Episode 108 – Kent Weed | Entertainment Producer & creator of Taming Your Monkey Mind

In this episode I speak with Kent Weed, a powerhouse producer and director who is also extremely passionate about meditation and the full spectrum of health and wellbeing.

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Transcript

Murray Guest  

Kent, so good to see you, again. We met it was in Bali, I think.

Kent Weed  

Yeah. Three years ago or 2019 I believe it was.

Murray Guest  

Isn’t amazing how with COVID, time just feels weird.

Kent Weed  

Yeah, it does get kind of compressed. I think.

Murray Guest  

Yeah. I was talking to a client the other day as well. And I said, Oh, we did that thing last year. And they said no, that was two years ago and ah, that’s it’s just it’s sort of been messing with me a little but I do remember meeting you in Bali at one of the Afest events, which bit sad they haven’t been running, obviously, but I think there may be one happening this year. We’ll see what happens. 

I heard Jordan is is coming up.

Murray Guest  

Yeah. Have you? Have you been to Jordan?

Kent Weed  

I have not. No, I have not so have you?

Murray Guest  

No, no, it’s definitely on the list for me one of those places that when I look at it, and I think about the history and just the stories that go with what it would be like, I definitely want to go there at some stage in my life. And it could be Afest, who knows?

Kent Weed  

I love it how there’s opportunities for us to go and explore places that we wouldn’t normally venture out to see because of like minded people or you know, events that happen so yeah, that’s a great opportunity for us.

Murray Guest  

Ah, I totally agree. And, and for those that don’t know A Fest is a fantastic event for, as Kent said, for like minded people to learn to grow, to share to connect in some amazing locations. I got to go to Costa Rica a few years ago for an A fest down there and that that was a great trip. Love that. It’s a long trip from Australia, though, I must admit. 

Kent Weed  

Oh, my gosh, I can only imagine.

Murray Guest  

How have you been? How’s life going for you in 2022?

It’s, it’s a whirlwind right now. A lot going on. We are in the middle of shooting Hell’s Kitchen seasons, 21 and 22 which is very time consuming and very, very blessed to be able to do a show that’s lasted that many seasons, and it’s very creative. So it’s a good outlet for me to express my creativeness and, and I enjoy it because I feel like I’m helping people, you know, achieve their dreams. So someone’s gonna be a head chef for Gordon Ramsay. And that’s a that’s a big deal for those who work their their arses off and, and try and make it in a very tough environment, especially restaurants have suffered a lot in the last couple of years. And so yeah, I feel very blessed to do that. And then of course, I just launched my meditation and mindfulness program. My website liveyourpurpose.com is up and running now. So there’s a whole new venture going on about helping be of service to to others and help them live their best lives.

Murray Guest  

Definitely want to talk about the app and want to talk about what that looks like what that feels like, what that’s all about. But 21, 22 seasons of Hell’s Kitchen, help me understand in the world of reality TV that must be one of the longest running shows, mustn’t it? Must be up there.

It definitely is. I believe it is the longest running show on Fox, one of the major networks. I think survivor probably has done a couple more seasons than us but you can count on one hand how many shows have lasted that long or had that many seasons.

Murray Guest  

Yeah. And how do you keep it interesting, how do you keep it engaging? Do you think for so many seasons?

Yeah, it’s a good question. You know, the thing is that you want to not stray too far away from the format because you know, you have your loyal fans, but to your point, you want to keep it fresh and entertaining to them. So we are always working for new ways to do challenges, new ways to test the chef’s, new ways to present the challenge to them that are something they wouldn’t expect neither the chef’s nor audience so it’s, it’s it’s, it’s a team effort. And it’s fun. It’s fun to always create new ways to do things. I mean, there’s some tried and true challenges that we always do like blind taste test. And but how we present it, how we introduce it is always fresh and new. Half the fun is creating those ways to do that.

Murray Guest  

Yeah, I’m feeling like there’s a playing in the gray area on the edges is really important where we start to stretch it a little bit. So we’re connecting with what it’s about. But as you said, it’s a bit new and a bit different. And I love the show. I’ve been watching. I think it’s a great show, by the way.

Thank you so much. Appreciate it. The key, really is to make everything purposeful for what the chefs are doing. And not just do it for entertainment sakes. It has to have a purpose and a reason behind it. And and we work closely, you know, with my partner Arthur and the team, the Hell’s Kitchen, creative team, the producers and Gordon to make sure that that is, you know, our number one focus.

Murray Guest  

Yeah, yep. Now I need to ask if it’s okay, of course. Gordon has a reputation of his fiery demeanor at times. I think he’s an amazing chef and he has been down to Australia for Master Chef and different things as well. What’s he like to work with?

You know, he’s a great collaborator. He is you know, I compare him to many professionals who are very intense when they’re in their atmosphere. And you know, when they train people and have expectations and you step into this live environment where everybody has to do their job and someone messes up. That’s why, that’s his passion coming out. But, you know, when he’s not in the kitchen, he’s not doing his job, he’s, you know, he’s just like you and me, he’s very approachable, and, you know, very kind and considerate and, you know, I think everybody that’s ever met him outside of the kitchen would agree with me and just general you know, just a joy to be around.

