Make it a lifestyle, not a chore

Yep. So my name is Joseph Rakic. I guess I would call myself an online personal trainer. That's my main thing that I do. I help people from all around the world get in the best shape of their life through my meal plans, my workout programs, everything is available via my own fitness app.

Like you said, I've had over 160,000 subscription clients. Um, and yeah, I also own another company called Macroactive, and what we do at Macroactive is we build websites and we develop mobile fitness apps for other online trainers and other coaches or fitness influencers just like myself. And then we help these trainers grow and scale their business.

We've got over 600 trainers on our platform. We have over 600,000 end users. So yeah, our goal is just to make a huge impact on the world and change as many lives as we can.

You're certainly doing that, dude. It's, excuse my French, f*cking awesome to have like watched you kind of at the distance and then get to know you a little bit over the last year and see how you're doing it. It's really cool. And the reason I wanted to talk to you today, you're a little bit different to a lot of our guests.

Like normally it's sales leaders or folks in the, you know, in the sales space. But the reason I wanted to talk to you is, I guess, one, understanding like what, you know, your mindset for success, like what has helped you to be successful across multiple things that you've done. And then the second part of that is I want to talk, dive into how holistic health and well-being can impact your ability to perform at work too.

But let's start with mindset. Like, how would you describe your mindset?

Yeah, my mindset is pretty optimistic. I always see, you know, the possibility in something. I never really look at the negatives or what could go wrong or why this won't work. You know, I look at everything, you know, there's how to do it and is how you can't do it. You, you can come up with a million ways how you can't do it, but you're always going to come up with ways how you can do it as well.

And I think most people focus on, oh, why they can't do that, why it's not impossible. And if your train of thought is always going in that direction, you're just gonna convince yourself that it's not possible or it's too hard. So if you're always optimistic and you're always focusing on, you know, yes, it can be done, how can it be done, and just working towards that.

You know, I think, um, you can achieve anything. And if you have a strong mindset and you believe in yourself and you believe that you can do something, then you've got a much higher chance of actually doing it because you're going to put in the work and effort required. Where if your mindset doesn't really believe that you can achieve it, the level of effort and the level of energy that you put into trying to do something going to be like 1%, 2%, because it's just, you know, so far out of your reach.

But if you 100% believe that you can achieve something, whatever that could be, then the effort and the energy and the dedication and the amount of work that you put into achieving it, it's going to be at 100% because you know that it is possible and you know that you can believe, um, you can achieve it.

So you're going to do everything in your power to get there. So I think having a good strong mindset is probably the most important thing when it comes to achieving anything in life. It all starts up here.

Yeah, it's a good point. You sort of, you're almost losing before you start if you don't back yourself, right?

100%.

And is this something you always had or have you had to develop this over time? Like, were you always the optimistic glass half full, you know, guy you are today or is this something you've learned?

Um, I guess yes and no. So I was always into sport when I was young, like soccer, and, you know, I've always been optimistic. Even like, I paid— I played soccer quite competitively, and, you know, we're the top team in first division for under-18 at one point. But even if we were losing, you know, let's just say 3-0 at halftime, I was always optimistic that, yeah, 100%, we're still going to win.

Because we had that belief and the rest of my team had that belief, we kept trying to win and we ended up winning every game. And so we were the top team. So it's just believing that you can and following through with that. But in saying that, prior to doing what I did, I used to work for my dad in like a— it was a job that I hated.

I worked in a negative 18 degrees freezer. It was like the worst job you could imagine in your entire life.

Okay.

So when I was doing that, because I didn't love it, because I didn't enjoy it, my mindset and my belief was like, oh, f*ck this, like, I can't do that, I'll get someone else to do it, you know, because I had no passion for it. Um, so yeah, I think you have to love what you do as well.

And if you love what you do, your mindset for that and your belief for that is going to be so much better than if you're doing something that you don't actually like.

What if you're in a job that you don't love, but you're in a job, right? And that's where you are today. You're 20 years old, you're in a job, and you're, you know, you're ambitious, but you don't love what you do right now. Yeah. Yeah.

And I think everyone's going to go through those stages where they're in jobs that they don't like. But if you're in a job that you don't like, your goal should not be to stay there for longer.

Yeah.

Your goal should be to find something that you love and that you're passionate about. So if you're in a job that you don't like, you should also have a side hustle outside of that, focusing on something that you do love and that you do enjoy, and try and build that into your actual main source of income and your career and your future.

So while you're working in your job that you don't like, at least it's bringing you money in. And with that money that's coming in, you can, you know, live your life, you can use that money to do something else. But at the same time, I think it is super important to act quickly on trying to do something where you can find the job or the career path that you actually love doing.

