Win Today
Win Today is a performance enhancing podcast filled with actionable insights and inspiration to come out on top in life. Through captivating interviews and solo episodes, a powerful tool is created and given to listeners to be able to push through any situation in life.
Hosted by Ryan Cass, he delivers messages that align to his purpose of helping people establish a foundation for sustained success, break trends of adversity, and chart desirable courses for life. Win Today!
Win Today
#174 | 10 Seconds Of Insane Courage: Chasing A Dream Across All 197 Countries In The World Ft. Garrett Gravesen
What if you could transform your life with just 10 seconds of insane courage? Join us as we chat with Garrett Graveson, whose personal journey through his father's battle with cancer sparked a mission to inspire others to live boldly. Through Garrett’s insights and philosophy, discover how fear can grow alongside success and why it’s crucial to seize opportunities before they vanish. His mantra, "If it's not wow, it's not worth doing," challenges us to embrace audacity in our everyday lives.
Embark on an ambitious quest to visit every country in the world, understanding the power of betting on underdogs. Hear stories of relentless tenacity from a small-town dreamer to a life-changing career opportunity with Merrill Lynch—all by daring to take that brave, pivotal step. Along the way, you'll meet inspiring individuals who turned their dreams into reality, like volunteering in Kenya and creating impactful charitable initiatives. These narratives underscore the significance of stepping outside comfort zones to achieve personal growth and societal contributions.
Celebrate the bold, iconic experiences and break norms with us. From cha-cha-cha zones in leadership to paragliding into hotels, discover how creativity can redefine success. As we explore the eight wonders of personal goals, Garrett encourages us to expand our ambitions, reflecting on our ‘dash’—the life we choose to live. Tune in, embrace your potential, and get inspired to take bold steps toward your dreams, knowing that the world isn't watching as closely as you think.
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I don't know about you, but my story is one of an underdog. Maybe, ryan, your story is an underdog. I think everyone at some point has felt like an underdog and someone along the way has helped us get to where we are today. No one's gotten here alone and we all now have the power to look out for that one person, or take that one call, or respond to that one email. Or, if you get that one random LinkedIn message, that goes in that crazy extra inbox where you don't even check it, respond to it next time. Pick up that phone call, look at that resume that may look a little bit non-traditional and give the underdog a chance, because it's changed my life and I tell every corporate audience that you have the ability to change someone else's life and you bet on the underdog is with grit and persistence and resilience, and it may just change your life as well.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Win Today podcast, a weekly tool intentionally crafted to help people enhance performance, feel inspired and conquer life. Our commitment is that you would learn from some of the most disciplined, heartwarming and inspiring people on the globe, in addition to receiving a piece of a winning playbook from myself or a renowned expert in their field. My name is Ryan Cass and I'm your host, and it is my purpose in this world to inspire people to establish a foundation for sustained success by developing systems that will enable you to accomplish your goals, break systemic trends of adversity and chart a desirable course for life. Thank you so much for tuning in. Please help us achieve our vision of becoming one of the top podcasts in the world by subscribing to the show, sharing it with somebody who you believe will benefit from it and leaving a review. Let's connect with our guest.
Speaker 2:Some of us simply can't pull the trigger on our dreams. It's not that our dreams aren't clear or compelling, and it's not that we're too dense to figure out the next step. Our problem is that, in the deepest recesses of our souls, we don't feel worthy or competent or qualified or something. We're waiting for permission to do the thing we were born to do, but we never see the light turn green. Many of us think we have to be Superman or Wonder Woman and we feel deficient and defective because we're not here's the truth and defective because we're not. Here's the truth. You don't have to be something or someone. You're not. You only need to be yourself and have 10 seconds of insane courage. That's an excerpt from 10 seconds of insane courage how to unlock your courage, to unleash your potential. And it is my honor to have the author here with us, mr Garrett Graveson. He is a beacon of courage. He is the tuxed man, having visited all 197 countries in the world. Garrett, welcome, brother.
Speaker 1:That was a fantastic intro. Thank you so much for that, Ryan. No, I'm happy to be here and I can't wait for the conversation.
Speaker 2:Man. There's so much that we can dive into, and where I always like to start especially with high performers and people that have done so much in this life to impact others is I like to understand someone at the heart first. How has courage been the focal point of your life?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I think the opposite of courage is fear. Right, and fear is something that we all face and it's hard to overcome and no one really knows how to do it. And the older you get sometimes the fear even gets larger the more successful you get. Sometimes the fear even stacks up even more. So there's never a right answer for it.
Speaker 1:But if you want to kind of talk origin story, my hero in life was my dad, and my dad encouraged me every step of the way, and so I always say I love traveling and traveling is kind of what I've become known for. But it didn't always start that way. I had never traveled as a young kid or through high school or even college. I didn't even get a passport until I almost graduated from undergrad. But once I started traveling, it sparked something inside of me. I realized the power of seeing new things and going to new places and having these experiences, especially with others.
Speaker 1:And so when my dad turned 50, I wanted to do a father-son trip with my dad, because we never got to, and he said, oh, it's not the right time, there's always work to be done. And I said, okay, the next thing, you know, a decade goes by and he turned 60. And I was like all right, no more excuses, we're going to do our father-son trip, we're going to make this happen. And once again the timing wasn't right. There was always too much work and too many excuses. Kind of fear got in the way. And so he promised me that when he retired we were going to get to do our trip together. So we don't really come from money at all. My dad sold insurance, my mom was the secretary and my dad finally retired after working 40 years and I was so excited, this was our chance.
