298. Al's Insights #19

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Another Al's Insights coming at you, and as always promised, 360 minutes or less, or less. Uh, with this one, I want to dig into my own story a little bit on the second one-liner. I've only got 2, only got 2 today that I want to dig into, but, uh, they'll carry some, some weight for you for sure. And here's hoping inspire you to carry forth your day, your week, your month Your hour, this minute, um, with a, with a level of, of, of vigor, passion, inspiration for life, you know, and, you know, when I talk about passion, you know, I really think it's important, fellas, that we, we'd be passionate about the impact that we're making, not so much the task that's ahead of us. Um, doesn't mean you can't execute that task with excellence and, and optimism and, you know, the right mental attitude, of course. But, but passion is something that is, is, is then a battle that's very quickly won or lost multiple times if you tie passion to actions, because every single day we do actions that we want to do and we do actions that we don't want to do, right? But if the impact's one singular universal, like HPF and this mission, uh, very, very easy to ride the waves, so to speak. Um, And continue forth on your journey. So I want to dig into this first one about growth. Cliché as it may be, you know, the whole, if you're not growing, you're dying. And look, you can remain the same. However, whilst you might remain the same in your output, conditions are changing. Yet as humans, the way that we operate, we don't notice the change so much. A minute, an hour, a day, a week, a month, a year. And then you look back and like I've referenced before, you've put on 10 kilos because there's only 200 grams a week, right? All these wrinkles, these frown lines that, uh, all of the men in HPF and my wife and children are giving me suddenly appear. I'm just kidding. It's no one's fault that I'm getting older. Still very young at 41. Mate, I've seen, there are guys in HPF in their 60s that are still very young. It's a beautiful thing to witness, you know, um, as Mr. Lavender says, not the Years in your life, it's the life in your years. But it's really true. Like you really are in, in depending on how far you zoom in or out on the timeline of your life, you really are growing or dying. And this, this one-liner I want to share with you is this. You can grow 1% a day because a lot of you You'll, you'll hold on to, or you'll notice a steady decline and just accept that's how life is. So I just want, I just want to start with that. You can grow. It's, the shape might be a little bit different. The canvas might be a little bit worn, but 90-year-olds can still grow. And I'm not like, it's, it's so easy to bring out examples like, okay, pick up a new book and learn something new, right? Like it's, and then apply it. Like, Everyone, everyone can still grow. 1% a day is a really good measure. Now look, maybe there's an exact science, maybe there isn't. That doesn't really matter, but 1%, 1% a day. And you gotta look at this, guys, as well. Like it's, it's, look, some clichés exist for a reason. Some don't have any power or weight too, right? So a lot of the times in the message is the gift, not the message itself.

Yeah.

