1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:02,200 Speaker 1: No matter where we're at in life, no matter what 2 00:00:02,279 --> 00:00:05,279 Speaker 1: we're doing, we're all one question away from a completely 3 00:00:05,320 --> 00:00:09,280 Speaker 1: different path. Just noticing where you've come from and where 4 00:00:09,360 --> 00:00:12,400 Speaker 1: you're heading, and that gives you the pause and the 5 00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:15,600 Speaker 1: opportunity to course crack if you want, or write the 6 00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:18,079 Speaker 1: new chapter and give us the opportunity to pick a 7 00:00:18,079 --> 00:00:22,439 Speaker 1: different path, injecting those moments, those micro moments I should say, 8 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:25,200 Speaker 1: of play and excitement. If it goes so. 9 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:26,880 Speaker 2: Far, welcome to the seas. 10 00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:28,040 Speaker 3: The Yay Podcast. 11 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:31,640 Speaker 2: Busy and happy are not the same thing. We too 12 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:34,800 Speaker 2: rarely question what makes the heart seeing. We work, then 13 00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:38,199 Speaker 2: we rest, but rarely we play and often don't realize 14 00:00:38,240 --> 00:00:41,000 Speaker 2: there's more than one way. So this is a platform 15 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:44,120 Speaker 2: to hear and explore the stories of those who found 16 00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:46,040 Speaker 2: lives they adore, the good. 17 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:46,640 Speaker 3: Bad and ugly. 18 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:49,479 Speaker 2: The best and worst day will bear all the facets 19 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:55,200 Speaker 2: of seizing your yay. I'm Sarah Davidson or Spoonful of Sarah, 20 00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:57,800 Speaker 2: a lawyer turned fu entrepreneur whos wapped the suits and 21 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:00,640 Speaker 2: heels to co found matcha Maidan and Match Milk Bark 22 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:04,440 Speaker 2: CZA is a series of conversations on finding a life 23 00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:08,000 Speaker 2: you love and exploring the self doubt, challenge, joy and 24 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:14,679 Speaker 2: fulfillment along the way. There are so many people without 25 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:17,360 Speaker 2: whom this show would not have been possible, but this 26 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:20,720 Speaker 2: guest in particular really pushed me forwards at the pivotal 27 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:23,800 Speaker 2: moment where I could have backed out. We connected a 28 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:26,480 Speaker 2: few years ago when I jumped on his own incredible 29 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:29,400 Speaker 2: show Behind the Human for one of my very first 30 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:32,959 Speaker 2: ever podcast interviews, and a few months later it was 31 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:35,440 Speaker 2: Mark who I turned to when I wanted to start 32 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:38,199 Speaker 2: my own show. Back then, he was about the only 33 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:40,679 Speaker 2: person I even knew with their own podcast, and I 34 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:44,319 Speaker 2: still can't believe how instantly and generously he shared the 35 00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:48,320 Speaker 2: details of his gear software, reaching out to guests, and 36 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:51,760 Speaker 2: everything in between about bringing a podcast to life and 37 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:55,040 Speaker 2: what an absolute privilege years later now to at least 38 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:58,240 Speaker 2: begin to repay the favor by sharing the exciting news 39 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:02,000 Speaker 2: about his brand new book, Personal Socrates. Although I don't 40 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:04,240 Speaker 2: really know if I'm repaying him a favor, I think 41 00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:07,400 Speaker 2: he's doing me another one by sharing his incredible wisdom 42 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:10,880 Speaker 2: on the show. Mark Champagne has one of those fascinating 43 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:13,440 Speaker 2: stories that begins with a whole decade in an area 44 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:16,680 Speaker 2: that now I can't even imagine him in doing corporate 45 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 2: sales and brand management for pharmaceutical and biotech companies. His 46 00:02:20,639 --> 00:02:24,000 Speaker 2: side passion for photography was the first inclination of a 47 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:27,520 Speaker 2: possible career shift, building from self taught newbie to even 48 00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:31,120 Speaker 2: joining photographers without borders on a trip from his native 49 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:36,079 Speaker 2: Canada to Senegal. But it was through his groundbreaking journaling 50 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:39,960 Speaker 2: and mental fitness app Keio that I first met Mark, 51 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:43,880 Speaker 2: which saw incredible success, building up to eighty six point 52 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:48,080 Speaker 2: nine million impressions on Apple until the day he decided 53 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:51,920 Speaker 2: to delete it. And now he's a brand new author 54 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:55,720 Speaker 2: helping us ask bigger and better questions to upgrade our lives, 55 00:02:56,200 --> 00:02:59,160 Speaker 2: just at the perfect time for World Mental Health Month. 56 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:02,000 Speaker 2: I'm sure if it's his Canadian background or not, but 57 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:05,320 Speaker 2: you'll hear instantly what a genuine and kind soul Mark 58 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:08,720 Speaker 2: is and his book is exactly the handbook to happiness 59 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:11,079 Speaker 2: and mental fitness that we all need as we continue 60 00:03:11,120 --> 00:03:13,560 Speaker 2: to navigate so much uncertainty and change. 61 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:14,600 Speaker 3: I hope you get. 62 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:17,840 Speaker 2: As much out of him as I did. Mark Champagne, 63 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:19,800 Speaker 2: Welcome to the show. 64 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:23,120 Speaker 1: Thanks Sarah. It's an honor to be here. 65 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:26,799 Speaker 2: I am so so excited about this, firstly because I 66 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:30,360 Speaker 2: haven't seen you in so long, Secondly because I'm so 67 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:34,200 Speaker 2: thrilled about your incredible new book. But thirdly because and 68 00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:36,880 Speaker 2: I saved this until we press record because we've been 69 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:38,840 Speaker 2: talking for about twenty minutes, because that's how excited I 70 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:42,560 Speaker 2: am to see you. But for anyone who doesn't already 71 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:44,840 Speaker 2: know this, and I actually don't think i've shared this before. 72 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:49,480 Speaker 2: Back when I've had the idea for CZA three years ago, 73 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:53,640 Speaker 2: I think it was I had been on Mark's incredible podcast, 74 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:56,080 Speaker 2: which we'll talk about, and it was one of the 75 00:03:56,240 --> 00:03:58,960 Speaker 2: very first podcast interviews I'd ever done, and I enjoyed 76 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:00,760 Speaker 2: it so much. In a couple of months later, I 77 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:03,040 Speaker 2: had the idea of, oh, you know, I've told this 78 00:04:03,080 --> 00:04:05,520 Speaker 2: story before. I wanted to have more conversations in a 79 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:08,760 Speaker 2: longer kind of forum. But I didn't know anything about podcasts. 80 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:11,960 Speaker 2: And I always say that in the moment of self doubt, 81 00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:13,640 Speaker 2: you have to go to the right person and someone 82 00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:15,840 Speaker 2: can either tip you away from that dream. 83 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:16,920 Speaker 3: Or tip you towards it. 84 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:20,200 Speaker 2: And I went back and looked in advance of this 85 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:22,880 Speaker 2: conversation at the email that I sent you, being like 86 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:27,400 Speaker 2: we've never met in person. I've only just you know, 87 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:30,080 Speaker 2: we've had one conversation, but you're the nicest person and 88 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:32,440 Speaker 2: I love your energy. But also, can I please ask 89 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:34,080 Speaker 2: you a favor? Can you tell me every single thing 90 00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:35,680 Speaker 2: you know about podcasts? Because I want to start one 91 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:39,200 Speaker 2: and fully expecting you to be like, oh, you know, 92 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:39,800 Speaker 2: I don't know. 93 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:41,440 Speaker 3: Go to Apple podcasts or google it. 94 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:48,200 Speaker 2: Mark sent back the most detailed, thoughtful, kind explanation of 95 00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:51,480 Speaker 2: microphones and platforms and where it lives and how Apple 96 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:53,720 Speaker 2: podcast goes, like all this stuff I'd never heard of, 97 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:57,400 Speaker 2: and you are the reason this podcast exists. And I 98 00:04:57,400 --> 00:04:59,120 Speaker 2: will never be able to thank you for that. 99 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:02,040 Speaker 1: Well, you're I mean, I'm almost teary eyed, thank you 100 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:05,840 Speaker 1: so much for seeing that. I forgot about that email actually, 101 00:05:05,839 --> 00:05:09,000 Speaker 1: and I actually can't believe that that was one of 102 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:11,280 Speaker 1: the My show was one of the first podcasts you've done, 103 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:13,440 Speaker 1: because you're, I mean, you're so natural at it. So 104 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:15,960 Speaker 1: I'm not surprised that you have your own show and 105 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:19,440 Speaker 1: it's rocking because you've definitely found one of your callings 106 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:22,040 Speaker 1: when it comes to interviews and whatnot. I know you're 107 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:24,880 Speaker 1: doing a ton of different things, but I hope you're 108 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:26,280 Speaker 1: enjoying it because it's so fun. 109 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:28,479 Speaker 3: I love it. It is so much fun. 110 00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:30,279 Speaker 2: And I remember you saying that to me. You're like, 111 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:33,200 Speaker 2: even if you know you get one or two listeners, 112 00:05:33,279 --> 00:05:35,479 Speaker 2: it doesn't even matter, Like, just start, you'll have the 113 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:37,920 Speaker 2: best time ever. And now that's what I tell other 114 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:39,560 Speaker 2: people who are like, I'm wondering if I should start 115 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:42,960 Speaker 2: a podcast. But you were just so generous, even though 116 00:05:43,279 --> 00:05:44,960 Speaker 2: there was no reason for you to do that, I'd 117 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:47,640 Speaker 2: already done your interview, Like, you were just so kind 118 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:50,840 Speaker 2: and giving. And I always think, you know, in so 119 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:54,159 Speaker 2: many times in your life, like you just mentioned finding 120 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:56,760 Speaker 2: something that I, you know, love and I'm good at. 121 00:05:56,880 --> 00:05:59,320 Speaker 2: Without your push in the right direction, I couldn't have 122 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:01,440 Speaker 2: found that because I wouldn't have known, because I wouldn't 123 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:04,920 Speaker 2: have started interviewing people. And so I think in anyone's path, yay, 124 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:07,000 Speaker 2: you know, we go through all the different twists and 125 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:10,760 Speaker 2: turns and people and pivotal moments, and that email and 126 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:12,320 Speaker 2: your response was one of them for me. 127 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:14,039 Speaker 3: So thank you so so much. 128 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:15,080 Speaker 1: Well received. 129 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:20,680 Speaker 2: Absolutely so it's like a full circle on the show. 130 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:26,080 Speaker 2: Now my book and your book, Oh my gosh, I 131 00:06:26,120 --> 00:06:30,360 Speaker 2: am so so thrilled, but as you know. The way 132 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:33,320 Speaker 2: I've developed the whole structure of the show is that 133 00:06:33,880 --> 00:06:38,440 Speaker 2: because people often encounter you now knowing so much about 134 00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:41,480 Speaker 2: mental fitness and strategies to live your best life and 135 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:44,360 Speaker 2: have now become a published author and have an incredibly 136 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:48,160 Speaker 2: successful podcast, it's so easy to assume that you were 137 00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:50,719 Speaker 2: born enlightened and that you always knew you would end 138 00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:53,279 Speaker 2: up here, and that you know you've this was a 139 00:06:53,320 --> 00:06:57,559 Speaker 2: logical pathway for you. But I definitely want to dive 140 00:06:57,800 --> 00:06:59,480 Speaker 2: all the way deep into the book, and I still 141 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:01,320 Speaker 2: I also can't believe that I'm in it. It blows 142 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:03,560 Speaker 2: me away. I just want to cry, but which we 143 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:06,479 Speaker 2: will get to sure. But I think what I love 144 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:10,320 Speaker 2: most is tracing back from like childhood mark and filling 145 00:07:10,320 --> 00:07:13,000 Speaker 2: the gap of between you know, the first time you 146 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:15,120 Speaker 2: ever thought about having a job and what that would 147 00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:17,680 Speaker 2: mean to the job you're in now. There's always so 148 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:20,920 Speaker 2: much stuff in between that often doesn't make sense at 149 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:24,480 Speaker 2: the time, and that it never follows a linear path. 150 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:27,320 Speaker 2: But I love reminding everyone that if they haven't found 151 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:30,119 Speaker 2: their pathway yet, you know, most people don't straight away 152 00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:32,480 Speaker 2: on their first or second or even third goes. And 153 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:35,720 Speaker 2: I like You've done so many interesting but totally unrelated things, 154 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:39,840 Speaker 2: so definitely want to cover that. But first ice breaker, Yeah, 155 00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:41,560 Speaker 2: what is the most down to earth thing about you? 156 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:50,160 Speaker 1: Ooh, down to earth thing about me? I think just 157 00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:54,000 Speaker 1: I really try to be as present as possible, And 158 00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:57,160 Speaker 1: presence comes to mind right now because it's something that 159 00:07:57,280 --> 00:08:00,400 Speaker 1: I've been working so hard on, especially with everything going 160 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:04,840 Speaker 1: on that you know, just you know, being here with 161 00:08:04,880 --> 00:08:10,040 Speaker 1: you and experiencing your energy and this conversation and the 162 00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:12,480 Speaker 1: questions and all of that. I mean, for me, if 163 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:15,520 Speaker 1: I can offer that in all experiences, and obviously I'm 164 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:17,760 Speaker 1: not perfect and I fail at this all the time, 165 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:22,000 Speaker 1: but that's the thing I hope people leave with and think, wow, 166 00:08:22,080 --> 00:08:23,960 Speaker 1: that was you know, he was really present, and I 167 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:27,360 Speaker 1: feel more energized after being you know, with him for example. 