Welcome to the Energetic Radio podcast. This episode is brought to you
by the school of play dotco, hosted by Dale Sibonham and
Paul Campbell. Each week, we'll bring to you tips, strategies, and ideas
on how you can bring more joy and happiness into your life and those you
share with. Alrighty, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome back to
Energetic Radio Podcast, episode number 344. My name is Dale
Cybottom, joined by my co host, Paul Campbell. Good afternoon, everyone.
Now very exciting. Lauren, we've been chatting for probably on
over a year now. Obviously, we live close by previous
teachers setting up companies and so forth. Very excited to
and I've always wanted to help and reach out to people and because it's
there's no blueprint on how you do these things. It's not like you go to
uni and, hey, then you become a presenter and this is what you do. There's
nothing there and you sort of forge your own way. So founder
of think I couldn't even spit that out. That was good. Think set. Go. There
we go. Finally got it. Sorry, Lauren. How's it all going? And more
importantly, I wanna my big question for you is before we get started,
what's lit you up in the last 7 days? What's lit me up? It lit
you up. What's got you up and about? Well, definitely something that got me
up and about was the Melbourne marathon yesterday, and I'm feeling like I don't
wanna be up and about today. As in you ran the marathon yourself? You've all
done. I'm very good. And I haven't trained for about 8 weeks because I've had
a hamstring injury trying to sell my ticket the whole time and
couldn't sell it. So last weekend, I'm like, screw it. I'll just go. I'll wear
my ThinkSet Go top and just chat with people if I'm walking at the back,
but I ran it and I ran the whole way without any pain. Well
done. So it was a it was an interesting moment where I was, like, I
was probably more scared. I was trying to sell my ticket because I was more
scared that I would start to feel the the pain. Right. I was,
like, imagining the pain, but then the pain didn't actually eventuate. So I was, like,
building this up to be really bad, and it was actually totally awesome. Good on
your hamstrings. Yeah. So, yeah, my mindset had to shift,
and that's what slipped me up to it. Well done. And congratulations. That's amazing.
Thanks. Yeah. Lovely. And the whole experience, like, I've done a couple of
half before, never a full marathon, but just the crowd's buzz.
Like Was it your first one? No. I've done a I've done a marathon in
a few halves before. I like the half marathon distance the best. Yep.
More that the training is doable with little kids. Like Yeah. Good point. The full
marathon training. My husband's doing it, and so it's like we both can't do this.
You do that, and I'll do that. Someone's gonna be at home. Yeah. I know.
But he's like I don't know how long it's going to have to have a
stroll for 21 performance. That's for sure. Yeah. So, yeah.
Now, Lauren, obviously, you were a teacher, had a couple of
kids, and while you're having your second, you started planning think think set
go. Yes. Oh, I can't see that. I'm not having a Three three
words. Oh, no. I'm battling with that. Sorry then. Talk to us about
obviously, a lot of people have ideas and they they think about it, but
actually doing something is not always easy or they don't know where to start. When
did the idea come in and how did it sort of all come about? Yeah.
Well, my background is in me doing a lot of sport and
myself. And then as a head of sport, I was seeing and helping a lot
of other people do students do sport, play sport. But
when I played sport, I was I decided to I wanted to
play at a fairly high level. So I when women's AFL started in
2017, I decided, let's try this. I'd never played
before, didn't know the positions or anything, but I took took that phrase of you
can do anything you put your mind to, and I thought, let's actually test out
the theory on that. And I just started to
try and figure out ways to get as far as I could in the shortest
amount of time because I was 28, and I started to play,
at, like, a club that had a VFL pathway, then
didn't just stick with the coach at the set at the club. I found my
own coach and, actually, that's Jack Watts' dad,
Andrew. Yes. He he he didn't he just I stumbled across
him, at a park and, he just said, you know, look, I've trained my
son. I'd love to help you out. And he just, for free, the kind of
of his heart Wow. Spent hours and hours with me over about 3
years helping me develop as a it was a mentor to me, but I
never, I never searched that. I just put out into the world
that I wanted this goal of being as good as I can, and then things
just kinda happened. And and then I was captain before I'd even played my first
game, probably just because of the relationship I was building with coaches and
teammates because I really wanted this goal. And
then I worked my way up to BFL for North Melbourne and
then Carlton. Anyway, I was vice cap captain at
Carlton and I was trying to help players, but, really, the mental game
for myself became such a big facet of the
game that I couldn't quite grasp. I would just
hold on to things that go wrong in a game or that I felt I
didn't do or a comment from a coach or player. I would just
hold on to these things and I'm like I was sitting in the auditorium once
thinking, I need someone to come in right now and tell me something that's going
to shift my mindset, and there wasn't anyone. We're just going on about game
structure, and I was just just like, I'm sure I'm not the only athlete here
who needs this shift in in headspace. And,
sorry, there wasn't anything. So I thought, okay. Well, once footy finishes, I'll just
get as much information as I can on this side of the game, the mental
game, and then I'm gonna just create something where I can bring this to sporting
clubs and, obviously, as a teacher, students to help people with the
mental game and, when they have goals. So
often we have goals, but we don't really we don't really
break it down into how do I have to think, what can I do to
set myself up, and then how do I actually do what needs to be done
even when I don't want to? Yeah. So those three facets, I think, set, go.
