Podcast

#390 - SIMPLE WAYS TO TRANSFORM YOUR MENTAL HEALTH IN JUST 14 MINUTES A DAY, with Cooper Chapman

Today’s episode is a beautiful reminder that creating a life you love doesn’t need to be overwhelming. I’m joined by the inspiring Cooper Chapman - former pro surfer and founder of The Good Human Factory - to dive into the simple daily practices behind his new book, The 1% Good Club, out October 1st, 2025.

Cooper’s philosophy is delightfully doable: give just 1% of your day (14 minutes) to your mental health and watch small, consistent actions compound into a happier, more resilient life.

We talk about how he shifted from chasing external validation as an athlete to living by personal values; the origin of his 1% Good Club community; and ten science-backed habits that anchor his wellbeing - from breathwork and gratitude to getting into nature, moving your body, and setting kinder phone boundaries.

You’ll hear real stories, practical exercises you can try today, and a gentle nudge to focus on progress, not perfection.

Four takeaways you’ll love:
• Why tiny, repeatable actions beat big, unsustainable goals.
• A 14-minute daily rhythm (meditation + gratitude) to reset your nervous system.
• Five foundational values for steadier self-worth: responsibility, gratitude, empathy, mindfulness, and kindness.
• A realistic way to track habits weekly so you can see your progress at a glance.

Pop in your earbuds for a walk, or make a cup of tea, and let this conversation brighten your day.

When you’re ready to go deeper, explore our DL Coaching at https://www.yourdreamlifestartshere.com/course - I’d love to support you to weave these small shifts into your own dream life. Enjoy!

As always, I’d LOVE to hear what resonates with you from this episode and what you plan to implement after listening in. So please share and let’s keep the conversation going in the Dream Life Podcast Facebook Group here.    

Have a wonderful weekend …and remember, it all starts with a dream 💛

Dream Life & kikki.K Founder

SHOW NOTES:

  • If you feel it's time to take a leap and invest in you, consider joining:
    • My Platinum Coaching Program where in September our focus will be on Planning Your Quarter and aligning your plans with your vision. Learn more here.  
    • My Dream Business Book Club here. We'll be reading one of my favourites - and a great book to start with: Start with Why, by Simon Sinek
    • My online personal Growth Book Club GROW for September, where we'll be reading and squeezing the learnings out of Unstuck: A guide to finding your way forward to the life you want to live, by Dr Emily Musgrove.
Learn more here.  
  • Dream Life Community Facebook Group: Connect with like-minded dreamers.

RESOURCES:

TRANSCRIPT:

[00:01:23] Kristina: Hi there, and welcome back to another episode of Your Dream Live podcast. I'm Kristina Karlsson, and today I had the most inspiring conversation, and I know that you are going to love this episode too. I had the joy of sitting down with a super inspiring Cooper Chapman to talk about his brand new book, the 1% Good Club, which comes out on October 1st, 2025. Now, if you've been following Cooper's work. You'll know that he has a beautiful philosophy that if [00:02:00] we can just do 1% better every day.

If we can focus on the small good things consistently, it will create a huge positive shifts in our lives over time. And that to me is such a beautiful and hopeful thought that progress doesn't have to be overwhelming or about massive overnight change. It can simply be about tiny actions.

Noticing one good thing, choosing better habit. Taking one small step closer to the life we dream of. In our chat today, Cooper shares the story behind the 1% Good Club and how it came to life, why he believes small daily practices are real key to long-term happiness, resilience, and mental health.

Some incredibly practical tools that you can use straight away to find more joy and presence in your day, and how he has personally navigated the ups and [00:03:00] downs in life. As a professional surfer and now an entrepreneur and speaker with this mindset. I found myself nodding the whole way through because so much of what Cooper teaches connects so beautifully with a dream life philosophy, progress, not perfection.

Big dreams fueled by small daily steps. I think you will walk away from this episode feeling inspired, grounded, and excited to weave some of these 1% shifts into your own life. So grab a cup of tea or go for a walk and enjoy this really inspiring conversation Cooper Chapman.

 Well, hello Cooper. I am so excited. Welcome to my podcast.

[00:03:53] Cooper: Thank you so much, Kristina. It's great to be here. I can see all the books in the background and I'm, I'm very excited to share a bit about my book and [00:04:00] I think you're one of the first people that's got to read it from start to finish, so I'm, I'm excited to hear what you think and, um, yeah, get to talk a bit about it with your audience.

[00:04:07] Kristina: Yeah, fantastic. I can't wait to dig into your book, which is absolutely fantastic. But before we do, I wanna ask you a question. Did you have a dream as a child, something you wanted to do or become just for the audience to kind Of get to know you a little bit?

[00:04:24] Cooper: Of course. When I was a child, I always dreamed of being a professional surfer and traveling the world and being a world champion one day, but didn't quite reach the world champion, but ticked off a bunch of the other part of the dream.

[00:04:36] Kristina: Yeah, absolutely. You sure have. So we have listeners from all over the world, and I never heard of you before because I'm obviously not your demographic, but I.

absolutely loved your book. So I'd love for you to just to share a little bit about your journey before we jump in to the book.

[00:04:53] Cooper: Yeah, absolutely. So my name's Cooper. I, uh, used to be a professional surfer. I now run a mental health organization called The [00:05:00] Good Human Factory. But bit of my backstory, I grew up on Sydney's Northern Beaches at a beautiful little town called North Narab, which has quite a history of professional surfers, a lot of world champions, and very big strong surf culture there.

So I started doing nippers and, you know, spending a lot of time at the beach with my family from sort of five, six years old and jumped on a surfboard from about eight or nine years old and just fell in love with, love with it from, you know, such a young age. And as well, you know, at six years old the Olympics came to town in Sydney.

So. As you know, so many kids when they see the Olympics, it's just so inspiring and you wanna be like these athletes and you know, when it's 40 minutes away from your house, the Olympic Village, it was just such a special thing to happen when I was, um, when I was a kid. So yeah, that set me on a trajectory to want to be a professional athlete.

And surfing just became the sport that I fell in love with and had a lot of talent from a young age and quite a lot of success from sort of 10, 11, 12. And yeah, that was my journey as a kid from 14 years old. I won an Australian title and got to represent Australia [00:06:00] all around the world, in world junior surfing, um, throughout high school.

From the age of 14 to 18, I got to where the green and gold and represent the country. and then yeah, picked up sponsorships and pretty much from finishing high school was already destined to follow the surfing path and was sort of ranked in the top three juniors in Australia up until I was about 21.

So yeah, had a really strong junior career and loved the ocean. Loved competing, loved learning how to get better as a competitor. also came with a few unhealthy, I guess, habits through that period of life too, sort of growing up, becoming a young man in a culture that can, you know, have a few negative influences, let's say, when it comes to surfing.

And I guess just any young Australian can go, um, down a few different paths. And, yeah, I feel very lucky that I got to chase what I dreamed of being a kid and surf around the world and compete and was ranked sort of in the top a hundred surfers in the planet pretty much for a decade after finishing school, which was, yeah, pretty amazing way to see the world.

And then. From there, I started a business in mental health, [00:07:00] which I'm sure we can probably talk into how I got into that space. and then, yeah, the rest is kind of history now. I travel the country and, and the world and present on mental health and how people can take better care of their mental health.

I've interviewed hundreds of experts on my podcast as well and learnt so many really simple things that we can do that most of us aren't doing, that are scientifically proven to, you know, help with your wellbeing, help regulate your nervous system. So I've pretty much made it my mission for the past five years to tell as many people as possible these simple things that we can do for our mental health.

And yeah, I've been lucky to educate thousands and thousands of people, um, over the past five years.

[00:07:35] Kristina: I absolutely love that. So, do you wanna, do you wanna share a little bit about why mental health became such a important part of your journey after surfing? So obviously I read the book, but not everyone have yet. So, um, I noticed a few little things around ego and, uh, perhaps, um, a, uh, a mindset that wasn't around great gratitude, even though your dad was really encouraging that.

