Episode 1: Why Are 3 Average Guys Hosting a Podcast About Thriving?

Episode 1: Why Are 3 Average Guys Hosting a Podcast About Thriving?

Episode Notes

0:40 - What can listeners expect to get out of this podcast?

8:05 - What has everyone learned from lockdown?

10:30 - How do you stay motivated to thrive?

27:30 - How do you work more effectively from home?

Quote of the week:

"No horse gets anywhere until he is harnessed. No stream or gas ever drives anything until it is confined. No Niagara is ever turned into light and power until it is tunneled, No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated and disciplined. One of the widest gaps in human experience is the gap between what we say we want to be, and our willingness to discipline ourselves to get there."
—Harry Emerson Fosdick, Living Under Tension Sermons On Christianity Today

Transcript

[Intro Music]

RJ: Welcome to iThrive, the podcast with inspiring stories and practical advice to help you lead a fulling and abundant life. A better you starts right now.

[Intro closes]

RJ: Well welcome my friends to the very first episode of the iThrive podcast. This is the place to go for motivation and inspiration to be the best version of you. My name is RJ Wright, and joining today are my two favourite cohosts, Stanford and Tyson Webster.

How's it going guys?

Tyson: Hey RJ, how's it going?

Stanford: I'm doing great RJ. We're excited to be here with you, join you and have a conversation today.

RJ: Sounds great. So guys, tell me: What is it that our listeners can expect to get out of this podcast?

Tyson: Well for myself personally, as a listener I would like to get out of this podcast a few hints, tips, tricks to keep me motivated. You know, sometimes it's hard to keep motivated when you're doing the daily grind, but something to buoy you up, something to give you that push would be really handy.

Stanford: Yeah, look I would say I hope our— this podcast people will find it casual. It's going to be candid. It's also going to be family friendly. It's going to be safe for kids' ears, you know, you don't have to be— I guess in the car and worry about, perhaps language that's going to be used. I think we're gonna be family friendly.

We're going to be informative. And I hope, more than anything it's going to be inspirational and just help and inspire people to thrive. However thriving looks for that individual. Because we know that definition of thriving can be different for everyone. And I'm looking forward to just talking to interesting people with interesting stories and experiences that can help inspire and motivate us.

RJ: Sounds good. Well, if the three of us aren't the most interesting people in the world, [Group laughs] at least in future episodes, we will be bringing on other interesting people who have done interesting things and we've got a good network of people who are in the health and fitness space, who are nutrition, in mental health, with relationships, um, in beauty and fashion. There's a whole lot of different ways, like you said, thriving means a lot of different things to different people. So our goal is to be broad and to get a wide perspective on thriving and ways to do that.

Tyson: Is that the idea RJ? Are we going to have a different guest every week or something like that?

RJ: Hopefully. If we can pull enough guests in, that's the goal. So yeah, our listeners won't have to see and hear us every every time. But we'll have a good good range of people. Which I guess kind of leads to the question: Why are three average guys, you know, none of us are radio presenters. None of us are TV personalities. None of us have done a podcast before. And so why the heck did we all say yes? Let's do this thing.

Tyson: Did uh, you say the word average in there? Are we average?

RJ: [awkward pause] I, well, sorry, I shouldn't say that, but um, I think I did.

Tyson: Well, I think I think that's the word that is most important in that sentence. Because we all want to thrive. We're just average guys. We want— None of us are uber celebrities or anything like that or the top of our field. But—

RJ: Or minor celebrities. for that matter.

[laughter]

Tyson: There you go. But I— knowing both of you, we all have goals, We all want to do a little bit better. We want to do more with what we've got, and I think that's why we are all here interested in learning from those that maybe have succeeded, what their secrets are, and uh, what we can take away from their challenges and successes.

Stanford: Yeah, I really like what you said there Tyson cause, you know, have you watched or listened to an interview, and you've sat there and wished that the interviewer will ask a specific question that you're interested in? And so like for me in this podcast, I'm looking forward to asking those questions and that's selfish, because of you know, I'm wanting to ask a question that I want an answer to.

