#1 - James Flack on Having an Open Mind, Growing & Giving Back

The year, you know, you're doing preseason as a team looking. Yeah. We haven't really lost like me people that you lost a legend in the club. But other than that we're, um, we're looking good. Trying to hard. So, um, yeah. And that's after the premiership last year where you absolutely dominated the back half of the year and won the flag, which is awesome. Yeah, definitely. Yup. Those are probably the one of the best times in my life when that flag. Awesome.

You and that's the, the highlight of your football career. Yeah, definitely. Definitely out there. You know, when you're like really enjoying, I'm enjoying my football again, you know, that's, um, that's a massive pot. And then just to top it off with the premise ship, it's why you play. So it was probably the hot water. I can 100% and that you've had a career playing at a fairly high level in Melbourne and that was all year. Which level?

Which I, that was, um, I was playing in the twos and Vfl so I never, never quite cracked into the ones. Yeah. But, um, yeah, I did. I learned so much being there just um, you know, train and with professionals and stuff like that. So yeah. Yeah. That's what I want to be able to bring it back, you know, back here and help as much people as I can.

Yeah. And do you see, do you see a massive difference in the level coming from Melbourne and obviously being an elite level and then coming back here, what's the differences you've seen Oregon? There's a massive difference in like in different ways. Like there's people here that would be able to go up there and play really good and they wouldn't even really know it. Is this the mindset and um, more so like the Iq kind of side of things. That's the difference and commitment obviously.

Yeah. Like people are there because they, they want to be, that's their, their vision is to be professional and that's their life, you know? And like here, the people that dominate here that they just play because they love footy. Yeah. And like, like yourself, you've got another, I guess not a lifestyle. You've got a job that you, that you enjoy doing, but you also love footy. So you play on the weekends. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nah, I feel Ya. I feel, yeah. What about, uh, what about for job?

What are you up to these days for a job? I'm a cabinet maker. Awesome. Building kitchens and stuff like that. How long have you been doing that? Coming on to two years. Yep. So probably just apprenticeship. Yeah. Yup. And what got you into that? Um, all boys from footie I played with. I always loved building, like I love wood class and all that kind of stuff. So it was always something I wanted to do.

And um, yeah, cabinet making, sorta like you get to, you get to like, you go in there and there's nothing, then you leave after a day and like all the kitchen's done and it's like real, this feels really good when you finish, you know? Awesome. Awesome. And what got you into that? Um, just the love for timber and, you know, building things. Yup. Always loved it. You know, my pop was a builder and I'm like, he used to build houses and stuff like back in the days that his own business and that.

So I always looked up to him massively. He used to build little robots and everything out in the shed. Yeah. And, and that, uh, so, so your lifestyle now is kind of like you're doing your apprenticeship and then 40 on top of that, and then you've also got other projects you're working on as well. Yeah. So just go to work, train in the, like after work at nights, um, it's trying to find time to do everything. Like it's not finding time. You gotta make time now I'm realizing.

Yeah. So, um, I'm like getting up earlier, you know, I used to try and I used to wake up, I'd start at seven 30, I'll wake up at five past seven and like go to work sleepy, you know, breakfast. It's just not the way you can like be productive. Yeah. So my alarm set now like five 30 and like I've been listening to this thing, talking about like, I think it's integrity. Like, so you've got to, to be like that. You've got to start being honest to yourself and I keeping promises to yourself.

So like they say you're going to wake up at five 30, get up at five 30, and then once you start doing that, other things will, yeah. Yeah. So what's your morning routine? Like your alarm set at five 30 you wake up, what do you do? Yup. So, um, I'll wake up. I've got it. Like I always have a bottle of water next to me, so I'll drink some water, you know, refuel. Yep. Get it straight through your head refuel. You need it like a car. Um, and then I usually brush my teeth. Um, it depends.

Like some mornings I work out at the one for one fitness, we'll draw, shout out [inaudible] Bianca there. Yeah. Um, so if I go there, just, you know, Pete won 50, you'll hit 50, whatever it's called. It's just a really good workout. Um, gets you going, go home, have a shower, eat some breakfast. Yup. Um, you brekkie trying to try and get healthier. So I need some tips there, Carlo. But, um, I've been eating like a, it's like milk honey, oats and chocolate chair seeds.

Yep. All that kind of stuff does mixed together. Three tasty, actually I assume it's half Lt, so it's better than there's the big, um, like spaghetti from last night or something, which I used to eat, which was good. Really? Yeah. I used to, I used to love pizza in the morning. All the pizza. Yeah. Man, I could never do that. Yeah. Saucy draws pretty on Lz, a big M and a and a sausage roll breakfast. Excellent.

And do you find waking up, um, a lot earlier, so having a kind of like a, not a routine or might have basically is a routine like you without even realizing you sorta you do the same thing. Yeah. And do you find yourself more productive throughout the day? Yeah, for sure.

Yep. I found myself in a better mood, like, cause you sort of aware of what's happening, you know, like self aware, you know, you can, you control what you're thinking because you're, you've already, you've woken up and you got into it. Yeah. Good way to start the day. Yeah. Even meditation, like you're, you're a big fan of that. I am. Yes, I am. I'm trying to get into it. Um, Tony Robbins, which is, I'm good man.

Your tree video is 48 minutes long, so it's not like one of those ridiculously long things, especially trying to get into it. It's pretty good. Yeah. And you find a lot of benefits from that. Yeah, I find like it's surprising. I like, I've always never really been open to it, but um, yeah, being open to it and trying to, I feel like it just, it's just a part of the trying to do it like three times a week or something, you know, just to really, when I have time to make time for it obviously.

But yeah, 14 minutes isn't long to make time. No, that's one of the first things I do too. Before anything, it was wake up, put my earphones in, go sit there and get it done. And you just kind of appreciate it. Makes you just appreciate everything. Yeah. Yeah. Cause cause three gratitude as well. And that's what it is. Yeah. Like you find three things that you're grateful for or whatever, you know, that kind of stuff.

And I think that big on that, especially because you sent me that one as well and I've been going through that one.

