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I'd like to ship you a free copy of my book, Habits of High Performers. If you come and join the 2026 goal setting workshop, I will ship you one of these today. The link is in the notes. Please come and join me to set up the very best 2026 you could imagine. If you've set up goals in the past or New Year's resolutions and they haven't substantiated, I'm here to help you across all the key pillars of your life, nail your goals. I'll see you there. Welcome to One to One with James Laughlin. I'm a former world champion and now I work with and coach professional athletes, entrepreneurs and CEOs of billion dollar companies. I'm going to share with you in this episode some of the insights and strategies, some of the tools that I use with my clients. Every week I'll bring you an insight, an action or a tool that will help you go from great to to greatest. My mission is to cut through the noise and help give you the tools that truly transform your mindset and help you to take the right actions towards your desired outcome. So let's dive in. A very special thanks to NZ Mortgages for sponsoring this episode of the Lead On Purpose podcast. You can check them out at nzmortgages.co nz what if the secret to an incredible life laid hidden in ancient wisdom? Well, I firmly believe there's something that you and I have access to. Thanks to the amazing Ryan Holiday for bringing this to us. That is Stoicism. Stoicism has been here for many, many centuries. Ryan Holiday has written so many incredible books in recent years that I've read and loved. One of them is the Daily Dad. Another one you might like to get is the Daily Stoic. But what I wanted to share with you were five really powerful principles that will help you change your life. Here's the first one. Control what you can. Let go of what you can't. Now, this might sound like common sense, but I promise you it's not common practice. With a lot of the athletes I work with, I talk about control the controllables. What are the controllables? Only control what you can. Don't focus on anything else. That's distraction. You'll be busy being busy in high performance. And in the high performance life, people who are thriving only focus on what they can influence and control. Focusing on other things is simply not useful. So the Stoics just knew that you must control what you can. Your mindset, your response, your physical health and your commitment to eating well, to treating yourself and others well, to doing the right thing. So always focus on controlling what you can. What is that for you? What are the things that you can control? I want you to take a minute right now and just think. And even better, write, what are the things I'm in control of today? Is it what you put in your mouth? What you say? What you watch and consume on media and social media, how you respond to challenges and situations, how hard you push yourself today, where you place your focus? I want you to think about that. What are the things that are well within your control and only focus on them. For those that go through my high performance leadership framework, they all know that your MVP is what dictates your day, your most valued priority. I'd really like you to think about that. Number two, turn obstacles into opportunities. Ryan Holiday wrote a great book called the Obstacle is the Way. I love that title and it says it all. If we want to grow, become greater than what we're currently at right now, we've got to look for obstacles and go through them, aim for them, push towards them. Don't shy away from obstacles, don't shy away from challenges. The obstacle is the way every single time. Look for the hill, take the stairs, do the hard thing. I think it's so crucial. And every challenge that's presented to you is a chance to grow. You know, I remember, you know, Covid, when it happened and the lockdown happened, I looked at it with glass overflowing. And James of old would have looked at it as, this is terrible because I'm a very social being. I looked at it with this new lens of what's possible. What could I do with this time? What could I learn about myself? How much deeper can my relationships go with the people that are in my bubble? So I want you to look at these opportunities. I often say from stage when I'm delivering keynotes to corporate companies or teams. Problems present possibilities. P P P Problems always present possibilities. Only if we decide to turn those obstacles into opportunities. That's how we move forward. Okay, next principle, Third stoic principle for you. Master your emotions, master your life. If we don't learn to master our emotions, they will control our lives. You know, I've seen someone behind me. I was heading in through a tunnel on the way home yesterday, and there was three motorbikers coming up behind me. And one of them, the entire way through the tunnel, was pulling wheelies. The whole way through the tunnel. I thought, this guy's interesting, you know, acting pretty much like an idiot. Being aggressive, being silly, being dangerous. But I thought, clearly he's very emotionally driven and he was trying to egg his mates on and call them to do the same. They hung back and moved through the tunnel safely. That guy I could imagine in his life probably reacts emotionally in different ways to the people around him, to the challenges that get thrown at him. Please don't be reacting from emotions. It's important to feel our emotions, acknowledge them, accept them, but then choose to respond in a way that you're proud of, that's safe for you and for others. It takes training. Being rational and calm takes training. We've got to expose ourselves to challenges and have a way of responding that allows us to maintain composure. I didn't always get this right. I remember at a young stage, I being very fiery, being very fired up when I was leading a group that was, you know, particularly this adult group that I was leading, trying to get them towards a world championship level. I didn't always control my emotions. I reacted from passion, from fear. But looking back, if I could go back and take what I know now and plant it in James, then slow down, be patient. Where are the opportunities? Control what you can. The Stoics have so much to share with us. So, fourth principle. Live with purpose and virtue. Now, I love this one because obviously this is the lead on purpose podcast, but live with purpose, do what's right, not what's easy. If you're living with virtue, you're doing what's right, not what's easy. What's right, Picking up your rubbish. What's easy, Just leaving it there and moving on. What's right, Having the difficult conversation face to face about the thing that has to be talked about. What's the easy version? Ignoring it, brushing it under the carpet until eventually it implodes. Stoicism reminds us that we've got to live with purpose. Find your purpose and get out there and lead your life with purpose. So, so important. If there's a book that you buy, please go and buy Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, one of the great Stoic books that helps us in modern life. Please go get yourself that. It's an absolute classic. And last, I'm going to share the last Stoic principle, the fifth Stoic principle. And I know that this is the most important one. This is the one that makes the difference for good life, good health, good relationships, wealth, all of it. This is the one. If we were to take from Stoicism and apply it, that would make all the difference before I share that with you, please, if you've enjoyed this, like subscribe rate, whatever platform you're on, do the thing that supports the show. I deeply appreciate it if you would also share this with one person. If you just want to share this with one person that it would help them lead their life with purpose, please do that. I'm all about taking practical things that we can apply to help us grow and move forward. So here's the last one. Be present. That's it. Be present. The future and the past are not real. The only thing that's real is right here, right now. I want you to be really clear. Right here, right now is all that exists. The Stoics knew that presence was a gift. It was a change making tool that we can, if we embrace it, we can make a big difference to our lives. Others, how present are you? How present are you right now? As you're listening to this is your mind everywhere. Training your mind to be present is difficult, takes rigor and takes repetition, but it will give you a very competitive edge. The people that I work with who are high performers in sport, in business, in philanthropy, in politics, the ones who are thriving as high performers, they know that they've got to be present. They train their mind. We talk about mindfulness, we practice meditation. These things are so, so important. Those are the five Stoic principles that I believe we've got to adopt if we want to win at life and be high performers. If you want to read about Stoicism or the great Stoics, please go no further than Ryan Holiday. His books are phenomenal. Please go buy yourself one today. Start with the Daily Stoic. Maybe get Obstacle is the Way and Stillness is the Key would be my third. But for now, please get out there and lead your life on purpose. A very special thanks to NZ Mortgages for sponsoring this episode of the Lead On Purpose podcast. You can check them out at nzmortgages Co nz. Thanks for tuning in to Lead on Purpose. If you find this episode valuable, please share it with one person that you think might benefit from it. If you're serious about leveling up, please make sure you're subscribed to the show and continue to lead your life on purpose.