F*ck, I've still got it! with Shane Watson

Episode Transcript
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Dom Hind (00:00):
Hi, I'm Dom Hind and fuck, I'm nearly 50.
Actually, I'm 47 and threequarters, and the closer I get,
the more I'm learning aboutmyself, Not just about who I've
been, but about who I want to bein the second half of my life.
This stage, it's going to beabout getting clear, going

(00:20):
deeper and setting myself up forthe best chapter yet Today's
guest.
He's been in my orbit for years, but not from back in our
Ipswich days.
I went to Ipswich Girls Grammar, he went to Ipswich Grammar.
We didn't know each other then,probably for the best, because
while he was doing the fullacademic and sporting honours, I
was getting politely asked toleave after a couple of years.

(00:42):
Fast forward to now and life'sbeen full of fun collisions,
watching our kids create chaoswhen they were young, last
minute water taxi escapes,hearing all about the junkets
and walking five kilometres aday while in COVID quarantine
and a lot of laughs.
And, yes, those legendary tacoand margarita nights at To Kill

(01:02):
a Mockingbird when our healthactually allowed it.
Because Shane Watson, or Wotsy,to me isn't just a cricket
legend.
He's a mindset-obsessedbarbecue pit master with
scientific precision,slow-cooking devotee and someone
who's ridiculously disciplinedwhen he puts his mind to
something, whether it's smashinga World Cup final innings,

(01:24):
smoking a brisket for 12 hoursor building his business, he
goes all in these days.
He's co-founder of BeyondPerformance, a platform helping
people master the mental game,whether they're chasing athletic
greatness, business success orjust trying to level up in life.
But to get here, he's had tounlearn professionalism, rebuild

(01:46):
his identity and start againwithout the roar of the crowd.
This episode is about pressurepivots, pulled pork and proving
there's still a chance even whenthe rules change.
Because, fuck, I'm nearly 50.
And isn't it amazing?

(02:15):
Most people know Watsi for hiscricketing career smashing sixes
, taking wickets, wearing thebaggy green with pride and
having great tussles on thepitch and sometimes off the
pitch with his own teammates.
What they don't know, he's theguy who'll wake up early and
walk around the block, turn acasual picnic into a full

(02:36):
production without cutlery.
Can you remember that?
Happily spend all day on thebarbecue perfecting low and slow
brisket and jump in a watertaxi without hesitation if it
means getting off a boat when itmatters, he can switch on his
discipline like a light, buthe's just as happy kicking back

(03:00):
and talking about anything butcricket.
We go beyond the game todayinto the mindset struggles
behind the stats, the challengesof walking away from a sport
that defined him, and surprisingfreedom that comes when you
back yourself into your nextchapter.
Watsi, welcome to Fuck.

(03:22):
I'm Nearly 50.

Shane Watsons (03:24):
It's a lovely intro.
We've got plenty to go have adeep dive, don't we?
Yeah?

Dom Hind (03:31):
How would you introduce yourself if you
couldn't use a cricket reference?

Oh gosh, that's a tough one, because cricket's
been my life and I'munbelievably proud of it and
it's given me an amazing life.
Um, so it'd be hard.
I'd probably just define myselfand my characteristics of sort
of being built in and around me,being the best cricketer that I
could be.

Dom Hind (03:56):
Okay, and what are those characteristics?

Um, desperation, to be the best I can be, uh,
honest, caring To be the best Ican be.
Honest, caring Probably justhard work.

Dom Hind (04:13):
Yeah, you are definitely hard work, and I will
also put loyal in there as well.

Yes, I am.

Dom Hind (04:18):
Yeah.

Yes, I am, and that's what happens when you go
up into team sport.
You have to be.
That's one of the skills thatyou develop.
Yeah, okay, good, yeah, I am,and that's what happens when you
go up into team sport you haveto be.

Dom Hind (04:27):
That's one of the skills that you develop.
Yeah, okay, good, yeah, I likethat definition.
And it is hard because cricketdefinitely has been your life
and it still is.
You know, a large part of yourlife Saying that, what are you
doing now, like with cricket?
How are you still involved incricket?

So I'm very fortunate I'm still involved in
a number of different ways, yeah, which is what I love.
So I'm doing commentatingwhenever the opportunity arises,
more so over in thesubcontinent, over in India in
particular for the IndianPremier League, doing like ICC
events, so like T20 World Cupsor World Cups Not so much here

(05:05):
in Australia, unfortunately andcoaching-wise mainly over I've
done the IPL assistant coach toRicky Ponting for Delhi Capitals
for a few years now.
Major league cricket in the US.
Head coach of the San FranciscoUnicorns.
Yeah, that's cool.
Yeah, that's been a really coolride and journey so far, and the

(05:27):
amazing people I've met in andaround that franchise have been
something that I normallywouldn't get access to.
So that and Do you?

Dom Hind (05:36):
know what, Sorry.
The thing that I think isreally interesting about cricket
in the US is what Beckham didfor soccer and how it literally
has changed it.
And if cricket can do similar.
What an amazing journey.

Oh, there's a huge opportunity there and World
Cricket's seen it for the last10 or 15 years, but they've
really now started to get it allin place.
So some super wealthy,successful Indian heritage

(06:09):
people mainly guys have moved tothe US, have done incredibly
well, especially in the techspace, and now they've invested
into cricket in the US, sothey're really making it happen.
So there's a massiveopportunity.
As long as there's a massiveopportunity as long as there's
always been a little bit ofshenanigans around US cricket.

(06:29):
So hopefully they just get outof the way to make sure that it
happens.
But politics do get in the wayof a lot of different sports and
things in general, don't they?
they sure do.
And I'm still mentoring one onone, mentoring some cricketers
here in Australia, around thearound the world as well.
So, um, I'm still heavilyinvolved with my, with my son,

(06:51):
Will um, helping him on hiscricket journey that he that he
loves, and helping him when heneeds help.
Yeah.
I'm not pushing help when heneeds help when he wants help.
Um, so I'm still heavilyinvolved in it because I still
absolutely love the game as muchas I did as a kid.

Dom Hind (07:08):
I can remember, even when Will was growing up, you
didn't push him into cricket andhe didn't get interested in
cricket until what like seven.

Yeah, about seven , seven or eight.

Dom Hind (07:19):
yeah, and it was just interesting that you were just
letting him be and not pushingit, and you know, I think that's
an amazing thing.

I was never going to do it and never going to
push my kids into any sort ofdirection that I wanted them to
go.
It's whatever they whateversparked their interest and
whatever they really got intoand loved.
So really picked up cricket andthe love of cricket from being
on tour with me With the lastyear that Lee Will and Matilda
came over.

(07:47):
My wife and two kids came overwhen I was playing the Chennai
Super.
Kings yeah.
And that was the time where hejust like, saw, like what.
How good it was, yeah, how coolit was, and and being around a
team environment with other kidshis age and they love cricket.
So from then on it's just beenfor him, something that he's
just obsessed about.

Dom Hind (08:01):
Yeah, that's awesome for him something that he's just
obsessed about.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Okay, all right, you've playedin front of hundreds of
thousands of people.
That's just scary, eventhinking about it.
What's something that's trippedyou up mentally that no one
would expect?

I think the main thing that always would trip me
up at other people is when youreally take in the enormity of
the situation and go.
What happens if I once I make amistake here in front of like a
hundred thousand people and90,000 people and the millions
of people watching at home, andthat's especially the start of
my career?
Yeah, I was like too aware.
I thought of that too much.
Yeah.
Once if I make a mistake and itactually means that it could be

(08:44):
a critical moment in the gameand it means that my team
potentially loses because of onemistake that I make.
Yeah.
And that was always like.
At times that would be athought that would come in like
a World Cup final yeah, a lotriding on it.
But that's where, just throughexperience, I had to realize you
had to shut that off and justthink about the right thing,

(09:07):
because otherwise you would getin your own way and there was
more chance of actually doingsomething wrong or embarrassing
that.
Then you won't live it down forthe rest of your life.

Dom Hind (09:18):
Well, and I think that's so true, isn't it?
When you're?
I mean, it's part of what we'lltalk about.
But if you're focused on thewrong thing, the wrong thing
normally does happen.