168 00:08:27,360 --> 00:08:29,720 Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's my ultimate goal. I don't care 169 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:33,200 Speaker 1: what I'm doing. If I can leave someone more energized 170 00:08:33,800 --> 00:08:36,480 Speaker 1: than when they came in, then that puts a smile 171 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:37,120 Speaker 1: on my face. 172 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:39,840 Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, you absolutely doing it. Like for people 173 00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:42,280 Speaker 2: who can't see the video yet, which will come out eventually, 174 00:08:42,320 --> 00:08:46,000 Speaker 2: but Mark and I like are just out smiling each 175 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:48,720 Speaker 2: other all the time, Like, you've never seen two more smiley, 176 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:51,080 Speaker 2: excitable people and we're just bouncing off in this like 177 00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:52,640 Speaker 2: weird circle of joy. 178 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:54,000 Speaker 3: It's so exciting for me. 179 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:54,400 Speaker 1: Sick. 180 00:08:57,880 --> 00:08:58,640 Speaker 3: But also you're. 181 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:02,440 Speaker 2: Canadian, so you're automatically like the kindest, most loveliest person ever. 182 00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:04,640 Speaker 1: I love it. 183 00:09:06,559 --> 00:09:09,959 Speaker 2: Also, did you say you had Thanksgiving last week? Do 184 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:11,720 Speaker 2: Canadians have a different Thanksgiving? 185 00:09:12,120 --> 00:09:14,360 Speaker 1: We did? Well. I mean, I'm only aware because the 186 00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:16,480 Speaker 1: one that's always made such a big deal about is 187 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:19,800 Speaker 1: the US Thanksgiving. But yeah, ours was this past weekend, 188 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:22,560 Speaker 1: so I don't know for the only country in the 189 00:09:22,559 --> 00:09:25,200 Speaker 1: world that has it at this time, but it's always 190 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:27,960 Speaker 1: been this date. Wow, you're probably thrown off, like what 191 00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:30,199 Speaker 1: is he? Is he mixed up with his holidays? 192 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:32,760 Speaker 2: I actually wasn't at all because I have no concept 193 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:34,199 Speaker 2: of time at the moment, so I was like, yeah, 194 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:37,480 Speaker 2: I mean it's probably Thanksgiving time exactly. But then I 195 00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:40,080 Speaker 2: was like, wait, I thought Thanksgiving was in November. 196 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:41,120 Speaker 3: But it's so funny. 197 00:09:41,559 --> 00:09:44,120 Speaker 2: That's so Canadian of you to be like, oh, no, 198 00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:47,000 Speaker 2: this is Thanksgiving, but there's there's a different one. But 199 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:50,040 Speaker 2: that's not that's not think that's the US Thanksgiving. I'm 200 00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:52,040 Speaker 2: so sorry, I treated that one as a default. 201 00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:52,680 Speaker 3: Absolutely not. 202 00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:55,599 Speaker 2: Canadian Thanksgiving is the default Thanksgiving. 203 00:09:57,240 --> 00:09:57,800 Speaker 1: That's funny. 204 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:03,160 Speaker 2: Okay, So you're way to tell us about young Mark. 205 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:06,840 Speaker 2: What were you like as a kid, What were you know, 206 00:10:06,880 --> 00:10:09,760 Speaker 2: the things that really lead you up before any of 207 00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:13,920 Speaker 2: those societal conceptions of things started to kind of blind 208 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:16,200 Speaker 2: your judgment. What did you think you wanted to be 209 00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:17,960 Speaker 2: and what was your childhood like? 210 00:10:18,160 --> 00:10:21,840 Speaker 1: Oh, it's funny. I mean I try to think about 211 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:25,240 Speaker 1: my childhood. You know. I'm in a men's group, so 212 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:29,120 Speaker 1: so our childhood comes up often enough in that work, 213 00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:31,520 Speaker 1: and you know, a lot of the guys in the 214 00:10:31,559 --> 00:10:34,680 Speaker 1: group there's you know, unfortunately, there's there's trauma and there's 215 00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:37,000 Speaker 1: things like that that they're working through and processing, and 216 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:40,960 Speaker 1: I just I don't have that. So I feel really grateful. Obviously, 217 00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:44,800 Speaker 1: I was brought up in a really loving household and 218 00:10:44,960 --> 00:10:49,480 Speaker 1: support of parents and whatnot, but raised and born and 219 00:10:50,160 --> 00:10:52,400 Speaker 1: lived and went university as well in like a really 220 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:56,840 Speaker 1: small town and it was just you know, hanging out outside, 221 00:10:57,200 --> 00:11:01,280 Speaker 1: playing doing things like basketball. I was big into skateboarding 222 00:11:01,559 --> 00:11:05,400 Speaker 1: in the before university and whatnot, and just you know, 223 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:09,080 Speaker 1: having a good time with friends and it wasn't until 224 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:12,120 Speaker 1: I can't remember what age I was, but definitely before 225 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:14,800 Speaker 1: university and whatnot, that I would I'd spend the summers 226 00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:18,560 Speaker 1: going to the city which for any Canadians or anyone 227 00:11:18,559 --> 00:11:21,760 Speaker 1: that's been the Canada that you'd probably recognize Toronto. That's 228 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:24,880 Speaker 1: our biggest city in the country, which is about four 229 00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:27,320 Speaker 1: hours away from where I grew up. And I would 230 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:29,320 Speaker 1: spend the summers there or at least a month there 231 00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:31,880 Speaker 1: with an aunt and uncle. And that was my exposure 232 00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:38,040 Speaker 1: to like the business world and traffic, right, yeah, exactly. 233 00:11:38,160 --> 00:11:40,800 Speaker 1: And I remember coming in and be like six or 234 00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:44,319 Speaker 1: seven lanes of traffic and just thinking, wow, like this 235 00:11:44,400 --> 00:11:48,080 Speaker 1: is where things are happening, and just being so excited 236 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:54,760 Speaker 1: about congestion essentially, which just ridiculous, right, But it opened 237 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:57,800 Speaker 1: me up to this this whole other world that I 238 00:11:57,880 --> 00:12:00,400 Speaker 1: just wasn't exposed to, and that's I think gave me 239 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:04,720 Speaker 1: a little bit of the you know, the curiosity around 240 00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:07,960 Speaker 1: business life and marketing and things like that, which is 241 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:10,960 Speaker 1: what I ultimately went to university for and then ended 242 00:12:11,040 --> 00:12:14,600 Speaker 1: up moving and I lived in Toronto for quite some 243 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:19,640 Speaker 1: time with completely different opinions of traffic. Obviously at an older. 244 00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:24,360 Speaker 2: Age, congestion really weighs off, you know, exactly off. 245 00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:28,280 Speaker 1: It's not ideal, but that's essentially that the path that 246 00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:31,400 Speaker 1: got me into that space. And then I spent about 247 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:34,640 Speaker 1: a decade in the corporate world before jumping into what 248 00:12:34,640 --> 00:12:37,520 Speaker 1: I'm doing now, which none of this, I mean, I 249 00:12:37,800 --> 00:12:43,760 Speaker 1: never would have imagined being an advocate for mental fitness 250 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:46,360 Speaker 1: or mental health, like I didn't even really know what 251 00:12:46,400 --> 00:12:49,960 Speaker 1: that stuff was. Frankly at that age, definitely never thought 252 00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:51,720 Speaker 1: I would have ever had a you know, any type 253 00:12:51,760 --> 00:12:54,760 Speaker 1: of podcast, or was interviewing people, or for sure writing 254 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:58,520 Speaker 1: a book. The closest I've ever come to having excitement 255 00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:01,520 Speaker 1: about writing, I was young and I had my parents 256 00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:05,319 Speaker 1: had this all typewriter from I guess when they were kids, 257 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:07,560 Speaker 1: and I remember finding it and pulling it out and 258 00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:10,079 Speaker 1: just slapping on the keys, and I was trying to 259 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:13,760 Speaker 1: write some sort of you know, fictional story with ultimate failure. 260 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:16,920 Speaker 1: Like it sucked, it was, but I remember thinking, I'm like, wow, 261 00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:19,640 Speaker 1: I love to write a book one day and it 262 00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:21,720 Speaker 1: kind of stopped there and here we are. 263 00:13:21,559 --> 00:13:24,360 Speaker 3: So wow, oh my gosh. 264 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:27,720 Speaker 2: I think looking back at the different chapters and like 265 00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:29,840 Speaker 2: the times that you spent in each thing. It's so 266 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:34,720 Speaker 2: interesting that that decade of corporate was so different. I mean, 267 00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:37,920 Speaker 2: I expected, coming into your life now that there would 268 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:42,440 Speaker 2: have been a much earlier interest in health or sports science. 269 00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:43,640 Speaker 3: Or you know, anything kind of related. 270 00:13:43,679 --> 00:13:47,360 Speaker 2: But it was sales for biotech and pharmacy, and then 271 00:13:47,559 --> 00:13:50,520 Speaker 2: business analyst and then brand manager and marketing and like 272 00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:54,080 Speaker 2: such a different world. And I think sometimes people look 273 00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:56,600 Speaker 2: back at chapters that don't make sense and lament the 274 00:13:56,640 --> 00:13:59,439 Speaker 2: waste of time that that was. But I'm sure that 275 00:13:59,440 --> 00:14:02,240 Speaker 2: that ten years maybe doesn't connect now. But if you'd 276 00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:04,160 Speaker 2: tried to start what you're doing now ten years earlier, 277 00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:04,800 Speaker 2: you couldn't have. 278 00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:08,320 Speaker 1: Yeah, there is a small connection that had nothing to 279 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:10,520 Speaker 1: do with the work I was doing, because when I 280 00:14:10,559 --> 00:14:13,480 Speaker 1: came out of university, and I think I had a 281 00:14:13,480 --> 00:14:17,320 Speaker 1: couple jobs in between, starting in the farmer world. But 282 00:14:17,559 --> 00:14:19,840 Speaker 1: as you mentioned, I was hired in sales, and I 283 00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:24,840 Speaker 1: remember that time they would hire people in like batches, essentially, 284 00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:28,440 Speaker 1: and then you would go to in this case, we 285 00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:31,240 Speaker 1: were flown out to Montreal and that's where the Canadian 286 00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:34,320 Speaker 1: head office was and you'd spend four weeks at the 287 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:36,720 Speaker 1: head office doing all this training. Depending on your degree 288 00:14:36,760 --> 00:14:39,600 Speaker 1: and kind of what you needed. But it was at 289 00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:43,120 Speaker 1: that moment where I remember thinking, well, I'm in a 290 00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:47,880 Speaker 1: sales role. We're all being trained essentially in the same way, Like, 291 00:14:47,960 --> 00:14:51,240 Speaker 1: how possibly could I stand out if if we're going 292 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:53,120 Speaker 1: to and I'm in a sales role, so like, I mean, 293 00:14:53,160 --> 00:14:55,800 Speaker 1: there's obviously motivation to that. They had like trips and 294 00:14:55,880 --> 00:14:58,320 Speaker 1: wards and things like that, like how could I stand out? 295 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:03,000 Speaker 1: And that's that's what started the journey into mental fitness. 296 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:04,880 Speaker 1: I didn't know that at that time, but I got 297 00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:09,560 Speaker 1: up earlier and I started reading positive things and then 298 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:12,720 Speaker 1: all of a sudden that positive content, you know, at 299 00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:15,560 Speaker 1: that time, I was reading like Success magazine, and it 300 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:19,400 Speaker 1: was exposed to people like Tony Robbins and Robin Sharma 301 00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:24,280 Speaker 1: and all these different people. And over the years started seeing, Wow, 302 00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:27,120 Speaker 1: it doesn't matter what kind of content I'm consuming in 303 00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:30,080 Speaker 1: this space, one hundred percent of the people have some 304 00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:34,280 Speaker 1: sort of reflective practice. And I was gravitating towards journaling. 305 00:15:35,080 --> 00:15:38,120 Speaker 1: So throughout the eight or nine years in that world, 306 00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:42,040 Speaker 1: you know, just navigating job changes and life disruptions and 307 00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:45,120 Speaker 1: all these different things, I would get up early, I'd 308 00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:48,880 Speaker 1: bring in that content for me. I was gravitating towards 309 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:51,640 Speaker 1: the questions that all these people were reflecting on. I'd 310 00:15:51,640 --> 00:15:54,720 Speaker 1: write those down and then I would reflect on them 311 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:57,440 Speaker 1: the next morning to my own practice in relation to 312 00:15:57,480 --> 00:15:59,680 Speaker 1: where I was at in my life. I did that 313 00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:04,160 Speaker 1: for you years, years, until getting frustrated with the tools. 314 00:16:04,200 --> 00:16:06,520 Speaker 1: And that's where we met. Was at that kind of 315 00:16:06,560 --> 00:16:08,440 Speaker 1: junction in my life when I left that world. 