Welcome to the Energetic Radio podcast. This episode is brought to you

by the school of play dotco, hosted by Dale Sibonham and

Paul Campbell. Each week, we'll bring to you tips, strategies, and ideas

on how you can bring more joy and happiness into your life and those you

share with. Welcome back, everybody. This is episode

number 335. My name is Dale Silebottom, joined by

the one and only Paul Campbell. How are you, mate? Very well, mate. How are

you? Good, buddy. Now, you've got a stat for us about number

335. So it's 335. I got I got 2. I don't

know if one's true or not. Number 1, 335.

If you talk about the 335th day in a year, that'll be the

1st December, potentially. It's like a 1% club. Yeah.

We we do love that show. That'd be great. I might be a day off

here, but the 1st December, people put their trees up. Oh, stop it. Nothing but

joy and happiness. Let's be honest, there are people in the world out there that

love to get that tree up as early as possible. They do. I'm not sure

about your household, but in our household we wait for the 1st December to roll

around to chuck it up. That's good. Not one word of a lie, mate, my

kids the other day were asking if we can start When you pull up? Yeah.

Jesus, real king. I'm not sure where they saw Christmas, maybe the shops

already got that stuff out and about, but, and I might be wrong, listeners

feel free to correct me, but 300 and 35th day of the year, that might

be around the 1st December. Oh, I like that one. But then the fact that

we know is true, so I looked up. The Dutch Sicily war

lasted 335 years between 1651

and 1986, but it had no battles or deaths. I'm so

glad I know that. Thank you. That's a good that's a good war. Right? No

battles or deaths. Let's have more of them, please. That'd be fantastic. Thank you for

that, mate. Now, I've got the, I'm in your seat today. I've got the

camera on me. If people are listening to this, and check out

our Instagram at energetic radio. I've had the, fresh fade. The ears are

lowered, looking sharp, I would say. I'm gonna give myself a compliment there. Now

before we get into the second episode of the best of you series, which,

we've really enjoyed. The feedback was really nice from, the first one.

Little bit of a shout out for things we've got coming up. So, obviously, we've

done our talks all around the world and, a lot of time they're just

for private companies, corporate, schools, sports clubs. We are

now branching out and we've booked some big theatres. So in

October November, we've got shows in Shepparton, Parkdale,

and Geelong. If you go to episode number 335,

there'll be a link on that. I'm obviously speaking, you're gonna be emceeing

Paul, and we've got Paul Watkins coming along as well. So on the link in

the show notes, you can go and check out and have a read about the

the evening. It's called elevate your life and really good for partners,

friends, workplaces, kids, families, anyone to come along.

Paul and myself, we've got different unique styles. You can see both our

TED Talks on there. But essentially, we're trying to bring what

we do to everybody to share that and have a really positive

experience. So, they are big theaters where a couple of them are about half

full, couple one isn't. So if you if you wanna,

obviously, read more about that, go and check that out. But more importantly,

let's go on with today. It is all about relationships and connections. Oh.

A 100%. Love this cam boat. How good is it? So,

yeah, second episode, the best of you series, we're going to bring 4 of these

2, and it's all about relationships and connections. And let's be honest, right? I

think that's what life is about. Like seriously, that's what life is about. And if

we link back episode, you know, the first episode, the first episode in

the series of the best of you, which was mindfulness and gratitude,

let's be honest, most of the things we find that we're grateful for or the

little snippets where we stop and smell the rose and that's awesome comes when we're

hanging out with people and we have our connections and relationships and they come from

enjoying them and spending them with people that we care about. Right. So if we're

going to focus on mindfulness and gratitude, it makes complete sense to now really hone

in and just plant that seed in listeners is about the importance of

working really hard and striving to have healthy relationships and

connections with those around you. And they take effort. They do. Like

anything in life, I don't know. It's exactly what we spoke about last week.

