A while ago I was having a good conversation on the podcast with Stuart McMillan.  Stu is a deep and philosophical thinker, well read, and interested in exploring the perspectives and ideas of those he encounters.

He’s also an entrepreneur at heart.

He likes to create, serve, and innovate, and he likes to collaborate with a select few respected colleagues.  

But he is also a bit of a loner, and he prefers to define his path, rather than follow someone else’s.

He’s been a sprints and performance coach for most of his career, but as you will experience in any one of the sessions we did together, he’s seen a lot and done a lot in his life, and it’s created many unique thought streams.

In this episode in particular he spoke to the differences between entrepreneurs who are motivated by the deal, or the win, versus those who are motivated by the sharing of an internal passion.

I was originally uncertain if this was an idea he manifested himself or adopted from his own readings, but I loved the metaphors of missionary and mercenary that he used to describe these two characters.

After some research, I’ve discovered that there have been others to share this thought stream, like Randy Komisar in his book, “The Monk and the Riddle – the art of creating life while making a living”

Randy’s book works through many of the challenges of the business world of silicon valley at the height of the .COM era, the endless VC deal making, and the challenges those in that industry lived to execute the deal and yet at a loss to feel a connection to fulfillment and inner contentment.

As I have experienced in business, especially for those who have grown from the industry of human performance, there are so many who work through a process of beginning as an employee in a position with an organization, then deciding that they want more autonomy, they often move into the world of solo-preneurship.

Solo-preneurship usually means you are the commodity, or you have a service or commodity for sale that you have created and are passionate about exposing to others so you can help them in some way.

When Stu and I spoke, he metaphorically referred to this person as the missionary.  What they are selling or serving is something that means something to them, and they believe it has value.  They believe it can be helpful for many people and they want people to know about what they have.

One of the problems with the missionary is that they are often attached to what they do, sell, or serve, and they don’t always see how it solves others issues. They believe in it, but they don’t know how to make others believe in it unless they can have their customer experience it, feel it, or live it.

They also find themselves challenged by the idea of the bottom line of business.  They will often subjugate their desire to have financial success because they don’t want to cause their customer or client any undue expense or challenge.  

Sometimes they find themselves stuck in the business. The business in some way is them, or a reflection of them, and they can’t actually remove themselves and look at it as a business.  The missionary compromises the profitability in favor of the sensibility of service.

This is the un-matured missionary.  

The more sensitized missionary discovers that the relationship between business success and servitude can be illusive, but it is attainable.  It just requires a longer and slower strategy with clarity of purpose, and a recognition of how one is truly serving the customer.

The mercenary on the other hand is the one driven by the deal, the opportunity, and most often the bottom line.  They don’t care so much about what they are selling or serving, just that it is something their customer wants, and it has a value that will obtain significant net gain. 

This is the characterization of the .COM VC described in Komisar’s book.

Mercenaries are often way better at being unemotional and tactical about their business decisions.  They make decisions that serve the win or the bottom line.  But they also understand the customer psyche, the problem they have that the mercenary can solve.  Mercenaries recognize that the success of a business rests on the ability of the founder to recognize a problem, find the solution, and sell it to the customer that needs it.

Mercenaries are often more comfortable with the word “sell”. Missionaries are challenged by this word.  It has a negative connotation, and leaves them with a feeling that they are taking advantage of their customer, or preying on them in some way.

The maturation process in business for the missionary is the recognition that making money, and selling what they do well, is not something shady or misleading, it is the nature of providing something that others value. When you have something valuable the customer will show you their valuation through the engagement of your time or product.

The shift from solo-preneur to entrepreneur happens when the missionary begins to learn about the bigger picture that the mercenary sees quite vividly.  But true success as an entrepreneur requires one to recognize that without profitability, the dream can not be sustained.

Earl Nightingale’s quote, “Success is a progressive realization of a worthy ideal.” is a wonderful belief system, but does it pay the bills?  This can be the most difficult question for the missionary to solve.

