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

by the school of play dot co, 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. Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and

welcome back to the Energetic Radio episode

356. Woo. I'm joined with Dal

Sibon. He's back from a week of holiday time to celebrate his

fortieth birthday. Yes. I'm, 40, mate. Thank you.

40, mate. Welcome to the forty club. Thank you, buddy. Appreciate it. It's a lovely

week. It's prestigious club. Oh, mate. It's one of those clubs that, the whole

long you stay alive, you get there. So it. I'm trying to think about

when when my hair started to turn gray.

And I think it was just after 40, mate. So I'm looking at your beautiful

locksmith, which is no gray. Pretty quick there. They did go brown.

It might have correlated with coming on board with you now, mate. But it's a

completely opposite. I actually think my grays are reversing since since I've jumped

on board with you, mate. But, no. But, as the episode

356, it is your fortieth birthday

week. You do as I've mentioned, newest times, you were a cricket

tragic back in the day. Yes. I still love it. So I've got a bit

of a step for you around 03/1956. On this day, in the year

February, Shane Warne took his three hundred and fifty

sixth test wicket On this day. To surpass Dennis

Lilly as Australia's leading test wicket taker. Yep. There you go. There you go.

He finished with about 706. Yeah. It was a lot, wasn't it? It was double

he doubled that in the end. So Very impressive. Yeah. The late Shane Warne actually

played legend. See a little fun little stat for you on this day

that we're recording the pop, episode 356. It's amazing how we just keep finding these

absolute random statistics. Surprise me every time. Google.

We love it. And also, mate, congratulations last night the Bombers had a

win. Thank you, buddy. Yes. Everything. Mate, holidays,

birthdays. I'll tell you all. Almost having a win. I'm just on fire at the

moment. Life is good. That is fun. Life is good. And not only that,

mate, you, we had a, a massive gig yesterday. We did

a principals the Peninsula principals conference. Hundred and seventy

three principals in the room. We were fortunate enough to had

a a lead speaker just before us, who is

incredibly motivating.

Do you agree between the lines? I can. And then so I jumped on stage

and actually tore the roof off the place, and and got the place pumping. It

was awesome. It was. It was awesome. So, mate, I hope you've had an awesome

an awesome birthday week. I did. Thank you. Happy birthday. Yep. No. I did. It

was, it was very nice. It was nice to go away, with the family.

Stayed at a place up in the Gold Coast. It was all about, it's called

Turtle Beach, and it's, like, just designed for kids, which was

great. So, yeah, the boys had a really good time, and, it was really

nice that my mom and dad and Breeze mom and dad and, her brother and

sister-in-law and kids went up as well. So, yeah, we had we had a really

nice time. The highlight for me, mate, was, going to Brisbane and

going to Bluey's world. Ah, big kid. I just well,

people listening that know have kids, I actually enjoy watching Bluey more

than Peppa Pig or Dougie or these %. Hate Peppa Pig with

a passion. Yeah. Anyway, yeah, Bluey's, you go there and

it's designed like the house. It was, so well done. And

so the whole way through, you have, like, a couple of actors with you that

are acting it out and you're getting clues and Yeah. And you go through different

rooms with a small group. Interesting. So it was really engaging, and they

did it really well around different aspects. And then they'd had a bit of

movement in one section, and then they'd have a dance one. So kid

and then had a meditation sort of one. So kids weren't just listening or

watching. They were doing things and moving their body, and then they were getting

creative. Did they have the backyard? Yeah. Did they have could you do Stumpfist?

No. You could do that. Stumpfist episode? No. They did, Keep You Uppy.

So and these and that was great. They had, like, these bigger balloons

with sort of helium in them. Yeah. Nice. And so it gave them an opportunity

to run around. So then when they went into the next part, they were really

engaged because they'd been able to move their body. Yeah. Brilliant. It was just it

was really well done. I love it. And you're right, mate. Bluey is a cracking

it's a cracking cartoon. I love that it's taken over, you know, The

US market and those sort of things. But then you read the books. I know

the books are average. No. That was because the book is just the exact episode.

