Latest / The You Project / #1659 What They Should Teach You At School, But Don't - Harps (PT2)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Go your bloody champs. Hope you're terrific. It is it's
- 0:03Speaker 1: Grand Final Day. I don't know why I'm telling you that,
- 0:05Speaker 1: but it's bloody Grand Final day. It's Grand Final afternoon.
- 0:08Speaker 1: And because I'm a loser, no not and say that
- 0:14Speaker 1: about yourself, Harps. It's it's the GF here in Melbourne,
- 0:19Speaker 1: the thriving tropolis of Melbourne, the one of the sporting
- 0:22Speaker 1: events that brings the nation to a standstill, allegedly, and
- 0:28Speaker 1: here I am recording a potty because it can, because
- 0:31Speaker 1: a bloody can. It's just how I roll and if
- 0:33Speaker 1: i'm if I'm time efficient and energy efficient. It's one
- 0:39Speaker 1: thirty three. I'll get this done in thirty odd minutes.
- 0:42Speaker 1: You can have a little listen and I'll go and
- 0:45Speaker 1: watch the GF or some of the GF. You know
- 0:49Speaker 1: what else it is? I actually forgot about this. It's
- 0:53Speaker 1: me Birthdy. It's me Birthdy, and I don't like lots
- 0:58Speaker 1: of attention on me Birthdy, which is good. That's why
- 1:01Speaker 1: I'm telling you now, because by the time you hear
- 1:04Speaker 1: that it's me Birthdy, it's gone, which works well for me.
- 1:07Speaker 1: I don't know why, and I'm not saying that insincerely
- 1:11Speaker 1: meaning I actually really I actually if nobody knew for me.
- 1:16Speaker 1: I don't know what that's about. It's probably some deep
- 1:18Speaker 1: seated issue, but I kind of I kind of like
- 1:22Speaker 1: the non fuss. So anyway, sadday afternoon, sharing some thoughts
- 1:29Speaker 1: and ideas with you about this door that I opened
- 1:34Speaker 1: yesterday on this topic, which is what they should teach
- 1:38Speaker 1: you at school but don't. And when I say they
- 1:44Speaker 1: should teach you at school, I'm not really being serious.
- 1:47Speaker 1: I'm just talking about some of the lessons and insights
- 1:51Speaker 1: and truths that kids don't seem to get taught at
- 1:57Speaker 1: school or at home quite off and learn later on
- 2:02Speaker 1: in life, not always in a fun, enjoyable way. And yes,
- 2:09Speaker 1: we need to learn through pain and uncertainty and discomfort
- 2:12Speaker 1: and piques and trust, we do need that, But there's
- 2:15Speaker 1: also some pretty simple but powerful life lessons that we
- 2:20Speaker 1: could share with kids. Not that it's going to make
- 2:24Speaker 1: their life painless or smooth or a perpetual Disney kind
- 2:28Speaker 1: of movie, but what it might do is make them
- 2:32Speaker 1: more prepared, more practical, more realistic, and more aware of
- 2:38Speaker 1: what might be coming down the pipe, so to speak.
- 2:43Speaker 1: So yesterday we did six and as I said, yes,
- 2:46Speaker 1: say this non indictment on the academic system. I don't
- 2:49Speaker 1: think these things really necessarily should be taught in schools.
- 2:52Speaker 1: I just think kids somewhere, somehow should hear some of
- 2:55Speaker 1: these messages because I think they're valuable for kids. So
- 2:59Speaker 1: that the six went through yesterday as a recap. One,
- 3:03Speaker 1: life doesn't care about your feelings, self esteem, health, happiness
- 3:06Speaker 1: to Statistically, you're quite likely to end up unhealthy and
- 3:11Speaker 1: or in debt and or divorced, perhaps more than you
- 3:15Speaker 1: are happily married, healthy, and financially secure. We backed all
- 3:18Speaker 1: this up with statu yes day. And that's not an
- 3:21Speaker 1: uplifting message. Nonetheless, it's true, and I think truth is good.
- 3:26Speaker 1: Number three, the path to success is rarely easy, fun
- 3:31Speaker 1: or comfortable. Doesn't mean there's not fun or there's not comfort,
- 3:35Speaker 1: or it's not a party now and then. But it's
- 3:37Speaker 1: never all that all the time. We know that, and
- 3:40Speaker 1: I think that's a good lesson for kids to learn.
