August 26, 2025 • 32 mins
Johnny Rickard calls in from Raglan, New Zealand, where he has built a full-time martial arts dojo on his family’s ancestral land.
Johnny was a dedicated schoolteacher for 15 years when life circumstances gave him a nudge (or perhaps a calling) to change paths.
With over 30 years of experience in martial arts and personal training, Johnny is the founder of THE REFINERY, a community space that’s far more than a training ground. It’s a sacred place for healing, connection, and rediscovering who you are. He was raised by a fifth-dan black belt father, mentored by his whānau, and is deeply grounded in Māori values of stewardship and unity.
In this episode, Johnny shares his story and the deeper meaning of martial arts, beyond the punches and kicks.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Anne McGinty (00:04):
Welcome to how I Built my Small Business.
I'm Anne McGinty, your host.
On the show today we haveJohnny Ricard calling in from
Raglan, new Zealand, where hehas built a full-time martial
arts dojo on his family'sancestral land.
Johnny was a dedicated schoolteacher for 15 years when life
circumstances gave him a nudge,or perhaps a calling, to change
(00:28):
paths.
With over 30 years ofexperience in martial arts and
personal training, he became thefounder of the Refinery, a
community space that's far morethan a training ground.
It's a sacred place for healing, connection and rediscovering
who you are.
It's a sacred place for healing, connection and rediscovering
who you are.
(00:48):
He was raised by a fifth danblack belt father, mentored by
his whanau, and is deeplygrounded in Maori values of
stewardship and unity.
In this episode, johnny shareshis story and the deeper meaning
of martial arts, beyond thepunches and kicks.
Johnny Rickard (01:04):
So when I was born I was sort of only two,
three pounds.
So I was severely premature.
Right from the start I kind ofhad a bit of a rough beginning
and then obviously as I grew Iwas quite a small child.
So when I went to schooleventually I had a tough time
there.
I was getting bullied quite abit and pushed around and it
wasn't a space where I couldsort of be me and express myself
(01:27):
.
And so I used to go home to mymom and dad and be crying and
had my lunch taken and gettingbeaten up and pushed around.
So school wasn't a verycomfortable place for me.
So my parents took the bull bythe horns and sort of said hey,
you got to go do some kind ofmartial arts or some kind of
something to learn how to kindof defend yourself or look after
yourself, you know.
(01:47):
So that's where the journeywith the martial arts started
with me.
It helped me build bridges withmy environment at school.
It helped me to build bridgeswith the people around me.
It helped me with myself-confidence and with my
growth and it helped me findhappiness in moving through the
(02:07):
younger part of my life.
Anne McGinty (02:08):
When did you decide to make it a part of your
adult life and open therefinery and the dojo?
Johnny Rickard (02:14):
I was a schoolteacher here in Raglan for
maybe 15 years.
I kind of was becoming a littlebit disillusioned with teaching,
and teaching for me was aboutworking with people and helping
people grow and, once again, youknow, building bridges, helping
people to connect, and teachingwas starting to become about
(02:35):
data and hitting targets, and Ifelt it was taking me away from
those core things that I wastalking about connection,
working with people.
In 2019, I was diagnosed withtesticular cancer, so there were
a few turning points in my lifewhere I kind of had that
instance of okay, maybe this isa sign or this is a pointer
(03:01):
towards where I have to be goingor what I have to be doing.
One of our kaumatua's forkarate, one of the shihans he
passed away and me and my dadwent to his funeral.
I remember driving home with myfather.
We had talked about the factthat I, you know, was going
through cancer remission and Iwasn't happy with teaching
anymore and needed to change,and he sort of suggested to me
(03:22):
hey, why don't you do martialarts full time?
Why don't you do martial artsfull-time?
Why don't you just give up yourjob, give up teaching and pick
up this thing that you love somuch this thing.
That's been part of your lifeand we actually had a huge
argument about it.
Anne McGinty (03:33):
Like.
Johnny Rickard (03:33):
I can't.
Are you crazy, dude, like Ican't just quit my job?
And then, so you know, it didget me thinking.
I went home and quiteemotionally sat there and
thought to myself, okay, therewas the sort of trauma of having
to recover.
So I had one of my testiclesremoved and then I was going
(03:54):
through the whole thing ofshould I be doing chemo or
shouldn't I be doing chemo orshould like questioning my own
mortality as well.
You know, I'd always thoughtthat I was immortal and that
nothing could get me.
And then all of a sudden I wasstaring down the tube of kind of
maybe not being able to do thethings I wanted to do, or maybe
not having any more time here.
(04:14):
I woke up one morning and then Ijust thought to myself just you
know what, I'm going to quit myjob, I'm going to quit.
So I basically went to theschool and I handed him my
notice and I told him I wasgoing to quit at the end of the
term and my whole sort ofexistence financially was built
around the stability of this job.
I handed him my notice and Iquit, cold stick, right there.
(04:36):
You know, the dojo had beenrunning, we'd been teaching
karate.
We'd been teaching martial arts, obviously a few boxing lessons
here and there, but then I hadto make the move between doing
it recreationally and doing itas a passion to bam.
Okay, now I've got to do thisas a job.
I actually went to at the endof that term when I quit, zero,
(04:56):
nothing, absolutely zip, zilch.
You know, I had to, yeah, haverice and noodles and fish cakes
for the first, you know, eightmonths to a year.
So financially it was tough, itwas a huge challenge.
Anne McGinty (05:11):
You're not the only person I've talked with who
had a serious health issue thatended up being kind of like a
blessing in disguise, like hardwhen you're going through it and
in the beginning and obviouslydealing with the chemo decisions
and everything.
But how are you now likeemotionally, mentally,
(05:33):
spiritually, how are you withthe type of work that you're
doing today versus how you werewhen you were teaching?
Johnny Rickard (05:40):
probably after that health scare and going
through those life challengesand choosing to make that change
consciously and then trust inthe process and follow through
with that wholeheartedly, Ithink at the end of it I can
hand on heart say that I amprobably the best version of
myself that I've ever been.
(06:01):
I'm probably fitter andhealthier.
I'm more positive andforthcoming with my emotions
around how I see the world andhow I see the way that I
aspirationally like things inthe world to be and how I can
possibly try and use my energyand my vibes and my knowledge to
help try and foster that insidepeople.
The refinery is about.
(06:23):
To me, it's about refiningyourself.
It's about refining yourself.
If you think about a refinery,things come into a refinery, and
they either have things removedor they have things added and
they leave again.
Whatever comes into a refineryleaves as something different.
That's a process, it's acontinuum, it's longitudinal, it
keeps happening.
If you as a person can keepthat awareness alive in yourself
(06:45):
as to what you need in yourlife at that given point in time
to be the best version ofyourself, then that is a huge
positive.
It's a huge beneficial mindsetthat you can have in order to
not only make your relationshipwith yourself better, but your
relationship with everyone elsebetter.
