by admin | 24 Apr, 2021 | Andrew's Blog, Mindset
This week’s blog is a passionate plea. It’s a plea to you to know how important you are and how much your opinion and needs matter. It’s also a plea for you to open your heart and mind to encourage and allow others to speak their truth and use their voice. I have presented in two schools over the last week, and the thing that has impacted me the most, as I drove away after each session, is the lack of self-belief, self-confidence and self-value of many teenagers. This needs to change.
In a recent social media post, I wrote;
It is our responsibility to empower, encourage and instill belief and confidence in the wonderful teens of the world.
As I stood there talking to these incredible young people at a Melbourne based Secondary College yesterday, I was struck with the realisation that many of them lack belief in themselves and the confidence to trust their voice.
It is my greatest desire; to fill them with self-belief, to help them understand the power, capacity and potential they all have and to empower them to take immediate and even illogical action!
If you have a teenager, know a teenager, or were a teenager… Please act now. This incredible generation of people needs our help.
EMPOWER & ENCOURAGE A TEENAGER TODAY!
I wrote this post after speaking at one school to about 150 year 8 students. I try to keep my presentations fun, engaging and interactive. I love empowering teenagers, I love asking questions and getting responses, I love encouraging dreams and aspirations and I love it when I see the penny-drop, but I am finding this increasingly difficult. In this particular room, there were two boys who were the only ones with the confidence (or interest) to ask questions and to share ideas. There was the occasional contribution from a few other boys, and absolutely no sharing from any of the girls. This concerned me.
I am not a parent, and so I can’t even begin to relate to the challenges of raising healthy and well-balanced children, but I was a teenager and so I do understand the impact of parents, teachers, peers and the media. I am concerned about the unrealistic images and messages that are portrayed about being happy and successful in life. Somewhere in our younger years we are losing our voice and believing that we are not important and that no-one wants to hear our opinions. This is not just an affliction of teenagers, it is true for many adults. Maybe even you.
I would just ask you to reflect back when you were a baby. At that time in your life, were you worried about what others thought about you? Did you stay quiet when you wanted something? Did you give up crying when you didn’t get attention straight away? Did you care how loud you cried or how long you cried for? Were you embarrassed about pooing your nappy? Did you beat yourself up after falling time and time again whilst trying to walk for the first time? Did you worry about keeping people in the house, or the neighbours, awake? I think you know the answer to all of those questions. You were confident, bold, loud and determined. If you wanted something you cried at any time of the day and night until you got it. You kept getting up after each fall and you didn’t stop until you were walking. So, my friend, what happened to your confidence, your belief and your voice?
I say this often, and I will say it again. You are extra-ordinary, in fact every person is extra-ordinary. You are miraculous and on this planet for a reason. God made no junk. You are worthy, you are valuable, you are important and your voice counts. What do you want to say? What would you like to change? Who do you want to listen and hear you? Can I suggest you behave like a baby, and keep saying it, until you are heard? Cry if you have to! Why? Because your voice matters, and your ideas will impact lives.
I was talking to a group a teenagers a few months ago about their valuable voice. I asked them, what they would like to say to teachers, parents and community members, if they believed they would be heard. One girl raised her hand and said, she wished there was more awareness and education about disability. She talked about how many disabled people get treated poorly, because of lack of understanding. She passionately spoke about how this type of knowledge would make a difference for both the able-bodied and the disabled in our community. Wow!! This was a 16-year-old girl. Everyone has a powerful and valuable voice that will change lives.
Yes, that means you! Your voice counts, your opinion matters, and your ideas are valuable. So, can I encourage you to use your voice this week? Can I also ask that you to encourage others to do the same, and, when they do, welcome their ideas and opinions, even if they don’t agree with your own? This world is full of people, who are alive for a reason, and have a voice and a legacy to leave. I am a living example of someone, who is not always confident, not always secure in my value and often fearful of voicing my thoughts. Yet, I do know I have stuff to say, and I am going to say it, because I deeply believe, in my heart, that my voice counts, my opinions matter and my ideas will change lives. That is why I do what I do.
