E37: Joe Wicks - Changing Millions Of Lives in 15 Seconds!

Have you ever had that experience of meeting someone, and being so glad that they became successful? That’s what it was like meeting Joe. Joe Wicks, otherwise known as The Body Coach, is a health and fitness coach, author, investor and entrepreneur whos... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:08Steven Bartlett?

  Joe Wicks, the Body Coach. You know, I've met, interviewed and had the chance to understand the motivations, personalities and the desires of hundreds of successful people over the last five years. And it continues to blow my mind how different every individual is. We often hunt for the secrets that made a certain person successful. What made them succeed? But interestingly, the more I've interviewed successful people, the less patterns I've been able to identify. Maybe that is the secret. Maybe there is no secret. Joe grew up on a councillor state in London. His mum left school at 15 years old. She had her first baby aged 17, which is Joe's older brother, and then Joe arrived just two years after that. She was always on benefits.

• 0:53Steven Bartlett?

  She didn't have a clue about food or fitness and Joe, he was predominantly raised on a diet of sandwiches, pasta and chocolate. Joe's dad, he was a drug addict and he was continually in and out of rehab. And so his home life and upbringing was far from the white picket fence and parental solidarity that you often see in movies. Growing up, Joe aspired to be a PE teacher, but after eventually finding work as a teaching assistant, he realised that he wasn't cut out for it. It just wasn't for him. He switched lanes, borrowed money from his parents to buy kettlebells in a personal training course, and soon after that, he became a personal trainer. After handing out flyers in his local area, outside tube stations and anywhere he could, so few people turned up to his classes that he was unable to pay his parents back the

• 1:37Steven Bartlett?

  £2,000 they had lent him. He recalls being so upset by the lack of clients he had and by the prospect of not being able to pay his parents back, but he was not prepared to give up. Soon after this, he had the idea to start posting short recipe videos on his Instagram and his now famous 15-second recipe videos called Lean in 15 exploded. Joe doubled down on social media and he eventually became one of the most followed health and fitness channels on Instagram. His first published cookbook Lean In 15 was a bestselling book in 2015. Lean In 15 has been translated into 18 languages around the world and sold over 1 million copies in the first year alone. He is a Channel 4 television presenter with his own show called The Body Coach.

• 2:22Steven Bartlett?

  Joe has sold over 3 million books and has the second bestselling cookbook of all time. He sold 40,000 copies of his fitness DVD in a single week and he's allegedly responsible for a 25% increase in broccoli sales. He's worth tens of millions. He's an investor, a husband, a new dad, and quite honestly, one of the most genuine, real, authentic people I've had the pleasure of meeting. Joe was the same guy on and off the podcast. He was sincere. He genuinely wants to lead a health, fitness and wellbeing revolution that will positively impact the lives of everyone, from your kids to your grandparents. So why do I think he's been so successful? I think he's the right guy at the right time, on the right platform with the right message,

• 3:07Steven Bartlett?

  fuelled by real passion and guided by pure intentions. You know, when you meet someone and you think to yourself, I'm so glad that this person became successful. Joe is one of those people and his mission now is to get young people all across the UK fit and exercising. The world really is his oyster. So without further ado, this is the Diary of a CEO and I'm Steven Bartlett. I hope nobody is listening, but if you are, then please keep this to yourself.

• 3:42Steven Bartlett?

  Joe, an absolute honour to be in your presence. You're a heavily, heavily admired young man for a variety of reasons. I want to get right into it because there's so much for us to talk about today. But I guess the place I want to start is with context. And the context I'm kind of looking for is the context of who Joe is and why. And I guess a lot of that will come from your childhood and your early experiences. I think that's the foundation of everybody. So what's your, what's the story of Joe Wick's childhood?

• 4:11Speaker 01

  Well firstly, thanks for having me on the podcast. I'm a recent listener and I am well into it mate. Honestly, your honesty, your openness and your self-awareness of just life and learnings in business, I think it's really, really inspirational. So I'm buzzing to be on it.

• 4:24Steven Bartlett?

  Oh, thanks mate.

• 4:24Speaker 01

  And I was actually on a five hour journey up to York and I listened to like three or four and I was like, this is, this is going to be a really good chat. So.

• 4:30Steven Bartlett?

  Which ones are your favourite podcasts from the diverse year? Which ones are the ones that you've enjoyed?

• 4:35Speaker 01

  So the first one I listened to was the Toby Pearce, which is obviously quite close to me because I'm a massive fan of Kayla and what she's achieved. And he's a very, very interesting guy and I was really just blown away by the growth and, and the kind of, the dedication and the consistency with their brand. Like, because they never, they never promote anything. It's just always the app. And you can see where that effort has come out because I think they said, you know, up to 35 million people are using it.

• 4:58Steven Bartlett?

  Crazy.

• 4:58Speaker 01

  I also love the chat with Ben Francis from Jim Shark.

• 5:01Steven Bartlett?

  Yep.

• 5:01Speaker 01

  He's, he's very inspiring. I just, I, I really believe there's two types of people in this world. There's people that genuinely like, from their heart and soul, love to see someone succeed. And then there's people that just can't quite really, truly be happy for other people. Do you know what I mean? That may not be from like a jealousy perspective or an envy, but maybe they just like, they just can't, maybe they just wish it was them. But when I see stories like you and I see stories like Ben, I just get fascinated. I'm drawn to successful people and I love, I want to drill down and find out what is it they've done? And what have they, you know, what behaviours have they learned or, or kind of implemented to achieve their success? So do you, do you know what I mean about that?

• 5:36Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah. And do you know what? I think there's something remarkable, even from spending a couple of moments with you today, there's something remarkably authentic about you. And I think this, for me, forms part of the picture as to why you've resonated with a lot of people because you've been on social media a long time. And people are going to figure out who the real Joe Wicks is eventually, especially when you're constantly making videos and content. And just from the, you know, I don't know, I've been here what 20 minutes now, I've, your authenticity, I think is part of the reason why people have been drawn to you. So.

• 6:07Speaker 01

  I've totally evaded the first question. My childhood, that's the thing. If you had met me as a kid. You know, you just would, well, basically, I come from a pretty kind of hectic, chaotic, you know, upbringing. I was, I grew up in a council estate. My dad was in and out of um rehab for drug addiction. So I was around quite a, quite a chaotic home and a lot of shouting and a lot of, you know, verbal abuse and whatnot. And I was, I was very hyperactive, maybe that, you know, I had behaviour issues. I didn't have very good attention span. Um, I wasn't academic and I couldn't focus on anything for very long.

• 6:36Steven Bartlett?

  Um.

• 6:36Speaker 01

  But as a kid, I was very into like fitness and activity and moving. And I always, I was trying to use that as a release, I imagine, because I was just always on the move.

• 6:44Steven Bartlett?

  Um.

• 6:44Speaker 01

  So I wasn't, I wasn't like an overweight kid, even though my diet was terrible. Um, but you would have looked at me and thought, he's gonna end up in prison or he's gonna end up on drugs. That's what you really would have thought about me because I was just climbing the walls, I was swearing, I was up and, you know, running about and didn't respect any kind of rules as such. I was a bit of a, I was probably, I was more like a class clown than an actual like naughty kid, but I was just always attention seeking and disruptive. So you wouldn't have looked and thought, that's gonna be like an entrepreneur and that's gonna be someone who's gonna like go on to connect with millions of people and help other people with, you know, with my business.

• 7:15Steven Bartlett?

  Did you ever see yourself becoming, what did you think you were gonna become in your own head?

• 7:21Speaker 01

  That's a good question. And I think, I, I, like, like I said, I don't come from an ambitious family. We're not a family of entrepreneurs, you know, my mum's a social worker. Um, who left school at the age of fifteen with no qualifications. She had me and my brother by the time she was nineteen. She was really young. Um, and my dad's a roofer, so we weren't pushed to go to university. We weren't encouraged to do anything other than be happy. My mum and dad always used to say for, for all the, all the drama and trouble I went through as a kid, one thing I always had was love and support. I always knew that my dad loved me. I always knew that my mum was there for me and she, she used to say, I don't care if you're a dustman or a doctor, I'll always love you.

• 7:54Steven Bartlett?

  Um.

• 7:55Speaker 01

  And that, that, that having that kind of feeling and that support behind you definitely made me feel relaxed about who I was gonna be. I wasn't under pressure to be anything.

• 8:02Steven Bartlett?

  Um.

• 8:03Speaker 01

  Um, but my, in my head, all I was ever gonna be was a P E teacher. I thought I'd be a school teacher because I'd work with kids and I'd have fun. Um, and I'd, you know, have summer holidays and maybe get a mortgage and have a house one day. But it's really weird when you come from that culture of. Not much self belief and not, no expectations, you know, like. There's no one around me doing a lot and succeeding a lot as a, as a kid. And so. Um. My ambition and my motivation came really just through having fun and putting content out and I realised that I have an ability to connect with people on a, on a really deep level.

• 8:34Steven Bartlett?

  So there's this, I guess, this stereotype that entrepreneurs are so intentional, that they were like, you know, selling sweets in primary school and they've always been hustlers and. You know, motivated and they come from, you know, part of the stereotype as well, unfortunately, is that they come from, you know, great families or that they have, that they have money or some kind of advantage. That's a stereotype that kind of varies, but you kind of really buck that, that stereotype and that trend because from what you've just said there, not only, um, didn't you ever think you were going to be an entrepreneur? Um. People around you didn't really think you were going to be an entrepreneur either. And, um. It, it happened, I guess, through the, the, the love of something and the passion and that ability to resonate with people. And that's why, honestly, from just like the meeting, meeting you for like twenty minutes.

• 9:18Steven Bartlett?

  I'm like, okay, the, uh, cause my job here and the reason why I, I, I travel and meet guests often is because I'm trying to figure out. Why they became successful, so I can take a bit of that into my own life, but also I'm trying to like debunk stereotypes. And, um, your authenticity and how, like, when I met you, I'm like, there's no other version of you. Like, you're not going to walk out this door now and say, oh, thank fuck he's gone prick, like.