Because if you're in a job that you love doing, the level of effort and energy that you give towards that is going to be 100x compared to if you're in a job that you don't like. And we only live once. And if we're working, you know, most of the day, there's no reason that you should be going to a job that you don't like.

I understand certain situations in your life, you have to do something at some point to get to the next point. But my goal and my advice would be to pivot out of that and focus on what you do like and what you do enjoy.

Yeah. So in other words, if you're in something you don't enjoy, don't just grumble about it for the next year. Go learn something on the side, build something, network into where you actually want to go. And actually, you know, it ultimately comes down to actions. Like a lot of what I'm hearing from you is mindset is not just about thinking it, that there's actually a doing component that's key, right?

100%. And let's just say you're in a job that you hate, but it's paying you $120K per year, but you also got a job over here that you really love and enjoy that's paying you $80K per year. I would honestly go for the $80K per year because you love it and you enjoy it.

Because you love and enjoy it, this could put you in a position to find a, you know, a career path in this area that'll lead you on to something even greater. Um, so yeah, I think it's more important to go for what you love more so than the pay bracket, because over the 10-year period, I'm sure that the one that you love more will end up making you more money anyway.

Yeah, I think you're right. And I think— I don't know about you, but it doesn't feel like work doing what I do, so I'll work 12, 15, 18-hour days doesn't feel like work. It's like play. Like, I love it. I don't know, can you relate to that?

100%. It's— I don't, I don't class what I do as work, and that's why I do it every single day. And I haven't had a day off in as long as I can remember. Like, I think 10 years I haven't had a day off. It's just because I like doing what I do.

And even if I had a billion dollars in my bank, I would still be doing what I'm doing now.

That's cool.

That's awesome.

Yeah. What about the, like, the self-development side of it, right? So, you know, one thing we noticed from the reps and the folks that we've worked with who really, like, perform and do really well and earn the most is they're always developing themselves, they're always learning. Do you take that into account as part of your mindset and kind of your self-development?

Yep, definitely. And I think it's so important as well. I'm not good at reading books. Well, I can read, but, like, I don't absorb the information as good as like sitting down and reading a book. My mind just drifts off. So the best way for me to learn and to get like that self-development is to listen to podcasts or to listen to interviews on YouTube from certain people that I look up to.

Now, I usually do this when I'm driving in my car. You know, if I'm with a friend, you know, I got music on or something, or if I'm going to the gym, I've got music on. But if I'm driving anywhere else, I like to have a podcast on where I'm listening to that and I'm learning and I'm basically just increasing my knowledge because I'm taking advice from someone.

Usually the people I'm listening to are way more successful than me. And if I'm doing that every day, week after week, month after month, year after year, I'm just absorbing all of this information. So it's getting like a lot of their life experience funneled into my brain. And it just helps me, um, with my own self-development and the way I think about things.

Decisions I make. And yeah, I think that is my personal way of self-development. It's listening to stuff when I'm, I'm driving the car.

Who do you listen to? Who are you listening to right now that you're finding really either insightful or inspiring?

Literally anyone and everyone. So, right, people that I look up to, I could type in Elon Musk interview, and then I'll go through all of Elon Musk's interviews. I might type in Warren Buffett, go through all of his stuff. I might type in Grant Cardone, go through all of his stuff. Even guys like Kobe Bryant, you know, yes, he wasn't a business person as such, but his mindset and his attitude to become the best in the world and his work ethic, just hearing that, it's pretty inspiring.

So I take that on board. So it's literally anyone and everyone. Uh, this morning I just started a new podcast. Uh, it's Andrew Tate and Patrick Bet-David, I think is his name. Um, so just started listening to that one. So it's just literally anyone and everyone who I'm kind of absorbing information from at the time, and I just deep dive on that single person for about a week or two, and then—.

Yeah, that's interesting. And yeah, there's so much knowledge out there. There's so many smart, successful people out there. And, and you're right, it's like if you can download some of their experience You don't even have to like who they are, but you can just download what's made them successful, like the bits that you want to take from them.

You take that from 10, 20, 100 people, you're going to be better at the end of it.

And like they've all got different, you know, strength as well. Like, okay, so if I want to learn a bit more about real estate and understand a bit more about real estate, I'll watch a lot of Grant Cardone stuff. You know, he's got $1.2 billion in real estate. So his advice is probably a lot better than my thoughts.

But then if I want to do something about business, maybe I'll watch like Mark Cuban or something.

Yeah.

And then, you know, taking that information.

