December 19, 2024 • 47 mins
🎙️ What if the end of your athletic career could spark an entrepreneurial journey?
In this episode, I chat with Rey Lambie, a former athlete turned entrepreneur who transformed life-altering concussions into a new path.
💡 What you’ll learn from Rey’s story:
- How discipline and grit from sports fuel success in business.
- Why stepping outside the sports industry doesn’t mean leaving your passion behind.
- The power of the athlete’s mindset in navigating entrepreneurship.
🧠Topics we cover:
- Moving beyond the hustle culture to prioritize health and wellness.
- Simple strategies like strength training and bedtime alarms for better work-life balance.
- The innovative practice of audio journaling for personal growth and clarity.
Rey’s insights will inspire you to embrace life’s pivots and turn them into growth opportunities, whether in sports, business, or any profession.
Rey's LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reyannalambie/
David's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-young-mba-indy/
David's Website: https://davidjyoung.me/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Real you Podcast.
I'm your host, David Young, andthis is episode number 25.
This podcast discusses tappinginto your full potential and
finding ways to be the truestversion of yourself.
Today, I'm joined by Rae Lambie, an athlete, entrepreneur,
hockey player and from my newfavorite city, Toronto, Canada.
We will discuss her journey,how to incorporate the athlete's
(00:20):
mindset into everything you do,and what she's learned along
the way.
So, Ray, thanks for making timefor me and coming on the show
today.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Thanks for having me, David.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Yeah, absolutely.
So sorry I missed you when Iwas in Toronto a few months ago
my wife keeps giving me a hardtime that everyone I meet and
talk to is from Toronto.
She was like is there any othercity?
Do you know people from anyother cities?
I'm like, apparently not, it'sall Toronto all the time.
So next time I'm up there we'llhave to figure out, carve out
some time.
But yeah, I do have an unusualseemingly number of people from
(00:51):
Toronto that I migrate towards.
So you are, you're one of theone of the.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Oh, I appreciate it.
I mean, yeah, we got, we gotgood people here, so I'm not
surprised.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
They'll put us on the map.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.
No, I spent three days up thereand it was a lot of fun.
I got to meet a few LinkedInconnections and see part of the
city.
So, no, it was a good time.
So are you from there?
Are you born and raised there?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Born and raised just outside.
Not sure how much you venturedoutside the city, but outside of
the core city we have ourgreater Toronto area.
Okay, I was born sort of on thewest side and then came up but
been in the city my whole life.
Yeah, Nice.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Okay, yeah, I didn't venture too far.
I stayed downtown and mostlystayed there.
I maybe drove I don't know 20,30 minutes to the west, but not
too far.
But yeah, looking forward tocoming back and trying to spend
some more time and meet somemore people and see some
different parts of the city.
It reminded me a lot of Chicago.
I spent some time in Chicago.
It had a very similar vibe andfeel, at least from a few days I
(01:53):
was there.
But yeah, no, it was a lot offun.
So let's talk about yourbackground.
I know you played Division Ihockey, is that correct?
Speaker 2 (02:02):
I didn't end up playing university.
Funny, funny story that comeswith that okay no, I played.
I played double a hockey allthe way up until university and
then had my fifth concussion andsince prescribed glasses and
that was the end of that career.
But yeah, it was a.
It was a nice rising up andthen you kind of either hit the
(02:24):
climax or you put the skatesaway and not had to hang mine up
.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
That stinks.
It's funny you don't think of,or I don't think of, concussions
as much with hockey, but itmakes a lot of sense with all
the cross-checking and theboards and everything.
I feel like football kind ofdominates the concussion
landscape, but soccer and hockeyprobably should be included as
well.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Easily easily and for me it was like cross-checking
you're getting hit in the boards.
Actually, my last one was theworst one and I got
cross-checked with my head, hitthe goalpost and that's what did
it.
Yeah, no, they're too commonand it doesn't get talked about
enough and it's a big problem,especially in the minor leagues.
So kids getting concussions isnot something we want to
(03:04):
normalize, but yeah, that's toobad.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Well, hopefully, I mean the nfl and whatnot
obviously has gotten a lot moreattention.
So maybe at some point, youknow, it trickles down, you know
, into the other sports thataren't quite, as you know, not
quite as popular as football.
So how, so how did that likeexperience kind of shape your
journey?
Once you stopped playing, whatdid you start doing?
I know obviously your kind oftagline is the athlete's mindset
(03:30):
, the athlete's entrepreneur, soincorporating that kind of
athletic background into yourbusiness or your work.
So how did that transpire thenonce you were kind of forced to
stop playing?
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Yeah, I mean drastically.
It changed my life entirely, ina few words, to say the least.
I'll be real I wasn't going togo anywhere with hockey if I
went to university.
Beyond that, there wasn'treally any leagues or anything
promising at the time.
Even now it's still somethingthat's just coming up.
So I knew that even if I wereto go play in university or
(04:05):
college, that would be the endof the line anyways.
So as I got closer to the end ofhigh school, I had to think
about what it is I wanted to dowith my life, or at least have a
start to think about it.
But I didn't think it was goingto come that quick.
When I realized you know what?
You're not going to go to theUS, you're not going to go play
(04:30):
in school, you're going to stayand study in Toronto.
I ended up going to theUniversity of Toronto, u of T,
studying business there.
Why, I honestly don't know.
I picked something that I likedto study in high school I was
curious about, but it wasgeneral enough that I didn't
feel like I was putting myselfinto something really specific
and I went with.
It is the is the easiest way.
Easiest way to put that, but Iknew I wasn't going to leave
sports.
I always thought I was justokay, I'm going to work in
sports if I'm not going to play.
(04:51):
And up until my senior year myfourth year, I thought I was
going to work in sports and Iended up in consulting
ironically, but it's funny howthat happens.
But in terms of like, how itimpacted me and my journey, it
was a really big thing.
I think the biggest thing Italked to every athlete, every
former athlete, especially whenyou're performing at such a high
(05:13):
level, it's your life, there'sno other way to put it.
You eat, sleep and breathe,whatever your sport is, and when
that is gone, you just realize,yes, life has a lot to offer,
of course, but at first there'sjust this void and you don't
really know how to fill it.
There's only so many times youcan work out and then you don't
(05:33):
really know what to do with that.
So that maybe honestly thinkabout who I am Big identity
crisis that you already have,I'm sure, at 18.
But that was definitely a bitmore of a turmoil than I
expected and it really forced meto pivot but also just
(05:53):
understand myself and who I am,beyond a hockey player, because
I didn't just always want to beknown as, oh yeah, like the
athlete, the former athlete, theformer hockey player.
So that was a big part of myjourney, for sure.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Yeah, you know, I think that's your story kind of
is why you see so manyprofessional athletes hang on
too long, right?
Especially if you had a fairlylong career in whatever sport.
It's all you've done for mostof your life.
And then it does.
It becomes who you are, andthen what?
Then what?
You can't get the applause andthe adulation and the coverage,
and so they try to hold on whenyou typically way past, when
(06:31):
they're still at the top oftheir game.
So it makes sense you think ithelped that you were 18, or you
think it would have been easier,or you think it would have been
better if you'd been, say, 10years older.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
I think it depends on the version of me that you ask.
It's better from a professionalperspective, in terms of career
and growing up.
I think I grew up a lot fasterbecause I wasn't attached to a
childhood dream there's that butat the same time, sports and
just being an athlete has beenthe foundation to every single
(07:03):
thing I do, and so I definitelyknow that I would only reap more
benefits of that the longer Istay in that.
So I guess it's a catch-22.
The timing happens because ithappens.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
No, I feel that and I was with you I wanted to play
in the NBA.
When I was a kid, basketballwas my thing.
I didn't realize that I had a1% of 1% chance of doing so.
Nobody shared that part with me.
They were just like, oh, yeah,yeah, that's good, keep going,
keep practicing, keep trying toget better, so, but anyway.
So sports was big and I was likeyou, like if you had asked me
(07:36):
when I was graduating fromcollege like what I was going to
do with, like my career, I'd belike, oh, I'll work like for
some sports organization in somecapacity.
And then I never did it.
I didn't even pursue it.
It's just like, yeah, I justended up on a totally different
journey and then never reallygot back to it.
So it's funny, you had the samething and then you ended up in
consulting.
It's weird.
It's weird how that works, andI think part of it, at least for
(07:58):
me, is I didn't really knowwhat that meant.
Working in sports is so broadand I think I just needed
someone to be like okay, that'sgreat, but in what capacity?
Are you going to be a trainer?
Are you going to be a coach?
Are you going to work in thefront office?
Are you going to be in salesfor ticketing?
Are you going to do marketing?
There's all these differentareas.
(08:18):
But I just was like, oh, Idon't know, it's just in sports,
and then it's like anythingelse, was like, oh, I don't know
, it's just in sports, and thenit's like anything else.
Right, when you don't reallyhave a plan, you just have this
general, I'm going to do X.
A lot of times you don't end updoing it because you don't
really have a specific direction.
So did you have something thatyou were thinking about if you
were going to work for anorganization or in sports?
Did you have something that youwere thinking?
(08:39):
If I was going to do it, itlike it would be here, like in
this.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
You know this area yeah, I mean I had a couple
things, like it wasn'tnecessarily specific as position
.
I think I had the same sort ofproblem or just a dilemma of it
was always just going to besports.
I knew I really wanted topursue it, like in university I
was like the president of ourstudent organization that was
called like students in sports.
So it was definitely somethingI was trying to navigate and
(09:03):
figure out.
And what does sports businessactually mean and actually look
like as a career?
I mean, growing up in Toronto,everyone wants to work for MLSC
teams, so that gives you sort ofthe one shot organization of
being able to go to sort of anyother sports.
So, you know, growing up ahockey player, I was like that'd
be cool if I worked for theLeafs Best fans, very rich
(09:24):
organization, super cool, eventhough we haven't won a cup in
time, but anyways, it's always agood time.
Other than that, I knew that thetype of work I wanted to do was
it's always been aroundstrategy.
I'm a very as we say, inconsulting top-down thinker.
I like to think of really bigideas and really big problems
and just drill them down totheir core elements, and so what
(09:48):
that means in normal peopleterms is I like to think big and
I like to come up with bigideas and make a plan to make it
happen.
So that's naturally how I endedup in consulting.
So it's no surprise to me thatonce I figured that out I
realized I don't actually haveto work in sports to be there.
So that's kind of how I endedup on the consulting side.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Nice.
And then did you always havethe idea then to take that
athletic background and apply itin that athlete entrepreneur
mindset?
Was that something you alwayshad with you?
Or once you started working andconsulting, you were like, oh,
I really see this parallel and Iwant to bridge these two or
bring these two worlds together.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yeah, I mean, like, if I kind of start from the
beginning, the best thing I canthink about is I always knew
that I wanted to be anentrepreneur forever and I think
that's why I actually tookbusiness in university.
I was like maybe this wouldmake sense, that this would help
me, without actuallyunderstanding what the degree
was, what it actually gives you,and there's so much of
(10:48):
entrepreneurship that you knowisn't actually learned in the
classroom.