Or more chance of happening.

Dom Hind (09:27):
Yeah, so you need to change it.
Change it, get into somethingelse.
Yeah, was there a moment whenyou thought this is the best gig
in the world and another whereyou thought I can't do this
anymore?

I suppose there was one moment and this was
right at the start of my Aussiecareer I was in the test squad
of my first tour in South Africaand I was in the squad.
I was never going to play, butI was just there as like a young
guy to sort of learn the ropesin a way.
And the second test match ofthat series the Aussies won and

(10:02):
dominated and as a celebrationwhich would happen after a test
match win it's, it was like abucks night, you know, in a way
yeah yeah, where it was like itwas huge celebrations.
I really like mateship andeverything that goes with
playing for australia, but itwas like not fully unhinged but
like sort of as much as youcould like it it was.

(10:23):
It was like I was like so weended up like seeing the team
song up on the top of TableMountain.
Cape Town, oh wow.
Yep.
And you got up there in thedark.
Yeah, in the dark.
Yep.
After the test match yeah,we're up in the dark and and I
remember, as we sort of had sungthe song, and again, I didn't
play in the test match, but Iwas like part of Phil, I was
part of it and I was like this,honestly, this has to be the

(10:47):
best gig in the world.
This is outrageous.
And that was before I evenplayed a test match or a one day
game.
So I knew I've got a lot ofhard work to be able to try and
keep this make this my life fora while.
But that was the time where,yeah, I was like this has to be
the best gig in the world.
Yeah, yeah, I certainly it'snever been.
I hate the game because Ialways love the game.
It's like I hate this situationI'm in and how am I going to

(11:10):
get out of.
It Was like it was.
After the test match.
It ended up being my last testmatch in Cardiff in 2015.
I hadn't scored, hadn't scoredruns.
I was going through a prettytough time across the board and
especially with my performancesruns.
As I was going through a prettytough time across the board and
especially with my performances.
And I remember, like theoutside of the hotel at that
time so that's 2015 we had Willand Matilda uh, the press were

(11:35):
just every like everywheretrying to get comment are you
going to play in the next testmatch?
And and that was the time whereand yeah, that was the time I
was like this isn't.
This is not enjoyable at all.

Dom Hind (11:45):
Yeah, um, and I'm sure you were probably already like
in your own mindset going whatam I like, how do I get out,
what do I do?
And that was the internalstruggles.
And then you had all of theseexternal factors coming at you
as well.

Yeah, absolutely, and I and I at that time I had
no answers for what was going onin my mind as well.
Yeah, so, and then, like a daylater, it got leaked that I was
going to be, I was dropped, eventhough I hadn't been told Right
.
And then the next then it wasthe next day, where you know,
the late great Rod Marsh is thechairman of selectors came up to
me at Lords in the lead up tothe second test match and said

(12:24):
look, I've got no idea how thatgot out, but it actually is
right and you are, but you aredropped.
So those couple of days werelike this Get me home.
Yeah, this is not.
This is not great.
And again at that time, cause Ihad no answers for my
performance and where I was atin my mind I was like, yeah, how

(12:45):
I'm not sure how I'm going toget out of this.

Dom Hind (12:46):
Do you think teams back then actually did enough to
help you mentally prepare forthat, or how you could mentally
get yourself into the zone?

No.

Dom Hind (12:59):
Do you think it's changed now?

Not, not really Really Not enough now.
Not not really Really Notenough.
Um, like at that time, likewithin, like in Australian
cricket, we just about over thattime, we had for probably three
or four years and maybe fiveyears, had a sports psychologist
on tour.
Yeah.
Right, but that sportspsychologist was more there for
the captain and coach to sort oflike, navigate their way

(13:24):
through being leaders.
Or if your life, not performance, if your life outside of
cricket was starting to spiral abit, yeah right, like he was
there for that, not there toreally work with individuals and
as a group on your mentalskills, your performance-based

(13:45):
mindset, that was just not thereand it's still not there much
at all, which is just.
It blows me away, knowing by allperformance, a huge part of it
is mental.
You need to have the skills,you need to have the technical
prowess to be able to, as astarting point, as a baseline,
but then on top of that you needthe mental skills to compound
that skill that you've worked sohard to be able to as a
starting point, as a baseline,but then on top of that you need

(14:05):
the mental skills to compoundthat skill that you've worked so
hard to be able to develop andit's just not done anywhere near
enough.
And now that that's sort of thedirection that I've moved into
with a big part of my life.
Now I just get blown away thatit's just not done at all and
everyone's just got to navigatetheir way themselves.

Dom Hind (14:24):
It's so interesting.
I think it is interesting notonly in sport, but just also in
life as well Like we spend allthis money trying to get fit,
trying to get like on yourphysical, on you know just the
doctors, the health, everythingbut mentally sometimes you need
to get out of your brain and getsomeone to actually give you

(14:44):
the guidance to make sure thatyou are being shaped or thinking
about things in the right wayand we're not doing it in any
part of our life.

You think about the kids going through school?
They learn all the.
They develop these skills andknowledge and everything like
that, and they become soproficient at it if they work
hard enough, but then if theyneed to apply it in a real
pressurized situation where ifthey get it wrong they don't
want to know the consequences ofit.

(15:13):
Yeah.
But there's nothing in thecurriculum, there's no nothing
out there at the moment where itactually helps understand the
mental side.
So you've got more chance ofbeing able to access all those
skills and especially when youdon't want to know what's on the
other side of a bad performance.

Dom Hind (15:29):
Yeah, or how you can try and get yourself out of that
bad performance.

Yeah, and absolutely.
If you do have a badperformance, which is always
going to happen, how do Inavigate my way out of that to
be able to learn from it and notcontinue to dig a really deep
hole and then take a long timeto be able to get out of it?

Dom Hind (15:47):
I even think I was thinking about this the other
day, even with kids nowadays,even with bullying, and how you
get yourself out of that mental,that mindset, because in that
place where the kids are beingbullied, they're already having
those discussions in their mind,thinking I'm not good enough,
what can I be doing and what amI doing wrong, and I mean that

(16:09):
sets themselves up for that.
You know that lifelong journeyof a little bit of.
You know the negativity and themindset creep that you don't
want them to have.

That's it.
One of the most powerful thingsthat anyone can understand is
that internal dialogue, thatmind show that's going on, that
you are actually in control ofthat script of what's being said
.
If you are in, if you'restarting to have the wrong
thoughts, to be able to catch itand what the right thoughts are
for you or what's a defaultthought, to be able to just make

(16:49):
sure you've moved your thoughtsaway from the wrong thoughts,
Because if you don't, then thatjust it spirals and before you
know it you're in a pretty darkplace.
Even like for bullying, eventhough it's got it's not your
fault at all, it's got nothingto do with you, apart from
someone who's their own powertrip.
They've found a weakness insomeone else and they're just
trying to make themselves feelbetter about making someone feel

(17:10):
penetrating their weakness.

Dom Hind (17:12):
They're all got their own insecurities and they're
playing it out on someone else.
I do love the default, like thedefault thing, and I know that
I've been through the beyondperformance mindset but the
default and making sure you havea default.
It helps so much because assoon as your mind starts to
wander, you can just bring itback.

One of the most important things out of the
mental skills information that Iteach is what is your default,
what is your anchor?
Yeah.
That if stuff's going down andthere's always going to in life,
always wrong things that youdon't want are going to be
thrown at you, yeah, what is thedefault thought for you to
anchor yourself to?
so then you don't allow yourselfto go into a deep hole yeah,

(17:57):
and, and that's and that'sdifferent for different people,
but you have to define exactlywhat it is for you and for me.
It's putting a song into myhead and it was during my career
days yeah, yeah, the back endof my cricketing days, yeah,
yeah, and it still is.
Now, when you know somethingoccurs that you just you know
how the hell, why has thathappened?
What's that going to mean?
Yeah, and all the differentlike.

Dom Hind (18:19):
What if what?

if like no, I've got to stop that.
Put a song into my head andthat's a way to be able to just
get your mind away from it.

