In this episode, host Jey welcomes guest Matt Noonan to discuss various topics related to health and wellness. They start with an introduction and background on Matt's work as a coach and host of the Unstoppable Dad Project podcast. They then delve into the importance of workplace health and how businesses can support their employees' well-being. The conversation shifts to the concept of leading by example in parenting and coaching, emphasizing the importance of practicing what you preach. They also explore the challenges of quantifying the benefits of health investments and measuring success in health and wellness. In this conversation, Matt Noonan and Jey discuss the importance of setting quantifiable metrics for health and fitness goals. They emphasize the need to simplify the process and focus on consistent action rather than complex measurements. They also explore the concept of embracing a new identity as someone who prioritizes health and fitness. Matt highlights the significance of lean muscle mass for long-term health and independence. They discuss the importance of thinking on a long-term timeframe and considering the impact of health choices on future goals. Finally, they stress the importance of seeking professional help when facing mental health challenges.

Takeaways

Investing in workplace health can lead to benefits such as reduced sick days and increased productivity.

Leading by example is crucial in parenting and coaching, as actions speak louder than words.

Measuring success in health and wellness can be challenging, but progress can be seen in improved energy levels, quality time with loved ones, and personal achievements.

Quantifying the benefits of health investments may require a holistic approach, considering both physical and mental well-being. Set quantifiable metrics for health and fitness goals to track progress.

Embrace a new identity as someone who prioritizes health and fitness.

Focus on building and maintaining lean muscle mass for long-term health and independence.

Think on a long-term timeframe and consider the impact of health choices on future goals.

Seek professional help when facing mental health challenges.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Background

08:16 The Importance of Workplace Health

17:48 Leading by Example in Parenting and Coaching

29:56 Quantifying the Benefits of Health Investments

39:58 Measuring Success in Health and Wellness

44:20 Setting Quantifiable Metrics

46:47 Embracing a New Identity

49:23 The Long-Term Benefits of Health Choices

52:13 Simplifying Health and Fitness

55:07 The Importance of Lean Muscle Mass

58:27 Thinking on a Long-Term Timeframe

01:03:42 Rooted in Family

01:04:30 Finding Grounding in Jiu-Jitsu

01:09:39 Seeking Professional Help

Find more of Matt

The Unstoppable Dad- https://linktr.ee/theunstoppabledad

Fusion Performance (Coaching)- https://linktr.ee/fusionperformance

Full Transcript

Jey (00:00.758)

Welcome in to another episode of the Young Dad Podcast. I'm your host Jay. And if you're looking at us over on YouTube right now, you may recognize the face right next to me. We're so happy to be with you. I'm so happy to have this man back on the show with me after nearly a year's time. Crazy how time flies. But welcome into episode 62 of the show. We're so happy to have you. We hope you're having a great 2024 so far. And

All your New Year's resolutions, bucket list items, goals, whatever you call them, are off to a tremendous start.

Jey (00:38.31)

And yeah, I think that's enough for introduction. If you don't know who's sitting next with me, because you're on an audio only recording. Well, I have coach Matt Noonan here from the Unstoppable Dad Project podcast, who was one of our very first guests on the show last year back in episode 21. So it's been 42, nearly three times as many episodes since he's been back with us again. So that's just.

crazy to see how many people we've talked to since him, how long it's taken to get back together and just where we're both kind of at now. So I'm so excited to have him. If you don't know a little bit about Matt, go back and listen to episode 21. But a little bit about him, Matt's obviously a dad. He hosts the Unstoppable Dad Project. He's a coach. He's a great mind when it comes to health, wellness, fitness, mindset, coaching dads, coaching people.

passionate guy, smart dude, tremendous dad, and just all the things wrapped into one. Everything that we could ask for a guest and obviously a dear friend of the show. Matt, thanks for coming back on. Go ahead and introduce yourself to the people once again a little bit. Tell us a little bit about you and then we'll jump back into the topic we were talking about pre-record.

Matt Noonan (02:04.13)

Thanks for having me back on man. It's been, it's good to get back on and be able to have the opportunity to have another chat to you and, you know, touch base with your audience. And so I'm Matt Noonan from Australia, hosted the Unstoppable Dad project podcast, which is just, it's a solo podcast for me. I take 15 to 20 minutes each week, just pick a topic on something that's either come up in my life, come up in the life of the clients that I coach and just call it kind of.

riff on that for about 15-20 minutes each week. Hopefully give some people some usable tips, usable bits of information based off my experiences 15 years as a coach, only eight years as a dad, so I'm very young in that world, but it's you know, it's something that I'm very passionate about. I'm passionate about everyone's health. I had the opportunity to own and operate a gym for 11 years, which was probably something which was

the steepest learning curve I've had on anything in my life, but it taught me a lot about just helping people, working with people, getting the most out of people. And from that point of view, I just kind of hope that I can give out as much simple, usable information as possible to kind of get somebody kickstarted in a direction that they're hopefully happy with. So that's me in a nutshell.

Funny thing is when you said episode 21, I didn't even realize it was episode 21 when I was on, but that was my old playing number when I was playing football. So that's a bit of trivia. I've got an Australian jersey in there with the number 21 on and the last World Cup team that I coached, the linebackers actually went to the person in that team, got that jersey or like bought the jersey off them and all signed it for me. So

Jey (03:31.973)

No way.

Matt Noonan (03:52.158)

I've got it hung up inside with all their signatures on it. So yeah, 21's my old playing number. So it's pretty ironic that was the last episode that I was on.

Jey (03:52.627)

That's all.

Jey (04:03.17)

No, that's awesome. I love that. See, it all works out for how it's supposed to work out. Matt, if I didn't mention when I introduced you, your episode that you guessed you were a guest on with us last year was actually our episode of the year according to our Spotify rap. So of course, a big shout out to all our listeners, the people who listened because you were on, the people who listened to us in our early unrefined days, my early unrefined days as a host. I can't say it's much better 42 episodes later, but I'm a little bit more organized.

Matt Noonan (04:07.82)

That's it.

Jey (04:32.482)

We actually have a calendar and a questionnaire to book and we're not Messaging back and forth like last time being well, does this work? Oh, no, this is a different time because we're plus 16 plus 18 hours. It's like oh, this is never gonna work out because I can't math kind of thing, but It's it's just good to have you back Last time you came on we talked We talked I don't even remember what we talked about it's in the show notes probably But

Matt Noonan (04:44.018)

Yeah.

Matt Noonan (04:52.778)

Yeah, it's good to be here, man.

Jey (05:01.802)

pre-record we were talking a little bit I had mentioned just kind of thinking about this today and I'm like Matt's the perfect person to talk to so the other topic I have in here but I'll let you know about it now so we're gonna talk today a little bit about health in the workplace health as a business and then I wanted to ask you and kind of pick your brain on some of the most like common trends you saw with dad

what they're struggling with, what they're going through, what all dads are kind of working towards and like some of those common goals and whatnot. So start thinking about that a little bit, keep that in the back of your brain, kind of like the trends you saw, whether good or bad, are dads trending in the right direction or the wrong direction from your point of view in your business as a coach, coaching dad and parent through these different areas and even for yourself, what kind of things have you noticed in your own last.

nine, ten months since the last talk and been on the show that you've trended in the right direction or maybe in the wrong direction that you need to get back course corrected. So you're thinking about those things. But the first thing here, so we were talking pre-record and I had mentioned how if you haven't listened to the last couple episodes, I've been a bit raspy. I've been having a bit of a respiratory thing going on. This is the best I've sounded in a week.

If you go and listen to my last episode of Dynasty down under that I did, that was rough, real rough, overall, ball boy talk. But, um, and I had mentioned to Matt that we had three people, two people out yesterday, three people out today. And when so many people miss in my work, we missed billing those hours. Our program is funded by the state and state insurance is the one who pays for the services.