But you know I just find people fascinating, people's stories and their experiences. And specifically, I guess the experiences that have helped shape and refine them to becoming who they are today. And so that's what I'm looking forward to most about this podcast, about cohosting with both of you and speaking to some guests.

RJ: Yeah, so it should be hopefully relatable. [Tyson: Yes] [Stanford: Absolutely] Hopefully you feel like wherever you're at, however much you have or haven't accomplished, how many dreams are still left to be fulfilled, Hopefully you can identify with where we're at. This podcast is a vehicle for us to try and continue our journey to thrive. And so we hope you'll join us on it, and find from the experts we bring on some inspiration and motivation to continue yours.

So being that this is the iThrive podcast, I wanted to ask the question to both of you, you know, what does thriving mean to you?

Stanford: Yeah, I think for me personally, Um, You know, when you think of that definition, to thrive is to grow or to develop vigorously. I think of synonyms like prosper or flourish and advance, to make strides, you know, to grow strong and improve physically. And so, when you look at the definition, I can't help but think, man, I want to thrive more in my life. And who wouldn't?

And having said that I know I can do better. I know there's improvements that I can make. You know, It's a constant, uh, adjusting and and tweaking. And so that's what I'm looking forward to. I want to thrive more, And you know, and just improve my life and be the best version of myself I can be.

I want to be a better husband. I want to be a better father. I want to be a better worker at our place of work, I want to contribute more. I want to be a better communicator. I want to have more self mastery and discipline. And so yeah, that's what I'm looking forward to about this is learning, improving, you know, getting some inspiration and motivation.

Tyson: I'll be the first to admit that I'm not thriving at all at the moment. I'm wallowing at the moment.

[laughter]

Wallowing in COVID lockdown, Not really feeling that boost of energy to push out into new things. And that's what I want to get from this podcast and listening to you guys and listening to our guests coming up. That push, that boost, that like, "Oh yeah, I can do it" to push out of the wallowing into the thriving. Hopefully.

RJ: I love that. [Stanford: Yeah] Thanks for your honesty. We've all been there. I don't think anybody feels like "every day is a day I'm winning". We've had plenty of days, and lockdown and I think brought that on for a lot of us.

We've got our kids at home trying to do school from home. My wife's out there dealing with them. You'll probably hear a few screams on my end once in a while. I'm trying to work and balance kids and being supportive there, which lots of people are doing. Um, it's a tricky time to thrive. And so hopefully this podcast will be that little kick in the pants you need to stretch yourself and grow in the ways you want to grow.

Stanford: So what has everyone learned from lockdown?

RJ: You know, in a lot of ways— I should preface this by saying, I feel like we're really fortunate in the sense that I still have employment. You know, we're lucky we can work from home and so I can keep the bills paid. My my wife is a stay at home mum at the moment, And so she doesn't— like we're not trying to juggle two jobs and kids at home and kids at school and all those things. We have our health. I know some friends and others who are are hospitalised at the moment, who are doing it really tough. So, in that sense we have little to complain about compared to many.

But having said that, it's still definitely been the most challenging few months that we've had in a long time. You know, mental health is definitely a challenge. I think the biggest thing I've learned through all of this is that thriving really is a choice.

It doesn't really matter what's against you. It doesn't really matter what the news is saying. It doesn't really matter your circumstances. You've really got two choices. You can choose to be a victim of circumstance and say: "Because of lockdown, because of COVID, because of my boss or whatever, my life sucks. And I can't do anything about it, and so woe is me."

Or you can take that empowering standpoint of: "I'm going to do something about it and you know, change the things I can change." Um, for me, I've just started running in the last two weeks.

Stanford: Well done.