Yeah. But Have you noticed that? It's a record word? Yeah. It's not yeah. It

is. It's not written well. So it doesn't flow well. It's It's not a book.

It's the episode. They They could have done better. Well, I agree, mate. They could

have just rinse and repeat it. Yeah. I mean, they've sold millions of lines of

copies, so the books are doing well. Yeah. Look at us. Seen the lineup of

this show when we're all going there. I was like, oh, they're not they're not

struggling. Alright. The question for that notice number one, favorite blue

episode? Cricket. Yes. Me too. Here's the corker and I always say this

is my favorite line that, life will get hard, and you can either step out

of the way of the ball or you can step inside and play a pool

shot. Bang. Oh, it's so good, isn't it? My boy is like, that can

we watch blue? Yeah. No worries. Not that cricket one. Because that's all I

watch. I love Rusty, mate. What a legend. He's a legend. That's quite fun. And

that's probably the only book that I really love reading your Bluey two bit. See,

I don't even read that because it's too long. They're boring. Yeah. I'll read aspects

of it. Do you? Then you go, like, just flick a couple pages that your

kids are like, hang on a minute, stepping inside. You've only got probably another year

of that happening for you. Kids are like, hang on a minute, dad. You're not

reading the book. You're not reading the problem. I now know. Oh, I did

not know what books are you. Just like, that's crap. It's not even a good

book. Yeah. So then I'll make it better, like, try and get creative, but Yeah.

Awesome. Anyway There you go. I wanna kick off today's pod.

We we had a we

witnessed a moment that was truly inspirational and brilliant last week

with Danny Warrnambool. Oh. Dale's looking now. He's he never knows what's coming

up. I'm so sorry. Like, I'm probably looking pretty good on things, but I do

nothing with this podcast. I love it. I love it. He loves it. So relaxed.

And we we went to the we were fortunate enough to be invited to do

a presentation at the student leaders congress, made local news, which is pretty cool. Yeah.

It did. But the thing that we witnessed, which was mind blowing,

was a guy called Tom Richardson, and he's a musician born in

Warrnambool, and he was joined by a lead singer called Jacob,

and they've created well, Tom's created an organization called Find Your

Voice. And what I've written here is in

my notes, as things happen in my life, I make quick notes in my podcast,

notes section on my phone, as you know. I noticed wrote from little things, big

things grow. Yeah. And stuck with me throughout the

week. And when you unpack that sentence from

little things, big things grow, oh, man, it can go in

so many different directions. And and you think about your own life and the life

of others and and you've just gotta make a start. Right? And

sometimes that's the hardest thing for people to do is just make that start and

they're thinking big picture. You know what I mean? Like, it's gotta be right. I

wanna get that's where I wanna get to, but it's daunting to start it.

But this whole last week, I'm like, shit. You just gotta start, don't you? From

little things, big things grow. And Tom, for example, was a

musician, was overseas. We're gonna hopefully have him on the pod down the tracks. I'm

not gonna steal too much of this and take it away, but, he

literally started a choir for people with

disabilities, and just another another girl. Find your voice.

Find your voice. Yep. Yep. Find your voice. And before you start, stop this podcast

now. Go and watch Find Your Voice on Australia's Got Talent.

It's literally Tearjerker. Oh, we cried sorry to cut you off. We

cried, like, on their during their keynote. Mhmm. Best thing I've ever

seen Yeah. Hands down. And then we watched on the way home in the car

and cried again. Yep. I look a %, and I watched it with Mel when

I go home as well. I'm like, I'm a tearjerker. Oh. Sorry to cut you

off. No. That's alright. And I think that's why that's why it really touched my

heart because we did. Like, I literally teared up a little bit during that during

that session at Audible, all through the power of

music. But this bloke went, you know, I wanna I wanna create

something, and he started off with three people. And just three people turned up

to session one, could have easily packed in, is this worth my time? Is this

worth the cost and the energy and everything else? But he stuck at it, and

now he has over 300 people regularly turn up weekly

weekly, 300 people in Warrnambool. So it's not a huge no. It's a

large country town, but it's not the city or anything. That it's the biggest group

in the world now. Yeah. Isn't it mental? And And he just from the little

things, big things grow. And now he's created a community of over 300

people, that get together through the power of music, and they have his

choir, and they sing, and they perform at the My Music Bowl with the full

Melbourne symphony orchestra. I'm like, it's nuts. Got an

Australia's Got Talent. Yep. But my favorite thing about it all was Jacob. Yep. And

