#351: The Incredible Year That Was!!!
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. Alright, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome
to energetic radio, host of Pilotschool Play,
episode 351, and our final episode for
2024, which is super exciting. I'm sitting here with the, baby blue
eyed, Dale Sidbottom. Good day, mate. How are you? Thanks, mate. Baby
blues are out. Baby blues are out. They look beautiful. They're staring back at me
in that beautiful light, and I like it. I think, I think hay fever is,
it makes them pop. It does make them pop. Yeah. My eyes I just wanna
shut them and rip them me out. But, nice for the compliment. Thanks, mate. Terry
ever said how beautiful are you, like, I just wanna rip my eyes out. They
hurt. Sorry. I shouldn't say it like that. But, no, they, they thoroughly hurt at
the moment. But anyway, good to you, mate. Good, mate. I was gonna go with
2 things. I was gonna give you your baby blue eyes or your massive cars
that everyone talks about in their workshops. I thought I'd give you good eyes. These
compliments galore. My car's still better than my eyes. So there you go, mate. I
thought I thought being the last one would be nice. Thank you, mate. No worries,
mate. Yeah. It looks very nice, Dave. Oh, thank you. Fresh back inside. Yeah. Fresh
cat. Got a workshop tomorrow, so I thought it'd look nice and sharp. Get the
grays really lower. I don't know what grays you're talking about.
It's quite funny. I was on the on the in the barber's chair yesterday and
they're they're shaving away and as it's falling down, I'm sitting and I'm like Is
this Richard Gere? Well, no. I'm sitting Do you think you're Richard Gere? I'm sitting
there going Do you know what? I think there's less grays in it this time
than there was 6 months ago. Was there someone's darker hair on the
menu? Maybe the new change of careers, the new life balance. I have
less grays for me. I'm not sure if you can reverse grays naturally. I haven't
looked into that. But I felt as though in the barber's chair yesterday when it
was dropping all over. I'm like, shit, I reckon there's less grays in that mix
than less salt and pepper. Very good. Yeah. I don't know. It might just be
a dream, but who knows? Hey, that's alright. Who knows? I wanna start our
last episode of the of the season of the year off with a a bit
of a good story, a good news story. So this morning,
took the dog for a walk because I drove everybody down. I talked about all
the time. The dog took dog for a walk, my bike my kid was on
his little electric bike, and then the dog did a turd, and I had my
credit card in my pocket because I was gonna buy some eggs in the local
IGA. No eggs at IGA,
just so you know, this sold out everywhere. Coles, no eggs either. Side story.
Got home 20 minutes half an hour later was, looked at my
wallet, no credit card. I'm like, oh, shit. That's right. It's in my shorts.
Got in my shorts. I mean, Ron, no credit card. Moment of panic set in,
you know, moment of panic. Kid. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Quite the same. Yeah.
I hear some it's that feeling where you're just like, oh. Oh, it's horrible. Someone
just kicked you in the guts. Yeah. And I'm like someone's gonna have a spending
spree on me for Christmas time. Had a quick look around,
couldn't find it, and I was like, right. Where did Indy do a turd? Jeepers
is a good k and a half away. Probably got time to let you know
what, I'm just gonna jump on and cancel the card. Best thing to do this
side of Christmas, jump on my app, go to the card, and it's
like card blocked. I'm like, what the that's crazy.
So I rang the nap and I rang I'm like, guys, I've just lost my
credit card. However, it's already saying it's blocked. And she's she's like, yep. At 853,
a lady contacted us and had found your card and has asked us to put
a temporary block on your card. Wow. Yeah. I don't even know
you could do that. I didn't know you could do that either. So if you
find someone else's credit card, you can ring that bank and go, this is the
number in the card, block it for me. So how good is humanity
a couple of weeks out from Christmas could have gone on a spending spree, some
idiots would have, but I was lucky enough to have the beautiful
human being that found my credit card sitting on the side of the of the
footpath, and instead of going on the spending spree, bloody caught up the nav
and blocked my card for me. Mate, that is, that's
a lovely story, isn't it? I thought you're gonna say that you lost your card
and someone knocked on your door, but I'm like, how would they know where you
live? No. No. It wasn't me, it wasn't me cards. So, yeah, momentarily moment of,
like, had a bit of panic. Mhmm. I was like, shit, Thought about running to
the spot. I'm like, no. Just do the right thing and block it. Get another
card sent out even though it's a crap time of the year to get your
credit card blocked. And lo and behold, some good
samaritan has, looked after me. There you go. How good is that? Well, if that
person's listening, well done. Yes. Thank you. Yeah. If you found Paul Campbell's
credit card down in Wells Road this morning, I really appreciate you and I hope
you have a wonderful Christmas. And if you did drop around, I'm not gonna give
out my dress actually. I was about to give my dress on. That might be
scary. But nah, honestly, give us a give us a contact at the school to
play and I would definitely look after you with a Christmas present. There we go.
