122. Five Lessons From My Five Week Roadtrip

Foreign Kenny Chapman here. I want to welcome you back to Leadership in a nutshell where we're cracking the code of the driven mind and just honored to have you here with us here today and everybody sharing energy at different times in different places from different platforms. I know we're not all together at the same time, but by God, we're coming together with the same energy and thoughts and looking for just a little shot in the arm once a week. And I'm just honored to be able to spend some time with you and do some of that. Today's episode 122 Five Lessons from My Five Week Road Trip so recently the lovely Christie and I embarked upon a five week, 6,000 mile road trip and we went all kind of across, oh from Arizona up Northern California. We did five national parks. We stayed at 13 locations in five weeks and just did a whole bunch of different things. And I'm blessed with technology and virtual ability that, that I can live a life like this while I still am honored to be the CEO of the Blue Collar Success Group with my incredible team. So I just wanted to share today a few lessons every time I travel and what's cool about COVID and please don't take that wrong. But one of the things that I should say, the change that has happened with we, we were traveling out of country quite a lot prior to that and now we've been traveling more in country for various reasons. And this year it was a car trip. Last year we took a big motorhome trip and this year it was a car trip. And I find lessons and life lessons and business lessons and relationship lessons and spiritual lessons and financial lessons and lessons of peace, frustration lessons, tolerance, patience, like all of those things you get to find in travel and you get to find them in your everyday life. But today I just wanted to break down really five lessons that I got. The way this works. And so just kind of a framework that I would encourage you to do. And this could be done for a long weekend family vacation that you might take with a spouse and some children or something. Or anytime that, that you embark on changing your environment, changing your routine, challenging habits that you have in your normal space. There are massive lessons to be learned because you're interrupting the pattern of the subconscious. And anytime we get an opportunity to interrupt normal patterns, we get to see how we respond. How does it feel? What does that mean? And we get to elevate our thoughts and feelings around some of that. So I just thought some of these are mainly for life, mainly for business. You Pick what works for you. Without that further ado, lesson number one, vision to execution is really a simple process. And so what I mean by that is it's easy to see in a road trip. I use a program called Road Trippers where we put in different locations and how many miles it's going to be and yes, what it says, how long it's going to take, doesn't always take me that long. So I'm just saying, no, seriously, if you use the software, they definitely pad the timing a little bit. If you have any kind of a lead foot, we'll say, but you know, you use this platform. So if it's business, you might do some business planning based on history, based on some forecasting, you might look at cash flow analysis, if you're doing some financial projections, whatever it is, if you're looking to do a vision exercise, whether it's a three year or five year, even a 25 year, what, whatever that is. I used to struggle, I won't say it's easy for me now, but I used to struggle with thinking in 25 year blocks. And then when I decided that I'm going to live to be 146 years old, I just, I found it, it became easier for some reason because 25 years isn't very long and many people think when they're early 50s, where I'm at, that 25 years is near the end of my life. And now I know it's not. So I gotta keep on rocking as though I'm in my 20s, because that's the. Actually I'm in my early teens, I suppose, with my life plan and my life goals. And so what happens is vision kind of changes in your life when you embrace different mindsets and thoughts. And so what I learn on a trip like this is that all these locations, 13 spots, let me tell you, 12 were planned. And so we started in Scottsdale and we ended in Scottsdale and we had 12 locations reserved. But I'll just say one of the locations, how should I say it photographed very well on Airbnb, right about that. So what we, what we got when we arrived wasn't what reviews had alluded to or the pictures kind of said. So we stayed one quick night there and then made different arrangements and moved on. So we had actually added a stay. And so think about your life and your business. Does that ever happen? You've got your plan, I'm going to do this, then I'm going to do that, then something doesn't play out. A team member leaves they quit. Whatever happens, go, oh, crap, I got to do something different. So you do, you just go do something different. We went, okay, what do you think? We had some conversations about it and ended up saying, we don't have any interest in staying here any longer. Let's find a new spot. So we did. And. And then you move on. So does it create some