Hello, thank you for joining me. Happy New Year. It's New Year's Day 2023. I've come out for a drive in my larder I've come to the Chinor and Printers Ridge borough a here I am hatching a station the train is just there we're gonna have a look at in a minute The reason I'm here today is because I've been Invited to go and see the signal box at Princess Ridge, but which you know, I'm really quite excited about so I understand We're gonna go there and they're gonna take me inside the signal box show us around maybe get some trackside access So we'll see a bit more of the usual before we go and get on the train I'm just gonna show you something here in this little wooded area. We have another railway very short railway It's a little miniature railway just here and it runs to just up there This is their statement of intent the plan is to build a miniature railway around the car park So when that's up and running then I shall come and make an episode of miniature railway Britain here So that's a video for the future We're now going to go over to the station. That's where Nothing that car realizes it, but this isn't actually a roadway and yeah, that's not a roadway. Anyway We're gonna go and have a look at the station and yeah over there before I got distracted by that car look reversing now. They're amusing and The cement was used to be over there. That's why that's what I was and I remember that being there There should be a big chimney which they blew up and then here is the station to the station. So there's the Station and here is the Tanya tank. Now is this locos last day here? 6412 she's going back to the South Devon Railway. So they're gonna find another locomotive So I have to wait to see what that is, but no doubt. I'll have to come back and have a ride behind it Especially if it's a winning loco. So we walk in here in front of the steam engine And then we'll go get on the train. So if there's a hole there, we'll come back with the steam. So there is 6412 Exactly now we're gonna go up onto the platform and see what we can see. Here's an old Cambrian coach body That used to be the cafe, but it's currently not the cafe. There's a new cafe down at the other end There's our loco just there. You see the steam heatings on in the carriages So let's go inside and we're gonna ride down to Prince's Ridgeborough. It's gonna be a very exciting journey So we've arrived at Prince's Ridgeborough. You can see the steam engine behind us I know it's not the best view, but we'll have a better look later now You may have noticed I am walking off the end of the platform. I've been given permission to do this We've one of the volunteers has very kindly given us permission to come down here and have a look at the Signal box. So what we're gonna do, we're gonna walk down there With a few friends so friends are ahead of us. One of the volunteers is showing us the way So this is really quite exciting. I've seen this signal box so many times, but I've never been inside So I'm really excited about that. So this is the end of the children's always station at Prince's Ridgeborough You can see There's the modern signal gantry as more traditional signal a little cross means it's not in use yet So they're working on commissioning all this signaling down here, but what I'm gonna do once we get down further into the box I'll find out a bit more and be able to tell you a bit more So now a bit further down. There's a diesel Multiple units the middle carriage. I remember when that was in service It used to be the the train which you know cleared all the leaves off the line Now here's Prince's Ridgeborough box, which we're about to go up. Up there there's a camera It's rail camera. If any of you are members of rail come I am you can watch the train go out Which was very useful a few weeks ago when it was snowing because I could sit in the pub at Bledlow I want you to train left. I went into the field and got my shot. Anyway, let's go up here. This is really exciting So some really excited about this Get this opportunity to you know go beyond where the public go so we get to here and We get a really nice view now over the station. Oh look. There's a children's always train pulling in I'm gonna go inside and see what they have to show us Oh Let's get even better now. I've been given a high vis. I've been given permission to go track side So we'll have a look in the box Afterwards, but we get the shot of the train going past from a view we wouldn't normally get so this is a really exciting start to 2023 the track a little bit. You can see why I'm I'm at mile post Quarter so my post zero is by the signal box. So that is looking towards China I'm actually standing on what would be the China independent line that track there is a network rail line But a weekend's China has possession of it They have permission to run their train on it the plan is to eventually because that rail does occasionally use it There was a while ago But HS2 construction train failed and it got dumped in here The plan is this where I'm standing this will become the tune Prince Elizabeth railways Independent track and that become network rail. So they'll run in parallel to each other a bit like they do at the spa Bloody Railway, but and into Erich so they're gonna come up with a similar arrangement now The signal there that signal is an ass a network rail signal me 174 So when we came in I noticed it was red like that The driver didn't pass a red signal because that just decided that you can't really see in out There were two little white lights. So that was to give the driver permission To turn off so he wouldn't go down the shield main line to work out of him He would turn off into the bay platform that Prince Elizabeth has a bridge there You can see the other people with me who've got the special line side axis just having a look there in there Here's the Urkel factory. So that's where furniture is made Prince of Rishborough and High Wickham were quite well known for being furniture Manufacturing towns and Urkel moved their furniture production here. So Prince of Rishborough So I'm gonna walk back up the track and we're gonna go and have a look at the signal box Almost back now. There's the box. I'll point you down a quarter of a mile away mile post a quarter There is my post zero and to get quite a nice view of the Prince of Rishborough railway station And now we're gonna go and have a look in Prince of Rishborough north signal box Back in the signal box. There goes a children railways class 168 departing So it's really nice getting this view up here in the box. I stand the old day watch trains Perhaps it should have been a single and there's a 1.5 in the station. Now what we're gonna do I'm gonna show you down this end of the signal box. You can see Here Here's some of the levers now. I don't know too much about the levers, but here we have Paul So Paul's gonna tell us a little bit about the the levers here Hello there. Yeah, my name's Paul. I'm what we call the pick PR here on the chair and Princess Rishborough railway Person in charge Princess Rishborough. So I'm like the front controller if you like a princess Rishborough Not only my in charge, but I'm also the signal man for for the movements in China and if you come over here We've got a long run of levers 27 At the moment we only use these few here between 35 and 40 you'll see each levers numbered On this particular one Because we use token working here on the Chinna branch, which is out with the locomotive That's the authority for the local to be out on the branch When he arrives here, I collect the token You may have seen pictures of token exchanges between the driver and the signal man.  