Transcripts
Wired Differently:
Speaker:Leveraging Your Favors on Fulcrum Principles By Todd Saylor , narrated by russell newton.
Speaker:Introduction.
Speaker:The Indiana summer sun shines hot.
Speaker:I’m running.
Speaker:My best friend Randy and I sprint
Speaker:through a golf course,
Speaker:weaving past water traps,
Speaker:across putting greens and fairways,
Speaker:ignoring shouts that we get off the
Speaker:course.
Speaker:Randy and I race at full speed.
Speaker:The finish line is my home.
Speaker:What prize is worth such efforts to us
Speaker:ten-year-old boys?
Speaker:The winner gets bragging rights until
Speaker:the next race.
Speaker:At the edge of the golf course I leap
Speaker:over a ditch and dart onto a county
Speaker:road.
Speaker:My sneakers blur over the asphalt when
Speaker:I hear the squeal of tires.
Speaker:I look to my right to see the grill of
Speaker:a Chevy coupe as it roars over the top
Speaker:of the hill toward me,
Speaker:ready to smash my young bones into the
Speaker:pavement.
Speaker:Instantly,
Speaker:I lock eyes with the driver,
Speaker:and his face blanches with horror.
Speaker:Without thinking,
Speaker:I jump straight up.
Speaker:The front of the car passes beneath me.
Speaker:I glance off the hood,
Speaker:tumble to the ground,
Speaker:and land on my feet,
Speaker:miraculously unhurt.
Speaker:The car screeches to a halt.
Speaker:Skid marks stretch all the way to the
Speaker:top of the hill,
Speaker:and I smell burnt rubber.
Speaker:The driver--a man my dad’s age--bolts
Speaker:out of the car.
Speaker:His initial expression of shock has
Speaker:vanished,
Speaker:replaced by a hard,
Speaker:condemning glare.
Speaker:I could’ve stayed and reassured him
Speaker:that I was all right.
Speaker:I should’ve apologized profusely for
Speaker:needlessly scaring him.
Speaker:I should’ve taken a moment to reflect
Speaker:that luck had saved me from being
Speaker:smeared into the road.
Speaker:But because I’m wired differently,
Speaker:I don’t.
Speaker:After all,
Speaker:I have something more important to do.
Speaker:I have a race to win.
Speaker:I have to beat Randy.
Speaker:I manage to blurt out,
Speaker:“I’m so sorry,” and take off.
Speaker:Chapter One.
Speaker:The Drift.
Speaker:Fast-forward almost thirty years.
Speaker:I had reached a time in my life where I
Speaker:should have been basking in my hard-won
Speaker:successes,
Speaker:both professionally,
Speaker:personally,
Speaker:and spiritually.
Speaker:Instead,
Speaker:as a man who is truly wired
Speaker:differently,
Speaker:I realized I had succumbed to the Drift.
Speaker:It was to be one of the most important
Speaker:moments in my life.
Speaker:What Is The Drift?
Speaker:The Drift. is what happens when you
Speaker:slowly and unknowingly lose your way,
Speaker:slipping away from the beliefs and
Speaker:disciplines that you once established
Speaker:as your guiding light.
Speaker:It happens to us all.
Speaker:But this is what I know - people who
Speaker:are willing to look for this Drift,
Speaker:face it head on,
Speaker:and do the work necessary to
Speaker:recalibrate,
Speaker:are those of us are truly wired
Speaker:differently.
Speaker:People experience the Drift in many
Speaker:forms and in many walks of life - in
Speaker:work,
Speaker:in relationships,
Speaker:in marriage,
Speaker:in partnerships,
Speaker:in our habit,
Speaker:our work ethics,
Speaker:our language and beliefs,
Speaker:even as a challenge to our core
Speaker:principles.
Speaker:Those small compromises that make
Speaker:things a little easier at any given
Speaker:moment and seem inconsequential at the
Speaker:time,
Speaker:can lead to a death of a thousand cuts.
Speaker:One small cut may not be a problem.
Speaker:We tell ourselves we can handle one
Speaker:small cut,
Speaker:no problem.
Speaker:Over time,
Speaker:however,
Speaker:these small cuts add up.
Speaker:And if they do,
Speaker:the remedy may be impossible.
Speaker:My recognition of the Drift came
Speaker:abruptly!
Speaker:The time?
Speaker:July 2002,
Speaker:I was 38.
