53. It's Not About The Years In Your Life, But The "Life" In Your Years

From Olympic athletes through to, you know, through to 80 year old male and females, you know, just kind of looking to get the most out of their, their life and their years that they're alive. I find that, you know, most people that I deal with, mate, it's like when you're initially starting the health and fitness industry, you kind of know what direction you really want to go in. It's all about exploring. And I think one of my biggest downfalls, I suppose in a way which most people would say, or most very successful business people would say that I kind of bitten off a little bit more than I can possibly chew because I go down a lot of rabbit holes because I don't get stuck on one thing because I'm so excited and I really enjoy what I do. You know, once you start listening or I listen to lots of podcasts, like I was saying, and listen to professors on gut health and on best kind of movement techniques and then you start talking about, you know, the best things for say I suppose, plant based nutrition. And then, you know, then what happens is for who like, you know, like who's plant based nutrition best for? And because we're all, we all have our own unique kind of bio individuality, there is no best practice for anyone. It's what works for you in the time that you've got. And really at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what you do and what choice you make in life, as long as I see that you're just bettering yourself and your friends and your family around you from one day to the next day, you're learning something and you're not kind of going sideways or backwards. Like I know sometimes a lot of us kind of, as I was saying, get kind of pushed down a rabbit hole and you think, gosh, I've just wasted maybe a day or a week or a month of kind of going down this kind of this on this journey and then realizing you've come to a dead end. But then what happens is I see it like a bit of a jigsaw puzzle when some things don't make sense. And then I look at things maybe six months or a year or even three to five years later and I realize that that kind of dead end, it makes sense. Like it kind of falls into place. And that's what's so amazing about the human body and about health and nutrition and about how we evolve. Nothing, nothing is ever set in stone because we are such an evolving kind of species as a human being, but also in what we do like look at technology where we were, I suppose, 10 years ago compared to where we are now and where we're going to be in 10 years time. Like it's, it's unbelievable. Like not many people wanted to go online with learning and everything else. I know. But now since this pandemic, every man, woman and child is had to kind of have a bit of reality check and then all of a sudden go online with what they're doing. And I'm kind of the same person, you know, I'm a little bit not quite up to speed with technology. And because I'm a hands on, I'm face to face, I've always been that visual person. My background being a masseuse and being a fitness trainer and being an athlete, you know, and doing things at many different levels. And then I've always been the one to put the hands on the body and to kind of feel and to be able to feel how you move and look at people's kind of movement patterns and then kind of work out, you know, from a, I suppose, I suppose you could say an engineering point of view on how do we ease the pain or how do we help someone move a little bit more fluently. And so that's been very interesting and intriguing to me for the last Maybe I'd say 20 years of my life. Yeah. So it's made. Life's all about exploring and it's one big journey and just trying to, I suppose, just excel in what you do, whether it be personal, whether it be business, whether it be, know kind of whatever you do. I just love what I do. So it's. Yeah, it's one.

Sounds like one hell of an intro, Ken. I think we've already started the podcast, mate. That's incredible, you know, and it's awesome to hear all of that, mate. And that's why I feel, that's why I feel connected to you as well, Ken, because I started like that in the health and fitness space, like you said, exploring, not knowing where to go, what to do, who to turn to. And we will use that as an intro, mate. So welcome everyone to our latest episode. Mr. Ken Lavender, the legend you've heard, speaking for the last five to eight minutes of Absolute Fire. It's a journey, isn't it, mate? It really is. And I guess we're starting, we're starting probably in reverse order and you're talking about what you've done and what you're doing in your current practices and everything that's happening with the world at the moment. And your philosophy's made us something that I love. I remember we met at 2013 regionals, wasn't it?

Yes, that's correct. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

It made me. Mate, I'd never met someone who was just. And I've got a few friends and influential people who are reasonably experienced in the health and fitness game. At that stage in 2013, I was like. I'd never met anyone who was just so calm and fluent and sure, but positive and energetic with everything that you were doing, because you were helping me mobilize and getting ready for the next workouts and stuff I'd never seen or heard of before, mate, it was unbelievable. And it really worked. It really worked amazingly for me. Instead of just, you know, rolling out, like the traditional way.

Or.

Is it the car mechanic, the spanner like, you just made. Yeah, the body spanner.

You are.

Yeah, mate, you're doing a number on me. But it worked. Some of the performances in that 2013 regionals were, well, some of the best ones I'd ever done in the three regionals that I competed. It was incredible. But, yeah, that's where we met.

I think the big thing is, mate, you know, like, when you're. I suppose when you're working with people, you know, as working with someone physically, you know, a lot of the drive comes within that person. So, you know, if there's great energy around the people and obviously, you know, being a regional games, like, it's a massive and an incredible effort for anyone to kind of. To get to that level of ability, fitness, especially in CrossFit, like, a lot of people and the different kind of modalities that I've been involved in over the years, from soccer to rugby to AFL and many other kind of swimming, athletics and everything else, it really takes an incredible mindset for someone like yourself to be able to get to that level of ability or to reach that level. Regional games, like, there's literally, correct me if I'm wrong, there's tens of thousands of people that kind of try out for something like that. And at the end of the day, you know, like, because your mindset's in the right place, like, and if you constantly are working on that, you can almost do anything. Like, no matter, you know, I've heard of many stories and I've actually worked with people with broken bones and they've played out AFL matches, rugby matches and everything else. And, you know, the power of the mind is incredible. And so if you can really, really be kind of focused on not necessarily just one thing, but in that current moment, you're capable of doing incredible things. And so as far as just kind of manipulating a little bit of connective tissue for you and showing you through different modalities that I've learned over the years of experience when it comes to soft tissue and mobility and stability and stuff like that, it's pretty much superficial for you. But like I said, mate, it really comes down to you, the person, the strength behind you, the determination and the character. You know, it's definitely a multiple of things, but really, at the end of the day, I was only just basically not even touching the surface. You know, it all comes from the heart. And like I said, mate, you've already done all the hard yards to get there, and I was only kind of giving you a couple little tricks that I've learned over the years of experience. And, you know, I think whether it was the best thing at that time, but, I mean, it was something a little bit different and it assisted. And it's great that, you know, having. Having a few tricks up my sleeve to be able to help anyone. And that's what it's all about. Just trying to give someone something to kind of, you know, work on, and hopefully it's going to help them, you know, physically, but also mentally at that same time.

