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hi friends welcome along to Runners only
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with dom Harvey episode 14. today on the
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show Cam calkoon he's a paralympic
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sprinter he's a motivational speaker
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he's a mountain climber and he's done it
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all with cerebral palsy don't just have
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one dream remember a hundred strings
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like we have shown much more potential
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in Ash to achieve Sean much more than we
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currently you know um can you do me a
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favor wherever you get your podcast from
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um could you follow or subscribe hit the
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follow button or the Subscribe button I
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don't know what it does but I've heard
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people say that on other podcasts so it
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must do something so that'll be much
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appreciated if you do that massive
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the show on the road
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[Music]
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[Music]
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[Music]
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[Music]
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uh he's won gold medals for the 100
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meters and 200 meters yeah foreign
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love running
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this is why yeah this is what I love
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about it if it wasn't for running I
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wouldn't be here today but how do you
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mean you wouldn't be here today I
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wouldn't be as strong as I am I wouldn't
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be as as strong mentally physically
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socially and and I may have even like
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life as a teenager got pretty hard and I
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needed an escape and running became
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better Escape
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mate I've got goosebumps hearing you say
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that but how can you say
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you don't like running when you know on
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the flip side it's given you so much
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good [ __ ] so I I I I guess
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I don't like what why why should I don't
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like it is because there's so many
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people who could benefit from it but
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they aren't going to get up at five
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o'clock in the morning when it's raining
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and put on your shoes that's the bit you
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don't like but what you love is when you
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train and you get stronger and better
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and all of a sudden so I was a sprinter
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and you're flying
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and fetch what I love I just wanted to
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give you a little a little sound bite
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that's that's the bit for Instagram yeah
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that's the bit for tick tock yeah yeah
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listen there's so much to discuss with
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you
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um you're born with Cerebral Palsy
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climbing Mount Kilimanjaro becoming one
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of the most in demand public speakers in
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New Zealand and that there is so much
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that we've got to get to in the next
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hour I know I'm excited but I'm like man
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it's going to go so fast it's just um
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such a pleasure to have you here it
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really is some friends of mine Nick and
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Jackie they're like oh we've heard this
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guy speak you've got to get him on your
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podcast he's inspo and you know so so
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you I I may ask some dumb questions
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about cerebral palsy you've got to
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excuse me because I I know very little
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about it but I really want to learn
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there's how you create a winner okay you
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know I think the biggest fear for people
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is but they don't ask questions and they
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make assumptions and women make
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assumptions making us out of you and I
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and when we tell a story this is why
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this is so powerful because when we hear
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someone's Story We eliminate that
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assumption I mean we've been perception
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so so go for it okay so so you're born
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with Cerebral Palsy what does it mean
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exactly and how does it how does it
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happen so
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um having a birth so as your baby and my
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mum's tummy or was G and then something
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went wrong during birth and I lost a bit
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of oxygen [ __ ] to the brain so it is a
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brain injury but my thinking and my
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articulation is fine but what it'll fix
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is the way in which misses his trip away
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around my body so my voice is you can
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hear is a little bit shaky my limits you
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a little bit Shaggy but what you see is
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what you get right so so in in your
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brain
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everything's perfectly normal
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everything's functioning perfectly well
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but just something in between that brain
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messaging to what comes out something
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gets lost it's better be normal man it's
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awesome
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if I could take this away like it's been
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most fascinating thing to live with
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because right now I'm shaking but this
