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Martial Arts way of life with Mitch Langman
Episode 5818th July 2021 • Success Inspired • Vit Müller
00:00:00 01:24:44

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My guest today is Mitch Langman, successful martial arts business owner of Dark Carnival, leading martial arts facility, offering Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Strength & Conditioning and Personal Training for all levels of experience here in Canberra, Australia. 

He is a seasoned Martial Artist him self who likes to challenge the status quo of martial arts and peoples own beliefs on what they can, or can't, achieve.

Special Offer:

If you live in Canberra, come train at Dark Carnival - First week for free

For rest of the world, check out Dark Carnival Online Academy

All details on www.darkcarnival.com.au

Links / Mentions

  • Dark Carnival
  • (00:48:05) - BOOK Recommendation: Ray Bradbury's 'Something Wicked This way comes.

Highlights:

  • (00:00:55) - How did Mitch get started with martial arts
  • (00:06:01) - Body is not made to sit
  • (00:08:13) - Dealing with stress through Martial Arts
  • (00:14:35) - How can martial arts help you deal with conflicts
  • (00:18:26) - Other examples of how to deal with conflicts
  • (00:21:17) - How to find courage to get started
  • (00:35:43) - How does grading works for each martial arts
  • (00:37:02) - How age doesn't matter when ti comes to keeping fit. Everyone can do it if they put their mind to it.
  • (00:43:38) - Mitch's career journey from delivering milk as 13 y.o. to successful martial arts gym owner & operator
  • (00:47:53) - Where did the Dark Carnival brand name came from?
  • (00:59:30) - Overcoming Challenges
  • (01:11:20) - Definition of leadership by Mitch Langman
  • (01:14:41) - If you're looking to start your own fitness business.
  • (01:17:09) - Top 3 tips from today's interview
  • (01:21:28) - Special offer for Canberra Locals!

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Transcripts

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Welcome to the Success Inspired Podcast, a business and personal development

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podcast to help you accomplish more in life and realize your true potential.

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And now here is your host Vit Muller

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Hello, everybody.

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Welcome to another episode of the Success Inspired Podcast.

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My name is Vit I'm your host, and today with me, my guest today is a

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successful martial arts business owner of Dark Carnival leading martial arts

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facility, offering Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, Strength and Conditioning

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and Personal Training for all levels of experience out here in Canberra Australia.

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He is a seasoned martial artist himself collects the challenge the status quo

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of martial arts and people's own beliefs on what they can or can't achieve.

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Please welcome to the show Mitch Langman.

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Thank you very much.

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Good sir!

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Good.

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Great to have you in the show mate!

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What I want to say, press.

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Been being a member of this facility.

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I'm very impressed what you've done, but obviously nothing happens overnight.

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Right.

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So where did you, where did you begin and how did you began with this?

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So when I started training Muay Thai, when I was 13 and I got into it

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with, uh, because my older brother.

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So a typical thing, he started doing it.

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Uh, so he's three years older than me.

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He's here to be in 16 and him and his mates are doing

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it and I begged him pleaded.

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And then when he said, no, of course I just pulled the ACE card made my mum,

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tell him to take me to training, uh, 13.

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13.

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Yeah.

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So I like that you used seasoned, uh, it's a nice way of putting it.

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Um, uh, so yeah, went along, loved it from the get go.

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And, uh, yeah.

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What are we now?

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25 years.

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Okay.

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So you're a 38.

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Yeah, 38 and um, yeah, never really stopped doing Muay Thai,

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um, doubled with Rugby a bit and other, other styles of martial arts.

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But yeah, Muay Thai was just the constant throughout 25 years.

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When you talk about like a season season martial artist I mean, that's.

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That's a, that's a long time doing martial arts

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and, uh, still learning, still learning.

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So there's not one way to teach it there, not one way to learn it.

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And every day there's something new that comes out of the woodwork somewhere.

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It's fantastic.

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I love it.

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What are some of the benefits, obviously in 25 years, you know, initially you

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experienced the benefits, but let's talk about like a short term initial

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benefits that you've experienced in your first few years, doing martial arts.

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To, to benefits more of a life benefits that you, that you've now know about

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more of a wisdom based kind of thing.

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Yeah.

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Well, I mean the, the, the initial ones that straight to mind is it's fun.

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It's fitness, you're getting stronger, fitter, faster,

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you're learning new skillsets.

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It's amazing.

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But the wisdom part is, uh, it's kind of what is most important for me and rings

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true, uh, because, you know, w when you're 13, And, you know, you watch the action

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movies, you watch the typical things.

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When you're a kid, you're already to learn how to defend myself and

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realistically, anyway, especially in Australia anyway, in Canberra, in

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particular, there's not really that much, you know, uh, uh, gang violence.

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There's not anything of that nature.

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Um, but there is still the typical schoolyard bullying.

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Um, you know, he might have familial situations, all that kind of thing.

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Kind of in the back of your head, this plan.

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Okay, cool.

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If it goes down, I know how to defend myself.

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That seems very important and it's very empowering, but it was always something

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that I realized that as I got older, uh, I don't think I valued it anywhere

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near as much when I was a child, a young teenager and a young, young male.

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It was only when I was 32, 33 34 went, oh man, this is actually really useful.

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Uh,

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So the reason that you were in valuing it back then, and he said, because he didn't

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really experience bullying yourself.

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No, no, no.

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So I got big ears.

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I had a funky haircut at the time and younger, massively bullied.

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And, uh, just because of shit that happened during my childhood did

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definitely go bullied, but, um, It was something that, uh, again, you

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kind of think that, okay, I don't have to fight or I don't have to.

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Um, whereas when, when you get older, you realize that you don't

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really have to fight like ever.

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Uh, it's always eager waffles effectively.

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So, you know, you can't pay a mortgage with street credit.

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Uh, but when you're a kid, you think that's super important how people are

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gonna think, or I was going to say, and you know, in this day and age of

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now, you know, keyboard warriors and et cetera, and people jump online, they

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can absolutely talk crap about you, but it doesn't matter at all because

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they are not going to come to you.

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They're not going to say it to your face.

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They're not going to anything.

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And even if they do.

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They're probably not going to hit you or actually mean you violence.

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They just try to assassinate your character effectively, which as a

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child is the most important thing.

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And then as you get older, John man, personal wise to tellers Tom,

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thinking about what others thought of me or gave me, that kind of thing.

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And that was probably the biggest takeaway from it is that, um, you

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know, as a kid, you they're going off gonna make everyone happy.

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I have to, uh, kind of keep up appearances and then you kind of go up.

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Why is that?

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Obviously it, as a kid, you don't have that maturity.

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So every day is about, you know, what are the people like?

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How, how do you fit with that?

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You know, if the other kids or it's about that status, right?

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You don't want to be the last one that everybody points the finger at.

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Right.

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So, absolutely.

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And then when you get older, like it's a lot easy to shake things off.

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So what would be some of the benefits for, older people, for adults?

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So obviously.

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Bullying for kids that aside, um, very important, um, to, to get kids in

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this, but for adults, um, how can, how can martial arts benefit somebody out

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there?

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Massively!

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Um, So from a health and fitness standpoint, obviously for a lot of

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people sitting at a desk and odd drive a desk for, you know, uh, seven to 10

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years, thereabouts in public service and your body is not made for sitting

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for, you know, eight to 10 hours a day.

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It's just not, it is also my understanding 10 hours a day either, but you know,

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martial arts one hour, two hours possibly.

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Maybe two or three times a week that you can just move your body

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in this really dynamic fashion.

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That's multi planar so if you're doing Muah Thai there's big rotations and

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turns and this kind of thing, the Brazilian jujitsu you're down, you're

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up, you're turning, you're trying to not get crushed to try to catch someone.

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And so you're using your body almost how it's supposed to be used.

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Uh, so the longevity of the physical aspects is one thing, but then to.

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Be able to really embody mindfulness and meditation in motion.

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So it's great to be able to sit and Zen, like, you know, meditate, most

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people don't get an opportunity.

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Uh, for majority of people, they walked through the door and, uh, they

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could have had the worst day possible.

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I could have this big meeting tomorrow or, you know, things that have to resolve

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tomorrow or the things haven't there.

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And, uh, they jumped on the mats and your brain can't be at work,

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your brain can't be at home.

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Your brain has to be on the mats because for Muay Thai, your calling pads,

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you might be sparring doing drill.

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And if your brain's elsewhere, then you'll be reminded.

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You need to be here now,Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

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You're trying to, you know, not let someone pass your guard.

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Uh, and if your brain is elsewhere, the next thing you know, you're stuck

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in the side control and it sucks.

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Then you got to escape and your brain has to come back to you and

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go, okay, let's get out of this.

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So you're forced to be in that moment, which I think is just priceless,

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Gives you opportunity to also, uh, Gives you opportunity, you

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know, to have to think about work.

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Cause I think that's another thing that we looked at in the current society.

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We live in where, so like there's more in demand on getting more done

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at work as you know, um, deadlines and especially in the corporate world,

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you know, people on the pump, living fight or flight for most of the day.

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That's another thing.

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People don't balance out that between homeostasis and Firefly.

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And for those of you guys listening to see understand homeostasis is the ability

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to, um, And for your body to recover rest it's rest and recovery, right?

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That's when your digestion starts to kick back in and everything just function.

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And so impatient.

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To balance those two scales, actually talk about it on one of

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the episodes with Robley on, if you want to listen to that specifically.

