Intentional Leaders Podcast with Cyndi Wentland

Challenge Complacency to Reignite Your Potential with Chris Robinson

• Cyndi

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Ever found yourself stuck in a comfortable rut? Turns out, that's not laziness—it's complacency, and it might be the biggest barrier between you and your true potential.

Chris Robinson, Executive Vice President of Maxwell Leadership, joins us to completely reframe how we understand complacency. Forget what you thought you knew—complacency isn't about being lazy or apathetic. It's what Robinson calls "secret places of satisfactory success" where we've become content with being good but not great.

"Complacency looks like busyness, feels like comfort, and sounds like excuses," Robinson explains, detailing how this subtle enemy has been the downfall of empires, companies like Kodak, and even racing legends. The most dangerous part? We often don't recognize it in ourselves because we're still productive, just not intentionally growing toward our potential.

Drawing from his upcoming book "From Fifth to Drive," Robinson shares his powerful seven-step framework for breaking free from complacency: clarity, gathering information, filtering, guidance, relationships, action, and evaluation. Each step builds upon the last to create momentum toward true excellence. The simplest version? "Learn a little bit, do a little bit"—an iterative process that, when combined with specific mentorship, creates breakthrough growth.

Whether you lead a multinational company, a small team, or just yourself, this conversation challenges you to identify your own "rumble strips"—those warning signals that you're drifting off course. Are you allowing routine to replace reflection? Saying "later" more than "now"? Losing energy for what once inspired you? These might be signs that you're settling for good enough when greatness awaits.

Ready to move from drift to drive in your career and life? Take Robinson's complacency quiz at drifttodrivequiz.com and pre-order his book, releasing September 2nd. Your potential is waiting—don't let complacency keep you from reaching it.

Contact Chris: 

ChrisRobinsonSpeaker.com 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/speakerchrisrobinson/

I'd love to hear from you! Send a text message.

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Intentional Leaders Podcast. In this podcast, we explore practices, mindsets and moments that shape confident, purposeful leaders. I am your host, cindy Wetland. Today's episode we are going to have a conversation with Chris Robinson. He is the Executive Vice President of Maxwell Leadership. Chris Robinson, he is the Executive Vice President of Maxwell Leadership and if you're not familiar with John Maxwell, well, you have not been around topics that involve leadership, because John Maxwell is a guru in this space. He's been around for a long time, has done significant work around leadership.

Speaker 1:

So this particular episode, we're going to talk a little bit about complacency, which is really interesting. If you've ever felt complacent or you've had people that are in your life or have worked with that are complacent. We're going to talk about how it quietly fuels underperformance, and Chris has looked at this and researched it and he is going to share the origins of his upcoming book on this topic. So he has developed a seven-step framework that looks at realizing complacency and how to overcome it. I think you're going to find him very engaging and also this topic very interesting. So, whether you're leading a team or simply looking to grow, this conversation is going to challenge you to think about success and performance and the comfort zones that we don't always realize we're in. So let's dive in. All right, so I am very thrilled to welcome Chris Robinson to the Intentional Leaders Podcast. Thank you for joining us today.

Speaker 2:

Yes, thank you so much for having me today. I am excited to be on here with you and add value to your audience today and I love the word, you know intentional. So, hey, we're going to intentionally add value to people today. We are, we are. That's our goal, and it love the word, you know intentional. So, hey, we're going to intentionally add value to people today.

Speaker 1:

We are, we are. That's our goal and it's a shared goal and I love that. I was super excited, since you and I met to have this conversation and we're going to talk a little bit about an upcoming book you're writing and you have a hard copy right in front of you.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I do. You want to show it, I do. Right there, there we go, from fifth to drive. There we go.

Speaker 1:

Yahoo. There, it is All the magic. All the magic in that. But you have a big role. You're an EVP for Maxwell's Leadership Certified Team, so that's your day job. And yet you took it upon yourself to write a book too, because you probably didn't have a lot going on right, yeah, that's correct.

Speaker 2:

Well, not only. In addition to that, I also have six kids, and so Okay, I did not know that. I don't know. I got 16-year-old triplets. I've got a 12 old and nine year old twins. So triplets, twins and a single seriously right, yeah, so we squeezed. We squeezed the book in there. We squeezed the book in there because I didn't have any.

