November 10, 2025 • 40 mins
Are you struggling to raise your standards and break free from mediocrity? In this powerful video, we dive deep into the mindset and habits that separate high performers from the rest.
Discover why your life will only ever be as good as the standards you accept, and how small daily choices, like hitting the snooze button, can shape your future. Join us as we explore: The truth about setting expectations for yourself and your team How to break bad habits and build new, empowering routines The importance of leadership, discipline, and accountability in achieving success real stories and practical advice for anyone who wants to level up in work, fitness, and life Whether you’re a business owner, tradesperson, or someone seeking personal growth, this video will challenge you to rethink your approach and take action.
Don’t settle for average, learn how to set, maintain, and exceed the standards that will transform your life.
Check out the Duayne Pearce website here...
https://duaynepearce.com/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (01:28):
Are my standards too high?
G'day everyone, welcome back toanother episode of Level Up.
We are back in the shed thisafternoon for another solo
podcast because uh if youhaven't seen my socials lately,
I did a post about are mystandards too high?
And uh you got quite a lot ofquestions, a lot of people
reaching out to me, so uh Ithought I'd do a podcast about
(01:48):
it.
But look why that post comeabout was I've been told lately
by uh several people that arequite close to me, um including
working in my business, that mystandards are too high.
And I actually find thishilarious because at the end of
the day, the reason I've got towhere I've got to, the reason I
(02:09):
have everything that I have isbecause of my standards.
And I am a firm believer thateverything in our lives is comes
about from the standards that weaccept, and I truly believe that
you will only ever be as good asthe standards that you accept,
whether that's in your personallife or your business life.
(02:30):
So yeah, I just thought we'dhave a podcast and I'd touch you
about my opinions and feelingson this because I think it's a
very good topic to talk about.
So um when it comes tostandards, like I've I've always
like I think my I owe a lot tomy um my old man, my dad, for um
like when we're growing up, likeI was pushed very hard to always
(02:54):
try my hardest, to be my best,to to not cut corners, to work
hard.
Um and then definitely once Istarted um in the work
environment, so my first jobworking in a uh truss and frame
plant, uh, we were pushed veryhard to make things right, to
put in the extra 1%, to umwhether I whether it was when I
(03:17):
started in the cutting shed,like just measure twice, cut
once, like, or whether it was inthe assembly shed making the
trusses or nailing togetherprenaled frames, everything had
to be correct because ourobviously the business lost
money if frames and trussesdidn't fit, or they they had to
get sent back, or you had tosend a team out to site to make
(03:39):
modifications.
So um I think that's where itreally sort of started, and I
really took notice that um timeis money, and if you don't get
things right, then it'saffecting other people.
And I picked that up very earlyon, and then working once I
moved on from that that job andI moved into my apprenticeship,
(04:00):
it was really drummed into me.
Um, both my bosses that I hadthrough my apprenticeship were
um very well perfectionists indifferent ways.
My first boss drove, as I'vetalked about many times on my
podcast, like drove me very,very hard.
Um and like honestly, peoplethink they got it hard these
(04:21):
days, including my ownapprentices.
Like they they do not know whathard is.
Like if we weren't running onour job sites or walking fast
with intent, um, if a tradesmanwas standing still uh and
waiting for us to come back tothem with something, then we
were in trouble.
Um, and that's look to behonest, I I push my uh team
(04:44):
pretty hard these days, butyeah, that you just don't see
that anymore.
And people wonder why the costof buildings is what it is.
And I see a lot of dawdling andhand holding going on, but
that's a whole other podcast.
But basically, I had standardsand expectations really drummed
into me that you got stuff done,you got shit done, you worked
(05:05):
hard.
Um, and so that was theexpectation that I I now live
with.
And then my second boss that umI worked with during my
apprenticeship, uh he was aperfectionist, like he he really
pushed, or they both were, buthe more so um my first boss was
more about speed and time andand getting things done in a
(05:26):
quick manner, um, and that wasmore to do with the style of
work we're doing, a lot ofvolume building type work.
And if it didn't get done in atimely manner, like my boss just
didn't make money, it was assimple as that.
Whereas my second boss was a uhmore of a custom home builder,
did a little bit of volume work,but um yeah, he he wanted things
right, like everything was neatand tidy.
(05:47):
Uh I spent a lot of time in hisin his garage, in the in the
work unit, in the trailer,making sure things were
organized and and well laid outand prepped and all those types
of things.
So when it comes toexpectations, um I've had a lot
of people in my life that haveinfluenced me, uh, I guess to be
(06:07):
where I am now.
But I I do find it like now thatI run my own building business
or uh in other businesses, butmore so with my building
business, it's on one hand, itcan make things very difficult.
So a lot of people won't workfor my building business, they
won't work for me because theythey hear the stories, they know
(06:29):
that if they do my work, it hasto be as close to perfect as
they can get it.
I I won't accept excuses, Iwon't accept um below par work,
I won't ex, I won't accept workthat doesn't meet code, I won't
ex, I I won't accept work thatdoesn't suit what I want for my
(06:51):
clients.
And so because of that, a lot oftrades and and suppliers just
simply will not work for usbecause they can't handle that
they've got to step up and dothings correctly.
So hats off to all my tradesthat do work for me because I
they do put in the effort.
Um occasionally we have a littlehiccup and they we've got to
make them redo something, or um,we might have some conversations
(07:14):
about how it can be done better,but we work together as a team
to get the best outcomes for ourclients.
And um how this a lot of thisconversation has come about is
uh we recently brought on a um anew project manager or
supervisor in our business, anda lot of the conversations that
we've been having around jobscheduling and time frames and
(07:38):
um work output on site, it itkeeps coming up that my
standards are high.
And I I just let I let it go.
I I don't dive in, uh I don'tbite, I don't take the hook when
when those comments are made.
But I've been thinking about ita lot, and that's why I did the
(07:58):
post on my Instagram, and it'swhy I'm doing this podcast now.
And I think it's really like Iwant to talk about this because
I don't believe my standards arehigh.
Um my standards have come fromlike when it comes to work
output, my standard comesbecause I fucking spent 20
years, or actually yeah, close,a bit over 22 years on the
(08:22):
tools.
Um the last five years, not somuch, but like 18, 18 odd years
were flat out on the tools, andI know what I can get done in a
day.
Um, and I know what uh a team ofwhether it's two, three, five,
ten uh carpenters should getdone in a day.
(08:46):
Um, I'm not a builder that hasgone to and got a project
management degree or gone andfilled out some forms and got
their builder's license.
I've done the hard yards, I'vedone the work on site, and I I
know what it takes to beorganized, I know what it takes
to show up to work with intent,and I know how much work I can
(09:08):
get done in a day as acarpenter.
And so it does make mefrustrated sometimes when I turn
up to site and I see the theamount of output that is getting
done on site.
But there's a lot of things thatcome into play, and I guess this
is probably a little bit off theexpectations um subject, but it
(09:29):
takes a lot to get a lot of workdone on site each day.
It's not just about showing upand getting things done quickly.
To get work of good volume ofwork done on job sites each day,
and this is across all trades,the person leading the site has
to be a leader.
If you've got three carpentersor three plumbers or three
(09:52):
plasterers on a job site, andall of them are doing their own
thing, and I see this happen alot within my own business, you
are not going to get anywherenear as much work done as if
you're working together as ateam.
And there's structure, and oneperson is stepping up, taking
(10:12):
the lead, and giving tasks tothe other people, and
everybody's working together.
