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KP Unpacked
KP Unpacked explores the biggest ideas in AEC, AI, and innovation—unpacking the trends, technology, discussions, and strategies shaping the built environment and beyond.
KP Unpacked
Johnny Depp’s Stunt Double on Mastering Fear & Taking Risks
What does it take to stay calm under pressure, take risks, and excel at the highest level? In this episode of KP Unpacked, Jeff sits down with Hollywood stuntman Theo Kypri—a man who has literally put his life on the line for some of the biggest names in film.
With over 30 years in the industry, Theo has been Johnny Depp’s stunt double in Pirates of the Caribbean, performed high-risk sequences in Black Widow, The Legend of Zorro, Public Enemies, and worked on major productions like Stranger Things and The Walking Dead: Dead City. Now, he’s sharing the mental frameworks that helped him succeed—not just in film, but in business and life.
🔹 The power of mental conditioning—how top performers manage fear and stay composed
🔹 Why anxiety is the enemy of success (and how to control it)
🔹 The work ethic behind elite performers—what separates the best from the rest
🔹 Taking calculated risks—why the biggest rewards come without a safety net
From the film industry to the business world, these principles apply to anyone striving for excellence. Whether you're pitching investors, leading a company, or simply aiming to perform at your best, this conversation will challenge you to think like a champion.
📌 Grab Theo’s book, Whatever It Takes: A Guide to Becoming One of the Last Champions
📌 Interested in our Mastermind groups? Learn more here.
🎉 Special Offer for KP Unpacked Listeners: Get 55% off your ticket to the 9th Annual AEC Summit on October 29th at the Diverge Innovation Center in Phoenix! Click the link below and use promo code UNPACKED55 at checkout.
Don't miss this opportunity to connect with top minds in AEC and beyond. Tickets are limited—act fast!
Jeff Eccles. All right, welcome back to KP unpacked. My name is Jeff Eccles and this is my opportunity typically to ask KP ready. Hey, I saw what you posted there on LinkedIn and I just have to know what were you thinking when you posted that. Now you you might recognize that the scene looks a little bit different today.
Speaker 1:We're starting to roll out new episodes with more guests than just KP not to diminish KP in any way, but we thought it would be interesting to bring in other guests from our ecosystem guests that as is the case with my guest today that will speak with our mastermind groups. Guests that are people that are speak with our mastermind groups. Guests that are people that are members of our mastermind groups, guests that are somewhere else in the AEC world or working on the built environment, just to mix things up a little bit and find out who they are, what they do and where they come at the world from. Let them share their insights about their experiences throughout their lives in the world. And, you know, maybe we'll tie it back to a post that KP has placed on LinkedIn and maybe we won't, we'll see.
Speaker 1:We'll just see where the conversation goes Now before we get started. If you're not following KP Ready on LinkedIn, you should be. Just go to KP. Just the letter, kp letters, kp and then Ready R-E-D-D-Y and follow him there. He posts usually multiple times a day, but lots of great insights around things that are happening, things that he experiences around the built environment.
Speaker 2:Now today.
Speaker 1:I'm really excited because our guest is he's not from the AEC world. He's actually someone that KP met on a plane and we'll probably talk about that here in just a minute. But this person is an interesting character. I'm interested in digging into specifically where he is, because he lives very close to where I'm originally from and where some of my family lives, and I'm interested in his work, but also how that relates to what we do in our mastermind groups, how that relates to what we talk about around KP Ready Company and all of our focus on the built environment. So I am joined today by Theo Kepri. Theo, thank you for joining me today. It's great to see you. It's great to see that sunshine behind you, because I know that you are a little bit outside of Atlanta there where you are, yep, and I'm pretty sure that most of you down there are getting a little bit tired of the winter.
Speaker 2:We are so tired of the winter. If I was going to do a weather report, it seems to be getting warmer. I thank heavens. I know a lot of people like the snow. I'm over the snow.
Speaker 1:Fair enough, fair enough. Being originally from the area where you are right now, but not living there now, kp reminds me I choose every day to be where I am and almost all of the snow has melted off. I think by the end of today it will all be gone, which probably means we'll have a snowstorm by tomorrow, but we'll see how that goes. As I said in the intro, you and KP met on a flight from somewhere to somewhere. You connected, had an interesting conversation, and KP messaged me later and he says you gotta, you've got to meet theo, so tell me what it is that you do. Let's, let's start there. What is it that you do? And uh, and then we'll get into the conversation and and what this has to do with, with business or anything else okay, uh, I've been a professional stuntman for the last 30 years.
