How to excel in Body & Mind with Shaun Thompson

Shaun Thompson joins me on the Million Dollar Body Podcast today.

We dive deep into how"

> Shaun's back ground in Pro Ice Hockey and what he learned

> How you do One thing is how you do Everything

> Why the gym doesn't solve every problem.

> Is 75 hard good for Entrepreneurs?

>Why Behaviour change is the most important part of how you change your health

and more.

You can find out more about Shaun here

Website: https://thebehaviourchangecoach.co.uk/discover-more

Linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebehaviourchangecoach/

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello and welcome to the Million Dollar Body Podcast with your host, Greg Fearon. And today I have the awesome Sean Thompson who's a behavior coach for high performers. Hey Sean, welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Thank you for having me. You know what? I didn't even ask you what the name of your podcast was. I'm like Million Dollar Body. I'm like, that's a cool name. I didn't even know. That's mad.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

I'm not gonna lie, I recently changed it because that's the name of my program. And I was like, well, I might as well make the whole brand fit together. So here we are. I like it. I like it. So yeah. So welcome to the show and thank you for joining. Do you want to just tell the audience a little bit about you and how you got to become the behavior coach for high performers?

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Yeah, uh, how long have we got?

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Um as long as you know, we've got a couple of minutes on this one and then we'll expand into that.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

I'll see what I can do. So, my background since the age of five was ice hockey. Um played pro ice hockey at 16. Uh, I think I was the youngest player ever to score in the league at the time, so that's pretty cool. Um, but throughout my whole career, I in ice hockey in my sport, you have to look after yourself. Um at the level that I played at, there was no strength and conditioning coaches, there was no dietitians, there was nothing. You figure this out by yourself. Um, and eventually, after years of trying, I always worked hard, I always trained, I always did my best with what I thought I needed to do with nutrition. But after a while, I caved and I got myself a PT, uh, realized I needed help. Um, and I went to my local guy, and very quickly I saw the benefits. I saw how this could help. But then also at the time, I was kind of at this place where I was between pro and semi-pro. And I was like, wow, I could do this as a job and play ice hockey, have two incomes which complement each other, and I can help other ice hockey players that don't have the support. Uh, and it wasn't long too long after I'd been with him, he'd made me throw up a couple of times, um, that I was like, yeah, this is what I want to do. And then I went on this journey of being a personal trainer, loved it, was fully invested in my course. Um, I think I was the only person to do the pre-course before the course. I was that excited. Um, and then it was it was more so locked, uh it was retiring from ice hockey first and foremost, and then lockdown, that made me realize something was missing. Um personal training has a lot of pros, but it also has a lot of cons. And I was my worst client. I could help other people, but I really struggled to help myself. And it was only when I finished playing hockey, I wasn't training at like we trained at like midnight. It was mad. And then I'd get up at five o'clock in the morning for PT. Like I look back now, I'm like, how am I still alive? Uh, but just finishing hockey and not going to training and sleeping at maybe like half 10, 11, a load of my bad habit eating habits went away. I started to feel clearer. And then lockdown came, so then I didn't have to get up at five o'clock either to go PT. I got most of my problems went away. I felt great. I wasn't eating flapjacks and drinking Lucas Aids all day. And I was like, you're I I've said this to myself, like, you're an idiot. There was so much more to this, but you kept trying to train harder, you kept trying another diet. Whereas if you just slept and reduced your stress, we would have had none of these issues over the past 10, 15 years, however long I was juggling it. And that's where I started to buy into personal development, habits, behavior. I knew there was something more, and and I can see it now. I could see why other trainers were leaving the field and going into coaching. I used to call them lazy. I was like, well, you just don't want to be in the gym anymore. You're lazy. No, they were smart. I was the idiot. Um, but I'm now no longer the idiot. I'm part of the team, and I understand that it's most people's struggles are so much deeper, uh, highly linked to mental performance and how we live each day. And for many, it's not about the weight, it's not about a workout. There's so much more to it. That's a byproduct, that's a nice to-do, that's important, but there's so much more to it, which has led me to the point that I'm at now where I'm helping people perform every single day, whether that's high performers in business or athletes. I love where this journey's taken me.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

You said so many things there that resonate with my journey, like the hours on the on the gym floor and thinking that exercise was gonna solve everything. You thought, yeah, if you smashed them, smashed the client in the gym, that was gonna be it. That that was gonna be their world solved, but that's only one hour a day for maybe three times a week. So when then when you said you slept more, the world changed. Like, what drove you to start looking at sleep? What was the first thing?

