Akshay Nanavati Joins Us On The Steve Jobs Inspired Join Up Dots Podcast
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Introducing Akshay Nanavati
Akshay Nanavati is todays guest joining us on Join Up Dots business coaching podcast.
He is a man who has a life of highs, lows, amazing self indulgence and a dawning realisation that life is what we make it.
At age 13, he moved to the U.S. from India and almost immediately squandered away over a year of his life with drugs and alcohol.
So he joined the Marines to leave that lifestyle behind, despite two doctors telling him he would never survive boot camp due to a blood condition he deals with.
He not only survived, but found an inner strength he didn’t know he had.
He pushed himself and graduating with honors, but three years after he returned home from fighting in Iraq, the VA diagnosed me with PTSD.
He chose not to abide by that label and instead created a new one for himself: Fearvana—a state of unity and bliss without fear that is only achieved through immersion in fear.
How The Dots Joined Up For Akshay Nanavati
Now let’s stop and think about that for a moment.
Instead of running away from what makes us fearful, we actually embrace it and get to the gold on the other side.
And that can just be more confidence, more opportunities, more money, or love, sex, or anything that will generally only come when you go and get it.
And now our guest since 2012, has left a comfortable corporate job to drag a 190-pound sled 350-miles across the world’s second largest polar ice cap for a month.
Swim through underwater caves, has almost been killed by a falling boulder while glacier caving, experienced severe altitude sickness while climbing in the Himalayas, and suffered through heat exhaustion while running across countries.
The Mission Starts For Akshay
So you can get the truth from this introduction, that this isn’t a person that talks the talk but fails to back it up with action.
Today’s guest is a man on a mission, to banish fear, inspire the world and to show people everywhere how to stop existing and start living.
So how does our guest decide on the challenges that will make up his next few months?
And do our listeners have to be so bold with their own challenges, or can we do this from behind our desks?
Well let’s find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Akshay Nanavati.
Show Highlights
During the show we discussed such weighty topics with Akshay Nanavati such as:
Why Akshay believes that we all have our own personal struggles in their lives, you just have to take them for what they are, and find a way past them all.
How Akshay classes writing his book as one of the most challenging things he has ever done. The imposter syndrome joining with perfectionism, to name just two, had to be smashed to create his new bestseller.
Why he loves the advice that “You cant give birth to an adult” offered by the founder of Ugg boots, and what it means to him everyday.
and lastly….
Why adversity is the real gift in our lives. Not the times that everything goes the way we want it to go, but the rough tough times that shape who we are.
Akshay Nanavati Books
How To Connect With Akshay Nanavati
Return To The Top Of Akshay Nanavati
If you enjoyed this episode with Akshay Nanavati why not check out other inspirational chat with motivational quotes, Jack Canfield, Johnny FD and the amazing Christopher Lochhead
You can also check our extensive podcast archive by clicking here – enjoy
Audio Transcription Of Akshay Nanavati Interview
Intro [0:00]
When we’re young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be. But somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling join up dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here’s your host live from the back of his garden in the UK David Ralph
David Ralph [0:25]
Yes, hello, a good morning to you and welcome to another edition of join up dots Yeah, thank you so much for being here. Because without you Without you listening, we wouldn’t have a show where we would have a show you just know there wouldn’t be anyone listening and it would be a bit rubbish me talking to myself. But um, today’s show is going to be a belter. Because every now and again, you get a guest that comes on, and you kind of think oh, Blimey O’Reilly where do we start with this better? Do we? It’s just going to be a six part epic? Well, I sure assure you, I’m going to ask him back on the show, even before I’ve spoken one word to him, because he’s got a life which is life of highs, lows, amazing self indulgence and a dawning realization, but life is what we make it at age 13. He moved to the US from India and almost immediately squandered away over a year of his life with drugs and alcohol. So he joined the Marines to leave that lifestyle behind. And despite two doctors telling him he’d never survived boot camp due to a blood condition. He did. He not only survived but he found an inner strength he didn’t know he had he pushed himself and graduated with honors. About three years after he returned home from fighting in Iraq. The VA diagnosed him with PTSD. Now he chose not to abide by that label and instead created a new one for himself Thea Ivana. Ivana Yes, I want about a state of unity and bliss without fear but is only achieved through emotion and fear. Now let’s stop and think about that for a moment. Instead of running away from what makes us before we actually embrace it and get to the gold on the other side. And that can just be more competence more opportunities, more money, lab sex or anything that we are generally only come when you going get it. And now since 2012, our guest has left the comfortable corporate job to drag 190 pound sled 350 miles across the world second largest polar ice cap for a month just sounds miserable and mad at one really, a swim through underwater caves has almost been killed by folding Boulder, while glacier caving experienced severe altitude sickness while climbing the Himalayas and suffer through heat exhaustion whilst running across countries. So can you get the truth from these introduction that this isn’t a person that talks at all but bowels to back it up with action. Today’s guest is a man on a mission to banish fear inspire the world and to show people everywhere how to stop existing and start living. So how does our guest decide on the challenges that will make up these next few months? And do our listeners have to be so bold with their own challenges? Or can we do this from behind our desk? Well, let’s find out as we bring them to the show to start join up dots with the one and only Akshay none of it. Good morning, sir. How are ya?
Akshay Nanavati [3:02]
Good morning. Thank you for that amazing introduction. I’m doing very well.
David Ralph [3:06]
Is this is a six parter. I’m gonna kidnap you keep me keep you in a box under my bed and just bring you out. But random episodes, this will be your challenge to try to escape from me because it is one of those lives where you can end up to be Wow, this this is a film in the making, isn’t it?
Akshay Nanavati [3:25]
It’s been quite a journey and we are actually working on that. So making it a turning into a film so we’ll see how it goes.
David Ralph [3:32]
Who’s, who’s gonna play you? Who’s gonna play you? Are you looking for a kind of sexy up guys? Is that the kind of vibe that you’re looking for?
Akshay Nanavati [3:41]
I’ve always thought when we were in our rack, we actually used to discuss that if we were to make a movie on us who would play us and I always felt like would be Dwayne Johnson, Dwayne The Rock Johnson. But although my friends tell me he’s got a few more pounds and and you know, he’s a little bit bigger than I am. So, yeah, the whole hair thing as well.
