What would more courage mean to you and your career? In this podcast, I sit down with Nadine Champion, who is without doubt a champion in more ways than one. Amongst many things, Nadine is a highly sought-after mindset coach who helps people foster courage, adapt to change and develop resilience.
My guest on this podcast transforms the way people think and feel about themselves. Her name is Nadine Champion, and yes, she is actually a champion in more ways than one.
She is a martial artist with almost 30 years of experience. An undefeated fighter, an inspirational speaker and author. She’s also a highly sought-after mindset coach who helps people foster courage, adapt to change and develop resilience.
I met Nadine several years ago now. We were both at a Facebook event on International Women’s Day – Nadine was the keynote speaker, a fabulous one at that and I facilitated a female exec panel. It was a terrific event attended by people from Google, Twitter, and LinkedIn at the Facebook offices in Sydney.
Sometimes you just connect with people, it’s easy, and that was definitely my experience with Nadine. She is just one of those great humans that I enjoyed meeting and getting to know and you’ll soon learn she has a remarkable story, and is wise beyond her years. And I know you’re going to love this conversation. I have already decided that I am replaying this episode a few times because there is so much gold in what she has to say.
Presenter: Gillian Fox
Guest: Nadine Champion
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So I was undefeated in the ring because I was a perfectionist, because I was so hard on myself. It served me very well, but it's also brutal. It's a hard way to live. And I also missed opportunities in my life because I didn't want to do it unless I could do it perfectly, like you were saying. So I look back and I think, oh, I should have just tried that. But I wasn't used to stepping so far out of my comfort zone, having a life-threatening illness, oh my goodness, it shook me awake. It made me realise, good luck trying to control things. And everyone has experienced a lack of control the last few years. Sometimes life has plans that you cannot control and the more you try to, all you do is create resistance within yourself, tension, friction.
You are listening to Your Brilliant Career. I'm your host, Gillian Fox, executive coach, women's career expert, and entrepreneur. The podcast that teaches you how to get the most out of your career.
We talk tactics, tools, and stories that all help incredible women like you achieve the success you deserve. If you want to learn more about how to create the brilliant career you've always wanted, I encourage you to check out the RISE Program.
It's my four-month career development program. Through a combination of individual executive coaching sessions and group workshops, you'll discover how to overcome obstacles, create opportunities, and reach new heights in your career.
Today’s guest transforms the way people think and feel about themselves. Her name is Nadine Champion, and yes, she is actually a champion in more ways than one.
She is a martial artist with almost 30 years of experience. An undefeated fighter, an inspirational speaker and author. She’s also a highly sought-after mindset coach who helps people foster courage, adapt to change and develop resilience.
I met Nadine several years ago now. We were both at a Facebook event on International Women’s Day – Nadine was the keynote speaker, a fabulous one at that and I facilitated a female exec panel. It was a terrific event attended by people from Google, Twitter, and LinkedIn at the Facebook offices in Sydney.
Sometimes you just connect with people, it’s easy, and that was definitely my experience with Nadine. She is just one of those great humans that I enjoyed meeting and getting to know and you’ll soon learn she has a remarkable story, and is wise beyond her years. And I know you’re going to love this conversation. I have already decided that I am replaying this episode a few times because there is so much gold in what she has to say.
Without further ado, let's get started with the show today.
Gillian Fox: Well, Nadine Champion, welcome to the podcast. It is such a pleasure to have you here.
Nadine Champion: Thank you so much. I'm very excited to talk to you today.
Gillian Fox: I actually had no idea how eventful or challenging that early part of your life was. And I think if you can just share a little bit about that journey and how it shaped you as a person, that would be so interesting.
Nadine Champion: Which bit? A lot of things happened.
Gillian Fox: Yeah. Well, I'll tell you the bits that I'm talking about. I think leaving home, which was a huge thing to do for a young person, getting caught up in the wrong crowd. You're living in a home and then you're a security guard. You are having life experiences… when I think about my son who is 20, that is a world away from the experiences that I even want him to have at any stage of his life, Nadine.
