Get Amplified
Get Amplified
A Holistic Approach to Life and Leadership with Trevor Dias
Kick off 2025 with a burst of inspiration as we welcome Trevor Dias, whose career journey spans sports coaching with Manchester United to leadership roles in Vodafone and Salesforce.
In our professional lives we are very used to starting each year in planning mode and setting our objectives. How many of us do the same in our personal lives?
Trevor introduces us to his holistic approach combining health philosophies and modern-day coaching as we discuss the importance of merging lifestyle, diet, and career for a well-rounded life.
This enriching conversation emphasises understanding our limits and finding balance for a healthier, more fulfilling life.
Here's the link to the pyramid that Trevor shares with us.
We hope you find this episode thought provoking and that it motivates and equips you to make the most of the year ahead.
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Welcome to Get Amplified from the Amplified Group, bringing you stories to help leaders in the tech industry execute at speed through the power of working together. Well, it's another slightly gloomy day in Buckinghamshire this morning. Vicky, what's it looking like in deeper stuff in Oxfordshire? Very similar, I'm afraid, afraid. Yeah, we need some sunshine. I know, I know I don't want to wish my life away, but roll on spring. Yeah, absolutely so. To brighten us up on this gloomy day. Who have we got on the podcast today?
Vic:yeah. So, sam as it's the new year, I just thought it would be good to help our listeners just have some fresh thinking and perhaps be inspired. And our guest. I was introduced to by Andy Bryars.
Sam:You may remember Andy from our podcasts at least probably a couple of times.
Vic:So, Andy um, I worked with Okta back in 2019 and and continued to work with him and his team. Now they've left Okta and gone gone in different directions and it's been, it's more of a partnership to work with them, to be fair. So I learned learn as much from Andy, and once a month we go on a work walk with our dogs, which is a really, really lovely thing to do. And Andy mentioned to me about Trevor. So and Trevor Dias is a life coach, but with a background of tech, which really gives great context, I think, for for our audience. So Andy said he'd done some work with Trevor and said you guys really need to talk, so I thought it'd be great to have Trevor on the podcast.
Sam:Fantastic. Well, welcome Trevor. We are absolutely delighted to have you here. Kick us off into 2025 with a bang, I'm sure.
Trevor:No, thank you. Thank you for having me. It's an absolute pleasure. Yes, looking forward to it.
Sam:So would you mind starting by giving us just a run through your what sounds like pretty crazy career history today?
Trevor:I kind of think I've kind of come full circle, I think, in my career where I started with. So very early on, when I very first started in a career and in in work. Really, I started in a coaching environment and very specifically in sports coaching and in football coaching or soccer, for anyone that might be listening across the pond. So at the ripe old age of 17 I started that career, started engaging in all my coaching badges and worked for Manchester United for a number of years coaching for those all over the UK, spent a number of years in America coaching professionally and then and then in the UK as well. So I did that for about five years of my life and then, probably in around 2004, is when I then entered my first foray into the corporate world and I went into a sales role specifically for BT, british Telecom at the time, and from then onwards I spent the best part of 20 years then forging a career in the corporate world.
Trevor:So I was unbelievably fortunate to be able to do what I did, to work for the companies that I did and with some of the individuals that I did and the roles that I had. Outrageously fortunate. The things that I learned were amazing the places that it took me to. So I then went on to work for some organizations like Vodafone and Salesforce and, as Vicky mentioned, okta. I very quickly worked my way up through the corporate world into leadership roles.
Trevor:So I did an awful lot of leadership building new teams, structuring new organizations in America, across Europe, working with cross-functional teams, but always within the commercial environment, and then, yeah, so I was in those roles for maybe about 20 years and then, as of last year and it was November, nearly a year ago, just over a year ago November 2023 is when I took a break and I stepped away from the corporate world for a number of reasons, but then since then, I've gone on this new journey of doing what I'm doing now, which is more in the world of coaching, again back into the performance-related world, but still with links into the corporate world and the technology sector that I was in. I'm doing an awful lot of work with and for people within that environment.
Sam:Brilliant Sounds, fab. I like the sort of the full circle from coaching back to coaching. I'll bet a slightly different approach or at least a different target. So why do you do what you do?
Trevor:What led you back into coaching? There's many things a coach will do, but for me there's three really key points that a coach will do. So a coach will provide space and silence, and they've got tools and techniques to do that. That will give the individual trust and confidence and courage then to be able to talk openly and candidly about whatever it is that they might want to do or achieve or what's bothering them or challenging them. They can then challenge that in a very specific way, in a non-threatening way, in a non-judgmental way, and provide challenge that in terms of really trying to understand the why and the what and the how. And then it's about accountability. There's a really good coach called Gus De Marto to understand the why and the what and the how. And then it's about accountability.