I used to go through ones that were like 30 minutes or to an hour and you know, not, I guess everyone can make that time, but you know with everyone having a packed day, having work, having with, they've got kids or other projects, they're working on something like 14 minutes to set you up for the day to get your mindset right, to get your, I guess mental clarity and focus right to then on flow into throughout the day whatever happens, you're going to have that clarity and you're going to have

that focus. I just think it's so, so beneficial for people to be doing in a, still think that there's a lot of people that don't even know what meditation is or benefits or they think it's something where you have to be, you know, sit in a park like a Buddhist in a robe and cross your leg. Something to do with Yoga. And it's like, yeah, that's great. If that's your thing, go do it.

But it's just as simple as putting your headphones in in bed and having Alyssa, you don't have to sit there and clear your thoughts and not thinking about anything. It's, it's like being grateful stuff, you know? And like those ones that go for an hour, they're probably people that have practiced it for years and years that have the time freedom and stuff to be able to sit down the beach or like, you know, that kind of lifestyle. It's different for everyone.

So touching on that, what are you most grateful for in your life right now? It's hard to choose one thing. Just um, the opportunities I guess. Yup. That um, give me a specific one. Well, the business I'm in. Yep. I'm just so excited about it. That's it. It's going back years and years. Network marketing. Yep. I guess that's where I'm, I met people there that I'm Sorta, you know how they say the five people you hang around, you sort of turn into whatever the quote is.

Yup. You got a truth people wisely and um, you know, follow people who have what you want and um, people I've met in that and that's how you are, may become pretty good friends through that, you know. So I think that yeah, it was pretty important cause we, we actually went to school together, we went to high school together, we did our ankle secondary shout out again.

And uh, we weren't exactly mates back then like we were, but you know, you know everyone, you mates with everyone back in high school. But we kind of had our separate groups. I was with the soccer boys, James was mostly the footy boys and there was a few little, little battles between there and ego battles, but I guess, um, everyone's mates now.

Yeah. As, as we realized, I think going into year 10 we ended up realizing that, you know, all those egos and those groups weren't really a thing for both of us. And I noticed that I would separate from that and I'd just, you know, I'd go with the soccer boys and, and play soccer and, and talk to those boys. But it wasn't something where I'd be like, I have to be with those guys. I knew that be friends with everybody.

There's nothing wrong with being friends with people that like different things that play different sports and it's just being a friendly person. I want it to be mates with everyone because locker right now, couple of years later we kind of went around and pass. I went to Melbourne and did my thing. You went to Melvin, did your thing and then I went over seas and then we all came back and then we ended up being in the same company together, which was awesome.

And then now we're, we're both back in. We'll draw and yeah, we're hanging out all the time, which is great. And now we're on the podcast together, which is awesome. Like you said, it's good to hang around people that had that same vision, have that same motivation and drive for life, constantly improving and surround yourself with those people.

Because if you're surrounded by someone that's down all the time, always negative and it's, it's going to mean that you're probably going to fall into that mindset as well. Those negative, like if you're hanging around negative people time, yeah, it does manifest in your head everything negative and you did, it's like the law of attraction. You know, it's bringing upon yourself without just without even meaning the subconscious mind.

Yeah. And you know, I've noticed that in my life when I've been around people, it's, it's not so much, you know, don't be friends with them again. Cause if it's someone in your family then you're not just going to drop it and because of that, but it's limiting your time with those people. Don't, don't spend 80% of your time with those people, you know, give him a bit of time, you know, hang out.

It's probably going to be conversations that are just very surface this be like on sport or something like that. You know, you still, you're obviously friends for a reason. Yep. Yep. And cutting them out. But, and luck with us when we, when we sit down and chat, it's normally an hour to two hours of, you know, what about our rituals? What are our routines, what's been happening, what projects are we working on? It's not just how is the weather? How was work? It's deep conversation.

Yeah. We're getting deep into consciousness and awareness, which is awesome. What about, is growth important to you? Growth. Yeah. Massive. Yeah. Like you know, it's like it same thing as like potential you can like have a vision for something then work towards it and um, that's, that's huge.

Yeah. Yeah. So why is it important to you to constantly be growing, to be doing stuff like reading and developing yourself and your mindset and your, I guess your skill level as well or I guess it's like the key to being happy and like what I'm realizing. Yep. Key to being happy is this band like in control. And doing everything that you wanted to, you're gonna have to do anything anyone says like, yeah.

Like for you with your, like with your business, you know, you don't have to do anything because you're like, you're in control of what's happening. So yeah. Big. I think we were talking about this the other day where it was like, there's no textbook and I've been noticing lately I've been trying to pick up on who says you should be doing this. Like are you, you're here.

You know, you should be like, for people our age, um, you know, you should be married, you should be buying a house, you should be at uni, you should be in a a certain job that's an in this much money. It's like, no, I shouldn't. Like who are you to be saying that? Like, it's good to have opinions, but is there really a textbook of you should be doing this? It's like everyone has a different life.

Like there's no, there's no right or wrong, it's just we're just living life and doing things that, how many people do you reckon told Donald Trump not to be present? Do you think he care? Do you think you listen to those people? No, not saying that like he's doing it. I'll just say it's just an example. I don't get involved in politics, but to me though, it's like footie players. How many, how many of those would have been told, you know, no, you shouldn't be doing that.

You should just go to uni, get a good job and you'll be fine. I'm not even like a position or was, you know, you shouldn't be a Batman. You're a forward growing up and getting told that. Yeah. And then yeah, it happens to HPP in the NFL. They re right. Look do they can read it pretty much. Yeah. And change their position and, and you know it's, there is no is another thing. There is no right or wrong. Everything is just neutral.

And I think it was Shakespeare that said that, you know, especially with your thoughts, nothing and situations, nothing is neither good or bad. It's thinking, which makes it so, so it's the same thing or what's right or wrong. It's morally, there can be those right or wrongs, but really whatever you're doing, whatever you're thinking, whatever happens, everything's just neutral.

You decide whether it's good or bad because something that happens to me could be the worst thing that happens to be my life. But to you, you could be like, hey, that's all right. Like that's not too bad. I've been through worse. So it's realizing that we have control over our thoughts and our emotions are not so much our thoughts about our emotions towards thing and our reactions because sometimes our emotions take over. You know, you get sad about some things and it's, it's uncontrollable.

