The Next Level Guy Show

Today's guest is Chris Van Vliet on cameras, connections & Insight

Today's episode features Chris Van Vliet, a 4-time Emmy Award-winning TV host, YouTuber, and entertainment reporter, best known for his insightful interviews with wrestling legends like John Cena and The Rock, as well as Hollywood A-listers like Oprah and Will Smith.

In this episode, Chris shares his approach to creating meaningful connections, mastering interview skills, and building a community through authentic conversations. Tune in to learn how you can harness the power of genuine connections and insight in your own life!

Highlights:

• Connecting authentically with guests
• Deepening interview quality through genuine engagement
• Community building through conversations
• Using insights to create life changes

Listen now to gain practical tips for enhancing your communication and personal growth journey.

Check out full show notes and exclusive content here: NextLevelGuy.com/ChrisVanVliet129

Tags: #ChrisVanVliet #Broadcasting #InterviewSkills #Connections #AEW #WWE #EmmyAwards #Podcast #SelfImprovement #Insight #Entertainment

Today's guest is Dr Mike Simpson!

Mike Simpson, M.D. has served over three decades in the military as an Airborne Ranger, a Special Forces Operator, and finally as a Doctor of Emergency Medicine assigned to the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). Throughout his career, Mike has deployed to 17 different countries, from the jungles of South America conducting counter-narcotics operations to the deserts of the Middle East fighting the Global War On Terror (GWOT).

Along the way, Mike has been trained as a demolitions expert, SWAT Sniper, High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) parachutist, SCUBA diver, civilian paramedic, Special Forces Medic, Operations and intelligence Sergeant, and finally, a board certified Emergency Medicine Physician.

Mike is also a martial arts enthusiast, who has trained in Muay Thai, and currently has the rank of purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. His passion for martial arts motivated him to become a practicing fight doctor. Mike works extensively with Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighters, law enforcement, and military organizations providing medical care and training.

As one of the foremost experts in both tactical trauma medicine and combat sports medicine, Mike is highly sought after as a lecturer and instructor. He also hosts The Mind of The Warrior podcast, sharing his personal knowledge and philosophy, as well as those of his guests, in an effort to spread to warrior ethos to the general public.

Mike is perhaps best known for his role as an investigator on the History Channel's docu-reality series "Hunting Hitler".

In this interview, we discuss:

• How to make your later years as fun, effective and badass as your twenties.
• How to incorporate The Six Pillars of Fitness into your training regime.
• Recovery and diet protocols that all older men should adopt.
• The health tests you need to have done to remain healthy.
• And so much more.