Speaker 1:And after working 40 years he retired and 30 days later he had stage four cancer and one year left to live and I was crushed and I moved in and I became my dad's caretaker and I remember when the walking turned to a walker and the walker turned to a wheelchair, and these memories and these thoughts, because I saw so up close and personal what happens when we wait.
Speaker 1:And so to kind of kick off the broader why I moved in, took care of my father and less than one year's time later he passed away. And kind of my mission in life I think what I've been led to want to do and how I want to serve is to help people wake up and realize we are not promised tomorrow, but chances are promised the next 10 seconds of our life. And how do we have the courage to do the things that we love that matter the most, and say yes more often to life and love and travel and adventure and all those things that we want to do but are too scared to? Do not wait. Say yes now and have those 10 seconds of insane courage, because they can change your life.
Speaker 2:That's beautiful man and talk about how you and your dad took advantage of that time that you did have together Because, if I understand correctly, y'all went to Cuba, broke some rules, went against some doctor's advice and pushed fear aside and said you know, what. We're living this life, we get one of them. We don't know if it's going to be tomorrow or the next day, but what did that next period of time look like with your dad? I think that's important to honor him here.
Speaker 1:I live it fully and I truly believe it right. And so you know, we probably either know someone close or within our family or someone that's battled cancer. And so you know I remember again, getting my dad out of bed and helping him use the bathroom was, like you know, a big win for us, and later on, helping him give a you know, a shave in the mirror so he could still feel confident who he was. It was a favorite memory we had. But at the end we had a choice. We had gone through nine rounds of chemo and 10 rounds of radiation. Instead of going through that last round of chemo, we decided to do something different. We were going to do our father-son trip and so we did the most logical thing ever, to your point and we headed down to cub. So I remember landing.
Speaker 1:My dad grew up in the sixties love classic cars, could never afford any of them. So as soon as we landed I got him a cherry red 1960 convertible and we are driving through the streets of Havana, had the best time ever. I got him a big straw hat and the biggest, fattest Cuban cigar you can imagine, which is not what the doctor ordered. But it did not matter. It was a father, a son and a memory we would always have. And this idea of insane courage came from my father Because I asked him. I said you know, could you give me some advice? We don't have much time left together, but what's something I can hang on to moving forward. And without even flinching or hesitating, he looked me straight in the eye and he said do one thing you'd be insanely proud of, and do it now. Do one thing you'd be insanely proud of and do it now. And we came back from Cuba.
Speaker 1:My dad passed away two months later, but that memory and that message is something I've carried with me literally to every country around the world.
Speaker 1:And so what I decided to do was take a look at my time that I had with my father and all the journal writings that I had, and I really thought about this fear versus courage and why some people wait and some people take that first step or make that first move. And I was like you know what a legacy or what an honor that my one thing I could do that I would be insanely proud of would be to write a book about what I learned from my dad and share that message with everyone I come across everywhere I go, and that's what I decided to do. You have the book there with you 10 Seconds of Insane Courage. It's yellow and bold and big and in your face, because I want people to pick it up, I want people to read it and I want people to understand my dad's message and how important that one shift can be when we have the courage again to say yes more often in the moment man?
Speaker 2:if there's, is it as simple as like? Is there a universal piece of advice for people that hold on to? You highlight eight types of fear factors in this book, but is there a singular piece of advice for people that are holding themselves back, or is it dependent on the type of fear that they may be possessing, whether it's that they're not good enough or that they don't have enough?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think, if we're really going to be honest, I think one of the biggest fears that hold us back again I talk about eight in the book but the fear of what other people think. The fear of what other people think stops us from even starting. I heard a great quote from David Foster Wallace. It said you will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do. That was funny and it was freeing and I feel like it's so true, because people are not worried about what you're doing. They're worried about what they're doing. They're worried about their life and their fears and their frustrations.
Speaker 1:That gives you the freedom to go after the things that you want, because we all think that people are watching us and worrying about us and judging us. They're worried about themselves. They're worried about themselves. And that freedom allowed me to realize hey, you know what we are. Given such a short amount of time on this earth, why not go for the things that really light me up and would make me proud to share messages with others here, anywhere, anytime, all around the world? And courage kind of became the cornerstone of that message and that's what I love to do now and I'm so happy you have me on this podcast to do it as well.
Speaker 2:Feeling this energy. Man, you know one thing that, to your point, there it's. People are often thinking about what might Garrett think of me right in this moment? And we often create other people's stories in our minds and then hold that to be true, as if man Garrett must think I'm the worst podcaster in the world right now.
Speaker 1:And I'm worried about me.
Speaker 2:I'm worried about how I look and how I sound, and you're probably thinking like, hey, I hope I don't sound stupid, it might be what's on your side, but if we go ahead and believe this story and this was something that a coach told me years ago a few years ago, I was at a leadership summit out in California and I found that it's often the most simple pieces of advice, or simply worded thoughts, frameworks, whatever the case may be, that can create the most profound impact in our life. And he asked me a question about this. I posed a thought, said something I was struggling with. He said well, ryan, what makes that true? What evidence do you have, or what evidence do I have right now that says that you think I'm a terrible podcaster? Did you tell me that? No, so keep moving forward people. So true, because we're probably just creating a story in our minds that Garrett may think X, this person may think Y, and it is getting in the way of ourselves and the greatest things imaginable for our life exactly a hundred percent.