But regardless of that, Ididn't know.
I didn't have like this milliondollar idea or what I thought I
needed to have, and a team andall this stuff, and I was like I
don't really know how thisworks.
And then, you know, luckily Ikind of have come up in a time
where, you know, the creatoreconomy and content creation
(11:11):
became such a big thing,especially for my generation.
I realized that, okay, well,even though I don't have an
answer to figure this out yet,well, this is a vehicle that
will help me like move thismuscle and kind of build it, and
that's kind of what got me intopodcasting, what kind of got me
having conversations, writingblogs, newsletters, videos and
(11:31):
etc.
But I knew that there was somesort of connection between the
athlete world and theentrepreneurship world.
I just didn't know how todefine it.
I didn't know how I could helppeople.
There's all these big questions.
So I actually used my podcastsplural to figure that out.
I just had a bunch ofconversations with people.
I tried to draw those parallels.
I used writing to try and thinkabout the problems that I was
(11:54):
facing, what my experiences wereand how that impacted me on my
journey as an entrepreneur, butalso how I would go about things
coming from an athleteperspective versus how other
people looked at problems.
Because that's one thing I didnotice is, athletes operate very
similarly to each other andwhether it's a mindset thing or
(12:17):
like a discipline or a focusthing, there's something that
almost is ingrained in whateversport you played or however you
trained, it's in you that youkind of operate that way in
everything you do.
So I found it very Not easyit's definitely not, but just
familiar is the way I would putit and it's like I found my new
(12:38):
sport, if that makes sense.
So that's how I've been drawingthat parallel and, through
content, figuring out what arethose pockets that people really
need help in and that I can usemy expertise and my interest to
kind of bring those worldstogether.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Yeah, no, I like the way you phrased that about how
it's kind of when you do that,when you're in that sports
playing mindset, the athletemindset, where it does carry
over and it does, you don't justlike turn it off.
And I think the discipline, thefocus, dedication, kind of
commitment to the goal, whetherit's individual or a team, I
think there's a lot to that andthere is a lot of parallel,
especially if you're trying tobuild your own business, which a
(13:20):
lot of us are on LinkedIn thesedays, like you said, with the
creator economy and trying tofigure out a little different
way to do it than just thetraditional nine to five,
40-hour workweek for our wholeadult lives.
What has kind of been yourexperience, as you've kind of
gone down this road and youstart thinking about that and
you said you talked to a lot ofpeople Was there any like really
common threads other than justthe discipline, mindset,
commitment?
Was there anything elsespecific that jumped out?
(13:41):
Or like what did you feel?
Like you learned, you know asyou were doing the podcast
interviews and kind of startingto think you know a little more
broadly about you know aboutentrepreneurship and maybe
building your own thing.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Yeah, I mean, the first thing when you ask me that
sticks out in my mind is thatour problems are not unique, is
the way I would put that, andit's that everybody's stressed
out.
Everybody has health problems.
Everybody has some sort ofstruggle that you can relate to,
no matter if you're a founder,you're a creator, you're an
(14:13):
athlete, you're a consultant.
It doesn't really matter yourwalks of life.
There's some thread that tiesus together in one way or
another, and that broader termfor me was health.
I realized that that was thething that connected both worlds
.
For me, it's the demands oflet's just call it, the
(14:34):
professional working life andthe entrepreneur life have those
same demands that you have asan athlete and that same
pressure, whether that'sexternal or self-induced right.
And so I realized the focalpoint of that is if you're able
to.
You know how everyone sayscontrol the controllables.
To me, the ultimate lever ishealth.
(14:55):
If you can really nail that in,you're setting yourself up to
succeed in literally everydomain that you have, or you can
work against yourself and paythe price later on.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Yeah, that's a great point because you know,
obviously that's the foundationof everything.
You know it's one thing wereally can't buy.
I mean, you can invest inmedicine and technology, but you
can't literally buy your health.
So it's the one thing,especially, the earlier you
start taking care of it, thebetter.
There was a post today and I'mdrawing a blank on who talked
about it, but they were talkingabout how overworking and
(15:28):
putting in extra time and effortfor a long time was kind of
seen like as a good thing, right, like a badge of honor, like
you're a hard worker, you're anoverachiever, you're always
going and doing these extrathings, right.
And now it's a little bitstarted to shift and the science
behind it is like it's actuallyreally detrimental.
First of all, there's laws ofdiminishing returns, right, like
you're only going to get somuch done to.
(15:49):
Then the effect on your health,right.
If you're working 60, 70, 80hours a week versus, you know,
40, and you're doing that over along period of time, then
what's the trade-off?
And so hopefully, individualsand companies are starting to
see that work-life balance ispretty cliched, but really
trying to figure out that happymedium between doing the best
(16:09):
you can with your job and yourwork, but also carving out time
for yourself, family, friends,activities, all that kind of
stuff.
So hopefully that, especiallyas, like you said, this kind of
current generation is comingthrough and you're going to see
a shift in not as muchtraditional nine to five work
and hopefully the balance thenis more creative freedom, a
(16:30):
little bit less structure andnot just killing yourself.
You know, putting in thesecrazy hours to drive a company's
, you know bottom line.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Oh, I mean, you're talking to someone who works in
consulting.
I see it, I see it, I love it,I know it right, and it's a big
problem that these kind ofindustries face.
And like it's not a uniqueproblem, I'll go back to that
Right it's, and I think it'sit's.
Whoever can solve this isreally answering a really full
(16:58):
question.
Because you know, I'm I'm ofthe belief that I don't think
it's that people want tooverwork their people, it's that
they don't see another way.
So you know the question islike another way.
So you know the question islike whose onus is it to fix
that?
Who's responsible for it?
I fall on the side of yourindividual contribution means
(17:19):
that you have boundaries to set,but also your employer has a
boundary to enforce and torespect as well.
But that doesn't bring aboutchange very quickly.
So we'll see how that falls.
But yeah, I'm with you on that,I'm with you on that for sure.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Yeah, it would be great if companies would really,
like you said, take the chargeand be like don't respond to
messages after a certain time,don't respond to emails, it'll
wait till the next day.
But I think we set thisespecially with the phones and
everybody has connected all thetime and it's so easy to you
know.
You download your Outlook toyour phone and you're like, oh,
(17:56):
I'll just check my work emailfor like five minutes and that
turns into an hour.
And then there's one of thoseemails is a fire you need to put
out.
You're like well, I can juststart working on that now, like
I don't need to wait untiltomorrow.
And the next thing, you know,it's like 11 o'clock and you
just did like three hours ofwork when you should have been
trying to enjoy yourself.
So I don't know.
Yeah, I don't know what theanswer is either, but certainly
the more connected we become hasmade it so much easier,
(18:17):
sometimes unintentionally, tojust just continue to work.
You know, all the time Now Iknow in your, in your content
and your posts, you know there'spictures of your weightlifting
and training.
So strength training obviouslyis a big part of your routine.
Is that something that justkind of developed after you
stopped playing hockey and youwere just trying to stay in
shape, or were you always kindof into the weights?
(18:39):
Or how did you get into thatpart of it?
Because I personally I love towork out, but I hate weight
training.
So if I never lifted anotherweight in my life, I'd be
totally cool with that.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Oh man, I mean we all have our thing, I think is the
way to put it.
But I mean, for me it's like Ihave the very fortunate
circumstance of being exposed tofitness like not even just
sport, but just fitness veryearly on in my life.
So I had very top tier strengthand conditioning coaches that I
(19:11):
actually still have today.
I've trained with our topNHLers and athletes and
Olympians.
I've had the opportunity ofbeing exposed to that very early
on.
I would say it startedseriously when I was 12.
It was when I had an actualregimen that I was following
(19:32):
throughout the week Nutritionmattered, et cetera.
When it was really serious,when I was like, okay, I'm
taking hockey seriously, this ismy life kind of thing.
That's when it really started.
I continued and propelledthrough high school.
I ended up going to a sportshigh school here just outside of
the city called the BillCrothers school.
(19:52):
I ended up going to a sportshigh school here just outside of
the city called the BillCrothers.
So we're the only public sportsschool that we have in Toronto
and it's really cool becauseobviously everyone there is an
athlete but everything isembedded in the school to
support athletes.
So what that means is.
You know we have four gyms, youhave a full strength and
conditioning room, you have aplyometric room.
Your actual routine and yourdaily regimen is built to
(20:16):
support your athlete lifestyle.
So there's all of that.
But that only enabled mebecause I'm working out as a
team, you're in your teamtraining, you're working on your
own, plus you're working out atschool.
So there's a lot of dailyroutine that was embedded in
that.
And once I finished high school,was going to university, wasn't
playing hockey anymore or I wasjust playing for fun rather
(20:38):
needed new goals that werephysical and I really leaned
into the physical component.
But also and every athleteknows this you don't realize how
much you train and how much youburn and if you gain so much
weight you can stop playing andyou're like, wow, I'm out of
(20:58):
shape.
So there's definitely acomponent there, from a health
perspective, of just weightmanagement.
You're like, actually I can'teat 3500, 4000 calories a day
day anymore because I'm nottraining three times a day.
So there's a there's a balancethat comes with that.
But ultimately I ended, I endedup finding my way of moving my
(21:20):
body that I love and I thinkthat's why I sustained it so
long and I try other things too.
I've tried other sports.
I got into actually Muay Thaifor a bit.
I did get injured so I stoppedthat, but I loved it Trying to
get back into road cycling aswell.
I started calisthenics this year, which has been very humbling
but also very fun.
So just finding new challenges,but ultimately I think sort of
(21:42):
the strength training componentlike to answer your question is
it's like the bread and butterof my week.
I obviously am finding my,finding my balance with, you
know, recovery and taking likeactually full weeks off, cause
I'm a believer in a deload weekwhich, for those who don't work
out, means that after a certainamount of period you kind of
(22:03):
wind down your training or don'ttrain at all, just to give your
, your muscles a real break soyou don't burn out.
So I'm a believer in that andthat's a tough week because you
really feel like you're likeit's almost like you feel like
you're unproductive whenactually you're resting your
body, like it's weird that youfeel guilty for that, but it's
part of the regimen as well andso, yeah, it's something I
incorporate within my, my weeks.
(22:25):
So definitely a big part of my,big part of my life.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Yeah, it's funny that's also, I think, that
societal training, right whenlike rest is bad.
Taking a day off or a week offis like you're being lazy, you
don't want it bad enough, right.
And in reality, no matter whatyou're doing, you have to rest,
whether it's for creativepurposes, for physical purposes,
mental health purposes.
There's a book and I'll do aterrible job because I don't
(22:52):
remember the author's or thebook's name, but I do remember
the takeaway was stress plusrest equals growth, and I think
you can apply that really toanything that you're working on
is that you can give it your all.
You can push your body, you canpush your mind, but you have to
then take a break, but you haveto give it a chance.
You have to take that work thatyou've just done, that stressed
it, to allow it to your body toadapt so that you can then
(23:15):
build on it.
