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#115: Neal Bendesky: From 450 pounds to 17 half-marathons
465 Plays8 days ago
In this episode of the Kate Hamilton Health Podcast, I sit down with transformation expert, motivational speaker, and true wellness warrior Neal Bendesky. Neal’s journey is nothing short of extraordinary - from losing 199 pounds and surviving sudden cardiac arrest to overcoming cancer, he’s turned life’s biggest setbacks into incredible comebacks.
We chat about how Neal reimagined his entire lifestyle, what fueled his health revolution, and the seven life-saving principles he now lives by. Neal’s also an ambassador for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Running Series and the author of Never Too Late, a must-read guide to sustainable transformation. If you’ve ever felt stuck, defeated, or unsure where to start - this episode is your reminder that it’s never too late to change your life.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
[0:00] - Kicking off with Neal’s inspiring health journey
[0:45] - From 199 lbs lost to life-threatening health scares
[3:11] - Neal’s daily non-negotiables for wellness
[5:23] - The defining pivot points that sparked his transformation
[13:00] - Surviving sudden cardiac death — and what came next
[14:52] - Neal’s 7 principles for building a sustainable, healthy life
[19:55] - How nutrition and mindset go hand in hand
[24:28] - Finding strength through community support
[28:41] - Why setting the “Wellness Clock” beats chasing perfection
[36:15] - The mindset shift that changed everything
[41:03] - Conquering fear, and why courage isn’t the absence of it
[54:53] - Neal’s final message for anyone ready to take the first step
Links & Resources:
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with friends who might benefit. For more health and fitness tips, follow me on Instagram and TikTok @katehamiltonhealth.
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Transcript
Introduction to Neil Bendesky's Journey
00:00:09
Speaker
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Kate Hamilton Health podcast. And have I got a treat for you today. You are about to listen to the most incredible story of overcoming adversity, of survival and I would say fearlessness.
Neil's Transformation and Health Priorities
00:00:28
Speaker
In this episode, I interview Neil Bendesky and he is an absolutely fascinating character. He is a transformation expert, author and inspirational storyteller whose incredible journey is proof that it's never too late to change your life.
00:00:45
Speaker
A former sports marketing executive, Neil once lived in the fast lane. So, you know, that busy lifestyle until a series of life altering events forced him to make his health a priority.
00:00:57
Speaker
He reached a tipping point, as he called it, and started to change his lifestyle. He lost £199. one hundred and ninety nine pounds After he had lost most of that weight, he suffered a sudden cardiac arrest.
00:01:11
Speaker
He survived this sudden cardiac death from ah hereditary heart condition and has recently beat cancer. Despite all of this adversity that he's come through, Neil has completely reimagined his lifestyle.
00:01:24
Speaker
His commitment
Inspiration from 'Never Too Late' and One 99 Guy
00:01:25
Speaker
to showing up for himself has led to him completing 37 races and counting since his heart attack, including 17 half marathons.
00:01:35
Speaker
He's an ambassador for the Rock and Roll Running series. His story has been featured in People Magazine, Men's Health, Fitbit and Las Vegas Review Journal. He also has a book. Neil's book, Never Too Late, How a Lifestyle Reimagination Can Save Your Life is a step-by-step guide to overcoming obstacles, prioritising health and creating sustainable transformation.
00:01:58
Speaker
Through his One 99 Guy lifestyle platform, Neil is dedicated to inspiring others to take control of their own journeys, proving that no matter where you're starting from, real change is possible.
00:02:10
Speaker
In this podcast, he tells his story.
Daily Routines and Inspirations
00:02:13
Speaker
He also goes through his seven principles that saved his life and share them with you. You really are in for a treat.
00:02:20
Speaker
I hope you enjoy the episode as much as I did.
00:02:26
Speaker
Hi Neil, welcome to the podcast. Hey, it's my first time doing something live in Ireland, so I am super excited to be with you, Kate. Yes, I am so excited for this. So it's morning time where you are in Arizona, if I'm not mistaken.
00:02:40
Speaker
Arizona, USA. And thanks to you, I got to visit one of my favorite trainers. She's in my book, Never Too Late, Michelle. She just returned from hip surgery. So I saw, wow, I'm going to do your podcast. You know, it's 10.30, our time here, a little bit past.
00:02:56
Speaker
And she had an 8.45 class. I usually take a 10 o'clock class. I wanted to be on your thing, right? So I needed to,
Balancing Career and Health Challenges
00:03:03
Speaker
you know... Go see her, and it was great that I did, and here we are.
00:03:07
Speaker
Yeah, and you have your workout done, you're set up for the day. You're winning already today. I saw something that you did recently, Kate, that I thought was really cool. So I'll paraphrase it. You know, I call it the daily mores, right?
00:03:19
Speaker
Keep showing up, moving more. That's what we just did. Sleeping more, something I need to do better at. Okay. Drinking more water. There you go. Bingo bongo.
00:03:29
Speaker
Eating more vegetables. That is obviously big. And what we say at Orange Theory, after you do all those things, more life. Yes, I really believe that it is. If we stopped focusing on what we shouldn't have or what we shouldn't do or what we need to take away and we did focus on what we need to put in to our diets, into our exercise routines, into our lives, it is going to create more life, more happiness, more everything.
00:03:54
Speaker
Yeah, 100%. So here I was, a sports executive working for American football, you know, at one point at the University of Miami. We won national championships, which is pretty cool. you know, when you go on a plane, oh, did you play? her no I was an administrator, but I was a part of a great team, right?
00:04:13
Speaker
And, you know, i coach baseball, but more importantly, I put so much into my job that You know, here I was working in sports and I wasn't looking the part.
00:04:23
Speaker
I was
Identity Theft and Career Shifts
00:04:24
Speaker
over 400 pounds. I was actually at one point 450 pounds. So I tell people I was a prisoner of my job. I medicated my body with the drug of choice, food, right?
00:04:36
Speaker
And you know, a lot of times when you work in a sports venue, the fan food, I say this, fan food is not fuel food. And in other words, to fuel your body. So the hamburgers, the hot dogs, the pizza, those aren't positive nutrients for for your body.
00:04:54
Speaker
So it sort of escalated my scenario. Like you have three kids, we have two boys. My wife and I have been together over 40 years. We met at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
00:05:04
Speaker
So I tell people she was my gold medal, right? And you know jobs get us in different places around the United States. We were in South Florida. you know, Florida for over 23 years and we've been here in Arizona since 2015.
Kate's Health Transformation Journey
00:05:17
Speaker
So really what it comes down to is one day I hit that pivot point.