Speaker 1:

I didn't have anything else to do so I love that, okay, you're just impressing me more and more every moment. Well, well, but I was so intrigued, as we were, you and I were talking about your book and it explores that concept of complacency. And here was the quote. It was a secret place of status, satisfactory success, and can you share, I mean, what even prompted you to think about complacency and define it, and why do you think that's so important to explore?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, you know it's funny because initially when I began to write this book, I didn't have any intentions on writing the book. I was actually attending a two-day conference with a friend of mine, rory Vaden, who just released an incredible book called Wealthy and Well-Known just hit the New York Times bestseller list. And I was working with him not so much for myself personally but to see, hey, could Rory bring this content, this material, to the Maxwell Leadership Coaches and add value to our community? Well, I engaged in the process while I was there, just kind of playing along, and I'm not kind of a. In the book I didn't even talk about it. I'm an, all, just kind of playing along. And you know I'm not kind of a. I'm a. You know, in the book I even talk about it. You know I'm a all or nothing person. You know it's like I got two speakers like I'm going all in or I'm not.

Speaker 2:

We begin to engage in the process and you know they said well, chris, what if you were to write a book? What would you write a book on? And initially I really wanted to talk about underperformance, because I love helping organizations develop leaders, I love helping organizations grow, and I said I'd like to talk about underperformance. But as we dug in deeper I said well, what is the root cause of underperformance? And as we began to kick around you know the concepts and ideas of what really causes underperformance the word complacency came up and, oh my goodness, my stomach just dropped and I went, oh gosh. So I went home that night, or to the hotel that night, and I began just contemplating complacency and I also began to think well, where have I seen complacency show up in my life and how did I overcome it? And every area or every instance of life that I could think of where I had some success, it was as a result of following this seven-step framework. So the next morning I'm sitting on the bench and I write out the seven-step framework of which I use to overcome these areas of complacency and I go back in the room, I write on the whiteboard and everybody just kind of stops and go oh my goodness, that's it. And so I took it from that point. It took about six months, from start to finish, to write out the entire book and to have that put together. And oh my goodness, I could not be more excited about this book and how it's going to help people overcome those secret places of satisfactory success.

Speaker 2:

So what we find out inside the book is that the first thing that we have to do is we have to identify areas of complacency, and typically, when we think of the word complacency, we think of laziness or apathy, but it's really couldn't be further from the truth. It's in areas where we're growing without intention, and so what that means is that, hey, I got really good at something and then I just kind of let it be good enough. On a scale of one to 10, I got to about a seven and a half and an eight and I was like, oh, that's good, I can do it, I'm proficient, I can get around it. But there's a gap that begins to happen between when you get good and your actual potential, and so my goal is to help pull people to their potential and step away from their good.

Speaker 2:

So what we're looking to do is fine tune those areas that are your strengths, those areas that you've said hey, you know what, I'm pretty good at this, and you really haven't gone back to work on it any longer. And so when I began to really explore complacency, I realized it was like whack-a-mole. I'm going oh, why aren't I doing anything here? Complacency, why aren't I doing complacency? Complacency just started popping up all throughout my life. I'm going. Oh my goodness, if you would call people and ask them is Chris a complacent person? You'd get no, absolutely not. But that's not the truth, because I've got complacency, secret places of satisfactory success, just like everyone else.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I love that concept. Well, and it is. I think you're trying to reframe an important distinction between what complacency is, because most people would think that's a negative thing. Right, it's a negative thing, that laziness, whatever it might be, but you're saying, hey, no, it's not that. So I love the reframe that I'm not being intentional. In an area of growth, I'm letting good enough be good enough. So I think that's pretty cool. And why do you think that's important for leaders right now, today?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I think it's very important because if we go back and we take a look at you know, some of the greatest people, companies and even empires you can point back to complacency being the result of the decline or fall of that organization. If you look at the Roman Empire, they attribute the Roman Empire collapsing because of complacency. If you look at, even like some of the best drivers in the world Richard Petty Richard Petty contributes his decline in his final years of racing to complacency because he wasn't driving it. He thought that if I continue to do the same things that we'd already done because we were winning, then I can continue to do that. Instead, he found himself not driving innovation but driving the same thing that he was doing again. But the list goes on. I mean, if you look at Kmart, if you look at, you know, kodak, if you look at any of these places, these were organizations that thought what we do is good enough and it led to their demise. So today people need to be aware of it because it's happening inside of organizations all around. You know complacency. It looks like busyness, right, it feels like comfort and it sounds like excuses.

