Welcome to Hacking Your Leadership.
I'm Chris and I'm Lorenzo.
And Lorenzo.
On this episode, we're continuing our discussion on the advice that coaches would give to their younger selves, based on the Forbes article which we are linking the podcast description. This has been a fascinating and great conversation to have over the last few episodes because there's a lot of great advice in here. As you know, they put it
together from the coach's counsel. These are people who who coach for a living and are renowned for doing it, and they went through and put together this list of things that they would make sure that they would they go back in time and tell their younger selves to do these things that they would. On the last episode, if you haven't listened to it yet, we talked about the importance of resilience and the importance of asking questions.
On this episode, the first one I want to talk about is this idea of dreaming bigger, kind of thinking about your dreams not just in terms of what you think is possible right now, but maybe even something that at first glance you might not think is possible.
To begin with, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't go there.
Yeah, I think it's you know, it's it's funny we hear these terms sometimes and like my initial reaction and I'll just admit to it.
It's like sometimes I roll my eyes. I'm like, oh, come on, right, Like what right you do it? Ever? Right? Right? Exactly?
But then when I think about it, then I have to hold myself accountable and be like, well, wait a minute, I actually tell people to do this all the time, right, you know what I'm saying, Like I you know, like if I'm gonna throw rocks, it's gonna be from this glasshouse over here, because I'm definitely doing this and uh.
And in the context of which in kind of when I read it and think about it in this situation is like I am constantly telling people like, don't just goal set for the next thing or the next job or the next title. Right, I'm saying things like don't confuse mile markers with milestones, you know what I mean?
Like these are when you're in.
Leadership leadership development, you're in a leadership journey. These titles and these jobs are like just the next level of responsibility that you're gonna have on your journey of continuing to like hell to inspire, influence and empower people, and and for me, when I read this the second time, I go, oh yeah, Like that's kind of what I get out of it is like, don't just kind of set your goals as like just the next thing or or limit them to like what you think you can
do now, really think about and consider like what am I? What am I trying to accomplish with all of this? Like what do I really want to do with this?
What am I? What am I? You know? What's my one year, five year, ten year plan?
If I if I if I apply myself to this thing today, what would be the ultimate outcome of that? Like how could I be so good at it that I'm able to build a career, buy a home, retire early.
Like whatever that might be.
But if you start to think about it with these larger goals, it pushes you to have to like apply yourself and focus yourself and really spend the time making sure that when you do the work, you are doing it at a level that is kind of pushing you forward faster. That's kind of what I read when I read it around like dreaming bigger.
Right, right?
I like what what you started with around you know, telling people to do this and then and then rolling your eyes when they do. Right, it's like, you need to dream bigger, all right, I'm gonna start my own company.
Whoa slower roll there, You're like, let's say.
Not too big, not too big, you know, but but yeah, I think we all have a tendency to do that.
And I think that kind of that that kind of plays into a little bit about maybe some of the other advice we've heard in this series when it says, you know, don't put too much stock in your naysayers, right, and so we I think it's human nature to have a tendency to do that to others when you when you hear somebody saying they have a big goal and they articulate what that is, and then you know, even if you don't out release say it, even if you're even if you're telling them, yeah, you go get it,
in your mind, you might be rolling your eyes a little bit. I think what that where that comes from is the fact that so few people do this and do this well. They so few people actually put their dreams into into action and and and from a bigger standpoint that we don't see it very often. So we just assume that the majority of people who say they are going to or or even articulate a goal, that they're not going to follow through on what it takes
to get there. And that's because quite honestly, many people don't. Many people don't follow through. And it's it's, you know, a fear of failure, a fear of success, you know, the lack of comfort associated with stepping outside where you are in order to.
You know, to do this.
