Life & Mindset Blog by David Lee | Leeway

Why a routine inspection could lead to a life saving decision

Wed, 25 Sep 2024 07:00:06 GMT

"How you wake up each day and your morning routine (or lack thereof) dramatically affects your levels of success in every single area of your life. Focused, productive, successful mornings generate focused, productive, successful days— which inevitably create a successful life."

Hal Elrod (Author of The Miracle Morning )

I often say "the first hour is the rudder for the day" I promote morning routines and evening rituals as major lifestyle consideration for ensuring my highest priority "peace of mind"

Rather than write a list of "what to dos" I thought to write "What I do and why I do it"

If you see benefits in the benefits, please feel free to adopt them.

4.30 am – 5am wake up depending on bedtime to ensure 8 hours of sleep. Here's a breakdown of my routines and the benefits for each. My morning and evening are the antithesis of each other. One to fire me up and the other to wind me down.

1. Don’t Hit the Snooze Button - Benefits: Not hitting snooze helps me wake up more alert and prevents sleep inertia, which can make you feel groggy for hours. Consistent wakeup times regulate your body’s internal clock, improving sleep quality and overall energy levels throughout the day. When I set my alarm of an evening, I disable the snooze option, so that it is not an option..

2. Make MY Bed - Benefits: Making my bed is a small, productive task that starts my day with my first sense of accomplishment. I don’t wear an Ora or any sleep monitoring device because I believe the best judge of a good night’s sleep is the state of my bed when I wake up of a morning and how I feel. Making my bed sets a positive tone, fosters discipline, and can reduce stress by creating a tidy, organized environment. At the end of the day (or the beginning in this case) who else should have to make my bed, I slept in it.

3. Weigh myself on myzone scales I like to weigh myself at “dry weight” to get perspective on my weight on the world. It’s a gentle check in that I am doing things well. It also gives me a quick check on how I am going to make food choices for the day. Generally they are the same 4 foods I eat from a high protein perspective.

4. Drink 750ml of Filtered Water with Celtic Sea Salt and Lemon Benefits: Hydration: After 8 hours of sleep, my body is dehydrated. Drinking water first thing helps kickstart your metabolism and flush out toxins. Celtic Sea Salt: Provides over 80 trace minerals, including potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, zinc and iodine. A trace mineral is a type of mineral that the body only needs small amounts of. Despite this minimal amount required, trace minerals are essential for maintaining most bodily functions including enzyme activity, hormone production and the formation of bones and teeth. Deficiencies in any od these can lead to health problems. Also supports electrolyte balance. Lemon Juice: Rich in vitamin C and antioxidants, lemon juice aids digestion, boosts the immune system, and can improve skin health. Metal Straw. A reusable straw is environmentally friendly and avoids the chemicals in plastic. The straw itself ensures the enamel of my teeth isn’t affected by the citric acid.

5. 3 Sets of 30 Deep Breaths While Standing Barefoot on Grass . Benefits: Deep Breathing: Enhances oxygen flow, reduces stress, and improves my focus and energy levels. Voluntary influence of the nervous system and immune system, anti-inflammatory effects, decreases in flulike symptoms, improves oxygen delivery during Earthing (Grounding) Standing barefoot on grass allows your body to absorb the Earth’s electrons, which can reduce inflammation, improve sleep, and increase feelings of well-being. I am discharging negativity into the planet as well.

6. 3-Minute Cold Shower with High-Energy Music Benefits: Cold Exposure Increases alertness, improves circulation, boosts immune function, and enhances mood by triggering the release of endorphins and dopamine. Though they're part of the brain's reward system, endorphins are quickly released during a specific act, such as cold showers and exercising, to help alleviate pain and stress. In contrast, dopamine is released slowly and the mood-boosting sensation you feel after the cold shower can stay with me for up to 4 hours. Music: Listening to high-energy music also elevates my mood, increases motivation, and mentally prepares me for the day. If I have woken up with an idea that I am tinkering with I don’t listen to music and let the thought play out under pressure. The “eustress” that a cold shower puts me under prepares me for any “distress” that may come my way. With deliberate cold exposure I am safely testing myself under duress. Knowing that I have the ability to endure this is a perfect primer for the small stuff that used to annoy me. Sunscreen: My moisturiser contains SPF 30+ which keeps me looking younger and protects me from melanomas. It is another mnemonic for me, as everything else I do is preventative as well.

7. Turn on my coffee machine and read my “as if now” letter. Double Shot Espresso, which I smell intensely as it is poured Benefits: A double shot of espresso provides a quick boost of caffeine, enhancing alertness, concentration, and physical performance. It also signals the start of a productive day. The smelling of the coffee is to utilise my retro nasal olfactory system which is directly linked to memory and memory retention.

8. Journal 2 x A4 Pages Benefits: Journaling helps to clear my mind, organize my thoughts, and reflect on my goals. Writing regularly can reduce stress, increase selfawareness, and improve mental well-being. It can help you identify priorities and set intentions for the day. I write the time, date and day of the week it is at the top of each page, and I sign off my journal with “I believe something wonderful will happen for me today” then I go about looking for that wonderful all day long. I start my journaling with the words “My wonderful from yesterday was…” which starts me off positively and stops me starting with a whining or complaining. “Thinking is the soul talking with itself” Plato

8a. Examine my Calendar and Write a To-Do List as I journal. Benefits: Organization: Creating a to-do list helps me prioritise tasks, manage time effectively, and reduce the chance of forgetting important responsibilities. Preparedness: Reviewing my calendar ensures I am aware of any appointments or deadlines, allowing me to plan my day more efficiently and gain perspective on the day. I fill in the palm card as ideas or to dos come to mind throughout my journaling and I carry this card around with me ticking off the list as I go about my day. “If you’re feeling listless, write a list”

8b. Highlight the Worst Task First Benefits: Tackling the most challenging task first, also known as "eating the frog," ensures that I address the most stressful or challenging part of my day when my energy is highest. This reduces procrastination and boosts productivity. I have a metal frog that I keep on a spirit level on my kitchen window, which I look at every morning while drinking lemon salt water. I check my spirits and work out the “worst task” frog” pretty quickly. I have another metal frog that I lift up to get my keys as I leave the house to remind me of what the number one thing I have to do is. Sometimes it might even be to call my Mum. This isn’t the worst of course because I love my mother, but it would be the worst thing ever if she were to not wake up that day and I hadn’t called her when I could have. Memento Mori.

9. Meditate for 10 Minutes Benefits: Meditation helps calm the mind, reduce stress, and improve focus. Regular practice enhances emotional stability, increases mindfulness, and promotes mental clarity, setting a peaceful tone for the rest of the day. It builds new neural pathways and allows the mind to handle unexpected things. I liken it to adding extra laneways to a bridge so that the traffic can flow more smoothly.

10. Read for 15 Minutes Something Intelligent and Challenging. Benefits: Reading something intellectually stimulating in the morning can enhance cognitive function, improve critical thinking skills, and provide new insights or knowledge. It also sharpens focus and primes my brain for problem-solving throughout the day. Personally, I ensure I teach someone whatever I have learned from this reading within the next couple of hours so that I retain it. To teach is to learn twice.

11. Watch the sunrise. This is a must-do for me . Benefits: Watching the sunrise regulates circadian rhythms Exposure to natural light, especially in the early morning, helps regulate your circadian rhythm, the internal body clock that dictates your sleepwake cycle. Morning sunlight triggers the production of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that keeps me awake and alert during the day and converts to melatonin in the evening to promote sleep. Regular exposure to morning light can improve sleep quality by helping you fall asleep more easily at night and wake up more refreshed. Morning sunlight exposure increases serotonin levels in the brain, which is associated with improved mood and a sense of well-being. This can help reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety, particularly in individuals prone to seasonal affective disorder (SAD). The peacefulness and beauty of a sunrise can also promote relaxation and reduce stress. This quiet, reflective time is a form of mindfulness, helping to lower cortisol levels, the hormone associated with stress. Sunlight is a natural source of vitamin D, which is synthesised by the skin when exposed to UVB rays. Vitamin D is essential for bone health, immune function, and overall well-being. Watching the sunrise allows for safe sun exposure, typically with lower UV intensity, reducing the risk of skin damage. The natural increase in cortisol levels in the morning is enhanced by sunlight exposure, helping to wake me up and improve alertness. This can lead to better focus, cognitive function, and productivity throughout the day. Early morning sunlight is less intense and less likely to cause eye strain than midday sunlight. Exposure to natural light during this time can support healthy eye function and reduce the risk of myopia (nearsightedness), particularly in children and young adults. Watching the sunrise involves going outside, which encourages light physical activity, such as walking or stretching. This gentle movement can help wake up the body, increase blood circulation, and enhance overall physical health.

I plan my morning to capitalise on the sunrise, including going outside or walking to the beach to watch the sun rise over the ocean.

“With every rising of the sun, consider your life as just begun” Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

Spending time outdoors and connecting with nature has been shown to reduce stress, lower blood pressure, and enhance mental clarity. The experience of watching a sunrise can foster a sense of awe and appreciation for the natural world, contributing to emotional and spiritual well-being. A simple sun rise can be all the spirituality you need each day (that and watching the sun set) Early morning light exposure helps balance hormones by regulating the production of cortisol, melatonin, and serotonin. This balance supports better sleep, mood stability, and overall endocrine health. The quiet, still moments of a sunrise provide an opportunity for mindfulness and reflection. This practice can improve mental clarity, reduce anxiety, and foster a positive mindset to start the day. Regular sunlight exposure supports vitamin D production, which plays a critical role in immune function. Adequate vitamin D levels help protect against infections and inflammatory diseases. Watching the sunrise is a simple yet powerful practice that can improve your physical and mental health. The combination of natural light, fresh air, and a moment of calm can set a positive tone for the rest of your day. “The best six doctors anywhere, and no one can deny it, are sunshine, water, air and rest, exercise, and diet,” Wayne Fields.

12. Exercise for 45 Minutes Benefits: Morning exercise boosts endorphin levels, enhances mood, improves cardiovascular health, and increases energy levels. It also jumpstarts metabolism and can improve focus and productivity throughout the day. My training routines are full body workouts or weighted walking. I make sure I complete 20 sets per muscle group across the course of the week. I walk for an hour with a 20kg deadball in a backpack at least twice a week. I walk every day for at least 30 minutes as a rule. “No great thought was ever conceived without walking” Nietzsche

13. Sauna for 30 Minutes, Stretch, and Pray Benefits: Sauna promotes relaxation, detoxifies the body through sweating, improves circulation, and can aid muscle recovery after exercise. On heavy weights days I don’t drink water in the sauna for 30 minutes to extend the training stimulus and the passive dehydration stimulates greater blood volume improvements, by decreasing oxygen at the level of the kidneys to stimulate more red blood cell production and a natural increase in plasma volume so it’s a blood volume expander which improves muscle metabolism. Stretching, increases flexibility, reduces muscle tension, and improves blood flow to muscles. Some days I read smart literature in the sauna as well, and some days I meditate in the sauna. It depends on how much of a break I have before my first coaching client. Praying offers a moment of spiritual reflection, gratitude, and mental peace, which grounds me and provides a sense of purpose. It is also a verbal articulation of my goals and promotes an attitude of gratitude. When I pray for what I have, what I don’t have disappears. When I pray for what I don’t have, what I do have disappears…

14. ACTION STATIONS – GET TO WORK! Benefits: With a well-structured and intentional morning routine, I start my workday feeling energized, focused, and prepared, which can significantly enhance my performance and productivity. This comprehensive routine optimises my mental, physical, spiritual, social, financial, family, business and romantic health. My physical health, mental clarity, and emotional well-being sets a powerful foundation for winning the day.