Speaker 2:

Now I was just with a friend of mine in Romania. I spoke in Romania two weeks ago and I was with a friend of mine that's a speaker and a consultant and he was sharing with me this brand new way that he was helping develop company culture. And I mean, it was just like a textbook out of the box. I could take it, go and implement this inside of a company. And then I said the words. I said these words. Oh, my whack-a-mole just came right up. I said, oh, my goodness, I see exactly how I can implement this. I see exactly how I could produce income with this if I wanted to work that way, if I wanted to work that way and I go oh, wait a minute.

Speaker 2:

Those words came out of my mouth and I was like, oh my goodness, that's complacency. And then he gave me the excuse and he said well, chris is busy. As your schedule is, I can see why you wouldn't do that. Why wouldn't I agree with them? I am busy, you know. So what's complacency look like? It looks like busyness. What's it feel like comfort Because I don't have to go out and you know work really hard at some new, you know product or service to it as well. As busy as you are, you probably don't need to do this right.

Speaker 1:

So we have to be on the lookout for this I've been having a an internal moment of um awareness and I'm whacking my own mold because my marketing director wants me to do something and I was like, oh, I don't, don't think that's going to work, and oh and she, and she knows I'm busy too, but I it's so easy to say like, oh, it's not going to work and I can't put that in, rather than looking at the discomfort that I don't really want to.

Speaker 2:

Correct, and why do I need to do that and the work that's going to require? And you're saying, well, I don't really want to do the work that way. It's what you really say.

Speaker 1:

Things are fine, things are good, she's going to listen to this podcast too, and she's going to know she thought herself Yep, so I love that you had this revelation. You started seeing it everywhere and then you developed this framework and it's seven steps, and number one, I think, is clarity right.

Speaker 2:

Yes, that's correct.

Speaker 1:

And why do you think that is so foundational?

Speaker 2:

And why?

Speaker 1:

aren't we clear?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, again, clarity is the first step, because you cannot have what you cannot see. And any time that you feel busy, any time that you're not moving in a direction as fast as you want, it's usually because of a lack of clarity, because you've got all this other clutter in your life that doesn't line up with where you want to go. That doesn't line up with where you want to go. And I think about it. You know, probably a couple years ago, before I hired a new financial advising team you know it was what I was doing at the time was I really didn't like everything's fine, got more money coming in than I'm spending. You know everything is good and they're like, well, what's your goal? And I was like, well, you know, I don't really know I can buy what I want to buy right now. I can do what I want to do right now. I don't know.

Speaker 1:

Like I don't know. And then the person said what about those six children?

Speaker 2:

Right, right, yeah, what about them? They can work, they can work.

Speaker 1:

There you go.

Speaker 2:

You know, but it was. I was drifting. I was drifting because I didn't have a clear vision or something I was driving towards, and not that that needs to be. Our sole focus is our income and what we're doing. But it could be impact, it could be our relationships, it could be, you know, anything that we want to get better in? Or we know that we have more potential in, we need to get clear on it. Get better in, or we know that we have more potential in, we need to get clear on it. And I look at it this way, cindy, is that a quick litmus test for our listeners? Out there is.

Speaker 2:

I would imagine that on this particular podcast, there's many that set goals, and if I were to ask your audience how many of you set goals at the beginning of this year, most of them would say yep, I set goals.

