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Tyson Popplestone is a Comedian from Melbourne Australia. Join him for a brand new interview each week.
tyson (00:26.306)
Trav. Let's go. Oh dude, no stress. No, no, I, it's bloody hit and miss sometimes with these Google Chrome links. So I always just assume people have trouble with it. Ha ha ha.
Trav Bell (00:27.463)
Sorry mate, sorry about that.
Yeah.
Trav Bell (00:39.855)
Yeah, I guess, no, I had to go through it because I mean, I remember that you said me you sent me the link, but it was on Instagram. What I what I tend to do is say, hey, send me a calendar request. That's got the link in it. Yeah. And so you can just go in and come in the calendar and hit the link, whatever it whatever it looks like. So
tyson (01:01.078)
That's a better idea. Yeah, for sure.
tyson (01:08.382)
I should have done, I actually usually, like do you use Calendly at all? Or your team probably do. I've got a Calendly link and it sort of syncs up and I forget about it. So just, yeah, anyway, no, oh sweet, yeah, bloody, it's, I don't know why it only works on Chrome. But yeah, some people have real trouble with it. But Talos, yeah, I was glad you said you'd done it before you used Riverside because it just eliminates. Ha ha ha.
Trav Bell (01:16.327)
Yeah.
Anyway.
Trav Bell (01:26.058)
Yeah, right, yeah.
Trav Bell (01:31.044)
Yeah, I was just on another podcast before and they were using Riverside, so all good. Yeah. No, it's an investing company over in America. He's got a big investing network over there. Yeah. Oh. Got a bit on. That's all good.
tyson (01:36.018)
Oh sweet, oh sweet, Ozzy one?
tyson (01:46.03)
Oh dude, you got your hands full man.
tyson (01:51.662)
Hey, I was just gonna say, man, not like just like we caught up the other day. I'm not that interested in real interviewee kind of stuff, but like I'm sure as it goes, we'll love I'm so keen like there are plenty of questions I held back yesterday, just based on the fact that I'm like, mate, you must get these questions all the time. But if there's a podcast, I mean, if there's an excuse to ask it, surely it's on a podcast. So I might fire a couple. Yeah. Awesome, brother.
Trav Bell (02:02.48)
No, that's alright.
Trav Bell (02:16.751)
Yeah, fuck yeah, I just... I don't know, ask whatever you want, man. All good.
tyson (02:21.806)
Awesome man, and dude, like around an hour, does that work okay for you?
Trav Bell (02:26.772)
Um, now what have I got? Hang on, I'll just check.
tyson (02:30.123)
Yeah, no sweat, no sweat.
Trav Bell (02:33.52)
I've got to catch up with someone in at 10, hence I had to move. So, yep. All good.
tyson (02:37.434)
Oh, sweet, so like 50 minutes or not even that. Yeah, yeah, no, man, that's sweet. We'll cut it off at like 50 or 45 or whatever. All right, brother. Yeah, awesome, man.
Trav Bell (02:45.519)
Yep, this is why. See if I can switch cameras. I'll see if I can switch cameras. It'll make the quality shit loads better. Hang on. Uh.
tyson (02:52.662)
Sweet the good thing about this platform as well is sometimes like just to save our Wi-Fi Comes through real bad quality, but like the post production It's actually recording in high quality. So even if you look a bit blurry now
Trav Bell (03:07.815)
Just have a look. Sometimes I use my, you can use your phone camera with Apple.
tyson (03:16.885)
Oh, Kenya?
Trav Bell (03:17.975)
Yeah, and you watch if I if I if it links up It's so much better quality and then I'll put this on the I'll put this on the back of it
tyson (03:24.426)
That's so good to know. Ah, sweet.
Trav Bell (03:29.083)
So that kind of just links onto the back of my laptop like that, just right near at the top of it. And sometimes it reads it, sometimes it doesn't. So I might.
tyson (03:41.406)
I was looking at some of the clips on your Instagram the other day. I could see the quality that was coming through I assume you're probably using it. Yeah, look good Yeah, awesome man, you love you let do me on my own podcast
Trav Bell (03:46.289)
Yeah, look. Fuckin'
I'm just trying, because it'll make a world of difference.
Trav Bell (03:57.495)
Uh, uh, let's, let me just go back. I'll come. I'll leave, come back in.
tyson (04:03.742)
Yeah, sweet, sweet.
Trav Bell (04:43.968)
So what do you mean?
tyson (04:44.838)
Oh dude. I would even give you like a little natural blur at the back as well.
Trav Bell (04:52.012)
Yep. It's like cinematic kind of deal. Who's better, eh?
tyson (04:52.459)
All right.
tyson (04:55.774)
Oh man, I'm gonna have to get myself one of them. Yeah, yeah, I've actually got the, I don't know what microphone you use or if you got a microphone there, but I've got like a Shure SMB, like a good one, but I'm waiting on a couple more parts to... Ah, sweet.
Trav Bell (05:06.512)
Yeah, all that shit sits here, but it's all... It's good for when you're recording or when you're a host and stuff like that. But no one's here. That's a good room for it. Let's get into it.
tyson (05:19.978)
That's, yeah, it's true. All right, brother. Wait, should we get into it? Man, I was thinking the other day, I was telling my wife when I got home from the cafe how nice it is from time to time to bump into a bloke that you just feel like you're a little aligned with, whether it's in vision or with ethos or whatever it is. But I saw you about a week ago sitting at the Ocean Grove Cafe. It's a new one to me, so I can't remember its name.
Trav Bell (05:39.34)
Sure.
