David Shepherd

Coaching mindful founders. Ancient wisdom + modern science = leadership, business & personal growth. Find your power & wisdom. Helped HubSpot grow $15M to $1B.

[David Shepherd @DavidWShepherd]

The most celebrated and lauded leaders are usually very mediocre.

They're C-players in the game of leadership and they don't even know it.

Are you a C-leader?

🧵

[David Shepherd @DavidWShepherd]

@brookeleblanc I’ve listened to this book once every 6 months for the last 2 years. It’s incredible.

[David Senra @FoundersPodcast]

Alan Watts:

[Arjun Moorthy 🛘🧂 @juicemoorthy]

I really like this.

[David Shepherd @DavidWShepherd]

@DaireManning No doubt I have an exaggerated belief in my ability but some books are just so good I don’t know how anyone could have written it.

[David Shepherd @DavidWShepherd]

One of my tests for a great book is “Do I think I could write this?”

I’m reading Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and there is zero chance I could write this book.

I haven’t even finished it yet and I know it’s a masterpiece.

[David Shepherd @DavidWShepherd]

I’ve been a long time subscriber to @TheHustle Trends email and the newest one sucks. None of the content is in the email. I have to click links and submit my email to get the content.

@HubSpot, my former employer and maybe the best company in the world, ruined a good thing. 😡

[David Shepherd @DavidWShepherd]

“You can’t use up creativity.  The more you use, the more you have.”

~ Maya Angelou

[Bio-Emotive Coach (Healthy Emotional Processing) @DougTataryn]

What if we - Western Culture - got meditation all wrong?

I've said in the past that we inherited all sorts of strange Traditional views of spiritual teachers (transcended/ perfected humans, all teachings, even apparently dysfunctional behaviours, are divine etc) when they really took root in the 1950s and 60's.

Now I'm wondering if the goal oriented approach we adopted to meditation is a function of the Orange/ Modern Achiever consciousness and distracting us from our meditation.

Most of us believe that we are sitting down now, to accomplish some ultimate meditation goal - Enlightenment/ Realization/ Nibana - in the future.

What if the only realization is the one you can have in this moment, the one you are having in this meditation?

Between Now and "Enlightenment" there are a series of mini-enlightenments that you need to go through to have the ultimate one.

If we sit fully present with what is, including our discursive mind, if that is what there, we experientially realize - "I have a discursive mind". That changes us and we sit in our next meditation, a different person. We sit with that full acceptance and watch our discursive mind. This sets us up for the next realization - "these thoughts states are impermanent", etc. And the cycle continues until there is nothing left between you and "the ultimate realization" (also a holdover construct from Traditional).

The Tibetans understand that all mental phenomena, when fully accepted (experienced and expressed) is self liberating. That's it... be with what is, in this moment and you will have the full realization available to you in this moment. And then the next... and the next...

So there is no future in meditation, future goals just distract us from the present potential realization. Sit with that... now... fully accepting who you are... now in this moment... fully accepting what arises... now in this moment... and follow that eternal now to Nirvana!

[David Shepherd @DavidWShepherd]

One of the highest forms of discipline is judging an idea on its own merits despite who is presenting it.

[David Shepherd @DavidWShepherd]

@JanetteJoyB One of my all-time favorite books.

[David Shepherd @DavidWShepherd]

One one hand you have the sacred individual created “in the image of his creator” and on the other hand you have the State as the supreme authority to be worshipped.

Is there an alternative to the State?

Are there other ideologies that attack the sacred individual other than Communism and Fascism?

[David Shepherd @DavidWShepherd]

“You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”

~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

[David Shepherd @DavidWShepherd]

The beauty of a full calendar is you don’t have to think about what you really want.

Your day is dictated to you and your biggest priority is the thing you’ve neglected the most over the last 90 days.

You feel like your hair is on fire but that’s more comfortable than building in time to figure out what you really want and what is really important.

[David Shepherd @DavidWShepherd]

@MichePriest The book does not disappoint. Hits you right between the eyes.

[David Shepherd @DavidWShepherd]

“Self-evaluation and self-criticism are, basically, neurotic tendencies which derive from our not having enough confidence in ourselves, confidence in the sense of seeing what we are, knowing what we are” - Chögyam Trungpa

[David Shepherd @DavidWShepherd]

@StoryLuck That’s a great line.

“You can’t put everyone’s life ahead of yours and think it counts as love.”

[David Shepherd @DavidWShepherd]

@StoryLuck What I took away from this quote was that we are already whole.

When you say, ‘I don’t know what I want, I’ll feel it out’ I think you’re following this quote. You’re living with what is and in a way acknowledging you don’t need fixing.

[David Shepherd @DavidWShepherd]

@ChristineCarril @themgmtconsult There’s no off-season in business.

Athletes have a much better rest and recovery system built into their profession.

[David Shepherd @DavidWShepherd]

I have a friend whose whole career was based on saying the obvious thing no one wanted to say.

This person was promoted every year. CEO mentored and trusted them.

When everyone is trying to play nice or cover their ass, telling the truth is a superpower.

[David Shepherd @DavidWShepherd]

@john__nic Reminds me of the difference between a coach and a manager.

Coaches are always looking to develop their players and inspire them to be their best.

Managers obsess over capability and not potential, only assigning tasks they know their staff can do.

Similar roles, diff POV.