Speaker 2:Um, that's taken up a large part of the kind of middle part of my life, um, and for the first kind of part, from my early teens to my mid-20s, I was a world-class trampolinist. So that's that took up a lot of my time. I had a great career. I was one of the best in the world, um and in Europe, and I was British champion numerous times and you know. So that was a really great part and a massive learning process really, uh, which is a kind of conduit to what I'm kind of doing now and what I'm kind of leaning into, uh, but yeah, I'm a professional stuntman.
Speaker 2:Um, I doubled, uh, johnny Depp for about five years, which was again a great experience, lovely guy, and, uh, I've doubled a lot of other. You know, without kind of plugging my resume, I've been, I've had a great career and I've been very fortunate. So that's kind of my job jumping off buildings and, you know, sliding cars and going through windows, it's kind of you know, it's um, I die for a living, basically, um, it's kind of the truth, yeah, so that's kind of my, my, uh kind of who I am. You know I'm um a father of two kids and, uh, me and wife, we just had a 20-year wedding anniversary. So my eldest is in college I'm biochemistry and my youngest is graduating this year and, like you said, we're kind of down here in Peachtree City and we love it here. So that's kind of me in a nutshell, without getting into the weeds too much at the beginning.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, I mean, I think for most of us listening, that is so far outside of our normal experience. Most of us hope to not die for a living and of course, that makes it super interesting for us, right? It's outside of our experience or anything like that, and you know, as you said, the people that you've doubled for it probably means that we have seen you at some point on somewhere you mentioned that you're leaning into, and this happens right as we age, as we gain experience, whether it's personally or a business. I mean, things need to change. So what are you leaning into now? If you don't mind sharing that?
Speaker 2:Well, I, I've, you know, we did a lot of mental training in in in the beginning of our career, where I began my career in trampolining, in sport, things weren't going very well. I think I remember look back when I was 14, 15, and just competition wasn't going well. And then we, we realized that there's kind of more to it, there's this other realm that we really didn't understand, which was the mental realm. And so we, we dug into that and then we we delved more into that calming the mind. And then we delved more into that calming the mind being still being able to focus, being able to give them, basically teaching ourselves to give us the best that when the pressure's on, to be able to give ourselves the best opportunity. Because I think we all want that right. We want to be in when opportunity raises its head, we want to be in the best position to take advantage of that. And I think you know you don't have to be a sports person to to realize that, you know. So when we realized that there were different facets of that, um, it's kind of like a puzzle, and when you start putting the puzzle together, or the bits of the pizza, you know you start adding bits of the pie that you didn't have before. Then you suddenly realize that you're now putting yourself in a position where you can be effective, where you you can get the opportunities, where you can put yourself in a position where, um, where, where you know to risk yourself yourself in a way that you're able to get the juice out of whatever.
Speaker 2:That is very difficult to do. You know everyone's bumbling, a lot of people are bumbling around and the you know things aren't. Just, things aren't coming together. We just we're not really sure why.
Speaker 2:So for all the years of trampolining and all the years of being a professional stuntman, I've had to acquire many of those qualities to be successful in my field, on whatever it takes dealing with, you know, relaxation, concentration, visualization, anxiety, self-doubt and all the things that it takes really to be a champion, and not necessarily a champion in sport, because, like we said before we came on, we are all intrinsically the same. Everyone has anxiety, everyone's scared, everyone has self-d the same everyone has anxiety, everyone's scared, everyone has self doubt. Everyone has that little voice on their shoulder kind of pecking away at them and there are many, many um techniques to bring it back, build a foundation, being able to take a time out, and there's many techniques to be able to do that. So when, so when you are given an opportunity, you're present and you're going to give yourself the best opportunity to maximize that, that um, that opportunity yeah, yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1:you know, as you said, before we hit the record button, essentially before we came on, we were talking about the Daily Stoic. There may be somebody out there that's listening that is familiar with Ryan Holiday. He's got a number of books on on the Stoics and he's he's got this. It's it's called the Daily Stoic, it's. It's not really a journal. I should, I should have it, you know, within arm's distance so I could actually read the title, but, but it's meditations for every day and it's funny that we're talking about this today as we're recording this, because, um, we're actually recording this on February 3rd 2025. So if you're listening to this in 2023 or 2030 or something like that, you know, um, you come back to this day.
