Mental Fitness - the Gateway to Success

In 2022, only 10 athletes were invited to the legendary EpicDeca in Hawaii — one of the most brutal endurance events ever created: **10 full Ironman triathlons in 10 consecutive days**. Only 6 showed up at the start line. Only 3 finished. In this powerful episode, I sit down with one of those three finishers: ultra-endurance athlete, author, philanthropist, and founder of The Hungry Warrior Academ...

In this powerful episode of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success , I share the deeply personal story of how I hit rock bottom — burnout, depression, and walking away from my business — only to experience a profound transformation through one unexpected tool. A good twenty years ago, I attended Tony Robbins’ Date with Destiny 6-day course in Australia. It was an incredible experience, but another...

In this powerful episode of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success, I sit down with James Lang — a man who managed to compress 20 years of business experience into just 6 years. James gets incredibly vulnerable and shares: • His complete business pivot that saved his sanity • How academic failure actually saved his career • How he’s using AI to level up his mental fitness • The terminal illness di...

Struggling with self-doubt, procrastination, or bouncing back from setbacks? The secret isn’t more hustle — it’s mental fitness . In this episode I dive deep into why mental fitness is the true key to success in every area of life. You’ll learn how to: • Boost confidence and take bolder risks • Spark consistent creativity • Build unbreakable resilience and fail forward • Stay committed when motiva...

In this inspiring episode of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success , host I sit down with Fritz Frohlke, a former top-level professional kajaker who left Germany behind to chase dreams on the other side of the world in New Zealand. Fritz shares his raw, no-holds-barred story: rising through the competitive ranks of kayaking, navigating the massive leap to a new country, juggling multiple business...

AI is exploding —disrupting jobs, energy demands, global power races, and economies. Everyone’s talking about who wins the AI race (China vs. USA), the bubble bursting, mass unemployment, or power shortages. But almost no one is addressing the real human cost : the massive emotional and mental toll. Rising anxiety, worry, fear of obsolescence, loss of purpose, identity crises—it’s already starting...

What happens when a literal new heart inspires a mission to help others find theirs in business and life? Join me for an inspiring conversation with Jeff Parnell, a transition specialist who survived a life-saving heart transplant in 2018. This experience became the foundation for his upcoming book, The Heart of Transition , where he guides high-achieving professionals out of long careers into mea...

Success leaves clues — and so does struggle. In this powerful episode of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success , I explore a topic we don’t often connect to high performance: sex, love, and intimate relationships. Because the truth is simple: Where your mental fitness is low… everything feels harder. Where your mental fitness is high… connection, intimacy, and love flow naturally. In this episode...

What would you do if you were lying alone on a mountainside with a broken neck… for six hours? In this powerful episode of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success , I sit down with Clayton Hairs — also known by his artist name Clayton John — who shares the raw and extraordinary story of the mountain bike crash that left him paralysed and fighting for his life. For six hours, Clayton lay on the grou...

Mental fitness is essential for success — especially if you want to achieve it without stress . But here’s a question I get asked all the time: Where do you actually go to train your mental fitness muscles? In this episode of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success , I share the story of discovering what I now call a mental fitness gym — a powerful system I came across four years ago and still use...

Welcome to Season 2 of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success — and thank you to everyone who supported Season 1. In this episode, I share my unexpected Christmas story: a surprise helicopter ride, 14 days in the ICU at Auckland Hospital , and celebrating Christmas in hospital instead of at home with our children. This isn’t a medical story. It’s a mental fitness story . I talk about how mental fi...

Feeling stressed heading into Christmas? You’re not alone. In this final 2025 episode of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success , I share two simple tools that can reduce stress and mental tension in just a few seconds — perfect for busy leaders and business owners. This episode also marks an important milestone for the podcast. After 26 weekly episodes in this 6-month trial run, I originally deci...

