Nathan's Insights

So I’m thinking of changing my job description to ‘professional speaker’ and giving my staff a photo so they remember what I look like.   Over the past three weeks I’ve been engaged to present at three different types of events to approximately 1,500 people;

1) At the SMSF Association National Conference (19 February 2015);

2) On the internet via 4 SMSF Professional webinars (25-26 February 2015); and

3) At the MCG before 300 people at the Super Day Event (4 March 2015)

The events received some media coverage which has meant that I need to now undergone formal media training.  I guess this means I’ll learn how not to provide too much information 🙂

The differences in events was at the National Conference I was sharing the stage with Belinda Aisbett, a leading industry professional, at the webinar I was responding to questions without the advance of seeing the questioner or hearing the tone, and at the MCG it was a traditional presentation standing on a stage with the lights almost blinding me.

The National Conference presentation was also video recorded and the webinar has an audio / visual recording (visual was presentation slides only not my face!).

It’s getting hard to remember a stage when I disliked presenting.  I recall a very senior executive over 8 years ago challenging me to present and engage more directly with clients.  This has really openned up so many doors, oportinuties and experiences.  It has allowed me to become better aware of what is actually happening in the industry, hear directly from some very smart people.  Presenting has also forced me to think more strategically.  What is the message I what out there?  What have we done recently?  How can we provide better services.

I’ve recently started telling the two cadets I mentor and the other two cadets I supervise that this is the skill to develop if you wish to stand out from your peers.  Most people don’t like presenting and will actively resist requests to do so.  

My advise is very simple just know your topic and think you are just talking to 1-3 people not 100+.  Scripts are good but don’t be an actor, be yourself, react to the audience and let them see you are human.  I’m still trying to work out the non-visual webinar medium but hopefully I’ll figure it out as well.



The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 9,700 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Well I’m not at the 13 week mark as at 13 December and I have to say it’s been a challenge. The weight decline has slowed considerably but I am 17 kilos lighter than the start (the aim was 20 kilos by mid-point).

When I started I said I had four areas for improvement:
1) Work-life balance
2) Health
3) Fitness
4) Weight

The work-life balance has been a struggle and I did end up working one weekend recently after being interstate visiting a client for 3 days but for the most part it’s working. During not to work though lunches and avoiding very late nights or weekends working is better than before the challenge but not where I’d like to be.

I’d say this is a 6/10 at the half way point.

Health is trending upwards. Detoxing has been interesting, no fast food in the 13 weeks but I struggled with having ultra-good vegetable juice drinks that a friend kindly provided for a 4 week period. Still not eating totally good food but the worst stuff has been cut. I’m playing around with the idea of chocolate being reduced to nothing or almost nothing, I’m not sure I can go without! I’d say 6.5/10 so far in health.

Fitness has greatly improved. I’ve played tennis through 35 degree days without too much a loss of energy, and I’m running balls down a lot easier. I finished the Albert Park Monday Night Tennis season well, even walking to the courts (60 minutes) instead of driving. I think I’m probably averaging 18,000 steps per day and recently I managed 40,000 steps or around 29 kms. While I’m not doing has much gym work as I did at the beginning I still do some. This has been the area with the biggest improvement 7.5/10.

With weight I feel disappointed. Yes I lost weight but that was from an extreme ‘wake up’ high. The downward trend has slowed. The obvious answer is I need to work on what and when I eat. The Christmas period and the multiple birthday events in November haven’t helped either. I’m off work for 2 weeks so I’m really going to though myself into this again and see if I can kick start the weight reductions again especially before my birthday on 9 January. So 6/10 on weight objectives.

So overall a lot still to do. I’m heartened by the fact I have for the most part stayed the course. Fast food withdraw should hopefully be complete, I’m definitely more active and while I’ve broken the work-life rule a few times at least I know I’m breaking the rule instead of not even having one previously. 13 more weeks to see what I can achieve.

So week 7 of my 26 week health and wellbeing challenge was the hardest yet. Starting with foot blisters, moving onto a highly disruptive work pattern, then a cold and finally some detox symptoms.

