To have something happen in your life that is life-changing, you need to do what matters most! Adam Nugent and Kate Strong welcome Rob Shallenberger to the podcast. He is the co-founder and CEO of Becoming Your Best Global Leadership. He talks about his latest book, his time in the U.S. Air Force, and how he helps people review their vision and goals and learn about the12 principles of highly successful leaders that you see over and over in people who rise to the top!
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Rob Shallenberger was a fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force for 11 years, flying F-16s and T-38s. He continued his work in the Air Force as a representative tasked with handling Air Force One. After leaving the Air Force, Rob became a CEO and the author of several books. In this podcast excerpt, Rob discusses the importance of having a written personal vision in order to achieve your goals and become your best.
AN: One of the caveats of your whole program is having your vision and your goals. Do you find that a lot of people don’t even know what their vision is at all?
RS: Yes, I’m, I’m actually really glad you brought that up because it’s important that we don’t skip over that. In my book Do What Matters Most, there are really three habits, and Habit #1 is to develop a written personal vision. If you think about every person that’s made a difference in the world, at some point they had a vision. There was something inside that drove them. There’s a huge power in having something inside and we hear it all the time, right? Find your North star, find your purpose, find your “why.” But for as much as we’ve heard about vision and goals, it’s rarely being done.
Only 2 percent of people have a written personal vision, and I’ve never been in an organization where more than 5 percent of people in had a written personal vision. We kind have an idea, but there’s a power that comes from writing it down. And what we do in the book is we walk through how to do it specifically. And it’s the same concept as pre-planning. We invite people to look at their five to seven roles and come up with a vision for each role. We’ve talked a few times about the personal role or a parent role or spouse. What does it look like in that role? And do you mind if I just share one of mine, for example, sometimes it’s helpful to hear examples.
When we do this with people, we invite them to use words like “I am” instead of words like “to be” or “someday.” In other words, we create the mental reality prior to the physical reality. So, in the role of husband, here’s my vision. My wife’s name is Tanya. We’ve been married for 23 years and it’s this. And I honestly think about this every day, and it becomes my internal compass. I’m either in alignment or out of alignment. “I’m a kind and caring husband who always helps Tanya feel like a 10. I am totally faithful in thought and action, and I constantly strive to compliment her, serve her, and be the husband of her dreams.”
Visit becomingyourbest.com to learn more.
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