One might be setting out andmarking, one might be doing the
task, the other one might becutting and prepping and getting
gear ready for that person.
And everybody has a role to playin the system.
Um, and that is why I got somuch done.
(10:32):
And I do find it very hard in myown business, um, the building
business, to get that structure.
Uh, and over the last 12 months,18 months, we've been borrowing
a lot of carpenters from a lotof other builders.
So lots of other builders uhhave had jobs falling over, um,
(10:53):
haven't had the workflow to keeptheir teams going, and we are
just non-stop flat out.
So we've been taking them onboard and uh getting them to
work on our projects.
And it in one in one way it'sbeen a bit of a relief for me
because I've seen that it's notonly my team that are operating
like this, and I actually see itacross a lot of my contractors
now as well, and it's verydifferent from the way that I
(11:17):
spent during my time as anapprentice and uh through I
guess 10-15 years as acontractor and a builder on the
tools.
Everything we did was as a team,working very closely together.
We all like the there was I wasa leader, I was always a leader,
and we always talked, discussedthe tasks that had to be done,
and everybody had a role to playto get those tasks done.
(11:40):
Whereas what I see happening alot on sites these days is
everybody is trying to do a taskon their own.
And it's so inefficient and it'sso slow, and it's costing
businesses a lot of money, andit's costing homeowners a lot of
money.
If if you're working, if you'reframing, if you're cladding, if
you're doing plumbing rough-ins,electrical rough-ins, whatever
(12:02):
the case may be, you've got towork as a team.
You've got to have someone doingthe work, giving directions to
somebody else, them giving thatthe that back to that person
what they need, uh, whether likesome sort of form of materials,
whatever, they install it andand the the process keeps
working.
So um when it comes to acceptingexpectations, I really struggle
(12:29):
with that one.
It's something that I'mconstantly talking to my team
about and trying to get them onthe same page as working
together as a team instead oftrying to do all the tasks
individually on site.
And I also think that doingtasks together as a team uh
helps train apprentices a lotbetter.
(12:50):
It's not like trying to explainsomething to an apprentice and
then leave them on their own todo it, it's going to take them a
lot longer to learn.
When they work together as agroup and they they get to do
each part of the process andthey get to physically see
tradesmen doing the work alongthe way.
Um, I believe it it um helpstrain them a lot better.
(13:12):
But when it comes to like Imake, I I quite often make my
team even uh like I had a siteweekly site visit on one of my
sites this morning, um, did alot, went through a lot of stuff
with my lead carpenter and mysupervisor on that job, met the
client's head, went around theentire job.
And there was one, two sectionsof walls that um I only had to
(13:35):
look at for two seconds and saidto my team, oh that they should
line up that side over there'ssort of five mil out or so.
And they're like, No, no, no,it's not, no, it's not.
And I'm like, Yeah, get it, graba grab a straight into the
level, let's check it.
And as soon as they put thelevel on and checked a few
things, yeah, it was four orfive mil out on one side, which
when you pulled a string lineover the two sides, made it a
(13:58):
lot worse.
So, and that happens quiteregularly.
Um, and my team don't thinkanything of it.
Like personally, I I don'tbelieve I should have to be
overseeing everything, but atthe end of the day, it's my
business, so and it's myreputation on the line.
So, and I understand that whenwhen carpenters, lead
(14:19):
carpenters, supervisors are onprojects all day, every day, and
they're head down bum up tryingto get work done, it's it's
quite easy to overlook thingsand they just keep moving on to
the next task.
Like it's it's easy for me towalk on a job um a couple of
times a week and just walk inwith a clear, open mind and look
(14:39):
around and and pick things up.
So um I think that's all part ofthe teamwork, and um like I
definitely take that role.
Like, that's another ex a reallyhigh expectation that I have is
that I review everything.
I I every time I'm on site, I amrunning my eyes over everything,
(15:56):
whether that's set outs, whetherthat's framing, whether that's
cladding, whether it's joints,whether it's tiles, like you you
name it.
I am constantly, as I'm talkingto people, as I'm walking
around, I am reviewingeverything.
Um, my brain and my eyes work.
It's like you see on thosesci-fi movies where people have
got like things built into theireyes or they got goggles on and
(16:18):
they're scanning the building asthey walk around.
Like that's that's what I'mdoing, and that's how we get the
quality that we get.
So, um, so back to the thestandards that you accept.
I could quite easily just go tomy jobs, check on the team, walk
around quickly, and not scan thejobs and check those types of
(16:39):
things.
But by me walking around,scanning those types of things,
pulling my team up andexplaining and showing and
pointing those types of thingsout where I do, that's setting
that's showing them theexpectation that I have and that
I do want things to be as closeto perfect as possible.
I completely get it that thereis no such thing as perfect.
(17:02):
Um, there is always a bettersolution, a better way, a better
outcome, um, a different way todo things.
But we all should be striving ata bare minimum to be that extra
1% better every single day ateverything that we do.
And I believe by me having veryhigh expectations uh when it
(17:23):
comes to, like, I'm stilltalking about stuff on site, so
the quality of work and stuff,it is up to me to point out
those things and set a highstandard because ultimately
that's why my clients are comingto build with DPS constructions.
That's why I guess it's whypeople come to and join Live
Life Build to run betterbuilding businesses because they
(17:45):
see how I run my business.
They they want to have abusiness like my building
business.
Like, and so for me, I'll neverlower my standards.
I'm I'm not, I'm definitely notgoing to ever get to a point
where people just give me anexcuse and I accept it and I
move on.
Um, and I do believe that allthis is part of why our industry
(18:06):
is in such a bad way.
I I do feel like builders needto step up and start setting
higher expectations andstandards with their suppliers,
with their trades, with theirown team.
I also believe that um tradesneed to set higher expectations
with their own teams as well.
(18:27):
Um like I like I'm very gratefulto have the trades that we have
on our jobs.
Um, Aiden and the guys fromPlatinum Plastering, like Aiden
is all over it.
He's he's always investing inhimself, um running a better
business, coming up with bettersolutions to do plastering.
And like we quite often haveconversations around things and
(18:51):
how to get better outcomes andscheduling and how we can do
things differently on projectsand those types of things.
So I really appreciate that.
Same as our the plumbers that weuse, the electricians that we
use, um, our tiler, Shane,Densley's Elite Umile and Stone.
Like I want trades that aregoing to turn up to my jobs and
(19:13):
be concerned.
Like a tile, like Shane turns upand and they're concerned about
the tile set out.
Like they they don't just comein and slap tiles down and just
get them down as quickly as theycan and move on to the next job.
Uh, we've done a couple of thesein the last like we've got two,
um, like one$2.2 million job andanother$3.2 million job that
they've been doing the tilingwork on uh over the last sort of
(19:35):
four to six weeks.
And like it, there's a lot oftime involved before they even
lay a tile.
Uh by the time Shane actuallydoes all their waterproofing and
and stuff as well.
So by the time he has sitemeetings with my site
supervisors and uh understandsthe job, uh we set up all like
(19:56):
we work together to set up allthe drains to make sure that
they're going to work with tileset outs.
Um, we get him in to do all hiswaterproofing, he does all of
his bedding.
Um, we go through all the tileset out together, and then even
on the day that he's his actualtilers turn up to start doing
the tiling, on some jobs, it itis easily half a day, if not
(20:17):
more.
Sometimes it might be a fullday.
