Are you drifting through your days busy but not fulfilled? In this episode of Executive Connect, Chris Robinson, international speaker, executive vice president at Maxwell Leadership, and author of From Drift to Drive, reveals how to wake up your potential and live with true intention.

Chris shares how to identify where you’ve gone on autopilot, build clarity about what you really want, and take consistent daily action toward it. From his seven-step framework to the “learn a little, do a little” philosophy, you’ll walk away with tools to break out of complacency and start driving your life forward with purpose.

If you’ve ever felt stuck, burnt out, or unsure what’s next… this episode is your wake-up call.

Chapters:
00:00 | Why you might be drifting without realizing it
00:41 | Meet Chris Robinson executive VP at Maxwell Leadership
01:28 | What “drift” means and why it’s the silent killer of progress
02:17 | The rumble strip metaphor how small wake-up calls save lives
03:36 | How to spot when you’re in autopilot mode
04:41 | The two types of complacency nearsighted vs farsighted
05:36 | Getting 2020 vision and realigning goals with daily actions
06:44 | The seven-step framework for moving from drift to drive
07:43 | Gathering phase aligning books, videos, and courses with goals
08:41 | Learn a little, do a little the secret to sustainable progress
10:52 | Why motivation fails without daily micro habits
13:42 | Teaching discipline and accountability through simple routines
16:39 | How fear blocks forward motion and how to fix it
18:19 | Lessons from baseball, parenting, and life consistency wins
20:27 | The power of dominant thoughts and why mindset leads action
22:17 | Chris’s own drift moment and what John Maxwell taught him
24:55 | Feedback, humility, and never going on autopilot again
27:31 | How Chris became VP at Maxwell Leadership
30:45 | The one question that brings instant clarity: What do I want?
31:42 | The advice Chris would give his younger self read and keep learning
32:30 | Where to get the book and bonus resources

Chris

(0:00) What do I want? (0:01) Blank sheet of paper. (0:03) What do I want?

(0:04) And everything else that you’re doing in life needs to clear off that page. (0:08) Second step inside the process is gathering phase. (0:11) Gathering books, videos, audios, courses, conferences, so that everything begins to line up in the direction that you want to go.

(0:20) All too often what we do is…

Melissa

(0:23) Most people don’t fail because they lack talent or opportunity. (0:28) They fail because they drift through days, decisions, even decades without intention. (0:36) From Drift to Drive isn’t just a book, it’s a wake-up call.

(0:40) Today’s guest, Chris Robinson, international speaker, executive vice president of Maxwell leadership and author from Drift to Drive. (0:50) If you’re tired of coasting and ready to reclaim your direction, your destiny and your drive, this episode is the starting line. (0:59) Welcome, Chris.

Chris

(1:01) Hey, thank you so much, Melissa. (1:03) So excited to be on here with you today.

Melissa

(1:05) Now, you join us today to talk about breaking out of autopilot mode and living with intention. (1:13) You’ve trained thousands, led thousands at Maxwell leadership, and now your new book Drift to Drive is shaping up how people reclaim their momentum in work and life. (1:25) Can you share a little bit about this concept of drift?

(1:29) And it’s a word I don’t really hear often, but we all know that we do it in our own lives. (1:35) So can you really tell us a little bit about what it is and why it’s the silent killer in progress?

Chris

(1:41) Yeah, you know, Drift, if you really go back to it, there’s a great example that we give in the very first chapter called Rumble Strips. (1:49) And, you know, what this is based off of is, you know, back in the 1950s, they introduced a brand new feature to the highway. (1:56) This brand new feature to the highway was these little horizontal lines that were cut into a vertical street.

(2:02) And the reason that they began to put that in is because what was happening was people were going into automatic mode, becoming so familiar with the road, what was happening is they were drifting into oncoming traffic. (2:15) And so when they began to cut these little strips inside the road, what that did was it gave a rumble to alert them to cause them to stop the drift. (2:24) Well, because of that little feature in the highway, that reduced fatalities by 70% just by a little rumble, by stopping the drift.

