[00:00:00] Speaker A: And in the safety demonstration, they let you know before you can do anything. If the masks come down, you have to put your mask on first before you can help someone else. And so I'm not good to anyone around me that I love and care about if I'm not in some way addressed first.
Joining us today is Russell Schmidt. He is the founder and president of Informoney, Inc. With over 30 years of experience in the financial industry. As a certified financial planner, Russell has an extensive background in both education. He was a teacher and as the dean of an internationally respected Sheridan College. Russell became the first associate coach in the strategic coach program created by Dan Sullivan. And he has coached workshops for 30 years. In fact, that's how I got to meet Russell and I'm so excited about our conversation today. He's committed to lifelong learning. He inspires families and entrepreneurs to realize their unlimited potential, much in alignment with our show that we have here. And he has a passion to improve happiness and financial freedom in the world. Welcome to the show, Russell. I'm so happy to have you here. We're going to have a great journey. Talking about inner purpose and outer purpose. The power of walking away from things, the power of reflection in our life and why it plays an important role and how do we overcome a lifetime of conditioning. So excited to be with you today.
[00:01:17] Speaker B: It's wonderful to be here as well. And Richard, I, we haven't known you, I haven't known you over the 30 years as I have some of the folks that were in strategic coach, but I certainly you showed up a couple of years ago. Maybe time goes quickly. So it might have been three years ago in Vancouver and definitely you were a standout in the group. And I'm just really grateful to be in your presence today.
[00:01:43] Speaker A: One of the reasons I was excited about having you on the program is you've had a breadth of experience in life, not just in the financial services industry, but business is a business. And you've met with people over 30 years of coaching in all areas of businesses, all different kinds and types, and you've seen and witnessed things happen and transpire for them as they go through different levels and layers of their business career. Where do we need to look at a challenge that we're faced with and recognize first the challenges there and how do we get on the other side of it? So from your vantage point, where, where should we begin?
[00:02:16] Speaker B: I was a little bit blind, had blinders on because of the conditioning of the time when I grew up. And at that point it was get an education get a job, get a house, make lots of money, get advanced, and so on and so forth. And I basically signed up for all of those. Absolutely, yes. And after 20 years of that, I basically had had enough and effectively said, I can't do this anymore.
And so I started in the. I had left the education business that I was involved with. Now is about the time when I became an entrepreneur as well. So those kind of coincided, and I would say that that's the point when insight started to grow.
And what was happening for me was the disparity between what I am calling outer purpose, which is about money, it's about status, it's about possessions. And all of that was true, and I was very attached to that, and it was not satisfying at all at that. If people looked at me from the outside, they'd say, what's wrong with you? You've got everything. And in my view, I had nothing was wrong about what was going on. And so I started to build an awareness of things. You know, learning and strategic coach was very, very helpful in that regard, but also to explore spirituality a little bit more. And so I really learned about inner purpose, and best way to think about that, or one of the best ways of thinking about that can be through to the notion of values. And so I did think to bring some. A copy of some values. You just want to bring up that slide. So I've always been interested in values and did values, but they tended to be just words for me. And when I did this particular exercise, those words came alive, and they were real in terms of who I am and who I am is related to my inner purpose. And so if I look at the value of integrity, and I'll just read it to you, to adhere to a practice of honesty, and that's honesty outside, and it's honesty with yourself, and of having your outer world reflect your inner world to be what you seem to be. And that was the piece that was missing. So there was a misalignment of my outer world and what my inner world was, and that started to become more in alignment, and particularly as an entrepreneur, and being willing to walk away from things that weren't in alignment and to walk towards things that were in alignment to the point where there is that synchronicity. And then things started to go so much better than they had in the first half.
[00:05:29] Speaker A: The first 40 years was following someone else's or the world's idea of what life should be like, driving to the world and the pressures of get a good education, get a job, get a high paying job, move up the corporate or the. Or the ladder. In your case, it was from a teaching standpoint, you were in the beginning.
