EP100 Q&A: Relationship Lessons, Life Advice & My Worst Podcast Guest

0:00What's up guys and welcome to another very special episode of First Things Thirst. I know I like to say every episode is special, but this one is particularly special for two reasons. First of all, it is the 100th episode. That's right. We finally made it to three digits. And second of all, it is an uninterrupted yapathon from me to you answering some of the questions which you guys have asked me when I put up a little Q &A box on my social media platform. So I picked a couple of the best questions and I will be answering them today. So in no particular order, let's get cracking. What have these 99 podcasts done for you?

0:40To be honest with you, not a whole lot. I actually regret doing it and I'd wish I'd never started in the first place. No, that's not true. They've done a whole lot. To summarize, first of all, it's improved my speaking skills, my conversational skills. I remember before I started doing the podcast, I was apprehensive, a little bit nervous when I I would speak to guests and think, oh, how am I going to be able to speak to them nonstop for an hour and a half, two hours? Whereas now I'm very confident going into podcasts or just conversations knowing that I can keep a conversation flowing for as long as it needs to flow for.

1:19It's also been great for me to expand my knowledge and learn about things which I never really would have learned about. You've seen the variety of guests that I've had on. there's been a whole range of topics that has been discussed. So I feel as though my general knowledge has definitely improved. And I'd also say that my network has also improved drastically as well. There's a hell of a lot of people who I have met from the podcast that I just would not have met if it wasn't for the podcast and for doing these episodes. So it's amazing for meeting new people. And some of those people I've actually become friends with.

1:54So it's been an amazing experience so far and I'm really looking forward to the next however many hundred episodes I will be doing. Do you feel like you are currently in your prime as a man in regards to all aspects of life? Yes, I certainly do feel like I'm in my prime and that is why I am enjoying it as much as I possibly can do because I know it's not going to last forever. I am literally torn between going out there and enjoying this moment in time versus, you know, trying to stay at home and lock in and focus on business. You know, it's kind of, you know, it's a toss up between the two, but I think I'm doing a pretty good job of balancing it out physically in terms of how I look, my physique, it's definitely up there with the best it's been.

2:43Maybe I have peaked a few times before in previous years and you could argue at some point in your thirties, it definitely does go downhill. I don't know when that would be. I don't even know if it's happening now. Hopefully not. I'm really hoping I can drag this out for as long as possible. But that prime moment has definitely been entered right now. In terms of mentally, I feel as though I've still got a lot to learn. Experience, wisdom, business, everything. There's still a lot more to learn. And my mental prime has not yet being reached, but that's fine. I'm currently very happy with that right now.

3:22Next question. Your 80-year-old self looks back on life. What is he most proud of? I think about this a lot. What would I be like on my deathbed when I'm looking back at my life? I don't want to be in a position where I'm there and just regretting the decisions that I'd made and thinking, oh, he should have done this, should have done that. But I think so far, he would be pretty happy with the life that I have lived. There's still a hell of a lot more life to live, hopefully. But I think as long as I have lived a life that I genuinely wanted to live on my own terms, doing what I want, not trying to live a life that somebody else wants me to live, I think he'd be pretty happy.

4:09Let's see. But I think he would be. Uncle Mike, you will eventually get older. There's a lot of age-related questions here. I'm not that old. I'm 34. Uncle Mike, you will eventually get older with time. Where do you see your personal brand going as age as an important factor when it comes to the fitness business? That's true. I mean, it will get to a point. I don't know when this point is, and I'm not looking forward to it. When prancing around topless posing is not going to be cool the older you get. The things that you can get away with in your 20s and early 30s, it comes to a point when you, I don't know, man, do people really want to see a 50-year-old in his short shorts walking around the beach?

4:50Probably not. So that type of content will need to change. It's one of the reasons why I did the podcast, because this is something I can do long into the future. But fitness, health, wellness is always going to be a big part of my life. And whereas in the past, it's been very much, you know, building muscle, keeping a low level of body fat percentage. I think we're definitely going in the direction of overall health and wellbeing, anti-aging, biohacking. I don't like those terms, but that's definitely the direction it's going in. And then something that can continue to go long into the future.

5:25So how do I try and look as good as I possibly can and feel as good as I possibly can for as long as possible when I get to my late 30s, 40s, and 50s. So that is the direction that I'm going in. And of course, going to Ibiza on a mad one, living the life. Probably can't be making videos like that the older I get. Unfortunately, sad times. I don't want to be a 40-year-old just prancing around the island, you know, going on dates, things like that. Hopefully, I've grown up by then, hey? Next question. Tips on growing and online bagpiping teaching business. Yes, bagpipes, lol. Very niche, which you could argue would probably work in your favor.

