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Welcome to the Energetic Radio podcast. This episode is brought to you

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by the school of play dotco, hosted by Dale Sibonham and

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Paul Campbell. Each week, we'll bring to you tips, strategies, and ideas

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on how you can bring more joy and happiness into your life and those you

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share with. Alright, everyone. Welcome back to the

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podcast. Episode number 339 of the Energetic

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Radio Show. My name is Dale Cybodham. I'm joined by Paul Campbell. Good morning, everyone.

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I'm gonna refer to you as Cambo today because we've got another Paul online. It's

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gonna really confuse me. Now before I introduce Paul Watkins, the man, the

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myth, the mad scientist, the one and only adventurer extraordinaire,

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a little bit of a story. So early this year, I had the pleasure to

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go down to Warrnambool, where Paul's from, and, do a keynote for a

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student congress. There's about 35 schools there. We mean about

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250, 300 staff and students in the room.

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And And I had the pleasure of kicking off the day of the opening keynote,

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and, couple of the principals said to me that, they

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thought I'd get along really well with the keynote after me. And they went

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into Paul a little bit details and so forth. Now I wasn't being

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arrogant, but I sit through a lot of conferences, and I hear a lot of

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people talk. And, like, it's gotta do something really good to pull my

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heart. It's gotta make me feel something. It's gotta make me feel something. And I

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was like, oh, yep. Yeah. I look really look forward to hearing him, and, I

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normally it's a bit rude, but I normally leave after I talk. But, anyway, I

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had a few more gigs in Warner Bowl that night. So I sat down and

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I watched. And within the first 5 minutes, I was captivated. Like the

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other 300 people in the room, Paul is by far the best

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speaker I've ever heard and obviously got to know him now. And not only that,

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he's he's a bit of an idiot person with decisions he makes in life, and

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we'll talk about it too. But he's a brilliant human being, and his

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will and determination, storytelling, the

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man's got it all. So I'm really excited. More importantly,

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you blew me away, Paul. And I think we've stayed in contact since, and we've

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got a couple of projects on the go because of that. But first and foremost,

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do you get that all the time? Because you are by far the

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best keynote I've ever seen. Is that something people say to you,

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and how does it make you feel when you you sort of people come across

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and say that to you? Mate, what a pump up. How good was that?

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What? I reckon we should we should make an app that's just dial

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when you wake up. That's just dialed in your I wanna It's just it's like

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it just goes off like it's 6:30. You're the best guy I've ever heard. You're

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amazing, man. Come on up. Let's crush the day. Look, I think that'd be a

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good app. We could do that. Oh, it's great. Doing just a little alarm makes

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you busy. Yeah. Just just cheese you off for the day. Actually, side note,

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that leadership student leadership congress that Dale and I both did, so

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one of the projects that the or the project that all those students had to

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do was go back and do a community based leadership project. And it

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happens that tonight is the presentation night of all

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those presenting back to the community what they've done, and

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they've done some amazing stuff. So just have to Are

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you heading down to watch that? No. My wife is going because she's

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her school is one of the schools involved, and she's the school principal there. So

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she's going, which means I get the kids at home, but she's gonna go air

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and be part of that. So That'd be really cool. Like, you know, 250 kids

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and and staff seeing what they've actually produced. They've all created a video

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and stuff, which would just be I mean, these are primary school kids. It's not

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like they're year 10 kids, and we have an expectation of certain

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things. These are, you know, grade 5 and 6 kids. Like, my wife's school, they've

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done this fantastic community thing on cyber safety for

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kids. Like, they they come out with brilliant stuff. So, it might

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be it might be a nice little video too from somebody in this,

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bunker as well. I got the invite, but, obviously, driving down to Warrnambool's,

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quite a mission. So We're not next door yet. It's it's a bit of a

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trip. But, but getting back to the original question Yeah. Back to my original one,

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mate. Stop just stop diluting and pushing away. Go with what I I don't

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like talking about myself. Like, it's really I always joke that I'm an introvert who

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who is really good at playing an extrovert. Like, that's just my skill. I can

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pretend I'm an extrovert and do that. And people assume that, you're a keynote

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speaker, so you must get on stage and just love it. Like, you just go

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out there and and you crush it all the time. I can tell you, I've

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I've, a couple of times going to do a keynote, put my heart rate monitor

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on just to see what the heart rate does, and it's way up there. Like,

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it's it's not like you just walk out and go, it's another key note, it's

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whatever. It's like, well, no, there's there's a room of 300 people sitting here.

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The last keynote I did last week, there's 300 people in this room, and they're

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expecting absolutely to be blown away. And the organizers are

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expecting you to do that. So you need to turn up and absolutely

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deliver 100% because that's what they expect. Fortunately

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for me, I love what I do. And mine is really

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around a lot of storytelling. So for me, it's a very personal it's not

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here's the stats and here's what Harvard Business Review said or whatever,

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you know. I tend to open up and go, right. Here's a photo of me

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with a massive frozen load of snot on the face. Let's talk about that.

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Yeah. And you can get into some fun. And it puts people off guard, and

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all of a sudden, they're like, oh, this isn't what I was expecting, and it's

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interesting, and then we can get into some some stuff. So for me, look, I

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love it. That's really handy. Thankfully, so far, people say I'm

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relatively good at it, which is very handy. So I'm gonna

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keep doing it until they tell me to shut up and get off. So that's

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Awesome. Can can I chime in there? Because you're not alone. You're not alone.

