Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - Book of the Week | The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth by John C. Maxwell

Episode Date: December 28, 2020

"Don't wait for a change of environment to act. Change your environment through action" - John Maxwell This week's book review is John Maxwell's The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth. Join me as I highlight each law and discuss its value and impact. Read Along: This Week's Book - The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: https://amzn.to/2J5lcFo Jan 3rd - The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle: https://amzn.to/3rwCqga Jan 10th - Thomas Jefferson, The Art of Power by John Meacham: https://amzn.to/3rzTFNA

All right, what's going on, guys, this week for the book of the week, doing John Maxwell's The 15 Invaluble Laws of Growth, New York Times bestseller, and I enjoyed it. There's a ton packed in here, and it is as advertised. 15, very clear, concise rules, a lot of checklist, a lot of plug-and-play, very actionable ideas. There's not a lot of fluff or story or, you know, beating around the bush, but I don't think it's intended to be that way, right? It's truly a roadmap where you can open it up and decide which rules or laws are most applicable to you in your life and plug them directly in. So what I'm going to do is talk about each lock, go over it quickly and talk about what I think is the most important part.

And then at the end I'll talk about the next two books I'm doing for those of you that want to continue reading, go to your library or audible or bookstore or whatever and join the party. That said, let's get going here. So number one, or law number one, I should say, is the law of intentionality. And he starts off with this really cool idea where there's five frogs on a log. And four decide to jump off. How many are left? You'd think one, but the answer is five, because a decision is not the same as action. To win, you have to take action.

And you need to be methodical with how you take your action. And that's what this is about. He says there's three types of people. There are people that, you know, don't really think about what they want in life. And those people just sort of float around. And then there are people that know what they want, but they don't move towards it. And those people are frustrated, right, because they're always living in that delta. And then there are people that know what they want and they move towards what they want.

And those are the people that he obviously advocates, we be, being intentional in that pursuit of what we want in life. Number two is the law of awareness. And this is primarily with regard to like your passion, your purpose, what moves you. Have you thought about the things you want? Have you thought about what excites you, what invigorates you in the morning? Have you asked yourself whether your current skill sets match your potential? Have you asked yourself if there are people around you that are doing what you want to do? And are you learning from them?

Are you making an effort? It's really being aware of what excites you and what that takes to capture and acquire. Because without that understanding, it's, you know, it's that hole you can't hit a target you don't identify. You just end up kind of wandering around. So you need to be aware of what you want and how to ultimately get there. Number three is the law of the mirror, which is a cool one. It's talking about self-image. He says you can't outperform your self-image.

It all starts with how you see yourself. And it's a lot like David Goggins' accountability mirror. I know a lot of you read that book. The idea is, I guess, metaphorically looking at. your reflection your life your reality and you're you kind of muster up the courage to see those things that you don't want there those things that we hide or we're embarrassed up or we don't want to bring up we repress and he's saying no bring them up look at them right the only way you can fix them is to look at them and until you change

them you can't you know make your way towards what matters most I love at the end of this chapter you know he says if you put a small value on yourself the world will not raise the price for you. Such a powerful line. You can only be where you place yourself, the value you placed on yourself. The rest of the world, it adapts to that. It conforms to what you see, to who you believe yourself to be. So it all starts with that.

Look at your reality, square in the face and change the things that you don't want there. Number four is the law of reflection. And I talk about this all the time. Like the idea in our crazy, chaotic, you know, fast-paced life. lives, finding quiet, thinking, taking in the world around you, asking yourself what happened yesterday, asking yourself if you're happy with how things are, you know, thinking about the way life has unfolded. Some of the things he mentioned, you know, what's your biggest asset versus what's your biggest liability? How are you spending your days? Is it time well spent or

is it time wasted? What are your good habits? What are you not so good habits? But until you sort of press the pause button and reflect on those things, it slips right by you. Number five is the law of consistency. You know, the idea in baseball, everyone wants to hit that home run, that grand slam, and it's like, that's one in a million. That's the exception. That's not the rule. The people that win focus on getting on base, on being consistent,

on making things happen regularly, and then over time they accumulated the massive result. And so some kind of cool quotes I have written down here from the book, you will never change your life until you change something you do daily, which is great because it highlights the simplicity required. We're not talking changes of great magnitude. No, we're talking little daily habits. We're talking things that you tweak so that you know every morning before breakfast, you're stretching or you're reading or you're walking,

or you're doing one little thing that over two years, my God, makes all the difference, right? So that's a daily change. And then another quote that I really liked, he says, the great composer does not wait to sit down until he becomes inspired, but he becomes inspired because he sat down to work. No excuses.

