Leadership Wisdom From The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: The 8 Rituals of Visionary Leaders (25 page)

“Any suggestions as to the best type of exercise?”

“It’s really up to you. Try to find a sport or activity that is fun. Myself, I love the simple discipline of walking. It’s convenient, healthy and enjoyable. Many of the world’s most productive and creative people have been recreational walkers. When Charles Dickens suffered from writer’s block, he would walk the streets of London late at night hoping to rekindle his creative fire. Day after day he would stroll and study the sights. During his outings, he observed many young children working for little or no pay, a circumstance that deeply troubled him. His desire to shed light on this problem sparked his creativity, leading him to write his most famous work,
A Christmas Carol

“Fascinating.”

“Swiss designer George de Mestral came up with the idea for Velcro after taking long walks in the mountains. He noticed that his dog’s fur was covered by burdock burrs after these jaunts. When he looked at these closely under a microscope, he noticed they were made up of hundreds of tiny hooks that had stuck to the fur. He realized that these would be far more effective than zippers and ultimately produced the first Velcro fastener. What I’m getting at is that walking is a superb way to renew and revitalize your mind as well as your body. All the great thinkers knew this. Confucius, Aristotle and Socrates, for example, all implored their disciples to walk regularly to maintain perfect health. As Yogi Raman used to say with a smile, ‘I have two doctors I always keep with me. My right leg and my left one.’”

“You also suggested that I eat to win. What do you mean by that?”

“The sages understood that the quality of the food you ingest affects the quality of your thoughts. And in this information age,
we all know that rich ideas are the foundation of success. We have entered a knowledge economy where intellectual capital carries the highest value in the marketplace. And if you agree that the food you eat affects the way you think, eating well is not just sound health practice. It makes good business sense.”

“Who would have thought that the junk food I wolf down every lunch hour was affecting our bottom line?”

“Of course, it does. You have a steak and fries for lunch and you feel exhausted, right?”

“True.”

“So your choice of food has diminished both your creativity and your productivity. Consider the effect that kind of lunch has on your bottom line when it is consumed not just by you but by many others in the organization. That’s why I say eat to win. Adopt a peak performance diet. Eat more vegetables and fruits. Drink more water. Reduce the quantities of food that you ingest since most of us eat far more than we need to. Get serious about your health. It will even help you with that sleep problem you’ve been complaining about. Which brings me to the Fourth Discipline for Self-Leadership, the Discipline of Early Awakening.”

“I have a feeling I’m not going to like this one.”

“Getting up early is a common practice that runs through the lives of history’s greatest people. Visionary leaders in the fields of business, arts, the military and the sciences have understood that if you don’t control the day, it will control you. You must have the courage to win the battle of the bed and rise before most others do. Enjoy the exceptional tranquility that the day’s earliest hours brings and bask in the splendor of the morning, before the crush of daily events clamors for your mind’s attention. The sages believed that
as you start your day so you live your day.
They
believed that the first thirty minutes after awakening set the tone for the entire day so they had to be special ones.

“By getting up early, you become the master of your time rather than it mastering you. Thomas Edison, whose industrious work habits allowed him to record over 1,093 inventions in his lifetime, said that ‘sleep is like a drug. Take too much at a time and it makes you dopey. You lose time, vitality and opportunities.’ Ben Franklin believed that there would be more than enough time to sleep when we were in our graves.”

“Sounds a little extreme, Julian. I mean, don’t we all need sleep?”

“Yes, we do. The problem is that most people sleep far more than they need to. They have developed a habit of oversleeping and then claim that their bodies can’t do without it. Do you want to hear the real reason that most people don’t get up early?”

“Sure.”

“Most people don’t get up early because they wouldn’t know what to do with their time if they did. They lack a passionate purpose that fuels and energizes their lives. And so they sleep. That’s why I told you earlier that purpose is one of the greatest motivators known to humankind and that, as a visionary leader, you must link your people’s work to a compelling cause that satisfies their human hunger to contribute and make a difference to others’ lives. People who lack energy often lack a dynamic future vision that impels them forward and excites their spirits. Gandhi slept only four hours a night. His personal mission to free his people from the shackles of servitude was enough fuel to drive him forward. Mandela was an early riser as were many of the wealthiest industrialists who founded this great nation. Always remember that there is a close connection between your energy levels and your purpose.”

“Fascinating. So when I become truly committed to my compelling cause, I will have more energy and not feel so tired all the time?”

“Right. And you will actually feel like rising early because you are excited about where you are going and the good work that you are doing. Which brings me to the Fifth and Final Discipline for Self-Leadership — the Discipline of the Deathbed Mentality.”

“Sounds morbid.”

“Funny you should think that, because this practice is all about life. According to ancient legend, there was once a maharaja in India who began his day by following a peculiar personal rite. Every morning, just after he arose, he would celebrate his own funeral, complete with flowers and music, all the while chanting, ‘I have lived fully. I have lived fully.’”

“Bizarre.”