There's a hole in there when I put the key in there and turn it That releases lever 40 which I pull over and then the other points and signals are available to me To control the trains, which here is normally the movement would be a run around So the steam engine would arrive on the front and we it would then run around to what was the back and Then go out back towards China If we have a look at the cross the crossover and the track arrangement here that China the train comes Sorry from Chinna to Princess Risper past the signal box into the platform there and then the loco comes off Heads down here towards the siding and then comes back up the loop line and then comes back across to the platform You'll see we use Bell working here We haven't actually got the tokens connected to the bells, but we use the bells to get the signal been used to the bell codes and Working with the bells for future developments Thank you, that was great was very interesting. I think soon the trains gonna be back, so I'm gonna go down But yeah, thank you very much for telling me all about you and there's a view looking out at the leaves So following Paul's excellent explanation of how the signal box works on back down at ground level again Chop main lines there see various parts of the signal box. We're gonna go and look at downstairs now So there we go. There's the line towards China. We're going in here So give me permission to come in here and show you what it's like in Below the downstairs for it on the inside now. You can see all these leaders hanging down their parts of signal Now as Paul said not all of it was in use if we go to this end you can see You see the levers and wires coming down There's the pulley wheels, and then they go along and outside to control the signals and points I'm gonna do we got this little ladder here, and we're gonna have a look at the intermediate floor where we can see Some of the interlocking. So this is quite exciting. So we're just getting up Yeah, I've never didn't even realize it wasn't this meeting floor We have a look here See all the interlocking's work. So I don't quite know exactly how but basically These slide this way they slide that way So there's this myth a lot people think the signal will come pull two levers and make two trains crash You can't if you set a route to go for a train You can't then set another route for a train to crash into it. It would be interlocked So that's what interlocking is. So here we are on the intermediate floor of the signal box Just see out there. Yeah, we can't receive it over there It's Yerkel factory. So what I'm going to do now I'm bringing ahead back to the station and soon our train shall arrive So following our exciting visit to signal box. They've now said they're gonna take me down the south siding So I'm keeping my high vision. There's a few interesting items of rolling stock We're gonna have a look at down there. So we're now almost back in amongst the buddlies back to The end of the Chiltern Railway station. So we've got to go right through the station and down the other end This is the south siding. So that's the Chiltern mainline. That's looking down towards London Railway, the Lexus T-Malcar here I remember seeing that arrive. If you want to see the video of that arriving here, have a look at the link on the screen now We have a guard around here and we have no free shelter. Not yet have this local for a moment I'm not gonna get it today, but maybe next year I'll leave a gala and run some public services I have to come out of a ride behind that because I've had most of their local's which they've got now for haulers Now there's something quite interesting from old heritage stock. We have something here That's not old, not heritage. It's something modern It's a wagon. There's actually two of them. These are the new wagons for London Transport They're here to be tested. So they're just here for a little bit of time They're doing various tests on days when the railways are not going to the public. So if you have a look They get quite a nice shoe there off the O'Ferry Shanta, the HST. So I think the HST power car is pulling in here It seems really ironic an HST pulling these wagons, but if you have a look, I've noticed, yeah So look, it says Made in China in 2019 There's a plate there. So that is these wagons. I don't do wagon numbers I don't redo carriage numbers, but that is this wagons identity So that was another exciting thing to see. What I'm gonna do down there I'm gonna head back to the station because I think soon my train to take me back to China will arrive.   I've really enjoyed it here I really appreciate them giving me the access to the signal box at Fridges River. That was great I do really like China Station. One day what I'll do is I'll come here and I'll make a video on More detail on to Fridges River Railway. Have to look at the station here Maybe even have a look at the line beyond because the line once upon a time Used to continue that way to Watlington might one they get to Aston Roe and whether it'll get beyond now I don't know because you've got the M40 in the way But that is Chinni Yard down there and then there is our locomotive that we've been behind today So I hope you enjoyed this video once again. Thank you very much to the Chinni Fridges River Railway For allowing me to have a look in the signal box at Fridges River. Happy New Year to all of my viewers We're gonna make a lot more interesting videos during the course of 2023 and beyond So thank you very much for watching. Please do feel free to like, subscribe and comment. Goodbye


I don't know if you know the reason that he did the workout at 4 a.m. But it parlays perfectly into your new book, you know, just do one more. The reason Kobe does that, he understands that even the most aggressive players in the NBA, they're going to get in two workouts a day during the offseason. First one is usually around nine or 10 a.m. And then they'll take a lunch break and then they'll come back at three or four. So his mindset was, if everyone else in the league is going to be doing two workouts a day, I'm going to do three because I'm going to do one more than they're doing. And the only way I can squeeze that in is if I get up and do it at four. So when he's coming home from his first workout, his competition is just waking up to go in for their first workout. So then he's doing his second workout while they're doing their first. And then it's the compounding interest effect of if I do this every single day in the offseason for not just years, but in his case, decades, he said, no one will ever catch me because every time I wake up, I'm going to do one more than you're doing. You'll never catch me. And I think that's part of what gave him that, you know, that mamba mentality. You asked him the day before, can I come watch this workout? And he goes, uh, yeah, four o'clock and it wasn't four p.m. It was four a.m. But you, I'll let you share this, but you're like, well, I'm going to impress this guy and get there early. So there's a four a.m. workout, but what happens? Tell them what happens when you get there and you get there early. Well, yeah. And I arrived today early because I believe you're making a good first impression and I believe that getting places early is a sign of respect to the person that you're going to meet. And, you know, as a young coach, I'm thinking what could be better than me leaving my mark and impressing Kobe. So if he thinks he's working out at four, I'm going to be waiting for him at the gym at, you know, 3 30 a.m. And he is going to be blown away. And instead I arrive at the gym and can see the lights already on. Can hear sneakers squeaking and a ball bouncing from the parking lot. I walk in at 3 30 in the morning. He's going through a warmup. He doesn't even count that as part of his workout. So he's doing that at 3 30 before his workout actually started with his trainer at four and bro, that's crazy. And he went on for a couple hours again, sticking to the basics and just drilling down.  