Speaker 2:

Now here's the litmus test, cindy if we have clarity or not. The first challenge I would say is go back and pull out those goals from the first of the year, if you can find them, because for most people, they're scrambling around going. I know I wrote them somewhere, but we're halfway through. I don't quite know where those are. But once you find that, and once you got that goal list from the first of the year, the second challenge I have to you is to look at your to-do list from the last two, three days and chances are most people's to-do list look crazy in comparison to where they want to go. You see, because they don't have clarity on it, they let it go. And when you have clarity on where you want to go now, everything else falls to the wayside and you can begin to make meaningful, you know steps and movement towards, with intention, towards the direction that you want to go.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, it makes so much sense because I think you know, as you said, we get cluttered with so much day to day that other people want from us or that is expected from us, or that we think we need to do or focus on, and all of those tasks just add up to our life. It's our life which is we're reacting to without you know being proactive and, as you said, more deliberate around. Where am I going and am I? Are those activities and behaviors and practices aligned with that or not? So I love that quote cannot have what you cannot see. So true, I love that. So you talked about the initial thought for this book was about underperformance, and that's where you started and then it reframed, and you also mentioned that it isn't always about lack of effort but subtle forms of success. And what are and you've kind of said this already in your own life some real world examples? How do you see that showing up in leaders and teams? Like, how would someone know?

Speaker 1:

that there's missed opportunity. How would you, you know, based? On what work you've done.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's a great question, you know. And so again, going back to take a look at some of the early signs, so inside the book there's actually a quiz. Take a look at some of the early signs. So inside the book there's actually a quiz and whether you have the book or not, you can actually take the quiz. And if you do, you can do that at drifttodrivequizcom, and that's with the number two in there, that's with the number two in there, drifttodrivequizcom. And when you take that quiz it's going to give you some early detection signs. But also, in addition to that, it's going to give you some early detection signs. But also, in addition to that, it's going to give you some action steps that you can take based on where you are in that area of complacency. But there's some subtle signs when it comes to complacency. You know, the first sign of complacency is comfort. It's comfort. You see, comfort is your baseline and growth starts with discomfort.

Speaker 2:

When was the last time you did something for the first time? When was the last time you did something for the first time? I had the privilege the other day of doing something for the first time that was completely outside of my comfort zone and probably normal to most people, but I mean, I'm just the most unmechanically inclined person on the planet, like Cindy. It stresses me out to have to fix something and my toolkit could actually probably fit inside this cup right here. This is how many tools I have and I call somebody for everything.

Speaker 2:

And I was at the Atlanta airport and I was early and so I was like, oh, I don't want to turn the car in yet, I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to just pull into this parking lot. Right before there there's a young lady standing there and she comes up to me. She says excuse me, mister, could you, could you change this? You know how to change a tire. I was like, oh no, not really. I said you know. And to be honest with you, I'm looking around for people, somebody more qualified.

Speaker 1:

Is there a better adult around here?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, adultier, and adult and I said to myself I said, well, I can get you started, but I don't know if I could actually do this thing. So I go over there and I end up getting out all the pieces and I end up, you know, getting the car lifted. I figured that out. Then I said, ok, now there's only a couple tools here, there's only this wrench here, so that's got to work. That looks like my Allen wrench at home that I got a bunch of. I said I could do this thing here. I get that off and I get the tire changed, but I'm sweating the entire time, not only because it was hot but because I am stressed out going. Can I get this girl back on the road? And I did it, but my comfort level is hey, let me call somebody. You don't have anybody in your contact list, and so-.

Speaker 2:

The first sign is comfort. The second sign is that you're busy but you're not challenged. You're busy but you're not challenged. And that's where routine has replaced reflection. Routine has replaced reflection, meaning that you're not really considering the things that you're doing. You're an automatic movement and you're busy, but it's just not challenging to you anymore. Another sign could be that you say later more than now. Well, you know what? Maybe I'll do that marketing thing you were talking about a little bit later. I don't really need it right now. That might be a sign. Delay is a quiet form of drift. It's a quiet form of drift.

Speaker 1:

It's a quiet form of delay okay, darn it you're right, okay, dude I'm drifting, I'm just like drifting. I don't even want to take the quiz, I'm like all right, right, gotta take the quiz gotta take the quiz.

Speaker 2:

We're gonna help you out there. The way that you might be able to identify this as if you've lost energy for what used to inspire you. You've lost energy for what used to inspire you. So numbness is a symptom of being stuck. All right, and so you know, in that one I talk about an example in the book of how I was over in Cambodia.