Don't give life an opportunity to get in the way. Be consistent. Make it happen. Number six, the law of the environment. And its growth thrives in conducive environments. So where are you? Who are the people that you're around? The places.

There's a really cool idea he has in here. how do you make a fire poker hot? Well, you put it near fire. So that said, are you near the things that will create the results that you're trying to create? Are you around people that inspire you that are positive? They're pushing you to be better. That's step number one, right? Because if you're not putting that stick near the fire, you're not, it's not going to be hot, right? So there's a lot of emphasis on linking with people further along in their journey. You know, that whole idea of if you're constantly the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room. You need to be around people that constantly remind you, not discourage you, but remind you, hey, there's more here. There's better

out there. And you could have this. Just remember that. Move towards it. Number seven is the law of design. It's the systems in place that really maximize your growth. You know, the idea that you can't excel in areas you don't measure. You have to, you have to have to have, some way of looking at your results objectively and making sure that they are progressing the way that they need to. There's a, where's the line here? He says, if you can't measure it, you can't understand it. And if you can't understand it, you can't control it. If you can't control it, you can't improve it. So, and you can see there's a lot of overlap in some of these laws. But the idea is, you know, it is a level of awareness.

It's being aware of your numbers. Like Jim Rohn says, you know, if you're never looking at your, you know, blind eye to your finances, they're never going to be what you want them to be because you need to give them the attention they deserve. You need to create systems to maximize your wealth. And that's true for all aspects of life. The simple, clear, concise systems will change your reality. Number eight is the law of pain. And it's the idea that everyone experiences pain.

Everyone experiences bad things, but how do you deal with them? It's not what you look at, it's what you see. So when we face those inevitable difficult times, you know, the people that see it as an opportunity or, you know, and that's even a little bit cliche, it's like tragedy can happen and you're not going to say, oh, it's a wonderful opportunity, but it's hang in there long enough to find the value. Because in even our most difficult, moments there's something there that we can cling to that we can use to grow and that's what the book is about right it's growth it's about moving forward even if

it's just a little bit and you know as Jordan Peterson says from chaos comes order you just have to be willing to see that through because that's what defines greatness the people that take adversity and really build something valuable from it number nine is the law of the ladder and this was an interesting one it focused on integrity and honesty and the idea that your professional career really can't outgrow how you are as a person. That's sort of integral to everything. He talks about a poll where people ask you know what's the most important thing they need in a leader and it's honesty.

So basically he's saying build the person first, you know, make sure that you, you, you know, make sure that you, you are living with integrity, that you are honest, that you are decent, that you care, and that you show people that you care. Because as Maxwell puts, it's not all about you, but it's about using your talents and your skill sets to give back and add value to the world. And that's what people appreciate. And then by default, if you're doing those things, you will find yourself where you want to be at a much faster rate than you ever would have gotten there otherwise. right but first things first be a person of integrity number 10 the law of the rubber band and that's uh he's talking about one of his conferences i guess he gave everyone a rubber band and he says um you know do something

with it right find some use for the rubber band and he said one commonality was every single person however they used the rubber band it was stretched and the point is for a rubber band to be useful it has to be stretched it's the least common denominator and that's how people are For people to be maximized, for people to be useful, for people to, you know, really become valuable, we have to be stretched. And we have to move outside our comfort zone. Growth stops when that tension stops, when we become too comfortable. And that's where, you know, a lot of those anecdotes and sayings, you know, do one thing every day that scares you because you got to keep that rubber band taught. You got to keep it stretched.

constantly be stepping outside of that comfort zone and moving towards the new you. Number 11 is the law of tradeoffs. And that's in order to get something, we must let something go. We have to give something up. And, you know, he says with regard to taking risks, we have a tendency to overvalue what we have, even those things that we don't quite love, and undervalue what we could have. Because what we have right now is it's comfortable. We know it. We understand it. The scary thing is the stuff that we don't have yet. What if things go wrong?

