First published 30 March 2020 on Your Best Year Starts Here with Nigel Risner.
Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
This one picks up from the last episode, the one about playing small. Right at the end of that I'd mentioned an acronym, so Nigel made me explain it. It comes from a bit of Done Beats Perfect, which I was close to finishing at the time. I've never liked "fake it till you make it". If you feel like a fraud you won't show up at your best. "Operate as if" is different. You work out who you need to become, then show up as that person.
So start with what you want to create. Then ask who you'd need to be to create it, because the person you are now got you the results you've got now. The acronym is WHO. Willing to change and let go of who you've been. Honest with yourself about where you are (no fantasy, no catastrophe). And open-minded. I was first taught it as HOW, but for most of the people I work with that's the wrong order. Until they're willing, the rest doesn't count for much.
It took Nigel a minute to spot that HOW and WHO are the same letters. His words: "I was a bit slow there as a monkey." That led to a line I've used on stage loads of times. If you can't work out how to do something, find who can do it. He reckons that's why he roped me into the podcast.
For the open-minded bit I used travel. We plan every step of a trip, from the car to the airport to the time in the lounge, and it hardly ever goes to plan. Change is like that. Then McDonald's. The brothers knew how to make a good burger. Ray Kroc was selling milkshake machines, couldn't believe one restaurant wanted so many and drove halfway across the country to find out why. We both rate The Founder, though I said I don't know how close it sticks to what really happened.
Nigel owned up that his own block is expecting things to be perfect. He's never done a perfect presentation, or a perfect podcast, and he's getting his new Animal programme done this year anyway. Oh, and one listener asked if we could make the episodes 45 minutes. I told him to listen to three.
What stayed with me
- Work out what you want to create, then who you'd need to be to create it.
- Willing comes first. Without it, being honest and open-minded won't get you far.
- Be honest about where you are now. Somewhere between the fantasy and the catastrophe.
- Stuck on how? Find who already knows how.
- Give a change four to six weeks before you judge it. One healthy day won't shift any weight.
If you're trying to figure out how you need to do something new, maybe you need to figure out who can do it for you instead. It's the same three letters, they're just in different order.
Neil Martin
It will be phenomenal and it won't be perfect.
Nigel Risner
