Exit The Matrix with Me Experiment: Guest: ETM With Me: Kyoko Yoshizumi Redefining Success, Structure, & Conquering Guilt for Living Your Best Life

Welcome to Exit the Matrix Stories of Success with your host Jane Slack-Smith, where we celebrate the incredible journeys of individuals who've transcended their limitations and achieved extraordinary success.

Hello, it's Jane here again from Exit the Matrix with Me, the live book writing experiment that's going on right now, and I want to introduce you to a very a good friend of mine, Kyoko. Kyoko is someone who, uh, I've probably known now for about 5 years, but honestly, we actually only met publicly in face-to-face like 2 years ago. Yep, one of those COVID type of friendships where you kind of, you get into these groups, and, uh, and we met through your lovely husband Johan, and, and we've all got a very common interest in business, etc. But the more and more that I get to talk to you, the more and more I know that we are very aligned what we, we think and talk and even our backgrounds. And I thought, what an interesting person to get a different perspective from what I'm researching at the moment. So welcome, Kyoko.

Thank you, Jane. Thank you so much. You are always passionate and energetic, and whenever I talk to you, I get pumped up. So I love talking to you. So thank you so much for having me.

Well, so let me give you a little bit of context here. In this kind of research for the book, I'm really, I've got the book structured in 3, 3 sections. And I'm really interested in, because I think, and I get you think this too, is that at the moment there's this unease. There's, you know, society, there's wars going on, there's economic stuff happening. People are feeling a little out of control. And some people have, you know, climbed this career ladder and they realize the ladder's against the wrong wall. Or, you know, there's also a lot of people feeling a bit of guilt because they've got everything on paper, but they're still feeling a little uneasy. And I know that you've had some career changes and some, you know, really kind of awareness stages of what's it like to live from your heart and wake up every day and do something you love. So I kind of want to take you back to the beginning and your businesses and where, how's that developed so far? So take me to the beginning.

So, so I was a financial advisor. For a long time. And that's when I, you know, really started my business and I became a mortgage broker as well. So, you know, but, um, I sold those companies and now I create board games and turning people's IP and ideas and books into games. That's what I love doing.

And so, so tell me about that kind of point where you were doing these financial and mortgage kind of, you know, assessments and helping people get ahead financially. You know, what was that like? What did you find? Did you find characteristics of how people got in the way of their own wealth? Or, you know, was there trends that you had that you could see when you were talking to people when with respect to their financial position?

Definitely there is a structure. The people with a structure did well. People without the structure, they get, you know, they feel overwhelmed and, you know, they don't control their money and life and everything gets a bit chaotic. So definitely I saw structure. So I help people with creating structures and bank accounts and, you know, monthly recurring savings arrangements and whatever they have to create to get hang of that. You know, routines and, well, not really routine, just that they're automated, you know, so they don't need to think too much about it, but just creating that habit for them was one aspect of my life as a financial planner. And definitely I think I specialize in helping Japanese communities in Australia. So Japanese people have a different way of doing or thinking, and also they are the first generation in Australia, not like other other, like Italians and Greeks, and they have been here for multiple generations. But a lot of Japanese here are the first generations in Australia, so they don't have parents here. Then, so their support system was, you know, they didn't have enough of that. So creating a support system, you know, creating a safe environment for them to ask questions, you know, that was also what I did. And looking back, a lot of people had this worry about their future. So they knew this, they had to do something, but they didn't know what, you know. And then I feel recent times, similar feeling, they in a different situation, but we know that AI is coming and things are changing after COVID, life is different. And, you know, feel like different era now. In, we say it used used to be an earth era, that, you know, different, like, tangible stuff and money and fame and house and all that stuff. And then now things are moving. Yeah, yeah. Now it's a wind, you know, which is more information, connections, friendships. It's not that tangible, you can't touch it, but there is a there, you know. It's now, it's so— era of wind. So I feel there's a shift that's happening as well. So people feel something is changing. It's not the same like 5, 10 years ago, but they just don't know how to adjust.

So, and tell me, with your, your financial, you know, services businesses, and particularly looking after the Japanese community, did you— was that kind of, if we're going to say that was your heart fire, was that kind of like your burning desire? Like this was the job and you just loved it? And did it change for you?

Oh, so I became a financial planner because I wanted to help people. I did a lot of charity work. I had an organization called ASK, Australian Supporting Kids, you know, did a lot of fundraisers, went to, you know, Africa, Brazil. And I met people that say, I'm sorry, I really want to help, but I don't have money. Or I don't have time. So I wanted to help those people. So that's the reason why I became a financial planner and I loved being one and I loved it so many years. So that's why, you know, I set myself up to be the, you know, the go-to Japanese financial planner in Australia. But then I think things shifted and the life shifted. You know, I had kids. And then compliance and the world of financial planning industry changed and I was spending more time doing all these things than helping clients. And I was like, okay, well, it's not really aligned to why I became a financial planner. I wanted to help people. So I had that internal struggle and also as a mother, as a woman, I wanted to be with my kids, but, you know, I had a frustration when I had to work, I have a responsibility for my clients as well, my staff, and then my kids need me. So that internal struggle, um, you know, it's something that's stopping me to be happy fully.

So it's interesting, I started my mortgage broking business 20 years ago in, in, um, 2005, and the same kind of drive was— it wasn't like Writing mortgages and, you know, dealing with banks, et cetera, and conveyances was not my, you know, heart fire. But what I had cracked was how to invest in property. And I really wanted everyday Australians to learn how to do that. And the first thing was to have the structure and have the vision of what they really wanted rather than just buying anything. And so I can really relate to, you know, being of service and, you know, having those kind of big wins with your clients when they have that, you know, that breakthrough or, you know, they get to that financial security position and that you're like, I was a cog in the wheel for that, you know, and being part of it. But you also then have created, started creating this business that every time I see you, you light on fire. We've played some of the games together. So this, the board game or the game business, take me through that. Is that because this just seems to me like this is just lights you up and I'm just, I'm interested what that feels like and how different it is.