[00:08:00] So I'd love for you to just talk a little bit about what got you into, to mental health.

[00:08:05] Cooper: Yeah, so mental health had always been something quite important to my family. I mean, I lost an uncle to suicide when I was six years old. So that was um, you know, a pretty pivotal moment in my life even though I didn't know it. Obviously when I was six years old, I wasn't told by my family that's what had happened.

But as I got older, I started to, well, I got told the story of what had happened and then I watched my dad struggle at times with his mental health. Nothing major, but just sort of depression, anxiety, a bit of alcoholism. Kind of wanted to go and see a psychologist, but then my mom would be like, get over it.

You are the man. As much as my mom's the best woman ever, that was just how she was raised. So I kind of had this opposing force of like, Ooh, if I struggle and wanna ask for help. That I'm gonna get told to get over it. So because of that, even though I never would've got told that, that was just how I kind of reflect on how I felt.

So because of that, I was always really forward thinking and curious, what can I put in place if I do get to a point of challenge? But as I kind of alluded to before, [00:09:00] that sort of late teen, early twenties, I did get swayed by some, you know, not that great influences and so much of my self-worth, and so much of my identity was tied to my career and my achievements as a pro surfer when I was doing really good.

I, as I talk about in the book, I felt like I was at the top of this rollercoaster. You know, you get the external validation, the pats on the back, the sponsorship money's coming in. When you're doing well, all this great stuffs around you. But then when you're doing poorly, it all disappears and you kind of.

Get this big hit to your self-worth. And as a junior surfer, I was, pretty successful. Pretty big fish in a small pond. And then I went to the international tour and I went from, you know, big fish in a small pond in Australia to a small fish in a big pond globally. And as well as my results declining, my mental health really started to suffer.

And at the time, I didn't really understand why or what was going on, but upon working with my psychologist at Surfing Australia and connecting with him and starting to, you know, try and understand why I'm feeling this way, he began to make me, yeah, really aware of the fact that we just really shouldn't base our [00:10:00] self-worth and our identity on our career and achievements.

Because if you don't reach the big goals you set, then you feel less and you feel insignificant and your mental health suffers. So he said, I want you to base your self-worth and your identity on your personal values. Let them guide you. And at the time, I didn't really know what my personal values were, and that sort of sent me on a journey through my twenties to do a lot of self-development, a lot of self-discovery, and try and understand who I am as a person and base my self-worth and identity on how well I can live to those values daily, rather than how well I can reach these big goals that I set out to achieve.

[00:10:32] Kristina: Hmm. I love that because I often talk about this too. I do a lot of speaking now that, if you invest in yourself, so personal growth, investment in skills, whatever that is, you never, you can lose a job, you know, a sponsorship, a relationship, a business, which was my case. Um, but you never lose your, your knowledge, your experience, your attitude.

And I think that's why it's so important to, um, invest in ourselves.

[00:10:58] Cooper: absolutely. It's just building a solid [00:11:00] foundation and understanding who you are.

[00:11:02] Kristina: Yeah, for sure. So, Um, before we dig into the book, there's so many things I wanna ask through the whole, like, I want to almost go through every chapter, but, what made you write the book? I'm curious about that.

[00:11:13] Cooper: so part of my business with what I do with the Good Human Factory is keynote speaking and there's obviously so many stories that I've refined, no, not refined the stories, but learn to tell in a way that people can connect with and reflect on themselves. And the feedback from, you know, presenting to over 50,000 students working with companies like Apple, Telstra, red Bull, Amazon, Westpac, Coles.

I began to get all this feedback like, oh, this is a really good way and I haven't heard this described this way. so I began to get this sort of evidence that the way that I describe complex topics really relates to people and make some actually feel like they can take something away from it. so I'd sorta, I, I got approached by a publisher a few years ago and they were like, Hey, have you got an idea for a book?

And I was like. Yeah, here's sort of the idea and they're like, okay, great, we can help you publish it. It's gonna cost [00:12:00] you like $35,000 and this and that. And I was like, oh, that's not how I'd heard books. Work was sort of a publisher gives you a deal and there's obviously so many ways that you can get a book deal now that I've learned post.

So I kind of put the thing on ice. I was like, I don't have $40,000 to create a book right now, but I'll put the idea on ice. And then about 12 months later, I was approached from Wiley Publishing and they same thing, said, do you have an idea for a book? Fill out this form. And they said they'd been following my work for a while, the communities I'd built my podcast.

And I said, yeah, I've got an idea for a book. And I kind of mapped out what I was thinking. And it was pretty similar to what the book actually is now. I'm trying to think what the initial pitch was. It was only like 12 months ago. But anyway, they were like, yeah, we love the idea. And initially I wanted to call it the good human guidebook.

And they came back and I explained the concept of the 1% Good Club, the Instagram community I had. And they were like, we love the idea for the book to be called the 1% Good Club. That way it kind of it's more than me. It's [00:13:00] like a concept book. It's this idea that we should all start with giving at least 1% of our day to our mental health.

So hopefully the book outgrows me. It's just a theory that we should all do. Kinda like the five Hour Work Week or the 5:00 AM Club, sorry, or Atomic Habits, like these books that are bigger than the author. So they kind of, I think, saw that and said, yep, we love the idea. We'll give you a book deal. Get us a book written by this date.

Here you go. And I was just like, okay, I better write a book now. And then, and then I also was like, okay, a lot of people, I guess in my situation that, I mean, I definitely wouldn't call myself an influencer, but people have a bit of a profile from their sport or from whatever, who aren't necessarily writers.

Like my sister's, um, got a book coming out actually 28 days after mine, the same month, which is really exciting. You'll have to read her book to hers is already bestseller on all Amazon charts

[00:13:47] Kristina: oh.

[00:13:48] Cooper: like her book's called Always You. So my sister is, um, married to a really famous big DJ Fisher, but she also has a huge, um, podcast and community [00:14:00] herself called Darling Shine.

she spent, she had like 10 mi, I might get this wrong, but 10 rounds of IVS and like four or five miscarriages. So her book's all about infertility and then she got pregnant with a miracle baby. And now my beautiful little niece Bobby, is just like the most gorgeous baby ever. So her book's all about her journey of like. she was with her, uh, partner when he was an ex pro surfer as well, and been with him for like this 12 year journey of him being now one of the top DJs in the world. Anyway, her book's all about her journey of meeting him, infertility, having the baby. but so hers is killing it.

Um,

[00:14:33] Kristina: We'll have her on the podcast as well for

[00:14:35] Cooper: yeah, he'll have to, she, her hers is called always you, but yeah, it's, um, yeah, I'm really excited to read hers. But anyway, they were like, yep, do you have this idea? Get the book to us. And I got a re oh, sorry. Where I was going with that is most people get ghost writers, and I got quoted like 40,000 off one ghost writer and a hundred thousand off another one.

And I was like, once again, I didn't have that sort of money, so I was like, you know what, I'm just gonna try and write it. Myself [00:15:00] and my publisher were like, great, we don't like, we're happy for you to do that because if it goes well and you wanna write your second book, if you don't write the first one, you still haven't written a book.

So it's like, you know, everyone's gonna write their first book at some stat. Every author who you know, wants to write a book has to write their first one. So, gave it a crack myself. And yeah, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I think it's being a public speaker and a podcaster, I feel like it's written in quite spoken word.

I mean, you've read it so you can probably talk about how it's written. It's a bit different maybe than most self-development. It's a bit of a mix between. there's obviously a lot of science and references to science, which I think is super important, but I think storytelling and people connecting to people's stories is a really good way, to make people relate to stuff.

So it's kind of goes in a really nice chronological of my journey of professional athlete life. The lessons I learned through that into building a entrepreneur journey of a movement that's, you know, impacted hundreds of thousands of people. The lessons I've learned through that, and then 10 habits that I've learned from experts on my podcast that are scientifically proven to help with your, [00:16:00] um, mental health.

