The Brave Habit with Todd Henry

0:28Who's ready to rock today, Fire Nation? Nation will talk about blowing up your podcast, starting from scratch. We'll talk about bravery and boldness. We'll talk about the moments of life, not the days, weeks, and months, and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Todd and our sponsors. Success Story, hosted by my friend, Scott D. Clary, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Success Story features Q &A sessions with successful business leaders, keynote presentations, and conversation on sales, marketing, business, startups, and entrepreneurship.

1:00In a recent episode, Scott brings Kate Bradley on the show, founder and CEO of Lately.ai, to discuss the best ways to use AI to create content. Listen to Success Story wherever you get your podcasts. Ever thought about giving a TEDx talk? It's one of the most powerful ways to share your message with the world. And four-time TEDx speaker, Taylor Conroy from Thought Leader can help you get there. Visit thought-leader.com slash fire to join Taylor's free training where he teaches you how to land a TEDx talk and spread your message to millions. Todd, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with.

1:42Hello, Fire Nation. I'm so excited to be back on the show. And John, it's so great to chat with you again. It's been, it's been, feels like forever. I'm really excited to be back on the show. Something that I believe about being successful and most people disagree with me on is that success is not about making wild, bold leaps. I think if you talk to a lot of people, they think that they have to make some wild, bold leap into the unknown in order to be successful. And I am firmly in the camp that entrepreneurs are risk mitigators, not risk takers, generally. And then occasionally risk takers when it calls for a risk, but that generally speaking, it's more about risk mitigation than about risk taking.

2:23I love that, Fire Nation. We'll be talking all about that and more in today's episode all around the brave habit. And when you were talking about that, Todd, it actually brought up a book that had a huge inspiration to me back in 2012 when I was first starting Entrepreneurs on Fire because I was thinking, hey, I gotta take some big leaps, some big risks, that's what entrepreneurs do. And this book by Jeff Olson was called The Slight Edge. And it was all about just taking a small but positive step forward every single day because then over time, that can compound into something amazing. So I love this theme.

2:55we started off with. And I want to move on to the fact that, you know, here I was thinking that my 12 year old podcast, Entrepreneurs on Fire was ancient. But Todd, you had an 18 year run with your podcast, but guess what? You blew it up. You decided to start from scratch. Sounds a little risky and a big leap to me, but Hey, let's hear that story. I started the Accidental Creative Podcast in 2005. It kind of was born out of a need, probably similar to you, where I was trying to answer some questions and was coming up with some answers, but I realized other people had those same questions. And so I started the podcast to speak to creative professionals who might be trying to figure out how do I create on demand every day.

3:37And it had a great run. It had an 18-year run. We have listeners all over the world and millions and millions and millions of downloads. And I was working on my new book project over the course of the last year and a half and began asking some really challenging questions in the book. And I thought, you know, I probably should ask these same questions of myself, you know, just to kind of like test market some of these questions I'm challenging people with. And one of the questions I began asking myself was, if I were to start over today, would I be doing things the way that I'm doing them? And John, the unfortunate answer that I came to and a very uncomfortable answer I came to was no, I wouldn't.

4:11I would be doing things very differently. And so the next logical question is, well, then why are you doing them that way? and so over the last several months we went through a major process of restructuring rebranding reformatting the podcast um completely changing its format we got rid of all of our back episodes which was thousands of episodes because we didn't want them sitting alongside this brand new thing that we had created called daily creative um and as you know that was it was a bit of a risk because we getting rid of the back catalog means foregoing a lot of advertising revenue that you know was just kind of like just sitting there for us to take.

4:47But it was the right thing to do. And I realized that I couldn't be a person challenging people to do brave, interesting work without being somebody being willing to do brave and interesting work myself. And so we reformatted the show after 18 years. And we're now on episode nine. 18 years to get to episode nine, John, is what it took us. But here we are. What a powerful question. I mean, Fire Nation, when's the last time you've ask yourself a question that powerful. If I was to start over today, would I be doing the same thing that I'm doing now? And to be honest with you, I look back at my career and it was actually at exactly episode 2000.