00:05:23
Speaker
So how did you do it? Because you lost 50 pounds and, you know, developed a whole new life. You were a teacher, right? I'm ah actually an adjunct professor at Boston College and that's pretty cool. But more importantly, what was your pivot point, you know, with your life? My pivot point came after I had my third baby and I really didn't look after myself in the run up to that pregnancy and through that pregnancy. And I ended up with an injury where in my pelvis where I had to, you know, do a lot of physio, I gained a lot of weight through that pregnancy and I just was at the heaviest I had ever been.
Pivotal Moments and Community Influence
00:05:55
Speaker
I just remember feeling so like it just betrayed by my body a little bit and really weak.
00:06:01
Speaker
And I was like, this is my day one. And it has been a long journey. That was like, we're talking the end of 2017. So it's been a long journey of lots of ups and downs, lots of imperfections, but just this conscious effort being like, I will live a healthy lifestyle in a balanced way and I will get to where I want to go and I will be the person that I want to be.
00:06:22
Speaker
You know, for me, i had two pivot points. So Walking you through my professional world, I was in South Florida. Like I said, my wife and I, Laura, had been together long time, and we were the victims of identity theft.
00:06:37
Speaker
So that really brought a big black cloud. We had two boys, and what are we gonna do, right? So i I had a friend of mine who's the athletic director of Boston College now, at the time, the University of Miami. We went out and had a burger, and we talked about, you know in order to get back in the game,
00:06:54
Speaker
You had to get in the game. And I said, OK. So I started applying for jobs on the college rank again, because this
Overcoming Health Crises
00:07:03
Speaker
had just destroyed us. you know So we ended up taking a job at the University of South Dakota.
00:07:09
Speaker
Prior to that scenario, I was basically, you know, as low as you could be. I'm sure there's a lot of your audience out there that can relate. Something emotional happens, you know, in this case, identity theft.
00:07:22
Speaker
Somebody has a death in the family. Somebody's not feeling as good about themselves. Those were all part of my program. So I moved to South Dakota. And to understand, South Florida has beautiful beaches and I was in Miami there last week. I'm only just was there too. I was just there. i I did one of my health events.
00:07:40
Speaker
So the Lexus corporate run. But more importantly, like we're talking about, it's beautiful. South Dakota, yeah there's days that's 50 below. So people would would say, why did you make that move? I said, well, I'm part of the witness protection program.
00:07:54
Speaker
I needed to make that move. And in all due respect, Those were really strong people. So one of the things that I talk about in this formula that is in my book, Never Too Late, is you start with motivation. You get motivated, right? Like you got motivated after your pregnancy.
00:08:12
Speaker
So in my case, you can't do it by yourself. So you have a community of people. behind you, and that's really, really important. And they show you the love and the support.
00:08:24
Speaker
In this case, I had Orange Theory Fitness. But before, long before I even got there, I was in South Dakota surrounded by some really good, strong, foundational people.
00:08:35
Speaker
And then and moved to St. Louis. and took a job at at the university at St. Louis University. And that
Family Support and Recovery
00:08:41
Speaker
was pivot point number one. Pivot point number one was we have a son who now is in the doctorate program at New York University. He's a scientist.
00:08:50
Speaker
And so he takes after my wife, right? So he was working at a pizza place. Now, I don't know about your listeners, ah but I love pizza. You like pizza?
00:09:00
Speaker
Okay. i looka I'm sure your kids love pizza, right? Right? yeah So our son is working at a pizza place. I was a binge eater. So I would eat two slices and I would sneak a third.
00:09:13
Speaker
And Justin comes out after my eating the two slices and he brings out a salad. And he says, Dad, I think it's time for a salad.
00:09:24
Speaker
And that resonated, you know, because a lot of us out there, another thing I talk about is I heard, but I didn't listen. You know, I heard, but I didn't listen. So the truth is, is that here I am, one pivot point, and then I get this gig, an indoor American football league here in Arizona, where I've been, you know, since 2015.
00:09:47
Speaker
I don't work for that group anymore, but one of my jobs was to get companies involved. And in this case, I got Orange Theory Fitness involved,
Health Scares and Miraculous Recoveries
00:09:56
Speaker
and it led to me joining it and...
00:09:59
Speaker
Initially, I failed. The first five weeks, I failed. So I had a 5X red top. This is an extra large. And I'm wearing it. And there's a little three-year-old, Max.
00:10:10
Speaker
He's my guardian angel, as I call him. And he ends up coming you know after he was waiting for his mom. He looks at me and he says, are you Santa Claus? My initial reaction wasn't PG-13.
00:10:22
Speaker
so I learned the value nutrition. So, so many of us think, oh, I'm just going to go to the gym, you know, especially those in January, the new year's resolution, right? I mean, that's 20% of the equation.
00:10:34
Speaker
So you get motivated. And then the next thing that comes into play is you're accountable. So in this particular case, I needed to be more accountable nutritionally, max,
00:10:46
Speaker
You know, made that comment. I went to the trainer at Arch Theory. He gave me some advice. I went on this miracle run. Listen, I shouldn't be here. I'll give you that sequence in a minute. But I lost 199 pounds in like 16 months.
00:11:01
Speaker
It's crazy. Let me stop you there for a second. 166 pounds. hundred and ninety nine pounds sury in fourteen months sixteen and Sorry, £199 in 16 months.
00:11:16
Speaker
That is absolutely incredible. Can I ask, what changes did you make? I just started, I had you know an app that we all can get, MySitnessPal. I started looking at my nutrients and my macros.
00:11:29
Speaker
There's a lot of miracle things that happen. I always tell people, you know and I'll get into that in a minute, but answering your question, there is a world headquarters for a supplement called Isagenix.
00:11:43
Speaker
Today, i don't use that isogenics, but then i did. And at the end of the day, that supplement helped me, you know, go through the process. I continue to do my exercise program.
00:11:56
Speaker
I actually got really motivated to do physical therapy, to do stretching, to do the cardio based workout that Orange Theory is. you know I don't know if you any of you listeners have been there, but the bigger picture is it has ah ah floor exercises, it has a water rower, and it has a treadmill, and it has a different theme every day.
00:12:17
Speaker
So today happened to be an endurance day. you know, with things that were related that the trainer will tell you to do. And the same thing, a power day or a strength day or an ESP, which is all three combined.
00:12:28
Speaker
So taking that scenario, I just showed up and did the work and really focused on different nutritional plans.
Overcoming Obstacles and Embracing Life
00:12:37
Speaker
I'll be honest to you, there was like seven different programs based on as things were changing in my body that I did. I didn't do surgery.
00:12:46
Speaker
I didn't do any any of the crazy drugs that you know that are out there. I just had a miracle happen. And because I felt like you know if I didn't, I was gonna die. you know I was one foot in the grave.
