Life Long Learner

This week the fellas start with a sunrise.... They chat about new toys, adventures in Warburton and Barhma, muddy waters, flights to Sydney, fuel prices.  Join us as a we have a good ole fashioned chinwag.  For more updates and to subscribe head to - lifelonglearnerpodcast.com Facebook Instagram Youtube hello@lifelonglearnerpodcast.com

..... For more updates and to subscribe head to - lifelonglearnerpodcast.com Facebook Instagram Youtube hello@lifelonglearnerpodcast.com

Happy New Year! This is our first episode of the new year. We dive into a range of topics we touch on the notion and importance of getting away from the noise. The fellas chatted about their recent camping trip and touched on their upcoming one for Australia Day.  We live in a noisy world with lots of distractions around us. It is easy to get sucked in by the noise. They chat about either it being a generational thing or just an individual thing of certain things being put in the 'too hard' basket. When the effort is not put in. Often the easy option is to say no, "I won't go here, or commit to this and that.'' Often the effort is worth the reward, but you have to be able to put yourself out there. We going the value of believing in other people. The affect that it has on them is truly unknown, BJ Palmers quote, " We never know how far-reaching something we may think, say or do today will affect the lives of millions tomorrow." This rang true with Robin Sharma, where one of his teachers showed some b

Ep. 55 Out of class - Running shoes, Champions in our worlds and environments.  This week unfortunately Matt is missing in action, but Ben and Gines catch up on what has been present in their worlds.  Gines shares his recent experience at Surf Coast Century 50k trail race. Which creates a great segway to champions in our world. Who is it for you that is your champion, the person that pushes to be better, to continue to show up when you don't want to?  For more updates and to subscribe head to - lifelonglearnerpodcast.com Facebook Instagram Youtube hello@lifelonglearnerpodcast.com

Let's start with an apology for the short hiatus. Firstly we chose not to air an episode we recorded. Listen in to find out more! Secondly, Life has been quite hectic.  But here we are!  This week we chat about the challenges in our world and how it is time to ramp up and double down in these current times. Traditionally this is a time that Australi starts to slow down. However, this is a year where doubling down will help reap benefits while others will only start to gain momentum early next year.  The fellas chat about the excuses coming out of lockdown had led to zero behaviour change. This can be linked to people losing their 'why'.  For more updates and to subscribe head to - lifelonglearnerpodcast.com Facebook Instagram Youtube hello@lifelonglearnerpodcast.com

Gines, Matt and Ben get together again for an Out Of Class edition episode.  This week the fellas talk about the flow of their days, in terms of if they are morning people or late nights type of people. Interesting chat about productivity, optimism, and general mindset.  Ben shares the need to catch every sunrise and how it fuels him for the day. He is catching nearly every sunrise in the week and 3 to 4 of them are outdoors. Gines shares the morning sense of peace before everyone else is up. Where everything seems to a little bit slower and quieter.  Matt talks about his friendly skateboarder demeanour, where he will strike a conversation with anybody anywhere. He sees it as an opportunity to have a connection with another human. It is a playful character that he brings on and suggests for people to try.  Gines chats about the analogy of trying to strike connection and they are not hitting the ball back. Are they not hitting the ball back or did they miss it?  Ask the question,lean

Gines is joined by guest Niro Dayalan in this week's episode Niro is was once upon a time a CIO and led a corporate lifestyle, however realised that was not a match for him. Currently, Niro is a business owner, Freedom coach, Life strategist, speaker, and cousin to Gines. They chat about how Niro's company, Unkonventional came about and how the name says it all. Niro shares his story of how his own life followed an unconventional path at every turn even from a young age. At a turning point, he realised it is not about fitting  into a conventional life but rather to belong.  Gines explores the question of even when people are unhappy in their current situation most people choose not to do anything about it. The fact is that we are used to it.  Niro explains his teaching of dharma. Dharma in transcript means fingerprint of the soul. Dharma is about getting in alignment. Niro chat to us about getting into alignment. Step one -  being done with the current life experience, step two - is lear

Matt, Gines and Ben get back together this week for another Out Of Class chat. They chat about segregation with age. At school, there is clear boundaries. They chat about, when you get older the gap between ages reduces. The separation gets less when that transition happens to adulthood. This happens quicker when you are swimming with adults. Much like learning a new skill or upskilling. You get better when you are surrounded by people around you.    Matt shares when he was younger he thought he knew everything. The typical 18-year-old bravado, then a switch occurred. Ben explores is it an age thing or is it a defining moment.  Ben talks about the time he fell out of the palm tree. Until then he felt unstoppable, where the world revolved around him. It was a saga in getting Ben to hospital in Fiji. Post fall and crushing his heel, it was a dark time. There was an identity shift as the recovery took longer than expected. The moment realising that he was not in control was devasting.  Gines