Jacob, he stumbled across Jacob when Jacob was 17. And if you go

and watch Australia's Got Talent to find your voice, just Google that, you'll

see the young I think it was 14. So I think they 14, was it?

Sorry. Sorry. Okay. I'm sorry. They he stumbled across Jacob at 14, and

he was nonverbal. Yes. That's that's what I've written down. He was nonverbal. Verbal.

So he he was at, like, a mainstream school and literally didn't speak.

Yeah. Nuts, isn't it? And in my notes, that's what I wanna talk about. So

from little things, big things grow. Found Jake LaFordain nonverbal, didn't

speak. Jacob, just the power of a connection. Yep. A connection

to somebody else, but the connection to also something like music, for example,

or a sport, or an art club, or dance, whatever it might be, skateboarding. Chess.

Chess. Painting. Doesn't matter what the connection's with. Just you've

gotta find your connection with somebody or your tribe.

Yes. I love that. And so never give up on that. I hear a lot

of parents that you work with in the in the primary schools, those sorts of

things, and they're like, oh, I'm struggling to find you know, my kid's

struggling, and and I don't know what to do. And and I've been unpacking

that this last week. I'm like, you know what you need to do? You need

to keep on scrolling through everything and keep taking

them to other opportunities until they find the thing that they connect

with because they will connect with something. Whether it's art classes or dance

or whatever it might be, you know, writing songs and lyrics, what

anything at all, but don't give up on that young person until

you found the thing that they've connected with because then they bloom and they

flourish and they grow. Jacob was nonverbal.

And, mate, you see, going that Australian's got talent thing and watching, he's the kid

that started going The

lion's sleeping. But even the way he came down and just spoke to the

crowd. Oh. Like, anyway, like So good. It was a bit So he was a

front man of a rock. He's a rock star. Well, he I think he actually

is. Yeah. And that he's now 20. Yeah. And he the way he

held the crowd, the way he controlled that stage,

was mind blowing. And he did it in his own way. He did it in

his own way. He's so charismatic and personable. Didn't give a

crap what anyone else thought about him. Living life to the fullest. Yeah.

And man, he was so inspirational. Oh, wasn't he? And it stuck with me. And

so, yeah, just that thing of from little things, big things grow.

Do it anything. In your own personal life, your own challenges, whatever it might be,

your own goals, just start. Yeah. But also if you've got an idea

that you want to try and create some sort of community

event or a fun run or something, just

start it. It doesn't matter if you get five people turn up to that fun

run the first year. Yep. You know what I mean? By the fourth or fifth

year, you're probably gonna have 200 people registering. And then from there, you're you're making

change and you're doing awesome things. And I couldn't think of anything more rewarding

than building something from the ground up from something little and then watching it

grow. So if you listen to this, just hopefully, this inspires you to

plant a little seed to go, you know what? Bugger it. I'm gonna start something.

And whether it's something for myself or something for the community, start something and get

it going. But, man, it's stuck with me all week, and I still think about

it. I let him know during the week in an instant message, and, yes. It

was bloody inspirational. Loved it. It reminds me ten years ago, I was in Dubai.

It was the first ever conference I've been at, and I was speaking, and I

didn't even know what a keynote speaker was. But I remember seeing a couple of

these talks, like, to 300 people, and I'm like, wow. I

wanna do that. But you can't just say, hey. I wanna do that. You gotta

grind. Yes. And now I look back and, like, yeah, like, days like yesterday

where there's a 80 odd in in the room, and you're just like,

wow. Like, it's the best feeling ever. Isn't it? Yeah. Because no one no one

will give that to you. Like, no one would have given Tom, you know, an

opportunity to go on Australia's Got Talent or the impact he's had on so many

people's lives or now performing at Sydney My Music Bowl.

