On Sunday night I learned that my friend, mentor, and founder of Live Your Legend; Scott Dinsmore tragically died climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. He and his wife were in the midst of making their travel dream come true with an epic world tour.

I’ve shared about Scott before, but with this death I reflected all last night on the amazing impact he made in my life and in those of others.

Here are some of the amazing things he accomplished in 32 years:

  • Delivered one of the most watched TED talk’s of all time “How to Find and Do Work You Love”. It’s been watched over 2.8 million times on youtube.
  • Grew a world changing community from 10 to 100,000 in just a few years based on the idea of finding and doing the work you love.
  • Led a worldwide movement of 150+ Live Your Legend communities, one of which I started in Charleston, SC.
  • Inspired hundreds of blogs through this “Start-a-Blog” Challenge.

His work and friendship inspired me to go beyond what I actually thought I could ever accomplish. He frequently talked about “brainwashing the impossible” and once I teamed up with him and my other friends from Live Your Legend that’s exactly what happened.

I got to know Scott over a couple years at the World Domination Summit, and he provided incredibly valuable feedback for my book, The Quit Alternative: The Blueprint for Creating the Job You Love…Without Quitting.

I even shared a guest post regarding the book on Live Your Legend almost a year ago today “How to Live Your Legend without Quitting Your Day Job”.

A Powerful Lesson from Scott

While there were many, I thought I would share with you one powerful lesson I learned from Scott that’s made a huge difference for me.

“Environment is absolutely everything. The fastest way to change your outcome is to change your surroundings.”

He loved to quote Jim Rohn, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” He had a knack for working this reminder into most of his work and It’s become a powerful mantra for me as well.

He believed in this idea so much that he led a movement to create 150+ positive Live Your Legend communities around the world.

I’ve taken this to heart and sought out mentorship and created my own inspiring supportive community both offline and online.   Indeed, it’s made all the difference in both my personal and professional life.

So I invite you today to consider your environment and your supportive relationships…

  1. Identify one person who is doing the kind of work that inspires you both inside and outside your organization.
  2. What’s one small action you can take to nurture a relationship with that person?
    • Consider sharing a supportive email, article, idea, or maybe it’s just introducing yourself.
    • Offer to help them on a project. Ask for nothing in return.
    • Send them a helpful book and highlight a few passages you found beneficial.
    • Invite them to a conversation over coffee or tea.
  3. Take action in making that first connection today.

To Living Your Personal Legend,
Ben

PS: Here’s one of my favorite posts from Scott, The 31 Habits of the World’s Best Connectors.