Yeah, exactly. What about handling stress? So, you know, like business and professional selling, it's like this, right? It's up and down, it's left and right, you're pulled a million different directions. How do you handle stress?

Honestly, I don't know. I think I just ignore it. Okay. The most, stress I get is when, when I guess I'm like, I'm hungry and I'm missing a meal. But like, other stress, like, I, I understand it's there, and if I can't do anything about it, then I kind of not let it affect me.

If I can do something about it, then I know what I can do and I know what I have to do, and I do that in order to fix the solution to get that stress to be removed. But for the most part, like, I don't have any tips or techniques or strategies that I do specifically to remove stress.

I, I feel like I'm a pretty stress-free person most of the time.

Yeah, look, I think just that itself is probably really good advice. I think one thing I see is that people stress about things that they can't control.

Yeah.

And why? You stress about what you can, just exactly like you said. If you can control it, just do what you need to do. You know what it— you know what you need to do, do it, and then the stress is going to go anyway.

So, um, Then you can't. So it's no point of stressing about it.

Like, yeah, exactly. I think often the simplest advice is the best. And yeah, I don't think there's a lot more to it than that. Talk to me around health and fitness, right? So I'm a massive believer. Look, I'm not as jacked as you, but I'm a big believer in like, if you work out the body, the mind follows, you know, you can build discipline.

If you feel good, you're gonna perform better. And I've noticed in my career, if I'm not in my best physical shape or not as fit as I normally am, I suffer. Like I don't have as much energy. I'm not as like sharp and onto it. So that's been my experience. Like what are your thoughts around, I guess, how your physical fitness can play into your work life?

Yep. Big believer in it. So obviously working out, you know, you're gonna release your endorphins regardless. So you're gonna feel better after you've done something. Also, it's a sense of accomplishment. Um, and when you've got that sense of accomplishment for taking care of yourself and working out and looking better, you know, feeling more confident, it rolls out into all these other areas of your life.

Just like you said, if you look better, you're going to feel better, you're going to be more confident, you're going to be, I believe, more productive because you just feel on point. Where if you're not on point and you're and you're not happy with, I guess, your appearance and your health and your fitness and everything, it kind of transitions to other areas of your life as well.

So I think they're all intertwined in some way. And if you can look after yourself, you can look after your fitness, you can look after your health, you're gonna 10x the other areas of your life, your business and all of that. So I think it's super important. And it doesn't have to be lifting weights, it can be whatever you want and whatever you enjoy, you know.

If you enjoy running, do that. If you enjoy lifting weights, do that. It just has to be some type of fitness that puts you in better shape and gets you healthier. It'll also make this healthier.

What do you say to folks— because you must have come across this all the time, right— is people thinking, oh, it's hard, I don't know where to start, I've never worked out before, I'm not a naturally fit person. Like, you know, that you hear those excuses. What do you say to those sort of people who you know, throw up those excuses, or, or, yeah, or literally just don't know how to get into it.

Yep. Um, and that's probably the biggest excuse. So I wouldn't say it's an excuse, like they really don't know what to do or how to do it. But I think a lot of people, they look at the gym or they look at working out as like a chore, like, oh, I have to go and do this, I have to go and do that.

And that's why they kind of build a bad relationship with it. And that's why they don't like doing it. That's why it's not enjoyable for them. But if you find the enjoyment in it, like I said, it can be whatever you want. It could be yoga, it could be running, it could be playing soccer or touch 3 times a week with your friends.

Whatever it is, Mm-hmm. Has to be something you enjoy. It has to be something you love so that you actually enjoy doing that and you actually go and do that. Because if you look at it like a chore, Oh, I've got to go to the gym today. You're not going to go to the gym.

Like, it's just you're not, you're not getting that satisfaction out of it. But if you go there and you actually enjoy what you're doing, you're gonna learn that, okay, I enjoy this. And it's going to get to the point where you can't wait to go for your run in the morning.

Yeah.

You can't wait to go and play soccer with your friends Monday, Wednesday, Friday, whatever it is. So I think the most important thing is finding the type of fitness that you like instead of trying to make it a chore. Make it something that you're passionate about.

Yeah, I think so. I think you kind of— the way I've looked at it, I just sort of built it into my life over the years, and it's now I feel weird if I don't do it. I feel off. Like, if I miss— like, I remember I couldn't work out for a bit.

I had some surgery. I couldn't work out for 3 weeks. I felt off. It was like something was missing from my life and I didn't feel right. And you're— and I think you're absolutely right. It does. I think sometimes people think, oh, I don't like the gym. Like, okay, well, don't go to the gym.

