Interview with Shaun Kay of SMILE teachers from a cafe in tropical Bali
From Shaun: In 2016, I was a broken and defeated young teacher who had fallen victim to the impact of burnout and mental illness. My relationships with those around me were compromised, but more importantly my relationship with myself was killing me. My soul was crushed and I was a shell of the inspirational teacher I aspired to be.
The self-doubt, pity, worry and anxiety that had manifested was draining me of all my energy resulted in a lost sense of purpose and direction. I lacked courage, perspective and resilience and this left me feeling empty, isolated and with no sense of fulfilment.
3 years later...
I am now the proud and inspired leader and founder of Smile Teachers...
Through the pain and adversity of being at rock bottom I had no other option but to get up and grow, and during this transformational process I discovered the the greatest gift of all... SELF-LOVE.
From being medicated for anxiety and depression where I couldn't manage to get out of bed in the morning to becoming a keynote speaker and facilitator who is now passionately sharing the gifts of self-love and empowerment with educators.
I believe when we have more connected, conscious and high vibration educators we positively impact student's on a far deeper level and by doing this we spark positive change that goes far beyond the classroom, but is truly the ripple effect that changes the course of humanity.
SMILE provides an inspiring and powerful learning platform for educators of all ages to grow professionally and most importantly personally. We facilitate life changing experiences that empower you to take control of your physical and mental health, enabling you to be the best version of yourself.
We understand the challenges a teacher faces just like the air we breathe and we are excited to tackle them as a wonderful team and work with you to achieve your greatest goals and dreams. SMILE Teachers are a dynamic partnership of youth and wisdom who have extensive experience in education, well-being and leadership.
We want you to join us in becoming the most powerful educators on the planet!
To find out more about Smile Teachers, visit: https://www.smileteachers.com.au/
Interview with Shaun Kay of SMILE teachers from a cafe in tropical Bali
From Shaun: In 2016, I was a broken and defeated young teacher who had fallen victim to the impact of burnout and mental illness. My relationships with those around me were compromised, but more importantly my relationship with myself was killing me. My soul was crushed and I was a shell of the inspirational teacher I aspired to be.
The self-doubt, pity, worry and anxiety that had manifested was draining me of all my energy resulted in a lost sense of purpose and direction. I lacked courage, perspective and resilience and this left me feeling empty, isolated and with no sense of fulfilment.
3 years later...
I am now the proud and inspired leader and founder of Smile Teachers...
Through the pain and adversity of being at rock bottom I had no other option but to get up and grow, and during this transformational process I discovered the the greatest gift of all... SELF-LOVE.
From being medicated for anxiety and depression where I couldn't manage to get out of bed in the morning to becoming a keynote speaker and facilitator who is now passionately sharing the gifts of self-love and empowerment with educators.
I believe when we have more connected, conscious and high vibration educators we positively impact student's on a far deeper level and by doing this we spark positive change that goes far beyond the classroom, but is truly the ripple effect that changes the course of humanity.
SMILE provides an inspiring and powerful learning platform for educators of all ages to grow professionally and most importantly personally. We facilitate life changing experiences that empower you to take control of your physical and mental health, enabling you to be the best version of yourself.
We understand the challenges a teacher faces just like the air we breathe and we are excited to tackle them as a wonderful team and work with you to achieve your greatest goals and dreams. SMILE Teachers are a dynamic partnership of youth and wisdom who have extensive experience in education, well-being and leadership.
We want you to join us in becoming the most powerful educators on the planet!
To find out more about Smile Teachers, visit: https://www.smileteachers.com.au/
Elizabeth Diacos: 0:01
Welcome to the "Get out of Teaching" podcast presented by Larksong Enterprises. I'm your host, Elizabeth Diacos. On the show, we'll look at the who, what, why, where, when and how of moving out of your Education career and into a life you love. We'll meet ex-teachers, delve into what we love about teaching and how to translate that into something new. We will talk to people who can support and inspire us as we make the transition and work on identifying the legacy we want to leave in the world. So come along for the ride as we Get out of Teaching.
Elizabeth Diacos: 0:39
Episode 5... Hi, everyone and welcome to the show. Today's guest on the "Get out of Teaching" podcast is Shaun Kay from "Smile teachers" whose hailing, as you can see from Bali and I'm so super jealous right now. So, Shaun...a very, very warm welcome to you. Thanks for joining me on the show today.
Shaun Kay: 0:57
Thank you so much for having me. I'm looking forward to sharing more and hopefully inspiring a few people.
Elizabeth Diacos: 1:03
Great. So you're an ex-teacher? What got you into teaching in the first place?
