The 10 Disciplines to Maximise Impact and Inner Peace

TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:00 – 00:00:17:06
Gino
The challenge is, you know, you have an Elon Musk, who I am such a fan of for so many reasons I can’t even explain. But that man, his capacity is like 150 hours a week. He’s super human. So if you’re ever comparing yourself, oh well, Elon works that hard. I need to work that hard. You’re making a mistake.

00:00:17:07 – 00:00:33:06
Gino
You are no Elon Musk. Don’t do that. So you got to decide how fast you want to go. There’s no rule of thumb for growing your business. You get to decide that. And I was okay steadily growing it over a ten year period.

00:00:33:08 – 00:00:55:09
Alex
This is Alex Anthos, and today we’re talking with Gina Wickman about the ten disciplines to maximize your impact. And in a piece from his latest book, shine. Gina is the author of the bestselling and award winning book traction, along with six books that have sold over 10 million copies across the world. And he’s the co-founder of EOS worldwide, which is one of the largest business coaching companies in the world.

00:00:55:10 – 00:01:12:04
Alex
If you’re an entrepreneur, startup founder, or a highly productive operator, this episode is for you. I hope you enjoyed this episode, and make sure to subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as they’re released. Now let’s get into it! So how do you define impact?

00:01:12:06 – 00:01:27:24
Gino
I love it, you know, and it’s really funny because as we start here, you know, I want to start by saying, Alex, I’m so looking forward to this. Thanks for this opportunity. I hope that we will make a huge impact on your audience today. So great word to start with. So, I’ll say it a couple different ways.

00:01:27:24 – 00:01:49:08
Gino
And so I define it as, you know, I my purpose is to make an impact. And it just so happens my specialty is entrepreneurs. And so I am here to make an impact. I’m driven entrepreneurs. It’s everything I’ve ever created. That’s what it’s all about. And so, you know, I define it as making a positive change in someone’s life for the better.

00:01:49:08 – 00:02:05:09
Gino
In other words, helping somebody get to where they want to go faster. If I can do that for somebody, then I believe I’ve made a huge impact, because then they’re going to tell to friends and they’re going to teach you to do friends. And so the ripple effects kind of go on forever. And to me that’s impact.

00:02:05:11 – 00:02:09:13
Alex
And the second definition, how do you define the pace.

00:02:09:15 – 00:02:10:09
Gino
Inner peace.

00:02:10:09 – 00:02:11:15
Alex
Inner peace. Yes.

00:02:11:18 – 00:02:39:01
Gino
Right. And so inner peace, inner peace I define as I’m going to back into this. So again my specialty has driven entrepreneurs. Most don’t have inner peace. I say that with all the love and respect in the world. And I’m speaking from experience. And so with the blessing and the curse of being driven, our tectonic plates internally are always shifting and our central nervous system is always armed.

00:02:39:03 – 00:03:11:09
Gino
And so the opposite of inner peace is a constant uneasiness, a constant chasing. We’re always trying to fill a hole inside of us that can never be filled. So I define peace as just the opposite of that. Where your tectonic plates are calm, your central nervous system is calm. You just go through life making a huge impact as a driven entrepreneur with an inner peace, a clarity, a calmness, literally a nothingness going on inside of you.

00:03:11:11 – 00:03:13:04
Gino
That is peace.

00:03:13:06 – 00:03:39:16
Alex
So what we’re really talking about, in these ten disciplines is how do you maximize the impact that you have on other people’s lives and at the same time, be calm on the inside, which is sometimes, it’s a juxtaposition or is it that dichotomy or something? It’s like the two opposite things. Almost. Right. Like in terms of can oftentimes if you want to have some more impact, you have to have less peace because it’s so much harder.

00:03:39:18 – 00:03:49:21
Alex
The, the, the journey at least. Right. And that’s a conversation at least. Right. And so that’s why this is such an interesting concept, is where you can maximize impact, but also you can maximize inner peace as well.

00:03:49:23 – 00:03:52:05
Gino
So you got it.

00:03:52:07 – 00:04:00:20
Alex
And we’re going to talk about the ten disciplines. But I mean high level. How do these two things actually just relate to each other. Because oftentimes they don’t relate to each other.

00:04:00:22 – 00:04:18:13
Gino
Yeah. Well I would suggest to you they absolutely do not relate to each other. So it’s beautiful about what you’re saying is there’s this model that I created called the true self model. And when you’re really being your true self, it’s when you have maximize the impact and maximize the peace. And they’re in the form of an infinity model.

00:04:18:13 – 00:04:40:11
Gino
So if you understand that kind of sideways number eight, that’s exactly what it’s illustrating. It’s almost like these two opposite sets can work together. And it’s this incredible balance of the two. And so these ten disciplines we’re going to talk about when implemented in your life, they max my to the point you’re saying your impact and your inner peace.

00:04:40:13 – 00:04:59:09
Gino
In addition to that, they greatly increase your energy. But it’s all about the discovery that we driven entrepreneurs. We know how to make an impact. The impact side of it is, is like falling off a log. I mean, that’s the easy side for us. We just don’t experience a lot of inner peace. So the irony is, is we can have both.

00:04:59:09 – 00:05:20:07
Gino
That is one of the discoveries I teach in this book, shine is you can have both. And what’s crazy and exciting and surprising, at least for me, was I realized when I was able to increase my peace. I don’t know that I’ve maximized it, but that’s the journey I’m on. The more I increase the inner peace, the more impact I make.

00:05:20:10 – 00:05:40:12
Gino
So the impact is even greater. And that’s, you know, to get your head around that. As a driven entrepreneur, it’s a really hard thing because the fear going in is that by finding peace, it will zap us of our super power. We’ll, like, lose everything. We’ll lose that drive, and we’ll lose that impact that we make. And it’s just the opposite.

00:05:40:14 – 00:06:00:14
Alex
It’s like you’re talking to me right now because that is, Well, it’s funny because the older I get and the more experience of having business, the more I’m ending up in the places where you’re saying. But I do often think that that hole on the inside you spoke about is kind of part of the drive of people.

00:06:00:14 – 00:06:17:02
Alex
Right? Is like and so that’s where it starts a lot of time, I think, I think that’s where it ends up, is that you can’t stay there forever. And I think that’s I think it comes to a point. So I don’t know if it starts within a pace or it starts with the impact and then you move towards in the pace.

00:06:17:02 – 00:06:22:20
Alex
Is that kind of how you would think about it? Because you don’t really start with in a pace do or do you ending in a pace?

00:06:22:22 – 00:06:44:01
Gino
Yeah. Well it’s so I want to zoom all the way out and give you a really big picture context and answering that question, and then we can go really deep and I’ll let you be the barometer of how deep we’re going to go. And so in answering that, you know, I want to suggest to you, first and foremost, there are five pieces of content I’ve created in the world.

00:06:44:01 – 00:07:03:03
Gino
Okay. So my obsession is helping entrepreneurs. That’s what I do. And so very quickly, you’ll understand the point I’m making when I share this first piece of content is called entrepreneurial leap. For any entrepreneur in the making or an early stage entrepreneur. The next piece is called Rocket Fuel for when that visionary entrepreneur is looking for their integrator counterpart to grow to the next level.

00:07:03:06 – 00:07:21:06
Gino
Third piece of content is traction and iOS for when the entrepreneur wants to run a better business. Fourth piece of content is the iOS life for when they want to live their ideal life. And then there’s the fifth piece of content shine and the ten disciplines. And what we’re about to talk about today. Well, in saying that if you picture that, that’s the life.