SPEAKER_00 5:01

Accident. Complete accident. Like, so again, I would get home from training one o'clock in the morning. Um, buzzed. If anybody's trained late at night, you you know you most of the time you can't switch off. Like hockey's different. Um, I coach late night, not late night, I get home about half nine on a Wednesday now from coaching ice hockey and I'm buzzed, um, let alone playing. So because I didn't have that late night, I was getting home from work about half nine, having dinner, going to sleep. So, like half 10, 11, I was going to sleep. So I'd gained two, two hours at least, and probably better quality. That's when just things started to improve. And then obviously, then not getting up at five for lockdown, getting up at whatever seven, you know, we had a little young one at the time. So, you know, now I'm getting a normal amount of sleep. That's when the light bulb went off. Like, if I'd just said no to the six o'clock appointment, or I, you know, I maybe finished hockey earlier, which probably was never going to happen. But if I'd done something different and improved my sleep, most of my problems of, you know, living off just energy. I just did anything to get me through the day. You know how it is in our industry. You've got to be energized. The PTs that aren't or the coaches that aren't energized, people see that they don't want to work with them. I was doing whatever I could to perform in the moment, which was affecting my performance longevity. If I carried that on for another five, 10, you know, I'd be a goner. You know, I look back now, I'm like, God, that was unhealthy.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

So it sounds like you realize that this was affecting your performance in other areas of your life, right? Because your relationship with your other half, the kids, if you were performing at a high level in the gym, you were just gonna come home burnt out and tired. Is that what was happening?

SPEAKER_00 6:52

Yeah, don't give me Lisa. I trained hard, like a lot of the PTs that was in my facility at the time, like, go on, man, you you push, you work hard. And I did. That's all I did. Because after that, I was sitting in the car or I was sitting on the floor. I'd lean on the walls sometimes in PT sessions because I was just so exhausted. I didn't do anything other than ice hockey. If we had a day off, it was a battle to go and do something with the missus. You know, I just wanted to do nothing. Um, I look on my average steps back then when I was playing, um, because they still pop up on my phone if I go back far enough. I was only averaging about 6,000 steps a day because I because I was beasting myself in the gym, but then I didn't move for the rest of it. And I some people probably go, wow, 6,000's a lot, but I'm averaging like 11 and a half, 12,000 a day now over a year. So I've doubled that. Um I'm healthier. Um that that's a big uh conflict which people don't necessarily understand when they look at athletes. My whole week was about how can I be at the best for Saturday or and Sunday. That's what my whole week was formed around. And there was a selfish element to that. That's what I chose at the time. Um, but there was a there was a sacrifice to perform on that Saturday, Sunday because I was under-eaten in the week, over consuming to be able to perform at the weekend. Now I'm gaining weight, now I'm slower, now I hate the way I look. Now I don't want to do anything else in the week because I'm so tired because I've been eating calories that are junk just to get me through the game. But I was getting through the game, and that's what I wanted. So it was it was a sacrifice time. Yep. Um, and I don't regret it because I've learned so much from my coaching from that time. But uh yeah, I'm if I'd carried on another five, 10 years, yeah, I could have been an absolute state at going at that pace.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

And you must see that in the clients that you work with, right? They are awesome Monday to Friday, and then the weekend comes and it goes peer-shaped. What what what do you think that's about?

SPEAKER_00 9:01

We don't mess up on a Monday, right? We don't mess up in the morning. You know, we mess up when we're fatigued, we mess up when we're drained, when we've been we've made enough decisions. And a lot of people, again, it comes to performance, right? If you're not setting up your day to be at your best, we're starting on the back foot. So, you know, again, if this is audio, you won't be able to see if it's video, it's slightly different. But we want that, you know, we want that peak to go right to the end of the day by adequate fueling, hydration, managing stress. Most people crash way too soon, and then they just rely on survival techniques, like I was doing sugar, caffeine, alcohol, um, and it's all decision-making through not being in the best place. Um, I often talk about your defense systems. So I talk about five defense systems, which is hydration, sleep, stress, quantity of fuel, and quality of fuel. If you have most of those defense systems up, you're doing all right. Most people have at least four, if not all five, of those down. Um, and it just leads to bad decision making because there's no other option. It's just the easiest thing for your brain to do. I want to feel better now, and you give it to it because you have no fight against it.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

And there's a lot of this, and I probably see it in a lot of my clients because we set up our day to be productive. So we, like you said, we book early morning meetings, we book late meetings. So there's no breaks in this like race to do more, to be productive. Is that is that what you see?

SPEAKER_00 10:42

Yeah. Um, somebody that you know, good friend of mine now on LinkedIn. Um, she's been talking a lot lately about that she's trying to be productive through energy and not time. Um, we've been brought up on time, right? You go to school between these times, you work a nine to five. You must work through these hours. There's been multiple studies and a fantastic book called Limitless by Jim Quick. Um, you know, he talks we're only we're only productive for like 25 minutes at a time. And uh I really interesting story. Obviously, can't mention names or anything, but it's one client of mine, and uh like honestly, the first call we had was so overwhelming um because there was just so many things. And I was like, God, I don't even know where to start. I was like, right, let's time block, let's write down tomorrow exactly what you do throughout your day. Next session, she read it out to me, and I said to her, I said, You'd realize you haven't actually worked today. And she was like, What? I said, You haven't done any work in your workday. You've done committee work, you've done this accountancy work, you've done this, this, this. She was just literally just doing anything but working within that time. And if we all had a camera on us, what we think we're doing is completely different to actually what we're doing. Um, and I always say that's that's my bespoke program, that's my premium plan. If you want me to follow you round, we're we're talking big money, but I'll do it and I'll point out every little thing you know that we're doing. But we do we're half of our days automated. So it's really difficult if we're not very good with our self-awareness to slip into bad habits and not even see them.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

Now, this brings up a very controversial point. So something happened to me recently where um someone talked about um the fact that their lived experience counteracted the science of, say, trying to drop body fat, lose weight, etc. So, how do you navigate those conversations? Because I'm saying to you, hey Sean, I eat really well, I'm really productive at work, I hydrate, but the evidence isn't showing that. How do you have those conversations?

