Automatically transcribed, so expect the odd wrong name or word.
Hey legends, welcome to an impromptu Virtus Performance podcast episode. Now I thought I'd just jump on and riff a little bit about what's going on at the moment, for a couple of reasons. One because it's all everyone is talking about, which is fair enough because it's had such a big impact on our lives and on our day to day interactions and everything, but also because everyone's in a really strange headspace at the moment. So I think this is, for me, I think it's kind of a cool little experiment to record a podcast now while we're
in the thick of what's going on, and then to be able to listen back to it in 3, 6, 9, 12 months and almost be transported back to the mindset or the headspace we were all in on the 25th of March 2020. So the thing that's happening would be the global pandemic of COVID-19-2020, I guess. We're, what, four months, three months into it, really, having hit China in Jan and then spreading around the world and seeing how different countries and different people and different populations have dealt with it and are continuing to deal with it. I thought it would be worthwhile jumping on and having a riff and shooting some shit, so to speak, having a chat.
I'll maybe be on for like 10, 15 minutes, so if it's longer, you can yell at me. And I'm not speaking through any authoritarian, with any authority at all. I'm just talking as a guy who is dealing with it. A guy who is facing it every day, as someone who has been heavily impacted by it so far. And everything's changing. Every five minutes, it seems, there's another announcement on and other government officials jumping up to tell us what we can and can't be doing and how to be acting and things like that. And it's really interesting to see, one, the unexpectedness of it is perpetuating people's fear, people's frustration.
I guess we're not used to having, everything's pretty settled. We live in Australia, for most of us who are listening, or at least we live in the developed world where the majority of our day is pretty set. We know we're going to get access to water, we know we can go to the shops and get whatever we want. We know we can see our friends at work and give them a hug. We know we can go visit our grandparents, but all of those things have been thrown up in the air in a matter of days, weeks.
I guess it's at first, and we'll all remember that time where it became real for us, but it first hit home for us a couple of weeks ago when we were sitting around and having a chat about some gyms that had closed in the US and some gyms that had closed in Canada because of this outbreak and the necessity to flatten the curve and reduce the impact on the healthcare system. To go from that to the main measure that affected us at Virtus was every member had to have four square meters to themselves, which being
in a larger warehouse-style gym, we were fortunate that we had that space and we didn't really have to change too much to spread everyone out. We spent a week head down, bum up, getting our protocols in order, creating systems around hand washing and introducing people and greeting each other. Our whole interactions changed, and that was probably around the 10th to 12th of March, so we're two weeks post that, and in that time it's been mayhem. Everything's changed. For those playing at home, not necessarily privy to what's happening at Virtus day in day out, like on
Sunday night the Prime Minister released an announcement that we're basically going to stage one shutdown, which was surprising because we've never had to do it before, but also you understand why it's happening. So Monday at 12 o'clock we had to shut the doors of our gym, unfortunately so even though we were abiding by those four meter square per person rules, and yeah, this is something that all of our staff, all of our clients, me, KP, everyone that's a part of it in some way or another has poured their heart and soul into this place for,
we're coming up to four and a half years now, that's a long time to contribute to something, to then, we don't know how long this is going to last, it could be three, four weeks, it could be six months, it could be somewhere in the middle, we don't know, but to have 120 odd regular clients that are now out of somewhere that for a lot of them is their outlet, it's their safe place, it's their happy place, it's certainly my happy place and certainly my safe place, and yeah, to have that taken away from you
is, it's really, it's gut wrenching but it's really interesting and it's something that, like I'm still trying to get my head around how I feel about it, like if you're like a Newton's cradle, I'm the one on either end just swinging side to side just going, I'm happy, I'm sad, this is an opportunity, this is frustrating, I want to cry, I want to laugh, I want to get around to everyone, like it's been a really tough couple of weeks but more importantly tough 48 hours, pardon me, and I think that everyone's feeling that way and
like usually when we go through, when we go through something like this it's usually a pocket of our community, a business, an individual, a family that goes through, you know, a heartache and frustration all at once and it's, yeah it's, I find it fascinating because now everyone's going through it and obviously there's different levels to it, like fortunately for a lot of our small business owner friends they're still operating which is fantastic, they're still able to, you know, serve coffees, deliver beer, fix lights, build houses, you know, do all those little bits and pieces which
is pretty incredible, but then there's others that have just, you know, they've had to lay off staff, you know, they've had to pivot, shout out to the friends reference and if you don't know what I mean, pause this and Google friends pivot scene, pivot, but you know, we've had to pivot and basically, you know, Monday morning this week we had a conversation and, you know, we were in an interesting head space, but we had a conversation where we were just like, okay, we've got to create an online business in three hours, in three hours our
physical facility is closed and we're done and we've got to create an online version of what we do with no face-to-face touch points and like Virtus is a very, let's use the word connected gym, like the way we coach, the way we interact with our clients, like we're family, we hug, we high five, we fist bump, we get around each other, like we coach in a very face-to-face one-on-one, here's how we, you know, here's how we change behaviour, here's how we fix it, here's how we improve you, you know, the banter is, you know, at
an all-time high most mornings, like it's the way we interact is just a connected interaction and that in the form that we are aware of or the form we're used to or the form we know has been taken away from us and it's no one's fault, it's just the rules that the powers that be have decided to lay down on us and, you know, I definitely, after a couple of hours and a little bit of thought, like I definitely think that shutting gyms and high population, high traffic places down is the right thing to do.
