We all know how important this mindset thing is, but what does that actually look like? How do you start to make a change in the way that we think? Because I think the stat is we have 60,000 thoughts a day, and about 99% of them are the same thoughts that we had yesterday. So how do we start to change that? Well, I have Joel Dunn on the podcast today, and we are talking about different ways that you can start to hack that mindset, and I think you're really going to enjoy it.

So stay tuned. I'm Nicole Bagley, a zoological animal trainer turned pet and family photographer. Back in 2010, I embarked on my own adventure in photography, transforming a bootstrapping startup into a thriving six figure business by 2012. Since then, my mission has been to empower photographers like you, sharing the knowledge and strategies that have helped me help thousands of photographers build their own profitable businesses. I believe that achieving two to $3,000 sales is your fastest route to six figure businesses, that any technically proficient photographer can consistently hit four figure sales.

And no matter if you want photography to be your full time passion or a part time pursuit, profitability is possible. If you're a portrait photographer aspiring to craft a business that aligns perfectly with the life you envision, then you're in exactly the right place. With over 350,000 downloads. Welcome to the Freedom Focus Photography podcast. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Freedom Focus Photography podcast. I am your host, Nicole Bagley, and we have another returning guest with us.

We have none other than Joel Dunn from downunder Melbourne, Australia. Joel, welcome back to the podcast. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here again. Oh my gosh, I am so excited. I should remember by now to look up what the actual episode number is that my previous guests have been on, but I didn't. So I'm going to put it in the show notes so you guys can look at that.

It was probably a year or two ago, but yeah, we had another great conversation. So I'm excited to have you back and dive into all the good stuff. If people don't know of you, do you want to kind of give them a little, a little preview, a little intro of who you are and who you help? Yeah. Yeah. So my name's Joel. I'm in Melbourne, Australia, and I help photographers with mindset strategy for their business.

And, you know, we go through everything from you as the business owner, how you're showing up, which is super important, and the energy and mindset you, you bring to the business, and then we go into strategy around marketing and sales and what that looks like to not only achieve really powerful business results, but life results. So it's a very holistic approach and, yeah, primarily or only work with photographers.

I ran a studio for 22 years and that's my passion. I love it. Awesome. Yeah. I mean, you can have all the strategy in the world, but you and I both know that without the proper energy and mindset showing up, that that's not going to get you very far. Yeah. Yeah. It's, I think it's like the biggest, I mean, really probably in any industry, but so much in the photography industry, too, where people are just like, I just need the next marketing thing.

I just need the marketing strategy. What's the marketing strategy that's going to work? Like, like we're all keeping this like secret marketing strategy behind some closed door, that it's like once you pay me $10,000, then I'll tell you the secret strategy. Yeah. And I think that's, that's part of the issue. You're right, because that's a very reactive. While looking at business, they're trying to find the next thing that's just going to work right where it's businesses and you are the business.

So how you show up is number one, and your structures and your processes and your habits, then when you do that well, you come at the business with the right energy and focus and you organically will find those avenues to get the clients. It's just how you show up. And that's, if you look at, look at successful business owners, that's what they do. They, they are the one that are running.

It's not their special strategy. It's just they're the one. They're the one running the machine really well. Yeah, no, I love that. And I think, I think it's kind of hard for people to wrap their head around. I want to dive into that a little bit more, but first, I kind of want to backtrack a little bit because if you guys have been in any Facebook groups or you've been around the Internet at all over the past couple months, actually, really, this whole year, a lot of photographers have been talking about this year being really hard this year being really slow, not getting the inquiries, not getting the conversions that they had had in the past, and really just kind of struggling and just being really stressed out about it.

Are you seeing that too, from just seeing that around? I know both of us probably have people that are doing well, but then we also have people that are seeming to struggle as well. Love to just kind of talk about that and what people can do to shift out of that. Yeah. And I think, you know, I've got clients in the program that are having their best years yet, people I've coached before.

And yes, I'm having clients coming in that are going, I'm really struggling. I need help. So a bit of both. And I think there's a collective fear going on at the moment in general population around interest rates, those things. And when you feed into it, you start to attract it as well. And you get, when you're in a stress cycle, it's hard to be productive, hard to be creative, and hard to get out of it.

