 Today I'm excited to be with Bev Roberts, a well-being transformation coach and we're going to talk about exactly that. How do we maintain well-being as we build our business, especially since so much of it can cause exhaustion and tiredness. So first Bev, thank you so much for being here. It's great to be with you. Thanks for the opportunity, George. Yeah, absolutely. So Bev, let me share your bio with the audience and then I know you have a slideshow to share with us. So I look forward to that. Bev Roberts is the founder of Living Fabulously and works with women in business who experience frustrating exhaustion that a good night's sleep doesn't seem to be fixing. She has a master's degree in behavioral change and strategy and Bev enjoyed a career as award-winning and board certified executive and ran her own six-figure change leadership consulting business. She prioritized everyone else's successes in the company she worked with but successfully ignored her own health which resulted in an invisible illness and Bev has dedicated the last five years to retraining as an integrative health coach using ancient wisdoms to heal herself holistically and to help others. And she's written a book called Hope in a Dark Tunnel that teaches you the techniques to navigate your way to becoming a well-being. So that's great. So Bev, I know you've got some great slides to share with us. So I'll let you take it away and then I'll come in with some questions here and there. Thank you George. What I wanted to do was to ask a question first and have you ever had to reset everything in your life, you know, where everything changed? And often that's how we approach our well-being. We think we have to change everything once and that happened to me when I migrated to Australia over 20 years ago. My life, my work, everything in my world changed and it was pretty overwhelming. So what I want to talk to you about today is how you can rather focus on a well-being transformation that actually allows you to prioritize health and business because often we think it's only one or the other. So let's get started with this. So a lot of times when people come to me, they've decided that they've had enough, you know, they say enough of all of this, whatever's going on for them. They've also been trying a lot of things and it's not working. So they become shut down because when you're doing too many things and you don't know which one's not working or which one is working and you know that that approach is unsustainable. And I completely understand because a lot of clients come to me with this big shopping list of things that they're doing. And yes, I can understand why they can't prioritize their health because they'd be spending all day doing these things. And I'm sorry, Bev, to jump in, if I may, what are some of the things that you noticed your clients were doing that wasn't helping them? Well, a lot of times it will be a trending diet or it will be some top supplement that everybody's sprucing at the moment. Or it will even be things that because they don't really know what's wrong with them, they're using either forms of food, you know, particular foods that are not helping their situation. So it can be a myriad of things, but often they're doing a lot of things. It's not that they haven't tried things. Yeah, that's helpful to know. Yeah. Yeah. And I guess the question you want to ask yourself is if you were truly healthy, what would it mean for your life and business? And sometimes we take sub normal as our new normal. I know that's why I was starting to do that. I was so successful in my career, but yet I was successfully killing myself day in and day out by not taking care of myself. And I think one of the things that for me was when I stopped and reflected on this question, it meant that I would be able to choose what I could do without the constraints of what my body dictated. And I realized then that if I didn't take care of my body, my mind and my soul, then the laugh and the joy would be sucked out of me. So that was important to actually make a response around this question. But sometimes people think there's a little voice in the head says, but I wonder if I'm ever going to feel like me again, because for so long, you've grappled with sometimes minor ailments, but sometimes major illness, and it feels like it's insurmountable. But I'd like to invite you today just to create a clean slate and forgive yourself for what's happened in the past, because that's what can be holding you back at times as well. And I know that it's not always easy to make a decision that's for your long term and in your highest good. But because sometimes you don't know if it's going to take you away from your business and the things that you passionate about, or even to do it by yourself, but I know that you are worth every single small step that you take towards health and well-being. And we, you mentioned this just now, George, is what have you tried to resolve your well-being issues? And I'm asking this question without blame or judgment. What we want to understand is that we've normally gone through the shopping list, you know, we've been to one person and they say, do this, and then we go to somebody else and they say, Oh, do that. And eventually you get so confused by what's going on that you could have tried going gluten free for a while. You could have tried using massage to manage your stress and so on. So if you recognize that you may be doing a lot of things, but not all of them may be helping. And it's just without