Episode 15 | Drive High Performance in Both Life and Business with Rick Townsend
In this episode of the Enriched Wealth Podcast, Kris Tatt chats with Rick Townsend — founder of Prime Life Health & Wellbeing — about the mindset, habits, and daily choices that drive high performance in both life and business.
A coach, entrepreneur, and advocate for whole-of-life wellbeing, Rick shares how years in elite sports, leadership, and health education led to the creation of Prime Life: a business designed to help people live, move, and perform better at every stage of life.
They explore:
The link between physical wellbeing and sustainable business performance
How business owners can embed better habits into their busy lives
Why burnout is a real risk (and how to get ahead of it)
The science behind longevity and high performance
How Prime Life is helping people across Australia take ownership of their health
Whether you're leading a team, running a business, or just ready to live better — this episode will inspire you to think about success beyond just the bottom line.
Transcript
Kris Tatt
Welcome to the Enriched Wealth podcast.
I'm excited today to be joined by Rick from Prime Life Health and Well Being today as the founder and excited to get into the episode today.
Welcome, Rick.
Thank you for joining us.
Rick Townsend
Thanks, Chris.
Looking forward to the.
Kris Tatt
Chat now I I want to know a little bit about what you do now and then we want to talk a little bit about how you got to where you are because it's not it's it's not something that you just normally fall into.
I think it's something that comes from a bit of life and perspective.
So what, what, what's your role at the moment as founder and, and what do you do day to day?
And then how did, how did you get to there?
What, what?
What drove you to be where you are?
Rick Townsend
OK, so prime life's around men's health and well being, and I work mainly with mature age men.
Yeah, to set, set, set them up for the next.
Kris Tatt
Day or older than me.
Rick Townsend
No, no, you're, you're a perfect example.
Yeah, yeah, I could call you mature age.
So, so mostly men from 40 onwards.
Yeah, to, to set, set them up for the next stage of life, I suppose.
And rather than waiting until say retirement or 60 and, and, and health issues have come along or mobility issues come along, start working a plan a little bit earlier so that when retirement comes, you're going to be in a lot better place.
Kris Tatt
Yep, love that.
And I think you, you're sort of working with very busy individuals, aren't you?
So I know for myself, we've got kids, got business, got all these other competing factors, that usually means health gets put on the back burner or it's something that is a nice idea that you'll get to when everything else is done.
And that doesn't always happen, which is, yeah, probably a concern at times.
Rick Townsend
That's exactly the case.
And that's what I find quite often is, is I'll put my, I'll look after my health a little bit later, but there's too many, too many issues I've got to deal with right now with business family, as you said.
So what we want to do is just flip that around a little bit because if you haven't got your health, then nothing else really matters.
So let's start priorities, prioritising ourselves first, yes, and then building, building everything else around it.
So a lot of people will say, look, I haven't got time for that.
But if you really pull apart your day and what you do and what you want might waste time on, you can find that extra 20 minutes or 30 minutes to start focus on your health, a little bit of exercise.
So that's where we start with.
Kris Tatt
That love that.
So what what drove you to be a founder for this business?
Where did you come from that sort of gave you the perspective that this is something important that that especially men, men need?
Rick Townsend
So my background is in financial planning and I was a retirement planning advisor.
Excellent.
So I ran my business for 25 years.
Love that business.
Yeah, what I did find was a lot of my, my clients approaching retirement were quite wealthy, but didn't really have the health and the mobility to really enjoy their retirement.
Often thought, look, if you started changing your lifestyle, you know, 5-10 years earlier, you wouldn't be in this, in this position now.
So that's the, the folks that I, I have when I end up selling my financial planning business.
So that was around age 50 for me.
And I was going through a bit of life transition myself and I was looking at what, what does the next stage of life look like for me?
And I've always been so.
Kris Tatt
Effectively, the business was sort of almost born out of your your stage of life as well too.
And recognising that if you're struggling with it, Yep, there's probably other people in that in that same boat.
Rick Townsend
As well.
Yeah, exactly.
So myself, I, I went through a period of, you know, health challenges in my late 40s and I'm sure that was brought about by stress and overwork and not having a real good life, you know, work life balance.
Yep.
I ended up getting a tumour in my, in my neck area.
Oh, wow, Thankfully it was benign, but I really do think that that was that was brought on by the stress and not having that life balance.
So that when I got through that, OK, it was real.
I open it for me to say, Hey, we got to really look after our health and well being.
Because if that added in the wrong way for me, well then you know, I mightn't have come out that well.
So yes, that was that was part of it along with my own journey, but also what I could say with my clients as well with burnout.
Yep, stress and how that was affecting their lifestyle going forward.
So it was born out of probably those two areas.
Yep, I've always had a an interest in health and well being and fitness.
So that's been through me all all the time as well.
Kris Tatt
So even even, let's say when you had the financial planning business and prior to founding prom life, you, you, you yourself was still healthy but still had health problems even though you were healthy, let's say.
Like, I think sometimes there's this perception that, well, if I'm not overweight, I'm doing all right, but I think there's more to it than that.
There's.
Rick Townsend
More to it, to that, yeah.
It's like I was still exercising.
Not sure if my diet was 100% right, probably wasn't.
Yep.
But I think burning the candle at both ends was my issue there, particularly as a financial planner.
Around that time we had the global financial crisis as well, which increased the sort of stress levels as an advisor because you're looking after clients that might be really nervous.
So there's a lot of work goes into that too, so.
Kris Tatt
And a lot of emotional drain to which isn't always considered, is it?
It's almost like I'm just doing the hours or I'm just doing the but it's, you're not always thinking about, well, what, what's involved in those hours?
What are the extra stresses that you're taking on in those periods?
Because I think sometimes we as men, we just put our head down and keep, keep barreling on and, and don't ever actually come up for breath or actually to take stock of how we're going.
And I think that's where the issues start to pop up is when we keep just barreling forward at times 100.
Rick Townsend
Percent.
Kris Tatt
And and not saying that that's not also for women, but I think I think men are probably not as good at talking about it is possibly.
Rick Townsend
That's true too, yeah.
Yeah.
So that that's really how that was that was born.
It was a passion of mine really to help mature age men because I think there was a real need for that.
There's not a lot of scope in that area for for men and on, on.
It's got nothing to do with not working with women, but I think it, for me it's, it's an idea of specialising in something.
So I specialise in retirement planning.
So I didn't, I didn't look after young kids, you know, starting a savings plan.
I specialised in retirement planning, the tax advice around that, the Social Security advice and I knew it really well.
Yes, same thing coming into men's health.
I really want to focus on men's health because I've been there and I understand that looking at men's hormonal systems and how we can optimise ourselves going forward.
Kris Tatt
Excellent.
