Picture the moment you realized that personal transformation is not just a byproduct of chasing business success, but the very heart of it. Returning guest Aaron Appelfield, affectionately known as Apples, joins me to share this truth, and together we peel back the layers of professional and personal growth that have shaped our paths since his last visit. Apples, now thriving in a people and culture role, discusses how nurturing authentic business relationships can lead to unexpected opportunities for development and how events like Drive 23 can catalyse change.
Ever heard of Kaizen? It's the art of continual improvement, and in this conversation, we unpack how this philosophy can profoundly influence our daily lives. Apples opens up about his journey back to baseball, drawing parallels between the game's lessons of perseverance and the Kaizen mindset. We meander through a contemplation on time's evolving value, common sense in the digital age, and embracing our natural strengths, all while considering how the simplicity of a morning routine or the audacity to perform stand-up comedy can unlock self-awareness and growth.
As we wind down, the intricate dance of managing anxiety through rituals and the delicate acceptance of life's challenges as growth opportunities come to light. Apples and I ponder the beauty of living with intention, sharing personal stories that illustrate the impact of service and the magic of personal transformation. Even Walter the dog hets in on the act so join us for a dialogue that promises to be as transformative as it is enlightening.
We're on a mission to elevate the professionalism of the residential construction industry, and help everyone enjoy building and renovating homes.
Easy to use Quoting software for Builders. Produce professional and accurate proposals. Quickly and accurately measure and markup plans in minutes. Win more jobs and track costs. 21 Day Free Trial.
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Picture the moment you realized that personal transformation is not just a byproduct of chasing business success, but the very heart of it. Returning guest Aaron Appelfield, affectionately known as Apples, joins me to share this truth, and together we peel back the layers of professional and personal growth that have shaped our paths since his last visit. Apples, now thriving in a people and culture role, discusses how nurturing authentic business relationships can lead to unexpected opportunities for development and how events like Drive 23 can catalyse change.
Ever heard of Kaizen? It's the art of continual improvement, and in this conversation, we unpack how this philosophy can profoundly influence our daily lives. Apples opens up about his journey back to baseball, drawing parallels between the game's lessons of perseverance and the Kaizen mindset. We meander through a contemplation on time's evolving value, common sense in the digital age, and embracing our natural strengths, all while considering how the simplicity of a morning routine or the audacity to perform stand-up comedy can unlock self-awareness and growth.
As we wind down, the intricate dance of managing anxiety through rituals and the delicate acceptance of life's challenges as growth opportunities come to light. Apples and I ponder the beauty of living with intention, sharing personal stories that illustrate the impact of service and the magic of personal transformation. Even Walter the dog hets in on the act so join us for a dialogue that promises to be as transformative as it is enlightening.
We're on a mission to elevate the professionalism of the residential construction industry, and help everyone enjoy building and renovating homes.
Easy to use Quoting software for Builders. Produce professional and accurate proposals. Quickly and accurately measure and markup plans in minutes. Win more jobs and track costs. 21 Day Free Trial.
check out more podcasts here...
https://levelupwithduaynepearce.buzzsprout.com
Play-Doh and Aristotle didn't have Google right. So, at the end of the day, how often do we now just sit down and think through things rather than actually having to seek it out and Google it to find out the information? And half the time, is it accurate, is it inaccurate? Is it, you know, fake news? Who knows?
Speaker 2:G'day everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Level Up. We are back in a very hot shed this afternoon. It's a 35 odd degree day here in Brisbane, but, as always, it's going to be another cracking episode. We've got a little treat for you this afternoon. He's so good the first time We've had him back again. So a big warm welcome to Apples, aaron Appelfield. How are you, mate? I'm fantastic. Thanks for having me again. No, mate, look, as you know, I love spending time with you. Every chat that you give me or give me or anybody else is always great value. So, yeah, I'm keen to get. I was always keen to get you back, because you've had a lot of growth in the last 12 months since you've been here. Yeah, it's been a fun journey. You're also now one of the mentors in my Level Up Build business.
Speaker 2:An absolute honour I thoroughly enjoy it, and you also. You come on our Drive23 event this year, which was just it's an unbelievable experience. I made it bloom anyway, Like we knew it was going to be an incredible event, but the stuff that came from that event was just unbelievable. It was an extremely rewarding week, absolutely.
Speaker 1:I walked away and had a tremendous growth personally.
Speaker 2:Yeah, mate, Me too and all the members, like everyone that was on that bus, just and the places we went, the people we met and the vulnerability and the conversations, so much engagement. But I think, yeah, as you just said, the growth that has come from the people that come on that event, since that event is fucking off the charts.
Speaker 1:It was so good and for me it was just the balance of the lifestyle and the professional side as well. It was just beautifully orientated and, like I said, I got a tremendous amount out of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, well, it was definitely, and I went to a hot seat. It was definitely very rewarding having you there. But, mate, let's dive in. Like you, you're obviously so. For anyone that didn't listen to the first episode with Apples, apples is, well, still is my rep at Brett's Hardware, who we do a lot of work through here in Brisbane. I only look after three accounts now. Oh, that makes me feel privileged, mate. But Apples also has always had an interest in mentoring and coaching. You are one of the head coaches at the Brisbane Bandit Spiceful team. Yes, I'm one of the coaches at Brisbane Bandits and you had your own coaching business in the States before you moved to Australia.
Speaker 1:I did a little bit of coaching in the States, but I started Stoic coaching January last year and it was on the back of us having a conversation about doing the mentoring with LiveLife Build and you know I've always been involved with coaching but never really charged for it and I thought to myself this is something that I really need to start pushing more into and it's just been an amazing 12 months.
Speaker 2:Well, you're such a motivating person, so it's yeah, I like it and, to be honest, that's why we connected at Brett's, I think, because it was never about the timber or the sails or whatever it was we were purchasing from Brett's. It was always more about the conversations you and I were having.
Speaker 1:Yeah well, no one really wants to be sold to you by an American, especially in Australia. So I always found that my style worked best whenever it was a relationship and when it comes down to the bigger picture of things. And we talked a lot about the difference between the cost of product and the cost of doing business. And you know, when you've got a relationship with someone and you know that you're going to get effective communication. I think that goes a long way and it was. I think one of the first things that I said to you is I went out and I said on my first weekend, rev, I said I've got no idea what I'm doing, but I'll commit to you to giving you outstanding communication and good service.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you always have, and I don't know what, like what is that 14 years? Yeah, it must be 14 years. 16 years?
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, I'm coming up on 17 years with Brett's and it's taken that long to get this role that I'm in now, which I'm just that's another thing that's happened in the last 12 months. I'm so excited about the role that I'm doing now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you're now mentoring those. It's a people and culture role.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's exactly right. So instead of doing, instead of having human resources, we have a people and culture division. And that came about because, for a couple years, I was talking to my boss every time we do a review and it was. So what are you going to do with me?
Speaker 1:I was in an operational role where I was doing special projects and I was repping to some clients, which was being reduced by the projects that they gave me, and then some of those projects got stalled for various reasons technological reasons, development of some of the apps and then went away to a retreat and the board members were there and some of the head executives, and we were talking about the direction of the business and what needed to change, and I stood up and articulated some concerns that I thought we had inside the business.