It was a complete right call and now, you know, two days on I think they should have done more, potentially it'll come tomorrow, like everything's changing every day so we don't know but kind of the way I look at it is we've got people like Ry, most of you will know of Ry who's one of the most beautiful people in the world, he's got cerebral palsy, he's had pneumonia multiple times this year, he's got a lot going on and he's the kind of person that we close for, the people that are at a higher risk
of, if they do contract the virus, the COVID-19 coronavirus or coronavirus, he's the kind of person we're trying to protect and when I stop and think about it like that, it's a no brainer, it's every day of the week I would do it, I would, you know, as much as it hurts, I would close the gym a thousand times over, to another bit, to make sure that people like Ry and our grandparents and these guys are okay because no amount of money or no social standing or no business is worth impacting on that and it's such a no brainer.
But we'll see what happens over the next couple of days but at the end of the day it's happening, I think it'll happen properly, you know, when people listen to this in a couple of months they'll be able to say yeah he was wrong, what an idiot or maybe it was a little closer than what I think but they've got to shut, you know, the majority, everything, shopping centres, schools, all that, they've got to shut it down because at the end of the day the economy is important and, you know, this is me speaking from
a naive 28 year old fairly left leaning on the political compass kind of mindset but the economy is a made up thing that drives us to make decisions that aren't necessarily better for our future, for ourselves, or for the people around us and yeah, the economy is going to take a hit regardless with this thing but if the economy is going to take a hit we may as well make it take a big hit all at once rather than dragging things out either side of it, like every day we delay this I feel delays the
inevitable and it's almost like a day waiting here is a week waiting at the other end and, you know, local footballs being, local sports being cancelled, hugs are being cancelled, brunches, catch ups at cafes are being cancelled, dinner dates are being cancelled, like these are the kind of things we can't do at the moment and it's really, I don't know, I'm running out of adjectives but it's just, it's mind blowing that this is normal now, this is new normal for today and new normal might change tomorrow but like we're all optimistic that things will get
better and that we'll go back to normal, whatever that looks like but the fact of the matter is that the longer it takes us to deal with this thing and for the danger to pass, for lack of a better term, the less likely we are to go back to a new normal or go back to a normal, like businesses are going to have to shut, big businesses are going to go into administration, local businesses are not going to be able to pay their bills and it'll be a bloodbath small business and yeah, I don't know,
it's, for us it's hit us pretty hard as a business, more how we're feeling about it, like we're just shattered that we don't get to hang out with our clients every day, like we're pretty lucky and I guess that's the gratitude part of this whole thing is that we're so grateful and I'm sure everyone wishes they could go back without this impending thing coming, go back to the life they had two months ago because it's so different to the life we have today and the worst we will face is potentially so much better than people
who live in uncertainty every day in war zones and third world countries, so yes it is bad but it's a huge perspective play and it's a huge gratitude play because if we can go you know what, I'm so grateful that the worst part of lockdown is that I can't leave my house, like I have lots of walls and a roof and running water and food in the fridge and the capacity to jump on here and record a podcast or connect with members or facetime our friends or you know, we have so much going for us
and it's really easy to get down the dumps and get frustrated and now's the time for gratitude and empathy for people who go through this stuff every day and for perspective and it's so important to coach ourselves and I use the word coach because I think it's not something we can just do, we don't just decide to shift our mindset, like all of us, me included, have been down the dumps because of everything that's happened, because of everything that's out of our control for the last couple of weeks, like I'm sure intermittently everyone's been feeling
it, I certainly have but at the end of the day we have a decision to make, we have a decision to make around whether we look at this as an opportunity to connect and to go inward and to look after our families and to do the right thing and protect people like Ry and make the most of the cards we've been dealt or we can decide to stick our head in the sand and hope that things get better on its own and they just won't. And I have certainly wanted to stick my head in the
sand a lot over the last couple of days, like having to address the Virtus family a few times and having to kind of face up to our staff and tell them I don't know what we're going to do and all of that, it's hard. It's funny I sat here in this seat, I think it might have been Sunday night, to deliver a bit of a live for our Virtus family Facebook group and kind of say look guys I don't know what's going on but here's what we're planning, here's what we're looking at and it was
