Why You’re Your Own Biggest Problem (And How to Beat It) – Real Talk from an Aussie Builder

Are you your own biggest obstacle? In this raw and inspiring episode, Aussie builder, Duayne Pearce gets real about self-doubt, imposter syndrome, and the daily battles we all face on the road to success. Discover how to break through comfort zones, silence your inner critic, and level up your life—no matter where you’re starting from.

Packed with honest stories, practical mindset tips, and a powerful call-to-action, this episode is for anyone ready to stop holding themselves back and start building the life they truly want.

Hit play, get motivated, and join the movement. Like, follow, and share for more real talk and Aussie inspiration!

Motivation #SelfImprovement #AussieBuilder #Mindset #LevelUp #Podcast

Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Scene In The Shed
• 3:32 Owning Being The Biggest Problem
• 5:42 Comfort Zones And Real Success
• 9:52 Fitness, Focus, And Distraction
• 12:22 Imposter Syndrome And Self-Worth
• 19:08 Guilt, Wealth, And Perspective
• 23:08 Tall Poppy And Aussie Comfort Culture
• 27:48 Social Media, Authenticity, And Doubt

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:28

G'day guys, welcome back to another episode of Level Up. We are back in the shed this afternoon and I'm uh I'm puffing a bit actually because we've just did a few push-ups and it did a bit of a warm-up. But uh look, it is going to be another cracking episode today. Uh we actually don't have another guest today. We got a lot of feedback from the last individual uh sort of chat, I'd guess I did on my own. Uh so we thought we'd have a crack and do a do a couple more. But today I wanted to really talk about we always get a lot of feedback when people hear more about my story. So I want to throw more just real deal, real life shit out there that I deal with on a daily basis. And one of my uh one of my things is that I am actually my biggest problem. And I think this will relate to a lot of people in the construction industry, but what I mean by that is I wanted to I'm gonna talk you through a few different scenarios, but I am the biggest thing holding me back, uh, and it shits me because I I know I'm not putting in 100% into everything that I do, so and I challenge myself constantly. I I know I can be a better father, a better husband, a better mate, a better employer, um a better everything. Um, but I am my biggest problem because I think it's human nature. We always tend to look for the easiest way. And knowing everything I know now, having multiple businesses, going to like doing spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on coaching, mentoring, programs, all those types of things. The reality is that it's the people that can push through the comfort the most, so that that succeed, and it and it's to what level you want to succeed to. And I think it doesn't matter what level you're at, whether you're uh I guess whether you've you've got nothing, you're homeless, um, whether or whether you're a multi-billionaire, like everybody has comfort levels, and we have to push through those comfort levels to succeed and to have success and to go to the next level. And for me, I am the biggest problem when it comes to that. Like I hold myself back. Like I said, I know I can do better, I know I'm not putting in a hundred percent. Um, and I just want to talk through this because I know there's a lot of people out there that get that are really hard on themselves that take it very personally if they don't put in a hundred percent of the effort every single day. Um, like I've actually it's a question I'd love to ask a lot of really big entrepreneurs like the Grant Cadones, the Gary V's, um even um people like Tony Robbins, like are they on all the time? Because like you watch these guys and you see all the shit they put on social media and you go to their seminars and they're just like full on, and they talk about being full on all the time, and um I question that a little bit about myself because from or for me anyway, it's impossible to be on all the time. Um and I think you've gotta every now and then you've got to have a bit of a break, you've got to rest a little rest yourself a little bit so that you can keep moving forward. But um when I say that I am my biggest problem, um, to give you some real examples, so like I would love to be, I'd love to work out more, I'd love to be more toned, more fit, um, and I do a little bit, I I know that I can definitely put more effort when it comes to um looking after myself, but I'll be honest, like um I get sidetracked pretty easily. Um quite often if I get up early intending on doing a workout or going for a walk or whatever, um I'll get stuck, I'll I'll get stuck into office work. I'll um I just love what I do, I love building, and so building is my passion for building is is a bit of a problem, and it stops me from doing other things because I I just love it. I love getting in the office, I love working through things, I love going to site, checking on the boys, so I I know I need to um control myself a little bit when it comes to putting more effort into my health and my fitness, um, and it's something I need to work on more, but um I'm definitely my biggest problem when it comes to being successful. Uh I question myself constantly, uh, especially like some of the people that I hang around, um some really good mates I have that have done incredibly well in business. I question myself whether like just stupid shit all the time, and I'm sure everybody does this. I'd love, I'd love for people to reach out and give me some feedback on this and tell me that I'm not the only one, but um I quite often question myself in some of the circles that I um I hang around is like, am I good enough to be hanging out with these guys? Am I good enough to be sitting at this