[00:00:00] Dan: Hello and welcome back to We Not Me, the podcast where we explore how humans connect to get stuff done together. I'm Dan Hammond.

[00:00:13] Pia: And I and Pia Lee. Dan Hammond, the leaves are falling, the air is getting chilly, winter is creeping up. And there is a peculiar thing that happens at this time of year amongst your social ecosystem. Tell.

[00:00:34] Dan: So, so this, this is glove watch and every time this comes up on social media, I always think of you because I know you find it absolutely hilarious, and I think it's a sort of reminder of home of what wacky things Brits get up to sometimes.

[00:00:46] So this is, um, a chap that I met a long time ago called, uh, Robin Hutchison. And, uh, he's a brilliant, brilliant guy and a community leader. So he lives in Surrey in a town called Surbiton which actually, or Kingston around there, um, but he does a lot of work in Surbiton, and he, um, Surbiton, I dunno if you remember, but this was sort of when people were talking about he's got a 2.3 kids and they live in, it was Surbiton was the sort of, the representation of middle England. So Robin's done a lot to Pippa up the, um, the life of people in Surbiton. And he runs lots of events. He runs, he's organized Ski Sunday where they put this slippery stripper flooring down the street and get people to show up in full ski gear to ski down it. Absolutely mad.

[00:01:33] But the one you're talking about is a, an international success. It's called glove Watch. The lost gloves of seething, they call it. And so the, the way it works is that you, anyone anywhere can just look for single gloves that have been lost. If someone's dropped a pair of gloves, it doesn't count. But single gloves for some reason is the 

[00:01:50] Pia: and there 

[00:01:51] Dan: There are a lot. I think he finds, they, they spot thousands in the, he's, he's, they've announced the season is open. December and January. So this is peak glove losing season, I think. So, yeah. I spotted my first one on Saturday. A little child's woollen glove on the, on the payment. So I took a picture and reported

[00:02:10] Pia: You take a picture. So this is it. So, so this is the action that's being called here, but it's very, you know, it's like, so you take a picture and then we all have a good laugh at a wooed glove.

[00:02:21] Dan: Exactly. I know. It's, it's mad.

[00:02:23] Pia: But it's enrolling. It's enrolling. And this is what's really interesting is that there's these things that capture our imagination and get us and get us to join. You know, enrolling people on a mission is actually quite difficult thing to do. So I take my hat off, I take my gloves off to

[00:02:40] Dan: off, your glove off and it on. 

[00:02:42] Pia: I drop my glove to these people. And I think that's, yeah. And I think, but make it, it's, it's, it's a good thing in a funny way because even though the activity looks a little inane, it's the getting together of people to do things.

[00:02:58] Dan: Yeah, exactly. And it's strange where that connection lies to bring communities together. And um, today we're talking about someone who actually managed to make somehow the humble pushup or press up, as we say here, the humble pushup into something that would join a community together. Because we are meeting Nick Hudson, who is the CEO and founder of the Pushup Challenge, who has. Done an incredible job, um, which I really look forward to hearing now, and, uh, really thinking about this idea of enrolling people. There's so much he can teach us. So, let's whizz over there now and see what Nick has to say.

[00:03:30] 

[00:03:34] Pia: Welcome to Nick Hudson. I have been so excited to meet you, Nick, and to have this conversation. You are the CEO of the Pushup Challenge, which will, um, talk much more later. But welcome to we Not Me.

[00:03:48] Nick: Thank you very much, Pia.. It is my pleasure to be here today. How exciting is this?

[00:03:52] Dan: It's great. It's great. We can't wait to hear because we've both been involved in this and the amazing work you do. But, we're gonna start off by torturing you with the conversation starter card game 

[00:04:02] Nick: Oh my gosh. I've heard about these. 

[00:04:03] Dan: I'm picking a card at random here. It's a green card. The Jo. It's a good one. This is, these, the, these easier ones, but they, but they can be quite telling, they can be quite telling the job. I would be terrible at is.

[00:04:17] Nick: I'll tell you what, you know, you know what I really don't like doing is, is anything repetitive and mundane that requires constant focus. You know, there's people that can, that can, that can take something on and they just doers. They get in there and they do this thing, they do it really well, and that they continue to, to kick ass at it. That just, that's just not me.

