Is Your Inner Genius Being Heard Find Your Fire

hi

have you ever found yourself at 2 am

sitting on the side of your bed rocking

backwards and forwards

in the dark not knowing what to do and

what has happened

well that’s where i found myself

and that i can tell you is a very dark

place

i bring you back to today and where i am

and i have been through this amazing

experience in this journey since that

time

and inside that that point of great

overwhelm has allowed me to do a lot

more in my life

i’m going to ask you a few questions

first of all i’d like to ask

what does fire in the belly mean to you

now i’m not talking indigestion i’m

talking

that passion that burning desire what

does it really mean for you

do you think we’re all born with it

do you think all of us have it and

probably most importantly

what is your fire in the belly

having that opportunity to sit down with

people is really something

special my name is mighty pate

all also known as pete lonton for me

i get the opportunity to go from being

an engineer to where i am today

i’m lucky enough to be a podcaster a

mentor a host

but most of all it is being the host of

the fire in the valley show now you

might ask what is the fire in the valley

show

well it’s something that has come about

really in a relatively short period of

time

and has been extremely successful it is

all about

sitting down in an interview style with

guests

but what we’re doing is we’re providing

a safe

pre-recorded space for people to come

and share their lessons their journey

their insights because believe it or not

we all have

that passion and burning desire inside

of us

now to be successful means different

thing for different people

and to be a guest on the show quite

often we ask for that

but success can be anything right it

could be the fact of financial wealth

it could be for goals achieved or it

could even be simply the fact that

you’re alive today

it’s different for everyone and that’s

okay because being unique

is an amazing experience the world would

be a pretty weird place if we were all

the same

why it really works giving people the

chance to sit down and talk about

themselves

is something quite special to give to be

non-judgmental

to give that space and that opportunity

to talk and just be there

in the show i like to actually sit down

and ask lots of questions

but also we like to just give people the

time and time after time we hear people

saying

i haven’t actually thought about that

before or that’s something i’ve not

shared publicly

not that we necessarily want to try and

divulge personal secrets

it’s just that despite this being in a

world where we’re more more connected

and all the social media yet the noise

and everything going on around us means

we don’t actually hear ourselves

we don’t hear our own genius we don’t

hear what’s going on

the opportunity to sit down with

somebody and actually

walk a mile in their shoes can be

something incredibly enlightening

because you suddenly have a newfound

respect for what they do and where they

are

and when they talk about their passion

whatever it may be

they exude an energy that is absolutely

embracing and

enticing for all i want to take you back

to that night

sitting on that bed at 2am rocking

backwards and forwards

well that quite simply was too thick

now too thick a lot of us have had and

it’s nothing that unusual

but as you know when it’s bad enough

that toothache is something

just that absolutely is connected to

every bone in your body

the nerves and what it sets off without

overwhelming not knowing what to do for

me

was really just something i couldn’t

take anymore

thankfully the following morning i was

able to secure

an emergency appointment with my dentist

and rightly enough

they turn around and they confirm that

yes there was a problem with my tooth

unfortunately at that time it was two

weeks two days before christmas

and further treatment was not possible

for another two weeks

well when you’ve got to that stage in

your life when actually enough is enough

then you realize something has to change

that point of great overwhelm

has to bring a point of great change so

i decided there and then that one of two

things were going to happen

either the dentist was going to remove

my tooth or i was

now after a little bit of nervous

laughter she realized i was deadly

serious

i’m happy to confirm that after 15

minutes against advice and with a waiver

signed

my tooth was indeed removed

to have that in my hand and to have it

away was actually

one of the most enlightening experiences

now of course the tooth is a metaphor

for what was going on

getting that out of my mouth getting it

away from me it actually signified what

was going on

that ability to just have that change

when enough was enough

and things had to change go forward

sometimes really in life you have to

take time out

for me at that time i was 37 and a half

years of age

so statistically i suppose i was at the

midpoint of my life

call a midlife crisis if you wish i

don’t mind

but i had to ask myself if i was to

replay the second half of my life

the same way the first half of my life i

traveled would i be happy with this

well in some ways yes and i’m extremely

grateful for everything that i’ve had

but i have this little sort of scratch

in my mind

saying am i capable of more do you have

more potential

