S1E55 · Paige Armao: Unwavering Positivity

Hey legends, welcome to another week of the Virtus Performance Podcast. This is episode number 55. Before we get stuck into our awesome guests I would like to thank all of you guys for listening. I wrote down the three things I was grateful for today and the ability to talk rubbish with a bunch of cool people was one of them so I still can't believe people actually listen, it's super cool. If you are listening still after that little intro and you're enjoying it please share, subscribe, send it to a friend. If you don't like it send it to someone you hate and then they can listen to it.

But no, very very appreciative. Today I sat down with Paige Armello who is an absolute superstar of a human. She is probably the happiest person I've ever met, she's always positive except when she's in the vicinity of coach camp. But she's always someone that brings up the people around her, always makes me feel better whenever I see her or speak to her and I think you guys will feel better after this chat. Enjoy. My personal and business goal is to be just a little bit better every day. I believe everyone, especially normal people have a story to tell.

The Virtus podcast exists to help us all find small ways of consistent improvement by discussing the journey and experiences of each of our guests. Okay, well I can't do anything about it then. No you can't. Stop it. Ready to rock? Yeah. Cool, I restarted. Paige, welcome to the podcast. Hi everyone, thank you. First question for you. What gets you out of bed in the morning? Do you know I actually thought about this on the way down because I knew you'd ask it. Oh damn it, gotta stop telling everyone my questions. I hear it in every podcast.

Well for me it's definitely first of all to get up and walk the dogs. My dogs look at me like they're so sad if I'm not gonna walk them. So I have to do that. But I also really enjoy it and it starts my day well. Another thing would definitely be I hate feeling like I'm gonna waste the day. So that's why I get up early. And I think also one of the biggest things is that I just like to make people happy. Why do you wanna make people happy? Because I just think it's the biggest achievement that we can make as humans is to just make other people happy.

That's pretty cool. If that makes sense. Yeah I like getting up and I like helping people and making people laugh and talking to people and giving something to someone. And that's fun. That's why I like getting up. That's cool. Have you always been a happy person? Yes I have been. Always positive. I definitely have my negative spouse. But I think that I have the type of personality that can get myself out of those negative dips easily which is good. But yes I like to think that I have a glass half full. Is that the same? Yes.

I think so. If it's not let's roll with it. I like to think that I have a glass half full view. Yeah. Yeah. Where do you think that comes from? I don't know. I'm trying to think maybe my parents. My parents have always made me kind of believe that I have every opportunity open to me. So I think you just kind of take that and you roll with it. I don't think my parents are overly positive people. They don't just like chuck glitter and sparkles on everyone. But yeah they've just always made me feel good and I've grown up having like an amazing childhood and having lots of these opportunities that are there within arm's reach.

So you just, you feel really lucky. And yeah you just you have to have a positive view because it'll change your life otherwise. When like I guess bad things happen or you have a bad day or whatever, what are the ways you kind of dig yourself out of the hole and allow yourself to get back into that positive mindset? Affirmations. So that's a huge thing for me. I'm one of those crazy people that will stand in front of a mirror and say to me, myself, I'm going to have a good day today. Does it work? Yeah, it does.

It always does, I think. And I think my way of doing it is just telling myself it's all going to be okay in the end. This is only, everything's temporary. And that's actually one of my favourite sayings. Yeah. So I think if you have that attitude that it's all going to be okay. You kind of diffuse your stress or your bad thoughts a little bit. Yeah, I like that. I'm pretty similar. I think that if you do the right things for the right reasons, look after yourself first and the people around you, then everything will work out.

Yeah. And it always does. Most of the time. Yeah, true. But then again, even if it doesn't, I suppose you still have to have a positive outlook. Because it's never ending, right? There's no like, yep, it's sorted now. That's exactly right. Yes, it's bad now. There's always something else. That's right. What are the ways you help people at the moment? Through my job every day. So that's just one of the biggest parts with myotherapy and kinesiology. So you're helping people with body, mind and soul. What else? I don't know. I just like to do things for people.

You brought us donuts this morning. Yeah, I brought you guys donuts this morning and that was nice. Cheers to you. Everybody loves the Krispy Kreme. Yeah, I just I like to like Friday morning, I'm babysitting for a friend. She has chronic fatigue. So she struggles to look after her child. So I said, I'll have you, you little boy. You know, I had him last Friday and I'll have him again this Friday. I just I that's when I feel happiest. Kind of when you know that you've helped someone. Yeah. Or make them feel a little bit better about themselves.

I like that. Yeah. It sounds really corny, but no, but it's yeah. And I think it's lots and lots of little things. It's not like one big grand gesture and then see you later. That's right. Like since we met you, you've always been someone that's cruised in and with a big smile on your face and yelled at Cam and yelled at Mitch and then gotten over it. But I think you're the kind of person that breeds that positive energy. And I think it's really nice to know. Yeah. Yeah. I like to think that I do

that because I think and I know myself that if I'm having a bad day, I tend to, I can feel the relationship that I'm having with other people because I'm in that negative mindset. Yeah. So I think that that is actually another motivator to turn myself around because if I'm going to be in that mindset and I'm putting it onto someone else, it's not going to make them feel very good. So in order to make them feel better, I want to make sure that I'm good as well, if that makes sense. Yeah. That's super cool. What got you into kinesiology and myotherapy?

