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"'The sense that these people that will not allow their bodies to be defiled by a vaccine created by actual science, signed off on by doctors, scientists and health professionals all over the world. 'Oh no, they're not putting that in my body,' but the same people will inject hydroxychloroquine, Clorox, ivermectin, anything. It's just mind blowing.'"

"You're going to surrender caring about rejection. And the truth is, what you're going to get out of that is more than you're going to get out of the sale that you're going to make. Letting go of 'I need to be perfect.' Letting go of 'Everyone has to like me.' Letting go of 'What's my uncle going say when he sees my price?' Letting go of 'Oh my Gd, I'm an impostor. I don't have a degree in this.' We're ending that. We're making a decision today that that doesn't feel vibrationally matched. That's cost us too much. And it's time to set it down. And so we're going to start getting in the habit of showing up and opening our arms for abundance." - Join the Quitters Club! https://cathyheller.com/quitter

Following a tragic car accident in Greece, Beckett, an American tourist, finds himself at the center of a dangerous political conspiracy and on the run for his life in this Netflix thriller.   The writer and director discuss what it was like to collaborate. Writer Kevin A. Rice explains: "What was great about the process was Ferdi and I clicked very early, and we just met over lunch. It was very, sort of, informal… at the time, Ferdi had, like, a page description of what he was shooting for with this movie, and I was given that, and I was like, 'Oh yeah, I'd love to work on something like this.'"   Director Ferdi Cito Filomarino goes on to talk about the central character of Beckett and how he subverts the useful thriller tropes. "We set [Beckett] in a way that is basically the worst possible character type to be in a man-hunt-thriller in some ways: the type of person that he is, the type of demeanor that he has, and attitude… By the end of the movie, he basically has to confront all of that."   Don't forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes!     Now available on Google Podcasts!  

What if I told you that there's a way to keep yourself young? It takes a lot of hard work, and it's a continuing process. However, the payoff is definitely worth it. It also offers a lot of benefits aside from longevity. The secret? It's developing a lifelong passion for learning and growing. In this episode, Craig Harper joins us once again to explain the value of having a growth mindset. We explore how you can keep yourself young and healthy even as you chronologically age. He also emphasises the importance of fun and laughter in our lives. Craig also shares how powerful our minds are and how we can use them to manage our pain.    If you want to know how to develop a growth mindset for a fuller life, then this episode is for you!   Get Customised Guidance for Your Genetic Make-Up For our epigenetics health programme, all about optimising your fitness, lifestyle, nutrition and mind performance to your particular genes, go to  https://www.lisatamati.com/page/epigenetics-and-health-coaching/.   Customised Online Coaching for Runners CUSTOMISED RUN COACHING PLANS — How to Run Faster, Be Stronger, Run Longer  Without Burnout & Injuries Have you struggled to fit in training in your busy life? Maybe you don't know where to start, or perhaps you have done a few races but keep having motivation or injury troubles? Do you want to beat last year's time or finish at the front of the pack? Want to run your first 5-km or run a 100-miler? ​​Do you want a holistic programme that is personalised & customised to your ability, goals, and lifestyle?  Go to www.runninghotcoaching.com for our online run training coaching.   Health Optimisation and Life Coaching If you are struggling with a health issue and need people who look outside the square and are connected to some of the greatest science and health minds in the world, then reach out to us at support@lisatamati.com, we can jump on a call to see if we are a good fit for you. If you have a big challenge ahead, are dealing with adversity, or are wanting to take your performance to the next level and learn how to increase your mental toughness, emotional resilience, foundational health, and more, then contact us at support@lisatamati.com.   Order My Books My latest book Relentless chronicles the inspiring journey about how my mother and I defied the odds after an aneurysm left my mum Isobel with massive brain damage at age 74. The medical professionals told me there was absolutely no hope of any quality of life again, but I used every mindset tool, years of research and incredible tenacity to prove them wrong and bring my mother back to full health within three years. Get your copy here: https://shop.lisatamati.com/collections/books/products/relentless. For my other two best-selling books Running Hot and Running to Extremes, chronicling my ultrarunning adventures and expeditions all around the world, go to https://shop.lisatamati.com/collections/books.   Lisa's Anti-Ageing and Longevity Supplements  NMN: Nicotinamide Mononucleotide, an NAD+ precursor Feel Healthier and Younger* Researchers have found that Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide or NAD+, a master regulator of metabolism and a molecule essential for the functionality of all human cells, is being dramatically decreased over time. What is NMN? NMN Bio offers a cutting edge Vitamin B3 derivative named NMN (beta Nicotinamide Mononucleotide) that can boost the levels of NAD+ in muscle tissue and liver. Take charge of your energy levels, focus, metabolism and overall health so you can live a happy, fulfilling life. Founded by scientists, NMN Bio offers supplements of the highest purity and rigorously tested by an independent, third-party lab. Start your cellular rejuvenation journey today. Support Your Healthy Ageing We offer powerful, third-party tested, NAD+ boosting supplements so you can start your healthy ageing journey today. Shop now: https://nmnbio.nz/collections/all NMN (beta Nicotinamide Mononucleotide) 250mg | 30 capsules NMN (beta Nicotinamide Mononucleotide) 500mg | 30 capsules 6 Bottles | NMN (beta Nicotinamide Mononucleotide) 250mg | 30 Capsules 6 Bottles | NMN (beta Nicotinamide Mononucleotide) 500mg | 30 Capsules Quality You Can Trust — NMN Our premium range of anti-ageing nutraceuticals (supplements that combine Mother Nature with cutting edge science) combats the effects of aging while designed to boost NAD+ levels. Manufactured in an ISO9001 certified facility Boost Your NAD+ Levels — Healthy Ageing: Redefined Cellular Health Energy & Focus Bone Density Skin Elasticity DNA Repair Cardiovascular Health Brain Health  Metabolic Health   My  ‘Fierce' Sports Jewellery Collection For my gorgeous and inspiring sports jewellery collection, 'Fierce', go to https://shop.lisatamati.com/collections/lisa-tamati-bespoke-jewellery-collection.   Here are three reasons why you should listen to the full episode: Learn how to develop a growth mindset to keep yourself young and healthy, regardless of your chronological age. Understand why you need to manage your energy and plan fun and laughter into your life. Discover the ways you can change your mindset around pain.    Resources Gain exclusive access and bonuses to Pushing the Limits Podcast by becoming a patron! Listen to other Pushing the Limits Episodes: #60: Ian Walker - Paraplegic Handbiker - Ultra Distance Athlete #183: Sirtuins and NAD Supplements for Longevity with Dr Elena Seranova #188: Awareness and Achieve High Performance with Craig Harper  #189: Understanding Autophagy and Increasing Your Longevity with Dr Elena Seranova Connect with Craig: Website | Instagram | Linkedin Interested to learn more from Craig? You can check out his books and his podcast, The You Project. T: The Story of Testosterone by Carole Hooven  Mind Over Medicine by Lissa Rankin M.D. Lifespan - Why We Age and Why We Don't Have To  by David A. Sinclair PhD Neuroscience professor Andrew Huberman's Instagram  Dr Rhonda Patrick's website A new program, BoostCamp, is coming this September at Peak Wellness!   Episode Highlights [06:50] A Growth Mindset Keeps Us Young and Healthy It's helpful to take advantage of the availability of high-level research and medical journals online. If you're prepared to do the hard work, you can learn anything.  Learning and exposing ourselves to new things are crucial parts of staying young and healthy.  Age is a self-created story.  With a growth mindset, you can change how your body and mind works so that you feel younger than your real age.  [12:23] Develop a Growth Mindset It's vital to surround yourself with people with the same mindset — people who drag you up, not down.  You can also get a similar experience by exposing yourself to good ideas and stories. Be aware of what you're feeding your mind, on top of what you're feeding your body.  School is not a marker of your intelligence. Your academic failures do not matter.  With a growth mindset, you can keep growing and learning.  [17:40] Let Go and Be Happy People tend to have career and exercise plans, but not a fun plan.  We can't be serious all the time — we also need time to have fun and laugh.  Laughter can impact and improve the immune system. Laughing can change the biochemistry of your brain. Plan for the future, but also learn to live in the now. Having a growth mindset is important, but so is finding joy and enjoyment.  [23:31] Look After Your Energy Having fun and resting can impact your energy and emotional system.  These habits can help you work faster than when you're just working all the time.  Remember, volume and quality of work are different.  [30:24] Work-Life Balance Many people believe that they need to balance work and life. However, when you find your passion, it's just life.  Even doing 20 hours of work for a job you hate is worse than 40 hours of doing something you love. There's no one answer for everyone. Everything is a lot more flexible than before. Find what works for you.  [35:56] Change the Way You Think It's unavoidable that we think a certain way because of our upbringing.  Start to become aware of your lack of awareness and your programming.  Learn why you think of things the way you do. Is it because of other people?  Be influenced by other people, but test their ideas through trial and error. Let curiosity fuel your growth mindset.  Listen to the full podcast to learn how Craig learned how to run his gym without a business background!  [44:18] Sharing Academic Knowledge Academics face many restrictions due to the nature and context of their work.  He encourages the academic community to communicate information to everyone, not just to fellow researchers.  He plans to publish a book about his PhD research to share what he knows with the public. Science is constantly changing. We need to keep up with the latest knowledge.   [50:55] Change Your Relationship with Pain There is no simple fix to chronic pain.  The most you can do is change your relationship and perception of pain.  Our minds are powerful enough to create real pain even without any physical injury. Listen to Craig and Lisa's stories about how our minds affect our pain in the full episode!   7 Powerful Quotes from This Episode ‘My mind is the CEO of my life. So I need to make sure that as much as I can, that I'm managing my mind, and my mental energy optimally.' ‘If you're listening to this, and you didn't succeed in the school system, that means absolutely nothing when you're an adult.' ‘We're literally doing our biology good by laughing.' ‘Living is a present tense verb, you can't living in the future, and you can't live in the future.' ‘Often, more is not better. Sometimes more is worse.  So there's a difference between volume of work and output and quality of work.' ‘It's all about those people just taking one step at a time to move forward... That growth mindset that I think is just absolutely crucial.'   About Craig Craig Harper is one of Australia's leading educators, speakers, and writers in health and self-development. He has been an integral part of the Australian health and fitness industry since 1982. In 1990, he established a successful Harper's Personal Training, which evolved into one of the most successful businesses of its kind.  He currently hosts a successful Podcast called 'The You Project'. He is also completing a neuropsychology PhD, studying the spectrum of human thinking and behaviour. Craig speaks on various radio stations around Australia weekly. He currently fills an on-air role as a presenter on a lifestyle show called 'Get a Life', airing on Foxtel.  Want to know more about Craig and his work? Check out his website, or follow him on Instagram and Linkedin!   Enjoyed This Podcast? If you did, be sure to subscribe and share it with your friends! Post a review and share it! If you enjoyed tuning in, then leave us a review. You can also share this with your family and friends so they can learn how to develop a growth mindset. Have any questions? You can contact me through email (support@lisatamati.com) or find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. For more episode updates, visit my website. You may also tune in on Apple Podcasts. To pushing the limits, Lisa   Full Transcript Of The Podcast Welcome to Pushing the Limits, the show that helps you reach your full potential with your host Lisa Tamati, brought to you by lisatamati.com. Lisa Tamati: Well, hi everyone and welcome back to Pushing the Limits with Lisa Tamati. This week I have Craig Harper. He is really well known in Australia. He's a broadcaster, a fitness professional, a PhD scholar, an expert on metacognition, and self-awareness. And we get talking on all those good topics today and also neuro-psycho-immunology, very big word. Really interesting stuff; and we get talking about laughter, we get talking about pain management. We sort of go all over the show in this episode, which I sometimes do on this show. I hope you enjoy this very insightful and deep conversation with Craig Harper.  Before we head over to the show, I just want to let you know that Neil and I at Running Hot Coaching have launched a new program called Boost Camp. Now, this will be starting on the first of September and we're taking registrations now. This is a live eight-week program, where you'll basically boost your life. That's why it's called Boost Camp. not boot camp, Boost Camp. This is all about upgrading your body, learning how to help your body function at its base, learning how your mindset works, and increasing your performance, your health, your well-being and how to energise your mind and your body. In this Boost Camp, we're going to give you the answers you need in a simple, easy-to-follow process using holistic diagnostic tools and looking at the complete picture.  So you're going to go on a personalised health and fitness journey that will have a really life-changing effect on your family and your community. We're going to be talking about things like routine and resilience, mental resilience, which is a big thing that I love to talk about, and how important is in this time of change, in this time of COVID, where everything's upside down, and how we should be all building time and resources around building our resilience and energising our mind and body. We're going to give you a lot of health fundamentals. Because the fundamentals are something simple and easy to do, it means that you probably aren't doing some of the basics right, and we want to help you get there.  We're going to give you the answers you need in a simple, sort of easy, process. So we are now in a position to be able to control and manage all of these stressors and these things that are coming at us all the time, and we want to help you do that in the most optimal manner. So check out what boost camp is all about. Go to www.peakwellness.co.nz/boostcamp. I'll say that again, peakwellness.co.nz/boostcamp, boost with a B-O-O-S-T, boost camp. We hope to see you over there! Right, now over to the show with Craig Harper. Well, hi everyone and welcome to Pushing the Limits! Today, I have someone who is a special treat for you who has been on the show before. He's an absolute legend, and I love him to bits. Craig half and welcome to the show mate, how are you doing?  Craig Harper: Hi Lisa! I'm awesome but you're not.  Lisa: No I'm a bit of a miss, people. I've got shingles, a horrible, horrible virus that I advise nobody to get. Craig: What it— do we know what that's made? What causes it, or is it idiopathic as they say? Lisa: Yeah, no, it is from the chickenpox virus. Although, I've never, ever had that virus. So I'm like heck how, you know, it's related to the cold sore virus and all of that, which I definitely have had often. So it sits on the spinal cord, these little viruses, dormant and then one day when your immune systems are down, it decides to attack and replicate and go hard out. So yeah, that'll be the down for the count now for two and a half weeks. In a lot of pain, but— Craig: What is it like nerve pain or what kind of pain is it?  Lisa: Yes, it's nerve pain. So this one's actually, it hits different nerves in different people, depending on where it decides to pop out. My mum had the femoral nerve, which is one that goes right down from the backbone, quite high up on the backbone, down across the back and then down through the hip flexor and down the leg. I've got all these horrible looking sores, I look like a burn victim all the way down my leg and across my back. And it comes out through the muscles of your like, through the nerves and nerve endings and causes these blisters on top of the skin but it's the nerve pain that's really horrible because there's no comfortable position. There's no easy way to lie or sit and of course, when you're lying at night, it's worse. It's worse at nighttime than in the day. So I learned a lot about shingles. And as usual, we're using these obstacles to be a learning curve. Craig: Why on earth are you doing a bloody podcast? You should be relaxing. Lisa: You're important, you see. I had, you know, I had this appointment with you, and I honour my appointments, and I— Craig: Definitely not important. What's the typical treatment for shingles? Lisa: Well, actually, I wish I'd known this two weeks ago, I didn't know this, but I just had a Zoom call with Dave Asprey, you know, of Bulletproof fame, who is one of my heroes, and he's coming on the show, people, shortly. So that's really exciting. He told me to take something called BHT, butylated hydroxytoluene, which is a synthetic antioxidant. They actually use them in food additives, they said that kills that virus. So I'm like, ‘Right, get me some of that.' But unfortunately, I was already, it's— I only got it just yesterday, because I had to wait for the post. So I'm sort of hoping for a miracle in the next 24 hours.  Also, intravenous vitamin C, I've had three of those on lysine, which also helps. One of the funny things, before we get to the actual topic of the day, is I was taking something called L-Citrulline which helps with nitric oxide production and feeds into the arginine pathway. Apparently, while that's a good thing for most people, the arginine, if you have too much arginine in the body, it can lead to replication of this particular virus, which is really random and I only found that out after the fact. But you know, as a biohacker, who experiments sometimes you get it wrong.  Craig: Sometimes you turn left when you should have turned right.  Lisa: Yes. So that, you know, certainly took a lot of digging in PubMed to find that connection. But I think that's maybe what actually set it off. That combined with a pretty stressful life of like— Craig: It's interesting that you mentioned PubMed because like a lot of people now, you know how people warn people off going Dr Google, you know, whatever, right. But the funny thing is, you can forget Dr Google, I mean, Google's okay. But you can access medical journals, high level— I mean, all of the research journals that I access for my PhD are online. You can literally pretty much access any information you want. We're not talking about anecdotal evidence, and we're not talking about theories and ideas and random kind of junk. We're talking about the highest level research, you literally can find at home now. So if you know how to research and you know what you're looking for, and you can be bothered reading arduous academic papers, you can pretty much learn anything, to any level, if you're prepared to do the work and you know how— and you can be a little bit of a detective, a scientific detective.  Lisa: That is exactly, you know, what I keep saying, and I'm glad you said that because you are a PhD scholar and you are doing this. So you know what you're talking about, and this is exactly what I've done in the last five years, is do deep research and all this sort of stuff. People think that you have to go to university in order to have this education, and that used to be the case. It is no longer the case. We don't have to be actually in medical school to get access to medical texts anymore, which used to be the way. And so we now have the power in our hands to take, to some degree, control over what we're learning and where we're going with this.  It doesn't mean that it's easy. You will know, sifting through PubMed, and all these scholarly Google articles and things in clinical studies is pretty damn confusing sometimes and arduous. But once you get used to that form of learning, you start to be able to sift through relatively fast, and you can really educate yourself. I think having that growth mindset, I mean, you and I never came from an academic background. But thanks to you, I'm actually going to see Prof Schofield next week. Prof Schofield and looking at a PhD, because, I really need to add that to my load. But— Craig: You know, the thing is, I think in general, and I don't know where you're gonna go today, but I think in general, like what one of the things that keeps us young is learning and exposing ourselves, our mind and our emotions and for that matter, our body to new things, whether that's new experiences or new ideas, or new information, or new environments, or new people. This is what floats my boat and it keeps me hungry and it keeps me healthy physically, mentally, emotionally, intellectually, creatively, sociologically. It keeps me healthy. Not only does it keep me in a good place, I'm actually at 57, still getting better. You know, and people might wonder about that sometimes.  Of course, there's an inevitability to chronological aging. Clearly, most people at 80 are not going to be anything like they were at 40. Not that I'm 80. But there's— we know now that there's the unavoidable consistency of time as a construct, as an objective construct. But then there's the way that we behave around and relate to time. Biological aging is not chronological aging. In the middle of the inevitability of time ticking over is, which is an objective thing, there's the subject of human in the middle of it, who can do what he or she wants. So, in other words, a 57-year-old bloke doesn't need to look or feel or function or think like a 57-year-old bloke, right?  When we understand that, in many ways, especially as an experience, age is a self-created story for many people. I mean, you've met, I've met and our listeners have met 45-year-olds that seem 70 and 70-year-olds— and we're not talking about acting young, that's not what we're talking about. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about pretending you're not old or acting young. I'm actually talking about changing the way that your body and your mind and your brain and your emotional system works, literally. So that you are literally in terms of function, similar to somebody or a ‘typical' person who's 20 or 25 years younger than you. We didn't even know that this used to be possible, but not only is it possible, if you do certain things, it's very likely that that's the outcome you'll create. Lisa: Yeah, and if you think about our grandparents, and when I think about my Nana at 45 or 50, they were old. When I think about now I'm 52, you're 57, we're going forward, we're actually reaching the peak of our intellectual, well, hopefully not the peak, we're still going up. Physically, we got a few wrinkles and a few grey hairs coming. But even on that front, there is so much what's happening in the longevity space that my take on it is, if I can keep my shit together for the next 10 years, stuff's gonna come online that's gonna help me keep it on for another 20, 30, 40 years.  For me now it's trying to hold my body together as best I can so that when the technology does come, that we are able to meet— and we're accessing some of the stuff now, I mean, I'm taking some of the latest and greatest bloody supplements and biohacking stuff, and actively working towards that, and having this, I think it's a growth mindset. I had Dr Demartini on the show last week, who I love. I think he's an incredible man. His mindset, I mean, he's what nearly, I think he's nearly 70. It looks like he's 40. He's amazing. And his mind is so sharp and so fast it'll leave you and I in the dust. He's processing books every day, like, you know, more than a book a day and thinking his mind through and he's distilling it and he's remembering, and he's retaining it, and he's giving it to the world. This is sort of— you know, he's nothing exceptional. He had learning disabilities, for goodness sake, he had a speech impediment, he couldn't read until he was an adult. In other words, he made that happen. You and I, you know, we both did you know, where you went to university, at least when you're younger, I sort of mucked around on a bicycle for a few years. Travelling the world to see it. But this is the beauty of the time that we live in, and we have access to all this. So that growth mindset, I think keeps you younger, both physically and mentally. Craig: And this is why I reckon it's really important that we hang around with people who drag us up, not down. And that could be you know, this listening to your podcast, of course, like I feel like when I listen to a podcast with somebody like you that shares good ideas and good information and good energy and is a good person, like if I'm walking around, I've literally got my headphones here because I just walked back from the cafe, listening to Joe Rogan's latest podcast with this lady from Harvard talking about testosterone, you'd find it really interesting, wrote a book called T.  When I'm listening to good conversations with good people, I am, one, I'm fascinated and interested, but I'm stimulating myself and my mind in a good way. I'm dragging myself up by exposing myself to good ideas and good thinking, and good stories. Or it might even be just something that's funny, it might— I'm just exposing myself to a couple of dickheads talking about funny shit, right? And I'd spend an hour laughing, which is also therapeutic.  You know, and I think there's that, I think we forget that we're always feeding our mind and our brain something. It's just having more awareness of what am I actually plugging into that amazing thing? Not only just what am I putting in my body, which, of course, is paramount. But what am I putting in, you know, that thing that sits between my ears that literally drives my life? That's my HQ, that's my, my mind is the CEO of my life. So I need to make sure that as much as I can, that I'm managing my mind and my mental energy                                                                                  optimally. Lisa: Yeah. And I think, you know, a lot of people if they didn't do well in the school system, think that, 'Oh, well, I'm not academic therefore I can't learn or continue to learn.' I really encourage people, if you're listening to this, and you didn't succeed in the school system, that means absolutely nothing when you're an adult. The school system has got many flaws, and it didn't cater to everybody. So I just want people to understand that.  You know, just like with Dr Demartini, he taught himself 30 words a day, that's where he started: vocabulary. He taught himself to read and then taught— Albert Einstein was another one, you know, he struggled in school for crying out loud. So school isn't necessarily the marker of whether you're an intelligent human being or not. It's one system and one way of learning that is okay for the average and the masses. But definitely, it leaves a lot of people thinking that they're dumb when they're not dumb.  It's all about those people just taking one step at a time to move forward and becoming, you know, that growth mindset that I think is just absolutely crucial. You talked there about laughter and I wanted to go into that a little bit today too, because I heard you talking on Tiffany, our friend Tiffany's podcast, and you were talking about how important laughter is for the body, for our minds, for our— and if we laugh a lot, we're less likely to fall victim to the whole adult way of being, which is sometimes pretty cynical and miserable. When you think, what is it? Kids laugh something like 70 times a day and adults laugh I think, six times a day or some statistic. Do you want to elaborate on that a little bit? Craig: Well, I used to sit down with you know, I don't do much one-on-one coaching anymore, just because I do other stuff. I would sit with people and go, ‘Alright, tell me about your exercise plan and blah, blah, blah. Tell me about your career plan, blah, blah, blah. Tell me about your financial plan, blah, blah, blah.' Tell me about, you know, whatever. And they have systems and programs and plans for everything.  I would say to them, 'Do you like fun?' And they're like, they look at me like I was a weirdo. 'What do you mean?' I go, 'Well, what do you mean, what do I mean? Like, do you like having fun?' And they're like, very seriously, like, 'Well, of course, everyone likes having fun.' I go, 'Great. What's your fun plan?' And they go, 'What?' I go, 'What's your fun— like, is laughing and having fun important to you?' 'Yeah, yeah.' 'Okay, what's your fun plan?'  They literally, like this idea of just integrating things into my life, which are for no reason other than to laugh and to have fun. Not to be productive and efficient and to tick more boxes and create more income and elevate output and tick fucking boxes and hit KPIs and you know, just to be silly, just to laugh like a dickhead, just to hang out with your mates or your girlfriends, or whatever it is. Just to talk shit, just to, not everything needs to be fucking deep and meaningful and world-changing. Not everything. In fact, it can't, you know?  Our brain and our body and our emotional system and our nervous system and— it can't work like that we can't be elevated all the time. And so, literally when we are laughing, we're changing the biochemistry of our brain. You know, literally when we are having fun, we're impacting our immune system in a real way through that thing I've probably spoken to you about, psychoneuroimmunology, right? We're literally doing our biology good by laughing and there's got to be, for me, there's got to be, because, like you probably, I have a lot of deep and meaningful conversations with people about hard shit. Like, I'm pretty much a specialist at hard conversations. It's what I do. But, you know, and, and I work a lot, and I study a lot. Then there needs to be a valve. You can't be all of that all of the time because you're human, you're not a cyborg, you're not a robot. And this hustle, hustle, hustle, grind, work harder, sleep less, you can, you know, you can sleep when you're dead, it's all bullshit. Because, also, yeah, I want to learn and grow and evolve, and I want to develop new skills. But you know what, I want to also, in the moment, laugh at silly shit. I want to be happy and I want to hang out with people I love and I want to be mentally and emotionally and spiritually nourished.  Like, it's not just about acquiring knowledge and accumulating shit that you're probably not going to use. It's also about the human experience now. This almost sounds contradictory. But because of course, we want a future plan and we want goals and all of those, but we're never going to live in the present because when we get there, it's not the present. It's just another installment of now. So when next Wednesday comes, it's not the future, it's now again, because life is never-ending now, right?  It's like you only like, live— living is a present tense verb. You can't living in the future, and you can't live in the future. You cannot. Yes, I know, this gets a little bit, what's the word existential, but the truth is that, yeah, we need to— well, we don't, we can do whatever we want. But I believe we need to be stimulated so we're learning and growing, and we're doing good stuff for our brain and good stuff for our body. But also that we are giving ourselves a metaphoric hug, and going, 'It's all right to lie on your bed and watch Netflix, as long as it's not 20 hours a day, five days a week,' you know. It's okay to just laugh at silly stuff. It's okay, that there's no purpose to doing this thing other than just joy and enjoyment, you know.  I think that people like you and me who are, maybe we would put ourselves in the kind of driven category, right? You and I are no good at this. Like, at times, having fun and just going, ‘I'm going to do fuck all today.' Because the moment that we do sometimes we start to feel guilty and we start to be like, 'Fuck, I'm not being productive. I've got to be productive.' That, in itself, is a problem for high performance. Like, fuck your high performance, and fuck your productivity today. Be unproductive, be inefficient, and just fucking enjoy it, you know, not— because in a minute, we're going to be dead. We're going to go, 'But fuck, I was productive. But I had no fun, I never laughed, because I was too busy being important.' Fuck all that. Lisa: I think both of us have probably come a long way around finding that out. I mean, I used to love reading fiction novels, and then I went, ‘Oh, I can't be reading fiction novels. I've got so many science books that I have to read.' Here I am, dealing with insomnia at two o'clock in the morning reading texts on nitric oxide, you know. It is this argument that goes on, still in my head if there was an hour where you weren't learning something, you know, I can't. Because I know that if I go for a big drive or something, and I have to travel somewhere, or going for a long run or something, I've probably digested a book on that road trip or three, or 10 podcasts or something and I've actually oh, I get to the end and I'm like, ‘Well, I achieved something.' I've got my little dopamine hits all the way through.  Now I've sort of come to also understand that you need this time out and you need to just have fun. I'm married to this absolute lunatic of a guy called Haisely O'Leary, who I just love, because all day every day, he is just being an idiot. In the best sense of the word. I come out and I'm grumpy and you know, had a hard day and I'm tired, I'm stressed, and I come out and he's doing a little dance, doing some stupid meme or saying some ridiculous thing to me. I'm just like, you know, I crack up at it. That's the best person to have to be around because they keep being—and I'm like, ‘Come on, stop being stupid, you should be doing this and you shouldn't be doing that.' Then I hear myself, and I'm like, ‘No, he's got it right.' Craig: Well, I think he does, in some ways, you know. It's not about all, it's not about one or the other, it's about— and it's recognising that if I look after my energy, and my emotional system, and all of that, I'll get more done in 8 hours than 12 hours when I'm not looking after myself. So more is not better, necessarily. In fact, often, more is not better; sometimes, more is worse. So there's a difference between volume of work and output and quality of work. Also, you know, quality of experience.  I wrote a little thing yesterday, just talking on social media about the fact that I, like all of the things that I do, even study, although it's demanding, but I enjoy it. My job, you know, like, right now you and I do podcasts. I do seven podcasts a week, apart from the ones like this, where I'm being interviewed by someone else, or spoken to by somebody else. My life is somewhat chaotic, but I don't really, in terms of having a ‘job'. Well, one, I don't have a job. I haven't had a job since I was 26. Two, I don't really feel a sense of work, like most people do.  Like the other night, I did a gig. I don't know if you, if I posted a little thing about this on Insta, and I was doing a talk for Hewlett Packard in Spain. Now, how cool is the world? Right? So I'm talking here, right here in my house, you can see, obviously, your listeners can't. But this is not video, is it? Just us? I wish I knew that earlier. Sorry, everyone, I would have brushed my hair. But anyway, you should see my hair by the way. I look like bloody Doc from Back to the Future. Anyway, but I'm sitting in here, I'm sitting in the studio, and I'm about to talk to a few hundred people in Spain, right, which is where, that's where they're all— that's where I was dealing with the people who are organising me to speak.  Just before I'm about to go live at 5:30, the lady who had organised me was texting me. So it's on Zoom. There's already a guy on the screen speaking and then lots of little squares of other humans. I said to her, ‘How many?' and said, ‘You know, like a few 100.' I said, ‘Cool.' I go, ‘Everyone's in Spain,' and she goes, ‘No, no, we're in Spain, but the audience is around the world.' And I go, ‘Really? How many countries?' She goes, ‘38.' I'm sitting here and I'm thinking, I'm wearing a black t-shirt. I'm wearing my camo shorts. I've got bare feet. I'm talking to hundreds of humans from this big organisation in 38 countries, and I'm talking about the stuff that I am passionate about, right? I don't have to do any prep, because it's my default setting. I'm just talking. I had to talk for an hour and a half about high performance. Well, giddy up, that's like an hour and a half of breathing. You know?  I just had such fun, and I had this moment, Lisa, halfway through, I don't know, but about halfway through, where I'm like, I remember growing up in a paradigm where pretty much when I was a kid everyone went and got a job and you went, you became a cop or you sold clothes, or you're a bricky or sparky or you're some kind of tradie. A few of my super smart friends went to university. That was way over my head, I'm like, ‘Fuck university.' But there was literally about 50 jobs in the world. You know, it's like there was only 50 jobs, and everyone or nearly everyone fitted into one of those 50. There was a few other ones but for the most part, nearly everyone fitted into about 50 jobs. I'm sitting there going— I won't say what but I'm earning pretty good money. I'm sitting in bare feet in my house talking to humans around the world about this stuff that I want to tell everyone about anyway.  I do it for free on my podcast and your podcast and I do it anyway. I have this great time, it's a really good experience. Then I finish at 7 pm. Then I walk 15 feet into the kitchen and put the kettle on and check my messages.  Lisa: No commuting, no travelling, no flying. Craig: I'm like, ‘How is this a job?' I'm like, ‘How is this real?' ‘This is a scam. I'm scamming everybody.' Like, how great is 2021? I know there's a lot of shit going on and I'm not trying to be insensitive, and it's smashed my business too. All of my live events for 2020 got kicked in the dick in two weeks, right? I got financially annihilated, but you just go, ‘Oh well, improvise, adapt, overcome and figure shit out.' But, I think when you can have it and a lot of people and it's a very well-worn kind of idea. But when you're, what you love, and what you're curious about, and how you make a few bucks, when that can all collide, then life is a different thing. Then there's not work and life, there's just life.  You know, and so when we talk about this idea of work-life balance, you know, it's like the old days that talk about that a lot. And it's like, almost like there was some seesaw, some metaphoric seesaw with work on one side and life on the other. And when you get balance like that— because what happens, think about this, if we're just basing it on numbers, like all 40 hours of work versus however many hours of non-work or however many hours of recreation and recovery. But if you're doing even 20 hours of a job that you hate, that's going to fuck you up. That's gonna, that's gonna mess with you physically, mentally, and emotionally. That's going to be toxic; that's going to be damaging; that's going to be soul-destroying, versus something else like me studying 40 hours a week, working 40, 50 hours a week doing 90 in total, depending on the week and loving it, and loving it. And going, ‘I feel better than I've ever felt in my life.'  I still train every day, and I still, I live 600-800 metres from the beach, I still walk to the beach every day, you know. And I still hang out with my friends. You know, it's like, it doesn't have to be this cookie-cutter approach. The beauty I think of life, with your food, with your lifestyle, with your career, with your relationships with the way that you learn, like the way that you do business, everything now is so much more flexible, and optional than any time ever before that we can literally create our own blueprint for living. Lisa: Yeah. And then it's not always easy. And sometimes it takes time to get momentum and stuff. Being, both you and I have both said before we're unemployable. Like, I'm definitely not someone you want to employ, because I'm just always going to run my own ship. I've always been like that, and that's the entrepreneurial personality. So not everyone is set up for that personality-wise. So you know, we're a certain type of people that likes to run in a certain type of way. And we need lots of other people when doing the other paths.  There is this ability now to start to change the way you think about things. And this is really important for people who are unhappy in where they're at right now. To think, ‘Hang on a minute. I've been I don't know, policeman, teacher, whatever you've been, I don't want to be there anymore. Is there another me out there? Is there a different future that I can hit?' The answer is yes, if you're prepared to put in the work, and the time, and the effort, the looking at understanding and learning, the change, being adaptable, the risk-taking, all of those aspects of it. Yes, but there is ways now that you can do that where they weren't 30 years ago, when I came out of school I couldn't be, I was going to be an accountant. Can you imagine anything worse than that?  Craig: Hi, hi. Shout out to all our account listeners, we love you and we need you. Lisa: I wasn't that— Academically that's I was good at it. But geez, I hated it. And I did it because of parental pushing direction. Thank goodness, I sort of wake up to that. And you know, after three years. I had Mark Commander Mark Devine on the show. He's a Navy SEAL, man. You have to have him on the show. I'll hook you up. He's just a buck. He became an accountant before he became a Navy SEAL and now he's got the best of both worlds really, you know, but like you couldn't get more non-accountant than Mark Devine. We all go into the things when we leave school that we think we're meant to be doing. And they're not necessarily— and I think you know, the most interesting 50 year-olds still don't know what the hell they want to be when they grow up. Just interrupting the program briefly to let you know that we have a new Patron program for the podcast. Now, if you enjoy Pushing the Limits, if you get great value out of it, we would love you to come and join our Patron membership program. We've been doing this now for five and a half years and we need your help to keep it on air. It's been a public service free for everybody, and we want to keep it that way. But to do that we need like-minded souls who are on this mission with us to help us out. So if you're interested in becoming a patron for Pushing the Limits podcast, then check out everything on www.patron.lisatamati.com. That's P-A-T-R-O-N dot lisatamati.com. We have two Patron levels to choose from. You can do it for as little as $7 a month, New Zealand, or $15 a month if you really want to support us. So we are grateful if you do. There are so many membership benefits you're going to get if you join us. Everything from workbooks for all the podcasts, the strength guide for runners, the power to vote on future episodes, webinars that we're going to be holding, all of my documentaries and much, much more. So check out all the details: patron.lisatamati.com. And thanks very much for joining us. You know, I'm still in that camp. Craig: You raise a really interesting point too, and that is programming and conditioning. And, you know, because we all grow up being programmed, one way or consciously or not, we grow— if you grow up around people, you're being programmed. So that's not a bad thing. That's an unavoidable human thing. So, situation, circumstance, environment, school, family, friends, media, social media, all of that stuff shapes the way that we see the world and shapes the way that we see ourselves.  When you grow up in a paradigm that says, ‘Okay, Lisa, when you finish school, you have to go to university, or you have to get a job, or you have to join the family business, or you have to work on our farm,' or whatever it is, you grow up in that. You're taught and told and trained. And so you don't question that, you know. And for me, I grew up in the 70s, I finished in the 80s. I finished school in 1981. And I grew up in the country, and most people go to trade or most people worked in logging or on a farm or— and I would say about five in 100 of the kids that I did— by the way, doing year 12 was a pretty big deal in that time. ‘Geez, are you a brainiac?' Definitely wasn't a brainiac. But year 12 is a big thing now. Now, even if you have an undergrad degree that it's almost nothing really enough. It's like, you kind of got to go get honours, or masters or maybe even a PhD down the track. And that landscape has really changed. So it's just changing again to— you know, and I think to become aware— like this is for me, I love it; this is my shit; this is what I love— is starting to become aware of our lack of awareness. And starting to become aware of my own programming and go, ‘Oh, I actually think this. Why not? Because this is how I naturally think about, because this is how I've been trained to think about work. I've been trained to or programmed to think this way about money, or relationships, or marriage, or eating meat, or being a Catholic or being an atheist or voting liberal law,' or whatever it is, right.  Not that any of those things are good or bad, but it's not about how I eat or how I vote or how I worship. It's about how I think. And is this my thinking? Or is this just a reflection of their thinking, right? So when we open the door on metacognition now we start to become aware of our own stories, and where they come from. And this is where I think we really start to take control of our own life, and our own present, and our own future that doesn't exist, by the way, but it will, but it won't be the present.  Then, we start to write our own story with our own voice, not our parents' voice, not our friends', not our peers' voice, you know. And we're always going to be influenced by other people. Of course. Just like people are influenced by you and your podcast, and your stories, and your thinking, and your lessons for them. They're influenced. But I always say to people, ‘Don't believe me because you like me. Listen to me, if you like me and consider what I say. If what I say sounds reasonable for you, maybe a good idea to test drive, take that idea for a test drive, and see if that works for you, because it might not.' Right?  I think, I really encourage people to learn for themselves and to listen to their own internal wisdom that's always talking. So listen to smart people. I don't know if Lisa and I are in that category, Lisa is, listen to her. But at the same time, do your own, learning through exploration and trial and error, and personal kind of curiosity and drive.  For me, I opened my first gym at 26; first personal training centre in Australia, there weren't any. I'd never done a business course, I've never done an admin course, I knew nothing about marketing. I knew nothing about employees. I knew nothing. But I learned more in one year than I would say, most people would learn in five years at university studying business, because I was in the middle of it, and I was going to sink or swim. So in one year, I started a business and I acquired overwhelming knowledge and skill because I had to, because of the situation. But that was all learning through doing.  The way that you've learned, you know you said earlier that, like, a lot of people think that they're not academic; therefore, they're not smart. Some of the smartest people I've ever met, and I don't— and this not being patronising, but like, mind-blowingly brilliant, how they think, live outside of academia. One of the reasons some people are so brilliant outside of academia is because they're not forced into an echo chamber of thought. They're living outside the academic paradigm, where we're not trying to restrict how you think or write or speak. There are no rules out here. So there's no intellectual inhibition.  Lisa: Yeah, I love that. Craig: When you do a PhD, like me, and I can separate the two, thankfully. But there's a way of communicating and writing in PhD land, which is incredibly restrictive because of the scientific process, which is fine, I get that. But it's having an awareness of— this is what I'm often talking to my supervisors about is, yes, I'm studying this thing, which is deep, deep neuropsychology, and everything, the way that you do your research, get your data or interpret your data. The whole process of creating new science, which is what you're doing as a PhD, creating, bringing something new into the world. That's one thing. But you write your journal articles, which is my PhD process, you get them, hopefully, you get them published in academic resources and magazines. But then, I don't want that to be it. I'm going to write a book when I finish about all of my research totally in layman's terms so that people can use the knowledge, so that people can— because that's the value.  For me handing in some papers and going, ‘Oh, Craig Harper is an academically published author.' That's cool, but it's not— and I'm so respectful of people who have had hundreds of things published, but that doesn't blow my socks off. I'm not really— like that's a real, you really hang your hat on that in academia. Oh, how many things he or she had published, publications, which is cool. They're all smarter than me. But I'm not. I'm like, yeah, that that's cool. But I want to connect with the masses, not the few. Also, by the way, people who read academic papers, they raise it— they're reading it generally, just like I am right now, for a specific reason which relates to their own research. There ain't too many people like you. You're one of the rare ones who just thumb through fucking academic journals to make your life better. Lisa: Yeah. And it's just some real goals. So you've got the wisdom of having lived outside of academia and being a pracademic, as Paul Taylor says, and then actually seeing the pre— and this is a discussion that I had when I was talking to someone about doing a PhD and they say, ‘But then you're going to become a part of the establishment, and you're going to be forced into this box.' And I said, ‘No, not necessarily because it's— I can see where you're coming from. But you can take that, because you have that maturity and that life experience and you can fit yourself into the box that you have to fit into in order to get those things done. That research done, but you don't have to stay there.'  That's what you know, one of my things has been, I don't want to spend however many years doing a PhD, and then that's not out on the world. To me that that needs to be taken out of the academic journals, wherever you go to publish, and then put out into a book or something that where it's actually shared, like you say, with the masses, because otherwise, it just collects dust like your MA does, or your whatever, you know, that sits on your bookshelf, and how you got hey, your exam your piece of paper, but you didn't actually do anything with it.  Of course, lots of people do their thing, they're going like they're in research, and they're furthering research and so on. But I— my approach, I think yours is too, is to be able to communicate that information that you've learned, and then share it with everyone, so that they can actually benefit from it, and not just the people that are in academia. The other thing I see after interviewing hundreds of doctors and scientists and people is that they are, actually, the more specialised they are, the more inhibited they are by what they can and can't say.  While they need to be doing that because they need to protect what they are doing in their studies and what they're allowed to and what they're not allowed to do and say, it also is very inhibiting, and they don't get the chance to actually express what they would actually like to say. That's a bit of a shame, really, because you don't get to hear the real truth in the qualifying everything flat stick. Craig: I reckon you're exactly right. But they don't need to be that. And the reason that a lot of academics are like that is because they get their identity and sense of self-worth from being an academic. They're way more worried about three of their peers hearing something that might not be 100% accurate, and then being reprimanded or, rather than just going— look, I always say to my academic, super academic friends, when I talk with them, not everything that comes out of your mouth needs to be research-based. You can have an idea and an opinion. In fact, I want to hear your ideas and opinions. Lisa: You're very educated. Craig: You know, that's the— and as for the idea of you becoming an academic, No, you go, you do your thing you study, you learn the protocol, the operating system, and you do that you go through that process, but you're still you. Right, and there's— you and I both know, there are lots of academics who have overcome that self-created barrier like Andrew Huberman.  Lisa: Yeah, who we love. Craig: Who we love, who, for people listening, he's @hubermanlab on Insta, and there's quite a few academics now, like the one that I spoke on before, on Joe Rogan. She's a Harvard professor, she's a genius, and she's just having a— it's a three-hour conversation with Rogan, about really interesting stuff.  There's been a bit of a shift, and there is a bit of a shift because people are now, the smart academics, I think, are now starting to understand that used the right way, that podcasts and social media more broadly, are unbelievably awesome tools to share your thoughts and ideas and messages. By the way, we know you're a human. If you get something wrong, every now and then, or whatever, it doesn't matter. Lisa: Well, we'll all get, I mean, you watch on social media, Dr Rhonda Patrick, another one that I follow? Do you follow her? Fantastic lady, you know, and you watch some of their feeds on social media, and they get slammed every day by people who pretending to be bloody more academic than her. That just makes me laugh, really. I'm just like, wow, they have to put up with all of that. The bigger your name and the more credibility you have as a scientist, the more you have to lose in a way.  You know, even David Sinclair another you know, brilliant scientists who loves his work. And I love the fact that he shared us with, you know, all his, all his research in real-time, basically, you know, bringing it out in the book Lifespan, which you have to read, in getting that out there in the masses, rather than squirrelling it away for another 20 years before it becomes part of our culture, and part of our clinical usage. We ain't got time for that. We have to, we're getting old now. I want to know what I need to do to stop that now. Thanks to him, you know, I've got some directions to show them. Whether he's 100% there, and he's got all the answers? No. But he's sharing where we're at from the progress. Science by its very nature is never finished. We never have the final answer. Because if someone thinks they do, then they're wrong, because they're not, we are constantly iterating and changing, and that's the whole basis of science. Craig: Well just think about the food pyramid. That was science for a few decades. Lisa: Lots of people still believe that shit. That's the scary thing because now that's filtering still down into the popular culture, that that's what you should be doing, eating your workbooks and God knows what. This is the scary thing, that it takes so long to drip down to people who aren't on that cutting edge and staying up with the latest stuff, because they're basically regurgitating what there was 20 years ago and not what is now.  Now Craig, I know you've got to jump off in a second. But I wanted to just ask one more question, if I may, we're completely different. But I want to go there today because I'm going through this bloody shingles thing. Your mate Johny that you train, and who you've spoken about on the last podcast, who had a horrific accident and amazingly survived, and you've helped him, and he's helped you and you've helped him learn life lessons and recover, but he's in constant chronic pain.  I'm in constant chronic pain now, that's two and a half weeks. For frick's sake, man, I've got a new appreciation of the damage that that does to society. I just said to my husband today, I've been on certain drugs, you know, antivirals, and in pain medication. I can feel my neurotransmitters are out of whack. I can feel that I'm becoming depressed. I have a lot of tools in my toolbox to deal with this stuff, and I am freely sharing this because what I want you to understand is when you, when you're dealing with somebody who is going through chronic pain, who has been on medications and antibiotics, and God knows whatever else, understanding the stuff that they're going through, because I now have a bit of a new appreciation for what this much of an appreciation for someone like Johnny's been through. What's your take on how pain and all this affects the neurotransmitters in the drugs? Craig: Do you know what? Lisa: You got two minutes, mate. Craig: I'm actually gonna give you I'm gonna hook you up with a friend of mine. His name is Dr Cal Friedman. He is super smart, and he specialises in pain management, but he has a very different approach, right? He's a medical doctor, but look, in answer to, I talked to Johnny about the pain a bit, and we have, we use a scale, obviously 10 is 10. 0 is 0. There's never a 0. Every now and then it's a 1 or 2, but he's never pain-free. Because he has massive nerve damage. And sometimes, sometimes he just sits down in the gym, and he'll just, I'll get him to do a set of something, and he'll sit down and I just see this, his whole face just grimaces. He goes, ‘Just give me a sec.' His fist is balled up. He goes, sweat, sweat. I go, ‘What's going on, mate?' He goes, ‘It feels like my leg, my whole leg is on fire.'  Lisa: Yeah. I can so relate to that right now.  Craig: Literally aren't, like, burning, like excruciating. I don't think there's any, I mean, obviously, if there was we'd all be doing it. There is no quick fix. There is no simple answer. But what he has done quite successfully is changed his relationship with pain. There is definitely, 100% definitely, a cognitive element to, of course, the brain is, because the brain is part of the central nervous system. Of course, the brain is involved. But there's another element to it beyond that, right.  I'm going to tell you a quick story that might fuck up a little bit of Dr Cal, if you get him on. He has done a couple of presentations for me at my camps. He's been on my show a little bit. But he told this story about this guy at a construction site that was working and he had a workplace accident. And he, a builder shot a three-inch nails through his boots, through his foot. Right? So the nail went through his foot, through the top of the leather, and out the sole, and he was in agony, right? He fell down, whatever and he's just rolling around in agony and his mates, they didn't want to take anything off because it was through the boot, through his foot.  They waited for the ambos to get there, and they gave him the green whistle. So you know that whatever that is, the morphine didn't do anything, he was still in agony. He was in agony. Anyway, they get him into the back of the ambulance and they cut the boot off. And the nail has gone between his big toe and second toe and didn't even touch his foot.  Lisa: Oh, wow. In other words, psychologically—  Craig: There was no injury. But the guy was literally in excruciating pain, he was wailing. And they gave him treatment, it didn't help. He was still in pain. So what that tells us— Lisa: There is an element of—  Craig: What that tells us is our body can, our mind can create real, not perceived, but real pain in your body. And again, and this is where I think we're going in the future where we start to understand, if you can create extreme pain in your body where there is no biological reason, there is no actual injury, there's no physical injury, but you believe there's an injury, now you're in agony.  I think about, and there's a really good book called Mind Over Medicine by a lady called Lissa Rankin, which we might have spoken about. L-I-S-S-A, Lissa Rankin, Mind Over Medicine. What I love about her is, she's a medical doctor, and she gives case after case after case of healing happening with the mind, where people think placebos and no-cebos, people getting sick, where they think they're getting something that will make them sick, but it's nothing, they actually make themselves sick. And conversely, people getting well, when they're not actually being given a drug. They're being given nothing, but they think it's something. Even this, and this is fascinating, this operation, pseudo-operation I did with people where—  Lisa: Yeah, I read that one. I read that study. Craig: Amazing. Craig: Oh, yeah, it's look, pain is something that even the people who are experts in it, they don't fully understand. Lisa: Well, I just like, if I can interrupt you there real briefly, because I've been studying what the hell nerve pain, and I'm like, my head, my sores are starting to heal up right. So in my head, I'm like ‘Whoa, I should be having this pain, I'm getting more pain from the burning sensation in my legs and my nerves because it's nerve pain.' So I read somewhere that cryotherapy was good. So in the middle of the night, when I'm in really bad pain, instead of lying there and just losing my shit, and have I now have been getting up every night and having two or three cold ice-cold showers a night, which probably not great for my cortisol bloody profile, but it's, I'm just targeting that leg. That interrupts the pain sensation for a few minutes.  What I'm trying to do as I go, I'm trying to go like, can I—am I getting pain because my brain is now used to having pain? Is it sending those messages, even though there's no need, the sores are healing?  Craig: That is possible. Lisa: Am I breaking? And I can break the pain for about 10 minutes, and then it will come back in again. But I'm continuing on with it, that idea that I can interrupt that pain flow. Then of course, during the breathe in, the meditation, the stuff and sometimes you just lose your shit and you lose it, and then you just start crying, ‘Mummy, bring me some chicken soup' type moments. But it's really interesting. I mean, I just like to look at all these shit that we go from and then say, ‘Well, how can I dissect this and make this a learning curve?' Because obviously, there's something wrong, but I just, I feel for people that are going through years of this. Craig: It's, yeah, I'm the same I feel. Sometimes I work with people, where I work with and as do you, I work with a lot of people who have real problems. I don't have any problems. I mean, they have real problems. And I'm, despite my appearance, I'm quite, I'm very compassionate. It's hard for me because I, it upsets me to see people in pain. I feel simultaneously sad and guilty. How do I deserve this? But it just is what it is. But people like John and a lot of the people that I've worked with and you've worked with, you know, people like that inspire me.  I mean, they're— I don't find typical heroes inspirational. They don't really inspire me like the people we normally hold up as, I mean, well done. I think they're great, but they don't inspire me. People who inspire me or people who really, how the fuck are you even here? How do you turn up? He turns up. He's actually in hospital right now because he's got a problem that's being fixed. But, and he's in and out of hospital all of the time. And then he turns up, he hugs me and he goes, ‘How are you?' I go, ‘I'm good.' He goes, ‘Now look at me.' So I look at him. And he goes, ‘How are you really?' And I go, ‘I'm good.' This is the guy who—  Lisa: Who's dealing with so much. I've got a friend, Ian Walker8, who I've had on the show, too, so he got hit by a truck when he was out cycling, I think it was years and years ago. He ended up a paraplegic. And then he recovered, he didn't recover, he's still in a wheelchair, but he was out racing his wheelchair, he did wheelchair racing, and he's part of our club and stuff. And then he got hit by another truck, now he's a quadriplegic.  This guy, just, he is relentless in his attitude, like he is, and I've seen him dragging himself like with his hands because he's got access now to his hands again. After working for the last couple of years, and he kind of, on a walker frame thing, dragging himself two steps and taking a little video of him, dragging his feet, not the feet out, working, they're just being dragged. But the relentless attitude of the guy, I'm just like, ‘You're a fricking hero. You're amazing. Why aren't you on everybody magazine cover? Why aren't you like, super famous?' Those people that really flip my boat. Craig: Yeah. And I

