I'm back with a long form podcast this week. In it I share some thoughts on how to create an amazing high performing culture. 

I was teaching an extremely hard cycle class the other night.

The conditions were:

• Stupidly hot

• It was a very challenging workout

• Everyone was working hard

With around 10-15mins to go, when the hardest part of the workout was still in front of us, I could see that people were:

• Getting tired, both physically and mentally

• Looking for a reason to take it easy

• Starting to lose their focus

In fairness to the class, it was easy to justify pulling back in effort because the hot conditions were making it so tough...

But it’s my job to help people get to a higher level within themselves.  
I knew I had to come up with something that would do just that.  

A motivational thought popped into my mind, and I shared it with my class.

It must have hit a note because for the last part of the workout everyone absolutely destroyed themselves. It was amazing to see.

In this week’s video, I share this with you, and you may find that it helps you in times when you need to take things to the next level.

Sadly, so many people struggle with exercise.

Here’s the thing, most of these people have tried to exercise but have ended up quitting. This obviously has a massive impact on their health, fitness and wellbeing.

When they have that moment where they are motivated to try to bring exercise into their lives, unfortunately, they make some key mistakes, which ultimately leads to them quitting and often, never wanting to try again.

In this week’s podcast, I want to share the 4 reasons why beginners often fail when starting on their exercise journey.    

When you know these reasons, you can see a wiser pathway forward, which means you will have a higher chance of successfully introducing exercise into your life and start on the pathway to a fitter and healthier you.  

Some people believe they will exercise regularly all their lives.

There are a lot of reasons why they think this:

• They have developed a sustained, long term habit
• They have a routine that they trust
• They have a community they belong to
• They have the identity and mindset that comes with being a long-term exerciser

But sometimes these people do fall away from exercise. 

Despite having a solid foundation of long-term exercise, it still can happen, and you’d be surprised that it doesn’t take much to be in a place where your health and fitness become a struggle. 

For these people, there are some questions which might be useful to explore:

• Why did this happen?
• What has been the cost of falling away, both physically and mentally?
• What are the barriers that need to be faced now?
• How do they wisely bring exercise back into their life?

In this week’s podcast, I’m going to talk about what you should do if you find yourself in this situation, so you can get back to the place you know you love with your health and fitness.

Do you struggle with motivation? If so, read on and make sure you watch the video.                                                                                                                      

Every day of my life I spend time motivating people.

It can be with:

• My group fitness classes

• Coaching my runners

• With my mentoring clients

Over the years, because I spend so much time in this space, I’ve learnt a lot about motivation.
To me, motivating people is about getting them to a higher-level. To get people to take a step up in their action and behaviours.  

When I first started teaching fitness a wise soul in the fitness game taught me one of the most important lessons about motivation.

This lesson increased my ability to motivate others massively.

So much so it’s still one of my foundation thoughts around motivation.

In this week’s podcast I’m going to share this lesson with you and teach you how you can apply it to your life, so you’ll be able to motivate yourself to your next level.

Every year I’m very lucky because I get to be the MC at the iconic event, the Kathmandu Coast to Coast.

This is one of the most special endurance events in the world.

There are many reasons why I love this role but the main one is watching athletes work through this challenge. They…

• Face doubt, fear, and adversity
• Must work through challenging moments
• Learn powerful lessons about themselves
• Get the amazing reward of finishing something they worked so hard to complete

While there are many benefits to training and racing the Coast to Coast, there is one benefit that I feel may be the biggest of all.

When I was wrapping up the race briefing, I talked about this benefit and afterwards a guy came up to me and said…

‘What you said meant so much to me, I’ll take that with me forever’.

In this week’s podcast I’ll share that benefit with you. Who knows, it may get you signing up for a crazy event like the Coast to Coast!

When I was doing Ironman triathlon, I trained with a guy called Gordo.

This guy was a beast of an athlete, and he was a very wise man who:

• Had the highest level of intelligence
• Was an amazing communicator who made complex things seem simple
• Loved helping others improve

One day when I was training with him, he shared a way of thinking and mindset that motivated me to be a higher-level athlete myself.  

This mindset has:

• Influenced the rest of my life
• Helped me overcome my most challenging moments
• Helped me build more belief in myself

In this week’s podcast, I share Gordo’s lesson with you so you can hopefully get as much value from it as I have.

Do you have something that you are trying to improve on?

What are your answers to these questions:

• What’s your approach to improvement?
• When you spend time on this, how do you spend your time?
• Do you make the progress you hope for?

If we want to improve, it’s important that we spend time on the approach and strategy we use so that…

• We make shifts in the most impactful way
• The change we create lasts
• We evolve as an overall person throughout the process

For me, a massive shift happened with my piano playing when I changed my approach to my practice time.

It was like I had put my progress into overdrive.

And I have been able to apply this to all areas of my life.

In this week’s podcast, I share an important way to look at how to use your practice time, so you can develop yourself faster and more effectively.

I have this fitness challenge that I do each week that is designed to:

• Push me to my absolute physical max
• Test my mental game
• Help me evolve the process I use to becoming a higher-level self

This challenge brings fear to my day from the moment I wake up, but even though this is the case…

• I always do it
• I know the game, so I hit the objectives most of the time
• I get the physical and mental rewards I love

A couple weeks ago this question popped up in my head after completing it (when I was huffing and puffing on the ground):

“Have you challenged how you do this challenge? Is there a higher level you can aim for?”

Up until this point I would have told you I gave everything in this workout…

But by asking myself this question, I’ve been able to go to another level.

In this week’s podcast I break down how my ‘challenge my challenge’ thinking has taken me to the next level and how you can apply this principle to your life.

The way I do this podcast is about to change. In this show I talk about the changes and how the show will be different moving forward. I also give my reasons why I'm making these changes.