Today's guest is Gord Pyzer. Gord is widely known as Canada's most scientific fisherman. He's now the Fishing Editor at Outdoor Canada Magazine, and the Field Editor and Television host for In-Fisherman Magazine. But before that, with a masters degree in resource management, he worked for 30 years as a senior manager with Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources. He was inducted into the Canadian Angler Hall of Fame in 2009, and the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame in 2015. As you'll soon find out in the episode, his reputation as the "most scientific angler" is well deserved. Even if you're not very into fishing, (like me,) His deep understanding of these fish and their habitats, alongside his obvious passion, will leave you laughing in amazement.

Timing:

1:33 Start of interview
5:19 Lesson in Persistance
12:18 Getting to Know the Fish
17:04 Making a Living From Fishing
21:20 Sustainability
35:46 Gord's Best Fishing Stories
43:00 Gord's Definition of Success
54:14 Life Lessons from Fishing

The Golden Nugget of Wisdom:

The main lesson I learned looking back on my conversation with Gord Pyzer, revolves around humility and mastery. I went into yet another interview EXPECTING a professional to agree with and elaborate on a lesson I recently learned. But I quickly realized the lesson I learned was personal circumstance, and not an overarching blanket lesson for everybody out there who wants to learn how to fish. Let me explain.

As I discuss in the beginning of the interview, I recently caught my first fish ever. It was the last hour of the last day of the trip when I caught it and I instantly thought: FISHING is just about PERSISTENCE. I didn't give up so I was PROUD of my persistence, of my grind it out mentality.

But as soon as I brought it up with expert fisherman Gord Pyzer, he laughed and told me gently that it's actually quite the opposite of persistence. That if he hasn't caught anything in the first 20 minutes, he's outta there! His years of studying fish inside and out has led him to become so efficient in catching fish that he says he catches too many!

Looking back on it, the lesson here is that you CAN'T SHORTCUT mastery. When you first start learning a skill, you may THINK that you've discovered the secret, but really you've just made a little bit of progress, you've taken one step on a long, long journey. You think it's persistence, but as Gord teaches us in the episode: it's about studying and understanding the migratory patterns, the temperature preferences, the feeding habits, the biology, the circadian rhythm, and the never ending list of complexities for every single species of fish that leads to success. And this takes YEARS to learn and apply, not days and a few hundred casts.

Music:
FLAWD SOULS: Spotify / Instagram / SoundCloud

Trent Kitsch most likely doesn't need an introduction for most of you, so before I list some of his accomplishments, let me paint a picture of our interview set up. Trent kindly invited me to his home where I set up my gear outside on a comfy patio overlooking the Okanagan Valley, it was a beautiful 30 degree summer day and we cracked a beer. It was less of an interview and more of a conversation with somebody who's interested in similar topics. As for accomplishments, Trent founded Saxx Underwear in 2007, and sold it in 2016. He then continued his entrepreneurial journey by co-founding and selling Doja Cannabis to Canopy Growth in 2018, which was a several hundred million dollar deal. He also currently owns and operates Kitsch Wines, a world class winery here in the heart of the Okanagan Valley. He's got a deep love for entrepreneurship, and he's got the stories to back it.

Show Notes:

1:40- Start of Interview
6:06- The Saxx Van
11:30- The Elevator Pitch
16:40- Trent's and Failure
21:49- After Selling Saxx
34:04- Healthy Habits
35:56- What Trent's Working on Now
37:33- Ria
42:19- Advice for Young Entrepreneurs
44:52- Setting Milestones/ The Goal Card
57:26- Open-mindedness/ Curiosity
1:03:10- The Golden Nugget of Wisdom

The Golden Nugget of Wisdom:

Trent Kitsch is in the big leagues of business, so it hit different when he shared his respect for failure and the willingness to just TRY! We all have a natural feeling of embarrassment when we're trying new things. It's like our mind easily constructs a sort of made-up, fake crowd, full of critics paying very close attention to every move, eager to laugh at every mistake we make. This paralyzes us. But nobody is paying attention as much as we're paying attention to ourselves, so we have to notice this pattern, and not let it stop us from trying. We have to ENJOY Trying! And it's easier to enjoy it, knowing that you have people like Trent in your corner.

I was comforted when Trent reminded us that the BEST of the Best, hall of famer baseball players bat at .300. They hit only 30% of the time! But I was even more comforted when Trent stressed the point that he's developed a love for trying, and for those who try. It's nice to know that somebody at the top is cheering you on, and not judging or laughing at our efforts as we sometimes assume. And this applies to anything you do.

In Trent's Words: "being ok with failure is a cool thing. I think it's important to try, if the people are naysaying the tryers, fuck those people. I love trying."

Thanks Trent!