So if the services don't happen, obviously we don't get paid nearly as much. And just thinking kind of on a baseline for the cost of service, I don't actually know the cost, but we're looking at probably 10 to 15 appointments, assume $300 per billable service. You're probably looking at $2,000 to $3,000 or $3,000 plus dollars in lost money in versus those people who were out, you know, let's say they all get paid $19, $20 an hour for

Jey (07:25.266)

I'm looking at 150, 160 times 3, 450, $500. So a major disparity in money incoming versus money out. Those people are still going to use their sick time and get paid versus not having work to earn the hours like for the business. So kind of at what point does a workplace stay and a coworker and I were talking about this say when.

When do we step in and be like, look, our people aren't healthy. They're not taking care of themselves. We preach self care, but don't allot time or resources for it. Cause we barely pay them enough to live. Like when does the business step in and be like, okay, here's the resource. Here's the time you have to use it or use one of the services of the wellness resource to keep yourself healthier. You have to use it.

And we're going to cover the cost of it, whether you're talking to a dietitian, coach, going to the gym, using the actual facilities, whatever. But here's the resource you have to use at least one thing per week. During this a lot of time, you don't care what it looks like. When does the business step in and realize we're losing more versus gaining more by not supplementing this for our people to keep them healthy longterm.

Matt Noonan (08:45.962)

Yeah, look, hey, that's a so It's a little bit more information there than when we were talking and like one of the things that I was I kind of said To start off with it's like when it comes to businesses investing in that type of stuff It's like anything when you're investing in health like there's a delayed payoff for the investment that you make right so like they're going to invest in whatever Means it is for the person

Jey (08:52.252)

Yeah.

Matt Noonan (09:15.694)

to improve those health markers for themselves. And then they're not gonna see a payoff in that for three months, six months. They may not even know that there's a payoff for it for 12 months until they sit down and go, right, what's the truancy rate being like over this 12 month period? And how do we get, what money have we been able to claim back based off the...

amount of stuff that we have invested into this health program that we've got. It can be a hard thing for people to quantify and that's where I'm thinking that, like what you're saying, if you were to step into the business and go to the person who's running the business or the manager or something like that, I think one of the big things that businesses are operating on are metrics, right? So how do we quantify

Jey (10:12.79)

Thank you.

Matt Noonan (10:14.07)

this money that we're putting in, like a really simple, basic, easy thing is that, how many sick days have been taken now in this 12 month period compared to the next 12 month period? But then there's that, do we want to invest the money not exactly knowing whether there is gonna be a payoff on this backend or not too? And then there's, it's almost like there's a Pandora's box of conversation that needs to happen around that particular topic, because it's like, hey, then,

Jey (10:24.214)

Exactly, exactly. I think that's one way to measure it.

Matt Noonan (10:43.498)

What if these people that we've put the money in then leave after three months? What if they, you know, what if they're not there in 12 months time? Like what are like, there's a whole bunch of moving pieces there. However, like. I think everyone knows and everyone has an inherent understanding, or they should, you know, healthier people are going to take less sick days. Healthier people are going to need to take less like they're going to want to come to work due to, you know, if they're doing something fulfilling, they're going to want to come to work.

if they're and then you've got the mental health aspect as well too, you know, so is it um, you know from a healthy workplace point of view We've got to encompass like the mental health aspects as well as the physical health aspects and one feeds the other and I know I'm jumping around a lot here. It's probably more because When I look at the topic as a whole there's a whole bunch of moving pieces there that need to be looked at in order to

Jey (11:33.916)

No, you're good.

Matt Noonan (11:42.846)

actually effectively address the things that need to be addressed. But healthier people are going to take less sick days. They're going to get sick less. It doesn't mean they're not going to get sick. It just means they're going to get sick less. It might be once every six months rather than once every two or three. So then all of a sudden, if that was the case, it's like, well, what exactly what you're talking about, where you equate that back to for your particular profession.

Jey (11:47.734)

Mm.

Jey (12:02.443)

Mm-hmm.

Matt Noonan (12:12.31)

billable hours, this is what you're losing now compared to what you're going to lose then. And then it just becomes, you know, checks and balances, looking at the money in versus money out. This is the money we've got to invest in a wellness program in order to, you know, have moved this along. But then the next part of that is having the resources there is one thing, getting people to use it is the next thing. And that's

Jey (12:40.382)

Well, that's the thing. That's the thing. So I work in mental health. I work with people's mental health and we teach people and we preach self care, taking care of yourself, doing these things for yourself, you know, being healthy, eating healthy, having healthy food options, getting good productive sleep, you know, rest, relaxation, self care, all those different topics of it, right?

yet we're not allotted the time or the resources or the ability to do it. So my thinking to give us some more context is our CEO and our CFO are a married couple that founded the business. The CFO is a former physical therapist, like licensed physical therapy, just to add more context to it. So that thinking should already.

be in place there naturally. Just knowing, oh, well, if these people are less sick, they miss less time, they're healthier, this is a no-brainer kind of thing. We make sure our people are healthy, well, and strong and able because we also travel between homes and schools and community, so we're exposed to all these different things throughout the year. And so with that, knowing, like, okay.

They have that going on. We. Preach it and teach it, but we don't practice it. So how effective is that message? But if it is allotted and given, I feel like that resource, if it's given and provided, like when I knew that when I worked at, um, an old bank, they covered half my costs for a gym chain here in town. I was, as soon as I found out, I was at that gym that night.

my discount kind of thing, like here you go kind of thing. Like if people know that they have the resource and it's a very, it's going to save them money that they don't have to pay or it's covered for them, they're going to be so much more likely to use it. I feel because it's less of a stress. There's less barriers to access it. But when there's only barriers on top of barriers. So right now the barriers for my coworkers are the time, the money, the

Jey (15:10.166)

ability the desire because yes, we have a very fulfilling job getting to help people to help people improve their mental health and recovery and Repair relationships and it's very fulfilling at the end of the day. It's also very draining Talking to people all day about problems and mental health and their struggles and seeing these behaviors and being in the rooms with people crying and going through big things like today I had to talk I had a

Matt Noonan (15:27.595)

for sure.

Jey (15:40.442)

um calling people calling crisis and working on call like it's a whole it's a very draining process while also rewarding but it doesn't balance like how do you can't just hard to balance those things within the workplace it's nearly impossible because it's like well go and drain yourself 40 hours a week while giving well we're also not going to give you any time or allotment and we're just going to tell you well go do it on your time

Matt Noonan (15:51.039)

Mm.

Jey (16:07.678)

when our time is very limited working till five, six o'clock at night to actually have a desire and want to go and do those things. So yes, I 100% understand, but we, that thinking should already be there. Our CEO and CFO, I think are in their 40s. So they're not old or outdated thinking. The CFO is a former physical therapist. Additionally, we preach it. So we should be practicing it.

Matt Noonan (16:16.541)

Hmm.

Jey (16:37.49)

And healthier people are also more productive people, because they have the energy, able to listen, their minds are sharper. So they're able to actually think and have a higher cognitive awareness to be like, oh, well, here's a solution, I think might work. And they're able to give so much more to the client. And the client's able to take so much more of that away. Because if I'm sitting with you and you're my client, and I'm like, well, you know, Matt,

Matt Noonan (16:43.779)

for sure.

Matt Noonan (17:07.305)

Yeah, falling asleep.

Jey (17:07.722)

try this thing. Like if I'm tired and you can obviously see I'm tired, you're going to feel like, oh, I'm draining him. I can't talk to him. But if I'm like, Matt, look, let's try this. I think this would be a great idea. And you can feel like it's energetic. It's authentic. Instead of me really trying to pull it or I'm drinking a monster or something during our meeting and then taking a deep breath and trying to force the energy through my veins from that can real quick in the moment.

