EP 109: Transforming Your Life & Overcoming Extreme Challenges w/ Freddie Bennett

Prepare to be captivated as we navigate the awe-inspiring journey of Freddie Bennett, a best-selling author, ultra-marathon athlete, and Guinness World Record holder. Freddie's tale of transformation - from grappling with stress, depression, addiction and poor health, to conquering extreme physical and mental trials - will leave you riveted. Listen closely as he eloquently shares his insights on the indispensability of taking command of our days, embracing what we love in this moment, and not waiting for a future that is not assured. 

The next part of our conversation explores Freddie's unique mindset that helped him conquer personal insecurities and build unassailable confidence. Get ready for a raw and unfiltered account as he reflects on his early life, painted with material accomplishments but devoid of personal satisfaction. The turning point? A shift from the corporate rat race to a pursuit of genuine happiness and fulfillment. Freddie imparts the importance of having an intrinsic identity that withstands the transient nature of external titles, jobs, and material possessions. 

Stay with us as Freddie paints a vivid picture of his experience running a 300-kilometer ultra-marathon in the Sahara Desert, the world's hottest place, and his preparations for a race across the frozen Arctic. Discover the immense power of small, daily decisions in building confidence and surmounting challenges. Ready to live a regret-free life? This enlightening discourse with Freddie Bennett will inspire you to push your boundaries, change your habits, and ultimately, transform your life. Tune in to be inspired, challenged, and armed with the tools for a life-changing journey.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:07

Welcome to another episode of Playing Injured. I'm sitting here with Freddie Bennett. Freddie is a best-selling author, an Apple Top 25 podcast host, Guinness World Record holder, an ultra-marathon athlete who has conquered some of the most extreme physical and mental challenges on earth. Freddie, how are we doing?

Speaker 2: 0:30

Josh, I am doing very well. Thank you, I am excited to be here. I'm very excited about our conversation. I think we're going to be dropping some bombs and sharing some gold in this episode.

Speaker 1: 0:41

Yes, I love it. I love it, freddie. I'm looking at your background now. You've got a ton of medals behind you, man, you've which is crazy, right, but you've accomplished a ton and I can't wait for folks to hear what you've accomplished, but what it takes to get to that point. But before we get going, I always love starting the show with who is Freddie and how does he spend his time today.

Speaker 2: 1:13

Who is Freddie? It's a great question. I always think of myself as a changemaker. I give people the mindset, the knowledge, the habits to change their lives. It's about helping extraordinary people do remarkable things. In terms of what does my day look like? You probably guessed by now. I'm from the UK originally. About three and a half years ago, in the middle of COVID, I moved my family 12,000 miles from the UK to New Zealand. So I'm now here in a beautiful part of the world, the Lord of the Rings natural paradise, where it is sunny about 30 days of the year. People say imagine Miami 40 years ago and that's kind of where I'm living now.

Speaker 2: 2:03

But how I spend my days? It's about helping people, empowering people. And you know what? A while ago I said to myself? I was always kicking the future that I wanted down the street. I was always saying when I make the money, then I'm going to spend my days doing this. When I have the time, then I'm going to spend my days doing that.

Speaker 2: 2:24

I thought why not just start spending my days how I want to spend them, doing the things that gives me joy helping people, doing what fills my cup and what empowers me? Why wait for the future. Why wait for a certain amount of time? Why wait for certain amounts of money? Start doing what you want to do now, start doing what you love to do and then, funnily enough, the time and the money starts to come. But it's only when we start taking our control of our days. And I say all this now, and then my kids turn up from school I've got like an 11 year old and an eight year old and it will all go down the pan and it'll be kind of all chaos again. But that's what life is. It's about making beauty out of chaos, and that's what I try and do every day.

Speaker 1: 3:08

Yeah, Freddie, you hit something right on the head and I think a lot of people kind of suffer with that, including myself. When I have the money, when I move into a new apartment, when I get their job promotion, when I get fit, when I'm this, then I'll be able to do that, and really it's just an excuse and kind of the goals that you have in life really don't care about how valid your excuses are. It can be a valid excuse, but it's not going to get you the results that you want in life. And so I love that. I love that. You said that I've never heard it kind of put like that I was kicking my future self, kind of just kicking the can of my future self, and I love that. And so walk me through that, because you know you get in.