By the time you go through everysingle bathroom, all the floors,
and set up lasers, um, flicklines, but you put in that
effort to do the tile set out tomake sure that there's not
little tiny pieces of tiles inplaces that there shouldn't be,
(20:37):
that grout lines join up or lineup with tops of doors, tops of
windows, or tops of nib walls,or tile set outs work so that
there's full tiles around nichesin walls and all those types of
things.
It all takes time, but the onlyreason that we get the best
outcomes we do on all of ourprojects is because of the
(20:59):
expectations that we're setting.
And it's been really interestingover the last sort of 10 months,
or nine months, 11 months, umseeing uh the new supervisor
that come on board in ourbusiness understand the
expectations that I have.
And I completely get it thathaving such high expectations
(21:24):
does lead to problems on ourprojects, but I'm quite happy to
work my way through thoseproblems and have those
discussions with people to bringthem up to my standard so that
we can continue to get betteroutcomes for our clients on our
projects.
But um, yeah, just for me,hearing the fallback all the
(21:46):
time that the reason we havecertain problems is because our
expect my expectations are sohigh.
Um I as I said before, I thinkit's it's almost hilarious.
Like we to get to some to get tosomewhere, like if you want to
be a well-known builder, if youwant to run a great building
business, it all starts withyour expectations.
(22:08):
You have to set expectationsaround what your minimum
standards are across the board,like how do you want your
business to operate, who do youwant working in your business,
what trades do you want workingfor you?
What standards are you going toset for your um for your
clients, and all those types ofthings.
So if you're one of these peopleout there that is possibly
(22:30):
getting told that your standardsare too high, um then look, take
it from me, stick to your guns.
I know lots of great buildersthat have standards exactly like
I do, or maybe even higher.
And they're all great builders.
I also know a lot of buildersthat let their trades just walk
(22:50):
all over them.
And I see this a lot, like inthe past, like when we've been
looking for new trades, uh, Imight get recommended someone
from another builder, and I meetwith them or they start on site,
and it's a disaster.
Like we the first three hoursare just me telling them how
(23:11):
they should be doing things, andthe number probably my the
number one excuse that I hate, Ihate this with a passion from
people is that such and suchaccepts that or such and such
does it like that.
I don't give a fuck what suchand such does it like.
You're on my job now, you do itto my standards.
(23:34):
And I feel in the buildingindustry, this is like I said,
it's a it's there's obviouslyyou have like a lot of the and
I'm not look, I'm not trying tobad mouth volume builders and
project builders.
Um, there is some great ones outthere, but there is also a lot
of really, really bad ones thatare allowing shit work to take
(23:57):
place, and a lot of that'shappening because of that that
race to the bottom to try and bethe cheapest builder and deliver
the cheapest home they can to aclient.
And I actually find in mybuilding business we attract
clients that want those highexpectations that I set.
Like that's why they come to us,and they're happy to pay for it.
(24:19):
And the the more we educate themthrough our pack process, the
more they want.
The more I educate them on whywe use a certain material and
the durability of why we amaterial or the way we're going
to do something, or the thelifespan of something versus
something else, or um how thehouse performs, like all these
(24:43):
things that a lot of people tellme that my standards are too
high, are actually things thatare adding value to people.
And so this all comes back toyou've got to try and you've got
to attract the right types ofclients that want the value that
you're adding.
So, yeah, if look, I guess aword of advice for anyone that's
ever um thinking about comingand working for me or doing or
(25:05):
being a tradie on one of myjobs, like I don't accept that
comment that uh all the otherbuilds I work for are fine with
this, or all the other buildersI work for, let me do that.
That doesn't cut it on my job.
So um just putting it out there.
But the other thing is with um,like I've already touched on it,
(25:27):
it having high standards does uhaffect us when it comes to
attracting trades, but it doesit also affects us when it comes
to attracting new team members.
It's like again, because I putmyself out there so much on
social media and I talk a lotabout the quality of our work
and how we do things, a lot ofpeople don't apply for jobs with
(25:49):
us or um like I I've had youwouldn't believe the amount of
messages I've had on uhInstagram when we've been
putting uh we've actually gotone out now, and I'll I guess
I'll talk about on this podcast.
If you're a chippy out therethat is looking to work with a
quality builder, we are on thehunt.
We need to build our team.
So uh give us a shout out.
But I get so many messages, youwouldn't believe the messages
(26:12):
I've had from carpenters thatsay, Dwayne, I would love to
work with you, but I don't knowif I'm up to your standard.
And again, I think that's areally shitty comment.
I I feel if you want to come, ifyou want to come and work for
me, come and work for me.
You'll only learn how to likeI'm like I put it out there all
the time, I don't knoweverything.
(26:32):
Um, I'm always learning.
Every day is a school day.
There is always something tolearn, something to do better,
like there's a better way, allthat type of stuff.
So don't like don't talkyourself down.
Like, how do you know you're notup to my standard?
Or yes, you may not have beentaught to do things the way that
we do them on our projects, butthat doesn't mean you can't
(26:54):
learn.
So don't hold yourself back orput yourself down by thinking
that you're not up to somebody'sstandards.
If you want to be at that level,if you want to um lift your
standards, if you want to dobetter work, the best way to do
it is to put yourself out thereand go and work with someone
that is doing the work that youwant to do.
(27:17):
Don't hold yourself back becauseyou think that you might not be
up to their standards, becausethat you you will be stuck there
for the rest of your life.
Um so I guess to move on and toget away from the work side of
things, it's exactly the same inyour life.
Like your life will only ever beas good as the standards that
(27:37):
you're accepting.
If you're one of these peoplethat struggle every day, you
feel you constantly feel tired,you struggle to get motivated,
you deal with depression andmaybe anxiety, um, you feel like
things don't go your way all thetime.
Like, all this comes back to astandard that you're setting for
(27:58):
yourself.
And nine times out of ten, thatis how you start your day in the
morning.
If you're someone that hits thesnooze button, that standard
that you have set for yourselfis ruining your life.
If you're someone that justkeeps hitting that snooze button
or hits the snooze button, thentosses and turns in bed, closes
your eyes, tries to forceyourself to sleep, you are
(28:19):
setting a standard that isruining your life.
If you flick that standard to bethe alarm goes off, you jump out
of bed, doesn't matter how tiredyou feel or how shitty you feel,
you jump out of bed, you have acold shower, you hydrate
yourself, you do five, tenminutes quick exercise, you get
the blood pumping, you have justcompletely changed the
(28:40):
expectation for the rest of yourlife.
If you do that every single day,your life will excel faster than
you can imagine.
Because it's all about theexpectation and the standard
that you set first thing in themorning.
If you start the day strong, youwill finish the day strong.
It's that simple.
Um, it's the same with thepeople we hang around.
(29:00):
Like if you if you are hangingaround people that aren't adding
value to your life, if you'rehanging around people that are
still having this just the sameboring shit conversations that
you've had for the last five,ten, fifteen, twenty years, that
are you might be still hangingaround people that you went to
school with and they're stilltalking about the same shit they
were 10, 20, 30 years ago.
(29:22):
Um if you're hanging aroundpeople that are just sitting
around drinking piss all thetime or smoking all the time,
like you can you can't, it'simpossible.
You cannot get to the next levelbecause you're always accepting
that expectation of the peoplearound you.
So um, yeah, you you need to setnew expectations for yourself,
(29:43):
and that will allow you to growand excel and be someone
different.