I like it. Yeah. So I'm I'm baffled by that bit of
background. I worked at Collingwood with the AFLW, in play well-being and play
in development. And we're all about mindset from the get go, from
the from the inaugural year, and we made sure that we because a lot of
the girls really did struggle to move on. They really did.
They they held on to a lot of things and and clogged up, you know,
their their decision maker. So you're saying it can't that they didn't really get that
right early on. You don't even think? I don't recall anything
being said explicitly and sometimes it needs to be said explicitly.
Try this, try that. Yep. Well, you're all new young professional athletes.
Right? A lot of you were new to to being professional athletes. So,
you need to learn. You need to be educated. So Yeah. Yeah. Well, that how
good is that? It's led you to this. Yeah. Yeah. It's brilliant. Well done. It's
quite intentional. Lucky that you're at Carlton and point on Collinwood because No. No. No.
That's not why we're so well focused. It's
So clubs are saying, this is an angle that we need to give everyone an
edge or to help them cope. And to be honest, it transfers to
school for these young people, but life in general because I'm applying so much of
this to myself doing this business as well. Oh, you really do, don't you? Yeah.
And that's when you know you've got a winner when you can apply it in
your own life and you can feel it. We also have the importance of feeling
things rather than being told things and to feel it. And that's when it really
sinks in. And the fact that you get to apply it in your own life
and feel it for yourself and go right, it works and then go from there
or that didn't quite hit the mark, whatever it might be. So, yeah. Cool.
You must be loving the life. You you're PE teacher, sport nut, obviously.
And then you get to put your both passions together and work in professional
sporting environments and help people out. All done. All done. It's like I said,
it's all intentional though. Like, this is the same with the footy
goal. It's it's not that I just wanted to play. It's that I wanted to
play it at a late level. Mhmm. This is not just me just if I
wanted to just teach, I would just continue to be a PE teacher. So the
intention here is to explicitly give someone something that they may
not have thought about. And, yes, we do that as teachers all the time,
but it's in a unique environment. When someone else comes in
and talks about something, it changes, kids' perspective on
it. You know, the teacher can go on and bang on about it all day,
but when someone else comes in, it changes the Yeah. Have you always been
sorry, sorry. I don't mind, Jack. I just said, I came in and going, I've
got no questions and here I am. Have you that's true.
I can't help myself. No worries. Have you have you always been
a a challenge seeker? I've I've met you now for a short period of time,
but I'm getting the feeling like you you set goals. You're a challenge seeker.
Is that always been you? Is that always been your genetic makeup? Not intentionally to
set the goals, but yeah. Absolutely. Like, it probably started when I
was, like well, I was primary school captain, and I feel like when you start
to go for leadership roles early on, you get into that habit of like,
you get confidence. So when one when you get confidence from one
place, it transfers then to the next challenge. So that probably
helped. I when I was 13, 12,
13, I wanted to know how to surf and I didn't I just really wanted
to be able to surf properly when I was older, and so I
that was probably the first goal that I intentionally tried to master, but we don't
live near the coast. It's surf beaches. So It's pretty hard to surf. It's a
bit hard. Right? Yeah. Well, actually, we have surfed at Mordellike Pier
before, so Oh, there you go sometimes. It's gonna be very windy. Yeah. It
is. It's like it's like point break the perfect storm. Yeah. After a
storm. It's a 1 in 50 year storm now. It's a 1 in 50 year
storm. It is. Like, I don't recommend it, but it's possible. But
then yeah. So that was probably one of my first goals, and it took me
years. Like, urban surf then opened up in the city and that was
actually a big money waster, but we spent a lot of money there. Me and
my husband, we go we used to go there a lot before kids, and that
helped us develop in a predictable in bull environment because you could go for a
surf any day, but you're not gonna get waves that are gonna support you or
help you. So going somewhere like that was helpful. And then,
you know, one day I just decided I wanted to work in a in a
market, so I created, like, a 1,000 pieces of jewelry out of clay
and then I just applied to work in markets. So I guess that is just
setting goals and just going. Just doing And then I I I do
artwork on surfboards, and I just, like, have about 6 surfboards. I
just went nuts and did all my artwork on them, and then in COVID, just
did a whole mural on my garage wall. So maybe I have got a weird
obsessive personality now that you have. Thank you for that.
