May 29, 2022

Build a Healthy Mindset with Nick Bracks

Build a Healthy Mindset with Nick Bracks
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Build a Healthy Mindset with Nick Bracks
Build a Healthy Mindset with Nick Bracks
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Season 7 Mindset Goals & Habits

Nick Bracks has struggled with low self-esteem and anxiety since he was a kid. His mental health struggles hit a low point when in 2007 he was in a drink driving car accident while his father Steve was the Premier of Victoria. Since then he’s been on a mission to improve his mental health, and has gone on to run multiple businesses and perform on shows like Dancing with the Stars and Neighbours. Nick has some amazing advice around self-worth, intuition and the value of exercise and meditation. Connect with Nick:www.nickbracks.comBuy his book here: https://booktopia.kh4ffx.net/moveyourmind
Connect with Cass:www.crappytohappypod.comhello@crappytohappypod.com 
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Join the free 7-day Happiness Challenge:www.cassdunn.com/happiness

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Transcript
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A listener production.

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This is Crappita Happy and I am your host, Cas Doun.

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I'm a clinical and coaching psychologist and mindfulness meditation teacher

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and of course author of the Crappita Happy books. In

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this show, I bring you conversations with interesting, inspiring, intelligent

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people who are experts in their field and who have

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something of value to share that will help you feel

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less crappy and more happy. In two thousand and seven,

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Nick Brax hit the national headlines for all the wrong

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reasons when he drove the family car into a tree

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while he was drunk. The story was so huge because

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at the time, his dad, Steve, was the premier of Victoria,

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and that night was the culmination of many years of

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struggling with obsessive thoughts, crippling social anxiety, and addictive behaviors.

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It was a huge mistake for Nick, but after finding

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his own path to healing, Nick now uses that experience

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and all of his experiences for the greater good. He

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has faced his own demons, He's confronted his biggest fears,

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found healthy ways to manage his mind and his mood,

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and through his company Move Your Mind, he now works

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tirelessly to champion the importance of looking after your mental

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health and well being. In this fascinating chat, Nick shares

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with me how he went from being barely able to

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maintain eye contact to appearing as a contestant on Dancing

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with the Stars on national television. How he developed a

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love of acting, appearing on iconic Ozzie TV show Neighbors.

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He became a successful entrepreneur, running multiple businesses and ultimately,

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as I said, founding his own media company, Move Your Mind,

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which has a mission of engaging communities about mental health

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to inspire and create change. If you have ever struggled

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with mental health issues, then you are going to get

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so much out of my chat with Nick. Here he

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is Nick Brax, Welcome to the Crafita Heavy podcast.

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Thank you for having me. I'm glad we finally got

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around to doing this.

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Finally, we've been talking about this for I realized it's

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probably been almost a year that we've been trying to

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do this, so I'm really glad to have you on here.

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Nick.

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I want to start with I know this is not

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the beginning of your story, and it certainly was not

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the end of your story, but it was obviously a

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pivotal moment when you crashed the family sub when you

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were drink driving and your dad was premier of Victoria.

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Can you just share with me, I guess what was

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going on for you in the lead up to that

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kind of fateful event.

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Yeah, I mean there was definitely a big lead up.

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I mean a whole growing up. I had issues with overthinking, OCD,

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whole range of behaviors that came out from that extreme behavior,

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addiction to sport as sort of eleven twelve year old

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training six seven hours a day, you know, compulsive behavior

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that I knew was wrong, but I didn't know why

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I was doing it and couldn't control them. There was

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a whole lot of things happening, and I'd finished it

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at school and my body had broken down, couldn't compete

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in sport anymore, had been on a gap year, wasn't

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coping because I had such low self esteem and just

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didn't have any social skills. I couldn't, you know, look

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people in the eye and have a conversation. So I'd

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come back from that, I dropped out of a course

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at university, had sort of discovered alcohol for the first time,

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which I'd never touched before that because I was so

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fixated and focused on being this professional athlete that I

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just wouldn't touch it. But then it went the opposite,

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where I was so lost that it became my catalyst

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to cope and I was abusing that to escape, and

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that progressively spiraled. And it had been spiraling for well

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over a year by this point. And if it wasn't

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that car crash, something else would have happened. I was

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putting myself in life threatening situations on a weekly basis.

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I remember Mum and Dad, you know, retrospectively telling me that,

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you know, they would be at home and just you know,

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praying they don't get a phone call that something bad

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has happened, and when they did get it, thinking okay,

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I hope, you know, not too bad, and they were

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doing the best they could. And yeah, that was I mean,

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there's a whole, much longer version of that story, but

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that was we'll get to it. That was some of

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what was happening in the lead up to that car crash.

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How did the family deal with that, I guess, I

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mean that was huge. Your dad was it was a

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very public figure at the time. What was the fallout

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from that?

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Yeah, I mean, my dad was Premier of Victoria at

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the time, and you know, we have a younger brother

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and sister, and we you know, he'd been premier since

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I was twelve until my early twenties, and we knew

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how the whole system worked, and we knew that if

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we did anything publicly, it would be reported on and

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we're always you know, so we had that knowledge. So

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it wasn't a surprise what happened, but it was again,

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you know, it's a kid stuffing up. So that was

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an interesting situation because you're sort of doing something that

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is not good and you know, I obviously wouldn't do again,

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and you know, learn so much from but you know

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a lot of kids make those mistakes. And my parents

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really handled it in the same way where their number

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one concern was are you okay? You know my friend

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who was in the car, my best friend still to

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this day, who also was okay luckily, just making sure,

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you know, all the fundamentals were in check, and they

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then took the you know, necessary steps to try and

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deal with it as any parent would. There was only

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the added pressure that you know, my dad was having

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to that day do press conferences and I wasn't able

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to leave the house for three days because we had

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media camped out the front and it was, you know,

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the biggest story in the country for a week, and

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it was on front page of every newspaper and you know,

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ended up gaining my own notoriety through it, not you know,

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not what I wanted, but there was a byproduct of it.

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And yeah, very unique and interesting thing to deal with.

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And I think from my parents' perspective and from my perspective,

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you know, there's no blueprint on how you handle those things,

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and you're sort of learning as you go, and you know,

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still sort of trying to process some of it, probably

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to this day, I guess. But it's also at the

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same time, you know, which I talk about a lot,

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it shaped me into who I am today. And I

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wouldn't go and crash that car again. But those kind

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of events, you know, they actually put me on the

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path that I'm now on now. So I don't really

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regret anything that I would never do it again.

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Yeah, I completely get that. And you have got on

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to become a huge advocate for mental health and mental

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health awareness, which we will get to. What I wanted

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to do is dig into a little bit of what

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you said at the beginning and ask you as you

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look back. You talked about being obsessive with exercise and

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having obsessive tendencies when you're a child. I would really

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love for you to share in hindsight what you recognize

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now were early signs of mental health issues mental health

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struggles which you probably at the time obviously didn't recognize. Like,

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what were some of the earliest signs for you now

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in hindsight that something wasn't really right?