Often, it’s the voice in our head that stops us from voicing our thoughts. In my podcast this week, called ‘Get rid of the crap,’ with Tania Kolar, we discuss how to turn your self-talk into your powerful voice. I hope after reading this, you will open your mouth and share an idea that will help someone, confront an issue that will change something or tell someone how important they are and how much you love them. Just know, as you get on with your day today, that your voice counts.
by admin | 17 Apr, 2021 | Andrew's Blog, Inspiration
Every day I get up to start my morning rituals and, after doing my elimination business, I drink one litre of purified water. I also take some vitamins with that water. I put the class in the sink with the tap on and filling the glass as I go and get my herbal Rhodiola tablets. If I take too long, when I get back to my glass, not only is it full, but it’s overflowing. Now you may be underwhelmed by this observation, but what I want to encourage you to do this week, if living your best life is the goal, is to get full to overflowing.
I know you are wondering what I mean by this, so bear with me as I try to help you take this visual, of an overflowing glass, and apply it to your life. If I were to ask you what the vision of your best life looked like, amongst other things, you would probably talk to me about; a fit and healthy body, wonderful relationships, career success, a strong financial position, a fulfilling social life and having a positive impact on the lives of others. Would I be right? Would I also be right in saying that each of those things is outside of you?
What I mean is that a fit and health body is your external being, wonderful relationships are with people who are not you, career success relies on other people and situations, financial success depends on money in a bank, your social life requires other people, as does having a positive impact on others. That being the case, and I may come across as a little ethereal and woo woo here, my belief is that you can never – yes, I said never – create amazing external results in your life, if you don’t fill yourself up first. You can’t love another if you don’t love yourself. You can’t be healthy if you lack self-worth. You can’t create career success if you can first develop personal success. You will not make money if you don’t value yourself.
A strong social life depends on your ability to help people feel good around you, and if you don’t already feel that way about yourself, you can’t or won’t develop strong bonds. In terms of your impact on others, and please hear me on this, it’s not what you say that will most influence others, but the person you are and become that will have the greatest positive effect. So can you see that no joyful fulfillment, impact or success is possible if you don’t first fill your own glass, and then when it is full, get it to overflowing. It is this overflow that will give you the results in life you want.
I hope I am making sense here. When you fill your glass full to overflowing with love for yourself, then you will genuinely and unconditionally love and interact with others. When you fill your glass to overflowing with esteem for yourself, you will take the steps necessary to be optimally healthy. When you fill your glass to overflowing with knowledge, wisdom and truly believe in your value, you will excel in your career and money will start to abundantly flow into your bank account. When you fill your glass to overflowing with a strong internal desire to be the best you can be, you will most profoundly impact others. I hope I am making sense.
So, the question you may be asking is, how do I fill my own glass and get it full to overflowing? That my friend, is a wonderful question to ask, and I hope you are ready to act on the answer. The answer is simple, focus on building yourself from the inside out, every singly day. Build your self-belief by affirming statements that reflect who you want to become, reading great books, listening to empowering audios, and associating with people who support and encourage you. Build your value by thinking about and writing every day, what you love about yourself, what you are most grateful for and what your unique strengths really are. Build your confidence by taking action every day on communication, vulnerability, trying new things and getting uncomfortable.
Improve your wellbeing by visualising how you want to be, loving yourself for who you are, moving your body and taking steps to put the right stuff into your mind and body every day. In my podcast this week with Dr Stephen Petteruti, called ‘Youthful living to 120,’ we discuss exactly what you can do to live a life of joyful longevity.
When you start talking personal positive action to start filling your own glass with positive input, strong self-belief, high value, self-confidence, self-love and positive actions, just watch what happens when that glass starts to overflow. As you overflow with love, belief, confidence and positive expectancy, watch what happens to the people and around and the things you are aspiring to in life. It is my greatest desire, as you come to the end of this blog, that as soon as you have finished reading you will start on the journey of getting full to overflowing.
by admin | 10 Apr, 2021 | Andrew's Blog, Mindset
I love being a human. As much as I love animals, and many inanimate objects, I am glad I am able to type, talk, think, choose, change and create. The one thing about being human that challenges me is my tendency to want things to be easy and comfortable. My observation is that this is a pretty natural human desire, even though the reality is that things are always hard before or after they are easy and comfortable. Yes, things are hard before they are easy or they are hard after they are easy, so, you get to choose your hard.
