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The Moonshots Podcast goes behind the scenes of the world's greatest superstars, thinkers and entrepreneurs to discover the secrets to their success. We deconstruct their success from mindset to daily habits so that we can apply it to our lives. Join us as we 'learn out loud' from Elon Musk, Brene Brown to emerging talents like David Goggins.
00:00:02:02 - 00:00:28:00
Unknown
Hello and welcome to the Mini Chats podcast. It's episode 261. I'm your co-host, Mike Parsons, and as always, I'm joined by the man himself, Mr. Mark Pearson. Freeland. Good morning. Mark. Hey, good morning Mike. Good morning members, subscribers, listeners and viewers coming at you live and in person together. We are getting into a brand new, let's call it entrepreneur.
00:00:28:00 - 00:01:05:11
Unknown
An origin story today, Mike, aren't we? We are. And I'm feeling very shapely as we do this. Yeah. Well that's very, very convenient because I think today we're going to be leaning into the creation and the thought process behind a particular shapewear brand. Mike. In fact that brand is going to be Spanx as well as founder Sara Blakely who particularly came out into the spotlight, should we say, as far back as 2000, Mike, when her product Spanx, which many of our viewers, listeners and subscribers will be aware of, really came to light when Oprah celebrated it as a product to take a look at.
00:01:05:13 - 00:01:44:23
Unknown
Since then, Mike, that brand has pretty much exploded into other variations of shapewear. It's now into all sorts of activewear as well, but what a fantastic opportunity to see the example of an entrepreneur behind a brand, and a product that's really captured the attention of of people and women all around the world. Yeah, and I think this show, particularly Mark, you know, the story of Sara Blakely and Spanx, is talking to so many of the key ideas that you and I have discovered together in the moonshots podcast, together with our members and our viewers and our listeners.
00:01:44:25 - 00:02:12:14
Unknown
So if you like the idea of finding your purpose in ikigai, or maybe you're not sure if you're on track, this shows for you. If you're not sure where to go towards, you, know what you're doing and quite right, but you don't know what is right. This shows for you. And most importantly, test, learn. Iterate, overcoming uncertainty. All of that is in the story of Sara Blakely.
00:02:12:14 - 00:02:39:13
Unknown
It is such a unique story where failure was embraced, uncertainty was embraced, and hey, we all feel it. But from someone like Sara Blakely, we can know how to conquer it. Whoa, Mike, what an introduction. If we have enticed our listeners and viewers around this story of perseverance, innovation and disruption, I'd say we're probably ready to go in our first clip straight away.
00:02:39:14 - 00:03:01:19
Unknown
How are you feeling about that? Yeah, I'm feeling I want to reshape my thinking about these concepts. So let's crack in perfect fact. Well, boy, do I have a shapely clip that's going to introduce us to the idea of Sara Blakely and her drive to create Spanx. So let's get straight into this concept that Sara is going to break down for us, which is authentic success.
00:03:01:21 - 00:03:22:08
Unknown
Sara Blakely is the inventor of a product that you've probably heard of. At least you females have probably heard of it called Spanx. She debuts on the billionaires list. She's the youngest self-made female billionaire in the world. She went from $5,000 in savings at age 29 to age 41, running a company that's worth $1 billion. And she owns all of it.
00:03:22:10 - 00:03:38:19
Unknown
For me, I feel like money just makes you more of who you already were. It just holds a magnifying glass up to the person that you are. I don't subscribe at all to money is the root of all evil. I think money is a wonderful thing, and it's great to share. And it's fun to spend and it's fun to make.
00:03:38:19 - 00:03:57:11
Unknown
And I've always had a very positive outlook about what money can do. I had always thought I would be a lawyer growing up, and so I took the Lsat. I basically failed it, and I remember at that moment it being this life changing moment that set me on a different course in the way that I initially handled it was try again.
00:03:57:11 - 00:04:13:12
Unknown
I took the course, I tried it again, and then when it didn't go as I planned, I asked myself a lot of questions. You know, what is life trying to tell me? Do I have a different path? Maybe I'm supposed to be open to something else. And that's what set me on the journey that ended up creating Spanx, a good bra, and a pair.
00:04:13:12 - 00:04:40:23
Unknown
Spanx is the holy Grail, a pair of Spanx and change your world. I think what surprised me the most with the Spanx journey is the emotional impact that this brand and this these products have had on women's lives. I just didn't expect that I was looking for no panty lines and a smooth looking white pants. And women literally are incredibly emotionally impacted and moved by our brand.