And I want to touch, I want to get into a bit of that as we go along.
What you talk about the tuba and if you don't mind me just talking a little bit about that, that sort of catalyst for you, because I think for some people until they're they're in that position, they don't think about it where it'd be great to sort of go, well, what, what should we be keeping an eye on prior to that rather than waiting until we're in the hospital bed or we're in that crisis state where we go, I need to change.
What were some of those things that were leading up to that event for you that sort of you were ignoring beforehand that sort of you look back now and go, I wish, I wish I had a sort seen the signs a little bit earlier.
Rick Townsend
Yeah, I think, I think it was just the stress of the workload at that time.
Yep.
And other things are happening in life too.
And we all have different stresses in life.
Yes.
It's just how you manage it now.
I don't think I was managing it that well.
Yep.
I wasn't talking about it that well, as far as you know, again, having that focus of I can handle it myself, I'll get my head down and I'll get through this.
Yep.
So what I think what our body says is, hang on, you need a wake up call.
That was a wake up call.
So what we're working on now is, is not waking waiting for that wake up call.
Let's start putting things in place now with our nutrition, with our movement, with our sleep strategies, our stress management, our overall outlook on life and how we balance our day.
So that now you might be busy and you've got, you've probably got a lot on your plate as well.
But if you go through the whole day and not to give yourself a break, it's just going to keep building and building, yes.
So it's about how you plan your day.
You might have a real, real hard block of work.
Make sure you have take 5 minutes or 10 minutes just to step away from the desk and go outside and go for a walk or just do a few little exercises.
Take a break and then come back it back to it again.
What you'll find is you'll come back in a better state of mind and your productivity will increase as well, rather than trying to push through and push through and push through, yes.
So these little, little things we try and build into the day, particularly with executives that I work with and business people that I work with, in finding that extra time to look after yourself rather than thinking I've just got to keep pushing through.
Because at the end of the day, you might look, you might say I've been really busy and you look back and say what I really achieve because I've been busy, busy, busy, but not really focused.
So a lot of those areas that I look back when I was a financial planner is I just kept pushing through and pushing through and not really looking after other areas of my lifestyle.
So yeah.
Kris Tatt
And I'm thinking in that just as you're talking, I was just thinking about especially in our Western culture, there's almost this badge of honour that we've that we've been busy and, and that we're filling in every moment.
And I was even listening to a podcast the other night where was a lady she coaches on a similar idea around putting wedges in your day.
We actually have 5 or 10 minutes just to catch, catch your thoughts or even reflect on how that last meeting went to help improve yourself.
But in all of that, like, I think like when we go to, if we go to the gym, we don't just keep humping weights and then go grab the next set of weights and then the next set of weights and then jump on the bike without having these little gaps in between.
Because we're, we're exhausted, we're not effective and we're probably never going to do it as well as we can.
If we do put in just a A2 minute, catch your breath before going on to that next thing.
And I think that rhythm needs to flow through our days as well too, because we just, we seem to almost feel guilty by taking a break or thinking that we're not being productive where we're actually setting ourselves up for failure and probably not to be as effective as we can for sure.
Rick Townsend
They're working smarter, not harder.
Really.
That's that's the bottom line.
So yeah.
Kris Tatt
That's that's great and great, great intro into what you do and sort of some of the ideas around it.
We were, we shared a bit over email and, and talking as well too.
Before today you've, you've sort of got 4 pillars that you, that you see as part of part of health and well being.
So I want to dive into a few of them and just sort of when you see a new client, what's, what's your sort of process around?
How do you engage them and things like that?
No, no, we're not.
We're not going to solve all the world's problems today, but at least a bit of an insight into what what people might be able to expect or even just be able to go, well, what, you know, I probably hadn't even thought of that side of it or I've considered that that idea.
So it'll be great just to hear a bit of that process that that you sort of go through.
Rick Townsend
Well, it's good at the frameworks that a framework of my programmes around those 4 pillars and the four pillars are optimising our nutrition, yes, optimising our movement and exercise and how we exercise for each individual.
Yep.
The next part is rest.
We spoke a little bit about rest.
So that comes, that comes into recovery, optimising our sleep stress management.
So that, that part of it, Yep.
And the final part is just overall lifestyle and, and happiness and fulfilment in, in life.
Because if you haven't got that, then the rest are affected as well.
So it's about balancing those 4 pillars, overarching the pillars is then looking at our, our longevity and health span and making sure we're getting, setting ourselves up to be the best we can be in our older years.
So that's that's how the whole framework works.
Kris Tatt
I love that because I think like I see different clients at different times and there's always the conversation around or what am I going to do in retirement or what does retirement look like or what.
And there's almost this bit where you need to start working on that before you get there.
Rather than going, well, I'll finish work and then sort out what's next.
It's actually going, no, no, start living your best life now and then you can just accelerate that when you get to retirement, you can, you know, work almost becomes a bit more fulfilling because you're working towards a goal and you're working towards an ideal that you've got.
And that sort of gives you a bit better context I think as well too.
Rick Townsend
So important, you know, you bring it back to a financial planning analogy where you're planning for retirement financially and you want to get to a stage where your money's going to last until you're 8085 years old.
That's, and then you sort of work back or what do you need to do to get there.
That was our financial planning model when I was a financial planner and probably what you guys work on now too.
So what we're looking at now is on the health and Wellness side of things is where do you want to be at 85 years old?
What, what sort of things do you want to still be doing?
Do you still want to be gardening, travelling, playing golf, playing with the great grandchildren?
Yes.
Or if, if if and you say yes, that's what I want to do.
Well, coming back to say a 5055 year old, what do you need to do now to make sure that you are fit enough, healthy enough, mobile enough to do that?
Because you can't just keep just wait.
So, you know, I've just come back from overseas and I've seen people, you know, being in Europe and on a cruise and, and you see people travelling and, and you look at some people and most of them were men as well who were really struggling really.
Kris Tatt
Struggling and there is a big contrast between those who've kept themselves active and well and those who have sort of let that go just to chase the money or things like that.
I think there's almost this thing where we think, Oh well, we'll just make as much as we can and that will solve all our problems.
We're actually if you've got your health and well being, those other things probably aren't aren't aren't as important and and aren't probably as impactful as not being able to do the things you need to do.
Like you, we'll end up spending more money on doctors and everything else just to keep yourself in a position to enjoy life rather than actually enjoying life and and making it short.
Rick Townsend
And enjoying those last like that last decade of your life in as healthy position as you can, rather than being, you know, sitting in a chair for it and not really being vital and energised.
Yes, and you see that and that's it's a sad, sad place to be when you see, you might have seen your parents or grandparents go through that.
The opportunity now is, is do something about it now.
Yes.
And it's like the old compounding interest analogy.