So it was not planned, not at all. It happened because one of our family members had cancer and we wanted to do something as a family. So we said, why don't we create a board game? So it all started from one idea and my son said, oh, I want a ninja game. So that's how we created a ninja game. And then through the process, I learned so much about creating a game, manufacturing, fulfillment. I did not know any of that as a financial planner or, you know, business consultant. It was all about professional services and digital product and online coaching. So I didn't have to manufacture any physical stuff. So it was all new learnings. And then I fell in love with how fun it is to visualize and play. And also it creates a huge, massive impact and inspiration for people. So the reason why we love board game is we get to connect with people. We interact, which we, you know, we enjoy doing when in middle of COVID we were home and we just play games.

And also it connects people.

That's That's one thing I love about physical board games instead of video games, online games. And also it teaches you stuff, and that's where my passion is—business and education and teaching people new things. And, you know, it's all me being a financial planner. It's about structures and setting up, you know, structures and coming up with logical steps, and board game is all about that, knowing the rule, what you have to do to win, and then tick off all the winning conditions and steps to win. So that's the reason why I love it. And adding my passion for business, turning books or, you know, business books to games is just next level. And that's what I feel. This is why I love doing this.

We played, um, it's called That's Business. It's Just Business. It's Just Business. And it's kind of like the Dragon's Den. It's like Shark Tank. It's like The Apprentice. It's like everything's thrown in there. But what I really loved about it, I think just recently, you know, there had been a, a number of economic kind of announcements that could affect people's financial beings, et cetera. And What I loved is how you pulled out the cards and went, okay, so what's the assets? So do you want to just talk me through that? Because I think, yeah, I think something tangible that it seems like it's a game that sits somewhere and then all of a sudden you're like, wait a second, how do I apply this to my life? Like I thought it was, I was just joking.

So this is a game. It's a prototype still. We haven't manufactured yet because of Trump tariffs and all that stuff is happening. There's so much uncertainty. And in the game, we have different type of games, type of cards. So some are asset cards, which is smart marketing that you can do to build up your business and grow and scale. But also there is a negligence card. This one is unpaid supplier invoice or product liability lawsuit. Or dodgy partner. Yeah, exactly that. You know, there's a lot that happens in business, something good, something bad. So I put everything in this game, in Just Business game. And we created this game because we wanted to teach our kids how to start a business and grow it to be $10 million company. So in this card, in this game. I had, um, a lot of crisis cards, which I think you are talking about. And the crisis card, uh, hold on, let me find it. I'll keep talking, but I'm just going through the cards.

And I think the interesting thing here, right? So I've got in my group coaching, I have two tracks for wealth. Cause as you said before, the conditions that most people have is I don't have the money. I don't have the time. I'm like, well, if I can get rid of the conditions, get you money through business or property investing and give you the time and the efficiency through AIs and other tools, then let's go God mode and get you onto your heart's fire of what you really wanna create. What struck me when I was reflecting on the game was how great it would be to actually coach around some of these scenarios. Like, well, how would you deal with this situation? And what are the assets that you have? And what are the things that you could pull out? And I think that kind of, and if it was a crisis like this, you know, whatever it is, financial or natural or whatever.

Physical. So in the game I have political unrest and government shutdown, supply chain disruption and AI making product obsolete. Yeah. So all these things are happening right now, right? With Trump tariff and everyone's freaking out. And so I put up all the different kinds of asset cards and scheme cards, and they are, well, webinar marketing, affiliate marketing, influencer campaigns, strategic alliances, podcast outreach, licensing, market research, cross-promotion, advertising campaigns, social media launches, knowledge sharing programs, community outreach programs. All these things that you can do in business. Yeah. So I use this as, um, game as well as resources in business to, you know, overcome challenges. And this is, this is fantastic because we quite often use it. And my husband line them up and say, this happened, this happened, this happened. So now I'm going through all the cards with my business partner to come up with new ideas. Yeah, that is great.

What a great, um, and what a great way to actually facilitate conversations with your business partner too. But I want to, I want to come back because, um, I love what you're doing. And when I hear you talk about the cards and the game, and you just made a Staffy.

Oh yeah. Yeah. Shelby's Tales. Yeah.

Staffy version based on your dog. Like a card game. Like this, it feels like you are now doing your purpose. Like you're, you're creating, you're in the business books and things and you're turning books into games and taking people's IP and dragging it out of them and helping them create their own, you know, thing. What's it feel like to be in a position that you are actually kind of living the daily dream? You're waking up and like, this is what you wanna do.

It is fun. It is fun. Um, when you are having fun, it just flies. Mm-hmm. You get in the flow. And I think that's, that's the key. That's the key to, um, to keep creating. Like, you know, creative space is such a, you know, important place that you have to be free to create. Yeah. And that's a huge difference from being a financial planner to this is just I'm free to create whatever I want to create. And then such a freedom and relief to just express myself. And it is, it is just fun.