And that's the third part of the book. So it's kind of like a nice journey where it's like you get the self-development, you get the entrepreneur, you get the athletes, a bit of everything mixed in. and it's also quite short. It's only 200 pages. It's just like a Yeah. A good book, I think to sort of touch a bunch of topics to leave you sort of curious about a few different things you've learned, the science, you've learned how you can implement, but you've also, you know, learned a story of someone that you can probably relate to in certain different ways from my family life to my athlete life, to 70 different things.

[00:16:28] Kristina: Yeah, absolutely. I love, I love books that have, someone who's actually lived it because it's, um, theory is one thing, but actually hearing someone going through it, I think resonates so much better. And that's why I think it's so important, especially for you, uh, for young people listening to you. They will be relating much more to you than they would for someone who's like, you know, 50 years older than them.

So it's, uh, great that you've done this. I'm, I, I loved, absolutely loved the book. So, You talked about being un unaware of the profound importance of self-care [00:17:00] and living aligned with your values. Uh, and you were, uh, it was always about external validation. Can you just talk a little bit about how you got through that and how you started to look after yourself, and then we'll, we'll obviously dive into all the habits, et cetera, but it'll be interesting to, to see where, We went from unaware to, to a little bit more aware.

[00:17:20] Cooper: There's a few moments, and I love that you've written the book so you know all about it. But I guess one of the biggest things that really hit my identity, so in surfing, one of the, the most important things is to have a sponsor, to have, you know, a sticker on your surfboard. It tells everyone I'm worthy, this brand wants me to support them.

And when you get to the level that I was at, they pay you money so you can chase your career basically and help promote their brand. So I'd just had my best year ever on the tour. I was ranked on my tour 23rd, but only the top two make the next, very hard to explain, but basically out of every surfer on the planet, I was ranked about 45th in the world.

So, you know, there's millions and millions of surfers. I was doing pretty well [00:18:00] and then my sponsor said to me, well done mate. You did great. This year I was 22, I think 23, but we don't really have the budget and we don't really see you making it to the next two us, so we're gonna take you off our team.

And I was like, wow, I just had my best year ever. And. I was making $50,000 a year to making $0 a year, and I just went into this ultimate victim mindset of like, this sucks. Like, they don't care about me. Like I'm gonna quit. Like, you know, I just spiraled into this victim mindset, this full mindset of like, expectation, I deserve this, I deserve that.

I'm ranked higher than these guys. And that was a pretty, you know, toxic place that I found myself in for about 12 months at that 22 years old. And I was thinking about giving up surfing, and then I had to go and get a full-time job, which, you know, might sound like I'm being a bit of a wher now, but at the time, you know, I was, ranked in the top a hundred surfers on the planet and doing so well, but then I was working, doing landscaping and working as a builder for like a year to save or two years.

To save enough money to go to the next [00:19:00] event. So this is where the toxic mindset just kept spiraling. You know, I was, you know, going out and partying a lot, drowning my sorrows with alcohol and doing a lot of unhealthy things. And then I was very close to retiring from competitive surfing, just working full time.

And I got invited to the Olympics first ever training camp for surfing. And that was sort of a little bit of the ego boost of like, oh, I'm still worthy. Like the top 10 male Australian surfers got invited to this introductory camp to learn about the Olympics. And then three years or four years later, the top two were going to Tokyo.

And I was like, I'm not gonna probably make it to the Olympics. I'm not ranked in the top two, but I'm in the top 10, so why don't I try and get everything else I can out of this camp? And we had some amazing speakers there. And we had, um, a guy Ben Crow, who's an incredible mindset coach. Um. We also had, Mick Fanning did a talk and then Jason Patel surfing Australia's psychologist, and they just said something there that really hit me.

I was stuck in this mindset that was just so negative. And they said [00:20:00] like, pro surfing's what you guys do, but it's not who you are. Like who are you guys? I want you to all try and think about like what's your personal philosophy? What do you wanna live by? And it was the first time I'd really stopped and reflected and I was like, yeah, you know what?

I probably do need to change this mindset. Like I'm the only person who has to live in this mindset and in this mind of mind. So why not make it a bit more positive? And then a few days later at the camp Jason, the sports psychologist, said to me like, stop basing your self-worth and identity on your career and achievements.

'cause one day your surfing career is gonna finish and like base it on your values. Like what are your values? And that sent me on this journey to really try and understand what my values are. And I began to read a lot of books and began to look at other people who I was inspired by and try and understand the values that I see in them that I wanna see in myself.

And that was just kind of my twenties for a couple years in the mid twenties, even though I was, you know, didn't have the funding, I was getting up early to go to work. I was every day trying to be like, okay, well what values matter to me? And it's still a battle. You know, there's still days, there are days where something happens and it goes back to that [00:21:00] old mindset and it's just about that constant reassurance.

Like, no, I need to be on this path. On this path. And um, there was one, there was one moment that I remember and, and I mentioned it in the book that was really pivotal. I was in South Africa for a surf contest at a place called Boleto. And I remember sitting on the beach and I was about to go out and surf in this surf contest.

I'd just done like three weeks of work on the landscaping site, gone overseas. My boss had given me the time off work. I think my boss at the time actually supported me and gave me a bit of money extra on top of my work hours to help me on the trip. And I was sitting on the beach just like in my mind going like, this sucks.

This kid had just run past me that was getting sponsored and getting paid and I wasn't. And then I just remembered the words that my dad told me. and he'd always say to me like, Cooper, life's about appreciation, not expectation. Like, be appreciative that you've got something rather than that you don't have something.

And it just clicked to me in that moment. I was like, wait, I'm sitting on the beach here about to go surfing in beautiful South Africa, staying in this nice accommodation on the beach front. And my mates who I work with are at home digging holes still. Like, and I'm here complaining, like, what an idiot. So [00:22:00] from that moment, I just really started to just always look for the things to be grateful for.

Look for the, you know, give people the benefit of the doubt, look to be curious, not furious, and just started to really try and live by these five fundamental values that I believe, are important for our mental health, which are taking responsibility, practicing gratitude, daily, having empathy for others, learning to be mindful and present, and then learning to have kindness to yourself, to others, and to the environment.

And I used to call them my five personal values for good mental health, but the more that I teach them and share them, the more I'm like, these are just five fundamental values for anyone to have. If you wanna have, you know, solid mental health.

[00:22:33] Kristina: Yeah. Yeah. I love that. I, um, in my speaking, I, I talk about perspective and it's something that I do all I really taught myself to do that now since I lost my business. But also, I think I've done that for quite a lot of time because I always think about how lucky I am to live in a country where we are, you know, we can create a business or we can, you know, we, we have freedom. That's obviously not the case right now in the world, everywhere. [00:23:00] And also I think, when you have that perspective, you. life just becomes much more exciting because instead of going to negative, you go to the positive and then you think what else is possible?

And I think if you have that, if you have that, like I always share that and, you know, some of my friends who passed away, I always think like, you know, when I lost my business, I, my view was like, I'm alive. I have all the knowledge. If I'm, if I built a business once, I can do it twice. And, um, such a good mindset to have and uh, it served me so well.

And you know, in, in some way it's actually an advantage. 'cause now when I'm speaking, I don't only speak about success, I also speak about failure and how you cope with that. And I think that's what people more interesting because success is not really where the growth is. The growth is always in the failures and the mistakes that we make in my, in my experience.

[00:23:47] Cooper: Absolutely. And with gratitude, I think it's so important the way that you were just saying that is so often we only compare across and up. Which is important to, you know, have strive and to, you know, be shooting towards something. But very rarely do [00:24:00] we stop and sort of compare across and down and we'll go like, wow.

