First published 6 June 2023 on Your Best Year Starts Here with Nigel Risner.
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I wasn't really on this one. A robot version of me was. The week before, in episode 210, Nigel and I had talked about AI, so for 211 we handed the show to an AI Neil and sat it next to a recording of Nigel from 1999. Robo versus retro.
Young Nigel is on good form. He says we spend too much time on where we've been and not enough on right here, right now. He even had a name for his approach back then, TWA. Most of us hold what we want as a thought, or say it out loud and then do very little about it. Others go gung-ho with loads of action and no thinking at all.
Robo me can't keep quiet. The second Nigel says "right here, right now", it reckons the real me should turn it into a Fatboy Slim remix. It asks him for next week's lottery numbers. And when he gets onto feedback, it jokes about being told I'm late again (robo Neil, apparently, is better at timekeeping). Cheeky.
Then there's Auto University. Nigel did thousands of miles up and down motorways, and he filled the time listening to other speakers and leaders. My AI twin replies with a long speech about learning to make sushi while mowing the lawn. Shortly after, a clip of 1999 Nigel calls it the daftest person he's ever met.
The last few minutes are about your team. Nigel lists the people backing him, and after each one the robot pipes up to say it isn't them. His question still stands up 24 years on. Who's supporting your dream, and who's pulling you away from it? The episode signs off with the AI asking listeners whether the fake team should get another go, or whether the real Neil and Nigel should get back to work.
The bits worth keeping
- Less time on where you've been, more on where you are right now.
- Thinking about what you want, or just saying it, won't get you there. And neither will action with no thought behind it.
- Car time counts. Nigel's Auto University was years of speakers on the motorway.
- Work out who's backing your dream and who's pulling you away from it.
Too many times we focus on where we've been and not enough on where we are right here, right now, and where we wanna get to.
Nigel Risner
Somebody once asked me where did I learn most of my information, and I said in Auto University.
Nigel Risner