• 9:40Speaker 01

  Yeah. No, that's, that's true. And it, you're like, like you said, when you live your life on social media through Instagram and stories every day, like. You can't hide, you can only, you can, you can put on a face and be a character, but how far is that going to get you? And I've always just been really honest and really. Um. Passionate and, and I've, and I, re- very recently, I've got into this thing where. I, I never used to believe in the secret and the law of attraction. I think it's a bit, you know, wishy washy, but in the last month or so, I've been putting out a lot of positive content. Really powerful inspirational stuff. And I've realised, I've actually become a kind of channel just for my, my philosophy and my energy. But when I put positive stuff out there, it's coming back in waves and waves. And I feel like I'm, I'm in this like flow state where.

• 10:21Speaker 01

  I'm, I'm putting out content, I'm reaching out to people and sharing their testimonials and their stories and it's coming back in waves. I mean, I'm spending so much time at the moment doing DMs and voice notes to people. Um. And I'm, I'm not just a fitness trainer anymore. I'm, I'm counselling these people, I'm life coaching them. And I've realised that I love it, like I really enjoy it. People that have, you know, really deep stuff like. Been suicidal or in relationships or going through depression or eating disorders. And I used to find it really hard to reply, but now I I take a moment to read them. I flag them when I've got the energy, I come back and I I send them a voice note. And I always bring it back to the thing of, you know, getting yourself moving, maybe get out some fresh air, do some exercise. And bring it back to exercise. So I'm not trying to be a counselor, but I'm giving these people like a little bit of information or a tiny.

• 11:04Speaker 01

  Um, little catalyst or a nudge in the right direction to get them feeling happier. And it's so powerful.

• 11:09Steven Bartlett?

  Sometimes it's just letting them know that someone gives a F about them, you know, cares that. What what they've said as opposed to the advice itself. It's just that, do you know what?

• 11:17Speaker 01

  Listening, yeah. And I can't, I can never read one and I I can't read a message like that and ignore it. I just can't, I can't let them see that I've read it and and and not not kind of given them my attention. It might just be a fifteen second voice note, but that means so much to people. And and so I can continue doing that. And my dad said the other day, like, you know, be careful because a girl came to, I did a meetup. Um, and she was in recovery for cocaine addiction and she said, she came to a hill sprint session at eight o'clock in the morning on Richmond Hill. And I was so, she asked me to record a message for her, for her group. And before I thought about it, I was thinking, right. I really need to think what I'm gonna say. And I had this really emotional feeling that she's gone from having a really tough struggle. And she's been really, you know, struggling to get off of her addiction through through drugs. And she's turned up at eight o'clock in the morning to run up and down a hill with me.

• 12:01Speaker 01

  And I found that so inspiring. So I shared that message. And now the last week or so, I've had so many people, you know, in recovery and with addiction, saying how amazing that one story was. So, you know, my dad said to me, Joe, be careful because addicts are, they they they love, they love vampires. They they want attention and they don't know when to stop and they'll keep asking they. And I said, Dad, what you don't realize is they're actually, it's giving me energy. Like, I mean, I'm feeling alive and happier doing this right now than I've ever been. And and I think he didn't quite understand where that was coming from, but it's because I'm I'm having an impact, so I'm helping people. That it isn't, it isn't kind of draining me. It's actually in a way like lifting me up. And like I said, I've become a vehicle for this positive energy and this message that I'm spreading. And it's way more than just fitness now. It's it's becoming.

• 12:41Speaker 01

  I'm really, I'm inspiring people to change their lives, to get out of relationships, not, not like on purpose, but just by the way I am. People are really kind of leaning on me and I, and I think it's such a wonderful position to be in and it's really like what makes me happy on a, on a daily basis.

• 12:55Steven Bartlett?

  And I, yeah, so like, you know, people will look at you and here's what, I think here's what they'll think, they'll think, um, good looking guy on Instagram. Delivers great fitness advice, making a lot of money. I bet that his ambition or his motivation is coming from making all this money. And, um, looking beautiful. Is that correct?

• 13:17Speaker 01

  It's so far from who I am and the, and the truth. And when, when I do get negative sentiment on social media. If it's about people calling me a sellout or saying he's just about the money and.

• 13:25Steven Bartlett?

  What do they say? What's the?

• 13:26Speaker 01

  The, the negative sentiment is like, so I don't believe that the general population should, should count calories. I don't. And I just think people should focus on. Healthy cooking and regular exercise and, and, and by doing that, you naturally put yourself in an energy deficit and therefore you can get lean and stay healthy. Um, and also that I'm a sellout and that it was all about money and the whole thing with Instagram and leaning fifteen or any. You know, deal that I get, it's all about money. And I, I, I really think that the money is a, is a byproduct of success, but. The real success is that I've been able to talk to you, your mum, your nan, seven year old kids that turn up to my events. Like, I'm talking to such a wide demographic of people. That, and it does, you know, it comes from personal trainers. It's always personal trainers.

• 14:08Speaker 01

  I never get like around a mum or dad following me saying, oh, what a sellout or, you know, he's, he's lying and keeping information from his followers. Like, it's always personal trainers.

• 14:16Steven Bartlett?

  It's snobbery.

• 14:16Speaker 01

  And, and you know, that comes from a place of, um, you know, jealousy and envy or, and I actually used to get upset, it used to really affect me on a, on a spirit, spiritual and emotional level. I'd lay in bed thinking. How can someone so positive, so, um, passionate, putting out such a good message, still be getting dug out by these people? But. I know it comes from a frustration. Like when I was a personal trainer, running around doing bootcamps, clients canceling on you and not, people not turning up. It's a tough industry. It's difficult. It's stressful and it's hard to make a true, you know, truly make a career out of it. So I'm actually more compassionate with people that attack me now.

• 14:49Steven Bartlett?

  How do you deal with it now? Someone says, Joe, you're, you know, you're an S H I T or whatever. And they start coming at you for things that really matter to you, like your work.

• 14:59Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 14:59Steven Bartlett?

  How do you deal with it? Like, talk me through it. You open your, your phone, you look on Instagram, there is personal trainer. Ten and he said some stuff, what what goes through your mind?

• 15:11Speaker 01

  So it used to affect me, like I used to get really, you know, upset, like it would drain my energy and make me feel really like.

• 15:16Steven Bartlett?

  What about all the positive comments?

• 15:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, so now I've learnt to, basically, the positive stuff I'm doing, I it drowns out the negative. I never engage in negative comments. I never reply, you know. People like do podcasts and videos about me and dedicate their time to like slagging me off and saying how bad my message is, but I always think, why have I sold three million cookbooks? Why have I got five million people following me? And I always come back to it's because my messages, I've never ever talked about Calos, I never talked about people um tracking this and counting that. And so, I'm doing something right and I I just I've learnt to kind of just have a moment and read a positive comment and it drowns that out. But one of the most hurtful things was when someone said, I'm surprised he's not charging them kids for the hit sessions, like all he cares about is money. But I actually travelled all around the UK with Nikki and my friend Dom um and Glenn. We took a cameraman.

• 16:02Speaker 01

  It was self-funded. I went to fifteen schools in five days. I trained with ten thousand kids and I was I was knackered and we had brands offering to give us a hundred grand to to be a part of it. And I was like, this is about me making an impact. I don't want any, I don't want to get paid for this. And so when someone said that, I was like, how can you, how can you say that when I'm I'm so passionate, I'm clearly on this mission? And you think I'm going to charge the kids for the hit sessions, like, so it does hurt, it affects you, but it it it might be like a temporary thing, it might be a couple of hours, whereas before it would be a few days and it would like affect me and I wouldn't want to do videos. I'd be like, it's it's kind of making me feel sad, like it would make me feel sad. I'd sit with Rosie and I'd be like, why why are these videos there and stuff? But now it might last an hour or two hours and I can go right back to work.

• 16:44Steven Bartlett?

  What has all of that taught you about the nature of haters?

• 16:49Speaker 01

  It comes back to that thing of, I look at people like Ben Francis or, you know, Kayla and Emily Sky and and amazing people doing great things and I, I get excited by their success, it inspires me. Whereas for some people, other people's success makes them feel inadequate or unsuccessful or they get green with envy and jealousy. But I always think, how can I learn from these people that are doing these amazing things? And and be a better, you know, role model or businessman. So that comes down to the thing of, can you accept some other people's success? And you might experience this, even close friends to you that you went to school with, some of them you can just tell are genuinely happy for you. And the other ones that may say they are, but they're just not quite the same. And that that is just something that is is is within people. So I think anyone out there that.

• 17:30Speaker 01

  Fills that jealousy or envy or wanna wanna have a stab at someone, try and turn that kind of um that that feeling into a positive inspiration and be like, right, I wanna do a little bit more of what he's doing. I'm gonna be positive. I'm gonna put out a positive message and and reach more people. I just think negativity, you can't, it won't breed success. So for all the people that do send negative stuff my way, I always combat it with more positive, more nice videos, more DMs, more voice notes and I and I get more back and I'm like, I'm all right, I'm doing the right thing. And so I remember that my mission is still the same.

• 18:02Steven Bartlett?

  And do you, I think this is something we're all guilty of, including myself. Um, I can go on a post, something that I've put online and there will be, there could be a thousand lovely comments. But it's that one negative comment, because as humans, I think we all have a negativity bias. I've got to the point now where I, all the positive things people say to me, honestly, uh, this is just the truth. So I don't care if it sounds bad. Um, it it goes over me like a water for ducks back. I just don't absorb it. And I think what's happened to me is I've realised that um with me personally, I'm unable to accept some things in

• 18:41Steven Bartlett?

  um and not others. For me, it's either all or nothing. And I think with people generally, their opinion of themselves is either created by external uh narratives or society or opinions, or it's not at all. So I think very early on, I decided that the good and the bad, I'm not gonna let it form my opinion of myself. And I'm going to try my very, very best to um build my own opinion of myself based on my own thoughts and my own rationale and my own logic, because I'm scared of if I let Jenny over here tell me that I'm amazing and I was incredible for doing whatever I've done. I'm also gonna let Dave here from Burnley, who says you're an asshole and a failure and da, da, da, da. I'm also gonna let him in. And so my my sort of self-defense has been.

• 19:26Steven Bartlett?

  Don't believe any of it, but I still fall for it of when Dave pops up and says something.

• 19:31Speaker 01

  What is a negative thought? What, what? I'm just trying to think why anyone would dig you out. Like, what can they dig you out for?

• 19:34Steven Bartlett?