Like for an instance in Australia, we're one in 330 of the global population. So for you to be in Australia right now, it's like having a dice and rolling one like that has 333 faces. You have to roll it on, land on number one. That's how lucky you are to be here in Oz. Like we're already so lucky. And then the other thing is, quite often you talk about gratitude and people are like, yeah, but I've got so much hard stuff going on.

It's like gratitude isn't about dismissing that you have challenges in your life. Not at all. It's just about focusing your awareness and your thoughts and your energy on the positives and the good stuff for a few moments a day. And then, then it triggers the release of the neurotransmitters and hormones that make us feel good.

Serotonin, oxytocin. So when you see someone who's like, oh, they're so positive and they have such a grateful mindset, it's like. Not all the time, but they just choose to have that mindset for a portion of their life because it makes 'em feel good and like you are the only one has to live in your head. So you may as well look for the positives, at least for a few moments every day.

[00:24:55] Kristina: absolutely. You know, I actually got criticized there when we lost our business that I [00:25:00] was so positive, which I thought was kind of ironic and hilarious, um, because I was like, it was an awful time and it took me quite a while to get over it, but I really focused on being alive and having, you know, I still had my family.

I still had, you know, had so much, you know, I still built a global brand, so I learned so much. And then, you know, it was such a, it was such an interesting, um, Way for people to say that I was too positive and it wasn't like I was pushing it away 'cause I dealt with it for quite a while. But even if you had a re had a really bad day, there's always something to be grateful for.

And, and it's not often until you get sick that people realize that. And I, I always feel like if we could do this small little basics every day.

that you sp speak about in the book, then even if you are going through a challenging time, it can be, be a bit of, bit more of a positive experience.

[00:25:52] Cooper: Yeah, you can still manage it a little bit better. I'm excited to hear about your story you keep alluding to like you're losing your business. Uh, have you done a tell all and [00:26:00] told all your audience what happened with the business or,

[00:26:02] Kristina: Yeah. Yeah. So I

speak about that. Yeah.

[00:26:03] Cooper: have to, I'll have to have you on my podcast and learn it

[00:26:06] Kristina: Yes, absolutely. I would love to come on your podcast. I share, I actually share it and um, I didn't share it straight away 'cause it was a lot to work out because obviously, you know, we had shareholders, they lost a lot of money and other we lost everything.

And I also have a family that was like a kind of, a family business. So, so it was not an easy thing to go and talk about that on stage. But I'm now, so I started it. Maybe a couple of years after I, I lost a business and then, um, now I, I speak about it Like that's my, my focus is speaking and my, dream is to do 104 keynotes.

This, this financially. Yeah.

So I, uh, I, it won't fall like that, and I might not reach it, and That's absolutely fine. I, I dream big. And then if I fall, you know, I did probably about 50 the last financial year, so I know that I can probably get close, but, uh, but it's, I love,

I love uh, uh, dreaming big because even if [00:27:00] you don't reach it, you, you reach much bigger than you do if you're just setting a goal and stretch yourself a little bit.

So, that's my whole philosophy in life is to create your dream life, whatever, whatever that. is for each individual. So

[00:27:11] Cooper: I love, the saying it's better to shoot for the stars and hit a tree than shoot for a tree and hit a rock.

[00:27:15] Kristina: Ah. Absolutely. Couldn't think, think of it. Yeah, absolutely. It's so, so important to dream big and much more exciting because it really puts me out there. 'cause I was never, I did a lot of speaking in my, in my, um, when I started my business, but it was only because I got asked and now I'm actively looking for work.

So can you just, actually, I'm gonna go into, um.

your human factor. Do you wanna, do you wanna share what that is because we have a lot of educators, uh, listening to this podcast, so you might get some speaking opportunities if you share that.

[00:27:47] Cooper: As, as, as you just alluded to, any, um, any inbounds is always great because it, it is very hard to go out and sell yourself, but. I guess I'll explain a, a, a bit of the backstory on why I started it. Um, so [00:28:00] in, oh, it would've been 2018, my youngest sister out of three sisters was in year 12 at high school and she had a pretty tough time in year 12.

And one of the boys had a car crash at the start of the year and passed away. And then later in the year, at the time, I'm traveling the world, still working at this time, and I'd just done a bit of work for Manly Surf School and I'd run some surf training camps with the junior surfers. And during those weekend camps, I took a bunch of the surfers through a visualization and meditation technique.

And after the training camp, a bunch of the parents said like, oh, the kids all said they really love that. And I was like, oh, that's interesting that they like doing meditation. Didn't think much of it. Anyway, a few months later we're sitting around the dinner table as a family after I'd just got home from being overseas.

And Sophia, my younger sister. She lived really upset this one day around the dinner table and I was like, what's going on Soph? And she just kind of shrugged it off and didn't wanna say anything. And I was like, are you all right? And she was like, oh, one of the boys in my year took his own life yesterday and, you know, hearing abuse suicide is just the most tragic thing in the world to me.

And I kind of [00:29:00] sat there at the dinner table and obviously consoled her a bit and then looked up some of the statistics and went like, wow, this is a really big issue. I didn't really understand how, um, you know, how big this issue was. And I started to think back about, you know, the lessons that I'd learned over my past sort of seven, eight years that we kind of had gone through already on this chat, on moving my mindset from one that was this victim mindset and quite toxic and, you know, quite unhappy a lot to this one that is far more optimistic, far more positive from these few little things.

And I never learned them at school. So my dad said to me at that dinner table, he is like, why don't you go and try and talk to some of the kids at your old high school and you know, if you help one of them. Amazing. And yeah, that was back in 2018. And then I went overseas and I went and spoke to an old school teacher friend of mine.

This was in like October, November. And I was about to go to Hawaii for a surf for a month of surf contest. And he is like, you're such a legend for wanting to come and do this for the students. Go do a presentation, come back early next year, term one, and I'll give you a class and you can have a chat to them.

Um, and then he said to me like, oh, you're such a good human for wanting to do that. Like, you should call it the good [00:30:00] human factory. So that was where the name came from and I was like, oh yeah, that'll do that stick. so then, yeah, 2019 I went and did, like, once again, I'm still surfing professionally, working full-time as a tradie, 50 hours a week and like barely anything.

2019, I did I think two workshops. Um, and then 2020 came around and COVID hit and that was where I was like, okay, I wanna launch a podcast so I can interview and learn from all these really smart people. I couldn't go to work because of COVID, so I ended up moving to, um, Northern New South Wales and spending like three, four months diving into a bunch of short courses, getting my mental health, the first aid qualifications, and then obviously 'cause of COVID.

I couldn't really do workshops. I like launched my merch and basically the whole idea between behind the workshops was, I mean, at the time when I started I was like 25. It was about going into schools as someone who young people can relate to being a pros, surfer. At the time I was still competitively surfing, so it was like this young cool pros surfer coming in and talking to us about mental health.

But through the lens of mental health, not mental illness, I realized there was this big gap whenever I [00:31:00] was at school. It was like a psychologist coming in or someone coming in saying how important it's not to bully and making people open up. And I just didn't relate to that and I felt like maybe I can go and teach these kids about gratitude, mindfulness, kindness, take 'em through some really simple exercises and just start to shift the perspective of mental health.

Doesn't always have to be this really heavy topic. It can be this other topic that's a bit more inspiring and engaging and fun and like, oh, we all have mental health. Only 20% of us each year will be diagnosed with a mental illness, but a hundred percent of us have mental health. So that was kinda where it started.

And then 2020, obviously COVID didn't do too many workshops. 2022 came around, I mean, 2021, and I started to book a bit more, but then I just qualified last minute for the international tour of surfing. So I had to take four, four or five months off at the end of the year. And then pretty much from 2022, I decided, you know what?

The workshops, um, I'm far more like enjoying this. I started to book a couple more. The feedback was starting to become super positive. Like 98% of participants in my workshops say they learned [00:32:00] something new about, um, mental health. 98.3% say they'll use the skills they learn moving forward in 98.7. Say, I'd recommend it to a friend.