00:07:21:09 – 00:07:36:21
Gino
That’s the journey of an entrepreneur. And I describe it as climbing the mountain. Okay. And so we’re all climbing the mountain. We’re chasing this thing. We want to ring the bell. What happens though? I’ve seen it more times than I can count, including to myself. As we get to the top of the mountain. We achieve all the things we wanted to.

00:07:36:22 – 00:08:00:10
Gino
We thought that was going to give us this fulfillment and fill that hole. And we’re still feeling just as empty or we’re feeling empty. And so this is about going into your inner world and finding that fulfillment. And so now with that context clearly in mind, wherever you are on the journey, yes, you unfortunately, in most cases, that driven entrepreneur, you know, you got to build the plane while it’s flying.

00:08:00:10 – 00:08:20:24
Gino
In other words, you got to work on inner peace while you’re, you know, building the plane while you’re climbing the mountain. And so it’s unfortunate you don’t have this luxury at the beginning of the climb to go, you know, climb a mountain. Hypothetically, different analogy to go find inner peace and then start your journey. So the truth of the matter, what happens almost all the time is we get to the top of the mountain.

00:08:21:00 – 00:08:39:00
Gino
You know, you talk about your age and where you are as we get a little older, we start to reflect more. But it’s the entrepreneur that gets to the top, rings the bell, then they start looking inside. Well, this is all about getting that to happen sooner. On the climb. And the more and more young people that we reach, we can catch them on the front end.

00:08:39:04 – 00:08:59:21
Gino
And so that’s ultimately what we want is on the front end. People that find that inner peace so that they both have that drive, that impact while experiencing inner peace. So at a minimum, I’ll take somebody who gets to the top of the mountain and show them inner peace. But the idea is that we show them sooner. And worst case last point, that I’ll turn it back over you.

00:08:59:22 – 00:09:20:14
Gino
Worst case, if all you do is climb the mountain, your soul is going to ping you at some point for inner peace. So it’s coming no matter what. So worst case, you know, apply the four pieces of content and climb the mountain and realize success. Make the money and it’s coming. So that’s the worst case. And that worst case ain’t so bad.

00:09:20:16 – 00:09:41:18
Alex
I have so many questions about, the thinking about that, but I think it would be good, if we could just go over the ten disciplines quickly, because I think that’s going to frame the rest of the discussion on where, when, how, how difficult, at what stage, at what point, so can you give and just within reason, I’m like a high level kind of overview of the.

00:09:41:20 – 00:09:56:10
Alex
Yeah, out of the ten disciplines. And then, potentially some can speak about some of them, but then also just really understand the thinking behind this. Right. Because everyone should get the book because, the book is fantastic. Everything’s in the book. But I want to just get how we kind of kind of start to think about the integration of this.

00:09:56:10 – 00:09:59:15
Alex
Right? So if you could please, Gina.

00:09:59:17 – 00:10:26:24
Gino
Absolutely. So here’s a high level overview of the ten discipline. So so hang in there. Everybody out there. And so these are the ten disciplines to maximize your energy, your impact and your inner peace. And so discipline number one is ten year thinking. That’s shifting the way you think to get time to slow down by thinking in ten year time frames, discipline number two is taking time off.

00:10:26:24 – 00:10:51:02
Gino
We’ve got to recharge as driven entrepreneurs. And so it’s establishing the right amount of time to take off for you. Discipline number three is know thyself. This is really knowing who and what your true self is. Discipline number four is be still. It’s taking time to sit in stillness and kind of let your soul catch up. Discipline. Number five know your 100%.

00:10:51:02 – 00:11:20:13
Gino
This is your work container. The maximum energy and value output. We are all unique and different. And so it’s determining your 100% discipline. Number six is say no dot dot dot. Often that one’s magic. Number seven is don’t do $25 an hour work if you want to make six figures. And so more on that, discipline number eight is prepare every night a powerful, simple discipline to actually help you get more done.

00:11:20:15 – 00:11:41:19
Gino
Discipline. Number nine is put everything in one place. Another powerful discipline for capturing all of your thoughts and ideas and issues and all that stuff going on. More a more organized approach to the world. And then discipline number ten is be humble. And so the power of being humble in this world and so there they are at a high level.

00:11:42:00 – 00:11:44:17
Gino
And let’s drill down on whatever you want to.

00:11:44:19 – 00:12:18:00
Alex
Yeah. Fantastic. So I think this is like it gives a good concept on the methodology behind this thinking. Right. And a lot of this thinking seems to be about creating space and understanding who you are. And I think the harder one maybe. So maybe we start with the harder one. Right. The no thigh self right. Because know thyself is like it’s a lifelong journey, sometimes right, to figure out kind of who you are and what’s important.

00:12:18:00 – 00:12:34:03
Alex
Right. But it’s I feel like before you can know where to focus, it’s out of focus and how long to focus on. You kind of need to know who you are. So can you drill down on how someone can know high Self?

00:12:34:05 – 00:12:56:08
Gino
Absolutely. And as we dig into that, what I love to do is just an overriding statement because you said something so powerful, that is so perfectly said, because this is all about creating space, and is that the ten disciplines, when implemented in your life, create a platform, a foundation, the space and time for you to maximize your peace, your impact, and your inner peace.

00:12:56:08 – 00:13:12:04
Gino
And so that’s what it’s all about. And when they’re all ten, implement it in your life. They have a magnifying effect. So you could certainly just implement one. And you will get great benefit. But the real magic happens when you implement them all in your life. And where this came from is I’ve been living by these for 30 years.

00:13:12:04 – 00:13:37:08
Gino
I built iOS worldwide, living on these, these, these disciplines, and I never intended to share them with the world. I was preparing to do my keynote address at our annual iOS conference. I needed a new topic and it just came to me. I was sitting in my meditation chair and I just realized these ten things that I’ve done habitually for 30 straight years.

00:13:37:08 – 00:13:52:21
Gino
I shared them with that audience and the rest was history. It went over so well. I ended up putting it in a book and and so here we are. So with that, now let’s go deep into discipline. Number four know thyself. And so each discipline starts with a bold statement okay. And so I’ll give you a bold statement.

00:13:52:21 – 00:14:15:12
Gino
The bold statement is designed that if you would just please listen to me and do what I tell you to do, you would just do it. But unfortunately, most human beings won’t do that. You got to be sold. You got to be convinced. So here’s the bold statement and then we’ll get into the nitty gritty. So the bold statement is be your true self 100% of the time.

00:14:15:14 – 00:14:35:20
Gino
24 over seven 365 if you would just do that, you’ll realize all the benefit. Now, easier said than done. But doing that, I just want to share with you some benefits. And then let’s dig deep and you ask whatever questions you want. But if you will do what I just said, you will burn less energy. You will stop being a chameleon.

00:14:36:00 – 00:14:59:10
Gino
You will be more authentic. You will be freer. You will have more fun. Your freak flag will fly. You will float. You will experience true freedom. You will channel your energy. You will reach what I call the synchronicity pocket, which is like that perfect synchronicity pocket where amazing stuff happens. You’ll be a better leader and you’ll release what’s not yours.

00:14:59:10 – 00:15:03:13
Gino
And so there’s my jumping off point. Let’s dig as deep as you want to dig.

00:15:03:15 – 00:15:27:00
Alex
Well, so how do you start to figure out who you are? I say, for example, if you’re in the early stages, right, and you’re building as you go, that’s obviously harder because you don’t know yet. But even as you get older, right, and you have more experience, but then oftentimes with more experience comes a lot more, responsibilities, pressures, external, stakeholders, and things like that.

00:15:27:00 – 00:15:40:24
Alex
And so you can often lose yourself, I guess. And so how does someone start to understand themselves so that they know where they should really be spending their time? More so.