You know, it's never too late, too late to start.
But the earlier you start, the better because you can, you can, you know, compound that those benefits.
Kris Tatt
And I think too, people don't always appreciate that if you are active, it's actually easier to continue being active than it is to get that it's almost that flywheel.
To get that flywheel rolling, it actually takes a lot more effort than to keep it rolling, if that makes.
Rick Townsend
Sense and the other important is thing with with exercise and movement.
It's not about training hard and beating yourself up.
In fact, you know, at our age, well, my age I should say.
Kris Tatt
You know, our age.
We could, yeah.
Rick Townsend
That's a little bit older than you, but, but the point is, is, is, is not to think that you've got to start and push yourself and, and you know, then come back really sore.
The aim is if with exercise and starting any exercise programmes, doing something you love doing for a start.
I always say the most, one of the most important exercises is just get out and walk.
The best way to start the day is get out in in morning sunlight and walk because what you're doing there is you're, you're setting your hormonal system in in the right direction, the circadian rhythm, so that that affects the quality of your sleep.
Kris Tatt
Can I ask circadian rhythm?
Can we just unpack that for a minute?
Rick Townsend
Yeah, so your circadian rhythm is really the rhythm of your day tonight.
Okay, so it's your hormones are different at the start of the day, so your cortisol starts increasing, which wakes you up?
Yep.
And then as the day goes, it starts to slow down and then melatonin will start start kicking in around 5:00, six o'clock to to slow things down so that you start getting prepared for sleep now.
So by getting out of bed early, seeing the sunrise, getting the sun in your eyes, your body understands, OK, it's morning, cortisol starts kicking in and you just got these these rhythms.
Similarly when you when you sleep.
Kris Tatt
And, and I assume that's as much about getting your body ready for the end of the day.
Rick Townsend
100% start of the day exactly.
And vice versa.
At the end of the day, you're preparing for the next morning.
So it's about the wind down strategy that you have at the end of the day.
So we can, we can pack into that a little bit further.
So at the start of the day, the best thing is to get sunlight.
Yep.
And exercise.
So, so, so here you can stack that by going for a walk.
It's a great way to start the day, whether you want to go for a walk with a podcast or just get out in nature, which I like to get out in nature and just walk around and notice what's going on around you.
But also when you're when you're by yourself walking or you know, when you have a shower, do you often think that your best ideas come into your head while you're just by yourself and there's no other stimulus around you?
Yes, that's why I like to start the day.
Kris Tatt
We do.
We do seem to pack a lot of noise into our days, don't we?
I was reading a book the other day around just if you'd never give yourself the space to actually think your own thoughts, you won't have any thoughts.
It's almost the the the phones engineered to keep you to keep throwing stuff at your eyeballs rather than actually letting you stop and and have your own ideas and your own thoughts.
And I think exactly the more we go along, that will be a superpower for people to be able to actually stop, disconnect and actually spend time for themselves because they will then be able to make the best decisions for not only themselves, but their business or their employees and for.
Rick Townsend
Sure.
As well.
For sure.
Yeah.
So it's how you start the day.
And again, a lot of clients I've worked with, and we said it before is, well, I haven't got time to get up and go for a walk or I haven't got time to meditate or do yoga or whatever sort of activity you might want to do.
But if you really pull it apart and say, well, hang on, you know, we actually do.
Kris Tatt
How do we structure this?
Rick Townsend
How do we structure it?
You can Yeah, exactly, exactly.
So that's, that's really important.
And then again, at the end of the day, that wind down.
Is, is around dimming the lights because again, it's if we go back to our ancestors and how they lived, they they got up with the morning and then we debated at sunset.
So, so if we're, if we're stimulated by bright lights, screens, all that stuff just before we go to bed and melatonin is not really producing 'cause I think, oh, we're awake, everything, everything, you know, we still want to keep going.
Yep, that's where the quality of sleep comes into a factor.
So we might fall asleep, but our quality might be might be that good.
And that's just a spirals there because you then wake up and you're not really not really focused or you haven't got that energy.
So you're slopes out of bed.
You grab a coffee to get yourself going and off and off you off you go.
Kris Tatt
It's almost this compounding issue, isn't it, where the coffee then drives you to be up late the next night and then get up?
Rick Townsend
Well, true, because because you're a lot of times you'll find that you'll get an afternoon crash.
I'll need more coffee just to keep us going.
Kris Tatt
Now you're on a you're on a cafe and kick free kick at the moment.
Rick Townsend
I am absolutely yes, yes, yes, sometimes I like to, to have a break from caffeine for two or three weeks just to reset the system and, and, and not be, you know, not be reliant on it And not that I'm ever relying on it, but I'm, I part of my programmes is with my clients as well.
We're diverging a bit here, but but I think it's important actually that that we look at giving our body a break from stimulants.
So, you know, I'm off the alcohol at the moment as well.
Yep.
I'll have a break from anything that's that's gluten.
So no wheat or bread or that type of thing.
It's just it gives your body a time just to cleanse.
And the amazing thing is how how clear thinking you could become out of that because you haven't got those toxins coming in so.
Kris Tatt
It's almost like the difference between having a big lunch and then trying to work in the afternoon and having a break from it.
And I've, I've actually found that sometimes it's better off to skip lunch and not even have something to eat.
And your brain actually, you're actually more wired and, and clear thinking.
And you, it's almost like your body is struggling to do two or three things at once.
It's like, well, hang on, you wanted me to digest this food, now you want me to be thinking clearly about this or or, you know, on the ball about that.
I can't do all of that at.
Rick Townsend
Once.
Exactly.
Yeah, yeah.
And that's a good point.
It's about or if you're going to have lunch, choosing the right thing to have at lunchtime.
So a big, heavy carbohydrate meal will slow you down.
Yes.
If you had a salad with some protein, you're going to be pretty well right.
So they're they're just little things that you can sort of add to that.
But yeah, so, so I think it's really important to have a morning routine and have an evening routine.
So again, just that winding down and, and taking away the stimulus as far as you know, the, the TV or the screens, just leave that alone.
The waking up here.
The best thing you can do is not even look at your phone for the first hour.
Just just have have your own time.
Do the walk if you'd like to meditate or journal or just listen to music or read that, that's the best way to start your day.
Yep, a lot of people will start their day by.
Kris Tatt
Looking at jumping on the news and the.
Rick Townsend
Emails.
No, that's exactly right.
Because the news is obviously mostly negative.
So you're starting your day with a negative mindset.
You get hit with emails and, and both of the emails saying no, no, what am I going to do about that?
And stress starts to kick in straight away where I think it's really important.
Kris Tatt
From here to here, rather than sort of exactly bring in your day.