The missionary is hell bent on the realization of the worthy ideal, but often to the detriment of their financial viability.

The Mercenary often ends up lost or empty of real fulfillment. They compromise family, relationships, or character in order to execute the deal, and one day it all catches up to them. Or, they remain on the merry-go-round built on the foundation of the next conquest, constantly hoping that fulfillment lies over the next win.

A lust for making money vs a lust for making meaning out of your life.

The truth lies somewhere in between.  The truth of meaningful business and the realization of the worthy ideal of a product or service can be commingled with financial viability, and ultimately profitability.

The great mercenaries of business mature also in their process, recognizing that to ultimately feel an internal sense of accomplishment and fulfillment, they must also find a worthy ideal in their process.

Is it to show others the way, or to share profit with those who have less, or to uplift those that can not see what they see?  The great ones recognize they have a gift, and they begin to share it with those who were not so anointed.

Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart.  It requires time, and runway of sorts, clarity, consistency, and a desire to evolve and grow.

Fundamentally, the hybrid stock of the metaphorical Mercenary and Missionary is the penultimate conclusion. Can one be rich in both fulfillment and wealth?  As Komisar’s book subtitle describes, “the art of creating life while making a living”.

I think it’s possible, how about you?

Six years ago I launched the Leave Your Mark podcast.  This week, we begin the 7th season, and drop the 365th Episode.

We are close to 800,000 downloads and counting.

Many years ago, when I was a teenager, I wanted to be a broadcaster.  I wanted to be a radio or TV talk show DJ.  One of my favorite shows growing up was the Phil Donahue Show, the show that started that genre of media, and kickstarted Oprah, and a host of other such icon’s careers.

After high school, I registered for a diploma program in Radio and Television Arts at a local college in my hometown.  I passed the pre-requisite exam and was all ready to start my journey when my father told me he preferred that I get a University degree.

Do I regret listening to my father…….

…….sometimes.

I feel like that was my true destiny, something that lived innately within me.

But, where my life went, what I experienced, and who I became are all things for which I am absolutely grateful.  My life and career have been amazing.

About eight or nine years ago, when I recognized that podcasting was a thing. It seemed a possible route for me to explore my original aspirations, I began to manifest the opportunity as a part of my yearly plan.

There was a lot of resistance!

I am fearful of technology, it’s not something that has ever come naturally to me, I really have to make efforts to overcome this resistance and feel safe in exploring any technology.

Podcasting represented this huge endeavor to overcome this resistance. For at least two years I kept making it one of my BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) in my yearly plan, and each year I summarized my failure to accomplish this goal as a disappointment.

Why could I not overcome this resistance?

One day, I ran into the podcast from London Real and the podcaster, Brian Rose.  He’s a controversial American turned London Brit who’s podcast has millions of DLs and many highly accomplished guests.

He was running a course called “Broadcast Yourself” designed to help those aspiring podcasters to overcome their own resistance.

After several months of deliberation, I pulled the trigger on the program in March of 2018.  Four weeks later, I dropped podcast number 1, and the rest is history.

I haven’t missed a week since starting it.  

Why?

Because I love it. It’s who I am.  It satisfies an inner passion that resonates within me.

That’s really what success is all about.  Exploring the passion within.

As I’ve written before in previous blog’s, I love the quote “Success is a progressive realization of a worthy ideal.”by Earl Nightingale.

The worthy ideal of helping people see the possibilities of life through the shared experience of our guests lives.  We often feel alone in life, wondering if the challenges we are experiencing are shared by anyone else.  

I wanted this podcast to help the listener feel like they are not alone.  I wanted them to feel like they were a part of a community of human beings with shared experiences in which they could resonate and feel empowered.

I hope this is what I have accomplished, and can continue to accomplish for as long as I am allowed.

Thanks for listening 😉 

Have you ever heard this folk story about Pedro the Fisherman?

Standing on the dock unloading his day’s catch, Pedro is interrupted by a foreign tourist admiring his haul.