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isn't part of receivable well it is but
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I often wonder I often wonder this if
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people never told me I had cerebral
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palsy how would I be
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you know and there's that thing of when
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you're on your mountain bike and you
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look at the root of a tree you're gonna
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hit the road of a tree because it's what
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you're focusing on that's what you're
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focusing on so I'm aware someone's
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meeting me for the first time and I'm
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trying to control myself but I feel
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myself in way more shaking here than
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normal but Ezra's conversation goes on
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I'll relax I'll warm up and that's the
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thing my [ __ ] will before she can get
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worse and running which is what I do
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love about writing Made Me Stronger so
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was it um was it with the serial
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proposing was it difficult you for you
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to run because of your motor skills or
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anything or your balance or yeah and
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vegetables made by 100 meters hugely
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exciting because I may not have got to
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the end of the 100 meters oh no come on
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really seriously the amount of times
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yeah I'm sure the whole audience would
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be holding rear if I I had been putting
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other people so and this is what was
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fascinating we would be people arriving
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at the race walking up on Christchurch
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and running the 100 meters in 12
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something because what you have got is
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you've got fast twitching fibers yeah
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right there's shagginess just wants to
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boom just wants to explode but you've
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got to win connect all the dots of the
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foot goes the arm goes keeping your
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balance and that's why I loved it
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because you'd finish up
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finish that race and you've not just
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physically gone hard you've mentally had
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to yeah so with cerebral palsy does it
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take more physical exertion for you to
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for you to walk and for you to run and
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to do things like that then someone that
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doesn't have cerebral palsy I don't know
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no
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but it's not a dumb question because I
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actually don't know like I actually wake
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up and I'm like
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do I actually have because I'm just
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scared right and virtual running which
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are good for because all my training
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mates just your camp and then eventually
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over catches goals your camper athlete
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and that's who I always wanted to build
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I never wanted to be defined by what I
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can't do I wanted to find what I can do
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and be with the best in the world man
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that's such a good attitude so okay so
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so you're born you've got cerebral palsy
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when when do you is there a moment where
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you first realize that you're different
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to some of the other kids no no but so
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we so unvironmentally we grew up in
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Napier I did the egg and Spoon race I I
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did with egg and Spoon race but my dad
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at the beginning of eating spoon race
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cam over here so I walk over there Dad
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and Dad change my boy you can be
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whatever you want to be in this world
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and if you want to win today just
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believe you can and with that he's
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better a bit of chewing up
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stuck it on your spoon and she could
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like show veg when I I first I guess
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started learning yeah and I realized if
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I got rid of the egg and Spoon I love
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just running in straight lines now I
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heard you um tell that joke on a TED
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Talk that you did I saw that on YouTube
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it's a great speech is is that a true
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story is that a joke
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yeah why wouldn't you go with surely let
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Blue Tech it'd be more effective I I
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guess he was like he would have been in
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his mid-20s Ben yes and it's the coolest
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thing he's turning up and he's watching
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his son and he's probably not because
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he's probably not really thinking of it
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until he's beer right and he's like well
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what have I got what how can I help my
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boy he's in chewing them yeah listen
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that is true because I saw I saw that on
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the title I thought let's just stick
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that's uh that's a joke that is written
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for the speech no no oh that's the
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coolest thing yeah so you so you you
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it's part of how you are now do you
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think because of the way your parents
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raised you I think I mean I get I expect
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question heaps and I think it's a real