Music:
FLAWD SOULS: Spotify / Instagram / SoundCloud

Today's guest is Svein Tuft. Svein is a Canadian cyclist who rode professionally for almost 20 years with a list of accomplishments that will leave you gasping for air. He's won the Canadian National Time Trial Championships a total of 11 times, He's worn the pink leaders jersey in the Giro D'Italia, which is Italy's equivalent to the yellow jersey in the Tour de France. He's completed the Tour De France 3 times and finished a total of 10 grand tours. These grand tours are races that are an average of 3500km long over the course of 21 stages in 3 weeks with only 2 rest days. There are only 3 every year. One in Italy (The Giro), The ultra famous Tour de France, and one in Spain (La Vuelta.) With such a long lasting career, I was excited to dive into Svein's mindset regarding longevity, and he definitely had some golden nuggets to share on the topic.

Timing:

1:48 Start of Interview
5:00 Elite Level Athletes
10:59 How to Make the Legs Feel Light
18:30 Toughest Days on the Bike
23:30 How Svein Started Cycling
26:43 The Commercial Side of Cycling
31:09 Using Data vs. Listening to Your Body
37:30 Svein's Healthy Habits
43:13 Short Term vs. Long Term Gratification
50:45 Teaching Long Term Thinking
54:40 Talking Finances
59:21 The Golden Nugget of Wisdom

The Golden Nugget of Wisdom:

Mindset is tough to define, which is why I dedicate my time trying to clarify what the worlds elite performers have to say about it. My conversation with pro cyclist Svein Tuft has clarified a piece of the puzzle that I believe will help me live a better life.

When describing the common denominator between the worlds elite cyclists, the best of the best, he mentions that they have a narrowed focus on what they want to achieve, which translates to them not wasting ANY energy dreading the "shitty" parts of the job. They don't complain that they have a big workout to complete, or that the weather's bad, it just "is what it is..." it's what they do. It's as if they've figured out that negative thoughts drain our physical energy levels, and they need all the energy they can get.

This made me realize that our brain is constantly trying to determine whether what we're pouring our energy into is "worth it." And though it's a helpful tool that can help us avoid doing things that are a waste of energy, it's also a trap that can keep us lazy in our modern world. Here's what I mean:

A young, 20 year old Jeremy used to struggle with something as simple as cleaning the floors in the apartment. My mind had decided it wasn't worth the energy. I loved the idea of having a clean apartment, but I wasn't yet convinced that the 45 minutes of effort was worth it. Because those 45 minutes were filled with negative thoughts like, "This is brutal, why am I doing this? I'd rather get high and watch survivor." It wasn't the work that was the struggle, it was the thoughts.

But over the course of a decade the negative thoughts have slowed down to the point where there is no more mental struggle. It's just something that needs to get done, so I do it, without any self-imposed suffering. This may be a silly example, but I truly believe if we can start to notice these mental hurdles, we'll be able to slowly clean up all areas of our lives in days or weeks, rather than years or decades.

Music:
FLAWD SOULS: Spotify / Instagram / SoundCloud

Today's guest is John Morgan. John is a successful business man here in Kelowna. I was introduced to him by a previous guest of the show, Austin Walper, who you can listen to on Episode 17. I was immediately convinced that he had a lot to say about the business world and that there was plenty to learn from him, yet I still underestimated his knowledge. In this episode, John delivers. Throughout the conversation I was humbled by his dedication and love for business and i'm positive you'll think the same.

Timing:

1:16- Start of Interview
9:43- How His Business is Structured
19:49- Sexy vs. Non-Sexy Businesses
33:16- How John Views Money
39:46- Work and The Grind
50:06- Reading
1:01:08- Leadership
1:06:05 Motivation/ Beginning Again
1:27:27- Mixed Feelings on Goals

Golden Nugget of Wisdom:

The main life lesson i'll take away from my conversation with John Morgan is the idea of "beginning again." As he describes, at any moment you can begin again, you can be having a bad day and not FEEL like making another sales call, but you can also decide to hit a sort of mental refresh, begin again, and make that extra sales call and not let your feelings affect what needs to be done.

Normally, when interviewing people, I hit a mental hurdle around the 1 hour in mark. It feels like it's time to end, my mental energy from focusing so hard on the conversation is dwindling. But John just so happened to mention the "begin again" concept around the 1 hour mark and I tried it out. We were then locked in and focused for another 30 mins without any additional mental weight. Knowing that when I'm feeling tired, I can use this tool and decide to "begin again," I'm confident I'll be able to test and push my limits a little bit further than I ever thought possible. Consider it added to the 6AM Mindset Toolbox. Thanks John!