Like was it, was it that innate need to help people? Yes. Like first and foremost, the need to help people feel better. Yeah. And I think also, I was always interested in sport as a kid and I enjoyed the injury prevention side of things. I enjoyed, it sounds really, who enjoys injury prevention side of things? I know you're like the only person in the world, but I sound like a status. I enjoyed seeing someone come off and not actually seeing them get injured, but I enjoyed, you know, working with them on what's going on, how can we help this and what can we do to get you back on the field?

So with soccer, that was probably what I'm mainly thinking of, but other things as well, like I was always involved with sport and I think, yeah, that's kind of what drew me to my therapy. But then the kinesiology, I'm a huge believer in how the mind also affects the body and then the other way around. So that's what drew me to kinesiology as well. And wanting to help people to function at their optimal best. For those that don't know what kinesiology is, fill them in. Okay. So I'm really bad at describing things, but I wouldn't give it a go anyway.

Have a crack mate. So it's, kinesiology is a natural therapy and it's about using effective muscle monitoring and the principles of traditional Chinese medicine to assess energy and body function and to help rebalance the body if there's any imbalances going on. So if you think of, have you heard of the triad of health? Yeah, you would have heard. There's lots of different ones, but based on the kinesiology, there is obviously if you've all done geometry, hopefully, three sides of triangle. What kind of triangle is it? I don't know. Just a normal triangle. Okay, carry on. Not like one of those other weird ones.

All even edges. But you've got your anatomical, which relates to your structural and physical self. Then you've got your biochemical nutritional, which is your physiological self. And then you've also got your psychological, which relates to the emotional mental wellbeing. And pretty much the idea behind it is that you want all of those sides of the triangle to be imbalanced with each other to achieve equilibrium. And if you don't have that, then something is going to go wrong where you feel a bit average or something like that. So the easiest way to describe it is, say you're feeling quite anxious and stressed, you end up with a sore stomach, you get nausea.

So that's your emotional mental is the anxiety stress. And then you've got your sore stomach, which comes up as the biochemical nutritional. And then it ends up affecting you, making you tired. But then it happens the other way around too. If you've got an injury, you can't function properly. So you could be one of those people that stops eating well. And then you end up feeling really down because you can't do anything. And we all know that getting out and being active releases lots of endorphins. And it feels good. And it feels good. So it brings your mood up.

So it's all about trying to make sure that those things are balanced so that you can function to your best. What's the best way to figure out if you're imbalanced or out of balance? Well, it's a long process. Usually if I see someone for kinesiology, I see them for an hour and a half for a session. So your muscle test, which is, I can't really show on a recording. It's okay. So it's using, it's based off, you can use pec muscle or brachioradialis and you test and you're looking for an unlock and lock. So, and that gives you messages.

So pretty much it's like calling on subconscious, your subconscious. And we hold patterns like years and years, everything that we go through, everything we experience, we hold in our subconscious and it comes up in different things. So if you think about it, I'm sure we won't go into this cause it's like body counseling session. Um, but things that you go through in the way that you react to certain situations in your life are all built on a pattern that may have started when you were four or five, six years old. Which is insane. Yeah, it's insane.

But our body holds it as a memory. So you might be dealing with a situation now that has only been triggered because you had that incident when you were five years old. Yeah. And now you think that you dealt with that. Well, who knows your child, you might not have known you did whatever, but you haven't. So now it's coming up again. So it's all about trying to break that down and find where that imbalance is sitting in your body and clear that out. Sounds crazy. I get lots of weird looks when I talk about it, but people experience it.

Yeah, I think if it's crazy and it works, it works. That's right. And I get like, I've got a few friends and even my dad's the biggest one who's just so, so skeptical of it. But then he also sees things where I'll walk in and like I'll muscle test myself so you can self test based off other people though. And you can pick up straight away on how he's feeling and you'll just say it out loud and he'll be like, how'd you know that? And I'm like, I just tested. What the hell? So yeah. What do you say to the people that are skeptical?

Cause like, like I'm someone that comes from a fairly, like, I don't know what word I'd use, but maybe like straight down the line background in terms of like evidence based, show me, show me the science, show me, show me some peer reviewed literature and I'd happily happily go, yep, cool. I'll change my, change the way I feel. Um, how much of the, I guess, energy science is peer reviewed and how much of it is there? So it's coming out coming along now. So there's actually new science that's been found that they've been able to pick up energy meridians on a scared.

So you might have to look into it. I'll have to tell you what it's called though. Um, I don't actually know it off by heart, but there's lots more work going into it. Other stuff there isn't so much and I suppose, but you think about it, all the peer reviewed stuff, everything's subjective. Even what we learn, even what we learn as from an evidence based approach. So I do myotherapy obviously, so I have that background as well. Everything's, which is cool, which is like, like you study in the moment, right? Yeah. Yeah. But we can never ever do enough research and how often do things change?

Things that I learned as a myotherapist four years ago have changed five years later and it's just like that. And then also you look at the mind's a powerful thing and I think you know that too. Definitely. So if we can use the mind to change our health. Yeah. I'm playing devil's advocate here a little bit. I am definitely someone that believes our subconscious has power over our body that we don't understand and that we might never understand. And our ability to test it. I definitely don't think that everything's subjective because there's definitely objective ways to measure things.

But I think that our ability to test it is, um, will come along and will improve. Like you look at say, uh, an ant's ability to understand an iPhone and how it works and its intricacies. Like I think we're at that stage of our development in terms of understanding our brain. Yeah. Where it's just so foreign and so, so far out, like out of what we can, um, what we can experience now that I think it'll be a really, I don't know, it's gonna be a really cool like next century as we figure it out. Yeah.