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chicken and eggs you know you know you
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know like you have people that go to the
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same school and go different ways you
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have families and your children are
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completely different Joe I think one was
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I had a deep desire to fulfill my my
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creativity yeah in my head and then in
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the early days I had family who didn't
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get in the way of it so if I wanted to
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play football if I'd go out and buy my
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uniform if I wanted to play cricket
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which I came every other person is
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training two days a week if you want to
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play you have to train four days a week
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right because of the cerebral palsy you
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just have to work that much harder right
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sure about I can be as competitive as
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everyone else right and then as we got
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older the balls got bigger no
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everyone got stronger I'm moving from
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Hawke's Bay to Auckland Joe all the kids
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I've grown-up where they're no longer
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beer and there was a stage when I was at
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high school first year of high school
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and I looked out and I didn't see people
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who walked or taught like me and I I did
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wonder you know what would my life be
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like what what can I do you know being a
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teenager is hard and it's so sad and
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then you've had this and so I didn't
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have a great year and
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yeah he helping in a big way did he yeah
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how do you know Jeremy
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um for Havoc right I have a yeah like a
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Newsboy back in the day
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I would watch that show it was the only
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thing that made me smile
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which is the only thing that made me
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laugh and my mum wrote a leader to
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Jeremy I don't know what she would have
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met later
00:13:01
but he wrote back
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he wrote back he wrote back a two-page
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leader and in that letter he had the
00:13:10
words difference is a good thing people
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who count in this world look for those
00:13:15
who are different
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and and I still have that letter stuck
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up on my wall I see it when I wake up I
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see it when I go to sleep and I look at
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Jeremy now when I go
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so how old is this letter what is it
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like 20 years old yeah you've still got
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does he know this have you yeah yeah
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yeah when did you last see him and tell
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him uh so Irene's hearing that story
00:13:42
quite a bit yeah yeah right oh so it's
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got back to him
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I thought it would have and it may well
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but I remember doing lunch beats and I
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was like I need to reach out to him
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until I jumped on Facebook who knows
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cheering me well and uh
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a day later we were meeting up at the
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punch me road food court and having a
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good chat wow that's an incredible story
00:14:05
isn't amazing just goes to show like if
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you take the time to do something like
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that you just want an impact it can have
00:14:09
small words yeah yeah and that's why I
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do what I do as a speaker because you
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just don't know where those words are
00:14:16
gonna go were impaired
00:14:21
he might be out running now he does a
00:14:22
brick for Sean Radio holiday then he
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goes for a run most mornings
00:14:28
it feels like we're on low radio now
00:14:31
and you know
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please leave your name and number after
00:14:37
the beat and I'll then give it a get
00:14:39
back to you as soon as I can thanks see
00:14:41
ya
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hey Jeremy it's storm here I'm just
00:14:45
recording a podcast and my story just
00:14:47
came up about you
00:14:48
um a really nice story actually gave me
00:14:50
gave me goosebumps hey Jim Ranch cam
00:14:52
calkoon here uh just sharing what you
00:14:55
did as a teenager well when I was a
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teenager and thank you
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have a good run one of which could
00:15:02
Manchester he came up Kilimanjaro with
00:15:04
me as well so uh you know the world
00:15:06
everyone's connected in some way yeah so
00:15:09
the um
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you know the Mount Kilimanjaro thing
00:15:12
we've got to get to that as well at some
00:15:14
point I mean it's just like no there's
00:15:16
no limits I feel like that's the way you
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live your life like if you put your mind
00:15:19
to something you would just do it even
00:15:20
though it's um harder for you like you
00:15:22
said before about the cricket yeah so
00:15:24
how did the cricket go did you have to
00:15:26
tap out of sports like that when you got
00:15:27
to a certain age yeah I did when the
00:15:29
kids got a primary school it was Unreal
00:15:32
like I remember primary school and I was
00:15:35
there able to bowl them halfway because
00:15:37
I didn't have a strength to do that big
00:15:40
kids but but it was it was normal I
00:15:43
never like the competition never gave me
00:15:46
a hard time and I'm so glad I grew up
00:15:49
when I grew up you know I'm so glad I
00:15:52
grew up in a world that wasn't too PC
00:15:55
I'm so glad with everything you know
00:15:58
he's going to build them halfway because
00:16:00
he can't throw the whole way yeah okay
00:16:02
cool yeah so you you say you wouldn't
00:16:05
did you ever experience any sort of
00:16:06
bullying or anyone no no
00:16:08
I was the biggest myself doing you know
00:16:12
when I was talking about that food form
00:16:15
year yeah and I said I was the biggest
00:16:17
bully because I turned up to school but
00:16:20
I wasn't really turning up you know I
00:16:24
wasn't stepping outside my comfort zone
00:16:26
and whenever you're a little bit
00:16:28
different it's your responsibility to
00:16:31
build that connection with people it's
00:16:33
your responsibility to say this is why I
00:16:36
walk like I do this is why I talk like I
00:16:39
do but do you know what I enjoy being a
00:16:42
good athlete I enjoy skateboarding I
00:16:46
enjoy riding a bike I enjoy skiing and
