Not every hour of every day needs to be productive

I was in a ‘productivity funk’ last night, that’s what I’m calling it.

You know those moments when you have free time but you feel like you have to be super productive with it?

And if you aren’t productive you get irritated at yourself.

How do we define being productive by the way? Because isn’t resting technically being productive because your future self will then be more productive with that rest? I hope you are following because I barely am.

I said to myself I would just watch the Australian Open and relax, switch off, that old thing. But my body kept picking up my iPad and trying to create some content which of course was just not working.

I’d spend 5-10 minutes creating and after the work-in-progress piece didn’t look a million bucks I got annoyed with myself.

And then further thought to myself how unproductive I was being.

Do you get in this productivity funk as well? Message me some tips.

I literally wanted to just watch TV or read a book, but my body was getting agitated by just doing that.

The online world, the entrepreneur world, they all push GO GO GO, be productive in every hour of the day but that certainly doesn’t feel achievable. Nor should it.

You need rest, but our bodies and minds are getting very used to always wanting to do something more. At least mine is anyway.

Laughter is seriously the best medicine

It’s the best.

Wherever that saying originally came from I applaud you because everyone knows it and it continues to ring true as I go through my adulthood.

I had a damn good chuckle today and it was at mine and my brothers expense. Those have to be the best laughs by the way, with your closest people, your circle, those who you are most comfortable and therefore most silly with.

There are some great quotes on laughter out there. Here are a few favourites that I found during a quick google search.

“A day without laughter is a day wasted.” – Charlie Chaplin

“Laughter heals all wounds, and that’s one thing that everybody shares. No matter what you’re going through, it makes you forget about your problems. I think the world should keep laughing.” – Kevin Hart

“Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers.” - Bill Cosby

“I think laughter is the best medicine. If you can’t laugh at yourself, then you can’t laugh at life and the silliness of it all.” – David Hasselhoff

Wait, did David Hasselhoff come up with the “laughter is the best medicine” line….?

I’m going to end my inspirational quote dropping there as I think about what I’ve discovered.

I don’t want you or I to think too deeply about laughter but there are some great quotes in that link above.

At the end of the day, it really is the best. Humour in general is.

It’s a way I instantly connect with people and I think it makes every day life and every day struggles that much easier.

It’s a free medicine, so sometimes you just need to get over it, be silly and have a laugh.

Life doesn’t have to be so serious.

Embrace the Onion, embrace the small steps

We all focus on the finish line only. I do this, you do this, it’s human nature to do this.

We set goals for ourselves and then stare at the finish line like, “man, that thing is so far away”, rather than embracing all the steps that you HAVE to take to get there.

I did this yesterday in a really small way. Now, stay tuned for a thrilling story.

So I was making dinner. Spaghetti Bolognese was on the menu, well we used Penne instead of Spaghetti but that’s not the point. I could go into more detail if you like?

I started chopping an onion and all I was thinking about was how long was left until the meal was done, cooked, in my stomach and I even thought about dishes and cleaning up at that stage too.

What’s the point in that? It just makes us likely to be frustrated with all that hard yakka ahead of you. It then speeds you up and stresses you out.

Slow down and embrace that Onion, Darren.

Everything has a process. Yes the end goal is great but you might not even make it there if every single step is a super heavy one.

Eat an apple before you transform your entire diet.

Do literally 5 pushups before you get built.

Post 5 pieces of content before you quit your 9-5 to pursue your content career full-time.

These things make perfect sense when you type them out, but our brains feel like they are wired to think “end goal end goal end goal.”

Embrace the Onion.

Any motion beats no motion

Starting is always the hardest part. But you’ve already succeeded once you do because you are in motion. You’re doing something, anything!

This was my takeaway from a video via The Blurb on YouTube. Don’t ask me what The Blurb is or why it popped up on my feed but that’s the way content platforms work, things just appear, but I’m glad this one did.

It’s the idea that any movement towards a goal easily outweighs no movement at all, so get moving, little by little.

My recap is essentially:

• Reduce the stakes of your goal, otherwise it’s too overwhelming.

• Don’t promise that you’ll deliver the world, start small.

• 2 minutes is all you need on any task, after that it’s your choice to stop or keep going.

The top one was my favourite though - reduce the stakes.

Go for a daily walk before you run a marathon. Record one podcast episode before you create a media empire. Write on Threads each day before you write a book.

I am guilty of setting big goals and I’m sure you are too. They are great but they are also overwhelming.

“Oh shit I have to transform my life with this task, that’s right, I better make a huge leap in the right direction today otherwise I’ll set myself up for failure.”

That doesn’t scream motivation or confidence to me.

Big goals are great but getting there involves a ton of small reps. Achievable reps. So let’s start there.

It’s quite soothing knowing that you are succeeding with quite literally any motion in the right direction.

Nothing happened on New Years Eve and it was awesome

Maybe it’s a sign of getting older, maybe it’s my personality, but by ‘New Years Eve’ standards I did nothing on the night of December 31st and I was really satisfied with that.