(2:34) And so my goal, you know, with this book, is to really be a leadership rumble strip, to give you that lovingly wake up calls that, you know, to let you know that, hey, look, you’ve done well, you’ve done good, but there’s a gap between your good and your potential. (2:50) And that gap between your good and your potential is greatness. (2:53) And there is more for you in store.

(2:56) And so that’s what I want to do with this book is cause people from stopping drift and then protect them from the silent killer, what we call complacency, ready to lead smarter and invest wiser.

Melissa

(3:09) On the executive connect podcast, we unpack executive strategies for wealth and influence, hit the subscribe button. (3:18) Now, don’t just watch act. (3:20) I love it.

(3:21) And I find that you first have to identify where you’re drifting. (3:25) I don’t think we necessarily realize in our day to day, busy lives that we’re drifting. (3:31) So let’s kind of start from the beginning in the process.

(3:34) How can someone spot when they’re drifting if life just feels always busy and always, we’re always responding to what’s going on in our life?

Chris

(3:43) Well, you know, I call busy the new stupid. (3:45) Um, I mean, that is one of the things that, you know, we’re busy, we’re busy, we’re busy. (3:50) And often we have to stop and ask ourselves, not what are we doing, but what are we actually accomplishing?

(3:55) And so identifying that place first, we have inside the book, what we call the cap, the complacency assessment profile. (4:03) And so we give you an assessment that’s free, whether you buy the book or not. (4:08) Um, you can take this assessment.

(4:09) It’s going to help you identify areas of drifting your life, but then also give you actionable steps that you can take. (4:17) Never ever do I ever want to speak. (4:19) Do I ever want to coach?

(4:21) Do I ever want to train without giving people tools and resources and actual steps to be able to walk away with? (4:27) And so we hope you assess that, but then we give you, you know, those action steps to be able to take. (4:32) So we do have to define where we’re complacent at and we do have to identify it.

(4:36) Now, this is an area that, uh, we, we talk about two types of complacency. (4:42) Uh, the first one is what we call complacency myopia, which is an optometry term for nearsightedness. (4:47) So that person that you’re talking about is that they are busy as could possibly be, you know, they have no problem taking action.

(4:56) And if you said, Hey, are you complacent? (4:58) They would say, absolutely not Chris. (5:00) I’m busy all day long.

(5:01) I take action all day long. (5:02) But if you ask them where they’re going, they have no idea. (5:06) All right.

(5:07) They can’t see the distance, but they can see the next step in front of them. (5:11) Now the opposite side of the spectrum, we have the friend Melissa, that is, uh, what we had call has complacency hyperopia. (5:17) Now hyperopia is a term for farsightedness.

(5:21) And so they see the big vision, you know, Melissa, they’ve got the vision board. (5:25) They can tell you about all the big things that they want to do, but they won’t take the next step because they don’t know what the next step is. (5:32) And so our goal is to get that 2020 vision and get clear on what it is that we want so that we can then begin to take those steps to move forward.

(5:41) And so, you know, um, once we get clear on that, then now you can do it. (5:46) So most people, if we look at, you know, their goals that they set for the beginning of the year, because I’m pretty sure most of the listeners that you have, Melissa, are goal setters and they set goals at the first of the year. (5:58) Maybe they can’t find them right now, but they set them.

(6:00) Right. (6:01) And if you look at their goals from beginning of the year and you look at their to-do list from the past week, it looks crazy. (6:09) It has nothing to do with where they said that they want to go.

(6:12) And that’s where we get confused. (6:14) We get caught in the drift of making these automatic decisions of being busy every single day.

Melissa

(6:19) Yeah, I love that. (6:21) I think that’s such, such an interesting piece. (6:23) So one thing I find personally is when the pandemic happened, I think it made me personally stop and ask myself, why, what now?

