Lisa O'Neill, welcome to Emerging Excellence.

It's a pleasure to have you with us.

For those who are unfamiliar with Lisa, Lisa used to be the CEO of 4Leaders, an organization which is all about helping people commercialize their IP and intelligence.

And today really as a serial author, released seven books and today we're talking about your most recent book, Lisa, all about energy.

And I think it's a super important topic for the construction and infrastructure space that we work in.

And so first of all, welcome Lisa.

Thanks, thanks for being here.

Thank you.

Nice to be here.

So you actually have a family connection when it comes to construction and infrastructure.

So you're actually pretty aware of how challenging this sector can be.

Your book on energy is all about.

I think there's a couple of taglines there, get it, give it and keep it or something along those lines.

So just help us out understand how do you think that relates to a sector which is so challenging?

Actually, you know, and it does demand of its people in hours, in how long the projects go for and you know, they're really, they're building things which is harder than just putting together a piece of software as an example.

Oh, it's huge, right.

So my eldest son is a builder and he's now a self employed builder and it's been really interesting kind of mentoring him through his business startup.

And you know, the construction industry I think is extraordinary that the work that gets done and all the processes that go into it.

Like people go oh yeah, there's a house and they go oh yeah, they've got some timber and off they hop.

But it's like, are you joking?

Like the amount of processes and expertise required and then like you say there's the energy of planning something, building something.

You still a lot of construction people are self employed as well.

When they're dealing with that, they've got work, they haven't got work, they're finishing something, they're starting something else.

They're doing that massive juggle of what's on right now.

And I think every day different, which my life is kind of like that and I think so I relate to that and I love hands on people and I think hands on people that do awesome work are extraordinary.

So yeah, I have a lot of empathy for the construction world.

I just think it's huge managing the volume of humans, the materials.

Like there's a lot of stuff to consider.

Right?

All the time.

Yeah, I think so.

I went to site recently and I was chatting to a couple of the junior engineers there.

So they, I Think they go in as a site engineer.

They go up to, I think, something like a project engineer or something like that.

Only one level up.

And man, this guy, he was like interacting on a.

On a weekly basis with about 30 stakeholders.

And I was like, this is wild.

And, you know, think about the contrast to when I.

My first leadership position, I was like managing like four people in a sales team.

They were all on my payroll.

We all said pretty much the same script, give us.

We were tweaking around the, around the edges.

These guys, Meanwhile, same age, 30 people, different stakeholders, dealing with managing directors of firms, governments, big stakeholders, teams, internal teams, external teams, contractors.

There's a lot of politics.

If we wanted to just simplify it to think about.

And from an energy perspective, it's hugely demanding.

Tell us your book.

What are you trying to.

What's the point?

What are you trying to get out for people, especially in this space?

So it's really about awareness.

And I think energy literally is everything.

It's your life force.

And if you don't have energy, you've got nothing, pretty much.

I lost all my energy when I was 26.

I had an adrenal collapse, so my body literally shut down.

And I had the experience of having no energy.

So I had to rebuild my energy physically.

I then was really interested in spiritual energy and kind of, I started questioning a lot of the things, and now I'm really focused.

The work I do with most leadership teams and organizations is around emotional and mental energy.

And that mental energy of juggling all those stakeholders, all of the things that, all the boxes that have to be ticked, all the compliance, all the who you have to have where and when and materials and stuff organized, you know, that's enormous mental energy.

It's huge.

And if you, your mental energy is a lot about your beliefs.

So it's like, how do you manage all of those beliefs of can you do this?

You're like, oh, God, I can' do this.

And like, no, you can, you can do it.

How are you going to do it?

What are you, you know, how are you, what are you putting in place to keep your head moving?

What's your head diet like?

Like, who's inspiring you?

Who are you looking up to?

Who are you?

Who are you learning from?

And especially in that emerging space, it's like, who is the person?

I talk about big elephants.

And when a baby elephant's born, they spend 12 years following their herd.

So they spend 12 years learning from the big elephants in their herd.

And at the age of 12, they set off to start their own.

And the quality of that elephant's life largely depends on who you have had in your world, who has impacted your world and what you've learned from.

And for a lot of us, it's our parents, but for many people, it might be the person you did your apprenticeship under, it might be a coach, it might be some kind of leader that's been extraordinary.