Speaker 1:But the meditation for today in the Daily Stoic is about anxiety and all sorts of references to anxiety which you mentioned, and a lot of the thought from the Stoics was that anxiety comes from trying to control or attach ourselves to the things that we don't have control over, right, those external things. So that you know that preparation that you're talking about. If we're anxious, maybe, the question is, am I anxious about the things I can control or am I paying more attention to the things that are beyond my control, right? Am I putting resources into the things that I can't control, and there's obviously a risk to doing that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think, anxiety, I think for me it's kind of a triple-barreled thing, right, you can be anxious about the past, you can be anxious about the present and you can be anxious about the past. You can be anxious about the present and you can be anxious about the future, right, so there's, you know, being anxious, I think, has a few realms, right, right, and the beginning of being anxious is can you slow yourself down? You know, do you have the tools? Have you learned to meditate, whatever it is? Because obviously there are many techniques. So I'm not married to any technique, because everyone has their own system, everybody has my system and everyone has their own system. But the first thing about being anxious, do you have a technique to calm yourself down?
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And if you watch, if you watch any pro athletes, any pro athletes, the guy if you look at somebody about to take a three, four shot, that's the ball. They go right, right, the golfer, any any of these top guys in the pressure situations have learned to calm themselves down, instantly, ground themselves. So that would be like the first thing that I would address. If you're anxious about the past, the present or the future, have you formulated a technique where you can go all right? You don't have to close your eyes and kind of zen out? You know like you, you know like like a zen master. But you need something to be able to go all right. Relax how my shoulders do I have tension in my head, you know how's my heart rate? Calm down, take a breath, right, you don't need to do that. You can just do that with your eyes open and just being calm. That's really the first step is kind of learning to control who you are, who you've become. If you don't have that technique, it's very difficult to relax yourself and the more you're anxious again, about the past, present or the future, what ends up tends to happen? A couple of things happen normally. Your heart rate gets moving, you're kind of you're not present right and again. If I, if I could throw myself back to what I was saying before, you want to give yourself the best chance and the best. These opportunities don't come. So if you're having, if you're discussing with somebody something really important and you're nervous, you know it's hard to be present. If you're nervous, right, right and and to an athlete being anxious is is a poison, uh, that if you get bitten with it, very difficult to become a champion. If you're anxious as a sportsman because so you, maybe things are speeding up, maybe you're too tight, maybe you're losing energy, um, the night before, maybe you're losing energy on the day, you know, and that can relate to bit to to business and again, we're all the same. So you've really got to harness who you are and why you, why you're running away with yourself.
Speaker 2:So I think one of the best things to learn is is, if you, if you do not have a relaxation technique, I have one. I don't think we have time to get into it today, but I have a very effective way of calming myself, which is very subtly to do with what I just showed you, and it's invaluable because if you're able to do this throughout the day. It kind of keeps you, you keep resetting. It's kind of hard to ramp up if you're regularly resetting and I think this is that is actually one of the massive, most important things about being successful is being able to calm yourself in a pressure situation and leading up to a pressure situation, because you can't, if you wait, wait, wait, wait when you get to very difficult to dump a lot of anxiety in the moment. Very difficult because it's built up over time. So yes, I agree with the meditation in in any form is huge, huge, huge. It's like, almost like you know, the, the, the king of being successful.
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 2:It has so many attributes, positive attributes that really help you, is grounding, it makes you present, it relaxes you and the world senses that. Um, so I think yes. So, just to touch on that and I went on a little bit and it means that really is a massive part of being a success is being able to regulate your arousal levels, regulate how you you you're going 100 mile an hour, are you only going five mile an hour? You know you really need to be sensitive to who you are and who you're being in the moment so you're again able to optimize your situation in life. And that could be anything Could be with your missus, could be with your work, could be training, it could be having a conversation with somebody.
Speaker 2:It's very important that you're able to regulate your anxiety so you're able to sense where you, where your, your arousal levels are, so you can learn and train yourself to hit your optimum arousal level, which means the level that you're at that you can be most effective at right. Your opportunity to smash every opportunity that you get and help you take it to the next level, whatever that will be. And again, that's a whole other rabbit hole.