00:16:49
now that's what we connect on yeah you
00:16:52
know Cindy Lupo
00:16:57
but it's true right it's true
00:17:00
hahaha
00:17:02
that is very true I have way more in
00:17:06
common yeah than what makes us different
00:17:08
I am I'm honestly I'm so pleased to hear
00:17:11
that you and you were never a victim of
00:17:13
bullying or anything because the kids
00:17:15
can be I I suppose especially like in
00:17:17
single figures kids can be particularly
00:17:19
cruel with things they don't understand
00:17:20
Yeah but I
00:17:28
by seeing me walking am I snickling and
00:17:31
uh you know having been made on each
00:17:33
side and cracking up and by the end of a
00:17:37
talk Barber coach who come up and say
00:17:40
cam thank you and I wish I could do what
00:17:44
you're doing on your age and all and
00:17:47
what that's taken is storytelling it's
00:17:51
taking a speech it's taking words and
00:17:54
when we withdraw our stories when we
00:17:57
don't speak that's when you know I've
00:18:00
said it before that's when you make
00:18:02
assumption yeah when did you when did
00:18:04
you decide what did you want to do when
00:18:06
you were little like at Primary School
00:18:07
Intermediate and when did you decide you
00:18:09
wanted to do what you're doing now which
00:18:10
is having a huge meat yeah I wanted to
00:18:13
travel I wanted to entertain I wanted to
00:18:16
connect with people I didn't know what
00:18:19
that looked like and that's why I did
00:18:21
what I did because whenever an
00:18:23
opportunity came up I see to myself
00:18:26
would wish enable me to travel would
00:18:30
this enable me to entertain and so when
00:18:33
running came up I knew that if I could
00:18:35
get to the top level I'd be able to go
00:18:38
all over the world so why running what
00:18:41
what made you gravitate towards that is
00:18:43
this just something that is something
00:18:45
that you could do because it wasn't a
00:18:46
team sport or did you have like some
00:18:48
sort of natural Talent
00:18:50
um by running uh because you've got a
00:18:52
really cool jacket at home
00:18:54
because for me for me I am I uh
00:18:58
gravitated towards running because
00:19:00
um I uh I don't have cerebral palsy but
00:19:04
I um I always [ __ ] at team sports and I
00:19:06
I I I felt the pressure of letting team
00:19:08
members down in other sports like just
00:19:10
dropping a catch or whatever and you
00:19:12
could tell you feel the bowling getting
00:19:14
mad at you or getting out for a duck and
00:19:15
you walk back and you you know whatever
00:19:16
it happened to be so I thought running
00:19:18
I'm only letting myself down as well
00:19:20
there was no cool jacket for me though
00:19:22
so I I wanted to be that full
00:19:25
um I want I didn't want to leave the
00:19:28
team down either yeah right and I but I
00:19:31
also wanted to be in full control of My
00:19:34
Success I wanted to own that I I didn't
00:19:37
want to do Physio and when I looked at
00:19:39
running all the things that made you a
00:19:41
good runner is what I needed to do when
00:19:44
I was at the hospital yeah being
00:19:46
stretched out for myself
00:19:47
I was also at ringing Turtle College
00:19:50
it's just go I moved on to after that
00:19:54
bad battery and food form and in my
00:19:57
class was a guy called turinjo pezoni oh
00:20:00
yeah no torenzo yeah it's one of the
00:20:01
world's world's greatest Iron Man yeah
00:20:03
yeah so we were we're best major at high
00:20:06
school and the school uh
00:20:10
should go after the next day was coming
00:20:12
up in a bit of paper was coming around
00:20:15
it was coming around to put our name
00:20:17
down for the school after the next day
00:20:19
and it stopped on my desk and I really
00:20:22
wanted to put down my name but inside my
00:20:24
head was very little voice but we always
00:20:26
hear what will people think what will
00:20:29
people say you walk funny you man funny
00:20:31
you haven't run competitively and Torino
00:20:35
said just put your name down for 100
00:20:37
meters
00:20:38
and um that's what I did and even became
00:20:42
my first coach and I remember he came
00:20:45
running up my driveway so I think he's
00:20:48
the same age as you 14 years yeah right
00:20:50
was he was he was he a really good
00:20:52
athlete at that age yeah okay I think he
00:20:55
was doing his duf lines at that point
00:20:57
yeah and he was like he was just it was
00:21:00
Italian God
00:21:03
he just came running up we had quite a
00:21:06
steep driveway and he came running up
00:21:09
and um as you can we're gonna go
00:21:12
training and I wish I can come back I
00:21:14
also came running down my driveway what
00:21:17
his parents would be wearing the car
00:21:18
they weren't so we ran to the end of the
00:21:21
cul-de-sac still no car we've been
00:21:23
running the whole way to the track and
00:21:25
as he's running up a hill he's asking me
00:21:28
about the weekend and I'm just focusing
00:21:31
on my breathing and trying to survive
00:21:33
and um at that point I decided you do
00:21:37
long distance I'll stick to the 100
00:21:40
I Look to train with the best athletes
00:21:43
that New Zealand had I had people like
00:21:45
uh should penis now supporting me I
00:21:48
Peter Smith by the way I don't want to
00:21:51
patronize anyone but um probably New
00:21:53
Zealand's greatest Olympian ever yeah is
00:21:55
it triple foreign
00:22:09
myself we were the first three athletes
00:22:12
that they had and when you were
00:22:15
surrounded by those sort of people you
00:22:18
know you start to just go man
00:22:24
I am with who I want to be I am building
00:22:28
that dream I have taken full control of
00:22:32
how I want to be perceived who I want to
00:22:35
be perceived by and there's a reason why
00:22:38
both people have become as good as they
00:22:42
have because they don't read the
00:22:45
perception of the unknown get in the way
00:22:48
right yeah they ask questions everyone I
00:22:52
know of me business people athletes they
00:22:56
are the people that look for what we can
00:22:59
do yeah and that's why they get to where
00:23:01
they get you in life and when we do that
00:23:04
we get to where we want to get to it may
00:23:06
take longer we may be more processes
00:23:10
that is a journey yeah you can't do it
00:23:13
yeah
00:23:14
and you mentioned before that you were
00:23:16
sponsored by Toyota so this might be
00:23:18
another dumb question and I do apologize
00:23:19
but you you drive yourself well I sure
00:23:22
May yeah I don't think I was him did it
00:23:25
burn out in my driving test not not in
00:23:28
his uh sponsor's vehicle
00:23:31
I'm learning to drive right and I was
00:23:34
like I want to drive a manual because
00:23:37
all my mates were in the surfing
00:23:39
skateboarding real gnarly stuff you know
00:23:42
uh high as you go and I thought if
00:23:45
anything goes wrong I want to be a and
00:23:47
if I'm the only one that can drive I
00:23:49
don't want to be like dude I can't you
00:23:51
know I got lazy and I just went for an
00:23:54
auto or when I have a kid one day and
00:23:56
they're like yes can I learn how to
00:23:58
drive I want to be like yeah I'll tease
00:24:00
you I mean they'll probably be in a
00:24:02
driver for this car now but you know but
00:24:06
I wish what I told myself because and
00:24:09
and
00:24:11
few years past and a cool opportunity
00:24:13
came up to become an ambassador for
00:24:15
trout in New Zealand and it's been a 10
00:24:19
11 year partnership now and you know
00:24:22
we've gone through Journeys you'll
00:24:23
believe and start your impossible and
00:24:27
you know that's what I'm all about and
00:24:29
I'm speaking in front of you know a
00:24:32
hundred thousand people a year about
00:24:34
washing machine you can be oh it's a
00:24:37
great it's a great relationship great
00:24:39
relationship and um so the so the the
00:24:41
public speaking thing which you've done
00:24:43
you've done so many talks like hundreds
00:24:45
maybe even thousands of talks how was
00:24:48
that something that you thought I'm
00:24:48
going to do this or did you sort of fall
00:24:50
into it how did that come about same
00:24:52
thing with
00:24:53
um you know travel entertaining and
00:24:56
connecting yeah I got to a place in my
00:24:59
sport where I was like this is cool of
00:25:02
of a Jewish emotion stuff but I never
00:25:05
wanted my competition in life to be
00:25:08
determined by the abilities on my shield
00:25:10
will pause you yeah ever given by who I
00:25:12
am as a human being and I wanted I
00:25:15
wanted
00:25:16
succession all with evil I wanted
00:25:19
Financial Independence I wondered I
00:25:22
wondered
00:25:24
wanting to be someone that could offer
00:25:28
something to the whole world and as an
00:25:31
athlete I was always competing against
00:25:34
the same top 12 in the world and this
00:25:37
created my opportunities yeah and so I
00:25:41
I was asked to give his speech and I was
00:25:43
like no way man like have you heard me
00:25:46
like I'm terrified of speaking I told
00:25:49
myself but I couldn't do it but I
00:25:52
practiced my speech I went into
00:25:54
preparing my speech as if I Was