00:12:57
Speaker
So as it worked out, that happened. On August 2016, after I'd lost about a hundred and eighty seven pounds at that point And I'd lost 35 pounds in St. Louis, also by walking every day around a track it at my son Logan, our other son Logan's track.
00:13:17
Speaker
But at the end of the day, all this is coming together. And I do this TV interview. 30 minutes, Kate, after the TV drew left, I fell face forward. I had the Widowmaker, sudden cardiac death.
00:13:30
Speaker
They went and got the defibrillator. happened to be in Art's theory. They got the defibrillator. They turned me over. I wasn't breathing. All of a sudden I started breathing on my own. So less than 10% of the people do that.
00:13:40
Speaker
Less than 50% of the people come out of that. I did. I got taken to a hospital. Next day I had two stints put in and nine days later was back in the gym. So that was a miracle for me to do that.
00:13:53
Speaker
A, lose 199 pounds. second to basically survive sudden cardiac death. And more recently, Kate, I survived cancer. So I've kind of say that how many people out there in the audience have seen a miracle?
00:14:09
Speaker
Well, hello, because everyone in this audience is a miracle waiting to be unfolded. You just have to understand the process that it is. And what I find so fascinating about you is just listening to like your energy, like we're thousands and thousands and thousands of miles apart.
00:14:24
Speaker
And we're talking through the Internet here and I can feel your energy. And it's absolutely incredible. It's extremely positive. It's extremely energetic. And i firmly believe that this energy is a huge part of of why you've overcome everything that you've overcome.
00:14:40
Speaker
Well, thank you for that. I basically, I'm not sure how you want to take this for the for your show, because I want to do what is best for your audience. But, you know, obviously there's a recap of my life. I've given you some of that.
00:14:54
Speaker
But I also did the seven principles that saved my life and how it can save other people.
Community, Movement, and Resilience
00:15:00
Speaker
So what you just said is what you did, what I did,
00:15:05
Speaker
and a thank you for the positive comment. I embraced a lifestyle re-imagination. And what I mean by that is your habits are either building you up or burying you.
00:15:16
Speaker
In some cases, they're tearing you down. You need to choose wisely. I had to stop waiting for tomorrow and start living differently today. God doesn't call us to a life of mediocrity.
00:15:30
Speaker
He calls us for transformation. ah Romans 12, 2, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. I think I did that. Yeah, you definitely did. i felt So we're talking about this this cardiac arrest that you have is after you've lost 187 of the £199. So you've done the work, you've made that lifestyle change.
00:15:52
Speaker
In that moment, not in that exact moment, but in the moments, like in the days, weeks after that, I hear you say you were back in the gym fairly quickly. Did you have a moment where it was like, what was the point?
00:16:05
Speaker
No, I was more mad at myself. Nobody's ever asked me that question, so thank you for asking that, because it's something that's in my heart and my head. I remember there was a sign, like I had some discomfort right below my chest plate, and I should have known something was wrong.
00:16:22
Speaker
All right? So a lot of us, you know, we think we're Superman. When you've lost that much weight, Kate, and, you know, you've made those kind of miracle transformations, you kind of put yourself in a position that you think you're Superman.
00:16:36
Speaker
And when those things happened, I did not... react to it. So, you know, just like with what happened with me with my cancer, I reacted to it. So, you know, that's what I encourage people to do is use the medical field, the people around you to support you, but you got to be the advocate of your own program.
00:16:53
Speaker
And answering your question, I would say that I didn't have a doubt. I was more grateful because what my cardiologist, Dr. Deeb told me was, if I didn't do that, I wouldn't be here right now. So I'm thankful for that.
00:17:07
Speaker
I mean, the next thing that is is part of the principles is move your body every day. Okay. You talk about that. I mean, as a mom, you have a 7, 11 and 14 year old. Is that currently your world? 7, 11, Yeah. 15.
00:17:20
Speaker
Oh, 15. The young man took another year out. Okay. Yeah. all fifteen the fifth
Lifestyle Reimagination and Healthy Habits
00:17:25
Speaker
of the the young man yeah yeah took another year out okay yeah yeah is so So you're definitely moving every day. I mean, motion is light.
00:17:35
Speaker
Sitting still is a slow death. Nothing ever stays the same. Life is always changing. We're always changing. Our cells are always re renewing. And like, ah unfortunately, a lot of our jobs are sedentary. we So we need to put in that effort to create that movement like every day. I literally just put a reel out like yesterday. Was it being like, or was it like the other the podcast that I released this week? i was like,
00:17:57
Speaker
We are like dogs. We walk our dogs every day. what you know Our dogs need to be walked every day. We need to be walked every day, even for five, 10 minutes, whatever you can manage, but just be someone that walks every day.
00:18:08
Speaker
I say this too, after my heart attack, I felt like not only was I grateful, but I had an opportunity to share like what you're doing, right?
00:18:19
Speaker
Again, timing is everything. You know, I have certain jobs that I do, certain events that I do. Like I said, I'm a teacher at Boston College, you know, so I've kind of set my sights after the 21 months of dealing with side effects of cancer to even growing more opportunities like this one.
00:18:38
Speaker
So what did I do? i started running. I couldn't even walk around the block, right? I mean, it's like you talk about walking the dog. I tell people, go walk to your mailbox if you have that kind of situation. Just do something to get out.
00:18:54
Speaker
And I didn't start by running marathons. I mean, I've done one marathon, 17 half marathons, and a total of 37 races since my heart attack.
00:19:05
Speaker
yeah Like I said, I started by walking to my mailbox without losing my breath. The Bible says we fearfully and wonderfully made, Psalm 139.14, but we have to honor our bodies by moving them.
00:19:19
Speaker
So again, my second principle, move your body every day. What's the first principle? Okay, first principle was a mis... Embrace a lifestyle reimagination.
00:19:29
Speaker
Yes, lifestyle reimagination and principle to move your body every day. Right. The second thing I know you love, and I loved what you did recently when you talked about, don't be afraid of the labels, embrace them.
00:19:45
Speaker
You know, embrace understanding the different foods that are out there, but develop a plan. Right now, I'm going to take a little detour here because the third one is fuel yourself with the right foods.
00:19:58
Speaker
OK, but you might say to me, well, Neil, you're in sports. How did you get motivated to do, you know, this this whole wellness? And, this you know, I'm 67 years young right now.
00:20:11
Speaker
So here I was at 57. I was down and and low as can be 450 pounds, one foot in the grave. Right. I saw a movie that there's ah an actor that I think he transcends all over the all over the world.
00:20:26
Speaker
His name is Jeff Bridges. And he was in a movie that was called Crazy Heart. okay And there was a heartthrob that my wife would say, his name was Colin Farrell.