Nadine Champion: Yeah, it was a colourful journey, I'm with you now. But I think so many people relate to that at certain times in their lives. Things are not how they would choose for them to be or they're out of control or you are operating on an operating system that you haven't really consciously chosen that's going to create your best life. And for so many of us, it's influenced by how we were brought up or the experiences we had at school or in our early working life.
Gillian Fox: But clearly you've used a lot of those moments where you were tested to your benefit. And I'm sure, Nadine, that is what makes you such an incredible mindset coach today because you have really had to work through the thought processes and the things that allow you to go from that difficult space to a place of achieving.
Nadine Champion: Well, I think it comes down to what do you want? And that's one of the hardest questions to answer, whether it's personally or professionally, is what do you really want? And if you don't want what you have, if you're in a role that you don't like, if you're in a situation at home that isn't working for you, you either have the choice to stay in it and let it break you or change it and let it be the making of you. And the situation that I grew up in and I, unfortunately, had to leave home in my mid-teens and go it alone, shall we say. And ending up, like you said, with the wrong crowd and taking that restlessness that I had within, out on myself and responding to it in a way that wasn't super healthy instead of having the opportunity to turn it into something that was going to be helpful for me.
And I do believe in resilience. I do believe in the power of getting back up and of turning the things that we go through into something that teaches us instead of, I call it the bag of rocks, I don't want to drag a big bag of rocks behind me. I want to take rocks out and I want to use those rocks to stand on and look over the fence or use them to create something positive for myself. And the beautiful thing is now I get to use my experience to create positive things for other people. Whether that's when I'm speaking or doing mindset coaching. I never give advice. I never tell people what they should do. I simply share with them, here's my experience, take it or leave it. And here are the tools that I used that were given to me, that I found that I've developed that have really exponentially changed the course of my life.
Gillian Fox: So you've got this wonderful book, 10 Seconds of Courage. So what was the main message you want people to walk away with from this book?
Nadine Champion: Be brave. It sounds so simple, but I often sign my book at conferences and things, and I write in great big letters, use, underline, underline, your courage. Why? Because, and when I present, I'm known for giving this talk, 10 Seconds of Courage, the book, my TEDx Talk, all of the things interrelated. But I explain to people, at the beginning of my keynote speech, that the mindset tools that I'm about to give them are like a hammer sitting on a table. It's not useful for anything, apart from being a paperweight, unless you pick it up and use it. You have to do something with it. I also explain the research around why we don't, why we hesitate, why we stay in our comfort zone, the things that we're all scared of as humans.
Gillian Fox: Fear is something that we all experience and it manifests in different ways. You can have fear about that conversation that you perceive to be difficult with that person at work. Or as you said, someone leaving a job or for you, stepping into the ring or maybe stepping on stage in front of thousands of people. But fear is very real for all of us. But the expression that I was really struck by, something that you said, is about projecting our fear into the ring. Now I took this to mean, Nadine, I might have this completely messed up, but let me have a stab here, that we bring fear to the situation. And this is a fat load of good because when you're challenged and you need to fight in the ring or step up to that difficult conversation or challenge, we need to prepare ourselves. We need to have the mental toughness and really manage that fear, so we can perform in that moment.
Nadine Champion: I use martial arts as a metaphor and competition. Most people would think that stepping into a kickboxing ring to have a full contact fight with someone would be scary, agreed?
Gillian Fox: Totally, yeah.