Shaun Kay: 1:11
To be honest, I've always had this calling to help people, and..initially, what got me into teaching was that I needed to find a career and I started working heavily in the sporting industry, where I was always coaching, teaching...I was an athlete and, then I guess, working with students and athletes to better themselves in the sporting arena. I got to probably I think about 22, 23 and everybody had always been saying to me, you know, you'd make a great teacher, you'd be so good at it. Why don't you just be a teacher, and It was kind of like I was on this trajectory to do work in the sporting arena. And it felt like I was never going to get to where I wanted to, because it was just so competitive. And that was, to be honest, it was a little bit of like a... well, what's my plan B, teaching,! So I went into teaching. I was really fortunate that my prac placements were at a very good school. The top public school in Australia actually so I got a lot of good experience there.
Elizabeth Diacos: 2:14
Where was that, what state were you in?
Shaun Kay: 2:15
That was Shenton College in Western Australia. It's an independent public school that I think in terms of top school, that's all based on your results and things. But they seem to have that claim to fame, year after year. Really good school, big school, excellent staff. I had a great PE department which I was obviously working in, but just didn't have a permanent position and I went through that battle that a lot of teachers go through of, like trying to find a permanent, being casual, dancing around and I'd basically been promised that if I did another year of casual, I get a permanent position. But then another opportunity came up to work in a very unique programme that was for disadvant... ooh sorry, disengaged students and it was hosted through all the big sporting bodies across Australia and in Perth, in the state. And my programme was originally partnered with Cricket Australia, so I had 20 about 20...16, 17-year-olds, predominantly boys that were, it was almost like they were on their last chance. They had come to us with failing subjects, not engaged low attendance and I really had a lot of autonomy and flexibility to run that programme how I wanted This's when all of my, I guess, passion started for, you know, the human mind and what's actually going on in there. And how do we get these kids motivated and engaged and, you know, I'll share more about my story later, but that job was something I really loved. And, I had the same group of boys and girls every day of the year, so I got really close with them and, I did, I loved teaching, I loved what I was doing, because I did, I had that flexibility to integrate personal development. Spirituality. Education and there was like multiple layers to that and it showed, like, my attendance, my graduation rates. Everything was sky-high because I knew that this stuff worked and, I guess now I've basically been out of teaching for 12 to 18 months and I'm still teaching. I'm teaching teachers have just changed... You know the context. I'm still a teacher. It's just doing it in a different way,
Elizabeth Diacos: 4:31
Right... So you have only been out for quite a short time. Just hang on one second. Sorry, my dog's decided to start barking.
Shaun Kay: 4:38
That's ok, I thought the dogs here would be in first, 'cause there's there's a puppy running around that...
Elizabeth Diacos: 4:43
I see you've only been out of teaching for a short time.
Shaun Kay: 4:47
Yes. So basically, at the end of 2018 unfortunately, I had a very, let's say, difficult boss who, even though I was changing lives and making a big difference to these students ...He didn't like the fact that I was starting this passion project which is Smile Teachers and unfortunately in a very, let's say, disappointing and upsetting way we parted ways... And I had to leave behind a lot of students that I'd built really strong relationships with. But that was the end of 2018 and in 2019, for the first few months, I was doing casual and just trying to figure out what to do, I had this passion project. Did I go all into that? But I still needed to...
Elizabeth Diacos: 5:33
You were still in Western Australia then?
Shaun Kay: 5:35
Yeah, I was still in Perth. I was travelling 45 minutes every day to do relief at this school that was basically just looking me for many days as I wanted ..It was really, it was a very difficult time. It was, like very draining. Very... Unfulfilling... I was questioning myself a lot and I remember that the final day of term one in 2019, I sat in the car in the car park after school and I said, I'm never coming back to this school again. There were a few reasons, but I was just like, I just can't keep doing this to myself. And so what I did was, I went back to my parent's farm, which is out of Perth. I moved all my stuff back there, basically said, like "Look, I need to really set my self up for success and I need to take some time to actually get clear on what that looks like. I'm going to move back here, potentially work at the local school and build a solid foundation over six months" And then the universe has a funny way of... It's not funny because it's real, I totally believe it and get it, but a funny way of going (swiping sound) That's not what you're doing! Like we've got a better plan for you. And I took some time out to "go bush". No laptop. Np phone, nothing... just walking in the bush, meditating, doing all the things that I do... for a few days, and I came back to an email from principal from Hayman Island State School and, so this was in the Whitsunday's, on a small remote island. Five students and they basically wanted me to teach part-time while living in this Paradise island. And I think you can imagine I didn't have to think about it...
