The 'Excellence' Christmas Episode - PBNO - Episode 4

Mark and I get together before Christmas to talk about how this time of year offers the opportunity to recharge and replenish ourselves in order to embody excellence for others going forward. We talk about how being 'selfless' requires us to be 'selfish'. Also Mark makes an announcement about our New Year giveaway.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Well, here we are Christmas episode Mark, and we've brought
it forward. We've brought it earlier because originally our schedule
would have had it recording on Christmas Day, and you
did send me a WhatsApp to suggest we might record
on Christmas Day, which I rejected out of hand. So

(00:22):
we've brought it forward a day to go from there.
But that is you honoring your own excellence by suggesting
that that was a possibility given it was in our schedule.
So that just shows how seriously you take this.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Well, there's only one of us that have a life, Stewart,
and it's not me.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
We both got lives, they're just different. Yes, right, So yeah,
So a lot of things to talk about today. So
on the agenda for today, we've got a couple of
things to do. We're going to talk a little bit
about some stuff from within the learning center that you

(01:03):
have that I've been interested in, particularly around defining excellence
and this notion of selfless and selfishness, being selfish to
be selfless, And we're also going to talk about things basically,
do a bit of a recap of our year and
a little bit and some stuff we're looking forward to
for the next year. So that's kind of our broad
agenda for today.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yes, So where would you like to start?

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Well, let's just dive into this notion of excellence. So
first and foremost, how do you define excellence or how
under a PDS framing would we refer to this notion
of excellence.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
Doing and being the best you can with what you
have in the present moment. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
I've used this phrase myself before, and I think I'm
pretty much pretty certain I learnt it from you do
the best you can with what you have right here
right now? Am I right in thinking that that is
a motto of the Royal Marines? Or am I thinking
is that is that the US Marines?

Speaker 2 (02:07):
I think there's variables of it all over the world.
I did. Actually I never heard of it when I
was in the military. I started to hear of a
version of it, I think about fifteen years ago. So
I don't know if it's a newer or it's always
been there in the US and now they're promoting it

(02:28):
through social media, So I don't really know, I think,
but the principle of whatever the statement is, it can
be and I've seen it with my clients. Initially, it's
sometimes misinterpreted and the real depth of that as a
way of thinking and being is a game changer if
you really understand it what it is and what it

(02:50):
is not.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yeah, okay, So I think the important thing for me
that I kind of it was a takeaway from me
revisiting this construct because when we first met, which was
beyond fifteen years ago, scarily, this was one of the
things that really resonated with me, this notion of I'd

(03:16):
always associated excellence with being, you know, kind of the
people who are at the top of their game, the
kind of elite, the genuinely elite end. And I know
elite is used a bit too much and people are
often referring to elite when they're talking about nine year
olds and those such thing as an elite nine year old.
But the idea of having, you know, this notion of excellence,

(03:40):
but it's it's self defined based on your situation and
your context. So I wonder if you could just expand
on that for a little bit and then we can
start to unpick a little bit about how we would
go about defining our own excellence.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
Yes, so it's an interesting one, isn't it, Because I
would suggest over the last five to ten years through
social media, it's been spoken about more than it was
before that. And obviously when we first linked up, it
was in golf. So if we look at that as
how we shared it on that training within golf is
most for a golf player, most of their practice time

(04:15):
is unsupervised. It's not with a coach. Not at rugby, soccer, football, basketall,
where most of your practice time is with supervised coach.
So it's quite a different process. So getting people to
understand actually, excellence is where you are now, within your
present capability, within your level of fatigue, whatever it is

(04:36):
is right. I'm now looking at all my options. This
is where I want to get to. So out of
all the options right now, which is the right one
for me to choose, that I need to choose and
I'm going to commit to it with the level of
enthusiasm I would if it's the thing I love doing
the most in this moment right now, and it's that

(04:56):
point of excellence. It's not about I'm a bit more
fatigue than I was half an hour ago. Oh it's
raining now. Oh it's something I don't like doing. That's
not excellence. You don't pick and choose with excellence, you
make a decision based on the need, and you commit
to that with enthusiasm based on your present capability, which
may not be the same as an hour ago, just

(05:17):
because of where you are now. So that's that thing
about if you look at you look at MMA or
a boxer generally, apart from the freaks, and I use
a freak word as a compliment, most boxers come the
twelfth round eleventh twelfth round won't have the same level
of sharpness, speed, agility, reaction as the first round because

(05:38):
of the fatigue, but they could still pursue it. That's
exactly the same level of excellence in the eleventh twelfth
round as the first round. Now, negative self talk and
false expectations, all of these can be killers to excellence.
And the difference between one to need, which we've discussed before,
Excellence is based on a need, not a onant.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
Hence the notion of need centered coaching. Once we've defined excellence,
we base it on that need, not on what my
people might want in the moment. People might want something different,
but it's always about referencing what your need is in
order to maintain your level of excellence.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yeah, and it's that attitude in that moment ago I
don't want to do this, but I recognize it is
the right thing to do. And once you've made that decision,
and again things like the action review process help that,
then I'm going to commit to that with the same
enthusiasm as the elements I love doing. And that mindset
is a game changer for so many people. And if

(06:36):
I can link back to my own life. Sure, at
the first time I made that connection, you know, when
you get those little light bulbs you go, oh, hang
on afterwards, it was on the Commando course in nineteen
ninety and it was January February March my course, and
it was if you remember back to ninety ninety, it
was some of the worse weather we'd have for twenty years,
and there was things that you needed to do, and

(06:56):
they deliberately put you out unsupervised and make sure you're wet,
you're tired, you're cold, you've had no sleep for a
few days. Now, they're really loaded up on you. And
it's in those moments when you say, right, I could
now no one's watching. I could just feel sorry for
myself and slide into my sleeping bag because no one's
here watching. That's an option, or actually, what I need

(07:18):
to do is get out. I've got wet clothes, the wind.
It's not raining now, but the wind will help dry
me off. I can't use my emergency kick because that's unacceptable.
Only use that in emergency. So I use my wet
clothes and I can I can put a little biv on,
a food on or hot water and have a hot drink.
I don't feel like doing that all now, but actually
getting out of my sleeping bag and I'm wet and

(07:39):
I'm cold, but doing that is the right thing to do.
Let's go for that. Let's get incite it about that
and what it's going to give me. It's going to
give me a hot drink at the end of it.
And actually for stand in the wind for long and time,
I'm going to be dryer. I won't feel like that now.
Staying in the sleeping bag right now feels a good
one to do. And it was that attitude of go
all right, let's go for it. And there was a

(07:59):
few them on that course when I started to trigger
with me, where someone says, right, we're going to do
this now, and they tricky, you know, it's like an
example is they you always after the Saturday morning of
the endurance course test, which you did the long endurance
test with the tunnels you've probably seen on TV, and
you've got to get at least five to ten on
target at the end, otherwise you've failed anyway if you're

(08:21):
not in the time. But then now and again they'd
one weekend they said, right lunchtime, you think, oh, off
now and go no now on the wagons and they
took us out to the moors and they just made
us dig holes of laying streams and bivvy up for
the all the way through Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening, Sunday,
Sunday evening, and at five in the morning on Monday

(08:42):
they dropped us back at the sites and go be
ready for seven. So all through that you could feel
sorry for yourself, and you go right, yeah, okay, you
want me to go down, I'm going to go there.
I'm gonna I'm gonna do it. You want me to
do that, I'm going to do that. And all of
a sudden you become empowered. And the environment is the same,
the situation is the same, what they're putting on you

(09:02):
is the same. But your interpretation of it. Change is
your attitude and your experience within it, and that's that
point of excellence. It's about excellence. Okay, all of this
stuff is going on. What do I need to do now?
It's this right, Well, I'm going to do it with
enthusiasm and I'm not gonna let my negative self talk
to draw me off to do something I know is
not the right choice right now.