(6:33) Why now? (6:34) And how do we reconnect with my why? (6:37) So once you’ve named the area that you’re drifting in and we know, you know, it’s near set as far as what’s someone’s next move after they know which way they’re drifting.

Chris

(6:46) Yeah. (6:47) So we have a seven step framework that we teach inside the book. (6:51) And, you know, once you identify that place of, okay, I’m drifting here, how do I get this drive back?

(6:59) How do I clear the plate? (7:00) Well, it’s first of all, just asking a simple question of what do I want? (7:05) What do I want?

(7:06) Blank sheet of paper. (7:07) What do I want? (7:08) And everything else that you’re doing in life needs to clear off that page and ask yourself that question.

(7:14) But then the first second step inside the process is gathering phase. (7:18) Now the gathering phase is really about gathering information that you need to move in that direction. (7:25) So in that we talk about gathering books, videos, audios, courses, conferences, so that everything begins to line up in the topic.

(7:40) I’m watching videos on this topic. (7:43) I’m listening to an audio book on another topic. (7:46) And what happens is we get, we’re busy, we’re trying to learn, we’re trying to grow, but it’s fragmented.

(7:52) And so we don’t get the movement that we want because we’re not actively engaging in layered learning where everything lines up in the direction that we want to go. (8:01) So that next stage is gathering.

Melissa

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(8:57) It’s almost like training, like athletes would train at a sport, right? (9:01) You really, as you’re telling me this, I’m correlating it to sports because they very much have a plan and all the exercise lines up with their food, lines up with their position on the field or whatever sport they’re playing. (9:15) So I think of it, intention needs urgency to become an action, right?

(9:22) So we have to get all the tools, line up all the resources, and really build systems to drive those behaviors. (9:31) So let’s talk about sustainability and how to keep that fire burning ongoing without burning out. (9:38) I know a lot of times we are excited about our goals.

(9:42) We’re excited to hit the road and turn our intentions into something meaningful. (9:47) And we’re good for a couple of weeks and then we burn out. (9:50) So how can one keep that fire going without burning out?

Chris

(9:56) Yeah, well, it’s a real simple philosophy that I teach and it’s a two-step process because what most people do is they do get excited and they try to do too much out the gate and then they burn themselves out or they stop. (10:09) So two-step process looks like this, learn a little bit, do a little bit, learn a little bit, do a little bit. (10:17) And so this philosophy really started for me years ago when I was wanting to become a coach, speaker, and trainer.

(10:25) And this was one of those things where I had made my very last investment to get inside of the certification program. (10:32) And so I had given these people all of my money, Melissa, A-L-L. (10:36) I had given it all to them.

(10:37) So what I wasn’t going to do was give them all of my money and then a little bit of my trust. (10:42) And so I knew that if I was going to be successful, if I was going to make this work, I needed to intently follow directions. (10:50) And so I began to really implement this process of learn a little bit and do a little bit.

(10:55) And what that looked like was that I would watch a video of what the instructor would tell me to do. (11:03) They would say, go and do this. (11:04) I would pause it.

(11:05) I would go and do it. (11:07) And then I would come back to see what I had to do next. (11:09) That’s how much I trusted the process.

(11:11) That’s how much I said, hey, look, I’m going to learn what they said, but I’m going to go do it. (11:16) Not watch every single video, listen to every single phone call, read every single book. (11:22) No, it was I learned something.

(11:24) Here’s the action that they said, take, go and do it, and then come back and learn some more. (11:30) And as you use that two step process, you move further towards your goals. (11:33) But if you just stay on that learning side or that gathering side, then you’ll be stuck with just a lot of information and no forward movements.

(11:41) So learn a little bit and do a little bit.

Melissa

(11:43) It seems so rudimentary, but I, as one of those people that when it says, stop the video and do a thing, I just let the video keep playing or I just flip the page and keep reading. (11:55) When I made that pivot, it was, it was so different and it seems so basic that somebody’s telling me, and I can’t remember what video it was. (12:05) I was listening, but somebody actually said, no, no, really stop the video.

