Thursday, January 25, 2007

Robin Sharma's Important Lessons

Occasionally, I will upload past articles I have written for various clients... here's one from March 2005:

The first client I hugged looked confused. And he seemed more perplexed when I explained that, damn it, I loved him. But that’s just how I felt after spending an hour with author, visionary CEO, elite-performance expert, and former lawyer, Robin Sharma. And why not? It was nine-thirty in the morning on a beautifully warm, brilliantly blue spring day, I just got a free book and I was hopped up on coffee… and life.

It’s easy to dismiss today’s millionaire self-help gurus. That’s probably why so many cynics do. The philosophy seems so cookie-cutter perfect and the advice appears to lack any truly deep meaning. Don’t we already know this stuff? That we are all basically good. That we don’t live our lives to the fullest. That we should run towards the things we fear most. Evidently not. Because Mr. Sharma’s PMCQ breakfast presentation was packed with educated, successful professionals hanging on his every word and publicly sharing their beliefs and desires—albeit with the raising of a hand.

Originally from Cape Breton, Sharma gave up practicing law because his life felt hollow. He confesses that he “cobbled together” his own philosophy and wrote a book. His mom did the editing and Kinko’s did the printing. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari became a worldwide bestseller, sold millions of copies, gave birth to Sharma Leadership International, and rocketed Robin into the stratosphere of sought-after speakers like Dr. Phil, Bill Clinton, Deepak Chopra, Christopher Reeve, and Wayne Dyer.

Mr. Sharma’s advice to business people is simple. We need to value what business is all about: relationships. We need to be more real, be nicer, and be more ethical. We need to have more fun. We need to commit to a work/life balance and stop taking our good health for granted. We need to find our inner child; the one that’s creative, loving, persistent, always moving forward and living in the moment. In Sharma’s words, “Your days are your life in miniature.” So every day is a new beginning and a new chance to improve yourself even by one percent. My client says I should start by cutting back on the coffee.

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