Nothing you can't take friends for granted. And I think if,

it's not that I like doing this, but I I've always passionate, like, not passionate

about I'm always curious about when people are dying, what they say is important to

them. Mhmm. And it's always people, like, I wish I had worked not as hard

and invested more time in my friends or family, or I spent more time

and was more present, you know, because at the end of the day, that that's

what really matters. Not what you own, how much money you have, like, your

job title. Because when you're retired, no one cares what you did. Yep. Just comes

back to are you a good person, and do you have good people in your

life? Yeah. So I think it it it is one of those things that you

don't wanna just cruise through life so focused and fixated on,

you know, item status and and things like that that when you do

realize that they don't matter anymore, it's too late. Yep. I think

it's a currency it's a it's a currency that you can never invest enough

time in. And the best thing about these currencies, it's free. 100%. And

and I was a victim of it. I'm sure you've been a victim of it.

I reckon 98% of the population would be a victim of it, is you go

through the social norms. Right? Like you you go to school, you think

about your career, it's jammed down your throat, you get your career, you focus on

that and what you wanna become, get your house, your mortgage, etcetera, etcetera, cars, your

holidays. And then you'll probably start to come through that once you've had kids and

in your forties and you start edging through the Do you come through it?

You might be, I'm sorry to interrupt. Sorry to interrupt. That's

alright. No, I think you do. And I think the more you read, the more

you learn, the more you realize that, you know, holy shit, I'm halfway through my

life now. Let's just be honest. I'm halfway through it. And I think that's when

the penny drops that you go, yeah, if you think about what, what you're going

to think on your death bed, and that's such a powerful thing to think about.

I know it's pretty morbid, but it does allow you to reset your mindset and

you're like, man, if I'm on my death bed, what's going to be important to

me. And you're right. It's not your career. Like, yeah, you might get, it might

be fulfilling you to impact on people in a really positive way, but the things

you're really going to care about is how you treated people,

what you known, who you known as and who you known by and who you're

remembered by as, and just, yeah,

those rock solid connections you made along the way and how you treated those people

that cared about you. That's the most important thing. It's not so much yeah.

It's important for the people who you care about, but it's the people that care

about you that you've really gotta work on and give to. And as you said

before, don't take it for granted. And every one of us do it. Like, I'll

put my hand up. Oh, we all do. We all get complacent. There's times you

get complacent and you, and you take certain relationships for granted. They're always going to

be there. Right. But let's be honest. Shit happens sometimes and

they're not there forever. You know what I mean? So, yeah. So take

this as a little moment in time if you're listening and you're in your ears

and just to go, you know what, let's, let's put some effort in and

not take anything for granted and, and reach out, reach out to someone you

haven't spoke to for a little while. Think about those people

that love you and care about you and have a think about how you're treating

them. And that's, I've had to do a bit of reflection on that lately massively

in the last year or 2, for sure. And I'm definitely

striving to try and be, you know, better husband, better father, better mate, those sorts

of things. And inadvertently

when you do put a bit of thought into that side of things, I think

once again, you feel proud of yourself and you feel a little bit better yourself

that you are being a better person towards the others, and they get something out

of it and gives back to you as well. Oh, so true. Now and one

thing I love is it's always nice when you get messages on your birthday, and

this is going out on Monday. It is your birthday, Canva. So happy birthday.

We we're obviously prerecording this because we've got, a full week of

workshops away all over Victoria. 1st week for you of a full 5

5 road trip. Well, let's call it a junket. Let's get it. It's it's a

road trip inside. I'm looking forward to it. It is a junket. But it is

your birthday today. So happy birthday, mate. Thank you. 20

7. Oh, I love you. You can you can stay, mate. You can

definitely stay. It's patronizing and then there's bullshitting again. I know. And there was a

time when people would say, oh, you still look like me in twenties and thirties,

but I reckon the gray hair now that you're showing through. Oh, got a story

before we talk about this. So Go for it. Last week, we're doing a, workshop

together. And I'm asking me, I don't know why he told me this,

but, we're we're obviously presenting together. And one of the students, beautiful

student, obviously, very switched on. I was I could empathize with him. I thought, you're

you're right. You've got things sorted. I actually said to Cambo, oh, is

he your son? This is a true

story, ladies and gentlemen. Let's just put things in line here. The grade 6

student, right there doing our thing. We look the same. We dress the same.