Speaker 1:And then they asked me what I thought we should do and we were doing a pow-wow all together as groups, because there's four different groups, and I'll never forget. I stood up and presented our case and that night at dinner my boss said that was the most presidential speech we've ever heard. You didn't, um, or you know once. And I said well, that's because I was speaking from my heart, something I truly believe in. And then four weeks later in my review, the boss offered me the opportunity to go into a people and culture role and do training and wellness and looking after our staff from that point of view. So it's really exciting. You know, we've got over 300 employees now in a rapidly growing business.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, and look, it's definitely a role that suits you down to the ground, Like you're. As I said, you're just a people person and the way that you look after people is like I've never, I think, we've had this conversation like there's only yourself and one other rep that we have that even come close to like what I consider mates, like all the other reps. It's just they kick their feet around, they hardly hear from them, or but there's just, there's just not that connection there, and I think for any, it doesn't matter what business you have or who you are, or if you're an employee, whoever you are, but like success comes from relationships, Yep, you've got to make it personal 100%.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. You got to figure out what makes someone tick and what their need is and then scratch that itch Something that I was taught at a young age by my dad, because I used to go to appointments with him and I observed how he would engage with his clients and quite often he would look across the room and he'd pick out one thing in the room that seemed like it was important and he'd ask about it, and it was remarkable to see how people's attitudes would shift away from what they were actually talking about, whatever the business was, towards what their passion may have been, and then, all of a sudden, that then encroached back into the business model and it was a really interesting tool that he taught me of how to connect with someone.
Speaker 2:Well, it's like I've never been taught it, but it's always something I've tried to do. Like even when I go meet a client, like if you see a boat or a camper-trial in the front yard, or you walk in the house and there's pictures of family holidays or something like, you pick something that you know they've got an interest in and you're like hey, I've been there. What did you like? Did you have a great time when you were there? Like you just that connection, that connection is just bang and it just it eases the whole situation. It's not like a business meeting, then, and it's more casual. Everyone can connect, everyone can listen and it just it's nine times out of ten. It's the start of a great relationship. Absolutely so, mate, let's. So. You're like everything's sort of falling into place for you now, like you love your baseball.
Speaker 1:My passion is back because for quite a bit of time I'd stopped coaching and stopped playing and, yeah, passion is 100% back in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so your baseball's on fire. You're in the perfect position in your, in the company you're working for. You've also got your own coaching business. Now You're helping out with LiveLiveBuild. Like the feedback from our members is again just off the charts. Like you just have this presence. I think, mate, when you're around people, that you You're very good, like well, as your boss said, like as presidential, like the way you speak and the way you connect with people is just something that not many people can do.
Speaker 1:I'm really passionate, you know, and I get teased quite often when people say you know how you're going, like a fantastic, awesome, excellent, great. I was like you can't possibly be great, fantastic and excellent all the time. It's a choice, you know, at the end of the day it's a choice and I jokingly will say to them as well well, you know, I'm not going to complain to you at the end of the day. A plumber once taught me that shit flows downhill. So I'm not going to complain to someone that's above me in life. I'm going to complain to, you know, someone below me that pretty much just leaves the dog and they have a bit of a giggle.
Speaker 1:And that's the other thing that I learned, you know, being an American living in Australia is, you know, I've learned to take the mickey out of myself before they do, and that tends to build rapport really quickly as well. But, yeah, things are going exceptionally well. I think it really comes down to having goals and knowing where you want to go in life and keep heading in that direction. And we've talked about this before. It's not the size of the steps that you take in life, it's the frequency in the direction.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, you're moving forward. You did a session with our members only a couple of weeks ago about this kaizen effect.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I'd never heard of a name put on this before. Neither had I, but it like it's. It's what's got me to where I am. So do you want to, before we get into it, do you want to explain to people what the kaizen?
Speaker 1:Yeah well, I'm by no means a master of it at all and, funnily enough, this story about this comes from you know. One of the things we've talked about as well is that the universe was always on time. It's just us human beings that aren't. And you know, we constantly are trying to change our agenda because of our agenda, instead of just looking for the doors and windows that are there and then taking them and having the courage to step through them rather than pushing them aside.
Speaker 1:And I was in a meeting with my boss, who's a consultant, who's running the HR, the people in culture division, and he had mentioned this kaizen approach. I said what's that? And so then he told me and I Googled it and I went oh my gosh, this is going to be perfect. So I actually had a different topic that I was going to talk about during that, when we were talking about processes, and I shifted to that and as I delved into it, it really resonated with me and it goes back to the war.
Speaker 1:After the war in Japan, they were looking to rebuild and an American industrialist went over and he talked about the fact of during the manufacturing process and the development process and building was about inclusivity of everyone and making small adjustments during the course of things to get consistency and improvement, and it's about that inclusivity. So everyone from the guys that are on the floor through to the designers, through to the developers and that really resonated with me you know, at the end of the day, we are going to navigate off track and we're going to make mistakes and we're going to fail, but that's how you learn and then you just have to be able to get back on that roadmap and it's just that constant step moving forward. You know something doesn't work out, then you just assess that situation, read, learn from it and then move on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so just taking smaller steps I can. I think that my my problem for a very long time was I was always focused on the end and it just, it got. It would always get to a point where that end felt so far away and so difficult to achieve. But yeah, when you start breaking that angle down into smaller steps and like you can apply this to anything.
Speaker 2:You can apply this falling in love with the process, if you want to purchase a new car, if you want to buy a property, if you want to personal development, if you want to work on a relationship or like anything, you can break it down into smaller steps. And I just think it's a way to go, because if you break it down and think everything down into smaller steps, you're having more wins along the way and you can celebrate them. Every time you have a win, you give yourself a pat on the back and like it motivates you and you want to get to the next step and the next step and the next step. Before you know it, you're at that end goal.
Speaker 1:Yep. And then, while you're in that process, there's other opportunities that seem to creep in as well, and you learn along the way, and sometimes that goal shifts and pivots. Well it becomes even better.
Speaker 2:Well, I think that's another really valuable part of this process because, yeah, sometimes something in your life can change or financial situations change. Whatever it is, you change personally and if you're so focused on a bigger goal, that could have a detrimental effect on you achieving that. But if you're breaking it down into smaller steps, you can. You can pivot at any single time and for whatever reasons in life that your direction could change completely and you might leapfrog that goal that you thought you had and get to like achieve a bigger goal. So, absolutely, I didn't anticipate continuing to play baseball.
Speaker 1:You know, I had so much time off and the whole reason I went back was to prove to my son, you know, because you coach him and sometimes your kids are looking like, oh, what do you know? And it's like, oh, okay, I'll show you what I know. So that was the goal, you know. It started out as getting healthy and getting fit and lifestyle change. And it was like, okay, well, I need something to motivate me more. And then it was Okay, well, my boys never seen me play, I'm going to go back and play at a high level. So everyone you know, at 47, 48 years old, they go You're going to go back and play massive. No, I'm going to play Div 1 and Div 2.