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But so back to the martial arts, I think perfect example, like a lot,

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a lot of people might not be able to do the Zen thing, do the meditation.

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It's difficult, whether it's practically not possible because of time or

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they're just not really inclined.

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I mean, I know myself, I'm not really into meditation.

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Um, but I, I do find different workarounds.

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I may be if I have a lunch.

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You know, trying to eat mindfully.

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So try to not look at the phone and just really focus on 15 minutes, just focusing

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on the food that I'm eating and in a way that that's, that's that's way for me

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to, um, uh, to de stress and just switch off from work because that's in a way.

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Yeah.

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Correct.

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And at one point during the day, do you do something for yourself

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and that is something for yourself.

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So you rock up on the mats and as much as they are.

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A team of people, uh, who there you're in coaching, you training with

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you, holding pads for you, sparring you rolling you, whatever it is,

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this is a individual sport, but you walk that road with many people.

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So, you're not here as part of a team, you're here for yourself, but

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others help you actually achieve.

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So it's just really nice, um, kind of feedback loop that you get.

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So you've got to be a good training partner, so your training partners

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can be good training partners view and so on and so forth.

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But at the end of the day, it's all for you.

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It's not for the sake of your training partner, but it just comes part and

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love it.

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So

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That's actually true.

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That's actually true.

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That's one thing I realized.

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Yeah.

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For the most of my time training in being in fitness was, you know, lifting

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weights that sort of bodybuilding style training, and then more of a functional

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stuff kettlebells, but always just my own training, but doing this over the

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last, you know, year in your, how long you've been, you know, sort of a newbie,

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um, but how long I've been doing it?

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Uh, I have noticed that, um, that it is that learning curve.

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Like every day you come in here, you learn something of somebody

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else, whether it be, um, what.

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Somebody on the same level, like me and newbie or somebody that's much, much

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higher ranking and you role with them.

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And, you know, everybody's very, um, friendly and willing and supportive I've

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not experienced any like competition in here as a, I mean, there is

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competition when you're rolling in a way, but it's a friendly competition.

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There's no aggression,

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Correct.

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That's exactly it.

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And sorry, it's a challenge.

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And so of course I roll.

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You know, in competition, um, if it's myself and some of the other coaches

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role, uh, you know, to see who will win, but it's not win at any cost.

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It's not win, you know, like survival is on the line.

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Um, but it is that, that really healthy challenge of going okay,

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I'm going to challenge myself.

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I'm going to challenge you in the process.

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Uh, you're aiming.

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This is the challenge.

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That that's, that's the respect that we get.

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That's why we slap in bump.

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It's unrespectful.

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They're going to try and, you know, stop blood going to your brain or take

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your arm out of joint or whatever it is in more time we bow, we touch gloves.

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I'm respectfully going to try and punch you in the face and I'm

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literally acknowledging our yep.

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I'm going to try and do the same thing back to you.

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There's nothing personal about it.

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There's nothing.

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Um, you know, vindictive or spiteful and malicious, it's just purely the combative

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art and that's, what's so unique about it is embodies that know the physical

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attributes, but you have to be mentally on and you have to be emotionally

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sound because if you get angry yeah.

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I was going to

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say that is one thing I've definitely noticed that controlling your

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emotion is critical, correct?

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You have to leave the emotions out of the door and the moment you start to lose

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your shit is the moment you, you stop thinking rationally and your IQ goes down.

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It's the same thing, like stress when we're on the fight or flight where

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we're pumping work and day to today.

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And the little stress your IQ goes down.

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Yes.

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Same thing,

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simple things like the technique you've spent years learning.

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You can't remember.

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I distinctly remember.

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I think it was my third fight in Muay Thai, you know, dude posted

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out and I, for the life of me could not think of what to do.

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And I spent three rounds on the end of his dude's like just post.

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I don't know what to do.

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And my coach at the time was just yelling at me, going, you do this every day, you

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know exactly what to, I couldn't remember.

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Uh, you know, you were in the cliche, jammed me up and I was

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like, I don't know what to do.

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So I know exactly what to do, but because of the stress and because

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that the performance decreased intelligence decreased could nothing.

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to save myself, what the hell did I have to do?

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And just shows how much stress we can kind of create out of

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this event and this environment.

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And yeah.

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It's all good.

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So it's good because, uh, you know, it's very stressful when people first walk

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in and, uh, it changes very rapidly.

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Hmm.

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And at first it's walking through the door is the first, the first test, so

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to speak, and then they step on the mats and there are new person amongst

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other people or makers that, oh my God, they're so much better than me.

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So they started exactly where you're not really been training three weeks long.

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Oh, my God.

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It's like, yeah, it's, it's a process frozen started so well

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done, but it is very stressful and that stress can exactly put us in

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that fight or flight immediately.

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And most people just want to run off from that's straight away.

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So no, no, no, stay, stay, stay.

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It's okay.

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It's okay.

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Trust it's okay.

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Yeah.

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Yeah, we find it.

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So these one thing that, um, that is seldom talked about in martial arts,

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which is, um, the benefit of adults.

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To be able to test, uh, what their belief is.

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So some kids went through school and they were able to, you know,

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uh, kind of bullshit their way through physical encounters that

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were the bigger kids, or that was smaller kids with a really sharp wit.

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And they may or may not have ever had to have thrown down with someone

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they've never been physically tested.

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Uh, you've got other kids that that'd be horrendously bullied.

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You know, they were actually physically assaulted as kids, and they've

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never revisited that as an adult.

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And so the development that and the kind of growth.

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So in the first instance and in the true usage of the word is to be humbled.

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Uh, this person thinks are tempered told them Bulletproof, et cetera,

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and then they'd come in and a person, you know, half their size.

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Just molds them on the mats and they cannot pin them.

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And it's, you know, they're being submitted electronic center.

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Beautiful.

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That is true.

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And they have this, they have this decision then.

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Well, everything in my life I thought was true is false.

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Now, what do I do well now?

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Now you're actually learning to honestly be a congruent as opposed

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to living this false story.

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Um, and on the flip side of it is someone who's very meek and mild and, you know,

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I've gone through horrendous bullying and that kind of thing, as I said, an

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incident in their life, and then they'd come on the mat and they discovered

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that, oh, well, I can actually do this.

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I can actually be violent and I can actually take a punch.

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I can actually, wow.

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And confidence I've been terrified of this because the last time

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you encountered violence, you are seven or 16 or something.

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You were a child, you wouldn't, you were not built for it and you were not

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prepared for it, but now you've got an option and they go, this is amazing.

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I was terrified of confidence.

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Yeah, it would affect me at work.

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So if I would, uh, you know, get into a conversation with someone

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and you know, our boss would come down and get a book and I know that.

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And, you know, but now that I've kind of been exposed to violence I'm not worried

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about that other thing that might happen.

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And so, uh, to see that growth in people is amazing.

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And then for me personally, to have that experience several times, working

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in public service, you know, dude will come down super aggressive, super

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angry, cause he got the very sharp uniforms and metals and whatever, and

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that they're tearing into you and you just kind of, you're not going to hit.

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So, can we please sit down and have a conversation here?

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Stop trying to intimidate me.

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It's not going to work,

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but you to be able to be so direct with them and say that

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if you didn't feel confident.

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. Correct, because if I'm worried

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Yeah.

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Even that's not being real realistic anyway, but correct.

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It's just based on the past beliefs

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. And if you bullied as a kid, no, no, it's happening again.

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Oh, I've got to get my, yeah, exactly.

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And intelligence here.

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Next thing you know, you're in the role, whereas especially if you

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know, you're right, fight for it.

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Just go.

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No, you're wrong.

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And I know I'm right.

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And here's the data and I know you're very upset and emotional right now.

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Let's keep it a to facts.

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Let's

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keep, it gives you a stronger ground to stand on.

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Very, very good example of resolving conflicts, right?

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This is a good example.

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Any other good examples of how much loss can help people resolve conflict?

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The, the funniest, the funniest thing that I've always been asked is, oh, you must

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have gotten in to heaps of fights when you were younger but I was like, no,

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actually I walked awayfrom all but four.

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And the four, one of them was made as being 18 year old, you know, drunk and

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stupid and not being situationally aware.

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I didn't start the fight.

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I definitely didn't end the fight because I ended up being jumped, like

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literally stumped by three people.

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It was interesting experience that's for sure.

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Um, and you know, the other three were just, uh, instances, which, you

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know, I was able to resolve because of skills you know, sweet, that's great,

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but every other time it's happened, self-preservation and just the, the

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knowledge that I don't have to do this allowed me just to walk away

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from violent confrontation, because again, like punching on it the age of

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17 or 18 in the city, You go to court.

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I go to court, you go to hospital.

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I go to hospital.

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We both go to the hospital.

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It's like, what's the point?

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This is ridiculous and over what?

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So it gave me that, that understanding that this is not

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necessary, this is not worth it.

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Um, and it was very difficult.

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My ego was going, no, but you know, you're gonna, you're gonna, you're

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gonna, they're gonna think less of you.

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They're going to, people are going to shun you.

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You're going to be, uh, you know, weak.

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I was like, no, they don't.

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And then as I get older, yeah, there's more, it gets reinforced

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more and more and more and more.

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And, uh, just several instances of your public service life.

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Having people very much finger in chest and stop that please

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on what are you going to do?

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You're you're trying to physically intimidate me.

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It's not happening can we please have a discussion or I'm just

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going to walk away because.

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You're not going to do anything and you're not getting your point across.

