The Overly Excited Podcast

This episode is brought to you by Swash Clothing and Sugar Life.

Welcome to the overly excited podcast hosted by Jack Watts and Dale

Sidebottom. Two friends with a passion for life, learning And all

things that get them jumping out of their seats.

Alright, Ram. Welcome back to the Oat League Soccer Podcast. My name is Darryl Sotto.

I'm joined by the one and only Jack Watts. How are you, Jacko? Let's go,

Saudi. Good, mate. Let's rock and roll. Now we're very excited. Not

only 2 people that I personally Never met

in person, but I've had so many interactions with. Shannon

Kennedy, obviously, lifelong life coach, To the

stars to everybody. Just released your 8th book, absolute superstar. We

actually met at a TED talk you sat next to my mom, which is it's

funny how things work. And Cole Callender, Best friend, former CEO of sports

girl, and now you 2 are joined together elevating the world, new

book out, doing treks all around the world, speaking on the biggest stages.

So excited to have you here today. How are you both? Oh, we

are pumped. I'm sorry. I mean, like, what an introduction.

Some resume. I don't know why. Sitting here going, oh, wow.

So no. We're awesome. We're pumped. We we really looking forward to

chatting to both of you, and having awesome conversation. Yeah.

Perfect. We all normally do our podcast, you know, via

Zoom, and we've done a lot of those prior. But But I've gotta say we

were super excited to come here today in person because we knew how much

energy we were getting from the 2 of you, and that's what we love to

soak up and take away. So We're wrapped to be here. We do find that

we get a bit of a different energy when we're in person, don't we, Dale?

It's just Zoom's great, and don't get me wrong. But, there's nothing like

face to face When you can actually get cues and get that energy in the

room. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Zoom's open up the whole world. Right? So

we don't have to be in the same state or the same country, and I

think it's just been Absolutely superb, and podcasting has been superb for that

too. Yep. But to be in person, it's just quite a different

feeling again. It's like the old days. Good morning. Good morning back.

Now we love to start our podcast with what gets you jumping out

of your seat excited. So I don't know. Cole, Shanna, who wants to start? But

What just gets your blood boiling and just boom, jumping out of your

seat? Dale. Dale's intro. So Dale's

intro. Wow. That's a That's a big first question.

I mean, there's so many things that get us excited. We were very excited

yesterday as we've just shown you our Physical book arrived in the mail, so

we were jumping for joy then. I I think for me, the whole

leadership space is something that gets me very excited and

Really bringing a new era of leadership into

the world we live in today. And as you said, you know, I've been a

CEO of 13 years and led very differently.

And so I think what gets me excited is people really embracing

this new era of leadership, this leading with Kindness leading with

empathy. Mhmm. Really putting people at the heart of everything that they

do. When people do that, that gets me really excited because I see what

happens to people. I see how people grow and evolve and

develop and start to do these amazing things that they didn't think they

could do because Someone has led them in a different way. So for me,

leadership's probably my real superpower and my passion.

Wow. Jeez. I've got a bit I've already got a bit to ask now.

I'll tell you what. I guess, Cole, have you found, like,

it's changed over the years from, like, Just

relating to my life, footy, leadership in that space, it was

very, you know, authoritarian early days, and I

feel like it's certainly changed Probably too late for me since I

finished, but people are realizing that this day and age, you can't

just, you know, rule with a tough fist and a and, you

know, Sort of hit slap people around a bit. It's more bit of love,

bit of care. Did you find that throughout your career, it changed a lot?

Or I think that I really I I

was, for me, a big part of that change. It wasn't things that I'd seen

around me. I was seeing people lead in the way you're talking about, Jack, which

is I'm the boss. You do as I say. This is how it's done. You

turn up at this time. And I just came into it very differently from a

very young age. I was always very intrigued by the way people behave, good,

bad, collaboration, fear, all of these sort of mixed

things. And so for me, I I wanted to be the change that I wanted

to see. And I think that's the way I've always led my life is be

the change you wanna see tomorrow. It has to start with you. Yep. And so

but, yes, there has been an incredible change. There are many more people jumping on

that bus. Mhmm. We need a lot more jumping on that bus because

that is really where true leadership happens. And, you know, I always

say you can be an incredible visionary, but if you're not a person that people

choose to follow, it doesn't matter how great your vision is. It doesn't matter

How good you are as a strategist or a a

financial person. If you're not someone people wanna follow, you have lost

the game before you've even started. Yeah. So true. And I think,

particularly, Shunny, you would have seen this a lot. I know you've been, You

worked for I'm gonna get this wrong. Was it the sunglasses Volley?

Volley. I knew it was I was going with Oakley. I was saying I knew

it was Volley. So you worked there, obviously, with high up athletes and everything like

that. And for a long time, over 20 years, you've been a life coach. And

so the things and messages you're bringing across are exactly what Cole is

talking about and What we want the world to be. Does it make you

just refreshed and happy to see so many people adapting that now and

realizing that That's the way people react. That they when

you get on board and that human connection or relationship is so important.

Yeah. Well, we we think we're both actually quite thought leading because, You

know, I was a coach when no one was a coach, you know. And people

looked at me and said, why would you leave your Jerry Maguire job of, you

know, buying and selling Athletes are watching sport to be a coach and coach them

into retirement, and my passion was athletes not having a life

plan. Who are you without your job? And that That

sentence, who are you without your job? It fires me up. It

fires me up. Like, people getting out of the passenger seat of

life and into the driver's seat, And really connecting

with who am I, where am I going, and how am I gonna

get there. And really, I need to take responsibility for my life. It's no one

else's fault. I can't rely on anyone else. And

then working with Cole, you know, I was her coach for 10 years and then

coached her leadership team. And she was a leader I'd never seen before

because she invested in her team. She invested in herself. And I was

like, this is awesome. I mean, Tony Robbins has a coach. You

know, why doesn't everyone else have a coach? And I also get myself

coached, occasionally as well because the coach needs a coach.

And Really having people wanting to

elevate, which is why we called our book that, is really about we

can all fine tune ourselves every year of our life, And

that fires me up because we all have the,

adaptability and possibility to change every single year as soon as we

put the spotlight on ourself. It's a it's a journey,

isn't it? It's not we're always learning. I think it's also

interesting, obviously, coaching athletes and Just how much I've seen

it, and I've been an athlete myself come out of the game. And and it

is quite tough when you don't have a plan or you don't really know what

you're doing. Or As an athlete, you've put 15 years into one thing,

and then you come out and all your friends are sort of 15 years ahead

of you in the business game, And you're starting from scratch, and if you haven't

really thought about it or if you haven't had any help or coaching or have

a plan, it can really throw you off and throw your life into a bit

of a a shambles, really. So Well, I started that 20

something years ago, where There was no

plan. Yep. And really, athletes, it was

do your sport, and then we don't wanna see you as soon as you retired.

And so I saw the very dark side of life when you don't have a

plan, and you don't know who you are without your job or your sport.

And so I became very passionate about catching those people,

except I was too early for my time. You know, footy clubs are like, go

away. We just I wanna burn a churn. You know, like like, we don't care

what happens to them. Yeah. Right over there. See you later. Alright? See you,

Jackie. See you, Jackie. So for me, I was so passionate about

well, what what about Jack's next chapter in life, and who's gonna help him?

And I go, no. We don't offer any help. See you later. So I was

really passionate about that. And because I had already

looked after a couple of 100 athletes at ballet, I had an instant business to

really open for myself. I saw the gap in the market, but then it turned

very corporate, and then it turned into everyday humans. We all need a life plan,

and everybody needs to Really think about their 10 year older

self and think about what should I be doing today to serve that person and

really helping young people I'm very passionate about,

because we just don't get taught that stuff at school. Yeah. We don't. And I

think we're so particularly schools and nothing I was I was a teacher.