- 3:42Speaker 1: Number four was you can't do anything, as in all things,
- 3:48Speaker 1: anything you choose, you can't do anything you set your
- 3:52Speaker 1: mind to. And the message, the messaging for some people
- 3:55Speaker 1: from some people is whatever you want to do you
- 3:58Speaker 1: can do it. And as I said yesterday, it sounds
- 4:02Speaker 1: nice and it makes people maybe it makes people feel
- 4:04Speaker 1: momentarily good. But telling everyone that anything is possible, not
- 4:10Speaker 1: only is it not true, which is not a good start,
- 4:14Speaker 1: but it sets people up for frustration and disappointment and resentment.
- 4:18Speaker 1: And while yes, most people can do more than they're
- 4:21Speaker 1: currently doing, and most people can if they really work hard,
- 4:25Speaker 1: roll up their sleeves, be brave, be resilient, and lean
- 4:28Speaker 1: into their potential. Most people can do some pretty amazing shit,
- 4:32Speaker 1: but not everyone can do anything they set their mind to,
- 4:37Speaker 1: And so we want to encourage and support kids, but
- 4:40Speaker 1: we also want to be practical. Number five was sometimes
- 4:43Speaker 1: the people who will undermine, backstab and sabotage you will
- 4:46Speaker 1: be family and friends. Number six was and we know
- 4:50Speaker 1: that number six was. Your intentions are often not someone
- 4:53Speaker 1: else's experiences, and that is people are not necessari the
- 5:01Speaker 1: getting what you think you're giving them, and at some
- 5:06Speaker 1: stage your good intentions will absolutely produce bad results or
- 5:11Speaker 1: a bad outcome. All right, I'm with today, So number
- 5:15Speaker 1: seven on our list across the two days. Number sevent
- 5:17Speaker 1: is bad things happen to good people, and weirdly good
- 5:22Speaker 1: things sometimes happen to bad people. Don't ask me, Take
- 5:26Speaker 1: it up with God or the universe or whoever your
- 5:28Speaker 1: bloody high power or deity, deity of choices. But bad
- 5:33Speaker 1: things happen to good people, and weirdly, good things sometimes
- 5:36Speaker 1: happen to bad people. You might never understand that, and
- 5:39Speaker 1: you'll definitely never change it. So invest your mental and
- 5:44Speaker 1: emotional energy where you will get the best return. I've
- 5:47Speaker 1: had awesome friends of mine, great people, beautiful human beings
- 5:53Speaker 1: die who through a range of things, and so have you.
- 6:01Speaker 1: But moving through life with this awareness and this not
- 6:06Speaker 1: so this is a burden on our shoulder, but just
- 6:09Speaker 1: maybe maybe so that it gives us. Like for me,
- 6:14Speaker 1: what this knowledge does is it gives me a perspective
- 6:19Speaker 1: that every day is a gift. And I know that
- 6:20Speaker 1: sounds cheesy. I know it sounds cheesy, but you know,
- 6:25Speaker 1: right now I'm working with helping a few people I
- 6:28Speaker 1: should say, probably five or six people whose lives are
- 6:33Speaker 1: very difficult for a range of different reasons. I don't
- 6:36Speaker 1: mean you run in the mill kind of garden variety
- 6:41Speaker 1: issues and problems. I mean really really difficult. And when
- 6:46Speaker 1: you know, when I work with these people hopefully I'm
- 6:48Speaker 1: helpful and valuable to them. But when I work with
- 6:51Speaker 1: these people, apart from the joy that I have with
- 6:54Speaker 1: the connection and the involvement and the support that I
- 6:58Speaker 1: can hopefully bring to them, it's a blessing for me
- 7:01Speaker 1: because it gives me a level of awareness and perspective
- 7:04Speaker 1: and gratitude for how few problems I actually have. And
- 7:09Speaker 1: so I think, you know, while we don't want to
- 7:12Speaker 1: scare the bejeebas out of kids at all, we want
- 7:16Speaker 1: to let him know that not anything or not everything
- 7:21Speaker 1: perhaps is guaranteed. You know, one of my best friends
- 7:25Speaker 1: in the world who worked with me. He was my
- 7:27Speaker 1: first personal trainer, as in, he was my first worked
- 7:30Speaker 1: for me trainer, my first employee, Maddie, amazing human being.
