The Greatness Guide: One of the World's Most Successful Coaches Shares His Secrets for Personal and Business Mastery (12 page)

I gave the keynote address at a conference for the leadership team of the telephone banking division of CIBC yesterday. Great group. CIBC is one of Canada’s leading banks and the audience was full of energy, passion and intelligence. I shared my ideas on building a high-performance culture, developing deeper relationships and the power of leading without title. Then I offered some insights on personal leadership—beginning with the imperative of getting up early if one wants to get to world class as a human being. The room fell silent. Thought I’d lost them.

I love connecting personally with audience members and happily stayed after my presentation to answer questions. Amazing how many people asked me what they needed to do to build the early rising habit. “I want to get a lot more from life,” one manager said. “I loved your point about taking a ‘holy hour’ each morning—60 minutes to feed my mind, care for my body and develop my character,” said another. “Life is passing by so quickly,” noted yet another, “I really need to start getting up earlier to get more from my days.”

It’s so easy to forget that our outer lives reflect our inner lives and that by getting up earlier each day to do some internal
work, our days will become dramatically better. How can you be a positive source of energy to those around you when you have no energy? How can you develop the best in others if you haven’t connected with the best within yourself? And how can you champion another person if you fail to see the champion in you? Getting up early to do your inner work, enlarge your thinking, to sharpen your life’s philosophy or to review your goals is not a waste of time. That ‘holy hour’ infuses every remaining minute of your day with a perspective that elevates each area of your life. It’ll transform you. Make you better as a leader. As a parent. As a human being. Here are six practical tactics to help you get up early (5 a.m. is nice):

D
ON’T EAT AFTER
7 P.M.
You will sleep more deeply as well as more sweetly. It’s the quality, not the quantity, of sleep that’s most important.

D
ON’T LOUNGE IN BED
after your alarm clock goes off. Jump out of bed and start your day. The more time you lie in bed after the alarm clock goes off, the greater the likelihood that the chatter of your mind will say something like, “Stay in bed. Sleep a bit more. The bed is warm. You deserve it.”

G
ET INTO WORLD-CLASS PHYSICAL CONDITION.
This is a big idea. I find that when I am in excellent physical shape—working out five to six times a week and eating ultra-well—it is easy to jump out of bed at 5 a.m. or even 4 a.m. Being superbly fit is a brilliant move that will positively influence every area of your life.

S
ET
BHAG
S
.
Jim Collins coined the term “BHAGs,” meaning Big Hairy Audacious Goals, in his book
Built to Last.
Goals breathe life and energy into your days. Most people don’t get up early because they
have no reason to. The secret of passion (and getting up early) is purpose. Goals inspire you and give you something to get out of bed for each morning. Taking out your journal and articulating 10-, 5-, 3-and 1-year goals for the core dimensions of your life will focus your mind and drive tremendous results. It will light a fire in your belly and flood you with passion.

S
ET YOUR ALARM CLOCK
30 M
INUTES FAST
.
I shared this point at a recent “Awakening Best Self Weekend,” a workshop where people come from all around the world to learn how to break through their fears and live their greatest lives. I just got an email from one participant from Spain. This little trick has completely changed her life. She thinks she’s getting up at 6 a.m. By the time she’s up and out of bed, she realizes it’s only 5:30 a.m. She uses the newfound time to meditate or read or to exercise. She cares for her inner life now and the results have been excellent. Her business is more successful than it’s ever been. Her family life is at its best place in years. And she’s feeling incredibly happy. I know this tactic seems silly—but it works.

G
IVE IT
30 D
AYS
.
One of my favorite clients is NASA. They are doing our
Grow The Leader
program to develop the leadership capabilities of their people. I love this organization because it truly stands for world class. One of the things I’ve learned from NASA is that the space shuttle uses more fuel during the first few minutes after liftoff than it
consumes during its entire trip around the globe. Why? Because, initially, it needs to overcome the tremendous pull of gravity. But as it does—it gets easier to fly. That’s a powerful thought to consider. Personal change is a process that can be hardest at the beginning. It doesn’t happen in a day or even a week. It takes time to overcome the pull of your old habits. But after four weeks from today your life could be so much better, if you choose. Always give yourself 30 days to install a new habit.

So join the 5 O’clock Club. Win the Battle of the Bed. Put mind over mattress. Get up early. And remember what Benjamin Franklin once noted: “There will be plenty of time to sleep when you are dead.” Smart guy.

Too many people believe that there’s something wrong with aiming to be really successful. Too many people put down productive achievement. Too many people snicker at go-getters who set their goals and then devote themselves to realizing them. I’ve heard it a lot these days, the suggestion that if you strive for success, you must not be all that concerned with making a difference and being significant. It’s almost as if being a go-getter is incompatible with being compassionate, socially conscious and a good person. Nonsense.

