Freedom
LIFE FLEX is our ability to change the way we think, speak, move, live… it is our ability to reinvent ourselves.
In this time of rapid change, LifeFlex is THE KEY ABILITY to cultivate.
The graph comes from Clare Graves’ model of human development. Today we just care about one number… the flex score in the bottom left.
My mentor Paul mentions the flex score most often when talking about the chances someone has for success.
He’s worked with hundreds of people over the last 2 decades and this ability is what stands out most.
So let’s work out:
- How much of it you have.
- How you can get more of it.
Flex
Paul calls it “MIND FLEX”… in direct contrast to “MIND SET”…
A set mind is by definition unable to adapt and change to meet the needs of its environment.
Today I had a revelation… MindFlex is LifeFlex!
How much are you willing and able to change your life?
Your habits…
How you train…
What you eat…
Where you live…
How you understand history / religion…
How you think…
What you read…
Who you associate with…
Who you learn from…
We have a finite amount of time on this earth in this life.
We have a finite amount of attention we can allocate.
We have a finite amount of action we can take.
Time can’t be managed… it can only be spent!
More LifeFlex gives you the ability to apply actions you think will create your best life!
Unfortunately, most people have no idea what they would like to accomplish. Therefore choosing actions that will improve the experience of life becomes more difficult.
In this case basic needs, impulses and fears drive lives of quiet desperation. Actions are easily manipulated by those of stronger will.
Are these questions you have meditated on?
What Do I Want From Life?
How Can I Serve?
What Is A Problem Worth Solving?
What Experiences Do I Most Enjoy?
Once you have an idea of something you would like to solve…
Most people I work with have some variation of: “I’d love to transform bodies / minds” and / or “I want to live life on my own terms with freedom and autonomy.”
…the ability to achieve this comes down to LifeFlex.
I have 2 great mentors in my life at the moment…
1) Ben Patrick – Specialist Solution (Knees & Athletic Ability)
He is singly focussed on creating a system that gives people back the high function bodies we were given as our birthright. You were born to be athletic, and ATG is proving that.
With that single focus you can see Ben is reinventing himself constantly with more LifeFlex than just about anyone alive!
Here are some examples:
- No entertainment years x2;
- No cheat meal year;
- Trains his system 5 days per week, every week;
- Never misses a day on Instagram;
- A YouTube video everyday;
- 2-3 hours with his son daily;
- Moving to LA with a new baby and never missing a beat.
Now these may look RIGID, but in fact when you invent and reinvent a life for yourself and then LIVE IT, it demonstrates LifeFlex…
To take this further…
Ben has developed the most important knee health solution and arguably the most important training system the world has known.
He’s certainly one of, if not THE most successful online coach ever!
And yet his program changes daily…
He’s always looking for the best tweak or adjustment to improve ATG.
There isn’t a day that he’s not questioning and wrestling with what’s next.
Over the 2 years the program has gone in many directions and often ideas that are “THE BIG BREAKTHROUGH” are out of the system a week or a month later, but that’s not to say they won’t come back in an IMPROVED form later on.
2) Paul Counsel – Holistic Solution
Now Paul seemingly is very different to Ben. He teaches in detail about dozens of subjects and preaches generalised knowledge as being the key to fortune.
While Ben doesn’t teach or preach that… he lives it. Ben is delivering on camera, in written form and across various platforms, he knows strength history and can go deep on topics that don’t come up in the ATG conversation.
Paul’s teachings and life journey reflect massive LifeFlex.
Imagine yourself in these life experiences:
- Born to deaf mute parents;
- Strict catholic school education;
- Working in cataract surgery in outback Australia;
- Military service;
- University education through to PhD level. Australia’s first in pottery (there is more to the story than clay);
- Living in the back of a kingswood.
All this before choosing to become wealthy from a position of being dead flat broke at 40.
3 years and 9 months later when Paul earned his first million dollars, people began asking questions. Some wanted to replicate his experience! That naturally led to him becoming a freedom mentor.
Paul then invested $300,000 to travel the world in Tony Robbins’ high end program. He learned there were gaps in the methods and kept modifying his teaching to get to the heart of the journey to freedom.
While many say “I’d love to but I could never because…(insert your rationalisation (ration of lies) here” Paul put LifeFlex into action.
Paul won his freedom in Real Estate but then realised that the housing cycle was coming to an end 2 years before the 2008 crash. He’s since continued to learn several methods to help others “come out to play” in a life of freedom. Beyond that, Paul’s unique, researched perspective on human psychology, education and development creates an education system like no other.
Can you see how direct influence from these two people could change your future?
The Man In The Mirror?
What have you lived through?
What lifestyle and living changes have you made?
