219. Choosing The Right Life with Cancer Survivor Rick Cowley

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A lot of episodes. Man 219. This. This will be, I think, very good. Crazy. Wow.

And you're. You're doing the interviews for all of them?

Yes. Yeah, yeah. I'll do a lot of them individually as well, but I like to get guests on. It's good. It's different. Yeah, the boys enjoy some of my short riffs and rants, but yeah, it's good to get a member on or someone who's got expertise like yourself, that's for sure. Beauty. Let's get stuck into it. Welcome to an amazing podcast episode that we have today. We've got a man that I've been connected to for maybe a couple of years now, originally introduced by. By a member of hpf. And we're here to discuss the life and the very powerful and valuable lessons that Rick Cowley has not only learned through his own experiences, but also the wisdom in how he operates through Vision Quest, his company, in helping not just men and fathers, but people identify, which you'll, I'm sure, explain in better detail. I'm very excited for the event coming up exclusively for our our tribe, Rick. But we're going to go into Rick, his business. How he's survived cancer, he's a father himself, how he's create a phenomenal business which is really providing a valuable service to people to go to the next level in life by actually going within first and finding a true meaning in their core and their purpose of what's important, which I think for a lot of fathers is. Is so often lost. And a lot of you men, I really appreciate the love and respect and the feedback you get from these podcasts. But what I love most is really the message itself from not just when I'm here on my own, but other valuable members of society and valuable men too. I think men get overlooked a lot in, in the modern world and that's why I'm. I'm over the moon and pumped to have what I believe to be in my eyes anyway, my experience, an incredible man that's joining us today. And Rick, thank you for joining us, man, and giving us the time.

Thanks Al. Thanks for having me. Excited to discover what we're going to talk about today.

Likewise. Likewise, mate. It's. It's always incredible. I love the. I've got several, not bits of paper, but several, several bulletproof documents from, I will call them from when we've done our breakthrough sessions. You've done so many of them now for us on the inside with hpf. Every time that I've done these with you, there's always something different. There's a deeper level of meaning, there's a different takeaway, there's more clarity, more insight. It's such a powerful tool, man, because in such a modern world, and I say this to the credit of yourself, in such a modern world where there's motivation everywhere, there's mindset pieces everywhere, there's fluff and feelings and all these different words like spirit and soul and connection and core and all this stuff, unfortunately, like a lot of things, mate, because of how commercialized it is with unauthentic people, it desensitizes and loses its purpose and nature. You're someone who, besides all of the hard points in life where people feel stuck, lost, uncertain and potentially they find that then they're trying things, they don't get the outcome that they want because people do a life coaching course over a weekend or all these different things that, that paints a picture of perspective. You're a man who's lived and breathed an unbelievably challenging life, had cancer yourself as well as done, I think 60 something retreats, which is incredible and connected with some of the most, you know, influential and powerful people out there as well as everyday people looking for deeper meaning. It's just something that I have seen firsthand and I'm pumped, man. I love to hear about, I'd love to hear about how you got into that, mate and become such a incredible force in that space. Like I said, there's a lot of people who are fake it till you make it, Rick. You're certainly not one of them, man. And that's why you are one of the core few people who's not traditionally a member, yet on the inside, you're one of the most valuable leaders that we have. And I'd love for you to share your story, man. And I guess step by step, we'll get to how you got in that position where you're helping so many people now through your own experiences.

All right, well, the, you know, if you've heard, if you've heard me on podcasts before or seen some of my posts or heard some of my background story, then some of this will be familiar. But I think that, you know, our, our own origin stories are so important and actually hold a lot of the breadcrumbs of our real, you know, purpose and destiny in our lives. And so I hope that as I share this, that people can kind of listen and maybe reflect on their own stories and the biggest challenges they've gone through so far and get. Find some of those breadcrumbs for their lives. And it would be even cool to hear a little bit about your story, too, and how those breadcrumbs led to what you're doing today and how, how you're impacting people. So the, the seeds of this program and the work that I do right now, which I can really say it's, it's my life's work, was this period of when I was 21 years old and I got very sick and I was diagnosed with leukemia. And I, I happened to be on a very remote island in Indonesia after living there for a year, doing a university exchange program. But that's a, that's a story for another day. And I, I fell very ill and ended up getting first treatment in Hawaii and then back in California, where I was from. And, you know, obviously when you're, you know, I was 21, I was at the peak of my fitness and, you know, on a, on a, at the end of that year, I was just surfing for a few months. So I was just surfing my ass off and, you know, healthy, young, 21 year old, and then one night, the rug just gets pulled out from under my life and I got extremely sick. It's just like someone flipped a switch and my immune system turned off. And it was a journey of about eight months of treatment, both alternative treatment and conventional treatment and counseling and, you know, all sorts of support from my family. My parents were amazing friends, doctors, and, and that, that period turned out to be, you know, one of the hardest things I've ever been through. Of course, I mean, just from, you know, I couldn't even could he hardly even stand up, you know, to walk to the toilet, you know, going from someone who's gallivanting around these remote islands and surfing to a month later, like, couldn't eat, couldn't, you know, sleep, bleeding out of my throat, all this crazy stuff. So it was quite a shock to the system, but it turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to me because I got to see that our lives are temporary. And, you know, we. We have this concept that it is, and loved ones pass away and we might have health scares here and there, but this thing where I got to face my mortality, like, it just smacked me right in the face. And I saw how fragile our lives are, our health. And even though it feels like we're going to be alive forever, because that's all we can remember is we go to sleep at night, we go somewhere and we wake up in the morning and we're back here, and we do it all again thousands and thousands of times. So we get this false sense of permanence in our lives. And I got to see that. My God, like this. This is a temporary trip. It's a temporary adventure. And if there's something that's important or there's something that you really want to do or something you got to figure out, then the time is now is we just don't know how much time we have here. And I also started to, with the help of a. Of a mentor slash psychologist slash spiritual broker, to dialogue with a deeper part of me and be able to quiet my. My mind down, quiet all the busyness and ask questions about, you know, some of the. Some of the bigger questions in life. Things like, who am I? What do I really want my life to be about? What do I want to do? Who do I want to be? And hear answers to those questions. And journaling has always been this really powerful, magical tool for me. And it's one of the. The core tools that we use inside the VisionQuest program. So during that time, my life changed so much. I changed so much at this, you know, this young. I was 21 years old. So, like, 21, 22, 23 was a time of massive change for me. And some things got rewired in my brain and for example, it just became torture to do work just for money. Like, it had to have a deeper purpose. And I just never lasted long at anything that didn't light me up or feel meaningful. And this seed was planted during that period where I just had this wish and it felt like an Impossible wish for a long time. But this wish was, what if I could create and. And. Or facilitate an experience for people where they had that same sort of awakening to how temporary and precious their lives are and start to connect with a deeper part of themselves so they can really walk their tr. Purposeful path in life. And, you know, for years, I. I put this off. I didn't quite have enough clarity, enough of the puzzle pieces of my own vision. And I had the, you know, the fears that everyone has when they're going to do something really purposeful and meaningful. You know, things like, who am I to have an impact on people? My life needs to be more perfect. I need more training. You know, I need a nicer car, whatever. Whatever it is. But the day came when I just couldn't stand myself because I knew that I had more to offer and I knew that I had to at least try. And that's when I ran my. My first retreat, which was for young adult cancer survivors. And for me, that was like the bridge where I knew that even if the process sucked, because I hadn't. I had never done this before. And I'm just, you know, I'm winging it a bit and trying to figure out, as I figure it out as I go. I knew that even if the process, you know, wasn't what I wanted it to be, it would still have a really profound impact on people because I'd been through it. You know, the young adult cancer survivors and, you know, had a. Had a beautiful family and was doing something to give back and was healthy. And so that was my doorway to actually, you know, putting the. The first rudimentary vision quest process together, running it. And it was. It was amazing. It was very impactful for people. You know, there's lots of tears and laughter and. And magical synchronistic moments as we went those. That. That week together. And that just changed everything. Like, I got that confirmation of, Rick, this is what you're here to do. And so I. I slowly but surely kind of reoriented my life around this work, the Vision Quest. And. And then in. That was in 2010, I ran that first retreat. 2012, I had a big change in my life where my wife and I separated and I moved to Bali and kind of relo. Relocated myself there and reinvented myself and really made this the center of my. My livelih and opened up the retreats to anyone who wanted to come. And it was mostly entrepreneurs and professionals who, you know, had achieved some success but had gotten to a bit of A crossroads in their life, maybe gotten a bit burned out, needed some clarity, direction, inspiration, some soul reconnection for their next chapter in life. So, yeah, and here we are. And you know, we met a couple years ago and been working with the coaches, sorry, with the members inside hpf. And I was very excited when you approached me about doing an HPF Vision Quest retreat which is going to be on in July.