My Evening Ritual

My bedtime is between 8.30pm and 9pm depending on rise time to ensure 8 hours of sleep.

Here's a breakdown of my rituals and the benefits for each. I try to ensure I see the sunset whenever possible and the benefits are the same as they are for the sunrise, yet in reverse, they start the wind down process. If I miss the sunset, I will spend time moon gazing if possible as well.

1. Eat Dinner at Least 2 Hours Before Bed Benefits: Eating dinner at least two hours before bed gives my body ample time to digest food, which can prevent discomfort and indigestion during sleep. This practice can also help regulate blood sugar levels and improve the quality of your sleep by reducing the likelihood of acid reflux or heartburn.

2. Take Magnesium 1 Hour Before Bed Benefits: Magnesium is known for its calming effects and helps to promote relaxation and better sleep. It supports muscle relaxation, reduces stress, and enhances the quality of sleep by regulating neurotransmitters that calm the nervous system. Taking it an hour before bed allows time for it to be absorbed and start working.

3. Dim Lights 1 Hour Before Bed & Digital Detox Benefits: Dimming lights an hour before bed helps signal to your body that it’s time to wind down. Lower light levels stimulate the production of melatonin, the hormone responsible for regulating sleep-wake cycles. This practice helps me fall asleep faster and enjoy deeper and more restorative sleep. I use little floor lights that are sensor activated which I have in each room in my house. Refraining from using all electronic devices, such as smartphones, tablets, computers, and TVs, significantly benefits your physical and mental health. Electronic devices emit blue light, which can interfere with the production of melatonin, the hormone responsible for regulating sleep. By avoiding screens before bed, you allow your body to produce melatonin naturally, helping you fall asleep faster and experience deeper, more restful sleep. A digital detox helps reinforce your body’s natural circadian rhythm, leading to more consistent sleep patterns and better overall sleep quality. Constant exposure to digital content, especially social media or workrelated communications, keeps your mind engaged and stressed. Taking a break from screens allows your mind to unwind, reducing stress and anxiety, which contributes to a more peaceful night’s sleep. Digital devices often bombard you with information, which can be overwhelming and lead to cognitive fatigue. A break from this stimulus helps your brain to relax and reset. Stepping away from digital devices allows my brain to clear out the constant stream of information, leading to better mental clarity and focus. This helps me wake up feeling more refreshed. Without the distraction of screens, your mind is free to wander, which always creative thinking and problem-solving abilities. A digital detox before bed provides an opportunity to spend uninterrupted quality time with loved ones. Engaging in face-to-face conversations or simply enjoying each other’s company can enhance emotional connections. Social media and news can sometimes expose you to negative or stressful content right before bed, which can impact your mood and sleep. Avoiding digital devices helps protect your mental health by reducing exposure to potentially distressing information. I set my morning alarm at this time and disable snooze option and then place my phone next to my frog with my keys in it. This ensures I don’t take my phone into the bedroom. “Before machines all we had for entertainment was relationships”

4. Drink a Cup of Chamomile Tea 30 Minutes Before Bed Benefits: Chamomile tea is a natural sedative that can help reduce anxiety and promote relaxation. Drinking it 30 minutes before bed prepares my body and mind for sleep, making it easier to drift off. It’s caffeine-free and gentle on the stomach, adding to its sleep-inducing properties. Given it is hot, I sip it rather than drinking a glass of water before bed and this ensures I don’t have to get up in the middle of the night to pee.

5. Check my “TA DA” list Benefits: My last little endorphin hit of the day is to see my to do list turned into my “ta da” list. I feel a sense of magic having accomplished so much from the day. There are so many things we get done each day without giving ourselves credit for them.

6. My preset alarm goes off 15 Minutes Before Bed to Prepare for the Morning Routine Benefits: It takes just as much discipline to go to bed early as it does to get up early. Setting an alarm to prepare for my morning routine helps me stay organized and reduces stress in the morning. By laying out my workout clothes, setting up the coffee machine, and picking my cold shower song, I eliminate decision-making in the morning, allowing for a smoother, more efficient start to my day. This also reinforces a sense of control and preparedness, contributing to a restful sleep. “The man who puts the finishing touches on each day, is never short of time” Seneca

7. Take a Hot Shower 5 Minutes Before Bed Benefits: A hot shower before bed helps relax my muscles, reduces tension, and lower my body temperature as you naturally cool down afterward. This drop in body temperature signals to your body that it’s time to sleep, making it easier to fall asleep quickly and improving sleep quality.

7a. Cool the Room Before Entering Bed Benefits: A cooler room temperature, ideally between 15-19°, is optimal for sleep. Cooling the room before bed helps your body maintain a lower core temperature, which is essential for initiating sleep. It also makes your sleep environment more comfortable, reducing the likelihood of waking up during the night due to overheating.

8. Read Light Material, Such as Fairy Tales, in Bed Benefits: Reading light, non-stimulating material like fairy tales helps my mind unwind and transitions me into a state of relaxation. It distracts from any lingering stress or worries from the day, creating a peaceful mental environment conducive to sleep. The simplicity and predictability of fairy tales also prevent overstimulation.

9. Think of 3 things I am sincerely appreciative of from the day as I practice the physiological sigh. Benefits - I sign off my morning journaling with “I believe something wonderful will happen for me today” As I drift off, I think of what my wonderful was and 3 things I am really grateful for as I breathe deeply and relax. This evening routine is designed to promote relaxation, prepare my mind and body for rest, and set the stage for a successful morning.

By following these steps, you’re optimizing your chances of falling asleep easily, staying asleep, and waking up refreshed and ready for the best tomorrow.

Be well.

"It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom."

Aristotle

WHY DO THE WISE THINK IT'S NOT WISE TO ASK WHY?

Sun, 30 Jun 2024 03:04:40 GMT

"By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest."

CONFUCIOUS

In their book Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life, Hector García and Francesc Miralles write that there is no word in Japanese that means to retire in the sense of leaving the workforce for good.

The Oxford Dictionary defines ikigai as “a motivating force; something or someone that gives a person a sense of purpose or a reason for living”.

In researching their book, García and Miralles spent time in the village of Ogimi on the Japanese island of Okinawa. Ogimi is known as the village of longevity. Its 3000 inhabitants enjoy the highest life expectancy in the world.

In Japanese culture, retiring and not keeping mind and body busy is considered bad for your health since it disconnects your soul from your ikigai. Being of service to the village by continuing to be involved in community life or continuing to work is felt to be a key ingredient to longevity.

In the book, 92-year-old resident Akira says: “Every day I wake up and go to the fields to grow tomatoes. Later I walk to the grocery store next to the beach and sell them. In the afternoon I go to the community center and prepare green tea for all my family and friends.”

These Japanese people keep doing what they love and what they are good at even after they have left the office for the last time.

The French, of course, have a similar expression—“raison d’être”—which the Oxford Dictionary defines as “the most important reason for somebody’s/something’s existence”.

The more time I spend with spritely elderly people, the more I find they are still involved in their community as volunteers or working the job they loved before they “retired”.

Like many of the lessons older people have taught me, we shouldn’t wait until we’re retired to adopt their happiness-inducing and youth-preserving behaviours.

The definition of what makes people happy varies greatly, however in his book From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life, Arthur C. Brooks believes that the three major ingredients of happiness are enjoyment, satisfaction, and purpose.

The satisfaction and enjoyment I receive from encouraging people to be better than they believe they are, and to press on in times of hardship, provides a real sense of meaning and purpose in my life.

The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, replied: “Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”

I’ve coached many people who spent the first half of their lives chasing wealth and are now spending the second half of their lives chasing back their health.

I’ve been coaching many more people lately who aren’t concerned about the health they have lost. They fear being cast aside and replaced by much younger yet inexperienced people, threatening the wealth they created while they adopted a “health is your wealth” mentality. Those deciding my client’s fates are themselves, in most cases, much younger than these seasoned campaigners.

The dirtiest secret I keep for one of my good friends is his age. He invited me to his 40th, which was really his 50th and the younger folks were none the wiser.

The best kept secret of my healthiest clients is also their age. I used to say the payoff of fitness is vanity. These days I say it is sanity. The peace of mind my fit "old" friends have is that they look younger than their age, because they look after themselves.

In searching for ideas to support how I wanted to describe the collective suffering people have struggled with in the past yet are now enjoying equality and opportunities provided for them after many generations of struggle, ChatGPT served up the following.

"Diversity refers to the presence of differences within a given setting. These differences can include various dimensions such as race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, and other ideologies."

Unprompted, I was then offered, “In a broader sense, diversity encompasses the unique characteristics and perspectives that individuals bring to a group, organization, or society, enriching the collective experience and fostering a more inclusive environment.”

I was invited to pitch for a consulting role with a global organisation 10 years ago and the friend who had organised the meeting warned me of the CEO’s bias toward younger people. Within 10 minutes of our meeting, the CEO was challenging the energy levels and enthusiasm of more experienced people as he called them, versus that of 20–30-year-olds. At this point, with the benefit of the heads up, I pulled out my phone and showed him a video to illustrate my point in age versus experience

I went on to suggest that the challenge for the 3 standout players in this video was to teach the energetically enthused players how to do what they could do, while they were on the job, not in handover notes that will never be read..

I got the gig.

I do think that ageism is the last blatant discrimination in the workplace and needs to be addressed by those with much more clout than my keyboard and contacts can achieve.

The brave new world aside, Dame Carol Black from the Centre for Ageing Better brilliantly pointed out “Ageism compounds all other “isms”. Ageism and sexism; ageism and racism etc”

A final word to the “whys” of those considering losing experience from their workforce is best left to Carole Eastern CEO of Ageing Better; “Ageism is prejudice against our future selves”

The challenge for any generation is to assimilate with people of all ages. Most of the best advice I received in the workforce was bestowed upon me by older colleagues in a social setting for the cost of a steak and a wine, and most of the advice I have dispensed to younger colleagues has been dispensed the same way.

Curiously, when I joined the workforce, the biggest shortcoming that was ever levelled at me was my lack of experience..

Age well.

“The young have bad manners, contempt for authority, disrespect for their elders and a love for chatter instead of exercise. Children began to become the tyrants of their households ……. They no longer rise for their elders ….”

Socrates

I'm not who you think I am, I'm not who I think I am, I am, who I think, you think, I am

Fri, 21 Jun 2024 03:09:18 GMT

“It seems to me that the real problem is the mind itself, and not the problem which the mind has created and tries to solve. If the mind is petty, small, narrow, limited, however great and complex the problem may be, the mind approaches that problem in terms of its pettiness.”

Jiddu Krishnamuti

Einstein said you cannot solve a problem with the same thinking that got you into the problem.

Batch thinking is the idea of setting time aside in the areas and style of thought required to spark eureka moments that will solve problems and help you gain clarity in murky, confusing, or worrying situations.

Most people only “get” time to think when they are busy doing other things. For example, they might be sitting in traffic thinking about the annoying colleague they are about to encounter at work and the surrounding bottleneck. I often muse that the campfire was the original television for the cave dweller—yet a live fire, as entertaining as it can be, is not as mindless as television viewing can be.

One of my favorite things is to sit in front of a fireplace or campfire and get lost in the flickering flames of thought. I’ve “fire dreamed” many of the things that I have achieved over the years, and I keep a journal with a red star on the cover to record these dreams in. I set a two-week deadline for taking action on these ideas, or I tear the unacted upon idea out of the book. It is a great motivator for action and accountability.

You see, thinking is great if it is followed by action. I feel that if I dwell too long on something then I need to stop dwelling on it and start dealing with it.

“Don’t dwell on it—deal with it!” is one of my mantras.

Curiously, about the only thing in life you have complete control over is your thoughts.

But there are two downsides: over-thinking and stinking thinking.