Liz and Anika discuss shipping in Star Trek: The Next Generation -- at least until Liz suddenly realises she's messed up her calendar and has to flee to an appointment. We are very good at this whole podcasting business. Social media: it's good, actually "I stayed to watch, and there was something very important that she had to tell Jean-Luc, and I was like, 'Oh my gosh, she loves him!' And 30 years later, here I am." Liz's friend Lauren shares their opinions as a first-time TNG viewer Early widowhood probably wasn't great for Beverly's sex life Is anyone out there shipping Geordi/Leah Brahms? Riker/Troi, a pairing which somehow achieved perfection after the series ended Why are there MULTIPLE incidents where consensual encounters between Riker and Troi are hijacked by telepathic rapists? How did that happen?  "Peter David is … problematic." Deanna/Worf: the very best end of series random relationship How Worf is like Kylo Ren Picard/Ro Laren shippers: there are dozens of us Is Picard demisexual? Content notes: We get a little more explicit than usual in this episode, particularly when it comes to the logistics of sex with Klingons. And there is discussion of sexual assault from 24 minutes to 26:23. Sound notes: Despite doing every single thing normally, there are a few points where there's a hissing noise behind Liz if Anika's track is muted. For that reason, we have a bit more overtalk than usual.

Matt Davis lives in London with his wife, Eliza and two children, Isaac and Tabitha. 13-year-old Isaac is autistic and was diagnosed with autism at age 3. Matt writes a blog about this journey and shares his thoughts and feelings at mysonisaac.net Matt is a Trustee of Autistica and Parent Patron and business ambassador for Ambitious About Autism. He is also a partner at Red Brick Road, an advertising agency in London. "Even at that stage, I had no idea of autism. So I might go to the nursery, something as simple as driving a different route. And he would scream and be so distressed. I'd have to drag him out of the car and take him into the nursery. And hey wouldn't understand why he was so upset. And everyone else would just go 'Oh he's two, he's having a tantrum'. And those comments used to grate and eat me up inside. I think weirdly my unconscious bias, it's a double edged sword, because part of my unconscious bias was going, you're doing something wrong. But the other side was, I knew something wasn't right as well. I just didn't know what it was. I didn't have the language or the knowledge to translate all these points he was struggling with."

Andy Eninger is an improviser, writer, facilitator and dog dad. To offer your own advice, call Zak @ 844-935-BEST TRANSCRIPT: ZAK: Is there a principal that you could share? Something for those of us who haven't taken an improv class but something we might try in our everyday life, taken from improv? ANDY: The improv philosophy that is serving me the most right now is this sense of following the follower. This sense of looking up and looking out and seeing what somebody else is doing whether that's the audience. Whether that's the person that you're performing with or the musician that you're improvising with and following where they're going and the magic of then they start to follow you and you follow them and they're following you and who's actually leading? It's almost like, have you ever seen a murmuration of birds when they're flying around. You're like which one's leading? They're all leading. They're all following each other. There's this magical sense when everyone's attuned to other people, you can go in this direction together. Even if that direction changes and changes again. ZAK: I'm thinking about concretizing this. I'm in a Zoom now, right, with a dozen of my colleagues. How do I look to follow the follower in a context like that? ANDY: I think it's really powerful for the person that might be leading the meeting to notice, 'Oh, I think people are shutting down. Lemme follow what's going on there by maybe asking or maybe it's time for me to be quiet and see if someone steps up.' I think that's one of the hardest things for someone who's a real driving personality who's leading a meeting is to shut up and leave a space and let someone step in and speak and I think it's not intuitive for leaders to surrender. ZAK: Is there a check-in that people who are natural leaders, like something that they can do just to catch themselves leading and not following the follower? ANDY: I think for a leader to take on this sense of following the follower, probably the best thing that they can do is ask themself, 'what does this person need?' Often, we're trying to apply our perspective and view of the world to everyone else. It's like, 'here's what you need to do' rather than finding out and listening to understand what another person actually needs. Asking those open-ended questions and I think that it goes counter to how many leaders think about themselves. 'Oh, I have to be smart. I need to have the right advice. I have to know what to do.' And there's so many situations where we simply can't know what's right for this person to do in the moment. We may have the vision in mind where we want the scene or the job, the project to head. But what this person needs in the moment can probably only come from that person. It's not going to come from us. I think that's what a leader is surrendering Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

TRUMP RE-TAKES THE STAGEThis wasn't just any post-election speech. When Donald Trump took the stage in Arizona this weekend, he brought a proverbial sledgehammer. He took on everything from election integrity to the Green New Deal. The event was hosted by Turning Point USA and was appropriately called the “Rally to Protect Our Elections." Here are some of the key takeaways...

El guionista, actor y voz de la hormiga Barrancas, Damián Mollá, habla en Fin de Semana con Cristina sobre su nuevo libro 'Oh, My God!'Cuando comenzó a emitirse 'El Hormiguero', Damián Mollá pidió a Pablo Motos no salir en antena porque era tímido... y por eso todas las noches, desde hace 15 años, trabaja bajo una mesa dando vida a Barrancas, una de las dos hormigas estrellas del programa. Parece una broma -nunca mejor dicho- que un cómico pidiese no estar delante de la cámara... Aunque pese a todo, lo hemos visto mucho en pantalla y nos ha hecho reír a todos.Pero es que, además de cómico, Damián Mollá es imparable: tiene una productora, un grupo de música, un restaurante, y además ha escrito un libro sobre Cultura Clásica... ¿Por qué siempre vemos la misma cara de la luna, si esta gira?, ¿La bandera de España esconde la historia de Hércules?, ¿Por qué el símbolo del dólar es una “S” y no una “D”?, ¿De dónde viene la expresión “dar sopas con hondas”?... pues a todas estas cuestiones y muchas más, Damián da respuesta en su nuevo libro 'Oh, My God! La mitología que no sabías que sabías'.Durante su entrevista con Cristina ha confesado entre risas que “hacer de hormiga es lo mejor del mundo porque si la cagas hay un muñeco que se...

CLR Show 1579. Air Date July 23, 2021. We know the republicans are lying. But our messaging must point out the intolerable specifics of those lies, and not encourage a passive 'Oh, well' acceptance of republican behavior––or the inevitability of mid-term 2022 democratic losses. With CLR Friday Co-Host, David Bach. 

Scott Dworkin speaks with Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn. Officer Dunn will be one of the first officers called to testify in front of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection against Congress. Last night, the most-watched right-wing extremist Fox News opinion host mercilessly attacked him for having personal, political views so we advanced the release of this first part of a gripping two-part interview with Officer Dunn so the public can learn more about him as a person and as a cop. This podcast is also what America needs to learn about the people who invaded the Capitol to end our country's unbroken chain of peaceful transitions of power by seditiously stopping the final electoral college vote from the officer's firsthand account of the nakedly open racism he had to endure. Here's an excerpt: "Politically, when you're out there doing that job, you don't think about anything except for doing your job effectively. I'll see congressmen who've made statements about January since then. I disagree with that at that moment. When I see them, I don't immediately think 'Oh, yo, you the one who's thinking?" "No, I'm just like, 'Hey Congressman, good to see you.' And then like afterward, I'd be like, 'wait a minute.' But my initial instinct is to do my job and make sure that everybody's good. I can have my political beliefs, you know, outside of doing my job but it doesn't affect me doing [the job they need and all. Like I said, I take pride in it and doing my job." "It's bigger than me, you know?" --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dworkinreport/support

In an exclusive interview with "The Daily Signal Podcast," former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo criticizes the Biden administration for asking the United Nations to send its racism experts to the U.S."Our administration understood that the U.N. Human Rights Commission was simply ... a bunch of anti-semitic thugs who spend most of their time nagging on Israel for the things they do simply to defend themselves.," says Pompeo. "To invite them in to look at American systemic racism, which frankly doesn't exist ... we know what these reports will end up saying. We know, they'll say, 'Oh, this is racism and the Americans need do X, Y, and Z to go fix it.'""This is a commission occupied by people like Venezuela, by the Iranians," Pompeo adds. "These are bad actors trying to stick the thumb in the eye of the American people.""To have permitted them to come in and evaluate racism in America is an enormous mistake .... They'll come after America hard, and we shouldn't let them do that," the former secretary of state says.Read the lightly edited transcript, pasted below, or listen to the podcast to learn more about what Pompeo has to say about this, what he describes as the Biden administration's failure to lead on China and Hong Kong policies, and how the administration has put climate change ahead of American security.We also cover these stories:Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has another heated exchange with Dr. Anthony Fauci at a Senate committee hearing.House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., names five Republicans to serve on a special committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. White House press secretary Jen Psaki avoids answering questions about which Facebook posts the Biden administration will flag as misinformation. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week we're joined by Sarah Tudzin of Illuminati Hotties and the three of us are diving into the debut album from The Shins, 'Oh, Inverted World'! This is our first attempt at recording an ep "from the road" (aka not in our normal homes) and there are definitely some flaws! But the convo is enlightening, and Sarah is so endlessly full of wisdom when it comes to all things music and audio. We'll have to have her back for a redemption round lol.

I only ever asked you for one thing,' my father said, a quiver in his voice. 'Just this one thing.' It was as though I had smashed the Ten Commandments. 'Oh father,' I cried, grovelling at his ankles while my mother and siblings looked on. 'The one thing you asked of me - is everything.' Bani Adam has known all his life what was expected of him. To marry the right kind of girl. To make the House of Adam proud. But Bani wanted more than this - he wanted to make his own choices. Being the first in his Australian Muslim family to go to university, he could see a different way. Years later, Bani will write his story to his son, Kahlil. Telling him of the choices that were made on Bani's behalf and those that he made for himself. Of the hurt he caused and the heartache he carries. Of the mistakes he made and the lessons he learned. In this moving and timely novel, Michael Mohammed Ahmad balances the complexities of modern love with the demands of family, tradition and faith. The Other Half of You is the powerful, insightful and unforgettable new novel from the Miles Franklin shortlisted author of The Lebs. Bede Haines is a solicitor, specialising in litigation and a partner at Holding Redlich, an Australian commercial law firm. He lives in Sydney, Australia. Known to read books, ride bikes and eat cereal (often). bede.haines@holdingredlich.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/australian-and-new-zealand-studies

Listen to this interview of Terry McGlynn, author of The Chicago Guide to College Science Teaching (U Chicago Press, 2020). McGlynn is also a professor of biology at California State University Dominguez Hills and research associate in the Department of Entomology in the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. We talk about learning, actually. Terry McGlynn : “If you're giving students a writing assignment, like an experimental protocol, and they're supposed to write about what they did in the lab or in the field, and it's a cookbook project, you know, where the students don't design the methods themselves and they're just doing what they were told to do and they're writing that down–––well, then the students are just jumping through a hoop and there's no ownership. That just gets you following through the prescribed steps, and in each of those steps, you just need to know, 'Oh, I just need to write a sentence where I've said This is where I did this,' and you write that sentence. And so, I think you can get through the whole assignment without thinking about the grand reason why you're doing it, right? Because the grand reason why you're doing it is because you need to turn it in and get your grade. And so all the little decisions you're making when you're doing the writing assignment–––all those decisions are all based on a micro level of, 'Okay, this next sentence, and that next sentence,' rather than if you had more control over what you're writing or if you had a bigger set of questions–––basically, if you knew why you're doing this assignment, you know like, what is the purpose of the assignment other than to turn it in and to get a grade–––because then that would be the purpose which is behind all those other small decisions, the purpose that guides you toward some destination." McGlynn's blog is here.  Daniel Shea heads Scholarly Communication, the podcast about how knowledge gets known. Daniel is Director of the Writing Program at Heidelberg University, Germany. Daniel's YouTube Channel is called Write Your Research. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/education

I only ever asked you for one thing,' my father said, a quiver in his voice. 'Just this one thing.' It was as though I had smashed the Ten Commandments. 'Oh father,' I cried, grovelling at his ankles while my mother and siblings looked on. 'The one thing you asked of me - is everything.' Bani Adam has known all his life what was expected of him. To marry the right kind of girl. To make the House of Adam proud. But Bani wanted more than this - he wanted to make his own choices. Being the first in his Australian Muslim family to go to university, he could see a different way. Years later, Bani will write his story to his son, Kahlil. Telling him of the choices that were made on Bani's behalf and those that he made for himself. Of the hurt he caused and the heartache he carries. Of the mistakes he made and the lessons he learned. In this moving and timely novel, Michael Mohammed Ahmad balances the complexities of modern love with the demands of family, tradition and faith. The Other Half of You is the powerful, insightful and unforgettable new novel from the Miles Franklin shortlisted author of The Lebs. Bede Haines is a solicitor, specialising in litigation and a partner at Holding Redlich, an Australian commercial law firm. He lives in Sydney, Australia. Known to read books, ride bikes and eat cereal (often). bede.haines@holdingredlich.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature

Listen to this interview of Terry McGlynn, author of The Chicago Guide to College Science Teaching (U Chicago Press, 2020). McGlynn is also a professor of biology at California State University Dominguez Hills and research associate in the Department of Entomology in the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. We talk about learning, actually. Terry McGlynn : “If you're giving students a writing assignment, like an experimental protocol, and they're supposed to write about what they did in the lab or in the field, and it's a cookbook project, you know, where the students don't design the methods themselves and they're just doing what they were told to do and they're writing that down–––well, then the students are just jumping through a hoop and there's no ownership. That just gets you following through the prescribed steps, and in each of those steps, you just need to know, 'Oh, I just need to write a sentence where I've said This is where I did this,' and you write that sentence. And so, I think you can get through the whole assignment without thinking about the grand reason why you're doing it, right? Because the grand reason why you're doing it is because you need to turn it in and get your grade. And so all the little decisions you're making when you're doing the writing assignment–––all those decisions are all based on a micro level of, 'Okay, this next sentence, and that next sentence,' rather than if you had more control over what you're writing or if you had a bigger set of questions–––basically, if you knew why you're doing this assignment, you know like, what is the purpose of the assignment other than to turn it in and to get a grade–––because then that would be the purpose which is behind all those other small decisions, the purpose that guides you toward some destination." McGlynn's blog is here.  Daniel Shea heads Scholarly Communication, the podcast about how knowledge gets known. Daniel is Director of the Writing Program at Heidelberg University, Germany. Daniel's YouTube Channel is called Write Your Research. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Listen to this interview of Terry McGlynn, author of The Chicago Guide to College Science Teaching (U Chicago Press, 2020). McGlynn is also a professor of biology at California State University Dominguez Hills and research associate in the Department of Entomology in the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. We talk about learning, actually. Terry McGlynn : “If you're giving students a writing assignment, like an experimental protocol, and they're supposed to write about what they did in the lab or in the field, and it's a cookbook project, you know, where the students don't design the methods themselves and they're just doing what they were told to do and they're writing that down–––well, then the students are just jumping through a hoop and there's no ownership. That just gets you following through the prescribed steps, and in each of those steps, you just need to know, 'Oh, I just need to write a sentence where I've said This is where I did this,' and you write that sentence. And so, I think you can get through the whole assignment without thinking about the grand reason why you're doing it, right? Because the grand reason why you're doing it is because you need to turn it in and get your grade. And so all the little decisions you're making when you're doing the writing assignment–––all those decisions are all based on a micro level of, 'Okay, this next sentence, and that next sentence,' rather than if you had more control over what you're writing or if you had a bigger set of questions–––basically, if you knew why you're doing this assignment, you know like, what is the purpose of the assignment other than to turn it in and to get a grade–––because then that would be the purpose which is behind all those other small decisions, the purpose that guides you toward some destination." McGlynn's blog is here.  Daniel Shea heads Scholarly Communication, the podcast about how knowledge gets known. Daniel is Director of the Writing Program at Heidelberg University, Germany. Daniel's YouTube Channel is called Write Your Research. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/science

Listen to this interview of Terry McGlynn, author of The Chicago Guide to College Science Teaching (U Chicago Press, 2020). McGlynn is also a professor of biology at California State University Dominguez Hills and research associate in the Department of Entomology in the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. We talk about learning, actually. Terry McGlynn : “If you're giving students a writing assignment, like an experimental protocol, and they're supposed to write about what they did in the lab or in the field, and it's a cookbook project, you know, where the students don't design the methods themselves and they're just doing what they were told to do and they're writing that down–––well, then the students are just jumping through a hoop and there's no ownership. That just gets you following through the prescribed steps, and in each of those steps, you just need to know, 'Oh, I just need to write a sentence where I've said This is where I did this,' and you write that sentence. And so, I think you can get through the whole assignment without thinking about the grand reason why you're doing it, right? Because the grand reason why you're doing it is because you need to turn it in and get your grade. And so all the little decisions you're making when you're doing the writing assignment–––all those decisions are all based on a micro level of, 'Okay, this next sentence, and that next sentence,' rather than if you had more control over what you're writing or if you had a bigger set of questions–––basically, if you knew why you're doing this assignment, you know like, what is the purpose of the assignment other than to turn it in and to get a grade–––because then that would be the purpose which is behind all those other small decisions, the purpose that guides you toward some destination." McGlynn's blog is here.  Daniel Shea heads Scholarly Communication, the podcast about how knowledge gets known. Daniel is Director of the Writing Program at Heidelberg University, Germany. Daniel's YouTube Channel is called Write Your Research. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/science-technology-and-society

Hiring Business Lawyers With Katie Richards Have you ever put yourself in a position where you're thinking, should I do that? Should I not do that? It might not even be something that you've done legally wrong; it might just be a situation where you're having a separation or whatnot, but a lot of the time, you can find yourself in hot water if you have the right relationship set up. Today, we've got Katie Richards from Law on Earth, and she's going to be talking to us about why and when you should hire a business lawyer. What is the right time in business to do that? When should you set up these relationships? She'll shed some light and remove some fear from everything legal in business. Learn more about hiring a business lawyer at dorksdelivered.com.au Does every small business need a lawyer? Katie: I think it depends on what phase of the business they're going through at the time. I would always suggest that before someone gets into business, have a chat with a lawyer first so they understand what legal needs they're going to have coming up over the life of the business. Katie: You get a bit of a strategy in place because it's not just your business planning that's important. You have to understand what legal risks happen at the beginning, while you're running the company, and then also on exit so you can be ready for them and then you'll be less likely to need lawyers along the way if you already know what to watch out for. A lot of the time, businesses start because you're really passionate about the work that you do. It could be that you're a labourer, an accountant, etc. A lot of the time, you start in the trenches doing that sort of work and you jump in because you're good at what you do. That can obviously cause some conflict if you're doing exactly the same thing as when you had an employer.  When should you hire a business lawyer? Are you better off speaking to someone to make sure you're doing things right? Or is it just when you've started turning over some dollars? When should one really start looking towards consulting a business lawyer? Solicitor Before Accountant Katie: I think it's actually before that. It's right at the beginning when you actually have a chat with an accountant because you need to work out what kind of structure you should be setting up before you actually go and set the business up. That's important because the structure comes down to how much risk is going to be on you personally. How can a business lawyer help you? Katie: If you're set up as a sole trader, you could have issues such as something going terribly wrong in your business, especially if it's your first business. If you don't really understand how businesses operate, you could have your house on the line. You could lose your car, all of your assets, and all of your savings because you are personally liable as a sole trader, whereas generally, people will wait for a while before they set up a company down the track. Katie: There also could be taxation issues if you do that. If you've got some potential contracts already set up, you're probably better off going down the company path from the start. You know that the revenue amount is likely to be a lot higher. The right time to talk to someone about that is actually before you start trading and then you've got a bit of a road map and you understand why. Video Sessions With Business Lawyers in Brisbane Katie: At Law on Earth, we've actually done a lot of free guides around this so that people can just go and have a look at them, get an understanding around what all the different options are in terms of the structures, think about what would actually suit their lifestyle not only now, but also in the future. Katie: Think three, four, or five years ahead because if you set up as a sole trader now, you're going to be paying tax through the roof once you get over a certain financial amount. No one in their right mind is going to want to set up a business if it's not generating at least a decent amount of money that exceeds what you were doing as an employee, unless you're only doing it as a hobby or for some kind of lifestyle benefit, because there is a lot of pain that comes with setting up and running businesses. Katie: You must have a good reason why you want to put yourself through that. Otherwise, sometimes it actually is easier just to remain an employee, doing what you love. I couldn't agree more. Some employees think that their employers are bringing in double or triple of what they earn, and then they wonder about jumping out on their own without thinking about any of the nitty-gritty and the mechanics that go into the infrastructure that supports the business. You're right: you want to be able to earn a little bit more money or just be a side hustle or a lifestyle choice. That obviously changes the structure. If you're going to start a business, first, make sure that you're passionate about doing whatever you're going to be doing because you're going to be doing a lot of it. Second, make sure you're able to do that with enough time to be able to do all the other admin stuff that comes with it. Don't think you'll get to do 80-hour weeks that are going to be billable to clients. On top of that, probably talk to a solicitor before you talk to an accountant. Katie: It really comes down to that risk piece. What we tend to find in the last couple of days through the platform at Law on Earth is people who are passionate about a social cause want to set up a business around it. They're trying to work out whether to set up a charity, a social enterprise, for-profit or not for profit. It all comes down to how far you're prepared to take that social cause. Katie: There's a lot to think about. At that stage, you also have to think about not just the business, but what about the people around you? If you have a family, what are you prepared to put them through when you're setting up this business? Are you even going to bring them in down the track? If that's the case, then you're going to be employing people within the business. Again, it's probably better to do that for a company. Katie: The conversation around trusts will come up as well. You might have some kids at home and your wife or husband may not be working. You might want to get money by the business to them in the most cost-effective way.  How much does a business attorney cost? Katie: You'd have an initial chat with your accountant and your lawyer around those ideas. People are using just like a 20-minute advice session on our platform just to ask those kinds of questions. It's only going to cost them $150 to answer all of those questions before they even think through the next part of their strategy. It's not prohibitive. That's pretty much nothing in the scheme of things. That is going to protect you because different opportunities or things can come up. There are always bumps along the road of business, and you can have situations where you're being sued depending on the type of work that you're doing or having partnerships that go south. Even if you are set up as a sole trader, for instance, and you invest a little bit too much time in the business and the business is going really well.  This sounds terrible, but if you look at Melinda Gates, she is one of the best investors in the world. You need to be very careful. If a break-up does happen in your personal life, that can affect your business life and ongoing time. When you do engage, you spend $150, you get a little bit more visibility and insights and confidence in what you'd be doing with your business. How often should you talk to a business lawyer? What are normally the touchpoints with small business lawyers? Is it something that you engage with clients every three months, or is it something that you set up the relationship and then when the shit hits the fan, so to speak, you then start talking or what happens? Katie: I think it depends on the person who's setting up the business and what their circumstances are. The way that I deal with clients is that I'll have that initial chat with them. I'll give them a list and priorities as to what they should do and how soon they should get them done and at what stage of the business they'll think about activating the next step. Katie: That way, it gives them the tools that they need to actually go away and be in control of what they're doing. We have stuff in the learning centre that will help them do that. As they reach those little milestones in their business, they know what to do and what to watch out for. That just makes it a lot easier. It takes a lot of the anxiety away from the business.  Katie: A lot of my clients will actually Zoom me once a month and just ask me and do another 20-minute session and say what they've done and ask me to have a look over. They can actually watch me read into contracts that they've prepared themselves, just keeping them out of any risk so that they don't have to lie awake at night because they know they've already covered their bombs and then they can take that next step a little bit more confidently. Katie: There may be someone who's just really slow to get a bit of traction. If that's the case, they don't have to push themselves ahead at any rate to actually go and get more legal advice. It's only as they need it. But as they grow, you'll tend to find the need will pop up more often. Katie: It really comes down to the stage of growth and how risk-averse that business owner is. There are some people that will do all these documents, go forth and conquer—and they will just call me when they're in trouble. Katie: No matter how good of a business owner you are, things just pop up in business and you can't avoid it. If you can at least recognise when an issue is coming up, jump on it straight away and get some advice on what you should do next. You can probably go forward and just sell back and look after yourself potentially.  Katie: You just need to find out what the laws are around it and get a bit of a commercial understanding of what you can do and what repercussions there are for each of those different options—what are the repercussions now and what we're going to be the repercussions, say, two or three years time. If you do take this path, how is that going to impact the relationship you have with all the business owners? How will that affect me on a reputation level? Be Proactive, Not Reactive You brought up a couple of really good points. Do you find that business owners who are looking for business lawyers particularly in Brisbane are more proactive or reactive when it comes to these situations? Katie: I think they have been quite reactive for a long time, and I believe they're starting to get a bit more proactive. Maybe that's just the ones that I deal with because we've made it a bit more accessible for them to get little snippets of advice and not cost them a billion dollars for that. Katie: It's easier to be proactive. Like going to the doctor, you don't go, 'I'm not sure if I want to go to the doctor even though I'm sick because it is going to cost me a fortune.' You just go. That's what we've tried to recreate: an ability for people to just grab it as and when they need it so they can be proactive. Katie: But I think a lot of people in the past have been really reactive. The problem is that by the time I actually engage someone to help them with it, the problem is 10 times bigger and you actually could have fixed it for one-tenth of the cost had they gone to you at the very beginning of it before they sort of got into too much of a deep hole. The old adage is 'Save a nickel, spend a dime.' Once you've gone too far, you kind of have to do what you have to do and that can be a big problem for you. There's a business that we were talking with a month and a half ago. He decided to set up his own business and he thought it is going to be great because he loves doing what he does. His boss was fine with him doing that. The clients that his boss had went to him because they enjoyed working with him more, and that caused big problems.  His previous boss sued him, and then he engaged some legal advice. He had to change a whole bunch of stuff around to get everyone happy and ended up having to sell his business to his old boss to keep his boss happy. You've already worked for a whole bunch of stuff and then you've got all this stuff that's taxing on your mind and soul. It's not going to help you very well mentally to be having to do that while already going through the mechanics of setting up a business. Katie: That's actually one of the first things we chat about when we're having that initial strategy session. When talking about the structuring, the first thing I say to them is, 'What did you do before you came up with this business idea?' And then I add, 'Who did you work for? Show me your employment agreement.' Some would say, 'No, it's okay, we all parted on happy terms.' Katie: Stealing their IP and setting up a business in competition with them, they're just not going to be happy. Some employers will pursue it, and some won't. Some will have this ridiculous restraint of trade clause in there, and it'll be for like five years. The court is not going to hold that up, but you have to get advice around it to find out whether it's a reasonable restraint or not and whether it's worth the punt. Correct. He's still in business now but trading underneath a different entity on advice that he got from his lawyer. That would have been easy just to get it at the start, wouldn't it? I think it's a total cost of $150,000. Katie: I know someone else that's had a very similar situation. They're doing really well now, but it was really crushing. You just don't want to be in that situation. Not at all. It's not going to make you feel very good mentally. And that changes your whole game with how you're dealing with clients and giving you that confidence to build up your business. How do you legally protect yourself from risks in business? Do the legal requirements for business and milestones in business vary depending on the business vertical? For instance, hairdressers are dealing with scissors and if they have a slip, someone could get hurt. I'm running an IT business and if something goes wrong, their infrastructure could be down, costing them tens of thousands of dollars an hour or more depending on the business.  How do you protect yourself against things like that? Is that through agreements that you set up with your clients? Set Up a Business Plan  Katie: I think what people really need to be doing at the very beginning is setting up a business plan. Most people put it in a drawer and they don't have a look at it again. That's not useful. You need to actually write some kind of document about all the things that could go wrong in this business and then write out your mitigation. If this happens, what would I do next and then next and then next so that you don't have to worry about those kinds of risks so much because you've thought about it. Have a Business Continuity Plan Katie: Your next step is to look at each of those risks and think about what you can insure and what you can minimise any risk for. How likely is it to happen? If it does happen, like the electricity goes out and you can't run your business, can we jump to another premises so we can keep trading? If not, do we need business continuity insurance in place? Pulling all those ideas together is what we call a business continuity plan. Katie: Continuity is essentially continuing. What kind of plans do we need to put in place so no matter what comes up, we've actually got a Plan B that we can jump to straightaway. How do I train my staff to also know what the Plan B is at any point in time? Katie: If you're on holiday in Hawaii and all of a sudden something goes wrong in the business, you need to know that someone can grab out the continuity plan and have a look at what you would have done if you were here. Katie: Otherwise, if you end up building a business where you're stuck in it and no one else can run it for you, you're going to end up basically buying yourself a job but that's quite high risk. And you don't want to go through the pain of building a business and get to make this great revenue to have it all ripped away from you all of a sudden. Continuity plans are very, very strong to my heart. In the IT space, things are moving into the cloud, and you have to be more and more creative to allow for people's infrastructure to stay up and running when it's not necessarily available in your hands. There's a gun that's pointing at us. If something goes wrong with the client, we have to see how we can make sure to mitigate this risk if Office 365 goes down or if you have a problem with G-Suite applications. We've worked out things here but it's surprising to us and this is why I was asking before about the proactive versus reactive. We talk to business owners and say let's do this but a lot of the time they want to wait until it happens. Then it happens and they're like, 'We need to be up and running now. We can't get the contract out.' Katie: When you're dealing with big clients and if you can show them that if this happens this is what we do, but if that happens that's is what we do, it actually puts you way ahead in their eyes because they know that you have a much better ability to deliver on work, especially when it comes to tender processes. Katie: We've actually gone down the path with Law on Earth to do ISO certification. Even though we don't necessarily need to do that, I want to make sure that no matter what happens, we can be reliable and consistent so that people can keep using us. That was a big ask to actually get someone to come in and actually do all that.  Have a Risk Mitigation Strategy Katie: Risks are really important. If you don't watch the risks in your business, you won't have a business. That can destroy lives and families. That's what it's all about: risk mitigation. Does risk mitigation negate the need for more insurance? You're saying about possibly needing to get different types of insurances. Does it complement or mitigate the risk? Katie: I take it one step further with my businesses. I've got Virtual Legal, my law firm, and then Law on Earth, the software platform. List Down at All of the Risks Katie: What I've done is I looked at all the risks and wrote up a disaster recovery plan as well as a business continuity plan. And then I took that to the insurer and put them on notice on what I've asked them to insure for so there can't be any grey areas as to what risks they had to cover. It actually makes them accountable. Reduce the Risk, Reduce the Insurance Premium Katie: Second, I said, 'I've done all this risk mitigation. I want you to give me a discount on insurance because I've done half of your job for you.' That's actually helpful too because you can get your insurance premiums reduced because I know exactly what risks need to be covered. Katie: When it comes to things like negotiating a contract with someone else, sometimes what people do is they contract out of provisions. If I say, 'We don't want this liability clause in there.' and the business owner is like, 'Oh, yeah, no worries.' because they want the big contract. The problem is if you actually contract out of something that the insurance company then can't use to help you fight that claim, then your insurance sometimes might payout. You must have a think about those kinds of things. Insurance Can Be a Double-Edged Sword Katie: Insurance can be a double-edged sword. If you cut corners, you could end up not getting insurance paid out. I think it's a really good way of knowing the risks, making sure that you've covered up on what you can and that your systems actually back up what you say they're doing. It makes your business more valuable. When you're more repeatable with what you're doing, at least you know what your risks are. At Dorks Delivered, we call our agreements with clients business continuity agreements because we want their business to have uptime. We want IT and technology in their business to be like a utility.  If we tell a client that this is what they need to have in place and they say they're not interested, we put in denial of service agreements. We have them sign off on something saying, 'We're aware that this risk is what we're taking on ourselves,' and they can't come back to us and say this doesn't work. Should you use legal documents or templates available online? There are different documents that you can find online, such as NDAs and employee agreements. Are they worth the digital paper that they're written on? Does your mileage vary if you're just going to get a boilerplate document off the Internet that hasn't been checked over by business lawyers in Brisbane? Katie: It's funny you bring this up because this is my biggest pain point. This is literally the entire reason I set this platform up about three years ago. The problem with templates is that people don't know what's in them. When you actually sign a template or some kind of contract without understanding what's actually in it. Katie: There is no standard contract. It just doesn't exist. You can actually contract out of protective rights you would have had under the law if you had no agreement in place at all. You can actually contract out of different types of rights that can actually be in that agreement.  Katie: What we did was we went through and drafted out all the precedents that you would need for business and then you get a guide that comes along with it and explains in really simple English what every single clause in that agreement actually means so you can understand what you're doing. Katie: Make sure you understand what's in the agreement before you sign it. If you don't understand it, don't sign it because you could really do yourself some damage. That's why at Virtual Legal, we get a lot of the cleanup work from people just using templates they found on the Internet. Sometimes they use American documents, and sometimes they don't even change the names in the contract.  They haven't even read the contracts. Far out. I'm a stickler for reading things. When I got my first credit card in my teenage years, I read the 68-page document that came with it to make sure I understood. That's just a small document about how your information is shared. You've got a fantastic service there to alleviate some of that pain and make sure people are using Australian documents. Most of the software that we use in business or the SaaS platforms come from overseas. We're using these ERP solutions or CRM solutions, and a big sales tactic that I've seen is that they'll say they'll give all the documents that we need for our client relations and everything else, but they're all from America, so they're practically useless unless you're an international business only dealing with America. How does Law on Earth work? We've covered a little bit of information about what Law on Earth does. With $150, what does that entail and how does that work for someone who's looking to get into business or someone who's looking to have a review of their documents if they've got something that's been made by someone else or maybe they need to dust off the documents that they haven't looked at for 10 years. How does the process work for Law on Earth? [add this photo https://d3hh6raz9l4662.cloudfront.net/media/various/homepage-banner.png] Katie: It is really simple. It's a social enterprise that was set up for a social purpose. It's essentially established just to help people. Just go on the platform and set up a free account. Once you've got a free account, you'll get a full dashboard so you can go into the learning centre and have a look at all these different guides that actually teach you what you should look out for, what to do next. Katie: Once you've found a guide that matches your legal situation, you can then work out whether you just go and get the documents in our system. You can just answer a simple question. The system actually does much of the legal work so it'll slot all the right clauses in and then give you that human God that we talked about and then you can read through that. Katie: If that doesn't work for what you wanted practically in the business, go back, unlock the document and then answer the questions again. It will slot different clauses in there. You have complete control over it. You don't necessarily have to get a lawyer if you don't want to get a lawyer, but you have the ability to do that. Katie: We've restructured it recently so even if you get a 6-month subscription, it's unlimited documents so you can use as many documents as you want and the whole 6 months is only $197. Katie: Once you drop down to that, you get your video calls with a lawyer for $97 for 20 minutes. It becomes ridiculously cheap to get a lawyer online.  Katie: Some people do more videos, others do fewer videos and go crazy on the documents and then go and do the business stuff, set up their wills and powers of attorney, and all that stuff. We've got a bunch of people doing their divorces at the moment. Katie: Essentially, a lot of people will actually book their first calls in their sixth month and they'll extend it and then book in a couple of days later. Once they've gone and done their documents, we'll reverse the screen and help them re-drop bits and pieces of it for their situation. I might not hear from them for another five, six, seven weeks. Some people check in every week because it's just easy and affordable for them to do it bit by bit.  It is a fantastic service. You've only been around three years, right? Katie: Yeah, we built it inside Virtual Legal, and we split it off about two years ago and then we actually launched it last July. We have 150 people signing up since August 2020.  Katie: The good thing is that as and when we find other needs or documents that people want, if it's not in there, they just click a button to email us, and we actually draft it and then upload it. You're not going to find any lawyers that'll do that without charging you $2,000 or $3,000. That benefits everyone.  Katie: It helps people with whatever they're dealing with because if they need it, someone else is going to need it at some stage as well. We just have a team of guys here that just jump straight on it. Get free guides to setting up a business in Australia and affordable legal advice. Jump onto Law on Earth! [link to https://lawonearth.com.au/howtos] There's pretty much no reason why every business in Australia shouldn't be jumping on Law on Earth and checking out the work that you do and how it can help their business. I know I'm going to be signing up for an account because it's going to give more visibility and assurance for the times that you might not expect things to go as well as you want them to or at least mitigate some of those risks. Recommended Books: The Hard Thing About Hard Things and Measure What Matters If there's a favourite book that influenced you in business and in being where you are now, what would that be? Katie: There was actually one that I listened to recently. It's called The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz.  Katie: I really resonated with that because he said that as a CEO, you have to get used to everything being your fault. I thought that sounds like a really negative thing to say, but it's true. You are responsible as the head of the company, whether you are the founder or just the CEO, but you're responsible for making sure that everything runs smoothly.  Katie: If something happened in marketing, you should have had some kind of process in marketing for feedback so you can make sure those things don't happen. If you are not watching what's happening in all the other divisions, even though you're not the one executing on it, it really is your fault. Katie: I think it just puts it back into place. You have to get comfortable with being a bit uncomfortable as a business owner. You can say, 'My job is just to do this bit here' but if you are the person running that business, that's not correct. You are still responsible for the feet up. You just need to make sure reporting back to you is good if you've delegated work out. That comes into play with what you're saying about strategies, making documentation processes, accountability systems, and things like that. I'm going to be checking that on my radar. Katie: Yes, it's downloadable so you can listen to it while you're going for a run. Another is Measure What Matters by John Doerr, and that's all about objective, key results and understanding how to give reporting responsibilities out to your teams so that it can be feedbacked correctly.  I'm going to check out that one.  What is freedom to you? The podcast is called Business Built Freedom. What would you say business freedom is to you?  Katie: For me, freedom is not necessarily having a lot of time on my hands. It's more about being able to actually do what I want to be able to do, even though it's still a lot of work for me to do.  Katie: Virtual Legal runs really well, so I can actually have my freedom but I've gone straight back into the grind with Law on Earth. I'm passionate about it, so I'm happy to spend my time doing that. As and when I find different elements that I can delegate to other people, I can then do that and then I can spend more time thinking. I think freedom really comes down to having just being engaged in what you love and finding ways to start stepping back from it to have thinking time again.  I think I couldn't have said it better myself. I find working in business isn't really working if you're enjoying it. That sounds so cliche. People go on holidays to read books, but if you don't think an editor would go on holidays to read books, I still think they would. If you have enjoyed the podcast, jump across to iTunes. Leave us some love, give us some feedback. Katie: will be jumping into our Facebook group to answer any possible questions that you might have. Stay healthy! Mitigate risks and turn your IT into a utility. Schedule a free consultation or check out the Dollar IT Club for affordable business solutions. [module-379]