And I think thinking about that and who is your big elephant, and at every stage of our lives, I think we need to have someone who we're learning from, and that's really significant with mental energy.

Like, who is the person you're following?

Who's the person you go, oh, I want to be that when I grow up, I want to be that.

And I.

I don't care whether you're 18 or 50, you should still be following someone, you know, like, who's that person for you right now?

I'm curious on your take, though, is that.

And this relates directly to the conversation.

The guy I was talking to is that one of his jobs was to check in with an independent verifier.

The independent verifier's job was not necessarily to make this guy feel good.

It was actually obviously to check the projects going well, pick up issues, problems, et cetera, et cetera.

And arguably that can come across really negative.

And he had a good relationship, but he talked about others where it really was really tricky.

Like loggerheads in many.

Is that the expression or kind of logging?

I think something like that.

The point of being it was friction.

Right.

And I think that's great what you're saying, but how does it actually work when you're dealing with.

And you can't really avoid having someone around in your environment on a regular basis who's not exactly, maybe you might say, an energy sucker.

I'm not sure what term you would use for it.

Yeah.

So I think this is what I call them energy vampires or leaks in your bucket.

But I think the mental energy for me comes down to your mindset.

And so if you.

In my world, I go, you're either winning or you're learning.

That's it.

So you're not losing.

So if someone comes on site and starts picking stuff apart, if you've got a good mindset, you'll go, wow, these are opportunities for me.

These are opportunities for me to improve.

These are opportunities for me to learn stuff I previously wasn't aware of.

Or these are opportunities for me to upskill instead of, oh, this guy's kicking the shit out of Me and having a crack.

And if you go around thinking everyone's having a crack, then, you know, good luck, because that's a pretty hard and harsh way to look at yourself in the world.

And I think looking at things as opportunities and going, what can I learn from this?

Like, if someone comes to you and goes, this is not good.

This is not up to scratch.

It's an opportunity, right?

But if you're feeling a bit low in energy, you will go, ooh, like, you'll take it really personally, instead of it being an opportunity for you to maybe improve or to provide a better outcome for your client.

So you saying energy comes before mindset or mindset triggers energy?

Well, mental energy is all about mindset.

So in my book, I'm talking about four types of energy.

These physical, mental, emotional and spiritual energy.

And your mental energy is how you think.

So it's about what your intentions are, how you're treating yourself.

Like, what's.

How's your head responding to you?

And how are you about consideration, like being considerate to yourself, considerate to others, just being thoughtful and thinking about things.

So the mental energy that we need is really to be gentle with ourselves and to examine your beliefs.

Like, what do you believe?

Do you believe this person's coming on site to be difficult?

Or do you believe that they're coming on site to do a job that's going to benefit the outcome?

I'm curious, when it comes to, let's just say, let's put you on construction site, say, and all of a sudden you're managing this team, You've been noticed that your junior member of staff, and naturally, this podcast is all about how do you emerge excellence from others.

So as a leader, what are you doing to actually help develop those people?

What strategies would you be thinking about?

What strategies would you be doing on a more kind, literally, like rubber hits the road piece, when you're observing your employee and your team member who's, let's say, fresh, fresh into a leadership role, still grappling with what the hell that means, as we all are, many ways.

And what are you actually doing?

What are the kind of conversations you're thinking about?

How are you.

Are you thinking about how to engage on those kind of four energy levels?

The first thing is, I think, get to know them.

I think a lot of people don't actually know the people they're leading very well.

And you need to know, like, what motivates that person, what excites them, what do they enjoy?

What do they not enjoy?

What are the Things that they love about their role.

What are they petrified of?

What do they think they're good at?

What do they think they're shit at?

Like, they're really good questions.

And if you know that someone's lacking in confidence in a certain area of their role, you go, oh, that's gonna be tricky for him.

I might just lean in and offer some help.

But if you know that their favorite thing in the world is to do this, then you go, cool.

How can I put more of that into their role?

Cause I think we're at our best when we're doing what we love and what we're good at.

And a lot of leaders don't take the time to get to know their people, to get to know what motivates them.

Like, are they someone that needs lots of praise?

Do they need.

Or are they someone that doesn't care about that, but they want lots of responsibility, you know, knowing what this person, what makes them tick.