I think they're going to discover a lot of things. And I think a big, people obviously get results from that and it is, it's an interesting concept because I do understand from that point of view is that there isn't, sometimes you feel like there's not enough evidence behind it, but at the end of the day, these therapies have been around for a long time and they've worked for people. And even if it is like they're even talking about these days with the explain pain stuff, placebo is actually a really important part of treatment. And whether it is placebo or not, who knows, but it's still working.

If it's placebo it's working then play on. Yeah. And it's still, but there's a lot behind it anyway with psychology that the mind is a powerful thing and then we have the ability to change our reality. And that's where most therapy is going anyway. Like as a myotherapist, it's all about, you know, what is it called? The BPS models. So it's biopsychosocial. So it's about, okay, yes, we need to do some physical therapy on this client, but what else do we need to address? What's going on in their life? What are they stressed about? You know?

Otherwise they're just going to keep going back and they're going to save you and you're not actually changing any behaviour. That's right. So if you can change the way they're feeling about their pain, you might be able to get a difference in them actually feeling that. So it is an interesting, it's a very interesting conversation. Yeah. Yeah. Cause you kind of look at like the kooky snake oil salesman on one side and then like you're straight down the line, really simple peer reviewed literature. And then I think you're like the kinesiology stuff's not necessarily in the middle, it's probably more towards the actual sciencey.

Yeah. But it's somewhere in the middle where it's like some of the stuff you just like, that's ridiculous. But other stuff you decide, okay, let's got some air. And I think if, if we can start to see more of it and start to be exposed to more of it and more people can go, yep, I believe that or I don't, then it'll start to grow legs. And like, I guess it, it sinks in really well with our kind of philosophy at Virtus. It's just, it's not about training or it's not about your muscle release, it's about life.

Yeah, that's right. And wanting to be better and feel better. That holistic, that whole holistic approach that if everything's going well, be eating like shit, you're probably going to feel like shit. Yeah. And then vice versa with training and it's really important and stress at home and things like that. That's right. Another thing, um, when I was studying the kinesiology, so I did, I think it took me a year and a half. It's based on doing workshops and you build your hours up to qualify. Yep. And I met some real wayward people. You meet some people in those courses and you're just sitting there and you're like, wow, people are off planet earth.

This is just crazy. But then you'd also, you'd be practicing what you were learning and you couldn't deny that this stuff was actually giving you results that, that weren't working. I don't know. And I think, but I suppose that's again, like it's all, it's all personal experience for everyone. And as much as I looked at them and I went, Oh yeah, I'm not quite on your level, but I'm happy to stay here over here on my level. Yeah. Uh, yeah. I don't know. It was, it was really weird and I think it is hard to in a way believe what you're doing when you've got and you're communicating with, with these people that are so off.

Crazy people. Yeah. Like they were, you know, they're saying things like, and mind you, we might know people that actually do see things. Cause these people were saying, Oh, you know, I see something, can see like a figure and I've never experienced that before. I don't see things. I don't think I'm a psychic. I'm not a medium, but I can't deny that. They're the charlatans that are in the snake oil sales area. I just, I think of like people that think they see spirits and ghosts and stuff like that. And I like, I believe, I guess in like my belief is change and adapt.

Like as I learn and as I grow, but I'm, I believe in energy, but I don't believe that like consciousness exists outside our own consciousness. If that makes sense. I don't believe that we pass away and we become a ghost that just hangs out in a, in a haunted house and I'm ripped into people. But I just, I don't know. I can't see. Yeah. Like I don't know. That's a cool thing. I don't know what happens when we die. I don't know. I don't know what happens. You know, past the senses that I can sense. I don't know what happens outside of that realm, but I think it's, yeah.

I think when people, I think my issue is with people who say they know. Yeah, I get that. And if you like, we can't know. So what do you mean by that though? But like, no one knows what happened. Like let's you go to the, what happens when we die thing or like, or that there's, um, there's spirits around. Like I don't think we can actually know. We can think we see something, but our brains very good at playing tricks on us. Like you look at how well people remember, remember things. And like, I can remember an event two years, like a party two years ago.

I go, Oh, no, you were there. And like, no, I wasn't like, no, no, I remember you being there, but you probably weren't there. Yeah. Yeah. So I think it's really, really interesting one. Um, so you went from Myo to Kinesiology or did you go the other way around? I went, I studied Myo first and then I kind of, yeah, I did Kinesiology after that, but I think the first time I ever saw a Kinesiologist I was 12 years old. So I was really young and I saw this lady who's actually a very, very close friend of mine and a mentor now.

And I ended up studying under her when I was 12. She said to me, she's like, you're going to do this one day. She's like, I can see you doing this. And I think I always played on it. Like I was always like, yeah, I could see myself doing that. And then I said, no, I want to do it when I'm like 50 years old and I've got some life experience behind me. But then I got to, I think I was what? I was 21 when I graduated from Myo. Um, how old are you now? 23.

And gosh, I actually had to think about that. Um, yeah, I got to the end of the Myo degree and I thought, nah, you know, I'd really like to do this. And I think I've always been someone that, um, I'm a little bit more older in the mind than I should be for my age. And that's what people used to say. Oh, I have my moments. Don't get me wrong. I'm very immature. Um, but I, in regards to like spirituality and kind of from a wisdom point of view, I always had these views on life that were different of people at my age.

