I have seen extraordinary changes to my life and mindset over the best part of the last decade. I used to be depressed, insecure and weak minded, and I hated myself for it.

But one day enough was enough and I began to change myself. I haven't spent a huge amount of time looking back t the start of the journey up until now, but here is my take on what I was doing and what I continue to do to this day.

You have the power to change, you just need direction and a reason why.

Listen, absorb and implement this. It will change your life like it did mine.

Focus is the skill above all skills.

Where we place our focus/attention, is where we direct our energy.

We need to learn how to use our focus more effectively if we want to break old habits and patterns of behaviour.

Being able to focus and stay present is what ultimately gives us the power to take control of our decision making and build self discipline.

Learn why we need to focus & how to build the skill.

This chat was straight gold with Fergus Crawley!

Fergus is a powerlifter turned endurance athlete who has been putting himself through some mindbending challenges over the last few years. He has also raised over £50,000 for Movember while also substantially raising the awareness of the movement too.

We talked about his training and what it takes to build up a mindset like his. Fergus paid a price and earned everything he has now by regularly putting himself through tougher and tougher challenges.

So much value, so much to take and apply to your own lives.

A must listen!

A really fun and engaging chat with Nicole Vignola on the damaging effects of selfies, social media and the resulting constant state of comparison and validation.

We touch on both the theory and practical side of learning how to pull ourselves out of the addictive nature of social media and learn how to use our time more wisely. Instagram and our phones have great potential to improve our lives and help us to continuously gain knowledge and share our experiences but we need to make sure we are using them in the right way and building managing our perceptions safely too.

The positive and negative effects of social media come down to how we view them. Mediatition, asking questions and accepting yourself go a long way in terms of being able to enjoy the benefits of our smart phones without being absorbed and controlled by them.

Can't wait to get Nicole back on here for another chat!

Life is a stress inducing minefield these days. The better we can control our internal environment, the better we can navigate through life while keeping safe and happy.

We need to change our perceptions on stress and we need to look after the things going on in our head and in our lives if we are going to see success in this area.

Remember:

'Smart people solve problems, Geniuses prevent them,' - Albert Einstein

Another dig into stress and the fight or flight response.

As with all psychological and physiological processes, the better we can understand them, the more chance have of being able to work with them rather than against them.

Stress isn't inherently bad, it's our perceptions that activate the stress response that need to change. All the things that stress you are out are a choice, you can only change these choices through mastering the subconscious.

Our subconscious runs the show. Understanding its power and how it works plays a huge role in us being able to become more aware of ourselves and why we do the things we do.

Our software is outdated and not in sync with our current environments. We need to regulate our internal environment to be able to overcome resistance and live a great life on our own terms.

We need to dig deeper into our minds and into the relationship between the mind and body. This is the first episode in a two part series of learning how to understand our subconscious and how to change our perceptions towards stress.

This is really transformational stuff, once we make changes based off this information, the training, nutrition and everything else can just fall into place much easier.

Ive done a few podcasts already where I talk about how any long term change has to be an identity change. The self concept allows you to find out what that identity is while also gaining a greater understanding of your current self image.

We are faced with 100s of decisions everyday, each one nudges us either one step closer or one step further away from living a perfect life. If you want to that unreal life, that long term success, that unconditional happiness? You need to start making better decisions today, right now.

Join myself and the awesome Matt Peacock (@themusclemindsetcoach) as we discuss why calories in vs calories out is an outdated and misleading approach to optimum nutrition.

We wish this podcast could have been 3 hours as we had so much more to add however we did manage to briefly cover biofeedback, hormones, the metabolism, stress, sleep and why you need to expect more from your personal trainer.

Main take away, your metabolism isn't a calculator. Over simplifying nutrition down to calories may give you results in the short term, but if you want long lasting results, you need to go far far deeper than that.

You don't want fat loss, you don't want to be rich, you don't want any of those body goals or relationship goals or any of that...

You just want to feel good.

We live in a world where we think just because something is marketed to us, it's what we desire and what is going to make us happy, even though that is rarely the case.

We want to feel good. The gym, fitness, healthy eating, all of these are great methods of transport for getting you to a place where you feel good and love your life. However, you need to be going into it with the right perspective and to be looking for the right outcomes.

Use these vehicles to build confidence, self worth and a general understanding of how incredible your body is and how good it can feel.

Listen to my challenge at the end and give it a go. Look at how you can go about your day to day life and shift your perspective away from 'i'm doing this to have a good body to 'i'm doing this to feel good.'