00:20:38
Speaker
And it was a country question. My wife saw him in ah in a Walgreens once and I thought she was going to die. right Oh, there he is, there is! Right? So, point I'm making is, Jeff was in this movie, and he was a country-western singer down in his life.
00:20:53
Speaker
Hello. He was 57, I was 57. ah Again, in the movie. His name was Bad Blake. He did a lot of things bad. He was an alcoholic.
00:21:05
Speaker
I was a binge eater, right? He's down on his luck. He's got a manager that also represents Colin Farrell. He's a very good songwriter. I'm a good plan writer.
00:21:15
Speaker
He wrote a song called The Weary Kind. It took off. It was a good song. okay At the end of the movie, after he writes this song, he goes to warm up Colin Farrell in what city?
00:21:29
Speaker
Phoenix. Where do I live? Phoenix, Arizona. okay So many ironies to this whole scenario. So as it plays through, at the end of the movie, he goes to get his first royalty check.
00:21:44
Speaker
And his manager was very proud of him. And he says, you know, congratulations. And he says, you know, I told you there's still gas in the tank. And that's what I feel. If you fuel your body with the right foods, you can go and say, every bite is either medicine or poison.
00:22:04
Speaker
What are you feeding yourself? I had to stop treating my body like a garbage dump. God has already given us the best nutrition plan in the world.
00:22:15
Speaker
It's called real food. And I think we need to make that switch where we actually are a little bit more mindful around food because I know myself, my clients, my listeners would very much be quite like lead lead quite busy lives. And it's very easy. And this will was probably you when you were in the sports marketing career where you were busy, busy, busy. And when you're busy, you don't have time to actually Sometimes you don't have time to eat. You're eating on the go. You're grabbing the quick stuff. You're, oh, I'm hungry. Right, i better eat again. And then by the time the evening comes, the cravings are real. And then you're just filling yourself up full of shit, basically, the whole time.
00:22:54
Speaker
And I think when we can make the switch that it's like, instead of, like I said earlier on, taking things away because we want to get skinnier or we want to get lighter or we want to lose weight. And we're it's like, what can I actually...
00:23:06
Speaker
fuel my body with? What can I nourish it with? And start to learn what your body needs and put things in. It's, I think, is is definitely the place to start. And then, like you said, from walking, like, with in relation to exercise, walking to your mailbox,
00:23:23
Speaker
to suddenly running marathons. The same with with nutrition. Just start with a little bit more vegetables. Start there and then take the next step when you're ready.
Sports Career and Community Motivation
00:23:31
Speaker
i have a friend because I don't really have a an organized business like you. I just like to help people.
00:23:37
Speaker
That's good. Drink more water. I like it. Right? Yeah, there you go. easy it not Anyone who's watching on YouTube, I don't know if you'll be able to see, did actually this is a Guinness glass. So it's a Guinness pint glass I'm drinking my water out of.
00:23:48
Speaker
Well, I have my Dutch Brothers stickered. My friend Daryl gave me this, my 199 guy glass. I put some electrolytes in, you know, for my workouts.
00:24:01
Speaker
So the next thing I want to share with you and your audience is kind of a step to the past. okay So I had to go see as a very special person in order to get clothes.
00:24:16
Speaker
I had to go see Omar the tent maker. This was my 62, size jeans that were part of my world. okay And I had to go see Omar to do it.
00:24:28
Speaker
So I needed to surround myself, number four, with the right people. Who you run with determines how far are you go. I gotta tell you, you said so many good things a minute ago, but being in sports, grab and go, kind of focused on my job, tunnel vision to, you know, we're there to to put things together. I worked with a famous baseball coach in the US, you would appreciate this.
00:24:53
Speaker
He kind of created entertainment the way I believe, and it's like, It's about G-rate entertainment. So you get on your knees if you're a promoter and you look at things from the perspective of a child.
00:25:06
Speaker
And if you get the child, you get the mother. Because i again, i have school programs. I call them MKS, Mothers, Kids, and Schools. So you get the moms, the kids, and then that's how you do the schools. But then at sporting events, you get the families.
00:25:25
Speaker
And it took a very... big transition because most of the people in my business thought, oh, we're going after the sports dollar. No, you need to go after the entertainment dollar.
00:25:37
Speaker
So that took a lot of effort to do that. So I had to basically find a new village, a village of people. Arnst Theory was was my village here in Arizona.
00:25:48
Speaker
you know, I've been a pogo stick in so many different ways in my, most of my life, but I say this to your audience, you can't do this alone. I needed people who challenged me, that inspired me, that wouldn't let me quit. I was on a podcast in the UK a couple weeks ago, and I asked the person what I asked you, Kate, in the beginning, what inspired you?
00:26:11
Speaker
And he says, well, My teenage son, he told, I wish I had his accent because it was glorious. And he said, you know, my teenage son was talking to his friend and said, my dad is lazy.
00:26:25
Speaker
You know, it hits you. So we all have a point where something could happen. And that's why God created community to help us carry the load.
00:26:36
Speaker
In this case, they wouldn't let me quit. Two are better than one. For if it either falls, one can lift the other one up. I'm sure you have that with your husband, with your kids.
00:26:49
Speaker
There's times and when you're doing what you're doing and a client, you know, you're thinking about that client and the power of that community, your family is so strong.
00:27:00
Speaker
Yeah, we've become so divided, you know, like online working and, you know, everyone's so busy and that community that was very physical thing, let's say 30 years ago is not there as much anymore. And I think people crave it. I think very much it's what we're missing in life.
00:27:16
Speaker
And I see it with our own online community within my coaching service and the women, and they are absolutely incredible how they help each other. And someone's having a tough day. Someone is there. to lend kind words, to encourage them and, you know, that virtual hand to pull them pull them up as they need that support. And I think we think that we have it all together. We think we can do it all ourselves.
00:27:38
Speaker
And it's amazing what we can achieve when we put our heads together. And we do it in a really kind way that sometimes we give each other that push we need. And then sometimes it is just about being kind to me, like, stop trying to be so perfect. It's OK to fall down.
00:27:52
Speaker
And what I would love to hear is your perspective on i I'm always telling people that, you know, this is a long journey, losing weight, getting healthy. This is a lifelong journey. Even when you get there, you're keeping it for life.
00:28:04
Speaker
And it's not about being perfect. So when I talk a lot about consistency, you have to be consistent. You have to be patient. But I think there's a misconception in consistency that consistency is perfection. And I'm like, consistency is constantly picking yourself up every time you fall down.
00:28:19
Speaker
what you're saying is 100% spot on. In my case, there wasn't perfection because you reach plateaus. And I also like, I say this often, I don't believe in the D word.