00:04:40:23 - 00:04:58:15
Unknown
And that's an amazing feeling. Without Spanx, I wouldn't be wearing this skirt. They're lifesaver. Always wearing them right now. We thank God for Sarah and Spanx. Spanx has been around now for ten and a half years, almost 11 years. Can you tell us talk us through a little bit about what moments of your career so far that you're most proud of achieving?
00:04:58:21 - 00:05:26:03
Unknown
The things that I'm most proud of achieving are achieving this level of success that is beyond my wildest dreams, and doing it in a way that I feel like I can still look myself in the mirror and feel really good about how I got here. My Oprah moment, getting the call from her, my first chance to sell my second product on QVC, and selling over 8006 minutes and realizing I'm not a one hit wonder, and then launching internationally, building a team.
00:05:26:03 - 00:05:57:03
Unknown
There were different moments where it just started feeling like I was so proud of different stages of the Spanx journey. Can you tell us a bit about who's influenced you in your path to success? The people that have been most influential to me, other than my family, have been Wayne Dyer, Oprah Winfrey and Richard Branson. Wayne Dyer. He mentored me from afar, basically through these seeds, and taught me how to think in a way that I think allowed me to live up to the potential of myself that I am at at this point in my life.
00:05:57:05 - 00:06:30:21
Unknown
You know, the the thing here, she is already kind of gone. The entire entrepreneur's journey from the calling, being in the wilderness, facing the challenge, having to transform herself. And now she's sharing with us how she did it. It really is a it's a great case study there. I think what's exceptional about what we're seeing from her is that she is giving us an insight into the steps that she made.
00:06:30:21 - 00:06:58:13
Unknown
And I think what we're realizing is she faced all the same challenges that we face in our everyday lives. So this, for me, is a playbook. I mean, she of the, start that she's failed the exam twice, not just one time, but twice. And did you notice how it is she was to say you failed twice. And I think that's that's a clue to her approach.
00:06:58:16 - 00:07:25:19
Unknown
She doesn't hold any guilt or shame to failure. She's like, oh, so the universe was trying to tell me something. I right now, at this stage, what we're seeing is if we see if we are open to the messages that are coming to us, I think, statistically speaking, there's a good chance there's a lot of people listening, watching or members of this show, the podcast who might be feeling they're not quite on track.
00:07:25:21 - 00:07:50:01
Unknown
And I think what we can see is absolute proof that anyone and everyone can get back on track if they follow this Sara Blakely playbook. Yeah, I totally agree Mike. I think this story from Sara is one of success. You know, we heard that she's the youngest billionaire. She went from $5,000 the age of 29 to billionaire at 41.
00:07:50:03 - 00:08:21:12
Unknown
But really, I think the magic of the Sarah Black history and why, it's such an attractive one to kind of lean into and learn from and be inspired by, is through that element of failure. She's gone into that wilderness, like you say, and that really reminds, I think, both of us, of Brené Brown, you know, with the idea of daring greatly, the idea of exposing yourself to things that you're uncomfortable with and accepting when failure does happen, it's okay to fail.
00:08:21:14 - 00:08:53:22
Unknown
Like Sarah said, the outside. Maybe that just wasn't her path that was going to work best for her. And I think it's encouraging when we put it in the context of Sarah being such a successful entrepreneur and businesswoman, it was still born out of, you know, arguably failure. That then led her to figuring out what path she should be on and this, you know, courageous journey that she's gone on, not allowing that failure to hold her back, not allowing her to sit back and say, oh, poor me, I didn't get through.
00:08:53:22 - 00:09:11:15
Unknown
So therefore I'm going to be dissatisfied with everything I do for the rest of my career or take it out on others. Instead, she kind of utilized it, as we're going to find out in some of the other clips, an opportunity to really ask yourself, what is it that I'm good at? What is it that I want to go out and create in the world?
00:09:11:17 - 00:09:34:14
Unknown
And that can only really happen, I think, from failure content you when you have to readjust yourself based on something that doesn't quite work, you're then able to go out and find the thing that does work. Yeah. So let's let's do this exercise together. Let's try and identify moments in our life where we felt like we've not been on track.
00:09:34:16 - 00:10:02:14
Unknown
And let's kind of try and pinpoint this moment, because to get the most out of Sarah's story, I think it's important to know, to identify the moments that relate to what she did when she. And what we're going to see as well is when she wasn't feeling on track, she took action, right? To take action, you have to acknowledge and capture the moments where you're like, I'm not sure I'm on track in life, right.
00:10:02:16 - 00:10:33:10
Unknown
And which of these do you think is is most common, either for yourself or for others? Here's a list of signs that you're not living a life of purpose, right? Lack of motivation. Feeling empty. restlessness. disconnection from your personal values, unfulfilling relationships, boredom, low energy, maybe a little bit of envy of others, or feeling trapped. Which one do you think is the most common that people experience?