Rick Townsend
Properly the emails can wait yes whatever it was at 6:00 in the morning can wait till 8 or 9 when you get to work anyway so and with with one of the clients I was working with as well.
He was so busy and was working up until 11:00 at night still on his computer.
And I said, look, all that work if you just stopped at 5:00 and 6:00 and spend time with your family and have dinner and relax, the work will wait.
You can't do everything yes so so if you can't finish by the by 536 at night, leave it.
It'll be there tomorrow and you can get into tomorrow.
Yes, don't don't bring it home and.
Kris Tatt
And I'll I'll fan too because there's periods I guess where I'm working glad at night probably shouldn't.
Rick Townsend
Especially I got an email from you 1122 last night.
I'm just going to give AI was looking at that thing and come on, Chris.
Kris Tatt
Well, Yep.
OK, you've called me up.
That's good.
Rick Townsend
That's just an example, yes.
Kris Tatt
Yeah, but I think, I think I've, I've found the days where I say I'm not going to log on at night.
You almost set this deadline for yourself.
And then you actually, you, your perception around what you need to get done changes where when you sort of never give yourself a deadline, the work just seems to trickle on and on and on and on.
And there's almost this bit where you, you just, you just go, well, I've, I've got all day and all night to do it.
And, and it almost doesn't, it almost allows you to, you almost give yourself a pass to show like give 80% at times and things like that.
Where, where if you go, I've only got this amount of time to get these things done.
It's almost like when you go on holidays, magically all the work gets done before you go on holidays and there's this deadline that you go I can get all that done.
Where in the general rhythm you don't do that.
Where I think we've got almost go, well, the weekends like a holiday or I've got to get it done before this time and actually then have space to do the other things.
And I still make time for family, which is sometimes I get on late because I go, well, I want to be there for tea.
I want to do, but there are times where I am I actually giving my best here or am I just trying to catch up where I should just need to come in tomorrow fresh and and hit the ground running there, Yeah.
Rick Townsend
If we go through seasons where we're really busy and we just got to pump it out and we might have, you know, four or five weeks where you just got so much to do, you just got to say, OK, this this month or this week, Yep, I'm going to be pushing myself pretty hard to get through this.
But a lot of the times here, you really aren't that busy that you have to do it that way.
Or again, structuring your day where like, again, working with our, with our, our rhythms is, you know, we're more focused early in the morning or at first, you know, between 8:00 and 10:00.
So, so you're really, you're more important work, you're a creative work, let's say, should be at that time.
So the ideally first thing when you get to the office would be to lock yourself away.
So you got a 90 minute block or two hour block where there's no interruptions and you, you just, there's your phone's away.
You're not looking at anything else other than what sort of work you've got to do in that 2 hour period.
And it's amazing how much work you get done by doing that.
And then you have your little break.
Kris Tatt
Why is it so important to have the phone away?
And I'll probably know the answer to this, but I'm interested to hear it from you as well.
Rick Townsend
Well, it's, it's, it's, well, you're going to get interrupted for a start, if someone rings you or text you, but it's also that phone sitting there is, is an enticement that and you and, and you'll be working on something, but your brain can see the phone over there.
So I wonder what, what if I could just a little scroll there and you know, what, what, what maybe I've got a text or jump on on Facebook and have a little bit of a scroll just to, just to get that sort of dopamine hit.
Yep.
So it's on my phone out the road.
Kris Tatt
It's almost like having lollies on the table and sort of going, Oh no, I don't need them right now.
And then all of a sudden the bowl's empty and you go what?
Rick Townsend
What happened there?
That's right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I just met work working a little bit smarter.
So that focus.
Then once you've finished that, then you might have a an hour where you catch up in emails and catch up on what that phone was doing before as far as messages.
So it's like communicating communication batching really is what I call it is.
So instead of just sort of flicking back to emails and and all these other interruptions throughout the day, you set aside a time to do that.
Yes, and then go back to another work block and, and you're going to be more productive through that.
And then at the end of the day, I think it's really important to is review your day.
So, OK, so how did how did the day go?
What went well, what, what didn't go well?
What's the most important things we need to do tomorrow?
Yes, list those key 3-4 or five things and that's all you want to list.
You don't want to list 20 things because it won't happen.
And then when you kick start the next day, if you're focused and you can jump straight in rather than come into the office or coming into work and saying, well, OK, what am I going to do?
What am I going to do now?
Kris Tatt
And then you get in those instances off onto, you're pulled in the direction that other people need you, not necessarily and what you need to get done.
And you almost forego the things you need to get done.
And they either happen at the end of the day or, or you sort of you're, you're almost a slave to everyone else's, you know, questions or, or, or needs rather than actually going, I need to get this done today.
This is important to me.
And if I don't, I'm going to carry it into tomorrow.
And the stress with it for not getting that's.
Rick Townsend
Exactly right.
Yeah, yeah.
So it's just working a little smarter and planning your day so that you then you then got some time for yourself.
So lunchtime comes along.
So instead of eating lunch at your at your office or your desk, you're getting out.
You might go for a little bit of a walk, you might sit in the park, you might just chill for a little while and then you come back to the office and you're feeling a lot better about yourself.
You got more focus and energy and you can hit it again.
So that's really important.
Kris Tatt
We've mentioned a little bit about getting sunshine in the morning.
You've just mentioned that about getting out outside as well too.
What what impact does that have on mental health to actually have have a walk, have have a vitamin D, see the sun and things like that it.
Rick Townsend
Has a huge effect.
Yeah, look, there's obviously you do feel better when you're in nature.
It's just a natural thing.
Yep.
There's been studies upon studies, the Japanese that they do it every day.
It's just part of their lifestyle.
They seem to live a long healthy life.
So, so, yeah.
So it really does have a great effect on on mental health because the sun, as you say, the sunshine, the vitamin D that you get from that just to feel good hormones that that all start, you know, coming through your body and you feel a lot better about yourself.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Know about that?
Yeah.
Kris Tatt
No, that's, that's really good.
We, we talk about the four pillars.
Can we just go back to nutrition for a minute?
What what?
What's the impact you've seen by people changing their diet?
Rick Townsend
Like.
Kris Tatt
And I and I think sometimes we just think it's weight, but I think there's more to it than just just seeing the weight come off.
Rick Townsend
Exactly, exactly.
For a start, most, most guys come from me.
That's the number one thing they want to do is lose weight.
Yep.
OK, so that's, that's usually the start of it all and that's.
But then we look at those other 4 pillars and and see where the things aren't really working and you can sort of.
Kris Tatt
Because they almost all need to work together, don't they?
They do.
You can't just can't just focus on one without dealing with exactly.
Rick Townsend
And you don't have to be 100% at age.
If you can be 80% at age, you're going to be in a hell of a lot better place rather than being 100% in one and 20% in the others.