Trevor:There's a really good coach called Cus D'Amato and for those of you that might not have heard of , he's a boxing coach and, very specifically, if I say a name, most people will know the name it's Mike Tyson. So is the person that identified Mike Tyson. He's identified a huge array of amazing boxers and there's a great interview where someone's saying to Gus well, how do you do this? How do you teach people to be the best boxers? How do you find this? How do you give them the skills and the knowledge?
Trevor:And he said I don't. He said the only thing I do is I find a spark and then I turn that spark into a flame, and then I fan that flame and I turn it into a fire and then I let that fire go into a roaring blaze. And that's what a coach is there to do. They can't do it for you, they can't do it with you. They're there to support you. They're there to fan that flame, to give you accountability, to give you, challenge you in certain situations. So that's my definition. Hopefully I've kind of explained it in a way that people can visualise and picture.
Sam:Yeah, that makes sense. I think, and I guess also in the corporate world you're probably working with some quite sort of senior or experienced people, whereas maybe in the sporting world, particularly at the start of your career, I'm guessing you were working with more juniors who need to understand those specific techniques, rather than you know those who've done 10 years worth of work and you know the basics of selling or accounting or marketing or company functions, you're not. You're not helping them with those.
Vic:You're helping them get the best out of themselves, right yeah, absolutely yeah um, when, when we spoke, one of the things that really struck me that's different to other coaches, I know is you have a more holistic approach, so it's more about health and lifestyle and diet and then applying that into your career. Can you, can you talk about that a little bit for us?
Trevor:This is something that was personal to me that took me on this journey. So in 2015, myself and my wife, we've got two daughters now, but in 2015, our first and eldest daughter, alexa, was born. Sorry, in 2013, alexa was born, and it was quite adamant to me early on in alexa's life that something wasn't quite right. Uh, so there's an awful lot of challenges if that's the right word that that we were going through as a family, personally and obviously when my wife and with alexa trying to understand what were the challenges going on with alex, and that in itself had a massive impact on me. So I'm, then, 33 years old. I'm in a really high pressured role and environment within the corporate organization. I'm traveling all over the world, like doing an outrageous amount of travel, sometimes doing an overnight to South Africa and then going over to America, responsible for teams, responsible for budgets. You've got the usual pressures and stresses of life. That goes on, and all the responsibilities that you have as a father and all the financial responsibilities come with that, and then, along with that, I had this huge pressure that was going on with what we were trying to work through with our daughter and that drove an awful lot of change in me and specifically, those challenges came around anxiety. So I started to develop some quite intense anxiety around what was going on. That led to some really impactful things to me personally, and that's what led me on this journey, because after a few years of the impact that was starting to have on me, it became really evident that something had to give and I didn't want to let that be a choice as to what was going to give. At any particular point in time I was like I'm going to have to really take control of this, I'm going to have to understand it, I'm going to learn about it, I'm going to try and deal with it. Um, so that's when I went on this journey as well.
Trevor:Alongside the coaching I was getting in the corporate world and knowing how impactful that was for me in that environment, I then started to go and invest in coaches and nutritionalists and all sorts of people just to try to help me, just to try to figure out what was going on with me and my challenges in my personal life that were obviously leading into the professional life, and I found some great people. I really did find some really great people that I still work with now, but I couldn't find anything that was working to Vicky's point holistically. I could find point individuals that would be subject matter experts within a very specific niche area of health, but I was really clear that it was a holistic thing for me. So I then went on this journey. I thought, if it's not out there, if I can't find it, I'm gonna go and learn about it myself. So I then went on this journey. I thought, if it's not out there, if I can't find it, I'm going to go and learn about it myself. So I then went on. I mean, it's like a seven-year journey, it's going to be a journey I've gone on all my life.
Trevor:So I then went back to school and college and no one knew my wife and two of my closest friends knew and I went on all these courses, did all my education, did my coaching qualifications in nutrition, in health, in wellness, in mental, in mental health, in life coaching, and I just started to pull it all together and just started to apply things that I was learning to myself. Over time I built a philosophy and a methodology. I started to document that and then it started to help me, started to help me an awful lot as I started to refine it and then people would notice and people would ask questions, and it then just started to kind of grow from there and then I'd start to document it, I'd start to put it on the internet because people would ask questions and I'd say, there it is if you'd like to use it, and then people would come back and ask me if I could help them further. And and that's where it went from. Yeah, so it is so vicky's point. Like you say, it's more of a holistic approach that I take. Um, and I do look at the like. I'm a really big fan of health in general and well-being in general, and that's ultimately.