The tourist asks him politely, “Is this your catch for the day, quite impressive!?”

Pedro responds, “Why yes, we had a very good day.”

The tourist, interested in knowing more, asks, “Do you do this well every day?”

Pedro answers, “Some days better, some days worse, but most of the time, we have more than we need for the village.”

The tourist then asks, “What will you do now that your day is done?”

Pedro proclaims, “I will take a nice walk on the pier with my beautiful wife and enjoy the sunset.”

The tourist then exclaims, “Imagine how much fish you could catch if you had two boats!”

Pedro, “Two boats? And then what would I do?”

Tourist, “Well, with all the fish you would catch, you could buy more boats, you’d have a fleet!”

Pedro, “And then what would I do?”

Tourist, “You could catch more and more fish, and eventually, you could build a cleaning and canning plant and produce your own product for export.”

Pedro, “Sounds like a lot of work, what would I do then?”

Tourist, “You could build a distribution program and sell your products all over the world!”

Pedro, “And then what would I do?”

Tourist, “Eventually, you could sell the whole thing and retire!”

Pedro, “And then?”

Tourist, “You could take wonderful walks on the pier with your wife and watch the sunset each night.”

Pedro, “Hum?” as he scratches his head and walks away into the sunset.

Is Pedro successful by the standards of our culture today?

Our culture is represented by the tourist.  The ambitious desire to have more, and more, but in the meantime, to be less and less present and connected to what matters now.

“Success is a progressive realization of a worthy ideal.” – Earl Nightingale.

For Pedro, the worthy ideal is the expression of his passion of being on the ocean each day, harvesting the fish, providing for his community and family, and enjoying the fruits of his labor with his wife each day.

Is the pursuit of a strong and successful business as the tourist would espouse not the pursuit of a worthy ideal?

The pursuit as an expression of a passion for the work, the creation of something that contributes to many, and supports the wellbeing of your fellow human could indeed be the pursuit of a worthy ideal.

But most often, as this tourist describes, the pursuit has less to do with contribution, and more to do with acquisition, accumulation, and an insatiable appetite for more.

Our responsibility on this earth is to be the best version of ourselves while we contribute to the greater good.  What legacy will we create that matters most.

How will we create something of value, make a difference to those around us, and allow us to be present in the process?

That is the question of purpose.

My friend Tony Blauer, one of the world’s foremost experts in self-defense and tactical defense systems coined a great acronym for FEAR.

F-alse E-expectations A-ppearing – R-eal

I found myself awake at 4 am, unable to go back to sleep.  Worrying about the possible implications of business decisions, the future of our lives, the impending economic doom and gloom.

These days, it’s getting harder to get away from it.

The noise, the chatter.

Everywhere you look; your in-box, your social channels, your streaming media, and good old fashioned TV, you can’t get away from the doomsayers.

It feels at times like the world is going to blow up, burn up,  flood, or just simply get too expensive to live in.

Personally, I think it’s all just the same as it always has been, it’s just amplified by all the noise, but that doesn’t necessarily make it any easier to digest.

You can’t ignore it.  You can’t forget it exists.

But what you can do is realize that it is all just a story we are creating, and those who are writing, reporting, and posting about it are creating.

Stories can either serve you, or serve to constrain you or destroy you.

In previous posts, I’ve talked a lot about Story, and how it manifests. How everything we believe is just a form of story, and most of it has been served to us by our circle of influence over many, many year.

Worry, well that’s just a poor use of our imagination.

Our imagination is so powerful if we let it focus on what we can do rather than on what we can’t do, or what we feel could or might happen to us.

Do we need to have insurance for a rainy day?

It’s a good idea to have insurance to cover your important stuff, but once you’ve covered your important stuff (and one could question how much of it really is important!), the rest is just compensation for our FEAR.

So how do we stop this incessant worrying disorder that wakes us up at night, or keeps us up at night, or possesses our daily internal dialogue.

Replace it with stories that serve.  Imagine the possibilities. Imagine your outcome or the story you wish to live.

