I recently announced my plans for a 12-month Founders Live world tour. This post describes another lesson from my journey and what I have initially learned from taking the biggest risk of my life to date. Follow along here on this blog and here.

When I announced my 2019 tour the outpouring of thoughts, encouragement, and support was overwhelming and humbling. It amazed me how much people are paying attention to me and Founders Live, and how they were extending their thoughts and words of encouragement to me.

I was on a call today with one of these people – someone who I didn’t know but had attended an event in Austin, TX and then cold reached out to me in an email.

During the conversation, something clicked as I was talking. A new lesson – if you are open to being open – to new things and new people – they will walk into your life unexpected but with perfect timing to answer a request or a need you have at the time.

I described to this person how amazing it was that as Founders Live grows, we are seeing a larger and larger community forming around the world. And I was struck with how lots of these people have reached out to me and extended their support, offering a roof over my head or a connection to someone they know when I enter a new city.

“We’ve created this community and it’s amazing how people are opening doors to me all over the place”, I said to him. “It’s really cool to see it in action. To see people opening doors to strangers in efforts to help.”

Then I said “This is not about me. I didn’t build Founders Live just for myself. This is available and open to ALL Founders Live members. Anyone should be able to post about their travels or needs and others in our community can be there for assistance and support if needed. I know it’s happening already.”

That’s the truth.

You should be able to tap into the Founders Live community and connect with other like-minded people, possibly in other countries and other corners of the world. You should be able to trust them, or at least know they pass one or two filters even before you discovered them.

A quality check for me (as the founder) is if this continues and actually becomes more prevalent as we grow in many more cities and many more people around the world. That’s when we know we’ve created something very special.

The lesson here is: Be Open To Being More Open. It’s an offshoot of Open The Door Core Value and maybe the distant cousin of it. It’s the reciprocal side of that core value, where as you are more open to new opportunities, new people, new experiences, the more often you will see others Opening The Door to you. You see, the Core Value Open The Door only works when there are 2 people: one person who is opening the door and the other person who is open to the door being opened for them.

Be Open. More than you would otherwise. It’s how we grow as humans. And I am learning it’s how you survive when you are on the road!

I recently announced my plans for a 12-month Founders Live world tour. This post describes another lesson from my journey and what I have initially learned from taking the biggest risk of my life to date. Follow along here on this blog and here.

One thing I recently noticed about myself was how much I desire routine. It was apparent when I was living in Seattle where I would wake up in the same place each day and pretty much doing the same things within a morning routine. Boy did I enjoy that damn amazing view of Lake Union from my living room.

But now as I find myself out on the road it has become even more clear that establishing a routine as quickly as possible once I arrive in a new city is key to my productivity and progress.

I don’t know about you but when I feel out of synch in life I am not productive at all. I desire some normality, however I can get it. I need to grow. Each Day. Even the way I start my day points to a routine which covers numerous areas of growth in my life.

My morning routine goes something like this:

• Wake up
• Get coffee going
• Meditation – 10-15 mins
• Drink coffee and read email newsletters and blog posts of what has happened in last 12-24 hours
• 30 mins Workout – running or strength (4 days per week hopefully)
• Shower and get ready
• Eat something healthy
• Ready to walk out the door

With that morning routine, I experience growth in the spiritual, intellectual, physical and nutritional areas all within a few hours and before I set out to work for the day. It makes me feel refreshed, energized, intelligent, grounded, and self-aware. It makes me feel like I am taking at least a few steps forward, not backward.

Now that I am on the road and not living a normal life, it’s important for me to be flexible and adapt to my surroundings but at the same time wrap my morning routine into this crazy everchanging life I am now living.

Why? Because letting my health, intelligence, self-awareness and nutrition slip will only hold me back from realizing my potential and will seep into my happiness as a person. I don’t want that at all. I took the leap and left on a world tour to find happiness, not lose it!

So I work at it and embrace the uncomfortableness.

Equally important to my morning routine, I figured out pretty quickly I needed to find a home base workspace where I go and get work done most days.

Here in Boise, I joined the coworking space Trailhead where I spend most of the day getting work done and taking calls.  It’s been exactly what I needed and I’m really enjoying getting to know the Boise startup community. In fact, this is the venue we’ll be using to run the Founders Live Boise event this month and going forward this year.  Learning about their growth initiatives and how Founders Live can help accomplish them was music to my ears and we’re honored they want to support our initiatives as well.