It's a big difference in the authentic authenticity of that. And so that's kind of my thing. It's an immediate payoff almost within 30 to 90 days for most people.

Matt Noonan (17:40.915)

Yeah, and it's it.

Matt Noonan (17:48.35)

Yeah. And the thing is, too, like what with your profession, with like what I do, there's also, there's a lot to be said with just parenting in general, right? Like there's a lot to be said by leading by example. Like if you're standing in front of somebody advocating, hey, train, do this, do that, like lead a better life, but you know, you are not showing the physical signs of

Jey (17:59.99)

Mm-hmm.

Matt Noonan (18:18.49)

uh, you're disingenuous in the advice that you're giving, right? Like it's, it's like, there's, I heard somebody, I can't, whether I can't remember whether I heard it on a podcast or I read it somewhere, but it's like, and they were talking to like personal trainers, right? And it's like, you need to be a billboard for what you do. Right. And it's like, that's, that's where it starts. Right. So if I'm talking to you and I'm like, Hey, you know, I'm not going to be the type

Jey (18:37.517)

I love that.

Matt Noonan (18:48.19)

you should go and you should do a bodybuilding program and eat just meat and vegetables and eat this and like you know we're going to calorie count and we're going to do all this because that's not me like I'm not that coach. What I am about like as a coach is like hey let's get you moving better let's get you moving well let's get you functioning and being the type of physical person that you want to be because that's what like that's what I do and now the methods and the means that we're going to get there may be slightly different.

But that's also because you're not at the starting point that I am now. So I'm and my ability as a coach is dictated by my ability to meet you where you're at, not and then, and then move you forward from there, rather than me talking down at you and saying like, this is what, this is what I need to do. This is what I think you should do. And da, and you know, get on my level or get, get out. It's more about, Hey, like, you know,

I know what's going to work for you where you're at. Let's get this going. But it's not like the end goal is what I referred to there. And it's the same with like, you know, like it's the same with parenting, right? It's like they're not going to listen to what you say. They're gonna see what you do. And it's like, if we're trying to advocate, it doesn't matter what it is, whether it's temper management, communication, living a healthy lifestyle.

Jey (20:05.846)

Exactly.

Matt Noonan (20:15.538)

If you are telling your kids something and you're not doing that yourself, there's a disconnect with your actions that they're going to pick up on like that, which is going to create confusion around what you're telling them to do because their minds haven't matured to that point yet where they're able to differentiate between words and actions. It's like, hey, you're telling me that I need to get outside and I go and run around, but you're not getting up off the couch and doing anything.

Jey (20:25.726)

Mm-hmm.

Matt Noonan (20:45.642)

Like, I don't get that. Like, I don't, it doesn't compute. Or it's like, hey, I need you to not yell and scream when you're about to lose your shit. But then I'm doing that. Like, it's like, I don't, like, you know, as a, you know, my kids are four and eight years old. They look at me and go, like, what are you talking about? Like, and that's, you know, to relate it back to health and if you're in a position as, you know,

counselor, psychiatrist, coach, whatever, and you're in that position where you're imparting advice onto somebody, like you need to come at that from a place of leadership and from walking the talk because otherwise people are going to pick up on that straight away and go, I'm not buying it. You know, you're...

Jey (21:23.926)

Mm-hmm.

Jey (21:32.386)

Yeah, I'm out. I'm out. I can't do that kind of thing. No, it's 100% true. I love what you said there like be a billboard like

Matt Noonan (21:37.099)

Yes.

Jey (21:43.934)

be a billboard for what you're about.

Matt Noonan (21:44.182)

Yeah, and it's like it doesn't, there is, and there is, there's always a thing where, you know, not everything's gonna work for everybody, right? But that's where experience comes in too, from the person that's imparting the advice, is understanding like, and it's not only experience in working with other people, but experience in yourself having done the thing before. And it's like, hey, like I did this and I got okay results from it.

Jey (21:52.822)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Yes.

Matt Noonan (22:10.078)

I could have got better results if I applied myself a bit more, you know, taking that step back, being real about where you're at and what you've done and why maybe you failed. But I see the situation you're in and I can see how that this may actually apply to you. So let's give this a go for a bit and see how you go with it. And that's, you know, so from to relate all that back to what you're like what you're talking about, particularly for your like profession and for what you do.

you're 100% right in what you say where it's like, hey, you're going to get, if you're healthier, you're gonna have more energy. And whether you're in a coaching role or a consulting role, if you're leading the conversation, the energy in the room is gonna feed off you. So like, I know that from the point of view of, you know, coaching group classes or coaching a team, right? Like I, as a coach, I'm the one that, I set the initial tone. Like that's on me to do that.

So if I walk in there kicking cans, three cups of coffee, deep trying to get my energy up, that's gonna feed into the rest of the team or the rest of the room. And it's like, so, and then when you're working from a one-on-one point of view, it's even more important for you to be the person that's leading that. And if you're not looking after yourself out, and you're not dealing with the stuff that you need to outside of that interaction,

It's always going to bleed into that. It just is because it's, you know, what you do is such a mentally taxing thing. Not that I've been down that path, but you know, from the point of view of a coach, people have come to me over the years with some really heavy shit, like they just have. It's just part of that. You see someone three times a week, every week for months on end. Of course, there's going to be a relationship where they're going to want to share stuff with you.

Jey (24:05.447)

Mm-hmm.

Matt Noonan (24:05.546)

and it can take it out of you. And that's where like going and training for me, training, I've found a probably in the last, it's probably been longer than since we talked, but I've found it like a newfound appreciation for just going for a walk. Like just no headphones, no nothing, no phone, just getting out of nature and going for a walk. Like, you know, so it's training, walking or jujitsu, like, cause they're my...

They're my things to get away, unload the stuff I need to, and then clear the slate and get back to whatever I need to. But that's all, it's all physical, that's me physically looking after myself. And that's, yeah.

Jey (24:52.538)

No, I love that. And I love how you wrapped it back to parenting because I cannot tell you how many times I've had to tell different parents like, okay, your kids for you, if it was you, for example, like, look, Matt, your kids are four and eight. They're not in their 20s or 30s or however old the parent is. They're not your age. They don't have a fully developed brain. They don't have the capability to regulate like you do.

They don't have the ability to do what you're wanting them to do because guess what? You haven't modeled that behavior. And until you model what you want to see from them, they're not going to do it. If they always see you, the person that they are trying to model themselves after and that they care and want to be most like and that they're looking up to and going to for guidance and expecting to guide them and show them everything. If you're showing them.

the opposite of what you're trying to tell them, they're going to follow along with what you're trying to not, they're going to not follow along with what you try to tell them but continue doing the opposite because you're doing the opposite. And parents, they just don't get it. Some do.

Matt Noonan (26:06.154)

Yep, 100%.

And the things that I say, I think the thing that like one of the biggest eye-openers for me as a parent when I realized that was it's like, and I don't know if you see this in yourself or the people that you work with, but you know the things that bug me the most about like what my kids do? It's always stuff that I do myself that I know I shouldn't be doing. Like the things I get aggravated with my kids for continually doing.

I sometimes have to take a pause and go, hey, like understanding that they're actually getting that from me. Like it's like the things, it's so funny to see, like I'm getting, stop doing that, stop doing that, stop doing that, stop doing that. And then all of a sudden you have a bit of a light bulb moment and it's like, oh shit, that's actually like, they've gotten that from me.

That's not a, that's not learned from somebody else. That's not learned, like that's not a learned behavior from somebody at school or anything like that. Like that's come directly from me. And the reason it bugs me the most, like that's the one thing that bugs me the most is because I'm the one that does it. And that for me, like then forces that behavior change within me because it's not a desirable behavior that I want them to have.