Speaker 1:Oh sure, well, we can go down as many rabbit holes as you want, right? Yeah, let's go. Yeah, I mean, you mentioned presence a minute ago, or more than once actually, and I think that's so critical, right, whether you're again, if you're on the free throw line or you're, you're at the uh, the tee box or whatever it is that you do. Um, one of one of my practices is yoga, and, um, in fact, I was at a yoga class yesterday and that particular instructor, every time we go to one of his classes, he talks about the fact that this time, right now, this time that we're in, right now, is the only time that exists. Right, what happened in the future is past, that's past, that's gone. We have no control over that. And then whatever's in the future is something that we're imagining right now. We're creating this narrative about what's going to happen in the future. It's not real. All we have is right now.
Speaker 1:We're creating this narrative about what's going to happen in the future. It's not real, so all we have is right now.
Speaker 2:And um years ago that we don't even have cause. That's already gone.
Speaker 1:Right, right, exactly, exactly, um. I used to have a show, an interview show, um that uh ran all the way through COVID and a little bit beyond, and I got had to get to know Pandit Dasa. I don't know if you've ever heard of him. He's known as the urban monk. He was a monk for I forget what it was, 25 years or something like that in I think it was lower Manhattan, in a monastery down there. But when he talked about something very similar to what you just said about the, the past, the present and the future, he talked about it as if all, all of the, all of the times and all the the thoughts that we have are like tabs that are open or apps that are open on our device, whatever it is your phone or your laptop or something. And when we're looking to the past and all this, of course, is is with a view of trying to, to be present, and so when we're looking at the things that happened in the past, we're doing that could have, should have, would have things. Those are. Those are just tabs or apps that are open that we need to close. Sure, we have no control over them. The more of those that are open, the more they deteriorate the performance, the more they take away from our optimum. You know our ability to be at our optimum self in the present, and he said the same thing, basically looking forward. Right, you know you're, you're doing the. You're creating these narratives about what's going to happen in the future and you have no control over that. And you can strategize, you can plan, but you don't have any control. So you need to close those apps as well, so that you are able to be your optimum self in this moment, in this present time.
Speaker 1:So I love what you're saying about that. I mean, it's so, it's. You know and I look at you know what we do in our business. Later today, I'll host one of our incubator sessions with our startups and they will, as I have them do every single time. They'll pitch their product, they'll pitch their startup. That's part of the process, right, we walk them through that every single time, so they get used to doing it. For them, that moment is sort of like being on the free throw line. They have to be present, they have to be focused, they have to communicate. Clearly, they need to set themselves up in that moment to be their optimum and give themselves the the best chance of being successful there. So I think what you're saying is so applicable across. Like you said, it's not just sport, it's it's across everything yeah, it's.
Speaker 2:It's all connected and, if I can just touch on that most, uh, excuse me the uh um. There's another thing that we're related to, to what we're talking about, especially to your, your group. That's pitching is a lot of anxiety. Are you doing the work? If you're not doing the work, let me give you an example. Let me give an example. If I am, let's say, I'm gonna do something that I don't really know anything about, right, you know you play. I don't know, something that I'm not really confident at in front of a thousand people, right, I'm going to be super anxious Cause I know I'm going to, I'm going to suck. Confidence has a lot to do with it as well. So a big part of my ethos in, in my coaching or the way I'm presenting what I believe, is I'm a warrior. I class myself as a warrior, like I, a life warrior. I do I. And are you doing the work?
Speaker 2:Now, if you're not confident about what you're doing and you're struggling, you kind of got to ask yourself are you doing the work? And then you've got to ask yourself why is there such a small amount of people that are amazing? Like, what's differentiating? The Kobe Bryants, the Steve Jobs, the Messis, the renardos, right it's. If you look at any of the documentaries, obviously steve jobs obviously brilliant, and warren buffett, and, and I love those guys. But if you look at most of the sports people, which is easier to look at who they are, their work ethic. Kobe used to go in at like six o'clock. Everyone else would come in at nine o'clock. He would be putting the work in. If you're not putting the work in, just forget it. Just just forget it. You just forget it. The work ethic is massive. It's probably as massive as anything else that I've talked about, because without the work work ethic, you're not going to give yourself the opportunities to be able to calm yourself and all the rest of that right, just not going to be in those positions. So you kind of got to go Well, what's everyone else doing that's massively successful Right.