It is just fun. You know, I love that, you know, because I think a lot of people, you know, they put, and you probably saw this in your business, you know, they put their happiness and fun down the line. When I retire, I will then do the big trip. I will then do this. I will then have fun. I will then be happy. And, you know, it's like that, you know, big elephant in the room. And you work for 40 years to retire on 40% of what you earned, you know. And it's just, it's, it seems so fruitless. And especially when you hear about people who then, you know, finish work and then they're dead, or, you know, some tragedy, the health prevents them doing things. And I think that just that sense. And what I'm kind of exploring here is, you know, how do you kind of go, this doesn't feel right. And I guess one of the questions is, does it feel like fun? Like, do you wake up every morning going, yay, I can't wait to, you know, do what you're going to do. And, and I think there's also, then there's this, there is that awakening and how, you know, you go to the path of, of what allows you to kind of work out what your thing is. And then you have to activate it and you have to to keep on the, the treadmill of being focused and being present. And I just want to talk to you about that because if we jump ahead, like maybe 20 chapters in my book to the activation, I know that you shared recently a morning activation that you have. I just want to speak to you. How important is that to you and how does that set you up for the day and what is it?

So I have rules. And, you know, I was talking about flow, you know, you have to be in the flow to get stuff done. And then, but it's sometimes when you feel overwhelmed or busy or you feel plateaued and, you know, you feel stuck, that's when you need to reassess your flow and the morning routines and the whole structure that you have for your day. What I have is non-negotiables, wake up at 5. So I sleep at 9:30. So routine starts from in the evening, nighttime, not in the morning. Nighttime I start. So make sure that you, you know, I go to bed and then so I can wake up 5:00 and then I have this morning routine for 30 minutes for personal care, which is tongue cleaning, oil pulling, my detox drink, all that stuff. But I have a rule that no input before output. So I do not touch phone to scroll or anything like that. I used to give myself an excuse, hey, hey, hey, no, no, no, I'm just watching an inspirational YouTube. Yeah. But no, I said, okay, no input before output. So one of the first thing I do is sit down or after all the things, I sit down and then write my journal. Yeah. People used to say, hey, write a journal, write whatever comes to your head, but I need a structure. So I have—

you know, structure leads to success, has integrity, right?

You know what you're gonna— yeah, exactly. So I have this, uh, one type of diary that I use. It has questions to set your day right. So I write that down for 15 minutes, 5:30 to 5:45 is all about writing that and then scheduling my day, planning my day. I know what I have to achieve, what I have to do, you know, who I don't have, who I do, who I have to be, and then potential challenges that I might face and how to overcome that and all that stuff. I write that down. Yeah. And then from 9:45 till maybe 5:45 till 7-ish, output. I write, I sit down. And then I tell the universe every morning is a trusting exercise for me. I have no idea what to write, right? I sit down, I say to my universe, what is it that I have to write today? And then I write every day. I write for about an hour, post it on social media. That's Monday to Friday, non-negotiable. And then in the morning, I know that I have a team meeting, so I have to do a team prep and I have to do deep work. So most of the time, my finishes by 2 o'clock. Yeah. And the rest of the day is for me to have time for myself and my kids and family, you know. So, and I used to feel guilty about after 3:30, after our kids come home from school, I didn't work because I used to work. Yeah. But now I don't, I spend time with my kids and I felt a little bit guilty about that. But I said, no, no, no. I set up my day in a way that I can spend time with my kids. And be there for them, to cook them nice meals, you know, take them to, you know, ninja classes or whatever they're doing. I'm there for them. Yeah. And it is okay to take that time for my family. Isn't it interesting that we, we have that guilt?

And if I, if I think about guilt, guilt is not an internal thing that you do to yourself, it's always because you're comparing yourself against someone else's judgment or expectation or what they see. And it's interesting, I was thinking about this just the other day in, you know, on my business card, my mortgage business card, I used to say, you know, available 7 days a week. And, you know, it was like 24/7. I'm going to be that mortgage broker. I'm never going to let anyone down. And when I was pregnant with my son, he was overdue. And by the time I went, by the time I had him, I'd actually organized to take some of my mortgage clients to an economic update on like the industry economic update. And so Max was 10 days old and I remember jumping in the car with my husband and we put Max in the backseat and I said to him, how hard could it be to learn how to express breast milk? I'll do it on the way so that you can feed Max while I'm at this conference. And I'm in the front of this car. And obviously it's not that easy, like, don't learn how to do it on a 40-minute drive into the center of Sydney. But, um, which I did. And I, I was so worried that my clients would be let down, and I felt guilty that I would let them down. So I went back to work after 10 days, and obviously my body was still recovering. I had a new baby, you know, it was— I was an older mother, and so, you know, I'd had to establish a very long period of time of how I did things. Um, but looking back on it, it wasn't until like 4 or 5 years later, so many of my clients went, oh, we just thought you were mad. And I was thinking, is that mad? I gave up like this precious time with my son, and, and, you know, I, I was working around the clock because I didn't want to let other people down. I feel, yeah, that, yeah. And then at the same time, I feel guilty for not being with my son. And, you know, so it is interesting though, this when you lose the guilt, it's, I think it's because you do become self-referential. You're like, what's important to me? And why, how am I setting up my life to be able to do what's important to me? And exactly what you do. You, you get up early, you do what you have to do. And it's just like, this is just the way that you plan your day. Yep.

Yep. So definitely it's about comparing yourself and then feeling, creating unseen an expectation from people. Because when I wanted to sell my companies, I feel guilty. Oh, what are my clients going to think of me? Are they going to be okay? You know, so, but you have to realize it's my life. It's my life. It's not, you know, I'm not living clients' life. It's just my life. But do I want to create? And then one way or another, they are okay. You know, they found, I found a new financial planner to take over. Everything was fine. But it's just the internal conflict. And also, okay, I have been a financial planner for such a long time, who am I now? You know, without the label, you still— yeah, like, you know, it's like, am I a mother now? But am I? You know, it's just a whole thing of internal dialogue.