6:08But like anything, if you want to teach people how to do something and make a living off it, create content. Okay. It's the same thing I did with my journey. I created content, helping people to build muscle, lose body fat, meal prep, whatever it might be. I'm solving people's problems. So if I was in his position, I would just make loads of videos that would revolve around bagpipes, teaching people how to play it, collaborating with other players, doing funny things with the bagpipes, collaborating with other famous people and getting them to play the bagpipes, whatever it might be. You build a following, okay?

6:46Might not be an explosive growth because it's very niche, but it doesn't matter. You build the following, you get regular people watching your videos and you will have some sort of a course or education platform which you will plug and promote in those videos and hopefully people will buy it hopefully there's enough people in the world who actually want to learn how to play it that's what i would do from all the girls you've dated what's one quality that stood out now and is a must

7:21cool do you know what i think it would be them just understanding how men work what they think what they do somebody i've noticed this in past relationships when i've been with somebody who just gets what men are like the relationship has been so much better they don't get so offended when men do what men do they're just like oh yeah he's a guy it's natural i found that those women that don't really understand how men work there tends to be more problems more arguments more stress i don't think men are that complicated yet i feel as though a lot of women don't actually go and try their best to figure out how men actually work and what keeps a man happy and they don't understand that men and women are completely different in the way that they think and act and just because women think a certain way doesn't mean a man's going to think the same way so most women really need to understand how men work and for me having that quality will definitely increase the likelihood of that relationship being a really good one

8:32what's the one thing you miss about your 20s

8:39well for at least half of my 20s i don't miss anything i don't think they were very fun let's think when i was what was i doing in my 20s i was working at hollister for a year and a half i was a personal trainer for quite a lot of time i opened my own gym I mean in comparison to now it was not great but I feel as though one thing that I do miss was just a lack of responsibility that I had and this was particularly it stood out to me when I was in my late 20s when I all I had to do was just make videos I could travel the world had one member of staff and I could do whatever I wanted there was literally no stress 2018 2019 were great I think when you're in your 20s because you're still young you can still get away with doing stupid things and just trying things experimenting I think when you get into your 30s you can't really do that as frequently so that freedom and that lack of responsibility is something which I kind of miss certainly there's just things that I wouldn't do now that my 20 year old self would do and sometimes that's a little bit annoying what's the biggest learning you took out of all the relationships you've had I could literally make a full video on this so I think there's three at least three points that stood out first of all be upfront and honest about everything to begin with about what you're like what you don't like to do, what you do like to do, what your life is like.

10:18So you just tell them exactly how everything is. And if they don't like it or they're not happy with it, then at least you've saved yourself time. Because at some point later down in that relationship, there would have been problems, there would have been arguments. You wouldn't have been able to live the life you want to live or behave the way you want to behave. And it's just a big problem. So if you can be upfront and honest to begin with, don't try and pretend to be somebody that you're not. That's going to be massively beneficial. I would also say don't get in a relationship if you don't want to be in a relationship.

10:56I think I've made that mistake a few times before where deep down I've just not really wanted to be in a relationship. And yeah, that's not been a good move. So if you don't want to be in a relationship, don't get in one, plain and simple, just stay single. And lastly, I would just say that women come and go. And that is, it can be quite a depressing thought, but that is the truth maybe you're one of the few people who you know you meet someone early 20s you really like them you get married and you get settled and that's you saw it for the rest of your life if so great that's not been the case with me 34 years old i've had a lot of experience with relationships and with women and unfortunately they come and go and it's really weird how you can be so close with somebody they can literally be your best friend at a particular moment in time and then a few months later you just don't talk to each other anymore you're not following each other anymore and they're gone out of your life so it's quite sad but on the plus side what I have realized now is that even though it might not last forever just enjoy the moment be as present as you possibly can be with that person that you're currently with and enjoy it don't take them for granted because one day they're probably never going to be there anymore next question if you could summarize all of your guests advice for financial success what would it be that's a hell of a lot of advice i think one that sticks out with me is just the importance of being financially literate so understanding how money works basically all the stuff they don't teach you in school you've got to go and learn it for yourself read some books listen to some experts.

12:48Just have this hunger to understand how money works, where it comes from, how do you make more of it. Learn how to save, learn how to invest. The literacy of finance is incredibly important. And if you're not financially literate, probably need to work on it. What is a good balance for an 18 to 25 year old when it comes to fitness, going out and work? I would say a good balance would be having all three of them spread out pretty evenly to be honest because if you don't have all three life is going to be missing something you can't not work on your fitness you can't not go out and have a social life and you can't not work make money and develop skills okay if you're missing one of them there's going to be issues so my advice would be to try and figure out a way to balance all three.