RJ: Well, thanks. It's not impressive, but I'm being consistent. And that's the thing I'm really going for. I think thriving is a lot more about small wins consistently than it is about great big milestones that you achieve that are really public facing. But it's those little private wins that you do on a regular basis, that make the difference. And so I've recognised that being an office body and sitting in a chair all day doesn't do anything to help my health, and lockdown hasn't helped my health. And so it really comes down to just making a choice and being committed to that choice. And for me that's been my physical health lately. But yeah, thriving's a choice.

Stanford: Yeah, great.

Tyson: So guys we're here to learn about thriving. But until now, how have each of you kept yourself motivated?

RJ: Motivation's a tricky one. Um, and I think sometimes it's over emphasised. [Tyson: Okay.] I feel like if we tell ourself I can't do something until I'm motivated, it's again taking that power away from yourself. Of well, I'm a victim because I'm not like— I wanna run, but running's hard and I don't really feel like it today, so I'm just not going to do it or—

Tyson: No one's motivated me lately.

RJ: I know I'm supposed to study for this. Yeah, it's like, it's the excuse we all give ourselves, and and I've been there. I do it all the time. But it's like: "Because I'm not motivated, I'm now off the hook to do whatever my goal was." And it's this easy out. and we give up. From the people I've looked out that are truly successful, they do the things they know they're supposed to do in spite of the fact that they are not motivated to do it. And that's the real strength is to be out to say: "Screw you, motivation. I'm doing this anyway because this is what I need to do." It's like that idea of just showing up right?

Tyson: Yes.

RJ: I forget the name of the guy, you guys know (Grant Cardone). But it's like a huge part of success is just coming to the table and just doing the thing that needs to be done and that's where discipline is learned too. Every time you feel unmotivated, you're practicing discipline. There's growth to be gained by forging ahead when you're unmotivated.

Tyson: Is it that quote "fake it till you make it"?

RJ: Yeah! You can do that with motivation, I think. Or with your goals. If I'm not motivated today I just stick it through anyway. I'm finding with running that most people don't become runners because running's hard, and running's not fun to start. But this weird thing happens where you keep pushing through enough—

Stanford: Yeah, it sucks.

RJ: Yeah, it sucks, but you keep pushing through enough to the point where all of a sudden it becomes enjoyable. And if you can stick with it long enough to do that, then your physicality catches up with it.

But then it's not just running becomes easier. Because the goal is to keep pushing yourself anyway, whether you're an athlete that's been running for years, or this is your first run. The goal is to push yourself and to become more than what you are today, and so in that sense all runners are the same.

And it's not about being motivated or feeling excited to do it. You get to this odd point where you like being uncomfortable. Knowing that you're outside the comfort zone is a good thing and you get excited by that because you know that's where the growth is. You're in growth territory. And you want to be there because you want to be better, And so it becomes almost this quest of what's the fastest way to be uncomfortable? Because as soon as I'm uncomfortable I'm growing.

Tyson: I can feel that passion through the mic there.

[laughter]

RJ: Good! I'm glad.

Stanford: I think you've hit on something really good there RJ, that ability to self motivate. We're so external now in this day and age. We're looking for content to inspire us. But man, if you can self motivate, then it goes along with the the whole self mastery thing, and gosh, that's the holy grail, isn't it?

RJ: Yeah.

Stanford: Is just to have have discipline and self mastery and self motivate. You say something, or you think something, and you just do. And you have that ability to to accomplish those things.

Uh, I'll tell you a funny story about just showing up. So last year I was trying to get to the gym early in the morning, first thing in the morning. Uh, wake up at about six and go straight there. And I remember there was a rough morning and I did all the hard work. I got out of bed, got dressed, went to the gym and I've and I've parked my car. And I've just said, You know, I'm just gonna sit here for a few minutes. And sure enough I fell asleep.

[laughter]

I fell asleep in the car. And so when you talk about showing up, I think man, that's for me. I can just reflect back on that personal experience and look, I had a chuckle at the time and my wife and kids had a good laugh at me when when I told them about it, but you know I had done all the hard work, but I didn't take that next step of showing up. and so whenever someone says, "Just show up", I'm like, Yeah, don't take a moment to just sit there and in your car or relax
'cause you're gonna fall asleep and and miss out.