Speaker 1: 4:05

This world record holder, you're running ultra marathons. How do you get to that point? Right, these are some extreme things. People probably call you crazy. I'm thinking like wait, you know 300 kilometers, that's wild. Like walk us through that mindset. How do you get to that point?

Speaker 2: 4:26

Yeah, you're right, people do call me crazy, and this is where it gets quite interesting. I am not a runner. I do not even particularly like running. People hear the stories and yeah, I've run 300 miles across the Sahara Desert. I did the toughest race on the planet across the deadliest place on the planet. I've broken the world records, did 100 mile run nonstop. Next up in February, I'm running 300 kilometers across the frozen Arctic to the North Pole.

Speaker 2: 4:58

People think of those stories and we all know the running types the people who live in Lycra and they're staring at the smart watch and they're measuring heart rates and all they talk about is running. All they care about is running. I don't really like running. For me, it's not about the extreme adventures, it's not about the crazy challenges and this is the important point. It's not about any of those things. It's about time. It's about living this life without regret. It's about living a life about understanding that we are all extraordinary people who can do remarkable things with the right knowledge, the right mindset and the right habits.

Speaker 2: 5:40

That's why people say to me Laila, were you great at sports at school? Were you great at sports at college? I was in the Like the we had in the UK the Dungeons and Dragons Club. Imagine the group of guys with maybe they were in the glasses and not the coolest clothes who were in the library at lunchtime playing the board games. That was me and my gang. I wasn't athletic or sporty. I don't come from a fitness background.

Speaker 2: 6:10

Five years ago I was in the UK stressed, depressed, unfit, overweight, anxious, addicted to many different substances and vices and with my mental health in a terrible place. I had to go from where I was then to where I am now, as you say, with the achievements and the goals ahead. But I do this to prove to people that anyone can change their lives. One of the things I hate so much about social media is everyone throws this around Change your mindset, transform your life, leave your comfort zone. People say it so much it becomes like background noise. But that's why I make it my mission to prove to people, because I can prove to people.

Speaker 2: 6:56

If I can be where I was and then go on and do what I've done, then anyone can start that business or walk into a gym for the first time, or write the book, or leave the relationship or come back from an injury and take their life in a totally different direction. Anyone can do that. You don't have to be an ex-navy seal, you don't have to be an ex-pro athlete, you don't have to be this privileged adventurer or the billionaire Tony Robbins who says don't worry about money, it's fine For everyday people. For all of us, there is a way forward. I always say it's never too late to become the person who you are always meant to be If you're willing to take that first step and move forward and start to turn into that vision that you have for yourself. Because that's what I did 100%.

Speaker 1: 7:45

Yeah, you talk about kind of being addicted to devices, and I think a lot of men are addicted to. We talk about alcohol, drugs, video games, social media, porn, women. It's so many things that can distract us and get us off of kind of our purpose or what we're meant to be and our highest self. I'm speaking from experience of different things that have kind of derailed me from getting to my desired future state sooner. What would you say kind of got you unstuck? It's a lot of people out there that are stuck in this bad habit. Loop per se, right.

Speaker 2: 8:39

It's really interesting I love the way Josh would describe it then with the vices and the alcohol and the women and the poured of the drugs and the video games, otherwise known as Saturday. That's how I used to spend my Saturday, basically. But yeah, and it's funny. I've done a lot of work on looking back and it's funny. You talk about addictions and everything and everyone gets very, very self-centered and we think about our past and our childhood, everything else. I just did it because I loved it. I love the way it made me feel. It made me feel more confident. It stopped me feeling like an imposter. I felt like the king of the world and I love that feeling and I wanted it again and again and again and I realized that I am and I know many men in particular recognize this I am that quite all or nothing personality. I don't have an off switch. I love that feeling of adrenaline, of excitement, of enjoyment. I found these things that would give me more of that, that would make me feel like a superhuman guy, and I wanted more of it. I created this Walmart version of the Wolf of Wall Street lifestyle, a low-budget Wolf of Wall Street. That's what I became and I know deep down that I lived this life because I wasn't happy with my reality.