5:25And if I'm being completely honest, it was more like an episode 1800 because I gave myself a little runway. I said, hey, if I was to start Entrepreneurs on Fire now at episode 1800, would I be doing it the same way? And the answer was no for me, Todd. So I actually gave myself a little runway, 200 episodes and said, hey, but at episode 2000, I'm making a big shift. First 2000 episodes, I asked the exact same six questions to every single guest. That was just, that was a show. That was my dream and I fulfilled it. Episode 2001 and beyond was a completely different podcast. I kept my back cataloging like you, but I went in a completely different direction with the show.

6:04And here we are at episode about 4 ,324 or something. So I've actually more than doubled the episodes with this new format. But man, again, you make me think it's like, when's the next time I need to ask myself that question and Fire Nation, when's the last time you've asked yourself a question like that? And, you know, looking a little bit behind the scenes here, Todd, you believe that bravery and boldness are actually not the same thing. Like a lot of people would consider them very similar, if not the same. Tell us more about that. Yeah, I think we often conflate these ideas of bravery and boldness.

6:37Boldness can mean just taking a wild leap into the unknown without really even calculating the cost, right? And sometimes we look at people who do things like that and we say, oh, how brave of them. But not necessarily because, I mean, honestly, they may just be oblivious to what it might cost them to make that leap, right? Bravery, in my belief, based upon the research I did for this new book, is always about the other. It's always about something else. Bravery counts the cost. Bravery understands what's at stake and chooses to act anyway in the face of potential loss or discomfort. And so I think the most powerful entrepreneurs that I've encountered in my life, and I've worked with so many people who are extremely successful, extremely well-known, people all over the globe who have had tremendous impact, all of them have something that drives them, that they're spending their life and themselves on behalf of, other than just building a business.

7:33They're not just trying to build a business. They're trying to accomplish something that transcends the business itself. They have a deeper theme or a deeper passion, a deeper purpose that they're willing, if necessary, to get uncomfortable for, right? To take a risk on behalf of. And that, to me, is the essence of bravery. When you understand what's worth sacrificing and you're willing to put yourself in an uncomfortable place in order to help achieve it, whatever that looks like, that's bravery. Whereas mere boldness could be just making a wild leap. You could be doing something purely for your own self-enrichment, which I mean, there's nothing wrong with that, but it's certainly not brave.

8:09You're taking a risk just to make yourself a little richer is not necessarily brave. It's bold, certainly. It might be bravado. So my encouragement to people is, listen, what a tremendous opportunity that we have, John, as entrepreneurs, as people who get to go out and create value in the world to be about something more than just the bottom line, to be about more than just a profit. And, and by the way, there's nothing wrong with profit without profit. There is no purpose. There is no impact, right? But what an amazing thing when we can say, yes, I get to make a profit. But the reason I get to make a profit is because I'm spending myself bravely on behalf of this thing that I care deeply about improving people's lives in some ways, putting, putting products into the world that are, that are helping people be better at what they do.

8:52I mean, that's an incredible thing that we get to do. And so when you have that mission affixed firmly in your mind, it makes taking those calculated risks a little bit easier. Not easy, but a little bit easier. How powerful, Fire Nation, an official value bomb. And I do love a phrase that you've used, which is bravery can actually mean to just wait or sometimes even to let go. So think about that, Fire Nation. Sometimes it can be brave to wait or to let go. It's not always a forward action. And Fire Nation, there's so much more to talk about around these topics when we get back from thinking our sponsors.

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11:18Visit thought-leader.com slash fire. Join Taylor for this free training and get your message out of your head, out of your heart, and out into the world where it belongs. That's thought-leader.com slash fire. Todd, we're back. And you brought this up a little bit in the intro, but the whole fact that you believe entrepreneurs are actually risk mitigators, not risk takers. So what does Fire Nation need to know about this differential? If we want to be positioned to act bravely, there are really two core things that we need to focus on. The first is we need to have a clear vision of a better possible future, optimistic vision of the future.

11:56So I have a clear sense of how things could be better, whether it's for my clients, for my customers, for my life, for my family, my situation, my neighborhood, my community, my country, whatever it is, I have an optimistic vision of the future versus a pessimistic vision, which says, well, it doesn't matter what I do because nothing's ever going to be better anyway, right? So entrepreneurs have to have an optimistic vision. But the second thing we have to have is a sense of agency to bring it about versus a sense of powerlessness, meaning we need to be reinforcing for ourselves what agency looks like, what skills do I need, what skills do I already have, what skills do I need to develop, whether that be relationships or proficiency in my craft or other people that I need to be building relationship with to help me accomplish that vision of a better possible future.

