Shed & Shine â Riff Episode: When Things Get Messy
00:00:00 - 00:00:34
Gino Wickman
Hello and welcome back. This episode I call "When Things Get Messy." It's an interesting time right now, so it's July, and as I look back, January through June, I have been FLOWT. I've been FLOWT all year. And if you remember how we spell FLOWT, it's F-L-O-W-T, a combination of being in flow and feeling like you're floating through every day. And that is absolutely how January through June has felt.
00:00:35 - 00:00:59
Gino Wickman
And then suddenly, July hit. Someone flipped the switch on me. And truth be told, I did it to myself in July here. And so I am currently at full capacity, both personally and professionally. My life is full, and it's simply that I am human, and darn it, I'm human.
00:01:00 - 00:01:29
Gino Wickman
With that said, you might be in a period that is messy, crazy, busy, or chaotic right now. Or you might be just about to enter a period like that, or you may be just coming out of a period like that. And I want to walk you through a mental exercise that just might help. And I'm simultaneously going to help myself while I help you in real time, and so we can have some fun with this.
00:01:29 - 00:02:29
Gino Wickman
But like I said, I did it to myself. And as I look at what's going on, I look at my plate being so full with things. I'm working on four books simultaneously, okay? And so I just sent a new book off to the publisher. It comes out in 2027. I'm keeping it a little bit secret right now, so more on that in the future. I'm actually writing two free eBooks. One is "The 15 Greatest Riffs," curated into an amazing book by Rob Johnson, my brand manager. The second free eBook is an AI book. So I've joined forces with an AI expert, and I'm bringing my human side. He's bringing his tech side to make a prediction for what's coming. And then the fourth is we've got the 20th year anniversary of Traction coming, and so we're doing some tweaks. I've written a new foreword to that, which is really powerful.
00:02:29 - 00:03:07
Gino Wickman
And so with that, just making a point of all these things that I'm involved in, that's just one. Then there are so many projects I can't count that I've got myself involved in, and it's just like the perfect storm. And so every day in July so far, I'm juggling at least five different projects simultaneously because there's so many people involved and things I need to do. In addition to that, I'm preparing for three talks in the late summer, early fall, that are each very unique and unusual, which requires me to create and prepare a little more than normal. And that's all hitting in July because I'm about to check out for my August sabbatical.
00:03:08 - 00:03:47
Gino Wickman
There have also been a few big business issues that have popped up. We've worked on the Entrepreneurial Leap Academy content and the way of tweaking it, upgrading it, and it's a kick-ass academy that we just took to a whole other level. It's for early-stage entrepreneurs. Go to e-leap.com if you know an early-stage entrepreneur that needs it. July is the third heaviest session load month. And in addition to that, my personal life is maxed out, like I said, as well. So with grandkids, seeing them every week, an elderly parent that I care for, lots of family events in time, lots of friend events in time, it is full.
00:03:47 - 00:04:37
Gino Wickman
So all that said, just giving you some examples of my life. Think about your life, and right now I'm redlined. And when I say redlined, it just means my nervous system is amped. I can feel it in my body. This is a great opportunity to just take a look at the three discoveries, at the 10 Disciplines, and make sure everything is firing on all cylinders. And it's a great time to do it in the fire. Because again, in the fire is when it's most real, and sometimes a great opportunity to make the course correction because we sometimes forget three months from now what the fire felt like. And what I hope is that you will get at least one golden nugget out of what we're about to do.
00:04:37 - 00:04:59
Gino Wickman
And so we're going to now dive into the power of the three discoveries and the 10 Disciplines, which helps us do a checkup and maximize our lives. And so here we go. And like I said, I want you to go through this with me. We're going to start with the three discoveries to free your True Self. And again, like I keep calling it, just a quick checkup.
00:05:00 - 00:05:38
Gino Wickman
And so the first discovery is I am driven. And so I've got to look at myself, and I've got to understand this driven DNA, this energy that I have, because in this craziness, it is intoxicating. Truth be told, I love it. I just love it. It's like a drug for me. And so that's dangerous. This is my driven nature, my ego taking over and just basking in this amped-up, highly productive state, and taking great pride in some things. For instance, because to me, I observe it and it's like a thing of beauty.
00:05:38 - 00:06:18
Gino Wickman
And so just yesterday, there's this call I had to do. There were three of us. We had 14 issues to solve, and we only had 45 minutes to solve it because our schedules were so tight. It would take most mortals two and a half hours to accomplish what we accomplished in 45 minutes. I ran the meeting, and we finished in 45 minutes to the second and solved all 14 issues perfectly. It was a thing of beauty. And I needed to get done with that call at 5:55 because Kathy and I were walking out the door to dinner to make it to dinner downtown. And so just lined that up perfectly.
00:06:19 - 00:06:51
Gino Wickman
So in saying that, I have to ask myself, am I letting my drive get away from me? And the answer is yes. And so absolutely. I love it so much, sometimes I just get sucked into it. And so that's where I've got to take that deep breath and observe my driven energy and be aware. And then Kathy, always so lovingly when I'm that amped, will look at me and say, "You look wigged out," because I have that look in my eyes. And so that's my gentle reminder to be aware.