We're both idiots. And, and, yeah, this this girl grabbed

me and she said, hey, is is he your son? And I was

mind blown. I was like, what? And I said to the little girl, I said,

is it my grey hair that that that made it? She she

went, yep. That's pretty much it. Well, I love that you told me. I thought

that I probably wouldn't have told you if that was yellow. But what I

what I brought that up is, obviously, happy birthday, mate. But more importantly, don't

just reach out to somebody when everyone else does. This is probably the thing that

a long way around going about it. Do it just because.

Do it because it's just a Wednesday at 9 AM. Do it just because

nobody else is. It's always nice to let people know happy birthday, but

on your birthday, predominantly, I'd say you feel pretty good anyway.

Yeah. Because you're getting love from everywhere. Yeah. So my thing would be, try and

do it when nobody else is doing it, and just have no agenda just

because. That's when it's really powerful. Yeah. Because people aren't

expecting it, You know? That I I think that's the biggest thing.

Like, awesome that you send someone to ring them on their birthday, but let's be

honest, they're probably getting 20 calls. I I shouldn't say that because maybe not everyone

is. Don't just take that for granted, but maybe set aside

every 6 months. Like, if you if you reach out so reach out to them

on their birthday and then send a reminder for 6 months time and reach out

again. Yeah. Say happy half year or something. I don't know. Like, just because

And it doesn't matter if it's been 3 or 4 months. Like, I don't like,

I think sometimes people worry, you know, like, ah, geez, I haven't

reached out to that person for quite some time. And then it's just, then some

Mexican standoff, right? Some Mexican standoff as to who does it. But I

guarantee it, no one is going to think ill of your or be

upset if that your name pops up in their phone screen. Never, you

know, they're going to have a little sense of guilt or jib as I haven't

contacted them, contacted them for a while either. Right? So 2 way street always takes

2 to tango. But never feel

concerned that you haven't reached out for a little while. You're actually gonna put a

smile on their face and make their day, even if it's been 4 or 5

months since reaching out and then it's kicked off again. Right? Then it's rekindled and

then the ball's in their court, but it doesn't have to be in their court

because you can It's not a game. No. It's not a game. But you're not

the only one in this world who's hasn't reached out

to a mate for a long time. I guarantee every single person is right. I

think every group's got an elite mate that he's awesome at it. You know, I

think think ours is is a bloke called Ace is always awesome at reaching out

to everybody. But it doesn't matter if you're not that person

just pick up the phone and give him a call, you know, leave a voicemail,

send a text, whatever it might be. I received an awesome one the other day.

I was telling you about, you know, maybe hadn't haven't spoken to him for quite

some time. He shot me message, made my day. You know what I mean? It

was awesome. And then we're back off and running. You know what I mean? So,

now bite the bullet, be the one that that leads the

cause, leads away, and reach out to someone. Yeah. Use this as a

reminder to reach out to 1 person today or tomorrow. Love that. And it doesn't

just have to be a text message or a call. And this is there are

a number of different ways to do it. Obviously, they're pretty traditional

sort of ways you can do it. One that, one of my roommates,

Pico, does a lot is he would just send a picture of,

like, me and him, like, doing something over the years. And, like,

you don't even need words with it, but that picture not only reminds me,

you know, how lucky I am to have him as a friend in my life,

but it shows me that he's thinking of me as well. And I know he

does that to all his friends. It's a it's a really similar one. I think

that's the best thing about devices, our phones. They've got so many

photos on them. Yeah. Just scroll like crazy and just randomly pick

1, send it to that person, and let them know what they mean to you.

Yeah. You're just right. Like, mate, miss, you remember this time, ta da.

