10 Questions That Changed My Life – Thread from Twitter – Episode 402

This transcript was auto-generated and may contain errors.

[00:02] Hello, partners on this episode, we’re going to be asking Kim some questions that came from Greg Eisenberg. This was a Twitter thread that went viral and with we’re talking thousands of retweets. And so Kim, we’re going to ask you the same questions that went viral. Love it. Oh, cool. I love questions. Perfect. Okay. So first is this one. And then understand every single one of these questions, he is listing out his answers. And so we’ll post a link to this. So the listeners can kind of get a taste of how he answered and how you answer. So the first one is this. The question is, and this is about life, personal life, startup life, business life question, can you really control it? And so he says

[00:51] smart people know what they can and cannot control. So Kim, can you really control I love the idea of focusing on what you can control. And my answer is no, you can’t control it, whatever it is, in general terms, business things, life things, those are absolutely not in our control. But there are a few things that we can control our thought, which is why the first principle of prosperity is to think we can then control what we do with that thought, right. So we may have thoughts that pop into our head that we choose not to listen to. You could call them, you know, the little monkey on your shoulder thoughts, or that quiet voice that’s the other side of you that you don’t want to hear. And yet, just acknowledging that we can control our thinking

[01:45] what’s in our thinking, but then also so importantly, step number two, which is what we’re going to do about it. And so how we’re reacting to our thoughts very, very important. Also, how we’re reacting to whatever external circumstances we’re dealing with a quick story. Everybody knows Texas had freezing weather recently. Not fun, like seriously not fun. And yet, what do you do about it? How prepared were you? How do you handle the time? How do you handle all the like, oh, dear, that went wrong spaces in your life when those things occur? So those are the things that we can control. Love it. Okay, next one. Did you start today with a victory? So yes, because I woke up. Hey, that’s actually I’ve never heard someone answer it that way. I like that.

[02:38] Okay, let’s do next another one. What are you optimizing for? Oh, my favorite word. Okay, so real quick, there’s a difference between optimizing and maximizing and people always want to put them together. And this is an economic difference. Like my friend that’s a PhD in economics taught me this optimizing is to try to make something the most efficient possible and efficient is like my second favorite word after optimize and maximize is just get as big as possible. So right now, we’re optimizing our team for efficiency. And we are upgrading our database and our CRM, which is a nightmare, like nobody should ever have to go through this. And yet how on earth are you going to grow and keep pace with

[03:25] technology, if you don’t optimize for efficiency around technology, and CRMs and databases are critical ones. So that is our absolute focus the next two weeks, and I can’t wait until we’re done. And then I also know that I need to prepare myself for a good three or four month learning curve on training on the new system. And we’re going to do it if I have to take a big yoga breath every 10 minutes while I go through that training, I’m going to do it, the team’s going to do it. We know the good results that we’re going to get from that optimization exercise. Ooh, love it. So good. Okay, next one. And I know the answer to this one. Are you being optimistic? Yes. And I think a fun follow up is what do I do when I’m not? Because

[04:13] that happens too. And you know, Spencer, you know, our family, because you get to come hang out on the farm, and you see that side. And of course, we talk often, etc. And yet all human beings have times when they’re not was the word being or feeling optimistic being? Yeah, that’s pretty interesting. Because I can be optimistic, even if I’m not feeling it. And sometimes, it’s that act as if, in other words, back to the earlier question, when I woke up w h e n, and I got a win w i n, then I had a choice. And whether I was feeling it or not, if I act as if, so if I act as if I’m optimistic, even though sometimes I’m not, it comes around. And guess what, I can make so many better decisions, I can optimize better, I

[05:04] can do so many other things better. When I’m being optimistic. All right, next one. Are you reacting or responding? Wow, such a great delineation of definitions there. So responding to me is adjusting, shifting, pivoting, accepting, going forward again, adjusting, shifting, pivoting, going forward again. And I would like to say that that’s the mode that I’m in is response mode. Clearly, reacting is, I think, viewed as a more negative term. It’s a, oh, my gosh, I wasn’t prepared. So now what I’m going to do, not that we don’t sometimes have to do that also, but I absolutely am going to work with that some and I want to be in respond mode. Ooh, that’s so good. So I’ll give you a taste of what he

[06:02] said. And again, we’ll put this inside of the show notes. Remember, reacting is emotional. Responding is rational. Next question. Can you disagree politely? Oh, I’m working on this right now. So there’s a book whose title I will get as I finish this sentence. And it’s a little bit of a left curve. And yet, I’m reading it for the very specific purpose of learning how to argue more efficiently, and get into an environment where discussions can occur, progress can be made. And people don’t get mad. Because when people get mad, the conversation is over. The book is called Tactics. And again, it’s a left curve. And the author is, oh, why does Kendall put a check mark over the author’s last name, Gregory, K-O-U-K-L.