[00:04:42] Pia: There's some people's people a vision, and then there's other people that do all absolute tiny micro details.

[00:04:48] Dan: Actually make that vision come to life in reality. Because, and this is the joy of teams, isn't it? You can, you can sort of, some people can do that and you can do the other bits. It's uh, yeah, def definitely. I see

[00:05:00] Nick: You know what Dan, I'm, I'm, I'm looking around. I'm, I'm looking around the room here and, and I see in, in a distance, I see an ironing board and I'm just shuttering. I'm like, do you what? Lucky. Lucky I haven't had to iron for, um, for, for some time now. I usually wear casual clothes to work, but I'm looking at that thing and I dread ironing. I, I dread the job of ironing just that, just that, you know, that repetitive focus on the detail there. There's gotta be a quicker, quicker way to do it. Yeah.

[00:05:29] Dan: Oh good. Well, I bet we're gonna find out some of the other sides of you today, but that's a really good start.

[00:05:35] Pia: And I would admit about ironing is I like watching other people iron. And I find it to the point so hypnotic, I feel in a trance watching them do it. I've actually noticed that I just, my brain goes to mush. Just thought I would bring that into the conversation.

[00:05:52] Dan: I'm clearly the stranger on this conversation cause I actually, like, I enjoy ironing and weirdly, my mom showed me how to iron a shirt and it was in a certain order. And I remember it and I think of her and, but there's a, also, it's very, it was, there was a logic to it, which appeals to me as well. So yeah, weirdly it gives me a sort of zen, a zen feeling and, uh, takes me back a little bit. 

[00:06:14] Nick: There's this, there's this growing, uh, yeah, the whole, there's multiple genres that webcams cover, but I haven't heard of, uh, live ironing, um, being streamed on. Hmm.

[00:06:27] Dan: Pia would be a premium user. I think that's slightly 

[00:06:30] Pia: it's bigger than running and watching an iceberg lettuce.

[00:06:33] Dan: Yeah, exactly. Withering. Withering. Fantastic. Great start, Nick. Thank you.

[00:06:39] Pia: June is my favorite month, and it happens to be my birthday, but for the last three years, I've taken part in the pushup challenge. The very first year was, for me was 2019. We were in lockdown. We then were in lockdown the following year, and this was the first year that actually I was not in lockdown. And I persuaded my then staying with me, my 19 year old nephew to join me in the basement of my garage with his nutty auntie. And I said, we've got this challenge, let's do it.

[00:07:15] And we went out there in any walks we could do. We did it in strange places, but it was, it sparked something in me, and that's what I'm, I'm so excited to hear the story behind the pushup challenge. And what inspired, inspired you? Because it's phenomenally infectious for something that hurts your body quite a lot. So there's something to be unraveled, I think in, in all of that. So tell us a little bit about you and kind of how the UP challenge came to be.

[00:07:48] Nick: It's, um, it's strange how people want to inflict so much pain on themselves voluntarily, isn't it? It's, uh, yeah. I'm surprised as well. Well, look, I'm, I'm just, uh, you know, a regular suburban guy. I, uh, grew up in Melbourne. Um, had a pretty good childhood. Went to uni, studied engineering of all things. Yeah, I was good with numbers and, and all that. And school recommended. I, I, I do engineering. Okay. I'll give that a crack. Worked as an engineer, um, moved over to Western Australia, um, you know, following, following the heat, following the sun. And yeah, started getting involved in, you know, the whole, um, Startup scene. Started getting involved in mental health, um, after learning about my, my dad's own battle with mental health and the push up challenge just sort of accidentally happened one year and we just built it from there.

[00:08:42] It was midyear. It was, it was deep into, deep into Perth winter. And, uh, despite it being glorious here, most of, uh, most of the year winters in Perth are, are cold. And, um, and it's harder to exercise you when to be colder. It's hard to get outside and, and motivate yourself to go to gym, et cetera. And so, so winter had been a little bit unkind and we, myself and a few mates decided to challenge ourselves, uh, to do a stack load of pushups in a month. So, alright, so myself and three lads, like, okay, we're gonna do 3000 pushups in a month. No excuses, get 'em done. Right? Okay. And we're off.