For as long as I can recall there felt like pressure to go out on NYE, drink alcohol and stay up late - that was the vibe.

Which a lot of the time is fun, and there is nothing wrong with it. But this year it was different for me.

Many of my circle started talking about NYE plans and we didn’t have any. But the funny part was nobody sounded like they wanted any. I was 100% in that camp as well.

My NYE looked like this:

• Dinner with my wife, brother and his wife

• Ice cream afterwards

• Home by 8:00pm

• Asleep by 11:00pm

I was genuinely really satisfied with this night.

I spent time with my loved ones, ate good food and got a great nights rest all while feeling perfectly healthy and hydrated. How good.

(Ok fine, I felt rundown from the amount of social activities at this time of year but besides from that, healthy).

I’m not saying I’m above anyone who had a big old drinking sesh on NYE, not at all, more so that we shouldn’t feel this social pressure to do just that every time December 31st rolls around.

Ask yourself why you’re doing it. If you want to do it, please do, but if you don’t, please don’t.

This time of year there’s enough socialising going on anyway, sometimes all you want is a relaxing night in and a good snooze to cap off the year.

Happy 2025 all.

Isn’t social media basically a depressant at this point?

This sounds a bit dramatic, I know, but I think I’m onto something here.

Comparing social media to a depressant such as alcohol is a bit much but they do have their similarities!

So just say we did compare it to alcohol…

Small hits of it makes you feel good but too much and your head is throbbing.

It can give you a buzz but once you overdo it, even just a little bit, you feel worse.

Look, I like social media. A lot of my job involves social media, but the reality is that the more I am on it, the worse I feel.

Seeing what your friends, colleagues, acquaintances are up to is great. As is having a laugh over some silly TikTok with your partner, but there is so much garbage in between those moments.

Sometimes I look up from my doom scroll, take in my surroundings and be like, “now why the hell did I do that?” And feel shitty about it. I’m sure we’ve all been there.

Doom scrolling gives you some form of hangover. That’s how I’m describing it.

The less social media the better for me these days, they are my parting words.

You are in control of your own happiness

There are so many things we control that provide us happiness. Yes they can be a pain in the bum to do, but we control them, technically.

We are all different, weird humans in our own way, but everyone knows what feels good for themselves.

One thing for me is my morning routine. Wake up, make a healthy breakfast, a coffee and go for a walk.

I am in control of that, every single morning.

When you think about it nothing can really stop me from doing this every day (barring some rare, unexpected occurrences.)

Isn’t that powerful though?

I know that makes me feel good, and I know I can achieve that every day ending in “y”.

These aren’t simply opinions either, these are science based things.

Sunlight in the morning improves your mood.

Drinking water reduces your chances of headaches.

Being active is good for you.

Eating healthy makes you feel better.

Doom scrolling on social media decreases your mood (this is something I am guilty of lately).

I am no scientist with the data in front of me but I know that studies prove these things. Qualified people tell us these things.

They are all things we are in control of.

So maybe it’s just a matter of getting over ourselves sometimes and doing those extra activities to boost our mood.

Easier said than done, but we are in control.

Man, what a hell of a year it’s been

Shaboozey’s song “good news” made me reflect on the year of 2024.

Firstly, great track. 100% not what I usually listen to but Shaboozey has made me a fan.

Secondly, a year is a long time and it’s so easy to forget about things you experienced, accomplished and simply watched play out.

In 2024, I:

got married.

grew a business with my brother.

saw a close friend make the NBA.

went to the NBA Summer League in Vegas.

worked my 7th season in the NBL.

Just to name a few.

What headlined your 2024?

Go write down some things that happened in 2024 just so you can appreciate them once again.

Are loud people privileged?

We know “the early bird gets the worm”, but what about the loudest bird?

Adam Grant in his book Hidden Potential writes, “When we select leaders, we don’t usually pick the person with the strongest leadership skills. We frequently choose the person who talks the most. It’s called the babble effect.”

While I think every situation is circumstantial, this makes a lot of sense to me.

The loudest in the room gets noticed.

Maybe it’s who gets the promotion at work, who becomes captain of a sport team, if you’re loud, you’re seen. Therefore you may be getting valued more than someone who isn’t.

Look at the corporate hierarchy specifically, the loudest equals the most confident right? Putting two and two together means that they would in theory, make the best leaders.

I can’t blame people for thinking that way but there are things we can all do to change that.

Introverts, let’s challenge ourselves to be more vocal.

Regardless of if it gets you a promotion, it’s great for personal growth and it feels good doing so. This doesn’t mean standing up at every meeting and presenting by the way. Being loud could be emails, messages, phone calls - there’s different ways of using your voice.

Leaders, let’s look beyond the loudest voice in the room.

