My guest on this episode is one of my good friends, David Knapp-Fisher. We met at the World Domination Summit where we found out that we live 4 blocks apart, and have been constantly connecting ever since.
David is a father, speaker, and writer who loves connecting with people – especially the passionate and inspiring ones who lead remarkable lives. He describes himself as a guy who bumbled through school but always knew that he was smart outside of the standard school setting. He worked as a chef for some time until he realized that his passion is connecting with people.
We chatted (with David right in my home office) about keeping connections alive, his routine, and the power of saying hello. Some specific topics we talked about are:
- How we met and first said hello to each other at the World Domination Summit.
- The importance of having the right knowledge to be productive. And in cases when you don’t how you can tap into gaining more knowledge by finding and saying hello to someone who does have it.
- David’s method to foster and maintain authentic connections through priority, productivity, and doing the right things, and a morning coffee-and-email-routine he’s been doing to ensure that this aspect is covered in the first hour of his day.
- Why it is important to always ask ‘How can I help you?’ which according to him may even be more important than saying hello.
- My takeaway on his point of view translated into productivity practice – such as going into his email app with missions rather than questions, and being deliberate in maintaining connections.
- The idea that by going into “self-serving mode” that we can wind up serving others. On that note, David shared the story of how merely introducing two people served a larger purpose.
- People’s tendency to perceive arrogance due to systems we put in place. An example of which is illustrated in my story involving scheduling podcast interviews via Acuity, and David’s experience managing Inspired Victoria and how he was able to resolve this through fairness and honesty.
- The process he uses if he wants to reach out to people or include people more closely in his life.
- An interesting rule he enforces in the Inspired Victoria community so people get to connect based on their passions, and a related story during my theater days about connecting through passions, and how we often miss opportunities like these when we only see things at face value.
- A story of saying hello that took so long to happen – maybe brought by fear of rejection – that ultimately led to a friendship.
- David’s take on processing rejection, and his final words of advice.
Relevant Links:
- Inspiration for Awesome Lifestyles | David Knapp-Fisher
- Discipline or Regret – A Father’s Decision | David Knapp-Fisher | TEDxStanleyPark | YouTube
- Inspired Victoria
- World Domination Summit
- Acuity Scheduling
- Rejection Proof: How I Beat Fear and Became Invincible Through 100 Days of Rejection by Jia Jiang | Amazon
- The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book) by Don Miguel Ruiz | Amazon
This episode was definitely special because we were actually sitting face-to-face, and our conversation was more insightful as we fed off each other’s energy. Thanks for listening!
