Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses | Mindset | Brain Performance | Personal Development | Health | Personal Growth

“I couldn’t give two shits” is a pretty weird expression. I mean, why anyone would want to give any number of shits towards anything is beyond me. As if some grand shit giving presentation is the pinnacle of all meaning. Not giving a fuck is another way of putting it. But I prefer the sheer perplexity of using ‘not giving two shits’. People often say, including me several times on this blog and podcast, the key to being happy and peaceful in life is to tear off the masks we wear and just be ourselves. In other words, to stop giving two shits about who everyone else wants us to be and just be our true, authentic selves. The word ‘authentic’, though, has apparently now been added to the list of buzzwords and clichés in the personal development world, which means we can no longer use it or run the risk of being forever castigated. I, on the other hand, couldn’t give two shits about this (see what I did there?) as I actually like the word authentic. It’s in the dictionary like all the other words and I happen to

I’ve been wanting to have Rob Westerburg on the podcast for a little while now. We’ve been connected on Facebook for a few months and I absolutely love the kind of stuff he shares. So it’s a pleasure to have him on the show today. Rob’s a coach who helps people get over their inner struggles to live healthier, happier lives. And he’s so awesome at doing this, in part, because of his own story of overcoming inner turmoil and a heavy gambling addiction that almost saw him take his own life. So on the episode we talk about Rob’s story and how to start doing the work in overcoming your own inner demons. In The Episode, We Talk About… Rob’s story of dealing with a 20-year gambling addiction that almost led to suicide. Why addiction to anything is always a deep rooted inner issue. How Rob pulled himself through to start living his dream life. Why your stories based in fear are keeping you stuck. How to use pain as a tool for presence and growth. Why it’s important to appreciate your darkness if you want to live pe

I've been trusting in this practice for a few weeks now. And it's been working like gangbusters. Rather than boring myself to death feeling like I have to do things, I've started simply following my excitement in various areas of my life. It's a great mindset shift towards starting to look for opportunities for happiness, joy and excitement. As opposed to feeling bogged down in the repetitiveness of everything. I explain more on the podcast. I talk about... Why following your excitement can be more productive. How to conjure up greater feelings of happiness and joy using this. The obviousness of needing to follow your excitement to have a more exciting life. One question to ask yourself every day. My primary job every day (it's nothing to do with 'business'). Take a listen via the player at the top of the page. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Face

Meditation is huge when it comes to improving powers of focus, feelings of inner peace and positivity of thought. That statement above has almost become a cliché over the past few years as meditation has become more and more mainstream. But it makes it no less true. I remember a few years ago before I got anywhere near the holistic health or wellness world and I thought the idea of someone meditating meant they were obviously some kind of hippy weirdo who had more time than sense. I would roll my eyes at the thought of meditating, believing that it wasn’t for ‘people like me’ and that it didn’t really work for the average person. And now here I am writing an entire blog post about it. How times change. But do we have to actually sit there for an extended period of time meditating with crossed legs and nice music on? Or is there a way to get the benefits without needing to do all this several times a day? Well, this is exactly what I want to explore in this post by giving you some of my best ways to ‘meditate

Ah what a wonderful conversation this was with Kate Pallot. We have been connected online for a few months now and it was a pleasure to invite her onto the podcast for a chat. After suffering the tragic loss of her step-son several years ago, Kate understandably suffered with all kinds of mental and emotional pain. Then she made the decision to make some changes, learn what was actually going on inside her head and embark on a journey to investigate this whole 'mindset thing'. And now she's sharing what she's learned in an epic way and has even recently released her first course around dealing with fear, anxiety and self-doubt. So that is exactly what we talk about on the show. In The Episode, We Talk About... Kate's story of overcoming crippling anxiety from personal tragedy. How Kate overcame huge resistance to public speaking in order to tell her story on stage. How '20 seconds of courage' can help you break through fears. Where fear comes from and how it manifests itself. Implementing meditation for raci

Around 18 months ago, I was in deep internal crisis mode. I had a growing personal training business I’d spent the previous three years striving to build up. My own gym, my own brand, my own rules. It was exactly what I had been dreaming of and what I thought would bring me the happiness, fulfilment and success that I craved. But it didn’t. All it ended up bringing was constant work, loneliness and an ever expanding black hole of guilt and shame within me. I loved my clients. But I did not love myself or my life and it was tearing me up inside. So one day I just decided to sell everything – the business, the equipment, my car, my stuff – and embark on a journey to figure this shit out. I went to parts of Europe I had always been planning on going to ‘someday’, I met a beautiful American girlfriend in the amazing Dublin and I spent three months in the incredible South East Asia with nothing but a backpack and my own thoughts. Now I know this sounds all idealistic and wonderful. And, in a way, it was. But it al

It was great talking with Bruce Langford. He's a guy who is all about mindfulness and even has his own awesome podcast dedicated to this subject called 'Mindfulness Mode'. Personally, I love the whole idea of 'mindfulness' and think we can all benefit from having more of it in our lives. But I'm not someone who has dug deep into the subject myself, what it exactly is and how to use it. So it was awesome to get real deep on mindfulness with Bruce. And to talk about how he first got into it and used the principles with himself and in the 'bullying prevention' work he does in schools. In The Episode, We Talk About... Bruce's story of overcoming anxiety and inner turmoil when he was younger. How Bruce first encountered mindfulness and incorporated it into his life. The importance of awareness for bringing inner calm. The different ways we can use mindfulness in our lives. Simple tactics for bringing more mindfulness and inner peace into a busy life. Why ending our own self-judgement can be incredibly powerful.