SPEAKER_00 12:53

You have to be open to change. So if you go back again to my story, I trained hard, I was eating salmon and rice at 5:30 in the morning. Um, I was probably eating something similar again at lunchtime. I was drinking my water. I'm doing well because I wasn't admitting to the Flapjack, the Lucas Aid, the chocolate bar, the two Kiev's at home for dinner, plus others, plus chocolate afterwards. Those those didn't count. They they don't count in my head at that time. And I would ask the other PTs, I would talk to them. You know, I had a couple of great guys in the gym, and I'm like, what do I need to do? What do I need to do? Are they like, come train with me? Like, because they didn't know, I didn't tell them, look, I'm only getting, you know, I they probably actually did. I probably said over and over again, I'm only getting four hours of sleep. It was like a badge of honor. But nobody could tell me. And if they did tell me, I've always been coachable, I would have been open to listen, but nobody saw it because I didn't see it. So when you've got somebody who is saying, look, I'm doing all this great stuff, it's having the empathy to understand that yes, they they very much likely are, but there could be a dishonesty thing here, which again you have to be careful with because you don't want to make assumptions. Um, but I would, I would, I always, my first week with a client, no pressure, it's an awareness week. I don't want you to change your diet. I don't want you to change anything. I want to know what's going on. What's going on in this week one? You know, what are you thinking? If you're if you always do something that you don't want to do after dinner, let's not stop that. Let's just find out how you're feeling in that moment. Because often we eat automated and then we feel guilt and shame afterwards. Whereas actually we can have that. I just want to know how you're feeling before the guilt and shame of consuming it. Are you tired? Are you hungry? Are you bored? Like, what is it we're feeling? Then have whatever you want. Just feed it back to me, and then we can find a solution to that problem. So if we are hungry, it could be that we've missed lunch. Yep. Easy solution, include lunch. If we're low on energy, well, what time did you eat here? Half nine. Could we go to bed? Do we do we really need to eat to stay up? What are we staying up for? And then it's just solution based. So you always have to be careful as a coach that you can't make people feel bad. We're quick to defend ourselves. And there's communication, tonality, questions. There's so many skills to help people feel comfortable with being open to you. Um, but that is the key, is the person has to be open to help. Because I always ask if I if it's not if it's a non-client, I would always say, Are you open to feedback? Are you uh are you open to some advice? Then they say yes or no. If they say yes, you can't offend, well, you could offend them, but you can't really offend them if you keep it to coaching, um, because they've given you permission.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Got it. One of the things that you've really repeated a lot, and this, especially for the women who I think it's 95% women listen to this podcast. Um that's that's what the stats said. But you can't kind of out-exercise bad lifestyle habits. I think the normal one is you can't out-exercise a bad diet, but you can't out-exercise bad lifestyle habits. Is that something you share and agree with?

SPEAKER_00 16:27

Yeah, there's 24 hours in a day, right? Um, and exercise for most people who go, some people obviously do more, but you know, we're talking in a workout one to two hours a day. That's not even every day. If it was, that's still only seven hours versus you know, one day is 24. There's still an awful lot more hours away from the gym. Um, a lot of people still use the gym to burn calories. Uh, exercise is actually the lowest form of calorie burn. Um, I'm not encouraging more eating, but eating actually burns more calories through your day than exercise. Um, just breathing, just talking like we're doing now, burns more calories. So, exercise, in my opinion, and I know a lot of people do have a similar opinion, should never be used as a calorie burner. It should be used as a strength builder, muscle builder, confidence builder, uh, mobility mover, but never should be used as a calorie burner because it's it's it's insignificant. It makes no difference. Um again, I learned that I used to so when I trained at my peak, I we're talking six days a week, two a day. I was at my peak. Um, I was younger, I had no kids. Um, I had a desire to only perform ice hockey and do nothing else. Um, but then I overeat um because I didn't understand calorie balance as well at that time. Um, the calories I told people I was told to eat, I was like, nah, it's too much. I can't I can't eat that much. Hey, guess what? When I went up to that level, um I stopped overeating. So um, you know, it is it's just it's really funny. Like I laugh at myself now. You know, I used to call myself all sorts of names when I first figured it out, but I laugh at it now. Um, but exercise is a fantastic tool. It's not just the gym. It's you can go, you can play sports, you can even gardening as a hobby is is a fantastic form of exercise as long as it's done consistently consistently. Um, we just need to prioritize moving movement more, dancing, dancing, singing, you know, playing with the kids at the park. You know, if they want you to climb up, go climb up, do the monkey bars, like just be active because there's more opportunity in a day to be active than just a standalone single one-hour workout that is a minimal calorie burn.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

Got it. And I guess in in your January, you know, the people you work with, and we work with very similar people. 75 Hard is is like back with a vengeance. Now, I have my thoughts on it. Do you have thoughts, and especially for people who are thinking about doing 75 hard?