[00:09:20] And, uh, we found this little app online that allow us, allowed us to sort of capture our pushups. But, um, what the app didn't allow us to do was share them with each other. We had to screenshot it and then put it in the messenger chat and say, and send it. Okay. Nick's done 20. Pia's probably done 50 already, and Dan, sorry, Dan's still on zero. So, you know, you'd, you'd see where everyone's, uh, so you'd see, see. So you'd, you'd, you'd, so during the day, um, you'd see that, oh, so and so, yeah, you'd ask someone from a screenshot and you know, the screenshot and send it through.

[00:09:58] So I thought, oh, it's gonna be a better way to do that. So I, I jumped online and, uh, built my own little app. Uh, I knew a couple things about technology, so I built my own little app, uh, that allow us, myself and three mates to get on there and to, you know, input our pushups to bank our pushups. And the guys loved it. They, they thought, oh, this is great. You know, we can put 'em in here. You can see where Pia's up, up to instantly without having to ask her, where Dan's up to, et cetera. There was no, uh, it was all very sort of seamless.

[00:10:29] And so that, that month that ended, we, we all completed the 3000 pushups. There's a few nudges required here and there to keep people on track. Uh, but at the end of that month, we were getting some of our mates say, Hey, look, that was cool. We want in, we want in two. So we thought we'd, we'd keep it going.

[00:10:48] Reflecting on that previous month and that first month so often in, in the three other guys, um, were saying We, we didn't sort of anticipate how much that little challenge, that little target would keep us connected, uh, just through that common goal. Just through that, working to that together, it forced us, well, encouraged us to check in with each other, see how we're going. And not only that, but of course, you know, nurture some, some pretty good, healthy behaviors.

[00:11:22] So, the, the un unexpected goal was, was how well it kept us connected, and that's what I guess, encouraged others to get involved. They saw us having a bit of fun with it. They, they heard us talking about it. Oh, we wanting to, so, so it started to grow organically from there. Others wanted in on the app and others wanted to get involved too. 

[00:11:46] Pia: So what, what then caused you to think, okay, this is a great idea for a bunch of mates. We got an app that works, and you said you'd got interest around mental health, but tell us a little bit about that part of the journey.

[00:12:00] Nick: Yeah, sure. So a number of years ago, so a few years before that, um, I found out that my dad had been suffering from depression for, uh, a considerable period of time, and that mom had kept that depression a secret from my brother and I. And during those years where dad had depression, mum was the one who was shouldering, uh, that burden. And I remember the night where Mum told me about this and I was, you know, shocked and, and yeah, a little bit disappointed that, that mum hadn't told, told me or my brother. I sort of understood and, and at that point, to be honest, I knew nothing about mental health. Nothing. Zero. And Googled it as you do. And guess, you know, how, how big a deal it was in, well, how big deal it is in, um, Australia, particularly Australia particularly members in Australia, but, but you know, Australia in general and guess other parts of the world.

[00:12:58] So, I decided to do a bit more about it in, in my workplace. Um, got a bit more in, involved in the mental health scene. I got, you know, trying to get more men talking about it. Uh, and so that, that was several years before the pushup challenge started. I started getting involved in you mental health charities, and then when the pushup challenge sort of kicked off, uh, so year one was myself and a few mates and, and I thought, right, let's turn this into something more momentous.

[00:13:31] So year two thought, right, let's make this, you know, a one off event rather than sort of continual thing, which it was, uh, at that point with myself and, and mates doing this monthly thing. So we thought, all right, let's, let's, let's get more people involved in it. And we developed the app bit more, uh, put all these new features on it. Uh, got, got it off the shelf website, and you know, we put the word out there and, and in that year, consider it year two, we had over a thousand people taking part, uh, across Australia who collectively raised, uh, $50,000 for, for mental health.

[00:14:07] So, I was absolutely stoked by that. The feedback we got around the event was, was fantastic. I didn't, didn't know gonna get a thousand people, but, um, uh, obviously very, very happy with that result. And yeah, I, I did what? Uh, yeah, we, we donated those funds to, to a charity and myself and my mates were quite proud of that achievement. And, uh, we did what, what, I guess, uh, lots of guys may do, only some guys we do, we decided to celebrate and we went over to Bali for, uh, for a few days to, you know,

[00:14:46] Pia: Of

[00:14:46] Nick: Now don't, don't judge me. Of course, of course.