Jey (27:30.442)

100% and you have to That change has to start with you like you lead that change if you're leading the conversation like you mentioned Or if you're the one that's leading the person if you're leading the training session if you're leading them for me It's those different therapy sessions and whatnot those peer sessions Like if I'm not the one doing it already, then there's no way this other person's ever gonna do it

As a parent, if I'm not doing it, there's no way my kids are ever going to do it. And it goes back to the old, the old adage to where it's like. The old like parents saying was like, well, do what I say, not as I do kind of thing. And it's like, well, kids are going to do as you do, not as you say. Um, so, and that's, that's just so important.

Matt Noonan (28:18.142)

It doesn't matter how good you are at communicating, talking. It doesn't matter. Like, it's all going to come back down to actions. That's just how they learn. Like, they learn by assimilation. They learn by seeing everything that's going on around them from the youngest age. And if you've got a behavior that you would like your kids to have, then you better start doing it. Because they're not like, you know,

The other thing is too, you know, you said that the person that when you're talking about the relationship, the person that they most want to be like, and the person that they most like, that's such a powerful thing for imparting knowledge onto them and be hard imparting a behavior, is that they're like, if, if you're telling them to do something, and then you're not doing it.

then they're going to get this disconnect and it's almost going to break a level of trust there between you and your kid when they get old enough. When they do start to realize like, why are you telling me all this stuff if you're not doing it? Like, are you trying to give me bad information here? And it's the same with like the client coach relationship too, it's like, well, how can I trust what you're telling me if you're not doing it? And it's like, oh, it's just because like, I know it works.

Jey (29:27.466)

Mm-hmm.

Matt Noonan (29:42.498)

Well, how do you know it works? Because I've done it. Like, if I've done it, different story. It's because I, yeah, I've just kind of, I just know it works, so just listen to me. Like, just listen to me is not an effective mode of coaching and it's not an effective mode of parenting either.

Jey (29:58.722)

No, I agree and I think the simplest way to like kind of relay that back into parenting is Think back to when your kids were learning their language skills, right? When they were learning words

because words are taken in action, speaking is an action, but they didn't just learn those words because you told them to learn those words, right? You had to teach them and then they mimicked and then they learned how to say, mama, dada, this is a bottle, say bottle kind of thing. And you would, you teach and you train them continuously to learn these different things. And then they just pick up on, oh, I heard my dad or mom

in their little baby head they're like oh that's blue because dad and mom said that's blue like if i if i tell a baby that the color of my headphones are orange guess what that baby's gonna believe they're orange and then their whole life they're gonna think that the color blue is actually the color orange because i messed with them a lot and told them this is orange that's not blue that's wrong these are orange that orange is actually blue kind of thing and they're gonna

because they're young and impressionable. But again, because they trust you and they learn from you and they wanna do the things like you do them. And if you say it's orange and it's orange to them too, kind of thing. So that's just kind of where, a simple way to kind of relay that back together. But no, I think it's all kind of right there. If you wanna be, if you wanna have it be a successful line of communication, if you wanna have it be a successful.

environment or people to be healthier. Those at the top or those leading the conversation within these relationships have to be the billboard for and model that behavior, model that success, model what they want the other person to be like for them to be successful in long term with those behaviors. Because it's not just going to happen because you tell someone to. Like if you were my coach and you were only telling me we'll go work out for 30 minutes.

Jey (32:07.814)

Oh, why? Because I said so. But what do I do? Just work out. Well, okay. I go and walk on a treadmill on two speed for 30 minutes. I'm like, okay, I did it. I don't feel any different or my body's not changing versus you telling me as my coach, okay, today's workout is gonna be 35 minutes. You're gonna do this many sets of this with this equipment versus this with this equipment and this with this equipment.

working these specific muscle groups because with kind of where you're at versus where you want to be, seeing where you're at, I think these were going to be the best things for you based on my analysis and experience. This should be the most beneficial for you, but if it doesn't work, then we'll revisit it and see. But this is what we're going to run with for today and maybe the next three workouts too is going to be your workout versus the opposite. Go workout for 30 minutes.

Okay. There's a big difference even in that.

Matt Noonan (33:09.11)

For sure. And everyone's level is going to be different, which is what we kind of touched on before. And this is, I guess, even to loop it back even further to looking at it from a corporate wellness type of point of view. It's also understanding from that point of view, if we're going to invest the time, energy, and effort into it,

Jey (33:19.358)

Mm-hmm.

Matt Noonan (33:34.278)

not everybody's going to take up every element of that because not everybody's going to need it. You know, if you've got 30% of people in your company who are already doing a structured workout each week, the only thing you're going to do by trying to get everybody to do that is to, you know, you're going to alienate that 30% because there's a lot of tribalism that goes

with a lot of that, like, you know, they belong to a gym, they might belong to a CrossFit gym, they might, like, whatever, there's, when it comes to training, like physical training, there's a lot of tribalism that goes on with that. So like, that 30% of people may not need to take care of the, you know, the physical side of things. Maybe it's the mental side of things that they need to look at and they need to take care of. You know, that's their wellness plan that they need to get on board with. Maybe it's...

Jey (34:27.971)

Mm-hmm. Exactly.

Matt Noonan (34:30.31)

they need a little bit of help and guidance with nutrition. But I think that from that point of view, having those options available, go a big way to improving things. And especially when I think from a corporate point of view, having those available where you don't have to do it within your own time, takes the time excuse out of it. Because then it's like, well, but we're going to not only provide you with this, but you're going to have

three hours a week, which is on company time, where you can go and you can take advantage of these things. Because time's always, when it comes to, I'm kind of jumping back and forth between the thing you wanted to cover off and the thing we were talking about, where it's like time from the point of view of everybody that I deal with, time is probably the number one excuse that people make. Now we can go down the rabbit hole of saying like,

Jey (35:11.826)

Good.

Matt Noonan (35:26.174)

it's priorities and this and that and everything else. Like, and that's all, it's all a fair assessment. But if you can take that off the table from like a corporate point of view, where it's like, no, like we're actually, you're doing this on company time. You don't have to find the time. You're like, you know, it's part of it. But then you're also not pigeonholing them into like, hey, you have to go and do a bootcamp at three times a week. We have to go and do a CrossFit class because there's gonna be people who

Let's say, for example, you have a coworker who might have a laundry list of injuries. Maybe they're in their mid to late 50s, they've never really done any physical activity. They're not going to want to go and jump into a group fitness class. And there's probably a lot of benefit for them to do that structured in the right way. But from a starting point of view, we're not meeting them at the level that they're at. It might be that they're going and they're...

Maybe they're walking on the treadmill at level two for the 30 minutes three times a week. That's their time that they have to do. Maybe that's what they... That's because that's going to their level and getting them started and creating that habit. It doesn't matter who it is.

Jey (36:28.726)

Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's perfect for them.

Jey (36:39.399)

100%.

Matt Noonan (36:49.906)

the thing that is always going to come up. I don't have time to do that. Where do I find the time to do this? But then with time, you might not have the time now, but you're going to pay for it with time on the back end, whether it's the quality of life that you're living, or whether it's the extent of the life that you're living. The later you leave it, the less chance you're going to have to claw that back. So from might just

put a bow on the corporate side of things now, but there's a lot of validity in implementing a corporate wellness program. Obviously, being a personal trainer at GymOwner for 15 years, I'm obviously gonna be the top one that's gonna stand at the top of the mountain and kind of scream that, right? But there's a lot of benefits outside of that. There's productivity benefits which are listed. There's taking less sick days. There's higher level of productivity, and you name it.

Jey (37:30.734)

Right. Exactly.

