Shed & Shine – Duo Episode: The True Self Mastermind
00:00:00 - 00:00:07
Gino Wickman
Going into your heart, listening to your body, being still, feeling emotions — that's scary shit.
00:00:21 - 00:00:26
Rob Dube
Hello everyone, my name is Rob Dube, and I am here with Gino Wickman. Gino, how are you today?
00:00:27 - 00:00:28
Gino Wickman
I am fantastic.
00:00:28 - 00:00:37
Rob Dube
Great to see you. Today we are going to talk about the True Self Mastermind that you and I created, and it's not a sales pitch.
00:00:38 - 00:00:38
Gino Wickman
Hey.
00:00:38 - 00:01:08
Rob Dube
This is coming from my heart because I've noticed a pattern, and that pattern is: after each Mastermind session, Kristen, our amazing Operations Team member, you, and me stay on and we do a quick download on how the Mastermind went. And there seems to be a pattern during that time. We are shaking our heads as we look at each other at how amazing the impact of this Mastermind has been on our members' lives. It's absolutely remarkable. And I just want to share a few examples.
00:01:09 - 00:01:38
Rob Dube
One member recently had been baptized, delivered a highly rated talk at a conference, and is preparing to move his family and business overseas. Another completed an ESOP, Employee Stock Ownership Plan, transaction, and described himself as feeling reborn as an entrepreneur. Another member finalized the sale of her company and shared that one of her biggest reasons for joining the Mastermind was to let go of all the external validation that she had received from being a business owner.
00:01:38 - 00:02:05
Rob Dube
So these are significant life and business transitions, but what stands out to me is the inner awareness each person cultivated in these transitions, and it was brought out from the work they are doing in the Mastermind. They are sharing that specifically, and this is why you and I show up and do this thing. So I'm going to pause there and ask: what's coming up for you?
00:02:07 - 00:02:35
Gino Wickman
What's coming up? I appreciate you saying it's not a sales job, because I had the same thought, and I'm also simultaneously wanting this to be valuable to the listener, and I don't know if I know how to do that, but the next thing that comes up is, so it's so great that you're bringing this up, and I think about the check-ins, okay? So there's a very specific format, 90 minutes, but we do a check-in, and it's about the first 15 minutes, and the check-in is sometimes the most powerful part of the 90 minutes, and I have been doing the same thing.
00:02:35 - 00:03:19
Gino Wickman
These last six months, those check-ins have been so incredible, and so I'm going to quote myself, but like every one of them, I go, "Fuck." I mean, I'm just like in awe, and it's almost like, "Wow, this is really working," because I don't know if I even know exactly what's working, but we do that check-in, you turn the floor over to me, I do a 20-minute riff on the topic we agree on, you take them through the most incredible experiences, we then interact with Q&A, and then we conclude, and it's magical. And what's cool about it, because I can't figure out the lever, it's like, "Yeah, this is the thing that works."
00:03:19 - 00:03:49
Gino Wickman
No, this is the thing that works. I can't figure out the lever that works, but what I do know is the foundation is what's in the book Shine. More specifically, the foundation is the 10 Disciplines and the 3 Discoveries, and that's all we're focused on. Everything we're talking about is in there, which leads to a much more impactful business life and personal life. So I'm feeling the same way. I love that you're bringing this up as a topic, and that's what comes to me first.
00:03:49 - 00:04:19
Rob Dube
And one of the cool things about a Mastermind in general, and there's lots of Masterminds, so like I say, this isn't a sales pitch. This is just something to think about. You come together, it's a bunch of like-minded people who are kind of all there for a very similar reason, and they're there to support each other, and there's such power in being witnessed by people who understand, specifically with this Mastermind, the drive that each of them have to achieve, but they also have this desire for peace.
00:04:19 - 00:04:40
Rob Dube
They're really wanting this in their life now. They've made a conscious decision, and that's why they show up once a month for 90 minutes to do this. And when you're focused on your growth and expansion from the inside, what it does for you is it creates clearer and more aligned action in your work life and your non-work life.
00:04:40 - 00:04:50
Rob Dube
So sometimes this kind of awareness and change is actually scary, so jumping into something like that might be challenging for somebody. Anything else coming up for you before I kick off?