Trevor:A lot of people say icky guys, four aspects and, um, there's a great person that I used to work with that says a good coach is a good thief. And I'm no different. Uh, yeah, I feel right. There's nothing that I have got, that I've developed, that I've written about, that I have come up that. I have come up with that. I have absolutely developed from scratch. That just doesn't happen. It's Bruce Lee's quote right, find what's useful, discard what's not and make what's unique your own. And that's what I've done, and I've just pulled all these fantastic bits of learning from amazing people together and made them uniquely my own and put them together into this philosophy of theory and methodology of holistic health and well-being I think that that makes sense.
Sam:You know, I always used to say that my career, my success, such as it was was, was an amalgam of all of the great people that I'd worked with and learned from, and you absolutely pluck ideas from this person and that person and the other person that you work out what, what works for you, and you know same in music. I think you know you create music based on the stuff that you've listened to and that you've enjoyed. There's nothing completely new under the sun. I'm guessing you had some background in the nutrition side of things from your sport coaching days I did.
Trevor:Now, funnily enough, this is quite paradoxical. What happened so? In terms of all my life, I've always been a sporting individual, so I've always really enjoyed sports, really enjoyed being active from a young age, playing sport and doing all sorts of things. But where that kind of light bulb moment for me happened was when I was going through that really difficult period of my life. I understood health. My definition of health at that time was to be fit, so ie to be able to lift a certain weight, run a certain distance, ride a certain distance, swim a certain distance. So because of my historic knowledge and understanding and education to that point was I've got these things that are really challenging me in my life and causing me an awful lot of stress and anxiety and even leading me to having a panic attack.
Trevor:Once I thought I've just got to be fitter, I've got to be healthier and I need to be healthier, I have to be fitter. That's all I knew. And so I was already doing an awful lot anyway, because I'm always very active. But then I started to do sign up to some extreme things like doing Ironman and riding for 100 miles and then running for 25 miles and then training for like four hours a day, thinking I need to be fitter, because every time I've been fitter I've been healthier, I've performed better and I couldn't have been so wrong.
Trevor:So, actually, paradoxically, what I thought I knew was correct was actually incorrect, because what it was then happening was having a massively detrimental impact on my life, with the release of more cortisol in my body, and obviously I didn't need any more cortisol in my body. And that was it. And that's when I went wow, I've gone through 33 years of my life thinking I knew and understand this and I couldn't have been so wrong. I've got to start all over again. I've got to relearn and re-educate myself. All about this, yeah.
Sam:So what do you do nowadays in terms of exercise, then, as someone who obviously has exercised at an extreme level and and then ratcheted that back down what you know, how do you find the level for that sort of thing?
Trevor:so, yeah, I've told, I've told it right back down. So I still, I've always enjoyed exercise. I think it's something that will always do, because, uh, yeah, but more to the point now, exercise for me is not for a physical fitness outcome and or goal. Um, exercise, as obviously as we know some amazing benefits in terms of cardiovascular and heart rate and all that sort of stuff. But for me it's the mental side. Yeah, I understand that, it's the, it's the ability it has to put you in the position to be able to perform.
Trevor:And perform is really clearly defined by the individual. It might be perform at work, it might be perform at home, it might be perform with a family, it might be perform to whatever it is. But exercise is absolutely fundamental to that. Whatever your definition, whatever your criteria of success is that you then have to perform to achieve that. It is vitally important that exercise forms a part of that.
Trevor:That is then combined with the, the mental side and the psychological side, but also, really importantly, your purpose and your spiritual side as well. So that's the holistic, holistic being. If we can look at all those things holistically, which unfortunately many of us don't, we'll always go to point things. The doctor says you've got high cholesterol, or the doctor says you're on borderline type 2 diabetes, and what do we do? We go straight out into the gym and we go hard at that aspect and unfortunately that's where we see these yo-yos happening, because we unfortunately don't look at things holistically. So to be able to look at it holistically, balance it out, then you're able to to put things together that is right for each individual.
Sam:Yeah, yeah, no, that I think. I think that makes some sort of sense. I have a friend who, um, I worked with and I think he used exercise, probably in a similar sort of a way that that you did maybe, uh, you know, without you know, knowing you in any detail, but he very much used it as a sort of an escape to try and get out of his own head. He ran the marathon de sabre, which is a million miles through, of running through the sahara desert carrying your own water and stuff like that. I mean, it was absolute madness.
Sam:Um, you know, I remember him coming back and sitting in a meeting with him and I could almost watch the infection move up his feet into his legs and and it's just, you know he would do these crazy, crazy things, but it was. That was his way of getting out of his own head, I think. And, yeah, he, he then started to deal with things in a different way, through sort of talking therapy, and so, um know, he probably needed all this because he worked with me for chat. But is that the sort of thing you're talking about? You know, getting out, getting away from using exercise almost as a form of self-flagellation perhaps?