But if you just stress all thetime, then you just break down
and obviously if you just restall the time, you're not ever
building anything.
So I think it's hard, butthat's the key right Finding
that balance of really pushingyourself but then also allowing
the recovery.
But I totally get the feelingof you try to take an extended
period of time off and you'relike all right now, what am I
(23:36):
supposed to be doing?
Should I be working out?
I should go to the gym,probably.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Just to hang out, just to hang out Maybe lift one
thing or two.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
I'll just see what's going on there Maybe.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
I'll get into something no 100% relate to that
.
It's especially the rest piece.
I like that tagline from thatbook though, that stress versus
rest equals growth, Like 100%true, they used to tell us oh, I
used to have a trainer thatused to tell us your muscles
grow in your sleep to make surethat we probably honestly to
keep us from like partying andstuff, but also to emphasize the
(24:07):
fact that rest and recovery isimportant.
It's like if you're going towork this hard in the gym or
work this hard when you'replaying, well, you should work
just as hard on your sleep, andit got us really having a really
strong relationship with restand sleep in general.
Definitely relate to connect tothat messaging there.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Yeah, there was a book I read.
It was on triathlons in the 80s,but the short version of the
story is they took it was a bookI read on.
It was on triathlons in the 80s,but the short version of the
story is they took it was agroup of cyclists and split them
into two camps and they werepretty level like ability.
The only change same training,same nutrition, everything.
The only change they made inone group versus the other was
one group was sleeping eighthours a night and the other
(24:48):
group started sleeping ninehours a night and then I don't
remember the time frame, adecent number of months, and
they essentially that extra onehour of sleep, so seven hours a
week of sleep, so basically likean extra night a week they said
was the equivalent of themtaking like a performance
enhancing drug or a human growthhormone like just and it.
So it doesn't sound like a ton,but just that one extra hour
(25:09):
sleep.
They were able to perform likethat much better and I remember
reading that I was like, oh, wow, I should have slept a lot more
when I was playing sports.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
I know Especially sleep.
It's always your biggest regretbecause you feel it the next
day as you get older.
You feel it two days later andyou really start to regret it.
But yeah, sleep has to be thefocal point for me now.
(25:55):
Yeah it is true, and I mean yousee a ton of content on LinkedIn
about the importance of it andthey're not lying.
So talk about.
I noticed, looking through yourprofile, you had something that
was called the PerformanceJournal.
I solved a problem for myself.
I told people about it and theywere like I want to know more.
Is the gist of the story howthat basically went about is I
mean, anyone who explore you,google, personal growth,
self-development,self-improvement by the second
(26:16):
link, you will see the termjournaling as the vehicle that's
going to solve all of yourproblems and like I don't need
to go and sell journaling as thevehicle that's going to solve
all of your problems and like Idon't need.
I don't need to go and selljournaling here.
There's a, there's a ton ofbenefits and happy to figure
them out on your own, but 100%it's something that attracted me
.
I'd like the idea of writingdocumenting my journey and like
(26:36):
understanding myself.
It's something that you know,that introspection that's been
so important to me, especiallysince leaving competition.
So I knew there was something Iwanted to continue, but I
really struggled with.
Journaling is the quick answer.
I would figure out what journalam I supposed to get?
(26:58):
And all of a sudden I caredabout which journal which is the
piece of paper I don't know why.
I care about which journal itis and I would sit to write in
it and it would go well, andthen I'd forget to write in the
next day.
I'd beat myself up for notwriting it the next day and then
I'd forget about the journal,buy another one.
It was an endless cycle of onand off journaling.
As I journaled those very fewtimes I've come back to it, I
(27:19):
saw the benefits every time.
So I was like okay, the problemis that this is just not the
system for me.
It's like journaling works.
It works for me.
I'm like it's just not mymethod of working.
So I'm like how else can I dothis?
And naturally, the time I was apodcaster love giving
presentations, I'm alwaysspeaking.
I literally am known for thefact that I do talk to myself
(27:42):
out loud in blatantconversations, even in public,
and everyone looks at me likeare you talking to yourself?
I'm like yes, I think out loud.
So that told me enough that Iwas like okay, well, why don't I
just like audio journal andrealize that I could just click
a button on voice memos on myiPhone and then just talk, like
(28:02):
literally talk to myself, and Imade a habit out of it.
I didn't kind of put it on aslike I need to do this every day
, but every time I had somethingon my mind which is very often
I would just kind of turn thaton, maybe go for a walk and just
talk whatever was on my mindand I realized that kind of
couple things more thanjournaling.
(28:22):
I'm a lot more open even withmyself and like vulnerable with
myself when I'm speaking versuswhen I'm writing.
It's almost like I didn't wantto write it down but I'm willing
to speak it.
So I had my own roadblock whenI was writing, like
traditionally in journaling,versus speaking.
So I didn't really measure it,but I felt as though I grew much
(28:44):
faster from speaking into myphone and connected a lot of
ideas and I problem solved formyself.
I always like left on a walk,like really a mess, thinking
about a lot, and I always cameback with clarity and that's
ultimately the goal for me whenit comes to something like
journaling.
So I posted about that and letpeople know.
(29:04):
I'm like hey, if you alsostruggle with this clarity and
that's ultimately the goal forme when it comes to something
like journaling.
So I posted about that and letpeople know.
I'm like hey, if you alsostruggle with this, try this.
And people wanted to learn moreand I said, okay, why don't I
put something together to helpyou out here?
So the Founder PerformanceJournal is simply just an audio
journaling guide notion.
So I walk you through thewritten format and also an audio
because I couldn't let that go.
I walk you through audiowritten format and also an audio
because I couldn't let that go.
I walk you through audiojournaling has helped me, how it
(29:25):
helps me from an entrepreneurperspective, what my actual
process looks like Happy toshare that as well and then what
my system is for sort ofmaintaining that and reviewing
and reflecting on my entries.
But that was kind of the birthof that and so now I built that
to help other people and havegot some great feedback from it,
and now people are starting tohop on this audio journaling
(29:45):
train and that's really cool.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
That's awesome.
I also can't stick withjournaling more than we'll say
three days, and that could bemaybe a bit generous.
One day for sure, two usually afall off, and by day three I'm
like yeah, we're stuck at thatanymore.
But I never tried the audio.
Audio journaling.
I think that's.
That's an interesting concept.
What do you?
(30:07):
What do you think is the like?
What do you think thedifference is speaking it versus
writing it like?
Why do you think it was easierto stick to?
Speaker 2 (30:11):
for me it feels like a conversation with yourself.
But it feels like aconversation.
It's almost like you know howpeople say, or what's that
saying.
That's like you know if you'rein whatever situation you're
struggling with, like thinkabout the advice you would give
to your friend if they were, ifthey were dealing with that same
situation, and then you realizeyou're being an idiot and you
know you know your own solutionto your problem.
(30:31):
I feel like I get to that pointway faster through an audio
journaling perspective by justhaving that conversation,
because it's almost like youhear yourself say it and you're
like why am I stressed out aboutthis?
Or this actually isn't true, orI already know the solution to
this problem and it just tookyou saying it out loud for it to
(30:53):
register in your brain and yeah, so I think that's the biggest
thing for me as to why that kindof connects a lot better for me
than writing.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
That's fascinating.
I'm definitely gonna have togive that a try, see if I can at
least get to like day five onaudio and set some records.
That's fascinating Because Imean, again, you spend time on
LinkedIn.
You see the posts likejournaling, I think, is like
every other post and or it's atleast mentioned, and I've tried
it.
I've tried the bullet journal.
I've tried it.
I've tried the bullet journal.
(31:23):
I've tried traditionaljournaling.
I've tried scripts.
I have something called thefive-minute journal now that
someone recommended, which islike prompts and so you don't
really have to think about it.
But you answer a few questionsto start the day.
You answer a few questions atthe end of the day.
I'm pretty good.
In the morning I might writesome stuff down.
I almost never write anythingdown at the end of the day and
then I'm like, well, you know, Idid 50%, that's an F, I'm just
(31:45):
going to skip it and then I stop.
So yeah, I don't know, we'llsee, Maybe I'll get there, maybe
I never will, maybe I'll justbe the anti-journaler.
But I haven't tried the audio.
So that's good food for beendoing, consistently doing audio
(32:08):
journaling.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Oh, um, since late spring okay, now relatively
recently, relatively recently mypace definitely changes.
I noticed that sometimes it'llbe every day, sometimes it'll be
a couple times a week, but Ialso noticed that, like even the
length, I found myself nowactually spending long, like
having longer entries than Iused to as well.
So you're talking about more ofyour life, and it's a cool thing
(32:29):
, and I think, especially from afounder perspective or creator
perspective, the one thing thatI always see that pops up that
people talk about is one of thebiggest I don't want to call it
regrets it's a little bit of aharsh term but one of the
regrets that people who quoteunquote make it have is that
they don't remember what it waslike when they were on their way
(32:51):
, and so I think it's a reallycool thing to look back, because
I don't know personally, I'drather press play and listen
back or use some sort of AI toolto give me a synopsis on what
all that is, versus having tolook back physically through
journals and put myself back inthose shoes.
So I find that as a helpfultool, too, to just document your
(33:13):
own journey for yourself, letalone other people.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Yeah, that's interesting.
So how often do you findyourself going back and then
listening Do you do it once aweek, once a month?
Do you have a specific cadenceor you just kind of do it like
when you feel like it?
Speaker 2 (33:27):
I try for once a week .
I'm definitely not perfect andI miss weeks, but for sure I
will do a monthly review and Iguess also technically quarterly
as well.
But I'm less kind of anal aboutthe quarterly, it's more of
just thinking back in months.
I very much operate my life ona monthly basis.
I think about life weekly andmonthly.
I don't think in days, I don'tthink in hours and I definitely
(33:50):
don't In years.
I can't even fathom that.
I just need to focus onsomething that's easy for me,
which is 30 days and seven days.
So, yeah, that's what works forme.
And I also realized that I comeup with ideas too, like even
when I'm recording things andI'm like, oh, let me go back to
that and I tend to rememberthings.
Yeah, I really like that.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Do you take notes?
So when you listen back, areyou then taking notes and
writing stuff down, or is itstill like in your head?
You're just like kind of payingattention to what you were
talking about in terms of likeyour takeaways and like what
you're trying to, you know, getfrom it.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
I mean, I kind of I wouldn't say like I'm taking
diligent notes as I'm listening.
It's more of like I listen backto it and then if there's
something that stuck out that'slike in my head, I'll write it
down.
So yeah, that's that's the wayI approach it, and usually
anything that I'm writing downlike I'm writing down for a
reason, so there's, there'ssomething there that I need to
dig in on, and then I usuallyend up having another audio
(34:49):
journal about that thing.
So it's just a.
It's just a constant cycle ofintrospection.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
It's amazing it just feeds itself, just, uh, just
continual loop.
Now do you do?
I noticed on your profile youtalked about coaching Do you
coach people on the side, asidefrom your consulting?
And then what kind of coachingdo you do with them and for them
?
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Yeah, so right now, my coaching offer.