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So it gave me that, that kind of a, as I said, escalation process, as

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opposed to just fight or flight, is that the dimmer switch, being able

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to turn up that little bit, and being able to zero in on it more into, okay.

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Do I want to be passive?

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Do I want to be assertive or do I want to be aggressive?

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And it gives you those kind of three options and then you

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flush those out even further.

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How assertive am I going to be?

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How aggressive am I going to be?

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When is a good time to be passive and guy that's, this is a situation

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I probably shouldn't be in I'm out.

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So yeah, it gave you, it gives me that, that broad scale, as

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opposed to just one of two options.

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Yeah.

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So we covered benefits quite thoroughly.

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And, uh, and I hope that this inspires the listeners listening right now, but

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considering this now, Understanding the benefits of doing something is one thing.

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But getting started, if you're in really tough spot, psychologically, maybe you're

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going through some tough time depression and, or you've been bullied, maybe you're,

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you know, a kid listening right now that, you know, has been bullied a lot,

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getting that confidence to even step out the front door and going to some local

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gym, might be actually really difficult.

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Yes.

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Very.

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What would you recommend?

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So it's about this point I'd like to touch on, uh, the concept and the

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importance of the story and you know, any, any good book, any good movie.

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So if I was to ask you, what's your like favorite number one, movie?

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Number one movie.

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Oh man, you got me there.

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Look, I think the one that I really like is, um, you know, Pulp fiction

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as good example or Fight club

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Great.

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Yep.

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So Fight club's a great example.

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Um, because it is a true case in point.

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So you got, okay.

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Sorry.

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Who's who's a main protagonist.

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Who's the main antagonist, you know, all that kind of deal.

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What characteristics does that individual have?

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Um, you know, uh, for when I speak to a lot of people, uh, they use Harry

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Potter as the example, I love the Harry Potter books and the movies

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are great and all that kind of thing.

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And you ask for the story of Harry Potter, isn't all the,

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he's a kid and he's a wizard.

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And, you know, he, uh, he goes to Hogwarts and, you know, people try to kill him

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because he's this and that and whatever.

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And then.

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Okay, but that's not the full story.

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What happened to him at birth?

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Oh, there's more to it.

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Right.

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So he had a tragic upbringing.

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He had the call to adventure and he rose to the call to

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adventure and he went to it.

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And what was the outcome?

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Well, he met friends.

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There was trials, there was adversity.

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Uh, there were lessons learned and there was confrontation at the

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end of the nemesis effectively.

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and he over came it and, you know, but he's the story of Harry Potter is born.

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A wizard, went all goats.

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He lived a happy life.

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You wouldn't watch that movie.

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It'd be boring movie.

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So you get people and they go, okay, well I've been severely bullied or massively

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overweight or I'm unhealthy or et cetera.

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Uh, I went through a very traumatic childhood incident happened I'm

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on a bad end of a relationship.

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Um, you know, there might've been specific traumatic events that

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happened in a male or female.

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Um, and then, okay, but then what?

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Oh, then I went to a martial arts gym and I discovered myself out.

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I went to a, even a weights gym and I started to feel a,

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built a sense of community.

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So there's the call to adventure.

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There's your comrades and then what?

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Well, then I decided to test myself, okay.

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By doing what?

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Well, I went in a bodybuilding competition and I went into, uh,

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strong man competition or, uh, BJJ competition, Muay Thai, whatever it is.

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And then went on that journey was amazing . Ok so what have you learned?

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Well, I've learned so much about myself that I didn't even know was possible.

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You would read that book.

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You would watch that movie, but here's the story of an individual who is,

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you know, very, you're terrified you to experience as a youth.

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Uh, all of these adversities are heaped against them real or perceived,

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uh, and they avoid it and that's it.

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And so they've kind of subscribed to that life of mediocrity, which is absolutely

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fine if that's what you want, but for a vast majority of the population

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they're not made for mediocrity, you're not made for mediocrity.

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I'm not made for mediocrity..

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No, so we haven't done it.

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Uh, but for a lot of people that would say that is the only option because they're

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just kind of following the narrative.

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Yeah.

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Screw that, uh, you know, the, this, you know, the Fight club, which is

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the best and your, uh, Edward Norton's in there with Brad Pitt and uh,

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Brad Pitt is in the tub scrubbing.

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And he goes, I asked my dad, um, you know, dad, what do I do?

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He goes, oh, I w you go to school.

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You're in education.

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Okay, dad, I've got my education now, what do I do?

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Well, you get a job.

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I can't, I've got my job now.

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What do I do?

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Well, you find, you find a partner.

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Okay.

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Now what do I do?

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Well, you build a house.

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Okay dad, I've done all those things, now as you told me, I don't know.

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Yeah.

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It's like, wow.

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That is that it is that it

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it's like, it's like, uh, like instant soup recipe and this is

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what everybody should be doing.

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And it's like nah.

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But if that is for you.

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Amazing.

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And people are extremely happy and I do not regret them or try to pull them.

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No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

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But if you are unhappy in any of that, if it is not fulfilling,

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It's cause you're not made for it.

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And you'd know you'd known if you're not being, if, if you're not feeling

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like you're fulfilling your life, you know it because you feel miserable and

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you constantly dream, but what could be the alternative, but you never

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get the courage to overcome the fear.

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Correct.

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And I think a good strategy.

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That could be what you said, you know, you, you outlined.

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An example of the alternative and trying to write it down, maybe even think about

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all the benefits that you can, you can experience by getting yourself outside of

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that comfort zone outside, stepping out of that front door and visiting martial arts

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gym in this example, think about all the benefits that you'll you'll experience.

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How's that going to improve your life?

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Build more confidence?

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Um, all, all that.

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I think that we've covered.

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Write that down and then think about.

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The alternative, if you're going to stay where you're at and you

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know, we only have one life.

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Um, as far as I know, so trying to imagine it like a scale, right.

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And where's the scale tipping.

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Cause if, if currently you thinking about the fear and I don't really want to do

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it and all that, I'm going to experience all that bullying again or what.

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No that, that in their, inner voice.

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And if you just keep telling yourself that, then, then yeah, surely the

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scale will keep on tipping that way.

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So you need to start focusing on the, on the, on the alternative.

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And as long as that list is.

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The list of positive is longer than the list of the, you know, the other

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side then, uh, I think that's, that's a good way to make, make that commitment

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because we talk about fitness.

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Right?

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When you talk about fitness, you've got those five steps.

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You've got the first step date.

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I can't remember specifically, but from memory is the first step you

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don't really, you're not really like ready in the second step.

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You starting to think about it third step.

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Yeah.

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You were actually considering it for step you're actually planning the action.

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And then the fifth step, you do the action, something

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along those lines, right?

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Uh, sorry, consideration, uh, sorry.

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Awareness, consideration, um, engagement, uh, or preparation I should say.

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And then engagement and then outcome activity.

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Yeah.

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So again, Um, so if you, uh, and again, talking to you guys listening, if you

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thinking about, you know, doing the action, then that's like a big jump.

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Just get yourself to the next step.

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What is the next step?

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Well, just trying to get yourself into that head space of considering it.

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And try and do it every day.

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So you're totally correct.

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Um, it's the good old outage of, um, you know, the definition of insanity,

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which isn't the actual definition of insanity, but we hear it recited a

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lot, which is doing the same process, expecting a different outcome.

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So this is one of those things that is, is that difference

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so difference in the process.

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So you kind of know what you've done so far.

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How's that working out for you and exactly who this was in the God's watching this.

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Now, if, uh, if you've kind of been running this loop, well break the

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loop, stop, it will be uncomfortable.

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It will be very scary because, uh, one thing we don't do anywhere near

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as much as adults is we step into this, uh, state of vulnerability

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because, uh, we like to think that now I 've got my shit locked down.

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I've got my mind, I've got my body, I've got everything.

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Okay.

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It is what it is.

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And I really don't like it.

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And to go back and address or challenge that you're going to have to put

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yourself into a state of vulnerability.

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Um, you know, to have someone, uh, in the workplace, starting

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new job, people go, okay, fine.

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I'm going to have a team leader.

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I'm going to have a manager.

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I'm gonna have whatever, you know, runs through the ranks.

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Absolutely fine.

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But for someone who stepped on the mat and, uh, actually face.

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Yeah, I can't bench 50 kilos.

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Shouldn't I be able to bench 50 kilos.

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It's like, no, like we know this, but you don't think you should,

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should not be able to punch someone.

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You think you should be able to.

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It's not that easy.

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Oh, I can wrestle.

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No, you can't.

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No, you can't.

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And you've never have, oh, but I remember years ago when you were a kid.

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Yeah.

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That's right.

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No, you haven't addressed any of this.

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And so to be thrown again in that state of vulnerability and it is again and

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again and again, because the perceived kind of barriers that we put up, we

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realize they're false and then we rip them down and then we see more ahead and

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we go, oh my God, there's more barriers.

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I'll wait way.

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They're perceived.

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Rip rip rip.

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And then you realize that wow, I was just really working against

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myself for the longest time.

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This, this is, this has been enlightening process, but you

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have to make that first step.

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Yeah.

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which is, when then people would go and talk about midlife clock crisis.

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Right?

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I think it usually between forties and fifties, right?

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Midlife crisis, you realize, oh shit, I didn't really pursue my dreams.

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And now you realize that you're yeah, you haven't really fulfilled it.

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So it is about getting yourself outside comfort zone and continuously

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challenging yourself because that's how you grow up personally.

