Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses | Mindset | Brain Performance | Personal Development | Health | Personal Growth

It sounds stupid. But I spent a large part of my life suppressing my creative urges through the tag of 'entrepreneur'. Now, I'm finally shrugging that off... and it feels so liberating. For almost five years now, I’ve considered myself to be an ‘entrepreneur’. Actually, that’s a big steaming pile of bullshit. I’ve pretty much been aware of an entrepreneurial flair inside me since my teenage years when I would sell illegally downloaded albums to my friends (oops) and bought and sold DVDs on eBay. But it wasn’t until five years ago that I actually decided to take the plunge and move into ‘full time self-employment’ with my own personal training business. Since then, I’ve made a living (just about) from a variety of ‘entrepreneurial endeavours’. And I loved the tag of ‘entrepreneur’ and being able to proudly say “I own my own business”. I spent my youth fascinated with the Richard Bransons and Steve Jobs of this world, dreaming that I too could one day do even 0.1% of what they’ve done. Now, though, I’m just about ready to pack all this entrepreneurial bollocks in. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a “giving up because I can’t do it” sort of thing. I’m not disappearing off with my tail between my legs because everything got too hard and giving up on my dream. On the contrary, dear Watson! The truth is that I fucking hate being an entrepreneur. The truth is that the last five years of my life have, professionally speaking, been a complete drain. The truth is that I got my dream wrong. [Tweet "The truth is that I got my dream wrong..."] Getting My Dream Wrong That may sound like a very weird thing to say. It’s probably more true that I misinterpreted my dream, as opposed to got it wrong. But the crux of the matter is that I spent the last five years of my life pretending. Pretending to be an entrepreneur, a businessman and a ‘self-employed person’ who was chasing some business dream. And I pretended so well that I fooled myself. When I really look at what it is I want to achieve and my life to be about, though, it’s not ‘business success’. I didn’t look up to Branson and Jobs growing up because of the companies they built. I looked up to them because they were living a life that meant something. They didn’t necessarily follow the market and where the money was, per se. They followed their excitement and creativity and built some amazing businesses in the process. I’m ashamed to say that many things I started over the past five years were because I believed they were a way I could make money, not because I was particularly excited about them. But no longer. Shifting My Self Identity I’ve wondered over the past five years why each business venture always seemed to somewhere along the line leave me with a melancholic deflation, regardless of its financial success or non-success. Now, I know. It’s because I just plain don’t want to have any ‘business ventures’. At heart, I just love creating things! Things that I want to create, not that I feel I should create. And things that aren’t judged by those three insufferable letters… R.O.I. Yes, I’ve discovered that I’m not an entrepreneur. Nor do I care to be one. What kind of entrepreneur would find ROI insufferable? ROI is orgasm land for most entrepreneurs, at least in its traditional meaning. No, I’m no entrepreneur. I’m an artist. And your point is…? I know… an artist? I think my pretentious douchebag-ometer just blew a gasket! Don’t worry though, I’ve not quite taken to going to spoken word clubs wearing a purple beret and sipping on Latvian goat’s milk espresso macchiatos. I’m still willing to drink a Foster’s out the can. But what this realisation of self-identity means (for me, at least) is that I get to just focus on creating and sharing whatever the fuck I want. I get to write, talk about, build and learn stuff based on what I’m excited about. I get to enjoy myself again! It may sound strange, but letting go of the entrepreneur tag is liberating! [Tweet "It may sound strange, but letting go of the entrepreneur tag is liberating!"] Back when I clung onto the idea of being an entrepreneur, not making money meant I was failing. Now, not expressing what I wanted to means I'm failing. Making money while suppressing my creative happiness means I'm failing. Of course, making money isn’t a bad thing. We all need money to live and, in my opinion, there’s nothing wrong with wanting more of it. It’s just now I don’t care how I make it. If it comes from a job or a business or whatever, it doesn’t matter. My entire identity, self-concept and sense of self-worth is no longer threatened by the idea of not being self-employed. Yes, I’d like to make a living from sharing my creativity. And one day I will. But being able to pay the bills while still having the time to express myself is much more appealing than being a miserable entrepreneur. At least, that’s what I think anyway. [Tweet "Making money while suppressing my creative happiness means I'm failing"]

This was such an interesting conversation I had with Dr Glenn Livingston. Glenn is a veteran psychologist who now specialises in 'food psychology' and helping people overcome self-destructive habits and binge eating. In fact, he's written a bestselling book on the subject called 'Never Binge Again', which came about after getting past his own demons with food and overeating. But the principles of the book aren't just applicable to food and eating habits, they're very relevant to overcoming any kind of self-destructive behaviour. So this is what we talked about on this week's podcast. In The Episode, We Talk About... How Dr Glenn overcame his own battle with food addiction to master his eating habits. The anatomical parts of your brain it's key to understand to end self-destructive behaviour. The importance of understanding and appreciating 'delayed gratification'. How to deal with uncertainty, self-doubt and low self-esteem. How to construct a plan for success in anything that sits right with your own brain. A simple mind trick to deal with 'cravings' to do or eat things not in line with our goals. Why a happy life may NOT come through loving every part of yourself unconditionally. How to recover from a mistake like a badass and not get bogged down by it. The purpose of pain and how to use it to your advantage. Dealing with other people who hold you back from achieving what you want. Links NeverBingeAgain.com "Rational Recovery" by Jack Trimpey This was an awesome episode and one I really enjoyed making on such a fascinating subject, so I hope you love it as much as I loved making it! You can give it a listen via the player above. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike

For me, the past couple of years have been about trying to just sort my fucking life out. I've had various moments where I've just had to sit myself down and be honest about the results I'm seeing in my life (or lack of them). And attempt to analyse what seems to be missing or imbalanced so I can move forward and do something about it. Effectively, I've just been trying to workout what happiness looks like to me... and how to achieve it. So in this episode, I just wanted to share my thoughts on this. And explain the areas of life that I believe need to be balanced in order to feel happy. In the Episode, I Talk About... Why being honest with ourselves is monumentally important to get out of feeling stuck and unhappy. How to stop making bullshit excuses to ourselves and step out of your comfort zone. My latest moment of 'self-honesty' and how it's resulted in me feeling much happier. The five areas I like to review and keep balanced in life. Why money isn't everything, but is still a necessary part to your happiness. How to add more meaning and purpose to your life without a sudden career shake up. My keys to combatting loneliness. You can give the episode a listen via the player above. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike

This week, I'm delighted to welcome Joe Apfelbaum onto the show. Joe is CEO of Ajax Union, a massively successful digital marketing agency based in New York and also runs his own blog, YouTube channel and podcast. Right now, he's what most people would term as 'successful'. But it hasn't always been the CEO life for Joe. In fact, his upcoming book, 'Average Joe to CEO', discusses the kind of shifts he made in order to step into success. So that's what we talk about in today's episode. In The Episode, We Talk About... The importance of being in control of your morning if you want to be happy and productive. Why it's vital to decipher your own 'blind spots' to move up to your next level. The key differences between declaring and committing. The three core limiting beliefs Joe says everyone must push past in order to achieve wild success. How to use 'improv' to improve your performance in all areas of life. Why relationships are at the heart of leading an awesome life. The importance of seeing relationships as transformational, as opposed to transactional. Links JoeApfelbaum.com Joe's Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn & Instagram AjaxUnion.com Enjoy the episode! You can give it a listen via the player above. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike

What a privilege it was to have Danny Iny on the podcast this week. Danny runs a company called Mirasee, where they help visionary businesses and entrepreneurs to make a huge impact through teaching and sharing huge value with their audience. He's also the bestselling author of several books as well as the host of his own podcast, Business Reimagined. But something close to Danny's heart (and a huge part of his business) is showing how entrepreneurs can become teachers and use education in order further their success and impact. In fact, he's written a bestselling book on the subject called Teach & Grow Rich, which he's recently updated and will be releasing the second edition imminently. So I wanted to talk to Danny about his story of how he stepped into being a teacher in his business and also talk about the book itself. In the Episode, We Talk About... Danny's story of going from $250k in personal debt to living his dream life through teaching and inspiring others. How creating a different story around your 'failures' can prevent you from always holding yourself back. How to cope when everything seems to be going wrong in your life. Why teaching is a 'different kind of opportunity' and how to use it to make more impact in your life and business. Why it's so important to find your 'democratised access' when it comes to teaching. How to figure out your personal zone of genius that you can teach to others. The power of using 'education' in your business, as opposed to just information. What Danny sees as the three biggest reasons people stop themselves from succeeding when starting to teach others (and how to overcome them). Links TeachAndGrowRichBook.com (Use coupon code "EEBs" at checkout) Mirasee.com Enjoy the episode! You can give it a listen via the player above. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

It's the final podcast of 2016, so I thought I would do some kind of 'review episode'. I decided to simply come up with a list of five things that I learned over the year and kick back with a beer to just go through them all. This was all done off the top of my head with just the five points as a rough guide, so excuse some of the mad rambling tangents I may go off in. But I think what I share is pretty powerful nonetheless. So kick back and listen to what I learned about myself, life, business and all kinds of other things in 2016. In the Episode, I Talk About... The top five things I learned in 2016. How these five things can help you in 2017. Why it's important to just take action before you feel like you're ready. How my relationship with the word 'love' changed in 2016 and improved all areas of my life. The importance of serving yourself first. Getting past the feelings of not feeling worthy and not feeling good enough. And much more. You can give the episode a listen via the player above. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

What a wonderful conversation I had with David Ralph here on the podcast this week. He's one of those people who I feel like I just had a genuine connection with straightaway and could have gone on for a good while longer just chatting about all sorts of things. David is the host of the rather popular Join Up Dots podcast where he's grown a pretty large following over the last few years and now teaches others to do the same. But, as with many people, it's not always been smooth sailing. David didn't enter this whole 'online/podcasty/entrepreneurial' world until his mid-40s after climbing up the corporate ladder for many years. So we talk about his story and how he discovered his 'superpower' to share with the rest of the world. In The Episode, We Talk About... David's story of quitting his corporate boredom to discover something he was passionate about. The struggles David faced once he started his 'solo journey' (and how he overcame them). An exercise for finding out what your super power is and how you can harness it in your business or career. How to give yourself a 'motivation rocket'. Why it's vital to know what you're not good at. The good and the bad of being a 'hustler'. How to get over the fear of judgement. How to get yourself in a position where you can't wait to get back to work. Why following your own path is always the best way. The importance of getting clarity on and working towards your perfect day. Links JoinUpDots.com Join Up Dots on iTunes Check out David interviewing me on Join Up Dots Enjoy the episode! You can give it a listen via the player above. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

Just me, myself and I on the podcast this week as I have a ramble about becoming more disciplined. I really feel like I've managed to become 'more disciplined' in my life over the past few months. Strangely, however, it took me falling out of this discipline through a couple days of travelling and resulting jet lag last week for me to really see how disciplined I had become. When I say 'disciplined', I don't mean it in a hard, military sort of way. For me, being disciplined is simply about getting the shit done that you said you were going to do. Not using willpower to force yourself to do shit you don't want to do, but just following through on your plan. And so I wanted to make today's podcast episode about everything I've noticed while doing this. In The Episode, I Talk About... How I was stopping myself being disciplined in the past. Why the 'noise' in my life was stopping me moving forward. How to analyse your noise and get rid of noise that doesn't serve you. Why listening to advice and help from everyone is not a good idea. A process for making Facebook a nice place to be, instead of making you feel like crap. How to cut through all the shit others are telling you to do and form your own path towards achieving a goal. The simple way of building a daily/weekly/monthly action plan. The key elements of determining what makes a successful week for you. Why discipline comes through all areas of life. Links 62: Six Ways to Meditate Without Meditating Enjoy the episode! You can give it a listen via the player above. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

Tom Corson-Knowles is a complete badass when it comes to helping authors and wannabe authors get their books out there. And he's not just some dude with bits of useful information. He's got the credentials to back it up. With several Amazon bestsellers of his own as well as coaching countless others to reach that feat, he's been there in the trenches and knows exactly what it takes to earn a living from book sales. So it was absolutely fascinating to have him on the show this week. If you've ever thought about maybe writing a book or have written one that you want to get out there in a bigger way, then this episode is an absolute must listen. In The Episode, We Talk About... Tom's story of how he transitioned into entrepreneurship out of college and published his first book. The power of simply focussing on 'the next step', as opposed to getting too much into goals and visions. Why setting goals for amounts of money is not the way to go. The mindset behind getting your book written. The process of writing, publishing and marketing your own book. The truth about 'writer's block' and how to never have it again. How to switch between left and right brain during your writing process to get your book finished faster. Strategies for going 'Kindle only' as well as self-publishing a physical book. Why it's important to have a 'brand promise' with your book and how to do this for fiction and non-fiction. How to create a structure for creativity and an environment for writing. Some absolutely amazing tips and strategies for getting the most out of Amazon and launching your book (even if you have no audience or following). Links TCKPublishing.com The Publishing Profits Podcast eBookPublishingSchool.com Bookbub MyIdentifiers.com acx.com CreateSpace.com This was such an epic interview and, as someone who loves writing and will be releasing a book at some point, one I personally found incredibly useful. You can give the episode a listen via the player above. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

It's a podcast first this week for me as I welcome the first Norwegian guest onto the show. And what a wonderful conversation it was with the amazing man that is Peter Svenning. Peter helps people and businesses develop leadership, connection and communication skills from a 'heart based' perspective. In fact, his website tag line is "Leadership by Heart," which I love. But he's not just some corporate dude who broke free and started his own leadership business. Peter spent a large part of his younger years living a much more 'eastern lifestyle' as a monk and travelled the world while learning and teaching about the life principles he was discovering. So it was extremely interesting to hear about his story and how he transitioned from the monastic life into being a very successful business owner by spreading his message. In The Episode, We Talk About... Peter's story of going from living as a monk into successful, heart-based business owner. The biggest lessons Peter learned from his time as a monk that can be applied to 'everyday life'. How to create your own personal spiritual retreat. Peter's five simple steps to create deep relaxation at any time and place. The incredible power of meditating early in the day. How to achieve inner freedom. How to effectively communicate with people from the heart. The five steps to follow for establishing a deep connection with someone in any situation. How to get what you want out of situations without feeling guilty. And much more... Links Peter's website Get Peter's new book for just the price of postage: "Be Heard Now: The 5 Secrets of Effective Communication" "Mindfulness in 1-2-3" by Peter Svenning The Bhagavad Gita It was amazing to speak with Peter and I hope you enjoy our conversation. You can give the episode a listen via the player above. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

What a pleasure to have Jake Nawrocki from Operation Self Reset on the show this week. Jake is someone who just a few years ago was on the verge of bankruptcy and almost lost everything. But it was here in his lowest moment when he decided to share his journey and launch a podcast in an attempt to just help other people as he went along the path of trying to 'fix himself' and his life. That podcast, Operation Self Reset, is one that I myself have listened to and been inspired by many times on my own journey. So it was fantastic to get him on my show this week to talk about his journey and all things personal development and mindset related. In The Episode, We Talk About... Jake's story of going from almost bankrupt to successful podcast host and coach and living a mega happy life. What Jake has learned from many years service as a firefighter. How to develop a mindset for dealing with criticism. Why the only real way you can quit is to quit on yourself (and how to not do this). The importance of regular self-reflection. How to develop a practice of gratitude. What a 'self reset' is and how to achieve your own to stay on track in your life. How to do a 'self reset slap'. How to build your confidence through self-love. Links OperationSelfReset.com Operation Self Reset on iTunes Navy Seal Michale Thornton episode on OSR Jake's free Start Your Reset workbook Jake's phone number: 414-550-4012 You can give the episode a listen via the player above. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

It was a real pleasure to talk to Kelly Roach on the podcast this week. She's achieved a lot in her life and it's amazing to hear about what she believes are the principles to her success and happiness. Whether it be her time as an NFL cheerleader, climbing to the top of the corporate ladder, starting a business or writing a book... Kelly believes there are several key principles that helped her. And we talk about them in today's wonderful episode. In The Episode, We Talk About... Kelly's story of going from NFL cheerleader, to corporate success, to successful business owner. How to really discover what you want in life. The keys to getting a business going on the side to a full time job. Why it's vital to not place blame outside of you. Why a subtle shift in how you see yourself can be vital to your success and happiness. How to stop taking failure as a personal attack. Why getting your 'inside aligned with your outside' is key for happiness. How to 'engineer your celebrity' online. Links Kelly's website Kelly's book Kelly's free "Engineer Your Celebrity" video Unstoppable Success Podcast You can give the episode a listen via the player above. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

Nick Snapp is a 'productivity guy'. But not in the usual way. Yes, he helps with all the organisation, apps and tools you can use to get more shit done in less time. But what I love about his approach is that he always starts with purpose. Because you can have all the apps, systems and tools you can get your hands on, but if what your doing doesn't fill you up in some way or have some sort of purpose... You will not be optimally productive! So it was amazing to get Nick on the podcast this week and chat about taking a slightly different angle on the whole 'productivity world'. In The Episode, We Talk About... Nick's story of breaking free from a stressful job + side business + family scenario and becoming a productivity master. Why it's so key to prioritise your most purposeful actions to become the most productive. An exercise for finding those purposeful actions that will bring you the greatest results. The importance to your own sanity of being willing to give up control. Why it is key to come up with agreements in your relationships when it comes to managing your time. How Nick utilises a weekly 'joint review' with his wife so he can be more productive and have an amazing relationship. Why it's important to drop the BS 'hustle, hustle, hustle' mentality. Nick's best tips, tricks and strategies for managing your time and systemising your actions. Links NickSnapp.com Nick's free productivity video Make It Snappy podcast "Will It Fly?" by Pat Flynn Evernote Slack aTimeLogger You can give the episode a listen via the player above. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

This was a great conversation I had with the wonderful Rob Dial. Rob is someone who found huge levels of financial success at a young age, growing several multi-million dollar businesses in his 20s. But he's also been hugely dedicated to his own personal growth from a young age, something he also helps many others with now through his MWF Motivation podcast. So I really wanted to get into Rob's head and find out what makes him tick. I wanted to know the mindset, the behaviours and the sheer way of being that enabled Rob to find that combination of financial success and happiness at such a young age. And that's what we talked about in today's podcast. In The Episode, We Talk About... How Rob dropped out of college and start helping to grow multi-million dollar businesses. How to extract passion and purpose from a seemingly 'bland' job or industry. Why getting a coach at the age of 19 was the best thing Rob ever did. The power of journaling, and how to get into it if you're struggling to make it a habit. Rob's key habits of successful people. How to set goals like a pro and make sure you achieve them. The power of seeing your life as a way to pursue personal growth. What Rob learned about life from having dinner with a billionaire. How being competitive with yourself is a key to success and happiness. Links "As a Man Thinketh" by James Allen Rob's website MWF Motivation Podcast This was a wonderful conversation, and one I hope you love listening to. You can give the episode a listen via the player above. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