Feud with boy band talent agency might spell the end of Sega's Judgement video game series - SoraNews24Lost Judgement could be the last Judgement if Sega can't work out a compromise with with Takuya Kimura's agency.Persona 25th Anniversary Teases Seven New Projects, First Announcement in September - Push SquarePersona!'Oh yeah! Mario time!' Unopened Super Mario 64 game sells for $1.56M, smashing records - KSL.comAn unopened copy of Nintendo's Super Mario 64 has sold at auction for $1.56 million.Arc System Works is already in the verification process for adding crossplay to Guilty Gear Strive - EventHubsNow that essentially all new fighting games will be using rollback netcode from now on, the next logical step in evolution would be to implement cross-platform play between system to link all players together, but the feature is still only ...Enjoy The Apocalypse In This Awesome Cold War Communications Bunker For A Cool $695,000 - The DriveThe eBay listing claims the site is EMP-hardened, blast-proof, and has "an expansive floor plan" for all of your bug-out needs.

"There's something really wonderful about saying, 'Oh yeah, God is love isn't that nice.' Without acknowledging that that means that if God is love and God has called me into life, into living, into being in this world that I am made for love. And then I'm meant to live in this world as if that's true. Well, that might require me to look at myself differently"

"There's something really wonderful about saying, 'Oh yeah, God is love isn't that nice.' Without acknowledging that that means that if God is love and God has called me into life, into living, into being in this world that I am made for love. And then I'm meant to live in this world as if that's true. Well, that might require me to look at myself differently"

Charlamos con Damián Mollá, cómico y guionista, que nos habla sobre la publicación de su nuevo libro 'Oh, my God! La mitología que no sabías que sabías'.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin Robert Browning - 1812-1889     I Hamelin Town's in Brunswick, By famous Hanover city; The river Weser, deep and wide, Washes its wall on the southern side; A pleasanter spot you never spied; But, when begins my ditty, Almost five hundred years ago, To see the townsfolk suffer so From vermin, was a pity. II Rats! They fought the dogs and killed the cats, And bit the babies in the cradles, And ate the cheeses out of the vats, And licked the soup from the cooks' own ladle's, Split open the kegs of salted sprats, Made nests inside men's Sunday hats, And even spoiled the women's chats By drowning their speaking With shrieking and squeaking In fifty different sharps and flats. III At last the people in a body To the town hall came flocking: "'Tis clear," cried they, 'our Mayor's a noddy; And as for our Corporation--shocking To think we buy gowns lined with ermine For dolts that can't or won't determine What's best to rid us of our vermin! You hope, because you're old and obese, To find in the furry civic robe ease? Rouse up, sirs! Give your brains a racking To find the remedy we're lacking, Or, sure as fate, we'll send you packing!" At this the Mayor and Corporation Quaked with a mighty consternation. IV An hour they sat in council, At length the Mayor broke silence: "For a guilder I'd my ermine gown sell, I wish I were a mile hence! It's easy to bid one rack one's brain-- I'm sure my poor head aches again, I've scratched it so, and all in vain Oh for a trap, a trap, a trap!" Just as he said this, what should hap At the chamber door but a gentle tap? "Bless us,' cried the Mayor, "what's that?" (With the Corporation as he sat, Looking little though wondrous fat; Nor brighter was his eye, nor moister Than a too-long-opened oyster, Save when at noon his paunch grew mutinous For a plate of turtle, green and glutinous) "Only a scraping of shoes on the mat? Anything like the sound of a rat Makes my heart go pit-a-pat!" V "Come in!"--the Mayor cried, looking bigger: And in did come the strangest figure! His queer long coat from heel to head Was half of yellow and half of red And he himself was tall and thin, With sharp blue eyes, each like a pin, And light loose hair, yet swarthy skin, No tuft on cheek nor beard on chin, But lips where smiles went out and in-- There was no guessing his kith and kin! And nobody could enough admire The tall man and his quaint attire. Quoth one: "It's as if my great-grandsire, Starting up at the Trump of Doom's tone, Had walked this way from his painted tombstone!" VI He advanced to the council-table: And, "Please your honors," said he, "I'm able, By means of a secret charm, to draw All creatures living beneath the sun, That creep or swim or fly or run, After me so as you never saw! And I chiefly use my charm On creatures that do people harm, The mole and toad and newt and viper; And people call me the Pied Piper." (And here they noticed round his neck A scarf of red and yellow stripe, To match with his coat of the self-same check; And at the scarf's end hung a pipe; And his fingers, they noticed, were ever straying As if impatient to be playing Upon this pipe, as low it dangled Over his vesture so old-fangled.) "Yet," said he, "poor piper as I am, In Tartary I freed the Cham, Last June, from his huge swarm of gnats; I eased in Asia the Nizam Of a monstrous brood of vampyre-bats: And as for what your brain bewilders-- If I can rid your town of rats Will you give me a thousand guilders?" "One? Fifty thousand!" was the exclamation Of the astonished Mayor and Corporation. VII Into the street the Piper stept, Smiling first a little smile, As if he knew what magic slept In his quiet pipe the while; Then, like a musical adept, To blow the pipe his lips he wrinkled, And green and blue his sharp eyes twinkled, Like a candle-flame where salt is sprinkled; And ere three shrill notes the pipe uttered, You heard as if an army muttered; And the muttering grew to a grumbling; And the grumbling grew to a mighty rumbling; And out of the houses the rats came tumbling. Great rats, small rats, lean rats, brawny rats, Brown rats, black rats, gray rats, tawny rats, Grave old plodders, gay young friskers, Fathers, mothers, uncles, cousins, Cocking tails and pricking whiskers, Families by tens and dozens, Brothers, sisters, husbands, wives-- Followed the Piper for their lives. From street to street he piped advancing, And step for step they followed dancing, Until they came to the river Weser Wherein all plunged and perished! ‹Save one who, stout as Julius Caesar, Swam across and lived to carry (As the manuscript he cherished) To Rat-land home his commentary: Which was, "At the first shrill notes of the pipe, I heard a sound as of scraping tripe, And putting apples, wondrous ripe, Into a cider-press's gripe: And a moving away of pickle-tub-boards, And a leaving ajar of conserve-cupboards, And a drawing the corks of train-oil-flasks, And a breaking the hoops of butter-casks: And it seemed as if a voice (Sweeter far than by harp or by psaltery Is breathed) called out, 'Oh rats, rejoice! The world is grown to one vast dry-saltery! So munch on, crunch on, take your nuncheon, Breakfast, supper, dinner, luncheon!' And just as a bulky sugar-puncheon, All ready staved, like a great sun shone Glorious scarce an inch before me, Just as methought it said 'Come bore me!' -- I found the Weser rolling o'er me." VIII You should have heard the Hamelin people Ringing the bells till they rocked the steeple. Go," cried the Mayor, "and get long poles! Poke out the nests and block up the holes! Consult with carpenters and builders And leave in our town not even a trace Of the rats!"-- when suddenly, up the face Of the Piper perked in the market-place, With a, "First, if you please, my thousand guilders!" IX A thousand guilders! The Mayor looked blue; So did the Corporation too. For council dinners made rare havoc With Claret, Moselle, Vin-de-Grave, Hock; And half the money would replenish Their cellar's biggest butt with Rhenish. To pay this sum to a wandering fellow With a gypsy coat of red and yellow! "Beside," quoth the Mayor with a knowing wink, "Our business was done at the river's brink; We saw with our eyes the vermin sink, And what's dead can't come to life, I think. So, friend, we're not the folks to shrink From the duty of giving you something for drink, And a matter of money to put in your poke; But as for the guilders, what we spoke Of them, as you very well know, was in joke. Beside, our losses have made us thrifty . A thousand guilders! Come, take fifty! X The Piper's face fell, and he cried, "No trifling! I can't wait! Beside, I've promised to visit by dinnertime Bagdad, and accept the prime Of the Head-Cook's pottage, all he's rich in, For having left, in the Caliph's kitchen, Of a nest of scorpions no survivor-- With him I proved no bargain-driver, With you, don't think I'll bate a stiver! And folks who put me in a passion May find me pipe to another fashion." XI "How?" cried the Mayor, "d'ye think I brook Being worse treated than a Cook? Insulted by a lazy ribald With idle pipe and vesture piebald? You threaten us, fellow? Do your worst, Blow your pipe there till you burst!" XII Once more he stept into the street And to his lips again Laid his long pipe of smooth straight cane; And ere he blew three notes (such sweet Soft notes as yet musician's cunning Never gave the enraptured air) There was a rustling that seemed like a bustling Of merry crowds justling at pitching and hustling, Small feet were pattering, wooden shoes clattering, Little hands clapping, and little tongues chattering, And, like fowls in a farm-yard when barley is scattering, Out came the children running. All the little boys and girls, With rosy cheeks and flaxen curls, And sparkling eyes and teeth like pearls, Tripping and skipping, ran merrily after The wonderful music with shouting and laughter. XIII The Mayor was dumb, and the Council stood As if they were changed into blocks of wood, Unable to move a step or cry, To the children merrily skipping by-- And could only follow with the eye That joyous crowd at the Piper's back. But how the Mayor was on the rack And the wretched Council's bosoms beat, As the Piper turned from the High Street To where the Weser rolled its water's Right in the way of their sons and daughters! However he turned from South to West And to Koppelberg Hill his steps addressed, And after him the children pressed; Great was the joy in every breast. "He never can cross that mighty top! He's forced to let the piping drop And we shall see our children stop! When, lo, as they reached the mountain-side, A wondrous portal opened wide, As if a cavern was suddenly hollowed; And the Piper advanced and the children followed, And when all were in to the very last, The door in the mountain-side shut fast. Did I say all? No! One was lame, And could not dance the whole of the way; And in after years, if you would blame His sadness, he was used to say,-- "It's dull in our town since my playmates left! I can't forget that I'm bereft Of all the pleasant sights they see, Which the Piper also promised me. For he led us, he said, to a joyous land, Joining the town and just at hand, Where waters gushed and fruit-trees grew, And flowers put forth a fairer hue, And everything was strange and new; The sparrows were brighter than peacocks here, And their dogs outran our fallow deer, And honey-bees had lost their stings, And horses were born with eagles' wings: And just as I became assured My lame foot would be speedily cured, The music stopped and I stood still, And found myself outside the hill, Left alone against my will, To go now limping as before, And never hear of that country more! XIV Alas, alas for Hamelin! There came into many a burgher's pate A text which says that heaven's gate Opens to the rich at as easy rate As the needle's eye takes a camel in! The mayor sent East, West, North and South, To offer the Piper, by word of mouth Wherever it was men's lot to find him, Silver and gold to his heart's content, If he'd only return the way he went, And bring the children behind him. But when they saw 'twas a lost endeavor, And Piper and dancers were gone forever, They made a decree that lawyers never Should think their records dated duly If, after the day of the month and year, These words did not as well appear: "And so long after what happened here On the twenty-second of July, Thirteen hundred and seventy-six;" And the better in memory to fix The place of the children's last retreat, They called it the Pied Piper's Street, Where any one playing on pipe or tabor Was sure for the future to lose his labor. Nor suffered they hostelry or tavern To shock with mirth a street so solemn, But opposite the place of the cavern They wrote the story on a column, And on the great church-window painted The same, to make the world acquainted How their children were stolen away, And there it stands to this very day. And I must not omit to say That, in Transylvania there's a tribe Of alien people who ascribe To the outlandish ways and dress On which their neighbors lay such stress, To their fathers and mothers having risen Out of some subterranean prison Into which they were trepanned Long time ago in a mighty band Out of Hamelin town in Brunswick land, But how or why they don't understand. XV So, Willy, let you and me be wipers Of scores out with all men--especially pipers! And, whether they pipe us free, from rats or from mice, If we've promised them ought, let us keep our promise.

Runway's co-founder Cristóbal Valenzuela on the need for new creative interfaces to control complex algorithms that focus on results (not technology), the freedom of being a startup, and how machine intelligence is changing how we think, design, and make art. Cristóbal Valenzuela is a technologist, artist and software developer interested in the intersection between artificial intelligence and creative tools. He is Runway's co-founder. Previously, he co-founded Latent Studio, a creative studio specializing in machine learning and artificial intelligence. He also contributes to OSS and helps maintain ml5.js. His work has been sponsored by Google and the Processing Foundation and his projects has been exhibited in Latin America and the US, including NeurIPS, Santiago Museum of Contemporary Art, ARS Electronica, GAM, ACADIA, Fundación Telefonica, Lollapalooza, NYC Media Lab, New Latin Wave, DOCLAB, Inter-American Development Bank, Stanford University and New York University. Connect with Cristóbal on his website, Twitter (@c_valenzuelab), or GitHub (@cvalenzuela). Favorite quotes "You don't care about the mathematical function that goes behind blurring [an image in Photoshop]. You just want the output of it—the creative output of moving a slider and having an effect applied to your video, your pixels, or content." "When you think about using algorithms to help you and assist you in the editing process, you need [to find] a metaphor or tool that would allow you to collaborate with those algorithms." "We need those new interfaces, metaphors, and systems. And that's all we're building, basically, those next-generation systems to help people create video and content." "When you take that picture, no one is saying, 'Oh, the AI is biased' or 'The AI worked or didn't work' or 'It showed me new creative possibilities.' It just works." "[Artificial intelligence] is a tool as any other tool. And so, in general, I think all the art tools that we're making will eventually reach that point where you're not too concerned about the systems you're using. You are just using it as a tool. And if it provides you with good results to explore the creative direction, you're going to use it again." Links NYU ITP Runway ML Made with Runway Runway's Generative Media Runway's Green Screen Making albums with AI from our backyard: Claire Evans, Jona Bechtolt, and Rob Kieswetter of YACHT Machine learning (concept) StyleGAN (machine learning algorithm) Building accessible tools for artists by Cris (article) Descript People mentioned Alejandro Matamala Ortiz Anastasis Germanidis Mario Klingemann Outline Intro. [0:00] What's new with Runway ML? [0:28] We need new interfaces. [1:44] The freedom of being a startup. [4:23] How's life? [4:55] Built with Runway. [5:38] ML Lab and Sequel. [6:55] Interfaces to control ML algorithms. [8:08] Machine intelligence in design, art, and architecture. [10:31] Creativity. [13:14] Originality and bias. [14:23] AI as a tool. [16:06] Thanks. [18:13] Submit a question about this or previous episodes. I'd love to hear from you. Join the Discord community. Meet other curious minds. If you enjoy the show, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds and really helps. Show notes, transcripts, and past episodes at gettingsimple.com/podcast. Follow Nono Twitter.com/nonoesp Instagram.com/nonoesp Facebook.com/nonomartinezalonso YouTube.com/nonomartinezalonso

Enhancing Customer Experience With Floris Blok  You might be wondering why customers sometimes love you and sometimes don't. Is it something you're doing or something you're not? It is like when you go to a trash-and-treasure market, sometimes you find trash and sometimes you find treasure but that doesn't mean anything is wrong with those customers. Today, we've got Floris Blok from Blok Business Consulting and he's going to be talking to us about the customer journey, the customer experience, and what it means. Get more tips on how to enhance customer experience at dorksdelivered.com.au What is meant by customer experience? What is meant by a customer experience? How can you say it's a good customer experience?  Floris: To actually figure out what the customer experience is, you need to understand who the customer is. So if you're trying to sell something to someone, you want to know who they are before you try and sell them anything. That would be your first point of call or a call to action as an organisation, as a marketing department or whoever you may be. Understanding the ideal customer profile (ICP) is actually the first thing that you need to do. Floris: Once you have a deep understanding and insight about that, like a group of people or certain demographics or psychographic segmentation, then you can start understanding where they get their information, where they actually go out and buy stuff, what it is they are interested in, what makes them tick. Once you figure that out, then you can actually expand and actually build that customer journey or at the very least identify what the customer journey is through all kinds of different ways of research and analytics. And then, you can start optimising each of those touchpoints that you have with that particular segment's ICP. Floris: There are many different ways of doing it. For example, if you're an e-commerce platform, one way would be certain KPIs, like how many people dropped out from your website once they've done a search or how many people leave a basket with stuff in it and don't actually convert to an actual sale. There are different KPIs that you can measure. How do you identify your ideal customer? If you've just started out in business or maybe you've decided to start a business, but have no idea about marketing or who my customer is going to be. All you know is you make really good pies or you're a little bit faster laying a concrete driveway or you've got a cool way that you're doing your accounting, how would you know who is going to pick up on this? How do you work out who your customer is before you've had one? Floris: If you are already working for an employer and you want to go on your own, then you already have that experience. You would have had exposure to the type of people that are purchasing the products or hiring services that your organisation is actually putting out into the market. You would have at least some kind of idea. Floris: If you are completely new. Let's say hypothetically, you've just rolled out of college or university. You've got this great idea for something, like software. First of all, what you need to do is actually develop it into a product. There are all kinds of different things that we can talk about here from the product management point of view and a product development point of view, like setting up your MVP or minimal viable product, and then how do you go about getting financing, funding, etc. so you can develop it further and all of these things. Floris: Let's go back to your example of pies. Let's say you've just won MasterChef and now you've got $250,000 in your pocket, but your entire life, what you've done is you've basically put these pies or baked these pies for your family. Now you're sitting there with $250,000 in your pocket and they're burning a hole in it because you want to open a shop. You need to understand what it is about your pies that people like because three MasterChef judges liking it is fantastic. They've talked about it in front of the entire Australian population that watches MasterChef and all the international ones abroad and all of these things. Kudos! Floris: But you need to understand what the people who are going to come into the shop are going to come in for. They need a pie, but is it a breakfast pie? Is it an afternoon lunch party? Is it a snack? These are the things you need to understand. Floris: Once you understand what people like about your pies and what time they like to eat them, you can manage your production schedule, the marketing, your shop front or where you can actually locate your shop. We know that with COVID, there's a lot of real estate in the CBD that's emptying up because workers are not there. Are you going to move into CBD or are you going to be selling pies out of a truck? Food trucks are doing great because you can move locations and you can be in different places at different times. Floris: Understanding what your customers want and how they want to consume it, whether it's a product or service, is a very good start to understanding how you can then deliver that service to them for them to give you their hard-earned cash. How do you measure customer experience? On the MasterChef example, I've got this $250,000, let's go through the process. You might have a mobile location or something that's static. If you've got these people coming to the front of the van or the shopfront, and they're ordering pies, you can obviously say the pies are selling really well and then have things like best sellers and know how to promote and critique and change different product lines and measure the analytics, the same way you could do that with an e-commerce website. If you've then got those numbers in play, how do you know that you're attracting enough of the right audience or you're measuring things? Are you looking at people that are coming through the door going, 'Okay, they look like 45 to 60-year old business people, so I should be marketing more towards that segment.' How do you put pen to paper to actually work out the demographics and psychographics of your customers? Floris: I can give you the theory from now up until the moon shines tonight, but I think the answer was in your question, which is analytics. Once you have the data, then you can be a data-driven organisation and you can then adjust based on the data. For example, if the data says that you've got a meat pie that sells more than a cheese pie, you're more likely going to start buying in more stuff for the meat pie and making more meat pies and having them on hand, especially if you've got another data point that says that you've run out of them halfway through the day. A lot of this can happen quite instinctively with a lot of people. Now we're taking an example and we're applying it to a lot more complex processes, but principles are the same. If you have a pie that sells really well and it goes out of stock midday and you still got people coming in asking for it, then you've got a great set of customers that actually know what they want and they like your product but if you run out of it, that means that you haven't forecasted enough of that product. Now you're delivering a very bad customer experience. All of a sudden, you end up having to offer an alternative product, maybe even at a discount just to keep the customers happy and coming back through the door the very next day. Floris: It is about the data. If you have the data and you can see where the data is actually, providing you insights. Information, knowledge and insights are three different things. Information leads to knowledge, and knowledge leads to insight, which is then applied into an action in a business sense. You can translate that into future actions in order to improve. Floris: Data analytics can be very simple. It could be just you sitting there at the end of the day looking at your cash register or your receipts and looking at the number of pies sold and left. That's enough to give you an idea. It doesn't have to be as complex as an ERP system hooked up to a CRM that's tracking your website and all of these things.  Is scarcity a good customer experience strategy? You brought up something that's quite interesting. You said if the pie ran out halfway through the day, it affects the customer's experience. Apple intentionally creates short runs of their products so that there is scarcity in the market. How does creating scarcity affect the customer experience? Is that something that can be good or bad? You have these people then talking more about it. You have this line at the door versus having an empty store. Because you're really good at serving people quickly, they're coming in and out of the store very quickly, but it ends up looking like your store is empty because you're too efficient. Is that a problem that you should be worried about? Floris: It's a complex question and no simple answer can be given here. Let's give it a try and unpack it. If we use Apple as an example, Apple has an enormous level of brand loyalty, right? The level of scarcity only feeds into that brand loyalty because of the marketing around it and the hype that Apple creates around its brand. In this regard, it doesn't really matter whether you are in shortage of stock. You've got such brand loyal customers that even if they have to wait six months to get a phone, they will wait six months to have a phone. They'll walk around with a cracked screen, iPhone 11 or whatever it is, and then try and upgrade to an iPhone 12 because the Apple TV shows how you can take a great picture of your dog. That's brand loyalty for you. Apple does that almost to perfection.  Floris: On the other hand, if you've got a product like a meat pie or a pie store and you run out of pies, it's not going to look very good for you because it looks like you don't know how to run your business and this is a consumer product that's consumed in very high volume. It's a low-value-high-volume sales that if you don't get in our instant gratification culture right now, we're going to go somewhere else and get it. If your competitor has a product that is of equal quality, equal taste, in this case, potentially cheaper, they're more likely going to become your competitor's loyal customer. You would have lost a customer, which is why in the service industry or in the hospitality industry, it becomes very much relational based on relationships. If you can provide a good customer experience by making people feel welcome, making them feel that they are in a store where they are heard, whether they can get what they want and all of these things to actually make them feel good and activate these dopamine levels, they will then keep coming back. Customer Experience Differs  We've got McDonald's, Wendy's, Hungry Jack's, or Burger King if you're not in Australia, and Grill'd, which is a gourmet burger place in Australia. All of them are doing reasonably well for different reasons. McDonald's and Hungry Jack's are very similar, but we've been led to believe the burgers are better at Hungry Jack's through repetitious marketing. Grill'd is a bit more gourmet. But still, the customer experience could be very different for the three different places. In my eyes, I'd say if I were to go to McDonald's, which I don't go to very often, I'd be going there because I need something quickly, not because I need a high-quality item. So the customer experience for me in going to McDonald's is because I want something now—I'm on a road trip going somewhere or in between meetings—and I know that they're consistently quick and that would be why I'd go there. That's also exactly why I wouldn't go to Red rooster because they're consistently slow. On that same vein, I guess people don't go to Grill'd because they're quick; people go there because the quality is better. But the customer experience is around the demographics of the people that are coming there and the reason why they're going there. If you've got a pie shop and you ran out of pies and customers go somewhere else and the pie is better but they are slower, they still may come back to you. Is that fair to say or is there more play here? Floris: Yes, it's absolutely fair to say, which is why earlier I said that it was a complex question with a complex answer because there are multiple factors. If we take it purely on price, then if you've got a competitor with a low-priced pie within the same geographic area, then there's a good chance that they'll go for that one. Floris: But let's say, yes, it's a bit slower but it tastes better, then you're more likely going to want to have that pie because it does taste better than the quicker one. Floris: Yes, it's fast but one of the reasons I don't go to McDonald's is because personally I'll eat a burger and within two hours I'm hungry again. Yes, they've got a great customer experience inside now with the ordering screens as well. You get your number, you pick it up, and then you can sit down. You can do the drive-thru, and you can take it home. But I don't do drive-thru because it stinks inside the car. I don't take it home because it's cold and inedible by the time I get home, in my opinion. If I go to McDonald's, I'm in a rush and I need to get something done right, and I'm more likely going to be doing it in the store. The only other reason I go to McDonald's is the kids love their Happy Meals. What a scam that is. Did you know that McDonald's is the largest toy distributor in the world just because of their Happy Meals? Floris: Forget about value, just purely on volume. That's because they've done some amazing marketing on getting these kids hooked on Happy Meals. Happy Meals and sugar, and they do great. I know a lot of people, including my sister, who love McDonald's. I'd rather eat a hundred other things before McDonald's. Floris: They've catered to the customer, which is the little one that will nag and nag and nag the parents until the parents cave in and say, 'Yes, we'll go to McDonald's.' Very emotional decision. Floris: Absolutely. Not in the sense of I'm going to get something I really want. What I really want is for my kids to stop nagging me. Not to destroy the McDonald's brand, because we can't and that's not the aim of the conversation, but it's the lesser of two evils. I love my kids and I respect them enormously, but still, when they nag, it's unbearable. It Depends on Customer Expectation  Floris: Back to the customer experience. They've created that customer experience. You go in, you get what you get. Floris: They've got their 500 or 700-page manual that every franchise is exactly the same, so your expectations are met in each and every store that you walk into. Each and every McDonald's will give you the exact same thing, and the exact same thing is not that burger in the picture because we all know that's fake. It's consistent in its delivery and its service and in its product. The tastes are the same. They're all sourced locally, they say, but in any case, they are built all to the same standards, and therefore, you will get what you pay for. Floris: And that's the expectation of the customers and they provide that positive experience that, regardless of the taste, you keep coming back to McDonald's, even if you go there every blue moon or something. Floris: On the other hand, Grill'd, you're absolutely right. It's more gourmet. Location-wise, they're more into the CBDs, where you've got a high-net-worth, middle-class people who are willing to pay slightly more than a convenience fast food store. They will sit down. They'll eat it as well. They'll enjoy it. They'll have a conversation. It's much more of a social event. These are the expectations they have and these are the expectations that are met by growth, which is why they're doing fine. Businesses Measure Customer Experience Differently  So it doesn't always have to be the same metrics that you're measuring, as long as you know what they are and why people are coming to you. How do you go about creating that customer experience strategy? How do you go about actually playing through that? We do a lot of work with IT companies to better their processes. We also do a lot of work with schools, governments and small-to-medium businesses, and all their needs are very different and things that are important to them are very different. A lot of the time, small businesses could be more money-conscious. They are only just starting up. They're on an oily rag. They just want to have the smallest thing to get them through to tomorrow to be able to continue working. Generally speaking, a more experienced business will look more towards longer-term goals and have different interests that will then market ourselves around. With pen and paper, how would you go about creating a customer experience strategy? Should you just maybe cancel out all the different things and look at whatever is bringing in the money to your business and focus heavily on that one vertical. What is a customer experience strategy? Floris: Let's go over the definition of strategy. In its simplest form, the word strategy means a roadmap to do A, B, C in order to get you to Objective X. It's nothing more than a roadmap on how to achieve your objective, so you need to know what your objective is. Floris: In order to know what your objective is, you need to understand who you're doing it for so we can go back to the assignments in a golden circle. Why is it that you do what you do? How is it that you do it? What is it that you deliver in order to achieve it? Floris: Let's assume for a second that you know why you do things like in your case, you have an absolute obsessive joy of delivering highly automated and optimised processes for organisations because you want to give people their time back in order for them to be able to scale up but also have a family life. The way you do it is you set up an organisation with like-minded people and you now have a team that will then have the same passion and the same drive as you in order to deliver the service or product to your customers. You do hosting, you do automation, you do processes and all of these things. That's the 'what.' These are your products and services. Floris: But you started off by understanding who it is that you're trying to do it for. You have your objective. Let's say this year I want to have 20 million in turnover. And now the strategy comes into play, which is how you map out going from A to B in order to achieve that objective. Floris: Now you have all the elements in place. Let's go back to the pie store example. You know the customers like these five pies out of the 10 that you've got on your menu, so you're going to focus your production, stock purchases, etc. on these five pies. You still need the other ones because they're about 20% of your business, but you need to focus on 80% right now. Floris: You also know that most of your customers are in or around the CBD area, and they eat around lunchtime. You need to have a location that can actually put you in the most optimal place for these people to actually come to you. Is that an actual store, a fixed store, or is it a van or a food truck? Floris: Once you've answered these questions, you start looking at how are you going to market services? Should you go around all the companies and drop a flyer at the reception area so that people can see when they walk into the building in the morning? Should you do targeted Facebook ads or should you do LinkedIn ads because you're targeting professionals working in CBD? Floris: Pure statistic. There are about 26 million residents in Australia, and 11.6 million of them are on LinkedIn. If you would do LinkedIn targeted ads, which are a bit expensive, but you can actually market your pie to all of these professionals that are looking at their LinkedIn in the morning and getting hungry and then go look for that food truck. Floris: You know what you want to do. You know who you're doing it for. You know why you're doing it. Now you just basically build a roadmap in order to get there, and that could very easily be a pen-and-paper type of strategy where you go like, 'This is the shop or the food truck. I need to be there from 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM. I need to have the meat pies half-cooked by then. And I need 200 of these. 600 of these. 700 of these.' Customer Experience Strategy Doesn't Have to Be Complicated  It's not that hard. It doesn't have to be that difficult. As I was saying at the start, you can have websites looking at the different types of traffic that are coming, the demographics of the people that are coming there and then have your website do all other sorts of stuff to make sure they're on their customer journey. But it doesn't have to be that complicated. Floris: No, that could be your optimisation process afterwards. Once you get the foundations or the basics in place, and they're working. Let's say you now have another food shop that comes next to you and it's selling nachos. All of a sudden, you're competing. How can you start getting an edge? How can you start improving your business so that you can be more efficient in terms of your stock or in terms of your marketing? Focus on the Foundation Floris: We can go back into marketing terms like customer acquisition cost and all of these intricacies that business consultants love to talk about, which is all optimisation. This is all fine tuning. This is all taking the basics that you have in place and just making them slightly better. Floris: If you don't have the right foundations, you're basically just amplifying something that's not good. It's absolutely essential to actually have the foundations in place. Once you have these, then you can optimise and start looking into more details. Floris: Customer experience and marketing are very close to each other, but it's all about testing. You've got the basics in place. If you do this, what would happen? You can do A/B testing.  Floris: Let's say you chose to sell pies in Location A on Wednesday, and you earned $100,000. You went to that same location on Thursday, and you earned $80,000. So you know that it's probably best to be there on one day and choose another location on the other day. It's about taking that data, analysing the data, finding insights out of it, and then applying it to whatever it is that you do. Keep a Record of Everything Make sure you're recording that and keeping that so you can see what the trends were. If there were things that you weren't aware of and you picked up on, that would be very important. Floris: What can be tracked can be managed, and what can be monitored can be managed. If you're not monitoring your income, even the ATO is going to come to you. Floris: The same principle applies to everything else. If you want to be good at what you do, you have to be able to track it, monitor it, and then draw conclusions from it or insights and turn those into business applications. A lot of the time, we try and think that we do A and B happens, but there could be a whole bunch of different things. Like on the Wednesday and $100,000 example, maybe there was a huge conference just around the corner and you had a lot of people that came out. I'm happy to say that in October I'm going to become a dad, so I'm pretty excited. It was interesting. I've been doing a lot of research on how babies communicate, how language works for them and things like that.  Gather Data Until You Get a Pattern One of the cool things that I thought is when they see something or they're introduced to a new object, they don't start saying it until they're confident of that object and what it's called. It's the same as if you're sitting there and there are five different types of exotic fruit, and I just pointed across and said, 'That's a holla baba.' You wouldn't say anything and the baby doesn't, but then if you then saw that same piece of fruit in a completely different example someone said, 'Oh, that's a holla baba.' The baby would be like, 'All right. I now know through the process of elimination that that's what it is.' Floris: I'm not an expert. I'm not a neurologist. I'm not a medical professional in any way, shape or form. What I do know is what you just described there is how kids learn, and I know that from my own two kids. It's pattern recognition. In order to recognise a pattern, you need data. Without the data, you can't really do anything. Floris: If you've picked up that on that Wednesday, you made $100,000 in front of that location or at that location, that same location made $80,000 a week later, and you made $120,000 the week afterwards. It averages out quite nicely, but why were there differences? Is it just a normal everyday life or were there events during that? Observe the data points. Two points make a straight line. With three points, you start getting a bit of a trend or a pattern. Floris: The more data points you have, the more accurate your insight could be. But now that you have them and if you have a curious mind, which every entrepreneur should have, then you can start investigating what was happening at that location or within a kilometre or a two-kilometre range of that location. On that day, was there a museum event? Was there a conference? Was there a street band that was playing really well? Was it good weather? Was it bad weather? Your competitors down the road shut down. Floris: Absolutely right. You can take all of that data. For a large corporation, it's becoming easier to actually take all of these different data points into account because they can throw it into a machine learning algorithm and then something will pop up that says, 'Hey, you've done really well on this day because you had the high exposure for the number of people that were walking on the street.' Floris: But if you were a small organisation, you can do quite a lot of this quite manually and all you need is Google for your searches and YouTube, which is the second-largest search engine in the world, for your how-tos, in case something doesn't jive really well or you need some help with some piece of software or whatever. Ask the Right Questions Floris: All you need is a curious mind. Ask yourself all of the right questions. If you are going down the route of the back questions, it's good to have some sounding boards like either coach or consultant or anyone that you have on retainer for a once-a-month check-in or accountability sessions. Floris: Entrepreneurs sometimes might get a bit slack. They can lose their motivation for a day. It's not easy being an entrepreneur. It's not easy setting up a business. You could lose. It takes a lot of mental energy. If you have a bad day, it could impact your business. If you have employees, that could impact your employees. Having that support structure from a consulting perspective is actually quite helpful, but it's about asking the right questions. Get an Extra Pair of Eyes You've touched on a lot of information here. If anyone is out there and they are looking for a consultant or someone to be able to talk to and make sure that they have the right strategy, they're looking at the right data, possibly not getting distracted by cat videos, make sure they have a level of accountability, they are keeping on track and looking at the right resources, is that something you can help people with? Floris: Absolutely. As a consultant and an entrepreneur myself and as an ex-corporate myself, I have the experience and the passion, if you wish, to help people to get the answers and to help them along their way to achieve the success they want. I'm focused quite a lot on marketing strategy, customer experience and digital transformation. When I say digital transformation, I'm not talking about IT stuff. I come at it from a commercial and business point of view. Floris: Digitisation, digitalisation and digital transformation are three different things. Digitisation is basically analogue to digital. Digitalisation is looking at your value proposition. Digital transformation is when you look at the entire structure of the company—its culture, people, processes and technology in that order. That's where I focus on as well, and that fits quite nicely with marketing strategy. I definitely think that extra eyes can't hurt, and having a set of eyes go over that would help anyone out. We'll get you in to check out our process. I always think that we're doing all right, and then I get on one of these conferences and I go, 'No, we're not okay.' Now, there's lots of it you can be learning. There's Always Be Learning. ABL is something I'm very, very fond of, and hearing from someone else's perspective is always exciting. Floris: A word of caution: never really go down that rabbit hole. There's always that risk. Sometimes what you're doing is actually good enough, right? It's having someone affirm that sometimes that is needed. Bonus: Plan, Plan and Plan I am guilty of being an engineer first, business entrepreneur second, and that means that I have a ready-fire-aim mentality. It's very difficult for me. I'll spend 90% of the time on planning, and 10% on execution. When it's executed, it's fantastic and it always works. Floris: If that's your mantra, that's really good because Albert Einstein said that if he's got an hour to solve the problem, he'll spend 55 minutes on understanding the problem and 5 minutes on actually solving it. Perfect! I hadn't heard that quote actually. That's cool. We're coming very close to the end of the podcast now. I had a couple of quick questions. You might have already answered them, but you brought up Simon Sinek's Know Your Why. I wanted to understand from you what is your favourite book or what is the book that you suggest for some of our listeners to read to further understand customer experience. Suggested Read: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People Floris: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. One of my favourite quotes is you can control what's within your reach, but you can only influence what's not within your reach. That's something that helped me quite a lot in my career as well. Similar to you, I used to go down quite a lot of rabbit holes and I used to want to impact all kinds of things, but I couldn't and I used to build so much frustration in me. I read the Stephen Covey book, and since then I only focus on what I can manage, what I can influence is great. Anything outside of that scope is unfortunately beyond. I have that book. I thought it was in my bag. It must have been in the car at the moment. I'm going through for a second read. It's definitely a fantastic read. I love having you on the show. Is there anything else you'd like to cover? Floris' Tip: Breathe, Think It Through and Move Forward Floris: If you're a budding entrepreneur, if you're starting out, it might feel overwhelming. Focus on your breathing. I tell that to all of my kids and my wife, and I use that technique. When you get overwhelmed, whatever the reason, slow down, breathe, think it through and then move forward. That applies for business, sports, even tests. Focus on not getting overwhelmed. Don't overthink.  The guts sometimes, right? Floris: Yeah. Even now at my age, I'm still learning to listen to my gut. The older I get, the more I want to listen to it and the less I want to use my head because my head sometimes can go off on many tangents. Instinct is one of the crucial factors in business that cannot be monitored or quantified, but it shouldn't be underestimated. I completely agree. I think everyone's played a couple of games of pool after a couple of beers and they all of a sudden become better when they stop thinking about it. Floris: Inhibition levels drop. What is business freedom to you? One last question. The podcast is Business Built Freedom. What is business freedom to you? Floris: Business freedom is another way to actually get life freedom. Being able to secure an income for my family so that I can actually spend time with them. Live to work and not work to live. It's the freedom of actually being able to have that good work-life balance but also have an impact on the life of the people around me. Hopefully, if I'm big enough one day to actually have an impact on people beyond our Australian borders, that would be nice. I love having you on the show, Floris. I hope everyone else has enjoyed the time that we've had together. If you do have any questions, we will have him jump across to the Facebook group to better answer anything you might have there. Otherwise, feel free to jump across to iTunes, leave us some love, give us some feedback and as always, stay good and stay healthy. Floris: Thank you very much for the time and for having me on the show, and thanks to your listeners for listening in.  

text by Ben GrahamThe Florida high-rise apartment building that "pancaked" while residents were sleeping overnight had been reportedly "sinking" for decades, an ominous report released before the disaster claimed.As the search for 99 people who are missing - including a group of Australians - continues, it has also come to light that the tower was "creaking" so loudly in the days before the disaster that it was waking residents up.The 12-storey beachfront building in Miami-Dade County - which was largely reduced to rubble in a sudden collapse on Thursday local time - was built in 1981 and had been sinking into the ground since the 1990s, according to a 2020 study conducted by Shimon Wdowinski, a professor at Florida International University."I looked at it this morning and said, 'Oh my god.' We did detect that," Wdowinski told USA Today on Thursday.His research focused on which parts of Miami were sinking, in an effort to determine what areas could be most impacted by sea-level rise and coastal flooding.His team found that the Champlain Towers South in Surfside had been sinking at a rate of about 2mm a year in the 1990s, the report said."We saw this building had some kind of unusual movement," Wdowinski told the outlet.However, the study focused on flooding hazards, not engineering concerns - and mention of the "12-story condominium" appeared in only one line, USA Today reported."We didn't give it too much importance," Wdowinski said, adding that he didn't believe anybody in the city or state government would have been aware of the study.Wdowinski's research focused on which parts of Miami were sinking, in an effort to determine what areas could be most impacted by sea-level rise and coastal flooding.His team found that the Champlain Towers South in Surfside had been sinking at a rate of about 2mm a year in the 1990s, the report said.Meanwhile, Pablo Rodriguez, whose mother and grandmother are among at least 99 missing, said his mother called him to report "creaking noises" she heard a day before the building collapsed."She just told me she had woken up around 3 or 4 in the morning and had heard like some creaking noises," he told CNN. "They were loud enough to wake her."Kobi Karp, an architect whose firm has worked on prominent Surfside and Miami Beach buildings, told The New York Times that the way the building had collapsed suggested a "possible internal failure."He said the internal failure may have been caused by 'deterioration at the point where a horizontal slab of the building meets a vertical support wall' – which he explained to the outlet could lead one of the building's floors to suddenly fall and take the rest of the building down.Karp said that such a deterioration could have happened either slowly over years or suddenly if the structure of the building was unintentionally damaged.Surfside town officials on Thursday said the high-rise had been undergoing a county-mandated 40-year recertification process, which involves electrical and structural inspections.City Commissioner Eliana Salzhauer told Miami TV station WPLG that the process was believed to be proceeding without issues - and that a building inspector may have been on-site as recently as Wednesday."I want to know why this happened," Salzhauer said. "That's really the only question. … And can it happen again? Are any other of our buildings in town in jeopardy?"Kenneth Direktor, an attorney for the association of residents at the Champlain Towers South condo, said the building had "thorough engineering inspections over the last several months"."What that tells you is…. nothing like this was foreseeable, at least it wasn't seen by the engineers who were looking at the building from a structural perspective," he told CNN. "There was nothing to indicate something like this was going to happen."As questions are asked about the collapse, a search operation is underway to find survivors. At least one person is dead and at least 99 pe...