Yeah. And that's why I decided that I do it. And I thought, you know, I might as well do it now and just, you know, be amazing at what I do by the time I'm 30 years old. And that was my goal. And that's why I said, nah, I want to qualify young and then I want to practice and practice and practice. And at 30 I want to be just like a gun in my field. So hopefully we'll see. How's your, your view on, I guess, kinesiology and health, like overarching theme of health changed since you finished your myo to now obviously having gone through that course in the middle.

Yeah, I think, um, I definitely hold the belief that our mind has a lot more to do with our health than I ever thought possible. Even in regards to treating, I think I can do a lot from a physical point of view, but if you're sitting there with a client and you're making them feel empowered by what you say and making them feel good about their recovery, that does a lot more for someone. And I think, um, there's, I went to a seminar and I'm gonna go and there was actually a statistic there that 45% of the success of your treatment is your bedside manner.

So someone walks in and they immediately have this connection with you. You've got a better chance of doing better things for them. That session, your treatment could have been, you know, mediocre physically, but they're still going to walk out and say, I feel amazing. So I think that's, yeah, in regards to that, that I've definitely changed in my views. And then not to mention half the stuff I learned in my myotherapy qualification is pretty much redundant now. So you've just every, every, uh, unique course or TAFE course ever. It's kinda like that. Yeah. It's redundant by the time you get out.

What the hell? I know nothing. So I think, and then also one big thing from a personal practicing point of view is that I always thought that you'd go out and you'd just know so much stuff and you just go out and you don't, like you realize, you know, nothing. You know the Dunning-Kruger effect. So it's a cognitive bias where the more you know, the more you actually know, the less you think, you know, which is true. It's like, it's like you get like the people who are ignorant and I guess naive feel as though they know everything about this topic.

Yes, that makes sense. And the more you learn the, like there's like a big drop off and it's not until you become an expert 20, 30 years down the track where you actually start to level off and yeah, and you realize, okay, you're like, you actually know a little bit more. And I think that like that happens maybe like six, 12 months into any career. Once you start talking to people that have been doing it for 20 years and once you've been surrounding yourself with like for you and for many different clients that are all presenting with different problems, you start to realize, holy shit, there's a whole lot more to this.

There's so much more. That's right. And I just feel, I honestly, when I first started practicing, I was just like, what the hell? I know nothing. And I think I'm getting better and I'm very aware that there is so much that I don't know, but I'm also kind of like, okay, I do know some stuff. Hopefully you'd hope so. I think so. So yeah, I suppose. And they always used to tell us in our course, fake it till you make it. Yeah, I hate that. It's not great. I hate the, I hate the connotations of it.

I agree with it to a point, but I hate the connotations of it. Yeah, because it kind of allows people to think they have the excuse to do nothing and to think you're actually going to make it. Yeah, that's right. So it's not the best thing, but I, I must admit that when I first came out, I did use that. And what I mean by fake it is I faked the confidence, not what I knew because I, you know, I made the effort to, to study and do things and learn. But the confidence at the start, it was, I lacked it.

So you did have to kind of fake it because if you walked into a session with a client and they knew that you were nervous, they're going to be feeling pretty out of it. And they're not going to feel like you're going to be able to help them. Exactly. Talking about before it just means that they're not actually going to, they won't get any treatment. That's right. Yeah. So it's important to change that saying. I know you need, there needs to be something new. Never stop learning. It's less catchy. It doesn't work. Be confident and learn lots.

Put that on a t-shirt. I don't know. I don't know. It just doesn't work. What, why did you decide to do further study? So I've always wanted to do, so I'm doing a bachelor of exercise science and teaching at the moment. I've just started, I've done one semester, only seven more to go. Gosh. Don't look at it like that. I know, I know. I'm actually very much looking forward to it and I've got this feeling that I'm on the right track. So that's a good thing. Good feeling to have. It is, but I always wanted

to do teaching when I was younger and I think I put it off because I discovered my own and I was like, I want to do that. That looks amazing. And I thought one day I might do a certificate in training and assessment and I'll teach just the Maya. I got one of those. Good luck with it. So it's the longest, longest three month course ever. Okay, well I feel better about doing what I'm doing. Yeah. And then I got to, I think the end of last year and I decided I was just rethinking, I don't like the instability of my industry, but something that is a negative about it, although there is so many positives.

Um, uh, yeah, it makes me feel a bit anxious. I also am worried that I'm going to be burnt out in another five, six, seven years time in regards to physically treating and then I worry just cause of the, like what it takes out of you day in day out treating people all day. Yeah. And yeah, so not only physically though, but mentally it's quite draining because you, you're coming, you're going into work and people are using you as their counselor as well and they tell you all their problems and, and that's not something that's an issue for me.

I actually enjoy that and I, I'm glad that people feel the need or want to, yeah, to, to open up to me on the table, but that can be a lot out of your day and you take, yeah, you just, you take a lot of that home and it's really hard to switch off. Yeah. So I suppose, but that's not really the reason why I'd kind of move away in the end. And the goal isn't really to move away from my therapy once I'm finished with this degree. I feel like when I get to that, I'll probably want to keep treating.