00:04:50 - 00:05:19
Gino Wickman
Yeah, the other thing that just hit me is the other thing that we do that's consistent, because I don't think there's one lever. I think there's 10 levers, and all those levers together make the magic of what makes the Mastermind work, but one of the things we do every 90 days is we measure success. So we go back to that True Self assessment. We go back and everybody fills it out, everybody reports their scores, everybody talks about their low numbers and what they want to work on, and we interact on that, and so there's an accountability piece to it.
00:05:20 - 00:05:39
Gino Wickman
So what it makes me think of, because I want this conversation to be helpful to the listener, is please, if you can't afford the Mastermind, then just do it yourself. Go to the website, fill out the True Self assessment every 90 days, pick the lowest number, and work on that for a quarter, and you will start to see some great results. So that really jumps out for me.
00:05:39 - 00:06:04
Gino Wickman
And then, not to be redundant, but when I talk about the 3 Discoveries and the 10 Disciplines being the foundation, that sounds so simplistic, but it's not. And so I think that's the other thing about every, I try to find myself every quarter in my riffs just doing some kind of a refresher on those two things and taking the audience back to that and having you self-assess, but always from a different dimension.
00:06:05 - 00:06:33
Gino Wickman
And so I just would also urge: just make sure you understand those 3 Discoveries. They are so powerful, and those 10 Disciplines, and you just keep moving the needle, moving the needle, moving the needle, and life just keeps getting better and better and better, and that's what we're seeing happen now. What's it been? Two or three years with the Mastermind, right? So that's why it takes time, 10-year thinking, be patient, delayed gratification, very, very powerful, and I think that's why we're seeing such spectacular results.
00:06:33 - 00:06:44
Rob Dube
Yeah, I love that you brought up the assessment. So you can go online and take it at thetendisciplines.com, take the True Self assessment. We've said it before on here, but you can do it every 90 days.
00:06:44 - 00:07:03
Rob Dube
And what's cool about what we do during the Mastermind in those sessions is we have everybody take it. We actually track their progress, and this isn't something, when I say progress, it isn't something like you're going to be 100 or you're this and it's a score.
00:07:03 - 00:07:17
Rob Dube
It's just like, what's on track, what's off track in my life? And that just brings awareness to you to make a shift. And sometimes when we're on our own, we just lose sight of that, and this is just a great reminder, and that's all that we're doing there.
00:07:17 - 00:07:26
Gino Wickman
Yeah. So. Now, I see you writing down something. Is there anything? Okay.
00:07:20 - 00:07:21
Rob Dube
No, nothing yet.
00:07:21 - 00:07:26
Rob Dube
All right, because I want to take just like a little bit of a mushy turn here.
00:07:27 - 00:07:29
Gino Wickman
Oh boy, here comes mushy Rob.
00:07:29 - 00:07:40
Rob Dube
I was just thinking about some of the things that have happened, and I have other examples, but I didn't want to go through every one of them and spend all this time doing that, even though it's fun.
00:07:40 - 00:08:02
Rob Dube
But one of the things I was thinking about as it relates to driven people, which if you're listening to this, you probably are, and that you have this drive and you have this need to succeed and excel at everything you do, and I'm wondering, A, is this part of your life lesson? Because obviously you can't succeed and excel at everything you do.
00:08:02 - 00:08:18
Rob Dube
Well, is it obvious? I don't know. That's my opinion. And I also think if you're in business, there's something about going through this experience in business that requires consistent self-inquiry, because it's kind of all coming at you.
00:08:18 - 00:08:32
Rob Dube
All the categories of life are coming at you to deal with, and it brings up all your stuff. And so there's my mushy transition to part of this, and I just wanted to hear what might come up for you on this.
00:08:32 - 00:08:52
Gino Wickman
Yeah, I think you can go deeper and mushier into the mush, but I need your help in doing that, because I'm going to try to go deeper than you did, and then hopefully you go deeper than I do, because I wrote down mushy, and I did the is-not-equal-to sign, driven. So you're right.
00:08:52 - 00:09:03
Gino Wickman
So it's like mushy is scary for driven people. Mushy was scary for me the first 50 years of my life. And so those two things butt up against each other.
00:09:04 - 00:09:30
Gino Wickman
And so when we say mushy, mushy is going into your heart, listening to your body, being still, feeling emotions. That's scary shit, and that's what these Disciplines and Discoveries are helping you do, is to just really tune in to what your soul and your body and your heart is trying to tell you, and it's terrifying for most driven people.
