Buddha and the badass book

In 2018, my husband made a big decision. We moved with our 4-year-old son to Malaysia from Florida so I could join the Mindvalley team to lead the learning design division and collaborate with Vishen Lakhiani, CEO of Mindvalley, on his second book.

It was an honour to partner with Vishen as his co-writer. Only a few years prior, I’d read his first book, The Code of the Extraordinary Mind, and aligned with many of his ideas on brules, the culturescape, and his The 3 Most Important Questions exercise. 

The most impactful moments, insights, and ideas that shaped me during this project:

• • The soulprint origin story exercise. During the creation of this book, we interviewed a former colleague of Vishen’s who helped him uncover the values that defined Mindvalley in the early days and led to its massive success. I learned how powerful values truly are and that they come from you. The exercise we shared in the book transformed me. I came to understand why some of the things I was doing didn’t align with me as a human and were causing great pain. I’ve gone on to share this exercise with so many others, and it’s one of the most impactful offerings in the book.
• • The importance of values and taking a stand as a leader. Vishen built a $100M+ company with no investors because he knows how to share from his soul and take a stand. I have major respect for him in this regard as a leader.
  • The “Buddha-badass” way to do business and life is not just a nice idea or marketing spin. So many people are “hustlers” who work until they burn out. Since writing the book, the most successful people I’ve encountered have practices where they go within. Introspecting, connecting with yourself, and nurturing your intuition are powerful skills that help you shape your business and life.
  • The Farmer Hoggett quote we used in this book. One of my favorite quotes from the book was one Vishen wanted to add during our second iteration of the manuscript. It’s this: “Little ideas that tickle and refuse to go away, should never be ignored, for in them lie the seeds of destiny.” It’s from Farmer Hoggett in the movie Babe. It stuck with me. Every time I follow the little ideas that tickle and nag, things seem to unfold and work out magically.