David Ralph [3:57]
I’d go Ben Kingsley. I go back, Kingsley. Enjoy to you know, just go. That’d be, that’d be all right. So yeah, let’s start with it straight away. Because your whole thing is embracing fear. And then of course, in join up dots fashion, we’re going to go back over your life leading up to it, but fear Varna now I was just watching your ink speech, which was incredibly, amazingly inspiring. And as I was listening to it, I actually felt my stomach kind of tightening up thinking, I don’t think I’d like to do this. I don’t think I’d like to do it. Do you? Do you still have those feelings when you’re doing stuff that you stomach tighten up? Or do you just sort of breeze through it like a sort of ramping Indiana Jones?
Akshay Nanavati [4:38]
Oh, I absolutely get that fear that anxiety all the time, it’s very much still present in my life. And often, that’s a good sign that that’s something I need to pursue. So I still feel it before I do talks. I feel it. I mean, the whole process of writing the book was a terrifying, terrifying as well, I felt fear throughout the whole challenge of writing. So I go through it a lot. So how do
David Ralph [5:01]
you overcome that? Because quite simply, people will run away right now I actually feel fear every day in join up dots and people say to me, Well, why do you do it? And I go, Well, I can’t not do it anymore. This is this is my mission. This is something is bigger than me. And it’s driving me forward. But I generally feel anticipation. Could you call it fear or anticipation before I press record? Am I going to be able to do it is me and a guest going to connect? Blah, blah, blah, financially fear, you know, you’re going to pay more money for investment in this and invest? And is it going to work? And I wasted so much money last time? Should I just say that? How do you sort of just overcome that, because you know, I’m in it. And I feel fear every day. And I don’t like it at all, but I’m just pushing through. But your fear is on another level some of the things that you did, I don’t think I’d want to do but
Akshay Nanavati [5:52]
one thing you know, one thing I’ve come to learn through the whole process of the neuroscience and psychology, the research that I took on to write this book and was through my own life experience, is that to the brain fears, fear. So objectively mind might the things that I do might seem fairly intense, right? skiing across ice caps, or going to war within within Iraq with the US Marines, but to the brain fear is fear. So the first thing I often do is even with myself and with clients that I work with is to not let go of the judgments we have about that fear. Like for example, I worked with someone who said, I just need I just need to for the fear to go away so I can quit this job so I can quit my job and start my business. Now his problem was not the fear, that’s a natural thing to be scared of quitting a job or starting a business. His problem was that he made the fear mean, he was weak. And we do this all the time. Because we’ll see people say things like, be fearless, there’s nothing to be scared of. And so when when fear inevitably shows up, people feel like there’s something wrong with them, and it becomes this sort of downward spiral. So the first thing is literally let letting go of any judgments we have about our emotions, and realizing there are no bad or good emotions, there’s only emotions, and it’s up to us to decide what we do with them.
David Ralph [6:54]
Right. Okay, so that’s brilliant. So I’m going to summarize that. So there’s no bad emotions, we just have to let our body so tell us what is telling us? Is that what you’re saying?
Akshay Nanavati [7:04]
Yeah, once we, if we allow ourselves to actually experience any emotion, we can then channel and decide what we do with it. But we have these sort of umbrella categories of these emotions are bad ones, these emotions are the good ones. But I’ll give you a concrete example of this. So when I when I came back from Iraq, I struggled survivor’s guilt, I had lost a close friend of mine in the war. And that guilt tore me up for a long time. And everybody kept saying how, you know, there’s nothing to feel guilty about don’t feel guilty. And rationally, I got it, right. Like rationally I could get that even if I had gone with my friend to war, he could have still died. And I could have still come home alive, but emotionally didn’t change the fact that I still felt guilty. But today, that guilt is my greatest ally, I have a poster up right on my wall. Like I’m looking at it right now. And it’s a picture of my friend and me and it says, this should have been you earn this life. So my guilt now is an ally for me to do you know, to do something meaningful with this life that I’ve been given. And guilt can be one of those quote unquote, negative emotions, right. But in this case, it’s it’s be hugely positive emotion for me, too, drive me forward and keep pursuing something meaningful with the, with this gift that I have left. See, strange, isn’t it that deal
David Ralph [8:07]
because, you know, as he was saying, I feel the same thing. My ex colleagues go up to London on the train, and they have to be there at seven in the morning. And then they come back at our past six. And yesterday afternoon, I took my son to see the Dark Tower film, at the movies, which is a load of old rubbish books are brilliant. If you ever read the books, read books are amazing. But this film, I just will Oh my god. But as I was driving back, I saw the people getting off the train. And I said to myself, thank God, thank God, I’m like them anymore. You know, thank God. But in in me, I felt a bit guilty. But I could do these things. Whenever I wanted. I could just go after the pictures I could do. You know, even though I’ve created it myself, I still feel kind of guilty. It is weird, isn’t it? While we kind of beat ourselves up?
Akshay Nanavati [8:53]
Yeah, yeah. And that’s the thing, you’re right, how whatever shows up, it’s okay. It’s we, if we, if we exercise awareness to that emotion, an add awareness to it, then we can decide what we do with it, instead of letting that emotion control us because more often than not, most people live in this autopilot. And the emotions control us instead of us, you know, controlling them. And so being aware, that allows us channel and it to put purposeful action.
David Ralph [9:14]
So if I, if I get a surge of lust through me over time I can you say to the wife, it’s fine. It’s you don’t have to worry about it actually said it was okay. By the way.
Akshay Nanavati [9:28]
Yeah, I’m sure your wife would love that.
Yeah, you know, I mean, actually, neuroscience has also shown that we don’t control what shows up in our brain. So like, if I’m standing on the edge of a cliff, and I feel fear, that’s just my brain responding to this thing that’s kind of scary, which is the edge of a cliff. So neuroscience and spirituality kind of says the same thing that we don’t control what first shows up. And if we let go of that, you know, that blood judgment, that label to it, then we can say, Okay, now this thing is here, what do I do with it? That’s why it’s so I mean, the the foundation, the first section of my book is called awareness and acceptance, it’s absolutely essential to really accept what shows up and then without without judging it, that’s the most powerful tool is to then take the next purposeful action and, and channel that fear into something meaningful.
David Ralph [10:10]
And then one of the things that struck me, that was quite powerful, because when when I read this morning, I thought, yeah, I’m really bad at this was a Facebook posts that you made, and you was talking about that you’ve gone to a boot camp in San Diego, and one invaluable lesson and I’m just taking it straight from the side, one invaluable lesson that you’ve learned from all this is pause and celebrate the wins. But don’t pause too long. Get back out there and fight for the next one is not coming to you. You have to take it. Now. I read that and I thought, yeah, you’re so right. Because I’m terrible at celebrating, I have these huge successes. And I’ve been working towards them. And I go right, okay, done it right, move on to the next one, where I don’t blink, I just seem to be sort of focused. And it’s almost like going on a road trip, where I’m just driving past these great sites without stopping and savoring them for a while I’m just sort of flying. Now with yourself, you must have so many moments in your life where you go, Wow, wow, that was a when are you the same kind of thing, when you’re sort of like plowing through the Arctic, and the sun is setting and I think this is beautiful, you’re just focused on the next stage.