00:10:33:13 - 00:10:58:00
Unknown
I reckon the most common, that I've experienced in others is probably that lack of motivation, combined with a sort of subtle taste of envy. Yeah, this idea of jealousy, of why have my superiors got more freedom? Why have my superiors got more control? Yeah. Which then leads into that lack of motivation to maybe try a little bit less hard.
00:10:58:02 - 00:11:19:18
Unknown
I think that really is the combination in my mind, of leading to that kind of dissatisfied person in the workplace, because that leads to either poor me or it leads to that feeling of, you know, injustice, right? That it's always an uncomfortable, well, what about you? When you were reading those at which one spoke to you? Which one felt really familiar?
00:11:19:20 - 00:11:48:10
Unknown
so similar to yourself. But I guess the way I've experienced it is kind of getting to the end of the week and feeling like you worked really hard, but not having a sense of fulfillment, not having a sense of I've contributed meaningful things in the world to being like, what the hell am I doing? Like, I've just you like it almost.
00:11:48:12 - 00:12:14:25
Unknown
It almost because I can only I can only be all in or nothing. Like I don't do very well in between. and, Yeah. Like for me, it's, it's when I can't grab like, it seems to almost get worse because I've worked so hard, you'd have feel so unfulfilled from it. The gap feels massive. Yeah, yeah. That lack of personal alignment to your values.
00:12:14:25 - 00:12:39:03
Unknown
You know, you're working hard. Yeah, just like that. Just like. Oh, man, I'm so far away from what I like. I have to drag myself every millimeter. Yeah. Whereas, you know, the thing is that it also it's a bit tricky is if, if, you know, we've all had moments where we feel like we're really on track, right? So you're also like, I know what it feels like when I'm on fire.
00:12:39:05 - 00:13:00:22
Unknown
Yeah. So I don't I haven't. Now where the hell is it gone? Yeah, yeah. Isn't that an uncomfortable feeling? And it's quite confronting isn't it, dude. It's like but I'm. Why am I on this planet kind of feeling. Yeah. I'm still putting in the same amount of work, but for some reason it's not landing what's going on. It's it's very uncomfortable, isn't it.
00:13:00:22 - 00:13:22:15
Unknown
And I think and I, and I think what happened sorry to jump in there. But I think what happens is we often deny this feeling we don't exploring. So that's why when you and I were researching the show, according to Gallup, 90% of the people worldwide feel unfulfilled in their daily lives and work. 90% isn't there. Isn't that gap?
00:13:22:18 - 00:13:56:20
Unknown
Isn't this crazy? 70% of working Americans are unhappy in their current job? Like, oh my gosh, this show is for like three quarters of the planet. That's absolutely mammoth. It's that's mammoth. But I tell you, what's even bigger is the contribution from our members. Mark. Yes, I think, hopefully what's evident to all of our members is the enjoyment that you and I and the moonshot family get out of creating this show every single week, and we do it very much like with a single minded, idea in our heads.
00:13:56:24 - 00:14:20:14
Unknown
And that's really to celebrate each of our members every single week and also explore and learn out loud together with them. So please welcome it. As always, our members, and thank you to Bob Niles, I tripped and Dietmar, Marjan, Conor, Liza and Sid. Mr.. Bonjour, Paul Berg, Kalman, Joe, Christian, Samuel and Barbara, Deborah, Liza. Steve, Craig. Ravi, Yvette.
00:14:20:14 - 00:14:55:25
Unknown
Raul, Nicole. Ingram, Dirk. Van. Cutter. Marco. Jet. Roger, Stephan. Rau, Netherland, James, Diana, Christophe, Dennis, Laura, Smitty, Cori, Daniela and Mike, our annual members. High fives to all of you guys. You rock our world along with Antonio, Zachary, Austin and Fred, Ola and the Diana and Margie, Ron, Jasper and Fabian. Thank you guys so much for supporting our moonshot show every single week and our moonshots family send you all high fives and our best wishes regarding supporting the show.
00:14:56:01 - 00:15:17:19
Unknown
So we are very grateful for your contributions. it really does help us pay all the different bills that we have to take care of in order to get this show to you, as well as the Moonshot Master series. So if you become a member, you get access to that as well. So head over to Moonshot Studio. You'll find your groove just like Sara Blakely did as well.
00:15:17:21 - 00:15:45:01
Unknown
Now we're going to get down to business. Mark, I think in this next set of clips, we're going to get into the real gnarly, tough stuff about confronting failure, finding purpose, and doing the work of learning. And where do you want to status on this journey? Well, we've kind of set the scene, haven't we? We know the success of Sarah, we understand the product and where that's somewhat been born out of.