13:45You have to go out, but maybe don't go out and get absolutely off your nut. Although it can be fun. Maybe don't do that so often because doing drugs, drinking alcohol, not sleeping, that will usually have a massive impact on your skill development, work life, and also fitness. And you can't skip the fitness, but you don't need to go crazy with it. Just ensure you go to the gym three, four times a week. I don't think that's really hard to do just make sure you do it every single week clean up your diet understand how you know nutrition works and then work get some experience working with other companies smaller startups developing your skills trying new things to figure out what it is that you like and you don't like that kind of thing have it all in balance it'd be even better if you could socialize and it somehow relate to work or benefit your work in some way but doesn't always work out like that.

14:39What keeps your disposition positive in life instead of becoming pessimistic over the small stuff? Well, I think looking back, life doesn't always go to plan. And there's definitely been moments where I've thought things can't get any worse. My life is terrible oh my god but now when i look back it's not really been that much of a big issue and i think whenever you are going through something very stressful or terrible and it's just you know a bad moment in your life when you look back at it your future self is going to think it really wasn't that big of an issue and to be honest with you it's actually good because it's great for character development imagine if you go through life and everything goes your way nothing goes wrong you know it's a pretty boring life and you won't have any good stories to tell particularly like some of the stickiest situations that I've been in whether it be work related life relationships like moments where I've just been like oh my god this is bad most of the time it's just funny when you look back at it honestly it's a good story to tell so when you're experiencing it just think this moment is going to pass it's good character development for you solving these issues and problems and when you look back it's really not going to be that much of a deal hopefully if you had to do it all over again what would you do differently to be honest i probably wouldn't do anything different because at this moment in time i'm very happy with where i am so obviously if i was doing something different maybe i wouldn't be where I am right now.

16:24What I would say is though, I would have liked to have made the decisions which I did make sooner. I think there was many times in my life where I procrastinated, where I maybe sat on the idea of, oh, should I do this or should I do that? No, I really think I should do this. But I just didn't act on that decision. I waited to the very last moment when I was in a position of desperation to make that decision. So I feel as though with a lot of the things which I've done in my life, the career choices, the moving locations, I should have just done that sooner. And you could argue I probably would have been further ahead than where I am now.

17:01And maybe that's a lesson for you guys. If you are, you know, you have a gut feeling that you should be doing this or you want to quit your job or you want to go move to a different location, just do it. All right. If you just sit on that thought or you, it takes you time to do it, or you just never do it, you're always going to regret not doing it. So I say, just go for it. Worst case scenario, if it doesn't work out, just go back to doing what you were doing before. Go back to living where you were living before. At least you had a bit of an experience and you learned from that experience. I would also say I spent too much time in the UK.

17:32I think certainly when I got to my mid-20s, when I'd left the gym that I owned, I think I was around 26, instead of moving to London, I should have just gone abroad. not necessarily Dubai but just had these experiences of living in different places and just I think that's one of the best things for for learning the key lessons of life just picking everything up and just going somewhere else and just adapting to a different culture different lifestyle meeting the people there learning everything that you learn in a different place and I feel as though you know there's many countries which I probably would have lived out maybe spent a bit more time gone to bali maybe when bali was good when bali was peak i could have lived in bali for a year maybe spent a year or so in america you know maybe south america you know i think that would have been great for me and probably come to dubai sooner as well uh who's been my favorite guest i can't answer that because it would be a well it'd be disrespectful to the other guests that have come on and to be honest there hasn't really been one where i've like that was the one.

18:43I've had my like maybe top 20, but the majority of them I've really enjoyed for different reasons. And there's obviously been a few which I've not enjoyed, but most of them I have. What is your favorite quality about yourself? Cool. So we're going to be here for a while. Now, to be honest with you, I mean, let's put the the physical attributes aside, you know, the, the, the fact that I tan very quickly, the fact that I have smooth skin, the fact that, you know, I look the way I look, um, that's great. And I think a lot of that is genetics, but the thing I really like about myself is the person that I am today and the voice inside of my head, the conversations that I have with myself.

19:33I think at this point now, I am very strong minded and I feel like I have my own best friend inside of my head. You could argue that maybe he is also my mentor because I feel like the voice in my head is the voice of reason. And usually he's always right. Like when I make a decision to do something, there's a voice inside of my head saying, yes, you need to do this. Or Mike, you shouldn't do this. This is a bad idea. And sometimes I'll listen and sometimes I won't listen. But ultimately at the end of there to save me when I am alone or when I'm going through tough periods of time in my life. When I do look back at the tough periods, that voice inside my head has always been positive, never been pessimistic.