Here are some key points that I would advise you to concentrate on

• Mike found his way to medicine through a non-traditional route. You can achieve what you want in life, there is always a route to your goals - do not be defeated simply be because you can't go through the traditional way. There are always another way, or you can make a way for yourself like a lot of top performers do.
• Age is just a number, not a life sentence. Mike was a top operator in the special forces at 48! When most people are retiring, Mike is going into hell holes and serving his country.
• Don't look at the masses, look at the outliers, the top performers who are not usual, the ones who are finding systems and methods to keep their performance consistent and high-level as you age.
• You need to be smart with your recovery, training and diet, but you can keep performing into your 'Twilight years' We don't need to let ourselves get fat and out of shape - just because it is accepted by most, doesn't mean you need to follow it! You can be different!
• What you eat fuels you, lets you perform. If its handed out a window to you in your car, its unlikely to fuel you to any real efficiency.
• The pandemic has really highlighted how dangerous being unhealthy is and how you need to work on your fitness and health to avoid becoming seriously ill.
• Just because something is done like that previously, doesn't mean it needs to continue that way. If you find hacks, research and info that can help you, incorporate it into your life and training etc. Review after a week or month and see how it works. Keep the effective additions and remove the problems. Do one new thing at a time and build up slowly.
• Mike talks about how the army would look at what they needed soldiers to do, and then changed the diet and training in the military to suit these requirements. You can do the same! Look at your end goal, be very specific. Then reverse engineer your life, rituals, training etc to build towards it by breaking your goal down into targets, working out what you need to do from current to your goal and smash them daily!
• Don't try and make all the changes and do the work yourself - the internet has made so many key websites, research papers etc available to you. Google Scholar and others offer free access to a lot of training, diet, recovery, performance research papers and my podcast will help you improve a lot of your life areas too (Shameless plug I know!)
• Don't think you need to work 24/7 to outshine or outlast (or even keep up with) the younger ones, but understand you need to work smarter, and more effective, understanding your weaknesses, and your energy systems and how tweaking these can all you to perform continually.
• As Mike says, treat your longevity like your credit card - don't borrow hard on interest in your younger years and suffer and pay it back in your later years stuck with injuries, inability to walk etc.
• Recovery is vital as this is when the healing takes place.
• Don't try to run before you walk when you start training, build slowly, strengthen the stabilizing muscles first, before you try and build muscle.
• Use the Warrior Ethos that Mike mentions to switch from a hobbyist or average guy mentality, and consider yourself an athlete and look to improve yourself daily.
• You can eat the treats, the unhealthy foods, but it needs to be in moderation. Treat your fuel tank well, by feeding it foods as close to the original sources as possible. Reduce sugar, processed foods etc as much as possible.
• You may feel invincible when you are younger, but you aren't! Time ages you, wear and tear ages you. Bad diet, lifestyle choices etc age and beat you up. Start today, take the supplements, work out, sleep better, get health screens done etc - start righting the problems now so you can be effective as you age, and not try to resolve lifelong problems in your older age, when you should be enjoying these years of your life!
• Like you would plan your nights out in your twenties, you need to plan out your health now in your thirties and forties, so you can be act like a young one in your older years!
• Once you stop challenging yourself, you stop evolving! Stop thinking short-term, look at these changes as life hacks and lifelong performance optimization techniques.
• Self-care is not selfishness.
• Your lifetyle eg kids, work rota etc, will dictate when you train etc, but you can cut out or cut down spent on time wasting hobbies to make the time to workout, read, eat healthier etc.
• The journal to a fitter and healthier you starts today. Start now. Discover, plan, and get started!
• What gets measured, gets managed. There are plenty of apps and tools that you can use to analyse your health, your current status, your current fitness level, and manage and record your data that you can review and re-calibrate your training etc as you go.
• What is average should not be your norm.

A post shared by Mike Simpson, M.D. (@drmikesimpson)

Today’s guest is Anthony Trucks

Anthony Trucks is a former NFL Athlete, American Ninja Warrior on NBC, international speaker, host of the Aww Shift & Shift Starter Podcasts, author, and founder of Identity Shift coaching.

After being put into foster care at the age of 3, being adopted into an all-white family at the age of 14, losing his NFL career to injury and more, Anthony learned early in life how to shift with the changes. Given his background, he shouldn’t have achieved the things he did. It shouldn’t have been possible for him to become an NFL athlete or a successful entrepreneur, but Anthony wasn’t willing to settle. His entire life has been about beating the odds and redefining what’s possible given the cards he was dealt with. His personal mission is to help others understand their past and present so they can shift their identity, elevate their life and business, and take control of their lives.

By teaching audiences how to turn roadblocks and obstacles into opportunities, Anthony inspires and teaches people to unlock their full potential and achieve success and happiness. A healthier life, better relationships, a successful career, more money â€" whatever the goal, let Anthony provide you with the road map to Shift into Success!

In this interview, we discuss:

• What shapes our identity and how does it affects our life.
• How to identify identity gaps in our life.
• How do we make an identity shift to become the person we want to be.