Yeah, and that's. And well spoken. As humble as you are, Ken, it's funny because even though a lot of the work's done, like you said, the prep work, the biggest thing there physically, but more importantly, I guess mentally, like you touched on, there is realignment and I think having the right people around you, the right treatment, of course, but the right people around you and that energy like you spoke of helps with that realignment, calms settles like, I was actually very relaxed, mate, in your presence and, yeah, overwhelmed. Not overwhelmed, but like just over the moon with the treatment and stunned by some of the methods. But it was something that I went on a journey with with Hayden, your nephew as well, and he introduced me to you, and it was awesome. But I guess, mate, to really get our listeners or those watching this clear on your background, mate, and what drives you. I'd love to go back a little bit on, I guess your upbringing or what got you into the area. I don't know a bit about yourself, Ken, and what got you to getting into the industry. And I guess we'll touch on some stories there as well, I suppose.

Yeah, One of the big things for me, mate, it really kind of as a. I suppose as a young child, like, I grew up a little bit like spent a little bit of time on the farm and then out in the country in Broken Hill and at a very young age, at the age of 12 years old, I'd lost my father. Like I'm the baby of six kids in my family, three boys and three girls. And being so young at 12 years old and losing my dad, like he never kind of his lifestyle, the only thing I could really say that wasn't right for him was kind of he smoked cigarettes as, as my mum did. But really losing someone that's close to you at 12 years old and I remember like on a daily or if not it'd be a weekly basis that you know what, I just couldn't handle the smell of cigarette smoke. And so the big thing for me was that there wasn't a day or again, like I said, a week goes by where I just told them, listen, you know, you've got to give that cigarette, you've got to give them up. And so from then on in and it kind of, I know it sounds a little bit kind of far fetched but at 12 years old you kind of do know what kind of what's going on in life. And you know, we didn't have very much money when I was young and you know, and six kids and whatnot. And then after losing my dad at 12, it was quite difficult to then realize that kind of, you know, where's the person in my life who's going to kind of step into his shoes? And really there was no one for me at that time because my oldest brother had gone and joined the army and ended up in the Special Forces, kind of didn't really get to see him much. And the other kids, kind of all my other brothers and sisters, most of them had kind of left home because I'm the youngest out of them all. But from then on in I thought to myself, well, you know, my dad at 42 years old, me being 12 was a little bit difficult to handle. And I don't really think I ever kind of grieved with him passing and whatnot. And then I just remember ever since then I knew that, that as I got older and if I was going to start a family of my own, I definitely wanted to be there for the long run for them. And so, you know, my main driver ever since then I knew that I was kind of going to do something in health and fitness. And even though like I'm 50 years old this year, turned 50 in October, so the big thing for me, and that's like 38 years ago. So to think about health and wellness and fitness, I was always kind of reasonably good at afl. I was always, you know, looked after myself. And as far as the training and things like that, even at such a young age, I just always loved to run or to lift a weight or run out in the paddocks and things like that. So it's always been kind of part of my life. But, yeah, it's been a little bit tough. Kind of having to find my own way and kind of find my own feet and kind of. I finished high school at around about year 11 because I, you know, I was almost didn't know what to do with my life. And so, you know, I sat on the fence with my cousins. When I say I sat on the fence, you know, most of them were ended up kind of on the wrong side of the law. Criminals in and out of jail, they had been. And kind of, you know, I could have fallen off the wrong side of the fence and gone along with them because, you know, in a way, there was my mum. She was nowhere to be found. You know, kind of. I think she was going through some hard times. So it literally from the age of 13, 14 years old, I was literally raising myself. And so that. That journey was. Was pretty tough and I had to grow up very quickly. And, you know, my dad, at a young age, when we used to go fishing of a weekend, you know, when, when he was here, you know, from about 8 years old through to 12 before he passed, you know, the one thing that sets in my mind that he told me and he said, you know, like, you know, you're a man and you've got to do an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. And he said, you should never ever, you know, take anything for granted and you should never, ever take anything without doing a hard day's work or at least doing something for someone. And so ever since then, I kind of, you know, when my cousins were getting into trouble and I was sitting on the fence, I thought, you know what? This is not the life I want to go down, or this is not the journey I want to take. I want to kind of make something of my life. And pretty much from there on in, I had a bit of a, you know, a bit of a good run with AFL football. Then it was vfl and I kind of had the opportunity to play for Central Districts sanfl and kind of was on the edge of making the rookie list for Adelaide pros when they first kicked off and also had an opportunity to Kind of, you know, potentially go to the Edinburgh Games for, you know, the Commonwealth Games in athletics. And so just because of me being such a young age and not really having any guidance, no mentor, nothing, and really I kind of missed out on a few of those opportunities in life. And so now, you know, and that was from about 17, 18 years old. And so now I look back on and I think to myself, you know, what, like, with not having anyone to kind of steer me in the right direction. I've looked back and I've got, you know, three children. You know, my oldest son has finished university and he's got a law degree. And my younger son, now he's about to turn 10. And my daughter, she's 12. She's turned 12 last Saturday. And they're doing exceptionally well. You know, they're all reasonably healthy and fit. You know, we look after our nutrition. You know, my wife's a primary school teacher and, you know, and I look back on kind of where I was at 12 years old, my daughter's just turned 12, I think where my life was kind of then. And I look where my family is right now and I'm pretty proud of what I've got. And it's something that didn't come easy. There's been a lot of kind of memories and kind of, a lot of kind of tears along the way. But at the end of the day, time heals everything. It doesn't. It doesn't fix, like, you know, time. Time is incredible because, you know, if you lose someone or something bad in your life happens, it's no good kind of, you know, dwelling on the things in the past. It's about kind of creating your own journey and creating the stepping stones and, you know, building that. Especially if you're gonna kind of, you know, you've got people around you and, you know, you make sure, you know, you build a great team of friends and family and life again. Like, you know, I can't. I suppose I can't say it enough that life is all about exploration, exploring and stepping stones. And we have ups and downs. And just at the end of the day, mate, I think really, life's what you make it. And I was talking to one of the clients that I look after and she's the most amazing person and kind of, I look at her and her attitude to life and she's. I'm currently looking after at the moment, she's 79 years old now she's 80. In January next year, she nursed her husband to death with prostate cancer. About seven years ago, she's beaten cancer three times. And when I say she's beaten cancer three times, right throughout this whole pandemic, she has been receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer. And she's been out in the park with me training twice a week and receiving chemotherapy when everything else kind of doesn't make sense. The one thing that she knows she's got is her health. And it's about what she was saying to me. It's not about, you know, the years in your life. It's about the life in your years. Like, it's about the life in the years that you live. Like, you've got to live your life. And so with me, when people ask me how old I am, I go, well, why does it matter? Like, how old do you want me to be? Like, at the end of the day, the most important thing for me is to be able to live my life and enjoy it. That's what life's all about. And, you know, and on top of that, you know, kind of to finish this little bit of a kind of conversation or to kind of get to a point, I've got so many people that are ridiculously wealthy, like, you know, millionaires and maybe a couple of billionaires. And the one thing that I comfortably kind of talk to them about and say to him, like, what's the good of having all this wealth if you don't have your health? Like, at the end of the day, you know, it absolutely means nothing. Like, you've worked all these years. And most of the people that I look after, you know, they haven't just walked into it. They've had a bit tough life, too. And now, like, they've got all this money, and yet, you know, a lot of people don't seem to want to enjoy it and kind of, you know, to the level that I would like to enjoy it anyway.

