The Happy Engineer Podcast

101: Million Dollar Insights You Least Expect with Vamsi Polimetla | Founder & CEO of Make More Leaders

In this episode, meet Founder and CEO of Make More Leaders, Vamsi Polimetla. He coaches ambitious executives to achieve their lifelong goals.

Today we talk about miracles, million dollar insights, and the true nature of wealth in your life.

You’ve heard coaches talk about “becoming the best version of yourself” if you hang out on Instagram at all. Well Vamsi was recently in India with THE COACH who started the popular movement toward BECOMING.

Discover a new twist on the old metaphor of fitting more rocks in the jar of your life.

And more importantly, learn how slowing down is going to help you get what you want most.

Vamsi has successfully coached executives from companies like Salesforce, Amazon, IBM, Morgan Stanley, Blue Cross, J. Walter Thompson, Deloitte, Verizon and the list goes on.

So press play and let’s chat… because you’re next on the road to become your absolute best!

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The Happy Engineer Podcast

WATCH EPISODE 101: MILLION DOLLAR INSIGHTS YOU LEAST EXPECT WITH VAMSI POLIMETLA | FOUNDER & CEO OF MAKE MORE LEADERS

 

LISTEN TO EPISODE 101: MILLION DOLLAR INSIGHTS YOU LEAST EXPECT INTERVIEW WITH ZACH’S DEBRIEF

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MILLION DOLLAR INSIGHTS YOU LEAST EXPECT

As an engineer, it can be challenging to balance personal and professional life. 

It’s a problem that many people face and often struggle with. 

However, there is a solution to this problem: lifestyle engineering. 

The first step to achieving balance in your life is to understand your priorities.

When it comes to lifestyle engineering, there is only one priority, and everything else falls below it. 

It’s essential to identify the “big rocks” in your life. 

These are the critical few things that are most important to you. However, instead of focusing on the biggest time consumers, you should ask yourself what actions will bring you the most fulfillment, joy, and happiness.

Think about what will return the most energy to you, help you recharge, and give you a sense of freedom. Wealth is not just about money and time, but also about freedom. 

When defining your big rocks, consider what will balance your deepest values. These include your spiritual, mental, and physical health, relationships, vocation, finances, and giving.

It’s also crucial to identify the areas of your life that need course correction. Remember, you don’t want to let a problem derail your progress towards your goals. 

By understanding your priorities and focusing on your big rocks, you can achieve success and balance in your life.

As an engineer, it’s important to understand the concept of lifestyle engineering. Identify your big rocks, and focus on what brings you the most fulfillment, joy, and happiness. 

Don’t forget to balance your deepest values and identify areas in your life that need course correction. By doing so, you can achieve success and balance in your personal and professional life.

 

ABOUT VAMSI POLIMETLA

Vamsi is the founder of Make More Leaders, a coaching practice designed for ambitious business owners and executives to achieve their lifelong goals & objectives.

He is creating the #1 community and coaching platform for high performers, coaches, consultants, experts & leaders who want to monetize their knowledge, impact more lives & change the world.

He has coached many executives from companies like Salesforce, Amazon, IBM, Morgan Stanley, Blue Cross, J. Walter Thompson, Deloitte, Verizon and the list goes on.

 

LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

 

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

Please note the full transcript is 90-95% accuracy. Reference the podcast audio to confirm exact quotations.

[00:00:00] Zach White: Happy engineer, welcome back, and I’m so excited to have time with you. Ever since we got connected. I’ve been looking forward to this, so thanks for being here. So excited for our chat, man. Uh, welcome to the show. 

[00:00:28] Vamsi Polimetla: Absolutely, Zach. Excited for this.

Expand to Read Full Transcript

[00:00:30] Zach White: Yeah, no doubt. We have so many unique and unexpected points of connection. As I’ve been exploring your world and meeting you and talking in our last chat and even before hitting record today, it’s so interesting.

[00:00:43] But I wanna leverage it to start our conversation. Your unique background that aligns with mine in a way, and what so many. Happy engineers out there. Love is this, you know, engineering and technology for you and it background. You. You’ve got the roots that, uh, all these engineers out there have, but right now doing really powerful work as a coach and guiding transformation in people’s lives.

