November 5, 2025 • 50 mins
I sat down with Matt Formston and came away both humbled and absolutely wired. Matt’s story is next level... losing most of his sight as a kid, getting shoved into hard places, then using all of that grit to become a world class athlete, speaker, executive and dad. We talk about the ugly bits too... getting lost for a decade, raging at bullies, and learning to stop fighting everyone. There are mad moments, breath holds of nearly six minutes, big wave surfing, and his plan to chase freediving records... but the gold is in the practical stuff: accountability, ruthless time management, making plans from your future self back to today, and the quiet daily work that actually moves the needle. This is raw, useful, and weirdly comforting. If you want a blueprint for owning your life, not waiting for permission, and getting really good at the hard stuff, this convo is for you, kids.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
She said, it's now never I got fighting in my blood.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I'm tiff. This is Roll with the Punches and we're
turning life's hardest hits into wins. Nobody wants to go
to court, and don't. My friends are test Art Family Lawyers.
Know that they offer all forms of alternative dispute resolution.
Their team of Melbourne family lawyers have extensive experience in
(00:29):
all areas of family law to facto and same sex couples,
custody and children, family violence and intervention orders, property settlements
and financial agreements. Test Art is in your corner, so
reach out to Mark and the team at www dot
test Artfamilylawyers dot com dot au. Matt Formston, welcome to
(00:55):
Roll with the Punches.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
How are you mate, good cracking day. We've just we've
met all of thirty eight seconds ago. I feel like
we're best. He's already all right. I've been quite excited
to chat to you because you seem to be a
superstar at multiple things, which is just crazy. I was
just having a brief look at your website and gone
(01:19):
far out. If I don't want to feel terrible about
how much I've achieved, I'm just going to go and
have a glance at your bio.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
I get that a bit.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
You've done a thing or two. When you introduce yourself
to people, what do you.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Say, Oh, it gets a bit hard because he has
it said my bio. It just gets too long. I'm dad,
dad and husband, businessman. I'm playvor the sport, love.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
It, love it and all that with all of two
is it two or three percent?
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Yeah? It changes. I had about five percent for most ILOs.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
I have full vision and tilus five years old, I
lost ninety five I was five. I've had a five
percent vision in my right eye and three and my
left eye till you know, about five years ago.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
And then over the last five years I've lost like
half my vision again. So now I only got one
percent in my left eye and two in my right eye.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
So it already sounds like there was next to nothing.
Was that extra couple of percent? Did that feel huge
to you?
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Massive?
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Well, it's like, you know, five percent of two percent,
that's less than I've lost, you know, less than fifty percent.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Yeah, doesn't it?
Speaker 2 (02:26):
You know? What highlights how relative? Like we often compare
everything to other people and the world, but how everything's relative.
It's like, oh, here's this guy with five percent vision,
but two percent less is a really big deal. Like
I kind of hear that and go, oh, yeah, well
we only had five percent. It's not that you're barely
(02:47):
see so it wouldn't be a big deal. But it's
a massive deal.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
So I didn't use a cane most of the time,
like probably how they ever really? And then now I
with five percent.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
And I played footy, played ice hockey, you played lots, well,
I just don't think I could do that now with
two percent, Like I played fortyerand feed you of a
family of two weeks ago, and I just said to
the guys that passed with the ball, so I can't
he's to be able to sploit at the last minute
and catch it, whereas now it's just I's got to
hit me on the chest to all feel I can't
see anything. So it's yeah, it's definitely a lot more
a lot less.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Well, based on how you've have you gone through life
and adapted? Do you do you wonder IFIL feel like
over time you will readapt again?
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Yeah, Like I think I've already adapted.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
I just don't think there's like because I'm just my
vision's so bad now that it's just I just like
I did a twenty one k walk yesterday for charity
and I just ran into a part like it's just
I had a cane and everything, but it's just it's
just the reality of it. So I don't know that
I can adapt anymore. I've got a colo cation, I've
got all these things that I use, but it is
what it is, so before like it's it's perspective, Like
(03:56):
I've got my health, kids are healthy and happy, a
happy last year with my wife, got as many jobs
as I can choose to do each day, and I'm
still comparing on the world stage in multiple sports. So
I just, you know, it's perspective and I'm happy with
you know, it's getting on with things.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
It's amazing I am. Earlier this year, one of my
former guests, Ben Pettingil, who also has about I think
it's what's under I think it's a couple of two
or three percent vision. He asked me to train him
on boxing trainer as well, and he asked me to
do a couple of sparring sessions with him. He was
(04:33):
going to do his first boxing match, and naively I thought,
ah sure, sure, think if I'm going to jump into
jump into do some sparring with a bloke, he's definitely
going to be got a guy with next to no vision,
so this will be easy. Well, Matt, did I learn
a thing or two?
Speaker 3 (04:50):
You know?
Speaker 1 (04:51):
It was?
Speaker 2 (04:51):
It was? It was great because a lot of things that, like,
I love teaching such an sport, but it just taught
me on another level. Like he was stuck to me
like shit to a blanket. I was like, I can't
get it. I had to start ninjuring and being really
quiet and not moving at all, and and it highlighted
(05:14):
all of the things that he didn't have to deal
with the distraction of in order to learn the art
of boxing because because he was limited in what So, yeah,
it was it was really interesting. I guess you would
go through life very much the same with people just
making assumptions and comparing your world to theirs and thus
(05:35):
underestimating you.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Well, one of the things that annoys me the most
in my life.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
I've ever said this on any of you before, but
it's so annoying if I've done something like you know,
I did a walk yesterday for charity and people go, oh,
it's so inspiring, so is it really like I'm just
done a walk, like we can all fifty foot waves?
Can you just can we just talk about that or
something else? Like it's not that I can put myself dinner.
(06:01):
That's that's just human. We're just humans. And yeah, people
just get like the whole inspired porn thing about people
get inspired about the fact that someone has any level
of disability or challenge and they can just do they
can just you know, put their clothes on in the morning.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
I just I don't know, that's that's quite annoying to
be honest.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah, yeah, what is that something? Is that a daily
thing for you?
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Like?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Is it? Or is it? Do you not notice it anymore?
Is it something you got to get through life and
just be like all right.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Look, this is going to sound really bad, but I
don't really like my life these days. I'm on I'm
on boards most of people I work with for quite
senior people.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
It's when I'm doing it's smaller than when I'm dealing
with the public. But I get it, and I don't
do that all the time. So and the mainly one
I do that I'm doing keynotes. So they've told my
whole story. So They're certainly not going to come up
and talk about how I can make a stake. They're
probably going to talk about big waves, big waves, or
me punching on when I was younger, or something that
just actually is challenging.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yeah, what what do you talk about in your keynotes?
What do you love to talk about? And has that
changed these days compared to what you started out speaking
all about?
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Yeah, well, has my life's changed?
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I started speaking fifteen years ago and I didn't have
a national title alone world.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Titles, So yeah, it changes.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
But I like talking about like my parents really like
they gave this foundation of who I am. It's one
of the first slides I show in a keynote is
me using a drop saw and I feel to use
a drop saw, and I asked the audience would they
let some of my vision us a drop saw?
Speaker 3 (07:38):
And everyone is like no way. And then I talked
through like the perceived risk versus real risk thing.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Now, then that's a big challenge for the last people
is like there we get so and I think especially
to cited people, and I think this is part of
what you're saying before about training with one person. We
get there's so many things that we get distracted by
and all of a sudden, we've got all these risks,
but most of them than the perceiver risks, twenty percent
of the real risks. So my dad told me from
a really early age to just like work out one
(08:06):
of the get all the bs out of the way,
and forget about the perceiversks. Just look at the real
risks to manage list and then everything just gets easy.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
At five years, when you're losing your vision at five,
do you have a lot of recollection of that? Like
was and was it a huge sounds such a dumb question.
Was it a huge change?
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Yeah, well, I mean.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
It was a huge change, but I don't remember it
because I was a kid, like you just thought, I
don't remember. I don't have any real memories of clear vision,
like I've got this memory, but I think, you know,
sometimes we make our memories up. So it's like it
was like Christmas Eve at a family friend's place that
we had a barbecue and the dad said, let's go
start and see if we can see Santa.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
When listally looked up and I was just like shooting sky.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
I could have been Santa, but you know, something going
through the sky, I just remember the clarity of all
the little pinpricks of the stars. And that's my only
real claret like memory. This is back in the eighties
when they actually was stars in the.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Sky Go to Chessy, mate.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
It still is, yeah cool, but yeah, that's my only
real memory. But yeah, things change. But you know what,
I'm writing a book at the moment, and it's really
interesting to go like to be able to have to
unpack everything to put it into a book. And what
my parents did was so like it's it sounds you know,
everything's easy in hindsight, right, But what they did was
like they were told by the doctors, your son's now blind.
(09:21):
He won't place for it, he won't have many friends,
he won't ever get a job, he won't get an education.
You need to take him out of mainstream school and
put him in a special school for kids' disabilities. And
they basically just said yeah, thanks, mate, and took and
took all that information on board, but didn't.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
Share anything with me.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
So they just came home and said, yeah, it's gonna
be a bit different. It's it's not over, it's just different.
Like it's just you know that it's just a sort
of have to approach things in a different way. And
they never let youse my disability as an excuse. Like
if I said, like I can't see it, then he'd
be like, well, I don't care, find another way to
do it. So it was never like just there was
never a stop moment. It was always just let's just
kick going. And you know, throughout my whole life, I
(09:57):
played footy. Dad was having a beer with few mates
and they said I just mad, and he mates, I
want to play. And this is under fives, the under
five s ten and Dad was like that will play.
And this is a sort of narrative they got the
whole time. The pet those guys looked at my dad
and were don he can't play his game blind. But
that perspective is like you're you're being a bad parent
because you're putting your child in harm's way, as opposed
(10:21):
to saying, oh my god, you're an amazing parent because
you're letting your child have an opportunity to fail.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Wow, oh I love that.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
So I ended up playing Rep Rugby League, played Rep
Rugby Union, and that was all proobly of stuff you're
saying before about them. I just knew ended up I
knew what my job was in a position. I wasn't
trying to be every position on the field. I just
got really good at one position and other kids were
trying to do everything and I just got good at that.
So then I got selected and stick talent s outed
and everything and played. Yeah, multiple lives of footy. So
and it all comes back to that, just you know,
(10:50):
just finding find a way and being accountable.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
So I guess you didn't even feel like you were
holding on to a disability, didn't feel different. You were raised,
so You're just out there with the other kids. And
was there a point where I don't know, you felt
pushedback or you felt like, oh I question that and
went or hang on, why does everyone else think I'm different?
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Well, it was funny at school. I get bullied like
kids and say how many fingers am I holding up?
And they'd like and I'd say sorry, sorry, I can't hear,
and I'd get close enough like I'd just get so emotionally.
So I'm on the school footy team, I'm like, you know,
this is to turn Australia and I'm essentially a job rod.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
I'm a fit, one of the top athletes in the school.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
But then I've got these little nerdy kids that are
like trying to bully me and pick on me.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
It's just this weird contrast.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
So I got so emotionally upset about that contrast that
I'd lash out violently. So I ended up like getting
physically you know, I'd want to fight anyone that came
anywhere near me for years, like I lost myself for
ten years as well. Like when my key answer is
one of them, I haven't talked about this until that's
probably one of your question of what's changed. I was
always embarrassed about what had gone wrong in my life.
(11:56):
I always thought everyone wanted to hear about my you know,
cycling world records and gold medals and all this sort
of stuff. But it turns out, actually the most important,
the most amazing thing about me, is how I got
to that. And that's you know, I lost my stuff
because of school and bullying. The kids would highlight my
way to keep my laptop. No one was at school's
had a laptop at them, but they had one, like
a touch type.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Kids would lean over and highlight on my work and
delete everything.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Oh I want to punch them in the face. I'm
so angry right now? It was heavy, were you like, Hey,
how's it feel when you're a crap football player and
I'm not and I can't even see?