Yeah. And I've just never wanted to be, I've wanted to have lots of skills and I want to be able to pass on to teenagers the same passion for life that I had. Yup. And that's what it's about. It's not even about teaching a concept or teaching a subject at school. It's about teaching them and making them feel kind of excited for the future. That's what I would want to do at school. So what's Paige doing in five years? Uh, hopefully at that point, teaching. Yeah. I think I want to kind of get into a grad year first.

I think that'll be my fourth year. I don't know. I'll work it out. Um, and then maybe, yeah, use that time to travel a little bit. I'll see how I go. I don't like to look too far ahead. Like you've got to look a little bit far ahead because you want to know where you're at, but if you focus too much on the future, I feel like you take away from the focus of now. Yeah. One of the things one of my mentors said to us in a group last week, last week, was you need to be happy with now but striving for more of the future.

Yeah. So like it's not a like, you know, the be better thing that we spout on about all the time. It's not about not being happy with where you're at now. Like, like we should love what we do. We should love the people we surround ourselves with day in and day out. We should love all of the things. Like there's going to be hard days and good days. That's right. But you've got to enjoy the journey. We've got to, yeah. Yeah. I actually had this conversation with a friend and I'm interested to hear your opinion,

but if you, if you had the ability of someone turned around and said, alright, I can tell you exactly where you're going to be in say 20 years time, would you want to know? I don't think if I had, but here's the thing, right? If dependent on the way I answer that question, that would probably change where I would be. It's true. So like if I knew it, then maybe I wouldn't work as hard or maybe I'd work harder or maybe I'd change things and then I wouldn't necessarily end up there. That's right. So I don't know.

Um, no, I wouldn't. I don't want to know. I wouldn't either. No, I know where like, where I, cause I kind of, back a little bit. One of the things I do like every, maybe three, six, nine, 12 months, depending on when I feel as though I need it, it's a brain dump. So there's a bench, um, at Mornington beach overlooking like the yacht club and stuff. And I sit on that bench with like five or six blank pieces of paper and I just, I don't have my phone on me. Nothing, no watch, nothing. I just sit there in bare feet and write.

Um, and I literally just write everything in my head. I like it. It's a good idea. Um, I like it because you can never write fast and you can think. So I'm always just like writing the first thing that comes into my head and then writing it out. And I call it a brain dump because it basically gets all the crap that's in my head out on paper. And then I use that, um, I use that to kind of reassess what's most important in my life at any particular time. Um, so I've done, I've done three big ones over the last like four years since I did the first one.

I did the first one before we opened Virtus. Such a good idea. Um, and I can look, look back at each one and see where my head was at, at that particular point in time in my life. Yeah. And I can see that what I wanted, I think the why I do things doesn't change or hasn't changed over those three big brain dumps. Um, what I do hasn't really changed too much. Like I was coaching back then. I'm teaching a little bit more now and obviously doing a lot more business stuff now, but what hasn't

changed, but where I want, where I'm headed, um, is like the goalpost move and what is important to me or what I'm driving towards now is different to what I was driving towards three years ago. Either because I've achieved it quicker than I thought or I've, it's become less important to me and it hasn't been one of the things I'm working towards. Yeah. Um, but I think that's good anyway because it does allow you to establish what is important to you and what you want to work towards. Definitely. Definitely. And like I'm constantly that person trying to do too much.

So this, this, like I use that as like a centering way to tell myself to pull my head in and stop trying to do a thousand things at once. Well that's, that's important and that's a perfect example of energy as it is because if you, you're putting your energy into too many different things, it's drawing out for you. What was the quote you said before? Oh, don't, this is really embarrassing. Don't put your finger in too many pies. You've got to stop and eat one. I like it. It's not a real quote, but I think now.

Someone put that on a t-shirt. Yeah. Um, but yeah, like it draws from you. Like you imagine it's just sucking from you from every, every direction. So it's important to put your intention. Have you heard of that quote? Um, energy flows where intention goes. Oh, that's good. Yeah, it's a really good quote and something that I try and live by every day as well because you notice that if you're spreading yourself too small everywhere, you can't really put as much as it much as much effort as you want to in one thing. And everything will be mediocre.

Whereas if you kind of focus one thing, channel your energy into that, it's going to be this amazing thing. And then you can go, okay, yep, we've got that moving now. We're probably going to have to come back to that later, but let's now channel engine to something else as well. Do you think that that one thing will help all the others? Yeah. Generally it always brings it up anyway. Um, but I think, well, it's all about balance, isn't it? What does balance mean? When you say balance, what do you mean? I have personal conflict with that word.

Do you? So what's your conflict? What, what do you not like about it? I think, I don't know the word, but it's the connotations people put on it. Just the fact that you need to find balance. I don't think you ever find balance. I think you're always like moving from too much to too little of different things and you're just like, yeah, but at the end of the day, the goal is to still try and find that balance, but you've still got to be happy that you might not ever find it because if you focus too much on finding it, then you'll stress yourself out and you won't be balanced anyway.

So I just think, but you're right. And I think, um, I can't remember where it's from, but yeah, it was talking about how there's, yeah, there's no such thing as balance, but it's still balanced. You're still looking for, well, if you do too much of one thing, then the next week you go, okay, I've done too much of that. I feel like I'm missing out on doing this other thing. So you go, okay, I'm going to do that a little bit now. So you start doing that and you neglect the other thing a little bit, but it's not necessarily neglecting it.