Matt Noonan (37:46.742)

lot of flow and effects, which some of them, and this is, I think, where the sticking point for a lot of companies comes in, is there's not a very definitive way to quantify that, like to take all that and then quantify it. It's like, if I'm going to invest $10,000 a year into a corporate wellness program, how do I get my money back? Like,

Jey (38:00.199)

Mm-hmm.

Matt Noonan (38:10.986)

Like, how does that equate to me getting my money back? Because a lot of the other stuff is really great to talk about, but how do we quantify that, like, on our bottom line? So that's the thing. But there's so much benefit in it. If you can take away that habit of that, not habit, the barrier of time, then that just makes everything easier. But with the time that you put in,

Jey (38:34.591)

Mm.

Jey (38:37.846)

100%.

Matt Noonan (38:40.254)

It's not time you get back immediately. It's time that you're gonna get back in some other way, shape or form.

Jey (38:46.95)

Now what if I told you that there's a CrossFit gym, and this is totally unrelated, but there's a CrossFit gym in our neighboring parking lot to our agency.

Matt Noonan (39:00.182)

look like that's but see this is this I might get caught in and I don't

Jey (39:01.047)

Hahaha

Jey (39:05.686)

I just think it's funny that you mentioned that. I'm like, oh wait, there's actually a CrossFit gym literally in our adjoining parking lot. But let's move off this topic and kind of keep with it at the same time. You mentioned quantifying that investment of that coaching or a gym membership or something.

Matt Noonan (39:15.126)

Yeah, that's how.

Jey (39:29.482)

Quantifying that cost and quantifying that time to know you got your times worth and your money's worth as a dad What can that look like for the for the typical dad that you work with? So they know that they got the bang for their buck the most out of it at the time they spent You know their biggest return on investment like how in your on your side of things How is that quantified like how do they measure that and know like oh this was a?

This worked out really well for us kind of thing. Like this was good. This was solid.

Matt Noonan (40:04.962)

So there's, that's a good question. This is one of the things with health habits, right? Like there is no direct quantifiable metric that is going to give you, unless like, if we're talking about, we're trying to improve like blood levels and things like that, like that's a little bit different. But even then, you have to start taking action at one point in order to get that quantifiable improvement in.

cholesterol or whatever you're trying to improve, right? But from the point, because how do we measure energy? How do we measure having more energy? Is there, there's not a quantifiable number that we can do that. How do we measure having more quality time? We kinda can't, can we? Unless we're, even if we are very cognizant of what we're doing and aware of what we're doing,

But what we can start to measure and see from a progress point of view is like, when I go and I go to, if you go down to the park, right, you take your kids down to the park. And this is something that you get to, I'll get dads come to me and they'll go, I just want to, like, I just want to be able to run around with my kids at the park and not get out of breath. And it's like, okay, cool. So how often do you take your kids to the park? Let's say you take them down every second weekend. So you go down to the park

Jey (41:21.223)

Mm-hmm.

Matt Noonan (41:29.538)

in two weeks, you're probably after you start training, probably not going to see too much of a difference, right? Probably still going to feel the same. A lot of people from a mental point of view, they'll get a little bit down and they'll be like, Hey, like, you know, I don't know that this is doing anything. And it's like, well, look, it's been two weeks, you got to give it a little bit more time. Then after the first month, you're probably going to start to see, Hey, like, I can actually run around for five minutes and I'm feeling okay. Like, feel like I got like if I've

Jey (41:47.609)

Mm-hmm.

Matt Noonan (41:58.03)

feel like I've got a little bit more strength in my legs, got a little bit more go, like I'm feeling a little bit better about being down there. Then in eight weeks time, like it's a little bit better. And then all of a sudden, after eight or 12 weeks, after just showing on consistently, showing up and doing something, let's say it's three times a week, a lot of people actually start to forget about that thing until they stop and think about it. Because what happens is they're able to run around more.

and more and more and more and they start to lose track of the person that they used to be and start to step into a bit more of a new reality. And then all of a sudden what I find, six months, 12 months down the track, I get a remark from them because they'll have seen a memory on Facebook of where they used to be or what they used to look like and they're like, hey, do you remember how I came to you and I said, I want to be able to run around at the park with my kids without losing my breath?

I just like we went down there on the weekend. I ran around for an hour with my kids until they were dog tired and we just went home and I was good. Twelve months ago, I couldn't have thought like I wouldn't have thought I would have been able to do that. But that's kind of the progression. It's like, like I'm not a like I'm when it comes to weight loss, I'm a I can help people lose weight as a secondary or even third, fourth, fifth level.

like goal, right? Like that's never been my focus. It's more about moving well and creating good habits around movement, training and lifestyle. But what the biggest, one of the biggest ones I get all the time is it will be some people will start and they'll always have a lot of people because they want to look aesthetically pleasing, whether it's for vanity purposes or it's to impress somebody else, right? They just do. It's just part of the, it's just human nature. And they'll start

Jey (43:24.171)

Mm-hmm.

Jey (43:50.39)

Exactly.

Matt Noonan (43:51.922)

And they'll start, they'll watch the scales for the first six weeks, and my advice is always, and this is actually a quantifiable metric, right? Like you can see the weight on the scales going down. I'm like, just leave, try and step away from that, let's just leave that for a while. And then we get six months, 12 months into it, they see a photo pop up on Facebook of where, and they compare photos, and it's like, holy, look at this, look how much difference there is in these two photos.

shape of the foot like, you know, for guys like starting to get their jawline back, like they're losing the big out a little bit, they're starting to get some definition in their arms, like, you know, or they there's a shirtless photo of them at the beach where it's like, you know, I've got this is what I look like then and this is what I look like now and they're happy with that progress. But that's not like that to me is not a quantifiable metric, right? It's just something that the quantifiable metric that I say to and this

super over simplistic. It's like, pick a number of times a week you're gonna show up and show up that many times. That's your quantifiable metric. Write it down in a diary, you're gonna do three times a week, do three times a week, give yourself a pat on the back at the end of each week for doing your three times a week, and then do it again next week. And when you do that, set out to do that for the next 52 weeks, and then see what happens to you over that period. And then you get to the end of that 52 weeks, and you just rinse and repeat. And then all of a sudden,

it becomes and I kind of touched on it before one thing that I've been circling back to with a lot of clients is like, kind of trying to leave the old identity behind and step into that new person that you want to be like, instead of being someone that says I want to train more, it's somebody that I am I am somebody who trains, like it's not I want to, or I'm trying to, it's I am like we, you are somebody who trains three times a week. You're not somebody who's trying to.

you are, like that's your new identity that you're stepping into. And then if you can do that consistently over a year, not only will you be saying that you'll be able to convince yourself that you are somebody who trains. So then all of a sudden, like, let's say you get, like, you know, you get sick for a week, maybe two weeks, you know, kids, kids are home from school. You can't get to the gym because you are somebody who trains. It's not a massive mental roadblock to then go back to the gym.

Matt Noonan (46:17.79)

or go back to whatever it is that you're doing, because that's you, that's part of your new identity. And that's such a really simplistic metric, like show up three times a week, or four times a week, or whatever. Whatever habit that you want to implement, just show up on those behaviors rather than trying to overcomplicate things with metrics that don't really quantify anything over the long term.