Murray Guest  

Yeah I watched, there’s another series he did, where he goes traveling and to different cultures, I think was on Nat Geo, and trying different foods and the warmth that he has and the warmth that he has in Kitchen Nightmares as well, like that care and warmth does still come through.

Kent Weed  

Exactly. You know, that’s that’s his true his true personality.

Murray Guest  

So, how do you manage COVID in 2022, with running the show?

Yeah, that’s a really good question. You know, because of all the unions that we have to deal with on the show, and this goes for films and, and other TV shows alike, you know, there are a lot of safety requirements that are put in place. And so there’s social distancing still, there’s mask wearing. There’s constant testing, everybody is tested on the set seven days a week, we all get tested every single day. And just to make sure that we don’t, you know, suffer any, you know, shutdowns or any, you know, setbacks. We even have, you know, backups of personnel to replace people if someone does test positive. So there’s a lot of measures that are put in place it’s a it’s a bit of a pain, we, you know, in producing the show, you have to, you know, be creative and create workarounds, when you have to deal with a situation where, okay, we can only have x amount of diners and they can’t be within six feet of each other and, and, and, and, and so, we’re working around that and that’s limited some of the creativity that we’ve been able to do, you know, we couldn’t do the massive you know, groups of you know, audience like we’ve done in the past and due to some of the rules or requirements that we have to face but it doesn’t I don’t think it’s affected the show or the, the the entertainment value or the experience that the viewer will get from the show.

Murray Guest  

Yeah, and I think going back to one of your first points around how the restaurant industry, hospitality, entertainment has been hit so hard in these last two years, the show plays such an important part to then support that industry, create those opportunities, create that work for people so I’m so glad it’s happening. And how are you feeling about the future of where this is going as well? What’s it look like for you? Are you, I’m just trying to think, are you like very much immersed in the right here and now or is there a bit of that right here and now plus, okay, what do we want to do in the future as well? Like, what’s that balance look like?

Kent Weed  

In respect to the TV show today? 

Murray Guest  

Yeah.

Yeah, I live in very much of the present. You know, I deal with where we are right now. I don’t have any you know, thoughts of like, you know, doing seasons 23, 24, 25, season 30. I mean, if it happens, great, you know, and that’s all good. But you know, every, every TV show has an expiration date. So I’m just feeling very fortunate to be able to continue producing this show. Yeah, right now you know, and you know, we’ll see it does really well in the ratings for Fox, it continues to rate well for them in a time when shows are not rating well. And so, you know, as long as it does that, and long as the viewers still want it, then we’ll keep doing it.

Murray Guest  

Yeah, it’s funny. There’s been on the news in Australia this week about Neighbors, I’m sure you’ve heard of neighbors as a TV show. I’d like to think you have. 

Kent Weed  

I haven’t. 

Murray Guest  

So neighbors is is like an iconic Australian, like a better word sitcom. It’s been around on TV, but it’s where people like Kylie Minogue started their career. And Margot Robbie. 37 years it’s been on TV. And so there’s the conversations at the moment about does it continue because of ratings and advertising and all of those challenges. So it’s interesting you say that, because, yeah, it must be hard to keep it going sometimes.

Kent Weed  

Yeah, it is. I also think there’s, you know, there’s more than just the basic ratings when it airs, I mean, because this show, you know, airs in 160 countries, 165 countries. It has a lot of you know, longevity. I mean, there’s their seasons, you know, that haven’t even aired in many countries. I think in the Philippines, they’re only up to season eight. So they’ve got a long way to go to catch up. And as long as there’s profits to be made for for the network, and the owners of the show, and I think that it’ll also help with longevity. There was a show called The Biggest Loser for a while that stayed on the air for many, like three or four more years after the ratings were falling because it was still generating a lot of money for the network, with all the ancillary business they had going on with it.

Murray Guest  

Yeah I understand. Now something I’m intrigued about. So how long have you and Arthur been in partnership for in business?

Kent Weed  

20 years. We started in 2001. And, yeah, so we’ve had a partnership for 20 years. And so I stepped aside as president of the company a couple years ago, it’d be three years in April. We continue our relationship and we continue to do Hell’s Kitchen together and American Ninja Warrior together and obviously American Ninja Jr. So those are my babies. Those the shows that we started together, that Arthur and I created together. So I, I plan to do those shows as long as they’re around.

Murray Guest  

So tell me what’s the what would you attribute the success in the partnership because 20 years in partnership and business is a long time. How have you been able to keep doing that?

Kent Weed  

Well, 20 years in any relationship is a long time and, you know, as business partners, you tend to spend a lot more time together than you do your spouse or your mates. So I think that the key is, you know, respect for each other, respect for what each other does. And, you know, we had a very good, you know, rapport in the beginning and respect for each other. But you know, Arthur is the writer producer, I’m the director producer, so we complement each other very well too. And I think it’s a combination of those elements that really has been, you know, you know, attributed to the long lasting relationship that we’ve had and the success of it too, you always had the same mindset about you know, what we want to do and, and not just creating good shows, but executing them as well. We’re both very hands on producers so we get our hands, we’re getting dirty, and we’re right in there with all the other producers on the show. So which is not typical for a lot of executive producers. So.