I’ve often referred to ‘that douchebag in your head’ in various blogs, Facebook posts and podcasts. What I’m referring to here is, essentially, the voices in our heads that continually chatter to us about everything that’s negative in our individual worlds. Why we can’t do this and shouldn’t do that. There have been times in my life where I’ve been absolutely crippled with all this stuff. Listening to this douchebag, believing every word he says and allowing him to keep me stuck. I would try to keep going. And listen to all the YouTube talking heads telling me that strong people just “hustle harder” and “never give up”. But I’d always seem to find a way to sabotage everything and maintain my ‘stuckness’ and unhappiness. Identifying the Douchebags Things didn’t start to change until I actually fronted up and looked at what was going on in my head. There were so many voices saying so many things about what I should and shouldn’t do and tying me up in a world of confusion that saw me just completely frozen. From dealing with this myself and talking to many others about it, I’ve found there are a few ‘common’ douchebags in our heads. Ones that show up time and time again saying the same things for many of us. In essence, we all seem to have several ‘douchebags in common’. So in this post I just wanted to identify these and talk through some ways both I and people I’ve helped have dealt with them. #1 The “Not Good Enough” Douche I’m not sure there’s anyone out there who hasn’t thought this at least once in their life. But it’s all too common to have this douchebag continually running around screaming this in your ear. Where it leaves us is in a constant state of putting stuff off into the future. Because in the future we will be good enough at some point. Only, that point never seems to arrive. We just continually keep loading ourselves up with degrees, qualifications, experience and fiddling around procrastinating with anything we possibly can in order to justify delaying doing ‘the thing’ we really want to do or be the person we really want to be. This thought also brings about somewhat of a nonsensical situation. We feel like we’re ‘not good enough’. But then this begs the question… Not good enough for what? Success? Happiness? Love? Really? We’ve all been through varying amounts of various ‘stuff’ in our lives. But I guarantee you are good enough to receive any and all of the success, happiness and love we desire. Otherwise, when will you be ‘good enough’? How will you know when you are? It’s like running a marathon to find that some fuckwit forgot to paint the finish line. So you just go on some epic Forrest Gump style run hoping that one day someone will come along and paint that finish line for you. Tying it to Self-Worth But it all comes back to and is rooted in our self-worth. Or, more specifically, how we tend to measure our self-worth. For me, the mistake we make is tying our idea of self-worth into our performance and the results we see in our life. If everything isn’t perfect and we aren’t performing better and better and better each day in any and all areas of our life, then many of us ultimately come to the conclusion that we are not worthy. That we are not good enough because we didn’t achieve ‘this goal’ or beat ‘that person’. And it leaves us in a position of continually needing to justify our own worthiness to ourselves by beating others and winning and being the best. Then, if we don’t see this in our lives, we just assume we ‘aren’t good enough’. We don’t see evidence of us ‘winning at life’ and so assume we aren’t worthy of winning, or maybe even existing at all. We’re told growing up that you must do well in school. You must pass your exams. Go to university and/or get a ‘good’ job. Progress in that job. It’s ingrained into us, inadvertently I might add, by society that we must achieve to be worthy of being a respectable and upstanding member of the human race. So we chase and chase in a desperation for satisfying that desire to be worthy. The ‘fix’, if you will, comes with the awareness that our self-worth does not have to be tied to our performance if we don’t want it to. Just the very fact we exist and that each individual is having this experience we call life is exactly what is required for each one of us to be worthy and ‘enough’ for success, happiness, love and whatever else we desire. Your existence is proof that you are worthy of existing. And existing is simply an opportunity to cultivate our desires. #2 The Comparison Douche This is another common one that I and so many others I know have experienced. The dreaded voice that causes us to become obsessed with needing to get ahead and be better than everyone. I suppose, in that respect, it ties into the previous point quite well. I call this whole thing the ‘leadership game’. Playing this game that causes us to constantly look around and compare what we’re doing to everyone else in our life, job, career, industry, business, family, social circle and whatever else. Of course, some might say this is healthy. It’s where competition comes from. And competition drives us to provide ‘better’ services, be ‘better’ people, perform ‘better’ at work and live ‘better’ lives. But it also creates potential for two different kinds of people. Either we get the person who becomes obsessed with winning. They must win at all costs and will literally step all over anyone else in their way in order to get there. Think Gordon Gekko (or a watered down version of him). Or we get the person who just becomes deflated by it all. They compare what they’re doing in their lives to the people around them and end up frozen and unable to move for fear of it all being wrong or not believing their ability to climb over the next person. Whichever way we go, I would argue it’s not the most optimal way of thinking if we want to create a big old bag of zen-like inner peace and happiness in our lives. All that ends up happening is we concentrate on what everyone else is doing. We fight to stay ahead of the pack. We desire (maybe even secretly) to keep up with the Joneses. And we only feel successful and content if we get to the front of this fictional game we’ve created in our minds. Playing a Game of One A huge issue with this way of thinking is… when does it end? At what point are we actually going to turn around and accept that we’ve made it to ‘the front’ or ‘the top’ and everything is now groovy? Truth is, this place we’re all striving to get to is so murky and unclear that we probably wouldn’t be able to recognise it even if we did somehow get there. And then we would be so wrapped up in fear of losing that place that we probably wouldn’t allow ourselves to enjoy it anyway. It’s all very exhausting. What I would suggest is that we start playing a game all by ourselves. A game of just one… YOU! No “I need to get the top or it’s not worth it” or “he/she is better than me so there’s no point”. Just full on refusing to even walk out onto the playing field and play this pointless game with everyone else. As I write this, it’s generally accepted that either Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo are the best football (soccer) players in the world. Does that mean every other footballer looks at these two and just doesn’t try because they can’t get to their level? No, of course not. They’re just as worthy of extracting all the success, happiness and joy from the game as them. So just head out there and play a game of your own. With your own rules. And one that serves your own happiness and peace of mind without having to compare everything you do to everybody else around you. #3 The Judgement Douche Yes, this is that douche in your head that always worries about what people will think of you. I’ve talked about this whole ‘judgement thing’ a lot recently. But it’s such a big player when it comes to freeing ourselves to live life the way we want. First of all, however, it’s important to understand what’s actually going on here. Most people think that they’re fearful of receiving judgement on their actions, behaviours or whatever else. A common phrase might be “don’t judge me” or “are you going to judge me if…?” But when we actually look closer, it’s not the judgement itself that we’re fearful of. It’s simply not getting the judgement we don’t want. Truth is, we, as humans, are sort of liking ‘judging machines’. We can’t help but judge each other on who we each are and how we behave. And that judgement can result in what we would term ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ reactions. So, in actual fact, it’s not the act of receiving judgement itself that we’re worried about or fearful of. It’s simply not receiving the judgement we want that’s really at play here. What Does This Mean Though? Right now you may be thinking about how that’s kind of interesting to know or realise. But what’s the point? What difference does understanding this subtle variance make to anything? But by coming to this realisation, it enabled me to see how somebody else’s judgement of me actually doesn’t have anything to do with me. It’s to do with them. When we stop focussing on getting people to either judge us positively or not at all and accept that we will be judged, it can take a bit of the load off. It’s much clearer to see that everyone else is free to judge based on their own experiences, values and backgrounds. And that any judgement we do receive belongs to the other person and not us. It’s theirs, not ours. And we’re free to be, do and act in the way we truly desire without the need to focus so much on what everyone will think. So these are just a few of the mina players when it comes to the ‘douchebags in our head’ that hold us back. Of course, there are probably much more that various different people get. But these are what I’ve found to be three of the most common. And I hope discussing them here helped you.  

This conversation I had with Cliff Wilde was, to put it simply, amazing. Together with his lovely wife, Marta, Cliff owns and runs a coaching company called 'Unlimited Life Project'. In fact, I'm going through some incredible coaching with them myself. So it was an amazing experience to get Cliff onto the show. Within Unlimited Life Project, Cliff teaches about the mind, body, emotions, soul (and whatever you want to call it) at a very high level. Make no mistake, though, he has not just floated into this way of being easily. He suffered a monumental series of physical illnesses that started at just 18 months old and continued through until adult life. And it was all the skills, knowledge and experience he gained from finally healing himself that started him on the path to creating the life he has now. An 'unlimited life'. We talk about so much in this episode, so I HIGHLY recommend you take a listen. In The Episode, We Talk About... Cliff's incredible story of overcoming monumental health problems to creating a thriving business and living an amazing life. Why trying to numb pain in our life leads to us numbing everything. How to become 'obsessed with the process' yet 'detached from the outcome'. The key to bringing all your desires in life to fruition. How everything can shift dramatically when we accept life happens for us, not to us. What 'overwhelm' really is and how to deal with it. The importance of assessing whether we're coming from a place of fear or love/faith. How to address the epidemic of people not feeling good enough or worthy of success and happiness. The non-bullshit way of achieving an 'abundance mindset' and conquering our money beliefs. Why it's vital we take full, 100% responsibility for our current reality. Why self-sacrifice always leads to resentment (and what to do about it). Links 'Unlimited Life Project' Free Facebook Group Cliff's Facebook In truth, there's much, much more than that list of bullets in the episode and it is one of my favourite conversations so far. So I would definitely check it out :) You can give the episode a listen via the player above. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

Wow! What a conversation this was with Perpetua Neo. For a good while now I've been wanting to get an actual 'mind doctor' on the show. And Perpetua did not disappoint! She's a clinical psychotherapist and coach who's attended University College London as well as Univeristy of Cambridge. So, in other words, Perpetua knows her shit. But it's not been a perfect mental health road that you might expect for a psychotherapist. While she was studying, Perpetua started experiencing debilitating panic attacks that caused her to doubt whether she was cut out to work in the psychology world. So we talk about her story through this. As well as a whole host of other things mind and brain related, including one of my favourite subjects... depression (I feel weird saying that's a favourite subject of mine). In The Episode, We Talk About... Perpetua's story of recovering from panic attacks while studying to work in psychology. Where panic attacks and anxiety stems from (and how to find your root). The importance of understanding the 'spotlight effect' for achieving inner peace. How to stop feeling like you are a useless failure all the time. Depression, where it comes from and how to deal with it. Why depression is more about emptiness, not sadness. High functioning depression and why it's ok to be depressed, even when you feel like you shouldn't be. How to let go of keeping hold of depression as a part of your identity. Listen to me also get a little bit of coaching on the call too! Links PerpetuaNeo.com Contact Perpetua How to Meditate for Beginners (3 minute meditation) "We Need to Stop Shaming Entrepreneurs for Investing in Themselves" (Perpetua's Huff Po article) It was lovely talking to Perpetua and I probably could have gone on for several hours more. So I hope you enjoy listening in on the conversation. You can give the episode a listen via the player above. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

Goal setting is something I’ve always reluctantly done yet secretly hated. Why? Because I do it like I’m ‘supposed to’ while secretly feeling like I know nothing, or at least very little, is ever going to materialise. Every New Year, new quarter, birthday or any other significant time, I seem to get the urge to set some kind of goal. I see a Facebook post or YouTube video about goals and guilt myself into seeing the need to set them. As if this time I’m going to somehow follow through on everything. Whether it be in business, relationships, general life stuff or even in health and fitness (I know, awesome for a former personal trainer, right?), I always seem to get some kind of motivational uplifting wind for a few days or weeks that then comes crashing back down to earth pretty soon. Don’t get me wrong, obviously I have achieved some of the goals I’ve set myself. I’m not a complete spanner. If I hadn’t, then I would never have launched any kind of business, the podcast, the Facebook group or this website. Hell, I would still be crawling around on my hands and knees because I wouldn’t have achieved the goal of learning to walk! It’s just, the usual way of setting goals, with all the boring SMART stuff, it doesn’t really interest or excite me. If it works for you then great! But I’m calling bullshit on the belief that the world will implode if we haven’t set any SMART goals. In fact, I’m going to do more than call bullshit and suggest there is a much better way of attacking this whole goal setting concept. So in this post I just want to go through five things I’ve learned and like to remember when setting goals: #1 There’s a Problem with ‘Realistic’ I suppose the largest issue I have with the whole SMART thing is that fourth letter – realistic. Yes, we’ve all seen the Will Smith video where he talks about the whole ‘realistic’ thing. If not, I’m sure you’ve seen something along similar lines. And I’m not simply going to fill this space with ball-tickling stuff about reaching for the stars. But, rather, to just be aware of what the R in SMART is conditioning us to think like. Just its presence sort of gets us to reconsider what we really want and implies that we need to re-think our initial desires. In short, it suggests that we compromise on our dreams. After all, isn’t the whole point of a goal to stretch ourselves and to take us into experiencing a new way of being? Not to simply stay almost stagnant and bore ourselves to death with what is ‘realistic’. Having the smaller, less exciting goals in place may well still be needed. For example, eating three healthy meals a day and doing this or that for your business. But, at the same time, hold onto the ‘unrealistic’, big, fucking wow goal(s) you have. Don’t hold them back. And declare them confidently without fear of ridicule. Maybe, deep down, you don’t truly believe these big ones are possible yet. But simply removing the idea that they’re impossible is a monumental start. #2 Desire, Don’t Require Something else I’ve noticed from personal experience about our mindset when it comes to goal setting is how we seem to require that they be achieved. By this I mean that we attach our happiness, our self-worth and our entire identity into achieving a certain goal. We feel like we desperately need to achieve that goal or risk being deemed unfit for society and exiled to some far off corner of the world as life as we know it comes crashing down around us. Of course, this isn’t true. And, when we think logically, we know this isn’t true. Desiring that a goal be achieved is one thing. Wanting to grow and achieve and experience new and ‘better’ things in our lives is perfectly healthy and natural. But requiring it? Needing it to happen and attaching all of our happiness on the outcome? I would suggest maybe that’s not the healthiest way of thinking. It takes us away from appreciating what’s in our lives right now. We start looking around and seeing everything that’s shit, validating the need to achieve said goal(s) and banking our hopes on doing so making everything not so shit at some point in the future. Then, even if that goal is achieved, we start thinking how much better life would be if we achieved the next one. So we start looking at this next goal and going round in a vicious circle of self-shittery. Every goal is a search for a feeling. We don’t want a million £/$/€ in the bank, we want the feeling of security and freedom (or whatever else) we think that will bring. We don’t want to be a certain body weight, we want the feeling of confidence and self-love (or whatever else) we think this will bring. So when looking to achieve a goal allow yourself the time and space to feel the feeling you wanted to feel… NOW! Not delaying it until achieving the ‘next goal’. #3 Does the Process Excite You? When I was a personal trainer, I obviously had goals for my business. I wanted to have my own studio that was the hub for real, holistic health in my local area. It wasn’t going to pander to diets or the whole negative body image shizzle going on in the media. Just promote and teach real, all-over health for people in my local area. I was going to have trainers and coaches working underneath me, a manager to manage the facility and I would be the owner who didn’t need to be there training people at all hours of the day like I had been doing as a personal trainer. Even as I write this and bring this idea back into my head now, it excites me. I’m still passionate about holistic health and the thought of having a business like this does ‘get my juices going’, so to speak. The problem that existed, however, back when I tried to do this (and would still exist if I were to try again now) is that the dream sounded awesome, but the process didn’t excite me. In fact, the process down right bored and frustrated the pants off me. In order to build this studio business, I needed clients and customers (duh!). Yet writing exercise programmes, training people in the gym at all hours of the day and doing all the niggly things that a brick and mortar business requires just did not float my boat. Add on top of this all the marketing and sales stuff and you’ve just described my business/career hell. And I wanted to somehow build my dream business on this foundation! Maybe some of the business coaches out there will tell me how I could have switched things up, delegated, systemised, etc. But I just couldn’t extract very much joy from that business at all. My point here is that the ‘end goal’, the dream or the vision for what you someday might create could be amazing. It could light your fire, float your boat, bake your pie ( :/ ) and butter your bread all in one go and at the same time. But how does the process look? What’s the journey like? What would you have to do on a regular basis in order to get there? Happiness is in the journey, not the destination. So setting goals that sound awesome, but require us to run through hell will usually end up in frustration and giving up on them at some point. My philosophy now when it comes to any goal is to, first of all, ask myself… is the juice worth the squeeze? #4 Measure Success Backwards Again, becoming aware to this concept was huge for me with regards to goal setting. It’s very easy to set goals and become discouraged pretty soon into any attempts at achieving them. Even when something positive would happen and a little goal was achieved, I would look at the bigger picture and frustrate myself because of how far I was from the ‘big goal’. For example, say you’ve been moving for a few months towards a goal of setting up a business turning £100k a year. Or that you need to lose 100lbs in weight to get to your ‘ideal’. It’s very easy to get into our own heads in situations like this and start feeling bad about how far we’ve got to go. Maybe you’re only making £20k a year or you see how much weight you’ve got to go and get discouraged. You look at all the other people much closer to their ideal weight or £100k and just feel like you’re not good enough. For some of us, it’s enough to activate that douchebag in our head again and get us feeling like total losers and that there’s no point carrying on. The goal is too far away, everyone else is better and it will take too long to get there, so there’s no point. Just crack out the Dorito’s and let’s have a Breaking Bad marathon. But this, in my opinion, comes because we’ve decided to measure our success forwards. We look at how close or far we are to the ‘end goal’ and judge our success by that. If we’re ‘too far’ away, then we deem ourselves failures. Measuring success backwards, however, is very powerful when it comes to preventing us falling into the Doritos/Breaking Bad trap. This way, we look back on what we’ve achieved over the past. Maybe you’re only at £20k in pursuit of your £100k, or you have another 100lbs to lose. But where were you a week ago? A month ago? A year ago? It’s possible that a year ago you were homeless and living out of your car. Or a year ago you had no desire to lose weight and was on your way to having to lose 200lbs instead! Of course, having that goal in the future is important. I’m not saying just remove all future goal setting and continually look back on your past. Use that goal, that vision, as something that inspires you and keeps you focussed on the actions and behaviours to take right now. But measure the success you have by how far you’ve come, not how far you have to go. #5 Include Regular Self-Review Man, oh man! Is this something that was hugely missing from my goal setting and ‘success path’ procedures. Believe it or not, I’ve only very, very recently included this as part of my weekly habits. It seems so simple and obvious, but I never thought about it previously. In the past, when it came to goal setting, I would set the goal, work out what I had to do, put a plan together and take action. Sound logical, right? And it is! It’s a pretty good way of achieving a goal. I’d get a wind of motivation and keep going for a few weeks, sometimes a couple months, only to get frustrated or bored if something wasn’t working. I’d get major pissed off, have an adult-style tantrum and completely shift direction in the hope that this next thing would be the ‘magic bullet’ to make everything in my life amazing. The critical thing that was missing here was a process of self-review. A regular meeting with myself where I look over what I’ve done, not done, what’s worked, what’s not worked, what to celebrate, what to stick with, what to drop and whether there’s room for anything else that could be useful moving forward. The magical thing about this is the ‘brain’ we’re operating in. How I used to do it was to keep going until I built up enough frustration and self-doubt that it all exploded over the sides and I’d come to a complete halt. It’s all coming from a subconscious, emotional and reactionary perspective. A regular self-review process, however, comes from a proactive, logical and conscious perspective. It’s sitting down and taking time to critically analyse our steps forward. In short, it puts ME in control. The urge to chase those ‘shiny objects’ like some fucking moronic magpie severely decreases. And I no longer feel like I’m missing out if I don’t do all the courses, read all the books and do all the things everyone on the interwebs is telling me I must do. I’m starting to do this self-review process weekly. So every Monday morning I basically just analyse the previous week and work out what should be included in this week’s action plan. I told you it was simple and obvious! Listen to the audio version of this article via the player at the top of the page, or by subscribing to the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher.

