Our next speaker, her name is Lizzie Williamson and she's going to be talking to us really about how we can stay strong physically and mentally and how we can get through all the different challenges that our business is going to naturally throw our way. So she now speaks around the world. She's known as the excuse buster from Down Under and you'll hear about her background in a few moments time, but she basically helps business owners and entrepreneurs and people in the corporate world to get unstuck, to sort out their mindset stuff, but to get physically fit from the inside out. She talks a lot about energy and energy is something that is really important. If you don't have, you know, good energy, you're going to find it hard to actually do much else. She's going to be talking a little bit about biochemistry as well and neuroscience and how to change some of your behaviors and habits and basically how to get rid of or remove any of the excuses that might be holding you back on your journey to business success.

So this is going to be an energetic, dynamic presentation. So I know we've been through a lot over these past few days, but this is just our last final session. So make sure we're not only going to be receiving lots of energy, but we want to be giving lots of positive energy back to our speaker as she comes up on the stage. So ladies and gentlemen, one more time, let's put our hands together and give it up for our final speaker, Lizzie Williamson. So if you didn't guess already. I used to be a professional dancer. The dancers in the room. So I danced around the world, doing the can-can at casinos and this chorus line, Roulon Rouge style dancing on cruise ships.

I've actually got a photo to show you of me dancing on cruise ships. And yes, you can see they had us dancing with those cruise ships on our head. So what I thought we would do today, Dale didn't mention it, but what would be really fun and team building is I thought what we would do by the end of this session, I'm going to have you all have learnt this Roulon Rouge style routine. I'm going to bring out some of these cruise ships to put on your head and we're going to perform it together. Sound good? Oh, wow. Okay. I was just kidding. But about 80% of you were like, yes, this is such a great group. About 20% of you were like, oh gosh, I'm running out the door right now. We are not going to be doing that. Oh, but what we are going to be doing is something that I know personally can have a profound impact on your life. Because staying mentally strong, thriving under pressure, who doesn't want that? And everyone here probably already knows things that you could be doing to staying mentally strong, thriving.

Look it up if you don't. Just get on AI, type it in, all the information's there. We can exercise more, be mindful, meditation, connect with others, manage stress, all of the things. We know it, but the thing is so much of the time we don't do it. And this is this knowing, doing gap. And I know this gap so well, because about 17 years ago, I found myself at this really rock bottom place. I had postnatal depression. I knew that there were things that could help me feel better. I knew if I could get myself to exercise, that was so good for my mental health. If I could get myself to dance, I used to love to dance, if I could get to do that would be so great. But I couldn't get myself to do it. It felt so, so hard.

So this session is actually about closing this knowing and doing gap. And we're going to do that in three ways. First up is our mindset, and come up with a different mindset that can help all this become so much easier. Second, we're going to get into motion, because motion is action, and we want to make action a whole lot easier for you, even on those days where it feels impossible. And then the third step, this magical word, we're going to work out how to build some momentum and make it stick and make this a sustainable part of your life, your work, and your business. I feel like if I had known this, what I know now, back then, my life, things in my family would have looked very different.

Now speaking of different, we're not going to do the cruise ship stuff, but we are going to run this session a bit different from maybe your typical sit down and listen session. I am going to be getting you to move, to interact, to talk to each other, to share stuff, and I know because I've done this, doesn't matter if it's an audience of 10 people, 10,000 people all around the world, some people are like, yeah, great, we can do that. And then there's some other people out there, when they hear the word and get up and move, they're like, oh, no, they got the movement person, I hate it when they get us to move, it's so embarrassing. So if this is you, I'm going to give you some really good reasons today why those groans are going to turn to thank yous. And I'm going to give you a chance in a moment to let out your biggest groan, but before we do that, can I see your hands for a moment up like this, and if you could, on a scale of zero to 10, where are you at right now with your energy? Okay, it's been a big few days, but yeah, we've got some 10, I reckon we've got an average out there about seven.

So remember that number, because what we're going to do today, this mindset, it changes your story. Emotion changes your state, your energy, and momentum, it changes your results. So I'm going to ask you now to get up and move, but before we do, on the count of three, I'm going to let out your biggest groan to the person next to you. And if you're excited about getting up and moving, I want you to groan anyway to the person next to you, the groaner, and if you get someone's back, just groan anyway, the biggest groan, you ready? One, two, three. Okay, we're going to stand on up now, if you can, there we go, pushing your chairs in, look up the back there, we've already got some dancers. All right, we are going to take a walk around your table, and we're going to walk clockwise around your table, clockwise, people, clockwise, you can do it, that's it. When you see somebody, I want you to give them a high five, high five them, tell them what a great job they are doing, high five here, woo, on the count of four, we're going anti-clockwise, one, two, three, four, anti-clockwise, whoa, that's it, high five, you're doing such a great job, woo, yes, great job everyone, woo, high five there, high five, clockwise, clockwise, go the other way, clockwise, woo, clockwise, hello, woo, yay, hey, anti-clockwise,