[00:01:11] And you’ve seen both sides. You’ve done it in your own work and now you’re doing it and helping others and just to connect those dots is such a. A fun thing to be able to do. And so as a place to begin, you were just recently on a trip to India in Mumbai for the ultimate experience, and you can tell us more about what that is, but I loved what you shared in some of your content recently around the heartbeat of the event, centered around the word being.

[00:01:43] Mm-hmm. And this is something that you know full well. I struggle with engineers out there struggle with, we are doers. We wanna do things and have things and go get results and build systems and build our to-do lists. And being is a bit of a tricky concept. So I was wondering if you could set the stage, tell us a little bit about the event and what do we mean by this idea of being.

[00:02:13] And we’ll dive in from there. 

[00:02:14] Vamsi Polimetla: Absolutely, absolutely. Zach. This, uh, event, he’s by Steve Hardison. Steve Hardison is one of, uh, I think, uh, the only coach. He teaches this how to be your best version in any given moment, so, I get to know Steve about like, uh, 15 months ago. First time I met, met him in, uh, his hometown, Arizona.

[00:02:37] And, uh, that was like the first event. Uh, he was running like, not by him with his, uh, fan club. And I get to know a little bit about him and later I came to know that like, uh, he’s doing an event in Mumbai and that it’s about like, uh, 8,000 miles away from my hometown. And it’s only one day you went. And I asked myself a question, uh, well for one day, 8,000 miles.

[00:02:59] I can’t go that far for one day and immediately asked myself a second question, how can I go to Mumbai? And, uh, always like the cushions are powerful the way we are asking the questions immediately. I find the way I can go to Mumbai for one day and I was there and it’s, it’s all about like who you are being in the room.

[00:03:20] It’s not about Steve Hardison, it’s not about the guest speakers who spoke in that event. It’s all about like who you are in that moment. Lot of Miras, lot of, uh, amazing things that happened, uh, in those, uh, eight, nine hours we all together. It’s not from, uh, the speeches. It’s about like a, you just like realizing what is the power that you have inside of you.

[00:03:45] And some people who are sitting in the back seat, they’re thinking like, uh, wow. These speakers are not that polished. And I was asking myself question like why they’re thinking maybe they’re being a different version where I’m in the same room along with like maybe 300 other people. I’m feeling like this is a million dollar value to me.

[00:04:04] So the question is who you are being in that spot. If you are looking for good, if you are looking for gold, if you are looking for godliness in every single thing that is happening around you, we will be finding those things. If you’re looking for, wow, there is a small.here, there is a small, like maybe a glitch here.

[00:04:24] Uh, you only find those things. So it’s about like asking the questions, what you are looking there and uh, yeah, the outcomes are based on, yeah. 

[00:04:33] Zach White: So this phrase, being the best version of yourself has become popular, especially with coaches, you know, filling social media with these quotes and ideas. And so we’re gonna keep pulling that thread.

[00:04:45] But really quick, I wanna go back to the very first thing you said, because it’s such a powerful shift in the way you approach getting things done in life. Was that question? You know, instead of thinking, oh man, there’s so many barriers to getting 8,000 miles around the world for this event for just one day.

[00:05:04] The immediate shift to how can I be in Mumbai for this event? Exactly. And the opening of that up. I’m curious for you, when you make that shift in any situation of your life to how can I make this happen? What? What do you actually experience? Pharmacy like Des describe. That moment for you? Is there something you can feel?

[00:05:26] Is there is like, cuz it seems almost cliche, like, oh, just ask a new question. How can I do it? And somebody might think, oh, there’s nothing to that. But I want you to really describe it cuz I know for you it, it’s a powerful shift. Put some words around that. What actually changes when you ask that different question.

[00:05:44] Sure. 

[00:05:44] Vamsi Polimetla: So a lot of possibilities are going to be opening the moment, like you give some space for yourself. And again, like a lot of people, especially people with a lot of analytical brain, they find excuses to not to do the things. No matter, whatever they’re doing. Oh, today’s like so, so hot. I don’t want to go out for a run.