This was a great conversation I had with Tim JP Collins all about anxiety. A few years ago, Tim was a guy who'd done fantastically well in his career, yet lived with a secret case of crippling anxiety and panic attacks. In fact, they were so bad that they almost wrecked his career, relationships and entire life. Despite being offered medication, Tim finally got to the route cause and solved his anxiety issues naturally. Now, he's left that high level job and shares his anxiety story on his own podcast and coaches others on dealing with this sometimes debilitating mental illness. So it was amazing to talk about this on today's show. In The Episode, We Talk About... Tim's story of being crippled with panic attacks and anxiety to becoming a coach helping others get through similar issues. Why Tim's 'deferred life plan' of working for retirement helped bring on anxiety. Why alignment to yourself and your values is key for overcoming anxiety. How to find the route cause of anxiety and inner struggle. The importance of community vs. isolation. How food and lifestyle can be huge for anxiety and mental health sufferers. The often taboo, yet vitally important, gluten and autoimmune aspect to mental health. Why speaking YOUR truth is so vital. Why your story doesn't need to be perfect (and probably never will be). Links "The Autoimmune Fix" by Dr. Tom O'Bryan Tim's website The Anxiety Podcast Tim's Facebook Loved this conversation with Tim, and I hope you love listening to it! You can give the episode a listen via the player above. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

Boy was it an honour to have Derek Rydall on the podcast today. His story (and the way he tells it) is truly inspiring, intriguing and down right incredible. Just a few years ago, Derek was a struggling actor who almost died... twice. The first time at his own hands with alcohol, and the second while going snorkeling and getting trapped in coral. In fact, this second time there was a moment he just plain gave up. But in that moment, he had an epiphany about life and was never the same again. This started him on a huge path of self-discovery that led him to writing an amazing book, Emergence: Seven Steps for Radical Life Change. And this is what we talk about on today's show. In The Episode, We Talk About... Derek's story of twice being on the brink of death, and what he learned from it. How valuable it is to have your ego ripped away. The importance of surrendering. How to truly appreciate that you are already living your dream. Bringing you to your environment. Why you get to decide your inner state, not your results or your environment. How to use the 'Law of Emergence'. The seven steps to radically changing your life Derek talks about in his book. Why the whole concept of 'self-improvement' is bullshit. Links "Emergence: Seven Steps for Radical Life Change" by Derek Rydall LawOfEmergence.com MyEmergenceBook.com Derek's website Confucius I seriously could have gone on talking to Derek for a good while longer. Maybe I'll have him back on the podcast again one day to go deeper on a few topics. You can give the episode a listen via the player above. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

“I couldn’t give two shits” is a pretty weird expression. I mean, why anyone would want to give any number of shits towards anything is beyond me. As if some grand shit giving presentation is the pinnacle of all meaning. Not giving a fuck is another way of putting it. But I prefer the sheer perplexity of using ‘not giving two shits’. People often say, including me several times on this blog and podcast, the key to being happy and peaceful in life is to tear off the masks we wear and just be ourselves. In other words, to stop giving two shits about who everyone else wants us to be and just be our true, authentic selves. The word ‘authentic’, though, has apparently now been added to the list of buzzwords and clichés in the personal development world, which means we can no longer use it or run the risk of being forever castigated. I, on the other hand, couldn’t give two shits about this (see what I did there?) as I actually like the word authentic. It’s in the dictionary like all the other words and I happen to feel it illustrates my point quite well. Maybe I’ve learned to not give two shits about this stuff now, but it’s definitely not always been that way. I spent a large portion of my life giving two shits about everything. In fact, I gave more than two shits. I would go around giving as many shits as I could about every shitting aspect of life. To put it another way, I was a serial shit giver. And it was very tiring. I’d give shits about what every person thought of me, where I was going in life, what people thought about where I was going in life, how much money I was earning, how much I’d achieved, big life things, small everyday things and just about everything in my existence. The weird thing was that, on the outside, I attempted to portray someone who was super laid back and didn’t give two shits about anything. I’m not sure how successful I was at that, but underneath I was desperately bothered about everything. Shits were secretly given in all areas and directions. What this created was an almost constant state of inner turmoil, worry, panic and anxiety about whether all this stuff I gave two shits about was actually going to work out. Regardless of what happened, I would keep on making up more stuff to give a shit about and was never able to actually sit back and just be at peace with everything. The Search for Meaning After a while, this gets very tiring. It’s like trying to balance all these spinning plates and not allowing any of them to even slightly wobble for fear that life will disintegrate and never be the same again. We all do this to some extent, though. Some may try to spin more plates than others, but we all have at least a few that we give two shits about. It all comes down to our natural human instinct to derive meaning from our lives. We desperately want all this ‘existing’ we do to mean something. And so we look for this everywhere and anywhere we can. Unfortunately for many of our unsuspecting minds and souls, that includes attaching meaning to a lot of what could be otherwise seen as seemingly irrelevant stuff. That promotion at work you’re dying to get only means something because we have decided to attach meaning to it. The business succeeding only means something because we attach meaning to it. Even our families only mean something to us because we attach meaning to it. In other words, we give two shits because we decide, whether consciously or subconsciously, that something is worth giving two shits about. Of course, that’s not to say attaching meaning to things is neither good nor bad. Many would argue that giving two shits about one’s family is a pretty good thing to give two shits about. But it’s pretty powerful and enlightening to understand that somewhere along the line with all the things we give two shits about there was a decision made on some level to actually start giving two shits about that thing. Because when we understand that there was a decision made, we open ourselves up to the potential for making another decision to then detach that meaning. I suppose this is a posh way of saying that meaning doesn’t have to be dictated to us by society if we don’t want it to. We can decide what really matters to us in every aspect of life. It brings about a new version of an age old question: To give two shits or to not give two shits? Better Serving Meaning As I said, it’s not that attaching meaning to anything, everything or nothing is inherently good or bad. But understanding the concept allows us to evaluate whether attaching meaning to a particular ‘thing’ is actually serving us in the most optimal way. Take your trip to the local coffee shop for your Friday mid-morning treat of a chocolate covered croissant, for example. You’ve been stressing out at the office all week and now you get to enjoy that heavenly French bakery taste to just ease that stress a slight amount. Only, you get to the counter to discover a very apologetic manager explaining how he made an error with the orders and so no croissants were delivered today. This just isn’t acceptable. You give the manager a bit of an ear bashing, which if you’re British, like me, comes out sounding more like a gritted teeth apology. But you leave the shop, realise it’s just a fucking croissant and get over it. You detached the meaning you had originally placed on it and decided you actually don’t give two shits. It’s pretty easy to let go of the meaning in a situation like this, so let’s look a little bit deeper and consider why you spent that whole week stressed at work in the first place. More than likely, it was stuff like deadlines, meetings, pressure from the boss, etc. In other words, the desire to both progress (get promoted) and not regress (get fired). In the grand scheme of things, though, does it really matter? In my experience, most people want to be ‘successful’, but also lead peaceful and joyful lives as well. So does it serve us to attach so much importance and meaning to things like this? Something I used to do was get so wrapped up in all the shit going on in life that I forgot to see the bigger picture. When I zoomed out and took a bird’s eye view of my life, I could see that all the stuff I worried about and was attaching so much meaning to didn’t actually matter that much. Yes, I want to progress, achieve things and make an impact in the world. But at the expense of my own inner peace and happiness? No chance. Because that, ironically, is the main thing I actually give two shits about! So choosing to take a zoomed out view of our lives and breaking that attachment of meaning we have in so many areas, even the ‘important things’, can actually serve us so much better in the long run. The Judgement Stumbling Block Many of us like the idea of this. It all sounds so wonderfully zen and idealistic to stop ourselves giving two shits about as much as possible. But when it comes to applying the principle, it gets a little trickier. It’s like “oh, wait, you mean I have to actually stop giving two shits about this and that?” Well, no, not really. Nobody has to do anything. That’s kind of the point. You can choose to give two shits or not. A huge stumbling block in all this, however, tends to be the fear of judgement. Or more specifically, the fear of not receiving the judgement we would like. When I first became exposed to the idea of just not giving two shits about many of the things I used to give all the shits about, it sounded amazing. Then I thought about what everyone else would think if I were to actually follow through and do it. And it scared the hell out of me. What would ‘they’ think if I didn’t hold down a secure job? What would ‘they’ think if it all went wrong and I couldn’t afford to live in a particular area anymore? What would ‘they’ think if I stopped caring about many of the things ‘they’ seemed to care about so much? Truth is, unless you’re a sociopath, it’s impossible not to care what people think. We have a mammalian brain that’s largely responsible for us seeking out connection and not wanting us to do anything to risk being exiled from the various ‘tribes’ in our lives. So not wanting to be judged negatively is a subconscious desire of the brain in order to maintain a place in a tribe and, therefore, keep us safe. But simply being aware of this can help us appreciate that breaking free from a tribe and ‘going it alone’ is no longer such a big risk to survival, as it would have been at certain points in history. Finding new ‘tribes’ of people who are aligned with what we, as individuals, want is a much better way to go. This way, we satisfy the subconscious ‘tribe seeking’ part of the brain while still self-actualising and living in line with how we want to live. So receiving judgement we don’t want from others happens. But the judgement belongs to that person, not us. It’s theirs, not ours. And we get to decide whether we want to react to that judgement in a way that serves them and their beliefs, or us and our desires. It will be a work in progress. But simply understanding this concept was hugely powerful for me and my ability to start giving fewer shits in life. The Shit Giving Paradox The irony in all this is what I’ve found to be a kind of ‘shit giving paradox’. It seems that the fewer shits we give about something, the happier and more content with it, and life in general, we are. I suppose this is just one way the universe likes to kick us in the balls. We can spend all our lives giving so many shits about so much stuff in life and still have all this inner turmoil and frustration. Surely, if you care so much about anything and everything, then you deserve to experience success, contentment, joy and fulfilment in return. It’s not impossible, of course. Many people throughout history have done just fine without reading my ramble here, or something similar. But, from personal experience and seeing it with others, working towards giving fewer shits about all the stuff we believe to be so important in life appears to be a master stroke of zen-ness. After all, life is way too short to fill it with giving shits about so many different things. Listen to the audio version of this article via the player at the top of the page, or by subscribing to the podcast on iTunes or Stitcher.

I’ve been wanting to have Rob Westerburg on the podcast for a little while now. We’ve been connected on Facebook for a few months and I absolutely love the kind of stuff he shares. So it’s a pleasure to have him on the show today. Rob’s a coach who helps people get over their inner struggles to live healthier, happier lives. And he’s so awesome at doing this, in part, because of his own story of overcoming inner turmoil and a heavy gambling addiction that almost saw him take his own life. So on the episode we talk about Rob’s story and how to start doing the work in overcoming your own inner demons. In The Episode, We Talk About… Rob’s story of dealing with a 20-year gambling addiction that almost led to suicide. Why addiction to anything is always a deep rooted inner issue. How Rob pulled himself through to start living his dream life. Why your stories based in fear are keeping you stuck. How to use pain as a tool for presence and growth. Why it’s important to appreciate your darkness if you want to live peacefully. Finding our core values and how to use them for deep levels of inner peace and clarity on direction. Why it’s important to serve yourself in a positive way. Links RobertWesterburg.com HowCanIKickIt.com Rob’s Facebook Loved this convo with Rob, and I hope you enjoy listening to it. You can give the episode a listen via the player above. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

I've been trusting in this practice for a few weeks now. And it's been working like gangbusters. Rather than boring myself to death feeling like I have to do things, I've started simply following my excitement in various areas of my life. It's a great mindset shift towards starting to look for opportunities for happiness, joy and excitement. As opposed to feeling bogged down in the repetitiveness of everything. I explain more on the podcast. I talk about... Why following your excitement can be more productive. How to conjure up greater feelings of happiness and joy using this. The obviousness of needing to follow your excitement to have a more exciting life. One question to ask yourself every day. My primary job every day (it's nothing to do with 'business'). Take a listen via the player at the top of the page. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

Meditation is huge when it comes to improving powers of focus, feelings of inner peace and positivity of thought. That statement above has almost become a cliché over the past few years as meditation has become more and more mainstream. But it makes it no less true. I remember a few years ago before I got anywhere near the holistic health or wellness world and I thought the idea of someone meditating meant they were obviously some kind of hippy weirdo who had more time than sense. I would roll my eyes at the thought of meditating, believing that it wasn’t for ‘people like me’ and that it didn’t really work for the average person. And now here I am writing an entire blog post about it. How times change. But do we have to actually sit there for an extended period of time meditating with crossed legs and nice music on? Or is there a way to get the benefits without needing to do all this several times a day? Well, this is exactly what I want to explore in this post by giving you some of my best ways to ‘meditate without meditating’. How Meditation Helped Me As I’ve shared previously on this site, I struggle with my mindset and mental and emotional health from time to time. Up until relatively recently, I didn’t even realise it was a problem for me. I went through my life assuming I didn’t have any of these issues and that it was just ‘normal’ to have to deal with crippling self-doubt, constant comparison of myself to everyone else, feeling anxious about everything and allowing my negative thoughts to rule me. That it would just all somehow fix itself and disappear when I became ‘successful’. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Introducing a regular practice of meditation helped me to deal with this ‘stuff’. Of course, it wasn’t the only thing. But meditation and silence allowed me to slow everything down, breathe and just bring me back into the present moment to see all the negativity for what it really was. After implementing a meditation practice I noticed that I became more grounded, centred and calm about everything in my life. And, after years of being in an almost constant state of anxiety, panic and negativity, I found the ability to focus and, ultimately, experience joy more regularly. What Actually is Meditation? In essence, meditation is ‘mind training’. It’s about bringing yourself to the present moment and being able to empty or do whatever you like with your mind, as opposed to having it control you all the time. Think of it like going to the gym, but for your brain. When you go to the gym, you don’t expect to go once and suddenly drop 20lbs or look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Nor do you jump straight in and go from zero to running 20 miles or lifting 100kg. And in much the same way, we can’t do this with meditation either. We can’t expect to do it once and be a brain master, nor can we expect to be able to go from zero to 10 hours a day sat on the side of a mountain in the Himalayas. So meditation is about building up a practice of training ourselves to slow down, be in the present moment and be in a state of full awareness. It follows, then, that reaching a ‘meditative state’ doesn’t require sitting in the lotus position for hours and can be reached through various other ways: #1 Walking Meditation One of my favourite ways to meditate without having to do it in the traditional, lotus pose kind of way is switching to walking meditation. There are a couple of ways to do this that I like, with the first being a simple case of ‘as it says on the tin’. Simply get outside and take some time out for yourself to just walk. This is a great way to get away from all the phones, screens, people and stressors in life and spend some time with your soul. Although simply going for a walk can be very relaxing, the best way to experience walking meditation is to actually pay attention to the present moment and concentrate on your breathing. So no music, podcasts, phone calls or messages. And also trying to not think about things in the past or all the stuff you have to do in the future. Try counting your steps and moving at a pace that doesn’t increase your heart rate too much so you can continue to breath deep and slowly. Even better would be if you could try timing your breath with your steps. So, say four steps to breathe in, hold for one step and four steps to breathe out, for example. It’s best to do this in nature if you can where you can really experience the pleasantness of the surroundings and, even better, to go bare foot while in contact with the earth to combine your walking meditation with the benefits of ‘grounding’. Slow Walking Beyond a simple ‘walking meditation’, I’ve also tried (and loved) the experience of ‘slow walking’. This may seem a little weird, especially if there are other people around, but stay with me. Slow walking is where we would use the same principles as above for normal walking meditation, yet aiming to walk as slowly as possible. The key here is to be continually moving and never motionless, yet always in a steady, very slow manner. Like a lion creeping up on an antelope. This is a supreme way of staying ‘in the now’ as it results in us needing to fully concentrate on what we are doing in order to maintain the steady movement. Move slowly, stay steady, breathe deeply, don’t stop. Just make sure you’re not doing it around somewhere like Piccadilly Circus as chaos may ensue ;) #2 Tai Chi or Qi Gong I am by no means any kind of Tai Chi or Qi Gong master. In fact, I am pretty much still a beginner. But that does not mean I love it any less. The slow walking I mentioned earlier is a very basic form of Tai Chi as it incorporates the principle of slow, continuous, rhythmical movements designed to build up the flow of chi in the body. Of course, I cannot do these ancient martial arts and practices any justice with a simple section of a blog post here. But, in a nutshell, these are practices that integrate certain postures or movements with specific breathing techniques and inward focused intention. A huge part of them is all about rebalancing what is known as energy, Chi or Prana in the body when it becomes blocked due to certain ways of living. Whether or not you believe this ‘energy stuff’ is real, it still creates a hugely relaxing feeling of calm, inner peace and monumental clarity and focus upon completing. Getting into these sorts of ‘eastern’ practices really doesn’t require you to start wearing long robes and growing a Mr Miyagi beard. Just 10 minutes of practice in your home or somewhere private using a beginner’s guide on YouTube is enough to get you started and feeling the benefits. #3 Meditation Bursts Something that I have also found particularly useful is using what I like to call ‘meditation bursts’. Maybe you did some kind of meditation or silence in the morning, or maybe you just forgot to do anything at all. Whatever the situation, let’s just pretend that you’ve got to 4pm and things are getting a little stressed and overwhelming. But you have the kids coming home soon or a meeting coming up – so time is a factor. Rather than going into a whole meditation practice or Tai Chi session that will more than likely get disturbed, it can be very effective to just take a 60 second burst of meditation. Simply find a comfy chair, get bare foot if you can, turn off all notifications on your devices and set a timer for 60 seconds. Then just close your eyes and breathe deeply and into the belly, focusing on trying to breathe around 5-6 times over the 60 second period with a four seconds in, two second hold and four second out timing. Okay, it’s nowhere near ideal. And you will get a lot more benefits from a ‘proper’, extended mediation practice. But this is a great way to return yourself to the present moment and bring some calm back when things get a little rushed. I also like to use it before coaching calls, podcast interviews and any other situation where I want to be fully present and relaxed. It just enables me to take stock of a situation and stop that feeling of everything running away with me. #4 Mindfulness Activities As I mentioned earlier in this post, the aim we’re going for here is to bring ourselves into the present moment in order to appreciate what’s going on around us, rather than being caught up in thinking about the past, future or anything else that isn’t happening right now. And mindfulness in our everyday activities is a really great practice we can start to develop for this. Take eating, for example. It’s very common to get tied up in a lot of other activities while we eat – reading the newspaper or a book, listening to the radio, watching TV, working or taking phone calls. We may feel like we’re killing two birds with one stone, but we’re actually taking ourselves away from being truly present with eating that meal. I’m not saying we need to do this at each and every meal, but we can certainly experience some kind of mindfulness in the present moment by taking some time really taste the food. Focus on the textures, the tastes, the smells and just really bring yourself into the present moment, as opposed to using distraction techniques like TV and newspapers. And this works with any activity too. Whether it’s doing the washing up, cleaning the house, taking a shower, walking to work or any activity! Simply practicing the art of really being in the present moment and the smaller details of what’s really going on without the need for something to occupy our minds can be very powerful when it comes to feeling more calm, focused and peaceful. #5 Energising Exercises These are something I’ve mentioned before in a couple of previous posts as I’ve found them to be extremely useful both with myself and my clients. They are similar to the Tai Chi and Qi Gong practices I mentioned earlier and are based on the same principles of using the chakra system to balance energy in the body. I know, I know! All this talk of ‘energy’ and ‘chakras’ may seem a little out there and ‘woo woo’. I used to think all that stuff was weirdo, hippy BS too. But, to put it bluntly, it’s not. And whether you ‘believe’ in it or not, it still doesn’t take away from the fact that doing them (properly) can leave you feeling awesome. Anyway, I have a free PDF that explains it all in a little bit less ‘woo woo’ detail than it sometimes is. But, in a nutshell, we have chakra points in our body that energy (Chi/Prana) flows through and these exercises are designed to target a specific ‘blocked’ chakra to encourage rebalancing. Again, it doesn’t really matter too much what you believe is actually happening inside your body. Just know that these exercises can help as an alternative to meditation and to get you feeling more peaceful, calm and focused. Check out my PDF by clicking here and letting me know where to send it. #6 Creative Activities This has got to be one of my favourites, and one I completely neglected up until very recently. I used to really love art and drawing when I was younger. Up until the age of around 15-16, I would regularly find myself pulling out a sketch pad and drawing cartoons or just doodling for hours on end. Then I discovered the world of ‘work’ and needing to focus on being a ‘real adult’ who didn’t bother with these silly things anymore. But doing something creative like this and really opening up that ‘right brain’ activity is a great way of getting into the present moment and experiencing some form of meditative state. When I suggest this to people, the next comment tends to be something along the lines of “I’m no good at art” or “I can’t draw” or “mine will suck!” But that is just your left brain coming back into play! This isn’t about creating something ‘good’ or ‘bad’, nor is it about judging the quality of what you’re creating. It’s just about creating. So don’t worry if your three-year-old draws a better cat picture than you. The idea here is to get that right brain opened up, which is all about visualising and creating from scratch without following any pre-set rules or ideas. Just get a few coloured pencils, a blank pad and draw something. Anything! It doesn’t even have to be an actual picture and could just be a swirl of colours you’ve created. It doesn’t have to be drawing, though. You could paint or write or even build rock sculptures out in the garden with the stones out there. Just anything that requires you to create your own rules and not follow any instructions. Maybe you’re not going to try all six of these ways as an alternative to meditation. Maybe you’re not going to use any and just stick with the traditional way. But hopefully these will help if you ever fancy trying something different or are struggling to start or keep your practice going. Take a listen to the podcast episode for this blog post via the player at the top. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