Speaker 1 (09:24):
So something I heard you say a couple of times there,
I've never really thought about this before. So if performance
is a behavior rather than they outcome, would you then
say that excellence is an attitude or a mindset.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yeah, it's it's the mindset comes first, and the attitude
comes first. But it's the it's the thoughts to action.
It's the process of right, I'm gonna set a mindset
that's empowering me to commit with action, with enthusiasm to
the very need that's the right choice right now. So
it's that transition. So if the mind's not right and

(10:02):
you're not thinking in the right way and you don't
make that mental decision, you're never going to have the
enthusiam as a commitment to the action. So there is
a combination of both, but it certainly stems from am
I in a neutral state? Can I now think this
through to know? Right, I'm going for that, and when
I go for it, I am going for it whatever
that choice is.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
So excellence. When you define excellence, what you're doing essentially
is you're creating the the way of articulating that you're
going to have an approach to whatever situation you're in,

(10:43):
and you're going to maintain that approject You've used a
phrase in the past as well that all again stuck
with me, which was the every time philosophy. It feels
like it's quite closely aligned to that.

Speaker 2 (10:52):
Yeah, I mean every time philosophy is that it's actually
been relentless and patient in your pursuit of excellence, whatever
that is to you, But it's not being measured and
not being impacted by outcome. So you know, you might
come last in a race, but hey, you pursued excellence.
You might become last in a match, you might lose
the match, but you pursued excellence. In business, you might

(11:13):
not have got that deal, but you pursued excellence. Now
what can I learn from that? Whether I win in
a match or I get the sales, you know whatever
it may be, or I don't get the sales, or
I lose in a match, doesn't matter. My evaluation should
be exactly the same. But it's based on did I
commit one hundred percent to the choice that in the moment,

(11:33):
with the data I had, I believe was the right choice? Yes?
I did right? What did I learn from that new
data next time I'm going to do this? Or actually
wouldn't change a thing. But I committed and it was
a right. It may not have come off, but I
wouldn't have changed anything with the data I've got even now,
So loads of these or that are going to be connected,
and I'm sure going through the members are. It's reinforcing

(11:56):
from years ago. As that process about. There isn't any
one thing in yes, but there is a principal philosophy
and excellence underpins it. But then it's well, how can
I be excellence? How can I be excellence as a leader,
as a manager, as a coach, as an athlete? New skill?
I'm no good at it. Everyone's expecting me to win
and perform high. It makes no difference is how can

(12:18):
I harness a thought process that allows me to make
great judgment and commit one hundred percent and review live.
So the excellence and doing and being a best you
can with what you have in a present underpins it.
The other elements of the tools and the principles allow
you to be it, allow you to improve your thinking,
your judgment, your action in reflection, life and actually how

(12:40):
to understand others. And that's back to the action review process.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
So again, something I heard you say there was this
be excellence. So it's not be excellent, be excellence. So
embody excellences.

Speaker 2 (12:53):
Yes, yeah, it's not to do it, it's to be it.
So that's that thing of doing and being the best
you can with what you have in the present. You know,
it's being it is doing it. It's right, I'm thinking it.
I've got okay, and I'm committing to that action now
and I'm ingrained in the present. I'm enthusiastic about that
present moment, not in the past, not in the future.

(13:14):
It's right here and now. The only thing I'm looking
at the future is my reference, my lighthouse okay, bam
bam bang, or my success criteria for what it is now? Right,
are the choices I'm making now aligned to my success criteria.
So if I put that into a leadership management court,
same as a one to one with an athlete and
a coach. If I'm in a one to one with
somebody and I'm going into a meeting. Before I start

(13:36):
the meeting, back to that Stephen Covey, begin with the
end in mind. I've got to ask myself what is
success for me in this meeting or what is success
for us in this meeting? But I have to have clarity.
But then I've got to say, Okay, what's the ideal
state for me? What's it look like? How's it feel
now I'm walking in now? Now I have clear focus.
Now I pursue excellence within that because I have my reference.

Speaker 1 (14:00):
M hm. So interestingly, maybe we're even redefining. So instead
of do the best you can with what you have
right here now, right now, we might say be the
best you can with what you have right here right
now or in the present.

Speaker 2 (14:12):
Well, it's both because it's doing and being the best
you can with what you have. Yeah, so you can
see the doings, the action, the being is the thinking
in the state, and they're symbiotic and they will bounce
off each other. So you can as soon as you
start and with actually a golf last year, in fact,
not it was this year. In the summer. There was

(14:33):
a There was a player I was working with and
he says, no, no, I have committed, you know, yeah,
I'm fine. I never not commit to a shot. And
then when I was asking him to record and verbalize
the action review pre shot, and then afterwards when I
started to delve in the seak understanding and saying, well, yeah,
I picked this club, but I know I'm not any
good at this club. So I'm but I committed, and

(14:56):
I'm saying So what you're saying is you committed with
a negative belief that actually you're going in but you're
never any good at that shot. Well, that's going to
impact your behavior as and attitude. So it was that
light bulb for that person that go, actually, I may
have been doing, but I wasn't being excellence. Before I
started that, I'd already set myself up for failure because
I already set my expectation. M So.

Speaker 1 (15:21):
This we're now nicely navigating into this notion of selflessness
and selfishness. So this notion of being the best you
can and therefore doing the best you can is an
interesting one because I think what a lot of people
might assume, for example, is you know they're fatigued getting

(15:43):
towards the end of the year. You know they've had
a difficult time, you know, things been really challenging everything else.
I hear a lot of people say this, you know,
I'm just can't wait for the break. You know, I
need to recharge. You know, I'm sort of crawling to
the finishing line. These sorts of this sort of language
I hear all the time. And but a lot of
people would probably feel that, you know, when they were
sort of in their sort of lowest head and they're

(16:06):
feeling really fatigued, that they're not able to be excellent.
But I think what you would probably say is, no,
it's about redefining what excellence looks like given that set
of circumstances.