Elizabeth Diacos: 7:13
Sounds amazing!
Shaun Kay: 7:16
...but I just knew internally, I didn't think about the logistics. I just thought what do I need right now. And it was like, I need time to go away and actually work on myself while I have a bit of income and cash flow. And so, within a week of moving home with my parents, I was then telling them "I'm moving to Queensland.. Hayman Island", which was the best thing that could have possibly happened to me. It was six months of, like me working on me, and doing a lot of the work that I talk about with the self love and the inquiry and going within and actually figuring out who Shaun was, and what my purpose was and how I wanted to show up. It was November last year, so the end of 2019. I was like, Okay, I've done my six months of Hayman Island. They had a position for me this year, but I was like, No, that's it. I'm exactly where I need to be. I've been planning to move to Bali for, Ah, five years and it's, it's finally here. I'm living in Bali. I'm running my dream business. I'm leading retreats and workshops and courses that change lives. And that's what I've always wanted to do. So it's actually a month. Then I could say a month that I've been out of teaching. But it's been something that I've been working on for a long time.
Elizabeth Diacos: 8:33
Right. Okay, so, so you said that you had some difficult, sort of, work situations. What was your tipping point? The thing that... what was the catalyst that day in the car park?
Shaun Kay: 8:47
the big catalyst came before a car park is in another car park. Actually, fourth year teaching, I had the breakdown of all breakdowns. It was relationship break down. It was my own breakdown... everything just became this cataclysmic event that caused me to really lose my sense of self, my sense of purpose. I recall and really speak about this in my keynotes that I do where I was curled up in a ball on my parents floor at 26. Absolutely broken, fragmented, like just a complete show of who I wanted to be and how I wanted to show up. And, I had that group of 20 students that, y'know looked up to me and respected me. But I was just putting on this mask for like days on end, where I was burning the wick at both ends. I woke up a couple of weeks prior to that, and I was basically thinking, You know, how healthy, am I? I'd literally lost so much weight. I wasn't training. I didn't have energy. I wasn't feeling fulfilled and purposeful and I wasn't having good relationships with anybody, like really in my life and It was that moment that I was back home. I'd taken extended leave, I'd called in that morning extremely upset and having to tell my boss like, "Look, I just I just can't I just can't come in" ...like, and I was like, emotional, I was crying and I was like "I just just just just and I like couldn't even get it out and I was so highly strung and fortunately, he well, he kind of had to... but he was very supportive and said, you know, take the time you need, we've got our Employee Assistance Programme if you need it. But just, you know, don't worry about today. Don't worry about this week...Just just take your time and yeah, there was this one pivotal moment where I actually, when I was in that sort of crisis... I had an uncle who was dying from terminal cancer on and like, he, passed six months after that moment. But my dad encouraged me to go and spend some time with him instead of moping around the house, being, you know, sad and depressed. And he really, basically was the catalyst that said, "Hey, your life's not that bad. You know, you've got so much to look forward to. You're only 26 you're gonna have other relationships. Maybe you're not in the correct career, but career's such a insignificant thing, like there's so many things you could do. And that was the real tipping point that made me sort of like, wake up and go.... This is not how life's meant to be, and I'm determined to figure this out and do something about it and you know, I could spend all day talking about it, But I literally went down the rabbit hole and I've put things in my body that I, you know, wanted to try and test..I've put hoses in places that they shouldn't go. I literally worked with some of the best gurus and instructors all over the world because I was determined to figure out why it came to this and how to help other people avoid it. But also move away from that and, yeah, little life of freedom and joy and actual purpose and fulfilment
Elizabeth Diacos: 12:06
So just remember, this is a G rated programme. So no hoses where they're not meant to be.
Shaun Kay: 12:11
I didn't tell them where the hoses were going, so leave that up to the imagination!