And then in amongst that,everything flourishes.
(07:05):
You flourish physically, youflourish socially, mentally,
emotionally, spiritually.
Those are all things that wetry and hold as our core
concepts of operation at therefinery.
I can 100% say I'm the happiestI have ever been in my entire
life.
Anne McGinty (07:23):
What an incredible journey you had mentioned at
the beginning for the firsteight or 12 months.
Even that it was really tight.
Like you, you were barelymaking any money.
How long did it take for you toget to a point where you were
financially stable andcomfortable with your business
and the way that it was running?
Johnny Rickard (07:42):
I mean I've got a.
I've got a lot of thanks andgratitude for the people of this
community.
They were very, very, verysupportive of me.
You know a lot of the peoplethat trained with me were very
loyal and very aware of the factthat, yeah, possibly I was
struggling and they kept comingalong, they kept training, they
kept sending their children downand not to be egotistical, but
I think it had a little bit todo with the fact that I had a
(08:05):
good, strong sense of standingwithin the community leading up
to this, because I was a schoolteacher, because I was a karate
teacher and you know my familyhad been here for generations.
That's also another huge thingthat I have to sort of make
mention of is that I'm veryfortunate to have the space
where the dojo is, because it'sa very unique and special,
amazing place.
(08:26):
Obviously, if you can see onthe website, it's right next to
the water.
It's on the same land where myancestors used to live.
There was a big village backthere at the end of the 1800s
where you know my, you know 30or 40 families used to live
there, which you know 300, 400people.
My ancestors used to live inthe exact location where the
dojo is, and there's a longstory that goes with that.
(08:47):
Around the land struggles thatmy grandmother was involved in
getting the land back from thegovernment in the 70s and 80s.
She was actually arrested andcharged with things through
getting the land back and theland down there where our family
lived.
In the 1940s, when the war wason, the land was taken under the
War Emergency Act and then allof our families were relocated
(09:08):
and then the land was supposedto come back when the war ended
and so they used that land as anemergency landing strip.
When the war ended the land wassupposed to come back and then,
when the war ended, the landwas then leased to the county
council and then the councilgave it to a golf club and then
they put a golf club on the land.
And so in the 70s mygrandmother along with 17 other
people they had a protest on the16th of February 1978, which
(09:32):
was the same year that I wasborn and they were actually
arrested, charged withdisturbing the peace, public
misconduct, all that kind ofstuff.
They were put in jail, charged,and then that started
ultimately the struggle for theland to be returned and then my
grandmother and the people thatwere arrested took the
government to court for sevenyears, I think it was, and then
eventually, in 1984 or 1985, Ican't remember the exact date,
so don't quote me on thisinformation but the land came
(09:59):
back and then my father broughtus to the land, when the land
was returned, to our family, andso my father still lives on the
land where the dojo is right upuntil this day Now he's
approaching his 79th birthday inNovember.
So you know, I'm very fortunateand very blessed I have this
space to have the dojo and toshare with people and to share
with everyone that amazing space.
So, with all of those things,branching out and making that
(10:24):
space available to everybody wasa huge factor.
I think most people, when youdrive past a marae or you drive
past a space where there'scarvings and there's po and
there's whare and there's allthose kind of things, I think it
can be quite intimidating.
You kind of drive past and yougo, oh, wow, here's those Māori
over there, and for some peopleit's a bit of a detriment.
(10:47):
They don't want to come andengage, they don't want to look
over the fence and go oh, what'shappening over there?
Or they don't want to come andsay hello, you know.
So I've made it a goal of mineto have my arms open and
extended for everyone and anyonewho wants to come and engage
with that space, you know, and Ifeel that that's an obligation,
almost, you know, because thatspace isn't my space, it's not
(11:08):
our family space, it's a spacethat we, as kaitiaki, we're the
ones who look after that space,and it's our obligation to share
that with people, as long asand there is a but they need to
be respectful, they need torespect the sea, respect the
land, respect each other andadhere to the kaupapa of
togetherness and oneness,helping each other, supporting
(11:30):
each other, and then they'realways welcome.
But if you can't do that, thenmaybe the whenua or maybe that
space might not be a space foryou, and so I think the success
is attributed to not only me butmy family, welcoming people
with open arms to that space sothey can become familiar with it
, so they can engage with it, sothey can put their feet on the
(11:53):
land, put their hands in the sea, engage with each other, you
know, be present and feel theenergy of the land and its
integrity and take what theywill from that or refine
themselves in a way that theyneed to and then go and then
come back in and then do it allagain.
But yeah, it took a good two tothree years before it was
successful enough for me to notstress out about paying the
(12:16):
bills.
I think the last probably sixmonths has been the first time
where I've actually been likeright, I don't need to stress
about financial stability.
Yeah.
Anne McGinty (12:25):
That's incredible.
I mean, two to three years ispretty typical for a business to
get to a point where it'sfeeling sustainable.
But I mean also that you hadaccess to this beautiful land,
which was so special, but werealso willing to share it with
the community, Like you're asteward of the land.
You're the caretaker, the oneassigned to it.
(12:46):
So what is a typical day likethere?
Johnny Rickard (12:49):
So the first classes they start at 6am this
morning we had maybe 15, 20people there training, doing a
morning class, and then betweenearly morning and the mid
morning, say like after today'sclass, I had a PT class of six
private people who came in andtrained as a group.
Then I had a PT class which isone person training singularly.
Most days I'll have schoolgroups come in, maybe about 10
(13:11):
or 11.
So that's anywhere between 20to 30 young children coming in
and running around doingactivities and then usually I
take the middle of most days off, so I kind of have 11 o'clock
maybe till say three where it'sdowntime.
So like I'll go home, I'll takea nap, I'll chill out and relax
and then I'll usually go backto the dojo at say four where
(13:32):
we'll have like a karate class,so that might be another 20 or
30 children.
We'll have another adultskarate class, like last night
for example, which would beanother five to 10 people, and
then we have a senior kickboxingclass in the evening, which I
think last night there was maybe20, 25 people, and then I'll
take off and so I'll get out ofthere, maybe at about 7.30, 8,
8.30 at night most nights.
(13:53):
But like I said, I get to havethe middle of the day off, so I
go home, I eat, I'll go for asurf.
Most days I nap, so I've becomea serial napper since I've been
running the dojo.
That's basically your averageday, and then in between then,
you know, there's all sorts ofthings happen in a sporadic
(14:16):
nature.
So we might have a group ofsurfers come into town and then
they might come down and wemight train them.
Or we might have a culturalgroup who rolls into town and,
oh, we're looking for a space todo xyz, and then I'll go down
and open up for them and, onceagain, constantly building
bridges for people to be able toengage and to participate, and
watching people laugh watchingpeople have fun watching people
connect.
It really is a dream come truein terms of that availability of
(14:39):
being able to connect withpeople.
I'm not stressed out.