[00:14:49] Dan: Did you keep up your pushups? That's what I wanna know. 

[00:14:51] Nick: Yeah, there's still, there's still maybe not as much as, as during the month, but um, we, we, we still get them up. So look, I'm not one of those people that goes to Bali every week, but, uh, we, we went to Bali, um, you know, and out there on the surf I thought, oh gee, I'm quite unfit at the moment. Uh, and you know, I've been doing a lot of pushups. My cardios cardios are great and got back to Perth. And went and, and grabbed myself a coffee and, uh, I don't usually drink coffee, and my heart started going nuts. 

[00:15:26] Anyhow, long story short, uh, I needed to have an operation on my heart to, to change out parts of it that, that weren't working properly. 

[00:15:36] Pia: that that's technical 

[00:15:37] Nick: Yeah, I think. Yeah. Part, part of the heart was, was, was, was cactus. So I, uh, yeah. Needed to have it fix and, and finding that out from, from specialist was, it hit me pretty hard. I like to exercise and they said, oh, look, you have to cut out the exercise for a while and, and just chill. And, um, and then I started going downhill, uh, mentally. So I, I started getting quite depressed, uh, leading up to the surgery. The surgery went well, we're coming out of it again, stuck in bed as you are when, when you have that sort of thing and that sort of surgery. And I thought, right, well, well, I've got all this free time. I'm, I'm stuck in bed. I've got time off my normal job as, as an engineer. Um, what, what am I. What am I gonna do? Well, how about you? How about I give this pushup thing a good crack? See if we can build it into something else.

[00:16:34] And so put a bit more, a lot more time into it. You know, worked on the app a bit more, went on the website a bit more, uh, developed or dealt a new website from scratch. It was all integrated and whatnot, and grew it so that in that year, year three, we grew it from a thousand people to 50,000 people taking part across Australia who collectively raised two and a half million for mental health. So that was, that was, you know, a bit of, a bit of a cool experience. And I think my target for that year was to raise a million dollars would be amazing. But to get to two and a half was, was something I, you know, never considered.

[00:17:20] Um, and then, you know, at this stage, still full-time engineer and, and the next year came along and, and I took a bit more time off work, uh, to, to get it happening. And that, that following year to year, oh gosh, it's track of the years, but year four we had 130,000 people who raised 5 million and next year peak covid, we had 170,000 who raised 9 million and the year just gone, well, the event just gone in 2022, uh, we had 150,000 collectively raised just over 10 million dollars for mental health. 

[00:17:57] Dan: Yeah, it's amazing Nick. And I've wanted to paint a picture for you that, um, I went, went to with my wife and daughters went to a wedding this summer, um, of our niece. And uh, it was a beautiful outdoor thing with marques and it was just, just everything's beautiful and this little oak oak sort of copse really, it was absolutely stunning. And at one point, it was in June, so my wife and I and my daughter were all doing the pushup challenge. So at one point in our finery, we actually got down, did, pushed out a few press ups to get pushups, to get our, um, to get our things. So, um, you know, that, that's a little, you know, a long way from Perth and, um, just these people still thinking about that and the cause and, and getting these things pushed out. So, 

[00:18:45] Nick: Yeah. Dan, it just actually reminds me, we did get someone send us in a photo of a bride and groom on their wedding day doing pushups during the pushups. I'm not sure it was the same wedding, but, uh, it was kind of amazing.

[00:18:59] I think there's something in having, having a goal that you're, like a shared goal that you're working towards, like a meaningful, meaningful shared goal. They, they talk about times of crisis, you know, with, you know, back in the day when, when you had, you know, big wars and whatnot and everyone just sort of got on with it, you know, everyone's right. Well, we're in this together. And, and times back then, and you know, I'm talking, you know, back in the 20th century that, that were tough during these, what was people got through it. And with, with this collective sort of, alright, we're all, you know, working towards this. 

[00:19:37] Now, I'm not saying that Bishop challenges the war, it certainly is a battle of some kind, but I, I, I think. I think having that, that thing you're working on together and knowing that others are, are going through the same thing. So the push up challenges, it can be hard for, for some people, for a lot of people perhaps, perhaps most, it's hard, but you know that others are, are struggling through it as well. It's a challenge. It's not just, oh, just go do a little walk or whatever. No, no, no. It's, it's a challenge people have to, have to, to, to push through.