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And and Dale and I, we we present in front of people all the time,

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and I'm the same. I still get anxious before every single one.

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And Dale, obviously, in his workshops, he'd he does a clapping activity

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start, and he discusses and he explains the reason I do that is to relieve

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my anxiety a little bit. Have you got a is there the one thing that

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you go through that that sort of relieves you of that anxiety and that

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stress a little bit and then you're off and running? Do you have a go

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through or does it change every time? You're gonna laugh. This this is an insight

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into how wrong my brain is. So a lot of a lot of keynote speakers

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will tell you that they have a very structured opening. Like, they have I always

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know what my first three lines are because that gets me into the rhythm and

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away we go. I always adlib the first

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few minutes on purpose. Like I will go up there going, it's got to be

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just relevant to what did the emcee just say or the presentation

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before you, what did that guy say or what have you. And it's

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like that way I get up and I know I've got to be on my

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feet. I've got to be on the toes the second I get on the stage

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and go, and it tells the audience that you paid attention. So the last conference

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I got up before me, they've been giving out awards, and this

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it was one of the execs who was giving out the awards, and he had

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trouble with the lectern getting the mic down to the right height. So I got

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up there and said, you know, thanks, Andrew, for introducing me. Hey, Brownie, I totally

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feel the pain, man, getting this mic down. It's a nightmare when you're my height.

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Two words, lapel mic. Problem solved. It

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just just and it gives you an immediate connection with people in the

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audience that you were here and you were paying attention. And for me, it

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forces me to bare my toes because I don't have a set script for the

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first kind of 30 to 60 seconds. You've got to go up and just, you

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know, free wheel it, make it relevant, and then people have a bit of a

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laugh and then you can get into your patter and then away you go. So,

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that that puts the pressure on, but I just find it really gets me in

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the right head space and gives you a connection, a fun connection

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right off the bat. Yep. Love that. Love that. So, Paul, we're

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gonna talk about, the event we've got coming up in Melbourne, which I'm really excited.

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We're both going to talk, and, we both got different presenting

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styles, but both pretty engaging, I would have thought.

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I wanna how do you describe you, mate? Because I know you do, like, you

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describe yourself wearing many different hats as we all do, and you aren't your business

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title, you aren't your business card, which I absolutely love. But for

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you, I think you're probably most renowned for your adventures, your

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crazy ultras through the Arctic Circle and, you know, days on

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end under 30 degrees, carrying your sled, you pack, you sleep out

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there, you've broken records. You're world renowned for

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this. How do you describe yourself as being a Harry Potter lookalike

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in a nutshell, as a mad scientist that, you know,

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used to drive a forklift? How do you describe all that in a really short

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period of time? Yeah. It takes a little bit of time. That's why I can't

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do a keynote in 10 minutes, but, I think what I and look,

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I I tell a joke, like, I put 2 photos up early on in my

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presentation. One of them is me doing, like, cool adventure stuff. Like, hey, here's me,

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middle of the Arctic Circle, it's minus 40, and I'm dragging a sled.

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Yeah. Yeah. It looks really adventure. And then I put up a photo of me

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in high school, and, like, uber nerd, like, gangly teenager

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with coke bottle glasses on. I just it's not

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great. And I put them up there for a purpose so I'd say to people,

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like, if you don't know me, you have and you read my bio, you do

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get an expectation that, oh, this guy's climbed these mountains, and he's won these huge

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races. Like like, you know, David Goggins is gonna walk out, man. It's gonna be

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amazing. And then I walk out and you kinda look like, you know, I look

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like what you get if you ordered Harry Potter off Wish. It's like, what's what's

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up with that guy? That doesn't look right at all. But the point is that

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if you if you go listen to an Olympian or an astronaut,

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like, it's fascinating, But you can give yourself the excuse going,

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look, that that guy was fascinating, but I'll never be an Olympian, so it doesn't

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matter. I have an excuse now to go, I don't have to do that because

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you're an Olympian. Fascinating. Love the story, but I'll never be that level. So it's

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okay that I don't do those things. But and I go up and go, well,

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look, I did a lot of this stuff, and I'm really normal. Like, I'm short.

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I've got poor eyesight. Like, I'm a I'm a work from home dad. Like, I'm

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not allowed to anything. I'm actually stunningly normal, which

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means you don't have that excuse to go, well, he can do that,

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but I don't have to. Oh, shit. No. He's actually feeling normal,

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and he's done some weird stuff. So if I'm normal,

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what what could I be doing? Yep. And then we unpack kind of, well, how

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have I done that as a, you know, a nerdy dad? How do you how

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do you do these kind of things? Well, okay. Well, let's talk about some of

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the tools we use. How do you build the story in your own head about

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what you're actually capable of, what you'd love to do, what you want the

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next year to look like, what do you want the next 5 years to look

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like? And let's start operationalizing that and make that happen and actually make

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that come true. And so we look at that from a fun point of view.