and i would ask you all are you capable

of more do you have more potential

well the answer that came back from the

little voice in my head said yes you are

so slowly but surely i decided to start

asking the question

what if what if i tried a little bit

more what if i asked a different

question

what if i spoke to somebody who had been

successful or achieved something that i

haven’t

what if what if i took one percent of my

day

14.4 minutes a day i took one percent to

do something new or different

well i can now happily report that

amazing things do happen

from that point of starting to ask what

if i came through

and actually decided that really ice

want to sit down and talk to people

about their changes

so i started to ask myself what is this

fire in the belly what makes somebody

passionate

what makes somebody jump out of bed and

want to take over the world when the

next person wants to jump out of bed and

turn on the tv

we’re all born naked and screaming we’re

all similar flesh and bullet

but yet some people achieve different

things

so i wanted to know the formula because

my formula was wrong

so taking that time to sit down with

people and indeed one of the first

conversations i had was with my

brother-in-law

where we actually sat down and i asked

him what fine the belly meant to him

some two and a half hours later we were

deep in conversation had to pull

ourselves away to go and collect kids

but what that proved to me almost

instantly is that actually we all have a

passion

if you take the time to sit down and

listen

now why does the show work well the

listening process is something that

really has been involved with me

and i believe we all have a story inside

us i personally believe we all have a

fire in the belly

as long as you have a bait in your heart

and air in your lungs i believe you have

a passion and you have a potential

by sitting down and allowing people to

just talk talk without judgment

without fear just allowing them to be

themselves

in a safe space but in a positive

cathartic way

it has a certain magic and amazing when

you talk to guests

you’d be surprised how many people

saying they have rarely if ever had the

chance

to actually do that in this world where

we’re so connected

yet people are saying they’re not being

heard

thought in itself is quite strange

fast forward to today we’ve been lucky

enough to have nearly 400 guests

come on to the show and go through the

interview and that is

something that has taught me a huge

amount that ability to sit down with

people

and talk about their passions because

when someone talks about their passions

it’s it’s absolutely magnetic and

suddenly you find your passion at

similar similar things i find myself

getting passionate about certain things

that i know

nothing about simply because the guest

has actually exuded that

energy but sitting down and learning

really has taught me so much that

ability to learn and have passion

so far we’ve been lucky enough to have

everything from auditors

to people who are going through and

learning about anthropology

we have everything from change makers to

cake makers

we have people who are shark whisperers

to sex education

coaches and that’s such a variety of

people and it’s amazing the neat

uniqueness

but when you get to sit down with them

and learn about their passion their fire

in the belly

it truly is quite something special

one of the questions i like to ask on

the show and i’d ask you now

do you like yourself and do you love

yourself

now quite often people very quickly will

see the egotistical side and say well i

don’t

love myself but but it’s actually a very

serious question when you sit down

because what i found on the show

approximately 30 of the interviews

will never be aired because we do

provide a record pre-recorded

space so that people can have the story

that they want in the public

but the people generally that cannot

answer the question whether they like

themselves or love themselves

quite often they’re the interviews that

are not broadcast to air

it’s sometimes because it becomes too

emotional or there’s certain things in

their past

well sometimes that little voice in

their head their little genius realizes

certain things that aren’t resolved for

them

so it’s really quite amazing when you

actually take the time to listen

so whilst the interviews aren’t actually

broadcast they actually

serve a purpose in allowing people to

move forward and that’s something i

love to do is sit down with people and

help them to either find their

passion find their fire in their belly

and really move forward

i would ask you now is really saying you

know what are you doing

to find your passion do you live in your

spirit of

what you are have you found the flame

inside you

take time to listen whether that be 60

minutes

two hours three hours but listen listen

with a blank canvas

listen with a question or the ability to

not judge

just to be able to hear what each one

others wants to say

we’re all perfectly imperfect and that’s

okay

i’m incredibly fortunate to be able to

sit with people and my guilty pleasures

to hear other people’s stories

because indeed that reflection allows us

to see more in ourselves

so i’d really encourage everyone to say

take time for you

take time to know yourself find your

passion

and be the mightiest version yourself i

am maddy pate

i thank you very much