Trevor:Oh, that's a great point, Sam, and I guess so. There are so many of these amazing challenges out there that will test your physical self to the limits, but also your, your mental self, right. When you're doing that, not only do you have to be physically, it tests your psychological self as well. Yeah, and I'm all for those right. I am not against these events because I just love them. I read so many books on individuals that achieve amazing feats like this and I think they teach us an awful lot about what is possible with the mind and the body, and we've only scratched the surface on what's possible in the mind and the body. But I think it's really important that each individual is very self-aware of what is going on in their lives and their ability to do all of those things. So, for example, um, when I was training for the ironman, which, in comparison to what you just described, the marauder salaba when you're running through the desert is is, you can't even compare the two. That is amazing feats that that your colleague did.
Trevor:But even with me doing the ironman, I was physically capable of doing the ironman. I was in physical good shape to do the ironman, but the reason that it that it didn't it negatively contributed to my life instead of positively contributing to it was. We talked about the unbelievable stress and pressure that I had going on, with the anxiety and sleepless nights which is causing that. We talked about the work that I was doing, which taken me all over the world, like, genuinely, I was doing day trips to South Africa and then America, and then you're trying to fit the training around that and then you're trying to be a good father and you're trying to be a good husband and you're trying to be present, which means that I'm getting up at four in the morning to train and training at 10 at night when the kids and wife are in bed. All of a sudden, what could and should have been a really positive physical experience for me was actually a negative one.
Trevor:So that's why I think it's so important just to be self-aware of actually yeah, I genuinely believe any person on this planet if they really put their mind to it. You are capable of anything, anything, any physical challenge. But actually we've got to be really honest with ourselves about the life that we're living and unfortunately, unfortunately, or fortunately some of us haven't got the privilege of not having to work, of not having kids. That is that a privilege or not? I think it's a privilege having kids, but obviously the stress 100% nights. So if you've got a lot of that going on, you need to really be aware of. Actually, what is that limit where you are positively contributing and or negatively taking away with the exercise or anything else that you're doing in your life?
Sam:Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think I think that makes makes a lot of sense. You know, as a lifelong fat bloke, I've been guilty of training too hard at times and do myself in too hard at times and and do myself in and I've I've made a conscious decision to to ratchet that back. I still, I still exercise, I walk, I cycle, I swim, I, I do weights, but I don't do it to the, obviously partly because I'm old now and have experienced some, some sporting injuries over the years, which, but yeah, it's very much about keeping active, keeping mobile, and also, you're entirely right, the mental aspect of it is incredibly important. I'm sure, vicky, you look like you're about to chime in with something.
Vic:Yeah, I'm I'm just thinking the reason you're talking about here. Have you got some tips for us, trevor, to help us get 2025 off to a good start?
Trevor:um, yeah, I have, and it's a great question. Obviously it's going to be a very common one that comes up in the lead up to Christmas and then, as we get into the new year, there's so many people that want to make a fresh start and commit to achieving some things that they might've been thinking about for a while Now. Maybe I approach this a bit differently and again, I don't want to come across in a way that this is negative out there, but I think we as a society I will now come to the point of we try to look for the quick fixes. We like to look for the little wins and the shortcuts, and I genuinely don't think there is one when it comes to our health and our wellbeing, and I mean that from a holistic perspective. So what I like to do is I really like to take a step back and strip it right back with people.
Trevor:So I've got a pyramid, which forms part of my philosophy, and within the pyramid there's six items within the pyramid. So I think, if you can really stop and take some time to look at each of these items within these pyramid and the pyramid obviously is there as reflection of, as per usual pyramid the bottom part is the largest, most important part the structural integrity of that pyramid pyramid, just like the foundations of a house, and I call that your purpose. So I think where a lot of people might go in january, they'll initially do what we've been talking about oh, I need to lower my cholesterol, I need to, I need to get away from being borderline diabetic, diabetic, I need to reduce three inches off my waist and they'll straight away go to doing a physical activity plan, and I think that can work in some instances. But what we typically find when you do that is you then do this yo-yo because you might keep that and then you'll come back down. And so I like to go right back and I'd like to really start challenging ourselves about thinking about what is our purpose, like really getting really deep about, like, seriously, what, what are we here for? What are we doing? What's our purpose? Who have we got that's responsible for us and who are we responsible for, and what does that mean that I've got to do and achieve and be in the shape of life that I want to be in, um to be the best for them or with them, or do that for them, and that takes a lot of time to think about that.
Trevor:So I'd say do something different. If you might know now I'm a bit of a one for sayings and quotes, and there's a great one by Einstein as well. Right, he's doing the same thing twice and expecting a different result yeah yeah in January, right, we, we do that again.