Speaker 2: 9:58

I came from the corporate life. I worked for a few global American corporate companies and I was this person. I didn't come from a family where everyone grows up and it's like, oh, you're going to be a lawyer or a doctor or an accountant or a consultant or whatever it is. I was the first person in my family to go to college. I went into this corporate world. I didn't know. I felt like an imposter. Everyone else knew what to say, they knew how to dress, they knew the whole elevator pitch thing. I was just there saying like there's free coffee. Can you believe that? Free coffee? At the office they were like, yep, it's an office that happens here. I was like, wow, I was being this person that I didn't want to be. I felt like I wanted to scream. It's funny. I went up the corporate ladder and you progress and you get a pay rise and another pay rise.

Speaker 2: 10:55

Then I found myself at 30. My first son had just been born. But I didn't recognize this person I saw. I saw this person who had a Porsche on the driveway, a Rolex on his wrist, he took some nice holidays. He had granite in the kitchen.

Speaker 2: 11:11

But inside I had this life of quiet desperation where I just thought my life was never going to turn out like this. I never thought I was going to be doing this grind, packing my suitcase, saying sorry, honey, I can't do that tonight, sorry, kids, I'm going to miss your bedtime. I just thought what happened to the fun version of me, the version of me that got excited, that got curious, that wanted to do and be all these things I vowed to change my life. So many times I said we all wake up every January this is it. Life is short. Maybe you see someone and something tragic happens, like maybe a family friend dies or something happens in your life. You think, yes, life is short, I'm going to change. I always said that I'm going to change. After the next project, after the next promotion, after the next car, after the next birthday, after the next year, there was always another reason why it wasn't quite the right time to change my life. Then the nights got longer, the drinks got larger, the waistlines got tighter, the stress got greater. Then, all of a sudden, I found what's the way to escape. That's when I got into more of the drink, more of the drugs more of the late nights.

Speaker 2: 12:26

Again, living in the UK, I come across the US for a long weekend. I'd have the weekend in Vegas or the weekend in Miami or Austin. I'd have incidents like I was in New York City once. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I had a couple of drug dealers holding a gun to my head. I was in a back alley drug dealers loaded a gun held to my head. I can't really complain because I was trying to buy drugs from them. What do you expect really? It was that kind of situation. All the warning signs were there. I was blaming everything. I was blaming the world. I was blaming the stress, my job, my marriage, my clients, the economy, whoever was empowering politically at the time. I didn't want to look in the mirror. It was only when I took ownership for myself, my life and my future that I thought it was really time to change.

Speaker 1: 13:18

Yeah, it's crazy how moments like that Mm-hmm. Wake you up Like whoa, Definitely. This is not who I am. I'm worth, you know I am, I am, I see myself as worth way more than this. This is not my identity, right? And I think you know what you mentioned. There is like, hey, I had to Porsche, I had to Rolex. From the outside I looked great, but it's no excitement, it's no fire. So the excitement comes from the drugs, the alcohol, the trips to Miami, the trips to Vegas. You get jaded to some degree and I think a lot of folks get jaded where they're in there, they're just comfortable.

Speaker 2: 14:07

Mm-hmm, exactly, I think we lose sight of who we are. I always say that you cannot outperform your own self-image and that's why we see I don't know so many, so many pro athletes that get injured and have to retire early. That's when they get lost, because their whole self-image is around I am this pro athlete, and then that gets taken away. So many people in the corporate world and maybe I found this as well either when they get fired, when they leave a job, because their whole identity is I'm this big shot executive at this big shot company, and then that gets taken away. People identify as golfers, as Mercedes drivers, as parents.

Speaker 2: 14:47

But really it's about who we are, who we are internally. If you were to be dumped on a desert island without the titles, without the cars, without the watches, without the jobs, without the family, if it was literally just you, like it was the day you were born, how can you make sure that you have a stride entity in that case, when we don't have all these external things? And that's where we have to start. It's about understanding that. It's not about how do I do something, how do I change? How do I change my life or progress in whatever field I want to progress in it's. Who do I need to be to make these changes? When we understand who we are, when we know who we are and when we identify and actually embrace that person, that's where we can start to make some real changes in our lives, because then we know we're doing it as us, not for somebody else.

Speaker 1: 15:39

Yeah, well, I love that. You cannot perform your own self image, no matter who you look like. You may look like you have it all put together from the outside, but and you can, you could have worked super hard. But if you still see yourself as an old version of you, it doesn't matter what other people, other people's perception is of you, because you still see yourself as you know maybe the shy kid from before or whatever the case may be, and it's just no way to outperform it.