Tyson: Mate, if you've done that once. I've done that multiple times!

[laughter]

The best is—

Stanford: You know, sadly I've done it twice, Tyson, and the second time was worse because I left the car running.

Tyson: You know you've made it if you go to the gym and you sit in the car and you fall asleep with a hamburger in your hand.

[laughter]

That's the one. that's the one you want to aim for. Just remember: thrive guys! Get out there and do the best you can.

Stanford: Look, I think for me— where do I go for motivation to achieve goals? I think it varies for me. It depends on the goal. For work and career and profession, that looks a little bit different to where I go for inspiration or motivation to improve on a personal level. Uh, you know in family life.

I think podcasts are great. These days they can be consumed whenever you'd like, at a drop of a hat. And there's more podcasts and inspiring content than you can absolutely poke a stick at. So I think we're really fortunate there.

One of things that's helped me just recently during lockdown is just going for walks. You know Hina and I heading out and going for a walk together and there's something energising and earthing about walking. We're fortunate here by the awa or the river. And there's something inspiring and motivating about that and about nature and just getting out there and walking. Uh, you know, just moving the body.

One of the other things that motivates me for family life is just— you know occasionally when you pick up your phone and there's a photo on your phone from a year ago, two years ago, or even five years ago.

I think Man, my kids were so young and I look at them now and I just think man, the kids are growing up so fast, And so it motivates me. It motivates me to spend even more time with them. It motivates me to say: "Hey, I need to try to get some more one on one time with each of them 'cause man, they're growing up so quick."

So even old photos, you know, if I need help or inspiration and motivation to spiritually improve, and then I'll go to different places. And so I think that's the luxury that we have there's just so many options. And you can go different places for that motivation and inspiration for any and all categories and areas of your life.

Tyson: Sounds good like, sounds like both of you have pretty much found something to keep you motivated. Unfortunately, I'm still in the like external need for motivation. I'm a content consumer and—

Stanford: Oh, I'm still there Tyce.

RJ: Yeah,

Stanford: I'm still external too. for sure.

RJ: Depends on the hour of the day

Tyson: There you go. So the thing that I do most of the time for motivation is I'm a listener or a reader. So I read lots of books. I listen to lots of podcasts and audiobooks. And so I'm always trying to check out the latest Rich Dad Poor Dad, or you know motivational thing that's coming along. So I'm still in that kind of stuff. I haven't really found the self motivation thing yet, but I'm getting there.

Stanford: And that, Tyson— I have the benefit of having known you all my life. And that's one of the great— I'd even call it a gift that you have is you've always been an avid reader and it used to frustrate the heck out of me when we were young cause I just wanted to shake you and say: "Come out and play with me or do something. Let's go play basketball or do something. But that's been a great asset to have that love of reading.

I'm not a book bookworm by nature. But I imagine all the books that you've read Tyson and that you've consumed. That's got to have been great, great insight that you've gathered and a big source of inspiration and motivation.

Tyson: Well, it depends if you are reading good books or like pulp. Not so great books.

RJ: And that honestly is a good point when it comes to being your best self, is be careful where you spend your time on what media.

Stanford: Yeah, absolutely.

RJ: You know, we've said there's a lot of brilliant stuff out there you could find on Youtube or podcasts or Netflix or whatever, but there's a lot of binge watching that gets you nowhere, where you're just watching other people live their dreams and not really living your own. I think media is kind of a blessing and a curse. We've got so much at our fingertips and so it's that choice thing again of where do you spend your time and how do you sift through, and how do you police that to make sure that the content you're watching is building you up.

Even through lockdown, Sometimes the daily news isn't going to leave you feeling better for the wear, so maybe limit that and spend your time on things that are going to help build you.

Stanford: And what's interesting is you know, Hina (my wife) and I talk about it is, adults struggle with this right? How many rabbit holes have you gone into, how many social media rabbit holes have you gone down? And before you realise that, you've just wasted half an hour, an hour or even more. And you think, man, you know, we struggle as grown, fully functional, fairly intelligent adults. And I think, man, my kids, you know?