Trav Bell (05:46.414)
Uh, Rocketman.
tyson (05:48.222)
Rocketman. Oh, yeah, I walked into Rocketman and the first week I saw you sitting there I thought gee this bloke looks familiar Like I know him from somewhere and I walked in the other week and I said I was probably just a good-looking bloke I've seen strutting along the beach or seen at a cafe living local or whatever it was but Having a chat to you afterwards and finding out about what you do. I thought okay About 15 seconds after talking to you. I thought he's surely gonna get an invite onto the podcast and it's such an interesting story
Trav Bell (05:55.677)
Mm.
Trav Bell (06:01.601)
I wish. Who is this pest?
tyson (06:17.614)
It's a wild story, man. I was so fascinated by so many elements of how things have sort of been put together to get to a point of where they are for you now with the bucket list. But we were laughing the other day because you were telling me about your origin or like your involvement in the world of gyms before you're doing anything like what you're doing now and how much hormones he's taken over the gym world and just made that like the.
the investor's dream at the moment. It seems that every man aged between 25 and 30 now owns a gym or is at least aspiring to. I thought as a way of introduction, man, you'd be better off doing it than I would. Give us a little bit of an overview of sort of that part of your life and the transition into what you're doing now because it's such a unique field that you found yourself in.
Trav Bell (06:48.97)
Mmm, yeah.
Trav Bell (07:03.612)
Yeah, I guess the backstory, you know, I'm here in Ocean Grove and you're not too far away and we probably could do this live, but we're not. It's all good. I'm in Ocean, born and bred in Ocean Grove. So grew up here as a, you know, competitive surfer, surf life saver, swimmer, joined the surf life saving club. Pretty much a jock through my whole life. You know, I think that's what they call them in America. So I did a, that led me to do a phys ed degree.
Victoria University, third year uni. This bloke came in, he was doing this thing in the early nineties called personal fitness training. And he was Daryl Summers' personal trainer off Hey It's Saturday. And I thought, oh, that's rockstar. He told me how much he got paid and he was training a lot of celebrities and this sort of thing up in Turak. And me, a country boy, up in the big smoke, he was doing this thing called personal training in his pre-internet and he said,
I just followed him around. I had all these questions. I thought this is, this is interesting. The first time I really got any idea about what I was gonna do, because I thought I was gonna be a kid's, you know, high school phys ed teacher or something like that. So he said, you know, subscribe to this magazine, go to this conference, get this book. And I just did everything he said. I was just, you know, I helped him out and did a bit of a work experience with him.
I got my first personal training client at Footscray Swim Center back in the day. And I got paid a whole $25 an hour and things are a little bit different these days. And yeah, man, look, I started with one client and just, you know, I was making more money out of personal training than anyone I knew in my industry by the end of university, really didn't care about you at the end.
And just that helped me, you know, my first client, Heather, she referred everyone in the English speaking language and then some to my business. My record was 63 one hour mobile personal training sessions in a week around Melbourne. So I did that literally for about three years, then hired my first person. I was running boot camps before there was such a thing and doing all these things around the botanical gardens and all over Melbourne really.
Trav Bell (09:27.028)
I had a deal with four gyms around Melbourne where I could take a member or non-member and just rock up, pay them five bucks, 10 bucks, whatever, per session, and just train them. Even before Fitness First came on the scene. Yeah, but I was flat out, I was doing everything with them. I was running up and down the stairs, I was doing the boxing, I was doing the laps of the tan, you know, the whole bit with them, and I was fit as. But I was getting paid a lot of cash too.
And I say to my younger personal training mentor, mentees, don't do what I did, put it into property, which I should have, but no, I had this thing called Melbourne Nightlife that kind of took over. I invested a lot of money into that. And so that didn't last too long, but now I started with Heather, she grew, formed the first,
One of the first personal training studios there in Richmond, just down near where Channel 9 used to be on Swan Street in Richmond. Had 13 personal trainers working for me there. Um, and we were running all sorts of corporate programs and triathlon club and boot camps and all the even TAC rehab stuff. Um, and yeah, one of my employees said, oh, Trav, you know, I want to, I want to build a studio as well. And.
I said, all right, cool. And someone around that time said, oh, you can't. Cause I read one of my first books that I ever read was called the E-Myth by Michael Gerber. It was all about systemization, McDonaldization, if you can call it that, of business, you know, setting up systems that survive without you. And it ruined me for life.
And I thought about franchising personal training. And I mentioned it to a mate and he said, Oh, you can't franchise personal training because it's personal. And, uh, that was all I needed. So about a year later, I franchised personal training studios and we built a chain of personal training studios around Australia and all in three states anyway. And, uh, over 300 personal trainers and two million personal training appointments, tens of thousands of clients were positively affected.
Trav Bell (11:53.333)
And yeah, that was my first business. So I had three company owned studios, which in the model was about a 200 square meter studio. So I owned one in Albert Park, Elwood and also Yarraville. And yeah, about six to eight trainers within each one. So I had three and the rest were franchised.
So yeah, man, that was my whole, when Australian Institute of Fitness started in Victoria, I was their senior presenter in the personal training courses on the board of Fitness Australia, helped write the code of ethics for personal trainers in Australia and in particular, Victoria. So that was sort of early pioneering days, pre-internet, pre-Facebook and Instagram and all the rest of it. So.
The transition came though, was when I let some, you know, one was an employee and he thought, oh, I can do what Trove does. And it was quite cancerous. He hooked up with a lawyer and they together, you know, really made waves, negative waves through my business.