But I think there's also a lot of, like, there's the same amount of money out there, right? There are people buying out there. Like, we've had clients, you know, just had a client that they do a $10,000 sale. Like, people are still buying. It's when you feed into, no one's buying, no one's doing this. You know, that mentality that, that's what I seems to transpire. So firstly, it's getting yourself into a space where you're taking consistent action.

The one thing I'm seeing is the people mainly who are struggling are the people who have relied on passive marketing. And passive marketing dries up in these sort of circumstances because people aren't actively looking as much. So you need to have a really good active marketing strategy as well. Passive marketing is just referrals, Instagram posts, those sorts of things. Yep. Active marketing is you're doing a competition or a, a promotion or you're putting stuff out there to generate leads yourself.

So it's always very vital. Like, I was talking to a client, potential client, sorry, yesterday, who's 24 years in the industry, never had to worry about sales. A lot of organic. And then he's like, shit. Now it start to dry up. And I said, what are you actively doing? He said, well, nothing. So that's, that's the problem. And also, Facebook was so easy and so good for so long.

People took it for granted. You can chuck stuff up, but now you've got to work a little harder for it, right? Yeah. And I was sort of lucky enough to start my business when there was no social media, which shows how old I am. You had yellow pages, you had different things. You had to do a lot more work to get a lead. And it was a bit easy for too long, and people got comfortable and used to that.

So I definitely think it's shifting again. I think that hard slog was sort of late last year to probably June, even July. Now it seems to be sort of, I know, coming at the other end a little bit as well. Yeah, no, that's good. This actually reminds me, I just listened to Eliza Kingsford. She's in the BBD community, which is James Wedmore's business by design community. She did a presentation for us at the meeting.

I was just at about stress cycles and really how so many of us are living in this constant cortisol spike, constant state of flight or fight that the biggest thing to take away from that was, like, figuring out. Cause it's gonna be different for all of us, what triggers us into kind of these different stages. So we have, like, our. Our normal stage where we should be. And then there's, like, the flight or fight, where, like, you start to get energized and you're like, oh, getting stressed or whatever it is, and then you keep going, and it goes to like, this, like, the play dead.

Like, you just shut down. And she was talking about how, like, we each have different signs that we're going into those different levels and how to figure out what our little opportunities are to kind of move back up through those levels. But so many of us are kind of stuck there in the middle. And the biggest thing I took away was that, was that instead of people, like, when you're having a problem, people focus on the problem and hoping to change their state.

But she's like, change your state, and then the problem will shift. So I think that was just brilliant. And, like, anyone that's listening to this, that's out there in this, like, feast or famine, like, oh, my gosh, how am I going to pay the bills? Like, you're definitely living in that flight, or. I can't say that I always want to fight a flight. Yeah, flight or fight mode that.

Yeah, just to kind of start to shift that, and then you might see more possibilities. Yeah, 100%. And, like, I've been there before heaps of times in business in that stress response, and I've also been in the breakdown after that. Like, I remember clearly at a real, like, I operated from that level for way too long, whereas, like, high stress, and that was what motivated me, and I was very much.

I just have to keep doing, right? Yep. And when Covid hit in 2020, everyone remembers what happened then. I was running both businesses, and they both stopped, literally. Like, in Melbourne, Australia, we couldn't open our photography business. We had to shut the doors for near two years, like, on and off. We could open, but. And so the first. For the first time in the coaching business, obviously, no one wanted coaching because everyone was freaking out in March.

So the first time, I literally stopped. I didn't have anything to do. We couldn't even leave our house. And it was just. I think it all just came up because all that stress was just pushed down, push down, push down. It just exploded into this, what I'd call, like, a depression. I call it a breakthrough. It probably looked like a breakdown at the time. Yeah, I felt like a breakdown, and it took, you know, there's a couple of months there.

I. Processing a lot. I was releasing a lot, and then on the. When I came out of that, I just took. I took off. Like, it. Everything became easier. I was way more focused and aligned like I was in flow. Right. So I learned a lot from that, and I. I helped my clients through a lot of this. And for me, it's like, you can't go, all right, it's Monday.

I just got to get through to Friday. Then I can relax. Right, right. I. Or I just got to get through the day, then I'll relax. It's like, you've got to set yourself up. This is why we bought the journal out and the morning ritual and everything, to bring our nervous system back down into check on a daily basis, on even an hourly basis. Like, looking at understanding, being aware when our cortisol levels are rising and we're feeling that, how to release it and how to come back in the moment and starting your day with a meditation and a gratitude practice and a morning ritual, and everything starts you at a really powerful spot every day.