RJ: Yeah,

Stanford: It's going to be so tough for them. So I think you're right. What we consume, it's kind of like that old adage. You are what you eat, [RJ: Yep.] and in a lot of ways you are what you consume, in terms of media and content.

RJ: For sure. Yeah, I've definitely felt that. I've been at the bottom of a bad binge watching session, feeling low. And—

Stanford: Oh, we've all been there.

RJ: And then had that time where I've picked myself up and tried to get out and do something too. And yeah, it makes a difference—

Stanford: And let's be honest, there's some great shows out there right?

[laughter]

RJ: Yep, for sure.

Tyson: But there's also some trash.

Stanford: Who would have thought even like ten years ago that Netflix would be one of the biggest producers of content, of movies and series? Gosh, I remember when they were still selling DVDs online, you know?

RJ: Yep.

Stanford: It's crazy how easy and accessible things are these days and how quickly things progress.

RJ: I'm learning that with my oldest, he's turning eight here at the end of the year and he saw his first ad on TV the other day because we were watching. Yeah, I can't remember what we were watching, but we don't normally do normal TV and he was confused why the show was interrupted by something that was completely unrelated.

Stanford: Yeah, that's right.

RJ: Yeah, that's called an advertisement. That's the world they're growing up in. It's uninterrupted entertainment all day long. It's dangerous too.

Stanford: Yeah, that's right.

Tyson: Like him, my kids had never seen ads before and then when they did, they would sing the tunes and they would go: "Did you know that Brand Power is the best blah blah blah..."

[laughter]

Tyson: And I'm like, oh my goodness ads working on your little brain.

Stanford: Yeah, but because things are so accessible, my kids haven't had to watch movies and sit through how many commercial breaks— And I can't even remember how long they went for, but it was longer than thirty seconds. You know it seemed like it'd go for four or five minutes of breaks.

RJ: Yep.

Stanford: And it's almost like you had to earn your movie. You know?

RJ: Yeah,

Stanford: You had to earn the experience and man, one of the things that frustrates with one of the things my kids does is sometimes they'll be watching a program and they'll be like: "Oh, I just want see what it happens at the end" and they'll just fast forward and I'm just like man. I don't like doing that. I, you know, if I was reading a book, I would never fast forward to the end and see what happens at the end of the book. But there's kind of a lack of appreciation for the journey you know?

RJ: Yes.

Stanford: We're so destination driven. But it's the journey, it's the growth, and I think the the thriving comes in the journey, doesn't it, rather than the destination?

RJ: Yeah, and maybe that is the problem we've had as society is we've become too impatient. You know, everything is instant access.

Stanford: Absolutely,

RJ: And so when thriving isn't instant, we get discouraged and give up, because that's not like everything else I've experienced in life. My movie doesn't get interrupted. Why does my thriving get interrupted?

Tyson: I want to be. The awesomest runner now, not
ten months from now when I have to go through all the pain.

RJ: Absolutely.

Stanford: Yeah, it's like if I can't be an olympian, yeah, nah.

[laughter]

Stanford: If I can't get a gold— be a medalist at the next Olympics then I'll look for something else, you know?

RJ: My oldest who has that thing of— he's a real perfectionist and so if he's not good at something right off the bat, he hates it, you know? Riding a bike was that way. He did not want to touch a bike 'cause it was so uncomfortable. But then he hit that threshold eventually where he realised: "Oh, I can do this", and and now the kid's on the skate park ramps and doing things. Once he's identified himself as being— yes, this is a skill of mine. This is a talent, then then he goes crazy with it, but you know he doesn't like it.

And I guess I'm learning more about myself, seeing him like through the eyes of a child, but I realised: Gee, yeah, how many of us are in that position where we don't like not being good at something?