But he was the one that created it. You know? And and it you gotta

create something, and it may not work, but the whole thing and I always say

this, if you're creating something that helps other people and helps

yourself, then it's worth doing. Oh, for sure. And if you are passionate about

it, then, yes, good things will come if you stick at it. Mhmm. And that's,

yeah, that's how things grow. That's how people do it. But, yeah, it takes hard

work and, yeah, but what an epic story. Oh, epic story. It's

amazing. And and when you put that effort in, you're gonna get something back in

return, mate. Like, how how proud you'd feel looking back upon impact you have

and being inclusive and etcetera, etcetera. So, yeah, you gotta work your ass off and

bust your balls and those sort of things. But the flip side is you

also get a heart full, you know, and it's yeah. It's brilliant. So it's not

an not an arrogant thing, but you sit back when you now get these opportunities.

And I'm sure Tom was very humble, you know, and he would

be really proud that he was able to create these things, give those people the

opportunity. And and, yeah, I'm the same. I'm really proud that I get to get

up and do what I was able to do yesterday. Or in a couple of

months, I'm being flown over to Asheville in North Carolina

to speak at the national, American conference or later in the year

doing the Asia 1 in in Singapore. And not just going as a as a

workshop, but I'm the main speaker keynote to kick it off. Yeah.

And, like, I wanted to do that. I just never I didn't know how to,

and I never thought it happened. And I'm sure Tom was the same. He didn't

know how to start a choir for No. People with disabilities or what because no

one had done it before. There's no one out there. Yeah. So then when you

take the time to sit back and reflect, it's, yeah, it it's

very humbling, but it's also something I'm deeply proud of because

I was the one that made it happen. Yeah. You know, you're not getting you're

not getting that handed out to you. Yeah. And it wasn't an overnight. It wasn't

an overnight success. You know, it's eight eight, nine years now in the making. Same

with Tom. Tom was I think it was 02/2018 he may have started it. Yeah.

So whatever now seven years on, and the three's got two. So, yeah, don't give

up on don't give up on the attachment line. Just to don't expect it just

to happen because that's the thing, like, you get people all the time after

you're taught. I'd love to do that. I'd love to do what you do. Like,

yeah, you see what we're doing here, but but it doesn't just happen like

that. And it's the same with your personal goals like this, you know, throughout fitness

goals, for example. You're not gonna see the fruits of it until week

six. You know what I mean? So you gotta keep going for those first four

to five to six weeks, and then you'll start to feel it and see it.

And then after three months, you're really in the thick of it, and then you're

off and flying. But a lot of people would give up in that week two

or three. Yeah. It's bloody hard. It's not really doing anything, but you gotta get

through that little barrier. I love it. My second question with that notice links in

with Tom, obviously, Tom was a musician. We're talking about music now, and it got

me thinking. I wanna know give me

a song that brings back an awesome memory

for you. That's on the spot. I like,

obviously, I used to do a bit of DJing and things like that. And my

favorite songs, Morgan Page, Longest Road. I don't

know it. Mate, I Give us a little give us a little beat. Oh, it's

a little bit it's like a dance song. Let's do it. I'm not doing it.

But anytime I hear that, it just, like, makes me really happy. Yeah. It's just

it makes I just feel really good inside. Yeah. Awesome. Are you picturing just

having the crowd in the footsteps and and and the palm of your hand is

watching them bounce the music. Myself, like, just loving, like, the

energy. Music, you know, Slow music makes people feel good.

Yeah. And that's why people around it. But, yeah, I I personally

would look forward to playing that song every time. And so question. So do you

how how often do you throw that that song on? Do you play it? Yeah.