Imagining what’s possible, even if at the moment it seems impossible, can create a fracture in the glass ceiling.

We all have one, a ceiling we’ve created in our minds that holds us back, prevents us from reaching higher.  Simply allowing yourself to imagine more begins to push it higher.

Keep doing it in your formal or informal journaling and eventually you will crack it, break it, and reach higher.

There is no service in worrying.  There is no benefit in creating false expectations that appear real.  There are benefits to creating images of the beautiful possibilities.

So the next time you wake up thinking about the doom, shift your narrative to what’s possible, not the expectation of what’s probable because that’s just not real.  The negative is no more real than the positive.

The positive just serves to inspire and activate you, the negative just serves to anger and constrain you.

Don’t worry, be happy 😉 

Anthony Robbins, challenged by the constrained format of the TedTalk spoke for just over 20 minutes and described what we humans need quite succinctly.

In his words, there are six human needs.  

Four of these needs are the needs of the personality, and two are the needs of the spirit.  Put another way, one can likely infer that the needs of the personality are the needs of the ego.

The four needs of the personality are; certainty, uncertainty, significance, and connection.

Certainty is a quest for construct, a desire to know everything that will or could happen, control is the center of this person’s universe.

Uncertainty is the classic adrenaline junky, or the one addicted to drama.  These are the rules breakers, non-conformists, and the classic chaotic artist.

Significance is the person drawn to the title, the ultimate position, the power, material wealth, possessions, and status.  They are never satisfied with enough, because there is never enough.

Connection is the person who is in and out of romantic relationships, never being completely pinned down.  Or the person who knows everyone, but no one knows them.  They are obsessed with the connection, and not with the content of the connection.

Robbins describes all of these needs metaphorically as water buckets with a hole in the bottom.  You can pour as much “significance” or “certainty” into the bucket, but it will never be full.  The hole in the bottom makes it so.

Robbins goes on to infer that most of us are biased toward one or more of these needs as our focus of attention.

However, no matter how hard we try, no amount of these needs will bring fulfillment, no amount will seem satisfactory.

He describes the two other needs are the needs of the spirit.  

This is where the rubber meets the road of fulfillment.

These needs are growth and contribution.

Your intention and attention to growth are the great secrets of success.  Are you aware of how you are changing, are you creating and manifesting that change, or are you simply a passenger of change? Forced to accept the consequences of your actions or inactions versus the recognition of your creation.

The intentionality of growth and the self-reflection in its experience drives your sense of fulfillment.  

We are all here to experience and grow, are we writing our own story, or is the story written for us?

Ultimately, growth and growth alone can not bring a complete sense of fulfillment.  It’s growth within a community, organization, circle of influence, or family and your contribution to those who surround you that makes you whole.

We are nothing if we are alone.

The truth is, none of us can explore ourselves without the aid and assistance of others. The question is, are you cultivating those who surround you, or are they imposed upon you?  

Do you define your tribe, or is it that which you have been prescribed?

How are you creating your circle of influence and how are you in turn contributing within it?  Food for your thought.

How often have you come home from a vacation and said, “Wow, I need a vacation from my vacation!”

Truth is that this is far too often the case and there are two fundamental problems with this reality.

First up, why do people live lives where they feel like it is necessary to have a vacation where they completely go off the rails?

Shouldn’t life in general just be full of moments where we throw caution to the wind, and moments where we re-gather ourselves and prepare for the next adventure?

Why do people feel like they have to pack it all in to one or two weeks a year?

Secondly, why DO people loose it completely on vacation?

Why eat, drink, party, go over the top every single day and then fall down and go boom at the end? Only having to figure out how to recover once back at home?

Resonate with this experience at all?

The truth is that we get into this rat race called life where we have a limited bandwidth for establishing best practices that support success and fulfillment.

