Episode 204: From Burnout to Balance - Alexandra Bennett's Guide to Sustainable Health, Wellness and Self-Love

Welcome to the latest episode of the In-situ Collective podcast! Today, we’re joined by Alexandra Bennett. Alex was a guest on episode 4 and is now back for 204! We talked about her journey in health, fitness, and personal and business growth since we last had her on. Starting in 2017 with F45, CrossFit, and competitive training, Alex shares how burnout led her to a path of deeper healing, self-love, and sustainable training. We dive into her experience of reintegrating into fitness after burnout, the importance of following your passions, and creating a life that feels authentic and fulfilling. Alex also opens up about the significance of rest, nourishing your nervous system, and embracing who you truly are, regardless of external opinions. We also have a behind the sense video of this episode, head over to our YouTube channel to check that out. 

Find Alex on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/magicalalexandra/ 

Transcript

so episode 4 to204 yeah crazy you said you went backand listened to it what was it likelisten to yourself three years ago itwas cool to go back and yeah reflect onthe Journey of who I was then and whereI am now and I think with that growthWithin Myself even having a deeperconfidence and sense of who I am noweven the way I speak and can articulatethings I feel as a bitmore mature and more what's the wordjust not precise but yeah back then Iwas just very in my head as well likevery like there was a lot to say andmaybe not so much being slower andarticulating I guess a bit better ifthat makes sense yeah so morelike wer you weren't taking the time tothink about what you were saying you'rejust saying stuff yeah like you knowobviously though still I'm sure likegreat things I was saying but it wasjust very like fast and didn't probablyslow down as much I was probably very onlike a bit of a high of just life anddoing a lot still and um still probablytraining a lot yeah lots of doing likewhat do you think changes that overtime I think it's taking the space tounderstand well for me like who I ammore and just following more of what istrue for me at that time I was very muchyou know I was living up near byon Bay Iwas in this very like beautifulCommunity but very much figuring out whoI was really um taking on and just doingso much going to so many events you knowand I think I honestly got burnt outfrom so much Social time and like doingso much and going to different eventsand um but it was also really beautifulto yeah I guess have that journey andAdventure you know in the van and I wastraveling around but then I was alsoliving in a house and um yeah reallyjust learning about myself and I thinkit's been upon reflection and being abit more grounded or deciding to comeback to Victoria and then yeah justhaving that space to be like there'scertain parts of me that I love fromthat version of myself and then alsoyeah following more of who I am now yeahand slowing down a bit I guess yeah Iwas just in that excitement of life andconnection and that's great but it wasalso nice to just yeah ground in andhave more routine and yeah that's beencool cool Journey crazy how much canchange in what three years yeah whatwhat is up everybody we'll get back toour chat with Alex very soon but first Iwant to ask you how you found thispodcast however you found it however itcome into your existence I want you topay that forwards so if a friend orfamily member sent you the link I wantyou to copy the show link of thisepisode and share it with one friend orfamily member or if you found it onsocial media share it on your stories orpage share it some here whereverwhatever social media platform you're onor if you're just happen to found it onYouTube then make sure you like it Andsubscribe it will help us reach morepeople as well so make sure you do thatthank you to all the of you that havebeen doing it cuz I know you havebecause this podcast has been growingmassively so again thank you and thankyou to all all of you that are going todo it right now all right let's get backto theepisode and now we're all here inMelbourne back together oh together forthe first time yes not even backtogether no together at last lasttogether at last I had to think though Iwas like did we meet in person you neverknow sometimes when you're just likeconnected with people on social mediait's uh you feel like you know them yeahyeah yeah so we were actually before thepodcast we're trying to figure out howwe connected and I'm pretty sure I justfollowed you randomly through some postthat we found through some fitnesscompetition and then you reached out tocome on the podcast yeah that's for thefirst time yeah and yeah that was it'seven funny for us looking back on wherewe started like back when we startedprobably when we talked to you we'retalking into this like $100 microphoneball thing between us between us soundedterrible probably looked terrible cuz wewe were in just some back room in thehouse and now we have this set up hereit's awesome crazy yeah it's cool to seethat Evolution and yeah continue youknow like you we were saying before oflooking back on where you started andhow far you've come and just how thatgrowth happens like over time as wellyeah and you said something in thatfirst bit about reflection and I want tosort of ask you your opinion onreflection so obviously we're reflectingnow looking back when we first had thepodcast and when we first met and allthat sort of stuff but also you'resaying that you're caught up in the ratrace not the rat race but the excitementof life doing all these social thingssomepeople struggle to even reflect in themoment to see what they're doing wrongMH so how did you know that somethingneeded tochange I think it would be times whensay I'd get home after a you know bigweekend of being social and when I atthat time you know 3 years ago beingsocial for me was say going to a lotmore wholesome events I wasn't drinkingthat much you know what I mean so Iwasn't more going out partying it wasmore like I don't know different I can'teven remember just different Beachevents or you know things like thatByron Bay you know what I mean you getthat um so but I just feel so drainedand it started I started to realized Iwas like why do I feel so tired anddrained when I was just doing awesomethings and my life seems really awesomeand I'm connecting with people and Ilike connection for me is reallyimportant but I think the deeper layerwas that I was doing too much of it andmaybe just you know I'm I'm veryextroverted but also very introvertedand realized also it's not somuch it's quality over quantity for meand I think that's where I came toreflect and realize you know there wassomething missing and sometimes Ithink yeah it's the thing that we thinksomething is when we reflect maybe it'snot that at all and I think justcreating that space you know if peoplewant to journal or meditate or thingslike that that's always really helped meto like I guess create that reflectioneven amongst the chaos CU I know peoplehave really busy lives but also