I dig I probably DJ three or four times a week still. Like, At home

yeah. Home for the kids. Yeah. Yeah. Kids between five probably between

six and seven when things are real crazy in our household. I'll get on a

play play three or four songs. Yeah. That's awesome. I normally play that one straight

up. I love it. Yeah. Got me thinking too. Like, I I got numerous when

I was thinking about this topic. You can go back through time

and go, oh my god. There's actually so many songs that spark a memory that's

awesome, and I should play them more often. Like, one of mine's, More Today than

Yesterday by Goldfinger. Okay. First came across it, you know, when I was 18 years

old, VK Commodore. VK Commodore first car,

all mates and cruising around, and we used to pump it and sing aloud. And

then it became, it was Miner Mel's, wedding song. Oh, okay. That'd be

dancing. You know what I mean? And and those things, but also like like, Daguerre

one's villa r, size size baby. And I think about that song now, the grade

three and four, we had at a club. You had to be able to sing

every word to get into the club. Yeah. That's your party trick. And now it's

my party trick. Pumped it out with the at the old BOGOIX trivia

night one night. And, yeah. So it's really cool when you when you do that

little exercise. Yeah. Have a think, people. Have a think about

the songs that bring back awesome memories for you and

think it's it's great little gratitude exercise. It is. And then It makes you

happy because you have memory. My other one would be, Star

Sailor four to the floor. Ah, yes. Four to the floor. Anyway,

so my first, it was a Ford e b or something like that, and I

just had that as a single CD. So literally, I had four

songs, and he just kept listening to it over and over because the radio didn't

work. I love it. So, anyway, that's yeah.

So you think about it. Yeah. Yeah. It reminds you of this. Oh, that's bloody

brilliant. I've also got here couple of quotes. As

you know, people, I love I love my quotes, and I got a couple of

quotes here. This is the first one to discuss with you. Everything comes at a

cost. You have to work out if the cost is worth it.

And I was sitting there going, you know what? And then I was trying to

think about, is there anything that doesn't come with

a cost? Every decision you have, there will be a cost.

Yeah. I mean, but that's the thing. You don't know. And if you're worried about

what the cost might be, then you're not going to do it. It's true.

Like, and you've gotta try and do it the best you possibly can and hope

that it's not a negative on something else. And if it is a negative, then

it's probably not the right choice to do. You need to stop doing that. But

how many people see banks on that? How many people

don't realize that? Like success, for example, comes at a massive cost.

It normally comes to the cost, you know, judging your family, your time together, friends,

those sorts of things. Yep. But yet we still really

strive for success human nature. Right? We strive for success as much as possible

knowing that the cost is detriment to other things.

So a little thought provoker there is, yeah, sit back and go,

wow. That once again, that quote resonated with me is, shit. Do you need to

sit there and think about the cost a little bit more than what we

do? Because I I never I've never really pondered that. I never thought, shit. Okay.

What's the cost of this? I haven't. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I suppose I never did

leaving my job, and then now I think about that. But I suppose

I'm pretty fortunate that things are established now, and I don't just have

to do everything. Yeah. And that's where, like, you know, I only select certain

international stuff I do now Yeah. Gotcha. Because of that. Whereas,

previously, I didn't care, and I'd do everything, and I only thought about

myself. Right. So I think, yeah, I think

hindsight is wonderful. Yeah. So does it come with does it come with

experience? Does it come with heartache? Does it come with Yeah. I think heartache I

think heartache and experience and being, like, what really matters. Yeah. And

that's for me, I was like, why do I feel I need

to do all these things for other people and for my own ego

when what it's really doing is it's hurting me and the people closest to

me in my life. Yeah. And that's not fair to anyone. It's kind of a

good way to make decisions moving forward, isn't it? Oh, it is. %. If you

sit there and if you can have that in your mindset and go right, you

gotta make a decision and go right, what's the cost? Is it worth it? That's

probably a real fail safe way to go, is this

is it worth it? Should I do it? Like, for example, you know, go in

the go for the night and the piss of the boys.

What what are the costs? Monetary, time away from home, feeling that crap

the next day, feeling some brain cells, knocking three minutes off your

life expectancy. Maybe more.