00:28:33
Speaker
If you're in this for a diet, this isn't what what it is, okay? It's like I have you know other things that I'll share over time, but think about something as a mom, okay?
00:28:44
Speaker
I'm gonna say this as a dad. So I call it your wellness clock. Your
Challenging Goals and Personal Transformation
00:28:49
Speaker
clock is ticking, right? You put yourself in a position where, when if you're like me,
00:28:56
Speaker
My mom would say, Neil, I want you eat everything on your plate. And I did. And she also just said, hey, put your napkin on your lap too. But then you get to become a parent and your child goes and plays soccer or volleyball or baseball or softball.
00:29:14
Speaker
And it's your family's turn to bring the drinks, right? Or bring the snacks. And what do you bring? A sugar-based drink and you know a cookie or bag of chips.
00:29:24
Speaker
And then for those that are little more athletic, they go play in high school. Here in the States, if you win a game on the road, away game, where does the coach take you?
00:29:35
Speaker
To Mickey D's or Burger King, right? And and you're you're rocking it right. And then if you're really a gifted athlete, you get to a college and they, not today, it's better, but back in my day, from a foundational standpoint, and this is where my focus is to answer your question, is that you're in a smorgasbord. You can eat whatever you want.
00:29:58
Speaker
So I tell people, based on your comment, that in your wellness clock is a formula for failure. Your foundation has not been set up right.
00:30:09
Speaker
So that's why people like you, people that inspire others like I try to do, we're in a position to help you understand that what you did is not what you need to continue to do.
00:30:21
Speaker
And you need to move on from these different things. So for me, you know, the fifth thing that came into play was setting goals that scare you. Basically, if your goals don't stretch you, they won't change you.
00:30:36
Speaker
The things that you're describing, you put yourself in a position. Listen. At 450 pounds, running even a mile seemed impossible.
00:30:46
Speaker
Now I run half marathons. Don't let fear keep you from dreaming big. I can do all things that Christ who strengthens me. So I found strength in my community. I found strength in my village.
00:31:00
Speaker
I found strength in my beliefs. So those type of things, when you are what you described as far as those situations that put you in a position to figure it out, your plan should not be about a diet.
00:31:15
Speaker
Your plan should be a lifestyle reimagination. And in my particular case, here I am 60, I'm try to think of my age, about four years ago,
00:31:27
Speaker
maybe like three and a half now,
Motivation and Accountability in Health
00:31:29
Speaker
COVID came. So COVID caused me to gain 20 pounds. So here I am, Mr. 199 guy, lost over at the and my total weight loss at one point was 261 pounds.
00:31:40
Speaker
I'm a big bone guy. So the lowest I was was 189.4. Okay. And that's what I weighed in at. So I end up and I want to be vulnerable right here because ultimately I go and I get diagnosed with cancer.
00:31:55
Speaker
So I go to, you know, to Mayo, which is one of the best hospitals in the world, Kate. And I say to Dr. Ragama, my radiation oncologist, dude, the one thing I don't want is I don't want to gain weight.
00:32:08
Speaker
So I was required to do radiation and a hormonal shot. The hormonal shot didn't work. I gained 50 more pounds. So here I am.
00:32:19
Speaker
I'm really upset. I wouldn't have been on your podcast. I was i was embarrassed. okay I had spoken this brand. I had gone through, like you said, such success.
00:32:29
Speaker
But then there was failure. Forget the foundational failure. This is real life you know cancer. Beat cancer. Be grateful. But at the end of the day, this was going on. So what did I do?
00:32:40
Speaker
I end up recently. putting my mind to it. And since mid-November, I've lost 40 pounds. So I'm i'm on my way back.
00:32:51
Speaker
I'm not where 100% where I want to be. And yes, I'll be perfectly frank with you. I did a compound Monzero. I'm doing it through my doctor's scenario. And it's By the same token, there's exercise involved. I do, Arnst Theory, you know, like I was gonna bring this up, and we're talking about community.
00:33:09
Speaker
There was a ah young lady and we did an eight week transformational challenge. And she's probably in her 50s, you know, I'm in her 60s. And she was part of this community that we all shared recipes and and positive motivational tips and stuff like that.
00:33:27
Speaker
And at the end of the eight weeks, I lost 4% body fat and gained 2% muscle mass. But she did better and she needed to win. And she did. I mean, she had like cottage cheese eggs for a flat bread that...
00:33:44
Speaker
just knocked your socks off. So all these positive things were coming into play in my life again. You have to have your mind out there because, again, back to my book, Never Too Late, and the formula, motivation plus accountability, we've discussed that,
00:34:02
Speaker
Then you get into the mode of sustainability. That's what you're doing right now. You're not only helping your clients, but you're a walking billboard of success based on three kids, managing a husband, managing a business, all these different things that you're doing.
00:34:18
Speaker
you know Together, we're sitting here trying to inspire an audience to say, It could be you! From that standpoint, I'm a movie buff because when I did sports, I used to create entertainment. I said that earlier.
00:34:30
Speaker
And one of the movies that I talk about is the movie that Morgan Freeman and Jim Carrey were in. It was called Bruce Almighty. If your kids haven't seen that movie, they'll like it, okay?
00:34:42
Speaker
And in that movie, Morgan Freeman plays God. And he says, if you want to see a miracle, you got to be a miracle. And I believe everybody in this audience is a miracle waiting to be unfolded.
00:34:54
Speaker
So it starts with setting your goals that scare you. So that's number five principle that saved my life. Setting goals that scare you. What I love about your journey so far as well in relation to setting goals, like that this is an incredibly inspiring story, you know, going from 400 pounds to running like marathons and endless half marathons and, you know, everything that you've achieved.
00:35:19
Speaker
It's not this perfect story of like, I decided I'd change and then, and now I'm here. It's like, we're talking heart failure. We're talking cancer. We're talking gaining nearly 50 pounds again.
00:35:29
Speaker
that, that It's a real up and down process. And hopefully for for most people, they don't experience the same level of adversity that you've had to overcome. But, you know, life, this is life. And I think we envision this weight loss, health and fitness journey as being perfect.
00:35:46
Speaker
But life is not perfect. And the older we are, which, that you know, that we're lucky to get as we get older, the more life that we've we've lived, the more adversity we're going to come across. And like, it you know, it's inevitable. We're all going to fall down every now and again. Things are going to come in the way.
00:36:01
Speaker
This journey needs to fit into that imperfect life. And we need to be OK with there being ups and downs. And that's what I think is so incredibly inspiring about your story is your ability to get back up and go again.
Mental Strength and Overcoming Fear
00:36:14
Speaker
Well, thank you. And it leads right into number six. Train your mind to win. Your body won't go where your mind hasn't been first. You got to see it to believe it to do it, right?