So um, so many people are scaredto break bad habits, and those
bad habits can be, like I said,the way you get out of bed in
the morning, um, the people youassociate and hang around.
It could be like one of the bestbad habits that I broke uh in my
(30:05):
entire life is completelyswitching off uh radio, news,
television.
I cannot tell you the last timethat I've listened to the radio,
I can't stand it.
Um like my Camille gets a shitevery time I'm in the car, I
cannot have the radio on.
If she has it on, I turn it offstraight away.
And um occasionally she'll say,Oh, it's good, just something
(30:28):
different.
I'm like, I don't want it, don'twant to hear it because I do not
want to hear the same shitrepeated to me every fucking 30
minutes, like on the 30, likeevery half an hour on the half
hour.
Like it's just it's brainwashingus.
Um, same with news, liketelevision.
Like, I I cannot tell you, Idon't know what's going on in
the world.
I don't care about othercountries, I don't care about
(30:50):
other governments, I don't careabout finances.
Like I run my own race, and thatis an expectation that I've set
for myself.
I do not allow myself to getsucked in to all the bullshit
you hear on the radio and yousee on the TV.
Uh the other expectation issocial media.
Um, look, this one is this oneis life-changing.
(31:11):
If you if you are accepting thatyou it's okay for you to scroll
through social media half anhour a day, and that's that's
lean on because I'm telling,like, I guarantee you, if I was
to run into your street, getyour phone off you, look through
your page and see how muchscreen time you're spending on
social media, it would be morethan likely one to three hours a
(31:35):
day.
And like seriously, the in inthe industry, the building
industry that that I'm uh I'mcreating a new one, the number
one excuse that I get given toby hundreds of people is that
they don't have enough time.
If you changed your expectation,so instead of allowing yourself
(31:56):
to flick through social mediafor even if it is only half an
hour or an hour a day, if youchange the expectation and you
said to yourself, My newexpectation is that I am only
going to get on social media for15 minutes a day, that will
change your life.
Because that other 15 minutes orthat other 45 minutes, that is
(32:19):
time that you can now spenddoing.
Doing productive things,educating yourself, listen to
audible books, listen topodcasts, get in the office,
smash out some quotes or do somedo some estimating, just do
something productive becauseit's an expectation that you're
setting with yourself.
And again, you're only as goodas the expectation that you
(32:42):
accept.
And if you think it's okay toaccept that you can scroll on
social media for hours a day,then don't blame the universe
for not giving you what youwant.
Um, you'll never achieve yourgoals if you're wasting time on
social media, listening to thenews, listening to the radio.
Um, you've got to break thosebad habits and set yourself new
(33:04):
expectations.
Um guys, look, I hope this Ihope this is resonating with you
because honestly, and look, Iguess just back to the reason I
did this podcast, um, are mystandards too high?
My standards will continue togrow.
I don't believe my standards aretoo high.
If anything, I think they're toolow.
(33:26):
And I'm working on a lot ofthings in my businesses to um to
lift my expectations, to lift myteam, to lift my performance, to
lift my personal wealth, to liftmy business um, like all that
sort of sort of stuff.
Like I am part of everythingthat I do and uh all the
(33:47):
personal development that I'mdoing uh and my growth is all
because I am lifting constantlylifting my expectations.
Even when it comes to uhexercise, like I said, and if
you listen to my podcastregularly, you would have heard
me say this.
I don't know what uh day I'm onnow, but um over 12 months ago,
(34:08):
or just over 12 months ago, Icommitted to do the Kakoda track
in uh PG.
Uh it's booked in, we're doingit in 2026 in April for Anzac
Day.
I made that commitment tomyself.
Um, like I said, it's over 12months ago now, so we're
currently in November.
So um yeah, 18 months prior todoing the trip, and I made a
(34:32):
commitment and set anexpectation that I would train
every single day.
And I'll put my hand up.
I have missed a couple, a fewdays.
Like there's there's honestly,there'd be less than half a
dozen days that I've missed.
I've made a commitment to dosome form of training every
single day, but not only did Iset that expectation with
(34:52):
myself, I have lifted itprobably 10x since I set it.
I started off just doing somebody weight stuff.
I then got a trainer involved.
I'm now doing multiple differentexercises, body weight stuff,
hiking, walking, weights.
Um, I've changed my dietcompletely.
So I have 10x'd the expectationthat I've set with myself to
(35:17):
reach a fitness level that I'mhappy with.
And the reason that I've donethat, um I turned 45 a couple of
months ago, and I'm aware thatI'm getting older.
And the older that I get, theharder it's gonna be for me to
get fit, the harder it's gonnabe for me to lose weight, the
harder it's gonna be for me tofeel good.
(35:39):
So I've started a bit of amission now, and I'm I feel like
I'm in my 20s again.
And I'm so glad I've done thatover the last 12 months, because
if I continue to put in theeffort and set that expectation
about what I'm doing, I amhoping that I'll continue to
feel good.
I'll I'll be able to be moreenergetic, I'll be able to do
(36:01):
more stuff with my kids, I'll beable to do more stuff on my
farm, and I'll be able to enjoymy life a lot better.
So, as I said, like the the moreyou lift the expectations of
yourself personally, and themore you lift the expectations
of your business and what youaccept in your business, the
more everything will improvearound you.
(36:22):
So, guys, I'm gonna wrap it upthere.
Um, I hope this has been a goodpodcast.
Um, look, I I love this shit.
I love talking about it, I loveputting it out there.
I love the feedback I get fromall you guys that are listening
and watching.
Um, and I love the fact that Ican inspire so many of you.
So, look, as always, um like,subscribe, share, all those
types of things.
(36:43):
Make sure you go to theDwaynePearce.com website uh and
get your hands on all of ourmerch, the caps, the T's, the
shorts, the socks.
We've got so much gear now.
I appreciate everyone that'sbuying the gear, it's fantastic.
Um, because you guys are reallyhelping my level up movement
towards creating a new buildingindustry.
Um, yeah, look forward to seeingyou on the next one.
(37:05):
Cheers, guys.
All right, guys, I want tointroduce you to a really
exciting new product that Ibelieve is going to play a
massive role in Australiabuilding healthier homes.
As you all know, I am extremelypassionate about healthy homes
and I'm doing a lot of researchand putting a lot of time and
effort into making sure myconstruction business is leading
the way when it comes tobuilding healthy homes here in
(37:28):
Australia.
We've teamed up with the guysfrom Highwood Timber.
Highwood Timber are pioneeringcondensation management with
their high flow ventilated LVLbatten system.
High flow battons give buildersa stronger, straighter, and
smarter way to create aventilated cavity behind
cladding and underneath roofswithout compromising on
(37:49):
structural performance.
While tackling condensation toimprove building health and ease
of insulation, highwood battonsare built to perform.
When it comes to dealing withcondensation and ventilation,
high flow battons will help youcreate continuous ventilated
cavities behind all yourcladding and underneath your
roof sheeting.
They reduce condensation riskand support healthier, longer
(38:12):
lasting buildings.
Highwood timber battons are alsoin alignment with the proposed
NCC condensation managementrequirements as well as passive
house ventilation requirements.
Being an engineered LVL product,they are stronger, straighter,
and more dimensionally stablethan a solid material such as
pine.
This helps resist warping,twisting, and shrinkage,
(38:33):
ensuring more consistentinstalls less prone to splitting
than solid timber.
Highwood timber batten areprecisely manufactured, meaning
that your installation will befaster and easier than other
products on the market.