- 7:35Speaker 1: We trained together every day, We ate breakfast and lunch
- 7:38Speaker 1: together together every day. Were joined at the hip. And
- 7:42Speaker 1: he died at the age of I think twenty four,
- 7:45Speaker 1: and he never got to live his whole life. And
- 7:50Speaker 1: I think about him every single day. And he was
- 7:53Speaker 1: an awesome person. He was a beautiful human being, and
- 7:57Speaker 1: he ain't here anymore. And while we don't want to
- 7:59Speaker 1: be more and we don't want to make people sad,
- 8:02Speaker 1: I think it's great that we're practical and we're down
- 8:05Speaker 1: to earth and we teach not just kids but grown
- 8:07Speaker 1: ups that, hey, can you breathe? Can you walk? Can
- 8:10Speaker 1: you turn on the tap and get cold water? Can
- 8:12Speaker 1: you turn on a share and have hot water? Can
- 8:15Speaker 1: you open a fridge and get food? Do you have
- 8:18Speaker 1: at least one or two or three people who love
- 8:20Speaker 1: you? You know? Does your spine work, does your brain work?
- 8:25Speaker 1: You know? Are you for the most part healthy, Then
- 8:28Speaker 1: that's great. Your life is awesome, or at the very
- 8:31Speaker 1: least you've got a great running start to life. Number
- 8:35Speaker 1: eight is and this is really a self awareness thing,
- 8:40Speaker 1: which I think teaching self awareness, situational and social awareness
- 8:46Speaker 1: for kids is really really potentially powerful and transformational. The
- 8:53Speaker 1: number eight is the only person living in your version
- 8:56Speaker 1: of the world is you. Your personal reality is a
- 9:02Speaker 1: subjective interpretation of and response to the events, situations, environments,
- 9:07Speaker 1: and outcomes you find yourself in the middle of. In
- 9:12Speaker 1: other words, your version of the world is a story
- 9:15Speaker 1: that you tell yourself as a byproduct of the window
- 9:20Speaker 1: through which you view the world. So let's use this
- 9:22Speaker 1: metaphor of a window. We all have a window through
- 9:25Speaker 1: which we individually view the world. Your window is not mine.
- 9:31Speaker 1: Yours is not the bloke across the road or the
- 9:34Speaker 1: lady across the road. And so we all have our
- 9:36Speaker 1: own window because our window is a byproduct or the filter,
- 9:40Speaker 1: the window, whatever you want to call it, the thing
- 9:42Speaker 1: through which we evaluate and view and disseminate and make
- 9:46Speaker 1: sense of the world around us. That is a byproduct
- 9:50Speaker 1: of where we've been and what we've seen and what
- 9:52Speaker 1: we've been through, and beliefs and values and experiences and
- 9:55Speaker 1: faith and all that kind of stuff and everyone, you know.
- 9:59Speaker 1: So if you're a t you're up the front of
- 10:00Speaker 1: a classroom and you've got thirty kids in there, you've
- 10:03Speaker 1: got thirty kids having a different experience. They're all in
- 10:06Speaker 1: the same room at the same time, listening to the
- 10:08Speaker 1: same teacher, and they're all in the same practical physical reality,
- 10:13Speaker 1: but none of them are in the same psychological, sociological, emotional,
- 10:18Speaker 1: or experiential reality in real time. And it's fucking important.
- 10:23Speaker 1: Not that we understand this down to the PhD level,
- 10:27Speaker 1: but it's important that kids go, oh, people think differently
- 10:31Speaker 1: to me. Just because I think this doesn't mean they
- 10:35Speaker 1: think this. Just because my intention is good, that doesn't
- 10:38Speaker 1: mean their experience will be good. So having this understanding
- 10:43Speaker 1: and applying this in real time, this kind of bigger
- 10:46Speaker 1: than you awareness. It's a conduit to better communication, to
- 10:51Speaker 1: problem solving, to conflict resolution, to situational awareness, and to
- 10:58Speaker 1: more productive, more valuable, and meaningful social outcomes. So, and
- 11:08Speaker 1: this is where we teach kids the space between your
- 11:11Speaker 1: world and their world. Metacognition, thinking about your thinking, theory
- 11:15Speaker 1: of mind, thinking about their thinking. Number nine, speaking of thinking,
- 11:22Speaker 1: is that you and me we have all been programmed.
