Lakes Wealth

07/09/2026

🔥 Mindset Monday

I went to a property awards night this week

The same awards where I was lucky enough to win one last year

No award for me this time but I loved seeing how happy people were collecting their awards and also cheering them on 🙌🏼

I actually came away with something just as valuable…

Energy 💪🏼

I’ve not been as active in property this year after finishing a couple of projects earlier in the year

But being back in a room full of people doing deals, building businesses, taking risks and trying to move forward really fired me up again

And something else struck me…

Nobody was sitting around moaning about the state of the country

Politics

Interest rates

How hard everything is

Just people talking about what they’re building. What they’re excited about. And actually celebrating when someone else was smashing it

I loved that

It reminded me how much your environment shapes you

Spend enough time around negativity and everything starts to feel like a problem. Spend enough time around people moving forward and you start seeing what’s possible instead

Same country. Same economy. Same problems everyone’s dealing with. Completely different energy in that room

I left wanting to get stuck back into our own property journey

But the real takeaway was this…

Be careful who and what you surround yourself with

The conversations you hear every day have a way of becoming the conversations you have with yourself

And whether we realise it or not, those conversations affect what we do next.

More is possible 💪🏼

31/08/2026

🔥 Mindset Monday

Yesterday I ran a 5K time trial.

Was it where I wanted to be?

Not quite.

But it showed me exactly where I am.

And that’s useful.

Because it’s very easy to tell yourself you’re better than you are.

In business.

Fitness.

Relationships.

Life.

The uncomfortable bit is actually testing it.

Because once you know where you REALLY are…

You have two choices.

Make excuses.

Or get to work.

Last week I wrote about competing against yourself rather than everyone else.

But you can’t beat the old version of you if you’re not prepared to measure the current one.

So be honest with yourself.

Where are you right now?

Where do you want to be?

And what’s the gap?

Then stop judging yourself for the gap…

And start closing it.

One day at a time.

More is possible. 💪🏼

24/08/2026

🔥 Mindset Monday

One thing from the podcast I shared last week has really stuck with me…

Who are you actually competing with?

I’m out training for the Cumbrian Run at the moment.

There’s always someone faster than me. Making it look easy.

It got me thinking…

It’s exactly the same in business. In life.

Someone will always earn more.

Have a bigger business.

A nicer house.

Be further ahead than you.

Keep measuring yourself against other people and you’ll never feel like you’re winning.

Ever.

Dr Gio talks about ego vs mastery…

Ego asks:

“Am I better than them?”

Mastery asks:

“Am I better than I was?”

That really landed With me.

Because maybe we’ve been competing with the wrong person the whole time.

It’s not about being better than everyone else.

It’s about finding out how good YOU can become.

So stop measuring your life against somebody else’s scoreboard.

Measure yourself against your own potential.

Are you learning?

Are you improving?

Are you doing things today you couldn’t do 12 months ago?

If the answer is yes…

Keep going.

That’s the game.

More is possible. 💪🏼

17/08/2026

🔥 Mindset Monday

I’ve listened to hundreds of podcasts over the years.

This is one of the best I’ve ever heard. Full stop.

Shane Parrish, The Knowledge Project, talking to Dr Gio Valiante, one of the world’s top mindset coaches and performance psychologists.

The episode: The Mindset That Unlocks Your Full Potential.

It got me thinking.

Why do so many of us never get close to what we’re actually capable of?

Why do we choose comfort when we know we want more?

Where does real confidence actually come from?

How do our habits, and the way we talk to ourselves, quietly shape who we become?

And the big one…

How do we get out of our own way?

I lost count of how many times I thought “that’s exactly it.”

Honestly, I could write the next 10 Mindset Mondays from this one episode alone 😂

So I’m not going to try and summarise it.

I’m just going to tell you to listen to it.

Give it an hour this week.

If you know you’re capable of more than you’re currently getting out of yourself…

This one’s for you.

More is possible. 💪🏼

Dr. Gio Valiante is one of the world's leading performance psycholo...

10/08/2026

🔥 Mindset Monday

One week into my half-marathon training plan…

Football has taken a back seat. This week I turned down a game I’d normally play.

