Mental Fitness - the Gateway to Success

What happens when a literal new heart inspires a mission to help others find theirs in business and life? Join me for an inspiring conversation with Jeff Parnell, a transition specialist who survived a life-saving heart transplant in 2018.

This experience became the foundation for his upcoming book, The Heart of Transition, where he guides high-achieving professionals out of long careers into meaningful next chapters—using mental fitness as the key to success.

Jeff opens up about the emotional and practical challenges of change, plus shares the transformative book that boosted his own resilience: Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers by Robert Kriegel and David Brandt.

Ready to rethink your own transition? Reach out to Jeff on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffparnell/

or at [email protected].

Success leaves clues — and so does struggle.

In this powerful episode of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success, I explore a topic we don’t often connect to high performance: sex, love, and intimate relationships.

Because the truth is simple:

Where your mental fitness is low… everything feels harder.

Where your mental fitness is high… connection, intimacy, and love flow naturally.

In this episode, I share openly what happens in my own relationship with my wife when my mental fitness drops — and what shifts when it rises. The difference is like day and night.

We explore:

• Why mental fitness directly impacts intimacy

• The hidden link between emotional regulation and sexual connection

• Why growing your mental fitness is essential for deep fulfilment

• A simple yet powerful tool you can use — alone or with your partner — to create immediate deeper connection

If you’re watching the video version, I also give you a glimpse of the breathtaking view from our new Sanctuary — the space we’ll be using for upcoming couples’ retreats.

This episode is honest. Practical. Personal.

And potentially relationship-changing.

Because mental fitness doesn’t just help you succeed in business or on the golf course.

It shows up everywhere.

Including in bed.

If you want support with this in your own life, reach out to [email protected]

What would you do if you were lying alone on a mountainside with a broken neck… for six hours?

In this powerful episode of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success, I sit down with Clayton Hairs — also known by his artist name Clayton John — who shares the raw and extraordinary story of the mountain bike crash that left him paralysed and fighting for his life.

For six hours, Clayton lay on the ground till he was found. What got him through wasn’t luck. It was mental fitness.

Clayton speaks openly about:

• What was going through his mind as he waited to be found

• The journey that followed in the ICU and beyond 

• Adjusting to life in a wheelchair as a family man, artist and teacher

• Continuing his work as an artist despite being unable to move his arms

• How he built and continues to strengthen his mental fitness

As a meditation teacher, Clayton also shares the practice he facilitates called Heartfulness, which you can explore through their free app.

He also references the profound book The Noonday Demon by Andrew Solomon, a powerful exploration of resilience and the human mind and how it benefited him.

This episode is a moving reminder that while we can’t always control what happens to us, we can train how we respond.

If you’ve ever wondered whether mental fitness truly matters in real-life hardship — this conversation will answer that.

Follow Clayton and his recovery journey on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=cclayton20hairs

Clayton’s artwork can be found here:

https://www.lintonandkay.com.au/artists/clayton-john/

https://www.instagram.com/clayton_images/?hl=en

https://heartfulness.org/magazine/contributors/clayton-john

He can be contacted by txt to +642041025259

Mental fitness is essential for success — especially if you want to achieve it without stress.

But here’s a question I get asked all the time:

Where do you actually go to train your mental fitness muscles?

In this episode of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success, I share the story of discovering what I now call a mental fitness gym — a powerful system I came across four years ago and still use today, both personally and in my coaching work with leaders, business owners, and high performers.

Just like physical fitness, knowing your starting point matters. That’s why this gym begins with a free mental fitness assessment, helping you understand where you are today and where to focus your growth.

In this episode, I cover:

• Why mental fitness needs structured training

• The surprising way I discovered this “gym”

• How it supports real-world stress reduction and performance

• Why assessment is the first step toward meaningful change

If you’re curious to explore the free assessment I mention in this episode, email me at [email protected] and I’ll send you the best link to get started.

Welcome to Season 2 of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success — and thank you to everyone who supported Season 1.

In this episode, I share my unexpected Christmas story: a surprise helicopter ride, 14 days in the ICU at Auckland Hospital, and celebrating Christmas in hospital instead of at home with our children.

This isn’t a medical story.

It’s a mental fitness story.

I talk about how mental fitness helped me through the toughest moments — not with forced positivity (there was none of that), but by removing worry, minimising stress, and supporting both healing and recovery.