00:06:51 - 00:07:14
Gino Wickman
Now, with that said, you can live out of balance in life as long as you know for how long and why. So more on that as I build on this. But the first point here we're talking about is know your driven nature. Just make sure you're balancing it. Because if you're redlining it the other way, where you're getting so caught up in it, at some point something's going to give, and not in a good way.
00:07:15 - 00:08:16
Gino Wickman
Discovery Number Two is all decisions are made out of love or fear. So we're going to look at love and fear. And so this checkup for me is, with everything that I'm doing, with such a full schedule, is my ego happy, or is my heart happy? And if my ego is happy, I'm probably making a whole bunch of decisions out of fear. But if my heart is happy, I'm probably making a whole bunch of decisions out of love. And so just a checkup. And so for me, thank goodness, everything I'm doing, my heart is very happy. One or two things, it's probably more ego, fear-related, something I shouldn't be doing. But same point. It's looking at it and saying, "Why am I doing this?" And making sure that all of the things I'm doing, all of my decisions are being made out of love, from my heart, things that energize me. So great opportunity for a checkup. Please do the same thing on the laundry list, on everything on your plate.
00:08:17 - 00:09:09
Gino Wickman
And then Discovery Number Three, it is possible to be driven and have peace. So the question I have to ask myself, am I experiencing an even balance of both? And truth be told, right now I'm not. January through June, firing on all cylinders, I was FLOWT. I was floating. Unfortunately, right now I'm not. And so it's too heavy on the drive side, not enough on the peace side. But here's that statement again. You can live out of balance in life as long as you know for how long and why. And my salvation is coming. I'm a week and a half away from sabbatical. By all measures, it looks like I can get everything done, and then I'll be back to a much more balanced, driven, and peaceful life. So please ask yourself the same question.
00:09:10 - 00:09:43
Gino Wickman
Now we're going to shift to the 10 Disciplines, and we're going to take those one at a time. In the real world right now, what's going on in my life and what's going on in your life? And so Discipline Number One, 10-year thinking. And so just ask yourself, as I have to do for me, why am I doing all of these things? Do these things fit in my 10-year thinking? So what I see for myself 10, 20, 30, 40 years from now, is everything I'm doing aligning toward that? And I'm happy to say yes.
00:09:43 - 00:10:40
Gino Wickman
And then there's a really important factor in here that came up as I was thinking and preparing for this, and it's the money angle to this. Because I think about 20 years ago, when some of these things, I had to do them because I had to make a living. I had to pay the bills. And so sometimes we make that decision, well, maybe it doesn't fully fit in the 10-year thinking, or maybe it does. Whatever it is, is it money that's motivating me, or am I doing it for the greater good? And so today I have a much better luxury to do things for the greater good, take a longer-term outlook. For you right now, you may have to do some things that are causing intensity, overwhelm, maybe don't fully fit in long-term thinking. It's more short-term thinking, but it's because you need to pay the bills. It's because you need to keep the doors open, and that's perfectly appropriate. Just ask yourself, why? Does it fit? Think in 10-year timeframes.
00:10:41 - 00:11:23
Gino Wickman
Discipline Number Two, take time off. And so with this, it's just simply asking, am I protecting my time off? The amount of time I want to take off, I'm probably working about 10 more hours a week than I want to be, five to ten. And so it's pushing into the personal life. Probably closer to five as I really think about it, but nonetheless, it's pushing into the personal life, and it's making me less present with the people in my personal life, family and friends. And so I can see it. I'm aware of it. And so the quality isn't fully there. It's not terrible, and it's only one month out of a year, but I've got to stay aware and got to get back to protecting that time off, which I'm a week and a half away from doing.
00:11:24 - 00:12:09
Gino Wickman
Discipline Number Three, know thyself. So the question here is, am I being me, fully me in all of these situations with so much going on? And I'm happy to say, as I look at it all, yes, but for one thing. I'm a little more intense than I want to be. Intense me is not always fun me. And so just a little more intense. So it's beautiful that I'm so aware of it. And so I'm a little shorter, a little snippier in some cases. And so just awareness, just to bring that down. And again, salvation's coming, but also being aware. I don't want to be that intense. I'm pretty intense. I love my intensity, but just not too intense.
00:12:10 - 00:13:14
Gino Wickman
Discipline Number Four, be still. Now, here's the beauty going on here. And so I urge you in these crazy, busy, chaotic, messy times, you've got to take time for a stillness practice. It will be so powerful. But what I notice as I'm continuing to do that, thank goodness, is I can feel it in my meditation. I can feel it in my body. I now know with years of a meditation practice, I know what it feels like when I am so grounded, so peaceful, so connected. But when I'm amped up, when my angst is high, when my nervous system is amped, I can just feel it in meditation. It actually takes longer to get into a deep meditation. Sometimes I don't fully get all the way there, but it's okay. At least I got somewhere, and it helped. But it's a really powerful indicator light for me that, wow, if I'm not getting there in my meditations, I am probably overdoing it. And again, right now I'm overdoing it. Not terrible, but great awareness.
