3 Things I did on TV
Josh Waitzkin won his first National Chess Championship at 9 years old. The movie, Searching for Bobby Fischer, was based on his story. Then Josh got into Tai Chi. He won the title of World Champion. Afterwards, he realized this: It wasn’t that he was THE BEST at Tai Chi or THE BEST at chess. He was THE BEST at the art of learning. Thus his book, bearing the same title.
3 things I did on TV — -and that I do in my business today
#1 Prepare, Prepare, Prepare. The thing I was BEST AT in television and the thing I am THE BEST at being a business owner is: Preparation, preparation, preparation. If I was interviewing a CEO for the opening bell or closing at the New York Stock Exchange, I would research the &*it out of the company. I would search videos that would relay if this CEO was a natural born talker, or someone I would need to pull thought out of. I would write the CEO’s assistant and ask if there were any topics that were “Off limits.”
Last July, I hosted my most ambitious retreat ever with my Women’s Leadership Platform: 30 members and their families aboard a private yacht in Croatia. I prepared 220 days for that trip, accounting for food allergies, baby needs, laundry needs (someone actually asked me how much underwear to bring).
My boyfriend jabs at me everytime I leave for the airport 4 hours ahead of time.There are enough stressors that happen in real time. My goal is to proactively anticipate, mitigate each stressor before it happens.
#2 Showing up. As an on-air television anchor, I didn’t have the option to “not SHOW UP.” Women always share excuses with me today about ‘why they can’t show up.’ Don’t get me wrong, there are days that I feel like not showing up, but I do it anyway. There are days I feel like I’m not moving the needle on my business. But I keep showing up. Doing the work.
This little Indian girl from Pennsylvania had her first 6 figure month this past January.
#3 Extreme self care. For most of the 20 years of my time on television, I have gotten up between 12am and 345am to be on TV. I had to engage in extreme self care, in order to maintain that schedule. There is no business report without me in the anchor chair. (TV is also a visual medium, so I couldn’t show up disheveled either.)
Today, I don’t get up that early anymore. But I do rise daily at 530am to get to the gym. My self care goes into the calendar first when I plan my weeks on Sundays.
Everything else builds around it.
There is no business without me.
Check out this interview I did with Amanda Natividad.She came to a crossroads in her career. She decided that she never wanted to search for a job again. She would create a personal brand on Twitter and her next employer would find her.
And that’s exactly how she came to be VP at Sparktoro. Her employer found her.
She talked about her zone of genius: Audience development. Her ONE THING. And she did one more critical step.
This is the key that most people leave out:
it’s also important to spend time leaving comments on other people’s tweets or LinkedIn posts. I see it like a big party. Right? When you arrive at someone’s party, you don’t just walk in and start shouting over everyone and say, here are the things I want to talk about. You join smaller conversations. You introduce yourself, you contribute to those conversations. Social media is the same kind of party.
Don’t know your zone of genius? Your one thing you would say?
I’ll take you through a series of questions to figure out YOUR ONE THING at my half day Personal Brand Workshop to get that clarity. Sat March 11th 11am-2pm. There is a brunch. The investment is $199. Link to sign up here: https://lnkd.in/e7bJfwkW.