But our reaction to what happens when you control, we can decide whether that moment takes us and ha and has a bad day. Like the weather. It's raining. It's going to be a terrible day. I'm going to get nothing done. That's it. That's something you can totally control. Yeah. That's like for instance, yesterday my girlfriend, she messaged me, she's like, she had stayed at mine. She stayed and shout out to Nicole, she forgot her. Um, her makeup, she messaged me.

That's going to be a bad day already. Like I forgot it. I have to go buy some more or whatever and then problem solved. Now later she went and bought some more and then she done fine. So have a good day. But you could go and there's dwell on it all day or you can just get over it, realize it's not the end of the world. Like I was listening to this podcast the other day about, you know, Jockey Djokovich, the tennis player. Furry.

Yeah. Just saying how like just the stories of the wars and is it Serbia? Yeah, it was somewhere around that. That was one of those house. Yep. Just like the wars and stuff that he went through there. Like me growing up, my biggest problem would have been like, the Internet's not working you, but why isn't wildfire down the problem I've got at home right now and trying to get mum to upgrade, but I thought that was a problem.

And look what he's, how he's dug himself out of that and just, I had the right mindset and done what he wanted to do. So do I. My Internet, like our dug out of that and I've got Internet now. Well that also takes me back and it just reminds me of at home, cause my dad has a vineyard. Um, it has a lot of table table grapes, fresh fresh fruit. And we have me, so look, we're in peak and help bring some slum next time.

And um, some of the workers he's got, I think they're from Malaysia and these guys are working for my dad, you know, 15 hour days and they're just so happy. I walk in in the morning, whether I'm helping dad in the morning in the shed. And they always so good morning, they've always got a smile on their face.

They're happy to do it because, and, and mind you, they're over here and their families back in Malaysia, like not okay, they're not suffering, but you know, they're, they're living on such a low, low wage and their, their quality of life isn't that good. So they've left their family to come over here, work, do the jobs that we probably wouldn't do. It's not the nicest or jobs.

They're ha, they're hard jobs, but it's, it's, I guess it's not well paying like a lawyer or anything, but they can come over here for two years, sacrifice that time from their family risk, everything. Come over here, get a twice a mundane sort of job, work at that for two years, go home and they'd set up their lives for their family and that's men. When I'm out there I'm just like, yeah, things wrong. Like my life ain't that bad.

Like it's like he can, he hear stories about like a lot of rich people saying they've got friends, they're friends with like a lot of unhappy rich people and they're friends with a lot of happy rich people. It all comes down to like the values, luck, you know what, why they're doing it, like what the, you know, what they're into and all that kind of stuff and you've got people that have got that, that wealth in life in terms of income. You s you see both sides.

You see some that are happy because they've got purpose and meaning behind it and they, they're doing a lot of stuff around that that keeps them in that happiness and obviously goes the same for like poor people. And yet, you know, like there's a lot of unhappy poor people. Yeah. There's a lot of really happy pool people. Poor being not rich, I'm not like, yeah.

Yeah. And then you've got the opposite of that again, for the, for the wealthy people that have a lot of money but then aren't necessarily happy. Yeah. And that's what I've seen recently. You know, there's a lot of talk about the Crypto, you know, we both delve into that a bit and I've got friends of friends that, you know, missed out on a big spike when it, when it raised a bit and bitcoin went crazy. Let him get to them.

Yeah. And they got to their minds, even though they're, they're really wealthy and it hasn't dropped that much. But because they missed that, that Fomo, they missed that opportunity where it spiked harder. Sn, that's what crypto is. Pharma. And they're in like depressive modes and they're on like suicide watch and it's like, why are you letting that affect your emotions so much? Like your reaction to that could be, oh well it happened, it'll happen again.

And that's, that's my, my sort of mindset on it is like, even with that whole boom of that industry is like, whether I do that and make a lot of money in that, it doesn't matter. Like if I get in great, if I don't, there's more opportunities in life. This is what every, there's so many things happening everyday where you go into so many opportunities. Closed minded people miss too. Yeah, no. Yeah. Yeah. It's crazy what open mind does.

Mm. And just, I guess that's, that can even go towards people like having a great conversation with the person that's making your coffee in the morning. Yeah. Or it could just be the guy that's making your coffee or it could be like a human that you're conversating with in the morning getting a good conversation. Yeah. And I, I've been trying to make that a thing where like normally I am, I'm cold, quite a friendly bloke that I will have a chat. Yeah. How's your day going?

Yeah. Awesome, awesome. And then now it's like give a compliment. Can you give a compliment to everyone you come in contact with? Like James, you're a good looking bloke. You're, you're amazing friend. Have an awesome day. I hope you have an awesome day. Use Fans. Probably don't say that as a Barista because it might be a bit weird, but like even just saying this is going to free coffee and if you get one in right. If you don't, that's not the purpose of it.

Even this morning, like it's funny what like the older people look at our generation luck sometimes. Like I'll sit in there drinking a coffee down by the river and I'm like a older lady and man walked past me and liked his head down and I said good morning. And they're like, oh good morning, happy Australia Day. And like they talk to you for a second. Like they just don't really, I'm barely understand. Not everyone's just like, yeah, that kind of person.

But yeah, you can see it, surprise him and it just makes them happy. Yeah. And I've found that when, when I've, while I've been traveling, like going to different countries and experiencing different cultures and then so, so being over in Europe and then coming home, um, I think we're doing a walk. I was with a few people and every person that walked past on the trail, I would say, morning, yeah, you don't have to stop and have a conversation, but just a good morning.

And some people looked at me like, who are you like do I know you? And it's like that just say good morning. Like it's just a nice thing to just say, good morning. How are you?

Um, and even even the other day I was talking to a few backpackers that were working for my brother in law and they were saying that one thing that I've noticed in Australia is, I guess it's not everywhere, but in, in the town that re more Jura, they said that a lot of people are friendly, especially in the clothing stores. They'll, they'll make an effort to say, how are you, can I help you?

Whereas back in their hometown, whether it's Germany or Holland or wherever it is, they say that, you know, not many people will do that. They just do their job and that's it. And I think it's just, it's just a nice thing like having the different jobs that I've had in my life, just being that those interprofessional blow over 20 jobs. Yeah. It's, it's tipping near 30, which is pretty crazy. I've only been 23, but I've had a lot to, yeah.