That'd be great. Well, I learned something there as well that, just because you find
it, don't throw it in the bin, you know, cancel it. Yeah. Cancel it. Even
though that's probably the next best thing you can do is just throw it in
the bin. Just cut up. Yeah. Cut up a 1000 times and yeah. That's right.
Alright. Oh, well done, mate. Yeah. So good news to start the day. All done.
Went from a moan of panic to some good times. Our last pod
for the year, we are gonna have a little break after this one for a
few weeks. And we thought we'd we're on the train the other day,
and we're having a chat about the year. Right? We were just chatting. We had
an hour on the training of the heading to our Christmas party. And we just
got talking about the year that was. All the good stuff that happened, how far
our business has come, yadayada yada. And we found it to be a really cool
little, I guess, little chat session. The train ride went like that. It did. Yeah.
It went so quick. And then we're like, you know, what made us a cool
way to wrap up the podcast for the year is just to have a chat
about 2024, what went well, but with
a bit of a focus on because I actually really enjoyed doing it was what
we're proud of Yep. In 2024. I love that. That that's and obviously,
that's a big element of what we talk about a lot. And just thinking
about the new curriculum we made, like, a lot of time we talk about, like,
having a gratitude wall. And that's always a big thing. One of the big things
we're big on big how many times can I say, but Yeah? Big big.
Creating a proud wall. So and this is something you do at home, and also
a try wall. So something that if you ever do something that you're
really proud of, post it up on the wall and create it. Alright. And sticky
notes or whatever you want, and you always come back to it. Also like, I
tried wall. And I like this instead of like a failure wall, because I
tried. Alright. And each time you try something new, it builds that confidence. Even if
it doesn't work, it allows you to keep going. And I think they both go
hand in hand, because we want you to try, but then we also want you
to be proud of things you do. So that's something that you can maybe
start in the new year, or could start like what we're gonna do today, Campbell,
that, think about your year, not like what you've achieved or what
you've made or things like that, but what are you proud of? And I love
that. I think that's why our conversation it was a really enjoyable train word. I
hate trains, but I enjoyed the chat. We were both dreading the train ride. Right?
Because you both hate it and then it went so quick. And you're right, I
think when you do the process of what are you proud of, it's not just
focusing yourself because then you bring everyone else into it, like your family, your mates,
everything that's gone around you. So you're not just gloating that yourself. It's it was
a really fun task and I've written a couple of bit of a list here,
when away when away from that. And it was a fun task to reflect on
the, and not just think about myself but think about everyone else I'm proud of.
And when you start doing it, you could probably list, like, I reckon I could
list 50 odd things. Wow. I'm not gonna explain
50. I know but I'm like, you haven't got 50, mate. No. I got a
little list here. But but when I started nodding it down, I was like
You can have 50 of you on, mate. I know. Nah. I won't bore the
listeners with that with the 50 of them. But yeah. When you start doing it,
it brings a smile to your face the whole time because it's a great way
to reflect. We talk about gratitude a lot, but it's a really cool little reflection
piece. And I've narrowed it down as best I can, so don't bore everyone. But
yeah, when you when you look back on a year that was and you think,
shit, there were so many moments that I was that I could be really proud
of this year. And it yeah. It's it's brought a smile on my face now.
Yeah. Cool. So for before we start, what would you go with the
category? So probably if people are just doing it by themselves, like we
did on the train, like, would you maybe say, like, your family, your
friends, work, what would you what
would you go with there? I would go with, I'm
gonna go with business. So I go with myself. Yep. So business,
myself, business, friends, family, and
then potentially you could throw in randomness Yep. If you wanted to. I haven't
done that for the pod, but once you start going with it, you really do
start bringing so many other ideas from other areas. But what you to answer your
question, yourself Yep. Family, mates, and maybe your career.
