Are we getting to the good part?

I had a thought this morning about "getting to the good part." It comes at a time of exciting business things happening, the closing of a major personal open loop, craziness in the White House and geopolitical news, and also a bigger movement happening that's hard to put into words.

There were two things that came up with this thought that felt worth sharing.

1. It feels like we are in between the old and the new. We know we no longer want the old, and yet we're not quite at the new just yet. But we can taste it. We long for it. And it's coming. I've felt this for me personally, some close friends, and society in general in a way. It's exciting. And it's frustrating.
2. On the flip side of that, if we were truly "getting to the good part," that would imply that things aren't good now. And I categorically reject that. Things are not perfect, not even close. There's always opportunity to improve. And even in the middle of turmoil, chaos and uncertainty, this is the most amazing time to be alive.

The conclusion I came to this morning is that it does feel like things are getting better which is exciting, and at the same time, even with whatever nonsense may be going on at the moment, things are pretty damn good.

How can I have more impact?

We took a small group of top performing salespeople and entrepreneurs into the Tenderloin in San Francisco to give out food and supplies to homeless people. Most of these people were from out of town and had no idea what we were in for. None of us did really.

We arranged to have someone lead our group who works with the community to supervise and keep us safe. At the last second, our safety guide had cancelled on us. After some scramble, they said that they found someone to come out with us.

It’s hard to put words to what we all experienced that day. It was powerful on so many levels, and yet the biggest take away for me personally had nothing to do with serving the homeless.

The woman who came to our rescue had been on disability. She had been working and volunteering until they made her stop. When she heard about our story and what we were doing, she knew she had to answer the call. By the end of the day, she was crying, we were crying and we were all left with this feeling -- how can we do more.

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I listen to entrepreneurs and brands with these noble visions about how they are going to change the world and create massive social impact. I’m grateful for their commitment and dedication to improving the planet for all of us.

But… there’s a but.

If we want to have more impact, we have to take care of ourselves first.

I know this may seem counterintuitive or even selfish, so stay with me here. Our ability to give more is directly proportional to how well we are doing individually, to our own energy, to have our personal needs met.

This woman was on disability, and she wanted nothing more than to be out there doing more for the community. She had to focus on herself and her healing first though because she literally had nothing left to give. Such is the case with so many who put service ahead of their own needs.

Some of these companies and brands with these ambitious charitable goals are unfortunately going to have to learn this lesson the hard way. They have to create massive value and create a profitable, sustainable business first so that they can be around long enough to make the contribution and impact they envision.

I have so much love and respect for these companies with these bold, impact-driven mission statements just as I did for the woman who lead our group in the Tenderloin on that rainy Saturday afternoon.

If we want to have more impact, focus internally first and make sure our own house in order. And while that process may not be as fast or as easy as we'd like, it is absolutely necessary if we want our impact to ripple throughout the universe.

What's the best way to spend time on your birthday?

Today is my 37th birthday. This was by far the most fascinating and challenging year of my life. As I was falling sleep last night, I started to think about what I would do with an entirely empty day for my birthday (side note: Saturday birthdays are the best birthdays!)

The answer became clear almost immediately:

Design your birthday to be exactly how you would approach every day if there was nothing else in the way.

It got me thinking about the design of my perfect day.

Be intentional about the design of your time. When you design your perfect day, it becomes a moving towards goal. It's not something you flip a switch and magically start living that way every day. You integrate what you can, try it out, see what you like and then either add more or remove what you don't like. It's a giant experiment in what it's like to be you.

My perfect day starts with yoga and mediation to gently welcome my mind and body to this new day. Then some reading and writing. Conversations with people I love, sprinkled with delicious and healthy food, all while working on things that are important to me. Add in some time for reflection and some time for play, and it's a wrap. (Connection to nature would be in there as well, but my current options in NYC are limited so we're skipping that today.)

Figure out the design for a perfect day that would be desirable to live over and over again, and that's exactly how you should spend your birthday.

How do I measure my own personal growth?

I had a magical moment of reflection a few days ago. It was an awareness I am very grateful to have had and just as easily could have missed. And it got me thinking...

As a person who spends my fair share of time focused on my own personal growth and development and working with others to do the same, how come I had to randomly stumble upon this realization?

At an immersive event in June 2018, I wrote down a list of 5 areas that currently felt out of integrity for me. Believing integrity to be one of the most important qualities in a leader and correspondingly having it very high on my list of personal values, these 5 areas did not feel good to me.

And yet, after that weekend, I did not take any action on this new information. Instead, the list got lost in the shuffle and life happened.

Fast forward to last week. I was looking for something in my old notes when I came across this list. It stopped me dead in my tracks.

Without any awareness of this happening, I resolved all 5 areas that were out of integrity. It forced me to stop and consider all of the growth that occurred, often behind the scenes, over the last year. It gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling.

And so, I'm doing a little rapid prototyping on some ideas to help me better track my growth and development over time. This way I can be more intentional about these amazing moments of reflection and ideally have something to share with you all to do the same.

What if I don't have anything to say?

I love this question. I've talked to many people early in the process who have asked this, and I've also been the one asking it at various points in my life.

When starting something new, there's a certain type advice that directs people to become influencers or thought leaders, to start a blog or get active on social media, look for speaking engagements and join the conversation. Get your message out there to as many people as possible. This inevitably leads to the question:

"What if I don't have anything to say?"

The answer is simple.

If you don't have anything to say, listen.

Study. Find a teacher. Be patient. Get super curious. Observe. Ask questions. Hone your craft. Learn from the masters. Get better. Put your head down and put in the work. For weeks, months, or years if you need to.

And then, after of listening, learning and putting in the work, there's no doubt that you'll have something interesting to say and the world will want to hear it.