It's all about your career and where you go. And essentially, like, you, Jack, you

know, like, it's not about how you get there, the journey, enjoy it. Are

you Passionate about what you're doing. It's about what subjects are you

doing to get into that uni degree or to get where you wanna go. That's

not life. Like, no one cares about your 8 I underscore now. Like and I

know, Cole, you didn't go to university. And and I love this because

everyone's told that's the be all and end all. That you have to get a

score. They did hire. So they see, and this is And this is the thing,

you know, so many people got huge hex debts and they end up doing a

course they don't like because they've been told that's what you've gotta do. It's the

only way you get there. Do you think that's changing or you do a bit

of mavericks in that aspect of where you've got? Because so many

people think to get where you've both come from, you need a degree. Is that

something you've always sort of been fighting with, Colt? I I think if I sort

of wind back to when I finished school at the age of 16, that's when

I left school. For me, it wasn't that I didn't like school. I loved

the social aspect of school. I was I was pretty good

at school, But for me, I was just a bit

bored. I was just like, I my father was a you know, I sat there

watching my father have business meetings at the table. You know, he was a

a concreter, a builder, came out from Italy with nothing. And I

watched him and how he built a business, and I was more intrigued

with that. And I was more intrigued with their interactions of why they

interacted like that, and what did money do, and what were rents, and what was

Turnover. That was what really fired me up. So for me, I

I've just found school a bit boring. So I just wanted to get into the

business world, But I don't even know if I thought about it like that. I

just started on the shop floor at Just Jeans as my casual job, and

I just loved it. I'm like, is business and people altogether. Oh my god.

This is my perfect world here. And, you know, of course, my story,

as you know, is At the end of that year, they offered me a full

time job, and I then had this task of telling my parents I wasn't going

back to school. That was a bit boring. I wanted to

go into the business world. I wanted to I had and they said, I've got

potential. Don't you worry about me. I've got potential. And so, you know,

I won that battle and started on the shop floor and and worked my way

up. And I remember the words my father said to me were, Work hard,

love what you do, be passionate, and never give up. And that was the best

education I could ever have. Mhmm. They were the words that really stuck with

me throughout my journey and still stick with me today. And, you know,

that work hard and that passion, I think, are the really

important things. Find what you're passionate about. As you said, we

don't talk a lot about that, you know. We don't talk about people's values.

So I think I think it's changing. I think people you know,

there's people doing amazing young entrepreneurs doing amazing

things, start up businesses, Thinking about the

world differently. You know, there are certain jobs you need degrees for. Right?

We wouldn't want someone operating on us In a theater if they didn't have a

proper medical degree. Right? But there are just these incredible

humans that their brains are working very differently today, and I think that's the

really Exciting part of the next generation is they look at

the world very differently to the very conformed world that we were

told we had to, you know, take Certain steps to get ahead in life,

and this is what you had to do. They are breaking the mold, and I

think that is so so exciting. Yeah. But I think we broke the mold

too because, You know, we didn't go to uni, and all

of our friends went to university. And we're like, oh, no. We we we just

wanna go to work. So, You know, even with our own children, we've

got 5 kids between us. You know, we haven't said you need to go to

dating. Charging. It's like we're like, I know we're a package deal, but

that's gonna take it to a whole new level. It's a blast tail we like.

Sweetest, we got 5. 5 kids between us. It's between us between us.

And we got 2 we got 2 husbands as well.

We don't share those. We don't share them. Now there is a line that we

don't cross. We might have to actually get kids, but not the husband

judging you. That's right. Very open minded. 2023. We'll

debate however you want, Ethan. So, you

know, we don't put pressure on them and say, oh, you know, you've gotta get

that ATAR, and you've go to uni, and I know, you know, our

kids, you know, my son went to uni for 3 weeks and said this is

not for me. And I'm like, great. So you're like, don't get ahead. It's hexed

it. Off you go to work. And Same. You've got some that at uni and

not at uni. And Yeah. I think it's about fostering

trying to help them find What makes your heart sing and

what gives you passion? And it might take them 5 years to find that.

10 years. Who knows? But I think it's about not putting that

expectation on them. Yeah. I find it interesting like that.

Certainly, when I was at school, that sort of stigma with leaving school

early, and, oh, they must not Be smart or they must not not be this.

But a lot of my mates that left in, you know, and went and got

a trade or they are so far ahead in life now, and

they are just Cruising. It's like they could almost retire because they've started their plumbing

business or they've already started their building company and, you know,

like, you look back on it and I sort of think, Shit. If you could

get the earlier you get into your passion or what you

find that, you know, you're good at and you love, The

it's just like compounding interest, isn't it? The early you get into it, the more

the better off you are down the track. So Yeah. Yeah. A lot of those

guys are Flying, but at the time, it was like, oh, what are they doing?

You know, they're you know? But And they stuck with it. Right? So they

didn't change jobs every 3 years, they stuck with something,

and they've, you know, had their compounding build, and now they're in a

really great position. And when you're passionate, it doesn't feel like you're going to

work. Right? You know, I got up every day as a CEO and absolutely

loved what I did. Didn't feel like it was a grind that I Had to

turn up. It was like, this is this just every day is

just unbelievable. Mhmm. Unbelievable to be able to lead a team,

and we're the same. Get up every day, and we're excited. Mhmm. You know? We

just love we just every day say, hey, how grateful we are to be able

to get up and do this together, And it doesn't feel like a job. It

feels like we're now sharing our passion with the world. So I think when you're

passionate about something, life is very easy. And that probably doesn't

mean that you didn't have any tough days or any tough nights where you're going,

shit. That's a long day at work. But You that passion takes you

through those hard times and yeah. Yeah. What do you now I get this a

lot. Like, they'll go, I tell you lucky you You know what you wanna do.

Yeah. I'd say it's lucky or not, but like you 2 and Jag, I've

made this life because I've put in what I want. For people that don't

know what they wanna do or are still sort of searching and things like that,

what advice do you give to them? Because I always find that It's not hard

to empathize with them, but because I'm quite driven. I know you both are as

well that that you I don't know. It's like some people just sort of give

up because it's Hard or they don't wanna know. They don't wanna try something. In

this case, they're scared of failing or being judged. I don't know. What advice do

you give for those sort of people that are I don't know. Anna's passionate or

is lucky to get up each day and go, jeez, life's good. Well, I think

this is a bit of a problem because people think, You know, I've got to

find my passion. Mhmm. Well, what what I do when we coach people

is turn the spotlight back around and say, just be passionate

about Yourself, your day, your habits. Start with your own set of

values. They're your KPIs for the day. And every day, you can

elevate just 1 little habit at a time. And when you become

really passionate about living your own values, other things

happen. Where your focus goes, your energy flows. So if you're constantly

searching for a passion on We know happiness is an inside

job. It is not outside. No. So, really, when

people get like that and a bit stressed about that, I say, let's look inside.

We've gotta find passion about you, about, having

a great relationship with yourself, you know, really mentally healthy one,

finding habits that you love and being curious about life and trying different things,

and a passion may come. But a lot of people will go through their

whole life not knowing A external passion, and that's

okay. Mhmm. It's okay. It's fine. We can just live for

our values, and one of ours is health. And health is

mental health, physical health, emotional health, spiritual health. There's a job for the rest

of your life to become passionate about, to go and learn about, To go and

read about, to go and do courses about, to listen to podcasts about,

and that feeds a passion. So when you get Curious.