Okay. The best way to go. Yeah. I think because you don't wanna over complicate
things, and I think you need direction when you're doing something like this. Yep. So
if you can just come up with 1 if you got more for each one,
but I don't know if you can come up with 4 things there that are
different elements of your life that aren't just all about you, but other people as
well, what a really nice way to reflect on 2024. Yeah. I like it. I
like it. Do you, do you wanna give me a couple first? Or do you
wanna I'll tell you how you wanna do this? I'll actually I'll give you one,
and this is, more of probably a personal and family
one. For, my oldest has just
turned 4. Yeah. And up until 3,
incredible sleeper. But once 3 hit, the
last year, not gonna lie, it's been really, really
tough. Up like 3 or 4 times a night. And then when he sleeps, he
doesn't sleep well. Mhmm. So he's constantly tired, which I, like, I
feel so sorry for him because that reflects on all elements of
his life. Alright. Speak of, the devil, we'll go back from there. I
just had to stop that. My lovely mother-in-law is over here at the moment.
Gives a choppy out to look after my son. He just kept knocking on
the door. Anyway, so what I was trying to say is, yes,
sleep deprivation Yeah. Well, it just slowly creeps up when he gets hard
and hard, and and my poor little, you know, 4 year old now,
breaks my heart, but, like, just all elements of his life are hard because he's
always tired. Yeah. And like we're trying to, like, just been to the
doctor to try and get referrals and to see what's wrong.
So I'm really proud of him for just, I don't know, getting through the days
when he half the time he looks like he's about to fall over and fall
asleep. But probably more importantly, my big one is my wife.
She's been one that has been able to handle the
situation a lot better than what I have. She's been amazing
at keeping calm and, yeah, just getting on with
life, like, feeling pretty. Not gonna lie. I've I've probably been in about a year
where I've just been so lethargic all the
time and just constantly tired. And and we know what happens here with your moods
and so forth like that. So, to my Brie, to my wife, Brie,
just for just soldiering on. And, yeah, it's
been pretty tough, and hopefully, we can get a couple of answers soon. But, yeah,
I'm just really proud of her and and the way she's handled
everything about it. I know personally there's been a lot of elements
that I haven't handled very well. And probably very highs and
very lows. My emotions, I can't control it nearly as well as she
can. Yeah. So for me, personally, I'm very proud of her.
For yeah. Just just being able to soldier on when
just everything else you can't control and it's just relentless day
in day. And and obviously I'm here a lot and I see it first hand.
Sleep's the the key to everything. Right? Sleep sleep's the key to being able to
function that and you you guys cop it, like, you know, he gets up at
11 o'clock at night, kicks you out of your bed, gets up at 5 AM,
wakes the whole house up. You then go to the gym at 5 AM in
the morning. As I've been, I was supposed to stop doing that because I've just
been, like, wrecked. Yeah. I've never, never experienced. I
suppose that's if I'm gonna say I'm proud of myself proud of myself
that each day I just get up and I just I'm in here and I'm
I've probably worked harder than I've ever worked when you've been here, and I've actually
felt like absolute crap. So, for me, just say my personal things
that I'm proud of. Yeah. As a family, we've sort of kept it together
best we can, and we're trying our best. And I I'm sure a lot of
parents out there can empathize that, yeah, there's no blueprint and things
don't always go your way, but, you know, what you can do is you can
try and handle it the best you can. You can admit when you're wrong, commit
when you haven't gone right with everything, which I know I'm really trying to work
at. But you just gotta keep showing up. Yep. And, yeah, I
I think I've done that as well as I could. So Yeah. I love it.
I go back to wives, like, my wife is on top of my list too,
which I'll start off. But they're bloody amazing, aren't they? And,
one thing you've realized when you have kids is the resilience and the
patience of the mum is far better than the
dads. Like, it's insane how much resilience and how much
patience they have. I don't know. It must be an innate ability once they become
a mother, whatever it is. But, moms, you're far
better than dads at it. I know that's in a household too. It's insane.
Their fuse is way longer. Yeah. It it it does. And you don't really see
that until you breathe it and live it, after 3 or 4 years of
parenthood. But to all the moms and the wives out there, well done because
you bloody you keep the house together and your resilience and your calmness,
is incredible. And it's something that, yeah, I I look up to, to be honest.
