In this episode, Tim has a great conversation with an extraordinary man, husband, father, leader, businessman and author. Lidsky shares what he’s learned from going blind at a young age and how it is one of the best things that’s ever happened to him.
OUR CONVERSATION:
- We are disabled with self-limiting assumptions we tell ourselves
- We all misperceive success and values
- We all have our blindness in our human condition
- We are creating the reality we are experiencing
- How we convince ourselves that the things we are thinking and doing are objective truths
- The world is full of examples of people who’ve overcome unspeakable circumstances and found meaning and joy in life
- Not taking control of writing your own narrative is a choice
- Positive habits Isaac has built into his life
- Having a real vigilance to separate out the difference between what you know, you think you know and what you need to figure out
- How we try to identify and cling to heroes and villains in the face of fear
- How fear shows up and fills in the blanks in your life with the most awful scenarios possible
- What fear did in his life when Isaac started losing his sight
- The importance of practicing your disciplines daily
- Every instance in our life can yield knowledge, wisdom, and strength
- The importance of quieting the noise and getting back to our strength
- Living your life with an open heart and open mind
- An open heart begins with being open and accessible to yourself first
- Own your emotions and the responsibility for your emotions
- The importance of introspection
- The power and ruthlessness of words
- Writing and how it is an invaluable tool
- How we speak to others like attorneys and listen like five-year-olds (THIS NEEDS TO BE FLIPPED)
- Confronting life’s challenges with initiative, humor, grace and an empowering new vision
- How effort without purpose is entropy
- How we have ultimate agency over every thought and action
- Isaac’s Uphill challenge that he had to overcome
- Three things Isaac is optimistic about over the next 12 months
RESOURCES:
ABOUT ISAAC:
“Isaac Lidsky may possess the most eclectic resume in business. Over the years, he has been a child television star (he played series regular “Weasel” on NBC’s “Saved By The Bell: The New Class”), a Supreme Court clerk (for Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg), and the co-founder of an internet startup. More recently, Lidsky has used his gift for logistics to build ODC Construction into one of the fastest-growing construction businesses,” transforming an unsophisticated $11 million concrete subcontractor that was hemorrhaging money into an industry-leading $150 million construction services company—in 5 years.”
-Inc. Magazine, The Incredibly Inspiring Journey of a Blind Entrepreneur, October 1, 2015.
The full list of his accomplishments is far longer. Lidsky graduated from Harvard at 19 with an honors degree in mathematics and computer science. He graduated from Harvard Law School magna cum laude. As a U.S. Justice Department lawyer, Lidsky argued more than a dozen appeals in federal court on behalf of the United States and never lost a case. He founded a nonprofit organization to fund the development of treatments for blinding diseases and within 5 years grew it to a dozen cities nationwide and more than $5 million. The technology company he founded sold for $230 million.
In 2016 Lidsky set out to share with others his empowering approach to living and leading, and he was promptly recognized as a visionary thought leader. Penguin Random House acquired for publication his first book, Eyes Wide Open, and it hit the shelves as a New York Times best seller in March 2017. TED invited Lidsky to present a mainstage TED Talk at TEDSUMMIT 2016 in Banff, Canada, and it was viewed more than a million times in 20 days. Lidsky now speaks to and works with organizations around the world.
Perhaps most striking, Lidsky is only 37, and he is blind. Born with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a rare degenerative disease of the retina, from age 12 to 25 he slowly lost his sight. As his bio makes clear, neither his youth nor his blindness have limited him, however.
This is true in his professional life and personal life alike. Isaac married Dorothy, the love of his life, in June 2004. In September 2010 she gave birth to their triplets, Lily Louise, Phineas and Thaddeus—collectively, “The Tripskys”—and in December 2015 baby Clementine completed the family. The six Lidskys live in Windermere, Florida.
INTRO AND OUTRO MUSIC (Used by permission):
Continuation Vibe – Written, arranged and performed by Luke Pecoraro (© 2018 LSP Music)
Uphill Conversations is an Uphill Strategies, LLC production © 2017 Uphill Conversations
The post 88: Isaac Lidsky – Eyes Wide Open + Opportunities in a World That Can’t See appeared first on Uphill Conversations.