table? Like, am I good enough to have the businesses that I have? Am I good enough to be doing these types of projects? Am I good enough to be to have what I have? Like um, that's something I question myself a lot, and I've got to pull myself back into line and and sort of tell myself, fucking oath, you're good enough. Like you have worked your ass off to to be here, to get this, to do that. Um, but it's just something I I question myself, and I think a lot of it comes from uh the way that I was brought up, the stories that I was led to believe. Um, so yeah, that's definitely something I I battle with as well, is just thinking if I'm good enough to be where I am and do what I do. But another one is um like we recently purchased like my dream car, like we uh it's a car that I used to look at when I'm like 20 years ago when I was subbing, and uh one of the developers I was doing work for used to rock up in this car, and um I used to I just told myself I'm gonna fucking one day I'm gonna have one of those cars. And uh recently Camille and I were lucky enough to uh purchase that car. Um it's Mercedes GLS 6.3 S incredible car, um, love it, 720 odd horsepower, it's an absolute weapon. And we actually didn't even really go looking, uh, like we just got up one weekend, we weren't really we're talking talking about buying a new car or whatever, um, and we didn't have one something on anything on one weekend, and I we just decided to get up and drive around a Saturday and go and have a look at a a few cars, and we were actually looking at a 300 series cruiser or something like that. And yeah, anyway, long story short, ended up with a um a new Mercedes, which is fucking awesome. But ever since we bought that car, um we've had a few a few months now, and I question myself all the time, like even driving it around. I'm like, fuck me. I dress like a bargain, I wear pluggers almost everywhere. Camille's always on my back about uh about what I wear when we go out. And now we're driving around in this this Flash Mercedes car, and I question, like, should I actually really do I deserve to have this car? So um, and so again, I I gotta pull myself back into line. Like, we've worked hard, we deserve to be able to have nice things and and reach our goals and and all those types of things, but probably the the biggest thing with all of this and what makes me think these things all the time is I I feel like uh friends or family members or even work colleagues that haven't been able to have the success that um Camille and I have had, and look, I'm not I'm no wanker about this shit. Like I've I want to be far more successful than when what I am now, but like I feel like I drive around at the moment, there's a lot of homeless people around, and like you're uh driving to one of our jobs in particular, you go past these parks, and there's all tents and cars and stuff, and there's all homeless people there, and like I literally every single time I drive past, I think to myself, like, fuck me, like is it okay for me to have all the shit I have when these people can't even afford a roof over their head? And I don't know, it really plays on my mind, it really affects me, and I've got to continually work on um telling myself that yes, you've worked hard, you deserve all these things. So I the reason I want to talk about all this stuff is because I I do believe that every single one of us deals with these sorts of thoughts and these sorts of um things, and I like talking about this stuff and I like putting it out there because I feel like by me telling these talking about my stories and like how I deal with things, um, I want it to lift the level of everybody that listens to this podcast. I want people to everybody to understand that it's okay to have these types of feelings, and it's okay to push through, and it's okay to have reach your goals to be successful and all these types of things. It's it's just part of life. Um, we're always going to question who we are, what we have, what we do, and like a lot of it for me, um, also comes back to I guess what I was told uh growing up by by family members, by uncles and aunties, by um in my working career, people that I've been associated with. And I truly believe that Australia is probably one of the worst places for this type of thing because the other thing that makes it hard and why why I question myself on all of this stuff is because Australia's are huge at accepting being comfortable, and I've noticed this more and more the more that I've traveled overseas, and like you go to the States or even Europe and places, and people really get behind people, like when they start doing well or they've got a great idea, or they're they're putting themselves out there. People jump on their bandwagon, they support them, they g them up. Whereas in Australia, everyone's your biggest supporter until you're outdoing them, and as soon as you start outperforming them, then all the shit starts. The um criticism, the smart ass comments. Um it's like when someone goes to purchase a house or or buy something off you, and because they don't actually have the money or they can't afford it, they make smart ass comments like oh it this is a problem or that's a problem. Whereas people that have the money, there's no problems, they just tell it how it is and they purchase it. And um I do feel Australia is really bad for yeah, like holding people in the comfort zone, like um look at the way our our sports works now, like it gives me the shits with with my girl sports. Everyone's a winner, uh it absolutely shits me to tears. I think it's ridiculous, I think it it I think it should be banned. Like, how can people progress and put in the effort to put in 100% all the time if every single person that is involved gets a ribbon or a reward? Like, reality is there's second is always the first loser, and everyone after that is still