go, anti-clockwise, woo, brilliant, all righty, go back to your chairs now, woo, back to your chairs, take a big round of applause, look at you all there, hands on up now, and where are you at with your energy, scale of zero to ten, let's see them, oh my gosh, ten out of ten, jazz hands everybody, who here felt a shift in their own energy, yeah, who here felt a shift in the energy of the room, who here is completely exhausted now, okay, I'm going to be keeping an eye on you guys, so you can see how a small moment like that, I mean, how long was that, a couple of minutes, how it felt great, we can know this and not do it, because so many of us, and I have been there too, are stuck in this mindset, this mindset, well, if it can't look this certain way, say for today, you normally take a walk, and it's a 45-minute walk, and you go this certain track, and you wear your certain active wear, and you can normally go 45 minutes, but today, say you couldn't do it, so what happens, so many of us, when it can't look this perfect way, that we think things like exercise, meditation, self-care, all of the things, if it can't look this perfect way, then what do we do, nothing, it's this mindset of all or nothing, and this was the mindset

that I was so stuck in back when I had postnatal depression, because I couldn't just walk out the door whenever I wanted to anymore, and go to that certain exercise class I wanted to do, I felt so exhausted, I felt so hopeless, and when I went and saw my doctor, which took me a very long time, because I felt really ashamed about the fact that I wasn't coping, I went and saw her, and she said to me, when you get on a plane, you know what they tell you, in an emergency, to put your oxygen mask on first, before assisting others, that's one of the things that you have to do, this is an emergency, and it's probably something that maybe you need to hear as well, but my mind's like, well, when I got home, I just thought, yeah, but what could that possibly be, because I don't have the time or the energy, it all just felt so hard, and then I was there at my kitchen bench, and there's something about being there in this moment, having seen my doctor, her telling me what I was experiencing with postnatal depression, giving me my treatment options, giving me that advice, and I was there at my kitchen bench, and something about it reminded me when I was back at my ballet bar, any dancers in the room know a ballet bar, it's like a long circle piece of wood, and you spend hours on it, as a dancer, and I was there at my kitchen bench, I said to

myself, just move, and I turned my feet out, and I cannot believe now telling you this, how hard this felt for me to do, but I got myself to do this plie, and I said, do another one, so I did another one, and all I could get myself to do was this couple of minutes of plies, and that was the moment that changed everything, because what I started to see slowly was that I was waiting, waiting for the big moments, the big time out of time, having the big energy to take any type of action, and that little moment there actually gave me this small sense of achievement, of hope, here was something that I could do, so that became my lifeline, this two minutes, and then I started sharing it with other people, and then social media came to be, and started doing the work I do, and what I realized was that I was not alone in being stuck in this mindset, that it has to be the big thing, otherwise it doesn't count, what we want to do is turn this all or nothing into all or something, something is so much better than nothing, now your situation might look very different from mine back there, when I was in that rock bottom place, but as I was talking,

maybe something came into your mind about, there's something that I am procrastinating on, that I am stuck with, maybe it's something on my New Year's resolution list that I'm not doing, and you're giving yourself all these reasons why you're not doing them, there's this voice in your head saying, I don't have the time, I don't have the money to do it, I'm too lazy, I can't get motivated, the weather is so bad, that's usually when we're in Melbourne, I can't have no confidence, I don't feel like it, all the list goes on and on and on in your head, that is your excuses voice, so we are going to do something quite fun now, has anyone seen this movie Ghostbusters? Yeah, okay, so as you heard, I've been dubbed by the US media as the excuse buster from down under, and it sounds so much better in an American accent, so I'm going to get you to turn to someone next to you, find your pair, and you're going to turn to them and say, hi excuse buster from down under, and then you're going to turn to the other person and say, hi excuse buster from down under, you ready, go, best American accents, yes, yes, so excuse busters from down under, your new title, think about those top three excuses, reasons, challenge, obstacles, you always tell yourself, when it comes to those things on that list that you know can help you feel mentally and physically stronger,

you know it helps you thrive in your work day, but you're not doing it because of all those reasons you're giving yourself, and what we're going to do is we are going to whack those excuses out of each other, as I mentioned, excuse buster from down under, what do we do in down under? We like to whack away the flies, so I am going to invite you all to be your very own excuse busters from down under, and give each other a whack on the count of three, can I see the whackers people? Okay, we've got some whackers in the room, you're going to hand them out here, your ones are extendable by the way, so if there's someone behind you who's got a really good excuse, you can give them a good whack, now when I do this in America, I have to say very gently, little whack here, but this is Australia, so you can just give each other a big whack, they're very soft, so here's how this is going to work, once you have your excuse whacker, you are going to turn to your new excuse buster buddy, and the person with the most hair is going to start with the excuses, okay, so make sure you've got a whacker, if you haven't, raise your hand and we'll get a whacker to you, over on this table, so with your excuse buster buddy, if you don't know them very well, maybe you just whack the table, you know, you guys know what to do, so you're going to say this, I just don't have the time, and your excuse buster buddy is going to say, just do two minutes, whack, oh, but I just can never get motivated, just do two minutes, give them a whack, I just never feel like I can afford it, whatever, just do two minutes, whack,