Speaker 1:Yes beautiful.
Speaker 2:Now what I found interesting. When I first came across your story, I was was like okay, 197 countries. This guy must have started when he was 10 years old, and you mentioned that you didn't get a passport until later. You took the trip with your father. He was a huge inspiration, but the genesis for visiting every country in the world Talk through that.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So again, let's go back to the first country in the world. So I come from the small town of Ackworth, georgia, and here's an interesting thing If you ever find a globe, you can try this on your own. If you take a globe and you put your finger on georgia and you spin it halfway around, on the other side of the world is hong kong, okay. So when I was an undergrad at the university of georgia, I was about to graduate and there was a scholarship for first-time travelers. Like I've never traveled, I don't have a passport, I'm gonna apply, see if I get it. And I got it, and there were only two rules for the scholarship. One, you could go anywhere you wanted, but two, you had to get a job. When you got there, well, I put my finger on Atlanta, spun it around.
Speaker 1:Hong Kong was where I was going to go and that's where I decided to go for the scholarship. Now, I wasn't that smart and I wasn't that bright. My only idea was to have a backpack and the bold plan of buying a fortune magazine of the hundred best companies to work for. Two problems with that. One is the same hundred best companies in America are not the same ones in Hong Kong. And number two it's very hard to get a job out of the blue, cold, calling the hundred best companies to work for. That was my plan.
Speaker 1:I landed in Hong Kong and I had to figure it out. Like no, going back right, like burn the boats strategy that you hear in all the leadership books. I was already there and one after another, after another, after another, no, no, not interested, they don't want me. And I was crushed. But then I realized this whole idea of I need to take my own advice, of these 10 seconds of insane courage, and I said, whatever the next name on the list is, I'm going to go full Goodwill hunting on these people. One of my favorite movies of all time, where Matt Damon's in the bar and speaks to that Harvard kid with his famous dialogue, and I say I'm going to do that. I say I'm going to do that, like I'm going to do that, and I call and the lady picks up and I promise you, ryan, this is what I said. I said, if you give me the next 60 seconds on this phone call, I promise it'll be a call you'll never forget for the rest of your life. And she starts laughing right, and I don't even let her talk. I said I found Hong Kong one day, on the other side of the globe. I did not go to Harvard, princeton, yale, dartmouth, brown, columbia, mit or Stanford. I went to the University of Georgia. And it's okay if you've never heard of it, because I've already got you on the phone right now. Heard of it because I've already got you on the phone right now and that's what matters most. I go. I am looking for one cup of coffee and a conversation in person to tell you the rest of my story. And I think she said what's your name again? And uh and uh, she was like just because of how bold you were in your approach, I'll give you that cup of coffee.
Speaker 1:Turns out they had had 10 mba students take the job at merrill lynch that summer and one decided to go work for mckinsey like a top consulting firm said one position available. They did not hire non-Ivy League kids, but during the interview I went and met with a guy and he said that he had not gone to an Ivy League school as well and he loved betting on underdogs, those with grit and persistence and resilience. And turns out this guy went undergrad the head of equity research for Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong, had gone undergrad to the University of South Carolina. Okay, because I was bold enough to have that call and crazy enough to get that interview, I got in there and we talked 30 minutes 30 minutes about finance and the rest about SEC football and he loved it and I loved it and, by the good grace of God, I got that job and I wanted to work so hard for that boss.
Speaker 1:I was the underdog. I knew I was going to outwork everybody. I knew I wasn't as smart as everybody, but I was going to do my absolute best to make him look good. And he was the best boss I ever had. He cared about me as a person. He cared about me personally and professionally.
Speaker 1:And every day, with my little paycheck from Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong and every day, with my little paycheck from Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong, I went to the street market and bought a brand new $1 tie to try to look professional and wore it to work the next day. And every single day he commented on my tie and noticed who I was as a human being, a human being. And at the end of that summer he said I want you to always remember one lesson always bet on the underdog. Those with grit and persistence that are bold and never stop being that underdog and never stop looking for those underdogs in life. Here's the best part. That was 23 years ago, 23 years ago. I still remember the story.
Speaker 1:I still remember that boss and earlier this year I got asked to speak over in Asia. I do keynote speaking for companies around the world and I said you know what? I'm going to go back, I'm going to find my boss. I'm going to thank him for changing my life. He had no idea that I do keep corporate keynote speaking. He had no idea I'd been to all the countries. He had no idea I'd written a book and, more importantly, he had no idea he was in my book as the inspiration that bet on me and bet on the underdog. And I gave him a copy of the book and I wrote him a message in there that said 23 years ago you changed my life and the power of anyone listening to this is every single one of us can do that for somebody or something right.
Speaker 1:I don't know about you, but my story is one of an underdog. Maybe, ryan, your story is an underdog. I think everyone at some point has felt like an underdog and someone along the way has helped us get to where we are today. No one's gotten here alone and we all now have the power to look out for that one person or take that one call or respond to that one email. Or, if you get that one random LinkedIn message that goes in that crazy extra inbox where you don't even check it, respond to it next time. Pick up that phone call, look at that resume that may look a little bit non-traditional and give the underdog a chance, because it's changed my life, and I tell every corporate audience that you have the ability to change someone else's life. When you bet on the underdog, it's with grit and persistence and resilience, and it may just change your life as well.
