GINO AND ROB - THE DRIVEN ENTREPRENEUR
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[00:00:00] Gino Wickman: Welcome to the Shed and Shine Podcast. I am Gino Wickman. This is where Rob Dube and I help driven entrepreneurs shed their shit, free their True Selves, unlock true entrepreneurial freedom and shine. We truly appreciate you taking the time to spend with us and we hope to make a huge impact on you.
[00:00:22] Rob Dube: Hello and welcome to the Shed and Shine Podcast, where we discuss how looking inward is the key to unlocking true entrepreneurial freedom. I'm Rob Dube and I am here with my very, very good friend, Gino Wickman. Hello, Gino. Good to see you again. So Gino and I are the co authors of the book Shine, How Looking Inward is the Key to Unlocking True Entrepreneurial Freedom and the co founders of the 10 Disciplines.
And I know I speak for Gino when I say how much gratitude we have that you are listening in today. You have many choices on how to spend your time and we truly appreciate you taking the time to learn with us. We hope to make a huge impact. on you. So today we will be discussing the driven entrepreneur.
That's you. Gino, what does that mean, the driven entrepreneur?
[00:01:23] Gino Wickman: I'm giddy. I'm giddy about this episode, Rob. I'm giddy. I know. So, so I want to start by saying we are going to bask in the greatness of a driven entrepreneur. And so you listening, we're going to bask in you. because we are you, we get you, we are all the same.
We have these driven entrepreneurial souls, our True Selves. And so we're going to just spend some time helping you understand you, which helps us understand us a little better. And so where I always like to start with this is with a big context that says being a driven entrepreneur is a blessing and a curse.
Just like everything in life, there are these extremes. There's this, you know, with great gifts and strengths come challenges. So I want to start by saying, you know, the, the blessing and the curse, the blessing is that we driven entrepreneurs, we are the creators of most things on the planet. We have superhuman stamina.
We are the problem solvers of the world. People run to us when there's a problem. And so, it is our personal heaven. We just excel at creative problem solving and building and creating things. With that, the curse is that sadly, we leave a black trail behind us. Sadly, we do a lot of damage to ourselves mentally, physically, and emotionally, and to the people in our lives, our loved ones.
That's that black trail that we tend to leave behind. to leave behind. And so there's the big picture context. I'm going to do some drilling down, um, but before I do, anything you want to say to that, Rob?
[00:03:17] Rob Dube: No, but you know, we talked in the first episode, I think it was, when you and I met for that first time and you showed me how woundingly tight I was.
And I think back to that moment, because I was so driven and I wasn't getting where I thought I was supposed to be and I was so frustrated and how that was having such an impact on my mind. And so I just relate so much to this and had I known this at that time that this driven was a blessing and a curse, I may have had the ability to approach it in a different way.
So I'm so glad the way you're framing this.
[00:03:49] Gino Wickman: Yeah. Thank you for that. And, you know, I, I. I think it's so powerful for the driven entrepreneur to understand there's a dark side to this gift. And I think that we hide the dark side, we play off the dark side, we ignore the dark side, we run from the dark side.
And what I believe is if we acknowledge the dark side with everyone in our life. They will love us more. They will respond to us more. We will be more present. And so there's this, this stream of words I write about the dark side. We are restless. We are not present. We leave that black trail. We are intense.
We are dominant. It's never enough for us. We're never satisfied. And, and so I really think our job is to acknowledge that reality and then shift it. Think about all the people in your life that have to be with someone who is restless, not present, leaving a black trail in tents and just acknowledge it.
First thing that's going to happen is you're going to feel really freaking guilty and that's sadly your nature because we don't like to admit how often we feel guilty and self judge ourselves, but I believe that's the starting point. Because now all of a sudden you've acknowledged it, the blessing and the curse.
The next thing to acknowledge is that it's in your DNA. It ain't going away. In other words, this is your genetic encoding. And I always like to cite Dr. Doug Brackmann's book, Driven, because he talks about this is the D2D4 gene. There's an allele in your gene. And so the 10 percent of us that are driven on the planet, there's an allele in our gene, which just means there's a hiccup.
It just means we, unfortunately don't feel rewarded. And so we're always looking for an adrenaline hit. We just don't feel as rewarded as others. And that takes us down some very dangerous, risky paths that get us in trouble. That tends to cause a lot of our trauma and pain from the past that we so desperately try to bury.
Curious if that prompts anything for you.
[00:05:51] Rob Dube: Yeah, you know, I was thinking about something that I read recently in another book. It's called The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté, and I brought it up prior to us recording today. And what he writes there is a story about this teacher, Sir William Osler, who was the father of modern medicine.
And he was teaching students at Baltimore's John Hopkins Hospital that, quote, It's not the delicate neurotic person who is prone to angina. So he was speaking to them about a symptom of coronary artery disease. But it's the robust neurotic person, the vigorous in mind and body, the keen and ambitious man whose engine is always at full speed ahead.