Dom Hind (18:26):
What's your go-to song , or does it just change it?

changes the music I'm listening to at that moment
in time.
Yeah, it just shifts, but Ialways have like a couple of
songs ready to go though youlove country, though too don't
you, I do love country.
I Do you mean in the States toolong now?
Oh, I love country.
Yeah, heartfelt lyrics and thatDo love it Soulful voices.

Dom Hind (18:50):
We've spoken about perfectionism, or you have
spoken about it particularly.

When did you realize it was holding you back
rather than helping you.
It was probably at a time where, because of my injuries that I
had throughout my career, it gotto a stage where I had to
totally change my whole trainingregime, and more so I'd say
more so from a skill-basedperspective, because I was
chasing perfectionism.
I was chasing being perfectwith all my skills batting,

(19:22):
bowling and fielding and thatwould mean I would overtrain in
a huge way because I was just ifI didn't get it right.
I kept going, even like the daybefore a test match, day before
a one day game, if I didn'tfeel like I got it right.
I'd just keep going and goinguntil I felt like I got it right
, which meant that I wasfatigued and I actually didn't
really get it right.
So that would mean that I'd gointo a game, I'd be physically

(19:46):
fatigued and then I'd get aninjury.
Yeah.
So things shifted when I had aphysio looking after me Victor
Popov, who was just one of thebest physios in the world
physiotherapist and his amazingexperiences and he talked to me
about having like making surethat I did just enough, just

(20:09):
enough, just enough, just enough, and that was all around like
being able to stay on the fieldto reduce the chance of getting
injured.
Yeah, right.
So as soon as I moved to that,then I realised that I couldn't
be perfect at training yeah.
Because there would be a week,for example, where I'd have a
full recovery week where I'd dolike half the amount of what I'd

(20:29):
do previously for the previousthree weeks, and that meant that
I had to trust my skills andtrust what I actually had inside
of me.
And then I had some goodperformances and I realized what
the hell have I been doing?
So that was it was.
It wasn't me going perfection,trying to chase perfectionism.
It certainly did help medevelop my skills quicker than

(20:51):
other people.
Yeah, right, because you put thetime in, because I put because
I just pushed the limit and Iwanted to be perfect.
Yeah, yeah.
But it also meant, during thatperiod of time, though one I
went into games fatigued but,two, I wasn't necessarily at my
best, consistently as well,because I didn't think I was
good enough yeah, yeah insteadof going, and, and the perfect

(21:11):
sort of balance of that ischasing, being perfect, knowing
that it's actually not possibleyeah but chasing it.
So you do, you.
You work your absolute butt offand find the right people to get
as close to being perfect, butthen letting yourself go, not
over training, as you're notgoing to games, fatigued

(21:33):
mentally and physically yeah butthen also, um, knowing that
what you've got right there, andthen you've got to bring the
best you've got right there, andthen, whether you're 21 or
whether you're 35, yeah so it'sand that's where.
Now.
That's what I, what I coach now, whether it's whether it's with
my son Will, whether it's withthe cricketers that I work with
it's.
It's a great thing to chasethat, because it means you've

(21:53):
got the fire in your belly to beas good as you can, but then
you've got to then move awayfrom and go well, there's no,
you can't be perfect yeah butyou've got to get as close as
you can to it it's interesting,the recovery piece.

Dom Hind (22:06):
I just I didn't realize how important it
actually is because I like Iwill just keep going, going and
train, train, train, but youdon't realize that you do
actually need to take a breakand that's.
That's where that like justenough.
That's actually really goodadvice.

And that's where I would just.
I didn't turn it off either, soI would like the pattern
throughout my, throughout aperiod of time in my career was
I would just be going so hard.
Yeah.
For like six weeks bang injured.
Yeah.
And then I'd be like rehab,recovering from injury, and then
I'm back Probably six weeks.
Yeah.

Dom Hind (22:44):
Like six weeks on, six weeks on, six weeks on.

Yeah, because I'd just be pushing the limit all
the time and then get injured,and then it'd be like then it'd
be the same pattern over andover again.

Dom Hind (22:53):
So your consistency is that's right.

And then as soon as Victor Popov came in and just
like just deconstructed andpulled apart my whole everything
that I was doing, like thatthing was like like we've got to
stop that.

Dom Hind (23:05):
But isn't that interesting as well, though,
with like trying to seekperfection, that's all about in
your mind too.
Imagine if you'd been taughtthat earlier on.

Because people would see me at training beating
myself up If I dropped a catch.
In practice I would like I'd belike going hard at myself If I
bowled a bad ball.
I'd be going hard at myselfLike I'd be nailing myself.

Dom Hind (23:26):
But not only in training.
You would do it when you playedas well.

In game as well.

Dom Hind (23:30):
And you know people could see that you were pissed
off because you were like likeyou wore the expression
everywhere.
Everywhere, because you beatyourself up to try and be
perfect.

Yep no-transcript .

(24:14):
Yeah, but it was just meant tobe.

Dom Hind (24:16):
Yeah, you know what it is.
Everything happens for a reason.

If I didn't have that, I wouldn't, the light
wouldn't have turned, would havebeen as bright.
When I was like, oh my gosh,I've been, that's been the
missing link and I was luckyenough that it was still while I
was still playing.
Even though I'd got dropped,retired from Test Cricket and
one day cricket, dropped,retired, I still was able to put

(24:42):
, like, actually put thoseskills, those new mental skills,
into play and troubleshoot themin game, instead of
retrospectively go.
Look.
If I had my time again, I wouldhave done this.
But I actually implemented itfor like five or six, five years
of me playing these mentalskills.
So now, anytime someone asks aquestion around the mental side

(25:03):
of performance, I'm not insideout, because I've actually lived
and breathed it.
So you know I wouldn't have itany other way, even though and
that's why now I'm trying to getthis information out to as many
people as possible, so theirjourney isn't they can start
implementing these skills from ayounger age, instead of having
to go through 14 years ofprofessional cricket.

Dom Hind (25:28):
Getting to that next, the next stage after retirement.
Did you plan or did you plan,the next chapter or did you?
Were you a bit shocked and abit lost when your proper like
playing days ended?

so I was, I was very I'd say I was very scared
yes about that end date.
I was.
I was really I.
I overthought it a lot, right,probably like three or four
years out, right, so I was.

(26:06):
So I would.
When, if I had any downtime, Iwould be like, what am I going
to do in the next phase of mylife?
And and be really chasing that?
So I didn't, because I'd seenso many of my mates whether that
was the first class cricketerswho just played state cricket or
Aussie players and some justlike fall off a cliff, and so I

(26:34):
was very concerned about it.
So I was looking into the future.
What, potentially, am I goingto move to?
Is it going to be coaching?
Is it going to be commentary?
Is there something else that Ican do that I really love?
And that's where it started out.
Well, I wanted to get, I wantto get into coaching because I
do love the game, I want to beable to help people.
But then it was, like I know,like the missing piece for me to

(26:55):
be able to have a advantageover the other coaches is the
mindset.
And that was even before I metJacques Dallaire around the, who
taught me up in the like mentalperformance.
So, but then, even when and Ihad a longer career.
I finished playing at 39professionally, like my last IPL

(27:15):
season was 39.
So I was one of the lucky onesas well.
I was able to play.
During COVID.
During COVID.
Yeah, I was able to play upuntil I was 39, whereas not that
many people have that chance,so I know I was lucky.
But then, when it turned off, Ithen set up a cricket equipment
business and chased that sohard, even though, yeah, and it

(27:40):
didn't end up working out, and Ilearned a lot.
Do you know what?

Dom Hind (27:43):
It gave you something to focus on it did.
And I think that's the bestthing about that was you had
something else to focus on.

I needed to repurpose my energy, absolutely
yeah, and that certainly was,even though, again, it didn't
work out.
But I learned a ridiculousamount of lessons from it about
business, about the e-commerce,about the tech world and that
sort of stuff that I wouldn'thave.
No, I wouldn't have learned,especially the hard way.
That's what we learned the mostso.
So that was a way, and Lee, mywife like she could see that

(28:13):
like I had to redirect my, likemy energy, yeah, and that I was
chasing it so hard because I was, I was, I was worried about,
because I'd seen a number of mymates who had really struggled.