Speaker 2 (16:17):
Yeah, one hundred percent. And I use the Commando as
an example. Again, is when you're on a night navigation,
or you've done twenty miles on the more, you know,
you're wet, you're cold, you're tired. Your expectation is your excellence.
Now you're fatigued, you're tired. You know, you're not thinking
as clearly as you were before. When you're in peak condition,

(16:38):
when you've had sleep, when you've had pre nutrition, when
you haven't done twenty odd miles in the wet in
a song and you're going damp. But it's what am
I right now? What's the best version of me right now?
With what I have right now, my physical and mental right,
what's it feel like? Let me go for that. So
it's timeless because it's not based on an outcome capability

(16:58):
of you in your best monde ever or this year
or this week. It's what you've got right now right
What would excellence be like now? What would that look
like right now? Or become that? Do that?

Speaker 1 (17:12):
Yeah, this notion of it being embodied, I think is
a really interesting idea. So, and this notion of it
being timeless, because I was thinking about that. I was
thinking that, you know, you want to It's more about saying,
in this present moment, given the circumstances, given my level

(17:32):
of fatigue, given my level of nutrition, given my level
of energy, given my level of focused, what do I
need to be to inhabit you know, kind of a
philosophy of excellence? And can I muster up the energy
in order to do that? I was watching something funnily
enough related to military training, the seal training. I think

(17:56):
it's called BUDS, isn't it Basic Underwater demolition and Carently,
what I'm saying is that the people who make it
through that aren't necessarily the strongest, the fastest, the most athletic,
the most physically gifted, or whatever it might be. The
people who find a way to know at the kind

(18:19):
of lowest point, find a way to say, I need
to be this way because there are others around me
who rely on me to ensure that we can get
through this process. And it's that notion of what this
takes us towards selflessness, but it's that notion of finding
that place inside you. And I think they redefined grit
as well as it stands for gaining resilience in training,

(18:41):
and it's the idea that the training protocol helps individuals
to be able to almost reframe this notion of excellence
because it takes them to places that are really quite
difficult and challenging, and as a result of that, they
find something within them that then gives them that resolve.
And it's driven partly by willingness to sort of support

(19:01):
the others on their team.

Speaker 2 (19:04):
And that's linking the mentor resilience with interdependency, which is
quite different to mentor resilience and being independent. So that
if you look at an ultra marathon runner that or
does the marathon disabler, you know, the crazy one in
the desert, Well, you need to be mentor resilient dependently

(19:28):
there because you're on your own. You need to self
manage selfishly going out. I need to do what I
need to do right now because I need to finish this,
or it may be you know, I want to win
or top ten or make a time. But for most
people Formula one teams, businesses, sports teams, organizations, we need
to be mentor resilience interdependently the mentor resilience of me

(19:52):
being the best version of me right now with what
I have, and really practice that in every single opportunity
in life. Not just wait to you get on court
or pitch or in a business, eating or in operations.
You do that. So special forces do that in practice.
That's what you do. Train hard, play easy, which was
from a Russian general back in the day that was
undefeated in all his battles, but he practiced hard and smart.

(20:14):
He built resilience in interdependency within his fighting teams, they
knew each other, they knew all the struggles because he
put them through struggles. So when they come into battle,
there was nothing new. But what they didn't do they
didn't go within themselves. So I've seen it in elite sport,
even at the highest level across the world, where athletes

(20:36):
aren't interdependently many mentally resilient. When things don't go well,
they have a breaking point. Then they go within themselves
and all of a sudden, they're not listening to their teammates,
they're not communicating with the team's or they're not realizing
my teammates' heads down now, they're not scanning. That option
is no longer on. Now what can I do to
have an effective impact with my athlete now? And in

(20:57):
those elements, that's the defining in fact between what I've
seen the really successful teams and the really successful athlete
and business people. They have that ability that even when
it's really everything's gone horribly wrong, you know, they're just
not feeling they're not even feeling their best today for
some unknown reason. But what they do is they still scan,

(21:18):
they still have empathy for others, They still go, right,
what do I need to do right now if it's
a WE task or it's a me task, and it's
that clarity of purpose in the moment to make the
right choice based on again, what success is in that moment.

Speaker 1 (21:33):
So this takes us, I think nicely to this notion
of So you refer to this idea that in order
to be selfless, you need to be selfish. So I
wonder if I could get you to expand on that.

Speaker 2 (21:46):
Yeah, so the premise is that you need to be both.
You can't be one or the other. So selfish would
be in any situation life. So let's start with sport
that because it's reference in sport is I want to
be the best athlete I can be, and even short
term in this month, I want to be the one

(22:07):
getting picked because I want to play. So what do
I need to do to get picked for every single match?
To be first on? So I need to go right
and I'm going to now my sleep. I'm going to
now my nutrition. If I don't understand something on the
core or the pitch or whether it is, I'm going
to find out. I'm going to do my own research.
If I feel something I need more time in practice,

(22:28):
I'm going to ask coach. I'm going to let them know. Coach,
can you challenge me a bit more here? Can you
put me a hard defense on me? Now? Please? You'll
need a bit of work on this area because I'm
struggling a bit here. I'm doing all of that for me.
I'm not doing it for anyone else. I'm doing it
for me. That's the selfish side. The selfless is I'm
seeing my teammates are struggling with something I know for

(22:49):
us to be successful as a team, I may go, right,
do you want to stay another ten minutes after I
can help you with that? The selfless is even if
if we have a culture and some don't yet, but
we have a culture at elite level or even at
any level where we say, if we're playing on a Saturday,
I'm going to share the team on the Monday. So

(23:09):
we've developed a culture where no one's going to feel
sorry for themselves and go, ah, I should be playing.
We switch straight away, so we go, yeah, I wanted
to play. I wanted to be first. The coach has
now said why. The coach may have taken us all
one to one and explained with honesty why in this game,
but be ready so straight away in my mind switches
to now, Okay, what can I do to help prepare

(23:29):
the team? What can I help to do to prepare
the people that are going to go on first?

Speaker 3 (23:34):
Right?

Speaker 2 (23:34):
What do you need from me? And my enthusiasm is there.
That's me being self less right now. But I'm always ready, coach.
I'm showing you the irrelevant of what you put on me.
I will show you the same enthusiasm in everything I
sing will do and right now the team needs me, team,
what do you need? I'll do that. I'll be there
for you. And that's an example of the combination of both.

(23:55):
It's so critical for success. Imagine if you just are
selfish and you're going to get and I've seen it
unfortunately at all levels too often unfortunately, where an athlete
once get picked, so they're recognizing, oh, there's another player
in a position and they're weak on something, and they
won't mention the solution to them. They won't say to them,
do you want a bit of help on that? I noticed,

(24:16):
that's why that person's getting around you. Here they go,
I'm not going to tell them that because I want
to get picked now. Any good coach would spot that
and that would be a reason not to pick that person.
If we're developing the right type culture, we're saying, no,
this is about the team, this is about we. If
you're recognizing you need to help that player, you need
to help them, and that's where the selfish is not good.

