Here’s a Glimpse of What You’ll Hear:
- [2:28] Finnian Kelly talks about how growing up in Tasmania shaped his adventurous spirit
- [6:54] How Finnian realized that pilot training lacked passion despite its prestige
- [8:09] Finnian talks about the transition from military service to finance
- [10:55] Helping millennials overcome lack of financial literacy and systemic barriers
- [14.40] Why goals on paper don’t guarantee happiness except you address subconscious blocks
- [17:32] What did Finnian realize about intellectual processing and healing?
- [19:09] The power of breathwork and its impact on the mindset
- [21:18] How to differentiate between fleeting pleasure and lasting joy
- [23:50] Transitioning from personal epiphanies to helping others
- [29:06] Finnian talks about his book on breathwork and energy interventions
- [30:35] The importance of daily practices and integration for personal growth and well-being
In this episode…
Striving for success and achieving financial independence do not always guarantee personal fulfillment and happiness. Many people follow a set path, expecting it to lead to contentment, only to find themselves unfulfilled and questioning their choices. How can we bridge the gap between external achievements and true inner fulfillment? Finnian Kelly addresses this issue by emphasizing the importance of intentional living and connecting with one’s true self. He shares actionable steps, such as incorporating simple practices like breathwork and sunlight exposure, to achieve a deeper state of peace and joy. Finnian also highlights the necessity of understanding and confronting subconscious blocks that govern thoughts and behaviors, advocating for a shift from merely achieving external goals to focusing on internal well-being and lasting joy. Tune in to this episode of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast as John Corcoran interviews Finnian Kelly, Founder of Intentionality Inc., about living a life of intention. Finnian discusses overcoming unresolved childhood issues, the importance of embodying practices before sharing them, distinguishing between short-term pleasure and lasting joy, and how he now helps others achieve intentionality in their lives.Resources Mentioned In This Episode
- John Corcoran on LinkedIn
- Rise25
- Finnian Kelly on LinkedIn
- Intentionality Inc.
- Intentionality: A Groundbreaking Guide to Breath, Consciousness, and Radical Self-Transformation by Finnian Kelly
- Entrepreneurs’ Organization
Special Mentions
Quotable Moments:
- “If you stand still, it doesn’t work. But if you’re walking in the wrong direction, you’ll work it out, and then you can change your other direction.”
- “Money gave me freedom; it was always about what it meant for me.”
- “It’s not just information. Knowing it is when you have a felt experience and applied it.”
- “Focus on how you can feel proud of your day and how you can feel impactful. And if you do those things, the byproduct is that you get the results.”
- “I felt it was very unfair that only a few very privileged people got to have some of these insights.”
Action Steps:
- Cultivate Intentionality in Daily Life: Start by setting clear intentions for each day to live more purposefully. This anchors you in the present and helps prioritize what truly matters, redirecting the course of your life away from auto-pilot reactions.
- Reflect on Your Upbringing: Take time to consider how your background impacts your current behavior and decisions. Understanding this influence can illuminate pathways for change and personal growth.
- Evaluate Your Relationship with Money: Analyze and potentially redefine your perspective on wealth and its role in your life. Doing so can free you from limiting narratives surrounding success and security.
- Incorporate Simple Wellness Practices: Integrate activities like walking, soaking up the sun, and conscious breathing into your routine. These practices can have a surprising and profound impact on mental well-being and help manage stress.
- Embrace New Experiences and Modalities: Be open to trying new approaches to personal development, from breathwork to meditation. Exposure to different practices can broaden your perspective and might be the key to unlocking a higher sense of peace and purpose.