Elizabeth Diacos: 12:12
All good... Okay, so you had this moment of real clarity, I suppose, and then you had to start making the change. So what? What were you... What were your fears around? That what you afraid off as you embarked on that journey,
Shaun Kay: 12:38
Um, initially, I was quite comfortable telling people about what I was going through, which I think was probably the biggest success factor in the actually healing was owning it. I'm telling my friends, telling my family, sharing it with colleagues that, you know, I wasn't okay and I was going through some healing and it was going to take time. That was probably the biggest I guess, refresher. If you want to call that, or the most, I guess a positive thing that I could have done...'cause for so long. I'd held onto it. And, you know, I speak about a lot in our workshops and retreats when we're not owning it. It's like pushing a tennis ball underwater and that tennis ball just wants to come back to the surface. And it's like we're using all this energy and all this, you know, thoughts and processes to keep that thing down there... Just owning it initially, it was a big catalyst for getting past that fear of, like, what are people going to think? I'm this depressed mess that you know, can't show up, can't teach properly. And people are gonna judge me because I'm not, you know, mentally fit for But I guess the initial fears were ah, you know how quickly I could move out of that space. Like, how long was I going to be stuck in this negative spiral? And it did take 6 to 12 months to fully get myself out of it, and probably just fears around, you know? I don't know. I guess not...Not showing up like as the person that I knew I could be.. like, there were days in the classroom where I just knew I didn't want to be there, like I just... I knew that as much as I loved my students and I really did love them a lot. There were days where I was just like "how quickly can I get out of here" like I was just was ticking down the time...like I just knew....
Elizabeth Diacos: 14:29
So was there a sort of ...you talked before about a mask. Was there this inauthenticity?
Shaun Kay: 14:36
Definitely, definitely. And now I'm always talking about authenticity and being open and honest and living with an open heart. But back then, I really wasn't doing it on and I feel like this.... this happens a lot, not just for teachers, but for a lot of people. It's like when we're wearing that mask of who we want to be... It's not who we're pretending to be... It's who we really, truly want to be...that gap also causes us a lot of stress and anxiety. Well, we know that, holy shit... I've got a long way to get from where I am here to.. being n person in reality. But I think the counterbalance to that is actually owning: Look, I'm not okay right now, I'm going through something. It's going to take time and I had some pretty... because I was so close with these students and , they're adults, like, they're 17 years old... they knew that I wasn't myself...and I didn't stand at the front of the class and go, "Hey, guys I'm", Like, you know, I had a few conversations with them. I was like, look, I am going through some stuff at the moment, and, y'know, I know you guys are feelin' it , but I'm going to be okay because, like, I had a couple of students that I was really close with come to me and just be like Shaun like we just wanted to actually check, like, Is everything all right like, we... you're away last week and that it really seen you? And I was like, Yeah, I'm going through some stuff, but I'll be okay. And I actually like being here with you guys because it does help me, and it's giving me that motivation. But, yeah, I just I really find probably not getting stuck with those thoughts about the fears and the anxieties of scarcity is the big catalyst , is like...if you can move away from that and start to focus on what is working. I think that's the biggest, biggest thing.
Elizabeth Diacos: 16:27
That was my next question. What ...what advice would you give to someone who is feeling stuck?
Shaun Kay: 16:34
The first, the number one thing is, to... and everybody talks about... ask for help. But I would just say, "Own it" like just own it to the point where, it's a common thing for you to say, Look, I'm not okay. For you to... Whether it's your boss, whether it's your family, whether it's your partner, it's normally the people closest to us that we have the biggest block to actually telling. But it's when we tell them that we get the most freedom and then the most support and the people that genuine...genuinely care about us, have got our back and then I just, you know, I just had friends that are really close schoolmates, that I'm still very good friends with now at 29 but still so close. But I just had them saying, "Hey, man, just come around tonight Well, let's just let's just catch up" And they would, you know, they didn't really know how to approach it, but it'd just be something subtle like we'd be talking and they've got... "Look, if you if you need, if you ever need, if you need a friend like just, just call me, man like...If you want to come stay here you can". But if I had have kept that in and being like I'm just goin' to, keep hanging out with them and not be myself and not engage and I didn't really want to socialise , I would have felt more isolated. And as we as most of us know, loneliness is like the biggest... I guess... what's the word? like limit or it's the thing that affects us the most is loneliness.
Elizabeth Diacos: 18:04
Well, when i I started the Get out of Teaching Facebook Group that's been one of the biggest comments people say is ...I realised I'm not the only one. I'm not alone in this, and it's like a revelation for them, they don't... they thought were the only one who felt like that, So yeah, I totally get that. So, so did you have to do any kind of training or extra study ,like, Well, maybe you should tell us what you're doing now and then tell us what pathway took to get there.