Murray Guest  

Yeah, and from what I’ve heard, a little in the industry, you can get some executive producers that have that very stand back approach where there’s a bit of check in or an investment but not that day to day. Whereas I like what you’re saying, like you’re really in there because it’s your baby, you want to make sure it’s successful and aligned with your vision. And the thing that stands out to me, Kent, so I’m a strengths based coach, working with companies and leaders around flexing their strengths and what I hear from you there is your strengths and Arthur’s strengths coming together in a really great collaborative partnership.

Kent Weed  

Yeah, I we really believe that we complement each other in that regard. And we’re able to divide and conquer as well. You know, when we’re doing projects, you know, I can go off and do one aspect of the show and he can deal with the other aspect. Hell’s Kitchen right now I deal with a lot of the style and the design and the look and the logistics. And Arthur deals with, you know, the writing and how we’re going to how we’re going to phrase everything how we’re going to set up the challenges and how we’re going to setup the different aspects of that.

Murray Guest  

Fantastic. And what I need to ask what’s happening with American Ninja Warrior this year?

Kent Weed  

Lots of new obstacles, new courses. I’m very excited about it. I just had a meeting yesterday talking about Las Vegas, the finals courses, and what to do. We’ve been testing new obstacles for the last three months and getting very close. We’re building new things and we plan to shoot the first set of episodes in San Antonio in March, in the middle of March. And then April will be in Universal Studios for the regional finals and in Las Vegas again in May. We go back on the air in June.

Murray Guest  

What’s the temperature like in San Antonio in March, still going to be pretty warm? Oh no it should be okay.

Kent Weed  

It’s spring I think it’s going to be mild and we’re going to be inside the Alamo dome so I don’t know if the outdoor temperature really bothers us too much. We’ve kind of migrated to indoor venues in the last few years. For a number of reasons. One being you know now we can shoot during the daytime because everything else you know prior to that was always shot overnight. And by shooting during the daytime, you know, everybody’s especially the athletes are much you know, they appreciate it very much because they can get proper rest and they’re not trying to get all you know, turn their clocks around and try and be pumped up and ready to perform in the middle of the night. So, Yeah, and again, that’s something that I’ve watched with the kids over the years and and all those scenes, you know, being shot at night with a dark background. Interestingly, and this is just popped in my head, Kent, my wife and I were out on our bicycles for a ride last Saturday. And we went on a new path that we hadn’t been before, and some houses, backyards, sort of back up to this bike path. And in this backyard of this house was this obstacle course that was clearly built for an adult not not for children. And I’m just, I’m loving and I want to acknowledge the impact that program made for that health and well being, getting people moving, creating obstacle courses in their backyard from scaffolding through the wood or whatever they could find. I mean, it’s been amazing.

Murray Guest  

Yeah, I feel so blessed to be part of something that it has become a movement, a grassroots movement. And I’ve said it many times it’s the TV show that gets kids away from video games, and parents off the couch and families playing together again in the backyard, and you know, really instills values that that are lacking in today’s society, in today’s culture. So, yeah, I’m very proud of that. And I’m very proud of the you know, the message that the show delivers, which is very wholesome and family driven. And it’s about you know, perseverance and resilience and overcoming obstacles in your life to compete on the hardest obstacle course in the world. And so those are the, it’s all about the stories we tell.

Kent Weed  

Yeah, and some of the, again, I want to salute and acknowledge the the editing and the background stories of the competitors and, and connecting with the heart of the people, where they, what they’ve been through to get to the point to then show up and be at their best. Yeah, looking forward to watching more of that. I want to ask you because I think we’re similar ages, I think you might be a touch older than me Kent. You’re probably probably fitter though. How’s your how’s your body holding up and what are you doing to sort of keep that longevity in your body? Yeah, no, thank you. I thank you very much. Very kind of you. I feel great. I often talk about it. I am very blessed to be able to wake up in the morning without an ache or pain, no stiffness. And I really attribute it to you know, my lifestyle change, you know, the last decade and that little over 10 years ago I started getting really interested in you know, health and wellness and more specifically biohacking. And biohacking what you can do to to upgrade your brain and to optimize your body for longevity. And so I you know, I basically started researching and studying everything I could about it right around the same time I was researching what I could about meditation because I was not just my body I wanted to, you know, figure out how to optimize my soul and my spiritual side as well. And so that that led me to, you know, Dave Asprey and the whole bulletproof and biohacking conferences and most recently, Ben Greenfield who wrote a book called Boundless and a number of other people. So I have lots of toys in my house, everything from an infrared sauna to Juve light panels to beamer mats to Healy wrist guards, I have lots of lots of toys by plate. I mean, if I look around, I could probably find more. I have so many, I’ve tried many things and and what I’ve been able to, to figure out that ultimately, it’s a combination of mind, body and soul. So what I mean by that is, it’s a combination of my mindful practices in my meditation, in conjunction with you know, supporting that physically with, you know, certain HIIT programs, BRT training, utilizing the infrared sauna, and light house and cryo therapy and all these elements that that really helped keep me young and make me feel younger than my age. And it’s actually going to be one of the courses that I launch in the spring my hope to launch this in late April, which will be on liveyourpurpose.com because I really think that’ll so many people can benefit from benefit from the experience and knowledge that I’ve spent, you know, over a decade, you know, amassing and, you know, and, and I see so many people like me that are, you know, struggling with, with, you know, pains and aches and backs and knees and all that stuff.

