Walt Hampton, J.D.

Creating the Work & Life You LOVE

Take Out Your Trash

by Walt | May 11, 2017 | Success | 0 Comments

For nearly three decades, a dear friend of mine was a flight attendant on a major airline flying long-haul routes. He would tell this funny story: At the end of an especially long, customer service-challenged flight, when they would come down the aisle for that last time with the garbage bags, saying “your trash, your trash,” what they were really thinking (and actually saying), was “you’re trash, you’re trash!”

This post is not about the joys of flying. It is, however, about your trash. Your head trash, that is.

Because, your head trash is what keeps you stuck; it’s what keeps you from launching your business, writing your book, advancing your career, getting in shape, finding a mate, speaking your truth; it’s what keeps you from sharing your gifts with the world; it’s what keeps you from living your very best life.

Your head trash are those voices in your head that whisper to you:

I’m not ready
I’m not enough
I’m not worthy
I need more training
I need more experience
I need a degree
I need another certification

And no one escapes them.

Tony Robbins suggests that the two primary questions that every human being struggles with are: “Am I enough?” and “Will I be loved?”

Brené Brown, in her beautiful book, The Gifts of Imperfection, says that every single one of us comes face to face with self-doubt; that every single one of us questions our worth; that no one escapes that worry that someone will find out that we are a fraud.

So… recognizing that you’re not that “special,” that you’re not alone, that every single one of us struggles; every single one of us confronts these fears and doubts… the only relevant question then is this: What are you going to do now?

Even in the face of fear and doubt: What action will you take? What commitment will you make?

The time will never be right. You will never feel ready. There will always be more that you could do.

But the clock is ticking; and the world is waiting for you.

Don’t waste another moment.

Step up. Step out. Get busy. Start now.

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Want to get started? Let’s connect. Email me: [email protected]

About My Beans. And Your Beans.

by Walt | May 4, 2017 | Success | 0 Comments

As I get near to my birthday, I think a lot about beans.

About how many I have; and how I want to use them.

I am acutely aware that I have a limited supply of beans.

I want to be mindful about my beans. I never want to squander them.

Because my beans (and your beans) are precious.

How many beans do you have?

What would you do if you only had a handful of beans?

What if you had just one?

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Are you wondering about what to do with the beans you have? Let’s connect. Email me: [email protected]

How Many Can You Spin?

by Walt | Apr 27, 2017 | Success | 0 Comments

Busy is a badge of honor it seems.

“How are you?” I ask.

“Busy,” comes the reply with that wan smile and shake of the head.

Or more frequently and wide-eyed: “Crazy busy,” as if to convey even more significance and import.

My response: “Oh, I am so sorry to hear that.” (As if they’ve just shared the news that someone they care about has just died.)

This usually elicits a confused look, which I think is good. Because “busy” usually isn’t good.

“Busy” usually means that you’ve lost control of your time; that you’re caught up in the urgent at the expense of the important.

It’s easy for to buy into the cultural lie that to be successful, you need to be busy, you need to work more, that you need to work longer, harder, faster; and that to do otherwise somehow means that you’re weak or not motivated or not a team player.

It’s easy to become addicted to the forward motion; to keep on going like a hamster on a wheel.

It’s easy to become addicted to the stimulation and outside input, checking and re-checking your smartphone and tablet; responding incessantly to the phone calls and messages and notifications and alerts. Overwhelmed and inundated by the expectations and the deadlines and the demands, endeavoring to pay attention to everything and succeeding only at a continuous partial attention.

But in the end, you will not wish that you had spent more time in the office, billed more hours, accumulated more miles, closed more deals, seen more clients, sold more product, networked more, Tweeted more, or updated our Facebook status more frequently.

The value of your life will not be measured by the number of plates that you’ve been able to keep spinning in the air.