Whatever it is, but I find that's a really nice reminder of

things you've done with somebody else that doesn't take a long time. Yeah.

But like we always say with everything, you've gotta be intentional about it. Unless

you set a reminder or have a time during the

day where you do that, where you reach out to someone, what normally will happen

traditionally is we are busy. Our lives go on and we forget about it, and

you're like, oh, damn. I forgot to do that. Yes, you gotta be intentional

with it. Like, you know, a podcast or a meeting, or you've got

work, or kids swimming lesson. Like, you you don't just willy nilly do it.

It's traditional thing you do each week or whatever it is. I I think this

has to be the same. You've been intentional. And yet, especially as you age,

right? Think about when you're younger, you're, you're in the mixer at school, you're surrounded

by 100 of people. You naturally, you know, you've got a group of friends

or whatever it might be early twenties, you sort of keep that group of friends,

whatever it might be. But as you get a little bit older, it gets a

little bit harder. Your friendship group definitely shrinks. And that's just

part of life. It's human nature. It's completely fine. Especially when families come

along. And so that's the time, you know, I think when you've got to go,

right, I've got to be accountable. We were talking in episode

1 about who you're accountable for your mental health and well-being, right? It's on you

to, to make a change. Then you've got to be accountable for putting your hand

up and going, right. I need to get myself connected. So if you're out there

and you're not connected really well, and you feel a little bit isolated, then it's

on you to get yourself connected. And today's day and age with, you know, the,

the phones we've got and, you know, like I'm a member of the, of the

Chelsea Facebook group and you can post on there and check on there.

You know what I mean? Hey, anyone doing this on a Saturday or is there

anyone I can catch up with to go for a bike ride or anyone keen

for here to golf, whatever it might be. And what randoms? Yeah. And there'll be,

there'll be people out there that will throw their hand back to you and go,

Hey, we're doing this on this day and time, rock down. That's cool. That's awesome.

Yeah. Even my local footy clubs, I'm still play over 30 fives footy.

And we get new blokes down all the time that don't know people at the

club. They rock down and they instantly feel connected

to 30, 40, 50, 60 blokes. And they walk out of that first session

loving it. And we generally see them back for session 2, session 3, and then

they're hooked. Yep. Right. And I'm walking part of that. Like I started playing

footy Parkdale, footy club and new 1 or 2 blokes. Now I've

got 30 Heart and soul of the club. Yeah. 30, 30 new mates. You know

what I mean? So, I feel more connected than ever. And when you do catch

up with those people, it just absolutely fills your cup and it's unreal. But

once again, it takes effort. Yeah. Right. You're going to train, you're turning

up, you're committing, you're playing footy every second weekend. Yep. Cause I would

say, I would say 50, 60, 70% of the people

in the track finish work and go, you know, cannot

be stuck getting there tonight. And I guarantee once they rock up and they feel

the banter of the mates and they're around people and they're connected and they've got

some relationships, they walk away going home feeling better

themselves before they did. And they treat their families better. They're happier.

They go to work the next day a bit better. Everything flows from there. Correct.

Right. But it just takes that effort and energy to make it happen. Well, it's

belonging. It it's being part of something. Yep. And I think I was reading a

stat the other day that, like, loneliness, particularly between 18

to 25 year olds, you know, it's like 40 40 to

45% of those people feel lonely, feel like they've got no

one in their life. They don't have one person that they could call at any

time if something was going on. Yep. And that for me is that's so

sad. But Isn't it? The the like, devices are great. We've spoken

about them, you know, how easy is to reach out to somebody, but then they're

not going to be the way to make you feel like you've got relationships. Yeah.

Yes. You're talking to people, but you're not seeing them. You're not feeling their energy.

