Welcome to 288 of you. Yes, that’s 3 less than last week.
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If you’re new here and don’t want to, that’s cool too.
You might notice a slight change in the title. I’m shifting to Three Things from Robbie.
Why?
Honestly, I have another email list with alot of my Performative Speaking material. If you’re here I’m assuming you like to read my writing, updates, or are a friend.
So rather than put pressure to write this on Thursday, I want it to be a once weekly newsletter. Maybe a Friday, maybe a Monday, or maybe just some mystery about when it will pop up in your inbox.
I get that it means you may not read it as much. Don’t worry, my feelings won’t be hurt.
With that update out of the way, here’s some writing.
I’ve always had an addictive personality.
I’m fully aware of that fact. Which is good because otherwise it would get out of hand. Obviously, problems can arise with an addictive personality. Drugs, alcohol, etc can all be problems.
But for me I’ve been able to channel that into what I do. Growing up that meant addicted to baseball. It meant addicted to The West Wing.
In fact there’s a line in the West Wing from Leo that always resonated with me on a deep level. He’s talking about being an alcoholic but the idea still struck me when it came to other areas of my life.
“I don’t understand people who have one drink. I dont understand people who leave half a glass of wine on the table. I don’t understand people who say they’ve had enough. How can you hae enough of a feeling like this? How can you not want to feel like this longer? My brain works differently.”
When I was in law school I became addicted to Crossfit. I spent hours in the gym on a daily basis. I lived it. I breathed it. I was really damn good at it.
I got to know people that competed at the Crossfit games. I met the reigning 5 time Crossfit games champion and trained with him. Nike crossfit sponsored me for a stint and even flew me to London for a launch event. I was addicted.
But Crossfit didnt stimulate the intellectual side and as I got deeper into law school and then became a trial lawyer, things changed. I balanced Crossfit with trial work. In those early days I did a decent job. But results in both suffered.
I was good. Good at CrossFit. Good as a trial lawyer.
I don’t like being good. I needed a change. I needed that wakeup call.
It came in my 8th trial when I lost a case I should have won. The jury even said so but they liked the defendant more than they liked me. So when they told the defendant they knew he was guilty but gave him a break, I said F this.
It was time to go all in.
I studied, I practiced, I asked questions, I annoyed mentors, I refined, I asked for feedback, and most of all, I got into the trenches of a courtroom and learned in the fire.
I needed to know game theory, human psychology, storytelling, persuasion, framing, speaking technique, and so much more.
I studied strategy and history. I read fiction. I did unconventional things for a trial lawyer to absorb the knowledge and skills I knew could set me apart. It was transformative.
I wanted it to happen fast. It took years.
I wanted to receive recognition. It took years.
I wanted a deep understanding of my craft and the skills that came with it.
In my 5th year I saw a transformation. 6 months later my parents saw it. In my 6th year my friends noticed it. It took time. It took patience. It took an obsessive nature to absorb it all and push myself as far as I possibly could.
It worked.
It changed how I see movies, television, news, tweets, articles, speeches, ted talks, networking events, and so much more.
I wouldn’t change any of it. It got me to where I am today.
In a place that lets me bring all of this knowledge, experience, and skills to other people to help them.
To speed up the process. To guide them on the journey so they can take 10 years of learning in law school, as a trial lawyer, and as a speaker and compress it into 3 months or 6 months.
It lets me work with visionary founders, consultants, tech startups, venture capitalists, coaches, and so much more.
I can help people tell their stories. Craft their messaging. Clarify and control the narrative.
I’m not here to reduce uhms and uhs (although I can).
I’m here for far more. I’m here because I want to help people with world changing ideas share them with the world.
I want them to have the best ideas and also the best communicated ideas.
It’s time to do some fun things. Some big things. Some world changing things.
I thank my addictive nature for getting me here.
Now for three things.
Sign up for my FREE 21 days to the speaker of your dreams email series.
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Check out this dope visual gifs created from one of my tweets.
“Once an idea has taken hold of the brain it’s almost impossible to eradicate.” Inception
See you next week my friends,
Robbie