blame. Just make a list of those things so they get clear on what you've tried. Because I think one of the biggest problems is when we've done a lot of things, our mindset actually holds us back from what we really want. Because before we even see the opportunity presenting to us, we'll think things like, I've tried that and it didn't work. Or I've done all the things. Or even sometimes it's so confusing. I get told by one person to do this. And yet, you know, we stop listening to our bodies and our internal wisdom. And I think for me, that's where the crux is, is that we get held back. We get stuck in that space. So how can you be kind to yourself? How can you say, yes, I may have slipped up and yes, I may be going back a little. But we won't be going to the point where we give up so that you're going to feel awful forever. I think it's so key here is that if you keep using Monday as the universal day to change your health and well-being, it's not going to happen. And what I'd encourage you to do instead is look at the small steps. What are the small steps where you can be kind to yourself? And in the moment, make a better choice. Because somebody like Marie Kirkpatrick, one of my clients, her health challenges always seem too hard. And she kept thinking she would sort it out in the future until it held her back in her business. And that's human nature. We often wait until things are pretty bad on the bad scale before we actually take it because we normalize it. We normalize how tired we are. We normalize how we get stomach ache every time we eat things. So we don't actually understand what our bodies are trying to tell us. And we also justify why things exist. And I know that I did that we justify why things happen. The second problem I see so commonly is that we get lured into quick fixes for deep health issues. And I think it's because there's a lot of advice and information. So Dr Google is prevalent. Everyone uses Dr Google and the embass can sometimes be conflicting. I think the other thing is we are wired to look for the easy lazy option. And so we often then look for a fix that's less disruptive to our lives. If you've seen programs, they'll say things like 21 day total body transformation or 12 week body transformation, something that's for a fixed start and a fixed end date. And I guess the question is, did it work for you and did the results last and one program that comes to mind whenever I think about this problem is the biggest loser? I don't know if you've ever watched that show. But basically, it's it's almost like an experiment. They put people in a certain set of conditions for three months. And the results are amazing. But people without exception almost there's a few exceptions to the what I'm saying is a few very few of them can maintain the rigid, strict lifestyle that they have on the show. So they go home and then life happens like it always does with all of us. And they can't maintain it. And so for me, quick fixes do not work. They just don't work. So the question is, what do you want? You want to keep using a whole lot of quick fixes, you know, maybe many things that you're doing, putting band-aids on things, or would you rather have a well being transparent information that really changes your lifestyle? And that to me is something that's really key for us to understand. Because it's not necessary changing everything. It's doing the basics well, and doing them consistently. So it's a long term decision. It's not just for this moment decision. And yes, we are faced with things. So if you're going out socially, you may be faced with dessert, which you don't have at home. So the decision in the moment is is what I want most worth giving up for what I want right now. And, you know, pausing before you pick up that dessert. But if you choose to eat the dessert, then savour it, enjoy it and, you know, then put it down and don't go back to the dessert again. So it's those kind of things because we have Dr Libby here in Australia, and she has this beautiful saying that says, you are precious, laugh is precious, and so treat yourself accordingly. So it's not about rigidity. It's not about over governing or ruling what you do. Take what's working for you, even if it feels really small, like let's say drinking enough water every day. So the human body is about 65% water. Hydration is absolutely critical to the normal functioning and the functioning of your brain. So even if you were to drink enough water every day, you would be winning. So just think that the small things you could do consistently. And Miranda is another client of mine who shared with me that she was tired of her own beers because she wasn't taking action. And she had all the reasons why things weren't so bad on the bad scale for her. And honestly, within a week, things changed for the better because she made a decision and she started to prioritize drinking water every day. And you could actually see it was visible to see the changes. And then she's kept on making these small step changes that fit in with her lifestyle. She's a busy mum with a young family, but she's fitting all those in and she's transforming her health and well-being. So it's really possible to do. Another problem that I see is we find that the normal overhaul, you know, so like I meant, you know, fresh start, new year, we just, you know, been through a new year recently. Because what happens is we go for this flash and crash approach. And we white knuckle our way. And there's a trauma attached to that. Because it's perfection. And