Speaker 2:

I flew over to Cambodia, the other side of the planet, and I was going to go speak to a couple thousand people and there was only two speakers on the agenda John Maxwell, chris Robinson. I mean, this is a speaker's dream right now. Yes, we go to meet the president of Cambodia. Before that training session, we go to meet the president. So I mean I'm feeling good. I mean we're just feeling things are good. And you know I go up on stage and I deliver the talk and things are going wrong and you know my remote's not working. I'm speaking with an interpreter but I get through it. I'm a pro, but at the end of it there's a lot of people telling me how great it was, how it impacted their life, how good it was and how they needed that.

Speaker 2:

But then I went to dinner with John Maxwell and I sat down with John and I said hey, john, could you give me some feedback on my talk today?

Speaker 2:

Now this is John Maxwell, number one leadership communicator on the planet, and he says I'd love to share some thoughts with you. Well, cindy, he shared not one, but 10 plus items that I need to work on and, in fact, the entire table. There was about five other people. They thought it was a brainstorming session. All of a sudden, and all of a sudden they're giving me thoughts and ideas of what I needed to do improve. But what happened was I went back to look at that list and there was nothing on the list that I did not know or did not do in the past. But because I've given so many talks and I speak every single week in some capacity, I didn't prepare for that opportunity the way that I used to prepare to go speak for free at a Rotary Club for lunch. You know what I mean, and so it ignited this fire inside of me. But another sign that you might have would be that you avoid friction feedback, because comfort actually becomes your cage where you like to stay.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

So if you want to take a deep dive into where you're at on complacency, check out Drift, the number two drive quizcom, and you can find out where you might have some complacency in your life but get some actionable steps. So it's about a five-page report that it kicks out for you to kind of help you identify it as well as give you some steps to move forward. And that's whether you have the book or not. I just want to help people.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, of course you do, and I mentioned to you pre-taping that the book is in my Amazon cart because it is coming out. Like, how does one get the book, or can you get it before it comes out on Amazon?

Speaker 2:

I, cindy, because you're my friend, you're on my list and I've got a box or some in my house, but they won't actually be out for release until September 2nd, so I would encourage everybody, go ahead and preorder it now. Every single preorder counts. We're trying to hit all the top book lists out there, and so every order done before then actually counts, and so I'd appreciate that very much for anybody that's listening.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's so cool. Well, and I think too, as you, you know, you've continued to emphasize that how this is showing up in our life is very nuanced and, as you were going through, and I'm taking frantic notes, but I can't catch everything but the comfort and the routine replacing reflection, and am I doing things later rather than more? I lose energy, all the other things, and I think sometimes, you know, and that could be because I'm in a job that isn't challenging me right, or I don't really feel purposeful anymore, it could be a factor of where I am in my career.

Speaker 2:

You know, I kind of look at myself and I'm like I'm in the later chapters of, you know, getting cozy over there it is getting cozy and all a lot of our friends and you know family are retiring and I'm like I don't want to retire yet.

Speaker 1:

But then how does that look and what does that mean to me? That do I start kind of yeah.

Speaker 2:

Well, you do because you don't want to retire, but you don't want to work the way that you used to work.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, it's true. But then I look at myself like why not?

Speaker 2:

Right, right, why not?

Speaker 1:

Why can't?

Speaker 2:

I try new things.

Speaker 1:

Why can't I do? I mean during COVID, when we all had to pivot and shift and I'm like, okay, I guess I'm going to do a podcast and I guess I'm going to learn virtual training, right things right.

Speaker 2:

Why can't I keep going Right? Well, and again, that's what you know. I talk about the rumble strip inside the book, and that's what you're hitting and so COVID was a rumble strip for you.

Speaker 2:

You know, just like we have on the highways. Whenever you begin to drift not because you're lazy but because you're familiar you're not paying attention you hit that side of the road and there's this little rumble that picks you up by that drift. Covid was a rumble strip for you. That was unavoidable. But when something like that isn't there, we hit these rumble strips and we either wake up and say you know what? I need to be intentional and get back moving forward, or we just let that rumble, just we get used to it and we say okay and we ignore it and we just kind of continue to stay in that drift. So I think today is a rumble strip for you, cindy.