okay, so are you ready, on the count of three, one, two, three, go excuse busters from down under, do you need a whacker, oh, there you go, give a whack, another one, alrighty, make sure you're swapping over excuse busters, who had a really great excuse buster from down under, who had a really great whacker, up the back there, okay, do you want to stand up with your friend there, next to you there, okay, turn around this way, we'll get some microphones over here, alrighty, are you ready, you've got your whacker, so you've got your, you're going to say your excuse, and you're going to do the whacking, you're getting whacked, then we can swap it over, you're going to have to do it in your biggest voices, are you ready, yeah, just shout it out, and what do you say, just do, yeah, do it, do two minutes, there we go, another excuse, what have you got,

someone else has probably just done it better, but you can do it too, yes, just do two minutes, yes, big round of applause here for these excuse busters, who else has got a great excuse buster with them, yes, oh, you guys over here, you too, yeah, yeah, I can just tell, I've got the vibe that we had, really great, so, you're the excuse buster, yeah, so you're going to say, give her a whack and say, just do two minutes, yeah, you know it, okay, you've got it, okay, you ready, alright, she already hit me twice, what's your excuse, I'm too tired, like I'm tired, it's been a long day, just give her two minutes, yeah, beautiful, thank you everybody, anyone else have a good excuse that they keep telling each other, yes, over here, thank you, sorry, alright, is it you two, up you get, okay, who's the excuse buster, you're the excuse buster, okay, let's hear it, it is too wet outside to go for a walk, just give her two minutes, yeah, beautiful, so why do you think that two minutes would be so much better than no minutes, oh, here we go, can I grab a mic, here we go, hold on a moment, it gives you momentum, gives you momentum, yeah, why do you think you get that momentum, because you just started, starting is the hardest part, thank you, over here, you were saying something,

I was just going to say if you start with two minutes then you end up doing 20 minutes and then before you know it you've completed the task, so true, thank you, yes, how much more achievable does two minutes in your mind sound to 30 minutes or 60 minutes, so much more, anyone else got a reason why, yes, over here, thank you, it just reduces the friction between the monumental thing you have to do, it's just that two minutes just takes away that friction, so it's just easier to execute, yes, exactly, thank you, brilliant, was there someone over here that had something they wanted to share as well, over there with the leopard skin, you look like, okay, can we all let out a big groan for the person here that doesn't want to say anything, one, two, three, okay, your turn, why do you think that something would be so much better than nothing, why would two minutes be so much better than no minutes, do you think, just to gain momentum, gain momentum, absolutely, all right, big round of applause, the other, it's kind of like when you've got that marathon in front of you that you're having to do and this idea of if you could just get yourself off the starting line sometimes, how that just starts to what we all talked about here, build that momentum, the other thing that happens in that two minutes, did you feel it when we took that walk around the table and you felt that shift of your state, of your energy and what happens with our body's biochemistry, we actually create this shift in us in those two minutes, that is such a massive part that you learn

as a cruise ship dancer, this idea of changing your state and how your state matters so much to the energy that you bring and the performance that you give, so let me just go back to this cruise ship dancer story for a moment because it might sound quite glamorous but in fact, it's quite the opposite because here we are out on the high seas, has anyone been on a cruise ship here? Yeah, okay, so you know it, you're out there having this wonderful time but as a dancer, you're backstage and you have been on this cruise ship for months and months and months now and backstage here and there's gold feathers and sequins flying and it's chaotic with costume changes and there's magicians and contortionists, you're not allowed to look that side of the room because they'll give away their trade secrets and it's kind of the last thing I feel like doing, getting out onto that stage and I know that my audience that awaits me, well, you've been on a cruise ship, you know, probably expecting a good old show, you've got high expectations, you've paid a lot of money to be on this ship, you've probably had one too many pina coladas looking around this room, that might be the case, so it's like, oh, I don't know what is going to be happening with this audience and then of course, I am on the high seas in high heels, so I never know when I get out on that stage, sometimes it's smooth sailing and all goes really well and other times when I'm there, I never know when that ship is going to rock, sometimes it's when I'm in the middle of that pirouette or that high kick

and I don't know whether I'm going to land on my feet or my face, but the show must go on. Now, how does this possibly relate to your workday because, I'm not sure, because I imagine you're backstage, no sequins, no feathers in your office, maybe something goes on on Friday I don't know about, probably your version of your backstage in your workday probably can feel pretty chaotic, there's a lot going on in your head, in your business and there's days where you probably do not feel like getting out there for your audience, for those people that you are talking to, your team, your colleagues, your clients, hopefully not intoxicated, but I imagine they've got very high expectations of you. And your stage, this is where you do all your forward-facing stuff, your meetings, your calls, when you're out there, probably not on a rocking ship, but I imagine that there are days where you probably feel like you're on one and you never know when that ship is going to rock and you're navigating that uncertain conditions and navigating constant change.

What we know as performance is that backstage here, that state that we get ourselves into, has such a massive impact on our audience and on our performance. That state, that energy we bring has such a big difference to our results and how we can lift everyone up around us. So how do we do all this on those days that feel pretty rocky, when you're under pressure? How do we make this meaningful in your life, all those things that we looked up, how to stay mentally strong and thrive? Well, here is how we're going to do it. Because imagine you're stuck in the mud, right? And you're there going, oh gosh, I just got to get out of this mud. Can you think your way out of the mud? No? What do you have to do? You've got to move your way out of the mud. You don't think your way out of stuck, you move your way out of stuck. And we're going to do this by building together a toolkit.