Speaker 1:You know, and the highlight of that was to hear my son say you know, during I made a really nice play pitching one day and I'm not a pitcher, I'm a catcher and I could hear my son from the dugout yell out Holy shit, old man. And that was it. I was like, okay, I've hit that target. And then it was just hit another target. So I've shown him the right way to play the game with intensity and respect and passion, you know, and how to be a good teammate. And then it was, okay, well, now I want to just keep playing and see how far I can go. And then that set a new goal, which is he's 13. If I hold out another two years he can play open mince baseball at 15. And I did say to him very clearly you're going to have to work hard to get to where I'm playing because I'm not going to play down. Whatever level you are, you're going to have to. So now I've set myself a really difficult task. I have to make sure I stay out there.
Speaker 2:But I look at that sort of stuff really inspires me, like you, because I have the same approach. So I feel like the best leaders are ones that lead by example, but they're not just sitting back telling people what to do, but they're actually physically doing what they're telling you to do. Today I had forklift training.
Speaker 1:Now, people in cultural, I'm probably not going to jump on a forklift in the role that I'm in, but because I'm the guy who's setting up the trainings and whatnot, I wanted to see what forklift training was like and what the experience was like. So I thought why am I supposed to get my ticket as well? And if I'm in the yard and someone needs something to be moved, I can jump on a forklift and help out. So you're exactly right. We've all seen that image leaders versus bosses. Leaders they're there, leading from the front and pushing their guys and their troops, and bosses they tend to sit in an office and then dictate down to the leaders and the leaders then push.
Speaker 2:I'm three cores away listening to a Simon Sinek book at the moment Leaders Eat Last. He's amazing. Yeah, it is a brilliant book and it's exactly what we are talking about now. Leaders have to show their leaders and, yeah, that could be as simple as making sure your team is fed and healthy and fit and you come in behind them and yeah.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Sit down last.
Speaker 1:And really that reminds me of a very funny analogy. My dad was a fighter pilot, so two tours in Vietnam and a top gun instructor. And something really interesting on the ships that a lot of people don't know about is the pilots and the officers. They don't eat nearly as well as the standard infantry. Well, the standard guys on the ship, the guys providing the service to these pilots to keep them alive, or the officers, so they actually eat exceptionally well. So it's an honor when an officer gets invited to the general mess hall because they're eating steak and whatnot, while the officers are not eating as well. Now, the officers quarters are better and they have other entitlements and other privileges, but that's very interesting that that would be the case. So different leadership roles, different reward systems 100%.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it just I don't know it's. I think that sort of stuff is more important now than it's ever been Like with the way the world's going and social media and everybody wanting that quick dopamine hit and microwave society.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what's to take a pill for something? What's something microwave doesn't want to put in the work? Yeah, you know you don't see anybody doing food prep and microwaving. You know food prep is a process.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, it's funny, isn't it? Like everything in our lives now is just a throwaway society, like even the oh man, we could get into this for hours. Like it blows my mind, like we, we sit here and we wind about the way the world's going and what lazy and all this sort of thing, but and yet it's very hard not to get sucked into it. Like everything around us, like our homes are getting more comfortable and look after us, our cars are getting to a point where they're driving for us, like, yeah, my new car. That freaks me out.
Speaker 1:I don't particularly like all the technology.
Speaker 2:But like I don't know your thoughts, mate, but my thoughts are like I'd love to know more stats and that around it.
Speaker 2:But, like from my point of view as a builder, like when I was an apprentice, like mate, three story house, you're walking around on a 70, a 70, a two, 70 by 35 top plate and room plates, walking around the walls, standing up trusses, Like there was no scaffolding, Like you just did what you had to do and look, I can't ever remember hearing or seeing or being involved in an accident. And yet these days, like, whatever it is 2.4 meters or something, everything scaffolding. And so that same sort of scenario flows through everything in our lives, Like everyone expects there to be a handrail or expects there to be a sign to tell them not to touch a hot surface, and then we become complacent. We become complacent but for younger, the younger people coming through and like, look again. Some people probably tell me I'm a bit harder on my kids, but I want my kids knowing common sense. I want them to know if they fall, if they're pushed by it, if they fall off a horse, it hurts. Like there's gotta be some common sense.
Speaker 1:The best way you can protect kids or anybody is to prepare them for life.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:We talked about it before. The reason why I named my business Stoic Coaching is because a lot of those Stoic principles really resonate with me, you know, and a big one in there is the fact that, at the end of the day, the obstacle is the way, and the only thing you can really control in life is how you prepare and how you react. There's not much outside of that that you can really do. Yeah, so if something doesn't go right, well then you react and you adjust and you start to prepare differently.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and every morning you wake up, go through your ritual, go through your routine, prepare yourself for the day and then adjust to the things that you can't foresee happening.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the kids. I'm sure you do as well like kids especially, or younger, even apprentices at work, like they need to be taught simple, everyday old school, like simple things like preparing a meal, Yep, so the food is not always going to come. Like, how are you going to look after yourself if something never goes wrong or you're stuck in a situation where you've got to cook something? Like you can't just always be pulling shit out of boxes or 100% the freezer.
Speaker 1:And it's not a restaurant at home either. You know, I remember when I was a kid you ate what you reserved.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So do you feel like that tonight?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it's funny how the world's going, but Well, wasn't it like?
Speaker 1:100 plus 200 years ago, people had kids to work in the farms and work in the factories. And now, where are we? Now? We go to work so that our kids can have iPhones and they have Xboxes, and you know, you go to private schools. And what happened? You know it's completely flip flopped, hasn't it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, I've never really thought of that.
Speaker 1:Sorry, I didn't mean to take that in a different direction.
Speaker 2:No, but it's so true that. But, like even more than that, it's not just kids. Like one of the architects we do some work for was telling me a story the other day how the new young girls or new ladies that he's put on in his team, like her and a partner, have just come to the realization that they'll probably never be able to have kids, because, to be able to live in Brisbane and live where they want to live and have what they want to have, neither of them can ever afford to have time off work. So I just find it absolutely crazy that we're heading down a road where things objects are more important to people than the quality of their life.
Speaker 1:Well, I think we've confused the difference between want and need. The amount of times that I hear I need that and it's like do you need that or do you want that? Yeah, you know, and there's nothing wrong with having wants. That's what makes us drive and push goals and push forward. I think that's fantastic. But we just need to identify the difference and I think we talked about this one that Zoom calls as well is putting weight onto things, whether it's a percentage or weight as to how important something is to you.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah. Simon Sinek talks about in this book how he gives a few examples, but probably one of the easiest one is like if you're moving house and one of your mates just gives you five grand, says, oh look, I don't have the time but I'll give you five grand help go towards the cost of moving the house. And then another mate's like, oh yeah, no worries, and he turns up on the day you're moving and helps you pack and load the truck and gets your new house and helps you unload and set the new house up. And then a few weeks later both those two mates invite you to do something and generally the decision would be to go and help the guy that actually physically helped you because time, even though the other guy gave you $5,000. Most valuable thing in the world. Most valuable thing in the world Do you get 25 hours in a?
Speaker 1:day. Yeah, I get 25 hours in a day, I'd love to have 25 hours, although it's a 24.
Speaker 2:If you can figure out how to get 25 hours, in a day.
Speaker 1:let me know we all have the same amount in the day. It's how we use it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so if someone gives you time, you should respect it and appreciate it.