[00:05:48] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:05:48] Speaker A: And then traversing that ladder, the family, the house, all the things that supposedly are supposed to create the happiness that we've been told, and then finding that there's some mismatch to the happiness that you were hoping for, and something was out of alignment. And it was this integrity piece that once you were in a position where you could look back and say, what's missing? What's going on, you could start to investigate and go through some of the details to figure, okay, here's the missing component that I need to really work on. And that prompted the next transition of your life. Am I on track?
[00:06:21] Speaker B: Right. Yes. And I think the thing to do is the cues. What are the cues? What are the things that I could have been more aware of rather than getting to the point where, okay, it's time to leave, and I walk away, and I create some risk, you know, for my family and for myself.
And luckily, one of the other values I have, I suppose, or strength from that particular perspective is self assurance. So that helped a lot, being able to do that. And I would say the other thing that was right up there top as well, was my wife, Sharon. And she was always. She always had my back. And, man, that was just so valuable to know that you had that particular support. And, you know, it was. It was just to, you know, pay attention, be aware what's. What's going on. There's something here that's not working. What is it? And then to see if you can find it, as opposed to more or less cutting yourself, you know, off at the knees, possibly. And that's, I think, what I've spent a lot of time on what I didn't want to do. And I know that that's a constant. That's a constant thing that, you know, we find in the world is people are really, really good at telling themselves what they don't want to do, and perhaps less so in terms of what they do want to do. And so that was the transition when I got that, not necessarily full awareness, but I got it at some level, enough that I was willing to take the risk and make a change and experiment is kind of how it worked out for me.
[00:07:58] Speaker A: Well, I love that getting clear on what you don't want to do versus what you do want to do. And it's important, and I agree, it is harder to determine what is it that you want to do, because sometimes we wanting what we want, we don't feel like we have the permission to want something because we want to do other. Do things for others. Sometimes easier to do things for others than it is for ourselves. But the idea of clarifying, listing and getting really crystal clear on the things you don't want to do really starts to frame a picture. If you eliminate those things from the list, that's clearly what you don't want to do. It starts to frame up and get more clear on the things that you should want to do because often they may be in opposition to the list of don'ts.
[00:08:36] Speaker B: Yeah, and what I'm going to say about that, you need to be smarter, okay. That when you get them off the list, you just don't get them off the list all at once and walk away. So, you know, just be strategic about that. And it's interesting in terms of some of the work we've done, and I know you're familiar with that and I'm sure some of your viewers are as well in terms of the strengths finder and one of the strengths is strategic. And that one for me is way low down in terms of the energy scale. So I have to be a little bit more trial and error in terms of my life than being strategic. But by being aware, which I think is the ultimate capability, quite frankly, because you're looking at things as opposed to making judgment about, you're looking at it for what you can learn from it, what can you learn as opposed to, you know, what you don't want, what can you learn? And that then can lead you to areas that are more gratifying and more productive and more useful as well.
[00:09:42] Speaker A: Would you say, Russell, that that degree of awareness that you're speaking to is almost to some degree almost like a detachment from the emotional connection, the circumstance. Because decisions and things made in an emotional amplified way, I can reflect back on highly emotional decisions that made weren't always necessary to Richard's benefit versus, hey, I'm feeling a certain way about this. Let me detach from that kind of look at it, get in a helicopter flap to 4000ft and look down at the problem. And then I can have a more objective vantage point to say, okay, how would I approach this given the awareness that I have? Is that kind of the feeling that you have?
[00:10:21] Speaker B: Yes, it is. And I think the distinction there that I would make, Richard, is knowing it and owning it are two different things. All right? So you know that. All right. But when you own it, it's really something which is deep inside of you and connected with who you are when you actually own it. And there's so many slogans out there, you know, enjoy the journey, you know, don't worry about the destination. Well, that's a lovely slogan, but until you actually own that and experience that, that's all it is, is a slogan. So one of the things that has been absolutely magical, I'm going to say in my life is journaling. And it's very fascinating that on the back of this card that I just showed you on integrity, get to know your inner world more deeply through journaling and regular reflection. Like what?
Like, how did they know? How did they know that? Right? It took me a long time. And there it is on this damn card, you know, that it actually tells you what that is really about. So the journaling is really the way that I talk to myself. And one of the things I did in my journal is for probably several weeks, I to myself about awareness. And so that then became something that was a word to something that I owned. And it is about looking at things as they are without putting stories on them and judgments and all those kinds of things.
