Be First

What if there was one simple thing you could do each day that would without fail put a smile on your face and the people around you? When when think of being of ‘service’ it’s easy to fall into the trap of wanting to ‘save the world’, but implementing this one simple idea will see you being a big contributor to positive change in the world. And it will make you feel amazing in the process!

Episode Resources

Welcome back to The Nick Broadhurst Show, I’m your host Nick Broadhurst. And you can catch all of my work including my podcasts, blog posts, music, music videos, social media, everything that I do at www.iamnickbroadhurst.com. And if you want to check out my music, which I hope you do, please head to www.iamnickbroadhurst.com/spotify and that will take you straight to my artist profile where you can check out all of my releases. And you can also listen to my music everywhere else including iTunes.

And that song you were listening to is a song called Bones, and I would love it if you can check out the music video for this, because this music video has won a lot of awards, and the team who put this together was extraordinary, it’s so incredible. I had to train for six weeks beforehand to learn how to fight. It’s a lot of fun, you can see that at iamnickbroadhurst.com/bones. And also in the show notes I’ll put a link to that music video and that song as well.

So what do you see in your mind when you think of the words ‘being of service?’ Is it feeding homeless people, is it picking up the rubbish on the beach, is it saving animals? You know, I used to always get caught up in the trap of thinking that I’m too small; what can one person possibly do to contribute to positive change in the world? You know, I’m just one person, what can I do? And Mahatma Gandhi famously said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” And this is something which I try to live by as much as possible.

Now first and foremost, I believe we can all take a leaf out of another famous man’s book, and that is Jesus. I actually did an episode on this called, “What would Jesus do?” Which you can listen to at iamnickbroadhurst.com/10. Now I’m not religious, but for me Jesus just represents love. But you could replace Jesus with Gandhi or Buddha or Muhammad or your grandmother; anyone that represents love.

But anything that can help me instil this into my daily life is a huge bonus, and if you’ve heard my episode on “Creating Success on Your Terms,” which is iamnickbroadhurst.com/27, my own personal success statement goes like this: Success to me is having the freedom in all areas of my life to constantly create music and content which reconnects people with their heart so they may live a life of purpose and abundance, while staying balanced having fun and living from the heart myself.

That’s my mission, and I always say we teach what we most need to learn, and so my success statement is all about heart, because I want to live more from the heart so I’ve made my life about that.

So when I came across the concept I’m going to share with you, it’s a concept called “Be First,” which was something I heard from Gabrielle Reece, the big wave surfer, Led Hamilton’s amazing wife, I instantly tried this and I was super impressed at the impact that this simple concept had on my life. But here’s the catch; the simple things in life are very, very easy to do, but that means they’re also very easy not to do.

Now this Be First concept applies in all situations, but the easiest way I think to put this into practice is when you go for a walk. So when you go for a walk to be first means be the first person to smile as you walk past someone. Be the first person to say hello. And so that’s what Melissa and I did this day we heard this concept, we were going for our favorite walk along the Noosa coastline, and we tried it, and we finished the walk and we had these huge smiles on our face. We just felt amazing.

So yesterday I was doing my favorite Sydney walk which is Bondi to Bronte, and I was approaching a man who was on a very hot afternoon in Bondi, he was dressed in a leather jacket, black jeans, a beanie, and a scarf, which was super strange. And I’m just wearing shorts, no shirt, absolutely sweating bullets. And as I approach him, he stands up with his bike and he smiles at me.

And just as I look down, averting my eyes, he gives me this beautiful smile, but I looked down. You know that moment where it’s a bit awkward, you just kind of miss each other? And perhaps I looked down because I was kind of judging him. You know, maybe I had some sort of stranger alert go off, right? But instantly in that moment, I kind of kicked myself, I was like, “Damn it, be first Nick, be first!”

So I quickly sped up, and walked up beside him, and I said, “Hey man, how are you doing?” And he replies to me, “Yeah, doing good man, are you going somewhere or just going for a walk?” Pretty profound words; I’ll let you just stop and think about that for a second. ‘Are you going somewhere, or just going for a walk?’

So in that moment, I felt instantly better. I had a brief connection with a stranger that made us both smile. It could have been so easy for me to just walk past this man with my eyes to the ground, but I would have missed the beauty in that moment; the beauty of connection. And this is how we contribute, well one of the ways we can contribute positive change to the world, which is through connection, it’s through love; connection with no expectations. This is kindness, this is compassion, a kinder world, a more compassionate world is a more positive world.

So how else can we be first? There’s so many ways, like every single day we can be first; be first to yield when in an argument with your partner or a friend or a family member. Be first to soften open wide and get back into your heart and out of your head. Be first to open the door for someone.

Be first to offer help to a friend in need. Be first to make the move with your lover and make love. Be first to tell the waiter how amazing their eyes are. Be first to cook a friend a meal and drop it over to them just because you love them. Be first to tell your friends that you love them. Be first to thank the chef who cooked a beautiful meal for you. Be first to give an unexpected hug.

I mean I could go on for days and days and days how you can be first, but I want to leave you with a very simple question today; how can you be first today? So simple. Remember; the simple things in life are so easy to do, but they’re so easy not to do, but I really encourage you to try to day to be first. I promise you, it will change the way you feel. Even if you’re having a great day, you’ll have an even better day.

And please do share with me on social media how this made you feel using my handle @IAmNickBroadhurst. And use the tag #TheNickBroadhurstShow. So for all the show notes on today’s episode, you can head to iamnickbroadhurst.com/33. And you can also get a full transcript of the show.

And please to head into iTunes and leave me a 5-star review; you can do this directly from the iTunes podcast app on your phone now, which is awesome. And please tell me in that review what you love, what you don’t love, any feedback I would be super grateful. And if you can share this with just one person today, then that means the listeners will double if we all share it with one person, which is amazing.

So remember today, to look up, see the beauty around you, see the beauty within you, be gentle with yourself, be love, be first, listen to your intuition, and have a beautiful day, I love you heaps, ciao.

I would love to hear from you, so please tag me @IAmNickBroadhurst on social media, and use the hashtag #TheNickBroadhurstShow, or leave me a comment below (I read every single one!). And if you could take a minute to leave me a 5 star review on iTunes I would be very grateful.

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