12:42So when we talk about being a risk mitigator, what I mean is we're positioning ourselves so that we can see the impact that our action could have on the other side. We understand the vision that we're navigating toward. We understand the agency we have to get there, right? And there might be a a gap between where we are and where we want to go. And it is a risk. We're definitely risking something in order to get there. But because we've done the work to position ourselves time and time again, and we've made bravery a habit in our life, that leap doesn't feel insurmountable because it feels familiar to us.

13:15We've taken small risks in our life. We've engaged in small acts of bravery over time in such a way that bravery almost becomes like a well-developed muscle for us. It's just something we do in response to uncertainty. Instead of shrinking from the moment, we can respond to the moment because we have a clear sense of vision and a clear sense of agency because we've practiced so many times in the past. And that's really the difference between being a risk taker and a risk mitigator. A risk taker is just rolling the dice. A risk mitigator says, I understand the potential cost, but it's going to be worth it if I accomplish it because of this vision that I'm pursuing.

13:49And I know that I have agency to do it because I've done it in the past in other ways. maybe in smaller ways, but I've done it in the past. So this just feels like the next logical step for me, not some wild leap into the unknown. Fire Nation, do you have a clear vision of a better future? And the follow-up to that is, are you looking at the skills you need to develop to accomplish this vision? And I love that phrase you used towards the end there, which is, don't shrink from the moment, respond to it. That's powerful, Fire Nation. And Todd, a lot of people believe that their life is made up of days, weeks, and years, but you believe it's made up of moments.

14:30Tell us more. Yeah, this is the pervasive myth that we have, right? It's that we, you know, well, we live days or we live weeks, we live months or years. And when we think back on our life, what we find is that our life is actually comprised of moments. And the things that we remember, the things that make memories for us are how we respond in moments of uncertainty. did we rise to the moment or did we shrink from it did we respond with bravery and with purpose or did we shrink into cowardice and comfort and the problem is john that often cowardice and comfort comes disguised as wisdom you know we hear things in our head like well maybe you ought to or don't you think it would be better if or maybe it would be wiser if you you know dot dot dot whatever it is and these are rationalizations often that keep us from responding in the moment with bravery And so my challenge really to people and the reason I wrote the book, The Brave Habit, is because I want people to understand the imminence and the urgency of each moment in their life.

15:30When you approach a moment of uncertainty, if you're not prepared, if you haven't developed the habit of bravery, you're going to react in the moment. And often those reactions are just going to be responses that you give that provide comfort or security or that allow you to, you know, in some way to retreat into that place of comfort. But if you're prepared, you can respond in the moment with bravery, according to purpose, according to mission, according to vision, and with a confident agency that will allow you to take advantage of those moments. And that's really what we need to do as entrepreneurs.

16:04We have to be prepared to rise to the moment versus just shrinking into reactive complacency. Fire Nation, you're listening to this podcast, Entrepreneurs on Fire, because you are looking to and willing to rise to the moment. So identify it. rise to it. And I've been listening to a few episodes of the Daily Creative Todd and kind of preparation for our chat today. And you have this story about Anthony Burgess. Let us know more details about this story. Yeah. So this is a really interesting story that came across in writing The Brave Habit, actually. So Anthony was a teacher on Brunei, on the island of Borneo, and he was diagnosed with a brain tumor and he was given one year to live.

16:49And so he was newly married. He didn't want to leave his wife penniless. And so he frantically wrote over the course of the next year a bunch of novels because he didn't want to leave his wife penniless. He thought, well, this is the one thing I can do to maybe sell a bunch of novels and maybe publishers will give me money and then she won't be penniless when I die. So he did. He frantically wrote and sold five novels. Only the doctors were wrong. There never was a tumor. And he had written these novels with the belief that he was going to die in a year, but instead now he knew that he wasn't going to die.

17:23um during that year anthony burgess wrote five novels that went on to become bestsellers he would later go on to write his book a clockwork orange which would be immortalized in film by stanley kubrick he became one of the best-selling authors of the middle of the 20th century he went on to live to age 76 he eventually died in the 1990s but later in his life he looked back on that period of 1959 to 1960 is what he called his terminal year right because it was the year he thought he was going to die. And he never knew prior to that year what he would be able to accomplish until he believed he was going to run out of time.