As Season 2 continues, I’m inviting guests to share their own stories of challenge, resilience, and growth. If that’s you — or you know someone who should be heard — get in touch: [email protected]

Feeling stressed heading into Christmas? You’re not alone.

In this final 2025 episode of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success, I share two simple tools that can reduce stress and mental tension in just a few seconds — perfect for busy leaders and business owners.

This episode also marks an important milestone for the podcast. After 26 weekly episodes in this 6-month trial run, I originally decided not to continue the show next year. But something changed… and I share the full story of what made me reverse that decision and commit to continuing in 2026.

🎧 In this episode you’ll discover:

00:00 – Why this episode matters

01:10 – Gratitude for your support + Spotify award

03:25 – The surprising turnaround: why the podcast will continue

07:45 – Why stress levels spike before Christmas

10:30 – Tool #1: Rapid stress reset in seconds

13:10 – Tool #2: A simple mental tension release you can use anywhere

17:30 – Final reflections for the year

If you celebrate Christmas, I wish you a joyful, restorative, and peaceful one.

Thank you for supporting the podcast during its first year — your messages, comments, and listens have meant more than you know.

See you in the new year!

Warm regards,

Mikal

In this episode of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success, we take the next step in the meditation journey we began over the last two episodes — and this time, we actually meditate together.

I guide you through my personal 5 Stages of Meditation, a process I’ve developed over 32 years to help busy professionals move from basic awareness to profound inner stillness and fulfilment.Here’s what we explore:

1. Mindful OF X – Building awareness of what’s present.

2. Meditate ON X – Deepening the experience with focused intention.

3. Experience Mental Stillness – Meeting the quiet beneath the noise.

4. Meditate ON Stillness – Deepening your relationship with that quiet.

5. Dissolving the Meditator – A transformative shift beyond effort and identity.

Whether you’re new to meditation or you’ve been practicing for years, this guided experience offers a simple, practical way to access more joy, clarity, and presence in your daily life.

If you’d like more personalised guidance with this practice, feel free to reach out — I’m always happy to help you explore it further.

In this episode, I take you on a very personal journey through 32 years of meditation — from living for a year at a meditation centre, to a deep 3-week solo retreat in a mountain hut, to multiple 10-day silent Vipassana retreats… all the way to where my practice lives today (spoiler: you’ll find me meditating while driving, cooking, working — even making love).

I share the meditation system I designed specifically for busy business people, and how my understanding of meditation has moved far beyond the cross-legged-on-a-cushion stereotype.

Together, we explore the Purpose of meditation, the Outcomes it creates, and the real-world challenges that get in the way of actually doing it.

And to wrap it all up, I give you a couple of simple, practical ways to either start — or deepen — your own meditation journey.

All of it is aligned with the three ‘IN’ pillars of this podcast: IN-sights, IN-spirations, and IN-tentional actions.

There’s a lot of value in a short episode — and I hope you find something meaningful for you.

Got questions? Don’t hold back.

Comment or email me at [email protected]

In this episode, I’m joined by fellow Mental Fitness Coach Cheryl Robinson, who shares how strengthening her mental fitness has transformed her life in unexpected ways.

Cheryl opens up about how her practice improved her relationships, inspired her to join a choir, and even helped her overcome a lifelong fear of rats.

She also introduces a concept I instantly fell in love with—“Project Status”—a simple yet powerful way to understand where we place our energy.

We dive into her experience with Journalling and Nonviolent Communication (NVC), and how both have supported her personal growth and coaching journey.

You can connect with Cheryl on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cheryl-robinson-01/

And email her at: [email protected]

In this episode, I take you back to the very beginning of my journey with meditation — more than 30 years ago — and explore how it’s shaped my life and my work as a coach for business owners and leaders.

We look at the powerful connection between meditation and mental fitness, and why this ancient practice is still one of the most effective tools for building calm, clarity, and resilience in today’s fast-paced world.

But before diving into techniques or benefits, this episode starts with a simple — and surprisingly profound — question:

👉 What does “meditation” really mean?

Here’s a snippet from the episode:

“Most people think meditation means sitting still, breathing slowly, and trying not to think.

But the word itself tells a deeper story.

It comes from the Latin meditārī — to think deeply, to reflect —

and mederi — to heal.

So at its root, meditation means to reflect deeply… in order to heal.”

If you’ve ever wondered whether meditation is worth your time — or how it can truly serve your mental fitness — this episode will give you a fresh, grounded perspective on why it matters… and why it’s worth bothering.

For any personal support with meditation, let's have a conversation. Email me at [email protected]