Speaker 1:

It's kind of freaking me out. I just wanted to talk about you, not about me. I want to talk about your great ideas, not my deficiencies. You're really getting at and I think you are all about intentionality too, and being deliberate and being focused, obviously just by the nature of what you do, but in this work. So how would you encourage people to be more intentional in their thinking? Like, how do people figure out that they've just hit a rumble strip, for example?

Speaker 2:

Well, I mean, you know it. I mean it could be any number of things. It's either a hit financially, it's a dip in a relationship, it's a you know again, all those early signs of discomfort that we just went through. Those are all symptoms and should be okay, a rumble strip for you. It should be something that should wake you up. But again, comfort is the baseline and you're comfortable.

Speaker 2:

Well, it might not be a rumble strip for you if you're not talking about it or thinking about it. You're just going through that day-to-day routine. And so you have to take intentional, introspective look at the areas where you say, hey, you know what, where am I being complacent? As we've been talking, and we've talked about many different areas, I would imagine that several people listening have said, ooh, yeah, I could be doing more in this area of my life, I could be doing more in that area of life. So, just like it's awakening for you right now, it is the same way that it would work for every individual listening. It takes intentional reflection to really kind of evaluate where we are and what we want.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, for sure. And then there's the discomfort of realizing that, like I'm having these moments right now, and then you know so how, as you think about that seven step framework and I don't, you know, I'm, I'm still learning what this is. How do people get from clarity to that action?

Speaker 2:

Yeah Well, there's a lot of steps in between. Yeah, so is that the framework.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's the framework. So we'll walk through the framework and I'll share it with you. You know, a lot of people say well, chris, we don't want to give them the whole seven steps because they got to get the book. No, I'm going to give you the seven steps because I want you to know the seven steps but to get practical application resources. To get through these seven steps, you'll get the book. But the second step is gathering. Ok, so once you identify what it is that you want, you have to then go and gather information on that specific area. So and again, I'm giving you different examples of where this works because I want people to see that it works in every area of their life. So I'll give you an example of me becoming a certified teaching pro pickleball player. Okay, so it worked. For that right you have time to exercise.

Speaker 2:

I'm a certified teaching pro, a teaching pro Now. I'm not an actual pro, but I'm a teaching pro pickleball. But what happened was I began to play the game and in the first day I said, oh my goodness, I love that sound of that ball, I love this game. I'm going to learn how to play pickleball. So the first thing I did was I was clear that I wanted to learn how to play this game. The second thing was I began to gather information, and so, whatever area that you want to grow, you need to gather information through books, videos, audios, courses and conferences.

Speaker 2:

Okay, yeah, about the BVACC? All right, so you want to gather and that's being intentional to collect and gather experiences and resources on a specific topic? Okay, whatever that topic in your life is, whether it be your health, relationships, et cetera. The third step is filtering. Filtering, and this is where you're separating the useful from the distractions. Okay, so you've gathered all this information and I know I got some good gatherers listed in. Right now they're like oh yeah, I gather, but here, through the filtering phase, this is where the magic is, because filtering allows for us to participate in what's called layered learning. All right, so Think about this, cindy, have you ever been? I keep putting you on the spot here, but you're being our sacrifice for the listeners. All right, have you ever been reading a book on one topic, watching videos on another topic, listening to audios on another topic, taking a course on another topic and attending a conference on another topic? Has that ever happened in your life?

Speaker 1:

No, this is highly, highly deliberate and focused, I know, but that's true when you think about, well, we have so much access right now, more than we've ever had today, to resources in, as you said, so many different mediums, and I think that is overwhelming. So I love the idea of being purposeful about that. You know what is going to be practical and helpful and useful to me and what am I? What is just noise, and there's so much noise.

Speaker 2:

It is, it is, and so when you line up those books, videos, audios, courses, you know all that stuff. When you line all that up on the same topic, you layer that learning and you actually gain knowledge faster and move towards it faster when you filter properly. But, if you know, you fall into the trap of that thing that we all have in our hands right here. I mean, this can take you any which way, that phone can take you any which way, and so you need to layer that learning and filter properly. The fourth step is guidance guidance.