Let me share two personal scenarios with you to illustrate what I am talking about. One you know, because I am proud to talk about it and do so often, the other is not one I am not all that excited about making public knowledge, but will do so to share this powerful message. ‘Okay Andrew, just suck it up and do it!’ That’s just me talking to myself now and trying to motivate myself! Talking openly and sharing my feelings has always been hard for me, and particularly in situations where conflict could possibly result. So, for a long time I avoided talking and sharing to elude potential judgment and dispute. I always joked, as a footballer, I would win my fights by 50 metres! Yes, run rather than face it.
It was always easier for me, in the uncomfortable moment, to bite my tongue, pretend everything was okay and then go and distract myself with something I enjoyed. Well, that was easy before it got very hard. Yes, three failed marriages are very, very hard! Had I opened myself up, spoke up, shared what was on my heart, dealt with the issues at hand, communicated, negotiated and solved the underlying challenges, it would have been hard in that moment, but made things much easier in the long-term. Can you possibly relate to what I am saying now? So, whilst it easy first, it was way harder later.
I have spoken about my journey to become an author many times, and I will continue to do so because I am proud of it and there is a powerful lesson here. In the moment I decided to write a book it was hard. I was working in two businesses, one that was failing. I was working seven days and over 100 hours per week. I knew nothing about book writing and had no time, no skills, no qualifications and no experience. I think is fair to say, it was hard. If it was so hard, and so illogical, why did I do it? I had a vision and a gut feeling that if I did, then afterwards it would make my life easier and more enjoyable. I can tell you now, 17 years after my first book was published, with my eighth on the way, I don’t have to work seven days and over 100 hours per week, and I love everything that I do. Yes, it was hard before it much easier.
Enough about me. Here we are, back to you and the choices you have. You get to choose your hard. You get to choose whether you do ‘easy’ first and then deal with ‘the hard’ that will always come afterwards or go ‘the hard’ first and then enjoy ‘the easy’ that will come later. You can sit on the couch, eat anything you like now, because it’s easier, and then deal with ‘the hard’ of trying to restore poor health later, or you get off the couch now and do ‘the hard’ to enjoy the ease of optimal wellbeing later. I can tell which I would prefer and do, every day. You can choose to do ‘the easy’ spending now and deal with ‘the hard’ of financial stress later, or you do the hard yards now to work, save now to enjoy the ease of financial strength later. You can learn from my misjudgment and do the hard work to build trust, vulnerability and communication in your relationships now to enjoy the ease of great relationships later or make the same mistake I made too many times.
The point I am trying to share in this blog is that there will always be ‘hard,’ it is unavoidable. The question is, when will you choose to experience that ‘hard’? If you choose ‘the hard’ later, in my experience and observation, it will be harder and maybe even impossible. If you choose ‘hard’ now, while you still have a choice, then ‘the easy’ that will come is your wonderful reward and will bring incredible joy into your life. If you are inspired to reset your wellbeing and look for ‘the hard’ first, then my podcast called, ‘Reset today,’ with Miranda Mae will help. Whatever you are dealing with or aspiring to right now, know that ‘hardness’ is a part of the adventure. In my experience, choosing ‘hard’ first is the best option, so, with your best life in mind, get good at choosing your hard!
by admin | 3 Apr, 2021 | Andrew's Blog, Joyful Longevity
Last week I wrote about fighting for milk, this week it’s about peeling onions, what’s with the food stuff? No, I’m not about to write a cookbook, and for that you should be very grateful! I love stories and I love the analogies that teach lessons and that make success more visual, meaningful and achievable. So, this week I am talking about peeling onions and not because I want you to cry, but because I want you to understand what is truly holding you back from the success you are after, and how to move forward to achieve it.
