New school toilet paper?

Heyo!

Welcome back to 5 Minute Masterclass, email coaching for peeps short on time and big on finding fulfilment. 

Hey, do me a favour? I’d love to be ‘Coach Pen Pal’ with more people who need it! So if these emails float your boat, forward it on to a colleague, friend of family member who might benefit – if they write back to me, I’ll always respond!

Short on time? Skip the warmup, and jump straight to the question at the end. 

The Warmup

What is this bloody witchcraft???

You know, when that big magnifying glass of the world catches a glint of sun….

…and uses it to melt down some firmly held pre-conceived notion of yours like an unlucky Barbie doll?

Well, consider one of my oldest guiding principles now no more than a puddle of plastic with a noxious odour.

Let me explain.

My mate Jack recommended the book 4,000 Weeks to me.

I reminded him of my belief that 99.99% of self-help books are brain cavity-inducing lolly rot, which would serve humanity better repurposed as dunny paper.

Even better, he said. Listen to it. It’s like the anti-self-help book.

Intrigued?

I was, so I bumped it on Spotify, and goddamn it…

…if this book was an animal, it would be a chip-stuffed seagull taking a huge white dump on my long-held anxiety about leaving a legacy.

Who woulda thunk that the most empowering and inspiring thing you could be told is that you are:

• Entirely insignificant in the scheme of things.
• Almost certain not to complete your Bucket List – and even if you did, it won’t bring you the joy and satisfaction you crave.
• Assured to die sooner than you’re ready for, after which the world will not remember you.

One way ticket to existential crisis, right?

Nothing but Albert Camus, cigarettes and unsalted gruel as you contemplate your meaningless existence, right?

Incorrect, mes frères et sœurs.

Because being a grain of sand on an infinite beach is actually the ultimate permission to just BE.

To take absolute ownership of each moment.

We’re so fixated all the time on what is happening to us, or around us.

We don’t want to be HERE, we want to be THERE. So we’re willing for HERE to suck, as eventually it will get us THERE.

The absolute truth is: HERE is all there ever is.

Another truth? One I tell my clients all the time?

Changing what’s happening inside you is the only way to change what’s happening to you.

Mash these facts together and voila! A dope life soufflé that I’m personally shovelling down like my life depends on it (and it does!).

Washing dishes? I’m not listening to a podcast waiting for it to be over anymore – I’m owning that shit, living that moment. Noticing the glints of sunlight on the metal pots; the small satisfaction of scrubbing away the bolognaise stains revealing the porcelain white beneath.

Setting goals? Sure. But deeply experiencing and adoring the PROCESS… and if the process ain’t fulfilling or fun, the goal ain’t fulfilling or fun. Off with its head!

My phone? In the bin! Hahaha nah not really, but I’m going to look at the bloody thing less. Up-to-date gossip on UFC fighters and the Kendrick / Drake beef is not life or death information.

We have the gift of choosing how we experience things - right now, in this moment.

Yesterday is gone, and so subjective as to almost never have existed.

Tomorrow is impossible to predict.

But today is perfect in its imperfection, absolutely real…and the only thing that actually is.

So next time you’re feeling the need for BIG CHANGE it might not be accumulating another HECS debt, or knocking out 1,000 burpees per day, or slurping down raw offal with Liver King.

The big change might be just choosing to accept yourself.

The big change might be giving yourself permission to be consciously confident instead of self-doubting and insecure.

The big change might even be kicking off a startup forging toilet paper from shithouse self-help books?

Nah hahaha.

For your reflection today, hopefully while slurping a spicy margarita with extra dried jalapeño chilli salt:

What’s the inner change – perspective shift, new empowering belief, permission - that will make TODAY an awesome experience that you cherish, rather than one you’re just pushing through?

Holler at me!

The 5 Minute Masterclass

If you're new, here's the drill – this is your 5 Minute Masterclass in YOU.

Set a timer on your phone or computer. This week, you have EXACTLY 5 minutes to answer one question. 

Smash it out, then hit send. I'll write back to you in the next few days 🙂

Question: ‍

What’s an ‘inner change’ – e.g. perspective shift, new empowering belief, permission, or attitude adjustment – that will make today (and tomorrow) even more present and awesome?

‍

Big love!

Nick