00:15:45:01 - 00:16:09:03
Unknown
But I think, Mike, it would be a disservice to our members and our listeners, viewers to not really now explore why it came about and where the strength of Sarah really came from. So the next clip we've got is going to really lean into the creation and the thought process behind the, product of Spanx, but more importantly, identify the journey that Sarah went on in order to get there.
00:16:09:05 - 00:16:28:16
Unknown
I am just a frustrated consumer. I had never worked in fashion retail. I'd never even taken a business class. I grew up on a beach in Florida and wanted to wear this certain outfit that I hung in my closet, and everything showed underneath it. And as a woman, you know, I was like, your clothing is sort of the paint.
00:16:28:18 - 00:16:46:13
Unknown
And if you don't have the right canvas, it affects the painting. And so a lot of women that I knew struggled with, what do you really wear under these certain colors and these certain fabrics? What was the event? What was the first event? I mean, do you remember that moment where you took the scissors and just I mean, you can look at it as destruction, but I would look at as construction.
00:16:46:18 - 00:17:04:07
Unknown
Yeah, I, well, I at the time I was selling fax machines door to door, which can you imagine for seven years. So I graduated from college and I've been doing that. And I actually set an intention for my life that was very you know, I had this moment where I had a really bad day of selling fax machines.
00:17:04:07 - 00:17:20:19
Unknown
People kicked me out of the offices all the time. I always had my business cards ripped up in front of my face when I was cold calling, and I pulled off the side of the road this one day and I just said, I'm in the wrong movie. I called the director, call the producer. This is not my life.
00:17:20:19 - 00:17:39:16
Unknown
How did this happen? And I went home that night and I wrote in my journal, what am I good at? And the one good thing in my good column was sales. And I started asking like, what? What is it about sales that you like? Sarah and I realized I like offering something to someone that either improve their life or that, you know, that they needed.
00:17:39:18 - 00:18:02:08
Unknown
And I wrote, I want to invent a product that I can sell to millions of people that will make them feel good. So then I asked for an idea to come to me, and I waited two years, and so I only cut the feed out of my pantyhose one time to go to a party. I put it on under white pants with strappy great heels, and it gave me a smooth look in my clothes and you couldn't see any undergarments.
00:18:02:10 - 00:18:24:08
Unknown
And because I had set that intention and asked so specifically for my idea, I was ready. Like anything that crossed my path, I was like, are you my idea? Like, maybe you're the idea I've asked for. Well, that was a bit of a masterclass in moonshot thinking there. I mean, I heard setting intentions, solving problems that she face.
00:18:24:09 - 00:19:00:15
Unknown
Very Richard Branson setting intentions. I mean, talk about whether we go to Eckhart Tolle, where the peaceful warrior or, you know, all of the positive thinking that we've seen in life. But what is the most powerful thing I think we can all relate to is she was able to admit she was in the wrong movie. Now, Mark, if I look at this research that I have, yeah, I mean, I'm going to put it up on the screen for the, for the viewers because this is I mean, this is really crazy.
00:19:00:17 - 00:19:26:20
Unknown
Like when we were talking about this Mark, about this research before the show, we were shocked to see that Gallup has found they check this out. 90% of the world's not feeling fulfilled. So 90% of the world mark are in the wrong movie, 90% right? I still can't get over that. 70% of people working are unhappy and don't care for what they do.
00:19:26:22 - 00:20:01:10
Unknown
And Mark, millennials are noted as being the most unfulfilled, an unhappy generation in the entire workforce. I mean, I apologize on behalf of my generation and say you should. As always, we're completely happy. Yeah. so, so much we we are dealing with, you know, if we do this as an exercise, we're dealing with essentially nine out of ten people do not do what Sarah Blakely is talking about.
00:20:01:12 - 00:20:22:21
Unknown
Yeah, not saying I'm in the wrong movie. They are not taking a self empowered perspective to start changing the reality. Right. And what's so she's like, I need to set this intention because I know I'm in the wrong movie and I'm going to go out there and she solved the problem and it but it but it took it two years again very moonshots.
00:20:22:23 - 00:20:51:02
Unknown
She iterated. She tested, she learned. And then she found it two years. And this is so different to the allure of, well, I was in the shower and kaboom! I had $1 billion idea. it was hard work, grit, resilience. It was Angela Duckworth, it was David Goggins, two years mark. She was selling faxes door to door, and she flip that into Spanx.
00:20:51:04 - 00:21:12:25
Unknown
If she can make that wild flip, imagine what each and every one of us can do. And and there's a huge market. Isn't that out of ten people, nine out of ten, Mike, it's blowing me away. It blew me away when we found that out earlier as well. And I think the story of Sara's journey to success is one of what is one to celebrate.