And I've introduced things which, obviously, a lot of people won't need to do, but, like, I do ice baths in the morning as well, like, which kicks in your stress response. So you can handle stress better. There's a lot of different benefits, but, yeah, it's so vital because stress is where it saps your energy the most. Like, it takes, like, 25% to 30% of your energy can be sapped just by the thoughts you've got going on about what could go wrong or, you know, what did go wrong.

And you're not being. Excuse me. You're not being present in the moment. If you're present, fully present the moment, you don't have stress and anxiety. Yeah. What is it? Stress was usually thinking about an unwanted future, and anxiety is like, reliving an unwanted past or something like that. So. Yeah. And we carry, like, it might be something you did in the past or something that happened in the past, then you're carrying that with you into the future.

It's not happening right now. It's only happening in your mind. Yeah. So it's being very aware of that and releasing those patterns and coming back. And then most people, it's like, well, this client didn't book, or what if this happens? Then what if this happens? Then we spiral into this worst case scenario future, which is stressful. And the reason we do that, from a psychological level, apparently, is you look at all the things that could go wrong, and then you, okay, now I'm prepared if that happens.

I feel better, I feel safe, I feel secure knowing what could happen, when in reality, very rarely, if ever happens. Right. That actually just happened to me this spring. I had a, like, my biggest sale yet. It was a $10,000 sale. And then I get an email from the client, like, a day or two later that just said, like, I forget the subject. Said something about, like, my order.

And so where's your brain go? Immediately, it's like, she's canceling the big piece, she's canceling some other pieces. It's too much. She's walking back on this. And, yeah, so, like, panic. And then I opened it up, and it's just like, because she was going to do half now and half the next month after her bonus, and it was just. I decided to move some money around. I'll pay for it all now.

It's like, oh, okay. I didn't need to be worried about that. Yeah, it's interesting. We always go to that worst case, right? I had a really similar situation. We had a massive sale, and she left. And then the next day, there's a phone call, and Justina, who worked for me, goes, oh, it's such and such on the phone. I'm like, ah, shit, she's gonna cancel the order. And she goes, hey, Joel, you know, I was just wondering if I could add some photos to our order.

And I was like, ah, yeah, of course. Straight away our mind goes, so you've got to catch it, right? It's about being aware. So most people aren't aware that they're in these stress responses or they're even thinking this stuff. It's just automatic. Because I don't want to go too deep here, but we've got a willful voice, which is us, which is our, you know, our soul, or whatever you want to call it.

We can actually willfully allow ourselves to have a thought, and that's where we do critical thinking. And stuff. And then we've got the automatic voice, which is the negative pattern. So when you meditate, you notice how automatic your voice is because you're trying to stick to a mantra and your mind just goes off everywhere. Yeah, that's why I think so many people are like, I can't meditate. Like, well, yeah, it takes some practice.

Yeah, I can't meditate either. Yeah, but people think if they can't focus on the mantra, they're not doing it right. No. Yeah, that's just training your awareness. So when you do meditation, you're aware, then, oh, my thoughts are off. Relax and, like, I've got a little mantra, relax and release. Like, okay, that's an automatic voice. Or you've got anxiety. Like, it's a feeling in the body. It's just energy.

That's not me. Relaxed and don't cling to it. When we cling to it, we give it weight and we hold it there, or we cling to the thought and we make it worse. If you relax behind it, that's just a thought. You're not fighting it, you're not trying to get rid of it, because whatever you resist stays. So it's real and it's a tricky one to do it.

Hard to quantify that. Yeah, well, and I think a lot of people then go to, like, a shame response because they feel shameful that they're having those thoughts because they know they shouldn't have those thoughts. So then what does that mean about them? And, well, 100%. And, like, if you hear yourself say should or shouldn't about anything, you're putting shame and guilt on and then. So you're just piling shit on the other stuff.

Right. So you've got to be kind to yourself in those situations. You're human, you're going to have stress, you're going to have anxiety. It's just, don't keep it, don't feel it, and don't put guilt and shame on because that's just self punishment for something that's already happened or is happening and it's not necessary. It's. We're so complex as human beings and it's fascinating, but frustrating as well. Like, you know, and particularly, I think when I went through what I went through as a coach, I'm like, so much guilt and shame.