Ah what a wonderful conversation this was with Kate Pallot. We have been connected online for a few months now and it was a pleasure to invite her onto the podcast for a chat. After suffering the tragic loss of her step-son several years ago, Kate understandably suffered with all kinds of mental and emotional pain. Then she made the decision to make some changes, learn what was actually going on inside her head and embark on a journey to investigate this whole 'mindset thing'. And now she's sharing what she's learned in an epic way and has even recently released her first course around dealing with fear, anxiety and self-doubt. So that is exactly what we talk about on the show. In The Episode, We Talk About... Kate's story of overcoming crippling anxiety from personal tragedy. How Kate overcame huge resistance to public speaking in order to tell her story on stage. How '20 seconds of courage' can help you break through fears. Where fear comes from and how it manifests itself. Implementing meditation for racing minds. How you can start 'delaying procrastination'. Why it's important that you break the 'guilt cycle' for mental and emotional wellbeing. Links "Miracle Morning" by Hal Elrod Kate's Facebook Email Kate A fantastic episode that I hope you enjoy listening to as much as I did making it! You can give the episode a listen via the player above. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

Around 18 months ago, I was in deep internal crisis mode. I had a growing personal training business I’d spent the previous three years striving to build up. My own gym, my own brand, my own rules. It was exactly what I had been dreaming of and what I thought would bring me the happiness, fulfilment and success that I craved. But it didn’t. All it ended up bringing was constant work, loneliness and an ever expanding black hole of guilt and shame within me. I loved my clients. But I did not love myself or my life and it was tearing me up inside. So one day I just decided to sell everything – the business, the equipment, my car, my stuff – and embark on a journey to figure this shit out. I went to parts of Europe I had always been planning on going to ‘someday’, I met a beautiful American girlfriend in the amazing Dublin and I spent three months in the incredible South East Asia with nothing but a backpack and my own thoughts. Now I know this sounds all idealistic and wonderful. And, in a way, it was. But it also wasn’t all about sunsets and rainbows. There was a lot of soul searching, anxiety and dark times to accompany the light involved throughout the entire experience. So in this blog I just wanted to share a few of the things I learned by making that decision 18 months ago and embarking on this journey that I will continue to be on for the rest of my life. #1 Actually, It’s Not a Journey I know I literally just mentioned the word journey in that last sentence. But, actually, something I discovered about this whole ‘thing’ that I was trying to do is that there is no journey involved. For so long I believed I was headed to a specific destination in life. It wasn’t really a conscious awareness, but more of an underlying acknowledgment that when I got to a certain job, status, business level, monthly income or whatever then everything would be cool and I would have ‘made it’. The trouble with viewing life as a journey is that we sometimes forget about what’s actually going on right now. We make sacrifices and tell ourselves to ‘just hold on’ and it will all be ok once we get around the next corner. Quite logically in most cases, we tend to think about travelling in terms of journeys and destinations. Truth is, when I left London last year I knew I was set to arrive in Vietnam 36 hours later with just two nights’ worth of accommodation booked and no return flight organised. I just didn’t wanted to savour each moment without forever thinking about getting to the next destination. Something that really struck a chord with me was a concept first suggested to me by the awesome Bob Buckley, who was a fantastic guest on the podcast. Bob said to think of life like a song, as opposed to a journey. When you’re listening to or playing a song, you don’t sit there waiting to get to the end so you can complete it and get it done (unless it’s some kind of One Direction garbage). You enjoy every moment, every beat and every note of it. And life can be the same. #2 Destroy to Create & Grow I’ve spent a lot of my life living from a place of fear. Fearful over what could happen and holding on to everything in my life for fear that I miss out or someone or something might come in and take everything away. This is a great way, however, to keep ourselves stuck in our ways and limited in what we can do and experience. The most obvious example here is me taking the step of, effectively, destroying my personal training business in order to make space for me to grow and create something new. It wasn’t just the physical act of literally destroying the existence of that business to allow myself more time and freedom, but also the mental and spiritual effect this had on me too. I destroyed the entire identity I held for myself along with that business, in order to allow room for creating a new, better serving one. It obviously took a lot of thinking and courage to do, but if I hadn’t have destroyed that and given up holding on to certain things then I would still be stuck there now. So destroying certain things can be good to make space within us for more growth. Now I’m obviously not saying if you have a bad day you should instantly go out and willy nilly destroy everything you’ve worked for. You don’t have to do what I did and literally tear everything down and start again. But just be aware of if you are holding on to thoughts, beliefs, businesses or anything in your life, that maybe being willing to destroy that to make room for the next level of growth and creation could be a vital first step. #3 Connection is Key For way too long I pretty much ignored a lot of people in my life and alienated certain people and family members in the name of needing to build my business. Again, this was borne out of a mindset of “when I’m successful, then I will reconnect with people and have time for friends and proper relationships”. There’s a huge flaw in this logic, which is that most people crave connection to some degree. Despite unquestionably being deeply introverted, this is the same for me as well. In the final weeks of being in my personal training business, I realised just how cut off and isolated from anyone outside of my business and immediate family I had become. Although I could (and still can) be very happy spending long periods by myself, I got myself into a position of desperate loneliness. A huge lack of self-worth and a belief that I would perennially be ‘the quiet one’ nobody wanted to listen to left me thinking for a time that I just didn’t have it in me to truly connect with people. But as I embarked on my travels and began connecting with myself at a deeper level, I soon realised how to embrace and unshackle the real me in order to connect with people on a deeper level. And as I progressed on my travels, it became very apparent how even the ugliest of places can be made beautiful when you have the right people around you. #4 The Answers Are All Within Sounds super corny and esoteric, I know. But it’s true nonetheless. At my lowest points, I would always look externally for ways to solve my problems. The quest for the ‘magic bullet’ was something I was continually on, investing in all kinds of people and programmes that would provide tools, tips, blueprints and ‘strategies’. All of which I went into expecting them to magically ‘fix’ my problems instantly. I call these ‘surface solutions’ because they look good from the outside but they always remain external and simply scratch the surface of what is actually going on inside. After these ‘surface solutions’ failed to give me the outcome I expected, I simply began filling myself up with resentment, frustration and blame around the fact I had spent money on these and yet still remained stuck. I had all the answers and ‘strategy’ I needed, but still the internal stuff was holding me back. We tend to do this in all areas of life – buying workout DVDs, diet programmes, online courses, self-help books, how-to guides and all kinds of stuff that end up being used for a very small amount of time before being cast to the back of the cupboard in an act of ‘self-sabotage’. By the way, check out podcast “Ep #034: Building A Badass Brain Pt 1” where I go into detail about what self-sabotage actually is and how to deal with it. But somewhere along the way, as soon as I stopped looking outside of myself for all the answers, I realised that everything I needed was already inside me. That no matter how many courses I bought or books I read, if I didn’t dig deep into discovering myself and getting my mindset right then nothing would ever work in the way I wanted it to. Since coming to this realisation, I now notice myself scrolling past the vast majority of Facebook ads for this and that I would have been easily pulled into previously and resisting the temptation to sign up for everyone’s webinar or online course. Of course, I still invest in coaching and help. But the difference is that I only do this with very few people and with only those who I truly resonate with, as opposed to getting overwhelmed with other people’s blueprints, formulas and systems. #5 Your Values Are Your Guiding Compass When I was in Thailand, I took part in a 10-day retreat that changed my life and the way I look at the world. Before I arrived in the stunning location of Phuket, I was massively confused still. It had been around six months since I closed my gym and, despite trying a few things online asking myself some deep questions, I still felt lost when it came to figuring out who I was and what I wanted to ‘do’. In fact, I was beginning to question if I was doing the right thing and whether I should have just stayed in my old business and grafted it out like a ‘proper business person’ would have. I’d been travelling for a few months by this point and I remember feeling like I was just moving along without any real purpose or passion. I was just ‘being’. And while at times this was an incredibly liberating feeling, at others it was, to be honest, boring! I didn’t require a specific destination to get to in life, but I wanted at least to be moving in a purposeful direction instead of just being blown whichever way the wind took me. Then we took some time on the retreat to dig into figuring out our values. And everything just started to click. We looked internally at what we truly believe about the world and who we are at the deepest depths of our core to find out what we truly value in life. Suddenly, there was a guiding light. Not an external voice shouting what you ‘should’ be doing and where you ‘should’ be going, but an internal compass that has been trying to pull you where you really want to go all along. Because, at the end of the day, the only real truth in this world is our own truth. We just need to find the clarity and courage to find and follow it. For more on beginning to find your own core values, check out Episode #025 of the podcast. #6 Spend More Time Thinking Like a Child There were many occasions where travelling around in South East Asia left me staying with random people I didn’t know in hostels and as a Couchsurfing guest. Many of the places I stayed were simply local families who had spare rooms available and recognised they could rent them out to passing travellers. And, of course, this often meant there were children around. I’m normally pretty nervous around kids as I convinced myself I’m no good with them, don’t know how to talk to them and worry about whether they will think I’m fun or not. Turns out, however, I’m pretty good with kids when I want to be. When I visited Chiang Mai up in northern Thailand, I ended up going on a trek through the jungle that involved staying with a local tribe village in bamboo huts at the top of a mountain. It was a stunning location surrounded by nothing but incredible views, secluded rainforest and phenomenal waterfalls. But the part of this that really drew my attention was the children living there. These kids were so happy all the time, as most kids are. Despite not having running water or electricity, they would run around and love life. In fact, one of the guys I was with brought out an electric razor he used to shave his hair and the kids were so amazed by it that they queued up to each get a haircut. Another time, while I was staying with a family on the beautiful Malaysian island of Langkawi, there was a kid who just seemed obsessed with learning everything about me and using my iPhone to take pictures of himself. My point here is that I often forgot about the value of being able to look at the world like children do. We get to a certain age and no longer want to be seen as children anymore. And then we grow up and get into ‘the real world’ and start playing all the games ‘real world adults’ do. But through a child’s eyes, the world is a playground. It is a place to be inquisitive, learn and grow without judgement or worry about what others will think. In fact, it could be said that a child’s main role at this time in their life is to learn and grow. For some reason, though, we get to a certain point where we feel like we’ve done enough growing, had enough fun and gained a ‘realistic’ perspective on the world that sets us up for a ‘good life’. Seeing these children while travelling and being exposed to how most live their lives just opened my eyes to how much we can, as adults, learn from them if we choose to. Take a listen to the podcast episode for this blog post via the player at the top. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

It was great talking with Bruce Langford. He's a guy who is all about mindfulness and even has his own awesome podcast dedicated to this subject called 'Mindfulness Mode'. Personally, I love the whole idea of 'mindfulness' and think we can all benefit from having more of it in our lives. But I'm not someone who has dug deep into the subject myself, what it exactly is and how to use it. So it was awesome to get real deep on mindfulness with Bruce. And to talk about how he first got into it and used the principles with himself and in the 'bullying prevention' work he does in schools. In The Episode, We Talk About... Bruce's story of overcoming anxiety and inner turmoil when he was younger. How Bruce first encountered mindfulness and incorporated it into his life. The importance of awareness for bringing inner calm. The different ways we can use mindfulness in our lives. Simple tactics for bringing more mindfulness and inner peace into a busy life. Why ending our own self-judgement can be incredibly powerful. Links "The Miracle Morning" by Hal Elrod John Lee Dumas' Freedom Journal Muse Headband Bruce's Free Book: 21 Ways to Practice Mindfulness with Your Kids Everyday MindfulnessMode.com Bruce's Email Bruce's Twitter You can give the episode a listen via the player above. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

Fear shows up all the time. And it holds a lot of us back. But it's a pretty logical and necessary bodily function that is responsible for probably saving our lives several times while we're here on this earth. It's what stops us overtaking on a bend or walking to close to the cliff edge. Yet there are multitudes of occasions in our modern world where it's not needed. So in this podcast I talk about how to deal with it. I talk about... What fear actually is. Why it's pretty important and useful. The two choices we have when it comes to fear. How to deal with fear when it shows up. How fear and anxiety can be used as self-correcting mechanisms. Why it's important to embrace and acknowledge fear. Take a listen via the player at the top of the page. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

I think the term ‘mindset’ gets banded around quite a lot. It seems to be the new ‘in thing’ for trainers, coaches, gurus and everyone else to bang on about the need to ‘master your mindset’. There’s no doubt it’s a critical piece to the puzzle. In fact, I think it’s a foundational, underlying and essential piece. But it’s also often misunderstood and underutilised when it comes to creating or facilitating lasting change towards success and happiness. Back when I first started my own journey with mindset, I used to see people posting and talking about the subject without any real substance to it. It’s all too common to see things about the importance of ‘getting in the right mindset’ and ‘mindset is everything’ without offering anything further. I used to think “okay, but HOW do I get this mindset thing down?” So in this post I want to share with you what I believe to be the basics of mastering your mindset for success, inner peace and happiness in all facets of life. Step One: Detach In some sort of weird paradox, one of the very biggest things that used to screw me up was my sheer desire and desperation to learn and succeed. I know that sounds weird, but bear with me. Because what this did was have me following, subscribing and connecting with so many different people I just didn’t know which way to go. I had email newsletters coming into my inbox at all hours of the day, would watch YouTube videos, read blogs, read books and basically consume everything and anything from anyone I deemed to be more ‘successful’ than me. This could range from anything to do with making me a better coach, to marketing, to sales or anything that took my fancy at that particular time. The problem with this, however, is that there is more than one way to skin a cat. One person’s marketing, sales or coaching strategy may work for them, but not for you or me. So I was accumulating all kinds of information and learning a great deal, but was taking absolutely fuck all action. Follow the Right People For YOU I’d start something in a variety of areas in my life thinking ‘this is it, this is the one’ and then see another post or video and feel like I was now doing it wrong and needed to start all over again. Not surprisingly, this is a recipe for being unsuccessful and feeling like shit. But this isn’t to say to just ignore everyone and go off doing whatever you want. It is, of course, possible to learn a great deal from a lot of people out there. The only thing I would say is make sure whoever you do follow or take advice from aligns with you. For example, there are a lot of people who feel at home in the ‘hard sales’ world and like the whole Glengarry Glen Ross, ‘coffee for closers’ approach. There’s nothing wrong with that, per se, but if it doesn’t align with you then you don’t have to do it that way. I used to be in a group that had that kind of mentality to sales and I hated it. It’s just not me. But for a while I just thought ‘this is sales’ and if I want a successful business then I have to get used to doing it that way. Bollocks! And this applies to any area of life too. My advice is to begin your quest for mindset mastery by a simple process of ‘selectively detaching’ from all the people, blogs and what not who do not align with you. Only allow the people and information into your life that is aligned with you and the kind of person you are. Take this podcast, for example. It may have some awesome stuff around mindset and performance for entrepreneurs and busy people, but if the way I present it or the kind of person I come across as doesn’t speak to and align with you then don’t subscribe. Decluttering your mind and only allowing in what is truly useful for you is huge. Step Two: Acceptance This is a very necessary, yet also very harsh and, sometimes, extremely hard to take on board step. So I’m going to frame it around a personal story. Up until very recently, I still harboured a lot of resentment and bitterness inside towards things that happened ‘to me’ in my past. I’m not talking about anything too drastic here. But I would look at my present situation, see the aspects I didn’t like or weren’t happy with and hold deep amounts of blame and resentment around them. I’d resent the coach for taking my money and getting me into debt after they, in my view, didn’t hold up their end of the bargain. I’d blame my deep introvertism for the fact I felt alone. And I’d just generally get myself frustrated around elements of my current situation that I didn’t like. We All Make Choices The hardest thing for me to hear was that my situation was, is and will always be a matter of my own choosing. Whether consciously or subconsciously, I chose everything that was going on in my life. When I was first invited to explore this possibility, I wanted to, in no uncertain terms, tell the person who was telling me this to fuck right off. Why would I choose to be in debt? Why would I choose to be stuck? Why would I choose to ? But, in actual fact, we make choices all the time, whether that be a conscious decision or a subconscious one framed around our beliefs and thoughts. The Good Thing About This So, by now, if you’ve never been exposed to this concept before, you may very well be extremely pissed off with me. I know I was when I first heard this stuff. But the sooner we can accept that life happens for us, not to us, the sooner we can be liberated from the limits of our own mind and seeing everything as an opportunity, rather than a problem keeping us stuck. We are choosing all the time, whether we realise it or not. And simply and fully accepting this, without the need for resentment or blame upon ourselves that we could have been choosing differently all along, is the first step to liberation. The great thing about this, however, is that as soon as we do accept our current reality for what it is, we open ourselves up to a different one. If we accept that we chose the reality we have now, it instantly means that we can simply now begin to choose a different, happier, healthier and more successful one. One we maybe previously thought wasn’t possible for us due to the external things being perceived as happening to us and preventing us getting what we want. So invite you to simply explore this concept. And just allow yourself to think about maybe being at ease with the current reality, in order to open up choosing into a new one. Step Three: Awareness So now we’ve detached from the web of all the crap coming into our consciousness and also fully accepted our current reality without judgement or resentment, it’s time to start gaining some awareness of what’s actually going on in our mind. All too often, we try to suppress everything happening inside us. We label thoughts ‘bad’ or ‘good’ and when something ‘bad’ comes up, we try to ignore it and push it away. In fact, this practice often just results in us inadvertently suppressing all thoughts and feelings until we end up being almost ‘numb’ to everything. But how about we just label these things ‘thoughts’? Not good or bad or anything else, just… thoughts. There’s no attachment to them in any way. They just ‘are what they are’. And then instead of ignoring them and wishing the bad ones went away, we took some time to simply look at them. Switch the Lights On Rather than simply trying to blindly put your foot on the accelerator and be an ‘action taker’ or a ‘hustler’ or whatever these bullshit motivational videos and memes tell us we should be, let’s just take a moment to look inside and consider what’s actually going on. Because if we can’t see our obstacles, we can’t avoid them. It’s like playing dodgeball in the dark. We can adhere to the five Ds of dodgeball (dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge – sad that I didn’t even need to research what these actually are) all we like, but if it’s pitch black then we never know when we’re going to get hit. What’s my point here? If we’re constantly trying to ignore our thoughts without looking at them and creating epic awareness, then we will continually just keep getting smacked in the face with thought after thought after thought and end up getting knocked down. So switch the lights on, so to speak. Don’t just ‘keep on ploughing through’ because some douche in a video told you to ‘never give up on your dreams’ and played some fancy music over the top. The Art of Awareness It takes an investment of your time and focus, simple as that. An investment where you accept that it is actually worth putting down the laptop, the phone, the appointments and even putting down the new self-help book you’ve started… And just being with you. Turn the lights on, inwardly. Ask yourself questions about who you are, your beliefs, your fears, what goes through your head. Just look at your thoughts. Remove any judgement of whether they are ‘good’ or ‘bad’ thoughts and create some internal awareness of what is actually going on inside you. It doesn’t need to be hours of sat on a rock meditating. But just value spending some time with YOU and becoming aware of the dodgeballs you’re throwing at yourself every day. Write them down or record them in some way and be brave enough to just LOOK at what’s actually going on inside you. Step Four: Challenge You probably already started doing this just off the back of creating awareness. It’s pretty common for awareness in itself to be curative. So by simply bringing a thought to your conscious awareness and looking it, you can instantly see how it isn’t actually true. But there are some (or many) that creep through. And this means that the process of properly challenging the thought must begin. Remember step two around accepting everything? Well, this is where this really comes into its own. If you’re looking at one of your thoughts and struggling to get past it, just remember the concept of accepting what is and that there could be an alternative if you choose it. Say you’re struggling, for example, with the thought of “I’m not good enough”. Simply accepting that there is a different way to think in which you actually do feel like you are ‘good enough’ is an essential first thing to do. Then we can start to challenge it and investigate it. Ask yourself questions, such as ‘where did this come from?’ and ‘is this really true?’. Investigate and challenge your negative thoughts and beliefs in an attempt to prove to yourself that they actually are just layers of bullshit we’ve built up over the years. Step Five: Alignment So far, we’ve done an awful lot of investigation and breaking down in order to clear out all the current stories and bullshit that’s keeping our mindset frozen. But now it’s time to align with the most effective, joyful and productive version of ourselves. The first thing we need to do is get clear on who this is. What do you desire in your life? What do you believe about life, health, business and relationships? What kind of person do you want to show up as? What daily behaviours do you want to encompass? What are your core values? Asking ourselves questions like these enables us to get clear on the kind of person or ‘mindset’ we want to consciously align to. Taking time to do this and going as deep and as detailed as possible helps us build up a clear picture in our own minds of who we desire to be. And, to be honest, it’s as simple as that – realising and creating our best self and choosing into being it. Sounds sort of oversimplified, right? Well it is simple. But it’s not easy. It’s simple to consciously align to our best selves. But then when our subconscious beliefs and mental-shittery comes creeping back in again it can all go to pot. That’s why we need to ingrain this version of ourselves into our subconscious. And this is done by… Step Six: Repetition This is where the real ‘work’ comes in. It’s easy to do the ‘one off task’ of the questions in the previous step, but repeating it and ingraining it into us day-after-day is where the ‘magic’ happens. I do this through a process of: Visualisation Silence/meditation Journaling When it comes to visualisation, I suggest each morning and evening just reminding yourself of your vision. And when I say your vision, I mean everything you’ve outlined in step five. This is the vision of how you want your life to look, the kind of person you want to be and the kind of thoughts and behaviours you want to have. Spend some dedicated time just for a few minutes each morning and evening to remind yourself of this. And continually remind yourself of who you want to show up as in your life as you go through the day. In each moment, accept that you can choose into love, joy and the best version of yourself, or choose into fear, anxiety and doubt. And calm your mind through a regular practice of silence/meditation and journaling of your thoughts. Your aim is to stay aligned with everything in step five (who you really are) as often as possible through the day. Take a listen to the podcast episode for this blog post via the player at the top. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