Speaker 2: 16:18

And I love exactly, and we see this so many times in life if, if someone gets a million dollars but they've got a broke mindset, they're not going to keep that money. If someone loses 50 pounds but they've got the mindset of an overweight person, they're not going to keep the weight off. If someone finds a new relationship but they have the mindset of a single person, obviously, as I found as well, that relationship has passed very long. It's so many times. Life gives things to us but if we are not prepared to accept them again. We see this in pro sports people who might get that pro contact, who people who might get that pro contract, but they've still got the mindset of the kid who's messy around at college or whatever, and they it's all high school and it's.

Speaker 2: 17:02

We cannot outperform our own self image and that's why we see people self sabotage. That's why we see people they can't stick to the diet, they can't stick to the exercise program, they can't stick to the marriage, because they don't see themselves as worthy of that success. And that's why so many people waste so much money at all these programs, all the coaching, all the training, all the courses, because they say I'm going to change, but because they haven't rewired their brain to see themselves in a different way, that change is never going to happen.

Speaker 1: 17:33

And so I was reading recently. It's called the six pillars of self esteem and in it he says I can't remember the author's name right now, but he says, basically you don't earn, you earn confidence. Basically, we think that the most confident people do uncomfortable things because they are confident. No, because they did uncomfortable things is how they earned confidence. And so I see that in you, where you're running, you know 300 miles across the Sahar desert, you're doing ultra marathons, you know breaking Guinness World Records. I'm pretty sure you weren't necessarily confident in yourself to do these things. You had to pretty much put yourself to do something like that. Walk us through that.

Speaker 2: 18:34

Yeah, you're 100% right, because I was always waiting for confidence. I was always saying when I am more confident, then I will do this, when I have more confidence. I would always looking for a breakthrough Like this flash of inspiration from a podcast or from a book to give me the confidence to go and do the thing. But here's the thing with confidence Confidence appears after you take the action, not before. And it's interesting that the actual word confidence it comes from Latin, confiderelli, which then was then transferred into French a couple of hundred years ago. The word confidence and Confiderelli means intense trust. So con means intense, fidere means trust, so confidence means having intense trust in yourself.

Speaker 2: 19:28

How do we develop intense trust in ourselves? By keeping the promises that we make to ourselves. And that's why, when you see someone who has run a marathon or someone who has lost lots of weight or someone who has overcome their habits, they're not confident because they've got the medal or because they look good naked or because they don't need to drink alcohol anymore. They're confident because they have this tense trust in themselves. So they have the intense trust in themselves because of all those micro decisions, all those moments when they thought do I go for the training run or do I lie in bed? Do I have the drink or do I have the soft drink? Do I have the pizza or do I have those salad? All those micro crossroads that we have every single day, every decision that we make. Am I going to choose purpose? Am I going to choose pleasure? And by making the right choice, time and time again, that's how we get confidence. And so, yes, it's a runny across the Sahara desert. It gave me a huge amount of confidence. But what really gave me confidence was getting to the start line, because when I signed up for this race, I literally took my credit card out, put it down, signed up for the race. I'd only run one marathon in my life before then. At that time I was unfit, overweight, I couldn't run around the block and I had to go from there to world's toughest ultramarathon in a space of 18 months. So I told my wife I was like hey, honey, how was your day? Good, good, well, my day was interesting. Yeah, I had a meeting and then then saw a friend for lunch, signed up for the world's toughest foot race, and then I came home early and she burst into tears and she was like you're going to die, because people do die on this race.

Speaker 2: 21:15

It's 300 kilometers, over 200 miles, hottest place on the planet, even hotter than Death Valley. At that time of the year, water is rationed. You have to carry all of your food for the week on your back, all of your clothes, everything Like it's none of this kind of go back to the hotel every night for a shower and a change. I was allowed to take one pair of underwear and imagine how you feel after a run. I won't paint the whole image, but kind of, when you go for a run around the block, you're quite like a shower on a warm summer's day, running a marathon every day through sand, in temperatures that are over 55 degrees, over 125 Fahrenheit, and you can't even change your underwear and have a shower. You have to sleep in the dirt. Get up the next day, run another marathon. Sleep in the dirt, get up the next day, run another marathon with this small amount of calories that you're carrying on your back.