Speaker 2:Golly man. And look what it started with One phone call and 10 seconds of insane courage, of insane courage. You did what only 1% of any applicants would do, what I tell a lot of college students. Here's my quick story how I got into the corporate world. I ended up in a top rotation program at the Boeing company that. They pick about 30 students every year and they're all from the Cornell's, the UGA's, the big schools in the big conferences, and here I am the Citadel. Maybe, if you're lucky, people in the Southeast know what the citadel is. It's a small military college.
Speaker 2:Yep, and I knew that I wanted to be in this program, reached out to everybody that I could on linkedin. That was in the program because we didn't have anyone local in charleston doing it. It was all in seattle and st louis, southern california, like all right. Well, just because no one's here doesn't mean that can't meet someone else. And linkedin you can find everybody in the world. That's how I discovered you.
Speaker 2:I reached out to a guy, garrett, that I still to this day, nine and a half years later, have never met in person Art Guerrero. And hey, art, I'm a junior. I'm a senior at the Citadel. I see that you're in this rotation program. I would love to know what I can do to become competitive for this program. And I don't know what Art did, but I got a phone call to go to Seattle for one night and end up in Seattle, washington, for one night to interview. And there's all these people from all the big schools and the Ivies. And I get there and one of the hiring managers, mike Lawson, never forget him said are you the LinkedIn guy? I said I sure am. And to this day maybe that helped a little bit, but I do believe that it helped get in the door, because no way was somebody from some tiny military college supposed to be in the room with all the people from these uniques, from these from these big name schools. And it goes back to again you will never know the answer to an unasked question and you will never know the outcome to a quest that is never started.
Speaker 2:So true, so you know, and and it's sometimes it's literally as simple as the linkedin message or the making the phone call. I saw you. I've reached out to a lot of potential guests on linkedin. Some reach out or some respond, some don't. But you know we, we keep going and sometimes no just means not right now, and it just means not right now, or you know what it's another opportunity. It's another opportunity. Oh man, now you were out in Hong Kong and then, from what I understand, doing some homework on you, you realized that the investment banking career wasn't the life that you wanted to live, because you also had witnessed that there was people that were missing anniversaries and their children's birthdays and you knew that you never wanted that. You never wanted that to be you, and since you are already from small town Georgia all the way across in Hong Kong, I believe that's what then started the pursuit to some of these additional countries. Is that accurate?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so my immediate boss was amazing, but like the partner at the firm, you know Mrs Wife's anniversary, four-year-old daughter's birthday same summer. I'm there. And so my immediate boss was amazing. But like the partner at the firm, you know Mrs Wife's anniversary, four-year-old daughter's birthday same summer. I'm there, and you can kind of see as you move up, not always, but at least there I felt like I had. Maybe I could give parts of myself and my personality other than you know, give it to something other than just a spreadsheet and numbers and finance right. And so I'd made a little bit of money.
Speaker 1:That summer I was already on the other side of the world, called mom and dad and said, hey, instead of coming home, I do something equally as insane I'm going to actually go and spend time and do the complete antithesis of big banking bright lights in Hong Kong. I'm going to go volunteer in Africa, um, because I love giving back, I love doing charity. It's more of who I am as a human, um, and so. But I didn't know. I didn't know how it was going to work or what I could do, and so I ended up picking Kenya, um, and I didn't know how it was going to help. But the story was I go and volunteer at this orphanage 80 kids, no moms, no dads, no, nothing. They can't even pronounce my name. This 10 year old little boy comes up to me, looks me straight in the eye you can't say Garrett, can't pronounce Graveson. I'm like, oh great. It's like why don't you call me Gigi, my initials? So Gigi stuck that summer with all the kids. This little boy's name was Martin and as I was leaving that day, um, you know, he looked at me and grabbed the bottom of my shirt and he goes Gigi, gigi, everyone says they'll be back, will you really come back and see us? And I say sometimes 10 seconds of insane courage is staying put and learning more. Staying put and learning more. And I did. And days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months and, before you know it, I was there till the end of the year and I fell in love with this cause and these kids and children, by no fault of their own, born in this world, hiv and AIDS, and they need a quality of life, they need mentors and role models, they need programs and assistance and they just need a little help, right? They're great, great kids.
Speaker 1:And so I came back from that experience in Africa, in Nairobi, kenya, back to the University of Georgia, back where I had left, and they said you had this crazy experience in Hong Kong match for this thing in Kenya. We would love for you to be the graduation speaker. And I said that's great. What the heck does that mean? They said it's you a microphone and 30,000 people and you get six minutes to share your story. I said, oh boy, and so I wrote two speeches one that was six minutes, when it was clearly not six minutes. One that was approved by the university, one that was clearly not approved by the university. One of welcome, congrats, good luck in life, and one of sharing the story about this little guy named Martin in Africa and how I want to start a charity for children just like him across the United States to help with the quality of life of children with HIV and AIDS.
Speaker 1:I was going to call it Hero for Children how we all can be heroes for someone or something in life. Again, in that moment, what do you choose? Courage or comfort? Courage or comfort. I put the six-minute speech back in my pocket, pulled out the non-six-minute speech and started speaking. My truth, was I nervous or scared? Absolutely.