SPEAKER_00 19:07

Uh, so this is a really interesting one because the guy who invented it, Andy Andy Frisella. Um, if I ever met him, I'd kiss him right on the lips. Because he he is the whole sole purpose of my transformation. Um, when I finished playing hockey, I went on Twitter. I would refuse to call it X. It will always be Twitter, and I said, I'm looking for a business podcast. Can anybody help me? And I don't I still to this day don't know who he did it. It wasn't a friend. He said, Yep, this is the podcast, and this is the episode you should listen to. Rest is history. Absolutely transformed my life. I thought it was a business podcast, it wasn't, it was a personal development business podcast. He just I just resonated with him at the right time. He's very marmite, um, you know, very outspoken American guy. A lot of people won't like him. Um, so 75 hard. Um, what's my opinion on it? It's perfect for certain people, and it's not for others. And it comes down to that, it depends, right? It's that typical coach's answer, it depends. The reason why I say it's perfect for some people because some people want that challenge. It's a it's a relatively simple challenge. It's not asking a huge amount from you, yet it does require a lot of your focus. Um most people that it won't work well for is it's designed to challenge you mentally. And the fascinating thing I find is say, for instance, you hit day 47 and you miss one of your tasks, even if you miss all of them, but say you miss one of your tasks, you've got to start back at day one. Yeah, you're not starting back at day one. You were on day 48 the next day. The challenge starts at day one, but you're not, your body doesn't just crumble back into the version it was before, yet that's the whole point of it, right? He's trying, he's trying to get you mentally tougher. That's his whole ethos. You know, this is one of the most mentally toughest men, you know, that I've experienced just through his story. So it's another one of those, like, is CrossFit for everyone? No, it's not, but it's perfect for some. Is body pump perfect for certain people? Yes, it is, but it's not for other people. So it's just going in, it would just be going in like what's the reason you want to do 75 hard? I've never done it, and the reason I've never done it is I don't right now in my life, I don't need anything that's over consuming in my life, and that is over consuming because you are thinking about it all day, every day for 75 days. Does it show an incredible return? Yes. Is it sustainable? I'm sure there's many people that have gone back to old ways after 75 days. And I'm sure there's people that thrived long afterwards. It's just another one of those things.

SPEAKER_01 22:07

Love it. And that's the part, isn't it? It's the bit after you've done the diet, the change, it's the bit after that's the important bit. So, how do you prepare people who come to work with you and go, right, I think I'm ready to do this? How do you help them to make that transition?

SPEAKER_00 22:24

First and foremost, if we're even comparing it to the 75 hard, there's no endpoint. When you start a process with myself or any coach, there's no finish line. We don't even know what that finish line is. We could finish 75 hard and feel incredible, or we could have torn ACLs, dodgy shoulders, terrible food relationship restrict because you've restricted certain things. Like we get so caught up in goal chasing, yet nobody knows what you'll feel like or what that will even be, or even if you'll get there, because by the time you've got closer, it's probably diverted off into something else. I'm a huge believer of having this life vision. What is it you truly want your life to be about? Okay. And once you have that, you then funnel it down. And you funnel it down into you can have short-term goals as long as you know they're short-term, but then it goes into your daily action. And that's where this podcast all started for me. It was talking about winning the day. What steps, what three to five actions are you taking that's taking you a step forward towards that vision? Some people will argue with me, no, you need to have specific goals that you need to hit. That's fine. I've got no issues with that because it will work for somebody. This is what works for me. And it's just giving people ideas of what you can can do. Um, but I feel we get so caught up in rewarding the result, we forget to give ourselves credit for the work that we're doing. And one of the key factors of dopamine, which is your molecule of more, it wants more wins. Celebrate those little wins because guess what? It will want more of them. Whereas if you do what a lot of people do and just criticize everything that are rubbish workout today, I can't believe I ate a donut, da da da. Your brain will be like, well, why are we doing this? This is we're not what's the point? This is so negative. Let's not do this, and it won't drive it. So if you work with your dopamine, with your brain, and when you have a little bit more water, just say to yourself, like, man, that's awesome. So proud of you. When you said no to the cookie because you've been having cookies lots at night, I'm not a restrictive person. Um, but sometimes there is a place for that. But if you if you do it, like, man, that's awesome. What what incredible willpower. I'm so proud of you. And you're saying this to yourself because this is listening, and it's going to drive you to want to do more of those mini wins. And guess what? You're getting closer to that goal without even realizing.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

Are you like my twin? Like we we separated a berth or something. I don't know. It's just some of the things you're saying, because um, as you know, I've got a background in martial arts, and my teacher was he didn't believe in belts. He said in China, what happens is you get a white belt, and then over time it gets dirtier. That's when you get a black belt because you keep training belt. Whereas obviously, like you say, we're so enamored with this reward system that we have in the West, which is, oh, little Timmy did this and now they get a belt. Not rewarding the actual practice that they've done day in, day out. I think that's the big challenge in the world is that we have goals but not practices. And that's all goes peer-shaped.

