When you have the opportunity to ask some of the most interesting people in the world about their lives, sometimes the most fascinating answers come from the simplest questions. The Thrive Questionnaire is an ongoing series that gives an intimate look inside the lives of some of the world’s most successful people.
Thrive Global: What’s the first thing you do when you get out of bed?
Lior Arussy: Prepare spiritually for the day through reflection and centering myself for the day’s challenges.
TG: What gives you energy?
LA: Stories of our clients who reached exceptional performance. They inspire me to continue and endure the price of activating change.
TG: What’s your secret life hack?
LA: Writing. It’s therapeutic. Words are a powerful means to make change.
TG: Name a book that changed your life.
LA: To Heal A Fractured World, Jonathan Sacks.
TG: Tell us about your relationship with your phone. Does it sleep with you?
LA: When I get home, I disconnect from the phone. I minimize usage of the phone during home time. We both need to be recharged but in very different ways.
TG: How do you deal with email?
LA: It is an addictive habit I am trying to kick. I still am part of the “race to erase.” I need to pace the response time to emails and not allow people to dictate my priorities based on their sense of urgency.
TG: You unexpectedly find 15 minutes in your day, what do you do with it?
LA: Learn something new. Explore another Ted talk.
TG: When was the last time you felt burned out and why?
LA: The end of last year. It was a challenging year from a business standpoint. We had several unexpected changes and I felt betrayed by a client who had hurt me personally. It was too much and I was emotionally exhausted and professionally drained. I gave my heart and soul to this person, a client whom I also considered a friend and felt used and discarded like an old pair of socks. It hurt.
TG: When was the last time you felt you failed and how did you overcome it?
LA: One thing I have learned is to accept failure as part of life. It wasn’t easy. Failure is going to happen. Most stories you read do not discuss failures and as such they portray a very unrealistic view. I wish there would be more discussion about failure as part of life. We had a project cancel without any reasonable rationale. We were victims of internal politics. We still needed to complete a portion of the contract under rather unpleasant conditions. We did it with our heads high. How? We focused on the people who benefited from our work and we focused on the power we do have. We were helpless when it came to the cancellation. We were powerful in closing the contract with dignity and confidence. We focused on those aspects and created a project we were proud to call ours despite the cancellation.
TG: Share a quote that you love and that gives you strength or peace.
SA: Making an impact on people’s lives is a privilege we should never take lightly.
Lior Arussy is an experienced change practitioner, success accelerator, corporate culture expert, founder of Strativity Group and author of the upcoming Next is Now: 5 Steps for Embracing Change – Building a Business that Thrives into the Future (May 2018, Simon & Schuster).