And I think getting to know people in your team is your first job with any person that comes into your world.

Super powerful.

From there, let's say you do know this person, okay, so you'd be thinking about diagnosing through knowing what you know about, you know, this character.

And then how are you helping them frame?

Or would you be looking to coach that person, support them?

Like, would you be having a.

Okay, you know, buck your ideas up, Jimmy, It's.

This is an opportunity look, this, you know, like, how would you go about shifting that mindset in those people?

I think acknowledging what they're doing well is really important.

And there's bosses out there who just don't.

And they don't offer enough praise.

And I know that, you know, I watched my son doing an apprenticeship with a guy who just never praised him enough.

And I was like, you need to praise him.

He needs to hear that he's doing well.

And a lot of.

And I think the construction industry is really well known for this, that they think by being hard on someone, they'll get better.

And it's not.

And it's real.

That real old school, hard, hard, hard man mentality, which doesn't actually help.

And especially the young kids coming through these days, they don't respond well to that.

They respond well to being asked, not being told.

So, hey, mate, how do you reckon we should do this?

Is a much better response to do as you're bloody told.

And then they go, do you know what?

Piss off.

They're just not designed for that.

Like, we were in our age group And I think that's one of the biggest challenges I see at the moment in leadership is the old dogs don't know how to deal with the new dogs.

And the new dogs are pretty powerful and they know what they need.

They've been empowered through the school system.

They're not going to put up with 1970s shit.

So, you know, you, they leaders need to change the way they're leading.

And I think asking, not telling is really important.

Catching them, being good going.

Hey, I loved what you did there today.

You were exceptional.

I was so proud to have you on my team today.

The way you responded to that client and then you get to go, you're awesome at that.

But actually if I had a wish, it would be that you would just be a bit tidier because you're a bit bloody messy, mate.

Right?

But you're doing that in that kind of kiss, kiss, kiss kind of feedback instead of just going, oh, you're shit.

Because you're always messy.

Like, that doesn't work.

And I think you've got to find what you like about them, what you're grateful for, what you enjoy about them, what you see in them.

Like saying to someone in your team, hey, I see you and you're a bit of a younger version of me and I can help you to become better, but you've got to be teachable.

And at the moment you're not teachable.

And this is a big problem I think with a lot of the younger people coming through, they're not teachable.

They think they know everything.

And as an older person, that's really frustrating because you're like, okay, cool.

I love that you know everything and you're 22.

You know, it's like.

So there's, there's a lot in that, and there's a lot in that dynamic between the team that you know, the people you're leading and the people that are being led.

I think that's huge.

100 having been the 22 year old who did know everything, I.

It's, yeah, it's.

It's a humbling period you need to go through, right?

And it's.

We've all been 22 and known everything, right?

And it's.

Yeah, but for me it was like a business failing.

Like, it was really, in that way and it was like a real eye opener.

Like, oh my God, I'm not as good as I, you know, as I thought and humbled me right up, I was like, wow.

And the greatest thing about getting older, like, the older I get, the less I know 100% and it's such a.

It's so powerful.

I go, do you know, I don't think I know anything now.

I'm 53 and I.

I know nothing.

And it's a really nice place to be in.

Yeah.

Rather than that real gun ho.

I know everything my way or the highway.

It's really boring.

Yeah.

Or even like the.

What I'm starting to discover the.

I thought this was true, but actually I realized it's not true.

You know, and what, and what do I believe to be true now, which actually isn't.

That's.

That's the one where I'm like, for these are like mind blowing because you often build your identity whatever all around these kind of quote unquote truths soon defined or crikey, it's not quite like that.

So this comes back to then with energy.

I feel like it's like it's a really intangible thing.

Right.

Energy vampires.

I like that concept.

So they're pretty easy to spot.

What about you talk about the other side, you know, the energy.

What was it kind of the top rappers or the increases?

How do you kind of think about that and then bringing more of that into your world?

I think getting inspired.

Inspiration is such an energy currency and being inspired is really important.

And I'm like, who's inspiring you at the moment?

What are you watching?

What's.

What are you learning?

What's on your social media feed?

Like who.

Who are you looking at going, mate, you're an inspiration in this industry.

The work you do, the challenges you're taking on, you know, who's that person?