00:09:30 - 00:09:46
Rob Dube
Yeah. I feel in my experience from things I've seen, people I work with, a lot of it has to do with control, and you kind of have to let go and trust some things on a deeper level. So I'm glad you brought that up.
00:09:46 - 00:09:58
Rob Dube
Another thing that I wanted to present to you, and this came up because you might remember at the beginning, I mentioned one person brought up her identity being so tied in with the business.
00:09:58 - 00:09:58
Gino Wickman
Oh, yeah.
00:09:58 - 00:10:16
Rob Dube
And we've talked a little bit about identity in the past and letting go of what you might be so identified with. In many people, it's their business, it's their career. You think about what you talk to people about when you see them socially. A lot of times business is coming up.
00:10:16 - 00:10:34
Rob Dube
And so with that in mind, I'm curious, because you've been in so many rooms with people who are so highly driven, what do you notice and why is it so difficult for many of them to let go of this identity? Like, I'm the founder of this company.
00:10:35 - 00:11:12
Gino Wickman
Well, it seems the obvious answer, and let's go deeper into it, but it's ego, right? So again, playing the whole thing out in less than 30 seconds, our ego is protecting us from going inside, and our ego creates this masterful image, this persona that protects us from the world. So it's just your ego has you hijacked. It has you in control, and it's functioning great in this very mechanical business world. So you're a superstar from that standpoint. So die with that. Life ain't all bad.
00:11:12 - 00:11:30
Gino Wickman
If you want to find more, a deeper place, a more powerful place, you've got to start to shed that ego, and your ego is going to do everything in its power to terrify you. So we're talking about mushy, right? So when you shed layers, there will be tears. I don't even say there may be tears. There will be tears.
00:11:31 - 00:11:52
Gino Wickman
And for driven, hard-charging people, tears are scary. Tears are weakness. So there's just going to be some stuff that happens that your ego is going to call you names. It's going to do everything in its power to get you to stop. It doesn't want you to be still. It doesn't want you to look inside. It doesn't want you to feel. It just wants to do stuff.
00:11:52 - 00:12:17
Rob Dube
Yeah. And same concept, I think, even in your non-work life. I was thinking about people that, let's say, they're very identified with having four really active kids who are all involved in sports, and they're always at all the different games, and they're very proud of that. And again, nothing wrong with any of it. Be proud. You should be, but watch if you're identified with it.
00:12:18 - 00:12:50
Gino Wickman
Yeah. But what it makes me think of is the parent that, however you want to describe it, but let's pretend like there's a parent group that goes to the sporting event, right? They're bouncing around, and you've got the one parent that's like, this guy or this woman, this is like their place. It's like they feel so empowered because somehow they control that environment, and that's their whole identity. There's just so much more to that. There is so much more. And I'm just reminded of, so in that, everybody's playing a role in most cases. I don't want to be too critical of all human beings, so I'm just giving this example.
00:12:51 - 00:13:11
Gino Wickman
I can remember at a dinner with four couples, and we were starting to get a little bit deep, and crying came up. And I said to the group, I said, "I cry every day and I laugh every day." And there were two guys that changed the subject. It was like terrifying to them. Like, this subject's over. We're not going to talk about crying.
00:13:12 - 00:13:20
Gino Wickman
So I'm blending those two things together because how great would it be if everybody just was themselves and they were real and everybody just, yeah, sorry.
00:13:20 - 00:13:37
Rob Dube
Yeah. We do an exercise called the True Self exercise, and this is something for you all to think about, is who are you if you took away your title, your company, your recognition, your family, your achievements? Take it all. Who are you? And that got me thinking about you.
00:13:38 - 00:13:40
Gino Wickman
Ooh. Oh boy.
00:13:39 - 00:13:40
Rob Dube
Oh boy.
00:13:40 - 00:13:41
Gino Wickman
I'm scared. Hold on.
00:13:41 - 00:13:41
Rob Dube
Wait, we're supposed to be talking about a Mastermind here.
00:13:42 - 00:13:55
Rob Dube
Breathe. Breathe. Who are you without EOS? What if, this is just a what if, you were the GearHopper and you always were the GearHopper?