"We have to shift into a place where we are signalling to yourself, 'I know this is here. I'm going in.' And then you go in. And now that next thing does manifest. It does appear. You have to make that decision energetically, because it's an energetic exchange. You have to be willing to go beyond the energy that you feel is what you receive and what you give and how it works. And you have to go up and out.  I want you to buy yourself that jumpsuit that you're like, 'I would never spend $300 on a jumpsuit.' Watch how you feel when you do. Watch how you feel when you put it on. And you start to go, 'Oh, because this is telling me I'm different. My identity has shifted. My paradigm has shifted. And now I will start to act in accordance with who I tell myself that I am. And I will start to signal that to other people.'"

Finance is an integral part of our lives and plays a key role in each of our life events. While it is true that the way we handle our personal finances has a direct impact on every aspect of our lives, most of us lack the knowledge and skills necessary to manage our finances effectively.   In today's episode of the Expert(ish) Podcast, our guest, Erik Hitzelberger will discuss how an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) can be used to achieve financial freedom in a number of unique ways. He will focus on the topic of Self-directed IRA as a tool for investing in real estate. In addition to property investment, Erik will also share some creative ways of maximizing the potential of an IRA.   His insight about Individual Retirement Account (IRA): There is a limit on how much you can contribute to your IRA, but there's no limit on what you can make.   Erik Hitzelberger is the Founder of the Freedom Property Group (FPG), Kentucky's premiere turn-key rental provider. Knowing that financial literacy is not taught in most academic institutions, Erik has made it his mission to educate people on how to manage their personal finances and achieve financial freedom.   Enjoy!   This episode is brought to you by Vouris –  We're Vouris – we've developed a powerful framework that allows early-stage startup companies to build stronger sales teams and hit their revenue targets.  We call it the 5 Components of Sales Effectiveness: People Process Message Technology & Leadership  Let us tell you exactly what to focus on to dramatically improve your results. We help early-stage startups hit their revenue goals and you are only one click away from more revenue. https://hubs.ly/H0NK23j0   In This Episode 2:27 - Discovering how self-directed Individual Retirement Account (IRA) works   5:09 - How self-directed IRAs can be used to invest in real estate   9:59 - Are properties under an IRA protected?   12:19 - The limitations of self-directing IRAs and how to overcome them   18:12 - A few creative ways to utilize an IRA   25:12 - The challenges associated with self-directing IRAs   30:27 - Why Erik is passionate about educating people on personal finance   Favorite Quotes "Personal finance and managing your money is one of the most important things that you're going to do in life. And yet we're not given any education at any point. People tell you, 'Oh, just blindly dump money into a 401k or whatever. And that's the solution.' And it turns out it's not." - Erik Hitzelberger   "One of the things people don't really know is that you can do most of the same investing that we do outside of our IRA with our traditional money inside of an IRA." - Erik Hitzelberger   "One of the biggest things that you do have to be careful of with a self-directed IRA is there are disqualified entities and these are people that you can't do business with. And it is generally a vertical family tree. You can't do business with yourself, your spouse, your parents, or your children." - Erik Hitzelberger   "Personal finance and managing your money is one of the most important things that you're going to do in life and yet we're not given any education at any point."- Erik Hitzelberger   Get in touch with Erik Hitzelberger Call (502) 921 3989 Email Website LinkedIn   Connect with JAY JOHNSON Call (858) 925- 4536 Website LinkedIn Facebook Instagram  

You're listening to the Westerly Sun's podcast, where we talk about the best local events, new job postings, obituaries, and more. First, a bit of Rhode Island trivia. Today's trivia is brought to you by Perennial. Perennial's new plant-based drink “Daily Gut & Brain” is a blend of easily digestible nutrients crafted for gut and brain health. A convenient mini-meal, Daily Gut & Brain” is available now at the CVS Pharmacy in Wakefield. Now for some trivia. Did you know that Rhode Island native, Elizabeth Buffum Chace, was an American activist in the anti-slavery, women's rights, and prison reform movements of the mid-to-late 19th century. She was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 2002. Her likeness was transformed into a bust to sit in the Rhode Island state house as “the conscience of Rhode Island”. Now for our feature story: Some big changes are expected at Connecticut nursing homes in the coming months. From mandatory two-month supplies of personal protection equipment and full-time infection specialists to the ability for residents to have cameras in their rooms, lawmakers passed multiple bills during the regular legislative session that wrapped up on June 9. The changes attempt to address some of the deficiencies in long-term care facilities, many long-standing, that were exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. They increase mandatory direct care from at least 1.9 hours per resident to three hours, make changes to emergency planning, strengthen the “bill of rights” for residents and set aside additional funding for nursing homes, including for capital improvements and pay increases and bonuses for workers. Once signed into law by Gov. Ned Lamont, many of the provisions are scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2022, or even sooner. “We are thrilled that these long-fought-for reforms, many of which have been part of the conversation pre-pandemic, are now going to become law. Nursing home residents, families and staff have been through so much,” said Nora Duncan, state director of AARP of Connecticut. Nursing homes in the state were hit hard and early by the pandemic. As of June 8, there have been 3,882 COVID-19-associated deaths among nursing home residents — most occurring earlier in the pandemic and before vaccinations became prevalent. In the state's most recent release of data, covering June 2-8, there were five confirmed cases among nursing home residents and one COVID-19-related death. Statewide, there were 8,260 total COVID-19-associated deaths as of Thursday. Rep. Michelle Cook, D-Torrington, has been working on issues such as nursing home staffing levels for years. She said she believes passage of the nursing home camera bill, another long-running proposal at the state Capitol, could be one of the most important proposals to pass. It still awaits Lamont's signature. Cook's father-in-law, a nursing home resident, died from COVID-19. She believes some nursing home residents' deaths can be blamed on the repercussions of COVID-19, such as isolation and not eating enough. “It would have been great for people to be able to see their loved one and say, 'Oh my gosh, they've lost 10 pounds,'" she said. Stonington resident Liz Stern was appointed to the state's Nursing Home and Assisted Living Oversight Working Group after advocating on behalf of her late mother, a former nursing home resident. Stern said she's pleased by many of the changes passed during the legislative session, including the new state budget deal allowing a nursing home resident who receives Medicaid benefits to increase their monthly personal needs account from $60 to $75. But a bill that was supposed to ensure that loved ones designated as essential caregivers are allowed to enter a nursing home at any time — even during a pandemic — gives the facilities too much discretion, Stern said. “When you look at the language, there are a lot of words but there is really no meat in that bill. None,” she said. Stern and other family members of nursing home residents are seeking federal legislation now. “The pandemic has never given us more of a opportunity to build what we want as consumers of services and as taxpayers. So, let's take the opportunity," said Duncan. "There's certainly a need for nursing home beds, but there's a lot of ways to do this better, cheaper and the way people want it.” For more about the coronavirus pandemic and the latest on all things in and around Westerly, head over to westerlysun.com. There are a lot of businesses in our community that are hiring right now, so we're excited to tell you about some new job listings. Today's Job posting comes from Sea Bags in Watch Hill. They're looking for a part-time retail sales associate ideally with 2 years of retail experience and customer service. Pay depends on experience.. If you'd like to learn more or apply, you can do so at the link in our episode description: https://www.indeed.com/l-Westerly,-RI-jobs.html?vjk=2742aded61e027db&advn=8743562717035863 Today we're remembering the life of Peter Richard Crofts, age 57, who passed away recently.. Born in New London, Peter was a lifelong farmer. Pete started raising his own cows while still a teenager. Since 1988, he owned and ran a dairy farm in Deerfield, NY and served with the Mobile Baptist Builders who offer construction services for churches in need. He is survived by his sister, Heather Crofts Dowling; his brother and sister-in-law, Roger and Courtney Crofts; nephews, nieces and cousins. He was predeceased by his sister, Penelope. Thank you for taking a moment today to remember and celebrate Peter's life. That's it for today, we'll be back next time with more! Also, remember to check out our sponsor Perennial, Daily Gut & Brain, available at the CVS on Main St. in Wakefield! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Improving Communication With Marlise van der Merwe  G'day everyone out there. You might be wondering what we're going to be talking about today. Funny enough, it's exactly that: communication.  We're going to be talking about talking and body communication, verbal communication and the right time to communicate, how to communicate in business and why it's important. We've got Marlise van der Merwe from the Alternative Board, and she's going to be talking about exactly that. Get more tips on how to improve your communication at dorksdelivered.com.au Why is communication in business important? Why is communication in business important and how does it vary? Marlise: Communication is a process and you have to consider the message you want to send to your audience as well as the different listening styles because different people communicate differently and they have a preference to be communicated to.  Some people like more details. Some people would like the communication to be slower. They need time to process what you're saying and feel safe and have that comfortable, calm feel around them. Some people prefer to read through things and process the material in that way. There are various options on how you can communicate. The important part of it is to consider the intent of the message. What is it that you want to communicate and why? What are the most common communication challenges, and how can you avoid them? I remember many years ago, I was doing a meeting with a business north of Brisbane and I spoke to them at the rate that I normally talk, which is quite quick, people say you must have 15 coffees before you get here and I don't actually drink coffee at all. That's no caffeine doing this. It's just how I talk. At school, I could get in trouble. I needed to slow down with what I was saying, and it feels like I'm going in slow motion sometimes when I'm talking. But I know that for people to listen, people are only hearing a certain amount of what you're actually saying and a lot of that comes down to the body language in the way that you're talking, eye contact, etc. How do you pick the right audience or how do you know what other people are going to be listening to? Like, if you've got ADHD, a lot of the time, you listen or talk really quickly. Other times, if you might be talking to someone who's a country fellow that likes talking a bit slower but just enjoys the conversation and every single word is meaningful, how do you make sure that the words that you're saying have meaning and you're not just dribbling and that while you're talking, you're using the right style for the person that's listening? Marlise: The general rule of thumb is to use easy language at a general age of 15 years old. If a 15-year-old is listening and he or she understands the message, you can use this type of language to communicate with people. Not everybody knows a specific industry talk, the jargon and abbreviations they use.  When you use those terms, make sure that you also give a proper explanation of what it means and put it in context. When you're going to talk to people, say, at an old age facility or a specific city, you should do a bit of study of who your audience is—what is the general age, what's the culture, what are the language that's spoken, is English the first language, is it younger generation? Do a bit of research around that region: what's the history like, what technology trends are going in there, what type of firms and technology are they used to. Once you've got a bit of a background regarding that, you can then work on how am I going to send a clear message? What is the best medium to reach them? Would it be an email? Would it be going on one-on-one talks? Would it be broadcast media?  Business Communication and Cultural Differences  You've touched on a couple of things, including cultural differences, like if you passed your business card to someone in Japan and you handed it with one hand, it would be seen as very disrespectful. Hold it using both hands when passing a business card. Similarly, in a business meeting, the first few minutes are meant to be friendly banter. You don't just start talking about business straight away. When you came to Australia, how did business communication or communication in general change? Has that been a big shift and change for yourself? How did you fit in or make sure that you were doing the right things? Marlise: I'm from South Africa. In general, South African people are pretty straightforward. They will tell you a spade is a spade.  When I got here, I had to learn Australian English or the terms and things like, 'No worries' and 'Do you want a cuppa?' I thought, 'cup of what?' Getting used to the terminology was quite interesting. It took about a year to adjust but before coming here, I already started to look out for what certain words mean in Australia. For instance, Brisbane's talk is different from the outback. People use different terms and you pick that up when you talk to people.  By being honest and asking, 'What do you mean by that?' helps them to also understand what might be misinterpreted. Australians love to explain or put a story to the meaning of the word. I think in Australia we say 'I blew a thong' and it means you've busted a sandal as opposed to in America mother's would be holding their hands over their child's ears. When I was in Vegas, I said, 'Can I have a jug of beer?' He said, 'What? You want a jug of what? You want to see someone's jugs?' And I said, 'No, no. That's definitely not what I want to see.' I pointed to it and he said, 'Oh, a pitcher of beer.'  What are ways to make communication more effective? Contextually, you need to know what it is that you're talking about and who your audience is. Talking in gigaflops and terahertz to someone who is not in the know isn't going to make you look smarter. It's going to make them feel stupid. And that's not necessary. Marlise: Imagine the confusion. A lot of the business communication stuff comes down to not just talking but also the way your marketing is felt. You might talk about marketing in a way that's not recognised by the people. Use Terms That People Will Understand  If you're writing about features and benefits or specifications of something, some of the readers might not know why that's important to them. You might be writing it fully as a really passionate business owner, but a lot of the time, you're not your customer. That means that they're not necessarily understanding what you're writing, so they're not going to call you up. Ask for Feedback Effective business communication is very important. How do you know if you've got good communication or you don't? How do you benchmark yourself or how do you do that? Marlise: Get trusted resources. If you know someone that's got a bit of a background, such as culture, or if you can approach someone that can give you a bit more context, go and look up a few people. There's usually someone in your circle. There's always someone that might know someone that you can reach out to and bounce your ideas with. I would say go to an expert in a specific field. If it's communication and you've got a specific message you would like to say to Western Australia, talk to a contact over there and you could be introduced to someone in the marketing space that's been operating there for a few years and that might know the demographics of that area. It's always good to test your message with someone to just get a bit of feedback into the message you want to send and they will give you some input into that. If you've got an important message to share with someone, check it with various people. Check with someone from the Asian culture. Check with someone with South African culture because Australia is so diverse. I read something the other day that the original Australians were like third and fourth generation. There is always be that you could reach out to, and remember to study your target audience. If you're going to do business marketing and you consider doing a radio advert, talk to the radio owners and ask them what your demographics are like. What's your reach and who are your listeners because they know the market quite well. You don't want to talk to the audience in the 45-65 age group in a young language. Utilise Your Target Audience's Platform  Do a bit of research on the platform that you want to join. If you're going to talk to teenagers, you might consider talking to them through Snapchat or the newest one that they're talking about: TikTok. Who would have known that Facebook is actually used more by the older generation, like 45 to 65.  It depends on who you would want to reach. Consider their platform and the type of users. Some people don't want too many words, and you have to send the same message in different ways. Some people would like to have a bit more explanation of your intent in a certain way. If people want to know a bit more detail, then prepare a message in that regard. If people prefer a short message, do so but with the purpose. Bring that across like in a picture and you will publish that in different areas. I'm going to think of a scenario here and you tell me if I'm right or wrong or if I've missed the mark. Let's say I run a sandwich shop. You could say that everyone's your customer because everyone eats sandwiches, but if you were to advertise your sandwiches on Instagram, you'd be wanting to have a really nice photo that's going to be relaying the message and getting people's mouths watering. They'll be seeing the crisp lettuce and the steam coming off of it and things like that. If you were to advertise on Facebook, you could still use a similar photo. But because the audience is more likely to be parents, you might be talking more about the nutritional value of it as opposed to just quickly grabbing a sandwich on your way to work. If you were to advertise exactly the same sandwich on LinkedIn, you might be talking about big platters and the cost-effectiveness of how this would work and how quickly they can deliver and cater for businesses. If you talk about catering for businesses on Instagram, no one is going to pick up on that. Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn have their own purpose. Does that pretty much sum up how you'd want to make sure that you're adjusting your message accordingly? Marlise: Yes, that's right. Good example. You know that McDonald's advert? I think it is 'Shut up and take my money.'  We went to a marketing company a couple of years ago and they looked at our marketing stuff and they said some of the stuff we got there were a bit offensive. I said, 'Really?' He said, 'Yes, it is. Your email signature has "Leave us a Google review for a free six-pack" and a six-pack relates to alcohol, which means you're completely missing the whole Muslim community who are very much against alcohol.' I thought about it for a while and thought that's cool, except we just don't happen to have many Muslims that are working with us. So we kept it even though it's grossly offensive. I guess it's about knowing your audience and you can't be friends with everyone. There are too many different ways that people might misinterpret what you're saying, and that comes down to how to know who your clients are and the advertising platforms that you might be using. Communicate to Understand and Be Understood  Even if you were stepping away from marketing and business communication, like knowing your family and knowing your business. You see all the time in shopping centres, a child throws himself on the floor, 'I want that lolly.' And then the mother's yelling or the father's yelling, 'No, you're not going to get the lolly now. Get up.' If you have a look, the child is communicating exactly the same way as the parent—yelling—as opposed to effective communication. How do you make sure that you have effective communication? Marlise: I would say upskilling on one-on-one communication is really important, especially if you're in a leadership position. If you want to be better at communicating, you would have picked up body cues, like yawning or they just want to interrupt you the whole time. If someone interrupts you the whole time, it is like, 'You're oversharing information with me.' Those types of things will give you an indication, especially in your family members and close relatives. Sometimes they are brutally honest and they will tell you if you've got to speed up what you're saying or they don't get what you're saying. Practise with them and ask for feedback. There are organisations that can help you work on effective communication and they generate more awareness of the different types of communication with people. How would you communicate with someone who has a specific disability? What if a person can't really observe what you're doing with your hands? You've got to consider that context as well so that your message comes across properly. That also makes the medium that you're going to use. I love that nowadays, when you look at the news, they've got an interpreter for people who are deaf. They can see and do sign language. Did you know that there are various languages in sign language? I never knew that. I found out by speaking to experts in that field. If you have a hearing disability, you must consider that you've got to know maybe more than one dialect. That's so interesting. Listen Twice as Much as You Speak I've been taught you have two ears and one mouth and use them in that ratio—listen twice as much as you speak. Many years ago, I was working at a shop called Jaycar Electronics and I was one of their highest skilled audio engineers. I've gone to university to study it all. I was selling speakers for certain applications to people that really needed them. I wanted to do really cool stuff, maybe on a budget. I was able to say, 'Can you hear the difference between this and this one?' I was a salesperson, a sales assistant, and I was able to say this is why this one is better and that's why you want to spend the money on this one instead of this one. Someone came in and he's deaf and he was looking to buy speakers for his son. When he came in, it nearly made me cry because he just completely entrusted everything on what you had to say. I helped him out, but it definitely gave me that you don't know when you're doing something wrong or you might take it for granted that you might be saying things wrong or you might be being rude to people and not even know, which is obviously very different to being deaf.  I guess I was effective at communicating the product, even to someone that was not necessarily able to hear the same way as me. How can communication be improved in business? If you're yelling at your kids at home, does that mean you're bad at communication at work? Are there ways to know that you've done one thing wrong or there are things that need to be adjusted? Where would you go to make sure that you're improving on yourself?  Establish a Safe Environment  Marlise: Usually, when you look at your business processes and company's performance and a specific department or certain areas that are not doing as good as they should but some areas are great, you're expecting more from that specific area. About 90% of the time, it is because you are not having a crucial conversation with someone even if you have all the processes documented. Making sure people are doing what they are supposed to be doing by having that crucial conversation has a big impact on your legal and financial environment. For instance, when you're having a crucial conversation with someone, he or she will not be honest if the emotional environment is perceived to be not safe. So how do you create a safe environment? Make sure that they understand that all emotions are accepted. Sometimes when you say something, it might come across as being dictative or aggressive. They say there are two cues when people perceive it's not a safe environment. It's either silence, that is, people don't say what they want to say because they don't feel emotionally safe, or the conversation becomes aggressive. That's when they become intimidating and start shouting. Find the balance to create that safe environment to speak with people.  Understand Nonverbal Cues We talked about body language earlier. When people talk to you but don't make eye contact with you, there are various reasons why they wouldn't do that. Figure out which is applicable. You can say, 'If this discussion is too much detailed for you, how can I communicate more effectively with you? What works for you?  You should know your team. If you're in a leadership position, know what motivates your team. There are various tools that you can use to figure that out, the DiSC Profile method is easy to use. You can get an expert to coach your team and help you with general cues. An interesting thing I've heard is dealers know when a poker player has got a good deal just by looking at their facial expression.  Have you heard of Paul Ekman? He's got a book called Emotions Revealed that reviewed hundreds of different court cases where people have sworn an oath that they're not going to lie. He looked at these microexpressions as they're answering questions. He's also known as the human lie detector and inspired the TV show called Lie to Me. His books have been used in a lot of police academies to teach police how to pick up if there's someone who's lying or not telling what they meant to be saying. I've read some of his books, and it's amazing. As you said in poker, your facial expression can potentially be the giveaway of thousands of dollars if you've done it wrong. Marlise: Listen to cues. Cues like 'uh-huh' that means they are listening to you. When they're silent and sitting with their arms or legs crossed, they are not engaging with whatever you're saying. Adjust your message a bit and use communication tools to make things a bit more interesting. Practice, Practice, Practice  It takes practise. The more you do it, the better you get at it. Practise and talk to your family and even strangers and see how that works for you. Join networks. Have you heard about Lunchclub? It's a networking platform for practising your communication skills, but it's like a networking setup where you get to meet people. They facilitate the introduction, and I use that to meet interesting people. There are various reasons why people do that. It could be to be in contact with people that advance your business in a different area or a country, for instance. They match those needs with other people's similar.  The conversations I've had with those people are very interesting. For me, I've got to practise my communication skills and I've used different platforms to practise my skill set. For instance, I've joined Toastmasters, and I found that it's a really good platform. I go to various networking events and I listen to what people say and I try to repeat what I heard.  Asking for complex response questions and then say, 'Does that make sense?' The answer is very close, yes or no. Most of the time, people are going to say yes to that, especially if they're not engaged.  Marlise: In business, something that will indicate that your communication isn't effective is productivity levels go down. It could be ineffective communication and leadership, people not holding people accountable for what's happening in that space. They're not having those conversations they're supposed to be having or maybe they're having those conversations but it's not effective. It doesn't come through or across to the individuals. It's very important to have those good communication skills developed. Marlise: It is also very important to learn and figure out all of the skills that each individual needs to function. You wouldn't employ someone with English as their third language to do safety work, where safety is a high risk. If you have something slightly misinterpreted, it could affect people's lives.  Marlise: Communication skills should be tied to your positions. Your position, skills and skill levels should be part of that. On the softer skills side of understanding the way people talk, they should have empathy. Those are the types of skills you can develop over time. But if it's a crucial role or position, you would rather employ someone that fits that profile.  Determine What Motivates Your Employees People also have different motivational methods. What motivates Joshua and what motivates Marlise might be totally different. I like to learn new things and have different experiences, but maybe you like to have a journey through life and experiment with things and feel safe in that area to do so and then give feedback.  Use what motivates people when communicating with them. If I'm going to talk to my daughter about something that she's done wrong, I won't be shouting. With my son, I have to make him realise the consequences of whatever he's going to do, like 'That's not a good idea because you're going to lose this and this.'  It's about knowing the audience, understanding what motivates them, and adjusting the message. I know that some of the staff members at Dorks Delivered will be very passionate about telling me every single reason why they've done every single thing they've done, while others don't want to be mucking around, wasting anyone's time talking about things that need to be told. Some people really want to have that appreciation and be known. It all comes down to knowing who you're talking with and vice versa. It's not just about having the business owner having good communication. It's a whole team approach. Join the Alternative Board If there are people out there that are looking to gain more information or more knowledge, tell me a little bit about the Alternative Board and what you do with them. Marlise: At the Alternative Board, we gather small business owners and medium-sized business owners with similar complexity and in similar stages of their business around a table for a safe, secure environment. The type of people that are there are not just open to receive input but also open to give input into someone else's challenges. We use those boards to have a more affordable option for people to talk about business and solve challenges using the room's expertise.  It's similar to a board of directors in public companies. It has the same structure. Each one gets a chance to present a challenge and then a round of questions goes to understand the challenge a bit more and make sure that the goals are addressed.  And then they go into suggestion mode and then the person presenting takes suggestions and makes commitments according to the business and what he's willing to do, and then gives feedback in the next meeting. That happens on a monthly basis.  They form a trusted environment because they meet with the same people every month and they get to know each other's environment. When they've got an idea, they would bounce the ideas and the way they want to talk with people inside that group. That's really the key to solving challenges and helping each other out and becoming trusted advisers in that regard.  We also do one-on-one business coaching in terms of forming a strategic plan and then having goals in place to reach that specific personal vision of the owner. As you progress, you take those challenges and opportunities to your board. Sometimes it's really lonely for some people. I met someone who told me that his wife just wants to spend his money but doesn't want to know the challenges at work. He enjoyed joining the board. Other people from different walks of life join the board to prepare the next generation and someday distance themselves from the business. They want to prepare their team for different roles and responsibilities. Through the Alternative Board, you can meet very interesting people and become good friends. I've been in business for more than a decade, and sometimes you really feel very lonely over the years. You think you can't talk to your client about that because that might look like a weakness. You might not be wanting to talk to your partner, as you said, either because they have no interest or it's not their cup of tea.  Having a sound board or an alternative board to talk about this sort of things is really handy because you can really dive into business problems and talk to people. How much money are you making? How many hours should I be working? Am I working too much? Am I not working enough? Am I getting to where I should be for the many years that I've been in business? Marlise: How do I employ someone? How do I write the job description? What should I be looking for? Do you know someone that can help me with this? There are a lot of scary things for a lot of business owners, and that's cool. I like it. Do you have anything else you'd like to add before we finish up for today? Marlise: The only thing I would like to add is when you have conversations, consider the relationship you have with that person. When you have a good relationship with someone, you want to keep that relationship and you would use different communication styles that suit that relationship.  I 100% agree. You've got kids. Are you aware of the Captain Underpants books? Marlise: Oh, yes. I was only just introduced to the rally a couple of weeks ago, so I'm definitely late to the party. Talking to your kids about fart jokes might be appropriate, but not necessarily talking to a new business contact. They might not necessarily think it's very funny. Just make sure you're doing what you need to be doing, where you're meant to be doing it and being present. If you have enjoyed this podcast, make sure to jump across to iTunes, leave us some love, and give us some feedback. If you have any questions for Marlise, we're going to have her join our Facebook group so you can jump onto the group. If you have any questions, I'm sure she'd be more than happy to help you out. Well, thank you very much for coming along. Everyone out there in podcast land, stay good.

Afraid to show up online or put yourself out there? Learn from a real coaching session how to move past the fear of judgment and how self-love can help build confidence. How many times have you let your fears of what others *might be* thinking hold you back in your life or business? Maybe you've played it small when you show up for your audience. Perhaps the fears have prevented you from putting yourself out there at all. We both know our desires are meant for us, right? So, it's imperative to move through any fears, doubts, and guilt that are keeping you from making the impact you desire (and others need). Follow along as I coach one of my clients, Jennie, through the fears keeping her from leveling up in her business. I know her fears and pain points are shared by many. So, as you listen, think about how you can apply this coaching session to your own fears around showing up. The truth is, a lot of this fear stems from our negative thoughts about ourselves. While you may fear receiving negative feedback, our biggest fear is that people will see us the way we see ourselves. (Including all of our flaws and insecurities.) That's why I offer tips for ways to remind yourself of what it is you are capable of. (Trust me. It's usually far more than we give ourselves credit for.) While it's far easier to place the blame on others for holding us back, we have to recognize the role we play in these roadblocks as well. While this episode serves as a reminder of all you can do, it also reminds you to be patient with yourself throughout the process. Mastery doesn't happen overnight. I share a few strategies that can help you practice this patience and gain confidence along the way. As I explain to Jennie, it's not about doing it perfectly but about continuing to show up. During this coaching session, I share an important reminder. While we're so worried about others judging us, we too are often guilty of judging others. Follow along as I walk Jennie through a practice that you can use to shift your mindset when you find yourself judging others. I explain how you can start to move through that fear by instead practicing gratitude and focusing on inspiration. It can totally shift your mindset, elevate your potential, and remove you from a cycle of self-doubt. In fact, this episode is filled with ideas and strategies you can implement in your daily routines to build self-validation. Being reliant on external validation is a slippery slope, giving far too much power to other people. Instead of allowing others to tear you down, focus on self-validation to build yourself up. If you, like Jennie, feel wrong for self-love or self-indulgence, let this episode remind you of why it's actually needed to move forward toward your dreams. As you listen to Jennie discovering what she could do to show herself more love, think about how you could offer yourself more love too. The truth is, self-love is a requirement for your success. You need it to achieve the level of impact you are craving and the vision you dream of. This episode is a perfect reminder of that, offering tips to help you move past your fears and embrace your desires. So, if you're ready to let go of judgment and step into self-love, let's dive into this episode. In this episode… [03:47] Welcome, Jennie! We dive into her fear of judgment. [06:09] What to do when you feel you don't have the credibility or authority you need. [08:05] Moving past negative comments and feedback. [11:37] Getting yourself to a place of confidence. [13:36] Preparing for success when showing up and putting yourself out there. [17:35] The truth? It's not about other people. [18:52] Why you should stop judging others (and what to do instead). [21:42] Daily practices for self-validation. [25:00] Why you need to stop feeling guilty for self-indulgence. [32:00] The importance of finding daily routines to set the tone for your mindset and actions. Quotes: “When we put ourselves out there, the fear is that people are going to see us the way that we see ourselves. Our biggest insecurities are going to be magnetized because other people are going to see, 'Oh, she doesn't have it together. She can't do it. This is a waste of time.' So your only job right now, in order to move through this, is to be your biggest cheerleader for yourself.” -Emily Williams “It's like selling a house. I don't need to sell that house to hundreds of people. I just need it to resonate with one person who's then going to invest in it and in buying it.” -Jennie Parker “If you're looking for external validation, then that means the moment someone says something negative about you, it's going to take you down. Your job is learning how to stand on your own two feet, regardless of people saying good things or bad things because the truth is any negative thought is actually about the person saying it.” -Emily Williams “There's a way to be grateful but still desire more and to put yourself first. There's a way to take care of [others] but to still put yourself first. There's a way to want to have a thriving coaching business and make a lot of money and still be grateful for the present moment. You're allowed to have both.” -Emily Williams “If you're not giving to yourself, you're not going to be able to help anyone [else]. You're not going to be able to have energy in your career and business. It's not going to work. So, it's a requirement for [your success] to give to yourself first.” -Emily Williams Links & Resources: Stay up to date with the latest episodes: Follow the I Heart My Life Show on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i-heart-my-life-show/id1569047758 Subscribe to the I Heart My Life Show on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/1Zw6fI37FrfVjZMXlMiZZ6 Connect with Emily: I Heart My Life Website https://www.iheartmylife.com/ I Heart My Life on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/iheartmylife/ I Heart My Life on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/iheartmylifenow I Heart My Life on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/i-heart-my-life/ https://www.iheartmylife.com/join Join the IHML community to receive exclusive announcements and tips. Email: info@iheartmylife.com mailto:info@iheartmylife.com Book a Call http://www.iheartmylifebooking.com/ Episode Sponsor: I Heart My Life Mastermind https://www.iheartmylife.com/mastermind

This is a great, light-hearted way to profile people.  And Stephen always tells it so well it feels like it should be in a book. Rhinos and Cattle - One is not good, and one is not bad.  None of us are all one or the other – it's a spectrum that can help us to understand ourselves and those around us – it can help to improve how we work with others. Short description below - and scroll down for the first 10 minutes of the transcript. Loads more from Stephen on www.coachpro.online Full transcript available on www.rhinoconsulting.nl/podcast Any thoughts or suggestions - let us know at podcast@coachpro.online The story is a little playful – you hear it and you immediately start putting yourself into one of the 2 camps – and then you start looking around you and doing the same.  Your whole family and team are suddenly full of horns and black spots. The spectrum so colourfully described is also a useful way to characterise yourself and those around you – by labelling you and others you can start to manage the relationships around you better – you to them, and them to you.  There are many other charts that allow you to profile people – but this one I found to be useful.  There are others too. The second part is the learning to appreciate that a balance is needed.  Without a team that can covers all skills and viewpoints you will be weaker. By acknowledging the different type of animals around you, there is now an understanding that you should manage the different personalities better. In the future you can use this knowledge to build an optimum team. This move from “seeing the differences and denying them” - to toleration – to appreciating them - to actively seeking out complementary skills - is a valuable skill to learn and consciously employ. Lastly, it's an important learning that can be applied to other spectrum and differences.  Gender, age, cognitive models, backgrounds, roles… there is a huge and important movement to diversity and inclusion.  It's important that everyone understands and appreciates that Those that are different are not be tolerated. They are to be appreciated and valued.  They are strengthening your team and improving results if you embrace the perspective they can offer. Those that are different- you were brought in to be different. Fitting in is a common and normal habit – it makes sense.  Find a way to fit in by being you. Keep your unique perspective. Be authentic – that's the real value. Transcript (AI generated so forgive the typos) Warren Hammond  02:13 Today, as always, interesting topic, the Rhino and Cattle model. Now, I'm going to be working really hard not to say too much in this because this is a story I have abused and abused so many times, Stephen, that it's going to be good to get it from the horse's mouth so to speak. So let's get into it. The Rhino and Cattle model? What is it?   Stephen Gribben  02:40 In essence, what it is is a Profiling framework. It'll help you to see yourself and understand others more as a process so that you can authentically connect, engage, understand and appreciate both yourself and others intelligently, rather than just see yourself or others through an emotional prism.   Warren Hammond  03:03 So I just thought it was a nice wildlife story, but already you've come up with lots and lots of four syllable words. So it's a profiling framework. So how I think about it, and you tell me which bits are right and which bits are nearly right, let's put it that way, this is a way of looking at yourself, looking at other people, and helping you to see the differences between them without it being good or bad.   Stephen Gribben  03:31 Yes it's to understand those differences, and accept those differences. Appreciate those differences, be okay with those differences and value them and expect them as opposed to seeing them and judging them on the basis of whether you like them or not, or whether you agree with them or not. So that it gets beyond either asking people to be more like you, or feeling the pressure for you to have to be more like them.   Warren Hammond  04:00 And you use the word already 'intelligent'. We talk a lot about when you're thinking intelligently it is more complex and nuanced versus emotionally which tends to be binary, black and white, good or bad, hero or zero. This is part of that. Intelligently looking at somebody and seeing the many different shades of of skills in them. They're not good or bad. They are just different. Unique.   Stephen Gribben  04:28 Yeah, if you're going to have relationships and you're going to be of influence then you first have to connect. So you need to know where people are to be able to connect.  What this allows you to do, even with this profiling we're going to use the caricatures of a rhinoceros and cattle. This isn't, then, to label people as either being Rhino or Cattle. But to understand if they are more Rhino or more Cattle, so that we can define more intelligently where they are, as we did with Trust before.  There's emotional trust, which is 100% or 0%, the 99 boxes in-between is where intelligent trust sits. Well, when we're profiling people, in terms of their characteristics, this is an objective process to see where they are on a scale, as opposed to just putting them in a box.   Warren Hammond  05:22 This makes sense. We think about workplaces at the moment, we've got so many different generations, and then there's  ages, there's genders, there's so many different spectrum at the moment in play, I can see that this is going to be useful for that. So firstly, internally, why is this important in terms of my own self development?   Stephen Gribben  05:48 In terms of your own self development, and the four pillars of that are your Self awareness, Self confidence, Self management, Self determination. Having a greater self awareness of where you are on the spectrum, from know the extreme Cattle to the extreme Rhino, where you are helps you become more self aware of where you are, what's important to you, what works for you, what matters to you, how you see the world, it reinforces that self awareness. It then also supports that self confidence that if you're more Rhino, it's okay, and it's pretty cool to be a Rhino, and if you're more Cattle, it's okay and pretty cool to be Cattle. So it's having that Self-Confidence that I know who I am, I know what I'm about, I'm okay with that.   Warren Hammond  06:37 So that profiling, that naming you talked about before, is when you name something, it's easier to manage it. Using these profiles of Rhino and Cattle help you to name and identify and acknowledge certain characteristics about yourself. And as you said, once you become aware of it, be absolutely fine about it, then, okay.   Stephen Gribben  06:56 Yeah, because it helps you get beyond the 'is that a good thing or a bad thing? Is that a strength or weakness, is it right or wrong? It's an objective Profiling. So you can see it is what it is, and that's okay. And if you've got that self awareness, of what you are and you're confident then of what you are more of, then you can move on to that self management. Which is managing then how you communicate with yourself, how you connect with yourself, how you position things with yourself, to your natural strengths, and tendencies. And then the last element is about self determination. You're then more empowered, more in control of being able to say 'what do I want to be? What is my full potential? What do I want to develop? Being successful by being you. Now knowing and understanding more about who you are on that profile allows you then to determine what success would look like for you, what happiness would look like for you, what health and fulfilment would look like for you, and being able to determine that rather than wait to hear what others think is best for you.   Warren Hammond  08:06 So in this one, we're talking rhinos and cattles, it doesn't matter where you are on it. But once you understand which you are, you can then use that to your advantage to determine what's going to happen next. You don't have to pretend to be something else, this is who you are. And that's enough. And that's good enough already.   Stephen Gribben  08:27 Yeah. And as I say, it takes you beyond the labelling of good or bad, right or wrong, strong or weak. It's just an objective, this is where you fit. In your opinion, this is where you fit and therefore, let's start from there, rather than the where am I not, who am I not, looking at the gaps all the time. It is building upon what's there. And then you take that externally to others, So if the self development is your piece in it, the external benefit of this is then it helps you build stronger relationships, authentic, genuine, sincere relationships, you being you, and them being them. It also allows you to connect. You don't have to be the same to connect. It's not about having something in common. It's about creating a connection. And therefore with that connection, you can be far more influential, you can add more value, you can make more of a difference. And the difference is it's of value to that other person. Because you have that connection. You will also have greater harmony through this, and importantly, less conflict. Because you're not forcing your way of looking at the world onto someone else who sees it differently. You will understand and expect they're going to see this differently and therefore they're going to respond to this differently. And so you can anticipate that more.   Warren Hammond  09:48 So by looking at their qualities you see they're different. You don't judge it as good or bad. You just understand it's different and knowing it's different, you know that there will be a different response. a different reaction, a better way of talking to them. And therefore, that's that, as you talk about many times, that connection is you can't influence from afar, you can't build trust from afar, you have to have that connection. So this enables you.  This is one of the basic building blocks then. This helps you get a connection with people who may be the same as you, or maybe different, but you're looking at it more clearly. Okay.   Stephen Gribben  10:30 And it helps you go beyond that tolerating people who are different than you. This helps you build credible value and appreciation for what they bring, rather than always comparing it to what you would rather they brought or what you're bringing, and therefore, that moves on to tolerance. This makes it into value and appreciation. It also helps with your communication. Because you can speak their language, you can position things in a way where they can connect and understand it better. And also, what you can do is request and advise on how best to communicate to you. This is this stuff that works for me, this is the way I'll respond best. So that you can then set clear expectations - both in the giving of expectation, and what to expect in return, which wraps up into that intelligent trust. Rather than thinking I can trust someone or I can't, you'll be able to clarify and identify specifically, what exactly can I trust. So that you can make more conscious decisions. Rather than feeling 'I should be able to, so I'm just going to', but actually, you make more conscious decisions. Wrapping all that up, you may not be happy. And therefore you might be disappointed. But it will be accurate disappointment. You might be disappointed that a Rhino is not going to respond the way you would prefer them to do if they were cattle, and vice versa. But it will be accurate disappointment, rather than the inaccurate optimism 'that I like this, therefore you should' or that inaccurate pessimism 'that you will never respond well to this but I'm going to still keep putting it to you in this way'.   Warren Hammond  12:19 There's a lot there. I like this idea that, first of all, that conflict can move to a tolerance when you've acknowledged their skills, to actually appreciating and valuing people. And that's a journey that I've gone on, but maybe not as consciously and intelligently, as you're suggesting can be done. I mean, I think we've all had those people who we just didn't understand. And then we start to think 'Oh, actually, I can see the job they do' to actually appreciating the massive value that they can bring to a team or to your life. Okay, I love that idea of being able to say to people, this is how to deal with me. I think you know, if you could have a manual around your neck, that people realise how best to get the best out of you, that would have saved me loads of hassle in the past. Yeah, okay. This is good. This is massive, this is important, it feels that this is one of our key building blocks. And this genuine connection with people, with yourself and with other people, this is going to help massively with that.   Stephen Gribben  13:32 I've used this for many, many years with people and it's almost become shorthand with some of those people will just say either Rhino or Cattle and we both know what they mean. There is a value and importance in this and there's fun involved. And this allows you to take a little bit of the intensity out of it, and allow yourself just to observe and see it through a humorous aspect. And caricature, which takes a little bit of the heat out of it, to be able to just look at it as a process. And to characterise people in two fantastic animals of Rhino and Cattle, but to see them on that basis allows you to look at it more objectively in a more relaxed and informal way. And as long as you do without judgement, then there's great clarity to be gained from it.