Absolutely. Man, I can't wait. It's something I'm very excited for. We've shared in depth some of the different things that you do in person as opposed to what I've done and experienced with you, with you on the inside, with hpf. But also at the same time, when you explain what we do, what we will be doing in July, you also explain that what you've done in the past is an experience that only being there and really experiencing for yourself will create the opportunities that just make it something that is a forever life changing moment. And that's something that I really ring true with Rick because when I've run events for hpf, some of the guys who unfortunately couldn't make it or missed out or guys who aren't even members and obviously didn't see it or when part of it, they, they don't understand when the other men who've gone there share the experience. Just the, the energy and the presence and the breakthroughs. And we've done Kosciuszko a few times now and that I like that because symbolically and literally you're at the highest point in the country. But also you could just see it was every time we've done it, some men have come back again and they've even said every time it's different. But a lot of the men who are new, the walls are up a little bit. Even though we know each other online and we're working together online and whatnot, it's great because you feel like, and always say it when the men connects like they've already known each other for years. But also it's, it's a room of 30 to 40, you know, strong and willing and capable and proud. We're all proud to degree, proud men who ultimately are very cautious of what, what, what permissions there are. I think that's probably a big thing and I feel drawn towards that word. What, what's the permission for how we carry ourselves at this event. And so whilst I come out of the blocks firing on all cylinders, the other coaches and myself, every day, we go deeper and deeper and deeper. Not as long as yours, my Events are about three to four days and in different ways. I don't think they would be as deep as well with what we're about to experience in July, but essentially we always say the same thing. Day two, steeper than day one, day three and day four. And these men just, you just see it, mate. And you would have seen it dozens and dozens and dozens of times in, in all those events with obviously lots of people that they just open up to a whole new world and, and a lot of people don't understand or quite get that because they're so trapped in this box or the mouse in the spinning wheel or in this framework of monkey mind. I just got to make it through today, just got to make it through this week. But make it through to what? What you know, what is the desired outcome. And recognizing that starting with the end in mind helps you realize that maybe the type of journey you're having isn't the one for you. Regardless of the end in mind, the outcome. And a lot of these people, like you said, entrepreneurs or businessmen, they will get in a position where they might achieve success in some areas. But the way they went about it, the how tos, the hows, has affected them dearly. Where it's cost them their, you know, their relationship with their kids or it's cost them their health and they've ended up in hospital or for other reasons. And it's. It's tough, man, because a lot of people just think, and take it from me, a big brute who played rugby league, whose spade is a spade, black and white. And I just opened up my life to a whole new world, you know, over five years ago now, Rick, and I've never looked back, man. And there is so much more to just the black and white nature of life and to just making it through to get to Friday and hump day Wednesday and all this other bullshit that people just are latch onto for the wrong reason as these micro achievements to hit this time so they can go and sedate and distract themselves with drugs and alcohol, escape their reality, escape their own identity of who they could be and forget their problems and then they roll the sleeves up and they do it all again. Whereas something like this, and we've had members go through this now with you and I'm pumped to get us all in this event together, which we'll talk about shortly, for them to actually see that when you immerse yourself in the right environment, the right energy, you start to realize that your reality is something that literally through your sensory perceptions and where you align yourself and how you operate. Your frequency is something that you create. You literally create your reality. And people. People just don't understand that, mate. It's quite weird. People don't understand or get that. I'm like, no, no, you, you can. You literally create your reality at a cellular level, man. Not, not to go too far into this, but the Human Genome project was a flop. 26, 000 genes. It's barely more than a certain type of fly and a worm. And there's a certain type of flying worm that has 24 and 21, 000, respectively. It's a flop, man. It's not your genetics. It's the hundreds and thousands of proteins in our body and the sensory perceptions. You would probably know, Bruce Lipton, I'd imagine, or be aware, but there's, there's. There's a whole. There's a whole quantum mechanic element to this that says, you know what at the perception, the consciousness of you at a cellular level, which is the hundreds and hundreds of thousands of proteins and what they're perceiving in their environment literally creates a shift in their reality or whether you're growing or dying, we're talking about cancers, recovering from injuries, operations, everything at a cellular level all the way through to source in us. And people just don't get that, man. They don't realize like you can. People have changed their genetics. They can change their genetics, they can change their reality, they can change their output, they can heal, they can adapt, they can adjust. And that's something where I don't feel like my life's heading in the wrong direction or bad Rick. But I'm actually really excited because you don't know what you don't know, right? And for me, whilst I'm achieving at a great rate, I don't know where I might be holding myself back, man. And that's what I'm keen to find out. Where can I take that next level by fully submitting and immersing myself in this retreat? But on that, I want to hear your thoughts and words, man. What are some of the. What, what happens? Like, what are some of these. The feedback and the people that go through this? And what's. What's the experience, man? Talk. Talk through it with me on, on. On some of this study.