Here are some key points that I would advise you to concentrate on

• People struggle to achieve their dreams as what they want to do is not in line with the identity that they believe is true for themselves. You need to realign the identity to match the you that you want to be.
• Your Ego is a big problem - we as men can't accept feedback and be told we aren't perfect, and we need to accept we are not. You need to outline where you are going wrong AND right, and pick a route to change that.
• We need to give ourselves permission to find that thing we are looking for in life, and not use drink etc to drown out that feeling as we fear the change it may bring.
• Our identity is created by our actions. It is who we are when we are not thinking about what we do, it is the real actions that we do, not who we claim to be.
• A lot of men are using the programming today that was formed when we were kids and have never challenged or changed our beliefs and identity.
• A crisis can be a good thing as it can force you to change your identity. But it would be better to change voluntarily.
• A lot of what you want to achieve in life will require an identity shift - it shouldn't be fear, you should see it as a brilliant thing to happen in your life.
• You should outline the type of and who of the person that you want and need to become to realize your dream.
• Self-sabotage arises when we are acting on a level that is above the identity level of ourselves that we are clinging to.
• You know when you have an identity gap - a gap that feels emotionally wrong in our life.
• You are the common denominator in all your life problems. You either created them or allowed them to remain by keeping them around.
• If there is part of your identity that you are not happy or proud of, then you should give apologies to others and especially yourself and change, it by acting in a better way, by acting in the way of the person you want to be. Act differently to show yourself that the bad event you did is not the person or identity you are now, and that you are now a new version of yourself.
• Social media is creating fake and mis-aligned identities that we cling to, where our real life and the image we create on social media do not match and it slowly destroys our confidence and life that we can never be the person we show we are on social media.
• Action ends the suffering, you can only truly change by acting towards who you want to be, by putting in the work. Polishing over cracks will not help you unless you are ready to do the true deep work that will change your identity.
• You will repeat the same type of relationships, same kind of jobs etc, throughout your life, unless you are making the true changes you need to do to change.
• We are fearful of outcomes and that fear tends to stop us trying to change. We need to not identify with our outcomes as we cannot match the outcome, but instead identify with the action. You need to go with the journey and the actions, rather than judge yourself against who are trying to be. Be proud of the work you are doing rather than beating yourself up about how you are not that final version yet.
• You will make mistakes, expect them. But the pain of mistakes as you change is nowhere near as bad as the pain that will arise from being stuck in an identity that you hate.
• The Rock, Dwayne Johnson is a great example of someone who has made a successful identity shift.
• Trust your gut when you look at your friends, you know deep down if someone is not a good fit for you or not. We fear being alone, but it may be worth to make the change, the sacrifice for now to lose that friendship, to make that change in life that you want.
• See what you need to work on, create a plan of what you want to shift to, and work out how you can sustain these changes long enough to internalize this change in our identity.
• A change will normally take about 90 days. Your whole life could change in that time.
• You cannot change someone else, but you can plant a seed towards change in their life, by working on yourself and let them be encouraged by the change they see in us.
• We have different identities in our self, we have different identities to cover the different role we play, the worker, the father, the lover etc.

Today's guest is Rob Kenney!

Rob Kenney's father left him and his seven siblings when he was fourteen years old, and the youngest had to fend for themselves. He wished that he had someone who could teach him the basics—how to tie a tie, jump-start a car, unclog a drain, use tools properly—as well as succeed in life. But he and his siblings had to figure these things out on their own.

Now a father himself, Rob decided that he would help people out by providing how-to tips as well as advice—and even throw in some bad dad jokes. He started a YouTube channel for anyone looking for fatherly advice, and in the course of three months, gained a following of nearly 2.5 million subscribers, with millions of views for his how-to and inspirational videos. He covers a wide range of topics and shows you how to do a wide range of life skills that you might not know how to do, in a supportive, caring, and loving environment where he aims to help others better their lives.

He has now released an awesome new book. In this book, Rob shares his story of overcoming a difficult childhood with the strength of faith and family and offers inspiration and hope. In addition, he provides 50 practical DYI instructions (30 of which will be unique to the book), illustrated with helpful line drawings.

In this interview, we discuss:

• How the lack of a male role model can affect you,
• How to learn the key hard and soft skills that come up
• How to find a role model in your life
• How to view life as an adventure rather than as a victim
• And so much more!

Today's guest is Chris Powell!

Chris Powell is widely known as the transformation specialist and host of ABC's documentary-style series, "Extreme Weight Loss." With an unyielding dedication to helping others, Chris traveled the country using his innovative techniques, education and expertise to guide extremely overweight individuals as they shed hundreds of pounds over the course of a year. Beyond the show, Chris has become a leading authority on achieving optimal health and lifelong transformation.