I am sure that you, like me, want to achieve, improve or receive stuff in your life that, for some reason, you are not pursuing with zest, energy and passion. Why is that? If you were to ask yourself the question, you may, like me, answer with a definite and profound, ‘I have no idea!’ This is often the challenge for most people… they are not chasing what they want, or are continually giving up, and they don’t even know why. If this sounds like you, then my friend, it is time to start peeling the onion.
When I got the idea to become an author for the first time, it was a powerful and exciting vision. I could see the opportunity to help more people, make more money, have more time and enjoy more passion & purpose. I mean, who wouldn’t be excited by that? Despite that exciting and powerful vision, I hesitated and procrastinated getting started. Why? At the time, I didn’t consciously know, so I started to peel the onion.
I asked myself the question, ‘So, what is stopping me from getting started?’ The most obvious answer came to mind, and that was, I had no time. At that period in my life, I was working more than 100 hours per week in two businesses. Then, I realised that if I wanted to be an author, I would have to make time, so I then asked myself, ‘I don’t have lots of spare time, but I have some, so apart from that, what else is stopping me?’ I thought about it and the next thing that came to my mind was that I had no idea of the process. Upon reflection, I knew I could learn the process, so again I asked myself, ‘I can learn the process, so apart from that, what else is stopping me?’ I wanted to write a book about nutrition, and as I didn’t have a nutrition degree, I didn’t believe I was qualified. What I did have however, was years of experience, knowledge and passion, so again I asked myself, ‘I am absolutely qualified, so apart from that, what else is stopping me?’
I kept doing this, ‘peeling the onion,’ until I got to the point when there was nothing else stopping me after the question ‘apart from that, what else stopping me?’ The final thing I said, the real and only issue, was fear of rejection. The bottom line was, I was terrified of going through the whole process of writing a book and not finding a publisher, and even if I did, I was scared that no-one would buy, like or read my book. It had nothing to do with time, understanding the process, being qualified or any of the other excuses I was making as to why I didn’t get started. It was one thing and one thing only I had to deal with. If I hadn’t peeled the onion, and kept peeling, I would never have identified it.
I then only had to handle this one challenge, and when I did, everything else fell into place. Within two years of this epiphany, I was a published author with my first two best-selling books that sold over 100,000 copies between them. That fear of rejection was overcome by the strength of my vision and reasoning that, if I didn’t give it a go, I would never know if I could be a success, or ever live the amazing life I desired. The key to me sitting here, loving my life, fulfilling my purpose and on the verge of publishing my eighth book, was spending the time about 20 years ago, to peel the onion.
I hope my story inspires and encourages you. I hope you are ready now to start peeling your own onion, to find that one simple block that is stopping you from living the most amazing life that is possible for you. I can tell you, the real obstacle is none of 99% of excuses that you are telling yourself, it’s just one thing that lies at the core of the onion. Your job is to keep peeling until you find it. Then, when you do, you can deal with it. It is my strongest desire that you can break through your barrier to achieve anything you want, just start peeling.
To help you in this process to go on to great things, I want to invite you to an online event that is happening this week. I am partnering with the amazing Heather Rendulic to present, ‘Put the spring in your thing.’ This event is on Thursday evening, April 8 (in the USA and Northern Hemisphere) or Friday morning April 9 (in Australia & the Southern Hemisphere). To find out more, you can listen to the podcast I did with Heather last week, and to book for the event, simply click here.
Life is short and you only get one shot at making it the best it can be. I can pretty much guarantee you that there is only one thing you need to negotiate to be able to move forward and live that incredible life. Your job is to peel the onion until you find it, deal with it and then enjoy the amazing experiences that will happen as a result. Don’t put it off any longer, start peeling today.
by admin | 27 Mar, 2021 | Andrew's Blog, Inspiration
What is it you will fight for? What is it I will fight for? I have been reflecting this week on what is the difference between the people who achieve an incredible level of health, happiness, abundance and success, and those who don’t. I have said it many times before, is definitely not talent, intellect, age, experience, money, luck or circumstances, as many people think it is. Okay then, what is it? It is what we are prepared to fight for. In the words of Russell Crowe, playing the boxer James J. Braddock, in the movie ‘Cinderella Man,’ it is milk!