The part that I like the mostabout these battens are they are
H3 treated for long-termprotection against decay and
turmoiles.
They use a waterborne H3treatment which reduces
(38:57):
reactivity with membranes andadhesives when compared to LOSP.
These are the exact battens thatyou want to be using on your
homes and your builds if you areconsidering building healthier
homes or passive homes.
Check 'em out, Howard TimberProducts.
Are my standards too high?
G'day everyone, welcome back toanother episode of Level Up.
We are back in the shed thisafternoon for another solo
podcast because uh if youhaven't seen my socials lately,
I did a post about are mystandards too high?
And uh you got quite a lot ofquestions, a lot of people
reaching out to me, so uh Ithought I'd do a podcast about
(01:48):
it.
But look why that post comeabout was I've been told lately
by uh several people that arequite close to me, um including
working in my business, that mystandards are too high.
And I actually find thishilarious because at the end of
the day, the reason I've got towhere I've got to, the reason I
(02:09):
have everything that I have isbecause of my standards.
And I am a firm believer thateverything in our lives is comes
about from the standards that weaccept, and I truly believe that
you will only ever be as good asthe standards that you accept,
whether that's in your personallife or your business life.
(02:30):
So yeah, I just thought we'dhave a podcast and I'd touch you
about my opinions and feelingson this because I think it's a
very good topic to talk about.
So um when it comes tostandards, like I've I've always
like I think my I owe a lot tomy um my old man, my dad, for um
like when we're growing up, likeI was pushed very hard to always
(02:54):
try my hardest, to be my best,to to not cut corners, to work
hard.
Um and then definitely once Istarted um in the work
environment, so my first jobworking in a uh truss and frame
plant, uh, we were pushed veryhard to make things right, to
put in the extra 1%, to umwhether I whether it was when I
(03:17):
started in the cutting shed,like just measure twice, cut
once, like, or whether it was inthe assembly shed making the
trusses or nailing togetherprenaled frames, everything had
to be correct because ourobviously the business lost
money if frames and trussesdidn't fit, or they they had to
get sent back, or you had tosend a team out to site to make
(03:39):
modifications.
So um I think that's where itreally sort of started, and I
really took notice that um timeis money, and if you don't get
things right, then it'saffecting other people.
And I picked that up very earlyon, and then working once I
moved on from that that job andI moved into my apprenticeship,
(04:00):
it was really drummed into me.
Um, both my bosses that I hadthrough my apprenticeship were
um very well perfectionists indifferent ways.
My first boss drove, as I'vetalked about many times on my
podcast, like drove me very,very hard.
Um and like honestly, peoplethink they got it hard these
(04:21):
days, including my ownapprentices.
Like they they do not know whathard is.
Like if we weren't running onour job sites or walking fast
with intent, um, if a tradesmanwas standing still uh and
waiting for us to come back tothem with something, then we
were in trouble.
Um, and that's look to behonest, I I push my uh team
(04:44):
pretty hard these days, butyeah, that you just don't see
that anymore.
And people wonder why the costof buildings is what it is.
And I see a lot of dawdling andhand holding going on, but
that's a whole other podcast.
But basically, I had standardsand expectations really drummed
into me that you got stuff done,you got shit done, you worked
(05:05):
hard.
Um, and so that was theexpectation that I I now live
with.
And then my second boss that umI worked with during my
apprenticeship, uh he was aperfectionist, like he he really
pushed, or they both were, buthe more so um my first boss was
more about speed and time andand getting things done in a
(05:26):
quick manner, um, and that wasmore to do with the style of
work we're doing, a lot ofvolume building type work.
And if it didn't get done in atimely manner, like my boss just
didn't make money, it was assimple as that.
Whereas my second boss was a uhmore of a custom home builder,
did a little bit of volume work,but um yeah, he he wanted things
right, like everything was neatand tidy.
(05:47):
Uh I spent a lot of time in hisin his garage, in the in the
work unit, in the trailer,making sure things were
organized and and well laid outand prepped and all those types
of things.
So when it comes toexpectations, um I've had a lot
of people in my life that haveinfluenced me, uh, I guess to be
(06:07):
where I am now.
But I I do find it like now thatI run my own building business
or uh in other businesses, butmore so with my building
business, it's on one hand, itcan make things very difficult.
So a lot of people won't workfor my building business, they
won't work for me because theythey hear the stories, they know
(06:29):
that if they do my work, it hasto be as close to perfect as
they can get it.
I I won't accept excuses, Iwon't accept um below par work,
I won't ex, I won't accept workthat doesn't meet code, I won't
ex, I I won't accept work thatdoesn't suit what I want for my
(06:51):
clients.
And so because of that, a lot oftrades and and suppliers just
simply will not work for usbecause they can't handle that
they've got to step up and dothings correctly.
So hats off to all my tradesthat do work for me because I
they do put in the effort.
Um occasionally we have a littlehiccup and they we've got to
make them redo something, or um,we might have some conversations
(07:14):
about how it can be done better,but we work together as a team
to get the best outcomes for ourclients.
And um how this a lot of thisconversation has come about is
uh we recently brought on a um anew project manager or
supervisor in our business, anda lot of the conversations that
we've been having around jobscheduling and time frames and
(07:38):
um work output on site, it itkeeps coming up that my
standards are high.
And I I just let I let it go.
I I don't dive in, uh I don'tbite, I don't take the hook when
when those comments are made.
But I've been thinking about ita lot, and that's why I did the
(07:58):
post on my Instagram, and it'swhy I'm doing this podcast now.
And I think it's really like Iwant to talk about this because
I don't believe my standards arehigh.
Um my standards have come fromlike when it comes to work
output, my standard comesbecause I fucking spent 20
years, or actually yeah, close,a bit over 22 years on the
(08:22):
tools.
Um the last five years, not somuch, but like 18, 18 odd years
were flat out on the tools, andI know what I can get done in a
day.
Um, and I know what uh a team ofwhether it's two, three, five,
ten uh carpenters should getdone in a day.
(08:46):
Um, I'm not a builder that hasgone to and got a project
management degree or gone andfilled out some forms and got
their builder's license.
I've done the hard yards, I'vedone the work on site, and I I
know what it takes to beorganized, I know what it takes
to show up to work with intent,and I know how much work I can
(09:08):
get done in a day as acarpenter.
And so it does make mefrustrated sometimes when I turn
up to site and I see the theamount of output that is getting
done on site.
But there's a lot of things thatcome into play, and I guess this
is probably a little bit off theexpectations um subject, but it
(09:29):
takes a lot to get a lot of workdone on site each day.
It's not just about showing upand getting things done quickly.
To get work of good volume ofwork done on job sites each day,
and this is across all trades,the person leading the site has
to be a leader.
If you've got three carpentersor three plumbers or three
(09:52):
plasterers on a job site, andall of them are doing their own
thing, and I see this happen alot within my own business, you
are not going to get anywherenear as much work done as if
you're working together as ateam.
And there's structure, and oneperson is stepping up, taking
(10:12):
the lead, and giving tasks tothe other people, and
everybody's working together.
One might be setting out andmarking, one might be doing the
task, the other one might becutting and prepping and getting
gear ready for that person.
And everybody has a role to playin the system.
Um, and that is why I got somuch done.
(10:32):
And I do find it very hard in myown business, um, the building
business, to get that structure.
Uh, and over the last 12 months,18 months, we've been borrowing
a lot of carpenters from a lotof other builders.