And this is a toolkit of two-minute moves, which you can easily implement into your workday. So to start it off, the first move that we're going to do in here, our first tool that we've got, anyone ever find themselves in front of their computer, sitting in the same position for hours and hours and hours? Anybody? Yeah? And then what happens when you get up and you just, anyone feel those crunches, those creaks as the body is so achy, yes? You think, right, okay, well, I can't go out and do a yoga class or I'm not going to go and roll a yoga mat and do some downward dogs in my office. So what can you do? Well, there's a study that shows that intermittent stretching throughout your workday decreases your risk of musculoskeletal pain and injury by 72%. Small moments of stretching.

So I'm going to show you some moves that you can do. And some of these moves, no one will even know that you are exercising at work. I've got some things that you can do here that are not embarrassing for all the grown-ups out there, but a beautiful way to keep your body, get it unstuck out of that same position. Yeah? Sound good? So simply what we're going to do is hit the music and we're going to turn your head to one side and then turn your head to the other side. Imagine you have been staring at that computer in the same way for hours. Turn your head, yes, like someone said something really interesting to you. Oh, yes, that sounds amazing. Stretching out the back of your neck there. Now shrug your shoulders up and roll them on back. Whoa, I can hear a few crunches and creaks from up here, people. Roll them back here. Great. Now you're going to know the answer. So raise your arm. Yes, I know it. I know it. And then the other side there. There we go. Stretch it on up here. If you remember one stretch from your day, make it this one.

Your lower back loves it when you extend out the side of your body. Yes, beautiful. Okay, imagine now someone's called out behind you and you're going to go one side and then the other side there. Yes, stretching out your spine. Your spine loves it when you do this. Okay, now imagine that you have drops and pens on the ground. We're all going to go to the right and drop, pick it up, and up. Now if you're watching this at home, I hope you're doing this as well. So down to one side, yes, and then the other here. Beautiful, everyone. Make sure you're going the same way or this is going to get interesting. Okay, are you ready, team? And at home, we're all going to go together faster. Go. One side, then the other side. Yes, chair dancing. I'm looking out for the most enthusiastic chair dancer here. Oh, I think I just found her.

There we are, this lady just right here. Okay, beautiful. Now we're going to kick one leg out and then the other leg out there. Yep, and kick it under the table, moving through your hip flexors. There you go. I see you guys at the back. You're doing great there. Kick it out there. Beautiful. Okay, thank you. So brilliant. So that was just a couple of minutes of doing that. Can I get a big round of applause for my most enthusiastic? You get a book. Come and grab your book. How easy would it be to get a few moments like that in your day, just to move your head out of that same stuck position, roll your shoulders back a few times. Now speaking of shoulders back, can you all just slouch your shoulders forward, cross your arms, put a frown on your face, and now look around at the person next to you and kind of give them a bit of a snarl. Oh, it's going to be hard for some people here. Yeah, snarl there. And the other one, a bit of a snarl.

Yeah. Okay. The way that we hold our bodies makes a big difference to the way that we feel. When we're walking around like this, we're sending a signal to our brain, going, oh, gosh, everything's pretty hard. Things aren't that great. Whereas when we bring them back and roll them on back a few times, and what you can do even is get yourself one of these to wear around the office, and you can put it on. And you can, everybody, roll your shoulders back a few times, put your hands on your hips, yes, and do your best power pose. Yeah, that's it. Oh, wow. Nice power pose out of the front here. Beautiful. There's a study that shows holding a power pose, an open stance like this, increases your confidence by about 50%, and people around you perceive you as more confident as well. And you can see why. If someone sees you walking into a meeting like this compared to like this with a smile on your face, big difference, right?

Another great thing to remember in your toolkit. Third thing you can do with your body is something that is so, so essential for so many of us, especially if we get older as women, perimenopause, menopause, so, so important to keep working on our strength. Could I please get a volunteer to come up here on this stage? Okay, here we go. Yes, thank you. Big round of applause. Come on up here. Is he like, I can't get to the gym today because I don't have the time and I can't be bothered, all that kind of stuff. So here's what you're going to do instead. There's a study by Edith Cohen University that shows intermittent stretching, intermittent little bits of weights in your day is just as effective, if not more effective than doing that one big session at the gym in your week. So here's what you're going to do. So you're there. You're at your desk. Maybe you're on the phone. You've got your headset in and stuff. You don't have any dumbbells, so what do you do? You're going to have these instead. Okay, so we're going to start.

That's it. Show us what you've got there. Beautiful. So these moments here, what's your name? Carmen. So Carmen, keep going there. You show me whatever you like there. So what's happening, Carmen, when you are having your muscles contract like this, your body is releasing something called myokines. And myokines, scientists have dubbed hope molecules, actually makes you feel more hopeful and makes you want to be more connected with each other. So it's a brilliant thing to do. The other thing that we can do, rather than if you don't have the water bottles, is something else. Who can I have another volunteer? You keep going there because you're obviously loving that. Yes, here we go. Come on up. Big round of applause. But you're actually going to just, I just need you here. I just need you right here. Okay. Keep going, keep going. Keep cheering Carmen on. Okay. Imagine you flick the switch on the kettle to boil your cup of tea, right? Every time you do that, you're going to, this is your kitchen bench, put your hands on it like it's your kitchen bench there, yep, and put your feet back a little bit.