Nadine Champion: If I said, "Righto, I'll be over to your office right now, we're going to have a punch up." The rational, logical, human thing to do is go, "No, thank you. That sounds terrifying. I wouldn't like to risk the outcome, that sounds scary". That's the normal response. So, I've often been positioned as a 'strong woman' people assume that I wasn't scared to do it because I did it well. I pull back the curtain on it and talk about what it really feels like in the dressing room before you're walking out there. And when I'm talking about the dressing room, I'm talking about our comfort zone. I'm comfy in my dressing room. Why on earth would I want to walk out there and find out if my dreams are going to come true? Or if they're going to be crushed, why would I want to go out there and risk the consequences?
This could be painful. I feel fear. I don't want to feel fear. Our brains are hardwired to avoid discomfort, to avoid fear. So, I'm doing something that's unnatural. So I explain to people, how many of you would think you have to be brave in the ring? If you were going to go out and do that, whatever your ring is in your life, of course you have to be brave in that moment. But this is the mistake people make. Let me be super clear about this. Yes, you have to be brave in that moment, the moment that we have to use, pick up this hammer, this tool and use our 10 seconds of courage, not just know the concept, not just think about courage, but to actually use it, is at the door of the dressing room. When I'm standing there and my heart is pounding and all of a sudden, I'm up next and I'm scared. And I have to make a choice between leaving the naturally safe confines of my dressing room and walking out there.
Gillian Fox: Yeah, that's so true.
Nadine Champion: Yeah, of course you want to run, of course you want to stay there. And that's the moment when so many of us, we hesitate. I doubt myself, I want to speak up in the meeting on Monday. I want to call out that behavior, I want to go for that role. And you would know more than anyone, the statistics around women and men, the gender divide in applying for roles. The huge discrepancy in how many things that women feel they need to tick off before they qualify for something. Whereas men tend to just apply more. So it's that moment where we talk ourselves out of things. I want to go out there and I want to win the title, I want to get the role, I want to ask for a raise, I want to speak up or share my idea. But now I'm scared, and I don't know how it's going to go and I can't control the outcome and now my heart's pounding and my mouth's just gone dry. I'm good, I'll just stay here.
Gillian Fox: But it is that mental preparation, isn't it?
Nadine Champion: Absolutely. So everyone needs a strategy, whether it's for a meeting, stepping into the ring, dealing with the kids, whatever it is, it always helps to be a strategist, because that's what we call internal training. So the external is you perfecting your tasks that are visible to other people in your role. The internal, they call it soft skills, I think it's much more full contact than the external part of it, is the mental edge, the mindset, the strategy piece. My belief system about who I am, what I'm worth, and what I'm capable of. My emotional state is so important.
Gillian Fox: I did love a little behind the scenes piece that you gave away when you were talking about your very fabulous TEDx Sydney talk. And if anyone's listening and hasn't seen Nadine Champion's TEDx Talk, you have to go see it, it is such a powerful 15 minutes, Nadine. And such a tear-jerker as well, can I just add?
Nadine Champion: That's the challenge, can you get through it without welling up? It's on YouTube. Take the challenge.
Gillian Fox: Take the challenge. I challenge anyone. But I feel like if women did watch this, they'd be so inspired for action. It's like walk into the boss and ask for the pay increase right now.
Nadine Champion: But that's the thing. And I work with people on this because part of what's powerful about that story was I did that talk one year after I'd had cancer. So my career, my business, my sporting career, everything had very suddenly stopped. And I'm left standing in the rubble of my life, having to make a choice about what to do next. And the thing that I try to inspire in people, and this is the key part about 10 Seconds Of Courage, what you were saying about projecting into the ring. It's very easy to understand intellectually, this concept, 10 seconds courage, got it. It's not always easy to live it. How do we know? We've all missed opportunities, right?
Gillian Fox: Yeah.
Nadine Champion: So, the great thing about doing that talk was it the exact wrong moment in my life. I didn't want to be on show, I had no public speaking experience. So to do your first public speaking event in front of 2,500 people at the Opera House was a little intimidating. I was so scared.
Gillian Fox: But you do such an incredible job connecting with the audience. There are moments in that talk and I just love watching you because you're so natural and people are just eating that up in that moment. They just feel you're so real and there's such honesty in the story. I think it's part of the magic of your talk.