If the pandemic's taught us anything, if you're feeling lonely, the best thing you

can do is go and join any club or any

community. You know, it might be a cooking class, sculpture, painting,

rowing, running, rolling. I don't know what it is. Anything like you said footy. I

remember when I moved down this way, I didn't really know anyone. I joined up

at a gym, you know. Like, and you go each day and you see the

same people. You know, and I've got lifelong friends because of it, but

not and I suppose this is the thing, like, you know, we've spoken about a

lot. None of these happen unless, you know, it it it is. Like, you feel

you will feel anxious because you are stepping somewhere where you don't know

anybody, but that's where the growth occurs. When you do put yourself in that

situation and allow yourself to be vulnerable and meet new people, because we've

all been there before. And that's what you've got to remember, like, if you're going

into a new situation, everybody else that's already there was in your shoes at

some stage. It doesn't feel like that now because, like you said, after

2 or 3 trainings, you got 30 blokes. I still remember, like, because I was

a PT, I run businesses, and I was walking to a gym, and I, like,

I felt so nervous, but I should've felt comfortable, you know, like, that's that

was where I spent, you know, 10 years of my life. Yeah. But now I

was going into a completely new environment, and I've felt so nervous. Like,

I was the shyest I've ever been. I was quiet. Now you walk in there,

it's completely different. You know, I've been gone for 3 years, and

got brilliant friends in the area. Our kids go to,

like, daycare and kinder together. Yep. You know, catch up

out of gym hours and that's just because like minded

people that, you know, pretty similar, you wanna move your body, you you wanna look

after yourself, you connect, you know, and those

relationships worked because I feel there's no alcohol

involved. Yes. Now when we catch up, I'd love a beer. We always have one

and things like that, but you meet people outside of

a a nightclub or a pub or something like that. You're moving your body, connecting.

You got things in common like you were footy. Do you know what I mean?

And then you allow those friendships to blossom, and then you can do other things.

But, that would be my number one tip for anybody that, yes,

there'll be people in your life that reach out to and, you

know, old friends, lifelong friends, stay connected with them. But when it

comes to, you know, our friendships do shrink, you know, and particularly

when you're having kids and they're starting to make friends, and so you automatically

become friends with their friends. And I hope my boys' friends'

parents are cool. But if they're not, you know, I'll be understanding. But the

thing is, like, you've gotta be actively doing things each

day, I feel, that not only connects you with the people in your life, friends

and family already have, but allows you to grow and put you outside your comfort

zone. And, like, I I suppose I didn't do that for

a long time, because I didn't have to. Because I just worked all

the time, I was always meeting new people, but it was always on my terms.

Yeah. They were coming to me. So people go, are you really confident? And things

like, yeah, I am. But that's because I always I was always in control.

So what I'm saying is it's been super rewarding when I

had to do the like, take the shoes off and go on the other way.

Yep. And it's been amazing because I actually got to feel what it

was like. Yeah. And, yeah, it is a lot harder, but it's also

a lot more rewarding. Yep. So, yeah, that would be my thing. I love that.

And I wanna pull out one rip from that. I spoke for a long time.

That's alright. That's alright. That's alright. That's alright. That's alright. That's alright. I was not

in my listening. It's just that you feel their energy. You know what I mean?

When you actually yeah. That's about the phone thing and and, you know, young people

might say, well, we're more connected than ever. Yeah. You are. But let me tell

you not because you're not feeling their energy. Correct. And we and we're made to

feel energy of each other. And you know, Shelly, if you're a

business owner, if you're a manager, if you're a leader of some form and you're

running a meeting, whatever it might be, make sure here's another tip, like make sure

you're doing something at the start of your meetings, at the end of your meetings

or some aspect of your day where you're working to connect

people in that workplace and actually connect them. You know what I mean? So don't

just go in your meeting and, and start it right. This is what we need

to work on. These are our KPIs, whatever it might be, etcetera, etcetera. Actually start

the meeting with some sort of activity that allows people to share some

stories with each other or, you know, some moments they're proud of. In a creative

way, though. Not an awkward way. No. No. Not an awkward way, you know. And

we do it all the time. We're full of these awesome little ideas and little

games that we play that connect people and trick them into sharing their stories and

those things. Cause once you do that and you create a culture at your workplace

or at your school, wherever it might be in your mateship group, and you create

a culture where people are open and sharing and a little bit vulnerable,

it creates such better trust and better bonds. I

promise you productivity is gonna go through the roof. Everyone's gonna love

walking that door and the whole place is gonna There's gonna be a great vibe.