And you're right to give us some pushups. Okay, let's count. One, two, three, four, five. She needs a bit more than that, people. Six. Yes, that's better. Seven, eight, nine, and ten. Big round of applause. Let me give you a book. Stay right there. Thank you, Carmen. You can pop them down. Beautiful work. So this little moment that you can work on your strength. And what happens when we work on our physical strength, studies show, we feel mentally stronger at the same time. Even if nothing, in fact, has happened to your physical strength, it makes us feel mentally stronger. So remember that one in your toolkit. Now, another thing that we can have in our toolkit to help us get in motion is when we get so stuck in that negative spiral. Does anyone ever have that experience where you kind of start to see everything that's going wrong and just everything keeps coming at you and it's all bad? And it's really hard for us to get out of that spiral.

So one of the best ways that we can take our brain from going to that negative into the positive is something that rhymes with attitude. Gratitude. You've probably heard about gratitude. It's such a powerful way to boost our happiness, to boost our mindset, to boost even our focus. But how do we do this in our day-to-day, in our real world? Well, I invite you to take inspiration from my, well, she was a little baby then. Now she's 17, my daughter, Ruby. And I went past her bedroom door a few months ago and I said, Ruby, what are all these post-it notes doing all over her wall? And I was looking and one of them says, cats. The other one says, friends. She goes, oh, mom, that's my new gratitude wall. You can fill in something anytime you like, write something you're grateful for, stick it on. So every time she goes past that door, she gets this hit of dopamine.

Such a better way to get our dopamine than scrolling on our phone. So you have a post-it note in front of you now. If you could grab it, please, and write on that post-it note one thing that you are grateful for right now. It can be a big thing, a little thing, doesn't matter. Could be just being here today, could be friends, family, whatever that is, write that down on the post-it note. And when you've written it, take it off so you've just got that single post-it note. So you've just got the one post-it note there. At home you can do this as well. And now once you've got that, take it up, put it out in front of you. I know you've all got it there. That's it. And then I would like you, because it's going to be a bit hard, all of us, to put this on a wall together, right? So grab your post-it note and just stick it on your forehead. And then look around your table and share with each other what it is that you are grateful for.

All right. Oh, you know what, I've got to go. So who's got something that they're grateful for that they'd like to share with this amazing community here? Okay, fabulous. Thank you. Come on over. Big round of applause here.

Family. Yes. Family is so important. Thank you. Everyone here has got family. How gorgeous is that? Big round of applause. Beautiful. What's your one? Socks. Socks. That's lovely. I did a fundraiser the other day and a lot of people wrote beer on theirs. Pick it up. This is up in Oakey in Queensland. So, yes, that moment that you can have, that gratitude. And imagine if you took one of these post-it notes and gave it to somebody else in your day, one of your team. You said friends. Yeah. I wrote you, by the way. I'm grateful for all of you. So you could stick this up somewhere. You could maybe give it to somebody else. And did you want to share what you were grateful for? Here, I can see you looking at me. Okay. I've been told I have to share. All right.

I'm interested in this one. Okay. Keep it clean, please. I'm grateful for my partner who I wrote is my smart and sexy man. Woo-hoo. Okay, beautiful. The next thing we can do to help shift our attitude is if you could turn back to your excuse buster buddy you had before. And what I would love you to do is give them a compliment or an encouraging word, something about, you know, you're doing great or good on you, love your hair, whatever it is. Just say something great to them that's going to make them feel good. Ready? One, two, three. Off you go. Thank you. Okay. Okay.

Did anyone get a really, really great compliment? Who got one? Did you get one here? No. Here we are. My great compliment was that I look great for someone who's under a lot of stress with lots of sloth and lots of venues. Fantastic. You look great even though you're under a lot of stress. That's fantastic. Anyone else get a great compliment? Yes, over here, green shirt. Thank you. I love your energy, I was told. I love your energy. Beautiful. One more. At the back. The compliment I received was that I always give to this community. Amazing. Big round of applause. How nice does it feel to give a compliment and to get a compliment? Does anyone find that hard? It's pretty easy. Yeah, right, pretty easy. Okay. What about if you were to give yourself a compliment?

It can feel a little bit harder when we say something nice to ourself. If you think about all the things that you say in your day to yourself, all of those negative things, what about maybe it's when you look in the mirror, maybe when you've stuffed something up or you haven't sent the right email or you haven't got the deal, whatever it is, all those things that we say to ourselves constantly. Imagine if we flipped that and started having something that we say to ourselves to cheer ourselves on, to give ourselves a compliment. You've got your post-it notes there. I'm going to ask you, and you don't have to share this one, to write down something that you could say to yourself in those moments where you're feeling, this is really stressful, oh, I'm under a lot of pressure, or feeling a lot of self-doubt, I don't have the confidence, whatever it is that you think you need, write your name on the post-it note, and you can just take it with you, don't show anyone, your name, and it could be something as simple as, Lizzie, I like you, or Lizzie, you're doing great.