Cool. But what are the benefits? Connection, friendship,

making the effort, feeling good, yada yada. So that's a tough one away. Right? But

I reckon if you can have that as a little thing in your mind when

decision times come, is, yeah, everything comes at a cost. Is it worth it? It

might help you steer you in the right direction or just think about a little

more. Yeah. I think also age. I think the older you

get, the more life experience you've had and you realize what's really

important or is the cost worth doing. Yep. I think a lot of those things

that you could think about it, but you don't know if you haven't lived it.

Yeah. So that would be mine that Yep. Yeah. It's good to think about these

things, but sometimes you need to do make the wrong decision or do the

wrong thing to actually realize that that wasn't the right one, and then you learn

from that hopefully. Yeah. That's true. Some people take a lot longer if my parents

are listening or free. But, you know, some

of the decisions I thought were good decisions definitely weren't. It took me I knew

I should've not done them again. You do them again and I think it yeah.

After a while. Yeah. You can't buy experience. No. You can't. You can't buy experience.

And, obviously, there's things that cost is well worth it. Like, I'm gonna go for

a run. The cost is time, but it's well worth it. You know what I

mean? I'm gonna start eating eating healthy organic foods, and then the cost is

monetary, but it's well worth it. So what? You're gonna eat

healthy organic foods? God, no. I mean,

I try to eat free range eggs when I can, but Yes.

Shit. There's not 300 chickens a little bit. I don't reckon it makes a difference.

They look nice. Although, you know what? In a shout out to Drew's, my my

mother-in-law, dad in Toronto, she always when we catch up, she brings us a

massive tray of eggs and they're inverted. Yeah. They're mass they're free range

eggs and they're, like, they're massive, but they're so much more orange than the ones

I buy from Coles. So maybe that'd be. Hey. The ones if you both buy

the right one, they're yellow. They should be golden. Yeah. No. Maybe you're

right. I don't think I'm I don't know. Right? I love it. Imagine if you're

locked in a cage all the time. Do you think you'd be able to perform

at your best? No. No. No. No point. Do you think you'd be under duress

and stress? Good point. Bloody odds you would be. A free range means that they

live life and they're probably able to walk away. Organic foods? I don't eat organic

food, but I definitely eat free range eggs. And I try and get nice

meat. I'm not I don't get organic. Yeah. But,

yeah, definitely not eating caged eggs. We give you the odd tips.

I love it. Never. Hey, mate. Sometimes the next shortage, you just gotta go for

the caged ones. Oh, god. Random one. I caught up with a mate in one

of them last week, Mickey Clements, an Aussie bloke, footy

player, sports nut, PE teacher, blah blah blah. Super lousy guy. And he

surprised me a little bit. And I hope you don't

embarrass him, but he surprised a little bit. He said, listen. I've started meditating, at

least a couple of times a week Yeah. Literally, like, having baths and meditating and

having time myself. And and I walked away from that catch up going,

man, I've never like, my question to you, have you ever

meditated? Oh, yeah. You have? Like, fully properly meditated? Because I

haven't. I do I've done a heap of mindfulness stuff Yep. Which I know is

meditating. You know, I do it to fall asleep at night or just focus on

my breathing for for a couple of minutes to help regulate myself, especially when I'm

gonna start reading and my my mind is wondering and I go, right, be mindful.

But I've never fully done a meditated session for, like, ten

to fifteen minutes. And I'm thinking about starting it to see

how it feels, what the benefits are because arrogance is amazing. Yep.

Yeah. Well, tell me about it. I used to so I see I know

I get up early, but I used to get up at 4AM. And then so

I'd be able to drink a large glass of water. I'd walk around the

block, no device, and then I'd do, like, a guided meditation for

ten minutes before I went to when I was doing PCL. Daily?

So you used to be till early. Yeah. I'd played it for about six months.

I thought it was alright, but, yeah, I I my

sort of I found out that my sort of mindfulness and meditation is

I need to be moving. Okay. And, you know, we talk about, you know, play

based movement, meditation Yeah. Mindfulness, whatever, active mindfulness.