Speaker 3 (12:31):
No, I would because I couldn't, I couldn't have talked.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
I would literally punched my face and my dad would
get brought into school and then I'd get in trouble
and then They're trying to spend me and David like,
hang on, why did he do this? Oh? This kid
was bullying him because of his disability. I know, I
don't think unless you want to go to court. He's
not suspended, he's coming back tomorrow, and it's just well start. Yeah,
kids would try and it was just awful. But I
went through that and then about forty nine and ever said, hey,
(12:54):
you didn't catch the ball because you can't see.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
The boys would never say that.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
They're all supported like if I missed the tackle, it
was and you missed the tactic because you can't see,
So you missed the tackle because you're soft, you're being lazy,
which to me like I was being included, Like that's
what what's all the other boys get told? You know,
they don't get told differently. So yeah, but that was Yeah,
life was crazy. And then the old last school, one
of my mates, one of my best mates, to his
own life when I was sixteen, which was a huge
(13:19):
another hiccup in my life, and I basically and I
lost sport. At the time, I had Gleanzela fever, so
I was playing rep rugby union, rep ice hockey club
for both and then I basically because Evangela fever, I
wasn't able to play for a season and by the
time I came back all the processes I used to
be able to play ice hockey and rugby, I instead
of being one of the top players, I felt like
a liability.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
So I stopped playing.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
And then because my whole identity was linked to sport,
I lost myself. So I started, you know, partying too hard,
taking drugs, just lost myself completely.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
It took me about ten years. So I came back
and actually.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Went, this is not the best version of me, Like,
this is not the guy that the values that my
dad and my mum gave me.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
That this kid that was a weapon. It's fort like,
what are you doing with yourself?
Speaker 1 (13:59):
And so from twenty thousand and eight to twenty ten,
I was just super honest with myself and I just took
accountability for everything, basically became the best version of me.
And then in twenty ten I met my wife, I
got my first executive job, I started writing for Australia. Like,
just all these things happening in this one year and
everyone could get oh, oh that's a pretty lucky year, which
(14:20):
is give yourself an uppercut if anyone thinks that.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
It's just super hard work and just.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Being on and being accountable, going back to being accountable
and just wanting to know being the best version of me.
And since I did that, now every year since that
year of twenty and ten, I basically won a all
title or broken a world record and something. And then
my job in my career is just escalated. So everything
got easy once I did the hard work.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
What do you need to what do you need to
find or learn? What?
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Like?
Speaker 2 (14:44):
What were you what was the catalyst over that decade?
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Yeah, Well the main thing was I was just wasn't
having successful relationships and like I'd blame like I'd blame
girls that I was in a relation. You know, it's
their fault because they didn't do it. So you know
they're training about the DA DA DA da Dadah. Then
when I looked at what I wanted in a partner,
I was actually looking at, well, these are the things
I wanted to partner. I wanted to know, I wanted
to get married, one up, kids, and there's other things
that happened in my life too, but I think this
(15:08):
was the main one. It was just like I just
couldn't and I was just picking the wrong partners and
it was all it was all wrong. But when I
looked at it, actually the things that I wanted someone else,
I wasn't doing those things, So how could they have
That's not reasonable? So then it's like, well, what do
I need If I want this person in my life?
What do I her do I need to be to
make it a good value proposition for them?
Speaker 3 (15:29):
And so that was like every day just remind himself.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
And then at worked was like, okay, well I'm turning,
I'm getting up and I'm hitting my targets like I
was a sales director, but I'm not actually doing the
extra work. Like when I was playing footy, I knew
because I was blind, I had to do extra works.
So I'll get up in the morning and do like
twur nund push ups. I do a little triathleon. I
did extras like that. No one saw I was training.
I was doing all these extras to the other boys
because I knew that I had to be fitter and
stronger than them to make up for the fact that
(15:52):
I had a disability. And I just wasn't doing that
in my life. So when I started doing the extras
and putting in the hard work, all of a sudden
everything started.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Getting he And did you was that self realization? Did
you seek out help, a coach, a mentor did the
parents or friends come in and be like, dude, what
are you doing?
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Like?
Speaker 2 (16:12):
What was everyone else like?
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Yeah, well, obviously my parents were like, you know, because
I was, I was on a road to death for
jail basically, and so that they would had obviously tried
to intervene. But I'd always, you know, stroke off again,
there's no problem today. And my friends would do the same.
But you know, you don't listen to other people when
you're in that state because everything's good, right and and
(16:35):
to listen to them is hard work.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
That's hard.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
You're going to have to actually you actually change, Like
changing yourself is super hard. So it was just about
it was just stepping stones I supposed to start with
about being accountable.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
And then there was.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Like there was a couple of favored relationships that were
really bad, and I went to see a counselor after
one of those because I thought like I was being unreasonable,
and this counselor that actually told me, no, You're being
completely reasonable. Do not want to be with that person
anymore because you know, because of their life choices. So
that was that was a bit helpful. And then you know,
I did get a business coach towards the end of
that period, like ad in twenty ten, and that helped me,
(17:09):
you know, go from good to great. But it was
really just every day just asking yourself, like, in that
transaction I just had in that meeting, was I reasonable?
It was I the best version of me? Did I
treat everyone else with dignity? Did I create the best
value for this business that I'm in? Like, just keep
asking yourself all this question. Its super hard and exhausting,
but when you do it, you get, really you get.
(17:31):
The more you do it, the better you get at it.
And then you're then you're having to ask questions all
the time because you're checking in and you know where
you're at and it's asking.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
It's just asking more high level questions.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
And then and I went from just being like, what's
happening on the weekend to like, what's my five year plan?
And what am I doing this week towards my five
year plan? And is other things that I'm doing right
now give me the best opportunities to be the person
I want to be in five years time.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
It's radical levels of self awareness, Isn't that That's crazy?
Always think about, you know, do we do we need
a tipping point? Do we need to hit our rock bottom?
And I think about even my own kind of shifts
in over the time in self awareness lessons and discovering
whatever versions of myself and then going, well, if someone
(18:15):
came along before I saw that and I questioned that
about me and my own awareness, I would have told
them to get at like try and tell me that
that's the person I am. Solways, think when I have
these conversations and I'm thinking and thinking about the listeners,
and I think about how do we draw a lesson?
Like it's so easy to sit back and listen to
a podcast and go, oh, this guy, look what he's done,
(18:38):
Look what he's overcome and what he's done. Then we
get to hear about also look at all the challenges
he's had as well. Oh they're a bit more relatable.
But how do we bridge that gap.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
I'm writing a book at the moment and ESPRA chapters,
but lessons an actual practical exercise that you can.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Do well that's going to be handy for the world.
Thank you for that.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Do you know what I reckon?
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Because I do kenotes and people ask me like afterwards,
and I'm always giving people a little like, you know what,
the most valuable thing people can do is just be
accountable for their time, Like we all just do stuff
every day.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
And then I was like, I don't have time. Wen't
have time all the time. You do have time, you're
just choosing. You're just making bad choices what you do
with that time.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
So like I'm up every day at four o'clock to
do my best work, to train whatever, because my kids
get up at six so I can spend time with
them and everything. And that was one of the things
that I think I I built as a superpower back
in those early cycling days because I had to, because
I was doing one hundred and twenty k's right every morning.
Then I was going to work, trying to sign deals
you know in meeting rooms were cut with clients, customers,
(19:42):
back in the gym at lunch, lifting weights, then back
with customers in the afternoon, then try and come home.
And I was just you know, just met my fun
for my wife was my fiance at the time. Spend
a bit of time with her, do a bit more working,
then get to bed by night so I can get
up the next morning at four fifteen to training it
and like me be having to be accountable for all
that time made me be so good at like being
accountable and like not accepting meetings that were and to
(20:04):
add value and not you're just not doing things that
weren't delivering value to what I was trying to achieve.
And when I did that, all of a sudden, I
did I had plenty of time because the time I
had was the time I had, and I alec had
it to the things that needed to be all coo too,
as opposed to it's being reactive all the time and
just not having any time, feeling I had no time
because I was wasting my time doing things that weren't
(20:27):
actually meaningful.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Oh super power, I love that, Like how often we
say we don't have time or we look at other
people and go, well, it's easy for you. It's like
for you, Like as you were as you talked about
your day, I'm like, like, how how does this go?
I have a full time job and do one hundred
and twenty k's and get to do strength training and
(20:49):
have an effing relationship, Like I mean, how do you
fit in? How do you fit getting out of your
own busy, highly prioritized life and then investing in a
relationship at the same time.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
So currently, I'm a senior executive at Optis. I've got
on multiple boards. I'm on the Evidence Advisory Commissioned for
the NDAs. I'm currently competing on the World Tour for
parasurfing and free diving. I've got three kids, and I
spent heaps of time with them. Like as I've got
three kids, I'm absent. I try to dinner with the
most nights. I'm running a consultancy and executive coaching and
(21:23):
keinnuts speaking. Last week, I told you my schedule for
last week, like I was. I took a family holiday,
got back at midnight on Tuesday.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Two days of work.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Flid a bangklok for a keynote for a client, got
back seven thirty am on Monday morning, had not meetings
from nine am three to three pm that day, and
they go home to spend time with the kids. So
if you think you're you've got too much on, sorry,
but you don't. You're just not managing your time.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Well, all right, this is fun. I mean to me,
this is far more fascinating than blindness. Like, how do
you manage your energy? How do you manage your energy
and your emotional energy?
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Yeah, well it's just about being accountable, being aware. So
you need to get to bed, like most people just don't.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Go to bed early enough.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Yeah, you just take enough sleep. If you don't have
enough sleep, you're gonna get sick or you're not going
to be you're not going to be in the hours
that you've allocated.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
You're not going to be performing in those are hours.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
So there's like you're basically wasting your time because you're
not you're not ready to deliver what you need to
deliver and whatever whatever task you're taking on. So it's
you know, it's about being accountable for your time and
for your performance. And sleep is a super hydration like
you're drinking enough water. Like most people, they're the two things.
If you can get those two things right, I guarantee
(22:35):
you be better at everything you do.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
What are most people's excuses?
Speaker 3 (22:40):
They're too busy apparently.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Especially these days. And I mean, also, do you think
people really know what they want?
Speaker 3 (22:52):
No, You're probably right.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
I'm really clear on what I'm doing and where I'm
giving my time and what I'm trying to achieve. And
I've got I've got a strategy for everything I'm doing.
I've got a timeline, I've got plans with my teams.
My teams will know what they're doing. And as a leader,
I'm really clear on what I want everyone doing. I
think there's too much of people like thinking they know
what they're going to do, but they're not. They're not
linked to the overall picture.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Do you know?
Speaker 1 (23:17):
I did a podcast with Mark Borris straight Talk, and
he was really he picked up something that I would
just didn't know about myself. He's like, I reckon your
superpower's empathy. So when I'm working with anyone, I gets
like I like to know who they are, like before
it's what they do, it's like who they have You
got kids.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Are you like, what do you do on the weekends?
You to have? Like how much time do you spending
your parents?
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Like?
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Who are you?
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Like?
Speaker 3 (23:39):
What do you? What makes it?
Speaker 1 (23:40):
And why why do you want to do whatever we're
doing together? Why do you want to do that? Is
it because you're trying to earn money? And then what's
the money going to be used for it? Are you
going to buy a car or a house or whatever.
So when that person comes back to me and goes, oh,
this is too hard on, well do you really want
the car or like, I'm not going to say like
do the task.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
I'm going straight back to the high level of what
their what their purpose is it being there as a leader.
I go back to that and go, how are you
going to? Like what are you doing right now? That's
linking to that because your purpose in this business is
linking to the.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Other Australity or the organization, but it's also about you
developing your career whatever it is. So I think it's
most leaders don't have a clue who they're what the
people are in their business. They know that they know
that there's like an asset that has a that has
tasks that can do and it has certain strengths and weaknesses,
but I don't know who the person is.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Theyn't checking with that person or life.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
I love that. I was listening to a podcast this
morning with Alex Hormos and a couple of blokes. Can't
remember who, but he said this one line and it
might like I just went oh, and it sounds really
harsh to begin with, but they were talking about the
meaning of life, like what's people having meaning or purpose?
So in that conversation he goes, he just he goes,
(24:47):
why don't you kill yourself? And they're like, and he's like,
it asks them that question and the answer dictates the
meaning to their life. And when you think about it
and you go, hang, okay, well why don't Why do
I know? I take my own Oh? And then all
this stuff comes to mind and it feels so clear.