SPEAKER_00 25:47

Yeah, yeah, I believe so too. You know, you don't get you, they often say with athletes, you know, you got you stand in front of thousands of people chanting at you, but it's the work you do when nobody's around that allows you to be at that point. And the greatest will embrace that. They will love going to training just as much as they love going to games. They will love doing all the intrinsic details, and and they will embrace that process. I I had a podcast this morning where we were covering this a little bit on this stuff, and you know, how a lot of athletes and and people like business owners, you know, business owners, if you're like, oh, I've hit a 10K month, cool. Now what? You've done it. Uh 20. Do you really want 20? Like, what was it you were looking for? Have you found what you were looking for with 10k? What is that giving you? And and we he the the my guest spoke about that kind of that fulfillment, that there is so much more to hitting a point that we kind of forget to live in the moment. We're constantly chasing, and that's just our mammal brain, it's just something that hasn't really evolved over time. Um, and we just constantly chase in, and we forget in the moment that hey, everything's great. This is good, this is a good day. The sun's shining, we're having lovely conversations, get to see our family soon, you know, after work. We forget all that because we're like, oh yeah, but I haven't done this, I haven't done this, I haven't made 10k today. You know, I haven't and it's something that we can work on. We have to just we have to just want to work on our kind of our here and now hormones and improving them.

SPEAKER_01 27:25

I love that. So, what what do you see as the difference between because you coach athletes and you coach maybe business owners? Is there a big difference between how you you coach those or is it or is it is it very similar?

SPEAKER_00 27:39

It'll be compared to the individual rather than title. Um, because there's a lot of transferable skills in successful people. They have this, they have similar similar traits. You might find athletes might have more resilience just because of what they've done. I was talking to my mate last night. We were talking about the kids not, you know, kind of one session weren't quite up to scratch. Like I used to we used to get pucks shot at us, not directly at us, but close enough to us to wake us up. I'm talking like we were probably like nine, 10. You know, we things were tougher, okay? Um, and you know, we we don't kind of we don't get those wake-up calls and stuff. So athletes will have potentially a bit more resilience. Um, but the skill set's the same, the drive is still the same. Most of them that want more will be able to explain easier what they actually want. Um they will have the hard work ethic. You won't have an issue of pushing them, but you will have to maybe encourage them in another area. So, you know, you would often find an athlete wouldn't necessarily struggle with um physical pursuit, but mentally they're not very strong. Yeah, you might find with a business owner that mentally they're quite resilient, but they're physically weak. So it comes down to the individual. You might see some traits that are different. Um, but I do I go by, I don't look at somebody's job title when I start working with them. I start with the questions, I learn more about them, and and I listen. That's the biggest one because when you give people a safe place to talk, uh, it's amazing what they will share.

unknown 29:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:27

And this isn't just, you know, this isn't like therapy. It's just that once you have open, honest communication, you will you will get the answers. Because if I don't have them, I know where to find them. So there's so much we can do with that open, honest communication, but that trust has to be built first so that you you're both able to do that.

SPEAKER_01 29:49

And you just hit the nail on the head. Once we create that safe space, often people find the answers themselves, but just because they haven't voiced that thing that's been in the back of their head, and they say it, and then they're like, you can just see the light bulb go ping, and you're you just sit there and go, mm-hmm. Keep talking, keep talking. Awesome. So, what do you think, or what do you feel has been the hardest, the heart is the hardest kind of part of behavior change for people? Is it the diet? Is it sleep? Is it exercise? Just overall, I know I know we don't like to generalize, but what do you feel is like the biggest thing that people grapple with?

SPEAKER_00 30:30

If if we go to like in the sense of what I do, the biggest problem is people not understanding. Everyone knows what a personal trainer is, everyone knows what a dietitian is, everyone knows what a diet club is. Hey, I help you with behavior change. Oh, that's interesting. What's that? Yeah. But at the same time, most people won't ask what's that. I went to a networking event the other day, and everyone was so intrigued. Behavior change. Oh, what's that all about? And they were really intrigued to know, but most people won't be. So it's easy to go, uh, that you know, the scroll behavior change coach, scroll, scroll. It's very easy to do, right? Because it's it's different. I didn't want to, I didn't want to categorize as like an online coach or an online personal trainer because that's not what I did. And that's where the reality came recently, whereas I I'm a performance coach that specializes in behavior change. I do help people perform at home, at work, on the field. I help them with that mental and physical edge because I can do both. And I think an un I think understanding is a is a big challenge because a lot of people, if they don't know, they won't invest. And that's a big part. People will be more inclined to go to an online personal trainer. But I'm not an online personal trainer. We've spoken about that. It's not about the exercise nutrition. The the investment point for a lot of people is a lot deeper. Um, and and I think that's that's the biggest challenge in the coaching space is getting clear on the message and and having the right people see that message consistently. Because if they don't, if they if they don't, if they don't want to, they won't do it.

