Podcast Announcer/Narrator (6:14)

It's time to take your seat at the table. Find out how with vocitembegwayo as we discuss ideas that matter, a catalyst for bold action.

Host (possibly Vusi or Fousey) (6:28)

Hello family. Hello family. And welcome to this another VT podcast. And here we talk about ideas that matter. So I'm, I remember watching this interview of Will Smith and it was, I want to say 2022, 2021 there or thereabout. And he's doing this powerful interview. I can't recall who it was that was interviewing him. It may have been Oprah. In fact, I remember it was Oprah interviewing him about his book Will. And he tells this incredible story, Will Smith, about how he worked in his dad's ice cream shop. His father had an ice cream shop when he was growing up. And when there was a period of time where they needed to rebuild or restore or remodel the shop. And so the father pounded a big hole, right, with a sledgehammer into the wall. Brick wall. And the father pounded a big hole with a sledgehammer into the wall. And this was around the time that Will was on holiday, and his dad said to him, you're going to rebuild that wall, because they were remodeling. And he was like, okay, now that. That's good. You're going to rebuild that wall. And he says he remembers vividly looking at the wall going, how am I going to do that? Look at this. Like, look at this big, gaping hole, right? And not just that, but he's going to rebuild that wall with, like, you know, small little bricks that he's going to put together as he rebuilds the wall. And his father said to him, here's how you're going to rebuild that wall, my friend. Brick by brick. Now, here's the lesson there. Sometimes in life, you look at the full whole, and as you put in one brick there, you have anxiety over the fact that there are 1,000 more bricks you've still got to put up. And so rather be present in just laying this brick, your mind is on the onerous burden of how many more bricks you still have to lay. And just that alone means that you lose your number one gift presence. Just focus on this brick. That's all you need to do. And so why I wanted us to talk about this brick by brick is because for me, I have found that that has been a transformational approach to how I do life and how I do business. It's just this meeting. It's just this chapter I'm writing. It's just this conversation. I mean, it's just this podcast that I'm recording. It's this brick. And when this brick is done and perfectly laid, it. So I hoped I'll move on to the next one. And when it's the turn for that brick, my focus, my time, my talent, my skills, my abilities will focus on just that brick. That's how you build a perfect wall. So what would be the wall that you're building, and what's your brick? Now, a lot of people misunderstand the brick thing. Sometimes the brick is the components of work that you need to do. But can I. I'll share with you a little wisdom that took me forever to kind of get. Sometimes the brick is the person you need to be. Mm. That's so good. So good. I wish I could give myself a standing ovation. So sometimes. Let's take an example. I'm an entrepreneur, and I'm building a business, and I've registered the company as an llc, and I've built my website, registered the company as an llc. Brick built my website. Brick registered for my taxes. Got my Eibn ein number brick, spoken to my suppliers, got my product brick, built my portal and got my payment gateway brick. These are the functional bricks and it's easy for us in society to judge them because we can see the brick that you've laid. But here's the thing nobody ever talks about. When you judge a wall, you can tell the character of the brick layer by the quality of the wall. Nobody talks about that. If you're looking at a wall and it's standing skew and the workmanship is shoddy, even if you don't know who the bricklayer was, you know exactly who the bricklayer was. In other words, you might not know their person, but you know their character. You know that this is a person that doesn't take good care of their things, that isn't necessarily worried about what things are going to look like in future, how they are perceived, or their quality of work. They just wanted to get this thing done. And so many of us are rushing from one thing to the next thing, to the next, to the next comment to the next comment, one post to the next post to the next post, one meeting to the next meeting to the next meeting. You're so sloppy that you're leaving bad trails all over the place, not recognizing that each of those trails you're leaving, each of those crumbs, all of them are building blocks to the brick of your character and your foundation. Brick by brick is not just the wall you're building, it's also what that wall exhibits about you once it's built. And so the real question I want you to ask yourself this week is this. We arc back now, a few weeks, when we spoke about the New Year's resolutions, setting targets and setting goals. Let's arc back to that. And not just the things you need to do, but the person you need to be. That's the real brick that you need to lay. So perhaps the brick that you need to lay is to arrive early for your meetings rather than late. Perhaps the brick that you need to lay is to arrive prepared for your meetings rather than not. Perhaps the brick that you need to lay is to make phone calls and connect with people and build true, honest, meaningful relationships so that you don't just call people when you need them, but you also dial into them, even when it's just a cordial relationship, or perhaps even when they need you. I'm convinced that it's half about what we do and half about who we are when we do what we do. And I think it's easy for us to talk about what we do because we do it. But the real question is, who are you as you're doing it? That's the true test of your character. That's the true test of what you will leave behind. That. That's the brick I want you to focus on. So I've got three questions for you as we wrap this podcast episode. The first question I have for you is, who were you before the world told you who you are? That's good. Nah, I know it's good. It's good. You know, most of us live lives not based on who we are, but who we have been told we should be. So who were you before the world told you who you are? Before you were a chartered accountant, before you were an investment banker, before you were a successful entrepreneur, before you were a mother of three, before you were a. Who were you before you were that second? Who do you want to be remembered as? Not what do you want to be remembered as, but who? When people speak about you, what are the things they will say about your character? Who? And then lastly, if there is and if you're honest, there will be a distance between who you are and who you believe you need to be. What are the three things you commit to doing that will take you from where you are to where you need to be? Those are your three bricks. Go build them. All right, family, that's our podcast for the week. Please remember to send through your voice notes, please. Plus 2781505. And until we meet again, I'll see you next week.

Podcast Announcer/Narrator (15:15)

This podcast was proudly brought to you by my growth fund in partnership with Sound and Sounds Media.