[00:11:50] Speaker A: Amazing. And after these messages, we're going to be back with Russell to hear more about the many times he's made a transition in his life based on that new level of awareness.
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Turn of the century the year 2000 2001, financial calamity ensues in many different areas. We have y two k problems. We've got the tech bubble meltdown, we have the 911 situation. You're in the financial industry, Russell.
It's a weird time to be in the industry. And in the midst of all of that, you and your son, whos helped join you in the business, have created an innovation to help support the way that you serve your clients and your clients directly. So what was happening around you with all these changing environments in a very short timeframe? First of all, what was the feeling of going through that, like being in the financial sector and recognizing, okay, not only might this have an impact on your business, but fundamentally it has an impact on the people that you serve and being in the financial space myself, I recognize that we develop a care for the people that we serve that I think often they just don't understand.
[00:13:42] Speaker B: So a little bit of context, in addition to the world going upside down at that particular time, a perfect storm, I think, is what some people might have called that. And also, and again, for, you know, where the technology in those days was pretty primitive relative to what's available right at the moment. And there was also sort of a transition because in the eighties, you know, many clients, you know, the retail clients were very conditioned towards gics with high interest rates and so on. So this was a transition from gics to mutual funds. And all of a sudden, the guarantees weren't there anymore. So there was a lot of angst around performance.
[00:14:32] Speaker A: So that was an issue still declining at that point at a fairly rapid pace from where they were at a peak level, I believe, even in late eighties and the nineties. And they were trending downward for, had been for almost a decade, basically.
[00:14:46] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. So there was definitely a need and a movement into the, you know, what was most prevalent at that particular point, which mutual funds. Lots of things have changed. So that's the context of that. And performance was king in terms of, in clients minds, okay, it's all about performance. They were kind of used to good interest rates, and now they're in a situation where, my goodness, they could have some loss and so on. So that was a very difficult time for people in financial services. The only worst time than that was 2009 with the meltdown that happened in terms of the mortgage crisis. So that was a similar one, but a different context. But again, the innovation I'm going to talk about handled both of those, and it will handle any kind of, of situation going forward. And it really boils down to two things as far as the client is concerned. Number one would be confidence. Okay, and confidence in any market. And number two would be engagement. All right? So that they're engaged with the process as opposed to being an observer of the process.
They're part of, part of the team. And again, that was unusual back then because there was so much of that that was new. So what basically we had done, and I'll give you the context of that as well, there was one of our clients who I would tell him how this mutual fund was doing and that mutual fund was doing, and he'd say, Russell, I want to know how I'm doing.
And there was no way that the industry could do that. There was nothing around. And I don't think they could really do that very well. Now, either because if a client moves from provider to provider, then all of that detail is lost. So my son, being very much more tech oriented than I am, was pretty good with spreadsheets, and he developed this, what we call the profit tracker. What was innovative about this at the time, and still is, is that it was about profit. So what happens in the industry, and was happening very prevalently back then was the results that were reported. You never knew whether they were before fees or after fees. So, you know, that really mattered to clients. And there was all kinds of different ways of positioning mutual funds at the time. And so our decision was, we want to make it pure profit. So this is the money that you would have in your jeans or in your skirt or whatever the thing is.
And the only thing that might be taken away from that would be taxes. And so that made it very, very clear and consistent. And what we do with that is that we report that at each meeting. And we also have an annual, uh, report. This is the page that mostly they focus on. And there's a couple of things here that, uh, you know, are important. So, first of all, when we report progress, we do it in dollars, because some people relate to dollars, okay? We also report it in percentage, because some people report, you know, engage or are connected more to percentage. So they have their choice in terms of how that's presented. And people have frames of reference with regard to that. Sometimes if the performance is good, they'll say, well, gee whiz, that's a whole year's salary. So that's the kind of way that people tend to look at those kinds of things. Whereas the percentage tends to lends itself to comparison with outside things. So that gives them choice in terms of that. We also track this with the other thing that people are concerned about. You know, I put some money in. Is that reflected in there? I took some money out. Is that reflected in there? And so it does. It's always after all of the adjustments that are made in their portfolio. So it's real in the moment when we do it. So that's important. The other thing is the pie chart. And not everybody likes a pie chart, but they sure like a pie chart, which has a lot of green on it, which says profit.