I'm building a product rightnow, as I mentioned, but I'm
still coaching.
I'm in the meantime and theeasiest way to answer this is I
consider myself a performancecoach.
It gets really confusing, Ithink, for people when you see
athletes and you think, oh okay,this person's a personal
trainer or they're like a weightloss coach, and it's like no,
(35:32):
I'm none of those things.
Actually, I'm a performancecoach, which what that means to
founders is that I honestly likemy personal mission is helping
founders kind of get to where Igot to, which means thinking and
operating like an athlete.
I know how much it's helped me,I see.
I mean there's countlessexamples of successful
(35:54):
entrepreneurs who are former,current athletes, and so it's
building that lifestyle and thatway of thinking into those
founders who are burnt out,stressed out, unhealthy, and
helping them optimize their ownlifestyle by either having those
stress management techniques,building a fitness routine,
whether they're overcoming somesort of mental or mindset
(36:16):
roadblock, and using thoseathlete principles to help them
overcome it, and then what anycoach does, which is holding
them accountable to that planafter that.
So that's the coaching I stilloffer.
And then, from a productperspective, is I also noticed
that the more I talk to founders, the more I noticed two things.
One, not everyone wantsone-on-one coaching.
(36:36):
Two, founders don't necessarilyhave the time or want to invest
in that right now becausethey're just so hyper-vigilant
on their own ventures, whichmakes complete sense.
So you want to think of morelow-cost solutions and easy DIY
versus done-with-you solutions,and so that's why I'm
productizing it and buildingsomething that's a lot more
(36:57):
accessible to founders that I'mreaching, and so that's in
progress and, yeah, buildingthat out, but ultimately you'll
see from my profile on LinkedIn,but that's my positioning is
around.
Sort of unlocking your innerathlete is the way I like to
think about it.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Nice.
No, I love that and I lovetaking the idea and what you've
learned from working withfounders and then trying to
figure out other solutionsinstead of just, like you said,
the one-on-one coaching, whichis obviously always more
founders and then you knowtrying to figure out other
solutions instead of just youknow, like you said, the
one-on-one coaching, which isobviously always more expensive,
and then you know timeconsuming and you know all that
kind of stuff.
What would you say?
Why?
So do you have like a I assumeyou tailor the coaching
depending on the founder whatwould you say are some core
(37:39):
principles or like corefoundations that probably most
of your packages would entail?
Speaker 2 (37:46):
There is, without a doubt, always a component
related to burnout.
Without a doubt, I actuallythink my post is about that
today, because it doesn't matter.
I meet founders in person, Imeet them on LinkedIn or
wherever connecting them throughmy network, and I can probably
count the amount of founders onone hand that have not brought
(38:10):
up the concept of burnout whenI'm just having a casual
conversation with them, and sowhat that means is it's
obviously something we can'tignore, but it's also the common
thread, right, and so, from acoaching philosophy perspective,
I always start there and that'sreally understanding.
Are you burnt out?
How burnt out are you?
Is the question I kind of go inwith.
(38:32):
I actually I guess it would be ayear ago almost created the
burnout recovery kit, which wasa guide, very, very detailed,
scientific backed.
I've looked into every research, read every single piece of
academic literature, everythingthat had to do with burnout, and
also provided my own principlesfor me overcoming it and put
that whole guide together, and Istill leverage those principles
(38:55):
in my own coaching.
So those frameworks and all ofthat that's used, I still use
today, but that's like in onething that connects every
program is the burnout piece.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
That's fascinating.
Now I'm starting to see why somany posts on LinkedIn are about
burnout.
Speaker 2 (39:12):
Yes.
Because it is so prevalent.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
sadly, and so we talked about health a little bit
ago and obviously that'simportant to you and then
obviously, to your clients.
What would you recommend tosomeone out there?
Maybe they're experiencing someburnout or they're starting to
feel maybe disinterested ordisengaged in their work, but
they're not super active,they're not going to the gym,
they're not running, they're notlifting, whatever Like what
(39:35):
would be kind of your I don'tknow a couple of things that
they could just start doing on arelatively consistent basis,
just to like get moving, movingtheir body, and start maybe
trying to offset you know someof what they're feeling.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
Yeah, I mean, like the way I like to think about
health and wellness as a whole.
I actually I came up with thisconcept of your minimum viable
health and wellness plan.
What is your MVP speaking inthe founder language?
Right, like what does that looklike?
The non-negotiables of healthare ultimately, you need a fuel
source, you need some way toexert the energy that you have,
(40:12):
and then you need a way torecover, and you just need to
pick the easiest way to do thosethree things to set you up for
success.
Ultimately, the more you leaninto it, the better it's going
to be.
But in a practical sense, theeasiest movement that you can do
walking, stretching Everyonecan do it.
There's no prerequisite,there's no right or wrong way.
You just need to be mobile.
(40:34):
So the first thing I recommendis go for a walk, start your day
off with a walk, break up yourday in the middle of the day
with your walk and end your daywith a walk.
So I like to walk at leastthree times a day, if not twice
a day.
If you're super busy, you're ata desk all day go buy a walking
pad, standing desk, call it aday, but get moving and that
(40:54):
kind of movement sort ofincentivizes more movement is
the way I like to think about it.
It's like you don't wake up andyou're like in the gym, like
squatting plates, like you're.
That doesn't happen.
I don't know.
I don't know if that mindsetexists, but that doesn't happen.
There's some sort ofprogression that leads you there
(41:15):
.
You drive by the gym, you kindof get there, but walking is the
first thing From a fuel source.
I mean, we don't need to getinto this, but what social media
has done to nutrition is justatrocious.
The simplest way that I wouldput it is you know yourself,
right.
You know when you're hungry,you know when you're full, you
(41:36):
know the foods that make youfeel good and you know the foods
that make you feel bad.
Focus on the things that makeyou feel good.
Eat when you're hungry, stopwhen you're full, period.
That's like where I would startblank slate.
Then you can get to yes, eatmore protein.
Yes, eat more veggies.
We can get into all that.
But right now, if you're justno experience, you know you
(41:58):
probably shouldn't go to thatMcDonald's, right?
Or you can go, but there's noone who's going to McDonald's
and telling you I can't wait toget my nutritious meal.
Today.
No one's coming in and gettingthat, so that's a fuel source.
And then the last thing I wouldsay for wrestling recovery is
and this is great advice, and Ithink it was Alex Hermosi that
said this and I didn't realizethat I already operate this way,
(42:19):
but he said something along thelines of forget the alarm to
wake up, set your alarm to go tobed, and that was the biggest
thing.
It's because I found that with,especially with founders, the
hardest thing is stopping.
Right, it's not starting.
Everyone's driven, everyone'shungry, everyone's on their
grind, but nobody knows when tostop.
(42:40):
So how do you go about fixingyour sleep?
It's forcing yourself to go tobed on time.
Go to bed on time.
If you go to bed early, you'reonly going to sleep seven, eight
hours, kind of naturally, andthat's assuming you haven't been
significantly sleep seven,eight hours kind of naturally,
and that's assuming you know youhaven't been significantly
sleep deprived, right.
So with that, you're going towake up at a reasonable hour
(43:00):
anyways and sort of get going towork.
So you probably don't even needan alarm, but that's kind of
the three I would say.
So just to loop that back isstart walking and stretching
walk in the morning and theevening and, if you can take one
at lunch, eating, focus on whatyou know is good for you and
listen to your own hungry cues,and then the last thing I'm
recovering is go to bed on time.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
No, I love that you should write that post like once
a week so everybody sees itjust over and over.
I'm now very happy we got ourdog at COVID because he makes me
walk three times a day and wewalk first thing in the morning,
morning sometime in the middleof the day and then at night.
So if you're struggling to walk, buy a dog and then you have
some company and it'll force youto walk.
(43:40):
So, but yeah, no, I, I agreewith that.
I.
I mean I sit a lot, obviously,like most of us do, whether you
work from home, but you try toget up and move.
Pretty consistently he gets meout and then I just don't like
to sit.
So I get up and go up and downthe stairs or walk around the
house or go check the mail orsomething, just to take a break.
But yeah, no, I like thesimplification of that because,
(44:02):
again, like you said, socialmedia has provided a lot of good
information, then a whole lotof misinformation and then a lot
of bad information, so it getsoverwhelming and so how do you
know, like, what to trust.
But I like the simplification ofjust you know, try to eat stuff
that you know is good for you.
We all kind of know that, nomatter what your level of
nutrition knowledge is uh, youknow mcdonald's probably not
(44:23):
great for you.
You know fruits and vegetablesprobably better.
So start there.
Um, if you're gonna go tomcdonald's, just get water and
just see what else that?
they have and uh, and then andthen, yeah, stretching is that's
another one I struggle with.
The weightlifting and thestretching.
Those are my two least favoritethings to do.
Never I've just I've just neverbeen able to get into this.
Uh, I go run 10 miles withstretching and lifting Probably
(44:44):
not, but but yeah, no, I mean,like you said, if you're, if
your baseline is low, you know,obviously you're not going to
start, you know, lifting a lotof weights and running a lot of
miles, like you know, slowlybuild into walking, stretching,
and then, if you want to do morethan you know, ease your way
into that.
So, no, I love that, I love theadvice, as we're kind of
wrapping up here kind of anyfinal thoughts, anything you
(45:06):
want to kind of leave peoplewith, and then, if they're
interested in learning kind ofmore about you and your
offerings, like what would bethe best way for them to try to
reach out and get in touch withyou?
Speaker 2 (45:16):
Yeah, I mean, if I'm, one thing I would leave you
with, you know, regardless ifyou're a founder or not is to
prioritize your healthUltimately.
You know, regardless if youtake an athlete approach or not,
you know staying healthymetabolically healthy, you know,
keeping your weight in check,eating right, moving your body,
sleeping well, staying hydratedthat's only going to do you good
(45:39):
and no harm.
So you have nothing to lose andonly everything to gain from
that.
And if you are a founder, it'sespecially important.
It's easy to get consumed inyour own passions and ventures
and neglect those areas.
And you know, contrary topopular belief, you know burnout
isn't the flex that peoplethink it is.
(46:00):
And you know working yourselfinto the ground and not having a
healthy lifestyle to see for itor feeling fulfilled and
energized and focused yourself,isn't really worth it.
So being able to prioritizeyour health is the best thing I
would think.
And if you really don't knowwhere to start there, I would
think, like an athlete, like Isay right, what would the most
(46:22):
athletic version of yourself do?
And kind of go back to thatphilosophy.
And so that's the messaging Italk about.
If you're interested inanything that connects the
athletic world withentrepreneurship.
We're looking to think andoperate like an athlete.
You're looking to build thathealthy lifestyle, escape that
burnout cycle?
Then you can definitely find mycontent on LinkedIn.
(46:43):
That's the best place to get incontact with me too, if you're
interested in my offerings.
But yeah, that's where I wouldleave you guys off with.
Speaker 1 (46:51):
That was great and this whole conversation is great
, very energizing.
You're making me want to get inbetter shape.
I feel like I'm in prettydecent shape, but I'm realizing
I probably should do more andsetting the alarm to go to bed.