hard, I was sitting here not quite in tears beforehand but I think I teared up during but I was really struggling and it's funny I've got these best self card decks on my desk, like one's an icebreaker one to open up conversation, one's a courage over comfort one, one's a wordsmith one for writer's block and there's just a pile of cards and on one of them, like this is a very serendipitous moment that I had earlier in the week, I was sitting here staring at the Facebook, ready to click live and I was like I
don't want to do this and I looked over and the quote that was staring me at the face, staring me in the face could not have been more perfect for that moment and I'll read it now because it's still sitting in front of me and I'm going to come back to it every time I have a weak moment over the next couple of weeks and couple of months, the quote is courage has a ripple effect, every time we choose courage we make sure everyone around us is a little better and the world is a little
braver, Breanne Brown and yeah it's perfect for what we're facing at the moment, in the scheme of things what we're facing isn't that bad, some of us might lose businesses but it's a hell of a lot better than what a lot of other people have faced in human history and I think we're certainly the lucky generation or generations, we live in the most prosperous time in the world ever, there's no argument there, mortality rates are lowest, child mortality rates are lowest, average incomes etc, we have access to technology, we have access to our friends, we
have access to connection and now is the time to tip into that, now is the time to go you know what, maybe hustling and head down bum up at work every day to not see my family and it's a little ironic because I've probably had three of the biggest days at work for a long time but anyway, now is the time for us to stop and appreciate all we do have, not worry about getting more because we don't need more, we'll realise over the next couple of weeks how important what we actually have is and
appreciating what we have and who we have, this is a big opportunity and it's hard yes but all hard things eventually result in easy things and better things and happier things, like this too shall pass is a mantra I'll run with for the next couple of months, the good things pass, the bad things pass and some are better and some are worse than others but this is an opportunity to connect with family, to connect with yourself, to fill your own cup, to look after yourself, to be mindful of who you are and learn a little
bit more about what you want and where you're at, to read, to write, to think, to get outside in the sunshine, to just connect with the universe, I won't say the world, the universe, that's pretty hippie but play on, connect with yourself most importantly and then connect with others, like this is an opportunity to do that, we may have to do it in a different medium, we might have to do it on a video call rather than face to face but hey we're apart now so we can embrace later and that's one of the things
that I'm most excited for is to get some cuddles in a couple of months, I hope it's not a couple of months, that's a long time but anyway there's so many things to be grateful for and so many things to be appreciative of and from a business perspective yeah this sucks but we're going to learn a whole lot about ourselves having to shift our whole business model in a couple of hours, like yeah we planned for it as a yeah we think this could happen but when it actually happens it's a whole different ballgame, it's
like everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face, I think that's a Mike Tyson quote but on Monday we were punched in the face and you know I'm so grateful for the team we have, we all got together Monday afternoon at a safe distance of course and had a chat about it and we just kind of went you know what we got this, we'll look after each other, we'll look after ourselves but most importantly our mission hasn't changed, we're here to serve our Virtus family and to optimise their mental and physical well-being
as much as we possibly can and we'll keep doing that, we'll just do it differently and like I've been up and down since then but that's the that's what we're running with, that's what I'm really committed to sticking out for the next however long it is and you know forever because this is the time where it's important to stand up, we're not here to, we're not in the rat race anymore, we're in the you know stop and look after yourself and from a business perspective this offers up a whole new range of opportunities for how
the businesses out there that are in this thing that you're doing for the right reasons can shift your mindset and get creative and change the way you help your people, businesses shouldn't exist to be businesses or to make profit or anything like that I don't think, like profit's obviously part of it but businesses should exist to help people, they should exist because they make the world a better place and this is where we'll find out which businesses actually do, which businesses we really need and which ones we don't and which ones are actually in it
for the right reasons and which business owners are because you know talking to very lucky being a business owner having an incredible network of other small business and medium sized business owners and everyone's hurting but they're looking after the people that allow the business to operate and to thrive and so many community orientated businesses around here and all of them are looking after each other so bloody well and I guess the thing about running a business and being in leadership in different aspects and you don't have to run a business to be a leader and
