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Andy Stanley - REVERB 35_ The Secret to a Life That Keeps Moving Forward · Andy Stanley Sermons

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast Reverb, a conversation
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  Speaker 1: designed to help leaders go even further faster by digging
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  Speaker 1: deeper into this month's episode. I'm your host, Susie Gray. Andy,
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  Speaker 1: last week you wrapped up your two-part conversation with Jim
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  Speaker 1: Collins about his new book, What to Make of a Life,
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  Speaker 1: and it was such a great, rich conversation over these
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  Speaker 1: last two months you've had with him.
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  Speaker 2: Well, and he was so kind to give us so
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  Speaker 2: much time. He's just finished his book. So many people
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  Speaker 2: want his attention, and he was not in a hurry,
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  Speaker 2: and I just felt like reconnected with an old friend
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  Speaker 2: and Jim and I are kind of like green room friends, right?
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  Speaker 2: Like I only would see him at conferences and stuff
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  Speaker 2: for 10 minutes. But wow, it was so much fun.
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  Speaker 2: And as I shared last month, Sandra's reading the book.
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  Speaker 2: And as I shared last month, Sandra read the book
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  Speaker 2: along with me and want our kids to read it. It's,
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  Speaker 2: it's just that good. It's just a framework for how
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  Speaker 2: life is and what to anticipate and how to work
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  Speaker 2: through the parts that aren't so great sometimes. And yeah,
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  Speaker 2: that there's a price to pay for success and there's
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  Speaker 2: a price to pay in order to accomplish great things.
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  Speaker 2: And when you're paying the price, it's not always fun,
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  Speaker 2: but it's necessary and it's worth it. So just so
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  Speaker 2: many life lessons buried in this book.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
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  Speaker 2: And I love that the last.
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  Speaker 1: third of the book is on fueling the fire later
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  Speaker 1: and longer. And I remember something, I went to the
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  Speaker 1: book club launch he did of the book back in March.
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  Speaker 1: And he said something that stood out to me then.
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  Speaker 1: And he alluded to it in your conversation with him.
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  Speaker 1: He said, when you hit 60, more than half of
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  Speaker 1: what might be the fire filled life has yet to
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  Speaker 1: be written. Our younger selves need not tower over our
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  Speaker 1: older selves. And that was so encouraging.
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  Speaker 2: Well, if you think it was encouraging, how encouraging do
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  Speaker 2: you think I think? Jim and I are the same age.
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  Speaker 2: We both just turned 68 this year. So, yeah, that
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  Speaker 2: part of the book was very encouraging. But to our listeners,
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  Speaker 2: he profiles 20 pairs of people, many of whom accomplished
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  Speaker 2: extraordinary things after 50. Mm-hmm. And it's an encouragement both
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  Speaker 2: to people in their 30s and 40s as they think
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  Speaker 2: about the future, not to dread the future and not
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  Speaker 2: to feel like, hey, I accomplished something great in my
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  Speaker 2: 30s or 40s, especially athletes and think, oh, it's over.
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  Speaker 2: I've done my thing. You know, what else is there?
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  Speaker 2: This book will just, you know, erase that whole way
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  Speaker 2: of thinking and help you understand that one thing is
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  Speaker 2: a means to another. If you stay with your encoding
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  Speaker 2: and your encoding, as he talks about, is not job specific,
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  Speaker 2: your encoding is. can facilitate success in multiple areas and
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  Speaker 2: multiple seasons of life if we identify it and stay
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  Speaker 2: within that framework. And in the book, he talks about
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  Speaker 2: people who were super successful early, got out of their framework,
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  Speaker 2: kind of muddled along, did some things. And publicly, they
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  Speaker 2: were successful, but not content, not happy. Then they got
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  Speaker 2: back in their frame, did something completely different, but in
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  Speaker 2: some cases, literally different. help change the world.
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  Speaker 1: Right.
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  Speaker 2: So it really is. It's a wonderful framework for how
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  Speaker 2: life is and provides hope for people who run the
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  Speaker 2: fog and provides hope for people who think, oh, I've
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  Speaker 2: already done my thing. He talks about the cliff of retirement.
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  Speaker 2: You know, people retire. It's like, now what am I
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  Speaker 2: going to do? Just encouraging at every level.
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  Speaker 1: And I do think where he talks about choosing your
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  Speaker 1: responsibilities and.
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  Speaker 2: That was great.
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  Speaker 1: I thought that was one of the most helpful things.
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  Speaker 1: I actually loved what he said about you're either riding
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  Speaker 1: on a horse in a saddle riding backwards or looking backwards,
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  Speaker 1: or you're riding on a horse in a saddle facing forward.
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  Speaker 1: And fueling the fire allows you to look forward and
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  Speaker 1: you fuel your fire by choosing your responsibility. And I
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  Speaker 1: just thought that was such a really interesting thought of,
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  Speaker 1: The self-accountability for the responsibilities you've chosen is what fuels
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  Speaker 1: you forward.