Speaker 2:And again, if you look at the top people in your field or any field, like, why is John a successful? Massive? Probably because he's up at four o'clock in the morning kind of working on himself, trying to figure out his weaknesses. He's up at four o'clock in the morning kind of working on himself, trying to figure out his weaknesses. You know, is he a nice person. Is he forward thinking? Is he coming? Is he, is he risking himself? Is he put himself in a position where he could land straight on his face and look like a complete moron?
Speaker 2:Because you've got to put yourself in that position. Right, you have to be, you have to be willing to risk without a safety net, because that's where the juice is the, the, the juice is. You've got to be prepared to fail miserably. Right to go to the next level. Right, most people don't want to do that because you know who wants to look bad. Like most people, their ego is stopping them from. You know, they're kind of harboring, they're kind of edging, you know hedging their bets so that so where the juice is in life and it's a slither is in that space. That's that's massive risk and no safety net. Right, it's unknown. Right, you can't go right.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm going to risk it, but if it doesn't really work out, I'm going to be okay. So that's a massive part of of it. Are you working on yourself? Are you doing enough in your particular field to become a champion in your field, to become a, to become successful in your field? And if you're not confident, maybe you haven't been working hard enough. You know, because if you've done all you can like, genuinely, authentically, integrally, you've done all you can then you're going to go out there and you're just going to swing for the fences. You're going to go like you know what I've done all I can, I've, I've worked my knuckles to the bone and this is what it is, and you will lay your. You will lay it out there because you know now, if you, if you're holding back, and only you will know that no one else will know, you're not doing the work right.
Speaker 2:It's kind of like eating healthy, going to the gym, treating yourself well, treating others well. You'll know if you're not doing that, and only you will know if you're not doing that. That's a big part of, I believe, what the anxiety is. Is you just because familiarity breeds confidence? Right, if you're confident, you know. If you're confident, you're not going to be anxious, you're going to be less anxious. In fact, if you're confident, if you've put the work in, if you've done all you can, are you out there being a warrior? Are you out there doing whatever it takes to become a champion in your field? Are you ticking all the boxes and you'll know if you're not, and are you going to mess up? Right? So you need to formulate a plan to acquire the tools to deal with that. Hopefully.
Speaker 2:You know I'm able to give you an insight into some of those right now, but it's doable. It's doable, but it takes discipline, it takes a little risk and it takes courage, because confronting who you are and who you've become, you really might not like it. You might not like what you see, and you've kind of got to do that to move on. You've kind of got to confront who you've become and also admit your failings, like I don't really know about that. I'd really like to learn about that. And you've got to have humility.
Speaker 1:So it's kind of all in there in a package and you know, and when people do do the work and they even though they're a little anxious, you can hear confidence because they know what they're talking about, because they believe in it, and that's a massive yeah, yeah, that's, that's interesting and you know I'm listening to you talk about that, I it, I believe all that and all that makes total sense to me and I'm also thinking about, you know, I can, I can, I can embrace that, you know, with, with the, the, the architects and the engineers and the contractors and uh, real estate developers that that may be. You know that make up the bulk of our audience here that may be listening to this. One of the things that happens and I think you know I've talked about this for a long time. One of the things that happens and I think you know I've talked about this for a long time. I think this is being sped up right now, I think it's being amplified right now, but the speed of change across industries is increasing and one of the things that I say is because this is the way we've always done it, that, to me, is the most dangerous thing term in our vocabulary as a society right now.
Speaker 1:And what you were just talking about, that idea of being a champion. Now, that obviously could be a sports analogy. It could be a business analogy as well, but if I think about what it's going to take to succeed as an architect or an engineer or a contractor or whoever it is. In an industry that not only changes within itself but has all of these external forces, whether they're political or economic or technology, technological forces, you have to continue to change and you have to continue to challenge and you have to continue to grow, and I think what you're talking about there has massive application in that context as well. Have you ever, have you ever thought about that and just shifting the context to to a business sort of context?