You start feeding a passion and creating a passion. Oh. I love that

so much because, like, I find it hard to a lot of you know, find

your passion and go And, you know, do that. And I feel like my

mind straight away goes to, like, oh my what work? What job can I

get that I'm passionate? Not your job. But exactly. It's

like work on yourself, and I, you know,

I'm certainly no angel, and I've had my ups and downs, and, you know, it's

like as soon as you I go through, you know, different

stages of loving myself and hating myself and this and that. As soon as you're

in a good spot With yourself and as you said, like, your relationship with

yourself, and I'm doing all the right things, and I'm being healthy, and

I'm Sort of, committing to what I say I'm

gonna do, and I'm not letting down other people because I'm not hungover. I'm

not this or I'm not and, you know, All of a sudden, other things

open up, don't they? And you feel such better in life. You you're, you

know, I always say if you feel lost, Go and

master the basics. Mhmm. Eat, move, sleep, and breathe. Just go

back to the basics, but become a master of them. Because when you

put the spotlight on that And you've got something to focus on. Yeah.

Your sense of, oh, I feel a bit lost or a bit down or a

bit stuck changes because You can make change every

day. You've got purpose every day then to get up and say, well, how

can I get a bit stronger? How can I sleep a bit better? How can

I move the phone out of the bedroom? You know? How can I eat a

little bit better? Or, you know, what habit do I wanna change? And a lot

of our book is about Asking yourself every day, what can I

stop doing that is no longer serving me? And what could I start

doing that's gonna add to my life? And what do I wanna keep doing that's

already working. So when you treat yourself like an athlete

of life, an athlete of life for your whole

journey, and life is a marathon, We get to do these

little stop check ins, changing, pop the bonnet, move

things around, fine tune ourselves. I think

then you really can be happy because it's it's on you. Externally,

we wanna love our job. We love our job. We're very lucky that we

love our job. But, You know, we fell into it. We didn't sit there

and go, I need to find a job I love. Mhmm. It was actually about

just trying things and, seeing where it led. We talk

about all roads lead to self, and I think we're often, as

humans, looking outside for validation, for

someone to help us with our leadership, for someone to build confidence,

but that actually starts with self. Mhmm. We have to start with all of those

things, like what are our boundaries, what are our structures, How we're living in line

with our values, how am I building that confidence muscle, how am I

talking to myself every day like my best friend or not? And so

we actually say to everyone, as soon as you work on yourself, as soon as

you build those foundations of your house, which is yourself, your values, and your

purpose, You've got a foundation that you can build a strong house upon. We

cannot build a house on shaky grounds. Right? If we don't build solid foundations for

our house and we build a house, it's not gonna be standing for too long.

So we need to make sure those foundations are so solid for ourself.

And when they are, all of a sudden, we start to say, Well, all of

these opportunities are all of a sudden coming up, or people are, you know,

reaching out to me for this. It's because of your self awareness. It's because of

your self management. It's because of your self leadership. And the whole

premise around the book Elevate is it's all about you. That book

can be you don't have to be a career woman, an entrepreneur. You can

be a student, a mother, a footballer, an ex footballer,

a teacher. You can be any person you like Because that book

is about you. It's about putting the work in, and it's about self. So

that's the really exciting thing. Why do we learn that at school? Oh, now

that's a great question. Why do we not learn this stuff at

school that will equip you to go into the big world with

just a few of the basic fundamentals? Do you think they're getting better at it?

I think I they're trying. Mhmm. They're trying. Yeah. There's a lot of people

doing, but particularly what I do now, they're going in and doing it. And I

think we're more aware now, but I think The it's just changing.

Now there are other things coming in, and it's not about that. It's more around,

you know, your stress, anxiety, and pressure because We we know

too much, I think, now, and we may overshare. I I don't

know. But what you're doing is great because you're planting seeds. Correct. And

we need to hear it 10 times before it sinks in. Right? So if you're

planting the seeds, at schools already, that's just

gold. That's fantastic. Because when When they get into the world, then

they're hearing it again at a conference, or from a boss, or from a speaker

coming into the work, but you're starting that seed, and it's really

important. Almost like imagine if you had a subject where it was, you know,

life coaching or self development. But it's sort it is still coming

in. It it is coming in. Yeah. And I think people are realizing now if

COVID's done like, what we're saying, we're able to be in a room again. You

really do appreciate that, but also I think now we're realizing the importance

of looking after yourself. I think today is world kindness day. And

I get people ask all the time, oh, how do you be kind to other

people? I said, well, Stop right there. You cannot be kind to anyone until you're

kind to yourself first. And I know that's exactly what elevate is all

about. I'm lucky to said, No one is going to do anything for you. If

you wanna elevate any aspect of your life, you need to do it for yourself.

So let's talk about this because I know, Cole, you've come from

leading Thousands of people like massive job. Crazy. Shadi, you've done

a lot of work by yourself. How refreshing is it to be 2

passionate individuals Creating something epic together. What does

that feel like? And I know you got your book in the mail, but how

good must that feel? Well, it's shared experience. Right?

So well, I've got someone to high five every day now. So when you are

a solo operator, which I've been for 20 years, you know, working

with my clients, and and it's great, and they go off, and their life's amazing,

etcetera. But when you're building a business and having shared

Experiences with someone and you're on stage and you get off stage, you're not alone

anymore, you're sharing it. I don't know. It's so nourishing, you

know, to share your experiences like that. So for

me, I've had such a different life to Cole because I've been sitting in the

same room for 20 years coaching people. Whereas she's

been out and about in all the stores and traveling the world on

buying trips, that wasn't the case for me. But

even our walking trips around the world so we take women walking around the world,

and we coach them while we walk. That's a shared experience

that It's just in your heart then forever. Yeah. You know? It's

it's interesting. I reckon we spoke about it. You obviously,

you know, been on your own, working for yourself, and that It's lonely.

It's lonely. Joy and Yeah. Yeah. Passion when you're working your ass

off, and then no one else actually understands what you're doing Even if you, you

know, your wife or your, your partner talking to them

and like, they don't have a full understanding of what you're going through when you

travel and over there. Can I just say, This book went on the

table, and our kids walked past it? And they went, oh, no. I

said kids would I kept walking.

We're like, no one cares. And then we do this.

We're all good. We're fine. We're fine. Because you know

what? No one else is thinking about you. Mhmm. Yeah. Really big

thing for young people to understand is no one's sitting on their

couch at the moment Thinking about you or devising how they're

gonna help you or whatever. It really is a solo journey, and the

relationship that you have with yourself, We think is

first and foremost. And the more that we learn these skills, you

know, the happier your life will be. But then also, I guess that As you

just said, how special that shared experience is,

you know, the the more you can get, you sort of you close knit little

crew around you and Because that's sort of I guess,

maybe that's something for me to work on is being able to be on my

own and and sort of because I struggle with that. I love having

people around. I love all my friends. I so I get a bit, like you

know, I've never lived on my own because that scares me, You know, I've been

on my own with with nothing to do. Sharon and myself do would scare the

whole world. We we understand you. I have children who are

26, 25 and 18, and one of my

children in particular cannot be on their own Yep. Ever. And,

you know, that's because they're that extroverted Extroverted kind of personality, which is what

actually it people energize you. Right? Mhmm. That's what you love, where

if you're more on the introvert side, you need to Be sort of sitting back

and filling up your tank, and we have husbands that are very extroverted.

We're we're the opposite. So we always need To find that balance

of how much do we wanna go hard, and how much do we need to

fill up the tank. Yeah. So, you know, it's a really interesting thing. But when

you know yourself again, as Shen is saying, and do that work, You know how

to balance that out. You know, sometimes we have this you know, we've both been

through burnout. I had burnout in 2007 when I was at Sportsgirl, and

Shanna Still lives with chronic fatigue today, and so

we've really learned the skills of how to keep that tank full and what does

that, You know, life in balance look like and it's different for everyone. Right?