00:15:41:01 – 00:16:10:08
Gino
So I’ll describe it this way. So so think of it. Picture it as almost like a journey. Okay. And on that journey, the journey starts very surface. And just hypothetically, this isn’t a perfect way to look at it, but let’s pretend we’re looking at a 20 something, a 30 something, a 40 something and a 50 something. So you this level of experience in life and with the 20 something and, and we talk about going very surface and then deep, I look at it as kind of levels and sometimes it just starts with understanding your skills and abilities.

00:16:10:08 – 00:16:29:05
Gino
So in your 20s start to learn what your skills are because it’s different for everybody. And what are your abilities. And then again, as as you mature and grow and have experience. So don’t tie it so much to an age right now. But once you get clear on that, then it’s about to about understanding your personality and your traits.

00:16:29:05 – 00:16:50:22
Gino
You know really who you are. And then you get into your strengths and your weaknesses. And the analogy I like to share is picture yourself as this block of marble, okay? And inside that block of marble is you, your magnificent self, your true self, the soulful you burning bright. And it’s a matter of chipping away all the marble that isn’t you.

00:16:50:24 – 00:17:11:13
Gino
And getting clear on what is you. There’s a lot of ways to look at this, but the clearer you get on those skills and abilities, strengths and weaknesses, you start getting clearer and clearer. Well, the magic starts to happen when you keep going deeper and deeper and deeper into that, where we start to look at who are you truly?

00:17:11:16 – 00:17:39:04
Gino
What is your true self? And this is where you start to get into addressing things that are holding you back, weaknesses, blocks that you have. So there are things that happen to you in your life that are these energetic blocks, trauma. You’ve experienced pain and you start to learn that in some cases, you built this masterful structure to protect you from the world, and that facade is not you.

00:17:39:04 – 00:17:59:04
Gino
And it’s time to start chipping away the facade, because, you know, in our 20s and for me, I remember it when I was 15. So when I was 15 and I started drinking, my ego and I joined forces and I was able to create this perfect tough guy facade, and I buried all of my pain and trauma from the past.

00:17:59:09 – 00:18:21:13
Gino
And I just created this package that served me so well for the next 35 years, till it was time to shed it all. Well, what I’m the point I’m making is the sooner you start shedding that stuff, the facade, the protective layer again, those blocks of marble that’s really getting down to the muscle or your soul. That’s when you really start becoming your true self.

00:18:21:17 – 00:18:25:07
Gino
But you know, so that just got really happy. And we get into the.

00:18:25:09 – 00:18:27:23
Alex
I like going heavy fast is good.

00:18:28:00 – 00:18:50:13
Gino
But but but for the audience that’s not ready. We can stay surface. And when you say you know, how do I find my skills and abilities at 23 years old, profiling tools are very powerful, you know, Myers-Briggs and Desk and Colby. And there’s so many wonderful profiling tools. So just doing those and working with a consultant that’s an expert on those tools, you’ll really start to understand those things again.

00:18:50:16 – 00:19:03:03
Gino
That’s more the surface stuff really, really important. Then we can get into the deep stuff, which is shedding layers, as I like to call it, shedding your shed, as I lovingly call it. And that’s where the real magic happens.

00:19:03:05 – 00:19:25:11
Alex
I fully agree with you on that point, and I think that is the harder part is understanding who you are in terms of the traumas and the drivers and the strengths and the skills. And like those types of things, is there is there a fast lane to that, or is that just an ongoing process? Because I’ve taken the long path, I don’t I’m wondering if there’s like a shorter path.

00:19:25:13 – 00:19:26:18
Alex
Yeah. Well, the audience.

00:19:26:20 – 00:19:42:21
Gino
I took the long path too, but I’ll share a couple of things with you on this, and I’m going to try and share it fast. But there’s almost like three contextual points I’m going to pull together as fast as I can because you know what you’re touching on. You know this book shine. You know, this is what this book is about, okay.

00:19:42:21 – 00:20:09:00
Gino
And in the beginning of the book, I share a discovery and the discovery is about understanding that all decisions are made out of love or fear. And when you understand that basic principle, love or fear, these are also your thoughts, feelings and emotions. So I’ll call all of that decisions. Well, it’s this discovery where you realize that as you go forward in looking back, you realize all of the decisions, thoughts, feelings and emotions that you’ve made from love or fear.

00:20:09:02 – 00:20:31:02
Gino
Well, let’s trade out those words for what they really are love and fear. Love is coming from your true self and your soul. Fear is coming from your ego. And so what you learn when you really drill down to the root of this is you start to see your ego has you hijacked it has created this persona and facade that’s trying to protect you from the world, to never feel the pain that you once felt.

00:20:31:08 – 00:20:45:13
Gino
Its intentions are good. It’s being a protective mother, but you’ve got to dissolve and shed that ego if you really and truly want to be your true self. So that’s point one. Point two you’re asking, is there? Oh, you want to ask something on that before I go to the next point?

00:20:45:13 – 00:21:09:13
Alex
No, I really like that statement. You need to shed your true egg. You need to shed your ego before you can find your true self. If you share your ego. And in the world of social media profiles and, personal brands and, you know, kind of like, like all of the LinkedIn posts and the TikTok creators and, like, it’s all about the ego these days.

00:21:09:13 – 00:21:21:21
Alex
Right? And oftentimes the ego is linked to business in some way. But like, I think that’s a first little thing, right? Separating ego. Well, that’s not your true self. It’s just interesting.

00:21:21:23 – 00:21:39:17
Gino
You got it. And so watch this. Thought I might take you through the next two points to answer your question about you know, the speed paths for doing this. So, you know, it didn’t happen for me. But what did happen for me is I started, I got pinged, my soul got pinged at 30. That’s when I started to really see the facade and work at it.

00:21:39:22 – 00:22:00:00
Gino
And I would shed some layers over the coming decades. But it was age 52 when I was sitting at home. I sold my business at 50. I was sitting there two years later. I sold so well, just in terms of I had no involvement in the business. The day after closing, I was pursuing my new passions, like life was good.

00:22:00:06 – 00:22:17:04
Gino
And so I was sitting there celebrating my life and then, oh my God, did the universe hit me over the head. So I got hit with the universal two by four and all my pain and trauma from the past go. My facade finally said okay, enough. So I did a lot of shedding, but I didn’t do the big shedding.

00:22:17:04 – 00:22:41:13
Gino
And so the last 3 to 4 years, from 52 to 56, I’m 57 now. Oh my God, did I shed stuff so I took the long road. Here comes the third point. I believe there is a speed pass, but I believe most of us cannot have that benefit. But here’s my point. Going back to the first point, when you understand it’s really simple, very complex.

00:22:41:13 – 00:23:08:20
Gino
But when you understand the fact that the facade, the pain, the trauma is simply your ego protecting you and that it’s all energy and your ego is this cocoon wrapped around your true self protecting you the day you realize that it’s that simple and you realize it’s just a matter of shedding all the trauma, which means all that shit that happened, it happened.

00:23:08:21 – 00:23:32:10
Gino
It happened. In other words, we’re hanging on to it. We’re making up stories. We’re so afraid it’s going to happen again. We’re protecting ourselves that can all be shed and let go. And so for 99.99% of us, we got to take the slower road. But this book creates such a context. I really believe there’s some number. It’s a very small number, just so you know, but a small number.

00:23:32:10 – 00:23:53:14
Gino
When they see this I, one of them are in your audience right now when they see this dynamic, they will shed it all. And I’m snapping my fingers in a second. Very, very, very few. You know, the rest of us have to go through therapy and read books and do plant medicine. And I mean, there’s like, we give 30 ways to shed in the book.