  Listen, this is the thing, Joe. Everybody gets dug out. A guy the other day, you're an absolute fraud. There's no record of you ever making a million quid anywhere on, online. And there I am in my bedroom thinking, do I?

• 19:47Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 19:47Steven Bartlett?

  Do I go at him?

• 19:48Speaker 01

  Do you reply? Do you engage or not? I never engage, never go into combat.

• 19:51Steven Bartlett?

  The older, the older I've got, the more I've learnt to just let them go. And if I do respond, it's with kindness now.

• 19:56Speaker 01

  Years ago, would you have snapped and reacted about him like?

• 19:59Steven Bartlett?

  Every one of them. I would be like.

• 20:00Speaker 01

  Publicly or just by DM?

• 20:01Steven Bartlett?

  Um, it would, I try and keep it as private as possible, especially as my business got bigger and I became, you know, an employer of, you know, seven hundred people. I have to set a good example and there's people following me and I have to set a good example. But, you know, when someone says something and they, as you said, they, they come at something which is the antithesis of the truth. When they say, oh, you're, you're selling out to, you know, you're rinsing kids and you know, you've just gone around the country and given to kids and that's something that's very close to you.

• 20:28Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 20:29Steven Bartlett?

  It's one of those things that.

• 20:30Speaker 01

  Maybe they know that. They know what's gonna nudge you and they know what's gonna hurt you.

• 20:33Steven Bartlett?

  They don't care.

• 20:34Speaker 01

  And it is, it is about hurting that person on an emotional level. But like I said, there's, I reckon one percent is negative. Ninety-nine percent of my content and my stuff coming is positive. And I'm, I'm so, I'm so clear with my vision and I'm more, I'm, you know, that thing of purpose driven over profit. And I, I truly believe in that. I believe in, you know, giving before you get given. And I gave, you know, 10,000 tweets before I made a single pound on social media. And, you know, hundreds of thousands of, um, comments and tweets and replies to people. And all the stuff I've given means that when I release a book in six months' time, it becomes a bestseller because the love is there and the attention's there and the respect and the, and the admiration for what you do means that people will support your products.

• 21:14Speaker 01

  I think a lot of people would assume, well, I've got a million followers there for a million people buy my book, but it doesn't work like that. It really doesn't. You have to be nurturing people. Yeah. And, and some people would, would assume that I had a marketing degree and I understand social media and I did this big digital content. Of course, but I I was in my kitchen in Surbiton with my iPhone shouting out midget trees and broccoli and you know, um Lucy B and all that. And I had no idea I was building a brand, no idea.

• 21:41Steven Bartlett?

  This brings up my next question, I guess. Why were you successful? So here's the thing. So there was a guy called Joe Flicks and then there was Joe Wicks. Um. Both of them were um really into fitness and um food, healthy eating and all of these kinds of things. Why were you successful and not this hypothetical Joe Flicks guy?

• 22:02Speaker 01

  Right.

• 22:02Steven Bartlett?

  What is that about you?

• 22:03Speaker 01

  I get asked that question. I always wanna kind of spin it on the person and say, why do you think I stood out? But I'll I'll ask you that in a second. So first of all, there's obviously millions of trainers and there's obviously led to different philosophies and different ideas. And I think if I had started today as Joe Wick doing the same thing on social media, I wouldn't have had the success that I've had because it was the right time, with the right idea where fifteen minutes was a good amount of time for people to get engaged. And it was a fifteen second video. I think people's attention spans changed. I think people's even now even busier. Plus, there's probably like a billion users on Instagram. So my growth was quite, you know, in the early days was was quite quick. But it comes down to, I had an idea that was just simple, that got people in the kitchen, you know, like when Jamie Oliver used to cook it, get you excited about food and made it fun and

• 22:48Speaker 01

  simple. And all I did was I took a fifteen second Instagram video and showed how to cook a fifteen minute meal. And I called it Lean in Fifteen. That was the hashtag. Um. But like I said, there was no real vision. I didn't think I was gonna get a book deal off Hamlet Million. And consistency, but also just me as a person, like, if you threw me into a room, into a party with people I didn't know, I'd come out with a few mates, you know, I just, because I'm, I'm like that. I like talking to people. I like getting to know people. And I like listening to people as well. And I think that's a that's a two way thing. Social media is a conversation. I'm, I've always been about, what can I do to help you? What can my content do? Is it, is it about me showing off my abs and building my ego and feeling great about myself? Or is it like, can I use this bit of content to make you wanna go and do a workout and make you go and feel good? And, and, and so

• 23:33Speaker 01

  it really, I think it's obviously a personality and a genuine passion when there wasn't really many Instagram fit fitness people like monetizing as such. You had Kayla was a couple of years before me. But I obviously, Kayla and me and some other big people have set the standard that you can make a lot of money through fitness content. So now, when you see fitness Instagrammers, yeah, they might really love fitness and wanna help you, but they could also know, I'm gonna make business out of this.

• 23:56Steven Bartlett?

  So like, here's how I'd summarise it from your assessment there. I imagine it almost like a padlock. You know the padlocks where you've got to get four numbers in a row?

• 24:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:04Steven Bartlett?

  Right? And if you get the four numbers in a row, then the lock opens. Or like the lottery where you've got to get six numbers in a row to win. I think you got the like proverbial four or five numbers in a row where you're the right person, right? And when I say the right person, I mean aesthetically, you're a good looking guy. But you also have a lot of, and I took, and then also personality traits, consistency, passion. And that's what constitutes my definition of the right person at the right time. And I think not just in the evolution of social media, but in the sort of societal trend of getting.

• 24:34Speaker 01

  The demand for fitness, yeah.

• 24:36Steven Bartlett?

  Fitness, recipes, um, things like, you know, veganism and eating well and look, you know, I think that was, that's a mud, a rising trend. I think the right place in terms of, um, the right platforms and things like that.

• 24:47Speaker 01

  Yeah, being around at the right time, getting on there early.

• 24:49Steven Bartlett?

  And the other thing I'd like to add to the right person is your personality, because I think people really resonate with you. As you said, you can walk in a room and I believe you'll walk out with loads of friends because you, because you're real, right? And that's something that you just can't fake in the long term. And then, yeah, the last one's the right message, uh, delivered in the right way. So doing it in a concise way, that's simple for Jenny in her bedroom or whatever. I think that combination is like getting the right number four times on a padlock and it opens.

• 25:14Speaker 01

  I think that's a good analogy, actually. And I, when I go to some of my book signings or I do these random meetups I've got into recently, I'll, I'll say, right, meet me in Richmond Park, we're gonna cycle around. And there'll be, you know, like, seven year old kids and there'll be sixty five year old women. I really speak to everyone because I'm trying to make fitness accessible and fun for everyone. My whole brand, if you, if I was to summarise my brand, it's like fitness for all, you know, accessible, um, unju- non-judgmental, and, and, and I really am on a mission to get people happier. And it's not just about fat loss and losing weight and looking a certain way. I'm now way more in tune with the mental health benefits of exercise, you know, elevating your mood. Productivity, just general happiness. And I I'm more in tune now with that than ever,

• 25:56Speaker 01

  which is suddenly, I'm talking like the last few weeks, since I've started doing the voice notes. It's really opened up a whole new world. So I used to sit and do written stuff, but the power of a voice note has allowed me to engage. And I now realise that I am on a mission so so clear that I'm actually working harder now than when you met me four or five years ago. Like if I, if you met me when I was bang on my phone doing tweets, I was stuck in it. But now I'm doing, I'm doing more but more valuable, if you if you know what I mean. So it's not scalable in terms of I can't do a thousand messages a day, but I'm doing a hundred really good quality ones that are having a massive impact. So I'm working harder now than I ever have been.

• 26:29Steven Bartlett?

  I want to talk about that. So um there's a few things I want to talk about. The first one is the voice note thing, but the second is uh about the impacts of fitness. This is just a personal thing because I'm I'm on the on a mission to try and get fitter. But on the voice note thing, a bit of context, um ahead of you meeting me today, you sent me a voice note on Instagram, just saying like, hey, mate, da da da, looking forward to et cetera, et cetera. Um and a few other things. And that really caught me off guard.

• 26:53Speaker 01

  Really?

• 26:54Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah.

• 26:54Speaker 01

  In what way?

• 26:55Steven Bartlett?

  But in a good way.

• 26:55Speaker 01

  You've not had voice notes from people yet.

• 26:57Steven Bartlett?

  People don't, people send me voice notes, um but it's rare and it's and it's very personal and like um in a really good way.

• 27:06Speaker 01

  It's like, wow, he's in my room, he's here right now.

• 27:08Steven Bartlett?

  It's like, oh, my God. And it's like you broke this wall because it was into it. And it meant that I had to send one back as well, which I liked and I would never have normally done. But it instantly was like I knew you. Right? And I there's something so powerful about things like that, that most people don't do, that kind of break that wall, that I just think is is so, and it really inspired me, actually. I thought, why, why do I sit there typing to people when I know my voice and them listening to me when I give them advice is would be so much more powerful?

• 27:34Speaker 01

  Mate, I I can't stress it enough. Like, if you are someone on social media who's trying to build an audience or wants to engage and help people by doing that, it it speeds it so much quicker, it's so much easier. You can read their message as you do it. You can, you know, refer back to what they've said. Because I'm getting some really intense, deep messages that it just wouldn't warrant a a couple of texts. It would be like, it wouldn't be really truly listening to them. So I I I listen to it, I read it, I digest it and I send them a little thirty. You can send a minute, sorry, a sixty second video. Sorry, a sixty second voice note, and I sometimes do a couple, but the impact that has on people, firstly, they cannot believe you read the message.

• 28:06Steven Bartlett?

  Been with you.

• 28:06Speaker 01

  So let alone, they, you know, they think it's someone else. And like I said, I, I will come in this living room and I'll do my workout, I'll put Indy to bed. My little daughter Indy, and I'll come in here and I get in here at seven o'clock and I go, I'm, Rosie, I'll be up in an hour, I'm just gonna do an hour. I look at my phone, it's eleven o'clock and I swear to God, in my head, I've been doing it an hour. Because I'm, I'm enjoying it, I love it and I, and I'm getting voice notes back and people are like, wow, I can't believe you can do this. Thank you so much, you have no idea. And now I'm used, and I always ask the people, um, you know, can I screenshot and share your little testimony on my story? I always get permission, but by doing that, it means there's more and more coming on a daily basis because people go, he's reading it, he's, he's listening, he loves it, I'm gonna reach out to him now.