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And I think it gives people a more realistic view of going, if you

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go, oh, look, you've got to get up at 4:30 every morning and I train

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for 10 years and, you know, this is what you've got and have your kale

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smoothie every night. It's like, no one's doing that. But if you go to

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people, hey, look, it's hard, man. Like, you know, my wife works and I've got

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kids, so if I want to train, sometimes I've got to train at night and

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sometimes it's not perfect. And, you know, you gotta juggle this, and I've I've gotta

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fit this in here, and you gotta give yourself some grace that it'll work, and

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sometimes it won't. People go, oh, that's starting to sound a lot more

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like my life. Yeah. Okay. Now I can start to see how I could actually

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do some of that stuff. So it's a bit of a joke thing, but it

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it kinda has a purpose in it to say, well, you don't have to be

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a lead anything. You can do whatever you want. It's just a matter of finding

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your way to navigate through to build that story to do that, Whatever that

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is. Yeah. And that's what I think people relate to you. Right? Like, you're

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you're not an Olympian. You've got a 100 people working for you. You've got so

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many things on your plate, but you you dig deep and you prioritize

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things that will lead towards your goal you've set for yourself. And, yes, sometimes things

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get in the way, and that's fine. You fall off the bike, you get back

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on it. But if you can do it, anybody can do it. Right? And it's

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just Yeah. I talk a lot about value. And that grit and and and

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as I said, prioritizing those, you know, the effort to make it happen.

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And you can do it right. And it's habitual. And not you're not gonna get

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it perfect every time, but, eventually, consistency, repetition,

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and all of a sudden you're there. Right? So, yeah, it's cool. It is. And

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it's also, I think, that I'm very open to talk about failures. Like, here's stuff

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that I tried, big ticket, real public stuff, and it it went

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very badly. Like, it did not work. I failed at that expedition.

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This I just couldn't do it. Literally, I didn't have the stones to do it.

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Like and that went wrong for this reason. So you talk about those things, and

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people start to actually relate to that because they go, oh, I've

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filed that stuff, and so has he. Oh, everyone has. Oh, we've all filed

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that stuff. Yeah. Yeah. That's that's part of the course. Welcome to the human race.

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That's how it operates. I was listening to a podcast this morning,

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David Epstein, and he was talking about the fact that to get to your, you

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know, that optimal zone of push of of finding what you can do,

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you should be failing about 20% of the time. Like, if you actually wanna

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progress, you kinda gotta screw up on the regular because that's how

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you keep pushing the boundaries and find out what you can do. And I think

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when you're public about your failures and the the fact that that's okay

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and it's part of the course, people relax a little bit

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more about their own misgivings or their own failures or things that

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didn't work, and they start to to label it a bit differently.

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Yeah. A good example is if I've like, I've failed at races and then

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gone back and done in the following year and and been successful.

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Well, if you failed at it and stopped, well, it's a failure.

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But if you failed at it and you went back and did it again and

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was successful, well, that previous failure is no longer a failure. It was just a

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lesson. So all of a sudden, you relabel it and it becomes a different

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story, and it's no longer a failure. We're in a hurry to put a label

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on it and go, screw it up, failure, can't do it. It's all. I'm out.

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That's it. I'm done. Well, hang on. Let's put that in context

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of what else you might do next, and it may end up being a lesson

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rather than just a straight up and up failure. Yeah. And I I

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strongly believe society and their communities has gotten so

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much better in the last 5 years about embracing

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failure. I saw in the education system, we started delivering

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lessons on failure. You know what I mean? And the importance of acknowledging that failure

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is okay. I'm looking at our wall right now, and we've created a curriculum at

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the school plan. We've got an activity, you know, called the failure wall.

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And I think as a society, we've gotten so much better at talking about it

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and embracing failure. And I think it's brilliant. It's a brilliant message to send,

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especially to young people, but adults alike. And, yeah, what you said there was absolutely

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perfect. And social media doesn't make that easy, though. Like, it makes it we I'll

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talk about this being when you look at social media, you're looking at

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someone's highly polished, filtered, finished product.

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Mhmm. But you don't see the work in progress stuff before it.

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And everyone's a work in progress, so don't compare someone else's work in

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progress oh, sorry. Someone else's finished product with your work in

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progress. And we do that all the time, particularly kids, like on

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social media, it's very easy to go, well, this person's already made, you

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know, they're they're 12, and they've got 4 side hustles, and they're making

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$3,000,000, and they've got 2 books and a podcast, like, no, they don't.

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Stop that. It's it's too easy to just compare yourselves

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to someone who's either completely not real or is

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just a very highly filtered snapshot of one point that

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doesn't show you all the journey of the crap that they went through to get

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there. So I think you're right. I think we're getting better at it, but

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it's a constant battle to remind ourselves that

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don't don't you're a work in progress, and you're gonna do that

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until it's all over. So have that mentality.

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Mhmm. I I think that's good because that narrative we tell ourselves, it

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can it can always get better. It's like so many aspects of our life. It

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there's no such thing as perfect, and it'll never get amazing, but it's a work

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that you continually work at. The thing I wanna know is, so

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people I think there might some people could be skeptical, you know, coming

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along, hearing 2 people speak about well-being and, you know,

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like, improving your life, elevate your life. What can people

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expect, mister Watkins, from what you're going to deliver?