Michael Sliwinski has dedicated the past decade of his life to optimising productivity. So it was awesome to have him on the podcast to talk about that very subject. Michael was a stressed out consultant struggling to fit all his tasks into a working day. He tried various books, apps and solutions. But kept on hitting a wall when it came to making something work for him. Until one day, he decided to create his own app, Nozbe, to solve his problems. He then became obsessed with all things productivity and hasn't looked back. So that is what we talk about in today's podcast. In The Episode, We Talk About… How Michael went from disorganised consultant to productivity king. Michael's top tips for productivity. The biggest mistakes Michael sees people make when it comes to productivity. How Michael plans out his week to get more done in less time. The power of investing your time to get more done. Why and how to go 'iPad only'. Michael's awesome 'two minute rule' for getting small things done. Top apps, books and tools for productivity. Links Michael's FREE productivity course Nozbe.com Michael's Blog "Getting Things Done" by David Allen "Execution is the Strategy" by Laura Stack "Deep Work" by Cal Newport Scribbler Tap Typing One Writer Dropbox Evernote Slack What an epic conversation this was to have and I hope you love listening to it. You can give the episode a listen via the player above. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

Something I used to do a lot of was putting up walls. Walls that blocked the real me off from the people around me. I built up walls of 'fake' personalities based on what I thought people wanted me to be or who I 'should' be. But it just led to inner turmoil. So this is what I wanted to talk about on this podcast. I talk about... Breaking down the fake walls we build around us. Why it's important to achieve inner peace. How being authentic helps you connect with people on a deeper level. Questions to ask to start breaking down your walls. How to deal with judgement from others against the 'real you'. Take a listen via the player at the top of the page. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

Note: You can click here to download the PDF on 'Energising Exercises' I talk about in the podcast. Morning times can pretty much make or break my day. Some days I’ll feel energised, ready to go and get plenty of stuff done. And then there are other days where I’ll pretty much feel like a sloth on sleeping tablets and have to force myself to complete even the smallest amount of work. I think this happens to everyone, regardless of how enlightened and healthy they are. But something that certainly helps me control this and gives me the best chance of a high performing, joyful and productive day is to invest in doing some things to take care of me in the mornings. A Warning About Routines Many people will have morning routines they go through. But I’m not going to share a specific routine in a ‘you must follow this’ kind of fashion. Because I believe we all need to put together a few things that work for us as individuals, as opposed to following somebody else’s blueprint. I can tell you from my own personal experience that when we get ourselves to do someone else’s routine “because I should do”, it can sometimes be counter-productive. We can start feeling like everything is ‘forced’. And then if that expectant result of super positivity and productivity doesn’t come, we start to resent the routine itself. And then our whole morning can be filled with resentment and frustration, not joy. So here are a few things I wanted to share that could be included in a morning routine or as just one off things that will help you experience more joyful, productive and high performing days. #1 You First To start with, I want to share more of a concept that’s pretty useful to fully understand and accept. And that is to start all this off with a sheer, guilt-free desire to begin the day by doing something for you first. I know a lot of people find this hard to do, especially if they have children. But starting each day by focusing first on showing some love to ourselves enables us to then go and give so much more to others, whether they be children, partners, clients, co-workers or just complete strangers. If we focus on filling ourselves up first then we can show up for everyone else as the very best version of us and give so much more. It’s far from selfish to want to show up for your kids and others at your 100% best, as opposed to a tired, grumpy and possibly even depressed version of you. In fact, I would go as far as saying it could be seen as pretty selfish to hold back the best version of you from them. So I would invite you to explore the idea that putting yourself first is actually a pretty selfless act, and one that can see you experience greater health, performance, joy and relationships as a result. #2 Be Clear On Your Intention Now this is something that was huge for me. I used to get up, do a morning routine and then just try and blog or podcast or post on Facebook or just get general stuff done. I wasn’t 100% sure what my intention was around it all. I just knew I wanted an online business and to get some coaching clients or start a membership site or something along those lines. And I also knew the first step to all this was to start producing regular content, such as blogs and podcasts. So that’s what I started doing. The trouble with this is that it gets very demoralising after a while and almost starts to feel pointless. A lot of what we do doesn’t see an immediate reward in terms of payment, recognition, pounds lost or health conditions reversed. But when you know exactly what your intention is around what you do on a daily basis, it becomes a lot less likely to find yourself wondering ‘why am I doing this again?’. For example, you could be thinking that you’re doing what you’re doing because you just want some more clients or customers. Or that you want to maybe start a membership site one day. Or maybe that you might get some kind of promotion at work one day. Or that you just ‘get a bit fitter and healthier’. This kind of thinking is pretty vague and unclear. But if we know our exact intention around what we do every day, it gives us greater drive. If you know exactly the number of clients or customers you want and exactly what process you will take them through then this brings excitement. If you have a membership site all planned out and every detail ready to go then you are more driven. If you know you have a shot at getting promoted up three levels by March 2017 then it lights more of a fire within you. If you can visualise how you look and feel as a result of implementing healthier habits then it gives you greater focus. In other words, get super clear on what exactly you intend to happen as a result of what you do on a daily basis. How do you intend your life to look? What will your energy levels be like? What will you look like? How will your business have grown? Because being unclear on why we’re doing something and what exactly we intend to happen is a great way to put the brain into a mode of ‘I can’t be bothered anymore’. #3 Hydrate Yo’Self I know I’ve banged on about this before. But it’s so important to start the day by getting yourself off to a good start in the hydration department. You possibly haven’t had any water for 7, 8, 9+ hours when you awaken from your dreary slumber in the morning. Couple this with the fact that your body has been hard at work repairing, regenerating, detoxifying and doing all sorts of other jobs while you sleep and it’s pretty much a guarantee to say that you are dehydrated to some level in the mornings. So getting into the habit of getting a big old glass of water down you is a perfect way to start the day. Personally, I begin with a 500ml glass of water. I make sure it’s filtered for chlorine and other chemical nasties, rather than straight out of the tap, as I don’t want that shit in my body. And I sometimes even add a pinch of Himalayan or good quality, unprocessed sea salt to increase the mineral and electrolyte content. All in all, I’m getting re-hydrated after a pretty long time without water and setting my standard for how I want the day to go on when it comes to staying optimally hydrated. #4 Silent Time It’s so easy to get pulled into hitting the snooze button and getting up last minute before rushing around to get dressed, breakfasted and out the door each morning. Everything gets done at hyper speed and is almost a blur. But starting your day as you would like to continue it is essential. So if you start with stress, overwhelm and everything happening at a frantic pace, then there’s a good chance your whole day will continue like that. You can end up just feeling unfocused, scatter brained, anxious and out of control for large parts of the day. Having a period of purposeful silent time just enables you to start the day by signalling that you are in control. You’re beginning by creating a feeling of calm, clarity and peace of mind and putting yourself in a position for continuing like this. It doesn’t matter if you want to call it silence, meditation, prayer or ‘crazy weird hippy quiet time’. The important thing is that you understand how beneficial this can be for us. I would suggest starting with 10 minutes, but if you’re really struggling then try even just five minutes of sitting and focusing on your breath. A great app to try is Headspace, which I’m sure many will have heard of. But there’s also Brain.fm, which is a great tool that I personally use for a whole host of things. Or you can just play some peaceful music, such as Chinese flute music. Just make sure it doesn’t have a beat, otherwise it can actually start to make you go into the opposite of a meditative state and want to start tapping your foot and dancing! But, all in all, just having 5-10 minutes of silent time away from other people and before having to think about all the worries and stresses can be so powerful in helping you feel calmer, take control and prevent the day running away from you. #5 Breathing Techniques There are plenty of variants on breathing techniques and ways we can play with the breath. A particular breathing technique I’m loving at the moment is known as the ‘breath of fire’. It’s a technique that I believe is developed from a kundalini yoga practice (although yogis please feel free to expose my lack of yoga knowledge there) and really gets you feeling alert and into the present moment. Essentially, it’s fast nasal breathing in and out while still maintaining correct in and out movement of the belly. Just doing 30 seconds or so of this can be really powerful. There’s also a simple breathing squat, which I also like. This is a slow, relaxed bodyweight squat with the breathing reversed from how we would normally perform a squat. So breathing out as you lower down and in as you come up. This is really good for ‘moving meditation’ and bringing about some relaxation and focus, while also being really useful if you happen to be suffering with any constipation. You can check out my PDF on breathing exercises here. #6 Get Moving Again, another typical pattern of the ‘busy person’ is to just try and get into work as soon as possible. It’s easy to develop a habit of getting to the desk or computer as soon as possible so we can get more done. Then, if there’s time, we will do some exercise or workout later in the day. But that feeling of getting out and exercising and charging the body up in the morning is such a powerful way of getting ourselves ready for performing at our best during the day. It doesn’t necessarily need to be a full on workout. Something as simple as a few minutes of raising the heart rate and getting ‘worked up’ can help increase energy, focus, emotional wellbeing and our ability to think and concentrate longer. Go for a walk, go for a run, do some yoga, do some energising breathing exercises or anything just to ‘get the blood flowing’ and the body pumping in the morning. I can also tell you that back when I was a personal trainer I had way more cancellations from clients in the evening than in the morning. So if you’re trying to stick to an exercise ritual, starting the day by focusing on giving yourself some love and getting it done in the morning means you are much less likely to let a ‘hectic day’ stop you from working out. Also, morning exercise is much more in line with our circadian rhythms, as opposed to evening bouts of exercise. #7 Fuel Yourself Optimally As I’ve said in previous episodes, I’m not a huge stickler for needing to have breakfast within a certain amount of time of waking up. Personally, I don’t tend to have my first meal until around 2-3 hours after waking. But whenever you do have that first meal, I would say just make sure it’s a balanced meal and right for you. For me, that means a good deal of protein, healthy fats and low sugar carbs. Generally, I’ll have some kind of egg with veggies (e.g. cucumber, tomato, peppers, onion, broccoli, spinach) and avocado or nuts then drizzled with a little olive oil. The key here, though, is to find what works for you. So I would invite you to, rather than finding some ‘cookie cutter’ meal plan, to actually start listening what your body is saying to you after eating certain foods. Ask yourself in the 1-2 hours after eating a meal questions like: How am I feeling? Do I feel energised? Do I feel a high, followed by a crash? Do I feel sluggish? Do I feel bloated? Do I feel good? It can take practice and a bit of trial and error. If you’re not sure, try a few different kinds of meals and ask yourself how you feel afterwards and you will soon get more in tune with whether different foods are helping or hindering you. #8 Hot/Cold Showers Something I’m beginning to use every day is a hot/cold shower. What this means is simply ending a shower by switching from hot to cold and back again several times. Usually, I’ll do cold for 10 seconds on my back, followed by cold for 10 seconds on my front and then onto hot (but not too hot) again for 10 seconds. I’ll then repeat this 4-5 times before ending on 30 seconds of cold. And when I say cold, I mean the coldest that damn shower will go. Of course, it takes a bit of guts to start with, but once you just ‘rip off that plaster’ it gets easier. What this hot/cold action does is create a pumping action on the body and can really stimulate the nervous, circulatory, lymphatic and immune systems. But the main reason I do this practice is due to the feeling afterwards. It’s tough at first, and I’ve been known to have my hand hovering over the cold tap for a while before turning it on full, but it really does feel amazing. You leap out of that shower feeling energised, fresh, alert and ready to go. #9 Go Somewhere Happy Changing your environment can genuinely change your thinking, state, mood and, therefore, productivity and performance. It’s so easy to just go through the same routine over and over (even if it’s a productive morning routine) and look at the same four walls or same scenery every single time. It gets stale and it can get boring. So something I always try and do is to go seek out an environment I know I will garner some joy from. Maybe it’s going for a stroll along the beach, getting into nature somewhere or just heading out into the garden. But there is always a place you can go to that has a good chance of making you happy, which can result in higher performance when ‘back at work’ or getting back to other areas in your life. I should also mention here the power of neuro-associations when it comes to our environment. I did a podcast on this subject, which you can listen to here. But this is essentially making sure that we ‘set up’ our environments (work, sleep, cooking, eating, relaxing, exercising, creating, etc.) in order to get the most out of each. For example, if the environment where you work has constant reminders (whether conscious or subconscious) of something negative form your past, then this can diminish your performance. If you try working in the place where you are supposed to sleep, then this can mess up your work performance, your sleep or both! So set up your environments to be positive and in line with what you want to get done in there. #10 Laugh I cannot stress this one enough! There is not a shred of evidence anywhere to prove that life is supposed to be taken seriously. And I think we take all of this ‘business’ and ‘career’ stuff way too seriously sometimes. I highly encourage you to just do something that makes you laugh at some point in your morning – as in proper belly laugh. Whether it be 10 mins of your favourite comedian, playing with the kids or just being a complete mentalist and belly laughing for no apparent reason, it’s all infectious and will obviously put you in a much better mood. And if you’re feeling more positive then you’re going to perform better and experience more joy in your life. So the next time a morning appears to be overtaking your emotions… just laugh. Laugh hard. And laugh regularly. Take a listen to the podcast episode for this blog post via the player at the top. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

This was such a wonderful conversation I had with Kute Blackson. His story is one of genuine inspiration. Born in Ghana and raised in London, he left the relative 'security' of continuing his father's ministry to move to LA and create the life he wanted. Kute arrived in LA with pretty much nothing but a burning passion and a calling to do something great with his life. It was more than just his purpose. It was something he couldn't help but do. And this is what we talk a lot about in the episode today. In The Episode, We Talk About... Kute's story of travelling to America with nothing but a burning calling and turning it into a massively successful business. Why it's important to never compromise on your essence of integrity. How to stop playing the game of confusion many of us play. Finding YOUR truth. The power of listening to and TRUSTING your 'inner voice'. How to get excited about embracing the unknown. Four no BS questions to find your life's purpose. Doing all this while dealing with money and scarcity consciousness. Links "Creative Visualization" by Shakti Gawain YouAreTheOneBook.com KuteBlackson.com BoundlessBlissBali.com What an epic conversation this was to have and I hope you love listening to it. You can give the episode a listen via the player above. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

The word 'should' is not very useful. It creates a feeling that there is 'one way' to do something that you must adhere to. Or that you are failing because you're not in line with some image of where you 'should' be. All this does nothing but create pressure and anxiety within us. We start to punish ourselves for not adhering to all these 'shoulds' and it just all creates a shitty, unproductive feeling. And that's what I talk about in the podcast this week. I talk about... How the word 'should' creates anxiety and pressure. Why we create these shoulds. One word to start replacing 'should' with to relieve anxiety and pressure. How to stop feeling pressured by what you feel like you should do. Why looking into the past to say what you should have done is a bad idea. Take a listen via the player at the top of the page. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