And in the message of 1% a day, what do you think of right away when you hear or see that? That's so small. That's achievable. I can do that. So, so sometimes it's just the mentality and it's not that it's wrong. It's just, you know, how do you measure it? Now we, we have game plans and, and reports and track performance and whatnot in HPF. Awesome. But, you know, and we've rolled that out to the members too, which is pretty, which is pretty sick. Uh, but you know, it. Still, like, that, that's assuming that you executed on what you said you would, you're not blatantly lying, and that's also assuming that it was done, the how was, was, was rock solid with integrity and quality and received well. You know, I did special time with my kids, I was present, the phone wasn't there. Yeah, but were you thinking about stuff? What does presence mean? What are the layers? You know, so don't, so don't, you know, don't get caught up in that and pull things apart. But that 1% a day is pretty, it's, it's, wow, I can do that. Pretty achievable, right? You can grow 1% a day. That's 3.5 times the man you are in a year. We talk about being a 4-to-1 man and doing what's required and going above and beyond. And these are things that don't always yield a return, especially when it comes to relationships, when you pay it forward, but sometimes you're paying it forward off the back of the sins of the past, ever been known or not, the times where you've neglected your family, had good intentions, roof over the head, and that's a mission that you were on. And also, yep, that was a season you had to, but the season went from 1 to 5 seasons, but then that left you with this estrangement to your children, your wife. Like, I get it, man. Like, life's tough. Life's tough and life's messy. And I didn't get it from personal lived experience alone, although that I absolutely do. Man, it's been a crazy life. But through the thousands of men listening, observing, trial and error, testing, retesting, seeing the outcomes, like, that's, that's what's built HPF, not, not the brain of a man. That, that's, you know, and that— go on our website and, and show me where you see a picture of, of Al standing there with his hands up and everyone praising and growling him. Like, that's bullshit. And it's a word of caution. If you see that anywhere else, you question the leadership. The greater the leader, the greater the servant. And through cert— the irony is through serving these men, yes, I've become exceptional at what I do, but it's through serving the men. Not through arrogance, smoke and mirrors and all these other things. And it's the men who, who, who make it. So when I look at these men who are, you know, we talk about version 2.0 and 3.0, that's exactly it. You know, maybe, maybe version 2.0 is when, when you, when you 3x where you were. And I get that you can go to all these different things. And I mean, Grant Cardone's a funny one. And there's people do skits on 10xing this and why not 100x and why not a billion x. And I get that, like that, that stuff's funny. I love watching that. Cracks me up. But mathematically, 1% a day, I'll look at my life and I'm like, man, like it, you may not feel like you're 3 times the man and you may not have 3 times the relationships or 3 times the money or whatever it is, 3 times less body fat because you've been carving. But the mentality of that, firstly, secondly, this is 1 year. So what if you do compound that? What if it's not 1%? What if it's 0.1%? Doesn't matter. You're moving in a direction. And in this direction, growth is very rarely passive. You're active in the process, which means you're producing with focus, mission, people, actions, intention, accountability in the direction that you want to take your life and move in that direction. That in itself is a beautiful sign. 0.1%, 0.00%, what doesn't matter. You are growing. Now, of course, call life the market, whether it's business or not. The market continues to change, get harder and whatnot. So there is absolutely a threshold. I get that as well. You know, let's say the threshold is 0.5% of a percent. Cool. Well, you got to grow at least 0.6% of a percent to move. I get that, but stay with me on this one because what it starts with is the foundation of where you channel your focus. And where most men channel their focus is, I just need to hold on, or I do not want this in my life anymore, but it keeps happening. And they focus on the negative or just trying to hold on as opposed to counterpunching, man. And you counter hard. I've got to tell you, like, and it's not that I welcome turbulence in my life, but every single time I've been knocked flat on my ass. And maybe it's, maybe it's the Western Sydney chip on the shoulder, my upbringing, the mongrel in me. I don't know. It's definitely not a special gift I have, but there's something in me that goes, okay, cool. Is that all you've got? Let me show you what I've got now. And that doesn't mean I've won. It certainly doesn't mean I've won. She's got something special for you at the end of this episode just to touch on, but I've gotten up. And I've tripled down on the efforts and don't have any regrets for it. And my life has progressed forward. So you can grow 1% a day, it's 3.5 times a year, but you can go backwards 1% too. And there's no happy ending there. And that's that first one-liner or phrase I want to share with you guys. Yeah, you can grow 1% a day. You absolutely can. That's 3.5 times, you know, 367%. Okay, cool. 3.5 times. That's a lot. That's a lot of growth. You don't see it today. You don't see it next week. You sort of feel it next month. You acknowledge it next quarter. And then you reflect. You give yourself that space and time. You must. That year. And you go, wow. And we look at that like team offsites and stuff and the journey and how we've grown. What's changed from January? Man, I can't believe how much I've changed since January. It's crazy. It's so much, but there's such small little increments. Just tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny. But those tiny things on, on how you address something, how you put out a fire, how you prioritize the most important thing, how you lead and develop your team, how you show compassion when people are struggling, even though there might be levels of accountability with your members, with things like Winter Wars, with targets we want to shoot for, goals we want to hit as a team. When it comes to how, how you can be more of a servant type leader, even at events, I don't speak a huge amount at our state events, you know, empowering the coaches and the team and calling the men forth and their shares and, and re— I just keep refolding, refolding, refolding the men and the community back into each other, back into each other. That's a skill. That's not easy. It's not, hey, we're at an event, everyone just shares some stuff. It's hard. It's hard work, man.