Speaker 1:There were 30,000 people and, like time stopped, a heart pounded and a stadium full of eyes stared back at me. I just started sharing and sharing about my journey and these kids and how we can all do something for someone else. It's bigger than all of us and I didn't know what was going to happen or how it was going to work and I laughed and I cried and so did the audience, in real time and, before you know it, 30,000 people stood up for a standing ovation and the speech lasted 18 minutes and no one complained. No one complained. And that speech that became a charity called Hero for Children, launched a movement with everyone getting involved, and we partnered with the CDC and Big Brothers, big Sisters, to create the very first mentoring program in America for children with HIV and AIDS. And last year we just celebrated our 20-year anniversary of that organization 20 year anniversary of that organization by having the 10 seconds of insane courage to give that speech at that moment in front of those people.
Speaker 2:You gave your six minutes times three version of the speech. I felt like as soon as you said, yeah, we can give the six minutes, or I had my other one, it's like, okay, tell us, tell us, you did the other one already.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I did the other one. And then I say, you know, when I say sometimes 10 seconds of insane courage is standing up and sharing more, so again, sometimes it's staying put and learning more, sometimes it's standing up and sharing more. In those moments when you have the opportunity to do something that truly deeply matters, I think it's always worth having those 10 seconds of insane courage to stand up and share more.
Speaker 2:I've long said that the greatest gift in this world is to give back and help one person, and how we can help change the world is focus on one person. Going back to that opening quote, we don't need to be Superman or Wonder Woman to make a difference, because we never know what that one may do to the many, or even what that one may do to the many, or even what that one may do to one other one, and then that other one to five, into 10, into 30. That one boss that changed your life 23 years ago. Look what it's led to now and how many lives you've impacted, and I'm sure that that has greatly influenced how you lead people at the companies that you've started, including Ado. One thing that I would love to know is how has traveling the world shifted your perspective? Are there any key lessons that emerged? When you visited a certain country and you're like all right, when I went to maybe it was country 142, this one particular thing really changed the way I am or how I serve people.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So let's go business for a second, because you're kind of touching on business I talk about. In the speeches I give, I say there are five zones of courage and within each zone there's a decision to make and courageous leaders are willing to make those decisions. But as far as things I've seen, I talk about one of them because I love to keep it fun and memorable. One of the zones you're going to hit is what I call the cha-cha-cha zone, so the cha-cha-cha.
Speaker 1:So here's the interesting thing about the cha-cha-cha. It was invented in Cuba in the 1940s. It's been the most popular global dance for 80 years and you have to ask yourself why. And the reason why is because everyone can do the first two steps. It's just left, right. And then the cha-cha-cha, which you get to create as bold or as magical or as memorable, however you want to do it, it's up to you. So it has structured steps and spontaneous flair. I think that's the same thing in business.
Speaker 1:I'd say cha-cha-cha. The first is the product right. In most products everyone kind of gets right. Like if you don't get your product right, you're out of business. The second shot is the experience. Like you have to have an experience that goes with the product and most are kind of the same. But the third shot is the iconic Like. Are we willing to make that first bold step and be iconic in what we do? And most people don't even think about trying to become iconic, they just stick to the first two steps, like everybody else. But it's when we choose to be bold and iconic and I've seen this around the world time and time and time again and from people at companies that don't even have to be the leaders of these companies.
Speaker 1:One of you know I go to Oman, right, so everyone thinks of Dubai as this, like you know, magical city with all the newest and latest and most interesting. Right next to Dubai is Oman. One of the best stories I talk about doing the cha-cha-cha was there was a hotel in Oman where they kept having paragliders kind of land on the beach, property landing on it, landing on it, they were so frustrated, so annoyed by it what could we do with it, property landing on it landing, and they were so frustrated, so annoyed by it, what could we do with it, that sometimes these problems we see are actually opportunities right in front of us. And so the hotel staff told management. They said hey, instead of trying to fix this, what if we embrace this as an opportunity to essentially create an iconic experience?
Speaker 1:So now this hotel in Oman, the Six Senses Ziggy Bay, is the first hotel in the world where you can paraglide check-in to the hotel, where you literally have all the guests. Get on a paraglider and they check in into the lobby, into the hotel as a unique, iconic experience, into the hotel as a unique, iconic experience. Now people from around the world go to this hotel simply because they want to paraglide into the check-in as a unique opportunity that was iconic because of something right in front of them. They didn't just worry about the first cha-cha, the product or the experience. What can we do? That's iconic. It's already happening around us and literally the world's first hotel check-in by paragliding happens because they took a problem and saw it as an opportunity to cha-cha-cha.
Speaker 2:Tell me that you paraglided into this hotel.
Speaker 1:I want to go there, I want to stay there. I was visiting through Oman. Everyone kept talking about this, but I will go in my tuxedo to hotel check-in by paragliding and I will. I will let you know and send you the photos for sure.
Speaker 2:So you're, you're, you're going to go into this tuxedo, into, you're going to paraglide into this hotel, tuxedo and all, and we're going to see it.
