19. Annnnd... ACTION!

Speaking of action, I took plenty of action back in the day. Hiding chip packets from my brothers so I could eat them last, keeping the Coke to myself because there's only just a little bit left. Mum had come home and bring some profiteroles and I wasn't hungry, but I just ate and ate. And it's funny, my Italian grandmother used to say in very broken, not so easily understood English, alex doesn't eat until he's full. He eats until he's tired, man. Story of a big part of my life. Action. Let's open up with some dad jokes. Gonna start with a dad joke every single episode. And you know what? I'm gonna kick off with one that led to me becoming one of the least popular kids in local team sports, thanks to my father with his dad joke. And it was simply this. How do you catch a rabbit, wait for the punchline, hide in the bush and make a noise like a carrot? Yes, that's right, ladies and gentlemen. I did actually say that in public to a group of other kids seeking approval, Maybe fame, maybe glory. Who knows? I guess we'll never truly know what was going through my head that day, but I certainly know what the outcome was. Welcome, everyone. You are tuning into another episode on Real Dead Movement. This is a phenomenal podcast that I love doing for all of you and I do appreciate your support, messages and keeping engaged. Hello, Mick. Hello, Alistair. Some name drops again. Maybe they're my only two listeners, who knows? But I know last time they sent me some messages immediately, so I thought, why not hit them again? I'll tell you what, Ali, you should definitely be looking at changing that hair, mate. I'm worried for you, bud, that there's going to be a colony of birds that soon nests in there and starts procreating and laying eggs. And I would too, mate, to be fair, because it looks very comfy and snug. For what is a human head of hair cleverly disguised as a bird's nest? That's about enough of Back at Ali. I'm sure he'll love it. Today we're talking about action team action. I'll start by saying knowledge isn't power. They got it wrong. And I rarely speak in absolutes. The world is open to whatever you want it to be and opinions. Like, I'm sure you've heard that saying, opinions like assholes. Everyone's got one. And you know what? It's a funny one, because you can have whatever truth you want in your life and convince or justify it to yourself otherwise, but there's no growth, no movement, no expansion without action. Which is why knowledge isn't power. Knowledge is merely accumulating the information that you feel aligns with you that is required to help you move into action. But if you don't take action, well, for me, knowledge is worse than ignorance because you know what you should be doing and what is true and fair for you. And you still don't do anything, which is a dangerous place to be. And that's why I want to talk about action today. Because it's so powerful. It's such a powerful thing, just taking action in your life. And look, I've had grown men before on the phone to me in tears, telling me how much they want to change their life and how much it means to them and they're going to lose their family and all these different things that at surface level, the words they're speaking, they sound pretty deep, they sound pretty real to me. But again, unless you take the action, take that step forward and start moving forward in your life farther or not in what's important to you and where you want to expand and grow within yourself in life, nothing changes for the better. You'll only change for the worse because you stay the same. And when you stay the same, you are changing for the worst. Because like I've said before, you're. You're continuing to rob future, present moments of a version of you that's already been. And I write little notes, mantras every day, little ones, different bits and pieces. And one that I wrote last night was the only moment that matters is the now. And your final breath, the final breath that you'll have one day will also be in the now. And one day they will be the same now. And this isn't becoming the Riddler off Batman. I'll leave that to Jim Carrey. But. But really looking at that and going, wow, it really is going to just be that moment where we're in the next moment, the next present moment. And it's a surreal feeling when you think about it, because you have memories of all these present nows that you've lived, but the one that you're in is the one right now. And when you think about that, it really opens up that clarity of going, man, time goes quick. How much do I have? Who knows? We don't control the quantity. We certainly control the quality. And the best way to influence that and to really create your future is through action, through taking actions. And like I said at the start, being that fat boy when I was younger, I took plenty of Action. I was the family garbage cleaner. I remember there were times at our first house when we used to get takeaway, like fish and chips and that for dinner. I used to get up early before everyone else. This is horrible. This is disgusting. Before everyone else would go and eat all the chips that were left on the plates if we didn't clean up. Or if you put it for takeaway, sorry, we got take away