I've never heard that before,but I should probably also add
that to the regimen.
I probably stay up too late andI get up early, so it's not a
great combination, but I so it'snot a great combination, but I
love all your insight.
(47:11):
I love what you're doing.
I appreciate your, your timeand energy today and thank you
so much for coming on.
Speaker 2 (47:16):
Of course, happy to be here.
Thanks so much, david.
It's great being here.
Welcome to the Real you Podcast.
I'm your host, David Young, andthis is episode number 25.
This podcast discusses tappinginto your full potential and
finding ways to be the truestversion of yourself.
Today, I'm joined by Rae Lambie, an athlete, entrepreneur,
hockey player and from my newfavorite city, Toronto, Canada.
We will discuss her journey,how to incorporate the athlete's
(00:20):
mindset into everything you do,and what she's learned along
the way.
So, Ray, thanks for making timefor me and coming on the show
today.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Thanks for having me, David.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Yeah, absolutely.
So sorry I missed you when Iwas in Toronto a few months ago
my wife keeps giving me a hardtime that everyone I meet and
talk to is from Toronto.
She was like is there any othercity?
Do you know people from anyother cities?
I'm like, apparently not, it'sall Toronto all the time.
So next time I'm up there we'llhave to figure out, carve out
some time.
But yeah, I do have an unusualseemingly number of people from
(00:51):
Toronto that I migrate towards.
So you are, you're one of theone of the.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Oh, I appreciate it.
I mean, yeah, we got, we gotgood people here, so I'm not
surprised.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
They'll put us on the map.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.
No, I spent three days up thereand it was a lot of fun.
I got to meet a few LinkedInconnections and see part of the
city.
So, no, it was a good time.
So are you from there?
Are you born and raised there?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Born and raised just outside.
Not sure how much you venturedoutside the city, but outside of
the core city we have ourgreater Toronto area.
Okay, I was born sort of on thewest side and then came up but
been in the city my whole life.
Yeah, Nice.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Okay, yeah, I didn't venture too far.
I stayed downtown and mostlystayed there.
I maybe drove I don't know 20,30 minutes to the west, but not
too far.
But yeah, looking forward tocoming back and trying to spend
some more time and meet somemore people and see some
different parts of the city.
It reminded me a lot of Chicago.
I spent some time in Chicago.
It had a very similar vibe andfeel, at least from a few days I
(01:53):
was there.
But yeah, no, it was a lot offun.
So let's talk about yourbackground.
I know you played Division Ihockey, is that correct?
Speaker 2 (02:02):
I didn't end up playing university.
Funny, funny story that comeswith that okay no, I played.
I played double a hockey allthe way up until university and
then had my fifth concussion andsince prescribed glasses and
that was the end of that career.
But yeah, it was a.
It was a nice rising up andthen you kind of either hit the
(02:24):
climax or you put the skatesaway and not had to hang mine up
.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
That stinks.
It's funny you don't think of,or I don't think of, concussions
as much with hockey, but itmakes a lot of sense with all
the cross-checking and theboards and everything.
I feel like football kind ofdominates the concussion
landscape, but soccer and hockeyprobably should be included as
well.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Easily easily and for me it was like cross-checking
you're getting hit in the boards.
Actually, my last one was theworst one and I got
cross-checked with my head, hitthe goalpost and that's what did
it.
Yeah, no, they're too commonand it doesn't get talked about
enough and it's a big problem,especially in the minor leagues.
So kids getting concussions isnot something we want to
(03:04):
normalize, but yeah, that's toobad.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Well, hopefully, I mean the nfl and whatnot
obviously has gotten a lot moreattention.
So maybe at some point, youknow, it trickles down, you know
, into the other sports thataren't quite, as you know, not
quite as popular as football.
So how, so how did that likeexperience kind of shape your
journey?
Once you stopped playing, whatdid you start doing?
I know obviously your kind oftagline is the athlete's mindset
(03:30):
, the athlete's entrepreneur, soincorporating that kind of
athletic background into yourbusiness or your work.
So how did that transpire thenonce you were kind of forced to
stop playing?
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Yeah, I mean drastically.
It changed my life entirely, ina few words, to say the least.
I'll be real I wasn't going togo anywhere with hockey if I
went to university.
Beyond that, there wasn'treally any leagues or anything
promising at the time.
Even now it's still somethingthat's just coming up.
So I knew that even if I wereto go play in university or
(04:05):
college, that would be the endof the line anyways.
So as I got closer to the end ofhigh school, I had to think
about what it is I wanted to dowith my life, or at least have a
start to think about it.
But I didn't think it was goingto come that quick.
When I realized you know what?
You're not going to go to theUS, you're not going to go play
(04:30):
in school, you're going to stayand study in Toronto.
I ended up going to theUniversity of Toronto, u of T,
studying business there.
Why, I honestly don't know.
I picked something that I likedto study in high school I was
curious about, but it wasgeneral enough that I didn't
feel like I was putting myselfinto something really specific
and I went with.
It is the is the easiest way.
Easiest way to put that, but Iknew I wasn't going to leave
sports.
I always thought I was justokay, I'm going to work in
sports if I'm not going to play.
(04:51):
And up until my senior year myfourth year, I thought I was
going to work in sports and Iended up in consulting
ironically, but it's funny howthat happens.
But in terms of like, how itimpacted me and my journey, it
was a really big thing.
I think the biggest thing Italked to every athlete, every
former athlete, especially whenyou're performing at such a high
(05:13):
level, it's your life, there'sno other way to put it.
You eat, sleep and breathe,whatever your sport is, and when
that is gone, you just realize,yes, life has a lot to offer,
of course, but at first there'sjust this void and you don't
really know how to fill it.
There's only so many times youcan work out and then you don't
(05:33):
really know what to do with that.
So that maybe honestly thinkabout who I am Big identity
crisis that you already have,I'm sure, at 18.
But that was definitely a bitmore of a turmoil than I
expected and it really forced meto pivot but also just
(05:53):
understand myself and who I am,beyond a hockey player, because
I didn't just always want to beknown as, oh yeah, like the
athlete, the former athlete, theformer hockey player.
So that was a big part of myjourney, for sure.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Yeah, you know, I think that's your story kind of
is why you see so manyprofessional athletes hang on
too long, right?
Especially if you had a fairlylong career in whatever sport.
It's all you've done for mostof your life.
And then it does.
It becomes who you are, andthen what?
Then what?
You can't get the applause andthe adulation and the coverage,
and so they try to hold on whenyou typically way past, when
(06:31):
they're still at the top oftheir game.
So it makes sense you think ithelped that you were 18, or you
think it would have been easier,or you think it would have been
better if you'd been, say, 10years older.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
I think it depends on the version of me that you ask.
It's better from a professionalperspective, in terms of career
and growing up.
I think I grew up a lot fasterbecause I wasn't attached to a
childhood dream there's that butat the same time, sports and
just being an athlete has beenthe foundation to every single
(07:03):
thing I do, and so I definitelyknow that I would only reap more
benefits of that the longer Istay in that.
So I guess it's a catch-22.
The timing happens because ithappens.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
No, I feel that and I was with you I wanted to play
in the NBA.
When I was a kid, basketballwas my thing.
I didn't realize that I had a1% of 1% chance of doing so.
Nobody shared that part with me.
They were just like, oh, yeah,yeah, that's good, keep going,
keep practicing, keep trying toget better, so, but anyway.
So sports was big and I was likeyou, like if you had asked me
(07:36):
when I was graduating fromcollege like what I was going to
do with, like my career, I'd belike, oh, I'll work like for
some sports organization in somecapacity.
And then I never did it.
I didn't even pursue it.
It's just like, yeah, I justended up on a totally different
journey and then never reallygot back to it.
So it's funny, you had the samething and then you ended up in
consulting.
It's weird.
It's weird how that works, andI think part of it, at least for
(07:58):
me, is I didn't really knowwhat that meant.
Working in sports is so broadand I think I just needed
someone to be like okay, that'sgreat, but in what capacity?
Are you going to be a trainer?
Are you going to be a coach?
Are you going to work in thefront office?
Are you going to be in salesfor ticketing?
Are you going to do marketing?
There's all these differentareas.
(08:18):
But I just was like, oh, Idon't know, it's just in sports,
and then it's like anythingelse, was like, oh, I don't know
, it's just in sports, and thenit's like anything else.
Right, when you don't reallyhave a plan, you just have this
general, I'm going to do X.
A lot of times you don't end updoing it because you don't
really have a specific direction.
So did you have something thatyou were thinking about if you
were going to work for anorganization or in sports?
Did you have something that youwere thinking?
(08:39):
If I was going to do it, itlike it would be here, like in
this.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
You know this area yeah, I mean I had a couple
things, like it wasn'tnecessarily specific as position
.
I think I had the same sort ofproblem or just a dilemma of it
was always just going to besports.
I knew I really wanted topursue it, like in university I
was like the president of ourstudent organization that was
called like students in sports.
So it was definitely somethingI was trying to navigate and
(09:03):
figure out.
And what does sports businessactually mean and actually look
like as a career?
I mean, growing up in Toronto,everyone wants to work for MLSC
teams, so that gives you sort ofthe one shot organization of
being able to go to sort of anyother sports.
So, you know, growing up ahockey player, I was like that'd
be cool if I worked for theLeafs Best fans, very rich
(09:24):
organization, super cool, eventhough we haven't won a cup in
time, but anyways, it's always agood time.
Other than that, I knew that thetype of work I wanted to do was
it's always been aroundstrategy.
I'm a very as we say, inconsulting top-down thinker.
I like to think of really bigideas and really big problems
and just drill them down totheir core elements, and so what
(09:48):
that means in normal peopleterms is I like to think big and
I like to come up with bigideas and make a plan to make it
happen.
So that's naturally how I endedup in consulting.
So it's no surprise to me thatonce I figured that out I
realized I don't actually haveto work in sports to be there.
So that's kind of how I endedup on the consulting side.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Nice.
And then did you always havethe idea then to take that
athletic background and apply itin that athlete entrepreneur
mindset?
Was that something you alwayshad with you?
Or once you started working andconsulting, you were like, oh,
I really see this parallel and Iwant to bridge these two or
bring these two worlds together.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yeah, I mean, like, if I kind of start from the
beginning, the best thing I canthink about is I always knew
that I wanted to be anentrepreneur forever and I think
that's why I actually tookbusiness in university.
I was like maybe this wouldmake sense, that this would help
me, without actuallyunderstanding what the degree
was, what it actually gives you,and there's so much of
(10:48):
entrepreneurship that you knowisn't actually learned in the
classroom.
But regardless of that, Ididn't know.
I didn't have like this milliondollar idea or what I thought I
needed to have, and a team andall this stuff, and I was like I
don't really know how thisworks.
And then, you know, luckily Ikind of have come up in a time
where, you know, the creatoreconomy and content creation
(11:11):
became such a big thing,especially for my generation.