Where to be in. It's. It's so beautiful, this process. I'll just start with that. Like the feeling of this process. It's, you know, it's five nights, six days that we're at the. This live in retreat. And you can see when people arrive, you know, everyone is a bit closed, a bit nervous. It's really normal to be very nervous, actually, like this. This equal blend of excited and inspired to be there, and also nervous. Like, people have these stories of like, oh, my God, I'm scared of what I'm going to discover. I'm scared of the changes that I'm going to be called to make in my life. Or, you know, I'm scared that I won't be able to get the clarity that I'm looking for. And from what I've seen, it's just. It's just our minds, they, you know, it just spits out fearful thoughts. Especially when you're facing the unknown. And because of the process, you just don't have anything to worry about. Like, you know, if people buy day two, if they could go back and tell the person who arrived themselves, they would just don't worry about a thing. It is all going to come together. It's all going to make sense. You are safe here. You are going to feel more clear and inspired than you've ever felt in your life. So don't worry. So is that part of it? And, you know, I'm. I'm more of an introvert than an extrovert. So I'm also a bit awkward for like, the first day. You know, Like, I. It takes me just time to feel relaxed and start to be, you know, really silly or just. Just really feel myself in front of people. So, you know, I tell people that so that they don't, you know, so that they know that that's normal. But it does not take long before you look around the table. And many of the guys you know, you're. Because you're a community, you already, you know, know these guys work together, whether it's just been online or, you know, some people have been to events. But it doesn't take long before you look around this table and you just start to feel like you've known these people for a long time and you feel very connected to them and very safe. And you realize that these guys, you know, you. You will know more about them and they'll know more about you than some of your dearest lifelong friends. And it happens so fast, just in the context of the work and the questions that you're being asked and the things that you're writing and the things that you're sharing, there's nothing forced or, you know, manufactured about it. It's a really simple, beautiful process. And all you do is just show up and, you know, do the series of meditative audio lessons and writing exercises and everything that needs to come up, everything that you need to get clarity about everything you need solutions for. It comes up to the surface, and you get to see it and face some things and heal some things. And. And what. What one sees over those six days is it's like you just see faces look like they've become 10 years younger and people's natural energy start to come to the surface. And, you know, it's not about filling you up with more ideas or hyping you up or, you know, getting you to jump up and down and all that. It's about making this still space for you to connect deeply and find answers to these questions about your true purpose and path in life. And that brings the energy with it. This just. It just comes bubbling up out of you, and it's. It's a very. It's like a centered energy as opposed to, you know, like a nervous energy or a. Or a hypey energy. It's because it knows. It knows how to listen. It knows how to be with people. And I think another thing that people get is realizing how much they have to offer in the group as they support other men, as they list to other men who are, you know, going through the process. And yeah, there's just this, like, confirmation of how much value and wisdom each person has to share. And by the end, man, say, it's just, you know, coming close to the end. When people are looking around the table, they just know they've been a part of something really, really special. And, you know, the bonds that form, you know, aside from the clarity that one gets and the answers that appear within the workbook, you know, you look around, it's really the other souls that you share with.

It's incredible, man. It just takes you to that, like. And I get it, especially most of our listeners are men and fathers, and some of them get their wives to listen to, which is great, but to get the perspective of what a man's thinking. Right? But a lot of you men, please understand this. Like, you don't. You don't have to do anything or be anything or anyone. Do whatever you want with your life. Like, honestly, I don't. I don't give a fuck. But what I align with and where I align my life, and maybe sometimes I can be very polished. Sometimes I'm rough around the edges and I'll swear. And what. Who cares? Like, this is my choice, my life, what I want to do. But one thing I will Say without telling you, men you should do or you have to do is at least like, fuck, man, at least explore yourself and realize there is more to life than just this black and white abc. X, Y, Z has to be. This has to be that. This is the step here. Life is so tangible and, and it's not like all you're working off is the instinctive sensory perceptions as an animal that constructs your reality. My eyes, what I hear, what I see, what I touch. And then you create or you fabricate to a degree these four walls of security, which is really like a house of cards. And what you think a rock solid reality is. And it isn't like I'm looking at Rick right now. I'm talking into this microphone. And all of this exists with the sensory perception of space and time that comes through my eyes, which are connected into my brain just telling me that this is where everything is. When you figure, like, forget. I know there's movies like the Matrix and that sort of stuff, but forget all that. At a, at a spiritual level, gentlemen, you are constructing a reality. So what's the difference between constructing a reality and using the word simulation? Same thing. So you're spending your energy and investing your time and energy in things that will continually construct. And that is what this stuff around the law of attraction is. And, and karma or Murphy's Law, you know, it's. Yeah, it'll. It'll happen three times. You know, bad things come in threes. All these things, you know, I'm the unlucky one. You know, 13 is an unlucky number. Or bad things always happen to me. Well, of course they do, don't they, Rick? Because you always fucking ask for them. Because you're always focusing your energy to that. When you're focusing on the problem, you're reinforcing energy in the universe. Your universe, on exactly that. So many people and guys aren't even open to considering the thought that that's a possibility for them to have in their life, let alone actually experiencing and living it. Which is really tough, man, I must admit. Like, it's, you know, I can flick a switch and become the Viking instantly and be the big warrior and do what you need to do as an organism, as an animal, as a human. Cool. Great. I get it. Talking, communicating all these different things. But at a deeper level, Rick, there's just so much more to life. This life that is so finite. Like you mentioned, 21. Like, I've written some notes here. 21, man. Like, that's pretty rough. Overnight having Your immune system turned off. And a couple of things I wrote down here. Life is temporary. And the whole falling asleep and waking up and that false sense of permanence. It's fascinating when you mention that. Like I'll say my every night when I kiss my kids and they're asleep and I'll go in and give them another kiss on the forehead and make sure they're tucked in and everything's okay. I'm looking at him. There are these lifeless animals, right? Where are they? Like, this is the sort of stuff that I think about and ponder and not to make it a woo woo session right out there for a lot of you men, but I really, I think about stuff. I'm looking at my kids, they're laying there, they're laying there lifeless essentially. When you think about it, not even moving, nothing. Like, where are you? And then you think about your own dreams when you're flying around creating. And I look at a dream, I'm like, is that not just a different dimension of reality that we're constructing potentially without rules and confinements maybe, you know, who knows? And then, and I see these little kids, I'm like, where are you right now? What are you doing? What adventure on? Where is your consciousness? It's not right there in your body. No way. It is. And that's what I'm really keen to explore, Rick, because I've got a very out there perspective and way of thinking and feeling and questioning things and it's never done me any harm. And it's not like I'm trying to find absolutes because I think there's plenty of answers that we, we never will find until maybe the next passing or whatever happens. Right, but what, what do you find in today's world? Just changing gears. Before we talk about, I guess the event a bit more, what do you find in today's world is the biggest pain point? People are suffering, people are struggling, the biggest block. Like, where are people as a whole and individually, where are we letting ourselves down? Is it because we're not opening ourselves? Like, where do you see. Society is pretty rough at the mom lot of different ways. But what do you see at the sources, some of the main contributing factors and what people are missing in today's world?