Trevor:we go, okay, I'm going to start again, I'm going to do this, I'm going to make a commitment, and we're surprised when it doesn't happen. And then we do it again and again and again, and 20 years later we're still doing the same thing. So I'd say, actually, let's do something different, let's really stop and let's really ask yourself some really difficult and it is difficult questions about when was the last time someone sat down in a room with a coffee and a pen and a piece of paper and just started documenting and just started journaling and just started thinking about you, like literally you. What is it that you're about? What is your purpose? Why are you here? Who depends on you? Why is it so important that you have to be here or will need to be here for a certain length of time to deliver what?
Trevor:Once you can start to get to that question and understand that, everything else then can form a part of that because, like we were talking about, you can start to look at things holistically then and you can start to be really honest with yourself and self-aware of yourself.
Trevor:That says, well, actually I don't need to run five marathons through the desert. For me to deliver on my purpose and for me to be successful in life, I actually, I actually need to make sure I'm going for a walk four times a day. I actually need to make sure I'm looking at a mental state more than my physical state, and then you can start to then build those blocks up and then look at your life holistically and go okay, okay, tiktok and Instagram might be saying I need to do 500 sit-ups a day and train five days a week, but actually that's not the reality. I only need to go to the gym once a week and I need to go for three walks a week and I need to do you know what I mean read two books and I need to listen to a podcast and all of a sudden that genuinely and I really do, I say this sometimes it is genuinely life-changing when you start to do things differently.
Vic:I feel like you've just set me free.
Sam:Yeah, yeah, makes sense. Yeah, Is it similar with nutrition as well, in terms of, you know, managing your diet? And obviously clearly that's a massively important foundation for physical and mental health. But people have a tendency to go down the wormhole of extreme diets or go carnivore or go paleo or whatever. And is a bit of sort of balance, a little bit of a better idea maybe?
Trevor:Definitely yeah, so nutrition's the third block in my pyramid, um, so purpose is the first, takes so much time to get that and and that will always be reiterating my purpose five years ago is very different to my purpose now, and it'd be very different to my purpose in 10 years, um, so that's. That's not something you do once you've got to keep coming back to that purpose. Um, sleep is the next one to sleep. The rest is so important.
Sam:I genuinely say if you don't, get that, I do, I do like a nap yeah, there you go, so that's fine.
Trevor:And then nutrition is the third one. So it's extremely important the food that we put into our body, and ultimately, food is genuinely just energy, right? So it's energy that we're putting into our bodies and then it's energy that we're expending, and that energy that we're expending is our mind, everything about it, right for us to achieve something. So it's really important the nutrition that we put in. But to the point that you make, Sam, is it's all about balance. So I am not against anything. All right, right, mother Teresa's got a fantastic saying I'm not against war, I'm for peace, right, so I'm not against any diet that's out there.
Trevor:Again, there's 8 billion people and some people need to go on a certain diet for medical reasons or for moral reasons or for ethical reasons. 100%, do it. I support that. If you've got an absolute reason and a purpose to do that, do it. Uh, but in the main, for probably 80 90 of us out there, I'd say it's just about balance. It's about balance. It's about eating, 80 of the time, really good quality, wholesome, nutritious foods. But you bet your bottom dollar. If I go out with my mom for a coffee, I'm having a piece of carrot cake. You're like I'm going out on a saturday with kids. I'm having ice cream. Like that adds to my life in so many more ways than just meaning I'm gonna weigh two pounds less the day after. No, give me the ice cream every minute of every day for the time that you're going to spend with the kids and the interaction you're going to have with them, and so it genuinely.
Vic:I think it's all about balance, absolutely yeah so I'm curious now to know what the next three are so we've got purpose. We talked about the bottom one, then sleep, I'm learning brilliant, we've got our sleep we.
Trevor:Then I've got nutrition and then we've got activity. So I think the activity that we do, and what I define by activity, it is not planned exercise. So planned exercises I'm putting my trainers on, I'm going for a run, I'm grabbing my bike, I'm going to the gym, I'm jumping on my bike. Activity is going downstairs and playing with the kids and messing around and dancing around like a little kid and laughing and joking and throwing them around and tickling them, and going out for a walk with the kids. It's going grabbing the lawnmower and doing the gardening Like activity is being active, as we were generally more active a long time ago in our lives.