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I said what quite a lot there. But what can people expect

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from the session that you will deliver for what

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like, ideas and takeaways for their own life. I know you've obviously, you know, mentioned

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a couple there, mate, but give them a little bit of a a spiel, a

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nutshell. What's your what's your elevator pitch of my great man? The

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elevator pitch is the first thing is, at the very least, you're gonna get great

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stories of adventure. So people love stories of adventure. So we talk about

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that in pretty detail with, you know, high res images of

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some amazing stuff. Like, I've ended it up in some very weird corners of the

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world doing kind of bizarre stuff. So we talk about that in

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terms of just, just tell me a great story. But then we

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unpack some of those, particularly the failures and where it's gone wrong and

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look at, well, what did we learn? What did I, what did I take away?

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What was in the toolkit that I took away with me? And how do I

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use that to start changing the voice in my head? Because in the

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end, a lot of these huge expeditions, there's just you and the voice in your

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head, and that's what's going to determine the outcome. So how do I

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get that voice to talk to me better all day? And we don't

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look at it from a work context, like, oh, you know, how do we get

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Dale to be better at work? It doesn't matter. How do we get Dale to

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wake up the morning, look in the mirror, and go, that guy did a great

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job yesterday. He's doing alright. You know, we're we're making progress

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versus looking in the mirror and telling yourself another story. If we can start

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to build a toolkit around feeling better about who you are, what

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you've done, and where you're going tomorrow, everything gets better. The

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whole 247 gets better. So we wanna look at it from that

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aspect. And so we talk about the story you're telling yourself in your head. How

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do I build a toolkit, a mental and behavioral toolkit to make me do

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that? And then last of all, we talk about confidence. Where do these

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people get this stuff from? Why are there some people who walk around that seem

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to have bucket loads of it? Should I fake it till I make it? Is

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that gonna work? So we look at those things in terms of real

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life stuff, as in what happens when I fake it till I make it? Does

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that work? Does it not? When, you know, how can I improve that? Where do

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I find some confidence for just me as a human being and all the stuff

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I'm trying to deal with? And we have some laughs along the way. There's a

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lot of really awkward photos of me covered in

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frozen stuff or carrying things which are questionable. You you you'll get

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some stories. I I was and then from there, I

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started coming in, I didn't know you, Paul, like, down to you coming in to

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say, right? And I'll be honest. I'm stoked that we've got you in our podcast.

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I've read your book lost and found. For anyone out there who has not read

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Paul's book lost and found, get a copy of it and give it a read

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because it's, I use I'm happy to be honest with you, Paul. You're sitting in

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front me, but, I use it on my runs all the time. I see this

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society a few times. I'll be going, I love to run. Yeah. And sometimes it

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gets hard. Right? You're in the middle of it, and it's and you're in a

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headwind or whatever it might be, and it gets bloody hard sometimes. And you jump

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into my head all the freaking time. And for me, it's

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one word. It's I know. And I'm like, I just picked a little Harry Potter,

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and it goes but it's I I it's one word, and

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it's grit. And that's I always say for anything, if you a

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keynote presentation, a podcast, a meeting with somebody, a book, if

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you take one thing from it and you can apply it to your life, that's

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a win. You're never gonna take everything from it. Everything's not gonna relate to you.

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And the one thing that I took from your book lost and found was grit.

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Just that sheer determination, you know, to to push yourself through the

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boundaries and whatnot, and that stuck with me. So I wanna I've got the

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opportunity to thank you. So thank you for imparting that on my life, and it

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sticks in every time I go for a run. It's my pleasure to annoy you

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in your darkest moments. I love I know. 100%. You get me through some of

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these darkest moments too. So that's alright. But, yes, everyone listening at home, you

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know what I mean? As you said there, you're you're spot on. People, if you

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come and see the show, you're really gonna walk away

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with some seeds being planted about how you can improve what's going on

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between your ears, how you can strengthen what's going on between your ears, and put

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that into everyday life. Not you said before, not about your business. Right? Not about

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your career. It's about you as a human being. And I spot on. I I'm

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pumped. I can't wait to to listen to it and see you in person.

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I've read your book. I've met you a couple of times now. You're on podcast,

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but I can't wait to see you live, mate. I'm really excited. It's gonna be

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awesome. Gee, mate. I'm I'm stoked. I've never maybe I should change my bio. Maybe

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it should be just, you know, if Harry Potter was a, you know, army drill

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sergeant. Maybe that's what it should be. I don't know. This this this little Harry

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Potter guy just screaming at you to do more poops and push ups and It'll

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open up a whole new realm of, of fan swing that, I reckon. That's for

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sure. You get the Harry Potter world on board. I I love so Felicity's

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out there. The full metal jacket. We will. This if you want

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do wanna come to the show, it's Friday 18th October 7 PM at

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Parkdale. Shirley Burke Theatre. It's about 50%

340
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sold already. So I think there's about 80 tickets left,

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from last check. So, make sure you go and check that out. Obviously, this

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is gonna be the the number one show that we do this year and more

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of a sorta sample size as well because I know we've spoken quite a lot,

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mister Watkins, and neither of us have done something like this, which

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obviously we get booked, we go to places we speak, we give them what they

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want, and we leave. Whereas, this is probably more and why we're really keen

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about it is we wanna get people that, you know, may not be at a

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corporation that could sit through a keynote. We don't want people to maybe get PD

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all the time at a school or a workplace or a sports club that are

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really big on it. We want families, friends. We want parents.

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We want workmates, colleagues, anybody out there that just

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wants to get something better to strengthen some aspect of their life.