Yeah, well, I, I did some reflecting on this after I'd created the program and you know, as you, as you try to put it into. As I try to communicate about what the program is, which is just not easy because it's, it's like an adaptogen. It's Almost like whatever you need to see, that's what's going to come to the surface. But what I, what I saw about what makes the Vision Quest program so unique is that, you know, in the world there's normally kind of two types of teachings and teachers and programs, books, videos, all that. And one is about how to be more effective and efficient in your life. You know, it could be about how to make more money or how to communicate better, how to lose weight, things like this that are, you know, they're practical and they're, they're, they're teaching you to be a more effective person, get, get results. And then the other camp is teaching you to be a bit more calm. So they're teaching things like mindfulness and meditation and, you know, yoga and awareness, that kind of thing. And there's this, in my opinion, there's this huge gap in the center of those that is, you know, the, the first group is teaching you basically how to, how to move down your path faster, like how to run down your path. Second second type is teaching you how to be more calm on your path. But the question that gets me excited is, are you on the right path in the first place? Are you on your true path? Because if you're not, what's the point of running down that path faster? Or, or just, you know, learning how to calm down? Because maybe your, maybe your soul is actually telling you, hey, you're not on the right path. Like, you need to do some reflection and figure out what your path is and then start stepping onto that path. And you're sitting there trying to meditate and calm yourself down. You know, while you're bought, your. Your wisdom is telling you you're not on the right path. So, and, and what I found is that it's. Because it's, it's not easy because we have been conditioned, you know, by a lot, by school, just by society, by our employers, by our, you know, our leaders that, that, you know, in school especially, you have to, you have to tone yourself down and, and let go of a lot of your own will, your own desires, your own inspiration, your own energy to fit into a class. It's just the structure of most schools. So you learn that to be successful, you. You have to go along with the group and you have to follow the leader, even if it doesn't feel good to you or right or inspiring or useful. So we, we, I think we don't understand the impact of that because that stuff we're trained in that from when we're, I mean, really young, by our parents. And then, you know, from five onward for at least a decade, we're in that model. And then we're adults and we're like, why? You know, I did everything that I was told to do to be happy and successful, but I'm not. I don't feel it. So that's the. That's the. That's at the core of it, as far as I can see, is people are disconnected from their natural sense of inspiration which leads them towards their purpose. And they don't know how to reconnect with that. They don't know how to find it. Yeah, it's. It's partly because that training and then just the fear, you know, the way that I see the fear is. It's impersonal and it just. The fear's job is just to make sure that nothing changes in your life. Even if you're unhappy, even if, you know, you got more to offer, you know, even if you've been telling yourself, I gotta leave this job, business relationship, bad habit. The fear keeps you there because it's going. At least we know what this is. But if we stop this, if we step out into the unknown, that's. That's scary. Or, you know, you could fail, you could die, you could be embarrassed, you could lose everything, whatever it is. So we have to find a way now, as adults to penetrate that fear or silence that fear and connect with a deeper part of you, make the space for that, have the right structure, the right, you know, support, questions, guidance and all that, because the fear is still going to try to with you, even if you're really committed and you're going, all right, this. This is it. I know my life needs to change. We still need. We need support. You know, this is something that you guys provide. You provide support and accountability and questions and time for reflection, all that stuff. And so. And what I found, you know, when people do this really special, very deep work and they combine it with a program like yours that has coaching, support, accountability, you know, ongoing sessions and exercises and your. Your own workbook and planner and all that, it's just this really beautif combination of, like, these fuels, you know, that work as a catalyst for change in people's lives.

