S1E2: Gino Wickman, Part 2 | Entrepreneurs Deserve to Live Their Ideal Lives Now

Gino Wickman, founder of EOS Worldwide, creator of EOS®, and author of The EOS Life, imparts 10 disciplines for managing and maximizing entrepreneurial energy. Gino shares what he personally does to stay at the top of his game and urges entrepreneurs to note when their energy feels drained or refilled.

Developing the 10 Disciplines

Gino has been living his ideal life, his EOS Life®, for over 16 years. He shares that he has developed personal disciplines to keep him effective while he’s living his EOS Life®, and has included them as a mini-book in his new release The EOS Life. 

Gino admits that sharing these 10 disciplines feels vulnerable, but he couldn’t pass up the chance to help motivated entrepreneurs take their energy to the next level.

1. Ten Year Thinking

Thinking in ten-year time frames grants long-term perspective, which is essential to any successful entrepreneur. Gino learned this discipline in his 30s. He credits it with helping time slow down and improving his patience and decision-making. It allows you to be prepared for great, good, and bad years in your business cycle — and grants you foresight to be prepared for unexpected challenges. 

[8:25] “People overestimate what they can get done in a year and underestimate what they can get done in 10 years.”

2. Take Time Off

Gino urges entrepreneurs to take actual time off. Choose the number of days you will take off per year and stick to it. Leave your phone calls and emails to your assistant or whomever is covering you while you’re away. You will return re-energized and subsequently become more creative and productive.

3. Know Thyself

You can’t be yourself if you don’t know yourself. Gino stresses:

[21:48] “My impassioned plea is that you let your freak flag fly and you just be the unique being that you are.”

Don’t know how to start finding out who you are? Gino recommends:

• • Use personality profiling tools
  • Go to therapy
  • Ask people in your life for insight

When you start being your authentic self, you will scare some people away. Others will judge you. And others will stick with you even more closely. Your energy will thrive because you don’t have to worry about being anyone but yourself, no matter the context.

4. Be Still

Gino also emphasizes the power of taking time to be still and silent each day. Don’t be discouraged if you’re not great at first; this is a discipline that takes time to develop. The result: You’ll be more creative, have clearer ideas, and your energy will shoot through the roof.

5. Know Your 100%

At the end of the year, Gino looks at his calendar and adds up how many days he worked and how many he had off. He weighs that against how his energy-levels felt during the year. If he felt spread thin, he reduces the number of days he works for the next year. The key: Pay attention to your energy-levels throughout your working days, weeks, and months. This will help you determine your capacity and define your 100%.

6. Say No… Often

When someone asks something of you that’s outside of your capacity, you have two options:

1. 1. Say no and feel discomfort for a few minutes.
   2. Say yes and regret it for days, weeks, months or potentially years.

[39:03] “I love saying no to people… It’s so easy for me to say no because it’s so obvious what I’m saying no to.”

7. Don’t Do $25/Hour Work if You Want to Earn Six-Figures

Gino shares, too, that entrepreneurs should not do $25/hour work, if they want to earn six-figures. Pay someone to do that work for you so that you have the energy to do the things you’re good at — the things that earn you six-figures. 

8. Prepare Every Night

You should not go to sleep until you have clarity on what you’re doing the next day. Gino says this helps you sleep better, wake up with more ideas, and hit the ground running.

9. Put Everything In One Place

Successful people receive copious requests, make lots of commitments, have numerous ideas, and solve many problems throughout any given day. Write down everything you think about, every plan you make, in one place. This will streamline your energy and prevent you from forgetting important ideas and meetings; you will let yourself and others down less frequently.

10. Be Humble

Everyone is on the spectrum between humble and arrogant. Arrogance scatters your energy and tricks you into thinking that you need to assert yourself over others.

[52:52] “Being humble in life — I personally believe the journey is better… More people are attracted to you; you attract more like-minded people; you attract people who want to fight for you; the journey is more fun, and that’s all translated into energy.”

Gino challenges leaders to choose just one discipline and implement it. Start with the one that is easiest for you. Note how it affects your energy. If it works, add another. The goal is to help you become the best entrepreneur — and the best person — you can be.

Learn More:

• The EOS Life
• EOS Worldwide

Also Mentioned In This Episode:

• • Essentialism by Greg McKeown
  • Getting Things Done 

• The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley

• Breath by James Nestor

• Dan Sullivan’s Strategic Coach®