So we try and balance it.
But getting, getting back to nutrition, yeah, exactly.
Because nutrition is, is where you get your energy from.
It's where you, you, you, you, your protein comes in the carbohydrates, the fats that that build your body and then also strengthens the mind as well.
So eating the right thing.
So if you're eating, you know, processed foods, fried foods, that's all going to affect how you're how, how well you obviously your body's working, but also your mind's working as well.
Kris Tatt
Yes.
And I think one of the things I see is really important is that sometimes we focus on weight or we focus on how we look, but we're not actually always cognizant that if we're not showing up mentally as best we can, we're not going to make the best decisions we can for the business, for our staff and for the way we operate as well too and for ourselves with our financials.
Some, sometimes I, I see that the, we talked about going travelling and, and you saw those people who were struggling a bit more.
They you almost make more poor financial decisions because you're in a poor state of health and and because you're energy deprived, you then go and chase poor energy from other places as well to to get you back to where you need to be rather than actually saying actually, if I dealt with this, I'd have the energy I needed.
Rick Townsend
Exactly, exactly.
The the important part there is we're sort of trying to move from just surviving to thriving yes.
So a lot of people find that you know, they're living with, you know, a bit of brain fog and low energy and just things just plodding along thinking that's just normal life.
Once you start just changing your nutrition around and getting a bit of movement going and getting your sleep right and managing stress and and and feeling better about yourself, you start getting that more energy and more clear thinking.
The brain fog goes and away you go.
So with with.
Kris Tatt
Like we'd normalise things, isn't it?
They forget what life was like when we were thinking more clearly or when we did have more energy and things like that, don't we?
That's right, yeah.
And.
Rick Townsend
Yeah, yeah.
So until you flip that switch, you think, oh, Gee, this is what this is what I'm supposed to feel like.
And that's that thing gives you the motivation to to keep going with that.
So really important to, again, as I said, get the nutrition right.
So nutrition's a tough one because there's so much out there in the media, and influences will tell you what you should be eating, what you shouldn't be eating.
Yeah, and this diet's the best.
Kris Tatt
And we, we haven't talked about AI before as well too.
You can get them to get it to write your meal plan as well too.
But I think there's a whole piece missing, which I hope, I think you'll get onto next where it's, it's different for everyone.
It's not just absolutely, it's not just this, this is this makes, this is the pro forma.
Everyone just needs to do that.
Rick Townsend
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
So, you know, people will talk about, well, you know, paleo's the best, or keto or vegetarian or even carnivore diets.
The big thing at the moment where all you eat is meat.
So people do well on that for a little while, but you can't continue that.
So you've got to be, you know, you've got to be balanced around that.
Kris Tatt
And I point to a lot of these things focus on like there's almost like an immediate benefit to it and that's what drives people to continue going.
But the immediate benefit was that you cut out sugar in these other.
Rick Townsend
Things.
Exactly.
Kris Tatt
Right.
There's almost this, we forget what we've cut out, Yep, to be on this diet.
And some of it's just the impact of that.
But the nutritional bit, I think people don't always consider like they almost look at, like I've heard a lot of people say as long as you get your, your fats, proteins and carbs, right, You find I'm sitting there, but there's probably all these essential minerals that we're not actually thinking about that we need within our diet to function the best we can.
Yeah.
Rick Townsend
Yeah, for sure.
And that's around diversity and getting much diversity as you can in in your in your diet and just eliminate or minimising the processed food that minimising the high sugar food.
So I often look at is, is you know, if it flew in the sky, ran across the ground swimming the lakes, rivers and seas and grew from the ground, that's your main, that's your main thing.
Try and try and simplify it, yes, and try and eat as much what I call one ingredient foods as possible.
So it's not, it's not a label you're not reading a whole lot of things that you can't even pronounce.
That's the sort of stuff you want to get rid of or, or or minimise and just focus on what we call real food.
And then to go another step further, if you can look at organic foods and, and, and minimising the toxins and pesticides that we get from from from vegetables that you might buy at the supermarket.
But if you're going to do that, wash them well.
So they're all little things that that just build up to make sure you're heading in the right direction for your own health and well being.
Kris Tatt
Yep, excellent.
Now that's really good.
Talked a bit about nutrition, talking a bit about movement, and we've touched on it a bit already.
What are some of the things that you see impacts people when they start moving and they haven't sort of thought about movement?
Because we we all move every day.
We walk, we do think, but it's not always intentional movement, if I can say.
Rick Townsend
Exactly.
Yeah, yeah.
So it's when you when you sort of thinking, Oh well, I need to start exercising now.
So you go and try and run 5 KS and you come back and you can't walk for the next three days.
Or you go to the gym and you get.
Kris Tatt
Done your ankle and you.
Yeah, exactly.
Or and then you leave it again.
Rick Townsend
And you try and you're busting your gut to think like I'm might have voted, I'm going to get fit and I'm going to go to gym and build up muscle.
But if you do it the wrong way, you're going to push yourself so hard and then you're going to be sore and you're going to think, which is this is no good.
I hate this.
I don't want to go to the gym now.
So I think the important thing, as I mentioned before, is starting off slowly and building slowly.
If you're going to go to a gym, get a personal trainer for a start so that you're doing it right.
You're not just throwing weights around and therefore potentially injuring yourself.
Kris Tatt
Because form is actually quite the the older I get, the more I realise from some of the things I've read and dealt with with different people is that the form of how you do it is just as important as the actual exactly amount of weight.
Sometimes, you know, egotistical men, yes, grab the largest weights they can and then that, well, that's what I'm going to do where it's almost, if you get the form right, that has a much more compounding effect both on less injury and better results too.
Rick Townsend
Better results and then also, as I say, with less injuries or, or the, the position of 10 years down the track, you're going to pay for it for what you're doing now.
So yeah, it's not about lifting as heavy as you can.
And you said the ego comes into it sometimes.
But, and again, particularly as we get older, it's not about trying to bust a gut and you just want to keep, keep the consistency up.
That's that's the most important part is the consistency.
So if, if, if consistency means dragging back the intensity, that's fine.
And and then just slowly progress rather than trying to because.
Kris Tatt
You're better off to go to the gym four or five days a week and and be able to do that consistently, then go once in a blue moon.
Yeah.
And it's you sort of never build that habit then, do you?
Rick Townsend
Exactly, exactly.
And it's around also the importance of data daily movement, but intentional movement as well.
So for example, if we've done that work block and we're now going to take 5 minutes off, particularly if you're sitting all day, yes, is do some stretching, do some mobility exercise.
You might get up and do 10 air squats, 10 lunges, even get down and do 10 push ups.
Now if you did that on the every, let's say every two hours throughout the day, you might find you've done, you know, 80 squats for the day, 80 push ups for the day, 80 lunges for the day.