When you're doing the entry card into Australia, they say, what's your job? And I went, yeah, I just flew back from Bali, and I was like Mortgage broker for the last 20 years, but really, is that how I identify? I know, and I think I put down success coach. I thought, oh, I hope someone asks me what that means. But it is interesting. I, okay, I think this has been really valuable for my research because being the positive expectation person, I'm looking for the positive answers, but I think they're also needs to be a conversation about what does hold you back, that guilt. And it can be guilt. You know, I was just speaking to a client yesterday and it was so funny because she, she contacted me to do a deal review on her property and then she changed her mind and said no, she wanted to do a financial review on her budget, et cetera. And then the day of the call, because we just had this hour, I'm like, whatever you want to do, I'm here for you. She said, actually, no, I want to do an intuitive priority call about what's holding me back. Why are these things going wrong? Yeah, interesting, because we stepped into that experience and I could find 10 examples of 5 steps that she did every single time something went wrong and the story that she was telling herself and how that went back. And a lot of it went back to, uh, an experience of guilt and shame for leaving or being more successful than the family. And, you know, and so it's interesting and being able to see I can see that now with the awareness. I'm getting messages from her today going, oh my God, this has changed everything. I can see it now. But we don't see these things and this guilt or the shame or this responsibility, especially when you choose a different path to your family. And I imagine for the Japanese community that you served for so many years and being part of that first generation, they've had to leave home for economic prosperity. So there's almost an expectation that their life has to be better for them as well.

Mm-hmm. Definitely. Definitely. Um, I think that part of, you know, guilt comes from also from having a different— for me, it was frustration came from I had an expectation that I wanted to work like I before. So after having kids, it's just not the case. But I still had an image of success as, oh, I could work freely, I can get into the zone, no one will disturb me, I can get anything done. That was just success before. And then things changed and I need to have a live call and then my kids didn't go to sleep. It's like 9 o'clock and they're supposed to sleep at 7. Then tonight they are not sleeping and I'm so frustrated. You know, it's like, Yeah. And then, but I had this expectation that, you know, my work, my success, my happiness was this, but that image had to change to match what's happening in that time. So having little kids is different from having teenager son, you know, having old parents is different from, you know, you experiencing that internal or family or more, you know, more about health issues. You know, things change in life, that each milestones and, you know, major events happening, you have to adjust that expectations for yourself and what success or happiness mean to you then. So when I— yeah, so when I realized that that made me feel feel, oh good. So the acceptance came to me. It's like, oh, this is okay, this is good, let's enjoy this now. Before, I was rushing, I was rushing to do things, I have to tick off all the stuff and I want to get stuff done. But now I give myself that space and love that to enjoy the time with my kids. And it's okay to be slow and it's okay to take time for yourself and nurture yourself and it just, you know, became more softer and created a space for me that also allowed me to be creative as well.

Hello, just a quick message. I hope you're enjoying this podcast bonus session. Now, if you have heard this interview, then you're probably sitting in there going, what is this all about? Well, this is all about my Exit the Matrix experiment. Now I decided to write a book because I'm really interested in how do we go from the existence that we have now to exiting the matrix and living with intention from our hearts, following our heart's desires, but also creating abundance in all areas of our lives. And hence, whilst I've been researching this book, I thought, this is a really solitary journey. I want people to come on this journey with me. And hence I've got this very special group. Now come and join me. The first month for founders is free, and if you decide to stay, fantastic. So what I'm doing is I'm interviewing incredible people. I'm getting insights about what's this awakening that people are getting, you know, what's this, the exit the matrix kind of sliding door moment for them. Now I've obviously run this podcast for over a year now, and I have more than 30 stories, but I'm also interested in those people who are in this transformational space who are actually not just awakening themselves and they're awakening others. What is the mechanism? As Bashar talks about it, it's the permission slip. Are they going through astrology or meditation or yoga or breathwork? Are they just going within and getting a sense of what's really going on? So that's what all the Exit the Matrix experience is about. I'm going to let you get back to the interview, but if you want to join me, go to exitthematrix.today. /etmwithme, which stands for Exit the Matrix with Me. So that's exitthematrix.today/etmwithme. Sign up. I'd love for you to come along. I'm creating courses. There's currently courses in there around 4D gratitude. There's more courses to come. I'm creating custom GPTs on how you can exit the matrix and helping you uncover what lies beneath your subconscious and holding you back, and also other custom GPTs that I'm sure you're going to love. And most of the speakers are actually really motivating me. So I'm creating courses, I'm creating ebooks, I'm creating experiments you can try, I'm creating tools that you can use, and I'm also writing a book. So at some stage I'll get to writing the book. At this moment, it's just all about the research, and I hope you choose to join me because I'm really excited about this experiment. Moment. So I'll get back to the interview now. Enjoy yourself, and as always, here's to your success. You know, I love what you said about your morning routine. I, uh, I often, I think, oh gosh, I've been with my husband for 25 years and he introduced me to the concept of not having an alarm clock. So we probably use an alarm clock twice a year when we're flying somewhere, but the rest of the time we don't. And and I love that kind of waking up when your body wants you to wake up. And so I usually wake up between 5:30 and 6:00, and I have to say, the first thing I do is I grab my phone, but I grab it to turn on my vagus nerve stimulator to actually get me into the parasympathetic. And as I'm listening to this beautiful music and I've got this vibration that's just like, you know, keeping me calm so we don't have that cortisol spike when we wake up. Up. I then do, I have a practice similar to you. I do 3 things I'm grateful for and just feel into the emotion of that. And the 4th one is part of this 4D gratitude experiment. So I take something from the future and I'm thankful for something that hasn't happened yet. And then I set one thing that I have to do for the day. And then I set an intention for the day or a word for the day that is going to, you know, maybe today I'm I'm creative, or I'm a doer, or, you know, I'm open to opportunities, or whatever that is. And so that kind of sets me up. And then I have 10 of my orientation choices of what I want to create in life. And it's interesting, one of those comes to me now talking to you because it's around boundaries. And it's, and it feels so indulgent. It doesn't feel selfish, but it feels indulgent because the choice is, you know, I set boundaries for the greater good of myself and what I want to create. And it's interesting that during the day when there's this boundary creep where I'm trying to be more of service or I'm turning up in a way that's, you know, help taking power away from people often because I'm like, oh, I can do that for you. Um, it gives me a chance to stop. And I think, you know, what you're talking about, the way that you orientate for the day and then, you know, what you do, it really inspires me because it's interesting. I'm interested in, you know, people I speak to going further is just seeing if they have this structure because it holds us. It holds us. And, you know, we have this almost positive orientation of expectations of what's to be accomplished, but we're open to how, like you said, said, universe, what am I going to write about today? You're open to things. You don't need to know how it's all going to play out. And I think that at the end of the day, I sit down and in the same book, I write down what I want to retain in my brain as a memory that will be, you know, put in place and what I want to let go of. And sometimes there's— I rarely watch the news, but if I I walk past the TV that's on, the news is on, my husband's watching it. There's often— there's nothing nice on the news, let's be honest. There's no good news on the news. And there's often the images, and I'm like, I really, I have to get that out of my head because I know that it's just going to keep, you know, regurgitating in there. And so I think this, um, and then I, you know, rate myself on nourishing and connecting with others and movement and relaxation. Nutrition and sleep. So I do, and then I have a happiness score for the day. And I think what that allows me to do is just get everything out. So do you have an end of day? You said you kind of get your routines out. What do you do at the end of the day?