Shaun Kay: 18:31
Okay. So at the moment. Primary...I guess... offering, or thing that I do, is offer these retreats. So, Bali, we've done three retreats now, all for teachers... Noosa in Queensland in April, Bali in July and then India in September this year. Basically, that retreat is like an...a full immersion into the work that I've been doing as well as collaborations with other people who have helped me. So, I generally only bring in people who I've actually worked with. So they've helped me on my journey. For example, Shubo, who is an Indian guru ...he's studied with the Masters, he's in India at the moment, working with Satya Guru who's a mystic and he's all over YouTube if people have ever seen Satya Guru. But basically Shubo comes in and leads people through joyful meditation, gratitude meditation and forgiveness. There was a lot of work around forgiveness... I had to give myself for a lot of the damage that I've done. A lot of damage I've done to other people. But then also forgiving the other people for what they done to me and there was some really fundamental practises that I went through where... it's interesting. .You don't actually see any of these people in real life. It's like you're actually doing this exercise yourself internally. That had a very powerful impact on me, and I know that at a massive impact on the teachers on our recent retreat. So there's a lot around forgiveness.
Shaun Kay: 20:00
Ah, a lot of breath work, which I'm actually... in April this year, finishing my breath work facilitator training... and most people in Australia and even in the.. America, in the western world, they've never heard of breath work. Wow, what is breath work? Is it just breathing? And I'm like, it's one of the only proven strategies for release in trauma and to explain it really simply the first time I did it, I had this huge release, emotional release ,release, tears, feeling parts of my body open up that had never opened up before. To be honest, when people are doing it can look like a bit of the exorcism like it's, it's insane how powerful this stuff is. But again, it's been around for thousands and thousands of years. Where they've used breath work as a modality for healing trauma and y'know just yesterday I was talking to a guy who was suffering from IBS for, I think, from the age of 14 to 47 he was suffering from IBS and he discovered breathwork, and after doing breathwork constantly for 3 to 6 months. No more IBS, like, it's incredibly powerful.
Shaun Kay: 21:06
And now the breath work, I integrate uh, for students... I come out to schools and I lead workshops...really simple stuff, like really basic strategies for them to regulate emotions. So I call it a meta-moment, like a student's having this meta-moment where they're really worked up, and...y'know, teachers have them as well, and we're really worked up, and we're up here in our thinking brain, trying to think our way out of what's happening. But what we really need to do is, we need to feel, and the way that we feel is we connect to the breath, and then the more that we do this breathing pattern, we start to feel into the parts of us that we've probably been ignoring and then all of a sudden that that sore hip starts to release and it starts, that connective tissue starts to open up and for those that know trauma, we know that the connective tissue's what remembers the trauma and holds on to it, so the breath work's probably the number one thing that I honestly believe helped heal me and is helping other people as well, so breath work, working with collaborators who understand your stuff better than me. Whether that's meditation self-love, joy and it really is about, I think, connection and co-creating, like, teachers work in silos a lot and you know, a lot of teachers think that the way they do things is better than how everybody else does it... And so they keep it to themselves, and they end up feeling more isolated and disconnected rather than co-creating. So it's the same with the work I do. I I'm on a mission in 2020 to co-create with people, So it's collaborating with people like yourself, something as simple as a podcast where, y' know we have that ripple effect where my community is going to see this and your community is going to see this. And then we'll start to build a bigger community...
Elizabeth Diacos: 22:53
Absolutely. So, So when you were on your way out and you worked with these other, sort of, people that you collaborated with... people who you were training with... Were there any sort of formal qualifications? Like what...did you go to Uni or anything like that?
Shaun Kay: 23:10
So meditation...transcendental meditation, which is a special form of single point focused meditation. The breath work. You have to do 'x' amount of hours to even go on, to do the accreditator training. So, completing a lot of that breath work, and then most of the actual training and knowledge is just the research and the courses and programmes that I've done online. So whether it's Tony Robbins Mind Valley with Visha (??) and we're working on a potential collaboration with Mind Valley, which is huge because they're the ones that are really on the forefront of revolutionising education globally
Shaun Kay: 23:49
Well, there's a whole list of other things as well. Over here in Bali, some of the trainings and certifications that I've gone and done around joy and embodiment...embodiment practises which again is about feeling, rather than thinking...