What some of them, um, I've worked in like aquatic centers, been out of the back of like little containers in Melbourne building like cooler sheds, dislike tiny, different random things. Like, cool. You think what else is so much different? Random stuff. Yeah. Yeah. It's just so much experience in life of just learning suppliers, you know, building things. Yeah. It's crazy. Yeah. And so much was a lot of that interpersonal type stuff or was it more just doing the job involved?

To be honest, a lot of those jobs where I'm trying to stay afloat while I was living in Melbourne, try and play footie yet I know that grind, the grind of chasing the dream. Yeah, that's, yeah. That's um, that's how I actually got, I remember I didn't have a job for like four months and I was like stressing out up there. Right. This is like I didn't really, we weren't friends yet and I messaged you were kind of knew each other. We were just weren't close friends.

I messaged you and you're like, yeah, I'll get a job that you could do. And that's what introduced me. That was a first real introduce whatever it is to welcome to Mlm. That's probably one of the pivotal moments that changeable off without even looking back now. Yeah. So what, did you ever know that, what I think we've spoken about it but I didn't know that situation where you were looking for a job.

But I guess it's, it's when you're open minded, like you were saying before and you're looking for something and you keep that good attitude about it, it's like luck when people say, you know, you just got lucky. It's, it's, you know, you work hard, then things come your way. Like you create your own luck by working hard and having an open mind. If you didn't have an open mind and I approached you, you would have been like, no, go away. And what are you, why are you talking to me?

We're not made. Somebody is create your own luck. Yeah, 100%. And it means doing those things that you know are going to put you ahead and, and having that open mind and it means what you're thinking about all time to think and grow rich. Napoleon hill, I need to read that. I'm real excited to read that. It's good. That's one of my books and I'm like, I need to read every, like the start of every year.

Um, but as we know me and reading books, I've got about three open at the moment and it's, it's, I'm more of an audible person. Uh, I'll listen to a book while I'm driving or a podcast person. So it's, it's, it's my challenge is to finish that book in the next two months. You know, a couple pages of the day it's get it done, but it's a great, great book. I highly recommend it.

It's probably the base of personal development books because it was written so long ago and a lot of them stem off that and have their own spin on it. But so many rich and successful people recommend that book. It's a great one for mindset and learning, learning that like you said, you know, your, your thoughts are things and, and what you're thinking about matters definitely. Especially if you're thinking about negative all the time.

Good. There's a good possibility that that you're going to notice all the negatives. And that comes back to Tony Robbins. They was talking about before, like I remember going to one of his seminars and jove yeah, they're good. They're good. They get you up jumping and uh, you know, screaming and clapping and it's good. I love it. I love it for what it is and I get a lot of value out of it from what he's saying. And how he control gets you to control your emotions and how that can affect you.

And one of the things he does, one of the, I guess the, the tasks that he makes you do activities is he goes, look around the room and look at everything that's red. Pick as many things that are read out in the room. And then after 10 seconds, it was, I stopped. Tell me what was blue. And you're like, nothing. I can't remember. I was looking at everything that was read. I could tell you all the red things. And he goes, exactly. He goes, what you focus on? That's what you find.

So if you're focusing on negatives, you'll pick up every negative throughout the day. So let's just say, uh, we're sitting here, we're sitting in a park. It's, it's absolutely gorgeous. It's green. Um, there's not too many people around. You can probably hear the birds and the cars going past, which is, okay. So if I said, you know, look at all the negatives, James, pick all the negatives out here. What would you say the grass is itchy.

Yeah, there's flaws yet, you know, there's a, there's cars going past when we want it to be quiet. You know, the temperature could be a little bit cooler to get them towed off over the, see, they're all the negatives of, okay, we're what are the positives and feel good about picking those. Yeah, exactly. Like it's, it's putting you in a negative mindset. Sorry to do that. But what's the positives? Positives. So many. Like where do I start? We're alive.

Yeah. We've got time to be here and have a conversation. Yeah. I'm citizen building too. Right here. There goes a range rover. Yup. All one of them saying, you know, there's the trees that this tree, there's open area, there's no lions and animals like that attacking us. Be here as long as we want. Yeah. It's good. There's nothing bad happening. There's doing yoga over there. Yeah. We should probably should probably join in after this embarrass myself. Ah, look, that's one. Touch my toes.

No, no. Again, I was going to say, man, you better get that right. Like you better get back going, uh, for the season. Just asking for an injury. Well that's one of my routines in the morning is just stretching for the same year, 10 minutes. Yeah. It's for, for someone that's an even not an athlete, like just, just being able to be flexible. I've found 10 minutes like we're saying about our, uh, the meditation. If you can't do 10 minutes a day, then you know, what are you prioritizing on?

Like that's a priority for me. I need to be flexible and I want to meditate because I know that in my day of priorities and my routine, that's important for me to be on my game and to be, um, I guess the most productive throughout the day is having that clear mind and having that focus, being flexible. I feel so much better. Wake up 10 minutes earlier, stretch. You weren't of a soul back all day. Yeah. Stuff like that. Like it's a sacrifice.

Yeah. Getting up 10 minutes early, but look, it's for the good, you know? Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of things like that that people need to be doing or should be doing to just benefit them that little bit. Yeah. So what about, what is the worst thing that's happened to you and how was that the best thing that's happened to you? Um, we're getting deep, deep, just to pick one thing. It would be hard but like I said before without even realizing it at the time.

Not having a job for that four months. Yeah. That was probably luck. You know, you think like footy was my whole life. I nearly had to move back because I couldn't afford to stay there. And then like I get shown an opportunity from you, which who knows, like it might've put me in a better mindset to go out and get another job to make some money. I don't know.

But just that was the first time I got introduced to something like that and it sort of changed everything I wouldn't have, I wouldn't have talked to you about job if I had a job then. Yeah. So at the same time, that was the worst thing that was happening. Turned into something good now. Yeah. Like down the track. Yeah. Good realization. Yeah, for sure. For sure. And I appreciate it. You're welcome.

And now we're sitting here recording a podcast, but it's, yeah, it's, I think it's so important to, to have that attitude about it and to go back and, and realize it. Cause at the time you don't have the, what's the word? Is it foresight? Yeah. No. In hindsight, that's going to be a great thing that's happened, but we're all going to go through things in life that are terrible. Whether it's, you know, for me a terrible thing would be the death of a family member, something like that.