Speaker 1:A hundred percent, a hundred percent. And so the other one is think about an iconic experience at a post office. It doesn't happen, right? It's almost impossible. There's a small island nation called Vanuatu. Don't even worry about where it's at or finding it on a map. It's basically between Australia and New Zealand, right In this small island nation. Everyone goes there to snorkel, swim in the water, dive underground. This post office is like what if we create cha-cha-cha, an iconic experience, and create the world's first underwater post office to attract visitors from Australia and New Zealand to stop in our country and send waterproof postcards around the world? It took off like crazy. Tourism boomed because someone was bold enough to create a small little underwater post office where you have a drop box and you can have a waterproof postcard, send it down there. And I literally did that one in my tuxedo.
Speaker 2:That is amazing. You know, I just got back from Germany and I went to Munich and I went to Oktoberfest. Oh, amazing. And one thing I learned is that the germans are very traditional and they do not appreciate amazon purchased lederhosens unless it is the the real deal, the authentic leather right but talk about is embracing cultures, and you know, digging in like I'm just thinking through, like hmm, what would the germans think if garrett went to oktoberfest in his tuxedo, unless you've already done, unless you've already done that no, no, not in the tuxedo.
Speaker 1:No, it's beautiful, just for the people listening. So why the tuxedo? What are we talking about? It was never planned. I'm not some guy that has to show up.
Speaker 1:It happened on accident, as a joke, because early on I've always wanted to go to Antarctica. I'd never been to Antarctica, I didn't know anyone that's ever gone to Antarctica. So last minute I'd packed two full suitcases hats, scarves, jackets, gloves, everything you can imagine for a 10-day voyage to Antarctica. And last minute a friend said you should bring a tuxedo in your carry-on just for one photo, to look like the penguins during the 10-day voyage. And I go, you know what, why not? I get a carry-on, I check my bags, I fly Atlanta to Argentina, argentina down to the tip of Argentina called Ushuaia, to board the 10 day voyage down there.
Speaker 1:And when I landed my luggage did not. The only thing I had for 10 days in Antarctica was my tuxedo. And now the joke was on me and I was going to have to wear it the entire time. But it was like such a great excuse the pun icebreaker because everyone laughed. It started conversations. I was trying to climb a glacier in a tuxedo, take photos of the penguins in a tuxedo. I showed up to every breakfast, lunch and dinner in my same tuxedo and I said you know what, from now on, every country I go to in my carry on, I'm bringing a tuxedo and I'm taking a picture in it. And it kind of became my thing around the world, this traveling tuxedo, um, to meet people, break the ice, have a conversation, just share stories about travel adventures around the world.
Speaker 2:When I first heard that that was the origin story behind why the tuxedo became a thing across the entire world, I was laughing so hard in my car, garrett, thinking about that. But I believe it also fits back to what you were saying about. Sometimes the greatest experiences also fits back to what you were saying about. You know, sometimes the greatest experiences or iconic experiences, even the hotel in Oman, it wasn't by intentional design, like you didn't intend to lose your luggage, you intended to take one photo with the penguins and now it, you know, something didn't go your way and this tuxedo turned into a brand. You know, it makes me think about the savannah bananas. What do people who do people, who do people recognize? They recognize yellow tux, jesse, you know. And the yellow tux has become this iconic brand of its own. And look at the Savannah bananas. Now they're selling out ballparks across the world. Fenway park they sold out Fenway.
Speaker 2:Who would have ever thought about that? You know, and it goes to show, I believe, when going back, when we have 10 seconds of insane courage, when we put aside all of the fear, because who would would? Who would imagine that a, a baseball team, could be formed like a, like a harlem globetrotters version of baseball could exist, and they could. And their founder is going to wear a yellow tuxedo and they're going to be called the bananas and their games are only going to last two hours and 50 000000 people are going to show up. Yeah, you know how many people probably laughed at that idea, like that is the silliest, dumbest thing ever. Imagine if they would have stopped right there because of the resistance and the fear that is likely being created by other people's opinions. And oh, that's silly.
Speaker 1:And here we are and take it a step further, because everyone has something they fundamentally believe in Minus 10 seconds of insane courage. Jesse, the founder of Savannah Bananas, is what's called fan first entertainment. So everything he looks through life is through the. Is this fan first entertainment? For example, his theory was baseball's too boring. Okay, what does boring mean? Boring means it lasts too long All right, we're going to have a 90 minute game. Boring means that there's too many foul balls All right. If you had a foul ball and a fan catches it, you're out. Boring means that we have the same pitchers that look the same way doing the same things Nope, we're going to have pitchers on stilts.
Speaker 1:We're going to have, you know, pitchers doing backflips, all the. You know. The third base, you know, coach, is going to be a fan at some point. You know, instead of having, like you know, beautiful, you know, these elegant folks that become, they're going to have grandmas, the banana nanas that are like their official cheerleading squad, standing on top you knowouts rallying the fans. They basically ripped up the rule book of what baseball had to be and created something so magical. It's transformed the sport, and you know this. They have more Instagram, tiktok, online followers than every other major league baseball team pause combined Combined Because people crave, crave the iconic and they've created something truly iconic.
Speaker 2:Garrett, one word that has come up quite a bit in our conversation is bold, and we've talked about goals a little bit, and I believe that your quest around the world was, in part, made possible by being extremely bold, and I can imagine that as you entered some of these countries, there were a lot of difficulties associated with that Even going to Bhutan during COVID and some of these other countries that weren't even letting Americans in at the time, and you persisted. When we think about our goals, we're typically given the SMART acronym and you've you push that to the side and say we shouldn't have SMART goals, we should have BOLD goals. What's the framework behind BOLD goals or how can we think about developing bold goals?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I say the world's worst business advice are smart goals. I absolutely hate them. They're designed to be incremental vanilla and they inspire absolutely nobody. Okay, so I always tell companies the world's worst business advice for smart goals you need to replace smart goals with bold goals. Maybe not in every area, but take one strategic initiative and replace smart goals with bold goals.