It's 100%. And I think not saying that males aren't good at it, but I
just think, I'm aware of it. Like, you've gotta be aware of it. I mean,
we talk about this a lot, and I'm aware of it now. And I constantly
keep pulling myself up or each day I try and reset and I'll start
again. Yeah. Because if you keep carrying things over,
which I was doing for a long time Yeah. And I just I wasn't a
good dad. I wasn't a good husband, and I just wasn't a good person, and
I wasn't enjoying much of it. Yep. And that's not cool day in,
day out. And that's nobody else's fault besides my own. But it was a
lot easier to think, oh, it's it's hard. We're not sleeping or we've got behavior
issues or different things like that. But at the end of the day, it's nobody
else's fault besides mine. Yeah. I like that. And I want you to hold that
thought because I got a question for you later in the pod. I got a
question without notice and that blinking beautifully. Question.
We've noticed now because I sort of got an idea, but I don't know it.
Yeah. You don't know it. I like it. Things I'm proud of. So I got
a list won't bore you, but I'm gonna go with my wife as well. How
cheesy we've been today? But, you know, my wife's out there. They're gonna have some
brownie points to this one. But yeah, she's blowing me away this year with their
commitment to her health and fitness. You know, she's starting to an 8
week challenge of BFT. She absolutely crushed it. Probably came close to
winning it to be honest, but just the will power that she showed to stick
with it and then take me along for the ride and and
Because you lost a little bit of weight too, man. Yeah. I won't lie. I
won't lie. I now have a 7 in front of my number for the first
time in a long time. Well done, mate. Just dropped just
shy of 5 kilos I've dropped now. And so need to do BFT's
challenge. Let's not No. You don't. Just You just need your wife to it. Just
need to it. Pardon her up with it. And then you know, it's just consistency,
isn't it? Yes. Well done. Consistency a little bit and a partner in crime.
But, yeah, she took me along for the ride and it was insane. But, yeah,
just and she didn't miss a beat with every other part of her life. You
know what I mean? She she did that for herself, but then we also stood
up for the house as well. And, bloody incredibly proud of you, Mel.
Well done. That was awesome. I'm gonna throw a couple more.
So my sons, Hunter and Parker, especially Hunter at school.
1st year of school absolutely crushed it. We thought he had a heap of social
anxiety, which he did at the start of the year. But mate, he's
absolutely flying at school and made so many mates and loves going. Actually,
he doesn't want to die off school. We said to you we said we offered
him a day off school and he's like, nah. He actually loves going. So his
learning's unbelievable. Sammy Parker, I'm just incredibly proud
of the way those 2 have, you know, Parker started a new kinder this
year, Hunter a new school, and they bloody did unbelievable at it.
And I'm so proud of him. They've come so far. It's nuts. On the school's
front, I'm really proud of our primary school dads. We've formed this insane
group. You you hear about this mythical primary school dads group before you have
kids and other mates still gone before you, and you're like, nah, I've
got enough mates. I'm alright. I don't I don't think I need anymore.
And then you get in the game and you meet these new primary school dads,
and I think we're bloody lucky. We've got about 10 of us, and we've just
formed this really awesome group of mateship. And I think because you're right the highs
and the lows of primary school together. But god, I'm proud of them. I'm proud
of they coming together. What about the other 10? Talk to me about these. Well,
we don't know the other 10 really. It's funny. You've got you've got 20 odd
in your class, right? And you open it up to everybody, but not every
dad or mom seems to really, I guess,
be part of the group. You know, there's a group chat going. We've got our
own group, dad's chat going. You know, we go out for beers and those sorts
of things. But yeah, there's only about 10 of us. So
maybe my maybe the other 10 have already done the prep
thing. That makes sense. Yeah. Maybe maybe the kidney out classes is
the 2nd or third trial and they've already got their group. Because my youngest starts
prep next year, and I'm gonna ask, I don't want another set of primary school
dads. Well, I love my one I've got. I love the one I've got,
so I don't wanna have another group chat. You're gonna be a bit you're gonna
be a bit nasty. I'm gonna be one of the other 10. Oh, great. Yes.
So next year, Suck a fat one primary school new dad.
I don't think I'll be part of that group chat because I've already got my
I don't know if that's the way it works with everyone, but having 2 sets
of primary school dads would be freaking hard. Yeah. So this
question, I think that's what's happened. I don't think I'd like, I'd love yeah. I
hate group chats. So I'd actually I'd just turn them off. I'd
Yeah. I don't engage with them. Yeah. I guess, you know what? You got bruise.