You know, if you want to perform well in front of millions, then you have to be willing to put in millions of reps when no one else is watching, which is how we define the unseen hours. I really believe that success in anything, even the success of your podcast is predicated on the due diligence and the research that you do on each guest before the mics go hot. Very true. And that's the unseen hours. And that's what a lot of people, they don't see that the standard is different. Right. So like this idea that a four a.m. workout, look, let's just be really honest. You and I, you know, the NBA a lot better than I do, but I know professional sports and most dudes are coming home around four a.m. in the NBA oftentimes, not starting, not having a workout at four a.m. And then to know that now it's not four a.m. He was, you're there at 3 30. He'd already been warming up for 25 or 30 minutes before there's just a different standard, I think with the elite performer. I think an elite mother has just a little bit different standard than an average mother. I think an elite executive, they just set a different culture of standards around that's got to be part of it. How does one do those things and then still not fry or burn out? What would be a couple of things that you would say? Burnout is the result of misalignment between the work that you're doing and your core values, your interest, your fascination and the meaning behind your work. I don't know your daily schedule, but I imagine it's pretty immense. You've been here today. I imagine you work a lot of hours. But the reason you're not approaching burnout is you find meaning and purpose in those hours. You're being of service to millions of people. So that's why you don't experience burnout. If those two things start to splinter, if you were working 60, 70, 80 hours a week for work that you didn't enjoy, work you didn't find fascinating, work you didn't feel was making a contribution to other people's lives, work that you didn't find meaningful, you would be on the cusp of burnout. And that's what a lot of people are experiencing. So it's not just the long hours. It's when long hours are not congruent with what it is that lights you up and fills your bucket. I'm holding myself to an even higher standard. I mean, I don't know that anything would make me more sick to my stomach than for someone to see me doing something that is not in alignment with what I preach from stage or what I put in my books. And I don't hold myself to a standard of perfection. I'm fallible. I make mistakes. I have lapses in judgment. But generally speaking, the fact that I'm putting this content out there, I want to hold myself to that. I've absolutely experienced stress, stagnation and burnout in my life several times. So I wanted to get to the root of it because I figure if it can help me, certainly somebody else out there is going through similar difficulties and challenges. So I want to offer that to them. And the last thing I'll say on that is with any of this stuff, I'm not speaking from a place of mastery. This is all stuff that I am still working on, but the book is what holds me to that standard. So when I find myself getting momentarily stressed, I actually smile, have a kind and compassionate conversation with myself and just say, Alan, remember, you write about this, you speak about this, now you need to live it. And that tongue-in-cheek kind of self-compassion actually gets me through those times. The most important part about focus, and I know, I've listened to every single one of your shows, and one of the common themes with most of your guests is everyone understands the importance of being in the present moment and understanding that if we're dragging stuff from the past or we're getting anxious about the future, then we're tending to lose focus in the present moment, and that's the first thing that's going to heighten stress. You know, of all the different definitions I've heard from stress, the one that resonates most with me is from Eckhart Tolle, you know, modern day philosopher, who basically says stress is the desire for things to be different than they are in this present moment. So the very first step to lowering stress is mere acceptance, is saying that what's going on around me right now is outside of my control, and I might not like it and it might not be my preference, but this is what is going on right now, and our stress doesn't come from events and circumstances, our stress comes from our response or our resistance to those events and circumstances. And when I heard that, it was like a light bulb went off, and I find that incredibly empowering and liberating, because that means we are no longer victims or puppets to the events and circumstances happening in the world. We get to choose our response. It's right, man. And that, to me, that means we always have the keys to the car. I often say that it's not the events of our life that define it, it's the meaning we attach to the event, and often that meaning comes from the question we ask ourself about it. What does this mean? So I feel like, you know, take a guy like Kobe or Durant, Steph, you, an executive who's at a perform at a high level, an entrepreneur, when there's, you know, in Kobe's case, there's six sections left and Jackson draws up a play that's going to come to Kobe. That event that's about to happen, he attaches a meaning that I have an opportunity to rise. I have an opportunity to win this game where someone else might attach a meaning to it of, what if I miss the shot, right? It's the meaning we attach to the event. You pointed at me when I said that, so I want to make sure you get a chance to comment on it. Oh, you nailed it perfectly. So much insight right there. It's the difference between being nervous about taking that shot and being excited because it is an opportunity to showcase all of the mornings you were in the gym at 4 a.m., making hundreds of thousands of shots every off season. He revels in those types of moments and, you know, I know you've said so many times on your previous episodes that life is happening for you. It's not happening to you. And that's really what this is talking about. It's saying that, yeah, things are going to happen in the world that we don't necessarily like and they're not our preference, but they're not, the universe that isn't conspiring against you or me, that no one's trying to put these roadblocks in your way intentionally to slow you down. These things are just happening and how you choose to look at those things ultimately determines your stress level. Wherever you are in the physical, make sure that's where you are in the mental and the emotional and the spiritual as well. And that's how I define being present and it's so easy to get, you know, distracted from the past or anxious about the future. So what I like to say is we need to shrink our window. We need to, like even right now, right now you and I are making eye contact while we're recording this and I can see a little bit of a frame in my peripheral. That's all that I can see in my vision right now. I cannot see what's outside of this studio. I can't see what's going on in the rest of LA. I have shrunk my vision to the point where you are my focal point because you deservedly so have my full undivided attention right now. And we need to be able to shrink that window in other areas of life. So think about six seconds left in the game, Phil Jackson draws up a play for Kobe Bryant. He needs to shrink that window. The only thing he needs to be worried about is executing that play to the best of his ability in order to score. He can't be worried about what's going on in the stands, what's going on with the opponents, what the referees may do. He can't be worried about what else is happening outside of the Staple Center. He has to shrink that window so that he can have razor sharp focus in that moment. And when we can learn to do that basically on cue, then we improve our ability to focus and stress decreases accordingly. Shrink your focus and it allows you to be hyper present. And also for me when that happens, I feel like things slow down rather than speed up. Is there a mechanism in that with high performers were under dress things begin to slow down for them as they shrink their focus. Whereas someone who performs maybe at a not great level things speed up somehow for them. Yeah. And the speed up comes from distractions. It's being it's being worried about everything else that's going on. And that's you know, in basketball vernacular, my goal when I was working with players was to get them to play present, which is play in the present moment. And there's there's three components to being in the present. First is just focus on the next play. Don't worry about the play that just happened. Ed, you just missed the layup. Don't worry about it next play. Ed, you just turn the ball over. It's OK. Next