losing. Like, you if you want to work hard, you want to push yourself to the limits, like you have to aim for number one. Um, and we've and I think yeah, like I said, Australia is really bad for it. We have to stop settling for comfortable because comfortable, like mediocre, it's just it's not acceptable. Every single one of us has the ability to be whoever we want to be, do whatever we want to do, have whatever we want to have, and yeah, I I again it's something I struggle with because uh around you, like the better I do, the more I get told by probably uh more often than not family members, like you work too much, you're tired, you always look tired. Like, there's just all these thoughts and things that you're getting told all the time that you've then got to battle with, and and then you start to question yourself like okay, well, should I really be doing this? Um, like do people really think I look tired all the time, or shit, am I actually working too hard? But that's again it it's it's dragging back down to that comfort zone. Like everyone, everyone wants you to settle to their comfort zone, and like I said, it's uh we're very good at rewarding people for staying in that comfort zone. There's like aussies are really bad for ging people up and pushing them along and celebrating people when they're having a win and when they're doing well. So I tend to be my worst, my biggest problem, like my own problem when it comes to that sort of thing as well. So um the other one is social media, like I uh this will sound a bit weird and shit, but like um I do a lot of fucking airy-fairy shit, so uh kinesiology and breath work, and um I've tried some pretty crazy shit, and I've been told over half a dozen times now that even though I feel like I'm being myself, I've got a shitload more to tell and a shitload more to give, and that I'm holding back, and so this podcast is a good platform to allow me to be who I am and talk about things openly, and um I guess tell you guys these stories, and but I I'm I am my biggest problem when it comes to this as well because I even though people think that I'm putting my like I'm on social media all the time and I'm posting a lot, I battle with it every single time that I post. Um I see what other people are putting out on social media, I see how many followers other people have on social media, and I constantly battle with myself. Um, am I good enough to be doing what I'm doing? Am I good enough to be teaching builders how to run better businesses? Am I good enough to be creating a new building industry? And fucking oath I am, like I believe I am. I've done the hard yards, I've I've survived in this industry now. Um well, I've been in the industry for 27 years, or actually 20 uh 29 years now, and um running my own building business for 18. And as I've talked about, I I had struggles for the first sort of nine to ten years, but the last nine years have been fucking great, and like we are absolutely pushing forward, we're constantly improving, and um I've got the runs on the board, and I fucking oath I I can tell people how it is. I can I I probably um yeah, like I I don't um like everything I do is a real deal, so there's no bullshit, but um I see a lot of stuff that other people are putting out there on social media and I I know it's bullshit because I've had conversations with them, I know the behind the scenes of their business and all this type of stuff, and and yet I still question myself uh constantly whether I'm good enough to be putting myself out there. So that's a that is a problem that I battle with all the time as well. But um if I can encourage everybody to put you just put yourself out there because I know myself, by me putting myself out there, I've now helped thousands of people in this industry. Um, I've I've helped save hundreds of lives, I've um saved marriages, I've saved families, simply by me putting my ugly mug out there on video and telling you guys stories that resonate with you. So, for that reason, I encourage every single person to don't be afraid to put yourself out there because you it's not about how many followers you have, it's not about how many likes and how many comments and all that bullshit. At the end of the day, you want to be connecting with people that are connecting with you because they believe in you, they trust you, uh, and they enjoy what you're putting out there. Um, and through that, you will connect with genuine people. You don't want to have 10, 20, 40, 100, a million followers if they're not engaged with you, if they don't believe in your cause and your purpose. So um, again, that's something that I've had to battle with, and I still like I said, I still battle with it all the time. Like um, Shay produces all these awesome videos and stuff, and like we've I've got hundreds of videos that I don't even post because then I'm like I I battle with myself, like, should I be posting as much as I am? Should it should I be putting this sort of stuff out there? So um, yeah, look, you just got to do it, you've got to put yourself out there, and um, from my experience, it's the best thing you can do. Because for me, putting myself out there for personally, for me, it actually is a huge way of me holding myself accountable because now I'm like, fuck, if I'm putting all this shit out there and I'm telling people they should be doing this and that I've been doing this, and this is a result you'll get, then I'm the real deal. So I have to follow through on that. I have to do it in my own business, I have to do it in my own life because I'm a I'm not the guy, like I do not want to be a fraud, I do not want anyone ever coming up to me and saying you don't practice what you preach. Um, because that that's yeah, that's something I'm really passionate about. Like um, and it's also something that really shits me with social media because so many people