50. Life Is About REPS

Foreign. Dad Movement podcast. My name's Al, but obviously you already know that if you're watching this here and now, listening to this here and now. Episode number 50, the big 5o. This one, I wanted to share a bit of a mantra or something that is close to my heart that I've lived and breathed for many years, as well as a staple, one of the backbones in rdm. And this backbone is Reps. Life is all about the reps. Now, it's really funny the amount of analogies you can draw from when it comes to the human body and muscles. Expansion, contraction, growth, growing, dying, all the moving parts that comes with exercise. But Reps is a great one that I tie into quite heavily in my life because it's something I've done tens and tens and thousands of because of basically, A, my industry, but B, where I've come from, being that overweight obese boy. 114 kilos at 12 years of age. That's what I topped out at, which was, you know, of course there are kids bigger and kids smaller, but that was, you know, that wasn't muscle. You know, it was something that was. Was quite a horrific period of my life. Had a loving family that supported me, of course, but it was very challenging for me at the time with bullying and girls not liking me, going through puberty, all the moving parts, right, of life when we're young, so that little fat boy still exists inside of me. And when it comes to thousands and thousands of reps in the gym, starting weights, dad decked out, we had an amazing home gym and friends come around all the time. It's something that ties into a discipline of my life. Reps, repetition. Life is about consistency over intensity. You'll have intense moments, you'll have periods of moments that don't necessarily define your life. They don't necessarily define who you are, but they almost certainly influence what the next step can, may, and should be. Depending on you, Right? So when I look at Reps, and I want to break this down for you, those listening who obviously aren't watching this or can't see that REPS stands for resilience, excellence, persistence and success. I want to break down every single letter of that and exactly what it means. This is the RDM code. It's what we stand for. Life is reps. Life is a series of reps. Doesn't matter whether it's in the gym or not, relationships or not, your children or not, your workforce. Remember the circles of significance that makes up rdm. There are only three things that actually encase or encompass your life, family, self and service. Very, very simple. It's not about making things complex. And in all of that comes ownership. Putting your fucking hand up and saying, yes, this is my life, I choose to live it on my terms. I'm not reactive, I'm creative and I'm proactive in my approach in living life on my terms. More often than not, of course, shit hits the fan, of course we get punched in the face. It happens daily for me. But what can I do to take those hits and keep moving forward and turn them from punches of Goliath into flies and something that's just in the way? Okay, what's next? And that comes to my first one, which is resilience. Resilience is overcoming the hurdles, the obstacles, the roadblocks. See, I love having a wide range and scope of how I communicate things and not trying to be some wizard or scientist with my vocabulary, but how you can tie into the cues that, that help you understand how this applies to your life. Because we do face them, don't we? We face roadblocks, we face hurdles, we face obstacles, we face big fucking walls. At times it doesn't seem like we can climb over them, right? What can you do to build up the speed and velocity to break through that wall? The ladder to climb the wall, or the lens to see a different way to actually go, Hey, I can just move around this wall and they'll come in all shapes and sizes. Adversity. What a thing that I say. An incredible thing. Not that it's ever wanted, not that it's ever desired, but it's a necessity in life because it is a part of life. And the necessity it plays in a role is helping us understand where we are and helping us take a step back and helping us look at our lives and ourselves and ask the question, well, what do I want? Where am I going? And who do I want to be? Who do I choose to be in this life? Now, as you become steeled in life over time, you don't need to become an 80 year old wizard with a long beard to understand the hardships are many of the lessons and learnings in life. You start to recognize that resilience is a great part of your makeup. It's a great part of your body armor, of your big breastplate that can handle the hard shit you will face in the world. Because what it means is, it means that you have the ability to overcome what's in front of you. And generally, more often than not, at a quicker rate Resilience is how can I overcome something faster, quickly, move on, you know, good pace, moving forward. And there's no written script on this. Please understand this. There are certain things that might take years to heal or mend certain traumas. Some might take weeks, some might take minutes, some might take seconds. Understand that. Don't ever. I remember seeing a book. I can't remember what it's called, I never read it, but it's basically this rule where when something happens, you've got five minutes to get over it, and then you gotta move on. That's bullshit to me. What the fuck is that? Time is something we create. You're the master of time, not the other way around. And time should not ever rule your emotions and feelings. What resilience does is it gives you the opportunity to have a perspective, to see who you are and where you are from which you can then draw a line and go, well, how important is this to me? There are so many different stories that will come out over time that it's been an incredible journey in the gyms, my life with the gyms and with rdm and unbelievable pitfalls and hard times like you wouldn't believe. And I'll share them in due course. And we're moving forward in an amazing way. It's incredible what we're creating in rdm, but they've all come with challenges. They always do. I feel like I'm home. It's taken me 20 years to feel like I'm finally home, right? 