Do you feel like you're nowhere near your goals? Do you want something so badly but think that it's impossible to achieve? Having goals in life gives us a sense of purpose. Whether they're for our career or relationships, goals push us to give our best. However, we sometimes set too many goals and find ourselves stuck. We can also feel discouraged from pursuing our dreams because we subject ourselves to other people’s standards. But while our plans may sometimes seem impossible, we have everything we need. If you can stay determined and learn how to prioritise, we can have our breakthrough. In this episode, Dr John Demartini joins us to talk about living your best life by structuring it. Learn how to prioritise and you can achieve anything. He shares the philosophy of the Breakthrough Experience, which has miraculously helped thousands of people reach their goals. John also discusses how to make decisions based on priorities, not emotions and instincts. If you want to learn how to prioritise and stick to your top priorities, then this episode is for you.   Get Customised Guidance for Your Genetic Make-Up For our epigenetics health program all about optimising your fitness, lifestyle, nutrition and mind performance to your particular genes, go to  https://www.lisatamati.com/page/epigenetics-and-health-coaching/.   Customised Online Coaching for Runners CUSTOMISED RUN COACHING PLANS — How to Run Faster, Be Stronger, Run Longer  Without Burnout & Injuries Have you struggled to fit in training in your busy life? Maybe you don't know where to start, or perhaps you have done a few races but keep having motivation or injury troubles? Do you want to beat last year’s time or finish at the front of the pack? 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Manufactured in an ISO9001 certified facility Boost Your NAD+ Levels — Healthy Ageing: Redefined Cellular Health Energy & Focus Bone Density Skin Elasticity DNA Repair Cardiovascular Health Brain Health  Metabolic Health   My  ‘Fierce’ Sports Jewellery Collection For my gorgeous and inspiring sports jewellery collection ‘Fierce’, go to https://shop.lisatamati.com/collections/lisa-tamati-bespoke-jewellery-collection.   Here are three reasons why you should listen to the full episode: Learn about the Breakthrough Experience and how it has changed thousands of lives. Discover how to prioritise and determine your top priorities. John shares his secret to retaining Information in the quickest way possible.   Episode Highlights [05:00] About John Dr John is an educator, researcher and writer. He has spent over 48 years helping people maximise their potential. John wanted to know what allows people to do extraordinary things. That's why he distilled information from great minds throughout history. He made them into practical things that people today can use.  John had speech and learning challenges as a kid. At a doctor’s recommendation, his parents took him out of school and put him into sports. After having a near-death experience at 17, Paul Bragg inspired John to overcome his learning problems. With the help of his mom, he eventually learned how to read.  Listen to the full episode to learn more about John's inspiring story! [15:42] How Surfing Changed John’s Mindset Surfing has taught John that people are not going to excel without perseverance and commitment.  John converted his determination for surfing into persistence in reading.  [17:57] The Breakthrough Experience The Breakthrough Experience is a philosophy and program changing lives globally.  This system teaches you how to prioritise and structures life by priority. It breaks through limitations and helps achieve life goals.  John teaches people to use any experience, even challenges. These are catalysts for transformation and progress.  John has helped people learn how to prioritise to get their breakthrough experience in different areas of life. These include businesses, careers, health, relationships, among others. Lisa relates the Breakthrough Experience philosophy to when her mom had a severe aneurysm. [24:14] John Shares a Miraculous Experience At 27 years old, John handled a family with a son in a three-year coma. The family went to different hospitals in Mexico and the United States. However, they found none to help their son. They then went to John, and he thought of a maneuver to help the child. However, the treatment also came with significant risk. Listen to the full episode to find out how John helped a child get out of a three-year coma. [33:34] Jesse Billauer’s Breakthrough Experience Jesse Billauer, a surfer, decided to go to the Breakthrough Experience after a surfing accident.  At the time, he was depressed because he was physically unable to surf.  After the Breakthrough Experience, he learned how to prioritise and what his top priority was. Jesse became determined not to let anything stop him from surfing. Jesse developed a way to surf as a quadriplegic person. He taught others how to do the same.  [38:58] Herd Mentality in the Sciences New ideas are violently opposed and ridiculed. That's why people fear going against the norm. People who aim to survive follow the multitude. People who want to thrive create a new paradigm.  Each person can excel at anything if they focus on that, not on others' opinions.  [41:37] How to Prioritise John made a list of every single thing he does in a day over three months. He then placed multiple columns next to that list. The first column contains how much money each task produces per hour. The second column contains how much a job inspires him on a scale of 1-10. He also considered the cost and the time spent on each activity.  After doing that, he prioritised the activities that made thousands of dollars. He also focused on ones that scored ten on the inspiration scale.   John hired people for the low-priority tasks. This choice allowed him to be more productive in his top priorities. Within 18 months, his business increased tenfold. Listen to the full episode to learn how to prioritise and about investing in your top priority.  [56:19] How John Stays Looking Young John is almost 67 years old. However, Lisa describes him as someone who looks like a teenager. John doesn't eat junk. He drinks a lot of water, has never had coffee in his life and hasn't had alcohol in over 48 years. Doing what you love every day also slows down the aging process.  [58:03] Some Lessons from the Breakthrough Experience Nothing is missing in you. When you compare yourself to others, you'll try to live by their values or get them to live by yours. Both of these are futile.  Sticking to your values and priorities is key to resilience and success. People are different from each other, but no one is better than the other.  If you don't empower your own life, others will overpower you.   Your mission is something that you're willing to get through any means necessary. [1:06:38] How to Get Your Amygdala Under Control The amygdala is associated with emotions and the "fight-or-flight" response. Because we have neuroplasticity, we can remodel our internal system.  Perceiving challenges and feeling shame and guilt trigger an autoimmune reaction that attacks your body. Every time we choose to live by the highest priority, the amygdala calms down. The prefrontal cortex is reinforced. [1:12:03] The Mind-Body Connection Our psychological processes also affect our physiological processes.  People are used to blaming external factors. They don't take accountability for the things they experience.  John uses the example of when people get symptoms after eating unhealthy food. They don't face the fact that they brought it upon themselves.  Our bodies do an excellent job of guiding us. That's why we should learn how to listen to them. [1:18:13] The Journey to Financial Independence There is nothing evil about having money.  John believes that you can be a slave to money, or you can be a master of it.  Nothing is stopping you from doing what you love to do. [1:21:28] How to Retain Information Teaching what you've learned is the key to retention. Teaching compels your mind to organise ideas and reinforce them.  Teach the concepts as soon as you've discovered them. Don't wait until you're an expert on the subject. Resources Gain exclusive access and bonuses to Pushing the Limits Podcast by becoming a patron! You can choose between being an official or VIP patron for $7 and $15 NZD per month, respectively. Harness the power of NAD and NMN for anti-ageing and longevity with NMN Bio. Related Pushing the Limits Episodes 135: How To Make Better Decisions Consistently 183: Sirtuins and NAD Supplements for Longevity with Elena Seranova 189: Increasing Your Longevity with Elena Seranova Connect with John: Website | Facebook | Linkedin | YouTube | Instagram ‎The Demartini Show Demartini Value Determination Process The Breakthrough Experience program Join John's The Mind-Body Connection course Learn more about Jesse Billauer and his story. High Surf: The World's Most Inspiring Surfers by Tim Baker The Time Trap: The Classic Book on Time Management by Alec Mackenzie and Pat Nickerson  Brain Wash: Detox Your Mind for Clearer Thinking, Deeper Relationships, and Lasting Happiness by David and Austin Perlmutter The Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing by Bronnie Ware   7 Powerful Quotes ‘I'm an educator, a researcher, a writer. I do a lot of interviews and filming for documentaries. I've been spending 48 years now on doing anything I can to help human beings maximise their potential.’ ‘I love studying and learning anything I can from those people that have done extraordinary things and then passing that on.” “I love anybody who's done something extraordinary on the planet in any field. I love devouring their journey.’ ‘No matter what the teacher was trying to do, I just couldn't read. And my teacher and my parents come to the school and said, ‘You know, your son's not able to read. He's not going to be able to write effectively’ because I wrote kind of backwards.’ ‘Well, I'm surfing the cosmic waves now. And in surfing big cosmic waves, radio waves that are big waves. Yes, that's the move from water waves into electromagnetic waves.’ ‘And so the Breakthrough Experience is about accessing that state. And breaking through the limitations that we make up in our mind and transforming whatever experiences you have into “on the way” not “in the way”.’ ‘She said that there was something that took over me, I can't describe it. It was like a very powerful feeling — like I had a power of a Mack truck. And me? I don't know how to describe it.’   About Dr John Dr John Demartini is an author, researcher, global educator and world-renowned human behaviour specialist. Making self-development programs and relationship solutions is part of his job. Among his most popular programs is the Breakthrough Experience. It is a personal development course that aims to help individuals achieve whatever goal they have. As a child, Dr John had learning challenges and could not read and write well until 18 years old. He has now distilled information from over 30,000 books across all academic disciplines and shares them online and on stage in over 100 countries.  Interested in knowing more about Dr John and his work? You may visit his website or follow him on Facebook, Linkedin, YouTube and Instagram.   Enjoyed This Podcast? If you did, be sure to subscribe and share it with your friends! Post a review and share it! If you enjoyed tuning in, then leave us a review. You can also share this with your family and friends so they can achieve their life goals by learning how to prioritise. Have any questions? You can contact me through email (support@lisatamati.com) or find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. For more episode updates, visit my website. You may also tune in on Apple Podcasts. To pushing the limits, Lisa   Full Transcript Of The Podcast Welcome to Pushing The Limits, the show that helps you reach your full potential with your host, Lisa Tamati, brought to you by lisatamati.com.  Lisa Tamati: Welcome back to Welcome back to Pushing the Limits. This week, I have Dr John Demartini. He is a world renowned speaker, teacher, educator, researcher, medical doctor. He's written I don't know how many books, countless, countless books. He's an incredible, incredible man who teaches literally thousands and thousands of people every year in his breakthrough experience. The information that you're going to get in this podcast could change your life. So I've given you a fair warning. He's an amazing, incredible man that, and I've talked to a lot of incredible people but this one is really next level, he started out as a big wave surfer in Hawaii, way back in the day. Even knew Laird Hamilton and people like that. Had learning disabilities and could hardly read or write, and yet managed to overcome all these things to become one of the greatest scholars that there is. He's read over 30,000 books. He has distilled the knowledge from people right through the ages, through leaders and philosophers and stoics and scientists. He's an expert in so many different areas. He teaches people in business, he teaches people how to overcome massive challenges in their life. So I really hope that you enjoy this episode. It is going to get uncomfortable in places because we’ll talk about really being accountable, really understanding our own physiology, and just so much more. An absolutely amazing interview. So I hope you enjoy it.  Before we head over to the show, just reminder, we have our patron membership for the podcast Pushing the Limits. If you want to join our VIP tribe, we would love you to come and do that. It's about the price of a cup of coffee a month or two. If you want to join on the premium level, we would love you to come and join us. Support the show. Help us get this work out there. We are passionate about what we do. We want to change lives, we want to improve your life, we want to improve the lives of others. And we need your help to do that to keep the show going. So please, head over to patron.lisatamati.com. Check out all the premium VIP member benefits here, and support the show. Be a part of this community, be a part of this tribe. Help support us and reach out to me or the team. If you have any questions around any of the topics or any of the guests that have come up. We would love to hear from you. Any feedback is always welcome. Please always give a rating and review to the show as well on iTunes or whatever platform that you listen to. That is really, really helpful as well. We do appreciate you doing that. And as a reminder, please also check out our epigenetics program. We have a system now that can personalise and optimise your entire life to your genetics. So check out our program, what it's all about. This is based on the work of hundreds of scientists, not our work. It has been developed over the last 20 years, from 15 different science disciplines all working in collaborating together on this one technology platform that will help you understand your genes and apply the information to your life. So check that out. Go to lisatamati.com and hit the Work With Us button and you'll see their Peak Epigenetics, check out that program. And while you're there, if you're a runner, check out our Running Hot Coaching program as well. Customised, personalised training plans made specifically for you, for your goals. You get a video analysis, you get a consultation with me and it's all in a very well-priced package. So check that out at runninghotcoaching.com.  Now over to the show with Dr John Demartini. Well, Hi everyone and welcome to Pushing The Limits. Today, I am super excited for my guest. My guest is an absolute superstar. Welcome to the show. Firstly and foremostly, thank you very much for taking the time out today. Dr John, I'm just really excited to have you. Whereabouts are you sitting in the world? Dr John: I am in Houston, Texas. I'm in a hotel room in Houston, Texas, even though it shows that I've got a library.  Lisa: Yeah,I love that background. That is a fantastic background. Really great. Well, greetings to Texas and I hope that everything is going well over there for you. Today, I wanted to talk about you, your work, the breakthrough experience. Some of the learnings and the exciting mission that you've been on for now. For 47 years, I believe. Something crazy like that. So Dr John, can you just give us a little bit of a background on you and your life and what you do on a day to day basis? Big question. Dr John: I'm an educator, a researcher, a writer. I do a lot of interviews and filming for documentaries. I've been spending 48 years now, over 48 years, on doing anything I can to help human beings maximise their potential, their awareness potential, and achieve whatever it is that they're inspired to achieve. So that could be raising a beautiful family to building a massive business to becoming fortunate or celebrity, doesn't matter. It's whatever it is that inspires them. I've been studying human behaviour and anything and everything I can get my hands on for the last 48 years to assist people in mastering a lot. That's what I love doing. I do it every day. I can't think of any else I'd rather be doing. So I just do it. Lisa: It's a bit of a role model for me, Dr John, because I think what you have achieved in this time, the way you've distilled information, I mean, you've studied, last time I looked on one of your podcasts, that was over 30,000 books, probably more now. And you've distilled the information from great masters throughout history into practical things that humans today can actually benefit from. Is that a good assessment of what you basically have done? Dr John: I'm writing right now a 1200 page textbook on philosophers and great minds through the ages. I summarise it. I love studying and learning anything I can from those people that have done extraordinary things, and then passing that on. So yes. Right now, I'm actually, I just finished, I’m just finishing up Albert Einstein, which is one of my heroes. I had a dream when I was young. When I saw that E = mc² drawn on that board, I wanted to find out where that board was. I went to Princeton, and met with Freeman Dyson, who took over his position at Princeton in 1955. Spent part of the day with him and we're talking on cosmology. I wrote my formula on that same board, exactly the same place, because that was a dream that I had since I was probably 18, 19. Lisa: Wow, and you got to fulfill it and actually love it. Dr John: Yeah. Took me a bit of time. So what? But yeah, I love anybody who's done something extraordinary on the planet in any field. I love devouring their journey and their thinking. That's every Nobel Prize winner I've gone through and every great philosopher and thinker and business leader and financially or spiritually, to try to find out and distill out what is the very essence that drives human beings? And what is it that allows them to do extraordinary things? So I wanted to do that with my life. Most of the people I get in front of want to feel like they want to make a massive difference. They want to make a difference in the world. They want to do something that’s deeply meaningful, inspiring. And so yeah, we're not 'put your head in the product glue and let the glue stick' and then pass it on.  Lisa: Instead of having to reinvent the world, why not? So Dr John, can you give us a little bit of history though, because you're obviously an incredible scholar,have an incredible mind. But as a child, you struggled with learning and with reading and writing.Can you give us a little, how the heck did you go from being this kid that struggled with all of that to where you are today? One of the greatest minds out there.  Dr John:  Yeah, I definitely had some learning challenges. I had a speech challenge when I was a year and a half old to four, I had to wear buttons in my mouth and put strings in my mouth and practice using all kinds of muscles. Went to a speech pathologist. When I was in first grade. No matter what the teacher was trying to do, I just couldn't read. My teacher, and my parents would come to the school and said, 'You know, your son's not able to read. He's not going to be able to write effectively,' because I wrote kind of backwards. 'I don't think he's going to mountain and go very far in life, put him into sport.' Because I like to run. And I did sports there for a while. But then I went from baseball to surfing. I hitchhiked out to California and down Mexico and then made it over to Hawaii so I could ride big waves and I was doing big wave and stuff when I was a teenager. So I didn't have academics. I dropped out of school. I was a street kid from 13 to 18. But then right before 18 I nearly died. That's when I met Paul Bragg, who inspired me one night in a presentation. That night I got so inspired that I thought, 'Maybe I could overcome my learning problems by applying what this man just taught me. And maybe someday I could learn to read and write and speak properly.' That was such an inspiration, such a moment of inspiration that it changed the course of my life. I had to go back. And with the help of my mum, I went and got a dictionary out, started to read a dictionary and memorise 30 words a day until my vocabulary. I had to spell the word, pronounce the word, use it with a meaningful sentence, and develop a vocabulary. Eventually doing that 30 we would, we wouldn't go to bed. I didn't go to bed until I had 30 new words, really inculcated. My vocabulary grew. And I started to learn how to do the reading. It was not an easy project. But, man, once I got a hold of it, I never stopped. Lisa: And once you started to read, you didn’t stop. Dr John: I've never stopped. I've been a voluminous reader now. You know, 48 years. Lisa: That’s just incredible. Dr John: I can’t complain. Lisa: So was it a dyslexia or learning disability? I just asked because my mum was a teacher of children with dyslexia and things like that. Was there specific ways that you were able to overcome the disability so to speak? Dr John: Yeah, I just, sheer persistence and determination to want to read and learn. I remember, I took my first, I took a GED test, a general education high school equivalency test. And I guessed, literally guessed, I close my eyes. I said this little affirmation that Paul Bragg gave me that, 'I'm a genius, and I apply my wisdom.' And some miraculous thing made me pass that test. I didn't know how to read half the stuff that was on it. I just went with my intuition and guessed. And I tried to go to college, after taking that test and had the test. I failed. And I remember driving home crying because I had this idea that I was going to learn how to teach and become intelligent. Then when I got a 27, everybody else got 75 and above. I got a 27 and I thought, 'Well, there's no way it's going to work.' But then I sat there and I cried and my mum came home from shopping, and she saw me crying on the living room floor. She said, ‘Son, what happened? What's wrong?’ I said, ‘Mum, I failed the test. I guess I don't have what it takes.’ And I repeated what the first grade teacher said, 'I guess I'll never read or write or communicate effectively, or amount too much. I guess I'll go back to Hawaii and make surfboards and surf. Because I was pretty good at that.' And she said to me something that was a real mind bender. She put her hand on me and she said, ‘Son, whether you become a great teacher, philosopher and travel the world like your dream, whether return to Hawaii and ride giant waves like you've done, return to the streets and panhandle like you've done. I just want to let you know that your father and I are going to love you no matter what you do.’ Lisa: Wow, what a mum. Dr John: That was an amazing moment. When she said that, my hand went into a fist of determination. And I said to myself, ‘I'm gonna match this thing called reading and studying and learning. I'm gonna match this thing called teaching and philosophy. And I'm going to do whatever it takes, I'm going to travel whatever distance, I'm gonna pay whatever price, to give my source of love across this planet.’ I got up and I hugged her. And I said to myself, ‘I'm not gonna let any human being on the face of the earth stop me, not even myself.’ I got out of my room. And that's when I decided with her help to do the dictionary. That was an amazing turning point. Lisa: And I can feel it, the emotion and what a wonderful mum you had. I mean, what a perfect thing to say when someone's down. Dr John: It was the most. If she hadn't said that, I might’ve come back to surfing. I might  be a surfer today. Lisa: Which would have been a good thing as well, probably because surfing is great. Dr John: It didn’t make money in those days. I'm in the mid 60s and 70s, early 70s. But,, now, the guys I served with, Laird Hamilton and- Lisa: Wow. He's a hero is amazing.  Dr John: Both Ben Aipa, Gerry Lopez, and these guys, those are the guys I served with. And so those guys went on to be incredible. Lisa: I wasn't aware of that. Dr John: I lived at the same beach park in Haleiwa, where Ehukai Beach Park is, near Pipeline, between Rocky Point and Pipeline. Laird Hamilton was dropped off by his mother there and lived there on the beach. I lived up on where the park bench was. We lived right there and I saw him on the beach each morning. He was seven, I was 16. He was going on seven, I was almost 17. We live there at the same place and Bill Hamilton saw him out there and grabbed him and took him in and trained them on surfing and found his mum and then married the mum. That's how I became. I hung out with those characters. Lisa: Legends. You became a legend in this direction and they have become a legend in a different direction. Dr John: Well, there's a book out called The High Surf by Tim Baker. That’s from Australia. He wrote a book on people that rode big waves. And he said, 'I'd like to put you in there.' I said, 'Well, I didn't go on to be the superstar in that area like these other guys.' He said, 'But I want you in there because you became a legend. Lisa: Became a superstar. Dr John: Yeah Lisa: Do you think that there's, you know, I come from a surfing family. My brother's a big wave surfer in New Zealand. I've tried and failed miserably, stuck to running. I was better at it. But do you think there's a correlation between the mindset that you developed as a surfer? Because going in those big waves is scary. It's daunting. It's frightening. It's challenging. It's teaching you a lot. Is there a lot that you took from that for this journey that you've been on? Dr John: Yeah, I didn't surf anything more than 40-foot waves. So I think that was about as good as about as big as you get back in the 70s. At 70s is when I was- Lisa: Oh, just a mere 40, it’s okay. Dr John: Well, 40-foot waves was the biggest thing out in outer reef pipeline was the big thing. They hadn't had tow-in surfing yet. That was just, that wasn't begun yet. So there was that idea, we had to catch those waves. That was not easy because they're too big to catch. you got to have big long boards, and you got to really paddle to get into those waves, and it's usually too late. But I think some of those, I used to surf 11 hours a day sometimes. When you're really, really committed to doing something, that's... Einstein said perseverance is the key to making things happen and if you just stay with something. So, if you're not inspired to do something, enough to put in the hours and put in the effort, and you don't have somebody that you can bounce ideas off of, kind of mentoring you, you probably are not going to excel as much. But I did that. And then I just converted that over into breeding 18 to 20 hours a day, feeding once I learned to read, so I just and I still voluminously read I mean, I read every single day. Lisa: That is incredible. And so you've taken that big wave mindset a little bit over into something else. So obviously, everything you, do you do to the nth degree, we can probably agree on that one. Dr John: I'm surfing the cosmic waves now. And in surfing big cosmic waves, radio waves that are big waves. I move from water waves into electromagnetic waves. Lisa: Wow. Now, you run something called The Breakthrough Experience, which you've been doing now for 40 something years. This is a philosophy and a system and a program that really changes lives and has changed lives all over the planet. Can you tell us a little bit about what you've distilled from all this information that you have in your incredible mind? And what you teach in this course, and how this can actually help people? Today, right now listening to this? Dr John: Well, the breakthrough experiences, sort of my attempt to do with what that gentleman did to me when I was 17. I've done it 1121 times into that course. I keep records, and I'm a metric freak. Every human being lives by a set of priorities, a set of values, things that are most important. Lisa: Podcast life. Dr John: Welcome to it. I thought that was off, but I didn't quite get it off. But whatever is highest on the person's values, priorities, whatever is truly deeply meaningful to them, the thing that is spontaneously inspiring for them to that they can't wait to get up the morning and do.If they identify that and structure their life by priority, delegating the lower priority things and getting on with doing that, they will build momentum, incremental momentum and start to excel and build what we could say is a legacy in the world. And so, the breakthrough experience is about accessing that state, and breaking through the limitations that we make up in our mind,  transforming whatever experiences you have into 'on the way' not 'in the way.' So no matter what goes on in your life, you can use it to catalyse a transformation and movement towards what it is that you're committed to. And if you're not clear about it, we'll show you how to do it because many people subordinate to people around them. Cloud the clarity of what's really really inspiring from within them, and they let the herd instinct stop them from being heard.  I think that The Breakthrough Experiences is my attempt to do whatever I can, with all the tools that I've been blessed to gather to assist people in creating a life that is extraordinary, inspiring and amazing for them. And if I don't do whatever it takes in the program, I don't know when it's going to be. I've seen six year olds in there write books afterwards. I've seen nine year olds go on to get a deal with Disney for $2.2 million dollars. I've seen people in business break through plateaus. I’ve people have major issues with relationships break, too. I don't know what's gonna be. I've seen celebrities go to new levels. I've seen people that have health issues that heal. I mean, every imaginable thing, I’ve breaking through. I've seen it in that course. And it's the same principles applied now into different areas of life. In any other area of our life, if we don't empower, the world's going to overpower something. And I'm showing I want to show people how to not let anything on the outside world interfere with what's inside. Lisa: And you talk about, it's on the way, the challenges that we have to look at the challenges that we have and ask how is this going to actually help me get wherever I am. And this is something that I've managed to do a couple of times in my life really well, other times not so good. But where I've taken a really massive challenge, I had my own listeners, I had a mum who had a massive aneurysm five years ago, and we were told she would never have any quality of life again, massive brain damage. We know that's not happening on my watch. I'm going to, there is somebody in something in the world that can help with her. And this became my mantra that I was going to get back or die trying. That was that total dedication that I brought to her because of love. When you love someone, you're able to mobilise for the last resources that you have. And that nearly bloody killed me as far as the whole effort that went on to it, and the cost and the emotional costs, and the physical and the health and all the rest of it. It took me three years to get it back to health, full health. She's now got a full driver's license back and a full independent life back and as my wonderful mum again. And that was coming from a state of being in a vegetative state, not much over a vegetative state at least. Hardly any higher function, no speech, no move, be able to move anything. Dr John: That’s a book there. That's a book or a movie. Lisa: It's the book. Dr John: That's a book and a movie for sure. Lisa: Exactly. And this is very powerful. Because I saw this and when you're in the darkness, everybody is telling you there is no hope, there is no chance. And these are medical professionals who have been to medical school, who have a hell of a lot more authority than you. You just go, ‘No, I am not accepting it because that alternative means death, basically, decline and death in being in an institution. And that is not what I'm going to answer. I'm going to find somebody who can help me’ and I did. I found hundreds of people, actually, and this is what tipped me into doing what I'm doing now, is finding world leading experts to give me the next piece of the puzzle for her and for the people now that are following me so that I can help empower people, not to be limited by the people who tell us we can't do something. It's because that means basically they don't have the answer. Not that there is no answer, is my understanding. And they were right. It was the hardest thing I've ever done. But I did it and my mum is alive and she's well, and that book. I really want to empower people with a story. I see that same like they're obviously your passion. What you went through with your learning problems when you were young and your mum standing beside you has actually propelled you into this lifelong journey that I find absolutely fascinating because that passion, and I can see that passion in you, is still very much alive 48 years later because you're doing what your priority is. Dr John: I'm definitely doing what I love doing. It's interesting that your story reminded me of something that happened to me when I was 27. If you don't mind, I'd like to share this. So I graduated from my professional school. I had a bit of a reputation there of being kind of the taking the cream of the crop clients, patients that were turned down everywhere else. I just tackled it, see what we can do with it. And I got a family from Mexico, with a son that fell three stories off an apartment complex onto the ground on his head. He went into a coma, been in a coma for three and a half years. And the mother, they assumed he was dead a few times, but there was still a breath. There were still something. It wasn't a strong breath. You couldn't see it but you could put a mirror in front of you and get a little bit of breath out there. So he wasn't dead. And he had decerebrate rigidity. So his whole body was so rigid that when I saw him, you could lift up his feet and his whole body would rock. It was so stiff. His hands are like this. A classical decerebrate rigidity. And he had gone to, throughout different hospitals in Mexico, where he was from, and nobody checked them. They came to America, they went to the Medical Center in Houston, which is the largest Medical Center America. And they got rejected. No one would accept it. There's nothing we can do. They went out to the professional school that I'd gone to. And they said, ‘We can't do anything.’ But we know this interesting character. West Houston, if there's anybody that would try something this guy might try, who knows? And they sent him to my office. I remember when they came in, they carried him wrapped up in a white sheet, and laid him on the armrest of the chairs on my office. I looked out there and I saw this Mexican man and woman and seven or eight other kids in a family. I'm in this. At first, I didn't know what this was, this thing wrapped up in this sheet. They came down my hallway and I saw him going down the hallway. And like, ‘What on earth is this?’ Then they unveiled him in my exam room. And there was this 58 pound tube in his nose, coma case that was so stiff. It was ridiculous. I mean, he had gauze on his chin and his hand was rubbing on it and to protect the chin from having an ulcer. It had an odor to him in the head. It was just nothing. Just stare. He just sat there. But the mother and father said, ‘No, he's still alive. Please help.’ So I didn't really have much to do an exam with. So I got him, we took him in and did a film of his spine and his skull from the history. We found his foramen magnum, his skull was jammed down on a spinal cord and his spinal cord is up in his foramen magnum. This opening in the bottom of the skull. And I thought that night, when I was developing those films, and I looked at that I thought, 'I wonder what happened if I lifted that skull? If I've got that off? It could? Could something happen?' And I was scared because you just don't do that. He could die just instantly. I sent them over to this health food store to get him some liquid vitamins and minerals and amino acids to try to get nutrients in him because they're feeding him beans and rice with liquid. It was just crazy. So the next day came in. We had four doctors on a preceptorship visiting my office, one doctor that was working for me, one assistant, the seven or eight kids plus him and the mother and father in this little room. It was packed. And I said to him that I saw that on the film something that might have make him, help. I don't know, I can't guarantee it. But if we, if I did a particular manoeuvre, it might open up the brain function. And the little woman held on to her husband and she said, 'If he dies, he dies. If he lives, we rejoice. But please help us. We have nowhere else to go.' Lisa: Yeah. Wow. Dr John: She said that there was something that took over me, I can't describe it. It was like a very powerful feeling, like I had a power of a Mack truck in me. I don't know how to describe it. And I had this manoeuvre that we could do this, what they call the Chrane Condyle Lift, that can actually lift the skull up the spine. And I said to myself, if I'm not willing to have him die in my hands, I can't raise the dead with my hands as a little quote that I learned from an ancient healing philosopher. And I thought, 'Okay, we're, I'm going to take the risk, and just see what happens.' Because, I mean, I don't know what to do. I'm just gonna do it. Because I mean, they've got no place to go and I only took a rip. As I lifted that skull with this powerful movement. He came out of his coma. He came right out of the coma. He screamed, and this whining noise you couldn't. It was not coherent. It was just this whining sound. The whole family went on their knees, they were Catholic. They just went to their knees and prayed. I was blown away. I saw the four doctors one of them ran down the hallway and vomited, couldn't handle it. The other just stared. And here's this boy squirming on the table. I walked out to let the family be with the child for a minute and just sat with one of my doctors. We sat there and just cried. Because we knew that the spinal cord expressed life in the body. But we didn't know what would happen if we took the spinal cord, it just scanned off. Theoretically, it could kill you. But there was some still life in the spinal cord. Anyway, this boy went on to gain 20 pounds up to 78 pounds. We took him off the tube, we got him to move, we had everybody in the family take a joint in his body and move his joints to remobilise him. Sometimes I think we probably tore some ligaments doing it. But we got mobility. And this boy came out of it. And I have a picture here with me of the boy actually graduating from high school. Lisa: You’re kidding me? Why is this not an? What is not? Why have I never heard the story?  Dr John: I don’t get to share it too often. I didn't many years ago. I haven't practised in a long time. But all I know is that that was a moment that you just, it's probably like you had with your mum when you saw incremental progress. Lisa: Yeah. Just grind. Dr John: And I think that that's a metaphor. That's a metaphor. It doesn't matter where you've come from, doesn't matter what you're going through, doesn't matter what you've been through. What matters is you have something that you're striving for. And are you willing to do some incremental movement towards that? What else just said is, he's got a diagnosis. Diagnosis means through knowledge, supposedly, but it could also mean die to an agnosis. You don't know. Even the doctors don't know. But the reality is,  he came out of the coma. And I had over the next few months, I had some amazing cases of a boy that was blind and couldn't walk, and all of a sudden see and walked again. I had a boy that was paralysed quadriplegic, was able to walk. I mean, I had some amazing stuff happen. When you're willing to do what other people aren't willing to do, you're willing to experience when other people don't get to experience. Lisa: Yep, it is just so powerful. And I'm just absolutely blown away from that story. Because, I mean, I know with my mum who was only in a coma for three weeks, and had stroke and so on, and in the specificity and the things that I've had to deal with. The whole vestibular system being completely offline, she has like a rag doll, having to read, programming her from being a baby, basically, to being an adult, within that three year period with a body that is now like 79 years old. And the doctors going like, your brain can't change that much. And in just going, I'm going to keep going. I'm only listening to people who tell me I can do something, I'm not listening to anybody who tells me I can't do something. And this is something that I've really integrated into my entire life like as an athlete, doing stupidly long ultramarathon distances. I was always told you can't do this, and you can't do that. It's impossible. And I was like, 'We'll see.' I'm going to throw everything in it. And that was my passion at the time have now retired from doing the stupid distances because I've got other missions on in life. But whatever it is, is always the big mission. And then everybody comes up against people who tell you, you can't do it. This is one of the biggest limiting things that I see. Dr John: That's what Einstein said, greatness is automatically pounded by mediocre minds.  Lisa: Wow. Dr John: I had a boy, a boy attend my breakthrough experience, who had a surfing accident and became arms and legs not working, He could move his neck. He got a little bit of function slowly into the hand that was about it, just a tiny bit. And I remember a man wheeling him in and having them kind of strapped to a wheelchair. I knew the father and I knew his brother. There were doctors who were colleagues of mine. And they brought him, they flew him literally from Los Angeles over to Texas to come to the breakthrough experience. I remember him looking straight down really depressed, suicidal, because he was a surfer and he was on his way to being a great surfer. If he couldn't surf, he didn't want to live kind of. I remember getting on my knees and looking up at him at this chair, and I said, 'It all determines inside you what you decide. I don't know what the limit you have in your body. I don't know what you can repair. I don't know what you can do. I don't want to say you can't. But all I know is that if you're going to, you're going to have to put everything into it. You're gonna have to have no turning back kind of attitude. There's got to be a relentless pursuit of your master plan to serve.' His name is Jesse Billauer. He made a decision at the Breakthrough Experience that nothing was going to stop him from surfing again, nothing. He is really, in the room was absolutely applauding him. The before and after in that weekend was so astonishing that it was tear jerking. Well, about 17 years ago, 16 half years ago, I had the opportunity to get, I was living on the Gold Coast of Australia. I had many homes in New York and different places. But I had one in the Gold Coast of Australia in Aria, lived in the penthouse of Aria. And all of a sudden, I found in my entrance of my penthouse, which you only can get into with my key somebody from downstairs, put it in there like mail, a DVD video of a surfing movie, called Stepping Into Liquid. And when I pulled that up and put that in there, there was Jesse Billauer, surfing. He found a way of using his head muscles, and designing a special vehicle, a transport system, a surfboard. He had to have somebody take them out into the water and push him. But once he got on a wave his head movements were able to ride and he was riding like 12 foot waves, which is 20 foot face waves. He was doing that. And he was an inspiration. He became friends with Superman who had quadriplegia and they became friends and he created a foundation to do something but he taught people how to go surfing as a quadriplegic. So when the wise big enough to house take care of themselves, you've proven that in your book. What little I've done in my life compared to some of these kind of stories is just astonishing what I see sometimes people do. I mean, mind blowing stuff that people, that determination to overcome that are absolute inspirations. Inspiration is a byproduct of pursuing something that's deeply inspiring and deeply meaningful, through a challenge that people believe is not possible. That's inspiration. Lisa: That's how we grow as a human race. We have these amazing people that do incredible things. And these stories, I mean, these are stories that aren't even out there in the world, in a huge way. There are hundreds of these stories and thousands of these stories and miraculous stories. These are the things that we should be talking about. Because why are we not studying the outliers? Why are we not? When I look at my book, or my story, which I share publicly and not a single doctor that had anything to do with my mum ever asked me, 'Well, how did you do it?' Nobody is interested in why she has not taken the normal path as long gone. Nobody has asked me what did you do? People do. My audience want to know why. The people that follow me, etc. But nobody that was involved in that case. And I see that over and over again.  Dr John: It's forcing him to face their own, you might say, belief systems about what they've been taught. There's an educated awareness by the herd and then there's an innate yearning by the master. The master transcends the herd, if you will. You can be a sheep or a shepherd. The shepherd is the one that goes out and does things that the sheep are not willing to do. But then once they do it, they'll rally around it. They are there watching you to be the hero instead of becoming the hero. Lisa: Wow. And why is it in the medical fraternity that there seems to be a very big herd mentality, like no one is scared to step outside of their norms, and they get slammed. I see this in academia and in science as well, where people who have brilliant ideas and hypotheses and studies and so on, they just get slammed because it's outside of the current paradigm.  Dr John: William James, one of the founders of modern psychology, said 'To be great…' And Emerson followed in suit, 'To be greatest, to be misunderstood.’ William James basically said that the majority of people fear rejection from the multitudes because that was survival. People that are into survival follow the multitude. People that are in thrival create a new paradigm. At first they're going to be ridiculed. They're going to be violently opposed to Schopenhauer and Gandhi said, but eventually becomes self-evident. And you're either following a culture or building one. The people that do that build a new culture. They build a new culture of idea. Emerson said in his essays on circles, 'We rise up and we create a new circle of possibility. And then that becomes the new norm until somebody comes up and breaks through that concentric sphere with another circle.' It's like the four minute mile. I had a gentleman on my program the other day who is striving to be the fastest runner in the world. He's got bronze and silver medals, but he hadn't got the fastest running. And he's not stopping. He's working sometimes eight to 13 hours a day on this project. I believe that the way he's so determined to do it, and how he works on it, and he doesn't need a coach telling him what to do. He just does it. He's inspired to do it. He'll be the fastest runner, he won't stop till he's the fastest runner in the world. And that’s determination, that to be great at that one thing, find that one thing that you really target like a magnifying glass, on that you become the greatest at that thing.  Mine was human development, human behaviour. I want to have the broadest and greatest width of information about that. That's my one thing. But each individual has something that they can excel in, if they just define it, and give themselves permission at it, and say, thank you but no thank you to the opinions. The opinions are the cheapest commodities on Earth that would circulate the most as a use value. There’s ton of those. But those opinions aren’t what matter. It's not you comparing yourself to other people, it's you comparing your daily actions to what's deeply meaningful to you, and the highest priority actions daily, that’s what it is. Lisa: How do you, this is a problem that I face, get to a certain level of success and achievement, and then you start getting lots of offers and opportunities and so on, and you start to lose the focus. You get distracted from the things that are happening in this day and age where the internet and everything that ends up like I get the shiny object syndrome. And say, 'Oh, this is an extremely interesting area of study, and I should go down that path. And then I go down that path, and then I go down that path.' It is adding to the whole picture of a general education. as someone who studied as much as you have, you've obviously encompassed all of these areas. But I think what I'm asking is, how do you find out what your highest priority is? And how do you get a team around you, so that you're not limited? I think there's a lot of business people that are listening to this, me included in this, who has struggling to get past a certain ceiling because the area of genius is one thing that they love and excelling at, and you'd like to spend all of your time doing that. But you're stuck in the groundhog day of admin and technology in the stuff that you hate. And not busting through because financially, you can't delegate to people. You also got to find people that are a good fit for you who can do the jobs, and then also have the finances to be able to break through to that near next level. Can you talk to that about? Dr John: Yes, absolutely. When I was 27 years old, I was just starting my practice. I was doing a little of everything, anything and everything, just to get the thing cranking. I had one assistant that I hired. But I realised I was doing way too many trivial things. And that'll burn you out after a while if you're doing stuff that's not really what your specialty is. I went to the bookstore and I got a book by Alec McKinsey called The Time Trap. I read this book. As I read it, I underlined it and extracted notes like I do. I decided to put together a little sheet for it. I'll share that because it was a goldmine. I made a list of every single thing that I do in a day, over a three month period, because each day I had sometimes different things to do. But I wrote down everything I might be doing in those three months in a day. I just wrote them all down. And I don't mean broad generalities like marketing or this type of thing or radiographs or whatever. I mean, the actual actions. The actual moment by moment actions I do in those categories. I made a list of those and it was a big list. And I looked at it. Then right next that list, every single thing I did from the time I woke up to the time I went to bed, everything —  home, personal, professional. I wanted to know what my day looked. I want to be an honest, objective view of what am I actually doing with my day. Because if I want to create my life the way I want, I've got to take a look at what I'm actually doing because if I'm not doing things that give me the results, no wonder I'm not getting there.  I made that list, and right next to it, in column number two of six columns is how much does it produce per hour. Which is a measure of actually meeting somebody's need as a service and people willing to pay. How much is that produced per hour? And that was humbling because there are whole lot of stuff that I will do without pay. I was minoring in majors and majoring in minors. I was doing all kinds of stuff that was just cost, no return. I stopped and I looked at that, and that was humbling, and frustrating, and a bunch of stuff went through my mind. I mean, I just, but I had to be honest to myself, what does it actually produce? I extrapolate. If I spent two hours on it, what is it per hour? Cut it in half. If I spent 30 minutes, I’d double the number to get an idea what it is per hour. There's a lot of stuff that was not making anything and there was a few things that were making a lot.  The third column I wrote down, how much meaning does it have? How much is it that makes me inspired to get up and do it? I can't wait to do what people can't wait to get. Those are the things I want to target. So I looked at it on a one to ten scale, how much meaning it was. I made a list on a one to ten scale of every one of those items, how inspired am I to do that? And there's a lot of stuff on there that was not inspiring, that I didn't want to do. I thought, 'Hell. I went to ten years of college for this?' I made this list and I put this one to ten thing. And then I prioritised the tens down to the ones. I prioritise productivity down from the ones that made thousands of dollars an hour to nothing an hour. I just prioritise them. And then I looked. There were some that were overlapped, where the thing that was most meaningful and inspiring match where it’s most productive. I prioritise that based on the two together. And that was really eye opening. Then I went to the next one because I realised that if I don't delegate, I'm trapped. Then I put what does it cost? Every cost. Not just salary, but training costs, no hiring costs, parking costs, insurance costs, everything. What is the cost of somebody excelling at doing what it is I'm doing at a greater job than me? What would it cost? On every one of those items? The best I could do? I had to just guess on something, but I definitely did the best I could.  And then I prioritise that based on spread, how much it produced versus how much it cost. Then I put another column. How much time am I actually spending on average? The final column, I wrote down, what are my final priorities with all these variables? I did a very thorough prioritisation system there. I sliced those into ten layers. I put a job description, I put a job description on that bottom layer, and hired somebody to do that but bottom layer. It took me three people to get the right person because I had to learn about hiring. I didn't know how about, hiring. I finally got the first person there, and that was free. That allowed me to go up a notch. And then I hired the next layer. What I did is it allowed me to go and put more time into the thing to produce the most, which was actually sharing a message of what I was doing publicly, with speaking. Public speaking was my door opener. I just kept knocking out layers.In the next 18 months, my business tenfold in increase in income and business. I had 12 staff members and five doctors working for me in a 5000 square foot office from under 1000 square foot original office in 18 months. Because I said goodbye to anything that weighed me down. Anytime you do something that's lower on your values, and anytime something hone your value value yourself and the world values you when you value. It's waiting for you just to get authentic and live by the highest values, which is your ideological identity. The thing you really revolve around you. Mine was teaching, so I call myself a teacher, right? So whatever that highest value is, if you prioritise your day and fill your day with high priority actions that inspire you, it doesn't fill up with low party distractions that don't, because it's now you're allowing yourself to be authentic. And it doesn't cost to properly delegate if you get the right people, and you go on and do what produces more per hour, it doesn't cost it makes sense. Lisa: That's the hard part, isn't it? As is growing. Dr John: You do your responsibilities. Go do the thing that knocks down the doors and goes and does the deals and then go and let them do all the crazy work. Like when I was 27, that's the last time I ever wrote a check or did payroll or looked at bills. I never looked at that again. Because that's a $20 an hour job and I could make way more speaking and doing my doctrine. So I thought, 'I'm not doing anything that's going to devalue me ever again in my life.' I've never gone back. 38 years, I've never gone back. Lisa: So systematise. This is a thing here, where I have a bit of a problem, a bit of a chaos, right? Dr John: I'm an ignoramus when it comes to anything other than research, write, travel, and teach. I'm useless. I'm not. I do jokes and say when I'm having I want to make love with my girlfriend. I tell her. I put my arms around I said, 'If I was to organise and have Hugh Jackman or Brad Pitt take care of lovemaking for you on my behalf and things like that, would you still love me?' One time if she said, 'No, I will still love you more.' I'm joking. That’s a joke. But the point is that if you're not delegating lower priority things, you're trapped. Lisa: And this is the dilemma, I think, of small businesses is giving that mix right and not taking on people before you can go to that next level. Dr John: But you go. You go to the next level by taking them on if it's done properly. Lisa: If it's done properly, because I've- Dr John: You want to make sure. That's why I have a value determination process on my website to determine the values of people I hire because if they're not inspired to do what I need to delegate, that's not the right person.You gotta have the right people on the bus, this column says. I have to be clear about what I can produce if I go and do these other things. And me speaking it, and doing the doctoring on the highest priority patients was way more productive financially than me doing those other things. So once I got on to that, I put somebody in place just to book speeches, and just to make sure that I was scheduled and filled my day with schedules with patients, it was a updated day and night. I've never gone back to that. I only research, write, travel, teach. That's it. Lisa: That's my dream. I'm gonna get there. Dr John: I don't do it. What's interesting is I became financially independent doing that because of that. I learned that if I don't value myself, and I don't pay myself, other people aren't going to pay me. If they're waiting for you to value you add when you value you, the world values you. You pay yourself first, other people pay you first. It's a reflection, economically, there. And that's what allowed me to do it. Because financial independence isn't for debauchery and for the fun life, in my opinion. It's for making sure that you get to do what you love because you love it not because you have to do it. Lisa: And having an impact on the world. But if you're stuck doing the admin and the technical, logical stuff, and the crap that goes along with the business. You're not impacting the world like you want to be impacting. Dr John: Weel, the individual that does the administration is impacting the world through the ripple effect by giving you the freedom to do it. Lisa: Exactly. Dr John: If that's what they love doing. That’s not what I love doing. But there are people that love administration, they love that stuff and love behind the scenes, I love doing that. Finding those people. That's the key. Lisa: Finding those people. I's given me a bit of encouragement because I've been in that sort of groundhog days I had to get through the ceiling and get to the next level of reach. Dr John: I finally realised that the cost of hiring somebody is insignificant compared to the freedom that it provides if you do your priority. Lisa: If you get your stuff right, and know what you… Dr John: Because the energy, your energy goes up the second you're doing what you love doing. And that draws business to you. Lisa: Absolutely. I mean, like doing what we're doing. Now, this is my happy place.  Dr John: We’re both in our element. This is why we're probably going to slow down. The point is, when you're doing something you love to do, when you're on fire, with kind of an enthusiasm, people come around to watch you burn. They want to see you on fire.  Lisa: I mean, they do, they do. And I've seen that in times in my life where I've been preparing for a big race or something, and I need sponsors. I just go out there.  At the start, I didn't know how to do a sponsored proposal, I didn't know how to do any of that fancy stuff. I just went out there and told the story. And by sharing the story, people were like, 'I want to get on board with this. That's exciting.' People would come on in and and when you don't know, one of the things that I've found in life is the less you know, sometimes the more audacious you are. When you actually h

