Dan Carter Live Event Announcement!

0:00Hey everyone, welcome along to another bite-sized episode of the High Performance Podcast. So what we traditionally do every Friday is we just reflect, look back on an episode of High Performance from maybe a few months, sometimes maybe a few years ago. Because I just get this feeling that there's so many lessons, there's so much learning on these episodes. How do we harness it all and remember it all? I think one of the best things to do is to do just this, to reflect and to look back. I remember actually Jo Malone, the incredible perfumier, she came on High Performance and she spoke about when she had her breast cancer diagnosis.

0:32and she said that in the years after that, the lessons from that period slipped through her fingers like sand. And I always remember that when we talk about lessons from high performance. How do we help you to grasp that sand? Well, by doing this really. And also by putting the people who are the stars of our show, by putting those legends, those leaders at the forefront of what we're doing. And therefore, I'm very excited to announce this. We are going to bring you Dan Carter, the All Blacks rugby union legend to the UK. We are going to bring you High Performance, an audience with Dan Carter at the Hackney Empire on June the 14th.

1:11Now, not only has Dan won two Rugby World Cups, he's also done it through incredible application, true focus on those small margins, those 1%, those world-class basics. The way that he lives, the way that he thinks, the way that he operates, There is so much about it that is inspiring and applicable to all of us in our everyday lives. And we are going to be on stage talking to Dan, myself, and Professor Damien Hughes. We'll have a Q &A with him. And you will also get a signed copy of Dan's new book, The Art of Winning, before it's even released. So what can you expect from Dan Carter? Well, he's a previous guest on High Performance, one of the most celebrated, one of the most listened to episodes we've ever recorded.

1:52This is what he told us when he joined us on the podcast. you're going to love some of this stuff. I stumbled across my personal purpose. Looking back now I'm just so grateful that I had that vision, that purpose and that came about when I walked off the field in 2003 after playing my first test for the All Blacks. So if I rewind back to a five-year-old Dan Carter it was the inaugural Rugby World Cup it was here in New Zealand, co-hosted with Australia in one of the first games the All Blacks played Italy. And from one of the kickoffs, John Kirwan got the ball. He beat 11 players to score this incredible try.

2:34It was one of the most amazing tries. And as a little five-year-old kid, I'm like, man, he's my hero. So I went straight outside and I was pretending to score tries like John Kirwan. Now, the All Blacks went on to win that World Cup. And I remember watching David Kirk, who was captaining that game, holding the William Weebellis Cup above his head. and as a five-year-old I don't remember a lot from when I was five years old to be honest but I remember that moment of going I want to be an all black this is my dream now I never actually thought it would happen I grew up in a little town of only 700 people so in my opinion as a five-year-old I thought all blacks aren't supposed to come from these little these little villages of only 700 people so anyway I love rugby so much I did it because it was fun all my mates were doing it I was okay at it I was never the best and then all of a sudden through hard work and a lot of sacrifice I became an all-black played my my debut against Wales in 2003 and all of a sudden my dream had become a reality.

3:40And I walked off that field and I was like, is that it? Man, that was the most incredible feeling, but I don't want this feeling to ever end. I don't want to be just another All Black where I play three or four games. I don't want to be an All Black that plays one season. I want to be an All Black great. It's every day I got out of bed. So what does an All Black great do? It just sparked this real growth mindset in me. I'm just going to use every day to try and be the best. Let's just try and get better every single day. As soon as you became an All Black, you had to look where the All Blacks came from.

4:17This incredible history of over 100 years, so successful. So we called it our whakapapa, like where have you come from? You're belonging. There's an excellent book called Belonging by Owen Eastwood. And he talks a lot about that, actually looking back at where you've come from to know where you're going. So as an All Black, as soon as you come into the environment, you soon learn this incredible history. So your one job while you're in All Black is to add to the legacy. You're just a custodian of the All Black jersey. So when you finished your role, you have to leave it in a better place than you got before it.

4:54So that was my mission in the All Blacks is that when I do finish, I want to add to the legacy. And I felt like I was able to do that. And there was some great synergies between my personal vision of wanting to be a great All Black and I guess the mission of every All Black of trying to add to the legacy. There are different types of pressure. There's pressure that a homeless person goes through to try and find a meal every day. But there's also high performance pressure, the pressure that athletes, successful business people have to deal with on a daily basis. and as soon as you realize you have pressure in your life, you should get excited.

5:37And I know you had Ben Francis on here from Gymshark recently talked about pressure being a privilege. It's as simple as that. Like I want pressure in my life. If I'm going through a week and it's all too easy, then I know that I'm not on the verge of greatness. So when I have pressure in my life, I have people relying on me. I know that my preparation has to be second to none. I know that I've got 80 ,000 people in a grandstand, millions of people watching me to see whether I succeed or failure. That's the pressure that I love. And I actually thrive upon it. If you look at the vision of wanting to be an all black great, okay, that's 10 years plus.

6:19It's something you walk towards, but you write that in my, I'd write it in my book at the start of each year. that's actually something I wanted to see every day when I opened my book but then you bring it back okay what does this year look like so you break down your year what are the goals that you want to achieve this year this season and you bring it down okay well what competition am I am I in super rugby okay what goals do you want to achieve in super rugby and then I bring it into the week okay well what is my week going to look like so and then I break it down to what does every day going to look like so every sunday i'd write down okay monday i'm doing this tuesday i'm doing this wednesday is my day off i'm actually i'm going to do this you know i don't want to waste any day even my recovery days i'd write down right i'm going to do swimming recovery right i'm going to get a massage right i'm going to use the afternoon to unwind actually do some hobbies that i want okay after dinner i'm going to spend half an hour just in in my playbook you know just getting upskilled in the game plan some more so I was really strict in my preparation and and I think that was a big part of my success and and and my drive and something I've actually taken into life after rugby you know I get to my son now and I just don't want to waste any day I really want to to plan each day and just going back to that saying have a growth mindset of I just want to get better each day so do you still keep a notebook I do yeah it's uh it's right here actually so even at the end of my career a lot of the young guys were doing it all on their iPads and here I was this dinosaur quite old school like that just really something about writing it down as soon as you you write it down it's the same with my goals it's I have to do it you know I'm a firm believer of you do the work and you earn yourself a beer at the end of the week so there we go a few clips from Dan Carter when he joined us on high performance and now you get to see him live in person a really rare really unique opportunity Dan is over here from the other side of the world from New Zealand and we're going to put him in front of you live at the Hackney Empire so if you want to join us if you want to get a copy of his new book The Art of Winning signed by him before it's even released if you want to hear myself and Professor Damien Hughes in conversation with Dan then make sure you join us at High Performance an audience with Dan Carter on the 14th of June at the Hackney Empire.

8:44Now I'm going to be totally honest with you, okay? Tickets to this are going to go fast. This is not an opportunity that comes around very often. So if you want in, then there's limited numbers that can be there. Hit the link right now in the description to this podcast and we will see you in June for a night that you will not forget. I can't wait to bring you an audience with right here from High Performance. Speak soon. See you on June the 14th. you