Anne McGinty (14:42):
Yeah, I was wondering, like, beyond the
physical part of martial arts,what else are you teaching there
at the dojo?
Johnny Rickard (14:50):
Well, I think that the world sometimes for
people is not an accommodatingplace for a whole bunch of
reasons.
There's a lot of people outthere who struggle.
They struggle physically.
Mental health is a huge thingthese days.
People struggle socially,spiritually, emotionally.
People struggle socially,spiritually, emotionally.
There's all those challengesthat people encounter on an
(15:14):
everyday basis.
Sometimes those challenges aredamning for people.
It can pull you down, it canmake your life a huge struggle,
and so my family's ethos, ortheir way of operation in terms
of martial arts is it's notreally about the punches and
kicks, it's it's about bringingpeople together.
(15:34):
It's about the relationships,it's about the social aspects of
that.
For many, many years I was akarate champion in two different
weight classes.
I was a kickboxing champion innew zealand.
Here I've traveled overseasfighting.
You know I spent most of mylife in combat and throwing
punches and kicks.
But but it's not.
As you move through life yourealize that it's not really
about the wins or the losses.
It's not about the punches andthe kicks.
(15:55):
It's the relationships that youtake and carry through your
life, that you have made inthose situations.
That's the thing that youremember, that's the thing that
you cherish, that's the thingthat helps you more than
anything else.
It's the relationships, and soit's the relationships, and so
it's not mainstream.
You know, if you look nowadays,it's all, it's all UFC and it's
all MMA, and everyone wants tobe a fighter.
(16:17):
You know, they're doing fightsin backyards for fifty thousand
dollars and this and that, andthat is, in my opinion, so far
away from what the core ofmartial arts is about.
You know, martial arts is aboutworking on yourself.
It's about becoming the bestversion of yourself that you can
be.
You know, we often say thatvictory in life lies not in
(16:38):
conquering others, it lies inconquering yourself, and I think
there's a lot of wisdom to betaken from that.
You know, if you can looksquarely in the mirror every
morning and say you know, whatdo I need to be a better version
of myself or what do I honestlyand being honest is the core
thing as well you can plasterover the cracks or you can fool
(16:59):
yourself into this false senseof hey, I'm sweet, I'm all good,
but that in the long rundoesn't help, in my opinion.
Once again, so I try to makesure that everybody that knows
they come to the dojo.
It's about togetherness.
It's about helping each otherout supporting one another.
It's not about the punches andkicks.
(17:20):
It never has been In my eyes,it never will be.
And if you want to make itabout the punches and kicks,
then this place or this dojo isprobably not a place for you.
You need to go, basically trainsomewhere else, and sure enough
.
If kids want to come and theywant to jump into fights like
I've done, yeah, that's fine.
But that's only one part of it.
That's 0.005%.
(17:43):
What it's about the martial artsis a vehicle.
That sense of connectivenesscomes through.
You know all the surfing kids.
They come into training andsome of them martial arts was
something they never would havethought about.
Oh, I don't know about that.
You know they're all cominginto the dojo now and they're
frothing and so it's just.
It's that sense of family, Isuppose, and everything that we
(18:03):
do.
And then, once again, thatspills out.
It's not only at the dojo, Ithink.
It spills out into ourcommunity here in Raglan, it
spills out into the surf here inRaglan and ultimately that's
what we want, right.
We want a secure net of stablepeople around us that can help
us with those challenges as weencounter them.
Anne McGinty (18:22):
When did you become so attuned to the fact
that like community is what willultimately bring us happiness?
Johnny Rickard (18:31):
I've been aware of that my whole life, but I
never thought I would besomebody who could have the
skills to build bridges forothers.
It wasn't until the cancer thing, I think, or it wasn't until I
was confronted with the need tomake a change in my life that I
actually kind of figured out.
Actually, hang on a minute,maybe I could be someone that
(18:53):
facilitates this for people.
Maybe I can be someone thatmight be able to bring people
together or get something goingthat will foster that sense of
community or foster that senseof connection, or to reciprocate
that to others.
If I can be positive and if Ican be happy and if I can walk
down the street and say hello toeveryone, if I can shake as
many hands as I could possiblyshake, if I can be positive in
(19:17):
the face of the things that I'vegone through, then maybe you
could set an example for others,regardless of the challenges or
the situations, to be able todo that too, and I see that as
self-perpetuating, I see that asgoodness going out into the
world, or an example going outinto the world, and then
hopefully that grows.
Anne McGinty (19:37):
Well, it sounds like you had some really
wonderful role models in yourfamily.
If you could go back and talkwith yourself when you were, say
, in your young twenties or so,if you could sit down and have a
conversation, go out for acoffee or tea, what would you
say to yourself?
Johnny Rickard (19:56):
I think it's just believe in yourself,
believe in yourself, believe inyourself.
I had always felt on the insidethat I might be capable of
doing other things with my lifeor being more than I was Like.
I never thought I could be theNew Zealand Crater Champion, but
I was the New Zealand CraterChampion two, three times.
(20:16):
I never thought I would everkickbox.
I thought, oh man, there's noway I'm going to kickbox.
No way Can't do that.
But I did eventually gokickboxing.
I didn't think I was going toever be a school teacher.
I was like, oh, I don't want todo teaching, I don't think I'll
be capable of that.
But then I ended up being aschool teacher for 15 years.
I never thought I would, youknow, open a business, but I
ended up doing that and I did itokay, like I learned how to
(20:38):
surf at 45.
I never, ever, ever learned,thought about surfing ever.
I lived my entire life andlooked at people out on the
water, thinking, oh man, I wish.
On the inside I wasn't beinghonest.
I was thinking, saying tomyself, man, I wish I could do
that.
But I was too afraid, tooscared, didn't want to put
myself in the position of beinga beginner anymore, because I
(21:00):
was proficient at most otherthings, didn't want to take a
step down.
I didn't believe on the insidethat at 45 I could get out there
and surf.
So if I had the chance to goback and talk to a 25-year-old
version of me, I think he saidlike I would probably tell
myself to get my butt in gearand those things that I was
(21:23):
sitting on the feet with, pickit up and run with it.
There is no failure in pickingsomething up and running with it
.
I think we're always scared tofail.
I was scared to jump in thering.
I was scared to put myself outthere and go to university and
fail.
I was scared to jump on asurfboard.
I was scared to open a business.
(21:44):
That is the key thing.
Don't be afraid.
Get out there, give it a nudge.
You can't go wrong.
You're only going to maybe notget things as right as you would
possibly want them to be.
But that's the learn.
Pick that up, learn from that,hit it from another angle,
tackle it again and then itmight send you in another, total
, different direction.
(22:04):
But then trust in the process.
It's not a stone wall, dead endIf you don't get the outcome
you're looking forinstantaneously, which is a huge
thing these days, that that'sthe be all and the end all of
whatever path you're on.
There's more than one way to getto a destination, entirely
coupled with left turns, rightturns, downhills, uphills, full
(22:29):
stops.