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And like this show is all about that.

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This show is called Success Inspired Podcast.

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Whether it be personal development or business, for those of you guys listening.

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If, if you're living a life of mediocrity and you want to change it, then yeah.

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Just get your sort of arts at conference zone.

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And sometimes that might require you to, to, to get, to get

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somebody to kick you in the butt.

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You know, I I've been considering for some time, although a bit more

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difficult now because I've gotten son, but I've been considering the idea

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of, you know, doing like one of those fitness trips, literally put myself

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in an like, lock myself down, like, you know, the prison, but like go,

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going to an environment where there is somebody that will force me to do things.

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Like, for example, one of those fitness camps, like going to Thailand

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for a week,

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Yeah, Thailand is a great example and people do it all the time.

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And they come back and go Muay Thai was amazing.

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Or, and they've got so many camps in gyms and whether it be Brazillian

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Jiu Jitsu orientated or just general fitness, strength, conditioning,

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orientated, or Muay Thai, there's Yoga retreats there's everything.

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Um, you know, and yeah, you lock yourself in and you go okay.

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I'm going to go to this place and you know, they will come

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around and they'll wake you up.

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And if you want to live in breathe a fighter for argument's sake,

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they'll kick you out of bed.

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You you'll go for five kilometer run in the morning, then you'll

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come back, skip to pad work, clinch work, whatever it is, eat rest.

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And then back on the mats for another three hours, rest and then they might

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take you to fights in the nights and then you sleep, wake up, repeat

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it's a good awakening because you're, you also learn a proper, proper

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way of looking after yourself.

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Obviously they give you the right food, you get the right nutrition, you get,

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you get disciplined, you get disciplined.

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Even if it's a short one week or two weeks, I think that's enough because

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it's so intense that when you come back and that's, I'm just talking off,

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not experience, but what I believe it is to be that when you come back.

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That gives you that good reset button.

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And then you're more likely to actually continue with that

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discipline, join local dojo and okay.

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Yeah.

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Very, very it's um, yeah, people have those experiences and the go ok I'm

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going to go, uh, climb a mountain for argument sake and they lock in they go

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to , you know, uh, whichever mountain it is and they do this experience and I come

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back richer for it because they've gone.

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They've set the mind on the think and they've done it.

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And, uh, they might've taken people with them, but generally I do solo.

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They go for long hike, but most of these things are physical in nature.

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So they're tangible, they're not necessarily meditation retreats.

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They're not necessarily, um, you know, uh, just kind of a holiday.

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They go in, there's an actual challenge and they go, okay,

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I want to do the challenge.

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I want to do it for six days or the hike or whatever it is.

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And they come back and they go, okay, I did that.

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Well, I did that.

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It's amazing.

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I did this thing.

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Ok now what else can I do?

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Cause you've, you've kicked that goal.

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Now let's set the bar higher.

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Strengthens

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your integrity, right?

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Strings your own, um, um, your own, like how your discipline.

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Yeah, you know, weight lifting is the most tangible out there.

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Uh, outcome you got.

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Okay.

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We're going to start with fixed killers on the ball.

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You're right.

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Okay.

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So now I've done 50 kilos.

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Can I do 60?

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Wow.

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I did 60.

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Can I do 70?

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Wow.

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Did 70.

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And you peak at some point, but then you need to make a decision.

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Right?

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Do I make everything else looped back in so I can keep, cause it's not just

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a matter of, you know, bench has other muscles grips had other training that goes

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into it, but seeing how far you can go and how, like how long can I do this for?

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And you now have exactly, discipline.

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And that's now the goal and tick, let's go.

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Because it might just be a case of, well, okay.

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I'm not going to be able to push past that number.

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Um, let's say 130kg on bench press I mean, that's pretty, pretty good.

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Yeah.

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And based on your lifestyle, you know, you're not going to

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be going full-time powerlifting.

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So it comes to a point where you also have to realize, okay, well, that's,

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that's the end point, but then it's about, okay, I I'll maintain it.

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Yeah.

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It's the maintenance of it.

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That's what's going

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to keep my health

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and

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then you look to yourleft and there's Deadlifts, and you go,

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how much can I deadlift squats.

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Squat.

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Okay, cool.

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So now you're kind of expanding the horizons.

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So for people that do BJJ, um, you know, there's, there's stripes, there's

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belts, there's, uh, competition.

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There's so many avenues for that kind of learning.

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Um, more tide, you know, in traditional Mortara, there's no

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grading structure, you try new things.

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Um, but for here at TCM 10, our version of , we implemented a grading structure

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because not everyone has that time nor the passion to jump straight into the ring.

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Uh, so it gives them clear, defined, tangible goals to be able to kick

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sweet, caring for that one thing.

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It can negative for the next thing and it's harder.

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And then the next one's harder.

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It gets harder than it all physical.

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So, you know, do I expect a 50 year old to be able to perform like an 18 year old?

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No, but I expect you to kick off as a 50.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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I expect you to punch out as many pushups in a minute as at night?

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No, but I expect you to work your ass off for you.

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So don't you rockin go and I'll, we'll see how we go.

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No, no, wrong attitude.

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You actually

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brought up a good point that he's, you know, oftentimes, you know,

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working fitness industry myself, you know, sometimes people call you that

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might be interested in joining a gym.

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And as you get a phone call from somebody older, I don't know, they

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might be in their fifties or sixties.

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And they're like, ah, nah, that's, that's not, not, not for me.

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There's all the young ones or, you know, that's past me, that's possibly that's

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stuff that I could do when I, when I was a kid, what would you tell them?

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So the, the oldest kind of active member we had in the gym

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unfortunately had to, um, to, to Alzheimer's he had to pull back.

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Um, but he was 82, 82?, too far out.

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And he would hit pads here at spar obviously, very

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controlled and very restricted.

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Um, he'll do jujitsu, all this kind of thing.

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I mean, he loved it.

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He was an old school, you know, military and police.

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He just loved it.

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And it was the only thing that kind of kept on going

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until he couldn't go anymore.

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So, you know, for his safety and just everything that was his processes,

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he had to pull back, unfortunately.

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Um, but yeah, I've got, you know, several people aged 60 plus, uh,

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and probably the biggest, uh, kind of hang up for them is just regret.

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Why didn't I do this when I was younger?

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Why did I just decide to do this now?

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Like I wish I hadn't had the time over and it's like, yep.

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But don't hang onto that grip because you are doing it now.

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So of course it will be frustrating when they go, oh, if

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my back was, yeah, yeah, yeah.

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Of course.

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If I had more foundations.

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Right, but you don't.

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So how about let's move?

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Let's keep going.

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We can't, we can't live in the past.

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We can't live with regret.

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Um, but yeah, for the, for the, for the, you know, the, uh, in, for the

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elderly, for the, you know, out of shape individuals of the world, man,

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you got an option and time is ticking.

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Go do it.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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Obviously you need to approach more intelligently, but that should be down

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to your coach and your trainers as well.

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So making sure you don't.

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Cause they have a really good understanding of limitations and

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pushing those limits, whereas.

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Some people are coming here, let's go calm slowly, warm up first.

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Then we just start with the bar.

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Then we put weight on it.

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And that kind of thing.

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I just get frustrated when I feel sad.

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And when I, when I hear people saying, you know, on I'm tool, um, that's,

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that's it for me, it's like, I mean, you, you still want to have quality of

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life and you still have certain things you'd want to be able to do right.

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Your grandchildren, things like that.

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So I think, yeah, people should still, if they're in that age bracket, you

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know, in that older, past 50 type of thing, you know, Um, I think people still

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should think about your skills again, you know, think about those benefits

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because you know, I've interviewed people as an example, a couple in their

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early sixties, they decided to sell the house, buy a boat and they live

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on the boat and they've got kick-ass lifestyle, you know, they sailing.

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So they've been physically active and then you go then on a contrary, you

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might somebody else who is in their sixties, who is not physically active.

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The body's deteriorated, deteriorated, deteriorating, whatever, how you say that.

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I'll blame it on my, uh, English is my second language.

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Um, so you know, so you've got those examples in your life.

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I wouldn't want to be like that.

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I definitely want to be able to do things and, and, and rely on my

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body to, to take care of me through life, to be like my granddad,

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he's 80 and he's still top shape.

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He's, you know, he's still like, you know, his posture's great and, and everything.

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So I would certainly want to be like that rather than somebody

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else who's in the wheelchair.

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You know, and just letting their posture slouch down and let their muscles atrophy.

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And, and, you know, I didn't have to rely on others to do so for you.

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That's bullshit.

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That's bullshit for me.

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I don't want to have that life.

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Yeah.

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Sorry.

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The word I have trouble with is best specificity, especially my brain specific.

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Anyway, I'm sorry.

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Yeah, exactly.

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What we are, we tend to have a tendency to do is to stop learning new things.

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Yeah.

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So it doesn't matter whether it's learning to play guitar.

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I mean, I've got a guitar there with I've tried is now my eighth

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attempt at learned to play guitar.

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I still suck.

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Um, you know, didgeridoo I've played with muck around with,

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and all this kind of thing.

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You're not can do it.

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The cyclic breathing is constantly, um, you know, a new thing.

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Um, but you get people in, they, they might've played

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soccer and only soccer Hmm.

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Football, um, their whole life.

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And then done is one range of movement.

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One range of motion that specificity, um, no is.

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It's detrimental down the track.