Chris and Heidi Powell launched the digital platform, TRANSFORM with Chris and Heidi, with the goal of transforming one million which provides users with the motivation, exercises, nutrition, and built-in community for a successful transformation. The platform has grown to include macro-tracking capabilities, hydration tracking, and the ability to record nutrition and workout completion rates over time, cardio dance program, step tracker, and the “First Steps†program for exercise beginners and the app is continually expanding. In addition to the app, the TRANSFORM brand has introduced its own supplement line, a line of EVERYDAY meal replacement shakes, energy formulas, and vitamins, and the PERFORM line of workout and performance products. TRANSFORM also launched a one-on-one coaching program where app users are paired with a certified personal coach who has a history of successful transformations and works side by side with Chris and Heidi.

Chris has been awarded the prestigious Jack LaLanne Award, written several books that have soared to the top of the New York Times Best Seller list, including Extreme Transformation: Lifelong Weight Loss in 21 Days, which provides a comprehensive blueprint for changing your body and life in just 21 days, Choose to Lose, which provides motivation, nutrition, exercise, tips, and tricks to help anyone lose those last twenty pounds and Choose More, Lose More For Life, which offers readers four different carb cycles, and twenty workouts called Nine-Minute Missions that pack maximum results into minimum time. Chris holds a degree in Exercise Science with concentrations in biomechanics and physiology, and the training accreditation: The Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), appears regularly on nationally syndicated television shows and has been featured on the cover of and written for many top-name publications.

In this interview, we discuss,

• Destroying limiting beliefs to create true personal transformation
• Learning to love and believe in ourselves through fitness and healthy eating
• How to establish Core values and habit forming
• Training, nutrition diet and supplements hacks
• And so much more

Here are some key points that I would advise you to concentrate on

• The root of where most people struggle to transform is that they lack belief in themselves and what they want to achieve in their life.
• Each time you fail, your self-esteem takes a knock but a lot of the time, it is not an actionable change to transform themselves, they take on too much at one time. You need to shrink down the changes to something that is actually manageable.
• Chris has struggled with his demons in his past. I have too. We all have demons. You need to want to change, to start to believe you can change, not for others, but for yourself. It is doable, it's a hard journey, but so worth it!
• We need to change the story we tell about ourselves, to change what we believe about ourselves to start our change. We can use our beliefs to hold ourselves back and need to change these beliefs to change ourselves.
• The first question you need to ask yourself, is who do you want to be? You just need to live into that belief.
• If you want to change your life, you need to remember and focus on your integrity! What you tell yourself becomes a promise to yourself. You need to find small lifestyle changes that you can make and actually follow and achieve. You need to have integrity with yourself.
• Your brain takes what you think you want to do as a contract with your soul, when you don't follow the contract, you lose esteem and the broken promises start to destroy you.
• When you start to keep the promises to yourself, you will truly start to change.
• You need to start building small changes, to build up your integrity and commitment to change. Slowly build up what you change in your life each time, don't run before you can walk - honor the contract and follow the promises you make to yourself.
• Going into a gym or sports club may seem scary and intimidating at first, but the benefits from it can be life-changing!
• You don't need to run and rush to change, take baby steps and build health and fitness into your life as a life habit rather than fifty new things.
• People can use food to feed the emotional pain that they are holding onto from their past. You cannot fill an emotional pain with physical food. You need to 'clear the past' in your life.
• Yo need to go back to your past and unbox the pain that you are holding on to and clear it out, to allow you to start to change your life. Chris gives an amazing technique to use on how to separate the emotion from the story and let it truly go in your life.
• Men are told we need to 'be a man,' to lead, to control everything but this is BS. We can ask for help, ask for support, and it's an actual show of strength, to be vulnerable is a great show of strength.
• Mental health is just as important as physical health. Mental clarity and transformation is just as important as physical changes.
• You need to 'step into' the person you want to be. Map out who they are, what they do, how they act and what they believe ... and then step into that life through your small lifestyle changes to build that integrity and belief in yourself, to make that true deep change.
• You need to have a look at your entire life, not just your eating and drinking etc. You need to make sure your friends and family aren't holding you back from changing to who you want to be.
• The internet has made the world a smaller place, a more social place. You can connect with like-minded people to help motivate, inspire and help one another on your change in life.
• You need to anchor lifestyle changes in your life with power promises to yourself.
• You will make mistakes, not everything will go right. Instead of fearing mistakes, use them as learning experiences to see what went wrong and how you can fix them - confess, reassess and recommit!
• Find a superfriend you can hold yourself accountable with.
• Be the change that you want to see in the world.