Murray Guest  

Before you went down this journey 10 years ago, what was life like for you? What do you think you were like as a human before then?

Kent Weed  

Well, I think I was a lot like every, not everybody, but a lot like most people are. I was going about my daily routine. I was kind of just doing the same thing. Lather, rinse, repeat, and not really paying attention to what I was doing and how it affected myself and others. Kind of, I always equate this to like being tapped into the matrix. And not really, you know, noticing things and paying attention to things and you know, when people say, oh, you know, those aches and pains or the allergies or this or that that’s all that’s just because of age and, you know, and, and, and when I what I realized is that, you know, I really wanted to be more and I had this kind of, you know, itching, kind of knawing thought, you know, thing in the back of my head and all telling me there’s there’s more to this, there’s more to life, there’s more, you know, when what am I here for what’s my purpose, you know, and and that’s where that that’s where the launch of studying and diving into all the research that it started. And, you know, I physically I was, you know, I had chronic back pain, I had sciatic issues, I had terrible allergies, you know, I was dealing, you know, with some alcohol dependency problems. I was, you know, that’s how I dealt with, you know, my stress and my anxiety and my emotions, you know, a lot of us deal with in different ways, and it’s going to manifest some way or another, whether it’s physically or through other other elements. You know, some people use drugs or alcohol, some people, you know, do other kinds of addictions and, but these, this, this lack gets manifested in many different ways in different people and everybody’s different.

Murray Guest  

And cannot and just, I want to validate an assumption here, the entertainment industry prior to you going down this path 10 years ago, and maybe what it’s still like for lots of people, high pressure, high expectations, lots of work, long hours, and not eating or drinking the best. Is that about what it’s like?

Kent Weed  

It certainly can be and it was for me, it was for, as it is for many people. I don’t work any less now. I mean, Hell’s Kitchen, our days could be 16 or 18 hours still. And there’s still craft services. You know, on the side that have tons of really bad food for you. Which I stay away from now. I don’t venture to do that. I’d make my own celery and carrots and cucumber slices and eat you know, what I think is healthy and what I, what fuels my body better. I make sure I don’t drink coffee when I’m working long hours. Even though I like coffee. I found that when you work long hours, you get way too many highs and lows with coffee and the crashes are not productive when you need to be on your game. So but I don’t think that’s just you know, necessarily, you know, related to just the entertainment industry. 

Murray Guest  

I know, you’re exactly right. Yeah.

Kent Weed  

And many professions, so many people whether you’re just a busy mom or a busy dad, you know you feel stress or you you feel stressed because you want to spend more time with your family but you need to do this for work and you need to make money you need to make house payments and bills and so the stress is something we put on ourselves. And there’s many opportunities to be stressed in the work that we’re doing now and the work I’m doing on the show. There’s many opportunities that things go wrong. And you know, when you have a different mindset about it, if you look at it through a different perspective, you’re much more able to deal with those challenges and come up with resolutions. Yeah, in a much quicker and more rational way. Instead of operating from your amygdala back here. You operate from your frontal cortex, which is the rational side of thinking, you know, it’s normal for us to want to go do this, you know, the fight or flight and you know, the lion attacking, everything is going wrong. We have to run we have to hide we have to jump and that’s you know, our DNA is programmed that way, but you can reprogram your brain you can reprogram your thoughts and that’s just like anything through constant repetition and consistency. No different than if you work out of the gym. You know if you if you go to the gym once a month or once a week that’s not going to create the same kind of results as if you just did it 10 minutes a day, same thing with an instrument you know, you get much more benefit, and much more growth and progress when you do it consistently and repetitively.

Murray Guest  

When you look back in your journey of investing more in your mind, body and soul. What do you think has been one of the things or a couple of things that’s been a real step change for you when you’ve started doing that as a habit? You went, Oh, wow, I can see I can feel the difference that’s made. What were some of the key things for you?

Kent Weed  

Well, there’s a story that I share with you, which is, you know, when I first started this journey, there was there was a person at work that I I never I didn’t like seeing them at work because they were always complaining and they were, you know, it just they were not pleasurable to be around, you know, and and so, and it always bother me, and I would go home and tell my wife, oh my god, this person is constantly complaining and they’re always, they’re demanding this and they want this and they want you know, they just, and after really, literally after about a month of meditating, I started noticing change. And I said, Well, you know, this person is not so bad anymore. They’re not so mean and they’re not, their not seem to be quite as mean and they seem to be, you know, not such a bad person after all, and I and I said well, you know, they must have, they’ve really changed and then it occurred to me that they hadn’t changed, I did. So when I say you change your perspective on something when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. When quoting Wayne Dyer, it’s really true. And, and the big revelations for me was that things that bother me about my wife things that bother me about my kids, things that bother me about just daily routines like someone cutting you off, someone doing this, first of all, they didn’t seem to happen as much as they did before because the messaging, the messaging that I was throwing out to God or the universe, whatever your diety is, was different. And what you send out comes back to you. And because I was sending out more positive vibes and more you know, acceptance and, and surrender to things that go on and that this is the world is chaos and universe is chaos, and when you just accept things and surrender to them and deal with them in the moment, rather than try and fight and push back. It’s much easier to deal with and so I became a better father I became a better husband I become a better boss, a better partner, a better, you know, co worker. And, and those were the biggest changes that I noticed.