Elizabeth Diacos: 0:00
How did you find all these, like all this stuff you're talking about, is like, not really in my sort of circle, so where did you discover this from?Well, to be honest, This is where I can go a bit "Woo-woo" on people, but I trust and believe that the universe is going to bring me what I need at the right time. So, for instance, like anybody that spends an extensive time in Bali and not just in holiday mode, like actually we are working on themselves, on their business will understand this ...where the right people will show up and it's like, you know, I've been having a conversation with somebody about..so this was very early on in the Smile Teachers ...This was early July 2018. I was trying to figure out the framework that I was going to use to help teachers move away from stress and anxiety and burnout and to a better mindset, creativity, more flow. And so I'm sitting in a cafe, talking to the general manager of our resort. He hears about my "why", my vision, my purpose. And he connects me with Daniel Friedland, who's a guy based in San Diego, who happened to be staying at the same resort and who had built a framework and being delivering it all over the world, for people to move away from stress and anxiety to abundance, health and happiness. So then I connected with Daniel, Daniel was like, "Here's my story". It was very similar to mine. Here's my framework. Here's my research. Here's the 26,000 studies that have quoted my work. Use the framework...do whatever you need to do with it So what I've done is I've converted his...His is very much a corporate and medical sort of approach. Everything's transferrable to teaching. And so I've transferred a lot of it to teaching so that that's learning and development in itself. It's like, I've then taken that, I jump on calls like this with Daniel regularly to figure it out more and implement it and, like "Teaching Well from Within", which is one of my signature programmes and keynotes is all about how to move yourself away from reactivity to creativity and it's a four-step process that's really simple, and that came to me because I was in the right place at the right time talking to the right person. And this happens every day here, like I meet people every day, who are like "What you're doing sounds awesome. Like, I know this person that I need to connect you with" and so whether it's, like there's another podcast next week with a lady in Vancouver in Canada. And that was simply just somebody who'd seen me present and was like, I need to connect you with Shay in the U K, and in the U. S. Is Veronica and I just have a conversation and then they're like, "Oh, I want you to be on my podcast" that goes out to tens of thousands of people..
Elizabeth Diacos: 26:46
All right, well, let's hope this podcast ends up going out to tens of thousands of people that'd be...
Shaun Kay: 0:00
Always possble!
Elizabeth Diacos: 26:52
Always possible... Okay, so So now what does a day look like for you? Like What's a...? What's a great day in your life look like?
Shaun Kay: 27:00
If I'm... If I'm completely honest I am still figuring that out right now, because I have been bouncing around like so had a month in Ba... oh, sorry five weeks in Bali running the retreat building out online course . Then I went back to Australia and did a week of keynotes and presenting, and now I've come back to Bali. Got a month here before I go back to Australia and do two weeks of presenting. So I am really figuring out my my flow. But to be honest, my mornings are always where the magic happens, and I am so big on the morning routine with teachers and the people that I work with, especially my hour of power, so the first hour of the day.. that's movement, meditation and music ...have to do those things to set myself up and to find myself for the day ahead. So normally 5 a.m. to 6 a.m. is meditation, movement, music. By 6am I'm generally in my journal, and I've got eight questions that I ask myself every day and my teachers that're in my programmes do the same eight questions. And that really activates your... Tony Robbin's calls it your Reticular Activating System so that you're primed. You're ready to go. Abraham Hicks calls it your plugged in, tapped in, turned on, ready to go and then so you are conscious of like those people that are coming into your vortex, Abraham calls it, that where , you know, there's somebody over there, and all of a sudden I hear a conversation about meditation, mindfulness and... in Australia, people aren't going to go over there and be like: "Hey, heard you having a conversation about this". Because those people are gonna be like "Who's this weirdo?" But over here, I, I still do it in Australia. But people just aren't receptive. Over here I go over there and they're "Oh. thanks for asking like this's what it is", but because I'm plugged in ready to go and I'm turned on to what's happening that happens.
Elizabeth Diacos: 28:54
So it sounds like you're in an environment where that's really, that's acceptable, was or encouraged as well,
Shaun Kay: 28:59
100%. So, morning routines are so important. Generally, I start my day at 10. So my work day I start at 10. And I use, like blocks, and I try and use the "Pomodoro technique", which is basically 25 minutes of work, five minute break, 25 minutes away from the break and then 30 minute break after a couple of cycles... that sometimes works. Sometimes I get distracted 'n' procrastinate and do other things, but generally it's 10 AM until about 4 p.m that I'm working on the business and then in the evening It's always gym or yoga. I love yoga and I try and , honestly, I try and get to as many community events or engagements as possible. And again, these things happen in Australia. But you do have a search a bit harder for them. Over here, honestly, if I wanted to , there'd be something every night of the week to go to, whether it's a men's mentorship group that every Monday 30 guys get together, we all sit around a table and talk about problems and issues and emotions and like this is something that has to start happening in Australia. And we're going to start releasing this framework so other people could do this. But, it's so powerful 30 dudes sitting around a table, having a meal and then taking turns to share ..could be wins , could be losses. Could be tragedy. Could be love could be whatever and it's just sharing nonjudgmentally, there's no responses and it's just so powerful because you realise that everyone's going through their own stuff like we're going through pain, pleasure, pain, pleasure and it... Just you don't even have to say anything. You just know that you're not alone on this journey. That's just one example. There's like Toastmasters Tuesday nights, Their's different things every night of the week.