It’s easy to get drawn there, I get it, and honestly that may be exactly what you are after and the best person for the job, but let’s give everyone a shot. Quiet doesn’t mean a lack of confidence, lack of knowledge, lack of skills.

One last thing to conclude this, if you’re out of sight, you’re out of mind.

Do you remember shopping for groceries at your local Samsung store?

Good, because neither do I.

Google tells me that Samsung started as a grocery store in 1938 so a big hello to any 86 year olds reading this, maybe you recall a time you picked up milk and bread at Samsung but I can guarantee you most of us don’t.

Samsung started as a grocery store.

Nintendo started by making playing cards.

IKEA started as a pen.

I read this on social media the other day and guess what this told me?

That it’s normal to fail.

The biggest brands and biggest names in the world have failed.

So next time you and I ‘fail’ at something, let’s try to look at it differently.

Trust your circle, but trust yourself more

Everyone has their own ‘circle’.

Family, close friends, mentors — all of you get in that circle.

Having them there to discuss career moves, ideas, hobbies and even relationship advice, is great.

To me it is what they are there for.

But after hearing them out, regardless of how many points you agree with or points you don’t, I say to always go back to what you feel.

Everyone always says “go with your gut” when making a decision but I think it’s within good reason.

It’s super easy to get influenced by even a single conversation or text message from someone you trust.

It’s happened to me many times.

“Well damn it, I really wanted to do that but Circle Member X raises a good point and now I don’t think this is such a good idea.”

Getting there perspective on a decision is the whole purpose as they will see it differently than you do.

But at the end of the day, back yourself.

Trust them, but trust yourself more.

Give yourself 5 minutes to be frustrated and then move the hell on

The next time something makes you frustrated, soak in it. Let yourself be frustrated for 5 minutes but then move on from it. That’s what I learned from the popular TV series ‘Lost.’

I’ve seen Lost roughly 0.8 times. I’ve started it twice and never finished it. Make of that what you will.

But I’m glad I did because on my second attempt I took something away from episode 1.

Alright, the scene in simple terms:

• Meet main character Doctor Jack.

• Meet his love interest Kate who asks how he deals with nerves when performing surgery.

• Jack talks about how he deals with fear.

• He gives himself 5 seconds to freak out and then he flicks that switch and does what is needed.

The thing I took from this was we all get scared, and nervous, and mad, and every other emotion out there.

The toughest person you know cries, the most confident person you know gets nervous.

It is perfectly fine to feel these things and in fact, I’ll put it in the ‘good for you’ basket.

Be nervous, be mad, be sad — but give yourself a certain time to do so and then flick that switch.

5 seconds is extreme but given Doctor Jack’s situation, that is fair enough.

I’m running with 5 minutes instead for everyday life challenges.

I always preach positivity and tell myself there’s no point in being frustrated by that bad traffic but reality is that it’s a pain in the ass.

But after that 5 minutes I’m back to positivity and trying to snap out of it. Well, in theory at least.

There’s simply no point in dwelling over something that has already happened.

Like, what benefits do we get from it?

Take 5 minutes. Don’t run from those emotions. Feel them. Move on.

Thanks Jack from Lost.

Sit in the front seat, take back the keys to your life

The blame game — a game we all play.

Eric Thomas, someone who I only just discovered on a recent podcast episode, said that as soon as you blame someone, you hand them the keys to your life.

I thought this was a great analogy.

Yes people are annoying. Yes they are super questionable at times. And yes, honestly sometimes it is just other people’s fault that you end up in a certain bad situation.

But if you simply blame them, and then sit in your disappointment shaking your head over and over, you are letting them have control.

It’s your life, so take control of it, take back the keys.

Figure out what you can do about that crappy situation and sit in the front seat.

Next time I blame someone for something I’m going to visualise myself handing them over my shiny keys to the car and driving me somewhere as I just sit there in the backseat, sad and helpless.

Take notice of the good people surrounding you every day

The people and the connections are the best part about my job.

I’ll say this now and I’ll continue to say it for a very long time.

I’ve been with the NBL for almost 7 years, been involved in the content and sports space for a very long time and the best part about it all is, and will always be the connections with the people you make.

The players.
The commentators.
The designers.
The marketers.
The managers.
The CEO’s.
The video editors.
The hosts.
The guests.

We’re all the same. We’re all just humans going through human things and it’s wonderful.

As I type this I hear Bliss n Eso — Good People feat. Kasey Chambers playing in my head too so go put that on after reading this email.

Enjoy the people around you. Take notice of them. Have a coffee with them.

Thanks for being here

Learning life.

That's how I describe what I'm doing here.

Personal development is something we all go through whether we intentionally go about it or not.

Notice the first word of the headline being learning. I just want to make it super clear that I am no expert.

I feel like everywhere you look these days there are people telling you what is best for you.

Find out yourself.

That's the fun part.

That's what I'm doing, and I'm sharing my experiences, learnings, books, lifestyles and words of wisdom from others along the way.

Thanks for being here.