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If you've only played tennis, that's detrimental.

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If you've only gone.

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And as I said, if you've only done Muay Thai as dynamic as

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it is, that is detrimental.

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If you've only done Brazilian jujitsu, that's detrimental.

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The good thing about the martial arts that I find though, is they open up to others.

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So you want to be fit.

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So you want to do cardio, so you don't just get more tired.

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You do run, you do bike.

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Whatever the screaming, uh, you want to be flexible.

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So you do your stretching.

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You do my ability to do yoga.

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You do Pilates, do whatever.

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Um, you want to be strong.

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So you do weight lifting.

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You do to help aid this one thing that you enjoy doing and want to keep doing.

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So, as, as present, now you're down to one movement pattern.

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It's actually multiple.

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Um, in example, you have people selling a house going into a boat.

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They would have learned how to sail maintenance, all this kind of thing.

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And so it doesn't matter if he let him.

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I got a woodcarver whatever, it's a new skillset and forcing that

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neuroplasticity to be able to rewire and rewind new movements and new knowledge.

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And it's the key to life.

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It's what keeps hurting people young is that are constantly learning

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and doing so not just reading, it's actually making a tangible

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skillsets and a practical skillsets.

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It's not just about that physical betterment.

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It's also mental.

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Because when you physically challenge yourself.

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You're actually more sharp.

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If you, if you improve the cardio, you get more oxygen in your body and your

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body, your brain gets more oxygenated.

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You're more sharp in an example of the guy with Alzheimer.

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I bet you that if he didn't didn't train, um, he is pro his rate of

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progress would be probably faster.

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Yeah, correct.

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Right?

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Correct.

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That's probably why he put it off for so long.

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And having discussions with him that was very much the case is if it

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wasn't for training, then it would have been over a long time ago.

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Quality of life.

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Now I want to talk about your career and how do you transition into this awesome.

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awesome gym, so you talk about working in a public sector.

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Um, so tell us just a bit of a short story about your career

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transition into business owner.

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13 years old started off in the milk runs as do most kids, uh, 15 to 18 did my,

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I did my tour of duty in hospitality, which I think everyone should do a

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tour in hospitality or retail, because you will learn more about dealing with

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people, uh, than any time in life.

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Um, and then from there, uh, I was engaged with the protective service.

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So APS, uh, doing logistics and Technical support.

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And, uh, from there we got absorbed into the AFP, uh, AFP.

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I became an Armourer so, um, in the fire arms identification, uh, and armory team.

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So I was fixing maintenance.

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TheAFP's fleet of firearms, which was super cool

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Like guns for the Australian federal police?

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Correct.

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All the, all the short arms, long arms, whatever that, that's what we did.

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Cool.

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It was super cool.

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Um, but as with like a lot of kind of governmental processes, the job changed

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uh, and I kind of got a bit, nah, it's not what I was employed to do.

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So it ended up being a bit of a desk job as opposed to mechanical job.

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Um, so I joined high-tech crime operations and, uh, worked in

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there for, uh, the remaining years.

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And I just kind of reached that point where I went on.

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Not I'm not happy doing this

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So turnover, um, take turns.

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So I was training and coaching the entire time that I was working

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public service and, uh, yeah, kind of got to the point that, um, couple

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long service leave and went okay.

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I'm going to try this thing.

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And lots of things happened so this was, um, December or November, 2012.

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And, uh, you know, I'd already read the Dark Carnival as a, as a business entity.

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Um, I was training out of, um, sort of initially my garage and then, uh, uh, the

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Jinindera super school just using their hall and then Stockade training centre.

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Uh, that gives you opportunity to run the Muay Thai program there.

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So like wicked let's jump on board.

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This is actually like a big gym and everything was going really well.

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Then I was getting more kind of put off by work.

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Uh, relationship was kind of the 10 year relationship at the time.

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It was coming to an end as well.

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So it was like,

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Time to reset.

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Let's do this.

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Um, so yeah, took the plunge, uh, Took my long sentence live for as long as

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I could milked it out for leave sick, leave everything just as long as I could.

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And I was able to get my feet wet during June 6th, 2013, we opened up the doors

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in Woden at the first Dark Carnival.

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And, uh, yeah, it was well-received we, it was going well.

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Uh, initially didn't pay myself anything cause I was still getting

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my wage from, you know, long service leave and et cetera.

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And then, uh, yeah, November, 2013, I resigned from AFP, pulled out

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the safety net and, uh, let's go.

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Uh, yeah, well, many lessons were learned.

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Uh, was it easy?

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No.

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few years later, uh, my now business partner, Tasha, and she, uh, she bought

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in 20%, I was amazed that someone wanted to buy in on my business.

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You want to give me money for training people.

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Okay.

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Right.

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Excellent.

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So she bought in, uh, and then, yeah, we've been business partners

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kind of being, building their partner of the business sense.

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And we went from, you know, 175 square meters to 200 and, uh, sorry

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to 300 square meters to then moving to Phillip, which 330 square meters.

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And just last year we took her upstairs and effectively.

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Now we have 680 meters square of a training space.

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So let's talk about adversity because well, you guys don't.

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Yeah, so obviously really cool branding.

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Um, Actually let's talk about that because I'm really curious, firstly, why.com.

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So, uh, when I was a kid, I read, uh, Ray, Bradbury's

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'Something Wicked this way comes'.

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And the whole idea of this carnival of morality, uh, where it's attractive.

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It's nice, it's big lights and you come and you are tested.

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And if you demonstrate love care, compassion, and you

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pass the test, then you are.

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You're richer for the experience and for visiting the carnival, if you fail

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you become part of the economy when you're absorbed into the carnival.

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So you've got the tattooed man, not really related to me having tattoos,

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but you know, in the volt headers of the people who have been absorbed in

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and all this kind of thing is, you know, the character, it's only a short story,

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but something wicked this way comes.

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Okay.

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Uh, and it's about a doc carnival and.

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You know, it's, uh, it's it just kind of set the scene and there

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were, there was another book called Shadow Shaw, which are ran on the

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same premises or premise should say.

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Um, and that was fantastic.

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And as a young kid, I was like, wow, these are really cool concepts and I like it

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because it's the duality of it.

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And the, the concept of duality kind of ran through my entire life.

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So dark being darkness, carnival being light.

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Uh, so dark carnival.

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I see, I understand.

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It's why I have tattoos and a half of my buddy.

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Sorry from the head down to the targets, one's hot in my body.

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It's the potential for two states to exist in one that's the duality

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of nature, and you can have this really lovely, nice person.

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It can also be this absolutely ferocious fighter you can have this

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absolutely feroucious fighter.

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He might be the most caring, loving individual you've ever met.

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And for me, that resonated very heavily as, as a child fast forward, uh,

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to, I think the age of 12, 13, and.

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You know?

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Yeah.

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I came across, uh,Insane Clown Posse and they based their whole music

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on this ethos of the dark carnival.

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And I was like, rod, they're just fleshed out this concept.

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Amazing.

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And so I was like, yep, cool.

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I've dealt with this, this rad.

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Um, some of the songs are great.

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Some of the songs were absolutely terrible.

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Uh, but I really like the, the, again, the concept and the story

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behind it, I was like, this is.

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And then, yeah, just that always stuck in my head.

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I want to open up a gym called Dark Carnival.

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Cool.

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And that was since little and I just had this idea.

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I love that there is like a true meaning behind his name.

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Like there's some people open a business and they just put something that's.

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Yeah.

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Rings cool.

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It's, you know, trendy, but, um, sometimes there's not enough history to the name.

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Yeah.

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Even, even the first logo that we had, which was the DCM T logo, the dark handle,

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muy Thai, the face split down the center.

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And it is quite literally me looking at my reflection.

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So the right side is black and is fiery and has DNC kind of designed and tattoos.

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And, uh, you know, it looks angry.

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Uh, the left side is white and it's, it has the dark offsets.

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But when you actually look at the logo, which one's smiling

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and which one's grimacing.

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Yeah.

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And it's actually the docs are that smiling and the light side is grimacing.

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So yeah, it was, it was very good.

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In one, one of, one of the guys went to school with Jordan, Jordan chick he's.

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He said ideas.

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And he came back with that and was like, oh my God, you've literally designer.

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And, uh, he just went.

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Yep.

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Cool.

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Perfect.

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And so far.

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He designed like 90% of the logos.

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We have

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branding evolve based on that idea.

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And he'll work in putting that creative mindset over it.

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Correct?

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That's exactly it.

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You go onto your website.

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Um, dark carnival.com.au.

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No, you guys go check it out because it's, it's really cool.

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I like those, you know, those, um, those, you know, the cards

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yeah.

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The cards.

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Yeah.

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And, uh, even that, like, not that it has anything to do with, with

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gambling, but you've just got to be able to play your cards and having that

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ice in the hallways is so critical.

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It's so important to be able to go.

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Okay, cool.

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Let's see how you play.

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And a lot of, a lot of pivot for people that do play cards, uh,

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Yeah, and you can play other people.

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And there's, there's a whole lot of, uh, conversational engineering that goes

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into it and that's no different to life.

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And one of the branding aside, which is really cool, um, you also have

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really good culture here in the gym.

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Everybody's friendly.

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We kind of talked about it as well, but your coaches are amazing as well.

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So how do you attract the right talent?

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Difficult.

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So very difficult.

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So as the culture and the vibe and everything goes, uh, again, like,

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ah, I've got crews around here and I forget that this is actually my gym.