Over-thinking is the plight of the perfectionist; stinking thinking is the plight of the masochist.

The problem for perfectionists is that nothing is ever perfect, so in over-thinking they struggle to commit or finish the task at hand. The problem for masochists is that stinking thinking keeps them in the status quo, which seems to suit them.

That’s probably why Cicero said: “Indecision is the thief of opportunity.”

The best way I know of optimizing your thinking is to dedicate set time to deep thought and contemplation. The benefits of allocated thinking time (Batch Thinking) are that you find your outcome and have eureka moments, rather than carrying thoughts around with you or losing sleep over them.

It was once explained to me that taking time out from a busy period to sit and think for half an hour is like setting a bucket of muddy water down. The liquid eventually settles with the “silt” sinking to the bottom and the rest of the water clearing up. Like a “clear water revival” of the mind.

I love the line in Peter Pan where Peter says: “You just think lovely, wonderful thoughts, and they lift you in the air.” If you are the type of person who finds it difficult to sit still for half an hour without distractions and allow your thoughts to gather, then a half hour walk or run can have the same benefit. I often wonder whether I am getting an endorphin rush from a half hour run, or the clarity that I am experiencing after 30 minutes of uninterrupted thought. (I don’t run with headphones.)

Set time aside for productive thinking. I set an alarm for 3pm every day to think about the things that may keep me awake at 3am—the worrying things I can do nothing about at 3am. I know how well I am doing with this proactive batch thinking, when my 3pm alarm goes off and I have nothing to worry about and can keep getting on with my day.

If you are prone to worry, set aside a one-hour meeting with yourself on a Saturday morning when you can worry to your heart’s content. Set a calendar date with yourself for 10am every Saturday and send yourself an email calendar invite with the subject line “WORRY TIME”.

During your week, when a potentially worrying thought comes to mind that distracts you from your daily happiness, put it on your worry list.

What you will find over time is that you get a lot more joy out of each day.

Once 10am rolls around on a Saturday morning, look at the worry list you have taken with you to the meeting. Now cross off all the things on the list that are completely out of your control and decide to take the first step in dealing with the things you can. Don’t dwell on it, deal with it.

Marcus Aurelius put it best when he wrote: “You have the power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this and you will find strength.”

Not long into your Saturday morning worry meetings, you will find 80 per cent of the things on your worry list don’t worry you anymore.

Write lists. They act as great reminders and “minutes of the meeting” that you just had with your mind. Lists allow for greater mind space to think on your feet in daily life. Make to-do lists, shopping lists and repair lists for your Saturday morning worry meeting.

Benjamin Franklin said about an ordered life. “Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.” He also said: “Resolve to perform what you ought, and perform without fail, what you resolve.”

Batch thinking gives you space to monitor anxious thoughts about the future, as they creep in. Ask yourself, “What is the worst thing that could go wrong in this situation?” Then decide upon all that is in your power to avoid this thing happening and get to work on actioning these steps. In the school of philosophy known as stoicism, it is expressed by the Latin phrase "premeditatio malorum", meaning the premeditation of the evils, or troubles that might lie ahead.

The space you choose to batch your thinking in should help you create the thoughts you want to have, and the life you wish to manifest. It could be the sauna, the beach, or the garden.

Don’t ruminate on anything for longer than 20 or 30 minutes. More than this and stinking thinking will take over. I know people with far too much time on their hands to think who create mischief for others and become the trouble-making colleagues we face in the office or workplace.

As the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky said: “To think too much is a disease.”

Two things seem to happen with monotonous regularity when I think of a morning. I have an epiphany or an anxious thought.

If I do nothing with the epiphany, nothing good happens. If I do nothing with the anxious thought, nothing bad happens. If I do something with the epiphany, something great happens. If I let the anxious thoughts run amok, I end up worrying for no reason.

This is also the time to practice mindfulness. All you have is this moment and all you can influence right now is this moment. Focus on this idea today and every day from now on and played right, you will naturally create a better future and naturally leave a better past.

So, with peace of mind as my highest priority, the morning thinking routine sets me up for a naturally good day.

With Batch Thinking, be kind to yourself. Positive self-mind talk is so important. Don’t allow the voice in your head to speak to you in a way you would not tolerate from another person. Your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, your actions become your destiny, so speak well to yourself and your future self.

When you sense stinking thinking manifesting in your mind, purposely change the channel to “linking thinking”; link your thoughts to your goals and what you do have in life, not what you don’t. When you focus on what you have, what you lack disappears. When you focus on what you lack, what you have in life disappears.

Of course, there are those of us who try to avoid thinking altogether with distractions such as television, social media, gossip, and addictive vices.

Ironically, I am reminded of a Simpsons episode where Bart has taken over the local radio station and Lisa walks into the loungeroom, turns the TV off and places a radio on top of it.

“People of Springfield, we have an announcement to make!” she declares.

Homer’s response is gold. “Well turn something on, I’m starting to think!”

Think Well.

“All men’s miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.”

BLAIZE PASCAL

DO YOUR ACTIONS ALIGN WITH YOUR WORDS?

Tue, 16 Apr 2024 23:54:17 GMT

“There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risk of comfortable inactions”

John F Kennedy

I recently spoke to an international audience of men about getting stuff done.

The talk was promoted as “ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS.”

David Lee is set to host an inspiring session titled "Actions Speak Louder Than Words."

Drawing from his rich background in leadership training and personal development, he will share real-life examples and strategies that illustrate how decisive actions can lead to significant changes in both personal and professional spheres. This session is not just another talk; it's a call to action for those ready to make a meaningful impact in their lives and the lives of others.

Until reading this introduction a couple of hours before going live, I was going to flip the title by bringing up the power of words and the benefit of having “power” words in your armory as you go about your daily activities.

At the beginning of any coaching program I take my clients through, I ask them what their power word or words might be for them to getting cracking on their goals, at the thought or utterance of this particular word.

I then take their word on for myself, with the design being to learn and teach from direct experience.

The power word is designed to provide an impetus and bias for action.

As I say to my clients, in most cases, my role is not to teach but to remind them of what they already know.

As with any of my mnemonics, one glance at the object, one sound of the signal, the first words of the song and one voicing of the word should immediately incite me to action.

As a wordsmith, I employ many words to motivate and remind myself of my purpose in life and each moment.

Where across the course of your day today could it be that you can consider a word that might mean something special to you to encourage and move you towards the positive actions you know you should be taking?

One of my clients power words for 2024 is “networking.”

“Your network is your net worth” I was told by a boss early in my ad sales days.

Taking on my client's power word; networking, I have committed to having three coffee meetups a week with someone in my network or someone I hope to be in my network.

It has provided many positive experiences I would otherwise be without, and the discussions my client and I have had around networking have been invaluable as a result.

Someone once criticised me for having Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) on my LinkedIn profile because they told me NLP gets a bad rap as a new-age technique that can be seen as manipulative. Given that I have spent a great deal of time and money on NLP accreditation and have seen the many benefits my clients have experienced due to employing NLP techniques, I have not removed the mention.

Curiously, where new-age comes into it, there really is nothing new under the sun. Most personal development and success literature these days and across time is the distillation of viewpoints and interpretations of ancient texts, spiritual or otherwise.

I encourage anyone who will listen (or read these words) to journal every morning. Ancient Philosopher Plato 428-348 BCE, a student of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle, said,

“Thinking is the soul talking with itself.”

We all learned to think on paper through essays and assignments from our earliest ages. We first identified with our name by writing it in our earliest days at school and developed our thinking and comprehension style through our written word.

Some 250 years after Plato’s death, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, the most powerful man in the world at that time, kept a journal he wrote in Greek, emphasising the importance of virtue, self-discipline, and rationality in overcoming adversity and living a meaningful life.

This journaling has been translated, interpreted, and compiled into what is now known as “Meditations”, consisting of 12 books containing his thoughts on ethics and self-improvement.

My most potent mnemonic is “Memento Mori”

This Stoic reflection on the impermanence of life translates as “remember you will die.”

In Book II of his Meditations , Marcus Aurelius wrote, “You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.”

The ancient take on the modern “pseudoscience”

You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do (programming) and say (linguistic) and think (neuro)

Memento Mori. Pretty powerful words that remind me not only to get on with living my best life before it’s too late, but also stand as a very powerful reminder to not listen to the naysayers and well-meaning advice of “friends”. Many times when I’ve questioned them at a later date for words that have had a negative impact on me, most people either deny having said those words or don’t even remember saying them.

Think, Speak and Be well.

“It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.”

MARCUS AURELIUS

Are You A Gaslighter?

Fri, 01 Mar 2024 05:47:44 GMT

“Gaslighting is the systematic attempt by one person to erode another person’s reality by telling them that what they are experiencing isn’t so — and, the gradual giving up on the part of the other person.”

Robin Stern

T he term “Gaslighting” comes from a 1938 play, “Gas Light”, which was made into a movie in 1944 called... Gaslight. In the film, the husband convinces his wife that she is losing her mind and her sense of reality so that he can have her put away into a mental institution and steal her inheritance.

Gaslighting in adult relationships is possible, because the ‘gaslighter’ has found a patsy, and when their victim reacts to the first bit of criticism levelled at them, the perpetrator then runs with it.

I was fortunate to have an Executive Coach many years ago provided by a company where I was their top-performing salesperson. The Coach told me that his job was to reign me in and correct behaviours that my CEO, at the time, believed were ingrained and needed a “Demons come out!” approach like those that Tony Robbins applied in the lift scene from Shallow Hal, where Jack Black reveals to Tony Robbins his perfectionism concerning his expectation of what makes a woman beautiful, hence his name “Shallow Hal.”

The Coach said I needed to remove all emotion from my boardroom behaviours or reactions. I had shown reactions and cues which were picked up on and used against me as far as my sensitivities were concerned. Some of the boardroom bullies' comments were designed to unravel me or create doubt in my mind, which always worked before the guru’s advice and implementation of his strategies.

The most significant improvements I made at that time came from my coach’s encouragement around me not taking things personally and not worrying about the games people played and that I didn’t always have to be a people pleaser.

He introduced me to the concept of “the toolbox fallacy” the idea that I always needed more tools in my kit to be successful and accepted. In his words of encouragement and the mantra, he implored me to adopt. “I am enough”.

Fast forward to this morning, when I met this very same man for a coffee and to gift him an advance copy of my book “IS YOUR BOSS MAKING YOU SICK?”

I had inscribed on the inside cover words of gratitude to him regarding my book coming to fruition because of his guidance, and I believe my journey into coaching resulted from his encouragement of me at the time.

I asked him a question that popped into my head: "What did you see as my biggest issue at the outset of our coaching together?”

Instantly he answered, “You didn’t believe in yourself!”

He went on to say I had all the bravado to be the top performer that I was, but because I didn’t believe in myself, I was making it harder for myself.

He remembered my strict upbringing, which would have contributed to my self-limiting beliefs and attitude.

As I drove home, I acknowledged his words and considered the role that my lack of self-belief had played in my journey and that even though I had apparent evidence of my skills and abilities, I still consciously prime my self-talk so that I don’t doubt myself as my self-talk can do from time to time.

As an “out loud” self-talker when alone, I exclaimed at this epiphany; “You are gaslighting YOURSELF David Lee!”

And with that, I decided to have a second round of journaling when I got home and to re-write some goals with all the self-confidence that my preparedness deserves.

Where across the course of your day today can you consider where it might be that you are gaslighting yourself?

Fear it is said is “ F alse E vidence A ppearing R eal”

The opposite of FEAR is FAITH “ F acts A ctively I nterpreted T hrough H euristics”

Stick to the facts and back yourself. If you’ve done your homework, you shouldn’t fear the questions in the exam.

“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”

Frederick Douglas.