And so I've, I've gathered, gathered data now from over 1500 people through my workshops, and that's what the data says, which is just so positive. Um, but from that, a lot of the school teachers were like, oh, we really needed that as well. I thought initially I'd need to create a whole new workshop for corporates, but they were like, no, we needed that.

So then I started doing a lot of teachers and they were like, this is great. And from that I moved into the corporate space as well. And as I sort of mentioned at the start, I, um, you know, did a little bit of work for Apple. I did some stuff for Amazon and Westpac and Kohls and, just started to sort of connect with all these corporates know, like, yes, there's a space for what a lot of other, you know, psychology and people will come into our workplace and do, but we've never had a speaker that can actually relate and engage and not be like forcing stuff down people's throat.

Just make it, as you read the book, I feel like I talk about this stuff in a relatable way, in a way that's a bit of fun, a bit engaging, uh, gives people stories that they can [00:33:00] connect with and then actually give people really simple one to two minute exercises that can take them away and actually get some input straight away.

so yeah, I've retired from surfing now the last, um. or since 2020, sorry, I've spoken over 50,000 students, which is just, um, yeah, really powerful to know the impact that that would've had on so many. And then my podcast is just about to tick over a million downloads. And once again, you know, the impact of podcasts from like that reach that you can get from extra people.

And then, um, yeah, I've built communities on social media with, uh, the good human factory, which has, um, you know, over two and a half thousand people giving 1% of their day to their mental health every single day. done thousands of bits of merch that have got positive messages that, you know, spread those messages in the community.

So turn into this crazy ecosystem of what I never knew it was gonna be. But as this podcast is, you know, about your dream life, I, I, I guess I just felt like I was living my dream life as a pro surfer, but I just wasn't feeling what I was hoping was my dream life. and then I started to, through my [00:34:00] self-development book, started to really understand the importance of service to others.

And that's where I started to go. This is why this good human factory thing's feeling better for me. Once again, it's funny 'cause it comes back to external validation, but external validation, not because I'm good at a sport, external validation because I'm giving somebody something that's positively changing their life.

So it's a, it's a funny thing that my whole book and everything's about avoiding external validation and now I get more of it than ever. But it's for, for the right reasons I guess.

[00:34:25] Kristina: yeah, yeah. yeah,

Absolutely. I absolutely love that. And you probably inspired so many kids, young kids who wanted to become a professional athlete or a surfer, even if it wasn't on your level. So you probably did that, but you might not have thought of that, um, at the time. So you've probably done it the whole way through.

[00:34:47] Cooper: I mean, that's definitely one thing, but my goal is like that. I don't just inspire the surfers to be pros, surfers. I inspire everyone just to be a little bit of a better human, and that's gonna make every part of your life a bit better anyway. But yeah, for anyone listening to [00:35:00] workshops at schools are usually 60 minutes and fit into a school period.

And then for corporates, I do 60 minute, nine minute and a half day experiences as well. So, you can learn all about that on the good human factory.com.

[00:35:10] Kristina: Fantastic. We'll link to all that for, for sure. So, Um, let's talk about, the 1% shift. What is that?

[00:35:17] Cooper: yeah,

so I had this idea a couple years back, about five years ago now, back in 2021. I know that you're kind of businessy too, so I'll explain The concept from the back of my mind was, you know, Gary v's. Always like, give, give, give, then ask for something and the merch wasn't really moving. Um, so that's kind of bit of the concept behind this, the 1% good club, but also I was doing a meditation one morning and two of the things that I always encourage people to do is meditate and practice gratitude every day.

And I was doing this meditation and I just sort of was sitting there and as most of us who meditate, I couldn't slow my mind down. And I started to think like, surely we can all agree that we should be able to give 1% of our 24 hours to our mental health. You know, it's the biggest killer of people aged 14 to 45 in the country.

It's pretty important and most of us aren't doing anything. So I [00:36:00] was like, surely we could all agree that we can give 1%. So in the middle of this 10 minute meditation, I stopped and I couldn't stop thinking about this great idea. And I got my calculator out and started doing the math on 1% of 24 hours.

1,440 minutes in a day. 14.4 is 1% of that. So 14.4 is 14 minutes and 24 seconds. So I was like, surely we can all, let's round down, give 14 minutes a day to our mental health, less than 1%. And then I was like, well, what are two things that we can do for our mental health that are great? And I was like, meditation, gratitude.

So I was like, why don't every single, oh, and then as well, I was like, and you're also 95% more likely to maintain a healthy habit if you have a community around you. So off all those theories, I went, well, why don't I create an Instagram group chat where every single morning I'll just send a YouTube link That's a 10 minute meditation.

There's your 10 minutes in the morning. And then every night I'll say three things I'm grateful for from my day. And then everyone can write their three things they're grateful for in the group chat. And then everyone's given 1% of their day to their mental health and [00:37:00] be part of the community to maintain the habit.

So on the first day, I just put an Instagram story up saying, Hey, do you wanna join? I'm gonna call it the 1% good club, 1% of your day doing something good for your mental health. And I think I had like 25 or something sign up for the first day, which I was quite surprised by. and then it kind of built and built after a few months we're up to like a hundred, 200, 300 people joined.

and now, I'm very proud to say it's been going for 1600 days in a row, and there's been over time there's probably been over three, 4,000 people joined. People leave after, you know, I joined it for a while. I don't really need it anymore. Um, right now there's currently over two and a half thousand members in the community.

Not everyone's active every day, but I'd probably say like two to 400 are active every single day. and I've just seen like test hundreds, like hundreds and hundreds of testimonials from people. 'cause I got them. You've read them in the book? Um, I've got them for the book and I've like. Anecdotally, seeing like hundreds of people's mental health and hundreds of people's lives really positively impacted because of giving that 1% of their day to their mental health.

And that was [00:38:00] the theory that then turned into the book. The book is kind of the extension of the community, of this theory of, all right, what if we at least do 1% of our day to our mental health? And then let's add a little bit more to it. And that's where the full potential and, um, the second part of the book came from, but the theory was sort of proven over five years of your community doing it.

And then I was like, let's turn this into a book so other people can have this idea and concept of doing at least 14 minutes a day for your mental health. Whether it's gratitude and meditation, or whether it's getting in nature, eating healthy food, communicating with people, exercising, breath work, like there's so many things that have, you know, positive scientific benefits on our nervous system and our mental health, but we need to have that, you know, dedicated time to actually practice them.

[00:38:40] Kristina: Yeah, I love that. I often talk about, I, I run different workshops as well and, um, a lot of people want to hear about, Uh, you know, longevity and, biohacking and all that stuff, which is great. But I think we need to start with the basics and, uh, the basics are offered.

Easy to do, but also very easy not to do. And I think, um, I think that's why [00:39:00] there's, there's so much potential for everyone just to kinda lift their mental health and physical health, just a tiny bit by, by doing what you are talking about. So let's jump into, um, to, uh, all the habits that you recommend.

So I have written, if you don't know them on top of your head in the order.

[00:39:16] Cooper: Uh, I, I, I've got the book, I've got the book here, but do you want me to, do you want me to explain, which I obviously do in the book, but I can explain to your listeners where they came from and why I found them important. So I, um, I guess after doing the 1% Club for a few years. I started to once again reflect on my life and go, I'm interviewing all these experts on my podcast.

I'm learning about all these healthy habits that most of us are generally aware of. But I kind of started going like, I'm not really doing them every day. So me and my partner were like, my partner's quite, you know, into this world as well of self-development, spirituality, trying to, you know, better ourselves.

And I was like, why don't we write up on a whiteboard all these habits that on a good day we could do them all in every day. But let's face it, most of the times we don't do them all. [00:40:00] And then let's try and tick them all off. On our initial one, there was 14 habits, and then seven days of the week adds up to 98.