35. And living my best life through something that has called me, funnily enough, but it's been built off the back of earning my stripes, eating shit. Not literally, but earning my stripes for decades. To be who I am right now, to be where I am right now. And that was earned through having a level of resilience where sometimes things did wear me down and wore me out for a period of times, and other times it built me up over time where I could get on top of things very quickly. But my point is this resilience and having the awareness of this gives you the ability to change your perspective around something. There are so many things that do fuck all of me now. They'd affect people for months. I get abuse with my ads, I cop all that sort of shit. I don't care. You come into my world, you come into my frame, a frame of greatness, striving to be the best you can be, taking ownership, liberating yourself, and living your life on your terms. How can you lose? How would you lose I've got a specific voice, body shape and type that might appeal to some dads. They might not. That doesn't matter. The reality is, when you come into my world, you, greatness is the end result. That's why I don't care what other people think, feel, or do. When it comes to how they progress or portray the version of Al in their world, great awesome, bad awesome, doesn't matter. So when it comes to resilience, look inside of your life and ask yourself this question. What's my resilience like when someone cuts me off on the road? You've got someone you don't even know, who may not even know they're doing it, who's triggering you and controlling and influencing your emotions and feelings, which shifts the chemical makeup of your brain, Your heartbeat, your heart rate, your breathing rate. Have a think about that. That's pretty incredible, isn't it? Like someone either 5 meters in front of you in a car who doesn't even know you, or someone 5,000 kilometers away, controlling, influencing, and shifting your emotions and feelings in a negative way, positive way, unreal, great, good for you. But in a negative way, which triggers you in your life. This is the scope that when you recognize this, you understand that maybe I'm not as hardened as I should be when it comes to facing the external environments in front of me. Resilience is an amazing thing because what it does, it gives you a good gut check. Okay, is this important? What does this mean? Can I overcome this? How can I overcome? All right, beautiful. Let's move forward. Let's move forward. Let's move forward. Which takes us into excellence. The e in reps excellence is really striving to have the highest standard possible for you on that day, on every given day in what you do. Which is why exactly what I said just then backs up the word and the term excellence, because it varies, mate. It changes. You can't be kicking goals all the time. I don't rise to exist to survive or to compete. I rise to win. Four quadrant, four sections. I rise to win. Do I win every day? Of course not. But when I don't win, guess what quadrant or what section of the quadrant, I fall back into competing. I'm still very competitive. If you're rising just to survive, There are going to be plenty of days where you're just existing. If you're rising just to compete, there are going to be a lot of days where you don't have ownership over your life and you're surviving. You're in battle mode. Let me be clear here. And I've got nothing against overcoming adversities and challenges. That's what we have, it's what we do, you know, life and learnings. You're not here to survive. You're not here to be a battler. Battler is a horrible term. It's a fucking ridiculous term that holds no weighting in life. Don't hold the flag of going, I'm a battler. No, no, no, you're here to win. This is your life. 1 in 400 trillion, don't forget that. Plenty of could have had the chance, but they didn't. You did. You have, you're here now. You're listening to this, you're watching this. You're part of life. You are life. Rise to win. And the way you do that is striving for excellence in all that you do. Right here and now. I'm striving to deliver one of the most powerful podcasts I can. Given where I'm at right now, the time of day right now, who I am right now and the version of who I am, I might look back at this in five years and go, aha, Al, you know, a little bit old, a little bit wiser, looking back going, oh, I could have done X, Y and Z better, but that's okay, that's then, this is now. The past is the past. That's why I don't care if I don't have a six pack or I'm like the 21 year old version of Al who's, you know, fringe, first grade rugby league. Because the version of him would get eaten alive by the version today when it comes to leading men and fathers in this country and delivering what he's delivering right now. And that's what I love about growth and really expansion. Which is why reps plays a huge role in your life, because you've got resilience. How can I overcome the shit that gets in my way and get it out the way and move forward in my life? Keep moving forward right now. Beautiful. What's the best way to do that? Well, the actions that you take and not just physically, mentally, remember, life is a series of choices. When I talk about action, there's different lines of action. You making a choice and a decision is an action. A thought is an action, very powerful, faster than the speed of light. Words, they're actions. Your physical body is obviously an action that most people tie into and connect first and foremost when you say that word. But it's an entire collective of things. So the actions that you take across the board physically and mentally, man, you strive for excellence in what you do. Highest standard in what you do for that day. The kids might not have slept, you might have had a fight with the missus, a fight with yourself, might have had a tough day in the office, so to speak. What's the highest level excellence that you can strive for on that given day? And it's always muscles, right? Expansion, contraction. Just trying to push the boundary a little bit, just get outside of that. People say comfort zone. I don't even think that word gives it credit. I don't think that's the bubble that we speak about. