Jesse Itzler writes a short personal contract each day, a signed pledge he reads every morning to clarify his values and guide decisions. The practice started when he lived in a monastery. You write 5 to 8 "I will" statements, sign it, and read it daily to stay intentional instead of running on autopilot.
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Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Gubernick, and welcome to the No Days Off podcast, where we believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. Most of us, if we're in business, we're making contracts probably all the time— contracts with, with clients and with employees or with vendors. But a real question might be, how many of us ever sit down and make a contract with the most impers— important person we'll ever deal with? Ourselves. Jesse Itzler, in his book Living with Monks, shares how he did exactly that. And I think it's so simple, it's actually genius. Now, as of late, I've been on a Jesse Itzler kick, and I reread Living with a SEAL, and I reread Living Living with the Monks. And, and I absolutely love the books, and there's so many awesome takeaways. Jesse, by the way, is one of the best storytellers I've ever heard. But in Living with the Monks specifically, maybe it's just the season, season of life or business in which I'm in, I took away so many lessons that frankly, when I first read it a handful of years ago, I don't think I had those same lessons. One of which, of course, is this idea that we should be making a contract with ourself. What am I even talking about? So in the book, in, in Living with Monks, uh, Jesse goes to live in a monastery. And in this monastery of monks, he is stripped of all distraction and, and all modern comforts. No phone, no technology. He's in this like super small room he calls a cell. And frankly, he's just got a lot of time to think. What he came away with wasn't some sort of business plan or a new system. It was a lot of clarity about who he wanted to be every single day. And towards the end of the book, he lays out a personal contract he wrote with himself. I'm going to read you his exact words. This is the contract he wrote for himself. He said, I'm going to thank God first thing in the morning. I'm going to show appreciation for having this day. Today I'm going to be the best version of me that I could be. I'm going to try hard at whatever it is I do. I'm going to be present and patient. I'm going to be a teacher to my kids. I'm going to be a good son, brother, and friend. I'm going to be giving to my wife. Now, Jesse pledges to read this contract every single morning. And it's pretty short. It's pretty simple, but it's pretty powerful in the way that it helps him set intention each and every day. Now, why am I sharing this? Why does this even matter? I think that many of us, maybe most of us, live rather reactively. We roll out of bed in the morning and we have a tendency to maybe let the day dictate who we are. I think this contract process flips that. In other words, you now set the terms. You define who you, who you, who you are going to be before the world even starts to come at you. I think this can really work for many of us because first it brings this intentionality that may be missing. In other words, there's no autopilot. Each day actually starts with the direction. Again, in Jesse's case, it's about being present and patient. It's about, you know, making a pledge to be a teacher to the kids. It's about being giving to his wife and all the other things I mentioned. So it creates this intentionality. It also reinforces an identity because you're not just trying to be someone, you're committed to being, you know, those things that you put in your contract. I think it also gives you this daily anchor. It's a reminder of the values that you have or that you stand for before you get into emails and texts and meetings and conversations. And then lastly, with this contract, I think that it helps you make what I would call micro decisions, because throughout the day you can ask, does this align with my contract for myself, or does it actually break it? I think that as business leaders and entrepreneurs, you are probably getting pulled in a thousand different directions every day. And a contract with yourself becomes your filter, becomes your filter for decisions and, and your leadership and, and how you treat your people. For example, Jesse says, I will be patient and present with my team. I will show gratitude before I demand results. I will act as a teacher and not just a boss. I mean, that's what he's saying here. I'm going to be patient, which means presence. I'll show gratitude. Right, and, and not just always be about results. And I'm going to be a teacher. When the markets shift, when pressure builds, I think this sort of contract can keep you rather consistent. In other words, it becomes your North Star. It becomes your North Star around your leadership, the culture you want, the strategy you deploy. They all flow from who you are and how you're showing up each day. So I want to challenge everybody to consider drafting their own contract right now. Here's how I would go about doing it if I try to break down what, what Jesse accomplished. I think first you got to reflect on your identity. In other words, who do you want to be? Not necessarily in, in 5 or 10 years. Who do you want to be today? Who's the guy or the girl that you want to be? And then I think you could write, you know, call it 5 to 8 simple lines. These short, specific commitments. Think about it as, you know, the start of the phrase being, "I will," fill in the blank, or, "Today I am," and fill in the blank. Really try to keep them tied to values and relationships. Once you've kind of reflected on who you wanna be and you write down these simple lines, sign it. Sign it like you would a real contract. And then to make this truly effective, read it every single day. Make it a morning ritual, or maybe it's the thing you read at night before you go to bed. And I don't know, I kind of think maybe this is something you read out loud if possible. And then like a lot of contracts, you might have to revise it over time because the contract— this particular contract is a living document, and you've got to adjust maybe as you evolve. Now, full transparency, I just really started thinking around this. You know, I read this a couple weeks ago and I'm still processing what I want my contract to be, but I'm really, really excited to draft it and more, more importantly, to read it every day and see truly how it shapes my behavior. I feel pretty strongly that it's going to. See, the monks gave Jesse a real gift, and that gift was clarity. I don't think you need to move to a monastery. I don't have to move to a monastery to get it. You probably just need a pen. You probably need some time, and then probably more than anything else, you need the courage to commit to yourself. So, so here's the challenge: write your own contract this week, maybe even today. Sign it, read it the next day, the next morning. And just watch how differently you might show up. Because when you live by a contract, just like you do in business, when you live by a contract with yourself, you stop living by accident. And I think that's a pretty— that's a pretty powerful thing. That's all I have for you today, the No Days Off Podcast. Thank you so much for listening. And remember, every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's get after it. [MUSIC] [MUSIC]