I realized that, okay, well,even though I don't have an
answer to figure this out yet,well, this is a vehicle that
will help me like move thismuscle and kind of build it, and
that's kind of what got me intopodcasting, what kind of got me
having conversations, writingblogs, newsletters, videos and
(11:31):
etc.
But I knew that there was somesort of connection between the
athlete world and theentrepreneurship world.
I just didn't know how todefine it.
I didn't know how I could helppeople.
There's all these big questions.
So I actually used my podcastsplural to figure that out.
I just had a bunch ofconversations with people.
I tried to draw those parallels.
I used writing to try and thinkabout the problems that I was
(11:54):
facing, what my experiences wereand how that impacted me on my
journey as an entrepreneur, butalso how I would go about things
coming from an athleteperspective versus how other
people looked at problems.
Because that's one thing I didnotice is, athletes operate very
similarly to each other andwhether it's a mindset thing or
(12:17):
like a discipline or a focusthing, there's something that
almost is ingrained in whateversport you played or however you
trained, it's in you that youkind of operate that way in
everything you do.
So I found it very Not easyit's definitely not, but just
familiar is the way I would putit and it's like I found my new
(12:38):
sport, if that makes sense.
So that's how I've been drawingthat parallel and, through
content, figuring out what arethose pockets that people really
need help in and that I can usemy expertise and my interest to
kind of bring those worldstogether.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Yeah, no, I like the way you phrased that about how
it's kind of when you do that,when you're in that sports
playing mindset, the athletemindset, where it does carry
over and it does, you don't justlike turn it off.
And I think the discipline, thefocus, dedication, kind of
commitment to the goal, whetherit's individual or a team, I
think there's a lot to that andthere is a lot of parallel,
especially if you're trying tobuild your own business, which a
(13:20):
lot of us are on LinkedIn thesedays, like you said, with the
creator economy and trying tofigure out a little different
way to do it than just thetraditional nine to five,
40-hour workweek for our wholeadult lives.
What has kind of been yourexperience, as you've kind of
gone down this road and youstart thinking about that and
you said you talked to a lot ofpeople Was there any like really
common threads other than justthe discipline, mindset,
commitment?
Was there anything elsespecific that jumped out?
(13:41):
Or like what did you feel?
Like you learned, you know asyou were doing the podcast
interviews and kind of startingto think you know a little more
broadly about you know aboutentrepreneurship and maybe
building your own thing.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Yeah, I mean, the first thing when you ask me that
sticks out in my mind is thatour problems are not unique, is
the way I would put that, andit's that everybody's stressed
out.
Everybody has health problems.
Everybody has some sort ofstruggle that you can relate to,
no matter if you're a founder,you're a creator, you're an
(14:13):
athlete, you're a consultant.
It doesn't really matter yourwalks of life.
There's some thread that tiesus together in one way or
another, and that broader termfor me was health.
I realized that that was thething that connected both worlds
.
For me, it's the demands oflet's just call it, the
(14:34):
professional working life andthe entrepreneur life have those
same demands that you have asan athlete and that same
pressure, whether that'sexternal or self-induced right.
And so I realized the focalpoint of that is if you're able
to.
You know how everyone sayscontrol the controllables.
To me, the ultimate lever ishealth.
(14:55):
If you can really nail that in,you're setting yourself up to
succeed in literally everydomain that you have, or you can
work against yourself and paythe price later on.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Yeah, that's a great point because you know,
obviously that's the foundationof everything.
You know it's one thing wereally can't buy.
I mean, you can invest inmedicine and technology, but you
can't literally buy your health.
So it's the one thing,especially, the earlier you
start taking care of it, thebetter.
There was a post today and I'mdrawing a blank on who talked
about it, but they were talkingabout how overworking and
(15:28):
putting in extra time and effortfor a long time was kind of
seen like as a good thing, right, like a badge of honor, like
you're a hard worker, you're anoverachiever, you're always
going and doing these extrathings, right.
And now it's a little bitstarted to shift and the science
behind it is like it's actuallyreally detrimental.
First of all, there's laws ofdiminishing returns, right, like
you're only going to get somuch done to.
(15:49):
Then the effect on your health,right.
If you're working 60, 70, 80hours a week versus, you know,
40, and you're doing that over along period of time, then
what's the trade-off?
And so hopefully, individualsand companies are starting to
see that work-life balance ispretty cliched, but really
trying to figure out that happymedium between doing the best
(16:09):
you can with your job and yourwork, but also carving out time
for yourself, family, friends,activities, all that kind of
stuff.
So hopefully that, especiallyas, like you said, this kind of
current generation is comingthrough and you're going to see
a shift in not as muchtraditional nine to five work
and hopefully the balance thenis more creative freedom, a
(16:30):
little bit less structure andnot just killing yourself.
You know, putting in thesecrazy hours to drive a company's
, you know bottom line.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Oh, I mean, you're talking to someone who works in
consulting.
I see it, I see it, I love it,I know it right, and it's a big
problem that these kind ofindustries face.
And like it's not a uniqueproblem, I'll go back to that
Right it's, and I think it'sit's.
Whoever can solve this isreally answering a really full
(16:58):
question.
Because you know, I'm I'm ofthe belief that I don't think
it's that people want tooverwork their people, it's that
they don't see another way.
So you know the question islike another way.
So you know the question islike whose onus is it to fix
that?
Who's responsible for it?
I fall on the side of yourindividual contribution means
(17:19):
that you have boundaries to set,but also your employer has a
boundary to enforce and torespect as well.
But that doesn't bring aboutchange very quickly.
So we'll see how that falls.
But yeah, I'm with you on that,I'm with you on that for sure.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Yeah, it would be great if companies would really,
like you said, take the chargeand be like don't respond to
messages after a certain time,don't respond to emails, it'll
wait till the next day.
But I think we set thisespecially with the phones and
everybody has connected all thetime and it's so easy to you
know.
You download your Outlook toyour phone and you're like, oh,
(17:56):
I'll just check my work emailfor like five minutes and that
turns into an hour.
And then there's one of thoseemails is a fire you need to put
out.
You're like well, I can juststart working on that now, like
I don't need to wait untiltomorrow.
And the next thing, you know,it's like 11 o'clock and you
just did like three hours ofwork when you should have been
trying to enjoy yourself.
So I don't know.
Yeah, I don't know what theanswer is either, but certainly
the more connected we become hasmade it so much easier,
(18:17):
sometimes unintentionally, tojust just continue to work.
You know, all the time Now Iknow in your, in your content
and your posts, you know there'spictures of your weightlifting
and training.
So strength training obviouslyis a big part of your routine.
Is that something that justkind of developed after you
stopped playing hockey and youwere just trying to stay in
shape, or were you always kindof into the weights?
(18:39):
Or how did you get into thatpart of it?
Because I personally I love towork out, but I hate weight
training.
So if I never lifted anotherweight in my life, I'd be
totally cool with that.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Oh man, I mean we all have our thing, I think is the
way to put it.
But I mean, for me it's like Ihave the very fortunate
circumstance of being exposed tofitness like not even just
sport, but just fitness veryearly on in my life.
So I had very top tier strengthand conditioning coaches that I
(19:11):
actually still have today.
I've trained with our topNHLers and athletes and
Olympians.
I've had the opportunity ofbeing exposed to that very early
on.
I would say it startedseriously when I was 12.
It was when I had an actualregimen that I was following
(19:32):
throughout the week Nutritionmattered, et cetera.
When it was really serious,when I was like, okay, I'm
taking hockey seriously, this ismy life kind of thing.
That's when it really started.
I continued and propelledthrough high school.
I ended up going to a sportshigh school here just outside of
the city called the BillCrothers school.
(19:52):
I ended up going to a sportshigh school here just outside of
the city called the BillCrothers.
So we're the only public sportsschool that we have in Toronto
and it's really cool becauseobviously everyone there is an
athlete but everything isembedded in the school to
support athletes.
So what that means is.
You know we have four gyms, youhave a full strength and
conditioning room, you have aplyometric room.
Your actual routine and yourdaily regimen is built to
(20:16):
support your athlete lifestyle.
So there's all of that.
But that only enabled mebecause I'm working out as a
team, you're in your teamtraining, you're working on your
own, plus you're working out atschool.
So there's a lot of dailyroutine that was embedded in
that.
And once I finished high school,was going to university, wasn't
playing hockey anymore or I wasjust playing for fun rather
(20:38):
needed new goals that werephysical and I really leaned
into the physical component.
But also and every athleteknows this you don't realize how
much you train and how much youburn and if you gain so much
weight you can stop playing andyou're like, wow, I'm out of
(20:58):
shape.
So there's definitely acomponent there, from a health
perspective, of just weightmanagement.
You're like, actually I can'teat 3500, 4000 calories a day
day anymore because I'm nottraining three times a day.
So there's a there's a balancethat comes with that.
But ultimately I ended, I endedup finding my way of moving my
(21:20):
body that I love and I thinkthat's why I sustained it so
long and I try other things too.
I've tried other sports.
I got into actually Muay Thaifor a bit.
I did get injured so I stoppedthat, but I loved it Trying to
get back into road cycling aswell.
I started calisthenics this year, which has been very humbling
but also very fun.
So just finding new challenges,but ultimately I think sort of
(21:42):
the strength training componentlike to answer your question is
it's like the bread and butterof my week.
I obviously am finding my,finding my balance with, you
know, recovery and taking likeactually full weeks off, cause
I'm a believer in a deload weekwhich, for those who don't work
out, means that after a certainamount of period you kind of
(22:03):
wind down your training or don'ttrain at all, just to give your
, your muscles a real break soyou don't burn out.
So I'm a believer in that andthat's a tough week because you
really feel like you're likeit's almost like you feel like
you're unproductive whenactually you're resting your
body, like it's weird that youfeel guilty for that, but it's
part of the regimen as well andso, yeah, it's something I
incorporate within my, my weeks.
(22:25):
So definitely a big part of my,big part of my life.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Yeah, it's funny that's also, I think, that
societal training, right whenlike rest is bad.
Taking a day off or a week offis like you're being lazy, you
don't want it bad enough, right.
And in reality, no matter whatyou're doing, you have to rest,
whether it's for creativepurposes, for physical purposes,
mental health purposes.
There's a book and I'll do aterrible job because I don't
(22:52):
remember the author's or thebook's name, but I do remember
the takeaway was stress plusrest equals growth, and I think
you can apply that really toanything that you're working on
is that you can give it your all.
You can push your body, you canpush your mind, but you have to
then take a break, but you haveto give it a chance.
You have to take that work thatyou've just done, that stressed
it, to allow it to your body toadapt so that you can then
(23:15):
build on it.
But if you just stress all thetime, then you just break down
and obviously if you just restall the time, you're not ever
building anything.
So I think it's hard, butthat's the key right Finding
that balance of really pushingyourself but then also allowing
the recovery.
But I totally get the feelingof you try to take an extended
period of time off and you'relike all right now, what am I
(23:36):
supposed to be doing?
Should I be working out?
I should go to the gym,probably.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Just to hang out, just to hang out Maybe lift one
thing or two.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
I'll just see what's going on there Maybe.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
I'll get into something no 100% relate to that
.