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Yeah, I mean, like I said, and I think a

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lot of it is nature and nurture, and really as

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far back as I can remember, as a very young kid,

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I was very obsessive. I would fixate on things. I

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guess I saw things differently than a lot of people,

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and my brain functioned differently. I mean the earliest I mean,

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I tell when I do talk Sevan, I was more

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of a funny story, but I was AFL football obsessed

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and Gary Ablett Senior was my hero. And I remember

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in religion class where us to draw a picture of God,

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and I drew Gary Ablet kicking a goal in football,

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very matter of factly, and then I was at a

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game the week after that with my uncle and I

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was sitting on the forward line on the boundary and

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saw Gary able to kick up the stivet of grass,

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and there was sort of five minutes left and I

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was on the boundary, hanging off the edge with my

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uncle holding me back, just desperate to get this grass.

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City's boot had touched and as a sign when I

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jumped on and weave through security, got the grass and

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ended up taking it home and planting it a odd

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water it every morning and wake up and eat the grass,

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and then I would pray to I'd pray, please make

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me as good at football as Gary aublitz so and

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that went on for all. So that's probably, I mean

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the first sort of story, I guess, or that period

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when I was incredibly young, you know, five six, seven

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years old of that kind of stuff, and then that

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quickly started to manifest into I want to play AFL football,

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and that very quickly turned into obsessively training and becoming

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so fit through doing that that I was excelling in

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middle distance running, winning you know, state events. And then

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I thought, okay, I don't even have to rely on

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anyone for this. I can you know, punish myself and

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not have to rely on you know, teammates or whatever,

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and that. You know, that was around the eleven twelve

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year old sort of mark, and that's when I really,

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if I look back and see it, when it got

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pretty serious. You know, I was hiding bricks under my bed.

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My parents were well aware of what was going on,

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but I was hiding it. I remember getting up one

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time at two three in the morning hearing my dad

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come back from Parliament, and I was getting up to

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do all these weird routines with bricks. And then I'd

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wait till my mum got out of bed at like

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six in the morning, seven in the morning and go

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for a run for an hour and a half and

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pretend to her I'd just gotten up. Then I'd go

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to training that night and triple what my coach got

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me to do, and often not even be able to

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walk upstairs to get to bed. I'd be that depleted.

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So wow, that's yeah, that was the first period. But

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again sort of didn't really understand what was going on

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and didn't really care because I sort of enjoyed, in

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a six sort of way the feeling of obsessing this.

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I guess it's addiction, the same way as you would

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if you're a drug addict or whatever.

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I think that's a really important point to make that

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when you have these obsessive tendencies, you can become obsessive

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and addicted to things that can be considered positive activities

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or behaviors. Right, you were like obsess about exercise and

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fitness to the point as a twelve year old you

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were training six seven hours a day, like literally destroying yourself.

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Yeah, you know, stunting my growth, delayed me going through puberty,

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or a whole lot of things that really, you know, mentally

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traumatized me that you know, it taken me a long

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time to process and well into my twenties to process.

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But like you're saying, and it's a big thing I

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talk about in the work I do and with my company,

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Move Your Mind, we do a huge amount of work

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on things like that, trying to educate people about addiction,

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about these day to day behaviors that we accept of people.

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And we're very quick to label, Okay, that person's got

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a drinking problem or a gambling problem or alcohol problem,

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But what about people that are workaholics that are using

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that might what they're going or any you know, and

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there's so many levels, but we actually applaud that. We say,

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you know, that's great they're achieving. You know, we could

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see the external result of that, so that's okay, But

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it's literally could be the exact same person, and they've

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got all of these underlying things that they're not dealing with.

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And you know, if you don't deal with it, you're

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either going to remain unhappy and not be the best

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version of yourself, or you're eventually going to explode. But

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you know, none of them are good thing. No matter

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how much you achieve it, you're not going to get

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what you want out of life unless you do that work.

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You can't really avoid it from what I've learned.

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Yeah, and so for you, you talk about also being

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incredibly shy and insecure, and so I guess you know,

227
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it's easy to see again in hindsight, how that would

228
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develop into like young people experiencing those sorts of issues

229
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discover alcohol. Feel it makes you feel really good. It's

230
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a great way to numb and escape everything and spirals

231
00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:43.279
out of control. What was the turning point for you

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where you really like was it the accident when you said, Okay,

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00:11:47.799 --> 00:11:49.639
that's it, I've really got to do something about this,

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or what was the turning point where you decided to

235
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make that positive change.

236
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Yeah, I mean that was the interesting thing, because that accident,

237
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I mean it was, Yeah, it was turning point in

238
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a sense, and I remember thinking, Okay, this is crazy.

239
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I've almost killed my best friend, my family's been brought

240
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into this, this this has to stop. And I tried

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to stop, but I didn't really actually seek help or

242
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talk about the problem properly and tried to brush it

243
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under a rug, and after about a month I was

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falling back into the same behavior. So the turning point

245
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for me was I had spent another year or two

246
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doing that and got into this new course at university

247
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which I had just had happened just after I started

248
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seeing a psychologist for the first time, and through that,

249
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I guess I found a bit of relief in learning Okay,

250
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you know, this isn't unique to you. This is something

251
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a lot of people go through, and you just need

252
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to because I really was at a point where I

253
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didn't really even want a future, because I was so

254
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passionate and black and white about how I sort of

255
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see life in If I don't feel something or I

256
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don't really want it, I find it very hard to

257
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commit to something that just for the sake of doing it.

258
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So but I knew I had to just do anything.

259
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So I got into this course at university. I was

260
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a business entrepreneurship course, and was looking at that as

261
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just Okay, let's just do this, to just put one

262
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foot in front of the other and just get any regularity,

263
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any routine, any sort of normality back in my life.

264
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And found out we had to do fifteen oral presentations

265
00:13:18.559 --> 00:13:21.039
in the first semester of that course. And this was

266
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this was a tiny course in front of like five

267
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people for these talks. But I was so shy at

268
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that point that I literally I would be trembling if

269
00:13:27.840 --> 00:13:29.440
I looked, if I was one on one with someone,

270
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I'd be looking at the floor. I couldn't. I was

271
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afraid of my own shadow, and I was about to

272
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pull out of this course. I was meeting the course coordinator.

273
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I was I wasn't sleeping for weeks on end leading

274
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up to it, and I almost did pull out. And

275
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it was only because at this point I had sort

276
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of my mum, my psychologist, my best friend all there

277
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knowing what I've been going through and knowing that, you know,

278
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if I did pull out of it. It would be

279
00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:52.440
not just wasting a bit more time, but you know,

280
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potentially almost life and death, like who knows where I

281
00:13:55.039 --> 00:13:57.919
would have spiraled to. So because I had to do it,

282
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I would front up and do these talks. I'd literally

283
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be vomiting in the toilet before the first few of them,

284
00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:05.200
and I'd have it written out on a sheet of

285
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paper and I'd be staring at the floor, shaking, mumbling.

286
00:14:08.679 --> 00:14:10.799
But I think people couldn't even understand what I was saying.

287
00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:14.039
But I actually I'd get through them and I'd be like, Okay,

288
00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:17.480
I actually did do a shocking job of this thing,

289
00:14:17.799 --> 00:14:20.120
but you did it. I did it, and nothing bad happened.

290
00:14:20.120 --> 00:14:21.840
And that was a turning point because I had to

291
00:14:21.919 --> 00:14:25.480
keep doing them, and for me, what I learned was

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sometimes well, the most effective thing for me was just

293
00:14:28.679 --> 00:14:31.879
almost like exposure therapy of go and just do it.