316 00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:11,840 Speaker 2: Oh, that's so fascinating and it's funny how like really, 317 00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:16,000 Speaker 2: when you look at things, the seeds get planted like 318 00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:19,760 Speaker 2: so far into the past that you don't realize at 319 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:23,080 Speaker 2: the time. So exciting, but later when you connect the dots, 320 00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:25,400 Speaker 2: it's like, oh my god, it makes sense. That started 321 00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:27,720 Speaker 2: way before I thought it actually did. Yeah, and I 322 00:16:27,760 --> 00:16:30,200 Speaker 2: was reading it you also did. I mean, there's just 323 00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:33,440 Speaker 2: so many different cool things that you've done. You were 324 00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:38,200 Speaker 2: with photographers without Borders doing photography for a water charity 325 00:16:38,280 --> 00:16:40,200 Speaker 2: in Senegal, Like, how did that come about? 326 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:43,280 Speaker 1: Yeah? Well so, and that's funny too, because that's I 327 00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:47,880 Speaker 1: would say photography, and I picked up for photography when 328 00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:54,040 Speaker 1: I was in university. That's probably the moment that introduced 329 00:16:54,040 --> 00:16:57,720 Speaker 1: me to mindfulness without even knowing that that was happening, 330 00:16:57,920 --> 00:17:01,360 Speaker 1: because I mean even now I take well, I mean 331 00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:03,440 Speaker 1: I take photos with my phone like every other human 332 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:06,600 Speaker 1: on the planet. But you know, that was the first 333 00:17:06,600 --> 00:17:11,000 Speaker 1: moment where I started noticing the detail in you know, 334 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:14,440 Speaker 1: the shadows or the light or the exposures and things 335 00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:16,720 Speaker 1: like that. And now, I mean, photographer has given me 336 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:18,720 Speaker 1: the greatest gift I could ever ask for. I can't 337 00:17:18,760 --> 00:17:22,040 Speaker 1: go anywhere without seeing the photo or that composition, right, 338 00:17:22,080 --> 00:17:25,000 Speaker 1: which again just allows you to step into the present 339 00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:28,119 Speaker 1: moment and see the detail. So it you know, it 340 00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:31,080 Speaker 1: started in university and I just I kept you know, 341 00:17:31,119 --> 00:17:36,000 Speaker 1: it's kind of self taught. Ironically. I was following someone 342 00:17:36,040 --> 00:17:38,800 Speaker 1: by the name of Chase Jarvis, who's won a profile 343 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:42,600 Speaker 1: in the book, and that's how I learned photography because 344 00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:45,840 Speaker 1: he was a globally renowned photographer and I was just 345 00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:49,800 Speaker 1: following all those online you know, courses and his teachings 346 00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:53,240 Speaker 1: and stuff like that. And then eventually I was I 347 00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:56,200 Speaker 1: was exposed to this Photographers without Borders, and it was 348 00:17:56,240 --> 00:18:00,440 Speaker 1: such an amazing opportunity. I got the company, the Time 349 00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:02,560 Speaker 1: of Artists that I was working for to help sponsor 350 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:04,760 Speaker 1: me to go, and I took every I think it 351 00:18:04,800 --> 00:18:08,080 Speaker 1: was a three week trip and we went to Sinegal 352 00:18:08,160 --> 00:18:11,959 Speaker 1: and I went with a company called Water Charity, not 353 00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:16,600 Speaker 1: Charity Water. There's two of them, essentially water Charity that 354 00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:21,040 Speaker 1: have the same name, and they needed someone to essentially, 355 00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:24,119 Speaker 1: you know, document and capture all of the projects that 356 00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:25,760 Speaker 1: they had going on on the ground so that people 357 00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:29,680 Speaker 1: could see, you know, the effects and the villages. And 358 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:33,680 Speaker 1: it was just such I mean, I'll never forget that experience. 359 00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:38,040 Speaker 1: I mean, just meeting the happiest people I've probably met 360 00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:41,639 Speaker 1: to this day that have just nothing right, nothing in 361 00:18:41,880 --> 00:18:44,280 Speaker 1: art sense of the sense of the world, but you know, 362 00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:48,440 Speaker 1: they they they're just so grateful for what they do 363 00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:52,480 Speaker 1: have and the sense of community and the smiles, you know, 364 00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:55,800 Speaker 1: capturing that through the lens was just I'll never forget that. 365 00:18:55,880 --> 00:18:58,879 Speaker 2: It's so funny that you say that because so many people, 366 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:02,280 Speaker 2: I think during our trip to Rwanda, and I think 367 00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:04,280 Speaker 2: we spoke about this on your podcast, that was the 368 00:19:04,359 --> 00:19:08,280 Speaker 2: exact reflection I had. Was the I expected the reverse 369 00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:12,080 Speaker 2: reflection of, you know, being overwhelmed by how much we 370 00:19:12,119 --> 00:19:15,520 Speaker 2: have and how grateful I am for you know, comparing 371 00:19:15,600 --> 00:19:18,159 Speaker 2: to what little they had. But actually I saw like 372 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:22,280 Speaker 2: a more pure happiness that I had never seen back home, 373 00:19:22,840 --> 00:19:25,640 Speaker 2: just joy with small things. And I think that's such 374 00:19:25,640 --> 00:19:28,800 Speaker 2: a common reflection for people traveling to countries like this 375 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:31,800 Speaker 2: and expecting to feel like we have so much and 376 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:34,240 Speaker 2: they have so little, but actually you get exposed to 377 00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:37,960 Speaker 2: such a deeper gratitude than you've probably ever thought about before. 378 00:19:38,119 --> 00:19:38,480 Speaker 1: For sure. 379 00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:42,320 Speaker 2: Interesting for separating happiness from stuff. 380 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:45,240 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, well, and what I really liked about the 381 00:19:45,760 --> 00:19:48,520 Speaker 1: objective of the trip was that, you know, because we're 382 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:50,879 Speaker 1: used to seeing kind of the world vision style photos, 383 00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:53,959 Speaker 1: you know, and usually at least back in the day, 384 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:56,000 Speaker 1: at least when I was growing up, that you would 385 00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:58,720 Speaker 1: see a lot of the sad faces, and the strategy 386 00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:03,000 Speaker 1: was around and you know, the sadness and helping people 387 00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:05,399 Speaker 1: out of that, which is which is valid. But the 388 00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:08,040 Speaker 1: charity that I was going over with wanted to show 389 00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:12,000 Speaker 1: the happiness that was being brought because of you know, 390 00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:14,560 Speaker 1: a well that was doug or some sort of water 391 00:20:14,600 --> 00:20:17,359 Speaker 1: system that was set up. So it was just, you know, 392 00:20:17,840 --> 00:20:20,280 Speaker 1: kind of a combination of two really magical things. To 393 00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:23,760 Speaker 1: be able to capture that and feel that from these 394 00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:26,720 Speaker 1: villages and hopefully, I mean those those images still live 395 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:29,960 Speaker 1: on and they're using them, hopefully you know, it motivates 396 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:33,720 Speaker 1: others to step in and help and bring that you know, 397 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:37,439 Speaker 1: that joy and that happiness and that health to so 398 00:20:37,520 --> 00:20:41,520 Speaker 1: many more people. So it's yeah, I often think about 399 00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:44,639 Speaker 1: that trip and it's something I'd love to do again 400 00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:48,800 Speaker 1: at any moment. Frankly, well once this world opens up. 401 00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:54,199 Speaker 2: It's also so interesting that you know those experiences, and 402 00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:58,040 Speaker 2: I think they're often the ones that aren't related to 403 00:20:58,119 --> 00:21:00,320 Speaker 2: a career you want to have forever. Like I'm sure 404 00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:02,639 Speaker 2: whether you wanted to be a photographer or thought that 405 00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:05,280 Speaker 2: was going to be your full time vocation. But sometimes 406 00:21:05,359 --> 00:21:09,040 Speaker 2: unless something directly aligns with our future goal, we dismiss 407 00:21:09,080 --> 00:21:10,720 Speaker 2: it as like, oh, well, what's that going to give me? 408 00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:13,680 Speaker 2: Like it's not towards the ultimate dream. But I think 409 00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:18,800 Speaker 2: those activities you do for breadth are actually indirectly more 410 00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:21,119 Speaker 2: valuable than anything that you could do that's just like 411 00:21:21,640 --> 00:21:23,600 Speaker 2: immediately clear what the benefit is going to be at 412 00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:26,040 Speaker 2: the time. How do you feel about that kind of 413 00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:30,600 Speaker 2: idea of making time for stuff that isn't necessarily productive 414 00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:33,800 Speaker 2: for your ultimate goal but kind of also is I'm 415 00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:35,480 Speaker 2: being so inarticulate, but do you know what I mean? 416 00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:38,600 Speaker 1: No, No, I know exactly what you mean. And I 417 00:21:38,640 --> 00:21:41,320 Speaker 1: actually experienced that because I remember, you know, I was 418 00:21:41,359 --> 00:21:43,520 Speaker 1: still in my regular job, which I was I was 419 00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:45,800 Speaker 1: quite happy with. I enjoyed the people and what we 420 00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:48,600 Speaker 1: were doing. But I had this little photography thing on 421 00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:51,439 Speaker 1: the side that every now and then I would shoot 422 00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:54,560 Speaker 1: like a wedding or like some family portraits or something like. 423 00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:57,280 Speaker 1: It wasn't you know, I think crazy in terms of income, 424 00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:00,199 Speaker 1: but mentally I was trying. It's like I want or 425 00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:02,680 Speaker 1: if I can get this going and then I can 426 00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:06,080 Speaker 1: go all in on on the photography, because it, you know, 427 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:08,879 Speaker 1: really lights me up. But it came to a point 428 00:22:08,920 --> 00:22:13,960 Speaker 1: where I remember just feeling like even thinking like that. 429 00:22:14,359 --> 00:22:16,240 Speaker 1: Or it was probably weddings, because those are the most 430 00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:21,000 Speaker 1: stressful things to ever shoot with your photographer. I'll never 431 00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:23,960 Speaker 1: forget those experiences. It's probably the weddings, but it was 432 00:22:24,080 --> 00:22:26,679 Speaker 1: it came down to, you know what I'm kind of 433 00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:30,600 Speaker 1: I'm robbing myself of the joy of this hobby and 434 00:22:30,600 --> 00:22:34,520 Speaker 1: and this art or this practice that I don't want 435 00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:37,960 Speaker 1: to lose, you know, the sense of excitement and like 436 00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:40,879 Speaker 1: the wonder and everything that brings to me. So I 437 00:22:41,119 --> 00:22:45,320 Speaker 1: actually stopped, you know, focusing on essentially creating another revenue 438 00:22:45,359 --> 00:22:47,560 Speaker 1: stream for me and my family and just you know 439 00:22:47,560 --> 00:22:50,520 Speaker 1: what I'm gonna I'm gonna shoot casually. And then like 440 00:22:50,640 --> 00:22:54,280 Speaker 1: our phones really were upgraded, and I remember just thinking, no, 441 00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:57,320 Speaker 1: we always have a phone. But I'm also still not 442 00:22:57,440 --> 00:23:00,920 Speaker 1: going to give up the the practice of slowing down 443 00:23:01,359 --> 00:23:03,280 Speaker 1: and you know, not just taking a photo to take 444 00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:05,960 Speaker 1: a photo, but like actually framing something even though I'm 445 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:09,000 Speaker 1: not using a canon or Sony or something like that, 446 00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:12,080 Speaker 1: I'm using my film, but be present and conscious with 447 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:15,440 Speaker 1: the practice and keep that up. And that I still 448 00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:19,080 Speaker 1: do to this day, and it's something I'm super grateful for. 449 00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:21,840 Speaker 2: I love that you brought up the idea that sometimes 450 00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:25,760 Speaker 2: commercializing a passion kills the joy in it. And you know, 451 00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:28,439 Speaker 2: so often people kind of get wrapped up in this 452 00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:30,320 Speaker 2: idea of you have to love your job or you 453 00:23:30,359 --> 00:23:32,640 Speaker 2: have to do as a job the thing that you love. 454 00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:36,520 Speaker 2: But for many people that actually kills what they love 455 00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:39,000 Speaker 2: most about it, like adding a brief and a deadline 456 00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:42,760 Speaker 2: and financial expectations, and it's actually okay to seize your 457 00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:45,520 Speaker 2: yea in a way that is totally separate from income. 458 00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:49,479 Speaker 2: In fact, sometimes that kind of allows you to maintain 459 00:23:49,520 --> 00:23:52,560 Speaker 2: the joy. So anyone listening, you know, give yourself permission 460 00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:55,000 Speaker 2: to decide, I don't need to do it as a job. 461 00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:57,560 Speaker 2: It's okay if that's on the side true, And it's 462 00:23:57,560 --> 00:23:59,640 Speaker 2: okay if you don't get that same level of yay 463 00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:01,959 Speaker 2: in what is your income producing activity as long as 464 00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:03,600 Speaker 2: you're finding that joy sort of somewhere. 465 00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:05,760 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, you nailed it. 466 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:09,800 Speaker 2: So then we get to nearly a decade after you graduated, 467 00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:14,600 Speaker 2: ten years later that this gigantic pivot kind of happened. 468 00:24:15,119 --> 00:24:18,080 Speaker 2: Did it feel like that at the time? How did 469 00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:18,679 Speaker 2: it happen? 470 00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:19,359 Speaker 1: Like? 471 00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:21,280 Speaker 2: I think sometimes also you look back and go, wow, 472 00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:23,520 Speaker 2: that was a really pivotal like sliding doors moment. But 473 00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:26,320 Speaker 2: in the moment, maybe it happened and unraveled in tiny 474 00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:28,320 Speaker 2: steps like how did KO begin? 