[00:20:12] And I still remember the first person in the pushup challenge who registered that, that I didn't know wasn't a friend or, you know, friend of a friend, oh, who's this guy? How, that's kind of cool. Some random, uh, some random taking part, but how does the pushup challenge grow to, to have people taking part overseas? Yeah, it's, it's bizarre.

[00:20:29] Pia: What I loved about the whole experience was how the number of pushups that you did every day represented a fact about mental health. That was a stroke of genius. Cause really what you're doing then is it's not a number for a number's sake. It's actually an education and it's an insight, and you really feel like you are pushing for a cause. Now whether you're raising money or not, you're focused on that fact, and, and when you get to two 20 and, and it's on a, you know, Tuesday and a Saturday of two twenties, you really want something. But I, I found that, um, I, I found that had an incredibly uplifting and focused impact for me personally.

[00:21:15] Nick: Yeah. So in Australia, the, um, the target was a number of, the target number of pushups was the number of Australians who tragically took their own lives the previous year. So the target itself, the total number of pushups, you know, it's, it's, it's high, it's just over, just over 3000, which is a lot of pushups for people to do in, you know, three or four weeks of the event. Uh, but it has a lot of meeting, as you said there. Um, then within the events, the target number of pushups per day isn't just, you know, the total divided by the duration. It's, it's, it's a meaningful number of pushups one day. So it might be 71 day, 120 the next, and then 173 the next. Each one of those targets representing a, a mental health fact or stat that, um, hopefully participants can learn from.

[00:22:07] And, and we've had you a lot of great feedback around that. So, you know, schools, workplaces, uh, they love that, that educational aspect of the event.

[00:22:15] Pia: And I was gonna, that's what I was gonna ask you about. How has that helped to having those facts, help to, you know, increase the awareness and, and what's been the, what's been the impact? Yes, everyone's doing all the raising money, but what else is happening that you are noticing?

[00:22:31] Nick: That's a really good question. We, we do, we do like people fundraising as part of the event, but here's the thing, they don't have to, to get, to get a lot out of it, you know, so people can, uh, we're just keen for people to come along, do the pushups if they can, they can't do them all. It's okay, and take on a portion of them if they want. Uh, to hopefully connect with others. Connect with the, the, the wider push up challenge community or perhaps. Connect with others in a team environment so you can take on the event as a team.

[00:23:00] in terms of the educational aspect, it's, it's something which gives people something to talk about, um, an opportunity to learn. And the impact from that has been, you know, very positive. The post event surveys we get are just phenomenal in, in terms of the, um, you know, what we hear from people around what they've learnt, how it's encouraged them to, in some cases seek help or to help others get help. Reports of thousands of people reaching out for help as, as a result of, um, As a result of our event. That sounds kind of kinda wrong, doesn't it? But, uh, our event, you know, encourages them, gives them the pathways. Cause we're, we're not a service provider. Um, but we do channel people towards, you know, some good services out there that, that can support them.

[00:23:47] So, so we get, we see you. Um, fantastic feedback from participants in large engagement, huge engagement with our mental health facts that we post online through our socials as well.

[00:24:00] Dan: Well, Nick, what, um, in terms of building this connection in your own team and then beyond into this community, what, what pitfalls do you hit along the way? What, what, what, if you look back, were they major obstacles that you, you had to overcome as a team?

[00:24:14] Nick: Oh gosh. Where do you start,

[00:24:16] Dan: Yeah, it, it's, it's probably one of these 10 years to become, to become an overnight success. Even behind it is all this, this, this, uh, there's a lot of reality, isn't there?

[00:24:26] Nick: Yeah. Yeah. So look, I'm quite lucky. The team I have are, uh, nothing short of excellent. Um, they, they come from a diverse backgrounds with, with very different skill sets, uh, and they have a passion for the cause, um, which, you know, you've gotta, the, the event, it's from the outside. It may look simple, but I gotta tell you, it's a lot of work to organize when you've got, when you've got 150,000 people involved and some days it feels like every single one of them is contacting us, asking her information, or asking for a favor or asking, you know, all sorts of things.