SPEAKER_01 32:13

Yeah, you're so right. The labeling that we get brought up with is so pervasive. Are you gonna make me exercise more? Not necessarily. You're gonna make me cut out I don't know, sugar. No, not necessarily. Because people have got such preconceived ideas about the work you do and what they think it should be, when actually your work is much more encompassing, and that's where the fun bit is, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 32:46

It is, it is because like you mentioned a minute ago, it's the light bulb moment. When you see a client like that go off, you're like, here we go. This that's life-changing. You may not realize it in that moment, but you're not gonna lose that information. That information, that click is with you now, and it's a huge difference between guiding people to not solve the problems by themselves, but solve the problem with you versus telling somebody what to do. And you see it all the time in again in that personal training space. I'll create an exercise plan for you, I'll create a diet plan for you. Brilliant! I don't even, I just need to follow this. This is great. When what happens when that stops? What happens when you don't want to eat that piece of food again? Most people most people are okay with routine, but they struggle to, I love the saying that they they struggle to adapt and overcome. And that's what life is all about. It's all it's it's unpredictable. You have to be ready to adapt quickly, and that comes with composure, knowledge, awareness. Um, and you can then handle tough times because again, we don't mess up when things are good, we mess up when things are bad.

SPEAKER_01 33:59

Yes, there is a human need for certainty and uncertainty. Yeah, people can really understand that they're like, but I want routine, but you also want variety uncertainty. But that's what happens. Week two, oh yeah, Sean's giving me a great plan. I'm gonna follow it to the T by I call it um new toy syndrome. You know, when a kid gets a new toy, right? And they they just won't leave it alone, then they put it down once, then you start seeing that toy everywhere. Hang on, like they're not gonna anymore. And they're looking for the next toy to entertain them, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:38

Yeah, yeah. And it it's that um in a lot of people like, you know, it's not the right time, I'm not motivated, and and I get that. Um, timing is is extremely important. Yet the action that you need to take creates momentum, and the action is a lot simpler than what people make, you know. It's like, right, I need to get in shape. They don't say I'm gonna drink one more glass of water. It's like, right, gym membership, Tupperwares, chicken, broccoli, no alcohol forever, you know, I'm never having alcohol ever again, I'm never eating chocolate again. And it becomes also overwhelming. And you don't have to do all that stuff. That's just what's been deeply driven into us. Yet if that stuff worked, you know, obesity rates have tripled since the 1970s. Diet Club started in the 1960s. If that mindset of restriction and over, you know, pushing yourself, if it worked, how come the problem is getting worse? And the problem's getting worse because we have to do that deeper work. And for some people, it can be quite deep, can be childhood trauma. Um, you know, it can be not even trauma, but just upbringing, you know, and beliefs and habits. Doesn't have to always be trauma. Um and others, it can be routine. A lot of the business people I work with, it's a routine-based thing where they've changed jobs or gone into a higher role and just fallen into a new routine that they can't get out of. Once they wake up to that routine and put something in place, off they go.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

And that's the power of it. I think it's really interesting where you mentioned earlier in the conversation about we grow up, got to do nine to five, got to work X amount of hours in the gym. And actually, the most powerful part can be a voice note you send to a client, and that actually has a bigger impact than doing a million burpees. Not that I coach, but I don't know, I really give people burpees, by the way. But you know what I mean? It that's the power of it. But like you said, people don't necessarily see that they want the list of do this, do that, don't do this, and then they go off course again. Um, and I and it's really it's really interesting. So often I've been told by sales coaches not to talk about the deeper work, just sell the weight loss or the health or the how they want to look, don't sell the deep work. And I'm like, yeah, but I don't I want someone who knows that we're gonna have some conversations that may have to look a little bit deeper. Why why not?

SPEAKER_00 37:14

But I guess that's yeah, but that it's a sales strategy, though, isn't it? You know, I got caught up in that stuff. You know, I I saw people like do a 21-day challenge and put them on a heavy calorie deficit so they lose weight quick and they'll want to then stay and sign up with you. And I think a lot of it is the advice that you're getting from that type of person is a sales approach. If you just want to make money, then go crazy, go crazy. If that is what you want. None of that sat right with me because I I love what I get to do, and I love that I get to earn money from what I do. I have bills to pay, I have mouths to feed. It's very normal to want to earn money from something you love. Yet I will do it in a way that sits with my values, that will allow me to sleep at night. And the biggest issue I've found in the past, you know, through myself and watching other people, is that if you get somebody in at the wrong time through an aggressive sales strategy, it can actually be more damaging for your business because they're not ready, they're not going to buy in, and they're not gonna get long-term sustainable results. Um, I put up a post today on my LinkedIn from a young lad that I'd trained since 13, an ice hockey player. Very, you know, he was an aspiring ice hockey player. He he you know, he was GB Juniors and he's he's grown, but he'd now um he's on his um what's it national service, six months national service in the Finnish Army. All because of who he is. He's you know, he's he's a great lad, um, but he's had that discipline and that fitness element to be able to put himself in his position to do that. That's a transformation. You know, I don't I don't even know how old he's now. I think he's early 20s, maybe, but that that's that's what it's about. It's that 10 plus years of of working towards something, but knowing that you can change at any time and be happy with your decision and be active and physically active. That's that's the transformations I want to be sharing online, not just like I used to, the pictures. Hey, look at this picture. Oh wow, don't they look incredible? Six to 12 months later, they don't look like that anymore because they stopped and they didn't learn anything. And that's that's not what this industry should be about.