And so that's a visual thing that just absolutely. Next with a piece of them that says, wow, okay. And it doesn't really matter so much how much time it's taken, but half of it is profit. And the way we do it, and I know there's a little bit of one could criticize that, but effectively, at some point it's going to be all profit. We assume, okay, that all the capital is taken out and all the profit is left. And that is naturally how it works. But it technically, that is effectively what has happened. So those are the kinds of things that engage people and they have questions about it and you always know when they're engaged because they have questions about it. We love the questions that aren't always necessarily the kinds of questions we'd like to have, but we do like them because they make us smarter and also helps them to understand a little bit better.
[00:20:12] Speaker A: This is creating a very simple version of awareness. It's clarifying that awareness where it can all be seen in one simple format. And it's highlighting, hey, negatives, positives, the amalgamation of things. What does this mean to you in this moment? And then let's look back in time at previous moments to see how it's progressed. So there's a progressionary component there. You mentioned when people would move from a provider to a provider, you lose all that history. And that is very true. So it's hard to see where you actually add over an aggregated period of time. And this is something that youve identified where this really sets things apart from an innovative perspective, where youre maintaining this clarity of that history so you can really see what the true progression is over a long time span.
[00:20:56] Speaker B: This is the other thing, which is extraordinary. And that is to say, okay, right back to the day that you walked in or the day we started tracking, because we had clients before we started tracking, theres your history. And then we got the notion, I mean, this was a, this was significant. Initially, we didn't have those green things on there and so there was just the numbers. And then one day, for whatever reason, Stefan highlighted all the positive ones. And therefore, then what they can see at a glance is, okay, it's true what they say. Market goes up and down and there's all the ones that are positive and the ones that are negative. And guess what? In my particular case, I've got lots more positives than I do negatives. So all of those things feed into a sense of progress, a sense of confidence, and doesn't get into that sort of negative space of thinking that the world is coming to an end or whoever else, they're not going to have enough money to retire, et cetera, et cetera. So it's been literally quite extreme, as.
[00:21:57] Speaker A: The news media would have you believe on every headline.
[00:21:59] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:59] Speaker A: One thing I really love about this, Russell, that I'd like to point out that I see, and I think is innovative, is to clarify and identify what are the components of major events that occurred or would have maybe been an impact. So you hear, you do, have we talked about 2001, the tech bubble, these things having a direct impact, sub prime lending crisis. Of course we know the impact that that had, which was drastic, it was a global impact.
Us debt crisis. We have currency, oil supply, which from a canadian perspective is maybe even more of an issue than it is for, uh, other, other areas.
You have some presidential race scenarios here, Brexit, all of these components, you know, Covid-19 these scenarios have a direct impact on the monetary system. And these geopolitical type events are not controllable by any financial advisor, any individual person. They're aggregate in nature and they're outside of our purview. So we're always trying to do, how can we do our best within these changing environments. And so the fact that you identify those and also relate that to the correlation of how did that impact things potentially. But those all become great discussion points that you can then have, you know, a direct, real conversation with your client about and what you saw transpire, and not just maybe with their portfolio, but with an aggregate portfolio that you see, you know, in the overall marketplace. Really, truly a great way to summarize what's going on and putting it in real world terms, real dollars, from my perspective, one thing that I've seen being in the financial space for some time is a lack of correlation between what a market does and what the behavior of the individual does. And here, what I see you taking place in the way that this is presented is you're showing how both of those things have an impact. The deposits, the ongoing contributions to a plan, whatever that looks like, but also the utilization and withdrawals of a plan. Those utilization and withdrawals can have a drastic impact, and they also have reasons and rationale. And so there's probably a great level of conversation that you can have with your clients as that takes place.
[00:24:12] Speaker B: Also, in a world of jargon, it's profit. Everybody understands what a profit is. Yeah. So that it's been amazing, really, in terms of the impact that that's had on our business, and it's led to a client loyalty beyond anything I would ever have imagined.