It's incredible some of the insights you provided there, mate, especially with that old lady, you know, And I couldn't agree more. It's not the years in your life, it's the life in your years that really defines your journey. And like I said, exploring. And how have you found, I guess, a lot of the hard truths you had to learn in growing and raising yourself to a large portion and, you know, learning all the different pieces of life. How do you find that's helped you in providing a platform for what sounds like a beautiful family mate and leading your children now as a man and a father?

Yeah, that's very interesting. I find, and I tell you, like, the Thing is, you question yourself quite often about kind of, you know, how well are you doing? Because really there's no gauge, you know, there's no, you know, when, when so many people, you know, friends or family, whatever else are out there to kind of give you advice. When, when a new baby comes into your life, it's kind of, everyone's really quick to give you advice, but again, like, you don't know what to expect. Like, it's, it's, it's this, you know, this baby's born and then all of a sudden it's like, now what, you know, and all the things that other people have kind of dealt with within their life and how they reared their child is completely different to kind of what you will do with yours. Because of all of the, you know, the tips and the tricks that you kind of, you try and take on board, the thing that, the books that you read, the advice that you get from professionals, everything else. At the end of the day, I find it's good to have advice and it's good to kind of have people there to kind of, you know, kind of have a shoulder to lean on and a good set of ears to listen to when you kind of, you've had no sleep or you're a little bit stressed, or in times, if you don't have any children, you know, you go through different times, whether it be music, whether it be a TV show, or whether it be a moment, a Father's Day, a Mother's Day, whatever is a birthday. And the people that are no longer there with you, you have a little bit of time to reflect on those things. And then I look at kind of my life and then I kind of, I think to myself, what am I grateful for? You know, where have I kind of worked on different things in my life and what have I done and where could have I been, you know, like, if I'd have fallen off the fence the wrong way with some of my, you know, cousins and whatever else. And I'm thinking to myself, you know, like, at the end of the day, we all have choices and we can all be, you know, strong at different times in our life. And what's really most important is that each day you've got to be thankful for what you've got. You know, there's so many people out there that kind of have disabilities and other things and people that, you know, when I say disabilities, people that are in wheelchairs, people that are born, you know, body abled. And then all of a sudden an unfortunate event may happen and then no longer can they see or hear or walk or something like that. So each day that I kind of look at life when I look at my family and I get up and I can see and I can walk and I can do things, I'm very grateful for each and every day that I'm able to do that. And what drives me in the industry that I'm in is that if I can share just one thing with a person, I don't want any gratitude for it, I don't want any payment for it. I just want to kind of give someone something that they can take away just to teach them something new that can improve or better their life in some way, shape or form and looking at things and you know, we can dwell on things but I mean at the end of the day, you know, it's quite difficult to kind of, you know, go backwards when we do live in such a great country, especially here in Australia. It's unbelievable. And we should just take things, I suppose, day by day and just hopefully be thankful for what we've got.

It's very interesting mate, and I couldn't agree more. It's very interesting when you talk about giving back and gratitude and sharing with people. It's frustrating at times Ken, because with such a saturated industry in the health and fitness industry, it just seems like common sense to people like you and me to understand that the physical vessel of health and well being in connecting the dots and providing a service for people leads to mental health and well being as well. It's just a given for me mate, and I guess that seems to be an overruling theme that I feel for me at the moment in being present and even as a father, what you spoke about with your children, shoulder and ears and listening and being present and the higher the level of presence you can have around you comes down to, I find the energy that you can express or be, which, which is, you know, it's your physical health and well being, isn't it mate?