Jey (46:47.954)

100% and I think that's so That's one of the things we've talked about previously, you know pick your number of days you're gonna show up and show up

and get in that mindset of I am this person. I am a healthier person. I am a stronger person. I am moving better now. I am able to last longer at the park with my kids. I am having more productive work days, more productive conversations because of this thing I'm doing consistently. I am looking for and actively feeling these benefits.

because it's not just a placebo. You know, it's a real time like thing that's happening to you. You're sharper, you're more aware, you're feeling better, you're moving better, you're sleeping better, you're eating better, you're laughing better, you're having better conversations, more stimulating conversations. The quality time you're spending with your kids and your spouse or your partner is just so much higher than it ever was because you're just healthier. You're more...

everything up here is all put together. It feels right. Your body feels right. So you're able to be more into those different things. It all stems from the same thing. You know, having that healthy mindset and those things. Yes, they are very simple, but they are they are quantifiable. It's not always about the numbers, rarely about the number on the scale, you know, but it's about how you're feeling. Is that quality time?

higher quality? Is you going to the park and you're able to tire out your kids before they tire out you? That's quantifiable. To a dad, that's quantifiable. Are you having better conversations? Is your relationship healthier? Do you actually have more energy for your partner, for your kids, for your job, for all the things? Are you now, you have more mental energy and you're not as tired because maybe you're not drinking as much so now you're

Jey (48:53.534)

Now you're just calmer. So now you're just having better conversations, better interactions with people. Now you have a little bit more money because you're not going and spending money out there. So maybe a couple financial things resolve too, because you're making these active choices. So all these choices that we make, they all have such a long-term benefit, but we just have to make that choice initially to, okay, well maybe I'm gonna, maybe I'll cut back on the beer, see what happens. My gut will go down, I'll be less bloated, because that's the motivation to most men.

Matt Noonan (49:19.202)

Hmm.

Jey (49:23.626)

It's like, Oh, well, I'll, I'll be less bloated. I'll feel a little bit better. I'll be a little bit healthier kind of thing. Won't have much other impact, but the effect of that goes well beyond it. Your fitness goes well beyond it to a friend of mine, Brian Ward. He's a coach here in the States. Uh, he worked out 365 days or 2023, 365 days. He posted his day one versus his day 365.

He looks like a completely different man. Before he looked old and age and his skin's like saggy and droopy and he doesn't look as healthy. But fast forward to 365 days, he looks just bright and alive and healthy and the sun got to him so he has a little bit of like a tan and there's a light from the sun's really good. The red light.

all those things, the natural UV, all those things. He just looked so healthy and happy and like, just so much more put together. His quality of his coaching improved the quality of his business improved the relationship with his, his queen, as he calls his wife, improve his relationship with his kids, improve his business was so much better. Cause he had so much more energy to put into all these things because he knew that he was taking care of himself.

So he was able to pour from his cup into all these other cups without his being empty. And I think that's what it comes down to is your cup so full now that it's just overflowing into all the cups below it naturally without even you trying. And that's so important as a parent, as a dad to your cup being overful, overfilling for the right reasons because it's very easy to let our cups overfill.

because we're purposely overfilling them by giving them way too much energy than each one deserves. We're just overfilling it with negative energy, negative icky water in those cups that's now draining into the other cups and now those cups are contaminated. But when it's good, healthy water coming from our cup, overflowing because we just got so much to give and we're so healthy, happy and productive, those cups below us are gonna be

Jey (51:39.274)

So much happier, everything else is gonna work out from that. But it starts with us as the individual, like you're saying. You have to make those choices. You have to get on the right track. You have to work what's gonna work for you. You have to commit. If it's three times a week, hell yeah, you did it. Three times a week, do it again next week. Let's do it, like we said before, start small. You gotta stack those wins. Stack that win on top of that next win, on top of that next win. Build, build, until you have your skyscraper.

then you have your own empire and you're just killing it kind of thing.

Matt Noonan (52:13.09)

For sure, for sure. It's, you know, it doesn't need to be overcomplicated. I know it sounds very cliche, but it's just, I think that's one thing with, and we may have covered it off last time, but it's something that I think a lot of dads get caught up in trying to be more than they need to be or do more than they need to do when it comes to like,

training. It's like a lot of us are all or nothing, right? Like we have to do it all, or we don't want to do any of it. And when we're, when we're time poor, maybe we're energy poor to start off with, like, or even resource poor as well, too. So maybe you don't have access to it, like a gym, or, you know, you don't have access to a lot of equipment. There's, there are still ways for you to prioritize movement in your

day or in your week, but you just need to be prepared to not over complicate it and just get to work. That's the bottom line. You've got to, like you spoke about your friend who did 365 days straight, which is an amazing feat. You just have to, like you have to do the work and it's as simple as getting out, moving, doing something. That means you're only walking every day.

Jey (53:31.743)

Mm-hmm.

Matt Noonan (53:40.294)

For most people, if you're not doing anything now, like if you go for a walk every single day for the next year, you will notice a massive difference in a lot of health markers. You know, like the 10,000 steps, as much as it's an arbitrary number, it's just something that you can aim for. You can go do 10,000 steps every single day, which is actually a lot harder to get than what I think most people think it is. Like it's not a...

Jey (54:06.748)

Mm-hmm.

Matt Noonan (54:08.146)

super easy, you know, it's not a super easy thing to get to. And you do that every day for the next 365 days, there's going to be a pretty big improvement in every single health marker that you like you have at the moment in. And that's the thing, like it doesn't have to be complicated. If you have the means to be able to get and go to the gym. I obviously think that there's a lot of advantage in strength training, like we need to make sure we gain and are able to

a high level of lean muscle mass as we get older, because that is going to be the probably number one marker that is going to keep us independent for as long as possible. And it doesn't matter whether you're a dad or who you are, at the end of the day, the goal for all of us is going to be to try and, I think, to ward off the nursing home for as long as possible. And one of the ways you are going to be able to do that is have a high level of lean muscle mass.

Jey (55:00.946)

Yep.

Matt Noonan (55:07.114)

You have to be completely jacked to the gills and bodybuilder style, but you want to make sure that you're able to build and maintain a good level of muscle mass. As we get into our mid to late 40s and 50s, that is harder. It's a lot harder to do. The earlier you can start on that, the better it's going to be. If we look at things on that timeframe, which I think from the point of view of talking

Positive trends for dads and I don't know whether it's a trend or it's just something that I sit like I see a lot Once we become a dad I think we start thinking on that time frame a lot more than when it's just about us Because we've got to worry about other people right like we want to you know, I Want to walk my daughter down the aisle and be able to do that Well, like you know, you want to you want to be able to do these things and you see things that are gonna happen like 20 years like you

start envisaging things you want to happen in 20 years time with your kids, like to be part of your kids, to be an active grandparent, whatever, like, you know, whatever, insert long-term goal here. So we can start looking on that time frame and start taking the action now in order to do that. And that's where I see like, there is that positive trend there, where it's like when we become a dad, we start thinking on those timeframes. But when we're, when we're younger and we're single and it's just us, we only have to worry about us. So I'm more just worried about,

getting to the weekend or getting to next week or getting to our next holiday or whatever the case might be. So we're only thinking on a three or a six month or a 12 month timeframe. We're not thinking in terms of decades. And when it comes to health choices that you make, you have to think at some point in your life you have to start thinking on that timeframe. I've been listening to a fair bit of stuff from Peter Atiyah.

who is, you know, he's one of the world's leading kind of, yeah, longevity experts. And if it's something that you're interested in, like go and check out his podcast, but you know, he talks about things on that timeframe and he has some quantifiable metrics that he uses with his patients around, you know, grip strength and VO2 max and like those types of things that

Jey (57:06.998)

Peter T is great. He is great.

Jey (57:15.385)

Mm-hmm.

Matt Noonan (57:31.622)

like they're quantifiable, right? We can see improvements on them within a training point of view, but this is and looping back to I guess my initial point about showing up three times a week, those things don't improve if you don't show up and do the work. Like you it's just not going, it's just not the way the human body works and the longer you leave it, the harder it is to improve those things and the harder it is to

the harder it's going to be to maintain those things because unfortunately, when we get to a particular age, things are going to start to decline. That's just like these, the meat machines that we're in aren't made to last like a thousand years yet. Who knows what's going to happen with you know, that's, but so things are going to start to decline. So the earlier you can start doing that, the better it's going to be because it's almost, it's like building a pyramid, right?