Here’s my take on the “success versus significance” issue: An extraordinary life contains both. The essence of life is balance. Without success, I have a sense that the best part of you will feel a little hollow. Part of what makes us human is the hunger to realize our greatest gifts and to live life fully. We were built to be great. And high achievement is simply a reflection of creativity in action. The more worthwhile things you are doing, the more of your natural creativity you are unleashing. Success is a creative act. It’s also one of the best routes to fulfillment, if
blended with a healthy respect for work-life balance. I’ve found that few things feel as great as the feeling I get when I complete something worthwhile. Doing important things promotes happiness. Success awakens joy. And yet without significance, I believe that we will feel that we have walked the planet in vain. Success alone, without feeling that you’ve made a meaningful contribution, will leave the heart feeling empty.

There’s nothing wrong with being an elite performer and taking the steps required to become a remarkable success in this world. Success is actually a reflection of healthy self-esteem. But while you chase success, I urge you to stay devoted to elevating the lives you touch and leaving your world better than you found it. That’s the significance piece. With both, you’ll discover your greatest life.

Life is a skill. And like any other skill, once you know the ground rules and make the time to practice, you can get better. A lot better. If you really devote yourself to life, you could even reach a place of mastery. Some have.

I suggest that there are three simple things you can do to get great at life:

P
AY ATTENTION TO LIFE
.
Make the time to reflect on what you want your life to stand for, what you have learned from your years and what your legacy will be. Time slips through our fingers—like grains of sand—never to return again. Use your days to realize your talents. Makes me think of that line by Erma Bombeck: “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me. ‘” Try to write in a journal each morning before you walk out into your world. Think about what goals you need to accomplish for you to feel the day has been a success—and write them down. Think about your most closely held values. Think about what lessons you’ve learned from the previous day. What good is making a mistake if you don’t learn from it?

E
NGAGE IN LIFE
.
Angelina Jolie spoke truth when she said: “The
only way to have a life is to commit to it like crazy.” I’ve learned something as I’ve grown older: Life returns what you give it. Donate your best. Over dinner last night with some friends, we began to speak of goal-setting. “But why set goals when life can be so uncertain?” one friend asked. My reply: “Just because life is so unpredictable doesn’t mean you shouldn’t exercise your power to be great. Set your goals. Make your plans. Take action and chase your dreams. That’s what personal responsibility is all about. But once you’ve done your best—let go. And let life do the rest.”

E
NJOY LIFE
.
We take life so seriously. But at the end, the billionaire gets buried next to the street sweeper. We all end up as dust. So let’s have some fun. “Few of us write great novels,” observed Mignon McLaughlin. “But all of us can live them.”

Steve Jobs is an interesting guy. How many people start a billion-dollar business in their garage in their early twenties? How many people can lead the field in three separate industries? (Music—the iPod has revolutionized the way music is delivered; movies—Pixar is one of the world’s most successful animation studios; and computing—Apple’s devotion to sexy design and ease of use is legendary.) But what intrigues me most about Steve Jobs is his philosophy.

Jobs asks himself an unforgettable question every time he is faced with a big choice: “What would I do if this was the last night of my life?” Powerful idea behind that. He met his wife that way.

He was giving a university address a number of years back. She was sitting in the audience. He fell for her and approached her after the event. She gave him her number. He wanted to take her out to dinner that very night but had a business meeting on the books. Life’s like that. On his way back to his car, he asked himself what I call the Steve Jobs Question: “What would I do if this was the last night of my life?” You and I both know his answer. He ran back to the auditorium, found the woman and took her out. They’ve been together ever since.

Look, I know we all have to be practical. I get that we can’t apply Jobs’ question to every situation. But as I wrote in
Who Will Cry When You Die?,
connecting to your mortality is a great source of wisdom. Reminding yourself that in the overall scheme of things you will not be here that long—no matter how long you live—is an excellent way to drive passion, promote risk-taking and get deeply into the game of life. Connecting with the end is a brilliant practice to keep you focused on what’s most important. Before it’s too late.

I was just out skateboarding with my daughter. Today I bought her a new helmet, arm pads and boarding sneakers. She looks like a pro. Now she just needs to learn how to ride the thing.

She loves her new accessories. To her, skateboarding is ultra-hip and the perfect sport. So we were out there, having fun, when she looked up at me and said: “Dad, there’s something missing from my coolness.” What a line. Hilarious. Got me thinking.

What’s missing from my coolness? What’s missing from my authenticity? What’s missing from my greatest life? Awareness precedes choice and choice precedes results. (Okay, I’ll stop repeating that line; it’s just that it’s so incredibly important.) With better awareness of what needs to improve in your life, you can make better choices. And with better choices, you will see better results. We truly cannot eliminate weaknesses we don’t even know about.

One of our biggest regrets on our deathbeds is that we were not reflective enough. That we didn’t spend enough time
thinking, in deep contemplation. Don’t let that happen to you. Make the time to think. Ask yourself what needs to improve in your life. Ask yourself what needs to get done. Ask yourself what values you need to live. Ask yourself how exceptional are you, how “plugged in” are you, how interesting (and interested) are you—how cool are you? Then make your life your message. And don’t let anything be missing from your coolness.