What do you do as a new entrepreneur with self-critical thoughts that make achieving success hard and keeps you feeling stuck?In this podcast episode, Tania speaks with an executive & career coach about her entrepreneurial journey and how to deal with the inner critic that’s making you feel that achieving success in your entrepreneur journey is hard.Terry Boyle McDougall is an Executive & Career Coach and CEO of Terry B. McDougall Coaching. She helps high-achieving professionals remove obstacles that keep them stuck so they can enjoy more success and satisfaction in their lives and careers. Before becoming a coach, Terry was a long-time corporate marketing executive where she led teams, developed strategies and advised senior leaders to drive business results. She is the author of Winning the Game of Work: Career Happiness and Success on Your Own Terms. She is also the host of the Marketing Mambo podcast."I think that all of us have that voice in our head that says, 'Oh, you need to do this or you need to do that and if you don't something bad is going to happen'. I call it a gremlin, that voice in the head. A lot of times the gremlin is very harsh with us, right. It's critical. It's perfectionistic. It sometimes catastrophizes about, 'Oh, if you don't do this, you're going to get fired or you're gonna lose your house or whatever.' And it's very important, number one, to recognize that the gremlin is there to try to keep us safe, but the gremlin has no nuances. The gremlin is going to be very harsh about trying to keep you safe." - Terry McDougallWe discuss in this episode with Terry:Why Terry decided to become an entrepreneur in 2017 after 30 years of corporate business experience. (3:23) Why Terry made the decision to go from being a marketing consultant to an executive coach. (5:31)Why Terry believes coaching and helping others succeed is her higher calling. (8:40)How Terry’s family members responded when she shared her entrepreneurial plans. (10:34)Advice on how to have conversations about your business or plans with loved ones so that they can understand your vision and be more likely to be supportive. (12:58)Why you should think of your inner critic as a gremlin that is trying to protect you. (15:48)Why you should think that success doesn’t have to be hard and how to cultivate this mindset. (18:28)Why the first step to doing anything new is believing that it’s possible. (22:28)How Terry is using skills from her past to build and enhance her current business. (24:47)Why it is smart to hire people to help with your business instead of trying to do everything yourself. (26:24)The top skills that you should focus on putting time into developing as an entrepreneur. (28:40)Something that most high-achievers struggle with that can support you in staying realistic about your progress. (30:05)How Terry celebrates her wins as a habit. (32:28)How Terry supports people in identifying if they should work towards career goals in their current position or if they should rather start their own business. (33:00)How a mastermind group supported Terry in reaching for entrepreneurial success. (36:19)The mindset Terry believes gives her the advantage to manage her inner talk and inner critic. (37:13)Common fears and challenges entrepreneurs have based on her coaching experience and the research she did for her best-selling book. (39:11)Why you shouldn't compare yourself to very successful entrepreneurs you see in the media (and should always take care to manage your taxes). (40:42)How to connect with Terry. (42:56)Full show notes, the transcript, resources and how you can connect with Terry, can be found here: https://www.startingadvantage.com/38Enjoyed this episode? Heard something useful? Let us know!Please leave a review to support the show on your favourite podcast player. Please share this episode with a friend who can benefit from it. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Show notes:Links:TwistHook RelayBen Orenstein TupleWrite for HoneybadgerFull transcript:Starr:So Ben is joining us today from his car. It's bringing back fun memories. I recorded, I think the voiceover for our very first demo video in my car.Ben:Oh yeah? Nice. So as you may recall, I have a two story building that I lease one of the rooms, and the downstairs is a wine tasting room. Well with the pandemic, the company that had the wine tasting room, they closed shop. They stopped leasing, because who's going to go to a wine tasting room during a pandemic, right? Well they're leasing the space to a new tenant that's going to take that space. Apparently hey, we're getting back, things are reopening, let's taste wine again, but the new tenant wants to have a new door put in. So I got to the office today and they're like, "Yeah, we're putting in a new door." And then I'm like, "Cool." Didn't even think much of it. But then a few minutes later, there's all this drilling going on. I'm like, "Oh, I think probably the car is a better place to record today."Josh:Well at least you'll have some new friends soon.Ben:True, true.Starr:Yeah. Well I'm glad you made it, at least. And so what's up? I missed a week of the podcast and you guys invested our entire Honeybadger savings account into Bitcoin.Josh:Yeah.Starr:And I'm not sure that was the most prudent investment decision, y'all. I just wanted to say that.Ben:Yeah, the timing could have been better.Josh:Yeah, we really pulled a Roam Research on that one.Starr:Oh yeah. What do you mean by that?Josh:They invest in Bitcoin, apparently.Starr:Oh, they do? Okay.Ben:Of course they do.Starr:Of course. It's just a dip. You're supposed to buy the dips, Josh. It's just what, like a 30% dip? 40% dip?Josh:I wasn't watching it, but I read that it had recovered pretty quickly too.Starr:Oh. I have no idea. I didn't even follow it.Josh:As it does.Starr:I don't even follow it.Josh:Yeah. I just read random people's opinions.Starr:There you go.Josh:I forget where we left it last week, but I just wanted to state for record that I think I mentioned I made some accidental money in Bitcoin back when I was learning about block chain technology, but I have not bought any Bitcoin since, nor do I intend to, and I do not really view it as an investment asset.Starr:This is not investment advice.Josh:I just need to state my opinions for the future so I can look back on them with regret. If I don't say what I actually think, I'm never going to have anything to regret.Starr:There you go.Josh:I'm just going to commit.Starr:So you've decided to die on this no intrinsic value hill.Josh:Right. I'll let you know if I change my mind.Starr:Okay, that's fine. That's fine. Yeah, I don't really check. Last week y'all did the interview with Mike, right?Josh:Mm-hmm (affirmative).Josh:Yeah, it was a good conversation.Starr:Yeah. I don't really pay attention to it, except occasionally I'll look at the chart. It's the same with GameStop. Occasionally I'll look at the GameStop chart and then just see what wild stuff people are saying about it. Yeah.Ben:Yeah, GameStop was hovering at about 150 for a while, but now it's up to like 170-ish, 180. Something like that. Yeah. I peek at it every now... it's on my watch list when I log into my brokerage account, so I just see it. I'm like, "Oh, okay. Cool." And then I move on and check out my real actual stock portfolio.Starr:Oh yeah, yeah. I'm not going to buy it. It's like a TV show for me.Ben:Yeah, totally.Josh:Yeah. To be fair, I really don't have much of an opinion either way. I still don't understand it, so I don't know. I just feel like I probably shouldn't be buying it.Starr:That's really good advice. I don't understand anything though, so what am I supposed to do, Josh? Huh? Huh?Josh:Yeah.Ben:Just buy the index fund.Starr:Yeah. I don't even understand that.Josh:I don't understand that either though, if you really think about it.Ben:That's actually, there was a good thread or so on Twitter. I don't know if it was this week or last week, but basically the idea was if you feel really confident in your own ability, in your own business, given that, you're probably spending most of your time in that business, right? We spend most of our creative time in Honeybadger because that's where we feel the most potential is. So you're investing basically all of your personal capital in this one business. How do you diversify that risk? Or do you diversify the risk? Do you double down? Maybe do you take investment to diversify, and so you buy out? Let someone do a secondary and so you take some cash off the table? If you did that, then where would you put the money? Do you just go, "Okay, I'm going to go buy Bitcoin. I'm going to go buy an index fund," or whatever. And if you do that, is that a better use of your money than having just kept the equity and just plowing more time into your business? Right?Josh:Yeah.Ben:It's an interesting thought exercise. It's like, "Hm." The whole investment mindset of your business is interesting to me.Josh:Yeah. Yeah, that was interesting. I think I saw that conversation, or maybe I saw a similar conversation where they were talking about even just 401Ks and for founders who are already fairly... have at least made it in whatever sense that means. Is it the best financial move to keep maxing out your 401K versus investing in your ability to generate revenue in your business?Starr:So a little bit of real talk here. If you are a founder who's made it, maxing out your 401K isn't really a blip on your financial radar.Josh:It's not a big... yeah. That was kind of the same thought I had. It's not like you're putting 50% of your income into it.Starr:Yeah. What is it, like 20 grand? Something like that?Josh:Yeah.Starr:It's a good chunk of change, but still. It's not like...Josh:Yeah. I don't know.Starr:Yeah, that's interesting. I think I'm just going to go all in on Pogs. I think they're due for a comeback. I think that's going to be how I diversify.Josh:But I think it's probably a good move to invest in yourself if you have the ability to build businesses. That definitely seems like a good investment, in any case. Probably still have a 401K. I tend to do everything, except Bitcoin.Ben:A 401K is a nice backstop. Just keep stocking money away, and later it will be there, hopefully. But in the meantime, really, really spend your time and your energy on making your business even more profitable. Speaking of making your business more profitable, so this past week or two weeks, I've been working on our SOC 2 type two audit, so I'm doing the evidence collection.Starr:Oh yeah?Ben:So that in this case means I take a bunch of screenshots of settings, like the AWS console and G-suite console to show yeah, we have users, and yes, we have login restrictions, et cetera. All the 150 different things that you're supposed to check off the list when you do the audit. And as I've been going through this process taking all these screenshots, honestly it's getting a bit tedious, and it's surprisingly time consuming. And so I'm like, "You know, there are services for this sort of thing. Let me check them out." And so in the past three days, I've had conversations with Vanta, Secureframe, and Drata. These are three providers that what they do is they provide almost SOC 2 in a box. Basically they help you connect all of your systems and get the evidence that you need for an auditor in a more automated fashion. So for example, they'll plug into your AWS account and they'll pull out information about your security groups, your application firewall, your AIM, all the access permissions, all that kind of stuff, and pack that up into a nice little format that the auditor can then look at and like, "Yeah, they're good on all these different requirements." So you don't have to take screenshots of security groups.Ben:And I hadn't really looked at them before because I was like, "I don't know if I just want to spend that kind of money," but actually sitting back and looking at it, looking at the time that I'm spending on this and the amount of time I'm paying our auditors to audit all these screenshots that I'm taking, actually I think it would be cheaper to go with one of these services, because your audit is a bit more streamlined because the auditor knows how that data is going to come in and it's an easy format to digest, et cetera. But the thing is that after having gone through some of the sales pitches from these vendors, I'm thinking I really wish I would have started with these back the first time, because I think it would have been much easier just from the get go. So I think I've been doing the SOC compliance on hard mode, unfortunately, but lessons learned.Starr:With my experience, that just seems to be how projects are. You do it one time and you don't really know what you're doing, and you just push your way through it, and then eventually you figure out how to do it better and easier and all that. Because when something is new to you, you don't know what you can safely ignore. You know?Josh:Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah. Well plus you're pumping up the value of FounderQuest.Starr:Oh, that's true. We got a lot of content out of that.Ben:That's true.Starr:At least $100 worth.Josh:That's useful knowledge. Yeah.Ben:Yeah, so I think the short version is if you are interested in doing SOC2 compliance and you have no idea what you're doing, talk to these vendors first and maybe just start with them. They will help you, because they have customer success people like SaaS does. They have people on staff who are there to help you have success with their product. And if you don't get compliant, then you're going to stop using their product, so they're going to help you try and get there. And it's still pricey. It's still going to be five figures a year, but it will definitely save you some time and maybe even save you some money.Josh:Nice.Ben:Yeah. So next year, our audit should just be smooth as silk.Starr:Just butter.Josh:Love it.Starr:So if we-Josh:What are you going to do with all that extra free time?Ben:I made an executive decision.Starr:Oh really? What's that?Ben:Yes. The executive decision is we're going to have more teamwork at Honeybadger.Starr:That's ironic.Josh:Instead of what? What we have now, which is anarchy?Ben:We pretty much do have anarchy, I think. We are coordinated, we do make our plans, and we do have things we want to get done, but yeah, we are very independent at Honeybadger. We work independently. You might even say we're kind of siloed. We go off in the corner and do our own thing for most of the time. And I was chatting with Kevin about this, and I think we're going to try an experiment. So I think we're going to try to actually work together.Starr:Kevin is our developer.Starr:Yeah, so you all are going to be developing features together. Are you going to pair program? Are you going to use Tuple?Ben:Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down there.Starr:Are you going to mob program?Ben:Pair programming, that's maybe too advanced for us, I think. Maybe actually we'll chat in Slack a little bit here and there and maybe have a Zoom call.Josh:Yeah, so you're talking about you're both going to work on the same project at the same time.Ben:Right. Right.Josh:Mostly independently, but coordinating.Ben:Right. Yeah.Josh:Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I think that still can fit into our anarchy model.Starr:Yeah. It still seems a little bit independent.Josh:It's more like mutual aid or something.Starr:There you go. We should make a conference talk about mutual aid development.Josh:Right.Starr:That would go over well.Ben:Using NATO as a model for your development process. Yeah, so we'll see how it goes. I'm looking forward to it. I think I've been feeling a little lonely. I don't know if it's the right word, but maybe just off doing my own thing. I was like, "Oh, I think it will be nice to have some collaboration, some coordination." Maybe we'll even get to a level of synergies.Starr:Synergies.Starr:That's a blast from the past.Josh:Yeah, I think it's a good idea.Ben:Yeah, so more to come on that. We'll keep you posted. It's a bigger project. May not have results for a couple months. Don't really want to spill the beans on what it is right now. Competitive information. Don't want to leak it to all of our competitors.Starr:I like that. I like that. It's going to keep people on the hook for the next episodes.Josh:Totally.Ben:But yeah. That was my week.Josh:Yeah. Well my week, I took some time off, had some family stuff going on, so I was not very productive this week, but what I did work on was I've been working on this little guide for Hook Relay. I'd love to get the marketing machine, the fly wheel going on that at least, so we can be moving that along with everything else. And so yeah, working on some content and such.Starr:What is Hook Relay?Josh:Well you tell us what Hook Relay is, Ben. It's your baby.Ben:It's my baby. Yeah. So Hook Relay is a tool for managing web hooks. So you can record web hooks as they go out. In our case, to Honeybadger, we send a lot of web hooks, and so we built Hook Relay to help track all that web hook action. So we logged as pay loads that can go and diagnose issues that are happening, or maybe replay them as necessary, and of course it also handles inbound web hooks. So if you were handling, let's say, a post pay load request from GitHub about some activity that happens in your GitHub account, you handle that web hook and we can give you a place to store that, and then you can replay that, send it, forward it onto somewhere if you want, or just store it.Josh:Yeah. I think one of my favorite things about Hook Relay is just the visibility that it gives us into what's happening with the hooks, because otherwise we never had a dashboard. I guess we could have built one internally to see what the activity was and what's failing, what's actually... what requests are... because you're connecting to thousands of different people's random domain URLs, basically. It's really nice even for debugging and things like troubleshooting to be able to see what's going on, in addition to all the other cool things that it gives you out of the box.Starr:So you might say it's even like turnkey reliability and visibility for web hooks. For all your web hook needs.Ben:Yeah. Yeah, we modeled it on Stripes web hooks because we loved-Starr:I'm holding up a box up. I'm holding the TurboLinks box up and gesturing at it with my hand.Ben:Vanna White style.Josh:We should do our own channel, do our own infomercials.Ben:Yeah, I really wanted experience of Stripe. If you set up web hooks in Stripe, you can go and you can see all the web hooks they've sent you. You can see the pay loads, you can see whether they were successfully delivered or not, and I wanted that experience for our own web hooks, and also I thought it would be cool if developers could just have that without having to build the infrastructure. And so if you're building an app that send a bunch of web hooks on behalf of your customers, well now you can give your customers visibility into that web hook activity without having to build that tracking yourself.Josh:Yeah. That's pretty cool. So basically this content guide I'm working on is how to build web hooks into your application, including all the reliability and stuff that Hook Relay gives you for free. And the idea is that if that's what you're doing and you just want to save some time, Hook Relay will be a large chunk of that. You've just got to sign up. So I think it will be useful to everyone, even if they don't become a customer. If you're going to build your own back end and handle all the retries, build dashboards, and all that. But if you want it all turnkey, then Hook Relay is a big chunk of that work just done of you.Starr:So is this live? So can people go and sign up now?Ben:Yeah.Josh:Hook Relay, yes. It is.Josh:Hookrelay.dev.Ben:Yeah. In fact, we have enough customers now that it's actually paying for itself.Starr:What?Ben:Yes. So sweet.Josh:It's wild. That's wild.Starr:That's amazing.Ben:So Josh, is your guide going to have... are you going to dive deep into the architecture of here's how you build a whole web hook system, and so we're going to show you all the stuff behind the curtain so you can build your own? And then, "Oh, by the way, if you want it just done for you, here it is." Or are you going to just keep it more high level?Josh:I'm starting more high level. Yeah, I was planning on it being more high level. More like a high level architecture thing, or specification. Like these are the parts that you'll need to build, but you're going to have to solve some things, because it's not going to be specific to one system. It's not going to be like, "This is how you build web hooks for Ruby and Sidekick, or if you're going serverless." It will have suggestions on stacks or technologies to use for the back end, for instance, but yeah. I was thinking of leaving that to the user to figure out, but just showing the things you need to think about that a lot of people don't think about until they encounter the problems that might arise, like retrying and all the error handling that you add later, and validation for security reasons and things.Ben:Yeah. Yeah.Starr:This is giving me flashbacks to a whole two or three year process after we first launched.Josh:Yeah.Starr:It was just like, "Oh, crap. There's an edge case here that we didn't think of because we're not used to doing web hooks at this scale." And that just went on for like three years.Josh:Yeah. And it's nice having the two products because Hook Relay came out of Honeybadger and it's basically part of our web hook system. This is basically just documenting Honeybadger's web hook system for other people who might want to replicate that or whatever.Ben:Totally. I think that will be cool. A great piece of content, a great piece of SEO juice. And if you did decide to go deep into the technical side, like if you explain the entire infrastructure that we're building, that would actually be kind of cool too because you could maintain your technical documentation for the system internally and use it as a piece of content for marketing.Josh:That could be cool. Yeah. That's not a bad idea. Yeah, I was thinking just because I want to get something out there. I'm thinking it will help with both, having a resource for people who are already on the site to see this is basically how you will implement this. It's kind of like an implementation guide, really. But then also SEO. It should help get us in more search results.Ben:Yeah.Josh:And I also want to credit Ben Orenstein and and Tuple. They have a great pair programming guide which was an inspiration for this idea. I just really liked the format that they used, and I just think it's a great idea if you have a product that's highly targeted or focused on one specific thing and doing it really well. I think it's maybe even a great alternative to a blog, for instance. You can get some of the same benefits of having a blog, but without actually having to create a blog with a lot of different variety of topics and things.Ben:Speaking of the blog, I was talking to Harris, our sales guru, about our blog strategy, and I said, "Yeah, it's basically like a flypaper strategy. We want it to attract developers that come and see the content and they love it and they're like, 'Oh, let me check out this Honeybadger thing.'" Not particularly novel, but I like the flypaper idea.Starr:That's a good metaphor. And also for a long time, I poo-pooed SEO because in my mind, SEO was very scammy. I don't know. I learned about SEO in the days of link farming and all that, and I just didn't want to be involved in that. So I'm just like, "We're just going to put out good content and that will be enough." And it is, yes, but also I've looked at some metrics since then that make it clear that the majority of good things that happen because of our blog actually are people entering through search queries. That really outweighs people sharing articles and doing stuff like that, which I guess is obvious that it would be that way, but my own bias against search just made me not see that for a while. So maybe trying to pick some possible low hanging fruit. We've tried to make our site search engine friendly, but we having really done any explicit SEO type activities.Josh:Yeah. I went through recently through our documentation and just tweaked just small things on a bunch of pages, like headlines and some of the meta tags and stuff, but mostly headlines and content on page was what I was focusing on. And I wasn't using any particular tool to measure before and after results, but it does seem like it bumped us up in some of the results for people searching for more general terms like Ruby error tracking, for example, which are typically pretty competitive terms. But I think we rank pretty well for some of those terms these days. I think we've been around enough and we're one of the options that come up. So it does seem like if you already target the terms, it actually does what they say it does, which is good to know. You've just got to pay attention to it.Ben:So the moral of story is there is some value in SEO.Starr:I guess so.Josh:Yeah. Well and I think documentation sites. Your documentation, I think it's a great place to optimize SEO because a lot of times, especially for those... maybe not for the long tail searches. A blog is great for that, like what you were talking about with the flypaper, Ben. But for people who are actually searching for what you do, I think a lot of times documentation pops up first in a lot of cases when I'm searching for things, so don't overlook it like we did.Starr:Yeah. Well this week, I guess the main thing I did was I got our authors lined up for the next quarter of intelligence briefings. So if you haven't been playing along at home, we're having some intelligence briefings created. Basically everything that's going on in a certain language community for the quarter, and this grew out of Josh's need because he's basically in charge of our client libraries. And we have libraries in a variety of languages, so keeping up with those languages and what's going on is a real pain in the ass, so we were going to make these guides originally for him, but then also we were like, "This would be really great content to publish."Starr:And I've already got this system with authors who want to write about programming languages, and so let's see if we can make some authors make these summaries. And so far, yeah, I'm pretty happy. We had four or five of them created, and we're not publishing them because they were for a previous quarter, and this is just a trial run to see if the results are okay, and I think they were. I think the results were pretty good. We go some feedback from you two, and I updated my process and updated the template that all the authors are using, and so we should be getting round two done. I'm setting the deadline a week after the end of the quarter. My hope is if they get them to me then, then I'll have a week to get them up on our blog or wherever, and then they won't be too out of date by the time people see them.Josh:Yeah. That's cool. I'm excited to see the next batch. My favorite thing from the reports were the ones where they wrote some original content summarizing things or sections or whatever. That was super useful because there's a little bit of a story element to it that's specific to the quarter or whatever that you don't really get from just... if you just aggregate everything, all the weekly newsletters and what happened on Reddit and what happened on Twitter. If you just dump that all in a document, it's a bit of overload, so it's nice to have the summary the story of what the community was interested in.Starr:Oh yeah. Definitely.Josh:Here are some articles that they talked about.Starr:That's the whole idea, is to have somebody who knows the community explain to you what's going on, as opposed to... if I wanted a bunch of links, I could just write a little script to scrape links from places.Josh:Yeah.Starr:And it wouldn't be very useful. What's useful is having people who know the environment being like, "Hey, this is what's going on. This is why it's important." And yeah, so that's going to be something I guess I need to look for explicitly when I get this round of things of reports back.Josh:Start calling them secret agents or something instead of authors.Starr:Oh yeah.Josh:Or detectives.Starr:Operatives. Yeah. Assets.Josh:As our detective service investigators.Ben:I think having that analysis of why this news is important or why these things are important that they've collected is really handy, because the links are great. Like you said, I could just write a script to collect them, but having someone with that context in the community saying, "Okay, and it's important because, and this is why you should pay attention," I think that's really helpful to someone who's maybe not as deep into that every day.Starr:Oh yeah.Josh:Yeah. And also knowing what to surface, because there was one report that it really seemed to just dump every single link or article that was discussed or was in a newsletter or whatever, and I think it's more helpful if it's on a quarterly level, if you know what is actually the important things that you really want to know about.Starr:Yeah, that's true. I just made a note for myself to go back and explicitly just mention that to people, because I realized I didn't put it in the instructions anywhere. I put like, "Here's where a description of the content goes," but I didn't really put what I want inside that description, I realized.Josh:Yeah.Starr:So I'm going to do that.Ben:We're iterating in real time here.Starr:Oh yeah, yeah. This is where the work gets done.Josh:Yeah. Well and pretty soon, we'll have hopefully some good examples that we can show future authors, or detectives, or whatever we're calling them.Starr:Oh, definitely. Definitely. I'm going to call them authors because they're already in the blog system as authors and it just seems like-Josh:Agents?Starr:I don't know. I've got to be able to talk to these people with a straight face.Ben:You could call them research specialists, but then you might have to pay them more.Starr:There you go.Josh:Research. Yeah. Yeah.Starr:I don't know. I think I'm paying pretty well. Honestly, I think I'm paying pretty well for looking at... I don't know. How many weeks is a quarter? 12? 12 weeks of newsletters and just telling me what's going on. I think I'm paying pretty well.Josh:Yeah. You don't need to talk to them with a straight face though. You need to talk to them with sunglasses on, smoking a cigarette in a diner.Starr:Oh that's right. Yeah.Josh:Or a dive bar somewhere.Starr:Those people aren't smiling. Those people aren't smiling. Oh, that's right. I can do that. I just realized that it's two weeks since my second vaccine, so I'm ready to go out and recruit secret agents.Josh:Ready to party.Starr:Yeah. I'm very anxious talking with people in public now, but that's not a topic for this conversation.Josh:Yeah. We'll ease back into it.Starr:Oh yeah. Yeah, we're going to have dinner with my sister in law on Saturday, and I'm just like, "Okay Starr, you can do this. You can do this."Josh:Cool.Starr:Yeah, and I guess the other thing that we did this week is we are doing a trial run of Twist as a replacement for Basecamp messages, the message board on Basecamp. And yeah, so basically the long and short of it is the whole Basecamp BS just left a bad taste in my mouth in particular. I think you all's a little bit, or maybe you're neutral. I don't care. That sounded really harsh.Ben:You can be honest with us. We can take it.Starr:No, I didn't mean to sound that harsh. I just mean I'm not trying to put my opinions onto you, is what I'm saying. I just felt gross using Basecamp. Also if I'm being honest, I never really enjoyed Basecamp as a product. It's got a couple things that just really rubbed me the wrong way.Josh:We were having some vague conversations in the past. We have posed do we really want to keep this part of what we're using Basecamp for? And we were already using a subset of it, so yeah. It wasn't totally out of the blue.Starr:Yeah. And we were using maybe 20% of Basecamp, just the message boards feature.Josh:And the check ins, which apparently we all disliked.Starr:And the check ins, which nobody liked but we all kept using for some reason. Ben is like, "Can I turn off the check ins?" And I'm like, "I thought you were the only reason we were doing the check ins, it's because I thought you liked them."Ben:I think I was the only reason we were doing the check ins.Josh:It's because... yeah.Ben:Yeah, because I remember when I started it I was like, "Yeah, I really don't know what's going on," because back to that siloed, independent, off in the corner thing, I was like, "It would be nice to know what people are doing." But yeah, lately I've been like, "This is just a drag." So I'm like, "Would anybody be upset if this went away?" And everyone is like, "Please take it away."Josh:Everyone is just passively aggressively answering them.Ben:Everyone hated it.Josh:It wasn't that bad, but-Ben:I get it.Josh:Kevin used them too, but yeah.Ben:So I finally gave everyone permission to tell me that it was not okay, and now we no longer do it.Starr:There you go. And we're just like, "While we're at it, just ditch Basecamp." So yeah, so we've been trying a new system called Twist. Twist is, essential it's... I don't know, it's like threaded discussions. I figured this out on my own. I'm very proud of myself. So you have lots of threads, and you twist them together to make yarn or something or some sort of textile, so I bet you that's why it's called Twist.Josh:Beautiful sweater.Starr:Yeah. A beautiful sweater. The tapestry that is Honeybadger. And so far, I've really been enjoying it. I find the UI to be a lot better. There was one bug that we found that I reported, so hopefully that will get fixed. It doesn't really bother me that much. Yeah, it's amazing sometimes how the UI of an application can just be like, "Oh, ah. I'm having to parse less information just to do my task."Josh:It's much nicer.Starr:Yeah.Ben:It does feel like a lot less friction for our use case.Josh:Yeah. Well we talked about that, just the structure. The way that you structure conversation and organization things in a management tool like that makes a big difference. In Basecamp, we would create Basecamps for whatever. They call them Basecamps, right? They're the projects.Starr:They're like projects. I don't know.Josh:We'd create different ones, different projects for each project, but then there's five of us, so we'd basically just add everyone to every single project that is in there. But all the conversation is siloed off in each project, and with Twist, it's just much more of a fluid... it uses what, like channels? But yeah, it just seems like it's all together. It's kind of like a combination of Slack and a threaded message board or something, to me.Starr:Yeah, or like Slack and email or something.Josh:Slack and email. Yeah. It's a nice combo.Starr:Yeah. It has inbox, which I like, where it shows you any unread messages, and so you can just easily just go and scan through them, and it's all in the same page. It's a single page application, so you don't have to click out to a completely new page and then come back to the inbox and do all that. Basecamp had a similar feature, but it's like a timeline and it had a line down the middle of the screen and then branches coming off of either side of it. And for some reason, I started using the inbox in Twist and it was just like, "Oh, this is so much better." For some reason I think having things on different sides of the screen just doubled the amount of background processing my brain had to do to put it all together. And yeah, so I don't know. I do like it. Also, it's got mark down. It's got mark down.Josh:The mark down editor is so nice. It reminds me a lot of just using GitHub, the editor on GitHub, with the mark down mode and preview. And you can drag and drop images into the... I don't know if you knew that, into the mark down editor, like you can on GitHub, and it automatically inserts the image tag and uploads it for you.Starr:Yeah, it's all really slick. So I don't know. I imagine in maybe another... I've got vacation next week, so maybe after that we'll get together and compare notes. But I don't know, it seems like people like it so far.Josh:Yeah.Ben:Yeah, it's been good. It's interesting-Josh:If I had to decide today, it's a keeper for me.Ben:Yeah, I would go ahead and switch.Starr:Oh yeah, me too.Ben:It's interesting to me, you alluded to this, Starr, as you were talking about comparing it to your products and how they approach... it's interesting to me the UI, even if it's the same kind of functionality, how much different takes on the user experience can make a different experience for the user. How it just feels different. Like, "Oh yeah, it's basically doing the same thing, but it just feels better for whatever. My mentality or our business." Fill in the blank there, but I thought about that many times. Honeybadger versus competitors. It's like, "Yeah, they're doing basically the same thing, but we do have differences in how we approach the UI and different use patterns that we think are more emphasized by our UI versus the others." And sometimes it's just a matter of personal preference. It's like, "Oh, this just feels better to me." One night I tried Python before I tried Ruby, and Python is like, "Oh, that's interesting," but then Ruby really clicked my brain. It's like, "Oh, it just feels better." And I'm sure other people have the opposite experience, but I don't know. It's weird to me and fun to think about the human part of these products. Josh:Yeah. And it's surprising, the strong opinions that people pick up just based on those experience things when they're basically the same, if they're doing the same thing. Some people, they either love it or hate it based on that.Starr:Yeah, that's true. Maybe it all goes back to whatever business apps you used in childhood. It's just whatever your mom made you for lunch, you're always going to love that.Josh:Yeah. It's like a nurture thing, nature versus nurture. You were exposed to these apps when you were young, and so it's just what you're drawn to.Starr:Yeah. I remember putting my little friend's contact details into Lotus Notes.Josh:Right. I had to program Lotus Notes.Ben:I got my first dev job because I knew Lotus Notes.Starr:Oh, nice.Josh:Lotus Notes was an important precedent at the time, I think.Starr:Yeah.Ben:Yeah. Yeah. It was the bomb. You could do some pretty serious stuff.Starr:Yeah. I kept having these jobs that weren't technically dev jobs, but ended up being dev jobs just because I knew how to write V basic macros for Excel. I'm sure a lot of people had that experience.Josh:The thing I remember doing in Lotus Notes was setting it up to ingest email from the outside world into whatever, the system. And thinking about it now, that project I've done over and over and over since then.Starr:It's Basecamp.Josh:And I'm still doing that project.Starr:It's Basecamp all over again. Oh no.Ben:If only there was a service that took in emails for you, and then you could just bring them into your app data.Josh:Yeah. I bet in 20 years, we'll be writing programs to accept email.Ben:Process emails, yeah.Josh:Yeah.Starr:Yeah. When is this stuff going away? Technology changes all the time. When is email going away? They've been killing it for years. It's like fricking Rasputin. When is it going away?Ben:It's the cockroach of protocols.Starr:There you go.Josh:After the singularity, they'll still have to have a way to import it directly into your consciousness, and yeah, I don't know.Starr:Yeah. I hope the spam filtering is really good then.Starr:All right, well it was great talking with y'all.Ben:Likewise.Starr:Yeah. So this has been FounderQuest. Go to the Apple podcast and review us if you want. If you're interested in writing for us, we are always looking for fresh, new talent. Young authors looking to make their mark on the world of technical blog posts for SAS companies. And yeah, just go to our blog and look for the write for us page. I don't currently have any openings, but who knows? People flake out. So if you're interested in writing these reports for us too, get in touch. These quarterly intelligence briefings, if you want to be an agent for our intelligence service. All right, so I'll see y'all later.