Absolutely. I've got a really like a pretty good story to share with you, you know, and, and this is quite, quite interesting. When I, when I speak to people, you know, for the first time a lot of people kind of because of my background being a male, I suppose being involved in bodybuilding, etc. People sometimes get a little bit intimidated by, you know, physical structure. Like someone like yourself, I think you're around maybe six two, six three, you know, someone like you kind of, you know, to speak to someone that's a little bit Kind of an introvert or someone that's not quite confident in themselves. It becomes really interesting because a lot of people judge a book by its cover. And then, and then once you start to kind of get to know someone or sit down and have a conversation with them and they start to realize that you're not just skin deep and they realize that you're not superficial, there's a lot more substance to this person than meets the eye. And so every person, and I promise you, like anyone, I will have a conversation with anyone, like I, you know, I'm willing to sit down and to listen. And I suppose that's what's made me quite successful in the industry that I'm in, is because at the end of the day, most people just want someone to be able to talk to and just give them a little bit of direction, whether it be in health and fitness, whether it be in business or whatever else. And I'll be up, honestly and honest and up front like I'm a terrible business person. But you give me someone with any kind of inability when it comes to their physical well being, I promise you I can make a change within no time at all. You give me literally 10 minutes and I can make a change. I can biomechanically assess someone. I can kind of look at their structure to see whether they're under a load of stress just by looking at their shape, their shoulders, the way they breathe, the posture, the way they move, the way they walk. It's very good because of the body language and the physical kind of awareness that I've been able to kind of, I suppose, pick up a lot of tips and tricks. And working in the industry for so many years, it's very, very kind of fulfilling to be able to help people in different areas of their life. And when it comes to people in business. I remember meeting this guy who come to me and he said, listen, Ken, he said, I want you to train me. And I didn't have any time because I was completely booked with training people. And he said, listen, no, no, no, it's not about that. He said, you don't realize who I am. And I said, well, unfortunately, you don't realize who I am. I'm all about loyalty. I'm all about looking after the people that I already have. And when he said, but I'm going to pay you $500 an hour, I'll give you $1,000 an hour for your time because I've made a bet with my daughter to him, you're not quite listening to Me, like what I'm all about is loyalty to the people that I look after. I'm happy to give you some advice, I said, but I don't have any time to look after you. And so we negotiated a few things over maybe 45 minutes or an hour over a coffee or a green tea. And in the end we ended up kind of spending quite a few hours together and taking him through some training stuff and, you know, and it was all about that he made a bet with his daughter that he wanted to be the same way he was, you know, 30 years older. And he wanted to be the same way he was when he married the daughter, you know, like his wife. And he said, I'm going to be like 13 kilos lighter, you know, when it comes to your, your, your wedding in 12 weeks time. And so he's, and he said, listen, I'll give you any payment if you can help me reach that, reach that goal. And so the guy was like 13 kilos overweight, you know, and I knew just by looking at him, etcetera, you know, he had quite a belly on him and whatever else. And I knew that that was just the secondary. To me, my most important thing was to be able to improve basically him from the inside out. So it wasn't about getting 13 kilos off and him giving me say a $10,000 or $20,000 bonus. It was all about changing his life around, getting his blood pressure right, getting his cholesterol down. And so what happened? This Guy turns over $300 million a year in a business. And he said to me, right from the get go, he said, what is it that you would love in life? And I said, well, the one thing I'd really like is a Ducati 1098, because at the time it was in 2010, so it was the Ducati 1098 that was like the boys toy. That's something that I wanted. Never afford it, like there's too many more important things. Kind of the last thing my wife would ever let me do is have something like that when my daughter was 2 years old at that stage. And so we got to the 13 weeks. So actually we got to 12 weeks and he'd only lost 10 kilos. And I knew he wasn't going to get the third, you know, the 13 kilos off when we're getting to the final day. And he said to me the exact words, he said, you bastard. You didn't get, you know, like we got there and we're like a kilo and a half short. From the 13 kilos. So I had to pay his daughter $10,000 as a bonus. But he had plenty of money, it was never a problem. And I said to him, I said, listen, I said, I know I failed you in, in the, you know, in the 13 kilos, but we got 10 and a half kilos off. But can I please ask you to go back to your doctor and check everything that you checked when we first started? And so he did that literally like two or three days later. And he come back to me after the daughter's wedding, which was literally, you know, two weeks later, and he offered me $10,000. And I said, why is that? He said, well, with what you've done over the last literally 12 weeks, you've increased my life by 20 years. The doctors just said, you've increased my life by 20 years. And the guy's name is Rick. And I said to him, I said, rick, that was my intention right from the start. It didn't really bother me about whether you lose the 13 kilos. 13 kilos was a bonus. But whenever I work with anyone, it's not about what people that are not quite, not, I wouldn't say uneducated, but people don't realize kind of what the most important thing is really their health. It's not about losing a couple of kilos. It's not about running, you know, a five minute quicker half marathon. It's about getting their foundations right first. And that's just. We're not talking about physical here. We're talking about everything. We're talking about their mental well being. We're talking about their internal, you know, the blood pressure, the cholesterol, everything. So I've just added 20 years to this guy's life within 13 weeks or within 12 and a half weeks. And what money do you put on that? Like, how do you put a price on that? So, you know, like I've said to people, like, listen, I will guarantee you, you tell me any business out there that can guarantee someone 100% results or your money back in the health and fitness industry that we're in, and we're in the wellness industry, we're in the business of helping people improve their lives to create better quality of life. This is the industry we're in. And people don't really kind of value the level of change that we create in life. And I've never been about the superficial things. Hey, it's great. They're the bonuses if you want to lose a couple of kilos. But at the end of the Day I'm going straight for the internal stuff that you can't see. That's what I'm all about. To change the anxiety, to change, you know, to create, you know, help them with their mental well being and everything else. That's what I'm all about, you know, like the other things are just secondary to me. And that's why right from the get go, at 12 years old, if I can change someone's mindset and just make that one little percent change in someone to get them to breathe a little bit more, to get them to sleep more, to whatever, just to give them those little tips in life like that. To me, I've done my job as a wellness expert. That's my role.

It's incredible. It's something that really hits home with me as well, Ken. Like I talk about with our dads in RDM and a lot of people with weight loss as being a byproduct of their habits and the patterns they've formed in their life, their standards, that's something that's a given. If they change, whatever it is, it is. But for me, we've had one of our dads who recently is not lost much weight yet. He's thrown out his belt, he's lost several centimeters, completely changed his performance, gone through the roof, his muscles gone up. We've had other dads who've put muscle on and lost fat. So it looks almost the same as scales. The scales is such a trap. So many people mate, you know, and it's like I said, it's from the inside out. It's the version of who they choose and continue to become as they move forward. That you can influence an impact.

Yeah, the statistics might just stand hands down, like exercise. I remember going back, say exaggerating, but going back, say 10 years ago talking to doctors and going toe to toe with doctors about exercise is so important. And when I talk about exercise, it's not about getting into a gym and throwing weights around, it's about movement, it's about trying to improve breathing techniques, it's about trying to improve just hydration, it's about movement. Like my philosophy is movement, it's about hydration, good nutrition and breathing techniques. Meditation is exceptionally good for people that don't kind of listen, I suppose again, kind of just stepping back a little bit. Twenty years ago, at the age of 30 or 29, I won't call myself 50 yet, but I was really hesitant on meditation and the power of meditation. And when we talk about meditation, people think you're going to Sit, you know, on the floor or in a padded cell with your legs crossed. And, you know, they think that's kind of what meditation is. No, it's not. Their meditation is about having time to just kind of breathe, having a little bit of downtime and kind of reflecting on, you know, what's going on in your life and just kind of really taking five or ten minutes out in your day to then to kind of reset the body clock, to reset kind of what's going on in your life. And whether you think kind of you have blank thoughts or whatever else it is, it's really about kind of taking time out for yourself and having time to reflect on the good things and hopefully the things that you may have not done so well. And hopefully then you can kind of talk to yourself and see what you can do better. And, you know, that's so important that people kind of, you know, not worry about, you know, their well being, just about getting into a gym or having to run a half a marathon. It's just about actually taking time out for themselves and just, you know, having a bit of quality time. Everyone needs that.

Yeah, absolutely, man. We need that, that hundred percent in the now. Like, I talk about the present, the past, the future, and planning what you don't want, what you do want. All these moving parts. But meditation, we call it creating space. In rdm, there's so many different terms, but just having that time of just you, just for you, solely for you, that's a pattern. I see. Fathers just don't get mate, whether it's society, what their dads have conditioned them, suppressing emotion as males or just providing for the family, sacrificing. That's why I'm here, mate. Like, it's. When I became a father, things got so much harder. I couldn't believe it. I could no longer do things out of fear of failure or do things just for other people, because it was my life too. It was me as well, mate.

Yeah.

If I'm not 100%, Ken. Well, they don't get 100%, mate.