Your name, write some encouraging words, or you're doing such a good job. Whatever that is, write it down now. Ready? Let's go. So once you've got that post-it note, you can just pop that away somewhere, take it with you. Maybe you want to stick it somewhere that you can see it when you need it. The next thing in our toolkit, let's come and have a look here. Anyone have those moments where you feel that stress building in your body and it feels that frustrated? What would something have to have happened for that to be the case for you, a situation? Anyone got one? Just yell it out.

Argument with your business partner. Yes, thank you so much. So something's happened like that. What's happened? Our cortisol just rises, that stress hormone. We've got our prefrontal cortex that's responsible for all that clear decision-making, and then the amygdala goes, panic, and floods that prefrontal cortex. This is not the moment where you want to send that email or make that phone call or even walk in the door and talk to your husband. We've got some laughs over here. This is the moment where you want to get all of that that's stuck in your body and get into motion. What's a word that might have emotion in it that I could be talking about here? Emotion. We want to get ourselves in motion to help with that emotion. So in my toolkit here, and we can hit that music, I've got some of these. Okay. I invite you all to think of a situation that really annoys you.

Stand on up. Put on your invisible gloves. Yeah, I am looking out for the most enthusiastic puncher. But before we do, I'm thinking I might warm up your bodies a little bit. Please watch out for the person in front of you. You're going to punch. Soften your knees and punch it out there. Oh, yes. Okay. We've got some angry people in the room here. All right. Yes. Green shirt. Oh, yes. I'm looking at you. There we go. Woo. Something's happened for you. Okay. Now, can I please have another boxing move? Anyone know one? Up high. Yes. Punch it up. This is a great move. I know lots of people that go and do moves like this in the bathroom. Punch it up. Any other boxing moves? Please don't punch your face. Up there. That's it. Punch it out. Any other moves that we got? Oh, thank you. Don't punch yourself in the face. That's it.

Woo-hoo. Punch it out. And now how about we do some kicks and some punches at the same time. Let it all go. Whoa. See these kicks in the front? That's amazing. Okay. Here we go. We're going to punch it out now. Go. Punch it out. Woo. Let it go. Everyone. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Yes. Let it go. Punch it out. Let's punch low here. Punch it down. Beautiful. Look at those hooks there. And punch it up. Yes. Great. Brilliant. Give yourselves a round of applause. Brilliant. Oh. Can I just – green shirt, please, come up and get your book. Big round of applause. That was great. Some boxing there. Brilliant. Oh. Feel better? See how that gets moving through your body? You know when you have the weight of the world on your shoulders? I imagine. I'm speaking to a room full of business owners. You guys know that feeling, right? It's just that weight of the world on your shoulders.

Everything's just feeling like this. I want to show you something that you can do that can really help calm your nervous system and just take this small little moment to reset and refocus and restore. So, sit there going to. You push your chairs back a little bit if you want. I'm going to get you just to put your chin to your chest here. And take this moment. Those emails can just wait one minute as we do this and give back to ourselves and put our oxygen masks on first. Now, you're going to roll down a bit. So, you're going to now roll down to wherever feels comfortable for you. It could just be right here. It could be your arms on your knees. It could be all the way down. It's totally up to you. You're just going to drop down here. And I want you to feel that weight of the world that you have on your shoulders just dropping off. Let gravity take hold. Visualize it just dropping off, melting away. You're going to give your head now really gently a shake no.

And think about one thing right now that you could be saying no to. Think it. Breathe it. Feel that breath in your back, that no. What is that no going forward? And now a gentle nod of your head yes. What is it that you would like to be saying yes to after these three days that you've had together? What is something that you can do for you? Take a nice big breath in and breath out. Give your shoulders a shake out if that feels good for you. Shake them on out. Another big breath in and big breath out. And roll those shoulders on back. Man, I feel like there's some people in the room that just needed that moment. We power on through. We don't stop. We're like go, go, go. Everyone needs us, all this kind of stuff.

We don't have time to do this type of stuff. This is your moment to go to your backstage. Take your breath. Take your punch. Take your dumbbells. Have a moment of gratitude. Do your posture, your push-ups, all these little two-minute moves that you can do in your day, your backstage to help you with your state, with your energy. And what a difference a moment like that can make to you stepping out onto your stage and how you perform and how you interact with everybody around you. This is your moment to put your oxygen mask on first so that you are able to give back to everybody around you. The third step of this is we want to build what quite a few people out there talked about, which was momentum. It's like if you've seen those old steam trains and when they're trying to get going, and you're just looking at them just like that is not going anywhere, and the steam's going out, it's going out, and they're just slowly, slowly, you start to see those wheels move slowly, slowly, and then they're going a bit faster, a bit faster, and then they're on its way.

That's momentum. That's what we want. So to get that, we need to keep up those little moments, these little two-minute moves, these little habits that you want to have. And in order to build a habit, what we want to do is to create a situation where you remember to do it. It's at a certain time or something like that. So we're going to do that together now to help with this momentum. So first step is to commit to one two-minute moment in your day, in your workday, home life. And there's probably some type A's out there going, no, no, no, one two-minute move's not enough. Trust me, start with one two-minute move, whatever that's going to be. And then look at how you can set this up. So S is your situation. So that might be when the phone call happens and I start to get annoyed after that, I'm going to take a few minutes, a couple of minutes to breathe.