Like, I shouldn't be feeling this. I'm a coach, this is what I do, you know? And then trying to coach myself out of it, which made it worse. And my wife was really fantastic. She's gone she literally said, stop coaching yourself through this. Like, stop it. And that was a really interesting. Because you need sometimes people from the outside looking at what you're doing, going and shining a light on it.

That's what we do as coaches. I can see what people are doing, and those aha. Moments can be really helpful to go, oh, wow. Yeah, I am doing that. Yeah. Yeah. It becomes so just automatic. The one little trick that I like to try to remember when you're starting to feel anxious or something like that is. Or, like, I'm. You can say just, like, instead of I'm anxious, like, I'm having anxious thoughts.

So, like, if you kind of just even change that, it separates you from that so that you can just, like, see it for what it is instead of totally internalizing it. Correct. And then it's not you. You're witnessing it, you're feeling it, and you, when you can get that separation from it, loses its pull on you. Yeah. And you're not identifying with it, because the way, you know, the untethered souls are great book by Michael Singer.

The way he talks about it is it's just energy in the body trying to release. When you look at it like that, you go, ah, okay, well, that's. That's not me. It's just an energy. Okay. Relax and release it. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. I also like to tell my students, too, just kind of that the. Our feelings can be barometers for our thoughts. So if we're feeling stressful or, like, what we want to label is negative emotions, then you can start to.

To be like, all right, well, what. What are my thoughts? What am I thinking? What do I believe is true right now? What am I thinking about? And that can give you some clue as to where we might need to adjust some things. And then likewise, when you're feeling really good to be like, oh, all right, what thoughts are causing me to feel really good? And, like, maybe those are thoughts that are serving.

I think it's important to know that everything comes and goes. Like, when you're feeling horrible and stressed and anxious, you feel like it's going to be forever. Mm hmm. When you feel like everything's going amazing, you feel like it's going to go on forever. Right. So everything comes and goes. Everything has a season. And one of the things when you're in a hard place is this, too, shall pass.

Like, this is not forever. It's not permanent. It's. You're moving through, and a lot of the time, it can be leveling up like, a lot of time you have to get rid of old patterns and beliefs and behaviors to move through to the next level of what you're doing. I think as a. As a collective, that's happening a lot. There's a lot this year, particularly, like, from any other year I can remember, is there's a lot of people moving through things, and I think it's really powerful, and it's just something that sucks when you're in.

It sucks when you're. But on the other side, you can look back at, wow, that I needed that. Well, that was a really valuable thing that happened to, so knowing that when you're in, it can help you go, okay, well, I know this is going to be beneficial. I know it sucks right now, but. Yeah, it's just a phase. Yeah, no, I've experienced that, too. Where before, like, you start working on, like, a new goal or an up level and before you actually get there, like, oh, shit hits the fan.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, my gosh. Oh, I had a thought and it went away. Oh, well, I will not judge myself for it. What would you say to. Oh, I know what it was. What would you say to people that maybe have a hard time appreciating the good thoughts or, like, when they're in the high vibe good area because they have this fear that they know it's not going to last and they just live their life on the edge, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Yeah, that's a really interesting one. It's something I've been pondering a bit lately, actually. It's like, hmm. It's almost like we have these set points and it's like when everything's good, you go, I don't allow yourself to be too happy or too content or too comfortable, but it's. That's then that self sabotage comes in and you move yourself out of it. So when you're in it, just relax and enjoy that you know what's happening and don't fight it and just trust it.

That's the key. And like I said, everything has a season, so it's not going to last. So enjoy it while it is there and don't sabotage it yourself, or don't move yourself into those negative thoughts and come out of it too quickly. Right. But that's. I think it's just allowing yourself to have joy, allowing yourself to feel happy or safe or whatever it might be in the moment, and just allowing that because I think as entrepreneurs and business owners, a lot of time when things are good or we're relaxing or we're going on holidays.

We're like, I should be doing this. Or what if I stop? You know, that that sort of constant need because, you know, because we don't have a set wage. It's like, and, you know, that was a real struggle for me to stop. And it still is to a degree. Like, I really have to catch myself, like, to let myself relax. Yeah. Yeah. And it's an awareness. Yeah. Because it's not, it's not healthy to be always on and you can.