SPEAKER_01 39:26

Oh, you just nailed it. Like, I love the physical transformation. I love even more about when they ring me and go, Greg, do you know I went for a uh I went for a promotion because I'm now confident and I can see that I'm sleeping while I'm looking after them. I value myself. Those are the bits that get people like me and you going, this is why I do this is why I do.

SPEAKER_00 39:48

Um anybody can help people get in shape. Most people do it by themselves, they just decide to start, cut out, you know, most people go bread, sugar, whatever, they start moving more and they feel better. Yeah, they were there's a problem there because if it if you haven't sustained it, and when I talk sustainable, we're talking years, not talking months. Rest of your life. Yeah. Um, I the I I again, unless this stats have changed, it was something like two-thirds of dieters who start a process end up regaining, if not gaining more weight within four to five years. If you think you've got it, you probably haven't, unless you've done the deeper work that allows you to not want to go to food to comfort you, to you know, to you know, you're lacking energy, so you go junk food. It's not complex, it's just a different way of thinking.

SPEAKER_01 40:43

And it's so strange as well that in our industry that most things are like 60 days, 90 days, 21 days. But in elite-level sport, people had the same coach, manager, trainers for years. Like, what is that about?

SPEAKER_00 41:00

Well, again, it's a it's a sales strategy. And obviously, there were studies that came out about habits. You know, habits can take 21 days. I don't know what habit that is.

SPEAKER_01 41:11

I want to know.

SPEAKER_00 41:12

Uh I don't know what it is. It would have to be the absolute basic level. You know, then they throw out like 66 days and stuff like this. Most of people's bad habits have been generated over decades. And we're not just talking of decades of doing it. For example, when you were little, you fell off the swing in the park, and your parents came running over and gave you a sweet. You now have that deeply ingrained connection that when you're sad, sweets make you happy. Something that we've tried to avoid as parents. Not I don't have any restrictions with my kids, um, but I've tried to avoid comparison stuff like that. Um because you're then now going to do that for 20, 30, 40 years. That connection is gonna be super strong. And I'm not saying it's impossible to shift, um, but if you try to not do it for like 21 days or 66 days, it can still come back because as soon as you do something, you know, your boss calls you something at work and you get really upset, your brain's not gonna go, hey, let's just wait a minute and go to the gym, or you know, we'll do is gonna say sweets now. I want to feel better now. Um, and that's the biggest thing. And this is why I always say, you know, year, it's it's a process. Um, and you've got to be willing to do it. You've got to be willing to mess up and have the sweet, but not shame yourself because it's okay. I'd rather you not have a panic attack because you've avoid the sweet. Um, but also knowing that you don't need to rely on it, and there are other solutions that can make you feel great as well.

SPEAKER_01 42:50

Love it. And also, you know, is it what is it about that meeting you have every Thursday that means that you have to come home and open a glass of wine to reduce stress? Like, can we can we talk about the meeting first? Not the wine. The wine isn't the issue, the white is a vehicle for escapism, you know, dopamine, etc., etc.

SPEAKER_00 43:12

That's the that's really interesting. Um again, I love habits and I love the habit loop. And if you if you don't know about the habit loop, it's really worth anybody you know reading up on it. Um, I learn about it in The Power of Habit. I know James Clear talks about it in atomic habits as well. But where we have the wine, we often see the wine as the reward, but actually the wine is the routine. Um, so there's a cue, something happens, we get home. The routine is drink the wine. The reward is at this moment in time, question mark what is it that we're looking for? Hence the self awareness and asking yourself before you consume it, am I stressed? Am I tired? Do I require energy? Because if you're like you come in through the door and your steam's coming out your ear and you're stressed, you can then say, right. In 15 minutes' time, I'll have the wine. But first, I'm going to hit the punch bag for a minute. I'm going to throw a slam ball. I'm going to do a full body 10-second full body tension. I'm going to dance with my kids really quickly. If that then the stress doesn't disappear, go have the wine. Okay. Whatever it was didn't work on that day. We'll try the next day or the next Thursday. And we'll see if it actually is maybe not stress, but it's energy or it's hunger. And then we'll try something else then. And that's what we've got to look at is what we're doing, the bad habit that we have is not the reward, it's the routine.

SPEAKER_01 44:38

Oh, you just nailed it for me. I was talking to a client yesterday about emotional eating. She was like, Yeah, I used to be an emotional eater, but I'm not anymore. And I said, Yeah, because you've changed the habit of eating. I said, if you look at your food diary and stuff, you'd see that you'd eat chocolate or whatever it was at the same time all the time. The emotion had long left the party. It was I sit down, I put on Emily in Paris, is it? On Netflix, and then I eat chocolate, Chris, whatever. So it's actually breaking the habit, which is the key. Love it.

SPEAKER_00 45:18

And again, that's also really interesting because if when then statements are one of the most powerful statements in the world. When I do this, then I do this. If I do this, then I do this. When I go to the petrol station, then I will buy a chocolate. And what I find fascinating when I came across it, when you actually listen to people talk, people will use that quite a lot in the day. When we go here, then we'll do that. You literally are placing yourself in the future with what you're going to do. So you're planning without realizing you're planning, um, so that you can implement it easier when you go. You know, when I get in the car, then I'll have a bottle of coke and a chocolate bar. Every time you get in the car, you go to the station, you get the coke, you get the chocolate bar, you don't even realize you're doing it. Because you're using those if-when-then statements. So using those if-when-then statements to build the habit that you want, you know, and it's again when I go to the petrol station, then I will think of my health and I will choose an alternative to chocolate. You're not saying no. Remember, restriction is one of the worst things, in my opinion, you can do in a transformation process because you crave more of what you can't have. It literally works the opposite of how your brain works. Um, but those statements are so powerful if we use them for good and not for evil.