Speaker 1:How often do you hear anymore someone saying thank you for your time? Yeah, I mean so precious.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And plus you don't know when it's going to finish.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but isn't it funny Because I know people like that Like, isn't it funny that some people think, oh, fuck it, like I haven't got time to come and help you. Yeah, look, here's some cash, go and pay for it, and they think that's value?
Speaker 1:Well, it's because they value their time that much, which just resonates exactly what people resonate as what's most important is time. So they're valuing their time so much that they don't have the time to do it. So they figure, oh, I can offer this. Yeah, they're offering something.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and it's definitely changing times and again, I think it's it all ties into you doing what you're doing with the coaching and the mentoring, and doing everything you're doing because I think the world really needs it.
Speaker 1:Well, I agree. And look, for a long time I was trying to figure out what power I want to go and I looked at, you know, counseling, and I realized, oh, I don't have a high emotional empathy chip, I've got a high cognitive empathy chip. And I thought, oh, so coaching does fit me, because, rather than sitting in the mud for a long period of time as someone feeling their pain, I'll sit in long enough to understand how you feel. I'll probably feel it for a bit, I'll shed a tear with you, but then I'm going to grab you by the arm and pull you out of the mud and say all right, let's make a plan, let's move forward. What are we going to do about it?
Speaker 1:I'm an action guy, so trouble with me is I sit still too long and I start to overthink. So I love to create action and if I am overthinking, then I use that to my advantage to make plans and contingency plans for contingency plans, for contingency plans. And some people would say doesn't that make you anxious? And I go well, it actually doesn't. For me, it means that I've got thought processes in place that if something doesn't work out, I can pivot, I can adjust, and I don't know if that comes from the baseball and the sport that I play and the position being a catcher, because you're constantly thinking about what pitch am I going to call next? If they hit it here, I'm going to do that. I don't know where it comes from, but for me that does give me a lot of peace.
Speaker 2:I'm very similar. I think, okay, everybody's very different, aren't they? Yeah, I think that's something I really try and get across in this podcast. So it's okay to be who you are. You don't need to try and be anyone else. You don't need to please anybody else. Just be your true self.
Speaker 1:We talked about this in the last one, which is an analogy my dad gave me, which is human nature is to end. Society unfortunately wants us to learn and change and be things that we're not. So if we're weak in an area, look. If you want to become better in that area, great work on it. That's fantastic. But I'm not very good with numbers. So if I was going to spend all my day doing accounting and doing bookkeeping or being in front of a computer, that's not where I'm most effective.
Speaker 1:You said it yourself people, person, my boss, even says when you're in front of human beings, you're helping our business, you're helping us get money, you're helping us earn or you're helping us solve a situation, or you're being in a position of service. If you're behind a computer for long periods of time, you're not being productive in that area and I think that we're trained that if you're a circle, well you know you need to become a better rectangle triangle to look if it's going to help you to become better than absolutely. But I'm a big believer, and it was taught to me, of surround yourself by people who have different skill sets than you but have a common goal. I mean, at the end of the day, not everyone is a front rower, Not everyone is a. What's the other football term?
Speaker 2:Hey, what are you using Football? I thought you'd be using pitcher or whatever. No, not everyone's a pitcher, not everyone's a catcher.
Speaker 1:You know not everyone's a pace bowler, you know not everyone's an all-rounder, but at the end of the day, if you're a circle, just be the best goddamn circle that you can be and surround yourself by epic rectangles, triangles of squares that have a common goal. That's what a good team is.
Speaker 2:And it's really important for individuals to be happy with who they are, isn't it? Yeah? So just be happy with you. Like give you a you on drive 23,. I talked a lot about it. Like it's very rare that someone's going to come up and give you a pat on the back and tell you how well you're doing, and all this sort of stuff Like every now and then, it is perfectly fine for you to like I do it all the time, like in my truck man, so justMarigoldath Buffett Fox, yell at the top of my lungs and Tell myself how good I'm doing. Get myself a pat on the back like or, if it's not my Myself, like Camille, and I'll do it. Like we'll tell each other man we're really doing good at the moment. Like you have to do that every now and then, don't you?
Speaker 1:like well, yeah, we talk about that. Windscreen versus rear view, yeah, but the rear view mirror is important. Yeah you know, it does give you the ability to look back and see where you've gone, how far you've come, and also see things that are on their way, coming up on you being cars.
Speaker 1:Yeah the windscreen is the size it is for reasons. So, yeah, hundred percent got to keep pushing forward. But you just can't live in the past. It's important to look back and go, oh wow, look at that, I've learned from that, I can do that better. Or wow, I did a great job there.
Speaker 2:And then you build from there and and give yourself a pat on the back up screen at the top of your lungs, dance around, write it in a journal, what, whatever, but yeah, root like. I acknowledge what you've achieved. I think that's something that a lot of people over I just don't do anything about these days, but they never take the time to sit down, reflect, acknowledge where they've come from, what they've overcome, and then keep moving forward.
Speaker 1:I think it's one of the best things that yourself and Amelia did with live life build is the Friday winds in the Monday Momentums, because it touches both right. Yeah, you give you an opportunity at the end of the week to go, wow, this is what I achieved. And then on Monday it's like this is what I'm looking to achieve next week.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's brilliant, yeah, yeah, and it's. It's such a small thing, but it makes such a. It's a very powerful thing and it makes such a big difference.
Speaker 1:Yep. It's caused every single one of your members to become more aware and awareness. You can't have change without awareness. Yeah can't have growth without awareness.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, man, let's talk about your grace, because, like you have, like in the last two years, you've killed it the last 12 months, you, I feel like you've just taken off. Like you, you fit as like. I hope I'm your, you and I'm not far off.
Speaker 1:Glad I put a couple kilos on. I starting to get a bit light there, so you were coming up to me going are you sick or you're not? Well, that was concerning.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but look you fit as like you. How many times a week you plan sport?
Speaker 1:now like so I coach pretty much four or five days a week. I train Five to six days in the gym a week and I steam six days a week Baseball training. I have one training a week and then I play one game a week, maybe two if I get a call on day grain.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a lot of a lot of fitness going on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, look, it's changed. So we talked about changing goals. So last year I Really pushed hard to lead up to the season, like really, really hard, and I started this season Better than I did when I was in my 20s I mean, I was seeing the ball as hitting well as in great shape. I was just all in this year, with all the growth and everything that's happened in other areas of my life, I had to make a conscious decision that I could not do that this year. So I didn't feel like I had anything to prove based on what I'd done the year before. But I still wanted to play. I still wanted to compete at a high level. So I accepted the fact that I wasn't gonna have a big preseason Plus, not to mention the end of last year. Coming to the end of the year I was hurting, like I was hurting bad after catching that many games. So the goal shifted, which is okay. I'm gonna treat the beginning of the season as preseason Flow into Christmas time and then keep maintain that so that come finals I'm hot.