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Becoming a Leader With Tim Stokes G'day everyone, I'm sure we've all been in a spot that we've thought about how do we become a leader, are we already a leader, what is a leader anyway? And ultimately in being a leader, is that going to be something that's going to leverage your ability to achieve business freedom? Today, we've got Tim Stokes here, and he's going to be talking about exactly that. How do you achieve business freedom and how do you make sure that you are a leader, and you are a developing leader, and you are continuing your skills, etc. He's from a company named Profit Transformations. Tell me, Tim, in your opinion, what is a leader?   The Qualities of a Leader Tim: I've got a great answer to that one. You're a leader when someone is following you because if there's no one following you, then you're just a dictator going for a walk on your own. That's the simple definition for it. It's the effect that you have on other people. If you're inspiring people to follow your words willingly, that's what I would call a leader. If people are regretfully, resentfully, slowly or not very effectively following your words, then that's the sign that the leadership skills could be improved. I think it's as simple as that. It's the difference you're making to other people. I believe leadership is one word: servitude. You're there to serve...serve your followers. It's about redundancy. You're aiming to make yourself redundant through the people that are following you, not rule them, if you like, not dictate to them, but empower them to be like you, to give power to them, to increase their confidence, and to be able to do what it is that you are doing yourself.  Ultimately, anyone can be a leader, but it's also very field specific. You could be a leader at home, but not necessarily be a leader at work. Do you think that leadership can be taught or is it something that you are or you're not? We’re All Leaders Tim: I think we're all leaders. We just probably don't recognise that we are because we all influence other people. As a parent, you're a leader because your children are watching you, scrutinising everything that you do, copying you, mirroring you, following you, saying what you say, doing what you do and copying your body language. I remember watching my daughter look at me when she was about three and she looked at me, saw it on, and then she adjusted her posture and I said, don't do that. She just copied my posture from just watching me without saying a word, and I watched her do it and then I watched her adjust and I was like, 'Oh, don't do that. Have your own, not mine.' We're always being watched. Employees are always watching their bosses. If the bosses aren't punctual, the employees think, 'Oh, punctuality doesn't really matter here. That's great. I don't need to be that punctual.' So we're leading whether we like it or not. I think everything is co-leadership. Sometimes other people lead, sometimes you lead. We probably have a prioritised role of leadership in business, but definitely, leaders are always leaders. I believe selling is leadership because you're leading people from doubt and potentially resistance or a bit of fear into making a confident decision. So when people are in doubt, they need leadership. So selling is leadership to take people from 'I'm not sure what I need to buy,' 'I'm not sure of the price, so I don't have my decision-making criteria,' 'I'm a bit ignorant of what I'm buying. Someone guide me to making a confident decision and buying.' That is a leadership opportunity. Every sales phone call, every sales opportunity is leadership. That's exactly what it is, so I think it's everywhere. Everywhere in business is leadership. At home, you're in leadership mode. Sometimes I say the wife wears the pants, but that's not true all the time. It'd be alternating leadership because that tends to be how relationships work. We call it co-leadership. I completely agree with everything you've just said. I think it's important to make sure that you are walking your best step forward for everyone else to follow suit. With punctuality, as you said, it is important making sure that you are punctual at work. With situations like remote workforces and even workforces that haven't ever met in person, I guess this is coming more and more common, you're very disciplined, very passionate, and you've got all those traits and the business is going absolutely gangbusters. Maybe you're a solo entrepreneur and you're doing that and you decide I'm going to outsource some of these roles and grow a bit bigger. How do you make sure that some of the good traits that you have when you're not necessarily in the office and they're not seeing everything that you're doing and it's not being completely obvious to them because you might only be seen for a couple of hours in a Zoom meeting a week or something like that. Support Your Employees Tim: I believe that the emotions that you share with your employees is what they pass on to their customers. It's about being there for them. It's about supporting them. It's about constantly being in touch to show that you care about them and care about the work they're doing. It's recognising the work they're doing, appreciating the work they're doing. They actually work for you. So even though they might not be in eyesight, they still work for you. I have clients, and their business has grown and grown and they're in other states and have employees in other states and even other countries. I've got a client who took his business into four countries, and it's just a regular contact. Those clients are always talking to their people wherever they are, touching base with them, seeing how they're going, making sure they're happy, making sure their needs are met, etc. It's not assuming that they are okay on their own. It's actually finding out all the time. 'How's it going? How did you go with the job? Do you need any help? Yeah. Great. Could you do this? Fantastic. Great. Sounds like it went great.' So it's just those regular conversations that I think are crucial. In having those regular conversations, how do you make sure that you come across as someone who's appreciative and not necessarily someone that's micromanaging? Tim: That's really getting the context of what they went through, not just the content. When you start saying, 'Did you do this? Did you do this? Did you make sure you did this?' That's micromanaging. I love introducing numbers into businesses, the eight ingredients that achieve business freedom for business owners. One of them is KPIs and having numbers for the person to see themselves that they're doing a great job because the numbers don't lie. The numbers help people to see that they're doing a great job. The regular communication is great, but when you back it up with the numbers and say, 'Hey, you did an excellent job. You're on that job for two hours. I estimated it to be two and a half. Well done. That's excellent.' And the number backslap. And I'll find that over time that the numbers can fulfil a person with a couple of other ingredients. Then that way, when an employee's fulfilled, they need far less supervision. But it's getting them to that stage is what takes a lot of work.  Quit Micromanaging and Being a Business Dictator You said earlier that everyone's a leader in some way, shape or form. But I'm sure that there is people that we've all worked for or worked with and we've seen that they're not people that would like to follow. You've come across someone that isn't necessarily willing to step away from the dictatorship role. Is that still going to be a successful business or is it just not as successful? I'm sure there's been some famous dictators in that time that have done well. Tim: Well, Steve Jobs is a bit of a dictator, for example. He's controlling everything in a way because no one in any department knew what they were working on until the launch of the product. And then he went, 'Oh, is that what I was making?' I mean, when it all comes together, they finally figure out what they're making, but it's like everyone's sort of locked in a little area. Don't talk to anyone in any other department. It's all secret stuff. That's how that business was run, but it became the most successful company in the world, whereas Google is the opposite. It's like I have half a day off with pay. Just mingle here. Here is a community area. Everyone go and play pool and play video games and everyone talks to everyone from every department all the time. Yeah, you can be very successful if you're a dictator. I've had clients that it's like, why did my staff keep leaving? I can't stand staff leaving. I've got to build in some penalties and get better contracts. I'm like, 'Well, maybe you need to improve your leadership skills.' So I'm subtly trying to say, 'Well, they're leaving because of you and how you treat them.' But he's looking for tighter contracts because he's too much of a dictator, not enough of a leader. Still had a successful business, very successful business. However, if he wasn't there, they used to complain. If he's not cracking the whip, then they're not going to do it. So, yes, businesses can definitely be successful without great leadership. However, I'm about the word optimising and efficiency and taking businesses to an extremely high level. That's a very important ingredient. We're not born leaders. Some people are, but the rest of us are going to figure it out by trial and error of what leadership is by the results that we have and the effect that we have on people. We go 'Oh, okay, let's not say that next time.' You slowly improve your leadership skills from the experience. But we can take a proactive approach to learning this thing called leadership. It's like most people in sales don't know they're in a leadership role. Give them the good news and say, 'You understand you're in the leadership role.' 'What's leadership got to do with sales?' They're in doubt and they need to go from doubt to confidence. There's a leadership opportunity, the leadership journey, to facilitate and take them from their doubt to the confidence of saying to you, 'Oh, this is exactly what I want.' Getting people to that state of mind where they're so confident that they're asking to buy from you is good sales, and it's actually good leadership. Stopping Your Bad Business Owner Habits As a generalisation, if there's a problem in your business and it seems to be consistently happening, chances are it's the business owner that's causing that problem. If you find that people are leaving or that people aren't answering the phone or aren't doing things in a suitable amount of time, even if it comes down to people having more sick leave than usual, it can be something that they might not even consciously be doing. But that does boil down to something that needs to be corrected. The ship needs to be steered in the best direction or a better direction to what it's currently going. If that is something that you're wanting to do, this is all about leveraging and achieving business freedom. If you're trying to teach your staff how to be minions of yourself, mini-mes, so to speak, what is the best way to step away from a bad habit and towards something that's going to be closer to leadership can be a gift or a developed skill. What's the best way to make sure that you identify and then correct? Tim: I think a really good thing to do as a touchstone before is understand that it's about context. It's not about content. As a leader, you want to create the context. And it's like saying there's a soccer field, there's boundaries, here are some rules. Don't play the game. It's defining the rules and the parameters with which to play the game or how an employee can occupy the role in the business by knowing the parameters and knowing what the expectations are, which is sort of KPI can kick in. 'Here's a performance guide. Hit this number and you're doing a great job.' Run Your Business By The Numbers It's about getting from Point A to Point B. The road that you follow is not critical, but it's getting to a Point B. Your Point A gets you to Point B, and leadership is about defining Point B so that the person can figure out their way of getting there by using the parameters which you set and that's where policy is. The policy is like a rule or guideline that an employee follows. A simple one is answer the phone two and a half rings. That's a policy. So it's a parameter with which to perform well in your role. So when a business owner gives the clear parameters, which are systems, when you digitise the roll with the parameters and the policies, the procedures are not as important. It's clarifying what the outcome looks like because in the end, that's all that really matters. I was fortunate in about 1999 to look at the business reports that Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire, wanted from his newspaper every week, sent to him by fax by his general manager. And the guy, the general manager, was showing me this. We got on really well. He said, 'Hey, come and check out the office.' He's got like 50 staff in there. And he said, 'This is all the salespeople over here, the production people over here, all the journalists that are doing all the writing, and then we have the finance people, admin people, etc. These are the reports I have to fax Rupert Murdoch every single week or I don't have a job.' I started to realise that billionaires run their businesses remotely by numbers, straight numbers. He said there are 23 offices faxing the same reports, so 23 separate businesses every Monday seeing the same reports. And he said we don't talk too much because the numbers tell the story. And that insight was great for me to understand that when you set the parameters up, which is a lot of work, and then you introduce the KPIs that show the outcome that they're aiming to hit from that role, and you have the systems in place for them to follow as guidelines, you don't need to micromanage. That's when you achieve business freedom, where you don't have to work in your business, because if you set it up correctly or at a very high level, then that's the outcome that you can achieve. Well, I can say that I wish I knew you were around when I started business because back in 2007, when Dorks Delivered was in its infancy and I started off as the cowboy who just went around doing everything that he read online once or had the trial and error and worked out that was the best way to do it. And then I went down a path and hand over fist loads of coin, but went to a spot where I thought, 'Okay, this is fantastic. I got to bring someone else on board. Brought David on at the time. He was going really, really well. He was working 80 hours, I was working 80 hours. We're both going gangbusters, loving it. The family wasn't as keen on it, but everyone else says you got to balance these things until they had a stroke and end up in hospital. And then I can't do 160 hours in a week. So I went, 'Okay, what can I do here to make sure this doesn't happen again.' And removing onboarding times and things like that and started systematising and putting in processes, practices, operating procedures, KPIs, I got to get our business running to a spot where I could step away. His heart attack happened in 2012. It took me until 2016 to be pretty confident in my systems. It was 2018 I was able to step away for 3 months and not do anything in the business and I thought, 'Okay, sweet.' but it took time.  Tim: Oh yeah. It takes a lot of work. I can shortcut that for a lot of businesses but you know what it's like. I was talking to a client yesterday about that exact thing and we were just guesstimating that it's probably at least 500 hours' work on your business that you got to do to get to that level. It's a lot of extra work, and if you can shortcut it, excellent.  The way I did it I looked at the different things that I do in the business, and I just started writing a list of absolutely everything. I got about 500 different things on a list, and then I was categorising them so you could see was it an accounting role, was it an administration role, was it a technical role, was it on the tools? Where was my time going? That was eye-opening. I saw where my time was going and then speeding up all the different processes, and I love it. You've got to be passionate about it to be able to move it away from a job into an investment. Remove Repetition   Tim: Absolutely. I found that one of the reasons business owners go into business is they just want a change from doing the same stuff all the time as an employee. I think it's a mixture of ingredients. One of the most rewarding roles that you can have in a business is being in a non-repetitious space. You set your business up so that you're not dealing with the same customers, which is the production, you're not doing with sales, which is the same stuff. Same problem, same sort of stuff. And you move into that non-repetitious stage and that's where you can occupy different roles. If you're the business development manager for your own business, that could mean a few things. You could be the product innovator, researching to find new products to introduce into your business that can sell them as line extensions, or you could be going in a state meeting people in your same industry that you're not competing with having lunches and dinners with them and sharing ideas and swapping ideas. You can travel around tax deductible and have this great lifestyle and choose when you turn up for work and when you're travelling and having fun and staying home, researching kind of thing. And that's I think a great role to strive for as a business owner, to be in a creative, non-repetitious space, then life's just fun. It's just enjoyable.  Well, the terrible thing is while most people are being rewarded by being paid per hour, most people aren't looking at faster, more effective ways to do things. That is something that I'm really happy that we step away and help other businesses step away from that and make sure that they and their staff are doing things that are speeding up their processes. We don't charge our customers per hour for the work that we do unless we absolutely have to. We normally try and scope it all out and then have a set rate that we're charging them to achieve certain key objectives, and if we don't, then we don't get that money. It's very important that we set up ourselves like that, and I think other businesses should be doing the same thing. That ultimately has everyone strive towards the same common good. You don't want to have people in monotonous, repetitious work for lots more reasons than just it's boring. If they're doing something that's repetitious, it's something that we'll be able to automate. If it's not us doing it, it'll be someone else doing it. If no one's doing it for them, then it'll be their competitors that are doing it and then they'll be out of business. Any job that is repetitious can be automated. Tim: Yeah, that time's coming. We'll definitely move in that direction.  Always be learning, and that's the great thing with the BDM role. You're always learning new things about the industry, new ways to talk to people, new ways to become a better version of you and ultimately I guess become a better leader in doing that sort of research. If you had to pick just three effective leadership qualities, what would you say is the three main things that people should make sure they're doing? Consider Weekly Meetings Tim: I think it's really good to set up a weekly team meeting in businesses. When you set up a weekly team meeting, then you get the collective but you also get the individual at the same time. That's an example of something to be doing, is listening to a collective and instructing a collective instead of just instructing people one on one or communicating with people one on one. I think that is a huge ingredient that moves people towards that business freedom stage. And people like getting together and hearing from other people's point of view. That's a method of redundancy. I found that clients that I've set up the weekly team meetings with and then introduce numbers to employees use the word 'love' like say, 'I love working here since these meetings have happened and we're talking about numbers and all that.' We might think it's a bit scary to do all that sort of stuff initially, and sometimes there is a little bit of resistance from the business owners to do it as well as when trying to get the employees to do it. It takes a few months, but about Month 3, 4 or 5, often employees use the word 'love.' I think that's about as good as it gets kind of thing. 'I love working here. I want to work here until I retire. It's the best job we've ever had.' It's not changing the type of work they do, but just the environment that you create, the culture that you create from that weekly team meeting, getting together. And then I work for the team that doesn't work for you, and that makes a huge difference. They don't care if you're there or not because if a person is happy and fulfilled, they don't care what you're doing. If your employees are not happy and you go, 'I'm taking two months off.' They go, 'Why am I still working here?' They have a grudge about it. If you make your employees happy and fulfilled in their roles, they don't care what you do. You can do whatever you like. You can turn up for work or not, and they really don't care because they're not working for you. They're working because they're a significant part of the team. I think a leader can set that up and then create that redundancy, which I think is an essential ingredient of leadership: to figure out how to make yourself redundant in the role.  You've got to make sure you're redundant. We do our best to have a weekly team meeting. I have spoken to other people that have daily huddles to talk, and the staff said that they would love a weekly meeting, but it just becomes too much having daily meetings. Can you overdo it? Tim: Absolutely. Weekly is a magical timeframe. I've had hundreds of businesses that I've introduced team meetings to. Those that strive fortnightly don't make much progress. Those that meet monthly don't make any progress, but the ones that do it more often than weekly doesn't achieve a lot. A week is a magical timeframe. That's what I've found. It's a different day name for every week. And it's just a really good time trying to get your head around so you can say, 'Okay, last Tuesday, remember when this happened.' So they have a good memory for the events of those five days in that week kind of thing. So a week is just a great timeframe. You don't need to be more often because you're trying to review how you went for the week. Reviewing how you went for the day is not going to motivate you, but reviewing how you went for a week, it's a significant amount of effort to review how you went from that week's effort. It averages out some of the bumps as well. You have a great day one day, not so good next day, average day the next day. When you look at the average of the week, 'That's good. I averaged well.' The Meaning of Business Freedom What does business freedom mean to you or what should that mean to everyone else?  Tim: I think business freedom is a state of mind. It can be a physical thing. I like saying to business owners: would you like to have a business where you can go holidaying wherever you like? I got a client who goes surfing in Indonesia in a remote place for two months, sometimes three. That's business for you. That's great. As you said, it's different things for different people. But I think most people, as you said, 19 out of 20 would relate to that: wanting to be able to spend time on the things that they care about, be it surfing, painting, hanging out with snotty kids or whatever else that you're doing. Tim: It's the choices to do what you want, when you want, with whoever you want, wherever you want. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Final Word That sounds awesome. I'd love to go surfing for that length of time. I think I'd finally learn how to stand on the board properly. One last question before we head off. What is your favourite book on business and leadership and why?  Tim: The E-Myth Revisited  I love it. Michael Gerber. He's great. Tim: Yeah, I discovered that when I've been in business for seven years, and then I read the book. I was actually really absolutely shocked and stunned that there's this subject called business and it has got nothing to do with an industry. And that's what the realisation was. Because I was like the typical person. I've got to be really good at my job. I was in a trade service business. I was a fantastic climber, great at destroying trees and turning them into mulch. However, I didn't know how to run a business, so that's seven years of struggle and then I realised there's this thing called business. You can learn about this topic. Then I did the Michael Gerber two-day workshop and that was just life-changing. It changed my whole philosophy, everything about business, because he'd say, why do you work? That's what your business is meant to do. Business works hard so you don't have to. I think that's the best book. It should be compulsory for business owners to read that book when they start a business.   I read it in 2007 and loved it. I've since read it again, and just on 'McDonaldising' your business is a big part of that. I think we'll leave it there unless there's anything else you'd like to add for our listeners? I know that there is one thing that I wanted to go through with you, particularly understand that if you are struggling in business, you have some options for people to have a bit of a review and you've got a book that you have on offer at the moment, is that right?   Tim: Yeah, I have a book called Eight Ways to Improve Your Business in Five Days. It's got eight strategies to implement to improve your business in eight different areas like employees, profitability, cash flow, marketing, etc. It gives you eight strategies to implement. They don't cost anything to implement them, but all of them will make a difference to your business. That's my challenge for business owners. If you're willing to put eight new strategies in your business, I challenge you to make a difference in your business within a week.   It sounds like something no one can lose with. That sounds awesome. If anyone else out there has any questions for Tim, we'll have him part of our Facebook group so you can jump on there, ask any questions that you have for him. Actually, what is the best website to go to? That's going to be easy to say.   Tim: Just go to https://www.profittrans4mations.com.au/    Thank you for your time, and everyone out there, stay good.    

Why does it seem that the duty and obligation to give yourself "self-care" often creates more stress in of itself?  Instead, what if self-care doesn't need to be appointments and breaks, meditation and pictures? What if self-care can be defined however the frick you want to define it and practiced on the regular, instead of some stop-in-time moment.  This week you'll learn to define self-care as anything you want it to be. And once you do that, it'll be so much easier to integrate it into your everyday life.  Erin Hatzikostas and Nicole Licata Grant meet nearby Erin's new "snack shack" for another catch-up episode. They quickly dive into the apparent news of the week: Nicole being fired. No wait, she wasn't fired, everyone just...thinks...she was? But that isn't even Nicole's WTF for the week. She shares a story about an apparent mystery work phone and number...that she didn't know she had for a year+. Erin shares her WTF moment that's lingered for the last month. Erin received a connection from the executive producer of Last Week Tonight (freak out moment). Turns out they were looking for a career coach.  Nicole tells her authentic-so-hard of the week, after meeting an artist in a bar she found herself naked and covered in paint, in a basement with a bow and arrow. She took part in a living art project and became the canvas for a body painting artist. This leads into a conversation about how taking chances and doing things you've always had at the back of your mind but never taken the step towards realizing it is actually an expression of self-care. What is your definition of self-care? Are your actions serving you? A pedicure might be your definition of self-care, but maybe learning a new skill is your definition. As Erin says, "What lights you up? What revitalizes you?" Nicole comes in with another story from her self-care experiences, this one is from her birthday when she was given an in-home sauna, is it considered self-care? We want all of you audience members to let us know your self-care routines, or what you'd like to try as a new self-care routine. Join the b Cause podcast Facebook group and let's work together to redefine self-care. If you like jammin' with us on the podcast, b sure to join us for more fun and inspiration! Here are some options... Follow Nicole on LinkedIn:   Follow Erin on LinkedIn:   Check out the b BRILLIANT career coaching program @   b Cause Podcast Facebook group @   We even share more crazy stuff here (you probably thought that was impossible). Get your own copy of Erin's book by searching "You Do You Ish" in amazon or going to   Take our simple, fun and insightful "What Kind of Dog Are You At Work?" by going to   We have so much fun stuff going on...we wouldn't want you to miss out - join the authenticity movement and our community by adding your email just about anywhere @   Check out our blog for more of our no-BS career advice @   We have fun and inspiring t-shirts @ DISCLAIMER: This episode is not explicit, though contains mild swearing that may be unsustainable for younger audiences.  Tweetable Comments: "People called me asking 'Oh my God, were you fired?!' and I was like 'What? I just took yesterday off..." "This is like faking my own death. I should enjoy it!" "So now I start every conversation with 'Oh by the way, have you been calling this number for years?'" "Let's get through my story, so we can get to your stank." "This is the stuff I can do when I'm a but more sober." "Fantasies are frolicking in front of my face." "This episode we might just ask Nicole to tell every story of her life." "You meet an artist in a bar and all of a sudden you're naked, covered in paint, in a basement with a bow and arrow." "My self-care is learning and doing something I don't know how to do." "Repitition is my Kryptonite."  "Is there something you want that can serve you in a better way?" "I sat there, sweaty, dripping wet, with the tripod ready to take photos." "I came home and I thought, I'm just having Mac n Cheese for dinner...so I ate the whole box."

So, this post was on my feed. "I have a husband who helps, but that doesn't mean I was 'so lucky to find a man like that.' Yes, I'm lucky to have him. But him being what a father and husband should be is not the main reason. ⁣⁣When I tell others; I'm going away for a weekend to meet up with friends, he's cooking dinner tonight, or he took them grocery shopping without me, or he cleaned up and did the laundry, the people I'm talking to look like I've told them a ghost story. Then comes the, 'Oh my god, you're so lucky! I need to borrow him. I need a man like that.' The thing is we're a team. I pick up after him, he picks up after me, and we take turns looking after the kids so we both get a break. ⁣⁣Being in a relationship, especially with kids, takes a ton of work, from both sides.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣When he comes home from work, he plays with the kids so I can make dinner. Then I'll play with the kids while he cleans up the kitchen. I make dinners on the weeknights, and he makes breakfast every weekend morning. ⁣⁣We both have each other's backs. We both do our share of 'work' at home and with the kids. That's the way it should be. ⁣I'm not lucky to have him because he does what a father should be doing. I'm lucky to have him because of the person he is. And who I am when I'm with him." Now this is a marvelous post. And I wanted to break it down and go over it. Let's look at the first paragraph. It talks about being lucky but not because of the actions that he makes as a father or husband. Being a father and husband mean different things to different people, in different places and at different times. But let us look at the big picture and see what we can find. Most will agree that a father is responsible for the welfare of his wife and children. This can be for things like a roof over their heads, clothing, shoes, food and education. That is only a small part of what total welfare is. So now let's move to the second part of the post. Only in shared responsibilities can you have the opportunity to take a moment to catch your breath on the bench. Life, especially with kids, takes a ton of work. Parenting is meant to be a tag team. When one of you is down on the mat, you slap their hand and jump in to save them. This is what builds a strong relationship. This builds trust in one another. If you care about your spouse or child; You have to jump into the game. Families need to be a team. They need to work together. Fathers cannot be the coach setting on the sideline, no they need to be on the field side by side with the rest of the team. They can be a leader on the team. But if they are not on the team the team will not win. Here are some stats. Without a strong father, children are at 2X's greater risk of obesity, a 4Xs greater risk of poverty, and 7X's more likely to become pregnant as a teen. If you think one person can't make a difference then look at the proof of what a father can do. Check out the National Fatherhood Initiative. A fathers' nurturing presence helps children mentally, socially and emotionally. Take responsibility for changing this world! Take the responsibility of being a father to your children. I want to go over this last sentence one more time. “I'm lucky to have him because of the person he is. And who I am when I'm with him.” This is the type of relationship that I hope you have! This is the kind of relationship I want to help you create. Please subscribe to this podcast and leave a rating and review, to help others find this podcast. Also join the Facebook group. Here is the spot to click and set up a time so we can discuss how you can use these tools and others to get your amazing life! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/youramazinglife/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/youramazinglife/support

