Clarity enables Perspective and Perspective reveals countless paths to Progress.
It's not enough to have an idea of where we want to go without understanding exactly where we are, and we will never budge an inch from where we are if we have zero clue as to where we want to go. Once again, life authenticates the Both And Principle.
Maybe you've never heard of Keith Cunningham. I know that hadn't until introduced through this video with Joe Polish, founder and curator of the ingeniously genuine Genius Network.
"Keith Cunningham is a negotiator and capitalist who has done over $1 billion worth of deals. He has been starting, acquiring, and financing businesses for over thirty-five years. Keith and Tony are long-time close friends and business partners. Tony has been bringing Keith into his events since 2003 and he is the only speaker who has appeared with Tony at our Business Mastery, Wealth Mastery, and Platinum events" (tonyrobbins.com) .
So, when a $100,000,000 man goes straight to the first step of CLARITY; in life, learning, and business, we naturally take notice.
Below are some excerpts from [the full interview].
[14:28] So, I think the first thing I would say is there are no secrets there's just stuff you haven't learned yet. There's no secret, there's no magic pill.
[15:48] I think successful people have extreme CLARITY about where they are; the reality of their current situation, which is point A, and they have CLARITY about point B. They have CLARITY about what they want, where they're going, and my experience is that most business people and most business advisors orient towards the second one; it's all about getting CLARITY on what you want, which I'm in favor of but I think the only reason Google Maps works is because you tell Google Maps where you want to go and it KNOWS where you ARE and if you don't if Google Maps didn't know where you were and you told it where you wanted to go, the likelihood of you getting from where you are to where you want to go rounds to zero.
[16:47] So, the idea is where are you, what do you want, and what's the obstacle or the problem that's in the way? I think the hardest work I do in my thinking time is WHAT'S THE PROBLEM, not the symptom, WHAT'S THE CORE ROOT OBSTACLE? Because if I'm going to get from where I am to what I want there's something that's blocking and I need to know what that is. I need some CLARITY around that. Because if I don't have CLARITY on the obstacle, I have zero probability of building a machine that will help me solve the problem; and building the machine requires allocation of resources.
[17:35] So, there's a bunch of things in this little sequence I just said. There's CLARITY about where I am CLARITY about what I want CLARITY about the obstacle that's in the way some thinking about what's the machine; which is priorities, so priorities. I think successful people are really good at identifying the correct priority and then and then allocating the resources to execute on those priorities. I'll say it this way, I'm gonna put it on a bumper sticker: a shift in priorities without a simultaneous shift in the allocation of resources is wishful thinking and Wishful Thinking is at the root of every failed business. The thought, the idea was, if they could just get clear on what they want that somehow what they want would manifest and I'm going to quickly say I totally agree with Dan and what he just talked about I think getting CLARITY about what it is you want is important, because that allows you to filter. I also think somebody's got to pick up the business end of the shovel and consistently execute. I'm not a believer in the magic pill.
[19:12] So, can I say something, because this is an interesting point, because you know Dan says as entrepreneurs you know just their creativity you know make it up and make it real now the making it up part and making it real all kinds of goes squirrely right along the way and what you're saying with the execution and even like the impact filter which is a thinking process in order to get clear on the importance selling yourself on it what's the success criteria, and piecing it together; I mean, think of the amount of suffering of these idealistic aspirational desires that are missing all of the roles the key elements and the priorities done in a certain way they actually achieve something, which is why there's so much business success, and I think what you're doing here is GETTING PEOPLE TO SLOW DOWN ENOUGH WITH THINKING TIME so they're not so reckless as they're trying to drive because so many entrepreneurs are just; they're DRIVEN BY THEIR DRIVENNESS WHICH IS DRIVING THEM INTO THE WALLS, IT'S DRIVING THEM INTO POOR HEALTH, IT'S DRIVING THEM INTO INSANITY, AND A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF DRIVING OFF CLIFFS ALL THE TIME.
[20:19] I think that's it. I think this need for speed, this need for significance, this need for my friend Alex Mandozian who's someplace in here has said it very eloquently: few things are worse than running in the wrong direction enthusiastically. I think there's a lot of truth to that. I think we tend to to substitute passion and what we're excited about, (for actual learning by doing). I will tell you what, whatever your passion is, it's either something you think you can be successful at or you are successful at. The instant it becomes unsuccessful, your passion goes to zero, and you start looking for the next cool thing. So, the passion is not, it's just excitement about what I think I could be successful at or what I am successful at, but if you sucked at it, I promise it would no longer be your passion. So, I tend to gravitate, I'm probably and there's a great example right now and the press this guy, I don't know how to say his first name Marushi (Masayoshi) Son who, is the guy who put together the hundred billion dollar fund that invested in Uber, and WeWork, and a Dog Walking Service, and has blown through a hundred billion dollars in two years ... in two years ... and it's probably gone, the bulk of it is, and I contrast him with somebody like a Warren Buffett who's been he's been at it 60 or 70 years and his built something that has withstood the test of time. I compare that to what other people are doing, and it seems like there are a lot of people that are optimizing for a one hit (wonder) and it may turn out good, but I'm not sure if it's sustainable, because there's a lack of business skills and tools. I'll say it this way: business success requires business skills and tools, much like Ping Pong success requires Ping Pong skills and tools. And if you want to win a gold medal at Ping Pong, somebody better have Ping Pong skills and tools, and the same thing is true with business.
[23:13] If you want a gold medal in business, somebody better have some business skills and tools and bring more to the table than simply an excitement about the idea. Somebody's got to execute something, and most failures have to do with either, we haven't identified the problem, we're excited about something but don't know what to go do, we've built a crappy team, or a team of munchkins, a team of people that you know are C players, and *that* (in and of itself) can sabotage; there are so many ingredients. And it's just being thoughtful about what's really required and what's really the problem, I think is the key to saying, how do I keep this thing going (sustainably)?
[24:03] The environment's always changing, the environment is the only thing that's the only thing that's always changing so a good idea today could be a bad idea tomorrow and vice versa so I think one of our jobs is business owners is to be is to be thoughtful about good how are things changing? Even I'm changing, so what I can do today is vastly different than what I could do 25 years ago.