00:21:13:01 - 00:21:37:04
Unknown
You know, as we know from creative individuals we've found out on the show, such as Austin Kleon, a lot of ideas take time to percolate and to rise up to the surface. And whether you're creating a product that's in shape, where whether you're creating a book like Austin Kleon, maybe even we could go as far back in our moonshot library as somebody like John Cleese with comedy.
00:21:37:10 - 00:22:03:07
Unknown
Oh, a lot of these elements come from, patience. A lot of these come from having a clear minded, goal or intention in mind. You know, we I've already referenced, you know, Jim Carrey and his visualization of success. A lot of these come down to ourselves, don't they? And if you've got 70% of the workforce are unhappy in their jobs, and 90% of people are pretty miserable about it.
00:22:03:10 - 00:22:23:10
Unknown
Well, that is a huge opportunity for all of us to find, inspiration ourselves. you know, we don't just sit back and complain about the situation or the job that we're not really enjoying. Instead, get curious. You know, I loved hearing from Sarah that and I'm sure our listeners and members are thinking the same. Oh, here we go.
00:22:23:14 - 00:22:42:10
Unknown
Mike and Mark are talking about journaling. Journaling again. But what an interesting exercise and proof point in the value of an entrepreneur. Getting curious and being aware of the things that get them out of bed in the morning. She know that she was good at sales, and she knew that she wanted to create a product that improved people's lives.
00:22:42:12 - 00:23:03:18
Unknown
Okay, fantastic. Suddenly the, the sights and the area of, of control are now much smaller. So therefore she knew I just need to find something in this space that's going to make me more comfortable. That will turn me from the 90% unhappy into that 10% who might be happy. Yes. And then that took another two years.
00:23:03:23 - 00:23:33:18
Unknown
So it wasn't a overnight success, but it did take her to know about herself and do the hard work on her own time, to then enable her to be aware and notice when the success, a successful idea came around, she was enough to notice it and grab it and then lean into it. Yeah, and I think that would only come, Mike, as I'm sure you agree, from this idea of self reflection and the awareness that comes with, you know, getting curious about yourself.
00:23:33:20 - 00:23:57:24
Unknown
Look, I know I'll tell you the other thing that's going to take reflection along this journey that we all could go on, or at least nine out of ten of us is that we're going to face some ups and a lot of downs and and in a funny way, like if you are experiencing some challenge friction or even, as David Goggins would say, some suffering, the point here is then you know you're doing the right thing.
00:23:57:24 - 00:24:25:09
Unknown
Because if it's too easy, you know it's stressing yourself, right? And if it's too easy, chances are everyone else is doing it. So yeah, yeah. Where we go to now is, you know, we've had a story here of, you know, I mean, the wrong movie, right. this is a really good platform setting the intention. But even after having her moment, she went for two years before she found it.
00:24:25:11 - 00:24:53:22
Unknown
And in that time of two years, she will have faced a lot of failure. And she brings us some very powerful thinking on this topic. Yeah, she really does. Let's hear from now from Sarah, really explore this concept of starting your own thing. But also there's difficulties that can come with it. And as is often the case with some of the entrepreneurs, Mike, that we've studied in the show, this behavior and mindset comes from quite an early age.
00:24:53:24 - 00:25:12:10
Unknown
And there's a fantastic story here from Sarah now helping us understand where her drive with redefining failure really came from. Growing up, my father used to ask my brother and me what we had failed at at the dinner table, which was so interesting, and he'd celebrate it and he'd actually be disappointed if I didn't have something that I failed at that week.
00:25:12:10 - 00:25:34:23
Unknown
So I can remember saying, dad, dad, I tried out for this and I was horrible. And he would actually high fived me and say, congratulations, way to go, and what it did was just reframe my definition of failure. Failure for me became not trying versus the outcome. So, so many people don't take risks for fear of failure. They don't start the business.
00:25:34:23 - 00:25:54:14
Unknown
They don't go create the art they want to create, or they don't go try out to be in the play or whatever it is for the fear of failure. And once you redefine that for yourself and realize the failure is just not trying, then life opens up to you in many ways. And I would also my dad would encourage me any time something didn't go the way I expected it to.
00:25:54:14 - 00:26:17:02
Unknown
Or maybe I got embarrassed by a situation to write down where the hidden gifts were and what I got out of it, and I started realizing and everything. There was some amazing nugget that I wouldn't have wanted to pass up at Spanx to encourage people to fail, I'm bringing up my failures in front of the team often, so I will stand up and I call them the Oops of Spanx.