Wake up, hit the snooze button a few times, get up, go slam a big cup of coffee, eat a couple of pieces of toast, check social media, hammer out a couple of comments, get everything done that’s gotta get done before walking out the front door, move through the mass commute to the office, bang out a full day of work (could be another paragraph of points here!), maybe eat a lunch or a couple of crappy snacks during the day, drive back through the evening commute, scramble to create a tangible dinner, do more work not done during the day, invest more valuable time on social media, and then crash!

Or perhaps don’t crash but stay up thinking of things that need to get done or other useless or painful stuff, only to wake up to that pesky alarm again!

This story of life could be reproduced in many forms for parents, working mom’s or dad’s, stay at home mom’s or dad’s, the point is many are living lives of judgment, self judgment, judgment of friends, colleagues, or judgment of people unknown.

How busy are those guys? What trinkets they have, who do they hang out with, how many friends or followers do they have, judge or be judged? This approach to life, with little time allotted to personal well-being and best practices leads people to go overboard when they’re off the reserve so to speak!

So when someone goes on vacation, and effectively reproduces the same life only replacing work with over the top play, all-you-can-eat buffets, open bars, and nights that end when the sun is rising, or if kids are involved, when the kids are going to bed!

In one instance they’re up all night, in the other, they’re sleeping way too long, but probably being woken up multiple times by the kids, or by their bladder!

Vacation should fundamentally be about changing venue. The chance to live life in a new place, see new things, feel new feelings, and experience other cultures or opportunities.

If you have established tried and true structures and traditions in your life that act as the foundation on which you can thrive, then these foundations should be linked in to your vacation.

Eating well (especially now that you’ve eliminated that age old excuse of “I have no time to cook” and experimenting with new recipes and new combinations of food in order to refine a healthy regime would be one of the most effective and valuable elements of a vacation.

Getting various exercise experiences into every day would help you stay in a good place energy wise and help you recover from the day to day stresses of life, and on vacation you can try all kinds of new things, whether its hiking, walking, biking, you can use it to see new things and transport you throughout your journey.

It doesn’t have to be a gym where you train, the great outdoors will serve you well, and now you have even more time than normal to plan and integrate other experiences into the mix.

The chance to journal and reflect on life each day, something that is a great personal practice for anyone who wants to thrive in life, is an excellent component of a vacation when you once again have maybe just a little more time to engage in such thought.

But the true life lesson here is that if these cornerstone elements of life are a part of your day-to-day, they should be a part of your day-to-day on vacation. And if they are not part of your day-to-day, then a vacation may be an excellent place to start.

When you bring these practices on vacation or introduce them into your life while on vacation, you can use that unloaded time to invest in raising the quality of your dialogue and your efforts so that your program for success is established or becomes even sharper when you return. Instead of feeling like you need to recover from your holiday, make the vacation take you to the next level!

BTW, I am on vacation right now!

These days, perhaps just because there is so much more news telling us so, we seem to experience tragedy almost daily. We’ve lost our sensitivity, we have become somewhat numb.

Tragedy has become the grey noise in the background, things that fill the editorial content calendars of all the 24-hour news desks around the globe; tsunamis, earthquakes, school shootings, wars, mass casualty events of every sort.

It’s someone else’s problem.  But it isn’t really, if you are involved.

What does that mean, involved?

Does it mean that you know someone, you are related to someone, you knew them once, you’ve met them, or maybe you’ve just heard of them? 

Maybe there’s a kinship of experience, something you’ve done, just like the person who’s been lost or injured.

If you are a member of a community, connected to other human beings with whom you share a common bond, you are involved.

We are all individuals, we seek our basis for differentiation. Clothes, accessories, material goods, jobs, tattoos, friends, homes, cars, and so much more, these are the symbols of status, but also the symbols of definition.

Who am I or who am I not?

To be the same is somehow to be branded insignificant, so in our quest to be significant, we accumulate and connect with material items and statements of individuality.

But material goods fade, and in turn require renewed emphasis on the next item of business, a never-ending quest.

However, when we realize that our personal growth is connected directly to the empowerment of contribution, especially contribution to our community, that’s where things get interesting.