Fear shows up all the time. And it holds a lot of us back. But it's a pretty logical and necessary bodily function that is responsible for probably saving our lives several times while we're here on this earth. It's what stops us overtaking on a bend or walking to close to the cliff edge. Yet there are multitudes of occasions in our modern world where it's not needed. So in this podcast I talk about how to deal with it. I talk about... What fear actually is. Why it's pretty important and useful. The two choices we have when it comes to fear. How to deal with fear when it shows up. How fear and anxiety can be used as self-correcting mechanisms. Why it's important to embrace and acknowledge fear. Take a listen via the player at the top of the page. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the

I think the term ‘mindset’ gets banded around quite a lot. It seems to be the new ‘in thing’ for trainers, coaches, gurus and everyone else to bang on about the need to ‘master your mindset’. There’s no doubt it’s a critical piece to the puzzle. In fact, I think it’s a foundational, underlying and essential piece. But it’s also often misunderstood and underutilised when it comes to creating or facilitating lasting change towards success and happiness. Back when I first started my own journey with mindset, I used to see people posting and talking about the subject without any real substance to it. It’s all too common to see things about the importance of ‘getting in the right mindset’ and ‘mindset is everything’ without offering anything further. I used to think “okay, but HOW do I get this mindset thing down?” So in this post I want to share with you what I believe to be the basics of mastering your mindset for success, inner peace and happiness in all facets of life. Step One: Detach In some sort of weird pa

Michael Sliwinski has dedicated the past decade of his life to optimising productivity. So it was awesome to have him on the podcast to talk about that very subject. Michael was a stressed out consultant struggling to fit all his tasks into a working day. He tried various books, apps and solutions. But kept on hitting a wall when it came to making something work for him. Until one day, he decided to create his own app, Nozbe, to solve his problems. He then became obsessed with all things productivity and hasn't looked back. So that is what we talk about in today's podcast. In The Episode, We Talk About… How Michael went from disorganised consultant to productivity king. Michael's top tips for productivity. The biggest mistakes Michael sees people make when it comes to productivity. How Michael plans out his week to get more done in less time. The power of investing your time to get more done. Why and how to go 'iPad only'. Michael's awesome 'two minute rule' for getting small things done. Top apps, books and

Something I used to do a lot of was putting up walls. Walls that blocked the real me off from the people around me. I built up walls of 'fake' personalities based on what I thought people wanted me to be or who I 'should' be. But it just led to inner turmoil. So this is what I wanted to talk about on this podcast. I talk about... Breaking down the fake walls we build around us. Why it's important to achieve inner peace. How being authentic helps you connect with people on a deeper level. Questions to ask to start breaking down your walls. How to deal with judgement from others against the 'real you'. Take a listen via the player at the top of the page. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

Note: You can click here to download the PDF on 'Energising Exercises' I talk about in the podcast. Morning times can pretty much make or break my day. Some days I’ll feel energised, ready to go and get plenty of stuff done. And then there are other days where I’ll pretty much feel like a sloth on sleeping tablets and have to force myself to complete even the smallest amount of work. I think this happens to everyone, regardless of how enlightened and healthy they are. But something that certainly helps me control this and gives me the best chance of a high performing, joyful and productive day is to invest in doing some things to take care of me in the mornings. A Warning About Routines Many people will have morning routines they go through. But I’m not going to share a specific routine in a ‘you must follow this’ kind of fashion. Because I believe we all need to put together a few things that work for us as individuals, as opposed to following somebody else’s blueprint. I can tell you from my own personal ex

This was such a wonderful conversation I had with Kute Blackson. His story is one of genuine inspiration. Born in Ghana and raised in London, he left the relative 'security' of continuing his father's ministry to move to LA and create the life he wanted. Kute arrived in LA with pretty much nothing but a burning passion and a calling to do something great with his life. It was more than just his purpose. It was something he couldn't help but do. And this is what we talk a lot about in the episode today. In The Episode, We Talk About... Kute's story of travelling to America with nothing but a burning calling and turning it into a massively successful business. Why it's important to never compromise on your essence of integrity. How to stop playing the game of confusion many of us play. Finding YOUR truth. The power of listening to and TRUSTING your 'inner voice'. How to get excited about embracing the unknown. Four no BS questions to find your life's purpose. Doing all this while dealing with money and scarci