No. No. This Lauren's like, I've just learned something about
myself. This podcast is fun. It's so fun. Like, it's just
you just figure out when you really want something, you figure out how to get
it into your life. And often, we don't have
interesting things going on just because we haven't decided what we wanna do. Yeah. I
just think sometimes I decide on something, and I go all at it to see
just for fun. Have the market was the market successful? No. That's why I
don't do it anymore. That's okay. I think I got too clumsy and
lazy with the artworks with the with the jewelry making. I was like, this
is this is hard work. Early mornings, And and with kids now, no. None. None
had. Yeah. And did that, the obviously, the creative element element. Because what you
just said, Lauren, is you've done clay, do you're designing, you're painting on
surfboards. Yeah. How important is that creative element in only your life, but
what you do at work now? Well, I guess, yeah, it transfers very well. But
it's now in how I present my workshops. What are the kids and
and the adults and the participants gonna find interesting, and how do I
get this message across in a creative way? I guess that's where it fits in.
And one day I'd love to use my artwork somehow in this, but I don't
know how. Yeah. Do it as much. And that's something I've learned till you're on,
but you're a guru at it. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I was
doing a presentation last week and bit of chalk and talk and when I
finished and Doug goes, I've got a game for that. And literally, and now we've
created a bit of a game and that's why you work well together. You've got
different minds towards the same goal. Yeah. So you're right though. Finding a way to
engage your participants, I think is absolutely key. Isn't it? For sure. When they're having
fun, they learn better. Well, we wouldn't want to do a boring workshop. Yep. And
we have to do them all the time. Yep. I know. So Correct. Let's create
new ones. Exactly right. Exactly right. So talk about when the idea came Yeah.
Think that set go. More importantly, from that idea
though, how did it come to life? Like, that's what I wanna know because
I I love hearing this, and I know there's probably a lot of people listening
that might have an idea. And it it doesn't have to be around workshops, but
everyone's got a passion project or something that they really believe in. How did you
actually take that idea and bring it to life? Because that's the hardest part.
Well, I would definitely say there's gotta be the background work done
on figuring out, a
whole lot of elements to it before you then jump in, because I
think that sometimes if we jump in too quickly, it won't last. So
I again, following the think, set, go structure without meaning
to, I had, see, I was I remember when I had my
first baby, I was, breastfeeding a lot and thinking,
at that time when I'm in the room, how I would design it all and
mapping it all out. And then I physically went and wrote bits of paper, and
it's still on my wall. This would be done like this, and these are the
key concepts, and this could then happen next, and these are the key concepts.
Physically put it on a wall so I could see how it would look and
everything I wanted to touch on. And then,
I went back to my previous school and asked if I could start running my
workshops there for free. So I did do a couple of workshops there, about
3 workshops, and that's what really made me believe in myself because I'm like,
okay. This is gonna be effective, and the feedback I
got was helpful and useful and meaningful, and
they liked it. So that was all really good reassurance. And
then I started to just reach out to other schools, and, social
media was a tough one for me because I didn't even use it myself as
a person. Very similar. I have to teach him I have to teach him how
to create an account. I didn't have Instagram literally before
before this. Yeah. And it's like, how do I post these, like, what? It's a
lot, isn't it? And then you get nervous of what people think, but actually, like
no one is even probably looking at first. Yeah. No. No. I
used to go for it. Yeah. I've I've come to Chris. I said in the
last part, I had a bit of impossessing your own from now and again, but
I'm getting more comfortable with it. So you definitely get more comfortable with the uncomfortable,
I guess. But, and that's a good message. Right? Get yourself out there and and
learn to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. Otherwise, you're not you're not moving forward.
So, you know, take the plunge. Be brave. Yeah. That's good. And
it's scary and it still is. And I don't think that's enough reason to not
do it. Nope. That's why it's like, if you feel
that challenge, you kinda know you're on some onto something. And,
I think a lot of people settle for knowing what they know and doing
what they do, and I did too. But once I just
figured out in my head what do I wanna see myself doing down the
track, worked my way back into, like, hey, what can I start doing now, which
I didn't quit my job straight away? Well, I was on
maternity leave, so I was different boat, but I wouldn't suggest
just going and quitting a job. Mhmm. Just start feeding it into
your life, whatever it is you wanna do, and then you'll find it either is
what you wanna do or not. I'm really curious when you
and depends on how honest you want to be when you were teaching within mornings,
when you woke up and went, you know, got to go to work. Do you
still have that same feeling now that your every morning you wake up to put
something in for your own baby and your own business? Has that changed? That's
the number one key that keeps me going is the fact that I don't dread
anything anymore. How good is that? Yeah. Yeah. And that's how I know. Like,
aside from, obviously, like, the ups and downs financially, moving out
of a consistent pay, you know, financial situation for
myself is very, very daunting, and I I don't
like that aspect of it. But it's like, you've
gotta start somewhere, and this is when people say,
it's tough. This is what I'm going through. This is the tough phase
as it builds. I know it will get easier, but also it might
never get easy. It's just another challenge that's gonna come my
way. So I'm being challenged in that area, but that's,
like, it's worth it. Yeah. So Yeah. And you spot
it. I feel the same way. And the tens of 1,000, if not millions of
people out there that dread getting up in the morning, go to work and don't
do anything about it. Right? And they sit in that for 10, 15, 20, 25
years. Mhmm. Yeah. I feel the same. I said
corny as as anything, but I don't feel like I've gone to work yet. Yeah.