00:36:28
Speaker
The hardest battle isn't physical. It's mental. I had to break the lies I told myself. I'll do it tomorrow. You know, like I have this thing in my book. It's called can't words.
00:36:39
Speaker
You know, and a lot of times people that have kids like you, you know, when they want to go to a gym, what do they'll say? Oh, I can't. I can't do it. Well, gyms have daycare.
00:36:51
Speaker
Right. Or it costs too much money. Right. That's a can. What a can is invest in yourself. So the mental side of it is you'll never change.
00:37:02
Speaker
You're too far gone. That's not God talking. That's fear talking. So train your mind to win. For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but power and love of self-discipline.
00:37:16
Speaker
You have it within you to create that discipline. Yeah, just have to let go the stories. It's the ego that we've built up over time. This narrative that we tell ourselves, I can't do this. I don't have enough money. I can't. I've no one to help. But whatever the reasons are, there's always way around it. And also just because you think something doesn't mean it's true.
00:37:39
Speaker
That's been life changing for me. I like that. Say that again. That's a very strong statement. Just because you think something doesn't mean it's true. I just wanted to interrupt the podcast for a moment to talk to you a little bit about Kate Hamilton Health online coaching.
00:37:56
Speaker
So we have two coaching options available. We have our elite coaching and we have our group coaching service. Our elite coaching service is bespoke individualised coaching, which will help you to finally break free from diet culture with one-to-one, anytime support from your coach and with access to a safe, supportive community.
00:38:18
Speaker
This is a higher ticket coaching option and the coaching is by application only. If you go to my website, KateHamiltonHealth.com, you will be able to apply for elite coaching through there and we will be in touch to organise a call and to get you up and running.
00:38:34
Speaker
In relation to our group coaching, our group coaching starts on the first Monday of every month. When it's full each month, we do close the doors. With the group coaching is about building the habits, body and energy of the healthiest version of yourself and finally make it stick.
00:38:51
Speaker
We include personalised calories and portions, food lists, recipes, meal plan ideas, step goals, home or gym based workouts, depending on what you want, changed every eight weeks.
00:39:05
Speaker
Mindset work, app access. So that's the Kate Hamilton Health app, which will be your hub for everything. Weekly yoga classes, WhatsApp group community. weekly group Q&A with myself, fun challenges, daily habits form, weekly self check-in, fortnightly check-ins with your coach, a library full of lifestyle guides, a library full of lessons, seminars, and all of this is updated regularly.
00:39:31
Speaker
We have a weekly group Zoom calls with myself and the team, regular guest seminars where we get experts on to talk more to you about different topics that we need experts on for.
00:39:42
Speaker
And then we have in-person events twice a year that you will get at a major discount as being a member of the Kate Hamilton Health community.
Vulnerability, Help, and Positive Perspective
00:39:50
Speaker
So then, as I said, this starts the first Monday of every month. If you go to my website, KateHamiltonHealth.com, you will see when the next group coaching intake is starting for you.
00:40:02
Speaker
So we close the doors as soon as that intake is full or the Monday before the group coaching starts. So usually that last Monday of the previous month.
00:40:13
Speaker
So if you head over to Kate Hamilton health dot com, all of that information that I've talked through is on the website. You'll be able to book your spot for the next intake there. And I will chat to you all then.
00:40:26
Speaker
usually end podcast with this. I'm going to insert this for you. And this is something I created. OK, it's called an Attitude. And it starts with your attitude.
00:40:37
Speaker
And attitude's like a flat tire. If you don't fix it, you don't go very far. Think about it. I had a flat tire. I fixed it. And I had to fix it again, because that's the way life is.
00:40:51
Speaker
You know, yeah you're going to have flat tires along the the journey. And in this particular case, but it's got to start with your mind, your attitude. What I want to ask you actually, because like what you've been through is what a lot of people fear, you know, something is happening with their heart, you know, having sudden cardiac arrest is probably as as scary as it gets, then cancer on top of it.
00:41:13
Speaker
Did you feel fear in the aftermath of these diagnoses? And how did you manage to separate yourself from that fear? Well, a big part of it was community.
00:41:24
Speaker
So, you know, at the end of the day, making that decision that we talked about earlier, surrounding yourself with the right people, that comes into play. Listen, I did a lot of nice things in sports for people.
00:41:37
Speaker
And yesterday, you know, obviously with HIPAA here in the States, i I'm careful about this, but, you know, somebody called me and I just visited with them and in my jammy, as I call it. You know, I talked about this process of being diagnosed with cancer in 2016 and then being told that a male has 12 vials and one of the 12 had 3%.
00:42:04
Speaker
And then all of a sudden, that PSA number started increasing and all of a sudden now was in two vials. And then I learned what's called the Gleason score, which so many guys don't understand. One in six males are going to get some form of cancer in their lives.
00:42:22
Speaker
okay But in my particular case, this was a process. So in 2022, November of 2022, when I found out that my numbers were in the intermediate range and I needed to do something, then I had to research the What was I gonna do based on my situation?
00:42:39
Speaker
So back to your you know a question with respect to, did I have a fear? did i you know Did I get upset? We all do. During COVID, I was on a group chat or you know we'd have a weekly session, like I'm sure you've had with different people that you've helped.
00:42:56
Speaker
And the thing I've learned is to be vulnerable. If you are vulnerable, You put yourself in a position to be able to accept all things that come your way.
00:43:09
Speaker
And in this particular case, you're right. Losing a lot of weight was, in a miracle amount of time, was amazing. Overcoming sudden cardiac death, like you said, we fear it.
00:43:21
Speaker
I mean, I actually was on a bench. And this going to sound a little morbid, but it's what I did. I fell face forward. After that happened, was taken in an emergency vehicle.
00:43:32
Speaker
I wake up in the ER and the doctor says some things to me. And I said, Dr. McKenna, just give me 15 minutes. I'll be fine. I had no knowledge.
00:43:43
Speaker
Now, you said passion. I also am a salesman. OK, so my wife, smart, Laura, she calls up the football coach, you know, for the team that I was working for at the time, Kevin Guy of the Arizona Rattlers.
00:43:57
Speaker
And he looks at Dr. McKenna and says, this is a, he used another word, salesman. Don't let him convince you. Otherwise he's staying overnight.
00:44:08
Speaker
Now I basically have this first cardiologist come in. And again, we all fear like we, I don't know anything, but I know I had given to the community, which is a real important part about being engaged.
00:44:21
Speaker
I call it CEO cornerstones. where you're the CEO of your, you know, in the beginning of your life, then you're the CEO of your community. You get your first job. You're, you know, you're hanging out in the community.