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. Great. The fuck does that even mean? No, no, no. Expand the version of who you are now into maybe who you can be just a little bit. Just a little bit more of who you can be. And you do that through striving for excellence in all that you do. Unreal hour. That's great. So I've got to be resilient, overcome the shit stuff, have that perspective. What's in my way, what can I do to move past it, let it run its course. Remember everything that's come has come to go. That's right, it has. Everything has come to pass. The good, the bad and the ugly. You look back and then all of a sudden it's 20, 30. You look back and it's the twilight years. Here we are. What an adventure. Was it that's on you? Pretty amazing, isn't it? Two key questions. How much time do you think you have? And how much quality do you think you've had? Very powerful past, present and future connects. All of them. Key things to remember and recognize. So when you dial in the focus on things that you can connect with, resilience, overcome the shit, excellence, strive for a high standard. All that I do, physically and mentally uphold, I no longer tolerate or accept this shit. I raise the standards of who I am and who I can be. Then it comes about a level of consistency over intensity. What's that, Al? That's persistence, which is rinse and repeat. Resilience and excellence. Step one and step two, man. Do it again, do it again. How long, Al? For a week? No, for decades. For your life. And if you consistently expand just a little bit, doesn't matter how old you are, how many gray hairs you have, you're a better man for it. At that stage of your life, you're the greatest version of 65 year old Al that you could be. Or the greatest version of 75 year old Al that you or he can be, or I can be. Right. If there's owls listening to this, this is the truth. Persistence is a powerful game, but it's a game that can be distraught. It's a game that can tear you to pieces if you're persistent in just being a battler and surviving. You're an organism, man. Of course you can live for 60, 70, 80 years. But are you living or existing? Are you a consumer or a creator in your life? There is so much power that you have inside of it that you don't know about. And you'll hear people say that you have untapped power, the human brain, 10%, all that sort of shit. Great. But recognize that the power is here and now. Is it in the words I speak? Or is it in the messages you're taking from this and applying to your own life? It's got nothing to do with me. I'm merely a vessel or a form or a force that's been moved into your life at your beck and call and will. You've drawn me into your world, into your life. If you're listening to this, you've pulled me into your world. Understand that if you're watching this, exactly the same thing. So when we look at persistence, we understand that if I'm resilient, cool, Al. I'm not letting the external environment knock me. Yeah, I take some big hits, bigger hits than others some days. But I strive for excellence in what I do, the standards I uphold, the actions that I take. I'm the man. I'm the bigger man. I can do this. This is mine. It's me. It's got to be me. I take ownership. I take responsibility. I'm liberating myself. And I am moving forward the right way. And I'm doing it for the long term, the long haul. Play the long game. No quick fix bullshit, health and fitness related or life related. Don't look for quick fixes, man. Whether it's raising your children or your relationships, you will be burned because it doesn't change you, doesn't change you on your journey. And life is change, doesn't change you for the better. So when it comes to being a creator, not a consumer in life, persistence plays a big role in having resilience and striving for excellence in all that you do. And if you do that, that will build a perspective that brings success into your life. Success isn't the amount of money you have in your bank account. There's plenty of guys who have a lot of money who, their lives are fucked. They have lost. They've lost in their terms because there's a realization. There's plenty who might have that and they haven't. In their own eyes, it's perspective. But across the areas of your life, family, self and service, what you create for your family and your legacy of those around you, what you're creating the value add to the world and what you're creating the value add yourself and it really becomes a star, a star of significance. There's five points, there's yourself at the top. It's got to be you, mate. If you're not 100%, no one else gets 100%. The end. We could cut it right there and then that's another episode that I've spoken about. And then on one side you've got your family and relationships, they're two points. On the other side you've got tribes, your environment that you invest in with like minded people around you. That's your energy and you've got value and service that you add to the world. When you look at that, you can then determine success built off the back of the runs on the board. From being resilient, overcoming the shit and striving forward to become the version of who you want to be on your life, more often than not on your terms. That's resilience. See, I can influence you and what that means. Influence means I'm