#ChrisPowell #Weightloss #Bodytransformation #Change #Health #Fitness #Improveyourlife #Changeyourself #Becomehoyouwanttobe #Extremeweightloss

Today's guest is Josh McCartney, a memory and confidence coach!

We focus on how leveling up your memory is the key to changing our lives in all areas We tend to tell ourselves a story of who we are as a person and what we are capable of, but this is normally BS as with some help, we can to build Good Habits, Self-Confidence And A REMARKABLE Memory. Using the strategies and exercises Josh outlines, you can develop a mega-memory that can change your life.

In this interview, we discuss:

• Building memory methods
• Hacks to learn new skills quickly
• Confidence and mental health fixes
• The Memory Playbook
• Emotion and flow state
• And so much more.

Here are some key points that I would advise you to concentrate on

• Just because you were a bad student at school, it doesn't mean that you can't improve your memory, you just need a better learning style.
• Improvement in your memory and thinking will create a confidence boost in all areas of your life.
• Trust your gut like Josh did, your body and mind will tell you if you are not being fulfilled or reaching your true potential.
• Your memory does not decline as you age - lack of use and your lifestyle will create the decline of the memory - "use it or lose it!"
• If you want to remember information better, you need to work on your recall function of the mind to keep it efficient.
• The story we tell ourselves about who we are is what controls us - that story can make us chase our dreams or hold us in place. Like Brent Smith said, we can change our story, what story do you want yours to be?
• We are not the thoughts in our heads.
• Most people try to improve their memory in the wrong way and end up not breaking their belief that they cannot learn or improve.
• Our beliefs are shaped from when we are younger and deeply compacted, and we rarely challenge these to see if they are true or not as we age.
• The first step to changing yourself is wanting to change yourself, and admitting it to yourself. It can be painful so you need to want to change.
• Look at your current beliefs, which are holding you back - which ones do you want to change? Look at the cost of changing that belief to staying where you are, how much pain is it causing you vs how much it may cause to change it.
• Timeline regression can be life-changing.
• The emotion is not you, it is just a pattern that plays and may not be useful anymore.
• Emotion has a massive part in memory creation and recall.
• Your memories are created by what your perception of the event is.
• If you can't remember what you learned, then you haven't really learned it.
• The school method of learning is rarely suited for the majority of people, there are far more suitable learning methods available.
• Your brain does not know the difference between reality and imagination.
• Naming and viewing your emotions as a separate entity to yourself, lets you take control and lose the control the emotion holds over you.
• Changing the goals you want to achieve as being memories, you will start to believe you have already achieved them and build them into your life.
• When we learn something new, our brain will always be changed, we never go back to where we are, by learning and discovering, we are always improving our brain and ourselves.
• Looking at starting the smallest action, the least path of resistance is the best method for tackling large goals.
• By finding an accountability partner will greatly improve your chances of success.
• Trying to change too much at once is a quick way to fail. Select one method and try to implement it in your life. After a while, review it and see if you need to recalibrate or reset and build from there.
• Find as many different sources of what you want to change, and you will find one that resonates and works for you.
• Spaced repetition recalling and brute force learning are great tools to use.
• Awareness is a key principle to develop which will open up your choices and brain.

♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys - Kevin MacLeod & Kevin The Monkey

Today’s guest is Enigma!

Enigma is a body language analyst who makes videos on the body language and mannerisms of characters and actors in movies, TV shows, Internet videos, and more and teaches how it can it be learnt and used to make us better communicators and connectors with others. He is a qualified Body Language Analyst with a CPD Certified Diploma in Body Language Analysis, and is endorsed By The Quality Licence Scheme.

In this interview, we discuss:

• What body language is and why it's a super power if you can understand it
• How body language leakage, and micro expressions can help you be better in all situations from dates to poker to business meetings
• And so much more!

This one is awesome ... you will want to have a notepad and pen to take notes!