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It's like, someone's actually created this.

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It's like, no, you create is, oh shit, I did too.

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Um, but you attract like people and so we never set out to be a fighter.

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I train fighters and I train BJJ competitors, but that's

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not, that's not my interest.

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That's not my passion.

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It's part of the story and part of the journey.

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Yes.

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But it's not, you know, it's hard for a lot of people.

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They'll go, well, that's not your Mo tie cause more how you have to find.

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No, you do have to perform a hundred percent.

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You have to test.

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And so that's kind of what the culture has been born from.

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Uh, so two of my great mentors and really good friends in, in America, um, in LA.

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So, uh, Jerry wetsuit from central on Jim, he one of the credit breads

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on threat management and you're on, uh, you're the Australian training

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director for, and then Chris how-to who is accredited combat base.

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Uh you're in Brazil.

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Yeah.

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So Jerry, his kind of motto is what is your test?

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And the great, you just summed it up perfectly.

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And for Chris, he just says things straight transport practice, the

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art, we have to think straight because you have to keep it honest

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would this work if I needed to.

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Uh, but you can't train straight street because in that way, he's like

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one of two outlets either this, uh, touch buttery in the park have killed

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five people, but I can't trade this.

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Yeah, that kind of thing.

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Or you end up injured.

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I end up injured in training because the moves work, but

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how do you train it safely?

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Well, you have to train in a sporting environment and then you, uh, practice the

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art and the art is your, is the device.

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So when you look at the martial art, the martial is a physical

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prowess, but the art is the mental and emotional, the artistic and, uh,

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endeavor to be able to create more.

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So not just go.

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Well, that's not, not that's, that's a dogma to doctrine, that's it?

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There's no more to be discussed.

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So now it's constant being created.

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I heard recently that, um, I think mark Zuckerberg said is some, don't

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be no at all the learn it all.

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Yes.

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So you never stop.

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You should always pursue continuous learning and always seek more behind

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the, not taking it as a end state.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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And, and, and in that sometimes you will be wrong.

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I could have swore that was correct.

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Yeah.

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Well, okay.

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Interesting.

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Yeah, that's cool.

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And it just changes your whole vibe, so, yeah.

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Sorry, fighting, fighting coaches.

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You draw those people in and you identify them, but not everyone

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has the same goals and aspirations.

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If it's chasing money to become a personal trainer and become a, you know,

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a, um, uh, a gym owner and trainer, because the money is not six digits.

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It's.

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You're not going to become a millionaire, but you'll be happy.

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You'll be fulfilled.

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You get to live and operate with these amazing people.

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And like you get paid well, but you can also go to public service.

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And like, I was on just shy of six figures and I'm white on the half of

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that at the moment, but I love my life.

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I I've never regretted or resented a day of having to come in.

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It's once I drag my ass out of bed, is that initial, uh, title?

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Yep.

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But that Collins expect me to come in.

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I love it.

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It's amazing.

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It's like, boom, I come here.

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Let's go.

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That's a really important point as well that you bring in across is that

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what's a true definition of success.

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I was going to ask you a question actually, but you, in a way you

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just said it is isn't, you know, financial is, it's just one element

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of, of, I mean, feeling fulfilled.

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Nobody's going to feel fulfilled purely on money.

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I don't know many people that are purely based on money and the ones who are

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purely based and money billionaires.

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I hear often that they're not happy they're living in their mansions alone.

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Yeah.

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And I mean, it, it, it might give you opportunities that

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don't exist for normally.

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A hundred percent.

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And if that's where your fulfillment lies, amazing, great.

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Some people have fulfillment in just having families, having

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a kid, having a loving wife, husband, partner, whatever it is.

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Amazing.

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Absolutely amazing.

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If that's where you're fulfilling laws, then brilliant.

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You are successful.

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If it's not where it lies, then stop it.

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Yeah.

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Uh, exactly.

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So if you just chasing that bigger house, if you're just chasing that pasta.

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Because then you get that bigger county.

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I'm not happy.

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Yeah.

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It's like, no stop doing it.

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Like you just get stuck in this again.

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Insanity.

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You're doing the same thing, expecting a different outcome.

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The next house, the next day.

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The next figure and salary will make me happy.

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It's like, no, it won't

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people should shouldn't these aspirations because oftentimes they're based

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on the external, based on something that happened in their childhood.

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Again, going back to that state dues and trying to chase that

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highest state, just because they want to be, they want to be loved.

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They want to, they want to get more, they want to be acknowledged.

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Maybe there weren't acknowledge.

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And they think that.

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Having better house by having fancy you guys now, now they can go and, you know,

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show off that, you know, and think that that's, that's, that's, what's going

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to fulfill that, but it's not really it

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is it.

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No.

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And if it is that individual, then you'll never hear them say paid, but

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for a lot of people, that facade is now what they have to try and embody.

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It's literally like wearing a mask and that mask does slip and

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hence we have 40, 50 year old.

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Oh, my God midlife crisis.

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I'm miserable.

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Like, yeah, you are.

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It didn't really change the rider

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spray.

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Correct.

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That's exactly it.

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Um, and on the flip side of it, you might have people that is all about

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raising a family and then the kids get to 1820 and parents, mum, and dad's

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seen they're going now, what do we do?

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And I have another kind of midlife crisis.

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It was like, well, my whole life was family.

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Now my family's doing their families.

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It's like, ah, now you've got another problem

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and suddenly, huh?

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To like have that blueprint.

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Nobody gives you the blueprint blueprint.

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It'd be nice to have, you know, laid it out for you, but it

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just, life doesn't work that way.

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One way you can make sure that you live more fulfilling life is that you make sure

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that you do what you truly enjoy doing.

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What were some of the toughest experiences or challenges that you

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had whilst developing Dark Carnival?

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COVID COVID aside.

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I COVID just screw out of so many people, but it also, uh, kind of

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forced us to pull the trigger on other, uh, programs, packages on the online

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academy, all that kind of thing, which is still very much in its infancy.

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Uh it's right at the moment, but we've got so much content filmed over like

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the four months we were shut down.

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It's ridiculous plugging right.

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And produced it.

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It's just being edited in, you know, Doug hall does an amazing

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job of, you know, the, the editing and the filming and everything.

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But my God there that you're never kind of lost return to normality

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that sits on the back burner and we chip away at it when we can.

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Um, but I mean, look, the, uh, the hardest part, the biggest problem

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was starting off as a one man shot, and then it gets bigger than you and

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you go, okay, I need another person.

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So.

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My, my ongoing problem is that it's constantly a lack of resources.

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It's not finances, it's people, because as you touched on, the

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people have to fit the culture and I have to fit your style of gym.

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Yeah.

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So recently we brought on, um, uh, you know, Judy, COVID one of

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the black belts up in the city that we knew he was out of a job.

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So we're like, dude, come down, we'll see ya.

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English is not his first language.

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Uh, Rodrigo.

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Yeah.

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Hunter.

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Yeah.

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And he's doing a great job.

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He's getting much better at English, but he, he was the first person I brought on.

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That's External.

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I never coached him.

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I never trained with him.

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Uh, um, whereas Rowan Dan, uh, you know, Riley, Alexa, Michael, all of

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these dudes who coach here, I've trained them all, or I've trained with them

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and so, you know, they know the, how we roll the culture, everything, whereas

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Rodrigo, he came from his own and he's now trying to find his way in ours.

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Sorry.

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It's that constant learning process.

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What do we need to be mindful of?

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What does he need to be mindful of?

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And that is a challenge.

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It's not a bad one.

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It's a good one because invariably, we're going to have to do these time and time

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and time again, otherwise we will be limited because the people don't always

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present themselves who will suit the job and suit the con uh, the culture.

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Um, and again, it is rare as unicorns to find a Dan, to find a Raleigh, to

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find, you know, these guys who just got.

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I'll do that because I enjoy it here.

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Wait, if I could clone myself, this would be amazing, but I can't.

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So I need to find a like-minded but different.

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Cause it can't just be me, needs to be other people.

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They need to bring their own flavor.

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They need to bring their own thought process, but it has to

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fit in with the culture and the vibe and the direction of the gym.

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And how did you, in, in an example of Rodrigo being an external, I

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know he's, he's black belt and

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Yes he's a legit black belt man.

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He's an absolutely beast he's had his black belt for 10 years now.

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I'm like, it's ridiculous.

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Just looking

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for black belt to have in house

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nursery.

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We weren't looking for anyone.

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Uh, he just, the opportunity presented itself.

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And, um, you know, I've spoken to other people in Canberra, but they

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were already embedded in their own gyms or doing their own thing.

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And that's absolutely great.

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Um, and then Rodrigo came about and were like, okay, cool.

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We'll see how this goes.

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And he came in and he ran a workshop and like, okay.

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And he stayed and he did a couple of weeks of closet and like,

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okay, this is so we put into like a trial period and it was fine.

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And then from there we effectively just went, okay.

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He brought his, the entire BJJ program and that wasn't necessarily a mistake.

Speaker:

But it was kind of me not realizing how much there is in the background of that.

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I was like, oh, you'll understand.

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No, there's so much in the background.

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And the, the, you know, the, the beliefs of the gym, the direction, the

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ethos, and the training, methodologies, everything that you assume that

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well, you've been here two weeks.

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You should get it now.

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Wrong.

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Uh, and so, yeah, so there's, there's learning points and you

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know, it's no harm, no foul.

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It's just learning effectively.

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I've never had to train someone who knows more than I do.

