EP #19 – Juggling Family, Business & Mental Health as a Tradesperson w/ Dan Tempest

Overview

Join host Tulloch Priest as he chats with Dan Tempest from S.T. Plumbing and Heating about his experiences as a retired MMA fighter and the parallels between that and running a business. From balancing family life to the importance of discipline, tune into this discussion about staying on top of the everyday challenges of business and life.

Listen to the episode:

Highlights

Dan’s background

• Dan is a retired MMA fighter with 20 years of experience. [0:22]
• He grew up in a mining community where boxing clubs were a common equivalent to youth clubs. [0:33]

Mental toughness & discipline

• Dan discusses how the discipline of training for fights & its different steps translates to running a business. [8:33]
• He notes that having a certain stubbornness and determination is generally a good thing, but you also need to know when to slow down. [10:54]
• Dan stresses the need for a supportive team to provide perspective and help make sensible decisions. [11:29]
• Pushing through the times that you don’t want to do something (if you know it’s worth it in the long run) provides a sense of satisfaction. [21:00]

Finding your ‘reset’

• Dan emphasises the need to find an activity that allows you to fully reset and de-stress.  [12:34]
• He suggests finding something that fully engages you and requires concentration to take your mind completely off any problems. Often, they’re not as big of a deal as you initially thought and multiple things can pile up and stress you out. [14:15]
• Everyone has different interests and hobbies, and you need to find what your personal ‘reset’ is. [15:05]
• Running a business has some key similarities to these hobbies as you’re navigating problems. A business will always have problems, but the key is how you deal with them. It provides perspective and it’s how your business grows. [17:50]

The importance of family & balance

• Dan stresses the importance of family and acknowledges the role his wife plays in managing their home life while he focuses on work and training. [1:45]
• He discusses the negative impacts of becoming too consumed by work and neglecting family time. [21:45]
• Dan shares some of the practices he uses to maintain balance and connection with his family, such as having phone-free Sundays [23:53] and always having dinner together. [24:51]

Social media & mental health

• He reiterates the value of disconnecting from phones and social media to focus on more positive aspects of life. [28:45]
• Dan touches on the potential negative impacts of social media on mental health, suggesting that the constant negativity can be overwhelming and distort perceptions of reality. He notes that, in the social media world, negative interactions always trump positive ones.  [29:35]