So what he was doing was foreshadowing the modern concept of the driven, compulsively preoccupied, impatient, readily upset, and unfortunately heart disease prone person. And I think about that for those of our driven entrepreneurs that are listening. And so there's a physical aspect to this whole thing as well.
[00:07:01] Gino Wickman: You know, that's, uh, that prompts a few different things, you know, and it's, I just shed something for what that's worth because I'm raising my hand guilty as charged. I have a heart issue and my heart doctor believes I I'm 56 years old. My heart doctor believes it happened in my twenties. And if you could see the life I lived in my twenties and the level of intensity.
I don't know how I'm still standing, quite frankly, but my God, that statement was me. You just defined me. And what's getting me emotional, what I'm shedding is relating to, uh, my brother in law just passed. A young man, early sixties, healthiest guy you'll ever see. If you looked at me, if you saw me standing in front of you, you'd look at me as a picture of health.
I'm a pretty healthy looking guy, but I got this damn heart thing going on. And he died of a massive heart attack. After a workout in the gym, one of the healthiest looking guys you'll ever see. So this is what's going on underneath the surface for us. That's where we're going to go in these episodes.
We're going under the surface to release this stuff so we can stop doing damage to ourselves. And so I always love to read these three quick excerpts from the book Driven by Dr. Doug Brackmann, which just helps paint a picture because again, we're basking in the driven entrepreneur on this episode and there's so much I want to say.
So hopefully you're all relating to this out there. Uh, excerpt number one, your genetic difference can lead you to feel there is something wrong with you and the associated shame can create a hellish existence. The driven are at risk for addictions they believe will provide. Relief. Number two, the driven are innately pulled toward the success they believe will finally leave them feeling rewarded.
And number three, in the words of the driven, I am different. I am wired to feel like I'm never enough or it's never enough. And I'm always . looking for something better. Dark side. Prompted anything for you?
[00:08:59] Rob Dube: No, I mean, the dark side is important for us to realize, you know, and be aware of something we talked a little bit about last time.
But there's also wonderful things, obviously, that you will hit on.
[00:09:12] Gino Wickman: Yeah. You know, with the wonderful things, we're probably going to spend more time on the dark side than the light side.
[00:09:18] Rob Dube: I don't want to get everybody depressed.
[00:09:21] Gino Wickman: But here's the thing, you know, screw it. We're going to get some people depressed because fucking A, we are, we, we, everybody is, is singing our praises all the time.
We are getting so many accolades and we can hear enough good stuff about us. Okay. Enough. Go. So go back to the office. Everybody will tell you nice things when you hang out, when you get off this podcast, but, but right now we gotta, We gotta get you to really know yourself, so hang in there with us, don't tune out.
We're going somewhere with this. We're trying to get you to that piece. So with that, uh, next thing I want to share. So, um, I have a friend, Justin Breen, he wrote an Inc article and what the Inc article talked about again, this blessing and the curse of the driven entrepreneur. And he talks about he's never met a successful entrepreneur that hasn't suffered from one or four of these things: bankruptcy, anxiety, depression, trauma. When he shared that with me, I was like, Oh, I got all four. And then you and I, Rob, we add a fifth one to the list and that's addiction. And so with addiction, I want to read our definition of addiction to the audience and just, just feel this. Uh, so we say addiction is doing something that is not good for you or hurts you, that numbs or distracts you from your pain.
Examples, work, food, porn, drugs, alcohol, gambling, shopping, travel, intense sports, gaming. Addiction is soothing. It is anything that numbs the pain, and I always jokingly like to say for a driven entrepreneur, building a multi million dollar company is soothing and numbing. And so what I believe is with this DNA issue, with this allele in our D2, D4 gene, and we need to seek that satisfaction that's harder for us to gain.
We are risk takers and it gets us in trouble and it typically started getting us in trouble very early in life and the kind of trouble that led to pain and trauma and that pain and trauma like I did, I stuffed it all down at 15. Sadly, That's where the inside is not feeling peace because we pushed it all down there.
Those are those blocks that we talked about. Those are the blocks we're going to talk about removing as we shed layers going forward. Um, and so with that, it's just a matter of starting to realize, hey, there might be something going on inside of me and I may be holding on to some stuff. And then the last point I'll say on this little part is, you know, when I started delivering this message publicly about two years ago.
And I've been on this process for about four years. The first two years, I didn't want to tell anybody about it because I was just, all my tectonic plates were shifting. But when I share this with an audience, what I see most of the audience doing, because my audiences are driven entrepreneurs, is, is hearing my inner story and me sharing and going, Oh, that poor guy, or coming up to me afterwards and say, good for you, Gino, I'm so happy for you.
And when secretly they're sitting there going, I'm glad I'm not dealing with any of this shit. When I really feel like most of them are, because that's the other thing I can do is I can kind of feel the pain. Yeah. So what we're hoping in this episode, when we're basking in you understanding both the dark and the light side of this thing, is to just consider looking in and seeing if there's anything in there that needs to come up.