Speaker 1:I peaked a little bit too soon last year. So again, you learn, you're aware and you learn and you pivot and you adjust. But yeah, it's been a massive two years, you know. I was a hundred and seven hundred and eight kilos two years ago, you know, and due to a bit of a health scare, it woke me up to myself. But then again it was about setting goals and I realized that setting the goal of you know, I need to get healthier yeah, that worked for a little while and then it was like you know, so I need to set a different goal. Okay, well, I want to play at a high level, so that was a goal. Okay, well, I want to show my son the right way. That was a goal. It was okay. Well, I want to. I want to get so many at bats in a grade, and that was a goal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, no, I think it's very important. I've got to do something. At the moment I was actually just talking to Shay today, the producer. He, he's setting up this challenge to a paddle a paddleboard from what is it? Klandra, down the, down, the inside of briby, to the sandstone Hotel, 35k, nice. So I'm gonna get into it because I just Like I'm having a few issues in my back at the moment. I haven't had issues in my back for a long time but like I knew when I got off the tools years ago, I like I was always doing physical work. But Look again, it's just an excuse. Like I've just everything's been so. Life's been so busy, last sort of 12 months, 18 months, and then we purchased this farm and so I've just been doing heaps of work up there and I Haven't been doing the exercise. And it's showing because now I'm hurting my back all the time.
Speaker 1:So, um, You're telling me, though, when we're down drive 23, you saw Somebody was helping you with your back at one stage.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, so my back's been great for years, and since drive 23, like two weeks after drive 23. I heard it the worst I've ever heard it before. But look, ben, I've been doing some work up the farm. So like I literally it showed up there on the Friday. I got there on the Friday afternoon and Literally sat on it Friday afternoon all day.
Speaker 2:Saturday and went to get out like 4 30 said that and then rough, move a log. And because I've been sitting down doing the controls all day and then went to lift a log up, I'd like I just didn't switch my core on and just, yeah, that was in my back and Made holes up there, like farms in the middle of nowhere. There's no one around, fair little phone reception. And like I pretty much went to bed that night with tears and I was thinking like, fuck, I might have to call someone to come and rescue me because I know if I'm gonna be able to walk in the morning. Oh crap, there by yourself, yeah. So, oh, my goodness.
Speaker 2:And Anyway, look, it was had a terrible night's sleep and yeah, woke up the next morning and it was definitely hurting, but yeah, just got into it, got back out, walked down the beach, went for a swim, flooded around the water for a little bit, did a few stretches Well, actually did stretches about 45 minutes and then got back in the S-fader and drove all day and then drove, drove home and then went and saw Karen and, yeah, it's been fantastic until yesterday and again Going up to the farm tomorrow and load and shit on the truck last night and Just trying to do shit that I could. It's tough to speak at all. I hear you.
Speaker 1:I hear you. Everyone else shows up to a game an hour beforehand and I show up an hour and a half at least beforehand. Yeah, I need that extra time.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, that's definitely on my radar. I've got to lock something in. But are you? You seem like you're similar, like I have to have a goal. If I don't have something to aim for, I don't do the exercise. So this paddle board and thing with Shay is probably going to be enough to think well right, I've got to get my ass in the gear. If I'm going to stand on a paddle board for 35, 36 kilometers and be paddling away, then I'm going to have to do some work on my core and work on my arms.
Speaker 1:You don't want the back to seize up in the middle of the ocean. Man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, but yeah and so, yeah, I'm getting Shay and I'll have to have some conversation about that come up with a bit of a plan, but I do think it's really, and so that's why I've fallen over the last 12, 80 months, because I just I haven't had that physical goal, a goal to achieve, and if I don't have a goal to achieve, it's just I go well, I'll just go day by day, and it is what it is.
Speaker 1:So how many of the other goals that you've had set for yourself have you been cracking?
Speaker 2:Oh, I've been smashing, so this I'm talking exercise. I know, I know exactly what you're saying.
Speaker 1:Just remember if you don't look after yourself, you're not going to have the energy to look after everyone else.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 100%. And look, I kick myself in the ass Like it's. I am smashing shit-lides of other goals, but at the end of the day, if my back's fucked, my health's fucked, I can't achieve the other goals. So I need to pull my finger out and get stuck into them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, that was me two years ago. I mean, I set some stupid goals as well. You know stand-up comedy, you know, just wanted to do a stand-up night just for shits and giggles and to push myself.
Speaker 2:Actually, I think last time you were on, I think you said that you had this coming up. Yeah, I hadn't done it yet. So tell us a little bit about that, because to me that is takes the biggest balls.
Speaker 1:Really, because I'm not jumping out of a plane, so that's the one that's so petrified by it's. Maybe one day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, standing in front of people especially trying to be a comedian. But you went really well, didn't you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was. To be honest, I was not nervous until the light hit me and they called me on stage. It was the walk to the stage. On stage I was fine as soon as I started to talk. It was not an issue at all. I did have one or two jokes at my sleeve in case I was complete shit which I didn't need to use.
Speaker 2:So was it just off the cuff like that?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I spent weeks and weeks, if not months, watching a lot of comedy. My biggest concern was not storytelling, my biggest concern was segues and transitions, and I did stuff up one transition and one adjustment. Other than that, the stories were great. I got lots of laughs.
Speaker 1:Very funny, though, when I came off stage I had a lady come up to me and she said was that really your first time? And I went yeah, yeah. And she goes oh, you're fantastic. And she was a comedian who'd done a few. So when you do an open mic stand-up night, they have some rookies like me, and then they have some people that are testing new material and they've got some really good comedians so that when people come as a crowd they're getting a mix right. You wouldn't want to have all rookies. So she comes up to me and she goes oh, you're really good for your first time. I said, oh, thanks very much, you should do more often. I said, oh, thank you, thank you. So I'm basking in my glory at this moment. I'm feeling fantastic.
Speaker 1:Right, about three more go on and then she gets called on stage and she was terrible. Like just no laughs. It was awkward. There were pausing moments. I went oh my God, if that's what she thought, then maybe I wasn't that good.
Speaker 1:And then at the end of the night, when I went and thanked the host, a couple other comedians came up and spoke to me and said you know, we'll probably join our comedy school and maybe come to this other one. I was like, oh thanks, you know, this was really just a bucket list thing. I wasn't really thinking about doing that, but it was real adrenaline rush and, to be honest, now I just want to get heckled. Like being a ballplayer. We talk tremendous amounts of shit on the field, like I'm constantly catching and I'm constantly bantering with the hitter and I'm bantering with the umpire, so that's kind of the next thing. I couldn't have that this time that I did it because I didn't tell anyone when I was doing it. I told a few people like yourself that I was doing it, but I didn't tell anybody on the day. So I did it do a selfie on the night that I was doing it. So let guess where I am and what I'm doing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know, because that's what I got. Because as soon as you told me you were doing it, I was like, mate, sweet, let me know I'll come support you. And then, yeah, you kept it under the right eye and you didn't tell us till a few days after you've done it.
Speaker 1:But to answer your question, I watched a few. I wrote down five or six stories and bullet points of things that I found humorous about my experience as an American living in Australia and how much it's changed in the half of my life I've been here. I know it doesn't sound like it, but I have been here half my life and that really just is the easiest thing for me, Like I'd prefer to do bullet points and a couple of things and then just go off the cuff, and it seems to become far more authentic when I do it that way.
Speaker 2:So why are you so hot in yourself for being American in Australia?