It's especially the rest piece.
I like that tagline from thatbook though, that stress versus
rest equals growth, Like 100%true, they used to tell us oh, I
used to have a trainer thatused to tell us your muscles
grow in your sleep to make surethat we probably honestly to
keep us from like partying andstuff, but also to emphasize the
(24:07):
fact that rest and recovery isimportant.
It's like if you're going towork this hard in the gym or
work this hard when you'replaying, well, you should work
just as hard on your sleep, andit got us really having a really
strong relationship with restand sleep in general.
Definitely relate to connect tothat messaging there.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Yeah, there was a book I read.
It was on triathlons in the 80s,but the short version of the
story is they took it was a bookI read on.
It was on triathlons in the 80s,but the short version of the
story is they took it was agroup of cyclists and split them
into two camps and they werepretty level like ability.
The only change same training,same nutrition, everything.
The only change they made inone group versus the other was
one group was sleeping eighthours a night and the other
(24:48):
group started sleeping ninehours a night and then I don't
remember the time frame, adecent number of months, and
they essentially that extra onehour of sleep, so seven hours a
week of sleep, so basically likean extra night a week they said
was the equivalent of themtaking like a performance
enhancing drug or a human growthhormone like just and it.
So it doesn't sound like a ton,but just that one extra hour
(25:09):
sleep.
They were able to perform likethat much better and I remember
reading that I was like, oh, wow, I should have slept a lot more
when I was playing sports.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
I know Especially sleep.
It's always your biggest regretbecause you feel it the next
day as you get older.
You feel it two days later andyou really start to regret it.
But yeah, sleep has to be thefocal point for me now.
(25:55):
Yeah it is true, and I mean yousee a ton of content on LinkedIn
about the importance of it andthey're not lying.
So talk about.
I noticed, looking through yourprofile, you had something that
was called the PerformanceJournal.
I solved a problem for myself.
I told people about it and theywere like I want to know more.
Is the gist of the story howthat basically went about is I
mean, anyone who explore you,google, personal growth,
self-development,self-improvement by the second
(26:16):
link, you will see the termjournaling as the vehicle that's
going to solve all of yourproblems and like I don't need
to go and sell journaling as thevehicle that's going to solve
all of your problems and like Idon't need.
I don't need to go and selljournaling here.
There's a, there's a ton ofbenefits and happy to figure
them out on your own, but 100%it's something that attracted me
.
I'd like the idea of writingdocumenting my journey and like
(26:36):
understanding myself.
It's something that you know,that introspection that's been
so important to me, especiallysince leaving competition.
So I knew there was something Iwanted to continue, but I
really struggled with.
Journaling is the quick answer.
I would figure out what journalam I supposed to get?
(26:58):
And all of a sudden I caredabout which journal which is the
piece of paper I don't know why.
I care about which journal itis and I would sit to write in
it and it would go well, andthen I'd forget to write in the
next day.
I'd beat myself up for notwriting it the next day and then
I'd forget about the journal,buy another one.
It was an endless cycle of onand off journaling.
As I journaled those very fewtimes I've come back to it, I
(27:19):
saw the benefits every time.
So I was like okay, the problemis that this is just not the
system for me.
It's like journaling works.
It works for me.
I'm like it's just not mymethod of working.
So I'm like how else can I dothis?
And naturally, the time I was apodcaster love giving
presentations, I'm alwaysspeaking.
I literally am known for thefact that I do talk to myself
(27:42):
out loud in blatantconversations, even in public,
and everyone looks at me likeare you talking to yourself?
I'm like yes, I think out loud.
So that told me enough that Iwas like okay, well, why don't I
just like audio journal andrealize that I could just click
a button on voice memos on myiPhone and then just talk, like
(28:02):
literally talk to myself, and Imade a habit out of it.
I didn't kind of put it on aslike I need to do this every day
, but every time I had somethingon my mind which is very often
I would just kind of turn thaton, maybe go for a walk and just
talk whatever was on my mindand I realized that kind of
couple things more thanjournaling.
(28:22):
I'm a lot more open even withmyself and like vulnerable with
myself when I'm speaking versuswhen I'm writing.
It's almost like I didn't wantto write it down but I'm willing
to speak it.
So I had my own roadblock whenI was writing, like
traditionally in journaling,versus speaking.
So I didn't really measure it,but I felt as though I grew much
(28:44):
faster from speaking into myphone and connected a lot of
ideas and I problem solved formyself.
I always like left on a walk,like really a mess, thinking
about a lot, and I always cameback with clarity and that's
ultimately the goal for me whenit comes to something like
journaling.
So I posted about that and letpeople know.
(29:04):
I'm like hey, if you alsostruggle with this clarity and
that's ultimately the goal forme when it comes to something
like journaling.
So I posted about that and letpeople know.
I'm like hey, if you alsostruggle with this, try this.
And people wanted to learn moreand I said, okay, why don't I
put something together to helpyou out here?
So the Founder PerformanceJournal is simply just an audio
journaling guide notion.
So I walk you through thewritten format and also an audio
because I couldn't let that go.
I walk you through audiowritten format and also an audio
because I couldn't let that go.
I walk you through audiojournaling has helped me, how it
(29:25):
helps me from an entrepreneurperspective, what my actual
process looks like Happy toshare that as well and then what
my system is for sort ofmaintaining that and reviewing
and reflecting on my entries.
But that was kind of the birthof that and so now I built that
to help other people and havegot some great feedback from it,
and now people are starting tohop on this audio journaling
(29:45):
train and that's really cool.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
That's awesome.
I also can't stick withjournaling more than we'll say
three days, and that could bemaybe a bit generous.
One day for sure, two usually afall off, and by day three I'm
like yeah, we're stuck at thatanymore.
But I never tried the audio.
Audio journaling.
I think that's.
That's an interesting concept.
What do you?
(30:07):
What do you think is the like?
What do you think thedifference is speaking it versus
writing it like?
Why do you think it was easierto stick to?
Speaker 2 (30:11):
for me it feels like a conversation with yourself.
But it feels like aconversation.
It's almost like you know howpeople say, or what's that
saying.
That's like you know if you'rein whatever situation you're
struggling with, like thinkabout the advice you would give
to your friend if they were, ifthey were dealing with that same
situation, and then you realizeyou're being an idiot and you
know you know your own solutionto your problem.
(30:31):
I feel like I get to that pointway faster through an audio
journaling perspective by justhaving that conversation,
because it's almost like youhear yourself say it and you're
like why am I stressed out aboutthis?
Or this actually isn't true, orI already know the solution to
this problem and it just tookyou saying it out loud for it to
(30:53):
register in your brain and yeah, so I think that's the biggest
thing for me as to why that kindof connects a lot better for me
than writing.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
That's fascinating.
I'm definitely gonna have togive that a try, see if I can at
least get to like day five onaudio and set some records.
That's fascinating Because Imean, again, you spend time on
LinkedIn.
You see the posts likejournaling, I think, is like
every other post and or it's atleast mentioned, and I've tried
it.
I've tried the bullet journal.
I've tried it.
I've tried the bullet journal.
(31:23):
I've tried traditionaljournaling.
I've tried scripts.
I have something called thefive-minute journal now that
someone recommended, which islike prompts and so you don't
really have to think about it.
But you answer a few questionsto start the day.
You answer a few questions atthe end of the day.
I'm pretty good.
In the morning I might writesome stuff down.
I almost never write anythingdown at the end of the day and
then I'm like, well, you know, Idid 50%, that's an F, I'm just
(31:45):
going to skip it and then I stop.
So yeah, I don't know, we'llsee, Maybe I'll get there, maybe
I never will, maybe I'll justbe the anti-journaler.
But I haven't tried the audio.
So that's good food for beendoing, consistently doing audio
(32:08):
journaling.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Oh, um, since late spring okay, now relatively
recently, relatively recently mypace definitely changes.
I noticed that sometimes it'llbe every day, sometimes it'll be
a couple times a week, but Ialso noticed that, like even the
length, I found myself nowactually spending long, like
having longer entries than Iused to as well.
So you're talking about more ofyour life, and it's a cool thing
(32:29):
, and I think, especially from afounder perspective or creator
perspective, the one thing thatI always see that pops up that
people talk about is one of thebiggest I don't want to call it
regrets it's a little bit of aharsh term but one of the
regrets that people who quoteunquote make it have is that
they don't remember what it waslike when they were on their way
(32:51):
, and so I think it's a reallycool thing to look back, because
I don't know personally, I'drather press play and listen
back or use some sort of AI toolto give me a synopsis on what
all that is, versus having tolook back physically through
journals and put myself back inthose shoes.
So I find that as a helpfultool, too, to just document your
(33:13):
own journey for yourself, letalone other people.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Yeah, that's interesting.
So how often do you findyourself going back and then
listening Do you do it once aweek, once a month?
Do you have a specific cadenceor you just kind of do it like
when you feel like it?
Speaker 2 (33:27):
I try for once a week .
I'm definitely not perfect andI miss weeks, but for sure I
will do a monthly review and Iguess also technically quarterly
as well.
But I'm less kind of anal aboutthe quarterly, it's more of
just thinking back in months.
I very much operate my life ona monthly basis.
I think about life weekly andmonthly.
I don't think in days, I don'tthink in hours and I definitely
(33:50):
don't In years.
I can't even fathom that.
I just need to focus onsomething that's easy for me,
which is 30 days and seven days.
So, yeah, that's what works forme.
And I also realized that I comeup with ideas too, like even
when I'm recording things andI'm like, oh, let me go back to
that and I tend to rememberthings.
Yeah, I really like that.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Do you take notes?
So when you listen back, areyou then taking notes and
writing stuff down, or is itstill like in your head?
You're just like kind of payingattention to what you were
talking about in terms of likeyour takeaways and like what
you're trying to, you know, getfrom it.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
I mean, I kind of I wouldn't say like I'm taking
diligent notes as I'm listening.
It's more of like I listen backto it and then if there's
something that stuck out that'slike in my head, I'll write it
down.
So yeah, that's that's the wayI approach it, and usually
anything that I'm writing downlike I'm writing down for a
reason, so there's, there'ssomething there that I need to
dig in on, and then I usuallyend up having another audio
(34:49):
journal about that thing.
So it's just a.
It's just a constant cycle ofintrospection.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
It's amazing it just feeds itself, just, uh, just
continual loop.
Now do you do?
I noticed on your profile youtalked about coaching Do you
coach people on the side, asidefrom your consulting?
And then what kind of coachingdo you do with them and for them
?
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Yeah, so right now, my coaching offer.
I'm building a product rightnow, as I mentioned, but I'm
still coaching.
I'm in the meantime and theeasiest way to answer this is I
consider myself a performancecoach.
It gets really confusing, Ithink, for people when you see
athletes and you think, oh okay,this person's a personal
trainer or they're like a weightloss coach, and it's like no,
(35:32):
I'm none of those things.
Actually, I'm a performancecoach, which what that means to
founders is that I honestly likemy personal mission is helping
founders kind of get to where Igot to, which means thinking and
operating like an athlete.