In this episode of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success, we take the next step in the meditation journey we began over the last two episodes — and this time, we actually meditate together. I guide you through my personal 5 Stages of Meditation, a process I’ve developed over 32 years to help busy professionals move from basic awareness to profound inner stillness and fulfilment. Here’s what we ex...

In this episode, I take you on a very personal journey through 32 years of meditation — from living for a year at a meditation centre, to a deep 3-week solo retreat in a mountain hut, to multiple 10-day silent Vipassana retreats… all the way to where my practice lives today (spoiler: you’ll find me meditating while driving, cooking, working — even making love). I share the meditation system I desi...

In this episode, I’m joined by fellow Mental Fitness Coach Cheryl Robinson , who shares how strengthening her mental fitness has transformed her life in unexpected ways. Cheryl opens up about how her practice improved her relationships, inspired her to join a choir, and even helped her overcome a lifelong fear of rats. She also introduces a concept I instantly fell in love with— “Project Status” —...

In this episode, I take you back to the very beginning of my journey with meditation — more than 30 years ago — and explore how it’s shaped my life and my work as a coach for business owners and leaders. We look at the powerful connection between meditation and mental fitness , and why this ancient practice is still one of the most effective tools for building calm, clarity, and resilience in toda...

This episode is especially close to my heart. I’m joined by my wife, Kathy Menzies, who shares her powerful and deeply personal journey of struggle, transformation, and growth. Kathy opens up about: 💔 Losing her brother to suicide 💸 The pain and lessons of bankruptcy 🧠 The impact of poor mental fitness — and how she rebuilt it ❤️ Her remarkable transition from school teacher to Sex, Love &...

Episode 20 – Time for Something Completely Different! In this episode, I get personal — really personal — as we explore buttons . You know, those emotional triggers that get pushed by the people around us. I share my own journey of discovering what pushes my buttons, how I learned to react differently, and the surprising insight that allows you to “push” other people’s buttons without actually doi...

In this episode of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success , Jason Lennie shares his raw and honest journey through repeated cycles of burnout — and the powerful moment he finally recognised the destructive pattern behind it. That awareness led Jason to seek coaching support, helping him redefine how he lives and leads — creating a more productive, sustainable, and deeply fulfilling life and busine...

In this episode, we continue the powerful journey from episode 16: Triangulating Success. With you Life Purpose and Life Mission Statement in place (EP16), we take the next step in the Triangle Model: What is it that is truly important to you at this moment in your life. It is filtering your life purpose into every aspects of your life: Living Purposefully Download the free Action Guide that has t...

Former national triathlon coach, successful businessman, acclaimed motivational speaker, and cancer survivor—John Shackleton’s story is one of resilience and reinvention. But his most powerful transformation goes beyond any title or achievement. In this candid interview, John reveals the mindset and heartset that have redefined his life and continue to inspire thousands. John also shares practical...

In this episode of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success, we move beyond the lighthouse concept introduced in Episode 12 and step into one of the simplest yet most powerful success models I’ve ever created: The Triangles . I’ll walk you through the general use of this model and then dive into its most profound application—using it to design your Life Purpose. Once defined, this becomes your perso...

In this episode of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success, my guest Patrick Sherratt shares his remarkable journey from a challenging childhood to becoming a business owner dedicated to helping others manage stress and overcome trauma. Patrick opens up about the turning points that shaped his path, the tools that supported his transformation—including a powerful book and an ancient perspective on...

In this episode of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success, we dive into one of the most overlooked performance tools for business owners and managers—your breath. Breathing is something we do more than 20,000 times a day, yet most of us are doing it wrong, without even knowing it. Discover how restricted breathing silently drains your energy, clouds your decision-making, and amplifies stress—and h...

In this episode of Mental Fitness: The Gateway to Success, my guest Derek Hansen shares a deeply personal story of how the Covid pandemic shook him as a business owner and leader. At the time, he lacked the mental fitness to handle the unexpected stress and turmoil — until he reached a breaking point that led to powerful transformation. Derek opens up about the journey of rebuilding his resilience...