[00:06:04] Today’s like too cold. I really wanted to eat that design and say Watch, watch, like maybe football game all day. Versus some people, especially like elite people, they think. Differently. They ask the questions like, uh, they look for excuses to do the things. The same weather, same conditions. It’s so hot. I really wanted to go out for a run.

[00:06:24] I wanted to challenge myself in the hot weather the same way I started, like seeing what else is possible for me while I’m in Mumbai. What are the, who are the people that I can meet there? What are the interactions? And there are so many things that I can’t, I can’t even explain that, that happened in those connections.

[00:06:40] And the small things like. The moment we start paying attention to this, those are the things like 10 years from now, it’s going to be really, really big. Mm-hmm. 

[00:06:50] Zach White: So I’ve seen this in myself and with the engineering leaders I coach. There’s something about the training and the mindset of engineering and IT and software and all these disciplines where we build a practice of only looking for what can go wrong.

[00:07:10] You know, it’s called, it’s called failure mode and effects analysis, not, not success Mode and effects analysis. Right? And you said, Hey, what you’re looking for is what you’re gonna find. And I find that to be so true, that shifting in our life from only looking for the barriers, the, the excuses, the complaints, the if we’ll make an intentional shift towards looking and even expecting or assuming the best case.

[00:07:39] So many things open up and voci, the critique that I hear from a lot of technical leaders is, well, you’re just putting rose colored glasses on. You’re just being a Pollyanna, you, that’s not real. Mm-hmm. That’s not being a realist. You’re not looking at the data. Zack, and I’d be curious for you, as you coach leaders and as you’ve experienced this yourself, what would you say to that rebuttal, to this lifestyle?

[00:08:06] Vamsi Polimetla: Very first thing that I ask everyone, uh, before any conversation, whether it’s like my group coaching program or one-on-one or maybe I’m running an event, ask everyone to be, start with the what are you grateful for? What are you grateful for in your life? And ask them to write down for five minutes all the things that they’re really, really grateful for, not at the surface level.

[00:08:26] Go deep into that. And this is this, uh, uh, uh, exact way. So let’s hear like you have a garden and there are some flowers, and also there are some weeds in the garden if you start putting the water. All things will grow, but if you are only putting water to the things that are really, really good, beautiful, only those things will grow.

[00:08:47] So this is like a practice that we all can do. Just ask yourself. I know some of times sometimes like you’re going to be fit with a lot of challenges. Take a pause and ask, what are the things going well in my life? Maybe you did not get the bonus. Maybe you did not get that promotion. Maybe you did not get something that you’ve been like really working hard for.

[00:09:06] Mm-hmm. So instead of like looking into anger, like say, why my boss is doing like this, why my organization is not recognizing my work. Ask yourself. What are the things that you are really, really grateful for at this moment? And draw a bigger circle. Maybe in that bigger circle. Fill every single thing that you are grateful for.

[00:09:23] Then draw another circle and fill with the things that you are not like maybe happy with, not pleasant with. Maybe you did not get the raise. Maybe you just got laid off from the job. Maybe just uh, uh, got like maybe a big defect on your project and you need to stand in principal’s office. Put down into that and start.

[00:09:43] Giving energy towards the bigger circle. The moment you start giving the energy to the bigger circle, the bigger circle will start growing. And you see the smaller circle automatically disappear there because you operate from that frequency, you operate from that energy, and the people around you will start noticing that.

[00:10:01] I know this guy did not get promotion, but you know, the next time I definitely wanted to give this promotion to this guy. Based on the frequency. Based on the energy that you are taking into that conversation, maybe to the meeting maybe who you are. Sure. Being in that, in that, in that role. 

[00:10:15] Zach White: I love that.

[00:10:16] Yeah, I didn’t, I’d love that. You could turn this into a real exercise too. Simple action to take. Grab a piece of paper. Mm-hmm. Draw one very large circle that consumes the majority of the real estate on that piece of paper, and then draw one really small circle, and then fill the big one with gratitude, like right until it’s full.