The news media are a major source of diet culture BS. Every day there's an apparently "inspirational" story in which diverse bodies are shrunk down to diet culture's version of acceptability. We're literally brainwashed into viewing increasingly disordered, bizarre and downright dangerous behaviours as "#inspirational". Join me and my guest, anti-diet warrior and coach Summer Innanen as we present some truly epic examples of "SHITSPIRATION" from Australia and Canada. You will not believe how ludicrous they are! Grown up humans are supposed to be #inspired by a 'doubledown diet' which reduces calorie intake to almost nothing, a BARBIE DOLL (I am not joking), and....a Malamute? You have to hear this to believe it, it's next level #ridiculous. Trigger warning for this episode - very explicit language and we're discussing diet, calorie counts, etc, in (critical) detail. This one's not for the faint hearted! But if you're ready to get your rage-o-meter cranked up to ALL FIRED UP, this episode's for you! Show Transcript Louise Adams: Oh, Summer, thank you so much for coming on the show. Summer Innanen: Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here with you. Louise Adams: Tell me, what's firing you up? Summer Innanen: Well, I saw an article recently in Women's Health, and it's about... it's supposed to be like a, you know, quote unquote 'weight loss inspiration story'. And it's about a woman who had a very significant weight loss experience by doing a very disordered diet. And I think what fired me up so much about it was not just the content within it, which I'm sure we'll you know, dissect and talk about it. But the fact that in 2015, in December 2015, Women's Health came out and it was a huge... we got a lot of headlines, a lot of publicity around the fact that they were taking the words, 'bikini body' and 'drop two sizes' off of their covers. So they sort of made this like quasi- body- positive stance. Like, 'hey,  we've heard you, our readers. And we've heard that, you know, you don't like us sort of using this very patriarchal, sexist language'. Yeah. Yeah. And so, like I remember at the time this was shared, like even people within the sort of anti-diet community were sharing it, saying 'this is great, like nice to see a major publications sort of making these changes' and then, you know, to, to look and see here we are five years later and it's the same shit. Louise Adams: It's back. Summer Innanen: Worse. Like I would argue what this what's contained in this article is so terrible from the perspective of promoting disordered eating and like really what this person is talking about is like, the way that they eat to me sounds like a, like an eating disorder, which obviously like I'm not here to diagnose or go... Louise Adams: it's disordered eating practices. Right? It's promoting starvation. Summer Innanen: Yeah. So it's a combination of keto and intermittent fasting. So it's like keto isn't bad enough on its own. So it's like, we're going to make intermittent fasting onto it. Louise Adams: It's an unholy marriage. Summer Innanen: It is honestly, and that's like, for me, I think why I was so fired up about it too, is because when I sort of reached the end of the line with my own disordered relationship with food, I was doing, I was trying to...attempting, it would only last like three days...to do something kind of similar. And it's what absolutely destroyed my body. Like just... like put me into amenorrhea, even with like a higher body weight percentage, and like completely disrupted my hormones. And when I work with clients, I see the same kind of behaviors really being kind of the end of the line for a lot of people. Like the one that really, really kind of messes up their head and their physical, like their actual, you know, physiology a lot worse than other diets that they have done previously. Louise Adams: Oh, this is an awesome thing to get completely fired up about because like we have Women's Health magazine here, which is... it's not health, it's women's starving magazine. They did no such thing as  like...to tell us that they're not going to do the 'bikini body', but how gaslighting to say, 'Oh, we're not going to do that anymore. Hello, here's something  worse'. And like to use that kind of little bit of that... they just wanted the publicity of that. 'We want to perform the idea of body positivity, but like, hell no, we're not actually going to stick to that'. Summer Innanen: Yes, yes. Louise Adams: It's going to go back to this apparently inspirational behaviour of this lady. Who is doing the very thing that tipped you into like a severe eating disorder? That's so disturbing. Summer Innanen: Yes. Yes. And, you know, they give a outline of what she eats in a day and as I think, as I emailed you before, I was like, that's kind of what I eat for breakfast. Like, it's the same amount of calories that I consume for breakfast. Like, that's it. And I remember being in that frame of mind where you would read a magazine and they would sort of show like, 'oh, here's what somebody eats in a day'. Or 'here's what a celebrity eats in a day'. And I remember always feeling like, so ashamed because I ate so much more than that. And I was always like, 'what's wrong with me? Like, why can't I eat as little as this?' And you know, I just can't believe that stuff is still being put out there, like that the author of that piece didn't think like, 'Hey, this might really promote an eating disorder.' When it's that blatant! Literally... Louise Adams: my dog eats more than that. When it's that blatant and there's, you know, throughout every article that we're going to talk about today is...oh, except the last one. There's literally no critical thought. Or even appreciation of the damage that's being spread by these, like it's full on evil messaging as far as I'm concerned, dressed up as inspiration. That the fact that a journalist...journalists, as far as I know, are trained to be critical thinkers and, and yet it's like that goes out the window when it comes to these apparently inspirational stories. Summer Innanen: Yeah. Yeah. Like there's absolutely no consciousness at all. That's what I felt like. Cause you know, it's just, it was one of those things. That's, it's almost like when I first read it, I was like, it's almost too ridiculous to believe this is...that they actually publish this as something that's supposed to be inspirational. But it's to me like, you know, I think the readership probably skews a little bit, you know, on the younger side, you know, maybe more like 20 to 30 age group or younger, probably teen, a lot of teenage girls and you know, to be reading that at such an impressionable age and to think 'oh, this is how...this is what I should be doing'. Which is essentially like starvation as well as like malnutrition and just something that would put such a high amount of both physical and mental stress on your body, that would really create like long lasting damage. Yeah, both biologically and psychologically. Louise Adams: And that's, that's who I see, you know, my clients are the diet casualties, people who have had these experiences and then...you know? Dieting like this, crash dieting...because this is, this lady is on a severe calorie restriction. And then she's added intermittent fasting, which basically means you're only allowed to eat for six hours a day and squish in your tiny little bits of food into six hours. Like when you really think about that, that is so many levels of fucked up and she's saying, 'oh, it's so good'. And I feel for her being in that diet head, And who knows maybe an eating disorder head, but there's  ...the payoff is so great for her because the weight loss like that, the whole article is about her trying to shift the last bit. And she's still got a way to go. And her poor body, if her poor body could talk would be going, 'I'm starving. I'm slowing down this cause it's getting dangerous'. And she's like, 'right, I'm going to double down using the halo of intermittent fasting', which is starving. Summer Innanen: Yes. Yeah. And the other thing too, that stood out to me, well, two things. One is the amount of caffeine that she talks about drinking in terms of hydration. Cause it says, like, what really works for her. It's like, 'I'm really hydrating'. And it's like so much coffee and green tea. And I'm like, if I had that much caffiene I'd be, I don't even know what I would be doing. Louise Adams: That's a question I ask when I'm seeing people with eating disorders, like, what are you drinking? Because quite often when you get an eating disorder, you will drink caffeinated stuff to kill your appetite. So, she's calling that hydration. Summer Innanen: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And then the other thing too, is that she uses the language of 'food freedom' to talk about how she feels, because  she says you know, 'food is really just food. It's not good or bad. I don't obsess about it anymore'. And it's like, really that could be pulled from any sort of anti-diet playbook, which is what we want, but it's so counter to what she's actually doing. And I think that it kind of shows like when you're really into, like, when you' re really kind of overtaken your mind, you're sort of riding this, this buzz or this wave where it does feel like that. But, you haven't woken up to how you really are looking at things that way. And you really are, you know, like if you're tracking every calorie, which is what she says she was doing... Louise Adams: How is that freedom? Summer Innanen: Yeah. That's not freedom. And that's, that's like, maybe she's sort of, you know, like kidding herself. She's at the sort of like, kidding, 'I'm kidding myself' phase. Like, it's like, you know, most of us when we were sort of dieters were like, 'well, no, no, no, I'm doing it for my health. Like I'm doing no, this is for my health', but really underneath it's, you know, there's, there's some other stuff going on, but I hate it when they kind of steal, like they sort of co-opt the language of intuitive eating and co-op the language of the anti-diet message and really use it to promote something that's so restrictive. It just makes... Louise Adams: You know who came to my mind when you were saying that is Rebel Wilson. Summer Innanen: Yes Louise Adams: she's an Aussie actor and has always been in a larger body. Apparently like her kind of whole catch phase for 2020 was that it was her 'year of health'. Summer Innanen: Yes! Louise Adams: But the behaviors are restriction and starvation and over-exercise, but she's masking that in the language of 'I'm so healthy now'. Like, 'I don't think about food anymore. My habits are so great', but it's the same thing. Summer Innanen: Exactly. Exactly. Louise Adams: Worlds apart from what the anti-dieting and intuitive eating stuff is actually about. Summer Innanen: Yeah. And, and like, it's not their fault. Like, I don't like talking about this. I'm not, I don't want to like, shame this, this woman at all. Louise Adams: As an individual, no. Summer Innanen: Or Rebel Wilson. It's like, but it's really about. You know, the it's really about the culture diet culture, and just the fact that we feel as women and more, you know, more specifically that we have to go to these extremes to really like, you know, show our, our worthiness as humans, like in our value. And like, Rebel Wilson is so talented. Louise Adams: I know, so funny. Summer Innanen: She's an awesome actress. And now it's like, everyone's just talking about her body and her weight loss. And it's like, it takes away from all these other amazing things that she's done. Louise Adams: And when it's really uncritical, as well. It's like, why is she so much better now than she's small? That just reinforces the diet culture message and keeps stories like the woman you talking about going. It's like, I can get all this attention, uncritical, positive attention, but it's like, we're not seeing what's right in front of it. Like we are teaching and promoting women in this case did a really, really sick eating disordered and stuff under the flag of health. Summer Innanen: And that is like, supremely unhealthy. Yeah. Yeah. It's so frustrating too, because you see all these positive changes happening in the way of, you know, women becoming more liberated or just having, you know, bigger voices taking up more space. And yet it's just like the same old shit is still there as it relates to our bodies and our value and, and... Louise Adams: There's such an uptick too, in January, isn't there. Summer Innanen: Oh yeah. It's a predictable tsunami of the weight loss. The walls of relentless inspiration, whether we want it or not. It's just, it's here. ESpecially with the pandemic, you know, because everyone, a lot of people have...maybe their bodies have changed a little bit, which makes a ton of sense because we're under a lot of stress or just life changes that have happened. So I think that, you know, depending on where you live, if there's still a lot of restrictions, which I was saying to you before, like there still is here. Dieting gives you like a bit of hope, almost like weight loss gives you a bit of hope. In this time when maybe some of us are feeling a little hopeless or just like really kind of sick of, sick of the isolation and everything else. And so I wouldn't be surprised that maybe your body's changed a bit during quarantine. I wouldn't be surprised if this year really you see like just a lot more people really engaging in dieting as a way to cope with the emotion, emotional discomfort of living through a pandemic. Louise Adams: That is a really good point, isn't it. Dieting can be a bit of a lifeline. It can feel like it, like something familiar to do in a scary time. Summer Innanen: Yeah. Some sense of control, some sense of like, you know, hope, something else to focus on other than like the fact that there's a lot of horrible things happening in the world. Yeah, absolutely, a hundred percent. And I just, I, you know, I've heard it from people that I work with just feeling more urges to diet lately. And I think that, yeah, it's just something to be mindful of. If anyone listening is experiencing that too, like I think it's pretty normal to be experiencing more of those urges, but hopefully you can... Louise Adams: LIsten to today's episode and get your bullshit detector back. Summer Innanen: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't drink the Kool-Aid it's not actually going to help. Louise Adams: It's not control! Summer Innanen: Yeah, exactly. Louise Adams: It's so interesting because like, Canada is very similar to Australia, culturally in lots and lots of ways. And it's funny...not funny. It's not funny. Cause like, you're talking about really disturbing uncritical weightless articles. And we've got them here in Australia too. And I really want to talk to you about the lady who lost weight, because she wanted to look like Barbie. Yes. And Summer Innanen: I, so you said that to me, I honestly, it was like, okay, this needs to be a tabloid. Like this can't be like a real, and, and then you told me that it's actually a very legit publication. Louise Adams: Yeah. Oh, I'm so ashamed of ourselves. So, this is on Nine News. Channel Nine is Murdoch press and it's, you know, one of it's a huge...it's the number one news platform in Australia for news. I want to say news, right? News. Okay, exciting. And in this news, I'm just using air quotes.  It's this story from late gen a Barbie fan has dropped a whopping blah-blah-blah kilos in a bid to look like a favorite doll. And it's a story about a lady called...a 35 year old lady called Kayla. Who's apparently battled with her weight since she was seven, and has done all of the diets in the book and… Like, I just, I can't even, because yes, Nine News is promoting this as, as awesome. This lady that the article is...littered with her dressed as Barbie. She's a full grown female adult woman dressed as Barbie. And the whole story is about how she's had a gastric sleeve and, and is also starving herself, post gastric sleeve, and now she's very happy and...like I just, I mean, I can't get this article out of my head because it's on a major news platform also. I've just realized it was on the TV on a morning show. She now lives in Las Vegas pursuing her Barbie lifestyle. And I'm not criticizing Kayla herself whatsoever, but what I'm criticizing is the news. Which, by the way, I've also found out isn't even news, because this is from Jan 2021. When I'm Googling, to send you the article. THis article actually came out in June last year, it's old, it's not, it's old. It's not news. But it's been rehashed - guess why, it's January - it's Diet season and then some, you know, money hungry gastric sleeve doctors, and some people who want to sell their diets saying 'let's get her on TV, and uncritically throw this... it's an appallingly ridiculous idea that we need to look like a doll in order to reach the pinnacle of our existence. Summer Innanen: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think like, you know, there were, I don't even...there were so many things wrong with this piece. Louise Adams: It's hard to know where to start. Summer Innanen: Yeah. Okay. Well, let's start with when she was a kid, because she talks about how, you know, 'it didn't matter how hard I tried or what side I was on. I could rarely shift the weight or I would lose some and then regain double'. And it's like, well, yeah, that's what diets do. And so, this poor girl probably had her parents putting her on diets, which we know she did actually. Louise Adams: It says 'my obsession with Barbie began as a child and has continued into my adult life. I used to have over 200 dolls as my parents use them as an incentive to go on a diet and lose weight'. Summer Innanen: Yeah. Yeah. Which is so messed up. Louise Adams: That just made me want to cry. Yeah. Because as a parent to, bribe your a child with a Barbie doll, like the poor thing, she's seven. I know. And I don't know, that's at least 200 diets, isn't it? Summer Innanen: Well, exactly, like how horrifying is that? So, her metabolism is probably been so altered and she has no sense of her own  instincts on what actually, you know, feels good for her. And her parents basically instilled like this belief that like you're better or you're good or you're more worthy when you lose weight, And like, to think about the damage that that would do to someone's self-worth and their body image and the way that they feel it. Yeah. Yeah, right. Louise Adams: Cause it's...I see this as a real heartbreaking story and I cannot understand how this is inspiration. Summer Innanen: Yeah. Yeah. It's so awful. It reminds me of the there's this book. I don't know if you've ever read it. It's called 'The Heavy' and it's about a mother who puts her daughter on a diet and it's...it's a memoir written from the mother's perspective and she keeps putting her, she can't figure out why her daughter can't lose weight. She keeps putting her on diet after diet, after diet. And like, it just reminds me of that because the parent is...has so much  internalized fat phobia and their own disordered relationship with food that then they pass down to their kids. And like, that's what I see. I'm sure you see all the time with the people that we work with is that what our parents did, which they kind of were doing out of this like, protection. They wanted to protect us by helping us lose weight or commenting on our body or restricting food...actually completely backfired and made us feel like we, you know, we weren't worthy of their approval, of love, like of our own existence, unless we looked a certain way unless we lost weight, unless we ate a certain way... Louise Adams: All contingent on weight, which is it's insane because a weight is not under our control. And when we do the diet thing, all we guarantee is a slowed metabolism and weight regain. And she even says in this that she would lose it, then lose weight and then regain like that. Plus some, which is, we know that's perfectly normal as a response to starvation her. And cause her parents obviously have that internalized weight stigma, and she has it, you know? This is a story about her internalized weight stigma and how, you know, rather than kind of pushing back or being able to push back against it. She's really drunk the Kool-Aid. Summer Innanen: Yeah, yeah. And again, they highlight what she eats in a day, which is like, why, why these places do this is like, beyond me, because... Louise Adams: Well, they go into so many stereotypes too. Cause like it's the, it's the traditional thing like, 'Oh, before I had my gastric sleeve, I was a bad person and I ate terribly'. And ignoring the fact that perhaps her, part of her weight issues was to do with the diets themselves. Summer Innanen: Right? Louise Adams: Yeah. So that's ignored and so about...'it was definitely 100% my personal fault' quote unquote, 'that my body was large and I ate terribly but now I eat great'. But, what we see actually, like when you look at that, what she used to eat, she used to starve herself all day and then eat at night. Summer Innanen: Right? It's like, well of course you're going to binge at night. If you starve all day, that's no surprise there. You're going to be so hungry. You'll eat anything that's not locked down. And then what she eats now is like, it's so dangerous. It's like such a low amount of food and... Louise Adams: And says, 'I ate,'...I'm going to read some numbers here so trigger warning. Cause it's just, I just want to get across the point of how restrictive it is. She's had 80% of her stomach removed, and then she's saying 'I eat 90 grams of protein a day, 10 grams of carbs and five grams of sugar'. Everyday. Summer Innanen: Do you know what...10 grams. That's not even a banana. Right? 10 grams of carbs. Like that's like, that's like what? Like a few baby carrots or something like that? Louise Adams: There's no actual veggies. Breakfast is a protein shake. Lunches, chicken or beef with cheese, dinner is chicken or steak or a protein shake. And the snacks, cashews or walnuts. Like there's there's no fruit or veggies. Poor thing. In a stomach which is 80% removed, amputated. Summer Innanen: And can't be reversed. They also say that, which is another thing. Louise Adams: And it says this article has the hide to say 'she now has a good relationship with food'. Summer Innanen: Yes. I highlighted that too, because again, it's like, co-opting this language of food, freedom and, and using it in like a place where it's like clearly a very disordered. Louise Adams: How is that a good relationship with food? Summer Innanen: Yeah, it's sad. Louise Adams: And works out seven days a week. Summer Innanen: That, right. That was the other thing that really stood out because also extremely unhealthy to be, to be doing something like that. And you just sort of wonder, like what's going to happen to this individual. You know, and they may be riding the sort of like validation of having a significant weight change and getting the publicity and feeling really good about that. Louise Adams: But, you know, as we all know totally done it, you know, as a psychologist, she's finally saying to her mum, 'look, I am the Barbie doll'. I just...it's heartbreaking. I totally get why she's doing it. Summer Innanen: Right. Louise Adams: But I find it an incredibly sad story. Summer Innanen: I know, and I feel bad for her as a child. Louise Adams: I feel like I'm kind of alone in seeing her as a really sad story. Summer Innanen: No, it's really sad. It is really sad. And it's, and it's this idea like, again, it's like this idea that it's our fault, like, and it's a kid's fault if they are in a larger body instead of thinking, 'okay, well, this is just, you know, genetics'. Louise Adams: Here's my child, here's my kid. Give her a barbie doll, for fuck's sake, if she wants one. Summer Innanen: Yeah. Not to earn it by restricting food or whatnot. To put all the onus on her and to, you know, that she had to earn it by losing weight, earn Barbie dolls by losing weight. Like, it's so sad. And yet it's being like, you know, applauded and praised and... Louise Adams: It's sickening. How like diet culture, it's weight loss at all costs. And this is an extreme example of the costs, but I mean...2015,  right? Women's Health magazine is talking about, 'Oh, we see the harm done by diet culture. We see that talking about women as if they're a bikini body and stuff is not cool anymore. Well, we're going to stop doing that'. But now, like we just talked about like two really extreme articles promoting starvation. Like there's no problem here. And we've gaslit ourselves to the point where these things are being called lifestyle changes or health behaviors. Summer Innanen: Yeah, exactly. Louise Adams: We're talking about stuff that's much, much worse than the good old diet industry days. Summer Innanen: Right, right. Yeah. It seems to have gotten a lot more extreme, hasn't it? Like it's, it's something that has, it's always sort of been extreme, but it seems to be even more....I guess now the extremism is normalized. Louise Adams: Yeah. And it's mainstream. It's like pro-ana used to be pro-ana, cause we could see it as being different to what the world was. Summer Innanen: Exactly. Exactly. Louise Adams: Yeah. Someone said to you, I only ate in a six hour window and I don't eat any vegetables or fruit or carbs. We're like, 'Oh, you're so healthy. How do you do it?' Summer Innanen: Yes. Yes. 'Let me put you in my magazine. You're a success story'. But I wonder if like, if either of them took, you know, assessments on whether or not you have an eating disorder or disordered relationship with food, you would most likely see that they would probably check most of the boxes in terms of the things that they would say that they're thinking and doing as it relates to...you know, the behaviors, but I was going to say as well, it also just shows how weight stigma plays a role here. Because if this was an already thin person eating this stuff, you know, we as....there might be more people sort of calling this out as like very disordered or an eating disorder, but because they were in larger bodies and they went to these extreme measures to get in a smaller body it's applauded and like, that's the influence of weight stigma. It's like, we prescribed these eating disorder behaviors to people in larger bodies that we would diagnosis an eating disorder and somebody in a smaller body. Louise Adams: Yeah. that's Deb Burgard's point, isn't it. That's so like... Summer Innanen: Yes, exactly. Thank you. Cause I was like, I'm saying this and I'm like, I can't remember....thank you. Louise Adams: I know, it's such a slam dunk awesome quote because it's exactly what's happening here. Summer Innanen: Yes, exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Louise Adams: You know, I wonder, I literally wonder, like what you're saying about, if it was someone smaller, would, would the media alarm bells ring. Because I'm thinking, well, if that was Gwyneth Paltrow's day in a plate, we'd probably still be going, 'Ooh, isn't she cool?' Summer Innanen: You know what, you're right. And I saw that recently because Aaron Flores who hosts the Dieticians Unplugged podcast, he posted...I think it was via Glamour magazine. It was like what Kelly Ripa eats in a day. And it was the same thing. It was like, she was basically talking about how she eats dust. But...it was honestly very similar to what the first, the girl in the Women's Health magazine was talking about eating in a day. And so, you're 100 percent right. So, so maybe my point is... Louise Adams: I do think it's viewed differently. But I actually think that we're getting to the point where like it's competitive, not eating is at such extreme levels that we're not, it's only the people in the eating disorder industry who are going, 'hello, what the hell', like it has become so unfashionable to eat like a grownup. Summer Innanen: Yeah, yeah. Eat like a grown ass adult is what I say exactly. Exactly. Yes. I remember. I remember in the one that the Kelly Ripa, when she says, like, she called it...'my first chewable food of the day is around like 11:00 AM' or something, like that was the way that she described it. And I just, I remember commenting on it when Aaron and I was like, I can't believe she just used the expression, my first chewable food of the day. Like if, if that's not a red flag that you're describing the way you eat stuff, using those terms. And I don't mean to laugh. It sounds like a laughing at someone with a disordered relationship with food, but it really is horrifying. Just how normalized and then praised and applauded that is. Louise Adams: Like, 'oh, oh no, it's any 10 o'clock. Should I be chewing? Oh my God'. Summer Innanen: Yes, exactly. And I just, and again, like, I just remember always looking at those things and feeling so ashamed and always just being like, why can't I do that? Like, why can't. And thank goodness, my body couldn't do that because it was the reason why I didn't actually have like a full blown eating disorder and instead was just a chronic dieter. Louise Adams: We really need to stop this. We really need to stop listing what people like in a day. It's ridiculous. It's kind of like comparing what we eat to each other, it's encouraging  externalization of eating behavior? We cannot continue to do that. Like really, the articles about 'what I eat in a day' should just be followed by the phrase 'is going to vary every single day', and it's none of your damn business'. Right. Summer Innanen: Yes. Yes. That's the headline right there. Louise Adams: Right. Eyes on your own plate. Does it matter? It's not a fricking competition. It's not like we're going like, 'ooh, what my poo looks like every day. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe that's where we are  we going? Comparing physical functions. We just need to stop. It's so true. You kind of quid pro quo's me with, like, I came up with the Barbie ridiculous story and you came up with a whopper from Canada. Summer Innanen: The dog? Louise Adams: Yeah. Summer Innanen: So, this was on the CBC. So CBC is the Canadian Broadcasting Company, it's like our major national news network. And like, that's the one place I go when I want to get unbiased, like just straight up, really factual news. And they have this article that they posted called 'meet Woody a massive Malamute, serving up weight loss inspiration for the new year'. I just couldn't believe this was on the CBC and it's literally like this story, this weight loss story of a dog that like dropped half its weight and also had like shared it on social media as a way to inspire others to, you know... Louise Adams: Other dogs? Summer Innanen: No, no, no. Oh no. Humans. Louise Adams: This is a new low, eat like a dog. Summer Innanen: This is... Louise Adams: Oh my God. It says, 'If you're looking for inspiration to meet your new year's resolution to trim the fat, look no further'. Summer Innanen: Exactly. Yeah, no, it's to inspire humans. Louise Adams: Oh, please stop inspiring me. Oh my God. Summer Innanen: It's such a cute dog though. I just, as a side note, he's a really, really cute dog, but you know, this has come up. I don't know if you've been...you've probably been asked this question too before, but people will say like, well, you know, why is it okay to put pets on diets, but not humans? Do you have a good answer for that? By the way? Before I was going to say what I say. Louise Adams: I don't think I have actually had that question put to me. Summer Innanen: Oh, you haven't? Just me. I've gotten that. Louise Adams: Why is it okay? I don't, I don't know if it is okay. Like, I haven't looked at the weight loss research for dogs, but I'm assuming it's going to be physiologically similar to humans. Right? I don't know. I don't know. Summer Innanen: I don't know. My answer is like, we're not dogs. Like we aren't dogs, dogs aren't influenced by like diet culture. Like dogs don't have fat phobia., cause they're not like looking at thinner dogs everywhere and thinking like, 'I'm not good enough because I don't look like that'. Like they're... Louise Adams: Oh my God, you're reminding me of poodle science, you know, ASDAH's awesome little  video. Which is like, it's illustrating what body diversity is like, you know. But in weight science it's like, all the poodles are in charge and they're telling everyone, all the breeds of dogs to like, they like 'be like me, be like the poodle', but like a starving mastiff will never be the same as a poodle. Summer Innanen: Right, exactly. Yeah. One of the first like, quotes that I said many years ago was 'we're not Golden Retrievers'. We're not all meant to look the same. It's one of the things that I still say to this day, because it's true. And you know, in this article, like it's a pretty basic...they're just restricting the dog's food and making the dog exercise. But this idea that like we're similar at all. It's just so, it's so backwards to me because it completely ignores the culture that we live in. And like the fact that we are emotional being...dogs are emotional beings too. Yes. I will give you that. I love dogs. But they don't have the same. Not living in like a patriarchal society. They're not exposed to sexism. Like they're not, they're not exposed to fatphobia like, I don't think they're internalizing those charts at the vet that have like pictures of the different dogs with the big classifications like we would be. They don't feel ashamed when they step on the scale. Louise Adams: There's no diet culture in dogs, but there's diet culture in the humans that own them. And you can hear that in this article, can't you? Because it's like...actually it's everywhere. Like this sentence, 'he once weighed double what he should have'. How do you know what he should? He's a fucking Malamute. Summer Innanen: Yeah, yeah. Louise Adams: 'Should have'. So, we've decided what he should weigh and we starved him down there. And then, Pam Hedgie, who's the foster mom, apparently she's known for doing this. Starving the dogs so that they're adoptable. Now, that is awful. And...but the woman she's like, totally like lost it. She puts it on social media and...here we go. She says, 'humans have something to learn from dogs. They're so willing. I think that's the most amazing part about them. They don't get down, they get up everyday, they're happy to go to the park. And it has to be hard work. It can't be a breeze, but they're so happy and willing to do it. We could all learn a little bit about that'. I'm sure what he likes going for walks. Yeah, but I'm also sure that if Woody could talk, he'd say 'why are you starving me?' Summer Innanen: Yeah. I think it's, again it's like, you know, it just shows, 'okay, you have to do something extreme to be healthy'. Whereas really it's like, of course the dog wants to go out and play. And if we just let them do that by letting them tell us and get them outside, and they listened to their bodies, kind of like humans do..then you wouldn't have to, you know...It's not like this, like... 'oh, you should work out every day and you have to like push yourself through'. It's like dogs are naturally hardwired to kind of want to be that way anyways. And so long as we give them an environment where they can do those things, then they're going to be healthy regardless of their size. And that's, that's sort of similar to humans in a way. Louise Adams: His health is not even mentioned.  Like it'e literally just his size. And this assumption that he has to be half his size. Like we don't even know it was here actually just a larger dog in good health? We don't even know how old he is? Summer Innanen: No, you're right. You're right. Because yeah, because malamutes are huge to begin with anyways. Louise Adams: Yeah. Well, I've got a Great Dane and like big dogs, the big dogs. And like, my vet, there is no correct weight. And like, I love my vet because my vet is like full of body diversity. It's like, there's a great big range in Great Danes. You can have smaller Great Danes and big Great Danes.  And they're all Great Danes. Summer Innanen: That's so refreshing. Wow. Louise Adams: Thank you. I'm in the right place. Summer Innanen: People used to criticize my dog all the...my dog might, we lost my dog a few months ago. People used to like stop me on the street and like...not me actually, they would always do my husband for some reason. Cause they probably saw the look on my face and was like, 'I'm not going to say anything'. They would say like, 'what are you feeding your dog? Like your dog is too big' because we had a pug and he was really big and he was just naturally. Really big. He'd always been really big and like, vets were always totally fine with him. We never had a vet say, 'hey, you know, you gotta watch this weight' or anything like that. But, you know, people in the street would stop and comment. And I remember just saying to my husband, I was like, 'I swear if someone did that to me, I would just rip them to...', I don't know why they always stopped him. Louise Adams: Yeah. Actually now you say it. I get that about my Great Dane, Dolly. Her name is Dolly Pawton. It's so cute. They stop us and they're like, Oh, what is, what does he ate? Oh, first of all, they say 'he', cause obviously a big dog is always a 'he'. 'What do you feed him? He must eat you out of house and home.' This dog eats, you know, not as much as my boxer that I used to have. So there's assumption about size and what they eat. Let's look to our dogs,  right? No as inspirational weightless stories, but as diversity right in front of us. Summer Innanen: Yes. Louise Adams: And connection. Summer Innanen: And how we just love them regardless of their size. Louise Adams: I know. Like, poor old Woody, he's not more oveable now he's starved into submission. Summer Innanen: It's so silly to me that they would use that as a story of inspiration. Must've been a slow news day in Canada. Like you don't have a pandemic going on, I don't know why. Louise Adams: The sad point is that it appears that Woody has more variety in his diet than the Barbie lady. Summer Innanen: Oh yeah, at least he's eating lots of fruits and vegetables. I know. Oh my gosh. Right. Louise Adams: God. So, we've arrived at our last. Article, which is an interesting one in Good Housekeeping. That's just come out. Jan 29th, 2021. 'The unbearable weight of diet culture', which...it's such an exciting article cause it's really long, really in-depth, and it's talking about this whole idea of diet culture. In the intro, it says this: 'throughout 2021, Good Housekeeping will be exploring how we think about weight, the way we eat and how we try to control or change our bodies in our quest to be happier and healthier. While Good Housekeeping also publishes weight loss content, and endeavours to do so in a responsible science backed way, we think it's important to present a broad perspective that allows for a fuller understanding of the complex thinking about health and body weight'. So, kind of cool. Summer Innanen: Kind of reminded me of the Women's Health 2015 publicity. What I do like about this article, I will say, is Judith Matz and Christy Harrison are quoted quite a bit through it. Louise Adams: And Sabrina Strings. Summer Innanen: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Which I thought was great because they tied in that component too, like the race component. And I thought it was one of those articles that you could probably send to a family member or a friend that didn't understand why you were doing Intuitive Eating or that had questions about it, but you didn't really know how to give them the information in a way that was a little more palatable. And I thought that this article was one of those things that you could totally pass along to them. It's easy to read, makes a lot of sense, kind of hits all the main points.  It's one that I'll probably bookmark for people. Louise Adams: It's nice too as evidence that the wider culture is taking the whole concept of not dieting and looking at the Health At Every Size sort of stuff seriously. Summer Innanen: Yes. And actual people who are in the space instead of like the people who are in between who talk about this stuff yet still promote weight loss, you know, like the sort of like, you know, Geneen Roths of the world and whatnot. So, I thought it was really great that they actually had a lot of, like a lot of like really well-respected experts weighing in and some good links and things like that, but there was still a little problem with it. Did you want to talk about that or do you want me to talk about it? Louise Adams: So it's at one point it says, look like it's all this awesome, awesome and stuff.  And then it  says, loo... they're talking about how the media in particular can promote dieting, and it says 'even Good housekeeping's own article on 1200 calorie diets is a tricky juxtaposition. The article aims to serve the approximately 40,500 people who search for 1200 calorie meal plans on Google every month. Despite the 2015 study that shows this number of calories falls within the realm of clinical starvation'. And that's, that's been changed... Summer Innanen: It has actually, because I... Louise Adams: I think it said something about the Holocaust before? Summer Innanen: Okay. So I have it, cause I cut and paste it into a document. It says, this is what used to say. It says, 'It's the most popular article here on Good Housekeeping's own website, about 1200 calorie diets that netted over 2 million search users in 2019 alone. Our second most read story of the year, despite the fact the number of calories falls within the realm of clinical starvation. In brackets - Holocaust concentration camp prisoners were fed 1,250 to 1400 calories per day'. So, that's really interesting that they changed it. Louise Adams: They've watered it down, haven't they? They've removed a bit of culpability. Like, cause that example of like in a concentration camp, you would get more food. Summer Innanen: It reminds me of the Minnesota starvation study, which, which was around like 1500... Louise Adams: 1500. Summer Innanen: 1500 calories a day. Louise Adams: And they all went around the twist from that over six months. Summer Innanen: Yeah, exactly.  Exactly. Louise Adams: I'm so glad you cut and pasted that. Summer Innanen: Yes. So that, and then the other big thing is they still link to the goddamn diet. Like they still link to it. They link to the 1200 calorie day diet. Like it's like they're saying, 'okay, we're exploring this'. And then they're linking to the thing that is probably the most like harmful triggering thing that you could put in that article. Louise Adams:  'We're not actually going to stop doing it because it's the second most popular thing we do'. Summer Innanen: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Louise Adams: That is so fucked up. Summer Innanen: It's like these publications want to explore these topics and they admit that they're complicit and they get publicity because of that, they get a bit of applause and then they continue to uphold and perpetuate the same dangerous stuff. Louise Adams: Get off the fence, Good Housekeeping. Get the splinter out of your ass. Take the article down. Summer Innanen: Yeah, take it down, take it down. If you want to, you know, put your money where your mouth is... but they don't, they want to keep taking other people's money. And then you were telling me this was the article that people were opening and then they were seeing weight loss advertisements, right? Was it this one? Louise Adams: Yeah. So I was saying chats and people like reading the article, but in between the text of the article, were getting sold weight loss stuff. Summer Innanen: Yeah. Yeah. Louise Adams: I mean, geez. I mean, can we, at some point stop the fence sitting and stop performing the recognition of diet culture as harmful and, and start actually stopping the harm. So we protect little kids, like little miss Barbie. Summer Innanen: Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Louise Adams: And we stop the metabolic and physiological harm. If nothing else, you know. People are so worried. In the article, Good housekeeping. It's talking about how more people are dieting than ever before. Did you see ...'In November, 2020, the CDC, Centre for Disease Control, reported that more people are actually dieting now compared to 10 years ago', you know? Dieting, even though no one's dieting, more people are dieting than in 2010. And we are in massive trouble from the perspective of psychological damage and also from the perspective of long-term metabolic damage. And if I hear one more person bang on about diabetes, insulin resistance, you know, metabolic problems from being fat and they haven't kind of put the pieces together about actually, maybe it's the people who are dieting because it's the dieting that's doing that kind of physiological damage. You know, we need to wake up. So Good Housekeeping aren't just able to politically fence it because it sells sharticles and sells hits on their harmful website. We've got to. If we care  about health, let's start caring about it. Right, right. Summer Innanen: Yeah. Yeah. And I think that historically Good Housekeeping's always had like, you know, advertisements for Slim Fast and like diet, weight loss drugs in their magazine. And so I, you know, I would wager  I guess, that that's still going to be there. And, you know, I think the reason why diets have probably gone up like over the last 10 years is because it's all shrouded in health now. Louise Adams: Yeah, it's 'not dieting' Summer Innanen: Like everyone thinks that, yeah. It's like, this is our quote unquote 'healthy lifestyle'. Louise Adams: 'I've got a good relationship with food'. Summer Innanen: Right. And it seems, it's almost seen, like positioned as more empowering versus restrictive. And so like, more people are buying into it, but like you said, it's all the same bullshit when you look at it. Louise Adams: Just wrapped in glitter. Summer Innanen: Right, exactly. It's like that meme that the HAES student doctor says, it's like the poo emoji called 'diet' and then like in glitter, it's like 'lifestyle change'. It all, you know, it all upholds fatphobia. And dangerous dieting. And quick weight loss. And this idea that... Louise Adams: And a massive industry. Let's not forget that this is all a bloody huge  industry. It's...what is it? 600 billion in the States every year. Summer Innanen: Yes. Louise Adams: Yeah. This is a business and the media is in the business of keeping these businesses going. And even when they admit it, they don't stop it. Summer Innanen: Well because they would lose their sponsors. And, and then it would, I mean, it would all probably collapse. So it's a tough  situation. It's a tricky situation. I don't think it's an easy fix. I think you have to really stand out. You have to be willing to say like, 'okay, we're going to really be, you know, these are our company values and we're going to, you know, stand, actually stand by them regardless of what the fallout is from that'. But I mean, my hope is that more people are going like, you know, would support those messages. Cause I think there are, there's also a growing population of people who are sick of it and who are, are tired of that crap and who know that diets don't work. Louise Adams: Yeah. I think the pushback is happening. It is maddening when we see stuff nearly, nearly get it. And then kind of, whiplash straight back into it, but we keep pushing. We keep these voices going and the voices are getting louder and louder and more diverse and more strident. And I think, you know, 2021 January has been the usual bullshit tsunami, but I hope that this conversation for the listeners helps get the bullshit detector flashing. Push back against this whole idea that insane levels of starvation are somehow healthy. And you know, what we can do is like articles, comment on articles like that. I haven't read too many of the comments on that article, 'The unbearable weight of diet culture', but I did see the usual shit fight starting underneath. Summer Innanen: I did too. Louise Adams: 'Oh my God, you're  killing people'. Summer Innanen:  I know, that's going to happen. That's going to happen. But you know what, like good on them for at least publishing that and getting it out there. And let's hope that five years from now, they're not, they're still standing by those things and not totally changing. Although I think I might be...I'm going to be cautiously optimistic on that one. Louise Adams: Uh, I mean, it's so crappy when you go to that little bit about the 1200 calorie diet. It says 'follow this and you will feel satisfied and drop all the weight', which is exact opposite of what we've just spent like half an hour telling you. Yeah. Summer Innanen: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's like enough for maybe a seagull or something, but not a human being. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's...I'm still like, I'm just still in amazement that they took out the reference to the Holocaust concentration camp prisoners, because I think that, that was like, that was such a huge thing to say that...but maybe it was because then they didn't want to take down the 1200 calorie-a-day article. And so therefore they... Louise Adams: Interesting too that they hid the idea that this is our second most read article. Summer Innanen: Yeah. Louise Adams: That's pretty huge. Summer Innanen: It really lowered the number of people who had requested it or looked for it, or what did you say?  It was like 45,000? Louise Adams: It was annually rather than by the month. Like it's just kind of interesting that they tapped in...they altered that part of the article. Which is kind of the bit, which says this is the bit where complicit with. Summer Innanen: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yeah. So, have media literacy. Louise Adams: Yeah. Oh my God. But thank you so much for coming on and unpacking the crappy diet culture stuff that's circulating in our countries. Summer Innanen: Thank you so much for having me. I loved chatting with you. I loved, yeah, just kind of dissecting all this stuff. Yeah. Louise Adams: All the rage. So thank you for getting it off your chest and thanks for coming on. Summer Innanen: Thank you so much, Louise.   Resources Mentioned in the Show: (Major trigger warning - all of these sharticles discuss weight loss in excruciating detail !!) The lady who lost weight to look like Barbie Woody the Weight loss guru Malamute The horrendous Keto plus fasting diet that claimed to be inspiring us (the same method that spiralled Summer's eating disorder) The Good Housekeeping article "The unbearable weight of diet culture" Find more about the wonderful Summer Innanen here Summer's wonderful podcast Eat The Rules  

Every single woman who joins my group coaching program CLAIMED brings a new perspective, a new backstory, and ultimately a new success story! Here is an interview with one of these women, Laura Elizabeth. "I feel so much more like I stand strong in my decisions. Even if I look back and think, 'Oh, I could have done it differently,' I don't beat myself up for it." Here is what I discuss with Laura: How she moved on from her patterns of attracting feminine men Learning to let go of exhaustion and pressure through a feminine embodiment practice Working with her beliefs about achievement and self-worth Separating decisions from outcomes in dating Why she recommends signing up for a Discovery Call And a lot more... Links P.S. Sign up for the free, exclusive training from me on How to Start Attracting Committed Masculine Men By Releasing Control & Letting Him Lead  to find out: The #1 reason successful women are still single and can’t attract a committed masculine man (hint: it’s not what you think) How to break through the patterns of attracting unavailable or feminine men and find your blind spot so you start attracting the men you want How to master the art of feminine/masculine polarity so you start feeling taken care of, claimed and finally be able to let go of control How to get out of the “get the guy” mindset and instead move into your full feminine self and have the guy get you Uncover The Lie of Female Success that’s keeping you stuck, exhausted and unfulfilled (in masculine energy all the time) so you can start living in freedom & joy And much more… Sign up at girlskill.com/webinar

In this brief, "bonus track" episode, Greg and Cathe Laurie discuss the Great White Throne Judgment. They answer who will be there, how it's different from other judgments, and how we should think about judgment.  Pastor Greg says, "Sometimes believers get confused because we read, 'We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.' We think, 'Oh, that means I'll be at the Great White Throne Judgment.' No, this is speaking of a different judgment. . . . We can almost think of it as an awards ceremony."  Listen in as they clear up this important teaching! --- Learn more about Greg Laurie and Harvest Ministries at harvest.org. This podcast is supported by the generosity of our Harvest Partners. Support the show: https://harvest.org/support See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this brief, "bonus track" episode, Greg and Cathe Laurie discuss the Great White Throne Judgment. They answer who will be there, how it's different from other judgments, and how we should think about judgment.  Pastor Greg says, "Sometimes believers get confused because we read, 'We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.' We think, 'Oh, that means I'll be at the Great White Throne Judgment.' No, this is speaking of a different judgment. . . . We can almost think of it as an awards ceremony."  Listen in as they clear up this important teaching! --- Learn more about Greg Laurie and Harvest Ministries at harvest.org. This podcast is supported by the generosity of our Harvest Partners. Support the show: https://harvest.org/support See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today's Episode is with Shanicia Boswell, founder, CEO, author, and mother. Check out the entire post including our shownotes at LiveBeautifully.com Shanicia founded one of the very first platforms that speaks on parenting, culture, and lifestyle from a Black mom's point of view called, Black Moms Blog. It's not just for Black women either... it's for everyone. I read her blog, because it gives me perspective, appreciation, and more understanding. She’s also an author of three books; 'My Piece Of The Pie', a collection of stories from Black women entrepreneurs. 'Oh sis, you’re Pregnant', the ultimate guide to Black pregnancy and motherhood. And ‘Sunshine Honey’, a book that she wrong alongside her daughter Kamryn that teaches children positive affirmations. Shanicia also wrote this great post on healthy co-parenting - https://blackmomsblog.com/peaceful-co-parenting-is-it-possible/ Create your own beautifully branded website at http://livebeautifully.com/tonic Let's connect after the show on instagram at http://instagram.com/katrinascott --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/katrina-scott-podcast/message

Cool things I learned from Stacey and Paul Martino at the Breakthrough in Paradise retreat. Hit me up on IG! @russellbrunson Text Me! 208-231-3797 Join my newsletter at marketingsecrets.com ---Transcript--- What's up, everybody? This is Russell Brunson. Welcome back to the Marketing Secrets Podcast. Today, I want to teach you guys three ways to train your subconscious mind. All right, everybody. I hope you guys are doing amazing? So my wife and I had a really cool experience. Some of you guys who've been to Funnel Hacking Live, or you've been to Two Comma Club Live or been around our community for the last couple of years, you've probably heard me talk more than once about a really unique, really cool couple, and their names are Stacey and Paul Martino. So they came into our world, they had a message, "They were trying to change the world." They had figured out a process to make relationships better, specifically, like the relationships with your significant other. And they are amazing people. In the last, "How many years they've been doing this work," I believe they saved over 10,000 marriages. They have a less than 1% divorce rate of people who've gone through the program and it's amazing. So, as someone who loves my wife and never wants to get divorced and is always trying to figure out ways to make everything better, the personal development nerd inside of me. After I met them, I was like, "I'm going to go through your stuff." I've been their marketing coach on the outside, so I've had the fun opportunity to be like, "Hey, you guys need to launch a podcast, "Hey, you need to write a book." "Hey, you need to do these things." So, some of them are selfish things for me because I wanted them to create a podcast, so I could listen to their podcast. I want them to write a book, so I can read their book. They haven't written a book yet, but they're working on it. Anyway, I'm telling you this is because if you want to go deep with them, they've got an amazing podcast. If you search Stacey and Paul Martino, they have an amazing course, they have a quick start, they have a challenge, they've got a bunch of things, but I went all in, struggled through their content. Collete and I went out to their live event, and then we signed up for the high-end coaching and this year we had a chance last week to go to their Breakthrough in Paradise retreat in Jamaica, which was really, really cool. And it's fun because obviously, what Stacy and Paul do is different from what I do, but there are similarities. They've got their frameworks and they're teaching. They're awesome with what they do. So they've got their frameworks and they teach them. They teach them in their podcasts, teach them on their Quick Start, teach them in their webinars, teach them in their challenges, teach them at their live events, they teach them at their mat… They have these frameworks and they teach them over and over and over again. And what's cool is I had this breakthrough as I was sitting there because I've gone through most of the stuff that they've taught multiple times now and obviously, I'm still trying to figure things out for myself, for my family, for my relationships with other people, my relationship with my wife, with my employees, with just all the things. I'm still trying to learn and figure things out, but what's cool is that I'm at Breakthrough in Paradise. It's like their top-end thing. This is the back of their value-add. And they started the event off, talking about, "There are three ways to train the subconscious mind." And it was interesting because one thing is that they talked about and said, "You know, a lot of stuff we're going to be teaching at this event, it's not new stuff. You've probably heard us talk about this more than once. And the reality is our job is not teaching new stuff all the time. Our job is to give you a level of mastery of the stuff we've been teaching you so far." And she said, "You know, right now, a lot of you guys have cognitively," Hopefully I said that word right. "Have heard us say the things like, 'Oh yeah, I know that. I know that. I know that.' And they started saying, "Our job is not to get this into your interior, your front of your mind, it's to get it into the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind is where this stuff becomes mastery, we're just doing it because you understand it at a deeper level. Not where you're trying to think, 'How does this work? What's the first step?'" And it was just cool, and so, as they started teaching this, they said, "I want to make sure because, if we don't pre-frame this, a lot of you guys are going to discount the stuff like, "Oh, I've heard that before. Oh, I already know that" Oh, where, they said, "The job is not for you to also get a new thing. It's for you to internalize this and to master this so that it becomes something that you have forever." And so that was the pre-frame. And then they start talking about, "Three ways to train your subconscious mind." It was really cool. It's the number one. The first way to train your subconscious mind is through repetition, hearing things over and over and over and over and over again. It's the repetition that's the key, which is why it's so important. The second thing is immersion. It was a five day event in Jamaica. It was a three-day event that we went to earlier. These immersion events where were there for a long time, because if you're just dabbling in, "Oh, I got a little piece here and a little piece here." And you're not getting immersion, you're just dabbling and it's hard to get that into your subconscious mind where it becomes mastery. And then third way is hypnosis. And she said, “At this event, we're not doing hypnosis, but we're doing repetition and immersion, repetition and immersion because we have to let this sink into your subconscious mind." It can't be like, "You and your spouse get in a fight and you're trying to think now, 'What was that thing again? Let's see, okay, they taught us this thing.'" It's like, no, you have to get it into your subconscious min so it becomes habit. So it becomes something that you can use. And as she was saying that, I started thinking about myself, I started thinking about wrestling. And I remember having this aha towards the end of my high school career. I wrestled in high school and in college. But it was toward the end of my high school year. And I was someone who became obsessed or stressed with wrestling. So I was wrestling during practice, before practice, after practice, I was doing summer camps. I was like, as much as I could, I was wrestling. And I remember, because you'd go and try and learn the new move, the new move, the new move, or, they teach you the same move and help you do it over and over again. And I remember I found this to be true. I would drill a move a hundred times in practice, but it wasn't my move until I hit it once in an actual match. I remember having that, epiphany, "I can train this thing a hundred times until I've actually hit it in the match where it's... Those who have ever competed at any high level when you're competing, it's not your conscious mind out there where you think, "Okay, what's the first thing, I'm going to shoot here. I'm going to grab his arm here. When I step on the mat and I shake their hand, it's weird that everything disappears and you just go, it's your subconscious mind taking over. So it's like all these things you've been drilling over and over and over again. So it's not me consciously, "Oh, I learned, a single leg, there's a single, I should go grab it." At that point, it's gone. Like I missed it. The mastery comes back, feeling it, "When this person moves this way, this is where my body needs to go and how I need to shift, and the angle I need to take." and so I'm drilling it over and over and over like a hundred times drilling it, you start feeling it. But then it wasn't until I hit it in a match. As soon as I hit a once in a match and not I tried in the match and I missed it, it was if I hit it once in a match and I executed on it, my body would remember that. I remember telling some of my teammates that, during my senior year, this move I would drilling it until I hit it in a match. It's not mine. And they, they didn't understand that. I said, "Yeah, like I can drill this a thousand times. But until I've, until I've used it in a match, like, I don't know how to explain that, but not mine." I know I understand this, it's because it was deeper than just the consciously me knowing how to do the move, it was subconscious where my could just hit it. And so what I would do is I would go out in my matches where I knew I was wrestling someone who was easy, someone I knew what I was going to beat. My job was not to do the moves that already knew. The job is I have to hit the moves I've been learning. The ones that aren't in my subconscious mind yet. Once I'm trying to train to get back there so I can feel it and it just comes up. Those are the ones I need to hit during my easy matches. So, that way they become my moves. Because, it's not my move until I've executed it at least once in a live match. And so I would do that say, "Okay, this week I've been drilling this, this, and this. So during this match, I'm not trying to do the moves I know, I'm going to be doing these new moves because I need to execute it live in a match. Because then it's in my subconscious mind and I've mastered it. And now I can bring that out, whatever I need to. But until then, it's not mine. It's just something that I've taught my head that I know how this thing works. You think about that as you get better and better at any kind of sport or any kind of thing, like in wrestling, my moves, the ones I'm amazing at, I can still to the is day hit them perfectly like I've done some so many times. I don't have to think, "Where must I hips go? Where's the pressure?" It's just my body. So, it's so deep in my subconscious mind and it's there and I've got it. And how that happened, repetition, repetition, repetition, number one, immersion, immersion, immersion. Doing wrestling camps, long things and lots of practices like immersing yourself so it becomes a part of mastery. And actually used to do some hypnosis as well to help master those things. So those were the three ways to train subconscious mind, repetition, emerging, hypnosis. Okay. And so a couple of things that Stacy and Paul taught that was really, really cool. The first question was, "How many repetitions do you think it takes to reprogram? We don't know it's going to take a lot. It's not just you hearing something once. If you're a second timer, third timer, fourth timer. For wrestling, I would drill the drill, hundreds of times of repetition before it was reprogrammed and into my conscious mind. In fact, it wasn't, I actually live in a, in a, an experience where, it became my own move. Okay. So how many repetitions do you need to reprogram your subconscious mind? A lot. Okay. That's why it's like this event that we're going to teach the same things I've been teaching over and over, over. And because the repetition will try and get this into your subconscious mind so you can use it. So it becomes your move. It becomes your default. So instead of going to the trigger and you normally go to, this is the new trigger that comes up, Number two, things she said that was really cool. She said, "Resistance, means it's not yet wired into your nervous system." So if you hear something in your defaults like, "I've already heard this before." Boom, that is the tell-tale sign that you have not mastered it yet. Okay, because if you resist it, it means you conscious mind says, "I know this, give me the next thing." Okay. So if you're resisting it, like, "I already know this, I've heard this before. If you're resisting, it means you're not yet wired into your nervous system. That's like the tell-tale sign. Okay. If like, "Is this my nervous system? No." Okay. If you're resisting it, you're like, "I've heard this before," it means it's not in your subconscious mind. Okay, that leaves number three. Number three is when it is in your subconscious mind, and when he is in your subconscious mind, you'll actually be excited to hear the repetition. Can you guys benefit if you hear me tell the story for the 18th time and you are like, "Oh, this is annoying." And when you hear it and don't say anything, that means you're excited. That means it's in your subconscious mind. So, that's how you know. Okay. So as you're learning something, number one, the repetition is important. Number two, if you're like, I've heard this before. It means it is not in your subconscious mind is a tell-tale sign. If you're like, "This is awesome." I've heard this before." You start looking at it differently, you start seeing different intricacies, start getting to a deeper and deeper level, then you notice in your subconscious mind, okay. Those are the things. And one thing that Stacy said over and over and over again and said, "Be careful of what you're so certain with." Be careful, "I already know this, I already know this." Be careful what you're so certain with. Because if you think you already know it, you probably don't. At Least you don't know it to the level you need to, to have actual mastery. Okay. And so, as they were telling this, I was just so fascinated. I'm thinking about it. I start thinking about from my wrestling background, like, "Oh my gosh, this is so true." Let's start thinking about it for my business. If you look at what I do, I have handful of frameworks that I've been teaching for almost two decades now, which is crazy, and some of you guys have come into my world and you've read the DotCom Secrets book and you learn them. Then you read the Expert Secrets book and then the Traffic Secrets book, then you listened to 400 episodes of my podcast, and then you did the 5 Day Lead Challenge and you did The One Funnel Away Challenge and the Two Comma Club Live, then the Funnel Hacking Live One, and number two and number three and then you keep experiencing this again and I keep hearing these things over and over and over again. That's good. That's the key to mastery. It's the key to understanding these things. Okay. I promise you as many times you guys have heard me talk about these things, I've said them 10 times more than that. Which helps me master it. I've done it a hundred times more than that before I ever shared it and so these are the keys to mastery. And so if any, you guys are in a spot like, 'Oh, I've heard this before. Oh, I've done this before. Oh, I already know these things." You're at this, this level where it's in your conscious mind, but it's not mastery. It's not your subconscious mind. Okay. Cause resistance means it's not yet wired into your nervous system. You step back, and when you get the point where it becomes part of you, like that becomes your move where literally right now, if I'm going to launch a book, I don't think about it consciously. I don't think, "Oh, what's a book photo going to look like?" I've done it so many times I've mastered it. I can sit down. I can teach a two day event on a book, funnel without any notes, any preparation, anything because I know it. I understand I have perfect mastery of it, and that's the key. One thing they said at the end, which was kind of cool, "When you finished with this work, you're not finished until you become the solution. So in their relationship program, when you, the point where your relationships are perfect, where you, you become the person that you're trying to be, where, they asked you a question, you get a, you get into an argument or a fight or something triggers where your default is, the right reaction. That's when you're finished. That's when you become the solution. Right. In marketing. When you can look at any situation, you know exactly what to do, then you become the solution. That's the key. So you're doing this until you've gotten mastery. I thought it was such a cool pre-frame for their event. And the more I thought about it, the more I've seen that in my life with wrestling, with business, with things that I've achieved mastery in. It's so true. Right. I think about Tony Robbins, like I've been to Tony Robbins events lot. I've been to UPW a ton of times and I think the second UPW, I do remember, I've heard this, I've heard this before, which is funny. And then I went to a third time, a fourth time and fifth time took my kids to it. And the more times I hear it, the more I'm like, okay, cool. This is always talking about this. And I'm like looking for different angles and for ways to understand it. And if a ways to like, "How do I apply this to my life? How do I make this? So that it's my move, right? Because until it's your move, it's just something that you practiced. Okay. And practice is good, but that doesn't make mastery. Mastery comes from repetition, immersion and or hypnosis. It's doing it so many times now it becomes your move. And when it's your move, then you own it. Now you've become the person you need to be. You become the solution. And so, anyway, I hope that pre-frame helps and I hope it gives you some purpose now, "Ok, I'm going to go deep on Russell stuff and I'm going to really study everyday that's not my goal, but, but for some of you guys, that's what it is, you constantly understand marketing, but you don't understand it at a level of mastery, which is why you're still struggling. So keep going through it, repetition immersion. If you're not going to Funnel Hacking live yet, you're insane. If you haven't been to the Two Comma Club Live Virtual Event yet, you're insane. Like giving them the One Funnel Away Challenge the new one, you're insane. Keep doing it until you really understand that you've mastered it. And then that's when you become the solution. You'll know because now you're having success. Right. And the relationship game, like when, when every situation I get in my subconscious mind knows the right way to do it, when I've mastered the, frameworks and mastered the processes where I don't have to think about it consciously, It just subconsciously happens. That's when I can stop doing the work. That's when I become who I need to be. Right. The same, thing's true in your business. And so I hope that helps again. It helped me in my wrestling and I wish I would understood these things when I first started wrestling. But by my senior year, I was, I was realizing I was, I was seeing that I was seeing the man, I can practice the practice, but it's not my move until I've hit it subconsciously in the live match. And so let me force situations. I have to do it subconsciously. Let me get, in the beginning situations where I need to use this thing where I'm not using my conscious mind, but I'd have to hit it subconsciously. That's when it became my own. And so, anyway, I hope it helps you guys. I appreciate you all. Thank you so much for listing and a couple of things. Number one is again, become immersed in my world. If you haven't yet, it's time. Start with the One Funnel Away Challenge. From there, coming to Comma Club Live Virtual Event, from there come to Funnel Hacking Live like immerse yourself. And if you want to learn more about how to use this stuff in relationships, go check out Stacy and Paul Martino, relationshipdevelopment.org is their site and I would just jump into podcasts and start immersing yourself. You'll love them, they're amazing people. Yeah, help me turn in my life. I think they can help you as well, but that's it guys, appreciate you all. And I'll talk to you all on the next episode.

"James Clear from Atomic Habits said, 'You attract luck simply by telling people what you're working on.' You just go, 'Oh hey, I'm doing a show. Hey, I just started a podcast.' And then by talking to the person, that idea becomes more crystallized. Or they say, 'You know, you should meet...' I'm telling you, you just say, 'I'm doing this, starting today.' Don't say you're trying. I'm doing this thing. It's gonna be huge."