There's that that old saying, if you keep doing what you've always done, you're going to keep getting what you've always got, which means if you want something different or bigger than what you're currently getting, there's no way to get there by continuing to do what you're doing now. It's just impossible. All you all you could do is
get better at what you're currently doing. And so when when it's when you're talking about dreaming bigger, I think this, this isn't just oh what I'm doing now, I want to do it for more people, or I want to do this at a bigger level. I mean, those are mile markers along the way, but these when when I hear dreaming bigger. I think, what are you trying to
accomplish as a whole in what you're doing. So, if your passion is leadership and you want to help people develop into leaders and become better leaders, what does that ultimately look like?
Does that?
Does that look like just whatever you're doing now for the rest of your life. If that's fine and you're happy with that, and you can articulate that, then then by all means, you know, be happy. But if you if that doesn't sound like enough to you, if there's something more that you want to do because you love this aspect of your life, if you love this aspect of your career and you wanted doing bigger with it,
what does that actually look like? You need to define what that is, even if it seems like it would take years or thousands of hours to get there. That's okay, that's what dreaming bigger is. But you have to articulate it or it will never happen.
Yeah, I think about you know, a lot of a lot of my creative projects. I you know, in full transparency, I think in my younger career, for a long time I just didn't I was just like, hey, I'm I'm gonna work hard, I'm gonna have some fun, I'm gonna learn lessons, like I I'm gonna apply myself so that like maybe the next job or the next opportunity, like I'll be a you know, a good candidate.
For that type of thing. So like it's pretty cool.
It was, yeah, exactly right, Like it's kind of like it's to your point, Like you hear people like, you know, it's my first job here, like my first day at the work, and like, well, like what do you want to accomplish while you're here?
I want to be the CEO?
And you're like, well, hold on, like you know, like okay, Like I'm not saying you can't, but there's a lot of steps right to get to there, so you kind of have to apply yourself to get to there. So like I think that there's like there's those kind of like big big dreams. Then I think there's the the big dreams that are are not. Just like I'll give you an example. I do this in the creative space.
Like I said, I don't do it so much. Well, I've not done it so much previously, like as a younger leader, but in the creative space, I will do things like, well, I want to create this thing, or I want to write this thing, or I want to do this thing, and I don't want to just like write it and then like have it on my computer.
And I used to in the music industry.
I used to be like I don't want to make songs to play in my car, right, Like, like I, if we're going to make songs, let's do them in such a way and then let's go and let's push and market and use a network and like try to get people to listen to these songs see if we can get them placed on something or do something with them.
And I feel the same way in some of the creative things that I've done where it's like, well, if I'm going to write this, I don't want to just write it and say that I wrote something.
I want to publish it. I want to actually like put it out.
I want like I want to be able to like learn how to do all those types of things. So that to me is kind of how I read this and kind of what you were talking through is like it it puts you in a different mindset around taking the time and commitments and perseverance to see it all the way through through when you have dreams that are both big but also like, you know, achievable and like something that you can see from taking steps as you go, even if it might take you three, four or five years,
it's something that you can consistently apply yourself towards.
To eventually get done.
Right Well, I mean, we've heard for a long time about the importance of having goals that have different timelines, right Like, if your only goal on your first day at work is to be the CEO, even if you are completely self aware of the time and years and effort it will take to get there, I mean, what how you're going to feel very unfulfilled if that's your only goal for the next twenty years, right Like, You're like,
you have to have goals along the way too. So there's the dreaming bigger doesn't mean to forego the dreams that you have that are accomplishable in you know, the next thirty days, one year, five years. Dreaming bigger might be a goal that it could take you a decade to do or even longer, but the importance of articulating what that is, even if you know it might change
later on down the road. There's there's this thing that happens inside us when we start looking at that dream that we've articulated or written down or that is important to us as as through the lens of everything that we do every day. So it is what I'm doing right now in spirit of getting closer to that dream or that goal. And you can very easily decide whether or not that is and be honest with yourself about what you're doing to get towards it or not.
There's an old saying that I like.
It says I'm not there yet, but I'm closer than I was yesterday, And that's the goal. When we're not dreaming bigger. It's not about how quickly you can get there. It's can you look at yourself in the mirror and say, am I closer to this goal today than I was yesterday? And that's a euphemism for in the past. You don't as it doesn't have to be every single day, but it needs to be often an enough where.
