1 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:04,800 Speaker 1: At just twenty three, Tom Boyd walked away from an 2 00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:09,360 Speaker 1: incredibly lucrative and promising career as an AFL player. It 3 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:12,119 Speaker 1: was the biggest decision he'd ever had to make at 4 00:00:12,119 --> 00:00:16,439 Speaker 1: that point. But what advice did he receive that helped 5 00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:20,480 Speaker 1: him make such a huge decision at such a young age, 6 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:24,680 Speaker 1: and how did the pandemic force him to think even 7 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:33,760 Speaker 1: more deeply about his next career move. My name is 8 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:37,519 Speaker 1: doctor Amantha Immer. I'm an organizational psychologist and the founder 9 00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:41,559 Speaker 1: of behavioral science consultancy Inventium, And this is how I 10 00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:44,639 Speaker 1: work a show about how to help you do your 11 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:48,599 Speaker 1: best work. On today's quick Win episode, we go back 12 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:50,440 Speaker 1: to an interview from the past and I pick out 13 00:00:50,479 --> 00:00:53,640 Speaker 1: a quick win that you can apply today. In today's show, 14 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:56,560 Speaker 1: I speak with Tom Boyd about the advice that helped 15 00:00:56,600 --> 00:00:59,160 Speaker 1: him make one of the biggest decisions of his life 16 00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:02,320 Speaker 1: so far. Now, Tom, I'm wondering, what's a piece of 17 00:01:02,360 --> 00:01:06,800 Speaker 1: advice that you have received an apply that has immeasurably 18 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:08,000 Speaker 1: improved your life. 19 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:12,039 Speaker 2: When I was coming towards the end of my career 20 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:15,320 Speaker 2: it was twenty eighteen, I'd moved on for many of 21 00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:18,600 Speaker 2: the issues I faced the year before I put. 22 00:01:18,520 --> 00:01:19,160 Speaker 3: Some things in place. 23 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:20,480 Speaker 2: I felt like I was in a really good spot, 24 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:23,480 Speaker 2: to be totally honest, and I remember I was sort 25 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:26,760 Speaker 2: of hit on the sidelines with a bad back injury 26 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:28,520 Speaker 2: and sort of got to the point where it was 27 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:30,720 Speaker 2: just not moving forward, and I was starting to really 28 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:33,280 Speaker 2: try and reconcile in my mind what I wanted to 29 00:01:33,319 --> 00:01:34,840 Speaker 2: do moving forward with my future. 30 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:36,480 Speaker 3: I still had two. 31 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 2: And a half years in my contract, I still had 32 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:40,640 Speaker 2: over two million dollars left on it. There was all 33 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:42,800 Speaker 2: these things that sort of indicated that it was an 34 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:45,960 Speaker 2: obvious decision to stay. But for whatever reason, I had 35 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:49,240 Speaker 2: an inkling that you know, I'd had these conversations with 36 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:51,200 Speaker 2: myself for a while and it was getting close where 37 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:53,160 Speaker 2: it felt like the right call to move on. 38 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:56,000 Speaker 3: And I remember talking to the club doctor. 39 00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:58,840 Speaker 2: At the time, Gary Zimmerman, and you know, I made 40 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 2: mention to him, a gaz, I don't think I want 41 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:02,840 Speaker 2: to do this anymore. I think I'm going to retire, 42 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:05,640 Speaker 2: and he looked at me like I was crazy. But 43 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:08,240 Speaker 2: the advice that followed from him was really really important. 44 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:10,720 Speaker 2: And that advice was that he said to me, he said, Tommy, 45 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:14,720 Speaker 2: I've seen too many players rehabilitating injuries, make rash decisions, 46 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:19,520 Speaker 2: change their life and invariably end up regretting it forever. 47 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:22,600 Speaker 2: And I think what that really gets to is this 48 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:25,519 Speaker 2: concept that making life changing decisions when we're happy, mad 49 00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:29,080 Speaker 2: or angry or sad or angry, I should say, is 50 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:32,240 Speaker 2: a futile effort given that we're not in the frame 51 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:35,120 Speaker 2: of mind to think long term. 52 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:36,320 Speaker 3: We're thinking laterally. 