You’ll know when you know

You'll know when you know

 

I did a show on SIRIUS Satellite Radio yesterday. The host, Jesse Dylan, asked me a thoughtful question: "Robin, we all have goals and aspirations. But sometimes things don't go as planned. How do you know when to quit?" My answer was straightforward: "you'll know when you know."

 

No one gets to world class in their work or within their personal lives without a relentless devotion to not giving up. All acts of heroism were accomplished by human beings who refused to lose. They just wouldn't let go – no matter how bad or impossible or impractical things looked. But having said that, life often sends us curve balls and has other plans for us. (Comedian Gilda Radner, who dies of ovarian cancer at age 42, put it so very well: "Now I've learned the hard way that some poems don't rhyme and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the most of it without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity.")

 

We long for something to happen and some dream to get done. But no matter how hard we try, the clouds never part. We never get the break. Luck never smiles on us. We continue to toil in darkness, fueled purely by faith. That's fine – if deep within you your fire burns brightly and every fiber within you tells you to carry on (self-faith is a hallmark of greatness). But sometimes, you get to a point where you just know it's time to change strategy. It's not about losing hope. You just know. It's about trusting life. Trusting that there's even better thing waiting for you. And that it's time to course-correct.

 

For the past few years, I've tried to live by the pretty simple philosophy. Do your best and let life do the rest. It's not easy to let go of what you want. But why wouldn't you, if something even better is waiting just around the corner?

 

"Do your best and let life do the rest"

 

 

The Responsibility Meter

The Responsibility Meter

 

Imagine a dashboard with a meter on it. At one end is the word FREEDOM. At the other end, the word RESPONSIBILITY. To me, being a leader and living a remarkable life means striking the delicate balance between the two. In other words, the needle on your Responsibility Meter should stay in the middle. Ideally.

 

Life’s all about balance. And one of the most vital of all balance points is the one involving freedom and responsibility. Yes, be free. Enjoy the moment. Be wildly passionate. Have a fabulous time. Live in the now. And yet, be responsible. Set your goals. Keep your promises. Get important things done. Fulfill your duties.

 

Where does your life – this very minute – register on the Responsibility Meter? Too much time enjoying your freedom and not enough time doing what’s required to build a world-class career and world-class days? Or the other way around? Being at either extreme means being out of balance. So here’s an idea: Thing about what being at the middle of the meter would look like. Because better awareness drives better choices. And better choices create better results.

 

“Life’s all about balance. And one of the most vital of all balance points is the one involving freedom and responsibility”

 

 

On Evian water and You as a Big-Time Dreamer

On Evian Water and You as a Big-Time Dreamer

 

If people don’t laugh at you and your ideas at least once a week, you’re not pushing the envelope.

 

There, I said it. I needed to. I’m tired of seeing boring businesses and people afraid to take the road less travelled. Most of the things that fill us with fear never happen, so why let them keep you small.

 

Great people run towards their resistances and play out on the edges of their lives. And great companies spend far less time benchmarking others than creating new ways of delivering outrageous value to their customers. Why, because the world doesn’t need a better close. The world needs more human beings and enterprises that make us say wow. The world needs more giant ideas that no one’s thought of to enrich our customers and improve our communities and elevate the planet. The world needs more visionaries, dreamers and outright revolutionaries. I love what Tom Chappell, founder of Tom’s of Maine, said: “Success means never letting the competition define you. Instead, you have to define yourself based on a point of view you care deeply about”. Beautiful.

 

All innovators are initially laughed at. Just the way it is. They laughed at Columbus when he said the earth was round. They laughed at the Wright Brothers, who vowed a human being could fly. They laughed at the founder of Evian, who believed people would pay money for water. Who’s laughing now? I guess the universe really does favor the brave.

 

People pay for originality. You want to lead the field in your businesses? Be different. Let them laugh. Let them call you crazy. Let them snicker. Stay true to your vision. Dream bigger. Don’t be ordinary. It’s the kiss of death, as far I can tell.

 

“Businesses need more daring. Business needs more people willing to take risks and play out on the skinny branches”

 

Drink coffee with Gandhi

DRINK COFEE WITH GANDHI

 

Reading is one of the best disciplines I know of to stay “on your game” and at your highest. Reading from a great book is really all about having a conversation with the author.  Just think, tonight – by reading Mahatma Gandhi’s autobiography, My Experiments with Truth, over a cup of coffee – you can get behind this great man’s eye balls and learn what made him tick. Want to hang out with Jack Welch tomorrow? Grab his book. Same for Mother Teresa, Bill Gates or Dalai Lama. And reading a book by someone you respect allows some of their brilliance to rub off on you. The hand that puts down a great book will never be the same. As Oliver Wendell Holmes observed: “A mind once stretched by a new idea can never return to its original dimensions”.

 

When I was growing up my father once told me: “cut back on your rent or cut back on what you spend on food but never worry about investing money in a good book.” That powerful though has accompanied me through life. His philosophy was that all it takes is one idea discovered in a single book to life you to a whole new level and revolutionize the way you see the world. And so our home was filled books. And now I try to devote at least an hour a day to reading. That habit alone has transformed me.

 

Perhaps my greatest gift to my children when I die will be my library. These books shaped my thinking, formed my personal philosophy, and made me the man I am. To me, my books are priceless.

 

The old expression is true: “knowing how to read and not reading is almost the same as not knowing how to read.” Make time to read something good each day. Fill your mind with big ideas and dazzling thoughts. Use books to flood your soul with hope and inspiration. And remember, if you want to lead, you really need to read.

 

“Reading a book by someone you respect allows some of their brilliance to rub off on you”