This is where philanthropists of certain ilk get it wrong.

A person who espouses to be giving away so much wealth in order to help the underprivileged is often left empty and filling the void with still more donations.

Ultimately the truth of a philanthropic life is giving back to the community with whom you are connected selflessly. 

This connection can start in some instances early in life, but even when it doesn’t, establishing a path of contribution and an alignment with real human connection is the ticket to real fulfillment as one matures through life.

The unfettered love of community is the anchor in our lives, at least for those of us fortunate to have a community around us.

Much of this is the centre point of the success of Facebook, where anyone who wants can create a community of connection, or can create an on-line product or service and market, promote, and even deliver it on-line to a community.

Facebook provides the soil for community when used well. However, along with much of social media, FB has also created the side effect of isolation.

We are alone in our community instead of truly connected to it. We now live in virtual communities where there is emotional and intellectual connection, but what seems to be missing is the true mutual suffering of failure, and joy of success that used to occur in physical communities.

Physical community is the real deal. When people suffer and succeed together, build and create together, support one another, and take turns doing so, a bond is forged that is empowering. It empowers each individual to reach higher, or to overcome adversities that alone may seem impossible.

That is the power of real community.

The downside of community is our attachment to it, our fear of being different, separated, or ostracized from it.  And unfortunately, social media communities have made this all too easy to make happen.  One damaging post, statement, or image can result in the true dissolution of someone’s connection to their community.

This has been the unfortunate side-effect forced upon our children who are even more influenced by the attachment to their social community before they have suffered the slings and arrows of adulthood.

Adults are not immune, quite a lot of the mental illness we see today leading to mass shootings or terror events can be traced back to the person’s disenfranchisement from society at large.  Alone, lost, and disempowered, one seeks to find some significance in the trauma of their own end.

Even still, when such tragedy occurs, the communities with deep roots of connection are the ones that somehow find the silver lining of “one for all” that doesn’t replace the lost and injured, but consoles the pain and suffering of the moment, and the moments to come.

We are better when we are a member of a community, individual in our character and aspirations, but aligned on our concerns and connection.

Finding and forging your connection to community is an essential part of life, and the more you allow yourself to commit to the messiness of social connection, the more you will thrive in life and love.

Your life is a beautiful opportunity to be whatever you want to be.

 Unfortunately, there will be times when it doesn’t feel like that, people will tell you that you can’t, or you won’t, or it’s not the right time.

The world will seem to conspire to stop you or hold you back.

But, realize now instead of when you are way older, that what others tell you isn’t important, it’s what you tell yourself.

If you want to do something, be something, or try something, it’s your prerogative, your opportunity, and your making.

You get to tell your story, no one else.

There will be times when it’s hard, sometimes even really hard, but that’s the beauty of life. 

Doing hard things shapes you and makes you stronger.

Don’t be afraid of doing hard things. 

But doing hard things you love, because you’ve chosen to do them, that’s what life is really all about.

As you grow and learn about yourself, realize the things that make you smile and sing inside, these are the things, even when they are hard and difficult to achieve, that you will overcome.

In the end, life is all about growth. Becoming a better version of you.  

Nothing is more satisfying than hearing the inner voices that inspire your creativity, quieting the ones that tell you not to do it, and taking the leap of faith that all will become clear.

Always believe in you. I know that I do.

Best,

Dad

Have you heard this line before, “Don’t worry about what other people think, it’s none of your business anyway”?

There’s most certainly a great deal of truth in this statement, but I do think there is an aspect of the statement worth  a deeper discussion and consideration.

I don’t believe anyone should “worry” or ruminate on what others think of them.  Worry is a poor use of your imagination.

I love the acronym that my friend, Tony Blauer (a world renown self-defense expert) has coined for FEAR – False Expectations Appearing Real.  Worry is the overt expression of our brains fixation with false expectations and predicted outcomes.

Unfortunately, our brains are wired to predict, our very neuro-physiology sets it up like this because our brains number one job is to keep us alive.  