Yep. That actually works better for me. Okay. So, yeah, I I gave

it a real red ole crack, and, I didn't just do it for a couple

of weeks. So, yeah, I did it for six months. I used an app called,

Smiling Minds, and then I tried Headspace. Two different apps that, you

know, got so many good things on there. You start small. They start, like,

two or three minutes, and you build on them. Yep. Yeah. I it

Yeah. Right. Wasn't yeah. I people

swear by it. And for me, it but probably That's what I mean. Because I

I struggle to put connect the dots and go, right, sit there breathing for ten

minutes and just focusing on nothing but breathing. How's it gonna unlock all these

benefits that it says it does? So I've been doing some research on the past

week since I caught up with Clamo. And the research is

astounding. And, so I think I'm just gonna figure it out

myself and and have a crack at it and Yeah. And do it. But, yeah.

I was interested now. I'm like, yeah. Have you have you because you can't sit

still for two seconds. So No. I can't. But that's why I was doing it

because I thought if I can control my mind and start the day that way

Yeah. You know? But there's so many different ways of doing it as

well. Like, it's like exercise, and it's like eating. There are so

many options out there now. Yeah. And that's why, yeah, I tried a few different

ones. And and the Headspace one, I I liked. I liked the guy's voice. You

know, don't know if you know much about him, but he used to be a

monk. And then he, like, met up with this guy, and they created

the Headspace. And it's a massive app. Yeah. But, Yeah. I I

just like the way he spoke and that I like I I like listening to

him. Yeah. Okay. And you got it the same with podcast. Right? I I try

so many, but the voice of the person irritates me. And the content might be

amazing, But for the voices and the right, I can't listening to them, you know

Yeah. If you if you don't enjoy what they're saying or the way it sounds,

then you're not gonna resonate with them. People feel about listening to us. Oh, geez.

They're going on. Crying their gears. I don't know.

I'm gonna finish up with this one, Sadie. Yeah. Another quote because this one I'd

love this one too. This this really resonated with me. The quote is,

the bad news, time flies. The good news, you're the pilot.

Bloody simple. Yep. Very true. Very true, isn't it? And time is

flying in a row of knots. And so, yeah, just have

a think about how you're navigating the life that you you've got as the pilot.

And I just loved it. So simple. The bad news, time flies. The good news

is you're the pilot. Hundred percent. Bloody steer that ship in the right direction, have

some fun along the way, and make sure you're actually living in a lot. You

know what I mean? But, yeah, listeners out there, just let that sit there and

ponder for a little bit that time has gone quick. You only get one chance

at it, but you're the pilot. So make the most of it and and and

take the bull by the horns and I like that. Steer it in the right

direction. My final reflection was, you spoke obviously about,

Tom Richardson and and the congress. This is the second year

that I've gone down to Warrnambool to do it where and I'll paint a little

picture of it. It's a beautiful thing. Obviously, leadership is one of the

areas that we are passionate about, you particularly, and Yep. We do a lot of

work in it. But I've never seen anything like what

Simon and the team have created in Warrnambool where Mhmm. They create a free event

at Deakin University, and close to 300 people attend

where it's six student leaders, grade six from

30 different schools are there, with the aim that they

get to hear some really good keynotes and speakers, not

just predominantly people in the community, but as I said, like,

you came down this year and I I did it last year as well, and

they get a really good experience. And just to be part of that, and that's

last year, that's how I met Paul Watkins and Yep. We did those community events.

And once again, that's how we met Tom Richardson. I'm sure we'll

catch up and potentially do something with him in the future if that's not a

podcast or more. But I just think it's an amazing

thing that they've put on and created for the community where nobody

pays. It's all funded by local people in the community or

Yep. You know, local businesses. And the

impact's amazing because each school then goes away from that, and

they create a project impacting in their community and leaving a

mark or a legacy. And then at the end of the year, they come together

at a theater in Waterworld that holds 2,000 people, and they have a two

minute video from each of the 30 schools about what they did and the

impact they had on the community, and it's bloody insane. Yeah. Like, it's the

coolest thing. It's awesome, isn't it? And what I loved about it, it was private

and government schools. Yep. Together, it wasn't just one that that that would join, which

is beautiful. It doesn't happen very often now in educational systems. That was super powerful.