not all business owners are leaders but leadership is making the hard decisions because making the hard decisions for the right reasons and having hard conversations and doing hard things and sticking your head out when you know it could potentially get knocked off and that's why we're here, we're here to do good things for people because that's why we exist and that's why Verse exists and I think I just zoned out for a couple of minutes there I don't know what I said but yeah we're here to do good things and we're here to contribute and
for every individual listening to this the world needs you to contribute over the next couple of months like this is a time where we're using the term social isolation a lot, it's physical isolation but any isolation can be of detriment to mental health, we're in a mental health crisis as is in this country and hopefully these isolations can be of physical nature and not be of social and mental nature because we need to connect for anyone that knows the Maslow's hierarchy of needs connection is up there and it's so important to ensure that we're all
looking after each other so if you're listening to this stop for a second send a couple of texts touch base with people you haven't heard from maybe in a little while touch base with your closest friends your family everyone's going to be hurting through this but we have the capacity to get through it and we have the capacity to get through it together and physical well-being is incredibly important too obviously we've shifted our coaching model online so everyone's kind of doing their sessions in the comfort of their own home without the thousands and thousands of
dollars of gym equipment that they're used to and it's okay we adapt we shift how we do it we change our focus and we execute on what we do have doing the best with what we've got is all we can do so let's do it we have a choice to to look after ourselves during this time and to come out of it fitter stronger happier healthier more connected all we have the opportunity to go the other way and and as far as i'm concerned that ain't happening it's not happening on our watch our like our
approach as a team is just to contribute to everyone there's going to be times where we can where we can help there's going to be times we can't but we will continue to contribute as much as we can to those around us and i'm sure all of the other businesses will do the same and i'm sure all of you guys who are sitting at home listening this podcast because you're in lockdown and you're sick of watching netflix slash sick of training and cooking good food and having good conversations with people that you can contribute to
it's it takes one message it takes one phone call it takes you know one virtual tap on the shoulder to check in on someone and see how they're feeling and it takes one decision one of the guys asked me today how's how am i feeling at the moment i'm like honestly like it's been a tough week i'm up and down but my focus and you know i'm in the thick of this with you guys like in an hour i'll be upset about it but like my focus for the next however long is the same focus
i've had for the last 12 months or so it's just focus on the little wins if you can focus on the little wins and contribute to your your future self and your present self day in day out over and over again then you'll win you're winning there's no doubt about it if if you like if you stop and and decide to write something down to express how you're feeling it's a win if you have a good meal it's a win if you hydrate yourself and keep your fluids up that's a win if you do your
session that's a win if you don't do your session but decide to go for a walk instead because that's what you need massive win so you know for the for the foreseeable future you have a choice and i'm going to try and wrap this up because i said i'd talk for 10 15 minutes but it's been 27 so i've talked too much but you have the choice for the foreseeable future to contribute to the people around you and the person that you want to be or you have the or you have the choice to go
the other way and this is a quote that i'm trying to live by at the moment everything can be taken from a man but one thing the last of human freedoms to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances to choose one's own way that's victor frankl from man's search for meaning and you know we have the opportunity to choose our attitude through the situation to practice gratitude and empathy and compassion and perseverance and resilience and all the good things that we know make us better people we have the opportunity to practice that and
to contribute to it and to tip into it and you know i'm i have no doubt that whatever happens over the next couple of months you know a couple of couple of weeks potentially you know it has potentially been a hairy couple of days whatever happens we're in this together and we'll look out for each other and we'll get through it because it's what we do it's what we do we um we do the right thing because it helps those people around us and and yeah i'm uh i'm proud i'm excited i'm proud to be
a part of this community and i'm excited to lean in with all you guys just in a completely different way um it's for everyone that does struggle during this time reach out um myself and the the whole vertice team look i'm going to speak on behalf of the whole community everyone is here because everyone is here and capable and able to help um even if it's just a listen even if it's a joke even if it's a virtual pat on the back we're here for you um if things get tough please reach out please lean
on each other um please be kind um kindness always wins and you know this is a time where we need kindness more than anything and yeah it's it's exciting it's scary it's all of the good and bad things but it's life and we've got to deal with it and at the end of the day it will be what we make of it and i'm really excited and and really proud to to get ready and get stuck into this with all you guys that's me i'm done goodbye