But before that sometimes you're like, oh, I don't know what,
(25:09):
like where there's so much noise there. Let's you know.
It's back to that whole idea of Ben and his
vision in boxing. It's like there's so much distraction that
you don't know where the what the target is.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Absolutely I think there's another analogy ladders around health like
every everything's everything's hard, and everything's everything's you know, there's
so much going on in your life until you don't
have your health. Yeah, and as soon as you don't
have your health, that's the only thing you can think
about because it's like you need to get that back,
and everything else is just all the other problems go.
But all of us that have our health going around
every day, all these problems, we're not you know, we're
(25:44):
not focused on Like you, at one point you won't
have your health, So what are you going to do
and what do you what are you feel in your
life with until that point, because there will be a
point in your life where your health isn't allowing you
so you know, your body's going to stop letting you
do the things you want to do.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
How did parenting change you will? Did parenting change you
becoming a dad?
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Yeah? Absolutely did.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Like I think risk because people say, are you you
don't have any fear? And I think that's a lot
of things. People they want to put me in a
little They want to put a label on things because
it makes it easier, like either you're stupid human, you've
got big balls, or you've got this one thing. They
can do, which takes away all the work and the effort,
because if you get a label, all of a sudden,
it takes away, you know, hundreds of hours of work,
(26:27):
the strategy, the planning, the self analysis, all that stuff
that's you know, that's the reality of why I'm a weapon.
It things that I do is because I work my
ass off. But when you put a label and it
makes just makes it look easy or it's just a
little tactical task that people can do. But I forgot
what I was going so parenting, so I so I
(26:47):
haven't really had fear because my biggest fear growing up
was being seen as different, like having a dispeopled seeing
me as blind or disabled. Like I never would have
gone to the Paralympics ever. If you told me I
was twenty that I should go to the Paralympics, I'd
be pretty clean to punch you in the head. Like
I was just so offensive to me that that I
would that people would think of me being disabled, Like
I thought that it was would be unfair for me
(27:09):
to go to the Paralympics and compete against blonde people
because I thought that's you know, they're they've got real disabilities.
Not me, which is so batistical, but that's just who
I was and essentially, But but I was so scared
of that that that would feel like I was more
comfortable with dying, like I would do things like ride
skateboards downhills, surf anything, punch on with anyone. Just as
(27:33):
long as I was pregnant. I thought of all that
was proving to the world that I wasn't blind. So
through doing all that, I don't really have the fear.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
I don't have to.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
I've had stitches and broken bones, I've had so much
pain in my body that I just I just need
pain as information.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
It doesn't bother me at all. And people listening like,
oh yeah, that's a lie.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
I honestly, I just don't I know what pain is,
and I don't it doesn't bother me.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
But I was laying out the back of the.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Nazuree, which I'm sure I know my story that's the
biggest way in the world, and the old media had
been saying they're going to He's going to die, like
that was the narrative.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
It was like my dad having a buility his mates
when I was playing footy.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Instead of saying this is amazing, this blind Guy is
a world four time world champion surfar one of the
best purposes in the world.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
Amazing how it's spiring. He's gonna go and sertain Nazararee.
Well that doesn't sell.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
That doesn't sell newspapers or headlines, right, So it's like
blind Guy's going to Nazar is going to die. So
I heard that in the media before I went, and
I was laying at the back and I had fear,
I think the way other people do for the first
time in my stomach, Like I had this feeling in
my uneasiness and insecurity, like in myself, and like started questioning,
like can I can I do this?
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Like is this possible?
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Or are they right as a media right or are
me and my team, who are like the best big
wave surfaces in the world. We write like we've done
out risk analysis on this and we reckon it's doable.
But they're saying this other thing. And I started questioning it.
And the reason I did was because I was a parent.
So I never would have questioned it when I was younger,
But because I was a dad, I was not scared
of me dying.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
I was scared of my children losing their father.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Oh, Oh, and isn't that interesting how other people's input
can put suggestions into our mind? Like, it just shows
how back to bullying and everything, people having an opinion
of us, and we often a lot, especially these days,
I think we rely so heavily on the feedback and
(29:16):
the opinions of others. I mean, we're primed with it
with bloody social media. It's like, well, we'll just put
everything out here and make sure I get accolades for
it first, and then that's what ends up dictating our
choices and behavior so.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Often it's so dangerous. I've got a really good example
of that.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
So before it's an azaree, the biggest thing I need
to train is my breathld, right, so I can serve.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Before I went to another I had four wheel titles.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
I can serve. I have served big waves. But you
know the most important thing with a nazare is your
breath hold. It's when you're not serving. It's like when
you go down, you need to start alive and your
team need to keep your life. So I purposely didn't
find out what the best big wave service. And when
I started training with my coach, we both said, Maddie,
like he said I don't want you to find out
what the other boys do. Just training you be the
best version of you, like you've done with dicycling and
(30:02):
everything else you've done.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Just to see how far you can go.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Were you just pushing yourself and then we'll see if
you're you know, I reckon you're getting out better than
the other boys. But let's just see how you go.
So I trained, and I trained and trained. The week
before I went to Nazuree. I did a breath hole
in the pool. There's five minutes forty eight seconds and
so as I just looked at so, I said, you know,
chose to Dwaine. I was like, cool, I'm going now,
I can't get any more capacity. So what can the
other boys do? And there are guys like you know,
Dillan one Bottom, Lucas Chumbo, like some of the best
(30:27):
big whbe servers in the world.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
And he's like, mate, they're all they're all around the
three to four minute mark.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
What So if I found out what they did at
the beginning of that training block, yeah, I never would
have gone to six minutes. I just would have been
So I just put as salted four because then I'm
equal with the best in the world. Right, But because
I just trained and train and train and be the
best version of me, I bet I couldn't bulb a
breathlong in any of them.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
I love that that sounds like me. He's a personal trainer.
I don't tell people things. I remember having a girl
start training with me years ago, and she wasn't super
fit at the time, and I was like, all right,
we're going to wars it and I just and I
was like, we'll just do a couple of minutes, aim
for a couple of minutes, and I made her do
six minutes or something. I just didn't tell her. And
then next week I was like, we'll just try and
get again, and I made it go along. I was like,
we're nearly there. When they're there, It's like people have
(31:12):
so much potential, but we also are just so thirsty
for the answers or the accolades that we get in
our own way.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Yeah, but we also benchmark our sols against other people. Yeah,
we see their limitations as our limitations.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Fucked five minutes, that's insane, that's so good.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
I'm going to Nationals for free diving and cans in
two weeks and I'm going to try and hit seven minutes.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Oh my god, I had Patrick mckewan on this show
a bunch of times, the Oxygen Advantage guy. So fascinating. Yeah, yeah,
that's so fascinating.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
I've got one of their masks of training the heaps.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Oh so good. I started nasal breathing after having him
on the show epic. What was gonna say before? I
imagine when you when you're in surf like that and
you go under. I feel like anywhere. I obviously don't surf,
not real fan to get in my hairwork, bro, but
(32:18):
I imagine you go under and it'd be very disorientating
knowing which way is up, which could be far less
easy when your vision shit.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Anyway, It's funny, like I saw people's hurting me, especially surfers,
and I just find it so strange because your body
goes up like and if you're fight like people panic.
So for any surface is thing. So most good surfers
and this is scientifically, research has been done. This people
tell me all the time. I was a twenty second
I was I'll hold underwater a big spile for this time.
(32:47):
Beside says that any any good level surfer that surfs
up to like six day foot way like big waves.
Their longest hold down they've probably ever had in their
life is seven seconds, whereas we all think that we've
had like twenty second hold downs. And it's most most
people that have been like when they say, you know,
talking to me in the office. Oh yeah, you know
back when I was a kid, I went camping somewhere
(33:08):
and I got nearly drowned. I was held down for
a minute. It's three seconds. It just feels like a minute.
So but my whole yeah, my whole down mazue on
like a fifty foot er was it was nearly thirty seconds.
And that's like up down like sideways. There's pressures are crazy.
But what Yeah, going back to the people say like
people just panic and try and swim to the serb.
(33:29):
That's what If you just relax, the wave will let
you go and then guess what your body does?
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Up floats. Yeah, that's which way up is.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
I spoke to Tiffany Johnson. She survived the Swiss canyoning disaster,
one of the few yeah, and I remember her talking
about that and she was in this chaotic swell of
water and chaos and she goes, I just met like
Dad just remembered Dad telling me just just just relax,
(34:02):
don't fight it. So she talks about just surrendering to it,
like there's rocks and trees and shit in the minute,
and she goes, I just relax and that's like I
think that's why. And I was just like, Oh, that
is the ultimate surrender, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
Well, that's the same if you're on a big wave.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
You don't fight it because then you then you burn
energy because you can hold my best for six minutes,
but that's calm, laying still, not doing anything. As soon
as you start fighting it, you're just going to burn
oxygen real quick. So you and I just crossed my
arm so I don't just kap my shoulders because the
pressure and the power wants to just tear your arms off.
But it's like holding it and using enough pressure to
just keep my arms and my hips together. But then
everything else is relaxed. So I'm just just chilling. I
(34:41):
actually make it. I make an omelet in my head.
That's that's my process.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Oh you're like a science experiment to me. I'm loving this.
I just want to get inside your head, take all
the lessons, install them in mind like a little microchip
and then go and annihilate life. What was it? So
you know it's like, yeah, just give me a chip,
Just give me a chip, bro. What was the hardest, Like,
what was what was the challenging lessons for you to learn?
(35:10):
Or when it came to sport, did what challenged you?
Speaker 1 (35:17):
I didn't really because I was just so focused on
doing it. Like I knew what playing rugby league I was.
I played hooker, so I was dumby half so picked
the ball off the ground. So I just gravitated positions
to work for me. I was never going to play
on the wing because I got to catch the ball.
And then and rugby union actually played like this anyone,
it's not even a rugby FAMI will get this one.
I played blindside flanker actually, and then that position. I
(35:40):
just had a couple of things. So I just focused
on the job and got really good at the job.
And I was mainly really good at defense, like I
just love tackling people. And then I was talking to
the puck makes lots of noise, so I just adapted
to doing it. But I think my hardest thing in
my life is like because I just wanted to fight everyone,
you know, because bullies. I just want to fight bullys.
And then you know, there months I left school, I
(36:01):
just at every pubble into anyone that ran into me.
You know, I just want to thought it was on purpose,
although having to go up my disability or I just
had to shoes chip on my shoulder.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
So I think that's the biggest thing.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
And then even in business, like when people didn't agree
with my perspective on things, I'd like forcefully argue to
the point where they you know, they back down. And
I think that was one of the biggest that's not
of the heart. That was the hardest thing in my
life was to just not have to fight everyone, just just.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
Chill out and just realize that some people have got issues.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
You don't need to get involved in it, and not
everything has to be an argument. That can be a discussion,
or you can just actually let other people maybe sometimes
other people's ideas are better than your ideas, which is
pretty wild.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
Most people can't get to that point.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
That is there. It is like that for me when
I look at you, that's the money shot because I'm
because I was thinking, how do you how do you
where do you learn to manage your emotions, manage your
nervous system, manage your state in order to optimize your
performance under duress and pressure. And that's like, so there's
(37:02):
your transferable skills from the ship storm you went through
right there, and that's applied to everything. And then that
means you're out of your own way? Can I have
some of that? Can you all me manage my emotions?
Speaker 1 (37:18):
But that comes back to ego, right, because our ego
tells us that we have to have the answers, because
if we don't have the answers, there must be something
broken in us. But it's so empowering to not have
like I'm a leader, and like I'm the most senior
person in most meetings I'm in these days. That's just
where my life is. But I love just hearing everyone's
perspectives and listening, and I love people challenging me and stuff,
(37:39):
we hey, man, what about this? And it's and it's
so wild that I've never used to like I never
used to be able to listen to other people's perspectives.
I'd be like, no, this is the idea, this is
the way we do it. And now it's like, because
I'm able to do that and get other all these
other people's perspectives. Everything works so much better and it's
so much easier to stress all the time and walk
out of meetings after having a blow out with someone
(38:00):
feel bad about it, and like everything's just easy.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
What can you list all your sports again? List all
the sports that you've done and are doing well?