294
00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:33.480
Face that fear. If you, I think, and I think

295
00:14:33.480 --> 00:14:37.120
for people that are anxious to overthink, you fall into

296
00:14:37.159 --> 00:14:38.840
that tendency of wanting to try and think your way

297
00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:41.440
out of it, which ironically is the worst thing you

298
00:14:41.480 --> 00:14:44.440
can do when it's spirals. So whenever that starts happening,

299
00:14:44.559 --> 00:14:47.320
it's like, Okay, I'm just going to stop thinking and

300
00:14:47.360 --> 00:14:49.720
go and do something. And yeah, that taught me a

301
00:14:49.759 --> 00:14:51.840
huge lesson because then I was able to think, well,

302
00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:54.159
I got over this, what else can I do? And

303
00:14:54.200 --> 00:14:57.240
then I ended up being on a year after that

304
00:14:57.279 --> 00:15:00.039
this reality show Dancing with the Stars, where I I

305
00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:01.799
had to dance on Life TV and I was like, Okay,

306
00:15:01.840 --> 00:15:04.200
well I'll do it. And I use that as another

307
00:15:04.360 --> 00:15:07.320
catalyst to consolidate that lesson, and it really did it.

308
00:15:07.320 --> 00:15:09.120
To this day. It's sort of in my head when

309
00:15:09.159 --> 00:15:11.360
I'm scared of things, I think back on how scared

310
00:15:11.399 --> 00:15:13.639
I was back then. I'm like, you know what, who cares?

311
00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:15.639
It's like I was more terrified then I'm sure I

312
00:15:15.639 --> 00:15:16.080
can do it.

313
00:15:16.480 --> 00:15:20.080
That's quite a leap nick from vomiting before doing a

314
00:15:20.120 --> 00:15:25.960
talk in front of five people to dancing on national television. Like,

315
00:15:26.200 --> 00:15:27.639
what a progression.

316
00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:29.559
Yeah, it was a big progression. It was a weird

317
00:15:29.639 --> 00:15:32.279
and a weird I guess, like, yeah, unusual sort of

318
00:15:32.919 --> 00:15:35.720
set of circumstances. But the same thing. When I got

319
00:15:35.720 --> 00:15:38.559
asked to do that show, I was about to pull

320
00:15:38.600 --> 00:15:40.279
out of it, and then I said yes, and then

321
00:15:40.279 --> 00:15:43.200
I woke up the next day, calling the producer trying

322
00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:45.000
to pull out. But then I draw on that experience,

323
00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:48.159
thinking well, you know, maybe I can learn something out

324
00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:49.919
of this. And I was pretty bad, probably one of

325
00:15:49.960 --> 00:15:54.519
the worst dances on that show. But you know, this

326
00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:59.919
cheesy reality show consolidated incredibly the most meaningful life lesson

327
00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:02.519
that I've learned. It also opened the door I got

328
00:16:02.559 --> 00:16:05.039
to work with Beyond Blue at the time, and that

329
00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:07.960
led to the whole mental health advocacy path for me.

330
00:16:08.039 --> 00:16:10.639
So it was sort of again, you know, it's interesting

331
00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:13.639
the chain of events that can happen to put you

332
00:16:13.679 --> 00:16:16.600
on a completely different trajectory that you would have never imagined.

333
00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:18.919
If someone said to me back then you were going

334
00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:21.679
to go and become a public speaker and do acting

335
00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:23.559
and do all these things, I would have laughed at

336
00:16:23.600 --> 00:16:26.080
them because it was sort of you know, I just thought, well,

337
00:16:26.120 --> 00:16:28.440
that's not me. I can't do that. But it was

338
00:16:28.559 --> 00:16:31.240
because I was suppressed, which you know a lot of

339
00:16:31.240 --> 00:16:31.720
people are.

340
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I hope that you're enjoying this conversation and realizing the

341
00:16:38.799 --> 00:16:41.679
benefits of positivity in your own life. If you are

342
00:16:41.799 --> 00:16:44.519
enjoying the show, please be sure to like and subscribe

343
00:16:44.559 --> 00:16:46.879
so that you get notified when you epps drop and

344
00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:49.399
head on over to Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen

345
00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:58.799
and leave us a rating and review. What were the

346
00:16:58.840 --> 00:17:03.799
techniques that you the most to manage that anxiety and

347
00:17:03.919 --> 00:17:05.720
go out and do the things that terrified you?

348
00:17:06.279 --> 00:17:08.759
Yeah, no, I think so. The things that helped me

349
00:17:08.920 --> 00:17:11.559
to manage the anxiety and do the things that terrified

350
00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:16.039
me were really trying to get to that point where

351
00:17:16.680 --> 00:17:21.400
I understood that it will not be comfortable. It'll actually,

352
00:17:21.519 --> 00:17:24.079
you know, it's going to be very uncomfortable. I might

353
00:17:24.119 --> 00:17:28.240
make mistakes, and it's okay to not be good at something.

354
00:17:28.319 --> 00:17:30.880
And you know, I really started to understand that even

355
00:17:30.920 --> 00:17:33.559
these people that I admired and these leaders that I saw,

356
00:17:34.240 --> 00:17:38.200
they had started from also being at a point of

357
00:17:38.279 --> 00:17:40.799
not really probably not being great at the beginning. And

358
00:17:41.160 --> 00:17:43.839
you know, I'd remind myself that and give myself permission

359
00:17:43.880 --> 00:17:47.200
to fail, give myself permission to make a fool of myself,

360
00:17:47.640 --> 00:17:50.599
not need to control every outcome of what happened, and

361
00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:53.559
accept that even within that all of that acceptance, I'm

362
00:17:53.559 --> 00:17:56.759
probably going to be terrified, and that's okay as well.

363
00:17:56.839 --> 00:17:59.519
Who cares. Let's just go and do it, and you know,

364
00:17:59.599 --> 00:18:01.839
looking at it in extreme ways of being well, you know,

365
00:18:02.200 --> 00:18:04.279
I'm not going to die here, you know, hopefully not anyway,

366
00:18:04.359 --> 00:18:06.599
Like it's sort of not life and death, So what's

367
00:18:06.599 --> 00:18:09.279
the worst that can actually happen? Just really rationalizing that,

368
00:18:09.839 --> 00:18:13.000
accepting it, and doing it, And for me, that was really,

369
00:18:13.200 --> 00:18:15.240
you know, the best way to this day. You know

370
00:18:15.279 --> 00:18:16.759
that I've been able to deal with a lot of

371
00:18:16.799 --> 00:18:17.599
those kind of things.

372
00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:21.960
Yeah, I think that is stellar advice there, that whole

373
00:18:22.039 --> 00:18:25.680
like it's going to be uncomfortable and that's okay, and

374
00:18:25.720 --> 00:18:28.640
I might stuff it up and that's okay as well.

375
00:18:28.680 --> 00:18:31.359
I mean, I work with a lot of people adults

376
00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:37.160
who to this day are gripped with fear and holding

377
00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:39.599
themselves back because it's going to be uncomfortable or they're

378
00:18:39.640 --> 00:18:42.440
going to fail, or they're so afraid of what somebody

379
00:18:42.640 --> 00:18:45.359
might think. I think that such a brilliant lesson to

380
00:18:45.440 --> 00:18:47.000
learn as early as possible.