00:13:14 - 00:14:01
Gino Wickman
Discipline Number Five, know your 100%. And so I've already shared this part. So at this point in my life, I've cut things down to 40 weeks a year, 40 hours a week. I've shared that before. And unfortunately, it's bumping up a little bit, 45, 50 hours a week. So again, pushing the envelope a little bit. I'll be back to salvation soon. But again, I'm staying aware. The goal, the beauty, the power is I know. Because the reality is, if I didn't know, burnout is coming. It's coming. If your magic number is 50 hours a week and you're exceeding it, you can't do that for too many weeks, too many months, too many quarters without burnout coming.
00:14:03 - 00:14:41
Gino Wickman
Discipline Number Six, say no often. Now, with this one, it's looking at everything going on and checking yourself. It's me checking myself. Everything I just listed at the beginning of this episode, should I have said no to any of those things? And truth be told, there's probably one, two, three, four of those projects that I committed to that I should have either said no, or I should have postponed it till after August. So just do a little checkup on everything that's on your plate right now. What a great opportunity to learn. Could you delegate that? Could you say no to that? Could you postpone that?
00:14:42 - 00:15:39
Gino Wickman
And then the other reality, when I think about this, how did I do this to myself? I think I got tricked in June. Maybe January through June, but June was a relatively light month. June was really cool. I got some nice space in my business time to really slow down, think, be creative. And in that space, there might have been a little boredom, and there might have been a little driven nature getting itchy for, man, my plate doesn't feel as intense as it usually does. Maybe we should add a few things, and I probably overdid it. So there's my confession in the hopes that you will confess if you do the same thing. If you start getting a little itchy, twiddling your thumbs when things slow down, and you just feel a desire, a driven desire to add something to your plate, that's an indicator light.
00:15:39 - 00:16:29
Gino Wickman
Discipline Number Seven, don't do $25 an hour work. Or said another way, don't do low energy work. Okay? And so again, as I look at everything going on, I am clear, clean, happy. Everything I'm doing is high energy, high dollar an hour work, and I cannot delegate any of it. So truth be told, I just needed to postpone some things or say no to some things, and I'd be fine. But how about you? This one makes me think about you. If you look at the laundry list on your plate, is there somebody you could pay $25 an hour to do it, to free you up on higher gain items? Or is it low energy work? Is it draining you? Could someone else do it?
00:16:31 - 00:17:09
Gino Wickman
Discipline Number Eight, prepare every night. So this one has been validated. It's been validated for me for, I think, almost 30 years, but it's really been a lifesaver because the laundry list every night in preparation for the next day is four times longer than the laundry list January through June. So it's truly been a lifesaver. Every night, there's at least five projects that I need to work on the next day in addition to everything else going on in that day. Please, please, please make sure you are preparing every night. It will be a lifesaver for you.
00:17:10 - 00:17:43
Gino Wickman
Discipline Number Nine, put everything in one place, another lifesaver. I am writing so many things on my one place. My one place is my legal pad. But I've got to be writing 20 things a day. Worst case, 10. But it's moving so fast. I have this beautiful opportunity. I grab my pen, I write the thought, the commitment, the idea, whatever. It gets captured forever and not lost. So I don't let anybody down with all these things going on and all these moving parts. I urge you, I hope you are doing the same.
00:17:44 - 00:18:09
Gino Wickman
And last but not least, Discipline Number Ten, be humble. The one thing I would suggest here is the bold statement around being humble is that you treat everyone else as equals. And as I think about it, like I said, I'm a little short with people right now with this intensity. So I'm not proud of that. That moves toward the arrogant side of the spectrum. So there's an awareness for me.
00:18:09 - 00:18:45
Gino Wickman
The other thing is the gratitude alarm that I shared with you a few episodes back. It's been so powerful. It keeps us humble during these crazy times. And so my gratitude alarm goes off at 8:00 AM every morning. And the idea is, whoever I'm with, or if I'm with myself, I share three things I'm grateful for. And if I'm with somebody, they share it as well. That has been taking off. There's at least 20 people I know that are now doing the gratitude alarm. I urge you to do it. Just a great pause in the middle of the craziness. You can set it at any time you want. A friend taught it to me. It has been great.
00:18:47 - 00:19:39
Gino Wickman
So there it is, the checkup on the craziness, the chaotic, and the messy. If you know someone who is redlining right now, please send them this episode. And for you, I urge you to please take a clarity break, re-listen to this, make some notes. And you may simply just realize that it's a matter of accepting it and knowing that you know exactly how long you're going to live life out of balance right now, and you know exactly why you're doing it. Your salvation is coming in a week, two weeks, a month, or it might be time to make some really important changes or some difficult decisions. Please do that clarity break as soon as possible.
00:19:40 - 00:19:53
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.