Okay, what now?
And then we go again, and so Iguess, just having self-belief,
staying positive and believingin your skills and those things
that make you who you are, ifyou wholeheartedly and honestly
pursue what it is you're lookingto achieve and acquire, then
anything's doable and it mightnot be instantaneous.
(22:51):
You know, I think I started therefinery in 2019 and we're what
?
2025 now.
It's taken a good four or fiveyears of struggle and hard work
and networking and mentoring andgetting advice and all those
kinds of things to get where Iam.
So believe in yourself, pick itup.
Anne McGinty (23:11):
That's a phrase that I've always had in my mind
too.
I mean, it's one that my mymother whispered to me at
bedtime every night when I was achild, and it when you're told
to believe in yourself, but thenwhen you actually do believe in
yourself, you can make thingshappen.
I I also think that it's it'sunbelievable how often fear
really will hold people back,and I think it's not that we
(23:34):
have fear of failure itself, butit's more that we have fear of
other people seeing us fail.
So if nobody saw us fail, thenyou know you wouldn't feel the
same.
So we have to learn how to movethrough it and be willing to
fail and to stop caring aboutother people witnessing that
(23:55):
process, because it doesn'tmatter, right.
Johnny Rickard (23:58):
Yep, one hundred percent.
I couldn't have said it anybetter.
Anne McGinty (24:02):
When you were saying you learned to surf at 45
, I was feeling inspired becauseI learned how to surf.
You know as an adult as well.
Surf you know as an adult aswell.
And I still have fear.
When I sit there and I watchpeople who I believe are better
than me they're clearly betterthan I am, or the surf is more
advanced than I worry aboutlooking like a fool, and so
sometimes I sit it out becauseI'm like, no, I'll wait for it,
(24:25):
I'll wait for the conditions tobe more appropriate for my skill
level.
But you know what, like whocares.
How are you going to get better?
Johnny Rickard (24:31):
Exactly.
Anne McGinty (24:32):
So if you could give some life wisdom to some
young people here about how theycan get healthy with their
minds and how they can bepositive and how they can go
down the best path that they canfor themselves, like, what kind
of life wisdom would you give?
Johnny Rickard (24:51):
In my experience and it's just in my experience
there's a lot of young peopleout there who feel in some
capacity that they're on theirown.
There's a lot of young peopleout there who feel like life is
sort of insular, secluded, thatthey are an island unto
themselves.
They are an island untothemselves when life throws
(25:16):
challenges or when you come intosome adverse circumstances or
things become difficult, thenthat's when those downslides
happen.
There's a prevalent rate ofdepression.
Teenage suicide is huge thesedays.
I mean, it is fair to say thateveryone out there is doing
their own thing.
Everyone's running here,they're running there, they're
(25:36):
doing this, they're doing that.
People are worrying about theirjobs, their mortgages, like
just plain old life in general,the challenges that that throws
at everyone.
So many challenges.
And I think the way to becomeequipped to meet some of those
challenges is to reach out topeople, and I'm not talking
(25:57):
about reaching out in a way ofsaying you know hey, I need help
, or I've reached the end ofwhere I can reach.
What I'm sort of trying to saymore of is go and see people
regularly.
Go and hang out with peopleregularly.
Go and see your whanau, go andsee your family Play some sport.
Go hang out down the park.
(26:19):
Go hang out in spaces that arehealthy, where there's good
interactions happening, whereyou're going to have people who
are supportive of you as aperson, as an individual.
Once again, when the challengeshit, then you have the support
of these people at a dojo or inthe surf or in a community or in
a group.
For me, I think that's the key.
(26:40):
Now, I'm not saying that youshouldn't reach out when you do
hit a crisis point.
That's not what I was trying tosay.
What I was trying to say is,before that happens, or before
you hit that point of feelinglike you're at rock bottom, try
and get out there and then tryand interact with as much people
as you can.
Reach out, be human.
We are human beings.
(27:00):
We're too tied up with thechallenges of life and spending
our time in front of screens andscrolling and putting our minds
in spaces where, it's myopinion, we're not designed to
be.
In those spaces we're notdesigned to be in.
And then on top of that is thebuilding blocks thing.
Get lots of healthy food in you.
(27:20):
Get lots of sleep when you canget out in the environment.
Calm your nervous system down,chill out, relax.
Go sit on a beach and donothing.
Feel the sand underneath yourbutt, cheeks, feel your toes hit
the water, watch the birds andthe trees, go and look at the
bugs crawling across the grass.
(27:41):
I know it sounds a bit wayward,but if you want to help your
mind, help your body, help thatsense of peace, that sense of
calmness, get out there innature.
That's the space we're supposedto be in.
We're supposed to be out therein nature.
That's a gimmick.
I have a lot of empathy forpeople these days, especially
(28:06):
teenagers and young people.
There's so much pressure, thatsocietal pressure, to conform,
to look a certain way, to be acertain way, to say certain
things, to fit into certainboxes.
My mind boggles at how it mustbe to be shaping as a young
person in today's environment.
(28:27):
It must be extremely, hugelychallenging, yeah that's my
advice Reach out to people,reach out to the environment and
take care of yourself as muchas you can and hopefully, with
all those in check, the risks,hopefully, should fall into
place.
Anne McGinty (28:41):
I feel like that's real, real wisdom.
Today's key takeaways.
In a world where technology andartificial intelligence
increasingly dominate ourattention, the need for human
connection and connection tonature has never been more
urgent.
If you're thinking aboutbuilding a business, consider
(29:05):
this.
Can it bring people together?
Can it help them feel moregrounded, more whole, more human
?
With the current obsession withscreens and speed, there's a
huge opportunity in buildingwhat brings people back to each
other and to the earth.
I'm excited to see what comesup in this space because I think
(29:26):
there's a tremendousopportunity.
Trust the nudge you may feel inyour life If life keeps
whispering something to youlisten.
Courage often first feels likefear, but remember there's no
failure in trying.
The only failure is neverbeginning.
You'll rarely feel qualifiedbefore you start.
(29:47):
So just start where you are anduse what you have and let the
path shape you.
Take care of your body, butdon't forget your spirit.
Eat real food, move every day,rest, but also listen, reflect.
Be still A strong body withouta connected spirit is still a
form of disconnection.
It's never too late to become abeginner again.
(30:11):
You can be 45 and pick up asurfboard.
You can be 50 and start a newbusiness.
You can be any age and startagain, so remember that
beginner's mind is a gift andnot a weakness.
Victory isn't about conqueringothers.
Real strength lies in masteringyour own mind, emotions and
(30:32):
choices.
Let yourself be refined andkeep refining.
We're all carrying stories andhabits that no longer serve us,
so shed what's outdated and addwhat you need.
See your personal growth assomething that's constantly
evolving.
It's not a single destination.
Build your support networkbefore you need it.
(30:54):
Spend time with people as muchas you can.