Nadine Champion: I was at a moment in my life where I couldn't have done it any other way. If I had that opportunity today, I would probably do a completely different talk. But isn't that the magic of life sometimes?
Gillian Fox: Yeah.
Nadine Champion: It was the vulnerability that I had sitting underneath in that moment that made it possible for people to connect. And the next day I received a call from the head of one of Australia's biggest speakers bureau saying, "Would you like to do that for a living?" I've never even been to a conference, I didn't know it was a job. So I was like, "Okay, sure, why not? I had a good time". Because my intention in sharing it was just to give this gift of this thing that had just saved my life, this 10 Seconds of Courage.
It was what had led me to success in my sporting career and my business. It helped me survive cancer, it had helped me do so many things. And I just thought, if I want to leave any kind of legacy at all, what do I want to talk about? So that was the gift that I wanted to give away. And the next day, getting that call, they also said to me, "Listen..." Because I had no idea about speaking. They said, "Look, don't become a professional speaker". I said, "What do you mean?" And she said, "Don't get coaching, don't do what everybody else does."
Gillian Fox: Stay unique.
Nadine Champion: She was like, "Just do exactly what you did again". And I didn't know what she meant by that. But then I started getting feedback and the feedback I always get is, "She was so authentic and genuine. Everybody loved her because they felt really connected". My goal is it should feel like I'm just talking to you, even if there's 2,500 people in the room, I should be talking to you. And the reason I think it's such a tear-jerker, that YouTube clip, is because at the end of the talk I start crying because everyone in front of me is crying. Everyone in the audience could really feel what I was talking about, which is, I think, what makes it something that has an impact.
Gillian Fox: I heard you talking about this in an interview, where you say at the very last minute, you made this decision to chop the piece of wood with your bare hand on stage, which is a high-risk proposition because it may stay as one piece. But the thing I love, and it's going back to your courage message, is there is no honour in not trying. And the way you put that together, I thought is so beautiful. And Nadine, I have to tell you, that is such an incredibly pertinent message for a lot of the women that I work with because there's a lot of perfectionist traits among high achieving-
Nadine Champion: Hands up if you're a perfectionist.
Gillian Fox: Yeah, yeah-
Nadine Champion: Exactly.
Gillian Fox: And perfectionists will have this mindset, I'm, I'm only doing it if I can do it well, otherwise it's not worth doing. This is almost, it's at the other end of the continuum, you know what I mean? There's no honour in trying.
Nadine Champion: So I was undefeated in the ring because I was a perfectionist, because I was so hard on myself. It served me very well, but it's also brutal. It's a hard way to live. And I also missed opportunities in my life because I didn't want to do it unless I could do it perfectly, like you were saying. So I look back and I think, oh, I should have just tried that. But I wasn't used to stepping so far out of my comfort zone, having a life-threatening illness, oh my goodness, it shook me awake. It made me realise, good luck trying to control things. And everyone has experienced a lack of control the last few years. Sometimes life has plans that you cannot control and the more you try to, all you do is create resistance within yourself, tension, friction. So, in me doing that talk, I'll give you the secret, the behind the scenes, here's what's really happening, here's what you can't see when you watch on YouTube.
They'd asked me to do a demonstration when I agreed to do the talk originally. And I said no, I thought, I have short-term memory loss, I'm going to have no cue cards. I've never done this before. The neurosurgeon, Dr. Charlie Teo, went on before me. There was just a lot of pressure, so much pressure, and I felt really out of my depth. So I thought, this is enough pressure, I'm doing something I've never done before. And they'd asked me again and I'd said, "No, I don't want to do a demonstration". Because they wanted me to literally be a strong woman. They wanted me to get some big dude, throw him on the ground... and show this thing. And I'd say, "Look, I don't feel comfortable". Because I looked fine on the outside, but I didn't even have the strength, a year after my treatment, to open a bottle of water.