IS WORK-LIFE BALANCE A HIT OR A MYTH?

Fri, 16 Feb 2024 04:31:44 GMT

"Better learn balance, balance is key" Mr. Miyagi

I believe work-life balance is your ability to leave work at work at the end of the day, especially on weekends, and enjoy a fulfilled life rather than maintain a busy life.

Little by little a little becomes a lot and the sooner we look at our daily lives from an irons in the fire perspective, rather than a spinning plates way of living, we will all find peace.

In the busy person's life, through being overwhelmed, a lack of planning, and distractions, if one plate falls to the ground, the others all seem to come crashing down as well.

In the fulfilled, well-ordered person's life, their irons in the fire are watched carefully with focus and if one of the fires appears to be losing heat, the iron of that area of life is stoked, and if need be, more "fuel" is added to heat things up.

It is said that stress is determined by the degree to which we feel in control or out of control of our lives. Planning and scheduling is a form of control. Lack of planning and scheduling is a form of chaos.

Curiously, the hit American TV Series "Get Smart," which appeared on television between 1965 & 1970, was about a fictional secret U.S. government agency created to combat the threats posed by the evil organisation known as KAOS. The good guys were known as CONTROL.

CONTROL's primary role was to protect the United States and the world from KAOS's nefarious schemes, which often involve espionage, sabotage, and other acts of villainy. CONTROL employed strategic intelligence to outsmart and defeat KAOS, ultimately working to preserve peace and stability. Balance.

An imbalanced life, where one doesn’t take personal responsibility, results in a life full of blame. Blame is a form of reactivity, where as personal responsibility is just that, your ability to respond.

In Viktor Frankl's “Man’s Search For Meaning" he describes responsibility.

“Between stimulus and response there is space and in that space lies our power to choose our response and in that response lies our growth and our freedom."

The net effect of not finding balance is our loss of freedom. Freedom breeds creativity. Creativity breeds growth.

I used to say that road rage is the fault of the person in front of you, for you running late. I’ve since come to believe that road rage and overwhelm is everybody else’s fault for you not having a plan.

Time management is life management. Leaders who encourage employees through wellness programs, gym memberships, walking meetings and inspirational speakers, know that physiology is psychology; how you feel is how you think. The most excellent way to kickstart feeling good is to move as soon as possible in the morning and to journal about your thoughts.

In everything you want in life, I ask you to consider what your action steps are in getting what you want and how you can make these action steps happen.

Within my DREAM goal setting acrostic A stands for Action and M for Make it happen. If you don’t do the A & M in the a.m., you won’t do them in the p.m., and the PM (post-mortem) will arrive a lot sooner than it should.

When Tim Ferris wrote the book “The 4-hour Workweek” back in 2007, he promoted the idea of lifestyle and time freedom and that you could convince your employer to allow you to work from home. I read the book in 2008 and convinced my boss at the time to allow me to work from home three days a week. When Covid hit, and we complained about not going to the office, I knew people would soon catch on.

The downside, and it comes back to balance, is that many people are now living at work, rather than working from home.

So, alarm clocks and timers need to be set, along with planning and scheduling.

Complaining about administrative work performed in your leisure time and blaming your Boss because you didn't schedule time for administrative work or taking time away from your family and loved ones for this "work" is a form of organised chaos.

My book due to be released in the U.S, the U.K and here in Australia on May 21st this year,

"IS YOUR BOSS MAKING YOU SICK?” provides a framework for how to achieve work-life balance.

You see, your BOSS may own you for the 8 hours they pay you, and the sandman may own you for the 8 hours of sleep you pray for each night, but how you spend the 8 hours of leisure that YOU own, determines whether you will have a balanced and fulfilled life.

So, you need a morning routine, and you need an evening ritual. It is just as hard to go to bed early as it is to wake up early. Set an alarm to go to bed and turn the snooze option off your morning alarm.

The subtitle of my book is “THE 8 E’S OF EQUILIBRIUM TO MASTER WORK-LIFE BALANCE”

These 8 E’s are:

Enlightenment
Education
Exercise
Eating
Engagement
Encouragement
Entertainment
Embodiment

Divide them into morning, daytime, and evening activities, and spend an hour on each daily. You'll find your balance sooner than you think.

For an advanced copy, 25% off the cover price and free delivery within Australia, click in the blue title below and enter I AM THE BOSS at checkout, and I’ll sign your copy with gratitude (an Enlightening behaviour) IS YOUR BOSS MAKING YOU SICK? BOOK

Here's to a balanced and fulfilling life!

Be Well.

How To Be A Quick Brown Fox That Jumps Over Your Lazy Dog

Thu, 08 Feb 2024 04:51:38 GMT

“Comfort, that stealthy thing that enters the house a guest, and then becomes a host, then a master. And then it becomes a tamer, and with a hook and whip it makes puppets of your larger desires.”

Kahlil Gibran

The memories you have of events in your life are enhanced by the meaning these memories had for you at the time of their occurrence—happy, sad, or otherwise.

The more emotion that is attached to an event, the more vivid the memories. You recognize the value of what life means to you by the importance you place on a memorable event.

Identifying where you find your true meaning in life can help you identify your life’s true purpose.

I like to ask people where they find their greatest happiness in life.

A simple two-fold question I ask is: “Where do you happily spend most of your time and money?”

Many men say: “Happy wife, happy life,” and I always respond: “No, happy life, happy wife.”

Some men meet a woman, display all the character traits she is attracted to, and form a solid relationship with her as a married couple.

Then an unfortunate life event happens. It’s usually a loss of some kind. A job or someone close to the man, which makes him sad. His partner displays appropriate sympathy, and he takes solace in her support. But this behavior sticks as a newly adopted character trait for him. He becomes melancholic, which eventually becomes unattractive to his partner. She ultimately wants him to “man up” and be the person he was when he wooed her. Sympathy has become his new currency.

The perfect storm is when the man’s melancholy coincides with the woman’s menopause and the corresponding moods are bereft of kindness.

Postnatal depression is another instance where a partner needs to step up and be aware of the responsibility of “buffering the suffering” whenever they can.

These are all a crises of identity beliefs.

In the movie Death at a Funeral, a character says: “It’s one thing to be in a bad mood, but a bad mood which lasts too long just becomes a bad personality.”

Believing your happiness is dependent upon someone else is setting yourself up for trouble. It is putting your destiny in their hands. If you are a contented and unselfish person in the pursuit of happiness, the people around you should be glad that you are happy.

A lot of women I work with are dissatisfied with their husband or partner because he is unhappy and lacks vim and vigor. A lot of men I work with are dissatisfied with their wife or partner because she is unhappy and lacks vim and vigor.

To maintain a healthy relationship, both parties need enormous self-awareness and a sense of empathy, not sympathy. They also need a high level of personal accountability.

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view … until you climb into his skin and walk around in it,” Atticus said to Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird, and I think he was right.

Many years ago, I realized I spent most of my free time in some form of fitness or health-based activity and a lot of my money was invested in the equipment and attire these activities required. I also spent time and money on buying and reading books. Mainly self-help books.

I have found great purpose and reward from personal training and life coaching. So, it has made complete sense to combine both passions into mind and body coaching.

I developed a program that centers around the completion of a templated manuscript that enables clients to discover their life’s purpose.

Throughout the process the question that is continually raised is “Why?”

This completed manuscript, which must be reviewed daily, then becomes a blueprint for their dream life.

I ask my clients to consider their manuscript in a Pavlovian fashion.

Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist best known for an experiment that involved ringing a bell to signal he was about to feed a dog. Eventually he would ring the bell without supplying food and the dog would salivate at the mere sound of the bell.

In your completed goal-getting template, PAVLOV stands for:

P ortable: able to be easily accessed and taken with you to review.

A ctionable: a list of realistic and actionable desires, not merely wishes.

V erifiable: you have proof as time goes on that you are closer to what you want to achieve.

L earnable: it is who you become in the pursuit of your goals.

O ptimistic: you must believe positively in your goal’s achievability.

V isible: not hidden away in a phone or laptop, or in your mind.

Just like Pavlov’s dogs, the sight of this document should make you “salivate for your future.” It holds a mirror to yourself and serves as a template for exploration and accountability. If the eyes are the windows to the soul, then the whys are the windows to your goals.

Here is a synopsis of the PURPOSE acrostic I created to outline the process:

P lanning. Life management requires you to have a plan. Failure to plan is planning to fail. What are your daily routines and habits? Your routines are fundamental to your overall purpose. Within that overall purpose, plan morning and evening rituals.

U nderstanding your starting point. Rate yourself across what I call the “8 Masts of Mastery”: Mental, Physical, Spiritual, Social, Financial, Family, Business, and Romance.

R eviewing the lessons you have learned in life and the setbacks you have had, and reframing the way you look at these from an empowering perspective with a plan for renewal. See the mistakes you’ve made as lessons, and then do everything in your power to ensure they don’t happen again.

P eople. Who is on your team? Where are you involved in your community? Which people do you have to cut ties with who are hindering your growth?

O ptimism. You must have a confident expectation that everything you set your mind on will become inevitable with the right set of plans. What would your dream life look like if you knew you could not fail and everything went to plan?

S olutions. What structures do you need to put in place? What is working for you and what is not? What problems will your plan solve? What is the worst thing that could possibly go wrong?

E ffectiveness. What is the best use of your time right now and every day to ensure that your overall purpose is purposeful? What is the first step you need to take?

The reason I use acrostics as mnemonics is to ensure your objectives are memorable, retainable, and actionable. Your PURPOSE manuscript and blueprint needs to be read and reviewed daily, preferably right before journaling, because you should be living your life with PURPOSE.

When I started my coaching business, the mnemonic I created for attaining goals was based on encouraging people to write their goals with their DREAM life in mind.

The SMART goal acronym lacked motivation for getting people to take action to attain their DREAM life.

I created the DREAM acrostic model to help you list your goals to start living your dream. It is intended to be applied across every area of your life.

“If you dream it, you can do it,” Walt Disney said.

Within the 8 Masts of Mastery, ask yourself what you desire to achieve:

D esire: What do you absolutely desire in your life from a mental, physical, spiritual, social, financial, family, business, and romance perspective?

R ealistic: Is what you desire achievable?

E nd time: Dreams without deadlines remain dreams. When do you expect you will achieve your desires?

A ction: What are the action steps you need to take in each of these areas?

M ake it happen: Take the first step and then the next …

What can you do right now as you pen your dream life plan to make it a reality?

Only you know. Only you can make your dreams come true. Only you have that desire. Only you can put an end date on them.

Once you start to realize these crucial points, you’ll take responsibility for your life. If you think it’s someone else’s fault, you’re not living your dream and you’ve obviously given that person control of your life. Take it back! Author William Johnsen said something I’ve been repeating for years: “If it is to be it is up to me.” I’ve since changed this to remove any doubt. I don’t use the “if” word any longer.

Quite simply, there are 10 two-letter words that will determine your future and they must become one of your daily mantras: “As it is to be, it is up to me.” Once you identify what your “it” is and why “it” matters so much within each of the 8 Masts of Mastery, go after each “it” relentlessly.

Go well!

“Do or do not, there is no try.”

Yoda

Are You On The Edge of Glory?

Thu, 01 Feb 2024 19:03:23 GMT

"On Groundhog Day, the groundhog is supposed to come out of his hole and look for his shadow. I don't think that is right. I think the groundhog should be looking for food. It's only February 2nd. It's not time to start thinking about shadows."

Ellen DeGeneres

In psychology, the concept of the "shadow" is often associated with Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung's theory. The shadow represents the unconscious and repressed aspects of an individual's personality. It encompasses the parts of ourselves that we deny, ignore, or suppress because they are considered socially unacceptable, morally objectionable, or personally uncomfortable.