Speaker 1:What are bold goals? Bold goals are goals that create wonder and make you come alive. Okay, they need no acronym. If I had told you, ryan, my bold goal is to visit every country in the Caribbean, I'm who cares. Who cares that does not make you come alive and create wonder in your life. Now, my bold goal is to visit every country in the world. Now we're talking, now people listen up, want to help.
Speaker 1:I know somebody that knows a person in Bhutan or Oman or Venezuela. It captures the imagination. So everyone, from Napoleon Hill and Think and Grow Rich to Tony Robbins, modern day world's number one book speaker, has their set. I believe you should have bold goals and what I call eight wonders of the world. So there's only seven wonders of the world, but I believe the eighth wonder is you, when you become alive and you have bold goals in these areas. And the first one is travel and adventure. Right, like what is one bold, wow city you want to go to, right. Another one is you know our health and fitness, and that can be both mental health and physical health, but like, what's a big, bold goal you want to do?
Speaker 1:You know, in that area of your life, I think it's important to have impact goals Like what are your giving goals? How do you want to give back? How do you want to serve others? What organizations light you up you want to leverage your skills or time or talent with? And then, one of my favorite ones I call them jet ski goals. And people are like well, what is a jet ski goal? I was like I've never seen a sad person on a jet ski, right, like that's a meme, it works because it's real. Those are our material goals, right, material goals and jet ski goals balanced with impact goals make for great goals, just like professional goals balanced with creative goals make for incredible goals as well, like inside our organization, what do you want to become? Who do you want to be? And creative goals, just like at some point you probably wanted to learn to play the piano or write or paint or create a podcast or host a podcast Like that's an incredible bold goal to have. And then the last two I call them leadership goals. What do you want to learn, how do you want to continue your education, the books you want to read, the seminars you want to attend, the things that you want to soak up and become an expert in or put in your 10,000 hours? And last but not least, the eighth area, the eighth wonder of the world, I believe are relationship goals.
Speaker 1:I started this podcast by talking about two numbers 40 years and 30 days. My dad worked 40 years, retired and 30 days later finally had stage four cancer and one year left to live. We do not know how much time we have with others. We do not know how much time we have for ourself. I think it is extremely, extremely important to create relationship bold goals.
Speaker 1:What do you want to do with your significant other? What do you want to do with your absolute best friend? What do you want to do next year? How many times are you going to actually see your parents Drive up, fly up, see them, call them on the phone? Because I can tell you at the end of the day, with all of the goals, the relationship goals are the ones that are going to matter the most when it's all said and done and I talk about this in a lot of my speeches that it's important to do the dash.
Speaker 1:Do the dash, and the dash is simply on your tombstone. There's a day that you're born and the day that you die, and we can't control the day that we're born or the day that we pass away, only the dash in the middle. What will you do with your dash? And I believe if you do the dash around these eight wonders of the world, these eight categories of life, you will live a tremendous life that you can absolutely be proud of. And that's my biggest message to everyone listening here is to take the time to write it down. Forget your smart goals they don't inspire anybody but create bold goals in these eight wonders of the world that make you come alive and create wonder in your soul and that will create a impactful, meaningful life worth living the.
Speaker 2:The dash is one that really hit, you know, because there's a date at the beginning, a date at the end, but what we, what we control, is that dash, because we're going into 2025. When we expanding on bold a little more. One thing that I encourage people to do, and I do myself with as it relates to goals, is always reflect back at the end of the year. Look at, okay, how did we do and where do we have opportunities to grow? Where can we go harder next year? Where can we go bigger and better? How do I, how do we take our mind and body and soul to completely new places? What has you saying? All right, I was bold enough, and here's how I'm going to be bold in 2025.
Speaker 1:Yeah, here's a simple example. So I co-founded a leadership consulting firm called Addo Worldwide Addo, right and Addo. We were fortunate enough to create Chick-fil-A Leader Academy, the training program with one of the world's most iconic brands most iconic brands and we always internally made the joke at Addo that the best way to create a bold goal is to add an O, add a zero. My goal is to write one LinkedIn post a week. Nope, add a zero, 10 a week. My goal is to read 10 books next year. Nope, add a zero, 100 books next year. Nope, add a zero, a hundred books next year.
Speaker 1:You know my goal is to, you know, you know journal, you know you know 10 pages, you know to capture, you know my thoughts for no journal, a hundred pages and turn it into your first book, right, like, add a zero, add a zero, add a zero. And so, you know, originally I was, like, you know, my goal was, you know, to give one speech a month for a corporate crowd. Like it's a terrible goal, that's a smart goal, you know. Like, like, no, I want to give. Like, if I gave 10 speeches a month, like that's doable. Like every three days, like that's doable, that's 120 speeches next year, like, yeah, I do want to do that. That's a bold goal Because imagine how many people you can impact from stage that hear this message and change their life. And me playing small, just like the Mandela quote, serves no one, like no one is served by you playing small. So how do you add a zero to whatever goal you have and make it a bold goal?