[00:25:05] I'm gonna echo the thoughts of probably many out there that, um, a massive pain point for us was covid. So we were um, so the 20, the 2019 event went well for us and then, uh, come early calendar year, 2020, yeah. Covid was starting to become a thing and our event was scheduled to run in June and by March with people stuck at home and whatnot, we, we started getting multiple, uh, requests to bring the event forward. People wanted, previous participants wanted something to do. 

[00:25:42] And In March we made the, we were ing we bring the event forward. Oh, we, a lot of work. Probably, probably can't. And, uh, so no, no, we're not gonna move it. And, and the pressure just kept on mounting and we like, you know what? We're not ready for this. The event won't be as good. But screw it, we'll bring it forward because we think it's the right thing to do. And yeah, it, it, it went off. So that, that year, in 2020, we had, uh, 174,000 participants, or hundred 70, about that, about 170,000 participants across Australia. So, but, but bringing that, Decreasing our runway to the event start date from two months at that decision time to to one month, I'm surprised I didn't have a bunch of the team, you know, back up their bags and leave after that amount of that amount of pressure. 

[00:26:36] So we we're constantly. You know, needing to adapt in so many dimensions of the event. And I guess, you know, many of them wouldn't be visible to the, to the public. But how we run it, how we communicate as a team, how we work as a team, most of our team are part-time, uh, workers and managing that is challenging. Again, I wouldn't change 'em for anyone else cuz they're, they're superstars. But coordinating a bunch of, uh, part-time. Uh, to be available for certain, yeah, certain meetings, certain workshops to problem solve, to collaborate, that, that can be a challenging part of, of what we have as a, as a predominantly part-time. But somehow we've made it work.

[00:27:25] Dan: Well actually it wouldn't be, it would be great to maybe dive into that. That's a very hot topic, isn't it? Now, people working in hybrid, we are all, you know, organizations becoming more flexible, taking on parts. You know, if you've got a brilliant person who can only offer you some time, you say, yeah, I'll take it. And it does present these sort of logistical challenges, doesn't it get, how, how specific, just talk a bit about how you have done that. That's, that would be really useful, I think.

[00:27:52] Nick: Well, up, up until early this year, um, we were just working out of my house. So we had, uh, we, we'd had a bunch of desks set up. I converted a couple of bedrooms, well, a few bedrooms to offices, and, and we had people working out here, like we we're trying to keep costs low. And, and uh, that certainly did help with my commute time to work. And you, we try and encourage people to, to, to, to come to my place, to, you know, to spend some time together. 

[00:28:23] I guess with the, with the part-time element, uh, we, we get a lot of people that that appeals to. Particularly mums. We probably got a disproportionate number, sorry, young moms, moms with young children who are typically like pre-primary age. And you know, what, what, what do they, what do they need as, as, as members of the workforce? They need very much a flexible working arrangement where if they need to go to, um, some special school events, uh, or pre-primary events, if they, they have daycare problems, um, if, if they need to support perhaps their older children with, with school dropoffs, et cetera. You know, how do we, how do we facilitate that?

[00:29:11] So when we started advertising for our, for our part-time roles, we found that mums with kids in, in who are pre-primary were attracted to these roles. And so, We worked out, okay, well how do we, how do we adapt to this? Cause we saw some, as you said there, we saw some excellent candidates and we wanted to make it work for them. Uh, cause we wanted them on board. So we, we had to adapt there. And that's when we started bringing on additional tools, uh, to help facilitate people that needed to work from home more often or would, you know, work a little bit in the morning, then come in for a bit, then go home early or go home late, et cetera. So, uh, it was sort of forced upon us, I guess, this whole hybrid thing in terms of location, but in terms also time and it's, it's worked out pretty well for us. Yeah.

[00:30:05] Pia: So I wanted to ask you, you've got, I mean, the, the snowball is, is rolling, you know, the stats of number of people that you have, 250 people participating, 10 million raised last year. What now becomes the vision? Where, where do you wanna take this and what's the impact that you really wanna be having?

[00:30:26] Nick: Yeah, we want more people to get more outta the events. The feedback we have for participants is incredibly positive and, and we want that to continue. So the, the more participants, the more Australians we can positively impact through the event, the better. And why, why not just Australia? So, you know, we could consider going into other countries as well, seeing, see if we could help out there, uh, through the events. You know, if it works. I'm sure pushups or press up are celebrated or feared just as much, uh, in other countries as they are in Australia. 