It’s now been 42 days without any fast food except 1 chicken classic subway in week 1. Over that time I’ve gradually been replacing other foods with health alternatives, usually fruit based. My meat intake has been reduced to almost nothing now. Thanks to a work colleague I now have homemade vegetable (morning) and fruit (afternoon) smoothies.

I think this triggered a detox that had my temperature all over the place, 1 minute needing air conditioning 30 minutes later needing a heater. I think this also triggered my cold. Apparently I can look forward to various detox symptoms over the next 30 months as I burn the ‘bad’ items in my stored fat and it gets replaced with healthier substances. Now this I didn’t realise, but the impact will vary so hopefully this was the worst week.

Despite these problems and a general lack of energy for the most part I pushed though. Granted I only went to the gym twice this week but I still managed to average 20,000 steps each day and I didn’t go back to comfort food. I still managed to push myself out the door for a walk even though I really didn’t want to. I still went to work each day including a terrible long day trip to Canberra on Tuesday. I got over the feet pain earlier in the week.

Hopefully my subconscious is on board and the willpower is here for the long term. I feel optimistic as week 8 starts and I head off for Saturday afternoon tennis and a settled work pattern.

On Saturday 13 Sept 2014 I woke up changed and determined. Something in my mind told me it’s time to adjust my attitude and priorities and to stop making excuses. I realised I needed to make serious changes to improve my health and wellbeing.

For the first time in years I found myself at the apartment gym working out on the stepper. A plan was starting to form and I realised you need time and commitment to really make improvements. I decided I’d start with a 26 week personal challenge. Later I’d work that this finishes on 21 March 2015 about 4 weeks before my Japan and India trip which is ideal.

Today is the start of week 6, over the first 5 weeks I’d managed to lose the first 10 kilos of the 40 I’m aiming for. While that is more or less on track I know it will get harder. I’m hoping after 5 weeks I’m locked into a positive pattern.

The improvements I determined I need are in:
1) Work-life balance
2) Health
3) Fitness
4) Weight

Work-life balance
Work has been a big priority over the last 12 months. One in eight employees have been made redundant during that time. My position was at risk and my workload increased substantially. I was working very long hours and weekends. I took almost no leave.

That had to change. First up I’ve only taken my work laptop home one weekend. I also didn’t take it for recent Sydney trip. Working at 11 pm isn’t healthy, whatever the issue either I or my staff can deal with it the next day. I also took 4 days off in the middle of September which gave me a chance to go bowling with my sister Kara, brother-in-law Jason and Niece Erin. That’s a better balance and helps mental health.

Health
It’s time to reduce and stop the fast food, no more KFC, McDonalds or Red Rooster. Time to reduce the cheese and chocolates and moderate others as well. It was time to increase other food groups including wheat/bread and fruits. Recently a good friend started making me healthy smoothies with vegetables and fruit, which I started this week. Hopefully this better food balance will lead to better energy levels. So far it’s looking good even if I’m struggling with the ‘grass’ taste of the vegetable smoothy it is getting easier.

Fitness
The first change and the biggest. I now workout at my apartment gym, or hotel if travelling, for at least 10 minutes, normally 25 minutes but sometimes 45 minutes, every morning. I’m not a morning person but I was always exhausted at night to go down to the gym. I know people who do this in the morning and swear it sets them up for the rest of the day so for 33 days out of 35 days short gym sessions are in. Normally it’s the stepper, sometimes the bike.

Outside the gym I aim for a minimum of 20,000 steps per day. On workdays when located in Moonee Ponds I walk home taking 1 hour 40 minutes and 10,000 steps. The rest of the steps are made up with lunch walks, walks to train stations, movements during the day. My best day so far is 37,000 steps. It’s getting easier. The mental side is the key, every day I can achieve something, every day is an opportunity.

Weight
All of the above, better diet, better life balance / less stress, and better fitness lead to weight lose. The aim is 40 kilos to get down to ideal weight (at top of the range). So far I’m 1/4 of the way there. Hopefully the above plans pit in place will lead to long term improvements.

I’m told it takes 3 years to retrain your taste buds and you mind so we will see how I go.

One way or another I think I’ll enjoy my next world trip better if I meet my goals.