It became a bit of a situation where the tail was wagging the dog. There's a few legal blues. They really want to just, you know, kind of do it for themselves and get out of their agreement and mimic what I've done. So it just did my head in. I, a few other things, probably the party and didn't help either. I slipped into it about a depression. I love personal training. I love helping people. And, but the business model just wasn't for me anymore. And,
Yeah, but instead of going on heavy antidepressants, man, I, which is what the doctor prescribed me, I went, no, I don't want to sleepwalk through my life. I want to deal with what I'm dealing with. So I went to every course that you could, you know, but I had to force myself out of my, you know, get to the stage where you don't want to pick up the phone or don't want to answer an email and, you know, you're behind on, you know, money's tight and relationships are strained and I was married as well. So there was all kinds of strains and.
Trav Bell (14:08.224)
bits and pieces going on and yeah man, I went to these seminars, I walked on fire with big Tony Robbins, I did ayahuasca, went to Burning Man and the whole bit and trying to find myself, some would argue, still haven't found yourself. But I did work out, I got to the cause rather than dealt with the effects. Was in one of these seminars, about two years later and a friend of mine said, Trapp, what are you, you're in these seminars all the time, every weekend you're in something.
tyson (14:22.137)
Heheheheh!
Trav Bell (14:37.356)
Why don't you teach this stuff? And it was a real light bulb moment. I went, huh. And it helped me compartmentalize what I was going through. I'm here to teach this stuff, to pay this stuff forward, to add my own flavor. So about a month later, I put on a talk. I was so scared. And I packaged in all, cause I've never had a job, you know, I had a beach lifeguarding job. I work, you know, that was about it. And kids were in teaching a little bit during.
during uni for basically beer money. And so I've always been an entrepreneur, learned all this psychology stuff and I put on a talk. And it was at the Western Bulldogs rooms over there in Footscray where I lived in Seddon. And yeah, I started sharing all my stuff. I had 40 people in the room and started sharing the fact that I had a list to do before you die.
tyson (15:08.874)
Hehehe
Trav Bell (15:35.1)
actually written down since I was 18. No one knew this about me. I said, who else has got one of these lists to do before you die? And it was donuts, no one. And it just bewildered, because I'd had one of these lists and it'd always been my North Star, my compass, my reason for getting out of bed in the morning, especially during tough times. I thought everyone had one of these kind of lists actually written down.
I said to the group, you know, why do you get out of bed in the morning? And most of the people, you know, why do you want to earn more money? Why do you want to earn more time? And the common response that I still get today is pay off the house, put the kids through school, do a bit of travel when I'm older. Yeah, and possibly sicker. Look, is that it? So I inspired the group, told them some stories, and Joe, one of the participants said, how's all this list to do before you die stuff? It's like a bucket list. This is about 30 years ago. He goes, you're like the bucket list guy.
I went ping another light bulb moment, went home that night and registered thebucketlistguy.com and I've been doing that ever since. So I mean, basically reverse engineering that and came out of the blocks as a speaker, really coaching one to many via the stage and de-franchise the whole business, sold off my personal training studios that took two, three years in itself. But...
tyson (16:40.405)
Man.
Trav Bell (17:01.844)
the personal training was the first 20 years of my life. I say the first 20 years was PT and the next 20 PD as in personal development. And around that time, the whole, as you might remember too, Tyson, you know, the whole world was kind of going online. Tim Ferriss had just come out with his four hour work week book, which completely ruined my life. Here I was with these gyms and bricks and mortar businesses and corporate.
tyson (17:25.069)
Ha ha ha.
Trav Bell (17:29.012)
you know, commercial leases just weighing me down and Tim Ferris running everything from fucking hammock in Thailand. And I'm like, I, I like that business model better than this. Screw this guy. So I just, you know, I've had lunch with Tim Ferris since and when he came to Australia, and he was one of the people I wanted to meet and thank on my bucket list as well. And so I've been online ever since before it was COVID cool.
tyson (17:29.122)
Hehehehe
tyson (17:34.972)
Hahaha!
tyson (17:40.994)
Hehehe
tyson (17:59.602)
What I knew there was a reason I got you to give the introduction it's so wild to hear Just about how events like hindsight is a funny thing isn't it looking how one particular thing Leapt into a something like you're in now ironically like the PT world. I've got an Right right back at you man. I might mine's about to start my
Trav Bell (18:08.352)
That's a pitch.
Trav Bell (18:14.356)
If this is therapy, by the way, this is therapy, you know that. Yeah.
tyson (18:20.314)
Some of my good mates, Shane, one of my very good mates is a PT now owns a studio called Fit My Soul. And one thing that he often tells me is that PT, a lot of people assume that it's got to do just with the physical developments that people make. He goes, mate, 90% of my job is dealing with the mental bullshit that people bring to the door that's either stopping them from getting into some form of habit building when it comes to the physical world.
Trav Bell (18:43.942)
Oh yeah.
tyson (18:45.266)
some kind of depression or just a block that's stopping them from actually making progress in like what is arguably the most important element of your life, at least the foundation, like your physical health, mental health and fitness. So it's interesting to see that like the transition on paper looks as though you've changed lifestyle drastically, like in terms of working hours, I assume it has, but in terms of what you're actually doing, it's not too far separated.
Trav Bell (19:12.52)
No, I was always in personal training too. I was always fascinated with psychology, you know, like, and motivation and growing up as a competitive swimmer and surf lifesaver, always fascinated with psychology. I was in great coaches and went to national level on different things. And yeah, I was always fascinated with the psychology side of things. And, you know, I had many personal training sessions where I'd lay out.
You know, for instance, my first client, Heather, for instance, literally when I was 21, 2021, she was a 50 year old lady, fit off above 50 year old lady. She had a neck injury, a back injury, knees had arthritis in them to the point where they were getting drained every quarter. They were really bad. And I'd just done rehab at uni. So I thought, all right, guinea pig, here we go. So
She trained with me three times a week at 25 bucks an hour. And some days, her self-esteem was absolutely in the toilet, you know, when we first started. Some days she'd come in with bruises on her. And...