(24:36):
But also then in a negative way, and we use
the example in mountaineering, Stuart just as a bit of diversity.
Self less without selfish can also be ineffective. So that
would be imagine now you're climbing up a mountain and
you've noticed that everyone hasn't eaten, and they're coming in
and you notice people's feet are wet and they need

(24:57):
drying out. So straight away you're going, right, let's get
and let me cook for your guys. Yeah, take your
socks and stuff up. I'll warm them under my hands
for you. All dry your feet off and get new
socks on. And then the time's gone and all of
a sudden, okay, let's go, I haven't eaten, my feet
are now wet, and guess what, a few miles or
a few days up the road, I'm the one with
gout feet. I'm the one getting frost nipped. Now I'm

(25:20):
the one now collapsing because I didn't take care of myself.
So that's that's an example of self less on its
own is also ineffective in many different situations.

Speaker 1 (25:33):
Yeah, that reminded me of.

Speaker 2 (25:36):
My mind.

Speaker 1 (25:37):
Immediately went to working with a a friend of mine
who'd asked me to do some sort of coaching. We
just do dog walks together and talk through various challenges
that he was facing. And one of the things that
emerged from the conversations was his kind of life. Imagine

(25:58):
like them the imagine the sort of the burners on
a gas hob, you know, and you've got your your
life burner, and you've got your work burner, and you've
got your personal burner, and you've got your relationships burner,
your family won and they're all burning full blast and
eventually something's got to give. And and we talked about how,

(26:21):
you know, you need to sort of when one is
burning a lot, a lot stronger, the others need to
rebalance slightly. And one of the things that we talked
about was he he was very hard charging, very focused,
very high performance individual, but that was coming at the
expense of relationships, it was coming at the expense of
well being. It was come at the expense of other
aspects of life, which meant that his actual performances in

(26:44):
his work environment were probably suffering. So one of the
things that we reframed was this idea that he needed
to be he needed to be as ruthless almost to
a certain extent, and kind of like single minded about
like those areas of his life, because that then would
sort of help him to be the best version of

(27:05):
himself in those other areas. So like rest, for example, recuperation,
time with family, time with friends, were valuable because they
then helped him recharge, re recreate himself, and then he
can be a performer at work. The exclusive performance at
work was actually making was actually creative, meaning he was
about seventy five percent effective similar construct Really, you know,

(27:28):
you almost need to have that notion of spent taking
time away from whatever it is you're focused on and
being quite ruthless about that and switching it off and
say that's not what I'm going to do, because I'm
going to spend time here, not just because it's beneficial
for the human one hundred percent. It's beneficial for the human,
but the kind of byproduct of that is it actually
makes you better. Then when it comes back to the
performance environment. So it's about a reframing it.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
Yeah, and it was. You know, sometimes you distinctly remember
certain conversations over the decades and the first time I
was challenged to this and again Petle could use different
words and self wish and self less. It's just within PDS,
That's how I explain it. But when I left the
army in two thousand and six, I had my first
business consultancy in two thousand and seven and there was

(28:09):
a mix of male and female senior and middle management.
And when we got to the selfish and self lesson,
I explained why linked to the excellence. One of the
women in the room put the mount and says, I'm
a mother of two kids. I disagree. I will put
my kids first for everything, my health, everything, my business
doesn't matter. It's all about the kids. And it was
interesting as a way of looking at it perspective and

(28:32):
ask them, so, well, who pays the bills for your house,
for the clothes, for the warmth, for the protection. Oh
I do. She was a single mother, so okay, So
if you do not look after yourself to facilitate all
those elements that are so important to you to help
your kids be happy and safe? What's going to happen

(28:54):
to your kids? And you could see her and it
was a longer conversation than that, but you could see
her starting to go, oh, I hadn't thought about it
like that before. I hadn't thought about the fact of
what if that's important to me? What do I need
to do to be consistent and effective to allow them
to be safe and happy? And then it's realizing, oh, yes,

(29:14):
I need to make time for me within the elements
I need. And I'd say the other elements of that
Stewart is I know. On another podcast, I shared my
mental health from a teenager. I've suffered from depression, very
close to take my own life a few times over
the years, and I found for me, I've got four pillars.

(29:35):
I call them my pillars of wellness, and I know
if I've got these three of them going, I'm in
a good place. And it's interesting when I look at them.
Some of them are totally selfish, and some of them
are actually totally selfless. So driving fast cars and handling cars,
that's a selfish one. I get a buzz from being
present and just through corners, and you know, on track days,

(29:58):
I just the connection of knowing where to break is
and a steer and a feeling. So I'm just totally present,
just in that, not thinking about anything else. Then my
rescue dogs, which I'd say there were a bit of
both ways. You're making sure they're happy, they're connected. They
get two walks a day, and they again give me
a place to help me be present. Then my training exercise,

(30:21):
as you know, five or six times a week, every
single week, I'm their new target, new goal. Off we go. Nutrition, sleep,
within the parameters of acceptable. I'm not some extreme that
only eats chicken and broccoli. So again that's helps invest
me because I know in the gem I'm present. I
know that, and also it helps me with myself image,
my self esteem, paying free defining aging process. And then

(30:43):
the other element is my job, my work PDS, and
I see that as a selfless as well, because I
get the buzz from PDS when I see positive changing
people that's impacting others, and I know through experience when
I start to drop some of them off, I start
to struggle and I start to question the meaning of
life and why am I even here? You know, I'm

(31:05):
a little dot. So why waste my time? And I
think that's a problem with my brain. I'm quite I
think it thinks slightly different than many, which has its strength,
but also if you allow it to think in a
certain way, it can take you down a negative spiral.
So my four pillars are wellness again, are combined with
selfish and self less to allow me to appeak wellness

(31:26):
and performance.

Speaker 1 (31:29):
And I imagine with any of these things, there's elements
of selfish and self less in all of them. Like
you say, some of those are clearly just stuff that
you derive pleasure from, but you're you know, and that's
but that's a way of you kind of like you know,
kind of engaging and being a human being. And then
there are other things where you know, it's you know,

(31:51):
more fifty to fifty, and then there's other things where
it's you know, definitely more self less. It's more about
giving to others. I was thinking as you were talking
there about what my pillars of wellness would be, and
we have to give that some thought because that there
wouldn't be wouldn't be dissimilar. Maybe not not the exercise
that but maybe it needs to be there. I don't know,

(32:13):
so one of the so what I was interested about
this was and I think again this comes back to
the Christmas episode, and and there's a bit of a
reframe for me. Really. I realized recently, well, there's a
few things really because I've been doing quite a bit

(32:35):
of reflection. I was on a selective process recently with
a with an organization where they were sort of looking
to take on practitioners to support the work they were doing.
And one of the questions they asked was about my
like my history really, and they asked me to pinpoint

