Episode Overview

Podcast: Shed and Shine
Hosts: Gino Wickman and Rob Dube
Episode: #92 – Gino’s Riff: You Coming to Meet You: Know Thyself
Date: December 10, 2025

In this solo episode, Gino Wickman invites listeners into a deep exploration of self-awareness and personal transformation. Centered around the visionary idea of "you coming to meet you," Gino guides listeners through an experiential “True Self Exercise” and shares insights from a recent four-day solo retreat. The emphasis is on shedding external identities and rediscovering one’s unfiltered core—an essential step to unlocking true entrepreneurial freedom and authentic living.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Concept: "You Coming to Meet You" (00:00–01:50)

• Gino opens by reflecting on the phrase “you coming to meet you,” a powerful message he once received and has carried ever since.
• He frames the episode around helping entrepreneurs progress on their journey to truly “know thyself.”

2. The True Self Exercise (01:50–09:30)

Guided Visualization

• Gino introduces the "True Self Exercise," encouraging listeners to pause, close their eyes, and take a deep breath.
• Step-by-step removal of life’s layers:
  • Visualize your life, then methodically “remove” business, employees, accolades, accomplishments, family, friends, addictions, money, house, and goals.
  • The exercise strips away every external element, leaving “just you, completely alone, with nothing but yourself.”

    “What is left is you. Just you, completely alone, with nothing but yourself.” (03:06)

• Listeners are prompted to notice how they feel with everything external gone:
  • Spectrum: joy, love, trust, peace, safety vs. emptiness, pain, unfulfillment, fear, sadness, loneliness.
  • The place you land reveals your current relationship with your true self.

The Significance of the Exercise

• Feelings of love and trust signify a sturdy foundation; pain or emptiness indicate an imbalance.
• Gino relates stories of participants: some feel stress only when "everything" returns, spotlighting issues in their external circumstances.

  "Whatever came up for you is exactly what needed to come up for you, for you to learn more about yourself and maybe something to work on or something to do more of." (08:37)

• Encourages listeners to reflect: plot yourself on the “peace–pain spectrum” and notice what you learn.
• Takeaway: This process is a mirror—what arises is crucial for self-understanding and growth.

3. The Four-Day Personal Retreat (09:30–14:06)

The Call to Solitude

• Gino recounts canceling a guided retreat in favor of a solo experience, feeling it was time to be his own guru.

  "Something was just telling me that it’s time for me to be my own guru, to listen to myself, to go inside." (10:45)

• Location: Amelia Island, Florida—chosen for its seclusion and beauty.

Structure & Activities

• Writing his life story: Journaled his whole story from the airport to landing, inspired by the book Primal Intelligence.
  • Reflected on highs and lows, anchoring himself deeply.
• Extensive journaling: Explored concepts including “Authentic Entrepreneurial Leaders.”
• Early bedtime & rising: Followed his body’s rhythms, in bed early, up by 4am for meditation and journaling.
• Revisiting lessons: Reviewed a file of major life lessons and AHAs; took hours, grounding himself in accumulated wisdom.
• Intentional relaxation: Spa visits including massage, steam, sauna, and beach walks.
• Bucket-list moment: Road trip to Michael Singer’s Florida compound for a live talk, yoga, and meditation.

  “It was just kind of a dream come true.” (13:00)

Emotional Ebbs & Flows

• Gino describes moments of genuine boredom and even despair mid-retreat—acknowledging both as integral parts of going inward.

  "I got a little bored twice and felt despair...it was all part of the process.” (13:38)

• Minimal communication: Only a brief daily text with his wife; almost total silence.
• Emerged feeling lighter, more himself, though not radically transformed:

  "I have no doubt there was a shift toward freeing and being my true self...it’s all gradual as we grow and ascend and shed and become ourselves." (13:54)

4. Closing Insights & Call to Action (14:06–15:19)

• Gino challenges listeners: What would you do with a day, four days, or a week alone with yourself?
• Acknowledges many have family or time constraints—so even a short "retreat" counts.

  “Maybe it’s a half a day for you. But just consider that question and consider the topic we’re talking about. And that is you coming to meet you.” (14:35)

• Reminds listeners: There are endless ways to “meet yourself.” What matters is to actually take action—however small.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On stripping down to the core:

  "Remove your business. Remove your employees. Remove your accolades, remove your accomplishments, remove your family. Remove your friends. Remove your addictions. Remove your money. Remove your house. And remove all of your goals. And I ask you, what is left?" (02:22–03:01)
  Gino Wickman guides listeners through a raw self-audit, laying the foundation for deep introspection.

• On what the experience unveils:

  "When you feel love and trust and peace, everything is better in your life. If you feel empty or pain, it just simply means you’re not 100%...you’re kind of on a shaky foundation and there’s hope." (03:23–03:38)

• On the gradual nature of transformation:

  “I know that I shed a little bit. I don’t know how much. But it’s all gradual. So again, it wasn’t this monumental thing. It’s all gradual as we grow and ascend and shed and become ourselves.” (13:54)

• Prompt for self-discovery:

  “What would you do with yourself for four days? What would you do for one day? What would you do for a week? I don't know what your formula is. For me, four days was like perfect. I was ready to come home on that fourth day. And what might you discover about yourself if you take a personal retreat?” (14:03)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Introduction to “You Coming to Meet You”: 00:00–01:50
• The True Self Exercise (guided, with reflection): 01:50–09:30
• Processing and interpreting the exercise: 03:09–09:30
• Gino’s Four-Day Personal Retreat:
  • What led to the solo retreat: 09:30–10:45
  • Activities & insights: 10:45–13:54
  • Emotional journey and after-effects: 13:00–13:54
• Listener challenge & closing advice: 14:06–15:19

Episode Takeaways

• The path to authentic freedom starts with courageously meeting your unfiltered self.
• The True Self Exercise is a profound tool for insight—how you feel without your “outer layers” can reveal much about your current fulfillment and inner foundation.
• Solo retreats—even brief ones—are transformative; intentional disconnection can spark creativity, clarity, and healing.
• Growth is gradual; small moments of self-discovery compound into lasting change.
• Challenge: Find a way—however short—to “come to meet you,” and notice what you discover in the silence.

This episode offers both practical tools and inspirational modeling for anyone craving more self-awareness, meaning, and purpose on their entrepreneurial (and personal) journey.