Dom Hind (28:27):
Yeah, and it's with all professional sports as well.
It's the you're out of thatdaily routine or the competition
and it's like what do I do now?

Yeah.

Dom Hind (28:36):
But I think it's also even when you know a lot of men
retire as well.
They have invested so much ofthemselves in work that they
don't have, you know, a lot ofthe connections or the interests
or whatever to actually helpthem bridge the gap into
retirement.

And that's like for athletes, it happens earlier
in your life.
Yes.
Whereas across the board youknow men and women when they
either about to retire orthere's a transition phase in
their life because of the workopportunities that have arisen.
Like it's a cliff.
You've got to find out the bestway to be able to like, try and

(29:20):
reduce how high that cliff is,and it's so daunting.
It is, but just for athletes,and it's, and it's so daunting
it is, and but just for athletes, it's just, it's earlier in
your life but it's still thesame thought process, it's the
same transition that you're likewhat, what's, where can I?
how can I repurpose my energy?
Do I need to repurpose myenergy and like and support my

(29:42):
family?
Financially or is it repurposemy energy, because I'm set up
financially like fine, but Ineed still.
I can't just like sit on thecouch.
No, that's not going to lastthat long, maybe for three days
and you're like stop this.

Dom Hind (29:56):
Exactly.
Then it's like the downwardspiral would start to.
Where's my purpose?
What am I doing?
How do I get out of here?
Yeah, For people who don't knowwhat is Beyond or Beyond
Performance, and why did youcreate it.

So Beyond Performance is a mental
performance coaching businessthat I set up, initially with Dr
Jacques Delay, who's a mentalperformance coach from the US,
initially with Dr JacquesDallaire, who's a mental
performance coach from the US.
His background's in Formula One, nascar, indycar, fighter
pilots, special forces,corporate coaching, whatever it

(30:35):
is.
I got introduced to JacquesDallaire from Willpower Aussie
IndyCar driver.
He's still driving now.
He's won two IndyCarchampionships in the last 10
years so I got introduced to him.
I was at a random awardsDalliams which I've only been
there once at that time andnever been there since.
Wow yeah.
And met Will Power, who's goingthrough a similar time in his

(30:57):
career around the fear ofperforming and the fear of what
might happen if you make amistake.
He connected me up with JacquesDallaire and that was the time
it was 2015, where I got droppedfrom Test Cricket, retired,
retired from Test Cricket, and Ihad no answer to that time of

(31:20):
what was going on with myperformances because I was
performing nowhere near my best.
Then I met Jacques Dallaire heI flew over to Charlotte because
I was desperate Lee my wife wasdesperate as well to like you
need some, you need to get somehelp, you'll know.
Yeah, you know where what areyou doing so.
I flew over, spent two days withJacques and he taught me this
information that oh, it was just, it was so profound, yeah.

(31:43):
And yeah, oh it was just, itwas so profound, yeah.
And then, from that moment onthen applying it and seeing the
benefits immediately.
I knew straight away, before Ieven tried to apply it.
Yeah.
Just like, oh, I know how I'mgoing to apply it, but then
actually applying it andperforming out in the field.
That's where I was like thisinformation is not readily
available.
Yeah.
I know it's definitely not inAustralia, not in the cricket
world.
Yeah definitely not inAustralia, not in the cricket

(32:05):
world.
So set up a business, be onperformance with Jacques and
sort of ended up morphing intobecause of COVID and mainly,
where Jacques would come out andteach the information and I'd
sort of provide the contextaround how I applied it.
Now I've been taught up how toteach this information.
I've got a licensing agreementwith Jacques and now I'm just

(32:26):
trying to educate as many peopleas possible.
I released a book.
Hang on, you self-published thatone Self-published initially,
yeah, and I wouldn't haveself-published if I didn't have
the learnings from T20 Stars.
So I self-published the firstversion of the book Winning the
Inner Battle, and then to beable to-.

Dom Hind (32:45):
Was that hard writing that book?

No.

Dom Hind (32:48):
Well, because you yeah , okay no.

Oh, because it was just.
It was the information that Igot taught, the framework of the
information, and then just myway that I used it or didn't use
it.
And I had an amazing writer,Alex Malcolm, who's a cricket
writer, who really, who did playa lot of cricket, second level
cricket and grade cricket.
So his ability to be able toput the speaking word into a

(33:14):
written word to make it reallyengaging.

Dom Hind (33:16):
Hang on the Watsi word into written word.

Exactly To make sure that it's coherent.
And I had Gideon Haigig, who'san amazing writer, cricket
writer and writer in general,who, um, edited it for me as
well.
So so that was um and thenself-publishing it.
That was a great experience,like sending the books out yeah,
see the books out from home,fulfilling the orders, um, and

(33:39):
but then knowing fordistribution, how to get it out
to more people getting it to thebookstores, had HarperCollins
publish the next version, whichwas the Winner's Mindset, so
that was a way, and releasedthat in India as well.
Yeah perfect.
So, yeah, Beyond Performance,it's an education.

(34:01):
It's a way to be able to tryand educate as many people,
whether it's a written book,whether it's an online course,
which I released about 12 monthsago and also right now finding
other ways to be able to getthis information out, whether
it's in university schools.
Just so many different ways tobe able to get it out of the
corporate world.
Yeah.
Because it's something that's,very sadly, it's not readily

(34:24):
available to make peopleunderstand.
In really simple, layman'sterms, how can I have the right
thoughts at the right time to beable to perform at my?

Dom Hind (34:33):
best, I think, because I have been through it and I
think one of the things thatJustin still uses with me is the
A factors and B factors andbecause I and the other thing is
those don't connect, thingsthat aren't meant to be
connected, and I'm like no, no,no, there's got to be some
conspiracy here.
No, but you know even the Bfactors and can you explain a

(34:56):
bit around the A and the Bfactors, because I think that's
really interesting.

It is.

Dom Hind (35:01):
Yeah.

I think it is for sure.
I do it is.
Yeah, I think it is for sure.
So the performance equation isan equation that Jacques sort of
put together when he wasworking through what are the
things that get in your way ofgetting the best results
possible?
And trying to really simplifyit.
And the performance equation isA times B equals results, times

(35:28):
B equals results.
And so the A's are everythingthat's in your control, like the
skills that you've got rightthere, and then Not what you
might have in like a two daystime, in a month's time.
It's what you have right there,and then it's how well prepared
you are.
How have you ticked every box?
Are you physically, mentally,fresh or tired?
How committed you are, becauseyou're in control of whether
you're really engaged or not,but then also whether you are

(35:50):
correctly focused as well,because you're in control of
your thoughts.
If you want to take control and,if you have to be, have the
right thoughts at the right timeand you're in control of those.
So that plays an important partas something that you're in
control in as well.
Control of.
So the A's are everything youare in control of, the B factors
, all the things that are out ofyour control.

Dom Hind (36:10):
Yeah, the noise.