00:26:17:02 - 00:26:37:22
Unknown
Some of them are the oops throughout the history of Spanx. Some of them can be, recent oops that I did, but I'm always openly talking about it. If you're going to have an oops. Part of the beauty of it is twofold if there's a failure quote or an oops in your life, if you learn from it and if you can laugh about it, then it's all worth it.
00:26:37:24 - 00:27:01:04
Unknown
It really is true. It is worth it because I think, how many times have we seen, like, Thomas Edison and the light bulb like he, he did 10,000 prototype James Dyson and the vacuum cleaner did thousands of, prototypes in the backyard. The point here is, these are all people like Sarah that flipped failure, and they're like, oh, actually, failure, isn't it?
00:27:01:09 - 00:27:32:10
Unknown
You could call it a learning or an insight. And if you use that to define what you're going to do next, well, if that failed, well, what should I do next? What might work then. And it becomes sort of like you're unshackled from the guilt and the shame of failure, and then you're like, curious and like, oh, I didn't care if I failed, because it's just means I'm I'm improving the odds of success because every failure means you're closer to success, right?
00:27:32:12 - 00:27:57:16
Unknown
I love the idea, the way that failure comes to me nowadays. Once we've explored those different entrepreneurial journeys, mind, because you've just mentioned is failure can create a map. And in the times when I've become really uncomfortable with work, when things have gone wrong or things have, failed, so to speak, and I felt lost, you know, demotivated kind of you out at sea without a sail.
00:27:57:19 - 00:28:20:05
Unknown
You don't know which way is which. What do I do now? However, when you start to get curious and actually embrace failure, and as Sarah puts it, you start to redefine it, suddenly you feel as though you have a little bit of a map. And when things go wrong next time you think, oh, okay, I recognize this. I kind of know how this feels, or I kind of know what I need to do next.
00:28:20:05 - 00:28:55:20
Unknown
I need to let it run off my back. Like like a dock. You know, the water off a duck's back. I need to not let this affect me personally. And I need to not let it affect my confidence to try something else. And by getting curious and going into this journey of creation, whether it's a product or just going into your day job, in order to find the happiness, I think knowing and celebrating those failures really does give you a little bit of confidence to be able to go out and do it again, because as you point out, we're all going to run into failure.
00:28:55:20 - 00:29:14:12
Unknown
It's the only guarantee that we all have in our life. It's going to get hard. There will be times when you need to be resilient, will have grit. But I think by looking at the things that have maybe gone wrong, it gives you that little bit of grounding and a little bit of foundation to then see those negative moments come and you think, okay, well, that's okay.
00:29:14:18 - 00:29:36:04
Unknown
I know I have the strength inside to deal with it. How do you, when you hear this story of redefining failure and this idea of high fiving it, what kind of comes to your mind like, I want to play another game. here you go, Mark, on this screen. Let's have some fun here. We got ten tips for embracing failure.
00:29:36:04 - 00:30:03:05
Unknown
I'm going to read them out, and you're going to pick your favorite one and tell us why you love it. So how to embrace failure. Number one reframe failure as a learning opportunity. Two cultivate resilience three accept responsibility for stay positive five. Set realistic expectations six. Seek feedback seven. Celebrate efforts, not just results eight keep trying nine. Learn from others failure and ten practice self-compassion.
00:30:03:05 - 00:30:22:25
Unknown
If you had to choose one of those to help you embrace failure. I lost Sarah Blakely. Which one of these lists? Which one gets your pick? Blimey, I got to admit, actually, all of these are pretty good, Mike. And I think we've probably done a show, or at least a clip in our back catalog that speaks to every single one, right?
00:30:23:02 - 00:30:43:07
Unknown
they're all they're all good. I reckon the key is number eight. Lucky number eight with the idea of keep trying. Yeah, I think not letting, a single moment or a single comment or a single email be enough to do unbalance your ship. Yeah. And then mean that you lose motivation and you lose the ability to care.
00:30:43:09 - 00:31:06:04
Unknown
What about you? Which one to turn the mic back around to you of those fantastic ten? Actually, I'm going to have to, take a screenshot of those later. Which one really speaks to you, Mike? Well, before I can keep trying, which I do like from you, I have to reframe number one. Yeah. Like like to me, like, you know, the saying, heading it off at the past, like, I have to quickly grab it and go, okay.
00:31:06:04 - 00:31:24:11
Unknown
It's just a learning. It's cool. I can build on this because my temptation is get damn, damn, like, that's like when it when something doesn't work. So I have to intercept it before I can go to the hole. Keep trying. Thought I gotta go. Okay. Yeah. What did I learn? Because when I ask, what did I learn?