So lots of other builders uhhave had jobs falling over, um,
(10:53):
haven't had the workflow to keeptheir teams going, and we are
just non-stop flat out.
So we've been taking them onboard and uh getting them to
work on our projects.
And it in one in one way it'sbeen a bit of a relief for me
because I've seen that it's notonly my team that are operating
like this, and I actually see itacross a lot of my contractors
now as well, and it's verydifferent from the way that I
(11:17):
spent during my time as anapprentice and uh through I
guess 10-15 years as acontractor and a builder on the
tools.
Everything we did was as a team,working very closely together.
We all like the there was I wasa leader, I was always a leader,
and we always talked, discussedthe tasks that had to be done,
and everybody had a role to playto get those tasks done.
(11:40):
Whereas what I see happening alot on sites these days is
everybody is trying to do a taskon their own.
And it's so inefficient and it'sso slow, and it's costing
businesses a lot of money, andit's costing homeowners a lot of
money.
If if you're working, if you'reframing, if you're cladding, if
you're doing plumbing rough-ins,electrical rough-ins, whatever
(12:02):
the case may be, you've got towork as a team.
You've got to have someone doingthe work, giving directions to
somebody else, them giving thatthe that back to that person
what they need, uh, whether likesome sort of form of materials,
whatever, they install it andand the the process keeps
working.
So um when it comes to acceptingexpectations, I really struggle
(12:29):
with that one.
It's something that I'mconstantly talking to my team
about and trying to get them onthe same page as working
together as a team instead oftrying to do all the tasks
individually on site.
And I also think that doingtasks together as a team uh
helps train apprentices a lotbetter.
(12:50):
It's not like trying to explainsomething to an apprentice and
then leave them on their own todo it, it's going to take them a
lot longer to learn.
When they work together as agroup and they they get to do
each part of the process andthey get to physically see
tradesmen doing the work alongthe way.
Um, I believe it it um helpstrain them a lot better.
(13:12):
But when it comes to like Imake, I I quite often make my
team even uh like I had a siteweekly site visit on one of my
sites this morning, um, did alot, went through a lot of stuff
with my lead carpenter and mysupervisor on that job, met the
client's head, went around theentire job.
And there was one, two sectionsof walls that um I only had to
(13:35):
look at for two seconds and saidto my team, oh that they should
line up that side over there'ssort of five mil out or so.
And they're like, No, no, no,it's not, no, it's not.
And I'm like, Yeah, get it, graba grab a straight into the
level, let's check it.
And as soon as they put thelevel on and checked a few
things, yeah, it was four orfive mil out on one side, which
when you pulled a string lineover the two sides, made it a
(13:58):
lot worse.
So, and that happens quiteregularly.
Um, and my team don't thinkanything of it.
Like personally, I I don'tbelieve I should have to be
overseeing everything, but atthe end of the day, it's my
business, so and it's myreputation on the line.
So, and I understand that whenwhen carpenters, lead
(14:19):
carpenters, supervisors are onprojects all day, every day, and
they're head down bum up tryingto get work done, it's it's
quite easy to overlook thingsand they just keep moving on to
the next task.
Like it's it's easy for me towalk on a job um a couple of
times a week and just walk inwith a clear, open mind and look
(14:39):
around and and pick things up.
So um I think that's all part ofthe teamwork, and um like I
definitely take that role.
Like, that's another ex a reallyhigh expectation that I have is
that I review everything.
I I every time I'm on site, I amrunning my eyes over everything,
(15:56):
whether that's set outs, whetherthat's framing, whether that's
cladding, whether it's joints,whether it's tiles, like you you
name it.
I am constantly, as I'm talkingto people, as I'm walking
around, I am reviewingeverything.
Um, my brain and my eyes work.
It's like you see on thosesci-fi movies where people have
got like things built into theireyes or they got goggles on and
(16:18):
they're scanning the building asthey walk around.
Like that's that's what I'mdoing, and that's how we get the
quality that we get.
So, um, so back to the thestandards that you accept.
I could quite easily just go tomy jobs, check on the team, walk
around quickly, and not scan thejobs and check those types of
(16:39):
things.
But by me walking around,scanning those types of things,
pulling my team up andexplaining and showing and
pointing those types of thingsout where I do, that's setting
that's showing them theexpectation that I have and that
I do want things to be as closeto perfect as possible.
I completely get it that thereis no such thing as perfect.
(17:02):
Um, there is always a bettersolution, a better way, a better
outcome, um, a different way todo things.
But we all should be striving ata bare minimum to be that extra
1% better every single day ateverything that we do.
And I believe by me having veryhigh expectations uh when it
(17:23):
comes to, like, I'm stilltalking about stuff on site, so
the quality of work and stuff,it is up to me to point out
those things and set a highstandard because ultimately
that's why my clients are comingto build with DPS constructions.
That's why I guess it's whypeople come to and join Live
Life Build to run betterbuilding businesses because they
(17:45):
see how I run my business.
They they want to have abusiness like my building
business.
Like, and so for me, I'll neverlower my standards.
I'm I'm not, I'm definitely notgoing to ever get to a point
where people just give me anexcuse and I accept it and I
move on.
Um, and I do believe that allthis is part of why our industry
(18:06):
is in such a bad way.
I I do feel like builders needto step up and start setting
higher expectations andstandards with their suppliers,
with their trades, with theirown team.
I also believe that um tradesneed to set higher expectations
with their own teams as well.
(18:27):
Um like I like I'm very gratefulto have the trades that we have
on our jobs.
Um, Aiden and the guys fromPlatinum Plastering, like Aiden
is all over it.
He's he's always investing inhimself, um running a better
business, coming up with bettersolutions to do plastering.
And like we quite often haveconversations around things and
(18:51):
how to get better outcomes andscheduling and how we can do
things differently on projectsand those types of things.
So I really appreciate that.
Same as our the plumbers that weuse, the electricians that we
use, um, our tiler, Shane,Densley's Elite Umile and Stone.
Like I want trades that aregoing to turn up to my jobs and
(19:13):
be concerned.
Like a tile, like Shane turns upand and they're concerned about
the tile set out.
Like they they don't just comein and slap tiles down and just
get them down as quickly as theycan and move on to the next job.
Uh, we've done a couple of thesein the last like we've got two,
um, like one$2.2 million job andanother$3.2 million job that
they've been doing the tilingwork on uh over the last sort of
(19:35):
four to six weeks.
And like it, there's a lot oftime involved before they even
lay a tile.
Uh by the time Shane actuallydoes all their waterproofing and
and stuff as well.
So by the time he has sitemeetings with my site
supervisors and uh understandsthe job, uh we set up all like
(19:56):
we work together to set up allthe drains to make sure that
they're going to work with tileset outs.
Um, we get him in to do all hiswaterproofing, he does all of
his bedding.
Um, we go through all the tileset out together, and then even
on the day that he's his actualtilers turn up to start doing
the tiling, on some jobs, it itis easily half a day, if not
(20:17):
more.
Sometimes it might be a fullday.
By the time you go through everysingle bathroom, all the floors,
and set up lasers, um, flicklines, but you put in that
effort to do the tile set out tomake sure that there's not
little tiny pieces of tiles inplaces that there shouldn't be,
(20:37):
that grout lines join up or lineup with tops of doors, tops of
windows, or tops of nib walls,or tile set outs work so that
there's full tiles around nichesin walls and all those types of
things.