- 11:26Speaker 1: We've all been programmed by the experiences of our life
- 11:33Speaker 1: up until this point in time listening to this podcast.
- 11:37Speaker 1: Wherever you're at, So, whatever you've been through, what school
- 11:41Speaker 1: you went to, what books you've read, what media you
- 11:45Speaker 1: pay attention to, what social media you pay attention to,
- 11:49Speaker 1: what religion or lack of religion. You grew up in
- 11:54Speaker 1: the way that your family communicated and socialized and interacted
- 11:59Speaker 1: or didn't interact with other families, The type of food
- 12:02Speaker 1: you ate, the cultural influences. All of those things have programmed,
- 12:10Speaker 1: or let's say less dramatically influenced significantly the way that
- 12:16Speaker 1: you think. And when we realize that the way that
- 12:20Speaker 1: we think, remember thinking about thinking metacognition. When we realize
- 12:25Speaker 1: that the way that we think, if I personalize it,
- 12:27Speaker 1: when I realize that the way that I think is
- 12:32Speaker 1: a little bit about my genetics and who I am
- 12:35Speaker 1: in terms of DNA and just what I was born with.
- 12:38Speaker 1: It's a little bit about that, maybe twenty percent, but
- 12:41Speaker 1: it's a lot, maybe eighty percent, a byproduct of everything
- 12:46Speaker 1: I've been through, all those things I just described to you.
- 12:50Speaker 1: And so this is not something to worry about, because
- 12:54Speaker 1: this is not a bad thing. This is a human thing.
- 12:57Speaker 1: But what we can do now is we can start
- 13:00Speaker 1: to open We can start to open the consciousness door.
- 13:05Speaker 1: And the consciousness door is for me. My definition is
- 13:09Speaker 1: where my programming finishes and I start. So where is
- 13:16Speaker 1: the where is the cognitive cerebral real estate of mine
- 13:24Speaker 1: that exists separate to the programmed me, the one that's
- 13:31Speaker 1: been taught and told and trained and programmed what to think,
- 13:36Speaker 1: not taught how to think, teaching someone how to think,
- 13:41Speaker 1: how to think critically, how to disseminate information in an
- 13:47Speaker 1: unbiased way in an objective manner, how to arrive at
- 13:52Speaker 1: our own conclusions and thoughts and evaluations, and beliefs. This
- 13:58Speaker 1: is this is a big deal, this is a big challenge,
- 14:04Speaker 1: and it's almost impossible. It is almost impossible to be
- 14:10Speaker 1: objective because even though I'm talking to you about this,
- 14:15Speaker 1: and even though we understand this the concept objective subjective.
- 14:21Speaker 1: Something happened. Craig picked up his thing of chewy, he
- 14:25Speaker 1: dropped it. That's an objective event. Then there's the subjective
- 14:31Speaker 1: experience of what happened. I don't know if you heard
- 14:33Speaker 1: that I just dropped something. It's a terrible example if
- 14:35Speaker 1: you didn't hear it. But then there's the subjective experience
- 14:39Speaker 1: around that, Oh that was noisy, Oh that that was annoying,
- 14:42Speaker 1: or that didn't sound like a box of chewy or
- 14:47Speaker 1: whatever it is. It's just so there's the thing that
- 14:49Speaker 1: happens in our world, then there's our subjective interpretation of it,
- 14:53Speaker 1: and for us to be able to realize that, by
- 14:58Speaker 1: the way, can we be objective on any level? Of
- 15:00Speaker 1: course we can, and I believe the path to I
- 15:02Speaker 1: don't think we can ever be completely objective because we're
- 15:05Speaker 1: always going to have certain ideas and beliefs and values
- 15:09Speaker 1: and expectations and standards and knowledge or what we believe
- 15:15Speaker 1: to be knowledge anyway. But I think what we can
- 15:18Speaker 1: do is we can become less intertwined with being right,
- 15:27Speaker 1: less identified by our beliefs and our thinking and our
- 15:34Speaker 1: need to be As I said right. So I've never
- 15:40Speaker 1: been less sure of things than right now in my life,
- 15:48Speaker 1: which doesn't mean I don't have absolute thoughts and ideas
- 15:51Speaker 1: and beliefs. But those thoughts and ideas and beliefs, I
- 15:55Speaker 1: hold on to them loosely because I know. I know
- 16:01Speaker 1: that I can be wrong. I know that I am
- 16:03Speaker 1: probably wrong about several things, even right. Things that I
- 16:08Speaker 1: currently think nothing comes to mind, but I'm sure there
- 16:11Speaker 1: are attitudes, opinions, ideas, beliefs. What I think is knowledge,
- 16:15Speaker 1: But isn't that I currently have that currently resides in
- 16:20Speaker 1: my cerebral HQ that is actually somewhere between a little
- 16:25Speaker 1: bit wrong and complete bullshit. But I don't yet know it.