Who is that for you?

And really leaning into them and trying to seeking out people who inspire you is something that I think's really profound, you know, and it may not be someone in your industry.

It might be a sports person, it might be a podcaster or I don't know, it could be.

But who inspires you is a really good question.

And if you're not being inspired, you're missing a really valuable energy source.

Does it work even if you're in a really in let's say if you're in a burnt out context, if someone's kind of finding themselves or they see their team member in a really kind of energy low level, Is that what's required?

Or how do you think about rest when it comes to that space?

I think rest is really important.

And when you're physically on tools as well as mentally on.

That's I think the challenge of an industry like Construction is that you've got the mental load that any industry's got.

So the mental load is the same as if you're an auditor or an accountant, but, you know, thus sitting in a comfy chair with air conditioning, in warm clothes, when you're working in really challenging physical conditions in the rain, you know, 12 hours a day, freezing cold, doing really hard work physically, you've got the physical aspect and, you know, the mental load.

So it's a double load.

And I.

The biggest thing I see, not enough construction people, people working in those industries.

I've got a cousin who works in scaffolding, a woman, she's a female scaffolder.

She works her ass off.

And you've got to look after your body, you know, because your body's literally one of your tools.

And I know, I know construction people that worry about they won't leave their saw out in the rain, but they'll put their body out in the rain and they won't look after it.

So their body is a tool.

And they need to think of themselves as a piece of hardware and a piece of software.

That's a really.

What are you doing for your hardware?

Are you involved?

Like I've been trying to say to my son, you know, you need to be having weekly massage because your body's up and down ladders, you're lifting things.

It's like, it's hard on your body.

And especially that's.

As a young builder, as an older builder, it's a.

It's exhausting.

So it's like, what are you doing for your body?

Are you getting good sleep?

Are you resting your body?

Are you stretching your body?

Are you having, you know, regular body sessions with an osteo or a chiropractor?

Or, you know, are you just spending time hanging in a doorway to stretch out your spine?

Or what are you doing physically for yourself as well as mentally?

I'm curious, why does energy resonate with you so much, Lisa?

What.

What kind of drives this inner energy about energy?

I think it's all that matters.

And because I've had the experience of having no energy in my body, it's.

It's a game changer.

And if you want a big life, you've got to have a lot of energy.

And people say, oh, I haven't got any energy.

I'm like, well, that's your fault.

So you need to take responsibility for your energy.

You need to be aware of where your energy comes from, what gives you energy, what depletes your energy.

So what gives you energy if you go.

Going to the beach energizes me.

I'm like, awesome.

Why are you not at the beach three times a week?

You know that the beach energizes you.

It's not that hard.

It's free.

You need to go to the beach, right?

If you know that walking your dog energizes you or playing with your dog, then you should be hanging out with your dog.

It's like, find the things that energize you and get closer to them and find the things that deplete you and move away from them.

Like you might have someone in your life that's just a pain in the ass that instantly when you're with them, you feel like your energy's shrivelling.

You need to have a strategy around that person.

Either get rid of them, minimize them, find some tools to just keep away from that.

And we all know who that person is in our lives.

Sometimes they're in your family, sometimes you know, they and your team at work.

But find that person that's annoying and just get some strategies around them is really important and work out what, what depletes you and what energizes you.

We all have habits that make us feel better and we have habits that make us feel horrible.

So drinking water is a habit that makes my life better.

I know that when I'm dehydrated, I'm grumpy.

I'm not.

I don't sleep well, I'm just grumpy.

I crave shitty sugar, salty foods like when I'm, when I'm dehydrated.

But when I'm so hydration is something really simple that I can make sure I'm focusing on, you know, every day.

That's a really easy habit.

These bad habits too, like staying up all night, drinking too much alcohol, all of these sorts of habits, you know, they're not good for you and they're not making you amazing tomorrow.

And I always think, what am I doing right now?

Is my future self going to be happy or is my future self going to be pissed off with this decision?

Because that's, that's important.

Like, what is tomorrow, tomorrow me going to say about what I'm doing right now?

It's really powerful context that and certainly has you reconsider your thoughts if you're thinking about, yeah, what have you got coming tomorrow?

And especially in your line of work, right, you're a motivational speaker, you fly all around New Zealand, Australia and globally too.