It all takes time, but the onlyreason that we get the best
outcomes we do on all of ourprojects is because of the
(20:59):
expectations that we're setting.
And it's been really interestingover the last sort of 10 months,
or nine months, 11 months, umseeing uh the new supervisor
that come on board in ourbusiness understand the
expectations that I have.
And I completely get it thathaving such high expectations
(21:24):
does lead to problems on ourprojects, but I'm quite happy to
work my way through thoseproblems and have those
discussions with people to bringthem up to my standard so that
we can continue to get betteroutcomes for our clients on our
projects.
But um, yeah, just for me,hearing the fallback all the
(21:46):
time that the reason we havecertain problems is because our
expect my expectations are sohigh.
Um I as I said before, I thinkit's it's almost hilarious.
Like we to get to some to get tosomewhere, like if you want to
be a well-known builder, if youwant to run a great building
business, it all starts withyour expectations.
(22:08):
You have to set expectationsaround what your minimum
standards are across the board,like how do you want your
business to operate, who do youwant working in your business,
what trades do you want workingfor you?
What standards are you going toset for your um for your
clients, and all those types ofthings.
So if you're one of these peopleout there that is possibly
(22:30):
getting told that your standardsare too high, um then look, take
it from me, stick to your guns.
I know lots of great buildersthat have standards exactly like
I do, or maybe even higher.
And they're all great builders.
I also know a lot of buildersthat let their trades just walk
(22:50):
all over them.
And I see this a lot, like inthe past, like when we've been
looking for new trades, uh, Imight get recommended someone
from another builder, and I meetwith them or they start on site,
and it's a disaster.
Like we the first three hoursare just me telling them how
(23:11):
they should be doing things, andthe number probably my the
number one excuse that I hate, Ihate this with a passion from
people is that such and suchaccepts that or such and such
does it like that.
I don't give a fuck what suchand such does it like.
You're on my job now, you do itto my standards.
(23:34):
And I feel in the buildingindustry, this is like I said,
it's a it's there's obviouslyyou have like a lot of the and
I'm not look, I'm not trying tobad mouth volume builders and
project builders.
Um, there is some great ones outthere, but there is also a lot
of really, really bad ones thatare allowing shit work to take
(23:57):
place, and a lot of that'shappening because of that that
race to the bottom to try and bethe cheapest builder and deliver
the cheapest home they can to aclient.
And I actually find in mybuilding business we attract
clients that want those highexpectations that I set.
Like that's why they come to us,and they're happy to pay for it.
(24:19):
And the the more we educate themthrough our pack process, the
more they want.
The more I educate them on whywe use a certain material and
the durability of why we amaterial or the way we're going
to do something, or the thelifespan of something versus
something else, or um how thehouse performs, like all these
(24:43):
things that a lot of people tellme that my standards are too
high, are actually things thatare adding value to people.
And so this all comes back toyou've got to try and you've got
to attract the right types ofclients that want the value that
you're adding.
So, yeah, if look, I guess aword of advice for anyone that's
ever um thinking about comingand working for me or doing or
(25:05):
being a tradie on one of myjobs, like I don't accept that
comment that uh all the otherbuilds I work for are fine with
this, or all the other buildersI work for, let me do that.
That doesn't cut it on my job.
So um just putting it out there.
But the other thing is with um,like I've already touched on it,
(25:27):
it having high standards does uhaffect us when it comes to
attracting trades, but it doesit also affects us when it comes
to attracting new team members.
It's like again, because I putmyself out there so much on
social media and I talk a lotabout the quality of our work
and how we do things, a lot ofpeople don't apply for jobs with
(25:49):
us or um like I I've had youwouldn't believe the amount of
messages I've had on uhInstagram when we've been
putting uh we've actually gotone out now, and I'll I guess
I'll talk about on this podcast.
If you're a chippy out therethat is looking to work with a
quality builder, we are on thehunt.
We need to build our team.
So uh give us a shout out.
But I get so many messages, youwouldn't believe the messages
(26:12):
I've had from carpenters thatsay, Dwayne, I would love to
work with you, but I don't knowif I'm up to your standard.
And again, I think that's areally shitty comment.
I I feel if you want to come, ifyou want to come and work for
me, come and work for me.
You'll only learn how to likeI'm like I put it out there all
the time, I don't knoweverything.
(26:32):
Um, I'm always learning.
Every day is a school day.
There is always something tolearn, something to do better,
like there's a better way, allthat type of stuff.
So don't like don't talkyourself down.
Like, how do you know you're notup to my standard?
Or yes, you may not have beentaught to do things the way that
we do them on our projects, butthat doesn't mean you can't
(26:54):
learn.
So don't hold yourself back orput yourself down by thinking
that you're not up to somebody'sstandards.
If you want to be at that level,if you want to um lift your
standards, if you want to dobetter work, the best way to do
it is to put yourself out thereand go and work with someone
that is doing the work that youwant to do.
(27:17):
Don't hold yourself back becauseyou think that you might not be
up to their standards, becausethat you you will be stuck there
for the rest of your life.
Um so I guess to move on and toget away from the work side of
things, it's exactly the same inyour life.
Like your life will only ever beas good as the standards that
(27:37):
you're accepting.
If you're one of these peoplethat struggle every day, you
feel you constantly feel tired,you struggle to get motivated,
you deal with depression andmaybe anxiety, um, you feel like
things don't go your way all thetime.
Like, all this comes back to astandard that you're setting for
(27:58):
yourself.
And nine times out of ten, thatis how you start your day in the
morning.
If you're someone that hits thesnooze button, that standard
that you have set for yourselfis ruining your life.
If you're someone that justkeeps hitting that snooze button
or hits the snooze button, thentosses and turns in bed, closes
your eyes, tries to forceyourself to sleep, you are
(28:19):
setting a standard that isruining your life.
If you flick that standard to bethe alarm goes off, you jump out
of bed, doesn't matter how tiredyou feel or how shitty you feel,
you jump out of bed, you have acold shower, you hydrate
yourself, you do five, tenminutes quick exercise, you get
the blood pumping, you have justcompletely changed the
(28:40):
expectation for the rest of yourlife.
If you do that every single day,your life will excel faster than
you can imagine.
Because it's all about theexpectation and the standard
that you set first thing in themorning.
If you start the day strong, youwill finish the day strong.
It's that simple.
Um, it's the same with thepeople we hang around.
(29:00):
Like if you if you are hangingaround people that aren't adding
value to your life, if you'rehanging around people that are
still having this just the sameboring shit conversations that
you've had for the last five,ten, fifteen, twenty years, that
are you might be still hangingaround people that you went to
school with and they're stilltalking about the same shit they
were 10, 20, 30 years ago.
(29:22):
Um if you're hanging aroundpeople that are just sitting
around drinking piss all thetime or smoking all the time,
like you can you can't, it'simpossible.
You cannot get to the next levelbecause you're always accepting
that expectation of the peoplearound you.
So um, yeah, you you need to setnew expectations for yourself,
(29:43):
and that will allow you to growand excel and be someone
different.
So um, so many people are scaredto break bad habits, and those
bad habits can be, like I said,the way you get out of bed in
the morning, um, the people youassociate and hang around.
It could be like one of the bestbad habits that I broke uh in my
(30:05):
entire life is completelyswitching off uh radio, news,
television.
I cannot tell you the last timethat I've listened to the radio,
I can't stand it.
Um like my Camille gets a shitevery time I'm in the car, I
cannot have the radio on.