00:44:32
Speaker
Then you're the CEO of your legacy because you want to learn that it's most important thing is about your business. ability to help other people find their personal legend.
00:44:43
Speaker
And then like where you are, where I am, you're the CEO of your family and and you evolve in those types of
Mindset, Moderation, and Community Support
00:44:50
Speaker
situations. But if you don't have your health, you don't have any of those things. Right.
00:44:55
Speaker
So all these things that, you know, we all have, we fear about having a heart attack. You said it well, yeah we fear about fitting into a, ah if you're my way at that time, you didn't fit into a booth, into a restaurant. You didn't fit into your airline seat. You didn't sit into your Omar the Tent Market Maker clothes, right?
00:45:16
Speaker
so So it's like, what do you do? what What you do is you put yourself in a position to understand that when it really comes down to it you've trained your mind to win.
00:45:28
Speaker
And then the thing that really is the seventh thing that I did, trust that God is not done with you. If you're breathing, God's got a plan for you. And that's kind of what happened.
00:45:40
Speaker
Realize that this was part of a plan. However you want to break it down with whatever other people dealt with, what I had to deal with, whatever it may be, what it really comes down to, Kate, is Here, yeah, I had fears. Yeah, I had disappointments. Yeah, I was worried.
00:46:01
Speaker
You know, I didn't know if I was going to see the next day. My clock was ticking. So before it hit zero, zero, zero and in the sports world, I needed to do something about it. And i like I said,
00:46:13
Speaker
I heard, but I didn't listen. So I needed to surround myself with the right people. I said that earlier. And those type of things came into play. But if I dealt with it individually, like I thought I had to, if I just showed up at the gym, which is what I thought I had to do, which is only 20% of the equation, if I did those things, I was not going to be on this podcast with you.
00:46:36
Speaker
Very much keeping yourself in the present moment. in the aftermath of these situations rather than projecting too far in the future where it leads to worry and fear. and Like, what can I do right now?
00:46:48
Speaker
i mean, it makes me tear up a little bit just whenever I think about sharing this story with an audience and helping them realize it's OK to have some of these issues come up.
00:47:02
Speaker
It's OK. to be overweight. But then again, somebody may say, oh, that's nice. You know, he lost daughter over 199 pounds. I don't have 199 pounds, Lewis, but let me tell if you it's use work hard in your life and you gain 10 pounds,
00:47:19
Speaker
Then you gain 20 pounds. 20 becomes 30. 30 becomes 40. And then at 50 pounds overweight, you're in a space where are you able to enjoy everything you did in your lifetime to support your family, to support yourself, to support your friends?
00:47:35
Speaker
Did you do everything you could? Because if you're in that at that weight in that situation, you're going to have limitations. You're not going to be able to enjoy your grandkids. You're not going to be able to to run with your son. I used to say ah that was a dream of mine. you know I want to go run with my son, right?
00:47:52
Speaker
And in all due respect, neither one of well, Justin, the older one, is is is a runner. But I used to take a big pride out of the fact that Logan when I would run, I'm ambassador for the Rock and Roll Running Series.
00:48:04
Speaker
And in saying such, there's a race here in Arizona. And it used to always fire me up that Logan would drive me down and drop me off. And then my wife would come pick me up and catch me at the finish line. So you make things that maybe you never thought you could do even better by having these goals. So nutrition gives you some set of goals, but then as you get more into it, like you know if I wanted to run, like I did, I had to reach a level where I was able to train. Because you just don't show up.
00:48:36
Speaker
you know It's just like nutrition. You're gonna lose a one, or like in my current situation, I'm losing like a pound or two a week. That's fine. That's within moderation.
00:48:46
Speaker
And that's what I tell people when they first get started. Don't go on a diet. Don't go sit there and and count your calories. start moderating. If you can start with a simple moderation of whatever you're doing right now. So in my case, three pieces of slices of pizza became two.
00:49:04
Speaker
Okay. And then you start to build momentum for yourself and it makes you feel so much better. And obviously the people around you are going to celebrate you. I tell people, hang with people that celebrate you, not tolerate you. Yes.
00:49:17
Speaker
Love it. What is the next principle? What have we, we've gone as far as six, have we? Trust that God is not done with you. So I started saying I was supposed to be another statistic.
00:49:31
Speaker
Instead, God gave me a second chance. If you're here listening to this, so do you. Your past does not define you.
00:49:42
Speaker
Your mistakes do not disqualify you. It's never too late, the name of my book, to become who you are meant to be.
Personal Impact and Overcoming Fear
00:49:52
Speaker
Jeremiah 29 11 says, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to give you hope and a future.
00:50:02
Speaker
I'm a firm believer that we are all put on this planet to contribute, to contribute. And we all have different personalities. We all have different traits. We all all have different strengths and weaknesses. And we quite often focus on what we're not good at and what we can't do rather than really exploring what what am I good at? Am I a good communicator? Am i good artist? Am I a good athlete? Am i a caring, kind person? like You know, whatever the qualities are.
00:50:28
Speaker
And then how can I make the world around me? And i I think a lot of times people try and aim really big where it's like, I need to change the world. It's like, you need to change your world. Like, so you need to change your inner world first, how you kind of perceive life, how you perceive yourself, your challenges. And then just it it shines out of you and then you can help the people around you and when you're unapologetically yourself looking to serve others you give other people permission to do the same and I just I'm a firm believer right now it's very probably simplified really but I do believe that it will make a huge difference and I think that any of us that are breathing right now we're breathing for a reason and we really need to make the most of that
00:51:10
Speaker
I'm gonna say this, you know, in taking number seven and recapping everything. I'm living proof that no matter how far gone you think you are, I was. It's never too late to turn things around.
00:51:22
Speaker
Your transformation starts now. now Just to share this with you, this is my book, Never Too Late. Sorry for the the lighting thing here. But you can see that was me my best, you know in the bigger picture.
00:51:37
Speaker
And in the red top, that was the 5X top. In that picture, actually, I was 4'15", 6. My biggest weight was And... and You know, look, last night I was talking to another friend that's a client in a sense, and he says, i have trouble getting motivated, getting off the couch.
00:51:56
Speaker
And I said, young man, it's time to go from the couch to the concrete. But I'm not going to tell you when. If you just go walk 50 yards, like we talked about earlier, the mailbox or something like that.
00:52:10
Speaker
And the next day you do five more. And the next day you do five more. It's a form of cross training. if If you start, I don't know what you teach your clients, but I had a ah group that said, train like an Olympic athlete.
00:52:23
Speaker
So if you start by walking, do 18 minutes. three minute segments and the last 30 seconds, do it as fast as you as you can, right? and And I do a thing called chi running, chi walking, chi running, and it's wrist to rib, so it's not full extension of your arms.