You got to listen.

You got to pay attention to the energy. You got to, you got to adjust accordingly. You know, and, and that's, that's crazy. Crazy. We're only in September, but we're in September, right? 2026, like that. Warm weather. How good. How good. You can feel it. It's like something in the air. It's, it's, it's different again. But winter, we're pretty blessed. It wasn't that bad, to be fair. 1%, man. You won't see it today. Even these podcasts. Now look, I, you know, I'm a fair bit different from the first podcast, but go, if you go back 7, 8, 9 months and look at the podcast in January, I'm different again. And I think that's a good measure, you know, to, to, for not, not, I mean, it's not that I document it for that. These podcasts are for you, but when, when you can, when you can, like, if, if, if you can measure it, you can do something about it, right? You can't measure it. You can't manage it. Like all those sorts of things that they are true. So an easy way to measure. Change is mentality, the wording, what I'm discussing. Although a lot of the message is very similar. You know, there's episodes back in the 100s that are beautiful for you guys and serve you well and have served you well from the feedback we've gotten. But that's a great thing to reflect on a year and go, wow, how much have I changed? But will you notice it this week? Probably not. Will you notice it this day? Absolutely not. Other than a quick split-second reflection and go, oh man. I didn't eat that fucking second slice of cake. Like Father's Day and the beautiful Black Forest cake that Corinne made us. Although I did have a second piece later in the nighttime. I had one morning tea and one at night. It was beautiful. But allowed my calories to, to allow it to, I don't know. I don't know what the word is. It fit within the, not that I'm a big, if it fits your macros, I think you should absolutely eat wholesome food. But yeah, man, she makes a mean Black Forest. It's my favorite cake. So. That 1%, but here's, here's the catch, man. You can go backwards 1% too. And I've got to tell you, like, the same law applies. You won't notice that 1% negative today. You won't notice it next week. You might sort of acknowledge it next month, but you're too busy, man. Like when you're going backwards 1%, and we're all busy, but when you're going backwards 1%, More often than not, you know, wouldn't, as I say, bet my left nut. That's a bit of a saying, but I wouldn't bet my left nut on it. But more often than not, when you're going backwards, that is typically a sign or a symptom of a larger structural fundamental issue at play, which then means you are less inclined or likely to have the time, space, or awareness to reflect on your path and your journey. You'll have your moments. whether it's alcohol induced or not, of course, and your pity parties. But if you're going backwards 1% every day and that becomes, you know, a chronic pattern or behavior, yeah, people who are doing that are typically not the ones who are also going, hey, I'm just going to reflect on my progress backwards.

Yep.