381
00:18:47.559 --> 00:18:50.079
Yeah, I mean, I guess one hundred percent as early

382
00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:52.160
as possible. And I think you know when you say

383
00:18:52.200 --> 00:18:54.599
you know, and I agree with you, you know, it's surprising

384
00:18:55.160 --> 00:18:57.799
how many adults struggle with that stuff. And if you

385
00:18:57.839 --> 00:18:59.559
peel back the layers of even people that are very

386
00:18:59.559 --> 00:19:01.920
successful for how many of those fears they have. But

387
00:19:01.960 --> 00:19:03.599
it's not really when you look at it, it's not

388
00:19:03.599 --> 00:19:08.559
actually that surprising because they've probably found something that they've

389
00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:11.200
been able to use to sort of as a way,

390
00:19:11.319 --> 00:19:14.039
like we're talking earlier about you know, addiction or you know,

391
00:19:14.160 --> 00:19:17.000
using something to mask what's actually going on underneath, so

392
00:19:17.039 --> 00:19:19.960
that becomes your protective sort of cave or whatever you

393
00:19:20.039 --> 00:19:22.039
want to call it, and then they don't have to

394
00:19:22.039 --> 00:19:24.839
go and do these things that you know, their gut

395
00:19:24.960 --> 00:19:27.279
or the intuition has been telling them for years that

396
00:19:27.599 --> 00:19:29.519
you know, they really want to do or should do,

397
00:19:29.599 --> 00:19:32.400
or need to do. And you know, the more successfully

398
00:19:32.400 --> 00:19:35.480
you've become, often can it can be a negative, It

399
00:19:35.480 --> 00:19:37.200
can stop you from making those changes.

400
00:19:37.240 --> 00:19:41.599
I think, yeah, yeah, absolutely So, Nick, how did you

401
00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:45.839
get from dancing with the Stars to running a mental

402
00:19:45.880 --> 00:19:49.799
health company internationally? Yeah?

403
00:19:50.039 --> 00:19:52.519
I mean, I'll try, and I'll try and give the

404
00:19:52.640 --> 00:19:55.839
nutshell version, the nutshell version, because I've done a lot

405
00:19:55.880 --> 00:19:58.240
of different things and that's probably been my problem as well.

406
00:19:58.480 --> 00:20:00.759
Initially I was trying to run three businesses that once

407
00:20:00.839 --> 00:20:03.359
do this with that, which was good because it sort

408
00:20:03.400 --> 00:20:05.400
of led me to where I went, but I sort

409
00:20:05.400 --> 00:20:08.480
of went on Dancing with the Stars. As I was

410
00:20:08.519 --> 00:20:10.799
on that, I was doing underwear modeling. I was getting

411
00:20:10.799 --> 00:20:13.200
booked for a lot of jobs, and people kept saying, Okay,

412
00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:14.960
you're getting all of this publicity, you should start an

413
00:20:15.039 --> 00:20:17.160
underwear label. So I thought, well, I want to start

414
00:20:17.160 --> 00:20:19.480
a business, why not? So I launched an underwear label

415
00:20:19.519 --> 00:20:22.400
called Underbracks. That then led to me sort of opening

416
00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:26.400
a cafe in Melbourne that I learned from that I

417
00:20:26.440 --> 00:20:29.359
don't want to do anything in hospitality. I then went

418
00:20:29.400 --> 00:20:32.400
on to doing a health sort of an wellness product,

419
00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:37.039
and then in amongst all of that, I was getting

420
00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:39.240
booked to do these talks, initially doing them for free,

421
00:20:39.279 --> 00:20:41.480
and then that built into me getting trained with behavior

422
00:20:41.559 --> 00:20:44.920
change companies, and over a ten year period, I just

423
00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:46.960
kept doing them. You know, that was the common thread

424
00:20:47.000 --> 00:20:50.000
of just doing these mental health talks skill. I enjoyed

425
00:20:50.039 --> 00:20:52.039
it and got so much value and would see the

426
00:20:52.079 --> 00:20:54.359
value it would bring and kept learning, and you know

427
00:20:54.480 --> 00:20:57.519
that was the thing that lasted. And in amongst all

428
00:20:57.519 --> 00:21:00.559
of that, trained as an actor and was neighbors for

429
00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:02.240
a while and sort of built that site as well,

430
00:21:02.279 --> 00:21:04.599
and it got to a point where I was sort

431
00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:07.000
of looking at how do I combine all this stuff,

432
00:21:07.000 --> 00:21:09.960
and it was really building what moved your mind, I

433
00:21:09.960 --> 00:21:13.359
guess is as a media company, where it just stemmed

434
00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:17.640
from the talks to then building digital programs and working

435
00:21:17.640 --> 00:21:21.279
with technology companies and you know, running these school and

436
00:21:21.720 --> 00:21:25.839
corporate well being programs, and then combining the media side

437
00:21:25.839 --> 00:21:29.240
with the podcast and the book and the different things

438
00:21:29.240 --> 00:21:31.640
that we're doing to get those messages out there. And

439
00:21:32.319 --> 00:21:35.880
even right now I'm producing a TV show. It's sort

440
00:21:35.880 --> 00:21:38.839
of a comedy based TV show centered in mental health,

441
00:21:38.920 --> 00:21:41.680
so sort of using combining all the things I like

442
00:21:41.720 --> 00:21:44.920
into this one thing, and that's how it came about.

443
00:21:44.960 --> 00:21:47.599
But anyway, I always find it hard to say these

444
00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:50.000
things in simple terms, and I probably my problem in

445
00:21:50.039 --> 00:21:52.119
general is I ramble too much, and I'll go on tangents.

446
00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:54.359
So that's the most simple version I can give.

447
00:21:54.759 --> 00:21:57.799
But I think that none of those experiences are of

448
00:21:57.839 --> 00:22:00.000
a wasted though, aren't they. Like you said at the beginning,

449
00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:01.559
Oh that's my problem. I do too many things. But

450
00:22:01.640 --> 00:22:04.960
all of those things teach you something. You get some experience,

451
00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:06.920
and you find But the common thread is I think

452
00:22:06.920 --> 00:22:09.160
that's a really important message for young people. Too, like

453
00:22:09.200 --> 00:22:12.359
you don't have to know what the end goal is

454
00:22:12.400 --> 00:22:16.839
at the beginning, you just keep following that curiosity, and yeah,

455
00:22:16.920 --> 00:22:17.960
it sort of comes together.

456
00:22:18.119 --> 00:22:20.799
I think it's a really important message. And I think

457
00:22:20.839 --> 00:22:22.640
there's only so much you can learn from a textbook.

458
00:22:22.680 --> 00:22:24.640
You know, you've got to go and do things and

459
00:22:24.680 --> 00:22:27.759
make mistakes, and you know by doing that you'll narrow

460
00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:30.559
down that funnel of Okay, what are the things I

461
00:22:30.759 --> 00:22:32.440
enjoy doing and that I'm good at doing and that

462
00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:35.279
I could make a career out of and finding that

463
00:22:35.319 --> 00:22:37.200
path through that. And then I think, like you said,

464
00:22:37.200 --> 00:22:39.359
the other part that I think everyone needs to remind

465
00:22:39.400 --> 00:22:42.079
themselves or is that you know, there really is no

466
00:22:42.519 --> 00:22:45.079
end goal anyway, you know, what is that so called

467
00:22:45.279 --> 00:22:49.319
end goal? Or you know, if we do achieve what

468
00:22:49.319 --> 00:22:51.480
we're saying, we think we need to then be okay

469
00:22:51.519 --> 00:22:53.680
and at peace and everything's fine after that, we're sort

470
00:22:53.680 --> 00:22:55.799
of kidding ourselves because what do you do after that?