(12:09) Um, and so it was that time I had to have like somebody tell me a second time to stop the video for me to actually do it. (12:17) Because I find that motivation is unreliable. (12:22) And it’s funny, I’ve been to some of those training seminars where you become like a motivated idiot.

(12:28) Um, it’s not installed regularly, whether it’s, you know, learn a little bit and do a little bit. (12:35) If it’s a, you know, a 15 minute exercise attached to a goal, it’s small daily bite size movements in training. (12:44) And at some point it becomes easy to do, right?

(12:49) It just becomes consistency, right? (12:52) That’s something like the, it’s just consistent, something like a journal when, you know, I journal in the morning, it took me 10 years to actually do that 10 years. (13:01) So just journal first thing in the morning, you know, I start out with the intention to journal.

(13:07) And then my day would get started. (13:09) A client would call, kids would come in the room. (13:12) But once I blocked it out, it’s amazing what you said is so important, learning a little bit and doing it a little bit when that action is consistent compounds and compounds and compounds where you don’t even realize you’re doing it at some point.

(13:27) So I love that, um, analogy.

Chris

(13:30) Uh, yes, indeed.

Melissa

(13:33) So tell me this, is there one habit that you do? (13:38) Is it something you like learn a little bit? (13:39) Is this like a morning exercise?

(13:42) Is this something you do morning? (13:44) You know, what’s the prescription for the learn a little bit, do a little thing.

Chris

(13:48) Yeah. (13:49) You know, when it comes to it, you know, every single day that we’re learning, and I think that’s the mistake that people make is trying to make treat every day the same and doing a habit in the morning. (14:02) So whatever your goal, your dream, your vision is, it’s real simple is that every single day that ends in day, do something to move towards that goal.

(14:11) It doesn’t matter if it’s in the morning. (14:12) It doesn’t matter if it’s midday. (14:14) It doesn’t matter if it’s at night, but at some point in time, do something to move towards that goal.

(14:21) Um, you know, you’re athlete as well. (14:22) I, my son, um, loves baseball. (14:25) We just got back from Cooperstown, New York.

(14:27) He was played baseball there for two weeks. (14:30) And so before we went to New York, you know, he’s been hitting, you know, balls out of the park in practice, but he hadn’t hit one in the game. (14:38) So he had a goal and we do this in the off season.

(14:42) We do this when preparing for tournaments is I begin to have him journal daily and daily what he has to do is every single day he has to read something on baseball. (14:52) Every single day has to watch something on baseball. (14:54) Every single day he has to hit every single day has to throw every single day he has to feel.

(14:59) And so what we’ll do is, hey, there’s 30 days to Cooperstown. (15:02) All right. (15:03) And he wants to hit a home run.

(15:05) That’s the goal. (15:06) That’s the vision. (15:07) And so we have him journal each day.

(15:09) Did he do one of those five things, um, inside there or all five of those things? (15:14) Doesn’t matter the time of day or what it happens. (15:16) Just, we got to do it sometime during the day.

(15:19) Well, when what begins to happen is he’s building up this habit of consistency, but then there’s a track record to look back at and say, Hey, this is what you did in order to get there. (15:30) Because if he gets to Cooperstown and didn’t hit a home run and he didn’t do anything leading up to it, well, you can’t be mad about the results that you didn’t get from the work that you didn’t do. (15:40) Now, I mean, this is like, this is, you got to get this kid.

(15:44) And so I, he does this and he moves up to it. (15:47) But here’s the catch Melissa. (15:49) There’s also a great piece of accountability there because on the days that he doesn’t do it, it’s okay.

(15:56) But he’s got to write one simple phrase. (15:57) And I believe that if adults will begin to have this level of accountability with themselves, that they would move a whole lot further faster. (16:04) So if he doesn’t write, if he doesn’t do any of those five things in that day, it’s okay.

(16:09) There’s no shame. (16:10) There’s a full grace. (16:12) There’s no problem at all.