So in the same journal, the other side is all about, you know, yeah, what I'm grateful for and things that, you know, I handled well, things I could have improved. And it also talks about intentions and clarities and my why, you know, my energy levels. I review. And then quite often I didn't know something about myself until I sit down and review the whole week. It's like, oh wow, this week I had energy here, but I didn't have energy here. What happened there? And then once I realized, okay, that was missing or this was happening. So I have more clarity about my body, my mind, um, as well as, you know, also celebrating the things that I achieved. Quite often you don't do that. You just get it done and you move on and, you know, so, yeah.

And I think, I mean, the gratitude gives you an orientation of looking for things to be grateful for during the day, but also what you're saying is where are the opportunities for improvement? Also say it's okay not to be perfect, but it's then it sets something for the next day to go, well, I could have improved something here. So you're always on that path and it's gentle. It's a gentle practice, isn't it? Oh yes.

Yes. My, my dad does this for a long, long time. He has this diary and my mom laughs at him, but he is a routine person. Every morning he goes goes out for a walk, he cleans the house, he sets up the breakfast, wakes my mom up, he does this, he does dishes, and this is his morning routine. In the night before he sleeps, he writes down like, you know, the weather and what he ate and what he did and, you know, things that he was grateful for and then things that he could improve. He has done many, many years. So I've seen him and I saw his stacks of books, you know, he has written for so many I think that makes it, ah, I think you're aware, and I think that's what's missing as well. Um, because you just do things automatic and you, um, you, if you stop and assess, why am I doing this? Oh, is that because you feel guilty? Ah, interesting. You know, that little awareness can stop you. It's like, okay, well, I decided not to do that, or I choose to do this, but no, this is my boundary. Yeah. And it's almost like you have to step out of yourself to see that from, you know, outside of yourself, to, to really be aware of the things that you are feeling, things that you're thinking, the things that you're doing. But why are you doing and when you have that one little bit of awareness, you have control over yourself. Because quite often you are a little piece in a movie doing stuff and you are just playing a role as just you or, you know, as a character. Character is scripted. They, they're just doing stuff. But when you actually start taking control as a character, but you know, yourself. I feel I have better result because I'm in tune of what I'm thinking and what I'm doing and what I'm feeling. Once you have this alignment, makes it so strong and congruent that it just so powerful and you can get stuff Yeah. So to hold that structure, hold that alignment is a structure, I believe.

Yeah, absolutely. And it's, uh, it's intentional conscious living, isn't it?

Mm-hmm. It is definitely.

Because I think a lot of what I heard you say essentially is a lot of life is unconscious. We, and I think I read something recently that said by the, by the time you're 35, 80% of all your habits are created. You've brush your teeth the same way, you do everything the same way. You get up, you have a drink of water, you go to the toilet, you brush your teeth, you have a shower, then you have your breakfast. Like everything you do is so habitual and it is an unconscious and to some degree we want to be able to drive unconsciously, you know, not have to think brake, you know, clutch, whatever. But I think we have relinquished that consciousness and that awareness and like you say, step out of it and reflect and go, how am I turning up. And actually, I had a situation yesterday where I had a meeting from 11:30 PM to 1:30 AM with a group. And then I had another meeting at 5:30 AM. And I was saying to my husband, I don't know how I'm going to do this. And he said, does it make you happy? Like, is this important? And I was like, actually, no, it's just an expected— I've expected— I've been invited. I've expected to be there. But it's not going to make my life better and it's not going to change things. So I got to have a choice. I was like, I'm going to do the late night meeting and if I'm awake at 5:30, I'll do that one. If not, yeah, whatever. And, and I think it's once again, it's like that boundaries. It's like boundary creep. It's like, well, you got invited, you have to turn up. You know, I'm going to make this happen. I'm going to have like 3 hours sleep and you know, that's, it's not functional. So I think I really love what you're saying because it is that very conscious conscious awareness. And I did something recently which I think I might be able to create a course for the— this group in, or training or something. But I grabbed 2 years of the transcripts of all of the conversations I'd had with my coach, and I put them into notebook.lm, the Google tool. And I said, and now I can interview it. I was like, oh, talk about how far I've come. So you know how you were saying you look back on your diary and you're like, why didn't I have enough energy there? What's happening? So maybe what I can do is I can create a morning and evening kind of, um, uh, structure for people and then, and show them how they could put it into that because it gives incredible insights. And with NotebookLM, you know, as of April, they've just introduced a whole new feature that's mind mapping. And I asked it to mind map my development over the last 2 years. And I've got like, oh, here it is in your health. And here's your relationships and business. And here's, you know, contribution to the world. So, and then the breakdown underneath and then the linking to the actual conversation so I can review it. So I think that's the next level really is what you're saying is actually analyzing the information.