471
00:22:55.920 --> 00:22:58.880
You know, it sort of doesn't actually work that way.

472
00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:01.960
So it's realizing that, hang on, how do I reframe

473
00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:03.839
this and think, yes, I want to have all these

474
00:23:03.839 --> 00:23:06.480
big lofty goals, but really, what's the core thing? What

475
00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:08.799
are the values and what's the you know, what's my purpose?

476
00:23:08.839 --> 00:23:11.039
What's the reason of what I'm trying to do every day?

477
00:23:11.079 --> 00:23:13.480
And I you know, I'm incredibly ambitious, and I get

478
00:23:13.559 --> 00:23:15.759
anxious all the time and compare myself and I fall

479
00:23:15.759 --> 00:23:17.720
into that and I look at that this person's doing this,

480
00:23:17.799 --> 00:23:20.039
what about this actor or this company? And then I

481
00:23:20.079 --> 00:23:22.240
go back to thinking, hang on, that's not the stuff

482
00:23:22.279 --> 00:23:24.400
that matters. What do I really care about? How do

483
00:23:24.480 --> 00:23:26.640
I make a difference? Well, I just want to try

484
00:23:26.680 --> 00:23:29.160
and you know, push the needle forward or have one

485
00:23:29.240 --> 00:23:31.519
you know, having this conversation today might be the only

486
00:23:31.559 --> 00:23:34.319
thing I do that might help one person. Well, that's

487
00:23:34.319 --> 00:23:36.599
good I've done, you know, living on that purpose. And

488
00:23:36.599 --> 00:23:38.279
then if you can think that way, you sort of

489
00:23:38.559 --> 00:23:40.319
have that nice calm feeling. I think when you sort

490
00:23:40.319 --> 00:23:43.960
of start comparing and you know, thinking about outcomes, it

491
00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:46.720
becomes this very anxious feeling. But it's so hard to

492
00:23:46.799 --> 00:23:48.720
navigate because you know, we live in a world that

493
00:23:48.720 --> 00:23:51.519
teaches us that we should you know, be capitalistic and

494
00:23:51.559 --> 00:23:54.319
we should try and compare and blah blah blah. So

495
00:23:54.359 --> 00:23:56.319
it's like that's crazy.

496
00:23:56.799 --> 00:23:58.759
Nick. You go out a lot and talk to I know,

497
00:23:58.799 --> 00:24:00.559
you do a lot of talking in s gouls, and

498
00:24:00.720 --> 00:24:04.200
you mentioned that you do corporate well being workshops as well.

499
00:24:04.480 --> 00:24:07.359
I'm curious to know when kids come up to you,

500
00:24:07.400 --> 00:24:09.440
when young people particularly come up to you and they

501
00:24:09.519 --> 00:24:11.640
share with you afterwards what they got from your story,

502
00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:13.799
and they share with you what they're struggling with. What

503
00:24:13.880 --> 00:24:16.200
are the things they're telling you. What are the challenges

504
00:24:16.240 --> 00:24:18.720
facing young people today in terms of mental health.

505
00:24:19.519 --> 00:24:21.079
I think a lot of the time, you know, it's

506
00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:22.759
getting better with theo weenes, but a lot of the

507
00:24:22.759 --> 00:24:25.720
time they don't really feel like it's acceptable to talk

508
00:24:25.759 --> 00:24:28.200
about it. They don't know who to talk to, they

509
00:24:28.240 --> 00:24:30.640
don't know, you know, they don't really have the tools

510
00:24:30.680 --> 00:24:32.559
to know what they should be doing, they don't have

511
00:24:32.599 --> 00:24:35.640
the guidance to you know, try and implement those tools.

512
00:24:36.359 --> 00:24:38.559
And then they also feel like they need to have

513
00:24:38.599 --> 00:24:40.200
more answers and are thinking, you know, but I don't

514
00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:41.400
know what I want to be or what I want

515
00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:43.559
to do or you know, and all that kind of thing,

516
00:24:43.599 --> 00:24:45.839
and it's trying to remind them, hey, you know, you

517
00:24:45.880 --> 00:24:48.000
know what, if you did know what you'd wanted to do,

518
00:24:48.079 --> 00:24:50.839
that's probably even that's potentially you know, some people might

519
00:24:51.039 --> 00:24:53.319
stick to it, but it's potentially a negative thing. It's

520
00:24:53.319 --> 00:24:56.480
actually good. You should you absolutely should not know, and

521
00:24:56.559 --> 00:24:58.839
what you should do is go out and try and

522
00:24:58.880 --> 00:25:01.599
live your life, make mistakes, do things, and let that

523
00:25:01.680 --> 00:25:04.839
in form where you end up. But I think it

524
00:25:04.839 --> 00:25:07.759
can be that pressure, especially in you know VSE, where

525
00:25:07.759 --> 00:25:09.799
you feel like, well, I need to you know, I

526
00:25:09.839 --> 00:25:11.319
need to make a decision. I ad to work out

527
00:25:11.319 --> 00:25:12.480
what am I going to do for the rest of

528
00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:15.160
my life? And it's so so hard to know that.

529
00:25:15.279 --> 00:25:18.519
So I talk a huge amount with what I'm doing

530
00:25:18.559 --> 00:25:22.039
about sort of failure and how we reframe that and

531
00:25:22.079 --> 00:25:25.279
looking at it like almost wanting to fail at things

532
00:25:25.359 --> 00:25:27.759
and looking at failure as learning because I think we

533
00:25:27.839 --> 00:25:30.440
do learn so much more from that. So then if

534
00:25:30.440 --> 00:25:32.200
you can reframe it in that way and thinking, well,

535
00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:34.640
I hope I'm going to try and do all these things,

536
00:25:34.680 --> 00:25:37.480
and if I don't get the outcome I want, I'm

537
00:25:37.480 --> 00:25:39.920
going to so called fail, but really that's not failing,

538
00:25:39.920 --> 00:25:42.200
it's learning or I'm actually going to achieve it. Then

539
00:25:42.319 --> 00:25:44.799
you then you reduce that anxiety and you're more likely

540
00:25:44.839 --> 00:25:47.079
to just try and put yourself out there and you know,

541
00:25:47.119 --> 00:25:49.319
try a whole lot of things, so all those kind

542
00:25:49.400 --> 00:25:50.160
of messages.

543
00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:53.079
Yeah, and Nick, I guess my other question is, I

544
00:25:53.079 --> 00:25:56.880
mean I work a lot with women, and I'm very

545
00:25:56.880 --> 00:26:00.240
aware of the challenges that women experience in life and

546
00:26:00.240 --> 00:26:03.559
the pressures on women. What are the challenges that are

547
00:26:03.640 --> 00:26:05.880
unique to men? Do you think we talk about men's

548
00:26:05.920 --> 00:26:09.400
mental health? Like, what do you see in the conversations

549
00:26:09.440 --> 00:26:11.519
you are having and what you've experienced as being the

550
00:26:11.559 --> 00:26:13.279
biggest issues that men are facing.