20:23He's always said, you know, it's going to be okay, this will pass, things are going to work out, you can do this, don't be afraid, you've got this, you're the man. And maybe I take this for granted, I don't know how long I've had this but I feel like it's something which a lot of people don't have and that's the reason why they just don't live a life that they want to live or they haven't achieved the things that they want to achieve so developing that inner voice and strong optimistic talk and the ability to be happy alone like I'm super happy being alone and I can do it for extended periods of time of course I wouldn't want to do that but I'm I just like being by myself because ultimately at of the day, I'm not by myself.

21:07I'm with the voice in my head. But I think a lot of people need to learn how to be by themselves because a lot of people can't. Would you sacrifice your physique to become the most successful creator or entrepreneur? No. I don't think there's anyone on this planet that I would switch places for because I just love who I am and the way I am. and the thing is as well like you also got to be careful for what you wish for so let's say for example if you wanted to be the best creator in the world let's say for example say mr beast do i want to be mr beast no because that guy's working his ass off to create content the guy's always working he doesn't really have a life outside of his work but he loves what he does and there's just this immense pressure to deliver and to have a standard to get all those views coming in like i can't imagine how stressful his life is and plus you're like one of the most famous people on the planet which is really annoying like you can't do normal things i've often thought about this like how famous do you want to be mike because i like walking around by myself i like being able to do normal stuff and when you get too famous you can't do that you have absolutely no privacy.

22:28So I wouldn't want that. And then to be the most successful entrepreneur, yes, financially, that's probably great. But let's say, for example, do I want to be Elon Musk? No, he probably has the most stressful life ever. And I can't imagine what he has to go through and how much work he has to put in just to run all the companies and deal with everything that he deals with. I don't want that life. I'm not about that life. I'm content with who I am. since we're on the topic next question do you think entrepreneurship is for everyone no I don't I think a lot of people are very happy with just going to work and then leaving work and then you know they can not have to think about work anymore one of the things about being an entrepreneur is there is like never a time when there's nothing to do there's always something to do and you probably end up working more as an entrepreneur than somebody who does 95 but at least the thing you're working on is something which maybe you're passionate about, or at least you will get properly rewarded for the efforts which you put in.

23:27You're building something, which hopefully will pay off one day. But I know there's a lot of people who are just not cut out for that. Maybe they don't have the drive. They don't have the discipline. Maybe they are the type of people that needs to be told what to do. And there's nothing wrong with that. So I think you have to be careful for what it is that you actually want. I think there's a lot of people who can achieve you know this ten thousand dollars a month goal i think that can be quite easily achieved and you can have a life of freedom you know travel wherever you want to travel live where you want to live and you can have that decent revenue stream coming in i think that's much more attainable but to be the type of person to build companies to manage staff or even run multiple companies like that is that's a lot of work that's a lot of stress there's a lot of people who are not cut out for that life

24:18how much of your day is planned versus deciding in the moment what you feel like doing i'm very much a person who likes to do things on the day i wake up and i'm like okay this is what i feel like doing but to actually progress in your life and your career there needs to be some kind of structure so for me at least there's there's big tasks which i schedule for myself which needs to be done on certain days so that is the priority i just need to get it done But I don't necessarily have every single hour of the day planned out. I've tried to do it and it just doesn't work. First of all, because it's just, it's not me.

24:53And second of all, there's always disruptions and distractions that come in that will throw you off this very strict schedule of yours. So I very much like to just do what I want to do based on the day. And if I end up, you know, not doing it because I'm maybe not the best person when it comes to organization then I try to be a little more strict with planning things out or at least locking myself away to hide away from the distraction next question talk about how you came back from that pause from podcasting maybe a year ago and then you became extremely consistent what was the realization yeah we had like two periods which were I don't know we just didn't put anything out and that wasn't planned it was just because I hadn't really thought about what's going to happen when I go traveling for the summer.

25:46So when we're in Dubai during peak season, like obviously the guests are flowing to loads of people coming in and out. And then I would just go and travel. And I didn't plan in advance who I would speak to, or at least stock up on episodes for when I'm not going to be in Dubai with my team. So months would go by with no episodes. And I can't even tell you how much I hated that feeling. It stressed me out. I was like, how am I going to grow a podcast if I'm not putting any episodes out? Like what an absolute waste of your potential, Mike. You'd rather just be fanning around Spain enjoying yourself when you could be or should be putting out episodes for the podcast.