Murray Guest  

Yeah. And there’s a word in there that jumped out to me, Kent, and that was acceptance. And I think for some people when they hear about that the shifts in mindset and approaches and and potentially putting some negative labels around positive psychology, about everything’s rosy, you know, Skittles, rainbows and unicorns, and that’s what I’m not hearing from you.

Kent Weed  

No, well, it doesn’t change the fact that that things still go wrong in your life. It doesn’t. It’s how you deal with them. And and you can’t just you can’t just pretend to hide by, hide behind, Oh, I should be grateful when something goes wrong. No, you just have to accept that this is in my life for a certain reason. And it could be meant for you to find some growth out of this or or, you know, you need to face this challenge because it’s, you know, I always just used to say, when I was meditating when I was first meditating, one of the things I would do is I would meditate about the morning going very well. I would meditate and go, Okay, the kids will be good along great and my wife will be happy and nobody will be rushing off to school and everything will be smooth sailing. And 10 minutes later I go upstairs and then all hell would be breaking loose. Yeah, and I remember saying like, wait a minute what’s going on here? I just meditated on this, this isn’t supposed to be how this works. This is crazy. And you know, then I then I started like, more of my my practice grew. I started realizing okay, you’re you’re you’re playing a joke on me now. Okay, you’re just testing me seeing how resolved I am with my my you know, my practice and and and then it happened to listen but that’s part of the like you said before it’s part of the acceptance and surrender to it and how you deal with it. Now listen rather than get, now the difference is rather than get angry and upset and like we have to look at, get your arse in the car. We got to go, we got you know, rather than you know then it’s become, you do with more compassion. And that’s really got to get going now and I’m not, there’s there’s still times when you have to be stern you have to be you know, strong, strong, which you could do it without you know, you always, you’re always late, you don’t have to do with all the you you you statements. We’re making them wrong or making them feel bad.

Murray Guest  

I was going to say Kent and you reminded me of after my accident, and when we met I was in a neck brace. You might remember. I had depression for at least six months after that, that accident and what I knew was my fight or flight mechanism was magnified. So I got triggered much easier because of all of the the ways I was seeing the world and the big shift for me was that shift of gratitude and find finding the small daily gratitude in so many little things not looking for I’m grateful for my big house or whatever it might be. Not that my house is big, but it was all the little things and that built this shift. And I know gratitude that’s had a big impact on you as well.

Kent Weed  

Oh, yes. And listen, kudos to you for recognizing that and you know, the first thing is to start noticing when you’re going, you know operating from your fight or flight. And notice when you feel those those triggers start to kick in and notice when you feel resentment or notice when you feel fear. Yeah. And the noticing is the first step because then you can do something about it. Because when you’re just operating blindly and you’re in reaction mode, then you’re never you never leave this part of your brain. You never leave the amygdala and which you did obviously by these little moments of gratitude is create a shift, start shifting that from back to front. And the more you did that, the more you were able to stay in the front and then also when the triggers appeared, you recognize them quicker. Yeah. And were able to deal with them.

Murray Guest  

Yeah, and to be really open and I’m sure I’d like to get your thoughts. It’s not like hey, I’ve done that tick the box. It’s an add on. It’s an ongoing investment. Yeah, and by the way, we’re human.

Kent Weed  

You know, I am not I’m the last person that’s ever going to say I’m this way all the time and I’m Om and and kind and loving and compassionate. I make mistakes just like anybody else. And I remember the day that there was a this teacher and author that I admired and respected a ton and and he is well known meditator and, and teacher and like I said author and and I met with him in person. And I was like I had him on this pedestal right and he came into my office and we were talking about maybe doing a TV show together. And he walked in he had this giant like venti cup of coffee. And he’s like, Oh, what a morning I’ve had, Oh my kids this, and I’m sitting there going who’s this guy? And then you know, it’s but I realized, Wait, we’re all human. You know, we all we all have those moments. We all have those days. And that’s the trick is to just recognize that, accept that we are human and that’s okay. And move on. And not put yourself down. Don’t judge yourself for it. Don’t say Oh, I didn’t do, this doesn’t work. Nevermind, I won’t do this anymore. I mean, it’s a constant practice.

Murray Guest  

Yeah.

Kent Weed  

We’re always working. We’re always growing so.

Murray Guest  

100% I was gonna say, I know I’m far from perfect. We all are. And I think that’s part of the journey and and being aware of that I can still get things that piss me off. And it’s about okay, being aware of that and what I do with that?