It hasn't been hard.
But then you extrapolate that to the every week, yes, every month and every year.
And then, but you've done thousands of push ups and thousands of, of squats that meant nothing to you at the time because it was easy.
But think of what that does for your body as well.
So that's those sort of what we call exercise and acts, I suppose, building with your day so that you're moving.
Kris Tatt
I assume this is what you guys with your clients as well to how do we build that rhythm?
Yes, getting them to be accountable, yeah, not knocking them over there, they're not.
But obviously no driving them to want to be the best they can be.
Rick Townsend
Exactly.
Exactly.
Yeah.
So I can provide a lot of tools, there's no doubt about that.
Where we start with actually is the motivational sort of thing.
So a lot of guys have.
Can't be motivated.
Yep.
I want to get healthy, I want to get fit and I always start with OK, let's let's work on mindset first and let's look at your values.
Why do you want to do this?
What's really important about it?
Yeah.
Is it about looking good or, or is it about really wanting to be the best version of yourself you can be for other people in your life as well.
So if I asked most of the guys, you know, what do you value most?
What are your biggest values?
Most will say family so great.
We can work on that.
So, So what it is about being healthy and fit and well and just feeling good about yourself?
How will that affect your relationship with your family going forward?
And what does that mean to be a role model to your kids growing up?
What does that mean for your ability to be there for their grandkids when when they come along to be to be relevant in your old age?
I think so.
For example, for me, my partner Tammy, she's 11 years younger than me.
So I look at that and think, well, when I'm 80, she's going to be 69.
Now I want to be at 80 as fit as what a 69 years or over a 60 year old is.
So love it.
These are the little things that that drive my motivation.
Kris Tatt
It is possible, isn't it?
Like I've seen some quite active 70 and 80 year olds and they're actually quite sprightly and you look and go probably as old as you want to be in some.
Rick Townsend
Exactly.
A lot of it's around your mindset and your mindset towards ageing because a lot of people think it's all downhill for now.
You know, you have that attitude at six.
In your mind, your body will say, OK, that's why you want to think that's the way we're going to go.
But if you have a positive attitude to ageing, say no, no, I can actually get better.
I know we're getting older, there's no doubt about that.
But how you age is up to you and your attitude towards that.
It's really important to to have a positive outlook on ageing.
Yep, Yep.
Kris Tatt
Which talked about nutrition movement.
Rick Townsend
Can I just cut with with the movement?
We did speak about weightlifting.
I think really important, particularly as we get older, is to do strength training because we we lose muscle mass.
Kris Tatt
Not, I mean, I'm not going to be rude, but you're not looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Rick Townsend
No, no, it's.
Kris Tatt
Not.
It's not about.
Rick Townsend
Not trying to be the best, no body possible.
No, no, it's more about, it's more about strength and building strength and in, in, in all areas.
Because one of, as I say, muscle loss happens quite quickly as we get in our 60s and 70s and you see a lot of people who are pretty frail and haven't got a lot of muscle.
Kris Tatt
Muscle mass, it impacts bone health and that as well too doesn't it?
Does from your understanding?
Yep.
Rick Townsend
Yep.
And then the other part, part of it is you'll find that a lot of deaths, a lot of part 8 comes if you have a fall in your old age.
Once you have a fall and you do a hip or something like that, that's probably the start of the end.
So the idea now is at this stage here is let's start working on our strengths.
Let's start working on our balance and I mobility so that if you're about to have a fall, you can stop yourself.
Kris Tatt
Yes.
Rick Townsend
Rather than, you know, the inevitable of having that fall and breaking the hip or breaking an arm or something like that.
So again, the these are the things that what we're trying to build in now and that value system of what my life I want to look like when I am 70 and 80.
That's the motivational factor because when you start a health and well being programme, as I said, you're motivated at the start, but there will be roadblocks.
Exactly.
There will be roadblocks and you just say to yourself, OK, when the robot comes, why am I doing this?
Oh, that's right.
Kris Tatt
And I assume you're part of your role is to help get through those dips as well, because there will be those times.
And I know I've, I've experienced it when you get busy or you know, you have a, you have a week that's, that disrupts the, the flow.
And then all of a sudden you're 3 weeks down the road you go, I've got to get back to that where having someone to be able to coach you through that I think is really important because it is in those moments, those dips that we either lose it or we make the new habits, I think.
Rick Townsend
Exactly.
I think that's a really important role for a coach is to be there to support and provide accountability as well, but also not to beat yourself up if you if you slip up, because we're all going to do it.
Yes.
So you you don't want to beat yourself up and say, Oh, well, I, I had a big weekend.
I drank a lot and ate all this crap.
And then I'll just try and let window just just won't worry about it.
No, just say, OK, that's just had a had a little bit of a dip.
We get back on the horse on Monday, the way we go again.
And that's really, really where the value of a coach comes in and where I I can't compete.
Kris Tatt
That's a That's a good one.
That's, that's really good.
So we've talked about nutrition, talked about movement sleep, because I think that's one I'm saying statistics more and more.
And I'm, I'm probably falling into that category a bit where rest is almost the optional extra or it's almost what you do when there's nothing else to do.
The phone keeps us up at night.
People doom scroll for hours.
If, if we look at statistics around how many hours people spend on screens outside of work, it's daunting.
And I think we, we need rest and, and I've even seen some statistics around having a day of rest and what, what impact that has on your body as well and things like that.
So I'm really interested to hear from you and your insights on when you're starting to work with, with a, with a client and you and they start resting properly, how that impacts everything else as well.
Because I think it it goes back to exercise, losing weight, being able to show up the next day to exercise and to do the best you can.
So exactly love to hear some of your.
Rick Townsend
Insights on the sleep is critical you know in the old addies is you know I'll I'll I'll sleep when I'm dead type thing well he's.
Kris Tatt
One couple lots Cedars.
Rick Townsend
Lots exactly.
So I think there's there's been a real change in attitude around that I, I think 10 years ago, for example, when I sort of started in this industry, there wasn't a lot of focus on sleep.
But more and more now there's this focus on sleep because again it's that natural rhythm.
From 10:00 to 2:00 is when your your physical repair is happening, OK.
From 2:00 to 6:00 is when you're mental and emotional repairs happening.
So again, so if you start disrupting that and.
Kris Tatt
That comes back to that circadian.
Rick Townsend
Exactly.
Yeah, exactly.
So once you start disrupting that consistently, then that that affects your hormonal system and then you start getting out of whack.
And then that's where you're not having the complete energy and focus that you need.
So now and then you're going to have a late night or that that's not a real problem, but it's if it's consistently you're outside of those those time frames, then that's where you have problems.