[00:31:02] Dan: pretty sure that's universal. Yeah.

[00:31:04] Nick: The universal language of, of push up. So we'd love to, we'd love to take the event to other countries and see if we can make an impact there, there as well. But at the moment, the main focus is on Australia. How we can, um, and see how we can help people connect through the event here.

[00:31:23] Pia: And if you are you, no, no, no longer working full-time as an engineer.

[00:31:28] Nick: Yes, yes. So pushups is my, my fulltime thing. I, a couple, what was it, a couple years ago, last year, I, uh, I went part-time as an engineer to give this, give this a good crack, and then, uh, that part-time transition to, to taking six months of unpaid leave, and then, um, that, that transition to, to me being here and, um, that making that jump was hard. That that was, that was nerve-wracking. But there's, there's just no way it would be here without, uh, without me giving more time or perhaps someone else. But, uh, yeah, it was someone giving it, you know, dedicated time. This is now, are now full time pushups.

[00:32:09] Dan: Well, I have to say as a, as a, um, as a user, it, it's, it show, it shows that this is something, something, it's got a dedicated team behind it. It's interesting, even though I was using it, I was reflecting that, wow, there's, there's a huge attention to detail here. This is, um, this is a really good experience. So, um, whatever you've. And whatever your team has done has, has had a hu a really, really beneficial impact.

[00:32:31] So, Nick, leave us with a thought, are something practical that people, our, our listeners could do. So, um, boiling all this down, if they want to build a community or team to connect humans, what, um, what have you learned that you could pass on?

[00:32:46] Nick: Well, if you're looking at sort of broader communities rather than, um, like individual connections at, say, in the workplace or what, I think in broader communities, you, you've gotta find that niche. If you're trying to bring community together like an existing community, how, how can you get 'em focused on that, that one thing, that one challenge, that one target that you want everyone to work towards. Um, if you don't have that community yet, then, yeah, what, what's the niche that, that you wanna sort of revolve it around?

[00:33:14] I see a lot of people trying to form communities just for the sake of it being a community, and that they don't have that, that common element. So I, I think having that, that common theme, that single thing is important. If, if, if you've already got that, sure, then, um, how do you make, how do you make your thing fun? So you've got that group, you've got that target, you've got that thing you're working towards. Um, alright, well how do you, how do you build in that, that social element that, um, can make it as, as, as fun as possible whilst you're still, you know, working towards a goal, which, which you know, may not intrinsically be fun?

[00:33:53] Pia: And I think that's it. You've taken an activity that most of. Dreaded when, you know, a PE teacher asks you to do pushups or press-ups and you end up, end up having to have sort of psychotherapy. And you've taken something that actually, that instead rallies people, and you've wrapped a whole experience, both a tech experience and a human experience that actually brings out the best in all of us. And surely that can be replicated, you know, in other aspects of society and life and you know, you're extremely humble about who you are. But I think that gives real inspiration to what we can all be in this as well. Just takes a little bit of different thinking.

[00:34:34] Nick: Yeah. Yeah, I think that's, it just takes that different thinking. How can we utilize tech in a good way to, to bring people together and, you know, there are some pretty good tools out there. And yeah, I like to, like to think that our events made a little bit of a difference in that space, but there's like communities in general. I'm, I'm like yourselves. I'm big on connection, big on communi. And yeah, I think people should get out there more. And, and a great way to do that is through volunteering. What they say is the, the study done a while ago, the two two biggest sources of, of, of happiness were around, um, two activities that would, would drive happiness. One of them was, The top one was dancing, believe it or not. And so in this particular state, and the second one was volunteering. So getting out there, um, you know, making a difference and probably connecting with others during, during that volunteering activity. So yeah, very, you can be very effective in, in.

[00:35:32] Dan: Nick, it's particularly impressive that you have, being someone who doesn't like repetitive tasks, you've taken one of the, a great repetitive task of doing thousands of pushups and turned it into a, a movement that's gonna actually have a beneficial effect on the, on mental health as well. So, um, keep up your good work. You can certainly rely on our backing in the future and, uh, it's been wonderful to talk to you, Nick. Thank you so much for joining us.

[00:35:58] Nick: Thanks, Dan. Thanks Pia.