How about belief systems and deep knowledge of yourself and humanity?
Personally, some events that have bent or nearly broken me are…
- Having a father in the media and coaching elite sport, playing elite sport;
- The social structure of high school;
- Vagabonding through Latin America, living in an orphanage, living in indigenous communities, teaching english, studying history, living in France, Germany, Spain and visiting over 45 countries;
- Dealing with injuries, surgeries and health problems;
- Moving house every 1-2 years all through life, changing schools several times;
- Coaching pro-athletes, learning freedom, learning ATG, workshops with Ido Portal, Charles Poliquin, Coach Sommer, Derek Woodske, Phil Richards and others;
- Running dozens of events around the world, presenting over multiple days while training hard, having a team of staff to lead and pay, becoming a husband and a father (x2);
- Having wealth for the first time… moving out of Australian residency etc.
These events have also been the most powerful experiences in my life.
As Joe Dispenza says… “we pray that our past will turn to wisdom.”
It’s hard to put these experiences into direct tangible lessons but if I try to in brief it would look something like this:
Moving houses and schools every couple years taught me how to build new connections and not be attached to possessions and locations.
Vagabonding around the world taught me about human nature and living history.
Playing elite sport taught me to give my best and apply discipline to improve, coaching taught me how to get the best out of others.
Dealing with injuries and health issues taught me resilience, to look for other than mainstream solutions and that life without health is not really life.
Having wealth for the first time in my life…the shift merits its own article, let me know if you want to hear more about the journey to wealth and the impact it’s had on my life over the last 12 months.
I have achieved many of the goals I ever set for myself, my biggest goal now is to help others be initiated into the same freedom I enjoy today.
But imagine if I shied away from those experiences, too afraid to break the shackles to travel in my 20’s…
What would my life look like right now?
It’s impossible that I would have gained the perspective and capacities I have today!
We would never have connected.
What would the lives of the hundreds of students, and their students I have impacted look like?
It’s the ripple effect and we are more alike than different.
- You have a choice today to either take on LifeFlex as a philosophy to live by or keep getting what you have always got.*
Today I’m part of 2 education programs
Uncommon Success for future world-leading coaches.
ATG For Coaches led by Ben and Myself for coaches wanting to evolve the way humans experience their athleticism.
In all my projects, there is space for other people to contribute and grow. Coaches who’ve presented at my events have progressed rapidly.
Most of us are not brought up to put our ideas forth.
We’re told to “hide our work” at school. In my experience that’s not how life success works.
You get paid by the universe for the value that you share… this is my personal experience and what I have observed.
Start Here…
At this point I’m sure the question on your mind is “There’s so much, where do I even start?”
For me, being a mentor to coaches has mostly been built around creating LifeFlex using the following methods.
Stage 1
Some things to get the ball rolling…
Would juggling, handstands and / or rubik’s cube challenge your mind and show you that you can change and adapt?
How about speaking to the camera on Instagram stories / posts daily?
Stage 2
Leading to bigger steps…
A new language or musical instrument is great if you’ve never learned one
A YouTube Channel or going live daily to Instagram / Facebook or committing to multiple podcasts per week.
Committing to some serious training / body transformation goals.
Share knowledge into a community that you value.
Stage 3
Leading to massive moves…
Moving to a new area / country / culture.
Starting a new career or launching a business.
Investing big in a personal mentor or taking on clients as a coach / mentor.
Committing to a whole new way of being ( Joe Dispenza style).
Having a baby and committing to great parenting or home-education if you have children.
Each of the above include but are bigger than habit training.
This isn’t just executing on the basics.
It’s creating a new identity for yourself.
Becoming Free is a bit like being able to perform as a concert musician or circus artist… different skills, but same level of challenge.
The thing is, most people would not enrol themselves in a Freedom Academy even if such places were readily available.
These “stages” aren’t set in stone but from hundreds of students I have coached, I haven’t seen the process fail for those who commit to the path.
Yeah, but…
Now I’m sure at this point many of you would say…
“Yeah, BUT what about me with my job, kids and responsibilities…”
“If I could afford my time then I would learn like you guys and create solutions and buy more freedom…
If I just had more time… then I would have LifeFlex.”
It’s hard until it’s easy.
Find 30 minutes everyday to work on your project.
Find 30 minutes everyday to work on yourself, your knowledge.
Learn a new skill today.
Make a list of your skills and gaps.
Improve them.
Every person throughout history has had the same 24 hour days.
Every person has had excuses to justify a life of quiet desperation.
It’s possible to be the victim or the victor, but not both.
We can’t have our excuses AND our success.
DM “LifeFlex” if you’re making this philosophy your own.