Speaker 2:

So what I did after I, you know, gathered information, I filtered information on specific shots and what I wanted to work on, you know, by day four of playing pickleball, I was in a clinic and I had a coach. Okay, step four is guidance. That's getting a tour in the specific area that you want to grow, and nothing can save you more time, energy or money than a coach or a mentor in the specific area that you want to go. Again, remember I'm saying the word specific, okay, because a lot of times we'll go out and we'll seek mentors and we think that one mentor solves for all of our life.

Speaker 2:

But we want to be very specific in the mentor and the guide that we're reaching out to and learning from, so that we can stay in that lane and in that topic. The fifth step is relationships. That's getting around like-minded people, you know, and so, as a result of doing one-on-one coaching with the pickleball coach, I also participate in group trainings because that allowed for me to get around other players that were playing and speaking about it as I was. I did this exact thing with speaking. I did this exact same thing with coaching. I do everything I do is follow these steps.

Speaker 2:

Then now step six is action. Okay, okay, step six is action, and that's doing something with the clarity, the gathering, the filter and the guidance and the relationships that you have, because if you don't take action on what you're learning, you know it just doesn't matter. And then the seventh step is evaluation, and that's taking a honest reflection of your progress through self-assessment, and that thrusts you right back into having a clear vision of where you want to go. But if I had to shortcut this, and the way that I teach this to my kids, is that you need three things to grow in any area of life you need knowledge, you need experience, you need to do something with that knowledge. And then you need a coach or a mentor, and so there's a two-step framework that I teach that. You say, chris, I don't need the seven steps, I know what I want. How do I move forward? Learn a little bit, do a little bit. Learn a little bit, do a little bit yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

And do that, oh my goodness, your progress will be huge and do that, oh my goodness, your progress will be huge, yeah yeah.

Speaker 1:

And I love the idea, too, that you're creating not just the pathway, but you're creating a support system at the same time to help you succeed with those relationships, with the guidance, with the coach, with the people that are going in the same direction. You are so you're building in a support system, and I think that is so important when we, when we reach times of stress or problems or obstacles and we don't know where to go or how to do it, and then that just creates frustration and stagnation, you know, in our ability to go forward. But when we have people surrounding us that are, as you said, like-minded or passionate about the same thing, it makes it all more collaborative but more fun too when we get stuck.

Speaker 1:

Yeah absolutely, that's awesome. Well, thank you for sharing Like. I feel like we got the secret ingredients to an amazing recipe, but I think your book is going to bring I know your book is going to bring everything to life in a very rich and meaningful way, because the stories that you, you know, you told me previously and today bring a lot of depth to the concepts that you have.

Speaker 2:

So, even though people have the seven steps, I think it's important to have the examples and how this worked for you and what barriers you also encountered along the way, which I think is yeah, and the great thing about the book is the way that I always teach as a speaker is I want to give you practical applications, so I give questions in there that you can take to reflect so it's really.

Speaker 2:

It's a book for reading, but a book for reference. That's going to be a guide that you go back to time and time again to help yourself where you are and where you want to go.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I can tell that you know you're an educator and teacher. First You're a coach, first, right, and then you happen to write a book. But I think that's an important distinction. When I think about people that write books and their concepts, like here's a bunch of concepts, but when people weave in and here's some prompts and here's some resources and here's some action, then I know it's that spirit of teaching and education and coaching that is built in so that people don't have to work as hard to figure it all out. So I admire that about you is I can tell that you're an awesome teacher, educator.

Speaker 2:

I love it.

Speaker 1:

So tell me what's one thing that, as you were researching the book, as you were putting together, what was one thing that surprised you, or that you didn't really expect it to come up or to write about it, but then you thought this is really important.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, One thing that stood out that really surprised me. I don't know if there was anything that really surprised me in the research of the book, because it was more reaffirming of what I believed and the framework, so there was nothing that was like aha, I got you. If I did have a surprise of putting this book together, it would be the difficulty of actually producing the audio book. Oh really.

Speaker 1:

So that was a growth opportunity that was.

Speaker 2:

That was a stretch, that was a growth opportunity. I'm a very just like regimented you know time person and I love time management and I love being on time and efficiency throughout the day. And they put two days on my calendar for the audio book and I was two days like no, this isn't, this isn't going to happen. So I skipped the first half day and I show up on the first half day and I begin to read the audio book and I and first question I asked my producer was why in the world is this on here for two days? He says, well, it takes two days. I was like no, we're going to get through this. I began to start the audio book and about an hour in I go, oh, this takes two days.