So definitely aware and analyze and action. 3 A's, definitely. Yeah. Because first thing really is awareness. Awareness will give you the insights of what's working, what's not working. Why it's not working, how you're feeling, is this making you happy, all the important things. If you're not aware, you are just driven by other stuff in life. But, you know, so definitely I, the conscious living awareness, that is a baseline of what has to happen. But then having awareness on its own is not enough. It just have to have, okay, so this is what it is, then what do we have to do? How do we improve? Or how do we solve this? So that is, uh, you know, analyzing part of it. So, you know, those elements stuck together, working together, I think it's very powerful.

Good structure. It's interesting, I was looking at my grandmother's diary, um, and she had, you know, she was— I had a big family. She's from a big family, big country, big farm kind of family. And, um, I remember reading through it and she was talking about something about all the sheep they mustered, and, you know, it was a very big day. And she's like, oh, and I got 3 loads of washing done. Oh, Bill was born yesterday. And that was one of her children. Yeah. And, you know, there was that kind of, um, you know, the— when we have that kind of ancestral, like, those hard workers, we kind of take that on. And that's kind of like the default. It's like, you know, get on with it. And, you know, this is, you know, toughen up. This is what life's like. And as much as I can look at that and with comedy going, oh my God, I then I can refer it to me going, oh, I've just had this baby and I'm trying to, you know, milk whilst I'm learning how to do this 10 days after it's born. And I think we do kind of carry these things. So that awareness is important. And I want to just finally talk to you about, because I know that you, your hour of writing. Now I usually do that in bed on Sunday mornings. I just get inspiration and go, what's going on? And I never know what's going to happen or where it's going to come from. I'd love to, what do you call that? Like, what is that for you? Do you just set an intention that you're going to write something meaningful for your community? Or do you just sit there and go, go for it?

So I think I, I, well, while ago I think people call it personal branding and I call it being authentic. And quite often I see people say, hey, I was so, you know, much in trouble, I was depressed, I did this, but I did that. It's like, that's great. I see so many of that. Yeah. Yeah. But I wanna see when you are in middle of it and I wanna see the transformation and what I'm sharing is my thoughts and struggles and the thinking and the things that I'm discovering. Yeah. So I'm just sharing what's happening in my head and what's my life. So, um, just me being authentic and sharing. Yeah. And I always wanted to do this. I, I, you know, this year I set my, uh, set myself a goal and said to Johan as well, I said, I want to be a thought leader. And he laughed at me. It's like every time I say something profound, he laughs at me. And it's like, I know, it's so funny, isn't it? And then, But I think everybody has a voice. Everybody has these meaningful things happening and they need to just stop and give yourself time to, you know, get the learning and analyze it. And then, you know, you forget, so I write it down. So that's what I'm doing of this hour of writing and it makes it super super fun. I surprise myself, like, wow, I didn't know that I was thinking this. And I said, oh, you know, this is, this is such a good insight, you know, I should remember this. And, you know, but that's just part of me just thinking, you know, what I'm feeling, what is my challenge, what things that I discovered. That's, I'm just sharing. That's, that's what it is. And I think that's a key to key to have a business as well, that people started to see fakes and then people use AI and you now you can tell, oh, that's ChatGPT. Yeah, you know, you see an ad, it's like, oh yeah, that's ChatGPT. Oh yeah, that's AI-generated graphics. You can tell that, right? So when you are using AI or just being fake, people feel that now. People are smart now, right? So I think being you, being yourself, being authentic is the key in the new era. Yeah. And not only looking good, but just sharing the whole thing makes you unique. And that is a differentiator in business because people buy from you. Yeah.

So, yeah. And I've got one of your posts up here because I really love this because I think it talks to this kind of awareness stage where we are at the moment. And you said there are human patterns in a crisis and some freeze, there's fight or flight kicks in, some freeze and some pivot fast. And we saw that in COVID and I suspect we're seeing that now too. Uh, some search for meaning spikes like spirituality, mental health, and self-help. People reassess their lives, values, and identity. And I think even more so, we seem to be— there's this, because when I saw you call this out, I was like, I talked to property clients, I talked to mortgage clients, I talked to business clients, I talked to people in the AI space, and there seems to be this underlying anticipation and, you know, unease, you know, more than I've ever seen before. You know, we've had global, you know, global shutdowns and breakdowns and financial crises and all of these things that seem to have impacted people's lives over the last, you know, 20, 30 years. But there seems to be something that people can't quite put their finger on at the moment. There's wars in different countries and there's economic, you know, requirements and, you know, tariffs and things in other countries that may or may not affect us and may or may not, you know, have changes, but people can't quite put their finger on this at the moment. So when you called this out, I was like, isn't that interesting? Because you start seeing that those kind of changes. And then you said innovation explodes. People invent new ways to connect, earn, entertain, and express themselves. And if I think of AI, I mean, so many, I mean, I've been in mastermind groups with AI for over 2 and a half years. And I wonder where these people were beforehand. Yep, yep, yep, definitely. What were you doing before this? Like, you know, everyone seems to be in the— well, obviously when you're in the space, everyone around you is in the space, but there seems to be so many people who this has now become their thing in their career. And I'm like, where, where have they been hiding? Have they been librarians or have they been— yeah, yeah. And so I love this idea of this innovation that you talk to, and And this is what I really am interested in. This tribalism rises. Mask versus no mask, vax versus anti-vax, mistrust in governments and media intensifies. So when things get tough, we ask ourselves, what can we do? Talk to me about this tribalism. What are you seeing at the moment? Like, oh, polarizes, right?