• 28:45Steven Bartlett?

  On my DMs, you've got a lot more followers than I have, on my DMs, it's out of control, right? Like, so I get, you know, depending on what I upload and what I'm doing. Sort of in terms of my personal brand stuff, there's thousands of messages a week and some of them, as you mentioned earlier, are very personal and really, really hard to read at times. How do you deal with the amount of DMs you get and how do you decide what to respond to and what, and do you read all of them?

• 29:12Speaker 01

  I, I pretty much open my, so my little cousin Luca, he's my community manager, he kind of oversees, because I've got a community about six million across all the platform. So he'll be the kind of, you know, the eyes and the ears, if you like, but in terms of the voice, it's always me, you know, it's always me doing the voice notes, it can't be anybody else, you can't replicate that. So I have a system now where I'm, I'm kind of, I'm bad in a, in a way that I will do it all day long from the minute I wake up. So now I'm trying to sort of chunk it and do it in a certain period of time. So I might come in the, um, living room and do like three or four hours of it. And that does seem crazy, but that is my job, that's my work, that's my energy source, it's what I do.

• 29:45Steven Bartlett?

  How do you decide what to reply to?

• 29:47Speaker 01

  Oh, in terms of, so I, I, I, if it's a really, you know, little que, little thing like.

• 29:52Steven Bartlett?

  I don't wanna give the game away.

• 29:53Speaker 01

  Yeah, if, if it's a little thing like, you know, hey Joe, I just tried one of your workouts for the first time, I loved it, I might just send a little emoji, say, well done, have a great day, see you soon, you know, let me know how you get on with the next one. But if it's a really intense paragraph of, like I said, people with eating disorders or, you know, really, really tough kind of social issues at home or whatever. I, I flag, I need to be in the right mindset. Um, but before the voice note, I was doing videos, yeah? But what I realised is sometimes I didn't have the energy, the emotional energy in my face. So voice notes changed because I can be really tired and be a bit lethargic.

• 30:24Steven Bartlett?

  Sure.

• 30:24Speaker 01

  But I can pick up the energy through my voice.

• 30:26Steven Bartlett?

  Sure.

• 30:26Speaker 01

  And send them a really, really lovely message. So I. If it's anything where, look, Joe, I know you might get millions of messages and I know you're not going to read this. I always give time to those ones because they're the ones that have really, you know, reached out and I almost. I treat it as if like you you walked past me in the street and you tried to stop me and say hi and say thank you or be grateful for saying or or or say, um. You know, thanks for giving me some some help. So for me to ignore it, like, it's the same. I'm I'm not just seeing screen names. I'm seeing people. And like I said, like like the last few months, I've I've been, I've become so in tune with it and and and realise how powerful it is that. I'm actually cranking up my energy levels. I'm doing more. I'm putting out more Instagram lives. And so now what I'm doing is taking a collective of questions that I'm getting a lot of like motivation. I did a little.

• 31:09Speaker 01

  I G T V on motivation. So I'm taking what I'm learning from these questions and spinning it into a little sixty second video so that. The general population that follow me can also learn from that.

• 31:18Steven Bartlett?

  I mentioned a second ago, I'm I'm trying to get into um fitness a bit more. I've been going to the gym quite consistently. Before I be through, I was doing a little bit better. Went to my be through a week ago, kind of downhill since then. But the the challenge that everyone has with fitness, as I'm sure you've heard, is the. Dedication and the commitment to stick at it and to to keep going. What is the reason why? People like me sometimes bottle it and we we struggle to form a routine. Why is that?

• 31:48Speaker 01

  The biggest challenge that people face is motivation. That's the thing that people struggle with, whether it's cooking or exercising. And really, I I said today that motive, you're not going to wake up tomorrow morning feeling motivated to work out. But the motivation is waiting for you at the end of the workout. So when you go for a fifteen minute HIIT session or you go for a power walk or a cycle around the park. At the end of it, you know, the physical endorphins that are released in your brain make you feel good. They give you energy. It makes you feel a little more focused, a bit more productive. So for me, when I get asked the question. Why do you exercise? It always comes back to the energy, you know, the energy that I get through it and the the kind of happiness that I feel from it. And it doesn't need to be this long kind of one hour long session with a P T or going to Barry's Bootcamp or CrossFit, you know.

• 32:32Speaker 01

  I really believe that the future of home, the future of fitness is home fitness, is home workouts. We're seeing that with Peloton, we're seeing that with um, you know, lots of online platforms and. And and and my YouTube channel growing so quick, you know, I get two and a half million views a month. Of people doing the workouts. So, you know, make your living room, this is my studio, this is where I film my workouts, by the way, I have my tripod and camera there. This is. I move the sofas, I film the workouts, it's me, I press record in real time. And people love that it's just anywhere, anytime.

• 33:01Steven Bartlett?

  Mm hmm.

• 33:02Speaker 01

  And so.

• 33:03Steven Bartlett?

  But Joe, I need loads of equipment.

• 33:04Speaker 01

  No, no, you don't need equipment. Your body is, you know, a great, a great, a great piece of equipment. You can do all sorts. I, I, I do like twenty minute, fifteen minute workouts. But ultimately, you wanna be successful and that can be through, through all your business, but nothing is more important to you and your family and your loved ones and your kids when you're older than your health. So it's not about putting pressure on yourself to have this really crazy routine where you're doing hours a day, but you know, twenty minutes a day and a lot of you, you, you might have read, you know, listened to podcasts and read some stuff about entrepreneurs and CEOs that most of the truly hyper, hyper successful people all have a fitness routine.

• 33:37Steven Bartlett?

  Mm hmm.

• 33:37Speaker 01

  Whether it's, um, you know, Tony Robbins or Gary Vee or, um, um, whoever it might be, um. Richard Branson, another example, who plays tennis every day for the past forty years, goes cycling, he's like seventy years old. These people fundamentally see the benefit of exercise, not on just the way you look, but the way you operate on a daily basis. I mean, I don't know what you're like with sleep, but another thing that's underestimated is the importance of sleep.

• 33:59Steven Bartlett?

  Mm hmm.

• 34:00Speaker 01

  And it's all great being a hero, like, you know, I'm running on this amount of sleep, but a good night's sleep is the best pre-workout and the best way of functioning and optimizing your day.

• 34:08Steven Bartlett?

  Mm hmm.

• 34:09Speaker 01

  You know, your, your focus, your vision. So really it comes down to, you know, your food, your sleep and your exercise.

• 34:14Steven Bartlett?

  And your love life.

• 34:16Speaker 01

  And, and your love life, yeah. And, and I think, I think it's just people have been confused by it becoming this complicated thing, but really it's like I said, just working out consistently, doing whatever you can, fifteen minutes here and there. Cooking healthy food and, and consistently doing it and keeping it up. What, what, what, what, first of all, you're not really out of shape. Some CEOs gain all the, um, and I've, I've met a few CEOs with startups who they go, oh, Joe, you should have met me two years ago before I started my company. But it is, it's the hour, it's the work, it's the hours they put into their work. What stops you from exercise and what's helping you back?

• 34:45Steven Bartlett?

  So right now I'm, I've been doing, and I was asking that question, I guess, more as like, uh, I know that my audience struggle with that question and it's, people ask me that question all the time. Right now I'm like, I'm in a bit of a rhythm and a bit of a flow state, so I've, um.

• 34:58Speaker 01

  With work or fitness?

• 34:59Steven Bartlett?

  With, with fitness. I've been going, I'll go every other day, um, if not every day. And if, if I don't go that day, it's because I'm not on a, on a plane or something.

• 35:06Speaker 01

  And how, how much better do you feel after? Do you feel amazing?

• 35:09Steven Bartlett?

  Amazing. And in fact, when I got back from holiday recently and I didn't go for two, two, two or three days, I, I swear to God, my life, it felt like my life collapsed. Bear in mind, I, I'd gone every day for five months from about February, right? Um, and the three or four days I had off. I'd like, it was like hard to get out of bed. I wasn't motivated about mu- much at all.

• 35:32Speaker 01

  Ibiza, you have, it's a come down place. You don't sleep much as well. It's a tough one to come back from.

• 35:36Steven Bartlett?

  I didn't, yeah, and you're right. And I didn't, but I didn't even really party in Ibiza. I went out one night over the four that we were there. And it was, I just, I lost that.

• 35:44Speaker 01

  Momentum kind of thing.

• 35:45Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah. And the endorphins, whatever it gives you in your brain, I just lost it. And, and then I went back to the gym a couple of days later and I felt great again.

• 35:51Speaker 01

  You can re, yeah, you can almost reset it. I went to a wedding at the weekend. I slept five hours a night in a teepee and was boozing gin and tonic, smashing the champagne and whatnot. I felt like death, but I got on my little Peloton bike, did twenty minutes and it just reset me almost instantly, within ten minutes. I just, it levels me out. It, it, it reminds me why I exercise. So I'm one of these people that can have a little blowout or a little, you know, little party. But I, I can quickly switch back into what I want to be doing. And I think that's the thing. It's not dragging it out for a week. You know, you've done your Ibiza, had your fun. Get back to work, get back training and feel the benefits.

• 36:24Steven Bartlett?

  It's been amazing for me. It's been one of the, the biggest sort of productivity and success hacks I've experienced. Definitely this year is consistently going to the gym. And you're right, my sleep's been fine, but it's a lot better now.

• 36:34Speaker 01

  Yeah, like an extra hour, even if you have an extra hour a night, that, that, that cumulative effect over a month and a year is so, so powerful. And I think people just underestimate it as a, as a, as a, as a kind of health fact and a marker in your health that sleep is so important. And you might have, you know, an extra hour, let's just say you turn the TV off an hour early and that extra sleep means that the next day you can operate and reach more people, connect and, and, and, and, you know, have a more productive day.

• 36:59Steven Bartlett?

  Want to go in a different direction, completely different direction. Um, something you said at the start of this conversation was that the, the household you grew up in was full of drama. And you referenced that it was full of shouting.

• 37:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 37:11Steven Bartlett?