Yeah, the noise, the things that might come up
that are just you're notexpecting at all.
I put this in like the um inthe business world.
The negative B is you are inand around COVID is you are in
and around COVID.
A negative B is you are abricks and mortar store and you
rely on foot traffic and peoplecoming into your store to be

(36:31):
able to and it's been a supersuccessful business.
But that's what you rely on.
Covid hits totally out of yourcontrol.
Everything gets shut down andthen all of a sudden you go from
a lot of revenue to zero.
Just about it's out of yourcontrol.
The positive B is you could bea business that mainly had an

(36:54):
online presence.
You're an e-commerce business.
Covid hits and it justsupercharges your business
because people can't get out andabout and you've got your
supply chain, everything set uplike not thinking that that was
going to happen, but then yourbusiness gets supercharged and
you shoot the lights out.
So there's always to every Bfactor there's two sides.
There's a positive one and anegative one, but again, it's

(37:16):
out of your control.
So for me, growing up, I justbelieved and obsessed over A
equals results If I work hardenough and I train my butt off
in the lead up to the weekend tothat game.
That should guarantee meresults.
And then when I didn't get theresults that I wanted because
it's going to happen then I waslike, well, I'm obviously not

(37:37):
working hard enough.
Yeah, you blamed yourself.
I'd beat myself up, let's go,I've got to get back in the nets
.
I've got to train hard.
I beat myself up, let's go,I've got to get back in the nets
.
I've got to train hard.
I'm obviously not working hardenough.
And I never put into my owninternal computer that there are
actually B factors that do getin the way, positive and
negative, whether it's for me,whether the conditions, the
opposition I'm up against,whether it's a good opposition,
whether it's a not so good,whether my skills match up

(37:59):
really well to that opposition,all these different positive and
negative Bs that I just neverreally took into consideration
at all and by understanding, ordeeply understanding, that these
B factors that are out of mycontrol, understanding that
they're out of my control.
So that means and the equationis correct A times B equals

(38:20):
results.
Then if I can't control the Bs,that means I can't control
results.
And that, for me, was soprofound because I was like well
, I'm worrying about results,but when is worrying about
results made results?
Better Well, never.
So why am I spending so muchtime worrying about results that
it's something that's out of mycontrol?
If I'm going to worry aboutsomething, I have to worry about

(38:42):
bringing the very best A's thatI've got the things I'm in
control of.
Yeah.
And that just lifted this hugeweight that I'd been, that had
been compounding on me since Iwas born.

Dom Hind (38:53):
Where do you think it actually came from initially?
Was it just your desire thatyou wanted to be the best?

Oh yeah, I think.
So that definitely was insideof me, since I can, since I can
remember, but also that was theenvironment that I grew up in
with my family as well.
Yeah, it's like you've got toPut in the work, You've got to
work your butt off.
My mum was a very good swimmerthrough her teens and, yeah,
through her late teens.
She was one of Australia's bestfreestyles for a period of time

(39:22):
and then just missed out on theOlympics.
Um, by one place in freestyleand also, uh, it's backstroke or
butterfly.
I should know.
Yeah, Um, sorry, I'm not Sorry.

Dom Hind (39:34):
Barb.

She just, she just missed out, and that was
sort of like um, that's what Isort of grew up with, is you got
to work hard but you, like ourfamily sort of built around,
just missing out as well.
Yeah.
So that was me sort of likewell I'm not going to miss out.
Yeah, well, I'm going to haveto break through.
I'm going to have to pushthrough that ceiling.

Dom Hind (39:52):
Yeah right.

And am I going to be able to?

Dom Hind (39:54):
Yeah, so you put that pressure on yourself.

So that's the pressure that just I compounded
on myself, and there was a wayto be able to get past my
opposition.
Individual opposition that Iwas fighting against to get a
place in the team, but then thatalso meant that I put so much
pressure on myself to perform aswell, and I look back at times
where I didn't perform as ateenager as well.
It's because I just suffocatedmyself with fear of making a

(40:24):
mistake.

Dom Hind (40:26):
But also doing too much.

Oh yeah.

Dom Hind (40:31):
That also.
What's one beyond principlethat you use in your own life,
whether you're speaking on stageor tending to your smoker?

Yeah, there's probably two that stand out the
most.
One is what are the rightthoughts for me to be able to
best?
And understand that you are incontrol of your thoughts.
Yeah, and if your performanceis really important to you, then
you have to take control ofwhat your thoughts are, to make
sure they're the right ones.
Yeah.
And then when the wrong onescome in and they're always going

(41:00):
to come in, Always the fear ofonce I get this wrong, once I
make a mistake, then you have tocatch those thoughts to know if
I've got those the wrongthoughts, then I'm moving
further away from my chance toperform my best.
Yeah.
So catching that thought andredirecting it and that's the
complimentary part of that iswhat is my anchor, what is the
thing that I need to jam into myhead when the wrong thoughts

(41:22):
start to come in, and that's thesong in my head how do you
catch yourself, and how often doyou not catch yourself?
Yeah, Look, there's somethingrecently over, like a week or
two ago, that came out of theblue that I wasn't expecting and
it was actually.
and this is like, and I knowthis information inside out used

(41:42):
to perform at my best, but Ialso I had a time where I didn't
catch those thoughts.
Yeah.
I started to sort of get in abit of a spiral.
Yeah, and it was actually Lee,my wife, who was just like what?
Like what are you doing?
Yeah, you know, like, but youknow that you're overthinking
this.
Just stop it.

(42:04):
You know what the techniquesare to be able to stop it.
Yeah, Right, and that was thethat was the, the, the jolt to
go.
What are you doing?
Yeah, it's like what are thethings I'm in control?

Dom Hind (42:14):
of that's right.

Jam a song in my head.
So even by knowing thisinformation inside out, teaching
it and using it to performthere was still because we're
human.
There's still a moment where,like Lee, had to remind me to go
what are?
You doing yeah, so.

Dom Hind (42:31):
But it is.
At least you do have someone togo.
Hey, what are you doing?
Like you know, there is thatperson that can be reminding you
.
Yeah.
What happens if you don't havesomeone to go pull yourself out
of it?

Yeah, like that's where Exactly, and that's why
I'm developing a product to dothat.

Dom Hind (42:49):
Right, yeah, I can understand that.
What's more stressful?
A World Cup final or cookingmeat which you love to slow cook
for a group of hungry mateswho've been?

drinking margaritas all day.
Oh gosh, see, I would say aWorld Cup final is easier
because I've got moreunderstanding of what the hell
I'm doing.
Yeah, whereas the meat side,and I would say the hungry mates
who've been drinking margaritasall day, I'd say hungry kids.
Oh, yeah, that have a meltdown,oh yeah, yeah.
And my brisket hasn't gonethrough the stall and it's been

(43:28):
stationary, the temperature, forlike two or three hours and
it's the sun has got well downand the kids and I'm getting
massive heat to go.
What's happening?
I'm like, well, if I pull itoff now, it's going to be like
trying to eat through a leatherboot, or I get it right and push
through another hour or two andit's going to be like heaven in
a mouthful.

Dom Hind (43:48):
I can remember that one I don't know, this is
probably the time we're talkingabout we would have been cooking
for 12 hours or something andthe kids were starving and in
the end, you just got Uber Eatsbecause it was just too hard,
yep.

You had to get Uber Eats to get out of the
chicken shop and get somechicken because it just it was
not, it was bad.
That's so cool.
It's happened.
Well, it's a thing trial anderror.
How do you learn, how do youget better?
Yep, by making some big, bigerrors.

Dom Hind (44:17):
Like I think people get so hung up on failure and
but I actually think it's like,as people say, it's you've
actually had a crack, so failingis actually not a bad thing,
because you can actually learnfrom those failures as well.

I'd say failure, even though at the time it
doesn't feel like it at all.
Yeah, it's actually a gift yeah,I agree because it's a way to
be able to go.
Well, that didn't work.
What can I do?
What can I, what can I learnfrom it to be able to reduce the
chance of that happening again?
Or what can I learn from it?
So then, it's only going tomake me better?
Yeah, so failure is, but somany people see failure as I'm a

(44:58):
failure and that's.
I don't want that to happen andthen and then sort of just end
up falling into a heap andstaying there.
Yeah, instead of and look,there's no doubt, depending how
bad failure is and how much ofan impact it has on your life,
it can take a little bit of time.
It can take a couple of days.
It can take a couple of weeksto be able to go.

(45:18):
What can I learn from thissituation, even though it is not
a great situation I find myselfin?
What can I learn from thissituation?
Even though it is not a greatsituation I find myself in?
What can I learn from it?
Because then, if you learn fromthe situation, it's amazing how
, every time, you look back andgo.
If it wasn't for that and if Ididn't learn from that, then I
wouldn't have the skills now tobe able to really make hay while

(45:41):
the sun shines.

Dom Hind (45:41):
Yeah, I agree, and I also think the biggest failure
is not having a failure, becauseit means you've been playing
too safe.

Absolutely 100%.
Yeah, Life is a successful lifeis not in your comfort zone.