Exploring one's shadow involves acknowledging and integrating these hidden aspects, which may include fears, desires, insecurities, or traits that are opposite to the ones we consciously identify with. By confronting and embracing the shadow, individuals can achieve greater self-awareness and a more balanced and authentic sense of self. Jung believed that understanding and integrating the shadow is crucial for personal growth and psychological well-being. Ignoring the shadow can lead to projection, where individuals attribute their unconscious qualities to others, creating relationship conflicts and misunderstandings.

Groundhog Day is a traditional North American holiday observed on February 2nd each year. The most famous celebration takes place in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. According to folklore, if a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day and sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter. If it doesn't see its shadow, it is believed that spring will arrive early.

Groundhog Day’s celebration has roots in ancient European weather lore and has been celebrated in North America since the 18th century.

The day has become widely known due to the 1993 comedy film "Groundhog Day," starring Bill Murray, which popularised the concept of reliving the same day repeatedly.

With a similar theme but nastier daily consequences for the main actor, Tom Cruise - is the 2014 Sci-Fi Action film “Edge of Tomorrow” starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. Cruise's character dies every day in battle as he is sent to fight in a futuristic alien war where most of Europe is invaded by an alien race, but Cruise’s character is a PR army type rather than a trained combat soldier. Cruise finds himself experiencing a time loop as he relives each day, trying to find a way to defeat the alien invaders.

Curiously, the underlying standout for me from both films is that Bill Murray’s character does something different every day to ensure that his day isn’t repetitive and boring, and he starts to really enjoy the change he sees within himself. The other characters in the movie, unaware of Bill Murray’s time loop conundrum – are living each Groundhog Day for the first time, but within the course of their one day, are seeing the improvement in him as a character and like what they see as well.

Tom Cruise’s character remembers where all the bad things happened (his character’s demise usually) and seeks out the training required to improve his skills. Seasoned soldier Emily Blunt’s character trains Cruise every day, and each day, he gets further and further through the day until eventually overcoming the aliens and winning the day.

Back to real life, I believe each day of our lives can be filled with many little victories to win the day if, like soldiers, we have a plan of attack. It’s easier said than done, but in Bill Murray & Tom Cruise’s case, they knew what each day would bring as they had experienced the same thing the day before.

If you feel like one month into the year, you are about to live this year just like last year or previously uninspiring years, then maybe you can benefit from my free webinar next Thursday night.

“Finding Your Phenomenal. Getting Out of Your Own Way, So That You Can Go from Great To Phenomenal”

In this free webinar, you will hold a mirror up to yourself across what I call the eight masts of mastery.

You will discover what your “why” is in the Purpose discovery component, and you will leave the webinar with a thorough understanding of what “IT” is you need to do to master each area of your life from a Mental, Physical, Spiritual, Social, Financial, Family, Business and Romance perspective.

I used to say, “If you’re not living life on the edge, then you’re taking up too much space”, but this was generally delivered after doing something risky or reckless or trying to convince someone else to do the same. I stopped saying that after a mate, and I nearly drowned one day.

These days, with my life’s plan firmly in place, I’m the captain of my ship and the master of my destiny.

At the end of this webinar, you will have your own “Destiny Manifesto” to navigate the stormy seas of uncertainty and embark upon the best year of your life.

Spaces are limited, so click the link below to secure your spot in this free webinar.

https://calendly.com/david-2168/finding-your-phenomenal-getting-out-of-your-own-way

I look forward to seeing you on the night!

Sail Well.

"Keep your face always toward the sunshine—and shadows will fall behind you."

Walt Whitman

Are Your Beliefs Holding You Back?

Tue, 30 Jan 2024 06:10:02 GMT

“The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Once upon a time, a little boy woke up excited on his 10th birthday, ready to unwrap the magic awaiting him. His father, casually reading the morning paper at the breakfast table, decided it was the perfect moment for a fatherly chat.

"Son, today I'm going to share the secrets of the birds and the bees with you!"

The little boy, covered his ears and stomped his feet, shouting, "No! No! No! Don't tell me – STOP!" This unexpected reaction surprised the father, accustomed to his son's usual calm demeanor. Putting a reassuring hand on the boy's shoulder, he inquired about the cause of this sudden distress.

"Daddy, on my seventh birthday, you told me the tooth fairy was indeed a fairytale, and the dollars under my pillow stopped. Then on my eighth birthday, you told me the Easter Bunny was a myth and from that day on, the taste of chocolate just seems different. Last Christmas, you told me there's no Santa Claus, and it turned out to be the worst Christmas ever! If today, on my tenth birthday, you tell me that grown-ups don’t really 'DO IT,' then what do I have left to live for?"

Flashback to my own childhood – on the last day of the school year, as a trusting, happy go lucky 10 year old about to head off for Christmas holidays, my class teacher dropped a truth bomb on our class. "Stand up, all those who believe in Santa Claus," I stood up, along with two other boys, only to be promptly shut down. "Sit down, Lee, you idiot!" she scolded, unveiling the cruel reality.

In disbelief, having had a family photo with a big fat man in a red suit the weekend prior, who even though I questioned the fact he was cross eyed, my mother convinced me was indeed Santa Claus; I asked my older brother Terry for confirmation later that night and he whispered, "Shh! There's no Santa Claus, but don’t let Mum and Dad know you don't believe or you won't get any presents." That Christmas was my worst Christmas ever as well.

Childhood beliefs, whether in the tooth fairy, the Easter Bunny, or Santa Claus, are often handed down through generations. Our earliest convictions stem from parental influence, sometimes stretching back to the traditional beliefs of our great-great-great-grandparents.

Even though I feigned firm belief and excitement in the arrival of Saint Nicholas on Christmas Eve, my parents being very strict Catholics, managed to cement my disbelief in him, by virtue of the fact that I received one present from "Santa Claus" the following morning; " The Complete Illustrated Children’s Bible."

A belief is essentially a behavior. You can't claim to believe in something and act contrary to that belief – well, you can, and many people do. Gandhi once remarked, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

Embracing a growth mindset encourages us to scrutinize our beliefs. Beliefs should serve, support, nurture, and sustain us. If they don't, it's time to reevaluate. Comfort zones are growth's adversaries.

I used to think men who drank green tea were soft and that Yoga was for hippies. My mindset was fixed, inhibiting growth. I drink a fair bit of green tea these days and Yoga is quite often my most spiritual experience and a tough workout.

Mark Twain aptly said, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

Adopting a growth mindset involves challenging comfort zones. Doing one thing every day that scares you, isn't about being reckless, it is taking steps towards overcoming past barriers.

When an elephant is born in captivity it is restrained by tying a piece of rope around its leg and the rope is pegged into the ground. The elephant can't move and as it grows older and larger, it doesn't attempt to break free from this bond as it has believed since its weaker days that it was incapable.

A growth mindset is about igniting the spark of your potentiality. Petrol has potential but is inert without a spark or flame to unleash its volatility.

A growth mindset shows up when saying no to drinks with friends to keep true to your own goals and belief in yourself is strengthened as well as your mental toughness, This is growth on multiple levels.

In a CrossFit session once, a client told me his mind was preventing him from doing an extra rep. “Whose mind is it?” I asked. “Tell that mind we need to keep this body in top shape so Mr. Mini Me wakes up tomorrow.”

With a growth mindset you set your intentions of growth out on the table, as in you write them down and you review them regularly and renew them each time you have a setback and set a growth plan for overcoming the setback next time the opportunity presents itself. And then you believe you will MAKE THEM HAPPEN!

A growth mindset demands transparent growth intentions. Regularly reviewing and renewing them and crafting a growth plan for setbacks. Life is about meaning and memories, with growth stemming from both. Don't forget to grow.

If you would like a free growth mindset, discovery tool, step out of your comfort zone, grow a pair of whatever you identify a multiple of two that you need to grow and email me david@leeway.com.au and I will send you my "FINDING YOUR PHENOMENAL" template which has you ask yourself a series of questions of what your belief system is, around what I call "The 8 masts of mastery"

This template provides you with initial "mesearch" questions and then you follow your own structured plan and belief system for growth outside of your comfort zone.

As with any questions, if you don't ask, the answer is always "NO"

Say yes to you and your belief in yourself and email me david@leeway.com.au for this unbelievable FREE growth experience ..

Grow well

“"Your belief determines your action and your action determines your results, but first, you have to believe."

Mark Victor Hansen

Whatever the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve

Tue, 28 Mar 2023 08:04:30 GMT

Manifest: VERB

show (a quality or feeling) by one's acts or appearance; demonstrate:
to make evident or certain by showing or displaying

I am fascinated by words and, of course, their meaning. As a high-school student, the form of punishment my wise old Principal imparted upon me was having to write out the definition of my misdemeanours and every other word in the dictionary beginning with the same letter and have these written definitions back on his desk within one week.

This "game" started when I questioned him on what the word "tardiness" meant when he chastised me on my late arrival to school that day.

As time passed, I had ticked off a lot of the twenty-six letters, and even the letter Z got a run-in response to my incorrect use of the word Zeitgeist which I had used in my history essay.

I had meant to use the word Blitzkrieg which means "lightning war", to describe the swiftness of the German attack on the French, resulting in the German conquest of France in 1940.

Zeitgeist means "the spirit of the time; the general trend of thought, feeling, or tastes characteristic of a particular period of time.

The Zeitgeist I am experiencing through my social media feeds is positivity around the setting of intentions to how the world should be and manifesting your future. Although, of course, it may be my algorithm on social media apps. Still, I seem to get a lot of "gurus" posting about intentions and how to manifest the life you want through positive affirmations.

On a recent morning walk, I passed a service station with a pole planted in the ground near the entrance with the word manifest. Unfortunately, I have viewed the idea of manifesting as promoted by some helpful enthusiasts to fall short in the self-help department. I don't know what the pole with manifest on it is for, but it wasn't going anywhere and didn't appear to be doing anything.

"God helps those who help themselves,"

I think "Source" or "the Universe" operates on the same philosophy.

Manifesting isn't wishing as much as setting intentions and sending them out to the Universe isn't doing. When you write down your dreams and manifest your future, you must play an active part.

As featured in the book "The Secret", the law of attraction involves, at the very least, the practice of daily affirmations.

Affirmation means the act of confirming or declaring something to be true.

Napolean Hill, the author of "Think and Grow Rich", said, "whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve" I have proof within my achievements of where this thought process is valid.

Still, the most remarkable example is when I see children walking around talking through their wristwatches to their parents. These same children would be oblivious to the 1931 cartoon character "Dick Tracy" and his two-way wristwatch conversations with the Chief of Police.

Some visionary scientists believed and achieved that conception and ran with it all the way to the bank.

It is in the doing and the being that gets the having.

So, what do you have to DO to be who you want to BE, to have what you want to HAVE?

DO. BE. HAVE.

What behaviours do you have to adopt in the direction of your dreams and goals that will turn them from intentions and manifestations to reality and satisfaction?

Oh, and attack these behaviours in a Blitzkrieg fashion :)

Be well.

How to stop hitting snooze and wake up early every single day

david@leeway.com.au (David Lee) — Sun, 14 Aug 2022 23:04:46 GMT

You snooze, you lose. Wake up a winner in 6 steps.

If the first thing you do every morning when your alarm goes off is hit the snooze button and go back to sleep, then you have to give yourself a wake-up call.

Hitting the snooze button rather than the off button and getting out of bed is starting every day with your first loss of the day rather than your first victory.

Retired U.S. Navy Admiral William H. McRaven served with great distinction in the Navy for 37 years as a Navy SEAL and commanded at every level. At the end of his stellar career, he served as Commander of all U.S. Special Operations Forces.