So I'd just been through the most humbling, embarrassing, confusing year of my life post-treatment because I looked okay, but then you and I'd be getting off the plane and I'd say, "Excuse me, ma'am, would you mind helping me with my backpack on the stairs?" And being looked at like, are you right? Because I didn't look sick anymore. And I didn't have time to explain to people, "Oh excuse me, I just had cancer and this is really heavy for me and I'm going to struggle just to get myself up the stairs". I looked like a young, healthy person. So it was a crazy year, no one really understood that at the time. So, I said no, I said no, I said no. But this is where I think integrity and authenticity comes into how you choose to live your life. I've learned a lot about that in both the positive and the negative experiences in my time.
And I thought the one thing I don't want to do in my new life, post-illness, is give a speech about courage when I know that I'm too scared to do this thing. So I rang them a week before and I said, "Look, I'm not going to throw anyone on the ground, just in case I hurt someone else. I want to do a wooden board break." Because the reality of that is it's a test of your belief system, of your mindset, not your muscles. And so many people would've had this experience, if you walk into a job interview going, "I think I can do it. I think I can get the job. I hope so". And then the last thing you think before you walk in and say hello is I don't think I can do it. Oh, they're not going to like me. You walk in with that energy and then you act it out. And sometimes that's the thing that creates your reality.
So, I made a choice, in that moment, that I wanted my belief system about who I am inside to be how it used to be, the truth under the truth. So the truth is what I might tell you if I trust you, the truth under the truth is what it's even hard to tell myself, to admit to myself. But I'll tell you and your friends, the truth under the truth was in that moment, I was scared that because of what had happened to me, because I had lost my business, my sport, my this, my that, I was only ever going to be a hollowed out version of who I used to be. I thought that was my future, so much have been taken from me that I was staring that down. And I thought, well, it'd be nice if I can do a talk and it'll be helpful for people.
But what was really happening for me underneath was that fear of who am I? And sometimes people get retrenched, they get divorced, something happens and it really rocks your sense of self. So I'd been massively rocked and I made a choice to break the board because it really is about your belief system. So if you tell yourself, "I can do this, I know I can do it, I'm going to give 100% and if it doesn't work, I'm going to try again. Then I'm going to get back up and try again, try again, try again". You'll physically act like you know can do it. The reason the board doesn't break is if people go, "I can, I can, I can. I don't think I can". They'll pull back because they're scared of the outcome.
They're scared it's going to hurt, they're scared they're going to fail. And unfortunately, that creates their reality. So, in the olden days, if you put me in a small room, I do fine, if you put me in a big room, I'd do even better. I call it being someone who rises to the occasion. I used to believe strongly in myself, I'm someone who rises to the occasion. I didn't want to live as someone who runs away from an opportunity or half does it, because I'm afraid. So I thought, you know what? I used to step out into the ring because we find out the unequivocal truth about who we are and what we're made of. I was like, I'm going out on that Opera House stage. I'm going to do this board break because I want to know who I am inside, not outside.
Gillian Fox: Did that have a positive impact on your confidence and self-belief, Nadine, after that? Because that was quite a big experience. It really did, for people who don't know, that TED Talk just was massive, much bigger than I'm sure you ever anticipated.
Nadine Champion: I thought I was just going to go and talk for 10 minutes. I didn't think anyone would even like it. I had no idea what was about to happen. But I could show you the exact moment, if you and I watched the video together, the exact moment my life changed, the exact moment my belief system changed, my confidence came back. I became lighthearted again. That moment I realized, my life will be what I make it, not what's happened to me. But literally, I can tell you the exact moment where everything changed. When I realised I was scared of this, it's not scary. I was scared they weren't going to like me, people weren't going to relate. Oh, it seems like they understand what I'm saying. So it was profoundly life-changing, let alone, I had the perfect new business opportunity. Unintentionally it became something that opened up so many doors.
