Tony Robbins (37:31)
And law number five is the law of proximity. Now Tony Robbins said, proximity is power. If you want to level up, get around people who are already playing at the level you aspire to. I don't know about you, but I was in the bottom of my class in school all throughout middle school and high school. Once they started grading our grade cards and ranking us with everyone else in our class. Talk about defeating your confidence. Every semester I hated to look at my grade card because at the top, right, it would show you your ranking amongst all your peers in the grade. I never broke out of the bottom four in my class and it was just always this like, defeating moment. It's like, man, I am the dumbest kid in this class. And I essentially cheated my way through middle school and high school by asking people to help me on homework and quizzes. And it was just like, ah, Scantrons back in the day. I don't know if you remember that, where it's like you're just filling in bubbles and you're like, oh, who's filling in what? Like, like I had to just survive to get through high school and graduate and I almost flunked out of English class. So for me it just felt like, man, am I ever going to be able to amount to anything in life because I'm so stupid in school. So it was just a confirmation that continually put in this self talk that was negative. You're dumb, you're stupid. No one's going to give you an opportunity because you're not smart enough? That was the thing. And it wasn't until later in life when I realized, oh, it's actually, actually not about being smart. It's actually about being kind. It's actually about being present, about being generous. Have you ever been around someone who's so smart, who won't look you in the eyes that's always looking around to see what else is going on? Or they're just on their phone distracted, they're kind of a jerk. It's like, hey, I'm right here. Like, what's going on? But they're just showing their head and they're speaking in such an intellectual way that just makes you feel like, like inferior in some ways. And they don't. They look right through you and just like, what? I don't want to create a relationship with that person. I don't care how smart you are, how talented you are. I'm not going to be like, hey, let me add as much value to you in the world. And you Just look right through me or don't even talk to me. It's just you're not building relationship. And the key to success in life is relationships. And the key to successful relationships is being a generous listener, being vulnerable, being open, being kind. Like that's what you remember. And it's important to be a generous human being in front of someone else. I'm not saying we're going to be perfect at this. Like I make mistakes all the time. I'm sure I'm distracted all the time as well around people, but I do my best to be as present as possible. I do my best to try to be giving as much as I can. And I think that's the key. Proximity is power. And most people treat networking like collecting business cards and transactional. How can I just get something from this person right away? How can I ask them for help right away? And again, this goes back to the gratitude and generosity is the gateway to abundance. Proximity is power, right? It is powerful. But if you approach it in the wrong ways, it could hurt you. And people will remember your first impressions the most. They'll remember if you were kind, if you're generous, you're a curious listener. And I'm going to share with you a couple quick stories. One was the time that created so much financial reflection opportunity for me. It blew me away. And it was a two day weekend. It was the first mastermind I went to and I was starting to build my business, my business at the time. This is probably like 2008 or something like that, 2009 maybe. It was my business at the time in one year generated $250,000 roughly in sales and it was like working my butt off. It was like day and night, I was up till 3, 4am Just like constantly marketing, constantly learning, growing. It was just grinding that first year and it did $250,000 in sales. That wasn't my first year ever, but it was like my first year full year really in like business once I started making some money in January. So after that first year, January starts and I go to this mastermind and at this Mastermind there's probably 20, 25 people that were way farther ahead than me in the online marketing world. Authors, speakers, people who had, you know, million dollar plus businesses, things like that. And I was like the young little guy. I was like, I barely made it in this mastermind. And I was like, I'm just here to learn and add value. And for two days all I did was ask people questions about their business and see how I could help them them. That's all I did. I asked them questions, I listened and I said, how can I help you? And at the time, I knew a lot about LinkedIn and LinkedIn was powerful in helping people grow their business. And that's how I got into this mastermind. So all I did, there was five different people that I really kind of connected with the most over two days. Because you can't connect with everyone, 20 people over two days for an hour at a time. It's like I connected with about five different people, the people sitting next to me and added as much value as them right there. I was like helping them on the LinkedIn profile strategy, follow up stuff and just asking them how I could help them. I didn't ask anyone if they could help me. I just said, how can I help you? And I did it for them right there. I added value right there. Within a week afterwards, I just followed up with each one of them. I got their email and their sale. I just texted them, hey, it was great connecting with you. Please let me know if I can help you with more of the LinkedIn strategy that I helped you with at the event. And each one of them were just like, thank you so much. I'm already seeing results come in. This has been really helpful. I was confused about this. You've really helped create peace and clarity for me. Thank you. They said, is there anything I can do for you? Right. So they followed up and I said, well, I'd love to do a webinar with your audience. And all these guys had big email lists and audiences. And I said, I'd love to do a free training for your audience to serve them, to teach them what I taught you in this last weekend. And we can do it absolutely free. And I'll give them all my strategies for free, just to add value to your audience. And then if you want, I'm happy to offer my advanced training course that can help them with more tools on optimizing their LinkedIn profile and their business. And they were like, amazing. So literally all five of these individuals did a webinar with me over the next 30 days and over the next 30 days that generated almost a half a million dollars in sales. Half a million dollars over that next month. And for me, it was life changing. It was mind blowing. It was like I had worked my butt off for a few years to learn how to make money. Then kind of in the first real year of making money, we did about 250,000 in sales. I had a business partner as well. At the time, that was helping generate that with me. And then we do a half a million within the next 30 days, all because of one mastermind and five people that I had added value to and built relationships with the power of proximity. But if I had gone into those relationships saying, hey, help me out right now, and not paying attention and not asking questions and just being a taker, none of that would have