551
00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:18.039
Yeah, I mean, I think for men there always has been,

552
00:26:18.039 --> 00:26:21.200
but I think it's a really big issue. And we're

553
00:26:21.200 --> 00:26:23.559
in the process at the moment of launching like a

554
00:26:23.640 --> 00:26:26.400
movie Your Mind Men's community group for that reason as well,

555
00:26:26.440 --> 00:26:29.319
because I get a lot of men messaging me and

556
00:26:29.400 --> 00:26:32.599
you know, reading different things that we've posted and getting

557
00:26:32.640 --> 00:26:34.880
value out of it. And I think for men, the

558
00:26:34.920 --> 00:26:37.720
big issue is not feeling like it's acceptable to be

559
00:26:37.799 --> 00:26:40.759
vulnerable and show emotion and express themselves and they're not

560
00:26:40.880 --> 00:26:44.000
knowing where they can do that or feeling like they

561
00:26:44.079 --> 00:26:46.039
need to be given permission. And I've seen it in

562
00:26:46.519 --> 00:26:48.920
workshops I've done where you're in a factory and you've

563
00:26:48.920 --> 00:26:51.440
got these men that have been there for thirty years

564
00:26:51.519 --> 00:26:54.240
and they've never talked about this stuff, but then when

565
00:26:54.279 --> 00:26:57.240
they do actually open up, there's just this huge relief

566
00:26:57.440 --> 00:27:00.519
and you know, they can't believe, like how they're just

567
00:27:00.519 --> 00:27:03.359
so relieved that they've actually been allowed to talk about this.

568
00:27:03.400 --> 00:27:07.000
So I think creating those spaces, I mean, toxic masculinity

569
00:27:07.519 --> 00:27:10.640
is a really big problem. And I think also with

570
00:27:10.720 --> 00:27:13.519
where the world's moving now, I mean, which is great

571
00:27:13.599 --> 00:27:17.359
with all the equality and you know, what's happening socially,

572
00:27:17.400 --> 00:27:19.720
I think it's fantastic, but I think also within that

573
00:27:19.839 --> 00:27:23.039
man often thinking okay, where do I see how am

574
00:27:23.119 --> 00:27:25.759
I meant to conduct myself and what you know, so

575
00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:29.319
really trying to just distill things down to how we

576
00:27:29.359 --> 00:27:32.720
can all learn, you know, to be just to be

577
00:27:32.799 --> 00:27:35.920
ourselves and to be okay with that and you know,

578
00:27:35.960 --> 00:27:39.640
to show vulnerability, which yeah, it's definitely got a long

579
00:27:39.640 --> 00:27:42.279
way to go in that area, but so important.

580
00:27:42.519 --> 00:27:45.000
And I think, you know, interesting that you use the

581
00:27:45.079 --> 00:27:49.759
term toxic masculinity because I think sometimes that men who

582
00:27:49.839 --> 00:27:53.160
hear that term almost take that personally like we're saying

583
00:27:53.200 --> 00:27:58.279
like men are toxic. It's like, no, toxic masculinity is

584
00:27:58.319 --> 00:28:01.720
like really detrimental to men as much as it is

585
00:28:01.839 --> 00:28:04.799
detrimental to women. You know, we talk about the patriot

586
00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.720
and look no like it affects you just as negatively

587
00:28:10.079 --> 00:28:13.440
as it might affect women. So I think it's really important.

588
00:28:13.480 --> 00:28:16.160
I love that there are men like you who are

589
00:28:16.200 --> 00:28:20.519
out there and advocating for other men and you know,

590
00:28:20.599 --> 00:28:23.440
young people and women and everybody to speak up and

591
00:28:23.480 --> 00:28:25.640
share their struggles because I think that you're right and

592
00:28:25.680 --> 00:28:30.279
having those spaces to share openly is so important. Yeah,

593
00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:34.480
what are your fundamentals? Like, You've come a long way

594
00:28:34.519 --> 00:28:36.160
in terms of your own mental health and now you're

595
00:28:36.160 --> 00:28:39.559
out sharing with other people. What are the pillars I

596
00:28:39.599 --> 00:28:43.359
guess for you that you draw on to keep yourself well?

597
00:28:44.440 --> 00:28:46.640
Yeah, I guess I've learned through trial and error a

598
00:28:46.640 --> 00:28:49.160
whole bunch of things that I do daily now or

599
00:28:49.279 --> 00:28:52.839
as much as I can. The biggest ones definitely exercise

600
00:28:52.960 --> 00:28:56.880
for me, I guess, coming from a competitive sporting background

601
00:28:56.960 --> 00:28:58.720
and it being such a big part of my life,

602
00:28:59.279 --> 00:29:03.319
I have always continued that, and I exercise in some

603
00:29:03.359 --> 00:29:06.599
capacity six days a week. I normally do it in

604
00:29:06.640 --> 00:29:09.279
the morning, which I mean for me and I know

605
00:29:09.319 --> 00:29:12.599
for a lot of other people. I find just almost

606
00:29:12.599 --> 00:29:14.559
a game changer in how much, because I'll wake up

607
00:29:14.559 --> 00:29:16.119
that's when I get anxious. I'll wake up in the

608
00:29:16.119 --> 00:29:18.640
morning and my mind's racing, and it can be hard

609
00:29:18.680 --> 00:29:20.519
to get out of bed sometimes. But if you get

610
00:29:20.559 --> 00:29:23.359
out and I start moving, you start processing things, and

611
00:29:23.400 --> 00:29:25.480
then I feel so much better for the rest of

612
00:29:25.519 --> 00:29:29.480
the day. So I just find, yeah, exercise huge and

613
00:29:29.599 --> 00:29:33.400
so important. I've been meditating for over ten years now,

614
00:29:33.440 --> 00:29:35.400
and on and off I fall in and out of it,

615
00:29:35.480 --> 00:29:37.759
but I try and do at least at twenty minute

616
00:29:37.799 --> 00:29:41.119
one in the morning. And then I do gratitude journaling

617
00:29:41.200 --> 00:29:43.319
every day, and I do it pretty simply. I just

618
00:29:43.359 --> 00:29:45.799
write three things in my phone because again, if I

619
00:29:45.839 --> 00:29:47.559
had to go and get a notepad and write it

620
00:29:47.599 --> 00:29:49.519
and all that, I won't keep it up. So I

621
00:29:49.559 --> 00:29:51.359
always try and make it as simple as I can.