Speaker 2: 22:11

But it was the journey to get to the start line that gave me a lot of my confidence. And then it's about the comparison and the scale, because you think to yourself a marathon's a crazy distance until you've done an ultramarathon and then a marathon doesn't seem so scary. It's just like for anyone else Writing an essay feels scary until you've written a chapter of a book. Going on a date feels scary until you've actually had a relationship. Walking into a gym is scary for the first time, but then, once you start going, it doesn't feel so scary anymore. So a lot of that is defeating the fears that try and hold us back, because we all try and hold ourselves back from greatness, from achievement. That's what our brains try and do. Our brains are designed to keep us safe, not to have us achieve our goals. So it's always taking those steps choosing purpose over pleasure, choosing growth over comfort that then build that confidence within us in the middle of a race, right In the middle of these marathons.

Speaker 1: 23:14

Okay, you're 100 miles in. Maybe you're 150 miles in. Whatever the case may be, what is the mindset that's keeping you from stopping Right? I know probably the main thing you wanna do is stop. What keeps you going? What keeps you from actually stopping?

Speaker 2: 23:37

It's a great question and there were not much. It's the short answer. I did wanna stop. There's no kind of like like bravado. Everyone's like, yeah, push through it. I know you know, if I was David Goggins or if I was Jocko, I'd be saying like, fight harder and eat the pain. But I like talking about hearing the real world with real people. There's always that desire to stop. There's always that desire to quit.

Speaker 2: 24:02

There's two aspects for me that really keep pushing me forward. I mean so many examples, again through the Sahara Desert. It was on the fifth day. There's what they call the double marathon day, so you use two marathons in a row. So I was running nonstop for like 18 hours. I'd run all day. I was running all night in the middle of the Sahara Desert. They said the closest person to me was actually up in the International Space Station. That's how remote it was. It was a crazy place to be and I wanted to quit. I was running low on water, I was dehydrated, I was broken, my toenails had fallen off all these things.

Speaker 2: 24:42

But the two things that kept me going was, firstly, thinking about the pain of regret. So it's a bit of a cliche, but I knew I was in pain. Now I knew if I quit then I'd be pain forever. I'd always be wondering what if? Could you have got a bit further, could you have got a bit more? Could you have pushed yourself? So, thinking about that short-term cost versus the long-term cost. Right now I'm getting that short-term cost, that short-term pain, but if I accept it, if I give in to it, then I'm gonna have pain for the rest of my life, which is something that I didn't want.

Speaker 2: 25:20

The second part and this is what I talk about with my clients and with my program, the Conker Group it's about creating that new version of yourself, and I thought about that old version of me, the version of me who was one of life's victims, who didn't feel confident, who was an imposter, who was unfit, who was overweight, who was addicted, depressed. I thought about that old version of me and then I thought about who do I actually want to become? Who is the version of me who is bold, who is confident, whose kids would look up to him and actually say my dad is my hero and they'd be telling their friends at school like, wow, can you guess what my dad did? And everything else? Someone who my wife would actually want to talk to again, someone who actually wants to look at himself in the mirror, and I thought this is your time. Are you going to go back to that old version of you or are you going to kill that old version of you? Are you going to bury him in the desert and walk forward and run forward to be that new version of you?

Speaker 2: 26:26

And that's the aspect I found, because at that moment we all dwell on our failures in life. We all think, oh, here we go again. I've messed this up in the past, I'm going to mess up again. Things always go wrong for me. I've tried this in the past and it hasn't worked.

Speaker 2: 26:42

But I thought to myself it doesn't matter how many times you've failed, it doesn't matter how many times you've screwed up, messed up, effed up. It's all been a disaster. You only need to get it right once. Then you win, then your life changes forever. And I thought at that moment my failures of the past don't matter anymore. I can't judge my current success based on the previous version of me, because I'm not that person anymore. If I can just get this right once, if I can just keep going just once, then I knew that life was going to change forever. So I think that's the key point to always think it doesn't matter what you've done, what life has done to you. If you keep moving forward and just remember that you just need to get it right once, then you win the game and everything changes 100% man.

Speaker 1: 27:32

That mindset is amazing. It's a level of being present and, in the moment too, of like I just need to do it one time, right, exactly.