we have this fixed sort of start and end date. And often we end up in this space where we're comparing our results to someone else's. Even though we probably subconsciously know that our body is unique. And so is our response to those situations unique. So we, you know, guilt ourselves and blame ourselves that we're not getting the results of others are. And I just wanted to explain this approach because often, you have where you are now where you want to be and perfection sits in the middle oftentimes, because it's sheer willpower that you're using to get there. And sometimes the question is, do you even finish? Because would you ever have a perfect 21 days or perfect 12 weeks to do just one thing or something, you know, specific? Because I think if you've recognized anything in life, anything ongoing, you know, in your heart, there's no end date to looking after yourself, your health and your well being. And what I see so often is that people don't know what to do when they finished. And so they drop right down and they worse off than where they are now, because they can't focus on sustainable change. And as a woman, the stress of doing this actually makes things worse. We respond much more quickly to stress through our hormonal systems than what men do. And let's say, for example, at the moment, people are doing things like fed fast. So fed fast is where you abstain from something, you choose the something normally it's alcohol, or some people do sugar. And they basically go cold turkey on that for the month. And it is a good thing to raise funds with. But it's it's also, I see the problem with it, is that you end up with the guilt and the blame yourself, because you're not getting the results you wanted. And so you start self sabotaging. But the reality is it's not your fault, because all the stress increases inflammation in the body, but it also disrupts your hormones. And so part of that process is disrupting your hunger and satiety hormones, which means that you end up with cravings. And that's why people end up worse off. I guess the other thing I think is is taking ownership. And it's important to understand that every choice you've made until today, all the lifestyle choices you've made has got you the outcomes and results that you're expecting now. And I hope that you can see that what you may have been doing up until now doesn't work. So you need a different way to transform your health to make it part of your lifestyle. And I know that there's always a time and place for a deep health transformation. And sometimes it can only be achieved are completely detoxing and cleansing from things. For example, I mentioned sugar, alcohol, gluten, all of those type of things. Because it does create a breakthrough and a shift in the body. And both your mind and soul because, you know, yes, we are a body, we have a body, but we are all the integration of our body, mind and soul. And so Tash-Korban needed a personalised and sustainable approach to her health. She had to stop prioritising kickstart her transformation with a retreat. But honestly, what if you don't have time to go away and do a retreat to prioritise your health? What can you do right now? What are the small things that you can do? I mean, there's no point drinking one five knots a week and then saying, at some point, I'm going to go and retreat. And yet you're making your liver and your hormones worse and worse. So the transformation also does happen after the retreat because you set up for success knowing what to prioritise. So it's about making the decision now. How important is my health and wellbeing to me? George inferred at the beginning with the intro that I actually had put everybody else's success ahead of my health. I lost that six-figure business because I was too unwell to work and had to recreate my life and retrain to get well. I don't wish that for anybody. So it's stopping and taking stock and making sure that you have the ability to have the freedom of choice of what you want to do. And what I see as my reality around wellbeing transformation with my clients is accepting that the progress is not linear, but you are still moving forward. Even if you have, let's say, a dessert, it's not one dessert that's going to make a problem. It's having dessert every night, for example. But also believe in consistency, not perfection. Because it's what you do, it's your small habits every day that's going to take you towards the health and wellbeing that you want. And also having proactive strategies that keep you moving forward. So, for example, when clients of mine have decided that they're going to cut back on alcohol, because a lot of them aren't ready to give up alcohol, they feel like, oh, it wouldn't, you know, I don't want to do that. It's too hard. But what we do is work out some strategies before they socialise. So, for example, making sure that even before they go out, using sparkling mineral water as their first drink, and then maybe deciding if they will have a glass of wine or bubbles, they'd have it with a meal so that the effect of sugar alcohol is not so bad. So those kind of things, thinking ahead, having a strategy that will support you to overcome any obstacle that you're facing, and then making those daily micro decisions, what is going to happen for today, for this meal, for this moment? As I mentioned earlier, stop and ask yourself, is this in my highest good right now? Or is it actually going to take me further away from what I really want? And that just those steps supporting you is going to