And then we have like two bonus points on the weekend where on a Saturday if we go to the farmer's market and get our fresh produce, we get a bonus point. And on a Sunday, if we clean the house, we get a bonus point. So then my weird analytical mind likes to, it fits nicely in a hundred. What's your score out of a hundred for the week?

Um,

so. The habits that I'm gonna read out right now is only 10 because I kind of went, you know what, 10 fits nicely into a book and 10 fits a bit nicer into it. so the 10 that are in the book are breath work, meditation, exercise and movement, time in nature, connection and communication, limiting your screen time and time spent learning, gratitude, healthy eating and home cooking, stretching and recovery and sleep and self-care.

So we basically started to go through, like when you listen to all them, you're like, well, that's a really big day. But then we started to go like, no, they only have to be like a few minutes each. It's just about sort of doing them and actually committing a bit of time to them. And [00:41:00] for us, it's like we wake up and do breath work and meditation each morning before we get outta bed.

There, we've got two ticks. Then we try and, you know, do a bit of exercise out in nature. We've got another couple ticks. We try and make sure that we spend a bit of time communicating as a couple. If we get to the end of the day and we haven't had like a somewhat of a deep conversation, we say, you know what, we haven't, we need to, or we give ourself a cross.

Limiting screen time. We set a boundary. If we don't go on our phone before seven and after seven, if we do, we give ourself a cross. And then it's like we do four days in a row where we've, it's about just like self self accountability and going like, and keeping it in front of you. So you go, oh wow. I've had five days in a row where I've been on my phone, you know, before and after 7:00 PM and I feel pretty average my sleep's gone down.

so that was the concept. So we've been doing that once again for about nine months when we first, when I first got the book deal, and that's where I was like, Hmm, maybe I can weave this in as well, because so many people who would come to my house would see it, or so many podcast guests would come to my house and see, go like, this is great.

And so many people when I post about it would go, oh, I really want one of those whiteboards. Can you make them? So hopefully I can make it [00:42:00] into a product as well. One day, the actual whiteboard. But that's where I was like, all right, why don't I turn this into the book and go through all 10 of the habits, explain my experience with it, a podcast expert's experience with it.

The science of it and then how the audience can integrate it into their life. So it kind of has not just the science, not just the story. It kind of has a balance. so yeah, they're the 10 habits that as much as they all feel like a lot, and I definitely don't do them all every day, but I reckon I'm a good, like 70% of them usually, you know, seven or eight a day out of them.

And yeah, if I do four days in a row with no exercise, I can see it and I go, okay, I better exercise because I know the scientific benefits of it.

[00:42:37] Kristina: Yeah, I love, I absolutely love that. And I, I actually have a habit club I love a challenge and I love to do new things. Every month I try to come up with something new to try you know, it's all sorts of different things. and I used to drag my friends in, it's a messenger group or something like that, and they, uh, they didn't wanna do that, so I under thought I'm gonna do a habit club that people can [00:43:00] join, because they want to, not because they, I drag them by this road.

And, um, we've done that for many years now and I absolutely love it because sometimes, sometimes just having that accountability and having that, start, you know, I, there's a great, quote that I say almost every time I do a podcast, which is, um, it's a Zig Ziglar quote. You don't have to be great to start, but You have to start to be great. And it's such a good reminder for things like this where it's really easy to do, but it's also so easy to miss. You know, this morning I was like, I've been working all weekend in Melbourne, so when I was thinking I'm gonna, and I work Monday night, so I'm thinking I'm gonna actually just, um, go for a really long walk here.

It's so beautiful here in Sydney. And, uh, and then I thought I might skip the meditation. I was like, no, I'm not gonna skip the meditation. But it's so easy to do because you, there's, there's like, you know, there could have been so many reasons why it's better to be in nature today with, to see the sunrise.

But then now I was like, no, I'm gonna have a quick meditation and then, [00:44:00] and then go out. So for anyone listening, I'm curious, how do people start? So if you, if you, if people are listening and they might wanna not wanna start with all of them, what do you think is a good place to start in your experience?

[00:44:12] Cooper: Mm. I think a good place to start is just sort of reflecting on how you're feeling. If you're feeling good every day, keep doing what you're doing. But if you're, you know, not feeling good and you're, you know, feeling angry or frustrated often, or, you know, you're getting easily upset about things or you're sad, like all these things generally.

Can come back to a bit of out balance ness in your life. So I think, I mean, if you're listening right now and you're like, oh, I need a bit of accountability, and you have Instagram and after what I said about the 1% Club, you're like, oh, that sounds good. You can send at the Good Human Factory, DI want Instagram saying I want to join the club, and you'll get added into that free.

It's a free community. It's always been free. It always will be. You get the link sent, you'll be part of the community. Um, it's a good starting point. If you don't like it, you can leave as well straight away. So that's, um, a good little spot just to get the accountability for, oh, there's a link for the meditation.

Each day there's a link for the [00:45:00] gratitude. Maybe that's what you've been waiting for, to actually stay consistent. A lot of our community have said it's, um, been really helpful for them. but I think as well, one of the simplest ones to start with is. Learning how to breathe correctly. I mean, I don't know how much breath work you've done, but just reading a book about breathing, whether you read Breath by James Nester, it's so fascinating.

Just like learning to breathe through your nose and down to your belly, I think is like one of the most fundamental simple things we should all learn. And that might be when you wake up each morning, just like consciously breathing through your nose, deep to your belly once every couple hours, putting an alarm on your phone going, where's my breathing?

Such a good thing for so much of, um, yeah, so many, so many positive benefits from that. But then as well, each day, if you can get out in nature and put your feet on the grass or touch a tree and just let your body get rid of that electromagnetic energy. I don't know how much you know about grounding, but dare I say, you probably do know quite a bit about it, but I'm sure you would've read in the book like, there's so much incredible science behind this stuff, but nobody's profiting off it.

So it's like we need to take that accountability ourself. And like you kind of alluded to, it is really [00:46:00] hard to do these things, but so many of us. Really knowledgeable, but not very wise. And I always say like, knowledge is knowing about all these things that are good for you, but wisdom's actually doing them like we need to actually be wise.

so yeah, I think it's just about starting sport small. What are the few little things that I can do tomorrow? Putting it up on a whiteboard, going, okay, next week I'm gonna try and get a few more next week I'm gonna try and get a few more. Don't have to set massive goals, but it's about taking some steps forward rather than only steps backwards.

And that's what I feel like that full potential accountability board that I have is all right, if I tick all these off, these are all one steps forward for my nervous system being regulated for, you know, my mental health, for my own physical health. Sure there's gonna be other things that we all do that aren't great for our health.

We all have, you know, bad habits, things that aren't great, scrolling our phone for too long, you know, drinking a few too many beers on the weekend. Like I'm, don't, don't say to people don't do that stuff. I just say take it. Definitely a few steps forward every day, so at least you can afford the steps backward.

[00:46:53] Kristina: Yeah. Yeah, I absolutely love that. And you know, it's funny because, um, because I always like, often, you know, [00:47:00] time is obviously a, um, an issue for a lot of people, but I always say check your screen time and then you probably find some time. And, and it's interesting because I, I rarely watch television.

I haven't done that for, for, for years and years. I just don't, I never did it. Much as a kid or teenager either. So it's just something I, I love reading, so I could spend, you know, all my time reading, but I, um, I'm watching currently a show with my, my daughter. She's 14, which is a really fun thing to do.

and I was saying that at the dinner table the other night. I'm like, no wonder people don't have time because it's addictive. Like, once you get into a show, you just wanna see the next episode or next episode. So I'm like, I'm so glad I'm not that because that's why I get, um, I get the question all the time, how do I read so much?

And I'm, I'm like, I spend less, less time. Definitely. I don't watch any news or anything like that. But, I'm definitely guilty of screen time. But, um, that's one thing.

that I think most people can actually look at straight away and find a little bit of time for all the things that you have spoken about.

