The One Percent

In this episode, I welcome Matt Emblem onto the podcast.

Forty-three, CFO at an independent PR and social agency, married to the woman he met at school, dad to three, and still playing and coaching rugby - "your average bloke", in his words. Matt first got in touch back in May 2021, after seeing my content on LinkedIn.

From the outside it looked great. Inside, he didn't feel good about himself, felt guilty for even saying so, and the gap kept getting a little bit bigger. He wasn't ready to start, so he spent the next few years trying to build his own version of my playbook - the gym, healthy eating, cold showers. His verdict: "way off, nowhere near."

Nearly a year ago he came back. We started with the basics, parked the ego, and a morning routine as small as ten press-ups. Then came a call where I asked if everything was all right, he said it was fine, I asked again, and he heard himself say no. From that moment, he says, a different version of him was born.

A year in, and still working together, the biggest changes show up in ordinary moments. His 13-year-old drops a beaker of blackcurrant juice on a white carpet and his first reaction is to check the kid's OK. The promises he makes to himself now get kept like the ones he makes to his kids.

His advice to anyone on the fence: jump off it. Either side, make a decision. His only regret is not doing it sooner.

If any of this resonates - I can help - listen to the episode, then book a call with me:

https://theone-percent.com/book-a-call/

In this episode, I welcome Graham Manley onto the podcast.

Sixty-seven, a former solicitor turned legal headhunter working with commercial law firms in the north of England, married with three grown-up children, and, as he puts it, probably the oldest person in the group. A few months ago Graham reached out after following my content on LinkedIn.

By then he'd spent about ten years putting himself at the bottom of his own to-do list. Work overload, drinking a bit too much in the evenings as a reward for a tough day, a diet all over the place, brain fog and a feeling of being totally directionless. Every day the same - Groundhog Day, only not as funny. He knew where he wanted to be - the version of himself he used to be. He kept breaking promises to himself, and every time things got tough he gave up on the lot. His description: like getting a puncture and stabbing the other three tyres.

So we built slowly, one block at a time, with a weekly plan, accountability to himself and to me, and a group where everyone tells it straight.

Nearly five months in, and still working together, the change is as much in his head as his body. His mindset used to be "when's it going to go wrong?" Now it's "how can we make it work?" He's more resilient, he's present with his family again, and he says it's like walking into a dark room and someone switching the light on. His wife agrees. He's got his old self back.

His advice to anyone on the fence: why wait? It's just kicking the can down the road.

If any of this resonates - I can help - listen to the episode, then book a call with me:

https://theone-percent.com/book-a-call/

In this episode, I welcome Alex Calthrop onto the podcast.

Thirty-eight, a disputes lawyer based in Paris, half British and half Australian, and dad to a nineteen-month-old daughter. A few months ago Alex reached out for a chat.

Nothing dramatic was wrong. He was in a relentless stretch at work, adjusting to life as a new father, and diet, sleep and being present at home were all slipping. He'd also read the books and listened to the podcasts. He knew the stuff. He just couldn't make it stick. And with a daughter, the questions got more real: was he becoming the man she'd be proud of? "Maybe" wasn't a good enough answer.

He signed up in the middle of the busiest stretch of his career: a trial, court deadlines, working past midnight most days for a couple of months. Not the textbook time to start. So we started small. A 10-15 minute bodyweight workout, steps, cold showers. Whatever he could do, that day.

When the trial finished, he didn't need a week or two to recover. His energy and mood stayed up and he bounced back far quicker. The bigger shift is how he thinks. A rough morning no longer writes off the day - it's "what's the next good decision I can make?"

We're still working together, and his advice to anyone on the fence is blunt: you'll earn the money back, you won't get the time back.

If any of this resonates - I can help - listen to the episode, then book a call with me:

https://theone-percent.com/book-a-call/

In this episode, I welcome Steve Faber onto the podcast.

Fifty-two, chartered surveyor, husband and dad. Two years ago he reached out after following some of my content - though, as he puts it, it took a fair bit of nagging to get him on here to talk about it.

Nothing was in crisis. A building project next to his house he had no control over, changes at work, an old injury he couldn't shake. Individually nothing. Together, enough to have him blaming everyone else for how he felt - and then blaming himself when that didn't help either. A bit of a moody bastard, by his own admission, after fifty years of practice at it.

He signed up anyway - and the next day had the classic wobble: have I just been turned over here? He didn't tell a soul for six months, not even most of his friends.

Two years on, he calls it one of the best value things he's ever done in his life. Down from 96kg to 80kg. The fittest he's been since he was eighteen. A cold plunge he still doesn't want to get into most mornings and gets into anyway.

But the bit he comes back to most isn't any of that. It's that he's not a moody bastard anymore - his words. His relationships have improved, because he's not carrying the weight he used to carry into every interaction. He cares about people and doesn't have to be difficult to do it.

If any of this resonates - I can help - listen to the episode, then book a call with me:

https://theone-percent.com/book-a-call/

In this episode, I welcome back Dom Hones - three years after we first worked together.

Community engagement manager, married ten years this December, two kids (eight and five), life full and busy. Dom wasn’t having a meltdown when he first reached out but wasn't operating anywhere near 100%. He’d just turned 40, not 100% - tired all the time, chalked up to parenting young kids. Then a work health day flagged it properly: his metabolic age was 50.

That was the nudge. Not a rock-bottom, just enough of a wake-up call to try something other than another audiobook or fad diet.

Three years on, the numbers hold up: metabolic age down to 42. Eight kilos lost - and kept off. Over a thousand consecutive days of journaling.