So predication is a first principle of our brain, it needs to assess every situation and compare it to what it knows, has experienced, or believes, to assess whether something that is about to happen, or could happen might result in our demise.

But let’s face it, not much of what might happen to us is really life threatening! 

Unfortunately the imposition of stress, our state of mind, our energy levels, our lack of sleep, and the daily pressures of life change the neurochemical profile of our brain, and so some things that aren’t really life threatening get treated as though they are, and worrying is an output expression of this state of being.

So the more we recognize that we are worrying, the more we become aware of it, the more we can dispense with it, reframe our focus, and recognize how we are giving into false expectation.

This is particularly true of our worry of what others think.  Most of the time, we are worrying about something that isn’t even happening.  

How often do you actually think about what others are doing, focus on their behaviours, choices, or decisions?  Not much right?  Maybe a barstool conversation, or  a corner of the room discussion, but really, how much time do you devote to the everyday activities of your friends or colleagues?

Even when it does become a discussion point, how long does it really occupy your time?  Your ego is fooling you into believing what other people think matters.  What you are doing doesn’t matter to others, and the truth is, it really isn’t being noticed.  They have bigger fish to fry, and so do you.

So where I diverge somewhat with this idea is that although we should not “worry” about what others think of us, we should “care” about how what we are doing or saying is being interpreted.

We should care when what others think of us isn’t what we intend to express.  If our intentions are being misunderstood, then we need to consider how we are expressing ourselves.

We shouldn’t worry, we shouldn’t become fixated on what others think, but if we are being misinterpreted, misunderstood, or mistaken, we need to recognize that what we are putting out in the world isn’t what we intend.

After all, we don’t want our intentions to be misconstrued or misunderstood.  We would like people to see us for who we are and who we wish to represent.

An interesting task to do for yourself is the “Unique Abilities Audit”.  I stole this from John Berardi’s book “Change Maker”.  It’s an excellent self-examination task, and how you use it to compare your findings to those of people who count in your circle of influence is the key to its success.

Try answering all the questions below to the best of your ability. Then send the revised versions in the second thread to 5-7 people you trust in your circle of influence who you believe will give you honest answers.

Let them know you are trying to get better and grow and that you would appreciate their candid response.

1 – What are my unique abilities? What do I feel sets me apart?

2 – What makes me get up in the morning, and get excited?

3 – What do people count on me for?

4 – What do I think is my “blind spot” , something I don’t always recognize that holds me back?

5 – What are the things I am most passionate about?

6 – What have been my greatest accomplishments so far?

7 – Who do I admire? Why? What can I learn from their example?

Questions to be sent to your circle of influence:

1 – What do you see as my unique abilities? What do you feel sets me apart?

2 – What do you think I am passionate about?

3 – What do you count on me for?

4 – What do you see as “my way” of doing things?

5 – What if anything, impresses you about me, or leaves an impression upon you?

6 – What do you think is my “blind spot” , something I don’t always recognize that holds me back?

It’s important to canvas people who matter to you, they’ve been with you through thick and thin, they can be honest with you, and they’ve seen enough of you to give you real perspective.  Try to ask a mix of people from friends, family, colleagues, or teammates so you get a solid composition of input.

When you’ve completed this task, and you’ve received your responses, where you want to recognize you should care about what others think is when people don’t see you as you see yourself, or a majority of the feedback provides an insight on a trait or behaviour you express that you have not intended to express.

What is important is that you are understood as you would wish to be understood.  If the prevailing view is that you are not as you would wish to be, then it’s time to do some introspection and internal work.

Our objective is not to be what others expect us to be, our objective is to be who we expect ourselves to be.  Are we living authentically, and is this being interpreted as we would wish?

This is your question worth asking.

What does it mean to be the GOAT.

The greatest of all time.

How many of those really exist and what can we learn from them?