If she has it on, I turn it offstraight away.
And um occasionally she'll say,Oh, it's good, just something
(30:28):
different.
I'm like, I don't want it, don'twant to hear it because I do not
want to hear the same shitrepeated to me every fucking 30
minutes, like on the 30, likeevery half an hour on the half
hour.
Like it's just it's brainwashingus.
Um, same with news, liketelevision.
Like, I I cannot tell you, Idon't know what's going on in
the world.
I don't care about othercountries, I don't care about
(30:50):
other governments, I don't careabout finances.
Like I run my own race, and thatis an expectation that I've set
for myself.
I do not allow myself to getsucked in to all the bullshit
you hear on the radio and yousee on the TV.
Uh the other expectation issocial media.
Um, look, this one is this oneis life-changing.
(31:11):
If you if you are accepting thatyou it's okay for you to scroll
through social media half anhour a day, and that's that's
lean on because I'm telling,like, I guarantee you, if I was
to run into your street, getyour phone off you, look through
your page and see how muchscreen time you're spending on
social media, it would be morethan likely one to three hours a
(31:35):
day.
And like seriously, the in inthe industry, the building
industry that that I'm uh I'mcreating a new one, the number
one excuse that I get given toby hundreds of people is that
they don't have enough time.
If you changed your expectation,so instead of allowing yourself
(31:56):
to flick through social mediafor even if it is only half an
hour or an hour a day, if youchange the expectation and you
said to yourself, My newexpectation is that I am only
going to get on social media for15 minutes a day, that will
change your life.
Because that other 15 minutes orthat other 45 minutes, that is
(32:19):
time that you can now spenddoing.
Doing productive things,educating yourself, listen to
audible books, listen topodcasts, get in the office,
smash out some quotes or do somedo some estimating, just do
something productive becauseit's an expectation that you're
setting with yourself.
And again, you're only as goodas the expectation that you
(32:42):
accept.
And if you think it's okay toaccept that you can scroll on
social media for hours a day,then don't blame the universe
for not giving you what youwant.
Um, you'll never achieve yourgoals if you're wasting time on
social media, listening to thenews, listening to the radio.
Um, you've got to break thosebad habits and set yourself new
(33:04):
expectations.
Um guys, look, I hope this Ihope this is resonating with you
because honestly, and look, Iguess just back to the reason I
did this podcast, um, are mystandards too high?
My standards will continue togrow.
I don't believe my standards aretoo high.
If anything, I think they're toolow.
(33:26):
And I'm working on a lot ofthings in my businesses to um to
lift my expectations, to lift myteam, to lift my performance, to
lift my personal wealth, to liftmy business um, like all that
sort of sort of stuff.
Like I am part of everythingthat I do and uh all the
(33:47):
personal development that I'mdoing uh and my growth is all
because I am lifting constantlylifting my expectations.
Even when it comes to uhexercise, like I said, and if
you listen to my podcastregularly, you would have heard
me say this.
I don't know what uh day I'm onnow, but um over 12 months ago,
(34:08):
or just over 12 months ago, Icommitted to do the Kakoda track
in uh PG.
Uh it's booked in, we're doingit in 2026 in April for Anzac
Day.
I made that commitment tomyself.
Um, like I said, it's over 12months ago now, so we're
currently in November.
So um yeah, 18 months prior todoing the trip, and I made a
(34:32):
commitment and set anexpectation that I would train
every single day.
And I'll put my hand up.
I have missed a couple, a fewdays.
Like there's there's honestly,there'd be less than half a
dozen days that I've missed.
I've made a commitment to dosome form of training every
single day, but not only did Iset that expectation with
(34:52):
myself, I have lifted itprobably 10x since I set it.
I started off just doing somebody weight stuff.
I then got a trainer involved.
I'm now doing multiple differentexercises, body weight stuff,
hiking, walking, weights.
Um, I've changed my dietcompletely.
So I have 10x'd the expectationthat I've set with myself to
(35:17):
reach a fitness level that I'mhappy with.
And the reason that I've donethat, um I turned 45 a couple of
months ago, and I'm aware thatI'm getting older.
And the older that I get, theharder it's gonna be for me to
get fit, the harder it's gonnabe for me to lose weight, the
harder it's gonna be for me tofeel good.
(35:39):
So I've started a bit of amission now, and I'm I feel like
I'm in my 20s again.
And I'm so glad I've done thatover the last 12 months, because
if I continue to put in theeffort and set that expectation
about what I'm doing, I amhoping that I'll continue to
feel good.
I'll I'll be able to be moreenergetic, I'll be able to do
(36:01):
more stuff with my kids, I'll beable to do more stuff on my
farm, and I'll be able to enjoymy life a lot better.
So, as I said, like the the moreyou lift the expectations of
yourself personally, and themore you lift the expectations
of your business and what youaccept in your business, the
more everything will improvearound you.
(36:22):
So, guys, I'm gonna wrap it upthere.
Um, I hope this has been a goodpodcast.
Um, look, I I love this shit.
I love talking about it, I loveputting it out there.
I love the feedback I get fromall you guys that are listening
and watching.
Um, and I love the fact that Ican inspire so many of you.
So, look, as always, um like,subscribe, share, all those
types of things.
(36:43):
Make sure you go to theDwaynePearce.com website uh and
get your hands on all of ourmerch, the caps, the T's, the
shorts, the socks.
We've got so much gear now.
I appreciate everyone that'sbuying the gear, it's fantastic.
Um, because you guys are reallyhelping my level up movement
towards creating a new buildingindustry.
Um, yeah, look forward to seeingyou on the next one.
(37:05):
Cheers, guys.
All right, guys, I want tointroduce you to a really
exciting new product that Ibelieve is going to play a
massive role in Australiabuilding healthier homes.
As you all know, I am extremelypassionate about healthy homes
and I'm doing a lot of researchand putting a lot of time and
effort into making sure myconstruction business is leading
the way when it comes tobuilding healthy homes here in
(37:28):
Australia.
We've teamed up with the guysfrom Highwood Timber.
Highwood Timber are pioneeringcondensation management with
their high flow ventilated LVLbatten system.
High flow battons give buildersa stronger, straighter, and
smarter way to create aventilated cavity behind
cladding and underneath roofswithout compromising on
(37:49):
structural performance.
While tackling condensation toimprove building health and ease
of insulation, highwood battonsare built to perform.
When it comes to dealing withcondensation and ventilation,
high flow battons will help youcreate continuous ventilated
cavities behind all yourcladding and underneath your
roof sheeting.
They reduce condensation riskand support healthier, longer
(38:12):
lasting buildings.
Highwood timber battons are alsoin alignment with the proposed
NCC condensation managementrequirements as well as passive
house ventilation requirements.
Being an engineered LVL product,they are stronger, straighter,
and more dimensionally stablethan a solid material such as
pine.
This helps resist warping,twisting, and shrinkage,
(38:33):
ensuring more consistentinstalls less prone to splitting
than solid timber.
Highwood timber batten areprecisely manufactured, meaning
that your installation will befaster and easier than other
products on the market.
The part that I like the mostabout these battens are they are
H3 treated for long-termprotection against decay and
turmoiles.
They use a waterborne H3treatment which reduces
(38:57):
reactivity with membranes andadhesives when compared to LOSP.
These are the exact battens thatyou want to be using on your
homes and your builds if you areconsidering building healthier
homes or passive homes.
Check 'em out, Howard TimberProducts.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.