Trevor:So it's about that. It's about activity. Actually, I do like it. You've just thrown me off now when I've not got the pyramid in front of me being referenced. I You've just thrown me off now when I've not got the pyramid in front of me being referenced, so actually I have missed one and we talked about it a lot and Sam mentioned it which is psychological. Yeah, so I do believe our psychological point making sure that we are mentally strong is really important to deal with the challenges that we've got within life. So actually that's one of the blocks. So I do apologize, I missed that. And then you've got activity, which is just about being active. Like I'm sat at my desk now, but it's a desk that raises, so for three, four hours of my day I'll raise my desk again, just little things like that. Every single day, for 20 minutes, I'll go for a walk. It day for 20 minutes I'll go for a walk. It's about being active and actually that walk, although it is benefiting me from a physiological point, it's doing my mind more yeah yeah, yeah.
Trevor:so so being active is a great point. And then what really surprises everyone is that the last one and the tip of the pyramid is actually your training. And people, actually, they look at this and they invert that pyramid. Sometimes they think, no, you've got to train, you've got to train. No, you've got to train, you've got to train every day, you've got to train hard. You've got to lift loads of weights, you've got to run, you've got to ride. Don't disagree with that. You do, but I don't think we need to do it. Even 10% of what the majority of influencers tell us on social media, we say we don't, we genuinely don't two times a week. If you can train, um, even just for 30 minutes, you'd be unbelievably impressed with the the impact it'll have on your life when you combine everything else with it.
Trevor:Yeah, you are you. You're like a rocket that it'll go, yeah, yeah that's the, that's the icing on the cake.
Trevor:100 yeah, and I always and I always say, just like the foundation of a house, the lower down the pyramid, it's the stuff that you need to put more time, effort and focus and attention is the stuff that no one will ever see. Yeah, and a lot of people will see this training aspect and it's great for some people to put it there. I go to the gym, put it on social media and people see that and people think that's what defines people and that's why they're a lot of people, because they're sleeping. No one's seeing when you go to bed and when you wake up, no one's like I'm in bed at night, I'm in bed before. My kids sometimes like this stuff. People, that the really important stuff is the stuff that you do not because you want other people to see it, not because you want other people to be aware of it. It's the stuff that you do for yourself and not and for no one else. No one else will ever see this stuff.
Vic:That's the, that's the bottom of the pyramid so you just run through it now in order, um, and I'm really curious about the psychological piece of it and and I did a podcast for um women at tech and said what's your guilty pleasure? And I'm like doing a jigsaw. I blooming love doing a jigsaw. It just takes my mind off to a completely different place.
Sam:I don't like the concept of guilty pleasure, don't you? No? Why should you feel guilty about doing?
Vic:a jigsaw? Oh, because I'm doing it for me, that's ridiculous. And I've got a utility room that really needs tidying and I'm sitting there.
Sam:So what.
Vic:Do the damn jigsaw. I feel like I'm having a therapy session here.
Sam:I've always thought you know, unless your guilty pleasure is mainlining heroin or something you know, or setting fire to small children, I don't think you should feel guilty about it, you know what a great link.
Trevor:Right, because, Vicky, you've just asked about mindset and Sam 100. I think you make a fantastic point and I do agree with you and this is a mindset point. Right, because, so, this is, a lot of what we're talking about is self. We're talking about self, the things that we do for ourself and, like you say, Vicky, it's so difficult because, again, unfortunately or fortunately, I think we are so intertwined in this world. I've got two kids, I've got a wife, I've got parents, I've got people I really care about, and you can absolutely feel that level of guilt, right? Oh my gosh, I'm doing this for myself, but I should be doing something else always yeah, I'm at the gym, but I really
Trevor:should I be spending time with my wife or my kid, or should I be doing that proposal for work? And so there you go. So that's the mindset piece. That's where. That's why it forms such a large part of the pyramid. So it is purpose. So really understanding our purpose and our why Simon Sinek calls it the, why I don't like saying why yeah?
Trevor:Yeah I'm a knockoff of Simon Sinek, right, but it is, it's so important in everything we do. Every organization on the planet not every, but I think last time I looked, 80 of organizations on the planet will have on their website their. Why, their purpose? What are we here to do? What are we here to deliver, and how are we going to do that? How many of us, as individuals, do that?
Vic:we don't do it correct we don't.
Trevor:Jim Curry is a brilliant podcast by Jim Curry and he said life doesn't happen to us. It happens for us but unfortunately, the vast majority of us life is happening to us.
Trevor:We're just going we're letting it happen. And once you make that flip and that change and it's so difficult to do it, can it, will it not? Can it will be a game changer. So you find that purpose and then to your point. Vicky, it's about the mindset, because you really have to develop a very clear and powerful mindset because, again, well, selfishness, well, like sam said, is it selfish? That's where, again, you have these points. It really helps to journal and question and challenge and then you start to say, well, actually it's not selfish because, again, if I have to deliver on my purpose, if I am not in the right frame of mind, body, or mind.