00:13:55 - 00:13:57
Gino Wickman
Wow. The best GearHopper, of course.
00:13:57 - 00:13:57
Rob Dube
Yeah.
00:13:58 - 00:14:00
Rob Dube
But who are you?
00:14:00 - 00:14:41
Gino Wickman
Yeah. So who am I? I'm going to actually zoom out bigger than that because my aha moment was we talk about attachment, and I comprehended being attached to my job title, the EOS guy, the GearHopper guy like you're talking about. I comprehended being attached to being a father. I comprehended being attached. But a woman asked me a question. She said, "How are you attached to your life?" Said it another way. She said, "How are you attached to your identity?" Like the whole thing. And like everything came crumbling down.
00:14:41 - 00:15:21
Gino Wickman
So more than just the EOS guy, I realized I had built this empire, not a business empire, a life empire. Perfect family. Always work on perfect family, perfect marriage, perfect business, perfect life, perfect amount of money. And so it's like I was so attached to all of that, and it's just silly. At the end of the day, it's silly. And it's mind-blowing, and I'm still trying to figure it out. We're three years into this aha moment, but man, is it freeing to think about. We're addicted. We're attached. We won't let go of the whole persona, our life, our identity, whatever you want to call that bigger thing.
00:15:22 - 00:15:54
Gino Wickman
So if I'm the GearHopper, in this place, GearHopper guy would not have this level of wealth. So wealth, and part of my 10-year thinking, wealth is important. So I've got to do something more. I've got to own the GearHopper company if I want to build the wealth I want. So to that point, I have much bigger goals than the average GearHopper. So I would never have remained the GearHopper because there's so much more I wanted to do in an abundant life that I needed to choose a path that gave me that much more abundant life.
00:15:54 - 00:16:35
Gino Wickman
But GearHopper, EOS guy, whatever's next, because I sold EOS Worldwide. It's going to sell again. It's 15% of my identity now. It's already dissolving, and the next thing is already evolving. So at this point, I'm just flowing. I'm going wherever this universe takes me, and I just love the accolades. Being the EOS guy, I'll take them. I love the impact it's making. It keeps making even more and more and more and more and more of an impact without me having to pull any levers, and I love that. I'm proud of that. But that's one little piece of my life, and it is certainly not my identity.
00:16:36 - 00:16:43
Rob Dube
First of all, thank you for that. And that's why I asked you, what does this have to do with the True Self Mastermind?
00:16:43 - 00:16:43
Gino Wickman
Yes. Well, I was going to.
00:16:44 - 00:16:50
Rob Dube
Everything. This is what we do. We deconstruct, and we get there.
00:16:50 - 00:16:52
Gino Wickman
Yeah. And I've got to say this because now you're reminding me. Think about how many have sold their business now just in the last three years, have completely reinvented their lives. It's like they're living from their souls. It's like they are, it's like an aha moment.
00:17:06 - 00:17:06
Rob Dube
They woke up.
00:17:06 - 00:17:09
Gino Wickman
Holy shit. This is who I am. It's good stuff.
00:17:10 - 00:17:11
Rob Dube
Well done, Gino. Well done.
00:17:11 - 00:17:16
Gino Wickman
Yes, yes. Of course, of course. Gino, do you have any last words because we're going to wrap here?
00:17:16 - 00:17:17
Gino Wickman
We've said it all.
00:17:17 - 00:17:28
Rob Dube
Okay. Now, I do have to say, if this pings you in any way, you just go to the10disciplines.com, and there's a short application for the Mastermind, and you'll get connected to me, and we'll chat a bit about it.
00:17:29 - 00:17:29
Gino Wickman
There's the sales part.
00:17:29 - 00:17:30
Rob Dube
Yeah, it was a little sales ad.
00:17:31 - 00:17:35
Gino Wickman
I like it. That's okay. I get it.
00:17:35 - 00:17:36
Rob Dube
Right? Hopefully we've delivered some value. I got to do it.
00:17:38 - 00:17:40
Rob Dube
Outside my comfort zone. You know that.
00:17:40 - 00:17:40
Gino Wickman
I know.
00:17:41 - 00:17:50
Rob Dube
All right. Anyway, thank you all for listening. Thank you for joining us as always. We'll see you next time. And in the meantime, stay focused and much love.
00:17:50 - 00:18:04
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.