Yeah. Would you say that, like, a gratitude practice would be probably the easiest way? I mean, I feel like that's, like, the solution for almost anything in our life. Yeah. Like, gratitude's the number one. It's the ultimate form of receivership. And what I mean by that, it's the more you're grateful for what you got, the more you'll draw into your life as well. And the reason I do that in my journal as part of the morning and nighttime is to really, when you do it consistently over time, what you'll find, you'll be grateful when you do it.

Like, you'll have that gratitude feeling. Then over time, as a habit forms, you start to feel grateful more and more during the day because you're more aware of stuff. You go, oh, wow, look at that bird, you know, flying past or look at the sun coming through. Like, you find more gratitude. And that's a very different vibration to stress, anxiety, you know, all the yddeh so called negative ones.

So it's super powerful. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. And, you know, it's rooted, too, in straight up, like, biology because you're rewiring those different synapses in your brain. So you, you really are rewiring your mind to start to see those, those more positive things. Yeah. Because you, you find what you look for. Yeah. And if you always, like, one of the things in the morning ritual we do is with my clients is what are three things that have made today great?

Now, the reason we do that is because normally we look at our day and go, oh, God, I hope they don't cancel or hope they don't change their order. Or we look at all the negative things. Hope doesn't rain. I got a photo shoot. Right. Instead, go, you know, I've got a sale today. Great. I hope it's a $3,000 sale and they pay in full. Or hope it's a beautiful sunny day or whatever it might be.

You're actually putting the energy and frequency at what you want, not what you don't want. And the amount of times that people put stuff in there, and I'll give you some examples, but. And it comes true, is amazing. Yeah. My clients all the time. Well, I think that's part of the challenge that a lot of people face, is you could probably stop. And entrepreneurs still maybe a little bit better than Joe Schmoe public, but you can stop anyone on the street and ask them, what do you want?

And they'd be like, ah. Like, they wouldn't even know how to answer it. So I think so many of us go through our life just. And I've been guilty of it, too. I've been guilty often of saying, all right, when this project's done, then I'm going to start this project, or not even project. Like, I'm going to relax. When this project's done, then I can start, you know, a morning routine.

When this is done, then I can start walking every day. But guess what? That never actually happens because there's something else always there. So you have to just, like, make the decision and make the change and just know that everything else will get done. Yeah. And so, like, it's so many, like, I talk to people, like, you know, want to come into coaching or whatever, and they're like, now it's not quite the right time.

I'm like, now's the only time. There's always something, right? There's always something. And I had a client years ago, and she did, no, I can't. I'm not. In three months, right? And then, okay, cool. And then in three months. Anyway, it got to a year later and I just, I was very blunt with her. Sent her an email, said, it's been a year. What's changed? If you don't actually do something about this, nothing's going to change.

If you want to come into the program, great. If you don't, it's, you know, it's not for you, but you have to take some bold action. And, yeah, anyway, she came in, and after she finished, she goes, I'm kicking myself that I didn't do it a year ago. Like, I wasted a year, like, because of my own limiting beliefs and stuff. And she got some amazing results, but, you know, she didn't actually reply.

I was a bit blunt, I think she didn't reply to me for like, a month. And she said, she called me and said, I was so mad at you because you called me out on my shit. You are 100% right. And it really made me mad. I wasn't even going to call you, and then she didn't came aboard. Yeah, but she could have come aboard a year before and changed her life that year.

Right. And that happens. You see it all the time. People are. It's not quite the right time. Yeah. It's never the right time. No. You find time and money for what's important to you. Mm hmm. Yeah. I feel like sometimes the people have to let the pain get high enough to make it, like, okay, I really need to focus on this now. Yeah. Just how we're wired, but, man.

And unfortunately, that. Yeah, that happens a lot where it's like, you know, that's when you. That's very reactive, though, right? We haven't got any clients. I better look at marketing. Right? Like, oh, that's the reactive. We don't want to be in that state. We don't want it to get to that. We aren't. Like, we want to shift while it's good or while it's okay and do things for us and understand that, you know, like, coaching is so, like, obviously, I'm biased about this, but I've had multiple coaches myself, and they have transformed my.

My life and worked my results. And, like, so many photographers will spend 20 grand on gear, but they won't spend five or six grand on a coach that could transform their business. It's. It just blows my mind because it doesn't. You could do it with a fucking iPhone if you wanted to, but if you haven't got the right mindset and strategies, you're not going to make any money.