Speaker:The setting?
Speaker:Our local church.
Speaker:Spotlights beamed bright upon the
Speaker:stage,
Speaker:making the Indiana summer even hotter.
Speaker:I looked over the church crowd.
Speaker:Today’s count was well over five
Speaker:hundred.
Speaker:Our pastor had asked me to approach the
Speaker:podium this particular Sunday morning,
Speaker:and I was excited to share my thoughts
Speaker:on the difference between the act of
Speaker:just “telling the truth” and
Speaker:“Jesus Christ as the Truth."
Speaker:I began by discussing accrual
Speaker:truth--meaning the factual truth as it
Speaker:happened--and how we are to be truthful
Speaker:people.
Speaker:I segued into a story about one of my
Speaker:favorite heroes,
Speaker:citing George Washington and the cherry
Speaker:tree in an anecdote about telling the
Speaker:truth at whatever the cost.
Speaker:I looked out at my audience and felt
Speaker:confident about my presentation.
Speaker:I could see that people were clearly
Speaker:engaged.
Speaker:Public speaking is something I truly
Speaker:enjoy,
Speaker:and I could tell by the expressions on
Speaker:the faces of the audience that I was
Speaker:doing my job.
Speaker:The message,
Speaker:the tone,
Speaker:the rhythm,
Speaker:felt good,
Speaker:and my confidence was strong.
Speaker:During the final third of my speech,
Speaker:however,
Speaker:I veered from my original script and
Speaker:began talking about the sin of not
Speaker:telling the whole truth;
Speaker:that omission of facts from the truth
Speaker:was as much of a lie as the falsehood
Speaker:of an actual lie.
Speaker:But this time,
Speaker:something in me became disrupted,
Speaker:as if the message was proceeding on two
Speaker:tracks,
Speaker:one to the audience,
Speaker:and a second into the depths of my
Speaker:heart and soul.
Speaker:Was this divergence suggesting that I
Speaker:was guilty of some omission of fact,
Speaker:some bending of the rules by skirting
Speaker:what I knew,
Speaker:at least subconsciously,
Speaker:to true?
Speaker:As sweat beaded on my forehead,
Speaker:I concluded that I was indeed hearing a
Speaker:new message,
Speaker:one directly related to the Drift.
Speaker:This internal message,
Speaker:bearing down like a fist,
Speaker:was forcing me to confront an omission
Speaker:of truth in a recent development in my
Speaker:business life.
Speaker:I heard a voice saying,
Speaker:“You’ve drifted from your core
Speaker:values.
Speaker:You’re jeopardizing the principles
Speaker:that have served you so well in the
Speaker:past."
Speaker:Even as I was being bombarded by this
Speaker:internal dialogue,
Speaker:I heard another voice laying out a plan
Speaker:of action the could reverse the Drift.
Speaker:The two messages spooled from me on
Speaker:separate yet synchronous tracks that
Speaker:ended at the same time on a note of
Speaker:victory,
Speaker:recognition,
Speaker:reconciliation,
Speaker:and yes,
Speaker:the Truth.
Speaker:For I had drifted,
Speaker:not knowing or feeling the slow,
Speaker:creeping shift of my surroundings or
Speaker:how my success had affected my internal
Speaker:compass.
Speaker:This was a seminal moment.
Speaker:I was very nearly lost at sea,
Speaker:both professionally and personally,
Speaker:but not quite.
Speaker:The Drift. is not irreversible.
Speaker:It never is.
Speaker:Here I was staring at an uncomfortable
Speaker:truth about myself,
Speaker:that,
Speaker:despite my good intentions and
Speaker:principled values,
Speaker:I had allowed myself to drift.
Speaker:I was saying one thing while doing the
Speaker:opposite.
Speaker:I had allowed myself to spout
Speaker:“not-complete” truths through
Speaker:business practices for perceived gains.
Speaker:I realized I had been committing
Speaker:“convenient facts of
Speaker:non-completion,” or a subconscious
Speaker:lie suggesting that what I was doing
Speaker:was for the greater good.
Speaker:Such an unacceptable rationalization.
Speaker:Ironically,
Speaker:my pastor had chosen me to speak in
Speaker:front of our congregation that fateful
Speaker:morning because I projected positivity
Speaker:in my business practices,
Speaker:in my faith,
Speaker:and in my personal life.