00:23:53:14 – 00:24:14:21
Gino
Okay. But there are people, once you understand this and that, it’s just your crazy ego hanging on to everything, you can let it all go. So took me, you know, 30 years slash 3 to 4. Really intense years in this last 3 to 4 years. But, but it’s possible. And again, worst case, you take the slow road.

00:24:14:21 – 00:24:24:02
Gino
At least you’ll get there, man. Just just keep working toward it and these ten disciplines in your life create the time and space for that wonderful stuff to start to happen.

00:24:24:04 – 00:24:43:18
Alex
And I think that’s the important part as well, is that the goal is to understand yourself. And the goal is to is to, is to get close to that. Right. And so and so everything else I’m going to be talking about, I think, is linking kind of more to this, because in my experience, that’s the hardest one, which is why I kind of started with that, because that kind of centralizes around everything.

00:24:43:18 – 00:25:05:11
Alex
And a lot of who you are is kind of, is based on your experiences in the past and your traumas and your successes and your love and your fears. Right. So I think that is a link to your impact and your piece. Right. Starting that. Right. But yes, but the other thing I was mentioning before is a lot of this is about the creation of space.

00:25:05:13 – 00:25:22:22
Alex
Space seems to be the next level of productivity, right? And not in the beginning. Right. Because I think this is like a a little bit of a trick thing where it was like, oh, well, I’ll just work smarter, not harder. And I think in the beginning you kind of just need to work a little bit, right? But at some point you can’t work any harder.

00:25:22:24 – 00:25:45:21
Alex
Right. And you’re still not satisfied and you’re still not having the full impact. And so then what do you do? Right. And from what I’ve found, a lot of time is creating space and a lot of they seem to be around creating the space. So can you talk about because space is such an interesting thing, because it is more productive if you use it well, but it’s also you’re sitting on the couch maybe.

00:25:45:21 – 00:25:54:01
Alex
And so it looks like you’re being lazy, but it’s space, right? So yeah. Can you just talk about like how you think about space and the impact?

00:25:54:03 – 00:26:19:07
Gino
Yes. You bet. Well, and what I’ll do is I’ll pull three disciplines together to make your exact point that how these are creating space. Okay. And so I’m going to grab no, you’re 100% I’m going to grab be still and I’m going to grab take time off and I’m going to put them all in one nutshell, because by knowing your 100%, your 100% is your work container, okay.

00:26:19:07 – 00:26:39:02
Gino
And that’s knowing the number of hours per week and weeks per year. That is your maximum energy output. We all, every driven entrepreneur have this perfect number. I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s true. So for me it’s always been 55 hours a week, 40 weeks a year. That’s my maximum output. Maximum output means one extra hour per week.

00:26:39:06 – 00:26:56:24
Gino
You will start to burn out one less hour per week. You’ll start to get bored. Here’s a there’s a formula for everyone. So once you know that that just created space outside of that number to take time off is deciding what is your magic number of days off? I’ve always taken 150 days off a year for the last 30 years.

00:26:56:24 – 00:27:21:11
Gino
I take the month of August off every year. I take time off because I know what that does for me and recharge my batteries. But it creates space for the magic to happen. And then the third is be still. Be still is taking time. Every day, 30 quiet minutes to do one of four things, or a combination of both to meditate, to contemplate, to journal or pray, or a combination of those things.

00:27:21:15 – 00:27:41:20
Gino
And the combination of all three of those is where you’ve now created space. Because then what happens now that you’ve created space and time in your life for this, in meditation, or one of those other forms of stillness, stuff will come up if you will just pause and just stop and pretend. 30 minutes. We urge you to start with ten.

00:27:41:20 – 00:27:59:08
Gino
For those of you that have never meditated or taken stillness before because you got to build up to this. But the point is, what I realize is the people that resist it. When you sit in stillness, you finally stop yourself and get calm. Your soul is going to start screaming at you the stuff that needs to be shared.

00:27:59:08 – 00:28:18:03
Gino
It will start screaming. That’s why most driven entrepreneurs freak out with meditation and they say, oh, I can’t do that. Well, you can do that. Your ego just doesn’t want you to do that, but your soul does. And so the idea is to stop and let your soul catch up. Because what I always lovingly say when you get into this practice, stuff will come up and stuff will come down.

00:28:18:03 – 00:28:43:11
Gino
So what that means is you will get downloads, which is very profound and powerful. But don’t worry about that, don’t expect that. But also stuff will come up. So stuff comes down, stuff comes up, you’ll get downloads, but stuff will come up, meaning your body, your soul is going to scream and there will be sensations. And when these past pain traumas experience these things you’re hanging on to and your ego’s trying to protect you from, when they come up, they will come up with just as much pain as they went down.

00:28:43:11 – 00:29:03:06
Gino
And that does not feel good. But that’s your body trying to release it, shed it, get rid of that block. And when you release it, like we talked about before, your energy will go through the roof that block is finally gone. It’s not holding you back anymore and you become more of your true self. And so the point is just to start the process.

00:29:03:10 – 00:29:22:21
Gino
Same thing with taking time off. Most driven entrepreneurs. They’re just working so hard. They never take time off to recharge their batteries and do the stuff they’re supposed to be doing in their personal life, and so it just gets scary because it’s the opposite of what we’re used to. It doesn’t feel productive. It doesn’t feel like we’re making an impact in everything.

00:29:22:21 – 00:29:34:08
Gino
I’m telling you will make you a better entrepreneur, make you a more impactful entrepreneur. It’s just really hard to grasp because our brains just don’t work that way.

00:29:34:10 – 00:29:55:17
Alex
How do you figure out your ideal number of hours of work per week? Right. All per year? I answer for you. It was, 55 hours for 40 weeks a year. Is that right? And so how do you get to that point? Because, you know, it goes from 100 hours to 50 hours to 80 hours to 60 hours to 100 hours.

00:29:55:20 – 00:30:04:12
Alex
Like, it just depends on the year, the week, the month, the time of the decade, whatever it is. So how do you get to the point where, you know, like that’s about the right number?

00:30:04:14 – 00:30:26:02
Gino
Yeah. You bet. So so the way you do that is a few words awareness time, practice. It takes work to figure it out. But here we are. Let’s pretend like I figured out mine at age 30 and here I am at 57. Okay. And so if you’re out there and you’re 20 years old and 30 years old, it may take you five years to figure it out.

00:30:26:02 – 00:30:50:05
Gino
But if you’re 30 and it’s gonna take you five years, that’s 35. Now, you got 30 good years of knowing your perfect work capacity. So it just takes time. It takes awareness, it takes focus, it takes effort. So you really have to work at it. But the context to start with in the awareness is to believe and understand that there’s a perfect number of hours and a perfect number of weeks.

00:30:50:05 – 00:31:07:08
Gino
And so now you just start paying attention to it, because I’ve always been an 11 hour a day guy. I’m a 7 to 6 guy. It’s like my perfect formula. And again, like I said, an hour last, I get a little bored. An hour more, I start to burn out. And so you just got to play with it, keep playing with it, playing with it, playing with it.

00:31:07:09 – 00:31:21:19
Alex
How do you know the difference between 11 hours in the day and 12 hours in a day, or ten hours in a day? Like like how did you get to that point where you’re like, okay, cool. And then that’s that’s part one of the question. Part two of the question is how do you assess the impact of those hours?

00:31:21:19 – 00:31:39:11
Alex
Because I’m assuming that’s a component of it too. Right. So it’s like how it’s like kind of, effectiveness and time. Right. And it’s on like a scale. Right. And so yeah, the more time it gets to a point where the effectiveness starts to come down. And so you’ve kind of found the right kind of bounce. But how do you like know an extra hour or two here or there.

