K.I.S.S Keep It Simple Stupid!

9/02/2022

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Keep it Simple: Get clear on your agreements.
I’m clearly biased, but my little brother, Anthony Watts, is an incredibly talented musician and musical perfectionist. For over a decade he’s created hit after hit…Hits that hadn’t graced anyone’s ears until 2020, when he released the above EP. From my perspective, this EP, k.i.s.s. (keep it simple stupid) was by far his biggest leap! Keeping it simple (only his voice and his guitar) helped him gather the courage to finally reveal himself to the world as an artist. What’s interesting is this entire project came through him in half the time it usually would take him to produce just one song! Today, I’m proud to announce that his song “simple” just hit over 1 million streams!! And his latest release, “Woulda Coulda Shoulda” is on track to do the same!

What helped my brother push through all that built up resistance was the second of Don Miguel Ruiz’s The Four Agreementsdon’t take things personally: “Making it about your personality, taking something personally, is the most selfish thing you can do because it assumes that everything is about you.” Very few people talk about the challenges of following your heart. When you devote your life to turning your passion into a successful career, it becomes your identity. Anthony became so obsessed with releasing the “perfect” debut song that it paralyzed him; nothing was good enough. He kept jumping from one creation to the next making each successive song more complex and sophisticated, only to toss it and repeat the process again. Imagine building up over a decade of analysis paralysis!! But it was exactly what he needed because he learned so much and made so many great connections through the process, until he was finally set free by releasing k.i.s.s. He was able to dive back into his passion and focus on his love for creating music, while letting go of what it might say about him as a person.

Our best friend, @the.dental.somm, recently acquired her dream dental practice, and on her first official team meeting as the owner she gifted each team member a copy of The Four AgreementsThis brilliant first act as the practice’s new leader inspired me to reflect on the book more closely. It took me almost a decade in business to really appreciate that successful business is the product of strong and thoughtful agreements delineated to optimize a smooth and trustworthy exchange of energy. Quality service can only be delivered when clear agreements are formed and followed. Just like all other aspects of life, the clearer our agreements are in every single relationship we foster, the simpler life becomes. And every relationship is a reflection of our relationship with ourselves. 
The Four Agreements is a simplified guide to living with ease. If you haven’t yet, I HIGHLY recommend reading this book by Don Miguel Ruiz.
The four agreements are:
Be impeccable with your word. 
Don’t take anything personally. 
Don’t make assumptions. 
Always do your Best. It’s the action of the first three agreements, under any circumstances always do your best, no more, no less.

Upon re-reading the book, I did some reflecting and I came to the conclusion that most of the struggles I’ve faced in my life were the product me of breaking my word, and or taking things personally, and or making wrong assumptions. Usually it was a combination of all three. This inspired me to create an agreement contract with myself which I signed and posted on my work desk. I HIGHLY encourage this exercise: Delineate what you expect of yourself in business, friendships, family, and in personal relationships, and the potential consequences of breaking your terms. After this, Danielle and I updated our marriage agreements, and then we revised and updated the terms and agreements for Revive MissionConscious Implant Training, as well as our terms for the dental services we provide in Smile Alchemy. This process undoubtably obliterated decades of future stress and hardship for us. But this is only the first step: Just because boundaries are created it doesn’t mean they won’t be tested. How you hold your standards with yourself will predicate how you’ll hold them with others and this is the best predictor for the type of people you attract in your life. In my experience, every time I’ve held someone to the standard I’ve held myself, it either resulted in that person raising their standards and later thanking me, or in parting ways with a relationship that that was ultimately not serving either party.

So, what agreements do you have with yourself? Wether you’re aware of them or not, we all have agreements with ourselves. Breaking our own agreements ultimately leads to feelings of self-doubt and low self-worth. On the flip side, each time we honor our agreements, we foster self-confidence and strengthen our inherent sense of value. Become aware of your agreements, become clear about your terms, uphold your boundaries, and observe as you grow in prosperity with ease and enjoyment! 

With love and gratitude,

Cristiano

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Cristian Pavel

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