What will matter will be the experiences you have had, the lives you have touched, the love that you have shared. What will matter is whether you have fulfilled the deepest longings of your heart, whether you have spent yourself not on the urgent, but on the important; whether you have lived without regret.

Slow dance; and slow down.

Take in the sunrise; and the sunset.

Linger more; laugh more; love more.

Spin fewer plates.

Do fewer things well.

This is the path to freedom and joy.
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Want some tips to help you become less busy? Download your free guide HERE.

Find Your BFFs

by Walt | Apr 20, 2017 | Success | 0 Comments

We traveled across 8 time zones to do it. We’d do it again in a heartbeat.

It was an amazing three days. Days of collaboration and planning. Days of inspiration, learning and connection.

A gathering of entrepreneurs from all around the world. Colleagues filled with passion; and driven by a sense of mission. Passionate like-minded comrades who want to create amazing businesses, who want to make an impact in the world.

Here’s what is true: We are the average of the 5 people we hang out with most. Average in terms of what we want, where we live, what we earn, what we drive, and what’s in our bank account. Average.

There’s nothing wrong with average.

But, if we thirst for more, we need to surround ourselves with others who also want more. We need to seek out new relationships and new communities so that we can be nourished and uplifted, supported and encouraged.

Entrepreneurship can be a lonely path. It’s easy to get isolated. It’s easy to get brought down by the naysayers. It’s easy to get discouraged and despondent when you don’t see the results you want.

And so it is essential to seek out others who are on the path; to find your people; to surround yourself with those who believe what you believe, who want what you want. To be cared for by those who have your back, who want for your success. To drink at the well of inspiration.

We began our Summit Mastermind Community for that very purpose.

And regularly we travel far and near to be with those who do the work we do, and want to make a difference in the world.

We need that support. You do too.

Because with BFFs, anything is possible.

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If you’d like to join an amazingly supportive community, check out the Summit Mastermind by going HERE.

What Beavers Know

by Walt | Apr 13, 2017 | Success | 0 Comments

Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. — Isaiah 43:19

I’ve noticed the beavers at work along the river these past few mornings.

It seems that spring came in the northern hemisphere last week. A good thing. It’s been a long and malingering winter.

Some winters are like that.

Winter, for many, means hardship. Storms and brutal cold; grey skies, short days and long, dark nights; shoveling snow, icy roads and heating bills that seem to never end.

Things tend to lay dormant in the winter. Many in the animal kingdom hide out and hibernate.

In the people kingdom too.

Then the spring comes. New life, new energy, new hope. A reprieve; a new beginning.

And so it is in all our lives.

What we do in the springtime of our lives matters. How we till the soil; what we plant; where we plant it; how much we care.

What we build; how we build it.

The summer will surely come. And then the harvest time. It always does.

That harvest, what we reap, will depend on these very moments in our lives: What we sow in the here and now will dictate the seasons yet to come.

In our businesses and careers;
In our networks and relationships;
In our marriages and partnerships and families;
In our health and fitness;
In our financial lives;
In the service of others.

It’s easy to be complacent in the spring, what with the weight of winter finally lifted off. But spring is a time for focus; the time to re-charge, to re-double our efforts. The seeds that we plant, the investments that we make, the care and the attention that we bring to the spring in our lives will yield a thousand fold in the soft glow of our autumn time.

Of course, the seasons of our lives don’t always correspond with Mother Nature. I surely have experienced some desperate winters in the midst of spring; and brutal heat that killed the seeds long after harvest time had come.

But the spring of the year is a good time to remind ourselves of the never-ending rhythm of things; that even in the darkest of nights, the light will return. And that when it does, we have an opportunity to begin again; to create anew; to make our lives the masterpieces they’ve always been meant to be.

Jim Rohn said, “You cannot change the seasons; but you can change yourself.”

In every moment – in every spring – we get to choose.

Wherever you are, whatever the season for you, let’s begin again.

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When you’re ready to begin, let’s connect. Email me: [email protected]