Like, and that's, you know, at the end of the day, it's not all about the money, but you need to make money to have a business. Right. Right. Especially if you're hoping for this to be your main source of income to pay for things like a house to live in and food. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, my gosh. Absolutely. What would you. Okay. I'm thinking there's probably still people out there listening that are just like, I know all this.

Like, I know I need to change my state, but they're still, like, so focused on just, like, the. Just like, oh, I have no inquiries right now. How do I even get started? Or if they're in that, like, you know, kind of shut down, overwhelm, like, total fear space. They can't take big action right now. Like, what are some best kind of small steps to start digging out of that?

Yeah, you're right. When you're in a real stress response, it's hard to take any action, let alone a big action. So it's about helping yourself first. I'd say number one is just be kind to yourself and you know you're going through something that's okay, you're human. And there's the thing I like with the. One of the things with the journal is the five areas of energy, right? So there's sleep, exercise, nutrition, hydration and stress.

Now, the first four fuel you and the last one depletes you. So, you know, really simply, if you score yourself out of 20 for each of those, like sleep, if you're get 8 hours, sleep seven, or whatever you need, and you know, you're 19 out of 20, or you're eating really well and you're really high and vice versa if you eat like shit, might be three out of 20.

But stress is the opposite. If you're highly stressed, you're at one or two or if you're no stress. So when you. When you do those five out of 20, you'll get a score out of 100, which will give you a percentage almost like an iPhone battery. Now, when I've done this with clients or at workshops, we've got some people about 70, 80, and other people, like 20 or 30.

The people at 20 or 30, they're starting their day at a 30% battery, right. That's hard to do anything. You're starting your day at an 80% battery. You're going to get way more done, you're going to feel way better, you're going to be way more productive. You wouldn't leave the house with your iPhone on 20%, right? So why do it with your body? So it's looking at those different areas.

And with the journal we look at every day, I've got to tweak that and it's just slowly building those numbers up. Then you're in a better space to actually take some action. And the next step is just take small actions to start with. Like, okay, what's something I can do today? What's one thing I can do today? I can reach out to this person or I can do this.

Okay, start there. Start small. When you get into action, you're in a movement state. So you move out of stress a bit because you're doing right, you're shifting and, you know, you start to get results and you build that energy and that momentum up. Yeah, that's a couple of little tips, I would say. Yeah, get help. Like, there's so many podcasts, coaches, all that sort of stuff out there.

Don't. And the other thing I would say is don't feed into the negativity, don't go into the groups. And everyone's like, well, he's me. There's no clients. All that thing. And I had a client today, so yesterday. Sorry. Say, you know, a bit worried about starting this business because I go in these groups, and everyone says there's no work. I said, yeah, misery loves company. And the people on there are all diving in.

Oh, good. I'm not the only one. And they're feeding it where the people actually doing really well. They're not even in those groups. They're actually busy serving their clients. Yeah, busy serving their clients. Yeah. Yeah. That's a really great point. I feel like, too, with the advent of, like, the 24 hours news cycle and all that stuff, it's just so easy to allow just all this external stuff to just weigh on us and just pull us down or keep us down into that pit of despair.

So it's, I think, finding, too, what works for you and finding little things that you can do that that, you know. You know, for instance, if I go out to the barn where my horse lives, it's just like, all right, all is good there. You know, I know that that's something that will help me kind of reset if I'm having a super stressful day or, like, getting out for a walk outside or listening to music, you know, so making your own.

I love to have, like, my own list of, like, my own. My own uppers that are not drugs. Yeah. And you're right. Like, it's what we tend to do when we're stressed. We go to a distraction mode. Right. So that can be working harder. Drinking, social media, we just want to escape the feeling. Whereas, like, one of my favorite things to do is just go for a walk.

There's a nature reserve, and, you know, I'll just go for a walk there and just. It calms me. It gives me space to think. And when you go for a walk, you're allowing your default mode network, which in the brain, to just go into daydreaming mode and not be stressed and, you know, overworked and so. Or I'll do a meditation, or I'll just sit outside in the sun if it's sunny, just little things to stop or just sometimes, if I've got back to back zooms, I might only have a couple of minutes.