[00:24:31] Speaker A: Amazing. Now, there's another innovation we're going to talk about as we come back after these incredible messages.
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[email protected]. dot we are back with Russell, and we're hearing about the incredible power that journaling has had for him. And now this experience of journaling and the way that it's helped create a level of awareness in his life has helped him through many, many experiences. Now, Russell, when I first came in contact with you, I was able to have a coaching session in strategic coach, and then the next session I attended, unfortunately, you weren't available. And the reason was because you were going through a cancer situation and you were in treatment. But what it was, what I was unaware of is that this wasn't the first time. So everyone's impacted by cancer in some way. You're an entrepreneur. You've got a family, you've got responsibilities. You have responsibilities to helping the people you serve at strategic coach and so on.
How did this transpire for you in the first occurrence, and how did journaling play a role in helping you through that?
[00:26:21] Speaker B: I had a lesion on my leg and it wouldn't heal. And so I paid attention to it and kept hoping it would go away, and it didn't go away. And so, as always, I said to my wife, who is Sharon, who is a nurse, would you look at this? And she looks at, yeah, you need to go have that looked at. So off we went. And they get a biopsy, and it was cancerous and it was aggressive. And so how did we deal with that at the time? And at that time, I wasn't journaling. That was before journaling. So, Richard, in terms of looking back, I don't remember if I was afraid. Okay? I just don't remember that. I think there was some. But the point is that that fear went away because of taking action. And I'm going to say that that's the, that's the major thing. And it doesn't matter whether you actually take action which does something or you take action by, in this particular case, writing in your journal, because that's taking an action by writing in a journal because there's an acknowledgment there, there's a story there. There's also some possibilities there, all of those kinds of things. So just connect that with the journal. Even though at that point in time I wasn't journaling, on the second one, I was 2007. So that was a prostate cancer. And on that one, I was able, fortunately, to find a private clinic in Canada that did a non invasive procedure with regards to prostate cancer. And I researched it and it cost me a lot of money and I didn't care because I was getting it looked after right away. And all of the prospects in terms of long time remission or whatever were very good. And so that worked out extremely well. Now, an interesting story on that one.
I did not miss a day at work, and I did not miss any coaching time. And I was coaching at that time in Toronto, Vancouver and the UK. And this, people will find this either gross or they'll find it funny. I coached with a peabag on my leg, if you could.
That's commitment. Yeah. There was no darn way I was going to miss work, nor was I going to miss a coaching session. So that was that one, number three, which you indicated. And yes, I was away. And the toughest thing about that one, the truth of it, is how to work around being able to coach and not be away for that session. In the final analysis, it worked out that they were able to get me in and it just happened to be when I was coaching. And obviously, my life is more important than the coaching. And so I went through the procedure and once again, the cancer was removed successfully and there was no indication of any spread. So as far as the journal is concerned, this is the part that I'm going to say surprised me, I suppose, at some level, and yet didn't surprise me. And so on the day that I got the results from the surgeon who had done the biopsy, and he said that I would get the results in four weeks, and he called me after three weeks. So when I went to the appointment, I got to tell you, I knew this was not something that I was going to like.
So anyway, that was, it was, the diagnosis was melanoma, and it was a pretty aggressive one as well, but still treatable.
And so.
And I started making up stories. Okay, you know how that goes. All right, so you make up all these stories, and the stories were about, you know, how much it would impact the family, how much I would suffer, how long it was going to take me to get into the system, and da da da da da da da. So that was on the Wednesday and Thursday morning.
First thing in the morning, I get out my journal, and the first thing I wrote on the page, and don't ask me where it came from, is what I said to myself that day is my body has cancer.
I do not.
And the fear went away. And the fear went away. So, you know, again, that that notion of. Of the body as being, you know, it's. It's temporary. We're here on the planet for, you know, I'm hoping for 120 years, and, you know, I'm. I'm closer to the 120 than I am to the beginning at this particular point in time, but it was just really quite amazing. And just by writing that and, oh, my gosh. And that's been the case since then.
It is what it is, and there has been no fear, no more stories. What I would say about the journaling, it depends on how you do it.