and put it in the fridge for potentially the next day. I used to go in the fridge and eat cold chips and there were times when I used to go around and drink everyone's Coke because I didn't want it to go to waste. I mean, Jesus, talk about coming from a place of scarcity. I thought I was going to starve to death and die if I didn't do it. Man, that's so gross. And it's my family. We all cut from the same cloth. But yeah, that's pretty disgusting. Going around just drinking everyone's Coke and eating everyone's leftovers. Mmm, yeah. As well as adding 1 to 2 inches of cordial and water was an afterthought. Or cutting a quarter of mud cake from Woolworths and punching that in straight away and eating it. I don't know where I was coming from at peak end Danishes. I truly don't know where I was going with that. Look, I was taking plenty of action, but I wasn't reassessing, realigning and reaffirming the right actions that I feel I needed to take at that stage. It didn't affect me, but it did it eventually. It pushed me to a point of pain. It pushed me to a point of going, I don't want to be who I am anymore. I don't like who I am anymore. I had some dark thoughts. Scream at myself in the mirror, look at myself. I hated myself many times. And I would seek the comfort food, the vicious cycles. And I had a loving family as well. There certainly isn't paying out on them at all. Mom and dad gave us plenty of good food, too. Absolutely. We had heaps of nice, good, healthy food, but I chose to eat that and some. It's really crazy when I look back there and go, geez, my life was really balancing on a knife's edge. I could have gone one way or the other in terms of where I was going to be. And that's not to say that there's anything wrong in the world. If you want to be overweight or fat or any of those sorts of things, that's fine. Your Life. Live it. If you're happy with it, cool, great. Chances are, more often than not, people who are heavily overweight aren't entirely happy because of the inflammation, the restrictions in energy in their body and how they feel. They probably know deep down they're not living up to their fullest version and being the best they can be. So what do we do? We take action. We create that change. And what did I do? I started to take action. Back then, just extending on the story of when I was monstrously overweight, I didn't know what action to take. Dad filled the garage with some weights. That was awesome. Gave me a book called the Matrix Principle and just started doing lifting. Lifting weights. Had no real idea. Mostly arm curls and bench press and a few other bits and pieces, but it was an awesome home gym. But I just started taking action. It's almost like fire, ready, aim again, fire. Ready, aim again. In that order. Not ready, aim, fire. It's like, yeah, ready, aim. But you still haven't taken action, have you? Or it's been very subliminal action, very minute action. Like thoughts, Thinking, that's an action. Speaking, they're actions. Choosing, that's an action. But actions are dictated upon the level of outcome that you get on their level of efficacy or impact in your life. And for me, speaking the words or having the feelings and thoughts and visualizing who I want to be wasn't enough action. It wasn't enough for me. So what did I do? I just cut out cordial and started running laps around the soccer field. As many as I could. I'd walk down there and then I'd walk home. I try and do that every day. Sometimes I wouldn't win, Sometimes I wouldn't get on top and I'd regress and then I'd go again. The key thing that I look back on my life, even though I touch on a lot of the horrific things and the trauma I've been through, is I continuously and consistently took action. I just kept after it. I didn't give up. I didn't give in. I kept moving forward. And I love that. And you look at that. It's about not giving up or giving in and truly staying neutral to your surroundings to a degree without being black and white, but not letting the positive nor the negative affect you. If someone pays me a compliment about how awesome RDM is and how it's going and myself or the gym or father, anything, any form of compliment, awesome. Thank you very much. I'm very humbled by that. It's very Nice of you. Thank you. And it's not that I don't take value in someone else's word, especially if it's from someone that I love and trust. But it's like that's, it's good. I'm not just going to throw it away and disregard it, but I'm also not going to let that define me. Much like the negative, especially with the negative for you guys. But it can be equally as dangerous because if you accept the positives from your actions from others, then you'll take them in as your own and you'll continually look for that for validation. Take action. Taking action is so important. I love a big fan of Michael Jordan back in the day in the basketball terms. I do love one of his quotes because it's not about whether you think it's right or wrong. It's about you moving forward and continually reflecting on your life, being grateful that you still have a life and that you can move forward and you've got an opportunity and a chance to get onto top again. And one of the quotes I loved him saying is it's a great