complexity? Yes, it creates complexity, but you just bring it to life and you bring, you manifest what you want and it just keep on creating. So if you're not creating what you want in your life, I would challenge your vision and your belief. So when you think about how easy certain things are, you might discount this. Your ego might be going, oh, Kenny, this is a road trip. You can't compare this to running all the complexities of my business. And that's fine. I honor your perspective if that's how you feel. I just want to be aware that's a belief that you have. And so many times we have a harder time manifesting vision that we don't really believe in. It feels good writing it down. Okay, I get some endorphins and some dopamine, but I, I don't know, I still struggle with a little less than them mentality when it comes to that. When I put it in road trippers, I've got a good car, I can afford the fuel. I. It's like there's no doubt in my mind we're going to complete this trip, right? So I have 100% believe and then it happens. Where do you need to embrace this in your own life? Where do you need to look at this in your business where you just make it a little easy on yourself, Create the vision. What is it? Take the massive action and then you're going to get a result. And if the result isn't what you shot out, set out to do, then you tweak it and change it. So one of the things that I live when I create vision is this or better. So the scenario like even where we ended up leaving Park City early and ended up spending a couple nights in Flagstaff instead on our way back down. So I always, when I set vision, it's always this or better. It might be different, it might show up different. So I've been to Flag plenty, which means I know my restaurants, I know where to stay, I know all those different types of things. And then my last day of the trip went from being a 12 hour day to a 2 hour day. And I was able to have great leadership meetings with my team. And then Everything works out the way it's supposed to work out all the time. It just goes the way you want it to. Better when you have that vision. So vision, execution, it's really simple. Process number two. People are people and they're doing the best they can just based on their conditioning that they have, right? So here we go all over and we went through so many small town America and this and that and seeing people and meeting people. And I can't count how many times we would roll through a town and stop and get a kombucha or stop and get fuel and, or use the restroom and talk to a convenience store clerk or ride on through and just like, damn, people live here, man. Like this is their town. And it's fascinating to me. And I know I, I grew up in small town America, born in San Diego, but, you know, pretty much grew up from the time I was six in, in Colorado in a small town. And it's like, it's. People would roll through Palisade and go, damn, people live here. It's pretty wild. And so it's just interesting. But no matter where you go, you just meet people and people are just people and they're just doing the best they can. So when we put these mental constructs around our businesses and how they're supposed to look and feel and how people are supposed to act, we can challenge ourselves by going, they're not fitting in my box. They're not doing this. I went through a bunch of places that I don't want to live. Some of them highly rated. Some resort towns that people are like, oh, you're going to love it there. And it's like, yeah, it's okay, but whatever, it works for everybody. So everybody's doing the best they can based on their conditioning and people are people. When your team members might let you down or not perform at a level that you wish, they're doing the best they can just based on their conditioning. They might still have some strong us in their mentality. You might not be communicating at the highest level. That resonates with them. There's all kinds of reasons and potential and possibility. Just check yourself. So vision execution is a simple process. People are people doing the best by their conditioning. 3. Your mind goes everywhere. Now that might sound like what I might say when I'm guiding a meditation or something, like your mind goes everywhere. But no, I'm playing like, the fact is, no matter where I went in this 6,000 miles, I brought myself with me and my monkey brain would want to run at Certain times in the night. And I would need to get up and journal periodically along the way. I did sleep phenomenally, by the way. But you know, it's just one of those things that sometimes we forget or we think if then scenarios externally. As soon as I get this, then I'm going to feel that. And we know from proven psychology, proven goal setting and accomplishment, proven achievement from driven people like you and I. We go, we set a goal, we go out, we accomplish it, we feel great for a moment and then there's a hole and then we want to go fill that hole again. And your mind goes with you everywhere. Now, don't take this out of context. I'm not saying don't set goals. I'm saying live largely with intention and have peace and bliss and remain partnered with the universe to where when things