(16:13) But he has to write out one sentence. (16:15) I did nothing today. (16:18) Okay.

(16:19) He’s got to write out this sentence. (16:21) And let me tell you, that’s the hardest sentence on the planet for him to write. (16:24) And he will sprint out that door at 10 o’clock at night and say, Hey, I’m getting my head in.

(16:29) I’m going to go read right now. (16:31) He can’t write that phrase. (16:32) But what we’re doing is we’re creating this track record.

(16:35) We’re creating this rhythm, this routine on a daily basis that says every single day that ends in day, it didn’t have to be an hour. (16:42) It didn’t have to be two hours, but just, we have to do something daily in order to move towards it. (16:46) And so he did that for those 30 days, excited to say he got to Cooperstown.

(16:50) He had a two grand slams and one solo home run in Cooperstown, but we got something to point back to to help them get there.

Melissa

(16:58) That is such an important point. (17:01) And I had a similar father. (17:04) He would make me do a similar thing.

(17:06) And, you know, I grew up in the, Michael Jordan was one of my all time favorite athletes. (17:12) And we, I learned this from my father, similar to how you taught your son is, is he mentally works through his game before he plays the game and it’s writing, it’s watching, it’s doing. (17:24) And my, my father was similar.

(17:26) He would say, you know, how you play in the game is how, how you practice is how you play. (17:31) If you come bringing 50% effort, cause it’s just practice. (17:35) When you get to the actual game, you’re not going to be able to bring the hundred percent cause you’ve only trained for 50%.

(17:41) And so I think that’s such an important piece of advice is writing that down. (17:47) Nobody wants to write down that they didn’t make something happen. (17:51) And if it’s 10 o’clock at night, you know, my dad was similar.

(17:55) He made me go do it, or he made me double up the next day. (17:58) So if I had to get 10 pushups in every day and I didn’t do 10 on Monday and I didn’t do 10 on Tuesday on Wednesday, I was doing 30 and nobody wants to do 30 pushups cause 10 is a whole lot easier. (18:10) So I think you’re spot on.

(18:12) It’s these small micro, you know, habits that we’re creating and teaching our children and, and the outcome is so beautiful because you really can achieve all that you want when you, when you, you set these intentions. (18:28) And I love that you use that example. (18:30) It’s so important, um, to teach our children that as well.

Chris

(18:34) Yeah. (18:34) But the principles and what at the end of the day, I’m teaching the principles in the sport because those principles transferred to business, they transferred to the career, they transferred to relationships. (18:44) And so if it works with the game, it works with life.

(18:48) And so that’s the most important thing, you know, it’s like, I don’t care if he doesn’t do it. (18:54) Hey, look, I don’t care. (18:55) But what I want him to pick up more than anything is I want him to pick up the principles that these apply in any area of your life.

(19:02) So whether it’s in a sport, whether it’s in your career, whether it’s in your relationship, these principles, they work day in, day out, regardless of what you’re trying to achieve.

Melissa

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(20:03) When you’re constantly thinking baseball and grand slams and home runs, they just happen. (20:09) Right. (20:09) And I know a lot of times people, you know, I was one of those people that are like, Oh, this is woo woo.

(20:14) This is too woo woo. (20:15) This is not going to, I’m going to think my way into a grand slam, but it’s, it happens. (20:21) It happens when you have it in your mind that I’m going to swing.

(20:25) I have, um, you know, the base is loaded and I’m up and it’s my turn to hit. (20:30) And if I get up to that plate and I’ve trained for it, I don’t question if I can do it. (20:37) I just get up and swing cause I’ve practiced the swing.

(20:40) But if I haven’t practiced it, I get up and I go into this negative role play. (20:45) Oh gosh, I’m going to strike out bases are loaded. (20:49) They’re going to, you know, get a double.

(20:51) I think we go into that part of our brain that says we can’t, you know, the fear, I’m going to call it the fear factor part of it.