[00:10:35] And then anything that’s not working for you right now, you only can fit those into the small circle. You can write small if you need to, but, Just the sheer physical act of showing yourself that these are your intentions and how you want your energy to flow. I think that’s a really powerful idea. So, can I, can I add something to 

[00:10:54] Vamsi Polimetla: that?

[00:10:55] Please. So let’s assume like you have, uh, two kids, and, uh, one kid is always happy, always like a joyful, giving you kisses, giving you hugs, giving you high fives. Another kid is always like messy. Why are you doing like this? You are so bad. You are such a bad dad. I hate you, and you have option to give some gifts to the kid.

[00:11:20] Where do you go first? You don’t want to go to the kid who’s messy, even though the whatever that you give it to kid, the kid will throw out and this kid is like, even if you don’t give anything, a kid is going to give an high five. So that is the bigger ball. If you are being that kid in the role that you are playing, whatever the role that you have, you could be a manager, director, or an engineer.

[00:11:43] If you are that kid, always the opportunities are going to be coming to you because you appreciate more of what you already 

[00:11:51] Zach White: have. Even that word appreciate. Think about the other context of that word you want your home to appreciate in value. You know, we want to see appreciation. Of the assets of our life.

[00:12:04] So when you give appreciation and you live from a place of appreciation that begins to take over in other areas. Bai, you used the word frequency, energy, vibration. And earlier you also mentioned when you were in Mumbai that there were miracles, and these are not common terms in engineering school. In the context we’re talking about them.

[00:12:28] So. I wanna go right into the deep end with this. Would you tell us when you say, Hey, there were miracles in Mumbai, like, what happened? Give us an example and just to maybe show ourselves like what’s possible and what’s actually changing in people’s lives when they really step in to this world of possibility and the best version of their being.

[00:12:50] What’s a miracle man? Absolutely. 

[00:12:52] Vamsi Polimetla: One big shift. I would say this is like a million dollar insight. I got it from, uh, the event, and I, I always like, because I was engineered for like, uh, 20 plus years in my past life, and I always want something to be perfect. I always want something to be like a hundred percent right all the time.

[00:13:14] Once Steve, Steve Hardison introduced one of the guest speaker. And, uh, I was just looking at his, uh, dressing style. Oh, he’s, you see a guest speaker. How come he’s on the stage and his English was broken. He was not able, able to read something that he’s, he’s already like, written on the paperwork. Clearly he was, he was having a lot of, uh, stutter reading and uh, after two minutes I was just paying attention what is here.

[00:13:44] That’s something that I can learn. From this experience, and he was on the stage for about like a 10 to 12 minutes, and after 12 minutes, Steve came back to the stage and, uh, he explained why this gentleman was on the, on the stage, and he explained that last night I did not treat this person well while he was in my room cleaning my trash.

[00:14:14] I did not show the law that I show it to all of my clients, all of my, uh, friends to this person. I was little rude. He was very, very kind guy. He was little rude, means like he’s maybe a little bit rude. And last night I felt really, really bad about this person. And next day morning before they even start, I, I went to that person and asked him.

[00:14:41] I really wanted to apologize for everything that I did it to you. And he said like, no, no, no, you did not do anything to me. I know I did something to you in my heart. I was not showing the same loud Wow. I show it to my clients. And, uh, they boat started crying and I asked him, can you be my guest? Can you kick off my event?

[00:15:03] And uh, he said like, uh, my English is not good. That’s okay. You are Jesus to me. You are krisna. to me and he kicked off the event. A lot of times we always expect everythings to be perfect. No, there is nothing like perfect, like you need to start. That is, that is the first Mira I saw that. So like, wow, there is a deeper message here.

[00:15:28] Where am I doing the same things in my life if I’m doing like a leadership coaching, if I am not being the leader in the work that I’m doing. This is, this is completely like my video is not matching my audio, whatever I’m saying, I’m not doing that. So that’s, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Like it said, very deep.

[00:15:48] It’s not about the content, it’s not about, uh, the, the frameworks not about anything. There is nothing, nothing there. It’s all about who you are being in the moment. And, uh, that’s, that’s, uh, yeah. 

[00:16:01] Zach White: Hmm. Okay. Yeah, I’m, I’m getting teary, teary-eyed, just hearing the story and, and I feel the power of that in my being.