- 16:28Speaker 1: But here's the thing. I'm okay with that, and I
- 16:32Speaker 1: have to be okay with it because if I'm not
- 16:34Speaker 1: okay with it, then one I'm a fraud to all
- 16:37Speaker 1: of you. And two, if I'm not okay with it,
- 16:40Speaker 1: then now I'm unteachable because I fucking know everything. So
- 16:44Speaker 1: remember your thinking is not always your thinking. Number ten.
- 16:54Speaker 1: This a little bit tough, but I think some of
- 16:56Speaker 1: you will resonate with the thought. Over your lifetime. Many
- 17:01Speaker 1: people will pretend to care about you because at that
- 17:05Speaker 1: point in time you serve a purpose and or are
- 17:09Speaker 1: valuable to them in some way. So what am I saying?
- 17:15Speaker 1: There's going to be people who come into your life
- 17:16Speaker 1: that will play the role of a friend or someone
- 17:19Speaker 1: who cares. They will have the persona that you are
- 17:23Speaker 1: important to them, that they love you, that they care
- 17:27Speaker 1: about you. But you will find out at some stage
- 17:31Speaker 1: down the track either that wasn't true at all, or
- 17:35Speaker 1: it was not totally true, or maybe at one stage
- 17:39Speaker 1: they did, but that changed, And so you know, this
- 17:43Speaker 1: is not now kindness or love or friendship. This is
- 17:48Speaker 1: now a strategic alliance. This is now somebody being a
- 17:52Speaker 1: persona not a person. And I've had this many times
- 17:57Speaker 1: and I still have it, where people will role play
- 18:00Speaker 1: friendship to me because I know that at this point
- 18:04Speaker 1: in time I can open doors for them that are
- 18:07Speaker 1: valuable to them. So they're all super friendly and gushy,
- 18:11Speaker 1: borderline creepy, But I know exactly what's going on. And
- 18:16Speaker 1: I only know that because I've had that happen a lot.
- 18:18Speaker 1: I'm sure you've had it as well. And having said that,
- 18:24Speaker 1: I think there are times when you will have relationships
- 18:28Speaker 1: with people which are primarily strategic in nature. And that's okay,
- 18:33Speaker 1: because you will serve a purpose for them, they will
- 18:36Speaker 1: serve a purpose for you. It's a win win. It's
- 18:39Speaker 1: not necessarily a straight friendship, although you might get on well.
- 18:45Speaker 1: It's more a strategic alliance or partnership, and everyone knows
- 18:49Speaker 1: what it is, and that's cool. But what I'm talking
- 18:51Speaker 1: about today, in this moment is the people who, over
- 18:55Speaker 1: the course of your lifetime, will pretend that they care,
- 18:58Speaker 1: but when the shit hits the fan, you know that
- 19:00Speaker 1: they don't, or it's evident that they don't. Now, we're
- 19:03Speaker 1: not feeling sorry for ourselves about this. We're not going
- 19:06Speaker 1: whoy with me. We're going that's okay, that's part of
- 19:08Speaker 1: the human experience. That's fine. But what a couple of
- 19:11Speaker 1: things are going to happen. One is I'm going to
- 19:14Speaker 1: do my very best not to be that. I don't
- 19:16Speaker 1: want to be that in anyone else. I don't want
- 19:18Speaker 1: to be that person who's using somebody. And this is
- 19:22Speaker 1: a hard self inventory to do, because I think we've
- 19:27Speaker 1: all done it. Have I Craig Anthony Harper birthday Boy?