on social media do not practice what they preach. So um, yeah, I'm my biggest problem when it comes to that sort of thing as well. I've talked about the social media, we've talked about the fitness, talked about success. Um, likeability. Uh that's definitely one that I I battle with. I I um I don't know, I'm probably too self-conscious with stuff like that. I worry about what people think, I worry like, believe it or not, even though I dress like a bog and I wear pluggers everywhere, like I do think like fuck the people look at me and think, like, who who the fuck's that guy? What's he wearing? Like, um and again, I like that ties in with the social media thing. Like, I see other people in our industry that are uh trying to do coaching and mentoring or or um running building businesses, and like they're all to me, they they look flash, they're always nicely trimmed and groomed and um well presented, and to me that's just it's not me. Um like I am my most comfortable when I'm in my pluggers, uh in my boardies, on the on the beach, chilling out, having a swim, or or throwing an old pair of jeans on and a and a work shirt and and getting stuck in the shit on the farm or around the yard. Um that's my comfort place, but I do definitely struggle with being like the likability thing and worrying about what people think and what people are saying and stuff, and it's something that I've had to push through. Like I wouldn't be putting myself out there as much as I do now if I hadn't taught myself to push through that. And um basically, like the the biggest game changer in this um with this for me was the book Um The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck. Um, that was an incredible book, it really changed my mindset, and it's pretty much how I live my life now. And going back to the stuff I was talking about before with the new car and stuff. Um Camille and I joke about this quite a bit, like she'll quite often have a dig at me because we'll be going out to dinner or pickups dinner or whatever, and now we're in this new car, we jump in the car. And like Camille, my wife um is an incredible person. She she always looks the like looks the part and puts in effort to for everybody else. Like she's always making sure our girls are spot on, and um, and then when we go out, I let the family down because I I'm the DAG in the family. But um yeah, that's just how I am, it's how I feel comfortable, and um yeah, it is what it is. If people don't like me for the way I look or what I talk about or all that type of stuff, then they're not sort of really worth worrying about anyway. But um yeah, it is what it is. I think I know there's a lot of people that reach out to me a lot and really worry about putting themselves out there, they see what I'm doing and they see how much it's worked for me, and then like I get questions all the time, like, how do you do it? And so one thing we actually do in my live life build business with our members is uh we do Monday Momentums and Friday wins, and that all started because that that's a way of encouraging them to get on video and record. So Friday wins, it's about getting members on there, holding their phone up, recording themselves, and just talking about their week. Um, and it could be anything, but just talking about their week and any little wins or big wins that they think they've had, and the whole idea of that is getting them comfortable speaking to the group because it's only the members, no one else sees it, and yeah, so many of them have man, from where they started, like doing their first short little video, stumbling, stuttering, to now doing full-on videos on their Instagram and promoting their business and things. So, um, yeah, fuck what everybody else thinks. Like you've just got to put yourself out there and have a crack, have a go. Um, who cares about what anyone else thinks or does? So if you if like I'm doing this this podcast episode today, I'm talking through with you all the thoughts that go through my head all the time, and that's why this podcast is about me being my biggest problem, because I believe that 99.9% of people that listen to this podcast will have the same issue, you'll be battling every single day with yourself, and if you're your biggest problem, it literally is as simple as talking to yourself when you're driving around or walking the dog or doing a workout or whatever, and changing those thoughts in your head so that you beat those thoughts, and all of a sudden the the world's your oyster. Like, if you're the only thing that's holding you back, then work on yourself, work on your stories, work on your mindset. Like it's okay. Um, I'm a I'm a huge supporter of it's okay to give yourself a pat on the back. Um, no one's gonna come up to you and tell you, like, it's good to it's great you're doing that, go on, do it. Like, so like it's hard to get support in Australia. So give yourself a pat on the back and put yourself out there and stop being your biggest problem and break through that barrier so that you can have and be and do anything that you want to do because I am a real life example that when you do that, incredible things happen. So, look, guys, I'll wrap it up for this one. Um, hope I haven't talked too much shit, but uh hopefully that's giving you a little bit of an insight into what my head is like and the shit that I tell myself constantly and how I deal with it to break through it so that I can be successful and um live the life that I want to live. So, look, guys, as usual, like, comment, subscribe. Please ask us questions so we can bring you videos that you want to hear. Um, look forward to seeing you on the next one. Alright, guys, I want to introduce you to a really exciting new product that I believe is going to play a massive role in Australia building healthier homes. 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