You kinda gotta be in it because you that keeps up to date with everything
that's happening in your son's schooling, but you gotta lie to that. I go to
I go to kinder and they're like, oh, do you mind if we change the
upcoming concert? I didn't even know there was a concert. And then having these awkward
conversations with me explaining it. And and other parents looking at me like, oh, don't
you do that? An interest in your child's life? No. I've got enough. I don't
need to read every of these messages, and I know it's nice, but I just
know he's happy. Turn it up, like, I don't need to know everything. I don't
need photos of every day of what they've done. Yeah. Even though that's
brilliant, and my wife, Bree, loves it. But personally, that I
I just don't need that. Yeah. So that's I'm gonna challenge you though, because I
reckon that's bullshit. I'm gonna challenge you for next year. No. 2 years time when
you get your primary school dads. Yeah. Because we are always flaunting the
importance of connection. I know. I know. Just bloody get connected with your primary
school dads and be part of the group chat. I'd be happy to be connected
face to face. I just hate group chats. Well, the group chat is there
to organize the face to face. The group chat does it goes off, and
people send so much crap. This is true. And it distracts you from
whatever you're doing. Yeah. So my thing, I'd rather be better at where I
am and what I'm doing than always constantly checking a meme or
something. Yeah. And then when I do see these people face to face, I'll be
all over making connections to be a part of it, but, yeah, I
I I will mute any Fair enough. So you're gonna be part of the group
chat, you're gonna mute it. Yeah. No. I like it, and you'll try me from
time to time to time. Open in my fire, it's 70 messages, and oh my
god. Just fuck. Just make a scroll the bottom 3, catch up on the conversation,
throw a bit of gold in there, carry on. Oh, yeah. No. You'll love it.
I will look forward to that. I love it. Because I've seen how much it's
meant to you. It has. So the dads out there, thanks for accepting me. It's
been frigging awesome. Other things I'm proud of, I'm gonna try and get through the
quicker. So my parents, it's super cheesy as I know, but mom just retired. She
had an opportunity to go back to work. They wanted her back and she was
like, nah, I'm sticking firm. And now she's living the best life, gardening, doing
shit, getting creative. And I just think she's super happy and I'm very
proud of her for actually retiring finally because she she didn't want
to. She loves working, but she's made the decision and it's the best thing she's
ever done. My old man, I've talked about him before and him old man's 72.
Jimbo, I'm sorry I said you're 74 a few weeks back and he messaged me,
he's like, son, I'm 70 2, not 70 4, so I apologize. Like, he knows
he listens. This is true. He knows that he listens all the way over New
Zealand. But I'm super proud of him. He he chases his dreams and he's a
really good role model. As I said, he's 72 and he's just become a DJ
at retirement villages. He's still playing music. His connections are through the
world. He loves buying new toys and I just think the way he chases life,
he's freaking unreal. I love it. Getting through it real quickly, my footy
boys Don't you don't have 50? No. I don't have 50. Don't have
50. It's awesome. My footy boys, the Parkdale boys, we won another flag
this year. 3 in a row. But what I'm proud of most is the way
we connected with each other. Oh, very good. Mate, the unity
we've got off the field is insane. And that was
the key to it. And I'm just incredibly proud to be a part of that.
So I bloody love that. I'm trying to get Soddy down for a kick every
year because he's elite football. No. He's not. He's so truly done, mate. Yeah. It's
hard. I'm working on him. Working on him. No. I appreciate you playing. I know
you've got your friends. It's lovely that you've got that. I love it. Come and
watch. Mate, Soppy is sitting in front of me, but I'm you're on my
list. Oh, stop it. Thank you. You're on my list, mate. And it goes
in hand what we've said before, you're you show up every bloody day. I know
you're doing it tough. The homefront's not been super smooth this year, but
you show up every single day with enthusiasm, motivation, and I feed off that.
Your creativity blows my mind. Your vulnerability
also blows my mind. You're a role model to me, which I love.
And just, yeah, your work ethic and the way you show up is is incredibly,
and I'm bloody proud of you. Thank you, man. No worries, mate. No worries. I'll
definitely feed and learn off it. So I'll, go with mine. I'll I'll give you
a little break from yours. I'm proud of you because I
know we were speaking for a long time about making this happen and how much
of a big step it was. Like, you're very comfortable, and I
know that's something that you sort of crave. And what you've stepped
into is definitely not that. And you've seen the highs and lows of that
already. But I'm really proud of you, mate, for you wanted to do something
like this, and you actually committed. You did it. It's always easy
to plan and talk about these things and say, yeah. I'd love to do that.
