Smart not Selfish | Channeling Entrepreneurial Energy

Smart not Selfish

“We are all born naked into this world, but each of us is fully clothed in potential.” - Emmitt Smith

Moving through airports and flying from Vancouver to Las Vegas then St. Louis was interesting last week: it was hard to tell that people were freaking out about the spread of the Corona Virus because only one or two people wore masks. The only difference was the much higher percentage of people using hand sanitizer – including me – and Las Vegas was a little quieter.

One of the highlights of the trip was delivering the end-of-day keynote at a conference for HomeSmart - a rapidly growing real estate company - and sharing the stage with the great NFL Hall of Famer, Emmitt Smith. The NFLs all-time rushing leader, Smith played 15 seasons before retiring, won three Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys, as well as Most Valuable Player, the Rushing Crown, and Super Bowl MVP. With another fellow player, he is now a successful real estate developer, specializing in transforming under-utilized land in densely populated areas; and he started a charity to provide educational opportunities and unique experiences to underserved youth. For fun, he also won season three of Dancing with the Stars.

Part of his speech really resonated with me, as he talked about what it takes to be successful at whatever you do. He said that not everyone will always like or agree with some of the decisions we make. They may appear to be selfish - and that's OK.

I could relate his comment to some of the principles in Your Oxygen Mask First about making decisions for your Work, your Self and your Life that enable you to become stronger and more resilient. When you are committed to something, you have to take care of yourself first so that you can a make a bigger, more positive impact in the world.

That’s not selfish – that’s smart.

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