Speaker 2: 27:44

Because we always say how do I do this? How do you run across a desert? How do I lose weight? How do I get more confident? How do I achieve my goals? That's not the right question. The question we should be asking is who do I need to be to achieve these goals? Because we could all become that new version of ourselves.

Speaker 2: 28:01

As I say, it's never too late to be the person that you're always meant to be. And that's when I tried to, when I failed so many diets in the past. I failed so many exercises, every exercise routine. My closet is full of all exercise DVDs that I would buy and then not use. I tried to stop drinking, stop using drugs so many times.

Speaker 2: 28:24

It wasn't until I created this new version of myself. I said right, I've got the old version of me. If I want to be this new me, this happy, confident, successful version of me, then I can't do that stuff anymore. And it's the famous quote that if you want the things you've never had before, then you must do the things you've never done before. And if I wanted that happiness, the confidence, the career success, the approval of my wife, the love of my children, if I wanted all those things I'd never had before. I was going to have to do something that I had never done before, which was change my habits, change my mindset, get new knowledge and actually implement and apply those things every single day.

Speaker 1: 29:11

And I mean what you spoke about is letting go A lot of times. We just need to let go of the old identity. Let delete the context, delete some apps out of your phone right, delete some of the old habits that we have, and just letting it go so that we can allow new things to come in.

Speaker 2: 29:34

And you're so right. And one area that I used to get in the trap of I was thinking I always thought I needed more. I needed another program, another book, another five step process, another blueprint, another another, another, another, everything. But that isn't the case and the way it was described to me by an older mentor that I used to have. Imagine a sculptor, imagine someone like Michelangelo, one of the great sculptors, with a block of marble. If he wanted to create an amazing statue, he didn't keep piling on more marble. Let's get some more blocks of marble. So we've got all the marble in the world. He actually took away, he chiseled away 90% of that marble. He removed almost everything, but what was left was a timeless masterpiece, was an amazing statue, an amazing work of art. But we don't treat our lives like that. We always try to put in another app. I'll read another book. All these things, more, more, more. It's only when we remove 90% of it. That's when we can create that masterpiece of our life.

Speaker 1: 30:41

Man, so many gyms, man, people need to. It's a lot of gyms here. Okay, I wanna end on this, because this is a really great mindset. We talk about fear and we talk about pain and going through it. You said an example. You said, hey, the pain that I feel right now is nowhere near to the pain that I will feel for the rest of my life if I stop or if I don't just deal with the pain that I'm dealing with right now. That mindset of choosing your pain, it's something that is, I think, when you talk about wins and we talk about small wins, that create confidence, a lot of times we regret the things that we quit, we regret the things that we did not do out of getting out of that fear right now, and I think that is so deep and something that we can stay conscious of on a daily basis.

Speaker 2: 31:51

Honestly, A very quick story for you, if I may, and I 100% agree with everything that you're saying. And the way this was taught to me was it was actually my dad taught me this lesson, and the sad part of the story is that he had to teach me this lesson by dying. And the big part of the story for me was again. Five years ago I was in an office in the UK hungover. We've all been there when you're slumped in your desk with your chin in your hand and you're kind of tapping on a keyboard just thinking, oh, five o'clock, come around quickly. And then the phone rang and this was saying your dad's in the hospital. I kind of had to do the thing that no one really wants to do. Why? I just walked out of the office with my suit and my laptop bag, jumped in my car, drove 300 miles and I had that day when I had a normal hungover lunchtime. By 6 pm that night I kissed my dad on the forehead and I watched him die.

Speaker 2: 32:58

And I always think back to that moment because, as I said, my life was a mess on that day. He didn't know he was going to die that day. He started that day like a day and his death was sudden and it was brutal and it was fast. I always think there would have been a moment that afternoon when he would have thought to himself oh shit, today's my last day, time is up, I'm not getting out of this. And I always think. What regrets did he have? What were the things that went through his mind? What were all the conversations he never had? What were all the arguments he never resolved? What were all the fears he never overcame? What were all the doubts that he never solidified and overcame in his mind? What were all the things he didn't do? And that's kind of to bring it back to what I was saying at the start.