Akshay Nanavati [11:17]
Yeah, I was really, really bad about celebrating wins myself. I mean, I was the kind of person if I ran five miles, I would beat myself up for not running seven. And if I ran seven, then it you know, beat myself up for not run not running nine or 10, or whatever. And that’s not a good way to live, you know, because ultimately, you’re going to keep searching in the next and not really enjoying this wonderful journey that we’ve, we’ve been gifted with, you know, so I’ve gotten a lot better. And it’s simply just consciously choosing, I’m going to be proud of myself for doing this, you know, proud of myself for running the five miles or running the seven. And And again, it’s not about I think it’s I think it’s important to celebrate these wins, but keep aiming for the next one as well. And that and every wind becomes sort of a confidence fuel that allows you to stay committed for the next one. And the next challenge you juicing. But but that’s why it’s so valuable to stop and acknowledge that when because then you can ingrained that as as the fuel for your for your next, you know, your next challenge your next growth.
David Ralph [12:10]
And then so in the introduction, I was saying that the duel what our listeners have to be bold, do they have to punch their bosses in the face and go, I’m I’m dragging a boulder across the Arctic? You know? Or can I just do it from behind the desk? What’s the best way to sort of start building momentum?
Akshay Nanavati [12:26]
Yeah, I mean, I, you know, the way I like to call it is we all have our own worthy struggles. And that could be anything, it could be running a marathon could be climbing a mountain, it could be hosting a podcast, it could be anything, there is no sort of one right path, it doesn’t have to be to the sort of intensity that high take it. But working your way up one step at a time. You know, I mean, I used to be the kind of person who was terrified of Ferris wheels, let alone mountaineering in the Himalayas, skydiving or anything, like I used to be scared of everything. So just working your way up that ladder of risk one step at a time will and in whatever way you want to, it doesn’t have to, of course be you know, polar ice caps or anything. It could be in writing a book, it could be building a business, I mean, writing a book was more challenging than almost any of any other thing I’ve done, including dragging, dragging a sled across an ice cap while
David Ralph [13:08]
I was jumping in there. Why was that?
Akshay Nanavati [13:11]
Sure. It was, you know that a lot of it was just is this good enough? Are people going to like it? Is it going to make an impact? So there’s that constant fear of is this really, you know, really any good? And, and just a challenge. I mean, sitting there, you know, staring at a computer screen. I used to often procrastinate on writing by going running like I would run a marathon just to avoid the process of writing. But, but I think you know, there was gift in that fear. Because if you listen to your fear, fear propels you to prepare better. So I have that fear. And so then I said, Okay, I need to make sure this is something good. So I learned from authors who wrote, you know, jack Canfield Chicken Soup for the Soul book, Tim Ferriss, four hour workweek, I learned from authors who’ve written good books, I figured out what they did to, you know, to write a good book, and I must have trashed about 100,000 words worth of work to get to my book to where it is now. But that was a lot, you know, that’s months and months and months of effort. But ultimately, I think it paid off. And now there’s something I can truly say I’m proud of. But undoubtedly, there was a lot of fear about is this going to be any good. And then as I started getting positive feedback from, you know, I was blessed with some pretty noteworthy endorsements. And even His Holiness, the Dalai Lama wrote the foreword for my book. So when I got these positive feedback, it was it, you know, allowed me to sort of channel that into say, Okay, I did write something meaningful, and I know it can make an impact to others.
David Ralph [14:21]
How the hell did you get the data? Tell us about that.
Akshay Nanavati [14:26]
Sure. It was, I mean, it was a cold bitch, I just reached out to the website and actually saw the email on the website that got me nowhere. So then what I did was I spent a ton of time researching, and I found one point of contact in his office, I didn’t know who this person was, it was just one point of contact. And to make sure I stood out from the sort of crowd, when I reached out to him was I shot a personal video for His Holiness, explaining a little bit about my story, the struggles I’ve been through to get to this concept of Nirvana, the larger mission that we have for fear of Allah, and, and how we’re giving away all the proceeds of the book to charity. So you know, I kind of shot this video form just a three and a half minute video. And this one gentleman in the office connected me to two other people and sort of three people later, I got connected with this one particular monk in the office of His Holiness. And after four months of sort of healthy persistence, and following up and checking in and really building a meaningful relationship with this gentleman, he eventually wrote me saying that considering everything you’ve been through, and your genuine desire to serve, I’ll press your case. And when he said, I’ll press your case, two weeks later, I got this beautiful letter in the mail, with his holiness, his signature and the seal of the Dalai Lama. And it was just a, you know, tremendous honor and huge, a very humbling. We’re framing that up and putting up in the house now.
David Ralph [15:34]
I think so I think your next book should be how I stopped the Dalai Lama. I think that’s how you did it. No, I think that was brilliant. Because you really separated yourself from the masses, you know, I get so many pitches that come through to me. And most of them are just like, boring. Just I look at them. And I can’t even be bothered to read this. And every now and again, I had a guy sent one fruit to me the other day. And he was saying, David, I’ve been listening to the show, I’d really love Come on your show. And if you don’t let me come on the show, risk koala bear gets it and he sent me this picture of him. I imagine it’s him strangling a koala bear. And it was so amusing. I thought, I’ve got to contact him, you know, and he’s going to come on the show. But it’s a great way of doing it, isn’t it instead, and it’s a great way of getting a job, generally separating yourself from the masses, don’t just email don’t expect it just sort of fall in the right place, but actually put the work in now, in your life, how much work do you do that actually doesn’t go anywhere.