He is probably more well-known for his popular social media video doing the rounds of him giving a commencement speech at the University of Texas , where he promotes the idea that making your bed first thing in the morning will see you have accomplished your first task of the morning. He also wrote the book “Make your Bed”

Early on in his speech, the Admiral says.

“If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can't do the little things right, you will never do the big things right.”

My father had a similar philosophy and would often say “ If you do the simple things well, the rest will take care of itself ”.

I have every respect for Admiral McRaven and would never be in the realm that his experiences have landed him, yet I disagree with him on his assertion that by making your bed you will have accomplished your first task of the day. Your first task of the day is to get out of that unmade bed after having not hit the snooze button. Then, for no other reason than it is your bed and who else is going to make it? Make your damn bed.

When you hit the snooze button you are telling yourself that you are reneging on the last goal that you set for yourself yesterday, which was the first goal you chose to accomplish for today. Your wake-up time.

My father had a lot of inspiring sayings and another, in relation to effectiveness was; “You want to get into the habit of…” and for bad habits he would say “You want to get out of the habit of…”

One of my clients was telling me recently, that he starts every day with a cranky wife, because with every good intention, he sets his alarm for 4am and then repeatedly hits the snooze button until 6am.

I ask my clients, what doing the opposite of any of their bad habits would look like. What is the opposite of hitting the snooze button?

You want to get into the habit, of hitting the stop button on your morning alarm and getting out of bed thereafter.

You want to get out of the habit of hitting the snooze button.

I also ask my clients the question, when they set their goals or plan to adopt a good habit.

“ Why do you want to do this? ”

Once they have told me their why, I then ask,

“ What will this give you ?”

So, the conversation might go like this for example:

ME : “What is one daily habit you could adopt that would make you much more effective?”

Client: “Getting out of bed when my alarm goes off of a morning and not hitting the snooze button”

ME : “Why would you want to do that?”

Client: “Because then I would have more time to exercise”

ME: “What would that give you?”

Client: “Well in the short term, because exercise releases feel good chemicals and hormones, it will benefit my mental health, by improving my mood, reducing my symptoms of stress, depression, and anxiety, and increase my energy levels. Long term it will reduce my feelings of loneliness and isolation, as I’ll be in contact with other people at the gym, or with my Personal Trainer, it will reduce my risk of illness because exercise boosts my immune system, lower my blood pressure and bad cholesterol, and it will better my odds of not suffering from heart and lung disease, diabetes, obesity, and cancer. It will increase the size of my hippocampus, the part of my brain responsible for memory, reducing the risk of me getting dementia, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s disease. I will also lose weight which will improve my self-esteem and confidence and by exercising for at least 150 minutes a week, just 20 minutes a day, I will be achieving government health department physical activity level recommendations and curiously enough, I will improve the quality of my sleep”

Why You Shouldn't Snooze

One of my clients likes the idea of a pre-ordained snooze and sets 2 alarms. She plans to have a snooze every day, which she feels works perfectly for her, as she has planned to have a snooze.

I don’t have the heart to tell her right away, but I feel compelled to tell you now and when she reads this, she may rethink her habit, but hitting the snooze button and false starts on your waking of a morning is bad for your health for a few reasons.

We sleep in 4 different stages and most of the latter part of our sleep cycle is comprised of REM or dream sleep, which is a restorative sleep state. When you hit the snooze button, you are interrupting your REM sleep . The problem is that you are getting fragmented sleep. Our sleep isn’t just; close your eyes and you’re offline, it is in deep rapid eye movement sleep which we are usually in just before waking, that our sleep is at its most restorative.

Hitting snooze has you running the risk of you re-entering a different sleep phase and waking up groggy and feeling unrested, which can stay with you for most of the morning but is definitely with you for the first 30 minutes of your new day, clouding your judgement and leading to poor food and lifestyle choices, whilst also affecting your metabolism and energy levels reducing your bodies effectiveness at dealing with your poor food choices. You know? How your weekend mornings usually start if you disrupt your weekday sleep schedule.

If you are hitting the snooze button every now and again then it’s no big deal, but if you’re setting your clock around the snooze ruse, then you might consider the following tips to share in the joys, the early birds among us, seem to experience in abundance.

Here're 6 ways to wake up to yourself and avoid the snooze ruse.

1. Work on prioritising sleep from the get-go. Create an evening ritual which is the opposite of your morning routine. Winding down, rather than winding up, less engagement rather than increased engagement. Disconnect from all electronic gadgets. Read for pleasure not necessarily knowledge or work / industry related literature. Write out your to do list for tomorrow, so it’s not on your mind.

2. Set your alarm for your realistic wake up time; the time that tops the list of your to do list as just written and remove the snooze function so that snoozing is not an option.

3. Download an anthem to use as your alarm – Rather than the first thing you hear of a morning being the annoying trill of a suggested alarm from your phone, buy a ringtone or choose from your song list an empowering “I feel love” by Donna Summers, or “Lose Yourself” by Eminem. Both start off quietly and slowly and then you’re out of bed seizing the day and loving yourself.

4. Get up as soon as the alarm goes off, raising the blinds or turning on a light will kick start the awareness that you are indeed awake, and that a new day is calling you to greatness.

5. Prime your mind and body for the day with a first thing you say to yourself mantra. You wouldn’t let anyone speak to you the way you speak to yourself unless it was encouraging. “Today is going to be a phenomenal day” or “I believe something fantastic is going to happen for me today” or “I feel good, I feel great and I’m number one!” or your own personal power up statement.

6. Set your alarm down out of a defeatist’s arms reach – if all else seems to fail, place the alarm clock where you must get up to get at it.

"All my life I have battled the alarm clock, pummeling the snooze button over and over with mounting self-loathing until the shame is finally strong enough to lever me upright"

Isaac Marion - Author Warm Bodies

And if you're interested in going even further, get help mapping out your goals and removing the blocks that are preventing you from achieving them. Let’s make time to discuss your needs and priorities. Book a consultation today .

The Simple Solution To Treat Winter Depression

david@leeway.com.au (David Lee) — Tue, 31 May 2022 23:00:12 GMT

What is seasonal affective disorder (SAD)?

We’ve all heard that “a healthy body is a healthy mind”

Have you ever heard the saying “A summer body is made in winter”?

I woke up this morning with the thought “ a summer body, is a winter’s mind .”

The naysayers out there will criticise body image and write it off as vanity.

I used to say that “ fitness is the payoff of vanity ”. Now I say, “ the greatest payoff of fitness, is sanity ”. A healthy body, is absolutely a healthy mind.

On the first day of winter here in Australia, we are also heading into the prevalence of what is known as SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder a change in mindset brought on by the change in seasons.

What are the main symptoms of SAD?

According to the American Psychiatric Association, they are:

feeling depressed most of the day, almost every day
anxiety, carbohydrate cravings and weight gain
extreme fatigue and lack of energy
feelings of hopelessness or worthlessness
trouble concentrating
feeling irritated or agitated
loss of interest in usually pleasurable activities
sleeping problems (usually oversleeping).

Whilst our winter in the main, is nowhere near as cold as it can be in the States, we are none the less susceptible to SAD .

And how do I stop seasonal sadness? you ask.

I’m a preventative hypochondriac. Everything I do from a wellness perspective, is designed to avoid what I may feel might make me unwell and with SAD on its way I’m ramping up the prevention by ramping up the panacea. (I've just committed to running 100kms during June to raise money for the Smith Family, which has locked me into the contract)

I work with my clients on both their minds and their bodies, so I’m not interested in making you do burpees, just because everybody dislikes burpees. I’m interested in getting you to do burpees for the sense of achievement you will experience, the dopamine rush you will receive and the overall benefits to your mind as well as your body from a full body discipline such as burpees.

The word “discipline” is from the Latin word disciplina , meaning “instruction and training.” It is derived from the root word discere —”to learn.”

It is from the word discipline, that we get the word disciple. Christians would know that disciples were the early followers of Jesus Christ.

As a disciple of yourself, follow the practice of self-discipline.

Spare a thought around getting out of bed in the morning.

Epictetus wrote "What assistance can we find in the fight against habit? Try the opposite"

What's the opposite of hitting the snooze button and staying in bed?

With all his Stoic wisdom, I would only change the word Try to DO!

Looking after your health and fitness is the one sure way to increase the odds in your favour, of waking up tomorrow, to be able to get out of bed at all…

Everything is hard at the start. Adopt a start, stop, continue mindset.

Not everything you are doing is working against you, so write out a list of habits that you will start, a list of habits that you will stop and a list of habits that you will continue.

Start, Stop, Continue.

You must stop the bad habits. You must stop the sleep ins, you must stop the excuses, you must stop eating everything on your oversized plate.

One of the simplest wellness mnemonics I’ve developed is LEANER .

L ess

E ating

A nd

N ormalise

E xercise

R outines.

Einstein said “you can't solve a problem with the same mind that created it” I'm no Einstein, but it doesn't take a lot of brains to recognise you can't lose weight with the same eating and movement habits that got you into the shape you are in right now.

The magic of my LEANER program is that it doesn't take anywhere near as long for you to lose the trappings of the lifestyle you have adopted or run the risk of adopting, as it did to find them.

It really is a matter of what goes in has to be less than what goes out. If you're not prepared to get up early and pound the pavement or hit the cold metal of the barbell or kettlebells then don't, but don't expect miracles; even praying burns calories ( if you get down on your knees.. )

So let's start with something as simple as you getting out of bed in the morning.

Get down on your knees and get up again, get down on your knees and get up again, get down on your knees and get up again... Do that 10 times on a soft mat or carpet and then add one more get down and get up every single day.

Then, when you get down on your knees why don't you try getting down on your hands and knees and working that into a pushup?

When you get to the breakfast table or wherever it is that you do eat your first meal of the day, eat one thing less of everything unhealthy or calorie dense that you’re eating each day and make sure your first meal includes protein. Protein comes from the Greek prōteios, meaning “holding first place" or of first importance.

If removing one things starts with taking milk, or sugar out of your coffee, start there. The first thing I hear is “but I don't like black coffee” or “I don't like my coffee without sugar” or (insert your first excuse). Excusers work around what they don't want, but they're not prepared to do what they must in order to have what they do want.

The great philosopher Fat Bastard from Austin Powers, said it best when he said “I eat because I'm unhappy and I’m unhappy because I eat”

My father used to say when I was a young bloke doing something stupid, “ WAKE UP TO YOURSELF! ”

And when you break that down, we pretty much wake up to ourselves every single day - what sort of a self do you want to wake up to everyday?

Let's make sure that you do wake up in the first instance. However, If you need professional help to assist you on this journey of discipline, you can lodge your request here . Sure we can help you.

Start, Stop, Continue & practice the discipline of LEANER well.

How to Combat Mondayitis with One Simple Thought

david@leeway.com.au (David Lee) — Sun, 22 May 2022 09:03:46 GMT

Introducing: I Love Mondays 90-Days Challenge

Mondayitis meaning: the tired and apathetic feeling experienced by persons returning to work on a Monday after the weekend.

“Tell me why I don't like Mondays” was a popular song from the late 70’s early 80’s by Sir Bob Geldof’s group The Boomtown Rats. It reached number 1 in Australia at the time and although that was 43 years ago, most people in today’s workforce would be aware of the chorus.

As the days grow shorter and colder, I know that winter is just around the corner, and I recognise it was only a year ago that I wrote about how I stopped hating the arrival of the winter season .

“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change” Dr Wayne Dyer says and so in changing the way I looked at the arrival of winter, I now look forward to the cosy delights my chilly friend brings.

Not liking Mondays is not too dissimilar to not liking winter, because of negative thoughts associated to its arrival, but the major difference is, that there should be many more Mondays in your life than there will be winters..