Speaker 2:Well, when I say champion. I have actually, jeff, and this is why I'm kind of pivoting and I've really at a point in my life where I enjoy talking about this stuff and I enjoy sharing. I did just a slightly. I gave a talk at my kids' school to the seniors that were about to graduate and I showed my demo reel and you know it's kind of cool. It opens the door when they see, you know, all these stars that you know and all these big movies that I've been in and I've been blessed to be in, uh, it kind of opens the door. It creaks the door open for me, for, for, for the listening, because I think that's most of it is is people will go out on like you know, I already know that you know, so, um, that's the only other thing I will say to people. That's listening is is you might not agree with a lot of the stuff I've said and some of the stuff you might not relate to, but if there's like one thing in there, if there's one thing in there, then just be open to that because that could really fundamentally change your life. And so at this my, my, my kid's school, all the children wrote me a note. It was so touching. They're like these little cards I still have them upstairs and you know one of them, a couple of them, but a couple of them were really profound. They're like, oh my God, I was so anxious about attending college and your talk really gave me and I was like, wow, like I can really change people's lives, and that, to me, um, really touched me. Um, so, yes, and when I um speak about champions, you don't have to be on the podium or in a sport to be a champion. I don't, you know, you can be a champion. Listen, there's some people that, uh, go to work, they drive a truck all day. You know they come home, they, you know, after a couple of days they kiss their kids. You know they love their wives and they're not big business people, but to me, that's a champion. You know he's fulfilling his potential.
Speaker 2:So the key about being a champion, and the essence of what everything I'm talking about, is what are you going to do to fulfill your potential in this life? Like what, what do you want to feel? Do you want to fulfill the potential? Before you know? We mentioned it earlier it's like how quick time is flying by, right, unfortunately, we're all going to die, not, not in a movie term. None of us are getting out of this movie alive.
Speaker 2:So for me, I always wanted to be a player. I never, it was never appealing to me to be in the stands, even since a small child. So I've been out there swinging for the fences since I was about five years old, right? So for me it's really about fulfilling your potential. I want to fulfill my potential before you know the end. And you kind of got to ask yourself collectively, you got to ask yourself that same question Do you want to fulfill your potential before the end credits roll?
Speaker 2:And when you ask yourself that question honestly, you'll start giving up. You're prepared to give something up? All right, I'm not open to that. But now I'm willing to try it. And I, the older you get, so you can be a champion, you don't have to be. Being a champion is fulfilling your potential. You know, giving yourself the best opportunity, learning the skills to take you from an also ran to a champion, because I can guarantee it, the champions are doing that searching, changing, pivoting, studying. You know letting stuff go. You know kind of, they're all doing it. So that's really it. Do you want to be an also ran like a you know 25th or do you want to give this? You want to get on the podium and really fulfill your potential in life.
Speaker 1:So being a champion is that's what that means to me, is for your potential as a human yeah, yeah, and I don't you know, I don't think there's any way that that we get to that level or do what you're saying with the attitude, because this is the way we've always done it no, no, no, you hundred that is.
Speaker 2:You kind of got to really run your own program. You know and I know we spoke about um risk earlier and the juice and I mentioned something about that but really the, the, where the magic, the true magic is, is in the unknown. Not how. This is how we've always done it right. So you've kind of I mean, if you ever look back at any of the great inventors, they all invented stuff, I think, in their mid, early to mid 20s, okay, where they weren't, um, confined by. You know, oh, it's already done like that. You know we can't, you know we can't do it like that, because it's always done like that. So you really kind of got to be a maverick, um, uh, to some degree, to be able to kind of push into that unknown.
Speaker 2:And for me I really like that, because if I'm going into, like, creating something that's not been created before, for me it's exciting. It's not like, oh, my god, oh, what happens if? No, I like it because you can create anything you want out of nothing. If you want to do that, you could write a script, you could write a book, you could do what I'm doing right now, you know. So it's for me, it's exciting and that's really where the juice is. You know, to create something new, doing it as you've always done it. There definitely is a place for that. Like the, the motorcycle helmet hasn't changed since it was invented, so you know. So, some things, you know, we, we kind of got to stick with.
Speaker 2:But obviously we're talking on a, on a creative, on a risk, you know, um level to to push the needle forward, um, and also, if I could just say something else on something else, on moving the needle forward, is this, this, this what we're talking about? It doesn't happen overnight, it's slow, it's years. You've kind of got to formulate in your mind. You know the rabbit in the hair, excuse me, the rabbit and the tortoise, excuse me. So it really is a slow grind, like sometimes you're going to move the needle, you know, a millimeter, sometimes it's going to move an inch, sometimes it's not going to move, but it's a very slow thing.
Speaker 2:So you know, again, I don't want to bring up too much stuff, but the goal setting is very important, you know. You've got to understand, you know the short term, the midterm and the long-term goals and you really need to have a plan. So again, it is. It is linear and it can be done and there is a framework, um, but just understand that you know one step, even if you, we do what we said today, where you just take a take, take a deep breath, you know five times a day if you can, um, you know, and one of the hardest things is to remember to do that right.