certainthings I think I said it on um thenumber four podcast which was cool tothink because I have not talked aboutthis in ages but just driving in silencem I remember yeah I remember you talkingabout that I was like w like I tookadvice from my old self then Iremembered that because sometimes yeahwe don't there's there's so muchexternal stimulus like everywhere we goyou get in the car you listen to apodcast and sometimes is actually notabout consuming more it's actually aboutconsuming less and starting to I guessyeah listen to ourselvesmore yeahfound probably the last 6 months I'vebeen trying to do that a little bit morewhen we go on walks and or where I'mwalking by myselfI think you actually said at one timethat you know waking up and then quicklyputting on a podcast CU you've only gothalf an hour between waking up and thengoing to work so you try and get as muchpodcasting as you can or YouTube orwhatever it's like try not to get asmuch in because I found I just burn itout cuz you know information overloadright yeah especially going from thecountry where things a lot more spreadout and then Melbourne's a lot condensedwhich is absolutely awesome for verygoodreasons and then it's just like yeahyou're trying to grab more and more andmore in but yeah you're right just Iguess not necessarily driving cuz wehaven't got a car but walking in silencenot necessarily in silence but just nothaving something pumping into your mindthat whole time and even when was thelast time you went for a walk withoutyour phone yeah never yeah it's crazyit's crazy right how we you know I thinkback to when I was a kid and we'd justgo off bike riding you know I grew up inas we just learned we both grew up inGibs pretty cool but you know I was in atiny little town of 500 people we'd justgo off on our bikes and you know havelike home phones to call like call momand dad from our friend's house you knowit's crazy to think now that yeah wetake the even the other week when Ididn't have my car I was riding my biketo the gym and I thought to myself Ithought why am I taking my phone Iactually don't need it you know butwe've just become so reliant on thisthing that always needs and we thinkthat we need it but really if youactually strip it back you know I knowthere's certain if something happens wasgood to have a phone for that but when Iwas a kid I didn't have that yeah youknow we survived fine back then right wemade it made it here to tell the taleexactly and when was the last timesomething actuallyhappened it does happen but rarely yeahand I think that's the thing not I guessliving out of fear as well for you knowI can find myself doing that sometimesbe like what if this happens what ifthat happens but it's like or what couldwhat what also could happen that couldgo right you know um and starting lookat those kind of things too because yeahI think there's a lot of fear-based justthings in the world and it's coming backto I guess following more love and moreof what could go right you knowyeah when I say the word long-termHealth what's the first thing that comesto yourmind long-term Health Mac aswell uh sustainability of the activitythat I'm doing I guess that's the firstthing that I thought about so like lessintensity but more fre more lowintensity over a longer period of timeon your body okay I guess long term likeI'm thinking I want to be able to dosome of the activity I'm doing now whenI'm an oldlady that's exactly very similar to whatI was going to say sustainability likethat you know I as you guys know wellpeople in the podcast might not knowabout I used to do a lot of CrossFittraining and train and compete and Iburnt out and that was not sustainableand I think now having yeah gone througha big Health journey and coming backinto training from a place of I want tobe able to consistently train and alsobe really healthy and that doesn't lookhow it used to of training six days aweek 2 hours a day um and having thatlongterm consistency over time um fortraining for eating you know for allelements of Health yeah yeah I washaving this conversation with a clientthis morning um he's a mature agestudent and living in Melbourne byhimself and we're just talking about thelike having a conversation around foodand yes he's got some goals in the gymbut he just said at the moment I justcan't get it in because he's got uniwhich is stressful living down inMelbourne by himself was quite stressfulyeah he's coming to the gym a little bitas well and just trying to add in thatextra food it's just going to basicallyblow him up blow his head up so um thatsustainability of just trying to youknow focus on your goals at the momentyeahand um not overdo it so you burn outyeahso I found that CrossFit in itself hasthat weird up and down cycle so a lot ofpeople get into it you start smashing itcuz when you when you first start atCrossFit you get a lot of you learn alot of new skills and you're hittingsome good numbers every single week soit's like every week you go in youyou're hitting a new PR basically butthen I found especially because I had aCrossFit gym everybody dies off so it'shard to maintainthat was that your experience and do youthink that a lot of people experiencethe same and what were you doing backthen and what are you doing now yeah allright I'll hear the first part of thatum so yeah I find it can be very All ornothing and that's I guess a mentality Iprobably used to have you know trainevery day even if I was I I can't evenremember what I would do but I thinkback then I was so focused on justCrossFit and working that's all I woulddo so I think there was a level of I hadthe energy and for it and I was going tobed early and I was very dialed in on myhabits I think that was something CUeven now stepping back into training Irealized like whoa I'm going to bed latethen I'm getting up early like I need tosleep more you know and I think um whatyou were saying before about your clientwith the implementing like habits slowlyum and being able to over time thatincreases right um which I'll talk aboutwhen I talk about what I've come back towhat I'm doing more of now but back thenyes I was training a lot I was doing alot of CrossFit and I led to a place itwas the start of 2020 when all the gymsclosed and I realized that I just Icould still be active without being at agym for one like I didn't need to go tothe gym to do exercise what no way I waslike going for runs stand uppaddleboarding I was skateboarding I wasalso having a lot of fun you know andback then a friend said to me you knowthe gym is fun I'm not taking away fromthat but a outside of that he said whatwhen was the last time you did somethingfor fun and I guess that that's a verygood um indicator of where I was of verycaught up in um I was working for apersonal development company I was veryin like a very masculine get [ __ ] doneenergy that like kind of hustle mindsetlike I would say to myself like I don'thave time to go start up stand up POboarding or I don't have time to do yogacuz that's not productive like that waswhere I was and I guess that CrossFitwas I guess productive for me cuz it wasyou know leading towards those goals butyeah