And all of a sudden you're retaining your staff. People wanna stay, people wanna wanna

rock up to work and it's catch 22, right? Everyone's getting something out of it.

They're boosting their mental health and well-being. They're feeling bloody good about themselves. And

lo and behold, your workplace is thriving. Oh, funny that isn't it? Yeah.

So, you know what I mean? We set this up. We wanna give you guys

tips and little yeah. We wanna talk candidly, but give you guys some tips and

strategies. And there's another one. You know what I mean? So yes, use this for

yourself, but now think about who's around you. Think about your employees, think about

your work colleagues. You don't have to be the big boss to bring this in.

You know what I mean? You can rock after the boss and say, hey, let's

try doing this little activity. And if you're not sure reach out. Yeah. A

100%. Honestly, if you're not sure if you're like, guys, what's one idea I can

do? Like, you know, I love gratitude Pictionary. I do. Bloody love gratitude

Pictionary. We play at the start of our meetings when we're at work. And, it's

a cracker and it's such a simple game that is so and it's not

intrusive. Yeah. So if you're not sure, reach out to us. We would happily

share some ideas with you guys, jump on our jump on the other school of

play Instagram. There's there's full of them. I think we released,

gratitude paddocks the other day as a giveaway on Instagram.

And that's a great, that's a crackle little activity you could do for 5 minutes

to start a meeting or just rambling with a work colleague or even better yet

just rambling with a mate. Yes. That's the other thing, right? Like

we don't, I think we're getting better at it. How

great are we as friends and family to actually sit down and

talk about each other? I don't know. We talk about a lot of other

people in your conversations, you know, a little bit of gossip, whatever it might be,

what's going on other people's lives or, but but, yeah, how can you actually sit

down with a mate and actually get a little bit deep and a little bit

open and and really test the friendship out and get deep with it? And that's,

yeah, that's another challenge is yeah. Challenge you at some stage get deep with

the mate. Yeah. I think you need to I think it probably needs to be

done through some form of play. Yeah. So you sorta and like you said before

that trust and things, but you gotta feel safe. Yep. And if you don't feel

safe, then that sharing is not gonna occur. Yeah. Or it's gonna be done in

an awkward way, and it'll probably have a detrimental effect of what you're trying to

achieve. Yeah. Going back to when you mentioned, gratitude

Pictionary. So I've obviously used that in my keynotes for a long time. That's

how we met. I still remember out of all those keynotes we did,

you got up and I'd never get people to share, but you got up and

shared, and you you had the trophy cause you just won it with Parkdale. And

then I remember that, and then we bumped into each other and so forth.

This is very true. You are spot on, mate. So I was in the room

with what, 80 principals? Yep. 80 school principals in the room, and we and you

played that game with us. And, yeah, and I drew a very average

picture. I wanna judge it on a new picture. Very average picture

of, of of us winning a flag. And and, yeah, it was

brave enough to stand up and and and share that with the with the with

the crowd. And and I love that that's something that you've remembered to me. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's really You remember it's funny. You remember certain things.

And when people are brave enough to stand up and do something, I think

that brave is what we're talking about. You've gotta be brave to keep

connections going, you know, like, particularly if you are the one

that's often instigating it. You know, like, sometimes it can be hard

work. Yeah. Yes. You wanna make yourself not hard work, but more

importantly, you wanna do things that are memorable. Like, I didn't even know you then,

and I still remember that. I've got quite a good memory, I'll be honest about

that. But, it's funny what you remember when people share a

personal story because you feel connected to it. Yep. You know, if you just had

to go to 0 1 a premiership, like, yeah. But you I you'd say it

parked down. I'm like, I know your coaches. And you build connections through that, like

we said, because we know people. Yeah. You remember things

like that. So I think, as you said, great for connecting with

a friend, but in a workplace or whatever, like,

remembering things about people you work with or, you know, their

lives, that is a really powerful way to make them feel valued. More

importantly, give them a purpose to come work because they they they wanna be

there. Yeah. And it's not a corny way of doing it Yeah. But it's a

great way to remember it yourself. So, I I think that's a brilliant idea.