But then when the opportunity comes and you've got a family, you've got mortgages, you've
got kids, and so forth that, talks sometimes a lot easier
than actually doing it. So, yeah, I know I gave you the ultimatum,
but you were the one that did it. And since coming on board, you've loved
it, you've braved it, and you've learned so much. Not
gonna lie, I didn't think you'd come in so green.
On so many elements, you've learned so much. And I think the best
thing I've loved about that is that you've owned it. You know, like, you haven't
come in to oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, you've gone I've got no idea
about any of this, and you've gone and wanna learn. Yep. And that's the best
attitude anyone can have. You can teach people anything, but you can't teach them that
openness and willingness to say, like, I don't know this. I can't
do it, but I'm gonna learn. Yeah. And so you have. You've learned so
many new skills in such a short period of time. You've started presenting
not only to students, to adults, like stuff that, you
know, wasn't yours that you created. You put your spin on it, which I've loved.
You've challenged me on different things, but you've got so good at it. And I
remember sitting back the last staff workshop, you did 80 people in the room, and
I just sat back and I'm like, fuck. You're doing things better than what I
would do in other other ways, and I've been doing it 8 years. Thank you.
So for me, that was from where it started, from that day when you said,
I don't know I don't know, and I said it was now or never. Yep.
You committed, and what you've done in 6 months time, or not in 5
months, amazing. It's Thanks, man. Yeah, on all fronts,
but more so the presenting. Because that's it's easy to talk in front
of people, but it's hard to get a stories and
flow and use your energy and charisma and things, and you've been able to
do that and make something that wasn't yours yours. And
that's that's not always easy. I can't say I've ever had to do that because
because you created it. You know, I created it. And I know sometimes when I've
done MC gigs and things for corporate side, I've only done a couple because I
don't like it. Because you're up there talking about somebody else's stuff, and
it's foreign. So it it's not easy. I know that. So, yeah, Mate,
I'm proud of you for that. Awesome. Thanks, man. I appreciate it. And I've loved
it. It's been been the best best decision of my life so far when I'm
working. Other than me and my wife having kids, I should throw it out there,
but that was one of the best decisions We know. We know. For sure.
It was unreal. Finishing up, so I'm gonna throw it out there. I'm also
this what I want people to do, like, think about I'm proud of my mates.
And it's really nice to reflect on that sometimes. I think we take mates for
granted sometimes because they've always been there or they're always most likely gonna be there.
But when I was doing this list, like, I'm really proud of some of my
mates. Ace, who became a station office this year, and just the way he committed
himself to his studies was like no other. And we all
learned from that and just yeah. The way he went about it was 1st class.
I'm incredibly proud of him. The way he's become a dad and the way he
goes about that is insane. All's in all his business acumen. He's
taken on the world and it's insane. Adds up, shout out to you, mate. You
you took the plunge. You moved up to Queensland on its heart because you left
all your family and friends behind. But it's your dream and you chase it. And
every time I check-in with each other, he's so bloody happy, which is nuts.
And then I get onto me and the business, but I'll go with the business
like the business. I'm so incredibly proud of what we're creating, not what we
created. It's what we're creating because it's still alive and it's growing.
But the last month has been insane. Our curriculum development is off the
charts and the traction we're getting is nuts, but I'm just proud of it because
we know it works. We know it's fun. And we know, hopefully, it's gonna impact
on 1,000 and 1,000 and thousands of kids in our lives for the
better. And that's incredibly, it's awesome. Something really proud of, and I
can't wait to see what next year holds. And I can't wait to see what
2026 holds, to be honest with you. Next year's gonna be good, but I think
beyond that's awesome. Yeah. It is exciting. And I think that's the best thing
I love about it now is previously we'd we'd work and
we'd talk and you'd try and just book in more talking events,
but that's not really a sustainable business. And I just
didn't know where else it was. And that's hence, when you partner up with
somebody and you get new ideas and you challenge each other, it's amazing what could
happen in just 5 months. And that for me has been
it's been so amazing because I'm like, this was
100% the right decision. Not that I've ever doubted that, but I just
think, yeah, the direction and what we're building to help more
people. And more importantly, it won't mean we need to be in the room.
Yeah. Because that's you can't get around to everyone. It's not a sustainable model. No.
Yeah. And there's only so many days in the year, and we're getting older. Like,
it it really takes its toll. Yeah. We still love doing it,
but now we've found a way that hopefully thousands of people all over the
world can use it and enjoy it every day. Yep. And
we don't need to be in the room. We can just keep refining and making
it better and finding new ways to engage people from, you know, the feedback and
impact we're having. So that's what I love. It's exciting, isn't it? Like, we're gonna
have our curriculum being taught in in your 30 odd, 40 odd schools next year.