Names like Jack Nicklaus, Micheal Jordan, Derek Jetter, Tiger Woods, Pele, Mohamed Ali, Louis Hamilton, Tom Brady, Bill Russell, Diego Maradona, Marcel Hirscher, Martina Navratilova, Jonah Lomu, Michael Schumacher, Hank Aaron, Wayne Gretzky, Roger Federer, Lionel Messi, Richie McCaw, Ingemar Stenmark, Lindsey Vonn, Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic, all household names from the annals of sports history.

I am sure you have names in your head I have not mentioned, there are many, many greats over the course of all sports history, and I’ve been intentionally biased to the history I have experienced. 

There are names I do not know who have impressed in other parts of the globe, those who have left their mark on more then just their fans.

But even if we were to compile a list, the list would really not be that large, considering how many people have competed in sports over the years, and how many even do it more recreationally.

Being the very best, being the GOAT, well that’s a place reserved for a very special few.

Why am I writing about this subject you might be asking?

I’ve been blessed to experience the ascent of a GOAT. 

I’ve watched one grow from a young athlete of 17 years old, into a legend at 30.  The scary thing is how much more time he actually has in front of him when he has already ascended to the status of GOAT at just 30 years old?!

Mikael Kingsbury is the winningest Mogul skier in history. 

He just won his 87th World Cup Moguls race breaking the record held by Ingemar Stenmark (Alpine Skier) for winningest Male skier in history.  Only another GOAT, Mikaela Shiffrin has more Gold Medal podiums at 95!

To put that in perspective, the next closest Mogul skier in WC victories doesn’t even have half that number!!

So what have I learned watching a GOAT acend his mountain?

I can’t speak for every one of those listed above, or for those I have not listed, but here are the things I believe to be intrinsic to the nature of such beasts.

Passion

I don’t think you get to the top of anything unless it is your passionate pursuit.  Some might say obsessive, but I actually believe obsession is the negative expression of passion.  Passion is ALL-IN, but it’s all-in with a recognition that you are not alone, you need others to succeed, and you can’t ignore them or disrespect them in your pursuit of success.

I don’t know that all those listed above were able to live simply with passion and not obsession, but I do know the ones who discovered the difference along the way built exceptional lives in retirement from sport.  Those who did not often struggled to make that transition.

Consistency

You just won’t get there if you operate in fits and starts.  There is a monotony to greatness, a “do it just because” attitude mixed with a “gotta be connected” drive. Every day there is some connection to the things that need to be done to get better, and you just do them despite how mundane some of those things might be.

1% Better

After consistency rests the target of that consistency, always reaching a little higher. Always recognizing that you can be better tomorrow than you were today. You might not always be better, but you believe it matters.  You recognize that when you’re sitting still others are catching up. You always do your best, even if your best is 80% of what is actually possible.  You do the best you have now.

Commitment

There’s a reason for everything you do and everything has a reason.  You know it, you accept it, and you are resolved to doing it.  The question marks are left for right or left turns, not U-turns.  You keep pressing forward, even when it seems that you might have slipped backward.

Joy

This is the sticky stuff, the magic of the GOAT.  The real GOAT is participating with joy, even if this is not overtly expressed, it’s the feeling in their heart that is simply filled by being in it. You see it in their face, even in the hardest of times.  They are filled with the joy of playing and competing.

Inspiration

The real GOAT, even if they participate in individual sports, pull others up, make others rise. They inspire all those around them to be their very best, Nicklaus had Watson, Ali had Frazier, Gretzky had Limeux, Russell had Chamberlin, and others in that list simply inspired whole teams and  leagues around them.

Professionalism

The real GOATs carry themselves with a character of professional decorum, they treat those around them with respect, they do their best to show up even when they don’t feel their best.  They are by no means perfect, but they do understand what they represent, how they represent, and how they inspire, especially those who one day wish to be like Mike.

This is what I have witnessed in the ascension of one young Mikael Kingsbury to the status of GOAT.

Should you wish to be your very best, these traits will serve you well, for they are universally shared within and aside from sport.

Get after your inner GOAT.