it led to once was the gyms Clos Ithink my body finally just had this timeto rest and realize like oh just beactive but you don't have to go to thegym to do that um and yeah I think itled to this big unraveling of reallystruggling to get back into that type oftraining for the last three to fouryears I probably that's probably acrossAustralia because I've done a lot oftravel I reckon there's about fiveCrossFit Gyms I've bought 10 passes toand I reckon I only these too oh wellcuz it just it just wasn't the time toyeah try and get back into it um from asustainable place but the times when Ihave I realized I've always been verygrateful to be able to I guess reflecton my mindset and not to be um I can beall or nothing but also to not do that Iguess after I was very burnt out sogoing back into a CrossFit gymspecifically I could really see whereeveryone just goes really hard all thetime um and I guess that's why a lot ofpeople talk about CrossFit and there's alot of injuries and I think it's becauseit can be very easy to caught up likealso don't get me wrong I love CrossFitlike I probably will eventually be goingback to it but it's coming from thatsustainable place of I always say tomyself like I want to be able to do thisin 10 years time 20 years time you knowI still want to be able to go to the gymand even be my fittest at like 40 50 youknow and when you think of that youalmost can take a deep breath you'relike oh I don't have to all do it in aday or a week or a month or like an 8wechallenge it's just like oh I canactually yeah breathe and justconsistently and I guess that's whereI'm at now of I've been stepping backinto training after especially the lastyear big like Health Journey um andstepping back into training andimplementing those habits like you weresaying for your client and it isoverwhelming I started a program with acoach a few months ago and we were I wasgoing to do I said three days a weekstrength training to starts I was likeI'm and I was living half an hour fromthe gym cuz I was down in the way sothat was another little like it wasWinter I was very like inward so likegetting to the gym it was like a 1 hourround trip so it was a bit of a likebarried entry even though you know Idon't like to say I have excuses butsometimes it was like I'm just going togo for a walk instead but anyway sowe're getting back into train I wasgetting back into training I wascounting like calories again um what wasit like certain amount of steps a dayobviously the food thing was a reallybig thing for me I used to religiouslymeal prep like and it was best I mealprep this week and I have so much foodstill it's been the best so um but and afew other different habits that we allchose to implement it once and it didfeel quite overwhelming like he was verysupportive in it and we didn't overdo itbut I can understand for peopleespecially if they haven't done it inthe past as much it's and then sometimesjust implementing one and then it's likeadding another you know kind of stackingit because if we're talking about doingit for long term for health you know Ium a habit of mine that that's stucksince for like four or five years now isI can't start my day without doing alittle bit of yoga or stretching like itliterally my body if I don't get on myyoga mat or this morning in my hotel Iroll a towel out cuz I don't bring myyoga mat but I just can't my body CU onei' I've read something or someone saidyou know you your body's stiff for eighthours a day eight hours a day sorry yousleep for eight hours or so and you wakeup stiff and you know I couldn't un unhear my the thought of my body beingstiff and I feel it in the morning Ijust not super you know you just need tomove it and that's been a habit thatstuck because it was one that I knew wasgood for me and I loved and I didn'tforce myself to do it you know it wasjust something that I started doing andnow I just can't not it's pretty cool soit's like a part of who I am yeah I'vebeen trying to do that we had a yogainstructor on a few weeks ago now maybelonger feels like a few weeks ago andshe convinced me I started doing yogaevery morning just not necessarily yogasession but stretching or just move mybody same was so good but then I fellout of the habit and even last week withthe guest I was like I'm going to startdoing it again I haven't started doingit again I'm going to start doing itagain yeah it's definitely somethingthat is once you yeah and I think that'sthe thing with habits or anything withtraining it's like if you're fall offthe horse you just get back on and it'snot starting again you're starting fromwhere you at you know um and I thinkthat's something that I keep tellingmyself CU even the last couple of weekswith so much just being pulled back intolife and so much change just having tosurrender to that and knowing that okayin a couple of weeks time I know what Iwant I want to be grounded I want to bein routine and as soon as that happens Iknow that things will be a breeze withtraining with habits and things likethat and knowing that yeah it's alwaysyou can always just jump back on andyou're not starting again yeah andthat's it like it's not like you can'tstart again and I know can start againI've just got to start doing it I'mdefinitely starting again like at themoment like it's cool yeah um so you'vecoached not necessarily health andfitness but you've coached people hereand there through business and all thatsort ofstuff people could probably relate thiseasy enough to health and fitness I'lluse health and fitness as a as a exampleand then you can just have your opiniononit all the time people come in see maaiand like got these shortterm goals it'slike I need to look like this yeah oryou know life isn't worth living andI've got to do it in this short amountof time and if I don't get that lifedone MH how would you have theconversation of going from thatshort-term goal mindset you know to thelong-term having a look you know thelong-term Health MH or long-term Healthin business or whatever apply it thereyeah um the first thing that comes tomind is what's the internal reason thatyou want it for um and also I think nottrying to change people's perspectiveall in one go as you probably know it'shard to you know I never even used tothink about my long-term health or thatsustainability and training right it waslike here and now and I guess um youjust reminded me of a very strongfrustration I used to have of back in2017 when I did my f45 8we Challenge andlost 10 and a half kilos in 8 weeksit was great and it really helped me butit's because I had the right mindsetaround it and I was getting so manymessages after that with people sayingoh my God you look so good I want tolose 10 kilos too and like so manymessages about that and the thing that Icame back to was you need to figure outwhy you want to do it like what's theinternal reason because when you losethat 10 kilos you're not going to be ashappy as you think you going to be umand because I can speak from experiencelike looking at the scales like thenumber on the scales is not like I haveno emotional Association to it like evennow weighing the heaviest I ever