Elizabeth Diacos: 30:47
I can't believe that's happening in Bali... I just sort of thought it was, you know, a holiday destination. But it sounds like it's a huge personal development place.
Shaun Kay: 30:55
I call it (and this is like, happens to people that I know... people that are in my circle ) where they're unconsciously incompetent and they just are not tuned to this stuff, like we talked about this at men's group last week, where it's like moving to Bali, Bali can either chew you up and spit you out very quickly, or it could be the most abundant, nourishing, incredible place on the planet. And people say that people say that it's the most powerful grid on the planet, where the energy here, and the power of this place, it's like and I asked myself why, out of the 16,000 islands of Indonesia is Bali the place and it's got to be something to do with something that we can't explain. Like, you know, there's poor drainage. There's poor WiFi. There's you know, poverty, there's everything like that you could possibly...if you wanted to focus on the negative, but then when you're living here and you experience the positive like, like I genuinely have love for so many people,
Elizabeth Diacos: 31:55
Right, do you think it's a different experience to live there rather than to holiday there? Because I have holidayed there and what you just described about the drainage and the stray dogs and the dirty beaches? That's what I saw. And I y'know I've grown up on the coast of Australia and I'm just like, Why am I here? I could just go to the beach, you know, in Sydney and have just as good a holiday.
Shaun Kay: 32:16
Exactly. It's a very nurturing environment from every angle you could possibly think of. It's a very nurturing environment and you have to be able to tune into that because people need to understand that you can't just go around being ignorant to what's happening around you like if you come here on holiday, all you're gonna probably do is drink a lot, eat a lot and probably not really tune into what's actually happening and, If you're not tuned in to what's happening around you, you're not going to meet those people...you're not going to connect those bits and pieces. Ct,an we just when his pause for two seconds. I just need to ?,and hand my keys back. Alright, so did you want the next question?
Elizabeth Diacos: 33:11
OK, Shaun. So just to wrap this up, what people need to do to get in touch with you if they want to use your service and you know what would that look like for them?
Shaun Kay: 33:23
A really great question. And thank you for asking me, because I really worked hard over last month to, I guess, bring more value to the teaching community. We have our social pages. So Instagram is smile_ teachers. Facebook is smile_ teacherz. But it's got a Z on the end of teachers instead of s because it was already taken what was frustrating. But they can go to our website, which I'm sure you will share in our info. But smile teachers.com.au... But a couple of the really core things that I would encourage people watching this to reach out about is we have the Happy Teacher project which actually launches this Sunday. It's for 12 teachers only, where they get one on one access to me fortnightly , they get a group call similar to this weekly...That's basically three fundamental things. Learning to love yourself more learning to set boundaries and actually stay in your power and there's accountability and consistency for you to actually do those things. So, so far I've surveyed over 200 teachers for this project. I'm only working with those who are committed, and I've vetted them. And I've made sure that teachers are ready to do the work and actually, you know, live their life that they really deserve, not just like in this fantasy lad of "Oh, I'd like to be stress free, and I'd like to be more inspired". It's like who's ready to actually implement this? And so within that survey, though, there's some really significant feedback around loe self worth, not setting wellness goals, not even having a self care plan and the consistency piece. It's like teachers know they need to do this work, but they don't know how to do it. So. that's the Happy Teacher Project and then, the retreats...
Elizabeth Diacos: 35:15
So hang on, are you looking for more people to be part of that, or have you got...
Shaun Kay: 35:17
Yeah, we've got, we've got 11 and we've talked about.... If we do, we get more than 12 will open it to 15, but initially it's 12 and the reason that it's 12 is with this initial group, there's a lot of one on one. I work with me but what we're working towards is creating a more self paced version where there's not as much one-on-one time, but the same values. So we are looking for more teachers and If they go to our website, the first thing they see is the survey button to fill that out, and at the very least, all that's going to do is help them identify some key areas to work on, and I'll be able to give them some free resources to help them on those things.
Elizabeth Diacos: 36:00
Ok, that sounds great...This's being recorded on the 7th of February, but it probably won't go to air for a few weeks. So if they get on to your website and that's all gone, what should they do instead?
Shaun Kay: 36:14
It'll still be there. It'll still be there... So, the first lot of six... so the first 12 will start this Sunday and then, probably in another four weeks, we'll start the next, the next program...