Which would be crazy, but since jumping ship and getting it. Yeah. Which is really
nice. So good message. Yeah. If you're stuck in that massive
rut, do something about it. Challenge yourself and be brave. And Well, that's also the
think, set, go approach. It's like, if you don't take on anything else, just say
to yourself, can I change how I'm thinking, setting myself up and
going, and actually taking action? So it might
be say, for example, it's going to the gym. It's like some people wait for
a health scare to motivate them. Other people just
might, have, like, a goal, like, they wanna look good for summer or something. So
they've got that motivation, but it still might not occur because they haven't factored
it into their week. And then even though they factored into their week, which is
the setup phase, they actually can't go when they need to. So it's like, how
do you just get yourself to do what needs to be done? I think if
you can figure out tweaking one of those three elements, you'll achieve
so much more. And it's also just it's just so rewarding.
It's like sometimes I think it's like getting paid. We don't get
paid on the day that we do the job. Mhmm. We get paid later,
2 weeks later, a month later, whatever it is. So you're looking after your
future self, and that's how I see goals. It's what you do
now will look after your future self. Oh. I love bits
of gold from that job too. It's very true. That is very true. Very true.
And I think, for what you're saying, honestly, they're resonating that
that security of having a job is fantastic and easy, but
I you you need, I feel, those highs and lows. And
like you're saying, you don't know when you get paid. You know when things are
coming in, that motivates you more. And I think the big thing is
everything you're doing now, Aaron, is for you. You're not building it for someone else.
Yeah. And that's probably the most rewarding thing that I've found. The highs
and lows are very hard. They're great, but they're not. But everything you're doing,
it's for you, for nobody else. Yep. That's I think that's the best thing about
it. Yeah. That that reminds me of when I was head of sport. You put
a lot of work in to help the students, to help the school, but as
soon as you might step away and someone else comes in, they can change it
and do whatever they like. And then you feel that your hard work might not
have meant what you what you hoped it would. And, this doing something
for yourself allows you to build and evolve and grow something that,
like, you can take forward to the end. There's
no one gonna come in and take it off you sometimes. And and think about
the things you're teaching your kids. Like, I know they're only young still, but they're
watching mom grow up, you know, chasing her dreams, chasing her goals, being, you
know, being her own boss, those sort of things. And and also being around more
for them. I imagine, I imagine you've got more time for your kids as well,
which is the bonus. So you'd teaching your kids invaluable skills and
they they they sponges. Right? They'll absorb all of that. And so even yeah. Love
it. I think that's that's that's the thing. They they learn by viewing, by
watching, not by being told. And I think that's exactly the same in the work
we're doing that you can't tell someone to be happy. You can't tell
someone to be healthy. They need to feel it, and they need to do it
themselves. Do you find that's the hardest thing? You know, we all want to
improve. We all particularly kids in schools, we wanna get better mental health,
but no one can do it for you. Yeah. Like, that that's the most
simple as bit of advice, but it's the hardest bit. Do you find that really
hard? Yeah. For sure. Because it's not really until
the challenge occurs that you realize you need the information that you heard the other
day. Mhmm. And so sometimes I'll be sharing this content and it's not
hitting home with anyone or some people are getting it and some people aren't. The
next day, if they listen to it, a different group of people would understand it.
The next day, the kid that wasn't listening the first day would be loving it.
It all depends what's going on in their life. Mhmm. And I find
that, it's the same with, say, parenting, like, what
I did with my kids at one day won't work the next day, and so
it's like always adapting and talking to people in a way they understand.