But it's about just understanding that self awareness again. Yeah.

But for someone like you, Jack, you know, it's awesome that you know that. So

you do need people, and you need a couple of really great people,

and that's what what you need, and that's self awareness. Whereas,

we don't need that. Yeah. But if you need that, that's awesome. Like, my husband

cannot be alone in the house for one second. He's inviting people over.

Like, we go away. Oh, it's boys' night, card night,

anything. House is open, fire's on, Because he he's just an

extrovert like that. He needs people. He feeds off people, and he

doesn't like being in the house by himself. Even though it's our home, we've lived

in for 20 years. But if you know yourself, and Nick's

the same, isn't he? They are people people. And

that's awesome. But they just they just have to know what they need to do

for themselves, and I need time out. I need to go and hibernate, you

know. And then at the same time, I think as I've gotten a bit older,

I realized that I can actually get a lot out of, you know, trying

to just stop for one second. I think, like, I

just get stuff organized all the time. I fill my calendar and

then eventually I get to that point where I'm like, fuck, I can't be bothered

to go and do this. So Yeah. But I've said yes 2 weeks ago Because

you were too scared to have empty space. Exactly. Exactly. But then I

get to a point where I'm just like, oh my god. I just need a

day Or 2 days to do my washing and Yeah. But then

I'll get those 2 days, and then halfway into the 1st day, I'm going, oh,

should I just message my wife or something? You know? Are you big people

pleaser as well. Massive. Yeah. So so you're just gonna say yes

because that makes you feel great. It validates You? Yes. And I'm

a I'm a big people pleaser as well. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

And so I have to be really balanced about I really I really need

to say no to that. Oh, no. And then no. Me, and Shana's not. So

it's a good balance. Shana go, no. We're not doing that. Yeah. No. We're saying

no. No. No. So I think it's, but, you know, I think to it doesn't

really matter about whether you're introverted, extroverted, people pleaser. I

think one of the really big things that we've found, and probably this next Part

of our journey together is surround yourself with people that

really care about you. Surround yourself with your cheer squad, because there are

gonna be people in your life, no matter where you are in your life, that

are going to wanna see you fail, wanna see you fall over, wanna

see you make a fool of yourself. And they won't say that, but, you know

But there are. Right? But when you surround yourself with your really

key network of people, your real true cheer

squad, when When you fall over, because we're all gonna fall over and we all

have fallen over, they're the ones that are gonna be there for you. So I

think that's a really important thing is to have those Those right people around you

as you journey through life. Yeah. And I think that's the hardest thing. You know,

it's you 2 have obviously been mavericks in your space, and you

still are now and Progressing so far, and you've obviously proven

everybody wrong that Oh, we're just we're just beginning. Oh, I know you are. It's

that mess it's gonna be on this stage. Hanging upside. That's

what I love and I feed off. That's what I really enjoy. Obviously, I've been

talking to both of you because I'm like, you've lived it. You've done it. How

hard was it though when you're starting out? And I'm past this now. Like, I

don't care what people think, but so many people are starting out, you know. People

are saying, oh, it's alright. You can go back and teach, or your job will

be there, or like I know sometimes they're trying to be nice and they're trying

to do the right thing, but it's the last thing you need to hear. I

know some people want to see if that's some people wanna try and help you,

some don't. What's some advice for people out there? Because people wanna try new

things and put themselves out there, but

Always the people you think may be in your corner. They're probably the ones that

aren't in your corner sometimes, and that can be really challenging. Yeah. Well, mine was

horrific because 23 years ago, no one had ever heard of

the word life coach. Mhmm. So it was new, and it was, like,

weird. And is that Byron Bay hippie or what what the hell?

There's a life coach, and I'm like, well, it's like having a personal trainer for

your life, you know. I had to There was no elevator

pitch for it. There was nothing. And, my own coach said you need to

go and walk down Hampton Street into every shop And say, hi. I'm

a life coach. Do you know what that is? And practice. That would be

scary. It I'm 30 years old. It was horrific. And

she said, I want you to love failure, rejection,

hard conversations, And it was it was horrible. And my

husband said, it doesn't matter. If you don't get any work in 2 years, you

have to go back to work because we need to raise a family. Yeah. Yep.

So he said I'm giving you 2 years grace. So you can leave your corporate

job, go and earn 0, and go and slaughter yourself, and

in 2 years, you can go back to work. And you can always Go to

Witchery and Folsom Close. That's fine. Don't worry. Right? So I

was like, okay. But I had nobody. There

nobody. There was no other coaches. I was the 1st qualified

coach in Melbourne, to go through the International Coaching Federation,

qualification. So it was a really scary thing.

The athletes that I knew though, I'd already been

coaching them for a long time. Subconsciously, they were always in my office telling me

about their life, and I was always just naturally talking to them

about life after sport. So I sort of Had success

there, but then talking about it outside of that circle was

just hell. It was really hell. And I just said, just do one day at

a time. Just keep pushing. Keep trying. And

eventually, I just you know, when I wrote my first book,

I said I want a Donna Hay cookbook because I love Donna Hay cooking.

And I love yeah. Right? Because I love loved her, like,

the look and feel. And I said, I want pictures with life skills, and

everyone was like, oh, no. You've gone too far. And, there were

all the books on the shelf were just boring, and and,

I couldn't read them because I wasn't very good at school. I did pass school,

but I wasn't very good. And I couldn't read a book. I was like, it's

too heavy. It's too much. I don't like it. I need pictures.

So we made the very first, self help book with

pictures, Which went nutso. Yep. And it was just

me by chance self publishing first myself with pictures

and then taking it to Penguin Into the cookbook department, and they took

a risk and a chance. So I always say just just keep

putting 1 foot in front of the other, and it will be uncomfortable. And there

was a, Louise Hay always said, she's now passed

away, but she was the the mother of self help. And she always

said, The minute you're uncomfortable, it means you're growing. So

get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable, and I wrote it on my mirror.

Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. And I really just linked

into that, on my own. And, yeah, it was a really tough

journey for for a while, but, you know, now it's paid off.

Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. I mean, now I've

got business, a swimwear business, so interested to delve into

that at some stage. But, I'm in sales and it's sort of a

similar sort of thing. It's just, you know, you're calling out, you're going in to

see, you know, people that And you're failing all the time. You're getting told

no. No. No. But you've gotta be comfortable with that and keep knocking the door

down. 20 noes to 1 yes. Yep. And what's the worst thing that a nose.

What's the worst thing they can say? No. Yeah. I haven't, you know, done

anything. We always talk about the willingness to try. You know, when we try something

new, we either succeed or fail or somewhere in between. Right? You get the yes,

you get the no, you might get the maybe in your case. Right? But until

we do that, until we put ourselves out there, until we step out of our

comfort zone, we're never gonna know. Mhmm. Right? It's all about confidence

building. The more knock backs you get, the more confident you are when you get

the knock back. The 1st time it's like, oh, like a stab to your heart.

Right? We're Gem all the time. We're Gem all the time. Yeah. You know, we

just go, oh, cool. We get up and keep going. You know? Because we know

that there will be a yes at some point, just like there will be a

yes for you at some point. So, I would say to anyone who's

starting a new business or thinking about doing something different in their

career, just try. Yeah. That's the worst thing that can happen. Doesn't

matter. It is bloody tough though, isn't it? I I I can't I'm I'm

It's not personal. Extroverted. Yeah. But I take things so personal.

Not personal. And I thought, like, if I'm not ready to go and have

everything lined up, you know, and we've spoken about this with the podcast as well.