Speaker 3 (38:11):
Man? Think you say rugby league, ruby union, ice hockey.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
They kickboxing for a bit, but that was never That
was just because I was an idiot and wanted and
responded to bashing people in pubs. And then cycling, surfing
like high performance surfing, big wave surfing, and now free diving. Wow.
We So my current goal, I've got the current world
record for the biggest wave for any parasurfer and the
(38:37):
skinners world record, and I've got and I want to
get hold of the world record for the deepest dive
in one breath as well, so I'll have the concurrent
world record for big wave and deepest plan in the ocean.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
Oh that is epic. And when are you going for that?
Do you have got a date set for that?
Speaker 3 (38:52):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (38:53):
I have not locked it in, but I'm pretty I'm
probably going to do it at World Championships in Greece
next year.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
Amazing. Yeah, what else is on your hit list? I
feel like you've still got a list of You've got
a bit of a to do list to get through.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
Well, I'm making I'm making a film about this new
challenge because the best thing about it is I've never
done free diving, or so, I've done like three hundred scubad.
I was obviously spent most of my life in and
around the ocean, but I've never done free diving. So
the first interview on this this new movie, I'm which
you say, I've never done this theme in my life,
but I'm going to become a world champion and I'm
going to set a world record in it, which for
most people sounds egotistical, but it's just.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
Who I am, and I know that I'll do the
work to get there.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
But then also, you know, people say, oh, yeah, but
you're a world championship cyclest because you knew all the
best cyclests in the world. Oh, you're a world champion
surfer and you're sponsored by Billibond because you know all
the best server. Well, actually I didn't know any of
those people until I got to the on the podium
and that's where I met them.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
But now with free diving, I'm showing like I don't
know anyone.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
I don't know anything about this for I don't know
any I've got to build relationships, I got to learn,
I've got to fail heaps, and I want to show
all those failures and being comfortable with and getting things
wrong and not being an expert like I'm like, I'm
the new guy, like I just want to I'm learning
all about this thought and it's Soviet.
Speaker 3 (40:05):
It's so technical. Like at the moment, I'm stopping about
one hundred.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
And six feet because I can't move this little bit
of skin in the back of my throat because I'm
going to transfer air and my lungs into my mouth
once it get below about twenty meters because you run
out of air for equalizing. So then I've got to
transfer air out of my lungs into my mouth and
then close this focal fall on the back of my
throat to transfer more air up into my nose.
Speaker 3 (40:25):
So it's a super technical sport. I'm loving it.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
That is freaking me out from the inside right now,
right now, Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
Honestly, I love learning and I love yeah, I love
failing and I love smashing people too. It's because I
know anyone in this sport right now is I'm coming.
I'm coming for you.
Speaker 2 (40:47):
Step aside, bitches, I'm coming.
Speaker 3 (40:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
So yeah, Well, most people are stuffed like we're all
like all we're just soft and lazy and we're we're
not willing to do the hard work and look at
ours and be really honest with ourselves.
Speaker 3 (41:02):
I'm that guy. I'm not soft. I'll do the hard work.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
I'll do what's required and and I don't need to break,
you know. I'll take a team with me along the way.
I'll build relationships and we'll have a bunch of fun
doing it.
Speaker 3 (41:13):
And yeah, well I wouldn't I do it?
Speaker 1 (41:15):
It's a and that's I think that's maybe the title
of my new book is why the funck Not?
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Yes, I'll read that book. I'll read it you like
a interested a bloody duri cell battery of fucking inspiration.
Now plug it in. What I'm thinking of people listening
during inspiration thinking fun? All right?
Speaker 1 (41:41):
Right?
Speaker 2 (41:41):
How can how can they take something away to get
to change their mindset about failure or fear or something.
What is something operational they can use to be more
like you and your mindset around that.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
Okay, So three things and I'm just thinking of these
as you've asked me, and I haven't said these things before,
but I reckon these are good things. The first one
is who am I? But do you know who you are?
Who you stand for? What are your values? What are
your absolute non negotiables that you won't that you won't
when the when the push comes to shove, are you
(42:17):
happy to to to move that value or not?
Speaker 3 (42:20):
Like? What are your values that you're one hundred percent
locked in on?
Speaker 1 (42:22):
So if you think when you know yourself and your
one hundred percent walked in on your identity and your
values and your behaviors and you and your non negotiables,
when you when you look into that and you actually
do some research, be conscious of it. Don't just you know,
and do some work on like spend five or ten
minutes a day on getting to know yourself. Like that's
we're not most of us don't know who we are.
We're so confused about who we are that how how
(42:43):
are we ever going to go somewhere if we don't
even know where we're going from? And then see that's
the first piece is like, know who you are, your identity,
be be clear about it. And then and then so
you've got your current identity, and then like who's who
do you want to be? Like?
Speaker 3 (42:57):
Who do you as fight to be? Like you're saying, well,
how do we all be better? Like have or like me?
Speaker 1 (43:00):
I don't even want to be like me? Like that's
a really bad idea. You don't understand what's going in
my head at most times of the day.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
But if you don't have self control, you might end
up punching everyone in the face out there.
Speaker 3 (43:10):
Yeah, well I don't do I did that for ten years.
I don't do that anymore. But so then there's the
next part is the case, so who do I want
to be?
Speaker 1 (43:18):
Because like you know, it's not about what you do it,
it's not about what you want to do, it's about
who do you want to be? Like who if you
look at if you're looking in the mirror right now
and you're not and you can see and you're not
super proud of, like there's anything about you that you're
not proud of, Like what do you want to change?
And then so like in five years time and you
want to look in the mirror and say I'm super
proud of who I am, these are the things I
stand by, these are the values I'm none negotiable on,
(43:40):
and these are my achievements. Well, okay, that's that's your goal.
So then then make our plan from that point back
from the five year version of you that you're looking
at in the mirror, work out what you need to
do every month until then, like you've got to stepping
stone back backwards from there to today. And then the
most important one that most people get wrong, Yeah, okay, wow,
(44:00):
I'm inspiring. You know I inspire people. But if you
get if you stop listening to this and you walk
away and that fuzz a feeling disappears out of your
stomach and you just go back to saying, oh, I
haven't got enough time, I'm too lazy, that's that's an inspiration.
Inspiration is tomorrow morning. You've got to have a look
at yourself tonight and get what am I goal? Do
something tomorrow morning, like go for a walk that's something
you wouldn't normally do. Get up and start writing your
(44:21):
business plan, like do something tomorrow morning before you do
anything else for yourself. And that's the thing that most
people don't do it's just starting, it's going to started.
That's what I'm good at. I'm good at saying I'm
gonna do something and then starting in doing it.
Speaker 3 (44:33):
I don't. I don't just talk shit and then not
do it.
Speaker 2 (44:37):
All right, And for those who are on the cast
right now and they're like yeah, yeah, yeah, but they
have this little twinge of oh but I can't not today,
or there's an excuse. What do they do about that
excuse or that bit? How do I get past that hump?
Speaker 1 (44:52):
Okay, this is the big actually having TuS me Like
I'm a writer. I've really been wanting to write my
whole life, but I just haven't got the time, or
I just you know, the world's got in my way
and everyone else is the problem. I'm sorry, But if
you want something, you don't want it enough, if you're
not doing the work, so want it more, or work
out what it is that it's going to do, Like
(45:12):
find out what if it's like you really want if
you want to like a red car convertible, Like you
don't want to read car convertible because like if there's
no one else around in the whole world, do you
really want to read convertible because no one else is
going to see you're driving it, right, So the reason
you want to convertible was so people see you're driving
that recordirl. So I understand what it is that that
(45:33):
task that you're trying to do, what it is that
it delivers to you. It's a sense of like it's
an ego thing and that's okay, that's what you want.
That's fine, but just understand what it is. Because when
you understand what it is and you double down that,
then you'll do the work to get to it.
Speaker 2 (45:46):
We love that you're good. You're you're.
Speaker 3 (45:50):
I've done a lot of skill for work. I've done
all this to myself, so I understand it.
Speaker 2 (45:54):
Yeah, but it's great. You've got a good energy and
you're very clear at I'm a.
Speaker 1 (45:58):
Business I'm not just an athlete saying people he must
beep do anyview with me? And they think I'm going
to just talk to a blind guy wh's played a
bit of sport. But I'm actually an executive before anything else,
and a dad and my kid's challengem and everything because
I stated there's no such thing as can't, Like my
kids are not allowed to use the word can't. In
our house, and my dad said the same thing to me,
and so my eleven year old was like, all the time, Dad,
(46:19):
there is such.
Speaker 3 (46:19):
Thing as can't. I can't fly to the moon with
my arms.
Speaker 1 (46:24):
It's a good argument, but I don't believe it because
I believe that if he really has that's his goal,
it's not his goal.
Speaker 3 (46:31):
He's just being a little shit. But if that was
his goal and he.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
Would, he would have to work, he would have to
sacrifice maybe relationships, sacrifice other things. He'd have to invest
everything in his life, build relationships, find revenue, study all
these things that he would do in his life to
be able to get to that goal. He might stick
with that goal, he might change his goal like he
might he find other things in his life. And I
believe if he actually focused that for his whole life,
he would find a way to build the capacity to
do that.
Speaker 3 (46:57):
Yeah, so there is such thing as come, but you
just have to want it enough to do the work.
Speaker 2 (47:04):
Were you the type of dad you thought you would
be or are you the type of dad you thought
you would be?
Speaker 1 (47:10):
Parenting is the hardest thing I do, and I've made
a lot of mistakes as a dad, but I'm.
Speaker 3 (47:17):
Learning every day and I want to be a better
dad every day. So yeah, I'm definitely changing as a dad.
And I realized.
Speaker 1 (47:25):
What my parents did and how hard it was, you
know that they they were being shamed, well, you know,
because they were you know, the other moms in the
footy team would be like making like whispering behind mum's back,
saying had like what a terrible mother she's letting her
son play contact football, like shaming her because she's a
bad parent.
Speaker 2 (47:44):
Mm and if that like that couldn't not have changed
your laugh if you know, if she buckled under that pressure,
yeah you're still be in the pub punch and mable
well no.
Speaker 1 (47:57):
No, I never would have passed anyone. I just would
have cowered in the corner because the punching was you know,
we've got fight or flight, and I I learned how
to fight by my parents and obviously didn't want me
to fight and punch on with people, but you know, fight, pushback,
don't accept the narrative the world tells you, right, And
I think most people disabilities are not given that, so
they do just cower in the corner and get and
(48:17):
get bullied and get trodden on, which is which is
disgusting that they have to. But because of what happens
to you in that environment, you've only got two options.
You I'd have to punch on. You're gonna run it all.
You gotta hide because otherwise what do you do to
stand there and get bullied?
Speaker 2 (48:33):
Yeah? I love it all right, before I wrap us
out and you tell everyone where to go to find
you and book you, and anything you want to promote
is do you have any any last pill?
Speaker 3 (48:48):
Go and get That's my blof to do most of
the time, Sami.
Speaker 2 (48:58):
Last pearl is a wisdom and where do you want
to stand this?
Speaker 1 (49:02):
Well, you can check out my film on Netflix, The
Blind Seat, So if you want any you know, I
want to check me out more. There's a ninety minute
documentary on Netflix. But I'm on Instagram, I'm on LinkedIn
and my website Matt Mattformston dot com.
Speaker 3 (49:17):
Yeah, book me for a keynote.
Speaker 1 (49:18):
I'll come and work with your team or if you're
if you're an executive, I do executive coaching as well.
Speaker 3 (49:22):
So that's enough selling. And my book, my book will
have to come out late next year.
Speaker 2 (49:26):
Brilliant, Thanks so much. Let us know what it does
and I'll make sure give it a plug again. Thank
you for today. It's been awesome. I'm feeling pumped. I'm
not going to do any deep diving, but i might
punch a few people in the face. Only in the
boxing ring, of course.
Speaker 3 (49:40):
Don't do that.
Speaker 1 (49:41):
That's not healthy, that's not good for it. All that
does is correate problems for yourself. True.
Speaker 3 (49:46):
Trust. I've been there all right mate.