And then that's where the go when I actually run a think, set, go session,
the go element is activities and games because that's one way that we
can challenge someone out of their comfort zone to then get a little bit of
a feeling of what the concept is that we're trying to portray
with them. When you feel, like we were saying before, when you feel
that stuck challenge, yucky, out of comfort zone
feeling, it's, oh, that's why I apply
these techniques. That's when I apply them. But if you're not feeling
that, it doesn't resonate straight away. Yeah. Gotcha. Sometimes it's lighter and
it's too late. Yeah. So the think set go is the model
is the model there for to improve well-being or is it more so in
goal setting or is it a mixture of both? What's what's the main sort of
crux behind think set go? I do call it mindset education
for goal pursuit or goal achievement mindset education, game
Yep. Was the initial concept there. So it's like you have goals, how do
you pursue them with the bright with good mental wellness? And that can be
small goals, big goals. So it's all about well-being, but
it does also tailor it's catered to specific
goals. Yeah. I like it. It's kind of a bit similar. Like, you you can't
give to yourself. You gotta give to yourself first, right, before you can reach your
dreams and those sorts of things. So look after does. Sure. Yeah. You gotta look
after yourself first and foremost. Yeah. Yeah. And then you better achieve your goals and
and your dreams. I like it. I like it. And and so we're obviously
big into play here. Yeah. How important is play not only in your
life, in your workshops, but with your kids as well? Isn't it good to
be a parent because you learn to play again? Yes. You do. That is the
number one thing. I think looking after your body
so you can get down and up and actually be on the floor with them
and and play like that is a big thing that I've been,
like, learning because yeah. It's just,
the element of play is so fulfilling, and it
makes you so happy, and it's an internal happiness based on
something external, but it's a real feeling, like, you can't fake
it. When you're actually having fun, it's real, and it's so hard not
to feel better after that. So that's why I have
the go factor in things that go kids for me, like, me and my
husband, we just it's brought something into our life. We kind of think
how boring was our life beforehand. Like like, we did more
maybe, like, for ourself, but it wasn't fun, essentially. Like, it was
yeah. So It wasn't hearing belly laughs of kids and Yeah. You know, those
moments that you capture and go, oh, it's so amazing. That's it. You know, maybe
you capture those little moments that you that you didn't have them before. It's the
belly laughs. The things that you loved as a kid, you can do again now.
Yeah. Yeah. So, like, definitely a massive more big
bigger element of our life now. Yep. Beautiful. I never lose it.
Yeah. People we you do. And you mentioned it before, we lose the ability to
play a little bit Yeah. Or the mindset to play a little bit until kids
come along. But, yeah, it's sad, isn't it? It's sad. But yeah. We talk about
play based mindfulness all the time. Yeah. And when you're playing, you're not thinking
about anything else. When you're having fun, you're not thinking about anything else, not thinking
about you to do at least, not thinking about it. You just And that's why
sport's so important, and I try and encourage young people to play sport
because when they like it and it's not getting to the
serious side where I where I went when I was playing sport,
you know, you're playing for fun. So you're getting all that well-being benefit and mental
benefits without realizing it. And I we can encourage, like you
do, play without necessarily talking about the
well-being side, it comes naturally. Yeah. So it doesn't have to be explicit
Yep. They said. Yeah. Are you finding because I know we had chat about this
the other day, mate, that, less and less kids are
playing organized sport. And I just I feel that's very
sad because growing up in the country, that was my purpose. That was my identity.
That was my community. And I think they played a huge role in
grafting the person I am today, the good and the bad. Do you see that
now, like, with devices and everything like that, Lauren, that, you
know, community sport and just engagement, you don't have to be the best, but you're
still part of something that it's slipping away? Well, the probably
the main time I saw that was when I was head of sport and a
lot of the year 11 and 12, the older students would choose to study
instead. Mhmm. So I think it's actually driven a lot
from adults, their focus, and where they put their
attention that that the young person learns. Okay. That's where I should put my
attention, and the same with devices. I guess that's like a great method of
distraction for the young person. So if a parent's busy or they
just want their child to feel like they're occupied, give them the device, they're
occupied. If they're playing, sometimes they're gonna want you to play with
them or they need support playing or they need like, they need other people
around them sometimes with organized sport. So there's
another element to the parent. There's another element to the teacher
teacher's life. It's like the the fun play
area element, it does, I think, stem
from adults filtering that down into kids Yep. Because of
devices. In the past, without devices, kids would have figured that out on their
own. But I think now it's a big responsibility for adults
to remind the the child that they can do other
things. Yeah. Yeah. And it's not just the organized sports,
the kicking the footy on the straight. It's the No. I missed that. The court
cricket. It's the Going to the skate park. Yeah. Going to the skate park because,
yeah, when we were young, we didn't have the devices. So you'd go out and
entertain yourself, but even if you're not enrolled in organized sport now, they're not going
out and playing that sport in the street. You don't Yeah. I can't I can't
remember last time I I saw a group of kids move a wheelie bin out
of the right because my car was coming down the street. Like put the cricket
sticker up on the back of the bed. Yeah. I can't remember that. And I
wonder also, and I'm shutting off topic here. Like I've been asked before if it's
devices and less kids in organized sport. I wonder if it's because parents
are having kids later in life now and the kids aren't watching their
parents play sport. Super interesting point. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That just came
to me as a real Well, that's something I've been really conscious of. I've been
yeah. Yeah. You're you're thinking about Well, I'm just yeah. No. I don't want
to play that. He's gonna be very honest. I don't want to
play sport again because I just I went too hard as a kid.