Speaker 2: 33:50

For me it's not about the crazy adventures, the crazy challenges. I know people would listen to what I say and be like that guy's crazy. I don't want to do that, but that's what I say. It's about time. It's about living a life without regret and that's what really put me on. This mission is to help people do the things that they think they couldn't do, because I don't want anybody to be like my dad was, to suddenly find themselves on the very last day of their life and saying to them oh, if only I'd had a bit more confidence, if only I'd had someone to help me, if only I'd had a bit more time, if only I'd had a bit more skills, if only my mindset was better. And that's why it's my mission to give people everything they need to help them live that life of regret and to help them achieve extraordinary things. Everyone deserves that. Everyone deserves to live a life of their dreams, and that's what I want to do 100%.

Speaker 1: 34:41

That's where your purpose was born. It was.

Speaker 2: 34:45

It just sounded like he had to die. But then I think we talk about pain in our life. It's either a lesson or a blessing. Sometimes the worst things in our life have to happen to teach us what we need to learn, and it's obviously sad that that was the case. But again I was thinking am I gonna be a victim to this or am I gonna say right, this is gonna be the moment when I choose to be who I know I can be, and I still try to live that moment now, every single day.

Speaker 1: 35:14

Wow, I love that. Wow, Brett, you man, you've given some gold here and I want people to continue to get some golden nuggets from you and continue to follow you on your journey. What love for you to share, hey. How can folks continue to find you on your journey? How can people get in touch with you and learn more about Freddie Bennett?

Speaker 2: 35:40

Perfect. Let's keep it simple. The easiest way to find me is on Instagram. At the freddybennett, there's the F-R-E-D-D-I-E, b-e-n-e-t at the freddybennett. As I say, I have an ongoing program, the Conquer program, which we have an amazing group program taking place, and I do some one-to-one coaches as well, but this is all about knowledge, mindset and habits. It's about removing so much of what gets people stuck. It's about getting people out of their own way, giving them everything they need to, as I like to say, to get unstuck, unfucked and unleashed, because that's what it's all about. Life is too short to do anything else and we're getting some amazing results there, with people truly are changing their lives and being the person that they want to be, and it gives me so much joy to be able to do that 100%.

Speaker 1: 36:39

I know we talked about it before. It's not just. You don't see it as just a program, you see it as a lifestyle and as a lifestyle change.

Speaker 2: 36:47

Yeah, 100% yeah, because again, there's so many 90 day this and 12 week that and six week that I believe to truly transform our life. Why would you only want to change your life for 90 days and then go back to your old ways? This is about helping people to totally change the way they think. Everything on the surface and again I know where we're pushed for time it's something that I call anabolic thinking. The whole concept of anabolic thinking is what I developed is everyone makes downstream changes. We will make a little change to the diet, a little change to the sleep, a little change to the exercise, because we're making changes based on how we feel. Anabolic think is about making the upstream changes. Say, let's change how we think, how you perform, and this is what I get so passionate about.

Speaker 2: 37:36

Anyone can perform well when you've had your eight hours sleep and you've read your book and you've had a lovely day at work and you've had a nice salad and the kids have been good and you've got your favorite life coach just stroking your hair and feeding your mineral water.

Speaker 2: 37:51

Anyone can perform well on that day. I care about the days when you've had a terrible night's sleep, when your partner's not talking to you, when your kid's being sick on the backseat, when your boss is shouting at you, when you haven't had time for lunch, when your house is a mess, when you're worried about your mortgage and your future and your deadlines and your family. Can you perform on those days? Those are the days that I care about, because life is chaos and so many other people out there pretend that it isn't. It's how you can perform at your best, how you can conquer your mindset, how you can conquer your life, and all around you is falling apart. And if we can change how you think, then you will perform at your best, no matter how you're feeling on that day, no matter what is going on around you. And that's what we do in the Conker Group. We help you absolutely conquer your life, conquer your goals, get unstuck and get unleashed. I love that.

Speaker 1: 38:45

I love that. But, fred, you're an example of honestly living and practicing what you preach, and not just the like you said, just the platitudes of just go hard or just go that we hear a lot in the social media Instagram reels world. You actually have lived it. So I appreciate you coming on the show and I appreciate you sharing your heart.

Speaker 2: 39:15

Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure to be on here. I'm a big fan of the show and, yeah, can't wait to see what everyone else could achieve next. 100%.