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And I think that's the best thing about it. So if you go to episode

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number 339, I'll have a link there that you can

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check out the event. Also, I'd highly recommend watching both our TED

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Talks if you haven't done that. Different in a lot of ways, like, I think

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our presenting style is, but also pretty insightful. You're probably

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not gonna like both of us. You might like one of us. If you like

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both of us, you're a unicorn. But go and check that out, and you can

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have a look at it. Now, I've got one question for you, mate. I've obviously

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had you on another podcast before. Yep. Do you

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have a favorite, like, crazy, you know, ultra

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that you have done for any aspect? You know, like you said, you you may

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not have completed it first, and then you come back and you've won it. And

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I know there's a couple you've done that, you know, under 10 people in the

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world have only ever completed. But is there something is there one that really sticks

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out to you, mate? It's a really good question.

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I was thinking about this the other day because it comes up a bit, your

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you know, functions and stuff and people go, I have all the expeditions and races

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you've done, what are you most proud of? So here's another example of

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why my brain's broken, but the one I'm most

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proud of, like we're in Victoria, so during COVID, like we were the

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like the most locked down humans in, you know, the entire universe,

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and I had a whole bunch of races stacked up, and I just kept getting

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cancelled and cancelled and cancelled and cancelled, And I kept

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training, and you end up like you're training with no there's no race.

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Like, there's nothing. You're not training for anything. And I remember going out on a

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run one morning, and, like, the voice mail said, what are you doing?

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Like, there's not even a race. Like, there's we're gonna be locked down till the

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end of time. Like, you may never run another race again. Like, what are you

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what are you doing? Like, there's no point training. I just

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went, no. We we train. That's what we do. We go out every day, and

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we do it. Because at some point, one day, they're gonna open up, and we're

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gonna get there will be an event. So for months months,

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I trained for absolutely no reason at all for because there was

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no race whatsoever. And I was really proud of that because when

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life got back to normal and they opened racing up again, you went

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out and you crushed it because all these people had gone, there's no point.

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I can't do anything. This is crap. It's beyond my control. I'm not allowed to

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do this. So, you know, toy's out of the pram. That's

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it. And I'm like, no. I'm just gonna keep training. I'll do whatever I can

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do for as long as I can do, even though there appears to be no

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purpose whatsoever. And I think that is

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an exercise. Put me in good stead to then go do whatever I wanna do

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in any field post that. So, yeah, in some cases, the

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race I'm most proud of was a race that didn't exist at all. That's awesome.

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I love it, Ray. That is really good. Good. But a great message in there

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too. Right? Like, don't, I'm a firm believer in this. And you go to the

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gym every bloody morning, Sadie. You're not going to the gym every morning because you

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got a competition coming up. Right? I got Horrocks boy over there.

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Horrocks boy over there. Hell down. I know. Dominated.

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But you know what I mean? You you kept that exercise up, and you probably

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did it because it made you a better human being. It made you a better

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father. It made you a better husband. You know what I mean? It made you

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all those other things that you get out of exercise in a regular basis is

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the reason why you continue to do that as well. So I don't feel as

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though you need a race. It's a good thing to work towards, but

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just make it habitual. You know what I mean? For you and and for those

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around you who care about you, that's the reason why you do it as well.

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Yeah. So for those people out there, I don't think you need an event to

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be training for. Just do it for bloody you. You know what I mean? If

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you if you're right, Some of us need the the carrot out the front

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Yeah. Thing that you gotta do it. But if you, you know, you can

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go I definitely agree with you, but you can also go, look. Sometimes it's the

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case of going, well, why are you staying fit? Why are you training all the

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time? Well, I'm a parent. Like, that's that's part I've got kids,

417
00:24:20,434 --> 00:24:23,794
mate. Like, I have to stay healthy, right, because I wanna play with the kids

418
00:24:23,794 --> 00:24:27,554
on the weekend. I wanna be as alive for as long as

419
00:24:27,554 --> 00:24:30,934
possible to spend as much time as possible with my family.

420
00:24:31,155 --> 00:24:34,750
So you're damn right I'm gonna stay healthy because that's my goal. You don't have

421
00:24:34,750 --> 00:24:37,710
to I'm gonna run a marathon to run an ultra and beat David Goggins. No.

422
00:24:37,710 --> 00:24:41,230
I just wanna be healthy for my kids, mate. And and I wanna wear that

423
00:24:41,230 --> 00:24:45,070
suit that I wore, you know, 6 years ago, my wedding anniversary. My wife

424
00:24:45,070 --> 00:24:48,025
said I looked fantastic. I wanna get back into that. Well, that's that's a goal,

425
00:24:48,025 --> 00:24:51,645
mate. That's important for you, and it's valuable and valid.

426
00:24:51,705 --> 00:24:55,465
Go do that. Like, that's okay. It doesn't have to be epic. It just has

427
00:24:55,465 --> 00:24:59,225
to be valuable to you. I remember I remember and it stuck with me.