Speaker 2:So I'm gonna. So what I would suggest to people that are interested go to the local stationery and grab those little dots you know the little round dots, that sticky dots and put a dot. Put a dot on, maybe on your watch, maybe put it on your phone, put it on the mirror, and whenever you see a dot, it's kind of like a signal to take a deep breath. That's the very, very beginning of your journey, to rein yourself in, to kind of get it all together in the snowball and then start the journey. So if that's one tip I could give, again, it's you know it's a short interview and I think it's a wider, deeper subject than this, but if I could just give whoever's watching and is open try that, it's really powerful and it will really help you stay present. So if I could give you guys one thing today to start your journey, then then that that that would be it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's beautiful. I love that technique. Love that technique. It's it's very intentional and we have to be intentional about these, these types of things. And, um, yeah, I the uh, the idea of taking sitting and taking a breath, maybe being quiet, centering yourself five times a day, that that, that that would help an awful lot of us it's massive because you can't worry while you're centering it's very difficult.
Speaker 2:It's very difficult. The brain, the brain really struggles to consciously do two things at once. So while you're centering is so powerful because if you, if you're able to ground yourself, then you're more receptive to what's going on around you. Reading the room is very much a business terminology. So if you're very external and you're going at 100 miles an hour, very difficult to be receptive to people, situations and the mood of what's around you. And that's probably half the battle, because it's an interaction, life is an interaction. So if you can do that and just start to quiet on yourself very gradually, you you'd be surprised how quiet you can get.
Speaker 2:That little voice and that's the key is who's running the program? You run the program with the program running you. So again, some something to to think about. Um, I think and uh, that's definitely. That would definitely be ground zero for for a lot of people who aren't familiar. A lot of people may be familiar with a lot of stuff I've I've mentioned, but if you, even if you are that and you're not doing that technique, it's an powerful, powerful technique to reset you and make you present brilliant, brilliant, it's brilliant.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I love that. Yeah, we all need to develop practices and be intentional about um, bettering ourselves, and you know that's where it starts, right, um, yeah, yeah, you, you and KP met on a flight and I I use this analogy all the time, or this example all the time Every time you sit down on that plane, right, there are you sit down on that plane, right. There are a lot of us that are concerned with putting ourselves first or being selfish or whatever, and working on something and not working on ourselves. But every time you sit down on that plane, one of the things that the flight attendant says is, in the unlikely event that there's a loss in cabin, pressure, mass will fall from the ceiling. Put yours on first. Put yours on before you try to help anybody else. And there are an awful lot of us that haven't developed the practice of putting our mask on first, and we really, I think we really need to do that.
Speaker 2:No, that is a brilliant point. You've got to say, unfortunately, you kind of it starts with you. Yeah, so you've really got to pay attention and you, you know I agree Again, that's a personality thing Everyone's trying to save everybody else. And I think, right, you've really got to pay attention to your own mental health. Do things that that relax you. You know if, if, if, if, if having a hot bath with a candlelight relaxes, you do that. You know. If sitting up, you know, with your feet up, having a cup of coffee relaxes, you do that. If talking to an old friend relaxes, you do that. So you kind of got to find ways that, naturally, you know, keep you centered and relaxed. And I think that for your own mental health, your own health, I think that's massive, it's really important because you're that for your own own mental health, your own health, I think that's massive, it's really important because you're right it.
Speaker 2:If you can't, if you pass out, because you're trying to help someone else on an airplane, what's the point, you know? So, first, save yourself, which means, which means being a bit selfish, and there's nothing wrong with that, nothing being a little bit selfish or being a lot selfish with yourself and your health and your, your mental health, and time that you're spending with yourself, because then you're going to be, you know, you're going to be more more effective on on, on sharing yourself with other people. You're going to be more grounded. You're going to be more healthy. You're going to be um, uh, there's, as you can hear, my guys upstairs. They're upstairs in the bedroom. They don't like it, but yeah, I think that's a great point. You really kind of got to pay attention to who you are and how and how you're being. So you can again, so you can be effective out there in the world, whether it be with your family, your friends or your job.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I love it. Theo, first, thank you for this conversation. I've thoroughly enjoyed it. I think it's so important the things that you're talking about and I know that when you come and speak with all of our mastermind members here in the next month or so, that they're going to get a lot out of what you have to say For those. First of all, if you're out there listening and you aren't familiar with our mastermind programs, reach out. Producer Ethan will, of course, put links in the show notes and things like that so that you can learn more about those mastermind groups and what that means and how to get involved. But for those, Theo, that are not members of our mastermind group, you mentioned your book. What's the title of your book?