Find your community and show upfor them, and then let them
show up for you.
Get outside.
Nature resets us.
You weren't made to stare atscreens all day, and your
nervous system needs trees, sunand silence.
(31:14):
And, last but not least,believe in yourself.
It may be advice that you'veheard repeatedly, but it's truly
the beginning of everything.
That's it for today.
I release episodes once a week,so come back and check it out.
Have a great day.
Welcome to how I Built my Small Business.
I'm Anne McGinty, your host.
On the show today we haveJohnny Ricard calling in from
Raglan, new Zealand, where hehas built a full-time martial
arts dojo on his family'sancestral land.
Johnny was a dedicated schoolteacher for 15 years when life
circumstances gave him a nudge,or perhaps a calling, to change
(00:28):
paths.
With over 30 years ofexperience in martial arts and
personal training, he became thefounder of the Refinery, a
community space that's far morethan a training ground.
It's a sacred place for healing, connection and rediscovering
who you are.
It's a sacred place for healing, connection and rediscovering
who you are.
(00:48):
He was raised by a fifth danblack belt father, mentored by
his whanau, and is deeplygrounded in Maori values of
stewardship and unity.
In this episode, johnny shareshis story and the deeper meaning
of martial arts, beyond thepunches and kicks.
Johnny Rickard (01:04):
So when I was born I was sort of only two,
three pounds.
So I was severely premature.
Right from the start I kind ofhad a bit of a rough beginning
and then obviously as I grew Iwas quite a small child.
So when I went to schooleventually I had a tough time
there.
I was getting bullied quite abit and pushed around and it
wasn't a space where I couldsort of be me and express myself
(01:27):
.
And so I used to go home to mymom and dad and be crying and
had my lunch taken and gettingbeaten up and pushed around.
So school wasn't a verycomfortable place for me.
So my parents took the bull bythe horns and sort of said hey,
you got to go do some kind ofmartial arts or some kind of
something to learn how to kindof defend yourself or look after
yourself, you know.
(01:47):
So that's where the journeywith the martial arts started
with me.
It helped me build bridges withmy environment at school.
It helped me to build bridgeswith the people around me.
It helped me with myself-confidence and with my
growth and it helped me findhappiness in moving through the
(02:07):
younger part of my life.
Anne McGinty (02:08):
When did you decide to make it a part of your
adult life and open therefinery and the dojo?
Johnny Rickard (02:14):
I was a schoolteacher here in Raglan for
maybe 15 years.
I kind of was becoming a littlebit disillusioned with teaching,
and teaching for me was aboutworking with people and helping
people grow and, once again, youknow, building bridges, helping
people to connect, and teachingwas starting to become about
(02:35):
data and hitting targets, and Ifelt it was taking me away from
those core things that I wastalking about connection,
working with people.
In 2019, I was diagnosed withtesticular cancer, so there were
a few turning points in my lifewhere I kind of had that
instance of okay, maybe this isa sign or this is a pointer
(03:01):
towards where I have to be goingor what I have to be doing.
One of our kaumatua's forkarate, one of the shihans he
passed away and me and my dadwent to his funeral.
I remember driving home with myfather.
We had talked about the factthat I, you know, was going
through cancer remission and Iwasn't happy with teaching
anymore and needed to change,and he sort of suggested to me
(03:22):
hey, why don't you do martialarts full time?
Why don't you do martial artsfull-time?
Why don't you just give up yourjob, give up teaching and pick
up this thing that you love somuch this thing.
That's been part of your lifeand we actually had a huge
argument about it.
Anne McGinty (03:33):
Like.
Johnny Rickard (03:33):
I can't.
Are you crazy, dude, like Ican't just quit my job?
And then, so you know, it didget me thinking.
I went home and quiteemotionally sat there and
thought to myself, okay, therewas the sort of trauma of having
to recover.
So I had one of my testiclesremoved and then I was going
(03:54):
through the whole thing ofshould I be doing chemo or
shouldn't I be doing chemo orshould like questioning my own
mortality as well.
You know, I'd always thoughtthat I was immortal and that
nothing could get me.
And then all of a sudden I wasstaring down the tube of kind of
maybe not being able to do thethings I wanted to do, or maybe
not having any more time here.
(04:14):
I woke up one morning and then Ijust thought to myself just you
know what, I'm going to quit myjob, I'm going to quit.
So I basically went to theschool and I handed him my
notice and I told him I wasgoing to quit at the end of the
term and my whole sort ofexistence financially was built
around the stability of this job.
I handed him my notice and Iquit, cold stick, right there.
(04:36):
You know, the dojo had beenrunning, we'd been teaching
karate.
We'd been teaching martial arts, obviously a few boxing lessons
here and there, but then I hadto make the move between doing
it recreationally and doing itas a passion to bam.
Okay, now I've got to do thisas a job.
I actually went to at the endof that term when I quit, zero,
(04:56):
nothing, absolutely zip, zilch.
You know, I had to, yeah, haverice and noodles and fish cakes
for the first, you know, eightmonths to a year.
So financially it was tough, itwas a huge challenge.
Anne McGinty (05:11):
You're not the only person I've talked with who
had a serious health issue thatended up being kind of like a
blessing in disguise, like hardwhen you're going through it and
in the beginning and obviouslydealing with the chemo decisions
and everything.
But how are you now likeemotionally, mentally,
(05:33):
spiritually, how are you withthe type of work that you're
doing today versus how you werewhen you were teaching?
Johnny Rickard (05:40):
probably after that health scare and going
through those life challengesand choosing to make that change
consciously and then trust inthe process and follow through
with that wholeheartedly, Ithink at the end of it I can
hand on heart say that I amprobably the best version of
myself that I've ever been.
(06:01):
I'm probably fitter andhealthier.
I'm more positive andforthcoming with my emotions
around how I see the world andhow I see the way that I
aspirationally like things inthe world to be and how I can
possibly try and use my energyand my vibes and my knowledge to
help try and foster that insidepeople.
The refinery is about.
(06:23):
To me, it's about refiningyourself.
It's about refining yourself.
If you think about a refinery,things come into a refinery, and
they either have things removedor they have things added and
they leave again.
Whatever comes into a refineryleaves as something different.
That's a process, it's acontinuum, it's longitudinal, it
keeps happening.
If you as a person can keepthat awareness alive in yourself
(06:45):
as to what you need in yourlife at that given point in time
to be the best version ofyourself, then that is a huge
positive.
It's a huge beneficial mindsetthat you can have in order to
not only make your relationshipwith yourself better, but your
relationship with everyone elsebetter.
And then in amongst that,everything flourishes.
(07:05):
You flourish physically, youflourish socially, mentally,
emotionally, spiritually.
Those are all things that wetry and hold as our core
concepts of operation at therefinery.
I can 100% say I'm the happiestI have ever been in my entire
life.
Anne McGinty (07:23):
What an incredible journey you had mentioned at
the beginning for the firsteight or 12 months.