Awesome. Crazy. Awesome. Crazy, ain't it? No. That's teaching it. It's other people teaching our
our activities and things, and, yeah, I can't wait to hear it all goes, but
that is yeah. That's something I'm incredibly proud of. And I know we are gonna
keep getting creative and keep developing it and can't wait to see what it looks
like in in 2 years time, but that's nuts. And then obviously, there's not got
myself there. I'm I've I've talked enough there being proud, but, yeah, you touched I'm
I'm pretty proud that I was brave enough to jump out of the AP gig,
a very comfortable, role for my family, but
made the decision get out and it's it's it's paid dividends, which
is nuts. So I'm proud of that. And I'm proud for just a little bits
of growth I've shown, as a as a person, but more importantly as your
dad this year. You know, trying to
have a longer fuse, play with more and more, play more with my kids,
not harp on things so much. Stop worrying a little bit about the money side
of things, the household, and just be a bit more present. Yeah,
I'm pretty proud with how and that's still a work in progress. Don't be wrong.
Heaps to go, but, definitely a little bit of growth has been shown on the
personal front of how I've gone about things. And I think doing this job has
helped that. I think when you live and breathe it and you talk about it,
you teach other people that you reflect upon yourself a bit more, and and you
go, okay. I need to tweak that. I need to work on that. Practice what
you preach. Yeah. A 100%. And well done. So true. It is very
funny when you give advice and you'd say all these things, and that's same
thing. Like, nobody's pulled me up on, you know, the way I parent
or the way I have a fuse or, like but it's things
you're aware of. Yes. Yeah. And that's if you're not if you're not actually
doing that yourself, then no one will or by the time it happens, it'll be
too late to probably go back. Yeah. So I think that's really nice that you
are aware of that. And I think the thing I've loved to, you know, yeah
yeah. You had to secure a good job, but you didn't really see your kids.
No. So Yeah. My thing is what's more important, you
know, and I think a lot of people is they could they say one thing
they could go back in time is spend more time with my family, my kids.
Once again, too late. You can't go back. So to get
that while they're both just starting school and be there, mate, that's the best
thing you can give them. It's better than giving them a future or money or
anything like that. Your time is so much more valuable because you can't get that
back. So well done for doing that and acknowledging it, man. Thanks, man. I'm richer
in other words. I love it. Alright. Question without notice
time. Are you ready? I am, mate. Question without notice. This one's easy first one.
Now give me give me one or 2. What have you learned this
year? So nobody what are you proud of? What have you learned? What's something you've
learned this year? I I thought that, you
know, when tough was tough, I could just keep going. Mhmm.
But, yeah, I've particularly building this curriculum and things like that. I realized that I've
got a lot of different skill sets, and, yeah, I probably just
do I probably haven't given you I've taken more on than what I probably
should've, because I just find I can do it Yep. And I just get on
with it. Yeah. So, yeah, I've I've learned that even when I
am tired or whatever, when I'm really passionate about something that I've got this work
ethic that yeah. It I've just got it. Yep. Yeah. How about
you? The main thing that I took this year that I put in
my life the most is honoring the moment. That came through to us, what, 3
or 4 months ago. Yeah. Yep. When we learned about that for the first time
and that's the main thing that's really stuck in my head. Like, I use it
almost every day and it's cheesy. I get it. But, yeah, that honoring the moment
thing that we got taught about, that's what mindfulness is, and I use it every
single day. I don't sell it to the world, but just in my mind, I'm
like, honor the moment, Paul. Honor the moment. And it just makes you really sit
there and go shit, stop, write about everything else, and focus on what's happening right
in front of you and and just capturing those little moments of life amazingness.
Yeah. Love it. Perfect, mate. Really good. And then the latest one which I'm working
on, and I probably could've used it better this morning because I had a bit
of a snap at my kid this morning, is between a stimulus
between the stimulus and the response, there's a space.
Breathe. Right? Breathe. Yeah. Because that space is when you
get to make the choice of your response.
And I talk a lot about not speaking on emotion to heaps of people.