So, years and years ago, when I journaled, okay, before I started doing it all the time, when I did it sporadically, it would be a little bit of ain't it awful? Right, the victim stuff, all right? And now it's totally through gratitude and, you know, positivity and optimism and all those kinds of things. And it's not. It's not made up. It's. It's, you know, it is. It's real. It comes from a real. A real source in terms of telling myself the truth, which gets back to that integrity thing that I talked about in one of the earlier sessions.
[00:32:13] Speaker A: So, a couple of key takeaways I have, Russell, is not only the experience of going through cancer three times, but the recognition of your strong and self reliant capacity not going to be missing work.
I'm not going to let cancer win in my life. Kind of an attitude. You know, there's a bit of a, you know, call it the middle finger to cancer scenario that plays out in your life, I guess, and. And do the journaling component. So we say the word journaling, and that's going to have a different meaning to people who hear it, for sure. But what I'm hearing from you is the importance of being very intentional and structured in what that journaling is, the timeframe of the day, the reason you do it at that time, uh, the things that you cover. There's probably a bit of a systematic approach that you do there, and the focus on the. On the, uh, the productive, uh, the future oriented, the gratitude components. There's reflection, but reflecting backward only to project the future that you most want to create for yourself. Am I on track with how I see it working in your life?
[00:33:20] Speaker B: Yeah. No, you. You listen well, Richard. You do. Uh, and, um, what I would say also is that there's a. There's a growth, there's a progression to it, so that, you know, and I don't. I don't go back and read my journals, by the way. I think I'm on volume. Let me. I actually know I've got it here. So this is my. This is my journal. It's called the Happy Heart Journal. Okay. Which is based on the first book that I wrote, the happiness process as a life altering, all altering daily practice. So this is volume 63, and there's 90 days worth in here. And I write three pages every, every day. And what I say, which people smile at. If it's a light day, I write big to get my three pages. If it's a more important day, I write small in order to get it all in. But it's the discipline of doing the three pages and using it as an exploration of things that are going on. In other words, using the awareness and the observation and then talking about that and learning from that. It's just a really extraordinary progress tool, which is very much in alignment with business people. And most business people are very growth oriented. So I found that to be really. Yeah, well, it's. It's. It's one of those kinds of things that I can't not do it.
[00:34:52] Speaker A: You've built the habit, and. And the result of doing it has created an impact that is unshakable and therefore becomes easy to do. Um.
[00:35:00] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, go ahead. Yeah.
[00:35:03] Speaker A: Is that you. Not only in identifying the. The value of the journaling, but it there, although it might not be something you will read, because they're done and they're complete, they also can create a formulation towards some of the legacy that Russell leaves behind. You have family, you have children, you have grandchildren. I suspect there's an opportunity for people to get insights into that lived history in a way that they otherwise would never achieve, for sure.
[00:35:31] Speaker B: Yeah. One of the other things I would say is one of the results. And I learned this when I wrote the first, the Happy Heart book, 1st, 2016. And so the journaling is also connected to an exercise habit. And so I always exercise first and then I journal afterwards. And that's a good combination because everybody, anyone who knows when they exercise, they feel much better afterwards. And the reason they do that is because they had their daily drug dose, right? So they had their endorphins for the day because exercise creates endorphins. And so when I jump, right, my journal, I'm full of endorphins, which means the journal gets an extra, extra boost and then the journaling itself actually does create some additional endorphins. And that's why. So it's not just a mental thing. It's absolutely quite physical in terms of the impact that both of those have in terms of your demeanor and your well being, in terms of that day and in terms of the life that keeps on getting better and better regardless of the challenges you face. Right. Because you're dealing with these things. And again, I'm going to stress the notion of it comes from inner purpose, really, and the journaling just reinforces that. But it really is. Yeah, it's been wonderful, for sure. And it's lovely that other people are finding the joy in journaling as well.
[00:36:57] Speaker A: Amazing. When we come back after these messages, we're going to get into some of the incredible business innovations that helped you and your clients through tough times in a few moments. Are you looking for a great book to read? Turns out I have one for you. It's called cash follows the leader. It's available anywhere books are sold. But if you want to get a free copy and you can download it right to your inbox, you can go to coachcanfield.com cashfollows.
