The Momentum Life Project

It’s back! Season 5 of the Momentum Life Project is here! …and yes, it’s a little later than originally planned - but does that really matter? Do you beat yourself up (metaphorically of course!) when you don’t achieve things in the timeframe that you would have liked to? Now, this is not excusing poor time management or missing the deadlines for a large client project / report for your boss etc. but, why do some of us have the filter that ‘we’ve missed the boat’ on something therefore it’s not worth doing at all? (and I’m totally talking about myself here) There are only so many hours in the day and choosing how we spend them is really the key to how much we achieve in life, we are always going to have competing priorities so knowing where to place our energy and not allowing ourselves to get totally overwhelmed and disheartened because not everything can be done at once is something a lot of us struggle with. This episode tackles: An apology, and some reasoning as to why the season has been a little delayed

Regular listeners may remember Will Mateu from back at the beginning of Season 4 talking about his bid to become the next Australian Ninja Warrior. Since he appeared on the show, things haven’t gone quite to plan, so he’s back talking about setbacks, resilience and how to find the strength to keep going when everything seems against you. Having already had to withdraw from the show a previous year because of an injury he had come back fitter, stronger and more mentally ready than ever. That was, until he managed the same injury, training on the same obstacle! We chat to Will half way through his phase 1 recovery time, post-operation and hobbling around on crutches. Is it time to give up the Ninja Warrior dream? What does he say when people tell him move on and do something else? And how has he approached his recovery this time compared to last? This is the last in the current season of the Momentum Life Project. We’ll be taking a short break over the Christmas/New Year holidays and back early 2020 for season

Is work ethic dead? How do we ‘find’ our passion? Is discipline the key to everything in life? Does eating fake meat really allow you to recover quicker? In this episode I chat to David Knight, Risk and Compliance Management Consultant by day and BJJ (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) devotee by night. We delve into a number of areas of personal performance and what we think are the key components to success in life. From the benefits of goal setting and lists, from nutrition to exercise and mental aptitude, we cover a whole heap of topics. For David he believes that many of the excuses we make such as ‘I’m too tired’ are our coping mechanisms for not meeting our own expectations. Where do your priorities lie in life? It’s okay if you value something more highly than someone else, or conversely not as highly as someone else, but own it and admit that’s what your doing. Want to watch Netflix vs going to the gym - it’s a choice you make. From David’s perspective if you put restrictions on yourself, it becomes a challenge. I

Prepare to have your mind blown. This weeks’ guest Dr Sumant ‘Monty’ Badami is an Anthropologist and Ethnographer who runs an organisation called Habitus. He is also an Honorary Associate at Macquarie University, a celebrant, Jazz singer, martial arts instructor, an officer in the Australian Army Reserves and much, much more! He’s on a mission to make anthropology a household name. Some of the things we’ll delve into in this episode include: what is anthropology, what is ethnography and why are they different to psychology. How anthropology is leading the way in predictive technology and AI applications. What it means to be human and what has made humans not only survive but also thrive. We’ll also delve into whether, as a species we’re becoming too specialised and how anthropology is being embraced more and more in organisations not only from an internal culture development viewpoint but also in UX, UI, marketing, sales, product development - any area where we need to understand more about human complexity.

As Regional Marketing Manager - Asia Pacific Hotelbeds, Chris moved to Singapore last year from London. In this episode we chat not only about how to manage remote teams and cultivate organisational culture when you have a staff compromising multiple cultures, but also the challenges of living and working in foreign countries. Setting up bank accounts, figuring out public transport and working out what to eat are just some of the challenges Chris has found when moving to new countries and especially now moving to Asia with a young family. Although he says it is never easy to do, with two young boys there is now an added layer of complexity to when he experienced living and working in a number of different countries in his 20’s. We talk through the pros and cons of having a remote team and the value of appreciating each person for who they are as an individual. The key pieces of tech that can help with communication, and why he always makes his team turn on the video when they are having conversations! His top