haveI'm just like yeah it's been a journeyto be here and I like understand youknow I've had to you know the healthjourney and everything I've been on hasled me to need to train less and all thethings coupled with a lot of umemotional things that happened in lifeyou know but um it's just like coming Iguess having that love for where you'reat as well meeting yourself where you'reat and knowing that you can start againum but yeah and I started to say topeople I was like what's the reason whyyou want to do this and I think there'sso much in society where there are wethink we want a quick fix and I thinkit's teaching people about the journeyin the process is actually the mostimportant thing and you know how do youfeel each day and what are the thingsthat you can do the habits that um yeahcan really help lead towards thatlongterm aswell I think it's hard when people sortof get caught up in the moment theythink they want it so yeah just takingthat step back and trying to think whyand one thing I've learned I guessthrough podcast as well in our lastcouple of guests I've sort of beenhaving the samethought like the journey is the bestpart like you might think you want theseresults in theend but you know like you said once youget there it's not going to make you anyhappier it's just it's actually thejourney and one thing like we've beendoing well I've been doing probably forthe last year or two is just focusing onthe journey and enjoying doing this likeespecially the podcast just enjoyinggoing in every every week recording thepodcast we haven't actually got an endgoal for it so it's not like you knowonce we get here we're going to be theSu successful podcast and we're going tobe making millions of dollars it's justlike every week we just want to do it umand I think that's a big thing peoplemiss out and you know when it comes tohealth of Fitness or just you knowtrying to achieve some sort ofgoal implementing those little thingsand enjoy enjoying them like you saidenjoying what you're doing is going tomake a big difference who cares what theresult is just enjoy thosethings yeah I think you end up gettingthere a lot sooner if you let go of thatexpectation as well and I think not likeyou're saying say even about the podcastnot having that you know there can beyeah goals where you're like would becool to be at this place but alsosometimes you'll get there faster if youdon't attach to how it should be or howit like l llinearly yeah should look becausesometimes you might need to Pivot overhere and go like in all these differentdirections to actually get there youknow so and then you get there muchsooner and you're like oh now we're herelook at us now we would have thoughtthree years ago would be sitting herewith free microphones and in person andin Melbourne where we were all in NewSouth Wales back then yeah true wild seeI feel like you find so many things onthe way that you weren't expecting tofind like maybe the goal is that youwant to lose weight but then if you arelike progressing towards it I find thata lot of clients find other things thatare more beneficial to their life thanjust losing weight right like they havemore energy like they sleep better likethey have new cooking skills and all ofthose things are probably like a lotmore rewarding than just getting to theend goal I also feel like people forgetlike once you get your goal what what doyou do afterwards you know what I meanlike do you just stop doing all of thehabits that you built yeah in the leadupto that I don't know I feel like that'soften overlooked as well yeah and thenyou probably just will have another goalso it's it's like removing it's likeit's great to have goals we removingthat happiness that goal equalshappiness and it's like even for me thatJourney the last few months you know Iknow that I do want to lose a bit ofweight at the moment but and that's whatmy coach and I were working on but veryquickly to our work together I go youknow what I don't even care about howmuch I weigh I'm just excited like I wasgetting stronger I was feeling better Ihad more energy you know feeling fitterand I was like that's all I care aboutnow and I know I think from experiencebecause of like the training that I havedone in the past I just know thatfocusing on becoming fitter and strongerI'm going to naturally lose weightbecause it's just I'm going to be moreactive my I'm eating better likeeverything falls into place because ofthat yeah definitelyum and just one more thing like forpeople listening you don't have tocontinually doing the same thing likewe've sort of alluded to this in theconversation that you've had and ourtraining all that sort of stuff youdon't have to be doing CrossFit for therest of your life like we're talkingabout this before that we started likewe all enjoyed CrossFit at one point nowwe don't really enjoy it we're trying toget back into it Welly you are I'm notI'm not at all trying to get back intoit yeah and and I and again I was havingthis conversation with another personthey they used to I'm pretty sure theywere talking about powerlifting theyused to really enjoy powerlifting theywant to get back to that I'm like wellwhy and he's like cuz I used to enjoy itI'm like yeah you used to enjoy itdoesn't mean you have to enjoy it againand it's not going to get the sameresults just cuz you're doing it againit's just like just do what you feellike is necessary and you you'reenjoying y um anything else on healthand fitness that wanted to diveinto uh just on that I guess with theCrossFit part and you know not attachingto this is who I am and this is myidentity and I think um because spaceslike that is such a great community andis also where people find a lot ofpurpose like I did which is amazing likeit's so beautiful because you knowCrossFit used to be a highlight of myday I used to I was um working actuallyit's really cool being here because Iused to work just across the riverreally yeah at Vic police in recruitmentyeah so one of my many job avenues thatI've been down yes before before Ohactually no that's when well when Iwould have done the bay games so backthen I reckon um I was driving from T toMelbourne every day I'd park at the gymso I'd get up at 4:30 Drive park at thegym walk to work finish work drive uhwalk back over to the gym train for twohours drivehome I did that for three months butthen I was like no this is cooked like Icannot keep driving to Melbourne everyday so then I moved to Port Melbournewhich was much better but um yeah butnot attaching to you know the last 3 or4 years I haven't really trained thatregularly it was more you know surfingdoing yoga walking hiking running youknow just really being active indifferent ways um and that was reallybeautiful to do as well and nowintegrating back into like more strengthtraining which I'm really excited tohave been doing and doing more of it umbut yeah knowing that you can change andpivot and different seasons of Lifedifferent call for different types oftraining as well um I think if I was Ithink that's why I've you know tried todive back into CrossFit and paid formany passes that I have not used but umit just hasn't been the