Run, walk, do some push-ups at home. Yeah. Box. Like, I'm into boxing right now. Like, that's my new jam. It's a new jam. I've done it for years, but got back into that. And like, whatever it is that works for you, you can make it work, but you just got to Fit it in.

And I think that's— I think a lot of people overcomplicate this idea of fitness and working out, and it's 20 minutes of push-ups and burpees at home. Yeah, before you start your day is better than nothing. It's a hell of a lot better than nothing.

Super important what you just said as well. Make it like your lifestyle, you know. If you make it your lifestyle, it's going to be so much easier to stick to it. And if you have a certain time that you go to the gym, it's going to be easier as well. Rather than just trying to go when you feel like it.

Because that's exactly it.

Well, that's it, right? Like, I cannot wait for my boxing, like, with Davor once a week, man. Like, yeah, I'm like looking forward to it even though he punched me in the head yesterday. Um, I look forward to it every single time. It is— it's, it's how I love to kick off or close out— um, sorry, close out my day.

Yeah. And, um, you know, yeah, it's just— it becomes a— it becomes a lifestyle and What about you? Do you work out on holiday?

Yep, I do. I usually go on holiday specifically to go and train.

Here he goes, go train even more.

Yeah, so like literally I go to Thailand to go to the gyms and to train. I go to America to go to the gyms and to train. I went to Dubai just recently. Literally the only reason I went to Dubai was to go to the gyms and And to train.

Look, that makes a lot of sense given it's your life, right? But I think I heard an interesting thing recently and it was, and I'm paraphrasing, I'm going to get the quote slightly wrong, but it was something like, even if you feel down, you still got to go do your workout. Like even if you don't feel like it, go do it anyway.

And, you know, this is something that, you know, I've always said when I'm coaching folks is, You know, you might not want to do those 30 cold calls today. You might not want to, right? But you've got goals, you're trying to achieve something, you've got targets. You sometimes just got to do it.

Yeah. Even if you don't feel in that moment like it's the best thing for you to do or that you just can't be bothered or you're tired, whatever it might be. Does that resonate with you? Like, do you come across that in your life?

Yep. But how are you going to feel after you've done it? You're gonna feel so good.

Yeah.

And if you didn't do it, how would you feel? You'd be like, f*ck.

Exactly. Yeah. Um, last thing I want to touch on with you, dude, is, is the eating part. I think this is where I've seen, like, if I think of family members on their fitness journey, this is where they always fall off the wagon, right? It's eating. Um, how important is food in terms of your, not just your fitness, but like just your whole performance in life?

Yeah, I think very important, you know. Um, it has an effect on everything, but you know, all different diets are good for different people. Myself, because I'm, I'm into like bodybuilding, I guess I've got to eat a lot of food. I train very hard, so I burn a lot of calories, so I have to eat pretty much every 3 hours in order for me to get all of my calories in, just so I can perform in the gym and just so I'm not starving to death.

Um, does that get exhausting eating that much, or do you enjoy food?

It's weird because I couldn't eat any less. There's amazing— there's amazing benefits to fasting, and I would love to do some fasting just because of the benefits. But because of— I'm used to eating every 3 hours so much calories every single day fasting has been very hard for me, right? But to the normal person, it's probably not that hard because most people eat, what, 3 times a day?

But over the last 10 years, I've accustomed my body to calories, calories, calories, calories. Um, but that's what I like, that's what I enjoy. It helps me perform in the gym and it keeps me just in a structured routine as well. So, you know, I have 6 meals per day at the moment.

It's usually the same time. If it's off by an hour or 2 hours, it doesn't matter. But because it's pretty structured, it helps my whole day just feel like organized, if that makes sense. Um, and yeah, it's what I love, it's what I enjoy. I eat for a purpose more so than taste.

But in saying that, everything I eat is the foods I love, right?

Do you cheat on your food? Like, do you go and get a pizza, like go get a Sal's, or like—.

So my calories are pretty high, so I, I don't really have cravings, you know. I don't really have the need to cheat. Like, there's no sweet tooth because I'm having so much calories so often. I don't feel like anything sweet. I don't feel like cheating. I don't feel like binging. However, in the past when I have dieted, you know, getting lean, then I understand those cravings and they're real, right?

But for the most part, I'm just pretty structured with my diet. But, you know, if I'm out with my wife and we go for burgers, I'll have burgers. Or if we go sushi, I'll have sushi. So I'm pretty flexible with that. You know, we do a pizza night at home and I'll have that.

So I'm pretty flexible. But 90% of the time, 95% of the time, it's the same, same stuff. But because my calories are so high, I can get away with pretty much eating anything. My body just burns it off.