Speaker:I was,
Speaker:in his eyes,
Speaker:an example of what happens when you dig
Speaker:in and work hard and live your life
Speaker:accordingly.
Speaker:At that time of my life,
Speaker:my wife Traci,
Speaker:was,
Speaker:and has always been,
Speaker:an absolutely spectacular,
Speaker:beautiful person and an amazing partner.
Speaker:We had three fun and ever-challenging
Speaker:daughters .- Courtnee 12,
Speaker:Kendra 11,
Speaker:and Kara 3.
Speaker:I had much to be thankful for and still
Speaker:do.
Speaker:In my professional life,
Speaker:I had been recently promoted to the
Speaker:national sales director of a publicly
Speaker:traded entity out of Phoenix,
Speaker:Arizona.
Speaker:The situation had paid off
Speaker:spectacularly for both the company and
Speaker:me.
Speaker:I was given every sales award there was
Speaker:to be had and the heftiest bonuses the
Speaker:company had ever bestowed.
Speaker:Instead of counting my blessings,
Speaker:however,
Speaker:I was more focused on my Drift.
Speaker:My doubts about the publicly traded
Speaker:company’s product and some of my own
Speaker:sales practices on their behalf loomed
Speaker:large and bore down upon my conscience.
Speaker:What troubled me at the time was
Speaker:learning that the company’s
Speaker:executives were not being forthright
Speaker:with our clients or with me.
Speaker:Here’s the way it worked.
Speaker:We were a Professional Employee
Speaker:Organization.
Speaker:As a P. E. O. ,
Speaker:we would hire the entire workforce from
Speaker:an employer,
Speaker:and then lease these workers back,
Speaker:in a business strategy called
Speaker:“employee leasing."
Speaker:This allows companies to focus on their
Speaker:core strengths while the P. E. O.
Speaker:leveraged the accumulated totals from
Speaker:several businesses into one Federal I.
Speaker:D. number to negotiate better deals
Speaker:for health insurance and other benefits
Speaker:such as workers comp.
Speaker:Basically,
Speaker:we assumed the employer’s
Speaker:administrative liabilities and payroll
Speaker:and tax headaches.
Speaker:Sounds good,
Speaker:right?
Speaker:While this was an amazing training
Speaker:ground for me in many ways,
Speaker:I also began to sense a deep conflict
Speaker:regarding the P. E. O. ’s adverse
Speaker:risk-selection process.
Speaker:What happened was that I learned that
Speaker:the company executives had been
Speaker:under-reserving the claims,
Speaker:which drove the stock’s value upward
Speaker:to improve company gains.
Speaker:Although not illegal,
Speaker:it most likely fostered a problem with
Speaker:consequences we didn’t want.
Speaker:Not explaining the truth about the
Speaker:risks was an omission of fact of great
Speaker:proportion.
Speaker:The stock had split three times in 18
Speaker:months based upon this strategy.
Speaker:I was selling at unprecedented levels
Speaker:and pocketing substantial personal
Speaker:commissions.
Speaker:During my tenure,
Speaker:the company had grown from $50 million
Speaker:to $1 billion,
Speaker:becoming the biggest P. E. O. in the
Speaker:country.
Speaker:I was generating more than $600,000
Speaker:annually.
Speaker:This is not to boast,
Speaker:but a means of illustrating how
Speaker:blinders and the fog of what we choose
Speaker:to consider “truth” can be all too
Speaker:convenient,
Speaker:in particular when you elect not to
Speaker:self-examine what you’re doing.
Speaker:That was my Drift.
Speaker:Yours may be something completely
Speaker:different,
Speaker:but a Drift is a Drift.
Speaker:It is how we respond to it that is most
Speaker:important.
Speaker:We turn away from the “Truth” by
Speaker:not allowing ourselves to see the real
Speaker:truths,
Speaker:and our first step in rectifying this
Speaker:situation is recognizing its potential
Speaker:disastrous consequences.
Speaker:Now,
Speaker:as I stood in front of the congregation
Speaker:on that all-important day,
Speaker:I no longer saw myself as a man worthy
Speaker:of delivering our pastor’s messages
Speaker:of the day,
Speaker:but rather as someone facing their
Speaker:Drift.
Speaker:Inevitably,
Speaker:the Drift is impacted by the Three
Speaker:P’s .- Pride,
Speaker:Power,
Speaker:and Plenty.