I'm 21, didn't grow up in any kind of abusive household or anything like that. I'm adopted, but my parents were great. I could see that she'd had a rough night.
Trav Bell (20:50.152)
I'd have this whole CrossFit circuit kind of all laid out and I'm like, well Heather, today, what we're gonna do, we're gonna have a coffee. We're gonna just have a chat. And that were the best personal training sessions that she's ever paid for. So right then I knew that this is not about the physical, it's about the psychological and that I love life coaching. There's coaching and there's life coaching, I guess, even though people go, oh my God, you're a life coach.
it gets met with skepticism. But essentially that's what we're all kind of doing. And all personal trainers, there's a lot of personal trainer who, like I did, definitely transitioned to helping people with the broader psychology, the broader aspects of life. And especially at the end of the personal training. So I had a lot of personal trainers working with or under my brand and they helped all the clients. And I was already kind of doing a lot of
kind of life coaching, if you will, sort of at the end of it. I had a lot of my clients coming to me about relationship, wealth, their businesses, everything else. I was with their family, being parents, you know, so when you're a coach, you know, people listening, watching this will know if they're, if they're a coach, inherently, if they're a coach. If people are coming to you going, can I just catch up with you and grab a coffee? You know, like,
and you're that type of person that people, you know, confess to reside, you know, like having a chat to bounce things off, then you're probably a coach, you know, and you can't help it. It's just you, and you probably get that too, Tyson, you know, like, you just, that's your natural inclination. So, you know, to take that from amateur to pro and start charging for your time is a whole other ball game, which is what I love, helping other coaches.
tyson (22:29.49)
Hmm. Yeah.
Trav Bell (22:48.436)
do. But yeah, man, I always, I always was a coach. I've always been a coach. And it's only now that I'm really recognising all of those runs on the board, previous in the previous life as a personal trainer that led me to what I'm doing now.
tyson (23:04.906)
Yeah, what I like about the umbrella term of the bucket list as well is whenever someone hears bucket list and they actually boil it down a little bit, naturally one of the first things you're going to think about is, okay, what am I actually really keen to do as opposed to what my daily structure is taken up by? And I would estimate, I would guess that at least 90% of the people just going about their daily lives, you know, for one reason or the other.
has so many elements of their life that they feel stuck in. And especially as you get older, I've got two boys now and the whole day revolves around play. It's not around structure. They couldn't give a shit what time lunch is, what time sleep is. All they wanna do is go, all right, how can we play? And it's an absolute pain in the ass sometimes. It does my head in, but I love it because it makes me realise how stagnant so many areas of my life have become. Even just the wonder that they take with the way they look at a rock or a duck or a.
Trav Bell (23:36.343)
Hmm.
Trav Bell (23:51.261)
Mm.
Trav Bell (23:54.454)
Mmm.
tyson (24:02.846)
And it could be anything. They go, they go, Dad, what is this? And I go, well, honestly, like I've got to stop and think because I haven't thought about it for 25 years. But what I like about the idea of a bucket list is it comes back to this idea of play in a big sense. So that's the way I see it. It goes, okay, like, so this is what you're doing with your time, but eventually you're gonna die. With that limited time that you've actually got, what would you really like to do? And how can you structure your life in a way that you can make that possible?
Trav Bell (24:03.004)
Yeah, they're prison. Yeah.
Trav Bell (24:11.049)
Mm.
Trav Bell (24:16.853)
Yeah.
Trav Bell (24:28.608)
Yeah, well, I say a bucket list is a tangible life plan where our career plan or our business plan should fit into our life plan and not be the other way around. You know, it really brings home that work to live principle. And it helps people reprioritize, you know, because most people, yeah, and bucket lists, like the movie has got a negative connotation because it's about two blokes that get given a cancer diagnosis and then they write a bucket list.
tyson (24:54.467)
Mm.
Trav Bell (24:56.724)
It's like, sorry, fellas, too late. So it's a shit movie. I've based my whole career on it. So I wanna wake people up before they get given a use by day. Yeah, because there's so many people waiting till some day and that ain't a day of the week, the perfect time and there is no perfect time. Or they're waiting till retirement, you know. And we're sold retirement, exiting the business, getting the investments up to a point where you don't have to work anymore.
tyson (25:01.058)
Hahaha!
Trav Bell (25:26.244)
We're in a delayed gratification society, I'll be happy when syndrome. But meanwhile, people are sacrificing their happiness now to enjoy later. No wonder, no wonder, depression, anxiety, suicides, youth suicides, the over prescription of antidepressants. And we've even got this thing now called the loneliness epidemic, it's a real thing.
tyson (25:31.412)
Hmm.
Trav Bell (25:53.632)
And then we go through the pandemic on in there, and we've got an absolute mental health perfect storm. 70% of people are what they call disengaged in Australia and Australian workforce is it's 90% over in America. So people are just existing, not living. They're living by this weird default, I'll be happy when syndrome, waiting to retirement and you know, what's wrong with being happy now because something's broken because these stats aren't going away.
tyson (26:14.347)
Mm.
Trav Bell (26:23.156)
The loneliness epidemic is creeping up. Now, depression is on the rise. There's more and more suicides happening. It's like something's broken. So I'm doing my best with my bucket list narrative and I guess this filter and the tools and stuff like that, as much as I possibly can get this message out as much as I possibly can, because everything that I talk about is what they call positive psychology, which is really what helped me is the...
psychology of happiness, right? And you know, versus regressive psychology or normal psychology where a psychologist, you go and have therapy or get drugs to be normal again. But you know, Tyson, in your community, who the fuck wants to be normal, right? No one wants to be normal. We want to perform. So what positive psych is all about is helping people identify what brings them meaning, purpose, fulfillment, more gratitude.
tyson (27:10.981)
He nodded.