The lesson here for anyone on the road is multifaceted.

First, whatever daily routine you thrive on when you are at home can be worked into your life on the road if you pay close enough attention and work at it. It does take work. But if done correctly it ties you back into yourself and you feel whole no matter where you are in the world. Secondly, quickly finding a home base or a place you can depend on each day to help maintain your effectiveness and work ethic is key to not losing a step in your business. Lastly – newness, fresh faces, and different daily challenges are refreshing and fun to tackle. Embrace the hell out of them.

If you ever choose to take your World Tour (or just a short trip), I hope these lessons help you along your way.

I recently announced my plans for a 12-month Founders Live world tour. This post describes a lesson from the first few weeks of my journey and what I have initially learned from taking the biggest risk of my life to date. Follow along here on this blog and here.

We’re just a few weeks into my year-long global journey and I have already connected some very important dots.

First off – and quite a bit less important than the next point – is the fact that I am weirdly comfortable in this new state of being. For those of you who didn’t read the above-linked post, I am currently in Boise, ID for January, city #1 in a 12+ city tour where I plan on living in each area for a month as I work with our local Founders Live leaders and grow the global brand along the way.

I’ve noticed my adaptations to changing and uncomfortable circumstances are becoming quicker and easier as the weeks go on. As I mentioned in a previous post, “Think about your life. You wake up (usually) at the same time. In the same room. Have your same morning routine. You (most likely) go to an office or your same place of work each day. Return to your residence. You (might) have a significant other who you enjoy spending time with. You have a mailing address.”

Not me! Not any more.

And you know what? That’s okay! I am now in a process of digitizing pretty much my entire life and learning to live in much more fluid and changing state. It’s quite freeing and something to be attentive to and improved upon each day. I am committed to adapting to this new life.

The next point is what I want to drive home to you today. It’s about Commitment.

You see, I thought I was committed. In my life. In my relationship. To my company.

I realize now although I was somewhat committed to all those things, I was never fully committed to any of those. I was not 100% committed in anything in my life. And to be honest with you that was a tough sentence to type.

And you may be thinking to yourself, “Wait, what? well, Founders Live is growing and Nick seems successful? How can it be he wasn’t committed?”

Yes, I was definitely working hard and committed to daily efforts of Founders Live. But there was something wrong. Something wasn’t fully locked in and it felt off. I realize now I was a bit complacent in my life. For some reason, I had fallen into a bit of zombie mode.

Now, by making the decision to end my relationship, setting out on the road and leaving the city I have called home for 15+ years, I learned real commitment. I now feel what 100% commitment is really like.

100% commitment requires you to give up something you care deeply about in order to retain the other thing in your life. For me, that was the loss of my relationship and the life I called my reality for 4.5 years. It involved removing the safety net and going all in.

True commitment involves some levels of pain and discomfort. Trust me, my decision and the now new reality have brought me both of those.

To drive this point home, I was recently asked on a podcast about commitment and this topic in general, and I told the following story. Being the creator of Founders Live and running our event in Seattle for almost 5 years I meet and talk with hundreds, if not thousands of startup founders. They tell me about their ideas and their companies. They might even pitch at our events. They seem on a good path. And good for them, I am a very big supporter of entrepreneurs and people creating their own companies.

BUT, my intuitive senses quickly kick in and I can almost feel this person’s level of commitment. It’s in the way they talk, what they say, how they say it, how they prepare (or not) for Founders Live pitch experience, etc.. The truth is most aren’t committed and their companies aren’t going to make it in the end. I can see it in the eyes. It could be for many different reasons, but the main one is – at the current point in time – they aren’t 100% fully committed to their vision and their path. There’s not enough pain and they haven’t given up enough. They are playing it safe. It doesn’t mean that can’t change (and I hope it does) but it does mean at that current point in time, they aren’t there yet.

I can sense it because I was there too, not very long ago in fact.

The lesson here is: You may think you are committed. But you need to ask yourself if you are 100% committed? And what does 100% committed look and feel like to you? What is holding you back and blocking you from reaching your potential? What do you need to remove from your life so that you can make a 100% commitment?

You may not like the answers to those questions but if you want to be successful you need to know them regardless. If you need help uncovering them, feel free to reach out.