I was, like, so nervous starting it out. You just didn't wanna start. So I

just released it. We're done. We're done. That's right. Yeah. Just just start. Because I'm

like, I want it to sound perfect in this and, you know So it's the

same, like, calling up someone that I don't you know, whoever it

is, you know, my head buyer or something. It's like, what if I don't know

enough about them or if I get a question wrong? But the more you do

it, the better you get. You're always, you know The more confident. You're never

perfect on day 1, are you? It's No. You gotta keep going. We're in our

fifties Yeah. And we're still learning. You know It's a great way to put it.

Just just be open to learning. You never know, and you're never great at

anything. You just keep learning. You keep Evolving. And that,

honesty, I think, as of, you know, what I've found anyway, because I've I

came out of footy, and it's not as if I'm, You know, I've been through

retail and know, like, I'm still pretty raw with it all, but I find if

I'm just honest with them, that come that sort of trait comes across And he's

quite endearing and and, you know, they see that as okay. He's not trying to

screw me around or Yeah. We're building connection. And I think the

narrative needs to change. And I'm sure you too like this. So we're talking about

gratitude walls and things like that. Amazing. Share positive things. Just brought out

this thing called a vulnerability wall. So a wall of failures. So

we place things on there we've tried that haven't worked. So instead

of it being a negative, now we celebrate it because we've tried something.

And this is something that I'm trying to get into schools because, you know, teachers

can lead by example, students can too. So by the time they leave

school, It's not like, oh, I don't wanna try something because I'm scared of

failing. Now they celebrate it because that's how we learn and grow. Absolutely.

And we just need to change that conversation because That's the problem.

The story we're being told is you can't fail. If it doesn't work, it looks

negative on you, but it's not. That narrative is flipped around. It's

positive. Yeah. And I also think it's about creating spaces. Like, if you

talk about the school environment or if I talk about my sports girl

environment, It's about creating spaces where people can take risks and

people can try things. Right? And I would always talk about it as the circle

of safety. I created this environment where people

felt safe, where they felt connected, where they felt supported,

where they felt, that they could take risks. Now that doesn't mean there was

no accountability and we didn't expect high performance. Right? We expected all of

that. But when you create those circles, That's where magic

happens. That's where people go, I'm gonna take that risk, and

that might just pay off. And you might just get Some gold nugget come out

of that, or they might take the risk and they fail. Yeah. That's okay. Because

in the circle of safety, people are gonna pick you up again. They're not gonna

throw you under the bus. When you do that in a school, in in your

own home with your children, in a corporate environment,

it is unbelievable what magic comes out of that. So

because they feel that true. They feel the ownership and part of it

and being I remember, like, reading Richard Branson's book a while ago and that was

the same thing, you know. And once you make it's like anything

I think is once you give someone, you know, that

feeling of, like, I'm involved here. I'm not just One of the cogs in the

wheel. I'm actually, you know Part of this. Yeah. Yeah. Then,

you know, that's exactly what you said. That's when great And also, like,

Jack, I can tell you, I have been in fetal position in the toilets

in corporate buildings, ringing my husband saying, I I can't get

out there. There are 200 men sitting in there in suits, and

I'm Shanna from Hampton, a housewife. He goes, no. You're not. You're not.

Just go out there. No. I'm trying to bomb it in the toilet, and it's

like like the fear that used to grip me

because I'm not a public speaker. And all of a sudden, I got booked to

do this national tour, and I was freaking out. And he's going, god. Just

go. Just try it. And, I remember

so bad the pain in my stomach. Mhmm. And what I did was

really learnt about role modeling and pretending I was someone else.

So I was like, who can I be? Oh, Sarah Murdoch. She looks really good.

I've seen her walk on stage. I'll just be her. So I'd walk on

pretending I was her. I wasn't even me till I held the

lectern and started, and then all turned into me and it was fine.

But really thinking about the tools, but, You know, if you have a

coach and you've got someone to celebrate with and someone to say it's okay if

you feel sick, just feel sick and feel Feel the fear and do it anyway

Yeah. And go and get the the the no. Yep.

Go and collect 20 no's for me. And that's okay. That's fine.

Fine. Yep. And because when you're doing it for someone else They give you

permission. It's right. So when we used to I used to coach a lot of

And they say, oh, we're going to the function tonight, and it's so boring. And

we all stand in the corner. I'm like, okay. Your job for me is to

go and get 5 business cards from the corporate

people there because they're gonna catch you at the end. Mhmm. Oh, I don't know

what to say. Okay. I'll give you 2 questions, and just I'll go and ask

them and Start a quarterly newsletter and but it was because they were

doing it for me, not themself, that they got to build

some confidence in a different way until they felt confident do it themselves

or Yeah. Or get rejected themselves. And you give them a bit of structure

and something to sort of follow. Yeah. Yeah. How how much, like,

when you're coaching, How much of it is is

friendship and sort of being there as a as a friend

or compared to, you know, being that sort of someone

to To pull the reins or to guide, I guess.

Mhmm. Is that is it hot and is that a tough sort of balance?

Because I've always found my best coaches as

such. I have always been people that I, you know, get along that

sort of I don't see as, like, way up here and me

down here. It's sort of like a collaborative thing. Mhmm. But at the

same time, maybe other people might need that sort of

Figure out to, you know, whatever it might be. It's an interesting

one. I think it's a little bit about we're not your friend for a start.

Like, your coach is actually not your friend. But happened here then?

We became friends.

We we we are friends. Boyfriend. Brilliant. Yeah. And our husbands.

2 husbands. We have a bromance, by the way. Our husbands have a bromance.

Yeah. Yeah. It's about being, strategic. Mhmm. Right?

So you want your client to succeed, and

you really wanna help Some either dump on you or you're gonna be

the listening ear or you're gonna give them a different way of thinking and

reframing or try this or This is the mindset moving

forward. So we don't give you the answers your friends

would give you or your family would give you. We're

actually neutral, and we're really being strategic about, you

know, go and collect 20 no's for me. I mean, your friends are never gonna

say that. Yeah. But I'm being your friend by actually telling you that. Yes. And

your parents aren't gonna say that. So it's it's about where being your

silent business Partner Yep. Who is on your side, who

is your cheerleader. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. It's it's a friend who

is focused on your Best interest. Other are not yeah.

Your best interest. It's like a psychologist when you when I go and see a

psych, it's like they don't have all those Preconceived could,

you know, perceptions of who I'm talking about or what I'm or the people I'm

saying or or even me. It's like they see they Hear

what I say and they sort of give their opinion on that with no

biases or with Cole, she was, like, fully burnt out. Mhmm. So it

was about What are your values? You know? What's important

to you, and how are you gonna structure that, and what changes are you going

to make? And And then it was strategizing about staff,

and about how she wanted to lead, and what she wanted to be known for,

and what was her legacy. And It's just different conversation. Yeah.

I think it's to to your question, Jack, I think,

like, if I think as a CEO, For me, what what did

that relationship look like with, you know, my 80 people in head office

and then, you know, a couple of 1,000 out in stores? And I always said

that I I was never big on hierarchy, but you

have to have hierarchy in a business because otherwise, decisions get

made that potentially might be a bit detrimental. But For me, I

always thought about it as a true human connection. Mhmm.

So, yes, I was the leader of that business, but I always wanted to Create

a place where my kids would be happy to turn up to, and I'd want

them to turn up too. I wanted to have relationships with my team

where They knew exactly where they stood. They knew exactly what

the accountabilities were. They were very clear on their job description because that's

half the problem these days. People don't know what's expected of them. And

then they get in trouble or reprimanded because they haven't done the job. They didn't

know what it was in the 1st place. Okay. So for me, it was always

about Those things, making making it really clear what was expected of

them, giving them feedback on the journey,

Setting high expectations because people wanna be pushed out of their comfort zone. That's

where we get results, and that's where they grow. But really have empathy and

kindness when you do that in compassion for people. So really understand

maybe what they're going through as well. And if their performance is down, you've been

a really great performer, now all of a sudden you're not performing. What's going on?