26:21If you want to be consistent with anything, you can't have breaks. You can't have breaks when it comes to building a business. You can't have breaks when it comes to building your physique. You can't have breaks when it comes to building a YouTube channel or a podcast. So that experience of not having any episodes going out killed me. I've never wanted to be in a position like that again. So I made sure that I would have a lot more episodes stocked up in advance. Going on trips like the one I did in America, I was literally, I think 15 to 20 episodes ahead of schedule, which was a great feeling.

26:50And then even now, maybe I'm four episodes ahead of schedule. That's going to trickle out, but I'm going to be doing another America trip, part two, LA, Vegas, Arizona, where again, I'm going to stock up on loads of episodes. So it's always a good feeling to know you're ahead of schedule. And I never want to have that feeling again of not having episodes. It's like not having any money. Absolutely sucks. Advice for guys in their late twenties struggling to find a girlfriend and thinking about it a lot. Okay. So I don't know much about this person, what they look like, what they're doing, if they're actually like getting themselves out there.

27:24But what I've realized with my experience, you want to become the man that women end up chasing or the women end up approaching. That has been my experience. You put in the hard work, you become the man, like the man, it's not hard finding women. They will come to you. In fact, the hardest thing is actually deciding which one you're going to go on a date with or which one you're going to be in a relationship with. That's the hardest thing. So again, I don't know what your situation is, but if you're living somewhere where there's not really much going on, it's a pretty small town, maybe not getting out and about, you're just relying upon dating apps to find dates, that's going to be problematic.

28:09You want to get yourself out there. And I actually think back, when I was looking at my past relationships, what percentage of them have come from, you know, via Instagram or dating apps or which ones have come from actual real life interaction. I realize some of the best relationships and most of them have come from me meeting the person in real life, in person, on just day-to-day thing, whether it be at the gym, at the shop, a beach club, on the street, whatever it might be. So you have to put yourself out there and you have to approach. You have to try. They're really not going to approach you.

28:42Maybe they will. And that's happened. But you need to be the one that's approaching most of the time. So just put yourself out there. And if you have no money and you look like an absolute scruff and you're fat, okay, maybe work on your career, your finances, sort yourself out. And hopefully that's going to improve your chances with getting a girlfriend. How to build a strong personal brand and how to find content for that? I could make a whole video about this. I actually got a lot of questions regarding personal branding and building an online business, a social media presence, I would just say invest into my digital playbook.

29:24This is literally everything which I have learned from my journey as a content creator, how to monetize it along with networking, along with building a personal brand, everything. Go to digitalplaybook.net and I'll see you on the inside. That is literally the best thing that you can do. Otherwise you're not serious enough about it. Next question. what's the one thing about you that people always misunderstand? This is a good one. Well, I think first of all, a lot of people, if they don't know me, like if you haven't watched my podcast, you haven't watched YouTube videos, you're just judging me based off the way I look or some Instagram pictures, you probably think I'm a complete asshole.

30:02Maybe I can be at times, but most of the time I don't think I am. and I feel like I have still managed to stay pretty humble and down to earth and I don't take myself too seriously. So I'm not a bellend like most people would assume me to be. And I would also say, this is also something a lot of people don't know, I don't have the biggest social battery and I wish I could change this, but I just don't. I feel like I'm an extroverted introvert And the thing is, when I am out and about And I've had a heavy session of socialising Lots of interactions I'm good, I'm talkative I'm me doing my thing But suddenly, it goes The tank is empty And I have nothing else to give I just don't want to talk to anyone Don't want to be around anyone I just want to go home and be about myself and I think a lot of people will mistake this for me being rude, shy, or just not interested in them.

31:13And that's not the case. I'm just literally running on dregs of my social battery. So I've kind of designed my life in a certain way that I can charge it up, make the most of it, and then recharge it and so on. But it's, so many times people say, oh, you're quite a shy person i'm like i'm not a shy person i'm just fucking exhausted and bored of this situation and i want to go home i don't want to talk to anyone so that's that's just me i don't know if i can change that um i do wonder sometimes what my life would be like if i had a massive social battery or if i was super extroverted but i am who i am i've come to understand that's the way i am and i think a lot of people don't really understand that and take it the wrong way next question do you see yourself as a good role model for teenage boys

32:08yes probably maybe not the best there's definitely better role models out there but i think with everything that i do i'm hoping to inspire people to live the life they want to live travel the world experience as much as they can work on themselves, be the best version they can be physically, and just live the best life that they can possibly live. You know, I feel like I've managed to do quite a lot with my life and I'm trying to show everybody that it can be done too. And if there is any moments where it may come across like I'm being flashy, I'm not trying to be flashy. I'm just trying to show people, hey, you can have this too if you, you know, do this.