play. Ed, I know the referee missed the call. It's over next play. See, if you're worried and you're you're wasting your emotional currency into the plays that just happened, then you're not able to put them into the current moment, which in basketball at a playing at that type of pace means that if if you're still pouting and dejected about the turnover, your man probably just scored two points now on the other end. So you just turned a two point mistake into a four point mistake. We all know we're going to make mistakes, but we cannot be in the business of compounding them. We have to we have to stop them after the first one. The second component is just to focus on what you have control over, control the controllables, which I believe if you break everything else down is just our own attitude and effort. So just focus on the effort you're giving and the attitude that you're having to everything going on, in this case, during a basketball game. And then the last part of that is to focus on the process. Don't worry about the outcomes. Focus on the process. If it's the first quarter of the game, you can't be worried whether or not you're going to win or lose the game. All you need to worry about is winning or losing this possession. If we're on offense, can we get the best shot that we, the five of us are capable of getting the highest percentage shot? Or if we're on defense, can we collectively do everything we can to make you take the lowest percentage shot possible? And of course, the beautiful part is if you do that consistently enough, as legendary coach Bill Walsh said of the 49ers, the scoreboard takes care of itself. And that's ultimately what the process is all about. So one other thing that the athletes I work with struggle with, and I think people do in business and in life and in relationships, is also projecting into the future. And then they have this conversation with themselves about, I'll give you an example, a golfer who's got a putt they should make three foot putt to win a golf tournament. Where's the nerves come from? I believe oftentimes the nerves come from, believe it or not, this bizarre conversation of projection of if I miss this putt, what will they say about me? If I miss this shot at the end of the game, what will they say about me? If my guy hits this shot on me in basketball, what will they say? And it's literally projecting into the future, the negative emotions or feelings about what other people will actually say or think about this mistake you may potentially make. What they're 100% consumed with is merely the outcome. See, they've left the process. They're just worried about the outcome. Does the ball go in or not go in? Does the ball go in the cup or not go in the cup? Does she say yes when I ask her out or does she say no? When we can learn, and this is something that I've worked really hard on in my own life over the last couple of years, is learning how to detach from outcomes and just love the process and the work. And where we really have an issue is if outcomes and results actually define our self-worth, then we have a problem.  I'm a believer that if you set your goals appropriately, maybe you hit them 30, 40, 50% of the time, you don't hit them every time. If you're hitting your goal every time, then I could make a compelling argument that you've set the bar too low. Well, if your entire identity and self-worth and confidence and self-belief is wrapped up in outcomes and reaching goals and achievement, then that means half the time you feel good about yourself, half the time you feel lousy about yourself. And I don't know about you, but life's too short to feel lousy half of the time. If I was tasked with building a brick wall, which I most likely won't be because I'm not very handy. I'm not very good with building stuff. I'm not very good with tools, but I have confidence that I could build a brick wall. And the reason is I've trained myself to not worry about the end result, not worry about the wall and put all of my focus into laying each and every brick with care and precision. If I can take one brick and set it exactly where it needs to go and then I pick up the next brick and set it exactly where it needs to go. If I do that consistently over time, the wall just takes care of itself. I don't have to be worried about the wall. I have to focus on laying bricks. And that's also what I have control over is laying bricks. Now, from a basketball analogy, I had an opportunity to work with Queens University as one of the top division to men's basketball programs in the United States. And their previous coach, Bart Lundy, is a good friend of mine and he has broken it down at Queens University, but there are four key stats in the game of basketball that heavily impact whether or not they win the game. And the first stat is turnover differential. If we can have more possessions than our opponent gives us a better chance to win. Second is offensive rebound differential. If we can rebound our own misses and take more shots than our opponent gives us a better chance to win. Third is free throws attempted. It's the highest percentage shot per possession. If we can take more of those than our opponent, better chance to win. And last is three pointers attempted. The three pointer in the college game is a massive weapon. If we can take more clean looks from three than our opponent gives us a better chance to win. When Queens University comes out on top in those four stats, they win 97% of their games, which means statistically, they're almost unbeatable. So my my rhetorical question for your millions of listeners is, what do you think Coach Lundy and his staff talk about remind and emphasize before every workout, every practice, every film session and before every game. It's just those four things. He never talks about winning championships, banners or trophies. Why? If they do those four things, winning championship trophies and banners take care of themselves. You don't have to focus on them. So it's focusing on the things that we have the control over. And that goes back to again, shrinking that window. I may use basketball examples because that's where I've spent most of my life. Folks need to take these and figure out how they can, you know, apply them to their situation. So step number one is figure out what what does winning look like to you or what does success look like to you. Again, this could be in your marriage, this could be, you know, in your business, this could be for something you're doing in your community. But figure out what does winning look like. Now, of course, in the game of basketball, which Simon Sinek has said is a finite game and I'm a big fan of Simon's work. Is a finite game. We have unanimously around the globe agreed that the team with the most points on the scoreboard when the final buzzer goes off is the winner. Life, relationships, business, it's a little more acoteric. It's not as clear how you might define winning in business might be slightly different than maybe one of your friends or colleagues. But that doesn't matter. You just have to get crystal clear on what winning looks like to you. And then you need to figure out what are the measurable building blocks, the bricks, if you will, that will allow me to reach that goal. And then once you have that North Star, take your eyes off of it and just focus on the bricks. Think about a GPS, which most people need to navigate the world these days. I don't know how I survived without one beforehand. But you need to know two things. You need to know where you are in the moment, not where you were five minutes ago, five days ago or five weeks ago. You need to know where you are right now. And you need to have an end address. Where am I going? Those are the only two points you need. And then once you have those two points, you don't need to worry about either one of them. What you need to do now is pay attention to the directions. And listen to every turn that you're supposed to make. And of course, the beauty with this analogy is, if you're like me and kind of directionally dysfunctional, you're probably going to take a wrong turn. And then what happens? It reroutes. It just reroutes. So the GPS doesn't get angry at you.  