Yeah. But then I don't want my kids to just think I'm just a dad.
I wanna show them something. Yeah. I don't know. Is that what you're saying? What
you mean? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, this is why we
wanna get the kids into surfing or whatever we can, because it's something that we
can all enjoy. Like, I like, if it's something the parents enjoy, you're probably gonna
get the kids into it. And, generally, the kids that are playing competitive sport, the
parents did have an interest in that themself.
Perhaps, yes, if parents and adults can start to find the fun
in their life and do sport again or even just enjoy the
benefits of kicking a ball around, that will
rub off on their kids. Yep. I think it's just
social media is super interesting. Like, especially for the
teenagers, have you seen the stuff that's on Instagram? Like, I looked at it
sometimes, since I've been trying to do my business, I've been looking at those,
videos a bit more, and there is incredible stuff that we could never have dreamed
of seeing when we were young. Yep. That is addictive. And
it's designed obviously to keep them keep you viewing and it works. Like,
it's not some of the stuff that we can see around the world now. So
I can see the appeal to it and I just think it's
parents need to take a I'm a parent now, so I feel like I can
say this, but take a bit of control and just get
that ownership back over what your kids can and
can't. Yeah. The balance. Take ownership and get the balance better. Yeah.
Yep. And and we're definitely as a society, we're now more Aware.
Aware Yep. And and focus on. So I think we'll start to get that bounce
back a little bit. I I really do. Yeah. Do you because I reckon it's
easier. Like, it's all laziness. It's so much easier
to give a device or be on your phone. Yeah. And I'll admit I do
it. Yeah. But then I'm like, I'm being so lazy here because
what that's not fair on anyone. Have you ever noticed your it's
harder to talk to your kids after they've been on watching
TV or device. I wake home zombies all the time. That's what I hated.
Yeah. I experienced that and was like, oh, like, that's not a
nice I don't like that he can't relate to me or talk to me
now. He's not answering my questions as quickly or that was a really
clear indicator that it does something to to
them, and it's very hard to get him back on side. So
it's better to just try and avoid it if you can. It is. We've
we've we've put in 2 2 nights a week. We have we have a screen,
the whole family. So even Mel and I don't put the TV on, and we
we try to play games or it was just 2 nights a week. Yeah. And
and sometimes they need that chill out time. They need to decompress, but,
yeah, at least we try to have a couple of nights a week now of
of no screen time. We've had broken TV for, like, a month since then. Yeah.
Obviously. And the the inverted bracket's broken, broken out.
No. But I think you have to be intentional with that. And it's like anything
you do, the kids are watching and learning, particularly the first 7 years, you
have to be intentional with your actions and what you do, and you've gotta practice
what you preach. Yeah. And that's how I feel, parents, it's hard to do,
particularly, you know, you've had a big day working, life's tough. Yep.
It's very easy now just to get the phone out of the device. Whereas I
remember back in the day, my dad would come home, he'd have a massive day,
but I'd be waiting for the footy because I don't wanna kick and be like,
he didn't have an option. Yeah. You know, and he'd have to do it whereas
it's that doesn't That's so true. That doesn't happen. Like you said, they're not on
the street playing footy cricket or netball, soccer or serve, whatever it is.
Yep. But I But it once you set that goal, like you did with the
TV, you actually chose, okay, we're going to allow it, because it's it's
awesome awesome for just a relax relaxation time,
but I'm going to intentionally have it scheduled. So
it's it's like you can apply goals to anything, and
then it's just about sticking to it, and you start a new routine. And then
when you start a new routine, doing that enough, it becomes like your normal thought
pattern, and then it becomes a habit. And then all of a sudden, that's your
belief, and that's just how you run your life. Yep. It fits everything. And it
doesn't take a long time to create those new habits, does it? What? 2 or
3 weeks realistically of doing it regularly for 2 or 3 weeks and then it
becomes part of your makeup. It's like you gotta go through the pain though to
get the result you're after. It applies with everything. Yep. And and maybe
some of these parenting things I need to apply on my to myself or learn
going forward and then you realize you're setting
your kid up. You actually have a lot of control when they're little over the
way that they live their life, or sometimes I feel that they control me. Yeah.
But, like, you flip that, actually, it's like get there,
be responsible as a parent and figure out a way to have the best of
both the balance that you said before. If you don't mind me asking, with think
set go, your perfect, I guess,
audience Mhmm. Or who you would you rather do school age
children, the support staff, or do you wanna get out to adults in corporate play
where but as parents? I will admit that it started with adults.