This movie is my all-time favourite movie, and after a great night out with two inspiring friends this week, the movie came up in conversation, and we started talking about a specific scene, which I love. If you haven’t seen the movie, I would absolutely encourage you to watch it, but as some context, I will give you a little background to the scene in question. The movie is based on a true story of the life, the struggles and ultimately the unlikely and inspiring success of boxer James J. Braddock. The movie is set in New York and New Jersey in the 1920’s and 1930’s, right at the time of the Great Depression.
Before the depression, James (Jim) Braddock, was an up-and-coming boxing hopeful, who had never been knocked out. His wins were mounting, his status was growing and his prospects for becoming the heavyweight champion of the world were improving. Then the Great Depression hit. He suffered injuries, he lost a lot of money and he, his wife and his three children found themselves living in a hovel, barely scraping enough money together to survive. After an embarrassing fight, where he re-broke his hand and the fight was called due to the crowd unrest, Jim’s license was revoked by the boxing commission. In other words, he couldn’t fight professionally anymore.
From that point, things really spiralled. Jim and his wife Mae couldn’t pay the rent and couldn’t even pay for milk. In fact, it got so bad that Mae had to farm the kids out to extended family because they couldn’t keep them healthy. Jim ended up working on the docks, borrowing money from friends and even lining up for financial support from the government, all to get the kids back. Then, out of the blue, an opportunity to fight in a one-off professional bout came up and Jim jumped at it. He was old, injured and a rank outsider, but somehow, he miraculously won the fight. This started a run of wins that led to a fight that would make him the number one contender for the heavyweight championship.
It was a tough fight, and he was getting beaten badly. At one stage, a powerful punch to his face, knocked his mouthguard out and sent him reeling. As he stumbled to get his mouthguard, with blood dripping from his face, he reflected on the things he had experienced over the past few painful years; the lack of money, the sick children, the empty beds after they had been farmed out and the empty milk bottle with the note ‘past due’ on it. He picked up his mouthguard, put it back into his mouth, looked at his opponent and smiled, with a smile that said, ‘I am here, and you are going down.’ Jim went on to win the bout and set himself up for a shot at the world title.
I know this is a long-winded story, but it’s worth it, trust me! At the press conference before the title fight, one of the reporters asked Jim a question that was on many people’s minds. He asked, ‘Hey Jim, how do you explain your comeback? You couldn’t win a fight for love-or-money. How did you turn it around to be here?’ Jim replied, ‘Well, I had a run of bad luck, I was injured and was fortunately able to overcome my injury and get back into some form. And now, most importantly, I know what I am fighting for.’ The reporter asked, ‘Yeah, what’s that Jim?’ Jim looked at him, looked at his wife and said, ‘Milk!’
My question to you, as you read this, is, do you understand the significance of that statement? Jim went on to defy overwhelming odds to win the heavyweight championship of the world. Why? Because he knew what we was truly fighting for. It wasn’t fame, it wasn’t money and it wasn’t a nice house or car. He was fighting for his family and being able to give them milk, provide them with food, and keep them healthy and safe. This, my friends, is the secret to achieving anything you want. You need to know, deep in your heart what you are fighting for.
What are you aspiring to at the moment? What are you working towards? What are you struggling with? I know for me, when the goal was superficial, I struggled. When I worked for money and status only, I couldn’t gain momentum. When I trained my body for validation and recognition, I found it difficult. When I was not clear on what I was fighting for, I found it hard to stay focused, avoid distraction and persist when things became challenging. When I identified what I was really fighting for, the rest just seemed to fall into place. The worked wasn’t a chore, the mistakes became lessons, and the challenges became opportunities.
In this week’s podcast, ‘You get what you expect,’ with Carol Cooke, you will hear the incredible story of a fighter who overcame 42 years, four sports and the diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis to finally fulfill a dream she was fighting for. She was a 9 year old with the dream of being an Olympian for Canada and it was finally fulfilled at 51 years of age when she was selected in the 2012 Para-Olympics to represent Australia. She has gone on to win three gold medals in 2012 and 2016 and is on the verge of her fourth gold medal in the 2021 Tokyo Games. At the age of 60, the dream is still alive and the fight still inside her.