The word 'should' is not very useful. It creates a feeling that there is 'one way' to do something that you must adhere to. Or that you are failing because you're not in line with some image of where you 'should' be. All this does nothing but create pressure and anxiety within us. We start to punish ourselves for not adhering to all these 'shoulds' and it just all creates a shitty, unproductive feeling. And that's what I talk about in the podcast this week. I talk about... How the word 'should' creates anxiety and pressure. Why we create these shoulds. One word to start replacing 'should' with to relieve anxiety and pressure. How to stop feeling pressured by what you feel like you should do. Why looking into the past to say what you should have done is a bad idea. Take a listen via the player at the top of the page. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my

I’m sure there’s a point in all our lives where we realise that our beliefs have been holding us back to varying degrees. I know I’ve certainly experienced this. We create these ideas and concepts about the world and life and we just… believe them! And they stop us from fulfilling our true potential. In fact, in some cases they don’t just stop us from fulfilling our potential, but completely block our access to experiencing just a basic level of health, happiness and success in life. A lot of the time, however, we don’t even see our beliefs as beliefs. To us, they’re just ‘how the world works’ or ‘how things happen’ that we just accept and allow to aide us continuing our struggles. So mastering our beliefs is a huge part of building inner strength and experiencing the life we want to live at our truest potential. And that’s what I want to focus on in today’s podcast. How Are Beliefs Formed? Let’s start this off by getting clearer on what beliefs actually are and how they are born. And to do this, I find it ea

T'was an awesome conversation I had this week with Alexis Panayiotou. I first met him last year when we were both on a retreat in Thailand. And I've been thinking about having him on the podcast since I started it. Alexis is a coach who helps people to transform in the truest sense of the word. But he's always had very successful careers in the past in the army and in personal training. And these past experiences have massively helped him in the art and science of facilitating transformation for others. So this encompasses a lot of what we talked about in our conversation. In The Episode, We Talk About... How Alexis' experience in the British Army helped shape him as a person. The real meaning of the word 'transformation'. How to permanently transform into the healthiest, most successful and very best version of yourself. What stops a lot of us from being able to transform and form new habits. Why our brain sometimes stops us from taking the positive actions we know we want to take. The science of forming ne

I used to hate visualising my future. Whatever I thought about, I just couldn't get a real deep feeling from it. But this all changed recently. And that's what I talk about in today's episode. I talk about... Why I used to hate visualising my future. How I began getting a flicker of excitement about my vision. "The Miracle Morning" by Hal Elrod Different levels of visualising our future. The power of a WHY when it comes to your vision. Take a listen via the player at the top of the page. Or head over to iTunes and subscribe there for Apple lovers, and over on Stitcher for non-Apple peeps. Love, Laughter & Light, Mike P.S. If you haven’t done so already, click here to join my Facebook group and engage with all the other dudes and dudettes in the Enlightened Entrepreneurial Badasses tribe!

Ah crap, I’ve gone and made it weird, haven’t I? We were getting on so well with all the brain stuff, physical health talk and mindset topics. Even the mental and emotional health shizzle from last week ended up being pretty cool after starting off with an awkward eye roll. But now I’ve gone and mentioned the ‘s’ word… spiritual. What a dick. Hear me out though. Because I’m not simply going to suggest we all need to become hippies and spend 10 years meditating on a mountain in Asia. What is Spiritual Health? I suppose we’d better start, then, by looking at what ‘spiritual health’ actually is. Now this potentially is going to open up one hell of a can of worms as I know there can be a whole host of definitions here. To me, however, the term ‘spiritual health’ has nothing to do with religion, hardcore dogmatism or falling into being any particular stereotype or ‘type’ of person. In other words, you can benefit from improving your spiritual health without needing to start memorising a particular book or developi

This was an awesome conversation I had with Michael Kohan that I could have kept going for several hours longer. Now you may look look at Michael's name in the title of this post and wonder what the hell is going on and why there's another 'Eastern looking' name in there too. Well that's because Michael has dedicated a large portion of his life to extensive study and practice under world renowned Bhakti Yoga and spiritual teacher, Radhanath Swami. In 2013, Michael was officially initiated into Radhanath Swami's spiritual lineage and presented with the new name, Mukunda Chandra das. In other words, Michael has some pretty badass experience and knowledge when it comes to spiritual teachings. He currently operates as a life coach and yoga teacher where he shares his wisdom in any way he can. But, as tends to be a theme in these podcasts, it hasn't always been that way. In The Episode, We Talk About... Michael's story of going from overweight, miserable, money-driven NYC real estate worker to health-infused spir

How I approach my life and business shifted massively with what I'm about to share with you today. And it may piss some people off. But approaching things this way has left me with so much more LOVE for what I do. Essentially, it's the concept of not being so obsessed with pleasing others, such as avatars, target markets, partners, family, etc. Instead of trying to 'mould' ourselves to fit into what others want us to be like, we should start with us and ourselves. And this is what I am doing with the podcast, this blog and everything I do. I explain a bit more in the episode. I talk about... Why I started treating my business as more of an 'art form' than a strict 'business'. A ramble about Vincent van Gogh. The starting point for bringing more joy and passion into our professional and personal lives. Why discovering who you are is so key to living an enjoyable life. Discovering your message to the world. Attracting people who resonate with the real, authentic, genuine YOU. EEBs Episode #019: What's Your 200