Yeah. You know, what's going on? There's something else here because you're a high flyer.

So I think it's about true human connection. No matter where you

are on the hierarchy, when you build that connection with people

above you, below you, I think that's the really important thing is

it's not about, you know, it's not about a title. I I always say you

don't need a title to be a leader. Yeah. We have the ability every day

to lead through every action, reaction, interaction, and every discussion that we

have with another human being. So when you take that leadership

hat away and think, yeah, I'm a leader, but I actually am more

than that, I think that's that's the real magic

again. That's where you start to get a lot of sort of success and synergy.

Because it gets lonely at the top too. Right? Yeah. So it gets lonely in

your business. I think even if you have your own small business, it gets a

bit lonely. And It does. You know, I get a coach because I get lonely,

and it's not my husband's job to, you know, support that. And you at

the top, a CEO, who can she talk to about her staff,

about What's happening? She can't talk to anybody. So having

the coach is actually the debrief. It's, you know, having

a strategic plan. It's me going, Well, I don't think that. Why are you thinking

that? Why are you saying that? Because I see it differently. So I think

it's really important for people to have that kind of support as well. Mhmm. I

couldn't like, the human connection like, I I sort

of feel like that's pre quite rare, though, in in a position like that. Right?

A CEO of a huge company. You know, how many of them say it is

it's dollar signs and, you know, it's I totally

agree. I'm on that, you know, bandwagon big time because I feel like as

an employee or as any as soon as I feel like you actually care about

me, you genuinely care about me, I'll do anything for you. You

know? Like, I'll stay back late because I'm like, she'd do the same for me.

She whereas, you know, I I find And something

I've found interesting in in business in general is like that lack of

of care and, You know, it's

ruthless. And I'm like this big lovable soft teddy bear, and I'm going out

there just getting eaten up. Like like, And I

also feel like yeah. Does anyone actually

treat people well in business? Does anyone actually, Like, every

minute a few times. Every minute. I told you she was rare. Embrace it.

Be the change that you wanna see. Right? That's what I said earlier. I have

a bit of a weird brain, I think, because I of things. I turn it

a bit upside down and inside out. So most leaders would start

every or CEO would start every meeting with, Let's talk about

profesh. Right? How much do we need to make? A week. What are we doing?

Much do we need to make this season to get our profit? I'd always start

with, what are our values? What's our purpose? That would be every meeting. You know,

strategic meeting. So I tip things upside down a little bit.

So purpose is all sorry. The the profit Profit is yeah. Profit's

always gonna be the outcome. Right? We all need to run successful businesses. So don't

get me wrong. I was there to drive profit and, you know, had was 2

of the most successful, Businesses in the country at the

time. Right? But my thing was people with purpose and

passion equals profit, not the other way around. I always thought about the

people, what were their purpose, were they passionate about it. And when all

of those 3 things start to roll up together, then that's where you

get the profit. So I think it's very, very different.

So and unless we embrace the change we wanna see, we can

always say, well, it doesn't Doesn't really matter. You know, it's always gonna be a

bit ruthless like that. But, you know, I don't think it has to be.

Yeah. And you can also make and when we talked about this, I remember our

Podcast years years ago, it was all around kindness. Right? Because

you can be a kind leader. You can make tough decisions

with kindness. That means being honest with someone. Right? So I

think it's about really changing the narrative on how we wanna lead in

the future. I couldn't couldn't agree more with that. And As you're just talking

here, like, I've got a mentor. My mentor saw me. I

used to do PT. He was riding his bike along a bridge in Richmond. He

goes, do you do PT? I said, not up on the bridge. Come down. Anyway,

we connected now. He's a really high end corporate executive.

He coaches me because I was nice to him and that's how it worked. Jack

and myself went to the gym together. We become friends. We start the podcast.

I think a sliding door moments all the time. Do you think back in the

day when you burn out callers, CEO, sports Girl, what would've

happened if you had not have, you know, needed a coach and you didn't

meet Shanna? And not only that because I know you're best friends, your husband is

the best friends, your kids are All friends, now you're running this

amazing thing together. You're elevating. You've got this book. Do you ever think about

that? What would it Yeah. What could have transpired if You didn't

do that? Yeah. I I'm very much about sliding door

moments. Absolutely. I think we have some really pinnacle

ones throughout our life. And I had only met Shanna

once or twice through my husband because they worked together. My

husband was at Triple M and Shanna was at BOLAY, so they knew each other.

And, Nick introduced me. And then when I hit burnout, Nick said, I really think

you should get why don't you get a coach? Why don't you reach out to

Shanna? And that's how it started. And it was a business

Relationship. We would meet. We would do I would put in the work.

And then I said, I really think you should maybe

Coach some of my executive team, you know, because at the top, you only have

the capacity for certain things, and I wanted to care about them. I wanted to

know that their life outside of sportsgirl or Suzanne, that they were

okay. And so that was a really great way to get Shanna

involved. And then over time, you know, this is we've known each other now for

nearly 20 well, nearly 20 years. Yes. Our kids, Macy,

was 1, and she's nearly 19, so a long time. So

that That business, sort of relationship turned into a

friendship over time, but it didn't start out as that. You know, we've now traveled

the world with our family, our kids, And we have this

incredible relationship, but that's also interesting because we also have a business

together. And I think that's the thing that we're really clear on is that we

know we're really great friends, but But we know what we're good at. We know

what we're not good at. We both stay in our own lanes, and we have

really open, honest, transparent conversations. So I think

that, Yes. You can become friends, but if you're in business together, you

still have to have a business relationship as well. It's a tricky one. I'll tell

you what. Business with friends, isn't it? Like Yeah. Yeah. It's funny, like, once

it gets to that point, because I just thought, you know, I will never have

any dramas, and everyone's telling oh, don't go into business with friends.

But and look. We've been pretty lucky. We haven't had any huge massive

blow ups or whatever, but, you know, having those

Conversations or disagreements or something comes up and you gotta

and it's your mate and he you know? But you've talked in

business. It's, It changes the relationship, doesn't it?

Because yeah. We were friends first. I started, this swimwear

business with 2 of my best mates. Friends first and then we get

into business and then it gets a bit, you know, it can get a bit

funny if you don't have those conversations and get it out there. And The worst

thing is sort of holding on to things and holding those grudges and which

a lot of people do rather than just having the conversation first. And I

think you need to have, like, we we even have a contract

together. You know? What happens when I don't wanna do this

anymore? Or what happens when your child is sick and you can't turn

up to a big show or a big talk? What happens then? What happens to

the money? You know, those awful conversations We actually did

before. Yeah. And it's all written. It's all in bullet points. So it's

like, this is what we decided upon, and if it we're not enjoying it

Yeah. We close. It's just it's end of story, you know. So I always

said I never I mean, I never in a 1000000 years wanted my own business

ever. It was just never anything that I wanted to do, and I

think, and now, you know, we have, this this actually is quite funny

because it started out, let's do a keynote together and have a little bit Fun

and let's go go to Sydney and stay over a few more nights and whatever

else. You know? Getaway. It was our getaway. It was our getaway plan. Yeah.