Because what happens is, eventually, if there's something in there, your soul is going to get pinged. In other words, you're going to get a ping. We always describe it as letting a little light in or a little light out that starts to open it up. And that's what happened to me four years ago. It came up in a big way, but it was time.
My soul wanted out. My True Self wanted out. And out it came.
[00:12:57] Rob Dube: You know, I want to encourage the listener, please, if and when you get the book Shine, know this, there are many stories in the book that will help you on some level relate to your peers, other driven entrepreneurs who have opened themselves and are being authentic about what they've gone through.
And these stories are relatable and I think that, um, you might enjoy them. that I want to share one. I pulled it pulled from the book really quickly. Uh, one of the people in the book is writing about, uh, an internal pain when he thinks about the times he has not been present with his son because he's been so distracted with business.
He, he writes on multiple occasions, his son has said to me, dad, did you hear what I was saying? In other words, he could just feel that his dad wasn't even listening to him. He was there in body, but not there in mind. And we don't want to leave that kind of mark. We don't want to leave that black trail behind us.
[00:14:00] Gino Wickman: Okay, and I'll satisfy your need, Rob. So here's me talking to the audience. You're great. You're great. You're great. You're great. Now back to reality. So there's something else that, that prompted, stemming from what I was ending with there. Um, this great quote my wife showed to me, it was on Instagram from Jim Carrey who shared, he was talking about depression.
Okay. And he was talking about how, you know, depression, what that is, is that is your soul saying, Fuck you, I'm all done living this character that you've created. I'm all done being this avatar. I'm all, I'm done. I want to fully be me. Now I don't plan on saying the F word every episode, I said it twice on this episode.
But that was a direct quote, so I'm allowed to swear when it's a direct quote. But with that said, Call the word whatever you want, depression, pain, let's not get caught up in that. But I think that's what an awakening is, when you're starting to feel uneasy and unfilled or depressed or whatever it is, you know, I call it what's going on below the surface, those tectonic plates shifting.
That is your True Self screaming at you that I want to come out, I want to be free, I want to fully be my True Self. Ultimately, we want you to let your freak flag fly and be who you are fully in the world unapologetically. Uh, so for what that thought is.
[00:15:30] Rob Dube: No, I, I love it. And, and, and I love that we're joking around about, you know, the black trail versus the positives or whatever you want to say.
But, you know, you did say at the outset that, you know, we are the creators of this world. And when I'm with Driven Entrepreneurs and I see the passion they have for it, for making the best widget they've ever, you could ever imagine in this world or making their team the best or whatever, you know, I just imagine the possibilities, you know, and that's what gets me so excited.
And so that's the other side to this driven nature that entrepreneurs have.
[00:16:08] Gino Wickman: Yeah, and it's, you know, the other thought that it prompts is, you know, I hope you out there feel it because I feel that there is a shift going on. There is a shift. You know, we aren't the only ones having this conversation in the driven entrepreneur world.
This conversation has been going on in other worlds for, you decades, centuries, 5, 000 years, quite frankly. But in this world we live in, driven entrepreneurs, they are just starting to wake up. Something is changing, and so it's coming. There's just a better way to be a driven entrepreneur. I just believe that with all of my heart, and I believe we're in the right place at the right time.
And you can, again, still do that wonderful work that you do, that gift that you have, but you can do it where what's going on below the surface is peaceful and calm and the impact's going to be even greater because the impact is coming from a calling, from intuition, um, and not from your ego driving you from external factors.
[00:17:06] Rob Dube: Yeah. When you say that, it's like, I feel like, I feel like this relief. That's what comes to mind for me. Yes. Gino, before we wrap up, is there anything else that you want to say on this topic?
[00:17:19] Gino Wickman: Rob, I feel I've said it all.
[00:17:24] Rob Dube: I have nothing to add either. So I'll just end by saying this, and I'll, as I mentioned, I'll just share this for the first, uh, four or five episodes, but all these podcasts will be on the shorter side.
There'll be 15 to 30 minutes. And during the podcast, Gino and I are going to be expanding and producing providing additional flavor on the concepts from the book Shine, the 10 disciplines, we'll be sharing new content, and every now and then we're actually going to bring on a very special guest. Please check out Gino's solo riffs if you haven't done so already.
He's sharing what's top of mind for him, new learnings, also content from the book Shine, personal experiences, and um, and as it relates to the podcast that you're listening in today. As I've mentioned previously, usually I'm going to be asking most of the questions and the flow of our conversation though is going to be pretty organic like you heard today.
So keep joining in each week. We greatly appreciate that you're here with us. where you're going to learn how to shed layers for your True Self and ultimately shine.
Thank you for listening in today. We truly appreciate you taking the time to spend with us and please tune in for the next episode. Until then, if you'd like to see where you are on your True Self journey, click here.
Go to shedandshinepodcast.com to take the True Self Assessment and receive personalized guidance. If you're all ready to begin your inner world journey with Rob and myself, please join us for the next round of the 10 Disciplines Group Coaching Program. We wish you all the best in freeing your True Self.
Stay focused and much love.