Emma Jensen is a senior marketing and business leader who is currently head of Virgin Mobile in Australia which is owned by Optus.  In this episode we delve into a heap of areas around managing through times of change, the traits of a really effective leader, and why she can’t stand unreliable people! Emma has some fascinating insights into how she leads teams through times of uncertainty, often doing the opposite to what you would intuitively think is right such as by; doing less, focusing on the narrow vs broad perspective and actively leaning out not in. She also provides some nuggets of gold around building a great team and instilling a great culture through sustainability of people, with the number one takeaway being to have clarity of purpose and ensuring that everyone knows what, and why they are doing what they are being paid to do. She talks about always wanting to grow both professionally and personally and how a major red flag for her when recruiting new team members is if someone can’t answer ques

Having left a long career in heavy hitting corporates like Kellogg, Nestle and Sara Lee, Chelsea had her ‘eat, pray, love’ moment before Elizabeth Gilbert had written the book and ran off to a Peruvian mediation retreat to ‘find herself’. Now Chelsea runs Females in Food, an international business coaching and membership group for female ‘foodpreneurs’.  In this episode we talk about aligning head and heart in business and what personality traits it takes to really ‘make it’ in business (and in life). She talks about how business maturity is really nothing about age or stage of the business but how it is everything to do with the mindset of the entrepreneur or business owner.  With a zero tolerance policy for her online community being anything but supportive of one another we talk about how tough running a business can be and how she feels there is an increasing trend towards people lashing out at others online because they do have that barrier or anonymity and it’s simply not okay and is really impacting sm

This trilingual Cuban New Yorker who originally wanted to be a psychologist, has worked in the financial services industry for many years, starting out on the trading floor. But don’t be fooled, he is definitely not your typical ‘corporate suit’ and has also been an actor, and made it on to Australian Ninja Warrior. In this episode we delve into why Will believes that growing up in the melting pot of New York city culture gave him a unique perspective on his own self-awareness and of how to appreciate that not everyone views things the same way. Now knowing his CliftonStrengths profile has created a language around that understanding, which he uses to his full advantage to be able to excel in every role that he takes. We discuss why not believing in yourself and having limiting doubts in your own ability is the number one factor why someone ‘doesn’t make it’ or achieve their true potential and how imposter syndrome really does lead to self-sabotage. Will believes strongly in the mindset that breaking down lar

He’s the National Business Development Manager at The Entourage, a childhood cancer survivor, marathon runner and he has 280 items on his bucket list. In this episode, I chat with Grant Purcell, a true example of a ‘momentum maker’ and someone who is living his version of his best life every single day. Hear from Grant about: Why culture is not all love and pixie dust, it really is all about performance. How The Entourage was voted as being one of Australia’s best places to work and what that looks like on a daily basis. How we can continually perform at a high level by clearing out the clutter and the distraction and how he personally breaks his life up into 8 key areas, has a ‘go to’ person, book or method for each area and clears all other ‘noise’ away to give him the discipline to follow through. Why values are so important that they talk about them at The Entourage every single day and by living and breathing them you can totally change the conversation. And he talks about his views on what makes a trul

In this episode Kerry D chats to Ricky Chanana, Managing Director of AUNZ Unruly, the global ad-tech agency which brings unique EQ testing to targeted ad campaigns and was bought by News Corp for 215 million pounds! Ricky talks about how the biggest success in his organisation is tracking projects not humans. He is on a mission to disrupt traditional HR practices and empower his people through a culture that is curated and cultivated by each and every member of the team. From flexible core hours to flash Fridays and building a whole collective of Pandas (which by the way includes the option to go and work from any Unruly office in the world for up to 4 weeks without taking any annual leave) - he’s seeing greater productivity, a happier and healthier workforce and positive bottom line results! Ricky also has an incredible approach to ‘relaxing’ - by not relaxing! For him, he’s tried slowing down, he’s tried switching off but actually what gives him the most clarity, laser-focus and ‘reset’ is by training 5-6 t