Even that it was really tight.
Like you, you were barelymaking any money.
How long did it take for you toget to a point where you were
financially stable andcomfortable with your business
and the way that it was running?
Johnny Rickard (07:42):
I mean I've got a.
I've got a lot of thanks andgratitude for the people of this
community.
They were very, very, verysupportive of me.
You know a lot of the peoplethat trained with me were very
loyal and very aware of the factthat, yeah, possibly I was
struggling and they kept comingalong, they kept training, they
kept sending their children downand not to be egotistical, but
I think it had a little bit todo with the fact that I had a
(08:05):
good, strong sense of standingwithin the community leading up
to this, because I was a schoolteacher, because I was a karate
teacher and you know my familyhad been here for generations.
That's also another huge thingthat I have to sort of make
mention of is that I'm veryfortunate to have the space
where the dojo is, because it'sa very unique and special,
amazing place.
(08:26):
Obviously, if you can see onthe website, it's right next to
the water.
It's on the same land where myancestors used to live.
There was a big village backthere at the end of the 1800s
where you know my, you know 30or 40 families used to live
there, which you know 300, 400people.
My ancestors used to live inthe exact location where the
dojo is, and there's a longstory that goes with that.
(08:47):
Around the land struggles thatmy grandmother was involved in
getting the land back from thegovernment in the 70s and 80s.
She was actually arrested andcharged with things through
getting the land back and theland down there where our family
lived.
In the 1940s, when the war wason, the land was taken under the
War Emergency Act and then allof our families were relocated
(09:08):
and then the land was supposedto come back when the war ended
and so they used that land as anemergency landing strip.
When the war ended the land wassupposed to come back and then,
when the war ended, the landwas then leased to the county
council and then the councilgave it to a golf club and then
they put a golf club on the land.
And so in the 70s mygrandmother along with 17 other
people they had a protest on the16th of February 1978, which
(09:32):
was the same year that I wasborn and they were actually
arrested, charged withdisturbing the peace, public
misconduct, all that kind ofstuff.
They were put in jail, charged,and then that started
ultimately the struggle for theland to be returned and then my
grandmother and the people thatwere arrested took the
government to court for sevenyears, I think it was, and then
eventually, in 1984 or 1985, Ican't remember the exact date,
so don't quote me on thisinformation but the land came
(09:59):
back and then my father broughtus to the land, when the land
was returned, to our family, andso my father still lives on the
land where the dojo is right upuntil this day Now he's
approaching his 79th birthday inNovember.
So you know, I'm very fortunateand very blessed I have this
space to have the dojo and toshare with people and to share
with everyone that amazing space.
So, with all of those things,branching out and making that
(10:24):
space available to everybody wasa huge factor.
I think most people, when youdrive past a marae or you drive
past a space where there'scarvings and there's po and
there's whare and there's allthose kind of things, I think it
can be quite intimidating.
You kind of drive past and yougo, oh, wow, here's those Māori
over there, and for some peopleit's a bit of a detriment.
(10:47):
They don't want to come andengage, they don't want to look
over the fence and go oh, what'shappening over there?
Or they don't want to come andsay hello, you know.
So I've made it a goal of mineto have my arms open and
extended for everyone and anyonewho wants to come and engage
with that space, you know, and Ifeel that that's an obligation,
almost, you know, because thatspace isn't my space, it's not
(11:08):
our family space, it's a spacethat we, as kaitiaki, we're the
ones who look after that space,and it's our obligation to share
that with people, as long asand there is a but they need to
be respectful, they need torespect the sea, respect the
land, respect each other andadhere to the kaupapa of
togetherness and oneness,helping each other, supporting
(11:30):
each other, and then they'realways welcome.
But if you can't do that, thenmaybe the whenua or maybe that
space might not be a space foryou, and so I think the success
is attributed to not only me butmy family, welcoming people
with open arms to that space sothey can become familiar with it
, so they can engage with it, sothey can put their feet on the
(11:53):
land, put their hands in the sea, engage with each other, you
know, be present and feel theenergy of the land and its
integrity and take what theywill from that or refine
themselves in a way that theyneed to and then go and then
come back in and then do it allagain.
But yeah, it took a good two tothree years before it was
successful enough for me to notstress out about paying the
(12:16):
bills.
I think the last probably sixmonths has been the first time
where I've actually been likeright, I don't need to stress
about financial stability.
Yeah.
Anne McGinty (12:25):
That's incredible.
I mean, two to three years ispretty typical for a business to
get to a point where it'sfeeling sustainable.
But I mean also that you hadaccess to this beautiful land,
which was so special, but werealso willing to share it with
the community, Like you're asteward of the land.
You're the caretaker, the oneassigned to it.
(12:46):
So what is a typical day likethere?
Johnny Rickard (12:49):
So the first classes they start at 6am this
morning we had maybe 15, 20people there training, doing a
morning class, and then betweenearly morning and the mid
morning, say like after today'sclass, I had a PT class of six
private people who came in andtrained as a group.
Then I had a PT class which isone person training singularly.
Most days I'll have schoolgroups come in, maybe about 10
(13:11):
or 11.
So that's anywhere between 20to 30 young children coming in
and running around doingactivities and then usually I
take the middle of most days off, so I kind of have 11 o'clock
maybe till say three where it'sdowntime.
So like I'll go home, I'll takea nap, I'll chill out and relax
and then I'll usually go backto the dojo at say four where
(13:32):
we'll have like a karate class,so that might be another 20 or
30 children.
We'll have another adultskarate class, like last night
for example, which would beanother five to 10 people, and
then we have a senior kickboxingclass in the evening, which I
think last night there was maybe20, 25 people, and then I'll
take off and so I'll get out ofthere, maybe at about 7.30, 8,
8.30 at night most nights.
(13:53):
But like I said, I get to havethe middle of the day off, so I
go home, I eat, I'll go for asurf.
Most days I nap, so I've becomea serial napper since I've been
running the dojo.
That's basically your averageday, and then in between then,
you know, there's all sorts ofthings happen in a sporadic
(14:16):
nature.
So we might have a group ofsurfers come into town and then
they might come down and wemight train them.
Or we might have a culturalgroup who rolls into town and,
oh, we're looking for a space todo xyz, and then I'll go down
and open up for them and, onceagain, constantly building
bridges for people to be able toengage and to participate, and
watching people laugh watchingpeople have fun watching people
connect.
It really is a dream come truein terms of that availability of
(14:39):
being able to connect withpeople.
I'm not stressed out.
Anne McGinty (14:42):
Yeah, I was wondering, like, beyond the
physical part of martial arts,what else are you teaching there
at the dojo?
Johnny Rickard (14:50):
Well, I think that the world sometimes for
people is not an accommodatingplace for a whole bunch of
reasons.
There's a lot of people outthere who struggle.
They struggle physically.
Mental health is a huge thingthese days.
People struggle socially,spiritually, emotionally.