But it's, and it could be anything getting, you know, not the grades you want, not getting the job you want. Maybe it's having a car accident or losing your job. Again, like we were saying, you can control your reaction. Yes, it may be the worst thing that's happened to you, but how, if you can realize how and how is that the best thing that's happened to you, then you're always going to have that attitude of, okay, this is a bad situation. I see it for what it is. It's a situation that's bad.

How can I turn this into a positive? What can I take from this to learn from it and make it the best thing that's ever happened to me? Yeah. Just start by having an open mind. Yeah. I think that's the theme for this one. Having an open mind and controlling those, those reactions to everything. Yep. So what do you love doing?

Um, I guess I'm a real introvert so I don't, I don't, I don't like talking in front of large crowds or anything like that, but I love like sorta helping people, whatever they like. If there's that, you know, make them happy, make them smile. But I like, that's on a small scale. If you can help someone on a big scale, like, which is like what was grateful. Yeah. But if you really believe in something, you can really help people. It's a really changing their lives and a lot of ways, yeah.

Just even like having a good conversation with someone and actually listening and stuff. You can see the difference between sitting there and just been like, yeah, yeah. That's cool. All right, I'll see you later. Like, you know, instead of being like that, you can actually sit there and you can notice that people appreciate it and like get into deep conversation and it's like healthy dislike, hoping, helping people are wrecking. Yeah. And what do you get from that?

What's, what's your emotions from that? Oh Man. Like, you know, the feeling if you, for instance, you hold the door open for an old lady, you know, that little feeling you get. Yep. It's just that feeling is every time, like if you're having a bad day, if you're upset or something, go do something for someone else. Yep. And, um, you, you feel that feeling do, it'll help you start to feel better. Like it's always that no matter what, that's a good feeling. 100% agree. Hundred percent of great.

And especially doing things for other people. It's, it's, and you don't always have to do something to get something in return either. Yes. Yeah. Like the World Law of attraction world will bring it back to you eventually.

But if it even doing, even doing that thing, like you said, like not, not doing it for yourself, even doing that thing, you're, you're selfishly getting a benefit of I did something for someone, which is okay guys, you can be self, which in in life and do that as long as it's for the right reasons. But in you doing that, you're donating and you helping the homeless and you, um, yeah, I go donate to a little boy over and um, I can't remember. I don't even know how to say the name of the place.

Like in Africa somewhere. Malawi, Malawi, I think it is Malawi. His name's Mcleod. And it's just like, if you help and he's, he's whole family pretty much. I'm like, you know, make him go to school and everything. He sent me a Christmas letter. It was pretty cool. He drew me a little car. Like, it's just not, so he's six, he's old. Any change in his life, it's the best feeling. That's awesome.

And then this, there are people that are, you know, for whatever reason that's the, the deck of cards they've been dealt in life that are in that situation. And you know, we've had this deck of cards to be in Australia in more juror in this amazing park right now. But for you, how, how much blood donation wise, how much is that per month or something like that, man, it's $10 a week that you go. And that puts him basically in school.

Yeah. His whole family gives him life, helps their community actually. How incredible was it? Yeah. So it was 40 bucks a month. Yeah. And what's that on a scale of the thing, it doesn't, nothing that's, especially if you're making, you know, normal B, two meals. I could go out for tea and spend that. And that's ridiculous to think about in all one big night on Saturday night, having a couple of drinks come on out to the club. But it's all drinks at a club. It's not able to. Two cocktails.

Um, but see, like that's inspired me to do something like that. Like as soon as I seen you doing it and you showed me the other day and showed me the card and showed me him. And like, it's, it's something that I've always seen, but it's never, I've never said I want to go over there one day. Incredible with that. Because you can do that. Yeah. You can go and see him. Yeah. But like, obviously when he's a little older and like when you have a better relationship.

Yeah. Like the first few letters they say is like, it's just like, it's not awkward, but it's just, you don't know him. So it's just riding like, hey, how are you? This is my, like, what do you know? What do you like? What ball sports do you like? And all that kind of stuff. Eventually you get like a little relationship and you can, um, yeah, that's when it, that's when it's cool. So let's speak English. Um, they have like a, in interpretat or whatever it is.

Yeah. So they don't actually write physically. Yes. Like they sort of say what they want. Like he said he wants to be a school teacher. Awesome. Yeah. But they like he drew the car so that was his drawing. Love it. So when you're young, but they, I think they are learning English. Yeah. Pretty sure. So when you, when you off there, I actually don't have any plans yet that, is it like a goal for the next 10 years. I definitely want to go there. So how old is he now? He's six.

Okay. My uncle has done it. My uncle. Yeah. Yeah. He's um, he's got a few and he's been over and seen them. That would be such an incredible experience. So he had I live in, yeah. And then like crazy. Especially from the impact that you've had. Yeah. Because then can you imagine how much they appreciate it? It's just a, it's just a little thing to do to improve someone's life in us. Totally different society and different countries. Have you been to any third world countries, stuff like that?

No. Okay. So I've been to a few and it's, it's just incredible. Like the one that stands out to me was in Bali and we were doing the mountain batter, volcano climb. So at 3:00 AM you start climbing and um, it takes about three hours to get to the top of the volcano. And then when you get there, you see the sunrise, you see the clouds over the, over the towns, and there's a guide that takes each group up. So you're in a group of maybe three or four and you have a guide.

And this is like, so we had a young kid that was maybe 18, no shoes on, you know, I had you don't mind my Nike's on and skins on and everything. I was freezing these guys in shorts and t shirt, no shoes on climbing up this mountain. And it wasn't an easy hike, but, um, you know, it was a great thing to do. It's a mental toughness thing. You've got to get through it. You know, I've got to get to the top to see this. And it was a great experience.

But chatting to them along the way, because I did speak English, broken English and um, that three hour climb up and down, they would get paid maybe $5 to do that. And they do it multiple times a day. I was wrecked after getting to the top, um, quite physically fit now going up and down. I was like, I just asked out of curiosity, how much, how much do you make doing this? I obviously you do it, uh, quite a bit. And they said, you know, $5 up down, that's for six hours.