  Um, the reason that triggered me a little bit or resonated with me, shall I say, is because the household I grew up in as a kid was full of my mum. In particular, screaming in my dad's face for hours and hours and hours and hours on end. And my mum will probably listen to this. My mum could scream in my dad's face for six hours and she's Nigerian, so she can get real volume. And my dad would sit there like a mannequin as if, um, he was no longer with us, right? And. I have said on this podcast before that growing up, that taught me that relationships were like hell, because the only model as a young kid that I knew was relationships equal, lady screaming in your face for six hours, no freedom.

• 37:53Speaker 01

  So I wouldn't want that, yeah.

• 37:54Steven Bartlett?

  Why would I ever want that? So when I was 14 years old and I like fell in love with this like girl, as you do, the minute she said she wanted to be in a relationship with me, I told her all the reasons why we couldn't be. And I had chased her for two, three years, whatever. And that story played out again and again in my life. You know, I look behind you and I can see, um, is that your daughter up there?

• 38:11Speaker 01

  That's my little daughter Indy, that's my wife Rosie. Yeah. And then me and Nikki, when we got antiqued with a flower up our house party, someone threw flour on our face. Yeah, I'm a family man now and I am, I'm very different to the child and I'm the, I'm a different parent to the way I was parented. And because of that, um, experience, I mean, I definitely had, I had issues around, you know, trust and commitment, you know, because my dad would always be in and out. I know I'd always think, you know, why is he off in rehab again? Why are we not enough? Why can't he stay at home with us and stuff? And it definitely used to upset me, but um, I, I, I don't want to be someone that shouts at Indy. I don't want to be impatient and snapping. I see that in my mum and dad. I see, um, you know, and there used to be holes in my door, like when I used to live in council house, the doors were really

• 38:54Speaker 01

  thin. And I remember seeing like holes and it was like cardboard inside. And I was just thinking, why are them holes there? And it was only when I got a bit older, I realised that was because my dad would have had a row and punched his hole, you know, his hand through the fist and his fist through the door. And I, I'm so much more calm and I, I really, I've taken what I've learnt as a child. And rather than replicate that and follow that pattern, I've actually really like done the opposite. And I'm, I'm really focused on speaking to Rosie calmly and polite and being respectful around her. And also treating Indy like being patient. And it's hard when you've got a baby, like they push your buttons. So it's, it's, you've got to try staying calm when they're having a meltdown. But I just have a few techniques that help me to like not be that dad that shouts and that dad that throws stuff across the room. And you definitely have to learn, it's something you have to practise and put into practice through time, but.

• 39:38Speaker 01

  I just didn't wanna be, I didn't wanna get involved in drugs. I didn't wanna be um someone that wasn't there for their parents, for their, for their kids and their, their, their, their partner. So now like, I, if you had met me a few years ago, I didn't believe in marriage. I just thought, no, I'm never gonna get married. I met Rosie and I fell in love and then suddenly I wanted to be married and it's made me actually really happy. It's made me realise that you can be in a relationship and be content and be, you know, faithful and loyal and not just run away when things get hard. Cause that's all I've learnt, that you run away when things get hard. And even as a teen- teenager, when things are tough, I'd slam the door, I'd run out the house. I wouldn't come back for a few days or I'd go travelling when things got difficult. I'd always, always run away. Um, that works to an extent, but then you get to a certain age, you're like, this isn't working anymore.

• 40:20Steven Bartlett?

  What, what, what is it? So I'm the exact same where, and this is, if my ex-girlfriend's listening to this, which she probably is, she'll tell you the same thing because um, because I learnt that relationships were like prison. Whenever my ex-girlfriend would like basically say the same thing to me twice in a slightly aggravated way, I would literally get my stuff and go. And I told her, I said, if you ever shout at me, whatever, I'm gonna get, I'm not gonna, I'm never gonna shout at you back. And I never, ever have ever in my history even got like really emotionally moved by a romantic like interest. I would just get my stuff and go. I would like immediately.

• 40:53Speaker 01

  So you're quite calm, you're passive.

• 40:55Steven Bartlett?

  Super passive. I'd never get, never, and I'd get my stuff and I'd leave because my dad never would. He would never get up and just go. So I used to sta- stand there as a kid saying, dad, like, don't allow her to speak to you like that. Go. And so, you know, whenever my girlfriend was there, I'd just get my stuff. So what was, what is it about Rosie that made you change your perspective on marriage and commitment? And think, you know what, I'm gonna settle down. I'm not gonna keep running away from.

• 41:19Speaker 01

  Well, I was all, I was actually in a relationship from the age of nineteen to tw- to twenty-nine. So I went travelling to um Australia. So I'm actually, I say I wasn't, I say I was frightened of commitment, but I wasn't. I just wasn't. The marriage thing was the whole, the whole thing that kind of really. Intimidated me, but because my mum and dad never got married and if they had, they would have been divorced over and over again. So when that relationship ended and I met Rosie, I just, I just felt instantly like myself around her and she's really, she's really like open and loving and she's just, she's kind and when you're with someone that makes you feel like you're completely yourself, I suppose it just made me really settle into it and it was a natural progression. We had Indy first, we had the baby before we got married, but I, I just, it all moved so quick. Like I wanted to live with her straight up. I wanted to

• 42:01Steven Bartlett?

  Really.

• 42:01Speaker 01

  have a house, I wanted to. And before I was always fighting that, I was always like, I'm too young to settle down. I'm nineteen, but I'd still be there when I was twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty nine, like still. And I definitely hung it, hung on and hung, hung into that relationship too long. And by the end of it, I was not the person I truly was. I wasn't being patient, I wasn't being kind, I wasn't being affectionate and loving. I was, I just was kind of hoping that, you know, she would leave me and it's just such a bad way to think, but.

• 42:25Steven Bartlett?

  There's so many people in that predicament where they're with someone that they're like unsure about, that person has turned them into a worse version of themselves.

• 42:33Speaker 01

  I truly believe that, yeah. And I, I just remember thinking like, this isn't my true spirit. This isn't who I want to be. And I, I, I actually, and I'll be honest with you. I, I used to talk to my mum and dad, but I was with this girl from such a young age and we really, we grew apart and I, and I actually went to have some therapy. I said, I need to speak to someone who isn't someone I know. And I had a two hour therapy session with a lady in London. And I, I, after that, I walked out and I came straight home and I told her, I'm, I can't be with you anymore. It was that simple. It was like, listen to someone that didn't know me and said, why are you still in this relationship? Like, why are you doing this to yourself? And why are you not being happy? Why are you holding this person back? And it was a two hour therapy session and it changed my life forever because I think I might have, you know, I, I could have potentially stayed in that relationship for longer and had a kid and

• 43:13Speaker 01

  do you know what I mean? I, I'd done the right thing and I, I, I, I got help and it was great. And that was the only time I've ever had therapy. But I can say, if you're in a position where you feel that you can't make a decision, you want to speak to someone, speak to someone who's completely impartial and, and unbiased. It really helped me.

• 43:27Steven Bartlett?

  And why had you stayed in that relationship for ten years if? You you kind of deep down knew that this person wasn't making, you know, you the best person you possibly could be and they weren't.

• 43:37Speaker 01

  It's like that thing you talked about on your podcast when you said about the frog in the saucepan, you know, of hot water, like. You don't just jump out, it gets a li- it starts off really good and it's still warm and cosy and suddenly it gets a little bit hotter and. Then eventually, you know, you you you you kind of a part of you dies of not being who you truly want to be and. Um, being out of that relationship and being with Rosie and having Indy and I'm now like way more content than I've ever been and. It's really calm, it's quite a nice feeling to like not be thinking the grass is greener, to not be wanting to get out of a relationship you're in. Um, and to kind of want to be running away. And it just, it just, it just came through making a decision of like, let go of this person, it's you're you're doing a good thing for her, but you're also freeing yourself. And and all I think about is that she and I really hope that she's as happy as me and she's met someone and.

• 44:21Speaker 01

  We don't speak or anything, but you know, that's something I hope that's happening somewhere in the world.

• 44:26Steven Bartlett?

  So, you know, talked about a lot of things that are great, love life, smashed it, kid looks amazing. Um, got a really nice house, you're successful in your business, you're growing, you're in a bit of a a flow state at the moment and good things are happening because you've. Put a lot of good energy out into the world. I guess my question is, what are you, what are you scared of?

• 44:47Speaker 01

  What am I scared of? I'm scared of, I'm scared of like regretting. You know, looking back and thinking like, did I spend enough time with my friends and family? But I also know that I'm doing that on a, on a, I'm instinctively. I'm not just driven to work constantly all the time, like I have really amazing periods where. I'll smash work, I'll work intensely for like a month or two, then I I went travelling for a month to Costa Rica with Indy and Rosie and. We're about to head to America, so I'm I'm kind of, I already know the balance. Um, and and like I said, I'm now, I've got this clarity in my mind, and like this flow state that I'm in that. I just feel like nothing can go wrong. If I ha- if I keep doing what I'm doing, nothing can go wrong.

• 45:23Steven Bartlett?

  Are you scared of dying?

• 45:26Speaker 01

  I'm not, I'm not, not scared as, no, I'm scared of.

• 45:28Steven Bartlett?

  How do you feel about death?

• 45:29Speaker 01

  I don't know, I just, I don't think about it really. I'm scared, well, I'm scared of my mum and dad dying. I haven't had any family close to me die because they had me so young, so don't forget, mum was nineteen, so all my family are quite young, my mum and dad are. And I think losing them is gonna be tough, but it's all part of life, isn't it, I suppose?

• 45:45Steven Bartlett?

  What did your mum mean to you?

• 45:47Speaker 01

  My mum's like, she's so wonderful, my mum, and she's probably my most kind of, she, I'm, I'm most connected to my mum more than anyone, I think, and. That's because of what we've been through and I really now wanna take care of her and look after her and she's, she's so wonderful, she's given her whole life, basically. Dedicated herself to like helping raise me and Nikki and now she helps her, she helps um people who've been through like young offenders and through difficult stuff. She's, she's a social worker and stuff, so she is everything, you know, but I've also, my relation, my dad, like it, it was difficult when I was growing up, but now, you know, we are. We're communicating a lot better, we hang out, you know, we're, it, I don't hold anything against my mum and dad, like for all the. All the madness, I, I just think that was what we've been through, that's our journey, that's you are who you are today because of it. So I'm not somebody who looks back, I.