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It's always been the other way around.

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So

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approach training is, I mean, I would assume it's all, hands-on,

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you know, in-person on the mat stuff with training with staff.

Speaker:

I mean, in terms of that stuff, Or do you have any like, sorry, manuals and stuff?

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So we are only in process or we have, you know, uh, coaches, coaching, curriculums,

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you know, um, kind of rough framework because you never want to go, you know,

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this is what you're going to teach, and this is how you're going to teach.

Speaker:

Uh, it's more guideline of this is the direction we take, how you get there.

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As long as all these boxes are too.

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Uh, and we keep kind of true to the martial art than fun, but more often

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than not, it is through discussion.

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So we have a coach's catch up every Tuesday night and theguys

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will go :, how would you do this?

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That's cool.

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How would you do this during the day?

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Because we're all here, you know, 12 to 14 hours a day.

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Not necessarily coaching, but the guys will go, Hey, quick question.

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Or, you know, Dan will be running someone.

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You'll go, Hey coach, quick question.

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Uh, how would you approach, what's your protocol for this blah, blah,

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blah, ah, sweet and endeavour.

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You'll see them take notes and I'll come down a day later and

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they'll be doing the exact thing.

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I just kind of told them to do.

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They've refined it already.

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And they've implemented into their coaching game, into their coaching skills.

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It's like, yep.

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Sweet they get it.

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Awesome.

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Okay.

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I think key, you know, all these is that you're not just an owner of this

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gym, that you're truly an operator here as well, so they get to see you.

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And I think that openness, everybody, you know, uh, as opportunity to express

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their opinion, ask question nobody.

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Um, Like you've got this openness you've been being in the matts coachees.

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Everybody's very friendly.

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I think that that really helps.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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And again, it reinforces my own and state of vulnerability

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because, uh, it's one thing.

Speaker:

And this, this happens in a lot of martial arts gyms is that, you know, you walk in

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and you bow to the person on the wall.

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Who's some legend of the gym, uh, or ancient legend of whatever.

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And you know, the coaches are above, uh, questioned about it.

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Uh, any kind of a challenge as well.

Speaker:

And whereas I'm on the nights I spar I roll and I get beaten.

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It happens and it's not ours because of, uh, uh, so no, that was like

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high five to you legitimately got me in that guillotine white belt.

Speaker:

Like congratulations there, why I got caught, but that was you, just, you

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just like latched onto an opportunity.

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hi five to you Yeah, it is not a matter of how dare you.

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How dare he beat me in front of them?

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No, I'm fine.

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Well done.

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Excellent.

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Um, and same deal.

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The coaches are there and you know, they see me here every day, every morning,

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late at night, et cetera, and doing stuff.

Speaker:

So it's that leadership kind of role and, well, here it is proof in the pudding.

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Yeah.

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Whereas if you were a business owner, who's just doing it for building a

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wealth and removed yourself outside of that, you know, facility of business.

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And I think you'd be, it'd be a little harder to maintain a culture like you

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have, unless you got some amazing manager

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who

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does that.

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So my dad always used to say to me, uh, you know, um, you're either working

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on the business or you're working in the business and juggling those two.

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Uh, interesting suddenlies and sometimes they blur.

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Um, but working in the business, I'm constantly coaching, running

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costs is on coaching, the coaches, et cetera, et cetera.

Speaker:

And then working on the business development, uh, developing programs,

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the whole backend of the business, you know, the finances experience, et

Speaker:

cetera, all of this stuff is what I do.

Speaker:

So what's good though, is that I've engaged Dan as a gym manager.

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So he now is trying to take over a lot of the, the front of house and

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the day-to-day operation of the gym.

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So now there's that kind of separation between, uh, business as

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usual and then the top end or the executive level decisions, which is

Speaker:

what Tasha and I do his vision on.

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But you know, that that's the stuff that he doesn't have to worry about.

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So does he know about Xero and no?

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They the accounting, the bookkeeping and the invoices

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and the taxable, no it's all me.

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. And he's, by the way, he's,

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I mean, it's customer skills like his communication

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yeah.

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Fantastic.

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Yeah.

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Amazing.

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Amazing.

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But he's is he's human.

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And he does in his day of trying to manage 1,000,001 things, he likes things slip

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yeah.

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And it's not a matter of going dad, how dare you and performance

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managers understand you are super busy, but you forgot to send this

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email or this person, reached out to us and you did not respond.

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We need to make sure that the engagement, the experience of that engagement

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is like number one, please ensure.

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Yep.

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A hundred percent let's go inside.

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Those errands are becoming more, was less and less.

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Yeah.

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Have you heard of the book?

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E-Myth by Michael.

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No, it's a great book that talks about in business.

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You need to have three rollers.

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Initially we started all three when we started as a solopreneur, as running

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the business, but with just one person kick, and that is, we need to be

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technician, which is delivering the service technician example, being coach

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on the floor, they need to be a manager

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and then you need to be an entrepreneur.

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And when he started out kind of fulfilling all three ROS, what you just said, he's

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now got Dan who's managing the gym.

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You've got great coaches.

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And then you position yourself more in that bigger picture.

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Or when you talk though, the backend stuff and the business strategy

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that's when you want to get to.

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So the business, uh, the book, sorry.

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The book talks about a story of a baker that she always liked.

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Um, her mom's, um, cookies, cookies.

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It was.

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And so she really loved them.

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And then she grew up, she was a teenager and she learned how to baked them.

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And then she was an agile and, you know, she really liked them.

Speaker:

So she makes them for the other people and people start buying them and then

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a lot more people start buying them.

Speaker:

And then, you know, she's, you know, suddenly had big demand and she just.

Speaker:

Making the cookies and then she'd just put somebody else in managing that.

Speaker:

And she just kept making the bookmaking, making those cookies and started

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hating it because of the volume.

Speaker:

So she, didn't never really, she never really transitioned herself into

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the next, the next, next position.

Speaker:

So it's a really good book.

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And, um, in a way you've got that set up.

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I don't, I would still recommend reading it.

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Um, it's on audible.

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I

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will get it.

Speaker:

I'm sure they CA it's a quite fat quite non-book.

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Um, all right.

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So.

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Great gym.

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Great branding, great culture, great coaches, and obviously

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great leadership in place.

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Um, but on the, on the note of leadership, what's your definition?

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Cause I like to learn, I like to hear other people's perspective.

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Yeah.

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So, um, I was actually, uh, I think he told the, the president

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Felipe put up, uh, on leadership.

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He was a three-part person.

Speaker:

He put pretty on LinkedIn and, uh, Yeah, it was kind of drawing on

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that in like my, my comment and reply was drawing on my experience

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over the years of public service.

Speaker:

And especially when you have the role of a team leader, uh, you've got your team

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member and then you have a team leader.

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So there's this specific barrier.

Speaker:

And not always was the team leader actually leading the team.

Speaker:

Uh, they were just in the role that they, they ticked all the boxes.

Speaker:

There was actually a person in the team that led, um, so for me, a leader has

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to be on the ground, has to be, um, to, they always have to be on the ground.

Speaker:

No, but they should come from the ground.

Speaker:

So they have to have experience of being led and also being a leader.

Speaker:

So being able to direct people to grow people, not only for

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the benefit of the individual.

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Of self, the individual of the, the individual team member,

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but also for the team itself.

Speaker:

Now, should that person go to another team or lead somewhere else?

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Fine, absolutely fine.

Speaker:

You've done your job really well.

Speaker:

Or if you've created a leader.

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Perfect.

Speaker:

Um, and hopefully they've left with that understanding that they

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need to lead as well as be led.

Speaker:

Uh, and there's that cost balance.

Speaker:

In in, in the play.

Speaker:

So for me, leadership is leading from the front.

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It is dead do, as I say, uh, sorry, I should say practice as you preach

Speaker:

pretty tight practice, um, practice, how you play, play, how you practice.

Speaker:

So it's one thing to be, to say it cannot do it.

Speaker:

And so this comes down to that whole level of being congruent, making sure

Speaker:

that our good ladies are congruent.

Speaker:

Not only can they lead, that can be.

Speaker:

But they also do, as they say, it's not just a matter of how you do it

Speaker:

or how come you don't have to do it.

Speaker:

Well, I'm separated by

Speaker:

yeah.

Speaker:

That's when you got, you got to check your

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ego, correct.

Speaker:

That's exactly it.

Speaker:

And they are open to learn.

Speaker:

They're open to being wrong.

Speaker:

They're open to, um, all of these things and they've just

Speaker:

got the, he's an experienced man.

Speaker:

Sorry.

Speaker:

They might be.

Speaker:

So I'm like, are you, but you're wrong?

Speaker:

So it will know.

Speaker:

Here are the reasons why, and the fact that I know that I'm not, this is why

Speaker:

I'm telling you to do this thing in this course of action or whatever.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

But he provided an explanation, correct.

Speaker:

There's a substance to it rather than just being militant, just

Speaker:

yeah.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Which is exactly the opposite.

Speaker:

And it just closes people, um, up from feeling.

Speaker:

You know, valued, valued, and having, having the opportunity

Speaker:

to say what it wants.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

So, and that's what kills culture.

Speaker:

Awesome.

Speaker:

Awesome.

Speaker:

Um, so we're at the end of the interview and I've got a couple

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of questions there for you.

Speaker:

Shoot.

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First one, any advice you'd like to give someone looking

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to start a fitness businesses.