They make $5 and May, may and um, my friend that were there, we were like look at Australia and obviously the those dollars. Yeah. So converted and to them that's, what would that be? That's million slot in their currency, I think hundreds of thousands, I think $10 maybe 100,000, something like that. And you know, we had, you know, a bit of money leftover cause I think that was near the of our trip.

And we're just like, let's put like $50 Australian together and just give it to him and just be like, you know, spend it on something good. Cause we'll ask him the whole way. What do you dream of doing? What do you want to do? And um, it was to be a computer technician, but he didn't have the money for a computer. I didn't have the money for um, uni to then study something because they lived in, lived in little hearts like, you know, they had no shoes. They, you know, worked on rice field.

They're like, did that on rice fields to make money. Such a different lifestyle to what we've got. They didn't have cafes everywhere. They weren't going for coffees. And is it that he's got a dream like that though? Yeah. And that's what, like, it was so fascinating to just ask those questions and see what he wanted to do. And then we gave him the money and he was over the moon, but he didn't want it. He was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Like I can't, I can't take it.

And I might look, I don't like, I don't care if you get in trouble, put it in your sock. Like, oh you have socks on. But like put it somewhere, hide it. Don't tell anyone. But make sure you spend it on uni. Make sure you spend it on something good. And whether he did or not, I don't know. And at least at least about the castle, um, hopefully he's got that entrepreneurial mind. That would be pretty awesome.

But in the same way, like how you've got that contact with your, um, what would you call them or donate or like your person oversees that you're helping the little boy. I don't have that, so I don't get to see what he actually did or what his lifestyle likes now. But you know, I hope that people do, do, do, do the good thing that he did the right thing and that is he's now studying or maybe he's got a computer or something like that. And Man, it's just a little thing you can do.

Yeah. Paying it forward a coffee. That's, that's one of my things, like I really want to do it over the weekend is pay for the next coffee. Oh yeah. Not Tell that person. Just I'm paying for this one and the next one, if someone comes in and orders one coffee just to take away coffee, I want to pay for it. It could, there could be a really bad pick up line. Like some girl might think ragging on you. Like what the hell? Well look, even if it is, it's, it's something nice.

Yeah. And it'll tell you a funny, something funny though about like that kind of thing. Yeah. One of my mates is a Milkman and he was saying that, um, delivers milk. Yeah. And He, um, he said that it was talking to a girl once and she's like, what are you doing? He's like, I'm a Milkman. And she's like, that's the worst pickup line I've ever heard. Oh, why? Yeah. A little bit to get into it. But if you get it, it's pretty funny. I'll found it funny. Uh, well at least he was being honest.

Yeah, I know. Like, yeah. So what are you, what are you battling within right now? Um, what's a challenge you are having within itself? Just to, like I said, I'm an introvert so I don't want to be really, I don't want to be able to not speak in front of a group. Like I want to be able to do that. So it's sort of being a leader, like learning to be a leader. Yep. Which is what I want, so I'm going to do it. Yep. You gotta Yourself, you already comfort zone into it. How are you going to do that?

Just, um, if you feeling like you can't do it, just do it. Yeah. Like you learn eventually. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's pretty much basically it like being a leader. Yeah. Yeah. So going on many different levels to it. Yeah. Going through that, just making yourself do it and then over time that repetition becomes comfortable. Yeah. Yeah. More confidence in it and then it's just going to become second nature to do it. How many times do you hear you like speakers on stage?

Say their first five times they stood on a stage, they don't even know what they said or they just mumbling or they forgot. They just went blank. I've heard people say that they went blank and they couldn't even see the writing on their paper in front of them when they were up there cause all that nervous like what they did it and then they did it again and again again. They got better at it now it's comfortable and that's, I can relate to that.

Like the same thing cause when we're in the company together, I did a few speeches in front of people. We, we had pretty big team so we used to kill it. I never saw this thought of that. It was, it was like you like you seen my journey over over the couple of years of, of developing from the start. Like it was never something I was comfortable with.

But like we said, repetition, doing it over and over now I'm more than happy to stand in front of a, a group of people and talk about something as long as I've got it planned. I don't need cue cards or anything, but you just get that confidence because you've done it so many times. It's like playing footie for you, playing at a, at a, in a big game, like a final if you played in a few in your life. Yeah. Yeah. So you've probably got nervous going out.

Like I, I still have games where I'm nervous when I go out to play soccer. Sometimes I get nervous. No, I get, I think it's sometimes actually no, not being back at local level. When I was overseas it was nervous because it was like there's always eyes on you. There was pressure, there was contracts, there was agents that are scouts, but it was always like, I would always calm that down by going, you know what you're doing. Yeah, exactly. Do the things that you're good at.

Like if there was ever a moment where I'd have to that comfort zone, ah, sorry. Stepping out of that comfort zone and like, hey, I need to be the trickiest player. Or like on the team on need to do this to show off. No, that's not my thing like that. For some people like Rinaldo or messy or for Neymar. That's their thing. Yeah. Let them do that thing. I feel like people, oh yeah, sorry. Go. My thing is just being that solid, defensive midfielder. Yeah. That does the basic things, right.

I'll stop the player from getting past me and I'll pass it out to the, to the player and make sure that that's my dominate that. Yeah. From what? For My, for my, for the game. My goals are do those basic things well and you've done your job. You don't need to take on every single player and shoot and score. If I do, great, I haven't done the option. Is there, take it. Yeah, but do the basic thing. It's a team sport. Everyone plays their part in that game. Yeah. Like, all right.

I definitely think people confuse the feeling of luck. Nervousness for excitement before probably, you know, like you dick, you get butterflies. It's not sometimes. Not that you nervous, it's just that. Yeah. Do you like you're excited? Like I know if I ever start to feel like that, I think the reason why I don't get nervous, he's like, I know that every single time the siren will go and start when I'm out there, nerves are gone. Cause it's just footy again.

So like what's the point of building yourself up? Getting all nervous and stuff when, when it's just going to be like that every time you stop and you know you've got this. Yeah. I'm James Flag, get a dome and I love it. So would you think, would you say that that's something you're working on improving most? What's that? Is that um, like we said before, leadership, uh, leadership and that, that confidence in front of crowds and yeah.