428
00:24:59,225 --> 00:25:02,750
It's funny how things stick with you, but when you were on, the podcast with

429
00:25:02,750 --> 00:25:06,429
Jack and myself and you said one thing that if your kid's

430
00:25:06,429 --> 00:25:09,710
running down the driveway and there's a car coming, you wanna be able to get

431
00:25:09,710 --> 00:25:13,150
up and run and get them. And I'm like, bloody earth I do. Like, it's

432
00:25:13,150 --> 00:25:16,695
all looking good and feeling good or whatever, but, mate, life or death. I

433
00:25:16,695 --> 00:25:20,455
wanna be able to sprint. I don't wanna pull a car for or something like

434
00:25:20,455 --> 00:25:23,095
that or not be able to run. And and and it's really stuck with me,

435
00:25:23,095 --> 00:25:26,535
like, why do you do what you do to be the best possible version of

436
00:25:26,535 --> 00:25:29,975
yourself? And that means when you are that best full version, you can be there

437
00:25:29,975 --> 00:25:33,740
in all different avenues and aspects for situations that aren't always

438
00:25:33,740 --> 00:25:37,420
positive. Love that. Yep. Yep. Yeah. It is. And it just it

439
00:25:37,420 --> 00:25:40,620
means you get maximum value out of life. Like, went to the pool with my

440
00:25:40,620 --> 00:25:43,020
kids in the weekend. Like, dad, get to the pool. Come on. Like, because I

441
00:25:43,020 --> 00:25:45,925
got swimming lessons. So, like, yeah, righty. I only get in. I had, like, a

442
00:25:45,925 --> 00:25:49,205
stack of kids hanging off me and you can stand up and move around and

443
00:25:49,205 --> 00:25:51,925
throw them in the pool, and you can do all that kind of stuff. And

444
00:25:51,925 --> 00:25:54,565
they see you doing that stuff and being part of that, and I think that's

445
00:25:54,565 --> 00:25:58,410
really important. I mean, my kids know that I train every day. So often

446
00:25:58,410 --> 00:26:01,050
if I'm on the bike or the treadmill or something, they'll come in and they'll

447
00:26:01,050 --> 00:26:04,510
get on a piece of equipment. Now they're not training. They're just farting around.

448
00:26:04,970 --> 00:26:08,810
But for them, normally is, oh, we do exercise every

449
00:26:08,810 --> 00:26:12,250
day. And for them, exercise is being monkeys and hanging off a bike and being

450
00:26:12,250 --> 00:26:16,035
ridiculous. But they just see that and normalize it and go,

451
00:26:16,035 --> 00:26:19,795
oh, we do something every day. Yeah. Fantastic. Cool. You didn't have to sit

452
00:26:19,795 --> 00:26:22,515
down and give them a lecture, go to a parenting course to do that. You

453
00:26:22,515 --> 00:26:25,495
just had to take care of yourself and make sure they saw you do it.

454
00:26:25,830 --> 00:26:29,669
Boom. Massive win. Yep. I think that's it's so simple, isn't it? And I

455
00:26:29,669 --> 00:26:33,429
think that's I love taking my boys to sit at the gym and watch

456
00:26:33,429 --> 00:26:36,630
me train. Like, I know people go, that's probably mean. My wife just gone to

457
00:26:36,630 --> 00:26:40,424
Pilates, and they're both going with her. Why? Because that's the best

458
00:26:40,424 --> 00:26:43,865
role modeling you can do. It's not Yeah. Anything else. It's what they're

459
00:26:43,865 --> 00:26:47,625
sponges. They watch you. They watch what you do and what's important to you and

460
00:26:47,625 --> 00:26:51,304
how you move your body. That's the key. They miss

461
00:26:51,304 --> 00:26:55,090
nothing. No. Absolutely nothing. And I guess I can

462
00:26:55,090 --> 00:26:58,770
feel pressure sometimes as a parent, you you beat yourself up going, oh, I've gotta

463
00:26:58,770 --> 00:27:02,450
do this, gotta do that. If you're working around just being the best

464
00:27:02,450 --> 00:27:06,049
version of you, that works for both of you. Like, that works for you and

465
00:27:06,049 --> 00:27:09,575
that works for your kids. You don't have to you don't have to Einstein it,

466
00:27:09,575 --> 00:27:13,175
come up with some magical formula or have a PhD in

467
00:27:13,175 --> 00:27:16,935
parenting. It's like, you know what to do. Take care of yourself, you know,

468
00:27:16,935 --> 00:27:20,470
be healthy, eat your greens, you know, get your sleep, all the just to be

469
00:27:20,470 --> 00:27:24,310
a normal human being, and your kids will model off that. And 99 times

470
00:27:24,310 --> 00:27:27,350
out of a 100, most of that stuff will take care of itself, and you'll

471
00:27:27,350 --> 00:27:30,790
be fine. And that's it. So true. Have how old are your kids,

472
00:27:30,790 --> 00:27:34,495
Paul? 9 and 6a half both

473
00:27:34,495 --> 00:27:35,554
going on 15.

474
00:27:38,095 --> 00:27:41,215
I'm intrigued. The especially the 9 year old. Do they

475
00:27:41,934 --> 00:27:45,455
have have they got good aerobic capacity as well? Are they running? Are they are

476
00:27:45,455 --> 00:27:49,210
they getting into it at that early age? It's chalk and cheese, mate. Are

477
00:27:49,210 --> 00:27:52,970
they? Absolute chalk and cheese. Yeah. So, Cameron,

478
00:27:52,970 --> 00:27:56,650
my oldest, he's more a thinker. So and I don't you know, like, they do

479
00:27:56,650 --> 00:28:00,105
cross country at school. I don't wanna be because everyone goes, oh, your kid's gonna

480
00:28:00,105 --> 00:28:03,325
be like you. And I'm like, I don't want that pressure on them.