Speaker 1:Well, I'm not. I just take the mickey out of myself before I strange you. It's the culture, and I get it all the time where people say you know where are you from, I say you know I'm from America, and I go yeah, because it sounds really strong. I've spent half my life here and then traveling through Europe coaching and playing baseball, but it's just a. And one of the stories I actually told was a lady was drawing my blood.
Speaker 1:I was just having some random blood tests done and a lady from the Philippines was drawing my blood and she was asking about where I was from and how long I'd been here. And when I told her I'd been here half my life, she said oh, you're in her native tongue. I can't remember what she said, but I said what does that mean? She goes, oh well, you're a phantom, You're an operation, you don't really exist anywhere. So you've lived your whole, you know, you lived half your life here, so you have different views than where you grew up. So when you go back to the United States, you have different views and you'll never really fit in Australia because you're raised with different views. And she goes, so that's. And I was like, oh, she's drawing my blood and my soul at the same time. But, as I pontificated about and thought about it, that's what makes me unique.
Speaker 2:So I do have a unique perspective on things. Yeah. Do you have any plans on going back to the States, or you're an Aussie for good now?
Speaker 1:Probably not permanently, Although my son's baseball is progressing so quickly and he's 13 that you know if he does decide at some stage after high school wanting to go and play college baseball in the States, I would really want to try and figure out a way that I could be there for a large chunk of that, whether it was be there for the season, and then come back and have a business that can transition across Australia and America.
Speaker 1:That would be amazing. But yeah, that's his dream. He wants to go and play college baseball or sign a major league contract. That would probably be the only way. I love living in Australia.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Please don't take this the wrong way, but I think a lot of Australians don't really realise how special this place is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree, and again what we were talking about taking it for granted.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So, mate, what drives you, what's your very passionate man Like? What is your driver?
Speaker 1:Being better than I was yesterday.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's it. Just being better Every day. That's your challenge. Every day is just waking up, learning something and becoming better. Yeah, yeah, you know I have changed a lot in the course of my lifetime.
Speaker 1:I was a very self-absorbed, very full of myself individual through high school. I had a lot of success. I worked really hard for it, but through sport and whatnot. But things changed as I started to travel. Things changed. After a few car accidents, a few humbling experiences in life, a couple redundancies Just a couple of things that happened I became much more humble and more aware and then I just became really, really focused on trying to become a better, holistic person, not just focusing on one area of my life, but trying to grow completely but at the same time, not losing the identity of who I am. So I am inherently a very cocky, self-confident human being, but I try and pull that back and that's one of the reasons why I'll take the mickey out of myself. A lot is it shows that, okay, if I do need to put my foot down with a client or I do need to be assertive, then it's like, okay, well, he's not completely full of himself, but he's confident.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's a new journal Like how do you do you sit down and like so?
Speaker 1:I do a lot of reflective stuff at night and at mornings. That's part of my routine, and I do keep a journal inside my phone.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so what is your daily routine like for people out there? Because I actually get asked this a lot now. Like people listen to this podcast and like the question, it's been really awesome seeing the questions change. So when I started doing really well, then we started to live like people started getting on board because they like ultimately wanted to get a business like I had. Everyone was always looking for, like the first question. Everyone wanted just the one thing.
Speaker 1:What's the one thing?
Speaker 2:What's going to change my life, what's going to change my business Mind set?
Speaker 2:Well, there's never one answer Like, because, like, there's ownership, there's responsibility, there's mindset, there's commitment, there's consistency, like there is all these things and you can never put it down to one thing. But the questions have changed now and I get lots of comments and emails about like, we listen to your podcast, we love it, like, love all the business stuff, love all the building stuff, love the guests you have on. But now we get questions asking well, like, you talk a lot about mindset, what do you mean about mindset? You talk a lot about journaling, what it like, so and we're now getting requests to have people on that talk more about their life. So this is what I do try and bring these stories out a bit more so to help people that are listening out because, let's face it, a lot of people that are in our building industry, I believe, are very similar, similar personas, similar personalities, all those types of things. What's your daily routine or what routine have you come up with that you feel is helping you stay on track?
Speaker 1:It's funny. You should ask that because, if you remember, whenever I took on this new rule at work, I talked about the fact that I felt like I lost my flow, and the reason why was because I knew the rule that I was doing before. Inside and out, I scheduled my days as far as my reaction time, my preparation time, whenever I was going to be on the front foot about calling customers to find out where they're at with things or how I was going to be dealing with problems, when I would answer emails, when I would take phone calls, I was I just had that down to a science, changing the rule a lot more meetings, a lot longer meetings. But to answer your question about what I do as my morning routine for a very long time, and it's that the book from Admiral Terrible with Nays, but the Admiral is a Navy Seal and the book is you know, if you want to change the world, start by making your bed. Brilliant book, highly recommended to anyone. I read it what's?
Speaker 1:the name of that book, shay Shay, look it up Bed with my son and so he'd read a page. I'd read a page. But when I wake up, the first thing I do is I make my bed. And the reason I make my bed is exactly what he talks about in the book is it's something that I can control. I can control that aspect and even if I have a terrible day, at least I'm going into a bed at the end of the night.
Speaker 1:Something that I made, that I made properly. It was the first thing I did and I did it right. It also sets the tone for the day, because it's something that is done. It's done right. Ticket, move on to the next thing. Ticket, move on to the next thing. So I make my bed first up.
Speaker 1:Then, before anything else, I squeeze two lemons into a glass and down the hatch. Don't let it touch your teeth. It's not good for the enamel. Some people mix it in water, some people use hot water, but the lemon juice outlines my stomach lining. So you'd think that that acid would not, but it actually outlines your stomach. So really good for inflammation. About 15 to 20 minutes after that, I'll smash three glasses of water. That really helps to get your organs to kickstart. And then after that I'll have a shower, head out for the day and then go through my routine for the rest of the day. But I fast, so I don't eat until one o'clock. I don't have my coffee until about eight thirty nine, so usually those three glasses of water will keep me going. A cup of coffee, and when I have my coffee that's when I have my meeting with myself. So I have a meeting with myself every day and my coffee is my time.
Speaker 2:So what's your meeting with yourself?
Speaker 1:It's where I talk about what I'm going to be, so where I was yesterday, what I'm going to be doing today, and instead of me planning that the night before because typically I'm on the field until late at night I do my reflection at night, but I don't do my planning. So I go through my routine, I'm my coffee or myself. Now I'm going to have appointments that are booked already, obviously, but that's my time to sit down and think about what are the things that I need to act on that I didn't get to yesterday.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I definitely think it's routine is super, super important. I make the bed if the Zones Camille's not in it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I wouldn't suggest doing it while she's in it.
Speaker 2:No, it's very similar. Like I get up, I generally do the same thing smash a heap of water. I was doing the warm lemon juice for a little squeeze in the lemon into the warm water for a long time. I haven't done that for a little while, but yeah, I generally go straight outside like check on Walter, sit with him for a minute, tell him he's a good boy, have a little bit of a chat to ourselves. He has a bit of a chat back to me.
