The workshop is over. People are filing out of the room. One insurance client who's attended before, lags behind. I assume he has a question, so I ask him, "Was this helpful?" He responds, "Oh yes, but I thought I should tell you something you might want to know." Wondering whether I had some wardrobe malfunction or made an error in my presentation, I ask, "What is it?" He replies, "Under this suit and tie, I'm completely tatted." I'm speechless for a second. "O...K..." I find myself saying slowly, eyes wide open, never expecting what he'd reveal next.
He continues, "Do you remember at Extreme Performance (a workshop I teach around team goal achievement), you talked about how to "forward your state?""
Let me interrupt here for a minute and explain. This concept is something I learned from my friend Darren Hardy. He rarely seems to let life's upsets bother him. So I asked him about it one day. He told me that whenever something goes wrong or feels unfair, he asks himself how he'll likely feel about it in 3 weeks. If it will be over and forgotten, he just simply forwards himself to that state now. It eliminates drama and adds hours of productive time to life.
The ability to "Forward Your State" is incredibly valuable. I use it often and share it with as many people as I can.
My tatted friend continues, "Well, the ability to forward my state has changed my life, both personally and professionally. So I wanted a constant reminder." He pulls back the sleeve on his right arm to reveal the initials F Y S tattooed on the inside of his wrist and says, "Whenever I'm in a meeting and something starts to bother me, I just look down at my wrist and immediately adjust my state. It has made me a better leader. I bet no one has ever tattooed something they learned from you on their body!"
"No, not as far as I know." I'm still somewhat surprised yet strangely honored at the same time. I would say a tattoo is certainly much higher praise than any good marks on a survey card. So I decided to pay it forward today to you.