53 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:39,280 Speaker 2: We're trying to sort of find our way through the 54 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:41,639 Speaker 2: muck that perhaps we're stuck in at that time, or 55 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 2: perhaps we're standing on the mountaintop going everything's clear skies 56 00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:49,760 Speaker 2: and clear, clear sailing your head. So for him, he 57 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:51,560 Speaker 2: said to me, just do this for me, come back 58 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:53,560 Speaker 2: and play foot he get back to being fit, get 59 00:02:53,600 --> 00:02:55,240 Speaker 2: back to being capable of going out there, and if 60 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:57,440 Speaker 2: you still want to do it, then you'll. 61 00:02:57,200 --> 00:02:57,920 Speaker 3: Have my blessing. 62 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:00,000 Speaker 2: And of course I didn't have to listen to him. 63 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:03,120 Speaker 2: It made a lot of logical sense to me, and 64 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:05,919 Speaker 2: I think for me, that's an outstanding piece of advice 65 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:08,960 Speaker 2: for everyone, and that is just, you know, find your 66 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:11,839 Speaker 2: equilibrium before you change everything, because we can be rash 67 00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:13,320 Speaker 2: at times as humans. 68 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:16,600 Speaker 1: I love that when you made the decision to retire 69 00:03:16,639 --> 00:03:20,200 Speaker 1: from AFL. Did you know exactly what you would do 70 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:24,000 Speaker 1: for work in inverted commas when you made that decision? 71 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:27,200 Speaker 3: Absolutely not. I had a sense. 72 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:29,480 Speaker 2: I had a sense that there was some opportunities in 73 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:32,760 Speaker 2: the horizon. I didn't know what they would be, and 74 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:35,200 Speaker 2: to be frank, you know, I probably spent six or 75 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:39,200 Speaker 2: seven months working through a number of different options, one 76 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:42,040 Speaker 2: of which was basically, you know, going down the path 77 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:45,320 Speaker 2: of speaking and publicly being able to share my message 78 00:03:45,400 --> 00:03:48,720 Speaker 2: and also finding the right organization to be a part of. 79 00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:50,360 Speaker 3: But I didn't want to rush it. 80 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:53,040 Speaker 2: And again this is very much circumstantial based on the 81 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:54,400 Speaker 2: fact that I owned a lot of money as a 82 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:57,680 Speaker 2: really young person, and that gave me the advantage and 83 00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:00,760 Speaker 2: the sort of ability to make slow, more decisions than 84 00:04:00,800 --> 00:04:01,560 Speaker 2: many people face. 85 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:03,040 Speaker 3: So I totally understand that. 86 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:06,400 Speaker 2: That's why I'm sort of quite quite keen to give 87 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:08,960 Speaker 2: the provision of make decisions based on finances as well 88 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:13,360 Speaker 2: as purpose. But what I did know was that people 89 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:16,120 Speaker 2: were interested in what I had to say, and I 90 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:18,320 Speaker 2: began to go down that path, and unfortunately what I 91 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:20,720 Speaker 2: ran into was it takes six to eight months or 92 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:22,960 Speaker 2: whatever it did to prepare myself for a strong year 93 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:28,080 Speaker 2: in twenty twenty, and then that whole sneaky pandemic came 94 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:30,400 Speaker 2: up on us and all of that work disappeared. But 95 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:32,719 Speaker 2: what the really great thing about the pandemic was for 96 00:04:32,839 --> 00:04:35,279 Speaker 2: me was that it forced me to really consider what I 97 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:39,600 Speaker 2: wanted to do. And in that time, what I recognized 98 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:44,280 Speaker 2: was two things. One, I wasn't fully fully done with 99 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:46,800 Speaker 2: the life that I just led in my football career, 100 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:48,960 Speaker 2: and that I actually