“That’s what I thought when I first heard about it. But then I realized that the maharaja was on to something. You see, he had found his own way to do what every single one of us needs to do every morning after we wake up.”

“Which is?” I asked, still having no idea what the maharaja’s strange ritual was designed to accomplish.

“Connect with our mortality. Most of us live every day as if we had all the time in the world. We will explore that new opportunity
next
week. We will learn that new skill
next
month. We will start to improve our health or spend more time with our kids
next
year. But right now, we tell ourselves that there are so many things on our plates that demand our immediate attention that we couldn’t possibly have time for anything else.”

“I’m still not sure I understand exactly what the maharaja was doing,” I admitted.

“By celebrating his funeral, he was reminding himself that life is short. He was connecting with the fact that each day could be his last. And by doing so, he brought a sense of urgency, drive and passion to his days that the vast majority of leaders and managers lack. By connecting to his own mortality, he ensured that he lived life fully and didn’t put off doing the important things. Every single day became a work of art, his tiny tribute to the gift of living. I’m sure you’ll agree, Peter, that most of us live as if we had all the time in the world. We worry about trifling matters and focus on petty things. We brood about past failures and fret over future events. We rush through life as if it were a dress rehearsal. And then, on our deathbeds, our hearts fill with regret when we reflect on all the initiatives we did not pursue, on all the relationships we did not build, on all the adventures we did not explore and on all the sunrises that we slept through. I’ve always found it ironic that people say they would give anything for a little more time in then-days and yet they waste the precious time they already have.”

“How true. I know exactly what you mean, Julian. I look at my kids and can’t believe how quickly time is passing. Christopher will soon be eleven and Elliot fourteen. Yet it seems that it was just yesterday that I was singing them to sleep in their nursery. I’ve really missed out on a lot of precious moments with those wonderful kids. And there are so many other things I’ve wanted to do but never got around to doing. Time seems to slip away so quickly. Life is really leaving me behind.”

“It’s like I said earlier, Peter, either you act on life or life will act on you. But in either case, life waits for nobody. Stop spending so much time thinking about the success of others and start focusing on your own vision for the future. Have the courage to understand that every minute spent thinking about someone else’s
victories is a minute taken away from the fulfillment of your own. Stop putting off your hopes and dreams to another day. Stop putting off becoming the kind of leader you know in your heart you can be. Now is the time to make things happen. Now is the time to take some risks in your leadership. Now is the time to test those new strategies you have been thinking of testing. Now is the time to show your people how much you value them. Now is the time to really love your family and commit to your community. Do all those things you have always wanted to do, whether that means learning how to play the saxophone or mastering that golf game of yours. Climb the mountain of life and see what life looks like from the summit. You will see things others cannot see. Be like that maharaja. Live every day as if it were your last. Otherwise you will die with the best you had to give still within you.”

Julian then reached into his robe and pulled out an unexpected gift. It was a parchment scroll that appeared old and wrinkled through the ravages of time. It had been rolled up like a college degree and carefully tied with a homemade bow.

“Here, my friend. I’ve been meaning to give you this for some time now. Our friendship has always meant a lot to me, even if I didn’t always have the courtesy to show it. I truly want you to lead the kind of joyful and meaningful life I feel is everybody’s birthright. This small token will help you on your leadership journey and remind you of a great truth. It contains one of the best definitions of the purpose of life that I have ever read. My hope is that it will be as helpful to your personal growth as it has been to mine.”

I immediately untied the bow and studied the words that had been lovingly etched on the scroll. They were elegant in their simplicity and timeless in their leadership wisdom. They were the
words of the great philosopher Emerson and they spoke volumes about what true success was all about. They read:

As we boarded the cable car to return to the base of the mountain, I reflected on the lessons that Julian had shared with me for self-leadership. I knew that the Disciplines of Personal Renewal, Abundant Knowledge, Physicality, Early Awakening, and Deathbed Thinking would make a big difference in the way I lived. There was absolutely no doubt in my mind about that. Rather than just getting
through
life, now I had a sense of how to start getting from life.

On that magical day, moving slowly down that grand mountain while taking in the splendors of nature with a friend who had found enlightenment, I finally realized that success really was an “inside job” and that
visionary leadership ultimately began with inner leadership.
I finally realized this was a great time to be alive and that I now had to live with a greater sense of commitment. And I became aware that I would never truly be able to liberate the talents of others until I first realized the potential within myself.

Chapter 10 Knowledge Summary • Julian’s Wisdom in a Nutshell

The Ritual
The Essence	The Ritual of Self-Leadership
The Wisdom	• All leadership begins within
• We see the world not as it is but as we are
• Anything less than a conscious commitment to peak personal performance is an unconscious commitment to weak personal performance
• Never settle for mediocrity when you can attain mastery
The Practices	• The Discipline of Personal Renewal™
• The Discipline of Abundant Knowledge™
• The Discipline of Physicality™
• The Discipline of Early Awakening™
• The Discipline of The Deathbed Mentality™
Quotable Quote	Do not be so busy striving that you miss out on living.