00:25:57
preparing for a race right because I
00:25:59
knew if I knew what I was going to say
00:26:01
if I could be a ticket if I knew I could
00:26:05
give half an hour of wisdom and
00:26:08
motivation and inspiration and
00:26:11
entertainment to all the people in the
00:26:13
audience I had nothing to worry about
00:26:16
and uh I was at West State girls high
00:26:19
school and I was fresh out of high
00:26:22
school myself and I sneezed
00:26:35
my manager came up to me at the time and
00:26:39
he didn't give me a hanging he didn't
00:26:40
give me a tissue he gave me his very own
00:26:43
shoot
00:26:48
and that's what I did but we survived it
00:26:51
we turned it into a story and and it's
00:26:55
gone all over the world now right so um
00:26:57
because for most people
00:26:59
um public speaking is their worst fear
00:27:02
it's been proven in surveys so for you I
00:27:05
guess you had the fear of public
00:27:06
speaking but also coupled with the fact
00:27:09
that knowing you your voice is different
00:27:11
you know with my voice yeah but you know
00:27:14
what I had to tell what I do it's been
00:27:17
instead of looking I remember watching
00:27:19
an interview with Michael Shoemaker and
00:27:22
it you know when he was racing and and
00:27:24
going well if a guy with a really thick
00:27:27
action can can get the respect that he's
00:27:31
got maybe I just look at myself
00:27:34
yeah so I know when I speak all over the
00:27:37
world ready to think this is the key
00:27:39
reaction right
00:27:40
sorry guys sorry guys I mean you're not
00:27:44
difficult to understand at all I've
00:27:46
worked hard on it have you how do you
00:27:48
quick hat on that to have you like a
00:27:49
speech therapist or um by in a
00:27:52
professional speaker yeah seriously
00:27:54
Ghostbusters of a dream this is the goal
00:27:57
and I visited some show by Breathing by
00:28:01
yep speech therapy but really when
00:28:04
you're doing a hundred plus speeches a
00:28:06
year you start to master your own voice
00:28:09
you start to work out but I know I've
00:28:12
got something where the world likes and
00:28:15
enjoys so how do I package that up how
00:28:17
do and it's just about ownership it
00:28:20
really is going I'm going to view it as
00:28:23
an accent rather than an impediment and
00:28:26
as soon as you do that you see the
00:28:28
opportunities and there's so many good
00:28:30
lessons in here so many good lessons so
00:28:32
so so so when you speak do you you have
00:28:35
to work harder with your mouth muscles
00:28:37
to articulate your words is that sort of
00:28:39
what you're saying by working on it
00:28:41
um no just by working just initializing
00:28:43
over the years right of doing it more of
00:28:46
working out how to to open my mouth of
00:28:50
doing exercises on the way here in the
00:28:53
car right right and nothing nothing
00:28:56
tedious nothing but a professional voice
00:28:59
user wouldn't do you know as um you just
00:29:03
become aware of your body yeah I suppose
00:29:05
it's like um like you'd warm up for a
00:29:06
100 meter sprint or 200 meter Sprinter
00:29:08
also get a pull a hamstring yes it's
00:29:10
yeah hello it's the same thing if you if
00:29:12
you want to be the best you can be in
00:29:14
this world you need to do that behind
00:29:16
the scenes stuff you need to go oh okay
00:29:19
I've known each other I'm going to be an
00:29:21
athlete it does mean starting to get up
00:29:24
to run to feel like you're pounding the
00:29:26
pavement and it's heavy and that you get
00:29:29
to that point where you're flying with
00:29:31
your light where
00:29:33
you see time changing yeah so the Mount
00:29:36
Kilimanjaro thing how first of all uh
00:29:39
where is Mount Kilimanjaro and how high
00:29:41
is it uh Mount kilometers would be
00:29:43
tallers freestanding mountain and the
00:29:46
wheelchair is a bit like man we were
00:29:47
pale as in it's not part of a huge range
00:29:50
it just pops out of
00:29:52
um Tanzania and uh I you know the song
00:29:56
by um Toto on Africa Africa
00:30:02
so if you've heard about song You Know
00:30:04
Mount Kilimanjaro and uh who just thinks
00:30:07
Cyndi Lauper before please
00:30:10
yeah you didn't practice that in the car
00:30:13
on the way somewhere there's some places
00:30:14
we were asking just doesn't doesn't
00:30:16
cause over
00:30:18
so did you get asked if you wanted to do
00:30:21
that or did you just decide yourself I
00:30:23
think I want to climb a bloody big
00:30:24
mountain
00:30:25
again it's good people in your life so
00:30:28
my goal shop if you ever come and
00:30:30
question I don't know Michael something
00:30:31
yeah he's written a couple of books he's
00:30:33
climbing mountains yeah just climb Mount
00:30:36
Everest and um we caught up I've known
00:30:39
Mike for a few years as a speaker and he
00:30:42
said Kim have you ever thought about
00:30:43
climbing Mount Kilimanjaro well there's
00:30:46
pretty standing around in the world I
00:30:48
was like no no way man and then we spoke
00:30:52
and
00:30:54
um I realized my reasons for saying yes
00:30:56
were way more awesome than perceptions
00:30:58
were saying no it was that's what gets
00:31:00
in our way right the perceptions I've
00:31:02
never done it before and so 20 minutes
00:31:04
later I made my deposit
00:31:09
you said the reason for saying yes for
00:31:11
more than the reason saying no it
00:31:12
doesn't sound like you put a huge amount
00:31:13
of thought into it no but so but but
00:31:16
when someone says do you want to climb
00:31:19
Mount Kilimanjaro man who wouldn't who
00:31:23
wouldn't want to say I've stood on top
00:31:25
of a massive Mountain yeah and there's a
00:31:29
like those are the exciting things about
00:31:31
what we start to think about is I'm not
00:31:34
a mountain climber I need to take time
00:31:36
off work what will the training look
00:31:39
like what will we're eating look like
00:31:40
and we started focus on those things but
00:31:43
we actually don't know what they will
00:31:45
look like but we really advise getting
00:31:48
in place of that amazing feeling of
00:31:52
standing on the top of Africa yeah so
00:31:54
how high is that it shows 19 000 feet 19
00:31:58
000 feet so what's that that's like um
00:31:59
six kilometers high yeah just over six
00:32:02
kilometers high so how long does it take
00:32:03
you so is your five day Junior right and
00:32:07
you're doing it because of the the
00:32:09
attitude sickness is now
00:32:11
here can you describe it can you
00:32:13
describe that because most of us have
00:32:15
probably never experienced it because
00:32:16
because you do you guys you know six
00:32:19
kilometers it's not far but at night and
00:32:22
so 13 000 feet is when it kicked in for
00:32:25
me and all of a sudden my head was just
00:32:30
getting like squashed about like a
00:32:33
peanut being squashed by an elephant my
00:32:36
lungs were just exploding like gray boom
00:32:39
boom boom and then you stop thinking
00:32:41
about drinking that was the that was for
00:32:44
me when I look back I just stopped
00:32:46
drinking yeah and then the next minute
00:32:48
yeah you're just vomiting for like six
00:32:51
hours
00:32:53
and which was a day where you go up and
00:32:56
when you come back down because that's
00:32:58
how you acclimatize your bit of altitude
00:33:01
signals as soon as you start coming down
00:33:04
you start to feel better but it blows
00:33:07
people up like we're two 25 20 ship in
00:33:10
helicopters
00:33:14
I'll just open the door from 27
00:33:17
helicopters what rescuing yeah taking
00:33:19
people off
00:33:23
so just a dog walking past yeah
00:33:32
and what I'd be doing is I'd be going
00:33:34
too fast if I'd be going too fast I'd be
00:33:37
fit fit as people going this is an easy
00:33:40
climb I'm just going to run up and I'm
00:33:43
not going to division I'm not going to
00:33:45
listen to my guide who does was 150
00:33:48
times a year yeah you know I'm better
00:33:50
than that person you're not so we may
00:33:53
tell you to go slow and when you start a
00:33:56
walk you're walking slow event slow like
00:33:59
it's painfully slow but that's what you
00:34:02
need to do because when you get there
00:34:04
you know that final climb on the final
00:34:08
night it took we lived at 11 p.m and we
00:34:12
got in at 6 00 a.m so I was at seven
00:34:14
hours so you walk through the night um
00:34:16
yeah have you got like a head torch on
00:34:18
yeah yeah manage mine is five degrees
00:34:21
it's cold it's not what you think ethic
00:34:23
is going to be yeah
00:34:25
why is it done that way so you can see
00:34:28
the sunrise from the summit or is it so
00:34:30
once you're up there you can get back
00:34:31
down in daylight I asked me um I asked
00:34:35
for guide I was like why do we do every
00:34:37
other part during the day and we do this
00:34:39
pattern at night time he said well if
00:34:41
he's sure you if you had to see what you
00:34:43
were going to see you wouldn't want to
00:34:45
do it he said this is the best bit off
00:34:47
the climb right you will have ever seen
00:34:50
and vintage for those other two reasons
00:34:52
because you want to see the sunset but