Akshay Nanavati [16:35]
So that actually doesn’t go anywhere. That’s interesting. So it’s that I think that’s the nature of this business is really challenging, right? You put in these hours of work, you don’t know if it’s what’s going to pay off. So you take steps and you you know, you figure out which works, which doesn’t work. But writing this book again, right, like months of effort, a lot of it went nowhere. I mean, 100,000 words are gone, you know, we’re trashed, to get the book to the final result. And it’s the same thing now. I mean, I now I’m in the process of marketing the book. And it’s one of those things that, you know, I sometimes do a lot of these podcasts, I do a lot of shows, and sometimes they lead to no sales. And it’s, it’s it’s hard. It’s a frustration, you know, there’s a lot of frustration throughout the process. But I think just again, every time you do get those wins to celebrate them, figure out what’s work, what’s working, and do more of that, and ultimately find what’s not working and stop doing that. So I’m currently looking at my whole life, whether it be in the business, or spiritual or mental growth as a series of two things, it’s fine, what’s working and do more of it, and find the problem and fix the problem. And that’s really all growth is boils down to just those two elements. Yeah,
David Ralph [17:37]
at 20 principle, he’s talking about here, listeners, that you find 80% of your rewards from 20% of your efforts. Now with me, it’s podcasting. And I spent a lot of time blasting stuff out all over the place thinking that’s how to get an audience. And now my audience is going up and up and up, because I’m doing the right thing. And when you do that, actually, it does make life a lot easier. Yeah, doesn’t it, but you’ve got to sort of go through all the crap to find back. And when you do find it more often than not you think, God, this was easy. I should have seen this at the beginning.
Akshay Nanavati [18:11]
Yeah, you gotta go through the lowest to get there, right. In fact, I saw Brian Smith, the founder of Ugg boots, speak recently. And he said something which was really meaningful to me, he said, You can’t give birth to an adult. And in the context of a business is I mean, this applies to anything. But in the context of a businesses, you got to go through that toddler phase where it’s going to stumble, it’s going to be hard, you know, and there’s gonna be a lot of falls. But you got to go through that phase to become a teenager and to become an adult. And I think that’s good. That applies to sort of human beings as well as a business as well. And that was very profound that really, that really made sense to me. So you just gotta ride those lows. I mean,
David Ralph [18:45]
it’s brilliant advice. Again, that is so simple, isn’t it? Because when when you’re building anything, you start off as this blank canvas time, and it’s kind of easy, early days. But then as you proceed through, it gets a bit more technical, there’s bit more investment in there. And I found and I’ll be interested to hear about you as well, I found I got to a point where I was almost being restricted by the desire for perfection, I wanted this shows to be perfection, I wanted the website to look perfect. I wanted email opt ins to be brilliant, I want to say, and I actually had to get to a point where when it doesn’t matter, if people aren’t going on my email list, it doesn’t matter if people aren’t buying products, it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is me doing but do and keep on doing it. Because all these things will take care of themselves. In in the future somehow. I don’t know when I don’t know where but little by little you get there. It’s a problem for yourself as well. Do you look at these things? And think out of that? That ink talk? Yeah, I know, they gave me a standing ovation. And they loved it. But oh, I could have said this. And I could have said, do you beat yourself up?
Akshay Nanavati [19:56]
Absolutely money. And when I saw that talk, the first thing was like, here’s what I could have done better. So I tend to be one of the one of those people for sure. Anytime it’s like, here’s what I you know, wish I could have done better. But, uh, but I think that can be that can be used, right, that can be effectively leveraged if you come from that and say, Okay, here’s what, what, here’s what the place to improve upon. So I just did a recent talk that I think was far superior, because I came from the perspective of here’s what, you know, here’s what was what I could have done better. And then, in graining, that feedback and leveraging that into him showed the next step. But that whole perfectionism thing is something you definitely got to just I mean, even with the book, right, because there’s no end to the how, how how much content you have that you add in there. I mean, even while writing my book, I actually had to stop reading other books, because I kept reading and get a new idea. And then be like, this is really good, I should add this to my book. But there’s no end to that, right? I mean, even now, there’s no end to how much content you can create. So just realizing that there’s going to be a point that it’s going to be good enough. And if you can touch a few lives with it, you know, make an impact. And that’s, that’s what matters. But if you don’t put yourself out there, and you know, constantly fighting that perfectionism, you can make a difference anybody’s life, right? So
David Ralph [20:58]
Well, let’s play some words. Now, then we’re going to delve back into your life, because there has obviously been a journey that has led you to this point.
Rocky Balboa [21:06]
He’s Rocky, you, me a nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward, how much you can take it keep moving forward.
David Ralph [21:19]
That’s how when it is done. So when you hear those words of this lead, that that seems to be applicable to all of us. But we don’t like the fight, do we want things to be easy, we want to press that button and create a global dominating business, we want to do that everything seems to be quick. But what rocky was saying there is it shouldn’t be quick. And it is about taking the blows that has led you to where you are. So when you look back at your life, obviously at age 13, you moved to the US from India. First of all, did you want to move when you were dragged by your parents, I imagine but did you really want to stay in India and the last thing you wanted to do, he was going to the US was the exciting time.
Akshay Nanavati [22:03]
We had moved around a lot by then actually, because I had moved from Bombay to Bangalore, when I was three, then I moved from Bangalore to Singapore when I was eight. So I’d gotten somewhat used to moving around with my dad, because my dad had worked for three M. So we moved around a lot as a result of that. So I was I was somewhat open to it. I didn’t have any problems with the move, embrace the unknown, but in us is when I got wouldn’t when I’m moved over when I got about a year and a half. Yeah, wasted a lot of my life with drugs, I lost two friends to drug addiction as well. And it was very much headed down that path. So
David Ralph [22:35]
what separated you from back? Well, because you come from India, but are very much family based Was it the fact that you had a lot more free time in the US, you could go out on the streets a bit more how the anti the drugs come into your life. You know,
Akshay Nanavati [22:50]
I don’t blame my friends. Obviously, I don’t blame my environment, I take responsibility for it. But the truth is, if I had, let’s say, God and group of friends who are outdoor, you know, who are rock climbers or something, I probably would have embraced outdoor sports earlier in my life. But at the same time, I don’t have any regrets now, because if I hadn’t gotten to drugs, I probably would have never joined the Marines as well. If I had gotten to outdoor sports earlier, I would have never, you know, found my way into the Marines. So no regrets. But I think what changed? I mean, what changed my life when when, when I got out of that phase was actually watching the movie Black Hawk Down. Have you seen the movie?
David Ralph [23:20]
I haven’t. But I saw that on your inks. I’m talking. I must. I must get that.
Akshay Nanavati [23:26]
Yeah, that that it’s a very powerful movie. And it’s a movie, you know, based on a true story. But watching these courageous men sacrificing their lives for their fellow human beings, really made me question those selfish and meaningless lifestyle I was living. So I mean, I read that I didn’t read the book, Black Hawk Down and started reading book after book on military and combat, and almost overnight, stop doing drugs. And, you know, thankfully, got out of that lifestyle. But I was I mean, I could very easily headed down the path of where my friends who I’d lost, you know, who, who died from drug addiction. So that was I was the first one in the group to start going to harder drugs, so they could have easily been me.