Husbands, we're working. We've got us. It was. We didn't sit down and go, let's

start a business. Let's start a business. It was. It was like just a let's

have a bit of fun together, you know. And I think there's only

certain people you can also go into business with if they're your friends, and I

think this is quite a and I always say, never go Into business

with friends. It was kinda one of my mantras, so I've broken the rule. But

I I think we've found the right partnership. I think that's really, really

important. Yep. Yeah. A lot of people say it's

actually seamless what you're doing. It doesn't feel it just feels

natural what you're doing, and, you know, we can finish each other's sentences even,

but, there's such respect, and we have quite different

strengths and skills, and we don't try and crossover either,

but also just to care about each other, at the same time.

And it's a business. It's great. We love it, but the friendship

comes first. And And it's fun. It seems like you're having fun, and you enjoy

what you're doing. Fun. We're not doing it. Exactly. Yeah. And then we always we

actually that was 1st conversation is if this ever got too hard and

we were going on different paths Yeah. Let's just give it away. Yeah. Because our

friendship is actually the most important thing here. And if We split up. Our

husbands would have to split up before. And that would literally be you know, when

you have friends that are close and then they break up and you kinda got

Two sides. That would be our whole problem. Like, how do our husbands

keep this bromance going? We're not still friends. They wouldn't. So

we never met we're never breaking up. We're just we're Stuck together for life. But

we're also, both 2 very ultra

driven people who, overachieving

a type perfectionist types of people. But I think when you're in your

fifties, there's a different wisdom that comes in as well where you go, we're

gonna pace ourselves here, but also celebrate. And

we find that a lot of young people don't know how to celebrate. They're

afraid. They're like, oh, my big noting myself if I'm

celebrating or something like that. So we actually really,

We put that at the forefront. Let's just celebrate today, and we high five

the screen when we're on our Zooms and really learning to

Be grateful, for what we do have and not focus on, you know,

the nose that we got or the rejection that we got today, but to just

be grateful for what we've got. Yeah. Not delaying that gratification. No. Don't delay. Don't

wait till he's done it. Thing because you you're the one that's achieved

it. Celebrate it. Yeah. We write 1 chapter and celebrate. Yeah. You

should. Like Bloody good chapter. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We did that.

Yeah. But but don't wait till you just Get the thing. It's like really

enjoy the journey. And I think that maybe the wisdom's coming for us

to really enjoy the journey every day now, not wait for the big

things to happen. Is it is it a bit easier to do that at this

stage of your careers? And you've obviously had a fair bit of

success and you're probably, You know, I'm assuming here, but quite comfortable and

not under huge financial stress or anything like that. Is it easier to sort

of have that attitude in business now compared you

know, when you're when you're young and you're grinding and it's like, shit, I need

to get if we don't get have a good week here, we're gonna be struggling

or, you know, I always think about that because I totally

agree, like, you've got to enjoy the ride and, you know, sort of

like In our business, I'm that person trying to say, look, we've gotta have

fun. We gotta do this, but and my business partner, he's the numbers bit

you know? It's a bit like a footy match. Yeah. Right?

So if you go and kick a goal and no one comes up and high

fives you, Why would you put your body on the line to kick the next

goal? Yeah. So we watch it on sport, how much

you have to celebrate the smallest of wins, or You took that

mark, and everyone comes up and and taps you on the back. That

propels them to try and lift as a whole team. So the more that we

can pat each other on the back as a team, as friends, or whatever,

we're watching it, but people aren't adapting it into their life. So When we

talk about ourselves of athletes of life and take those wonderful things

that we're seeing from athletes and on the TV and putting them into our

life, we change. Change a lot. So I think young people

can learn by just watching and adapting and thinking

about, we've no one went up to that guy. Why the hell

would you throw your body out the next time to do that? So it's

a really important thing to try and learn as young people. I think because we're

older, the wisdom's come in. Yeah. I do think I do think to what

you're saying, it is it is much easier at our age now to

kinda say, You know, we're we're kind of pretty comfortable in our own skin

and pretty comfortable with where we are in life. And, so

I think we're we're in a different place to where we were, you know. I

mean, I was a grinder. Chan Chan was a grinder. You know, I and I

still have the tendency to do that. Chan is always saying to me, just

relax Absolutely. Because I I love to work. Right? I enjoy it. I

just get so much satisfaction out of it. So, I think we've just become

much more comfortable. But for, you know, Someone in in your position starting

a new business, yeah. You know, sometimes it it is the grind,

and I think what you said about, know, this is who you are and your

business partners. This that's also important is to make sure you've got the yin

and the yang. So that sort of balances things out A little bit

more. So so true, but I think you are where you are because

you've grinded. Mhmm. You know, like, you not you didn't just get to 50 and

go, right. We're comfortable now. Now I'm going to put myself out there. Oh, no.

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

No. Let's relate this back to Elevate because I love this life,

leadership, longevity. The book is just coming out. Tell us

about it. Like, I know you read it in 5 days, and that's freakish because

it's one of the biggest books I've ever seen. But talk about the process because

I know when something you are passionate about just flows out. So

elevate the book, unlocking your extraordinary potential. What can people

expect? Oh, we we we are so passionate about this book. Can I tell you?

I think The the thing with this book is it has all of Shanna's

wisdom, all of my wisdom, all of our experiences, all of our

failures, All in 1 book. And, you know, the 3 pillars are

so important. That life pillar, which is a lot of Shanna's wheelhouse, your

values, your mindset, the leadership pillar,

which is a big space of mine, your brand, because you are a brand as

well, your confidence, your leadership. And then there's a 3rd pillar, which is

the longevity pillar, and that's what so many people have forgotten about over the last

couple of years, or we haven't taught those skills. How do I do all of

this and have this fabulous life, but do it with longevity? Do it

without burnout. Do it with self care. Do it with celebration.

So everything in the book is really our lived experiences

under those 3 pillars. Mhmm. But I think the other thing too with the book

is

Put pen to paper. You know, when we write something down, we are much more

connected to what we've written down. I have this bit of a photographic memory, so

when I write it down, I'll never forget Ever, ever, ever. But, you know, if

you kinda just have the conversation, it might sort of go in one ear and

out the other. So we have to commit to ourselves. We have to write, what

am I gonna keep doing for A healthy mindset. What am I gonna start

doing for a healthy mindset? What am I gonna stop doing for a healthy mindset?

All my confidence, all my leadership, all my self care. So the whole

premise on this is write down your plan, and that really comes

from me being a a CEO with a strategic plan and

Shanna Putting a plan down for athletes. Right? You

don't get anywhere in life if you haven't got a plan. So this book is

about creating your personal plan To elevate your life,

your leadership, and your longevity. I think it's exactly what I need at the moment,

James. It's it's out Friday, is it? Did you say? We we put the athlete

overlay on. So it was Like elevating for high performance

living. Right? So when you're an athlete, you know, that you write all the

goals down, they're up on the wall, you See them every day. You walk into

the gym and everything's on the wall, and go hard or go home or whatever

it might be. So we created these Planners that people

have to do, and you can download them for free on the website,

about, you know, really putting things up on the wall because the the brain

needs a map. And people think about things and go, oh, I'm so

inspired, and then walk out and put it in the drawer, and it's all gone.

So we really want that next step, which is Put

your athlete of life mindset on and get something on the wall, like you've got

your vulnerability wall, and your celebration wall, and your gratitude wall.