Jey (58:14.631)

Exactly.

Matt Noonan (58:27.542)

you want to make the pyramid as high as possible, you need to make sure you have a really wide base. So the earlier you start creating that base, the higher that pyramid's going to be. So the longer you're going to have before it completely crumbles to the ground. And that's like, from the point of view of showing up and metrics and things that I've noticed like coaching dads, like one big thing is a lot of dads start to think about things for the longterm. And a lot of that's not.

to do with themselves. They think about that because they have people in their lives that are more important than what they are to themselves. And I mean, we can get into a conversation about whether that's the right way to think about things or not, but that's, you know, I think by wanting to do things for your kids or with your kids, especially as it gets older, that's gonna be such a powerful driver to help you implement change and help you overcome that roadblock.

Jey (59:24.278)

Mm-hmm.

Matt Noonan (59:26.834)

And there's going to be roadblocks that are going to come up. There's going to be, you know, if you're training and you're pushing hard, there's probably going to be some form of injuries. Yep. There'll be ways to work around it, but you're going to have to push through that. Like you're going, there's going to be, you're going to get sick. The kids are going to get sick. Something's going to happen. Like life's going to get in the road at some point. And it's important to have that reason that's bigger than yourself and looking, you know, decades in the future to go, all right, like, Hey,

This is just a short term setback. Like what I'm aiming for is a lot more longterm than that. So I just need to get back to it after whatever the setback was.

Jey (01:00:04.678)

Exactly, 100%. And I think that's so important to, because when you're single, your life, your big picture is just your big picture for yourself. So it's pretty limited, it's pretty small, right? But then you add a partner in and it grows a little bit, right? So now you're thinking a little bit bigger picture, you have this picture with you and your partner, but then you add a kid or multiple kids into it and that picture just blows up, right?

It's just so much bigger and so much deeper and there's so many more things that you're thinking about working towards all the things, right? Because when it's just you you're only working toward Limited scope, right? When it's you you're just you and a partner Still pretty limited. You're not working toward anything big like Incredible milestones like just living like a long happy life together kind of thing Being active enough, but then being okay like getting old and slowing down kind of thing

When you have the kids, you are looking at, oh, well, I wanna be healthy enough to, of course, to walk my daughters down the aisle if you have daughters, or I wanna be healthy enough to play with my grandkids and be the cool grandpa and build things with them and do things with them and push them up trees and on swings and do all those things. And I wanna be able to live long enough to be a great grandpa and see them and...

see that day come in my life. So you think so much bigger picture longer term after you become a dad. And especially with so many more men becoming dads a little bit later, that time crunch is like on because if you become a dad at 30, 32, like you're 50 by the time they're out of high school, 55 when they're done with college, 60 before you probably have grandkids, like.

your time is limited. And I'm not trying to promote being a young dad, like myself and my brother, like we became dads really young, like I was 22. But, you know, I think about it, I'm super comfortable because I'm like, oh, when my oldest graduated high school, I'm gonna be 40, my next one, I'm not gonna be 45 yet. Like I got, time's in my favor on a lot of these things. Like my foundation for my pyramid can be nice and wide. You know?

Jey (01:02:23.154)

I have plenty of time to work on it. I'm in no time crunch, but if I was 32 when I had that first kid, I'd be stressing and worrying about all these things. But I think overall, you answered both the questions simultaneously with each other. I think we hit a lot of great things there for our listeners. If they're not fired up to go in, make some positive changes in their life, whether it's working out, dietary changes, or just...

Matt Noonan (01:02:41.174)

That's it.

Jey (01:02:51.742)

business changes, mindset changes, health changes or whatever, then we're going to have to contact one of us and we'll get you a little bit more fired up. We'll work on that. We'll work on that with you. But Matt, one thing that you didn't do last time, because it wasn't a thing yet. And it's been a thing now for about 10, 15 episodes is the YDP three to end the show.

So the YDP-3 are three questions that I ask every guest. I try to give little to no warning so I get the most best answer possible from my guests. First question here is where are you rooted? That can be where you're physically rooted, where your roots run, core values, different things like that really make up the roots of who Matt Noonan is.

Matt Noonan (01:03:42.978)

Whew, that's a good one. Anywhere with my family. I know that sounds over cliche, but I, you know, we've been here on the Sunshine Coast for 15 years. I have, but I don't feel like I'm tied here. I've got lots of good connections here and things like that. But if I'm talking about right now in my life, anywhere where my family is.

Jey (01:04:09.898)

love that. Next question here is what grounds you when you're kind of spiraling or spinning or kind of off-center off-balance like what kind of things bring you back kind of snap you back into reality bring you back center bring you back home yeah

Matt Noonan (01:04:30.454)

Jiu-Jitsu and training, Jiu-Jitsu mainly. You can't think about much else in life when someone's trying to strangle you or break your arm.

Jey (01:04:40.87)

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Makes a lot of things seem pretty simple.

Matt Noonan (01:04:43.662)

That's, that's, that's the thing. That's, that's my, that's my grounding, my meditation, my, my time away. I mean, training's great. I love weight training. And it's always been my thing. And I believe it always will be but I've also been doing it for so long now my mind can wander while I'm in there. So I can't completely switch off the jiu jitsu like once it's on like, you know, and it's

I've been doing that now for eight and a half years and it's definitely the one thing I can do. Where it's once I get it, even though I might be contemplating why I do it and driving home without the music on after a beating, it's definitely something that after all the dust has settled, I feel like I'm re-centered and re-ready to attack anything.

Jey (01:05:35.414)

I love that. I'm the same way when I'm when I swim when I get to just go and do laps in a pool because It's hard to really let your mind wander when you're trying not to swallow water When you're trying not to where you got to keep kicking and moving to not drown and All your muscles are on fire at the exact same time because every single part of your body is moving every single stroke

And the only thing you can really think about is timing with kicks versus breasts and making sure it's all synced. Different strokes take different body movements. So that's, it's hard to really think about anything else in that moment. But no, so I totally get that. Yours is a little bit extreme, but you know.

Matt Noonan (01:06:25.433)

Maybe there's something to be said about being able to clear your head with near-death experiences or simulated near-death experiences, whether it be drowning or trying to stop somebody from strangling you or you trying to do the same to them. Maybe there's something to be said for that.

Jey (01:06:32.627)

I think so.

Jey (01:06:42.562)

Exactly. But the thing is like, I think what it is, is that you can't hear anything. Like you can't hear the thoughts. Like you can't hear the noise. Because all you're focused on is the thing you're doing. Like you're so focused. Like everything else just doesn't matter as much. And you're just wanting to come out of that alive. Okay, not broken, not strangled. Of course with jiu-jitsu, when you're rolling on a mat with a partner and stuff, they know kind of thing. When

Matt Noonan (01:06:51.178)

Yeah, yeah, I can. Yeah.

Jey (01:07:12.598)

especially for you doing it so long, you know your limits. I'm sure you spar and roll with the same people. You guys all kind of know each other. But you know, it's.

Matt Noonan (01:07:24.754)

Yeah, it's a controlled environment. But the thing that, especially as you get more adept, the biggest thing where you, like yes, you can slow things down and depending on who you're, like things can be very controlled and calm. But there are so many variables that you, like as you start to get better at it, it's almost like the branches of a tree, right? You're here and it will start to branch out.

Jey (01:07:26.783)

control thing, but.

Jey (01:07:51.667)

Mm-hmm.