Yeah, absolutely. Like, that is. That is incredibly important. And, you know, like, thinking about that, like, you know, like I said, I'm at a stage where you try and create the pathways, you know, you really want to be able to do the best for your children, for your family and for the people around you. And it's funny, you talk about, you know, this, and we're actually chatting now on this podcast. What's really interesting. I'm kind of looking at a few different Things and I was talking to my wife, she's just turned 40, and I think to myself, okay, what is it that 40 year old women kind of need, kind of create a niche to kind of help improve their kind of, you know, day to day life and whatever else. And then I think to myself, what am I going down that path for when I'm 49, nearly 50, and I'm thinking, what are 40 to 55 year old males kind of, you know, what are they doing? And I look back and I think, okay, what is it with me? Is it. I think a lot of the things mate, I think growing up and being in kind of, you know, because I'm nearly 50, I think, you know, we're evolving quite quickly, mate with technology, but also getting out of our old set ways. Like, you know, men are willing to open up now and to talk and to kind of, to be able to talk to, you know, your partner or your mate or someone, just to be able to kind of, you know, vent some of the information. Like, you know, I can absolutely, you know, say with one hand on my heart that, you know, it's very hard to shed a tear and you know, when kind of memories come forward, as I said, you know, lost my dad at 12 and when it comes around to Father's Day and I look when it's Father's Day and my son's here and I think to myself, you know, gosh, I miss my dad being here. So whether it's kind of that, you know, the life that I've kind of experienced and whether I'm kind of, you know, maybe a bit too proud to shed a tear or to show that my son's strong and my daughter, that I'm strong and you know, that ego, those little things there that you need to overcome and you need to really. What I found most that's changed my life is what's so important. I take time out for my wife and she forever ask me how am I going at the end of the day or the week, she's the one that says, listen, you know, how's your day going? How's your week been? Like, you know, are you stressed? Are things good? You know, it's really about asking each other, your friend, your mate, your partner, whoever it is, just not for yourself, but ask how they're going. And then all of a sudden it becomes infectious and it becomes contagious because then they realize that, hey, I'm not really doing that well, or hey, listen, I've had a great day. And just to Be able to kind of, you know, to get those thoughts out and just to be able to talk to someone. Whether you've had a good day or bad day, there's nothing better than sharing, you know, good and bad moments, whether it be with a mate or your partner. Like, I just can't emphasize enough that if you're not talking to someone now, you need to, you have to literally talk to someone about, you know, what's going on in your life.

So important to express that, isn't it, mate? Really, you know, it's something that, yeah, ego, being proud. It shouldn't have to be me. Growing up with three brothers and two older, one young, it was just like, yeah, the front. My dad's Italian, so it's all that pride that came from his father and quite. Being quite stubborn, all that ship. Yeah, a lot of baggage. And it's fascinating all the stuff you've shared now, Kent, like what initiated the spark for you, mate, to have you. And that's driving you with this level of intent and purpose that you very rarely see. And mind you guys, we can go through your credentials and some of the amazing stuff you've done in your life, but you've got a body better than most 20 year olds, mate. But you have achieved everything externally because of who you are internally. But where did that, that spark happen, mate, that's driving all this?

I think one of the major drivers, to be honest with you, is I was very interested in how far you can physically push the human body because I've always been involved in health and fitness. I look around at so many things that are happening in life as far as cancer, as far as people losing loved ones at such a young age. And it's, it's, you know, everyone that I know and everyone kind of, that they would know, they know someone that's died of unfortunate events with cancer and whatever else. And I suppose, you know, growing up and seeing things that are pretty tough and growing up as I suppose having to kind of find my own way in life, it's been tough. And so even now at 49 years old with a beautiful family and a wonderful wife that supports me, you know, there's many times, and I'd say on an average maybe at least once a month, I would think, because I drive to Sydney, like I drive in and out, like I live in Winnoona and Wool. So I drive an hour and 10 minutes every morning, I get up at 4 o' clock every morning, I drive in and then so I travel literally two and a half hours, minimum, every day. And I've done it for 14 years. And so it gives me a lot of time to myself, a lot of me time. And so you think about it, that time when you've got literally an hour in the morning, around 10 minutes, no one's willing to take a phone call at half past four in the morning because they're doing better things, but in the afternoon, you know. And so I kind of, I've had a lot of time to reflect over the last 14 years, to kind of look at where I'm at and look at where everyone's going, I suppose around, I suppose the world, the country, Australia, wherever, you know, and looking at how we're kind of declining in our health, you know, the rate of obesity and everything else. And I think myself, I don't want to be a statistic. And like I said at such a young age, you know, like I've had, I kind of had control, but I didn't have to control because I was too young to realize what I was doing, whether it was the right thing or the wrong thing to do. And I'm forever questioning myself day after day, week after week, month after month, what I want to do with life. And the only thing that I could ever kind of reflect on or put my hands on is something that made me feel great within myself. I had to find something that I was passionate about, something that drives me every day. And the one thing that did drive me was about physical exercise. Like physical exercise. When I'm in that area, that space, my space, I push myself to the limits because I can, I've got the mental capacity to do it. But that doesn't come overnight. It took me from the age of 12 to potentially the age of 21 to be able to explore and go down a lot of kind of maybe dead end roads and a few positive, you know, a few good roads. And what I made sure I did was try and get people around me that were people that I wanted to kind of head in that direction in life, had great people around me and to kind of, you know, lean on people that have kind of had some great wins on their board. And I suppose every day to me is a new day and if I can meet someone new and I can learn something from them, well then it's successful for me. And you know, to really pinpoint any one area, I think it was really the tough times, growing from the age of 12 and really from the age of 12 to 21, mate, I think, and even now I think, you know, Have I done the right thing? At 49 years old, not having potentially a mum or a dad, in hindsight, from the age of 12, it's a really kind of. Yeah, it's a tough situation. And then I look at kind of Hayden, my nephew, and he lost his dad, which was my brother, who has been in the SAS, Special Forces. Like, he died at 46 years old through haemophilioma, asbestos cancer. And I never got to see him because he was forever away on different missions or whatever else, you know, things that he was unable to kind of share with us because, you know, government things where you can't kind of share things. And I look at him and at 46 years old, I think myself, God, you know, our dad died at 42 now, you know, when I seen him have hemophilioma, which was out of our control, one thing I did see with him, mate, was that when we changed his diet around, when he was going through kind of the final six months of his treatment and whatever else, it really did change a lot of things. And with people that I've worked with, when you change just one little thing, whether it be their mindset, whether it be their hydration, their nutrition, we just chip away at one thing at a time. And then I reflect back on where I've been in life and I think it wasn't a daily change that I had from the age of 12 through to 21. It was just like maybe a monthly thing that I might have done within my life. Could I go back and reflect on any one of those in particular things? Not really, but it's about not what you do in a day or a week or a month. It's about repetition. You've got to create some kind of repetition, like with the human body. People think that, you know, that what happens is that if we have a bad night or we eat bad food, it's going to affect us for the rest of our life. Or if we have a bad week of eating and we put on a couple of kilos, it's going to affect the rest of our life. Or if we have a bad six weeks or we have a bad three months, it's going to affect our life. No, it's not really. What happens is we are what we repeatedly do. And that's what I'm all about. It's about just chipping away at those 1 percenters. 1 percenters, 1 percenters. You're not going to change everything in one day. It's about finding where you want to go in Life and sitting down, creating a journey or creating a little bit of a plan and speaking to someone that can kind of help you map that out and then reverse engineer it, find out where a major goal is and break those down and go, right, how am I going to literally reverse engineer this? What's our first step? What am I going to do today? Not tomorrow, what am I going to today? What am I going to change now? None of these bullshit New Year's resolutions. That's just full of shit. Nobody follows those like anyone that tells me about, listen, let's get started next week. I said, you obviously don't want to get started, then don't bullshit to me with your crap like, let's get serious if you want to make change. I'm going to give you one thing. I'm not going to give you a whole heap of, you know, scientific bullshit that's going to, you know, because we're all individually designed. So what I give to you, Al, may not work for the next person, may not work to me. So it's about, you know what, let's just implement one little thing and let's see if we can kind of create a lifestyle change for that. And then when that becomes a lifestyle change or when, you know, you've got, you know, you've got a good hold on that change, well, then let's implement the next thing. And then let's implement the next thing. Yeah, let's not try and make big leaps because you know what? You're only going to set yourself up for failure. Let's just do those 1 percenters and then let's look in a week's time and go, right, look back and go, shit. How do I go with that one 1 percenter? Is it a lifestyle change or was it just. Am I full of shit? Yeah, and that's, that's kind of what it's about. That's, that's really. Yeah, we're not going to change, mate, overnight. It's never going to happen. It's really, really starting to create life habits and then from there, that's where I know that it'll make a difference to us and the people around us. That's what it's all about.