17:59Well, it's funny what we all accomplish when we think we don't have time, right? We're able to cram for an exam or we're able to squeeze out a work project or whatever it is. The ironic thing is we all are running out of time. I mean, not to be a Debbie Downer here, but we are all running out of time. We have a finite amount of time on this planet. And yet we don't live that way. And so my challenge to people is just, listen, understand that every day is precious for you. Every day that you say, well, I'll work on that tomorrow, or I'll get around to that next week, or I'll get around to it next month, or I'll have that conversation, that difficult conversation when it's more convenient, or when I don't have so much going on.

18:38Every time you do that, you're essentially falling prey to this belief that you have an unlimited amount of time on this planet to have the impact that you want to have. And you don't, none of us do. So I encourage you to think about what would it look like if I lived as if this were my terminal year? What if I actually approached my life, my work, my business, my relationships, my family, my neighborhood, my country? What if I approached everything as if this was it, this is all I have this year. And I want to make sure that I'm pouring myself as fully as I can into the things I care about while I have time.

19:11The terminal year. I I mean, that's a powerful thought, Fire Nation. And I want to end with it being, Todd, I want to hear more about your book, The Brave Habit. This is a book that I've been working on for seven years. I've written and published four other books with major publishers during the time I've been working on this book. It took me seven years to get it down to 150 pages, 150 page quick read, because I wanted to really distill bravery into its core essence. what is it that we need to know and what is it we need to do that will prepare us to rise to the moments in our life of uncertainty we all face uncertainty in our life in our lives and the one thing that i've encountered among brilliant leaders entrepreneurs successful business people is that they have the ability to respond in moments versus reacting they tend to rise to moments versus retreating into cowardice and none of us like that word cowardice but anytime we retreat into comfort or do the easy thing instead of the right thing, that's exactly what it is.

20:15We're retreating into cowardice. And so I really want to make bravery practical for people. What does it look like to develop the habit of bravery? Because bravery is a choice. It's not a built-in personality trait. So how do we develop that? If you're going to be an entrepreneur, you have to be brave. You have to rise to the moment because uncertainty is going to be your constant companion. So how you deal with that uncertainty is going to define the arc of your life and your business. So that's really the core of the book is helping people understand the mechanics of bravery, how to develop the habit, how to lead bravely, how to collaborate bravely, how to do brave work, how to be a brave neighbor, and ultimately how to leave a legacy in this world of brave action.

20:52And knowing you, it's probably going to be a pretty awesome audio book. Yeah. So that was the fun part. I got to read the audio book myself again, which I love doing. And again, for those who love listening to podcasts, and I've been podcasting since 2005, if you've ever listened to my podcast, the book is basically like a long podcast. That's basically what it is. And so, yeah, I would encourage those of you who, and I think the audiobook right now is actually on sale, which is kind of fun as well. So yeah, so I would really encourage people to check out the audiobook, the ebook, or the paperback, wherever they buy books.

21:24Fire Nation, you're the average. Of the five people you spend the most time with, you've been hanging out with TH and JLD today. So keep up that heat. For links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com. Type Todd in the search bar. The show notes page will pop right up. Todd, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation. For that, we salute your brother and we'll catch you on the flip side. John, thank you so much for all that you do. Man, I'll tell you, you've been doing this for so long. And it's such an encouragement to the rest of us just to see your persistence, your stick-to-itiveness, and the degree to which you pursue excellence in everything you do.

22:03So thanks so much for the work that you do for all of us. I received that brother and we'll keep the fire burning. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to Todd and our sponsors for sponsoring today's episode. And wow, what about setting and accomplishing a goal? Sounds hard, right? Not when you have the Freedom Journal on your side, thefreedomjournal.com, all about how to set and accomplish your number one goal in 100 days, step-by-step, thefreedomjournal.com. I'll catch you there or on the flip side.

22:58giving a TEDx talk? It's one of the most powerful ways to share your message with the world. And four-time TEDx speaker, Taylor Conroy from Thought Leader can help you get there. Visit thought-leader.com slash fire to join Taylor's free training, where he teaches you how to land a TEDx talk and spread your message to millions.