This week Gines is joined by international guest, Erik Allen. Erik Allen was raised in a broken home, battled addictions, jailed at 18, bankrupt at 21 only to turn everything around.  Erik is 16+ years sober, is a husband and father, podcaster, speaker, & now helping up and coming MMA fighters & entrepreneurs get known and noticed online. Gines and Erik talk about Erik’s journey growing up, his challenges with drugs and alcohol and how he used them as a coping mechanism. They explore the notion that the majority of society, when they are down and out, it is hard to ‘see’ opportunity. They are not open to it and often say, “It is different for me…” People get stuck in their cycles. This is strongly determined by who you surround yourself by. They are either going to pull you down and stay comfortable or make you level up. The level of comfortability is attractive to the majority of people. To break the cycle is to get uncomfortable. Success happens by stretching yourself and getting out of your co

Out of class is a new segment of the Life Long Learner podcast. Out of class is the informal conversation between Gines, Matt, and Ben. The fellas this week chat about what is going on in their worlds at the moment. Matt chats about making the most of the recent great weather and putting physical activity and freedom as a number one priority. They explore the notion of systems in business and life to free up the time to give more freedom. Ben talks about the challenges in ‘getting it right’ and why we make things way more complicated than it needs to be. Especially nutrition, eating has become super complicated. They asked what did, ‘they used to do in the old day…?’ Is there are a part of the ego coming out to solve a complicated problem. Often the answer is simple. Simplicity can distill many things for us to be able to digest. However, in today’s society simple is not sexy. Specialists know more and more about less and less until the ultimate specialist everything about nothing. Currently, Australia is cur

Gines is joined by John Engelander, the founder and CEO of Planet Earth Cleaning, out of the box thinker, a piano player, a mountain bike rider, and an avid storyteller. Planet Earth is a cleaning company with a difference. Planet Earth CLeaning is the Australia's first Eco-Friendly commercial cleaning company. John shares the inception story of Planet Earth, when he stepped in to do some cleaning and realised the toxicity of the chemicals that were used. An important lesson he learned ‘owning the brand,’ coupled with know where the market is. Passion is one thing, but couple that with where there is a market for it. If there is no market for it, then it may not be sustainable. Gines and John explore why the sustainability movement is louder than ever, and why some companies are adopting this for multiple reasons. The current culture of consumerism and ‘keeping up with Jones’ “Swap out,” swap things that don’t make it matter. “Things that matter most should not be at the mercy of things that matter least.” Th

Gines and Matt chat about being in lockdown 6.0. This year feels slightly different from last year as it has been lockdown on lockdown off. They chat about how they are doing with it individually. Gines chats about the lockdown building resilience and agility due to the necessity. As a leader, it the constant on and off lockdowns forces you to be quick to be able to take advantage of the market. Gines mentions that his races have been cancelled due to the lockdowns, and how he is struggling to keep motivated to train even there is no certainty the next race will happen. Also, they chat about being a leader in this time, that they need transparency and unfaltering hope. It is important to acknowledge where you are at and do it well. But that pity party does not have to last. Like episode 7 - Pandemic Mindset, it is important how you choose to use your time at the moment. It is like standing in the rain and pretending it is not raining. You have to acknowledge it is raining. The longer you try and change the ra

Relationships, value-based pricing and the value of flexibility Joel Cranshaw, lawyer by trade, father, partner, entrepreneur, serial joint venturer, founder of Clearpoint Enterprises - which is made up of, Mode Law, Clearpoint Ventures and Clearpoint Legal. Joel and Gines and chat about the value of turning the traditional in-house counsel model on its head to make it more accessible to smaller businesses. They chat about the underfunded startup industry here in Australia and the interesting work they do. How an interview from Startup Smart led Clearpoint to be the leading startup law firm on google. Joel and Gines dive into the role that relationships play. Joel shares that in England it was easy and when he moved to Australia it was harder at the start. As an in-house lawyer work comes to you, compared to starting a business, you have to put yourself out there and establish multiple relationships. Joel chats about the culture of his organisation. Culture is a key factor that he looks at when he hires, “are

This is part 2 of the 6 Human Needs Episode. If you missed part 1, check out episode 43.  Matt and Gines recapped how they filled their needs over the last week, Certainty, Uncertainty, Love/Connection, and Significance. In this episode, they go over the last 2 human needs, Growth and Contribution. These two needs do not necessarily need to get met. However, you are either choosing to meet them or choosing not to meet them. Contribution is the human need of giving, donating, coaching, mentoring, helping out. The need is based on giving back. This podcast was born from contribution. It was born on the essence to share the conversation to give back value to our listeners. Growth is the need for learning, growing, and evolving. The need to know more, to be humble. The growth need at times goes hand in hand with taking ego out of it. Matt chat about the beginner mindset that he holds with surfing, and that even with a depth of experience, he sees that he is still learning every time he gets in the wat