It's just, you need to pull from there to bring yourself back to that equilibrium to feel better again. And it is this constant journey of, um, yeah. What do I, what else do I need to do to make me feel like I'm getting what I need? And that's what it is. That's what balance is, I think. Yeah. My business coach uses the term flow instead of balance. So flows like a balance between, uh, anxiety and excitement. So like flows where you're putting in the time, getting the work done, you're ticking things off and it's just working.

Like you're just in that kind of like awesome state of flow. I think when we go too far one way, that's when progress stops and improvement stops. That's true. Because if we don't, like that anxiety is important. Like it's probably one of those words that's been like bashed around the head because of the connotations people put on the mental health and the anxiety. But I think anxiety is something that we can use. And I think like when I get anxious about something that needs to be done at work or a bill that we got coming up or something that's like even footy, something that's coming up, I get anxious about it.

I'll do the extra little things and I'll focus on that a little bit more. Um, which means that there's that understanding that things will get done and it's not always like, ah, I'm excited for it as well. Um, I think being able to have that flow, um, that's balanced for me. Yeah. I like that. I like that concept. Yeah. What do you think? How do you think life would be different if we never ever, ever had to experience anything negative? Um, ooh, never actually thought about it. That's really cool. Um, if we never had to experience negative, well, I don't know.

That'd be, I don't think it'd just be bland and boring and we just have like dissonance on everything. Like there'd be no, there'd be no excitement. There'd be no fear. There'd be no, that's right. We wouldn't know what positive was without a negative. Yeah. Yeah. I think, yeah. And I think we need that. We need that. We need that ability to feel pain and heartbreak and fear and anxiety and, and stuff like that. Like we couldn't get into flow if anxiety wasn't a thing. Um, so that's a good question. What do you think? Just nothing?

I think, well, I, I hold the belief and a lot of people at first thought when I say this, they think that it's kind of a negative view to have, but it's not, and it's not my aim with it, but I think too much of anything is never a good thing except for donuts. That is the only exception. On the Better Performance Podcast. Yeah. No, I think that's pretty fair. I think you, if you, like KP asked me a question nowadays, like what, um, she actually told me that I could refer to it as Keandra on the podcast.

So Keandra asked me a question yesterday, um, was if you could eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? I'm like, none. Yeah, because you get sick of it. You get sick of it, right? You get sick of it. If I just coached, and I think that's why it's really cool that you're like my therapist, kinesiologist, soon to be exercise science grad, teacher, like you've got all of these different ways to help people. Um, I think if I just coached all day, every day for the rest of my life, I'd hate it, right?

I'd get sick of it. I think the variety is the spice of life. Yeah, 100%. And if I'm able to like pick and choose the way I spend my day, um, and the way I spend my weeks and months and even my years, um, then I'll be able to find the thing that I'm most passionate about at the time. I'm sure you'll go through it when you start teaching. It's sometimes you love teaching. Sometimes you're just like, I just want to treat people. Yeah. Um, and that ability to be self aware and to understand yourself. That's right.

Is probably the most important bit. I think so. And yeah, I just think that, yeah, if we had too much of one thing, it's like anything like you, you have too much positive stuff, which is awesome. You want everything to be positive, but you wouldn't even know what positivity is if you didn't have the negative aspects. And it means that you can appreciate those positives when you get them because you know, something might have happened. And that's balance again. So it's finding the yin and yang, finding that positive and negative. Do you think we as

a society need to get better at like talking about failures and talking about fucking up and talking about things that go wrong or the bad days? Um, maybe. I think that we've gotten a lot better. It started to be a little bit more widely accepted that there is how important that mental health is. So I think people are more likely to speak about it. Yeah. But I also, and this could be a really unpopular opinion, but I also think that sometimes we go too far the other way and people use it as an excuse to not do things.

And I don't like that side of it. That's cool. Yeah. I think it's, people are like, we don't want to go too far that way. We don't want to just like talk about how great our life is all the time. We need to be somewhere in the middle, somewhere in the middle and not just be like apathetic. We need to be, or it's like a balance, right? We need to go towards the, go towards the negative stuff and talk about it. And then when things are going well, talk about the positive stuff and just like balance between the two.

It's finding that happy medium. And that's the thing. Happy, everyone thinks that happy medium is one place, but a happy medium could be. Yeah. A little bit towards that. A little bit towards that. Yeah. I think that's how I see it. Cause I see it a lot these days. You see so many people just talk about, yeah, so much to do with their failures. And it's so good that they feel like it's okay to fail because of course it is. We all do it. Yeah. And then they use that as an excuse to not try. I don't know.

They use that. Yeah. And yeah, you need to kind of move away from that at the same time. Yeah. That's just my belief. It's probably unpopular, but I think it's pretty spot on. I think it's important to, I think suffering is important in life, but then the ability to have that mindset that you have that it's all going to be okay. And you know, life will work itself out as long as we keep showing up and putting in the work. That's right. And I always look back, like I think, um, I've had a really, look, I've had an awesome life.

I can't ever say I didn't suffer as a child. I compared to some people that have gone through heaps, but I've had my moments where I've suffered, you know, whether it be like a breakup from a first love or, or, you know, something that just didn't go to plan and you weren't happy with that. I've had moments like that where you've been heartbroken and just sad. And I've had bouts of where you feel depressed. I've never had depression. That's an issue for me, that thing I've definitely felt depressed, but I wouldn't identify myself to have depression.