It could be at a certain time. Maybe it's at lunchtime. I'm going to go for a two-minute walk. You know what happens when we take that walk like we did before compared to sitting? A study by Stanford shows that increases your creative output by 60%, 6-0, and those creative juices continue to flow after you've sat back down. So rather than trying to get that email up, trying to get the things, trying to think of the thing you need to do, standing on up at lunchtime and taking a walk. And then there's the environment. Where abouts you can do these two-minute moves? Maybe it's a certain time when you get to the office, or maybe it's in your car just before you're about to step inside and see your family. So what we're going to do is commit to this one thing, and then the one time, place, or environment, or situation. I heard these uni students, they told me they all wanted to get more strength work into their day, so they decided that when one of them said the name of their ex, they all had to do 10 squats together.

And it happened one night in a nightclub, and they all there and did the 10 squats. So maybe for you it's a word. If you do 10 squats every 45 minutes, it's an equivalent to regulate our blood sugar levels as a 30-minute walk, another study shows. So turning to your excuse-buster buddy and sharing with them your one commitment of the small thing that you are going to start doing. Remember, it has to be something that none of your excuses can get in your way of. What's that thing going to be, and then how are you going to remember it? What's that cue going to be, that certain time? What are you going to use to help you? You ready? Let's go. Let's go. Okay.

Momentum. There it is. Oh, watch out. That's whackers out. So you've got that one thing that you're committed to the person next to you. Your new excuse-buster buddy is now your accountability buddy. So in order to inspire this incredible group, oh my gosh, this is such an amazing group, how you all support each other and help each other. I met Lena earlier today, and she was telling me about how much this group has supported her over the years, and I just couldn't believe it when you were telling that story.

It was so beautiful. It's such an incredible group that you have here. So this is something that you can do together to support each other. So I'd love to hear some of your commitments so you can inspire everybody here, and yes, I'm going to do that. Okay, let's start here, and then we'll go there. Thank you. Thank you. I'm loving this and all the energy here. For me, I've noticed I've been getting this what they call tech neck, and even though I get massages, I find that often I'm stiff in the back of the neck here. So something I'm going to take on is when I do my Pomodoro techniques and do my focused energy attention of work that in the break that I actually stretch it out in the break, and I love the dancing for five minutes too. I think that's really cool and would be a great addition to any work day, and particularly dancing around naked when no one can see. I think that would be even more fun. Oh, fabulous. You can send me a video. There we are. Thank you so much. So we had somebody over here. Thank you.

We're going to commit to doing five squats every time we walk into the kitchen at work. So for coffee, for water, for lunch, do the five squats. Then you're allowed to get whatever it is you went in there for. Whoa, you guys are going to have some serious flutes over here. Brilliant. Big round of applause. We've got some more books over here. Maybe one of our wonderful volunteers could bring some over as well. Who else have we got? Over here, yes. Oh, it's me. So I am going to, after dinner every night before doing the dishes, although if I've done dinner, I shouldn't do the dishes. That's the rule. Yes, that's a dream. I will do a two-minute workout on the kitchen bench, and I don't mean on top of the kitchen bench, which is what one of my table associates thought. I mean like leaning on the bench and stuff. Brilliant. Big round of applause. Thank you. Next person, please. Oh, yes, could you just come with me? Yes. We already do a morning gym routine, but then we're just sitting in our chairs all day for the rest of the day.

So I said how about every hour we do either 10 squats or 10 pushups every hour. So we set a clock and it goes off. And we yell out. We just yell out because we're in different parts of the house. Yes, it's brilliant. So what you've got there is you've done it together as well in some way. And do you know there's a whole lot of research, there's a major, major Australian study that showed that even doing that one workout in the morning, but then if you're spending the majority of your day sedentary, they really don't think it's enough to counteract all the negative impacts that happen because of sitting, because our heart doesn't have to work as hard, what happens to our body. So that is a brilliant idea. Big round of applause for this one. Thank you. Who is next? So just as I go into my office, I'm going to just basically stand in the doorway and just stretch. Yes. Through the doorway right there. Yes. Such a big deal. If you did that every day, not only is that so great for your body, but your brain thinks, whoa, you're feeling open, feeling confident, ready to go. Big round of applause for that one. Thank you. We'll bring a book over to you.

One more up the back there. So this is Russ because he's so good at sharing. He said to stand on one foot while you're brushing your teeth. Oh, yes. I love that. Was it Russ, was it? Russ, would you mind standing up for a moment because some people in the room might not understand how to do it. So come over here. There we go. Thank you. Big round of applause for Russ who's going to demonstrate how to brush your teeth standing on one leg. Oh, two minutes. You can do it. Beautiful. That's why you've got such a beautiful smile. That's right. Yes, you can do some squats as you're brushing your teeth. Brilliant. Thank you very much for that, Russ. We'll get a book to you. And over here, yes, please come and share yours. So as a post-menopausal woman, one thing that I do when I'm at the shops or, you know, just to build it is actually you tuck your bum under. And so what it does is it actually brings your abdominals in and it makes your stomach flatter.