Speaker 1:It's the tone for your day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I like just that, like if I miss that part, like if I get up I'm in a rush, I go in my water, jump straight in the shower, get ready, go grab my keys, get in the truck and go. My days are very, very different. Like just getting that five to 10 minutes to go at the backyard sit with Walter or throw the ball for Walter, and like a lot of the time I'm doing that I'm watching the sun come up. That just sets the tone for the day.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I think routine is very, very important, but it's funny every bat at bat that I can think of last season and so far this season comes down to one thing, which was I wasn't prepared. So the on deck time, which is when you're waiting for your turn to hit, you're the next batter. That's where you're getting your timing down from the pitcher, you're going through your routine, whatever it is to prepare yourself mentally and physically to step in and engage against that pitcher. Every time that I no, I'm not saying I got a hit every time that I did it, but what I'm saying is it was a good at bat. Sometimes you battle, you still get struck out. Some guys are going to beat you. You just get beaten. It's part of the game. But every time that I felt like I beat myself, where I didn't have a good at bat, was because I wasn't prepared and I didn't have enough time, and it's something that I'm really conscious of now is that I need that time to go through and get myself prepared before I step in the box.
Speaker 2:Because we've gone full circle, like back to the Kaisen approach to things. You said you sit down, you have your coffee and that's when you sit back and you look at things. And I think this is a massive part that so many people get stuck in that routine that they get up, they race down, they grab their phone, jump on social media while they're walking out the door into their truck straight off, get to site or get to the office where it is and the day just happens and before you know it it's all five, six o'clock in the afternoon and you haven't reflected on anything, you haven't achieved anything you wanted to achieve and you're exhausted. It's all reactive. It's all reactive.
Speaker 2:That like taking that time and it only has to be five to 10 minutes, so it doesn't have to be huge but taking that time to ask yourself what's my next goal? What didn't happen yesterday? What have I got to do today to make me get to that goal? And, like we touched on before, like it could be. It could be anything. It could be resolving something with the client, finalizing a contract getting zero days, just no, zero days.
Speaker 2:Yeah, getting a job price, whatever it is. But, yeah, what didn't happen yesterday to make me get done what I need to get done? What didn't happen that isn't helping me achieve my goals? What do I need to do today? And my days will always adjust and pivot, but one thing I've definitely found most recently that, I believe, is just it's like when you start down this road of self improvement and all the stuff we talk about the breathing, the mindset, the commitment, the consistency, the ownership, the responsibility, like all this stuff, it feels like it gets. It just keeps growing and growing.
Speaker 2:And so my momentum, my number one priority now every single day is not Well, I'll go backwards. My number one priority every day now is what do I need to do to get me to my personal goals? Not what do I need to do to make the business make money. What do I need to get back to a client on? What emails do I have to do? None of that stuff.
Speaker 2:And I've found, and like I'm actually like right at the moment, I'm at this point where I'm keep thinking to myself like how's this all working? But I feel like the more I put, the more I focus on the smallest steps to reach my bigger goals, the more everything just starts falling into place, skibbles, yeah, but everything is just I get and I don't know. I almost feel like it's because I, because I'm focusing on my goals, which all of my goals are based about myself, camille, my girls, because we're number one and I feel, yeah, the more effort I put into them, the more focus I put on achieving those smaller steps to reach those goals Gives me, it feels like it gives me more time to work on the general day to day business stuff, like yeah, if your cup's not full, how do you have anything left to overflow, to give it to others?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it just I don't know. Just, I'm at that point now in my life where I'm just like what's like the wheel's going to fall off, like what's going to go wrong. Yeah, like is it meant to be doing this? So, every night, like I'm writing in my journal like this is meant to happen, this is, we've achieved this. We've ticked this off. I'm doing this. I want to do this next, like you are where you're meant to be.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, um, yeah, my, uh, for I guess, for anyone listening, like after hearing Apple's um root morning routine and my like I can't stress enough, like that, if, if you, if you feel you can't do it at the moment, get up 15 minutes earlier, like I don't care what you have to do, but start a morning routine tomorrow, Like as soon as you've listened to this podcast. Tomorrow, start a routine and then you can build on it too.
Speaker 1:I'll never forget.
Speaker 1:And I may have shared this in the last podcast. I'm sorry if I'm repeating myself, but I remember laying in bed with my son one night and he asked me, um, about rituals and routines and the difference, and it got pretty deep. It got pretty deep, um, and he said so why do you go through that every day, dad? So I'm glad he was watching me, so that means he was watching. And I said well, that's one of the ways I deal with my anxiety is that if I go through my routine, then I'm preparing myself the best that I possibly can for whatever faces me during the course of the day. I never forget to look at his face as head whip to the sun he goes. You've got anxiety Like Hudson. Everybody on the planet has anxiety, whether you want to call it nerves or excitement or butterflies. You know when you're stepping the batter's box, son, and you get a little bit, that was a butterfly. That's anxiety. It's how you manage that that defines you, but we all have it. So we talked about it before.
Speaker 1:I like to make plans and I like to make contingency plans. For those contingency plans and some people go oh, that would freak me out. For me, that helps me to deal with that. It means that I know that I've got things that I can fall back on. Yeah, yeah, my my day. Um, if I start my day that way and even when we were on the road for drive 23 or I was down with Adelaide coaching for the bandits for one of the first things I do is go and buy some lemons at the local store and you know I've got them in the rooms Right. So even if I'm seeing in a hotel room, I make my bed.
Speaker 2:There's no excuses, no, no, it's um, like we get told this stuff our most of our lives, don't we? And it's very few people acknowledge it, but like it is actually the simplest things that actually make the biggest differences.
Speaker 1:Someone close to me once asked. They said so when does this whole, when does this whole growth and development thing stop? And I looked at it. I think when you die, I mean I don't know what you're talking about you know. I'm just keep going.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, because it just gets better and better. It doesn't look like you're the same as me, like you're addicted to it now, like I just can't get enough of um everything.
Speaker 1:I knew when I was younger what I know now didn't just take things that people said and just kind of subtly do them, but actually embrace it and then trench yourself into it, cause you've got to commit and the day you have to commit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and.
Speaker 1:I tough place, you know people who sugarcane for people and they and they say, oh, and they try and make it easier for people. Don't do that, don't try and make it easier. You know, one of the big things I always said to my kids is you know, I'll support you and I'll help guide you in the way, but I'm not going to do it for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think it's really important. The school my son goes to, they've got to think three before me. They say you know. So, before you come to me for help or advice or guidance, have you done any research? Have you asked a friend? Have you sat down and thought about it? I mean, plato and Aristotle didn't have Google, right? You know sitting the day. How often do we now just sit down and think through things rather than actually having to seek it out and Google it to find out the information? And half the time, is it accurate? Is it inaccurate? Is it, you know, fake news? Who knows?
Speaker 2:Oh well, that's the thing these days, isn't it Like you literally type anything into Google and you've got a million responses there, and yeah, it's lottery, pick the one you want to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what suits my narrative?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly yeah.
Speaker 1:What makes me feel good rather than what makes me feel uncomfortable, and learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean well, look, it's um. There's definitely some topics here that we could go all day about, but I was told you give me a soapbox and I'll stand on it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it's all good value and that's like. For me, this whole podcast has just been an incredible growth and learning exercise, like I said before, with the questions, like I'll probably start tearing up, like I get overwhelmed now that I started this podcast to talk about better business and being better building and providing your clients better, better outcomes and stuff, and it still is a lot of that, but I can't believe how much my audience has changed. My people that have listened to me since day one are now getting on the bandwagon of the, the personal growth and the personal development, because they've realized that that's where the magic happens.
