Sharon Lechter on Loss, Life, and Playing Big

Sharon Lechter is the former CEO of Rich Dad and Pay Your Family First. She is an entrepreneur, #1 New York Times and international bestselling author, philanthropist, international speaker, mentor, licensed CPA and a Chartered Global Management Accountant.  Sharon Lechter is the co-author with Robert Kiyosaki of the international bestselling books Rich Dad, Poor Dad, co-author with President Donald Trump of Why We Want You to Be Rich: Two Men, One Message, co-author with Greg S. Reid of Three Feet from Gold: Turn Your Obstacles into Opportunities!, and author of Outwitting the Devil: The Secret to Freedom and Success and Think and Grow Rich for Women: Using Your Power to Create Success and Significance. She and Greg Reid just released the new book Success and Something Greater: Your Magic Key. She was a member of Presidents George W. Bush and Obama’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy  Podcast Highlights What has been happening with Sharon Lechter over the last five years?  Sharon has been through some pretty difficult times during the past five years, having lost her younger son. She ran her life in neutral for a while thought that if she wasn’t going to play big in her life she should probably retire. She got some push back from her family and made the decision to re-fire instead of retire. In changing her attitude from one of mourning to there being more for her to do amazing things started to happen. She found her passion for writing again and her latest book  in being released in a few weeks. She is now recommitted to living life to its fullest and giving people information to take control of their financial lives. Living Life in Neutral Comfort turns into complacency. So many of us in life are in neutral because we do the exact same things day after day. The only thing that changes us in a state of complacency is a crisis, and that puts our lives into chaos. The only way out of the chaos is to be creative again. You’ve had your successes and your learning opportunities, there are other people who can benefit from what you know. The more you start giving the more you are going to start feeling alive again, supporting others will get you out of neutral and back into drive. The importance of your environment and your associates are paramount. Are you putting yourself into your place of greatest potential? When you’re an entrepreneur, when you have the right people around you will keep your head above water when you feel like you’re sinking. Surround yourself with people that challenge you, that are strong where you are weak, so that you have the greatest opportunity. Are you putting negative thoughts into your brain or empowering thoughts that help you see the world of possibility? Have you added value to someone’s life today? Success is more than money, it’s also about contribution and impact.  Refiring Your Life It took a while for Sharon to come to terms with the loss of her son. It wasn’t until someone asked her if she realized how many people she could help if they knew that someone like her had gone through something like that. A failure is an occurrence, not a definition. Too many people with a failure in their life feels like it defines them, and it doesn’t. You just have to pick yourself back up and redirect your energy. Success is not a single pathway with a special one size fits all key, for Sharon success is about how you feel about yourself when you look in the mirror. If you want to succeed, do the homework and look towards where you want to go. How does experiencing failure events define your idea of success? No one has ever had a straight line to success. Failure is a learning opportunity, a chance to recalibrate and refocus on the end goal. Maybe you need to adjust your end goal, maybe you need to change your market. The most successful businesses solve a problem or serve a need, if you remind yourself what problem you’re solving that takes the motivation outside of you and will give you the motivation to keep going. Listen to your intuition, analyze your passion and talents, and then define your success and what you want out of life. Big hairy audacious goals can be intimidating without also setting milestones that allow you to celebrate the little wins along the way. Setting goals and then achieving them is how we build confidence. Playing big is about realizing what you haven’t been doing that you can do to take your life/business/career to the next level. Bring an entrepreneur can be very lonely, so it’s important to surround yourself with people on the same path as you. The power of association is even more important than it was 20 years ago. Playing Big For most people, the “something greater” is what moves them and what they want to do outside of their business and life. Understand that you can make a difference in the world and the bigger the success you become the more positive impact you can make in the world. Reference: Success and Something Greater: Your Magic Key, Sharon Lechter Sharon’s Takeaway Remind yourself that there is more for you to do and that that voice is not going to get in your way. Your magic will happen outside your comfort zone so push yourself to take that step and seek other opportunities. Links: bit.ly/successequation sharonlechter.com Play Big Movement on Facebook Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe to the show on iTunes and Stitcher Radio!