In this episode Kerry D chats to Steven Ziebowski. Steve is an Area Leader of Operations and Administration at Wyndham City, where he facilitates the day to day operational management of the Planning and Operations Team within the Early Education and Care Services unit. As a client of The Momentum Architects, Steve and his team at Wyndham City have embraced a strengths-based approach and implemented the key pillars of The Momentum Architects’ model of life set / stress set / strengths set. He talks about how discovering his CliftonStrengths profile has been such a game changer not only in enabling him to lead his team more effectively, but also enabling him to communicate better with his direct line manager. It has removed many of their frustration points by better understanding each others’ dominant traits and natural approaches to decision making. A great insight into how this tool can be used as the foundation to build team performance and development - if this sparks your interest and you want to know wha

Showpo is one of the fastest growing fashion e-commerce retailers in Australia and a true startup success story. In this episode Kerry D chats to Nick Rodrigues, the People & Culture Manager about all things culture, values and having rose on tap. In 2018 Showpo was awarded the highly coveted Australian Online Retailer of the Year Award, which sits comfortably among recent wins of Top Social Retailer and Best Marketing Initiative at the Power Retail All Star Bash.  What started off with a laptop and two shelves of clothing is now an online global fashion empire, shipping to over 100 countries. Through being disruptive in the retail space and capitalising on the use of social media, Showpo now boasts a cult social following of over 3.3 million engaged followers collectively and has a team of over 120 across their Sydney HQ and Distribution Centre.  Nick himself has spent the last seven years learning the best ways to grow and inspire people within organisations like Apple and startup Splend. He’s the drivi

The Momentum Life Project podcast is back and season 4 is shifting up a gear with interviews and ‘fireside’ chats with key momentum makers. To kick things off, we’ve got a cracker of a guest with serial entrepreneur and ‘over achiever’ Julian Van der Waal. Julian talks all things performance and productivity, cold showers and getting the ‘f’ out of your own way. Julian is regarded as one of Australia’s most prolific Face to Face Sales Coaches, coaching over 3000 sales agents and developing sales programs that have generated well over $100m. His understanding of the consumer psychology and how to acquire customers has been well documented. He has failed a heap he says, but also knows exactly what it takes to turn a failure into a success. His ventures span; Solar projects both residential and commercial, fundraising for some of Australia’s most loved organisations, Telecommunications for Optus and AAPT, writing Business Courses and end to end sales programs, he’s owned a Retail Outlet and a restaurant, is curr

It’s the last episode of Season 3 of the Momentum Life Project, the Momentum Architects look back over what they’ve been discussing for the past 13 episodes. The key theme is how to better appreciate your own self-awareness because once you know yourself better and those around you, great things can happen. Whether in work, life or play, Kerry D looked at the fact that through stress often momentum follows and unpacking some keys productivity, time management and peak performance tips and tools. Over the season they discussed: Heart and head alignment and how to remove the disconnect. Values mismatching and how to understand your true priorities in life. Stress as a positive motivator when use the right way. The circle of influence and how to avoid spending time, energy and focus on things we can’t change. Reframing negative self talk to positively impact behaviour. Setting communications boundaries and regaining control. How we all view the world through different lenses and how remembering this and pausing

In this episode, Kerry D and Dr M talk about accomplishment vs potential and the difference between. To define these terms: An accomplishment is something that has been successfully achieved whereas potential is the capacity to develop something in the future. The gaps between these is where our growth and personal development happens but this gap can also sometimes create disharmony within ourselves. Kerry D discusses these concepts in the realm of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and talks about ‘Yoda’ (aka Dr M’s mum) who happened to be in the audience at an event where Kerry D was presenting from stage this notion of potential and having more to give and achieve with regards to self-actualisation - a beautiful moment, check out the episode to find out what happened. The Momentum Architects’ agree that potential is limitless but that also moving to the next level of potential, which in turns becomes accomplishment does not always have to be an entire reinvention of yourself. Small steps and micro improvements c