That's the magic, isn't it, mate? I mean, that is where it's amazing. It's amazing. When you say that, Ken, I think of consistency over intensity and I look at the areas of my life and getting to becoming a professional athlete and as well as getting into CrossFit and coming back from injuries all that sort of stuff. And yeah, there's times where I've throttled, but there's also times where I've just been a little bit under that. And just outside of that, people say comfort zone just stretched a little bit and that over the long haul. And look back, I'm like, holy shit. People talk about growing 1% every day, and that improves 37 times in a year. It's been tenfold for me in the last two years. But it hasn't felt like that because it's just daily work and consistently knocking over one thing and forming that into. Into a habit and a routine. And it's hard, isn't it? As humans, we all want it now. We got technology, mate. Here's the phone. We want it right now, mate. I want to do all these crunches and have abs, whatever the fuck that means.

Yeah, Very, very superficial, mate. And that's where people got to realize that, I suppose Rome wasn't built in a day. But one of the things, mate, is that when we reflect on our daily things that we do really, you've got to have a game plan. You've got to map out kind of what's going on where you want to. Kind of where you want to go in life. You know, there's got to be. There's got to be a plan. You're never going to succeed if there's not a plan in place. And that's why, you know, some people that do succeed, you know, they fumble, I think. And I know, you know, it's not about, like, what you say. It's not about, you know, trying to go and get yourself a PhD in anything. It's about doing what you love doing. And then no longer then is it a chore. It just becomes a lifestyle for you. And that's why when people, I don't know how many people I talk to about what do they do for a living? And they tell me, oh, shit, you know, listen, the pay is great, but, God, I'm just fed up with it. And I'm saying, well, you know What? I travel two and a half hours a day, five days a week, sometimes six days a week. And I've done so for 14 years. And they're going, that must drive you insane. I said, but I'm not going to work. I'm doing something that I love. And you know what the great thing about what I do? I'll be doing it till I'm 80. I'll do it till I'm 90. Because I know when I'm 90. I'll be looking after people that are 60, because that's my attitude in life. Like, there's no retirement age for me. It's about the life. In the years that I'm living, there's no retirement age. You only retire. It's in your mind. It's amazing. People just need to kind of look at themselves in the mirror and go, right, what am I doing with my life? Forget about everything else and let's start looking after me and the people that are close and within that close group of people that kind of affect my life. And that's what it's about. It really is.

We condition ourselves to make it such a hard thing, but it's such a simple thing, Ken. And people going, I can't change my job. I've got bills to pay. I've got this, this and that. And it's like, yeah, that may be true for now, but it doesn't mean, like you said, you need to change it all tomorrow. What are the steps you're putting in place to navigate your life? Because it's your life. And you're right, a lot of these people, regardless of what their bank account reads, they're unfulfilled and unhappy. That's dangerous, mate. Like, the thing I refuse to have in my life, Ken, is regrets. I don't have any yet, and I've had a lot of traumatic things. But chatting with Shannon Brenton, a good mate of mine, a few weeks ago, he said, people only regret things they never do, Al. And I was like, wow, that's.

Yeah, pretty.

Pretty hard to see the fault in that. And it's the truth, Ken. It's funny, it's never the best that seem to win, mate, is it? It's the ones who are just consistent and they're doing something they love and enjoy. That's what I've always.

You're exactly right. And it's same with business. It's, you know, health business, whatever it is, you have to be. Yeah, there has to be that consistency.

And it's a dichotomy of life. Like, we could pass tomorrow. I could get hit by a bus, but. But chances are it's going to be a long life. So it's like, it could be gone tomorrow, but it's probably going to go for a while. And playing the long game, that's what you spoke about. And with our dads, we push 612 months minimum, and we have dads for life. They don't pay for life, but once they earn their stripes, they're in Mate, after a period of time with us, and that's the long game we play, Ken, because we have fathers who have amazing results. And then in month 13 to month 17 for four months, shit happens, mate. Life happens. But then they come back because it's there. They've got the environment, they've got the stability. And up here, like a lot of what you've spoken about, we're working on the real estate between years. To know that this is the life, this is the long game in the life that you have in the years.