help you to focus on what's important to you and balance your business. Because this is what we do in business. We don't just decide we're going to whimsically do something and then, you know, do that. We have a strategy, we have a plan of action, we execute that plan and we review it. But sometimes, yes, things don't go according to plan, and we adapt. And that's exactly what you can do with your health and wellbeing and integrate that. And I love, Georgia, that you always teach about how you integrate your health and wellbeing in your calendar as your priorities. So I know that you love to nap. So napping, for example, is the best way to recharge your brain and allow it to actually synthesize all the things that have come before. So it's important that you can find the things that work for you to move you forward. And I guess some of the decisions may be what I need to shift forever. So for example, if you recognize that gluten really makes you feel ill, that might be a forever choice. Yet there might be some things at 95% of the time you're going to do. So, you know, what, what would it take for you to make those decisions? And the other thing I recognize is how do you know what to focus on? You know, what's the priority? It's not about changing everything at once. And here's a shopping list of typical issues my clients are dealing with. And sometimes they overlap. So it's no use trying to do everything at once. It's what's the most urgent? What's the priority for you right now? And then it gives you the opportunity to say, well, what do I know what's really going on? What do I need to be able to complete this? What do I need to be able to do that? And I think the best way I can illustrate this is to just show you an example quickly. So if you looked at this woman, what would you observe? And I'll give you a clue. It's around the eye area. It's a little reddish, I guess. Yes, there is a little bit of redding. Yeah. Anything else? Not sure. Okay, let me, let me point out. Oh, okay. For women, thinning of the outer eyebrows is, so what I do is I use visual analysis and it's an ancient technique that because the body actually shares everything through the face. And so what I can tell from this one, the first thing I notice is she's got a thinning outer eyebrow, which is indicative of a thorough dysfunction. And then around the nose area can see it's slightly darker, just under the eye, and that indicates liver congestion. So sometimes we start these things and we don't really know what we're dealing with. And I guess find out what your body is trying to tell you. Find the support if you don't know if it's not obvious to you what the problem is and then create a plan to start eliminating what drains you and doing more of what recharges you. And this is how I work with clients is because it's no use trying to say to somebody, for example, that particular example, oh, we need to fix your thyroid and we need to fix your liver, that will be overwhelming. So we might start with, you know, getting their gut health sorted, eating foods that support the thyroid and clean the liver at the same time. So they won't even realize that actually we're doing three things at once because we're just saying, eat more of these foods, eat less of these foods. So that's a way that I work. And the other thing that I mentioned earlier was creating a plan of attack to deal with obstacles. And this is how you can get a surefire well-being transformation, George. Wonderful. Thank you so much, Bev. And you work with people in different ways. You work one to one with some of your clients. And coming up, you actually have an online experience, an online course and a group program, a mastermind to help people stay accountable to taking the actions, because if they're not consistent, as we know, it becomes yet another thing they tried. So the consistency is really key. So tell us about that upcoming program. Yes, what I did is I asked people what their priority was. And obviously, like I said to you, sometimes we don't know the priority. But the number one thing that came out was that they got help and digestive issues were a problem. So I created Oh My Good Gut, which is a four week mastermind and course so that people can actually understand step by step and move with small habits. There's a new little habit each week that we build upon so that you know the type of foods that are great for your gut, the ones that are not so good for your gut that you want to try and minimise. And then it gives people opportunity to build habits. And by the end of four weeks, they're doing four things that are sustainable and something that they can continue doing post the four weeks. That's great. Oh My Good Gut, that's the name of the program. There will be a link, of course, in the notes of the video. So check it out for those of you interested. Bev, you also are consistently sharing information on Facebook and other places. So I will be sure to link those in the notes of the video. Thank you so much for your presentation today and for inspiring us about what's possible. And is there anything you want to share kind of words of encouragement as we as we complete this interview? Yes, start where you are today and focus on one thing. It's great. Thank you. That's very wise to share. Thank you so much, Bev. I look I hope that those who are watching will check it out. Either your your program, Oh My Good Gut that's coming up or some of the other links that will be in the notes of the video. So thank you, Bev. Thank you so much, George.