(32:58):
like moments in my life where that were important or
people that were important and had been influential. And like
I guess, ordinarily, i'd probably gone down that sort of
more surface level timeline, and I'd talked about people i'd met,
and you know, I've probably said meeting you and how defining,
how that was defining, and other people in my in
my history. But I actually went in a very different
place and I talked much more about my kind of

(33:19):
life trajectory and the various different ups and downs I'd had,
and various other different issues and all those sorts of things.
And it made me realize actually what a lot of
my drivers are and what, you know, kind of the
direction that I need to head in and the areas
I want to focus on, I think, which is helping
me to redefine excellence, because I think I've probably lost

(33:41):
sight of some of that and a few of the
things that emerged. And this is to do with the
fact that, you know, within my childhood there was a
lot of issues around alcoholism and mental health and all,
and I had, you know, parents who suffered with both
of those things, and that created divorce and all of
those different issues, and you know, I was kind of
pretty much on my own from around about the age

(34:02):
of about like eighteen nineteen, which you know, you're in
ostensibly an adult, but I still you know, it meant
that I was sort of pretty much fending for myself
in that situation, which is quite a challenge for some people,
particularly like you know, if you're not into forces, for example,
and you don't necessarily got the family around you, you are
just making your own way kind of financing yourself through
university and things like that. So I realized that there's

(34:24):
a lot of drivers inside me there about about supporting
people who were on journeys, you know, and helping them
with like the have the resources and the tools to
be able to sort of identify who they are and
pull from different resources and support. And the other defining
moment in that story as well was having had family

(34:44):
members or close friends who've gone through really, really difficult
periods and being able to draw upon the training I'd
had from you, you know, some of the things I'd
learned in PDS, able to draw upon some things I've
learned through things like motivational interviewing, being able to draw

(35:04):
upon things I've learned from Jamie Edwards, you know, kind
of working with some of performance athletes and these sorts
of things, and actually pulling all those things together to
be able to sit and spend time with people who
are in real need and utilize my skills in order
to do that. But now here's the revelation, right, I'm

(35:25):
massively driven by wanting more people to have access to
these kinds of skills because I believe these tools, these skills,
whatever you want to call them, this way of thinking,
way of being, is enormously impactful. It's been impactful on
my life, but it's enabled me to be impactful on
others and to help others. And that's a big driver,
and I want to spread the word and have more
people access it. But something I've realized is I haven't

(35:49):
been the excellence of myself because I haven't been selfish
about it. And when I mean self selfish about it,
I don't mean to the exclusion of others. I haven't
been focusing on my I haven't been focusing on my
well being and my pillars, and I don't even know
what they are as as I said a minute ago.
And because of that, I'm not the best version of
myself for those who need me when they need me.

(36:12):
And so that's my big kind of takeaway and the
big thing I guess for me pushing into twenty twenty
five reflecting on the journey I've been on through twenty
twenty four, is that I need to be a better
version of myself. I need to redefine excellence for myself.
I need to live it and embody it, and in
so doing and being a little bit selfish sometimes about

(36:32):
ensuring that my pillars are wellness or where they are,
I can be a better version of myself with the
other people who are going to need me going forward.

Speaker 2 (36:39):
And it does link back, So I don't know if
you've got down into the members resource where I talk
about that wellness and performance being symbiotic of we see.
I see a lot in business globally and at the
highest level in sport that there's a high drive on performance,
but wellness is only looked at when a problem has

(37:00):
been identified. And I just see that as so behind
the times. And now we know more about us and people,
I think we're more sensitive to understanding. You know, we
need sweet some consistent investment in people in the workplace
to help with their mental health, to help with their

(37:22):
mental fitness, if you wanted to call it that and
not health, but actually understanding. Look, if we invest every
single week, every single day in wellness, we're just going
to enhance performance. We're going to have longevity, We're going
to have to manage things better. But if we only
wait till there's a problem, then go, here's an intervention.
We're actually accepting wellness will always be an issue. Now,

(37:42):
not to say we can fix it, but actually are
we putting the daily investment in in the same way
as we want results when we driving performance? And I
think the best people I've worked with are going out
their way to go, Hey, we will find time. So
my business clients when I do interventions, but then we
always do the weekly wellness and we rotate three people

(38:04):
in the business every three months or so where there's
a new three people, and it's a non negotiable that
every week you catch up those three and some of
it's on zoom, some it's live. If they're global, could
be at different countries and they can't talk about work.
They talk about themselves, how they're doing their wellness, things
that are in they're struggling with. And we've found that

(38:24):
within three months two things have happened everywhere I've intervened
within this and it's just part of the business interventions
and again in some of the sports is people now
understand everyone struggling a little bit with something, but also
they're understanding someone's listening to me. And the big one
also is they're finding out about people they would never

(38:44):
even speak to in the same business. Some have been
there twenty years that I've never had a conversation with
you as the person in twenty years, and it's bringing
people closer together. So the interdependency and performance is increasing,
but also the wellness is improving because the boss has
said it's a non negotiable. We will Now some people
didn't even want to do them initially, and actually one

(39:06):
of the takeaways was, it's one of the most impactful
things I've done when they reflect on the interventions. Now,
how often are we hearing interventions like that that are
non negotiables that bosses say, hey, we will do this
every week, but I can't haven't got time. No, Well
tell me where you need to make the time. I'll
make sure you get it. Plug it in as if
it's a formal meeting, and we schedule it and we
commit to it. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (39:28):
It's interesting, isn't it how you have to be nowadays
in so many aspects of life. You have to be
intentional about prioritizing well being.

Speaker 2 (39:41):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I think also we're in a
better place now because it is spoken about, and I
think only even maybe ten twenty years ago, someone just
hid from it and then it just went sick or
they left the business, and it's like, oh, come on.
You know, the military used to be full of just
man up, you know, was a common saying when someone
was struggling. So, you know, we had a lot of suicides,

(40:03):
we had a lot of people leaving. There was a
lot of depression going on post conflicts, so many suicides still,
but there is more support now, people are talking about
it more so. I know that's an element extreme, but
we see that in every business and every sport, especially
elite sport, when they've got the hate from the social media.
Every athlete play against from either their supporters or people

(40:26):
that don't like them, the managers, the bosses. I mean,
I would hate to be in their positions. Kelly Holmes,
who I've known for years, she shared a post yesterday
and I just put a positive comment on it about Kelly,
and I don't normally read the threads, and I look
down at least ten of the comments below mine were
hate comments, and you just think, why, why are you

(40:48):
going out? You had to post that, And obviously Kelly's
got those now, she replied to me, so she does
read them. So having that strength of armor just to dismiss,
you know, reality, it's not a good reality. But these
things impact on mental health, don't they the impact on wellness,
And it's how we can manage them in our domain

(41:09):
when it within our excellence? What can we do to
be excellence? Where are interferences? How can we manage that
and strategize away from it to allow me to be present,
to allow me to be excellence?