[00:16:11] Like now I’m, I’m assessing who have I not shown the love, the care, the compassion, the kindness to, in my world in the last week, you know, there’s probably multiple times where I’ve not shown up and, and. Been the man I wanna be. And I think about your business, you know, make more leaders and how you support others in this.

[00:16:35] And it makes, it makes some sense. We’re getting to that crystallizing of, it’s not about the the five step framework to fill in the blank success. It’s how Steve was being toward that person. So powerful. So define. Being for the engineer, how do I distinguish what is the action and doing part of my life from what is the being part of my life and how do we make some sense out of what we’re saying?

[00:17:08] And you know, just, these are complex. It’s like, how do I do being, this is a very tricky thing. So can you give, give us some sense? How do we begin to understand being Absolutely, 

[00:17:19] Vamsi Polimetla: absolutely. I’ll, I’ll simplify for the engineers and, uh, The engineering managers. Just imagine you are, uh, looking at some report and one of your team member made a big mistake and, uh, you, you are really, really angry at that point, and you went into the team meeting and you started yelling at the team member and in front of like maybe 10, 15 people.

[00:17:46] Just imagine that situation for a minute, and at the same time, one of your. Senior executor you always admire, just walked into the room and asked, for example, Matthew, can you come out? I wanted to share a good news with you. And you go out and say, Hey, this is what you’ve been waiting for the past two years.

[00:18:10] I finally signed this contract, and you are going to be the senior manager starting next month, and your face is happy and you. Are really in a beautiful state in that moment. And again, you walk into the room. So there are two scenarios that here happened, Zach. Scenario one, you are really mad at your team member, so you are being a mad person in that moment.

[00:18:39] In the same moment, somebody knocked the door and you open the door with a lot of smile. So who you are being in that moment when you are opening the door is available to you. When you are talking to the team member, are you really being that person? Are you really showcasing that as a leader? So that’s like a simple example a lot of times, like, we do that, we get into that with a lot of things.

[00:19:05] No, you can be a good person there, you can be most loving person and start maybe communicating the same, same message with a different, uh, uh, energy, and people will start noticing it. I’ll tell one other example. This is, this is something that I always, uh, give it to all, all the, all the leaders that, uh, I work with.

[00:19:25] So just an example, like you got into an elevator and, uh, Your c o is on the elevator. Let’s put the name Matthew. Matthew is the person’s name. And, uh, CEO will ask like, Hey, Matthew, what are you up to? What are you doing? What are you excited about? What are your big accomplishments in the past, uh, quarter?

[00:19:44] And Matthews saying that, uh, you know, I’m really kind, uh, manager. I’m taking care of my teams. Well, my teams did this, this, this, this, this. After like 15 uh, floors, you got down from that elevator. Your C was still on that, uh, elevator. But this time one of your direct report got into the elevator and the c e o asked the same question.

[00:20:07] What do you think about Matthew if your direct report saying exactly what you said, that means you are walking the talk. If your direct report saying that, ah, he’s one more manager. Ah, he is, okay. He’s this, he’s that. Definitely there is a misalignment. Your resume is not based on like how many things that you have on the paper.

[00:20:32] It’s about like what other person is talking about you when you are not around. Mm-hmm. If you are like dad, you’re like a good husband, like a good, uh, uh, maybe whatever that quality you have, if you team member’s talking about that, that’s exactly the brand that you need to have. When you are, like, if you, if a goal is to go higher and faster, it’s not about like the degree or maybe one more project management certification.

[00:20:59] It’s your character that is more important than anything else’s. So 

[00:21:03] Zach White: good. That’s so good. Pci, as you said, that it, it’s got me thinking, how cool would it be if there was a service you could, you could hire where someone would go write your resume for you? Off of the feedback of the people closest to you, and you are not allowed to contribute in any way.

[00:21:23] It’s just that, and then they came back and showed you, here’s your real resume. Mm-hmm. You know, this is the one you wrote off, that aspirational self when you put your best accomplishments on paper, but here’s what the world actually has to say about you. And to your point, that’s the resume that actually opens the doors to incredible impact, but also deep.