00:34:55
you're also you've got to come back down
00:34:57
right
00:34:58
and do you know what but coming back
00:35:01
down has become the most significant
00:35:04
part of the climb because where we are
00:35:08
now as your world going for these covert
00:35:11
times and having changes because when
00:35:14
you're going up like when you're
00:35:16
preparing to climb Kilimanjaro all your
00:35:21
you get to the top and you've just
00:35:23
released your biggest release of
00:35:25
adrenaline right all your visualization
00:35:28
has been about how do I get to the
00:35:31
Pinnacle
00:35:32
and and you're way more wobbly way more
00:35:35
thirsty way more hungry coming down but
00:35:38
you've got to come down and the reason
00:35:39
in which you come down is you have to
00:35:41
come down in order to tell the story
00:35:43
yeah and show often in life life isn't
00:35:47
always going up we're coming down so
00:35:50
many times and like we're coming down
00:35:52
from being professional athletes you're
00:35:55
out of relationships or with health and
00:35:57
wealth and we need to be able to ask
00:36:00
ourselves how do we tell that story yeah
00:36:03
I love how you can find like a metaphor
00:36:04
or a message and everything like that if
00:36:07
you have a region in which I climbed
00:36:09
because I'm enjoy
00:36:10
I need to click keep fueling up my my
00:36:15
content yeah also I suppose another
00:36:17
thing is um when you get to the top of a
00:36:20
mountain it's only job half done isn't
00:36:22
it apparently yeah but but it's amazing
00:36:26
how little thinking before it went into
00:36:29
how do you come now yeah you know
00:36:31
because you wish so focused on getting
00:36:33
to the top yeah so we got him a job and
00:36:36
I'll drink bottles you like tanked out
00:36:38
our food it really was because you're
00:36:40
like I've just you know the night before
00:36:42
you go I'm gonna eat all I can to get to
00:36:45
the top to fuel up here if you are so do
00:36:48
you need oxygen at that height or no
00:36:49
you're okay without the oxygen they have
00:36:51
it okay and you uh they're doing
00:36:54
um protection too like look at your
00:36:56
blood okay your liberals in your blood
00:36:58
so it's quite a quite a professional
00:37:01
setup yeah
00:37:02
um and coming down because the top is
00:37:04
like Mountain repair or if you've
00:37:06
climbed um
00:37:08
um what's the you know um
00:37:14
you know so it's that kind of thing in
00:37:17
the last eight hours and that's why it
00:37:19
takes so long because it's two steps out
00:37:21
one step back yeah you're just sliding
00:37:24
and it's cold but it was beautiful I've
00:37:26
never been so close to the moon and the
00:37:28
stars and when you get to a top because
00:37:31
it's so fast you know you're really
00:37:33
seeing that part of the world still in
00:37:36
dark in which part of the world it's
00:37:37
still like yeah how good you know that's
00:37:40
cool how good yeah and um speaking of
00:37:43
the the metaphor you used before about
00:37:45
you know like mountains like life you
00:37:47
have the ABS you have your Downs how's
00:37:48
your mental health been I know you
00:37:50
touched upon um your first year in high
00:37:52
school and how you were the you were the
00:37:54
biggest bully on yourself is it you
00:37:55
really good yeah generally generally
00:37:58
yeah and that's why I do what I do I I
00:38:01
have out I I have our Thanksgiving now
00:38:05
and then but um generally as in like
00:38:08
where just life gets too much and you've
00:38:11
overwhelmed yourself and when I realized
00:38:13
just because I've not done the spin
00:38:15
class for a while I've not been for a
00:38:17
gym and um a few years ago had a bit of
00:38:20
a scary moment and the best Discovery I
00:38:24
had was how does how does my action or
00:38:28
reaction to whatever's going on now
00:38:30
impact on my dream can you elaborate on
00:38:33
that uh so I was at the beginning of my
00:38:36
speaking career and
00:38:38
services going on you know it's not it's
00:38:42
just stuff and I actually remember I uh
00:38:46
I walked out in front of a car and I
00:38:50
thought to myself
00:38:52
man you've just been talking to his you
00:38:55
know people about living your most
00:38:56
awesome life imagine if someone wishing
00:38:58
that car and
00:39:01
um
00:39:02
and how would that impact that dream
00:39:04
yeah and if if it had wait a minute so
00:39:08
you walked in front of it not
00:39:09
deliberately yeah
00:39:11
yeah what do you mean like did you want
00:39:13
to be hit by the car no I just thought
00:39:15
you too knowledge too much you know I
00:39:18
just you know that emotion when that
00:39:21
emotion goes on in your head and you
00:39:23
feel like a Raging Bull and you do stuff
00:39:26
that you that's not characteristic to
00:39:29
you I was going through one of those
00:39:31
moments and and and and I did I walked
00:39:35
out in front of a car and that car
00:39:38
fortunately didn't have me so did they
00:39:40
they swerve they slam the brakes on how
00:39:42
did they moved I think your whole thing
00:39:45
was going a lot slower but this is in my
00:39:47
early 20s right and of just thinking I'm
00:39:51
going through a transition of do I want
00:39:54
to be an athlete anymore is my identity
00:39:57
as an athlete because everyone in my
00:40:00
life isn't athlete all my sponsors are
00:40:03
as athletes I've told the whole world
00:40:06
but I'm not going to stop until I'm the
00:40:09
best in the world and no longer do I
00:40:12
want to do that dream so what does that
00:40:14
mean does that mean I'm a failure does
00:40:17
that mean that no one's ever going to
00:40:18
take me seriously because you spoke
00:40:20
about the stream and this I don't feel
00:40:23
which people I can talk to so I've got
00:40:25
one option left right now in that moment
00:40:28
of UE 2 A.M in the morning when you're
00:40:31
shouldn't be up anyway and it was it was
00:40:34
walking and and and and and and
00:40:36
unfortunately I was given the
00:40:39
opportunity to think about how would of
00:40:42
my action that night evicted or impacted
00:40:45
on my dream and it would have destroyed
00:40:48
it and hopefully talking about it now
00:40:50
doesn't destroy it but yeah I
00:40:54
um you know I know you you weren't in a
00:40:55
place to be thinking about this at the
00:40:57
time but also the impact on the driver
00:40:58
of that car
00:41:00
tell them they impact on everything
00:41:02
right yeah yeah and
00:41:05
um you shared the story before
00:41:08
no
00:41:09
um
00:41:11
thank you very much for sharing out I
00:41:13
really appreciate that and I'm pleased
00:41:15
it was unsuccessful me too and and maybe
00:41:18
I share it now because
00:41:21
man it's been a tough two years with a
00:41:23
lot of people are the last couple with
00:41:25
the pandemic are 100 and it's been tough
00:41:28
yeah it's bringing out
00:41:31
monsters and people always bringing out
00:41:34
Fortune people that aren't normal you
00:41:37
know people were living people talk
00:41:39
about uh you know 20 percent drop in
00:41:42
income which people that are on like a
00:41:44
90 to 100 drop on income investment yeah
00:41:47
and and their opportunities for that
00:41:51
that little demon who's never normally
00:41:54
ready to pop and then you've just got to
00:41:56
look at the bigger picture and that's
00:41:58
why as a speaker I speak about dream big
00:42:02
achieve more because it was that desire
00:42:05
of traveling and entertaining and
00:42:07
connecting it was believing that I could
00:42:10
bring something awesome to this world
00:42:12
but as a teenager and in the early 20s
00:42:15
enabled me to stay focused on that yeah
00:42:19
you know that was delight and sometimes
00:42:21
all you need is that tiny bit of light
00:42:23
and when you get a letter from someone
00:42:25
like you and me you go to a good school
00:42:28
you know and you get surrounded by great
00:42:31
athletes and being one of the greatest
00:42:32
athletes of all times decides to support
00:42:35
you and all of a sudden that starts
00:42:38
coming together and people show you
00:42:40
you've done awesome as an athlete can
00:42:43
you come and speak about it in your
00:42:45
first perception is to say no but that
00:42:48
was your sort of the first idea of
00:42:49
saying no to Kilimanjaro and you do it
00:42:52
and you say yes and you change your life
00:42:54
what's that even
00:42:56
um take away the cerebral palsy do you
00:42:59
think part of that's like imposter
00:43:00
syndrome
00:43:11
imagine imagine you're you make the All
00:43:14
Blacks and you turn up to training and
00:43:15
you look around you're like oh [ __ ] oh
00:43:16
these Bowden Barrett oh there's Kieran
00:43:18
there's Richie whoever and you're like
00:43:20
I'm not good enough to be here yeah well
00:43:22
clearly if you're in that fold you are
00:43:24
good enough to be there I imagine
00:43:25
stepping out yeah but but it happens
00:43:27
when you step out in front of 2 000
00:43:29
people on the stage and you go
00:43:31
but you tell yourself you you have to
00:43:35
turn up and I remember a coach of mine