Speaker 1:

Oh, really. So why did it take so long?

Speaker 2:

I don't have no idea, yeah well, you're reading the book word for word, but you're reading it also in context and you're also reading, you know, so you can turn a question into a statement. Or you know you're reading it and you insert and make up words or at least I did and then you're reading for so long that you start hallucinating. And there was one part that we were stuck on. I'm like the producer's like that's not in there. I'm like and I kept reading the same sentence and saying something else different. He's like that's not in there.

Speaker 1:

Oh really, it's in my imagination.

Speaker 2:

Right, yeah, and so it was just I had never done that before. It was the first time, yeah, and a great experience. But it was definitely a surprise of how you know the difficulty of it and you're reading, for you know several hours you're just reading, uh, your words, and so it was amazing but fun. So I can't wait for people to hear the audiobook.

Speaker 1:

I would want to hire someone who's got a beautiful eloquent voice and just like pretend you're me right really nice and don't swear, cindy that's an option.

Speaker 1:

That's an option oh, I love it. Well, you've been on quite a journey and I I know I mean when we started this meeting you said I'm sorry I'm late and you weren't. So I know you're very oriented to time and being on time and I want to be mindful of your time, but I just so appreciate you taking the time one to just get to know that. We got to know each other before this interview, but how freely you're sharing your journey and what you've learned and tying it to so many examples of life.

Speaker 1:

And when I think about my audience of leaders, you know leaders doesn't mean I'm a manager in a big business. You know it could be. I'm a leader in my church, I'm a leader in my family. I want to make a difference in people's lives. And when we step back and look at, are we pushing ourselves to be our very best? And what's interesting about that concept too is I hear a lot of times when people talk about the best coaches they've ever had. It's one that pushed them to their potential and they didn't even realize there was more potential. And that's really what you're saying is. Can you examine that yourself?

Speaker 2:

Right. Yep, that's correct.

Speaker 1:

For the opportunity to grow in a way that maybe you're not, and there's more potential there, indeed Well, thank you, my friend, for for sharing all this, and I'm going to. I'm going to go take the quiz. It's going to be bad. I'm on a rumble strip, apparently, and this is a good opportunity to really rethink that, you know in my own life and career and the choices I'm making.

Speaker 2:

Yeah Well, thank you so much, cindy, for having me Truly an honor to get to know you. I love your heart and your passion for people and adding value to people, and so thank you for just being a purpose-driven leader.

Speaker 1:

My honor to be with you today, truly so. Thank you, chris. So wasn't he cool? The next time that I think I'm too busy, I'm going to think about Chris Robinson traveling all over the world, speaking constantly, working with thousands of certified trainers and leaders for the Maxwell organization. And not only that writing a book in six months and having six children and learning how to change a tire. This man is impressive.

Speaker 1:

I had such an engaging conversation with him even prior to this interview and I was so excited for him to share his message with all of you. I hope what you gained from this is some insight about what complacency really means, and that it isn't a negative thing in terms of we're lazy or we're, you know, deliberately stuck in something, but it's really about considering where are we almost plateauing, in a way without consciousness, where we're not achieving our full potential, and I think about that for myself right now. I'm like am I at a point that that is happening? He talked about the rumble strips, and COVID was a rumble strip for me as a business owner and as a consultant and as a teacher, and now we're kind of out of that. I'm more comfortable with a lot of the things I'm doing. Where am I really stretching myself? So I hope that's a question that you will also ask yourself, and I'm super excited to get his book from Drift to Drive and I hope it intrigues you enough to check it out as well.

Speaker 1:

So until next time, think about where you are in this sphere of potential and maybe what area of your life might you want to explore and get a little bit more clarity on. As always, if you enjoyed this podcast, please, please, please, share it with other people who are like-minded. As he said, we've got to build our community right and then also leave a review or comments. I love to hear from people about what they enjoyed or what they want more of in these podcast episodes. This is for you, so whatever is most beneficial and valuable, I want that feedback. Thanks, and have a great week.