Yeah, yeah. It's actually, you know, it's incredible because, you know, with what you're doing now, like looking at this and kind of reflecting, I don't see, you know, other than, you know, the people out there kind of, you know, that are involved in men's sheds and things like that that are really kind of looking for someone, just a mate to talk to, et cetera. And, you know, growing up in the country, one of the big things for me was where most of the business was done was at the bar in a pub. That's where business was done. Because you were genuine. You were sitting there having a beer with your mate. Like in Broken Hill, mate, there was like 20, 20,000 people and you had something like 75 pubs and clubs, which is almost un, unheard of. But where business went down and where a lot of transactions went was pretty much sitting there having a chat to, you know, the guy at the bar and things like that. I think kind of society's changed a little now and, you know, yeah, in country towns, it's a different breed of person in country towns compared to like kind of city people. Because, you know, no matter what happens in the country, you walk down a main street or you walk down even a side alley and someone passes you, you will say hello. You will look them in the eye and you will say hello. And 14 years ago, I moved to wonderful Wollongong and it'll be coming up to 15 years in January. And I promise you now you can tell a person how just by the nature or the type of person when you walk past them. If you eyeball someone, I promise you, if they're kind hearted and they're a great person and they've got great thoughts, they will acknowledge you and they will say hello. You will not pass a person in a country town without. Without looking at someone and saying hello. And you'll even swing your arm over to people across the street. But it was quite amazing. When I come to the city, I suppose, you know, Being in the, in, in Sydney kind of working my business and I'll walk down the street every day and people like almost look like, go walk past me and I can eyeball them and I'll say hello. But like when I say hello to them it looks like I've got, they think I've got two heads or you know, before the coronavirus, it's almost like they were taking a 3 meter step around me. Like I know I've done a little bit of weights, but I'm not that big. But you know, I'm not scary. I promise you, by no means, but you know, people's attitude towards other people is quite, I don't know, you know, infectious. I suppose, you know, a lot of people out there are kind of followers and not leaders and, and without a doubt with the confidence that you're building into with what you're doing now, the people, to give people the confidence, the dads out there and the men that kind of may not had, obviously a lot of them no doubt would have great confidence in pockets of their life. But I mean when you start to build wellness and build confidence and you build health in people, well then they stand tall, they stand prouder, they, they become a lot better at themselves. They kind of reflect on where they've been six months, 12 months a year. And like you said, this isn't about a three month thing, this isn't a quick fix, this isn't like going to get a grease up an oil change. This is about changing everything and giving you a new platform to kind of take along with it for the rest of your life. And that's what it's about.

The crazy thing with all I can, it's something I did a post the other day saying you'll only ever do what you believe you can do. Raise your self belief and you'll raise what you can do. And it sounds so simple, like you just pass it by. But I look back mate, on what you said just then, I'm thinking about my life and I've had a lot of adversity but I look through some of the, a lot of the things I've achieved and when I look back I'm like, mate, I've got no fucking idea how I achieve that. No idea. Like I look back and it's not that I'm some well beater bit in my own right being this young fat boy who was depressed, overweight, got bullied, picked on, used to scream at my face in the mirror, hated myself. I'm like, I can't believe I achieved some of the things that I've achieved and some of them in short time, some in long time. But a lot of the times, mate, it came down to the 1% stuff you speak about and just backing myself and believing and taking action. Just a little bit higher level of belief of what it was yesterday. And man, it compounds Jesus compounds, I.

Think a big thing just pulling from that. Also, you know, when you're in a situation where you kind of picked on at school or at any age and kind of you get bullied, I think there's a fire that kind of, you know, this little fire that burns with inside. And I think when it comes to kind of you find your niche or you find something that really wants to kind of ignite that fire. I think, you know, if you know kind of what it is that whether, you know, whatever it is. And then once that flame starts to burn and kind of you build a little bit of confidence. I think you grab it with both hands and you kind of do your best you possibly can. And then once your mindset's right, there's almost nothing going to stop you. And that's why, like, kind of, you know, at such a young age, mate, I kind of struggled a little bit. And that's why, you know, reflecting on a few things internally. And then I think that's why I think most of us, whether we choose to kind of try and put a bit of muscle on or to go to the gym or try and do things to kind of make ourselves a little bit better, we'll try and find something that makes us feel a little bit better. Some people choose alcohol, some people choose drugs. And mate, all I can say is, with me, my drug is health and wellness and fitness. And that's my drug. And unfortunately, sometimes I get into trouble for my wife from it because I love it so much. I just want to share it with everyone. That's what it's about. I just want to, you know, I'm quite infectious when I meet people and they're like, shit. Like, we didn't realize that kind of you weren't going to throw us just into a gym, under a bar, or onto a treadmill or something crazy. Like, we didn't realize that, that health and wellness isn't about that. It's about many, many other things. You need to learn how to walk or you need to learn how to crawl before you can walk. You need to learn how to breathe before you can step into a gym. You need to learn how to drink water before you can start looking at crazy ass nutrition plans. You've got to start somewhere. And if you can get those little 1 percenters from you or from me or from other people within the industry that actually have experienced this and kind of gone from basically almost rock bottom to now, you know, to in a position not to the top, but in a position where I believe, you know, what I do is my success. I'm not about, you know, wealth or no, hey, listen, it'd be great to have, but at the end of the day, my God, mate, I just want my family's health and my health and that's my number one goal in life and that's why I'm going to live to. I'm 90 and I believe I'm going to be maybe at the age of 60 years old when I'm 90. That's my legacy in life, to live my life.

Yeah, I see you going over 100, mate, for sure.

With any luck.

It's been awesome catching up with you, Ken. What I love the most about staying connected with people like yourself, which there isn't that many, is we're both such very physically powerful men who have achieved great things in the physical arenas of life and sport. Things that are perceived in high value by society. Right. But look at the depth of the conversation we're having here. That's what I love the most, mate. And it's not that you need to be some big overweight, fat, hardcore truckee to listen to someone else who's a big powerful man. And it's not saying if you're a skinny man that you're weak. But what we've done is achieve things that are perceived to be valuable and successful either through ego or society standards. When, and we both know a large portion of that and what follows actually comes from what we do on the inside and how we work on ourselves, mate, internally.

Absolutely. Couldn't have said it better myself. Absolutely.

Yep, mate, I'd love to. Two things, mate, as we wrap up. I just want people to explore and understand a bit more about you, your background, your history. Is there a place or areas, websites, anywhere where people can find and just explore and see more about where this valuable knowledge and wisdom is coming from.