Well, that's an important, important point as well. Like that identification, like, um, I don't know. I think it's really important for us to say I've had, like I have, like have, but I'm not. Yeah. Cause if you, if you say I am, or I have depression, you identify with that and you're going to keep in that spiral. Like how do you, you've got to find a way to get out of that. And that's why I think so many people stay in those states. Yep. Well, like look at it from an injury point of view as well, right?

Like, like I had a shoulder injury last year. It doesn't mean I have a bad shoulder. Yes. That's right. Like people will like latch onto that and be like, Oh, this is my bad knee. So I can't do that anymore. Yeah. Oh, I can't do this because, well, can you not do it? Like I hurt my ankle two years ago and I haven't been able to do it since. Okay. So does that mean you'll never be able to do it now? Probably not. That's right. Actually, if we were, if we're able to assess it, figure out what's going on and maybe improve it, then maybe it won't be an issue going forward.

Exactly. Guys, just do your rehab, alright? Just do your rehab. It's important. It's very, very important. But I think, yeah, my point, I think I was, yeah, I was going off on a tangent before, but yeah, so as much as, you know, I haven't suffered as much as some people, but I certainly went through bouts of suffering. And I think if I hadn't have gone through those things, I wouldn't be the person I am today because I wouldn't have learned how to deal with those things. And I wouldn't have experienced those moments and known how to deal with similar things now.

Yeah. So I think, yeah, everything negative and positive that happens to us is a, is a good thing for us to learn and grow as people. I was teaching last week and one of them asked, would you change anything about a lot? Like, so I was teaching business at Chisholm and I was talking about, um, like, I guess my, the process from going from, um, student doing Cert 34 like they are to now and all the different things. And like, would you change anything? I'm like, I thought about it for a bit. I'm like, no, I wouldn't change like one little thing because each little thing's allowed me to get to now.

I think it's a good attitude. Yeah. Like I just like to, I'd like to make a lot of the mistakes I make faster. I'd like a lot of the mistakes that I'm about to make and making daily, I'd like them to happen quicker and with less collateral damage, but that's life, right? That's right. And all of those collateral damages anyway probably sparred off to bring up another opportunity for you anyway. So all the like big roadblocks we like we've had as a business and me as a coach and teacher and all that kind of stuff,

all of them have led to something that's been better and like you'd never see it like straight away, but now I've like been through those cycles enough to realise that, okay, like we've got a hard period now, but it's always going to end up better. It's going to be fine. If everyone can look at life like that, then everyone will be happier and a little bit more content with how things, that things can just be and things can just happen and you can do all you can do to control it, but like so such a little percentage of it is actually in our control.

That's so true, isn't it? We've got a bunch of questions for you. Short sharp questions. You did this for me when you interviewed me. Yes, I did. Have you had a defining moment? No, I'm made up of all the little moments. That was my answer. Good. What's your favourite fun fact? A fun fact? Oh, okay. This is really random, but cows have a best friend. Prove it. So if you actually, I looked this up, but they, so obviously cows, like they run around in their groups of, I don't know what they call groups of cows, but herds, that's it.

But they, if you see, I'm good at other things, just not that stuff. But they actually also kind of traveling too. So you'll see them, they'll be in a group, but there'll be two of them together. And that's why this is a kind of a really sad thing and sorry for all the vegans and vegetarians, but when they take them off to be slaughtered, which is really sad, like, um, sustainable companies will take them off in twos so that they have their friend. Oh my God, that makes me really sad. I'm really going to cry about it.

What's your favourite joke? Let's lighten the mood a little bit. Um, I'm really bad at jokes. What's my favourite joke? I've asked this question before. Oh, I've got one and I told everyone at Virtus once and they all laughed. Why did the Mexican push his wife off the cliff? Why? Tequila! It's amazing. I tell everyone the same joke cause I don't have any others. That's pretty good. What are three things you're grateful for? Um, Adam, my family. Shout out. I know, good on you Adam. Um, my family. So all of them, but mostly mum and dad, they're just the best type of humans.

And just the opportunity to live. It's a good life. Yeah. I can't complain. Full of choices. Oh, hell yeah. What advice would you give the 15 year old version of yourself? Um, to accept myself. Um, I was always a pretty confident kid, but I definitely had, you know, small moments where you kind of feel like you don't really fit in. Um, so I think I'd just look back and I'd just be like, just yes, accept yourself because everything's going to be alright. Don't care so much about bloody year 10 homework cause it doesn't matter. If you're in year 10, you're listening to this.

It's very important that you could do your homework and I know what was, I'm a really bad influence. But yeah, just really the self-acceptance thing is a big one because I think it used to question that. I used to question what I looked like, you know, was I pretty enough? And it's just a ridiculous thing to think about. I look back and I'm just like, I was, I was everything that I didn't think I was. Yeah, that's good. If money wasn't an issue issue issue, if money wasn't an issue and you couldn't fail, what would you do with your life?

Um, I feel like I'd save every stray dog on the planet because I fricking love dogs, but I probably just like travel the world, but I'd continue on the same path that I'm on. I don't feel like wouldn't change too much. Yeah. Like I, I'd still study. I just feel like I'd be just comfortable in what I was doing. I'd never have to worry about money, but I'd still continue on the same path, but I'd do a little bit more holidaying. I travel a little bit more because I could afford whatever I wanted. Yeah. Um, but I do all the same things.