Trav Bell (27:21.244)
and basically bleeding more of that into their life and into their businesses or into their careers. So they'll be happier, simple, right? We don't have to sacrifice our happiness to enjoy later. I'm into delayed gratification, don't get me wrong. But I'm also into instant gratification, not in a hedonistic kind of way, but into helping people be happier now because people largely aren't happier, aren't happy now. So...
this bucket list, all I've done is taking these positive psychology principles, you know, helping people find more meaning, purpose, fulfillment, more gratitude in their life, put this brand of bucket list over the top of it to make it more palatable, more user friendly, more fun. And, uh, it seems to have resonated, you know, I'm in the, I'm still, I'm a serial entrepreneur and still doing the same thing after 12 years is a miracle in itself, you know, cause I've got the squirrel, you know, squirrel syndrome going on.
tyson (28:20.304)
For sure, you need my wife to pop over once a day and just go, mate, keep your focus, keep your focus. That's what I use it for. I reckon that's the most common part of advice in our house because I think we share that same spirit of, hey, what's the next idea? Mate, one thing I'm interested to pick your brain about that you mentioned a couple of times now is when you were going through your phase of depression or your phase of feeling really low,
Trav Bell (28:25.736)
Mmm. Mm-hmm.
Trav Bell (28:33.355)
Yeah.
tyson (28:43.198)
and you're recommended antidepressants. A lot of the time, this is one thing that frustrates me a lot about so many GPs, so many psychologists. I've had the same experience a number of times in my life where for whatever reason, I've been in a flat patch, call it depression, that's lasted longer than I would have liked it to. And just to go get a little bit of extra assistance or have someone outside of the family that I could talk to and get some strategies, I would go and do it. So I spoke to a guy 15 years ago.
um, unbelievable, taught me about cognitive behavior therapy. And for me, it was an immediate change. And then for whatever reason, uh, about four or five years ago, I, I went through another phase where I can tell you the reason I lost a couple of close friends and at the time, I think I was underestimating the impact that it had on like my emotional health. And so I went through a phase of grief or depression, or maybe a combination of the two that seemed to feed on each other. And I knew at the time that what I was looking for was I didn't need
antidepressants. It wasn't anything too out of whack. It was a phase that I had to navigate, and it was uncomfortable, but I just wanted some support and guidance through it. I went back and saw this guy, and he goes, well, mate, look, based on the fact that 15 years ago, you had some issues as well, it looks as though it could just be like a bit of a genetic thing. We need to get you on some antidepressants. And I got angry at him in the office. I was like, mate, like it's unbelievable that can be your go-to. I said, because for the last 15 years, I've been the happiest.
Trav Bell (29:47.124)
Yeah.
tyson (30:07.354)
that anyone knows, I've loved my life. There's been no huge stress emotionally. It seems to be a phase. And I had that same recognition probably because I'd sort of taken that route a couple of times and had been that zombie in the past by taking like, I think it was an SSRI when I was about 18 or 17. And looking back now, I just wasn't equipped with helpful strategies. And now whenever I face those kinds of strategies, it might be difficult, but.
Trav Bell (30:10.133)
Mm.
Trav Bell (30:23.424)
Yeah.
tyson (30:34.942)
CBT for me, like I've got a little formula written up, like a gym program to make sure that I'm on top of on a regular basis, which seems to be the key for me. Like I'm not assuming that everyone's, you know, gonna have the same approach, but I was just curious to find how you were aware of the fact that was an overused tool to try and help get people through that phase.
Trav Bell (30:47.22)
Hmm.
Trav Bell (30:56.124)
Oh, look, I just knew too many clients on it. And remember, you know, this is back in the personal training day. So I trained so many clients with depression. Um, and I just knew that they weren't themselves and I knew the different person when they came off, came off those drugs. So I didn't, I didn't have a real good opinion of them going in. And so, and I knew the highs and lows and also, you know, the ramifications about.
tyson (30:58.516)
Hmm.
tyson (31:18.112)
Mm.
Trav Bell (31:25.82)
how it affects a lot of different areas. And it's great, don't get me wrong, great for a lot of people, just not for me. And when I look back on what I went through, it was mild compared to what I've heard since. You know, it really was. So here I am whinging about my depression, but really it was mild compared to, you know, do I want to kill myself? No, do I think about it? Yeah, once, but.
I went to Beyond Blue, I talked to some people there and they get you to tick the, I remember going and they give you this flyer, you know, I picked it up from someone and you go through this checklist and I'm like check, you know, basically if you check them all you've got, you've got clinical depression. And the last thing on that checklist, whether they've still got it today or not, I don't know, was have you smiled in the last, have you smiled in the last week?
or something like that. And I'm like, fuck, I smiled yesterday, Jesus. You know, because I wanna win, I wanna win. You know, I wanna get everything right. And I'm like, fuck, damn it, I smiled yesterday, I shouldn't have had that laugh. Damn it, you know, like, so, I was gonna lie. But...
tyson (32:33.998)
Hehehehe
tyson (32:45.838)
Ha ha ha.