It's like a left and right and, you know, pro-Trump and, you know, all that stuff. And then you want to belong, you want to have opinions, but you know, it's just things that, you know, polarizing people. Yeah, polarizing people. And then actually takes you away from what's important. And I remember 4 years ago, and it does not affect me, but you know, America's election and then so many things happening over there, and that affected me so much. And there is are, I don't know, just the things that— and then Musk as well. All these things just create disturbance in your life. And then, but you feel like you have a strong opinion about that, but you don't know anything about that, but you still have a strong opinion. And then it just creates this massive emotion around it. It. And it's when you're having a happy life and, you know, everything is going good, you don't even look at it. But when things are tough and feeling this uncertainty and, yeah, you're challenged, and then you started to have these opinions and you started to fight and then it just creates anchor in this anger or frustration or things. It's like it gets you more frustrated. And it's interesting, that's just human behavior. You know, all these things search for meanings and, you know, spirituality or, you know, things that they can focus on. People take on different take when these things happen. And we saw it only a few years ago in COVID. You know, a lot of people had strong opinion about this and, you know, anti-government and anti-vax and anti-this and anti-that. I think right now, I think it's just start of this as well. The wars are happening, you know, new tax systems in America and China. And living in Australia doesn't really affect us, but still we have these strong opinions about things that's happening and also we worry about it and it affects us internally. And so that's how things has been and that's how things are happening right now. But knowing that, again, the awareness helps us to set us free from that. And all this, if you have read a book called Transurfing, it's called a pendulum. There is a thing that's moving and then we are being affected by it, you know, right and left, right and left. And then this huge beliefs or the opinions is just all about this good and bad, you know, horrible and wonderful. It's all about this pendulum that affecting us. And then for us to be set free from that is just step out from that and be aware and then do not have an emotional attachment to all these things. Mm-hmm. You know, so that's very important as well.

It's interesting you say that because when I was thinking about this conversation with you and particularly this question, and I was walking to the office in preparation for the meeting, I I was thinking about these things that polarized us. And I remember speaking to a lady during COVID and she, her daughter was having a baby and her daughter was, I think, in Geelong and she was in Melbourne and she said she's not getting vaccinated or she, she wasn't being vaccinated. One of them wasn't being vaccinated and it cut all family contact. It was like, that's it. They're dead to me. Oh, okay. And, you know, I know a lot of people have got really involved, as you said, in the American elections in 2024. And there was this, who are you going for? And I was thinking, none of those things really— I didn't have a strong position. I'm like, maybe I just don't care enough. Like, maybe I'm a person who kind of like doesn't care. Maybe I need to find something to care about. But what it struck me was that, and I think it was Tony Robbins that said, you can only you can only control the things that you have control over. The rest of it, you have no control. Like, don't worry about it. And that really struck me at the time. I was just like, if I can't control something, I can, I can set up a reaction to it and I can minimize impact. But if I can't control it, then it's out of my realms. And I'm talking to clients all the time, and they're so worked up over someone like Trump, for instance. They're so upset about it and they're watching all the— and I'm like, you are spending so much of your energy on this person. But what it also, um, made me think, and I'm interested in your thoughts and how you've seen this maybe play out as well, is that when we are confronted with an opposite opinion to what something is that we really think is important, and it is so very different to our opinion. I think there's a degree of, if we do, if we are open to listening to the other opinion, it actually sets us up with a fear, uh, situation. Because if we do look at a different situation, or situation in a different way, and reconsider our position There's almost this acceptance that we've been living a lie for the last 10, 20, 30 years, or, you know, 10 months or whatever it is. But we've stood so sternly for this thing, and then we see it crumble. And I think sometimes people double down and fight for something they don't really believe in because the alternative is them going, I've been wrong all my life. And I think that's challenging. Have you, have you got anything to contribute to that?

Have you seen— so recently in, in Japan, the biggest entertainment company or the TV stations been crumbling down and all these lies and deceive and all that stuff has been, you know, covered up, started to come out. And the things that we knew, but we didn't want to talk about it or accepted, you know, started to come out. So I think there is a huge shift that's happening and still majority of people don't want to accept it. And then that's how it has been and that's what it is. But I think things are shifting at this moment. And then we started to accept, okay, maybe we've been living in lies or maybe we have to change. So yes, it is scary and hard to see that and then accept it. Mm-hmm. But I think there's a huge shift that is happening at the same time as well. Yeah. So, um, yeah, you know, you just have to be ready. You know, people are ready in different times.

Be like the, uh, grass, not like the tree. Go with the wind.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely.

And here's a, here's something you also talked about, the, um, Japanese entrepreneur, Kazuki Sato, he referenced in his book Douglas Adams and it said trends. First trend, anything in the world when you were born is normal. Yep. Anything invented between your age of 15 and 35 is exciting and revolutionary. And then anything invented after 35 is unnatural and wrong. And it really talks to our stages in life, doesn't it?