[00:21:45] Lasting love and fulfillment, uh, which is so powerful. It, it also reminds me, and I know you, you posted about this at some point cuz when I was preparing for our chat today, I was scrolling through all your amazing content on LinkedIn and a story that you shared is a really popular one in coaching circles that I love about a Buddhist monk who wants to go out and get away to be alone for a meditation.

[00:22:11] And so he takes a, a hike. And he gets in a canoe and rose out to the center of the lake and, and just pulls the, the paddles in and sits quietly and eyes closed and he’s meditating. And then another boat, the bow of another boat hits his canoe and his eyes are still closed and he immediately feels anger at this other canoe where for bumping into him.

[00:22:34] And he’s like, who would. You know, be so ignorant to bump into me in the middle of this lake. There’s so much room, and they hit my boat and he feels that anger. Then he opens his eyes and the other boat is empty. And he has that moment of revelation that the anger was inside of himself, not caused by another person or an external situation that he could blame another human for.

[00:23:02] And so, I think this idea of being with the stories you just told, combined with this awareness that it is something within, you know, when the door knocks and it’s the, you know, c e o with a promotion for you, and you can switch that so quickly. It’s just really bringing home the point that this is all on the inside.

[00:23:23] So Voci as a coach, if I were to come to you and say, well, how do I make a change there? Or how do I become something more? What is that process like? 

[00:23:36] Vamsi Polimetla: The very first thing that I recommend Zach, is, uh, first slow down a little bit. A lot of engineers, this is the problem that, uh, we all have, we are running at a hundred miles an hour speed.

[00:23:47] And, uh, if you’re running at, if you’re driving your car at a hundred miles an hour speed, you don’t see things clearly. You see things like they’re just flying by. So first, slow down, and a lot of times we plan maybe a week. For a two week vacation. You’re going for like Mexico, maybe you’re going to Mumbai, maybe you’re going for wherever that is.

[00:24:09] You plan like maybe a lot of time for that vacation. Whereas when it comes to your own career, How many days that you planned for that year, what exactly that you wanted to have? Did you even take a break? That’s good. Did you even take like, maybe say a one full day? I, I really wanted to design my career for 2023, maybe 20, 24, maybe by where I wanted to be by 2026.

[00:24:33] If you do that, you are going to be getting really, really good qu uh, clarity on this. This, this is also like a lot of, uh, uh, people. We are really good at doing it. If you, if somebody gives you a project, you are really, really designing the project plan and executing that project plan flawlessly. But when it comes to your own plan for your life, it’s not just about the career.

[00:24:59] It’s not just about the finances, about your relationship, about your health, about your fitness, about your hobbies, all these things. Wonderful things, adventures. Did you have a plan? Just imagine if somebody’s paying you two times more salary than what you’re getting. Do you wanted to do that? I think it’s more than that.

[00:25:20] Maybe you can just like start thinking about your life as a million dollar project for the next two years. How would you execute that million dollar project? So that is how I recommend them to just slow down first and start documenting. 

[00:25:35] Zach White: Oh, I love that. It reminds me of my baseball coach used to always say, We need to go slow down to go fast, be quick, but don’t hurry.

[00:25:46] All of these ideas coming together. And I love that picture of how much time we will gladly invest to prepare for a trip to Mexico for vacation on spring break. And we don’t invest any of that time into planning our life, which is essentially the rest of our experience. You know, we’re not putting any energy into that, so let me.

[00:26:10] Ask you about one specific area of being mm-hmm. That I know you’re passionate about, and it comes up. In the context of the incredible events that your Mastermind participates in, which you talk about a great way to slow down. You know, I’d encourage everybody to check out what you’re doing with this, and we’ll talk more about it later and put all the links in the show notes.

[00:26:30] But to go get away from the hustle and bustle of your career and be in a powerful group setting centered around this kind of work is so powerful. But you talk about the spirit of play. The spirit of play, that there’s this inner child, this childlike nature inside of us that we lose our understanding of or our connection to in a way as adults, we get into our professional lives and it’s just not a, it’s not appropriate.