622
00:29:52.160 --> 00:29:55.759
And then outside of that, I would say things like acting,

623
00:29:55.920 --> 00:29:59.480
you know, and I've gone in and out of having

624
00:29:59.480 --> 00:30:01.920
the time, you know, really pursue it and you know,

625
00:30:02.000 --> 00:30:04.880
do things in that area. But for me, it's that

626
00:30:04.960 --> 00:30:07.440
creative outlet. And you know, recently in New York, I

627
00:30:07.480 --> 00:30:09.359
went and did a play for the first time, and

628
00:30:09.759 --> 00:30:14.279
it was a small community play and purely just did it,

629
00:30:14.319 --> 00:30:16.480
you know, it was there was about sixty people that

630
00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:19.400
came and watched it, and it was this thing of

631
00:30:19.480 --> 00:30:22.039
just purely doing it for myself, not caring about it,

632
00:30:22.079 --> 00:30:24.880
not wanting any outcome. Going through this thing with you know,

633
00:30:24.920 --> 00:30:26.920
the other actors, where you're just doing it because you'll

634
00:30:26.960 --> 00:30:29.920
want to create and have that space to create and

635
00:30:29.960 --> 00:30:31.680
you know things like that, it just, you know, it

636
00:30:31.680 --> 00:30:35.359
reminds you how important it is that we you know, yes,

637
00:30:35.400 --> 00:30:38.119
we need to you know, have our careers and work

638
00:30:38.160 --> 00:30:40.319
towards all these goals, but also doing these things that

639
00:30:40.359 --> 00:30:42.799
we really want to do, you know, just for ourselves

640
00:30:43.440 --> 00:30:45.759
and not having to rationalize why, just doing it because

641
00:30:45.759 --> 00:30:48.440
we want to do it. And every time I do that,

642
00:30:48.480 --> 00:30:50.079
it's just, yeah, it's I think it's one of the

643
00:30:50.079 --> 00:30:52.960
best things you can do for your mental health. So

644
00:30:53.279 --> 00:30:54.920
that helped a lot. And then the final one just

645
00:30:54.960 --> 00:30:57.559
having you know, I've got I'm lucky to have incredibly

646
00:30:57.599 --> 00:31:00.720
close relationships with you know, a select number of people,

647
00:31:00.759 --> 00:31:03.440
and just having that ability to be able to sort

648
00:31:03.440 --> 00:31:06.359
of share and be there for my friends as well,

649
00:31:06.720 --> 00:31:07.759
I think that really helps.

650
00:31:08.119 --> 00:31:11.720
Yeah, it's interesting. I just recently had Eve Rodsky on

651
00:31:11.799 --> 00:31:15.640
the podcast and we talked about her book called Unicorn Space,

652
00:31:15.680 --> 00:31:19.599
and Unicorn Space is that creative self expression, and her

653
00:31:19.640 --> 00:31:21.799
whole thing is about how important that is to just

654
00:31:21.880 --> 00:31:24.839
do things for the love of it and just for

655
00:31:24.880 --> 00:31:28.119
the joy of putting something out there and creating something.

656
00:31:28.119 --> 00:31:30.680
It doesn't matter what it is. And sounds like that's

657
00:31:30.759 --> 00:31:33.359
for you the play or the.

658
00:31:33.279 --> 00:31:36.000
Acting or yeah, definitely doing those kind of things. But

659
00:31:36.640 --> 00:31:38.920
on the flip side sort of that's why I took

660
00:31:38.920 --> 00:31:41.599
a break from auditioning for a while as well, because

661
00:31:42.160 --> 00:31:44.559
that was becoming I was at a point at one

662
00:31:44.599 --> 00:31:46.319
stage I was when I was really into it. I

663
00:31:46.319 --> 00:31:49.200
was auditioning five six times a week, and then it

664
00:31:49.279 --> 00:31:52.759
actually does go the other way where it's becoming a chore,

665
00:31:52.839 --> 00:31:55.759
it's causing anxiety, it's becoming purely about booking the job.

666
00:31:55.920 --> 00:31:59.039
So it's so hard within all of these kind of

667
00:31:59.039 --> 00:32:02.359
things that but like you're saying, for me, it really

668
00:32:02.400 --> 00:32:05.200
is at the core just going back to doing it

669
00:32:05.240 --> 00:32:09.079
for that creative outlet and it doesn't make such a

670
00:32:09.160 --> 00:32:12.559
huge difference, same as exercise, I guess for me doing

671
00:32:12.559 --> 00:32:14.200
it just because it makes me feel good, you know,

672
00:32:14.279 --> 00:32:16.480
that's I think that's a good enough reason for any

673
00:32:16.519 --> 00:32:17.759
of us to do anything, isn't it.

674
00:32:18.319 --> 00:32:20.400
Yeah? I think that you raise a really good point there,

675
00:32:20.400 --> 00:32:22.920
and I think it's worth just that ability to have

676
00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:26.079
the self awareness to know what is motivating this. And

677
00:32:26.119 --> 00:32:28.720
it's not about it's not that you shouldn't have goals,

678
00:32:28.759 --> 00:32:31.400
you shouldn't aspire to achieve things, but just being able

679
00:32:31.440 --> 00:32:35.839
to check in with yourself about is am I doing

680
00:32:35.839 --> 00:32:37.960
this in a healthy, balanced way, Like is this healthy

681
00:32:37.960 --> 00:32:44.279
striving or is this like potentially unhealthy obsessive kind of behavior?

682
00:32:44.759 --> 00:32:47.599
And it's I think through mindfulness and that level of

683
00:32:47.640 --> 00:32:50.160
self awareness and self reflection that you're able to make

684
00:32:50.240 --> 00:32:51.559
those distinctions.

685
00:32:51.799 --> 00:32:54.400
Would you say absolutely, oh no, one hundred percent. Yeah.

686
00:32:54.400 --> 00:32:57.400
I think I wouldn't have in my sort of early twenties,

687
00:32:57.400 --> 00:32:59.519
probably wouldn't have been able to make those kind of

688
00:32:59.799 --> 00:33:02.640
just diinctions or decisions. And it's been from working on

689
00:33:02.680 --> 00:33:06.640
myself and continuing to and having that self awareness. But

690
00:33:06.920 --> 00:33:09.880
I think, yeah, I think everyone knows. You know that

691
00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:13.559
feeling in your gut when when you know something's wrong

692
00:33:13.720 --> 00:33:16.559
or it's not aligned with you, you get this yuck

693
00:33:16.559 --> 00:33:19.599
feeling inside. I think everyone knows what that feels like,

694
00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:22.720
but we conveniently ignore that a lot of our time

695
00:33:22.759 --> 00:33:25.480
because when we're not wanting to really listen to it

696
00:33:25.599 --> 00:33:27.279
or tune into that. But I think we all know

697
00:33:27.319 --> 00:33:30.880
the feeling. So when you know your intuition is so strong,

698
00:33:30.880 --> 00:33:34.480
and if we can just allow ourselves to trust that normally,

699
00:33:34.480 --> 00:33:37.319
that will lead us to making a better decision for ourselves.

700
00:33:37.319 --> 00:33:40.200
It's just giving ourselves, you know, permission to do that,

701
00:33:40.279 --> 00:33:43.440
I guess is such an important thing one hundred percent.

702
00:33:43.599 --> 00:33:48.000
And I will add that meditation is also very good

703
00:33:48.039 --> 00:33:53.359
for enhancing your intuition, that capacity to hear yourselfs quietening

704
00:33:53.400 --> 00:33:57.400
your busy mind and giving yourself the opportunity to slow

705
00:33:57.480 --> 00:33:59.880
things down a bit goes a long way to helping

706
00:33:59.839 --> 00:34:02.519
you to get in touch. I teach mindfulness of meditation.

707
00:34:02.599 --> 00:34:06.319
You obviously fully on board with that. And I always

708
00:34:06.319 --> 00:34:09.320
tell people that as well, like I've got us quite

709
00:34:09.440 --> 00:34:11.760
down that noise to be able to connect with that

710
00:34:12.480 --> 00:34:14.320
intuition because it always knows.