David Ralph [24:00]
I’ve never taken any drugs at all. I’ve never even taken a puff of a cigarette. And I put it down to purely that none of my my peer group did it. But you know, we we just didn’t really follow that suit. But in a way d d, you need to have adversity in your life to be able to come back stronger, because I see so many people that haven’t really had any hardships, they haven’t really struggled for money, they haven’t really, and it’s the they haven’t really syndrome, where they just kind of float from one thing to another, Do people really need to sort of fight back as rocky says and fight back and find what they want, because I don’t want to be where they are is the land of limbo, the real killer.
Akshay Nanavati [24:42]
I think that adversity is an absolute gift that we all we all should need, you know, if we don’t get to experience it, like I mean, I had lived a great life. My parents gave me everything I could ask for, you know, and I went I went seeking it out, I want that’s why do you want the Marines because I wanted to find a word, the struggle, I like, the way I like to put it is that if we don’t seek out a worthy struggle, struggle will find us anyway. And, and that’s why that’s, you know, happiness is in the process of engaging that channel challenge. We kind of live in this world that teaches us this happily ever after lie, you know that if we get this, then we’ll be happy. If I make that million dollars, when I get that dream relationship, get that house, get that car, whatever it may be. But happiness is not some end destination, it’s in the process of engaging life, it’s in the pursuit of a meaningful challenge, that we find our happiness. So I think, you know, adversity is an absolute gift that, that we can all find in whatever in different ways. It doesn’t have to be something you know, as intense or as going to war or something like that. But in any way you choose to seek out that adversity, you will find a lot of growth from that you can’t grow unless you you know, it’s the same thing like working out. I mean, when you put your muscles under stress, that’s how they become stronger, you know that and the recovery. But so it’s the same in the mind and the spirit, it takes that stress, it takes that challenge to to lead to that growth.
David Ralph [25:52]
He’s interesting, no isn’t a why we always think about happiness is from an outside source. When we we all know that it’s scientists, right? Yesterday morning, I spent a happy couple of hours with my grandson in our garden, so I hadn’t even gone anywhere. He was on a trampoline. And I was throwing a ball onto the trampoline. And he was catching it laughing and throwing it back. And we spent a couple of hours. And it didn’t cost me anything. It was just time I was totally present with him. But I felt really happy inside. And I know But no, you know, expensive holiday could make me any happier than that. You know, my happiest times actually, is when I’m driving along in my car. I’ve got the windows down breeze, and then a raid record comes on the radio and you turn it up, you know, it’s total free happiness. But we still think as you say, more money in the bank account bigger holidays bigger house, that’s what leads to happiness. But it doesn’t it just leads to comparison. And so miserable outlook, I would have said
Akshay Nanavati [26:54]
absolutely. Yeah. You know, I think that all my research and happiness and everything, that’s there’s two, two moments that lead to this, the greatest happiness and for us collectively is, is one is exactly what you were saying about connecting with the people we love. And you know, that human connection part of it. And the other is is this pursuit of a meaningful challenge. And, and often if that, you know that rest and recovery that comes with after that, in fact, there’s a great quote from one of the largest studies on happiness, he says, the best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times, the best moments usually occur when a person pushes his body and mind to their limits and involuntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile. That was one of the conclusions from this very, very large study on happiness with people all across the globe.
David Ralph [27:36]
But when do you know when you know, when do you know that is complete? as you were saying you’re writing the book? And do you think it can keep on going keep on going? When do people actually go? Yes, that’s finished? Because it’s never finished? Is it?
Akshay Nanavati [27:50]
Yeah, it’s a hard, you know, there’s no sort of one right way, it’s a hard thing to say that Okay, now, like even with the book, right, I could have kept working on it kept working on and kept working on it. You should we just set setting a deadline for yourself gives you that gives you that criteria to say okay, you know, I’m going to like I knew, for example, how, approximately how many words I wanted in the book, and and setting in that timeline. So eventually, you set those limits to yourself, and that forces you to, to prevent that endless, you know, striving for the next thing or and listen, you know, writing a book and can Yeah, there can be no end to it. So having that having those self imposed deadlines, gives you some sense, some, some passes, sort of aim for that completion. Because you can go on forever,
David Ralph [28:33]
when you can, and you all going on forever. Because you know, you’ve got a challenge at the moment you want to run a class, every country on Earth. Now, I don’t know how many countries out of 200 plus. And nowadays, there’s a you know, there’s a country bursting out every four minutes. You know, I spoke to a gentleman who was on the show back on episodes, I think 116 and 117, a while ago now called Graeme Hughes, and he was the first man to travel to every single country on earth. He said to me a couple of times, he got home, sat in the sofa, turned on the news and found a new country and started, so he had to sort of go back, so it’s never going to finish. So when did this challenge occur to you that you wanted to run across every single country
Akshay Nanavati [29:15]
soon after, you know, after kind of recovering from those low moments of post Iraq and the PTSD and all that, because what I had gotten to ultra running in Iraq, actually, I read this book ultramarathon man, my Dean Parnassus, and really inspired my desire to start, you know, training for ultras. And then I ran into this person and Australian Road Runner named Pat farmer, who ran from the north pole to the South Pole, averaging about two marathons a day for like 11 months. I mean, it was just insane what he did. And that kind of inspired me to come up with this lifelong mission of mine, because it’s one of those things that I don’t know, again, if I’ll finish every country or when I will, but the journey is itself the you know, it’s in that process isn’t that journey is the destination, not the end result. So inspired by some of these ultra running legends like came up with this, this, this idea to have this sort of lifelong mission to, you know, kind of channel my focus and energy into some purposeful action for the rest of my life. And it’s something it’s something I kind of put on the sidelines to finish my book. But the next year, I definitely am going to be getting back out there. I miss running and traveling the world and get a little burnt out. I’m staring at a computer screen now. So
David Ralph [30:22]
we’ve, you know, we’ve talked about a side of you, I’ve seen pictures of you building your business, so is your life. I wouldn’t say it’s lonely, but can it be very isolating?
Akshay Nanavati [30:35]
It is it actually definitely is like the author, you know, sitting staring and registering and is a very lonely, even right now my wife is actually not here she is in India as we speak. I’m here in New Jersey. So it’s definitely lonely. But I think that, you know, getting getting comfortable in solitude is is one of the greatest challenges that we I think ultimately, we all you know, no matter how many people we have around us, we’re all alone in our heads, right? So learning to embrace that solitude and finding peace in it is, is invaluable, but it’s hard for sure.