Like you said, I wrote a book and thank you to you being in my corner, I began mindset coaching. I've got this really successful speaking career that came out of nowhere all because I said, and I want everyone to hear this really clearly, that opportunity came because I was having coffee with a friend and who very casually asked me, "Would you ever think about doing a TEDx Talk if you could?" And I went, "Yeah, I suppose so. Don't know what I'd talk about". She was on the organizing committee for TEDx Sydney, she didn't tell me that. The next thing I know, she's put my name in. They've said, "Will you speak?" The next thing I know I'm the closing speaker. You never know what opportunities are coming along. So, I was trying to live that 10 Seconds of Courage just by saying yes to things instead of going, "Well no, I couldn't do that now".
Gillian Fox: It's a great example of a successful career, Nadine, that has no career plan.
Nadine Champion: No, it was completely accidental. But now I look back and this is the crazy thing. I did a degree in criminology and social policy. I have not used my degree for one single second. I did it and then I went and travelled overseas and I came back and every career opportunity I've had has basically come at the encouragement or insight of someone else.
Gillian Fox: Because you're a good listener though, Nadine. I think that attributes a lot to it.
Nadine Champion: I pay attention. Someone suggests, I go away and think about it. But it's also, again, using your courage. If someone said to me a long time ago, "Why don't you go and teach a class at that gym?" That was seven years later, I built this business. And so many different things have happened for me where I just had the courage to say yes to one thing, which is the 10 Seconds of Courage. That's taking those first 10 steps out of your dressing room. Then you've managed to avoid the number one mistake, which is staying stuck. You can't project your fear and courage into the ring and then expect to go and execute in the ring if you never leave your dressing room.
Gillian Fox: So what's your advice within that? Because I think we all have those moments where, I don't know, let's say at work, you want to speak up at a meeting, and that meeting, notoriously, is full of big personalities, people that are more senior than you, historically, you never speak up. You could create a whole long story around why you shouldn't.
Nadine Champion: Absolutely, we're all very good at that.
Gillian Fox: So thinking about those challenging moments, but deep down you know that it would be a great growth opportunity and it's the right thing for you to do, to be courageous in that moment. But there is a lot of fear in the tank.
Nadine Champion: Let me ask you this to start with, what happens when do nothing?
Gillian Fox: You get exactly the same result.
Nadine Champion: Nothing.
Gillian Fox: Yeah.
Nadine Champion: Is that what you want? Is that how you want your life to go, your career to go? Who does that make you? This was me before I did that TEDx Talk. Do you want to be governed by your fear? Do you want to be governed by the worst parts of what your mind tells you is who you are and how your life's going to turn out? Or do you want to go, "Eh, I'm just going to say it and see what happens".
Gillian Fox: Yeah, so you got to get excited about the possibility then, isn't it?
Nadine Champion: Well, funny you should say excited because I try and pull back the curtain, so people understand the physiological element of fear. So I explained the research on what we're all afraid of, it's very natural to feel fearful. I know that I get positioned, like I was mentioning before, as a strong woman. So I say, "Listen, before I walked out to the ring, I was terrified. But I did it anyway." It's not about being afraid, it's about does this thing mean enough to me that I'm willing to risk? What do I value? What do I believe matters enough for me to risk this? So I want people to understand that even people they think aren't scared are probably really scared. Then I explain how it feels in your body before you walk out to the ring. Because it wasn't a calm, relaxing, Zen feeling, let me tell you. My mouth would go dry, I couldn't sleep for months on end, my kneecaps used to shake.