Here are some key points that I would advise you to concentrate on

• Body language is a super power.
• How you communicate with your body, face and mannerisms, affects your ability to network and connect with those around you.
• Everyone gives off body language clues, no matter how small or how much they try to control it.
• A high percentage of your body language, expressions etc are picked up by those around, without you being truly aware you are giving them or receiving them and your attitudes towards others affected by it.
• By understanding body language, you can read and understand people, and it will allow you to connect better with someone and how they are feeling.
• There is not a standard understanding of body language and is a developing science.
• Your body language shows what your sub-conscious mind is truly feeling.
• It takes true skill to control your body language and is rare that someone can hide their true feelings.
• Deviations in someone's body language is an indicator of when someone is faking it, lying etc.
• You can learn to understand body language but the majority of the meanings of body language actions, stresses etc are unique to the person, and not as generalised as many articles claim. You need to look for changes in their standard behaviour to see when a behaviour goes outside of their standard behaviour.
• It's not as much what you are saying, it is more about how you are saying it.
• Disabilities and mental health conditions can affect someone's body language, so a base line needs to be sought.
• A micro expression is a leakage of your body language that escapes that you do not want to be out there.
• Enigma recommends looking at the feet for reliable indicators of someone's true feelings via their body language.
• Why something doesn't happen can be a big indicator of someone and their feelings etc more than what actually happened.
• Your hands are a great indicator of what you are feeling - interlock your fingers when playing poker to hide how you are feeling.
• Poker players are masters of reading body language.
• What works for good body language in one situation can be a terrible style to be used in another situation, depending on the nature of the person, who you are talking to, the context of the situation etc.

• You should trust your gut on how you feel about someone and the situation ... your gut is a blunt weapon compared to body language training, but it can really help you.
• Your body language is controlled by the limbic system. However, the culture, gender, environment etc of a person can have an effect further on our body language, and much be considered too.
• Pacifying behaviours can be good to notice, but it depends on the baseline of the person and the current power dynamic or situation the people are in.
• Clenched fists are a sign of aggression.
• The dynamics of the group can be used to advance your cause by how you interact with the alpha members of the groups.
• You can learn the basics of body language quite quickly.
• Movies and

Today’s guest is Michele Graglia is a model, author, fitness coach, and ultramarathon runner. His book 'Ultra' was published in May 2017.

Michele is intimately acquainted with the hollow feeling many listeners of Next Level Guy struggle with every day. Before he was beating David Goggins at the Moab 240, and regularly winning ultra marathons Michele was battling depression as one of the world’s most sought-after models. A man who seemingly had it all, yet felt nothing inside. He finally came alive when he started running for his life (literally). His new book Ultra documents more than his journey from depressed model to fulfilled ultramarathon runner. It’s the jolt everyone needs to wake up, pursue their passions, push past their limits, and ultimately find fulfillment in their business, relationships, and life as a whole.

In this interview, we discuss:

• How to find yourself
• How to start changing yourself to become the person you want to be
• How you can become Ultra in your own life
• And so much more!