475 00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:32,080 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's I mean, that's an interest interesting way to 476 00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:35,000 Speaker 1: think about it, because it definitely now in retrospect looking back, 477 00:24:35,119 --> 00:24:38,879 Speaker 1: looks like it feels like a massive pivot. And it 478 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:41,600 Speaker 1: was because I really do feel like, other than you know, 479 00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:44,320 Speaker 1: my core values and whatnot, I feel like a completely 480 00:24:44,359 --> 00:24:47,480 Speaker 1: different person than I was eight or ten years ago. 481 00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:51,240 Speaker 1: And what essentially what transpired was again like that nearly 482 00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:56,040 Speaker 1: a decade of really having a consistent mental fitness practice 483 00:24:56,080 --> 00:24:59,480 Speaker 1: and seeing that be helpful for my own life, I 484 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:03,000 Speaker 1: started to grow really frustrated with the digital options that 485 00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:06,680 Speaker 1: were available for journaling because I was traveling a lot 486 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:09,480 Speaker 1: and I typically would do my type of journaling a 487 00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:13,960 Speaker 1: reflection on a phone or on my iPad. And at 488 00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:16,560 Speaker 1: the time, some of the meditation apps were starting to 489 00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:19,560 Speaker 1: take off, like Calm and Headspace, and they were picking 490 00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:22,840 Speaker 1: up steam. So I remember thinking, Okay, it seems like 491 00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:27,000 Speaker 1: kind of the mainstream audience is starting to be okay 492 00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:31,240 Speaker 1: or open to being guided digitally, you know, in least 493 00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:33,919 Speaker 1: meditation in that space. But at that time, there was 494 00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:39,160 Speaker 1: really nothing that existed for journaling to help start a practice. 495 00:25:39,359 --> 00:25:41,320 Speaker 1: And the way I was doing it was again like 496 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:43,840 Speaker 1: I'd write a question down and then it started to 497 00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:46,919 Speaker 1: become so disconnected. I'd write a question down, I'd copy 498 00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:49,400 Speaker 1: it paste it into another app. I'm like, this is ridiculous. 499 00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:52,440 Speaker 1: There has to be a way more efficient way to 500 00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:55,920 Speaker 1: do this right, especially in that at that time, And 501 00:25:55,960 --> 00:26:00,360 Speaker 1: that's how the idea for Kio arose and I I'll 502 00:26:00,359 --> 00:26:02,280 Speaker 1: never forget the email. I wrote an email to my 503 00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:07,040 Speaker 1: brother in law, who you know, has been a lifelong entrepreneur, 504 00:26:07,119 --> 00:26:09,560 Speaker 1: so there was a bit of comfort there, I guess 505 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:12,040 Speaker 1: you can say, or confidence there, you know, talking to 506 00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:15,680 Speaker 1: someone that's been in that space before. He also had 507 00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:18,560 Speaker 1: an IT company, which we laugh about to this day 508 00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:22,760 Speaker 1: that's nowhere near a developer kind of experience. So at 509 00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:24,960 Speaker 1: the time I was thinking, oh, yeah, he's got you know, 510 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,679 Speaker 1: this IT company. He's doing websites and phone systems and 511 00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:31,520 Speaker 1: networks and stuff. I mean, surely he's got some experience 512 00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:34,680 Speaker 1: in this or can help. And anyway, I just sent 513 00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:37,200 Speaker 1: him an email with the frustrations and saying, Hey, would 514 00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:39,520 Speaker 1: you like to try building something to see if we 515 00:26:39,560 --> 00:26:42,159 Speaker 1: can you know, flirt with this idea and he said yes, 516 00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:44,600 Speaker 1: and so we started doing it and I started mind 517 00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:47,800 Speaker 1: mapping this app on the side kind of evenings and weekends, 518 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:52,320 Speaker 1: until eventually, I remember we went to this conference in Montreal. 519 00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:55,600 Speaker 1: It was a conference called C two all on Creativity. 520 00:26:55,760 --> 00:27:00,159 Speaker 1: Super fun, really awesome experience. And while I was there 521 00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:02,320 Speaker 1: for the company, I was meeting with people but then 522 00:27:02,359 --> 00:27:05,880 Speaker 1: also pitching this concept for the app. And my brother 523 00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:07,439 Speaker 1: in law was there with me, so he was in 524 00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:09,359 Speaker 1: these meetings. So we were just trying to get a 525 00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:12,119 Speaker 1: pulse to see like what would people, you know, how 526 00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:14,600 Speaker 1: would they react to this? And he had a designer 527 00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:18,240 Speaker 1: on his team for his other work, so you know, 528 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:20,399 Speaker 1: we didn't have a functional app. We essentially had a 529 00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:24,760 Speaker 1: mock up that was tappable, and as we would leave 530 00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:26,760 Speaker 1: these meetings, we say it'll be like, okay, Ken, we 531 00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:28,879 Speaker 1: got this feedback, can you shift this around. We're going 532 00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:31,040 Speaker 1: to try another one. And we were just essentially iterating 533 00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:34,760 Speaker 1: the app on the spot, and we got enough validation 534 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:39,919 Speaker 1: from those meetings to really cause a pause and think, Okay, 535 00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:42,320 Speaker 1: I mean, I think we've got something here. But I 536 00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:46,920 Speaker 1: knew enough in my own day job that to make 537 00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:50,359 Speaker 1: that successful, you know, there needed to be a pretty 538 00:27:50,359 --> 00:27:54,440 Speaker 1: big strategy or plan or some sort of marketing initiative 539 00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:56,920 Speaker 1: to really get this off the ground, because no one 540 00:27:57,040 --> 00:27:59,800 Speaker 1: was doing this in journaling at that time, and I 541 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:02,119 Speaker 1: know I couldn't do that and my day job at 542 00:28:02,160 --> 00:28:04,679 Speaker 1: the same time. So eventually it led to me leaving 543 00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:09,240 Speaker 1: that job in the pharmaceutical world and pursuing Kio full 544 00:28:09,359 --> 00:28:10,120 Speaker 1: time and. 545 00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:13,560 Speaker 2: Then growing it to I think like eighty six million 546 00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:19,400 Speaker 2: people being impacted. Wild idea, like what even is that 547 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:23,720 Speaker 2: I don't know yet, Sarah, Oh, I feel like, yeah, 548 00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:25,760 Speaker 2: the dust probably still hasn't settled on that. But it's 549 00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:30,480 Speaker 2: so interesting that your background in business and brand management 550 00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:34,520 Speaker 2: is what really helped launch that with experience and with 551 00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:37,679 Speaker 2: skills and bringing so much to the table to to 552 00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:40,120 Speaker 2: Like I think at the time, you don't notice or 553 00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:42,920 Speaker 2: you don't realize necessarily how important those skills are, but 554 00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:45,240 Speaker 2: so much of what you learn in one context is 555 00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:48,040 Speaker 2: transferable to anything else that you do. So I'm sure 556 00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:50,560 Speaker 2: that a huge part of your success. 557 00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:54,720 Speaker 1: Yeah, it was. It definitely was because I mean I 558 00:28:54,760 --> 00:28:58,200 Speaker 1: was leaning on, you know, the skill set that you 559 00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:01,320 Speaker 1: felt comfortable with, or that I had developed obviously over 560 00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:04,680 Speaker 1: the years working on literally these hundred million dollar brands, 561 00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:09,480 Speaker 1: right and these products, And essentially what I brought over was, Okay, 562 00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:12,720 Speaker 1: well we're going to launch this app. You know, while 563 00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:16,440 Speaker 1: we're really frustrated with how long development's taking because that 564 00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:18,760 Speaker 1: we have zero experience and we're trying to figure this out. 565 00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:20,920 Speaker 1: We're going through all these dep teams. I mean, we're 566 00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:22,600 Speaker 1: not just going to sit back here and do nothing. 567 00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:26,600 Speaker 1: So I started working on building relationships and bringing in 568 00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:30,040 Speaker 1: you know, the right people with their content and obviously 569 00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:34,040 Speaker 1: you're a part of that, right and getting different perspectives 570 00:29:34,080 --> 00:29:38,400 Speaker 1: in this space, and so that when we launched the app, 571 00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:42,560 Speaker 1: we weren't launching an app to zero people. We already 572 00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:46,480 Speaker 1: had an audience, and we already had content that wasn't 573 00:29:46,480 --> 00:29:49,040 Speaker 1: necessarily coming from us, but we had content from all 574 00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:52,600 Speaker 1: these you know, studying humans that essentially we were linking 575 00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:55,800 Speaker 1: out to their work if people wanted to continue down 576 00:29:55,800 --> 00:29:58,320 Speaker 1: that path. So, you know, it seemed to make sense 577 00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:01,840 Speaker 1: as a as a collaboration strategy. And then I just 578 00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:05,680 Speaker 1: made sure from a brand perspective that you know, we 579 00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:09,880 Speaker 1: were really focus on the language of mental fitness. And 580 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:12,680 Speaker 1: the reason for that was simple, people just you know, 581 00:30:12,760 --> 00:30:15,120 Speaker 1: there was so much talk around mental health, which is 582 00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:19,480 Speaker 1: unfortunately loaded full of stigma still, right, and mental fitness 583 00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:23,080 Speaker 1: was really you know that step in, well, I'm taking 584 00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:25,920 Speaker 1: action just like I do my physical fitness, right, And 585 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:28,480 Speaker 1: so it was just like a more of a motivating term, 586 00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:31,640 Speaker 1: I guess you will, because for me, mental fitness, you know, 587 00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:36,080 Speaker 1: everything's under that mental health, mental resiliency, mental performance. So 588 00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:39,600 Speaker 1: it's not about ignoring any factors, but it just feels 589 00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:44,400 Speaker 1: more motivating and that you have more zest essentially to 590 00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:47,680 Speaker 1: you know, take that, take that step forward. So I 591 00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:50,200 Speaker 1: was just really focusing on that, and then the rest 592 00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:53,480 Speaker 1: of the team obviously we were doing everything possible to 593 00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:56,479 Speaker 1: make the app look beautiful and very apple Ish at 594 00:30:56,480 --> 00:30:58,520 Speaker 1: that time, and it started to get picked up by 595 00:30:58,560 --> 00:31:01,280 Speaker 1: Apple all around the world. That's what led to all 596 00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:02,640 Speaker 1: those app Store impressions. 597 00:31:02,680 --> 00:31:06,280 Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, so incredible, Such a testament to just 598 00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:09,000 Speaker 2: your creativity and that you were really meant to be 599 00:31:09,080 --> 00:31:11,640 Speaker 2: on this pathway. And I love the idea that the 600 00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:16,440 Speaker 2: term mental fitness that's become so closely associated with everything 601 00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:20,600 Speaker 2: you do, elevates your mental health and like everything and 602 00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:23,840 Speaker 2: your mental processes to the same status as your physical fitness. 603 00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:25,600 Speaker 2: Like I think that's another thing that I like about 604 00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:29,160 Speaker 2: using fitness is that it's so associated with your body, 605 00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:33,000 Speaker 2: and we often don't treat our mind with the same 606 00:31:33,160 --> 00:31:35,719 Speaker 2: level of care. But I like that that word kind 607 00:31:35,760 --> 00:31:41,240 Speaker 2: of encompasses that whole concept so nicely well. 608 00:31:41,240 --> 00:31:43,520 Speaker 1: And I remember Sarah in one of our you know, 609 00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:45,720 Speaker 1: when we were trying to raise funding for the app, 610 00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:48,000 Speaker 1: one of the slides I had in the pitch deck 611 00:31:48,280 --> 00:31:52,640 Speaker 1: was linked to the physical fitness world and just showing 612 00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:57,320 Speaker 1: how mental fitness was was going to be parallel soon, 613 00:31:57,400 --> 00:32:00,760 Speaker 1: like we're getting to that point. And the the image 614 00:32:00,760 --> 00:32:03,360 Speaker 1: I had in the slide was of People magazine and 615 00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:07,040 Speaker 1: I think the seventies and it was what's the guy's name, 616 00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:09,880 Speaker 1: the guy from Baywatch and Jane Fonder or something, and 617 00:32:09,920 --> 00:32:13,200 Speaker 1: they were going jogging, and the caption was something like, 618 00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:16,600 Speaker 1: we're all going jogging. Everyone's doing it now, so like 619 00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:20,280 Speaker 1: at that time it was jogging and exercise outside is 620 00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:24,520 Speaker 1: essentially just taking off, right, So the point was we're 621 00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:28,040 Speaker 1: not you know, that's where mental fitness is right now, 622 00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:30,200 Speaker 1: and the super more than four years ago, but just 623 00:32:30,520 --> 00:32:32,960 Speaker 1: to try to show that, hey, now's the time to 624 00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:35,840 Speaker 1: get on board with this because and I really believe 625 00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:40,200 Speaker 1: this to this day. I mean, what motivates us and 626 00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:42,920 Speaker 1: tells us to go into the gym or run or 627 00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:46,800 Speaker 1: do the exercise are the decisions that our mind's making. 