happened. Proximity is power, and if you can focus on getting around the right people and asking them questions. So many times I went to events and trade shows and conferences in the first few years of doing business as kind of the young guy in the industry, and somehow I would just get around the right people and ask them questions. And at the end of the night, everyone would be like, hey, you guys got to meet this Lewis Howes guy. He's like the most interesting guy here. And I never said anything. I never said anything about me. I just asked them questions and listened. But the more interested you are in another person, the more interesting you become to that person. And the most interesting person in the world is the most interested person in the world. And I think it's one of the reasons why the School of Greatness has done so well, is because we want to be here. We want to add value. People sitting across from us, we want to ask questions, we want to listen. It's not all about me taking over the show. When I've got one of the leading billionaires, experts, scientists, researchers in the world, I'm not here to freaking teach them. They're here to teach me and to teach you. And I think that's the key, is how can you listen more? How can you add more value by listening? So that is law number five. Law number six is the law of roles. You don't have to be number one to win. Now, a few years ago, I took Team Greatness, my team, on a little retreat to go see the dog whisperer himself, Cesar Millan. And I love Cesar Millan. He's amazing. I've watched a lot of his shows for many years. We've become friends. He's been on the School of Greatness, and we've connected over the years. But he lives, I don't know, within an hour from here near la. He's got his dog sanctuary. And I was like, man, wouldn't it be cool if I could just take my team and we could learn from Caesar? We learn from him, walk with the dogs. He's got, like, you know, alpaca and birds and turtles, and it's like we're walking with the pack, right? You're with Cesar Millan and the dog pack and all the animals on his land. It was really cool. And Caesar said that you need to know your role in the pack, know your role in the pack. And so many people are like, I want to be the guy, I want to be the girl. I want to be the one who's like building the empire and doing all these things. But we have to know our role and know our role in the season we're in right now. And poor people fail because they pursue status over self awareness. The wealthy align with their strengths, whether that's leading, supporting, building, or selling. You need to know your role and play your role like a master. And again, when we went to Cesar Millan's facility, the sanctuary, he was talking about this. He goes, there's dogs that are leaders, there's dogs that are in the middle of the pack, and there are dogs in the back of the pack. And each role is important for the pack. You need to know your role, and each role is important. And you can't have the back of the pack leading leaders in the middle of the pack. It's going to be like a dog fight the whole time. No one's going to be able to go anywhere. You can't have the middle of the pack in the back and the weak ones in the middle. It's like you can't have the leaders in the back. You've got to know your role and the season of life. And this could depend where you're at. You know, when I was playing football, I started playing football when I was 15, so I was a sophomore in high school. My freshman year, I was playing goalie in soccer. And the football coach came out to a game and he saw me, like, you know, blocking goals and catching everything. And he goes, you should come play football for me. My mom never wanted me to play football because she didn't want me to get hurt and she said it was too dangerous. I ended up getting hurt a lot, actually, but I was like one of the biggest kids in school. She was afraid of me getting hurt, so she wouldn't let me play. But then I convinced her to let me play when I was a sophomore. And I was a little afraid because I'm playing varsity with, you know, sophomore, junior seniors, all these older guys who've been playing for, I don't know, eight or 10 years. I didn't know the rules of the game. I didn't know what to do. They give you this massive playbook in the beginning and again, it felt like more school to me. I was already struggled memorizing for tests and quizzes. This was a massive playbook with all these different plays and defenses and office. I was just like, what am I doing? And I was like, I'm not trying to be the guy. I don't want to be the guy. I was like, I don't. I'm not trying to be the captain. I'm not trying to be the starting quarterback. Just put me in my role. I said, I just want to play receiver. Tell me where to go. I'll catch the ball. That's all I wanted to do. And I could barely get through the first season, just being like, tell me where to line up. What is each play, where do I go? I had to ask the quarterback almost every other play. Which side do I go on? What route am I running while I'm in the huddle? It's embarrassing. But I wasn't the guy. And it took me until my junior or senior year of college, you know, seven, eight years later, when I finally felt like, oh, yeah, like, I've learned a lot. I'm seasoned, I've trained, I've failed a ton. I've made mistakes, and I've succeeded a lot. I think I can be the guy. Like, I'm building the confidence where, like, yeah, I think I can be the guy now. Like, I think I could be the lead of the pack. I can be the captain. I can take on more challenge, I can take on more stress because I've experienced it all and I've learned. And whether you're in a career right now where you're more of a junior person, sometimes you just need to know your role and own it and master it. And the more energy, the more positive attitude, the more effort and results you get. You're going to move your way up towards from the back of the pack to the middle of the pack pretty quick. And if you're able to get results and show the leaders of the pack that you are so valuable, you're going to jump the pack and start leading groups within the pack very quickly. And it just depends on the season of life, season of life or where you're at and the skills you have. But you've got to know your role. You've got to own your role and master your role, then you can elevate to new roles. And again, I never thought of myself as, like, the leader, you know, I was never like, I'm the leader, because in school I was always in the back of the class and the bottom of the class. I was the back of the pack in school setting. In sports, I was athletically one of the best, but I didn't know the most. So I was intellectually in the back of the pack. On the sports team I was scoring touchdowns and, you know, making plays. But on the team I was kind of like, hey, you guys, just tell me what to do. It wasn't until later, more seasons in football and seasons of life, where I started to gain confidence and gain experience. And I was like, okay, I can take on more. I can step into this role. I have this wisdom and this experience and it's okay if I fail as a leader, right? It was like, yeah, I can take this on and I understand this role. You're going to make mistakes, but that is something that I challenge you to reflect on and know your role right now. And if you're chasing a dream that fits your ego, or are you chasing a dream that fits your gifts and align with where you're at right now, that's the important thing to think about in knowing your role and mastering your role with this law.