You know, that idea of I'd run if I was a professional runner, but I don't want to run when I'm a little overweight and people are going to see me in public and I'm gonna huff and puff and do more walking than running, And we give ourselves these excuses, because we're not good at it right away.

I think a lot of thriving is being comfortable with failing, because failing happens a lot. To be good at something, you've got to try and fail and then try and fail again, and repeat that till you succeed. And I think being comfortable with failing and comfortable with not being good at something, you know hopefully, our listeners are comfortable with us being average podcast hosts, to stick with it.

And hopefully—

Stanford: Yeah, please be patient.

Tyson: Cause we'll get better! We'll get better.

RJ: You'll see the growth in us. Yeah, hopefully a year from now you'll feel like you've grown and we'll feel like we've grown and your ears will feel like they're being assaulted less [laughter] as you're listening to our voices and we're growing in this together.

But you got to be able to get up and fail and say it's okay to fail and be patient with yourself or else you're never going to accomplish anything.

Stanford: Yeah, absolutely.

RJ: We've gone for a good while here. I guess I'd love to just ask the final question we've got on the list today: What are you guys doing— we're all working from home. Lots of people at the moment are in that position of working from home. And we've kind of touched on the challenges of that. Your work life and family life are are more blended than ever. You've got competing demands for different things. It's less clean cut of the nine to five or the eight to five, or whatever you do. You know, in your daytime job. What are you guys doing to be productive at that? Any tips or tricks you've learned to to make working from home work better for you?

Stanford: Yeah, look, I think in short, RJ, it's a work in progress. Like anything, you know? It's got to be worked on. It's got to be refined. It's got to be adjusted. It's got to be tweaked. And I'm not there yet, but I've been working from home most of the year. And so I've definitely taken away some personal learnings for me.

One for me is obviously just establishing a routine. But that's I guess me and my life. I do better when there's a set routine. It allows me to kinda get into a rhythm. And and I feel more productive when I get into a routine, so I think that's crucial when you're working from home.

Um, a dedicated space always helps. There's a reason why I guess we kind of work on desks and in cubicles, and in offices. A dedicated space helps me once I'm sitting in my space, you know automatically— it's like my body and my mind think to myself: "Okay, now it's time to do work."

And lately something that's been really helping me is just keeping a to do list. It sounds mundane and it's not uh, very insightful at all, but the old fashioned to do lists work a treat for me. Jotting down first thing what I need to accomplish that day. Um, and just going through going through a bit by bit and ticking off those tasks. I tend to do the one that I'm least looking forward to, or the hardest thing, I'll try to do that first, if I can. If the timing's right. Um, but to do lists has really helped me.

The the other thing I find during lockdown, I'm not sure sure if you guys have found that because I'm not in the office. I find myself Uh, rather than flicking someone in an email that I would actually give them a quick phone call. And I'm not sure if that's cause you know, maybe I'm subconsciously wanting a bit more verbal communication. But there's often times where I thought usually I would have just sent an email, but because I'm working from home, maybe it's I want that interaction verbally, then I'll be making more phone calls during my time working from home.

Tyson: I'm going to take a different tack for it. Like, um, I agree with all those things that Stanford just mentioned, but I'm going to go with the thing that's helped me is communicating among the family. Like uh, talking to my wife, talking to my kids, seeing what they're doing, seeing what I'm doing and then trying as a group to manage— Okay, let's get all this done. How can I help you? How can I help you?

I don't want to sit here and do my work while my wife is doing all the domestic stuff by herself, so I'll do some work, I'll get up and do this. I'll do some more work, I get up and do that. So it's sharing the load between your partner and I guess your family. That's what I found has helped us be happier at home.

Stanford: And one of the great things about that Tyson is because you're working from home, and I guess often times in our roles for work, things aren't always time dependent. And so I think that's a great insight because there's nothing stopping me from waking up really early and putting in a couple hours of work before everyone wakes up, or the opposite late at night, and putting in a few hours of uninterrupted work.