It just simply reroutes. And it puts you back on that course. And that's ultimately what all of us should be trying to do is pursue our North Star by focusing on the steps and directions it takes to get there. And when you misstep or you make a wrong turn, don't get upset over it. Just move to the next play and take the next direction to reroute. I think people are tired. I don't think they manage their energy very well. I watch this, even a basketball analogy. I've watched certain teams that, you know, I think they're tired and I watch friends of mine in business and life. They just seem tired to me. So what is energy management and what are some of your keys for it? Well, we need to make sure we're protecting both time and energy.  Whenever that's done, that's done. We don't have any more of it. Energy is something, though, that we can actually replenish. And a lot of that has to do with with our routines and our self care. Are we making the time to fill our own buckets mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually so that we can keep that that battery, that internal battery of our lives is close to 100 percent as possible. You know, most people would freak out if they look down at their iPhone and saw their iPhone had three or four percent juice left in it. They'd immediately start looking for a plug or a mophie or something, but they allow themselves to go down to three or four percent and they don't seem to do anything about it. And then you're just running on fumes and there's no way that you can be your best self or make a maximum contribution to the things that are important to you if you're doing that. So part of it comes down to our discernment of what are we going to invest our time and energy into. And this goes back to just two simple words. Yes and no. What are you saying yes to and what are you saying no to, you know, as a self diagnosed people, please are this was one that was really challenging for me most of my life because I love saying yes. It feels good to say yes. I want to help as many people as I can. But I've learned that when I say yes to one thing, I am by default saying no to something else. If I'm going to say yes to investing this hour with you, that means this hour in time cannot be invested anywhere else. Now, this happens to be a wonderful investment of my time when I'm very happy to make. But we have to be very careful of what we say yes and what we say no to. So we have to have some discernment. And for me, I've learned to be able to say no respectfully with tact and to be polite. If something is not a good fit and how do we know if it's a good fit? Is it an alignment with the North Star that you're pursuing? If you're asking me to do something that is taking me away from that North Star, then it's most likely not the wisest investment of my time or energy and I'll politely decline. If what you're asking me to do is an alignment, then it's probably a great investment of my time and energy. So being able to step back and use our core values and use that North Star to design our lives and design our schedules and design what we're going to say yes to is incredibly helpful. We can't we can't rely on feelings and emotions. If you're just saying yes and no to things based on your mood or how you're feeling, there's no consistency in that. You know what surprises me is how little people talk about visualization and how much of it I do and how much of it happy and successful people, both happy and successful people that I know spend in doing so. And so you talk about it's not a lot, but you talk about in the book visualization. One of the words that comes up in a lot of your shows and a lot of your work is intention. So we have to make sure we're very intentional with what we're visualized. There were a few different research studies and I reference them in the book. The one that I like the most from a visualization standpoint was they took three different groups and they were going to have them shoot free throws and these weren't professional players by any means. These were just regular weekend warriors and in the three groups, the first group, they got tested on the first day and then they practiced for 21 consecutive days and then they took the retest 21 days later. Second group took the test on the first day, did not touch a basketball, but only visualized making free throws for the next 21 days and then took the retest. And then the third group tested on the first day, didn't practice and didn't visualize and then retested on the 21st day. I think most people would realize the group that didn't practice or visualize there was there was no improvement. In fact, they had a slight decline in their ability. But the part that blew my mind was the group that visualized was only a couple of percentage points less than the group that actually practice. So by actually sitting with your eyes closed and visualizing making free throws, it's almost as good as as being able to practice. And that that blows my mind. Now, I think we can also agree that the best thing to do is to do both is to get in repetition, you know, purposeful repetition as well as visualized. I visualize before every single speaking engagement, every engagement I do, I always arrive the day before and I request to see the room the day before I'm going to speak. I want to get a feel for what it's going to look like. I visualize before I came in here with you today. I watched several of your other guests on YouTube who were in this studio. I knew what this room looked like before I set foot in here, which gave me a certain level of comfort that I wasn't going to walk into anything that I hadn't hadn't prepared myself for. And one of my favorite quotes that I learned from a mentor of mine is make preparation your separation and that I want to be as prepared as possible for everything that I do. I got hurt myself when we were in college and I couldn't play. And we had a team psychologist at the time. He ended up being killed and I use a lot of his work to this day was in a car accident. I use a lot of his work and I get a lot of credit for because he was so cutting edge even back in those days. And he said, Ed, here's what we're going to do. And I hit 215 my freshman year. Terrible year. That's terrible. And then I sat out because I was hurt. The next year I hit almost 380 and I wasn't any better of a hitter. What happened was he taught me to visualize and we'd sit behind the batting cage where the other guys were popping some up, grounding into double plays, missing a few. He said, Ed, you're going to line drive up the middle thousands of times. And he made me focus on my visualization.  And I go, I got it. And he'd go, OK, really? Do you? And he would make me hyper visualize. He'd say, Ed, where's the camera? I go, what do you mean? He goes, well, how are you seeing it from what angle? Is the camera in the center field, like on TV, over the pitchers head shooting in or is it from the batter's box your view out? And I go, I don't know. And he goes, well, then you kind of should know. And I go, OK, actually, turns out the camera's on me. I'm looking out at the pitch or he goes, great, not everybody has it that way. He goes, can you see the release point? Can you see the stitches on the ball? Can you see the rotating? And it got to the point where he go, what is it? And I say, it's a curveball. He goes, how do you know? I could see the dot on the stitches, right? And then I could see. I got to the point where he'd make me work. I could see then the stitches coming in. I could see the ball hit the bat and the stitches re-rotating backwards the other way, right back over the guy's left shoulder. I just got to share this with you. So I come back. I'm a 2-15 hitter, the first day in VP. First pitch, though, to me is up and away. And I swat at it and hit a line drive up the middle. Next ball down and away. Line drive up the middle. And I think it was 28 straight hits. My teammates are like, what's going on with my lead? Line drive up the middle every single time. Then I popped one up and I hit like 16 more up the middle. I had not swung a bat in six months. But the upside to that was I didn't