Speaker 2 (49:50):
Thanks again. Thanks everyone appreciate.
Speaker 3 (49:52):
It, she said, it's now never I got fighting in
my blood. Uh the gus.
Speaker 1 (50:02):
Sc try Holocaust garnitrue, you gast scitue auto coast garn
try
She said, it's now never I got fighting in my blood.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I'm tiff. This is Roll with the Punches and we're
turning life's hardest hits into wins. Nobody wants to go
to court, and don't. My friends are test Art Family Lawyers.
Know that they offer all forms of alternative dispute resolution.
Their team of Melbourne family lawyers have extensive experience in
(00:29):
all areas of family law to facto and same sex couples,
custody and children, family violence and intervention orders, property settlements
and financial agreements. Test Art is in your corner, so
reach out to Mark and the team at www dot
test Artfamilylawyers dot com dot au. Matt Formston, welcome to
(00:55):
Roll with the Punches.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
How are you mate, good cracking day. We've just we've
met all of thirty eight seconds ago. I feel like
we're best. He's already all right. I've been quite excited
to chat to you because you seem to be a
superstar at multiple things, which is just crazy. I was
just having a brief look at your website and gone
(01:19):
far out. If I don't want to feel terrible about
how much I've achieved, I'm just going to go and
have a glance at your bio.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
I get that a bit.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
You've done a thing or two. When you introduce yourself
to people, what do you.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Say, Oh, it gets a bit hard because he has
it said my bio. It just gets too long. I'm dad,
dad and husband, businessman. I'm playvor the sport, love.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
It, love it and all that with all of two
is it two or three percent?
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Yeah? It changes. I had about five percent for most ILOs.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
I have full vision and tilus five years old, I
lost ninety five I was five. I've had a five
percent vision in my right eye and three and my
left eye till you know, about five years ago.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
And then over the last five years I've lost like
half my vision again. So now I only got one
percent in my left eye and two in my right eye.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
So it already sounds like there was next to nothing.
Was that extra couple of percent? Did that feel huge
to you?
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Massive?
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Well, it's like, you know, five percent of two percent,
that's less than I've lost, you know, less than fifty percent.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Yeah, doesn't it?
Speaker 2 (02:26):
You know? What highlights how relative? Like we often compare
everything to other people and the world, but how everything's relative.
It's like, oh, here's this guy with five percent vision,
but two percent less is a really big deal. Like
I kind of hear that and go, oh, yeah, well
we only had five percent. It's not that you're barely
(02:47):
see so it wouldn't be a big deal. But it's
a massive deal.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
So I didn't use a cane most of the time,
like probably how they ever really? And then now I
with five percent.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
And I played footy, played ice hockey, you played lots, well,
I just don't think I could do that now with
two percent, Like I played fortyerand feed you of a
family of two weeks ago, and I just said to
the guys that passed with the ball, so I can't
he's to be able to sploit at the last minute
and catch it, whereas now it's just I's got to
hit me on the chest to all feel I can't
see anything. So it's yeah, it's definitely a lot more
a lot less.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Well, based on how you've have you gone through life
and adapted? Do you do you wonder IFIL feel like
over time you will readapt again?
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Yeah, Like I think I've already adapted.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
I just don't think there's like because I'm just my
vision's so bad now that it's just I just like
I did a twenty one k walk yesterday for charity
and I just ran into a part like it's just
I had a cane and everything, but it's just it's
just the reality of it. So I don't know that
I can adapt anymore. I've got a colo cation, I've
got all these things that I use, but it is
what it is, so before like it's it's perspective, Like
(03:56):
I've got my health, kids are healthy and happy, a
happy last year with my wife, got as many jobs
as I can choose to do each day, and I'm
still comparing on the world stage in multiple sports. So
I just, you know, it's perspective and I'm happy with
you know, it's getting on with things.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
It's amazing I am. Earlier this year, one of my
former guests, Ben Pettingil, who also has about I think
it's what's under I think it's a couple of two
or three percent vision. He asked me to train him
on boxing trainer as well, and he asked me to
do a couple of sparring sessions with him. He was
(04:33):
going to do his first boxing match, and naively I thought,
ah sure, sure, think if I'm going to jump into
jump into do some sparring with a bloke, he's definitely
going to be got a guy with next to no vision,
so this will be easy. Well, Matt, did I learn
a thing or two?
Speaker 3 (04:50):
You know?
Speaker 1 (04:51):
It was?
Speaker 2 (04:51):
It was? It was great because a lot of things that, like,
I love teaching such an sport, but it just taught
me on another level. Like he was stuck to me
like shit to a blanket. I was like, I can't
get it. I had to start ninjuring and being really
quiet and not moving at all, and and it highlighted
(05:14):
all of the things that he didn't have to deal
with the distraction of in order to learn the art
of boxing because because he was limited in what So, yeah,
it was it was really interesting. I guess you would
go through life very much the same with people just
making assumptions and comparing your world to theirs and thus
(05:35):
underestimating you.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Well, one of the things that annoys me the most
in my life.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
I've ever said this on any of you before, but
it's so annoying if I've done something like you know,
I did a walk yesterday for charity and people go, oh,
it's so inspiring, so is it really like I'm just
done a walk, like we can all fifty foot waves?
Can you just can we just talk about that or
something else? Like it's not that I can put myself dinner.
(06:01):
That's that's just human. We're just humans. And yeah, people
just get like the whole inspired porn thing about people
get inspired about the fact that someone has any level
of disability or challenge and they can just do they
can just you know, put their clothes on in the morning.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
I just I don't know, that's that's quite annoying to
be honest.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah, yeah, what is that something? Is that a daily
thing for you?
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Like?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Is it? Or is it? Do you not notice it anymore?
Is it something you got to get through life and
just be like all right.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Look, this is going to sound really bad, but I
don't really like my life these days. I'm on I'm
on boards most of people I work with for quite
senior people.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
I don't.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
It's when I'm doing it's smaller than when I'm dealing
with the public. But I get it, and I don't
do that all the time. So and the mainly one
I do that I'm doing keynotes. So they've told my
whole story. So They're certainly not going to come up
and talk about how I can make a stake. They're
probably going to talk about big waves, big waves, or
me punching on when I was younger, or something that
just actually is challenging.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yeah, what what do you talk about in your keynotes?
What do you love to talk about? And has that
changed these days compared to what you started out speaking
all about?
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Yeah, well, has my life's changed?
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I started speaking fifteen years ago and I didn't have
a national title alone world.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Titles, So yeah, it changes.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
But I like talking about like my parents really like
they gave this foundation of who I am. It's one
of the first slides I show in a keynote is
me using a drop saw and I feel to use
a drop saw, and I asked the audience would they
let some of my vision us a drop saw?
Speaker 3 (07:38):
And everyone is like no way. And then I talked
through like the perceived risk versus real risk thing.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Now, then that's a big challenge for the last people
is like there we get so and I think especially
to cited people, and I think this is part of
what you're saying before about training with one person. We
get there's so many things that we get distracted by
and all of a sudden, we've got all these risks,
but most of them than the perceiver risks, twenty percent
of the real risks. So my dad told me from
a really early age to just like work out one
(08:06):
of the get all the bs out of the way,
and forget about the perceiversks. Just look at the real
risks to manage list and then everything just gets easy.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
At five years, when you're losing your vision at five,
do you have a lot of recollection of that? Like
was and was it a huge sounds such a dumb question.
Was it a huge change?
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Yeah, well, I mean.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
It was a huge change, but I don't remember it
because I was a kid, like you just thought, I
don't remember. I don't have any real memories of clear vision,
like I've got this memory, but I think, you know,
sometimes we make our memories up. So it's like it
was like Christmas Eve at a family friend's place that
we had a barbecue and the dad said, let's go
start and see if we can see Santa.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
When listally looked up and I was just like shooting sky.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
I could have been Santa, but you know, something going
through the sky, I just remember the clarity of all
the little pinpricks of the stars. And that's my only
real claret like memory. This is back in the eighties
when they actually was stars in the.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Sky Go to Chessy, mate.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
It still is, yeah cool, but yeah, that's my only
real memory. But yeah, things change. But you know what,
I'm writing a book at the moment, and it's really
interesting to go like to be able to have to
unpack everything to put it into a book. And what
my parents did was so like it's it sounds you know,
everything's easy in hindsight, right, But what they did was
like they were told by the doctors, your son's now blind.
(09:21):
He won't place for it, he won't have many friends,
he won't ever get a job, he won't get an education.
You need to take him out of mainstream school and
put him in a special school for kids' disabilities. And
they basically just said yeah, thanks, mate, and took and
took all that information on board, but didn't.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
Share anything with me.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
So they just came home and said, yeah, it's gonna
be a bit different. It's it's not over, it's just different.
Like it's just you know that it's just a sort
of have to approach things in a different way. And
they never let youse my disability as an excuse. Like
if I said, like I can't see it, then he'd
be like, well, I don't care, find another way to
do it. So it was never like just there was
never a stop moment. It was always just let's just
kick going. And you know, throughout my whole life, I
(09:57):
played footy. Dad was having a beer with few mates
and they said I just mad, and he mates, I
want to play. And this is under fives, the under
five s ten and Dad was like that will play.
And this is a sort of narrative they got the
whole time. The pet those guys looked at my dad
and were don he can't play his game blind. But
that perspective is like you're you're being a bad parent
because you're putting your child in harm's way, as opposed
(10:21):
to saying, oh my god, you're an amazing parent because
you're letting your child have an opportunity to fail.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Wow, oh I love that.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
So I ended up playing Rep Rugby League, played Rep
Rugby Union, and that was all proobly of stuff you're
saying before about them. I just knew ended up I
knew what my job was in a position. I wasn't
trying to be every position on the field. I just
got really good at one position and other kids were
trying to do everything and I just got good at that.
So then I got selected and stick talent s outed
and everything and played. Yeah, multiple lives of footy. So
and it all comes back to that, just you know,
(10:50):
just finding find a way and being accountable.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
So I guess you didn't even feel like you were
holding on to a disability, didn't feel different. You were raised,
so You're just out there with the other kids. And
was there a point where I don't know, you felt
pushedback or you felt like, oh I question that and
went or hang on, why does everyone else think I'm different?
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Well, it was funny at school. I get bullied like
kids and say how many fingers am I holding up?
And they'd like and I'd say sorry, sorry, I can't hear,
and I'd get close enough like I'd just get so emotionally.
So I'm on the school footy team, I'm like, you know,
this is to turn Australia and I'm essentially a job rod.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
I'm a fit, one of the top athletes in the school.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
But then I've got these little nerdy kids that are
like trying to bully me and pick on me.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
It's just this weird contrast.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
So I got so emotionally upset about that contrast that
I'd lash out violently. So I ended up like getting
physically you know, I'd want to fight anyone that came
anywhere near me for years, like I lost myself for
ten years as well. Like when my key answer is
one of them, I haven't talked about this until that's
probably one of your question of what's changed. I was
always embarrassed about what had gone wrong in my life.
(11:56):
I always thought everyone wanted to hear about my you know,
cycling world records and gold medals and all this sort
of stuff. But it turns out, actually the most important,
the most amazing thing about me, is how I got
to that. And that's you know, I lost my stuff
because of school and bullying. The kids would highlight my
way to keep my laptop. No one was at school's
had a laptop at them, but they had one, like
a touch type.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Kids would lean over and highlight on my work and
delete everything.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Oh I want to punch them in the face. I'm
so angry right now? It was heavy, were you like, Hey,
how's it feel when you're a crap football player and
I'm not and I can't even see?