628 00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:50,080 Speaker 1: So for me, it all starts there. First. 629 00:32:51,160 --> 00:32:54,200 Speaker 2: You've really extended and expanded on that idea in the book, 630 00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:57,600 Speaker 2: which it's just such a valuable tool, particularly in this 631 00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:00,680 Speaker 2: climate where we're being our mental fitness is being challenged 632 00:33:00,720 --> 00:33:02,800 Speaker 2: more than it ever has. But I also want to 633 00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:05,000 Speaker 2: weave in a little bit of the next section is 634 00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:08,160 Speaker 2: your nati as all the challenges that kind of get 635 00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:09,560 Speaker 2: in the way of your joy along the way. And 636 00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:11,240 Speaker 2: it makes sense to kind of weave it in here 637 00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:13,720 Speaker 2: because I think you've moved from an industry where you 638 00:33:13,760 --> 00:33:16,200 Speaker 2: have so much experience. You studied for it, you have 639 00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:19,560 Speaker 2: a degree behind you, and like lots of different corporations 640 00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:23,000 Speaker 2: and businesses that you've worked with to back up. You know, 641 00:33:23,040 --> 00:33:25,880 Speaker 2: if you ever have feelings of doubt or lack of confidence, 642 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:28,640 Speaker 2: you can talk yourself back around by I am experienced. 643 00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:32,080 Speaker 2: I deserve to be here moving into a totally new 644 00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:34,600 Speaker 2: industry with a brand new idea where not only have 645 00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:36,960 Speaker 2: you never done it before, but no one has really 646 00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:39,680 Speaker 2: done it before, but having to put yourself out there 647 00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:42,160 Speaker 2: with pictures and like investing a lot of money. I 648 00:33:42,160 --> 00:33:46,440 Speaker 2: think most you know, brand new business owners struggle more 649 00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:49,520 Speaker 2: with self doubt and the mental side of the challenge. 650 00:33:49,520 --> 00:33:52,120 Speaker 2: Then logistically you can physically figure out how to start 651 00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:52,520 Speaker 2: a business. 652 00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:53,880 Speaker 3: It's fitting your head around it. 653 00:33:54,400 --> 00:33:56,840 Speaker 2: How did you cope in those early days with like 654 00:33:56,920 --> 00:34:00,800 Speaker 2: the doubt or the fear, the risk and the massive 655 00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:03,320 Speaker 2: change from what you knew, Like the comfort zone, you know. 656 00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:07,120 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it was definitely terrifying in some respects. 657 00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:11,239 Speaker 1: There's definitely many moments of fear even even now. But 658 00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:15,360 Speaker 1: the luxury of being in the space of mental fitness, 659 00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:19,239 Speaker 1: especially starting with the APP I mean I had, and 660 00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:22,320 Speaker 1: I'm so grateful for this, but I've had literally hundreds 661 00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:26,919 Speaker 1: of interviews with all of these incredible humans in all 662 00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:31,040 Speaker 1: of these different industries, in different spaces, providing the things 663 00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:33,600 Speaker 1: that they were doing to keep their mind healthy. So 664 00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:36,279 Speaker 1: for me, you know, when you're building the business in 665 00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:38,960 Speaker 1: that space, it's like that classic you have to practice 666 00:34:38,960 --> 00:34:41,320 Speaker 1: what you preach. And it was the same thing writing 667 00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:43,680 Speaker 1: the book, like I had to really rely on the 668 00:34:43,760 --> 00:34:47,799 Speaker 1: practices because like everyone listening, I'm human as well, and 669 00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:51,760 Speaker 1: you know, you fall into these comparison modes and in Okay, 670 00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:54,399 Speaker 1: well that app is ranking over here, they did this, 671 00:34:54,440 --> 00:34:57,200 Speaker 1: how come we can't get that funding? You know, like 672 00:34:57,280 --> 00:35:00,879 Speaker 1: it's easily to slip into those internal dialogue or those 673 00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:04,360 Speaker 1: looping thoughts. But again, just flipping back to these mental 674 00:35:04,360 --> 00:35:09,800 Speaker 1: fitness practices about Okay, if I know prioritize my health 675 00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:12,799 Speaker 1: mental and physical, if I meditate, if I bring in 676 00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:16,360 Speaker 1: some breath work, or I do some journaling and boost 677 00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:20,600 Speaker 1: myself awareness. Then I can catch these moments, pause a narrative, 678 00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:23,840 Speaker 1: release it, or rechannel it, and continue forward. 679 00:35:24,080 --> 00:35:28,080 Speaker 2: Essentially, I love the idea of pausing the narrative. It's 680 00:35:28,200 --> 00:35:31,000 Speaker 2: so valuable to remind yourself that the narrative is something 681 00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:34,120 Speaker 2: that you can actually you can control, like you can 682 00:35:34,160 --> 00:35:35,960 Speaker 2: observe it. I think I used to think I had 683 00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:38,439 Speaker 2: one level of thinking, but not that then I could 684 00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:41,319 Speaker 2: have thoughts and value judgments on those thoughts, and that 685 00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:44,839 Speaker 2: whole idea of metacognition, like what makes us different to 686 00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:47,520 Speaker 2: any other being in this universe is that humans can 687 00:35:47,560 --> 00:35:49,759 Speaker 2: think about their own thoughts, which also means that you 688 00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:52,480 Speaker 2: can stop the ones that are unproductive, which is just 689 00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:53,400 Speaker 2: like such a big. 690 00:35:53,280 --> 00:35:57,800 Speaker 1: Revelation for sure. Well, and then that you can zoom 691 00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:03,080 Speaker 1: out obviously and disastogotiate with maybe not disassociated that's the 692 00:36:03,080 --> 00:36:06,359 Speaker 1: wrong word, but just have enough of a separation that 693 00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:10,319 Speaker 1: you then start realizing that I am not just my 694 00:36:10,400 --> 00:36:13,880 Speaker 1: thoughts or I am not the anxiety. Here. There's something 695 00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:18,759 Speaker 1: I picked up from a meditation teacher, Jeff Warren. He 696 00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:22,400 Speaker 1: wrote he wrote a book called Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics, 697 00:36:23,280 --> 00:36:26,400 Speaker 1: which is the greatest title ever and he co authored 698 00:36:26,400 --> 00:36:29,279 Speaker 1: it with Dan Harris, who's the ABC News anchor in 699 00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:32,479 Speaker 1: the US. And I remember Jeff telling me about this, 700 00:36:32,480 --> 00:36:35,880 Speaker 1: this whole idea of you know, when people when you 701 00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:38,400 Speaker 1: have anxiety come up, or if you feel you know, 702 00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:41,759 Speaker 1: a depressive state coming up, or whatever, fear, uncertainty, whatever 703 00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:45,239 Speaker 1: those things are. You know, he provides labels to those 704 00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:47,840 Speaker 1: things or names, and it's like, welcome to the party. 705 00:36:48,080 --> 00:36:51,319 Speaker 1: So anxious Tom just walked into the room. You can 706 00:36:51,360 --> 00:36:54,000 Speaker 1: come in, we can talk a little bit, but then 707 00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:56,279 Speaker 1: you're going to have to leave type thing. And it's 708 00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:58,600 Speaker 1: just like, you know, even with the humor of that, 709 00:36:59,040 --> 00:37:02,960 Speaker 1: it just lightens the situation, right, And it's not anxious 710 00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:05,920 Speaker 1: Tom like taking over your life and that you're spinning 711 00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:10,000 Speaker 1: and looping for days on end, if not weeks or longer. Right, 712 00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:13,040 Speaker 1: And then that's when it becomes a problem. But when 713 00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:15,600 Speaker 1: you can acknowledge it and you're like, okay, thanks, I 714 00:37:15,640 --> 00:37:18,279 Speaker 1: get it. Obviously there's something here that I have to 715 00:37:18,320 --> 00:37:21,040 Speaker 1: deal with or process. But now you're gonna have to, 716 00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:23,320 Speaker 1: you know, grab a no derve and take off. 717 00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:27,600 Speaker 3: I loved that. 718 00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:30,000 Speaker 2: I actually highlighted that in the book that welcome to 719 00:37:30,040 --> 00:37:32,680 Speaker 2: the party kind of analogy, because it's such a good 720 00:37:32,719 --> 00:37:35,200 Speaker 2: way to visualize the idea that thoughts come and go 721 00:37:35,360 --> 00:37:38,680 Speaker 2: like they're not they don't consume your entire identity or 722 00:37:38,840 --> 00:37:40,920 Speaker 2: just come in the door, and then you can, you know, 723 00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:43,560 Speaker 2: politely show them the door and they can go all 724 00:37:43,560 --> 00:37:44,520 Speaker 2: the way back out. 725 00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:46,799 Speaker 1: Of the way. Absolutely everything is. 726 00:37:46,760 --> 00:37:51,960 Speaker 2: Impervan yes, totally. So then I think another really big 727 00:37:52,560 --> 00:37:54,480 Speaker 2: challenge for a lot of people along the way of 728 00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:57,840 Speaker 2: their journey is like steps that seem like steps backwards, 729 00:37:57,960 --> 00:38:00,719 Speaker 2: or times that things don't necessarily work out the way 730 00:38:00,719 --> 00:38:02,960 Speaker 2: that you want them to, and and coming to terms 731 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:04,960 Speaker 2: with the idea that you know, I love quotes that 732 00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:07,680 Speaker 2: you know sometimes like things have to fall apart for 733 00:38:07,719 --> 00:38:10,000 Speaker 2: better things to come together, and like what seems like 734 00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:12,480 Speaker 2: a step backwards, there's always a learning that can propel 735 00:38:12,520 --> 00:38:14,799 Speaker 2: you forward, so that idea of like failing forwards. And 736 00:38:15,200 --> 00:38:18,680 Speaker 2: in the very early pages of Personal Socrates, in your intro, 737 00:38:18,800 --> 00:38:20,799 Speaker 2: you talk about the idea that Kio was like this 738 00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:23,560 Speaker 2: big jump and this big seizing of the a, and 739 00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:26,399 Speaker 2: you know, for three years it just kept growing exponentially 740 00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:29,400 Speaker 2: and felt like everything you were hitting all these goals 741 00:38:29,960 --> 00:38:33,680 Speaker 2: but then confronted this wall of what you felt what 742 00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:37,279 Speaker 2: felt like failure, but was actually just the seeds for 743 00:38:37,320 --> 00:38:40,560 Speaker 2: the next chapter. Because again, like your joy and your 744 00:38:40,680 --> 00:38:44,040 Speaker 2: ultimate you know, purpose in life is not static. Three 745 00:38:44,120 --> 00:38:46,880 Speaker 2: years later, you're a three years different person, so you 746 00:38:47,239 --> 00:38:49,839 Speaker 2: might have you know, things unravel in chapters. So talk 747 00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:53,719 Speaker 2: us through that whole idea of hitting these milestones, and. 748 00:38:53,640 --> 00:38:56,879 Speaker 1: Then I feel, I mean that was that was an 749 00:38:56,960 --> 00:38:59,799 Speaker 1: explosion of my world, I guess is how I could 750 00:38:59,800 --> 00:39:04,040 Speaker 1: just describe that because you know, just as we've been 751 00:39:04,040 --> 00:39:06,879 Speaker 1: talking about this massive number of eighty six point nine 752 00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:09,920 Speaker 1: million people, which is obviously a lot of App Store impressions, 753 00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:12,480 Speaker 1: and we had hundreds of thousands of downloads as well, 754 00:39:12,520 --> 00:39:14,640 Speaker 1: so we had a pretty big community in the app. 755 00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:19,279 Speaker 1: But just as we're as it sounds great right now, 756 00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:22,880 Speaker 1: which it was, we were also falling for that hype. 757 00:39:23,480 --> 00:39:25,320 Speaker 1: And you know, when we have these write ups in 758 00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:29,560 Speaker 1: these brand features and you know, collaborating with like Lego 759 00:39:29,680 --> 00:39:34,440 Speaker 1: and LinkedIn and Vaynermedia, there's this element of almost like 760 00:39:34,719 --> 00:39:39,320 Speaker 1: false sense of security that Okay, well, obviously if those 761 00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:41,880 Speaker 1: brands are behind us, or we're getting all these you know, 762 00:39:42,040 --> 00:39:43,879 Speaker 1: new apps we love or apps or of the day 763 00:39:43,920 --> 00:39:48,640 Speaker 1: that you know, we have to succeed here. But where 764 00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:51,440 Speaker 1: we weren't succeeding was the business model, you know, in 765 00:39:51,480 --> 00:39:55,279 Speaker 1: the financials. And I really I don't doubt that we 766 00:39:55,400 --> 00:39:59,480 Speaker 1: would have figured that out because we were on the 767 00:39:59,600 --> 00:40:02,960 Speaker 1: track to you know, iterate, continue to iterate the product 768 00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:06,920 Speaker 1: and whatnot. The difference though, and I think, you know 769 00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:10,520 Speaker 1: it's not I share that because if we would have 770 00:40:10,600 --> 00:40:13,120 Speaker 1: kept going, we probably would have turned it around. But 771 00:40:13,239 --> 00:40:17,520 Speaker 1: for whatever reason, at that time, personally, I had lost 772 00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:21,000 Speaker 1: the conviction to continue, you know, it was it was, 773 00:40:21,080 --> 00:40:23,680 Speaker 1: and that was the hardest thing to accept because somewhere 774 00:40:23,680 --> 00:40:27,800 Speaker 1: along the way, we had spent you know, a tremendous 775 00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:30,720 Speaker 1: amount of money and spent a tremendous amount of mental 776 00:40:30,760 --> 00:40:35,080 Speaker 1: capacity on this project or on this business, and I 777 00:40:35,239 --> 00:40:38,799 Speaker 1: lost the hope or desire to really push through kind 778 00:40:38,840 --> 00:40:41,520 Speaker 1: of that messy middle or push through to the other side. 779 00:40:42,480 --> 00:40:47,120 Speaker 1: And something just felt like, you know what, this chapter, 780 00:40:47,200 --> 00:40:51,239 Speaker 1: as you say, or this vehicle into mental fitness, which 781 00:40:51,280 --> 00:40:55,799 Speaker 1: was an app, doesn't feel right for me anymore. And 782 00:40:56,040 --> 00:40:59,080 Speaker 1: I knew that I was in the right space, so 783 00:40:59,160 --> 00:41:03,720 Speaker 1: that gave a slight amount of comfort, But because everything 784 00:41:03,760 --> 00:41:07,080 Speaker 1: else was exploding while that decision was being made. It 785 00:41:07,120 --> 00:41:09,600 Speaker 1: was enough to say, okay, you know what, like enough's 786 00:41:09,680 --> 00:41:11,480 Speaker 1: enough on this one. We're gonna we're gonna have to 787 00:41:11,480 --> 00:41:15,040 Speaker 1: shut this down, and I'll just I'll never forget, you know, 788 00:41:15,200 --> 00:41:17,720 Speaker 1: being I was in a coworking space in Toronto, Canada, 789 00:41:17,760 --> 00:41:20,239 Speaker 1: and I was looking