But the real proof came in year one, when life got hard - properly hard. Through it, the foundations didn't fall over the way every previous attempt had. What changed wasn't willpower. It was having a framework simple enough to flex with real life instead of demanding perfection from it.

His advice to anyone on the fence: it's an investment, but it's in yourself, and you will not regret it.

If any of this resonates - I can help - listen to the episode, then book a call with me:

https://theone-percent.com/book-a-call/

In this episode, I welcome back Tom Yoxall for his third conversation with me.

Two years ago Tom got in touch close to what he now calls, honestly, the edge of being an alcoholic. Drinking daily, carrying 22 stone, blood pressure through the roof and medicated, not showing up as the man he wanted to be for his partner Kerry or his kids.

Since then: sober. Down to 15 stone 7. A business owner now, having gone self-employed. And - his words - it's saved his relationship and his relationship with his kids.

We talk about what's actually changed day to day: finding an outlet that's just his (the gym, then Jiu Jitsu), learning to tackle stress head-on rather than numb it, and using the group as what he calls "an ace in my back pocket" whenever life throws something at him.

His advice for anyone on the fence: have the call. No pressure, no hard sell - just find out if it's the right fit.

If any of this resonates - I can help - listen to the episode, then book a call with me:

https://theone-percent.com/book-a-call/

In this episode, I sit down with Chris Handley.

IT director, 44, wife and three daughters in Manchester - and in the middle of a role change, with travel all over the place and plenty going on at home.

Here's what makes Chris different: he'd done coaching before. Got great results. But it was all or nothing - 5am gym, rigid routine - and the moment life stopped cooperating, it collapsed. Then he'd beat himself up for not hitting everything, and slowly slip back into the old habits.

This time he wasn't broken. Still performing at work, still present at home. Just a niggle, deep down, saying: you could be doing better than this.

Sound familiar?

So we built something different - not a routine, a toolbox. Travel days, work days, weekends all look different, and that's the point. A golf trip with the lads? Have the beers, run every morning to offset it. Own the choice instead of throwing the whole thing in the bin.

A couple of months in, the biggest shifts have surprised him: the gratitude and journaling work, the mindset change, and ideas nicked from the other lads in the group. Not perfection - progress that survives contact with real life.

Same full-on life. A system that flexes with it. Different Chris.

If any of this resonates - I can help - listen to the episode, then book a call with me:

https://theone-percent.com/book-a-call/

In this episode, I sit down with Brandon O'Neil.

American in London, late forties, partner at a City law firm, married with two teenage kids. Eighteen years at one firm, then a big move to another - a lot of change on top of an already full life.

Nothing dramatic went wrong. That's the point. Just a slow, almost unnoticeable decline - work and family taking up every hour, nothing left for himself. Steady weight gain, low energy, years of it.

By the time we first spoke, his words were: "I just felt exhausted. I looked like I'd been run over by a truck."

Sound familiar?

We got to work - and what surprised him most wasn't how hard it was. It was how available it had been all along. The right combination of simple things done consistently: tracking his food, the gym, 10,000 steps, the mindset work. A toolkit to come back to when life knocks him off for a day or two - instead of an off day becoming an off month.

A few months on he's lighter, sharper and back in control - and his takeaway for any man waiting for a quieter month is blunt: this is the right time. If you think you can do it in the future, that really means you need to do it now.

Same job. Same full-tilt life. Different Brandon.

If any of this resonates - I can help - listen to the episode, then book a call with me:

https://theone-percent.com/book-a-call/

In this episode, I sit down with Dan Garrity.

Self-employed engineering consultant, dad of two - a three-year-old and a five-month-old - a master's on the side, a house extension on the go. "Basically everything," as he says.

Dan wasn't at his lowest. He'd been there years ago, done the therapy, come through it. But he could feel himself slipping into a permanent state of flux - no grip on work, no grip on home, getting hit and punched from every side.

The difference this time: he caught it early. He knew that if he didn't act, six months down the line he'd be a shitshow - so he reached out before the wheels came off.

Sound familiar?

We got to work on the whole package - the mindset stuff first (values, the hero and shadow work), then the foundations he'd tried before but never stuck: morning movement, cold showers, journaling, the food. One step at a time until it held.

A few months on, he's 10kg lighter and - more importantly to him - on the front foot. Same heatwave, same broken sleep, same two tired kids. Different Dan: the one who grabs ten minutes with a kettlebell and starts the day level, instead of carrying the funk into work and home.

Same life. Better grip. Different Dan.

If any of this resonates - I can help - listen to the episode, then book a call with me:

https://theone-percent.com/book-a-call/

n this episode, I sit down with Adam Wilcox.

Twenty years in tech, a young family at home - a wife, a four-year-old and a 20-month-old. "Pretty hectic," as he puts it.

Adam breaks his life into four areas: work, family, friends, himself. A couple of months back he asked himself if he was showing up as his best self in any of them - and, more importantly, whether he was present at home.

The honest answer was no.

A sales job that never switches off. Checking his phone from first thing to last thing. Stepping away from dinner with the kids to take a call. No boundary between work and home - so friends got dropped, the relationship ran on empty, and he came last.

Sound familiar?

We got to work on the foundations. Early mornings before the kids are up. Cold showers, movement, meditation, journaling. A weekly date night. Getting himself off the bottom of the pile.

A couple of months on, nothing material has changed - same job, same full house at home - but Adam's a different bloke. Calmer. On the front foot. More present with his wife and kids. And handling the hard days at work better because of it.

Same life. Better operating system. Different Adam.

If any of this resonates - I can help - listen to the episode, then book a call with me:

https://theone-percent.com/book-a-call/