00:31:39:11 – 00:31:51:22
Alex
Right. Because like an hour or two per day, per week per year, per five years, per ten years. That’s a lot more hours of productive time, right? So how did you kind of get to that point or how does someone understand that point?

00:31:51:24 – 00:32:11:13
Gino
Well, let me I’m going to say it a little different than you’re asking and let me know if this indirectly answers your question. Okay. So let’s just pretend for a moment. I’m going to use me as an example. Let’s pretend you figure it out. And hypothetically, let’s pretend you out there. You’re a 50 hour a week person and you’re going to work 42 weeks a year, just hypothetically.

00:32:11:13 – 00:32:34:07
Gino
So there’s your work container. So watch this. Now we’re going to bring in some disciplines into this awareness because now that you know that your job is to maximize that time and protect that time, because now you know what to say no to, now, you know what $25 an hour work to not do. And now you know how to apply your true self, your true craft to the world.

00:32:34:07 – 00:32:56:07
Gino
So now follow this and watch this. So now you know it. You go forward. You’re growing a business. Well, we all could work 120 hours a week, you know. So where does it stop? So now you set boundaries. And the way it works is anything that shows up that requires more time, that is in your work capacity. It has to be delegated.

00:32:56:13 – 00:33:13:10
Gino
You simply have to delegate it. That’s how an organization grows. That’s where you start to hire people to help you and support you in stuff, because you can’t do it all. Me, I’ll debate you to my death. You can’t do it all and I’ll win the debate. Just for the record, I’ve got really good patience. So now let’s play with that.

00:33:13:10 – 00:33:44:16
Gino
So now you’re protecting your boundaries of time. You’re delegating anything that tries to consume more of that time. So you’re protecting yourself. Now all of a sudden inside of that work container, you’re doing the stuff that is the highest impact, highest value stuff that you have to offer to the world. You’re in your craft, i.e. true self. So you just keep delegating and elevating the things that are $25 an hour work, low energy work, and elevating yourself to more and more and more high value work.

00:33:44:16 – 00:34:06:15
Gino
Again, that’s where you stop doing $25 an hour work. That’s where you’re saying no to anything that doesn’t fit. So that’s where you start to get really good at the highest and best use maximum value. All of a sudden you’re making more money, your business is growing faster. You can afford these resources, but you know the 100 person organization, you know, it went from one person to 100 people.

00:34:06:15 – 00:34:32:09
Gino
That’s how it happens. And you just have to keep elevating and elevating and elevating and elevating yourself while delegating low energy and $25 an hour work staying in your work capacity. And again, I’m here to tell you, I did this for 30 years. I built a company that grew 40% a year for ten years successfully sold that business, and I did not sacrifice one hour of that protected capacity because I would just keep delegating and elevating.

00:34:32:11 – 00:34:55:24
Alex
So just for clarity, because I’m interested as well. Yeah. When it comes to 6 p.m. on a Friday, is that it? You just it’s off. And now I’m going into, my time off of 150 days. Right. Because 100 free days includes going to weekends, including the holidays. But then as an extra kind of, say, 30 days of holidays on top of that.

00:34:55:24 – 00:35:02:20
Alex
Right? So that’s how you got to 150, right. But is it complete? Switch off from Friday night until Monday morning?

00:35:02:22 – 00:35:10:12
Gino
100%. The FBI can’t find me. So. But let me give you a I want to share a couple of things. Please. You’re about to say something. Please.

00:35:10:14 – 00:35:31:13
Alex
Well, I’m going to say, to please share that. But also, if you could, talk about some tips or hints or advice for how do you switch off from Friday to Monday because like, sometimes, you know, like the pressures of business, right. And kind of the bigger the business and stuff like that. Right. So how do you literally be able to switch off.

00:35:31:15 – 00:35:50:24
Gino
So a couple of really important points. So every day was not 7 to 6 because there’s some days that were 6 to 5 or 8 to 7. But so 11 hours is my average, you know. And and one day might have been ten hours. And the next day it might have been 12. But but my average was like 11 hours a day, 55 hours a week.

00:35:51:03 – 00:35:57:12
Gino
Okay. So that’s really important. It’s not that perfect, but there’s that perfect number of hours that I know and it was 50.

00:35:57:17 – 00:36:02:14
Alex
So you’re not that much of a machine where it’s like 7 a.m., 6 a.m. Monday to Friday.

00:36:02:16 – 00:36:20:10
Gino
Exactly. But it was 55 hours, so I knew that capacity number two, I absolutely turned it off, you know, and so every once in a while, is there the exception that like when I sold my business, I was so out of balance for about a three month period when it was most intense. So sometimes you’ll go through intense period.

00:36:20:14 – 00:36:41:17
Gino
But that that’s not a forever thing. You look at that ten year time frame and those were very rare exceptions. But what’s important, the most important point I want to make is, you know, you out there, you have conditioned the world to believe you’re available 24 seven you did that. And I have conditioned everyone in my life that you can’t find me after six.

00:36:41:21 – 00:37:02:21
Gino
You will not find me on a weekend. I will not reply to that text on a weekend. I have control of my calendar and my life, so that’s really important. And then the last piece I would say is you need a great team. I’ve always had a great team. So if you’re a one person show and you’re doing everything, then you probably do need to work 100 hours a week and you can never turn it off.

00:37:02:21 – 00:37:15:18
Gino
You got to start to build a team and you got to start. So it’s a journey, but you gotta start protecting that time. You have to. And if for no one else, do it for the people in your life. It just if for no one else, start there. But at the end of the day, you gotta do it for you.

00:37:15:18 – 00:37:20:14
Gino
You got to do it for you until you’re ready to do it for you. You’re never going to do it.

00:37:20:16 – 00:37:37:02
Alex
It’s interesting because, you know, there’s a conversation out there or there’s there’s a lot of conversation out there, but, there’s one where you need to work harder, faster than everyone else. You know what I mean? Like, that’s how you win in business. And it’s very competitive. Right. And so what you’re saying is actually way like, yes, you need to work hard.

00:37:37:04 – 00:38:00:11
Alex
It’s important to find the ideal number of hours a week. Right. And in those hours extremely, extremely fast, extremely effective. But it’s also okay to stop. And if you stop and make and actually have some time off and create the space, the time, the time spent actually on that work is far more impactful. And because it’s more impactful, like it’s, it’s a lot more kind of aligned.

00:38:00:11 – 00:38:16:14
Alex
Right. And so and it’s also like kind of something to say as well, it’s okay to have time off entrepreneurs. It’s okay to have a weekend. It’s okay to have a personal life. It’s okay to have a family. You know what I mean? Because I think there’s this. And maybe I’m just like a bit more kind of old school now, but like this kind of thing where you got to put everything into it.

00:38:16:14 – 00:38:35:16
Alex
And if you put everything into it for ten years, it’s still hard. But then there’s a chance of success kind of thing. And so what you’re saying is actually maybe it’s faster having some space and making the space because it reduces kind of burnout. It gives you more, perspective and clarity kind of just helps. Everything just fit kind of more into place.

00:38:35:16 – 00:38:39:19
Alex
Like, is that a good summary? And if you disagree, feel free to disagree.

00:38:39:21 – 00:39:03:03
Gino
No, no, it’s it’s I’ll share a couple of things because I don’t know if it’s an agreement or a disagreement, but I would say this you have to work hard. You you there’s no way you’re going to accomplish what you can accomplish. Working hard. And I work very hard, but I work very hard within that work capacity. That’s that’s the definition that people aren’t getting working hard doesn’t mean 24 over seven, I believe.