I'm progressing at 1% backwards every single day for the last, um, last 23 weeks. Okay, cool. Let's keep it going. Whereas when you're growing and this, this is the gift, man, it becomes A beautiful thing. And it's a, yes, I was going to say addiction and it can be that, but you know, an addiction usually has a negative connotation, like an obsession, negative attachment to it. However, you look at the 15 tenets, you look at family, self, and service, you look at the be 100 to give 100, be the prize for your family, structure, capacity, skills, consistency, accountability with like-minded men, having that ecosystem, tracking and measuring data. When you have these things in place like that, that's a system. That's HPF. When you have these things in place, your addictions, quote unquote, or obsessions, firstly change, they change lanes. Secondly, they're channeled very powerfully. Like it is a higher level where you call ADHD a superpower and all that stuff. And I get all that, but that's, but again, you can channel that accordingly the right way with these quote unquote lanes, laws, values, beliefs. Oh man. And that's just rocket fuel, absolute rocket fuel. So that's the gift. It becomes an addiction. I keep growing. Just how good can I get? How far can I grow? What can I do this month? And statements on self-neglect and pity and all these things that you carry towards another failure of a quarter or a month or a year become very powerful and inspiring reflective questions. Man, that was awesome. Wow, I can't believe that. I thought I'd never get that feedback from my wife. I've had nothing. It's silence. We have that from members at times. I get, did nothing, mate. The wife, she doesn't even care. I've dropped 8 kilos. I'm writing little nice Post-it notes. I'm having special time with the kids. I don't lose my cool. I put up some healthy boundaries as well. So I'm not just a pushover. You know, I'm providing space and time for the family and nothing. It's like, yeah, but guess what? The difference between day 89 and day 90 can be worlds apart. You have no idea, right? Women have, women are clever too, and it's not their fault, but they're observant. How do I know this is going to be true again? Am I going to be vulnerable and let my walls down again for this man who's quote unquote her perception, some truth, some story takes two hands to clap, but quote unquote has let me down and let me down month to month, year to year, last 8 years. 8 weeks and the rooster's fucking walking around with his chest out thinking that I should be praising him. Be patient, man. Stay the course, stay focused. It's not her fault and you shouldn't be harsh on her either. But if you stay the course in what you're doing and pursuing that 1% every day, there becomes that, man, there just becomes that avalanche. It's phenomenal. That switch, I've seen it so many times. Men in themselves, men with their children, men with their wives, men with their business or place of work and structuring better balance throughout their life and family, self and others. dang, it just switches. I've seen that in HPF. You're ripping in, you're building, you're doing all sorts of things. And then we've had like these, these pockets of just like, boom, all right, next level, because we've built the slab and relaid the foundation. And that happened back in 2019, right after we nearly died, September 2019. It was crazy. It was crazy. I remember doing a hot seat with the mastermind that I was in and what a hot seat is. All right, cool. Now let's walk through everything. How's everything going? I'm like, oh, you know, I don't know. And then we started digging and I was like, oh wow. You know, I'm really struggling here with, with serving these men and these men staying and giving them more value and blah, blah, blah. It's okay, cool. Let's look at it. All right. Awesome. You've got 65 trading days left and you're dead. Okay. Well, we better do something about that. This is, man, it was, it was awesome. I need to see if I can find any, um, uh, any record of that or something. And I could dive a bit deeper into that. But the point is you just keep, but I was growing at the same time, missing the mark can grow in the wrong direction. Got to veer back on track. 1 degree left, 2 degrees. Of course that matters. You want as straight a line as possible. You'll never get it, but you want to shoot for as straight a line as possible. Just like when you shoot for perfect through imperfect action, you'll never nail it, but the mere pursuit and desire to nail something with perfection, the highest standard through action, not through a desire or thought, is the reason why your standards will be above and beyond anything else you've ever tried. You know, and that's, uh, that's a bit of a, it's a, Not, not, not, not, it's not contradictive, but it is a bit of an ironic thing, you know, when you, when you look at that. Um, shoot for normal and you'll get just that, maybe a bit less. Shoot for exceptional and you'll have extremely high standards. Shoot for perfect and you'll be exceptional. So when we look at this growth, men, it's understanding that, that, that avalanche comes, like it really does. But the same law applies. You can go backwards 1% and you won't even notice that because your mentality, like your mindset, your attitude and approach towards life, your feedback loop from those around you, which probably isn't something like HPF, you know, or your wife and kids or friends and colleagues might not be an environment that's really serving or challenging you to moving forward in better stead, which means that 1% Backwards is so deadly. It's so silent. It's so unknown until bang, it's too late. Whatever the too late is doesn't mean the too late can't be repaired, rejuvenated, or realigned, but the too late is this outcome right now has hit. And it's always sad when sometimes you're scratching your head going, how the fuck did that happen? What do you mean I've got diabetes? Well, yeah, man. I mean, have a look at your lifestyle for the last 15 years. You know, or, uh, in a different way, equally, if not closer to home, things like ruptures in relationships. You can grow 1% a day. Choose which one you want. Because remaining the same does not exist when you expand the concept of time. It's not a moment. Like I'm the same right now. Okay, cool. I might be the same at 11 o'clock. I might be the same at 3 o'clock. Might be the same at 6 o'clock. Expand that a little bit more. Draw that concept out to a month. Are you different? A quarter? Are you different? A year? Are you different? A decade? Are you different? 5 decades? Are you different? Of course you are. Even if you're trying to be the same. Which 10-year-old kid tries to be the same? It's crazy, man. There's so many gifts in our children that teach us lessons of ambition and never giving up. And never quitting and never stopping. And at the same time, they're extremely contradictive and hypocritical. They'll give you the raw, unfiltered truth and at the same time go back on their words a minute later. They're the funniest creatures, man. It's so awesome. But hey, adults do that and should know better. Isn't it funny? But just know that you've always got the choice. No matter how bad you are, you could be negative 6,000. Ow, it's been like, man. It's been many years, right? Let's say 10 years, 3,500 days. Mate, it's been like 15 years now. I've done nothing.