Sponsor: Rise25
At Rise25, we’re committed to helping you connect with your Dream 100 referral partners, clients, and strategic partners through our done-for-you podcast solution. We’re a professional podcast production agency that makes creating a podcast effortless. Since 2009, our proven system has helped thousands of B2B businesses build strong relationships with referral partners, clients, and audiences without doing the hard work. What do you need to start a podcast? When you use our proven system, all you need is an idea and a voice. We handle the strategy, production, and distribution – you just need to show up and talk. The Rise25 podcasting solution is designed to help you build a profitable podcast. This requires a specific strategy, and we’ve got that down pat. We focus on making sure you have a direct path to ROI, which is the most important component. Plus, our podcast production company takes any heavy lifting of production and distribution off your plate. We make distribution easy We’ll distribute each episode across more than 11 unique channels, including iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcasts. We’ll also create a copy for each episode and promote your show across social media. Cofounders Dr. Jeremy Weisz and John Corcoran credit podcasting as being the best thing they have ever done for their businesses. Podcasting connected them with the founders/CEOs of P90x, Atari, Einstein Bagels, Mattel, Rx Bars, YPO, EO, Lending Tree, Freshdesk, and many more. The relationships you form through podcasting run deep. Jeremy and John became business partners through podcasting. They have even gone on family vacations and attended weddings of guests who have been on the podcast. Podcast production has a lot of moving parts and is a big commitment on our end; we only want to work with people who are committed to their business and to cultivating amazing relationships. Are you considering launching a podcast to acquire partnerships, clients, and referrals? Would you like to work with a podcast agency that wants you to win? Contact us now at [email protected] or book a call at rise25.com/bookcall. Rise25 Cofounders, Dr. Jeremy Weisz and John Corcoran, have been podcasting and advising about podcasting since 2008.Episode Transcript
John Corcoran 0:00 All right, today we’re talking about how to live a life of intention. My guest today is Finnian Kelly. He’s the author of a new book called Intentionality. I’ll tell you more about him in a second, so stay tuned. Intro 0:12 Welcome to the Smart Business Revolution Podcast, where we feature top entrepreneurs, business leaders and thought leaders, and ask them how they built key relationships to get where they are today. Now let’s get started with the show. John Corcoran 0:29 Welcome everyone. John Corcoran, here, I am the host of this show. And you know, every week I get to talk to interesting entrepreneurs, founders and and you know, business people from all walks of life. And if you’ve listened to some past guests, you know, I’ve had everyone from, you know, CEOs or founders of Netflix, Kinkos, GrubHub, Redfin, Gusto, YPO, EO activation, Blizzard, lots of great guests on there. Today I’m coming from the foothills of McCall, Idaho, where I’m on vacation with my family, but today’s guest and I have so many people in common, and I have so many people in my life who just rave about today’s guest that even though it took a long time for us to align our schedules, I was not going to miss this opportunity to have this conversation. I’m really excited about it. And of course, this episode was brought to you by Rise25, our company where we help B2B businesses get clients, referrals and strategic partnerships with podcasts and content marketing. Can learn more about what we do at Rise25.com but let me tell you about today’s guest. First, a shout out to a couple of mutual friends. Mike Simonson of Altos Research, Devin Koch of Team Swell, Franca Winchester of Pacific Crest group. Alexa Cashin, we have so many major friends in common, and they really rave about Finnian. I can’t I can’t emphasize that enough, your Finnian, I have to tell you your name has come up so frequently in different gatherings, in the entrepreneurial world or in the EO world. And so when the book came out, I said, we have to talk about it. So I’m really excited about it, but you are the Founder of Intentionality Inc., and the new book is called Intentionality: A Groundbreaking Guide to Breath Consciousness and Radical Self Transformation. He has an extensive background in financial advising, Wealth Management, and he also has done a lot of workshops, keynote speeches and stuff like that. We’ll hear all about that. Been very involved in Entrepreneurs’ Organization, which I also have been very involved in, and has had a big impact on my life. But let’s start finian With your background. You grew up in the island of Tasmania off the south coast of Australia, had a little bit of a rough grin just in terms of your relationship with your parents. But I’ve always been fascinated with Tasmania. To me, growing up in California, it’s always been this far off place, which is beautiful when I look at the pictures, but I’ve never visited. What was it like living growing up there? Finnian Kelly 2:48 Well, thanks so much, John. And that was a very flattering and humbling introduction. And I love the SF crew. It’s they’re just great people and great supporters as well. So Tasmania, I’m one impressed that you actually know where it is. It seems a lot of Americans, the only connection is Tazzy devil. And people always like, do you actually have them? And I went, Yes, I grew up on a farm, and I had hundreds of them at night time, screaming and making different noises. And that’s a bit of a representation of Tasmania. It’s very wild and very rugged, and we are an island culture. We would call Australia. The rest of Australia is the mainland. You’re going over to the mainland. So in some regards, it was a wonderful place to grow up. It’s got so much diverse terrain. In two hours, you can be in the most pristine beaches in the world, to great mountains to climb, to lush rainforests. It’s a real mix to farmland as well. And so that was an adventurous spirit. But then there also are some limitations of a smaller place to grow up in, is the opportunities or what you even knew was possible was constrained. So I ended up getting myself into a private school, and in that private school, the sign of success was literally to be a doctor, a lawyer or accountant. That’s all we knew. And my family was a family of doctors. My friend’s parents were doctors as well. So my five best mates and I, we were all very focused with the academics and also the sports people, jocks that you’d call them, and we all got accepted into medicine, and I just knew that couldn’t be my path. I looked at my family, I never enjoyed the concept of it, but that was literally the