Chris

(20:58) That’s correct. (20:59) Yeah. (20:59) And that’s the dominating thought that holds people back from moving forward.

(21:03) I mean, we always move in the direction of our dominant thoughts in life. (21:06) There’s no if fans or butts about it. (21:08) You consistently move the direction of your dominant thoughts.

(21:11) And so the underlying, you know, problem with any type of goal that you have typically is fear. (21:20) And so it’s the action that you do take will help resolve that fear. (21:25) And, um, you know, there’s fear of failure.

(21:27) There’s fear of success. (21:29) There’s, there’s many different types of fears, but action is always the resolve for that.

Melissa

(21:34) Yeah. (21:35) A hundred percent. (21:36) And I, I always say, you know, a lot of times when I, I speak, people say, well, you’re just better at these things or you’re just better at that.

(21:43) And I always, my response to that is I’ve just practiced more. (21:47) All of us start from round level zero somewhere, right? (21:51) None of us wake up and are great at whatever we set out to be.

(21:55) We have to put the practice in the work and behind the work is where the real win happens. (22:02) And so anybody can, you know, be, do, have what they want, but there, it does take work, unfortunately, right?

Chris

(22:09) And the work never stops. (22:11) You know, the work never stops. (22:12) Even when you get good at a particular skill set, that’s what this book is really trying to cure is that, okay, yep, you did do the work from zero.

(22:20) You were bad and now you got to an eight and now you can consistently do it. (22:24) And that was really, you know, the impetus of, you know, the book from drift to drive was that I had caught myself in a drift as a professional speaker. (22:33) I was actually at an event.

(22:35) I was invited to go speak in Cambodia. (22:40) And it was only two speakers on the agenda, myself and John Maxwell, you know, so from a speaker’s perspective, like, it was kind of a big day. (22:48) I mean, he kind of hanging out with one of the top speakers in the world.

(22:52) And, you know, it’s only him and I on the agenda. (22:54) We’re speaking for 2,500 people moments before that earlier in the morning. (23:00) And John Maxwell and I go and meet with the president of Cambodia.

(23:04) And I mean, we’re just, you know, having a great time. (23:07) And I go and speak at this event. (23:10) And, you know, things begin to go wrong.

(23:12) You know, I’m speaking with an interpreter. (23:14) No big deal. (23:15) I just, and I get over it.

(23:16) I’m a pro. (23:17) I begin to, you know, remove the slide, I guess, advance the slides. (23:22) They’re not working.

(23:23) And it’s okay. (23:24) I’m a pro. (23:24) I know how to handle this.

(23:26) And then when the slides finally come up, mostly usually speaking internationally, you got English slides on one side on one hand, and then, you know, the native language or another, it didn’t work that way in that country. (23:36) It was all jumbled together because their language had to go on top of the English language. (23:41) So that looked like a mess.

(23:43) But through all the stuff that went wrong, I navigated through like a pro. (23:47) And then at dinnertime, I get with John and I’m sitting there with about five other people. (23:53) And, you know, I said, Hey, John, give me a little bit of feedback on the talk today, because when we’re done speaking, that’s what we do.

(24:00) We sharpen each other. (24:01) And when I’m around other speakers, we’ll dissect what we’re looking at. (24:05) And so he began, this is John Maxwell, the number one speaker, you know, guru in the world.

(24:10) And, you know, I had a line of people afterwards tell me how great it was. (24:14) But now John is here giving me feedback. (24:17) And he starts off with one thing.

(24:19) And we eventually get to about 10 things that he said that I needed to work on. (24:25) And then the table, Melissa, the table of nobody that was speaking on stage begin to jump in and give feedback. (24:31) And they’re giving me feedback.

(24:34) And now I’ve got this full list of things I need to work on. (24:38) And you can only say two words at that point in time. (24:41) It’s thank you.

(24:42) Okay. (24:43) And I go back and I take a look at the list. (24:45) And here’s the thing, Melissa, is that there’s not one thing on the list that not John Maxwell or anybody at the table told me that I didn’t know.