Now, Russell, you shared a ton with us so far. There's an exciting endeavor that is upon you right now. You have a great new innovation, something that I think is fantastic, especially in the coaching space. And having been able to experience it so far once myself, I'm excited for you to be able to share this with our listeners. And perhaps the best way we'll end up doing that is you might just walk me through the exercise again so people can kind of visualize and see how this process can take hold in their life. And I'm curious to maybe just share a little bit about where did this ten space experience come from? Where did it develop from for you? And then we can go through that together and give people an idea to experience it, really through my vantage point with your good coaching.
[00:38:11] Speaker B: Going back to my college days when I was an administrator at the college one, and one day, you know, there had been a fiat, let's call it that, from senior administration, that the School of applied Arts was going to be amalgamating with the school of communications. And so this meant, you know, a change of space and a change of leadership and so on. And so one of the professors, you know, on the day that this was announced, he took it upon himself to come into the office and, you know, he got, he made sure that myself as the chairman and my boss, June Ross as the dean were there. And he began to essentially berate us for not having the guts to tell the peace people on high to go take a hike because this was not a good thing and the education of the world was going to be ruined. And he did that in language which was not rude, but certainly was very, very not supportive, let me put it that way. And so that was fine. So we listened and we didn't have any particular solution for him other than to tell him that we were going to do the best with what we had. That was it. So he left. And so what June Ross said to me when he left, remember, Russell, to always separate the person from the behavior. And I have never forgotten that. And so I think that was the seed that grew over a period of time.
So you can read a lot of books about human potential and I'm saying that this one might change the game in terms of your notion of what human potential is. And so I think that's really what the experience is intended to do at this point in time. Anybody who gets within 10ft of me will probably get to experience it because it's a very engaging exercise. And what I'm going to ask or suggest to the audience is to walk along and answer the questions and do the experience just as Richard does. I think that's going to be the part that will matter more for our audience to actually do it and have the experience, because it's only the experience which is going to, is going to provide the learning. All right, are we ready, Richard?
[00:40:52] Speaker A: I was born ready as far as I'm concerned, Russell. So I should quantify, I have done this experience before, but it has been quite some time, so it'll almost be as though doing it new. And of course, we're at a different day, different environment. And so I think it will very much feel that way from my perspective.
[00:41:10] Speaker B: All right, so the first question. It's a question. And so, Richard, and to all the audience, and I would recommend that you write this on a piece of paper. And the reason for that is because there's a propensity to maybe change the answer. Once you've written down, it's a little bit, you know, it's a little bit harder to do that, but you know, that's entirely up to you. And so, Richard, who is the most important person in your life? Right now, write down that person's name. All right, Richard. And what did you say?
[00:41:46] Speaker A: I put my name.
[00:41:48] Speaker B: Okay, and why did you put your name?
[00:41:51] Speaker A: Well, I can only think about what's happening in the now. And right now I'm here with you. And so you're not, although you're not directly here with me, you're in my life, but I'm the one facilitating, conducting, you know, this. This program, the show. And so I'm the most important person in my life right now. And I also. The other thing that comes up for me, Russell, I think about getting on an airplane, and they go through the safety demonstration, and in the safety demonstration, they let you know before you can do anything, if the masks come down, you have to put your mask on first before you can help someone else. And so I'm not good to anyone around me that I love and care about if I'm not in some way addressed first.
[00:42:30] Speaker B: Yes. Okay. So you basically are the source of power, right? You are the source of power. Your person. Your person is the source of power. And as that, then you're good, no matter what happens, to be able to take care of that situation. And so you referenced, you know, making sure that this thing works. So what I would like to say to those who.
And you did also the segue on the oxygen as well. And so this is, you know, this has gone through a number of iterations, but one of the things that Stefan said to me the other day is that when you are the most important person in your life, you're the one giving oxygen to yourself.
All right? As opposed to giving oxygen to somebody else or to something that is going wrong or whatever. So by giving yourself the oxygen, then you are 100% here present, ready to deal with anything that happens.
All right? So thank you for that.