I know how much it's helped me,I see.
I mean there's countlessexamples of successful
(35:54):
entrepreneurs who are former,current athletes, and so it's
building that lifestyle and thatway of thinking into those
founders who are burnt out,stressed out, unhealthy, and
helping them optimize their ownlifestyle by either having those
stress management techniques,building a fitness routine,
whether they're overcoming somesort of mental or mindset
(36:16):
roadblock, and using thoseathlete principles to help them
overcome it, and then what anycoach does, which is holding
them accountable to that planafter that.
So that's the coaching I stilloffer.
And then, from a productperspective, is I also noticed
that the more I talk to founders, the more I noticed two things.
One, not everyone wantsone-on-one coaching.
(36:36):
Two, founders don't necessarilyhave the time or want to invest
in that right now becausethey're just so hyper-vigilant
on their own ventures, whichmakes complete sense.
So you want to think of morelow-cost solutions and easy DIY
versus done-with-you solutions,and so that's why I'm
productizing it and buildingsomething that's a lot more
(36:57):
accessible to founders that I'mreaching, and so that's in
progress and, yeah, buildingthat out, but ultimately you'll
see from my profile on LinkedIn,but that's my positioning is
around.
Sort of unlocking your innerathlete is the way I like to
think about it.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Nice.
No, I love that and I lovetaking the idea and what you've
learned from working withfounders and then trying to
figure out other solutionsinstead of just, like you said,
the one-on-one coaching, whichis obviously always more
founders and then you knowtrying to figure out other
solutions instead of just youknow, like you said, the
one-on-one coaching, which isobviously always more expensive,
and then you know timeconsuming and you know all that
kind of stuff.
What would you say?
Why?
So do you have like a I assumeyou tailor the coaching
depending on the founder whatwould you say are some core
(37:39):
principles or like corefoundations that probably most
of your packages would entail?
Speaker 2 (37:46):
There is, without a doubt, always a component
related to burnout.
Without a doubt, I actuallythink my post is about that
today, because it doesn't matter.
I meet founders in person, Imeet them on LinkedIn or
wherever connecting them throughmy network, and I can probably
count the amount of founders onone hand that have not brought
(38:10):
up the concept of burnout whenI'm just having a casual
conversation with them, and sowhat that means is it's
obviously something we can'tignore, but it's also the common
thread, right, and so, from acoaching philosophy perspective,
I always start there and that'sreally understanding.
Are you burnt out?
How burnt out are you?
Is the question I kind of go inwith.
(38:32):
I actually I guess it would be ayear ago almost created the
burnout recovery kit, which wasa guide, very, very detailed,
scientific backed.
I've looked into every research, read every single piece of
academic literature, everythingthat had to do with burnout, and
also provided my own principlesfor me overcoming it and put
that whole guide together, and Istill leverage those principles
(38:55):
in my own coaching.
So those frameworks and all ofthat that's used, I still use
today, but that's like in onething that connects every
program is the burnout piece.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
That's fascinating.
Now I'm starting to see why somany posts on LinkedIn are about
burnout.
Speaker 2 (39:12):
Yes.
Because it is so prevalent.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
sadly, and so we talked about health a little bit
ago and obviously that'simportant to you and then
obviously, to your clients.
What would you recommend tosomeone out there?
Maybe they're experiencing someburnout or they're starting to
feel maybe disinterested ordisengaged in their work, but
they're not super active,they're not going to the gym,
they're not running, they're notlifting, whatever Like what
(39:35):
would be kind of your I don'tknow a couple of things that
they could just start doing on arelatively consistent basis,
just to like get moving, movingtheir body, and start maybe
trying to offset you know someof what they're feeling.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
Yeah, I mean, like the way I like to think about
health and wellness as a whole.
I actually I came up with thisconcept of your minimum viable
health and wellness plan.
What is your MVP speaking inthe founder language?
Right, like what does that looklike?
The non-negotiables of healthare ultimately, you need a fuel
source, you need some way toexert the energy that you have,
(40:12):
and then you need a way torecover, and you just need to
pick the easiest way to do thosethree things to set you up for
success.
Ultimately, the more you leaninto it, the better it's going
to be.
But in a practical sense, theeasiest movement that you can do
walking, stretching Everyonecan do it.
There's no prerequisite,there's no right or wrong way.
You just need to be mobile.
(40:34):
So the first thing I recommendis go for a walk, start your day
off with a walk, break up yourday in the middle of the day
with your walk and end your daywith a walk.
So I like to walk at leastthree times a day, if not twice
a day.
If you're super busy, you're ata desk all day go buy a walking
pad, standing desk, call it aday, but get moving and that
(40:54):
kind of movement sort ofincentivizes more movement is
the way I like to think about it.
It's like you don't wake up andyou're like in the gym, like
squatting plates, like you're.
That doesn't happen.
I don't know.
I don't know if that mindsetexists, but that doesn't happen.
There's some sort ofprogression that leads you there
(41:15):
.
You drive by the gym, you kindof get there, but walking is the
first thing From a fuel source.
I mean, we don't need to getinto this, but what social media
has done to nutrition is justatrocious.
The simplest way that I wouldput it is you know yourself,
right.
You know when you're hungry,you know when you're full, you
(41:36):
know the foods that make youfeel good and you know the foods
that make you feel bad.
Focus on the things that makeyou feel good.
Eat when you're hungry, stopwhen you're full, period.
That's like where I would startblank slate.
Then you can get to yes, eatmore protein.
Yes, eat more veggies.
We can get into all that.
But right now, if you're justno experience, you know you
(41:58):
probably shouldn't go to thatMcDonald's, right?
Or you can go, but there's noone who's going to McDonald's
and telling you I can't wait toget my nutritious meal.
Today.
No one's coming in and gettingthat, so that's a fuel source.
And then the last thing I wouldsay for wrestling recovery is
and this is great advice, and Ithink it was Alex Hermosi that
said this and I didn't realizethat I already operate this way,
(42:19):
but he said something along thelines of forget the alarm to
wake up, set your alarm to go tobed, and that was the biggest
thing.
It's because I found that with,especially with founders, the
hardest thing is stopping.
Right, it's not starting.
Everyone's driven, everyone'shungry, everyone's on their
grind, but nobody knows when tostop.
(42:40):
So how do you go about fixingyour sleep?
It's forcing yourself to go tobed on time.
Go to bed on time.
If you go to bed early, you'reonly going to sleep seven, eight
hours, kind of naturally, andthat's assuming you haven't been
significantly sleep seven,eight hours kind of naturally,
and that's assuming you know youhaven't been significantly
sleep deprived, right.
So with that, you're going towake up at a reasonable hour
(43:00):
anyways and sort of get going towork.
So you probably don't even needan alarm, but that's kind of
the three I would say.
So just to loop that back isstart walking and stretching
walk in the morning and theevening and, if you can take one
at lunch, eating, focus on whatyou know is good for you and
listen to your own hungry cues,and then the last thing I'm
recovering is go to bed on time.
Speaker 1 (43:20):
No, I love that you should write that post like once
a week so everybody sees itjust over and over.
I'm now very happy we got ourdog at COVID because he makes me
walk three times a day and wewalk first thing in the morning,
morning sometime in the middleof the day and then at night.
So if you're struggling to walk, buy a dog and then you have
some company and it'll force youto walk.
(43:40):
So, but yeah, no, I, I agreewith that.
I.
I mean I sit a lot, obviously,like most of us do, whether you
work from home, but you try toget up and move.
Pretty consistently he gets meout and then I just don't like
to sit.
So I get up and go up and downthe stairs or walk around the
house or go check the mail orsomething, just to take a break.
But yeah, no, I like thesimplification of that because,
(44:02):
again, like you said, socialmedia has provided a lot of good
information, then a whole lotof misinformation and then a lot
of bad information, so it getsoverwhelming and so how do you
know, like, what to trust.
But I like the simplification ofjust you know, try to eat stuff
that you know is good for you.
We all kind of know that, nomatter what your level of
nutrition knowledge is uh, youknow mcdonald's probably not
(44:23):
great for you.
You know fruits and vegetablesprobably better.
So start there.
Um, if you're gonna go tomcdonald's, just get water and
just see what else that?
they have and uh, and then andthen, yeah, stretching is that's
another one I struggle with.
The weightlifting and thestretching.
Those are my two least favoritethings to do.
Never I've just I've just neverbeen able to get into this.
Uh, I go run 10 miles withstretching and lifting Probably
(44:44):
not, but but yeah, no, I mean,like you said, if you're, if
your baseline is low, you know,obviously you're not going to
start, you know, lifting a lotof weights and running a lot of
miles, like you know, slowlybuild into walking, stretching,
and then, if you want to do morethan you know, ease your way
into that.
So, no, I love that, I love theadvice, as we're kind of
wrapping up here kind of anyfinal thoughts, anything you
(45:06):
want to kind of leave peoplewith, and then, if they're
interested in learning kind ofmore about you and your
offerings, like what would bethe best way for them to try to
reach out and get in touch withyou?
Speaker 2 (45:16):
Yeah, I mean, if I'm, one thing I would leave you
with, you know, regardless ifyou're a founder or not is to
prioritize your healthUltimately.
You know, regardless if youtake an athlete approach or not,
you know staying healthymetabolically healthy, you know,
keeping your weight in check,eating right, moving your body,
sleeping well, staying hydratedthat's only going to do you good
(45:39):
and no harm.
So you have nothing to lose andonly everything to gain from
that.
And if you are a founder, it'sespecially important.
It's easy to get consumed inyour own passions and ventures
and neglect those areas.
And you know, contrary topopular belief, you know burnout
isn't the flex that peoplethink it is.
(46:00):
And you know working yourselfinto the ground and not having a
healthy lifestyle to see for itor feeling fulfilled and
energized and focused yourself,isn't really worth it.
So being able to prioritizeyour health is the best thing I
would think.
And if you really don't knowwhere to start there, I would
think, like an athlete, like Isay right, what would the most
(46:22):
athletic version of yourself do?
And kind of go back to thatphilosophy.
And so that's the messaging Italk about.
If you're interested inanything that connects the
athletic world withentrepreneurship.
We're looking to think andoperate like an athlete.
You're looking to build thathealthy lifestyle, escape that
burnout cycle?
Then you can definitely find mycontent on LinkedIn.
(46:43):
That's the best place to get incontact with me too, if you're
interested in my offerings.
But yeah, that's where I wouldleave you guys off with.
Speaker 1 (46:51):
That was great and this whole conversation is great
, very energizing.
You're making me want to get inbetter shape.
I feel like I'm in prettydecent shape, but I'm realizing
I probably should do more andsetting the alarm to go to bed.
I've never heard that before,but I should probably also add
that to the regimen.
I probably stay up too late andI get up early, so it's not a
great combination, but I so it'snot a great combination, but I
love all your insight.
(47:11):
I love what you're doing.
I appreciate your, your timeand energy today and thank you
so much for coming on.
Speaker 2 (47:16):
Of course, happy to be here.
Thanks so much, david.
It's great being here.
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