It's fascinating you mentioned that too, man. Like the. The entire. And that's a great share, by the way. I couldn't agree more with understanding some of people's pitfalls. And we look at the very first thing that we do in hpf, and that's alignment. That very first Pillar. And it could be a range of questions. Who are you? Why are you here? You know, what do you actually want out of life? A lot of people don't know. They know what they don't want. Okay. Does that mean the opposite would need to be true for you to be happy? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe you just want to alleviate some stress and pain you're experiencing right now. Maybe the stress and pain is getting so big, which is leading to breakdowns in certain areas, like your relationships, your healthy business. But it's crazy how many people actually don't know what they want, Rick. They truly don't. And I get it. It's a moving target. Like, do I know what I want? I do, probably right now for the next five years. But also, the landscape of life changes too frequently for me to go. This is what would need to be true for me in 12 years time to be happy. I could be dead in 12 weeks. I don't know. I don't like carelessly using that as an example, but I like to move hard left and right. And understanding that you've got an unbelievable opportunity in this life. You can do so much, you're limitless, and so on and so forth and then hook straight away to going, but all that could end tomorrow because guess what? There's going to be people who go to bed tonight, Rick, and they won't wake up. And that dream is the last dream that they know of, possibly in that shell or in that existence, but. But it's big for us, man. Alignment, like, it's, where are we going and why? And I think he hit the nail on the head with discussing. There's no point having composure. And at a soul or spiritual or even a level where they still know, okay, I've done this technique, meditation or whatever it might be. It's helped me relax. But humans can be pretty clever when they just go within and ask even one question to go, yeah, but I'm still not on the right path. It's all well and good to be calm and at peace for a moment, but I'm still not on the right. Or those who are charging down that path. It's like, well, the further you go down that path, the further you either have to come back and go on a different path or the further away you are because it veers off in different directions to your path. The path. And it's rough, man. I've got to say. Like, people, you know, one thing, there's two things that frustrate me, man. One thing that frustrates me is when people say, oh, it's better who you are. And I get that a lot because I talk about how I lost my 20s due to professional sport, pursuing something which I realize now was absolutely a mistake. You know, my son would be a phenomenal athlete with my. My mindset, my understanding, my physiological awareness and ability to coach and skill develop him. And he's already got the genetics. If we build on those genetics by giving him the right environment, the right surroundings, the right exposure, the nutrition training, man, he'll be a weapon. I'm not going to. I'm not going to push him into that. I'm not going to push him into professional sport because of what I went through. I didn't need to have nine operations and go through all that, Rick, to learn the life lessons I did. But people will be like, yeah, but it made you who you are. I'm like, yeah, I get that. But do you need. Do you need 80 years to learn who you are when you could potentially learn quicker and achieve it in seven? And that. It pisses me off, man. Go. It's all part of the journey. Yeah, but my journey's gonna end soon. And it doesn't mean that I'm in a race or I'm in a rush, but life is essentially a long sprint with lots of short sprints, where if you don't realign, you're sprinting in the wrong direction or you're not learning what needs to be learned and at a deep level. Man. When I was up and coming with the Panthers and when I broke my jaw, there was. There was just this part of me that was like. It was instantly. And it was. Sometimes that's the hard part. Sometimes your intuition is like this. It's like a long nagging, almost a throb or a pain. And other times, it's a whisper that comes in and goes. And as soon as I broke my jaw, there was a little parting that was like. Because, man, I couldn't chew. I couldn't do anything for three months. My mouth was wide shut. Braces, rubber bands, everything. And, oh, anything on your face. And I'm not here to. Obviously, you've been through a lot, man, but just sharing the experience of something on your face, it's. It's not nice. And there was that little party that was like, oh, what the are you doing? What do. What do you have to prove? And I look at this. You want to talk about, like, I know you mentioned my journey. I'll only share a little bit because I, like, I Like sharing a lot of stuff. But I know we're on borrowed time, but I look back and I'm like that little fat boy who had to prove himself because no girls liked him, got bullied and picked on. So that's why I had a, had and have a complex with the opposite sex. And when I say have, it's a part of you, it's what I mean. Like it's always there, you know, I'm a powerful, attractive, strong man and I'm obviously happily married, but attracting the opposite sex is no problem at all now. But back then that was a seed that was planted where I have to prove myself to other women. I was fat and overweight and sloppy. I had to prove myself to other teenagers, which became men, you know, as I became a teen. I gotta prove myself. I gotta. And all this comes back to the other first point you're talking about around the fear of social acceptance or social rejection that we get conditioned to for 5, 10, 15, 20 years. That leads a lot of decisions that people make that ultimately leads to their downfall in which they're trying to either please the masses or go along with the flow, go along with the crowd, like you said, where that becomes the norm. And that's the crazy part, man, that'll hit you in so many ways. Even if I was successful with rugby league and sport and it was all to prove other people, prove I can do this, prove I can do it. And there's a chip on the shoulder. And then that same thing went into rugby league, went into CrossFit, running gyms, my marriage falling apart. This same thing from being that little fat boy became a seed that was planted, embedded on social rejection. And then converting that to a desire, social acceptance, which is power and influence over like 20 years all the way through to like football. And then I look at it all. Football played way too long, cross it and running gyms way too long. And I look at all that. I was like, man, like, yes, I feel like I'm home now. And yes, I've got the scars, which makes me. Well, it gives me the opportunity for men to listen and for me to lead quite easily because at least I've got a track record. I'm not some baby face silver spoon manager, you know, Speaks because I did a neuro linguistic programming course which I've never done. I'm not sure what it involves, but I'm guessing it's speaking words cleverly. But man, all of this is off the back of that, that one little thing where it's like you just, you see how it just creeps up on you where all of a sudden you look back and it's like, man, am I on the right path? And then a lot of people will be like, oh, just, it's part of who you are. Not in a long winded point. But getting back to my point, you know, I, I, it's crazy, man. I, I look at it, I'm like, how do you know you're on the right path and you don't unless you really stop and slow down. I think have something like obviously what you provide and you question it. I'm this young buck 22. Just got to get the jaw right, got to get fit and healthy back in. Like, yeah, being hyper focused can help, but it's not the long term game to do every day, minute after minute. Because if I had to stopped and listen, that little wh, that broken jaw would have been it. I would have been 22, Young would have gone now that's it, man. I've learned plenty. I don't need to go and break my cheek. I broke my cheek again. Same bloke, first game back 12 weeks apart. Same team, same guy tried what he had only fractured my cheek again because I fetched my cheek on my jaw. Crazy, but like, as if the universe is not talking to you. Then rugby league went down playing rugby league. Then went down to the Dragons first first grade game. Did my knee with the Dragons. It was a first grade trial. Sorry. Against the Bulldogs. Never actually played a competent. I was on bench but never played a competition game in first grade. That's how close it was. All these little signs. I look back, I was like, man, the universe was just, it was right there telling you, man. And I was doing it for the wrong reasons. Ego, pride, that void like I talk about in social acceptance and being a man of influence, power, money, all the things I thought rugby league would bring, which is hilarious. When I look back now, now and it's, it's crazy how the, the lack of foresight through our own pride, ego and stubborn nature. Rick holds us back so much where here I am, I'm nearly 38 years of age and I've got vivid memories now of my father when he was my age. And the dude's old now, nearly 70. And I'm like, oh, this is really, this really is going quick. I better, I better pay more attention. But how do we, when we're stuck in the grind and then the rat race every day and, and what, what do we do, you know? But it's Crazy, man. What do you, what do you. I know you can't go through, obviously the six days, but share some stuff with us, mate. What, what do you do? How do you uncover. I just gave you a short example, but what have one part of my life. But what do you do on these retreats? How do you uncover that? Where do you, where do you take people? And I know you mentioned some bits and pieces, but, but I'd love to just get a quick highlight or example of maybe what to expect in July, mate, when me and the other fathers are there with you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, first, as you're speaking, one, it's, that's, that's more than I knew about you before, about your story. And so thank you for sharing about the breadcrumbs that led you to where you were, as well as your frustration of, like, what the hell took me so long, you know, why I stayed in, you know, that, that sport for too long or that relationship or that habit. And, and one of the things that, that I see is that there, I mean, there's, there's just so many powerful side effects from doing this work about the clarity of purpose and clarity of vision. And one is that you, you, you start to sense when you're gonna veer off your path. It's like you can, you can feel a situation coming where in the past you took. You took the wrong path. And you might have done it a hundred or a thousand times in your life or maybe once or twice, depending on what it is. But once you have this clarity, then you, one, you have more awareness when that situation is approaching and going up. I know what this feels like. Like if I take that wr. Going to waste time, energy, I'm not going to be true to myself. I might hurt other people. And once you have the clarity, then you can, yeah, you much more easily go, I don't know. This is what I want. This is what I don't want. This is what I do want. And then if you do. Because life, life does get busy. We get overwhelmed at times, we get stressed, we make poor decisions, and sometimes we will veer off the path a little bit. It's just, you know, human nature. It's like, you know, an airplane, when it flies, it doesn't. Doesn't go straight to the target 100 of the time. It's constantly making adjustments. So you, you have that same thing inside of you and it's really sensitive. Once you do this work and you get that clarity, you, it's, it's like your soul Just doesn't let you veer very far off the path. And you can, you can remember what it was like in the past when you've taken like that, that wrong path. And you might have veered for hours or days or years before you listened to that subtle voice inside of you, or maybe that screaming voice inside of you. And that's saying, this is not your path. Your path is over there. But now you don't need to spend, you know, hours, days, months, years wandering down the wrong path anymore. And it actually hurts. The pain of not being true to yourself becomes a lot more acute because you know, know how right it feels to be true to yourself and to be walking your true path. Even when it's difficult, you know that it's right. There's so many things that I want to share in response to things that you said, but I'm gonna, I'll get back to your question about what actually happens at the retreat. So the, the, As I, as I said before, the backbone of the process is the sequence of meditative audio lessons paired, each paired with a guided writing exercise. We have a workbook and the meditative audio lessons, or I just call them guided meditations, are about 20 minutes long and the writing exercises are anywhere from 10 minutes long to an hour long. The ones that are an hour, they don't feel like they're an hour. The time just flies by. And so we do a couple sessions during the day and we usually do a, do a pair, we do, we do like two modules, you know, meditation, writing exercise. Meditation, writing exercise. And then we have time for sharing, some partner sharing, some group sharing, some feedback from, from me. And we have amazing food. We do a yoga session each day that's, you know, very beginner friendly, just about realigning, breathing, recentering. That's always for many people, they're some of their favorite moments of the day. Even if they've never done yoga, even if they think they hate it, even if they think it's boring, by the end of it, they're in a different, they're in a different state. So it goes really well. It complements the process really well and actually helps the process go deeper. We'll have some, some free time usually every afternoon for about two hours. So it's a time for people can, you know, hang out by the pool, swim, chat, have a nap, read a book, do a bit more journaling, reflect on some of the writing, exerc sizes. It's just a, it's just kind of a free recharge time and then a couple other goodies. A bit of a ceremony that's about heal, letting go and healing the past. Yeah, that's the. Those are kind of the core elements of the process.

Yeah, I'm. I'm pumped, man. I can't wait. I'm going to be a little bit selfish here. Treat this like a one to one. Let's. You said you had a few more things to talk about out with what I shared, Rick. Yeah, that's good. I'm open to. Yeah, I'm open to. I know this is a podcast. I. I just think there's so much value to. I guess maybe even dissecting that a little bit if you wanted to, or giving me an example. Because I really, I really appreciate your wisdom and insight. We've obviously spoken a few times and I think we'll go pretty deep in July. I truly believe that we will. I will. And I think it's needed, man. Like I haven't looked up, up. I practice what I preach. All of you men knowing, especially the men on the inside. I take time out, I create space. I do anything for family. But it's been a big push, man, for like five years, since 2017. It's been a real big push and it's led to great success in family, self and service. But it's like even the holidays and the family stuff, I'm still. What's the word? It's definitely not a burden, but I'm still responsible, right? Like we go caravanning. Fantastic, great, amazing. I'm still responsible for the children. Children. Or I go somewhere with my wife. There's still a responsibility or a duty or an obligation is probably a better word. Whereas doing something like what we're going to do in July, man, I haven't done something like that just for me for a long time. Really long time. Like I've never gone on a holiday like on my own or just unplugged and gone and stayed in a cabin for a few nights just to reach it. I've done any of that. And it's all, it's all things that I intuitively know I need. But my production and performance and results have been great. So am I on the right path? Yes, because I asked that question. But is it the path or how can I make the path even better? Maybe not with speed. I think I'm working with speed. I think I'm bringing good calm. But I think if anything, what I may get in July is a resolidifying the. Yes, this is the path. And I believe it is, man. Like I'm very in tune with what we're doing, but I think that might reinvigorate me because I have periods like everyone, man, where I get tight, tired. I'm not burnt out, but I get tired and I get worn down. But I'm keen to get maybe your thoughts on some of the stuff because I guess for me the most powerful. Here's the thing, man, like the most powerful thing that you can ever have, gentlemen, is not the speed in which you're operating or the calm in which you're operating. I believe it's what you're talking about, Rick, which is that decision that you make right back at the source, going back to source, going back to you at the core level and choosing. Because from there when you really properly choose and commit, everything else flows right. I mean, I'm guessing it does. Like I. And a lot of people, I think they miss that most powerful piece. We call it alignment. But yeah. Of actually making the choice and then maybe even one further than that, being in the position inside themselves, in the environment, like setting, like what you do to have the permission and opportunity and the calm and just stopping the world to actually even feel like they can choose.