00:31:24:11 - 00:31:45:21
Unknown
Then I naturally go, okay, well, what will I do next? And I'll keep trying, right? Yeah, you're totally right. Because then you contextualize that failure or that issue and then you can think, okay, well, maybe if I did it this way next time it'll be a little bit better. Or maybe if I have a little bit more compassion for somebody else, maybe it'll go slightly differently.
00:31:45:23 - 00:32:12:08
Unknown
I think that's the journey that we're all on, isn't it? Yeah. Learning from those mistakes, not letting them bogus down and slow us down, whether it's product creation or just being happy at work, it's about, not being in denial, I think. Yeah. Isn't it? And what's quite interesting is if you look at this list here, I think we've, as you said, done a show on books experts or superstars or academics that have actually studied all of these things.
00:32:12:08 - 00:32:36:20
Unknown
So if you are interested in some of these topics, I think the way to, to kind of dig in further on this, if you're enjoying the Sara Blakely story, I'd head to Moonshot Studio and I would look up the shows for count Dweck on mindset, Angela Duckworth on Grit, Brené Brown, Daring Greatly. Who else comes to mind?
00:32:36:20 - 00:32:59:09
Unknown
Would you recommend to our, listeners to look up? I'd recommend, because the story of Sara Blakely is one around creation. I think the creativity series can inspire a little bit of guidance and reassurance. You know, I'd mentioned John Elizabeth Cubitt. We haven't mentioned her. Elizabeth Gilbert, for me, is a firm favorite, particularly this idea of originality.
00:32:59:09 - 00:33:31:21
Unknown
So the argument that our listeners may, have heard already on our show is the concept of ideas having already been done verses the idea of you doing it for the first time, and I think you're doing it for the first time, is very much where Sara Blakely is inspiring us here today. Yeah, you go out and give it a go, see what you learn from it, even if that leads to you to go out and create maybe a different product or go out and behave differently at work, that process of giving it a go is the most important lesson that you can do.
00:33:31:21 - 00:33:54:15
Unknown
And Elizabeth Gilbert really speaks in my mind to this concept of going out, having a crack and seeing what you learn from it. Yeah, yeah. And if you're in the brace for having a crack at things and getting on with them, we've got one more clip. And this is by taking the plunge clip. This is like burn the boats full, guns blazing my way up.
00:33:54:15 - 00:34:16:17
Unknown
This last clip. Flames are likely this this last clip from Sara really, embraces this journey that I think we've discovered along the process of, hearing about Spanx and Blakely story of becoming, you know, at such a young billionaire from from arguably a much lower position. So let's hear an end on a high mic. Let's hear from Sara Blakely.
00:34:16:17 - 00:34:42:12
Unknown
One more time, helping us understand and actually embrace the concept of not knowing. I like to say that the big secret behind disruption is not having any idea how it's supposed to be done. I had no idea how it was supposed to be done. And if you have no idea how something is supposed to be done, I guarantee you you will end up being disruptive.
00:34:42:14 - 00:35:10:14
Unknown
But the key is you have to let it. You know, you have to embrace not knowing. A lot of times when we don't know something, especially, you know, most people in society, we end up being afraid of what we don't know or we take that as a negative. It can hold us back. Whereas if you let what you don't know become your greatest asset, you are bound to do things very differently, because we're all mostly on autopilot in life.
00:35:10:14 - 00:35:30:23
Unknown
And if you think about it, we're doing things exactly the way somebody else showed us how to do it. Everything that we're doing is because someone else showed us how to do it. So I like to do this mental exercise, and I tell people have Spanx to do it too. I say, close your eyes and pretend like you have no idea how to do your job.
00:35:30:25 - 00:35:49:01
Unknown
Just sit in that space for a minute. What comes up? If no one has shown you how to do your job, how would you be doing it and listening to the answers? But it takes asking those questions, asking why, and spending that time in that space to say, is there a better way? Why? Why has a bra been made this way?
00:35:49:01 - 00:36:27:09
Unknown
Or why? Why is it this way? And so for me, my not knowing was, really a great asset for me. This is really interesting because what I think she's getting into is out all our bias, right? Yeah. She's really like, we we approach problems with, you know, how if the solutions probably this which is the same as everyone else is thinking what she's really trying to do here is for us, this would be classic what we would call blue sky thinking, really blank canvas thinking.
00:36:27:11 - 00:36:54:01
Unknown
And to ask, is there a different way? I mean, this is so iconically the the Apple brand campaign from many decades ago think differently. This is really a celebration of that, because so often we rush to like the first thing that comes to our mind, which might be very obvious. It may be right, but if you really challenge yourself to say, well, how could we do this in a unique way?