00:39:03:03 – 00:39:27:04
Gino
I’m not tooting my own horn, but I accomplish more than most driven entrepreneurs in my work capacity because I work really hard. But I’m also delegating. It’s like I think about today, you know, I texted five things that got delegated off. You know, I, I can’t tell you the number of things that as I went through this very intense day and got all my stuff done and worked really hard, I delegated, had to be 12 things today.

00:39:27:08 – 00:39:44:16
Gino
So a lot of stuff is getting done and that’s how I’m able to stay in those hours today. If I did all those things I delegated, today would be an 18 hour day. I can’t do it all. So first of all, I protect that. But the hard work goes on inside the container. I believe in working hard and playing hard.

00:39:44:16 – 00:40:04:06
Gino
I work very hard and I play very hard. And so in my time off, I’m having a lot of fun. So work hard within the container. That’s the point. And then the challenge is, you know, you have an Elon Musk who I am such a fan of for so many reasons. I can’t even explain. But that man, his capacity is like 150 hours a week.

00:40:04:08 – 00:40:23:01
Gino
He’s superhuman. So if you’re ever comparing yourself, oh well, Elon works that hard. I need to work that hard. You’re making a mistake. You are no Elon Musk. Don’t do that. And then the last point I would make is let’s pretend for a moment you’re going to identify your work capacity. You’re 100% and you’re starting a business. Okay.

00:40:23:01 – 00:40:43:17
Gino
And I’m speaking from experience. Okay. You can build that business within that container and it may take you a little longer, but is that okay to me? That’s okay. So it may have taken a little longer to build the business, but I stayed so balanced and I was able to enjoy life while doing it. It was worth it to me.

00:40:43:22 – 00:41:00:12
Gino
But if for some reason you feel like you need to grow twice as fast than you would have, then you know, expand your capacity to 100 hours a week. I’m not so sure that that’s the right answer. So you got to decide how fast you wanna go. There’s no rule of thumb for growing your business. You get to decide that.

00:41:00:17 – 00:41:04:16
Gino
And I was okay steadily growing it over a ten year period.

00:41:04:18 – 00:41:21:04
Alex
I really like that. The example of how Elon Musk, I mean, so here’s what’s it called? The perfect amount of time, like a week is, potentially 150 hours because that’s just how he is. Right. And for you, it’s 55 hours. I mean, it could be 70 hours. For me, it could be 40 hours for me.

00:41:21:04 – 00:41:45:09
Alex
Right. Understanding that. But it generally starts with working more hours and reducing, then working fewer hours and increasing. Right. Like the problem is not, hey, because you don’t work enough because then you don’t have a business, right? But it’s more you’re working way too much, and probably you are far less effective now because of the extra hours. So if you just reduce it, there’s an ideal spot.

00:41:45:09 – 00:42:04:06
Alex
That’s where the impact and the time are optimized. Right. And then past that point you starting now to check emails. Maybe not important. Are you doing things that have less value and you’re starting, you know, to spend time on, say, $5 an hour work because it’s so low value that you probably wouldn’t even spend money on it.

00:42:04:06 – 00:42:26:09
Alex
You know what I mean? So it’s like, but you think you think you’re working because it’s technically work, but it’s not as productive. So is that kind of an accurate to say? Is that like it depends on each person, but you’re aiming not to be sitting in front of a computer or something like that. Right? But you’re aiming to be getting the maximum output from every hour you spend.

00:42:26:09 – 00:42:43:07
Alex
And so for you, that’s around like 11 hours a day for five days a week on average. And for others, it could be ten, could be a it’s it’s unlikely going to be 16 because you’re not going to be able to sustain 16 hours of productive time every day of five days a week for ten years.

00:42:43:07 – 00:42:47:04
Alex
And that’s what you think about as well, is the ten year path.

00:42:47:10 – 00:43:05:12
Gino
Exactly. Unless you’re Elon Musk, remember, you can do 18 hours a day if you’re Elon Musk. But he’s such a rare exception. Stop comparing yourself. So I’ll say three things fast. Number one, you know, I was able to do it in my startup phase in my work capacity, but so there’s that. But what I will say to you.

00:43:05:12 – 00:43:20:10
Gino
Yeah. So if you’re in a startup mode and yeah, this next year, you’re going to kill yourself working 14 hours a day to get your startup off the ground. I give, I get it, but how many more years are you going to do that? And then, yes, you took the words out of my mouth. Look at it as a ten year horizon.

00:43:20:10 – 00:43:38:13
Gino
You can accomplish anything in ten years. The issue is most of the time you’re wanting it. Now you know you want it all now, this year, next year. Slow yourself down, man. If you’re sitting there and you’re 35 years old and you’re a startup entrepreneur, you have 50 good years, what in the hell are you hurrying toward? There’s nothing to hurry toward.

00:43:38:16 – 00:44:00:06
Gino
As I look back when I was 35, 22 years ago. Oh my God, I mean, it’s it’s like there’s so much time. But for some reason, when you’re a little younger and even older, there’s 40 and 50 year olds thinking this way. You think like you’re running out of time and you’re just not. Because even if you’re 55 years old and you started your startup, ten years from now is 65, at 65, you still got 20 good years left.

00:44:00:09 – 00:44:14:00
Gino
So again, what do you what’s the rush? What’s the rush? So when when you slow yourself down like that ten year thinking, you start making better decisions, time slows down. And ironically you get there faster. And I’m speaking from experience.

00:44:14:02 – 00:44:35:07
Alex
I mean, this is definitely a challenge I still face is like slowing down to go faster. I mean like, so I’ve done, so I’m kind of an entrepreneur that, essentially worked 16 hours a day for like ten, 15 years. And that was just kind of the time I just spent. And now I’ve just noticed this becoming not as many hours because the companies go, be kind of larger and so on.

00:44:35:07 – 00:44:39:22
Alex
So that shifts. But.

00:44:39:24 – 00:45:00:19
Alex
In my personal life, like, I, I, I do like, I do some golf at some piano and some other things like that. Like. And I have some coaches. Right. And that and every single one of them says, slow down, Alex. It will be faster if you slow down. And it took me forever to figure out what the hell that means, because as an entrepreneur, it’s like fast, a fast, a quick, quick, quick sprint, sprint, sprint that way.

00:45:00:21 – 00:45:22:12
Alex
And then but there’s something that happens, I think over time, maybe not in the beginning, I’m not sure. But where slowing down actually is faster because it helps you kind of focus on a few things and get the techniques right and get everything correct so that it goes faster later. And I think sometimes it’s when we’re sprinting in the beginning, you don’t get that, but there is a balance because if you go too slow, speed is important in business, right.

00:45:22:12 – 00:45:29:03
Alex
So how do you balance ten years, but also the fact that speed is important in business? You know what I mean? Like how do you.

00:45:29:05 – 00:45:54:12
Gino
Yeah. And if you remember I used the term synchronicity pocket earlier. You’re talking about the synchronicity pocket because it’s finding that perfect balance. Not too fast, not too slow. The issue with driven entrepreneurs is they’re all moving too fast. So that’s not always a problem. But for the rest of the world, they’re moving too slow. So there’s this perfect speed that I call the synchronicity Pocket, where the magic happens, and synchronicity is just where everything kind of falls into place.

00:45:54:14 – 00:46:14:15
Gino
And so you gotta find that speed. And so thank you for the golf and the piano example. Those are two examples that when you slow down learning those two things, everything’s better. But it’s the exact same thing in business. And so it’s for you to find it because, you know, I’m actually still moving too fast. What’s important to say is I’m not perfect.