00:43:38
saying cam just you know turn up turn up
00:43:41
be you let it out don't hold stuff back
00:43:44
don't this stuff get in the way and
00:43:46
you'll be the best way you can be yeah
00:43:48
that's a great message have you ever
00:43:50
thought about doing stand-up comedy or
00:43:52
have you ever done stand-up comedy yeah
00:43:54
we were going to move to LA in 2020 to
00:43:58
really you know build up their speaking
00:43:59
dream and I had some big events lined up
00:44:02
but I was gonna have to hustle and one
00:44:05
of the things I've thought about was
00:44:06
like just going into like an open mic
00:44:08
night yeah in L.A
00:44:10
um unfortunately we didn't give here but
00:44:12
we will give here
00:44:13
yeah you should try it yeah yeah just a
00:44:16
few jokes like the the even that's a
00:44:19
true story the one about the chewing gum
00:44:20
yeah the egg and Spoon race yeah a
00:44:22
couple of other jokes you'd be away
00:44:23
laughing there's a few yeah yeah
00:44:26
probably I don't think standard comedy
00:44:28
pays the bills the way um the way
00:44:29
inspirational and motivational speaking
00:44:31
does but it could be a fun thing to do
00:44:33
there's your phone thing and and the
00:44:35
thing is is saying this is their face
00:44:37
yeah and there's the learning we're
00:44:40
always learning about ourselves it's
00:44:43
like when you're at the gym and you're
00:44:45
doing something and it's incredibly
00:44:47
uncomfortable or awkward you know like
00:44:50
big Falls you know when you're doing it
00:44:52
for the first few times and when you get
00:44:54
into it and you do it because it doesn't
00:44:57
matter what anyone thinks of you at the
00:45:00
gym what matters is your quality of life
00:45:03
yeah and you do what you can in places
00:45:05
like the gym to not be the most amazing
00:45:08
person there you do what you do for you
00:45:11
to be the most amazing person that you
00:45:12
can be in life and when you start to
00:45:15
realize that if I work a little bit hard
00:45:17
I will get stronger if I go out more I
00:45:20
will get faster imagine if I transferred
00:45:24
that into other parts of my life yeah
00:45:26
and then you start to work on personas
00:45:28
of who you are so that you don't you
00:45:31
know I remember at the beginning of our
00:45:33
dreamers of my speeches used to say
00:45:36
Don't just have one dream remember 100
00:45:38
dreams like we have shown much more
00:45:41
potential in us to achieve so much more
00:45:43
than we currently you know yeah but it's
00:45:45
easy to put ourselves into oh I'm I'm
00:45:50
very athlete or I'm a speaker and we
00:45:53
stop thinking well whatever God has to
00:45:56
be the best for we could be here we put
00:45:59
that into another part of our life
00:46:01
imagine what the result could be there
00:46:03
absolutely it's about putting that
00:46:05
effort in eh yeah and the work the
00:46:07
example you gave before about the German
00:46:09
worrying about other people looking at
00:46:10
other people thinking the funny thing is
00:46:12
as soon as you realize everyone is
00:46:14
self-conscious and people aren't that
00:46:16
interested in you they're interested in
00:46:18
what everyone else is thinking about
00:46:19
them you can get that out of your out of
00:46:22
your mindset and just move on with it it
00:46:24
was the only this year but I started um
00:46:27
during classes at these moves because
00:46:30
I've been you know saying about the
00:46:32
whole thing of oh you're
00:46:34
and it was the best thing ever getting
00:46:38
into doing classes of a gym like it was
00:46:40
awesome it was competitive versus as in
00:46:44
in your own head but you really quickly
00:46:47
realized the [ __ ] people on the
00:46:49
treadmill don't
00:46:51
don't care no one cares they're all
00:46:54
they're all worried about their own self
00:46:55
yeah they're all worried about people
00:46:56
staring at them and how they're looking
00:46:58
yeah yeah but you'd be uh I'd imagine
00:47:01
you'd be a an environments like that
00:47:03
where you may be anxious to go in I'd
00:47:05
imagine you I'm in Europe you're a good
00:47:06
looking charismatic guy I'd imagine
00:47:08
you'd be you're quite popular wherever
00:47:10
you whatever space you go into whatever
00:47:12
room you enter uh yeah thanks for seeing
00:47:15
that because that's really how I see
00:47:17
that's how
00:47:19
you know
00:47:20
so that's that's how that's how you see
00:47:23
yourself yeah so
00:47:25
so what you're saying that um the way
00:47:27
you see yourself is in a way how the
00:47:30
world sees you I I really think so yeah
00:47:32
I really think Joe and uh it may not be
00:47:35
how the petrol pump attendee sees me but
00:47:37
I don't know it may be it may be but but
00:47:40
as soon as you've got that ability to to
00:47:44
build your rapport with someone you know
00:47:47
I'm sure like I've I know I've had some
00:47:49
people and they go oh what do you do as
00:47:51
a job and I say I'm a professional
00:47:53
speaking about look at me like oh that's
00:47:55
cute I like it's a joke and
00:48:00
um yeah
00:48:01
check out my website yeah
00:48:04
check out my TED Talk yeah but you don't
00:48:07
you just you just learn you know and
00:48:10
you're always learning yeah and I'm
00:48:13
always amazed when I hear other people's
00:48:15
stories of the insecurities that they
00:48:18
had and you think no wait what you know
00:48:21
why would they have that they're like
00:48:23
awesome remember you're working
00:48:29
and how's so how old are you now you're
00:48:31
born in 1984 What's that show oh 38 this
00:48:35
year 38 38 are you are you married or is
00:48:37
there a special someone is a special
00:48:39
challenge
00:48:40
we've been together for three years and
00:48:43
um is all going good how did you meet
00:48:45
how did you meet uh I was giving your
00:48:48
speeches he's a school teacher and I was
00:48:50
speaking at her school and uh oh yeah
00:48:53
she's pretty good looking and then I uh
00:48:56
we we went into each other's Instagram
00:48:58
and I was like oh that's cool and then I
00:49:01
was like um oh man I've got a I've got a
00:49:04
I've got to be professional you know you
00:49:07
can't get the reputation of like going
00:49:09
into speeches and like picking up you
00:49:12
know audience members like groupies yeah
00:49:15
and especially not at a school way
00:49:17
picking up for teachers so uh about two
00:49:21
years later we uh started or a year and
00:49:24
a half later we started attitude of you
00:49:26
know I think my first line to it was how
00:49:29
are your dreams going
00:49:30
and really why oh because your whole
00:49:33
message
00:49:36
I was keeping her professional and yeah
00:49:39
yeah and it's been awesome uh did you
00:49:43
try
00:49:44
um online dating apps or anything before
00:49:45
that yeah yeah yeah I thought hey this
00:49:48
is awesome I don't need to
00:49:51
um worry about perceiving me as people
00:49:53
watch the drunk guy in the bar you know
00:49:55
I get to I get to expect I get to I get
00:49:59
to communicate and that's what I do you
00:50:03
know yeah and then I I um I had a few
00:50:07
cool dates and but we yeah really glad
00:50:12
that things worked out as they did
00:50:14
because it was always my it was always
00:50:16
my intention and my dream but I'd meet
00:50:19
someone just in a way in which I was
00:50:22
growing up knowing that's how you meet
00:50:24
people yeah yeah it's great so when you
00:50:26
were on when you're on the dating apps
00:50:28
before uh before Audrey did you did you
00:50:30
would you have in your profile that
00:50:31
you've got cerebral palsy or would would
00:50:33
that be something that uh you bring up
00:50:36
at the first meet how does that come
00:50:37
about so the reason I asked that I've
00:50:39
got a man of mine Pete who's um oh you
00:50:41
might actually know me he he was a
00:50:43
paralympian he's in a wheelchair he did
00:50:44
some um
00:50:45
Pete Williams yeah yeah yeah so he his
00:50:49
Tinder pictures is just like him from I
00:50:51
guess like the waist up and uh they're
00:50:54
good looking washed out bro and then it
00:50:56
had rolling up at his chair and uh yeah
00:50:58
I think I think he kind of liked liked
00:51:00
the reaction and the shock Factor yeah
00:51:02
so I I I I I was in as ballsy as Pete
00:51:06
I'd bring it up pretty yeah pretty early
00:51:08
and
00:51:14
like I looked back at school and I go
00:51:16
man I wish I hadn't medicated in the way
00:51:19
because yeah you know you wasted all
00:51:21
those good opportunities all years yeah
00:51:23
but
00:51:24
but yeah
00:51:25
yeah life and you inform everything yeah
00:51:28
and as you speak of that's what makes
00:51:30
life so cool because I actually go
00:51:34
through all the same things that a lot
00:51:37
of people go through and um I'm able to
00:51:40
articulate it and tell my story but in a
00:51:43
way that gets people thinking about
00:51:45
their stories and when the two come
00:51:48
together that's when you start to get
00:51:50
motivation and results and yeah oh
00:51:54
you're a very good communicator do you
00:51:55
do you drink much do you hit the piss I