at that number the Apple dashboard 790 00:41:20,280 --> 00:41:23,080 Speaker 1: with all the metrics and just thinking, can my next 791 00:41:23,120 --> 00:41:26,520 Speaker 1: step is going to is delete from app Store? And 792 00:41:26,520 --> 00:41:29,360 Speaker 1: then that's when all the wrong questions started to circulate, 793 00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:32,440 Speaker 1: like how could we fail at such a colossal level, 794 00:41:32,920 --> 00:41:36,080 Speaker 1: and like what would my ex colleagues think? Because I 795 00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:38,440 Speaker 1: left the job. That wasn't one of those snares where 796 00:41:38,440 --> 00:41:40,719 Speaker 1: I dreaded going into work. I mean, it was all 797 00:41:41,320 --> 00:41:43,080 Speaker 1: you know, more so I didn't I didn't want to 798 00:41:43,120 --> 00:41:46,440 Speaker 1: regret not trying this, and I just I remember the 799 00:41:46,480 --> 00:41:49,080 Speaker 1: fate their faces flashing in front of me, because I'll 800 00:41:49,160 --> 00:41:52,359 Speaker 1: never forget sitting at my desk telling people that you know, 801 00:41:52,719 --> 00:41:55,120 Speaker 1: I'm leaving in a month essentially, and there was just 802 00:41:55,200 --> 00:42:00,080 Speaker 1: such joy and excitement and like encouragement and almost the 803 00:42:00,120 --> 00:42:02,879 Speaker 1: sense of yeah, I have ideas like that too. I mean, 804 00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:05,480 Speaker 1: you're so courageous to go and do it, and then 805 00:42:05,520 --> 00:42:08,600 Speaker 1: now here I am. I'm deleting this business. And the 806 00:42:08,640 --> 00:42:13,600 Speaker 1: worst part was that my backup plan of returning back 807 00:42:13,640 --> 00:42:17,200 Speaker 1: to that industry also didn't feel right, because I what 808 00:42:17,400 --> 00:42:20,240 Speaker 1: felt one hundred percent right was this was this space 809 00:42:20,280 --> 00:42:23,400 Speaker 1: of mental fitness. But now I just deleted the vehicle 810 00:42:23,520 --> 00:42:25,600 Speaker 1: that was, you know, keeping me in there, and I 811 00:42:25,640 --> 00:42:29,400 Speaker 1: have no idea how I'm going to stay here and 812 00:42:29,440 --> 00:42:33,640 Speaker 1: what I'm going to do next. We're financially wrecked, We're 813 00:42:33,680 --> 00:42:36,920 Speaker 1: living in a place that was always supposed to be temporary, 814 00:42:37,800 --> 00:42:39,839 Speaker 1: so we don't even really like the area that we're 815 00:42:39,840 --> 00:42:41,759 Speaker 1: in in the house, and we had sold, you know, 816 00:42:41,760 --> 00:42:45,319 Speaker 1: with this beautiful condo Montreal and sold that, and so 817 00:42:45,440 --> 00:42:49,880 Speaker 1: everything just felt wrong and like it was exploding. And 818 00:42:49,920 --> 00:42:53,279 Speaker 1: there was just this fear in this this massive anxiety 819 00:42:53,280 --> 00:42:56,719 Speaker 1: that was causing me to feel sick, like physically sick 820 00:42:56,800 --> 00:43:00,839 Speaker 1: every morning during that period until I eventually could go 821 00:43:00,960 --> 00:43:05,320 Speaker 1: back to some of the practices and just the micro 822 00:43:05,520 --> 00:43:09,600 Speaker 1: moments of tapping into the present moment and deploying as 823 00:43:09,719 --> 00:43:13,560 Speaker 1: much gratitude as possible, even even something as simple as yeah, 824 00:43:13,560 --> 00:43:15,360 Speaker 1: I deleted the app, but I deleted the app on 825 00:43:15,360 --> 00:43:18,000 Speaker 1: the laptop that most people don't have access to or 826 00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:20,879 Speaker 1: don't have in the world. Like small things like that 827 00:43:21,480 --> 00:43:25,920 Speaker 1: just pause that narrative long enough to start asking questions again. 828 00:43:26,480 --> 00:43:28,520 Speaker 1: And then the question that arose was what do I 829 00:43:28,560 --> 00:43:31,359 Speaker 1: want from my life? And that sent me down a 830 00:43:31,400 --> 00:43:33,040 Speaker 1: new path essentially, Oh. 831 00:43:32,920 --> 00:43:35,439 Speaker 2: My gosh, there's so much to unpacking that I think 832 00:43:35,440 --> 00:43:39,560 Speaker 2: it's just so important firstly, to remember this kind of 833 00:43:39,680 --> 00:43:42,640 Speaker 2: process is such a beautiful example of the idea that 834 00:43:43,280 --> 00:43:47,240 Speaker 2: you know your why is unchanging. You found your why. 835 00:43:47,440 --> 00:43:49,720 Speaker 2: But I love that you use the word vehicle, because 836 00:43:49,719 --> 00:43:52,400 Speaker 2: I think we get too attached to the how, and 837 00:43:52,440 --> 00:43:54,279 Speaker 2: we think, oh, let go of the how. Then I've 838 00:43:54,360 --> 00:43:56,400 Speaker 2: let go of my why. But actually no, it's okay. 839 00:43:56,480 --> 00:43:59,960 Speaker 2: If like the method of delivering that purpose changes why, 840 00:44:00,080 --> 00:44:01,799 Speaker 2: I can be the same your whole life, but the 841 00:44:01,840 --> 00:44:04,640 Speaker 2: how has to change depending on what your life is doing. 842 00:44:04,680 --> 00:44:07,719 Speaker 2: And I also think that something that I need to 843 00:44:07,719 --> 00:44:09,880 Speaker 2: remind myself of always and I try to spend a 844 00:44:09,880 --> 00:44:12,360 Speaker 2: lot of time on in the show is the way 845 00:44:12,400 --> 00:44:14,759 Speaker 2: that success and failure is like two sides of the 846 00:44:14,800 --> 00:44:18,799 Speaker 2: same coin, is so inextrically related to perception. And so 847 00:44:19,080 --> 00:44:21,640 Speaker 2: the question I often ask people, is like, when you're 848 00:44:21,680 --> 00:44:24,320 Speaker 2: talking about success or failure, do you mean actual success 849 00:44:24,400 --> 00:44:26,400 Speaker 2: or failure or do you mean that people perceive you 850 00:44:26,440 --> 00:44:29,239 Speaker 2: to have succeeded or failed? And if you knew that 851 00:44:29,320 --> 00:44:31,680 Speaker 2: you could try something and fail and no one would 852 00:44:31,719 --> 00:44:33,560 Speaker 2: find out about it, It's like if a tree falls 853 00:44:33,560 --> 00:44:36,000 Speaker 2: in a wood and no one hears it didn't happen. No, 854 00:44:36,360 --> 00:44:38,960 Speaker 2: most people are not scared of failing. They don't think 855 00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:41,600 Speaker 2: that it would fundamentally change their self worth if they 856 00:44:41,640 --> 00:44:43,680 Speaker 2: knew no one would ever find out about it, So 857 00:44:43,760 --> 00:44:46,160 Speaker 2: no one's actually scared of failing. We're all scared of 858 00:44:46,200 --> 00:44:51,000 Speaker 2: people thinking that were a failure. And then then your 859 00:44:51,040 --> 00:44:54,160 Speaker 2: fundamental life values come into play. Of like you could 860 00:44:54,239 --> 00:44:58,440 Speaker 2: have pushed through and found objective success, But what would 861 00:44:58,440 --> 00:45:00,400 Speaker 2: that have cost you if it was making you so 862 00:45:00,520 --> 00:45:03,160 Speaker 2: unhappy every day? So that comes back to that quote 863 00:45:03,160 --> 00:45:05,080 Speaker 2: that I love of like if it cost to your peace, 864 00:45:05,560 --> 00:45:08,480 Speaker 2: it's too expensive, Like it doesn't matter how great the 865 00:45:08,520 --> 00:45:11,520 Speaker 2: successes and heights you could have taken KYO two if 866 00:45:11,560 --> 00:45:13,719 Speaker 2: you turned it around if you weren't in it every day, 867 00:45:13,760 --> 00:45:15,920 Speaker 2: Like what is the point of that exercise? And you 868 00:45:16,000 --> 00:45:20,440 Speaker 2: took control and like volunteered for a really shitty time 869 00:45:21,760 --> 00:45:23,560 Speaker 2: to kind of break something, to. 870 00:45:23,480 --> 00:45:24,800 Speaker 3: Put different pieces back together. 871 00:45:24,840 --> 00:45:28,960 Speaker 2: And I think that's the fundamental like practice that brings joys. 872 00:45:29,000 --> 00:45:30,879 Speaker 2: Being willing to go backwards a little bit. 873 00:45:30,840 --> 00:45:33,360 Speaker 1: Tough again, well, and it just there again, there's this 874 00:45:33,800 --> 00:45:37,240 Speaker 1: there was this sense of being on the right path 875 00:45:37,960 --> 00:45:40,960 Speaker 1: right and trusting I knew enough at that point again 876 00:45:41,040 --> 00:45:43,759 Speaker 1: because of all the practices and all the interviews to 877 00:45:44,239 --> 00:45:48,080 Speaker 1: really trust that the journey was going to play out 878 00:45:48,200 --> 00:45:51,000 Speaker 1: as it should and that I was on the right path. 879 00:45:52,320 --> 00:45:55,160 Speaker 1: But I needed to do everything possible to get back 880 00:45:55,200 --> 00:45:58,040 Speaker 1: to a healthy mind. And then then it just became 881 00:45:58,320 --> 00:46:01,640 Speaker 1: my full time job was was going to the gym 882 00:46:01,680 --> 00:46:06,560 Speaker 1: in the morning, meditating, journaling and getting my mind is 883 00:46:06,800 --> 00:46:10,640 Speaker 1: clear and as intentional as possible to then slowly start 884 00:46:10,640 --> 00:46:14,880 Speaker 1: taking the steps forward right. And that took time. I 885 00:46:14,880 --> 00:46:17,160 Speaker 1: mean that took It wasn't a matter of weeks. That 886 00:46:17,320 --> 00:46:19,640 Speaker 1: took months. And frankly, I mean I'm still on that 887 00:46:19,719 --> 00:46:26,439 Speaker 1: journey in many respects, but it feels so different, so different, right, 888 00:46:26,520 --> 00:46:29,000 Speaker 1: And I think what happens too when you go through 889 00:46:29,000 --> 00:46:32,920 Speaker 1: those wild moments or those big experiences in life and 890 00:46:32,960 --> 00:46:37,879 Speaker 1: your work and personally and professionally you can stack those 891 00:46:37,920 --> 00:46:40,560 Speaker 1: experiences on top of each other, right, and then now 892 00:46:40,600 --> 00:46:43,360 Speaker 1: it's okay, well I've been through that. I know I 893 00:46:43,400 --> 00:46:46,839 Speaker 1: can handle that. So now you have this new sense 894 00:46:46,880 --> 00:46:49,759 Speaker 1: of confidence that, Okay, well, sure I'll try this whole 895 00:46:49,760 --> 00:46:52,279 Speaker 1: book journey, or I'll try this, or I'll try that, right, 896 00:46:52,360 --> 00:46:56,560 Speaker 1: because I've proven to myself that I can get through it, 897 00:46:56,800 --> 00:47:00,880 Speaker 1: and most importantly, that I have the community of friends 898 00:47:00,920 --> 00:47:05,440 Speaker 1: and family and people like yourself that will will support right, Like, 899 00:47:05,480 --> 00:47:08,319 Speaker 1: we're not in this alone and other people have gone 900 00:47:08,360 --> 00:47:11,440 Speaker 1: through this and will continue to go through this. But 901 00:47:11,760 --> 00:47:13,520 Speaker 1: you know, as long as we keep trying right and 902 00:47:13,600 --> 00:47:17,000 Speaker 1: we're still curious and we're having fun along the way, 903 00:47:17,120 --> 00:47:20,880 Speaker 1: then I mean, it just mixed life so much more enjoyable. 904 00:47:20,480 --> 00:47:24,480 Speaker 2: So much, so much and talking about curiosity. That is 905 00:47:24,719 --> 00:47:28,200 Speaker 2: the basis of this beautiful new book. The concept is 906 00:47:28,239 --> 00:47:31,960 Speaker 2: just continually asking the right questions in life, which I 907 00:47:32,120 --> 00:47:35,160 Speaker 2: just loved reading it and I'm going to read it 908 00:47:35,239 --> 00:47:37,839 Speaker 2: many many times over. There's so much packed into it. 909 00:47:38,600 --> 00:47:42,160 Speaker 2: Talk to us about the process of writing personal Socrates, 910 00:47:42,239 --> 00:47:45,200 Speaker 2: and for anyone who doesn't already know, because it's not 911 00:47:45,239 --> 00:47:47,960 Speaker 2: an automatic assumption that people know who Socrates is and 912 00:47:48,000 --> 00:47:50,319 Speaker 2: the Socratic method. I only know about the Socratic method 913 00:47:50,360 --> 00:47:54,040 Speaker 2: because law school. You know, how did the ideas formulate? 914 00:47:54,080 --> 00:47:56,640 Speaker 2: And then how did you choose the questions. It's a 915 00:47:56,800 --> 00:48:00,960 Speaker 2: beautifully structured book, all around key fundamental, with a different 916 00:48:01,800 --> 00:48:05,600 Speaker 2: guest or case study or interviewee that encapsulates that idea 917 00:48:06,200 --> 00:48:09,160 Speaker 2: from your personal life to work to family and relationships, 918 00:48:09,160 --> 00:48:11,480 Speaker 2: all kind of different areas and everyone from like Jane 919 00:48:11,520 --> 00:48:14,759 Speaker 2: Austin to Picasso and then Samantha gash Or we all know, 920 00:48:14,880 --> 00:48:17,600 Speaker 2: Natalie Warner who we all know, Melissa Embrassini who we 921 00:48:17,640 --> 00:48:20,200 Speaker 2: all know big members of the neighborhood. And there's also 922 00:48:20,239 --> 00:48:24,240 Speaker 2: a chapter on yours, trul I just blows my mind. 923 00:48:24,360 --> 00:48:27,840 Speaker 2: But talk us through the method and the book. 924 00:48:28,120 --> 00:48:31,480 Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I mean ironically it comes straight back to 925 00:48:31,880 --> 00:48:34,360 Speaker 1: the more I'm talking about it, the more it's becoming 926 00:48:34,400 --> 00:48:37,560 Speaker 1: a parent. It comes right back to how my practice 927 00:48:37,600 --> 00:48:41,200 Speaker 1: started eight or nine years ago, which was listening for 928 00:48:41,360 --> 00:48:45,560 Speaker 1: questions as I was consuming knowledge, whether that was books, podcast, 929 00:48:45,640 --> 00:48:49,719 Speaker 1: blogs and magazines, taking those questions and then using them 930 00:48:49,760 --> 00:48:54,319 Speaker 1: on my own reflection, which translated into kio obviously, and 931 00:48:54,520 --> 00:48:57,640 Speaker 1: it was the same idea was to share different perspectives 932 00:48:57,640 --> 00:49:01,040 Speaker 1: and stories to show people that this stuff is accessible 933 00:49:01,080 --> 00:49:04,920 Speaker 1: to anyone. It's not just you know, for a meditation 934 00:49:05,280 --> 00:49:09,040 Speaker 1: instructor or yoga coach or yoga instructor. I mean, anyone 935 00:49:09,080 --> 00:49:12,120 Speaker 1: can do this stuff. So you know, when the app 936 00:49:12,320 --> 00:49:14,640 Speaker 1: was shut down, like I said, I knew I was 937 00:49:14,640 --> 00:49:17,760 Speaker 1: in the right space, and I knew, especially in this case, 938 00:49:17,840 --> 00:49:22,839 Speaker 1: that if I was able to pause the scenario that 939 00:49:22,960 --> 00:49:26,279 Speaker 1: was literally driving me into a deep depression with one 940 00:49:26,440 --> 00:49:30,759 Speaker 1: question that I have to continue in some capacity to 941 00:49:30,840 --> 00:49:35,480 Speaker 1: expose the concept of using questions for mental fitness. Because 942 00:49:35,480 --> 00:49:38,680 Speaker 1: we're all asking questions all the time, right, It's just 943 00:49:38,719 --> 00:49:40,880 Speaker 1: a matter are we asking the right questions? Are they 944 00:49:40,960 --> 00:49:44,520 Speaker 1: quality questions? Are they well timed? Right? For me was 945 00:49:45,120 --> 00:49:47,120 Speaker 1: what do I want for my life? That was the 946 00:49:47,280 --> 00:49:49,640 Speaker 1: big question, and then that, you know, led to other 947 00:49:49,719 --> 00:49:52,399 Speaker 1: ones which were, okay, well, if that's what I want, 948 00:49:52,440 --> 00:49:55,560 Speaker 1: like what does an ideal day look like? Who can 949 00:49:55,640 --> 00:49:58,120 Speaker 1: help me with that? What projects would make sense? You know, 950 00:49:58,600 --> 00:50:02,400 Speaker 1: what does that look like? And you know, our questions 951 00:50:02,440 --> 00:50:04,520 Speaker 1: evolved because if I were to ask that same question 952 00:50:04,560 --> 00:50:06,759 Speaker 1: to myself right now, it would serve as a nice 953 00:50:06,880 --> 00:50:09,840 Speaker 1: check in. But it's not at the same kind of 954 00:50:09,960 --> 00:50:14,359 Speaker 1: intensity level as pausing a depression essentially or avoiding one. 955 00:50:14,920 --> 00:50:17,919 Speaker 1: So that's where you know, the realization was made that 956 00:50:18,320 --> 00:50:20,359 Speaker 1: no matter where we're at in life, no matter what 957 00:50:20,400 --> 00:50:23,400 Speaker 1: we're doing, we're all one question away from a completely 958 00:50:23,400 --> 00:50:28,480 Speaker 1: different path. Right at any point, including the micro moments 959 00:50:28,560 --> 00:50:31,000 Speaker 1: where you know, we might be triggered or stressed about 960 00:50:31,000 --> 00:50:34,200 Speaker 1: a conversation or an email that came in, one question 961 00:50:34,280 --> 00:50:38,719 Speaker 1: around gratitude can completely pause and reshift our mood instantly. 962 00:50:39,280 --> 00:50:43,200 Speaker 1: So you know, that was the premise behind the concept 963 00:50:43,200 --> 00:50:47,000 Speaker 1: of the book. And I, like probably most people listening 964 00:50:47,080 --> 00:50:50,239 Speaker 1: right now, you know who aren't you know, studying in 965 00:50:50,280 --> 00:50:54,040 Speaker 1: philosophy or don't have a graduate degree in philosophy, only 966 00:50:54,120 --> 00:50:56,560 Speaker 1: knew that, Okay, as Socrates, he's the guy that asked 967 00:50:56,640 --> 00:50:59,319 Speaker 1: questions like that was kind of the baseline of my knowledge. 