First published 9 September 2019 on Your Best Year Starts Here with Nigel Risner.
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Nigel opened by calling this episode 4,392. It was 42. Close enough. He'd been speaking with Kriss Akabusi, the Olympic runner, who runs a programme called FIT. Nigel says he's a bit dyslexic, so he runs one called FTI. Failure to implement.
And that was his point. Everything we say on here is only worth something if you do something with it. I chipped in that knowledge is potential power, and Nigel went further. For him the power is in the action you take and the feedback you get back. Do another course without acting on the last one and you've just got a bigger pile of stuff you didn't use. Unless you really want it, none of the support in the world will get you moving.
For years the back of Nigel's business card asked what you'd do if you knew you couldn't fail. People came up with some crazy ideas. So now he asks what's missing in your life (he told me to get my tissues ready first). I brought in a line I like about having a hole in your soul that the wind blows through. And I gave my one-word definition of success. Serenity. Putting my head on the pillow and being cool with that day.
Nigel feels complete when he's got home safe and the dog has stuck a wet nose on him. Then it's the telly on and watching nothingness. A standing ovation is lovely, but if he needs the audience to give him his acknowledgement, they hold all the power. He also did his entire time management course in about ten seconds, and I called it choice management. We all get the same hours. You just choose what goes in them.
I spent a big part of my life chasing the next level, mostly to impress other people. These days I'm more into levelling in, getting to know who I am and doing more of what fits. Nigel said he knew a new word was coming. We finished on goals for the year ahead. Don't wait till December, and find out what the people around you want. If you want Scotland for the summer and they want Bournemouth, there's going to be a problem. So get into their diaries early, before they've filled them with their own plans.
Worth remembering
- Information only counts if you act on it. Watch out for Nigel's FTI.
- 'What's missing in your life?' gets a more honest answer than the can't-fail question.
- If it's important, do it. Things only go urgent because they were important and got left.
- Ask the people around you what they want from next year, and book into their diaries early.
If it's important, do it. If it's not important, don't. The only reason things become urgent, 'cause it was important and you didn't do it.
Nigel Risner
For me, success is serenity. As in success is peace of mind.
Neil Martin
