Shed & Shine â Riff Episode: What Have You Done for You Lately?
00:00:00 - 00:01:06
Gino Wickman
Hello and welcome back. This episode I call "What Have You Done for You Lately?" And when I talk about you, I'm talking about the real you, meaning how close to being 100% you are you all of the time. You may not know this, but when you are free to be you, you are a perfect specimen. It doesn't mean you don't make mistakes and experience failures and do stupid things. It just means you are unapologetically you with all your gifts and all of your flaws. So I'm going to try and say this a few different ways and let you into my mind when I say 100% you, because I see it a few different ways.
00:01:07 - 00:01:46
Gino Wickman
I see a visual, first of all, of this bright ball of light. We are all bright balls of light. And when we shine at our brightest, I see all of these dark pieces crumbling off, breaking off as we fully become ourselves. Another way to describe it on a very logical level is just simply write a list of who you truly are, a list of things, all the things that you truly are. And right next to that, a list of all the things that you are not, all the ways that you've been pretending.
00:01:47 - 00:02:38
Gino Wickman
Another way I think of it is as a simple strengths and weaknesses list where you clearly know all of your strengths and you know all of your weaknesses, and you accept both 100%. Another way I see it is kind of an ego prison where I've talked about it many times, where there we are, our True Self trapped behind this ego prison, behind fear and judgment. And there we are hiding from the world, not fully being our True Selves. And another way you've heard me describe it is that block of marble. There we are, this beautiful block of marble. Inside of that block of marble is you, that perfect masterpiece. And all you have to do is chip away all the marble to fully be 100% you.
00:02:38 - 00:03:24
Gino Wickman
And so back to the question, how close to being 100% you are you? Another way of saying it is how free are you to be you, to let your freak flag fly? As you think about fully being you, where do you feel restricted, awkward, out of place, unhappy, uncomfortable, not fully yourself, off-kilter? I could keep going, and I think I will. Where do you feel like an imposter, where you're faking it, where you're holding back, where you're feeling pressure to be something you're not?
00:03:25 - 00:04:14
Gino Wickman
If there are any restrictions, there's an opportunity to release them and be you. They're just simply things, barriers, obstacles standing in your way of fully being you. And the idea is to fully be your True Self 100% of the time. That's the goal. That's the end game. That's the intention. And so are you, or where are you not? It's simply a journey. What can you work on, chip away, develop, strengthen, stop doing, reduce, eliminate, put more awareness on? What can you do this week, this month, to move you one step closer to fully being you?
00:04:14 - 00:04:52
Gino Wickman
Now, this brings us all the way back to the point of this episode and the topic, which is what have you done for you lately? Because what I want to do is stimulate thought today where this one thing bubbles to the surface that you can and will do in the next week or month to move you a step closer. And so in the book Shine, Rob and I talk about in Discovery Number Three, Know Thyself, about these kind of layers of you knowing thyself and understanding yourself.
00:04:52 - 00:05:37
Gino Wickman
And at layer one, it's understanding your skills and abilities. And so there might be something in your skills and abilities that you can commit to moving the needle to get you closer to your gift, your craft, your superpower. The second level is understanding your strengths and weaknesses, really getting clear and capitalizing on your strengths and delegating or stopping one of your weaknesses. Level three is then understanding your personality traits and embracing the parts of you that will never change because they're ingrained in you and capitalizing on them. And so really understanding.
00:05:37 - 00:06:14
Gino Wickman
And you can do this through great profiling tools. I'll come back to that in just a second. And then the fourth level is shedding layers, getting into the stuff going on inside, some of the deep stuff where you might have to remove some blocks that are holding you back from being you. And we've certainly talked about that a lot in previous episodes. All I'm trying to do in this episode is create context, stimulate thought so you see this one thing that you can do for you lately, the next week or month.
00:06:15 - 00:07:02
Gino Wickman
And so what I'm going to do now is I'm going to give you some ideas on things that you can do, again, just stimulating thought because I think the right thing is going to bubble to the surface for you. And so first are things like profiling tools. When we talk about skills and abilities, strengths and weaknesses, personality traits, profiling tools are great resources for helping us understand ourselves better. And you might just simply commit to taking one. It could be DISC, Myers-Briggs, Culture Index, Kolbe, Enneagram. Those are the ones we're fond of, but I've taken God knows how many that have been so helpful in me becoming fully me. Always a work in progress. I'm not fully there, but certainly working toward it every day.
00:07:03 - 00:07:47
Gino Wickman
Another thought stimulator might be that you just simply need to say no to something or no to anything stopping you from being you. Another idea might be therapy. You might be ready for therapy. It might be time to just go get some help and move the needle. Another idea is to ask for feedback. Ask the people in your life their opinion. What we recommend is that strengths and weaknesses exercise where you simply reach out to five or ten people in your life and just ask them, "What are my three greatest strengths and what are my three greatest weaknesses?"
00:07:48 - 00:08:06
Gino Wickman
I did this two years ago. I do it relatively often. I did it with the 20 closest people in my life, and I'm still getting ahas and applying what I learned from that exercise two years ago. And from those results, you might pick one thing to work on, but start with asking.
00:08:08 - 00:08:49
Gino Wickman
Another idea is to journal. I would suggest sit for an hour and just start writing. You could do this on a legal pad, in a journal, on a tablet, whatever works for you, but just spend an hour and write down, "Who am I?" Just make a laundry list. Who are you? And then make a second list. Who am I not? So think about the things that you're being where you may be pretending or performing, and it's just not who you really are, but just make a laundry list. Who are you and who are you not? And then from that, pick one thing to work on.
00:08:50 - 00:09:07
Gino Wickman
You might go get an astrology reading where this is woo-woo and out there for many. It's uncanny when you find a great astrologer. They will read the tea leaves for you, and you will learn some things about yourself if you'll suspend disbelief. I promise you.
00:09:07 - 00:10:01
Gino Wickman
The next thing are books. So many great books out there, and I'll just give you a couple again to get your gears turning because if you're wanting to look inside, I always recommend Letting Go by David Hawkins or Untethered Soul by Michael Singer. These are great books to look inside. Driven by Doug Brackman, highly recommend that if you want to understand your driven self better, if you haven't read that one. If there's a leadership skill that you want to work on and you have a stack of books sitting on your desk right now, grab the one that's going to help you become a better leader. I would also suggest you read Shine. If you haven't read the revised version of Shine, or read the existing version you might have, and you might be reading it for the third time, but reading that book, I promise you, the one idea, the one thing you're going to do for you will come to the surface. I promise you that.
00:10:02 - 00:10:33
Gino Wickman
It might simply be a skill set that you want to learn after this thought that I've stimulated for you. It might be a tough conversation that you need to have with someone. You may have made a commitment to someone, and you've been doing this thing for a month, a year, a decade, your lifetime, that it's time to have a tough conversation and just simply say, "That's not me anymore. That's holding me back from me being me, and I need to stop," whatever that means.
00:10:33 - 00:11:23
Gino Wickman
My goal here today is to motivate you to do one thing. I know I'm being redundant, but I'm being redundant for a reason: to move you closer to you fully being you. Because I'm guessing if you're drawn to this podcast, if you're drawn to the book Shine, if you're drawn to our work, you're probably a giver. And in this episode, I'm giving you permission to be a little selfish. What have you done for you lately to move you closer to truly being you? Please pick one thing and do it this week. Worst case, this month.
00:11:24 - 00:11:37
Gino Wickman
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, we wish you all the best in freeing your True Self. Stay focused and much love.
