What gets me out of bed in morning

My mission in retirement

Having a mission gets me out of bed in the morning, and mine in retirement is to help everyone feel great.

And by great I mean “have lots of energy”.

And to have lots of energy, I need to help people drink less, eat better, and exercise with friends more.

"Win the title" was my mission each year of my footy career.

And while pursuing my new mission has driven me to burnout, it fuels me to keep going by giving purpose to my work.

So I’ve got my new mission, and even though it’s not as exciting as winning rugby matches in front of 80,000 people, it’s infinitely more meaningful.

PS: My kids get me out of bed in the morning too lol

How I’m going to do it

My mission is pretty big and it’s unlikely I’ll ever achieve it.

But that shouldn’t stop me from trying, and was still playing when I decided that’s what I wanted to do post footy.

I thought it was ok to have a big mission because hopefully I have 50 years of work ahead of me, and I never want to retire again.

And somehow I've already made progress towards it, and thought its time I share my plan to make it easier for people to feel great:

Drink less

Stress is a big killer and I’ve learned it’s the main reason why most people drink.

And that’s ok as I think alcohol has it’s place, but I’m trying to make pubs healthier enviroments starting with the Dock.

I hate venues that cash in on people destroying themselves, and believe pubs can be great businesses that help patrons relax AND look after their health.

The Dock does that by:

• Closing at midnight

• Offering lots of healthier food options

• Promote mid-strength beer, which I believe is a better balance than zero alcohol.

• And support

  Running for Resilience
  (more on that later)

People come to pubs to relax and connect, and people can do that without writing themselves off.

Eat better

For those of you who don’t know, I created a start-up called Alfred that helps tired Dads eat better.

And I started it because I learned when I was playing that when I eat better, I feel better.

And I eat better when I track what I eat.

It use to be that only fitness fanatics and professional athletes had the time to track.

But we’ve gotten tracking down to under a minute a day.

Plus we’ve got plans to make it easier than taking a pill.

Eating perfectly isn’t realistic (or fun) and I think anyone can find balance and build a better relationship with food if they have the right tool.

Exercise with friends more

Exercising alone is hard.

But it’s so much easier if you do it with people you like.

I learned this the hard way when I retired, and fortunately a mate got me into parkrun, which helps me stay active.

So when the opportunity came for the Dock to sponsor a weekly run, I selfishly jumped at the chance becuase it meant I had more people to exercise with.

But Running for Resilience has evolved into more than a weekly run, and I still get the same buzz each week as I did when it first started.

Exercise + Community = a very happy Ben.

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I’ve been hesitating to share this stuff for a long time for fear of being judged, and I know the above could be a lot of hero’s journey nonsense.

But I decided I need to get over that and share what’s really going on in my head.

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All my writing about Rugby will be on Code Sports for the rest of the World Cup, which won’t be much longer if we lose to Wales 😬.

I’m enjoying writing for them and learning a lot from their editor, who used to be the media manager for the Aussie cricket team.

So if you’re a paid subscriber and signed up for Rugby content, please email me at ben@alfredapp.com.au for a full refund.

Thanks for reading.