Speaker:

Start a fitness business, uh, whether it be fitness, martial arts, et cetera.

Speaker:

Uh, know what it is that you want to do.

Speaker:

So if it is just, oh no, people get fit.

Speaker:

That's rad.

Speaker:

Why do you want.

Speaker:

I understand the how's and the why's what's your motivation for doing it?

Speaker:

Um, because again, you want to be congruent with what you actually want.

Speaker:

So it's one thing to just go, yes.

Speaker:

I'm going to teach people martial arts.

Speaker:

Oh, I want to try and be able to fight awesome.

Speaker:

And if it's to, um, help people lose weight, then help people lose white.

Speaker:

If you understand the full gamma of benefits and make sure you

Speaker:

understand the full gamut of benefits, don't allude to them, but

Speaker:

never actually explained to them.

Speaker:

Um, and just made sure that you follow it.

Speaker:

And get it done.

Speaker:

Like there's, there's no other way to do it apart from just do it.

Speaker:

So have a plan, understand your own plan, make sure that is what you

Speaker:

want to do because people, when they train with, you will know whether

Speaker:

you're happy to be there or not.

Speaker:

And then they're paying for your hour and that time, energy and everything

Speaker:

that I've put into that one day.

Speaker:

That's priceless.

Speaker:

It is.

Speaker:

I absolutely processed not saying, oh, Alish, do you think it was?

Speaker:

I know it cause I'm distilling knowledge.

Speaker:

I'm just doing work experience on lived experience and into this.

Speaker:

And the number of times I get people rocking and they're here to learn

Speaker:

more time BJJ and we ended up talking for an hour on all matters of life

Speaker:

and whatever they're going through, that's a very important aspect of it.

Speaker:

And all that in summary, it's important because running businesses is tough

Speaker:

and you will come across times where it's so tough where if your

Speaker:

motivations weren't strong enough,

Speaker:

then yeah.

Speaker:

If they weren't true.

Speaker:

And then you, you, you will fail.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

But if you know why you want to do it, why you to open up a gym,

Speaker:

what it is you want to achieve?

Speaker:

Then there are the darkest, you know, shutdown of Corona

Speaker:

or whatever it is you be going.

Speaker:

Okay, let's go.

Speaker:

Let's go.

Speaker:

Absolutely.

Speaker:

What would be your top three things for the lesson of this podcast?

Speaker:

After listening to everything we said today, what would you want them to walk or

Speaker:

quote unquote walk away with after this?

Speaker:

So number one is you are not made for mediocrity.

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No one is, um, and.

Speaker:

If and our maintenance turtle, turtle, you know, uh, that statement is that you, you

Speaker:

are not listening to this podcast because you're just driving home and you're

Speaker:

listening to a thing you, you want to be, you know, uh, you want to be inspired.

Speaker:

You want to be successful, so go get it.

Speaker:

And the second thing would be a challenge the story so what you believe

Speaker:

to be true and what you believe to be, you know, what you're limited by and

Speaker:

all this kind of deal challenge it.

Speaker:

Cause you'll probably find out it's false.

Speaker:

It's actually wrong.

Speaker:

It never happened.

Speaker:

Um, great example of that is you, ask , people had you go with public

Speaker:

speaking and they go oh, I hate public speaking and your why?

Speaker:

Oh, judge, I've always sucked at it.

Speaker:

It's like, when was the last time you did it?

Speaker:

Right.

Speaker:

So you did a thing in school.

Speaker:

You were uncomfortable with it and now you believe you hate it.

Speaker:

Wow.

Speaker:

That's that's big.

Speaker:

And it's false did you fail?

Speaker:

I don't know.

Speaker:

Actually got okay.

Speaker:

Marks for it, right?

Speaker:

Oh, I just didn't like, it was very uncomfortable.

Speaker:

Right?

Speaker:

You just told me you hate it.

Speaker:

Challenging challenge the story, because you might find that it's false.

Speaker:

And when it's false, you're now left again with decision yarn.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

Crap now.

Speaker:

Once I, yeah, it's that point of this going?

Speaker:

Ah, crap.

Speaker:

I thought this was true.

Speaker:

It's not, I can actually do public speaking rods.

Speaker:

How many opportunities have you missed out on?

Speaker:

Because he believed you hated public speaking, man.

Speaker:

I didn't do a speech for my brother's wedding because it's like, right.

Speaker:

You could've gone and done a conference, but you didn't because you're in harm to

Speaker:

public speaking, you could have actually.

Speaker:

Who knows where that would have led.

Speaker:

Didn't challenge, the comfort zone, correct?

Speaker:

It's exactly it.

Speaker:

What's number three.

Speaker:

Number three would be,

Speaker:

life happens.

Speaker:

Training is a constant.

Speaker:

So it's written on the wall downstairs.

Speaker:

It's written up here.

Speaker:

It's one of the, one of the things I live by is that life happens.

Speaker:

Uh, training is always going to be.

Speaker:

So, regardless of whether you are, you know, going through a

Speaker:

divorce, you're going through a trial, a tragedy of some sort.

Speaker:

Training's always there always full-stop, you might be a very hesitant to go.

Speaker:

You might be in a really bad spot, but it'll always be there.

Speaker:

And those people will always be there as his constant backup, factually like

Speaker:

the number of times I've had people walk in and just sit in the car.

Speaker:

Not train, just come in because they just needed to get out of their own Headspace

Speaker:

or their own instance and just sit.

Speaker:

It's been amazing.

Speaker:

But yeah, life happens.

Speaker:

Training is a constant it'll always be here.

Speaker:

So go get a done.

Speaker:

It's about the discipline

Speaker:

yeah and also understanding that, okay, I might need to take a week off.

Speaker:

I might need to take two weeks off.

Speaker:

Training is always there.

Speaker:

So when you are healed, when you already, when you've grieved, when

Speaker:

you've, whatever, get back to it so that I, no one will think less of you.

Speaker:

Oh, I'm only benching 90.

Speaker:

I was bencing 134.

Speaker:

No one cares.

Speaker:

Just keep that continuum then don't stop.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

So challenge the mediocrity, challenge the story.

Speaker:

And keep on training.

Speaker:

I love it.

Speaker:

I love it.

Speaker:

Now Mitch we've got listeners from all around the world?

Speaker:

Well, we also have some listeners that might be living in Canberra.

Speaker:

Is there anything that you'd like to offer them?

Speaker:

Obviously you know, running this amazing place?

Speaker:

So we offer, um, we offer the first week of training complimentary because

Speaker:

it's super important to understand what it is you're walking into.

Speaker:

And, uh, so yeah, you've got nothing to lose.

Speaker:

Just jump in, give it a go.

Speaker:

You might like it.

Speaker:

You might be out of your comfort zone.

Speaker:

But be challenged by it.

Speaker:

Uh, if general causes, you know, due to a multitude of reasons,

Speaker:

uh, might not be your jam.

Speaker:

We offer the first one-on-one private training session complimentary.

Speaker:

Um, and for those of you around the globe, we have our Dark Carnival online academy.

Speaker:

Uh, the links are through our website and it's hosted on Vimeo currently.

Speaker:

So you can just jump on and train with us wherever you are in the world.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

So how can people find you and this gym, the links again, dark

Speaker:

carnival dot carnival, uh, dot com dot a U.

Speaker:

Um, is it in one

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word?

Speaker:

No dash.

Speaker:

So we have a whole website format in error.

Speaker:

Uh, we took out both with the dash and one word and it was formatted on

Speaker:

the website as TOK Hoffman, carnival.

Speaker:

So we get to correct that

Speaker:

really directed to which

Speaker:

one they fixed up the next couple of weeks and week.

Speaker:

Awesome.

Speaker:

Sweet.

Speaker:

Um, and then, uh, Yeah, we have, um, uh, Facebook.

Speaker:

So just look up Dark Carnival Canberra, and you will pop up

Speaker:

and then a Dark Carnival_CBR

Speaker:

he's jumped on there and yeah, quick follow.

Speaker:

We've also got a YouTube channel, um, dot carnival, uh, on, on

Speaker:

that.com martial arts and yeah, all that funny stuff is on there.

Speaker:

The region randomly plug-in so yeah,

Speaker:

I love it.

Speaker:

I love it.

Speaker:

There's some really good videos and there's also a good

Speaker:

one on how you tie a belt,

Speaker:

which is the most common awesome.

Speaker:

Thank you for your time.

Speaker:

I appreciate you being on the show.

Speaker:

Um, lots of wisdom, lots of great value provided to our guests today to

Speaker:

our listeners, our listeners today.

Speaker:

Um, so thank you for.

Speaker:

Time out of your schedule and obviously it's Sunday, today,

Speaker:

and you could have been with your family and you decided to do this.

Speaker:

So once you, again, thank you, uh, for those guys listening

Speaker:

and watching this on YouTube.

Speaker:

Um, thank you as well for tuning in and listening to all the way as always.

Speaker:

I keep the best stuff at the end.

Speaker:

Any specialists, any cool stuff for you as always, I try to

Speaker:

work something out for you guys.

Speaker:

So thank you for listening.

Speaker:

If you've enjoyed today's episode.

Speaker:

It provided some from a value to you.

Speaker:

Um, then please do me a favor.

Speaker:

If you could share it with your mates on social media, um, you know, with

Speaker:

the show, you can really help me grow the show and make more impact

Speaker:

and, uh, really appreciate that.

Speaker:

So thank you again for everybody and have a great rest of your day, everybody.

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