Yeah. I think confidence in front of crowds is part of leadership. Yeah. Cause like if you're not really up there, if you know the later yeah. And if you go to events and stuff, all the latest sit at the front. Yeah. You just go to copy what they do. You can't just be a leader. Some people you can't actually, some people are born to do it.

Yeah. But others have to like I guess turn themselves into one and it's that can then go off, you know, look, look at the people that have what you want or doing what you want or have the attributes that you want and do what they do because they're doing that for a reason. And like you said, just sitting at the front of events, I've got to a seminar on marketing seminar coming up, um, at the start of next month, so a couple of weeks away.

And there was the option to either get the free ticket and sit, you know, towards the middle and back. Yeah. Or x street, $50 and get the VIP and I'm going to be there extra early to sit right at the front and have my notebook. They're ready to take notes on everything because who does that? People or the leaders that learn and that get the most out of it. And you know from the events that I've been to, that's like you said, that's exactly who I seen.

Other leaders are the ones at the front of the ones that are asking questions, the ones that are being proactive and waking up, having a morning ritual or routine of meditating, of stretching, of reading, a good book of always being in that zone of self development. And we're constantly working on themselves to become better. Yeah, I definitely think the saying, you know, follow people that have what you want is underrated.

Yeah. And I think even the one thing that, uh, cause I got asked this a couple of days ago was you know, who your, your mentors or people you look up to and do you get to catch up with them? And it's like, no, like that. They're people from books. They're all Thursday podcast is, but if I surround myself with them, they're my mentors. Like with podcasts, like we listened to Lewis House, I don't, he doesn't know who I owe.

We have messaged me on Instagram, but like, you know, we don't know each other. We're not friends, but I hear his voice every day and this is my friend. Yeah. Like he's you sir. You are the sum of the five people you surround yourself with. If I'm surrounding myself with someone like that that's always talking positively or we're talking about growth, always giving tips on how to improve, then that's going to improve my life and that's where these podcasts comes around.

Where I feel with having the conscious is having these great conversations with people like yourself that have that self awareness, that are constantly improving themselves and have so much to share because you are an inspiring man is other people are going to Bennett from benefit from that and I think these conversations are going to be had.

I guess the purpose of it is for people to then listen to this, enjoy it, but take something out of it to then improve their day and raise their consciousness to become a better person. I think that daily work on becoming better is also part of happiness. Yeah. You'd just constantly working on becoming better, putting dictum when you, when you become, when you know you actually becoming better at something. I'll get addicted to it. Yeah, I agree.

It's like, it's just like being competitive though. But on a, on a nice scale. Like I used to be super competitive where I wouldn't play if I didn't think I was going to win, which is bad cause like, yeah, it wouldn't be open to learning new things in that cause I'm like, Nah, I don't want to do it cause um, I don't think that'll be a win. I wouldn't say that, but that's like the morning so that I had good players, a debt, James, good players, a debt.

If you, if you only had 30 days left to live, what would you do? We do current resources. Oh actually no. With unlimited resources unlimited. You had all the money in the world. I gave you a credit card with, you know, $1 billion on it and you had 30 days left to live. What would you do? $1 billion. Obviously you're dumb. You start some sort of fun. My Foundation, you have to warm to help something that you're passionate about. I'm not sure what that would be it after thinking about it.

Um, set your family up just like you don't need money to be happy, but money definitely if you're, you have the right values and purpose and stuff, money can definitely give you the opportunities to be happy. So I'm, I'll do something along the lines of that with my family and friends, which would stem into, um, strangers and stuff that have their families and friends that, that, that spread it to her. Yeah. And what about with comes along with helping people again.

Yeah. Yeah. And that's, that's something I've seen in you for a while and I think that's why we get along so well because we, we have that mindset of wanting to help other people when a lot of things we do, um, uh, kind of focus towards helping people. What about if you had 30 days, 30 days left to live with your current resources, what would you do? Um, so whatever's in your bank account, whatever car you drive, what would you do? Yeah, I'd put it all on red and just give it to my family.

No, I was joking. Put it all on what she'd walk into the castle and go read. No, I would definitely wouldn't do that. Um, the current race horses, it's just like, I've heard you say it, but the same thing on a smaller scale, what I can do. Yeah. You know, as long the same lines and that would be help your and family friends and family with whatever I can. Um, with, you know, they started in business.

If I know someone that's in to something like that or they might, you know, just little things you can always like help someone and yeah. Obviously if you're going to be going 30 days, you don't have to get something back out of it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's interesting to hear everyone's, everyone's view on that and to see whether it's, do I help others or do I do my own thing? And a lot of people would probably say I'd go skydiving and which is fine. There's nothing wrong with that.

But yeah, I got obviously probably do that too. Yeah. But, um, I've cheekily just, just sneak it in yet. Have you been before? Not all got, it's good. It's good to be done. It highly recommend. Yeah. Didn't talk a far up. It was nice place. Yeah, to do what I mean surreal. It's, it's quite a shame that only lasts like a minute, but it's, yeah, it's an experience where it's like, no one of her that I always thought it'd like you feel, you know the feeling. You lose your gut.

Yeah. I thought it'd be like that the whole time, but apparently is not. Apparently the first bit is, and then he just feel like you're flying the first, the first, the initial drop is like, I dunno. For me it was like, I dunno what to do. Like my brain was like, what is happening? But then once they let out the parachute and you're just gliding, you just like for me, I have, you know me, I have those gratitude moments where I'm just like almost crying. I'm like, this is incredible.

I'm like floating out of the sky and like you look down at your feet. Like I wish I had a Gopro on me at the time. I'm looking at my feet and there's just ocean and land and it's just like, what, what is this experience I'm having? Like this is unreal and I've never, I've never been in anything like it. And I think that's like, you can do it again then. Yeah. I think I would want to do it in different countries.

Yeah. Just to see different things like Dubai, maybe in America and stuff like that and just, yeah. It's a different feeling. It definitely gets that rush of adrenaline. Yeah. That'd be cool. I'm definitely gonna do it. Do it, do it. I'm holding you to it. We'll go together. Yeah. What about, what would, what advice would you give the 16 year old James Flag? So 16 we're still in school. Yup. Yup. Um, other than just make sure you're having fun at this. Be something about commitment.