Dom Hind (45:54):
Yeah, yeah, on a junket which is what we
affectionately call one of yourtours.
Yeah, are you the guy who'sfirst to bed?
Okay, let's do this like likepre and post 2015.
Are you the guy who's first tobed, first to breakfast, or the

(46:15):
one in the corner who's having alast drink?

oh no, I was the yeah, I was one I'm not sure
about first to bed.
Yeah, as in, I wasn't like Ididn't go to bed really early,
but I was normally um, yeah, Iwas, just, I was every doing
everything I possibly could.
So, like even I think aboutlike my time when I was playing
test cricket in the last sort ofyear a couple of years because

(46:41):
my body was such a challenge tobe able to sort of stay fit.
Years because my body was sucha challenge to be able to sort
of stay fit like a night of atest match.
I'd be getting dry needling done, like every night, in different
parts of my body to be able totry and just release my muscles,
and then I'll be waking upfirst thing in the morning doing
my yoga, meditating, um, anddoing what I needed to do to get
ready for a day of of cricket.
So, yeah, I was doing, yeah,everything I could.

(47:03):
I would say, though, I and thisused to drive some people nuts
I was normally the last personon the bus which would drive
some people nuts especially likeearly birds.
Yeah, yeah.
I would get there like if theleave say, the leave time was
7.30.
Oh, okay, that's the leave time.
So I'd get there at like 7.29and like 55 seconds, right, so

(47:28):
I'd be.

Dom Hind (47:28):
And why?
What were you preparing?

Because I'm like well either I was either
preparing or I'm like I'm notgoing to just going to go down
and sit on the bus for like 15minutes when I could be up here,
wake up a little bit later, butwake up 15 minutes later, or I
could be, I don't know, doingwhat I need to do, not doing
like not just Just beingannoying, yeah, or listening to
music, just chilling in my roomor whatever it is, so it's like
that's a leave time.

(47:50):
So if you want me to be thereearlier, set the leave time
earlier.
But it used to drive somepeople nuts.
Is he going to be late again?

Dom Hind (47:58):
No, he's on time, right on time, like right on
time.
One of the things that Ithought was fascinating from
your discipline was during COVID, when you were in quarantine,
you walking five kilometres aday in your hotel room just
literally around the bed,because I've tried to do that at

(48:19):
the end of the day, when Idon't have enough steps and I
need like another 200 steps toget to my limit and I'm like how
can Watsi have done fivekilometers in a hotel room over
COVID?

Can you just talk about that?
Well, you do what you have todo to stay sane.
That quarantine, I only did itonce locked in your hotel room
and honestly I'm verycomfortable and I enjoy my own
time.
But two weeks on your own thathonestly was like that was
torture For people who aren'tthat comfortable like don't like

(48:54):
being on their own.
Yeah.
How that would have been sounbelievably difficult.
Yeah.
So for me that was just a way Ineeded to exercise every day,
yeah, and I need, like, walking.
So I just put a podcast on abusiness podcast because I'm
just launching my T20 StarsCricket Equipment brand.
So I was just listening to apodcast and just walking around
in circles really Not justcircles, but it was like there's

(49:19):
probably like I don't know five, seven meters to sort of go
around that's a lot of time.

Dom Hind (49:26):
How long did it take you to do that?

Oh the same time as normal.
I just had to make sure that Ididn't go around the same
direction, Otherwise I'd sort ofload up the carpet.
Yeah, I'd load up.
My sort of one side of my legsDid you move the bed.

Dom Hind (49:39):
No, oh my God, no you do what you have to do.
How do you talk to your kidsabout pressure resilience and
bouncing back from mistakes?

It's one of the most important things that I do
as a parent is and I parent verydifferently now to what I would
have before I learned thismental skills information.
Yeah, I would definitely parentvery differently, Um, and, and
now it's all about me justtalking to them about did you

(50:13):
give it?
Did you give your best, or inthe lead up to your performance?
Yeah.
Um, are you doing everything youcan to be able to perform well,
whether it's in exams, whetherit's in a sport?
Um, and then, most importantly,after the performance,
especially when it wasn't a goodperformance, and as you're
developing your skills, you'regoing to have a lot more not
great performances than goodperformances.

(50:35):
It's like, well, what was yourpreparation like, and?
But then, like, did you give it?
Did you actually give it yourbest?
Like, did you bring the bestversion of you, whatever it is,
and simplify it for your kids?
But then and then, what did youlearn from it?
What are the things?
What?
What didn't go well?
So, what are the things that wecan work on?
Whether it's an exam like do welike?
Okay, you didn't.

(50:55):
That didn't go so well.
What can we work on?
Is it?
Do we need to you know?
Do you need to go and talk toyour teacher to be able to learn
this, like this skill?
Or do we need with my son, willwith his cricket?
Okay, this didn't go exactlyright.
Yeah, so let's go to the netsand just work on these one or
two little things.

Dom Hind (51:15):
Does he carry the same thoughts that you carry, that
you have to do and be perfect?

No.

Dom Hind (51:23):
Or are you just helping him reshape that?

Yeah, yeah, but at training and even games he
wants to be perfect.
Yeah.
But he doesn't have thatsuffocating his performance.
He's even like now when heperforms he's free.
Yeah right, he's free.

Dom Hind (51:45):
And that's when I'm coaching him.
That's amazing isn't it.
Like just having that feelingof free and that freedom rather
than going, fuck, I've got to dothis, got to do, I've got to do
this.
Yeah.

And that's everything that I, that I teach
him from a cricket perspective,is even when we have like
training sessions is don't make,we're going to put some game
pressure, so don't not makingmistakes, not getting out, but
still scoring.
Yeah, yeah.
Still like being free but beingfree and trying to reduce your
mistakes, because most of thetime it would be like for me

(52:18):
growing up it was don't make amistake, so that would mean I
wouldn't be free.
Yeah, yeah.
And that's when you suffocateyour own performance.
So Will's, yeah, but he hadthat even.
He's got that freedom and hehad that sort of freedom in his
mind a little bit.
Anyway, before then I startedto really work with him to be
able to have that, have thatfreedom.

Dom Hind (52:39):
Yeah, I think I really do like the um, after the kids
have done something, asking themwhat was your preparation, what
did you learn, what could we dodifferently?
Like I mean, those three thingsare what we should be asking
after, even just for usreflecting on anything.

It's one of the most important things that any
individual can do, whether it'sas an adult, and especially
facilitating those conversationswith the kids.
Yeah.
Because then it just you'relearning, you're stimulating,
like your child to be able to gowhat happened, why did it
happen, and learn from it everysingle time, and that just

(53:18):
becomes their default processafter a performance.

Dom Hind (53:22):
Do you know?
I think it also helps buildresilience, because I think our
kids are so just not resilientnowadays because we do too much
for them.
But by getting them to own aperformance and thinking about
what they can do differently, itjust helps with their
resilience.
Of course it does.

Yeah, that's.
One of the most powerful thingsany human being can develop is
resilience, their ability to beable to bounce back from
setbacks, and they're alwaysgoing to be setbacks from
setbacks and they're alwaysgoing to be setbacks.
And the craziest thing abouthow society has changed and
parenting has changed is aroundcotton wooling your kids to oh,

(54:04):
I don't want them to feel pain.
I don't want them to fail, butthen you're setting them up for
failure because they neverdevelop the skills of learning
how to bounce back from afailure.
So then when failure arises andit's always going to arise they
do not have the skills, are notequipped to be able to deal
with it and they will fall intoa heap.
And their ability to be able tobounce back?

(54:26):
They might, but it's going totake a lot longer because they
haven't developed those skills.
And it is a skill skill youneed to develop, and the earlier
you set them on that path, thebetter they'll be been able to
deal with failure, because it'salways going to happen yeah, I,
I still joke that I think Ishould set up a school called
the school of hard knocks, justso that those less resilient
people can come can of cement.

(54:48):
Yeah, we're talking about can ofcement, but the can of cement
is to, is giving your kids,facilitating those conversations
so they, in the end, they'lljust do it themselves.
What happened?
Yeah, what happened?
Why did it happen?
Yeah.
Was it my preparation?
Was it actually just during myperformance where I just I was a
bit off?
Yeah.
My thoughts were the wrongthoughts.