Trav Bell (32:48.932)
Yeah, I don't tell that story much, but you know, that's the honest truth. You know, so I wasn't, I wasn't that bad, but I've, I've done so many, you know, I talk about it from stage, you know, and why I do speaking is so it can affect more lives in a smaller amount of time. And it's coaching one to many, right? And so I talk about depression very, very openly. And I know that I know it can trigger. Uh, I know it can bring to light.
some of the stuff that people are going through. And I talk about cancer as well. So it can ruffle some feathers, but I've had some full on situations with some alpha males in the room. And I deal regularly with vets who have come back over in America. I'm part of the Heal the Heroes program. So we're dealing with serious PTSD. So, and my stuff.
has helped them. I'm like, I didn't know it could, but it is. So I helped the Heal the Heroes program over in the States. So, you know, I got this guy, this guy's, you know, when I'm doing this presentation, this guy's with one arms and one legs and you know, the whole bit and it resonates. So I'm, it's found its audience. So
tyson (33:51.107)
Mmm.
Trav Bell (34:11.152)
Yeah, it's definitely a tool that's helped me and it's helped other people. I've had some alpha males just come up to me right at the end and, you know, I've gone, there's one instance there when the head of, yeah, the head of this big organization, he was the boss that basically got, you know, he got me in and at the end of it, you know, I can see from, you know, I can see where it's, where it's, you know, sinking in.
He cornered me at the end of it and just had, you know, had one of my books in his hand and he's going, oh, look, Trove, can you sign this, but also pretend to sign it for a lot longer? Cause, and he cornered me in the room. So I was facing the room and he just broke down in tears. He goes, I just, I can't cry in front of them. All right, I just, just stay here for a minute. Just pretend we were talking and just tell me if anyone's coming up behind me because, you know, I just, he couldn't, he couldn't hold it in.
I said, I got you bro, no worries. Just, just, you just started talking. He wiped away his tears and said, thanks man. We hugged it out. You know, I'd like to say that that's the, the only instance of that I've had, but I've had many. I've had people on suicide watch. I've had, you know, all sorts of people, you know, people, I had a guy at a business breakfast for CFOs at the,
Park Hyatt in Melbourne. And a guy halfway through, he literally grabbed a microphone, had a roving microphone, and he just stood up. Everyone was in suits except for me. There was 250 people in the room. He said, this is shit and you are full of shit.
Oh, thank you, sir. In front of everyone. I'm like, oh, we've got a heckler. So yeah, you develop a thick skin when you're a speaker. And I've gone over to him. I remember a teacher telling me, if you get a heckler, if you get someone that's disruptive, don't go face to face with them. Go side by side. I could see the little tear in his eye, little wet eye and...
tyson (35:59.853)
Ha!
Trav Bell (36:26.272)
put one hand on my shoulder, I said, you know what, I think you're right. No, I just, you know, who would agree? Yeah, yeah, easy. And I said, obviously I've said something today that has caused you to say that. If it's okay with you, can I play on, you know, for the rest of the room and can we have a chat afterwards? And yeah, I had a chat with him afterwards.
and his wife was going through chemo. He had no sleep the night before. And we hugged it out and he said, sorry, the whole bit. And you told a bunch of other people it was all cool. But yeah, man, look, it's, the reason I'm still, you know, on this topic, driving this car down this lane is because it resonates with a lot of people and like it did for me in the early days.
tyson (37:22.162)
Yeah man, that's so what, that's heckling at a new level as well. There's no, it's such a skill isn't it? Like obviously I'm, oh Is that, see Well, I'll take back what I said then because I was laughing with you the other day because you said that yeah You did stand up comedy. I don't know if it was earlier this year, last year And I was Yeah, and one of the things that stood out to me was I just assumed that the corporate world would sit there and be polite
Trav Bell (37:27.54)
I've had a lot of hecklers. I've had a few hecklers. Yeah. I've had a few hecklers. So it's funny.
Trav Bell (37:38.613)
Oh, that was last year.
tyson (37:47.886)
And I come from a church background and I was a pastor speaking to a congregation. And mate, if there's one place you're not supposed to heckle, it's at church. And so people can sit there thinking, this is a shit message. And, uh, but they're not going to yell anything at you. Whereas that comedy or so I assumed at a corporate world, that's why people are out there. Um, so you've, uh, you've probably come a little bit more prepared. You tell us a little more about that experience. You're saying you're at school of hard knocks here in Melbourne.
Trav Bell (37:50.745)
Eh.
Trav Bell (37:56.669)
Hahaha!
Trav Bell (38:05.133)
It's a license. License to have a crack at ya. Yeah.
tyson (38:17.494)
That was one of the, I mean, we could do a two day podcast on your bucket list.
Trav Bell (38:19.092)
No, anyone who, no, like, you know, like hats off to you, you know, like anyone that can do standup comedy, I think that's possibly the hardest thing you can do in this life. You know, people pay, people pay money to laugh at your jokes, it's just next level, you know, keynote speaking is hell of a lot easier. Except for old-mode, that business. Yeah, but yeah, like, so I had,
tyson (38:39.702)
pays a hell of a lot more. Ha ha ha.
Trav Bell (38:47.968)
Cause my bucket list is, cause I go through this, my bucket list blueprint, you might be able to see it on the back here. So I did a Ted talk, I did a Ted talk. So yeah, in there, it's an acronym, my bucket list. And it's an acronym for help, to help people go north, south, east, west in their own head and help them extract and articulate a personally meaningful and holistic bucket list. So.