[00:43:51] Speaker A: I would quantify that, too, Russell, in that, you know, had you asked me the question, maybe, maybe a few days ago in a different environment, I might have said someone else. You know, I have a few people. You know, I have two kids. Both of them are presently sick. They're taking some antibiotics. They're totally fine. This is a typical kid scenario. But in that moment, my answer may have been different. But from today's vantage point, I feel very good about my answer.
[00:44:16] Speaker B: Okay, so let's just parse that one, all right? Because that's a kind of a cool statement. So what you're saying from this particular point, you are the most important person in your life, and can you give any reason why that would not be the case? In the scenarios that you talked about.
[00:44:39] Speaker A: That's interesting, because as soon as, even before you finished answering the question, I guess my answer would be no, I probably wouldn't change.
[00:44:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:44:46] Speaker A: Because I would be of no value to them if I can't first look after me.
[00:44:50] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. So I see. That is. That is the key. And, and, you know, the. The reason. There's two reasons why people are hesitant to say that they are the most important person in their life. First of all, that it might be seen as being selfish. All right? And secondly, that it might be seen as being arrogant.
Okay? And third, it's. They're afraid to. They're afraid to say they're a tenant because of what people might think about them. Right? Okay? So those are all of those reasons. And so the important thing for you and I, and what you did there was you owned the tent. Okay? I could tell by how you said it and by how you positioned it, but you own it. And when you own it, then there's no arrogance attached to that. There's no selfishness attached to that. That is just the power of you in this moment and really to carry that with you in every moment. And the only thing is not to forget it. Okay? Because there is the temptation to sometimes not be what the four agreements calls be impeccable with your word and start telling stories about yourself. That I'm not a ten today. Right. I'm not the most important person in my life today. And so that's. That's central to this exercise.
[00:46:16] Speaker A: Being in the environment where I get to have conversations like this with you is fundamentally, I think, just part of how I build it, just naturally find it fulfilling. I feel like I'm operating at a high level, doing things I'm meant to do. It's fairly natural. It's relatively easy. It feels good to do.
[00:46:36] Speaker B: Okay, here's another one for you. Where do you think that ten comes from?
[00:46:43] Speaker A: For me, I think in some of the personal development that I've done and work through, strategic coach, having conversations like this to some degree in the past gives me a framework to understand, okay? I have a much better and higher clarity of things that I'm fundamentally very good at and also tuned into doing well. They just generally feel quite natural. So being in an environment where I get to ask some great questions, have a good conversation, do it in a way where I'm including others along the journey. So if we were standing Russell, in a group environment and there was people that were kind of hovering around us, I would make, take a step back. I would open my feet up, I would expand my arms, and I would try to include those people into the conversation. I would first check in to see if you were kind of okay with that. And if I got some guidance from you, nonverbal or verbal cues, I would include others in that conversation automatically. I wouldn't think twice about it. I would just do it naturally.
[00:47:41] Speaker B: Right. All right, so let's go a little bit deeper. Okay. So you have two children.
[00:47:46] Speaker A: Yes, sir.
[00:47:47] Speaker B: And when they were born, new babies. And if I'd asked you how you would rank them, what would you. On a scale of one to ten, what would you tell me?
[00:47:57] Speaker A: Ten.
[00:47:58] Speaker B: Okay. So they came into the world as a ten.
[00:48:01] Speaker A: 100%.
[00:48:03] Speaker B: Okay. And I just want to challenge anybody in the audience with the same thing. You either you have children or you have grandchildren or you have nieces, nephews, or friends who have children. You also were a child at one time in your life, and I don't think there's anybody on the planet I could be wrong who would look at a newborn baby and not think of them as a ten. So my question to you is, and I noticed it in terms of your posture, in terms of how you held yourself when you were talking about being a ten. It was magic, really, because you were owning your ten and you were telling your truth, is that that's the ten. So that's basically letting that pure potential out in whatever sort it is. But knowing that it's the best that is available to you at that particular moment, that's really the underlying part of that. So, you know, things are going bad. Give your head a shake and say, I'm at ten, and it will change. It will change how you're dealing with that circumstance.
[00:49:08] Speaker A: Amazing. Thank you so much, Russell. For all of our listeners, here's making your future the rest of your day, the rest of your week at an absolute ten, and we look forward to seeing you back on next week's episode.