one. You know, I've missed more than I think it's. I missed more than 9,000 shots in my career, lost 300 games 26 times, been trusted to take the shot that'll win the game or the game winning shot. And I've missed, I've failed over and over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. Why? Because he took relentless action. He didn't stop, he didn't stop moving forward. And yeah, there's going to be times, especially at that high level of competitivity. Competitivity? Is that even a word? I just created a new word with that competitive nature, that competitive environment. Of course he's going to be down when he misses and whatnot. But it didn't define him. It didn't make him alter his actions to become a lesser person, man, athlete, team player and leader. And that's what this is about, looking at your life and responding to that which is around you, the circumstances around you. There were times when I reacted and I very wear my heart on my sleeve and I would react and react to what happens around me in my life and you don't have control. There are times when my brothers would pick on me, bully me or something would happen and get bullied at school and be like, I'll show them. I'll show them. I'll show the world what I'm capable of, what I can do. That fire is always there. And you have that, guys. You have that fire inside of you. I'd literally, we lived on top of a hill. I'd go down to the bottom of the street. It's about a 400 meter run and I just sprint completely cold. It'd be like 10 o' clock at night. I just sprint up that hill, absolutely punishing myself, putting myself in the pain cave of a lifetime, just flogging my guts, 100% maximum intensity. The rage was real. And while I see that inner fire is inside of me and it will never go, and you all have that inside of you. I've learned how to harness that to empower me when I need it at the times to be effective. When shit hits the fan like it does in our life and it pulls us down, it makes it hard for us. But it's about knowing that just reacting in life is not the way to move forward. Because too often it'll put you in a point of not taking action, pulling away, living out of fear, worry, and then regret. Rinse and repeat that cycle. Horrible place to be. Instead of responding to life, you working life, not letting life work you over. And it will try. You bang hard enough on the door, the universe will answer, it will open up and certainly assist you. And that's what happens. People call it law of attraction, karma, whatever you want to call it, it happens. But when you respond and create in life, you are in control. You change or stay true to yourself and the state that you're currently in. And you literally will recreate the state that you want to be in to change and move forward for the better. And I want you to think about this. Think about your life at the moment and ask yourself that question, what action am I taking? And then follow on with this. Literally visualize things happen twice. First on the inside and second in the real world. What are the actions that I'm taking both internally, externally, my thoughts, feelings, emotions, the level of belief or lack thereof in myself and what I can achieve. How's that affecting me? Is that bringing me happiness? Do I enjoy telling poor quality dad jokes at the start of a podcast? Oh, that's me. Sorry, no, we're working on you. Am I happy with where my life is at the moment? Do I show gratitude? Am I grateful? I may not be happy, but am I at least showcasing a level of gratitude from which I can look to take actions to move myself forward? It's like that video I did on Sunday. I've got another video I'll roll out to you guys. Yeah. Be grateful. Be grateful in life for what you have. But also be greater grateful than. Greater in that order. Because you need to be that which you want to have in your life. Be that first and be that internally. Not saying, I want to be a BMW and then that'll appear in my life. I want to be a million dollars and that'll be in my life. They're materialistic things. They mean nothing. They're simply a byproduct of a way in which you choose to invest the value in what you've added in your own life and others lives in this world, in creating different experiences. Whether it's travel, material things, they're all experiences. But ask yourself, am I taking action? Am I taking enough action? Am I taking the right action? And that final one, you'll only ever know once you do it. Is this right for me? The naysayer inside of you will always be there, guys. It'll always be there. It's there for me. I love it. Because when that voice gets louder, I double down. It's like when the dogs bark in the backyard. Shut up, be quiet, pipe down. It truly is a case of looking at your life and going, yes, there's going to be highs, there's going to be lows, but what's my baseline? What's my baseline of action? Who I am right now? Can I raise that and you can. I'm doing so much more with two kids under the belt. Two children in my life. So much more than I was when I was younger, with more sleep, potentially more energy in a different way. Fitter, definitely with CrossFit. So much more these days. Crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy. But it's not. It