Trevor:I can't deliver on that. So that is really important as well, but it's so difficult when you're playing off on those priorities, yeah. So again, it is really important. So I've got a very, very clear, defined list of priorities. And again, if I ask people, where do you think health and well-being sits on that priority list for me? A lot of people instantly go it's number one for you, trev, because you're always at the gym. The gym. You seem to be someone that is looking after yourself and it surprises them when I say well, it's not. I like the saying that you hear that people reference about the aeroplane. Put your own face mask on first, before you put anyone else on first.
Trevor:I take a lot of comfort in that and I think that's true in a lot of examples. But genuinely, when I really sit down and I'm honest with myself, my examples but genuinely, when I really sit down and I'm honest with myself, my health and well-being will never come before my kids. Would I run across a road and push my daughter out of the way to stop her getting hit? Knowing I was going to be 100 so why am I lying to myself okay?
Trevor:so my health and my well-being, although it is so important and so paramount for me delivering on my purpose. Let's just be honest with yourself, trev. It's not in front of your kids, so what I then do is I look at my diary and I go okay, well, when can I train? That means it doesn't compete with my number one priority. That means I get up at five in the morning.
Trevor:Not because everyone tells me it's successful, not because it's the only way to do things, not because you're going to be rich and you're going to fly your private jet. No, because I know they're in bed, I know I can go to the gym and I can concentrate, I can be present and I can know when I get home they're coming down the stairs and then I'm the number one priority, whereas if I try to go to the gym at seven, I'm there but I'm not really there. I'm thinking I should be with the kids. I should should be having dinner with them, breakfast with them, helping them get ready for school.
Sam:So you're not prioritising your training and you're not prioritising your kids in the team.
Trevor:Absolutely. Yeah, so, yeah. So your mind, so purpose, then your mindset, to get the mindset in the right place so you can work on a lot of stuff. Then it's your sleep and your rest so important, so many studies now, clinical research, that tell us how important sleep is. And actually you can. You can equate a number of years off your life based on the lack of sleep that you're getting, just like you can equate a number of years off your life based on the amount of stress or anxiety or depression that you've got in your life. Um, so then it's sleep and rest, so it's really getting that and dialing that in. Then it's the nutrition and we spoke about the nutrition, and it's the activity, and then it's the training, which is the icing on the cake.
Sam:Yeah, these things aren't necessarily binary. In a way, though, are they, because in order to be there and be present and be and what have you for your kids you probably do need to do your, your training and your your. What have you for your physical purposes, but also for your mental purposes? And if you don't get that stuff right, you're not, as you know, not as available mentally for your kids. Perhaps Does that make any sort of sense?
Trevor:That's how I think of it anyway Massively, and that's why, again, let's be honest with ourselves A lot of people will say, oh, this isn't hard, it's not hard to go and be fit and be healthy. I'm. A lot of people will say, oh, this isn't hard, it's not hard to go and be fit and be healthy. I'm like it is.
Trevor:Life is let's be honest for ourselves life's difficult, right, we live in, although we've got, we're in, we live in an amazing like point of life. We're so privileged compared to history, ever right, everything that's available to us, everything that we're able to do, um, it's an amazing time to be alive and we're unbelievably privileged. But, but, likewise, it's so difficult as well, because there's a lot of stuff out there that is not so great for us. So it is. This is difficult, this is not easy, and this is why it takes so much work and so much effort and why a lot of people need support in this area Not everyone, but it's so important because it's very difficult and you've got it's constantly evolving.
Trevor:Constantly evolving, things will change in my personal life. That means I've then got to change up my priorities. I've then got to change up Things will change my purpose. So, yeah, this is, this is a. This is something you've got to work on forever, unfortunately. So I would say that you, we can do a marathon in the desert, you can do an Ironman, you can do a 10K run, you can get a medal, you get a certificate and you can put it on the wall. And you can look at it forever and say I did that, I achieved that. There is no medal for health and wellbeing and, like you don't get a medal, you don't get a certificate put on the wall, you don't then sit back and put your feet up. You've going and going and going. It's a journey. It's an everlasting journey that you're on this right.
Vic:I think that makes a lot of sense and actually we had Mark Templeton, the former CEO of Citrix, on for our Christmas special and he was talking about over the New Year's weekend. He always sits down and looks at what he's achieved over the last year and what he needs to do going forwards and puts the plan together and still does that. Now it's taking control. It's really important.
Trevor:Yeah, I'm a big believer in journaling, I'm a big believer in visualization, but the key that it comes down to is action. Of course, it is Of course it is, but it's so important to do that. And that's again, think about what we do in organisations and corporates all over the planet. You go through budget cycles. You say what you're going to achieve, you write down your goals and everyone works towards that. It's clearly defined, it's written down. It's so important to do it Again.