[00:47:59] Cooper: [00:48:00] That's what I mean. It's like breath work and meditation doesn't have to be that long. There's so many good ones. Like I do, like literally a 15 minute one that's like a seven minute breathing and then seven minutes, um, of meditation after. And I literally do it before I get outta bed. You know? I'm like, all right, instead of scrolling my phone, I make a rule that before I can scroll my phone and, you know, get the blue light into my eyes and start my rhythm out of whack.

Well, I mean, I use my phone to quickly open the breath work that I do, but turn it to the side and then I do the breath work and meditation for 15 minutes. You know, get up, brush my teeth, do my business, and then my day started on, you know, a positive foot rather than laying in bed for that 15 minutes, scrolling Instagram.

And once again, I'm not perfect with this. I reckon like five days a week. I'm like that a couple days. You know, stuff up. So it's just about trying to, you know, be good for more days and you, you know, not proud of what you do, and just trying to slowly break those habits and build stronger

[00:48:51] Kristina: yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Aiming for progress, not perfection is definitely, definitely the key.

[00:48:58] Cooper: I'm pretty sure it literally says that on my [00:49:00] full potential, but my partner wrote that it's a progress, not

[00:49:02] Kristina: Yeah.

it's always so good. It's, um, it's, uh, I was doing a, a talk for a start your own business. Expo over the weekend, and so many people who come to things like that to have had an idea for so long. And, uh, often we think that the idea has to, when you start a business to be perfect. And that's why I love speaking to small businesses or people who want to start their own businesses because I, I, I started with zero idea and there was so much I didn't know and English was my second language and I had no network and no money.

So it could have been a really good excuse just to keep saying, I'm just gonna, you know, make it better. I'm just gonna learn more. And I think in today's world it's even harder because you can buy a million causes and you can join so many different things, but there's nothing like starting and, um, you know, they, it's a good proverb.

you know, the best. Time was 20 years ago, but, um, the next best time is today. So for anyone listening, I hope everyone start to take some action out of [00:50:00] everything that you shared. So I am really curious to, um, hear, have you got a, like a morning ritual, you do the breath work and you'll do the meditation and no phone.

What else do you do?

[00:50:11] Cooper: Oh, I mean, my life is so erratic with, um, with travel and so many different things. So every day is different for me. I, I mean, if I can, I try my best to get in the ocean. Last week I was at home on the Gold Coast, um, all week, uh, running workshops at schools, but before. The school each day. I went surfing six times last week, which is very big for me.

I don't get to surf as much as I used to. So trying to get in nature, trying to get a bit of exercising is always, you know, paramount. But I'll be the first to admit, one of the first things that seems to fall away for me is exercise. Um, when I'm traveling,

[00:50:43] Kristina: Yeah.

[00:50:43] Cooper: you know, I'm on my feet and I'm moving and I'm, you know, up on stage burning calories, doing a lot of stuff.

So it's a cop out and it's a, it's a terrible excuse saying that, but usually exercise is one of the first things that goes. But yeah, it really just depends and I try my best. Yeah. As I said, when I wake up, just to do the breath work, meditation, [00:51:00] get that ticked off. Take my few supplements that I've got recommended from different people like Dr.

Livy Weaver. I have a, a bunch of her bio blend stuff. I've had her on my podcast as well. I know she was a guest on yours, um, a few weeks back, but. Yeah, I just try and have those few things that I know I want to tick off, like eat something healthy, get in at nature, exercise, breath work, meditation, and then I'm like, sweet.

I've set my day up and I definitely don't tick 'em off every day, but if I can do it, more often than not, I know I sort of give myself that base to move from.

[00:51:27] Kristina: yeah. I love that. Love that. So you, you obviously read a lot of books, so I'm curious, is there one book in particular that is your favorite or one that had the most impact on you?

[00:51:40] Cooper: Ooh, there's different books at different times. Um,

[00:51:43] Kristina: Yeah. it's, so hard. I,

[00:51:45] Cooper: it's, uh, I'll give you one that I think really helped me and impacted me a lot in my work and in the world of mental health and that's Lost Connections by Johann Hari. Have you read it? Have you read it? Isn't it fascinating? I think it just gives [00:52:00] you.

mean, it's, the tagline is why you're depressed and how to find hope. I'm pretty sure if my memory is right and, and it's a really cool way to just look at mental health through a different lens than I'd sort of been sold it through the media and pharmacological and doctor route. It kind of showed like all these different areas of your life that you should work on.

And then if you're still struggling, absolutely seek professional help. But that was a real big, um, book for me into going like, yeah, this stuff is really important. These daily habits we're doing, these connections that we have with nature with other people. Um, so that was a big one for me. I mean, I could rattle off plenty, but another big one was breath that I mentioned before.

Breath by James Nestor was just fascinating to further my knowledge that in that obviously the work I do so much is around gratitude, empathy, and mindfulness. So, um, the Resilience Project by Hugh Van Berg's a massive, um, he's incredible. Yeah. Hugh's, um, he's a really good guy.

He's got a copy and I, I write about him in the book a little bit. and another one, just going off what you were saying with this idea of starting a small business, I've read this book called, um, the Confidence Gap [00:53:00] by Dr. Russ Harris, and he has this quote that I live by and it's the act of confidence comes before the feeling of confidence.

I don't even know if it's exactly that in the book, but I'm pretty sure it was from that book. And, and forgive me if it's not, but I, I always refer that quote to that book that I try and live by and it's this idea of like, you can learn all you want, but the feeling of confidence comes through doing. So it's about throwing yourself in the deep end, doing the, you know, challenging thing and then you start to feel confident.

And public speaking's the greatest example of that. If you get up there freaked out, stressed out, oh my God, I'm gonna stuff, I'm gonna stuff up. You're probably gonna stuff up. But if you get up there and go, you know what? The best chance I have of doing a good job right now and kicking it outta the park is to get up here and just try my best and be confident.

Then the feeling starts to come and far easier said than done. And it's a little bit different to fake it till you make it. I think it's like not even fake it, like act like you know what? Do your research, do your study, do your preparation. So you have the knowledge, but then present confidently and then the [00:54:00] audience won't know any differently.

[00:54:01] Kristina: Yeah, I couldn't agree more. 'cause a lot of my, people in my coaching program, they have big dreams. And when you have big dreams, they, comes with self doubt, sometimes imposter, uh, you know, everyone is different. But I, I always say like, you, you don't wait until you feel ready because you then you will never feel ready.

So you just have to take really small steps. And, I talk about this all the time around this public speaking, podcasting, um, creating a community, whatever, whatever people wants to do, write a book. If you're gonna wait until you're ready, you'll waste your whole lifetime, in my opinion.

And, you know, for me, I always ask people, and I ask myself, what would I do if I knew I couldn't fail? And a few years ago, because English is my second language podcast came up thinking if I did couldn't fail, that's what I would do. And then I was like, I'm gonna live and live and breathe my own message here.

And I started a podcast, and you know what I, this is, uh, when I was still with Kiki k and, um, I, I used to say to my [00:55:00] partner, I'd rather open 50 stores today than doing this because it was so difficult for me. And it was like, I just felt like, you know, and I interviewed like, you know, Olympic, uh, gold, uh, medalist li uh, Lisa camp, and she's a friend of mine.

So that should have been like an easy one. And I felt so awkward. It felt so unnatural. So I did about 50 and that's when I started to feel confident. And so I think you just have to, you just have to take small steps.

[00:55:27] Cooper: Yeah, and so many people, just like you said, wait till they're ready or quit when they don't see initial blow up and it's like. Podcasting for one takes like years to build your subscribers sort of list up. And then there's so much competition out there, but it's just about like really being clear on your why, like what are you trying to achieve?

And my why is if I help one person improve their mental health by 1%, like I'm happy. And now with my, and at the start, because the goalpost was so low, like one kid coming up to me after one of my first workshops and that really helped me. Everything else is just [00:56:00] bonus. And now, you know, there's so much.