My first fight, I got in the ring, I turned around to my cornerman and said, "I can't feel my legs". True story. It's wild riding out the physiology of our fear. But your mouth goes dry, you go a little flushed and then you speak up in the meeting. So what? I think that takes more courage to sit there with a red face and say your piece, than to hold yourself back. I think extra points get awarded. There's honour in trying, for sure. And one thing I'd like to really point out is have you ever seen on TV when people are about to have some type of combat sports match and they make them do what we call a face off, you stand there and stare at each other. It's so weird, it's so strange. But you're looking at this person very close to you, 12 inches away from your face.
And it's very natural for people to either puff up and try and act like they're not scared, when there are quite literal serious consequences to be scared of. They try and act tough; they try and scare you. They do all of these things that are ego based or they'll stand there, and you can see the fear written all over their face. So two natural responses, which I think do happen in professional situations quite a lot. People ark up or they squash themselves. So let me put this to you. What I was taught, and I have a great picture I wish I could show you about what I was taught was make peace with your fear in the dressing room. So say it to the right person that you trust. So my teacher, Sensei Benny, would say to me, "Are you afraid?" I'd say, "Absolutely". "What are you afraid of?" "Going to the hospital, dying, losing, being embarrassed". All the natural things, that breaks the power of it. And when you hear yourself say it, it doesn't sound quite as real as it does in your head.
Gillian Fox: So true, that's so true. And most people's list would not be nearly as compelling as that.
Nadine Champion: No, exactly.
Gillian Fox: I'm going to get hurt, I might die.
Nadine Champion: Exactly. When I went and spoke at the big senior police conference yesterday, they warned me. They said, "Listen, they're really scary". And I tried not to laugh. I was like, "Well none of them are going to punch me in the face, so I'm not that scared. There are worse consequences". But the way that I changed it around in my mind was deal with your fear before the moment arrives. So make peace with it and recognise what you can control, what you can't. When you go up into the ring, whether that's shaking someone's hand or speaking up in your meeting, et cetera, when you walk into an interview, what do you do? I was taught, go in the ring and smile at them.
Look at them like they're lunch. And the reason behind that, it's not a fake weird smile. It's I'm so glad you're here, I'm here. I can't do this without you. Even though it's going to hurt, it's going to be challenging. One of us will lose here today and one of us will be the victor. I can't control the outcome. All of my hopes and dreams are on the line right now, but I'm so glad you're here because I can't do it without you. I'm welcoming the challenge. I want the growth that's going to come win, lose, or draw. So even though I have fear, I'm welcoming. I'm calling it forward and I'm smiling at her because thank goodness you showed up, because I'd be so disappointed if you weren't here, even though I'd also be relieved.
Gillian Fox: Yeah, there's much more peace in that though, isn't there? Then you think of the tension of rallying that fearful look. Though, I have to tell you, Nadine, there was a picture, as I'm scrolling through, there's a picture of you in full fight combat. Honestly, if I just saw that coming towards me, I would just run.
Nadine Champion: I hear you. I look at that lady too, and I think, who is that? I don't relate to her because there are certain parts of us that should only come out in certain contexts. So, she lives in the ring, she doesn't live with me day-to-day. But every experience we go through, good, bad, and ugly, it teaches us something about who we are.
Gillian Fox: Yeah, definitely.
Nadine Champion: There's no mistakes.
Gillian Fox: Definitely. Well, Nadine, it's been such a pleasure chatting to you and thank you for inspiring us all and reminding us of these really important things. It's kind of the self leadership piece, isn't it? Just the way we choose to manage ourselves when we're tested or making important choices for ourselves in our lives, in our careers.
Nadine Champion: You're very welcome. And I just want to remind everyone to be super brave because we don't know how long we're going to be here for. We have a limited time on this earth, and I try to get people to think about the things that we're afraid of, the things that hold us back and change the course of our lives, change the story of our lives, are often really small. We just make them very big because it's natural to be afraid of things. So, when I say be brave, just take those little bursts of bravery. The more often you do them, the better you get at it, the easier it gets. Because I want everyone, myself included, you, your listeners, to make the best life they possibly can for themselves. So keep being brave, guys.
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