program. And the programming was, well, if you’re the best, you have to be a doctor. And there was a part of me, and I’m sharing this story because it gives you a little bit of a realization of who I am. Yes, I can follow the program, but only for so long. And then I just went, Ah, this isn’t for me. And I started asking questions. Well, what could be cooler than a doctor? And this is where my ego was coming through. And I saw a helicopter pilot come to a school and do a conversation as an army. Officer, and I went that could be cooler, and I got selected as an Army helicopter pilot. And it wasn’t my path, but it was my ticket out of the traditional path. I knew I didn’t want to live in Tasmania, I knew I didn’t want to go down the medicine path, and it was a way out. And sometimes that is enough. I think that’s a big lesson that I’ve learned in life and that’s definitely what I help people with. Everyone always wants to know the next thing while they’re in the current thing, and that’s very hard to do. You don’t know the perfect thing, and you can never foresee what’s possible in your future. Like if, if you asked a 20 year old Finnian, well, he was afraid. Now. What would he be doing? He couldn’t dream of what I’m doing right now., John Corcoran 5:44 Yeah I imagine we took a glimpse of who you are today and showed that to you when you were 1617, years old, you wouldn’t be like, forget it. No way. Finnian Kelly 5:54 Yeah, yeah. But, and that’s the beautiful thing. So I either tell people, like, just do something, because a big lesson I learned in the military was just to make a decision. Just go somewhere, and then if you’re walking the wrong direction, you’ll work it out, and then you can change your other direction. But if you stand still, it doesn’t work. And then the other part, which is the biggest thing I tell entrepreneurs, is create some space like in the space that’s where your true insights come through, and you can actually make better decisions from that place as well. So I know that was a bit of a segue from my upbringing, but I just wanted to say that it was a big part of my life. John Corcoran 6:29 You know, the phrase like, don’t lean your ladder against the wrong wall kind of comes to mind, because you could have gone down the medicine path. You realize that wasn’t right for me. And it’s almost like you kind of try a different bowl of porridge, and then you try this one, and then you find yourself leading up to 100 soldiers. What was it? What was going through your brain at that point when you started to doubt? Oh, geez, I actually went down the wrong path again. Finnian Kelly 6:54 Yeah. So it was interesting. My first part was when I was on a pilots course, and this was a very privileged experience that I got to have the amount of 1000s of people who applied for my one spot. It’s ridiculous. And I got in there and I realized, wow, I don’t have the same passion that everyone else has here. Most other people there had wanted it since I was three years old. And I would come off the flight and I’d be like, Oh, that was pretty hot, and it was okay, and other people would just be buzzing and jumping in the walls, and then they would wanted me to play with the remote control planes on the weekends, and I just wanted to get out of there. And it was an interesting experience where I went. Whoa, I actually and I’m missing out on something here, and this doesn’t feel Integris to me. It doesn’t feel right in my experience, and that’s where I started making my question. It doesn’t matter how good it looks on paper, if it’s not lighting you up, it’s definitely not worth it. So that was the next sort of discovery in my experience, and going, okay, yes, this was a better option than medicine, but it’s still not my option right now. So I had to start exploring different places. John Corcoran 8:02 And you end up going into the world of finance. How does one go from the military to finance? Like, how did that connect? Finnian Kelly 8:09 Yeah, one was, I was very good at math and physics, so I had a math and physics degree in the military. I also from a very young age, because of just my situation in my family, I learned how to make money and manage money at a very young age. I quickly worked out that money gave me freedom. And I was always thinking about, okay, how do I have enough money to be able to do this and create these different scenarios? It wasn’t just money for the sake of it. It was always about what it meant for me. I also saw how much money had controlled so many people in my life, whether it was like, I have to go do this because I want to be prestigious and they were following a career that they didn’t care about, or in my family, it was always this thing that they didn’t really care about money. But then there was always the possibility that we couldn’t do something because of money, and I just went, there must be a better way to live, to live life in that regard. So when I was in the military, I actually started trading some currency inequities. And that was the moment where I realized, oh, I don’t have to stay in the military. I can earn money quite easily myself. So that was another freedom piece, and that gave me the confidence to leave. And then I started wanting to help other people stop using money as an excuse for why they couldn’t do something. I saw so many people who had more money than me, but they were doing less things than me because they just had this story around money. And I saw it with wealthy people, with people with not much money. And I realized it’s all about our relationship with money, which actually is more important. So very early on, I was an investment manager, but the whole premise was, what does this money mean for you? What are we doing with it? And I saw so many people who lost money in the global recession, who didn’t actually need to lose that amount of money, and now they were feeling really sad. Depressed about their life, and it was all because they actually allowed ego or ignorance to really drive some of their decisions. So I just wanted to help people on that journey, and ultimately, it doesn’t, doesn’t seem like that far away from what I’m doing now. It’s basically freeing people from their own narratives. John Corcoran 10:19 Now you actually focused on helping millennials, which I find that a lot of times, people kind of bitch and moan and complain about the younger generation, which is something that we’ve been doing for centuries, by the way, yes, generation always complains about the younger generation, as if it’s that much different. But tell me a little bit about whether you noticed any generational differences? Or, what was it, you know? Why did you decide to focus on that? Because there’s lot of people, you know, in their 20s or 30s, they still have the money for the older people, right, the people in their 50s. So they kind of focus on that, but you focus on millennials.Pages: 1 2