Matt Noonan (01:07:52.578)

So what you're thinking about is it's almost like that tunnel vision of where you're trying to go next. So that's all you're thinking about. It's one of the very few things that I've been able to find with my brain, the way it works. Think a different, as everyone listening can probably tell, I'll think of a million different things and my thoughts will jump around, but it's the only thing that I've really been able to find where I can 100% focus on

the task and the pathways that I'm trying to recreate within that task to be successful at what I'm doing, like just be fully present in that moment without having other things pop into my head. So it's, you know, it's, it's like, it's like, what's the what's the best way to describe it? It's like murder meditation, let's call it.

Jey (01:08:44.918)

I love that. I love that. All right, last one here is Matt, I come to you and I'm like, and I'm just a random dad off the street, right? I know you a little bit, but not too well. And I'm just like, Matt, look, dude, I'm in a dark place right now. I'm struggling. I don't know what to do. I'm lost. I just don't know what to do.

Nothing matters. I'm hopeless. I'm down. I'm depressed. I'm blue. I'm out of control and it all sucks What is your? One maybe one and a half pieces biggest piece of advice that you're telling me in that moment And I just and I just unloaded that on you

Matt Noonan (01:09:35.054)

Cool.

Matt Noonan (01:09:39.227)

Go and seek help.

Matt Noonan (01:09:45.79)

Let's look at this from the point of view of the context of somebody's really in a dark place, right? And they need help. It's very hard, knowing what I know and being where I've been personally, for me to go and do these one or two things and it will cure everything. Because there's nothing I can say in that moment to make that person feel like there is a way out. But what you can do is you can go...

find somebody who is going to be able to help you, go seek some professional help and start taking some action from there. Unpack the situation and look at everything because it will be alright. Whatever is going on, you will be able to come out the other side of it. There is no two ways about it, but in order to do that, you need to take the first step in order to improve that situation, which is go and get some help.

I can tell you a whole bunch of things. Go and start moving, go and get some sunlight. Like go into, like there's all these other actionable steps there, but until you start to actively take that step to take care of this and what's going on between these ears, they're only going to be short-term fixes for, you know, band-aid solution for long-term problems. So go talk to somebody, seek some professional help, get off the internet.

That's funny because we're on a podcast but like honestly stop listening to if you're in a really dark place Get off the internet stop listening to people on the internet and go and find somebody in person who can help you like I that's Probably thinking about it now. That's probably the best piece of advice. I can give everybody

Jey (01:11:11.083)

Ha ha!

Jey (01:11:32.546)

In addition to that though, if you are in that dark place, like yes, get off the main pages of the internet. Get off the Facebook, get off the Instagrams. Please stay off of Twitter or ex-formally known as Twitter, Reddit, threads, all those, any news outlets, stay off of those. But if you can find solace in a podcast, on a podcasting app, because you can't do much on Spotify or Apple podcasts, you know.

or there's this really cool app, it's called the White Flag app, where you can get anonymous peer-to-peer support. You can talk to someone and just vent, that kind of thing. It's a really great resource. We love it. I promote it in my line of work all the time because it just gives you a natural outlet to go and do and have someone to talk to. That's just there, that doesn't, no judgment, nothing, just camaraderie.

Matt Noonan (01:12:10.828)

awesome.

Jey (01:12:28.542)

Brotherhood, it's not always men, maybe it's a woman, you don't know who you're talking to on the other side, it doesn't matter, because you're just getting support. You don't get to choose, you just get to talk to someone and that's what matters most. Call the 988 hotline if you're in the United States, we have that for a reason. They simplified it for crisis. Go to a crisis center, go to an inpatient facility. There's so many options and resources, but use what you can to have to get through.

But yes, definitely agree with you there. Get off the internet and go talk to someone, open up to someone at first, who you know is going to have your best interest, and then push you in the right direction for what's best for you.

Matt Noonan (01:13:15.366)

Yeah, talk to you. I'm sure if you've got friends, talk to your friends and everything like that. Like definitely use your support networks that you've got. That's super important. I guess the, uh, the thing that I, and try and keep this short, but one thing that I'm always very cognizant of is, um, I think sometimes as a friend, um, as a coach or things like that, we feel like.

we need to be able to fix people and fix our friends and those that do come to us with issues. And sometimes they just need us to listen to them, like they just need to unload. But also too, I think if you're on the listening end of that conversation, it's also important to let them know that it's okay to go and find professional help. It's not a sign of weakness. It's something that they probably should do. And that, you know,

it might not seem like it now, but you'll be able to come out the other side of this. Like, it's, you know, if you're on the listening end, you don't have to come up with a solution. Like, as men, we want to fix things and we don't have to fix everything. Sometimes just listening and pointing somebody in the right direction is what we need to do. And that's, I think, why I go to the point of, hey, like, go talk to somebody, like, get some help.

You know, in Australia, there's Lifeline, there's Beyond Blue, there's plenty of great organizations that do, you know, that there's the do, you know, even just text message, mental health back and forth as well to like there's plenty of great organizations and initiatives that are coming to the head when it comes to mental health. I'm obviously a big advocate of physical health that can help mental health, but I've also known lots of people to that aren't at the point where they are able to

focus on their physical health due to not having a clear enough head to put the energy into that.

Jey (01:15:20.282)

Exactly, they go hand in hand. They go hand in hand 100%. One affects the other or vice versa. Physical affects the mental or mental can affect the physical. Mind, body, spirits talked about in unison for a reason. They all affect each other and they all intertwine. But that's a conversation for part three with you, Matt. Matt, go ahead and tell the people where they can find you, learn more about you, keep up with you, and go ahead and plug yourself away a little bit.

Matt Noonan (01:15:38.431)

Absolutely.

Matt Noonan (01:15:50.994)

Just jump on Instagram is kind of my main thing. So at the Unstoppable Dads, so the Unstoppable Dad project on there. You can find us on the Facebook page as well, the Unstoppable Dad project. And I've been pretty good with popping up video versions of the podcast on YouTube as well. So just search the Unstoppable Dad project on all the socials. If you wanna talk to me about any coaching, just shoot me a message on Instagram or Facebook.

we can go back and forth and see whether what I do is a good fit. It's not a, um, it's not a one size fits all cookie cutter program. I'm very, very context dependent. Um, and even if I'm not able to help you with the goal, I'll be, I've been 15 years in the industry and having some amazing contacts. I'll be able to point you in the direction of somebody who would be able to help you. So if you ever need help, if you ever want to chat, um, jump on, send us a message and you can find the podcast.

the Unstoppable Dad project on all the podcast platforms.

Jey (01:16:51.242)

100% I can 100% attest to that. I've reached out to Matt a couple times and been like man, what should I do about this? What do I do about this my shoulder did this thing? How do I come back from it? Matt's always asked follow. He doesn't just give you oh, this is what you do he asked a couple more questions and then gives a couple suggestions and then Let you kind of figure out from that. So Matt's message are super holistic. They're individualized. They're great so I can 100% speak to that but

Matt, thank you so much for your time. Thanks for being back on the show. This will probably be episode of the year for 2024, I imagine. Your trophy will eventually be in the mail for 2023, maybe with the 2024 one. But until then, Matt, again, thank you for your time. Everyone, go and follow him on all his places, socials, YouTube, all the places. Go and listen to The Unstoppable Dad Project on anywhere you get your podcasts. It's really good, it's really short, it's weekly.

It's insightful, it's clear, it's concise, it's to the point. It's an easy listen. It's a good listen. Um, I've kept up with the show over the last few months and every episode is a little bit different and got some good stuff in all of them, so it's definitely good. So that's my, uh,

co-plug of your things. But until then, until next time, everyone, we'll catch you. Everyone stay safe. Continue to have a great year. Keep plugging away. Listen to Matt. Follow along the show on all the platforms. Subscribe, follow, like, rate, share, comment, all the things. Until next time.