- 19:33Speaker 1: Have I ever taken advantage of somebody or or kept
- 19:39Speaker 1: a relationship afloat because they were in some way helpful
- 19:45Speaker 1: or valuable to me? I would be lying if I
- 19:49Speaker 1: said I hadn't. I'm not doing that at the moment
- 19:53Speaker 1: that I'm aware of. I don't do that that I'm
- 19:55Speaker 1: aware of. I'm aware of this particular thing, and so
- 20:01Speaker 1: I work very hard to be the person that is
- 20:06Speaker 1: of value and service to others. Having said that, I
- 20:14Speaker 1: don't want people to take the piss, and I will
- 20:16Speaker 1: not let people take the piss. I will definitely help people,
- 20:21Speaker 1: look after people, encourage and support people where there's nothing
- 20:25Speaker 1: in it return in return for me, of course, because
- 20:28Speaker 1: that's called love and kindness. But when somebody is role
- 20:32Speaker 1: playing or feigning that they care about me, that we
- 20:36Speaker 1: have some kind of special connection or bond, which I
- 20:40Speaker 1: know is bullshit, I shut that down, and I shut
- 20:45Speaker 1: that down because I just won't. You're probably going, how
- 20:47Speaker 1: do you do that? I just don't play along. I
- 20:50Speaker 1: just don't play along. I don't I whatever it is
- 20:53Speaker 1: that they want from me, I cut off access to
- 20:56Speaker 1: that because I'm a good guy. I won't be used
- 21:01Speaker 1: and manipulated for a range of reasons, for a range
- 21:04Speaker 1: of reasons. Number eleven is this not being good at school,
- 21:10Speaker 1: And this is good news for me. Not being good
- 21:12Speaker 1: at school or sport or creative stuff, for tech stuff
- 21:15Speaker 1: or fucking fill in the blank. Not being good at
- 21:17Speaker 1: certain things at school doesn't mean you can't be awesome
- 21:21Speaker 1: at life. How good is that? How good is it
- 21:25Speaker 1: that you can be you know, even the kid that
- 21:28Speaker 1: got picked on or the kids that got picked on
- 21:30Speaker 1: or the kid that got you know, like, by the way,
- 21:34Speaker 1: my school wasn't hard, but I was literally the kid
- 21:36Speaker 1: that got picked last for sporting teams and all that shit, right,
- 21:40Speaker 1: But that kid, those kids can be fucking rock stars
- 21:47Speaker 1: in life. You whether or not, you know, not being
- 21:49Speaker 1: great academically for example, or not being a brilliant athlete
- 21:54Speaker 1: for example, or not being a musical or creative genius
- 21:57Speaker 1: for example, or even not being popular at school, it
- 22:02Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily indicate anything for the future. And I would say,
- 22:08Speaker 1: and this sounds kind of a little bit like bullshit,
- 22:11Speaker 1: but for me, this has been true anyway, For me,
- 22:15Speaker 1: this was true, and so I know that it can
- 22:17Speaker 1: be true for others. My mediocrity, my averageness, my inability
- 22:23Speaker 1: to excel at stuff naturally. For me, that was a superpower,
- 22:29Speaker 1: and it was a superpower because it made me realize
- 22:33Speaker 1: early that I would never be a high achiever, a
- 22:38Speaker 1: high performer, or successful in inverted commas, whatever that means.
- 22:42Speaker 1: But I realized that I would never just fucking land
- 22:44Speaker 1: on my feet. And I realized this quite early because
- 22:48Speaker 1: I looked around me at kids who are more talented, smarter,
- 22:53Speaker 1: better looking, better genetics, all that stuff, right, I looked
- 22:56Speaker 1: at those kids and there wasn't jealousy or resembs, but
- 23:00Speaker 1: there was awareness. I'm like, well, that motherfucker can run
- 23:03Speaker 1: one hundred meters in eleven seconds, you know, three minutes
- 23:07Speaker 1: after he's eaten a bloody hamburger. I could train for
- 23:10Speaker 1: a year, and I couldn't do that, right, So for me,
- 23:13Speaker 1: it was just an awareness when I would see what
- 23:18Speaker 1: other people could do with little or no efforts, some effort,
- 23:21Speaker 1: and of course there were people who made lots of effort.