That's exactly what I did last night. I think it was after two by the time I went to sleep, But sometimes you just need to do that because you know you need a couple of hours of uninterrupted work time because you've been helping the kids with homework and assignments, and you know, breaking up little arguments amongst the little kids and things like that, and everyone needs to eat.

RJ: Oh yes.

Stanford: You know, everyone's hungry at all times of the day. And you know, hey, while you're there, let's chuck a load of washing on. Because that needs to be done too. And even though everyone's seemingly wearing the same clothes, the mountain of laundry just magically keeps growing right? So I think that's a great insight, Tyce is you can do that. There's nothing stopping us from splitting up the work day, taking advantage of the early hours in the morning or late at night. However you prefer it.

RJ: That probably is the key to success, taking that holistic approach. You are more than just an employee. You've got other responsibilities, you're a three dimensional person. And if you can have that time in sync— we've tried to do these family council meetings once a week, where we jot down all the times and appointments of things that are going to happen this week that are fixed. Even things like meal planning and activity planning in the evenings, or whenever I'm not at work.

It's nice to know that those precious hours with the family are scheduled to something fun and productive, and not just: "Well, now what do you want to do? I guess we'll just flick the TV on." It's fine to do that, but it's nice to plan that and be deliberate about our time. I've found it's been more quality time with the family that way when it's thought about ahead of time rather than just on the moment.

Tyson: I think the word there is deliberate. You are deliberately planning. You're deliberately being involved like you're going to be much more involved in your children's life. If you are saying what are you doing and deliberately planning time to spend with them versus "Okay, you guys just watch TV. I'll look at my phone for the next half hour and then will get to bed."

RJ: Yeah, it's amazing how you think we're all in the same building. We're all here together. We got more time face to face than ever before. And yet you can be completely isolated from each other so easily. It's amazing how almost automatically that doesn't lead to connections. Unless you make the effort to make time for connections.

Stanford: There's a great quote. Um, you know about we're talking about I guess discipline and being dedicated and focused in all areas of our life. Cause we have so many things competing for our attention. And I guess we talked a little earlier about technology being a two edged sword, and one of those edges certainly is technology— it's so easy to blur the lines. Especially with our phones right?

My whole family, we could be sitting on a couch in the same room, but I could be off in a virtual world. You know, emotionally mentally, I could be totally disconnected from those that are sitting right beside me.

And so look back to— there's a great quote that I've always kind of loved. And it was only recently that I discovered that there was more to this quote, and there was I guess, more context. But it's by Harry Emerson Fosdick, and he was a famous American preacher. Actually, Doctor Martin Luther King thought he was America's greatest preacher, and this is what he says:

"No horse gets anywhere until he is harnessed. No stream or gas ever drives anything until it is confined. No Niagara is ever turned into light and power until it is tunneled, No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated and disciplined. One of the widest gaps in human experience is the gap between what we say we want to be, and our willingness to discipline ourselves to get there."
—Harry Emerson Fosdick, Living Under Tension Sermons On Christianity Today

Stanford: So the part that's always stood out to me, uh, for many years is: "No life ever grows great until it's focused dedicated and disciplined". And I can look at most facets of my life even as a husband, as a father, physically, and as someone pursuing a career. You know that being focused, dedicated and disciplined, uh, just really resonates with me.

RJ: I love that. We'll have to throw that quote in the show notes.

Tyson: Yeah, that'd be great. We should definitely share that.

Thank you so much for listening to us this week guys. Thank you, Stanford, thank you RJ for being here and we want all our listeners to know that our mission is to motivate and inspire you to be your best self. If you have overcome adversity in your life, we want to hear about it. And you can contact us at podcast@ithrivenutrition.com.au, share your story with us and we'd love to hear from you.

This podcast was brought to you by iThrive Nutrition. You can learn more about iThrive Nutrition at the website ithrivenutrition.com.au, and you can also follow the socials for iThrive Nutrition.

We've spoken about a lot this week. We hope that some of our information can help you in your life, in your struggles and in your challenges. It's your time to thrive. See you next week guys!

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