SPEAKER_01 46:41

Yeah, you hear it all the time. You just sit there and go, Did you hear what you just said? Repeat it back. And you're like, oh my god. Like, yeah. And it's that awareness that you bring to that party that people can go, yes, this makes total sense.

SPEAKER_00 46:56

It's a learned skill. Self-awareness is a learned skill, it's incredibly powerful. I highly recommend everybody starts to do it because it takes away a lot of the restriction, the shame and the guilt. And the fascinating thing about shame and guilt is actually it causes internal stress and inflammation. Uh, gut feeling is a fantastic book by Dr. Will Cole, if anyone wants to read it. But he talks about shame inflammation, and he talks about how much more, how much damage um being negative to ourself actually does internally. And if anyone doesn't know, when you have inflammation in your body, it puts you at higher risk of strokes, heart attacks, um, high cholesterol, things like that. And that's without consuming food. That's just by us being negative to ourselves, being stressed, any, you know, chronic down emotions. I don't want anybody to think you can't be down. It's very normal to be down. It's just chronically down, chronically beating yourself up. That's where the danger occurs.

SPEAKER_01 47:52

Oh, crazy. There's a study where they took people who ate in a stressed environment with the mother-in-law. I think it was what it was. But you could lit, and literally they weren't absorbing nutrients from the food as much as the person that was happy, and you know it. Wow. I like I'll dig it out and I'll share it with you when I yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:12

It may it make sense.

SPEAKER_01 48:13

Yeah, it's it's crazy. We do this all the time. This it's amazing. This is this has been some powerful stuff, buddy. Thank you very much for joining. I love this. I could talk about it all day. I know, I know. I feel like we need to do a part two on this at some point. I don't want to give everyone everything right now. So just tell the listeners where they can find you, who you help, what you do, and how they can reach out to you.

SPEAKER_00 48:37

Yeah. So again, performance coaching is, you know, anybody that wants to, you know, go up and level up in whether that's your parenting, uh, whether that's within your business, you know that there's more, uh, whether it's an athlete knowing that there's more to their game, you know, I help you get that next level because again, it's that mental performance that carries over to the physical. Um, I live on LinkedIn, um, just Sean Thompson, S-H-A-U-N, the real way of spelling it. Um, I live, I live on there. Uh, I have my own podcast called Always Another Game. Uh, that is um more so talking to athletes, you know, current retired athletes about the highs and lows of their game, but most importantly, how they transfer the skills learned from sport in life away from the game again within parenting uh business and personal development. And I may have a guest on very soon, uh, probably before this one will go out, actually, that you may recognize from this video. So uh had a little podcast switch on that one. So hey, it'd be good to check out both.

SPEAKER_01 49:39

Oh, yeah, definitely. Uh it was a pleasure to have you on. And you know, from reading your content on LinkedIn, I was like, yeah, we and this guy, we sing from the very same hymn book. So awesome to have you on. I've seen some of the awesome results you get. I think you shared one today, didn't you?

SPEAKER_00 49:54

Yeah, that was the hockey lad. Um, that was the one that's now doing his national service. So I just thought it was a great way to show how he had trusted the process, invested in it, and now he's able to go into a scenario like the army with like, and he spoke about it lows with no fear, nothing, you know, but without that work that he'd started when he was 13 to pursue, you know, a career in ice hockey, but also becoming a great human. Um, it's just lovely to see that he's been able to do that step so well.

SPEAKER_01 50:26

Awesome. So I like to leave the listeners with one like your your best tip that people can walk away from this podcast and go, right, if I implement this, I'm gonna move myself forward faster. What would that one tip be? And you can't say it depends.

SPEAKER_00 50:43

No, I'm not gonna say depends. I'm gonna say the compounding effect is the eighth wonder of the world for a reason. And what that means is once you simplify to the point of taking any form of action that you can do with reduced mental capacity, that's just anything more that you're currently doing, that has a power to compound into something powerful. You know, Rome wasn't built in a day, but what they were doing is they were laying bricks every hour. You know, everything, you know, the the pyramids, they didn't just pop up. It compounded minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day. Don't overwhelm what you have to do. Focus on what you can do now that is more than you did yesterday. You're not always going to beat that. That's fine. But if you can compound something, whether that's just water, adding in protein, uh, going for an extra five-minute walk, the whatever it is to take action and trust that one day it will happen because it will become a matter of when, not if, you will be able to enjoy the process and see the results that you want.

SPEAKER_01 51:54

Love it. Thank you, Sean. And to the listeners, go and check Sean out. He knows his stuff. I highly respect him. And if you know someone who needs to hear this podcast, first of all, give this five stars on Apple, but share this with people so they can hear it, get some of Sean's awesome knowledge. And we'll look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Talk soon. Bye for now.