time for me tostep back into that space and alsoletting go of the idea of I want to looklike how I used to look like um becauseyeah back then all I was focused on wastraining really like CrossFit was mylife um you know yeah I worked but Ididn't love what I did you know so itwas like the energy but now it's likeyou know I have so many differentAvenues of passion and things that Ilove to do that not saying trainingcan't be a big part of that I'm reallytrying to make training one of thehealth and fitness and training one ofthe most important parts because I findwhen that's dialed in everything else isbetter everything else is just yeah evenyou have more energy you feel you knoweverything all the benefits that youknow that comes with but um yeahintegrating back into that and nottrying to be who I used to be becauseI'm not that person anymoreyeah speaking of who you used to be yesuh I want to sort of pivot into I guessa little bit of business side of thingslike you've just said you've done a lotof different things along the way andwe're talking about it upstairsbefore and I guess selfishly I just wantto pick your brain a little bit as wellum when did you what was the first thingyou did for yourself outside of um anemployment being employed yeah so when Iquit my job at the personal developmentcompany in 20 two weeks before anylockdowns in 2020 um which was I'mgrateful that I left at that time cuz Iknew I needed to leave um and then I'vethink I probably would have stayed if Istayed any longer um so I left there Istarted to do a lot more just likepersonal coaching I guessmore helping people kind of find theirpurpose and direction in life umandthen did that for a couple of years butthat was still very a bit of a sidepassion never was my full-time kind ofincome um but I think that's when I metlike knew you guys and that's when I wason the podcast last time which wasreally great but then end of 2021 I wasworking for a company up near Barn Bayand I was doing a lot of their Tech andsystem stuff and implementing somereally some really awesome platforms forthem that I knew was really valuable andit was really under valued for the workthat I was doing and it just I realizedthat this is really valuable work andthey don't see that and a lot of peoplewould really value this stuff i' helpeda fair few friends you know who werecoaches Implement different things liketheir website or you know just evenSocial Media stuff like lots of just anybackend online tech stuff that you knowyou need for a business to thefoundations of to help a business growwhether you're starting or you're atwhatever level like everyone needs tohave those like foundational systems andTech you know dialed in to keep growingand yeah so I just kind of went out on awhim and quit that job and moved back toT and then I was like I'm going to startmy own business like in that space so umyeah it started as you know that thisTech and systems kind ofimplementation um business helpingentrepreneurs mostly um with any backendstuff they needed and yeah it's justevolved into a big focus on websitedesign business strategy as well um Ijust love I love talking to people abouttheir ideas and they want to you knowput it out there to the world butthere's so many steps involved if it'slike you know I want to do this versionof a course or even if it was a podcastor you know just anything there'sthere's the idea but then you need tolike almost make it tangible online tobe ready to give out to the world and Ihave quite a gift in doing that thatI've learned and I just love yeah beingable it just lights me off I love ityeah goodbecause like a lot of people probablylistening I have a lot of ideas yeah alot of the time I struggle from goingfrom idea to MH something tangible yeahso everybody listening out there they'vegot an idea most people have had an ideathat they've wanted to turn into abusiness what how what does that looklike going from an idea to somethingthat they can use or sell or Implementyeah yeah and I think that's where itgets quite overwhelming yeah um I guessthe first step is if we're talking umgoing from starting you know starting abusiness with a certain idea right umYou W to really tune in to make surethat it's somethingthat it's notjust a passion that might not be able tomake you money if that makes sense so Ihave a lot of ideas for a lot ofproducts that I would love to create andit's not all about making money but ifyou know if your end goal is to do thatit's like coming from this place oflooking like especially if you want todo a product business I've worked in fora lot of different brands and I've had alot of experience in the ProductIndustry there's so there's there's somany margins you need to hit you knowpeople think it's all well and good tocreate a product and sell a product butto really actually look at your numbersand kind of I guess get a financialoverview of can this be sustainable forme to grow and yeah it's not all aboutmaking money but it's also about youbeing able to bring that product andmore impact to more people right and todo that it needs to be profitable likethat's the bottom online so I thinkhaving that you know looking at but alsoyou might not it might not be a productit might be a service or an offering andin that space I guess that's where I'vepersonally gone down the road of havingmore a business that's also online youhave a lot lessoverheads and I think that's you knowsomeone like people mentioned to meabout oh like this subscription is likeso expensive blah blah blah for likeeven a website where in I say think ofif you were renting a spacehow much would you be paying then andeven times when I think about all thelittle subscriptions that I'm paying I'mlike look you have nothing to you knowmaybe my expenses are like maximum $400a month that's like less than one weekrent in like a space or something youknow so really I've got nothing tocomplain about so yeah I guess it'sreally getting clear on your idea andalsowhat's what you really need to look atthe steps and take one step at a timeand I guess it's really like having thatoverview of yeah what is this thing isit viable for me to grow and expand um alot of people get to certain place wherethey like hit an upper limit and theycan't keep growing and then I've seen alot of businesses you know then when sayI'm just going to keep referring toproduct business because I guess this isa yeah there's so many different onesbut we're talking about this now um youknow they'll grow to a certain point butthen you need to keep growing but thenyou need to invest more and then it'scan be that like tricky place where youneed to find that balance of it mightnot be that profitable until you expandto the next level so yeah but is thereis there any ideas that you have that isis one I could speak to more if it wassomething I've never shared it before Ohdo I know no oh [ __ ] here we go I reckonyou're going to enjoy it thoughso this is wasn't a country issue thisis a city living issuemhm as we all us three know sleeping indarkness is optimal you want to be indarkness and when you're in an apartmentbuilding that's right next to anotherapartment