Vic:We do it in our have you got three key takeaways, Trevor, or do you think the triangle is really the summary?
Trevor:Yeah, I'd say the triangle is the summary, but you mentioned it as well, I think the other one then really is look at the triangle but then, as we do in our professionals' eyes, write it down, ask for help, find the support people around you and take action.
Sam:Those three things yeah, write it down, find a professional, then look for support and take action. Those are yeah good three.
Trevor:Yeah, yeah, definitely, and it doesn't necessarily need to be a professional essay. So so, ask for help like communicate, ask for help um someone that might have done it before been there where you want to get to um, and then, yeah, take action that makes sense and are you a reader, you must have digested a huge amount of information.
Sam:Are there any particular books you could recommend?
Trevor:Yeah, so it's a really interesting one, this. So for the first 38 years of my life, I never read a single book. That's not something I'm proud to say. What I know, though, is I believe I'm dyslexic. I have never been tested, but even at university, my university lecturers used to say trev, you should really go and get a dyslexia test, and I never did. I could never. I just couldn't do it. I could never get into a book. But then, when I was going through that challenging period, I had no choice but to but to pick up a book. So, so I picked up my very first book when I was 38 years old, in August of 2028. Sorry, August of 2018. And since I picked up that first book, I really got into it. Then I discovered Audible, which then just transformed everything about my reading.
Trevor:And since then I've consumed 102 books. Wow so I love them. I really do. I find a lot of consumed 102 books. Wow so I love them. I really do. I find a lot of power in books.
Vic:your best?
Trevor:So I've got two. It's hard to pick one. I've got multiple.
Sam:That's all right. You can have two, that's fine.
Trevor:Yeah, in terms of what we've been talking about today. So there's a fantastic book by Bill Perkins and it's called Die With Zero and it just kind of encapsulates a lot of what I've been working on for the past nine years and what I work with people on and ultimately, at its heart, it's a financial book and the premise behind it is die with zero, financially right, it's like you're planning your financial planning, which all of us do, but actually he puts a really nice spin on it. He's actually no die with zero of anything, zero regret, no regret, zero regret, zero time like. And the book gives you an amazing perspective that you're putting into life, looking at time holistically and generally and where you're spending your time and those around you, and it's it gives you an amazing perspective on life.
Trevor:Yeah, so that's one of them yeah and then the next book is actually by matthew mcconaughey, who you an amazing perspective on life. Yeah, so that's one of them. Yeah, and then the next book is actually by Matthew.
Sam:McConaughey, who's an amazing actor in himself, and he's got a book called Was he in Succession? He was in Succession, oh I don't know if he was in.
Vic:Succession. No I don't think so he's been in Matthew. Mcconaughey's been in lots of different, lots of different films Wall Street.
Trevor:he was in that famous scene with Leonardo DiCaprio and he's doing the hum hum.
Vic:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Trevor:That's Matthew McConaughey.
Sam:He's been in a lot of great films I'm rubbish with. I'm rubbish with famous people.
Trevor:He's a great actor, but he's got a book called Greenlights and such an amazing book. And again, mindset, why that's so important in the second and your purpose. This book is all about your mindset and how you look at things and really clearly, how we go red light, green light. So we look at a lot of us. Potentially, over time, we'll see something appear in our lives. We'll go that's a red light, that's a challenge. He's actually. No, it's a green light sending us in this new direction. We're going to learn something. It is amazing how he puts this story across. So I'd recommend those two books. I think they're amazing excellent.
Sam:Well, we'll look those up. We'll put those in the show notes, as always and and trevor, can we use?
Vic:uh, can we get a copy of your pyramid to add into the show notes as well? That would be super helpful yeah, absolutely I'll share.
Trevor:I'll share with you um the three things my philosophy, my theory and my pyramid. They're, they're all diagrams, they're just three diagrams, yeah.
Vic:Amazing. Thank you.
Sam:Fantastic. Well, a cracky start to 2025. Loads of good advice to get all our listeners going firing on all cylinders.
Trevor:Thank, you Sam.
Sam:That was fantastic, really, really interesting stuff. You know I certainly there's a lot in there that I've learned. But you know, as often with these podcasts you know, there's some of that stuff that you sort of know intuitively but you, unless you put it into words, write it down, put it in a podcast, it's not, it's not really properly coalesced. So I thought that was fantastic thank you very much thank you.
Trevor:Thanks for having me. It was I really enjoyed that. Thanks very much, absolute pleasure, absolute pleasure.
Sam:It just remains for me to say, first of all, happy 2025. And, secondly, thanks for listening to get amplified from the amplified group. Your comments and your subscriptions are, as always, gratefully received.