More Excerpts from "The 417 Rules of Awesomely Bold Leadership": The Enemy of Awesomely Awesome is Pretty Awesome
Rule #84: The Enemy of Awesomely Awesome is "Pretty Awesome"
...and as I ascended the feared north face of K2, without climbing equipment, I couldn't help but notice: There are some frozen dead people up here.
Friend, let me tell you something: When you see some frozen dead people, life comes into focus. I realized right then: These people were pretty awesome, to make it that far. But they were entombed in ice. They were also deceased.
I skipped ahead -- onward, and upward! -- listening to an old speech of mine on my iPod. And I heard myself say, right then and there: For awesomely bold leaders, the real enemy of being truly awesomely awesome was being "pretty awesome."
To get to the peak of K2, you must be awesomely awesome. Not pretty awesome. Pretty awesome is the enemy of awesomely awesome.
Once, at a conference, I sat behind another speaker as he finished. The person next to me leaned in and whispered, "That was pretty awesome." Pretty awesome. I shivered as I pictured that other speaker entombed in ice, and...
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Rule #401: Awesomely Bold Leaders Know How to Breathe
...and, as I said in that infomercial, the key is breathing.
I've successfully taught awesomely bold leaders for years: When under pressure, under stress, you must breathe. You must inhale, then exhale, repeatedly.
How successful is it? Friends, as my wonderful, God-fearing grandmother used to say, the proof is in the pudding!
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady employs this "in-and-out" breathing method, as does NASCAR star Jimmie Johnson and the last five U.S. Presidents, except Ronald Reagan, who no longer employs this breathing method. What do they know that you don't?
I lack space here to explain it all. Suffice it to say, science is confirming what Awesomely Bold Leaders in my seminars already know: When we're under stress, our brains require oxygen. Think of it this way: When we're PERspiring, we must be REspiring.
It's breathing, friends. If you do not do this, people will not attend your conferences. I unpack this in my new tape series...
Tape Series!?!?!? How new could it be?
Posted by: Seaton | January 19, 2008 at 02:40 PM
Oh, and a point of clarification, would that be 8-track or reel-to-reel?
Posted by: Seaton | January 19, 2008 at 02:47 PM
Brantster,
This is the most awesomely awesome display of your awesomely awesome abilities as an awesomely awesome leader of leading leaders!!!! I am now committed to more awesome awesomeness in all of my work for the most awesomely awesome leader of all - Jesus. He has recently overtaken Bill Hybels in the awesomely awesome leaders official leader of leading leaders leader board.
Posted by: chris, awesomely amused in Kentucky | January 19, 2008 at 03:52 PM
Please sign me up for your never-ending, awesomely awesome, bold, visionary, monthly leadership tapes. Also, I would like all of your speeches on mp3s for my iPod too! It would be awesomely awesome to listen to them when I'm climbing mountains or dead-lifting 635 pounds. Anyway, I'm so excited about your, um, ministry that it's becoming very difficult to breathe!!!
Posted by: MJE | January 19, 2008 at 04:14 PM
Um, not to mess with your awesome awesomeness too much (or to do any injustice to your God-fearing grandmother)...but I believe the correct saying is, "The proof of the pudding is in the eating."
Love your blog, and blogrolled you. Keep being awesomely awesome.
Posted by: Jeff | January 19, 2008 at 04:53 PM
Saw an episode of Full House today. I forgot how much you and John Stamos look alike. He even sings and plays guitar.
Posted by: Steve Scalici | January 19, 2008 at 07:36 PM
Brant,
You're awesome. You're kinda pretty, too. Pretty & awesome.
Posted by: Rod | January 19, 2008 at 10:38 PM
WOW! That truly was INspiring. I guess.?!
Posted by: Mike P | January 19, 2008 at 11:57 PM
This breathing stuff in an old, albeit time tested idea.
Stop the Insanity! Eat, Breathe, Move, Change the Way You Look and Feel--Forever
Posted by: Scripture Zealot | January 20, 2008 at 12:44 PM
I love you, Brant, but you're beginning to scare me.
BTW, I saw the video of the chichi puppies born without front legs yesterday. Seems they'd been rescued from one of those horrific "puppy mills".
Posted by: M.E. | January 20, 2008 at 02:30 PM
Why do I hear John Maxwell speaking every time I read one of your awesome leadership segments? You need to include a tearful story for the full Maxwell effect. A pastor friend of mine once designated him the 8th dwarf, Weepy.
[Note from Brant: I've never seen him speak, though he preaches down the street here. I don't know him, but some people say he's a great guy and God bless him.]
Posted by: Joel | January 20, 2008 at 05:22 PM
"When we're PERspiring, we must be REspiring."
Neither Shakespeare, Chaucer, or Oscar Wilde could put it better.
And they were some pretty awesome writers.
Posted by: ChestertonianRambler | January 20, 2008 at 08:13 PM
Wow, I don't need an account. Awesomely awesome. I read one of your posts, and it was awesomely awesome. Not pretty awesome because, of course, you'd be entombed in ice. I just thought I'd pop in to say awesomely awesome.
Posted by: Wert | January 20, 2008 at 09:44 PM
Thanks for the inspirational (respirational?) thoughts. Indeed, the world's great mountains are littered with the bodies of the 'pretty awesome.' Is that the kind of cold, unbreathing future I want for myself?
No, it is not.
Posted by: Jimbo | January 21, 2008 at 09:49 AM
Also, BTW, I noticed that in a previous post in this series you referred to Peyton Manning as 'pretty awesome.' I guess now we know why he'll be watching this year's Super Bowl from the cold, rocky mountainside of his 'pretty awesome' house.
Sure, he may have won last year, but awesomely awesome has no memory, does it?
Posted by: Jimbo | January 21, 2008 at 09:57 AM
That was awesomely awesome, not just pretty awesome. But why did you say "as my Godfearing grandmother used to say..." instead of "as she now says..."? Did the breathing technique fail her, or did she just quit saying it?
Posted by: Brady | January 21, 2008 at 11:46 AM
My friend's father was, no joke, the President of the Association of Association Presidents. I should put you two in touch.
Posted by: Charlie Park | January 21, 2008 at 01:15 PM
Dear Coach Brant— I've been shopping around for an awesome vision coach, someone who's really bold, and your name keeps popping up. Your picture and writings are very awesome so I think you might be the guy for me. I do have some reservations, though, about the whole concept of a vision "coach." Specifically, I'm wondering if in our personal coaching sessions you would be donning clothes more appropriate to a real coach instead of some phony corporate getup. I'm thinking something along the line of Bike shorts and white tube socks pulled up nice and high. That would look much more awesome than a suit for the kind of coaching I need. I'd respect that kind of coach. Boldly yours, Matt
Posted by: MJE | January 21, 2008 at 02:27 PM
Sorry to be so off base. I thought for sure you were spoofing The 21 Irrefutable Law of Leadership by Maxwell and Courageous Leadership by Hybels. My bad.
Posted by: Joel | January 26, 2008 at 11:24 AM
Lol Brant-
You know-- for years I have said much the same thing to music students and also those souls I sometimes conduct and direct.. Breathing is one of the most imporant fuctions of performance..
even in a natural sense.
Awesomely Awesome!
Wolfgang
Posted by: Wolfgang Amadeus M. | February 01, 2008 at 08:11 PM
Just curious. Do you address this kind of thing in your book?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDxcyqeRc-4
Posted by: Seaton | February 05, 2008 at 10:06 PM