Let's put the wall on the wall. You. Your plan. About

all the things you're gonna stop doing that just are not working for you at

the moment. And what do you wanna start doing? Because when the brain sees it

every single day, it's reminded. I wrote that for a

reason. So we've really Taken all of the

elements that we think have worked in life in high

performance, in leadership, in life skills, in

wellness Skills in, you know, high performing elite athlete

skills and put them into one thing that is so bullet pointed

for you and easy to digest, To just

elevate every year of your life. Like, we're still elevating. We're in our

fifties. We wanna be better in our sixties, in our seventies, and all of those

kind of things. How, how much? I guess it's interesting little

period right now. I've just did sober October. Felt

incredible. I was on fire, sharp. Last weekend, I've

had a little just fallen off the perch again and then a nice big

bender at the races. And so and it's just funny, you

know, When I was younger, drinking and part like easy, no worries. You

can just get through it. And the older I get it sort of I noticed

it just affects my life a lot more as I As I'm getting

older, but then I still can't. I love it, and I love socializing and

all the rest of it. Is that something that you've you know, with coaching

and Does it have a big impact on, you know,

on your your output, who who you are? I guess, if health is

one of your biggest things, it's hard because On one hand, I feel like

it's a great social thing and certainly in the industry trying

to meet people and connect, and it helps a little bit with that. But

then if it, You know, if it can get if it's too much, it

can have a big negative impact I find. It's called embrace the pace.

Right? So you're running the marathon of life. And you know when you're in a

marathon, if you sprint too hard, well, you cramp up

and, you know, you can't do the next 5 k as well. You gotta find

your pace. And sometimes you'll sprint a bit, and sometimes you'll have to

recover a bit, but if you can learn to pace life, You

won't burn out. Mhmm. You know, you you won't do too many crazy stupid

things, but you will occasionally. You will occasionally. We all do. Right? We

we have. Let me tell We have 2. And that's all part of life,

and that's fun. Yeah. So you want spontaneity, and you wanna be able

to go to the races and have a big day or whatever you wanna do.

But you have to learn about what your pace is and also how you

recover. And when you put your athlete hat on, which you know so well,

I think you you can relate everything back to that easily for yourself.

And I think it's also about, you know, with there are gonna be times where

you're on the On the wagon, and then you fall off the wagon, and

that's okay. We're human. You know, we're not perfect, any of us. And I

think the big thing is just reset. Just because I ate a whole

packet of Tim Tams on the couch, not that I do that because I don't

eat Tim Tams, but if you do, it doesn't mean that, you know, oh,

that's Well, my whole life's over. You know? That's okay. I'll do a reset, and

I'll make sure I don't need a whole packet of Tim Tans on the couch

tomorrow. Whatever it might be. I think sometimes we can fall off the

bandwagon and go, I've just ruined everything. Yeah. Life's over. Well,

that's true. Extremism. Yeah. So just learn to reset and go,

it's okay. I fell off. Maybe I did a bit of dumb shit. I've got

kids that do dumb shit all all the time. Right? My my son's like a

lot like you. He he has a big big night, and he goes into 4

day fall. Right? He's out for 4 days. And, and I'm

like, oh, it's okay. I know in 4 days, he's gonna reset. Just breathe through

it. So just reset, you know. It's okay. Yeah. Yeah. It's in the

past. Move on and It's so true that, like, everything it's the way we can

do things. Extremes. Right. You can't play an extreme, and you can't be mad

at yourself. Right? So what would you say to your best friend

who's had an extreme incident, like a Full bender or whatever

it might be. It's like, okay. Well, just go and take care of yourself. Just

go and recover. You'll be fine. You don't have to crucify yourself and and

talk badly about yourself or to yourself. So I think it's about, yeah,

just pace. Yep. PACE and kindness. Yep. And like We said you

can't be kind to anyone else until you're kind to the person you see in

the mirror. And it comes exactly the same when you make a mistake, Get on

with it. Yeah. Be kind to yourself, and I love that. Now where can we

get the book? Where can we book you for a talk? Where can we book

to go Japan? You've been to Italy hiking? Buddy, this is

amazing. Oh, I know. Talk about going hiking in a really cool place. They are

some epic places. We never get really to talk about that much, Is this Where

can we What's this like a bit is this where do you take part of

the business. We're we're we're we're doing our bucket list. Oh my

goodness. Love walking. We've always walked together.

Because we live so close together, we used to just go on walks together. And

when you're walking, you become very creative. We have unbelievable

conversation instead of just sitting in a cafe. So we always walked, we always talked,

and that's how the business was born, walking. And, I've always

had these bucket list items. And I said, why don't we walk the world

and take people? And we'll coach them while we're walking and tick

off the bucket list at the same time. So we've just bought that into the

business, and we've done Camino. We've done Japan. Next year,

it's Camino, and then we do Italy and Tuscany. And, you know, we're just having

a great time, really. But it's all about high performance and elevating.

But everything is on our website, which is humanelevation.com.au.

The free planners are there as well. And I think, you know, there's

Instagram, there's all human elevation or Shannon Kennedy and Colin

Callender. It's it's about going in there and

having a little bit of a look around because there's a lot on offer.

I Love that. And I think, like you just said, particularly when you're having

conversations with somebody, I talk about this a lot, go for a 20 minute walk

every day without a device Because that's when you you allow your brain to

be creative. When you're creative, cool stuff happens. But more

importantly, when you go into bucket list, ticking items

with People that are on the same mission of yourself, I bet the people you're

walking with, I'm not saying that you 2 aren't amazing, but they'd learn from each

other. You're just creating that space That allows that to occur.

We just had the most amazing walk. I think we got back from Japan about

3 or 4 weeks ago. We had 10 incredible women, and we walked from

Tokyo to Kyusho and through the villages, which you wouldn't do if you go

to Japan. You'd go to the big cities essentially. So

we had these 10 extraordinary women. None of them knew each other or

maybe a couple came together. And the camaraderie,

and the conversations, and the support, And the

advice that happens throughout that 7 day walk, these

women come off the track. 1, Having much more

self awareness about themselves and having a very clear plan on how they wanna

elevate. But 2, they've made these new friends

and learned from each other, and They will be friends for life. Yeah.

It is incredible what happens when you walk and take that time out for

yourself. So, yeah, we would I mean, we just it is

the most rewarding thing to do for us to walk and coach, and we

teach all of the topics out of Elevate or some of them as we walk.

We do sessions in the morning, sessions in the evening. But But it actually doesn't

become about us teaching. It come becomes about a group of women

sharing and learning from each other. And that's a really That's really a

privilege for us to be able to be welcomed into that space and

into other people's lives and be able to make a And it keeps us

fit. You know? The walls are, you know, 25 k a day. Yeah. So we

do 25 k every day for 7 days, And that's awesome for us

too. We feel awesome. We love it. Yeah. Well, I absolutely love that. Now for

everybody listening in the show notes, I'll have links for knowing the new book website

Well, you can check it all out. And, Chandler and Cole, thank you so much

for coming on the show today. I know we talked about so many different things,

but I think it's so pleasing to get 2 inspirational people now

elevating together. I think that's really powerful. And if anyone's taken anything

away from today, it doesn't matter how old you are, how young you are, where

you are in life, It's always the right time to start, and you

only know by starting. And I think, hopefully, that's probably been one of the

underlying messages, and I know that if there's 2 examples of

that, and I know you're very, very humble, but you are

doing what you're doing now because you have taken those risks and you have allowed

that happen over a long time, and now you're on a different mission, different

impact. So congratulations on everything. The new book, the new mission

together, and really appreciate having you on the show. Oh, thank you so

much for both of you. It's been an absolute delight, being here

talking with you, and Thank you also just for creating this

amazing space for people to be able to share, connect, learn, listen,

grow. Dale, you've been doing this for a long time. You're an absolute

You're amazing. And your energy, as I said at the start, it just never

wave. It's I'm not sure whether it does at any point when the cameras are

off. I haven't seen it. And and I just this is, you know, like,

we're 2 women collaborating, and it's really important that we can collaborate

with other people. There's 2 of you now collaborating and and sharing your

journeys with people, And I just think it's a fantastic space that you've created, so

thank you for having us. It's been an absolute pleasure. Thanks, Carl. Thanks, Eliza.