have any negative experiences from actually swinging the bat. And the subconscious mind really doesn't know the difference between what's real and what's imagined. I share this because your work is so good, bro. And the people that are listening to this, if you would start to visualize and then get better at it, refine it, see it more clearly. Can you slow it down? Can you speed it up? Can you add color? Can you add sound? And the more you get good at visualizing, you're going to change your damn life the better you get at this. So I just wanted to add second it and add to it that I have a real life experience. And to this day, things like getting to the studio and visualizing it, I do that crazy stuff too because it's not crazy. All right, chapter five. Never heard it said this way. Using stress. So usually people are taught avoid stress, minimize stress. And you have strategies for that in the book as well. But sometimes you're almost like, hey, dance with it. Use this stress. What does that mean? That goes back to something we said earlier. It's kind of the difference between viewing something that's making you nervous versus viewing something that gets you really, really excited. I mean, I've I said to you before off hair. I'm a huge fan of your work.  I could have been nervous coming in here and to meet you for the first time and sit. But instead, I was excited for this opportunity. And those they can have very similar feelings. They can have you can have the butterflies in your stomach. You know, and I don't remember who said that originally. But if you ever feel butterflies in your stomach, just get them all lined up in the same direction so that they can work can work for you. But we do we need we need to have some stress in our life. If the stress is overwhelming, then you'll be completely debilitated. If I was completely overwhelmed with stress right now, this wouldn't be much of an interview. However, if there was zero stress, I'd probably be bored and there wouldn't be much of an interview. So we want just enough to keep us sharp. It's very similar to fear. You know, fear in and of itself keeps us safe. We want to have some fear. If not, we just walk in the middle of traffic or we just juggle knives or do something foolish. But if we have too much fear, then we become paralyzed and we can't actually do anything. So, yeah, these things help. They help keep us sharp. So we want to have a little bit be on a little bit of edge for the things that mean the most to us. And you have in the book three steps to changing and their basic. I'll read them to you. And then I want you to elaborate on these. OK, awareness, understanding and reconditioning. What does all that mean? We're never going to improve something we're unaware of and we're never going to improve something we're oblivious to. So the first step is having an awareness and acknowledgement that something actually needs to change, that whatever I'm doing, I need to make a change too.  If you don't like what you've been getting, you need to change what you've been doing. I mean, that's as simple as it gets.  So we have to lean into change. And there's two types of change. There's change that's imposed on us. Perfect example would be a two-year global pandemic. Right. But then there's change that's initiated and that's what we're talking about here. We need to be the ones to drive that change. So first is awareness. What do I need to change? Second is I need to have an understanding of what's at risk if I don't make this change. Leverage, you're getting leverage. Absolutely. And I need to have an understanding. So what am I risking by not changing this behavior? If I continue to do this for the rest of my life, what's at risk? And many times the answer to that is happiness, fulfillment, maxing out your potential, all those types of things. And then lastly, we just need to be able to recondition the behavior or the process, the system that will allow that to happen. So we don't want to just go in and start swinging in the dark. We want to actually map out an actual plan of how we can make change. What's reconditioning mean though? How do you back up the plan is reconditioning this some form of reinforcement when you do it correctly? How do you condition something in yourself? So let's just use a relationship, for example. You say your relationship is getting a little bit stale with your significant other. And you take a look at, well, here are the things I've been doing, which has led to a stale relationship. So I've conditioned myself to these being my default habits, you know, whatever they may be. I don't look at my significant other when she's talking to me. I'm staring at my phone. I used to leave her little notes around the house, but I no longer do that. Like I fall into these these lesser habits and that's what's producing a stale relationship. If I want to have a better relationship then I need to recondition my habits. I need to go back to doing the things that I know I need to do to get to that. And I also have a three-step formula for how someone can do that. Absolutely. And I got to continue to make the disclaimer that this is incredibly basic. But none of the stuff you and I have been talking about is easy. Not a single thing we've said is easy to actually do. If it was easy, people wouldn't even need to listen to this because they're already doing it. Yeah, so we know through our own experiences these things are hard. The first thing you need to do is you need to have razor sharp focus and isolate it down to one behavior that you want to focus on changing.  And as human beings we're wired to have singular type focus. I don't know if you're familiar with John Berardi. He started Precision Nutrition, really smart guy in the fitness world. And he did an expansive research study similar to the one with free throws. But he found that when folks isolated their focus into one behavior to change they actually successfully changed that behavior 85% of the time. The moment they split it and tried to change two behaviors at the same time success rate went down to 40%. And if they tried to chase three behaviors at the same time it went down to about 4% or 5%. So I know that a lot of people that listen to your show are high achievers they're driven they're ambitious absolutely. And I'm saying it's in your best interest to just focus on one thing that you're going to change. Then the next step is make a commitment to yourself to do that for 66 straight days. Now I know the research is all over the place on how long it takes to form the habit. You know it could be anywhere from 21 days to nine months. But I like 66 days because one it's easy to remember. Two it's enough of a stretch but it's also doable. It's a hair over two months. But make a commitment to doing that for 66 straight days. And then the third is you want to keep the spotlight of accountability on yourself.  So let's put this into a practical scenario. You've got someone listening right now that wants to get into a little bit better physical health. They haven't been working out very much. Instead of changing everything instead of upending their diet buying a Peloton bike signing up for a yoga membership you know just pick one thing and let's say they say I'm going to go for a walk for 30 minutes every morning. That's it. I'm not changing anything else in my life I'm going to walk for 30 minutes. I'm going to then commit to doing that for 66 straight days. I'm old school.  