Speaker 3 (12:31):
No, I would because I couldn't, I couldn't have talked.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
I would literally punched my face and my dad would
get brought into school and then I'd get in trouble
and then They're trying to spend me and David like,
hang on, why did he do this? Oh? This kid
was bullying him because of his disability. I know, I
don't think unless you want to go to court. He's
not suspended, he's coming back tomorrow, and it's just well start. Yeah,
kids would try and it was just awful. But I
went through that and then about forty nine and ever said, hey,
(12:54):
you didn't catch the ball because you can't see.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
The boys would never say that.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
They're all supported like if I missed the tackle, it
was and you missed the tactic because you can't see,
So you missed the tackle because you're soft, you're being lazy,
which to me like I was being included, Like that's
what what's all the other boys get told? You know,
they don't get told differently. So yeah, but that was Yeah,
life was crazy. And then the old last school, one
of my mates, one of my best mates, to his
own life when I was sixteen, which was a huge
(13:19):
another hiccup in my life, and I basically and I
lost sport. At the time, I had Gleanzela fever, so
I was playing rep rugby union, rep ice hockey club
for both and then I basically because Evangela fever, I
wasn't able to play for a season and by the
time I came back all the processes I used to
be able to play ice hockey and rugby, I instead
of being one of the top players, I felt like
a liability.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
So I stopped playing.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
And then because my whole identity was linked to sport,
I lost myself. So I started, you know, partying too hard,
taking drugs, just lost myself completely.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
It took me about ten years. So I came back
and actually.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
Went, this is not the best version of me, Like,
this is not the guy that the values that my
dad and my mum gave me.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
That this kid that was a weapon. It's fort like,
what are you doing with yourself?
Speaker 1 (13:59):
And so from twenty thousand and eight to twenty ten,
I was just super honest with myself and I just took
accountability for everything, basically became the best version of me.
And then in twenty ten I met my wife, I
got my first executive job, I started writing for Australia. Like,
just all these things happening in this one year and
everyone could get oh, oh that's a pretty lucky year, which
(14:20):
is give yourself an uppercut if anyone thinks that.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
It's just super hard work and just.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Being on and being accountable, going back to being accountable
and just wanting to know being the best version of me.
And since I did that, now every year since that
year of twenty and ten, I basically won a all
title or broken a world record and something. And then
my job in my career is just escalated. So everything
got easy once I did the hard work.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
What do you need to what do you need to
find or learn? What?
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Like?
Speaker 2 (14:44):
What were you what was the catalyst over that decade?
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Yeah, Well the main thing was I was just wasn't
having successful relationships and like I'd blame like I'd blame
girls that I was in a relation. You know, it's
their fault because they didn't do it. So you know
they're training about the DA DA DA da Dadah. Then
when I looked at what I wanted in a partner,
I was actually looking at, well, these are the things
I wanted to partner. I wanted to know, I wanted
to get married, one up, kids, and there's other things
that happened in my life too, but I think this
(15:08):
was the main one. It was just like I just
couldn't and I was just picking the wrong partners and
it was all it was all wrong. But when I
looked at it, actually the things that I wanted someone else,
I wasn't doing those things, So how could they have
That's not reasonable? So then it's like, well, what do
I need If I want this person in my life?
What do I her do I need to be to
make it a good value proposition for them?
Speaker 3 (15:29):
And so that was like every day just remind himself.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
And then at worked was like, okay, well I'm turning,
I'm getting up and I'm hitting my targets like I
was a sales director, but I'm not actually doing the
extra work. Like when I was playing footy, I knew
because I was blind, I had to do extra works.
So I'll get up in the morning and do like
twur nund push ups. I do a little triathleon. I
did extras like that. No one saw I was training.
I was doing all these extras to the other boys
because I knew that I had to be fitter and
stronger than them to make up for the fact that
(15:52):
I had a disability. And I just wasn't doing that
in my life. So when I started doing the extras
and putting in the hard work, all of a sudden
everything started.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Getting he And did you was that self realization? Did
you seek out help, a coach, a mentor did the
parents or friends come in and be like, dude, what
are you doing?
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Like?
Speaker 2 (16:12):
What was everyone else like?
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Yeah, well, obviously my parents were like, you know, because
I was, I was on a road to death for
jail basically, and so that they would had obviously tried
to intervene. But I'd always, you know, stroke off again,
there's no problem today. And my friends would do the same.
But you know, you don't listen to other people when
you're in that state because everything's good, right and and
(16:35):
to listen to them is hard work.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
That's hard.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
You're going to have to actually you actually change, Like
changing yourself is super hard. So it was just about
it was just stepping stones I supposed to start with
about being accountable.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
And then there was.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Like there was a couple of favored relationships that were
really bad, and I went to see a counselor after
one of those because I thought like I was being unreasonable,
and this counselor that actually told me, no, You're being
completely reasonable. Do not want to be with that person
anymore because you know, because of their life choices. So
that was that was a bit helpful. And then you know,
I did get a business coach towards the end of
that period, like ad in twenty ten, and that helped me,
(17:09):
you know, go from good to great. But it was
really just every day just asking yourself, like, in that
transaction I just had in that meeting, was I reasonable?
It was I the best version of me? Did I
treat everyone else with dignity? Did I create the best
value for this business that I'm in? Like, just keep
asking yourself all this question. Its super hard and exhausting,
but when you do it, you get, really you get.
(17:31):
The more you do it, the better you get at it.
And then you're then you're having to ask questions all
the time because you're checking in and you know where
you're at and it's asking.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
It's just asking more high level questions.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
And then and I went from just being like, what's
happening on the weekend to like, what's my five year plan?
And what am I doing this week towards my five
year plan? And is other things that I'm doing right
now give me the best opportunities to be the person
I want to be in five years time.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
It's radical levels of self awareness, Isn't that That's crazy?
Always think about, you know, do we do we need
a tipping point? Do we need to hit our rock bottom?
And I think about even my own kind of shifts
in over the time in self awareness lessons and discovering
whatever versions of myself and then going, well, if someone
(18:15):
came along before I saw that and I questioned that
about me and my own awareness, I would have told
them to get at like try and tell me that
that's the person I am. Solways, think when I have
these conversations and I'm thinking and thinking about the listeners,
and I think about how do we draw a lesson?
Like it's so easy to sit back and listen to
a podcast and go, oh, this guy, look what he's done,
(18:38):
Look what he's overcome and what he's done. Then we
get to hear about also look at all the challenges
he's had as well. Oh they're a bit more relatable.
But how do we bridge that gap.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
I'm writing a book at the moment and ESPRA chapters,
but lessons an actual practical exercise that you can.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Do well that's going to be handy for the world.
Thank you for that.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Do you know what I reckon?
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Because I do kenotes and people ask me like afterwards,
and I'm always giving people a little like, you know what,
the most valuable thing people can do is just be
accountable for their time, Like we all just do stuff
every day.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
And then I was like, I don't have time. Wen't
have time all the time. You do have time, you're
just choosing. You're just making bad choices what you do
with that time.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
So like I'm up every day at four o'clock to
do my best work, to train whatever, because my kids
get up at six so I can spend time with
them and everything. And that was one of the things
that I think I I built as a superpower back
in those early cycling days because I had to, because
I was doing one hundred and twenty k's right every morning.
Then I was going to work, trying to sign deals
you know in meeting rooms were cut with clients, customers,
(19:42):
back in the gym at lunch, lifting weights, then back
with customers in the afternoon, then try and come home.
And I was just you know, just met my fun
for my wife was my fiance at the time. Spend
a bit of time with her, do a bit more working,
then get to bed by night so I can get
up the next morning at four fifteen to training it
and like me be having to be accountable for all
that time made me be so good at like being
accountable and like not accepting meetings that were and to
(20:04):
add value and not you're just not doing things that
weren't delivering value to what I was trying to achieve.
And when I did that, all of a sudden, I
did I had plenty of time because the time I
had was the time I had, and I alec had
it to the things that needed to be all coo too,
as opposed to it's being reactive all the time and
just not having any time, feeling I had no time
because I was wasting my time doing things that weren't
(20:27):
actually meaningful.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Oh super power, I love that, Like how often we
say we don't have time or we look at other
people and go, well, it's easy for you. It's like
for you, Like as you were as you talked about
your day, I'm like, like, how how does this go?
I have a full time job and do one hundred
and twenty k's and get to do strength training and
(20:49):
have an effing relationship, Like I mean, how do you
fit in? How do you fit getting out of your
own busy, highly prioritized life and then investing in a
relationship at the same time.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
So currently, I'm a senior executive at Optis. I've got
on multiple boards. I'm on the Evidence Advisory Commissioned for
the NDAs. I'm currently competing on the World Tour for
parasurfing and free diving. I've got three kids, and I
spent heaps of time with them. Like as I've got
three kids, I'm absent. I try to dinner with the
most nights. I'm running a consultancy and executive coaching and
(21:23):
keinnuts speaking. Last week, I told you my schedule for
last week, like I was. I took a family holiday,
got back at midnight on Tuesday.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Two days of work.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Flid a bangklok for a keynote for a client, got
back seven thirty am on Monday morning, had not meetings
from nine am three to three pm that day, and
they go home to spend time with the kids. So
if you think you're you've got too much on, sorry,
but you don't. You're just not managing your time.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Well, all right, this is fun. I mean to me,
this is far more fascinating than blindness. Like, how do
you manage your energy? How do you manage your energy
and your emotional energy?
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Yeah, well it's just about being accountable, being aware. So
you need to get to bed, like most people just don't.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Go to bed early enough.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Yeah, you just take enough sleep. If you don't have
enough sleep, you're gonna get sick or you're not going
to be you're not going to be in the hours
that you've allocated.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
You're not going to be performing in those are hours.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
So there's like you're basically wasting your time because you're
not you're not ready to deliver what you need to
deliver and whatever whatever task you're taking on. So it's
you know, it's about being accountable for your time and
for your performance. And sleep is a super hydration like
you're drinking enough water. Like most people, they're the two things.
If you can get those two things right, I guarantee
(22:35):
you be better at everything you do.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
What are most people's excuses?
Speaker 3 (22:40):
They're too busy apparently.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Especially these days. And I mean, also, do you think
people really know what they want?
Speaker 3 (22:52):
No, You're probably right.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
I'm really clear on what I'm doing and where I'm
giving my time and what I'm trying to achieve. And
I've got I've got a strategy for everything I'm doing.
I've got a timeline, I've got plans with my teams.
My teams will know what they're doing. And as a leader,
I'm really clear on what I want everyone doing. I
think there's too much of people like thinking they know
what they're going to do, but they're not. They're not
linked to the overall picture.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Do you know?
Speaker 1 (23:17):
I did a podcast with Mark Borris straight Talk, and
he was really he picked up something that I would
just didn't know about myself. He's like, I reckon your
superpower's empathy. So when I'm working with anyone, I gets
like I like to know who they are, like before
it's what they do, it's like who they have You
got kids.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Are you like, what do you do on the weekends?
You to have? Like how much time do you spending
your parents?
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Like?
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Who are you?
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Like?
Speaker 3 (23:39):
What do you? What makes it?
Speaker 1 (23:40):
And why why do you want to do whatever we're
doing together? Why do you want to do that? Is
it because you're trying to earn money? And then what's
the money going to be used for it? Are you
going to buy a car or a house or whatever.
So when that person comes back to me and goes, oh,
this is too hard on, well do you really want
the car or like, I'm not going to say like
do the task.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
I'm going straight back to the high level of what
their what their purpose is it being there as a leader.
I go back to that and go, how are you
going to? Like what are you doing right now? That's
linking to that because your purpose in this business is
linking to the.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Other Australity or the organization, but it's also about you
developing your career whatever it is. So I think it's
most leaders don't have a clue who they're what the
people are in their business. They know that they know
that there's like an asset that has a that has
tasks that can do and it has certain strengths and weaknesses,
but I don't know who the person is.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Theyn't checking with that person or life.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
I love that. I was listening to a podcast this
morning with Alex Hormos and a couple of blokes. Can't
remember who, but he said this one line and it
might like I just went oh, and it sounds really
harsh to begin with, but they were talking about the
meaning of life, like what's people having meaning or purpose?
So in that conversation he goes, he just he goes,
(24:47):
why don't you kill yourself? And they're like, and he's like,
it asks them that question and the answer dictates the
meaning to their life. And when you think about it
and you go, hang, okay, well why don't Why do
I know? I take my own Oh? And then all
this stuff comes to mind and it feels so clear.
But before that sometimes you're like, oh, I don't know what,
(25:09):
like where there's so much noise there. Let's you know.
It's back to that whole idea of Ben and his
vision in boxing. It's like there's so much distraction that
you don't know where the what the target is.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Absolutely I think there's another analogy ladders around health like
every everything's everything's hard, and everything's everything's you know, there's
so much going on in your life until you don't
have your health. Yeah, and as soon as you don't
have your health, that's the only thing you can think
about because it's like you need to get that back,
and everything else is just all the other problems go.
