
Until next time – stay safe & keep FIT
Best regs
Marie X