481
00:28:03,625 --> 00:28:07,385
So I'm like, just do your best at it. And so Campbell's more of a

482
00:28:07,385 --> 00:28:11,065
thinker. Now the younger one, he's he's more a baller gate kind of kid.

483
00:28:11,065 --> 00:28:14,789
Like, he's a flat stick kind of kid. So he he

484
00:28:14,950 --> 00:28:18,549
school athletics phoned it in, totally phoned it in and still came

485
00:28:18,549 --> 00:28:22,230
second. And then cross country, I'm like, he'll probably do really good because he's

486
00:28:22,230 --> 00:28:25,850
he's got an engine on him. And he got halfway around, he started walking.

487
00:28:26,070 --> 00:28:28,870
So I'm like, well, I'm not gonna be the dad, you know, screaming from the

488
00:28:28,950 --> 00:28:32,515
like, just got him, make sure he's okay. Mate, how'd you go? You alright? We're

489
00:28:32,515 --> 00:28:35,715
bored, dad. It was just boring. I got up. It's just boring. They just kept

490
00:28:35,715 --> 00:28:39,554
running. Boring. Like, well, I can't disagree with

491
00:28:39,554 --> 00:28:43,315
you, mate. Like, you're not wrong. But, you know, you're 6a half. I

492
00:28:43,315 --> 00:28:46,850
probably don't need to impart the wisdom of Seneca on you about being

493
00:28:46,850 --> 00:28:50,370
stoic. Like, yeah, you got bored, mate. That happens. Alright. Well, you know, we'll have

494
00:28:50,370 --> 00:28:53,650
another crack next time. You know? The kids as long as they're at, like

495
00:28:54,450 --> 00:28:57,270
I I make a point every day, you know, if the kids are being annoying,

496
00:28:57,410 --> 00:29:01,164
our solution is you're annoying me outside. Go outside. I'm

497
00:29:01,164 --> 00:29:04,284
gonna shut the door. I don't wanna see you for an hour. Go away. Love

498
00:29:04,284 --> 00:29:07,825
that. And we've got plenty of land here, so they go outside.

499
00:29:08,445 --> 00:29:11,485
And you don't see them for an hour, and they're out just hanging off stuff,

500
00:29:11,485 --> 00:29:14,910
chasing the dog or the chooks or the sheep or what there have been kids

501
00:29:15,150 --> 00:29:18,910
getting filthy doing whatever. Perfect. Problem solved. I

502
00:29:18,910 --> 00:29:22,030
got a little bit of time, and they got out and got their vitamin d

503
00:29:22,030 --> 00:29:25,790
and whatever and did their stuff, and we're just kids. Yeah. And isn't it

504
00:29:25,790 --> 00:29:29,625
funny? My my kids are chalk and cheese. I don't know. I've my my

505
00:29:29,625 --> 00:29:32,905
mom always like, what are you gonna do if your kids wanna climb Everest? Probably

506
00:29:32,905 --> 00:29:36,665
probably carry their bags. Like, I'll go with the I'll do

507
00:29:36,665 --> 00:29:40,505
this forever. Hey. Look. They'll they're gonna do whatever they wanna do. Like,

508
00:29:40,505 --> 00:29:42,985
god knows what the future will go. I said that my kids the other night,

509
00:29:42,985 --> 00:29:46,390
I said, mate, there's a fair chance in your lifetime. You'll either see people go

510
00:29:46,390 --> 00:29:49,990
to Mars or wouldn't surprise me if you went there. Like, who knows what the

511
00:29:49,990 --> 00:29:53,750
future holds for these kids? It's gonna be amazing. So I'm I'm just trying

512
00:29:53,750 --> 00:29:56,870
to make sure that they're they're fit, healthy, and they've got open minds and can

513
00:29:56,870 --> 00:30:00,575
make good decisions. And other than that, I I think that's all I can do.

514
00:30:00,635 --> 00:30:04,395
Yeah. Mate, I love that. Now listeners out there, this is a

515
00:30:04,395 --> 00:30:08,235
snapshot of what you can expect. The evening of all evenings, elevate your

516
00:30:08,235 --> 00:30:12,030
life. There's more to it than that. Obviously, we've got a really flash website

517
00:30:12,090 --> 00:30:15,530
made up for it where you can read more about, obviously, Paul and myself and

518
00:30:15,530 --> 00:30:18,730
what you're going to get from the night. Watch out TED Talk. But more importantly,

519
00:30:18,730 --> 00:30:22,570
if there's someone out there and you you're thinking, what could I get them for

520
00:30:22,570 --> 00:30:26,205
Christmas, or is there something that you wanna do with your friend or you

521
00:30:26,205 --> 00:30:29,645
wanna do with a partner or someone struggling or you've got a kid that you

522
00:30:29,645 --> 00:30:33,485
wanna reconnect with? Something like that. We've got 80 tickets left. Don't

523
00:30:33,485 --> 00:30:37,085
miss it. This is gonna be the only show for 2024. It is going to

524
00:30:37,085 --> 00:30:40,440
be a flag staff night. I tell you what, people will be talking about this