C on that acronym is conqueror fear. So one of the things that I had on my bucket list was do a standout comedy gig. I put it off, I put it, I had it on there for eight years before I, on my official bucket list, before I did anything about it. So it wasn't until after the pandemic, I went, you know what? I'm gonna get out of this funk, I'm gonna blow the doors off and so my mate,
who we both know, Morrie, he runs the school of hard knock knocks here in Melbourne. And a fellow speaker had just done his course and he's like, Oh, why aren't you doing it, Mr. Buckethead? This guy, I'm like, I'm getting around to it. I'm getting around to it. Take it easy. And so, you know, I had nowhere to hide and and. I just committed and Morrie Morrie. I had Morrie on my podcast and I was talking about it, why people do it, because, you know,
tyson (39:53.794)
Hehehehe
Trav Bell (40:10.368)
a lot of bucket list items for a lot of people. It's overcoming fear. And so I signed up and School of Hard Knock Knocks works like the SU and maybe we have 11 other students instructed by a standup comedian, professional standup comedian or two. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday night, you meet for three hours, you're writing jokes, you're performing the jokes.
in front of each other, not getting any laughs. So I had all these jokes prepared over all these years and I got up on night one going crush this and plus I'm a speaker and I get up and tell my jokes. No one fucking laughed. And I just realized that I'm just a sick fuck. And I don't know if I can swear on this, but I have. And I went, oh my God.
tyson (40:59.771)
Go for it.
Trav Bell (41:04.172)
I'm screwed. And so I started telling him some like it is running on the spot and you know, like I started telling him some stories from Perth and our coach there was just like, mate, finish the stories, you know, like get to the funny. I'm like, this is all I got. And then I just, I'm screwed. So, you know, apparently we learned all the different comedians and different styles and you know, all the and
tyson (41:10.971)
Mm-hmm.
tyson (41:23.138)
Hahaha
Trav Bell (41:33.728)
The fact that you've, you know, stand up comedy, you gotta make someone laugh every 15 seconds. So four times a minute. Holy shit. You've gotta keep people engaged big time. So we had to prepare a five minute spot during this, you know, the comedy school there, because on the Thursday night, we all flogged tickets to our family, friends, and all 12 of us had to fill the rooms. We had 120, 120 people.
at the rubber chicken down there in South Melbourne, it was a full house and we all did our five minute bit and then the headliners did their bit at the end and that's all been recorded, it's on my YouTube channel. I was fucking shitting myself, shitting myself. I'm so glad, my family came along, half the jokes were about them. And yeah, I did it. But it was really good, like it's changed my storytelling, it's changed.
tyson (42:22.607)
What a world, yeah.
Trav Bell (42:29.084)
my getting to the point. I use some of it in my keynotes now. So it's all, you know, a really good experience. And the running joke is, you know, Netflix still hasn't called Tyson. So I don't know, they must've lost my number or something like that. Where's my four part, where's my four part series? I don't, why haven't I?
tyson (42:50.919)
Yeah, it's a wild experience. My entry into the field of stand-up comedy about five years ago was the same. Like I had always thought it was just something I would never do. And then based on the fact that it terrified, I listened to Joe Rogan speak a lot. Yeah, I listened to Rogan's podcast a lot. And he used to speak a lot about his background in martial arts. And so I was terrified of the idea of getting up there.
Trav Bell (42:59.58)
Yeah, why'd you do it? Why'd you do it? Why'd you initially do it?
tyson (43:12.83)
and just not being as funny as I thought I was. I'd never thought about it like a skill that you can actually develop. I just thought you had it or you didn't. And so I would hear about him speak on his background in martial arts and his discipline and his approach and his consistency. And I thought, oh, it sounds a lot like distance running. Like I've got these factors that you're speaking about in martial arts for my running, but I've never really considered about applying any of this to any other field really, like with exception of a few, especially standup comedy.
Trav Bell (43:18.099)
Oh, God, yeah.
tyson (43:41.082)
And so I just started writing down a couple of things that I thought were funny and I thought, you know what, I'm just gonna do it. And I just rocked up in an open mic comedy room one night and it's so true, man. Like one of the weirdest things about it, I don't know how this is in the corporate scene, but one of the weirdest things is you can tell the same joke to two different crowds and one of them pisses themselves laughing and the other one gives you like your bomb. And so it's a constantly moving target of what's funny.
Trav Bell (43:46.721)
Eh. Oh.
tyson (44:06.058)
And then so many factors come into it, like your energy, your presentation, your confidence, the vibe you're giving up, the vibe of the room, obviously the quality of the joke. There's just so many things. So when you come home and you try and analyze, okay, hey, how did I go? It's a really difficult thing because you're trying to analyze 25 different things.
Trav Bell (44:15.561)
Yeah.
Trav Bell (44:23.252)
Yeah, I've got a great story around that. I like I've given talks all around the world, keynotes all around the world, some, you know, big and small groups. And I was invited to speak down in Mexico. And there was again, 354, 300 people in the room. And we and it was being interpreted. You know, it was like I had interpreters at the back. Everyone had a headset on.
So I've done that in Cambodia, I've done that in Vietnam, and also down in Mexico, Costa Rica, and a few other places. But in Mexico, this one where we had two interpreters at the back of the room, and everyone listening in headsets. So I'm pretty Aussie, I don't know if you picked that up. And I had a brief with the interpreters and they spoke really good English.
So basically I'm saying my thing and I've got my keynote pretty dialled in and I know when the jokes are gonna be, I know when the big aha moments are, write this down and examples set exactly. And so I sort of briefed them all on, briefly interpreters, the two people in the box at the back of the room, that this is the state of play. And they went, yeah, no worries.