Yeah, a couple things. One is I'm so excited for you to be there and you'll be leading by example. And we talked about when you first brought the idea of a HPF Vision Quest retreat, we talked about you possibly helping facilitate a bit it. And we decided that it was best for you to just be there as a participant because you do enough facilitating, you do enough leading. And I think that that's going to be like the most powerful way for you to be there is as a human, as a man, as a father, as a student, as someone who's going through this open, vulnerable, real, as is your nature, but taking this burden of, you know, you've got to provide answers for people or that kind of thing. It's. This is the time where you will be with these guys. And I think it's just going to be the best way for you to lead is just to be yourself. Not actually being in the leadership role, but just to be. To show them what it's like to do deep, honest, self reflective of work.

So I'm.

I'm really excited about that.

Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's. Yeah. So like, like I said, that obligation is something where it's like what you. I'm sure you have your, your ways that you take time out and space and time for you and it's like we've had members here who have been like meditation experts as well. I'm like, what do you do for yourself? And like, I meditate. I'm like, well, hang on, that's your work. Work. You probably have a different association even, even if you're that strong mentally, physically, so there. It's impossible to not have that connection because you provide that for work. Same with this man. Like, there's this obligation to lead men and I lead with vulnerability. It's not like I put on a show, but it takes energy, man. I listen to some pretty heavy stuff. Takes a lot out of me. So being in that space where I'll just be able to be in a position where it's, it's because I, I feel that naturally to give. I, I feel it's a duty and obligation to give and provide opportunity for others. So being in a position where I'll provide that even more by not thinking about that, I can definitely see it, man.

Well, here's, here's what, here's what I think is going to happen is you're going to let these men rise up and support each other, which happens so naturally. And you're going to have moments when you're there and you're going to, you're going to have the impulse to lead and support, but then you're going to have a deeper voice that comes in that's like just be silent a little bit longer. Just be still a little bit longer and see what happens in this group. And someone else is going to rise up and get a chance to be. Be that support, be that kind, that kind loving, you know, ear for someone. Yeah. And I think that's going to be even more satisfying for you than being that first, first line of support for people. It's kind of being. Being a little bit, a little bit behind the scenes and letting these guys ride up and find, find the leaders that they are. You, you already know that you're a leader. Some of these guys are going to discover what, what leaders they are and how much they have to offer.

Yeah. Epic, man. I can't wait. I. And I, I believe you're correct. It'll be a time just to observe and, and just the energy and being there in itself will be enough of a, of a support for these men. Do you. Not that I was just being silly before and I said I'm turn this into a selfish one to one, but I'm. I'm curious on your thoughts, man, about these stories, these seeds that get planted inside of us at Such a young age and they can carry through too. You could have a bad traumatic experience when you're 30 and it's still there when you're 60. It's, it's interesting, man, but I guess what's, what's your view or take on, on, on that and that being such a stronghold of so many people's lives. And would you have any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions on how they could, I guess, start to maybe overcome those battles or demons or hardships that they face within from past experiences?

Yeah, the, the main thing I would say is this, this deeper clarity, this true, true clarity that we're talking about. And from what I've seen, well, in, in the process, we're mostly being guided by the light, by. We're looking towards the light, where you're following inspiration, we're following a deeper sense of purpose and meaning. However, there are a few exercises, a couple specific points through the process where we are looking at things like, things that you regret, things that still have a, like a negative charge from your past, you know, resentments and blame and things like that. Because from what I've seen, those are, those are areas where you, you weren't true to yourself, you weren't true to your purpose, you weren't true to your true path. And so they, they can, they can be very informative once you kind of look at it in that context. And it kind of takes the mystery out of it of like, oh, why do I hate that person still? You know, why do I blame that person still? Or why does that memory, or why does that choice still sting? And you, you look at it in that context and get information, you get guidance about your path and your true purpose. And you often not only get to a place where you feel peace about some of these things, like choices that you made, it could be, you know, staying, staying in the sport just too long. And even though you'd gotten signs, like, how many signs do you need? How many things do you need to break before you make a change? But you start to get, you start to release your resistance around it, you start to find a bit of peace with it. And you may even start to feel empowered by exactly what happened and how it did prepare you. And, you know, an example from my life is I really don't think that I would be doing this work. I don't think, think that this process would have come through me if I hadn't been through that traumatic experience of leukemia. That was the, that was the, the, the catalyst or almost like the excuse to be Who I really wanted to be and to know that I could have an impact. So when I think about it like that, I just go, what a gift. Like, that period of my life sucked. But if I had to go through that to do what I'm doing now and have the impact that I'm doing now, I wouldn't change that. I wouldn't change a day of it, you know, Then you know what? That's something where it's not like I had leukemia for years longer, and I wish I'd had it, you know, for a shorter time. So it's a bit different than your situation, but I think that you'll, you'll find a perfection in your path so far. And combined with the clarity for your future from here looking forward, you will realize that, hey, you don't need to walk that wrong path for one day or moment longer than, than you need to. You know, it's, it's. Those days are in the past of, of meandering and wasting months or years on the wrong path.

Fair point.

One other thing is I, I just finished working with a guy who's got a successful business. He's. He's very reflective, very inspiring. Dude reads a book a week, like, just pushes himself in every area of his life. He's a father. And he said, you know, this is also for people. He said, I didn't, I didn't really know why I, Why I signed up. It was just because I was interested in you. And this program came recommended to me. So, so he did it. And then afterwards he was saying, this program, it's not only for people who don't know what their path is. It can be for people who are on their path, like he said he was. But you, it's like it illuminates your path so you can actually see it in front of you and see where you're walking. So that's probably more the version that I would. The version of the experience that I, I think you'll, you'll get out of it. Is your, your path being illuminated and, and clarified and reinforced.