(55:08):
And then what can I do in thelead up to my next, next
performance or during my nextperformance to be able to reduce
the chance of that happeningagain?

Dom Hind (55:15):
I think talking about the thoughts as well.
That's really important,because not many people do like
what were you thinking, Likewhat were you, what was going
through your mind?
How can we change that as well?

It's not just did you learn?
Did you learn this mathequation?
Did you like it's okay, youmight've had that, but you were
worrying about failing.
So you, by worrying aboutfailing and the anxiety builds,
then it feels like you canactually you do lose that
knowledge that you have.
Yeah.
Because you've suppressed it.

(55:47):
Yeah, so you're like oh my God,I know that, but I'm too
worried about my results.

Dom Hind (55:51):
Yeah, what's one thing you hope your kids take from
your career and the one thingyou hope they avoid completely?

The one thing that I would love them to take
from my career is definitelyaround hard work.
Yeah, that like to be as goodas you can.
There are no shortcuts.
Yeah.
You have to go to the ends ofthe earth to be able to work
your butt off.
But with that and that's notjust the technical skill, the

(56:24):
knowledge that you gain it'salso in parallel working and
understanding the mental skillsand working on them all the time
, because it is a skill the moreyou work on it, the more you
integrate it into your technicalskill and knowledge.
Then it's a perfect storm.
So that's absolutely everythingthat I'm working to be able to

(56:45):
instill in my kids, because thenyou help them become
bulletproof in a way, because ifother things come in, it just
bounces off them because, I'vebuilt this understanding of
performance, so that, um, andthe one thing that, oh, oh, geez
, oh, honestly, the one thingthat I probably would say is

(57:09):
never, never, get, never becomfortable.
And I'm going to be honest,there was one time in my career
where I was doing things that Idreamed of performance wise I it
was, um, it was around 2010,2011, where I'd been through a
lot of injuries and justeverything.

(57:29):
It just became a perfect stormand I was just performing,
batting and bowling, like how Idreamed of being able to do it,
but then I got comfortableenough to go, I've got this and
just sort of didn't continue toreally.

Dom Hind (57:43):
Hang on.
Is that comfortable equal tococky?
Or was it comfortable that youdidn't push yourself?

enough Comfortable that I didn't
continue just to look withlittle ways to get better.
Not, yeah, look like I.
Sort of like now I just got tomaintain what I've got instead
of continuing to, yeah, continuejust to.
And if, look, if everything wasset up like I was bulletproof,

(58:09):
then just it is maintaining thatand that's a challenge.
But I just probably, probably Igot a tiny bit comfortable and
then, over a couple of years,then I got exposed enough and I
had to sort of try and catch upagain.

Dom Hind (58:21):
Yeah, right, okay.
And the thing that I find likereally tough in thinking about
how you can keep mentallypreparing yourself and doing
that work what does thatactually look like?
Is it just sitting there andjournaling?
Is it then just thinking aboutwhat you actually want?

(58:41):
Like what is it?

Yeah, well, a couple of things.
One is journaling for surearound like how did it go today?
And being able to put it downon paper, not just like the
thoughts swirling around yourmind, finalising your thoughts
by writing them down anddebriefing all your performances
and what your preparationlooked like.
So that's definitely one, butone of the most important things

(59:06):
that you can do is also a goalsetting.
It's taking some time.
It doesn't take that long tosit down and go.
Okay, if I could dream up thenext 12 months.
What does that actually looklike that's achievable not just
like a fairy tale, but actuallysomething that's like it's a
dream if it happens, but it'spotentially.
It is achievable if everythinggoes well and setting that, but

(59:27):
then, once you set that, thenstripping it back to like day to
day.
What is my what is?
What do I have to do day to day?
And that's not just work allthe time that can be.
I need a recovery day to beable to freshen up mentally and
physically.
I need to actually get away fora week, or I need to.
really I need to source thisperson or this type of person

(59:48):
because I need to develop thisskill.
So it's really stripping backevery day.
What does it look like and if Ido that every day, and also
defining what are the potentialdistractions?
what are the things that couldget in my way, and is it too
much socializing?
Is it getting a bit like in mycomfort zone or is it and this

(01:00:11):
is not in a bad way is it familythat could pull me away?
But how can I then balance thatso I don't just go all in with
this and then I don't have afamily in a year's time.

Dom Hind (01:00:24):
It's finding that balance and working it out.
How often do you look at yourgoals?

Shane Watsons (01:00:29):
Oh yeah, like often.
Well, I set where I want to goevery 12 months and what the
dream outcome looks like.
Yeah.
And then it's like what are thethings that I need to do to get
as close as I can to that?
And again, these are the Bfactors that could come in your
way.
There might be some negative Bsthat just hit hard and it means

(01:00:51):
you get nowhere near that goalthat you set.
But there could be somepositives that just fall on your
lap and you shoot past thosedream goals.

Dom Hind (01:01:00):
Yeah, if you could wave a cricket bat and change
how we teach people to handlepressure or failure, what's the
first thing you'd smash?

It really is as simple as the one question that
is so profound when you ask itto people and it's when is
worrying about the results madethe results better?
So stop worrying about results.
Worry about the things you arein control of, because as soon
as people really deeplyunderstand that, you can see

(01:01:34):
that just that pressure is justremoved immediately they go okay
.
Well, if I'm going to worryabout something, I'm going to
worry about the things I'mactually in control of and
bringing the best that Ipossibly can, preparing for what
the potential negative Bs thatcould get in the way.
So when one arises, I can stepthrough that a little bit easier
without having a profound getin the way.
So when one arises, I couldstep through that a little bit
easier without having a profoundimpact on the result.

Speaker 2 (01:01:58):
But I just need to focus on the things that I'm
actually in control of and Iknow it's a.

It's a cliche that's used in sport in general
is like control thecontrollables.
And look, my coach for thestart of my career was John
Buchanan, and that's the onething that everyone used to take
the piss out of, and I didn'tdeeply understand what he meant
by it.
So I controlled thecontrollables.
Everyone was like come on, john, but it really is well, what am

(01:02:23):
I in control of?
And I need to take control ofthat, and if I do that, then
I've given myself the bestchance of getting the best
results possible.

Dom Hind (01:02:34):
And that's all I can ever ask of myself.
So if the control, thecontrollables, were then coupled
up with A times B, equalsresults, it actually gives you
that context and I do think,like even in just general life
we get so caught up in giving ashit about what other people
think, where it is such a Bfactor that if you just focus on

(01:02:54):
you and what you think and whatyou can control, it doesn't
matter what anyone else thinks.
Like that's it, that's all youneed to do.

Simple, simple, well said.
Yeah, it's exactly right.

Dom Hind (01:03:05):
Okay, rapid fire.
Oh here we go, go to barbecuemeat.

Wagyu rum cup.

Dom Hind (01:03:14):
Oh, okay, great.

Tips for it.
It's slow, oh yeah, like slowwith smoke and then a sear at
the end.

Dom Hind (01:03:26):
Make sure you get the temp right with your thermometer
.
Yeah, your thermometer.

Most elite athlete habit you still have.

Dom Hind (01:03:37):
Desperate to be the best I can be.
Good, secret junket, indulgence, golf, golf, yeah.

But that's not secret.
Yeah, I do love golf, but also,on a junket, a cricket tour,
yep, it's probably.
I feel like it's taking thepiss if you're there and playing
golf when you're actuallygetting paid to either coach or
play.
So I'm very hesitant.
I'll wait until I'm at home.

Dom Hind (01:04:06):
Okay, so what is it then?

Yeah.

Dom Hind (01:04:07):
What's the indulgent then?

Oh gosh.
To be honest, going out todinner every night, yeah,
especially if there's someamazing restaurants around.

Dom Hind (01:04:14):
Oh, yeah, okay, time to take yeah.

Your midlife mood in one word Excitement.

Dom Hind (01:04:23):
Why?

Because I feel so lucky to have gained the
knowledge and insight that Ihave at the age of 44.
Now to be able to then make themost of that knowledge that I
have, but also then my networkand connections, to be able to
really try and make a difference.
Good, it makes me jump out ofbed.