So I'd be like, all right, just sit here and just breathe slow. Breathe. Just bring everything back down into chair. Yeah, I love that. Yeah. So you created, you mentioned a couple times this awesome new planner. Can you tell us about it? Yeah, I know. Is this video going on as well? So it's the be inspired journal. It's amazing. I love it. The reason I bought that, and I've been meaning to for a long time, but just never got around to it, is because I teach a morning ritual, a nighttime ritual, and different strategies for planning your days and weeks and whatnot.

And then I had the idea, well, let's just put it into a journal for my clients. And that's how it came about. And like anything, you know, when you have a big idea, you're like, that's going to be a lot of work. I'll do it one day. And that sort of went on for a while, and then I noticed, for me, what makes me accountable is telling people I'm going to do something.

So I just, like, at the start of this year, I go, no, I'm going to do this journal in 2024. Or maybe it was late last year. So I started telling people, and one of my clients was opening an exhibition, and she goes, oh, I know the perfect person to design it for you. If you want, I can put you in touch. I'm like, cool. She sent the number, I gave her a call, and she goes, great, let's meet in two weeks.

Bring all your stuff you got. And I'm like, shit, okay. So I go, okay. And I had two weeks to, you know, I knew what it wanted to be, and I just had to put it into a bit of format. And then she goes, all right, great. You've got a month. I want you to get everything to me by a month. And I'm like, great, I love a deadline.

So she's all of a sudden it started to move, right? And I got quotes and started working things out, and then now it's here. So we've sold nearly 100. It only came out three or four weeks ago. It's getting a great response so far, which I'm really excited about. And, yeah, the more people's hands I can get in to start their day, to plan and strategize and get their energy and mindset to a higher level, it's just a new little Bible people can have.

No, I love it. That's fantastic. I also love how, like you were saying when you write down your intentions for the day, and so similar to this, when you decided that it was going to be this year that you were going to do it, then, like, these little magical, you know, connections to people that could help you make it happen. Just show up. Yeah. Like, the way I look at it, your word is your wand.

And what I mean by that is your thoughts, your. The way you speak puts things out there. And I knew that, you know, same when I started coaching business. I'm like, I'm going to start a coaching business. And when I put it out there, things start to move and transpire. Right. So you're putting it out to the universe, that frequency of what you want, people, places, circumstances, will show up in front of you to help you there.

Like, the universe is co conspiring to get us to where we want to go if we're brave enough to go there. And, you know, I've had people, and you might have had the same nicole, go, wow. I just feel like you showed up in my life, or I heard about you just at the right time for me to be ready for. To be a coach or whatever. Right.

And those people are brave enough to take that action. Some people aren't. Like, I've had people that really should have done coaching. They just couldn't. The fear was too much and they didn't do it. It's a shame, but you can't, you know, you can't make people do things. It's like they've got a, you know, you've got to do your part. The, the universe is going to put things in front of you.

You've got to do your part to actually be brave enough to take those actions as well. Yeah. Yeah. One more thing is, what do you look for? For discerning, like intuition, telling you that this isn't the right direction and we should pivot versus ego and fear, like, telling you that, hey, you're not going to be successful, just quit and stop or move somewhere else. That's a really good question.

It's being aware enough of, usually it's like, it's a feeling. And what we tend to do as humans, if we miss that feeling or that little hint of inspiration, it goes up into the mind and then it gets analytical, then it's pros and cons and why it won't work and all that, you know, that sort of thing. So for me, it's more of a feeling. And I know I need to move on something quickly and make a decision.

If I feel it's right, let's do it, like, really quick. Yeah. But that fear can come in, which is the mind's response, and go, oh, what about this? What about this? You know, pros and cons and, and you talk yourself out of it so that's why I do meditation and stuff. So I'm aware of what's going on a bit more. And, you know, I allow myself that going for a walk or doing things that.

Where inspiration can pop up because when you're still. That's, you know, most people get their best ideas in the shower or going for a run or a walk because their mind's not busy. It's allowed to daydream. And that's when those little hints of inspirational come up and I get, I've had my best inspiration hits on a walk. Absolutely. Yeah. No, I think that's a really good point. And I think one of the things that you can start to do is start to kind of figure out what.

Where in the body you feel different things. Like, all right, where is a little bit of anxiety? Or, like, what is like an actual intuition? Like, oh, this is like an actual, like, intuitive thought, you know, which you can start to figure out by things that you know as anxiety, which is like, similar setup, you know, for instance, I used to be somewhat anxious flyer, so I knew it was like, as soon as I was pulling into the airport, like, it was the same time every time.