00:46:14:15 – 00:46:32:02
Gino
I don’t have this all figured out, you know? So so I’m still I don’t know where I am on this journey to freeing my true self. It’s a hell of a lot better than it was. But my point is, I’m still moving a little too fast. But what I realize is I’ve now caught myself enough times where I get into that synchronicity pocket.

00:46:32:04 – 00:46:50:07
Gino
I’ve yet to move too slow, for what that’s worth. But when I look back and realize how fast I used to move, the good news is, and just to use real numbers, let’s pretend I was going 150 miles an hour, you know? And let’s just pretend for a minute that 80 miles an hour is like my perfect synchronicity pocket.

00:46:50:08 – 00:47:05:02
Gino
I think I probably had about 85 miles an hour. Now. I’m so close that I and I can feel it when I hit 80. And I can also start to feel it when I’m at 85. It’s so, so close. And so this is another thing you got to play with it. You got to be aware of it and just find your synchronicity pocket.

00:47:05:04 – 00:47:31:23
Alex
And I think a lot of this is seems to be, a psychological challenge. A lot of the times. Right. Because it’s the discipline to stop and to create space. Right. Because a lot of, of, the technical disciplines is not extra essentially anything like it’s all less things. It’s all space of time, you know, just understand yourself, you know, stay still, spend time on kind of high impact.

00:47:31:23 – 00:47:52:18
Alex
Like it’s all about just doing fewer things that have a lot more impact, which is very, very hard to do because you don’t know, like all the different kind of, places to focus. Right. So is this we’re having a ten year plan and, essentially really spending time every night preparing about the next day, like, is that the combination?

00:47:52:18 – 00:48:02:10
Alex
So the first part is, all right. Cool. So I have a plan for ten years, but then every day I’m thinking about the next day in context of the ten year plan. Is that how you kind of get a bit of that space?

00:48:02:12 – 00:48:27:15
Gino
Not quite, but you’re close. You’re like right around it. Because what’s important about ten year thinking that particular discipline, the discipline, is to shift your mindset from being short term to thinking in ten year time frame. So it’s actually thinking it’s less about planning. Although planning is like a bonus, it’s about thinking. And so it’s about making every decision that you make from this day forward with a ten year time frame.

00:48:27:15 – 00:48:46:17
Gino
Make every decision a ten year decision, like when I created the EOS, I created to last 100 years. Now it’s lasted over 20 years. I don’t know if it’ll last 100 years, but I know that it will last longer than if I was just thinking short term. What does the world need right now? It would not be here or it would be different.

00:48:46:23 – 00:49:01:24
Gino
So it’s thinking long term. It’s the decision you’re about to make right now. Make the decision with a ten year time frame in mind. It’s like a silly thing is, if you expect to be healthy ten and 20 years from now and you’re about to eat that piece of cake, you probably shouldn’t eat the piece of cake, you know?

00:49:01:24 – 00:49:19:19
Gino
And if you want to be happily married or a great relationship, ten and you’re about to say this thing to your significant other, you may want to not say that thing. So it’s it’s making these decisions then. So same thing with business, you know, and and if you want to have $10 million in the bank in ten years, well, you got two choices, you know.

00:49:19:19 – 00:49:37:01
Gino
So are you going to go buy the boat or are you going to put that in your retirement account? You know, so it’s just today’s decisions with a ten year time frame in mind and you’ll just make better decisions. So that’s that point little different than how you’re saying the preparing every night discipline is about it certainly all ties together.

00:49:37:01 – 00:50:00:01
Gino
Because when you’re preparing every night you’re making your decisions. But that is about somewhere when you finish your day and your head hits the pillow, you finish your workday and your head hits the pillow. It’s taking 15 minutes and laying out the next day in chronological order. So before your head hits the pillow, have tomorrow’s day in tomorrow’s plan in place.

00:50:00:03 – 00:50:20:24
Gino
And so what? That’s getting you to do is just lay out the day so that when you and your day in your head hits the pillow, you will sleep better. You’re not stressing out about tomorrow. You wake up and you hit the ground running. So it does so many things for you psychologically, emotionally, physically. You will actually get more done than what most do.

00:50:20:24 – 00:50:39:05
Gino
And that’s waking up, hitting the ground, running, checking emails, and letting the world take your day over and hijack your day. Where by doing this, preparing every night, you’re in control of your day and no one can upset your apple cart for the day because you’re in total control.

00:50:39:07 – 00:51:02:05
Alex
Yeah, I think that’s a fantastic point. And I like the, the clarification on the ten year thinking, not planning. It’s ten year thinking. And also just when you think of things in a time period of ten years, a lot of things aren’t important, you know. And so that’s also helpful to know is like, well, is this really important because I’ve this is like the other thing I’ve learned across my career is that most things are unimportant.

00:51:02:07 – 00:51:20:13
Alex
In fact, 99 9% of things are just not important. And everyone thinks everything is urgent. And yeah, sure, it’s urgent, but if it doesn’t happen, no one really cares and it’s not that much of an impact. There’s not that many things actually ever that have that much importance in the world. It’s just that we think they do. And so understanding that first, it will lead you to being a lot more humble.

00:51:20:13 – 00:51:40:01
Alex
And I and this is the part which I wanted to kind of just end on because I really love this one, is to be humble because what happens in the beginning when someone starts to have some success is that they over inflate how successful they are and how important that success is, right? And then over time you get smacked around like crazy over like a ten, 15 year period.

00:51:40:01 – 00:51:55:24
Alex
And then you come to a point where you’re humble and you’re like, you know something? But you know, this is much and you understand that there’s a lot of things which you don’t know. And so you really become a lot more humble with time. Right? But can you talk about kind of humble in context of the ten disciplines and kind of how you think about it?

00:51:56:01 – 00:51:58:05
Alex
In terms of shine the book?

00:51:58:07 – 00:52:20:02
Gino
Yeah, absolutely. So again, each discipline starts with a bold statement. So the bold statement with discipline number ten, be humble is view yourself as an equal to every person on the planet. And so that’s the bold statement. If you’ll just do that you’ll get all the benefits. And so let’s talk about the benefits. The benefits are you’ll attract better people in your life.

00:52:20:07 – 00:52:41:13
Gino
The journey is better. You’ll be more peaceful. You’ll become a better leader. You’ll have nothing to prove. You’ll be more free. And so with that, I always describe this with a spectrum, okay. And so picture this spectrum. And we are all human beings are on the spectrum. We’re on one side of the spectrum is arrogance. And on the other side of the spectrum is humility or humble.

00:52:41:13 – 00:53:04:02
Gino
Okay. Well, if you look up the definition of those two words, it’s exactly the same definition. It’s your view of yourself in comparison to others. And humble people feel like they’re equal to everybody else, and arrogant people just feel like they’re a little bit better than everyone else. And so if you understand that we are all somewhere on that spectrum, and I urge every one of our clients to just be honest, where are you on the spectrum?

00:53:04:06 – 00:53:19:21
Gino
And if you really want to get punched in the face, ask the five closest people to you in your life that you love and trust, and ask them to put a hash mark on the line of where they feel you are. And it might be a little depressing when you see your reality. So. But at least there’s your starting point.

00:53:19:23 – 00:53:39:14
Gino
And so the idea is just to live a humble life and be humble, and just view yourself as an equal to everyone, and you will realize all of those wonderful benefits. And then one last little point, actually two last points. Gratitude is a very powerful way to become more humble, if you will just start to become grateful for everything in your life.

00:53:39:17 – 00:54:02:03
Gino
So my discipline is every night when my head hits the pillow, I say thank you to whoever and whatever, but I just say thank you. And something about being gracious in gratitude and appreciative for the things in your life just brings you down to the ground. Number two, a reason I hope I’ve had. When you think about that arrogant and that humble those two sides, what I realized is arrogant is ego.