So?

Doesn't matter. And when you look at the radical change, the structure, capacity, skills, consistency, awesome. That's a structure. That's our structure. That's your diamond of development. But if you're developing that diamond within that desire, that deep burning desire in your heart, To flip the script on your life, as well as that direction, clarity, and accountability through someone or those closest to you, aka your life success manager or your coaches in HPF, as well as the tribe of all these other men, hundreds of men who are going through the same. You'll improve more than 1% a day. Let's work that $6,000 back to the zero as quickly as possible and then get you in the green. 100%. Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, and that's the thing, man. Like, just be wary of that. Like, most men don't notice the 1% decline because it's comfortable, right? Growth is uncomfortable. So that's also the other, the ironic thing where it's not a, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's not a, um, paradox per se, but it is like, yeah, like there's no growth in comfort, man. So when you accept that, The whole get comfortable being uncomfortable is, is a great thing. Like, I enjoy and look forward to those moments where I'm tested. And, and it could be anything. It could be, you know, public speaking is great. Love doing that. I love that, man. Like, I love it so much. Like, I want to do more because I love the test. And, and that's the thing. You flip the script in your mind where you just become that animal. You're like, throw it at me, give it to me. All right, let's go. Where am I uncomfortable? A little fat kid. Wouldn't pipe up at all or go red in the face, ask a question inside of his class. How about the teacher? I was like, yes, please. Started doing CrossFit when my rugby league career was shot to pieces. And what are all these movements? Oh man, wall balls and thrusters are the worst. They make you want to vomit. Do they? Awesome. I'm going to do 60 kilo thrusters and I'm going to do 100 as quickly as I can. You know, and, and I'm going to do burpees every minute because that's really hard for me as a big man. It's a workout actually. Do 5 burpees a minute and then as many thrusts as you can in the time remaining. He had 100. I think I did it in maybe 11 minutes. That's a brutal workout, man. So everyone hates this. Fantastic. Now I'm a big dude, which makes wall balls okay, but thrusters, yeah, I've got strong legs and shoulders, but that's so far to move. Like it's, I'm moving the bar. You know, if you go to a full squat and all the way press overhead, like nearly 2 meters. Like I know the bar isn't touching the ground, but also I'm pressing, I don't know what my arm length is, but I don't know, 50, 60 centimeters above my head. Cool. And what is it? Oh, it's normally 42 kilos. That's the, that's like the 95-pound weight. Fantastic. Give me 60-kilo thrusters. Give me 80-kilo thrusters. Give me 100-kilo thrusters. Give me barbell thrusters. I'll do hundreds of them. So, so love that. Relish the fact that, that the pain is where you grow, which takes me to my next one. The catalyst. So just finishing on it, man, you can, you can grow 1% every day. 3.5 times a year. Phenomenal. But you can also go backwards too, and there's no happy ending there. And that is always, always where the, uh, the trap lies for most people who sedate and distract themselves, and life ends up pulling them off the course they were destined to live. Harder to get back on. This second one, the catalyst of pain birthed everything that I've built. Your pain is trying to do the same for you. Pain is non-discriminatory. It's not this, it's, it's like, like pain isn't some sort of figure or being or entity that is going, I'm going to look for John.

Where is he? There he is.