Yup. Which is, um, the difference between being elite and being good in professional world or I can, so who knows if you like, like 100% committed in every way possible. Diet. Massive Diet. Just training. Yeah. Sacrifice. Just try and try and say something about that. Yup. It could change everything. Yeah. I would change anything now. But, um, yeah. Do you think at 16 that was, you weren't enjoying it?

No, I was, I was enjoying it, but, um, I guess it was like, because everyone's telling me you're good at something. Yeah. You think it's given to you, this is going to be given to you, especially your identity with football. Yeah. And Yeah. Yeah. Now obviously you'd be the same. You don't want the identity of Carlos' a soccer player. Yeah. Like I don't want to be known as James just a footballer know which again, nothing wrong with that, but, but if I, let's say I lost my legs.

Yeah. Who am I going to be then? What's your identity even, so how'd you go with that? That identity, I guess change or, or battle coming from playing elite and then coming back home and, and going on a different path in life. Um, I think I did it pretty good because I've found something else I was passionate about. Yeah. Yeah. So there was no struggle with that. It was a little bit of regret obviously because of the commitment side of things. Yeah. But what can you do?

You just go to learn from it and I'm don't let it happen again with whatever you've leapt suing. Yeah. Great attitude. Gratitude. I can say that from my eyes. I actually struggled with it. It was coming home from Europe and realizing that hey, I reached my level and it wasn't pro. Yeah. And I didn't make what I wanted to. And you know, obviously both of us, we thought we're going to make the top level.

We had the commitment, we had the dream, but you know, for whatever reason it didn't happen and that's okay. But coming home it was that identity struggle of Carlo, the soccer player hat Carla has soccer going, oh, I don't play anymore. Oh, why? What happened? And it's just every time it played on my head. But it was, it was learning about gratitude.

It was learning about, um, having, uh, an open mind, like you said, that really opened my eyes to, you know, I create my identity and I can do whatever I want and what do I, what do I want to do? What's meaningful to me? Yeah. And that's what's led me on these paths to my businesses, my, this podcast and to be surrounded by the people that I have now. Yup. Yeah. So coming back to it, I guess, um, what I'd say to myself, I was 16 in a nutshell.

It would just be like if you don't commit to something, you're not going to achieve it. Like to its full potential. Yeah. Yup. So now you're committed. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like I am more than I ever have been. So with that integrity that you were saying before and being committed, how do you keep yourself accountable? Um, start small by, I'm like, wake up at five 30. I'm going to wake up at five 30. Yep. Keep promises to myself.

Um, does Kate like rate in books and you know, have goals, setting goals and I'm working towards it. I have a vision and then it goes to get there. Yep. You need a plan. Yup. Planned schedule, everything. Yup. And it all ties in together essentially. Is it focused on the doing the small things and consistently doing them? Yeah, consistency is key. Yeah. Setting those little goals and then achieving those and that.

Yeah, that compounds and you need the vision of where you want to go, what you want.

You know, I've got like on my Instagram, I've got so many things of people on there that like I want to be like, and even if I'm not like at the time, if I'm watching TV or something, which I try not to do much now, but if I'm just watching TV, I'm fleek through Instagram and I see a few photos of like that dream building I like, it makes me put like turn the TV off and open my computer and just like start learning something, you know? It's good. That's a good comparison.

I think a lot of people, especially with Instagram and Facebook and stuff like that, they see just everyone comes from a different background and different, like I said, deck of cards and whatever's happened in their life or whatever reason. People can either use that fuel or they can use it for like negative fuel. Whether I'll compare and go, oh, this person is my age. And they've, yeah. A lot of people hate when they say people that have all that stuff.

Yeah. I like, I'll look up to or get inspired. Get inspired. Like that was Holton Buggs that said that. Yeah, the dream building that that's what he does on his Instagram. So I like started doing the same thing and block. It works. It works for me anyway. It's crazy. Yeah. And it's, Eh, I've even noticed that with my friends. If my friends are doing something and they're doing really well, it's not about getting jealous.

It's, you know, you probably might feel jealous because you always want to be achieving as well. Yeah. But it's congratulate them. Like that's an awesome thing. It's giving something that you're not going to get something big in return. Yeah. But support your mates, support your mates, support your family. There's nothing they're giving someone a compliment can change their whole day. Yeah. Why not be a good person? Being inspired by everything.

Now, if this was the last time you've seen me and I asked you to teach me something tangible that I can use every day in my life, what would you teach me? Um, what would I take ya? I'd teach you to like something about commitment. Yup. Like whatever you want it to be. If you were good at something, like one of your strengths and something I'd say if you just good, I'd say get a lead at it. Yup. Like, like go find someone that knows how to do it. Follow them. Let them be a mentor.

Like I might not be good at it, but I'll help find someone that is for you. You know, it's all a part of leadership as well. Awesome. To be committed at 100% give it whenever you want to do [inaudible]. So it'd be teaching me how to be committed in my goal or my dream teaching you to pursue your goal with like 100%, which is so many little different things that are part of that. But what different things. Yeah. It's like I said, the commitment to it leadership.

Um, you gotta you gotta have your vision and goals. If you don't have that, you kind of Lost Dyer. Yeah. Awesome. Awesome. I definitely see a benefit to people. Hard to answer that with a short, what would I be? We could, we could be here for another hour. Uh, how do you think raising consciousness and awareness among like in yourself? Yeah. Um, how can that benefit the community? Yeah. Benefit your daily life.

I think if everyone is, um, there's more self aware being like you can control how you react to things and everything. Yeah. I think everyone would be a lot more happier, which they would be. But if everyone was more self aware, I think everything will be more respectful and just happier and, yeah, let's just look that. Excellent. Excellent. Well that wraps it up for our chat. It's been great. Thanks over me. You're welcome. We're definitely gonna do it again soon, but uh, yeah. Thanks.

Thanks for the chat. Thanks for dropping some, some deep thoughts and uh, yeah, we'll speak soon. Pretty sure I'd have fun. She is based off of me. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen in on our conversation. Hopefully you got some insights and values to raise your awareness. If you like the podcast, please like share on social media and leave a review on whatever platform you're listening on. I would really appreciate it.

You can also keep up to date on our Facebook and Instagram pages. Both handles are at the conscious podcast and also my personal account, which is at Carlow underscore cigarillo. Until next time, take care and be nice. Boosie.