[00:35:59] Pia: Yeah. Thanks so much, Nick.

[00:36:00] I've got quite a vivid memory actually of how my journey with the pushup challenge started. And um, I had a little garage at the bottom of my house and I had my nephew, Robin, staying with us. And I think actually we were entering into lockdown for some of

[00:36:23] Dan: Oh.

[00:36:24] Pia: but it was very, Initially it was just, it was, it was quite isolated. It was just a thing to do and, and, and I didn't raise money and I didn't, I didn't drive to do anything else. And then the next year, I think I told you about it, we all thought, okay, let's get a couple of extroverts onto, and then the third year our clients were doing it, and all I saw was lovely pictures across LinkedIn and we were all involved. 

[00:36:51] Dan: Yeah.

[00:36:52] Pia: And it was just so that whole, that whole organic growth, it, it, and it had nothing really to do with the Nick or his team from the pushup challenge. It, it became self-sustaining, which I think is really, I mean, that's how movement is 

[00:37:12] Dan: Yeah. That is it, isn't it? It's it, and in a way that sort of, If it's all hub and spoken, you are pushing people to do things. That's one thing when if you can get, uh, someone who's involved to enroll others, then you've got onto a winner. And there's something about this that was magical. I find it fascinating cuz the, as we said on the, in the, in the conversation, the tech was really great, it all worked, but that sense of community was a real driver. But you know, this is built around pushups for goodness sake. People, you know, this is, this is sort of the, it's a very painful thing to do, but the way that they built community, but also meaning into this. So as you said, as you said with Nick, I think that sort of every day you are reminded that the number of pushups you're doing represents, uh, lost life. And, and it really, it really did stay with you. You know, you feel like, yeah, you're representing and weirdly, each pushup is a life and it just brings it home to you so powerfully. 

[00:38:10] And you know, there's that, um, Victor Frankel quote about, if band knows their why, they can handle any kind of how I think it is any, any sort of how, so, and the how being the push up. But with that, why it really helped us to sort of get down and do 20 or whatever it was. And there was some pretty big. Pretty big numbers to push out.

[00:38:29] Pia: And then with it, the whole conversation around mental health, just, just sort of evolved, and we started talking about a subject that hasn't really been talked about at a corporate level. Um, and you know what? Perfect timing. You know, you and I discussed this many times, but post pandemic, I think everyone's felt the water rise little higher in their heads and give, feel a little squeezed. Everyone, no, no one's been untouched, but by whatever circumstances or whatever's happened, we've all had some kind of experience with it. 

[00:39:02] So, To do something together about it is just such a gratifying human connecting experience. 

[00:39:12] Dan: The other thing I really recognize from his story was, you know, it started with, you know, his dad, so he had his own personal driver there. Um, but what he did exceptionally well was, um, it's interesting by the way, you and I have spent a lot of time working with teams to, around vision. You know, we talk about big hairy audacious goals and we are really clear on that, and I think that that generally has some value, but there is this alternative thought now, which is a bit more, um, experimental and, uh, aware.

[00:39:40] So I think he was a bit more like that. He did it among his mates and then, oh, couple more people joined. And he was aware of what was working for people and followed the flow, followed the force of nature rather than I'm gonna do this massive thing. So I thought it was really. Interesting. Again, not to say those goals aren't useful, but there's a, there's a more iterative, experimental and actually approach that's, as I say, a bit more aware of what, where the forces are that you can follow to get something done. I thought he did a, an exceptional job of that, which he could have ignored. He could have just given up and not done anything. Did an exceptional job there, I

[00:40:12] Pia: Never pushed it. It was almost accidental. He just let the same spirit that was amongst his mates as a small group, just evolve and just let it grow. 

[00:40:23] Dan: Follow the stream downhill. Exactly. Really, really good, really good. So great to talk to Nick. 

[00:40:28] But that is it for this episode. You can find show notes and resources at squadify.net just click on the We Not Me podcast link. If you've enjoyed the show, please do share the love and recommend it to your friends. Also, please give us a rating on your favorite podcast. You can contribute to the show by leaving a voice note with a question or a comment. Just find the link in the show notes. We don't me as produced by Mark Steadman of Origin. Thank you so much for listening. It's goodbye from me.

[00:40:56] Pia: And is goodbye from me.