And I'm going to fuck him up. I can't wait. Hey boys, come around, watch this. It's not, it's non-discriminatory. Doesn't discriminate against us. Um, but yes, it's, uh, it's, it's, it's crazy, man. Because at the time, of course, when there's pain and suffering, what do we want? Well, we just want that alleviated. Naturally, as human beings, contrary to how we behave at times, we actually seek some sort of equilibrium. And, and, and balance. But I do like how, um, Gary Keller puts it in The ONE Thing. It's more of a zigzag when we look at this balance and we measure it through impact, not time. But it's so true, that catalyst of pain, man, it birthed everything that I've, that I've built and I've become and I've, I've, I've driven and, and, and the service that I provide and, and love giving. And, and, and not that I say, hey, I hope you never go through the pain I did. Like, it's your, your pain is yours. But also for one quick thing about the Viking, the Panda, and the Chief, that was born out of trying everything, all different therapies and stuff with, with my wife when we were rebuilding our marriage in 2017, 2018. But also me being in redemption mode for so long, finally turning around and saying, hey, like, no, enough is enough. Like, I'm not going to keep copying this, uh, copying this. And, and, and, you know, and, and I can't cope with this and this is what's going to happen. And stepping up into leadership. You either have that, keep having that conversation, pointing the finger at me on your own in the living room, because I won't be here, or we move forward in a way that serves us both. So you'll experience that. A lot of you men are Vikings at work and pandas at home. It's either a skill gap, an energy or capacity deficiency, a lack of, um, overcommitment, a lack of structural commitments on overcommitting, stretching, and then failing, which lets everyone down. Ironically, even though you did it for them, they're now even more disappointed with you, as well as protecting your time. to pour back in your cup, into your cup, so you can be more of, more of a presence and, and provide stronger leadership. And then also peripherally building value through juggling this thing called life with sometimes a logical pathway that women can't quite have in the running of the children and structure of the household and organizing priorities and casting the vision forward. Yeah, yeah, that's probably, probably all of them, or some of them at least, uh, is, is why you are seen as a pantophifo. If you're physically not present, not there, tough man, tough run. Your wife has to step in and become more of a man like this. These are, these are ones and zeros that I just see like code. And then we break down that code and we reformulate a very simple structure and you move forward. But the catalyst of pain is what birthed everything that I've built. And your pain is trying to do the same thing. Man, that little fat kid, like between 8 and 15, you know, it took time, but around 13, 14 started lifting weights, but still ate bad food and wasn't good. And then started doing walks. I remember going down and it's so funny, like it's. And I absolutely believe it was, it was, it was a divine seed that was planted to change the course of my life. But I just don't, otherwise I don't have any explanation. I just started going down to the local soccer field and walking around the field. And, and I don't know how wide soccer fields are actually, but let's say 300 meters, I guess, maybe a little bit more if you looked at, you know, 50 to 70 meters wide, 100 each way, but just, just did that and I got up to like 18. And then 20, just walking, you know, and then started running, started eating a little bit better and cut away like McDonald's, just started with that junk food and then started lifting weights, not seriously, but more because I was only 14, more consistently. And, um, so, so strange, man. And, and again, I don't have a reason for the switch, but what I will share is there was so much pain. So much pain every day. Where's the jab coming from next? Or I'm going to get told that I'm fat or this or that, or I'm going to sit down and my belly's going to bulge out of my shirt. Or we've got sport day and I used to be awesome at sport. I was a weapon at soccer growing up. Still play cricket pretty good. You know, not a huge amount of running involved there. Fielded in the slips. But it's just like, you know, and, and, and you, you hide that, you cover it. You mask it, especially as men, with humor. I'm there at my nonno's and me and my brothers are having competition to see who can be the heaviest. And I ate so much, I think I ended up being about 114, 12 years of age, you know. Don't get me wrong, there's, there's, there's bigger, fatter kids, but that's, that's getting pretty, that's getting up there. Like for a 12-year-old, that's, you know, I wasn't, I wasn't like I was 6 foot 4 at the time. I was, I was 12. I was still growing. You know, I wasn't that tall. Crazy. Crazy. So the pain of judgment of self, of judgment from others, from my brothers. Yeah. And they're just, they're just brothers, right? There's plenty of times they, yeah, they had my back and defended me as well. But, but all around, all around, you know, the discomfort and just, yeah, like getting, getting sweaty so easily. You know, because it's just unfit, unhealthy. Like, it's just, man, it's horrible. And then I look at like where that took me to health and fitness and winning the award at high school that I was, I was the one who would, um, the, uh, forecasted or like, I was, I was the one who everyone thought would live the longest or some, some who will, who do you think will live the longest award? And I won that in year 12, which is the best silly award. Uh, but you know, it's, uh, not sure if I want to live the longest. But you know, it's, um, you know, it, it's crazy. I went from that and the catalyst of pain and look, can more pain create more transformation? Probably, but sometimes time can be that too, right? Like, I'm just sick of this. It's been 10 years as well. So it's not so much the severity of the pain