Right? A lot of time to me. Yeah. A lot of time to tell. Don't
speak on emotion, Dale. And that's something I'm gonna take forward
and keep working on over the next couple of months is that yeah. Between the
stimulus and the response, have the space, breathe,
and yeah. Don't I don't know. Make sure you're making the right
response, I guess. And and this morning I did like a I snapped at Parker
a little bit this morning because he was a bit frustrating, but, but straight away
I checked myself. I was like, stimulus response, have the
space, breathe. So that's something I've learned this year that I wanna work on
again more in the next year. Perfect, man. Yeah. It's the other one. My
last question without notice, and this is a complete random one. We can probably finish
on this one, do you wanna see that? This is a complete random one already.
Alright. Do you think do you think that society could
truly function if we were our true selves in public?
I think people would probably be a lot more happy. Like, I don't know
I don't know what socially functioning looks like or what it actually
means, but I think if people put down their guard, they would
be probably a lot happier with the person they are and probably be more happy
in all elements of their life. Yeah. It's a lot easier said than done,
but, yeah, I we all wear different masks, and I don't think
anyone's their true authentic self all the time. No. Like, and that's definitely
not, but it'd be nice if you could just take that guard down and I
I wonder if that's sort of what it was like before, you know, the internet
and phones and things like that. But to answer your question, I think everyone would
be happier. And I think when people are happier, then it would equal a much
better place to live. So, yes, I probably think. You think
it could? Yes. It'd be interesting, wouldn't it? And I know it's a left field
comment and left field question to ask, but we're really only our true selves
in your 4 walls of your house, I reckon, like when you're at home or
when you're in your office, whatever it might be when you're when you got your
own time or I wrote down here or when you're on a boys trip.
It's when you're probably your own real true self. Because think about when you're at
work, you put the mask on, you you you've got your work persona and you're
polite and you're courteous and you I mean, we're we are those things but you
don't curse, you're you're gonna get your feet on the table, you know,
imagine if you were your true self in a job interview. Like imagine if you
were your true self in your resume, I'm shit at that, I'm sometimes I'm lazy,
I'm unorganized in this part of my life and, you know what I mean, this
is what's if you hire me, this is what's gonna go wrong. Just give you
the heads up. This is gonna be shit.
Like, so yeah, I don't know, if we were at we're not our true selves
so many times, like, because we're not, and we put the mask on and we
play the game. And I was just sitting there thinking, like, imagine if every
single human being, like, everyone was just their true selves a 100% of the time
no matter where they were, it'd be bloody interesting, wouldn't it? Like,
honesty, it'd be nuts. It would be. Yeah. It'd be, well, there you go. So
maybe try and do things in your own life to be more authentic. I don't
know. We'll find ways that you don't really care what other people think. Yeah. I
think that's I've had a couple interviews where I remember when I was in,
random story, when when I was living in, London and we're gonna go live
in Dubai. So I was having interviews with, like, schools in Dubai and Abu
Dhabi, and I three times I got down to the final 3. Yeah. And
I reckon I was just too honest. Like, I reckon I was too honest
around, you know, things, like That might go wrong anyway. Yeah. I I ask questions.
I'll I'll be honest. I go, no. I'm not that good at that or what.
And I remember these vividly, and I wonder why I didn't get those jobs. Anyway
Yeah. I think Yeah. That's a shame. Right? Well, I think now people are doing
interviews differently. And I know we spoke about, yeah, try and put people in a
situation where they can't have a scripted question or make it up.
Like, they've got to actually give a real world example or they're they've got to
talk on their feet. Yeah. That's when your real self comes out. And I think
people are getting better at it. I agree. Anyway, that's that was an interesting thought
of it, man. That would be fun. Even if it's different day. Everyone for a
day. Be authentic self. It's like a yes day. Imagine how many birds get flipped
ever on the road. When we're doing your papers in rock games, you birds.
Yeah. I know. I love it. I love it. Well, listeners,
amazing. Thank you very much for another brilliant year for 351 episodes.
Yep. Cambo, you've come in here, you've taken the range, you've dominated. For the last
20 odd episodes, I have not got a note. I don't even know what I
was gonna talk about. And you know what? I absolutely love it. It's going back
to my reigns. So thank you for being so organized and coming with great
topics and, And some random questions. Yeah. I don't mind your random questions. I like
it. No. I enjoy it. I've loved it. I've loved it. I've loved the feedback
we get. I love the conversations we have from the public. And I hope you've
all enjoyed it. We're gonna take a few weeks off. Have an incredible Christmas,
a safe new year. Look after each other. Get some time in for yourself.
Relax on mine. Soak up some sun, create some memories. And yeah,
we'll see you guys in 2025.