What if it doesn't turn out the right way? What if it's not exactly what I envision? Right? That's tension. That's a scary idea. But he's saying, look, you're overvaluing this piece. All the values on the outside. All the values, the next step, all the values of stuff you can't see yet.

To put it in context, he says, there's no future in any job. The future is in the man who holds. holds the job, meaning the current situation, the reality, the now is not where all the value is. It's like, no, you're the valuable entity. You're the valuable commodity, and you can take that wherever you want to take it. As long as you continue to grow and adapt and do the things that are most important, as long as you chase down what matters and continue to add value to the people around you, the job does not matter. And that should bring confidence. You have everything you need to go wherever you need to go.

Number 12 is the law of curiosity. The idea that the people that change the world ask why. Don't be afraid to look stupid. Who cares? And there's a quote in here that says, it's better to look uninformed than be uninformed. Ask the question. At least you'll know for the rest of your life.

And that's what it's about. The people that change the world, they question life. They question life's parameters and rules. And they push boundaries. They're curious about what happens if you take A and you switch it with B. If you take this reality and you bend it just a little bit, if you take the status quo and you mix it up, that's where you get innovation and ultimately change.

So the best lives are lives with curiosity ingrained. Number 13 is the law of modeling. Pretty simple concept here. He's pushing, you know, seeking mentors, you know, both in books, like John Maxwell is our mentor here this week. And then also in person, right? Be seeking to be around people that have done what you've done and have expertise and wisdom and can pass that down to you.

You learn a lot quicker and you can do a lot more. You know, we become like the people we follow. And that's essentially the point he's trying to make. Number 14 is the law of expansion. It's the idea that life stops when we stop. Are we limiting ourselves? Can we be doing more? there's the idea that it's replacing can I with how can I?

Can I implies that there's doubt that it might not be possible. How can I starts with the premise that it's doable? What's my strategy? What's my approach? And the idea is to remove that limitation right out of the gate. And there are so many of those that we have ingrained in our lives that we don't even realize. So we want to be aware in understanding that we limit ourselves, we cap ourselves, And ultimately, life becomes bigger.

Life becomes more when we remove those limitations and understand that they don't have to be there. Number 15, the last law is the law of contribution. It's the idea that, you know, you're not doing things for you. It's ultimately for the greater whole, right? Contributing to the greater good. And that's what this is about. It's like you're not trying to be successful or increase your skill or do all these things simply because you want to. You're doing it because it allows you to add more value to society as a whole.

And when everyone's doing that, society is better. Life is better. So that's the 15 Invaluble Laws of Growth by John Maxwell. Again, great read. I got a lot from it. Very, I guess, procedural and indirect. So a lot of plug-and-play stuff if that's what you're looking for. So next week, I'm going to do The Power of Now.

A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckart Toll. I think I'm pronouncing that right. It's recommended to me by a few people. and I think it'll be perfect in terms of, you know, I tend to be fast-paced and very future-oriented and sometimes forget to, you know, kind of take a breath and be present. And this book apparently provides a very nice blueprint to doing that. So I'm excited for that. And then this is kind of the curveball.

But if you're up for the task, I would love to have you join me. Two weeks from now, I'm going to do Thomas Jefferson, The Art of Power by John Meacham. I love sprinkling in biographies and autobiographies of people that have changed the course of history. Leaders that we can learn from understand what made them effective. They're good. They're bad. Everything in between. And utilize it in everyday life.

And so, you know, if you want to join me, I think it'll be a blast. And I think, look, you'll never be in a room or you're rarely be in a room after you read this where people know more about Thomas Jefferson than you. That alone is pretty cool. So if you want to take a crack at that, two weeks from today, we'll do that. Again, Thomas Jefferson, the art of power. So, hey, thanks for joining me. I love doing these things. I'm going to continue doing them.

And feel free to leave me your comments, ideas, book suggestions, any of that stuff down below. And I'll make sure to respond. So have a good week.