And it's.

I can imagine maintaining energy whilst Traveling.

Being on when you don't feel on would be really hard as well.

Like, how do you actually do that?

Because I know that's, that's something for everyone though.

Like it's already, you know, obviously when you're on a stage and you've got 2,000 people staring at you, you.

There's a pressure to be on.

But there's a pressure to be on when you've got clients visiting you on site and you've got five team members staring at you going, what's next?

And you're like, I have to be on.

So we all have to be on.

I go, what a way.

What energy do I need for the day?

And I pre plan that.

So if I know that I've got a huge day, last night I had a huge event on, so I needed to make sure that I was looking after my energy.

And that looks like I don't eat too many carbohydrates because that flattens my energy.

So that's, you know, that's a, that's a me thing.

That may not be for everybody, but I know what I need.

I need to sleep well the night before.

I need to stay hydrated.

I need to, need to be inspired.

I need to watch something that's fun or, you know, engage with something that motivates my brain.

I have adhd, so dopamine's a really big currency for me.

So dopamine is something that I'm always seeking.

I'm a massive dopamine seeker.

So it's like I get dopamine from the clothes I wear, from the movies I watch, from the conversations I have.

All of those things give me good dopamine, which I think is really important.

But getting your needs met, knowing this is where the awareness comes in, what do you need?

So what you might say, I need to go for a run, I go, I don't need to do that.

Right?

Everyone's got different needs.

And I think knowing what your needs are and then providing yourself with what you need.

So if you need, like, I need to be surrounded by beautiful things.

Beautiful things energizes me and makes me really happy.

So.

And you know, like, if, if you especially, like in your industry, if you're thinking about, what do I need to be amazing?

You need tools that work.

Like, having tools that don't work is just not helpful.

It's going to piss you off, it's going to ruin your day.

So go out and invest in the things that are going to make physical things that will make your day Better for me.

That's having a good laptop, it's having good headphones for the plane, it's having all the cables I need to be on stage, all of those things.

Providing yourself with the tools of your trade is really important.

Little things, like, I see people whose phones don't work and they're like, oh, my phone's buggered and the screen's stuffed, and I'm like, you're using your phone about 35 times a day and your phone's buggered.

What are you doing?

Get yourself a new phone.

You know, invest in yourself and know yourself, I think, are the two best answers to that.

Yeah, I love that.

And I love the planning element.

I think that's something.

And I'm guessing part of the plan would be to allow for lower energy days.

Like, and, you know, you got low.

Energy and, you know, and it's like.

And it's completely fine to say to your team and to say to someone, look, I've got a bit going on at the moment.

I'm really not at my best.

I just need you guys.

I'm at 80 today, so I just need you guys to lean in a little bit more because I just not there.

And there's nothing wrong with that.

Like, in a team, I think it's really healthy to have the conversation of going, okay, I'm just not quite on, and someone else going, it's all right, I've got you today.

I'm good.

Right.

Evening each other up is really kind.

It's also useful in families.

It's useful as parents to go, okay, I'm useless today.

I'm flat as a pancake.

I'm exhausted.

I'm going to need you to just take all the extra shit today.

And, you know, I've got four children, and at any time, the demands, even though three of them are adults now, it's still.

There's still demands.

And you've got to be able to.

If you can't do that, you've got to have someone that can help you share that load.

And I think acknowledging.

Acknowledging that's really big, you know, because that's a huge part of juggling life.

Like, we've all got lives.

We've all got sisters and brothers and daughters and sons and bloody parents and, you know, grocery lists, and we've all got all the boring stuff in life that has a massive impact on your ability to perform at work.

And pretending that doesn't exist is just not helpful.

Completely agree.

Talking about juggling, you wrote a book called Juggling in High Heels, which I think is a great concept, just, well, great title.

I don't know too much about the book, but I'm curious because construction and birthing children or rearing children as an industry versus a family can be a bit of, a, bit of a pickle.

Right?

And often the long hours, the, you know, start at six, finishes six shifts, which are often six days a week.

That can be really tricky when your childcare, just as a real basic example, doesn't open till 7, you know, like straight away there's a bit of a conflict in that.

What have you seen when it comes to helping women in particular who kind of transition into this phase, have no idea what it's going to be like on the other end.