Yep. Okay. And then it it it started in my head with adults in
my design of it, and then it flipped straight to kids because
that's where my connections were with my network, and I didn't have
any network in the, like, in the
outside of schools. Yep. I didn't think. Mhmm. So, you
know, a 100% is a framework that fits anywhere. Brilliant. It's just that
it started in schools and sport. Yep. Yeah. Cool. Is there any way for
adults, like, just, you know, a person who's
not a teacher, doesn't get to see workshops at school, whatever it might be, can
they access your your framework somehow?
Yeah. Well, I'm at the point where I'm ready to do
the more mentorship and the, would
love to design a course on this and, obviously, I've got the
book. I've I've I've written a book. What what's the book? The book is for
high school students. Have you got a copy here? I do. Ah, here's going. That'd
be awesome. That. Mastering so what so it's called Mastering Your Mind
For Success. Yeah. So this is designed as part of
an 8 book series for high school students from Amber Press is a
publisher and, Alicia from there wanted to put some
books together that students could use for themselves, so it's not,
necessarily delivered from the teacher, it's for this personal student. And,
they needed a mindset book and I had a lot of content and we've designed
it so that in this book, it's like one concept per
page and then the students can write their answers. It's
personal reflection just to kinda keep getting their head in the game
or, change change what they're focusing on. Yep.
But yeah. So that's for students, but then it so relates to adults.
Okay. The adult side of things, I'm hoping to do
more workshops with parents through the sporting side Mhmm. Also through
schools. But then I just love to do just adults help
adults pursue their goals. Yeah. I don't know how that will work out, but
But you gotta you gotta try. Do you find, because over the years, I've had
a lot of schools and different organizations book me to do parent
sessions. Okay. Cool. And they say, oh, they've got 80 to a100
people register, and I've rocked up to a couple of them, and there's
2 in the room, one that was 4, and you're
like like, you can't run a session with that many, and it it like, that
was so hard, so awkward, and I was, like, I'm
still getting paid, but I'm not having an impact. Do you find that to try
and get these that I can't get the right formula of parent sessions because
they just don't come, that perceived value and then paid. I don't know if you've
had that similar experience. Well, I haven't really gone there yet, but I understand that
because parents also don't like to be told what to do. Like, adults, you know,
we we know our kids, we know what we think is right is
right, and, if they're getting the education
through you at school or wherever it was, I think
maybe parents think too busy for that. But what they don't understand is the
holistic approach to helping the well-being of the student comes from everywhere. Yeah.
And it's not that we're telling adults what they should do. It's like
we're telling adults how they can help kids, their their own kid.
And and I think that education
through a parent workshop is great because they can meet other parents that might
be dealing with the same thing, but it really probably just comes down to
time. I mean, probably getting parents to teach parent teacher interviews is hard
enough. It's just another thing. You know? Yep. I agree. And I kinda
think Well, they wanna do it on mine, and I'm not I'm I'm not doing
that anymore. Yeah. And you're right. You touched on something giving up your time as
an adult, especially when you've got kids. His time is super precious. That free time
is incredibly precious. And I think the adults gotta be in a mindset
of, I want to learn something new and I'm gonna go and do a short
course in that, or I'm gonna, I think it's just a random I got something
from school. Yeah. I'll go along that because time is so bloody precious, but
they need to flip the mindset and change the mindset because you never know if
you take one thing from that session. Mhmm. So what you can put into your
into your life, it's a win. Right? And chances are you're gonna take one thing.
If you just rock up and show up, you'll take one thing from it, and
you'll get to put in your life. But it's getting there in the first place.
And I was wondering, I was gonna Man. Yeah. No. I was really there. Yeah.
Some of the the basketball workshops I've been doing, they wanted a parent session, so
they can get the parent like, help every help the athlete from all angles. Yep.
But I guess it's like, is that enough of a carrot? I don't
know. Yeah. I reckon you'll have a much more chance of getting parents there through
the sport network than the school network unfortunately. That you're not alone. Don't take it
personally. No. I don't. I've just done it. We tried numerous times Yeah. When we
were work when I was working at schools to get parent sessions off the ground,
and there'd be 6 in the room. Yeah. You know what I mean? It it
it's it's been incredibly tough. That is when shop, but I haven't been through this
sport in March. Perhaps with the teach with the schools, again, it's
like, what for? So if there's a camp coming up, you're probably gonna get more
teachers. If there's a sporting event that is a bit unique, you're probably gonna get,
sorry, more parents. It's like, this is why Mindset Education for goal
pursuit is, like, it gives a purpose for the content, which I think a
lot more people might grasp onto because they can relate it to
specific things. So perhaps if it's not relevant to anything that they
can think is important to them, they might not see the
value. Yeah. That's a good way of putting it. Yeah. I think about
that. Lauren, everything you've done so far, what are you
most proud of? From setting, obviously, business up
and, you know, working with young kids and, you
know, trying something that's never been done before. Because what you've set up is unique.