building or in a city that'salways lit up light's always coming inyeah so you either have a mask but Ihave a hot body and as soon as I put amask on my face starts sweating so Idon't use a mask too much so I wanted toget some sort of fly screen clippymagnetic thing that extended out intothe windows MH that blacked out so it'slikea I guess you got theyou got blinds that you can pull downbut then there's always a little gap onthe side yes you can get ones that rolldown in a in a roller but they're liketens of thousands of dollars so I justwant to make like a fly screen typething obviously that's not doesn't letlight through that you can sort of clipin that magnetics and it's likecustomizable size yeah have you checkedif it exists there have you even doneany product research that's how youcreate it though by not doing productresearch no no but you create it if itdoesn't exist oh that's I mean doesexist well yes if it does exist maybeyou should do research on that but youcan make something better yeah true andthat like I heard somebody say I can'tremember who said it but if there's fivecoffee shops in this one area should youopen up a coffee shop and then they werelike yeah you should open up another onebecause obviously it's working if allfive are there yeah I love that it'slike if that product or exists I justmake a better one mhm yeah it would begood if you could make so you can travelwith it too like staying in hotels howwas your sleep last night well Iactually had a little apartment so itwas actually quite cute the like bedroomhad a window to the lounge room but ithad a little blind it was really randomso but it had a blind so I actually hadquite a dark sleep but I know exactlywhat you're talking about and I lovethat and that's something probably alsoeven with my little steps I was sayingbefore the first thing you got to thinkabout is like how many people could thisbe for like everyone literally um anyoneI guess that is in their and fitness aswell you know I think there's a certainelement of people to care about that buta lot of people probably wouldespecially if you do the right likemarketing and the right um educationaround it um you know the simplest ideaof something like that you can grow inlike to the whole world I think that'sawesome anybody wants to partner upand what are you going to call it yeahhaven't even thoughtthat I just want to die not sleep that'syeah yeah yeah I I don't that's what Idon't wear sleep masks yeah thanks forfinishing my words there I can't notwear a sleep mask you can't not I haveto unless I find a really I've neverfound a really comfy one it otherwise itfeels too like tired and justuncomfortable I think I like to have myhair above my head maybe so it pulls itI don't know yeah what's the brand weuse Mantra so it's like a circle andit's got a hole in it so it's notpushing against your eyelid as such it'slike you can open your eyes with it onand it's black dark like you can blinkand stuff that's good yeah I thinkthat's also what I need they are goodbut like I said I just end up they dohave cooling ones did you know that yeahmaybe I'll get you one for yourbirthday okay all right put the idea onhold okay no I think it's a great ideathereum so and I guess that sort of leadsinto you know creating a product and outthere now people are creating so manyproducts and convincing people easilythat they need those products uh a goodexample are nose strips yeah nose stripsthat like bring out your nostrils andyou can breathe a lot better yeahthey're super helpful and you know arethey needed all day every day probablynot but you know more and more I seepeople using them and all that sort ofstuff um what's you know I guess fromyour point of view of creating theseproducts like what should people lookout for like what's BS and what what'sactually good product for them yeah yeahI guess when it's something say likethat or things that are I'm not sayingthe no scrips are BS like they are goodyeah yeah like anything I guess yeah andit depends but say if we talk in say thehealth industry you know um there'sprobably a lot of things that maybe youdon't really need or and I think it'sdoing your own research and not alsolike looking at um yeah what research isout there about these things if it issomething that really will work for youor if it feels sometimes I really youknow feel called to have a certain thingor like use a certain product so thenI'll go and seek one of those productsum but I think you know there's alot I can't remember I think it's in theclothing space more so but you know alot of people out there who like talkabout sustainable clothing and all thethings but when you actually do yourresearch they're all actually comingfrom places that aren't that sustainableand things like that so I think it'sjust having that discernment of actuallylooking deeper into the products and youknow there's so many things I can'tthink of an example and yeah it's youknow I believe everyone deep down hasgood intentions um but it's finding theones that are really right for you andnot giving into just the marketing ofexactly what they say and but alsosometimes you got to try it for yourselfyou know umthere's I used to not be able to haveprotein bars like I that they make mebloated like we saying before aboutcertain things that you just like stillwould have if they make you bloated um Ijust can't do that anymore because likelike I it's so obvious in my body thatI'm like whoa I'm bloated from thisthing um but I actually was working fora company um called fod bods actuallyMelbourne Bas protein bars reallyamazing if you guys haven't had themthey're really good um and they stillthey don't bloat me and that was likethe first protein bar in so long that Icould eat and then you know I shoutedfrom the rooftops about them because Iwas like this is actually really awesomeand then recently there was a differentbrand that I tried who have reallyawesome products and I actually don'tbelieve it has to do do with theingredients but actually my body itdoesn't they don't really sit right withme so it has nothing to do with them butalso it's just like not right for mybody so I guess it sometimes you got totry it as well um which I know doesn'thelp if you're like buying lots ofdifferent things but yeah I think it'syeah do that research feel what's rightfor you but also um sometimes you justgot to try it out and yeah it might workit might not I feel like from a coachingperspective um the fact that everyone'sso individual and the fact that therehas to be so much trial and error can beexhausting for the client and for mebecauseyou can't just give someone like oneplan and it's going to work for everyoneeveryone has to try different trainingStyles different diets different foodsdifferent sleep patterns so yeah cuz I Ican relate to what you're saying aboutFoods feeling good or bad in your bodyand then my experience is definitely notgoing to be the same as your experienceor one of my clients experiences so thatis so it can be frustrating because it'sjust everything in life is trial anderror right because we're all so veryindividual yeah 100% yeah that's likewhat coming