Where there's actual effort being put in.
And even if even if you're talking about things like selling something to the public or or or making something become a revenue stream for yourself, you might get turned down by a thousand people but when that doesn't mean that you're not closer than you were yesterday. It means that you've you've gotten through all the nose and now you're going to start that.
The more you do.
This, the closer you are to a yes, because you had to get through all those nose first and there was no way around it. It doesn't mean that you're not any closer just because no one said yes. Yet you're closer because you asked. And and that's what this is about. It's about am I working in spirit of a goal that I have said to myself is important to me? And if I really believe that it is, am I actually doing something towards it? And if the answer is no, then of one of a few things
is going on. Either it's not actually something.
You care about.
You've you've articulated it because you think someone it's important to somebody else, and that can happen, and you know how to recognize that.
But oftentimes it's not that.
Oftentimes it's a a If I put this effort into this goal that I've had for myself for a long time and it doesn't work out, I don't know that I could take that level of failure so I need to have it just stay that dream or that goal as opposed to putting effort towards it. And I'm absolutely guilty of doing that in my life at times, and
I think a lot of people are too. I think that this is a it's it's human nature to do it because because when you've when you've built something up in your head for a long time, you know the the the loss of that thing, either because you admit you can't do it, or because you tried your best and you and you gave it every effort possible and it didn't work out. You know that that that is
a problem for a lot of people. But but if you can look at it through the lens of instead, no, no, no, it's not because if it doesn't pan out, it how think about how freeing that is to you to be able to allow you to create something different instead, to be able to come up with a different goal if one of them doesn't pan out. Because oftentimes when you abandon a dream or a goal, it's because you're in a different.
Space at the time that you left it.
Then at the time you created it, you're a different person, You have different experiences, and it's okay to change what.
Those dreams and goals are.
It's just really important that they exist, even if they change along the way.
Yeah, it's one of those funny things.
It's kind of like if you are applying yourself and working towards looking to accomplish something, and you have a big goal that you're going after, you start to realize that the actions that you're taking to achieve the thing are sometimes many times more important than the actual thing, and you're putting yourself in a space that as you go down that road, you'll stumble into something else that you're like, actually, this is actually what I want to do,
this is actually what I really really enjoy, and you've built these behaviors that help you to then achieve that thing. So like progress, you know, forward progress, and any any movement is progress, right, And I think that's that's a big part of that is just being able to be okay with just I'm going to apply myself and see what happens, and it might not be what I thought it was, but I will be further along on my journey than I was yesterday.
Especially in the context of network, because if what you're if the the efforts that you're doing towards that dream or that goal, involve others, which oftentimes they do, and and they really should, because if we're talking about dreaming bigger, these the goals and dreams that we're talking about usually can't be accomplished, you know, in a basement by yourself, you know, like at some point in time, even if you're talking about you know, like the creative space, you know,
composing music or writing a book or there's there's at some point you'll have to involve somebody else to get.
The entire thing done.
And and when you involve other people, there's something that is contagious and magnetic about a person who is actively working towards their goals and their dreams that their network sees. And so even if that goal of that dream doesn't pan out exactly the way you wanted it to the impact that you have made on yourself for the doors that will open by the people who saw the efforts you were putting in and will open doors and windows
for you, that cannot be understated. Because some of the most amazing career opportunities I've ever had came out of nowhere based on a network that was made years earlier. Where great work was done together and the work ethic and the values were shared, and people don't forget people who share those things with them. And then the next thing comes up and it's like, who can I get involved with this project that I have this huge thing that I know shares my values and shares my work
ethic and will work hard to get done. Oh, Lorenzo, we worked together, like, you know, five years ago that other company that we were at. You know, he's somebody I'd want involved in this. Absolutely, put efforts into those things when it comes to your goals, because you never know where that will pan out. The effort towards the one thing is really just an effort as a whole in terms of, you know, moving yourself forward towards whatever.