But all of us that have our health going around
every day, all these problems, we're not you know, we're
(25:44):
not focused on Like you, at one point you won't
have your health, So what are you going to do
and what do you what are you feel in your
life with until that point, because there will be a
point in your life where your health isn't allowing you
so you know, your body's going to stop letting you
do the things you want to do.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
How did parenting change you will? Did parenting change you
becoming a dad?
Speaker 3 (26:02):
Yeah? Absolutely did.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Like I think risk because people say, are you you
don't have any fear? And I think that's a lot
of things. People they want to put me in a
little They want to put a label on things because
it makes it easier, like either you're stupid human, you've
got big balls, or you've got this one thing. They
can do, which takes away all the work and the effort,
because if you get a label, all of a sudden,
it takes away, you know, hundreds of hours of work,
(26:27):
the strategy, the planning, the self analysis, all that stuff
that's you know, that's the reality of why I'm a weapon.
It things that I do is because I work my
ass off. But when you put a label and it
makes just makes it look easy or it's just a
little tactical task that people can do. But I forgot
what I was going so parenting, so I so I
(26:47):
haven't really had fear because my biggest fear growing up
was being seen as different, like having a dispeopled seeing
me as blind or disabled. Like I never would have
gone to the Paralympics ever. If you told me I
was twenty that I should go to the Paralympics, I'd
be pretty clean to punch you in the head. Like
I was just so offensive to me that that I
would that people would think of me being disabled, Like
I thought that it was would be unfair for me
(27:09):
to go to the Paralympics and compete against blonde people
because I thought that's you know, they're they've got real disabilities.
Not me, which is so batistical, but that's just who
I was and essentially, But but I was so scared
of that that that would feel like I was more
comfortable with dying, like I would do things like ride
skateboards downhills, surf anything, punch on with anyone. Just as
(27:33):
long as I was pregnant. I thought of all that
was proving to the world that I wasn't blind. So
through doing all that, I don't really have the fear.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
I don't have to.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
I've had stitches and broken bones, I've had so much
pain in my body that I just I just need
pain as information.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
It doesn't bother me at all. And people listening like,
oh yeah, that's a lie.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
I honestly, I just don't I know what pain is,
and I don't it doesn't bother me.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
But I was laying out the back of the.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Nazuree, which I'm sure I know my story that's the
biggest way in the world, and the old media had
been saying they're going to He's going to die, like
that was the narrative.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
It was like my dad having a buility his mates
when I was playing footy.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Instead of saying this is amazing, this blind Guy is
a world four time world champion surfar one of the
best purposes in the world.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
Amazing how it's spiring. He's gonna go and sertain Nazararee.
Well that doesn't sell.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
That doesn't sell newspapers or headlines, right, So it's like
blind Guy's going to Nazar is going to die. So
I heard that in the media before I went, and
I was laying at the back and I had fear,
I think the way other people do for the first
time in my stomach, Like I had this feeling in
my uneasiness and insecurity, like in myself, and like started questioning,
like can I can I do this?
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Like is this possible?
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Or are they right as a media right or are
me and my team, who are like the best big
wave surfaces in the world. We write like we've done
out risk analysis on this and we reckon it's doable.
But they're saying this other thing. And I started questioning it.
And the reason I did was because I was a parent.
So I never would have questioned it when I was younger,
But because I was a dad, I was not scared
of me dying.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
I was scared of my children losing their father.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Oh, Oh, and isn't that interesting how other people's input
can put suggestions into our mind? Like, it just shows
how back to bullying and everything, people having an opinion
of us, and we often a lot, especially these days,
I think we rely so heavily on the feedback and
(29:16):
the opinions of others. I mean, we're primed with it
with bloody social media. It's like, well, we'll just put
everything out here and make sure I get accolades for
it first, and then that's what ends up dictating our
choices and behavior so.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Often it's so dangerous. I've got a really good example
of that.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
So before it's an azaree, the biggest thing I need
to train is my breathld, right, so I can serve.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Before I went to another I had four wheel titles.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
I can serve. I have served big waves. But you
know the most important thing with a nazare is your
breath hold. It's when you're not serving. It's like when
you go down, you need to start alive and your
team need to keep your life. So I purposely didn't
find out what the best big wave service. And when
I started training with my coach, we both said, Maddie,
like he said I don't want you to find out
what the other boys do. Just training you be the
best version of you, like you've done with dicycling and
(30:02):
everything else you've done.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Just to see how far you can go.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
Were you just pushing yourself and then we'll see if
you're you know, I reckon you're getting out better than
the other boys. But let's just see how you go.
So I trained, and I trained and trained. The week
before I went to Nazuree. I did a breath hole
in the pool. There's five minutes forty eight seconds and
so as I just looked at so, I said, you know,
chose to Dwaine. I was like, cool, I'm going now,
I can't get any more capacity. So what can the
other boys do? And there are guys like you know,
Dillan one Bottom, Lucas Chumbo, like some of the best
(30:27):
big whbe servers in the world.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
And he's like, mate, they're all they're all around the
three to four minute mark.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
What So if I found out what they did at
the beginning of that training block, yeah, I never would
have gone to six minutes. I just would have been
So I just put as salted four because then I'm
equal with the best in the world. Right, But because
I just trained and train and train and be the
best version of me, I bet I couldn't bulb a
breathlong in any of them.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
I love that that sounds like me. He's a personal trainer.
I don't tell people things. I remember having a girl
start training with me years ago, and she wasn't super
fit at the time, and I was like, all right,
we're going to wars it and I just and I
was like, we'll just do a couple of minutes, aim
for a couple of minutes, and I made her do
six minutes or something. I just didn't tell her. And
then next week I was like, we'll just try and
get again, and I made it go along. I was like,
we're nearly there. When they're there, It's like people have
(31:12):
so much potential, but we also are just so thirsty
for the answers or the accolades that we get in
our own way.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Yeah, but we also benchmark our sols against other people. Yeah,
we see their limitations as our limitations.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Fucked five minutes, that's insane, that's so good.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
I'm going to Nationals for free diving and cans in
two weeks and I'm going to try and hit seven minutes.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Oh my god, I had Patrick mckewan on this show
a bunch of times, the Oxygen Advantage guy. So fascinating. Yeah, yeah,
that's so fascinating.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
I've got one of their masks of training the heaps.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Oh so good. I started nasal breathing after having him
on the show epic. What was gonna say before? I
imagine when you when you're in surf like that and
you go under. I feel like anywhere. I obviously don't surf,
not real fan to get in my hairwork, bro, but
(32:18):
I imagine you go under and it'd be very disorientating
knowing which way is up, which could be far less
easy when your vision shit.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Anyway, It's funny, like I saw people's hurting me, especially surfers,
and I just find it so strange because your body
goes up like and if you're fight like people panic.
So for any surface is thing. So most good surfers
and this is scientifically, research has been done. This people
tell me all the time. I was a twenty second
I was I'll hold underwater a big spile for this time.
(32:47):
Beside says that any any good level surfer that surfs
up to like six day foot way like big waves.
Their longest hold down they've probably ever had in their
life is seven seconds, whereas we all think that we've
had like twenty second hold downs. And it's most most
people that have been like when they say, you know,
talking to me in the office. Oh yeah, you know
back when I was a kid, I went camping somewhere
(33:08):
and I got nearly drowned. I was held down for
a minute. It's three seconds. It just feels like a minute.
So but my whole yeah, my whole down mazue on
like a fifty foot er was it was nearly thirty seconds.
And that's like up down like sideways. There's pressures are crazy.
But what Yeah, going back to the people say like
people just panic and try and swim to the serb.
(33:29):
That's what If you just relax, the wave will let
you go and then guess what your body does?
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Up floats. Yeah, that's which way up is.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
I spoke to Tiffany Johnson. She survived the Swiss canyoning disaster,
one of the few yeah, and I remember her talking
about that and she was in this chaotic swell of
water and chaos and she goes, I just met like
Dad just remembered Dad telling me just just just relax,
(34:02):
don't fight it. So she talks about just surrendering to it,
like there's rocks and trees and shit in the minute,
and she goes, I just relax and that's like I
think that's why. And I was just like, Oh, that
is the ultimate surrender, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
Well, that's the same if you're on a big wave.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
You don't fight it because then you then you burn
energy because you can hold my best for six minutes,
but that's calm, laying still, not doing anything. As soon
as you start fighting it, you're just going to burn
oxygen real quick. So you and I just crossed my
arm so I don't just kap my shoulders because the
pressure and the power wants to just tear your arms off.
But it's like holding it and using enough pressure to
just keep my arms and my hips together. But then
everything else is relaxed. So I'm just just chilling. I
(34:41):
actually make it. I make an omelet in my head.
That's that's my process.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Oh you're like a science experiment to me. I'm loving this.
I just want to get inside your head, take all
the lessons, install them in mind like a little microchip
and then go and annihilate life. What was it? So
you know it's like, yeah, just give me a chip,
Just give me a chip, bro. What was the hardest, Like,
what was what was the challenging lessons for you to learn?
(35:10):
Or when it came to sport, did what challenged you?
Speaker 1 (35:17):
I didn't really because I was just so focused on
doing it. Like I knew what playing rugby league I was.
I played hooker, so I was dumby half so picked
the ball off the ground. So I just gravitated positions
to work for me. I was never going to play
on the wing because I got to catch the ball.
And then and rugby union actually played like this anyone,
it's not even a rugby FAMI will get this one.
I played blindside flanker actually, and then that position. I
(35:40):
just had a couple of things. So I just focused
on the job and got really good at the job.
And I was mainly really good at defense, like I
just love tackling people. And then I was talking to
the puck makes lots of noise, so I just adapted
to doing it. But I think my hardest thing in
my life is like because I just wanted to fight everyone,
you know, because bullies. I just want to fight bullys.
And then you know, there months I left school, I
(36:01):
just at every pubble into anyone that ran into me.
You know, I just want to thought it was on purpose,
although having to go up my disability or I just
had to shoes chip on my shoulder.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
So I think that's the biggest thing.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
And then even in business, like when people didn't agree
with my perspective on things, I'd like forcefully argue to
the point where they you know, they back down. And
I think that was one of the biggest that's not
of the heart. That was the hardest thing in my
life was to just not have to fight everyone, just just.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
Chill out and just realize that some people have got issues.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
You don't need to get involved in it, and not
everything has to be an argument. That can be a discussion,
or you can just actually let other people maybe sometimes
other people's ideas are better than your ideas, which is
pretty wild.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
Most people can't get to that point.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
That is there. It is like that for me when
I look at you, that's the money shot because I'm
because I was thinking, how do you how do you
where do you learn to manage your emotions, manage your
nervous system, manage your state in order to optimize your
performance under duress and pressure. And that's like, so there's
(37:02):
your transferable skills from the ship storm you went through
right there, and that's applied to everything. And then that
means you're out of your own way? Can I have
some of that? Can you all me manage my emotions?
Speaker 1 (37:18):
But that comes back to ego, right, because our ego
tells us that we have to have the answers, because
if we don't have the answers, there must be something
broken in us. But it's so empowering to not have
like I'm a leader, and like I'm the most senior
person in most meetings I'm in these days. That's just
where my life is. But I love just hearing everyone's
perspectives and listening, and I love people challenging me and stuff,
(37:39):
we hey, man, what about this? And it's and it's
so wild that I've never used to like I never
used to be able to listen to other people's perspectives.
I'd be like, no, this is the idea, this is
the way we do it. And now it's like, because
I'm able to do that and get other all these
other people's perspectives. Everything works so much better and it's
so much easier to stress all the time and walk
out of meetings after having a blow out with someone
(38:00):
feel bad about it, and like everything's just easy.
Speaker 2 (38:05):
What can you list all your sports again? List all
the sports that you've done and are doing well?
Speaker 3 (38:11):
Man? Think you say rugby league, ruby union, ice hockey.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
They kickboxing for a bit, but that was never That
was just because I was an idiot and wanted and
responded to bashing people in pubs. And then cycling, surfing
like high performance surfing, big wave surfing, and now free diving. Wow.