People struggle socially,spiritually, emotionally.
There's all those challengesthat people encounter on an
(15:14):
everyday basis.
Sometimes those challenges aredamning for people.
It can pull you down, it canmake your life a huge struggle,
and so my family's ethos, ortheir way of operation in terms
of martial arts is it's notreally about the punches and
kicks, it's it's about bringingpeople together.
(15:34):
It's about the relationships,it's about the social aspects of
that.
For many, many years I was akarate champion in two different
weight classes.
I was a kickboxing champion innew zealand.
Here I've traveled overseasfighting.
You know I spent most of mylife in combat and throwing
punches and kicks.
But but it's not.
As you move through life yourealize that it's not really
about the wins or the losses.
It's not about the punches andthe kicks.
(15:55):
It's the relationships that youtake and carry through your
life, that you have made inthose situations.
That's the thing that youremember, that's the thing that
you cherish, that's the thingthat helps you more than
anything else.
It's the relationships, and soit's the relationships, and so
it's not mainstream.
You know, if you look nowadays,it's all, it's all UFC and it's
all MMA, and everyone wants tobe a fighter.
(16:17):
You know, they're doing fightsin backyards for fifty thousand
dollars and this and that, andthat is, in my opinion, so far
away from what the core ofmartial arts is about.
You know, martial arts is aboutworking on yourself.
It's about becoming the bestversion of yourself that you can
be.
You know, we often say thatvictory in life lies not in
(16:38):
conquering others, it lies inconquering yourself, and I think
there's a lot of wisdom to betaken from that.
You know, if you can looksquarely in the mirror every
morning and say you know, whatdo I need to be a better version
of myself or what do I honestlyand being honest is the core
thing as well you can plasterover the cracks or you can fool
(16:59):
yourself into this false senseof hey, I'm sweet, I'm all good,
but that in the long rundoesn't help, in my opinion.
Once again, so I try to makesure that everybody that knows
they come to the dojo.
It's about togetherness.
It's about helping each otherout supporting one another.
It's not about the punches andkicks.
(17:20):
It never has been In my eyes,it never will be.
And if you want to make itabout the punches and kicks,
then this place or this dojo isprobably not a place for you.
You need to go, basically trainsomewhere else, and sure enough
.
If kids want to come and theywant to jump into fights like
I've done, yeah, that's fine.
But that's only one part of it.
That's 0.005%.
(17:43):
What it's about the martial artsis a vehicle.
That sense of connectivenesscomes through.
You know all the surfing kids.
They come into training andsome of them martial arts was
something they never would havethought about.
Oh, I don't know about that.
You know they're all cominginto the dojo now and they're
frothing and so it's just.
It's that sense of family, Isuppose, and everything that we
(18:03):
do.
And then, once again, thatspills out.
It's not only at the dojo, Ithink.
It spills out into ourcommunity here in Raglan, it
spills out into the surf here inRaglan and ultimately that's
what we want, right.
We want a secure net of stablepeople around us that can help
us with those challenges as weencounter them.
Anne McGinty (18:22):
When did you become so attuned to the fact
that like community is what willultimately bring us happiness?
Johnny Rickard (18:31):
I've been aware of that my whole life, but I
never thought I would besomebody who could have the
skills to build bridges forothers.
It wasn't until the cancer thing, I think, or it wasn't until I
was confronted with the need tomake a change in my life that I
actually kind of figured out.
Actually, hang on a minute,maybe I could be someone that
(18:53):
facilitates this for people.
Maybe I can be someone thatmight be able to bring people
together or get something goingthat will foster that sense of
community or foster that senseof connection, or to reciprocate
that to others.
If I can be positive and if Ican be happy and if I can walk
down the street and say hello toeveryone, if I can shake as
many hands as I could possiblyshake, if I can be positive in
(19:17):
the face of the things that I'vegone through, then maybe you
could set an example for others,regardless of the challenges or
the situations, to be able todo that too, and I see that as
self-perpetuating, I see that asgoodness going out into the
world, or an example going outinto the world, and then
hopefully that grows.
Anne McGinty (19:37):
Well, it sounds like you had some really
wonderful role models in yourfamily.
If you could go back and talkwith yourself when you were, say
, in your young twenties or so,if you could sit down and have a
conversation, go out for acoffee or tea, what would you
say to yourself?
Johnny Rickard (19:56):
I think it's just believe in yourself,
believe in yourself, believe inyourself.
I had always felt on the insidethat I might be capable of
doing other things with my lifeor being more than I was Like.
I never thought I could be theNew Zealand Crater Champion, but
I was the New Zealand CraterChampion two, three times.
(20:16):
I never thought I would everkickbox.
I thought, oh man, there's noway I'm going to kickbox.
No way Can't do that.
But I did eventually gokickboxing.
I didn't think I was going toever be a school teacher.
I was like, oh, I don't want todo teaching, I don't think I'll
be capable of that.
But then I ended up being aschool teacher for 15 years.
I never thought I would, youknow, open a business, but I
ended up doing that and I did itokay, like I learned how to
(20:38):
surf at 45.
I never, ever, ever learned,thought about surfing ever.
I lived my entire life andlooked at people out on the
water, thinking, oh man, I wish.
On the inside I wasn't beinghonest.
I was thinking, saying tomyself, man, I wish I could do
that.
But I was too afraid, tooscared, didn't want to put
myself in the position of beinga beginner anymore, because I
(21:00):
was proficient at most otherthings, didn't want to take a
step down.
I didn't believe on the insidethat at 45 I could get out there
and surf.
So if I had the chance to goback and talk to a 25-year-old
version of me, I think he saidlike I would probably tell
myself to get my butt in gearand those things that I was
(21:23):
sitting on the feet with, pickit up and run with it.
There is no failure in pickingsomething up and running with it
.
I think we're always scared tofail.
I was scared to jump in thering.
I was scared to put myself outthere and go to university and
fail.
I was scared to jump on asurfboard.
I was scared to open a business.
(21:44):
That is the key thing.
Don't be afraid.
Get out there, give it a nudge.
You can't go wrong.
You're only going to maybe notget things as right as you would
possibly want them to be.
But that's the learn.
Pick that up, learn from that,hit it from another angle,
tackle it again and then itmight send you in another, total
, different direction.
(22:04):
But then trust in the process.
It's not a stone wall, dead endIf you don't get the outcome
you're looking forinstantaneously, which is a huge
thing these days, that that'sthe be all and the end all of
whatever path you're on.
There's more than one way to getto a destination, entirely
coupled with left turns, rightturns, downhills, uphills, full
(22:29):
stops.
Okay, what now?
And then we go again, and so Iguess, just having self-belief,
staying positive and believingin your skills and those things
that make you who you are, ifyou wholeheartedly and honestly
pursue what it is you're lookingto achieve and acquire, then
anything's doable and it mightnot be instantaneous.
(22:51):
You know, I think I started therefinery in 2019 and we're what
?