I think the big thing is, you know, like the one thing with me, like I'm more than happy to give anyone, you know, a bit of time to kind of give them some direction in kind of what they want to do, I suppose when it comes to their physical, well, being, like I said, you know, like with a lot of people, I suppose the hardest thing is taking the first step, you know, not knowing what to do, not knowing what they want. And God, I've gone around in circles many times, but, you know, if it comes to business, I'm not that cluey. But when it comes to health and well being and to put them in the right direction, I'm more than happy to give them, you know, a little bit of kind of direction in stuff like that. Like, I mentor trainers, I train trainers now I run certified courses for trainers. So I, you know, created kind of a really good base where when I meet someone, I want to give them some direction in the health and fitness industry, whether they want to be a trainer or whether they just want to improve their quality of life. And it doesn't matter whether they're 12 years old or whether they're 80 years old. I guarantee I can give anyone 10 or 15 minutes of my time and I can literally turn their world upside down just about their health and wellness. And that's what's most important. And so, like, with what I've done, I've created my own online app so that when people go, hey, shit, like, how do I kind of work with you? It's not a matter of working with me, it's about me kind of giving you some direction. And because I'd kind of come in contact with so many people and working at a clinical level with some people and then just working, you know, at a very superficial level, I kind of had to get out there and create an app, which I've called it my OnlinePT. And you know, and like my stuff that I, that I've got together is like, my website is Lavander Elite. And the reason why I've created that, because, hey, listen, I'm Ken Lavander and the only way to kind of create a legacy is to use my own name because nobody else really, you know, would be able to kind of use, utilize my name. And it's. But I'll be honest with you, I'm more than happy to share. It doesn't come at a cost with me. It's about giving people direction. And then if they like the advice, then they can engage with whether they want a meditation program, whether they want a nutrition program, whether they want a physical kind of. I do massive amounts of rehab, from knee rehab to ankle to shoulder to lower back, at every level, from spinal fusions to, you name it. Like I said, I work with teams of doctors, but really I'm the brains behind this stuff because like I said, over the Years, in the last at least 20 years of my life, I've kind of gone down so many areas and, you know, not so much. I suppose I've tapped into kind of almost nearly every area from neurology to the psychology to the physical well being to gut health to sports performance, you name it. There's not many things I haven't kind of read about, worked with, with different doctors, with different specialists, with professors, you name it. So I suppose my kind of answer to your question is really, I'm happy to give anyone some free advice and then if they then choose to engage with me further, well, then, you know, we can kind of work from there. That's really.

Yeah, it's unbelievable to see such a big range of people that you can work with but still have such depth in your delivery, mate, because that's something you can't. Like what I do with these dads, the foundations could maybe be applied to mums, maybe not, who knows? But I'm just like, it's so, you know, it's very hard and takes a long time to do that. And for you to do that, mate, is unbelievable. It's incredible. And that's what, that's what inspires me. It's something that, like I said, naturally drew to me, especially after getting treatment, mate, and hanging out with you for a while at Regionals to stay in touch. But I guess as we wrap this up, mate, what would be a piece of passing or closing advice you would give to a man or father who generally, more often than not is going to be listening to this or watching this and he's physically unfit, doesn't know where to start, he's probably lacking energy and there's probably a level of the psychology too, like the belief might not be there or trying and failing. Is there a bit of advice or something that, I mean, you've got a heap load, mate, that you've already given us, but something to close with, advice you'd offer these dads.

One of the big things, I suppose one of the most important things is, I'll be honest, you literally have to set your alarm clock 10 minutes earlier than you already do. And don't make a bullshit excuse why you can't. Like, I can promise you now, like, people are looking for excuses, but you need to set your clock for 10 minutes earlier than you normally get up. Now, you need to get up before or get into a space where it's your space and you need to kind of reflect on what you did yesterday and then what are you going to Change from what you did yesterday, today to better your health, to better you, like with what you do in everyday life. And if you can't think of something within 10 minutes, well, then you need to reach out to people like yourself, Al, to people like myself and kind of sit down and have a conversation. And the reason why I say that, because I tell you now, dads like you and I or men at our age, Al, they're not willing to kind of accept that they don't know where they're going in life. You really need to just kind of now, you know, listen. It's in the evening or when they listen to this podcast. What they want to do is go right, literally the next morning. I know I'm tapping into the next morning, but the next morning I want you to set your alarm. If it's an alarm that you set up or you get and get yourself 10 minutes and go right, what did I do yesterday that was good? That was kind of helping me in life or what was bad and how can I improve on it? Literally today or tomorrow, that's what's most important. You need to reflect on the good and the bad and just improve from there. And like I said, if you can't think of anything, then you seriously need to kind of tap into someone that you can just have a chat to.

So powerful, mate, don't take this light heartedly, like those who might be listening or watching this on a compounding level, having that 10 minute reflection, what was yesterday like? What did I do good? What did I do bad? What can I do to improve? That's the, that's massive, massive inroads into changes that could happen in months, not decades, through themselves, first in just giving themselves. Because that's what they're doing, aren't they? They're giving themselves that they're investing in themselves. I love it, mate. It's unreal. But mate, thanks so much for joining me, Ken.

I appreciate the invite. It's great that, you know, with what you're doing out, like, it's like what you mentioned before, it's very hard to find people that have a passion in the industry. And when we talk about passion, there's lots of people in this industry and the differences between the people in the industry and the people that are passionate about the industry are the people like you and I that just want to give back, give back. And at the end of the day, you know, like, it just creates such a great environment for all of us, us. And it just, it's such a powerful thing to be able to help, you know, a mate or a situation where they can improve quality of life. And in our cases then that means it's going to kind of be infectious into their family life and the people around them. Like that's, that's, you know, like it's almost like what we've been dealing with now. Like it needs to be almost infectious. As far as, you know, I help you, then you help one person and two people and so on and so on. It is a virus. And that's why I want, you know, kind of want people to engage in people like yourself and myself so that we can actually give them a little bit of direction in life and hopefully, you know, one day when they look back and they go, you know, what? Shit. I remember that one thing that Ken or Al told me and you know, I've taken that with me for the rest of my life and then hopefully they can then pass that down to, you know, their children and hopefully they will pass it down also. But you know, we're in a world that kind of, there's a lot of, kind of, you know, I suppose not a lot of confidence in people with their own health and well being and there's a lot of kind of things that are going on that are in our control and out of our control and just, let's just kind of work on what we can control within our environment and with what we can do.

Yeah, it's incredible, mate, the ripple effect, isn't it?

Yeah, absolutely.

My unborn grandchildren are going to be, you know, exposed and influenced by what my grandchildren do off the back of what my children do, off the back of what I do here and now. And I don't see that as a daunting thing or a burden, mate. I see it as opportunity, I truly do, Ken.

Yeah, absolutely, I agree, mate, it can.

Be for all of us. But what a great way to finish an incredible session. Thanks again, mate. And yeah, thank you guys for joining us. Hope you really enjoyed this. And yeah, make sure you tune in and follow up. Lavander Elite. Just type in Ken Lavander. You'll find him, you'll see, he's the man. But I hope you guys got a lot of value out of this. Enjoyed it. And tune in next time for another episode on Real Danger.

Thanks guys. Take care.