too. And then also you get to a stage, man, where it becomes a formula per se, or it just becomes like a Not that I try and create or fabricate pain, but you shift gears a little bit. It's that, that fear of failure and pain and the catalyst there, but then it shifts into a love for greatness. Like how, how great can I get? How much impact can I have? How much can I give with the time that I have left? Where can I, where can I help? Where can I have more impact? And maybe you don't have to try and help as many people as I do. And the number doesn't matter. It's just the impact with the number you have, you know? One child, 6 children, employee or a business owner, extended family, very small family. It doesn't matter. That took me into, uh, winning like, uh, sorry, coming second in state shot put and having a national, unfortunately not recognized, but a national record. Um, 'cause the guy who beat me was younger than me in state, but the national, I got the furthest distance in shot put. Like, that's okay, cool. Well, I mean, big fellas can do that, but that was Like it was an identity piece that came in off the back of so much pain that shifted into then going, "Oh, I finished year twelve. I'm not sure what I want to do. Hey, I'll try rugby league," and going from nothing to training with first grade squads in like eighteen months. That's a pretty like all sports very hard. That that's that's pretty hard to do. You're rocking up to the Sameri Saints and there's seventy people there just for this is local footy. They won it the year before, so they. Popular and powerful club, 70 people turning up to preseason. I was like, I knew no one. No one knew me. So, and then so many operations, 9 operations and reconstruction from a failed rugby league career. And then that catalyst turned into me not only developing a higher level of mastery and awareness in my body through something like doing CrossFit, opening and running gyms, but also building a CrossFit gym that was so against the norm with, with rehabilitation and, and mobility and awareness and an identity piece that tied performance to who they can become and transform themselves into, looking after their bodies, whether you're 15 years old or 55 years old. And that's why it was called CrossFit Wellbeing. It was, it was beautiful, you know, and carrying that through. And then the pain, like the, the, the pain of business, the pain of, of, of fatherhood, the pain of my marriage falling apart. Look at HPF. And then the pain of HPF, man. Do you know how hard it is helping middle-aged men invest in themselves? Holy dooley. It's so hard. But everyone's business is hard. I get that. Okay. But it's, it's so hard, man. It's crazy. It's wild. The catalyst of pain, whatever pain you're going through, man, it's trying to do the same for you, not to you, for you. Pain is simply a signal. And if you can hold on to that, With that mentality, you then have something you can lever. It's like, well, let me, you know, leverage. Let me leverage this pain and do something about it. Not just sit in it and let it consume and overwhelm me. Let me do something about it. And it's not that you always need to be in fight mode. Okay, cool. All right, come at me. And it really is about that, um, that little, uh, fable on, um, I think it's called a fable. On the coffee bean, right? Do you want to allow the hot water to turn you soft into a carrot, hard into an egg that's so boiled that the yolk is gray? There's nothing good in there. Or be the coffee bean. Acknowledge the environment. Use the environment and do something about it. So I know, as always, man, that's easier said than done. There is, there is I'm in a period right now where there is less pain than there has been. However, one, I never forget, and two, the severity of the pain that I've gone through has not turned me numb per se, but it has given me such a strong pain threshold. Maybe not like a woman giving birth. Geez, I don't know how they do that. That stuff is just crazy. Whether it's a cesarean or, because that's such a long recovery, or a natural birth. But so definitely not here to say that I've got the highest pain threshold in the world. That's for sure. But the threshold of adversity, the threshold of the signals that I've experienced physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, all of that internally and externally in the conditions of my life and it falling down in Family Sovereign Service many times, but on at least 1 to 2 times in each circle, so heavy. So man, balls have got to be on the, they're on the line here. You got to do something about it. You know, whether it was the 13 or 14-year-old, and I'm so grateful. It's who I am now, man. I'm so grateful to that boy. I'm, I'm so lucky and I thank him so much. And it would do you good service to thank the younger version of yourself as well, because despite the pain that you're in, maybe you're not thanking the version 3 or 4 years ago yet because he's putting you into a bit of a tough spot. But you've got to look over your life and just show gratitude. But like all things, use these elements as verbs. Pain is not a feeling or emotional or an attachment to my situation or condition. It's an action, a signal that is invoking something inside of me to, to go out and go and produce and counter. Gratitude, love. Show them. Show that with actions. Turn them into verbs. And just understand your pain is trying to do the same for you. Be a catalyst of some sort. Could be small, could be big. To birth something brilliant that you don't even know exists yet. To birth something incredible at step 10, but at least it's got you thinking about steps 1 and step 2. Perfect example is a lot of my life. I didn't go as this, like if I said to my, if I said to my, my mates in, in, in year 8, or even the local footy teams or anything, if I had said then, hey, um, I'm lifting weights and, um, I'm getting fit and healthy so I can, I can play first grade rugby league in, um, in 7 years' time, man, I would have been the best comedian on earth. I didn't see what step 10 was. And guess what? Professional rugby league wasn't step 10 either.