Speaker 2:The smartest thing we can do about our smart goals is throw them in the trash. Exactly, exactly, erase them, erase them. You've got something really exciting in the works and I want to take this opportunity to allow you to share. How do people keep up with you and all of the amazing work you're doing? And you've mentioned also here that many times that you have the opportunity every year to captivate audiences, hundreds of thousands of people all over the world, most recently with Coca-Cola. You're going to be sharing some of those tips, so how can we keep up and talk about what's in the works?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I'm actually going to be a speaker at this Global AI Summit coming up, and the one question I get asked and the one thing I fundamentally believe is everyone has a story worth sharing, and people have said that before and I completely believe believe is everyone has a story worth sharing and people have said that before and I completely believe it. You have a story because of your unique experiences and the things that you've overcome, right, and the world needs to hear that. And you need to be on stage and you need to share more and you need to tell more. And people don't know where to start, and that was me and I completely get it. And so I worked with a team of AI experts that basically downloaded my brain and we've created a free so again, absolutely free way for you to put in your passions, the things that you're already talking about, researching, looking at, perhaps even want to speak at, and how to put that into a framework for your very first speech on stage. So you can go to speakerbriefcom Again, speakerbriefcom it's free. There's nothing better than free and it'll spit out how you could give your first speech, how I would kind of think about it through the lens of the way I speak. So if you'd like anything you listen to here today and you believe you have a message worth sharing, which you do yeah, you can go to speakerbriefcom. Enter what you're passionate about, enter what you believe in, and it'll spit out your first speech of how you could do it, along with a speaker kit of how you can create that, so that anytime someone is looking for a speaker, you are ready to go.
Speaker 1:No questions asked as far as me personally, just follow the journey. I would love for you to follow along. The easiest is on Instagram, just GG Worldwide. So the letter G, letter G worldwide. And on LinkedIn, you can find me at Garrett Graveson, which is G-R-A-V-E-S-E-N. So Garrett Graveson on LinkedIn. But follow along. I love sharing this message. I love being on podcasts because I believe the work, ryan, that you are doing is important. It's inspiring people every single day and every single person, even if it's just one, listening to this message, who gets rid of their smart goals, create some bold goals for next year and has the best year of their life. Even if it's just one person, it is absolutely worth it.
Speaker 2:You've been absolutely phenomenal, garrett, and I'm excited. I wish that people highly encouraged to keep up with all this amazing work that you're doing. I mentioned off-air but for folks' awareness. I first discovered Garrett two years ago on LinkedIn when I was making uh, just doing my normal LinkedIn daily reading and finding inspiring people, and I remember when I first saw him it's like man, I want to interview this guy someday and connect.
Speaker 2:Now, garrett, our closing tradition on the podcast is we end with a rapid fire session. This is called One Gem, one Step, one Book. And imagine that you and I are linking up in person. We're going to get dinner somewhere cool in Atlanta up on a rooftop and we're going up three elevator floors and on each floor somebody is going to enter the elevator and they're only going up one floor. But they recognize you and they ask you a question. So the amount of time you have to answer is the amount of time it takes to go up one elevator floor. So first person gets in they recognize you, they've heard the podcast, they've read the book. They say, Garrett, what's one gem that you have, whether it be a quote or a mantra that you live your life by? That I can live my life by as well.
Speaker 1:My favorite quote ever is something I tell everybody If it's not wow, it's not worth doing. If it's not wow, it's not worth doing. Get rid of all those smart goals, get rid of all those things you're supposed to do in life. Get rid of all the voices inside your head and figure out what is wow to you and then absolutely go for it. And I would say if it's not wow, it's not worth doing. That's the one thing you got to pursue. You know it in your heart, you feel it in your soul and that's exactly what you were born to do on this planet. So go for it.
Speaker 2:It's not wow, it's not me. Next person gets on Garrett. What's one step that I can take today to become more courageous?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would probably go back to that quote, the David Foster Wallace. When we realize how often people are thinking about us, which is not much at all, it will allow us to do the things that we truly want to do. The number one thing between you and what you want to do is fear, and typically it's fear about what other people think. And the good news is people are not thinking about you that often. They're thinking about themselves and worried about themselves. So once again, go for it, go big, go bold and don't worry about what other people think, because chances are they're not thinking about you anyways. They're worried about themselves.
Speaker 2:Stop making stories in your head Now. The last one, and this is what I find to be the most difficult one what's one book besides yours, or in addition to yours, that we should read to enhance our mindsets?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I'm a leadership guy and this is not a leadership book, but I think it's the best book I've ever read. It's called Tuesdays with Maury. Tuesdays with Maury it's by a guy named Mitch Albom. The tagline is an old man, a young man and lessons on life. A college professor and one of his students meet every Tuesday to talk about life, and it is the most phenomenal book. Actually, you know what? Because of you saying this, it's reminding me I'm going to read it again before 2025 to get inspired all over again, because I love that book Tuesdays with Maury Mitch album A Young man, an Old man and Lessons About Life. It's phenomenal.
Speaker 2:Tuesdays with Maury Garrett. This was such a phenomenal conversation and really appreciate all of the gems that you left us with Folks. Keep up with Garrett, throw your smart goals out the window, take 10 seconds of insane courage and that's all it takes in addition to being resourceful to one person, and we can create so much in this life. And remember if it's not wow, then it's not you. Thanks so much and win today.
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