Music:
FLAWD SOULS: Spotify / Instagram / SoundCloud

Today's guest is none other than the legendary sports reporter and broadcaster for the Edmonton Oilers, Gene Principe. His legendary status comes mostly from his unique use of puns in his pre-game introductions, and don't worry, I ask where they all come from. However, Gene's much more than a pun machine, he's been consistently surrounded by high-performers throughout his career and has interviewed the best of the best in the sporting world. We discuss the impact this unique career has had at home as a father and on the soccer pitch as a coach. If you enjoy this interview, please consider pressing the follow button on Spotify and Apple Podcasts to help the algorithm show my podcast to new listeners. I know it's annoying hearing this all the time, but it's truly a huge help. Thanks!

Timing:

1:29 Start of Interview (The Puns)
5:00 Finding Your Voice
13:49 Career Goals
19:41 Superstitions
22:50 Getting Real Answers
26:50 The Gretzky Story
27:59 Fun Oilers to Interview
31:30 Interviewing McDavid and Draisaitl
39:20 Wins Vs. Losses
41:06 Mindset Learnings from Athletes
47:54 Gene's Healthy Habits
52:21 Downsides To The Job
55:06 Advice for Young Broadcasters
1:07:20 What Don't We Know About Gene?
1:09:23 The Golden Nugget of Wisdom

The Golden Nugget of Wisdom

What's stuck with me most after my interview with Gene is his pure fascination with the small stories behind the athletes that he interviews. His pursuit and genuine love for unearthing these stories has added clarity to what I want to accomplish with this podcast.

The facts that Steven Stamkos puts a red dot on his stick to remind him of a goal light is cool for some reason, and Gene discovered that story and shared it. Whether it's McDavid having 5 different lengths of stick, or Luke Gazdic putting his loved ones initials on his stick, Gene's unearthed some interesting and unique ways that the BEST of the BEST get the most out of themselves. And these ideas will undoubtedly inspire other's to tweak and make the practise their own.

His examples in this interview may all have to do with their hockey sticks, but it's made me realize that high-performers may use reminders for inspiration in other ways with their specific tools for the job. I'm now determined to discover what these reminders are, and how we can all implement them.

In the words of the longest tenured Edmonton Oiler Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Thanks Gene!

Music:
FLAWD SOULS: Spotify / Instagram / SoundCloud

Aaron Volpatti: Instagram / Website / Hockeydb

Today's guest is cognitive performance coach, visualization expert, former NHL player, fighter and survivor Aaron Volpatti. I heard of Aaron being a visualization expert through a friend and immediately knew i had to have him on the show. I've read in many books, heard on many podcasts, and seen on many youtube videos how important visualization is to achieving your goals, but something was always missing, It never really clicked for me. So who better to interview than a man who survives a terrible burn injury at 20 years old, and defys all odds at not only making a comeback to playing hockey, but making it to the show, all credited to the power of visualization.

The Golden Nugget of Wisdom:

If you're anything like me, you've heard about visualization as a technique to achieving your goals, or getting what you want, and immediately written it off as magic "woowoo" bullshit. There's just no way that the secret ingredient to success can be as simple as imagining what you want. However after my conversation with Aaron Volpatti, I realize theres many more layers to it than that, and that my view was limited and naive. I now understand that visualization is a powerful tool in order to feel prepared in the most intense situations.

One way I plan on implementing it in my life is as a sort of diagnostic test for my own "self-worth." Here's what I mean:

You can imagine with clarity how you would feel in a FUTURE scenario with your CURRENT mindset. And this will help you figure out what insecurities and limiting beliefs are currently holding you back and what you need to change. Ok, visualize with me here.

Imagine Elon Musk trying to close a million dollar deal, or asking out the partner of his dreams. Do you think he's nervous, anxious and sweaty... or cool, calm, collected and confident? It's easy to imagine that Elon feels worthy of striking the deal and getting the partner of his dreams, because he's Elon fucking Musk. Now imagine that person is you... how do you feel with the pressure of a million dollar deal on your back, or the pressure of potential rejection from your crush?

I've identified that I tend to imagine being nervous and not confident. It's easier for me to imagine failure over success. I lean towards not believing in myself. It's almost as though I don't believe I currently have what it takes, that I don't deserve it, because I don't have the same track record as Elon.

That right there, THAT'S the point of visualization. I can pretty accurately imagine how CURRENT Jeremy would react in a situation, and realize it doesn't align with who I want to be, or what I know I NEED to be to get what I want. And now that I KNOW, I can start trying to CHANGE.

In order to change, I can visualize the internal movie of FUTURE Jeremy KILLING IT. I can imagine it SO often, with such consistency, in such vivid detail that it becomes habit, so when the time comes, I've prepared for so long that it feels FAMILIAR rather than new and scary so I feel as worthy as Elon, which will translate to my body language, my tone of voice, my confidence.