Speaker 2:again, the it. I have one here. It's called what, whatever it takes, and um, and listen, this really was a bucket list. It's kind of a blueprint of every kind of everything that we misspoke, speaking about whatever it takes and, um, a guide to become one of the last champions, so a lot of the stuff that I've mentioned and the description, a lot of the stuff that is kind of in there. It's kind of like a blueprint for that. I think it's like seven bucks on amazon, that kind of.
Speaker 2:Again it was. You know, I self-published that it really was a bucket list for me to kind of share what I've learned over the years. So, um, by all means, you know, grab it. It's a great book. Um, I think there's some spelling mistakes in there because, again, I kind of did the whole thing myself. You know, um, I'd love to say I was published and and all that, but I'm not and it just really was. Uh, I kind of the first, the first lot. I had 100 printed and I gave away 98. So that's kind of where I'm at with, you know, trying to make money off this book. I kind of gave most of them away.
Speaker 2:So so yeah, definitely, if you're, if you're interested and you, you, you there's a lot in there. And, um, if you're a seeker and you want to take it to the next level for you, then maybe there would be something in there that could change your trajectory by a couple of percent. And if you can change your pers, your trajectory by two percent, if that you compound that you're all business people you compound that by 10 years you're going to be in a completely different place.
Speaker 2:So, um, yeah, yeah, you want to look and check it out if you're interested. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Thank you for that shameless plug. I know they do that on TV shows all the time, so thank you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, and producer Ethan will put a link to the book on Amazon in the show notes. So, folks, yeah, pick it up, pick it up, read it, maybe connect with Theo If someone wants to reach out to you, if someone wants to talk to you. You mentioned coaching and things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, would it contact you? You could. Unfortunately, I'm so easily found on the internet, just from from. You know my phone number, my cell phone's on there, I'm super easy to find. But if you wanted to email me, you could email me at a stunt action at maccom, kind of as it sounds. And, um, yeah, I'm not. Yeah again, yeah, if you. I'm not really sure where that leads because I'm not a professional coach, um, but I'm definitely open to to doing more of this and if somebody feels like they they need some personal coaching, I'm definitely open, open to that, um, and yeah, let's see, see how, see how deep this rabbit rabbit hole goes and if I can contribute to someone's life and change, change their lives. You know, that's something that interests me love it.
Speaker 1:I love it and producer ethan will put that email address in the show notes as well. Theo, this has been a true pleasure. Um, I'm looking forward to reading the book and learning more about the system that you lay out in that book. Like you said, the lessons that you've learned, and I think that's important right Sharing the lessons that we've learned to help other people, I think is somewhere near the pinnacle. So thank you for all of this. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me. It's really interesting. It's my first ever podcast, so I kind of I don't really give interviews, but this is something that I connected with KP and I'm happy I did so. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I'm glad that we were able to do this and, for those of you that are out there listening, this has been the latest iteration of KP Unpacked. I'm still sitting down with KP once a week and recording sessions where I ask KP hey, what were you thinking? That's a little bit of tongue in cheek there, but hey, what inspired that post? What is it that you were really trying to get to when you posted that? And we're starting to bring on guests to unpack some of the things that we talk about over and over, some of the themes and some of the things that will make you successful in your career, in your person and, of course, certainly in the AEC industry, if that's where you're coming from. So I'm joined today by Theo Kepri. Theo, thank you very much for this and to all of you out there, thank you for listening and I'll be back again next week with another episode.
Speaker 2:Hey, jeff, I just like to thank KP quickly for his being open to me and connecting with me. I feel like we're kindred spirits. I just want to give KP a shout out. Thank you, kp. This was really a great opportunity and it's definitely spammed me off into another orbit, which I'm super excited. So I just want to give KP a thank you and I'm I'm I'm super glad we met on the plane and I appreciate the opportunity. All right.
Speaker 1:I love it there. You go, Shout out to KP there. So thank you everybody for for listening and we'll, like I said, I'll be back again next week with another.