Speaker 1 (41:21):
You know, there's that The more I think about it,
the more I think the challenges that people are facing.
And I still think though I mean having said that
we said about it's more accepted and more spoken about,
I still think there are sections of society, and you're
probably alluding to some of them are the ones who

(41:42):
are in a comments who see these kinds of conversations
and are categorizing that as, oh, this is everything that's
wrong with society. Everybody's turning soft, everybody's you know, the
phrase woke phrases. But actually, I think the things that
you taught me was how initially when you started to

(42:06):
talk about like you were sort of the early days
of bringing through some of the ideas about pds, which
were around enabling individuals to have the wherewithal to be
able to handle difficult challenges and you know, and whenever
you're going on a journey of exploration and development, you're

(42:28):
going to have some difficulty. So actually helping people to
manage those processes, you know, and how powerful that is
and how that was received by some members of the
military as being you know, used at tree hugging. Didn't
you flop you was the other language that was used.
And there's still some significant sections of society that would
be very, very uncomfortable, you know, some of the workplaces

(42:49):
I'm involved with. Now that's still the case, you know. So,
But interestingly, what I like about this is you reframe
that so you actually say no, no, no, no, no, this
isn't the this is this isn't the wooly tree hockeys.
This is the hard stuff, And it's this stuff where
performance lies, not the other stuff that you think is
where performance lies. In actual fact, you are suboptimal right here,

(43:11):
right now. But if you can frame excellence in this way,
and you can embody excellence in this way, and then
you can be clear in terms of those expectations and
the ways that we're going to interact together, as we've
talked about on previous episodes, that can be enormously powerful
for driving performance in any walk of life.

Speaker 2 (43:30):
And we're back to that differ between hardware and software,
aren't we We're back to we know most of the
time in everywhere I've been, hardware is the priority focus
in what success is, what we measure what we invest
our time is what we talk about, but actually the
facilitator of it is the software. But we don't spend

(43:52):
anywhere near enough time going okay, so where are we
in our baseline of software? Where are the areas we
need focus? How can we developed that? What priority are
we going to put on it, How we're going to
measure success on it? How are we going to put
that as an explicit success criteria that we're going to
reference during this practice time or you know, development time
for businesses, whatever it is. And once we can get

(44:14):
our head around, software is not soft. Software is the glue.
And if you haven't got the glue, none of the
hardware we're working in connection. So if you often and
I think I've seen, there hasn't been a time actually
so far where I've worked at an eat level, even
in business or in sport where actually when we start

(44:36):
to analyze where things are struggling, the solution has always
been and the problem has always been software, not hardware.
Every single time. The challenge is once one you need
to look for it. Secondly, once you look for it,
you've got to identify the source. And then thirdly you
need to know the solutions and act on the solutions
to improve that area. And that's where a lot of

(44:59):
people fall down. So it's it's difficult when you don't know.
You might know the problem, but you don't know the solution,
and then how do I integrate the solution? And I
think that's most of my work and effort is around
helping people identify it, but then that actually helping them
stick with the change. They said they we're going to
commit to. Yeah, you're investing in software, Okay for how long? Right, Well,

(45:21):
let's make sure this is if you say three months
and we review its three months, it's not a couple
of days. Then you ignore it again. And that's where
I'm seeing as the patient, relentless person that say, going, guys,
remind me what you grew where that's in a WhatsApp
group where and have the meetings when I'm speaking to
the mentors that I train up to do what I
was doing. Remind me what we agreed. Okay, so let's

(45:41):
let's talk about that right now. And they started to realize, Wow,
that was uncomfortable. But you were uncomfortable challenging us? Absolutely not,
because it would be unacceptable for me not to challenge
you because we pre agreed it.

Speaker 1 (45:55):
Yeah, see I love that. And actually, interestingly people talk
about this being the software, it's not. I Actually I'm
on a personal mission to stop talking about this stuff
as like the software and the soft skills.

Speaker 2 (46:07):
This is the hardware.

Speaker 1 (46:08):
This is one hundred percent of the hardware. Because even
that thing that you just talked about there, which is
being being comfortable, uh, you know, reminding a group what
is it you said that you wanted to achieve, and
what is it you said how you needed to be
in order to achieve? What it is that you wanted
to achieve? What was it you said? I'm just going

(46:29):
to remind you what you said and not And the
fact that they said, oh, you're not uncomfortable, like a
lot of managers would be uncomfortable even holding individuals accountable
to things they said they wanted to achieve for themselves.
You know, they would be, they would be They wouldn't
do it, they would avoid it because it'd be a
difficult conversation. And you're the way you reframe that again

(46:51):
is to say no, because that would be unacceptable, be
unacceptable for me not to do that. I wouldn't be
embodying embodying excellence if I did that, so it's absolutely
natural and normal for me to do that. And in
actual fact, if I wasn't to do that, I would
be letting you down and letting everybody down. And that reframing,
that's hardware. That is absolutely hardware.

Speaker 2 (47:10):
I guess it's always that meaning. You know, when we
hear a word or what do we associate with? And
that's why I've always got its software and not soft skills,
because at least you can relate to a computer. Right,
You've got hardware on a computer, You've got software. Okay,
take your software away from your computer. Is your computer
going to work?

Speaker 3 (47:25):
Well?

Speaker 2 (47:25):
Of course not so well, there's no difference for us.
But again, when you just say the word and you
don't have that conversation of association of meaning, people have
an interpretation that might be seen by some as wishy washy,
might be seen that it's not important. You know all
the whatever words people use, but you know, to be crude,

(47:46):
it's ignorance half the time. Just one is do you
really understand what it is? But you're not bothered to
find out what it is. You just want to support
your own narrative or bias, and we just got to
break those barriers down, and we break those barriers down
by youtubes like this, by people actually going well, even
if I don't agree with it, I'm going to find

(48:07):
out about it. Actually, I recognize I've got a problem
in an organization or a team, mark or anyone else
that does that. Come in have a discussion. I can't
commit to anything yet, but let's have a discussion to
see if actually there's something that makes sense, that's robust
that we can do something with. And if people are
thinking and reflecting on interpretations and happy to challenge their

(48:32):
beliefs in these areas that have been embedded sometimes without
realizing for decades, then we start. We're getting success, but
it's going to take years. And will we ever change everyone?
Hard to say. If you look at some of the beliefs.
When someone says of false news on social media and
people just share it and believe it, there's potentially some

(48:52):
people that will just not think is this correct? You know,
is this true? What's my interpretation of this? I've got
this belief, but am I am I open to challenging
it and challenge away, you know with me, Stewart, I'm
more than happy for people to challenge me as aggressively
and directly as they want, because at least if you're
doing that, we have an interaction. I prefer that, and

(49:13):
people just nodding and in their head going don't get
this at all, agree and then walk out the room.
That's not really helpful. We've we've experienced both, haven't we, Stuart,
in our even in our journey together. You've seen me
challenge people, and you've also seen people and go, oh,
that's great, Mark, thank you, and then when I've left,
they go, I don't get it.