The next major difference is that whilst you can’t control what winter brings with it, as it is seasonal, you can control what Monday brings with it by what you do with the other days of your week, in particular the weekend.

It is a Saturday morning as I write this and I'm two weeks into my 90 days of Love Mondays challenge . I only know it's Saturday because I can smell bacon in the air as I can every Saturday morning in my neighbourhood.

I started this challenge for many reasons one of which is that I'm writing a book so I can’t afford to miss one single day of writing and the other is that I'm very conscious of the fact that time, place, and imposed occasions can be working against us in the case of achieving the most important goals that we set for ourselves.

I am treating every day as a Monday, because usually Monday is the day of the week that we make the most promises to ourselves and others to get things done. A fresh start perhaps?

I think Mondayitis would be better called “ Monday-I-just”

MondayIjus t would be symptomatic of “ SundayIjust ” because on Sunday I just slept in because of “ SaturdayIjust ” because on Saturday I just drank too much. “ FridayIjust ” is such because on Friday I just had a long lunch and I just knocked off early to start boozing early. And “ WednesdayIjust ” is because on Wednesday I just broke all my promises for the week because it is hump day and .. I think I just made my point. Or have I?

When one of my clients told me he had eaten half a dozen hot cross buns over Easter, I asked him if he usually ate raisin toast for breakfast, to which his answer was of course “No. Never” he wasn't even particularly fond of hot cross buns for that matter.

I'm all for tradition and I'm all for the celebrations of the seasons. My point is, if you really must join in the festivities; drink from the well, don't drain it dry. Have ONE hot cross bun, not half a dozen, enjoy a row of chocolate, not 3 Lindt bunnies….

Back to loving Monday.

While you may not come across Mondayitis in medical textbooks, researchers have revealed that heart dysfunction is, in fact, most common on Mondays.

Heart dysfunction, or an adverse cardiac event, includes chest pain (angina pectoris), heart attack (myocardial infarction), and irregular or abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia).

Researchers found that, in addition to Mondays, adverse cardiac events are most common during winter, the middle of the morning, earthquakes, hurricanes or other natural disasters and terrorist attacks.

All these events are understandably stressful and again, most of them are out of our control.

Stress, I believe, is determined by the degree to which you feel in control or out of control of your life.

The rise in adverse cardiac events in the morning has been attributed to the sympathetic nervous system which activates the “fight or flight” response. The “fight or flight” response, which includes pupil dilation, increased sweating, increased heart rate, and increased blood pressure, takes place as soon as we get out of bed in the morning. More so on a Monday morning than any other day of the week.

So how do I start loving Mondays to combat Mondayitis?

Prevention is better than cure. Avoid stress.

As the Radiohead song goes...

“You do it to yourself, you do
And that's what really hurts
You do it to yourself, just you
You and no one else..”

By practicing 90 days of Love Mondays your sleep cycle won’t be interrupted as every day is an early rise with big promises for the day. There are no weekend hangovers; most people don’t usually tie one on of a Monday night; Mondays are usually AFD’s (alcohol free days) for most, as opposed to Friday nights which are more like DFA’s (drinking for Australia) for many and you won’t be eating for Australia at any social or family gatherings, as you will be committed to your 90-day goal.

At the commencement of "90 Days of Mondays" you will have set your goals in the areas of Mental, Physical, Spiritual, Social, Financial and Family. You will also have planned ahead and be armed with what to do in each situation where you feel your plans will be scuppered.

The 90 Days of Love Mondays Program is designed to help anyone kick start a new beginning whether it's writing a book, starting a new business or shredding for the wedding. This program shifts the way you perceive your days of the week, and the best version of yourself that you have typically reserved for Mondays only, will be the only version of your self for 90 Days. You know, the one that wakes up early, goes to the gym, eats clean, gets through the to-do list and is excited about their plans for the future.

The 90 Days of Mondays program will cure Mondayitis and make you unstoppable.

Do Monday Well.

If you have some short term goals that you want to achieve or need to kick start a new beginning in your life, reach out to learn how my 90 Days of Mondays Program can be adapted to your needs . Book some time in with me here , or drop me a note on email .

A Better Pill To Swallow

david@leeway.com.au (David Lee) — Thu, 07 Apr 2022 19:41:28 GMT

Would you like to be 200% happier?

A UK study of gym members conducted in 2007, showed that the decision to go to the gym increased one’s positive mental attitude by 28%. Just the thought of it :)

Upon arriving at the gym and commencing your workout your positive mental attitude would have increased by an additional 62%.

Post workout, as you head into your day or back to the office; your positive mental attitude, your state of happiness in fact, would have collectively risen by a further 84% - overall research showed an increase of 200% in positive mental attitude, from where it was before the decision to exercise had even occurred to you.

I’m often told of people who have presented to their Doctor and described their feelings of sadness and inertia and with what they believe may be depression. Their Doctor will ask a few questions and tell them that he agrees with their own diagnosis and tell them that they are going to be prescribed anti-depressants. A script for at least 6 months will then send them on their way.

Similarly, they may present with symptoms of anxiety and so they’ll be put on anti-anxiety pills.

No different to if your blood tests come back and you have high cholesterol, you’ll be prescribed cholesterol lowering tablets and if you have high blood pressure, you’ll be put on blood pressure lowering tablets.

Now the latter two ailments are tested through your blood and a blood pressure monitor (BPM) We can't test for anxiety or depression through your blood.

I'm very supportive of and of course believe that some people are genetically predisposed to and do suffer terribly from anxiety and from depression, as some people are genetically predisposed to high cholesterol and high blood pressure as well.

I am also very aware of the fact that over the last couple of years, a lot of people have felt very sad, very confused and very uncertain about their place in the world and the future.

Lao Tzu said ; “Depression is living in the past, anxiety is living in the future and peace is living in the now”

My highest priority is peace of mind.

I determine my involvement in any activity or my response to any situation around whether it will bring me peace of mind.

I used to ask myself “Is what I am about to do, the best use of my time right now?” and then I would ask “Is this moving me towards my goals or away from them?” and finally I would make the decision based around asking myself “Will this give me peace of mind?”

Nowadays, I just ask all day long “Will this bring me peace of mind?”

I ask people to consider when they are experiencing symptoms of depression or anxiety, if they could consider that they are really just having a midlife crisis? Have they gotten to a certain age; say mid 30’s where they recognize that they are no longer Peter Pan. There are more responsibilities in their life, their jobs are more serious, their positions within their careers have heightened, they are now leaders or managers and have staff they are responsible for, or that they have climbed the corporate ladder of success and realized it's leaning against the wrong building…

Or, in their early fifties; their teenage children are no longer dependents as such and no longer do their children feel they have to accept “Because I said so!” as they feel they have every right to say “You can't tell me what to do anymore ! I'm an adult now!”

This loss, realization, or sense of lacking in purpose - whether it be an identity belief associated to the responsibility of being a parent or an identity belief associated with the fact that you are no longer a happy go lucky employee, without a mortgage, or relying upon other people to look after you and it's now entirely up to you to look after yourself - is what can manifest as depression or anxiety.

Stress - as I say; is determined by the degree to which you feel in control or out of control of your life.

When people tell me that their loved ones are going to the Doctors or that they themselves are going to the Doctors to see whether or not they actually have depression and what can be done about it, I ask them to ask the Doctor, what the alternative to medication might be?

The Doctor would have diagnosed your high blood pressure and your high cholesterol from a blood test or BPM, whereas apart from the symptoms you describe, he is not using the body’s biomarkers, blood, urine, or soft tissue.

Prior to the invention of cholesterol and blood pressure lowering drugs, Doctors of old would have advised " You need to eat less and exercise more."

My "power word" mnemonic for mind and body mastery in happiness and wellbeing is:

LEANER

L ess

E ating

A nd

N ormalise

E xercise

R outines

Similarly then, prior to drugs such as Zoloft or Xanax or whatever other anxiety pills are out there, the only remedy would have been exercise and diet. I guarantee you that when you ask your Doctor what the alternative to medication is, he or she will say; just as for improving your blood pressure and your cholesterol; "exercise and watch what you eat"

The old adage was “the best six Doctors I know of, and no one can deny it, are sunshine, water, air and rest, exercise, and diet”

The new adage seems to be “the worst six Doctors I know of, without me even trying, are Zoloft, Xanax, Lipitor, worry, stress and dying..”

Be well

If you are feeling stuck, in a rut or unsure and have developed an inspirational discontent for how life is shaping up for you, then with Leeway's 12 week Mastery Program, you will reinvent your path to success, feel a renewed sense of self and reclaim life on your terms. visit www.leeway.com.au or www.mindandbodymastery.com.au

or email ; hello@leeway.com.au for an outline of the program.

Working 9 to 5? what a way to make a living ....

david@leeway.com.au (David Lee) — Tue, 08 Feb 2022 21:45:29 GMT

"You don't have to make yourself miserable to be successful... success isn't about working hard; it's about working smart." Andrew Wilkinson

“Work hard, play hard” was the mantra of the late 80’s when I joined the workforce. This was the era of excessively long lunches and excessively long workouts to balance the excess.

As a Libran, my life has always been about equilibrium. So, I changed this mantra very early on in my career to “work smart, play smart”

These days I am not trying to even out the balance sheet of excessive input with excessive output.

I spend half the time in the gym that I used to when I was 20, yet I still lift the same kilograms in weight as I did when I was 20, with more sets and reps than back then and with much better results.

Many of my clients feel their lives are out of balance as far as work and life are concerned right now.

The honeymoon is over, as Covid restrictions have eased and it is a return to the office for most, with added travel time and the great resignation, seeing many picking up the extra workload, whilst replacements are being found (or not)

“8 hours for work, 8 hours for sleep and 8 hours for what you will” was the battle cry of the workers industry during the industrial revolution. No individual or organisation as such, was responsible for the 40-hour week, but the workers themselves, achieved through various on the job sit downs and strikes.

The Ford Motor Company advanced the idea in 1914, when it scaled back from a 48-hour to a 40-hour workweek after founder Henry Ford believed that too many hours were bad for workers’ productivity.

Here in Australia, it was in 1927, that the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission (ACAC) decided to reduce ordinary weekly working hours from 48 to 44. The 40-hour working week was adopted in 1947 and, in 1983, the ACAC introduced the 38-hour week.

Some of my clients are working as many as 70 hours per week - most; at least 8am to 6pm.

Based on my understanding of the old Dolly Parton song “Working 9 to 5” and the ACAC; 8am – 6pm is 10 hours a week more than the ACAC legislated.

So, think about this, with your additional 2 hours a day, overtime over a week -

10 hours a week x 48 weeks (assuming you take the 4 weeks holidays owed to you each year- many don’t …) = 480 hours a year that you’re taking away from yourself or your family if you work above the 38-hour work week and 60 extra workdays you are giving to your employer for nothing..

The average weekly earnings for full-time workers in Australia in 2021 was AU$1,713 (or AU$89,122 per year), according to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (November 2020) - $45 per hour.

At $45 x 10 additional hours per week ($450) x 48 that’s an additional $23,450 a year you are giving to your employer and more or less taking from the family table, whilst taking away from your rightful 8 hours leisure time.

Here’s a modern-day mantra I believe the working class should adopt

“8 hours work, 8 hours rest and 8 hours to do with as I please; I’ll turn my leisure time into treasure time, with David Lee’s Eight E’s"

By adopting a very simple framework I developed called the Eight E’s” of Equilibrium ™, which are designed to be practiced sequentially and revisited throughout the day, you will create a more balanced and fulfilling experience every single day of your life.