don't work out or you get kicked in the stomach, it feels like, oh my gosh, I didn't see that. I didn't want that. Just know it's still the universe serving you and everything happens for you and not to you. And everything is a gift, never occurs. All those types of things are strong beliefs that I have that I did not used to have. So just be super clear. You can run and escape and try and go, but your mind's going to go with you. And I want to share that with you as I guide you in this podcast and listening and different things like that, because it's it. I'm blessed with the opportunity to test different areas, platforms, physiological spaces, travel a lot, and I'm able to see. I'll be damned. I've thought about my. Well, there it goes. There's my brain fire. Oh, there's a scarcity thought just popped in, whatever that is. So number three, your mind goes with you every everywhere. Number four, humans are adaptable beyond belief. It's just fascinating to me how easy it is for us to adapt as human beings. And it's important that we remember and we pay attention to just how adaptable we are. I mean, we, we run different, we run different type businesses, we have different type team, we have different models, we come from different backgrounds. But lo and behold, like, you're able to adapt. And one of the, one of the things that, that we were always taught in the United States army was adapt and overcome. And so it's one of those things that I just learned when things are struggling or challenged or going in a direction, you just adapt to it and then overcome whatever that is. And there's a competitive nature in that where I'm a collaborator, not a competitor. At this stage in my life, I just, I believe we're all. There's. I believe in abundance and I believe in collaboration with our own unique genius and being able to embrace what we're here to do and align with our sole purpose. And now it doesn't mean that there's not times that I get business that, quote, competitors had or whatever that is. I'm not shying away from that. We're in a. We're in a capitalist society, which I'm a fan of. And so I, I'm not saying that, but what I'm saying is that when you adapt and overcome, just realize that you're. What are you trying to overcome? Are you trying to overcome circumstance? You're trying to overcome your ego, you're trying to overcome feeling like, what is it that you're looking to really overcome? Because when you break it down, it might not be what you think it is. Right? So just be that ties to a level of observation and a level of awareness that can always serve us at the highest level. So be mindful about that for sure. But we're adaptable. We're so adaptable. And you think about even just the last. Whatever it's been now, 20, 20, 30, 30 months, ish, or something like that since. Since the pandemic started or whatever, and our lives got flipped upside down at some point. Just look at how adaptable you were. Look at the shifts you made in your business and your life and your communication styles and look at how many of those have left a positive impact and influence and you learn things that you're bringing forward with you. Like, there's so much good everywhere. It's just that if you're hanging out on news and social media and in a comparison mindset to others, you're going to live in pain, regret, guilt, shame, struggle, suffering, like all those different types of things. Just remember how adaptable you are as a human being. When I do road trips like this or any type of travel, or lived in Australia five weeks for two different times, and you adapt and like I literally pick up the accent when I'm there. And some of my Aussie friends would argue that, like, you don't pick up our accent, but I have such a mirroring in my communication style. If I spend a lot of time with Chris Crew, our president of blue collar, I'll end up having some. Some of his Southern speak will call, it'll show up. And if I spent a bunch of time with Canadians, then that'll Happen, whatever it is, right? So, so just be mindful that you are adaptable beyond belief, my friend. And five and last, and that definitely not least here in our time today is I want you to think about the fact that habits form fast. And so I get the studies and I'm not here to challenge the studies. I'm not here to tell you like, oh, it takes 21 days, or it take 30 days, or it takes 36 days, or whatever brain experts tell us about how long it takes to form a habit. What I want you to understand is, and maybe even use the routine instead of habit so I don't get, so I don't lose you in the fact that, wait a minute, I quit smoking five days ago and I still have a craving for a cigarette. That's different. You know what I'm, what I mean is habits of how you do things. One of the things I love about traveling like this on a five week trip with 13 different stops is it just. Or overnights, I should say, staying different places. It's like every few days my environment changed. I have different. You get up on the side of the bed to go to the, use the restroom at night and it's like, wait a minute, where am I, Am I going to run into the wall if I go this direction, am I going to trip if I go that direction, am I Generally, the