(24:53) But what happened was I had not prepared for that presentation like I did many years ago. (25:00) You see, there was a time where I was really just honing in and shaping in. (25:05) I would, I spent more time preparing for a rotary club meeting, you know, at seven o’clock in the morning for, you know, a few people than I did with 2500 people in another country.

(25:17) And I found myself and I went, Oh my goodness, I’m going to drift. (25:21) I was like, I’ve got to wake up. (25:22) And so what I did was that was a rumble strip that got me back active and engaged on the thing, the very thing that I’m known for good at that drifted, even though I had done it many, many times, I went into autopilot.

(25:36) And so it happens in all the areas of our life, even when we think that we’re good.

Melissa

(25:40) And that’s such a blessing. (25:41) And I love, I love that you have the relationships with those people to provide the feedback. (25:47) Cause sometimes I think we do get into these drifts, you know, parenting, being executive speaking, leading teams, whatever we’re doing in our life.

(25:56) And you need to have those relationships with people and peers and significant others where they can come to you and say, you know, Hey, Chris, next time you should practice this or Hey, Chris, because you’ve created that relationship and that safety to come forward and share that inside that relationship. (26:16) And it’s such a gift, right? (26:17) I think a lot of times when people give us advice or feedback, we go into victim mode or, you know, we’re critical or defensive or whatever the words are.

(26:30) But the truth is looking at that is a blessing. (26:33) And I bet, and I’m just guessing, but I bet from that day, you’re an even better speaker than you were because of that information. (26:43) It, it opened your eyes to become even better than you already were.

Chris

(26:46) Yeah. (26:47) And I mean, this is, this was just a year ago. (26:49) This was just a year ago that that happened.

(26:52) But what that did was that kicked my focus back in gear, you know, so again, I back with speaking coaches, actually started working with Michael Jr., the comedian, for him to really kind of look at some of the humor and the things that I use inside of my talks. (27:09) I’m working with Roddy Galbraith, a speaking coach, and just really got highly intentional. (27:15) Again, going back to books I had read years ago to really sharpen the act to make sure that, Hey, look, this is a gift.

(27:23) They skill my profession. (27:25) I can’t just go an autopilot and think just because I’m giving reps every single week that this is good. (27:32) Like it can, I have to continuously focus on getting better at it.

(27:36) So I love it. (27:36) It did. (27:37) It kicked me in the high gear.

(27:38) I hit that rumble strip Melissa.

Melissa

(27:40) I love it. (27:41) Now let’s talk a little bit about your, you know, working with and speaking with John Maxwell is a very big deal. (27:47) He is, like he said, one of the gurus in the industry.

(27:51) You know, I’ve been reading his book since I was a young pup and still read them today. (27:57) I still have some of his great books. (28:01) Tell us how you got there.

(28:02) Tell us, how did you get to become a world renowned speaker and coach?

Chris

(28:08) Yeah. (28:08) So my journey with John Maxwell started, gosh, 24 years ago, started out watching John Maxwell in the basement of a church on a VHS tube TV combo. (28:21) So the church was offered a course and I would go in there and I would watch the videos and then I would begin to go and apply these principles in the workplace.

(28:29) And in my early twenties, I was able to take John’s principles and get promoted on the job. (28:35) So I had been promoted five times in, you know, six years with the company that went from 18 employees to about 18, 18 employees to about 800 in about six years. (28:48) And I was number five on the totem pole at that organization.

(28:51) And so did really well, but I fell in love with personal growth and development. (28:55) And then I was attending the conference around 2008 and there was a breakout session where somebody said these words that I had never heard before in my life. (29:06) These people get paid to speak.

(29:08) Now it was like fireworks went off, Melissa. (29:11) Like I, it was that moment in the movie where it’s like, there’s this, you know, just clarity and vision, the mountains part, the clouds part and going, oh my goodness, you could do this for a living. (29:23) And, you know, then now it was in my head.