• 46:33Speaker 01

  I think we've all had difficulties, but some people like really hold on to that and it affects them forever. Where other people can just let it go and let it just move on like it's done, like that's, that's what it was, just love the person they are today, that's more important.

• 46:43Steven Bartlett?

  That's a really, really, I think, important point that um for me appears to be the answer to a lot of the. Energy, the negative energy I experience in like my direct messages from people, is their like inability to like let go of someone that's wronged them. And the, the, the real shame is because that person's wronged them once upon a time, they're then dragging that negativity through their life. And letting it destroy their future and their present.

• 47:08Speaker 01

  Yeah, what's the point?

• 47:09Steven Bartlett?

  You know, I've got a, someone that's really close to me that um had a really bad experience with their dad when they were younger. Um, and they just won't let go. And I see it damaging their adult life now, even though they don't speak to their dad anymore. But because they just won't forgive that person, so how do you forgive someone, more generally, not just your parents, but how do you forgive someone that's? You know, harmed you or done you wrong in the past. What's the.

• 47:35Speaker 01

  I I totally, I can hear that message and I can see where that's coming from because, you know, my mum and dad have, they've had their own trauma to such, to such an extent that. They've been in, you know, therapy and for all their lives and also, you know, with addiction, it's manifested different ways, but. It, and it makes me sad. All you want, all you want is your mum and dad to be happy and you want people around you to be happy, but. For some, sometimes I can see they've been struggling their whole life to let go of whatever it is that's hurting them and, you know, um, holding them back and. For me, it's a case of, I just believe you have to live for the moment. You have to enjoy the day. Like, what's going on today? Like, what can you do today to make you feel happy and. What is, how is it going to serve you thinking about what you went through as a child? Like, you can have, my, my mum and dad have had all kinds of therapy, like.

• 48:15Speaker 01

  You know, regressive childhood, hypnotherapy, you go back to the, you know, my dad's even started doing ayahuasca and plant-based. Medicine to go back and just to get it all out of him, but. I just think you have to just take ownership and control of yourself on a daily basis and, you know, that's going to be done through like exercise. Um, he eating healthy food, being connected, like some people are so disconnected from their family and friends. And their community, whatever that may be, and that's the most important thing. They say that one of the key factors in success is. Are you connected? Are you helping other people? Are you giving, are you giving or are you just taking off people? So, you know, don't focus on what you've been through and let that just be like the past and, and what is happening today. You can't even deal with the future lot. Don't even get what, some people are so, they're suffering anxiety from what could might happen in the future.

• 49:00Speaker 01

  But you have to just focus on today, you know, what, what, what is the point of looking back? I just think it can. It can really consume you and you could, you could go your whole life without ever truly being happy because. You're worried about the future or you're thinking about what happened in the past, like.

• 49:14Steven Bartlett?

  There's something crazy in this, in this, like, truth that to overcome your own. Struggles and your own pain, it seems to be the case that by helping others, you kind of help yourself. And I've observed that with a lot of people that have been through tough times. They say that, you know, the, the, their recovery has come from just like. You know, making content for other people or being there for other people. And it's often the case that people who had the worst childhoods. Then focus all of their sort of adult life on helping kids. Or, you know, wanting to su- support kids in some way. And there's something in that which I think is quite profound and human.

• 49:45Speaker 01

  It's not, yeah, it's not a cliche. It's not like. It's not like some, some, it's, it's an actual fact that, that when you are giving back, when you're helping others, it makes you feel good. And so it's tuning into that. Like I do that on a massive scale with a big community and. But you could do that, you know, with a few people you know, your friend, your auntie, your cousin, your nan, whatever it might be like.

• 50:01Steven Bartlett?

  Um.

• 50:02Speaker 01

  You can help other people um on a smaller level and build your own community. But that is so important. I think we're so detached from it. We're so focused on social media and having followers and engaging with people that we might forget, like also people close to you, the real people that you grew up with in your family that that raised you, they're also really important to stay connected to.

• 50:20Steven Bartlett?

  There's this, um, I don't know if you've read this book called Lost Connections, but I had the author of the book, Johann Hari, on this podcast and I asked him a question as to why people in the Western world, like the UK and the US were so depressed and anxious and all these kinds of things. And he said, one of the really interesting things he observed from his studies abroad was that in other cultures, in Asia, when um people are told to go and do something to make themselves feel good, their default over there is to go and help someone, their family members, their nan, whatever.

• 50:50Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 50:50Steven Bartlett?

  Over here in the Western world, because of society and social media, we go and help ourselves. We go shopping.

• 50:56Speaker 01

  We do something for ourselves, yeah.

• 50:57Steven Bartlett?

  And he said that the, the, the market difference and the impact it has on your happiness is just tremendous. That, you know, our default because of advertising is, do you know what, I'll go get my thing, I'll go get my hair nails done, I'll go buy myself an iPhone or a new outfit.

• 51:09Speaker 01

  Definitely, I agree on that.

• 51:10Steven Bartlett?

  And that's not the human way to, to help yourself.

• 51:13Speaker 01

  You shared a really nice quote from it as well, saying that you can be, you can be, you know, around hundreds of people, but if you're not giving anything back or giving something that's going to help those people, you can still be very lonely. Like you can have millions of people around you or all this love as such, but you, you can still be very disconnected and, and not attached to, to people. And so I'm, I'm, I've, I am on a, I feel like I'm on a little bit of a spiritual, I'm not religious in any sense, but I feel like, and I'm not into the, I'm not like Tony Robbins and NLP and all that sort of stuff, but I'm on some kind of spiritual journey where I'm really learning about myself quite quickly and what does and doesn't work and what makes me feel good and what is helping others. And it's a case of trying to tune into that. And obviously with business, we, we sometimes often focus on, you know, the profit and the turnover and

• 51:55Speaker 01

  the growth, but sometimes the purpose, if you can focus on the purpose and what you're really trying to achieve, then it suddenly like brings success. It kind of follows you and it, it pushes you like a momentum in what you're doing.

• 52:05Steven Bartlett?

  And what is your mission then for, like, let's look forward now. What's your, what are you working, I know you're doing a lot more with young children as well and, and young people. What is Joe Wick's mission for the future?

• 52:16Speaker 01

  My mission is to, I wanna be remembered as someone that just really, really, really got like millions of people active and, and feeling good and exercising and eating healthy food. And that's gonna be from kids in primary school right through to adults. And I'm, I, I really wanna be someone that inspires basically. So it's not just about how many books I've sold or how many Instagram followers I've got. It's like, can I truly make an impact like culturally, like culturally get families exercising together like.

• 52:41Steven Bartlett?

  Why? So this is the question I always ask when I ask that question.

• 52:44Speaker 01

  Because, because I'm seeing it happen. I'm seeing like, I'm seeing these parents with my YouTube workouts, doing a workout with their five year old kid. And it makes me so happy. And the, the message they're sending is my little kid hasn't got off their sofa all summer and they've just done a workout and they're, they feel amazing and we're all eating a healthy recipe tonight. Now that is important and it makes me happy. And I think if I can do that millions and millions of times over, why wouldn't I? Like, I ca- I can inspire, I've just got to work out how to reach more people. So it's, the why is because it makes me happy. And secondly, because I'm helping people live a healthier life. And that, that, and I, you know, I think in 20 years' time, when you remember the Body Coach, like you remember Jamie Oliver, it's because not of his book sales or how many companies he's at, it's because

• 53:27Speaker 01

  he was the guy that got kids eating better in the UK, or he was the guy that, you know, has always been on a mission to get people healthier. So I do believe I'll be here in 20 years' time. I do believe that other trainers around might fizzle out and might not be around. But I will still be doing this in 20 years' time. I'll still be sharing a message and, and being positive and evolving as I go. With what I'm doing.

• 53:46Steven Bartlett?

  And you've gone from being a young guy that didn't have money, grew up on a council estate and didn't know sort of material things to now having, you know, three, I mean, you sold millions and millions and millions of books. You hold records for, um, your recipe book, I believe, right?

• 53:58Speaker 01

  So my, yeah, my second book, so my first book, The Lean in Fifteen one is, is the second best selling cookbook of all time after Jamie Oliver. So Jamie Oliver's Thirty Minute Mills sold 1.6 million and my red one sold 1.4. So it's been ma- it's been mad, it's been mental. And, and I remember like, that's real people. It's not just book sales and revenue and, and like commission on books. It's like, that's actual families cooking for my book. And it does, it does really motivate me. It does get me gassed and think, come on, let's do another book. Like, why not?

• 54:25Steven Bartlett?

  It's a long process doing books there, right?

• 54:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's a long process. It takes a lot of effort, yeah, with the recipes and stuff, but I've got another three books in the pipeline.

• 54:32Steven Bartlett?

  Exciting. Can you let any cats out of the bag?

• 54:35Speaker 01

  So the next one's called Wean in Fifteen, which is a baby book for babies and toddlers, because I've just gone through the process of getting India into solid foods and it's it's fun, but it's also quite daunting. You're not too sure what to do. So I'm now building a sub-brand, if you like, and a separate audience on another Instagram called Wean in Fifteen, where I'm now sharing like recipes and content for parents and the engagement on that has gone crazy. It's actually, I think, in a few years' time will be bigger, potentially than what I'm doing on the body coach stuff.

• 55:01Steven Bartlett?

  So this is a question. As someone that, you know,

• 55:06Steven Bartlett?

  pretend I didn't know this industry. It just happens to be the industry that I'm in. But one of the questions that a lot of people will wonder and ask is, how do you make your money? And what's your philosophy for making money? Because you've got a very big audience, a very engaged people. You do something that a lot of people brings a lot of value to people's lives. How are you monetizing this and living off it?

• 55:27Speaker 01

  Okay, so the first thing I did was launch an online fitness program. So I've obviously got my free content, which is my YouTube channel. I make a little bit of ad sense from that. It's not massive. It's not my main thing. I've got obviously my Instagram and recipes and stuff. And then I've got my online fitness plan, which is a ninety day plan. You sign up through my website and you get tailored meal plan and recipe workouts. So that's that's one revenue, which is the online plan, which is my most lucrative, my most lucrative part of my business. The second thing is obviously the books, which

• 55:59Steven Bartlett?

  And how much is that online plan?