It's one of the, one of the best things you can do is have a consistent wait time and a consistent bedtime.
Yeah, or within an hour around that.
So your body knows again, sometimes you'll have a late night, no stress.
So for example, ideally you might say, OK, well 10:00 I'm that's when I'm going to go to sleep or when I go to bed and I'm up at 6:00.
So that's an 8 hour period.
Out of that you might sleep 7, which is finally a lot of people say, oh, you need 8 hours sleep.
Well, everyone's different on that.
Yes.
And even as you get older, you don't quite need.
Kris Tatt
As quality isn't it as much as.
Rick Townsend
The quality, yeah, exactly, Exactly.
So the quality, what we're talking about there is how much deep sleep we're getting, how much REM sleep we're getting.
Kris Tatt
Do you get people to track their sleep?
Like do they wear a watch or a ring?
Rick Townsend
One of those, Yeah, exactly.
So that's a, that's an aura ring.
Kris Tatt
OK, big.
Yeah, Yeah.
And so you, you will, you will keep track of your sleep each night just to see how you go.
Yep.
Rick Townsend
Yep, Yep, I do.
It's a double edged sword because sometimes you wake up and you're feeling really good and I've had a great night's sleep and.
Kris Tatt
The ring says otherwise.
Rick Townsend
Ring says otherwise.
Yeah, and it gives you a ready to score too, of how your heart rate fare.
Really.
I won't get too much into that, but.
Kris Tatt
That's not that's.
Rick Townsend
Right, that just monitors how ready you are for either exercise or or for a busy day.
Or if it's low, it's maybe you might just back off your exercise.
And again, sometimes that's like, I think, Oh, bloody hell.
Oh, it's really, really good.
And you can flip the other way as well.
You wake up and you're feeling sluggish and your scores are good.
So I don't, I don't put a lot of emphasis on on the daily ones, but I'll look at a trend over a week or trend over 2 weeks and you see, OK, if it's trending down, let's have a look at what what that might happen.
Kris Tatt
And obviously you unpack that when you've with your clients.
Rick Townsend
If my clients want to go that, that that far and and have wearables, Yep, we'll definitely do that.
And I certainly recommend that diversion a little bit.
But the other thing that I want my clients to do is, is have a look under the hood.
So we'll do blood testing, even even do genetic testing if if need be.
Just have a look at what we're what we're we're proposed surprised to as far as.
Kris Tatt
Say, obviously there you're checking different levels, you're checking to make sure people have if there's anything, any concerns or things that exactly need to be aware of as part of the process.
Rick Townsend
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
That's all part of part of the process.
But there are are companies that you can go through or functional medicine doctors you can go through who will do a really complete panel that will then show you what are the best foods for you personally to eat.
And this is where we come down.
The personalization you mentioned before, not all diets will help people.
So I think that's a really key and exciting area where we're going to where it's personalised health and well being based on your genetics, based on your blood type.
So that's a lot of things we go through.
Kris Tatt
Blood type does that.
Rick Townsend
I'm, I shouldn't say blood type.
I don't mean whether the a or a might.
I mean, I mean your what's what your blood tells you.
Kris Tatt
Yes, OK.
Rick Townsend
What what works for you as an individual?
Yeah, interesting.
Those biomarkers will tell you that.
Yeah, yeah.
So sorry, I did diverse, but no.
Kris Tatt
No, that's all.
Rick Townsend
Right.
If we do get back to the sleep, yeah, the importance of sleep is, is also that if you get a good night's sleep, as you say, you're more focused and you'd like to make better decisions not only just for work wise but also nutrition wise as well.
If you're sluggish and you're not feeling, you know, switched on, you might go for the high carb foods or the sugary foods just to you know, that's what you feel like.
But it's amazing your decision making when you're when you're feeling alert and switched on and focus on what you want.
Kris Tatt
And that, that's one thing I want to touch on is just that decision making process.
How, how important is health and mindset around the decisions we make?
Because I think sometimes we, there's almost this disconnect where we sort of go, Oh, well, I'm making a decision about the future.
We're not actually thinking about how we are in the moment and whether we're in the best position to make that decision, if that, if that makes sense.
Sometimes you like if you, if you had a big night the night before and you've got to go and make a decision on a car the next day and you've got 5 choices.
Well, you might not be as, and I'm just using as an example, you might not actually be as thoughtful in, in what the impacts are or what features you need or things like that, as if you showed up prepared, alert and, and aware of, of, of your surroundings as well too.
So exactly right.
How important is is all of that to making good decisions 'cause I think we all make decisions every day, all the time, and we sort of don't always give enough credence to how we are feeling when we're making that decision on whether we should put it off to another day when we're actually in the right space of.
Rick Townsend
Mind that comes down to awareness and that's really important that just being aware of how how you're feeling at the time, how your body's how your body is, how your mind is.
And a lot of times, as I said before, we just go through the the day just pondering through surviving rather than thriving.
So again, something that's where you need to sort of step back.
And as you said before, take some time where you can actually by yourself and think it's OK, what's going on?
How am I feeling?
What do I need to change?
And then go from there.
So, so that's where again, again, optimising nutrition and movement, because as I said, a lot of guys come to me to lose weight, but then I find a lot are struggling, a lot of other areas and that could be mental health, self esteem, a lot of other issues.
So I always start with, OK, so I'm not a psychologist.
So for example, if we need to, I will refer, but I say, but let's say, let's work on your nutrition and your movement exercise, let's work on your sleep routine.
Let's have a look at some stress management, stress management techniques.
And that can be just as easy as breath work if we get all that right.
I'm 99% sure that a lot of the other mental health issue, not mental health issues, but other issues that you might have, you struggling with with mental health or yourself esteem, that's going to start, that's going to pick up because you're eating well now, you've lost a little bit of weight, you've got more energy, you're starting to feel a bit about yourself.
So all other parts that.
Kris Tatt
Flywheel.
Isn't it all just compounds and that's all?
Yeah, when 1 area is struggling, don't make all the other areas worse or struggle as well too, because then it makes that situation almost harder and then and then we just have almost this cycle of poor choices.
Rick Townsend
That's exactly right, yeah.
And on the flip side, you can have the cycle of good choices because you're in that right frame of mind.
Now, a lot of times when you talk about choices with guys, I mean, let's say their natural lunches, like tradies.
An example, some of the tradies I've had their lunch times, I'll stop in the survey and look at the Bay Marie and there's the dim Sims and the chips and whatever pies and things like that.
And it's again.
Kris Tatt
It's washed down with the Coke, iced.
Rick Townsend
Coffee.
Coffee.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
So we start just, you know, low hanging fruit.
Let's make some better choices.
If you are going to stop at the servo, there are sandwiches over there.