The Eight E's of Equilibrium™

1. Enlightenment . "Knowing others is wisdom, Knowing yourself is Enlightenment" Lao Tzu : M editation, journaling, prayer

2. Education . "Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world" Nelson Mandela : Learn & teach

3. Exercise . "To enjoy the glow of good health, you must exercise" Gene Tunney : Core/Abdominal, HIIT, LISS, Hybrid

4. Eating . "Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live " Socrates : Food as fuel

5. Engagement . "If you engage people on a vital, important level, they will respond" Edward Bond : Partner, Children, the lonely

6. Encouragement . "Correction does much, but encouragement does more" Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Verbal sunshine

7. Entertainment . "Before machines, the only form of entertainment people really had, was relationships" Douglas Coupland:

Dip out for an hour, escape the grind - but don't be dumbed down by your "smart" TV or Phone

8. Embodiment . "Do, Be, Have" David Lee: – What DO you have to DO? to BE who you want to BE? to HAVE what you want to HAVE? DO BEHAVE...

If every day, you can spend an hour on each of the Eight E's; you will find true value in your leisure time.

If you can keep each of the Eight E's in mind; you will find more personal responsibility and commitment to your purpose.

If you limit mind numbing TV to 1 hour a day, you’ll find you are a more switched on individual and more driven in other areas of your life.

I have been encouraging my clients to adopt the Eight E’s of Equilibrium ™ in order to make sure they are balancing the time they spend outside of work and sleep.

In my books and those of every Doctor; 8 hours sleep is non- negotiable. Any parent of a new-born or toddler, will know full well why sleep deprivation has been used as torture throughout warfare over time.

We’ve all heard that we spend a third of our lives sleeping – this is determined by the fact that 8 hours is a third of one day. If the average age at which we die in Australia is 85 and we spend 1/3 ^rd of our lives sleeping, then this equates to 28 years spent recovering and recharging and hopefully dreaming, throughout our lives.

For those who believe sleep is not important or trade sleep time for working late hours or binge watching programs that will never feature in their journaling…. and only sleep for 6 hours each day (75% of their required sleeping time) then it is most likely that they will spend one third of their life sleeping as well. 75% of your 85 years, equates to around 65 years of age, curiously, the supposed age of retirement… nobody ever said on their deathbed "I wish I spent more time at work"

So get your 8 hours of sleep a day, work the entire 8 hours that you owe your employer, AND take advantage of the 8 hours you have earned and deserve for your leisure time.

Work all the time you work!

You will have no reason to feel guilty or compelled to add any unpaid overtime to your working day, if you honestly work all the time you work.

I’m delighted to recognise these days, that I have further changed the “Work hard, play hard” mantra of the Eighties , to “work smart, play smart with the Eight E’s …”

E well.

“Lucky, lucky, lucky me I'm a lucky son of a gun. I work eight hours, I sleep eight hours, that leaves eight hours for fun”

– Annette Funicello - CATCHY SONG HERE

If you would like to discuss Leeway Mind and Body Mastery Pty Ltd. hosting an in-house or online 2 hour workshop with your team, on work/life balance, through the adoption and implementation of The Eight E’s of Equilibrium ™ please email hello@leeway.com.au or me david@leeway.com.au for a proposal on the inclusions and guaranteed outcomes.

If you can find the time....

If you have some short term goals that you want to achieve or need to kick start a new beginning in your life, reach out to Book some time in with me HERE , or drop me a note on email.

Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve. Benjamin Franklin

david@leeway.com.au (David Lee) — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 10:52:17 GMT

The solution to the resolution ...

By now you would know which (if not all) of your resolutions you have already “failed” at for 2022.

It’s not a failure though, it never is – it’s a setback.

I think the first error in judgement people make when setting New Year’s Resolutions, is waiting for a whole year or “NEW” year before setting any major goals.

The second error is in writing resolutions as wishes, or nice to haves rather than must haves.

Benjamin Franklin puts it well, as he writes ‘resolve to perform what you ought'

A resolution is something that you have decided you ought to do – something you would be better off by doing or better off by doing without, or be a better person with, or a happier person by doing, or a more achieved person from attaining.

Write your goals in line with what you would like to DO in 2022

Write your goals in line with who you would like to BE in 2022.

And write your goals in line with what you would like to HAVE in 2022.

DO, BE, HAVE –

DO BEHAVE…

A behaviour reflects a belief – if you behave in a way that is against your belief system then you are contradicting what you purport to believe in.

Your beliefs should serve you, support you, nurture you and sustain you. It's why they are called a belief system.

If they don’t, then you should think seriously about what it is you believe in.

My suggestion is to write your goals or resolutions as more of a To Do list.

Look at the important areas in your life. Mental, Physical, Spiritual, Social, Financial and Family and write a top 10 list of what you should DO in each of these areas, Who you want to BE , in each of these areas and what you want to HAVE in each of these areas.

3 examples for Physical resolutions would be:

1. I will DO 5 x 45 minute workouts a week

2. I will BE 5 kilograms lighter by March 31 ^st 2022

3. I will HAVE a strong enough core to be able to plank for 1 minute every hour of my 8 hour work day.

Not I want, or I’ll try, or I might – there is no such word as wantpower, or trypower, or mightpower, it’s WILLPOWER .

Where there is a WILL there is a WAY (or a relative if you hang your hopes on being a beneficiary of someone else’s hard work)

I recently climbed or walked rather, to the top of Mount Kosciuszko.

Within my list of Physical goals I had written that I will walk outdoors more often, so when the opportunity presented itself to walk the mountain with a group of around 50 men, with whom I would then workshop, in mind and body mastery, it ticked a few of my resolution boxes in one outing.

Mentally I learned meditation skills, Wim Hof breathing methods and sustainable practices for organic food production.

Physically, I awoke to the sound of birds I’d never heard before and exercised with kettlebells and a group of men outdoors before jumping into ice cold streams.

Spiritually, when you are standing at the highest point of Australia after 6 hours of vigorous head down walking, I had a born again, out of body experience.

Socially I met more than 40 men I had never met before and connected deeply with them over 5 alcohol free days.

Financially, I was an invited speaker so I only put my hand in my pocket for warmth and the odd tip to kind waiting staff at various restaurants.

These men were all a part of a group whose sole purpose is to be better fathers to their children and my involvement in helping them design their perfect day and hone their listening skills whilst discovering their purpose as fathers was a much more rewarding experience than that of reaching a new peak.

As I sat in a ski chair lift on the descent ( no-one ever brags about climbing down a mountain ) with a new best friend either side of me, I commented that I have noticed for many years now, that the wheels of business start to slow down A LOT in Australia from Melbourne Cup Day (the first Tuesday in November) and don’t start to speed up again until after Australia Day (January 26 ^th )

So don’t feel so bad if you haven’t kicked any major goals yet this year or climbed any mountains. The country is just waking up from its festive slumber and tomorrow is the first day of the rest of your life.

I’m doing FebFast as another goal. I just finished Jan Ban (alcohol) next month will be March Fast (from alcohol) and over the years, I have found that if you start off with 50 New Year's Resolutions and only keep half, then it’s 25 more than making one and not keeping it..

Resolve Well.

It’s not the mountain that we conquer, but ourselves – Sir Edmund Hillary

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. Winston Churchill

david@leeway.com.au (David Lee) — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 09:20:54 GMT

In the virtual world we’ve managed to trade off the small talk of Covid for quite some time now and online networking events have been a bit icky and sometimes dominated by whoever shouted the loudest; blocking off everyone else’s mics.

Lately I’ve had increased demand for my ever-evolving networking course as we enter back into the fold, the name of which has stood the test of time.

L.I.S.T.E.N

Many people have not coped well at all with Covid and rather than think that they are resorting to Covid small talk as their only form of conversation try and follow my acronym for developing good networking and communication skills. L.I.S.T.E.N

Let’s say you are at your first industry function back, or even a Christmas party as an example.

You look around for someone you may know or for someone to connect with.

As you approach a group of people deep in conversation, you wouldn’t interrupt them with a “Hey everybody! I did Muay Thai this morning and I sprained my ankle!”

Your best bet and most respectful approach, would be to simply smile at someone in the group and stand there and L.I.S.T.E.N.

“The art of conversation lies in listening”― Malcolm Forbes

Eventually some kind-hearted person will say “Hi” and introduce themselves to you and in turn, you to the group.

You may after a respectful passage of time, be offered a conciliatory opportunity to add commentary or opinion to the conversation.

And now you…

L.I.S.T.E.N

L. Look in the eyes of the person you are speaking with as you talk to them & Look for their body language as a guide to stepping up your level of enquiry or enthusiasm – Communications experts estimate that 60% of our communications are represented by our body language.

“Listen with your eyes as well as your ears.”― Graham Speechley

I. Imagine / I. Intuit - Use your Imagination to ask intuitive questions that will put the person at ease or show them that you are interested in them and what they have to say. If they do resort to Covid small talk, imagine why they feel they must. Is this person nervous or guarded?

The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination: Albert Einstein

S. Seek first to understand, then to be understood. Stephen Covey’s 7 habits of highly effective people suggests that next to physical survival the greatest need of a human being is psychological survival – to be understood, to be affirmed, to be validated, to be appreciated.

“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” –Dr. Stephen R. Covey.

T. Tame your tongue -don’t just be waiting for your turn to talk. As a kindergarten child I was a chatter box and was often asked by the teacher to put my index finger vertically over my lips, as a way to stop me from talking. The people who know me well, have noticed that when I am really listening, I automatically put my finger over my lips to ensure I stop talking.

The word ‘listen’ contains the same letters as the word ‘silent’.” Alfred Brendel

E. Empathise – How would you feel in their situation? Empathy is not sympathy. If you start to feel sorry for the person, you lose the role of servant, you are there to serve this person with strong companionship and either a shoulder to cry on, an ear to lean on, or as a sounding board for their problems, that not voiced, have been bouncing around in their heads.

“Listening is about being present, not just about being quiet.” – Krista Tippett

N. Never say No or But – say YES AND… if you have a differing opinion.

What’s worse is when you hear people say No, No, No, No, No – discrediting everything that you have just said OR when it is their turn to talk, saying “BUT, blah blah blah” everybody stops listening at this stage.

“Listen with your mouth closed and your heart open.” – Christine Toda

If you have a bit of trepidation around returning to the office and the workplace at one of the most sociable times of our business year, feeling you may have lost your moxie or mojo - or if you feel you dreaded socialising at the best of times, I hope this brief synopsis of my course helps you re-engage.

My number one piece of advice would have to be that whilst it is said of Covid “we have all been in the same boat” - we have all really been in the same ocean…

Some of us have weathered stormy seas many times before and have probably sailed through Covid in Yacht like fashion – others have flourished and launched profitable online businesses, finding themselves in luxury speed boats, some have been able to spend more quality time than ever with family, feeling like they have been on a cruise ship - whereas some people have felt like they are nearly sinking, just barely holding on to life rafts of despair.

So, as you step off your Yacht or even release your grip on your life raft, don’t be too afraid of how you are going to go heading back into work or socialising over this coming festive season. We’ve all been in the same ocean and surprisingly everyone, no matter how confident they may appear on the outside, has some trepidation around returning to ‘normality’

My second piece of advice for attending functions… Arrive early! (which is on time in my books) Navigating a bustling room of revelers is difficult for the most seasoned networkers. It’s hard enough to hear yourself think let alone LISTEN to someone talk -

Big or Small …

Listen Well

If you really want to learn to LISTEN and improve the quality of your relationships please book a complimentary 15 minute meeting with me, where I will LISTEN to you for 10 minutes and you can LISTEN to me for 4.. that will leave 1 minute for you to decide whether we you want to learn to LISTEN be heard or remain a part of the herd...

Calendly - David Lee

Shaken But Not Stirred - How To Manage Your Covid Comeback With Measured Doses

david@leeway.com.au (David Lee) — Tue, 26 Oct 2021 06:52:01 GMT

The function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.” M – No Time To Die