Speaker 1 (49:36):
Yeah, I've seen I've seen you be extremely patient with
people as well, and you know, kind of deal with
some of that, and and I've seen those same people
then walk out Gore always a bit aggressive and not
realize that actually you were just being really really just
just quite direct but also firm friendly.

Speaker 2 (49:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (49:57):
It's interesting how people are so unco comfortable with this
kind of conversation because I think often it's difficult, isn't it,
because you're having to sort of hold a mirror.

Speaker 2 (50:06):
And it's new Stewart. I think that's the other thing
that they haven't experienced that before. There wasn't experience once
normally that when they have time to reflects a few
days later, the god, that was really useful. But then
a second time, it's going, why aren't we doing this? Anyway?
We should be doing this. This is helpful, but it's
just that first time when they chuck something out and
the person at the other end goes, can you break

(50:26):
that down for me? Can you just connect with what
we agreed? And they're like, what, I'm really interested in
understanding why what prevented you? And then hang on a minute,
this hasn't happened before. I can normally just get away
with a statement or an excuse. And you're not letting
me off the hook so well, because again, like you've
shared Stewart, there is if I if I let you

(50:48):
off the hook, I'm the problem right now because we
started a relationship and I'm this is my part of
the relationship right now to positive reinforcement when I see
positive chains that you may not see yourself, but also
challenge you when you don't commit to what you've said,
and I want to find out and explore where the
barrier is what prevented you because we need to talk

(51:09):
about that. So it's never a bent telling off it's
actually what hang on, Let's find out, you know, let's
find out why that was so great, because we need
to repeat that what was different and made that so effective,
but also what prevented you? Both of those are equally
is important.

Speaker 1 (51:27):
Right, So reflections from twenty four looking forward to twenty five,
I've touched on some, But what are your Where are
you with that?

Speaker 2 (51:38):
Well, let's go you first, Stuart, because you're you've had
the biggest change. I think out the two of us
in you've you've been I don't know how many years
where you've been in an organization within a big picture
leadership type role, and this is the first time when
you are like the lone ranger if you like, you know,

(51:59):
might want tell on your side right now, but you
know it's kind of here we go. So one, how
was it for you of that decision? And was there
a bit of trepidation, fear, apprehension or was it no,
I've put it off for so long, this is what
I need to do or a combination maybe combination.

Speaker 1 (52:22):
As always, it's a moment in time and things emerged
in such a way that it enabled me to take
this step. But I won't lie that that's been quite
destabilizing in the sense that I have been in organizations.

(52:47):
I've been in employment and in organizations and had the
day job and the paycheck forever ever since I first
started work, and so to not be in that situation
is really quite destabilizing. And it's also made me really
question as well, like, you know, what value do I offer?
And then I'm having to develop a whole new set

(53:09):
of skills as well, like I am you know, I'm
not particularly good at selling, for example, selling myself and
you know, having to talk about myself in terms of
value per day or hour or whatever. So I find
that extremely difficult. And another thing as well is that
they're kind of the range of possibility, So there's a

(53:32):
range of different people to speak to, and there's a
lot of different things. And I've recently discovered that I've
got many of the characteristics of somebody who's got ADHD.
I've long suspected that I had ADHD, but I don't
know if it knows for sure. I'm probably gonna have
to get a diagnosis for certain because one things I've

(53:52):
noticed about myself, and you've probably experienced this with me,
is that my brain goes in a million different directions
all the time, constantly, So I haven't got the external
manifesting manifestation of ADHD, which is what I've always associated
it with, as in you know, like you know, you
often get kids who can't sit still and all those
sorts of things. I'm a bit like that as well,
But mentally I'm like that, I can't sit still mentally,

(54:13):
and I go in different Now that can be a
huge super strength because it means I'm megacreative. I make
connections with things all the time, and all those sorts
of things, but it's also quite debilitating sometimes because it
means that you don't really get anything done. It's very
difficult to focus, it's very difficult to like, you know,
actually sort of stick to something and to stick to
a routine. And we talked about this previously and being rigorous.

(54:35):
So one of the things I've learned actually is as
much as I kick against it, structure and routine is
really important for people with a condition like mine, and
assuming I've got it, actually it really helps me. Even
though so I go through this cycle of needing routine,
knowing I need routine, getting routine, hating the fact I'm

(54:58):
in a routine, breaking free of routine in order to
then need to be in routine again. So it's a
kind of really weird thing, but I that's I guess
my thing, right. So I've gone through this process. I'm
in this kind of new world. I've learned some things
about myself having structure. And this is why our conversations,
the rigor of them, and the rigor of the fact

(55:18):
that you know, you're you know, the discussions that we're
having and me, you know, kind of relearning to a
certain extent, but kind of rebuilding my or you know,
going back into training if you like, basic training around
my PDS skills. This is working on me and in
order to work, and if I can work on me,
then I can then be a better version of myself,

(55:39):
and then I'll hopefully have more success. Whether that's continuing
down this road in the freelancing world, or it's going
to a new career path, whatever it might be, it's
always going to be beneficial. But it's being having got
out of that kind of rut, getting out of that
sort of inertia and that kind of just downward spiral
of chaos, emerging out of that now with a bit
more structure, more focus, more direction, and then understanding a
little bit more about who I am in order to

(55:59):
then be a better version.

Speaker 2 (56:01):
That's where I'm going. So you went from what was
the role in England golf you had?

Speaker 1 (56:08):
I had a number, but the main one was talent
coaching and talent pathways.

Speaker 2 (56:12):
And then you went to sports Coach UK. Was it
after that or did you go a.

Speaker 1 (56:17):
Year, had a year in the private sector looking for
power play golf doing global business development, and then I.

Speaker 2 (56:24):
Went to UK coaching and what was your role there?

Speaker 1 (56:27):
Talent pathways?

Speaker 2 (56:29):
And then then where did you go after that?

Speaker 1 (56:32):
England rugby player player development and then and then Sport
England and your role there head of coaching initially and
then strategic lead for workforce transformation.

Speaker 3 (56:44):
So you've got on all these where you've seen the
big picture, but you've seen these big, slow machines and
struggle with impactful change.

Speaker 2 (56:55):
And now you haven't got a big machine. But you
haven't got a machine. So now you're going in and says, well,
actually I can see you going over there, let me
upskill the driver, or actually, do you know how to
navigate that machine you've got there? You know from the
outside but again, I think your challenge now is like
I've always been, is if people don't know about me,

(57:16):
they're not going to go market the ompus and also
selling myself. You know, it's such a monster is you know,
how do you explain that? In the elevator what do
they call it? The elevator, not speech, the elevator sell, Yes,
the elevator. I can't even know the name of it,
never mind doing so. Yeah, it's those elements working through.