There is mineral water You could have and, and maybe an apple and, and that might not be as, as comforting maybe.
And you might have to slowly move into that.
So instead of the pie, we're going to have the sandwich, but I might still have the have the chocolate milk or whatever.
But again, so it's just making making the right decisions at the time.
Similarly, when you go out to dinner at a restaurant or or a pub, that's still fine to go there, but you can still have your steak, veggies, salad.
Yep.
You don't have to have the big Palmer and the chips that go with it.
Again, just making small little decisions that just help build up along the way.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Kris Tatt
And then you wake up the next day feeling a bit better about yourself.
Rick Townsend
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
Kris Tatt
And that helps make these.
Rick Townsend
Exactly.
Kris Tatt
Better decisions.
Rick Townsend
The next day and around creating the environment.
And that's I think at home as well.
If you look at, you know, watching your pantry or what's in your fridge and say, OK, well, that's probably not not the best.
Let's start getting that out and having in your pantry more healthy foods, fruit in the bowl type of thing.
Similarly with with exercise and wanting to start an exercise regime.
And when you wake up, you got that decision.
Am I going to get out of bed and get out that door or not?
Well, if you set up your routine or your environment where you exercise gears on the floor right next to your bed, straight away, the aim is to get up, get the exercise gear on.
Don't have to worry about finding what you're going to wear.
You're into it straight away.
Yes, the hardest part is getting yourself out the door.
So get yourself into the exercise gear out the door and then you'll be right.
So it's again just building that environment, that consistency that you can do every day.
Kris Tatt
No, that's really good.
And three pillars, 4th pillar is around purpose and those kind of things.
So touch on that quickly.
How important is that?
Is that?
I feel like that's almost the first pillar sometimes.
Rick Townsend
It is.
I do flip it around.
That's what I was talking about is, you know, what's your big why?
What are your values?
Why are we doing this?
The other part about it is more immediate how you're feeling in life as far as your happiness, what gives you joy?
Because a lot of people sort of don't really focus on that.
How do you?
Kris Tatt
Like it, it's a bit of a strange conversation for some people to have because we don't always talk about how happy we feel or how satisfied we are with life or, you know, there's always, I always feel like there's always the negative or there's always, we always focus on what's missing.
So how important do you find that conversation is with your clients and and actually drawing out some of those things?
Rick Townsend
It's really important.
So I'd start with what do you love doing?
What do you enjoy doing?
What gives you joy?
And it might be for people.
OK, I'll, I'll ask people listed down as well.
I enjoy, you know, playing golf, love listening to music.
I like reading.
I like exercise, for example, love catching up with my family, mucking around with my grandkids.
OK, so you build as a bit of a list of things that you love doing.
Yes.
Firstly, you can do a list of what you don't enjoy about your day.
What are the things in your day that I just absolutely hate doing, but it's just a chore I've got to do?
Then look at those lists.
Look at that list that you don't like doing.
How can I put a line through some of those things?
Yes.
How can I outsource?
For example, you know I hate wedding, but I do it sometimes.
But also, and we've got a hedge and when I get under the hedge to try and cut the hedge, it's like Edward Scissorhands, it's all over the place.
So I'm better off bringing in a specialist who can cut hedge.
And I've got a great guy who cuts, cuts my head.
So the analogy there is is is the things that you don't like doing if you can try and outsource them.
Kris Tatt
Yes, and sometimes it might be that rather than going out for dinner another night during the week, put some of that money towards having a garden or a cleaner and that actually gives you the space to cook for yourself.
Or it's just sometimes you don't always rejig where we're spending our money to align with true what what we actually want to do or what we enjoy doing and and more of.
Rick Townsend
That exactly so then that comes back to your your love list, I suppose and and if you've made some time over there from your not so you know, good list that you like you don't like doing Yeah.
How can we, how can we incorporate more of the things that you love into your day and then that starts giving you a new perspective on life, I suppose is OK.
Kris Tatt
I'm actually to get out of bed and do.
Rick Townsend
The yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly.
So, so that's, that's, that's the more immediate sort of thing that we look at is, is how do we structure a day where we're doing things that we enjoy a little bit more?
Yep.
And then the more longer term approach to that is what does your life look like in 12 months time?
Where do you want to be there not only just on a health and Wellness point of view, but if you got any goals or aspirations that you want to work towards, what about your five year goals?
What about your 10 year goals and 10 year goals might be way out there and that's that's that's fine.
They might be might be quite elaborate, but the the aim there is to say, OK, that 10 year goals, what what do we need to do on a monthly, quarterly basis?
What a little things we need to do just to it.
Don't have to be rocket science or groundbreaking, but just start moving towards it.
Kris Tatt
It's that flywheel, isn't it?
Yep.
It's a lot easier to run a marathon if you start just doing a bit of jogging now.
It's a lot harder to leave preparing for the marathon till two months out and then going exactly run 40 KS.
Yeah.
If you've been running it just you can ramp that.
Rick Townsend
Up 100%, yeah.
Yeah.
So that that's part of that, that I call it lifestyle because we're trying to build a long term lifestyle that you want, yes, starting with with today, but also looking to the future of how you want the future to look, both on a health and well being point of view.
Yep, but also your goals and your values and and what drives you going.
Kris Tatt
Forward now that that's really good.
Thank you so much.
Rick loved unpacking some of that, the pillars, what people need to be thinking about, what people need to be doing in terms of mindset.
If they're foggy, we'll include some notes in the show notes around how to contact you, how to reach out because I think for anyone out there that's thinking I'm not hitting my goals.
I'm not happy with how I'm feeling.
I'm a bit sluggish or things like that.
Get onto it now.
Don't leave it until it's too late.
Sometime down the point or or when you're sitting in a hospital going.
I think I need to make a change.
Start start before you get to that.
And I think that that's one of the reasons I wanted to have Recon was because of the, the, the impact of physical and the mental that we bring to our days is crucial that our success and where we get to.
And if we don't have those things right, then we everything else is a bit wrong as well, too, I think along the way.
So thank you so much for your insights there.
Rick, is there any take home messages you want people to think about?
Anything that you think if they can just start thinking about this, that'll that'll, that'll start the monitor journey.
Rick Townsend
Yeah, I think it's just never too late to start.
So just just make a start and start slowly and start building up.
I think that's, that's really the important part.
It's never too late to start and, and whatever you do, just make sure it's something that you can do consistently.
So therefore enjoy what you're doing.
Kris Tatt
Yes, great.
Thank you.
Really appreciate it.
Rick, thank you again for your insights and your knowledge.
And if anyone wants to reach out, there will be the contact details for Rick in the show notes and we'll we'll go from there.
But thank you very much for.
Rick Townsend
Thanks Chris, really enjoy the chat.
Thank you.
Cheers.