Not because I didn’t want to play.

Because I’ve decided running matters more for the next few weeks.

It got me thinking…

If something really matters to you, you have to be prepared to say no to other things you also want.

We say we want to change.

But we don’t want to give anything up.

We want to be healthier, but still eat whatever we want.

Successful, but still stay comfortable.

Financially secure, but still spend everything we earn.

We want the result.

Without giving up what’s getting in the way of it.

But every YES has a NO attached to it.

So maybe the question isn’t:

“What do I want?”

Maybe it’s:

“What am I prepared to give up to get it?”

Because your priorities aren’t what you say they are.

They’re what your actions prove they are.

More is possible. 💪🏼

03/08/2026

🔥 Mindset Monday

Today I start my 9-week training plan for the Cumbrian Run

For the next nine weeks, football takes a back seat and so do a few other things. Running becomes the priority

Am I looking forward to every session?

Not really

But I know that’s where I grow

It got me thinking…

One of the biggest signs you’re changing isn’t that life gets easier

It’s that you start doing the things your old self would have avoided

Getting up for the early session

Having the conversation you’ve been putting off

Taking on the harder job because it’s the right one, not the comfortable one

None of it feels natural at first

But the more you do it, the more normal it becomes

That’s how change happens

Not through one big breakthrough

Through one small decision after another

Until one day you realise…

You’re no longer the person who used to talk yourself out of things

So this week, don’t ask yourself what’s easiest

Ask yourself this:

“What would the person I want to become do next?”

Then go and do it…

More is possible 💪🏼

27/07/2026

🔥 Mindset Monday

I was listening to a podcast this week and one idea really stuck with me…

Most of us have change completely the wrong way round.

We think we need to feel confident…

Before we take action.

But it’s the opposite.

Confidence comes because you take action.

It’s made me realise that we don’t think our way into a better life.

We act our way into one.

Every time you do the thing you’ve been avoiding…

You make it a little easier to do it again.

Every time you don’t…

You strengthen the habit of avoiding it.

That’s why every action is a vote for the person you’re becoming.

So if there’s a habit you want to start…

Stop waiting until you feel ready.

Just do the thing.

Then do it again.

Then do it again.

Because your future isn’t decided by what you think, feel or believe.

It’s decided by what you repeatedly do. 💪🏼

More is possible.

20/07/2026

🔥 Mindset Monday

The excuse is the problem….

Not your boss

Not your past

Not the economy

Not your bad luck

It is the excuse!!

Because every time you blame something that you can’t control…

You give away the one thing that could change your life…

Your responsibility.

It doesn’t matter whose fault it is

It only matters whose responsibility it is now

Read that again

The day you stop looking for someone to blame…

You take back control.

So this week, catch yourself

Every excuse

Every complaint

Every time you say…

“I can’t because…”

Replace it with one question:

“What can I do?”

That’s where your future starts

More is possible.

13/07/2026

🔥 Mindset Monday

Your life rarely rises above your standards.

It falls to them.

You don’t get what you want.

You get what you’re willing to accept.

Average standards.

Average life.

Average excuses.

Average results.

Read that again.

You already know what needs to change.

The conversation you’ve been avoiding.

The habit you keep breaking.

The decision you’ve been putting off.

Stop asking:

“What do I feel like doing?”

Start asking:

“What would the best version of me do next?”

Then do that.

Not once.

Every day.

Because your future isn’t built by your intentions.

It’s built by your standards.

Raise yours.

More is possible.

06/07/2026

🔥 Mindset Monday

Last week I said:

Ready isn’t a feeling.

It’s a decision.

But here’s the part most people miss.

The first step is not the real test.

The real test is what you do next.

When the motivation drops.

When nobody is watching.

When it gets boring.

When the excuse appears.

That is where your identity is built.

Not in what you say you want.

In what you repeatedly do.

Every time you keep a promise to yourself, you build self-belief.

Every time you break one, you weaken it.

Harsh?

Maybe.

True?

Definitely.

So this week, don’t make a big declaration.

Just pick one thing.

Do it today.

Do it again tomorrow.

That is how you prove more is possible.

What promise to yourself do you need to keep this week?