00:51:58
do you mentioned before that uh like
00:52:00
some when you're at a bar people think
00:52:02
you're the drunk guy yeah yeah it's
00:52:04
funny the more I drink them more normal
00:52:07
yes no no no joke because you know how
00:52:11
at the beginning and you probably you
00:52:13
may even be seeing it now the more we're
00:52:16
spending together here the more the next
00:52:18
time we're coming up I'm feeling it in
00:52:20
my arms and so part of drinking you know
00:52:23
until you get to a resident of your
00:52:25
voice it's relaxing you right yeah right
00:52:27
I can't go over the beginning of a night
00:52:30
in order a drink but I wonder about two
00:52:31
or three I can go and order a drinking
00:52:34
carry at home no problem because I've
00:52:36
I've I'm not I'm not I'm not endorsing
00:52:39
drinking and I'm not drinking that is a
00:52:43
um as an interesting combat perspective
00:52:46
yeah that is interesting I do now I I
00:52:50
tend not to get out there and
00:52:56
go to the gym in the morning I want to
00:52:58
be able to articulate my fortune in
00:53:01
terms of creating new speeches and the
00:53:04
schedule around life is pretty it's
00:53:07
pretty full-on you know yeah yeah well
00:53:09
there's only we've all got the same
00:53:10
amount of hours in the day so it's up to
00:53:12
us how we spend them right yeah yeah
00:53:14
yeah oh that's great but you said you
00:53:16
said you're not shaking much now and you
00:53:18
were shaking when you came in but hand
00:53:20
on heart didn't even don't even notice
00:53:21
that I don't know when you said that I
00:53:22
don't know what you were talking about
00:53:23
what do you mean it's not like it is a
00:53:26
can cerebral palsy be a little bit like
00:53:27
Parkinson's in that respect like in
00:53:29
terms could you really nice here not at
00:53:31
all no because I can feel it like I felt
00:53:34
like every fiber in my arm when I got it
00:53:36
every stretch where I didn't touch my
00:53:38
drink bottle I felt like we're like like
00:53:41
I felt like it was real like a nerve
00:53:44
quack right really didn't notice it at
00:53:46
all really cool yeah
00:53:48
most fascinating but you've got it in my
00:53:51
head I was telling my shall we go
00:53:53
extinguish in charge feeling it more
00:53:55
because I was like but that's not who I
00:53:57
am because right now I feel like man
00:53:59
I've just totally warmed into it yeah oh
00:54:02
it's been a great conversation there's
00:54:04
something I want to ask and you can
00:54:06
you're more than welcome to say piss off
00:54:08
Dom mind your own business yeah yeah um
00:54:10
but you'll love life how does that work
00:54:13
with cerebral palsy oh no you give a
00:54:15
shake going and it's your guy
00:54:17
so everything everything works yeah yeah
00:54:23
yeah
00:54:25
obviously I haven't got anything to
00:54:27
compare Joe but yeah foreign
00:54:40
[Music]
00:54:45
yeah yeah oh you're an inspirational guy
00:54:47
I said what's next to you I'm guessing
00:54:48
the last couple of years have been tough
00:54:50
with um a limited speaking engagements
00:54:53
due to the due to the pandemic um are
00:54:55
you doing all right financially you're
00:54:57
keeping your head above water it's
00:54:58
amazing like um I is is way down on what
00:55:02
I'm used to but we brought a house last
00:55:05
year but my first Health starts here
00:55:07
um here in Auckland and when you're able
00:55:10
to do that in the middle of a pandemic
00:55:12
when you're not making what you're used
00:55:14
to like I'm not like I don't really know
00:55:18
what I'm articulating me about we're
00:55:20
doing we're doing okay
00:55:22
if you've got a house in Auckland you're
00:55:24
doing in Swedish but it's been hard yeah
00:55:26
it's been really hard and it's been
00:55:30
um you know I we were set to move to the
00:55:34
United States of America so that's what
00:55:37
we were prepared for
00:55:39
um we didn't have that so I got
00:55:42
everything that I had we put it into our
00:55:44
house push and the next day we went into
00:55:47
lockdown right and every single speaker
00:55:50
contract got screwed up I my first
00:55:54
coined my first phone call after just
00:55:57
getting the houses to the mortgage guy I
00:55:59
would think of how can we make this work
00:56:02
right this was the greatest adversity
00:56:05
I'd faced and and I thought it was going
00:56:08
to be [ __ ] like I had visions of of
00:56:13
um you know you're gonna have to leave
00:56:14
your home and then you're like a
00:56:16
mortgage sale yeah for visiting because
00:56:19
my my 100 of my income is dependent on
00:56:23
on my speaking and that stopped they
00:56:26
stopped and then I went out and I looked
00:56:29
at the few people in the world who were
00:56:32
doing really well in the online space
00:56:34
and I went out and I brought what they
00:56:37
had the bank wasn't happy they don't
00:56:39
spend any more money I went out I got
00:56:43
what they did what do you mean what's of
00:56:45
equipment did you need to buy yes like a
00:56:47
a great mic a great point of a mixing
00:56:50
board so you can do zooms and team
00:56:52
meetings or whatever
00:56:53
you were able to create an experience
00:56:56
yes because I couldn't afford as a
00:56:59
speaker to just be looking like any
00:57:02
other Zoom call that people were having
00:57:05
in their days I didn't needed this thing
00:57:07
yeah it needed to be that was really
00:57:10
professional level and so
00:57:13
um and then what happened is I got that
00:57:15
gear I started learning how to use it
00:57:18
and then we were doing speeches in L.A
00:57:21
and like
00:57:22
um Sweden and London and so but and it's
00:57:27
been enough to just keep that you know
00:57:30
the mortgage ticking over but I'm
00:57:32
looking forward to to the World opening
00:57:35
up because the world's needing this more
00:57:38
than ever before right so it's exciting
00:57:42
too and and I love the travel I love
00:57:44
getting on a plane of stepping in front
00:57:47
of an audience of people and no one
00:57:49
knows who you are but within a few
00:57:51
minutes you're connected and you're
00:57:53
laughing and having a great Old Times
00:57:55
yeah yeah geez that um the the mortgage
00:57:59
thing moving into your new house and
00:58:01
then all your engagement's been canceled
00:58:03
straight away that must have been a good
00:58:04
test of um I don't know your resilience
00:58:07
or or what you talk about at your
00:58:08
speeches because it's one of those
00:58:09
variables that's completely out of your
00:58:11
control yeah and again that's why we're
00:58:13
being an inspirational speaker it's
00:58:15
probably saved me so many times because
00:58:19
I've gone I've got vicious this is my
00:58:22
place to practice what I preacher I've
00:58:25
got a few ways of looking at this you
00:58:27
know and I'd I'd call up a mates who who
00:58:30
are incredibly successful and hear about
00:58:32
what they had done you know and it's
00:58:36
like you know um do things your way do
00:58:39
things my way you know think's nature
00:58:41
but I won't sing you another job but you
00:58:44
know
00:58:47
I've now got an even better story a more
00:58:50
relatable story and I'm gonna I'm gonna
00:58:53
do the most of that can help people yeah
00:58:57
man it's a hell of a story and I
00:58:58
appreciate you sharing it oh I got one
00:59:01
more one more potentially dumb question
00:59:03
yeah I appreciate your openness and um
00:59:06
I'm sure there's a lot of people in the
00:59:07
same position as what I am that have
00:59:10
limited understanding about cerebral
00:59:11
palsy yeah um so your life expectancy
00:59:14
has that changed at all like with
00:59:15
cerebral palsy like I'm gonna live to
00:59:17
200 minutes I'm gonna live to 200
00:59:20
because I'm going to make sure of it I'm
00:59:23
going to keep that I'm going to keep
00:59:24
healthy I'm gonna keep doing my exercise
00:59:27
I'm gonna keep saying this to stuff I'm
00:59:30
not gonna read a pandemic in any way of
00:59:33
my dreams I'm not you know I'm gonna
00:59:35
allow that Fort to come into my mind of
00:59:38
I'm gonna lose my house and then I'm
00:59:41
going to do everything in my control not
00:59:44
to lose you because for me that's the
00:59:47
only option and show you back does get
00:59:49
me to 200 on over I've created that
00:59:52
myself that is the answer I would have
00:59:55
expected from a world-class motivational
00:59:57
speaker well done cheers
01:00:00
absolute Legend uh runner motivational
01:00:04
speaker and just all around good human
01:00:05
being thanks so much man love your work
01:00:07
been a pleasure
01:00:10
thanks very much for listening guys I
01:00:11
really hope you enjoyed that what a guy
01:00:12
chemicalcone uh can you do me a favor
01:00:14
will you get your podcast from uh could
01:00:16
you hit the follow button or the
01:00:17
Subscribe button um I'm not sure exactly
01:00:19
what it does but I've heard people do it
01:00:21
on another podcast so it must do
01:00:22
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01:00:48
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