Speaker:Here I was a man ready to admit how the
Speaker:Three P’s had shaken my world and how
Speaker:eager I was to face the truth and act
Speaker:upon it.
Speaker:The minute I returned home that day,
Speaker:I sat down with Traci and told her of
Speaker:my decision to step away from the
Speaker:current church leadership and from my
Speaker:business career,
Speaker:mindful of the latter’s impact on our
Speaker:personal finances.
Speaker:What had become far more important was
Speaker:correcting the Drift that had so
Speaker:negatively impacted my life’s path.
Speaker:“I’m going to resign from the P. E.
Speaker:O. and the church’s leadership,” I
Speaker:told her.
Speaker:“They’re drifted away from their
Speaker:core principles and so I have I. ”
Speaker:Amazingly,
Speaker:Traci didn’t bat an eye.
Speaker:She looked at me with love and
Speaker:compassion and said,
Speaker:“I agree.
Speaker:And I’m proud of you."
Speaker:Wow,
Speaker:I thought,
Speaker:how cool of her.
Speaker:But this was Traci.
Speaker:She and I have been together since we
Speaker:were 17.
Speaker:She knows me and is so intuitive.
Speaker:She has always been there for me,
Speaker:even the worst of possible times,
Speaker:truly a “favor” of biblical
Speaker:proportions to me.
Speaker:“I’m relieved.
Speaker:I’ve been feeling the strain too.
Speaker:Time for a change,” she said in her
Speaker:trusting and confident way.
Speaker:“Ok,
Speaker:now what?"
Speaker:“We build our own payroll service
Speaker:company,
Speaker:and we do it the right way,
Speaker:with transparent pricing and the
Speaker:cleanest possible business delivery and
Speaker:development.
Speaker:We focus on the client,
Speaker:100%.
Speaker:We concentrate on serving our clients,
Speaker:not ourselves or our stockholders’
Speaker:bottom line."
Speaker:*** Jump ahead seventeen years.
Speaker:Our H. C. M. is a multi-million-dollar
Speaker:business and continues to grow and
Speaker:evolve as a cloud-based industry leader
Speaker:in this field.
Speaker:This new venture has allowed me many
Speaker:opportunities to discuss my current
Speaker:approach to business and spirituality
Speaker:through a multitude of venues - radio,
Speaker:social media,
Speaker:and as a public speaker.
Speaker:In my personal life I’ve enjoyed more
Speaker:advancements that I ever thought
Speaker:possible.
Speaker:My relationships with Traci,
Speaker:our daughters,
Speaker:and our families are stronger than ever.
Speaker:The evolution in my life often leads to
Speaker:this question - “Todd,
Speaker:how did you do it?"
Speaker:The answer is simple.
Speaker:All I’ve done is stay afloat in
Speaker:uncertain times,
Speaker:execute well-thought-out plans,
Speaker:never quit advancing,
Speaker:going from red-light to red-light with
Speaker:positivity,
Speaker:and actualizing my dreams through
Speaker:action.
Speaker:I believe in the good in others and
Speaker:acknowledge my own Drift when it
Speaker:happens and correct it without
Speaker:hesitation.
Speaker:*** I know one thing .- Advancement
Speaker:comes from realizing that you’re
Speaker:Wired Differently.
Speaker:Such a realization may make us more
Speaker:susceptible to the Drift,
Speaker:but I think it also makes it easier to
Speaker:acknowledge when it happens and to
Speaker:correct it without hesitation.
Speaker:Whether it’s the weight you’ve
Speaker:gained over the years or the lack of
Speaker:marketing you’ve putting into your
Speaker:company,
Speaker:we are all susceptible to the Drift.
Speaker:Ithappens in our personal lives,
Speaker:our professional lives,
Speaker:and in our spiritual lives.
Speaker:When you Drift,
Speaker:you become a slave to the status quo,
Speaker:what I call the “Land of Quo."
Speaker:Suffice to say,
Speaker:any time we’re stuck in the “Land
Speaker:of Quo,” we’re not realizing our
Speaker:potential.
Speaker:To move forward,
Speaker:we need to see the truth,
Speaker:and we need to make goals that allow us
Speaker:to pursue the truth.
Speaker:We also need to know our strengths,
Speaker:what I call our “Favors."
Speaker:Land of Quo?
Speaker:Favor?
Speaker:What do these mean?
Speaker:Let’s find out.
