Shed & Shine â Duo Episode 136: Impact
00:00:00 - 00:00:07
Gino Wickman
My soul doesn't give a shit what anybody thinks. The last thing my soul is going to do is think about someone's reaction to something. It's going to just go.
00:00:20 - 00:00:30
Rob Dube
Hello everyone, my name is Rob Dube, and I am here with Gino Wickman. Gino, what's going on?
00:00:31 - 00:00:37
Gino Wickman
You okay? Somebody help Rob. Your wires are.
00:00:37 - 00:00:44
Rob Dube
I was going to say what's happening, and you hadn't said you are, so anyway, yes. All right, here we go.
00:00:44 - 00:01:23
Rob Dube
I want you to imagine for a moment a bus driver picking up and dropping off people in the city all day long. This is a person who approaches his work as more than just driving people from one stop to another. Throughout the day, people step onto this bus. Maybe they feel tired, they're distracted, they're frustrated, or they're weighed down by something happening in their lives. And this bus driver, he looks them in the eye, he welcomes them, he treats them with kindness, and he drives with care. He may never know what they're going through or how his presence impacts them, but for a few minutes, he makes their day just feel a little bit lighter.
00:01:23 - 00:02:01
Rob Dube
So, with that in mind, something that I think, and this is an opinion when I say I think, is that people often believe that making a difference has to be big, especially with driven people. Something this huge impact. I talk to people all the time, and they're always sharing the huge impact that they're going to make in this world. And I love that, by the way, and keep going with that. And sometimes this impact might bring them fame and fortune. Sometimes fame is huge, and sometimes it might be just you're huge in your community, which is still pretty huge.
00:02:01 - 00:02:34
Rob Dube
But what I want to present to you, Gino, and to everyone listening, is what if you thought about impact in just a little bit different of a way? First, with the idea that our greatest contribution to this world begins with how we are showing up in each moment, and that the work we do within ourselves to free our True Selves literally changes the way that you lead, the way that you love people, the way that you listen, the way that you respond to them, and just trusting in that.
00:02:34 - 00:02:51
Rob Dube
And because when you do that, your energy is touching the lives of your families, your teams, your communities, and the people, and you may not even realize that you're making a huge impact. It's not on the scorecard. So, Gino, what's coming up for you on that one?
00:02:51 - 00:03:18
Gino Wickman
A couple of things. I love how you qualified impact because what is the definition of huge impact? And you gave one example, and also I'll give six examples, okay? And so it's the parent that is parenting great kids, and so the impact they made in their entirety of their life was being a great mom or a great dad, okay? And that, to me, is a huge impact. That changes the course of the world.
00:03:19 - 00:03:43
Gino Wickman
Let's expand it a little bit. Maybe you want to go broader than that, and it's your family, the whole extended family. You want to make an impact on your whole extended family. That's impact. Like you said, maybe it's the community. Let's expand it beyond the family. Just go to your community, and maybe you're making an impact on the community. Let's expand it one more time. Your state, expand it one more time. Your country, expand it one more time. The world. So you get to decide, and we're all different.
00:03:43 - 00:04:11
Gino Wickman
I'm a little cuckoo in that I just, something calls me to want to impact a lot of people. So this number, 70 million, still comes up for me, and it's in moments of insecurity and weakness, I'm like, what in the hell am I thinking? This is silly. But that only lasts a short while, and most of the time, it feels very real. I don't know what that means, I don't know what it looks like, I don't know how it happens, but I'm one of those people that want to make a really big impact.
00:04:11 - 00:04:31
Gino Wickman
And I want to start with that in terms of the whole spectrum, because I don't think our job in this episode is to convince everybody to change the world, or I should say put a dent in the universe. But remember, the parent that alters the life of that child did make an impact on the world. So it's all relative. It's all relative.
00:04:31 - 00:05:30
Gino Wickman
And then the last thing I want to say is, I love what you said there. However the hell you said that last thing there about you just being you and how it energetically impacts the world, what came up for me is, by your example. So the way you're doing that out there is by your example. If you will free your True Self, shed your stuff, live out of love and not fear, let your freak flag fly, and so your soul is now free, you are shining as bright as the sun, that is going to have an impact on people. And if nothing else, them looking at you and operating in that shiny, abundant, free state, you are going to draw them into being more like that, because who wouldn't want that? You will improve whatever situation you're in. So that's just an expanded, additional way of saying what you said. Hopefully you agree.