I’m sure there’s a point in all our lives where we realise that our beliefs have been holding us back to varying degrees. I know I’ve certainly experienced this. We create these ideas and concepts about the world and life and we just… believe them! And they stop us from fulfilling our true potential. In fact, in some cases they don’t just stop us from fulfilling our potential, but completely block our access to experiencing just a basic level of health, happiness and success in life. A lot of the time, however, we don’t even see our beliefs as beliefs. To us, they’re just ‘how the world works’ or ‘how things happen’ that we just accept and allow to aide us continuing our struggles. So mastering our beliefs is a huge part of building inner strength and experiencing the life we want to live at our truest potential. And that’s what I want to focus on in today’s podcast. How Are Beliefs Formed? Let’s start this off by getting clearer on what beliefs actually are and how they are born. And to do this, I find it easiest to divide this whole concept or topic up into three areas. Truth. Opinion. And beliefs. Truth Truth is the absolute. The undeniable. The uncontentious fact. It is seeing the sun rising or sensing the wind blowing against our face or feeling the earth underneath our feet. Now, of course, I could go into the whole ‘matrix’ thing and ask whether all this I just mentioned actually is true or not. But that’s being gratuitously philosophically dick headish of me when I think about the real purpose of this post. For ease’s sake, let’s just say that seemingly simple things like the sun rising every morning and the wind blowing on your face are undeniable truths of this world. And if you want to start questioning that and debating deep philosophies about ‘unplugging from the matrix’ then you can email Morpheus@iammichaelglover.com. Opinion Something that we, as humans, have been gifted with is the power of consciousness. And a result of having this conscious mind is that we are able to form opinions about the world around us. We experience an event, an occurrence or anything and we have the ability to judge that experience and then form opinions about it. We can say this is good, it’s bad, it’s wrong, it’s right, it’s going to happen, it’s not going to happen or anything! But at this point, at this level, we are still aware that what we are doing is an opinion and is, therefore, not necessarily and concretely true. Belief To put it simply, belief comes around when, essentially, we take our opinions too far and see them as truths. If we believe in something, then we see it as truth. To us, it is real. It is undeniable. It is our truth. Yet this can be a huge mistake when it comes to wanting to live out a happy, peaceful, successful life. Take the medieval ‘dark ages’ in western Europe, for example. This was a time when extreme religious belief created a backwards moving society after the fall of the Roman Empire. As a result, many people experienced appalling living conditions with executions and killings over such ‘evils’ as witchcraft and all sorts of other things in the name of what was believed to be true. Somebody (or a large group of people with authority) formed an opinion about life and the world and it became widely believed as the truth. This is how beliefs are formed. What’s My Point Here? A key thing here, as always, is awareness. If we can become aware of and accepting of the idea that everything we believe is simply an opinion we have formed, and not undeniable truth, then this in itself creates a shift at some level. It opens up the space for us to begin ridding ourselves of the limiting beliefs that have been holding us back. Because if you can simply accept that every belief you’ve formed is simply an opinion, then it automatically, by definition, becomes no longer absolute truth in your eyes. And you become opened to the idea of forming a new opinion and a new belief around that subject. One that serves you and the rest of the world in a better way. Remember, there are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ opinions or beliefs, just opinions and beliefs that will serve us in different ways. How Do Beliefs Affect Us? Many of us, particularly if you’ve delved into any kind of self-help or personal development world, will be aware of limiting beliefs. Beliefs can create limits in us when it comes to how much money we can earn, what kind of life is possible, etc, etc. But, as eluded to earlier in this piece, beliefs create the biggest limits when we don’t even recognise them as beliefs and don’t realise that there’s even any other way of thinking. So we can have limiting beliefs holding us back in all areas of our lives without us even realising. It can be what you believe around a health issue, how a relationship is supposed to look, what other people think of you or anything. Beliefs Are Our Life Lenses A great analogy I like to use for thinking about beliefs is to look at them as the lenses we view the world through. So when we think about putting on a pair of glasses, these are lenses that alter how we see the world. That is their job. We can put on one pair of glasses and see perfectly, yet we can put on a different pair and see barely anything but a blur. The key thing to remember here, though, is that although the lenses change how we see something, they do not change the actual thing we’re looking at. If we look at a rock on the floor, we can see a blurry rock or crystal clear rock, depending on what lenses we wear. But regardless of which lenses we use to look at the rock through, the actual rock itself does not change. And our beliefs work the same way. They are the lenses we look at the world through. The difference, however, is that when we go to the opticians and test out a pair of glasses and see a blur, we come to the conclusion that those lenses aren’t for us. We don’t just accept and form a belief that the world actually is blurry. So it’s vital if we can understand that everything we believe – our whole concept of the world and what’s possible within it – is a lens, or a collection of various different lenses built up through our past experiences, that we view the world through. Because with this understanding we begin to give ourselves the power to push our self-imposed limits and completely alter our perception of what’s possible for us. Creating A Mind Shift in Our Beliefs So maybe what I’ve talked about so far has been really interesting to you and has opened your eyes a little bit. I know learning this stuff certainly opened mine! But you may be wondering where the action point comes in here. What are we supposed to do with this information? And how do we apply it to our lives? Well, as with a lot of things, awareness just by itself is a huge first step. Everything becomes a lot easier and more straightforward when the lights are on. So the action point here is to simply use that awareness. In every experience or event or situation we find ourselves in, understand that we are interpreting that through the lenses we’ve built up over the years. If we can go into every situation aware of the lenses we’re wearing and being willing to see them for what they are and almost ‘edit’ our thoughts and interpretations from said situation, then it stretches what we believe to be our limits and potential. For example, you go into a situation and begin thinking “I can’t do this, I’m not good enough”. But if you’re willing to see that this is your belief based on the lenses you’re wearing and begin to edit and question that thought then you start to see that it doesn’t need to be true for you. And it’s a continual practice that helps us here. We challenge and edit our own interpretations of what’s going on around us, which leads to a shift in our internal state, which leads to a shift in our behaviours and actions, which leads to more positive and ‘better’ results. Three Steps to Beliefs That Serve Us Better With all that said, there is a simple three step procedure that we can use to bring a bit more structure to this ‘editing of thoughts and beliefs’. Step #1 Awareness The first part to this is the actual awareness itself. So rather than simply allowing our environment and the thoughts we have to rule us and how we feel, we need to actually pay attention to them. We need to not suppress, ignore and wish these away, but stand up and look them in the eye. Something I would invite you to do is to spend some time with your own thoughts. Listen to them and the things going on in your head instead of ignoring them and trying to ‘plough on through’. So ask yourself… What do I believe about myself? What do I believe about my health? What do I believe about money? What do I believe about my business or career? What are all the negative thoughts that I think on a regular basis? Sit down and spend an hour just doing this with yourself and writing your answers down on paper. I guarantee it’ll be pretty eye opening. Step #2 Challenge This is where we get to take off those lenses you’ve been wearing. Everything that you have down on that piece of paper, go through and ask yourself one simple question… Is this thought serving me in the way I would ideally like? And if it isn’t, ask yourself… Is this thought true? If you’re struggling with it, then try imagining yourself seeing it through those different lenses. Take your current lenses off and ask yourself again… Is this really true? And, if necessary, go and seek out evidence for yourself to prove that it is not true. Imagine yourself as a lawyer trying to prove to a jury in your head that this thought is just not true. Step #3 Exchange So now we’ve become aware of the lenses we’re wearing and begun to challenge the thoughts we have as a result of them, we can now exchange or replace this old thought with a new one. We start to put on a pair of lenses that allow us to stretch our limits and potential. In essence, after challenging our old thoughts and beliefs, we get to ask ourselves… What would be a thought that would serve me better? And we can choose this thought as the way we now get to interpret and build meaning around our current environment. To Finish Off Again, this is a practice. Don’t expect to do this once and instantly have all your mindset or any other kind of problems solved like some kind of magic pill. You can do this three step procedure as an actual activity where you sit down and list everything out as I suggest in step one. Or you can take it out into the ‘real world’, so to speak, and do it as a negative thought or belief creeps into your daily goings on. My suggestion is that you mix the two. Maybe every few weeks do a big activity where you write everything down, but still practicing challenging your thoughts and exchanging with better serving ones when you’re ‘out in the field’. The key is to maintain your understanding of the lens analogy and be willing to remove those lenses and see them for what they are in every situation or environment. Hopefully this will help you move forward and reach your truest potential. I know this is something that has really helped me. And I continue to work at it. Take a listen to the podcast episode for this blog post via the player at the top. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

T'was an awesome conversation I had this week with Alexis Panayiotou. I first met him last year when we were both on a retreat in Thailand. And I've been thinking about having him on the podcast since I started it. Alexis is a coach who helps people to transform in the truest sense of the word. But he's always had very successful careers in the past in the army and in personal training. And these past experiences have massively helped him in the art and science of facilitating transformation for others. So this encompasses a lot of what we talked about in our conversation. In The Episode, We Talk About... How Alexis' experience in the British Army helped shape him as a person. The real meaning of the word 'transformation'. How to permanently transform into the healthiest, most successful and very best version of yourself. What stops a lot of us from being able to transform and form new habits. Why our brain sometimes stops us from taking the positive actions we know we want to take. The science of forming new habits. And much more... Links Alexis' website Alexis' Facebook EEBs Ep #003: Dax Moy on Going From Attempted Murder Charges to Coaching Royalty & Hollywood Stars This was an epic episode and I loved every minute of it! You can give the episode a listen via the player above. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

I used to hate visualising my future. Whatever I thought about, I just couldn't get a real deep feeling from it. But this all changed recently. And that's what I talk about in today's episode. I talk about... Why I used to hate visualising my future. How I began getting a flicker of excitement about my vision. "The Miracle Morning" by Hal Elrod Different levels of visualising our future. The power of a WHY when it comes to your vision. Take a listen via the player at the top of the page. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

Ah crap, I’ve gone and made it weird, haven’t I? We were getting on so well with all the brain stuff, physical health talk and mindset topics. Even the mental and emotional health shizzle from last week ended up being pretty cool after starting off with an awkward eye roll. But now I’ve gone and mentioned the ‘s’ word… spiritual. What a dick. Hear me out though. Because I’m not simply going to suggest we all need to become hippies and spend 10 years meditating on a mountain in Asia. What is Spiritual Health? I suppose we’d better start, then, by looking at what ‘spiritual health’ actually is. Now this potentially is going to open up one hell of a can of worms as I know there can be a whole host of definitions here. To me, however, the term ‘spiritual health’ has nothing to do with religion, hardcore dogmatism or falling into being any particular stereotype or ‘type’ of person. In other words, you can benefit from improving your spiritual health without needing to start memorising a particular book or developing an obsession with Buddha statues. But there’s also nothing wrong with doing that if you want to (personally, I love Buddha statues). Essentially, spiritual health is about continually looking to ‘grow’ as a person, while still understanding that we will never be ‘fully grown’. So however much we grow and learn, there will always be more room to grow and more things to learn. To me, a spiritually healthy person is someone who feels like they’re living a meaningful, purposeful existence and lives with a constant awareness and openness to the idea that everything they believe about life could be wrong. So What’s the Point? It all sounds kind of cool and fancy, doesn’t it? But then there’s also the consideration of why do we need to bother looking after all this and thinking about spirituality and improving our spiritual health? Well, in my view, it allows us to move away from, or at least begin to move away from, the bullshit of everyday life. The perfectionism, the illogical fear, the worry, the comparing ourselves to others, the constant judgements being made, the drifting through life – it all starts to get put into a kind of perspective when we begin working on our spiritual health. When we start doing this, things start to become a little bit clearer and simpler. That horrible empty kind of feeling can begin finally filling up. And we can start to experience more joy, happiness, love and that oh so elusive ‘inner peace’ in our lives. So, as I’m sure you’ll agree, our spiritual health is a pretty good thing to get a handle on. How to Improve Spiritual Health Let’s take a look at some things that we can do to start working on our spiritual health. What we can do to give ourselves a ‘spiritual workout’, so to speak. By no means is this an exhaustive list. I’m sure there’s much more that can be done, depending on what one would bring into the bracket of ‘spiritual health’. But here are six things I feel are pretty important and useful when it comes to improving our spiritual health. #1 Just Let Go “Let it go” is a phrase we tend to throw around a lot. But what exactly is ‘it’? What are we trying to let go of? Well, this all stems from meaning and how and where we attach meaning. You see, meaning is a self-made concept. When you first arrive in this world, nothing means anything to you. Nothing matters except getting food and going to the bathroom. But as we progress in life and get older, we start to give meaning to more and more things. How we look, how successful we are, how much money we make, the people we have around us, our social status, making a difference with our life, meeting deadlines, paying bills, not upsetting people, having a nice car, watching the latest TV series, travelling to see other parts of the world, sports teams, doing the garden, keeping the house tidy, setting a good example, God or a religion. We give all, some or possibly even more of these things meaning in our lives and convince ourselves that they matter so much. In fact, we convince ourselves they matter so much that we attach them to our happiness. After years of being told by parents, teachers, authorities and our whole world about how much these things matter, we create this belief that all these things create an infrastructure to happiness and living life the ‘right way’. We feel like we need these things. That having them all sorted out is so important or… well that’s just the thing. Or what? Trouble is, life sometimes has other ideas and kicks us in the gonads when it comes to all this stuff. It blocks things from happening, makes it hard and creates situations where we fuck up. And when this happens, we start to feel like broken human beings who can’t even carry out the simple act of living a good life. Letting go, or, as I like to call it, saying ‘fuck it’, is the act of breaking that bond of attaching meaning to all these random things. Breaking Up with Our ‘Meaningful’ Things I realise I’ve titled this first point “just let go”, as if it’s so simple to just say “fuck it” and all the meaning and attachment you’ve built up over the years will disappear. Job done. Zen-master Buddha badass you now are. Or maybe not. But think of these things like an ex-girlfriend or an ex-boyfriend. And let’s imagine that you’re the one initiating the breaking up (you bastard). If you’ve been in a relationship with someone for a number of years, even if you’re the one doing the breaking up, it takes time for you to ‘get over it’. It takes time for you to, essentially, detach the meaning of that relationship from your life. To disassociate that relationship or that person from your idea of happiness so that you can move on. What I’m driving at here is that ‘letting go’ of the attachment of meaning we have with so many different things in our lives is tough, requires work and takes time. But if we can break that bond, break up that relationship, then we can see that none of this stuff really matters in the grand scheme of things. Let’s Get Some Perspective Now I know you’re probably sat there screaming at me “this all sounds so idealistic and great, but some things do matter. I need to pay my bills and have a good job and make a difference, etc.” Okay, I agree. But they only matter because you choose to create a feeling that they matter. And this means you can also choose to say ‘fuck it’ and create a feeling that they don’t matter. People who find out they have cancer often have a sudden realisation that all the shit they were worrying about just doesn’t matter anymore. All the things they were allowing to take over their lives – the work emails building up, paying off that bill, getting that more important job – they just all begin to seem so… insignificant. I’m not saying you’re not allowed to care about anything and should give up on goals and dreams, but maybe just not attach so much meaning to it all and sacrifice our happiness and inner peace in the present moment because of fears we may lose what we have now or not get what we want in the future. So invite you to simply zoom out, take a look at your life from a distance and consider the possibility that you could maybe let go of the meaning you are attaching to some things. Note: An unbelievably epic book that really helped me on this concept is “F**k It: The Ultimate Spiritual Way” by John C. Parkin. #2 Take Time for Introspection It’s so easy in this modern day world to get caught up in the ‘rat race’ of life and spend our time always pushing and driving forward. Of course, this is good in one sense. We all want to achieve things and live rich, fulfilling lives. And in order to do that, we need to work and be consistent action takers. But we also need to remember the importance and value we can get from taking a step back and having regular moments of introspection. If we’re constantly on, moving and driving, then we have very little time to consider whether we’re actually going in the right direction. By taking the time to reflect inwardly every so often, we can allow ourselves the pleasure of assessing everything in our life and whether we are living in line with our values. We can ask ourselves deep questions and give ourselves the time and space to answer them properly without thinking about having to rush back to the next client call, marketing activity or staff meeting. Because when we ask ourselves these deep questions, and allow ourselves the time to go beyond the superficial ‘fake’ answers, we discover things about ourselves. And when we discover things about ourselves, we become more aware of who we really are. And when we can become more aware of our truest selves, then this provides room for growth. Discovering Purpose Many people go through periods where they are trying desperately to “figure out their purpose”. I hear so many podcasts and see so many blogs that give all kinds of ways of ‘discover one’s purpose’. In fact, I had a crisis of purpose myself recently. But I discovered that focussing on this one purpose, finding that one thing you were put here to do, is pretty much a needless frustration to have. Nobody wants to ‘have a purpose’. We just want to feel purposeful. So we should, in fact, be focusing on trying to simply find and do what makes us feel purposeful. This feeling is what we desire when we all delve into this whole ‘purpose thing’. And feeling purposeful can come from anything. Acts as small as helping an old man cross the street, to as big as building an international charity that helps millions of people. But finding out what makes us feel purposeful is an introspective act. And it takes regular moments or periods of stepping back and assessing in order for us to ensure we are properly aligned in this way. #3 Express Some Self-Love Of course, we can give ourselves some love in a physical way. (No not like that, I can tell what you’re thinking). I mean loving yourself through positive actions, such as exercise, healthy food, meditation, good sleep and all that good stuff. But perhaps more importantly is loving yourself on a more spiritual level. Sometimes we can do all these ‘good’ things, such as exercise and eating well, from a place of fear and hate. We can get to a position in our thinking where we hate how we look and how we feel (or fear losing it) so much that we become obsessed with constant exercise and never putting a foot wrong with our diet. On the other side of that coin, of course, we can also punish ourselves with poor exercise and eating habits. But it can still come from the same place of hating ourselves. Either way, coming from a place of fear and hate is not exactly the most spiritually badass thing we can do. Self-Love from Self-Acceptance So where we can start with all this is to make the decision to accept ourselves, just as we are, right now. Each and every person reading this is worthy of love from themselves and others, regardless of things that happened in the past, what they look like or any other factor. Nobody needs to be ‘fixed’ or to experience ‘self-improvement’, because there is nothing that is broken or that needs improving upon. All there is, is room to grow. Think about the acorn. At its smallest, the acorn still has everything it needs within it to keep growing. As long as it stays nourished, it will become a mighty oak. The acorn is continually looking to grow, but at no point is it ever ‘broken’. The only way it can do anything ‘wrong’ is to stop growing. We each start off as a human form of an acorn. And we have the ability to grow into a human version of a mighty oak tree. But it is key to embrace our imperfections, accept and love ourselves unconditionally as we are and be on a path of growth, not trying to fix. #4 Make Room for Growth So how do we stay on a ‘growth pathway’, so to speak? Essentially, we need to make room for and be open to growth to take place and consistently nourish ourselves with things that will create growth. One of the most crucial things we can do is open ourselves up to the idea that everything is an opportunity for growth. Rather than staying closed off and ‘set in our ways’, being open and genuinely listening to new ideas without any bias can be extremely powerful. We tend to form deep-rooted beliefs and opinions based on previous experiences and what we’ve been told by authorities in our lives. But growth occurs when we put ourselves in a position to challenge these. If we accept that everything we know and believe could be wrong, then growth is so much easier. In fact, dispel the idea that there is in every situation a ‘right’ and a ‘wrong’ opinion. Simply the opportunity to learn, grow and add more knowledge. Actually seeking out and listening without judgement to opinions, thoughts and experiences that are perhaps opposing our own or come from outside our usual sources can be one of the most powerful things we can do. Read books you wouldn’t normally read. Listen to people you wouldn’t normally listen to. Seek out experiences you wouldn’t normally seek out. By submerging ourselves in only ‘one side of the argument’, so to speak, we’re simply reinforcing old beliefs and patterns and not allowing ourselves room to grow. Ridding Ourselves of Judgement The key phrase here in all this is ‘without judgement’. If something disagrees or goes against our current belief set, it goes a long way to just consider it without passing instant judgement and blindly casting it away as complete BS. Of course, things will trigger you. I’m not expecting you to just be able to from now on sit back and not react to anything like some kind of crazy Buddhist monk. There will be times when you read or see something that instantly sparks something inside and, sometimes, pisses you off. But rather than running with that, denying any possibility that you could be wrong and potentially launching into some tirade of abuse, it can be extremely useful for you and your future growth to simply ask why it triggered you in the first place. Be honest with yourself and ask ‘why don’t I really like this person?’ or ‘why did I really just get pissed off by what that person said?’. This can be tough, but the truth will set you free. There We Go… I now feel like I’ve unleashed my spiritual zen master knowledge on you. By no means am I claiming this to be the ultimate guide to spiritual health and everything you need to know. But these are things that have really helped me and I wanted to share. Feel free to non-judgmentally cast them away as complete bollocks (see what I did there? ;) ) But this is my truth at the moment. Hopefully some of it will help you in some way. Take a listen to the podcast episode for this blog post via the player at the top. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

This was an awesome conversation I had with Michael Kohan that I could have kept going for several hours longer. Now you may look look at Michael's name in the title of this post and wonder what the hell is going on and why there's another 'Eastern looking' name in there too. Well that's because Michael has dedicated a large portion of his life to extensive study and practice under world renowned Bhakti Yoga and spiritual teacher, Radhanath Swami. In 2013, Michael was officially initiated into Radhanath Swami's spiritual lineage and presented with the new name, Mukunda Chandra das. In other words, Michael has some pretty badass experience and knowledge when it comes to spiritual teachings. He currently operates as a life coach and yoga teacher where he shares his wisdom in any way he can. But, as tends to be a theme in these podcasts, it hasn't always been that way. In The Episode, We Talk About... Michael's story of going from overweight, miserable, money-driven NYC real estate worker to health-infused spiritual master. How a simple yoga class saved Michael's life. What Michael learned from dedicating years of his life to daily spiritual practices and study. How to apply ancient spiritual teachings to achieve happiness and inner peace in the modern day world. Why coming from a standpoint of love, as opposed to fear, is the happiest way. How to make 'happy money'. Links Michael's website Free Circle of Life Quiz Michael's Facebook Art of Charm Podcast Achieve Your Goals with Hal Elrod Podcast Radhanath Swami's website NYC Bhakti Centre "The Journey Home" by Radhanath Swami "The Journey Within" by Radhanath Swami Squarespace You can give the episode a listen via the player above. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

How I approach my life and business shifted massively with what I'm about to share with you today. And it may piss some people off. But approaching things this way has left me with so much more LOVE for what I do. Essentially, it's the concept of not being so obsessed with pleasing others, such as avatars, target markets, partners, family, etc. Instead of trying to 'mould' ourselves to fit into what others want us to be like, we should start with us and ourselves. And this is what I am doing with the podcast, this blog and everything I do. I explain a bit more in the episode. I talk about... Why I started treating my business as more of an 'art form' than a strict 'business'. A ramble about Vincent van Gogh. The starting point for bringing more joy and passion into our professional and personal lives. Why discovering who you are is so key to living an enjoyable life. Discovering your message to the world. Attracting people who resonate with the real, authentic, genuine YOU. EEBs Episode #019: What's Your 200 Year Goal? Take a listen via the player at the top of the page. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