Kent Weed  

Yeah, but see the beauty of it now you know, it’s like you recognize it. Oh, why did that you know, that pissed me off. Why did I get that way? What caused me to get stressed and anxious about that? And I did another podcast that we did a post about this where I was taking my kids to school and we got lost and all sudden, the Internet didn’t work or the GPS didn’t work and the Mapquest didn’t work and we’re going to be late and I felt that angst. You know, I literally pulled over to the side of the road said oh, please stop. I did like you know, change up changing everything and change it up. You’ve got to just change what’s happening right in that moment. And by pulling over the side of the road and stopping everything I was able to gather myself and like Okay, let’s go through this and we got to the game. We were like five minutes late, but the game was five minutes late. So you know, but we get in this this this mindset, like oh my god, we’re gonna be late and the world’s gonna end ah, and then you show up. Oh, they’re not ready to start yet. Oh, all that worrying was for naught.

Murray Guest  

Right? Yeah. The thing that jumps out to me too, is in those moments where it’s starting to kick in. Or when I know I’ve reacted in a way that wasn’t my best and I’m not most proud of. It’s not what’s happening in that moment. But what have I, or have I not been doing leading up to that moment?

Kent Weed  

Very good observation. So true. It’s so true. Very, very rarely is it the moment, Yeah, that is the trigger. It’s like the straw that breaks the camel’s back. It’s like you you do have to like, look back. Okay. What? Oh, it’s an argument I had, that discussion I had with my wife that sent me off that yeah, it’s just still burn, you know, burning in the back of my head, and I’m taking it out in this situation or whatever.

Murray Guest  

And I would add to that have I drank enough water? Did I sleep well? Have I been exercising? Or did I skip my exercise the last couple of days. Yeah. You know, the list goes on. Yeah, we were talking before we started recording today about parenting and children and your recent post on Insta I just connected with from a heart perspective, because we both have daughters which, and boys but I had I want to share with you and get your thoughts. A few years ago, my daughter and I were chatting and we’ve got a great relationship and and she actually had a problem and I’ve jumped into I need to solve this mode, you know. Yeah. And I still remember the quote, she said, Dad right now I need a dad, not a coach.

Kent Weed  

Very valid, very valid. All those are wonderfully valid points. Yes. Yes. And to be able to look at those things and and, you know, kind of analyze where you’re at. You’ll find out the clue. Yeah, you know what, that’s right. I didn’t I didn’t eat this morning, or, you know, I missed that workout that really, you know, and I’m carrying all this extra energy around me that’s now being you know, you know, irrigated into negative energy and moved over in a place so it has to release some way right so. That’s beautiful. Yeah.

Murray Guest  

Which is great, she could pick up on it, and we had this really good conversation. But I’m just wondering, how do you navigate those those roles of how we we want to support and coach and then also be a parent and how that all how does that play out for you?

Kent Weed  

Yeah, it you know, I think that everybody finds their way with their daughter, their way of communicating. A lot of what I do is, is through role modeling, and and I don’t push my self on her I don’t you know, make sure she meditates every day. But I have, I find moments to instill you know, little bits of wisdom or keep them find them ways to keep them present. I do games with them right now. And I really work on not coaching her, not giving her too much advice. And just being a listener. I really, really work on that. I read a book called, wonder if I have it here. I do. Strong father’s strong daughters by Meg Meeker.

Murray Guest  

Ah, yeah, yeah, I have heard of that one. 

Kent Weed  

Yes, this book’s been around for a long time. And there’s some information here that’s a little bit dated. But the underlying message is still very, very valuable. So I’ve actually referred this book to a few people. And I read that when Sophia was six years old, so it was, you know, six years ago, six years ago, but and that gave me a lot of insight in how to not be their best friend. Which is you don’t want to be their best friend because you need to be there. And you’ve gone through this with your daughter, because she’s already 23. So they’re gonna be parts where they don’t like you at all right. And you have to be okay with that because they’ll come a time when they really appreciate the sternness that you have when you put your foot down said no, no sleepover, it ain’t happening. No, don’t do that. And not gonna go to places with boys and whatever that is. And that’s the that’s where I’m about, that’s the point where I’m reaching right now. She turns into a teenager and, and I don’t look forward to those years because, you know, none of us like when our children tell us you, they hate you, or I can’t imagine, you know, but I can’t I can’t imagine that happening. I mean, but right now, it’s just about listening, supporting her. And, you know, being there to help when I can. And, you know, I’m, she knows I’m always there for her. That’s right. That’s enough. You know, that’s enough that I’m, you know, there for her, to protect her but I really am about instilling self esteem and making her confident and not follow the crowd. That’s my push right now, because she’s at a very impressionable age right now where, you know, it’s like being like the other girls. And have the other girls shoes, shirts, jacket, purse, whatever. And so, you know, I’m like, Hey just be your own self you know.

Murray Guest  

Yeah. And for girls now and teenagers, I’m mindful of me being a white middle aged man saying this, however, about the pressures that they can get from friends and media and everywhere else around who, who you think you should be versus being the true you. And I think, as you said, you get that from your own self esteem and self confidence. As a parent, one of the tips I passed on to a client recently was have the conversations before you need to have them. And I think when we’re in the moment of having a conversation about something that’s maybe not gone the way we want it to or there has been behavior, and then the emotions can start to kick in and someone says something that we, we don’t really want to say or it doesn’t come out the way we intended to. And so my thought here is and I know what has worked with me is let’s have a conversation about something that may happen, but how would we handle that? So you have that conversation before you need to, whether it’s sleepovers or boys or alcohol.