But then once I got there and started going, it was fine. But then that allows me to realize, I'm like, oh, this is what anxiety feels like. Okay. So then when it shows up at other times, I can just be like, nope, that's just anxiety. That's not an actual, you know, something I should listen to. Yeah, yeah. And it's really fascinating. Like, we can be sitting in an office like this and feel full anxiety in our body.

Like we're about to be attacked by a tiger or something when. When in reality we're perfectly safe, but our mind is telling us run. Like it's something is not safe. Right. So it's like, ah. And just saying yourself, just breathing, okay, I'm safe. You know, what's going on and questioning those emotions and thoughts and working through them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, so many of us are living in that, that stress state that we don't even know.

Like, it's become normal to us, so we don't even realize that we are in it constantly. Yeah. And I think sometimes that's why if you're having, like, a big shift or a big breakthrough slash breakdown, depression, it is because you're so more aware of it and it's ready to release as well. Yeah. It's like, wow, this is no longer serving me. And I think I've heard a few sort of thought leaders talk about this is like we're going through a phase of letting go of control, and, and because of there's so much uncertainty in the world at the moment, it's freaking everyone out.

Like, you got elections, you got cost of living, you got wars going on. Like, there's so much up in the air. And because we're all so connected with, you know, Internet and you got AI stuff and you got all this stuff, and it's really freaking people out because it's all of a sudden, the world is not as safe or it's not as in control, or there's things happening, and that's shifting, and it's, you know, it's, it's unnerving for people, but in reality, you don't have any control.

You're sitting, like, I think Michael Singer said that you're sitting on a ball of dirt spinning around the middle of nowhere that's been here for 13.8 billion years or whatever, and you're just experiencing what's in front of you right now. Yeah. There's nothing to be scared of. And it's gonna shift and it's gonna change. When you try to cling and hold on to what you want reality to be on the outside.

That's where that, that comes in. Right. The key is, and the hard bit is you've got to be okay inside. No matter what's going on outside. That's freedom. Right. I'm not there yet. Right. I'm still a human. I think that's, you know, something I aspire to. Yes. Like, okay, how do I make it perfectly safe on the inside? So it doesn't matter what's going on outside, that I'm okay.

Yeah, no, that's great advice. I love it. Before we wrap up, one last thought or advice for anyone out there that has been finding themselves holding on to the thought and idea that things aren't working, things are hard, what should be their next steps? Yeah, I think, number one, just be kind to yourself. Get a gratitude practice, at least in the morning. Start to look at what you want your life to look at.

Like, I love to start with. Okay, what would be my ideal life? I'm not talking just business results. I'm like, if you could write out in a year from now, this is my life, and in great detail, write out like this, where I live, who I live with, where we go on holidays, this is what the business is doing, all those things. Write it out because you, you want to put out what you want.

And the thing with manifestation and like is writing out what you want and then visualizing it in detail. Because the thought puts it out there, the emotion draws it back in. And the third part of this is have complete trust and faith that that's happened or that's possible because that is actually, you know, if you look at quantum physics, that's a possibility in the future that actually happened.

You just need to move towards it. So you need that trust and faith, which is probably the hardest part. So we look at our current circumstances, then we look at where we want to go. Well, that's not possible because you can't see it because you're in the shit. But you've got to trust that that is actually possible. And then look at, okay, what's the one action I can take towards that right now?

Yeah. And start there. Yeah, I love it. One thing, one thing. You don't need the entire plan laid out in front of you. First step. No, when you take the first step, the next step will present itself and the next step. Yeah, I love that. So, so good. Awesome. Well, this has been fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing. Can you let people know where they can get their hands on one of these awesome journals and.

And where they can find more from you? Yeah, quite simply, you can go to Instagram, which is Oldunn Johldu double n spell to be with, and there's a link in the bio to the journal. Or you can go to jdmindsetcoaching.com dot au journal as well and get your hands on one. It's in australian dollars, all the US. You know, it's cheaper, but still the shipping is a bit of a pain.

But you know, you're not paying us dollars for it. Yeah. And yeah, if you reach out, if there's any questions, you know, dm me on Insta or, you know, email me. Joelmindsetcoachoaching.com dot au. Yeah, awesome. Thank you so much. I hope you guys enjoyed this conversation. And yeah, reach out to Joel, let him know how this impacted you. And I'll see you next week. Thank you.