We So my current goal, I've got the current world
record for the biggest wave for any parasurfer and the
(38:37):
skinners world record, and I've got and I want to
get hold of the world record for the deepest dive
in one breath as well, so I'll have the concurrent
world record for big wave and deepest plan in the ocean.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
Oh that is epic. And when are you going for that?
Do you have got a date set for that?
Speaker 3 (38:52):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (38:53):
I have not locked it in, but I'm pretty I'm
probably going to do it at World Championships in Greece
next year.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
Amazing. Yeah, what else is on your hit list? I
feel like you've still got a list of You've got
a bit of a to do list to get through.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
Well, I'm making I'm making a film about this new
challenge because the best thing about it is I've never
done free diving, or so, I've done like three hundred scubad.
I was obviously spent most of my life in and
around the ocean, but I've never done free diving. So
the first interview on this this new movie, I'm which
you say, I've never done this theme in my life,
but I'm going to become a world champion and I'm
going to set a world record in it, which for
most people sounds egotistical, but it's just.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
Who I am, and I know that I'll do the
work to get there.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
But then also, you know, people say, oh, yeah, but
you're a world championship cyclest because you knew all the
best cyclests in the world. Oh, you're a world champion
surfer and you're sponsored by Billibond because you know all
the best server. Well, actually I didn't know any of
those people until I got to the on the podium
and that's where I met them.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
But now with free diving, I'm showing like I don't
know anyone.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
I don't know anything about this for I don't know
any I've got to build relationships, I got to learn,
I've got to fail heaps, and I want to show
all those failures and being comfortable with and getting things
wrong and not being an expert like I'm like, I'm
the new guy, like I just want to I'm learning
all about this thought and it's Soviet.
Speaker 3 (40:05):
It's so technical. Like at the moment, I'm stopping about
one hundred.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
And six feet because I can't move this little bit
of skin in the back of my throat because I'm
going to transfer air and my lungs into my mouth
once it get below about twenty meters because you run
out of air for equalizing. So then I've got to
transfer air out of my lungs into my mouth and
then close this focal fall on the back of my
throat to transfer more air up into my nose.
Speaker 3 (40:25):
So it's a super technical sport. I'm loving it.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
That is freaking me out from the inside right now,
right now, Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
Honestly, I love learning and I love yeah, I love
failing and I love smashing people too. It's because I
know anyone in this sport right now is I'm coming.
I'm coming for you.
Speaker 2 (40:47):
Step aside, bitches, I'm coming.
Speaker 3 (40:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
So yeah, Well, most people are stuffed like we're all
like all we're just soft and lazy and we're we're
not willing to do the hard work and look at
ours and be really honest with ourselves.
Speaker 3 (41:02):
I'm that guy. I'm not soft. I'll do the hard work.
Speaker 1 (41:05):
I'll do what's required and and I don't need to break,
you know. I'll take a team with me along the way.
I'll build relationships and we'll have a bunch of fun
doing it.
Speaker 3 (41:13):
And yeah, well I wouldn't I do it?
Speaker 1 (41:15):
It's a and that's I think that's maybe the title
of my new book is why the funck Not?
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Yes, I'll read that book. I'll read it you like
a interested a bloody duri cell battery of fucking inspiration.
Now plug it in. What I'm thinking of people listening
during inspiration thinking fun? All right?
Speaker 1 (41:41):
Right?
Speaker 2 (41:41):
How can how can they take something away to get
to change their mindset about failure or fear or something.
What is something operational they can use to be more
like you and your mindset around that.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
Okay, So three things and I'm just thinking of these
as you've asked me, and I haven't said these things before,
but I reckon these are good things. The first one
is who am I? But do you know who you are?
Who you stand for? What are your values? What are
your absolute non negotiables that you won't that you won't
when the when the push comes to shove, are you
(42:17):
happy to to to move that value or not?
Speaker 3 (42:20):
Like? What are your values that you're one hundred percent
locked in on?
Speaker 1 (42:22):
So if you think when you know yourself and your
one hundred percent walked in on your identity and your
values and your behaviors and you and your non negotiables,
when you when you look into that and you actually
do some research, be conscious of it. Don't just you know,
and do some work on like spend five or ten
minutes a day on getting to know yourself. Like that's
we're not most of us don't know who we are.
We're so confused about who we are that how how
(42:43):
are we ever going to go somewhere if we don't
even know where we're going from? And then see that's
the first piece is like, know who you are, your identity,
be be clear about it. And then and then so
you've got your current identity, and then like who's who
do you want to be? Like?
Speaker 3 (42:57):
Who do you as fight to be? Like you're saying, well,
how do we all be better? Like have or like me?
Speaker 1 (43:00):
I don't even want to be like me? Like that's
a really bad idea. You don't understand what's going in
my head at most times of the day.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
But if you don't have self control, you might end
up punching everyone in the face out there.
Speaker 3 (43:10):
Yeah, well I don't do I did that for ten years.
I don't do that anymore. But so then there's the
next part is the case, so who do I want
to be?
Speaker 1 (43:18):
Because like you know, it's not about what you do it,
it's not about what you want to do, it's about
who do you want to be? Like who if you
look at if you're looking in the mirror right now
and you're not and you can see and you're not
super proud of, like there's anything about you that you're
not proud of, Like what do you want to change?
And then so like in five years time and you
want to look in the mirror and say I'm super
proud of who I am, these are the things I
stand by, these are the values I'm none negotiable on,
(43:40):
and these are my achievements. Well, okay, that's that's your goal.
So then then make our plan from that point back
from the five year version of you that you're looking
at in the mirror, work out what you need to
do every month until then, like you've got to stepping
stone back backwards from there to today. And then the
most important one that most people get wrong, Yeah, okay, wow,
(44:00):
I'm inspiring. You know I inspire people. But if you
get if you stop listening to this and you walk
away and that fuzz a feeling disappears out of your
stomach and you just go back to saying, oh, I
haven't got enough time, I'm too lazy, that's that's an inspiration.
Inspiration is tomorrow morning. You've got to have a look
at yourself tonight and get what am I goal? Do
something tomorrow morning, like go for a walk that's something
you wouldn't normally do. Get up and start writing your
(44:21):
business plan, like do something tomorrow morning before you do
anything else for yourself. And that's the thing that most
people don't do it's just starting, it's going to started.
That's what I'm good at. I'm good at saying I'm
gonna do something and then starting in doing it.
Speaker 3 (44:33):
I don't. I don't just talk shit and then not
do it.
Speaker 2 (44:37):
All right, And for those who are on the cast
right now and they're like yeah, yeah, yeah, but they
have this little twinge of oh but I can't not today,
or there's an excuse. What do they do about that
excuse or that bit? How do I get past that hump?
Speaker 1 (44:52):
Okay, this is the big actually having TuS me Like
I'm a writer. I've really been wanting to write my
whole life, but I just haven't got the time, or
I just you know, the world's got in my way
and everyone else is the problem. I'm sorry, But if
you want something, you don't want it enough, if you're
not doing the work, so want it more, or work
out what it is that it's going to do, Like
(45:12):
find out what if it's like you really want if
you want to like a red car convertible, Like you
don't want to read car convertible because like if there's
no one else around in the whole world, do you
really want to read convertible because no one else is
going to see you're driving it, right, So the reason
you want to convertible was so people see you're driving
that recordirl. So I understand what it is that that
(45:33):
task that you're trying to do, what it is that
it delivers to you. It's a sense of like it's
an ego thing and that's okay, that's what you want.
That's fine, but just understand what it is. Because when
you understand what it is and you double down that,
then you'll do the work to get to it.
Speaker 2 (45:46):
We love that you're good. You're you're.
Speaker 3 (45:50):
I've done a lot of skill for work. I've done
all this to myself, so I understand it.
Speaker 2 (45:54):
Yeah, but it's great. You've got a good energy and
you're very clear at I'm a.
Speaker 1 (45:58):
Business I'm not just an athlete saying people he must
beep do anyview with me? And they think I'm going
to just talk to a blind guy wh's played a
bit of sport. But I'm actually an executive before anything else,
and a dad and my kid's challengem and everything because
I stated there's no such thing as can't, Like my
kids are not allowed to use the word can't. In
our house, and my dad said the same thing to me,
and so my eleven year old was like, all the time, Dad,
(46:19):
there is such.
Speaker 3 (46:19):
Thing as can't. I can't fly to the moon with
my arms.
Speaker 1 (46:24):
It's a good argument, but I don't believe it because
I believe that if he really has that's his goal,
it's not his goal.
Speaker 3 (46:31):
He's just being a little shit. But if that was
his goal and he.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
Would, he would have to work, he would have to
sacrifice maybe relationships, sacrifice other things. He'd have to invest
everything in his life, build relationships, find revenue, study all
these things that he would do in his life to
be able to get to that goal. He might stick
with that goal, he might change his goal like he
might he find other things in his life. And I
believe if he actually focused that for his whole life,
he would find a way to build the capacity to
do that.
Speaker 3 (46:57):
Yeah, so there is such thing as come, but you
just have to want it enough to do the work.
Speaker 2 (47:04):
Were you the type of dad you thought you would
be or are you the type of dad you thought
you would be?
Speaker 1 (47:10):
Parenting is the hardest thing I do, and I've made
a lot of mistakes as a dad, but I'm.
Speaker 3 (47:17):
Learning every day and I want to be a better
dad every day. So yeah, I'm definitely changing as a dad.
And I realized.
Speaker 1 (47:25):
What my parents did and how hard it was, you
know that they they were being shamed, well, you know,
because they were you know, the other moms in the
footy team would be like making like whispering behind mum's back,
saying had like what a terrible mother she's letting her
son play contact football, like shaming her because she's a
bad parent.
Speaker 2 (47:44):
Mm and if that like that couldn't not have changed
your laugh if you know, if she buckled under that pressure,
yeah you're still be in the pub punch and mable
well no.
Speaker 1 (47:57):
No, I never would have passed anyone. I just would
have cowered in the corner because the punching was you know,
we've got fight or flight, and I I learned how
to fight by my parents and obviously didn't want me
to fight and punch on with people, but you know, fight, pushback,
don't accept the narrative the world tells you, right, And
I think most people disabilities are not given that, so
they do just cower in the corner and get and
(48:17):
get bullied and get trodden on, which is which is
disgusting that they have to. But because of what happens
to you in that environment, you've only got two options.
You I'd have to punch on. You're gonna run it all.
You gotta hide because otherwise what do you do to
stand there and get bullied?
Speaker 2 (48:33):
Yeah? I love it all right, before I wrap us
out and you tell everyone where to go to find
you and book you, and anything you want to promote
is do you have any any last pill?
Speaker 3 (48:48):
Go and get That's my blof to do most of
the time, Sami.
Speaker 2 (48:58):
Last pearl is a wisdom and where do you want
to stand this?
Speaker 1 (49:02):
Well, you can check out my film on Netflix, The
Blind Seat, So if you want any you know, I
want to check me out more. There's a ninety minute
documentary on Netflix. But I'm on Instagram, I'm on LinkedIn
and my website Matt Mattformston dot com.
Speaker 3 (49:17):
Yeah, book me for a keynote.
Speaker 1 (49:18):
I'll come and work with your team or if you're
if you're an executive, I do executive coaching as well.
Speaker 3 (49:22):
So that's enough selling. And my book, my book will
have to come out late next year.
Speaker 2 (49:26):
Brilliant, Thanks so much. Let us know what it does
and I'll make sure give it a plug again. Thank
you for today. It's been awesome. I'm feeling pumped. I'm
not going to do any deep diving, but i might
punch a few people in the face. Only in the
boxing ring, of course.
Speaker 3 (49:40):
Don't do that.
Speaker 1 (49:41):
That's not healthy, that's not good for it. All that
does is correate problems for yourself. True.
Speaker 3 (49:46):
Trust. I've been there all right mate.
Speaker 2 (49:50):
Thanks again. Thanks everyone appreciate.
Speaker 3 (49:52):
It, she said, it's now never I got fighting in
my blood. Uh the gus.
Speaker 1 (50:02):
Sc try Holocaust garnitrue, you gast scitue auto coast garn
try
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