And I did my thing and there was just like some awkwardness because you just gotta slow yourself down and like say your bit and then five seconds later, you're still in this pose going. And then they go, ha ha. And you're like, oh, okay, cool. Fuck, next thing. And then, so I did this one where I always get a lot, no matter where I go around the world and there was this massive delay.
tyson (46:03.15)
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Trav Bell (46:19.792)
I went to the interpreters afterwards and I said, how about that thing when I said that? And they go, oh, we knew it was a joke. We couldn't really interpret it. So we just told everyone in their headsets, Trev just made a joke, please laugh. And then they laughed. And the fucking charity laugh.
tyson (46:37.87)
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
Trav Bell (46:47.148)
I'm like, oh Jesus, that makes me feel bad. It does not, did not trail, it was brutal. Oh well, A for effort, you know, doesn't make me feel any better.
tyson (46:51.416)
That's so brutal. Oh man, that's so funny. Mate, we've only got a few minutes left. Before you go, you've just kickstarted your new bodybuilding process. You're going home to take some photos of your, yeah. Oh!
Trav Bell (47:07.616)
Yeah, see, I told you that in confidence. Um, but, uh...
tyson (47:15.546)
Was it? So that's not public knowledge to shit. I was just joking anyway. I was just a funny joke.
Trav Bell (47:17.755)
No, no, but yeah, no. I've just turned, no, I don't give a, so again, I've had this on my bucket list for a while and I've just turned 50 and I don't know, I kind of did it when I turned 40, but in this 50, I, you know, this fuck you 50 moment, you know, like, and hey.
Some would call it a midlife crisis. I'm calling it midlife awakening. But no, because I've done, you know, this whole bucket list thing is about my and everyone else's human experience. And I think if you can experience as much, you push your envelope in every aspect of life, I think that's what life's all about, right? Who the fuck wants to sleepwalk through their life and just.
tyson (47:45.082)
Mm-hmm
Trav Bell (48:09.276)
not test themselves, not see where their potential lies. And I want everyone listening and watching this, Hopper Tyson, too, get curiously excited about the person that exists on the other side of your bucket list. And that's the person that you don't know yet. Get curiously excited about the person because people are dying at 40 and being buried at 80.
tyson (48:31.831)
Hmm.
Trav Bell (48:34.38)
So get curiously excited about what's on the other side. You got no idea, no idea of what your potential is. So for me, I've done the Ironman. You know, I signed up to do the full on Melbourne Ironman, full distance Ironman, 3.2K swim, 180K bike ride and a marathon, apparently all in one day. So I did, I entered that having never done a triathlon before. I literally entered a year out, then bought a bike.
having done one marathon, grew up as a swimmer, so that was cool, and overtrained, completely destroyed myself, then got a coach. Wow, who would have thought that a coach would, and he just said, what the fuck have you been doing? You've overtrained, you've destroyed yourself, and cut my volume down by half. Who would have thought? So, that was one extreme, the endurance extreme, and I've always gone, you know, what's the opposite to that?
tyson (49:24.878)
Hmm.
Trav Bell (49:34.036)
you know, that's, that's a something that I could at least train for. I've always lifted weights and you know, it's just part of what I do because you know, because it's healthy. And doing this sort of stuff is great as a pastime, but I wanted to direct it I when I turned 50, I stopped drinking. Not that I was an alcoholic or anything like that. I just like, I don't really have a plate. My partner doesn't drink and it's not a big thing. So
and just wanting to look after myself. The goal is to also become a centenarian as well. So I wanna live beyond 100. I've got a tattoo on my chest from 90. It says, you might be able to see it. 19, there we go. I just did this the other day last week. 1973 to 2073 plus.
tyson (50:23.774)
Sweet. Yes, I thought that was an asterisk. Yeah, yeah, awesome. That's awesome.
Trav Bell (50:29.396)
No, plus hashtag. So if I look at that, psychologically, if I could look at that in the mirror every day, it reminds me to keep healthy, that sort of thing. So long story short, I've always wondered about, not bodybuilding, but physique comp, I'm not big enough to be a bodybuilder, but a physique comp and just beyond, in the beyond 50 category.
Um, so I found myself last weekend going to a bodybuilding comp or the one that I'd enter in a year's time, size up the competition, film their poses. Super weird. Um, very Brown, a lot of oil, a lot of oil, uh, a lot of G-strings, um, gold, gold G-strings on men, which I was very confronted by, but, um, each to their own. So next, next minute, next minute. I've, I've.
tyson (51:12.365)
Yes.
tyson (51:16.354)
Yes.
tyson (51:24.238)
Ha ha.
Trav Bell (51:27.9)
I've gone, fuck it, you know, I'm gonna do it. Give it a crack, give me something to train for, direct all this healthiness and war on you thing too, and off we go. So I've got a prep coach and a posing coach now. So yeah, I'm gonna put on the YouTube channel and cross it off my bucket list hopefully in a year's time.
tyson (51:44.43)
That's awesome. What's his face, man? Oh, I'll make sure I link that in your book and all your socials and stuff in the description to this episode. So anyone interested, make sure you check it out.
Trav Bell (51:55.878)
You want like the pictures of me in the leopard G.
tyson (51:59.134)
100% honestly and a before and after would be fantastic if you don't mind
Trav Bell (52:02.88)
No, we don't know. I did not, I sent my befores, which is like me now, to this coach and I grew up in speedos, you know, and I looked at me and Bucks back in the day. I look like I've eaten three of me right now. I've eaten a fucking sheep. So yeah, it's not pretty.
tyson (52:17.262)
Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe
tyson (52:24.734)
Watch this space, man, 12 months time, I bet it is. But bro, mate, thanks so much for making the time. I appreciate catching up with you on here, and I'll see you at Rocketman in the next few days.
Trav Bell (52:33.64)
Yeah, I'm going there. I'm going to talk to my podcast guy and I'll probably be there very, very soon. All good, brother.
tyson (52:37.85)
All right, brother. Take care, man. We'll see you later. Dude, you're a legend. Man, if you gotta run, you get out of here. But that was fun.
Trav Bell (52:41.281)
So yeah.