And if you miss a day because you're human move to the next play just start that streak again the next day. And then I want you to reach out to three or four people that you know love you and care about you and want to see you happy and successful and you tell them I'm going to go for a walk every day for 30 minutes and I'm asking you Ed I want you to check in with me. I want you to send me a text every day at lunch and ask if I went for a walk ask me what I'm listening to or ask me what route I took but I want you to hold me accountable and if three or four people do that you know what one of the emotions that that really hurts most of us is feeling like we disappoint someone that that we care about and if you can do those things you pick one thing you do it for 66 days and you get people holding you accountable I'm not a gambler Ed but I'll put my money I'll put all my chips on the middle of the table saying you will improve that habit and then the beautiful thing is at the end of 66 days then you just stack another habit on top of that. Yeah and then you say okay if we're sticking with this theme now for the next 66 days I'm gonna reduce sugar or I'm gonna reduce you know sweets or soda whatever it may be so you don't stop doing the first one so now for the next 66 days you keep walking for 30 minutes and you're gonna eliminate say junk food and then 66 days later you add something else so by the end of the calendar year you've changed four or five things in your life you'll be a completely different person at the end of that year 100% and the only difference is instead of deciding to do all five of those things on January 1st you're gonna pick them off one at a time and then they're going to stick. Yeah because you've increased your execution rate from 80% down to less than 4% especially if you're doing five. You know I'm watching you I watch people very closely in every aspect of my life but it also happens certainly when I interview them because it's just you and I in the room and I said this earlier you own your content it's reflexive there's not even hesitation when I ask you a question you own this you live this stuff and I like authentic people I like people who live the things that they teach because I can feel a different energy from them when they teach it. I can feel what is different with that one millionth of a 1% tile compared to really good people in anything do you think? What's the separator? I'll give you an example with KD and I'll give you an example with Curry. KD does a masterful job of blending humility with confidence. You won't find a more confident offensive player. Why is he confident? He's earned the right to be arguably the best score in the game because of the time he's put in during the unseen hours. However he blends that with humility which means he is open to feedback and he's open to coaching. He doesn't think that he's reached the ceiling of what he's capable of. So if you have something a coach or someone or a trainer has something that can actually make him better he is all ears. He is open to that. So he's a killer from a confident standpoint he believes he's going to score he believes he's the best player on the court but he never lets that override his humility he stays open to coaching and open to feedback which is why every step along the way he continues to get better. So blending confidence with humility is one. My favorite people have that nuance by the way. Absolutely. Absolutely. And Curry, Curry does not let what happened previously affect what happens presently. I say this in the book and I find this both comical but an powerful lesson. If I had a quarter right now and I flipped it and seven times in a row it was heads. What's the percentage chance it'll be heads on the eighth flip? It should be 50%. Of course it is.  No, the quarter has no idea. The quarter doesn't know what the first seven flips were. Every time you flip a coin it is 50-50. Why do I say that? Because it happens very rarely because he is the greatest shooter of all time. But Steph and Curry, statistically you can look it up has missed the first seven shots he's taken in a game. What makes him Steph and Curry is he shoots the eighth shot with the confidence as if he had made the previous seven. I love that. He does not let the previous seven misses. He doesn't bring that baggage with him and affect the current shot. And that is so hard to do though. I mean, it's easy for you and I to sit here and talk about it is hard because the tendency is to flash back and go, oh my gosh, I've missed seven in a row. What happens if I miss this? What are people going to think about me? Am I going to let my team down? He wipes all of that clear. Every single shot is its own shot. And it's the difference when you take a player like Kobe. I would say this all the time to young players I've worked with. Mediocre players, they go to the gym to take 500 shots a day. Okay. Good players go to the gym to make 500 shots a day. There's a difference. We don't need more shot takers. We need shot makers. Great players, elite players like Steph and Curry, they go into the gym to make one shot 500 separate times. And that nuance difference, this is not verbal semantics. There is a difference between that. Steph's not in the gym thinking, oh man, I still got 419 shots left. No, all I care about in the world is this one shot right now. Perfect footwork, perfect form. And then he moves to the next shot. And then that's the only one that matters. And that's, again, these are lessons that all of us can apply to what we do. What about Kobe? What separated him? Preparation. Preparation, I think, words like relentless, words like obsessed. I mean, he made no bones about the fact that he wanted to be considered the greatest player to ever play the game. And some people are wired that way. I mean, I'll be the first to tell you, I'm not wired that way. I'm not concerned with being the best. I'm concerned with being my best. And if I'm my best, just let the chips fall where they may. That's that part of self-awareness, though. And maybe that's why I hold him in higher regard than the LeBron, who's clearly incredible. Or Kareem or Will. Maybe just because I just, there's something noble about the just relentless pursuit of the greatness that he had in the work ethic. This has been an outstanding, Alan. Outstanding. Equally for me. One of my favorite baseball players is a Red Sox fan, is Wade Boggs. And so Wade was famous for a lot of things, which is a great hitter, but one of the things he's famous for is Dude 8 Chicken before every single game. He sure did. He had this routine that he did before every single game. But you mentioned him under the category of the role of belief. And in my life, I really believe that belief drives almost everything. In my book, I talk about the chapter of my book called The Matrix, which is belief that what you believe most strongly, the world reveals to you. You'll begin to see things and hear things that always existed, but will confirm the beliefs that you have. And so what is the role of belief in being a peak or elite performer? Well, it's irrelevant whether or not Chicken is the best thing to eat before you play baseball. He believed that it was, and he believed that it contributed to his ability to hit the baseball. So that's all that matters. That's how powerful belief is. I mean, you could probably interview 10 nutritionists, and they would all say that Fried Chicken is not the best thing to eat before athletic performance, but it doesn't matter because he believed that it was. And he also understood the power of consistency, the power of routine, power of structure, and same thing. I mean, if LeBron was gonna have a game tonight, three hours before tip off, he would not be walking around the streets of LA wondering what he was going to eat. This is all premeditated. These are things that these peak performers have honed through trial and error and have figured out, when I eat this at this time, I perform it my best. And that routine will change over time. I promise you, LeBron's pregame routine now is not the same it was when he was a rookie with the Cleveland Cavaliers. It's matured, it's evolved, it's grown, and all of us need to have routines. I have a pre-speaking routine that I follow relentlessly. It's slightly different whether I'm giving an 8 AM keynote or an 8 PM keynote, but I have structure and routine, and that gives me comfort, and then that allows me to go out and perform my best. Everyone, follow Alan, go get sustain your game, go buy the power of one more, my great book. Candle Loses Nothing by Lighting Another Candle. So if you like this episode and you love Ed's show as much as I do, share it with somebody else. It doesn't take anything away from you. All you're doing is lighting other people's candles, which is what we should all be in the business of doing. So thank you Ed, this was amazing.