00:05:30 - 00:05:53
Rob Dube
Yeah, yeah. And you and I were talking before we started recording, I was sharing with you, I was watching an interview with Walter Isaacson, who did the biography for Steve Jobs and Elon Musk, and he talked about in the interview, and I haven't read either book for whatever that's worth, but he said that Elon Musk's empathy gene was low, and he asked him about that in some way.
00:05:53 - 00:06:11
Rob Dube
And Elon Musk said, "I can't have too much empathy because to get where I'm going and make the kind of impact that I want to make in what I'm doing, it's going to ruffle a lot of feathers," let's just say, to put it mildly.
00:06:12 - 00:06:44
Rob Dube
And so that just got me thinking, because I didn't know this about Walter Isaacson, I guess he was running CNN at some point, and they had talked about kind of shifting the way they were reporting and the way the news would get out there, and he realized his empathy gene was too high, and he could never make the hard decisions it was going to take to make that change at CNN.
00:06:44 - 00:06:52
Rob Dube
And I don't know what ended up happening, I don't know if he got fired or left or anything, I didn't get all that, but just what comes up for you on that?
00:06:52 - 00:07:36
Gino Wickman
Something big, something really big there. Because what just happened there, you just taught me something, and so something big for me came up, and then hopefully indirectly, hopefully you hit 50% of the audience with what you said there that are affected by this, because my empathy is very, very high. I am so tuned into everyone. Like if I'm in a room with 12 people, I know how every single person is feeling, who's excited, who's afraid, who's this, who's that. And so I realize how that is affecting and holding me back. It's like for me to get to 70 million, if that's what's really going to happen, and it feels like it is, I have to quash some of my empathy.
00:07:36 - 00:08:20
Gino Wickman
Now what's interesting to me, and here's my theory, because if I look at myself and I compare how in tune to everyone and how much I worry about people's reaction, because I want to grab that word, and I don't care anybody's opinion of it, worry about people's reaction, because that's what it is for me, that's what it feels like for me, that's how I describe it, that has reduced greatly in the last eight years. And so I worry less about the reactions of others. And so I can see that continuing to get better and better and better. My don't-give-a-shit factor keeps going up, and I think it's a good thing, because I get twisted in a knot.
00:08:20 - 00:09:05
Gino Wickman
So that was a very powerful insight, because I feel like it's ego. I really feel like the empathy is ego, because I think empathy and compassion are two different things, and I think compassion is heart and intuition and soul, and empathy is ego. And empathy, I was taught by parents and elders and people that did this to me. So I think it can be shed, and I believe my compassion will soar, but what I see it as, I'm just ascending, learning, growing, figuring out how to shed this empathy thing that is truly holding me back.
00:09:06 - 00:09:25
Gino Wickman
And then if I really look at my soul and if it were completely free, my soul doesn't give a shit what anybody thinks. My soul, the last thing my soul is going to do is think about someone's reaction to something. It's going to just go, and that's what I'm getting to. What percentage I am on the way there, I don't know, but that's what I'm working on.
00:09:25 - 00:09:27
Rob Dube
And that comes from a place of love when you say that.
00:09:27 - 00:09:29
Gino Wickman
Oh, please. I hope everybody hears that as love.
00:09:30 - 00:09:31
Rob Dube
I want to make sure they hear that.
00:09:31 - 00:09:51
Gino Wickman
It's pure love. It's like I am so in my body with everything I just said, there's not one ounce of ego in what I said. Just the opposite. My soul just said that to my ego, and my ego is really pissed off right now, and it's rattling and going, "Hey, how dare you say that?" So anyway, that was all love, heart, soul-based.
00:09:53 - 00:10:12
Rob Dube
Let's stay on the topic of ego, because I'm curious in your experience, what you notice in working with highly driven people and their desire to make a huge impact in whatever their thing is, how much of that is actually, do you notice, coming from their True Self or coming from their ego?