Here are some key points that I would advise you to concentrate on

• Michele had it all when he was a model, fame, attention, dates ... you name it, he had it! But he wasn't fulfilled. He took the big step to change his life, and it transformed him and he found true happiness - what could you achieve by leaving the comfort zone and seeking true happiness in your life?
• Life is too short not to be happy, so you need to chase your dreams. You can normally always return to your current starting point, or close to it with a little work, so what is stopping you from chasing true happiness in your life?
• Michele made a massive change in his life by moving to America - he felt the fear and did it anyway. Change can be terrifying but it should be seen as a good thing, as it allows you so many other opportunities to grow as a person and experience new things and ideas that your current version of yourself wouldn't be able to encounter in your current living pattern.
• As Michele found, too much of a good thing is a bad thing. He felt lost and in a dark place as he realised that the people he was surrounded by and the life he was living, was not who he was as a person. Who are you pretending to be? Who are you acting like to fit in with others expectations of you or who you should be? Are you living your life or someone else's idea of how you should be?
• We can all change, no matter how hopeless things seem to be. You need the desire to change though. Michele found the desire to change and found true happiness. Why can't you too?
• Our culture has really focused on material wealth - it is the items that you own that judge your value as a person, and its really stupid. Michele saw people who had it all, be truly miserable and that pursuit is deeply flawed. It give him the kick to realise he needed to make a change in life. Who are you trying to impress? Someone you probably don't really like anyway. What could you do without wasting time on these 'filler' activities and put your energy, time and limited life-force into chasing your true dreams in life?
• "You never know how far you can go, if you never start"
• With the current COVID pandemic, it is a good chance, to catch your breath, and take stock of where you are in life, and what you want from it.
• You may need to step away from your current life, from the friends, hobbies etc you are undertaking, to go off and find out what you want in life. It is not wrong to step away and chase what you want - you don't need to burn bridges, but this is your life, you need to do it for you.
• Real friends should be positive about you, encourage you and empower you to be better and keep growing and achieving. They shouldn't just take from you, they should want you to blossom, your weirdness and true self to the max!
• You find your strength through challenging yourself.
• Physical challenges can allow you to leave your head, and connect with your body again, and channel your primal energy again.
• We are usually pushing our energy outward, and we disconnect from the truth of who we are as we try and please others.
• You don't need to spend hundreds of pounds on equipment to change etc. Michele just bought a pair of shoes and started to run - don't over complicate things, choose what you want to do and find the lowest entry point to it and start.
• The internet has a wealth of free and paid resources on how to start things, learn things, books on people etc. Make Google your friend.
• Michele can teach you how to make running fun again and something that you can do!
• Start where you are, build slowly, and go from there. The process never ends, so you need to enjoy the journey as much as the destination.
• You cannot control anything outside of yourself, you can only control yourself. Top performers will only focus on what they can control and ignore the uncontrollable.
• "The mind is a great servant but a terrible master" - make your mind work for you, rather than be controlled by your mind.
• We are all capable of extraordinary things - what will yours be? We all have doubts, but they are perceived limitations. Once you start, you will build confidence and build from there. You just need the confidence to take that first step.

Today’s guest is stuntman, Stunt Coordinator & 2nd Unit Director Eric Linden. He is known for his stunt work on some of the biggest blockbuster films and TV shows, such as Black Adam, The Punisher, The Suicide Squad & Red Notice.

In this interview, we discuss:

• Stunt work.
• Building a body of work.
• Leveling up your skills.
• How to overcome fear for when you need to jump out of windows or set yourself on fire!
• His advice for those who want to enter the industry.
• And so much more.

Please note that this was recorded while Eric was traveling, and there are a couple of places where the audio goes, but hopefully these are few and far between after some editing.

Here are some key points that I would advise you to concentrate on

• It is never too late to try a new career path, if it is a dream, go for it! You can always come back to where you are now. Be like Eric and go for what you want in life.
• We are at a time when the answer to a lot of our questions are online, and with social media, the people you need to connect with can be reached, the world is a smaller place now. If you really want to go for something ... do it!
• Eric felt the fear during his first stunt, but he 'faked it till he made it'. You will always feel the fear, it never goes away, but top performers will use the fear as a method of motivation, to prep them for performing, rather than something that needs you to be scared of.
• Eric was inspired by particular media - who are you motivated by? Who can you act like, what characteristics of the top performers you are inspired by, can you adopt into your life to level up your success?
• What Eric thinks you should focus on if you are wanting to get into the entertainment industry.
• You can never know too much, learn for the sake of developing yourself, learn to have fun, to become better, and learn to keep your brain active as you age. "The more skills you can string together, the more valuable you will be".
• Try and work on your skills as you go, to have fun, and to keep on top of your abilities, rather than needing time to bring your skills up to date. If you are into gymnastics, be the person, having fun flipping and tumbling etc and enjoying yourself. When you are pretty much ready to go all year around, you won't miss out on opportunities as they come up suddenly!
• Eric explains how to market yourself for work opportunities. We are in a world where there are always companies looking for people to offer experience if you volunteer, or help out. There are mobile phones you can use with amazing video cameras which you can use to record your abilities in great quality and upload to social media and get views from the right people. Don't think you can't do something as you need to have professional head shots etc, when you can use the resources you have now to start to break into the industry you are chasing.
• The world is changing, especially since COVID - think outside the box! What can you do differently? Just because something has always been one way doesn't mean it needs to be that way. Look at things deeply, what can you do with your skills and experience and how can you make an opportunity for yourself rather than waiting for others, take the initiative!
• Being creative, and being able to put forward ideas, and being fluid enough to suggest revisions to plans of stunts, fights etc, and change as you go is a key skill for stunt people, when they are planning out particular scenes. How can you build your creativity on a daily basis? You can use you creativity to look for better ways of doing things, for ways to improve, simplify, level up etc, and it is a great skill to have, to be creative. And it is a must sought after skill in employees, or someone building their own business. Creativity can be built with mind games apps, drawing, art classes and so much more.
• We all have the same amount of time in a day. Top performers will cut out TV time, and other wasted time, and use it to research their art, level up their skills, and become better. Stop wasting time, do your research and level up and you can become like Eric and live your dreams!
• You can never be too prepared! Accidents and injuries will happen, but by being prepared, your skills up to date, and focused on the action required, you minimize the potential of getting hurt. Look at the recovery methods Eric uses, what recovery options can you use to keep your body and mind at the top level so you can keep fit and heal in case you are unlucky enough to get injured.
• What Eric sees as a similarity in the top performers he works with.
• As they say in BJJ, you are only as good as your last roll. Eric is proudest of his last role and then goes to the next one and makes it as good as he possibly can do. Don't rest on your laurels, or past experiences or wins, always be looking to the future and what you can do and get to do, rather than be stuck on what you have done and forget to live!
• What Eric recommends you should do if you want to break into the film or stunt industry.
• What he wants you to take from this interview.
• How you can keep in touch with him.