Dom Hind (01:04:46):
Yeah and yeah.
Mindset is just.
It's such we know we've got todo it, but it's just so untapped
because making it simple ortrying to understand it, it's
hard, and that's the thing.

I've got a few things that I don't.
They're still like semi in thepipeline, they're like towards
the top of the pipeline, butthere's some things, because it
is so untapped that there's somethings that it's opportunities
that wouldn't have been there ifit wasn't untapped.

Dom Hind (01:05:17):
Yeah.
So, that's good.
Can't wait to hear about that.
If your mindset had a themesong right now, what would it be
?

There's actually a Luke Combs song from his most
recent album that he released.
It's around like being a parentand being proud of who they
turn out to be.
Whichever direction you go,whether you want to be like he
talks about being a musician, orwhether you just want to do and
go fishing or do something else, something you really love it's

(01:05:49):
like I'm proud of who you wantto be.
So I'd say that's probablywhere I'm at right now as a
parent.

Dom Hind (01:05:54):
Amazing Okay, good.

So it's going to be a country song.

Dom Hind (01:05:57):
Always going to be.
What's one truth about mindsetreinvention or life after being
in the public eye that morepeople need to hear and actually
believe?

Understanding what the best version of you
looks like.

Speaker 4 (01:06:13):
Yeah, so then you best version of you looks like
yeah.

So then you know which version you're chasing
every time you go out to perform.
We're talking about bodylanguage before.
Yeah, yeah.
And I think about, like if Ireally understood I didn't
understand that, through like ahuge part of my career, for me
to be at my best, my bodylanguage and my thoughts, which
then turned into body language,would have been so different to

(01:06:36):
what they were which meant thatI was so desperate to perform
and get the best results Ipossibly could, but what I was
doing was pulling myself in theopposite direction to actually
me being at my very, very best.
So, by deeply defining, you'rethe best version of you.
Yeah, then you know, like youreally know which version you're
chasing so then, when you startto go the other way, you just

(01:06:59):
catch it and go nah, this Ireally want to perform my best,
so I have to be this.

Dom Hind (01:07:03):
I think that's a great thing.
I don't think many people knowwhat the even just every day.
What is the best version ofyourself?
Exactly, and not yelling atyour kids.
It's's the you know, having fun, it's the exercise and being
fit Like I think so many morepeople need to define that.
Yep and it's not a big thing.
It's just what are thebehaviors, what are the actions,
what are the way you think?

(01:07:23):
Yep, how can you actually bethat best version of yourself?

That's right.
Uh, as a in my pursuits, withmy career.
What does that version of melook like?
Um, as a, as a friend, like asa partner.
What does that best version ofme look like?
And we're human beings.
We're not going to be perfect,we're certainly not going to be
at our best all the time, but bydefining it, then you know what
you're chasing and then youknow how to what you're
critiquing after a badperformance.

(01:07:51):
Yeah, that's going to happen.

Dom Hind (01:07:57):
I love a reflection Like I just think it's so good
because you just go oh shit, Ishould have done that so
differently, or I'm glad I did,or handled it like that, yeah,
and sometimes it takes a fewtimes where you go.

I've got to critique that better because
I've done it again.

Dom Hind (01:08:13):
Yeah, what was the figure that got me to that point
?
Who said what?
Yeah.
Um final question Okay, what'she?
This has been a half sportsdoco.
You've done well, Dom.
Half mindset masterclass and alittle bit of a barbecue band to
put in.
But before we wrap, what's onething that you dare me to push

(01:08:37):
me out of my comfort zone?
Or, for everyone that'slistening, that before I turned
50, which is still in two and abit years something that gets me
out of autopilot and pushes me,gets me out of my comfort zone
that I should be trying.

Look, I'm not going to say try and cook a
12-hour brisket.

Dom Hind (01:08:58):
Yeah, because that's not going to happen, like no way
, that's what you're there for,but this is not.

Yeah, I've got a couple of spare.
This is not really pushingyourself out of the comfort zone
, but one of the most amazingthings that I'm not sure if you
have done this yet with Justinand the kids.
One of the most special thingsthat I've done in my life, to be
honest, was I went out to Uluru.

(01:09:27):
Yeah right.
And have you been to Uluru?
No.

Dom Hind (01:09:30):
Hallie wants to do it for her 13th birthday.

And have you been to Uluru?
No, hallie wants to do it forher 13th birthday, so I went out
there a couple of years ago andI only took Will because of the
opportunity that I had to goout there.
Yeah.
And it was as a very proudAustralian.
It was one of the mostincredible experiences I've had
in my life.
Yeah, Wow.

(01:09:53):
It was the, and the experiencewe had as well was a real, like
cultural experience around theelders of the Uluru.
Elders, yes, I always thoughtthe Uluru was just the name of
the rock.
Yeah, as rock yeah.
I just thought it was that.
But, it's actually and look, Istand to be corrected if I get

(01:10:20):
this slightly wrong, so pleasefor the people listening, but
this is what I took away from itis the Uluru is actually the
mob, the family of that's theirarea.
So one of the elders who wasthere was Uluru.
That was his like.
That was his like, his lastname.
Yeah, right.
So it was one of the mostspecial experiences as an

(01:10:42):
Australian and really startingto deeply understand the history
of the lands that we were sofortunate to live.
Yeah.
And having Will there as well.
He was.
I think he was 10 at the time.
I was 42 at the time when Iwent out there, so I had 42
years of not deeplyunderstanding how lucky we are

(01:11:02):
and how special our FirstPeoples of Australia are.
It was.
Yeah, okay, all right, I likethat one An amazing experience,
and I'm going to be taking leeand matilda out there as well to
experience it, because it'syeah, it was a yeah one of the
most special moments of my, ofmy life okay, all right, that's,

(01:11:22):
I like that one so sort out ofyour comfort zone.
You can maybe camp under thestars or something get jazzy
yeah yeah let's be honest.

Dom Hind (01:11:30):
Okay, all right, watsi , thank you for sharing your
journey, your honesty, yourpassion for helping people
master their mindset, because Ido think it is a skill we are
not taught and we need to knowmore about.
Even after having learnt so muchabout it, I still need the

(01:11:52):
reminder that what's your bestversion of yourself, like all of
those things, and even justgetting caught up on the B
factors, because I think wespend so much time on those B
factors when we really just needto be focused on the stuff that
we can control and think aboutit properly so that we can put
our best into those factors thatwe can control, and I feel like

(01:12:16):
we've only just scratched thesurface of what's possible when
we start training our mindsetand also the same way with our
bodies, and even just thinkingthat we need to train our
mindset in the same way that wedo train our bodies, because we
haven't put the same time,effort and preference into doing
it in tandem.

(01:12:38):
The one thing I haven'tmentioned before now is a
massive thank you again forsending the note to my pop just
before the cast, because youknow it meant the world to me
and my family and it's so funny.
I still, when I go down to seeNan, which I do all the time she

(01:13:00):
always asks about you and I'mlike, oh, can we just get over
him?
Like seriously, but it's notonly him, it's also the doctor.
So because the doctor wasshowing the video from you,
saying you know, you know suchan amazing message.
So thank you again for beingamazing.
And if you do want to learnabout anything more about Beyond

(01:13:22):
, about Mindset, around BeyondPerformance, I'll put all the
links in the show notes, and I'msure there are some interesting
announcements that are comingup soon.
Yep, I'll put them in there too.

Yeah, they're back into the pipeline.

Dom Hind (01:13:40):
They're just your best version of yourself.
Yeah, and if you have enjoyedthis episode, hit, subscribe,
share it with anyone who is intosport, who has kids to try and
get their mindsets right, orjust anyone.
And before you go I do thinkthe you know try this before
you're 50, going to Uluru likethat is an amazing thing to try

(01:14:03):
and do.
So, yes, it's on our list fortwo years' time when Hallie
turns 13.
Give it a go.
So get your mindset in shift orin that whole learning and
adaptive mode.
And if you want to connect,just make sure you do, because,
fuck, I'm nearly 50 and isn't itamazing?

(01:14:25):
Woo-hoo, yes, I do.

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