And then going back to the first thing about from little things, big things grow,

it was mind blowing for me to hear that some of the projects that students

started last year or the year before, the year before that, now

receive multimillion dollars worth of funding from the government or other

businesses because the ideas were that impactful on their

community. That massive business and the governments have now gone, here's a couple

of mil, keep it going. Like, so from from sixth

grade six students having a small idea

and doing it themselves and getting off the ground to then massive

international companies coming along, governments throwing multimillions of dollars at them

to keep it going. Woah. Yeah. And it just shows it just shows

when you allow the right environment. And that's and that's what it

is. Like, as I said, look, we we go to a lot of conferences now,

and you hear a lot of people talk. I still haven't well, that Tom

Richardson was by far the best thing I've ever heard. Yep. And nearly the second

best one is Paul Watkins that I heard the year before. You know? And this

is for they're throwing it on for free for kids, and it was oh, it's

just Yeah. Incredibly a part of. We feel very

fortunate that, now we've got a really good connection with a lot of schools

there and so forth and that, yeah, we we go down and we do it

each year. Yeah. It's brilliant. And the and the key with that is I I

loved it so much, and you obviously didn't know anything about it. Like, I didn't

the year before. I loved it so much that, yeah, I rang up someone and

I said, mate, if you want us to do that, we'll do it for free

every year. Why? Because the impact it's having, it makes you feel really good

about yourself. It's unreal. And And when you empower young people, magic

happens. Ah. And that's all they've done. They've they've put a heap of trust in

these people, given the keys to the Friars, but, they've empowered them.

They've empowered them through trust and the knowledge and the skills, but that inspiration.

And once you inspire young people and empower them, let them go to

work and you watch the magic that unfolds. And

just yeah. The community gets around it. I agree. I'm I'm a bit

speechless about it. I walked away unbelievably mind

blown and and and as I said, inspired, and it stuck with with me for

the rest of the week. So, yeah, great way to round out this week's podcast.

%. So if people are listening on here and you are part of

schools or your family or community or something like that,

Simon Perry is the principal at Maryvale Primary School in Warrnambool. And I

know he's really passionate about this. And more importantly, he'd be

happy to share, like, a little bit about it or how he got

off the ground because I haven't seen anyone else doing it anywhere, you know, all

around the world, and it's so so good. Well, he said that to his knowledge.

He's looked everywhere. He's researched everywhere to his knowledge that that's the only place in

the world doing it, you know, in Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia. And if you're a

school in Warrnambool not involved, get involved. Oh, yeah. Contact Simon.

And if you're a brave educational leader anywhere else in

in in the world, start it. Yeah. Start a student

leadership congress and get them making these little community projects. That

isn't just about going and listening. You know? There's a lot of leadership

stuff to add where you you get spoken at. Yep. The key with this is

that you get spoken at, you feel something, you're inspired, and then you

do something. And then you go away and plan. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The half day

was being inspired and and the knowledge development, and then the second half of the

day was the, you know, the the planning, the pre planning phase. And

then for us the year, they're supported to get their projects off the ground.

Yeah. Do it. And then once you think about this the skills those students are

learning from that, they'll use them for the rest of their life. Oh,

%. They do one monumental project like this. They'll quickly be looking

for the next one. You know what I mean? And then It's addictive. It's like

Yeah. It's like making people feel good or doing something and succeeding.

Yep. Even failing. You're like, okay. I wanna I wanna get better, but

that's where it starts. And by giving them that voice and opportunity Yeah.

Yeah. Very powerful. Alright, ladies and gentlemen. Let's wish Sarty

a happy fortieth birthday week. Welcome to the 04:00 club. It's all downhill

from here. Yeah. No worries. Body ailments and aches. Have a awesome week, everyone. Take

care.