In this episode we catch up with Chris Christofi from Reventon. Chris is a father of 4, founder and CEO of Reventon - full-service financial services firm, Vinnie's CEO sleepout Ambassador - face of the campaign this year,  author, speaker, found of Reventon Snooker academy and a whole lot more.  He raised $112,000 for Vinnie's CEO sleepout this year.  Chris and Gines dive into a range of topics from when Chris faced struggle early in his career and having to shift his mindset and build the foundation back again brick by brick.  They talked about society's relationship to money and different risk appetites with partners and business partners. They explore the choice and the cost of not doing something. This is stemmed from fear and they do not want to be uncomfortable.  They also talked about giving comes back 10 fold, and as leaders, it is our duty to give. They also talk about the mindset of abundance, of the mindset of having enough. Where you can give, the importance to give, and

During this  2 part episode, Matt and Gines talk about the 6 human needs. Love and connection, Significance, Uncertainty, Certainty, Growth(part 2), and Contribution (part2).  These human needs play out in our worlds in some shape or form.  The first four are presently getting fulfilled either by a conscious deliberate decision or by an unintentional decision. Also, there are 2 ways to fulfill these needs. Firstly, is a resourceful way, most times resource way is sustainable. However, the other side is an unresourceful way to fulfill these needs, which can prove to unsustainable.  They chat about how these come up in their worlds and how most people who are unaware of these, how it will turn up. Taking stock of how you fill these needs is an interesting exercise.  For more updates and to subscribe head to -  lifelonglearnerpodcast.com  Facebook.com/lifelonglearnernow  instagram.com/lifelonglearner.podcast

This week Gines chats to Richard Lee. Richard is a banker and lawyer by trade, he had led over 180 IPO's (which is highest in Australia), founder of Fenix - a music platform set to de-centralise the system, so artists can monetise their art form directly and currently CEO of a nicotine-based vape company. Richard talked about the adjustment of the pace of Australia, compared to the fast-paced in Asia. They chat about how doing business and 'coming into work,' has changed all over the world. It is not because they are scared, it is because they can put the washing on, work a maybe a 6 hour day, and be in trackies all day. They explore the notion of society norms changing and potentially moving away from face to face. There is so much value in human connection, yet the value of having global teams and not having to travel as much also plays a part in it. They touch on, building business relationships will change with more and more zoom and virtual meetings being easier and convenient than face to face. Ri

The fellas this week are in lockdown 4.0 in Melbourne, Victoria. Breathing... Breathing is the first and last thing we do on this planet. It also something that we all tend to take for granted. It’s something that just happens unconsciously. Matt and Gines chat about the value of doing it intentionally. Scheduling in deliberate and conscious breathwork and how it can change the way we think, feel, and behave. Also how intentional breathwork can influence unconscious breathing retraining us to breath correctly through our noses and out our mouths. The science is clear breathwork can reduce stress, reduce illness boost the immune system, and have dramatic positive effects on our circulatory, cardiovascular and nervous system, overall performance, and wellbeing and it is addictive, resulting in a natural high! So join the boys and discover one of the greatest tools we all have at our disposal. Breathing is the essence of life. Breath deeply, live fully. The book Matt mentions, Think Like A Monk - Jay Chetty -

This week we had a guest on our podcast, Brad Smith, owner and founder of Braaap Motorcycles, Husband, Dad, 2x Australian young entrepreneur of the year, 4x Australian specialised retail business of the year, author, speaker, kiteboarder and all-round good human.  During this fireside chat (more like a chat at a noisy cafe, sorry listeners!) We chat about different era's of Brad's life, all of them very different from each other however similar strategies to get through them.  Gines and Brad chat about, scaling fast, to having a multi-store monster, to challenge, to belief and faith,  to love and joy to repositioning his business.  They talk about after challenge, building a business that is in order so people can flourish is super important and that is the responsibility of the leader. Also the importance of being clear of what can be shit list, as in growth you do not have time for everything. We dive into one's purpose, faith, god and the value of rest and peace. This is an epic conver

Today Gines and Matt are joined by Ryan Doughty, the owner of the award-winning Summit adventure park. Ryan shares his incredible story and together the three of them unpack the lessons Ryan has learned from the past 15 years of building successful businesses, powerful teams, and a large loving family. During this playful and passionate interview, It becomes quite clear that whatever good things Ryan has built have also built him. Ryan explains that after many years and many mistakes, relationships are the most important part of any success story and that he now makes a conscious effort to ensure that growth isn’t at the expense of relationships. Ryan openly discusses some of his regrets over the years and helps us to stay focused on what’s truly important. So tune in and uncover some key ingredients that will enable you to successfully building anything in your life, whether it’s a business, relationships, teams, or a more supportive mindset. “Success is not just about what you accomplish in life but what yo