That's an important thing too, as well, I believe, Rick. I think it's sometimes taking ourselves out of our existing or current environment to not so much question it, but just to have a greater set of optics on where we're going. And for me, we year on year, provide more value, change more lives, and we tick all the boxes, right? But still living in a human body, man, like I said, it's. I've got three kids, I'm a Man, myself, you know, fucking superhero. That sort of stuff doesn't exist. But. But what I do know I need is those. Those points of illumination or recharging, which. Which can't come just from doing breath work in my backyard or taking the boat out for a kayak or, you know, doing something that is within the normal, normal confines. Instead of going where we're up north coast to come see where you'll come south, but I'll come north, and it'll just be a completely different experience where the energy is more than singular as well. It's not just me doing the meditation. It's actually the energy of several, you know, of dozens of people. And that. That aura in itself is something that regardless of doing the exact same act, is completely different to doing the exact same act on your own own. Regardless of doing exact same act on your own, it's completely different because of the energy and the people around you. Curiously, man, we talk about this in permission and looking at, am I on the same path? And so on and so forth. How would someone know what, though? There's a man listening to this and the man's like, that's it. That's right. Yep. I gotta leave my wife. Like, how? And I'm using that as a very simple and clear example. Or I've got to do this. I've got to leave this job. Or. How can you differentiate, though, man, between someone who's just burned out their cook, they need to recharge and like, hey, is that really the right thing or is it this? I'm just swinging the pendulum straight back the other way. And this is now a different reaction because I've listened to Alan, Rick, and they've given me permission. Now I'm just gonna do it. Like, what would be your advice there, man? So guys can just not be on the level. Like, it's. Life is a risk, gentlemen. Life itself is the risk. But make sure the voice is coming from the right place.

Yeah, the. The. You know, in the context of someone who's going to do this vision quest process, I always tell them, don't make any big decisions midway through the process because it's a journey. And you will. You will discover things along the way. You will, you will along the way. At times, you'll feel more confused than ever because you. You'll just want all of the clarity now. And I always say it's like walking through a city. Your destination is on the other side of the city. There's all these buildings in the way. There's no way you can see what that destination looks like. All you can see to the end of this block and you walk that, you get this whole new vista, this whole new view, and then you turn the corner and then a whole new view again. And you walk that path and it's that over and over as you go through the process and you reveal all the puzzle pieces of your life's vision. And so sometimes along the way people are like, yep, I know I got to leave my wife. I need to sell my business, I need to quit my job, whatever it is. And I say, if possible, don't make any big decisions until you're at the end of the process because you're only going to know a portion of what you're going to in, you know, a few days time. So there's, there's that. So, you know, I, I, it's, it's getting this deeper. Clarity is the absolute key. You know, someone who's just listening to that. I like how you put that. You know, there's, there's a guy out there who's wondering, you know, that's, that's it, Rick and now said, I got to be true to myself. I'm out of here. That's a, that's a good question. And I would, I would say, I mean the, again, the deepest thing is you, you have to be true to yourself. And if you have banged your head against, I mean, if you've really tried to heal things and if it's with a relationship to connect deeper and you've, you've been proactive and you've gotten counseling, you know, or you've, you know, you've got a bad habit you're trying to get through and you've gotten support. Like, I think that's a big part of it is getting outside perspective and support from, from proper guides, people who have experience and putting your money and your energy where your mouth is instead of just going, my wife drives me crazy, I'm out of here. What have you done? Like, have you gotten support? Like I always tell people who are struggling in their relationships, have you gotten counseling to, you know, separately, have you gotten counseling together? Like it's, it's just like a non negotiable in my, in my eyes, especially if you're thinking of ending it. It's like you need to get some, get support and, but you do, you, you really do need to be true to yourself and re, establish that relationship with yourself, that, that connection with yourself and realize that you want the best for everyone involved and you know, Like, I. When I split up with my wife about 10 years ago, it was very painful for a couple years, and. And I wanted her to suffer. And, you know, I was hurt. I wanted her to hurt. And it was. It was messy, but fortunately, it didn't stay messy for long. And one of the pieces of advice that a dear friend of mine gave me, he said, rick, you got to realize you just want her to be happy, just like you want to be happy. And that was even more true than. Because she was the mother of my kids. And it's like, I want the mother of my kids to be happy. I want her to be an amazing mom.

Mom.

That's great for my family, that's great for my kids. It's great for her. It's great for me. And that. That was just. I passed that along because maybe that will be helpful to someone in the situation that you're talking. Talking about.

Yeah. Yeah. It's a good way to put it, actually. You know, if. If you're a true and genuine loving man and leader, wife, business partner, children, friend, your own mother and father. Father probably would serve you best at a physical and spiritual level to look at the decisions that need to be made with. Wanting the best outcome for all. Right? Wanting the best outcome for everyone. I'm so pumped, man. I'm actually going to do something that I have never done before, and I'm going to, as we wrap this up, because it's been awesome to get. I think. I think we should have done a podcast a long time ago. The first of many, though. I think we'll definitely get you on again, man. It's. It's going to be fantastic, possibly to go through a couple of techniques for our listeners. I think that would be really cool, some of the stuff you do on the inside, but it. It's been unreal, man. And even. Even the energy, like, you guys know, I've done with. I think this is 219 now, all these podcasts, there's always a. There's always an energy that comes with them, gentlemen. And even when I do the solo ones, there's an energy that comes from something inspired from the members, and it's teaching me again. And I'm relearning. I speak them or remembering at the very least, and it's so powerful, man. But I. I feel like there's an opportunity we need to put out there. Rick. I feel like there's. There's not one man, there's a few men. And look, our. Our events, gentlemen, they're. They're exclusive that are members only. But what I'm going to do for the first time ever is I'm actually going to open this up. If you're a father listening to this and you're not on the inside and maybe you will one day, maybe you never will be, but you're aligned with what we do, you love what we do and, and everything Rick's spoken about is ringing true with you and you feel like you just not. Not get away, not escape. That's not the word. But you need to take the time to give back to yourself. You need to reorganize yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. Realign yourself, have the right energy around you and have an experience, a five night, six day experience where that's all you have. Have everyone around you in your corner, nothing but your best interest at heart. If you're a father out there that's a non member, Obviously we can't open this to everyone. But what I'm going to do, Rick, I'm actually going to offer this to three non members. If you're a father listening to this who's not a member of High Performance Father, I'm going to open up three spots. Only three obviously, because we've got our own members as well. We're filling this up quickly. Three spots for you to inquire, send me an email. Adminighperformancefather.com that's a D M I N admin, short for administration admin@highperformancefather.com ends flicks an email man share a bit of insights. Where are you at? Where is life right now? The mouse in the spinning wheel. Breaking point. Keep turning around. And unfortunately the opposite of what Rick said. You keep turning around and seeing the same city, same city block, same buildings and you're in this rut. You're getting no nowhere. You're 43 years of age now. You pass second half point average age is 80. That's dropped down, Rick. Unfortunately it was 81.9 and over the last couple of years seems to drop to 80 now for men anyway, in Australia you're 46 years of age, you're 49. You're like, fuck, man, where is my life going? If that's you and you want to spend six days with me, no coaching. Rick said I'm not allowed. But spend some time with Big Al, spend some time together with the tribe with Rick, myself and the other tribesmen. If you're one of those three and you really want to go to the next level in Your life. I'm going to open the doors for you, man. This is what we do, gentlemen. And please understand this. I need this to be clear for our members who listen to this as well. I have no financial gain out of this. I made that specifically clear for Rick and Rick, bless you, mate. Being an amazing man who wants to scratch my back and look after each other, you know, offered what he could do and me purely being part of the experiences and for my coaches and I is just a blessing, man. And so please understand this gentleman. Those, those three men, I get nothing out of this, actually I do. I don't get money out of this but I get the fulfilling opportunity for seeing three more men be impacted and me being part of that journey. And I will say selfishly, Rick, that is something I do enjoy at a selfish in a good way level. I love being a part of another man's life and seeing him win. I just, I just love it, man. And so flick me an email if you're a man who knows deep down that you need to be part of this event in July. We'll get you the details, we'll send you some information. You can even book in a quick call with Rick as well to clarify what's involved. As long as you're okay with that. Rick, I should have checked with you first mate, but what are your thoughts, man? What are saying? You think that's great?