Speaker:From here,
Speaker:we’ll be discussing terms unique to
Speaker:my approach of not settling for being
Speaker:average.
Speaker:To help us along the way,
Speaker:I’ve created the following “Wired
Speaker:Differently” glossary - Favor .-
Speaker:Any personal gift - a talent;
Speaker:a resource you might have developed;
Speaker:an experience affecting you,
Speaker:either good or bad.
Speaker:It’s an idea,
Speaker:a motivation,
Speaker:or an emotional state that you can
Speaker:realize and use to survive,
Speaker:reach out,
Speaker:and advance.
Speaker:This is a powerful concept that’s
Speaker:crucial to understanding this book and
Speaker:philosophy.
Speaker:Obviously,
Speaker:access to money is an advantage.
Speaker:So is having people who can mentor you
Speaker:through a process.
Speaker:Please don’t fail to recognize that
Speaker:your reaction to a setback or bad
Speaker:environments are sometimes your biggest
Speaker:favors.
Speaker:Such a reaction could motivate you to
Speaker:no longer accept the status quo and
Speaker:take action to change your situation in
Speaker:life.
Speaker:Within this broader definition of
Speaker:favor,
Speaker:we have what I call a “Favor
Speaker:Forward,” a confronted weakness.
Speaker:You can never rise above the level of
Speaker:your greatest weakness,
Speaker:so why not make the recognition of your
Speaker:weakness a favor?
Speaker:Inventory .- Taking stock of what
Speaker:favors you have and how they can be
Speaker:used to get what and where you want.
Speaker:Imagine that you’re stranded on a
Speaker:desert island.
Speaker:Wouldn’t you inventory what resources
Speaker:you have available,
Speaker:such as fresh water,
Speaker:food,
Speaker:and shipwrecked items?
Speaker:If your goal was to get off the island,
Speaker:wouldn’t you look for tools and
Speaker:materials to build a raft or a boat?
Speaker:Likewise,
Speaker:in life,
Speaker:you need to see the favors you have
Speaker:available.
Speaker:Land of Quo .- Another term for the
Speaker:status quo but a bigger version of your
Speaker:surroundings and where you exist.
Speaker:Often,
Speaker:we exist as a mere drone in this
Speaker:“Land of Quo” where we accept the
Speaker:boundaries and limitations given to us
Speaker:and we end up not seeing the forest for
Speaker:the trees.
Speaker:Fulcrum .- A principle,
Speaker:a fundamental requisite premise,
Speaker:a process,
Speaker:the base or foundation on which you
Speaker:pivot,
Speaker:hoist,
Speaker:or lever a favor upon.
Speaker:It is the foundation and tipping point
Speaker:of action.
Speaker:For example,
Speaker:the “Mind” is the fulcrum upon
Speaker:which you leverage your favor of
Speaker:“Work Ethic."
Speaker:You concentrate actions to turn on that
Speaker:fulcrum of “Mind."
Speaker:Leverage .- Is the recognition and
Speaker:effort behind the favors that you apply
Speaker:against a fulcrum.
Speaker:That effort could be gathering business
Speaker:associates to assemble a better deal
Speaker:that would win over your prospects.
Speaker:Another example of effort would be
Speaker:taking night classes to expand your
Speaker:knowledge of a necessary subject.
Speaker:Leadership palette .- Those leadership
Speaker:skills you need to leverage your favors.
Speaker:These skills include communication,
Speaker:decisiveness,
Speaker:creativity,
Speaker:motivating,
Speaker:delegating,
Speaker:and other areas of leadership gifts.
Speaker:If you’re an entrepreneur,
Speaker:a businessperson,
Speaker:or just someone who’s just stuck in
Speaker:life and afraid to make a move,
Speaker:let’s explore your uniqueness.
Speaker:Let’s explore your “Favors” and
Speaker:“Leverage” them on “Fulcrums”
Speaker:proven to facilitate advancement and to
Speaker:correct for the Drift.
Speaker:Here is a simple question for you.
Speaker:Do you want to be average?
Speaker:If you’re wired differently and proud
Speaker:of it,
Speaker:your answer is “No."
Speaker:And if your answer is “No,” then
Speaker:let’s take this journey together.
Speaker:This has been
Speaker:Wired Differently:
Speaker:Leveraging Your Favors on Fulcrum Principles By Todd Saylor , narrated by russell newton.