Cool. Yeah. Where's your one travel destination you want to go to? Africa. Why? Because I want to do a safari and I love animals and I'm planning, I'm planning on, so hopefully these podcasts will keep me accountable because I want to go on July next year, but I was looking at hyena attacks on Google the other day because someone said, what happens if you get a test by an animal? But there's only two a year, so I'll be okay. Surely it's not me. Um, I can't believe that even comes into it. It's so stupid, but

it's something that, you know, you always talk about what are you excited for and scared for at the same time and that this is it. Take my questions mate. What do you mean? What was my next question? What are you most excited for? Okay, sorry. Um, what am I most excited for? I'm planning a trip to New Zealand in January and I'm very excited for that. But I missed, I'm always excited. I feel like I'm never excited. Yeah. I like turning up to work. I like my life. I like walking the dogs. I'm even excited just to go to the beach.

I'm excited to try awesome new cocktails and drink pins. Treat yourself. Just love it. And I'm excited. Yeah. I'm just, I like to reach, you know, keep goals. Nice. Yeah. Keep kicking them. If you could be remembered in one sentence, what would it be? I think just like Paige made me feel happy. Good. That's it. If I'm remembered by how I make people feel then I'm happy. Yeah. Nice. That's it. You alluded to it before, but do you have a morning routine? Um, get out, walk the dogs. Usually we'll have some fruit for breakfast. I'm pretty shocking with eating a good proper breakfast, something I'm working on, but I'll eat like pieces of fruit and things like that.

Um, yeah, that's really it. I'm not really a fan of routine. I like to do different things every day. Walking the dogs is my routine. Could happen. Yeah. I do that. They get upset. They eat things. They scratch on the door. They're really naughty, but I love them. Yeah. Just walking the dogs is my main routine I think. Nice. What is success to you? Um, self-love, self-acceptance, and this is subjective, but happiness. Because at the end of the day success to one person can be different to another person's success. So as long as you kind of, you feel good within yourself about what you're doing, that's the main thing.

What's it for anyone else to judge anyway? Good. I like that a lot. What are you most proud of? Um, I am proud of, I don't know, probably my positive outlook. That's something that I've always been very proud of and something that people compliment me on a lot, which is nice. Look at me tweeting mate. It's one of my, no mate, celebrate your wins. It's one of my favourite things about you. You never, you never let the crap that's going on get to you. Thank you. That's awesome. I try. Yeah, I think that's what I'm most, my character I think, yeah.

Let's not get ahead of yourself. Alright, next question. So arrogant. The other side of that question. Yeah. What are you most ashamed of? Do you know, it's actually a really good thing that this is hard to answer. Yeah. Um, because there's too many things. Yeah. I can't even, Oh my gosh. How do I write this down? Um, what am I most ashamed of? I think I'm ashamed of the moments that I doubt myself because I don't think I've ever really done, I've done little things. Like I went to a restaurant the other day that I've been going to for years.

And when I was like eight years old, I remember pouring salt and pepper into all the sugar containers onto every table. And I'm really ashamed of that because that was a really big lapse in my personality. It was. And I'm pretty sure the lady, it's like an Italian restaurant, like 50s Italian restaurant and the lady, the oldest lady there, she owns it with her husband. I'm pretty sure she still remembers me for doing it. She looks at me every time. She gives me a look. I'm like, Oh my gosh, she knows. I'm pretty ashamed of that, but I am ashamed of the things I doubt about myself because you just go, Oh, come on, snap out of that.

I like that. That's a good answer. If you could invite three people to dinner, who would they be? And why they're alive? Who would they be? Who would I invite to dinner? The darling Alma. Why? Cause he just seems like a really chilled man. I feel like I'd have a good conversation with him. I'm not really, I don't really care about famous people. I'm not going to lie, but no, I haven't. Beyond religion, the Dalai Lama. It's excellent. I'd like to give it a read. Probably. Yeah. Him. And then I don't know. Famous people just don't faze me.

I'm not that fazed by them. Who are the two people that aren't famous that you'd have dinner with? Probably mom and dad. Love a good chat with mom and dad. I'm really close to my mom and dad. Good. Yeah. I just love a dinner with them. Good. And mom's a really good cook. So hopefully she'll cook. Don't get angry at me if you're listening, mom. Now she's got to cook. She'll know when and I'll be okay. Do you have a mantra? Yes, I do actually. It's more of a quote. Lay it on me. The last question was going to be, what is your favorite quote?

So what's the difference between a mantra and a quote? I think a quote is just, a mantra is something you say to yourself day in, day out. I don't think it's just something you come back to and maybe things aren't going too well or, yeah, it's something you formulated yourself and it can be a quote. Like it can be anything. Like minds show up, smile and make a difference. Like I know if I do those three things every day, then I'm living my purpose. Yeah, I like it. I don't think I have a particular mantra. I think my mantra changes every day based on what I need to hear from myself.

Good. Yeah, I don't think, I just, I tell myself a lot, just you're doing good. I like that. Yeah. Simple. And if you, yeah, if you can make someone smile today. Do it. Yeah, do it. It does change. I say different things to myself every day. Yeah. Favorite quote to finish off? Definitely. I can't remember who it's by, which is terrible. Just proves how much I really don't care about famous people, but I liked what this person said and it's, it's important to stop in your pursuit of happiness and just be happy. Good. It's one of my favorite quotes.

Yeah. I love it because it's so important. We just search for it all the time when sometimes it's right there. Yeah. I like it. Good. Yeah. Good chat. Yeah, great chat. Thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me.