In this episode The Momentum Architects discuss how to build great habits, and in particular how to set up the day for success. Both Kerry D and Dr M agree that getting a great start to the day makes everything else flow more easily for them. They both have habits / routines / rituals - whatever word you’d like to use to ensure that they are in the right mindset and the right setup for maximum momentum. They do differ on their definition of morning though! Dr M is a fan of the 5am club and feels that she needs to wake up then to start her day and get everything done. Kerry D on the other hand has done a lot of experimentation with her sleep patterns and knows her optimal wake up time is 6.30am. Different times will work for different people, and will need adjusting depending on other commitments and responsibilities e.g. children! But the key is to carve out some ‘you’ time first thing in the morning - maybe to meditate, maybe to exercise, maybe to journal, maybe simply to take 30 seconds to reframe your thin

In this episode of the Momentum Life Project, Kerry D and Dr M are unpacking the topic of energy awareness and management for maximum productivity. You’ve probably been asked before ‘are you a morning person, or a night owl?’ This is a great start but it misses a vital element that really, we’re all both of these but the point is knowing at which part of the day our energy levels are best suited to specific tasks and activities. For example, Kerry D likes the mornings for ‘deep work’ she likes the initial feeling of achievement and ‘getting stuff done’. Ask her to attend a breakfast meeting and she’ll be tapping the table, desperate to get out of there and get stuck in. Conversations, meetings and anything to do with people, for her is best left from lunchtime onwards. Anything to do with detail, you don’t want to ask Dr M to do in the afternoon or evening. Of course The Momentum Architects are in the fortunate position that a lot of the time they can dictate their own schedules and build in flexibility aroun

Welcome to the first Momentum Life Project great debate. Okay so it’s more of a discussion but on today’s episode Kerry D and Dr M battle out as to who is right when it comes to how to use the Steven Covey / Eisenhower Decision Matrix. If you haven’t yet listened to episode 8 where they both talk about being always right, go back and check it out because this will make so much more sense! For context, if you’ve not heard of the tool it has 4 quadrants which allows you to categorise tasks, activities, projects etc. into one of 4 ‘buckets’ 1. something that is urgent and important 2. something that is not urgent but is important 3. something that is urgent but not important and 4. something that is not urgent and not important. Kerry D and Dr M largely agree on the use of number 3 and 4 on the list above with things that are ‘urgent but not important’ largely being other people’s stuff and the ‘not urgent, not important’ are those things that cause procrastination and time wasting. Where they differ is that Dr

In this episode of the Momentum Life Project, Dr M discusses how she is always right. The issue is, Kerry D is always right too! There are very few of us who would say we’re always wrong, so it stands a chance that we’re almost always right too!? The issue is that the way we’re wired means that we often have the assumption that we think we’re right, and that everyone should think the same way as us therefore why can’t they just agree that we’re right! But. We are all different. We all see the world a little bit differently. Intellectually we know this but in practice, it’s often difficult to shift our thinking to appreciate how the lenses we put on the world are not the same as the ones that everyone else wears. In workplaces - this can cause many conflicts but on the flipside by becoming aware of our own biases it can create phenomenal shifts in momentum as a team. Dr M also discusses the differences between reactions and responses. Neuroscience tells us that by the time we’re 35 most of our reactions are au

In this episode of the Momentum Life Project, Kerry D and Dr M talk about connection and in particular, how over-connected we are in today’s fast-paced ‘always on’ world. We are accessible 24/7 but are we plugged in and have connections in the right places? Are we using our devices in the best possible way? Work used to be done at work. When the day was done, you would ‘clock out’, go home and work would stop until you returned the next day. Think about how different it is nowadays. We finish off a proposal on the train, we call that last client back from the car, we check and respond to those ‘urgent’ emails whilst sitting on the sofa with our laptops. It’s only a few years ago when the thought of sending a facebook message or a what’s app or an instagram DM to a colleague would have been a massive no-no. Such an invasion of personal privacy. Now we do it without a second thought - often because we can see they’re online, we know we’ll get a response and we can see when they’ve read it. Our barriers around c