(29:25) I had a clear vision. (29:26) It was in my head that this is what I want to do. (29:28) And then I set off on that direction.

(29:31) Every sales meeting became a motivational seminar. (29:34) I began to do workshops at the company I was working for, participating in toast masters and doing everything I could to work on the skill. (29:42) And then in 2011, John Maxwell offered certification for the very first time.

(29:47) And so I was one of the very first people to be certified with John Maxwell in 2011. (29:53) I built a business utilizing the Maxwell tools and resources in 2016. (29:59) They hired me to be a teaching faculty member in 2020.

(30:04) They asked me to become the vice president of the organization. (30:07) And I’ve been in that role since. (30:09) So it’s been an incredible journey from press and play and watching videos on VHS to flying around the planet, meeting presidents with John Maxwell.

Melissa

(30:19) I love it. (30:21) It’s such an amazing journey. (30:24) Yeah, it’s amazing what speakers are being paid these days for an hour of their time.

(30:28) It’s really amazing. (30:30) I recall like watching Jim Rohn and Anthony Robbins and John Maxwell thinking, wow, these guys are so amazing. (30:40) They can put things so easily into words.

(30:42) And one thing I love about speaking, it’s just constant practice, constant repetition that you just get better and better and better. (30:50) And so I love that you shared your journey with us. (30:53) I want to get in closing any final thoughts or anything you want to leave with our listeners that we haven’t touched on today.

Chris

(31:01) Yeah, you know, when it comes down to life, I really think that the easiest thing we can do is get crystal clear on what it is that we want. (31:10) You see, every single time that you’ve been crystal clear on what it is that you’ve wanted, you’ve got it every single time. (31:16) And it’s the evidence of that is the shirt on your back, the watch on your wrist, the shoes on your feet.

(31:23) At some point in time, you said, hey, this is what I want. (31:26) And you figured out how to make a way that works with the small things. (31:30) It also works with the big things in life, but you just have to learn a little bit, do a little bit and move towards those goals.

Melissa

(31:37) I love it. (31:37) Such good advice. (31:39) Okay.

(31:39) Now, if we’re going to go back and ask the younger Chris, what advice would you give your younger self when you were just starting out in your career?

Chris

(31:51) Oh gosh, read. (31:55) Now I would love to tell you that I would love to give you a whole lot more insight around that, Melissa. (31:59) But it was in 2008.

(32:01) I had the opportunity to have lunch with a billionaire. (32:03) I asked him one question. (32:05) I said, what’s the greatest thing that would make the impact, greatest impact on my life without any hesitation.

(32:09) He said, read now in that moment, just like anyone that’s listening going, okay, great. (32:14) That’s great. (32:15) Chris read.

(32:16) This gentleman said to me, says, Chris, I attribute my billions of dollars to read over 5,000 books in my lifetime. (32:21) And at the age of 27, I was an illiterate bricklayer. (32:26) And at that moment I begin to read.

(32:28) And so if I said one thing that’s made the greatest difference in my life, and I’ve read over a thousand plus books, the one thing I would say that would make the greatest difference is read and read a lot. (32:39) That’s it, Melissa.

Melissa

(32:40) I love it. (32:40) There you have it. (32:41) Now, Chris, tell our listeners where they can connect with you, where they could find the book.

(32:49) And really, for anyone who’s ready to stop drifting and start driving, where can they grab that book?

Chris

(32:56) Yeah. (32:56) So you can get the book on Amazon. (32:57) We’ve got a lot of incredible bonuses.

(32:59) If you go to drifttodrivebook.com, drifttodrivebook.com, pick up your book from Amazon, put your confirmation information into that one, and then you’re going to get a series of bonuses of over $550. (33:11) And we’re just excited to add value to you and help you get from where you are to where you want to go.

Melissa

(33:16) There you have it. (33:17) Thank you so much for being here today, Chris, and sharing your time and your knowledge with our listeners. (33:24) That’s the Executive Connect Podcast.