So if I'm just taking my wife as a good example here is, you know, you think it's all going to be fine.

You get in, you have a kid and you're like far out at all, then you're crazy enough to have another one and then it's like, well, I just, you know, it wasn't even fun before now.

Now we're really buggered.

So like, like, how do you help people navigate that?

Because my first takeaway when I read your book, or sorry, when the title of the book was like, ah, that seems a bit unrealistic given parents aren't sleeping much.

And that was my take.

So how do you think about that juggle?

As parents, you've really got to look after yourself because everyone's relying on you, right?

So kids are relying on you.

And I worked out really early in life that if I was good, everyone was going to be good.

So if I was good, my husband was going to be better.

If I was good, my children were going to be better.

If I was good, my colleagues were going to be better, if I was good, my clients were going to be better.

And putting yourself first doesn't sound easy, but it's really important.

So looking after yourself and going, okay, this is what I need.

And I think as parents, you know, I used to say to my husband, some days, okay, Tuesday is a huge day for me, I need you to be on all the childcare, I need you to do drop offs, pickups and dinner because I'm flattened, I'm out, I've got 13 hours, I'm done.

I don't have any capacity for any of this other stuff.

So knowing in advance and saying, I need you to be on and I'm handing the baton to you for that day and then knowing that he could say to me, hey, Thursday, I'm fried.

I've got this, this, this and this.

And I'm like, I'll take it, I'm good.

And knowing that and balancing out, having it sounds a bit clinical, but having meetings in your family, around your schedules, like, I used to sit down with the kids and go, right, what have you got on?

What's.

What does this week look like?

And you know, you think little kids are easy.

I mean, hard.

Wait till they're big.

When they're big, they've got their own schedules, they've got their own worlds.

And you're suddenly going, now everyone has a phone number, everyone has a calendar, everyone has a car.

Like, there's so much going on.

And we used to sit down and have meetings and it would be like, right, well, Tuesday's an easy day for me.

Thursday's a hard day.

How can I help?

What do you need from me?

What do I need from you?

And having those simple conversations and planning out your weeks is really important.

And then getting the support that you need and whether that support is physical.

Like, I need someone that can pick my kids up at 7am and hang out with them until daycare opens at 8.

Or I need someone to have a wine with on a Friday that I can just bitch to and download on how hard my week's been.

Or I need someone that can take my kids to the park on a Saturday afternoon so I can have a sleep because I've worked six days and I'm absolutely fried.

And I'm not even going to be able to hold a conversation with them otherwise is important.

And people don't do that.

And then they become grumpy and resentful and, you know, and then you're not enjoying anything.

And it's really easy to wake up and go, shit, this is what I thought I wanted my life to look like.

And yet I'm not enjoying any of it.

I'm not having, you know, I'm not enjoying my partner, I'm not enjoying my children.

My life's just a big fat groundhog Day of get up, put my pants on, be grumpy and go to bed.

And it's existing, it's not living right.

And so there's a massive difference between existing and living.

And we're here to live.

Like, you're supposed to be enjoying your children.

And it might be that you go, do you know what?

I've got three kids under five right now.

I don't work Saturdays, I'm not available.

And yes, financially that has an impact.

But I think it's important that I need to lean into the season I'm in.

Because you can make money later, right, when the kids are off doing their own thing on a Saturday and they don't want to hang out with you.

But I think you've got to really identify the season you're in and what do you need.

And when I wrote Juggling, a lot of people, I wrote that book for women who wanted to have it all, who wanted to have the family, the career.

They want to do everything and have everything.

And it's like, yeah, but how do you organize that?

How do you manage your chaos?

Because it is chaos and you need a bloody big plan if you want, you know, a big life.

I think you need a massive.

Planning's huge.

Huge.

Interesting.

How.

How far out are you planning?

Out of interest?

Just because I think it's a great point.

Right.

I think a lot of people don't do that.

I think they often do it in this space.

It's their job to plan for construction projects.

But if you ask someone to bring the rigor that they apply at work to their own life, probably, you know, they probably took him two weeks, maybe they're thinking about a holiday in six months time, but that's about it, really.

Yeah.

So I have a lot of planning.

I.

I actually created my own planner.

It's called the Purpose Planner and it's a very big.

