Chip Conley: Founder of Joie de Vivre hotels, best-selling author of Peak
Show Notes:
Chip Conley
- Founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality, eclectic hotels in San Francisco
- Head of Global Hospitality at Airbnb
- Gave 165 speeches in a 2012
- Loves festivals – created a website: Fest300.com, which helps people find best festivals to attend
Morning Habits
- Says 3 prayers every morning and 4 mantras (says mantras 3x each), then meditates. Has a place in his home where he does these prayers and mantras.
- Writes between 4:30-7:30am
- Reason for writing so early: “My writer wakes up before my editor”
- Next, he does 10-15 minutes of cardio and weight training: push ups and body weight squats.
- Shower
Surrender
- One of Chip’s mantras: “as I surrender, more love comes to me” – says 3x
- Surrender is one of his spiritual practices he has to re-acquaint himself with.
- Doing less. Being more.
- His life and value isn’t defined by what he gets done, it’s about who he is.
- Surrender – it isn’t a binary between surrender and vigilance. You don’t give up working, but you surrender control and realize that you can’t control most things in life (although you can influence them) → brings you to a happier place in life. This helps with sanity, ego, and understanding that there are spiritual gifts that don’t look like gifts.
Mindfulness
- Traveled to 22 different country during this year. Being on a plane is a good place to check in with yourself and be mindful.
- Victor Frankl (Man’s Search for Meaning): between what happens in life and how you respond or react to it is your choice.
- Mindfulness is remembering that you don’t have to react to the world and you don’t know, and being patient for the message you should be finding.
- Wisdom is knowing that there is a message or lesson in everything and you might not see it at first.
Joy of Life – Finding Your Calling
- Maintaining the joy of life in your work requires being clear on your purpose and your calling in life. It may not be obvious initially, and it requires some surrender to find out what your true calling is.
- You know that something is your calling when you lose track of time doing it, or you’re tapping into your deepest talents and feel that it is of great quality. If you can’t find it at first, keep looking.
- If you can find the place where you can work and keep challenging yourself and get compensated fairly, that’s the best kind of work.
- The definition of a calling: “Work is love made visible.” –Kahlil Gibran
- In terms of Airbnb, he wants to help people find the generosity of spirit for travelers who are on the road.
Writing Books
- His are 4:30-7:30am, but other people’s best writing times may be different.
- Find a time and a space (habitat) when you can be your most creative and do your best writing.
- Some people can work well at a cafe while others have to be secluded from distractions
- Chip’s best workspace is by the ocean.
- Give yourself a certain period to work (e.g. 90 minutes) without checking emails or giving in to distractions.
- Create a clear conscience: tell people you won’t be able to respond for the next X hours so you don’t feel compelled to reply.
Fear of Failure
- Surround yourself with people who support your habit of taking risks, who will be there to support you if things go wrong, and will inspire you with their passion for their callings.
- Hang out with people who are fearless to live their life and use their god-given talents.
- When you are focused on your calling, you can run through the pain of failure and develop a higher pain threshold.
- Failure is a noble experiment and the implications of failing are relatively low.