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