00:52:42
Speaker
It's not fully extending your knees, which is less strain on your joints. Your strike point is the middle to the back of your foot. You can look it up at CHI. And ah Lisa Pozzoni was a coach that here in Arizona, she shared that with me.
00:52:54
Speaker
And actually, Kate, we talk about doing things for our community, for inspiration. You have, like you mentioned now, three three beautiful kids, right? And at the end of the day, i have that heart attack.
00:53:06
Speaker
So I call Lisa up and I said, you know, I want to try something. I want to do something to get people motivated. I'm going to get sponsors. I'm going to run ah marathon.
00:53:19
Speaker
Now, that was the only marathon I've done. So I started where I had my heart attack. What year was this, 2016? 2016 was the heart attack. So August 2nd, a year later, Lisa and her ah boyfriend, Greg, took my truck because we had to you know like run it like was we had support, right? So here they have these canals with trails.
00:53:43
Speaker
So Lisa mapped out the race. I ended up doing an ultra, 26.9 twenty six point nine miles She would tell you, I never really trained for that, and I wouldn't recommend that, but it was one of those things, and you might like this, it's will versus skill.
00:54:00
Speaker
So my will got me through it, right? So I end up running to the American Heart Association offices or complex that has a children's museum.
00:54:13
Speaker
And it was glorious. I get through it. They have a big crowd of people waiting for me. I was so happy, you know, and the American Heart Association brings out a big scientist survivor because I was.
00:54:26
Speaker
But what was more glorious about the the situation is let people know that you should celebrate your life. And all these things that may happen along the way are part of where you got to fail to succeed.
00:54:41
Speaker
And we've all done it, right? In this case, I had some real strong adversity situations that came up. But, you know, at the end of the day, it's it it wasn't going to define me, right?
00:54:53
Speaker
From everything that we've talked about today, How would you like to conclude this very good session with, we talked about the seven principles that saved my life that hopefully can save somebody in the audience, whether it's one or two, whatever you put that graphically up, you know, to do that.
00:55:10
Speaker
I have many other things that I share with people, but you know, for today's podcast, I want to capture whatever you want to do at the end here. I think my big takeaway from our whole conversation and from you sharing your story, and it's interesting because this is a very, very much a default of mine that I'm doing a lot of work with a coach to release at the minute.
00:55:32
Speaker
My default is fear. And it comes all the way back to my like four year old self. Fear is just my automatic when in any type of situation and I catch myself now and I'm able to separate from it.
00:55:44
Speaker
But I think the message I get from your story is the only thing that's going to hold you back in life is is fear. And when you can learn to to meet it head on, it's not as scary as you think. And you can do a hell of a lot more than you actually think.
00:56:02
Speaker
Well, you're right. And I also say, if you quit, you don't have a chance. Because so many of us think about that fear and we think about quitting.
00:56:15
Speaker
Trust me, more recently, I had that thought, you know, my face is bigger, ah my belly is still big, but it's it's it's less big, right?
00:56:26
Speaker
You know, I tell people i was fat and I'm less fat, okay? Because I have fun with this. I want this to be fun. This is not something that you should take on as, oh, I fear it.
00:56:39
Speaker
yeah And it's going to be a lot of work. You'd be surprised, you know, once you get going, how good you feel. And I'm experiencing that right now. That's why I'm so excited about being on with you.
00:56:51
Speaker
And you have something in your hand. that everybody has an opportunity to deal with. And it's a pen. You have a chance to write a script of what you wanna do. I said this in the beginning of the podcast, you know what I liked about something you said, and and I looked at it and I said, let's start with the Daily Moors.
00:57:12
Speaker
Keep showing up, moving more, sleeping more, drinking more, water, eating more vegetables. And guess what?
00:57:23
Speaker
If you do that, it will give you more life. And guess what? Isn't that what we're all about? We want more life. We want to be there for our kids. We want to be there for our grandkids.
00:57:35
Speaker
We want to be there to experience positive things.
Final Thoughts and Engagement
00:57:38
Speaker
When your 15-year-old son goes and plays a sport or goes and is isn in a band or has an academic thing, you want to be there for him, right?
00:57:47
Speaker
Because let me tell you, as a parent, I'll i'll leave you with this thought. Okay, so think about what I said earlier about the CEO cornerstones, right? And let's take the evolution of things that happen, fear, you said it, and at the same time, you have others in your life.
00:58:06
Speaker
So what happens? In the beginning, okay, you want to, yeah like my wife would say, oh, you need to come to that parent-teacher conference, right? You know, you might say that to your husband, right?
00:58:18
Speaker
He's busy with work, whatever. you want to spend time with your kids, right? And then you get to a point where they they get a little older and like you're 15 year old, i don't know what the driving age is in Ireland, but you know, 16 or 17, depending on the state here in the in the United States.
00:58:35
Speaker
And what happens is but you put up a scenario where you need to be home at 12 o'clock or whatever it may be. And so you're into discipline. But ultimately, the most important thing that you want to be in a position to do, at least me as a parent, and the way I feel, and the way Laura, my wife, feels, is that, yeah, it's good that you spent time with your kids, right?
00:58:56
Speaker
It's good that you were a disciplinarian with your kid. But at the end of the day, what is the most important thing that you do One word, and that's sacrifice. Sacrificing so your children can be a better echo of you.
00:59:11
Speaker
What an amazing way to finish. Neil, thank you so much for such an amazing conversation. So, so, so inspiring. If people would like to find out a bit more about you, your book, where's the best place to find the book? And Instagram for Amazon for your book.
00:59:28
Speaker
Yep. And it is called... We'll put all the details in the show notes anyway. it's It's Never Too Late. Never Too Late by Neil. With a number two in the middle of never and late.
00:59:39
Speaker
Okay. So that's something that we created. Shout out to Kelly Cole, my publisher, Books for Athletes, who gave me this opportunity to be with you. Okay. Amazing. and And at the same time, you know, be together.
00:59:52
Speaker
Listen, I will tell you this off the air. You know, what you're doing for your audience is inspiring. So keep doing Bravo. Thank you so much.
01:00:06
Speaker
I just want to say thank you so much for listening to the podcast. And I would just ask for one thing from you, if at all possible, could you make sure that you subscribe to the podcast? It really does make such a difference.
01:00:19
Speaker
If there's a particular episode that you've enjoyed, please do share it in your WhatsApp groups, share it on your stories, tag myself and the guest. in your stories. All of these things really do help to grow the podcast. And obviously, if there's anything you'd like to reflect on, please do leave a comment. It would mean the world to me and I will see you on the next one.