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  Speaker 2: And he makes the point that that's really what freedom is.
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  Speaker 2: Freedom isn't doing nothing or just coming up with something
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  Speaker 2: to do. Freedom is actually the freedom to choose a
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  Speaker 2: responsibility and then hold yourself accountable to it. And that
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  Speaker 2: is a liberating thought that I can choose a responsibility
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  Speaker 2: and not just a task or job, but something I'm
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  Speaker 2: responsible for, and then hold myself accountable to it. And
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  Speaker 2: he said, in most cases, that people who understand this,
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  Speaker 2: they choose a responsibility that's outward facing. It's not for them.
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  Speaker 2: It's for somebody else. And it may not be public.
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  Speaker 2: It could be, you know what, I'm going to choose
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  Speaker 2: a responsibility to care for a loved one or to
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  Speaker 2: care for an aging parent. I'm choosing a responsibility. I'm free.
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  Speaker 2: This isn't a burden. I'm not a prisoner to something.
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  Speaker 2: I've chosen this responsibility. I'm holding myself accountable to it.
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  Speaker 2: Or it may be something in the world or for
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  Speaker 2: the world. Anyway, it was just a reframing, again, of
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  Speaker 2: something we've seen other people live out. And sometimes we
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  Speaker 2: just need terminology to know how to carry those things forward.
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  Speaker 2: So that's a great idea. And how to flip that
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  Speaker 2: saddle around.
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  Speaker 1: So you're not looking backwards to the good old days,
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  Speaker 1: but you're looking forward to what's fueling this next season.
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  Speaker 1: So I think for leaders as they're kind of considering
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  Speaker 1: whether it's a cliff that they're about to come off
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  Speaker 1: with their companies being sold and they have to do
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  Speaker 1: something different or whether it's somebody that's getting toward the latter,
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  Speaker 1: maybe third of what would be.
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  Speaker 2: Their normal career.
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  Speaker 1: This is such a way to say, hey, think of
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  Speaker 1: what's fueling you. Think of where you come into frame,
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  Speaker 1: what you're encoded for, and how do you start moving
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  Speaker 1: in that direction now?
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  Speaker 2: I know Ronald Reagan said it. I don't know if
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  Speaker 2: it was original with him or if he quoted somebody else,
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  Speaker 2: but He made the statement, when your memories exceed your dreams,
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  Speaker 2: the end is near. I think he was quoting somebody else.
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  Speaker 2: When your memories exceed your dreams, the end is near.
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  Speaker 2: So memories are sitting on the saddle looking backwards instead
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  Speaker 2: of dreaming forward. And that's a depressing and inspiring idea.
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  Speaker 2: But again, Jim Collins has given us a different image
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  Speaker 2: for what it looks like to turn around and think forward.
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  Speaker 2: And our encoding never goes away. Jobs go away, opportunities
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  Speaker 2: go away, seasons come and go, but your encoding is permanent.
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  Speaker 2: So there's always something to do that is in sync
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  Speaker 2: with what you're encoded to do. And ages are relevant.
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  Speaker 2: Health is somewhat relevant, but age is not. And again,
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  Speaker 2: the way he presents all that is so powerful and inspiring.
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  Speaker 1: I love what Jim left us with at the end
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  Speaker 1: of the podcast when he said in his conversation with Joanne,
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  Speaker 1: she said, don't pick another question to research.
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  Speaker 2: Don't pick your next thing.
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  Speaker 1: Wait for a question to pick you. Don't fill the space.
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  Speaker 2: Wait.
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  Speaker 1: Yep. And I thought that is being slightly in the
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  Speaker 1: fog and being patient enough to say, you know what?
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to wait and let it come to me.
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  Speaker 1: And in the meantime, as he said, the book is
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  Speaker 1: not an event. The book is a flywheel. So there's
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  Speaker 1: plenty to do. Yep.
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  Speaker 2: That was extraordinary advice. Because again, you could sense he's like, wait,
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  Speaker 2: this is what I'm supposed to do. I need to
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  Speaker 2: come up with a question. I love to do research.
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  Speaker 2: I need to go research something. She's like, wait, wait, wait. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: You're encoded to do research. But you need to wait, again,
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  Speaker 2: as you said, for the question to research to come
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  Speaker 2: to you. That was extraordinary advice. Very encouraging.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Andy, as always, thanks for digging deeper on this
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  Speaker 1: month's topic. It was really a great conversation. And thanks
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  Speaker 1: to our listeners. Thank you for listening to Reverb. If
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  Speaker 1: you found this helpful, share it with another leader. And
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  Speaker 1: as always, subscribe wherever you listen and visit andystanley.com slash
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  Speaker 1: podcast for more resources to help you go even further faster.