Today's guest is Judd Hoekstra.

Judd is a leadership and human performance expert, bestselling author, and speaker.

'Crunch Time', Judd's most recent book co-authored with professional baseball pitching coach Rick Peterson, reveals the secrets of how to be your best under pressure. This book has been life-changing in my mindset, changing my mind in what is possible and how we can actually start to achieve our dreams and not just wish for them by becoming out best when it matters most.

In this interview, we discuss:

• How to deal with pressure situations.
• Seeing the opportunities rather than the threats of a situation.
• His amazing book 'Crunch Time'
• Why reframing can be a life-changing skill for you
• Why you need to train easy to go hard
• How you can learn to embrace the chaos
• The need for deliberate practice
• And so much more.

Here are some key points that I would advise you to concentrate on

• Mental strength and performance is not something that is regularly trained but can be the thing that changes you from good to great.
• We all face high-pressure situations in our lives, at all ages, and those who learn to perform well in high-pressure situations tend to perform better overall.
• The book can be used to help with mentality issues such as PTSD and OCD etc - it provides key techniques to change.
• Is dealing with pressure a skill that we can learn?
• A key concept is 'Is this the way I want to be or act'? This mantra was great for me to change my 'own worst enemy' style of self-talk and start to change the behaviors that were holding me back.
• We all struggle without worries, focus, demons etc, learning to deal with them is something that can be learned and your ability to cope with them to be better.
• Story-telling is a fantastic tool to teach, motivate and help others understand methods for change for the better.
• You can see each chance to be a threat or an opportunity - you get to choose. See things arising as an opportunity rather than a bad thing or a threat and instead what you can learn or achieve from it.
• What is reframing and how can it change your life?
• Your thoughts are like a radio channel - you don't need to listen to them, you can change the channel and listen to more uplifting, positive and helpful thoughts instead.
• How looking at a person who inspires you in how they act, and trying to mirror their change of behavior can be so important.
• Judd provides some amazing examples of questions to ask yourself to deal with fear and how you think about the scary situation - what will your version of the questions be?
• Humor and laughing can change your brain chemistry and allow you to change your thinking and ability to deal with a situation.
• How technology can be used to store good experiences to use for future success.
• Why do you need to focus on deliberate practicing and real-time feedback from your training?
• Prepare hard, perform easy. Use your training to prepare for the crunch time and learn to embrace the chaos!
• Why you need to go easy to go hard and why trying harder can cause you to fail more.
• How our brain uses previous situations to pick an automatic set of feelings, behaviors etc from previous experiences and how by evaluating your actions on what you could do to be better, can change your behavior for better success the next time.
• What does he want you to take from this interview?