It's a big fat journal, a big massive planner that is designed for you to be able to see your world.

It's not a diary, so it's not something you carry around in your pocket.

It's actually a planner where you get to sit and have meetings with yourself.

So I have like an annual kind of meeting with myself.

I have quarterly overviews, I have monthly, weekly, and so I look and I have daily.

So I look at my week and go, holy shit, Wednesday's a shambles.

How am I going to get through Wednesday?

What can I do on Sunday knowing Wednesday is going to be a shambles?

I could maybe cook a meal that.

So that Wednesday's dinner's already done.

I've nailed it.

I can.

What can I do?

Can I ring one of my son's friends and say, can you pick him up after school?

Because I know I'm going to be late on Wednesday.

It's Sunday and I already know that I'm going to be late because Wednesday's a shambles.

And when you have an idea of what's coming up, you can get ahead of it.

But when you're running around chasing your tail, you start to feel like, I'm the worst person in the world, I'm a loser, you know, and then you end up in that horrible battle where you go, I'm a shit parent, I'm a shit team member, I'm a shit leader.

I'm just shit at everything.

And it's because you're not planning anything, you know?

Yeah.

Proactive, not reactive.

And I think it's so easy to fall into that, that bucket.

Right.

I think even just this morning, my wife.

Yeah.

And just.

And you can't be proactive about everything because stuff's going to happen, but actually you can be proactive about a lot of things.

And just knowing.

I like to look at my week at a glance and go, you know, Thursday is going to be huge.

Or I go, actually, Friday's sweet.

And then I know that if anyone go, can you do this?

Or can you do that?

Or can you do this?

I go, yes, sweet.

Friday, I've got all the time, let's get that in on Friday.

Not, yes, I'll do it on Thursday, when I already know that's train smash.

But if you don't know, you don't know.

Right, Totally get me.

So, Lisa, fascinating conversation and I love your energy.

About energy.

You're in the midst of a book tour.

Just tell us briefly what's coming up in terms of that or how's it been so far in terms of getting this book out there.

What's been the response when you start talking about energy in a room?

Oh, yeah, it's been amazing.

It's been really fun just learning about people's energy, having conversations.

The emotional energy, the, you know, being over responsible.

Obligation and resentment are actually the biggest drains I've noticed in people's energy.

And that's huge.

And it's the same.

Doesn't matter whether you're a man or a woman or whether you're in construction or whether you're in the beauty industry, it actually is all the same.

So, yeah, I've been touring around.

I think I've done six of about 20 events that we've got planned.

So I've done Auckland and Melbourne and Sydney and Wellington and Christchurch and yeah, I've got an event in Brisbane on the 11th of July.

So I'm heading to Brisbane, which is exciting.

And the events are basically a two hour inspiration session for people that want to feel energized, learn a bit more about energy.

Yeah, they're really fun.

And then I'm heading I'm going to be in Perth, which is exciting.

In October, November, I don't know, sometime.

It's all on my website anyway, so there's lots of.

Lots of tools out there.

Really cool.

So we will link to your book tour on the.

On the show notes underneath this.

Underneath this.

Yeah, we'd love to.

I said I might come on down for the prison one maybe.

Sounds like a awesome.

How could it be?

You should definitely come to that.

I also have a podcast where I do a meeting with myself every Monday.

It's only about eight minutes long.

Long.

I don't have loads of time for long winded things.

So I have two podcasts a week called Off Stage and Monday Morning is a Monday morning meeting with myself that I do every Monday and I invite other people to be part of that meeting.

So people often listen in and then go, oh, it's so great.

I need to do that or I should have done that or I should plan that.

And I have a Friday podcast which is a standing observation of something I've noticed out in the world when I've been beetling around.

So that's another way.

And having someone to do a Monday morning meeting with yourself.

I love the idea of actually sitting down and having a meeting, taking yourself off site, going to a cafe, sitting down on your own and just planning your own personal week is a really good idea.

I think you're more.

Maybe the next book is called Planning rather than just not quite as engaging.

But anyway, we can workshop the title.

Lisa, thank you so much for being here.

Thanks so much taking the time out to speak to us and I wish you the very best luck with the remaining tours.

Sorry dates on your tour.

Thank you.

It's been wonderful.