Yeah, definitely. So, you know, you are a bit different, Jane Slack-Smith, but when I talk to AI about, you know, older generations, they're like, oh, I don't believe in that. I think that's scary and I think that might, you know, sabotage our society. It just, you know, that's how, that's a law. It's like because they didn't grow up with it, they didn't use it. It just came out when they adult and it's like, ooh, I'm not sure. So resistance, but that's where the opportunity is. And, you know, uh, young people love TikTok and doing stuff and, you know, it's like interesting. So be open to that, you know, young people doing stuff that can be interesting.

I've got, um, I'm in a, like a personal training group and, um, in the group there's this gentleman, he's 89, his name's Jerry and he's run one of the biggest companies in Australia and now, you know, he's retired, but only very recently. And I was talking to him about AI and he said, I can only but hope that I can live long enough to see everything that's created with it. And I thought, what a wonderful orientation, you know, being that age and going, I can't wait. And which is probably, I think, is the curiosity of entrepreneurs, successful people. They're like, you know, bring it on. And Okay, I've got a final question for you. You talked about the era of ground and now the era of information and wind. What's the next era?

But not for next, I don't know, thousands of years, I don't think. But I am not sure what's next, but we are still, we just started the wind. So we just still shifting from the, you know, earth to wind. So I see spirit. Yeah. Probably next is a spirit, you know, more, more like it just flowing in through the— yeah. Yep. Yeah. It's interesting.

I think that, um, we are talking about this era, era of people being uncomfortable. And, and since I've been speaking to you, what's sitting with me or coming to me is that You know, we're talking what's the crisis? And I think the crisis is trust. And I think it comes down to we look at images now. You and I can look at things and go, AI wrote that. That's an AI image. Most people can't because we're pretty deep into it. But I think there's a thing about trust. It's like, can we believe the information? Is this false news? Is this made up? Is this real? You know? And there's that doubt. And so when you're talking about being authentic and just, you know, living from your heart and talking your truth and talking about the good and the bad, then, you know, that's how people can relate to you because it's, I mean, when I write, it's full of bad grammar and it's full of spelling mistakes. And often my mother and sister will send me DMs going, do you know that you spelled this wrong. And I'm like, I'm like, well, everyone knows it's not AI. Yeah, yeah. But I think you're right. I think that there's trust and then there's this authentic, you know, who can we trust, what can we trust now? All this information and everything's moving so quickly in this wind era. Where, where can we find a balance to go, I'm gonna, I'm gonna peg myself on this? Or, and I think the problem is, is that we have identified with pegging ourselves to something rather than to our heart and what we want to create. And maybe it is, this is that transformational time where people go, you know, if guilt is because others are judging me or I'm judging myself in reference to their expectations or shame or whatever that is. Well, what if that is, that doesn't mean anything to me? What if I just live my truth and my happiness for fun? And you know, if that's what we get to from the end of this, that'd be pretty Good.

Yeah, I've had a massive shift. So when I started my business as a financial planner and I had these things, I cannot make mistakes, I have to plan, execute, be perfect, do not make mistakes, you know, I was just, okay, this is a rail that I'm just going to walk middle of it, so I'm not going to get out of this. Yeah. And then something shifted. COVID happened. I had COVID and I was lasted for like 6 months and I was like, oh my God, I, I had this worst, you know, time. I was like, what is the meaning of my life? And I was like, okay, I lived my life safe because I didn't want I don't wanna miss— make mistakes. And then now my life is all about experience and sharing that experience with the people. Beautiful. All the good, bad, ugly, whatever happened made who I am and I embrace everything. So I wanna experience that everything that this universe, my life will offer to me. So I shifted that mindset from do not make mistakes, be perfect, and then do the right thing to experience everything. And that gave me a freedom as well. And that comes as a trust. Absolutely. Yeah. But then gave you freedom at the same time.

I love that. And you know, if I come back to your, you know, you're building these games and it's not like there's one and done. You can keep playing it and you can have different scenarios and you can win and you can lose. Lose it, but it's the connection with other people and everyone having that experience, which is really kind of like the game of life, right? We think there's one game. If we don't get it right, where it's all over, well, we can always just reset it. Yeah. And so, yeah, that, that really lands with me. So thank you so much for being such an amazing person and having this conversation with me. I really appreciate it.

Thank you so much, Jane Slack-Smith. Thank you.

Well, Kyoko Yoshizumi, you can contact her, I'm sure, through Facebook And if she's writing every single day and doing this amazing kind of insights, follow her and follow what she's doing. And I happen to have one of your games, your ninja game. So I might have to work out a game or a prize that I could do to give it away to someone in the community who really loves games.

Definitely, definitely.

We're definitely waiting for the business game to come out. We might have to do a copy one as well so we can use that in coaching. I think that'd be a great idea. Oh, definitely, definitely. Okay, beautiful. Well, thank you so very much. And for those of you who've been listening, um, I have taken so much away from this. I'm going to definitely be putting in some orientation, morning and evening orientation things that we should be doing. That structure, I think that's great. And the analysis of it. And then also this, um, not just how can we go to living from our heart, but being aware of what holds us back, the shame, the guilt, or whatever, and how that awareness of that alone can actually be something that— yeah, definitely. So, okay, well, you've helped me, added enough, you know, extra chapter. But thank you so very much, I really appreciate your time. Welcome, Jane, thank you. As always, everyone, here's to your success. Bye for now. Bye.

Thank you for listening to Exit the Matrix Stories of Success. Make sure you subscribe to future episodes at www.exitthematrix.io. Until next time, here's to your success.