And who doesn't want a flatter stomach? And the second thing is that when you're at traffic lights and they're red is you just punch out 12 pelvic floors or as long as until it goes green and then you're good to go. Fabulous. Love that one. Thank you so much. That's brilliant. Sorry, we've got the last one over here. You really helped me because I have a beautiful cavoodle and I walk her as much as I can and I stop doing it sometimes because it's like, oh, I haven't got enough time. I haven't got enough time. So I'm going to take the two minutes and walk her around the block on the days that I say I don't have time. That's great. Yes, and maybe you could train her to give you a little, yes, just do two minutes. You can do it. Brilliant. Thank you all. So many different things that you can do there. So we've now committed it. We've shared it with each other. But there might be some things that you can share with some other people as well. Maybe you can share this with your family, what you started to do. Maybe you could encourage them. Maybe you could tell them they can be your excuse buster buddy.

They can see you, other people, your team, see you taking these little moments for yourself and what an impact that can make. The third step of this, when we have set it up, we've done our two-minute move, is we really want to celebrate it. Now, I've got in here really great, a reward. I mean, chocolate, you can't hard to go past chocolate. But if you don't have chocolate with you, I've got an even better one for you. You know that feeling when you have maybe run a race or you've done something great or maybe if you've got kids, they've done something great too, and you're like, yes, good on you. You're a cheerleader. You are going to become your very own cheerleaders. And you can get some of these to have around your office. And every time that you take that walk, you do your squats, you have that little moment to breathe, whatever it is, I want you to say to yourself or you can do it out loud, woo-hoo, go you, or something equivalent to that.

You could give yourself a high-five in the reflection or for those groaners in the room that look at me, I am never going to do that. You could just say to yourself, good on you. You took that moment for you. And you know what your brain does? It thinks, oh, I've done something really good. I'm going to do that again. And then you celebrate and you give yourself another reward. Your brain thinks, oh, I'm going to do that again. So your excuse-buster buddy is next to you there. And I want you on the count of three to turn to each other. Okay, hold on. I think we need to do a bit of a groan. Ready, one, two, three. Groaners. Okay, that's good, groaners, groaners. We hear you. We all know who the groaners are, the groaners there. But you're going to turn to each other just for that non-groaner next to you. Turn to them with your best woo-hoo. Go you. You ready? One, two, three, go. Woo-hoo. Go you. Yes. Celebrate yourself and all these small things. We always wait for the big things.

But it's these small little moments that we take that really help get us started. It helps to build momentum and lead us to somewhere that right now might feel impossible. I really, really want you and encourage you so much to commit it, share it, celebrate it. And the final thing here is to trust it because I know that voice in your head is probably going to go, two minutes, what's really that going to do? Seventeen years ago when I was there on my kitchen bench and did that first two minutes and my head went, really, what's that going to do? And then very slowly, slowly, over time, I started to feel this ripple effect start to happen. And I started to get more professional help and started to talk to more friends. I started to nourish myself with something other than my kids' leftover soggy crusts of their toast.

And I started to see that something really powerful was happening with me and my family. And one day I'll never forget, little Stella, who was my toddler at the time, said to me, Mommy, let's dance. And normally I had been saying, oh, no, I've got to go and do the dishes or whatever, or just been faking my way through it because it just felt so, so dark. And this day I said, yeah, let's dance. So I had my little baby Ruby on this side and I looked up at Stella and I had her on the other. And we started dancing together. We were just dancing and dancing. And then I looked at Stella. I looked at Ruby. And it was like the first time that I had looked at them, really seen them in their eyes for what felt like so, so long.

That tiny, small moment, that two minutes had led me to this. Back to them. Nothing more precious than that. It led me to do the work that I do. And it's led me to being here in front of you. And if I can do that, you can all do it, too. All you need is how long? Two minutes. Everybody here can do two minutes. So I'm going to end by asking you a question. And it's the same question that little Stella asked me all those years ago. Will you dance with me? Yes. Okay, we're going to stand on up. I'm looking out for the most enthusiastic dancers. And we're going to start by getting two heavy shopping bags. And we're going to lift them up. Yes, heavy shopping bags.

Pull them on up there, people. Oh, look at you all. Take a moment. Look around the room. The smiles, the laughs, the groaners. I see you there. Okay, I'm looking for another old-school dance move. What have we got? Yes, free claps. Thank you. Woo-hoo. You guys have got a lot of fires to put out in your day. So put those fires out. Yes, another old-school dance move. What have we got? Oh, thank you. Woo-hoo. That's it. Yes. Bit of Saturday Night Live. Love it. Another one. What have we got? Oh, shopping trolley. Thank you. Woo-hoo. All right, let's start walking around with your shopping trolleys. That's it. Another dance move, anybody? Yes, stir the pot. Right, in this pot is all the ingredients that you need for a fantastic year ahead in your business. So let's stir it up. Let's go. Round it goes. Woo. Other way.

Round it out. Okay. Now, there is a roof. Hand here. Hand here. We're going to finish off Business Blueprint and raise this roof. Let's go. Raise it up. Raise it up. Woo. Raise it up there. Beautiful. Looking around. I want you to look around the room at all the smiles and the joy on everybody's faces here. Up the back in the black shirt, you've got a book for those dance moves. Same here on the black shirt. Give yourself a big round of applause. Thank you all so very, very much. I'm sorry. In the moment. Come with me. Come with me. Let's give Lizzie a massive big round of applause. Woo. Thank you.