- 23:24Speaker 1: But I was surrounded not constantly, but you know, reasonably regularly.
- 23:28Speaker 1: I was surrounded by people who were just really quite gifted,
- 23:31Speaker 1: quite smart, quite blessed in all of those things, and
- 23:35Speaker 1: good on them. And that's amazing. I think that, you know,
- 23:39Speaker 1: for me, that the fact that I didn't have that
- 23:42Speaker 1: running start with all of these innate abilities or gifts,
- 23:47Speaker 1: that was my superpower. That was my fuel, that was
- 23:49Speaker 1: my motivation, that was my reason. It's what got me going,
- 23:54Speaker 1: It's what it was my compelling force. You know, I
- 23:59Speaker 1: knew that I wouldn't succeed because I had some amazing
- 24:03Speaker 1: unfair advantage over the other kids, you know, be that academic, intellectual, genetic, creative, whatever.
- 24:09Speaker 1: I knew that. I knew that for me it was
- 24:13Speaker 1: going to be about work, self controlled discipline. But I also,
- 24:17Speaker 1: I don't know why, but the times where I really
- 24:22Speaker 1: did set my mind to something, I actually produced some
- 24:25Speaker 1: good results. So I had I had a few wins
- 24:29Speaker 1: on the board, but I also had a bunch of
- 24:32Speaker 1: losses on the board. And so the good news is
- 24:35Speaker 1: the good news is if you're shit at school, if
- 24:39Speaker 1: you don't love school, if you're not the bloody, prettiest
- 24:42Speaker 1: or handsomest or fucking whateverest doesn't matter. Like and this
- 24:47Speaker 1: is not me trying to make people feel good. The
- 24:49Speaker 1: problem is some people get destroyed for life before they
- 24:54Speaker 1: even fucking start life in a way. And this is
- 25:00Speaker 1: obvious with the amount of mental health issues and even
- 25:04Speaker 1: tragically teen suicide that's happening. We see all these numbers
- 25:08Speaker 1: go up. It's so tragic, it's so it's so sad,
- 25:14Speaker 1: and I wish. I don't know, if you're a teacher
- 25:18Speaker 1: listening to this and you don't live a million miles away,
- 25:24Speaker 1: or you're a principal, hit me up with an email
- 25:28Speaker 1: if you would like me to, I don't know, do
- 25:30Speaker 1: a talk or something. You know, I can't do a
- 25:32Speaker 1: million talks, but I can definitely do one or two
- 25:36Speaker 1: for me. It's just really really important that kids that
- 25:39Speaker 1: all kids talented, not talented, you know, academically brilliant, strugglers,
- 25:44Speaker 1: battlers or everyone. You know, we're not just like we
- 25:47Speaker 1: care about because even some of the gifted kids still
- 25:50Speaker 1: struggle mentally and emotionally. We know that. And the last
- 25:53Speaker 1: one for today is sometimes success is got nothing to
- 26:00Speaker 1: do with money or staff or winning. I mean, think
- 26:07Speaker 1: about how many people are ticking for one of better term,
- 26:10Speaker 1: are ticking the success box, but are simultaneously unhappy. So
- 26:18Speaker 1: many people are from the outside looking in they are successful.
- 26:23Speaker 1: And if you evaluated their career or their financial situational
- 26:28Speaker 1: status or brand or bloody even their physical appearance, Like
- 26:32Speaker 1: for a lot of people, you go, wow, they're successful
- 26:35Speaker 1: because we evaluate success by these observable, measurable KPIs. They own, that,
- 26:41Speaker 1: they drive, that they live there. She is gorgeous, he
- 26:43Speaker 1: is handsome. Their kids are fucking superstars. Oh he's going
- 26:47Speaker 1: to get drafted into the AFL. She's got a singing career. Bibody,
- 26:52Speaker 1: bobbody boo. Tick all the boxes, what a Hollywood beautiful, amazing,
- 26:57Speaker 1: successful family. But behind the image and the kpiyes of
- 27:02Speaker 1: success and all the box ticking is misery. Sometimes his
- 27:07Speaker 1: loneliness is, frustration is depression, anxiety is inability to sleep
- 27:11Speaker 1: is social, emotional and psychological dysfunction. There is nothing wrong
- 27:20Speaker 1: with making lots of dough and driving a good car
- 27:22Speaker 1: and living in a good house, of course, and I'm
- 27:26Speaker 1: not telling you what your measurement of success should be.