• 56:01Speaker 01

  It's ninety seven pounds and we've had half a million people do it in the past, sort of five years. So

• 56:06Steven Bartlett?

  It does take a genius to do the math, yeah.

• 56:08Speaker 01

  I'm really, I'm really proud of that. And again, that was something I just saw like, not a gap in the market, I just saw that I was getting all these questions. I was driving them to my YouTube channel, but I could produce a plan. So it's like I saw the demand and I've created the plan, put it out to the world and didn't really know what was going to happen. But that is a, you know, I'm really proud that I've got that many people to do that plan because it is changing their lives. It really does help and. Gets them healthier. I've then got my books. So, you know, the book advances were tiny when I signed up, but when you sell three and a half million books, you can imagine the book advances grow exponentially. And the royalties and stuff. So I've got the online plan, the books, I've got a partnership with Gusto, which is a recipe company box. And the interesting story is to this is that I turned down a deal with a supermarket for two million pounds.

• 56:50Speaker 01

  Um, and I never talk about numbers, but I, when I get called a seller, I think if only you knew all the things I said no to. All the brands with energy drinks and post this and do that. And I say such no to so many things. Um, but when that supermarket deal came, it was like ready meals. It was fast food and microwave dinners and, um, you know, all that sort of stuff. And I thought, look, I'm not doing it. There's no way I can do it. But I, I thought I need to find another opportunity in the food space. So Gusto is a recipe box company. You still learn to cook. It's all healthy ingredients. So that was that kind of filled the void of the two million pounds that I pushed away. And that's, that's been so successful. It's been so, so well received because people.

• 57:25Steven Bartlett?

  They still want someone to do it, then I'm.

• 57:28Speaker 01

  Oh, you wanna do the supermarket deal?

• 57:30Steven Bartlett?

  I'm joking.

• 57:31Speaker 01

  And, and, and so that, that was a big decision. But yeah, so I've got, so I keep trying to summarize it. The online plan, the books, the Gusto partnership, and then you've obviously got merchandise in terms of I've got pots and pans. Um, and, and I deal with my protein, um, from the Hut Group. So, but again, you know, these things are lighting up the world. But it's still things that I have the chance to do and I have an opportunity. And sometimes it's good. Sometimes you think, wow, that's gonna go mad and you're gonna sell millions of pounds of pots. But you know, that's a different kind of product. It's a slower burn, you know, and, um, I definitely say no to a lot of brand partnerships because of the money I make through other things. If I wasn't, then obviously I'd have to be promoting your peanut butters and your jams and energy drinks and all this sort of stuff.

• 58:12Steven Bartlett?

  And money, what, what impact, like, I've almost asked this question before, but was there anything that you wanted to buy when you were broke like I was? And you thought, you know, and you went and bought it. Any toys or anything that, anything material that you, you?

• 58:27Speaker 01

  I didn't, I wanted to just, I really always wanted to have a house, you know, like own a house. And like, when you, when you're in a council house and it's always rented, like none of, not one member of my family has a mortgage. I mean, think of that, like, not one of the people I know own a house. So, like, for me to buy a house and own a house and, and be mortgage free, like, is amazing. So the first, I know this is super cliche, but you might feel the same, that when you earn money, you want to take care of your mum and dad. So the first thing I did, I bought my mum's council house for her, so she, she, she has that and she's done it up and she's super happy with that. And then I bought my own house. Um, so that was the, that was the main thing, was have a nice place to, to grow a family. Um, I like guitars, as you can see, I'm learning to play the guitar. Um, I've got an electric skateboard, I've got a boostie ball, which I love.

• 59:06Speaker 01

  But I'm pretty low maintenance, so I'm not someone who kind of, as I got exponentially wealthy, that I went and bought exponentially bigger and grander things. Like, I love my holidays, I love experiencing things, I like travelling with friends and, um, you know, if we go skiing, I sort my friends out. If I go to Vegas, I get the hotel and pay for some of the, you know, the booze and that. It's not like, um, it's all the time, but I do love bringing my friends together and someone make my mates a skin. So, I said, come on, we're gonna go to Ibiza for a few nights, you know, things like that. But I'm not, I'm not very materialistic. I did, I did buy, um, a nice watch when I turned thirty, but I never wear it, I just got my Apple watch on all the time.

• 59:43Steven Bartlett?

  What watch was it?

• 59:44Speaker 01

  I bought a Rolex.

• 59:46Steven Bartlett?

  Nice.

• 59:46Speaker 01

  And I never thought I'd ever want a watch, but I thought, I'm thirty, um, you know, it's a big day, let's, let's say it's here, you know, remember it. And I bought it and I, I liked it and it feels nice, but I actually quite feel quite shy when I wear it. I feel like it's a bit showy offy. So I, I wear it if I go to like a nice wedding or a party or something, but I actually just, I'm, I'm much more, I'm an Apple man, really, so.

• 1:00:05Steven Bartlett?

  I bought a Rolex and then I lost it, so I don't.

• 1:00:07Speaker 01

  Oh, you lost it?

• 1:00:07Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah, I thought to myself.

• 1:00:09Speaker 01

  I know someone that got bashed over the head the other day in London, they stole it off his wrist, so be careful of your Rolex.

• 1:00:13Steven Bartlett?

  Well, no, this is actually part of the story, so I came home one day and I, I was with someone that works at Social Turn, my business was, was staying in a spare room for a couple of days while they were sorting themselves out. And their car keys got taken out of the drawer, their car got smashed up around the corner, my Rolex went missing out my room.

• 1:00:28Speaker 01

  Oh, no.

• 1:00:29Steven Bartlett?

  But I thought, Stephen, you're a rookie, you know, should have better security. So I've not, I'm punishing myself. I'm not going to buy another one for another five years or something.

• 1:00:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:00:36Steven Bartlett?

  But I did, I did like it when I had it. It was good for like special occasions, you know.

• 1:00:39Speaker 01

  What's it like for you being a twenty eight year old, just turned twenty eight?

• 1:00:43Steven Bartlett?

  Just turned twenty seven last week.

• 1:00:44Speaker 01

  God, you're even younger.

• 1:00:45Steven Bartlett?

  Twenty six a week ago or so.

• 1:00:47Speaker 01

  It's even more inspiring. What, what is it, what is it, what has it meant to you and for you to become wealthy and have this huge company set? Cause you've got an empire essentially and what does it feel to you and how, when, when you think about money? Yeah. Did it change your perception? Has it changed? Has it inflated your ego? If I met you five, six years ago before you're making serious dough? Are you the same man now? Or has, has your ego and your personality changed at all?

• 1:01:07Steven Bartlett?

  My, my, my mum said the thing she's most proud of is that I haven't changed at all. And all of my friends have said the same thing. Like, because honestly, it does, it just doesn't matter to me. And in the same, like, the reason why I really don't, I sold my Range Rover and bought a bicycle. And like, it's because money, I've, especially as I've gone on this sort of self-development journey of really understanding what happiness is and where it comes from. And intrinsic motivators versus doing things because you wanna show off. And all the, and basically because of this podcast, I've learnt what happiness is more and more. And I know that it's not amassing large amounts of money. I don't care about the wealth side of things.

• 1:01:45Steven Bartlett?

  And even with my, I said it, I said in this podcast, um, when, when I was, I was making, when I left my first business when I was twenty one years old. I was making seventy grand a month from being a consultant, from all these brands paying me just to tell them what to do with their businesses. And I could not find the motivation to walk down the stairs in my apartment and respond to an email just to send an invoice that would make me twenty grand. I said to my business partner at the time, if I go downstairs and send that email, we'll make twenty grand, right? Me, it comes, comes into my bank account. I can't be asked to go downstairs. There was no motivation to make more money.

• 1:02:17Speaker 01

  Really?

• 1:02:17Steven Bartlett?

  Hundred, it would, it would have no impact on my life. I could buy everything. I was twenty one years old, travelling the world, making seventy grand a month. What's eighty grand a month when you can, you fly however you wanna fly, stay wherever you want? I had no overheads.

• 1:02:31Speaker 01

  Did you get, did you get flash though? Did you, did you have a little blare?

• 1:02:33Steven Bartlett?

  No, cause I couldn't, I didn't even know how you got flash. What was I gonna buy?

• 1:02:37Speaker 01

  You got into like the club and seeing and going like popping champagne, spraying a beer and all that sort of stuff.

• 1:02:41Steven Bartlett?

  I was going to. When I was eighteen, I saw all these guys spraying shit, like buying all these bottles in clubs. So I thought. I'll give that a go, see if that makes you happy. Did that for a whole year, just buying Dom Perignon bottles and nightclubs.

• 1:02:52Speaker 01

  Spraying your dough.

• 1:02:53Steven Bartlett?

  These nightclubs knew me, right? And I had, there was this little star by my name, because I'd come in and I'd buy five bottles of Dom Perignon. And that didn't do it. That didn't make me happy. Um.

• 1:03:02Speaker 01

  I've got a, I've got a good question for you. So I know what you wanted at eighteen, and I know you as twenty eight year old Stephen. What does thirty eight year old Stephen want? Because, you know, like Gary Vee, like, I wanna buy the New York Jets, man. His whole life is built up towards that. What, what do you want in the next ten years? What's your goal?

• 1:03:18Steven Bartlett?

  I can't say anything about another man's ambitions, but for me, when I'm thirty years old, I, I'm, I get so much out of this journey of, this like philosophical journey of figuring out what happiness is and getting smarter and wiser. I'm making, because I'm helping others, but I'm making decisions in my own life that are bringing me closer to feeling good every day.

• 1:03:38Speaker 01

  Yeah, I totally agree with that.

• 1:03:39Steven Bartlett?

  Feeling better every day. I feel good every day now. And so one of the big things I'm, I love this podcast because I get to unpick people's brains and learn more for myself. It's a very selfish thing. But in the, I know it's selfless in the sense that you'll listen as well. Um, what are my goals for when I'm thirty? Honestly.

• 1:03:55Speaker 01

  Do you have a couple of them? A couple of kids, maybe?