No one's doing the world. What are you most proud of when you sit here
today? Probably two things. 1
is having a big goal like this, an
ambitious goal, and actually executing it
in a way that I'm managing to continue to do, because,
you know, often, like, our goals, we might commit for a while, but then
it's like, okay, what's next? I'm, like, so motivated. I'm still
going. I'm, like, so it feels like I'm making
a difference as people say. And, so probably
one thing is just sticking at something that I'm really passionate about. And the
second was doing it all while I had little babies. Mhmm. A lot of my
mother's group friends, for example, say, how did you do that? Like, I can't even
think. And my brain just went into this is 2nd baby, because first
baby, I was just overwhelmed, like, what the hell has just happened to my life?
2nd baby, I was like, alright. You gotta figure it out. Here's it on maternity
leave. Let's get something to do when I have downtime,
something for myself that I've actually I know that what
I have to do. Because often with the babies, you have downtime and then you're
like, oh, what, you know, what am I gonna do now? I've gotta get this
washing done, that washing done. You know, you you give yourself chores, but I just
said to myself, the next 20 minutes I get, I'm going to figure out how
I could do a workshop on, persistence. So
I gave myself little tasks for myself to do
and it actually made me I feel it makes me a
better parent because I'm fulfilling my own cup as they say. Mhmm. And,
that I'm then more present because I've feel like I've ticked some boxes in my
own life. What an awesome lesson though. Oh, it's great. A lot of minutes. Yeah.
Like 20 minutes. When I've got 20 minutes spare, I'm gonna think about how I
can do a workshop on this topic in 20 minutes. Can you imagine how quick
20 minutes would go, dream scrolling? But you know how good it is
when you give yourself a short time frame. It's something I talk about in the
book as well. It's like, you've got your deadline here, bring it back, make it
shorter, you'll smash it out and then you've got a bit of time left over
if you need it Yeah. Before when you wanted to get it done initially. So
it's like when you haven't got much time, you have to be succinct and
just really specific and then you just don't fluff
around as much. No. And 20 minutes here, 20 minutes there. It it builds up.
It builds. It builds right. So those people sitting at a good time. Good 20
minutes too. Yeah. You know, a good 20 minutes is better than a crap hour.
Yeah. You know, when you're actually just fully focused and you're on. Yep.
It does it's a small time. It I I love that. It just feels so
good. And, like, it just motivates you, and you feel like,
like I said, you ticked the box off and Yeah. You just it's like You're
proud of yourself. Right? Yeah. Like, at the end of the day end end of
the day, you get out and you're like, I got the 20 minutes in. I've
planned that as as opposed to at the end of the day going shit.
Yeah. I was supposed to that today and you get done and yourself and you
start that that poor me or I'm not good enough. I didn't do that. Yeah.
You know, the way we talk ourselves. Self talk. Yeah. That's probably another thing. It's
like catching yourself with the self talk, that's not helping you at all.
So it's like flip it, you didn't do it, but it doesn't matter. What can
you do now? Like, straight away. Like, the better you get at that, the more
you'll achieve things and pursue things. Great response. So true. Love
that. And for anyone out there, that's the best way to feel proud about yourself
is doing things for yourself. And it's not allocating huge
amounts of time. It's doing little things regularly that add up. Yeah. Because then
you're the best version of yourself. You know, and you would all the other tasks
has been a mom or a a parent that is pretty tough. You know, that
poo y nappy or whatever. Oh. Yeah. Persistence workshop done. And like, how
persistent nappy. Oh, that's a lovely poo. You know, like a nature. You can
do it. Yeah. Like, thanks for bringing that
up. Very real. Oh, no. It is. It makes everything better. So, Lauren,
people listening along here. Where's the best way to reach out and maybe inquire
about a book or workshops or just read more? So probably my
website, thinkset www. Thinksetgo.com.au
or Instagram. Not I haven't done as much on that. So I'm
trying to build people coming onto that. I think it's just thinksetgo.
Maybe Facebook is think, set, go education. K. Cool. Yeah. Awesome. We'll
have links, show note. Episode 344, so you can
go and reach out and just type LinkedIn LinkedIn if anyone's on that. I only
just started that since doing the business and that's awesome way to connect. So,
yeah. Well done. Well done, Kate. You should really proud of yourself. Yeah. Thank you.
Honestly, it's a it's a awesome concept. It's definitely needed. Yeah. And
hopefully it gets some traction and we'll definitely help that out. But, yeah, well done.
Thanks, man. Thanks for hanging on. Take care. Thank you for having me. Thanks.