lovely Christy and I have quote our side of the bed. So we generally sleep on the same side of the bed. Well, the bed faces different directions when you're going different. So we're sleeping in different directions. And the layout of the home or bedrooms might be different or bed sizes might be different and all of those things. And then you get up in the morning and what you see right out of the gate as soon as you, as soon as you go into a kitchen or a living room. And I've got my, my morning rituals and so I stuck to my rituals that certainly I would still, I would get up and I would meditate and I would write and I would move my body and I would read and have positive information brought into my being and then I would set my intention for the day. I still, I did that every single day on this five weeks. But the setting was different so many times. And what was fascinating is we talk, Christy and I would talk when we would leave an area like we might be in a, in an Airbnb for three nights and then we're leaving and it's like, man, it's wild how in, in, in our term it was like, how quickly this place felt like home. Like, you're leaving. And it's not that you're sad, because I don't really have that when I'm leaving a place, I have appreciation and gratitude, but I'm excited about the next place or where I'm going next or what I'm going to see next or whatever. So I'm fine with that. But it's like, man, this place has been really great. And I've really enjoyed the. The coffee maker here. Or I've enjoyed the way the backyard was. I liked that this one had a fire pit. This one, we were right on the water. That was really cool, you know, whatever it is. This one was walking distance of town. We stayed in one where we got to watch whales from the living room. Like, those are all cool things in their own right. But each one of those, I had habits that started showing up after just a few days. And so if you don't challenge yourself, and I think that's the key, is in your own setting. And I'm not saying you have to go travel to do this. I'm saying you have to be cognizant and be aware and implement that in your own life. Go eat somewhere new. Go have a different experience. Go take a different route to the office. Move your office to a different location in your building. Like, it. Like, different room, I should say, remodel a bathroom, whatever it is. Like, do some different things to challenge the programming that you have from just repetition. And Dr. Joe Dispenza talks about the fact that a known past creates a predictable future. And when he's talking about the way that the brain works and changing the brain, he wrote a. Well, I'm going to miss the name of it right now. And I can't see my bookshelf from here. Breaking the Habit of being Yourself. Dispenza wrote that book, and it was a great book. He's written a few great ones, but that one comes. I think that was the first one I read of his. But Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself. And he talks about you. Just you. If you're going to bed on the. Doing the exact same thing every day, then you're going to wake up and you're going to do the exact same thing every day. And you're going to have this predictable future because it's going to be the same every day. And yet you're telling yourself on a certain level you want things to be different or better or whatever, and you want to have a different feeling, then you've got to change what you're doing in order to do that. And that's uncomfortable and people don't like that and fear gets involved and all these different things. So, my friend, I. I care about you so deeply and I'm just so honored that you spend a little bit of time here with me every week. And this week I'm just. I'm fired up because I just had this trip. I've been back a few days now at the time of coming to you with this, but I mean, five lessons from a five Week Road trip. I just wanted to jump in and kind of share that. The things that hit me because I break down a trip every time. If you take a weekend trip, like I was saying earlier, a short trip break down, what are the lessons? What are the takeaways that I got? What did I learn that I want to keep? What did I learn that I want to make sure I don't do any longer? What did I learn that really just made an impact on me and that's where these five lessons came from, was from the exercise that Christy and I did upon getting home from this trip. So one visit execution is a simple process. Two, People are people. They're just doing the best they can based on their conditioning. Three, your mind goes with you everywhere, my friend. Four, Humans are adaptable beyond belief. And yes, that includes you, my friend. And five, habits form fast. So be aware, stay aware, remain in gratitude. And I am so grateful and that you come and spend this time with me. I'm your host of Leadership in a Nutshell, Kenny Chapman. Episode 122 Five Lessons from a Five Week Road Trip do me a favor, kick this episode to somebody that could challenge a habit a little bit, change their life a little bit, and share this to help us keep growing our community until we talk next week. Make it a better than fantastic week. I'll see you real soon. Thank you, Sam.