challenging your model of the world, your worldview. Doesn't mean you have to be like me or think like me, but I'm challenging that. And if I challenge that from a line of someone who has your best interests at heart, we can influence and change the bullshit and stories you had inside of you, of yourself, to move into becoming a better man, a better version of who you can be, Right? But it's still on you. It's still an external factor, external environment which is influencing and helping you shift and model who your internal environment is and can be. That's resilience. Pulling in the good, reflecting, deflecting, getting rid of the bad, excellence, striving for a higher standard, persistence, doing that. Rinse and repeat for the long term, for the long game. When you do that, you will win. I fucking promise you, mate. Because you'll have success in your life. And that's the final part. Reps. It is success. You will be successful. And success is something that's measured off the back of those three. What's the level of resilience I have? How can I handle the things coming in, trying to damage my frame? What's the Standard I'm upholding? What am I choosing to tolerate and accept in my life and what is the standard of me and who I'm carrying out myself to be in my life? Excellence. Am I doing this consistently? Am I doing what I said I would do? Am I planning the work and working the plan? Not drifting in life, not floating in life, fucking claiming life, man, this is your life. You're an absolute powerhouse and you have that power inside of you. Don't you ever let anyone else talk you out of that, let alone you talk yourself out of it. Please recognize and understand that. And I want you to know this little L still exists inside of me. That little fat boy still exists inside of me. It was about six months ago in pretty good. No, probably 10 months ago now, in pretty good shape, and I'm in good shape now, but I had a little low period there where my adrenals, everything was shot to shit. Last six months. I'm coming good now. We were walking, summer. We were walking and had my shirt off and in good shape, and someone yelled out, put a shirt on, fatty. Straight away, bang. Defaulted into that little fat boy. All the memories come flooding back right away. It didn't trigger me. It was literally an immediate emotional response that was part of the consciousness of my cells, of the makeup of that version of Al between the ages of 8 and 17. Pretty amazing, isn't it? But just as quickly, obviously, that triggered back the other way and I started laughing, right? It's utilizing. Using the little version inside of you and telling him, thank you for the gift and the lesson of who I should not be in my life and what not to do. Right? And tapping into the power of the greater version in you, Big Al, the big version in you. To see the power that you have in your life, because you do have that, mate. Please understand that. And I hope you've gotten value out of today's podcast in seeing a different light and way in what you can approach and have in your life if you start exercising. Life's about the reps. Get 10,000 walks in and just tell yourself, resilience, excellence, persistence, success. Resilience, excellence, persistence, success. You won't fail. You can't, because you're investing yourself. And I've got a great video that I'm going to share and I'm going to post soon. It's incredible. It's so simple. The simple things are the best, but it doesn't matter how strong you are. The environment that you continue to immerse yourself in and the environment that you continue to invest in and surround yourself with will consume you. It will. It does. There is no two ways about it, mate. No two ways about it. So make sure you choose wisely. Make sure you invest in an environment that comes from a place of holistic growth and expansion in really being optimistic of the life you can have. And be that now. Be that right now. And you will have that in the future. I promise you that. Hope you enjoyed this episode. Tap into reps. Life is about the reps. Have that level of resilience. Get over the shit quickly. Get over in a light that holds the strength that you have inside of yourself which you uphold every day through the standards in excellence in what you do and then taking what you do, taking that line of overcoming the shit and applying that with persistence. Because you'll face roadblocks, mate. You'll face challenges. I will. We all will. That we don't even know exist yet. What kind of stuff are you made out of then? And when you do that, both through your perspective, through the scope of how you see things and through your life and how you live and express your life. That's all life is experiences, mate. That's all it is. You will be successful for you in your life. Not for all in his life. You don't have to run a movement. You don't have to be a business owner. You don't have to be, you know, a father of one kid, six kids. For you man, your life, the version of who you are and who you choose to be. That to me is greatness and that's legacy that can be lived right here and now for you. Because this is your world. This is your life. Don't ever forget that you want to be the father, the big man, the family man, the husband, the worker, the businessman. You can be all of that. Don't forget they're all hats and tags. You're the man. It's your fucking life. It's your world. Have an amazing day, night, weekend, whenever you listen to or watch this. Hope you enjoy this and tune in for episode 51 where I've got an amazing interview with a very like minded individual. Formal NFL former. Sorry, formal former NFL superstar John Madsen. Incredible man. It was an awesome interview. I really enjoyed doing that with him. I'm going to roll that out in a couple of days as well. Stay tuned for that. Thanks. Have a great day, night, weekend and I hope you enjoyed and got some good value out of this. Cheers.