is at first, but it's about understanding that life is state and it's how you really position yourself. And when I say life is state. I love one of these quotes. You know, it's a state of literally being in that wheel where you're positioning yourself on a grindstone. You can be pulverized or polished. It depends on how you position yourself. And you start that positioning. Yeah. Of course, by how you see it and accumulating data and information and collecting what's necessary. But you've got to do that on the fly sometimes you've got to do that and go do that and move, do that and take action. The old fake it till you make it. I mean, look, that was. I don't mind that because at least it got people moving. But it doesn't mean be dis. Genuine. There's probably a Better way or a more humbling way to say it, which is probably learn as you go. Find your feet on the way. Discover, realign. Like I said. Fire. Ready. Aim. Fire. Aim. Ready. Taking action is key, guys. It truly will dictate the life that you'll have and where you'll be. And that's what I did. I took action consistently, continuously. Kept changing, kept changing. Didn't happen overnight, nor should you want it to, because nothing lasts. When you want to try and create a quick shift in your life and create that quick change. And we all fail at something, if you want to use that word. I mean, I don't personally believe in failure. I think you only ever truly fail when you completely give up. Completely give up. But it's a good word to trigger. It's a good word to change, state. It's a good word to keep you connected because we know it, but don't glorify it. Look how much I've failed here, here and there and everywhere else. And now I'm successful. Use it as the right tool for yourself and what you need in your life to bring purpose and meaning, to continually take action and move forward and get after it. And that's what today's episode's about. And I hope you've enjoyed that as well. Kept it short and sweet today to really knuckle down and go, what are the key areas of my life that I know I can take more action, double down, be more efficient, get after it, not create excuses. In relationships. In my work and my career, you could be doing car washes. And if you nail that and said, I'm going to be the best car wash person in the country, I'm going to make this Mickey Mouse shine and polish it, everything. This is going to be the best job. The customer is going to absolutely love it if you did that. The feedback, the rapport, you'll build, the relationship. But the internal. The internal gratitude that you have in the opportunity that you have to express yourself. The internal fulfillment from being the best you can be. That's powerful stuff. You may hate your job, but how about you look at it and go, is this something I love or am I really loving it first? And then reassessing relationships, career, working on your body, investing yourself. All of these things play a role in how you choose to continually see yourself. And if you do them at the best you can and continually take action, whether you fall flat on your ass at times or not, ride the highs, ride the lows. It is that roller coaster. You will come out the other end. You will win if you're aware of that. You'll go in those vertical loops. You'll go up, you'll go down, you'll go backwards, you'll go sideways, you'll twist and turn. You'll feel sick at times. You'll close your eyes at times. That's okay. That's what life is. You don't need to be 80 years old sitting down with two hip replacements to look back and go, I'm the old wise one. Everyone gather around the bushfire and listen to me. There's plenty of people who've never fulfilled their dreams in their life who are well over 70 and 80. It's about knowing now, having the wisdom, the knowledge now, knowing that you are a teacher and a student at the same time. And you will continue to be that for life and nothing set in stone. And you can create the life you choose through action. Take that action and get after it. Hope you've enjoyed today guys. As always. If you ever need anything, please reach out. Let me know. Jump on. Don't Forget Facebook Lives. 8:30pm Every Sunday. Pick a topic, one or two topics, and dive deep. Do a live video. Enjoy doing that for all you guys. Appreciate the support there. Alexildadmovement.com and if you're listening to this on my podcast page, this is available on itunes as well and vice versa. Love your appreciated comments and support as well. Guys, that's what I'm here for. I'm here for you to help add some value in some way, shape or form to your life. And if I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening and good night. Take care guys. I hope you enjoyed my dad joke. I'll roll out with some more next time and I'll try and make it better. Oh man. Can't believe it. Eddie. Catch a rabbit, hide in the bush and make a noise like a carrot. That is the faith and belief that I had in my father at the time. And you know, it's still there. It's unwavering. Love you, dad. Take care guys and have an awesome day, night, weekend, whenever you may be listening to this and get after it. Take action. Kick ass. Live life on your terms. It is possible. I believe in you now. You believe in you.