Right. So, you know, in other words, most of the time disciplined, but then, you know, if you are out to dinner, you don't restrict yourself. You can still enjoy a nice meal. I think that's sometimes where people get caught out is they think, oh, I'm gonna have to be, you know, eating chicken and rice 100% of the time.

And it's like, well, you don't have to. Like, you can, you can make good, you can make healthy food taste good and you can still go out and enjoy a meal.

And it depends on what you're trying to do as well. Like, because my calories are pretty high, I can get away with a lot of things. But let's just say I was, I was prepping for a, a bodybuilding comp. I don't compete, but let's just say I did. Maybe for that 6 weeks prior to the comp, then yes, everything would be structured because I'm competing in 6 weeks.

Um, but you know, for the most part, you can get away with eating this and that here and there. You're just gonna look at the overall picture, you know. If you've got 100 meals and you miss— and you miss 5 of them and replace them with something else, it's not going to be the end of the world.

Yeah, it's, it's The eating one is really interesting because I didn't— I, I would say I didn't start eating properly until about 2 years ago. And as soon as I did, within a few months, I've never felt clearer. I've never felt more productive, more energetic, looked better. But that wasn't even the most— like, that was nothing.

Like, it was actually more just how I felt was when I started eating clean whole foods regularly.

Yeah.

And like, I don't do 6 meals a day like you, man. Like, I'm tiny. I'm 70 kilos, but I'll eat 3 meals a day, clean 80%, 90% of my week is super clean and healthy. Everything got better, man. I was even earning more money. Like everything, like everything in my life was better.

It's really, really interesting. And I think a lot of people don't get this until they maybe, maybe try it.

Yeah.

But when you live your life in a more healthy way, everything across the board improves. So if you're exercising, you eat well, take care of your mind like meditation or whatever works, you know, I'm not saying everyone has to meditate and turn into Buddha, but whatever works for you. If you get all that in place, it rolls into your work life and your personal life and you just, everything is better.

And if you do eat junk and you're eating burgers and pizzas and drinking fizzy drinks and that, it honestly gives you so much brain fog.

Yeah, yeah.

You just like— I know after I've had a, you know, let's just say I have a big pizza and a Coke, after that I cannot be productive on my laptop answering emails. The most I could do is watch YouTube. Yeah, because you're just— there's so much brain fog. It's just— but you know, if you're eating healthy, you can just be so laser focused, so productive.

Yeah, exactly. No, I'm with you. I think that's, um, For folks who haven't started on that journey, I would highly encourage it. And I think, I think, I think you definitely would.

Just to—.

I'm conscious of time, Joseph, but it's been, it's been great chatting to you. I've got one last question and it's something we ask every guest as they come on. Knowing everything you know today, Yep. All the life experiences you've had, go back to kind of your first day, maybe it's first day of professional work.

First job, what's the one thing you wish you knew then that you know now that would have just accelerated and fast-tracked everything?

Um, one thing that I wish I knew, and if I could take it back then, honestly, most things I guess happened for a reason and they got me to where I am right now. But if I had to take it back and if I could pass anything on, that would be just to start.

You know, a lot of people have these ideas and they want to do these things and they get stopped at the starting point.

Yeah.

Um, but if I could have in my mind, you know, start, start, start, I think I would have done so much better in my early years because I just didn't action on what I wanted to do. I just never got past that starting point. And I think that's where most people have the biggest block in life.

Everyone's got ideas, everyone's got things they want to do, and that's where it stops.

Hmm.

So if I could tell myself now, literally the most important thing is start whatever that is, I think that would help me tremendously, um, and just getting, getting stuff done, you know. Like, ideas are great, but execution is the key.

Yeah.

And I think back in my early days that stopped me a lot, just having trouble starting. I understand it now. So if we do anything within any of my businesses and we've got an idea, we execute, we start, we get it done.

Yeah. Interesting you say that. Execution is like our theme word around the office because you're right, a good idea is fine. It's good, a nice idea. But doing something about it, that's way more powerful. Joseph, it's been a pleasure having you on, man. I really appreciate it. Where can people find you, connect with you if they want to, yeah, learn more about you, consume your content?

Yep.

Nah, thank you very much for having me on. Appreciate that. I'm everywhere online, you know, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Snapchat. You'll find me everywhere. Just search my name, every platform I'm on, man, except for like Pornhub and stuff like that.

Thank you for making that one. I'm glad you made that one clear just in case anyone was going to search you there.

Anywhere else, yeah, just type in my name and I'll pop up.

Awesome, dude. Thanks a lot for having you on. It's been awesome. I've really enjoyed this chat and I'll catch you soon.

Otherwise, it's been good chatting, Alex. See you later.