Elizabeth Diacos: 0:00
Perfect, OK
Shaun Kay: 36:27
If for some reason we get an influx over the next few days and there's another 10 or 12 then we'll look at ...can I run two simultaneously? But that's all stuff I'll work with my coach, and this is something that I've been talking to a lot of people about... I have three coaches, one for finance, one for the business and one for personal development. And I think everybody needs a least one coach because we just don't hold ourselves accountable and in the teaching profession, when we end up stressed, when we end up tired, when we end up hungry, the first thing that goes is our own self integrity. But if you've got that person there, whether it's a "Liz" helping you to get out of teaching or whether it's me helping me to stay inspired, you need that person to just be checking in and being like, "Hey, did you did you follow through on promises you made yourself?"
Elizabeth Diacos: 37:20
That is such a powerful thing that you just said about that we let go of our personal integrity, , and I know I've done that myself, so I know exactly what you mean.
Shaun Kay: 37:29
I did it yesterday. I did it yesterday and I had to own up to my coach... and mine was related... so I've had a lot of gut health issues in the last 12 months. And just when I'm finally feel like I'm getting on top of it and I'm doing well, I go and do something stupid, like wake up yesterday and have a banana and croissant for breakfast and then have a coffee two hours later on an empty stomach. And all of a sudden I just had this big eruption of problems in my gut And, so I'm sitting there going like Shaun, you idiot. And then I'm saying to my coach, like "This is what I did. " It's about being kind to yourself, all right? That wasn't such a good idea. Get back on track now... You got that person to, literally... the coach...The best thing about the coach is that it just drowns out the noise. Because if I go, and google "gut health", I'm going to get an abundance of stuff. Whereas if I've got a coach, who just says all right today, I just want you to eat this and this, and drink a lot of water. That's it. So when I can do that...I feel like that's what teachers need the most is that one person actually hold them accountable and you need to be told what to do If you need to be taught How?
Elizabeth Diacos: 38:45
How to look after yourself...Okay, so sorry, I did interrupt you before you were talking... You talked about the happy teacher project. What was the other thing you're about to say
Shaun Kay: 38:54
Retreats. So we have a retreat every quarter this year, so far, we have Noosa in Queensland. Just after Easter... the short retreat. It's really well priced...It's going to be a beautiful experience in a beautiful mansion in the hinterlands there, and teachers can come to that it's all about nourishment. It's all about resetting after Term 1 and reconnecting with yourself and in July, Bali...big self-love retreat that is meditation, yoga, breath work... your own personal development, but also stuff for teaching, like integrating some of these practises into teaching and then we're going big , we're going huge in India in September, Like India, I'm really excited about it. It's a new project for us, but this is... it's going to be application. Only, so it's going to be only open to teachers who apply, interview and are actually committed to being an incredible teacher. So this is a lot about giving back to the community. So we're working with very underprivileged areas in India. We're actually staying in three Royal palaces. So the beauty of my guru, Shubo... is, he's from India and he has a travel company as well and so he's got these incredible hook ups so we can stay in, like, these centuries old palaces that like nobody gets access to. And so that retreat is really about education and experience. It's not really about slowing down. You do a little bit of slowing down. It's really about being out there on the forefront and seeing the world and experiencing the world. That's yeah, that's it, we've got the Happy Teacher Project and...(inaudible)
Elizabeth Diacos: 40:42
So we just say that last bit again.
Shaun Kay: 40:44
You might even catch me.at some Education conferences around Australia as well
Elizabeth Diacos: 40:48
Yeah, great. All right, well, I'll keep my eye out for that, because I'm in all those networks, So I'm always getting notified about the next conference that's coming up. Shaun, thank you so much for your time today. We've, we've covered everything from spirituality to breath, work, to self healing and nutrition. And we've run the whole gamut, and we've also talked about what it is that we need to do as teachers. If you're going to stay in the profession, how do you show up as your best self and really shine and get yourself into that flow state so that you can actually flourish in your role as a teacher. And I think you're doing some wonderful work, and I wish you every success. Thank you so much, Shaun. Thanks for coming. on the show today
Shaun Kay: 0:00
Thank you, thank you for having me on
Elizabeth Diacos: 41:37
You've been listening to the Get out of Teaching podcast presented by Larksong Enterprises with your host, Elizabeth Diacos Do you know someone else who could benefit from hearing more stories of hope and transition from teachers all around the world? Please take a moment to share this and other episodes via your podcast app. Each share helps me reach listeners just like you who could benefit from this content. The Get out of Teaching. Podcast is proud to be part of the Experts on Air Podcast network. For show notes and other resources, please visit larksong.com.au/podcast