00:36:54:03 - 00:37:19:01
Unknown
How could we have a competitive advantage? Or how could we disrupt things in a very crowded, mature market by doing something radically different? Right. and that takes courage because the risk freeway is doing it the same way everyone else is doing it. Or classic thing is, you hire McKinsey and they tell you what to do so you can like, well, I measured what McKinsey told me to do, right?
00:37:19:02 - 00:37:44:10
Unknown
Yeah. Heaven forbid you yourself actually said, why don't we just do it differently like this? yeah. I think that sometimes comes from maybe a lack of direction or innovation. Maybe it's actually the ability to point the finger at somebody else if it goes wrong. Right. So the lack of, responsibility, as I think was one of the options that was on your list of ten a minute ago.
00:37:44:12 - 00:38:06:19
Unknown
what what this reminds me of is Austin Kleon again, this idea of eyes closed, you know, just take your time. Really remove the context and what you already know in order to think differently. You know, don't worry. What's come before. Don't worry about what other people have. succeeded at. Don't let that be the flagpole in the ground.
00:38:06:21 - 00:38:37:13
Unknown
That then marks what success really is. Because again, we might look online and think, this person is rich from crypto, or this person has overnight a six pack, and instead, those markers of success may not actually be what's relevant to you and I as markers of success in our own lives. And going back to that great data point that you had earlier, like with the 90% people being unhappy, I would assume that a lot of those people would say they're unhappy because they're comparing themselves to others.
00:38:37:18 - 00:38:58:02
Unknown
Yes. So again, as we know from somebody like Jordan Peterson, the idea of knowing what other people have succeeded at should not necessarily be what you and you measure this. It's not your measure. He goes on in that, thinking to talk about everybody has their own unique context and situations. So maybe you had challenges that others didn't.
00:38:58:04 - 00:39:20:01
Unknown
so it's crazy. The only person you can compare yourself to is the person you were yesterday. And I think that's really powerful thinking from him. so, I mean, the big story here, Mark of setting intentions, acknowledging that you're in the wrong movie, flipping this whole idea of failure and then jumping into the unknown. I mean, she took two years before she had spent two years.
00:39:20:03 - 00:39:43:02
Unknown
I think most of this would have run for the hills after two months. You're right, you're right. This idea of longevity and patience, I think, is probably what puts off a lot of entrepreneurs. They want, again, that success. So from the ideas that you've taken from Sarah, and which one could you adopt for the following week? Which one is going to be your new habit?
00:39:43:04 - 00:40:03:21
Unknown
I liked, the third clip we heard, which was redefining failure and asking myself, what have I failed at this week? Good. Yeah. So a little bit like, you know, Jocko, with difficulty being celebrated, let's now reflect on what I failed at embracing, acknowledge it and see that as just part of the journey that you're going on.
00:40:03:21 - 00:40:23:12
Unknown
That's a lot of fun. And it's great to high-five that as you go past it, instead of letting it be a distraction. What about you, Mike? Which one is going to be your sort of homework for the next week? I take a lot of I'm really drawn to the idea of going into the unknown. Right. Yeah.
00:40:23:14 - 00:40:45:11
Unknown
And just doing the work, doing your best every day and knowing that, there are questions that are yet to be answered, but that you find the capacity. I and she was still selling fax machines for two years before she had the Spanx idea. I find that so impressive. Like, wow, what what a great job on her part.
00:40:45:11 - 00:41:04:22
Unknown
Right? What a great lesson. Again in resilience. You know, she did the hard work. She reflected. I'm not happy. I need something to, get me out of bed in the morning. I know now what my strengths are now I wait, now I wait until that idea comes to me. And that two years period then ended up working out for her in the long run.
00:41:04:24 - 00:41:31:15
Unknown
What a great lesson in discipline. Yeah, an incredible story. And, you know, I'm very thankful that you together with me have been able to put this together. So big thank you to you, Mark, and thank you to you, our listeners and viewers and our members, to joining us here for show 261, where we well, we got in good shape by the end of it.
00:41:31:15 - 00:41:57:01
Unknown
And that was with Sara Blakely and the story of her founding Spanx and really coming to life through facing all of the classic challenges, a lack of fulfillment, being in the wrong movie. She set the right intention. She found her groove. And as she went for two years waiting for the big idea to drop, she redefine failure. She was resilient.
00:41:57:03 - 00:42:24:02
Unknown
She kept on going. And as she did that, there was a world of possibilities, but also a world of the unknown. She ate it all up. She turned it around and she hit the biggest home run. Congratulations to Sara Blakely. She is really on track to becoming the best version of herself, and in doing so, she's teaching us to do it here so we can learn out loud together here on the Moonshots Podcast.