wanted to write about it, and 101 00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:50,560 Speaker 2: I wanted to sort of tie it in a bow 102 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:52,920 Speaker 2: and put it out as the book knowa to Hide, 103 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:55,400 Speaker 2: And that was really important filming mentally, because it's a 104 00:04:55,640 --> 00:04:59,200 Speaker 2: very difficult task writing a book from my experience. And 105 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:01,240 Speaker 2: the other one was that I recognized that for the 106 00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:03,640 Speaker 2: first time in my life as a twenty three year 107 00:05:03,640 --> 00:05:05,359 Speaker 2: old going on twenty four, was I didn't have a 108 00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:08,839 Speaker 2: team around me, and I didn't have anyone to turn 109 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:09,920 Speaker 2: to on a daily basis. 110 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:12,040 Speaker 3: I could call my dad, I could call. 111 00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:14,280 Speaker 2: My manager, but they weren't living with me, they weren't 112 00:05:14,279 --> 00:05:17,880 Speaker 2: working with me. They were support staff or support networks 113 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:20,640 Speaker 2: rather than people that were on the ground and dealing 114 00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:22,400 Speaker 2: with my day to day And actually that's where I 115 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:25,600 Speaker 2: began to sort of reach out and start looking at 116 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:28,039 Speaker 2: what a flexible arrangement of work could be for me, 117 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:30,200 Speaker 2: where I could contribute to a team that I respect 118 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:32,120 Speaker 2: and cared about on a mission that I believed in. 119 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:34,200 Speaker 2: And that's where I found ever Perform, which is the 120 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:35,479 Speaker 2: business that I work three days a. 121 00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:36,120 Speaker 3: Week four now. 122 00:05:36,200 --> 00:05:40,000 Speaker 2: So you know, amongst all of the challenges the pandemic presented, 123 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:42,720 Speaker 2: I think, you know, if there's one thing I'm proud 124 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:44,840 Speaker 2: of in terms of my experience was that I just 125 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:47,160 Speaker 2: made it work and I found a way to actually 126 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:50,040 Speaker 2: take the good parts out of it amongst all of 127 00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:51,600 Speaker 2: the sea of negatives. 128 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:55,320 Speaker 1: I hope you enjoy this little quick win episode today. 129 00:05:55,880 --> 00:05:59,440 Speaker 1: If you would like to listen to the full interview, 130 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:01,479 Speaker 1: you can find and a link to that in the 131 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:04,880 Speaker 1: show notes. If you're looking for more tips to improve 132 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:08,080 Speaker 1: the way that you work, I write a short fortnightly 133 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:11,240 Speaker 1: newsletter that contains three cool things that I've discovered that 134 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:15,320 Speaker 1: helped me work better, ranging from software and gadgets that 135 00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:18,680 Speaker 1: I'm loving three to interesting research findings. You can sign 136 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:21,800 Speaker 1: up for that at Howiwork dot com. That's how I 137 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:25,480 Speaker 1: Work dot co. Thank you for sharing part of your 138 00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:28,400 Speaker 1: day with me by listening to How I Work. If 139 00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:30,719 Speaker 1: you're keen for more tips on how to work better, 140 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:34,880 Speaker 1: connect with me via LinkedIn or Instagram. I'm very easy 141 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:39,479 Speaker 1: to find. Just search for Amantha Imba. How I Work 142 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:43,080 Speaker 1: was recorded on the traditional land of the Warrangery people, 143 00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:46,120 Speaker 1: part of the cool And Nation. I am so grateful 144 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 1: for being able to work and live on this beautiful 145 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:52,000 Speaker 1: land and I want to pay my respects to elders, past, 146 00:06:52,040 --> 00:06:56,080 Speaker 1: present and emerging. How I Work is produced by Inventium 147 00:06:56,120 --> 00:06:59,080 Speaker 1: and hosted by me Amantha Imba, and a big thank 148 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:01,560 Speaker 1: you to Martin Inva who did the audio mix and 149 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:04,480 Speaker 1: makes everything sound better than it would have otherwise.