Kent Weed  

I like that. That’s great.

Murray Guest  

We had some of the best conversations just driving the car driving to school about well, you know, what does this look like? What would happen? What would you do in that situation? And I think it creates some really good foundations in that sense.

Kent Weed  

That’s brilliant. I love that because it’s very safe environment to have that conversation. It doesn’t feel like it’s pointed at them and it also gives them, invites them to offer their viewpoints and you know, show.

Murray Guest  

And they can’t get out of the car while you’re driving so you’ve got a captured audience. Trapped. Tell me and I’d love to know more about something before we get to your your app. We need to chat about that. But I want to know about the Waterkeeper Alliance, it’s something you’re also passionate about and something that’s so important and maybe many of my listeners don’t know what it’s about. So can you please help us understand more about that?

Kent Weed  

You bet. Waterkeeper Alliance is probably the single largest nonprofit dedicated to protecting the world’s waterways. It’s an international organization started by a grassroots group back in New York, but now it’s you know, and there’s 320 water keepers in like 100 different countries. So we’re in Africa, we’re in Asia, we’re in Australia, we’re in you know, all the United States, of course, in England and in many other countries, so and it’s people that police waterways in their local, you know, local areas. And then but Waterkeeper what it has that’s unique is that has a litigation team that fights big corporations and fights polluters and fights people that are polluting our water, you know, and with the Clean Water Act that has been in the United States, you know, it’s about protect everyone’s unnameable right to have clean water. Yeah, and and so that’s, that’s its primary purpose is to protect that right now in the United States, but also for the whole world. And to make sure that in China that companies aren’t dumping water dumping pollutants into the water that you know, in rural parts of China, they have to go down the river and pull the water out of the river. So if if governments and corporations are polluting that water then they’re polluting their people so so I am on the board of directors for Waterkeeper Alliance. I got introduced to it at a speech about eight or nine years ago at an event and I met Bobby Kennedy Jr. There who was the original architect, I guess of Waterkeeper Alliance. And just became infatuated with it, I’m an avid surfers, scuba diver, you know, I love the ocean. I mean, it’s my home. It’s it’s really you know, I probably was, you know, a dolphin or maybe a hermit crab.

Murray Guest  

I don’t think you were a hermit crab.

Kent Weed  

Like to think I was a dolphin but yeah, I could have been a snail you know, or a starfish. I don’t know. But I love the ocean so and so it really resonated with me.

Murray Guest  

And Waterkeeper Alliance covers both freshwater and saltwater. 

Kent Weed  

It does. Yeah. 

Murray Guest  

Okay. Yeah. And I’m aware of, unfortunately, things like Flint, Michigan and water there. That’s obviously got a lot of attention.

Kent Weed  

We were very active there, when that happened too.

Murray Guest  

Yeah, great. And I think the thing that jumps out to me here too, is there’s so many parts of the world where the access to clean water still needs a lot of work.

Kent Weed  

Yeah, yeah. And the beautiful thing is you can there’s local water keepers everywhere that you can go in and help them with with the work they do. And it’s you know, it’s not super time consuming and you know, they test the waters but you know, there’s beach cleanups, there’s river cleanups, and, and, you know, there’s all kinds of events that, you know, bring awareness to it and some I don’t think people in general realize that it’s at risk that clean water is at risk. We you know, we kind of take it for granted a little bit and in third world countries, it’s very very rare to define clean water, it’s not easy to access itself. You know, we’re very lucky. You know, when we live in developed countries, it’s much different.

Murray Guest  

Totally great, and I’ll make sure we link to it in the show notes. So whoever wants to check that out in your area, please go and do so. And as Ken said, it’s not a lot of time, but it’s really valuable time to go and invest in that. Tell me about taming your monkey mind and I love the name. Tell me a bit about that.

Kent Weed  

Taming your monkey mind is a meditation and mindfulness program that I created, based on my decade of experience and research and seminars, webinars and 1000s of dollars, you know, learning and trying to mass all this knowledge and it came out I was born out of a reason of a way to have meditation in your daily life, but not spend a ton of time doing it, and still create the same benefits that you get that whether you go on a mountain someplace or you’re going to retreat for a week. And what it does is it takes the best of all these teachers that I’ve learned from and creates this short little 10 minute meditation that you can do every day. And will create the benefits of this mindfulness. But what really makes it work is that the practice the mindfulness practices that are included in the meditation, so there’s there’s mindful practices that you do throughout the day, that center around forgiveness, compassion, acceptance, and surrender like we said and gratitude just to share with you one little one there’s a gratitude stone. This is this is a stone I carry around with me my pocket and whenever I touch my pocket outside or inside oh, and I think it’s something I’m grateful for. It could be the smallest thing like to see a bird fly over, it could be a flower I walked by, it could be you know that a drink of water. But to your point where you said earlier, you know, you shift you shift into the that moment, you just make a shift. It’s a small shift, but it’s enough to trigger your consciousness to be aware of the present moment. And the more we do that, the more we reprogram our brain, we rewire it with neural pathways and we start creating an overall shift. So through repetitiveness consistency, and practice the mindfulness practices alongside the meditation, very little time out of your day because these that took what 10 seconds for you to do that and then go those moments.