The next goal is.
Absolutely, and with that it brings us to this episodes one Minute Hack. But first a few words from our sponsors.
All Right, for this episode one Minute Hack, here's what I want you to do. I want you to write down a long term dream or goal that is so far long term that it truly is not possible to accomplish in the next year. It has to be bigger than that, because when we're talking about dreaming bigger here. It's a goal that will take a considerable amount of concerted and sustained effort in order to get there. It's
not something you can accomplish over a weekend. So write down what that is, whatever it is for you, and then write down some of the behaviors that it will take to accomplish. And they don't be exact, but you know what they are. You know what some of them are that you have to do in order to accomplish something.
When you're going through your day to day life, you want to make sure that you are doing something in spirit of that goal, because even if it's not something you can add together like a one plus one equals
too now, eventually I'll get there. Some of these things might be vague and far enough in the future where you don't know exactly what they are, but if you can articulate what the goal is, then it should be pretty easy to articulate what behaviors or actions are going to be needed in order to get there, at least some of them. And then you have no choice but to look at yourself in the mirror every day and say,
did I do some of these things? Did I take this effort, even if it's an hour or thirty minutes or ten minutes, find time every day to do something in spirit of what that goal is and the feeling
that you will get from accomplishing just that thing. That effort towards it will almost become a self sustaining cycle that will lead you to want to put more and more effort in, because just getting it off the ground to begin with, meaning getting yourself off the ground and putting the effort in to begin with, can sometimes be
the hardest part. Once you can see yourself doing that work and getting towards that, you'll become better at it, and you'll very quickly realize whether or not that dream that you articulated either a, yes, that is exactly what I want to do and I love that that's what I wrote down, or maybe this is not the right thing, but there's no way to know unless you put effort towards it and kind of see how that feels.
Yeah, I think it's a great hack, and like, look, the reality is like we don't do this enough.
We just don't, you know.
Like it's one of the things that if you watch any type of videos around like getting yourself focused and wanted to achieve big goals and wanted to accomplish things. It's like taking the time to really sit down and do that is something that everybody suggests, but most of us don't do that, you know.
I mean, like I don't.
I don't take the time to sit down and like really plan that out what I typically would do, like what are the things that I'm in that I'm into doing right now, what are some things that I've considered and thought about, what are some goals that I have for like the next year, and then try to make
that into two or three things. And it's like that's probably my best effort that I've put towards it, and I've had some success with that, but it's definitely not to the level of really thinking about applying myself to things both personally, professionally and creatively that then, really to your point, like force me to have to apply a lot of behaviors and focus and commitment and perseverance and those types of things that then, you know, I think
move me faster in life in multiple ways. So like I think it's like, over time, we get better at it in different areas of our life, and we find some success with it. Then we kind of allow that to be the thing, and we don't push harder or clarify more, or go heavier into it. So I think it's a great woman to hack, right.
I think about all the all the people out there who you know, they their goal was to be a professional something player whatever sport, baseball, basketball, whatever, and they liked sports in general, and they were they were, they were playing, and they they couldn't get towards that goal anymore. They seemed to peak out and they couldn't get any better,
and people were passing them. But the effort they put in in terms of their own athleticism, the time spent in the gym, the time spent getting things done in order to try to be that professional that player opened a door to another sport altogether, and they ended up
becoming a professional something else player. So like their their goal was to be a professional baseball player, they ended up being a professional football player, or vice versa, because they they realized that the one goal wasn't possible, but the effort they put in towards that goal was absolutely bringing closer to a lot of different paths or ava is they could have gone down versus doing nothing at all, and then you know you're left right where you are.
If you do nothing at all, you will always stay right where you are. So yeah, the effort you put in towards any big goal like this will get you closer to whatever that next thing is, even if you don't know what that thing is yet.
Absolutely, and with that it brings us to the end of this episode. This is hacking leadership. I'm Lorenzo and I'm Chris, and we'll talk to you all next time.