[00:26:57] It’s not okay to show up that way at work and we forget, but, but you say in your content, and I loved how you framed it, that play is the driving force behind all success. Mm-hmm. And it’s this part of our being. So can you describe play and how does that really show up in our success in different contexts, especially in our careers where we’re not really allowed to go play?

[00:27:25] That’s, that’s not the kind of language we use. So what’s going on there? 

[00:27:29] Vamsi Polimetla: Absolutely. So I’ll give you a simple example. Maybe some of you might already heard this somewhere. I wanted to use the same, uh, here. So there, there used to be one professor, and uh, one day he, he brought like a big jar to his, uh, classroom and he also bought some, like a big rocks, small rocks and pebbles and sand and some water.

[00:27:51] And he invited one of the student and asked like, Hey, Put all the big rocks into the jar and the student put all the big rocks and say like, Hey, is there any room reminding? And the student said that there’s no more room available on this. And he called one other student, see if you can put these pebbles and small rocks into this jar.

[00:28:10] And uh, the student able to put it and still there, uh, Dan called, one of the students say, do you think any other room available? Looks like it’s already full. And he asked like, can you put this sand. And the student put the sand the next, he called one other student, can you put some water? He put the water and after that he said, like, say in the beginning you said like after putting the big rocks, there is no space available.

[00:28:33] Just imagine this is exactly what is happening in our life. Lot of times, rethink those big rocks are the projects that you are working on, all the assignments that you are under undertaking. That those are the not ones. The big rocks are what’s something that really excites you. Maybe you really wanted to go out for a hike.

[00:28:57] Maybe you really wanted to go for, maybe spend some time in the beach. Maybe you wanted to always like a work workout maybe. Uh, Something like time with your family always gives space to the big rocks first. If you don’t put those big rocks first, just imagine you put like the, the small rocks, pebbles, maybe the sand water.

[00:29:16] There is no space for big rocks in that. So the biggest mistake that we do, we prioritize our boss’s needs first before we prioritize our needs. So whatever that could be, you wanted to like spend some time reading a book every single weekend. Put that, put that big rock into your calendar the way you are flawlessly executing all the orders from your manager.

[00:29:41] The moment you start doing that, that is where like the joy that is where like the play tan at the end of the day. Zach, if you are not enjoying with the money or maybe whatever that you are making, what is the point of it? A lot of people, they have a billion dollars in the bank account, but they don’t have time to say hello to their parents.

[00:30:01] They don’t have time to just hang out with their kids. What is the point of that? Different forms of wealth. Only people focus on what is the wealth in terms of finances? What is your wealth on your physical fitness? Are you really valued? Yes. In terms of your body? Are you really valued in terms of your relationship?

[00:30:22] Are you really wealthy in terms of your wisdom and spirituality? There are many ways are you weld in terms of your contribution, right? So those are the things like maybe we’ll come only the moment you start giving energy towards that something that play that you wanted to have. So 

[00:30:38] Zach White: yes, yes. You talked about Million Dollar Insights, FMCI.

[00:30:43] This to me is a million dollar insights. So the typical engineer that I coach, and I’m guilty of this in the past as well, takes that. Metaphor of the big rocks, the pebbles, the sand, the water. And we want to think of it as a, a Newtonian physics correlation to our calendar that it’s all about exactly the amount of time different things will take up.

[00:31:08] And so the big rocks must be the big time commitments, which, let’s face it, most of us are going to spend a lot of hours at work. So we only think about big rocks as work projects, and. I love the shift you just gave to think about it in an emotional context, in a being context, in a quality of life, like what creates the energy and the excitement and the experience that makes your life happy and fulfilling.

[00:31:37] Those things are big rocks. Even if it only takes 10 minutes to call your mom, it could be a big rock, even if it’s only an hour to go on that hike. It’s a big rock, and I think to get out of this idea that big rock equals biggest chunk of time on the calendar, or the biggest chunk of expense in my budget, it’s not always that way.

[00:32:01] Break that paradigm and look at this from a new lens. What is most meaningful and fulfilling and important for your being? 