back to what we're sayingit's just the journey as well you knowbut I think it's it's hard cuz you justwant to know exactly what it is or a lotof people do you know even me and thenthe last like two weeks I went back intodoing a bit more like group fitnessclasses a bit more functional trainingbut it still very like circuit basedright and yeah only this week I've justrealized I missed my strength training Iwas like this isn't for me but I'm likeI just joined a membership at thisgym and now like two weeks in I'm likethis isn't right for me it's an awesomegym and awesome people but like for mytraining goals and just where I'm at I'mlike it's not what I need and I thinkit's it it's been really cool to justcome into that acceptance of like coollike we was saying before I've gone downthat path yeah and if that path wasn'tright for me I'll just go back the otherway and choose another one and at leastyou know now it might be something forme in the future but um you know never Ilike tosay I sent my um my coach Tom a voicemessage this morning I said to him likethree weeks I was like yeah I think justlike you know this your strengthtraining in the gym isn't for me rightnow and like you know maybe one day I'llcome back to it but you know I think Ijust miss you know the classes and allof that kind of stuff and I sent him avoice message this morning I was likeyou're going to love this I was like soI've decided literally I was like I'vedecided I missed my strength trainingand I'm going to go back to the likeinto the gym it was hilarious and Ithink letting go of um a long time ago Ilet go of what I said I would do in theway of of you know but I said I wouldjoin this gym now and I'm going to dothis I have to stick it out there's abalance right cuz I also believe thatsometimes you know a coach once said tome one of my CrossFit coaches he's likeAlex you got to try something for atleast four weeks to know whether it'sworks for you or not and especiallythat's that's what he was saying inregards to like training and differentthings um which I definitely believe aswell um I think for me right now forthis specific example like I just I verymuch very clearly know I guess my bodynow and what training I need so that'swhy I'm happy to change but sometimesyeah you got to stick to something toknow whether it's going to be for you ornot um yeah yeah I'm glad you said thatbecause you can get caught up in thatwhole oh this isn't for me so I'll trysomething else and you can keep doingthat but at the end of the day you doneed to actually give something a goyeah like you can't just go well thatwasn't for me next thing and then you'llend up back on eating cookies forbreakfast and drinking Coke all daybecause that's what your body Vibes withand of course that's that's what youwant so yeah understanding thatself-discipline and doing something andthen knowing if it's right or wrong foryou at what point you know if it's rightorwrong I guess I like to you know thatfour week rule at least I feel likethat's a minimum but it's depends onwhat thing you're talking about right umfor mehow do I know if it's right orwrong sometimes honestly sometimes youdon't know but then you just have afeelingthat you know I'm sure there's probablythings that I've done and I've changedfrom you know even coming like I wasjust getting into a good routine with mystrength training at the gym right butthen I was like no I'm going to go togroup classes now you know and maybe Ishould have just stuck to the strengthstuff but I think looking back it wasgreat cuz it's what I needed to justrealize that oh that's I really you knowsometimes you need to miss something torealize it's what I do want and whatfeels right for me and I think that'swhere it's just letting go of that worryof what other people will think aboutyou changing your mind and I'm notsaying yeah it's that balance of notchanging your mind all the time but thenif you do change your mind and want tocome back to something not caring aboutwhat you know I used to worry of peoplebe like oh she changes her mind so muchoh she goes and lives in all thesedifferent places oh like I used to thinkthat right but then I just let go thatyou know what this is me living my lifelike in the end I'd rather choose toision from my own truth than what I dobased on what I worry about what otherpeople are going tosay then you know then in the end all Ihave the only person I guess I can haveto fall back on is me of like I was atleast I made the decision for myself youknow it's like at least I didn't makethe decision based on what I thoughtother people were telling me like whatother people say I should do or weretelling me to do and I think that'swhere yeah I think that's where I'vejust like LED followed my life fromthere you know um because then it's yeahif I realize it was the wrong decisionum I don't really think decisions arewrong it's just they're all learningsright yeah but if it was the decisionthat I felt wasn't the right one atleast I'm like oh well that was mychoice you know not what someone elsetold me to do yeah did you have anyother comments or questions I don'tthink so not at themoment I wanted to wrap with aconversation we've had before on the PodCAU up caused a quite a it was aconversation stter let's say that withtheaudience what's the difference betweenmotivation and discipline disciplinewhat's the difference between motivationand discipline cool I like thisone I don't feel like motivation alwayslasts discipline is what keeps you goingum it's almost like motivation is whatstarts you discipline is that choice todo it over and over again even if youdon't feel likeit but then how does that come intoknowing if it's right or wrong for youand if it's just disciplineor motivationor wait so are you askingif sticking to something throughdiscipline is going to prevent you fromrealizing if it's the right or wrongthing for you yeah that's probablymuch better way to putit it's fine fine bothways Ithink you've got to not go all in butyou've got to be disciplined insomething right so I think it's havingthe discipline and choosing to dosomething for a minimum amount of timeto then have a like have enough data aswell to say hey this isn't working forme um and that's why I guess I say thefour week thing um you know I feel likefour weeks is actually quite a shortamount of time but youknow that's yeah so you know because ifI think for training right now andtalking about we're talking aboutsomething earlier with like the longtermyou know I think of in a year time wheredo I want to be not in 3 months timebecause if I think in 3 months time italso still feels quite short um so Ithink what can I Implement and whathabits and actions can I Implement forthe next year cuz even at the momentit's like I'm not training as much as Iused to so I'm like if I go to the gymand do like a solid strength trainingsession two to three times a week if Ido that for a year I know that I'm goingto have you know being active like stillbe active every day but you know I'mknow that I'm going to see the resultsand I guess that comes back to lookingfor the long term as well um and havingthat discipline to