David Ralph [31:05]
I’ll tell you well, we’ve got something in common because my wife’s gone away for a few days as well. And we could have we could have met up in New Jersey, we could have hit the bars. We could have had some buffalo wings pulled gales it would have been brilliant. We we missed a trick on this. But I love it. Although I love it when she’s here. I love it when she goes away. I love being on my own. I love just pottering around with no one bothering me. I just I don’t know what it is about me. But I’m I am never ever lonely. And I never really watched TV. I don’t I don’t know what I do with me Tell him to be honest. It just kind of it just floats. But I think that’s one of the things that I bought about at the end on episode one. I remember saying to my first guest, do you ever get lonely building an online business? And he said no, never never. And I think it’s true, it is incredibly lonely. Because more often than not, you’re dealing dealing with challenges yourself. And a lot of them are city challenges where your website light goes down, and bass doesn’t work. And that doesn’t work. But there’s a world out there of people that are willing to reach out and help you you there’s such a community isn’t there?
Akshay Nanavati [32:10]
Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, and I love that, like you said with the with what you do, you know, in fact, recently, my greatest fear to that today and the one that I’m really working on engaging is stillness and just being still not having to like even finding that peace without having to do something. So it’s a challenge I’m currently working on but but like you said, there’s beauty in all on all those moments and, and so learning to embrace all of that.
David Ralph [32:33]
So So when you’re dragging a bloody great way across what was 190 pounds sled 350 miles across the world second largest polar ice cap room, there must be times when you think to yourself. Good. I could have sat on a sofa and watch Netflix. Why the hell did I choose this? Or was every second of every day and absolute dream? And you loved dragging that?
Akshay Nanavati [32:58]
No, definitely not. I think every worthwhile I’ve done in my life has had a moment where I questioned why I was doing it. And that’s usually a sign of me that you’re doing something meaningful with at least one moment in time you’re questioning. I mean, it was the same thing whether I was in the Marines, whether, you know, when I was in Iraq, whether it was writing this book, they were definitely moments where like this was this is awful, why am I doing this? But, but those are, those are the best moments, I think it’s important to experience that that’s again for the finding the gift and challenge. So Greenland was definitely hard. I mean, I definitely went through moments where like, this is this is a nightmare. Why am I out here? But there were also many, many highs in that in that process as well.
David Ralph [33:33]
So it was Greenland, you went to was it?
Akshay Nanavati [33:35]
Yep. Greenland was the second largest ice cap.
David Ralph [33:38]
I want to go to Greece, Greenland for two reasons. One, it’s a big white space on my my podcasting network. I’ve got listeners literally in every country. Greenland, no one not one person. So I’d like to go over there and actually ask a few people. What are you doing with your time out there? And also I saw that program. It wasn’t it wasn’t it was with Ben Stiller. What was that film? It’s out of my head.
Akshay Nanavati [34:06]
Oh, yeah, I know. You’re talking about it. Yeah, where the name
David Ralph [34:08]
come to me like a brain blister. But he went to Greenland. And it just seemed like going into a different world but also had a connection to us here. I’d it seemed fascinating to me.
Akshay Nanavati [34:21]
Yeah, it’s a beautiful, beautiful place. You know, I mean, definitely in the middle of like, in the middle between the two between the start and the end of the journey, there was just empty white nothingness. But in the start in the end, we get to see some variety and, and everything. But it was definitely a beautiful place. And I met met a lot of cool locals and interesting, interesting lifestyle that they said that they have some like one little the right at the end was this tiny little hunting village that we skied into, and they’re over there. They like they live off the land. So they hunt seals, they hunt polar bears, and really, really amazing though, so just definitely a beautiful place to check out. And the Secret Life of Walter Mitty
David Ralph [34:55]
that was it. That’s it. I’ll be honest, it didn’t pop into my head. I just googled it as we that was one of those films. It’s very much like your life really. It was a guy who decided to do stuff. And through one thing to another and you could watch that film, you could watch the Yes man with Jim Carrey is all about saying yes and actually getting off your backside. And I remember once actually, one of our friends went away and let the husband at home. And I used to run a pop quiz down our local pub. So I used to get up and do the the questions. And I said to him one day said, Oh, why don’t you come along and be part of the team? He went, Oh, yeah, yeah, I might do and I thought you I never turned up secretly. You’re never turn up. And then on the Monday, he walked in, and he got involved in a team. And I said to him afterwards, I said, I’m really surprised you turn out, you know, why did you turn up? And he said, because it was too easy to say no. And that really struck a chord with me that so many times we go on now, it’s not possible. But it’s always possible if we want it enough.
Akshay Nanavati [35:57]
Yeah, yeah, I couldn’t agree with you more, then working hard to make it happen. I love that rocky quote that you played earlier. And I listen to that on all my runs. So really resonate with that message. So so we will live
David Ralph [36:10]
now actually, well, where is it heading towards because you could literally go in any direction. And I was looking up and down your LinkedIn profile. And a lot of the things like a Marvel Adventures, human potential development and also fear of honor, they sort of they almost seemed like they were waiting for the Ivana to come along to hang it on. It seemed to me that that that was like your super talent suddenly where everything else was kind of what other people were doing. But now you found your being. And once you put your being he can take you into sort of any direction you want. Would that be back true?
Akshay Nanavati [36:47]
Very, very well put and couldn’t agree with you more? Yeah, I mean, so now fear Ivana is my thing, we’re actually going to be expanding Nirvana into different areas. So now that that’s sort of like what Sir Richard Branson is divergent. I want to be the fear of Allah. So we’re going to be the out of fear of on a Academy fear of on a foundation. I’ve already started a nonprofit called five one c three called the Fairmont Foundation, we’re going to be building out fear of on adventures fear Ivana, you know, expeditions, fear, mana camps, we’re on a festivals. So kind of taking fear mana into these different verticals. The next immediate one I’m going to be building out and focusing on next year is the fear bomb Academy, which will be an educational institution for the younger generation, to teach them these kind of life skills that they’re not learning in school. So give them the tools to live a happy and meaningful life, because we’re seeing a lot of young kids struggling today. So that the next immediate step is building on the fear of on Academy
David Ralph [37:34]
magazines stuff. And for the listeners out there. It’s all right for Akshay to savor, but he’s gonna have moments. I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know how to do this academy, I don’t know, how would you go about having all these ideas where you want to take it to here and you want to take it to me and everything you’re doing is new to you. So how do you create an academy when you’re sitting on your sofa going, this is what I wanted to Oh, bloody hell.