Even what I say now, particularly with our student talks is, we get the

students to do it, but then we challenge them to take it home. So, you

know, you talk about having an open conversation. This is one that anybody

can do tonight or whenever you pick it up. Give everybody a

piece of paper and a pen, and instead of saying, how was your day? Because

normally how was your day? Good. Rubbish question, rubbish response. How was your weekend?

Good. Rubbish question, rubbish response. Change the narrative. Make it fun.

So give everyone a pen and paper, say you've got a minute and a half.

Think back over the last 7 days, what is one thing that's made you

smile? Go. You're not allowed to write about it. You're not allowed to share it.

You've gotta draw it. And then at the end of the one and a half

minutes, no one's a good drawer in 1 half minutes, and that's key behind it.

So the drawing's average, which allows you to be a little bit vulnerable and share

something, go a little bit deeper. See what happens. It'll be amazing thing to

do as a family, as a friendship group, or as a workplace. Instead of coming

in on Monday, how was your weekend? Good. Do something different.

Change it. Yep. That creativity and the fun element behind it,

and that because the drawing's absolutely junk, it allows you

to share and have a really nice meaningful conversation. Yeah. And before you share it,

like, seeding, like it is gratitude dictionary. So try and guess

what they've drawn first before they actually share it with you. Right? And any parents

out there, I what I let me tell you this works. I play this

without, with our kids around the dinner table. My kids are 6 and 4,

and they love it. You know what I mean? They absolutely love it. And we've

played it a couple of times and not once has it missed the mark. And

it's a great little activity around the dinner table. It's unreal. I think, you know,

you play at Christmas time, whatever it might be, that's a cool one to do

it at. Yeah. So listeners out there, there's another there's a challenge we'd like to

throw out to you. Literally have a go at playing gratitude Pictionary. Do it tonight

with your family, do it with your mates, whatever it might be, have a laugh

at it, be vulnerable. And it's just a really simple way to bring a little

bit of joy into your, into your relationships, but also get a little bit deeper

with people in a fun and intrusive way. Spot on. And

that leads me into the next little thing I wanna think about before we wrap

up is, relationships and connections are super

important. We know that, but how what's the quality even like, and, and with all

the knowledge we've got now around mental health and well-being and the importance of being

connected, how are you going about

creating a culture within your relationships, especially your friendships,

We're not so much your family, especially friendships, a culture around

being vulnerable and honest with each other. We suck at it early

in life. We suck at it in early twenties. I think it's a bit taboo.

I think we get a bit better at it during our thirties and forties. And

I don't know what's coming in our fifties. But, I think

the earlier you can create a culture within your friendship circle, that

it's cool to be kind, and it's cool to open up to each other

naturally be runnable and, and tell each other what's going on between your ears.

The better off you're gonna be in the better off your friendship circle is gonna

be. But it takes someone to be the catalyst for that. Right? It takes someone's

gotta be brave. Someone's gotta be the catalyst for that and, and kick that off

and, and, you know, be consistent with it and be purposeful with

it. But I promise you that ripple effect will take will take

on and it will flow into the rest of your friends. And

you said before, you know, rubbish question, rubbish answer. Yeah. We're doing all the time.

Hey, mate. How you going? Yeah. Good. Thanks. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah.

That's great. And really that

person's probably got a, you know, 2 or 3 things in their mind that they

really wanna, you know, express and deal with, but they're bottling it up. So, yeah,

try and work on your questioning with your mates and be vulnerable yourself.