00:10:12 - 00:10:23
Gino Wickman
Yeah. I mean, for most human beings, it's ego, because most human beings are hijacked by their ego right now. So it's kind of an easy answer, and with that answer.
00:10:23 - 00:10:34
Rob Dube
This is our hope. This is the shift. This is what this podcast, this is what this book, this is what this Mastermind is all about, is shifting people from ego-based impact to soul-based impact.
00:10:34 - 00:10:43
Gino Wickman
And so it's just moving that needle, which is what I'm experiencing in real time. Just keep moving that needle, moving that needle, moving that needle more toward a soul-based impact.
00:10:43 - 00:10:50
Rob Dube
Yeah. And just, I think checking in with yourself is very important. What am I doing this for? Who am I doing this for?
00:10:50 - 00:11:00
Rob Dube
Do you have a need to be seen? Do you want recognition, fame, and fortune? If those are your reasons, keep going. If that's what you want to do.
00:11:00 - 00:11:10
Rob Dube
But just know it might not be coming from your True Self, and you're out of alignment in your life, and you're going to feel that, and it's going to show up in some pretty dangerous ways, probably.
00:11:10 - 00:11:27
Gino Wickman
And you're prompting something I said in a recent episode, maybe five or ten episodes ago, and I'm talking about how busy I have been. Like this month has been a very busy month for me. The rest of them have been great. So just one busy one, one crazy one.
00:11:27 - 00:11:46
Gino Wickman
And so I went to talking about Discovery Number Two, all decisions are made out of love or fear, and this point that you're making right now, which is of all this activity, is my ego happy or is my heart happy? And I was able to check it all, and my heart is so happy.
00:11:46 - 00:12:02
Gino Wickman
I just took on a little too much, but everything I'm doing, personal and professional, what's got me so busy in both, my heart is so happy. If I go back 20 years ago, my ego was very happy with all the chaos and the busyness that I had, if that makes sense. So it's ego decisions, heart decisions.
00:12:02 - 00:12:16
Rob Dube
So in Discipline Number Five is know your 100%. And so when you have the big cake and you want a piece, and then there's another, and it's so good, and you're like, "I could eat this whole cake right now," how is that showing up to you in your know your 100%?
00:12:17 - 00:12:38
Gino Wickman
It's simple math, and I shared this in the episode as well. So now in my life, it's 40 weeks a year, 40 hours a week. And I'm just running at like 45 to 50 hours a week this month, just for the month of July. And so not good. Like burnout's coming. But I know it's going to end in a week and a half, so I don't want a bigger pie. I don't want a bigger cake.
00:12:38 - 00:12:49
Gino Wickman
So that's where I said yes to a couple of things I shouldn't have. I should have postponed a couple of things. But I'm also willing to live out of balance for this month, because it's so many good things, I'm good with it.
00:12:49 - 00:13:03
Gino Wickman
I can live with the decisions I made, but it's just all about, again, making sure they're heart, soul, intuition-based actions that I'm doing, and they pretty much all are. I want to say they all are.
00:13:03 - 00:13:19
Rob Dube
And so I just want to come back as we kind of wrap it up to this kind of simple point that I was hoping you all listening would walk away with, and that is that your everyday simple actions really make a huge impact. And please don't lose sight of that.
00:13:19 - 00:13:48
Rob Dube
And I know as you're listening to this, it's likely you're saying, "Duh, I already know that." But I like you, and I invite you, think back over the last 24 hours, think about your interactions, and did they come with compassion? Did they come with love? Did they come without judgment? Did they come with kindness? So think about those things, because those little things are what make a huge difference.
00:13:48 - 00:13:50
Gino Wickman
And is empathy standing in your way?
00:13:50 - 00:13:58
Rob Dube
That's right. That's so good. Is empathy standing in your way? All right, Gino, any last thoughts?
00:13:58 - 00:13:59
Gino Wickman
We've said it all, right?
00:13:59 - 00:14:17
Rob Dube
We've said it all. Okay, I'm going to end with this quote from Gandhi, which is, "What you do may seem very insignificant, but it is very important that you do it." Thanks for joining us as always, and we'll see you next time. Stay focused and much love.
00:14:18 - 00:14:31
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.