Akshay Nanavati [37:58]
I learned this from a business mentor of mine who put it beautifully and it really resonated. He said that commitment is the fuel and confidence is the reward. So we all look like okay, let me do this thing to get confident. But you can’t be confident something you haven’t done before. So you know, when we talked about in the early about celebrating wins, I use all the previous wins as confidence fuel, as you know, to build my confidence, but they become fuel for commitment. So like, I don’t know how to build this, they had me I’ve never done it before. So inevitably, I can’t be confident that something I haven’t done before, but what I can be as committed. And and that’s what this business mentor of mine taught me is that when you when you have this focus that you can just focus on being committed and confident with results. It was the same thing, even writing the book, right? Like, I mean, I had never written a book before. So I was nervous. I was I was scared. Did you know to channel that into some into meaningful action. And now I feel confident when I got the kind of endorsements that I’ve been getting for the book and the feedback I’ve been getting. So commitment was the fuel and confidence was the reward. And it’s the same thing how I’m approaching any new adventure in the future as well. So I said, Well,
David Ralph [38:57]
I can only describe it this way. So apologies in there’s kids listening, and then they go, what was he talking about mom and dad. But But you know, when you’re having your special cuddles, and you lead to that special place at the end, that makes it all worthwhile? Yeah, actually, you’re with me on here.
Akshay Nanavati [39:13]
Okay, I got you.
David Ralph [39:14]
Yeah, good good. In business, where where is that, that special end, what gives you the most satisfaction with everything you do, because we me, it’s interviewing the podcast, the interviewing, I can be really tired, I can be really exhausted. But once I stopped recording, I think I love this, I love this, I can’t get enough of it. where’s where’s your special end? You know,
Akshay Nanavati [39:35]
I love I think when you set you set many targets and you work to those targets. And then you keep creating the new new targets, you know, So currently, my, my special place that the target I’m working on is making sure my book hits the New York Times bestseller list. That’s the kind of goal. But I love public speaking, I love speaking a lot more than so I’m kind of funneling out of one on one coaching a little bit and doing much more public speaking because I enjoy all the speaking and you can also make a greater impact that way. So you know, that’s great, what I do is I set these little targets and then keep working towards them and, and in enjoying the journey. So like, I know, I didn’t want to do a TED talk, I want to you know, the next next phase, I did the India’s version of Ted, which was Inc. But next step is I want to do a TED talk. And once the book hits the New York Times list, then from there, I’ll come up with the next, the next one. And the next target to approach which will be a fear of Allah Academy will be the next immediate target.
David Ralph [40:21]
So So do you want to do multiple talks? Is that what we’re saying? Is the special end? Going into the multiples? Oh,
Akshay Nanavati [40:29]
yeah, I absolutely love talking, you know, public speaking, I’ve done a lot of it in in India and Singapore in the US. So I definitely want to do a lot lot more of that. That’s one of my favorite things.
David Ralph [40:39]
And when you are up on stage, he’s like, I want to stay up here forever. Don’t drag me. I just love this.
Akshay Nanavati [40:46]
Yeah, I love the high I love the impact you can make when you reach an audience, because with public speaking again, you can, you know, there’s there’s a greater scale than just sort of working one on one with people. So I love I love connecting with an audience in that way. And and when you can make an impact that way we can touch some lives. I mean, I’ll give you an example. I spoke at IIT in India recently. And it is one of the best schools in the world. And this kid came up to me and after the after the talk and said, you know, just two days before your talk, I was depressed, I was crying, I was struggling with anxiety. And your talk just changed my life. And that was the most meaningful thing, right? I mean, that’s what that’s that makes it all worth it. So that’s what I’m continuing to do, and hopefully make more of an impact in people’s lives that way.
David Ralph [41:25]
Well, let’s play some words. Now base was a tool that changed my life. And it’s changed many, many people’s lives as well Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs [41:32]
Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards. 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the country confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference.
David Ralph [42:06]
So I’ll a ton of words that when you listen to them, you think Wow, wow, they really resonate with my life.
Akshay Nanavati [42:13]
Yeah, that’s, I mean, I love that, that that quote and that talk from Steve Jobs as well. And when I mean just looking back in my own life, I mean all the dots you know, from getting from getting out of drugs watching Black Hawk Down that got me in the military, military then got me an outdoor sports. And then when I came back, I was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and hit you know, hit a point where I thought about taking my own life, how that eventually led me to fear Ivana and the concept of fear man, and the impact we’re making with it now. So it’s really been a beautiful journey, and how each, each step kind of flowed into the next one. And to bring me where we am to where I am today. And, and now where I’m continuing to pursue when the next challenge is that will continue to pursue.
David Ralph [42:48]
Now, I asked this question to everyone really, so you’re going to get it as well. But um, what would be the big thought that the moment that you think, yeah, out of all of them, I might have had many, many. But this was the big one that really sort of pointed me in the right direction.
Akshay Nanavati [43:03]
I would say it was it was when this idea when the label fear of Ana came in, like my wife actually coined that word. And, and that was the spark that’s that everything now is what I am. I mean, what what it’s my not just my brand, but it’s really the ethos that I live by the ethos that I, you know, want to serve others with. So sort of when she said that, I still remember when my wife said, We’d like to fear Yvonne, I was like, that is goal. Like that’s everything now. So and that was the sort of result of that when I really hit that low moment. And I thought about taking my own life just from from drinking and from the PTSD. And so it was a kind of coming out of that path when my wife coined that word for your mana. And now it’s Yeah, it’s everything.
David Ralph [43:43]
It’s amazing, isn’t it about a throwaway comment basically, that your wife made literally is the one one thing that everything can be tied onto my program here, it was just somebody gave me that Steve Jobs speech. And I read it, and it went into my and when I created the show, I thought I needed somebody to hook on our I’ll use that spear, it could have gone one way it could have gone the other way. But he just sort of stayed with me, it’s it’s amazing that these gifts come to you. But of course, you’ve got to be looking in the right direction, you’ve got to be ready to accept that. And that’s one of the problems in life that we’re all so busy looking at what other people are doing. We are not looking close to the enough and the gifts that surround ourselves.
Akshay Nanavati [44:26]
Which is why that stillness is such a beautiful thing to embrace and practice. It allows you to see what comes up within yourself when you you know sit still and not no TV, no music, no nothing just in that silence if that being still within yourself. It’s a it’s a hard thing to do. But it’s it’s beautiful. What what comes up as a result of that.