(57:38):
So I think where my years. It's interesting because there's
been normal progress and obviously the members' areas, the resource
has been in enhance. I've been working. I'm still not
up to the speed at working with pro teams and
the States that I was before COVID. COVID killed all
my business and I'm still from the States working sport.
At least it's still slowly catching up. But obviously colleges

(58:01):
over there and then the netball, the hockey, the corporate golf,
especially continuing with Edge Golf College. You know Neil there,
don't you remember from back in the day. So that's
twice a year helping there with their players and their management, mentoring,
and the corporate just start the initiative with a hockey

(58:21):
club in Edinburgh. First day was two days ago. Got
an initiative starting with a national water sports for the Olympics.
Starn new cycle with a country in Europe. Can't say
which one yet. So yeah, there's a few of them
going on and all the individual coaches and mentors in soccer,

(58:44):
all the other ones have got old. Yeah, combat sports
and you know when it's so difficult when you know
what they are until you look at you dire and
you go it's that one again, and then I checked back.
So yeah, there's quite a few of those working on,
but I don't think they have a change is. It's
just how can I have bigger impact than I'm having now?

(59:04):
And my target this coming this year is to work
with a Formula one team. Williams would be my number
one choice. But again it's finding the person that can
as the influence to go right. Let's have a conversation
to get you to the main people, and it's knowing
who they are. I certainly see in Formula one there's
certain elements where, even when you watch the edited versions,

(59:27):
there's some missing links with player judgment in understanding what
to say, interaction judgment of even the pit lane when
they come out and how they're developing, strategizing, review and reflecting.
So I think there's elements in there that can certainly enhance.
So that's definitely a target for this coming year again
any Formula One team, But I just see Williams with

(59:49):
the new person going in there and their drive and
their vision. They're looking three, four or five years. They're
not just trying to change in a season that it
makes sense that they're building something new, But they have
the struggle with as everyone else, having a lot of
new personalities coming in. How do we embed the culture
and it behaves with need when we have such a
turnover of staff. And I think that's where I can
really add value.

Speaker 1 (01:00:11):
Yeah, it's it's going to be interesting, isn't it. Yeah,
scale would be interesting. I'm just thinking about the various
teams that you could work with, because there's a lot
of them near me, and yeah, some of them probably
could really do with the help. The other thing to
probably mention as well is is that one of my

(01:00:32):
one of the places that I consult to, which is
in the automotive industry, you're going to come and do
some work with us eventually when we can actually get
the date. We've had to move the date so many
times because everyone's just like they're always too busy, They've
never got enough time to allocate things. Someone have to
find a way to get them to just commit to
being off site and actually just spend some time and
focus on this, because I just I can see how

(01:00:55):
necessary and impactful it would be. It just needs to
have that initial go and then I've got a few
other clients that I'm working with currently as well that
will benefit from your intervention at some stage. Just got
to find the right moment in time and all that
sort of stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:01:11):
So can I share I haven't even shared with ustu
at the details of this sale initiative prize that we
spoke about on WhatsApp.

Speaker 1 (01:01:19):
So, oh, yes, that's right, I forgot about that. We've
got a special Christmas present.

Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
Yes, yes, so here's here's what we're going to do,
SMAs cracker. Yes, but it's not so much a Christmas cracker.
It will be a New Year revelation. So yes. So
on our next zoom, I'm going to share what you
need to do to have a chance of winning a
free one to one zoom with me, and they start

(01:01:46):
normally at five hundred pounds upwards. And the person that
will get drawn first will get that plus ninety five
percent off the online members resource. The next four people
will get seventy five percent off. So here's what you
need to do. Listen to the next Fortnightly conversation we

(01:02:07):
have here and I will share with you exactly the
things that you need to do to get entered once
we get all the names enter, and there'll be a
timeline of two weeks to do those things. We live
on our next Fortnightly we'll just put all the names in,
pull one out of a hat, and then let you know,
here's number one and here's the next four. So there's

(01:02:27):
there's something for you all to get excited about to
go right. That's that's a non that's a non negotial
for me to get some enhancement in my personal and
performance development moving into next year.

Speaker 1 (01:02:41):
Amazing. That is going to be well, well, well, well
look forward to and I mean that's a lot. That's
that's gonna be amazing for some people. I mean, as
I said, I've been you know, I'm working through the
members area myself, and you know, each time I have
to go. It's not what I things that you can
just go through really quickly. I'm going through it and

(01:03:02):
you know and making notes and references and capturing my
takeaways and all those sorts of things. Just reading through
some of the comments that people are putting in. You know,
just some great people who I've worked with or been
on a podcast and stuff like that. Who are you know,
reflecting publicly with others and sharing ideas and stuff like that.
It's quite a rich conversation going on in the comments area.
So it's definitely worth every every penny. And so having

(01:03:25):
access to that, would you know, at a reduced cars
would be significant and will be impactful for a lot
of people and will assist with you're pointing around around
impact and the one to one. Well, bloody hell, that's
that's definitely worth having. Kind of jealous, really, I mean,
we get to do this, so it's fine, but you know.

Speaker 2 (01:03:45):
And that can be on any subject that you know,
they can link, they can share a video with me, go, right,
can we work through that, Whether it's a match thing
or a corporate business situation, They're one hundred percent confidential.
They're not shared with anyone on here unless you say, actually,
I'm happy for you to share that. And the other
point in the members area, Stewart, there's when you put
in the comments box. Every member can read those comments

(01:04:06):
and interact. If it's an end of tutorial three question reflection.
No one gets to see them apart from me, so
they can be private and you can share things of
your struggles. So there's options for both there, and you
can literally comment on everything. But I think if you
did it, if you did a nine till five every day, Stewart,
I think and you just sat on there and you're

(01:04:26):
a computer and you could watch it all back to back,
I think it would take you three months to get
through the content, just permanently. Just so, Yes, it's not
something you should just dip in and go that's it.
I've done it. It's it's certainly a resource to grow with.

Speaker 1 (01:04:41):
Yes, right, well, I hope you and the rescue dogs
have a excellent festive time. Do they get do they
get special treat meals on Christmas Day or do they just.

Speaker 2 (01:04:55):
Do every every day? Every day is a treat meal
for them?

Speaker 1 (01:04:58):
Yea and yeah, so, and I look forward to our
next recording, which will be in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 2 (01:05:09):
Yeah, yeah, I have a good one. Obviously, not everyone's
in the Christmas spirit like me. I'm quite humbug. But
if it's time off, enjoy it. If you work in
opportunity to pursue excellence, if you're with family and friends,
go for it. If you like spending time in your own,
make time for own, go out for a walk in
the woods or whatever you want to do. So even
use the Christmas break if you go rut. I'm going
to the in laws of Oh my god, I dread.

(01:05:30):
It is still pursue excellence. Okay, how could you frame
that to make it as endurable as you can? How
can you take a bit of private time? Do you
want me to walk the dog for you? Whatever it
may be. So again, it's still a mindset of pursuing
excellence with the scenario you have within you. But whatever
it is, hopefully it will enhance you. Ready for January?

Speaker 1 (01:05:50):
Yeah all right, Well, all the best and I'll I
will see you in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 2 (01:05:55):
Thank you.