It's great. Happy to chat with anyone who's curious and interested and has any questions or any concerns. Yeah, the best thing is to book a call with me. And also will you just say your email address again because there at one time you said that there was an AU at the end of it. But just clarify what's your email address?

Oh yes, it's adminighperformancefather.com. yeah, there is, there is no AU. Yeah, I should have, sorry, I shouldn't have made that mistake. I'll just double check that as well. But I'm pretty sure that our, the. Yes, sorry, no, there's no AU. Yeah. Admin highperformancefather.com and if you really struggle with that, just send it to alex@highperformancefather.com. but yeah, Rick, I think it's, it's going to be amazing. And those, those who are members listening to this, obviously with respect, don't fuck around. Like I say this with respect gentlemen, but those who really enjoy my company have seen me at certain events or physical tribe catch ups and whatnot. You're probably never ever Going to get this experience again to spend six days with me and for us to spend six days together. And I say, I'm not saying that I'm the prize. I'm just saying this is something that I'm immersing in, I'm invested in, but it's also something that you know is not around the corner every month for anyone to be part of. So for members as well, obviously we're filling up pretty quickly. Make sure you don't muck around. But, but we will keep three spots open for non members and I just think this is another way that we build high performance. Father is the message is true and genuine and helping men. But it's been awesome having you on though. Rick Scott, Goosebumps said man, I just really love your, your energy. There's just something about you that I just love being around and I just can't wait to have six days of that as well. Man. You know, you, you and what you're going to be putting on is the real prize here, that's for sure. But any final, any final thoughts as we wrap this up, mate? Any takeaways, revelations or advice for some of the men out there? Anything else you want to share as we, as we finish up?

I would say there's, there's one thing that I did want to share that was from something you said before and what I've, what from what I've seen. When people do this work, you get, you get clarity for the next chapter in your life and we, we kind of go off like a five year thing. That's really the sweet spot of the vision that you're, that you're clarifying. It can be shorter there. You're going to find dreams that are shorter, dreams that are longer. But it's this kind of five year chunk and it's kind of like climbing a mountain in your life. And you know how when you're climbing a mountain and you see what you think is the peak and you're like, yeah, I'm gonna get there. And that's, that's my dream is to get to that point point. And once I get there then it's, I'm sweet, I'm just going to hang out there because that's the summit and you put in the effort and you take the action and you stay focused and you stay disciplined and you get up there and you're kicking goals and you get to that summit and you realize this is just one mini peak and there's another summit and you're also realizing that Might not be the summit even either. Like, you're preparing yourself now to just. You can only see what you can see for this next stretch. And it's at that point where you do something like this again. You know, it's. I recommend that everyone revisits this process every one, two, three years, something like that, especially people who have a lot of responsibility like you. It's kind of like the more things you have pulling you on you in different directions. And as fathers and as business owners, there are so many responsibilities and hats that we wear aware. So you, you have to take the time out. Like you're saying, like, you've, you don't think you've ever taken this much time out just for you and to do this deep reflective work. So, you know, you revisit it every few years. And the cool thing is, so say once you're up on that, that mini peak that you've gotten to, then your view completely changes what you think is possible now. I mean, even you can, you could say, you know, if you'd done this process five years ago, you would have had view of what your vision was. Now, you know, five years later, where you are right now doing this process, it's. It's like you're a different man. Your kids are a different age, your business is at a completely different stage. You're at a different stage of maturity. What that vision looks like for this next phase in your life is completely different. It's a good. It's a, it's an evolved vision and you'll have a number of these. And I think all people do have a number of these kind, kind of crossroads checkpoint times in their lives when they're looking at what that next phase really looks like for them, what the future looks like for them.

So, yeah, very excited, very special man. Very special. Rick. Thank you, mate.

Thanks, Al.

Yes. Hope you guys appreciate the valuable time and energy that Rick's put into this, as I certainly have. And I want to thank you men for listening to this episode. And it's so true what Rick spoke about right towards the end there as well. In these points in our lives, these crossroads, they don't all have to be passive, gentlemen. Yes, life gets in the way and life can throw you curveballs, and there are many things we don't control. But I'd say one of the most valuable assets that we could have is A, in our souls, B, in utilizing ourselves and the gift that we are to be. Be proactive in finding these crossroads, proactive in seeking out where that Peak is and proactive in doing it in a way that is aligning you on your path the right way. And I'm really excited, man. I have a feeling of exactly what's going to happen in July and I'm sure that, that, that feeling and intuition is probably just scratching the surface and that's, that's, that's probably what ignites me the most because everything will benefit podcasts, the men in hpf, the men outside HPF who align with the message and love listening to us. My wife, my children. It's exciting, man. Thank you so much, Rick. I appreciate having your time. And this is the first of many podcasts, I'm sure. And we'll probably do another one, I believe, if not before, definitely after the event. I think that'll be very cool, man. I think we'll get some, some great shares and yeah, it'll be awesome. But thank you very much, mate.

Yeah, thanks, Al. Looking forward to seeing you, seeing you in person in July.

Yes, absolutely. How tall are you, Rick?

Yeah.

Seven.

Seven, two.

We do a few physical catch ups that the guys like. I'm not. And I'm a very humble man. You know, I'm a gentle, I'm not a giant, but I'm, I'm pretty humble as a big man. I don't, I never manipulate my size guys, but when I do see the guys in person like, oh, you really are 6 foot 4 and 115 odd kilos, I'm like, yeah, man, it's obviously why I used to play rugby league, right? Oh, should have, should have stuck with a different sport where a big man could still thrive, but that's been great, man. I really appreciate your time. And, and like I said to those, those very few select men, those, those couple of men, those three, three spots around. Gentlemen, reach out. This will be an absolute game changer for you and nothing will change your life more, I promise you that much. If you're plugged in HPF and connected to the message, but you're not on the inside. And this once in a lifetime offer, because I don't, we don't need to offer this, but I just felt compelled to because I know there's three men out there who I will see and meet in person, face to face. And we'll be talking about this podcast. Make sure you reach out. Thank you, Rick. Thank you, man.

Well, that wraps up another episode and just as we wind this down, I want you to just reflect and think back through some of the golden nuggets, some of the revelations some of the sore points, some of the things that might have hit home with you.

And then just look at ways that.

You can apply a different set of actions to change your position, change your circumstances, change your feelings, and change the facts. These episodes are done with your best interest at heart, and there's always something we can get from that. Maybe it's not the first time, maybe it's the second time. We've had members listen to episodes four or five times and then it finally clicks. But either way, I hope you got a lot of value out of this. And also, if this is something that you really want to solidify inside of your life, repetition is the key. You've listened to it. Write down your revelations, think about them, read them, speak them, believe in the changes that you will carve out in the action plan of those revelations to create change in your life and then share that. And when you teach, you learn the second time, right? So teaching and showing this to others you love and care about is the greatest way that you can remember. And make sure you consistently learn and relearn what is it's true and what is it is important to you in your heart. Take care, have an amazing day, night, weekday weekend, and I'll see you for another one soon.

Cheers.