Music:
FLAWD SOULS: Spotify / Instagram / SoundCloud

Todays guest is Ryan Bernath. He's the Chief Operating Officer at EnCann Solutions Inc. Encann provides customized cannabis oil extraction services for cannabis and hemp producers across Canada. I'm very interested in cannabis as a tool and as an industry . Especially what people get wrong about it, and how it can integrate with a high-performance mindset. Ryan being so up to date on EVERYTHING cannabis was the perfect guest to explore this line of thought with.

Many believe that cannabis users are "lazy" or that "you can't smoke weed and be successful" which i believe is just untrue. I've met several extremely successful people who openly use cannabis daily. Ryan provides updates on the forefront of change in the industry, explains what research is looking promising, and how Encann is positioning themselves to be a huge player in making cannabis derived products more readily available. Enjoy!

Encann Socials:

Website / Facebook / Instagram

Timing:

1:42 Start of Interview
4:28 What Encann Solutions Does
7:35 Why Ryan Started Encann
13:31 Stigma Of Weed
17:31 Weed and High-Performance
27:21 Canada's Regulations
31:32 Psycho-activity Explained
37:04 Big Brands Getting Behind CBD
42:54 Temptations to Pivot
46:04 Ryan's Personal Mindset Toolbox
52:05 Exciting News about Encann Solutions
56:55 Advice for Buying Your Weed
1:03:18 Golden Nugget of Wisdom

Suggested Forums:
Good Life Gang
Future 4200

Golden Nugget of Wisdom:

Obviously Ryan and I talked about and bonded over cannabis throughout our discussion, however there was a small tidbit that could have easily been glanced over by many. That as soon as I heard, I KNEW was important.

When asked about practices Ryan uses to keep growing the company despite there being so many government regulations affecting their vision to scale, he mentioned that a piece of advice he always gives and lives by is to "Not let the potential of failure tomorrow freeze you today."

This really resonated with me as I've 100% struggled with this in the past building my own business. Often times you're getting your self into situations where you just don't know if it'll work out, you're testing and you're trying new things, and this naturally causes some sort of fear. We've all heard of fight, flight or freeze, and it makes sense that that's exactly what will happen when we're stepping into the unknown not only in a dark scary forest, but in business.

I've often dealt with this stress or this fear by taking a day "for myself" and relaxing, basically needing to self-soothe. which falls under the flight or freeze categories. But maybe now with the awareness of this quote, I can consciously tip the scale towards the FIGHT side of things and get SOMETHING done rather than unconsciously freezing and doing NOTHING.


Music:
FLAWD SOULS: Spotify / Instagram / SoundCloud

Todays guest is Mike Shaw. Mike and I met at a backcountry ski lodge and when he shared his story, it struck a deep deep chord. As soon as I heard it, I knew I had to have him on the podcast. If there's ANYBODY who knows anything about using mindset as a tool, as something to use when you need it most, it's somebody who has re-learned to walk after a catastrophic spinal cord injury. Mike shares stories from the dark depths of his journey, and what he's learned that he thinks everybody can do to improve their day to day lives, regardless of their situation.

Find Mike Shaw: Website / Instagram / Facebook / LinkedIn / Twitter

Timing:

1:27 Mike's Story
11:18 Using Gratitude as a Tool
22:24 Gratitude Triggers
32:02 Gratitude Exercise
39:51 Books and Quotes That Helped Mike Through Recovery
47:20 Downside To Recovery
50:42 Big Physical Challenges on Mike's List
51:48 Definition of Success
59:06 Identity
1:06:49 Identity Audit
1:11:04 The Golden Nugget of Wisdom

Golden Nugget of Wisdom:

Mike speaks a lot about how gratitude helped him get through the toughest of times during his recovery, and it's now a part of his life's mission to introduce the power of gratitude into as many other lives as possible, BEFORE they have a catastrophic accident like he did. How crazy is it that our default is to NOT feel grateful for something we have, until it's GONE. We need to learn to be pro-active and SEARCH for what we should be grateful for BEFORE it's gone, in order to truly harness it's power.

If you're anything like me, you heard Mike's story and felt temporarily inspired, and felt a deep desire to implement gratitude into your daily life. But it's all too easy to get caught up in our everyday habits and routines, and slowly slip away from the intention required to feel grateful every day. So it's not as easy as just hearing mike's words and "feeling grateful from now on." We must find a time, a place or an action that we'll inevitably repeat and use it as a reminder for us to SEARCH for gratitude. We must find what mike calls "gratitude triggers."

As Mike mentions, it can be the first hot slurp of coffee in the morning, or it can be the sound and feeling of the ratchet strap on your snowboard, but ultimately it has to work for you. What I think might work for me is attaching it to something difficult that I do intentionally everyday. A sacrifice of NOW for the sake of LATER. Every time I step foot into a cold shower from now on, I aim to search for gratitude while at peak discomfort. Hopefully this will stick and I can tap into the power of gratitude that Mike speaks so highly about.