Speaker 1:Well, most people go into business because they're they want to have a little bit more control over what they do and when they do it and how they do it right, and then it becomes all consuming because it's like having another child it's your baby, your business and then what happens is I mean, we've seen it from the members as well right? They start to think about how they're not getting their time back, how they're losing their time. They're working tremendous amount of hours into the night and you know that's not why they got into business. So what you and Amelia and the LiveLive Build team are providing is unbelievable because we talked about this on my Zoom calls which is finding work-life balance as a fallacy, in my opinion.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 1:Simon Sinek talks about it. It's more like look, if you have the type of job where, at the end of the day, you can shut down and not think about it anymore. Yes, you can probably have balance Absolutely, but balance is a scale where something has to give on one side or be heavily weighted to balance it out. It's probably more like work-life harmony or work-life synergy, where we all carry computers in our pockets these days, so you're never going to completely switch off. You're never going to. You're during the course of your day, whenever you're in your business, you're still thinking about your family. You're still in the pocket of your mind. Well, when you're with your family, I hate to say it, but at the end of the day, you're still thinking about all the other things you have to do. It's just about the percentage that it shifts right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, I think that's definitely something I'll work on it's having the ability to switch off, Like if you there's no point going to a kid's, I'll use your ball game and sitting in the crowd, but the whole time you're sitting in the crowd you're down responding to emails or text messages. You may as well not show up 100%. So it's having the mindset to switch off and I think that's like I always joke about it, like I actually reckon there'd be a market, like for a phone company to come out with the old Nokia like 3210 that you could only call and text message, Like I think there'd be a lot of people in the world now that had jumped on it. Were you with Optus or are you with?
Speaker 1:Optus. I was Were you with Optus when it went down. No, oh, it was unbelievable. Everyone else's complaining about it. I go this is great. Oh, just recently, yeah, just recently.
Speaker 2:No, I was with Optus when I had an old Nokia oh yeah, they were 3210 or something. But just recently, when Optus went nationally, when I was in the US.
Speaker 1:I was with Optus when nationally went down. It was like an amount of people you talked to now and go, how good was that day? And they go. Yeah, it was awesome, wasn't it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, like it's, just sometimes it takes things like that to happen to make you realize that you don't. I don't know. Phones are great and they're also sometimes the worst thing in the world, like people just know that they can contact you.
Speaker 1:It's like our health. How much does it take something like that, like a drastic health issue, for you to wake up to yourself? And for years you go, oh geez, I really should be doing this, or I should be eating better, I should do that. And then it takes something to blindside you to really wake up to yourself.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Sadly, it took three for me to wake up to myself.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, it's, yeah, but it's one of those things, isn't it? Like you hear people around you and family telling you stuff all the time, but it's, it's got to happen to you Like you've got to want it yourself, like you can't help people or you can't tell people stuff that they don't want to hear.
Speaker 1:But you have two lives right, and the second one starts when you realize you really only have one. Yeah well, you know what?
Speaker 2:I mean, yeah, very, very true, very true. Is there anything else? Mate, you want to have a chat about what we're talking?
Speaker 1:Oh look, I for me, I'm just really passionate about the shift in my life over the last couple of years, more towards just a service mindset, so like, for instance, when I'm on the base, I feel I'm throwing batting practice at it and it's like you know, hey, thanks, great job. It's a pleasure, absolutely pleasure. It's an honor to serve. I had a guy come in the other day and he had hit a jack out of the yard and he goes mate, that's all on you. I got none of. I'm not the one who's swinging the bat, I'm not the one who made the adjustments, I'm just the guy rolling it over. I think putting your heart into a place of service is really where society as a whole is starting to head back towards, and I think that those that are embracing that and I had this conversation with my son I think he must have been about five or six After driving one day and randomly he said to me. He said you know, why are we here? I was like, oh Jesus, that's a really deep question.
Speaker 2:Why are we on the Senate? Why are we?
Speaker 1:here. Yeah, oh God. I said man, I'm not sure. We've been searching for that answer Everyone, their whole lives. I said I'll come back to you with something, but I'm not sure it'll be right.
Speaker 1:And came back to him a couple of weeks later and I said I think we're here to provide service. I think when we're born, people need to serve us. We're not capable of looking after ourselves. And then, as we go through life and I gave him the analogy I said you know, if you, when we were in the States, you saw a police car and I said to protect, and what? And you go serve. And I said when you go in the military, you call it a military, what? And you go service. When you go to a restaurant and you go and you sit down for dinner, who brings you a server? Yeah, and when you go to church, what do you get? What is it called Church service? I said, well, I think that that says a lot. Is that that's what we're here to do, is provide and serve others. And finally, enough is that, should you be lucky enough to live long enough and maybe you're not able to look after yourself, well, then someone comes back and starts to serve you again.
Speaker 1:So, funny how we start in that area. We finished that area. I think the gap in the middle and what we're here to do is to provide a level of service to the community around us and our village, our people.
Speaker 2:That's pretty powerful, isn't it?
Speaker 1:Well, I think that's exactly what you and Amelia have done to that this platform live like bill.
Speaker 2:Cause when you serve, again fills your cup. Yeah, and once you cut field you serve people, the more comes back.
Speaker 1:And that's why I wanted to sit in that hot seat that time when we were down for drive 23 was because, you know, I don't have all the answers. I'm a coach but I don't have all the answers. I want people to see that I'm dealing with stuff too. I've got to work through trauma and difficulties and obstacles and you know, the obstacle is the way, and that was incredibly rewarding for me to sit there and I was challenged.
Speaker 2:And I had.
Speaker 1:I mean, you were there there are several times I'd stop. Okay, yep, I'm aware of that. And when we were done, we pulled into that new location. I dumped my bags, I went straight to the park, I sat in the sun, meditated for a while, did some yoga, and I really sat in that moment to learn from it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is. I already like how you put that, like it, just, it makes sense, doesn't?
Speaker 1:it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. The more people you serve, the better your life will be and the more that'll come back to you. So 100%. Well, mate Walter's starting to get a.
Speaker 1:He wants to have a chat in the podcast.
Speaker 2:But hey, but, mate, look, really appreciate you jumping back on. Thank you, and yeah, as usual, you offer so much value. So, yeah, look forward to seeing you continue to kick goals. Mate Really really appreciate the value that. Walter, oh, you're a big boy, you're a big beautiful boy.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm honored not just to be here but also to be part of the life field team. You know, I'm just absolutely privileged to have the opportunities that I have.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that we love having you. You're definitely an asset to the team and, yeah, just keep doing what you do, mate.
Speaker 1:God bless you, you too, buddy.
Speaker 2:Cheers, mate. Are you ready to build smarter, live better and enjoy life? Then head on to livelifebuildcom forward slash, elevate to get started. Everything discussed during the level up podcast with me, dwayne Pierce, is based solely on my own personal experiences and those experiences of my guests. The information, opinions and recommendations presented in this podcast are for general information only, and any reliance on the information provided in this podcast is done at your own risk. We recommend that you attain your own professional advice in respect to the topics discussed during this podcast. Thank you.