968 00:50:59,719 --> 00:51:01,759 Speaker 1: And I remember I was having a conversation with the 969 00:51:01,840 --> 00:51:05,399 Speaker 1: now publisher and the founder of that company, Joey from 970 00:51:05,440 --> 00:51:09,400 Speaker 1: Baron fig explaining essentially what the you know, what my 971 00:51:09,520 --> 00:51:12,400 Speaker 1: work's always been over the years, and the concept of 972 00:51:12,440 --> 00:51:14,239 Speaker 1: the book and whatnot or what I was writing about, 973 00:51:14,239 --> 00:51:16,279 Speaker 1: and he's like, oh, yeah, the Socratic method like the 974 00:51:16,360 --> 00:51:20,840 Speaker 1: Socratic what Yeah, And of course he has a minor 975 00:51:20,880 --> 00:51:23,879 Speaker 1: in philosophy and a major in English, so he got it. 976 00:51:23,960 --> 00:51:28,080 Speaker 1: But as I started researching and really like digging past 977 00:51:28,120 --> 00:51:33,600 Speaker 1: the surface of who Socrates was, it became really apparent 978 00:51:33,920 --> 00:51:37,399 Speaker 1: that this is exactly what's happening, because you know, all 979 00:51:37,440 --> 00:51:40,360 Speaker 1: the questions that were being left on the podcast and 980 00:51:40,400 --> 00:51:44,120 Speaker 1: through the app, they're following that Socratic method of asking 981 00:51:44,120 --> 00:51:46,880 Speaker 1: a big question and then asking follow up clarity seeking 982 00:51:46,920 --> 00:51:51,200 Speaker 1: type questions and unpacking things. And the thing that struck 983 00:51:51,280 --> 00:51:54,239 Speaker 1: me was that here's a guy Socrates literally born in 984 00:51:54,360 --> 00:51:58,359 Speaker 1: four sixty nine BC, and a method that has I mean, 985 00:51:58,400 --> 00:52:02,520 Speaker 1: you're exposed to going to law school. I mean it's 986 00:52:02,640 --> 00:52:05,239 Speaker 1: literally stood the test of time and we're all using 987 00:52:05,280 --> 00:52:07,759 Speaker 1: in some capacity, but we don't even realize we're doing that. 988 00:52:08,400 --> 00:52:12,399 Speaker 1: And I remember coming across these these question types that 989 00:52:12,719 --> 00:52:15,080 Speaker 1: different scholars and whatnot had studied, and I'm like, well, 990 00:52:15,080 --> 00:52:17,319 Speaker 1: this is the reason we don't know we're doing this, 991 00:52:17,440 --> 00:52:21,200 Speaker 1: because who can remember these question types of that I'd 992 00:52:21,239 --> 00:52:23,640 Speaker 1: have to literally open the book to list all six 993 00:52:23,680 --> 00:52:25,920 Speaker 1: out for you. So I'm like, there's the problem. So 994 00:52:26,120 --> 00:52:28,879 Speaker 1: is there a way to take the method that's been 995 00:52:28,880 --> 00:52:32,080 Speaker 1: around that clearly works. Is there a way to modernize 996 00:52:32,120 --> 00:52:35,000 Speaker 1: that and make it so accessible to be, you know, 997 00:52:35,160 --> 00:52:38,759 Speaker 1: applied to our daily lives. And that's essentially what got 998 00:52:38,840 --> 00:52:42,480 Speaker 1: me all excited, like, yeah, we absolutely have to use 999 00:52:42,520 --> 00:52:45,200 Speaker 1: this as the backbone of the book and structure the 1000 00:52:45,200 --> 00:52:50,160 Speaker 1: book in a way of get clear first questions around clarity. 1001 00:52:50,680 --> 00:52:52,600 Speaker 1: Then when you're clear and know where you're heading, you 1002 00:52:52,640 --> 00:52:54,920 Speaker 1: know who you're trying to become or where you want 1003 00:52:54,960 --> 00:52:57,399 Speaker 1: to go, then you can act and think with more 1004 00:52:57,400 --> 00:53:00,640 Speaker 1: intention and provide questions that can help there. And if 1005 00:53:00,640 --> 00:53:03,640 Speaker 1: you're doing those those first two steps, the third one 1006 00:53:03,840 --> 00:53:06,800 Speaker 1: almost comes by default or you're really set up because 1007 00:53:06,800 --> 00:53:10,680 Speaker 1: then now you're expanding what's possible or opportunities are showing 1008 00:53:10,760 --> 00:53:13,719 Speaker 1: up because you can see right. It's no different than 1009 00:53:13,760 --> 00:53:16,640 Speaker 1: if you open up a door into a room and 1010 00:53:16,680 --> 00:53:19,560 Speaker 1: that the room is jammed floor to ceiling with boxes. 1011 00:53:20,040 --> 00:53:22,560 Speaker 1: You can't see the back of the room or you 1012 00:53:22,640 --> 00:53:25,240 Speaker 1: can't see if there's a window or another door until 1013 00:53:25,239 --> 00:53:28,120 Speaker 1: you start cleaning up the room. And unfortunate, our minds 1014 00:53:28,120 --> 00:53:32,720 Speaker 1: are like that right, with emotions and relationships and massive 1015 00:53:32,760 --> 00:53:34,879 Speaker 1: amount of decisions. So if we can clean that up 1016 00:53:35,239 --> 00:53:38,680 Speaker 1: which then we allow our minds to do you know, 1017 00:53:38,920 --> 00:53:42,360 Speaker 1: the magic and connect the dots because we have the answers, They're. 1018 00:53:42,200 --> 00:53:44,000 Speaker 3: All there totally. 1019 00:53:44,120 --> 00:53:46,560 Speaker 2: And I love even like the cover, the fact that 1020 00:53:47,000 --> 00:53:49,719 Speaker 2: there's a question mark but it's a key. It's like 1021 00:53:49,760 --> 00:53:51,480 Speaker 2: a question mark in the shape of a key, and 1022 00:53:51,520 --> 00:53:56,200 Speaker 2: the whole idea that these questions unlock, you know, aspects 1023 00:53:56,200 --> 00:53:58,400 Speaker 2: of yourself by like I think often we do we 1024 00:53:58,440 --> 00:54:01,160 Speaker 2: only search for answers, but it's like you're if you're 1025 00:54:01,160 --> 00:54:04,600 Speaker 2: only asking the wrong questions, the answers are irrelevant. You 1026 00:54:04,760 --> 00:54:07,920 Speaker 2: only you know, you'll only keep getting the same results. 1027 00:54:07,920 --> 00:54:11,640 Speaker 2: And I think that's the biggest kind of change in 1028 00:54:11,680 --> 00:54:15,920 Speaker 2: my life was asking things that didn't really matter to 1029 00:54:16,000 --> 00:54:18,040 Speaker 2: my ultimate joy and then wondering why I was never 1030 00:54:18,040 --> 00:54:19,759 Speaker 2: getting any further. And it's because I had to change 1031 00:54:19,800 --> 00:54:22,440 Speaker 2: the question, not change the answer. It's such a just 1032 00:54:22,480 --> 00:54:26,360 Speaker 2: a beautiful, simple way to actually change the way fundamentally 1033 00:54:26,400 --> 00:54:29,560 Speaker 2: that you think about things. Are there any like favorite 1034 00:54:29,680 --> 00:54:33,920 Speaker 2: chapters or big takeaway things that like So this is 1035 00:54:34,400 --> 00:54:38,600 Speaker 2: at the time of recording, it hasn't actually officially launched yet, 1036 00:54:38,640 --> 00:54:41,680 Speaker 2: which is so so exciting to get you at the 1037 00:54:41,680 --> 00:54:44,200 Speaker 2: time where you can give a little like reflection on 1038 00:54:44,239 --> 00:54:47,000 Speaker 2: the vulnerability hangover, like how are you feeling about it? 1039 00:54:47,040 --> 00:54:49,680 Speaker 2: But yeah, do you for anyone who's listening, and we 1040 00:54:49,760 --> 00:54:52,359 Speaker 2: will share links to where you can pre purchase it 1041 00:54:52,440 --> 00:54:55,319 Speaker 2: and purchase it. What are some of the you know, 1042 00:54:55,520 --> 00:54:58,960 Speaker 2: maybe the three biggest kind of aha moments for you 1043 00:54:59,000 --> 00:55:01,080 Speaker 2: in writing it that you think be helpful with other people? 1044 00:55:01,239 --> 00:55:06,240 Speaker 1: Yeah? Well, I love that question because what I realized 1045 00:55:06,239 --> 00:55:09,320 Speaker 1: in the process and the ultimate goal of anyone reading 1046 00:55:09,320 --> 00:55:14,680 Speaker 1: the book, is that my answer to that question should 1047 00:55:14,760 --> 00:55:18,600 Speaker 1: change as as time goes, as my life evolves, Like 1048 00:55:18,640 --> 00:55:22,480 Speaker 1: the question that resonates with me the most now should 1049 00:55:22,600 --> 00:55:26,480 Speaker 1: change because you know, circumstances change and other prompts will 1050 00:55:26,480 --> 00:55:29,240 Speaker 1: then resonate. So that's why there's so many different profiles 1051 00:55:29,239 --> 00:55:32,040 Speaker 1: and different prompts, so that no matter where you're at 1052 00:55:32,040 --> 00:55:35,160 Speaker 1: in life, something in there should at least peauk your 1053 00:55:35,160 --> 00:55:38,560 Speaker 1: curiosity and it's probably where you should start and the 1054 00:55:38,560 --> 00:55:41,800 Speaker 1: one that you know actually continue on the theme of 1055 00:55:42,080 --> 00:55:44,520 Speaker 1: what you were reflecting on. But like, am I asking 1056 00:55:44,560 --> 00:55:47,440 Speaker 1: the right questions? The one that sparks for me is 1057 00:55:47,560 --> 00:55:52,160 Speaker 1: James Clear's profile and really getting clear on the person 1058 00:55:52,320 --> 00:55:56,160 Speaker 1: you are trying to become or want to become right, 1059 00:55:56,200 --> 00:55:58,880 Speaker 1: And his opening prompt is something around who am I 1060 00:55:58,920 --> 00:56:02,920 Speaker 1: optimizing to become, which essentially, in other words, you know, 1061 00:56:03,280 --> 00:56:07,359 Speaker 1: translates to are you climbing the right mountain? So, you know, 1062 00:56:07,440 --> 00:56:09,560 Speaker 1: those are those are the type of questions that I've 1063 00:56:09,600 --> 00:56:12,919 Speaker 1: been thinking about as I'm you know, expanding out into 1064 00:56:13,040 --> 00:56:15,960 Speaker 1: this this mental fitness world. I'm still in the right path. 1065 00:56:16,600 --> 00:56:20,680 Speaker 1: I do believe that, but there's also all these different 1066 00:56:20,760 --> 00:56:24,760 Speaker 1: kind of you know, secondary offshoots off the core path, 1067 00:56:24,840 --> 00:56:27,279 Speaker 1: and I need to be so clear on is that 1068 00:56:27,360 --> 00:56:30,360 Speaker 1: a distraction or is that actually something that's helping me 1069 00:56:30,800 --> 00:56:33,920 Speaker 1: further down the path. So constantly checking in with a 1070 00:56:34,000 --> 00:56:38,040 Speaker 1: question like that helps quite a bit. And then there 1071 00:56:38,040 --> 00:56:41,120 Speaker 1: are other ones, like in the third part of the 1072 00:56:41,120 --> 00:56:46,359 Speaker 1: book that are around just possibility. Because often we talk 1073 00:56:46,440 --> 00:56:50,799 Speaker 1: about mental fitness, and rightfully so from the perspective of 1074 00:56:51,360 --> 00:56:55,840 Speaker 1: handling tough situations right and processing tough motions and releasing 1075 00:56:55,880 --> 00:56:58,840 Speaker 1: and rechanneling and things like that, But there's this whole 1076 00:56:59,000 --> 00:57:02,760 Speaker 1: other world, these practices that are around priming your mind 1077 00:57:03,360 --> 00:57:07,000 Speaker 1: to be more creative and to think and to use 1078 00:57:07,040 --> 00:57:11,080 Speaker 1: your imagination and to really like set you know, release 1079 00:57:11,160 --> 00:57:13,560 Speaker 1: any type of limiting beliefs. For example, So I'm thinking 1080 00:57:13,640 --> 00:57:17,720 Speaker 1: of a profile like like Navin Jane and using language 1081 00:57:17,760 --> 00:57:22,120 Speaker 1: around imagine if, right, imagine if and just going down 1082 00:57:22,480 --> 00:57:25,080 Speaker 1: whatever you're working on or whatever you want in your life, 1083 00:57:25,120 --> 00:57:29,320 Speaker 1: imagine if this happened and that happen, and forgetting all 1084 00:57:29,400 --> 00:57:33,040 Speaker 1: the rules. It brings us right back to when we're kids, right, 1085 00:57:33,160 --> 00:57:36,520 Speaker 1: and you just ask questions and you're not thinking about 1086 00:57:37,120 --> 00:57:40,160 Speaker 1: you know, the results of those actions. You're just you're 1087 00:57:40,320 --> 00:57:43,920 Speaker 1: letting your imagination run free. And as adults, you know, 1088 00:57:44,440 --> 00:57:47,800 Speaker 1: when we do that, it trains our minds to also 1089 00:57:48,760 --> 00:57:52,760 Speaker 1: activate that creativity, right and really just break down and 1090 00:57:52,800 --> 00:57:55,240 Speaker 1: allow for creative thinking and whatnot. So I've been doing 1091 00:57:55,240 --> 00:57:57,680 Speaker 1: a lot of that as well, and it's just such 1092 00:57:57,680 --> 00:58:00,920 Speaker 1: a fun practice, especially before you go to bed, because 1093 00:58:00,920 --> 00:58:03,320 Speaker 1: if you do that and your journal and let your 1094 00:58:03,320 --> 00:58:05,760 Speaker 1: mind run free, often to what happens is when you're 1095 00:58:05,760 --> 00:58:09,320 Speaker 1: going to sleep, your mind's in that primed, excited state 1096 00:58:09,400 --> 00:58:12,520 Speaker 1: and you go to sleep, you know, thinking or almost 1097 00:58:12,600 --> 00:58:15,520 Speaker 1: visualizing your goals in a way, right, and then you 1098 00:58:15,560 --> 00:58:17,760 Speaker 1: fall asleep and your mind still working on that and 1099 00:58:17,800 --> 00:58:21,720 Speaker 1: playing out that scene to your movie essentially, and you know, 1100 00:58:21,760 --> 00:58:24,720 Speaker 1: you're just getting closer and closer to you know, whatever 1101 00:58:24,760 --> 00:58:26,680 Speaker 1: you want. And it's different for all of us obviously, 1102 00:58:26,880 --> 00:58:31,320 Speaker 1: but there's almost no downside to doing something like that, right, 1103 00:58:31,760 --> 00:58:34,360 Speaker 1: So those are a couple that that spark. And then 1104 00:58:34,440 --> 00:58:36,760 Speaker 1: the profile is where I obviously didn't have the opportunity 1105 00:58:36,800 --> 00:58:39,880 Speaker 1: to interview you know, the subjects because they've they've passed 1106 00:58:39,960 --> 00:58:44,200 Speaker 1: or they've Picasso for example, Like that one was really 1107 00:58:44,240 --> 00:58:49,760 Speaker 1: fun because I was going through those practices almost live 1108 00:58:49,920 --> 00:58:52,600 Speaker 1: on the spot while writing it. Like I didn't go 1109 00:58:53,240 --> 00:58:56,280 Speaker 1: I didn't have this whole color practice laid out. And 1110 00:58:56,320 --> 00:58:58,800 Speaker 1: I'll explain with that is in a minute before writing 1111 00:58:58,840 --> 00:59:02,320 Speaker 1: his profile, it was due doing the research and seeing, wow, 1112 00:59:02,920 --> 00:59:07,080 Speaker 1: I've experienced Picasso's work, but I didn't realize that he 1113 00:59:07,200 --> 00:59:09,640 Speaker 1: had this blue phase to his work where all of 1114 00:59:09,680 --> 00:59:12,520 Speaker 1: his you know, his paintings and whatnot were essentially in 1115 00:59:12,520 --> 00:59:15,280 Speaker 1: that hue, which also linked up to a time in 1116 00:59:15,320 --> 00:59:19,120 Speaker 1: his life that he was depressed, his best friend had 1117 00:59:19,120 --> 00:59:22,280 Speaker 1: committed suicide, and then all of a sudden, his his 1118 00:59:22,400 --> 00:59:25,880 Speaker 1: work shifted into this rose colored era, which is when 1119 00:59:25,880 --> 00:59:29,720 Speaker 1: he met his wife and you know, like things changed. 1120 00:59:29,880 --> 00:59:32,880 Speaker 1: For example, so the reflection as I was going through 1121 00:59:32,920 --> 00:59:35,680 Speaker 1: that was wow. You know, here's someone that you know, 1122 00:59:35,960 --> 00:59:41,160 Speaker 1: everyone knows about the work and the idea that he's 1123 00:59:41,440 --> 00:59:44,640 Speaker 1: so well known for paintings in all different types of 1124 00:59:44,680 --> 00:59:47,920 Speaker 1: those phases. It wasn't just you know, the famous guitarist 1125 00:59:48,440 --> 00:59:50,680 Speaker 1: painting in the blue phase. There are all these other 1126 00:59:50,720 --> 00:59:54,320 Speaker 1: different pieces of work that everyone knows about, which means 1127 00:59:54,360 --> 00:59:57,320 Speaker 1: that you know, his his body of work is what's important. 1128 00:59:57,320 --> 01:00:00,080 Speaker 1: It's not just the one phase. So that's where the 1129 01:00:00,120 --> 01:00:02,880 Speaker 1: reflection was. Well, so our lives are the same way, 1130 01:00:03,080 --> 01:00:06,000 Speaker 1: you know, like if I thought back to those early 1131 01:00:06,080 --> 01:00:08,680 Speaker 1: days and sales, like what color would I associate my 1132 01:00:08,760 --> 01:00:11,160 Speaker 1: life with around that time? And I would say, you know, 1133 01:00:11,240 --> 01:00:13,920 Speaker 1: I was probably in like the reds because I was go, 1134 01:00:13,920 --> 01:00:17,080 Speaker 1: go go, and like aggressive and want to really you know, 1135 01:00:17,320 --> 01:00:20,600 Speaker 1: like you know, prove that I could do this for example, 1136 01:00:20,920 --> 01:00:23,760 Speaker 1: And you know, I just remember I actually went to 1137 01:00:23,880 --> 01:00:26,640 Speaker 1: Picasso Museum while on a on a trip in that 1138 01:00:26,760 --> 01:00:29,920 Speaker 1: industry in Barcelona, and the objective was just to get 1139 01:00:30,040 --> 01:00:34,960 Speaker 1: essentially get through the entire museum and see everything versus 1140 01:00:35,040 --> 01:00:37,000 Speaker 1: you know, two years from now, when I was writing 1141 01:00:37,120 --> 01:00:39,520 Speaker 1: essentially the first draft, I was able to do a 1142 01:00:39,600 --> 01:00:42,680 Speaker 1: virtual tour of that museum, and it was you know, 1143 01:00:42,800 --> 01:00:45,480 Speaker 1: let's take in one or two of his paintings and 1144 01:00:45,600 --> 01:00:49,000 Speaker 1: really be present with them and just noticing like the 1145 01:00:49,080 --> 01:00:51,680 Speaker 1: evolution of and there's no right or wrong answers, but 1146 01:00:51,800 --> 01:00:55,560 Speaker 1: just noticing where you've come from and where you're heading. 1147 01:00:56,040 --> 01:00:58,840 Speaker 1: And that gives you the pause and the opportunity to 1148 01:00:58,880 --> 01:01:01,440 Speaker 1: course correct if you want it, or write the new 1149 01:01:01,520 --> 01:01:05,000 Speaker 1: chapter which is, you know, something related to Jane Austen's profile. 1150 01:01:05,480 --> 01:01:08,040 Speaker 1: But it just gives us that opportunity to slow down, 1151 01:01:08,120 --> 01:01:12,200 Speaker 1: come off the autopilot, provide a different perspective from something 1152 01:01:12,240 --> 01:01:15,640 Speaker 1: completely different that we would we wouldn't normally be reading 1153 01:01:15,720 --> 01:01:19,240 Speaker 1: or reflecting on, and give us the opportunity to pick 1154 01:01:19,280 --> 01:01:21,280 Speaker 1: a different path. I said a lot there. 1155 01:01:21,440 --> 01:01:22,960 Speaker 3: I love the word course correct. 1156 01:01:23,160 --> 01:01:26,720 Speaker 2: No, it's so valuable, and I think course correction is 1157 01:01:26,800 --> 01:01:29,680 Speaker 2: such a concept that I think we should normalize a 1158 01:01:29,680 --> 01:01:33,240 Speaker 2: lot more because I think people, you know, feel like 1159 01:01:33,280 --> 01:01:35,320 Speaker 2: if they've invested a lot, like with Kio, if you've 1160 01:01:35,440 --> 01:01:37,560 Speaker 2: invested a lot of time and energy and money and 1161 01:01:37,600 --> 01:01:40,280 Speaker 2: reputation into something, you kind of feel wetted to it, like, oh, well, 1162 01:01:40,280 --> 01:01:41,640 Speaker 2: I've got to make I've got to see the story 1163 01:01:41,680 --> 01:01:45,440 Speaker 2: to the end, But why, like, why can't you just 1164 01:01:45,600 --> 01:01:48,680 Speaker 2: redirect at any time? And I think the best thing 1165 01:01:48,720 --> 01:01:50,600 Speaker 2: about the pandemic, and we would never wish it to 1166 01:01:50,640 --> 01:01:52,840 Speaker 2: have hap it that way, is that the breaking the 1167 01:01:53,000 --> 01:01:55,360 Speaker 2: circuit and getting off autopilot is automatic. 1168 01:01:55,560 --> 01:01:56,400 Speaker 3: It was forced. 1169 01:01:56,960 --> 01:01:59,040 Speaker 1: As for its reflection, yeah, I agree. 