Murray Guest  

I love, I love the little, I’m sorry, the anchoring river stone that you just held up to the camera. I love that.

Kent Weed  

Yeah, and the program has many more of these types of practices in other you know, types of areas where you like I said, compassion or forgiveness or acceptance and surrender that you could just click the little triggers, their positive triggers, the triggers that send you back into the present bring you back into the present moment, which reinforces your meditation practice every day. So not just enough to go and do 10 minutes meditation than fuck off the rest of your day. Pardon my French. And then start you know, because because it’s it won’t stick. So so this helps it stick and it brings it keeps reminding you and what happens is like in 30 days, you see a huge growth where you become much more mindful, much more aware of your triggers much more aware of things when you start to think you know, start to get stressed or start to do, you notice that much quicker. And that time that gets compressed? To like, you know, used to be wrapped in something and then you’d say an hour later, oh, it should have been that way. But now it’s like this to get to work. It almost happened simultaneously. You start to go, it’s like uh, you catch yourself. And that’s the beauty of you know what I think this practice offers people plus it’s really good for relieving, relieving stress and just creating overall joy in life by these constant low repetitions, you know, you’re more joyful just in general because you you have to.

Murray Guest  

I love it. I love it. And I love also the link here too, for people that are thinking about how do I do this? How does it help me? When you think about your physical fitness, like you don’t just train once a year to go and run a marathon or even just be the best you know that you can be physically, it’s those little bits you do all the time and so yes, do it during the day and then those those tips throughout the day to help connect into that. So again, there’ll be links to that in the show notes and I actually look forward people sharing to me the impact and with Kent of course of using the taming your monkey mind. Where did the name come from?

Kent Weed  

It you know, it came out was born out of you know one of the things I have faced with before I started meditating which is constantly racing thoughts in my head yeah, not being able to shut up my mind and and what taming your monkey mind does is it teaches you how to replace those thoughts with thoughts you want. Our brains are wired. We’re hardwired to be thinking all the time. The difference is you can totally tell your brain what to be thinking about versus it telling you what to be thinking about. Personally letting go, letting it go random and just go crazy throwing ideas your way you can flip the switch and start programming your brain to think what you want it to thought, what you want to think I mean so that’s what taming the monkey mind comes from. And you mentioned this earlier about the physical aspect. And this is goes back to you know, the whole combination of mind body and spirit is that the spirit angle was meditation, really helped me be cognizant and mindful of my physical, what I ate, how I worked out every day because it was a priority in my life. And because I kept making it a priority. My brain would start thinking you know, you shouldn’t need that your brain you said you should have some of this now or your brain would say you got to work out now and versus the opposite, which is like I’m too tired to workout or that chocolate cake looks really good. And you really do rewire your brain. And ultimately, you know, I think when you have control, we all want to control what we’re doing in life, that’s a beautiful thing. So when you can control your mind, you’re a step ahead of everybody else.

Murray Guest  

Ah and I’m thinking about trying how we rewire our brain about what we focus on and what we pay attention to. And the power in doing that. My example here that I often use of people is I don’t play golf. I actually don’t, it’s not not a sport for me. And when I walk into a room if someone’s got a set of golf club, I won’t even notice those. I might I might notice them but I’m not interested in them. Whereas if someone’s got a mountain bike, I’m like, oh, what bike is that? How, what’s the specs like? And so we have that with our passions, but I love what you’re saying here Kent, like let’s bring that into the other parts of our life. For our well being and looking after ourselves.

Kent Weed  

Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Murray Guest  

So liveurpurpose.com, best place to go to to check you out.

Kent Weed  

Yeah, liveurpurpose.com. You can see all my posts my I do blogs and interesting things and you know, habits you can do tricks, sleep tricks, all kinds of meditation tricks and practices, a free meditation on there. Also access to my courses on there as well. And it’s constantly updating with new and interesting, you know, information that I guess you can use in your life. 

Murray Guest  

Yeah, great, fantastic. So I’ll make sure that’s linked in the show notes as well. And to wrap us up for this wonderfully awesome conversation. What’s your definition of inspired energy?

Kent Weed  

Inspired energy. For me inspired energy is a passion for life. And if you can live with a passion for life, you’re inspired and you have tons of energy.

Murray Guest  

I love it. And can I just say this conversation has given me energy I think about starting my day with a conversation with you. I’m ready to go and jump on my mountain bike and hit the trails. I’ve got to go do it. It’s been wonderful. Kent, thank you so much. Really good to reconnect. 

Kent Weed  

Such a pleasure,.

Murray Guest  

So much valuable information, all the best for this year from a personal point of view, but also professional point of view on what you’re doing and look forward to keeping in touch.

Kent Weed  

Yeah. Me too. Look forward to be back on again and sharing some more fun things with you. Thanks.