• 1:03:57Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah, I do. I want more balance. So one thing I've always said in response to that question is more balance. So that means, um, time or not potentially, I'm, I'm still in a place where you were, where I'm not a hundred percent sold on marriage yet. But I'm sold on having a long-term partner and I'm sold on having loads of kids. Um, and then helping my family more, helping other people more. And then, do you know what? I think the big thing is really going after some of the world's biggest, biggest challenges. And what I mean by that is maybe politics and really trying to disrupt politics as someone that is not a politician. Um, and has a very, uh, unapologetic view on the way things should be done. Or does that mean trying to go after the education system or something like that?

• 1:04:37Steven Bartlett?

  I think that's, I wanna put myself in a position where I'm fucking terrified and where the world, half of the world fucking hates me because of what I believe. And half of the world um understands me.

• 1:04:48Speaker 01

  Sounds like an amazing mission, man. I I love that you're.

• 1:04:50Steven Bartlett?

  I don't know what it is.

• 1:04:50Speaker 01

  You are very inspiring and and the fact that you you do a lot of stuff with schools, don't you?

• 1:04:54Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 1:04:54Speaker 01

  Project working with young young children.

• 1:04:56Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah, we have. Yeah, we just done that TV show with Channel Four, which was um which is still sort of feeling the effects of now and.

• 1:05:02Speaker 01

  And I bet you love that. I bet I bet I could just ask you. I just know that that probably doing that, I bet it was exhausting, but I bet it's also one of the things that you've probably enjoyed and got the most satisfaction from, right?

• 1:05:10Steven Bartlett?

  Yeah, hundred percent. You you nailed it. I hated the process. Exhausting. Wait, I was just saying to the girls on my team, waking up at six AM and having to walk down the same street eight times, just so they could get the angle. Sitting in a classroom for an hour where kids are just like telling the teacher to F off and asking me what five times five is. Exhausting when you've got a business to run, right? But the coming out the end of it, my perspective on education was transformed and I was inspired and I was in love with to us, I was in love with young people again and realised how important they are. And and also how delicate it is, like as you've said with your story, how a small thing that happens when you're younger can knock you either one side of the fence to believing in yourself or to to to not.

• 1:05:53Steven Bartlett?

  Um, and how like malleable and influential young people are.

• 1:05:57Speaker 01

  So, yeah, so influential and so so kind of they're so impacted by decisions at a young age. If a child doesn't exercise through primary school and secondary school, like you are really going to struggle to get there moving as an adult. They they could be sent through their whole lives. So it's the same with anything. If you can get the early, you can get in there and into their mindset and that's what I'm doing with the schools thing. It's like I'm teaching them that it's fun, it's quick, it's simple and you're going to feel better. And I'm I'm changing behaviours and the culture of exercise in the home and bringing parents. I keep saying to parents, I keep saying, you're a role model. If you sit at home with your kid and you just watch TV and you don't ever do any exercise together, your child will never want to do it. Like, you need to start demonstrating it and it's really having a nice effect on people. So that's kind of the the big mission now. Is engaging families and kids exercising, you know, through fitness and having having fun with it and

• 1:06:43Speaker 01

  just keeping on on the mission, really.

• 1:06:45Steven Bartlett?

  I think you're going to go a very, very long way.

• 1:06:46Speaker 01

  I think you are too, mate. Twenty seven years old. You on the Forbes list yet? You should be.

• 1:06:50Steven Bartlett?

  Oh, no, I don't care about the list.

• 1:06:52Speaker 01

  No, nor do I.

• 1:06:53Steven Bartlett?

  So I guess my last question then, which is why I ask all my guests, if you've heard this podcast before, you probably you should have prepared an answer if you if you listen.

• 1:07:00Speaker 01

  Go on, yeah.

• 1:07:00Steven Bartlett?

  But no one ever prepares an answer to this. Um, dinner party.

• 1:07:04Speaker 01

  This is one of those questions you always get stumped, yeah, the guests for the dinner party. And I always think, oh, it's like, who's your favourite musician or what's your favourite movie? I always struggle, but how many am I allowed to invite them?

• 1:07:14Steven Bartlett?

  Different ones. So there's a table there in this hypothetical room, right? I'm there because it was my idea to have the party. You're there because it's your house.

• 1:07:22Speaker 01

  Okay, I'd probably, I'd definitely have, I'm a massive fan of The Office, so I'd want David Brent there, but not as Ricky Gervais. I'd want him to be actually David Brent, so.

• 1:07:30Steven Bartlett?

  The US office or the UK?

• 1:07:31Speaker 01

  The UK one.

• 1:07:32Steven Bartlett?

  You don't like the US one?

• 1:07:32Speaker 01

  Nah, I tried it. I love both. I just, it was just ripping off all the jokes. So I'd have David Brent for the sort of, for the comedy and for the, for the value. In terms of in, interesting, interesting kind of subject matter to talk about, I'd probably say someone like, um. I'd probably have Richard Branson, I think, from a business perspective and just like, he's kind of, you know, the way he's just built that company is incredible. And he's, he's very mission driven as well. Um, so I've got Ricky Gervais, I've got Richard Branson. Um, is it hitting harder, hang on? Uh, can you have a musician to like sing music and stuff?

• 1:08:06Steven Bartlett?

  Anybody you want.

• 1:08:08Speaker 01

  I'd probably have someone like Stevie Wonder singing some music, because I love, I love going to watch him.

• 1:08:13Steven Bartlett?

  I love Stevie. Have you seen him live?

• 1:08:14Speaker 01

  I've seen him a few times, yeah.

• 1:08:15Steven Bartlett?

  Stevie Wonder is the last in a generation, I think.

• 1:08:19Speaker 01

  Yeah, he's, Steve's at Hyde Park this summer, wasn't he? He's incredible.

• 1:08:21Steven Bartlett?

  I saw him in New York briefly.

• 1:08:23Speaker 01

  Could I have my mum there?

• 1:08:24Steven Bartlett?

  Of course you can.

• 1:08:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'd like, I'd like to have mum there because I'd.

• 1:08:26Steven Bartlett?

  Conversation.

• 1:08:27Speaker 01

  I'd like to, you know, get her, just to, because I'm proud of my mum and it'd be nice for her to be there if we're having this great dinner.

• 1:08:33Steven Bartlett?

  David Brent, although he'd be rude. You won't want to introduce your mum to David Brent, would you?

• 1:08:36Speaker 01

  No, probably not. In terms of food, right, this is my dream food, yeah?

• 1:08:40Steven Bartlett?

  Whatever, yeah.

• 1:08:41Speaker 01

  I'd have a, like, arancini and calamari to start.

• 1:08:45Steven Bartlett?

  Nice.

• 1:08:46Speaker 01

  I'd have burger and chips with truffle parmesan fries.

• 1:08:49Steven Bartlett?

  Right.

• 1:08:50Speaker 01

  Um, and dessert.

• 1:08:51Steven Bartlett?

  People are gonna think, Joe, burger and chips?

• 1:08:53Speaker 01

  Yeah, this is my, but this is my dream, like, death row meal. And I'd also have for dessert, I'd have like a, um, chocolate fondant with vanilla ice cream. So I love my food, but my favourite, if I go to any restaurant, if there's a burger on the menu, I'm always getting it. I mean, I'll always choose the burger.

• 1:09:07Steven Bartlett?

  And because we've just had a burger and chocolate fondant, we're gonna have to do some kind of exercise. Right. So what what what exercise would you make the dinner party do?

• 1:09:17Speaker 01

  I'd probably do a little twenty minute HIIT session in between courses. Yeah, like a few burpees, a few squat jumps.

• 1:09:22Steven Bartlett?

  Is that your like go to like quick?

• 1:09:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's my my my most of my content is just literally me in the living room with my body, no weights, no, no equipment, no kettlebells. Cause you can actually have a really good workout and and have a good physique. I maintain my physique through body weight training, really.

• 1:09:36Steven Bartlett?

  Really?

• 1:09:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, I did like weights when I was little, but I do, you know, pull ups and dips and press ups and things. So keep it simple, get yourself moving.

• 1:09:43Steven Bartlett?

  Amazing. And I'd love to see David Brent trying to do a little twenty minute.

• 1:09:49Speaker 01

  That would be funny. My a lot of if you watch my stories, a lot of my humour, I just do like office jokes and it goes over some people's heads. But people now, I'm like, look, I'm not making these jokes up. You need to watch the office and then you'll get it.

• 1:10:00Steven Bartlett?

  Well, anyway, listen, thank you so much for your time. It's been an absolute pleasure. Um, listen, I don't have to tell people where to find you. Because they can they can type in the body coach Joe Wicks anywhere and you'll come up. I'm sure there's no, there's no other sort of imposters. Um, it's been an absolute pleasure to talk to you and really sort of get to know you. And um, I've I've come away with a lot because more than anything because of how how you are as a human being. And I think that's probably really underappreciated. That people can see things on social media, but of all the people I've met on this podcast, you're the you've you've certainly feel like there's no one more authentic than you and real than you. And also your intentions as to why you're doing what you're doing. Um, are unquestionable. So.

• 1:10:38Speaker 01

  Thank you, mate. Thank you so much for that. You know, you're for having me on. I'm genuinely excited to be here and I hope that I've added some value to the audience. But I also, I'm super inspired. I love being around successful people and it's rare because I'm on my own little world in my Instagram, my my tripod and just me in in this living room. So to meet other people that are doing well in their field is incredible. And I hope that people out there find it inspiring. And one little challenge for you is this week, for the rest of the week, send voice notes back when you get the DMs. See the impact of you just doing it and and and you might get some back, you might not, but you will you'll realise, you'll understand within a week just how amazing and powerful it is and how how much that person will love and appreciate that that you've sent that. And it's quicker. It speeds things up. You can do way more. To spend half an hour doing it and I'd love you to let me know how that had an impact on

• 1:11:21Speaker 01

  your audience and your personal feeling of like what you're doing. It kind of, it amplifies your, your, your mission and what you're doing. So when you put out something positive through voice note, it's way more powerful than a bit of text. So do that for a week and send me a message. And anyone else out there too, don't ignore the voice note function on Instagram DMs. Hit it up, send a voice note and watch your community grow and, and you know, not just in scale, but in depth. And that's so powerful in this day and age. It's all about engaging and caring about those people on a real deep level. And you will grow your business and your, your brand or whatever it may be. And so yeah, that's my top tip.

• 1:11:57Steven Bartlett?

  Amazing. Thank you so much. I appreciate having, uh, having your time today. Thanks, mate.