[07:05] Okay, we’ll make sure to add it in there. And I’ll add this. There’s a four letter word that you should use in a disagreement or an argument. And there’s a way you should act and feel. It’s L-O-V-E. Capital L. Okay, next one. Are you thinking in decades or years? So Dan Sullivan asks at the beginning of all strategic coach classes. And so if you’re not being coached by Dan, you get asked this by whoever’s coaching you. At what age are you going to die? And so I have set that age. And now this did not happen overnight. I’ve been in coach for 25 plus years at 140. And it’s because I want to be married to Todd for 100 years. And I got married to Todd when I was 40. And so everybody has to have a

[07:54] why, right? Now, it does not matter whether I live to 140 or not. What matters is all of the good decade oriented thinking that I get because of that why because of that goal because of that desire, because of how that causes me to look at my life. Oh, that’s so good. And that actually leads to the next one. And so you didn’t know about this, which is are you earning trust? Earning trust? Wow. So yes, I believe so because I’m being authentic. I’m putting our thought process out there in every way I know how blogs, books, podcasts, videos, etc. And I believe that it is in the sharing of wisdom that trust gets earned. It’s not a one time deal, and it must be continually earned and re earned. Okay, so here’s one I’m going to preface it with a statement

[08:53] before the question. And it says he says success is 40% talent and 60% understanding how to beat the game. So then the question is, do you understand the rules? And you said understanding how to beat the game? That’s what it says. Now I don’t necessarily agree with that language. Agree. But I’m saying, do you understand the rules? Yeah. So the question is good. And I’m going to agree that I don’t agree with the concept of beating the game because to me, you want to be playing a game that you keep winning and winning and winning and everybody’s winning and win times three is one of my bullhorn messages. But let’s just ignore that for a minute. Do you understand the rules? And that’s a really critical one. Do you

[09:35] understand the rules, the guidelines, the time, the timeframe, the framework with which you are playing, and more importantly, the people that are playing with you, do you understand their perspectives, their timeframes, their frameworks, etc. So I love the understanding of the rules question, and would just also state that I absolutely play to win and I want you to win and the third party to win also. Okay. And three questions is probably my favorite, but we got two more that are so good. Okay. Why don’t you get straight to the point on stuff? Because a lie can be told in one sentence. And the truth takes a paragraph. And that is a direct quote from my husband, Todd Langford, who has realized over time, that

[10:31] there are a lot of financial lies out there that are awesome one sentence, one liners, and that it takes a full paragraph, which is why you don’t get to the point right away to tell the whole truth. Though the question I’m going to ask you, not not this one, but the next one is so ready for that. We should have just edited this. But here we go. Why do you take things so personally? Because I care because they matter. Because I would be dead if I didn’t. I mean, like dead to the world, you know, flatlined, maybe not literally, but certainly emotionally. And so what, what good is life if I’m not taking things personally? Okay, so the favorite question that I had in the list is this. Are you seeking truth? Or do you want to just

[11:22] validate your beliefs? Yeah, I love that. Are you seeking truth? You’re just trying to be right. And so it is something that in reading the book that I just finished before the other one that I talked about, which is Think Again by Adam Grant. And he’s a business professor at Wharton. I love his writing. And the whole point of Think Again is to be rethinking your assumptions, be willing to be wrong, be willing to fail, be willing to adjust, you know, trust but verify all those types of one liners back to the other one are accurate and important. And they’re a necessary part of gaining trust, earning trust and gaining it again, is the ability to think and rethink your own truths and be open minded and be

[12:20] willing to learn and come to things with a beginner’s mind. I mean, those are all just like wrapped up in one super awesome package. Are you learning fast? Or are you learning well? Both because I am definitely a quick study. And I know that many things need deeper work. And so I like to do both because Todd and I talk about all the time we live in a house of both. We’re always trying to do both don’t always pull it off. But we always try love it. Are you building something authentic? Well, that goes back to our trust word. And so yes, I believe that we are a podcast can’t be inauthentic. It would be impossible, I think unless somebody’s a seriously good actor, it would be impossible to continue to podcast

[13:08] in authentically. So I have three podcasts, and you help us with all of them. Thank you so much. Wonderful. Okay, so one more on the list. And then there’s like two more that are somewhat esoteric. And I think they’re good. So we’ll ask them still if you could be paid to do absolutely anything on earth, what would you do for a living? Exact same thing I do. I love it. I love the problems that come with it. I love even the times that I feel like slamming the computer against the wall. And I’ve done it for a long time. And I was thinking the other day, I am so grateful to have found work that I love. Here we go. The next question is esoteric. It’s weird. But I think it’s good. If our legs bent the

[13:49] other way, what would chairs look like? They would look like they look when we stare at them before we sit down. Interesting. I haven’t thought of it like that. Okay. And then the last one, I will pull for myself. Kim gets a one sentence about the impact you’ve made. What does that sentence say? That growth is your lifelong purpose. And money affects everything that’s important to you. So figure out a way to work with it. Hey, this is interesting. We got inside of Kim’s head. Now, I think for all of our listeners, what’s really valuable, and if you get a chance to be in the car and ask these questions to your family members or friends, or even just noodle on them, it’s helpful for you to realize and for me to see as an observer

[14:51] that you referred back to a lot of the principles of prosperity. So thank you for taking the time to answer these, Kim. This was fun. What a find. Thank you so much. I’m thrilled and so honored to be able to answer them for our community. And I can’t wait for you to send them to me so I can ask them of Todd. Will do. And listeners, those will be all in the show notes. You can refer to the blog post at partnersforprosperity.com. And if you are also wanting to get updated about other articles and interesting things, make sure you jump on the website at partnersforprosperity.com and join the newsletter. Thanks for listening to this episode. Thank you for listening to the Prosperity podcast. To take control of

[15:34] your money and have it work for you, visit us at partnersforprosperity.com. If you liked this episode, make sure you subscribe and leave a review.