00:54:02:03 – 00:54:22:21
Gino
Humble is true self. And so when your egos online running the show, you’re just more of an arrogant person. Arrogance comes from ego, but humility comes from true self. And so when you shed all that stuff and you’re just real and raw and we’re all a little screwed up and we’re all just human beings, we’re a normal and and just being our true self, you just come off as a as a humble person.

00:54:22:21 – 00:54:29:13
Gino
You’ll just be humble, being your true self. So there’s the best kind of color I can give you around that in a short period of time.

00:54:29:17 – 00:54:51:15
Alex
Yeah, sure. And I think what’s interesting about the conversation about being humble is that when you start to know something and when you start to learn something, there’s this feeling of superiority that you get initially, hey, cool, I know something that’s better or assuming if you’ve had some early successes right now, you think that that kind of just, it makes you a better person or something happens, right?

00:54:51:15 – 00:55:10:14
Alex
And so you tend to inflate your own idea about yourself, which is where it can be a lot more arrogant. Right? And then over time, you, often people get, a dose of reality just where well, what you thought was going to happen actually wasn’t going to happen. In fact, the opposite happened. In fact, everything that you thought was true was not true.

00:55:10:14 – 00:55:29:12
Alex
And then you, like, start to kind of self-reflect a lot. And then over time, you realize that you are just like everyone else and there is a strength to not thinking that you are better than anyone else in anything else. Yeah, so you might have skills that someone else hasn’t got, but that doesn’t mean too much in the world, right?

00:55:29:12 – 00:55:47:00
Alex
Because the important thing in the world is your impact in the world, right? It’s not what you think about yourself, which is the difference. Right? So and this was essentially kind of the topic of the book. Right. It’s how do you maximize impact and inner peace. Right at the same time. So this is how we started. Right.

00:55:47:00 – 00:56:16:13
Alex
And so I think part of that, well, a big part of that is that you need to have that kind of humbleness. Otherwise you’re not going to have the pace and you may not even have the maximum impact. Right. So it’s like I’m trying to pull it all together because it’s all it’s all kind of similar thinking about kind of understanding yourself, creating space, I guess it’s adding value to the world and it’s it’s just knowing that you’re just a person in the world, right?

00:56:16:13 – 00:56:43:00
Alex
You need to enjoy your time. Spend time with family, spend time at work. You should work hard. But also there’s something about it’s important to let go and to just calm down a little bit. Right? Still work hard, but you know, create this space and really, this is the book of self-discovery, right? Because at the end of this, it’s like because everyone’s because everyone is going to work for their whole lives.

00:56:43:00 – 00:57:02:10
Alex
Pretty much. Right. Like especially entrepreneurs are going to be doing it for a lot of their lives anyway, right? But it’s all about about how do you not miss out? So not kind of miss out on life because you thought it was a certain way. Right? And then you work for 15 years and then like, oh, wait, it’s not what I thought it was, you know?

00:57:02:10 – 00:57:27:13
Alex
So how do I make space now? Because I don’t want to, you know, just repeat that. And I think a lot of the disciplines in this book help you to get to that place kind of faster. And, and what’s interesting about it is that if you start to implement these practices, it will get there faster, which is the converse thing, like say like it’s almost like a shortcut to avoid the common mistakes and, that every entrepreneur will go through.

00:57:27:15 – 00:57:39:20
Alex
And those mistakes lead to a big loss of life. A lot of life, like you know, as if that’s where are you lose out on the important parts of life, right? And maybe you didn’t have to.

00:57:39:22 – 00:57:57:13
Gino
It’s so well said. And it’s so the everything you said. That’s this book in a nutshell. That’s what it’s all about. And, you know, you talk about self-discovery. It’s what the. That’s the irony. And you said it. I’m just going to say it a little bit different is because I think about people driven entrepreneurs. Listen to this conversation going, what in the hell does this have?

00:57:57:13 – 00:58:16:17
Gino
What does this have to do with business? And it’s like it has everything to do to do with business. It’s so profound and powerful when you realize that inner peace and shed that stuff because it makes you a better leader, a better entrepreneur, you’re more impactful. And we are all the same. We’re just human beings trying to do something great in the world, and we’re all a little screwed up.

00:58:16:17 – 00:58:36:21
Gino
And we got trauma and pain and stories we’ve made up that we need to shed. That’s what everybody’s going through. When you understand that that’s where that humility, humility comes. And then it makes me think two of, you know, climbing that mountain, it’s like, again, you can just keep climbing and succeed by every outer world metric. But the idea is to get you to stop off at intervals where you’re going.

00:58:36:21 – 00:58:57:04
Gino
Wait a second, I’m stopping off on my climb and I’m going to sit over here for two weeks. Why am I doing this? Well, that two week break that got you to look inside, see some stuff, learn some stuff all of a sudden made you better and faster. And now you got up the mountain faster. And by just taking those breaks during the climb, you will get up there faster and better and it’ll be more enjoyable.

00:58:57:09 – 00:59:03:04
Gino
And so anyway, for what that’s worth, just piggybacking on everything you said because you said it so perfectly there.

00:59:03:06 – 00:59:10:09
Alex
I really appreciate that. Jenna. Thank you so much for coming on this, podcast. This has been such a fantastic conversation. How do people connect with you?

00:59:10:11 – 00:59:31:08
Gino
Great. Well, the place to find us in all things shine. The book shine is a website called the Ten disciplines.com. Okay. And so you can spell out the word ten or put the number one zero in there. But what you’ll find when you go there it’s a couple great free resources okay. And so first is a free downloadable first chapter of the book.

00:59:31:08 – 00:59:54:18
Gino
So the first 27 pages to see if that pulls you in. And if you love what you see, go ahead and buy the book and you can buy it at all major retailers. And we’ll direct you on the website to do that. There’s also a true self-assessment that is free, and it’s a wonderful assessment where you’re going to answer 20 questions about yourself and you’re you get an answer that’s going to show you how free your true self really is.

00:59:54:18 – 01:00:12:00
Gino
Where are you on this journey? It’s very, very powerful. We actually offer a free coaching session with that, with your results and very, very powerful. And then if that, if you want to go deeper into the rabbit hole and really embed these ten disciplines in your life, you can take our self-study, you can take our group coaching.

01:00:12:00 – 01:00:30:22
Gino
And then we offer a mastermind, which is where we really go deep into what you and I have been talking about on this podcast and really kind of shed everything, which is a lot of fun. And so that’s, that’s what we have to offer you. And, so just go there and dive in and, implement these ten disciplines in your life.

01:00:30:24 – 01:00:50:14
Alex
Yeah. Fantastic. And I have all these links in the show notes, so feel free just to check them there. And it’s just highly recommended. You know, so like, like all of the thinking in this book, all of the points in this book, like the book is put a lot of kind of the things I’ve learned over my career as well into a really good framework that is for entrepreneurs.

01:00:50:14 – 01:01:12:22
Alex
But that’s not about business. It’s about you on the inside as an entrepreneur, as a human, understanding that and making space because a lot of the way we think that it has to be is not true. It’s just that that somehow it’s evolved over the years, and this book has done a fantastic job at is giving you the areas to focus on.

01:01:12:22 – 01:01:25:24
Alex
That is not the skills of business. Yeah, that is not the technical part of the role. It’s about who you are. So highly recommend it. But thank you so much, for coming on the podcast, Gina. And, and then we’ll chat soon.

01:01:26:01 – 01:01:28:16
Gino
Pleasure, Alex. Really enjoyed it. Thank you brother.

01:01:28:18 – 01:01:44:19
Alex
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