1170 01:01:59,360 --> 01:02:02,120 Speaker 2: Normally you have to volunteer yourself for that, which a 1171 01:02:02,120 --> 01:02:04,000 Speaker 2: lot of people aren't ready for or don't have time for. 1172 01:02:04,160 --> 01:02:06,000 Speaker 2: But this way we've kind of all been forced to 1173 01:02:06,040 --> 01:02:09,640 Speaker 2: do it. So personal Socrates is like the best guide 1174 01:02:09,680 --> 01:02:12,560 Speaker 2: to have in your pocket as you navigate this exciting 1175 01:02:12,600 --> 01:02:15,040 Speaker 2: time to know that the world has thrown all the 1176 01:02:15,080 --> 01:02:16,960 Speaker 2: pieces kind of out the window, but you get to 1177 01:02:17,040 --> 01:02:18,200 Speaker 2: choose the ones that you put back in. 1178 01:02:18,240 --> 01:02:19,120 Speaker 3: It's so exciting. 1179 01:02:19,640 --> 01:02:22,200 Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree, And I promise I didn't create this 1180 01:02:22,240 --> 01:02:26,440 Speaker 1: pandemic for the launch of the book, and you're right, 1181 01:02:26,520 --> 01:02:30,120 Speaker 1: it's kind of well timed, and I do. I am 1182 01:02:30,200 --> 01:02:34,880 Speaker 1: hopeful because I'm hopeful that you know, people that would 1183 01:02:34,920 --> 01:02:39,200 Speaker 1: never have thought about these type of practices and because 1184 01:02:39,400 --> 01:02:43,040 Speaker 1: of this forced kind of reflection. I just hope that 1185 01:02:43,080 --> 01:02:46,800 Speaker 1: people continue down that path and see that Okay, yeah, 1186 01:02:46,840 --> 01:02:49,680 Speaker 1: because people have been answering some pretty big questions that 1187 01:02:49,720 --> 01:02:52,280 Speaker 1: they most likely never thought about, right, and like who 1188 01:02:52,320 --> 01:02:53,960 Speaker 1: am I? Or what do I want to? Again? Am 1189 01:02:53,960 --> 01:02:56,840 Speaker 1: I climbing the right mountain? Because they you know, they 1190 01:02:56,880 --> 01:03:01,280 Speaker 1: were forced into a pause, and some still like that's 1191 01:03:01,280 --> 01:03:03,520 Speaker 1: what it is, right. It's just like when you have 1192 01:03:03,880 --> 01:03:06,160 Speaker 1: ideas that come up in the shower or on a run. 1193 01:03:06,240 --> 01:03:08,960 Speaker 1: I mean, we're we're stilling our mind. So just the 1194 01:03:09,000 --> 01:03:11,480 Speaker 1: whole world has gone through that in some capacity. But 1195 01:03:11,960 --> 01:03:15,880 Speaker 1: we don't need to wait for another pandemic or situation 1196 01:03:16,120 --> 01:03:20,919 Speaker 1: like that to inject those moments of stillness. And now 1197 01:03:20,960 --> 01:03:24,520 Speaker 1: that people know that what's possible after you know, going 1198 01:03:24,520 --> 01:03:27,920 Speaker 1: through these practices in a moment like that, I just 1199 01:03:27,960 --> 01:03:29,840 Speaker 1: hope that you know, we stick with them. 1200 01:03:30,280 --> 01:03:33,520 Speaker 2: Well, I'm so excited for the book to officially launch 1201 01:03:33,520 --> 01:03:35,560 Speaker 2: out into the world. I think it is such a 1202 01:03:35,720 --> 01:03:39,400 Speaker 2: valuable handbook just to have to guide you through like 1203 01:03:39,440 --> 01:03:41,520 Speaker 2: this whole rebuilding and course correcting for. 1204 01:03:41,520 --> 01:03:44,040 Speaker 3: All of us. How you feeling? 1205 01:03:44,240 --> 01:03:47,200 Speaker 2: What do you do you have any expectations? Are you like, 1206 01:03:47,320 --> 01:03:49,040 Speaker 2: what do you hope it to do? Do you have 1207 01:03:49,080 --> 01:03:52,160 Speaker 2: any metrics of success? Or are you just putting it 1208 01:03:52,200 --> 01:03:54,560 Speaker 2: out there and wishing it the best? You know, like, 1209 01:03:54,600 --> 01:03:55,520 Speaker 2: how do you feel about it? 1210 01:03:56,160 --> 01:04:00,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean there's I mean, there's definitely metrics there. 1211 01:04:00,280 --> 01:04:04,480 Speaker 1: I mean, I'm setting objectives and I say this kind 1212 01:04:04,480 --> 01:04:08,560 Speaker 1: of tongue in cheek because there is a massive difference 1213 01:04:08,920 --> 01:04:13,280 Speaker 1: in the mentality with this project and the app, whereas 1214 01:04:13,320 --> 01:04:16,200 Speaker 1: the app was very much how many users can we 1215 01:04:16,240 --> 01:04:18,280 Speaker 1: get in, how do we retain them, how do we 1216 01:04:18,320 --> 01:04:21,160 Speaker 1: convert them? And all of that, and this is I mean, 1217 01:04:21,200 --> 01:04:23,360 Speaker 1: don't get me wrong. Obviously, I'd love for as many 1218 01:04:23,360 --> 01:04:26,200 Speaker 1: people to pick it up, because I really do believe 1219 01:04:26,200 --> 01:04:29,480 Speaker 1: in the work, and I've seen questions save lives and 1220 01:04:29,560 --> 01:04:33,040 Speaker 1: upgrade lives, so I mean that's the ultimate goal. But 1221 01:04:33,120 --> 01:04:36,760 Speaker 1: my personal goal is to go into this whole launch 1222 01:04:37,400 --> 01:04:41,120 Speaker 1: as clear as possible, because I'm already starting to see 1223 01:04:41,680 --> 01:04:45,560 Speaker 1: little opportunities here and there and kind of going full 1224 01:04:45,560 --> 01:04:48,720 Speaker 1: circle to what I had mentioned earlier. But I want 1225 01:04:48,760 --> 01:04:51,640 Speaker 1: to make sure that the right ones are the ones 1226 01:04:51,680 --> 01:04:54,280 Speaker 1: that I grab onto and that they can help fuel 1227 01:04:54,360 --> 01:04:56,600 Speaker 1: kind of my overall mission. And I can only do 1228 01:04:56,720 --> 01:05:01,440 Speaker 1: that if I'm not fogged by a million different you know, 1229 01:05:01,560 --> 01:05:06,040 Speaker 1: launch activities and you know, get stuck in checking Amazon, 1230 01:05:06,320 --> 01:05:09,840 Speaker 1: you know, listings and rankings and things like that, Like, 1231 01:05:09,880 --> 01:05:14,360 Speaker 1: that's interesting, it's exciting obviously, I mean, as we speak 1232 01:05:14,440 --> 01:05:16,560 Speaker 1: right now, the book is in a couple of the 1233 01:05:16,600 --> 01:05:18,880 Speaker 1: top one hundred lists, but I know from the Kyo 1234 01:05:19,000 --> 01:05:21,560 Speaker 1: days it doesn't matter. That's I don't want to fall 1235 01:05:21,680 --> 01:05:24,320 Speaker 1: through the hype. Now, I'll take that and we can 1236 01:05:24,400 --> 01:05:27,720 Speaker 1: leverage that, but that the core thing is doing things 1237 01:05:27,760 --> 01:05:30,400 Speaker 1: like this and like really connecting and hopefully that there's 1238 01:05:31,240 --> 01:05:34,640 Speaker 1: one question, one story, or one practice for someone on 1239 01:05:34,680 --> 01:05:38,280 Speaker 1: the other side listening to this that can completely change 1240 01:05:38,320 --> 01:05:40,040 Speaker 1: their life, Like that's the ultimate goal. 1241 01:05:40,440 --> 01:05:42,439 Speaker 2: Well, I feel like you've probably already done that without 1242 01:05:42,480 --> 01:05:45,040 Speaker 2: I've been realizing. But many, many more people will be 1243 01:05:45,080 --> 01:05:47,240 Speaker 2: able to benefit from this book. I'm so so thrilled. 1244 01:05:47,320 --> 01:05:49,800 Speaker 2: And all the links for everyone listening will be in 1245 01:05:49,840 --> 01:05:54,520 Speaker 2: the show notes. Last couple of questions, and it's extremely difficult. 1246 01:05:54,800 --> 01:05:57,560 Speaker 2: This section is your playta, which is where we obviously 1247 01:05:57,600 --> 01:05:59,120 Speaker 2: have run us very short of time for it. But 1248 01:05:59,240 --> 01:06:03,880 Speaker 2: just one quick question about separating your work identity from 1249 01:06:03,960 --> 01:06:06,360 Speaker 2: the things that bring you joy outside of work. Just 1250 01:06:06,400 --> 01:06:10,520 Speaker 2: getting that complete distance that you need to keep creative 1251 01:06:10,640 --> 01:06:14,440 Speaker 2: energy and get fresh ideas. I think it's so difficult 1252 01:06:14,440 --> 01:06:17,440 Speaker 2: when your job is something that is related to everyday 1253 01:06:17,480 --> 01:06:20,320 Speaker 2: life because there's no clear barrier between like being a 1254 01:06:20,360 --> 01:06:22,200 Speaker 2: doctor and then going home and not being a doctor. 1255 01:06:22,240 --> 01:06:24,360 Speaker 2: You know, it's like mental fitness applies to everything, so 1256 01:06:24,440 --> 01:06:27,560 Speaker 2: the ideas and stimulation anywhere that you are. It's hard 1257 01:06:27,560 --> 01:06:29,480 Speaker 2: to kind of quarantine yourself. It's such a bad choice 1258 01:06:29,520 --> 01:06:32,600 Speaker 2: of word this year, but quarantining your life into little sections. 1259 01:06:34,160 --> 01:06:35,160 Speaker 1: But what do you do? 1260 01:06:36,920 --> 01:06:38,760 Speaker 2: I kind of think of it as like it's play 1261 01:06:38,800 --> 01:06:40,959 Speaker 2: because you know, it's a bit of a juvenile word, 1262 01:06:41,000 --> 01:06:43,040 Speaker 2: but it's what lets you're in a child back out? 1263 01:06:43,080 --> 01:06:44,920 Speaker 2: What are the things you do? And I know you 1264 01:06:44,960 --> 01:06:47,560 Speaker 2: have a one year old Caleb, So is it just 1265 01:06:47,640 --> 01:06:50,360 Speaker 2: playing with him or you know, emulating his ways of 1266 01:06:50,440 --> 01:06:53,800 Speaker 2: playing that aren't attached to success or winning or improving 1267 01:06:53,880 --> 01:06:54,440 Speaker 2: or learning? 1268 01:06:54,600 --> 01:06:55,520 Speaker 3: What do you do for fun? 1269 01:06:55,800 --> 01:06:59,120 Speaker 1: Totally well, because you're too humble to ever bring this up, 1270 01:06:59,120 --> 01:07:01,240 Speaker 1: but I'm going to plug some practices out of your 1271 01:07:01,280 --> 01:07:05,920 Speaker 1: profile because I'm using I'm no, I'm using. I'm using 1272 01:07:05,920 --> 01:07:08,840 Speaker 1: one of your concepts around just work hygiene, which you 1273 01:07:08,880 --> 01:07:13,680 Speaker 1: know translates into just personal hygiene, and uh, I should 1274 01:07:13,680 --> 01:07:17,000 Speaker 1: call it wellness hygiene for example, that that helps me 1275 01:07:17,080 --> 01:07:20,000 Speaker 1: through all this and is just identifying the things in 1276 01:07:20,040 --> 01:07:21,640 Speaker 1: my life that I know will put a smile on 1277 01:07:21,640 --> 01:07:26,280 Speaker 1: my face and making sure that those activities, those conversations 1278 01:07:26,400 --> 01:07:30,000 Speaker 1: are injected into the week so it's not just a 1279 01:07:30,040 --> 01:07:33,000 Speaker 1: weekend thing, or it's not just you know, a vacation 1280 01:07:33,120 --> 01:07:35,880 Speaker 1: at the end of the month type thing. So perfect example. 1281 01:07:35,960 --> 01:07:39,120 Speaker 1: So my little guy Caleb, now he's he's actually five now, 1282 01:07:39,560 --> 01:07:44,160 Speaker 1: so it's great. Yeah, so year old, Oh my god. 1283 01:07:44,480 --> 01:07:47,000 Speaker 1: In the intro, he was one one and a half 1284 01:07:47,040 --> 01:07:50,000 Speaker 1: when all of the essentially the app stuff had started, 1285 01:07:50,040 --> 01:07:52,640 Speaker 1: so you're you're not mistaken on that. So he's been 1286 01:07:52,680 --> 01:07:56,200 Speaker 1: through this journey as well. So I mean a perfect 1287 01:07:56,200 --> 01:08:00,160 Speaker 1: example is, like we're recording this. We started essentially at 1288 01:08:00,200 --> 01:08:02,720 Speaker 1: six pm my time, so kind of it's been a 1289 01:08:02,720 --> 01:08:05,840 Speaker 1: full day first and just to you know, be able 1290 01:08:05,840 --> 01:08:07,480 Speaker 1: to show up with energy and make sure that I'm 1291 01:08:07,480 --> 01:08:10,880 Speaker 1: present for you, I took thirty minutes before and we 1292 01:08:10,960 --> 01:08:15,520 Speaker 1: played Lego down downstairs. You know, we just built together 1293 01:08:15,600 --> 01:08:17,840 Speaker 1: and had fun and stuff like that, which just gave 1294 01:08:17,880 --> 01:08:22,559 Speaker 1: me a whole new you know, zest and round of 1295 01:08:22,720 --> 01:08:25,800 Speaker 1: energy to come and have this discussion. So like just 1296 01:08:25,880 --> 01:08:28,960 Speaker 1: doing things like that, and it's different for everyone, So 1297 01:08:29,080 --> 01:08:31,240 Speaker 1: just figuring out what works. Maybe it's taking a walk 1298 01:08:31,320 --> 01:08:33,439 Speaker 1: or playing with your dog or whatever it is, but 1299 01:08:34,080 --> 01:08:38,040 Speaker 1: injecting those moments in your in your those micro moments 1300 01:08:38,240 --> 01:08:42,360 Speaker 1: I should say, of play and excitement. It goes so far, 1301 01:08:42,840 --> 01:08:45,840 Speaker 1: so far, This stuff doesn't have to be complicated, Sarah, Like, 1302 01:08:45,840 --> 01:08:48,920 Speaker 1: we don't need to wait for a seven day silent 1303 01:08:48,960 --> 01:08:53,240 Speaker 1: retreat to like completely reset. You know, those are great. 1304 01:08:53,360 --> 01:08:56,280 Speaker 1: We could do those things for sure, and I encourage them, 1305 01:08:56,320 --> 01:08:59,920 Speaker 1: But there's also the daily you know, the daily practices 1306 01:09:00,240 --> 01:09:02,840 Speaker 1: and whatnot to really help. 1307 01:09:03,200 --> 01:09:05,679 Speaker 2: I also think it's so important that like what makes 1308 01:09:05,720 --> 01:09:09,559 Speaker 2: you smile and happy can be weird, like I'm so 1309 01:09:09,760 --> 01:09:13,519 Speaker 2: yay focused and it's serial killer movies, Like why don't 1310 01:09:14,040 --> 01:09:15,240 Speaker 2: don't question it? 1311 01:09:15,600 --> 01:09:16,400 Speaker 3: Do you know what I mean? 1312 01:09:16,479 --> 01:09:16,679 Speaker 1: Though? 1313 01:09:16,840 --> 01:09:20,080 Speaker 2: Like I used to literally suppress them and stop myself 1314 01:09:20,120 --> 01:09:22,360 Speaker 2: reading true crime books because I was like, this is 1315 01:09:22,400 --> 01:09:24,519 Speaker 2: not good for it, Like I worried that I was 1316 01:09:25,280 --> 01:09:29,320 Speaker 2: like pouring negativity into my mental health cup. But then 1317 01:09:29,360 --> 01:09:33,120 Speaker 2: by not doing an activity that I had already identified 1318 01:09:33,360 --> 01:09:37,040 Speaker 2: really helps me with the separation between work and switching off. 1319 01:09:37,880 --> 01:09:40,719 Speaker 2: I was depriving myself, Like don't double think it, don't 1320 01:09:40,800 --> 01:09:43,719 Speaker 2: like question it too much. If you if you find 1321 01:09:43,720 --> 01:09:45,160 Speaker 2: something you like doing, just do it. 1322 01:09:45,520 --> 01:09:48,160 Speaker 1: Just do it totally, totally. 1323 01:09:49,640 --> 01:09:52,160 Speaker 2: And very last question, what's your favorite quote? 1324 01:09:52,560 --> 01:09:55,920 Speaker 1: Oh, what's my favorite quote? I should have known this 1325 01:09:55,960 --> 01:10:00,519 Speaker 1: because you are the quote queen. I do know, i'd say. 1326 01:10:00,600 --> 01:10:03,400 Speaker 1: I mean this is actually a final thought in the book, 1327 01:10:03,439 --> 01:10:06,080 Speaker 1: but it just sticks with me. It comes up every day. 1328 01:10:06,120 --> 01:10:09,479 Speaker 1: Almost the most curious person in the room is also 1329 01:10:09,520 --> 01:10:14,200 Speaker 1: the most present. Ah, yes, and that you know, that's 1330 01:10:14,200 --> 01:10:17,040 Speaker 1: in Chip Conley's profile. But it's something that for me 1331 01:10:18,600 --> 01:10:21,719 Speaker 1: it just doesn't disappoint because you really can't go wrong 1332 01:10:21,800 --> 01:10:25,960 Speaker 1: with being present. And when you're present and curious, I 1333 01:10:25,960 --> 01:10:29,280 Speaker 1: mean everyone feels that you know and you you feel it, 1334 01:10:29,680 --> 01:10:33,960 Speaker 1: you learn, you know, you expand what's possible. It fires 1335 01:10:34,040 --> 01:10:37,000 Speaker 1: up your imagination and the people on the other side 1336 01:10:37,040 --> 01:10:40,600 Speaker 1: can can also feel that. So yeah, that's something that 1337 01:10:41,160 --> 01:10:42,519 Speaker 1: comes up all the time for me. 1338 01:10:42,680 --> 01:10:43,720 Speaker 3: Oh that's beautiful. 1339 01:10:43,800 --> 01:10:46,240 Speaker 2: And also given that your book is, you know, based 1340 01:10:46,280 --> 01:10:49,280 Speaker 2: on lots of different questions and always asking you and 1341 01:10:49,320 --> 01:10:51,640 Speaker 2: better questions, I think that curiosity quote is such a 1342 01:10:51,640 --> 01:10:54,360 Speaker 2: good one to finish on. Thank you so much for joining, 1343 01:10:54,960 --> 01:10:58,360 Speaker 2: huge congratulations on the book. Thank you for everything that 1344 01:10:58,400 --> 01:11:01,080 Speaker 2: you've done to literally make this show a thing when 1345 01:11:01,080 --> 01:11:04,000 Speaker 2: it otherwise wouldn't have been. And it's just been so 1346 01:11:04,160 --> 01:11:05,080 Speaker 2: nice to reconnect. 1347 01:11:05,680 --> 01:11:08,639 Speaker 1: Oh my heart is full, so thank you for making 1348 01:11:08,680 --> 01:11:09,160 Speaker 1: the time. 1349 01:11:09,560 --> 01:11:10,719 Speaker 3: It's been such a pleasure. 1350 01:11:11,280 --> 01:11:14,200 Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, what a lovely human being. Mark is 1351 01:11:14,200 --> 01:11:16,080 Speaker 2: one of those people I haven't even met in person, 1352 01:11:16,120 --> 01:11:18,160 Speaker 2: but would pretty much cross the world to support. 1353 01:11:18,240 --> 01:11:19,960 Speaker 3: I hope you guys enjoyed. 1354 01:11:19,960 --> 01:11:22,040 Speaker 2: And if you did, or you took away something from 1355 01:11:22,040 --> 01:11:24,920 Speaker 2: his endless wisdom, please show him some love sharing the 1356 01:11:24,960 --> 01:11:28,800 Speaker 2: episode and tagging at m Champagne to help keep us 1357 01:11:28,840 --> 01:11:32,040 Speaker 2: growing the neighborhood far and wide. As I mentioned, there 1358 01:11:32,080 --> 01:11:34,200 Speaker 2: are links to purchase his book or to listen to 1359 01:11:34,240 --> 01:11:37,080 Speaker 2: his podcast in the show notes. I can't recommend both 1360 01:11:37,280 --> 01:11:41,080 Speaker 2: more highly. And don't forget our third birthday or third 1361 01:11:41,080 --> 01:11:43,920 Speaker 2: anniversary episode is coming up, and I'd love to make 1362 01:11:43,960 --> 01:11:47,120 Speaker 2: sure I'm actually answering questions you have about the podcast, 1363 01:11:47,160 --> 01:11:51,000 Speaker 2: career changes, marriage, adoption, or anything in between. So just 1364 01:11:51,080 --> 01:11:54,280 Speaker 2: DM or email me your questions over the next week 1365 01:11:54,360 --> 01:11:56,680 Speaker 2: and I will get ange to ask me them in 1366 01:11:56,840 --> 01:11:59,400 Speaker 2: the episode which is coming your way. I hope you're 1367 01:11:59,439 --> 01:12:06,040 Speaker 2: all pleasing your ya