And guess what?

I don't even know what HPF is. It could be step 30. It could be step 80. It could be step 100. And that's the full, don't know. I know I can do this forever, but I also don't know what's ahead. So understand that too. Like your pain is a gift and that gift is something you might not open up for 3, 5, 8, 12, 15 years. I look at my life with the fat kid elite sport. Running gyms and failed business and CrossFit and being lead athlete. I look at all of them, and I'm not saying I'm the only man. I'm certainly not H like I'm not the man of HPF. It's all of us. But I'm not saying I'm the only man who can lead. But I look at the the fire, the tenacity, the hardships, the mongrel, the mentality, like all of that. And and I see from 13 to 41 now, I see a 28-year apprenticeship. To be standing here right now, where a lot of my life I've never felt good enough. But guess what? I fucking did it anyway. And I look at where I am now, and I'm like, let's fucking go. And that's my final gift I wanted to leave with you, man, that I said earlier in this episode. Most of my life, I've never felt good enough. But you know what? I fucking did it anyway. And I countered that with my favorite saying. Which I'll take to the grave with me, man, which is never give up. It's so simple. My mate sent me a, um, our year 6, I don't know if I already said this, sorry if I said it in another episode, but he sent me our year 6, um, uh, yearbook of all of our things. So 11 out of 12, I would have been 12 at that time. What's your favorite motto or saying? Never give up. Right there. Ingrained in me at such a young age. And even before then, never give up. That's when I was, that was when I was peaking. That's when I was at the peak. Or heading into the peak of my horrendous weight and body composition. Never give up. Never felt good enough. Never gave up. Became good enough. Fucking go again.

And that formula.

So there might be times in your life where you don't feel good enough. And that's fine. I'm not saying that isn't true. I'm not saying you shouldn't feel that way, but what I'm also saying is despite the feelings or the truth or wherever that saying may land for you right now, get the fuck up and go and do it anyway. And you'll see what happens. Don't you worry. And you're not going to be riding in on a big, beautiful white horse. You'll fail so much. When you do it anyway. And that's what you'll see. But you'll also see what happens when you keep failing. And when you keep failing, you keep improving. And when you keep improving, you start succeeding. And when you start succeeding, you'll keep failing. And as you keep failing and improving, you'll keep succeeding. And as you keep succeeding, the failures become smaller, minimal, and just part of the journey and part of the process. And you don't ever stop, and you keep fucking going. And that wraps up the session for today. Now go get it, man. I'll see you soon.

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— that 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.