YOU CAN FIND THE TIME!
To read this right to the end - read, reflect, act.
#whatwinnersdo - Brisbane: Alistair Burton’s guest keynote:
Ok let’s talk about a goal I had but first…
👉I’d like you to think about your life for a minute.
Think about your health, your relationships, your career.
Think about your level of satisfaction and fulfilment in those areas.
Think about your level of satisfaction overall.
👉Now give yourself a rating between one and ten against that. One being the lowest and ten being the highest. That is your life on a scale right there.
Your entire life boiled down to a number that represents how you feel today.
A number that represents if you ARE DOING and HAVE DONE the things you want to do.
Who has a number that isn’t ten?
Who has a number that is closer to five than ten?
If your number isn’t ten that’s ok. For now.
We aren’t born with our dreams fulfilled. We aren’t born having already achieved our goals. We haven’t even started the journey when we are born.
My number isn’t a ten. It’s not even close.
But I do know my number and I’m beginning to know what it will take to move that number closer to a ten. Because when I kick off my boots, or hang up my tools, or shuffle off this mortal coil…Well… I want to know that I lived a full life.
A full and fulfilling life.
This self-reflection is what, as we all now know, Sir Richard Branson calls his Rocking Chair test. An exercise in imagining yourself as a 90 year old, rocking away on your porch, and reflecting on what you have achieved and whether it has been enough.
Andy talked about when he was faced with this reflection on his 50th birthday. His close friends and family had presented him with 50 photos and 50 comments to mark his 50 years.
And by any stretch of the imagination Andy had achieved a lot. A successful career in finance, a wonderful family, 50 years of experiences and memories. But by his own admission he had an itch that he needed to scratch. He felt that he had more to offer. In fact at that moment he committed to offer more, do more, and achieve more in the next 25 years of his life.
The only question that remained was what. And how.
And thus the journey into the next phase of Andy’s life began.
The journey to take what had made him successful and to GiFT that to others so that they could soar and achieve more.
It wasn’t long after this moment that Andy and I became acquaintances and then friends. I was introduced to his work whilst I was at Bank Of Queensland, where he was working with their executive team.
And the feedback I received from those that were working with him resonated with me.
Some of the core pillars of his practices really made sense.
So I made a cheeky LinkedIn connection to keep up with his content and pretty much left it at that for over 3 years. But I kept seeing his content and it kept making sense.
And then 3 years later an opportunity arose to find out a little bit more.
👉And I say 3 years later. This opportunity had actually been simmering away for 3 years, because I had been wrestling internally with the desire to launch a podcast, countered by the fear of change and criticism and judgement.
👉And it was a wrestle. I really wanted to do it. I really wanted to launch a podcast where I could learn from a wealth of people that could help me become a better version of myself. I bought all of the equipment and everything I needed. All I needed to do was to press record.
This was to be my own Learn, Copy and add 10%.
👉But I didn’t do it. For three years the kit lay still in a flight case. Un-used.
Some say change won’t happen until the fear of change becomes less than the fear of staying the same. That might be true. It makes sense.
I might also reframe it to say that the fear of change can be overcome by the size of the opportunity. And I was presented by one hell of an opportunity to break this fear.
If you have done a podcast you will know that ahead of all the fears you might imagine. Judgment or criticism. One of the biggest stresses is guests.
Getting enough guests and getting enough good guests.
If you have a talk show podcast then you know that your guests are everything.
So one Monday morning I logged onto LinkedIn to see that Andy Fell had written a book.
📚And he had a question for LinkedIn that went along the lines of ‘hey I’ve written a book and I’d love the opportunity to tell you more about it. If you know of any podcasts that I could guest on please let me know’.
💡And off went my lightbulb.
Ever the opportunist I pinged Andy a direct message and said ‘I am in the process of launching a podcast and you would be a great first guest. Would you be interested?’.
And he said yes.
And then it became real. Like really real.
Because Andy was a credible character with a strong network in my career domain.
So I had to deliver. My reputation was depending on it.
Fast forward perhaps 4 weeks and Andy is sat round my kitchen table, headphones on, mic in front of him and we have one of the most amazing hour and half long conversations you could ever hope to have.
We covered his origin story, we covered what made him successful, we covered core practices and beliefs, and we covered his rocking chair test moment.
When Andy walked out of my kitchen, I was on cloud nine, and I think Andy felt the same. Because guesting on a podcast is as big of a deal as hosting a podcast. Because you a trusting that podcast to have integrity with you and your brand.
You are trusting them to represent you properly. And that’s what I do.
I record in depth, unedited conversations where I let them talk, asking questions along the way to dive deeper to truly understand what makes them successful and what I can replicate in my own life.
And it works. It unearths some real nuggets of gold.
So Andy left and that was that. I was off and running. And in the year following that I’ve recorded and published close to 50 podcasts 👏.
A year of content.
50 hours of deep conversation.
50 new people in my network.
50 chances to learn.
And I’ve learned a lot.
I’ve recorded great podcasts.
I’ve recorded ok podcasts.
I’ve possibly even recorded some rubbish podcasts.
But I’ve learned through every single one.
And I’ve also learned just how much of a dream Andy was as an early guest.
Because I’ve interviewed 50 people, I can tell who knows what they are on about.
I can tell who is very clear around how they think and apply that thinking.
I can see where someone is an expert or where they are still developing.
And Andy Fell is an expert.
He has seen it, done it, written the book and knowing Andy… probably made the T shirt as well (AF: we have! #whatwinnersdo t-shirts 😉).
And do you want to know the biggest life lesson that runs through all of my podcasts like a golden thread?
The thing that the vast majority of my guests have in common?
It’s very simple.
Crazily simple really.
✅They all started. That’s it.
✅They just started.
✅They had an idea and they acted on it.
✅They took the first step.
✅And by taking the first step they could take the second. And the third.
✅And maybe stop and backtrack and take that step again.
✅They all took action.
It is as simple as that.
And that is also my personal learning as reflect on the 50 podcasts I recorded.
50 hours of deep conversation.
50 new people in my network.
50 chances to learn.
50 is a great number by the way.
A number to be proud of.
⛔️But let’s not forget I sat on this idea for 3 years. 3 years.
At my rate of podcast production the number that I missed out on is 150.
❌150 hours of deep conversation missed.
❌150 new people in my network missed.
❌150 chances to learn missed.
❌That’s the opportunity cost of not acting on my dreams.
That’s the clear as day mathematical representation of not believing in myself.
That’s what I missed out on through my procrastination.
My message to you is start.
Believe in yourself.
Take action.
Learn.
Adjust.
Take more action.
And achieve your goals.
Ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for listening.
My name is Alistair Burton. 👌🏽