It happened again didn't it they made another one Max has left me it happened again of course they never seem to stop making them I don't know why they just want to fill landfills with plastic or your house with plastic big lumps of plastic that you can't do anything with is ridiculous anyway presenting the new colossal thingy that they've made beautiful assistant give me give me we go look at it the Indoraptor isn't it massive doesn't it not need to be this big yeah here we are here we go again on my own why Mattel why you knew I'd have to do this so here we are we've got this freaking absolutely it's gigantic bite Indoraptor they haven't put things on crowdfunding yet they can make this put the money into the good stuff so we have a look at the back of the box you've got the Indoraptor there so just showing well what it does that is what every other colossal does eat and eats little toys a little hatch on the bottom I'm assuming so without further ado let's break into it shall we up these maxies up boy yeah who cares about that look a mixie say hello to your adoring public max how big are you are you the size of a colossal what's this that scissors what's that what's that I have no idea stop asking me he's a cutie he is I love you so much he's like oh my god I don't want to be in this relationship anymore can you do it right max I don't have any scalpels right okay we're gonna have to do this the old-fashioned way oh come on okay this is ridiculous because they made it look like if you take up the sellotape you can just easy like take it apart but you can't I don't have time for this there's your Indoraptor beautiful if you've enjoyed this video guys where's the rest of you stick your leg on that exit you can't take apart once you put them on which means it's gonna take up loads of space why don't you do this why are we still here go winnie get a good shot of that we can put that on the only fans and get loads of money won't be surprised if there's someone who does that every motel every motel dinosaur toys foot pictures okay there we have it we have an Indoraptor colossal Indoraptor why they've done it I just don't really agree with it it's a ginormous another one another one I mean what can I say about it I mean it's an Indoraptor it's the most basic kind of dinosaur as far as the complexity goes it's basically just black so I can't even really comment on the paint job if I'm going to be honest one thing I will comment on is the posture so you can actually rotate the arms and the claws because remember actual raptors had claws like that that would like face out like clappers but drastic part raptors you'd have to break bone as Jim Kirkland would say in order to do that and now he just looks a bit handsy and weirdly you know Indoraptor was one of the dinosaurs in the Jurassic franchise that could do quadrupedal and bipedal walking it would sort of run on all thaws and then stand on two limbs at some points but for some odd reason they've decided with this one probably because it's easier if we're going to be honest to just have it stand on two legs because I don't know because it's body is not long enough really to get down on the floor like and there's no way you can pivot from the the ankle I mean you can twist the ankle just to get some there you go now it's complete what else can you do? okay so you've got the rotating forearms I guess or hands you've got some clippy clips of the mouth I mean you've got it's almost like garyal teeth there that are sort of going in and out of each others jaws the one strange thing and it's probably a cost saving feature about this is that they've done the mouth red which of course makes sense but I don't know if it's an oversight look at the back of the head you can see like the inside of its head sculpt is great paint job can't really comment on although for some reason and I think it's deliberate they've decided to put some glitter on the interrupter if you just zoom into its head it's almost like it's like a marble a galaxy marble you'd find in your kitchen a counter table but the rest of it doesn't although anyway it kind of glistens in the light because it's this sort of reflective kind of plastic tail of course bends and sort of clips into place on the right and the left doesn't move up and down articulation is not really too great but it definitely is the head of the interrupter very faithful sculpt so I can give it some praise for that if it's one thing that colossals do get right it's the sculpt I'd say I would complain about the toenails being painted like we do with the Gigan on the sword however because the whole thing is black plastic anyway and the nails would be black well you win this time what else to say you've got the weird flippy it's not wrong this is how you play with it you've got its little feature of the flat they all have it it always looks like this again this whole thing started with the Lost World T-Rex this the Lost World T-Rex this is the Bull or Buck T-Rex basically this singular toy from Kenner from 1997 inspired the entire colossal range because it can open its mouth wide but Mattel has an aversion to rubber so they were like no we're gonna do solid plastic and again rubber not only can you you know whatever you want to do it to fit whatever goes inside it also sort of has like a C section I suppose not really screen accurate head is beautiful but the rest of the body is out of proportion massive feet to accommodate for the weight but the length of the body is too short and the tail especially is too short but you compare that to the freaking Buck T-Rex we're on a whole other level so there's only one thing left to do now that we've got a new addition to the family welcome to the family I get the family wow Mattel really splurged out for your feet there come on worry you braga stagosaurus but wait there's more oh the T-Rex is longer like just by like a little bit we can get them all on the table surely you know they've actually released a mementosaurus as well I think oh Dreadnordlas I think there's Dreadnordlas, Mementosaurus a Patasau, Prakisau you've got a problem Mattel stop your weird obsession you just say why don't I stop buying them there is nothing I can I can't even display it show the obsession Whitney show the problem Colossal Prakisau, Colossal Toast Colossal Indoraptor Colossal Giganodosaurus Colossal T-Rex, Colossal Patasau that's not even including Colossal Blue, Colossal Indominus Rex Colossal Colossal Dreadnordlas Colossal Mementosaurus the John Hammond collection Prakisau which is probably the same size as this Prakisau but it's got a different sculpt on the head which means we have to buy guys do I stop doing these please tell me because this will get lots of views we kind of can't stop doing it yeah actually you know what yes I'm very curious everyone do you actually collect these and if you do what do you do with them I'd love to know storage because I had people sending me in their dinosaur collections and a lot of people maybe had one or two people are just waiting for their favorite dinosaur to become a colossal it's a great painting project but as far as I don't know things on shelves go you need a whole room for these dinosaur collection is not what it used to be I think in the end we're just going to have to do a battle royale every colossal just like smashing against each other until one brick and they can only pour one window who's the strongest colossal because some of them do feel really hollow like the plastic and some is really brittle and others it's it's way I would my bet would be on the a pedestal I think the a pedestal would last it would stand the test of time anyway guys I hope you've enjoyed this video don't know if it's even been long or even worth it if I'm honest if you enjoyed it leave a like and until next time I'll see you guys later bye I just kind of should we do a system boot system boot that's I like when he says that alright here we go we're doing good we're doing good all I need to do is just get up around like that almost except for here we go here we go okay that was a different round didn't realize okay that's one that's one system we've got two plans scoring on the on the field side of


Getting the check from Michael gas to winning the power stage Congratulations guys Eli make what a run through there. Yeah After the first corner, I obviously talked to you every every power stage get way too excited and miss the apex of the first corner went Why when had a little bit of a laugh and I thought I said sorry, mate And we're gonna have to make it up from here and we just went flat out And we got every other corner perfect. So I couldn't have done a better run really and Look, I was speaking to Simon after testing on Wednesday and he just said how you going and I said Yeah, coffee was good. He said to be a favor make sure you win that power stage And it's the Evans clean sweep for the year and he goes I haven't got you back on this one I said I'll promise you this so here you go Simon. I did it He won't give you the check though. We're stay difficult for the the co-drivers that situation You're obviously trying to calm everything down and you're thinking of a championship here about five points in the bank Yeah, well, it's four over Mollie now. So it takes it at the 35 so it just makes it just that little bit easier So very happy to have those blocked away Say this stage Yeah, well, you know, it's nice to have that much of a gap over the others because this stage when we run it properly is 20k As long so so that could blow out to And we do it four times over the weekend, so nice feeling knowing that we're quicker than them in there Doing it doing an actual proper forest run through here like does give you a good feel for the south in these stages That's when the start is not you can't just bank the check now and get away with it And have a relaxed evening you got to get the eyes on this afternoon. That's right the power stage That's actually a section of the 20k Crawford stage and we're actually standing on a stage We compete down here and we turn left so to be in that small section three kilometers to be a second Okay, or a second and a half a k faster than the rivals is a bit of a mind edge. I've got over them now