[00:32:09] Vamsi Polimetla: Absolutely. Absolutely. Awesome. Awesome. Whether we pay now or we pay later, we have to pay that, and a lot of times in the later it’s going to be in the form of regret. Mm-hmm. You don’t want to have that, especially when you are 65, 75, when you don’t have the energy to execute those big rocks, you always feel that, I wish I had this opportunity 20 years ago, 30 years ago.

[00:32:33] Zach White: Wow. We could probably drop the mic on that comment Voci. And so if, if someone is feeling really connected to this conversation and they wanna reach out to you or follow your work and understand, how do I take this further? How do I become that best version of myself? Uh, Vassi tell us where can people find you, get, get that next step and get more of you in their life?

[00:32:58] I know people are gonna want to. 

[00:33:00] Vamsi Polimetla: Absolutely. Uh, LinkedIn is the best place, so I’m active on LinkedIn. All my contact information is available there. And also, uh, I run a couple of free trainings every month. Uh, one on the communication side, you can, you can find me on that, maybe Zach, you can drop some links there.

[00:33:17] And also one on the personal leadership. How do you, how you can plan your, uh, year, how you can plan maybe next 10 years and, uh, just execute that plan flawlessly because you are so good at executing and, uh, you, all you need is just like maybe two hours of time to come and design that and execute that.

[00:33:35] Always remember this elevation requires, requires separation. You need to separate from the crowd to just, uh, get into the next level. Mm-hmm. So give yourself the permission, just like a, yeah. You can come to the LinkedIn and watch one of those videos. Perfect session. 

[00:33:53] Zach White: So happy engineer. I’m talking to you for a moment.

[00:33:56] I want you to make sure to go connect with Vasey, sign up for these free trainings. I know his partner, Brendan, was on the podcast already for that communication side. And don’t live with regrets. Don’t pay for this through. Regret, go invest the time. Now. It’s more important than your next vacation. So sign up for that personal leadership, free, free time with oci.

[00:34:19] You won’t regret it. Uh, awesome opportunity. We’ll put all the links in the show notes. So click through and check those out. Roci, I’m excited to continue to stay in touch with you, watch your success, and I wanna wrap up here and, you know, as a powerful coach yourself and having walked this journey, That great coaching, great engineering and work in it.

[00:34:42] The work you did for decades, it all has in common. That questions lead and the answers follow. So if I’m wanting to be that happy engineer and become that best version of myself, what’s the question that you would lead us with today? 

[00:35:00] Vamsi Polimetla: I’ll, I’ll go back to where we started. I can’t X. I can’t do this. I can’t afford this, I can’t, uh, whatever that is to replace that with how can I, how can I do this now?

[00:35:14] For example, if somebody’s looking for coaching from Zac, oh, it’s very expensive. I can’t afford this. Ask this question. How can I. Get his coaching. There are resources. Always. Tony Robbins talks about this, uh, extensively. It’s never we had any, any, any issues with resources. It’s all about the questions that you’re asking and how resourceful you are to get the thing that what you want.

[00:35:37] Everything what you’re looking for is already there. Only thing is you are not choosing right now by asking this question, how can I, how can I drive a b m bmw? How can I get a Tesla? How can I travel in first class? The answers are going to be always like, maybe the things, you get it and you, you’re smart.

[00:35:56] That’s the reason, like you became an engineer and you’re solving problems. You can solve this problem 

[00:36:00] Zach White: too. I love that. How can I, and obviously I always tell people a little story or I guess a, an anecdote if you will, that what’s the difference between you today having nothing and a self-made billionaire when they started and they had nothing.

[00:36:21] Mm. And the difference is nothing. You both have nothing. And so it’s not about resources at the start. It is absolutely about that resourcefulness, and let’s open our mind and our heart to new possibilities and a new level of being. Get that separation. Bamsi, thank you so much for your time today. This has been tremendous.

[00:36:41] We will absolutely have to come back for a round two at some point and stay in touch. But thanks for your generosity and the incredible work you do. This was super fun. 

[00:36:49] Vamsi Polimetla: Absolutely, Zach, looking forward to session two soon. 

[00:36:54] Zach White: Absolutely. Take care. Yeah. Brilliant man. Oh, so fun. I’ll hit the, uh, stop button here real quick.

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