525
00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:44,040
when your kids are going to Mars, mister Watkins. It is something you do not

526
00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:47,160
wanna be. So And I'm gonna Are you gonna talk about the fact that you

527
00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:49,720
did your Ted Talk in your pajamas, or you're not gonna tell me? They're they're

528
00:30:49,720 --> 00:30:53,435
actually very, very flash. That's it. Like a onesie kit. I

529
00:30:53,435 --> 00:30:56,395
might even John, what? Oh, I wonder who I'll even go. He's a good I've

530
00:30:56,395 --> 00:30:59,675
got a couple of spare ones because, obviously, you spoke about COVID. I was supposed

531
00:30:59,675 --> 00:31:03,515
to go into a world tour, and I had 3 really big keynotes across

532
00:31:03,515 --> 00:31:07,360
the states. So I've got 3 different suits all ready to go. Never

533
00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:10,720
been worn. So I tell you what, mister Watkins, the listeners all have a

534
00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:14,559
brand spanker on. There you go. New pajamas. I hope

535
00:31:14,559 --> 00:31:17,440
people realize that this is the tone they're gonna get on the night. Like, it's

536
00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:20,965
not, we're gonna sit you down and lecture you. It's like, we may well laugh

537
00:31:20,965 --> 00:31:24,405
as much as everyone else does. We will. We get to hear you. 100%. And

538
00:31:24,405 --> 00:31:27,285
that's what I wanted to try, Mimi, before when you're when you're reeling off why

539
00:31:27,285 --> 00:31:30,825
they should come. For me I'm ranting. For me, no. For me, like,

540
00:31:30,919 --> 00:31:34,679
come say that somebody needs to, but bring a mate or bring a bring

541
00:31:34,679 --> 00:31:37,880
your son or bring your daughter or whatever it might be because it'll be a

542
00:31:37,880 --> 00:31:41,720
really fun, energetic, memorable experience for you both

543
00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:45,000
to share in together, and it'd be a bonding moment, and you'll take little snippets

544
00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:48,465
of gold from it that you can keep each other accountable with. I reckon I

545
00:31:48,465 --> 00:31:50,945
reckon it'd be I reckon if you can grab a friend or bring your daughter

546
00:31:50,945 --> 00:31:53,745
or your son, whatever way, it'll be a great bonding moment between the 2 of

547
00:31:53,745 --> 00:31:56,625
you. You'll have a heap of fun together. It'll be something you talk about long

548
00:31:56,625 --> 00:31:59,880
after the show. And you're definitely gonna get something out of it. And it'd be

549
00:31:59,880 --> 00:32:02,960
a heap of fun. It'll be energized and and a heap of fun. So yeah.

550
00:32:02,960 --> 00:32:06,000
Like, getting back to your kids, your kids are the darnest things. Like, it's always

551
00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:09,679
amazing to see what they get out of things. Like, you'll both sit there and

552
00:32:09,679 --> 00:32:13,395
listen to the same speech, and then they'll pull something completely out of

553
00:32:13,395 --> 00:32:16,035
left field out of it that you've never thought of. And as a parent, I

554
00:32:16,035 --> 00:32:19,635
think that's really handy. It gives you that window into their brain. Like, you know,

555
00:32:19,635 --> 00:32:23,315
you're going, what were you thinking, kid? And you're like you they say something like,

556
00:32:23,315 --> 00:32:26,950
oh, that's that's important to you, or you wanna talk about that, or

557
00:32:26,950 --> 00:32:29,670
that's something you want. I never knew you had that dream of wanting you to

558
00:32:29,670 --> 00:32:33,350
do this, that, or the other. Particularly teenagers. It's really like

559
00:32:33,590 --> 00:32:37,270
I know the parents of teenagers. We've got some family members who've got teenagers.

560
00:32:37,270 --> 00:32:40,275
Like, their mind is a closed book. Like, you don't have no idea what's going

561
00:32:40,275 --> 00:32:43,475
on in there. But sometimes when you go do those things together and it's just

562
00:32:43,475 --> 00:32:46,675
that, what do you think of that? And all of a sudden, they bring up

563
00:32:46,675 --> 00:32:50,410
something out of left field, and you suddenly get an insight into that's

564
00:32:50,410 --> 00:32:53,930
important to them or they're worried about that or they'd love to go do

565
00:32:53,930 --> 00:32:57,450
that. And now you got something shared that you can talk about. It's nothing

566
00:32:57,450 --> 00:33:01,150
about, you know, dad's giving me a hard time about this or school or whatever.

567
00:33:02,404 --> 00:33:05,764
It's something like 3rd person removed that you can kinda dig into and have

568
00:33:05,764 --> 00:33:09,605
shared that might open some doors for conversations and stuff, might make life a

569
00:33:09,605 --> 00:33:13,365
bit easier. Oh, so true. And that shared experience is something you can't

570
00:33:13,365 --> 00:33:17,125
buy unless you're in the room. So I think one better way to, finish

571
00:33:17,125 --> 00:33:20,899
off there. Paul Watkins, as always, mate, you're a superstar. This episode

572
00:33:20,899 --> 00:33:24,659
number 339. Thanks, Cambo. Stay well, listeners. Check out

573
00:33:24,659 --> 00:33:27,799
the link. Come along. We can't wait to see you.