And as Dale said, you know, be the brave one that is the catalyst and,

and create that culture within your friendship groups. That's that it's okay to speak up.

You know what I mean? And I'd hope with all the things in society that

are going on, we know that young people nowadays are doing so much work around

well-being and mental health and well-being. There's so much knowledge being

shared that will get better and better as that as a society.

And I think we are, I know our mateship group is definitely getting better at

it on a personal level. We're definitely opening up a bit more, which is brilliant.

But it's taken us 20 years. You know what I mean? So, yeah, you know,

some are quicker than others, you know, but I think, yeah, we're we're more aware

of mental health. We're doing a lot of work on it, but I don't know

if it's improving. I I think the number one thing you need to do, whatever

you're doing with your mateship or your friendship or your family, it's gotta be fun.

Yeah. But that's one thing we had, like a shameless plug that I think we're

a leader that when we come into corporates, when we work with, you know, team

building activities, when we work with schools and school groups and staff,

a huge part of what we do in the, in our workshops is about

connecting people, but getting them to be open up and be vulnerable and

share some things about them as a human being or what they're proud of or

what's happening in their lives. And we do it through play. So it's, we sort

of trick them into doing it right. They're playing games and they're having fun and

all of a sudden they're opening up to each other. So yeah. You know

what I mean? If, if you're, if you're interested in getting us out, hit us

up. We'd love to come and give you a hand with that. Or even if

you're just one of our mates or not a mate at all, and you just

want some ideas, please reach out to us. We would love to share

some, some examples of how we do it and share some strategies.

Yeah, that's what we're all about. 100%. And if you are in either Shepparton,

Parkdale, or Geelong, check out the link. Obviously, episode number

335. Really sort of cheap way to

come and, see Paul and myself in action and the number one

emcee in town. Great one to come along to, and it'll just be a

really fun 2 hour evening that you come to. But more importantly,

take away one thing from today. Try gratitude Pictionary

with a group of people, your family, your friends, workplace,

whatever it is, and just see what happens. The worst thing they can

do is you have a laugh. Yeah. You know, and I think that's the best

thing about it. Then that's better than going around a circle

and having the limelight on one person where they feel anxious. At least with

a drawing, they can have a laugh about it Yeah. Because it's no good. Yep.

You know? And then you stick them up, and you got something to remember about.

Oh, I remember Paul when you did that one. More importantly, it is your birthday

today, mate. So reach out to Cam, but as I said, don't just do it

on his birthday, but reach out to him. We are in the car today

for a long period of time. Oh. So obviously, you have a little bit of

time. So if you are listening to this, hit pull up for a message. It

is his birthday today, and he's gotta spend 5 hours in the car with me.

So he probably wants a lot of he probably wants a bit of a free,

but, you like. And before I start off, just to all, you know, I'm gonna

start off to all of my friends and family, you know, everyone who I've built

awesome connections with, you know, thank you. I bloody love you. Honestly, I do. And

I hope you feel that. And I'm very, very, very appreciative and grateful for the

amount of care and love that I get back from all of you. I may

never spoken to you for quite some time, may never reached out, may never caught

up, but that's cool. You know what I mean? And just know that I bloody

value the relationships and connections I've made along the way, and I'm

can't wait for more to come. Oh, ditto. I love that, mate. Very well said.

So, yeah, challenge. Reach out to somebody. More importantly, do it in a fun way.

See what happens. And if it you've never done anything like this, then that's

perfect opportunity to start. So second episode of the best of you

series, we've got 2 to go. So strap in. If you're all

loving this, please share it with somebody else. I know this

podcast been around for 8 years, and it's had a lot of ups and downs,

had a lot of guests, and all different things. But more importantly, it's been really

nice to hear people reaching out saying they love the new direction and and the

way we're going with it. So, yeah. If if an episode has resonated with

you, then please share it with somebody else. But, happy birthday, Cambo.

Thank you. Episode 335. Done. Take care.