My question for you is, what is your milk? What will move you to defy the odds and do what you have been unable to do to this moment? Success, in any area, is not as complicated or difficult as most people make it out to be. It will take focus, it will take effort and it will require perspective and resilience, but it will not be a chore or a hardship if you know what your milk is. So please, spend some time reflecting, thinking and asking yourself the right questions, and then, start fighting for your milk!
by admin | 20 Mar, 2021 | Andrew's Blog, Mindset
I can’t believe how much time and money I have wasted in my life trying to fast-track the process and re-invent the wheel. My ego was too inflated to follow someone else’s strategy, even if it was working, as I thought I could do it better, with no idea what I was doing. I was failing in a spectacular way in many areas of life, and then I got asked the question by someone trying to help me succeed, ‘why not fail our way first?’
When, after two years of starting a café, you are in close to $100,000 debt, it’s a sign that you should have taken advice from someone who has run or is running a successful hospitality business and then taken the time to do it right. Not me. I thought I knew everything, and I knew I could make it work, yet it failed spectacularly! I have had to experience three failed marriages, and hurting people I care about, thinking I knew how to be a good husband. I didn’t think I needed to take advice from people who really knew nor take the time to build strong relationships, and so I suffered and caused suffering for others. There are many other examples I could give you, of my ego looking for an easier option and leading me to a spectacular mess, but I don’t want to lose all of my credibility. LOL!!
I did finally learn, which is good news. What I learned was that, no matter what I wanted in my life, there was a predictable path to success which had already been forged by someone else. All I had to do was be willing to listen, learn and follow that path. Incredibly, but not surprisingly, when I did start following that path, success also started to predictably happen in my life. So, what I am saying here is this, if you are sick of random results, frequent frustration and spectacular failure, then simply… fail our way first!
What that means is, try following a predictable process first. Then, at least if you fail, you know why. Do you want me to tell you? You may not like the answer! If you follow a predictable plan and don’t create the success you want, you stopped short of that destination. In other words, you quit! Yikes, I told you, you may not like the answer. I certainly didn’t when it was suggested to me. It was almost tempting to go back to my crazy plan, because then I could blame something else, saying that I tried but the process didn’t work. But then I realised, I actually wanted success, so neither excuses nor quitting was ever going to get me there.
You see, most of us don’t like the predictable path, because it takes too long, and it causes us to have to face fears and insecurities that we really don’t want to face. Hence, we look for a quick-fix or a shortcut. I love the saying by John Maxwell; the longest distance between two points is a shortcut. In my podcast this week with Ossie Khan, called ‘Hitting the drop-zone,’ Ossie discusses the secret to successfully hit the drop-zone as a skydiver, but also in life. He explains the need to slow down, prepare properly and follow the process to a tee, and when you do, hitting the drop-zone successfully is predictable.
As you are moving towards hitting your own drop-zone in life, in other words, creating success, how is it going? Are you getting wonderful success and moving boldly in the direction you want to go, or are you getting frustrated, discouraged and wasting time and money spinning your wheels? If it’s the latter, maybe, just maybe, you are trying to find a shortcut to success, and not following a predictable plan, because it seems to take too long and be too hard. I can tell you with confidence that a quick-fix diet will never give you optimal wellbeing that lasts. Be assured that gambling to make money will not give you the financial independence and security you want. Make no mistake about it, buying flowers, every once in a while, will not fix a broken relationship. Are you getting my drift here?
If you would like to save time, money, heartache and create permanent positive change, and I am guessing you do, then follow the predictable path first. Even if it takes longer and is initially more challenging. It will definitely save you from the shiny-object quick-fix temptation that will zap your time, energy, money and self-belief. If you do, and fail, then you will know why. It means that the end result wasn’t important enough and your desire wasn’t strong enough. When you have a strong desire and you are willing to slow down and follow a predictable plan for success, no matter how long it takes, you will get there. 100% guaranteed! Please, fail our way first.