see it throughwhereas and maybe it's the disciplinebecause when I say that right mytraining could change but I'm stillbeing I don't feel like it's going tochange or maybe I'd go back to CrossFitclass or something right but I'm stillbeing disciplined in the way of I'mstill training you're doing a solidsession three times aweek I'm being active every day walkingLots you know recently I just startedsaying to myself every day every morningI'm going to wake up and do yoga and gofor a walk because there are things thatno matter where I was cuz I startedtraveling a bit for work so and I know Ican find a gym to go to and stuff butit's like no matter what I can wake updo yoga go for a walk like wherever I amand I think that's discipline and thingslike that where it's almost like you youfigure out along the journey you know Ithink backto 2019 2020 and the morning routines Iused to do I'd get up at like I'd havelike a 2hour morning routine oh Godright like that included exercise so Iguess you know yeah but that was a lotand I was really disciplined at it untilI got to a point where I was like I'mfeeling tired and I feel like I'm justtrudging through and I thinkhonestly you just got to really likewhat we were saying is like circlingback have that reflection and reallystart to trust yourself um and yeahsometimes you'll get it wrong there'splenty of times I've gotten it wrong andjust jumping back on the wagon of thethings that you know do work foryou yeah what's youranswer wait what was the question what'sthe difference between them I think myanswer is the same as Alex's to behonest like motivation probably is whatstarts the new thing that you're tryingand discipline is the behavior of yousticking to it but also I think that sayyou were to start something new and sayyou were going off like the 4- We Ruleand you're not sure if it's for you butyou're disciplined for 4weeks also do you think you can havediscipline and motivation at the sametime because maybe noticing that yourmotivation is dropping off and you'rejust relying on discipline could be asign that it's not the right thing foryou you know like if I'm going to thegym and I'm motivated at the start andthen I am heavily relying on mydiscipline but I don't want to go to thegym anymore necessarily maybe thenthat's an indication that the gym isn'tthe right kind of exercise for me andmaybe I need to reflect and picksomething else does that make sense doyou think that it could also be someoneum not I guess seeing it through in wayof especially if it's someone who hasn'tbeen to the gym very much like I knowthat happens for me it's like I losethat it's almost like the shiny newthing and then I try to go to like thewhat's the next shiny new thing you knowand I think that's the dance like a likeyou know sometimes it could be I don'tknow both both yeah cuz sometimes Idefinitely am not motiv that's true likeI'm definitely not motivated to go tothe gym all the time and I definitelyrely on discipline more but gym isdefinitely my thing as well yeah so Idon't know what are your thoughtsum I think a combination of both I Iknow every time we bring this up we havecertain people say this is a definitionand this is what it is I I honestlythink they're just words it's a personaldefinition right yeah I think they don'tmean anything they're just words made upto give a thing meaning I think it'ssort of both of what you're saying I Ithink you got to look at the long-termgoal pretty much what we've been talkingabout the whole time in this podcastlook at the long-term goal and there'scertain things you need to do to reachthat c that long-term goal so if youwant to still be lifting weights or behealthy when you're 80 there's certainthings you need to do to do that whenyou're 80 so there are things you justneed to do but then we get caught up inyou know what's the perfect thing likeCrossFit this that again they're alljust words the end of the day you'vejust got to move every single day orthereabouts yeah you got to move everydayso you can when you're 80 don't reallycare what you do you just got to bemoving and doing those things don'tcomplicate it I think we like tocomplicate things and that complicationsometimes is motivation to get youstarted but again it doesn't reallymatter just look at the longterm goalswhat do you need to do I need to moveyeah go out and move yeah and it comesback to it can be really simple too it'slike that's where I yeah with liketraining and stuff a long time ago Ijust came back to saying I just want tobe active you know and in what way isthat and also you know sometimes it canbe so simple of like moving every dayeating well getting enough sleephydrating you know all the like simpleprinciples like even you know talkingbefore where you were like what productslike how do you know and sometimes it'slike also just asking yourself do Ireally need this cuz you know all I'msaying products and everything arereally great to help enhance but they'realmost like the one percenters rightit's like if you don't have those simplefoundations dialed in in your everydaylike those things like you're just goingalmost too far ahead yeah yeahum and yeah even like with business likeyou know what does it need to what do weneed to do to have a successful podcastin 5 years we just need to turn up eachweek and do it like let's not overcomplicate it yeah forget abouteverything else we just need to turn upand do it and obviously get a little bitbetter each time which I think wehave yes you have two 200 episodes Ihope we' got we've got a little bitbetter 204 204 204 200 later 200 laterfrom yes between sitting in and sittingon our laptop it's much better it's muchbetter in person right yeah it's great Ilove it I love that in person connectionyeah yeah all right we'll get you backon in another 200 shows and see wherewe're all at my God 404 wa come and R upawesome well Alex thanks so much forcoming along thanks for having me it'sbeen great it's been awesome to have youin person yeah uh and everybodylistening obviously you've enjoyed thechat so far this far to the end I'mgoing to stop talking yeah we had aguesstoday I almost thought that it was justgoing to be you and I cuz Mac was I wasviolently ill yesterday so my energy isnot there I feel like my energy is adisappointment in comparison to usual soI'm sorry on your behalf it's fine I'mglad you're still here yeah but I didn'twant to miss out yeah would have been ashame if you did so I made it we wewould have got you back on for tab allthree on the podcast anywayokay that'll do thanks everybody andwe'll talk to you in the next episodebye if you have made it this far you'veobviously enjoyed the episode so firstthank you very much for hanging aroundto the end and make sure you check outanother episode I'm sure you'll lovethat as well and if you want to get moreinvolved with our insitu community thenmake sure you become a supporter of thisshow you find the links in the shownotes where you there's a bunch ofdifferent price ranges for your budgetbut for each price price range you'regoing to get something awesome so makesure you check that out as well and seeyou all in the next episode