- 27:30Speaker 1: Success is individual. For somebody running ten k's in an
- 27:35Speaker 1: hour is bloody amazing. For someone else that's devastatingly slow,
- 27:39Speaker 1: they get the same outcome, and one is happy and
- 27:42Speaker 1: one is sad. For somebody to make two thousand dollars
- 27:45Speaker 1: in a week would be mind blowingly incredible. For somebody
- 27:49Speaker 1: else the same number in the same amount of time,
- 27:54Speaker 1: two grand in a week would not be enough to
- 27:56Speaker 1: cover their expenses. Right, So different things have different meanings
- 28:03Speaker 1: to different people. So that the same whatever, the same
- 28:05Speaker 1: outcome two grand, one hour run. You know, somebody gets
- 28:09Speaker 1: a science degree, somebody's delirious with it, somebody thinks it
- 28:14Speaker 1: was a waste of four years. Whatever. It's all about
- 28:17Speaker 1: what it means to that individual. So wealth doesn't always
- 28:23Speaker 1: look like money. Wealth doesn't always look like stuff like
- 28:32Speaker 1: for me personally. Again, these are just If you find
- 28:36Speaker 1: my personal examples boring, I apologize, but I can't talk
- 28:42Speaker 1: too broadly about too many other people because it ain't fair.
- 28:44Speaker 1: But for me, you know, when I was in my
- 28:47Speaker 1: early thirties, I was ticking what would be considered to
- 28:50Speaker 1: be nearly all of the success boxes. I was going
- 28:54Speaker 1: from the outside looking in, I was going great. But
- 28:57Speaker 1: while I was going great, while I was driving this
- 28:59Speaker 1: and living and owning that and earning that and looking
- 29:01Speaker 1: like that, while I was ticking all those boxes. In
- 29:04Speaker 1: the middle of all of that, I personally was spiritually, emotionally,
- 29:09Speaker 1: and mentally bankrupt. I was fucking behind the curtain, behind
- 29:16Speaker 1: the public curtain, behind the success persona, away from the
- 29:21Speaker 1: fucking Craig show. I was shit. I wasn't successful at all.
- 29:27Speaker 1: I had the representation of success, but I didn't have
- 29:31Speaker 1: the experience. And I was really good at hiding that
- 29:37Speaker 1: from people. And people would be like, Wow, you're killing it.
- 29:40Speaker 1: You're this, You're that. I'm like, thank you, thank you.
- 29:43Speaker 1: I know it's fucking amazing, and through their eyes, based
- 29:48Speaker 1: on what they were seeing, they were right. But the
- 29:52Speaker 1: truth was that the personal truth for me was away
- 29:55Speaker 1: from the razzle dazzle and the Craig Show and the
- 29:58Speaker 1: smoke and mirrors. I wasn't successful at all. I was sad.
- 30:04Speaker 1: I was anxious. I was not sleeping. I was questioning
- 30:09Speaker 1: what the fuck I was doing, even though it was
- 30:11Speaker 1: all working. I was living out of alignment. And so
- 30:17Speaker 1: while we all need the resource of money, of course,
- 30:20Speaker 1: we need dough, of course we need stuff to function
- 30:23Speaker 1: in society. But for me, happiness and contentment and calm,
- 30:29Speaker 1: or we might say the absence of anxiety. That's generally,
- 30:34Speaker 1: and this is what people really want. What people Yes,
- 30:37Speaker 1: we need to pay the bills and feed the kids
- 30:39Speaker 1: and educate. Well, of course, of course we need that,
- 30:43Speaker 1: But the people that I talk to, it's not generally.
- 30:47Speaker 1: Sometimes it's that, but most of the people I talk
- 30:50Speaker 1: to most of the time, success for them is really
- 30:54Speaker 1: about their internal state, not the external show. It's really
- 30:58Speaker 1: about mental, emotional, and social wealth. It's about being the
- 31:06Speaker 1: calm and the chaos. It's about being able to exhale.
- 31:14Speaker 1: See you next time.