Many people may see the title of this post and roll their eyes. The idea of dealing with mental health, thoughts, feelings and ‘getting all emotional’ is just not some people’s cup of tea and they try to avoid it. And that’s cool. But, to me, this is just as important, and probably more important, than any other part of our health. Because we can have all the success, money, six-pack abs and everything else we desire, but if we don’t have good thoughts and feelings then it’s all pointless. Our minds are so powerful that we can create the feeling of us being a worthless, broke, 500lb couch potato, even if the outside and ‘real world’ evidence points towards completely the opposite. Plus, if you feel like shit all the time then it becomes extremely difficult to take positive actions. In my view, aiming for total balance and ‘well roundedness’ in all areas of our lives is the key to happiness. And if you’re lacking in one area, then you’re lacking in all areas. So being mentally and emotionally healthy is just massive. What Exactly is Mental or Emotional Health? Various blogs, podcasts and whatever else refer to mental and/or emotional health. But before we go on, I think it’s important to look at what it actually is. I suppose you could get a whole host of ‘definitions’ here depending on someone’s personal opinions or academic background. But, to me, mental or emotional health refers to our overall psychological wellbeing in terms of how we feel about ourselves, our relationships, our lives in general and our ability to deal with the thoughts and emotions that come with the ups and downs of everyday life. Just as with physical health, I don’t believe simply the absence of disease or problems, such as depression, is a marker for ‘being mentally healthy’. But rather that being in the best mental and emotional health sees us experiencing positive characteristics, such as strong relationships, joy and able to deal with stress. In other words, I don’t believe you are necessarily ‘healthy’ just because you happen to not have been diagnosed with something. So maybe this post can benefit you and help you improve your mental and emotional health, even if you maybe don’t feel like you have too much of a problem in this area. A Full Disclosure Now I’ve been wanting to do a longer post specifically on mental and emotional health for a while. But I’ve shied away from this subject because I haven’t felt worthy or ‘qualified’ to talk about it. Because, if I’m honest, this is an area I struggle in myself. And in a pretty big way at times. There are times over the past few years where I’ve suffered with anxiety, depression, apathy and generally allowing my own thoughts and feelings to fuck me over and take control. Some days I find it extremely difficult to peel myself out of bed in the morning, face up to the day and get even the smallest amount of work done, and I have to work FUCKING HARD to get myself back to ‘normality’ (whatever that is ;) ). And so I didn’t feel like I was in a position to start offering advice about mental and emotional health. But then I thought that maybe I’m actually in a pretty good position to offer this advice. Rather than being someone with all these idealistic answers talking down to anyone struggling with their mental and emotional health, I can help from a real life, been in the trenches point of view. The original title of this post, for example, was ‘How to Master Your Mental & Emotional Health’, which is cool and would have given some great info. But I changed it to be about what I’m doing (or am trying to do) because I wanted it to have some real life points of view around it. Basics First Okay, okay. I know I bang on about these foundations so often that I may as well get it tattooed on my forehead. But this is only because they are so vital. There’s no point trying to do fancy things with supplements, ‘life hacks’ and all sorts if you aren’t doing the basics right. It’s like building your house on sand. This is why I aim to eat in a way that makes me feel good and energised, sleep right, move my body every day and take time out to de-stress, whether this be through meditation, a walk in the park or simply ‘pushing the pause button’ for a few minutes every so often. I’ve talked in previous podcasts about these, but specifically in “Episode #31: Using Sleep To Optimise Your Brain, Energy, Productivity, Performance & Health” and “Episode #39: Building A Badass Brain Pt. 2”. In a nutshell, in much the same way as overlooking these basics can affect your physical health, it can also affect your brain, hormone secretion and neurotransmitter balancing and, therefore, your mental and emotional health. So there’s my little spiel about the basics once again. Learn them. Apply them. And don’t underestimate them, whether it be for your mental health or anything else. Now onto some less repetitive stuff! #1 I Start the Day by Looking After Me It’s so easy to simply go through the motions each morning. You get up, fuck around for a bit and, before you know it, it’s mid-morning and you’ve got nothing done and feel like shit. Or you rush around getting yourself and kids ready to get out the house and as soon as you get time to breathe you start hearing that negative little voice in your head again. Rather than trying to deal with it all as and when it comes, I like to nip this in the bud. Morning time when I first get up is for me. Not for clients or family or Facebook friends or anything like that. So, my little routine looks like this: Get up, pee, rinse mouth, wash face with cold water. Some relaxed mobilisation and stretching to get me loose. Exercise, ranging from anything from a fast walk to a full gym session. While exercising I will listen to something positive, such as a podcast, audiobook or music that I neuro-associate with positivity. Shower, utilising a hot/cold technique of going from cold to hot in several 10 second bursts and then finishing on 30 seconds of cold. Breakfast while reading or watching something positive. Meditation. I know that may sound like a lot. And if you have kids, I appreciate that it can be a totally different ball game. But I invite you to try some kind of routine like this that would fit in and work for you. Just some way of looking after you in the mornings, as opposed to just allowing the day to take control of you. #2 I Utilise Awareness This may sound very weird, but I’ve grown accustomed to ‘watching’ myself and my thoughts. By that I mean I’ve practiced being aware and paying attention to what I’m thinking and how I’m feeling. Now you may wonder what good this does. But what I used to do was just allow myself to get bogged down, suppress the thoughts, distract myself and feel like it was never going to go away. Shining a light on what you are thinking, acknowledging that it exists and being present with it can be very powerful though. In an awesome conversation I had with Bob Buckley in Episode #15 of the podcast, he talks about a thought being just a thought. It’s not part of you and doesn’t belong to you and so you can simply watch it float by. In other words, the simple act of being aware of what’s going on inside your head and not pushing it deep down and ignoring thoughts and feelings can be extremely powerful. You can even go as far as writing down your thoughts. This often has the effect of us being able to take an objective look at them and to see them for what they really are. To further this even more, it’s important to note the importance and power of your “I am” statement. A great shift came in me when I started to ‘disown’ the label of ‘depression’ or ‘anxiety’. Saying “I have depression” or “I am depressed” creates a story in your head that this is part of you and that it is never going to leave. If we say “I am experiencing depressive thoughts or feelings right now” then this isn’t such a deeply ingrained, continual thing as saying “I am depressed”. #3 Using ‘Expressive Meditation’ I’ll be honest and say expressing myself and my emotions is something I have always struggled with and have only very recently embraced as part of mastering my mental and emotional health. But it is proving to be really, really effective. Elliot Hulse talks about depression stemming from suppression and a lack of self-expression. So this stems on nicely from the previous point about awareness. And to remember that being aware of your feelings, but still continuing to bottle everything up inside of you is a recipe for disaster. Now I’m not saying to go off and start flying off the handle with people expressing everything at any given moment. But rather to practice a regular expression of the feelings inside of you and releasing of tension, particularly when we are going through moments of depression. In fact, Elliot shares an immense ‘dynamic meditation’ to help with this in one of his many epic videos. Click here to check out his video (after you finish reading this post, of course ;) ) #4 I Give Myself Permission to Forgive Myself It is so easy to start thinking about the past and judging yourself for the mistakes you may have made. We create this feeling of self-loathing and self-judgement as we look back at decisions we ‘should’ have made, things we wish we did or didn’t say or directions we could have moved in. It’s as if we punish ourselves for things we’ve done in the past. And we go back there, relive it in our minds and just keep punishing ourselves over and over again. But something I’ve been practicing is the art of simply forgiving myself for mistakes or how I may have behaved in the past. Because I know that my past does not have to dictate my future, but it will if I choose it to. So I have officially given myself permission to forgive myself of shitty decisions, dick head behaviour and anything in my past that I previously created a feeling of repeated self-punishment over. Release that feeling. We are allowed to make mistakes. We can learn from them. But we do not need to carry them around with us like some shitty suitcase full of self-punishment. Learn. Let it go. And FORGIVE yourself. #5 I Prioritised Connection I’m naturally very introverted. And I mean properly introverted. As in, left to my own natural devices, I would probably be classed as some kind of recluse. I’m pretty happy to, most of the time, be by myself or with people I’m very close with. The only problem is that I sometimes allow this to go too far. There have been times in my past where I’ve gone completely within myself, focused solely on my work and completely disregarded any kind of social life or connection with other people. I’m sure there must have been times where I could have died and people wouldn’t have found out for days or weeks! And, in my experience, even as a deeply introverted person, this leaves a gaping hole inside you that is forever expanding. The only way to fill that hole is by connecting with others. I’m talking about genuinely connecting with people. Not simply showing up to a party and talking about the weather or what’s on TV. And this all starts from knowing and connecting with ourselves, discovering our own core values and figuring out who we are and what we believe about life. There was a point in my life where I just recognised that I was completely shutting the real me off from the world. So I simply made a sort of ‘pledge’ to myself to actually get over the fear of judgement and start trying to connect with people on a level I hadn’t done before. #6 I Monitor What Goes In & Out What I mean by this is that I don’t just passively sit by and allow any old garbage to go in to my head and also have become very aware of things I say and language that I use. I’m not going to completely rag on the news and all that stuff. If I’m honest, I do like to know what’s going on in the world and believe there’s a time and a place to expose yourself to it. But what I categorically will not do, or have stopped myself from doing, is constantly reading newspapers, listening to radio bulletins and watching the news at night. Yes, it’s very, very sad some of the stuff happening in the world and political things can affect us. I’m not attempting to ‘devalue’ it in any way. But being almost obsessed with getting more and more news, reading various opinion pieces and finding out more about what’s going on in the middle east or wherever and even allowing this stuff to be what enters your head at the start of every day is, to me, unnecessary. I don’t know about you, but it has a severe ‘bringing down’ effect on me and I don’t want to expose myself to at every possible opportunity. But I’m also starting to become more aware of what is actually coming out of my head as well as what’s going into it. What kind of language am I using? What am I saying in conversations? For example, “everything is fucked” or “this country is turning to shit” or “the economy is screwing me over” or “I feel like crap” or whatever. These are throw away comments that a lot of people use in conversation several times a day. And all it’s doing is reaffirming to yourself that there is something shitty going on. So I like to try and be as aware as possible of the kind of language I’m using and not use throw away comments like this when I don’t need to. #7 I Actually Practice Gratitude I wrote about this in the Facebook group last week. For some reason, I’ve always struggled to stay consistent when it comes to the ‘gratitude journals’ we’re all ‘told’ to do. Maybe I’m just a complete weirdo, but I always seem to write down what I’m grateful for and then subconsciously look away and say "look at all this shitty stuff going on over here though!" I feel like I’ve ‘ticked it off’ for the day and forget about it until the next day. What I’m trying to say is that I do the gratitude journal, but don’t really ‘feel’ the gratitude at the time and during the rest of the day. Now I know how important it is to show gratefulness and appreciation in our lives if we want to be happy and at peace. So rather than just say ‘this isn’t for me’ and ignore this whole gratitude thing, I’ve started doing something a little different. I’ve started actually trying to practice gratitude every day. What I mean by this is that I use each new environment I find myself in as a 'trigger' to remind myself of something I'm grateful for. This starts to 'train' my brain to be on the lookout for positivity and staying in that mentality of gratitude and appreciation. Because, after all, there's no point doing a 'gratitude journal' for five minutes every morning if you spend the other 23 hours and 55 mins of the day feeling like complete shit. So when I exit the bedroom in the morning, I am mentally ‘cued’ to show gratitude for something. The same when I enter the kitchen or go outside or go through the doors at the gym or go to the beach. Before you know it, you’ve built up a regular mental practice of showing gratitude in your life throughout your day. I’m not going to lie and say this instantly works. It takes practice and dedication to set up these ‘gratitude cues’ and you need to be prepared for the fact that you will forget them, miss some and sometimes just plain resist doing it. #8 I Remind Myself of the ‘Now’ I find it very, very easy to drift back in time (mentally, not literally) and start living in the past. I also find it just as easy to start thinking about the future and getting all anxious about things that could or might happen. Obviously, this is not a cool place to be in. It creates depressive feelings when looking backwards and anxious feelings when looking forwards. In order to pull myself out of this, I will literally stand up and start clicking my fingers and reminding myself to be in the present moment. Right now, everything can be okay if I choose it to be. It may sound completely mental, but it works. To Wrap Up This may be a lot to take in and feel overwhelming, particularly if you are struggling at the moment. But this is a simple invitation to you to begin finding what works for you and taking little steps forward towards improvement. If you feel like all of this is too much, then what can you implement? I certainly didn’t start out anywhere near perfect, and still am not perfect to this day! But this stuff really helps me. And hopefully it can help you too. Take a listen to the podcast episode for this blog post via the player at the top. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

I loved having this conversation with Sarah Cordial. As a documentary filmmaker, she's worked at the likes of ESPN and Fox News and has created some awesomely inspirational pieces. Her back catalogue includes a wide range of topics, such as Syrian refugees and NBA superstars, and she's even been Emmy nominated on two occasions. As you can imagine, she's pretty damn good at storytelling and bringing out the authnticity in the people and situations she films about. But she's also a deeply spiritual person and has been heavily into self-growth for a long time. In fact, she's even now a podcast host herself with her show, The Daily Cordial, where she explores life's big questions with thought leaders from around the world. So I thought this was a great opportunity to discuss with her about self-growth and connecting with our authentic selves. In The Episode, We Talk About... Sarah's story of how she used her inquisitive nature to get into filmmaking. The importance of setting our intention in every situation. What Sarah learned from visiting a Syrian refugee camp. Why being vulnerable is vital to self-growth. Why our relationships can be the place we learn the most about ourselves. The keys to authenticity and connecting to our authentic selves. Links "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron "The Daily Cordial" podcast Sarah's Vimeo channel Sarah's Facebook You can give the episode a listen via the player above. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

We've all heard of the idea of forgiveness. And most of us will have heard the term 'forgive and forget'. But I'm willing to bet that many of us have never really thought too much about forgiveness, what it means and how we can use it. I know I certainly haven't until recently. But it turns out that we can utilise the idea of real forgiveness to dramatically improve our emotional health and deal with some of the twisted emotional feelings that get tied up inside of us. So that's what I want to talk about in this episode of the podcast. I talk about... How we usually use forgiveness to our own and others' detriment. Why it's important to forget as well as forgive. Why it's also important to go as far as forgetting our forgiveness as well. How to stop 'owning' your grudges. Stopping our condemnation of people to nip the need for forgiveness in the bud. Why it's important to also forgive ourselves. How to stop having emotional reactions to our mistakes of the past. You can listen via the player at the top of the page. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

Note: Click here for the 'Energising Exercises' PDF I mention on the episode. Ever feel drained and like you’re getting things 10x slower than you should be? Yeah, we’ve all been there. That afternoon crash, bit of brain fog or sudden crashing in our mood that slows us down. Not good for anyone. But there are much better ways of dealing with all this than the usual reaching for a Red Bull, brewing up the extra strength coffee or smashing through the sugary snacks. While all these may give a short term ‘buzz’, they’re rarely the best option. Aside from tasting like cat piss (my opinion), they’re also full of all sorts of garbage that belong more on the bottle of some kind of industrial kitchen cleaning product than something you’re going to ingest. So I wanted to share here my top 10 simple, yet very effective, natural strategies for boosting your energy levels (and therefore your productivity and performance). I’ve started with a few simple, more proactive strategies that you may be aware of already, yet still need to be said. Before going into some more advanced shizzle. Let’s start with #1 because, you know, that’s where these things normally start. #1 Start the Day Right! I used to say ‘have a good breakfast’ in this section. But I feel that’s a bit misleading. Because, truth be told, many people do well fasting in the mornings and not having their first real meal until 10am and beyond. So my main point I want to put across here is to not have a shit breakfast! If you’re going to fast, then fast. If you’re not, then eat properly. Toast, croissants, cereals, breakfast bars and all that processed carby stuff is not what the vast majority of people’s bodies are craving for the first meal of the day. Whether you choose to ‘break your fast’ from the night before as soon as you wake up or a few hours later, make sure you give your body a meal containing a healthy dose of protein, healthy fats and a variety of nutrients. My go to is a good quality eggs cooked in whichever way you like and partnered with some coconut oil in there with plenty of low sugar veggies. #2 Stay Hydrated In over four years of working in this industry, I’ve only ever had one client where we haven’t had to increase their water intake. In other words, dehydration is a very common problem. And most people don’t even realise it! There are billions of water-dependent biochemical reactions taking place in your body every single second. So a water is a huge player in maintaining a ‘healthy metabolism’ and, therefore, awesome energy levels. But I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again… the standard, generalised advice of two litres or eight glasses a day is not good enough. The amount of water your body needs is directly correlated to its size. The bigger it is, the more water is required to hydrate it. So we need to take out the guess work and be able to work out how much water your body actually needs. I do this via the simple formula of taking your weight in lbs, halving it and then using that as your daily minimum water requirement in fl oz. If you’re a metric bunny like me then take your weight in kg and multiply by 0.033 to give daily minimum requirement in litres. I start every day off with a big glass of water, at least 500ml and usually up to a litre before doing anything else. This sets you off right for the day and helps to stop you ‘falling behind’ your daily minimum target that could result in diminished energy levels. #3 Invest in Doing Nothing At first, this may seem counter-productive. If you want more energy and to get more done and be more productive, then going the other way and doing nothing for a period of time is surely going to hinder this, right? But the key word here is invest in doing nothing. This is a time investment that can be just 10 minutes at a time and can result in overwhelming improvements in cognitive function, energy levels and productivity. In fact, as I discussed in episode #39 of the podcast last week, meditation has been proven to have all sorts of brain and performance related benefits (1, 2). So I suggest starting off your day by getting up a little earlier and before you do anything, do nothing for 10 minutes. Literally just sit in a chair and focus on your breathing before breakfast, exercise, getting kids up or anything! You can even have these little 10 minute ‘breathing breaks’ sporadically included throughout your day to help give you a jolt of energy where you maybe would have reached for the Red Bull. #4 Sleep Better It seems like every week I mention sleeping better. I guess that’s just a testament to how important sleep is to your health and performance. But it’s about as obvious as the sky is blue that sleep (or a lack of sleep) has a profound impact on your energy levels. Again, I’m not going to go through the ins and outs of sleep her in this podcast. Check out episode #31 of the podcast for my masterclass on sleep and to take a deep dive into the subject. #5 ‘Ground’ Yourself in Nature For me, simply getting out in nature and being around plants, wildlife, the ocean or whatever else considered to be ‘natural environments’ can be hugely beneficial for my mood, productivity and feelings of being ‘energised’. So getting away from the concrete jungle we sometimes find ourselves trapped in and heading for the garden, the park or the beach can be hugely beneficial. I challenge you to go take a walk in the park and not to feel more positive and ready to ‘go’. But we can actually take this further by bringing in the concept of ‘grounding’. This is where you connect your body in some way with the earth without the interference of socks, shoes or clothing. Science is starting to back up this idea that connecting to the earth directly can help us ‘absorb’ free electrons and experience health benefits (3) and improvements in sleep and ability to deal with stress (4) as well as simply creating a more positive mood (5). I know it sounds weird, but try it. It really does feel awesome if you don’t go in with the attitude that this is all hippy BS. #6 Move! So many of us get caught up so much in work that we can go for days, weeks or months where the only movement we do is walking from the house to the car and the car to the office. But what this helps to promote is a metabolism that makes the average sloth look like Speedy Gonzalez. Your body and mind will start to get sluggish, slower and feel ‘off the pace’. A morning workout of some sort is great. Now, I don’t mean you have to do a full gym workout (although that could be great). But just getting yourself moving with a fast-paced walk or a little bodyweight routine in the garden can do wonders for your energy through the day. #7 Use Caffeine Sparingly There’s no getting away from the fact that a big ass coffee can give you an energy kick. But there are two things to remember here. First of all, your body can very easily get used to dealing with caffeine and so cause you to not feel the effects as much. This is how we create the need to have more and more and at greater strengths each time until we’ve suddenly found ourselves needing to have a quadruple espresso every hour in order to feel the ‘buzz’ of a few years ago. Obviously, this isn’t the best and most long-term of options for how to get enough energy to get through the day. So I would invite anyone in this boat to try a ‘coffee cleanse’ for a week before adding it back in at a lower amount. Secondly, coffee can be a very beneficial and enjoyable beverage. But you have to be careful as to what else you’re putting in your body along with it. That instant stuff is full of all sorts of shite. So I advise getting an espresso machine or a good drip filter (or at least a French Press) and get yourself some good quality, organic, ground coffee. When you’re not dependent on it and it’s good quality, coffee can be, in my opinion, a great, healthy option. #8 Energising Exercises Something I’ve found very powerful in helping to feel more energised is looking into more ‘eastern’ philosophies and ideas. This stems from the idea that you must cultivate energy (known as Prana for Yogis or Chi in oriental martial arts) before expending it. The power of this principle stems from the breath. The oxygen we breathe in carries a very strong positive charge, acting like the positive pole of a magnet. And the tissues and water in your body act as the negative pole. Now wherever you find a positive and negative pole, there is energy and work potential. So breathing energy into the body can create this work potential in us. We can manipulate this through specific breathing exercises that effectively help to ‘charge’ the body up and cultivate energy for us to then utilise throughout the day. It’s even possible to target specific ‘zones’ in the body to rebalance the chakra system and therefore reclaim a healthy ‘flow’ of this energy through the body. As you can imagine, this is a more advanced subject than this little piece here in this blog post. But I’ve put together a PDF all about energising exercises, how they work and with specific examples of how you can use them to increase your energy and vitality. Click here and I’ll email the PDF to you straightaway. Checking out some Tai Chi or Qi-Gong classes in your local area or heading to good old grand master YouTube can also be very beneficial. #9 Take Control of Your Environment The environment you’re in can be a powerful player in how energetic, happy and positive you’re feeling. Your brain is constantly scanning your environments and can create incredible neuro-associations with the seemingly minute things around you, causing you to feel a certain way that could be positive or negative. Checkout podcast episode #40 for more on utilising neuro-association. As you can imagine, if you’re trying to work in an office that’s boxed in, congested, messy and generally not very nice to be in, then it can cause you to feel low on energy and drive. So our environments are very powerful tools. Something as simple as having access to natural light as often as possible can improve your workplace performance and mood, according to a study published in the journal SLEEP by Northwestern University. Getting that regular dose of vitamin D from natural light is a game changer when it comes to our mood, so if you don’t have windows then taking regular trips outside or investing in a lightbox would be a good idea. But also getting some greenery around our homes and offices can also be very beneficial for our energy, mood and performance. Plants help purify the air and therefore help to improve the quality and toxicity levels of everything we’re breathing in, which means you get a better air quality and create a much more energetic ‘feel’ about a particular space. So, you can start mastering your environment via the following: Learning about neuro-associations (podcast episode #40) and building more positivity into our environments. Work on strategies for letting more natural light in. Adding greenery and plants into our environments. #10 Get More Magnesium As always, supplementation when it comes to these things comes after all other interventions have been considered. But magnesium can be a key player here. It plays a role in over 300 different biochemical processes in our bodies, ranging from muscle and nerve cell function, to brain health, to our immune system function and much, much more. So if our bodies are under a lot of stress and being worn down, then magnesium can easily become depleted. In short, the result is that our physiology doesn’t operate effectively and we become to feel worn down. And because of how much stress most of us tend to put ourselves under, magnesium gets burned through very easily and deficiency becomes very common. Eating a healthy, balanced diet is obviously a way to get more magnesium. But a good quality supplement can be very beneficial, especially when applied transdermally (via the skin). I suggest using a magnesium spray daily and combining this with a regular bath using magnesium or Epsom salts. There You Have It! So you definitely don’t need to rely on the Red Bull and coffee to get you through each day. A few preventative actions and daily practices can really get you feeling energised, positive and performing like a badass. Take a listen to the podcast episode for this blog post via the player at the top. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