2025 now.
It's taken a good four or fiveyears of struggle and hard work
and networking and mentoring andgetting advice and all those
kinds of things to get where Iam.
So believe in yourself, pick itup.
Anne McGinty (23:11):
That's a phrase that I've always had in my mind
too.
I mean, it's one that my mymother whispered to me at
bedtime every night when I was achild, and it when you're told
to believe in yourself, but thenwhen you actually do believe in
yourself, you can make thingshappen.
I I also think that it's it'sunbelievable how often fear
really will hold people back,and I think it's not that we
(23:34):
have fear of failure itself, butit's more that we have fear of
other people seeing us fail.
So if nobody saw us fail, thenyou know you wouldn't feel the
same.
So we have to learn how to movethrough it and be willing to
fail and to stop caring aboutother people witnessing that
(23:55):
process, because it doesn'tmatter, right.
Johnny Rickard (23:58):
Yep, one hundred percent.
I couldn't have said it anybetter.
Anne McGinty (24:02):
When you were saying you learned to surf at 45
, I was feeling inspired becauseI learned how to surf.
You know as an adult as well.
Surf you know as an adult aswell.
And I still have fear.
When I sit there and I watchpeople who I believe are better
than me they're clearly betterthan I am, or the surf is more
advanced than I worry aboutlooking like a fool, and so
sometimes I sit it out becauseI'm like, no, I'll wait for it,
(24:25):
I'll wait for the conditions tobe more appropriate for my skill
level.
But you know what, like whocares.
How are you going to get better?
Johnny Rickard (24:31):
Exactly.
Anne McGinty (24:32):
So if you could give some life wisdom to some
young people here about how theycan get healthy with their
minds and how they can bepositive and how they can go
down the best path that they canfor themselves, like, what kind
of life wisdom would you give?
Johnny Rickard (24:51):
In my experience and it's just in my experience
there's a lot of young peopleout there who feel in some
capacity that they're on theirown.
There's a lot of young peopleout there who feel like life is
sort of insular, secluded, thatthey are an island unto
themselves.
They are an island untothemselves when life throws
(25:16):
challenges or when you come intosome adverse circumstances or
things become difficult, thenthat's when those downslides
happen.
There's a prevalent rate ofdepression.
Teenage suicide is huge thesedays.
I mean, it is fair to say thateveryone out there is doing
their own thing.
Everyone's running here,they're running there, they're
(25:36):
doing this, they're doing that.
People are worrying about theirjobs, their mortgages, like
just plain old life in general,the challenges that that throws
at everyone.
So many challenges.
And I think the way to becomeequipped to meet some of those
challenges is to reach out topeople, and I'm not talking
(25:57):
about reaching out in a way ofsaying you know hey, I need help
, or I've reached the end ofwhere I can reach.
What I'm sort of trying to saymore of is go and see people
regularly.
Go and hang out with peopleregularly.
Go and see your whanau, go andsee your family Play some sport.
Go hang out down the park.
(26:19):
Go hang out in spaces that arehealthy, where there's good
interactions happening, whereyou're going to have people who
are supportive of you as aperson, as an individual.
Once again, when the challengeshit, then you have the support
of these people at a dojo or inthe surf or in a community or in
a group.
For me, I think that's the key.
(26:40):
Now, I'm not saying that youshouldn't reach out when you do
hit a crisis point.
That's not what I was trying tosay.
What I was trying to say is,before that happens, or before
you hit that point of feelinglike you're at rock bottom, try
and get out there and then tryand interact with as much people
as you can.
Reach out, be human.
We are human beings.
(27:00):
We're too tied up with thechallenges of life and spending
our time in front of screens andscrolling and putting our minds
in spaces where, it's myopinion, we're not designed to
be.
In those spaces we're notdesigned to be in.
And then on top of that is thebuilding blocks thing.
Get lots of healthy food in you.
(27:20):
Get lots of sleep when you canget out in the environment.
Calm your nervous system down,chill out, relax.
Go sit on a beach and donothing.
Feel the sand underneath yourbutt, cheeks, feel your toes hit
the water, watch the birds andthe trees, go and look at the
bugs crawling across the grass.
(27:41):
I know it sounds a bit wayward,but if you want to help your
mind, help your body, help thatsense of peace, that sense of
calmness, get out there innature.
That's the space we're supposedto be in.
We're supposed to be out therein nature.
That's a gimmick.
I have a lot of empathy forpeople these days, especially
(28:06):
teenagers and young people.
There's so much pressure, thatsocietal pressure, to conform,
to look a certain way, to be acertain way, to say certain
things, to fit into certainboxes.
My mind boggles at how it mustbe to be shaping as a young
person in today's environment.
(28:27):
It must be extremely, hugelychallenging, yeah that's my
advice Reach out to people,reach out to the environment and
take care of yourself as muchas you can and hopefully, with
all those in check, the risks,hopefully, should fall into
place.
Anne McGinty (28:41):
I feel like that's real, real wisdom.
Today's key takeaways.
In a world where technology andartificial intelligence
increasingly dominate ourattention, the need for human
connection and connection tonature has never been more
urgent.
If you're thinking aboutbuilding a business, consider
(29:05):
this.
Can it bring people together?
Can it help them feel moregrounded, more whole, more human
?
With the current obsession withscreens and speed, there's a
huge opportunity in buildingwhat brings people back to each
other and to the earth.
I'm excited to see what comesup in this space because I think
(29:26):
there's a tremendousopportunity.
Trust the nudge you may feel inyour life If life keeps
whispering something to youlisten.
Courage often first feels likefear, but remember there's no
failure in trying.
The only failure is neverbeginning.
You'll rarely feel qualifiedbefore you start.
(29:47):
So just start where you are anduse what you have and let the
path shape you.
Take care of your body, butdon't forget your spirit.
Eat real food, move every day,rest, but also listen, reflect.
Be still A strong body withouta connected spirit is still a
form of disconnection.
It's never too late to become abeginner again.
(30:11):
You can be 45 and pick up asurfboard.
You can be 50 and start a newbusiness.
You can be any age and startagain, so remember that
beginner's mind is a gift andnot a weakness.
Victory isn't about conqueringothers.
Real strength lies in masteringyour own mind, emotions and
(30:32):
choices.
Let yourself be refined andkeep refining.
We're all carrying stories andhabits that no longer serve us,
so shed what's outdated and addwhat you need.
See your personal growth assomething that's constantly
evolving.
It's not a single destination.
Build your support networkbefore you need it.
(30:54):
Spend time with people as muchas you can.
Find your community and show upfor them, and then let them
show up for you.
Get outside.
Nature resets us.
You weren't made to stare atscreens all day, and your
nervous system needs trees, sunand silence.
(31:14):
And, last but not least,believe in yourself.
It may be advice that you'veheard repeatedly, but it's truly
the beginning of everything.
That's it for today.
I release episodes once a week,so come back and check it out.
Have a great day.
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