David Ralph [44:43]
Yeah, I spent two weeks in the Caribbean recently with nothing. And I talked about this a lot on the show, base my show so I can talk about why. And the first, maybe three or four days, five days, maybe I realized that I was slightly addicted to the Internet, and wanting to log on and wanting to get check and wanting to do. But once I got past, and I started just sitting on the beach, looking at the waves hours, were just passing and I wasn’t really thinking about anything. But I came back with a crystal clear plan of what needed to be done going forward. And I didn’t seek out it just kind of come to me and be enough. Oh, yeah, that’s a good idea. And then I spent a few days like letting it bounce back and forth. But I wouldn’t have got that without the silence, I need to disconnect. So if anything I that I’ve got to focus on and going forward is about disconnecting more and more. How can I create join up dots as a global brand? But meaning that I’m not online all the time? You know, but that’s a big, that’s a balance, isn’t it?
Akshay Nanavati [45:41]
Yeah, I mean, so one thing I do to kind of consciously practice that stillness, I actually learned this exercise from an endurance cyclist friend of mine, who this guy, he’s done the Race Across America, which was the one of the toughest endurance cyclists race in the world, he spent like 11, 1111 days with a total of 11 hours of sleep, I mean, just an amazing feat of mind, body and spirit. So he told me this exercise, what he does is he will sit still staring into a wall. So there’s no painting even like just empty wall. And he will do that for up to 24 hours and then go riding for 24 hours. So I don’t have the I mean, I’m not ready to do for 24 hours yet, I’ll probably lose my mind. But what I do is I’ll sit there still just staring into a wall, no TV, no music, nothing. And for up to an hour, you know, first time I did, it was 45 minutes. And then I try to increase by 15 minutes every week. So now you know, I’ll just sit there and stare to the wall for hour and a half and just allows me to consciously practice that stillness. And it’s really, it’s really challenging. I mean, the first time I did I was like, it’s my timer broken.
But it was it’s a beautiful, it’s a beautiful exercise.
David Ralph [46:36]
I’ve been with Robin looking at the sky, I’d look at us going Yeah, sure. Whoo, just gonna make me go mental.
Akshay Nanavati [46:45]
Right, yeah, I mean, it can be anything, right. So sitting in the garden, whatever it may be, but just really giving that space to silence your mind. And, and unlike meditation, though, which you know, meditation is you close your eyes and your anchor, your job is to anchor your, your your mind into your breathing or something like that there’s an anchor. In this case, I’m actually not anchoring it, I’m allowing my thoughts to go a little wild and seeing what comes up. So which is why it’s an interesting, it’s an interesting exercise. It’s a little unique from meditation.
David Ralph [47:11]
Absolutely, yeah, anything that can push you forward is is the way forward. And that’s what the word for word there. But we’re supposed to know, basically basis what we’ve been building up to. And this is the part of the show that we call the Sermon on the mic when we send you back in time to have a one on one with your younger self. And if you could go back in time and speak to the younger, Akshay, what age would you choose? And what advice would you give? Well, we’re going to find out because I’m going to play the theme. And when it fades you up, this is the Sermon on the mind
Unknown Speaker [47:46]
with the best of the show.
Akshay Nanavati [48:02]
Love that. So what I would do is I would go back to my 13 year old self, just moved to the US. And I would share that message that I’ve actually shared that I just recently heard that really triggered me in a very powerful ways that you can’t give birth to an adult. Embrace the challenges, feel, embrace the struggle, know that happiness is not something waiting for you when you get to the next step, the next step, the next step in the process of pursuing a meaningful challenge. And I would share that that message to my younger self is that you know you’re going to be you for the rest of your life. You’re going to go through moments where you’re gonna stumble, you’re going to fall and it’s okay embrace that that’s the path of fear of honor right? That’s what there’s gift in all your struggles. So really teaching that message that that you can’t give birth to an adult and there’s gift in struggle there’s there’s value in adversity, embrace all those challenges because they’ll make you a better you.
David Ralph [48:52]
Perfect advice. Perfect advice. So what’s the number one best way that our audience can connect with you sir?
Akshay Nanavati [48:58]
Fear Vonage calm. We’re actually right now even giving the book away for free. So you can just you know, just ask you to pay for shipping. There’s a lot of bonuses on there as well. And you can also reach me from fear of honor calm. I definitely intend to be one of those authors that’s very accessible and reachable. So anything you know, any questions anything at all, please feel free to reach out?
David Ralph [49:15]
Yeah, not like the bloody Dalai Lama email. Yeah, you got you gotta learn from from him. I think he’s too big for his own boots making you go through all that. Okay, well, we’ll let him off he is. Well, thank you so much for spending time with us today, joining up those dots. And please come back again, when you’ve got more dots to join up. Because I do believe that by joining up those dots and connecting our past is the best way to build our futures. Akshay, thank you so much.
Akshay Nanavati [49:44]
Thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed our conversation.
David Ralph [49:50]
I thought he was brilliant, really, really enjoyed that guy, just embracing the theme. And it’s not easy. It’s not easy. As I say, I’m scared of things. I’m scared of financial investment. I’m scared of a lot of stuff. But you know about the great stuff is the episode of fear, all the things that you do. It’s like when you go up to that girl or that boy on in the dance or whatever. And you sort of actually asked them out? And they say yes. And then you realize that that would never have happened, but it’s terrifying. And what’s the worst that could happen? They’re gonna say no, not, I’ve got boyfriend or girlfriend now I’m not interested. And then you just walk away, he’s not gonna kill you. And that’s the thing with most fears, there’s very, very few fears that will actually kill you. And you’d be perfectly right to be scared or something like that, you know, getting a sea full of eating sharks. Perfectly scared. Yeah, except that but everything else in life or the majority of things. It’s not it’s just us making them bigger than they are. Actually he’s doing amazing stuff. And I’m sure that every single person listening to this show will go out and do amazing stuff. If you do take on the challenge or you want to change your life, whatever. Drop us a line drop us an email, tell us what you’re doing and we destiny will respond to you. But we love the fact that these words these conversations are making a difference in your life. until later, speak again soon Cheers. Bye
Outro [51:09]
David doesn’t want you to become a faded version of the brilliant self you are wants to become. So he’s put together an amazing guide for you called the eight pieces of advice that every successful entrepreneur practices, including the two that changed his life. Head over to join up dots.com to download this amazing guide for free and we’ll see you tomorrow on join up dots.