George Wohar is an inspirational dude. He struggled for years trying to 'get it right' when it came to success and wasted a lot of time and money chasing the answers. Until, one day, it finally hit him that getting his mind right was a must before anything else! Since then, George has been dedicated to mastering his own mind and sharing what he learns with others to become known as the 'Millennial Mindset Mentor'. He's gone from dropping out of college and struggling with life, to speaking on stage with the likes of Tai Lopez and Nick Unsworth. With his dedication to his own mindset allowing him to do this all by the age of 21. So I thought it would be pretty damn cool to get George on the podcast. And we had an awesome conversation about all things 'mindset'. In The Episode, We Talk About… George's story of going from struggling college drop out to 'Millennial Mindset Mentor' and being invited to speak at Tai Lopez's house. The ins and outs of mastering  'money mindset'. How to breakthrough your limiting beliefs around money. How the result in your life is a result of your beliefs. How to move into an 'abundance mindset'. Manifesting through taking action. Some kickass routines for living in gratitude. And much more! Links George's website "The Secret" Video "The Science of Getting Rich" by Wallace D. Wattles "The Power" by Rhonda Byrne "Think & Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill "Outwitting the Devil" by Napoleon Hill You can give the episode a listen via the player above. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

Understanding the concept of 'neuro-association' can be so powerful. In a nutshell, it's the 'subconscious' association our brains form with the environment around us. This can be an association that causes us to feel and react in a certain way. For example, when the boxer hears the bell, they're ready to fight in every sense of the word. The bell can cause changes in his/her physiology that prepares them for the fight. And it works in every other situation and environment too, whether you're aware of it or not. So it can be how we react or feel in certain rooms, locations, settings or anything! The good news is that we can become aware of and utilise this to our advantage. And that's what I talk about in this episode. I talk about... The power of understanding neuro-associations. How our environments can directly affect our productivity, performance and happiness. Why creating separate areas for separate tasks or activities in our day can be a game changer. How to create positive neuro-associations in our lives. The key to getting rid of negative neuro-associations. How to set up your environment so that it breeds productivity and happiness. And much more! You can listen via the player at the top of the page. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

In the first part of this ‘Building A Badass Brain’ series, I shared how to begin mastering your brain from a more psychological perspective. If you missed that, I highly recommend you check that out here as it’s been one of the most popular podcast episodes so far. But today, I want to look at the other side of the coin and consider the more physiological side of brain performance. So rather than simply looking at our thoughts and why we tend to ‘self-sabotage’ in some areas of our lives, I want to look at how we can rev up our brain and get it functioning and performing at the very highest level. This means better focus, higher productivity, clearer and quicker thoughts and better decision making as well as the longer term benefit of reducing the risk of brain diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia. It’s obviously a pretty big subject. So to make it easier to consume, I’ve put this article into 10 simple action points you can start doing right now to start improving your brain function. #1 Improve Your Gut Health Believe it or not, your brain is intimately connected to your gut. In fact, the gut has its very own nervous system, known as the enteric nervous system, that has a direct connection to the brain via the vagus nerve. Now you would be forgiven for thinking that the brain is always the guy in charge and the gut is mostly receiving directions and signals from the brain. But the opposite is actually true, with the gut more commonly relaying and sending information to the brain up the vagus nerve. What Does This Mean? Well, essentially, the gut and gut flora are responsible for synthesising various vital neurotransmitters and sending signals to the brain. One of these vital neurotransmitters is serotonin, which is a main player in helping us stay in a positive mood and fighting depressive disorders. Studies suggest that the vast majority of our body’s serotonin is actually produced in the gut and passed up to the brain via the vagus nerve. So your gut health (or potential lack of gut health) has a monumental role on your serotonin levels, and, therefore, your propensity to feel low, apathetic and depressed. Not good for brain health and performance! Simply improving your gut health has been shown by several studies to improve brain health, emotional processing and all-round wellbeing. (1, 2, 3) Action Steps So a healthy gut, means a healthier balance of good bacteria in there, means a greater ability to synthesise the required neurotransmitters (including serotonin) and the brain is better equipped to do its job and function optimally. In short, better gut, better brain. I know this is easier said than done (and is something I will cover in much more depth in a future blog post/podcast), but some strategies you could start implementing right now are: Cutting out ‘usual suspects’ to gut problems, i.e. gluten, dairy, soy and processed foods, for at least a week and judge how you feel. Add them back in one-by-one and see if any give you particular jip. Consuming fermented foods, such as sauerkraut, kefir (if dairy is cool with you), pickled vegetables or kimchi. Consider a good quality probiotic supplement that ideally has a pre-biotic built in there too. #2 Optimise Your ‘Neuroplasticity’ Your brain has an unbelievable ability to rewire, reorganise and heal itself by building new and different neuro-connections throughout our entire life. This ability is known as ‘neuroplasticity’. It’s how we learn new skills, take on new knowledge and entrain new behaviours as well as heal and build new neuro-connections around blockages that occur as a result of trauma and damage. In this sense, your brain is a bit like a muscle. If you train it, then you will have a greater ability to utilise ‘neuro-plasticity’. Improved learning ability, sharper reactions and, should it come to it, an optimised ability to repair and regenerate itself. Action Steps This ‘training’ of the brain comes as a direct result of placing it in new situations and environments. If you spend all day looking at the same scenery, staring into the same computer screen and doing pretty much the same things over and over, then your brain will become ‘weak’. Just as a muscle would fail to get stronger if you lifted the same weight every day, your brain fails to get stronger if you don’t ‘test’ it with new situations and environments. You can quite simply train your bran with puzzles and ‘brain games’. But a greater way to do it is by making a commitment to regularly do something you’ve never done before. Whether it’s rock climbing, jet-skiing, playing tennis or whatever! If you consistently seek out the learning of new skills, your brain will reward you! #3 Fuel Your Brain Right Your brain is mostly made up of fat and water. This means providing it with a healthy array of dietary fats as well as staying well hydrated are key components in fuelling it properly. But let’s go a little deeper than simply saying ‘drink more water, eat more fat’ (because, you know, I like to do that ;) ). Hydration For Brain Health First off, it’s imperative that you get enough water for your body size on a daily basis. It’s not secret that staying hydrated is key for general health as well as cognitive performance (4, 5). But It’s no good going off the standard, generalised advice of ‘two litres a day’ or ‘eight glasses a day’ if your body requires more or less than that. So basing your daily water intake off the current size of your body is the most logical way forward. I like to use the simplicity of drinking half your body weight (lbs) in fl oz every day, which is an equation suggested in Dr Feyredoon Batmanghelidj’s amazing book, Your Body’s Many Cries For Water. Many of my clients have found this one step to be extremely powerful in making them feel and perform better in as little as 24 hours! Fats For Brain Health The brain likes to run on glucose as its primary fuel source. However, our ‘standard’ high carbohydrate diets have seen occurrences of there being so much glucose available that the brain begins to fail to metabolize glucose effectively, as suggested by a University of Coimbra Centre for Neuroscience and Biology study. In fact, the evidence linking cognitive impairment to poor glucose regulation is so strong that some researchers have taken to calling Alzheimer’s disease “type 3 diabetes”. Moving into a state of ‘ketosis’ (where you either fast or go so low on your carbohydrate intake that you start running on ketones as an alternative to glucose) has been shown by Sherbrooke University in Quebec to improve brain and cognitive function. Now most people aren’t prepared to eat the restrictive diet required to live in a state of ketosis. But you can elevate your blood ketone levels even in the absence of severe carbohydrate restriction with regular consumption of medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs). Several studies have shown that MCTs do elevate blood ketone levels, resulting in improved cognitive performance (6, 7). MCTs are readily available in coconut oil, but you can also get isolated MCT oils too. Another Fat to Mention Omega-3 fats also deserve their own special mention as well as they are integral in supporting brain health. They play a vital role in building brain cell membranes, reducing brain inflammation and promoting new brain cell formation. If you’re struggling to do this optimally, then it can play a vital role in diminished cognitive function and performance as well as incidences of depression, anxiety, dementia and other brain disorders. So ensuring you’re consuming Omega-3 fats regularly is another way of fuelling your brain in the best way possible. Action Steps Use the equation to work out your daily amount of water required to keep you hydrated. See how you feel with a lower (but not crazy low) carbohydrate diet, and consider a daily dose of coconut oil or MCT oil to encourage ketone body build up in the blood. Get your daily dose of Omega-3 fats via things like walnuts, fatty fish and even a fish/krill oil supplement. #4 Sleep Your Way to A Better Brain Of course sleep is important! As with every other cell in your body, it’s where your brain repairs, regenerates and replenishes itself to come back stronger the next day. It’s where you ‘connect the dots’ and turn short term memories into long term memories so you can put into long term storage the knowledge you acquire each day. And it’s also the time when your brain’s own detoxification system, the glymphatic system, has been shown to be 10x more active. In short, this means if you’re not sleeping right then you are leaving waste products and toxins in and around your brain that it would prefer to not be there, leaving you open to reduced performance and long term damage. All in all, better sleep means better cognitive performance, energy, learning ability and decision making as well as reducing the risk of mental and brain disorders in the longer term. I did an entire ‘Sleep Masterclass’ as episode #31 of the podcast with attached blog. Rather than go into all that again here, check that out by clicking here. #5 Use Brain Healthy Herbs & Spices Believe it or not, herbs and spices can have amazing benefits for the body. Now I want to be real about this… a sprinkle of something here and there in between meals of hot dogs and mac and cheese is going to do nothing. But there are a few things that can have real benefits for the brain as added extras to the foundational principles of healthy eating, hydration, brain training and sleep. So here are the main ones I want to mention: Turmeric’s active ingredient, curcumin, is a fantastic benefit to the brain with awesome antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties (8, 9). Other compounds in turmeric have been shown to help the brain repair its own cells. Easily found in curry, you can also add turmeric to a salad or your morning eggs. Although not technically a herb or spice, garlic is very powerful condiment or flavouring (or whatever you want to call it) that thins the blood to help prevent blood clots. It contains compounds thought to protect neurons from injury and disease by stimulating the production of chemicals that help cells withstand stress. Several studies have shown the positive effects of sage extract when it comes to brain function and memory, both in health people of all ages and in those who already show symptoms of Alzheimer’s (10, 11, 12, 13). #6 Exercise For A Healthier Brain Turns out exercise make you feel and perform better. Yup, who knew? Neurogenesis (the growth and development of nervous tissue) has been shown to be induced by exercise, particularly in the hippocampus (14). This means exercise has a direct positive effect on not just our heart, lungs, muscles, etc., but also our brain health too. So regular exercise can help maintain and improve cognitive function, memory, productivity, neurological repair and positively affect emotions and conditions like depression and anxiety. Action Steps Move in some way on a daily basis! #7 Meditation For A Better Brain I’m not going to go on about this too long because, like exercise, the benefits of meditation are now pretty well known. That’s not to discredit it at all – it is still vitally important. But I don’t want to go over information that you’ve already heard over and over again. Studies have now shown that regular meditation actually positively changes the brain in a physical way (15), meaning meditation actually ‘does stuff’ and isn’t all about just being part of the ‘meditation clique’. However, it other studies have also revealed that meditation directly benefits cognitive function, learning ability, memory processing and emotion regulation (16). In short, meditation is real and has real benefits for your brain health in the long run as well as your performance and happiness in the shorter term. Action Step It can be hard to start meditating if you’ve never done it before. And once you start it can be hard to keep it up because you may not ‘notice’ the benefits straightaway. So I recommend just taking 10 minutes each morning before you do anything else to simply sit in silence. If you’re still struggling, try using Brain.fm (which is what I use) or the Headspace iPhone app. The Take Away There are a lot of things we can do to control and master this thing between our ears, whether it be from a more 'mindset' place that I lay out in part one of this blog or the more physiological side here. In all honesty, however, your brain will respond positively by simply looking after it as you would everything else. So building a foundation of health from the inside out will truly allow you to set your brain on fire and be the focussed, productive and happy person you want to be. Take a listen to the podcast episode for this blog post via the player at the top. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

Stephen Doran has a pretty cool story to tell. He's a peak performance coach who's worked with many high flyers, including going on tour with Akon as his personal performance coach! But things haven't always been like this for Stephen.   He went from college dropout, to successful fireman, to a self-made millionaire with very little passion for what he was doing. So we talk about this in detail, and how Stephen assessed his life to discover what it is that makes him feel more purposeful. Now, he's a successful coach who puts out awesome stuff into this world and has even written a book, 'Burn the Bullshit', about overcoming limiting beliefs. In The Episode, We Talk About... Stephen's amazing story of going from college dropout to high level performance coach. Overcoming fears to get to where you want in life. An exercise for finding your 'passion income streams'. How 'thinking about your thinking' can help you master your mindset. What Stephen learned from being pushed to the physical brink on the BB2 series, Special Forces: Ultimate Hell Week. How you can breakthrough any limiting beliefs that are holding you back from living a happier, more 'success filled' life. And much more! Links Stephen's new book, Burn the Bullshit: How to Live Before You Die Stephen's Facebook Stephen's Twitter Stephen's Instagram Stephen's Snaphchat: @OfficialSteveD You can give the episode a listen via the player above. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

When most people think of an 'athlete', it brings up images of Olympians, training and elite sports people. But I want to challenge that loose definition. Because I think the concept of 'being an athlete' is very powerful for everyone, particularly entrepreneurs. To me, an athlete is someone who works to cope with (or even exceed) the demands of the environment that confronts them in their daily life. An Olympic sprinter has the demands of needing to run 100-400m as quickly as possible. A stay-at-home parent has the demands of needing to do everything around the house without the kids driving them crazy! An entrepreneur has the demands of needing to be as sharp as possible in their business, relationships and home life. We all have demands. We are all athletes. Successful athletes put the work in on themselves. Unsuccessful athletes... don't! So treating yourself as one helps you to take on the actions, thoughts and behaviours that enable you to perform like a badass in your life! And this is what I talk about in today's podcast episode. I talk about... EEBs Episode #005: Your 'I Am' Statement For A Powerful Mindshift Why the concept of 'entrepreneurial athleticism' is so powerful. How to start treating yourself like an athlete. Exceeding your performing requirements in your life. Coping with the demands of your environment. The mindshift towards becoming an entrepreneurial athlete. You can listen via the player at the top of the page. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

James Farrelly and I have a lot in common. We both built up personal training businesses that ended up making us miserable. And we’ve both fallen in love with the concept of genuine ‘coaching’, as opposed to simply training or mentoring someone. But it’s James’ story of struggle while in his PT business, how he overcame this and what he has now grown into that really attracted me to the idea of having him on the podcast. He joined the Facebook group a while back and his story instantly hit a chord with me. Then after seeing his posts, videos and what he was just generally all about I knew I had to ask him to come on as a guest to share his story and wisdom. So this is an awesome interview that I genuinely enjoyed and I hope you get some real benefit from listening. In The Episode, We Talk About… James’ story of going from financially successful (yet miserable) personal trainer to a happy, fulfilled coach. Dealing with debt and money issues as an entrepreneur. How to become a successful AND happy entrepreneur. Why it’s important to listen to that ‘little voice’ inside you, and how to embrace it. Learning to live (and be happy) when money is tight. Why it’s important to focus on YOU before marketing, sales or any of that BS. James’ path to a ’Six Figure Coach’ (who is also frigin loving what they do!). And much more! Links James’ Facebook profile The Connected Coach Community (Facebook Group) You can give the episode a listen via the player above. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

As you may expect, my Facebook newsfeed has been filled with Brexit stuff. Some people moaning, some rejoicing and some saying they're not bothered. Now I'm not one of these people who simply comes out and says it has no effect whatsoever and the power is all in you and all that motivational bullshit. I believe it has less effect than what many people (and news agencies) are actually making out.. But it could still make a difference. So I voted. And I voted to remain. Yet I wanted to use this podcast episode to talk about some random Brexit bollocks, how I used my core values to vote and also how I'm reacting now that it's over. I talk about... A real life example of using core values to make a decision. Why your reactions to things are so important. One question to ask yourself whenever 'bad things' happen. Why it's ok to get frustrated with stuff. EEBs episode #032 You can listen via the player at the top of the page. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!