711
00:34:14.800 --> 00:34:18.079
Yeah, well how can you otherwise? And I think we've

712
00:34:18.079 --> 00:34:20.320
got the noise in our head. And then most people,

713
00:34:21.360 --> 00:34:23.119
you know, feel their lives or a lot of people

714
00:34:23.159 --> 00:34:24.960
fill their lives up to the point where it's you know,

715
00:34:24.960 --> 00:34:28.239
you're working a full time job, you're socializing, you're doing

716
00:34:28.239 --> 00:34:31.119
all these things where literally, you know, sometimes they don't

717
00:34:31.119 --> 00:34:34.280
have five minutes to themselves. And you know, I've recently

718
00:34:34.320 --> 00:34:36.159
come back to Australia and I had two weeks of

719
00:34:36.199 --> 00:34:39.679
sort of working a lot, seeing family, seeing friends, doing stuff,

720
00:34:39.679 --> 00:34:42.639
and I almost broke down. I was like, I cannot

721
00:34:42.679 --> 00:34:46.920
sustain this. For me, I need copious amounts of time alone.

722
00:34:46.960 --> 00:34:50.280
So I'm trying to achieve the opposite because I can't

723
00:34:50.280 --> 00:34:51.960
stand not having that time, because I'm like, where do

724
00:34:52.000 --> 00:34:55.000
I get the time to recalibrate and think about, you know,

725
00:34:55.599 --> 00:34:57.960
try and think about what I want to think about.

726
00:34:58.079 --> 00:35:00.320
You just don't have the time to even create satively

727
00:35:00.400 --> 00:35:02.800
think about things. If you're just filling every waking moment

728
00:35:02.880 --> 00:35:06.599
with noise and people and things, it's like it gives

729
00:35:06.639 --> 00:35:07.239
you no space.

730
00:35:07.559 --> 00:35:10.159
There's a Socrates quote I think as Socrates unless it's

731
00:35:10.159 --> 00:35:12.440
been misquoted, but this quote that I love, which is

732
00:35:12.519 --> 00:35:17.880
beware the barrenness of a busy life. Yeah, just so

733
00:35:17.880 --> 00:35:21.239
so wise, Nick, what is the one message that you

734
00:35:21.239 --> 00:35:24.559
would like anybody listening to this podcast to take away

735
00:35:25.159 --> 00:35:26.719
One message?

736
00:35:26.800 --> 00:35:31.519
I would say, just reminding yourself that you are you're

737
00:35:31.599 --> 00:35:35.119
already enough. You don't need to prove yourself. What you

738
00:35:35.119 --> 00:35:38.480
should be looking to do is just trusting yourself and

739
00:35:38.559 --> 00:35:42.639
learning to listen to yourself rather than other people and

740
00:35:43.360 --> 00:35:46.719
outside noise, because especially in this day and age, you know,

741
00:35:46.760 --> 00:35:48.400
you don't have to leave your bed and you've you've

742
00:35:48.400 --> 00:35:52.320
got sort of you're being bombarded with just information through

743
00:35:52.360 --> 00:35:56.199
social media, through all the different media platforms out there.

744
00:35:56.960 --> 00:35:59.840
So being able to you know, quite all of that

745
00:36:00.239 --> 00:36:03.360
and just listen to yourself I think is so important

746
00:36:03.360 --> 00:36:05.440
and really trusted that. I think if you can do that,

747
00:36:05.920 --> 00:36:08.880
you'll be on the path to sort of making improvements

748
00:36:08.880 --> 00:36:12.239
in your own life and being a better person to

749
00:36:12.480 --> 00:36:13.400
other people as well.

750
00:36:13.719 --> 00:36:16.440
Fantastic advice and Nick, Where can people find out more

751
00:36:16.440 --> 00:36:18.280
about you and how they can work with you? Obviously

752
00:36:18.320 --> 00:36:19.920
your book is called Move your Mind, and we'll put

753
00:36:19.920 --> 00:36:21.480
the link in the show notes, But how else can

754
00:36:21.519 --> 00:36:22.400
they get in touch with you?

755
00:36:23.119 --> 00:36:25.280
Yeah, probably the easiest place would just be to go

756
00:36:25.320 --> 00:36:28.360
to my website, Nick Brax dot com. If you go there,

757
00:36:28.400 --> 00:36:30.760
it comes up with all the pop ups from my

758
00:36:30.840 --> 00:36:33.920
book that we released last year and other links. And

759
00:36:33.920 --> 00:36:36.159
then if you go to Move your Mind dot me,

760
00:36:36.400 --> 00:36:38.119
we've got a link. I mean it's got a sort

761
00:36:38.159 --> 00:36:40.360
of landing page at the moment we're building the website,

762
00:36:40.360 --> 00:36:43.639
but we've just launched a community platform and we've got

763
00:36:43.639 --> 00:36:45.679
a link on there where you can have a look

764
00:36:45.679 --> 00:36:47.880
at what we're doing with that. And it's got courses

765
00:36:47.920 --> 00:36:51.880
and live events and community features and all sorts of

766
00:36:51.960 --> 00:36:54.440
things on there. So yeah, they are the two places

767
00:36:54.440 --> 00:36:55.679
you can go brilliant.

768
00:36:55.880 --> 00:36:58.519
We will also put those links in the show notes. Nick,

769
00:36:58.599 --> 00:37:00.480
thank you so much for the work that you doing.

770
00:37:00.760 --> 00:37:02.760
Incredible and thank you for your time today.

771
00:37:03.039 --> 00:37:04.719
No probill, same to you. You know, I think it's

772
00:37:04.920 --> 00:37:06.960
I've had a look at what you're doing, and yet

773
00:37:07.000 --> 00:37:10.639
it's really incredible work. And love connecting with people like yourself,

774
00:37:10.679 --> 00:37:18.039
and yeah, really appreciate you having me on the Show's.

775
00:37:17.639 --> 00:37:20.400
Next book, Move Your Mind, is available in all Good bookstores.

776
00:37:20.440 --> 00:37:23.480
He also has a podcast with the same name. Nick

777
00:37:23.559 --> 00:37:26.159
is on Instagram at Nick Brax and his website, as

778
00:37:26.199 --> 00:37:28.599
he said, is Nick Brax dot com. Don't forget I

779
00:37:28.639 --> 00:37:30.960
also have a brand new podcast called The Confidence Coach

780
00:37:31.000 --> 00:37:32.639
with Kastan. I would love for you to have a

781
00:37:32.679 --> 00:37:35.360
listen and tell me what you think, share your feedback,

782
00:37:35.400 --> 00:37:38.719
with me hello at kast done dot com or cast

783
00:37:38.719 --> 00:37:42.760
Done underscore XO on Instagram. I'm also cast one Underscore

784
00:37:42.880 --> 00:37:46.119
XO on TikTok and all three Crappy to Happy books

785
00:37:46.159 --> 00:37:48.679
are also available in bookstores, and you can listen to

786
00:37:48.719 --> 00:37:52.239
them for free on Audible. If you're an Audible subscriber,

787
00:37:52.239 --> 00:37:53.960
you don't have to use a credit. You can download

788
00:37:54.000 --> 00:37:56.320
all three of the Crappy to Happy books on Audible.

789
00:37:56.880 --> 00:37:59.320
I cannot wait to catch you on the next episode

790
00:37:59.360 --> 00:38:00.000
of Crepy to Habby

791
00:38:07.559 --> 00:38:08.039
Listener