Happy Sunday Everyone:
I received a call last week from my great friend, Lisa Wells. She quickly said, “A lot of deep thoughts coming from you as of late,” referencing my recent Sunday Thoughts. I’ve never thought about seasons of thinking, but I guess they do occur, and hopefully for the better. The deep thoughts continue this week.
I’ll try not to make a habit of sharing all my coaching sessions with Robin Sharma, but the last one on Thursday was impactful. He challenges you to think differently, and because the other students are across the globe and in different fields, it’s not about mortgages.
A few bullets from my notes:
- Less input, more wisdom
- Buy fewer things, we often purchase to mask deeper wounds
- Don’t build for ego, build for legacy
- The one who serves best earns the most
- How do we give 10x more value than our clients expect.
It’s hard to summarize the flow of the work, but one protocol focused on habits, having total focus on the things that serve the life and businesses we’re intentionally building, and distancing ourselves from the things and people that don’t. Then, off the cuff, he shared a Gandhi quote I had never heard: “I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.” That stuck with me. At 51, I’ve noticed I have less tolerance for people or inputs that aren’t helpful, more so than at any point in my past. I say less tolerance, which is true, but I also have more clarity and intention when these people and things are coming my way to be able to say, “not you, not this”.
Next came the “7-generation principle.” What will the impact be of what we’re doing seven generations from now? If you’re like me and immediately throw on the negative bias, the initial reaction is skepticism. I can’t predict whether AI replaces parts of what I do in six months, let alone seven generations from now. He then asked us to write for five minutes: What would you need to do differently? Just write. The first thing I wrote down was “prune the vine.”
If I want anything to last seven generations, it starts there. Surrounding myself with people aligned with my values. Guarding what I allow into my mind. Making sure the only people walking through it have clean feet. The exercise was more impactful than I expected, not overthinking, just writing, then reviewing what actually matters enough to put into practice.
My biggest takeaway is simple: prune the vine. Without pruning, I overextend. My growth becomes scattered. The simple filter/question, “are these dirty feet?” help me understand what I need to cut so I can concentrate on what I truly want to grow.
I’ll never look at dirty feet the same way again! Have a great rest of your Sunday!