So it's like once you set the goalpost, it's not about setting the goalpost low, it is just about like, what are you trying to do? Like what's your, what's your metric of success? And if the metric is growing a huge following and growing heaps of money, then it just depends like, yeah, go and chase something where you can go and do that.

Whereas if your goal is impact, it allows you to. Not be as fixated on, it's like if you impact a million or you impact one, like for me it's, I mean, same thing. Obviously more is better. Well, maybe it's not, I don't know. I'm just like, if I can just go out there and keep trying to be putting good stuff out in the world, then that's, um, better than just sitting at home and dreaming about it.

And, and a big one on the start when you're ready kind of thing is I love this saying of like, if not you, then who? 'cause we're like, oh, someone else, someone else, they've got more money, they've got more this. And it's like, everyone who's anyone came from somewhere, it's like, if not you, then who? Someone's gonna go do that idea.

May as well be you.

[00:56:56] Kristina: yeah.

absolutely. I had, um, Jane, uh, [00:57:00] on a few years ago on my podcast, and she said something that I often repeat, which I think is so good. So she, she, uh, started Showpo, which is like a hundred million dollar fashion brand, and she's now on, um, shark Tank. So, she said to me that. someone asked her to do a, a talk for someone and she felt like, no, who am I to do that?

And then her boyfriend, I think that's a husband now, but boyfriend at the time said, uh, what makes you so special that you can't do that when so many people can? Uh, so it just shifted it the other way. Why you so special that you can't do it? Versus the other way around? Often we look at, you know, who am I versus the other way.

It's like, well, you know, if people can do it, why not me? And that's kinda that I always had like, you know, people open businesses all the time, so why can't I do it? And, um, requires work and knowledge and all that stuff. But once you start, that's all easy to work out. Not, not

[00:57:56] Cooper: Yeah. And, and once you've done it, once it becomes easier the second time. It's like I [00:58:00] looked at when I, I had no idea starting a business, but I was like, if I help someone. Then it'll work itself out. And then it's kind of just snowballed into what I've done today. And I look at it like my first five years.

I look at it like I was an apprentice, like the first two years I was surfing professionally and working full time. So I don't even call the first until like twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two I'd say I really launched the business and was working on it full time. So I'm like, I'm like just hitting the end of my apprenticeship right now.

I feel like I'm just starting to understand the landscape of everything that I'm doing to be able to, you know, really leverage and move forward and grow and impact more people. So don't think that it's gonna happen overnight, like things take definitely time, but as long as you're learning and you're, you know, learning from your mistakes, learning from your failures, and you know you're always gonna be moving forward.

[00:58:46] Kristina: Yeah,

and enjoying it as well because I bumped into someone who a few months ago who, uh, just opened, he opened his first retail store and I said, oh, are you excited? He said, oh gosh, it's so hard. And it's like, you know, I don't know what I'm doing. And I said, [00:59:00] enjoy it. I said, the first of my stores when I opened in, in my twenties was the most exciting.

I can't even remember when we opened door number 120. Like, like, can't even remember it, versus the first are the most exciting. So enjoying the journey I think is so important. And if you do something you love, then um, it's so much easier obviously to do that.

[00:59:21] Cooper: absolutely,

completely Yeah. Fantastic. This has been so good. The last question I have for you is, knowing what you know now, what kind of advice would you give to your younger self?

[00:59:32] Kristina: I know you're very young still, but to say maybe your teens when you were surfing. The high waves of surfing.

[00:59:39] Cooper: I mean, I'd give them a copy of my book, but I don't know if I would've read it at that age. but, uh, I mean, to be honest, I feel like I wouldn't say too much. I had to go through the lessons I learned to get to where I am now. So as much as I'd probably just say be a bit nicer to your friends and family, be, you know, you don't have to.

Be cocky and sort of the mindset and [01:00:00] the, yeah, that mindset I had from that sort of 16 to 21 probably wasn't the sort of person I'm today. I feel like there was definitely plenty of good qualities, but there was, um, also a lot of insecurities that came across in, ways that I would've loved to have done them differently.

But as I said, it's maybe who I'm today. So, if anything I would teleport a copy of my book back, uh, 10 years and hopefully I read it and learn some of those lessons a bit earlier than, um, I've had to learn them. But I feel like as well, a lot of people learn these lessons that I shared in the book a lot later than I do too.

So once again, instead of being like, oh, I wish, I would rather just look at it with gratitude that I've, um, yeah, had the life that I have to this point and being able to, you know, have the achievements I've had, but also the impact I've had as well.

[01:00:41] Kristina: Yeah. Fantastic. Thank you so much first for, um, writing a book when you're so young. I think it's amazing because, a lot of people wait way too long, I think because you now can, share it much younger and to, and it will be very attractive for the people you're speaking to. So thank you for that.

And also thank you for taking the time to [01:01:00] come on my podcast. Um, I absolutely love the book and I'll, I'll, uh, link to it in the short notes. And, um, who knows? I got a, uh, a personal growth book club, which we, I book 12 months in advance, but I always change. Um, so who knows. We might, um, read it in the book club as well.

So thank you so

[01:01:18] Cooper: Uh, no. Thank you so much, Kristina. It's been an absolute pleasure. And yeah, like I said, we'll have to connect and, um, I'd love to hear a bit more about your journey, 'cause obviously Kiki k is a big business and you've alluded to it a few times, you lost your business. So I wanna, I wanna hear the story of it.

I also want to hear the story on how you've been positive and kept a smile on your face through, um, you know, the challenges that it seems like you've been through. So yeah, thank you so much for reading the book. Um, I was. You know, expecting you to have maybe flick through it, but the fact that you've read it, I, I'm really, really honored to see so many books behind it.

Oh, well, I, I really appreciate it. I just read, I just did the audio book and I found like four or five mistakes. I'm glad you did point out any mistakes to me, that there are a few very small mistakes. So,

[01:01:57] Kristina: That's, that's just life. That's I [01:02:00] read so many books. There are always mistakes in books, so don't even think about it. I didn't notice them in yours. but I, I love it. And it was funny because when your publisher reached out, uh, he said, Are you interested?

I said I can already tell that, that I'm definitely, I'm just gonna read it, but before I have more, but I definitely, I could tell straight away it was a, it's a very much in line with how, how I see life. So thank you so much.

[01:02:21] Cooper: No thank you and anyone who's listening, if you wanna connect to send me a damn at Cooper Chapman on Instagram. And um, yeah, I'm always keen to hear from people who've heard my story. If you've got any questions or if you have, um, yeah, anything you wanna chat about, please reach out.

[01:02:33] Kristina: Fantastic. I'll link to that as well. Thank you.

[01:02:36] Cooper: Awesome. Thank you so much, Kristina.

I. Wow. It wasn't that just so inspiring. I loved every moment of that conversation with Cooper. Such a powerful reminder that creating our dream life doesn't have to be about huge leaps. It's about those tiny, consistent, 1% actions that really add up over time. If Cooper's [01:03:00] words resonated with you, make sure you grab a copy of his brand new, the 1% Good Club book.

[01:03:06] Kristina: It's Art first for October, but we'll link to it in the show notes so you can pre-order it. I know you will love it, and it's full of even more tools and inspiration to help you live a happier, more intentional life. And of course, I would love to hear from you. What's the 1% action you are going to start today.

After listening to this episode, join my free Facebook group, your Dream Live. I'll link to that as well. Or just search for it on Facebook. If you found this episode inspiring, Please share it with a friend, and hit subscribe so you don't miss any future episode. And if you haven't already, I would love.

For you to leave me a review. It helps more people discover the podcast and join this dream life journey. And as always, don't forget progress, not perfection. just one [01:04:00] small step today can bring you closer to the life of your dreams. As always, I'll be back on Monday with a new Monday morning motivation episode.

I'll see you then.

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